Atlas

Phone? Yeah, I think I still have an app for that somewhere on this device.. In reality I have many phone apps for work and other communications. One of the unfortunate parts of still being on the clock. I'm older-millennial, and I particularly don't enjoy "talking on the phone". Need something, message me. If I don't pick up? Don't leave a voicemail, send a text instead, and why didn't you send a text in the first place. Someone died? Message me and tell me we need to meet, or talk on the phone somewhere privately, that way I know it's serious and to make time/space. My parents drive me nuts in this regard. They still call - for everything - so every time I see one of their names pop up, they may just be calling to catch up, or make plans, or maybe someone died or is in the hospital. Ya just never know.

I can't believe how many seniors I know who enjoy marijuana. Drinking is just meh. Too many calories, too rough on the organs. I used to enjoy it some but rarely touch the stuff these days.

Not sure we read the same post. He insulted you, it wasn’t a proposition.

You got one tied on already, or just excited for the NYE festivities? Lol

No, that’s not my style. I’m likely to have a boring night too. By design. There’s nothing wrong with boring AF. Still curious how sexual deviants came up.

Sounds boring AF. Who mentioned anything about sexual deviants? Is someone sending leg pics again?

It will be a miracle if I'm still up at 10pm tonight. I don't get wild for NYE, never preferred that. The best start to a New Year, IMO is a good night of sleep and waking with a clear mind. @customboss Gay neighbors are the best. Hug your Trans friend. And give the old people a pat on the head for me. Sounds like my family too.

Late winter when the roads heave and bust up is really bad. That and the use of car-eating, caustic deicers all winter long.

Are you done this time? Done like the last 17 times you've exited the forum in a huff, said you were never coming back, told us we were all being ignored, or that you were "done" with a certain topic, only to reply 5 more times?

There's no common ground with those on the far-right who excuse that kind of lying, corruption, and grifting. Stay away from politics, Stan. If you can't be truthful and can't distinguish right from wrong, nobody wants you to be part of the discussion.

There's a difference between basically a courtesy/elective buyback, and a buyback that resulted in the title being branded as a Lemon in accordance with Lemon law. Lemon laws vary by state, but a Carfax would tell you if it actually has a branded title. That is different from simply having an event history that states the vehicle was reacquired by the manufacturer. If no lemon branding, then the vehicle should qualify for the best "new car" interest rates available to you (new car rates from banks typically apply to the last 3-5 model years and under a certain number of miles, even if the car is "used"). You should already know what you qualify for based on your credit score and what your local bank/credit union offers you. Don't let the dealer dictate your financing unless they are willing to best an outside financing offer you already have... Insurance should also be no different from any other used vehicle provided the title is clear. If you are planning to own the truck long term until it's old and fully depreciated, I'd use the buyback as a negotiation to pay less. If they say they already have it discounted, kick them harder. Expensive trucks aren't exactly flying off the shelves these days, new or used. FYI... although the last 8 of a VIN isn't technically sensitive information, you probably don't want it floating around on the internet or at least publicly viewable on a forum. You can edit your post to remove it. If a forum member is offering assistance, maybe pull a GM VIS report from GM's database for you, you can communicate via private message.

Side note... has anyone checked on @txab lately? Did he quit? Or, hopefully just away enjoying the Holidays?

Fair. I'll PM when I have a few minutes to sit down and explain my conclusions.

The infrastructure vs BEV argument will forever be chicken-egg. If nobody builds BEV's there is no incentive to build out charging infrastructure. If there's no charging infrastructure, BEV manufacturers have a hard time wooing customers. The grid is largely privatized here in the US. What we know is if there is demand, they will build. Else there's no way we'd ever support any of our population growth or other technological pursuits, like AI. I'm not a fan of REV, just like I'm not a fan of hybrids. It's all the complexity and cost of both ICE and BEV in one vehicle. But, if this is what will win minds/hearts of carbuyers to experiment with BEV tech beyond hybrids, then I suppose it isn't half bad.

Your inability to think with any real breadth and granularity always makes me laugh, Stan. It's not "intelligent design" or else, just chaos, and nothing else. The choice isn't only between hanging out with church friends, or bar friends (nonsecular, or, presumably secular). But this is what you've been trained to believe in your binary world. Some people need that simplicity and reassurance. In fact, I don't believe that most humans are doubtful by nature. You are a shining example of someone who doesn't appear doubtful on many issues including ones where evidence is in plain sight.

$3.65 for 87 octane down here in the SoCal desert cities at the discount stations.

We would 100% do it again, too. We have less than a year remaining on our EV's lease (BMW iX). I doubt we'll keep it. We love the car, but it's a numbers game. BMW wildly over-estimated the residual value. We've been watching the used market and there's just no way. I'd think they'd be smart to come to the table with a better offer, else they'll have piles of lease returns on dealer lots. If they do, we will keep it. It is the "car of choice" for most driving. We're going to be over the allotted mileage at lease-end. Meanwhile, my 6-month old Silverado sits in the garage with 1500 miles on it. Oops.

I wonder if GM will abandon EV's with the change in the winds, like Ford is doing. It's too bad, GM makes some good products--so does Ford. I think you are wise to lease, as anything can happen from here.

Someone who is religious would naturally want to defend their views. I reject that anything about an intelligent design would originate from a jealous, spiteful narcissist, except for maybe human nature / the human condition itself. Biology, and Life itself appears to be more trial-and-error than anything planned or foreseen. And that's part of what makes it beautiful/fragile. I think you took a lighthearted and cheeky statement and turned it into a philosophical one.

You are not wrong. Information security applies to AI just like it does PII and other sensitive information. You would not want to give AI services any information that you wouldn't mind broadcasting publicly. But that doesn't mean AI services can't be used. For example, prompting it with questions to gather and provide a real estate market analysis for a particular area. Asking AI for cooking tips and recipes. Doing research for hobbies or other pursuits. It can be very useful without being exploitative.

My parents (mid 70's) began embracing technology in retirement almost 20 years ago. Back then I laid a few ground rules. If you want me to help support your devices and answer your tech questions, you will buy Apple devices only for phones and computers. That stuck. When dad had a heart attack in ~2017, he embraced wearing an Apple Watch going forward for the fall protection / alert stuff. Since then it's gotten into alerting for potential abnormal heart rhythms, and he has that now. Still can't get my mom to wear one - mostly because she can't see or deal with screens that small (eyes and arthritis). But she probably needs it the most. The biggest challenge has been keeping them safe in a digital world. Password management and having them practice good digital housekeeping in general. They don't know what they don't know about information security. Tech is too much like work. My devices are serviceable but aren't the latest hardware. They get replaced with new hardware when it's time. I'm running a 3 year old laptop and my phone is old. Too old. I'll be upgrading shortly from an iPhone 12 pro to a 17. Apple still supports the 12 but it's basically EOL/ end of life. There's a lot of fluff in technology these days. Features and IOT/Internet of Things that nobody really asked for. A good example is our refrigerator - it has an app. Our oven has an app. We don't use either app because they do nothing useful. A useful feature would be push notifications if the refrigerator temperature unexpectedly drops below its set temperature. It does not do that. I refer to our EV as the "software car". It took a long time to learn and set everything up. It too requires device and software management. Too much like work. I struggle with AI. Much like the internet eclipsed my parents, I'm at the age where AI could eclipse me. I implement AI functionality at work. Much of AI is junk. I have yet to find an actual use for myself, personally, but I push myself to continue learning and using things like ChatGPT and learning how to better prompt and converse with AI to get better results. AI is worth paying attention to.

How's it been? Still like it?

It'll be a cool 72 degrees for a high today in the low desert. Wish it would be like this year round, but then, a lot more people would live here.

LOL!! Uh, yeah, I don't know the guy from Adam. Interesting fella though, and if our paths ever cross I'd buy him his drink of choice.