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Because I didn’t know it existed until now. :) I’ll have to look into that, thanks.

This is a tough one. The problem with local only backups is, what if there’s a fire?

I use Amazon Glacier to store my pictures. It’s $0.0036 / GB per month, so I pay less than $2/month for ~535 GB of storage that I’m using right now. There is also a cost for downloading, but if I need it, I’m going to be happy to pay it (and the costs aren’t crazy). Uploads are free.

(The other problem with Glacier is that it’s not really an end-user-friendly experience, nor is it something easily automated. I use SimpleAmazonGlacierUploader, a Java program someone wrote, to do it. You can also upload to S3 and have it archive things to Glacier automatically - I’ve never tried this but it should work.)

I considered getting my brother or a friend to build two storage servers (with RAID5 or something) that we’d each keep at home, and just sync to each other. Good if you have a friend or family member willing to do it (or at least host your offsite box). Down sides: Cost to build it, time to build and maintain it, cost to replace things that break, plus cost for electricity. I’ve been using Glacier for many years, so by now maybe I would have spent less on that theoretical backup system, but I also did not have to worry about it.

Welcome to the Dull Side.

She did a bit on Colbert that was a joint venture between her business and his spoof of her business. Either she’s extremely clueless and didn’t realize his fake store is mocking her real store, or she knows it’s snake oil and is continuing to sell it.

I think it’s more like they thought they were supposed to do that. I’m guessing they had no idea what to do, and putting an object in trash or recycle is something everyone understands, so that’s what their brain told them to do.

Back in the early 1990s, I worked at a small-town hardware store chain (nuts and bolts, not computers) that was computerizing. A few weeks after we rolled it out, a customer came in with two gift certificates to purchase one item.

It seems pretty basic now, but using two gift certificates to purchase one item was simply not a requirement anyone had thought of. The system had no way to ring it up. The assistant manager of the store did the smart thing and rung it up as a gift certificate plus cash for the balance, so that the customer was good to go. They had to do some adjustments on the back end for that one sale and then update the software to allow for that situation.

I always remember that when I’m working on requirements for systems, wondering what obvious things we’re not thinking of…

Ah. I could go into a whole rant about the car, but I really dislike driving it. I often say that I now understand why Mazda no longer uses “zoom zoom” in their commercials.

Thanks.

Let me guess, it’s probably also heavier.

We have a 2020 Mazda 3 that probably has that, instead of useful features like a remote start or fog lights. I’ve found that I much prefer driving my car from 1999 or even our pickup from 2014 (which itself has double gaskets on the doors for sound isolation). The Mazda feels like I’m in this isolated chamber with no road feel or anything from outside encroaching. If that’s luxury, count me out.

Why did they switch to laminated in the side and rear windows?

It is, but I’m the guy that originally said it, so you shouldn’t trust me. Here’s an article about it, and another article here.

It’s so crazy how true that is.

If you follow politics, the recent deal between Biden, Democrats, and the Republicans gave Republicans everything they supposedly wanted for border security. They aren’t voting for it because Trump wants to keep hitting Biden on that issue during the election. It’s fucking insane.

I’ve never used Rust, but this definitely reminds me of my days running Slackware on my computers.

Oh, hey, I’d like to run this new package. Great. I’ll need this dependency…and that one…and the one over there…

I know it now has dependency management, but I just couldn’t do it any more. I was tired of worrying about what was going to break. I started with Slackware in the 3.x days, too.

I switched my server to Debian, and I feel like I never have to worry about it any more. Laptop and desktop are both Kubuntu, but they’re going to go to Debian at some point in the near future.

Are you talking about people breaking in and stealing them? While I agree that was a stupid problem, it’s quite a bit different than a remote hacker taking over your brakes while you drive.

Someone figured out how to remotely take control of Chrysler vehicles with the Uconnect 8.4 systems a while back. So people are out there working on these things. Also, the more popular the car, the more likely someone is working on it.

To FCA’s credit in that case, they listened to the researchers and implemented several fixes very quickly to address the problem. I wouldn’t put it past many manufacturers to do the hands-over-the-ears “la la la” thing when faced with the same situation.

My “dream” car is a V6 Accord from the last year they made them, which I think is 2016. I’d buy one of those right now and just keep repairing it, and hope no one t-bones me. Unfortunately I think my wife is still in the mindset of “we should buy a new car and keep it forever”, which used to be my mindset, too. But she’s not seeing the news on this stuff like I am, either. I suspect if I explained “heated seat subscription” to her (a feature she will not buy a car without) she would object strenuously.

But I don’t like where new cars are going, at all. I don’t like subscriptions, I don’t like the backseat driver nanny features that blare out false alarms, and on the whole I’d rather not have adaptive cruise control (there are times when adaptive cruise is nice, but overall I prefer the old-style cruise control).

We have a 2020 Mazda that I absolutely hate driving; if that is the future of cars, I’m not interested.

I’m hoping my car and our pickup last forever. The other day we took the Mazda for an errand in poor weather because, as I said, “It’s the most expendable car.”

Yeah for connected features, there are those costs. A vehicle we own would let me remote start it and lock and unlock doors from the app…if I paid $15/month. It’s not worth it to me, so I’ve never paid for that service, and the vehicle works fine without it. I mostly even forget it exists. I might be more interested if it would report things like fuel level, oil and fuel filter replacement time, and so on, but it doesn’t (but even then I’m not sure it’d be worth $15/month).

A subscription for heated seats, though? No. I don’t want a subscription service for something that doesn’t have an ongoing cost to the manufacturer. For us in particular, we buy our cars with the intention of keeping them a long time, and I’m not paying that fee for the life of the car. I like cars that are paid off.

If I’m on a heated seat subscription and they break for some reason, who pays for them to be fixed?

Comparison on the heated seats repair question: I rent the water softener at my house for $29/month. (The previous owner set it up, and I haven’t gotten around to replacing it…it’s a “it’s working, and I have bigger issues” situation.) At this point I’ve paid for two of the highest-end home water softeners available, and I haven’t had a single issue with the one I have, so it’s definitely not the best setup financially. But, if my water softener dies today, I can call them, and they’ll come right out and fix it or replace it, no charge. So there is a benefit to that monthly subscription price; they take the risk of it failing, not me.

I’ve moderated many online forums going waaaay back (farther than I’d like to admit actually). I agree with you, and I want to explain decisions to the users too, so I’ll generally try to talk them as well. And sometimes we get a connection, and sometimes I realize I made a mistake. But in my experience, when they start playing lawyer, you’re not going to please them.

I never thought about the four categories of mods before, but what you wrote feels pretty accurate. I think I’m in that first group, and I try to avoid issues by moderating as lightly as possible.

When I’m in other groups or communities, sometimes I think, “If someone did that in my group, they’d get one warning, then I’d just ban them the second time it happened. Boom. End of discussion.” But I know that’s likely not how it would go in reality. LOL

The “legal eagles” are best ignored. Just ignore them. Most of the time they’ll just stop if you ignore them, because they want you to argue with them.

I have a Kodak Brownie here somewhere. I’ve never tried using it, but it should work - the shutter spring is in place and functional. The mirror for the viewfinder is messed up, too, so I might not be able to frame the shot correctly either.