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52-80

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Posts posted by 52-80

  1. On 3/1/2025 at 6:52 AM, bluto said:

    So I did dump a substantial chunk of SPY at $612. Feeling like a boss, and planning on dumping a similar sized chunk on Monday. will be about 40% liquid. 
     

    Dark clouds rolling in and the captain and crew of the ship are beyond drunk it seems to me (Atlanta fed and Dallas fed manufacturing survey are serious shit shows)

    We dont have to blame Wally anymore anytime the market drops. 

    its all blutos fault from now on. 

    • Haha 1
  2. 48 minutes ago, PvilleStang said:

    It was interesting when we bought my wife's VW a few years back, and VW really doesn't beat around the bush.  They give you one price, take it or leave it.  And searched around a 250 mile radius, and the dealerships were all at the same pricepoint, give or take a few hundred bucks.  Bought my used truck from a dealership, and those crooks did the same "Finance and trade in your vehicle, and we'll shave off 5K" BS, but they were unable to accept my old vehicle, as it was piped and tuned, so they legally couldn't resell it.

    My understanding that is most dealers don't really care to resell your car -- unless its same make, recent, or particularly desirable. Most trade-ins they just offload to wholesalers and end up in independent car-lots or at auctions. The low price they offer is worth the convenience to many people.

  3. We used to have a housecleaner come once a week, and my wife always freaks out before her visits because she feels compelled to "preclean" for the cleaner.

    Anyway, wife often asks me to clean up or rephrase her work memos so they sound perfect. I told her GPT/LLMs can do that task very well, all she has to do is just copy and paste the text to them.. So now instead of dumping the text to AI and letting it handle the hard work....  she's actually spending 5 minutes trying to clean up the QUESTION to GPT, so what she's asking it sounds perfect.  🥴

    • Like 1
    • Haha 3
  4. Its inexplicable how bad Amazon Prime (and other platforms’) video player UI is compared to Netflix’s, especially on Apple TV. 

    I mean, im not talking about the backend/infrastructure engineering, just the interface of the navigation and digital video player, with which every person on earth has been familiar with for decades. Its not the flight controls of the 787 jet. Its just a play/back/fwd button, a timeline scrubber, and some toggles for audio and caption modes.

    How hard is that to design? Why is it so bad?

    • Hook 'Em 1
  5. 1 hour ago, Iceman said:

    Dumb question amnesty, and I am asking this as someone who deliberately schedules relatively tight layovers through DFW, which occur for any flight I take.  Lounges are not a priority for me at all, but if I got in a bind, I'd like to know this:

    On One World Emerald status, it lists "Business and First Class Lounge ACCESS" as a benefit.  Does that mean access to the lounge with credentials or the ability to pay a fee to gain access?

    Im fairly certain OW rules are similar to *A: AA-status holders get access to AA lounges in the US only if flying on international (or select domestic) itineraries. 

    Those with status from other alliance carriers get access to all alliance lounges everywhere. 

    • Like 3
  6. 2 hours ago, Sandman said:

    My friend found this out the hard way. We're in Oklahoma and he bought a Tesla. They told him it would be ready on such and such date. He assumed he would pick it up at the local showroom. Whoops, direct sales aren't allowed here, so he had to drive from OKC to Kansas City to get it. 

    Its amazing there isnt more consumer activism against the car dealership model. 

    I think the entire country is united in their disdain for car dealerships. They hate them more than telecomms, but while everyone grits their teeth at paying $50/mo for Verizon, nobodys really mobilizing against the car dealerships ripping them off on $50,000 trucks. 

    • Rage+1 1
  7. 1. This fucking charity/microlending platform says because I havent loaned in a while, theyre just gonna confiscate my funds. And if I want to withdraw it, its a fucking complicated process. And I do all that to find out the only withdrawal route is through Paypal. 


    2. For what was once an innovative tech service, paypal has been such a shitpile. 

    Once in a blue moon that I have to use it I have to lift mountain and earth to restore access, because of their draconian stone age verification measures. 

    • Hook 'Em 1
  8. 16 minutes ago, CoTex said:

    I drive a lot of GM products with the lane departure feature that will direct you back in the lane.  This technology I recently experienced was far superior.

    Type your destination into the computer, press the blue button, and relax.

    I presume all manufacturers are working this up and it will be a big deal when it is widely available.  I would go so far as to say self-driving will become the exception.

    Ill drive a super cruise and report back.

    That's pretty much the consensus: noone is remotely close to what you described as FSD for native in-car implementation.  

    Comma is supposed to be good but I dont have first hand experience. 

    Waymo is fully autonomous, but they operate in a very limited area, and require a gigantic suite of sensors.

    Mercedes is probably the most falsely-advertised system. They claim to be the only Level 4 system but are ridiculously constrained: basically <40mph on certain preapproved sections of highway only (lol) and in perfect weather condition and traffic density. 

    Ford's Bluecruise is also supposed to be decent comparator to GM's Supercruise

    • Like 1
  9. On 2/24/2025 at 4:59 AM, CoTex said:

    Test drove a new Model S today.

    Rode around in full self drive mode for a good long time and I must say I am very impressed.

    What other cars have something comparable… for those who might want to consider a different brand?

    GM's Super Cruise is reputed to have the 2nd best driving assist system, when comparing to original Enhanced Auto Pilot (EAP). 

    Comma.Ai is a 3rd party system retrofitted to cars that has lots of fans.

    For actual all-road autonomy, in which Tesla made tons of recent progress (and, to be clear, is NOT commercialized at the moment), noone else is supposed to be close.

  10. On 2/22/2025 at 9:52 AM, Im_smarter_then_you said:

    Tokyo is better than nyc as far as urbanity

    the cool thing about nyc is it has everything from around the world. 

    and the cool thing about tokyo is that it has the absolute best version of everything from around the world. 

    like if you want nepalese chicken momo dumpling, theres probably some 90 year old japanese guy in a hut below the JR train line whos been cooking nothing but that since he was 4 years old. 

    • Drool 1
  11. On 2/24/2025 at 5:20 PM, Crapinon said:

    Does anyone else look at buying a car as a full contact sport? I don't mind people making money but they're not going to make it all on me. My wife is due a new one. My friend in the car business retired so I'm stuck dealing with dealers now. All the dealers in Abilene are owned by 2 or 3 groups of businesses and they act like a cartel.

    American auto dealers ARE cartels. State laws around franchising grant geographic exclusivity, preventing competition. It auto has protections against manufacturer terminating dealer agreements unless there are obvious and egregious causes. 

    The best solution is buying direct from manufacturer, online. Like Tesla. (go ahead CR boys).  But many states have or have had laws prohibiting direct sales from manufacture.

    It's the most illiberal anti-market thing. 

    It should be noted there's less fuckery with dealerships in Europe. The majority are still privately owned, but there's less protective clause around them. Dealerships don't carry large new car inventory where they go through pricing cycles, and they act more or less as agents for you to order a new car from manufacturer. The general pricing attitude is take it or leave it.  It's a cleaner transaction.

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Rage+1 1
  12. I had never watched Stargate. Ancient Egyptian Scifi stuff is always a bit of brainless fun. Frame by frame it was everything a 90s blockbuster scifi should be. Very curious what a "serious" director like Villeneuve or Nolan or Cameron can do to a franchise like this instead of Roland Emmerich.

    • Like 1
  13. 10 minutes ago, bluto said:

    Why not just tell that agent he can have a grand or two to shepherd the transaction. 

    Thats what i ballpark the watch is for. 

    income taxes are really high in this market, and doing cash is kinda icky for me. I figured a fancy watch is worth the seatdown meeting we had and he can flip it for cash if he wants to. 

  14. Wondering what you guys would do in this situation:

    A few years ago I enlisted an agent to rent out my house. He found my current tenant. The first time I raised the rent, the tenant proactively offered to buy my house (at a low-ball price). We declined and just extended the lease. Last year, I told him I am extending lease for the final time and would sell the house afterwards; he made no indication of interest to buy. 

    Recently I talked to the agent to ask about selling the house. We shook hands on him putting it on the market this summer when the lease ends. He said he would also ask the tenant if hes interested (or if he needs help looking for a property).  

    ….well now the tenant just got back to me directly, saying he wants to buy the house directly (at a very fair price). and suggested the agent doesnt need to be involved to save cost. 

    The standard procedure in this market is 3.6% agents fee payable by the buyer. Its completely true that agent is not doing anything here - no listing, hosting, etc. But I feel obligated to him out of a sense of ethics.

    I’m thinking if we skip him out of the process, I buy the guy an Omega watch or something as a ‘serious’ business gift? Is that fair? 

     

  15. 2 hours ago, Pam Cummings said:

    Cool rambling nonsense bro. I'm just confused as to how this "illegal alien" was able to serve in our army and how we're all fine with him risking his life to do that but then suddenly he's a different species when it comes to our legal system and suddenly he shouldn't be in our country anymore after serving it. Thanks for your service I guess.

     

    cool moving goalpost bro. argue with someone else about the wheres and whys of military service. 

    surely of the hundreds or thousands of deportees, you couldnt link to a story to one who *didnt* shoot a gun randomly into a crowd of people. i didnt cherry pick this story — your buddy brought it into the thread. 

    why are you mad at me for pointing out that of all the people to lionize as martyr, you people happen to choose felons, each and every time? the universe has an incredibly sense of humor.

    • Fuck You 5
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