thatwebdude

Or needing to keep that one TV remote around because the Source or Exit button on the universal remote won't let you exit the "Sources" screen. But it'll control every single other function. Hate that!

Keeping Up With the Jones' is a concept that doesn't seem highlighted enough. Especially when you are at a stage in life where you have the financial means to attempt so.

That's good for you, some people shouldn't have those kinds of commitments. It certainly doesn't mean they're being "young and dumb" though.

When an emergency fund and X-months living expenses are compounded I really don't see the use of an emergency fund. Assuming someone has good enough credit to be able to borrow for short-term fixes in times of need.

Individual stocks, to me, is like gambling. With enough knowledge and foresight and luck you can really make a pretty penny.

I like the idea of also investing in funds. AI and professionals are already watching and picking these for you; it feels like investing as well, may have lower returns but typically much safer.

A mix of both seems very healthy and what a lot of able-bodies are doing right now.

"Smart Cars" (As they were once marketed before actual Smart Cars) and "Used Cars" are not the same to me.

Buying something 1 or 2 years old at 75% of the price with less than 20k miles just feels new to me. But maybe I've trained myself for that.

Agreed, compound interest is something most people find hard to visualize. I understand your aim for annual spending, and that's totally within means for you (whatever you're comfortable with). With the right goals, numbers, and savings you can live mostly off of interest, and that will get you furthest in retirement.

In my experience, seeing and hearing of people's general retirement goals and savings; they simply don't have enough to not feel it when they're done.

A mindset like the OP or yours makes that stage in life much more enjoyable and worry-free.

Indeed that's good. You'll never know if you don't like it if you never try it. Many say this age is the perfect time to try something new.

I'm not doubting the professional truck driver, though. Do you have experience running over porcupines? I do not. They've seen a lot. Enough to draw conclusions from fringe conditions like this.

Perhaps this is more of an occurrence on re-treads.

If not the market, definitely the regulations once traffic reports start piling up... Even faster when there's no one behind the wheel to blame.

Can't even imagine a manslaughter case where a driverless vehicle killed someone. Who's at fault? Most fault current resides in the driver, as they're the final call.

Doesn't most self-driving protocols out right now demand perfect conditions to even operate?

pretty much every sleeper truck is designed to be mostly highway. The ones that stay in-city are the single cab designs. This isn't always true for Owner-Operators taking a buck where they can get it, but most trucks are designed for this use. There's no other cost-efficient way to get goods across cities/states/provinces/countries/continents.

With the amount of regulations in truck driving, I wouldn't be surprised if SV clashes with the culture and work ethic truck drivers have to endure. It's good to see this company hiring drivers themselves; those who are open to improving on this tech.

> Most people in Silicon Valley subscribe to either the first or second school. Much of the rest of the country, including many truckers, favor the third. "I can tell the difference between a dead porcupine and a dead raccoon, and I know I can hit a raccoon, but if I hit a porcupine, I’m going to lose all the tires on the truck on that side," says Tom George, a veteran driver who now trains other Teamsters for the union’s Washington-Idaho AGC Training Trust. "It will take a long time and a lot of software to program that competence into a computer."

Driverless trucks are a very interesting concept. Once they're on the freeway, I would think most automation would work (relatively) well. But getting through traffic congestions, busy multi-turn-lane intersections, and making sure you don't sideswipe someone who's hugging the line seems rather complex given the different trailer dimensions and blind spots, (un)marked lanes and everything else it takes to get to the highway.

> There'd probably be a lot more polymaths out there - people that wrote some programs for a few years then decide to play guitar for a decade, etc etc.

I did that in reverse. Once I "make enough" I intend on going back.

You and me, we are of the same.

Unless someone has a kid, and feels that gravitational pull towards them; they probably won't understand. That's okay with me, it's my little secret I get to enjoy the rest of my life with.

I like this. You get it. Other people are taking OP too literal with what they said.

I enjoy programming, but I definitely wouldn't be doing it if I didn't need the work.

I think people ream me up about that because they find great anger in someone who is good at programming but didn't want to grow up to be a programmer. Because that conflicts everything they've ever thought in their lives.

Yes, and this is good. However, porcelain toilets kept in relatively good condition seem to last forever. The ones I was replacing were original to the home (30 years).

No idea. I'm more about less waste though, so that and the home renovation was what sold me. Self-install so the cost was relatively low.

http://www.hcsa.us/files/What-does-my-toilet-really-cost-me....

The replacement toilets have never clogged, even with the entirety of a toilet paper roll being emptied into them (slight exaggeration).

The lack of water in the bowl concerned me, but the "flushing power" makes up for it. I've had them installed for about two years now and the kids' toilets hasn't had anything that couldn't be flushed.

But, as you mention, these aren't contractor-grade toilets. Indeed, those do suck. I've used plenty.

> And if one of those cards is ever compromised, or even if they want to just cancel or stop paying for a service, all they need to do is delete the virtual card.

I hate this concept. It's the epitome of where we've come online, in general. The ability to "ghost" a service is just childish. Go online and cancel, or pick up the phone and do it.

Also, make sure you're not contractually obligated to any remaining balances. Cancelling your card won't get you very far with that.

I'll clarify by saying that if a service refuses to let you cancel (Been there, still doing that) then you have the right to cancel the card number, but not without attempting to be responsible for your subscriptions, first.

We (as a society) really need to be pushing more efficient water appliances.

I looked up liters to gallons since I'm backwards and - in case anyone else is too - 10 liters is ~2.5 gallons. I replaced three toilest in my home that were flushing ~4 gallons with each flush with ones that flush with 1.28 gallons now. They are much more powerful than the previous ones I had, and use (liter-wise) less than half of the 10-liter mark.

Do your efficient toilets overseas not get down to the 4-6 liter range per flush?

The switch to more efficient toilets really made a big impact on my water bill for barely a dent to the wallet.

...my dryer simply doesn't go long enough to keep them wrinkle-free.

Absolutely, although I don't know how they handle wrinkles, though without an auto-fold/hang feature (that'd be so cool!).

Food safety dictates a minimum chilling temperature, we can't override that without sacrificing health. We can make fridges/freezers more efficient and insulated though. My deep freezer (according to Energy Star) takes $24 a year to freeze my food. That already seems extremely efficient.

It still isn't controlled by a timer or switch, though. That's the point I was opposing.

Yeah, "continuous" was a bad choice of word.

Yes, I'm definitely not blaming them, I can see somewhere on my bill where my energy is coming from; but it's still mostly fossil (because obviously). They are making great strides in alternative and renewable energy. I would think their cost to go mostly with renewables are much more expensive to them than my cost to go mostly renewable. They're going to move slow on this.

Good point, but I'm not always home to do the laundry at the most opportunistic time. Doesn't a refrigerator run most efficiently if it cools continuously? I'd hate for my milk to spoil.

I know that Nest has an option with some electric providers to integrate with their demand needs already for something like this; I have it enabled, but they've yet to utilize it.

I could totally see a dishwasher utilizing this, it makes the most sense, assuming I had enough extra dishes and space for the relatively small inconvenience it'd provide.

There's a gray area between "good worker mode" and happily salaried. If they're taking advantage of that, then you need to leave BigCo. There are other SmallToMediumEvenSomeOtherBigCos out there who'll pay what you're worth; even if that coincides with 50 or 60 hour weeks.