For those whose cars take expensive oil filters, don’t sleep on the “free filter with jug of oil” change specials from Advanced. While Autozone and others limit the value of the free filter at something like $10 or $12, Advance still gives me a free $55 Carquest filter (which is made by Mann) for buying a $32 5-qt…

I had the simplest “dining hack” of them all. Attached to our cafeteria was a meeting room whose other door exited out to the student Union hallway. Just walk through that door and boom - free food. Employees saw me. Employees either thought I was coming from a meeting or, more likely, just didn’t care. 

Tell that to the school bus drivers in my neighborhood. 

As I remember it, the vast sentiment after 9/11 was to wipe the Middle East off the map. If *ever* there was a public outcry of support for nuclear weapon usage, I would believe that it would have been beginning 9/12/01. This just goes to show that Bush was either 100% full of shit or worse, believes the reality he…

Well that’s the thing of it…if it wasn’t for the lack of water, the American west is EXACTLY where we could be building for people. Affordable land (mainly due to no water, but probably still more affordable than anywhere else even if we could figure that out), generally safe weather, minimal risk from natural…

Alright. Cars idling sucks, sure. But what’s the total emissions issues with cars idling in traffic vs heavy trucks idling all night long? Before a storm, our DOT plow trucks will get out to spots on the highway 8+ hours before the storm, sitting there idling the whole time. Construction trucks/vehicles are generally…

Most police cars are never shut off due to the belief of the officer that the may need to run out of wherever they are and immediately floor it to an emergency. Outside of out local police station, cars often idle for 3-4+ hours at a time if the officer is inside the station. Doing construction warnings? 8 hours of…

In this huge infrastructure bill, why isn’t there a plan for a east-west water pipeline to pump water from the deluged east and south to the west. Certainly there’s a need and certainly companies like Aqua can lobby and profit from it. Best of all, if it leaks, the only damage is…hydration. 

Have kid you hate. Take out huge life insurance policy. Get $1 Kia Rio.  Sell your story’s rights to Netflix. 

Would do it in a heartbeat if I lived less than a day’s drive from Portland. Vermont and Florida exist. Getting a title wouldn’t be hard. 

Yeah the electric strips. My tech always referred to them as the “backup heat” function for when you’re trying to change the temp quickly or when the outside air temp is super low. 

I’m a big heat pump fan, however they need a bit of education (or change of habit?) to use. You can’t allow for big temp swings like you do with normal HVAC. With normal forced air, I’d let the house get to ~80* in the summer and bring it down to 74ish when I got home. Reverse in winter, let it drop to 66* or so and…

Man I really hope the Maverick doesn’t suck. Ford can take a great idea and really eff it up. Say it with me: dual motor AWD. You can do it, Ford. We have the technology. 

They probably don’t want the base model but I bet they DO want that engine. Thinking of these buyers as “truck buyers” is going to kill Ford’s marketing plan. 

It’s not altogether surprising that the new iPhone will cost more due to a chip shortage; supply and demand and all that. Fine.

NA miatas have been increasing in price pretty dramatically (along with everything else I guess). I think the seller knows he’s asking a lot and expects to be talked down. No dice at $20k, but it would be reasonable at around $15k with records of what’s been done and if all the rubber pieces haven’t fallen apart yet. 

Do you have a “normal” Giulia or a quad? I keep eyeing them up and read how they’re not that bad reliability-wise, but still I have worries. Is the interior parts holding up okay, too?

This will probably be a big car shopping weekend because approximately 76 million cars on the eastern half of the US were sunk under water this week. 

I think there may even be more nuance to it. Who is primarily on the roads? People who have to go to work. Who are those people? “Essential workers”, typically healthcare, trades, truckers, and consumer retail.

Same, I was thinking a lightly used Subaru of any variety might be a good choice.