Rockstar from another dimension

I have a '93 honda accord, that's just leaking oil from all over the place. Lots of major seals deep within the engine, are leaking and it all drips on the exhaust and smokes all over, I need it fixed fast, but am debating whether its even worth fixing at all, considering I'm about ready for a new car.

I'm wondring how much it should cost to replace the engine with a new, or rebuilt one. How much should an engine cost? And how much should a shop charge to do it.

Also how difficult is it to do yourself? And how long should it take? I've done basic stuff like replace cv axles, clutch, radiators, timing belts, just through self teaching using a manual. Not sure if I'd be ready for an engine swap or not.

I tried researching this myself, but have gotten prices all over the board. Heard people say they would buy rebuilt motors for like $600 and pop it right in. Sounds cheap. Shops I called though wanted like $4000 to do this. Any advice?

I've heard real estate appraisers might have some strict rules to follow. But I'm wondering if there is any good way to get an appraisal to lean to your favor?

The main reason is for getting rid of that stupid PMI charge that requires you to have around 20% equity. Or else potentially if it could help in a refi situation where your equity is just boarderline.

Any way to choose a home appraiser who will lean the figures your way a little?

I have a house that I'm debating between selling and renting. Its just so far away, and I'm so busy that doing the landlording myself would be too difficult.

I'm thinking about just using a property management company, but I'm worried that they may do a poor job screening tenants, and just letting any nutcase in there who may destroy the house and cost me big money. Is this a legitimate concern, or do property management companies take responsibility for things like that?

The house is paid off, and I'm not greedy, as long as I'm making some money I'm happy, I'm just worried about if turning control to a company like that is safe, or if it could be a disaster that costs me more than I'd ever earn.

I'm wondering, what is the day to day work life like for a web developer, computer programmer, java programmer, or other similar worker in a computer science field?

I'm a very logical, intelligent, technical minded person, and believe I could excel at this field. I also hear it is a very lucrative field. And also that it can be self taught.

However I just picture a bunch of guys with their eyes glued to the screen all day long, fatiguing their eyesight, while punching in line after line of code, digits, variables, and other programming syntax. I like the little bits of programming I've done in the past, like some basic C++, but don't think I'd like to be so focused on a screen all day if that's what it's like.

My dad passed away, and I had to suddenly pay around $25K from my own pocket to be able to inherit his house, rather than the bank foreclosing on it (there was no money in the estate at all, house was the only thing of any value).

Is this an expense that can be deducted on my taxes?

Anyone know any really good resources out there for discovering good career matches? Ones that really detail every aspect of the career, how much schooling is necessary, what the salary is like, and help you discover careers you may not know about?

I'm considering going to college, and I'm trying to decide what degree may be best for someone who is very fascinated with all the latest technological advancements. I've heard of IT and Computer Science Degrees, but they seem more specifically focussed on computers. I'm into everything, from computers, to satellites, to aircraft, to new display technology, new sensors, medical advances, 3d printers, robots, artificial intelligence, green energy, etc.

What would be some good degrees to consider to get into a more broad technology field than just computers?

Preferrably a shorter degree, I don't have the time or money for anything major like an engineering degree.

I don't understand why more lawyers don't work on contingency? Sure big accident injury ones do, but what about when the good hard working american needs a lawyer to fight against some corporation who wronged him or something similar? He has to pay ridiculous amounts of money out of pocket, with absolutely no guarantee at all whether the lawyer will even give any effort to the case, let alone win.

Seems to me like there isn't much motivation for the attorney to even need to put forth any effort to win. If a lawyer is legit, and knows his stuff, he should be able to be very successful working on contingency. So why don't more lawyers do that?

I don't understand the fascination with expensive wine. Why do people drink it? Unless they just like to make themselves feel somehow important

I've tasted a broad selection of wine in my day, and I think some of the cheapest $5 wines are the best tasting, better than the $10-$20 wines, and better than some expensive ones I've tasted.

Also I remember Penn & Teller did a test, where they had waiters at a high class restaurant serve very cheap wine to all the self proclaimed wine experts, but tell them it was extremely expensive wine. Most of the people said the wine was fantastic, they had no idea what they thought was thousand dollar wine was cheap stuff.

So why do people buy expensive wine?

I know you can use a tig torch to easily heat up metal to bend it, without having to use a blow torch. But what if I don't have a tig torch, can I just clamp a tungsten electrode into stick welder and try to strike an arc with it to heat the metal?

I know that some people enjoy overtime, but others don't. I have heard of many many people being forced to work 60-70, even 84 hour work weeks.

Why do companies do that instead of just hiring another employee, or even a temp? Paying time and a half, and double time seems pretty costly. It seems like it would be way more cost effective to have 2 employees working 40 hours each at regular time, than one employee being forced to work 80 hours making time and a half and double time.

In general, what is the most common cause of cars burning oil? The piston rings, the valves?

In particular, what about cars that smoke a whole bunch when you first start them up? I'm guessing is that because oil from inside the valve cover is dripping down through the valves into the pistons, since they are not as sealed as they should be?

Is there any easy way to identify what size bolt goes in a hole that is missing the bolt? I know that bolts are measured by both diameter and thread pitch.

I suppose if there is easy access to the hole that you could try to use a micrometer to measure the diameter of the hole. But what about thread pitch? Perhaps you could use the little depth slider on a micrometer to attempt to measure how long 5 threads is, but I'm thinking that's not likely to be easy to see what your doing.

Is there any easier way of figuring it out?

What exactly is it that makes something be a "chemical" vs a "natural substance"? As well as say synthetic vs non synthetic?

I mean, even chemicals are somehow made from natural substances right? Many many years ago in the biblical days or earlier there were no chemicals right? At some point they had to be created and the only substances on earth were natural. So what decides whether a particular mixture is just a natural mixture of natural ingredients, vs a chemical?

I inherited a bunch of shop tools, most are specialty tools that were expensive in the day, but few people need nowadays. Such as 3" sockets, 1.5 inch taps and dies, old test equipment.

What's the best place to sell?

I'm thinking ebay, but a lot of this stuff is very heavy. Also thinking craigslist, but it just doesn't seem to have the exposure for this type of specialty stuff. Any other good ideas for getting as much as I can out of them?

I know there are a TON of variables out there such as garage size, outside temp, insulation, etc. But I'm just looking for a very rough estimate.

Say the outside temperature is about 32 degrees fahrenheit, and say the garage is about big enough to just squeeze 6 cars in (a row of 3 in the back, and a row of 3 in the front), and it is a tall garage with about 16 foot cieling?

Any idea roughly how many gallons it would take to heat that per day?

I just inherited many many boxes of old repair manuals, from about the 1960's through 1990's. All very unorganized, but everything from various cars and trucks, to forklifts, to specific systems such as hydraulics, air brakes, etc.

The majority of them seem like official shop manuals (rather than the typical consumer haynes and chilton manuals), however they are not organized at all, and many seem very specific like "transmission systems on 71-73 ford F350".

Nowadays I know everything is all on computers, even the shops seem to have their manuals on computer, so do these have any value at all? Perhaps to a collector or something, or are they just recycle bin material?

So what's your opinion on this?

My Dad passed away a couple days ago. I called DirecTV to cancel his satellite TV service. The rep basically says "He was such a good customer that we would like to sell you DirecTV service also". And, "We can sell DirecTV service to his friends and family members too, do you know any?". "We'll give a discount since he was a good customer, who ordered so many packages from us".

It continued quite a few times, I said multiple times I just want to cancel, the rep basically says "Although I can cancel if necessary, I could also transfer his services to you and bill you instead, and give some extra packages at discount because we liked him so much.", and other similar tactics.

I am an only child. My mom died 2 years ago, and my dad died a couple days ago. I found their will, which entitles all of the estate to me. Nothing big, just their house and belongings. I live in the state of washington.

Can anyone tell me (and or refer me to places with good information), what legal steps I need to take to get everything all straightened out, get the property/belongings transfered to me? I heard there are lots of various papers that need to be signed and sent to a court, and I heard of some sort of public announcement to creditors, etc.

I did call the attorney who wrote the will this morning, but he never called back all day long. I heard that you don't necessarily have to have an attorney, especially for a will as straightforward as this. I don't want to rack up a bunch of legal fees for filing papers and things that I am capable of filing myself. I'm layed off work, so I have time. And also I don't necessarily want to give business to a attorney who didn't call me back today.

So, can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks.

My father just passed, and my mom already passed years ago. I was told he is being taken to a funeral home creamated and that it will be expensive. It was implied that I would have to pay for it all, but I don't have the money.

I know when my mom passed, my dad had to pay the bill. But this is different, kids aren't usually liable for their parents bills. I don't have time to figure out the technicalities, so I'm asking on here, how can I not get stuck with the bill?

I do want the ashes if that makes a difference.