Jump to content

choripan

Legacy Members
  • Posts

    193
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by choripan

  1. I agree completely. MB getting level 3 actually on the streets and available to consumers for personal vehicles (contrasted with robo-taxis) is great work. I limited the scope to US because it's not something I feel confident enough to speak on with authority. My understanding is that MB would be with or a tiny gap behind GM/Cruise, but I don't want to get "gotcha'd" down thread if I'm off because I overstepped my knowledge on it.
  2. This. My wife is [redacted] at [redacted], one of the leading thinktank/policy-type journals on AVs. She is also [redacted] at [redacted], one of the handful of leading test sites/fake "cities" where AVs are tested. She is an academic and not affiliated with any brand, like Tesla, MB, Ford, GM/Cruise, Google/Waymo, etc. At least in the US, it is Google/Waymo <gap> GM/Cruise <large gap> Ford and Tesla. The way I hear it talked about at dinner parties, mixers, etc., Tesla is not a serious contender to reach level 4, let alone level 5, and there are serious doubts that it can ever be level 3 with a camera only approach.
  3. Uh, that's the whole point, be careful in order to not to put the innocent public in danger, like Tesla does.
  4. Good example of why no system that only uses cameras can be safe, or why Tesla is getting lapped and is stuck at Level 2. With a proper system and sensor fusion, you would have caught the kid in time. Radar? Nope, not metallic enough. Cameras? Nope, obviously. LIDAR? Yep! That's why you need all three. They serve different roles to fill gaps in the capabilities of the others.
  5. Lot of cases, especially relating to tax treatment, where a lease makes sense. Especially for business owners. In our personal case a few months ago, we leased a PHEV Jeep Wrangler in order to get the full $7500 EV credit, and then bought it out as soon as we could get a payoff from the leasing company. That's thousands of dollars in our pocket thanks to leasing
  6. I mean, the Catera led to the Alpha-platform cars (CTS-V and ATS-V, and now CT4/CT5), which are one of the few cars you can meaningfully track and put four people in that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I hate Musk as much as the next guy, by the way. I'd also add that I'm anti-proprietary just-about-anything, and the closed-off charging network drove me berserk, not unlike Apple's lightning cord or the way they used to do iTunes songs... But ... I don't think I agree with the dominant sentiment here that going further down- and mass-market beyond the Model 3 is the play. I follow the auto industry at a distance, and there's a reason that many companies have dropped sedans and cheap cars -- they just don't make enough money per unit of capacity. And while I get the argument about cheap cars bringing customers to a brand for their future loyalty, the data don't indicate that customers are loyal enough to make it worth it and I don't think it's enough to offset making thousands than hundreds per car sold. I think the play for Tesla is not diluting the bread-and-butter of the brand too much by going downmarket, and refreshing their current vehicles. But at the end of the day, I think Tesla is a one-trick pony (very-arguably cool tech, big promises, cachet, and fast acceleration set against shoddy build and poor per-dollar performance in anything but a straight line) and others are catching up to their trick while they have no ability to create something "new" again.
  7. It's tough to say which I dislike more. Musk/Tesla or the new M3 brought to you by Bucees.
  8. Sooo fuckin' close to justifying billionaire defended, but I think it's more that the person didn't do their research rather than being like "fuck it, MAGA hat on wheels but now I gotta flimsily justify it."
  9. On the reliability issue, it's important to distinguish between issues that don't matter hugely and are easily fixed, like infotainment glitches, and serious issues, like steering wheels falling off or murderous and falsely-advertised full-self driving systems. Point being, IIRC Consumer Reports does not distinguish based on severity (infotainment vs. drivetrain, for example) when measuring incidents/reliability. May be JD power, though?
  10. I prefer to worry about rip currents, sharks, and (lately) especially orcas.
  11. For a real ass-puckering bridge adventure, may I suggest taking an iced-over Mackinaw Bridge on a cold, windy day? 200 feet above the water and 5 miles in total with a longest span around 3/4 of a mile long.
  12. Because other things may be unsafe, *my* thing is not unsafe? Am I following the logic here?
  13. Another datapoint. Sent my son's passport and passport card to State on Feb 3rd. March 15th, we get a letter in the mail saying that they can't process it because we need to send in the old passport card to get a new one. We have a picture of our packet with the passport card and passport and all that jazz attached just before dropping it in the envelope. Sigh. Same day, we filled out some form saying the passport card was "lost" (by them) and send that in. March 20th, we get an email that says "Application Status: Information Received, In Process Again." We shall see.
  14. This. Plus, I don't want to fuck with my Youtube Music algorithm, which I have dialed in right now.
  15. Haha, I officially feel stupid for engaging a particular poster here. Last straw was posting the "average hours" worked chart a page or two ago, without context of how many of those people are working two or more part-time jobs. Disingenuous at best. Me now leaving this thread that went from kvetching over enshittening to the shit-defender batsignal going somehow going up and bringing in the bootlicker cavalry.
  16. Nowhere did I say or imply that I support dual-earner with a regression to 1960s social norms. Are you being purposefully obtuse?
  17. I set the goalposts at 70s or something like that. Never moved 'em, unless you think the 60s isn't something like that. Semantics there. Point is, regardless of whether 50 or 60 years ago (stop fixating on the trees and catch the forest), the transition to de facto dual-earner being required for most people is an enshittening of QOL, even if just for peace of mind that, if you choose to both work, you're not in too much trouble if one of the two earners loses their job bc you could live off of one income.
  18. You cherry picked by having the data start in the 80s when my initial post said "the 70s or something like that." 25% dual earner in 1960 to 60ish percent these days is a huge jump.
  19. FWIW, 5280, utilizing *household* income as a measure is in problematic because it doesn't account for the (something like) doubling of two-earner households since the 70s or something like that. QOL is often much higher when one person isn't working, but you have enough money, and you're not running errands and trying to keep up on evenings/weekends. To link it to the umbrella topic, it's IMO enshittification that, for most households, one-earner and all the benefits that go with that is not something sustainable.
  20. This is a good example of how different strokes can be for different folks. Not my speed but may be your (Baboon's and many others'!) speed. I would not recommend *any* Detroit suburb except as a place to crash if you can't find a place in Ann Arbor or Detroit. My thought is, "If you're going to make the trip, why visit a suburb like those outside of just about any other city?" IMO, outside of a few places (I'll get to the Henry Ford Museum/Greenfield Village later), there is nothing unique enough in the suburbs to justify going there if you only have 48/72/however many hours in Michigan.
  21. ANN ARBOR, PART 1 For starters, Ann Arbor basically has two sides, though they’ve started to bleed over into each other since I was in college in the 2000s. To the west, in the heart of downtown, you have what is generally the adults/townie side, which is centered on Main Street. To the east, you have the student side, which is generally within a few blocks of the diag, which is the heart of UM’s campus. Though we don’t have anything as lively as Dirty 6th or Bourbon St. or anything like that, there’s more than enough places to go. Ann Arbor-Specific Things to Do, Eat Drink – These are things that are unique to Ann Arbor/UM. Not necessarily the best, but ya really don’t want to make the trip just eat at McDonald’s or go to a generic sports bar. These are some of the main things that’ll come up if you sit next to a UM alum on a plane or a barstool or something like that. Campus. Other than just strolling around to catch vibes, things you will want to see are the rotating cube statue (google it), traipse through the student union and nickels arcade, and be absolutely sure to visit the beautiful law quad and, within it, take a peek at the law library. Think of these things like visiting the turtle pond at UT – things that set your/our particular campus apart from others. Kerrytown Market/Zingermans. If you’re into it, go to the over-century old market on the north side of downtown on Saturday morning, get some coffee, and get fattened up to drink all day. Zingerman’s is ostensibly an east coast style deli, but they’re also a cheesemonger, wine shop, and a bunch of other things. They pay living wage plus, many emploees are long-tenured, and every employee is super knowledgeable in their area of expertise. I think the deli itself is overrated and would be a very good but not best deli in, say, NYC, but the place is famous. Blimpy Burger. This is like going to the White Spot in Charlottesville or Players in Austin. Or it was. Much like Players, the land that Blimpy’s sat on for decades was snapped up by the university for development. Except, after some downtime, Blimpy’s reopened in another part of town with the same grill, most of the same employees, and so on. Downtown. Ann Arbor has fought hard to preserve independent stores, restaurants, and bars. When we were dating and I first took my wife to my alma mater, she (originally from Houston) remarked that “Holy shit, I don’t think there’s a single chain down here.” I think it’s really cool, and great to just walk around and soak it in within a few blocks of Main Street and out east toward the student side. I’ll write another post with specific bars restaurants I’d recommend, with a description of what to expect, along with places I don’t love, but that the rest of the world seems to love, and which are worthy of inclusion despite my personal opinion. I'll also have recommendations for stuff to do if you want to get out and be active. Ann Arbor's a pretty good town for that, too. [This is going to take me awhile. I’m slapping stuff together when I have downtime, which I don’t have a ton of these days…]
  22. Juicy, Bogey, Wally Fairway, etc. and me. We got you.
  23. Background on Ann Arbor: If you are a city person, don't think of it like a city. Think of it as an awesome city neighborhood or two stitched together, with the urban area about a mile square before you start getting into a layer of historic homes/districts and then, after that, generic single family homes. For your hotel or Airbnb, try to be within about a 10-15 minute walk of the heart of the city, which is basically a triangle from Liberty and First to the south/west, 5th and Kingsley to the north, and South University and Washtenaw to the south/east. Within or near that triangle, everything is walkable and a very pleasant walk, at that. Yes, there are other places to go but, save for a handful of exceptions, they're no different than what you'd find in Anytown, USA (think a car-oriented environment with quite a few chains). Background on Detroit: Detroit has gone quite bonkers around its city core. Lots of stuff to do and see. We moved back home (for me) to Detroit in 2011, leveraged ourselves to the hilt in real estate based on a tried and true rule of real estate investing -- "if you see pride flags and hipster beards, buy in this area" -- and now I'm semi-retired at 42 after we exited it all in 2019. Woodward Avenue forms the spine of the city, dividing it between the eastside (human trash) and westside (demigods, all of us). There is a much-maligned streetcar that runs down Woodward that isn't much in terms of true public transit, but that would be great for a tourist like you. You'll want to find a place south of Warren, east of 2nd or 3rd, and on or west of Brush (if north of I-75) or west of 375 (if south of I-75). The exception here outside of that area is the Eastern Market area, which is really pretty cool, but kind of markety and which can seem sparse, depending on day and time of day. If you are dipping in and out something like Friday evening through Sunday morning, I'd recommend Ann Arbor as your home base. There's enough to fill your time and then some. If you're making it 4-5+ days, I'd recommend staying in Detroit and taking the express bus (A2D2) to Ann Arbor for gameday or just taking an Uber/Lyft). [All the above assumes that you're a first-timer in whichever place you choose] [Specific recommendations and all that to come, but I wanted to lay a very general groundwork. Also I don't want this to be nor see it as *my* thread -- I encourage others to add to, confirm, or contradict what I end up writing here..]
×
×
  • Create New...