Exactly right. I still can't believe that George W. Bush was permitted to run for the Republican party. The man's mind is like Newton's Cradle with the five brain cells clacking together, it was brutal to watch.
TBH, I'm glad to see so many on the road now that I'm seeing fewer MGBs. The Miata's a worthy successor to foreign-auto roadster: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_MGB
I read through their new posts and “strategies” frequently, mostly out of a sort of morbid fascination, but also a desire to protect myself from men.
Sound advice, it's useful to recognize the bullshit lingo & rhetoric that's all a part of these idiotic schemes (see: "Pickup Artists"). I realized that one of my acquaintances had started slipping those catchphrases into convos years ago, and it caught me off guard. They hadn't seemed like much of an asshole before, but it raised my hackles knowing that they weren't just reviewing the media, but integrating it into their personality/beliefs without any sort of filter.
There's been an uptick in people interested in the older Ford F-series trucks and C/K Chevs. Barebones dash, heating & A/C system, radio, glove box. No weird electronic options, to Lowjack, nothing. I'm hopeful of some of the Japanese companies releasing new-model vehicles without all of the extra electronic baloney, but that's a problem for another day.
I think that it was BMW or Jaguar that proposed a subscription-based seat heating option? I don't know where these people get their ideas, it's just wild.
You could do it, assuming that you had the genuine schematics available to you, but even something so harmless as modifying the components to remove wireless connectivity could violate clauses on both your car insurance and/or car's warranty.
I asked an older relative about this sort of idea years ago when these systems were new, and they related to me a story about an acquaintance who had decades earlier modified the electronics on their car (automatic cabin light activation when doors open), and wound up burning to death after an accident because they inadvertently damaged the car's electronic lock control system. I'm not saying that you need to be a Professor of Electrical Engineering, but please reconsider.
I've been saying it for years, starting with those idiotic voice activated "smart" speakers from Google or Amazon in people's homes. Nobody pays attention to what's happening behind the scenes, even when the press breaks a story about some unsavoury bullshit (https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47893082) like "voice recordings are occasionally reviewed to improve speech recognition but the reaction to the Bloomberg article suggests many customers are unaware that humans may be listening." That's you, that's you and your GF/wife talking about your work (possibly including restricted information), friends and family, politics, or about how you're trying to work on getting your entire hand to fit inside of her. The thought that these same companies would design and furnish technology for vehicles without engaging in the same kind of stuff is absurd.
Too few people know, fewer care if you bother to tell them about it. They'd be aghast to know that what they had bought and installed in their living room/dining room/den/bedroom/bathroom is essentially a voluntary bug, yet telling them that the cops could subpoena the companies in question to excise the unit's data and review everything they've been saying in the privacy of their vehicle over a relevant (or maybe not-so-relevant) period of time pursuant to an investigation usually will get you idiotic comments about how "if you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about."
The content in question can at the very least affect their insurance, at worst be used as a honeypot by people seeking to exert influence via blackmail, or extort the person in question. The end-user risk is the same as that described concerning their use in households. Just think about all of the "uncomfortable conversations" or sex that you've had in your/someone else's car over the decades - ask yourself if you'd want an open mic sitting there, which may or may not be later reviewed by persons unknown. This is the kind of information which may become available to cops, and worse yet, they don't always need warrants. There's been a pervasive culture of simply leaning into those unwilling to turn it over, in the kind of theme seen in recent years with doorbell cams. I can't imagine that they wouldn't pull the same routine with a vehicle's computer data, whether or not it involves cameras/mics.
I'm not generally a big fan of outsourcing, but he might consider hiring someone who doesn't become completely useless at elevations higher than 2000m, and need a helicopter rescue...
"Media reports said the climber had returned to the 3,776-metre peak on Friday because he had left his phone and other items at the scene of his first rescue. It was unclear if he had managed to find the device."
LMAO, how mad were the rescue crews the second time around though? "You again? What the fuck is your problem?!"
I'm not that old, and have only seen a single, filthy example, but the older style of discontinued public washroom hand drying towels were disgusting in a really intense kind of way. It never got the opportunity to completely dry, and add to that situation that every single asshole who only rinsed his dickbeaters after shitting instead of washing them was griming it up instead of just drying their hands.
Millennial? No we don't we were there the whole time...