Yes, and at least some motivation. However I’m still getting used to being single and it’s hard to motivate myself to travel when I don’t have someone to travel with.

It all depends on the details, I kid the article is blatantly wrong

All Tesla models use flush, electronically actuated handles that blend into the bodywork

I believe this is only the model s and x, a small minority of their vehicles.

My model y has a physically presented handle - you press on one side to pop out the other - NOT electronic self-presenting. I believe that’s true of model 3 and y, the vast majority of teslas.

That being said, there’s several things this may mean. Is it just the self-presenting they don’t like? What about buttons like on the cybertruck? What about the manual operated handle like on the model 3 and y? Or is the important part the electronic latch mechanism internally? I have no idea what safety features that has.

If it’s literally just the self-presenting handles on the high end models like the article mentions, that’s probably no big deal. They don’t sell many of those and the model x especially is way overdue for redesign or to be ended. Hopefully it’s more than that though

I might get a plate. I’ve been looking at them!

The downside is they are custom sized and every grill is different. You can’t really expect a plate for one grill to work n the next. Historically I’ve had grills last only 4-6 years. This one is more expensive so I hope it’ll last but is already five years old

Part of that seems like an argument for the more expensive models, LoL

Grills

• propane grill for regular grilling
• pellet grill for smoking
• portable grill for camping

I recently converted my stove from gas to induction, but one of the casualties was my griddle top - steel griddle covering the entire stove. I loved playing short order cook or having all that space to toss around fried rice. I keep telling myself I don’t need something like that but those Blackstone grills keep drawing me in

There was one of the conspiracy theories last year, that the goal was to disrupt trade enough to devalue the US dollar. Our shit would be cheaper on the global market and our salaries will be lower relative to other countries

Not at all the same. That started as targeted tariffs as punishment for accusations of unfair trade. Tariffs have been frequently used in the past and targeted tariffs can be an important tool for specific types of trade issues. It did escalate into a trade war which didn’t help anyone, but with one specific country.

That’s not at all the same as widespread tariffs, including starting trade wars against important allies and trade partners

I don’t know, it was an informational note on one of the pages.

Thanks for the encouragement

It’s interesting that “Wednesday” has had decent development of all those main characters …… all except Lurch. He does so much for that family but is always taken for granted. Season three needs to focus on Lurch!

They should be suing for hundreds of millions!

Of course one of the biggest problems with this grift strategy is Trump family profits but American taxpayers are on the hook

Tesla, believe it or not, is doing the ai thing right.

1. There’s always a control: you may not like touch screen in your car but it’s always there so you’re not forced to use voice assistant.
2. The standard voice assistant still works the same as it ever did
3. AI voice assistant is separate that you can choose to use or not. When it was new, it was not allowed to control anything but that is gradually being phased in as it works.

When the ai first came out all it could do is hold a conversation, and was amusingly snarky. Now it can set a destination, but is still limited compared to standard voice assistant

While I personally like some of the extras a smart home can do for me, we can all agree that we’re being sold a bunch of bs that doesn’t work well for anyone.

Basic rules for smart devices should start with

• local manual control still works, exactly as anyone expects. The “smart” part is extra
• local network only whenever possible. Should never depend on the internet
• no vendor lock-in. work with my mix of devices. No I will not use a stupid vendor app to a stupid vendor portal per device to do basic operations.
• the goal is for my home to work better for me, not to feed me more ads. That will get your device thrown out

The problem is manufacturers highly advertise devices that violate these rules, that serve them before you, where you are the product, and a standard person will find it difficult to even learn they have options

Don’t forget device profiles! It’s not enough for a device to be on the network but also that it must operate like expected and with the same calls.

Instead of making up what constitutes “on” for a light switch and require vendor specific drivers, the device profile defines “on” and all light switches must support that!

That’s usually because that’s all they know. With a bit of smarts, lights can do more than just toggle on/off when you go over to the switch. They may appreciate that if they knew.

My most automated light is my dining room/office

• I may walk over and use the switch - but I adjusted the dimming speed so I can walk out of the room as it’s dimming to off
• I may use Alexa/siri/nabu, and that’s the most convenient way to get exact dimming, such as when I need to be up at odd hours for a video call
• on weekdays it also turns on at dusk, dims at 9pm and goes off at 9:30 to help me establish better sleeping habits and make the house look lived in when I’m away
• I’m considering ways to have it automatically turn on when I come home at night so I’m not entering a dark house

Do I need those? Of course not, but those are actions my house can take for me, to make things a little nicer

Home Depot used to have a bunch of z-wave switches and outlets - was actually the entire reason I started with z-wave.

But it’s been a few years now that it’s mostly WiFi dreck depending on vendor portals. Home Depot is also the reason I mostly order online and have a lot of Zigbee stuff.

I wonder what Home Depot’s next step will be, presumably to drive me to Matter/Thread. Perhaps that they seem to be getting a decent selection of smart locks?

No longer offer points for specialty job skills? Damn.

I’m fine. I live in a dark blue state that is fighting, ignoring, offering sanctuary as they can. Depending on your assumptions we have the highest quality of life in the us. We’re trying to hold to our environmental commitments despite the federal government reneging on commitments to power transmission, power generation, transit upgrades, and ending the California waiver that let other states set higher air quality standards. We’re holding to health coverage for all despite the federal government ending funding. We’re holding to public health standards by leading a regional cooperate for fact-based vaccination standards. I’m proud of the number of my fellow citizens participating in “No Kings” and similar protests. I’m proud of colleges and corporations holding to standards for education, diversity, equity and inclusion.

Things are getting even more expensive here, due to the policy chaos and federal rejection of anything that might look to the future or to care to people, but we’re holding together. It certainly helps that I make a good income here.

However this is the first time I really worry about the future my college kids will live in. I keep telling myself history will reassert itself, our current situation is an outlier. I tell myself this is a national version of a mental breakdown: we will recover and spend the rest of our lives fixing the damage. There is hope

If I had to move somewhere, Canada would be the obvious choice. Ive visited so many times and it’s always been great. Canada has always been a great neighbor, putting up with our bullshit. Realistically from my interests and job, I’d be most interested in Vancouver or Toronto areas. Toronto is closer to my family, and my company has an office there, so it would be an easy transition

Thanks for all that detail: it’s nice to read something positive about online dating. I’ve been considering it since I was divorced a few years back and am in a situation where I don’t really meet people. Perhaps that’s an answer.

Of course I’ve wondered that before and can’t get past giving all that personal information to a company that will abuse it (is this where you’re already seeing red flags? D’oh.)

Technically you do. There’s always been talk about that. For like half a century. It’s a totally important issue we need to talk about