JoshuaFalken @ JoshuaFalken @lemmy.world

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2 yr. ago

Do you live in a city or an are with a lower population? I strap the helmet on in the city or doing some speed, but when we're out visiting with family in the country or a small town, we usually go without it.

I've been using Shokz for a decade now. They've replaced a couple sets at no cost. I wear mine every day. Even for the occasional swim.

Listening to podcasts definitely gives longer battery life than listening to music. Though even the odd time I've drained the battery in a day, I charge it with a battery pack for fifteen minutes and it's charged again.

Not many products I'd say are worth every cent, but from the quality to the customer service, Shokz are great.

I agree. A truck can be a good option for some, but as you point out, most people aren't doing a DIY project each weekend. The F150 can be optioned out to a six figure price tag. It's inconceivable to me.

I'm acquainted with the owner of a middle sized plumbing company, and he had a close call with a dog that got loose one day. Not his fault, and he was able to stop in time, but nonetheless it bothered him. Couple months go by and he switched all his service trucks out for transit vans.

The newer style vans with the slanted front end gives far more visibility, twice the cargo space without having to climb up into the bed, they don't weigh as much, and are more fuel efficient. All at the same price point.

An unfortunate side effect of modern life is that many people see purchases like a vehicle or a house as these monthly costs that, on the face of them, they can afford. The trouble is they don't consider the overall cost of the purchase, let alone the ongoing cost in terms of routine maintenance and unexpected repairs.

It's a shame, but when something is marketed as though it'll make you the toughest in town, who wouldn't pay $181.50 _weekly at 0% APR _{for the first three months}.

Couldn't put it on the roof? I saw a wagon once with a chest freezer strapped to the roof and couldn't stop laughing.

U-Haul is a titan of the moving industry, but it's still surprising how few people would consider an occasional rental, be it a trailer like you used or even a truck, as part of owning a regular car. You spent around $100 to rent that trailer for a day? Imagine spending quadruple that - every month for a decade - just to ensure you have 24/7 access to 24 square feet of cargo space. Not to mention double in fuel compared to your Jetta.

Even ignoring the renting aspect, pretty well everyone knows a couple people that already have a pick up truck. Just borrow it for a day or two when you do a project or buy a new stove, fill the tank, and buy them their beverage of choice. It's not complicated.

More people should be like you.

You may live somewhere where people constantly tow travel trailers or large boats, but this isn't the case everywhere. Loads of people buy trucks with the idea the bed will be used every other weekend, then they end up commuting to an office job and getting groceries. If they were primarily used for hauling things around, the average truck wouldn't have a larger passenger cabin than its cargo bed.

Station wagons can just as easily go to the hardware store and pick up full sheets of plywood, load up the lawn mower and trimmer, and as much sporting equipment as a family could wear. What wagons don't have is the aggressive design that pick up trucks have come to be.

Most cars could tow a single axle utility trailer if you needed to move what I mentioned - even appliances or furniture. I know a couple that tow a two person caravan with a Mini Cooper. Even when someone does need larger weight or volume capacity on a regular basis, a van has most of the benefits of a pick up truck with better fuel efficiency.

I realize this isn't why you mentioned the range of those vehicles, but I like to point out where I can that only a single digit percentage of all driven trips are more than fifty miles.

More to the point of the thread, if people could get over this reason for not buying electric, there could be much cheaper options by halving the battery capacities in these vehicles. Of course that would mean the manufacturers would have to make them, which seems unlikely. Worthwhile to point out though I think.

How do you find Ground News? I've seen them advertise on Climate Town and similar, but haven't seen any individual mention them until right now.

I gave xManager a go, and while it doesn't have ads interrupting your listening, it does still have all the Spotify pop up ads trying to get you to upgrade to premium. It's fine when listening, but selecting what you're listening to is still irritating.

Seems like you're describing renting in an apartment complex or similar. Not exactly an apples to apples comparison to owning a single family home.

Not that you've raised bad points. Renting does have the benefits you've described, though lawn care in my experience is hit and miss. The issue is getting these benefits must cost something. So long as having them doesn't mean the rent is double the mortgage, then it's worthwhile.

Otherwise, renting is just another more expensive option for all the people that can't afford the upfront cost of getting into the housing market.

When shirts are worn less than a dozen times on average before they get tossed in the landfill, those branded shirt companies should be paying you.

Convenient video from today about this exact topic.

I see what you mean. People use their devices at different levels. That may not be the best way to put it.

My meaning is that a portion of the users will be the type to spend a couple hours digging through each setting on a new device to set it to their needs. Another group will use the device with minimal initial adjustments, and tweak things as they find things they don't like. Then there's a third group that will almost never open a preferences panel and just use a device by its factory settings, likely to never consider potential improvements to their user experience.

From what you've said, I imagine your in that second group. I myself am in the first one I described; I look at the options of any hardware I purchase or software I download before I actually begin to use it.

Unfortunately - in the context of this post - the number of people in that third group I imagine outnumber us by multiple orders of magnitude, and therefore companies with shareholders to appease will always manufacture devices with as much bloat and advertising and invasive data mining as they can be paid to put in.

I think that last bit is more of a 'what you make of it' situation, regardless of how smart or dumb a phone is.

Unfortunately the manufacturers want the data and advertising revenue, and they'd only be persuaded to offer an alternative if they made the same amount of money.

If each sale of a $900 smart phone gives them $100 of ad revenue over a couple years, I'd bet my bottom dollar they would charge $200 for the 'dumb' version.

Unfortunately, like most issues we face, this is not a stand alone problem. I'll concede, over the length of ownership of the car, a brand new electric vehicle is more environmentally friendly than keeping your current combustion engine vehicle.

However, we don't live in a society where the majority can make that choice independent of other factors. EVs are more expensive across the board.

Even if the purchasing cost of an off-the-lot EV were equivalent to continued use of an older ICE across two years - most people can not afford it.

A big difference I find is having the separations be padding and not a line. Even if each option took up the same number of pixels, the line makes it too visually crowded.

I'll give Voyager a go and see how it is.

Might be a hold over from Reddit is Fun but I can't say I'm keen on the way the voting is displayed there. Seems to take up too much real estate maybe?

Either way, I'm not a fan of colouring certain text or the lines dividing each post. Both these things make is too busy for my taste.

Then again, maybe I'm just bland.

Here's what posts look like in my compact configuration of Jerboa:

I see buses as a good method of figuring out routes when first implementing a transit system similar to how some developments leave out walking paths to see where people typically walk and install them afterwards.

Generally though, trams can allow for more passengers transported per trip and per operator than a bus. Good for high and low traffic areas with dedicated transit lanes.

Don't get me wrong - trams certainly don't replace buses. Multiple forms of transit are best practice of course. I just don't see the need for only buses or mostly buses.

As a minor detail, tires are one of the top polluters of both microplastics and noise levels in cities, and it would be nice to lower the amount of them being disintegrated in the process of moving people from place to place - be in from buses, or the larger culprit, private vehicles.

I've been using Jerboa for that reason. Condensed information so I'm not constantly scrolling.

What's Connect look like for you?

For further than bike distance, it's confounding why cities don't have a tram system.

If something is being moved from one place to another, and back again, you would of course look for more efficient ways to move that thing. Use a box.

When there's dozens of those things making the same trip, put them together in the same transport method. It's not complicated. Factories don't have people moving one product at a time to the next station. They have conveyor belts or similar to accomplish the task.

When needed, sure, have an electric car that someone could drive. But it's not necessary for a good portion of the population.

I can't say I've seen any people 'forcing' others to go out and replace a perfectly functional combustion car with an electric one - the manufacturers maybe. Most of the conversation I see is focused on the lack of low cost options when it's time to purchase a brand new vehicle. Gas and electric both.

Once you move away from the brand new discussion, it seems pretty well agreed that keeping what you've got is the best option environmentally and financially. Buying used being a close second.

Freedom is important. But when the industry only offers you trucks and SUVs, where's your choice?

Electricity isn't critical?

In terms of road costs, the vehicle being electric or combustion isn't particularly relevant in a country where the most popular vehicle crosses the scales above 4,000 pounds.