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I think most people support social programs if they work, the problem is most are never evaluated to see if they work, and when an evaluation does occur, it’s found that they don’t. This is from a New York Times piece back in 2015: “Despite decades of efforts and trillions of dollars in...

From another article about his bail: “…(judge) Luis said he could not justify reducing the bond to the $ 20,000 bond requested by the defendant’s attorney, Michael Castillo. Bail was set at $ 100,000. “I don’t know what ties him here,” he said. “He has no family, no family ties to northern...

Evaluating students is easy, it’s called grades. The problem there though is nobody ever really fails k-12 because we just pass everyone along whether they learn anything or not. College is getting that way now too. Even with that, today the push is to eliminate grading entirely because too many...

We’ll see. My tractor only sees sunlight when I’m in the seat and we’ve had plastic panels on cars and trucks for decades with no problems. If it wasn’t for a plastic hood I’d be off buying a new one next week anyway so if I have to get a new hood in 20 years because it got brittle I’m OK with that.

I spend a lot of time on trails in the woods with my 3032e and there are times when I wished for something smaller so there’s a lot to be said for that. I can vouch for the benefit of plastic panels too. I was doing some clearing and had a big branch fall and crash into the hood yesterday. If it...

I recently drove through New Mexico near White Sands and up through Albuquerque and I can’t even count the number of what looked like abandoned cattle ranches and farms. You could see tanks (farm ponds) that were long dry, windmill pumps left to rot, and no livestock in sight. That was virtually...

The problem with evaluating teachers based on student performance is how you measure that performance. We’ve done countless social experiments where we sent kids from underperforming schools with ‘bad’ teachers to schools that excel because of ‘good’ teachers and vice versa, and oddly enough the...

Mine too! Learned to code on that in middle school. Had a tape recorder for storage and a memory dongle that plugged into the back. Think it was an extra 16k maybe? If you accidentally bumped it you'd lose everything. Good times...

Places like San Francisco get exactly what they ask for, and when they tire of it they'll do what's necessary to stop it. However, they won't learn from their mistake because to do so would violate all they believe in.

The problem with all the “gps don’t work here“ and “we got no grid” and “people want to drive because freedom” arguments is that you’re trying to view the future through the lens of today. That’s not how the future works. GPS and mapping in particular grow at an exponential rate, and with...

They're following what I call the Grandy's Bankruptcy Model(tm). It goes like this: Restaurant (or store) A has a decent business going and things are good. One day Restaurant B opens up across the street, taking half their customers. Restaurant A, which is now making half as much as before...

This is why Amazon dominates. Why would you spend hours of your time fighting traffic, parking, then hunting through countless isles (where every store is organized differently) trying to find the 6 things you need only to discover they don’t have two of them, then waiting in a line 7 people...

If Tesla was releasing a phone, a built-out Starlink constellation would be a prerequisite. It will be entertaining to watch as Amazon enters the same space. It’s like an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object in the race to disrupt Internet and cellular service as we know it today.

This reminds me of when Obama tried fixing healthcare. Once doctors, big insurance and big pharma started screaming, that’s how you knew we were on the right track (even though he ultimately failed, but that’s for a different thread). When emission controls were mandated in the 70s the...

Reminds me of talking to my mother. She was a career public school teacher and she’d start railing about the government, then I’d remind her that she worked for the government and not only did she try to deny it, the mere accusation offended her greatly, which is exactly why I did it ;) She...

My place is a gated community, it’s just a community of one (us). The wife claims to be head of the HOA but I refuse to acknowledge her authority. The closest gate is about 1000 feet away and anyone caught on the wrong side will have to first take it up with the two dogs, and let me tell you...

I’ll happily go on record and say Tesla all by itself will make more profit in the next 20 years than all those companies combined. By a lot.

It’s not just how much you get, it’s how much you can keep and roll over. Check out Benefits. Benefits that generous are unheard of for the majority of private sector jobs.

Learned something new today: rice tires are a thing.

Ha! That quite literally made my chuckle out loud. Big league multinationals internally re-org constantly. The running joke is that if you don’t like some policy just wait six months and the next guy or gal will change it. If we stayed on any course for even two years my eyes would pop out in...

Interesting thread. All I’ll say is - I have lots of experience with government employees and offices. Budgets aside, if my business was run as poorly as they are we would have gone bankrupt long ago. - My extended family is about 50/50 private vs government employed. Based on what I learned...

This is a gross oversimplification but stocks are about what you’ll do tomorrow, not what you did yesterday. Tesla is literally building starships to take the first humans to Mars and they own IP that will dominate the future world. Ford and GM are basically buggy whip makers saddled with...

I may be doing it wrong but I've been maintaining 5-7 acres within a much larger place for years and I use all kinds of battery powered stuff. Battery leaf blower, battery trimmers, battery chainsaw, battery polesaw, battery hedge trimmers - they all work great. You know how some people utterly...

In the late 1800s NYC was having to remove over 3 million pounds of manure and 40 rotting horse carcasses from city streets every day. Most big cities back then were essentially toxic waste dumps filled with incredible amounts of disease and filth. Ironically it was the gas powered car that was...

This idea that 'the good ole days' were better is maybe the most widely held false myth today. Sure not every last thing is objectively better but on the whole the world is far better today than it's ever been. Crime getting worse? Nope, it's down by a lot. More war? Nope, there's far less today...

It’s bad for the economy, great for the environment. But it’s inevitable either way. You see it across all societies once they advance enough. In the beginning people have a ton of kids for a variety of reasons, then as those societies mature they have less and less until populations actually...

Could not agree more. People with insurance or Medicare have no clue what healthcare really costs so why should they care? $10? $1,000,000? What’s the difference? We see this exact same thing in the oil market. You undermine the free market by hiding the true cost for something and the whole...

When and if anything does get banned, and nothing has been decided yet, you’re free to use existing equipment as long as you want.

You guys are killing me. It takes $30 in ethanol-free gas each week just to cut my grass.

What the bill says is that state regulators must, by mid 2022, create regulations that prohibit the sale of new gas-powered equipment that has 25hp or less off-road engines by Jan. 1, 2024, or once the California Air Resources Board says such a law is feasible, whichever date comes later. That’s...

So what I’m hearing is that a heater can’t break the laws of physics? Surely that can’t be.

So any of you guys hear about that Deere strike? What’s up with that? They making tractors again yet?

The 3pt hitch on the new Corvettes is way better now. You’d be a chump to go with the older one even if it does have an AM radio. And did I tell you why AM is better than FM? Well, hold on to your hat but it all started way back when Big Radio and the government…

Many good ideas here. I’m taking a “spend less money in general” approach but mostly because this inflation bubble is going to pop and some things will get super cheap. Doesn’t make sense to stock up on $10 widgets if you think they’ll be $5 next year. There are many similarities between now and...

I always thought this was one of the biggest lost opportunities of the covid crisis. What a perfect time to have a national debate on healthcare affordability and accessibility for all us citizens. But nope, we decided to take a different path based on a statistically questionable narrative that...

The most surprising thing about all this is that you got to talk to an actual human. Most companies go to great effort and expense to make sure that never happens.

Forgot about that one. Actually had a relative who got shafted in that deal somehow and he wasn't even union. He was quite bitter and had much to say about unions and their crazy contracts after that.

They don't go under, they just move to China and India. Then everybody complains because there are no good jobs left.

Many bigger companies are switching to the 'total compensation' model when discussing such things with employees just because of that. So many people have no clue that even for a good (not great) plan it costs on average about $2,000 a month with family benefits. I've seen total compensation for...

You don't have to sell me. Now if I can just find a sugar momma to buy me one...

Well sure, building 401k retirement wealth is fine if that's your thing, but Beyonce' and Patrick Mahomes actually earn their money. Are you not entertained?

Oh my. I'll just say that while there are bits of truth sprinkled here and there, conceptually you've been grossly misinformed. But I know this is a religious debate within the IT crowd so don't mind me. That's awesome, but people have been running out the Linux Defense for decades yet here we...

I don't know anything about those 7 people or what they do or how long they've been there but in the past 5 years Deere leadership created about 75 billion dollars of additional wealth for shareholders, of which anyone with a few hundred bucks in their pocket can join. Even regular peasants like...

I was getting excited until I saw the price o_O

You are right in the end but for all the wrong reasons. All I'll respectfully say is IMHO you don't fully understand what a CEO does, what to takes to get there, the value a good one brings to a company, or why jobs are compensated the way they are. A revolt will happen but it won't be because...

I would very much not be amazed by any of that and I think most people these days know we live in a global economy. Hard not to know that with what's going on today. While the overall story can get extremely muddied, there's a lot more that goes into it than just shares. Since this is a tractor...

Plus there are subsidies and then there are "subsidies". Without getting too political, how much would the US truly care about the Middle East if there was no oil there? About as much as we care what happens in Togo and Botswana, which is not at all. From Carter to Biden, all that "caring" has...

I didn't read all 9 pages of responses so my apologies if this has already been covered. Also didn't see where you were located. When we bought our place it was almost the exact scenario you describe and here's what I would say: Building a gravel road: We've gone down that road (no pun...

This is all why when a noob asks what tractor they should buy, the top answer is “whichever one has the best dealer support”. If you’re lucky you’ll never need them but if you do they’re invaluable. And with just a little bit of effort by Kioti and the dealer, this could have been a thread...

There’s a lot of talk about that but it’s kind of a chicken/egg thing. In some ways it’ll mean the first will need to be better than those coming later. That’s the rub - we demand perfect solutions. We’re A-OK killing a couple hundred thousand with people driven cars, but put a computer in...

This is the key from that article: ”Asked how this can be turned around, Steiner told CNBC: “Well, many economists essentially agree that if you were to introduce a carbon price that reflects the true cost of using that fossil fuel in our economies today, you would actually very quickly create...

Most universities would argue that’s exactly what they’re doing. Where it falls apart is that in reality they do neither outside of a few small exceptions. When I was a junior in college (many decades ago) I got hired into what is now a top 5 tech company. In the first month they taught me more...

What I always say is it doesn’t need to be level, it just needs to look level ;)

While I know I’ll probably never need it, when I’m dropping $30k or more on something I sleep easy knowing I have a solid dealer who will be there for me.

No one really argues that EVs aren't cheaper when it comes to fueling and maintenance costs. It's not even close. I won't go into details since we've been there earlier in the thread but the truth is out there. Battery production isn't 100% clean but there's very little legitimate debate...

If I got paid $132,000 a year to do nothing I’d be a huge fan of the union. Beats working for your money like a chump.

This is the industry version of clickbait. 1. Create a study that claims something shocking. 2. Make it part of a series with the first one free (the rest of this series is available only by subscription). 3. Peddle it to people and groups pushing an agenda. 4. Profit! Just a few of the...

If my phone rings and I don’t recognize the number I don’t answer. If it’s important they’ll leave a message and I’ll call back at my convenience. Not a strategy that works for company phones though. I feel like this is a problem that will eventually solve itself since I’m not sure most younger...

From what I’ve read they had two similar live fire accidents (!) on that set days before this happened. People complained it wasn’t safe but nobody did anything about it. The armorer was only 24 years old too so probably not terribly experienced. No doubt there will be countless lawsuits up to...

This. Over 175,000 cars catch fire and burn to the ground each year but nobody is concerned. Natural gas leaks regularly blow entire houses off their foundation but nobody cares. Gasoline fumes are the direct cause of over 20,000 house fires a year but people never think twice about storing and...

After demo'ing one a while back I decided that I really wanted a Z930M as my next mower. I have a 5 series now which is nothing compared to the 9 series, and mine has been an absolutely tank. Before I got my tractor it hauled logs out of the woods, graded my driveway, hauled material, cut...

Sounds like lawyer-speak ;) I've had lots of different chargers for lots of different tools and batteries and I've never seen or even heard of an actual real world problem. As big as the world is I'm sure somebody has seen one though.

Why would you not just leave the battery on the charger when not in use? All the talk of dead batteries has me really confused.

Is that website run by Hugo Chavez?

I don't think anyone ever said capitalism was perfect. As the old cliché goes: Capitalism sucks, it just happens to suck less than every other system there is.

This is why Elon Musk and Tesla are killing the other automakers. Tesla is increasing profitability and sales even with the chip shortage because they're finding alternative chips and rewriting their firmware to support it. If you know what all goes into something that, it's mind blowing they...

For me it's Deere because: 1. The history of the brand emotionally connects me with the amazing history of the US. 2. I can buy and get service from a so-called "real" dealer instead of a lawnmower shop. 3. I do most of my own troubleshooting and it's super easy to find tons of detailed...

If you're saying the common workers don't get to dictate the terms of their employment that's true, but if you're saying "capitalists" don't think workers should have a say that's patently false. I'm pretty sure my current employer is a capitalist and we are constantly asked to provide feedback...

My batteries live in the charger when not attached to the tool. I've been doing it for many many years and never saw any ill effects or found myself needing a battery but it was dead. For most I get a 2nd battery anyway so when you have big jobs you can have one charging while the other is being...

This. The single most important factor in every job I've had is my boss. A good boss makes everyone around them better, a bad one does the opposite. A good leader adds value that goes way beyond their salary and their immediate scope of influence, a bad one is a cancer that poisons everything...

We're wanting to have a complete, turn-key metal building built on our property and the choices seem overwhelming to say the least. Has anyone had one built recently in or around the north Texas/Oklahoma area? Who did you use and would you recommend them? Any lessons learned that you wish you...

There's a good lesson from corporate America in there. My version goes like this: When you walk around and notice that some process is broken, realize that somebody somewhere very much wants that process to be broken. The catch is you just don't know why. Contrary to popular belief, the people...

That's a good point that many overlook. The CEO of Deere made "only" about $1.2 million in salary, the rest was bonus, short-term incentives, long term incentives, stock, retirement, etc. All up, only about 28% of the total compensation package was cash. The rest was paid only because the CEO...

That just depends on what you view as the proper role of government, which is always open to opinion. Should the government control markets and set pricing, either for labor or goods? I'd argue that currently economic mobility is higher in a freer (in the economic sense) system like in the US...

You misunderstood, but that's probably my fault because it's hard to convey economic theory accurately in an Internet forum post. In the first statement that "somebody else" is another unrelated human being that exists outside the scope of similar employment. In my example it's not. In reality...

Our Nubian goats all have very distinct personalities, come when called, know their names and love getting rubbed on and scratched behind the ears. They're genuinely excited when they see you and they love to play too, with people or other goats. Much like any animal, I suspect you get out of...

I never really got the thought process where you think you’re entitled to X because somebody else got Y, or that you “deserved” X amount just because you have a pulse, or have some noble profession. Economically your value is precisely however much it would cost to replace you. If my boss could...

No problem:

I really liked your story but then I thought all peanuts were boiled? Or maybe I’m exposing my southern upbringing. Don’t eat the shells though.

Must be nice. We share a road that has a painted wooden gate with a neighbor. The gate was falling apart and looked terrible. One day the whole gate section falls over in the middle of the road so we go out and reattach the gate, repair the wood, even give it a fresh coat of paint. Better than...

This is what gets me when you hear the "If California was a country it's economy would be bigger than <some country>" argument, or you hear how much Californians care about the environment. Seems like if California was it's own country it wouldn't even be able to support itself since they import...

The law only bans the sale of new gas equipment, meaning you can keep using whatever you got until it dies. The law also doesn't go into effect January 2024 "or as soon as regulators determine is feasible, whichever date is later" so depending on how you define "feasible" it could be a very long...

Or grown any new dinosaurs. Yet. Fun trivia but oil doesn't really come from dead dinosaurs. I guess there could potentially be some random dead dinosaur in your oil but that's one of those wives tales that just keeps going.

The Texas problem was a one time event caused by very unusual weather circumstances not seen in decades. Rolling blackouts there are virtually nonexistent. California's power problems and rolling blackouts are chronic. There's really no comparison whatsoever.

For us the best part of country living is not being close to the city. There are definitely lots of perks to being in a city but in the country we can go days without seeing or hearing another human - that's awesome. We're far enough out that we don't even hear or see planes flying over. It's...

Don’t forget all the oil changes, filters, fuel additives, belts, valve adjustments, spark plugs, etc. Or the gas cans and all the time spent keeping them filled up. And what do you think a gallon of gas will cost next year, or in 10 years? They’re paying almost $4.50 a gallon in Cali now, easy...

Mahindra Tractors (the company) is part of Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M). They're big in India and China.

Some things I'd ask are: - How exactly does it die? Does it start sputtering then die or does it just turn off? - Can you restart it immediately? If not, how long until it will start again? - If it doesn't restart immediately, does it sound like it wants to start but can't, or does the engine...

It's not just what you do in town, it feels different to me. We have a city place and a rural place, and I dread doing yard type work at the city place. Doing the same at the rural place is a joy. Not sure why.

There's a million ways you can define the question: Best selling in the US? Best selling in the world? Best selling subcompact? It's also hard because some companies produce multiple brands, so do you want the best selling brand or the company that sells the most tractors? Conceptually those are...

The day a battery powered ZTR has a lifetime cost less than gas is the day I buy one, and that day is getting very close even with a purchase price thousands more. My blowers, trimmers, polesaw, and chainsaw are electric now and I’d never go back. If I never have to deal with the maintenance...

Don't take this the wrong way OP but the impression I get from the words you wrote is: This is an extremely difficult, high-maintenance client with way too much drama. The kind of client that a smart pro doesn't want to deal with no matter how big a sale because the headaches and complaining...

That looks like the nasty clay that's all over north Texas. Gets about as hard as concrete when it's super dry. If that's what it is then watering will just make it worse because it turns into goo that sticks to everything. Based on the pics I'd just grab the tiller and have at it. I've done...

My only thought is don't over think it. You'll never find the perfect tractor looking at a spreadsheet full of specs with reach and weight and which one has floor mats, etc. Half of the ones you think are important will be forgotten a month or so after you buy it. Find a dealer close to you...

I live in the land of mesquite thorns and use Slime. 500 hours later and not even a small leak. I don't even bother checking tire pressure any more because it never changes.

It all depends on where you're coming from. Just like all places, some people live in the country because they have to, others do it because they choose to. You see the difference in their attitudes and how they care for their place. If you have to live in the country then it's definitely not a...

Considering Ford can't even produce a garden variety gas powered F150 this is not surprising.

It's not just farting cows, it's also those darn feral hogs: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210719153519.htm#:~:text=Summary%3A,cars%2C%20according%20to%20new%20research.

After reading that article I get the impression the author isn't a fan of the Salton Sea: "...the whole lake became a fetid, foul-smelling death-pond, littered with carcasses and bones and swarming with flies. I’ve been to the Salton Sea, a number of years back, and it is without a doubt one of...

I'm not sure there's much "fixing" that can be done besides filling in holes, but one thing I'll say is be very careful about how you and others build on that land. For example, if you have a road built, many will want to bring in a dozer and push surrounding dirt to build up the roadbed. Don't...

23 cents a kWh? I didn't watch the video so maybe I missed something but that seems crazy high. I'm paying less than half that.

I would guess it's a little of both. Finding someone who will write a loan on land anywhere can be tough and with the market like it is I'm sure that just compounds the problem. Doing a cash deal is the easiest by far but with interest rates as low as they are now the last thing you want is a...

Governments are just people, and people are idiots.

I guess I’m one of those weirdos who doesn’t get worked up over gas prices. Back in high school I remember paying about a dollar a gallon. Today I paid around $2.70 a gallon which adjusted for inflation is exactly the same. Considering my car now goes twice as far on that gallon of gas I call...

It will be interesting to see how that plays out. The base cost of the electricity per mile is roughly half that of an ICE today so there’s a lot of room to maintain margins, although gas stations don’t make money from selling gas, they make it selling Big Gulps and hot dogs. I would be...

That’s representative for residential systems too: https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielcohen/2020/09/08/solar-power-prices-sink-in-the-age-of-covid/?sh=2ab3b07428e4 I was simply commenting about how the price of solar has dropped. Here’s a chart of costs from the EIA: You obviously can’t...

If you’re talking about a portable battery pack that charges devices via USB, I’ve had a ton and they all work pretty great as long as you don’t go really small or really cheap. I keep one in my hunting pack and one in my golf bag and even after sitting all year they still have about 90% charge...

It’s just a fact of life. If you want it to look nice you can always cut it twice, or go half speed, but once it gets so tall it’ll just push over the first time at normal speeds.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90583426/the-price-of-solar-electricity-has-dropped-89-in-10-years True that. Some people could win the lottery, marry a 23 year old supermodel and be elected king, yet still spend all day complaining because their wallet is too heavy and their wife can’t cook a...

You have to work really hard to get a Tesla stranded. I'm not sure about other EVs but it's all software so I'd guess they'd be similar. This article talks about some of the interesting ways it tries to keep you from being a bonehead and getting stuck somewhere: How Are Teslas Rescued If They...

During a normal 10-hour shift the average police patrol vehicle only drives between 50 and 100 miles. Roughly 50% of a shift is spent idling which is what makes EVs so appealing. At the rate they're used you could go days without ever having to recharge. I've never seen data for ambulance and...

Why would you not be able to roll down your window? Surely you wouldn't just sit there and watch your charge get depleted and run completely out before thinking "huh, guess I might want to roll the window down". And I guess if you do then that's on you. As for flashers, the amount of power in an...

They do if you choose to do so, or depending on the weather you could just roll the windows down kinda like they did back in the olden days. If you do run the HVAC, in the case of a Tesla you could run the AC for roughly 100 hours on a charge and about 40 hours for the heater. Even with a low...

I'd be more concerned with an ICE running out of gas in that scenario since EVs use essentially no power at all when 'idling' (since they don't idle). An EV could probably sit in a traffic jam like that for days and use about the same amount of power as if there was no jam at all. Nonetheless...

True, but I think it's also like the people who see UFOs, where I'm sure many saw something although what they saw is debatable. Maybe like Unidentified Flying Objects we should call bigfoot sightings Unidentified Furry Objects.

Better get your order in today if you want an F150 with the Power Stroke diesel: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a37001047/ford-f-150-power-stroke-diesel-discontinued/ Apparently with it being $500 more expensive than the 3.5L PowerBoost V6 hybrid, nobody wants the diesel any more.

That's an extra $100 in what is essentially a solar tax, not an extra $100 vs not having solar at all. IOW, his bill will go to about $100 per month vs the $3 per month he was paying before, which was with him providing power back to the grid, not taking. Considering all the complaining about...

My only oil filter wrench is a pair of channellocks. My right hand is the tightener. Haven't found a piece of equipment it hasn't worked on yet.

I don't think anyone ever claimed mining lithium was "environmentally friendly", whatever that even means. However, while there are plenty of things to be concerned about regarding lithium mining, the net impact is still far better than the alternative. Part of the confusion is that people think...

I'm sure you could find a few special cases where a specific older truck got marginally better mileage than another specific newer one, but generally speaking fuel economy for trucks has almost doubled since the mid-70s: https://insideclimatenews.org/infographics/chart-average-us-fuel-economy/

If you're looking for HF tools that do suck: - Pittsburgh portable inflator: Simply a box of trash. Avoid. - Quinn 7 In. Diagonal Cutters: OK if you need a disposable tool but they're soft and dull quickly. If you plan on using them on a regular basis, invest in something better. - Pittsburgh...

In the not too distant future everything we consume will be made by 2 or 3 companies and the only differentiation will be the name of the brand and the packaging. Feels like we're almost there now. Same here. That auger is a wristbreaker if you don't know what you're doing but with a little...

My first thought was "I wonder how many people that thing killed". But that's a really cool old tractor.

There are a million different kinds of bamboo so it might help to know which variety you're dealing with. I've dealt with a lot of bamboo in a few different places and in my experience simple mowing will keep it in check. Anything left living will always spread of course, but if you can isolate...

How long will new EVs take to be cleaner than gasoline models? It depends. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1132821_green-payback-how-long-will-new-evs-take-to-be-cleaner-than-gasoline-models

This is a good example of why fake news is and always has been a thing. People believe what they want to believe, facts and data are irrelevant. Some want to believe the world is flat, some want to believe 5G causes Covid, and some want to believe in Bigfoot. And there are many more examples I...

Pounding t-posts without ear muffs is a total non-starter for me. I don't know what the db measurement is but I tried it once and it sounded about as painful as firing a 9mm without protection.

Back to battery powered vehicles of today and tomorrow.... Just saw this 'tank turn' video by Rivian. Not sure how useful it would be but it looks cool.

That hemi is a sweet motor. If the diesel was maybe a $3000 upgrade it would be a no-brainer but as a $10,000 option you better really need it.

That’s so true. You may think you get along fine but in reality your friends and family stop trying to interact with you as much because it’s so difficult. Whether it’s your wife or grand kid or fishing buddy, that can quickly leave you isolated and alone.

Paying for roads with a gas tax is another example of a good idea broken by bad execution. With EVs taking over, probably the best way is to just tax the vehicle up front when purchased for whatever road tax the vehicle would be subject to (or the govt needs to collect) over its lifetime and get...

You should never let the irresponsibility of your neighbor keep you from doing what’s right. The United States is a leader, not a follower, and the best leader is one who leads by example.

People used to say the same thing when emission controls started showing up on cars. IMO the whole ’pre-emissions stuff is worth more’ is half wives tale and half wishful thinking by the folks who hate change and/or the gov’t.

This. I don’t wear them but two in my family have hearing aids. One went the cheap ’as seen on TV‘ off the shelf route and the other went to a legit doctor. Sometimes spending 5 times more is the real bargain.

MS Defender updates aren’t Windows updates.

True, I remember my dad hoarding whatever gas he could find in a 55 gallon drum in the garage because many times you just couldn't get it. In hindsight it's a wonder he didn't blow the house off the foundation killing us all. Then there were the people who ran out of gas while waiting to buy...

That's how it's supposed to work. You look at the data you have then make an informed, educated hypothesis. Then when you get more or better data you do it again and if it contradicts the previous hypothesis then fine. If only humans worked this way. Everyone thinks they do but virtually no one...

After going through all this same spreadsheet analysis when buying my tractor, the biggest thing I learned was it's mostly a waste of time. More size and weight are not always better, nor is cheaper. An extra 100 lbs on the FEL is great but is it really going to impact your day-to-day? Not...

We're seeing the same rabbit explosion although we just had one of the harshest winters ever so I'm not sure weather is a factor. We sit on the back porch each night and it's not unusual to see 4-6 at any given time all across the pasture and yard. My guess is whatever was eating all the rabbits...

The upgrade will eventually be available to anyone who wants it but you can stay on Win10 if you want. It'll be supported until 2025 which will be 10 years since it's release. Nobody is sending a PC to the landfill because it won't run the yet-unreleased Windows 11.

Braden seems like one of those guys who is probably really smart but super crazy all at the same time. Not that this makes him unique, just saying.

Could be, especially since Microsoft is giving away the Windows 11 upgrade for free like they did with Win10. But then having users on a modern, secure platform creates a lot of savings all by itself.

I don't see how using chain for the top link would improve anything but I guess you could try. What I've done for really bad spots is just use the loader to move whatever gravel needs to be moved around (it doesn't need to be perfect) then use the LP to smooth everything out. It's crazy how much...

I think it's like a lot of things: if somebody wants to steal your car they will, if they want to break into your house they will, and if they want to break into your computer they will. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try to secure those things the best you can. Prosecution can be hard because...

True, and what's crazy is you can get a new PC for a lot less than the cost of a new iPhone 12 or Samsung Galaxy Sxx. Apple has been pretty good about supporting older handsets but on Android that can be as little as two years. With Win11 support going back to gen7 CPUs that will roughly split...

I see the other Pesci’s didn’t have quite the film success their brother Joe did.

That’s not what TPM is/does. It’s complicated but really it’s just firmware security. It’s been standard in corporate environments for a while, not because of control but because they tend to take their security seriously. If you have a system made in the last 10 years or so you should probably...

Yes, it’s the same and simply provides a way to verify who you really are. To fully use an Android device or iPhone you need either a Google account or Apple ID (respectively) so this isn’t really much different. That along with TPM are just ways to increase security but it’s a thankless task...

Probably a good thing there will be diversity in the market but they better be careful their shareholders don't revolt: "At Chevron, 61 percent of shareholders backed a proposal at the annual general meeting last month that the company cut its so-called Scope 3 emissions, the ones generated by...

I guess you could put a couple of these in your trunk: https://www.lowes.com/pd/EGO-NEXUS-POWER-STATION-KIT-4X5-0AH/1003130772

Sounds like you know far more about cybersecurity than all those dorks who do it for a living. And here I've been regularly installing OS updates like a chump...

Windows 10 was released 6 years ago. I know people are terrified of change but in the tech universe 6 years is a long time.

Those are updates for MSE, not Windows itself. They're different. The only way you're getting security updates for Windows 7 is if you buy ESU, and the only people buying ESU are commercial customers needing to buy time to migrate critical systems to Win10.

I lived in Redmond, WA many years ago and we didn't have AC in the apartment. Many with cars didn't have AC either - no need since it never got that hot. The times they are a changing....

Ha! That's me all the time. I'll be talking to somebody and they'll say 'Hey, what's up with all the ______________ going on where you are?' and 9 times out of 10 I have no idea what they're even talking about. It's like some media droid sees 1 or 2 people do something odd, they write a story...

If you're running Win7 or earlier you're not getting security updates any more. But hey, if you like living on the edge by running a vulnerable OS developed during the Bush administration then go for it ;)

Most days I think it's easier to just try identifying the news that isn't fake on social media.

I was looking to buy a UTV until I saw some of these mini trucks. The amount of customization is amazing and they're usually cheaper too.

A lawsuit?

The people on this thread sound like an old nagging wife. Husband: My wheel fell off. You think anything else got damaged? Wife: Why didn't you check the lug nuts before using the tractor? What's wrong with you? Do you neglect all maintenance or just this? Is it your first day using a tractor...

Yeah, late 60s early 70s. Terrorists like the Weathermen were blowing up buildings, the army (or whoever) was shooting unarmed college kids at Kent State, we were bogged down in an unwinnable war with riots attended by hundreds of thousands of people burning flags, etc. I think the biggest...

You should have seen the 70s.

If people really understood what tech companies and their silent partner (the government) knew about their personal lives they’d likely never use the Internet again. Not that it would necessarily help because they vector you through your connections anyway. For example: Say your wife has been...

Yeah, kinda like farms who receive about 40% of their income from subsidies. Or government bailouts for banks and auto manufacturers. Or the $20 billion every year the gov’t hands out to the oil and gas industry, etc etc etc. This is code for “the Chinese can make stuff cheaper because they...

Like this part: "There are people… in our industry, who say, ‘You can not be clean and affordable. You can not be clean and reliable’… We have proven that is not the case." But this part makes you crazy: "But FPL isn’t gung-ho about all solar. In September 2020, Electrek reported that Florida...

I've installed a Ghost Controls kit and it was super easy. Aside from the gates themselves, if you can read and turn a wrench you can install a set of openers.

It's not about the carbon in the steel, it's about the carbon released during the production process (specifically the iron-making process) before it becomes steel. Creating a pound of new steel releases up to 2 pounds of carbon into the atmosphere which is why making steel produces almost 10%...

It's always smart to leave yourself an out. Probably corporate doublespeak like "We plan to be all electric by 2030, but some gasoline and hybrids may still be transitioning in 2030."

Lincoln says they're going all EV by 2030 with hands-free driving coming much sooner. What's interesting is they had planned to use the Rivian platform but that's been scrapped even though Ford invested half a billion in Rivian a couple years ago. Makes you wonder if Rivian is maybe having...

A link on that page says the same thing is happening in the US: Quick Rise In U.S. Natural Gas Prices To Boost Coal Demand | OilPrice.com Fortunately they say it's just temporary.

I was just responding to people (like you) who asked about plugging in a tractor at an apartment but that's OK, it's not important. It's kinda turning into a "who's on first" Abbott and Costello bit anyway ;)

Is that common? I guess I never thought about someone living in an apartment and needing a place to park their tractor there every day.

Electricity can cause fires, that is true. I feel like that's been going on for a long time before solar panels were a thing though. You're asking where people who live in an apartment park their tractor? Man, you are rural.

No, but then you don't generally have brown outs at night either which was part of the original question. In places like Texas and California, all your electricity needs are during the day to run that AC which makes solar an ideal way to save you money and take load off the grid. If they're...

That's the problem - most vehicles aren't subject to emissions testing so it's real easy to take an offroad-only part and throw it on your daily driver without ever getting caught, which in my experience is not uncommon (I used to be a state inspector). This is just another one of those issues...

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/some-north-texans-turn-to-solar-panels-to-help-avoid-power-grid-headache-as-temps-rise/287-592b381e-2368-4c0f-aed4-ce75b8fa7710 https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/16/the-us-solar-industry-posted-record-growth-in-2020-despite-covid-19-new-report-finds.html

There's no time limit on short positions, all you gotta do is cover the interest. Plus if people here have already figured it out then the SEC and the big money investors will not be far behind.

Do not listen to this man! If EVs are a conspiracy and Tesla is a fraud like Enron then you'd be a fool to not short the stock.

It will definitely be similar to the dot com boom where most startups failed. Any time disruptive tech comes onto the scene you have a gold rush of people wanting to cash in and that attracts the shysters. What this should be telling you is that EVs are truly the next big thing, otherwise you...

If you think Tesla is Enron you should short them and make yourself wealthy. It's super easy and doesn't even cost you much so sky's the limit.

So what do you do if you have an EV but run out of juice on the side of the road? Or you operate machinery at locations with no charger for weeks at a time? Or you live some place where a plug isn't always accessible? No problem, they'll just bring the charger to you. For $25 bucks a month...

I really like that pickup and hope they make it. I saw that the CEO just went over to Apple to help develop their upcoming EV but I'm not sure if that's a positive or a negative. If nothing else it's a good example of the design freedom EVs offer and gets people thinking more broadly about what...

Some would argue we’d be there already if not for all the government handouts to the oil and gas industry. I don’t see that happening in our lifetime though. Everybody hates subsidies right up until they start working in their favor.

Curious where you found that information. Support for anthropogenic climate change is overwhelming in the scientific community and it has been for a very long time. Even the most pessimistic estimates put it 4 out of 5: Fact Checking The Claim Of 97% Consensus On Anthropogenic Climate Change

There are, and there were, but these investors aren't stupid. You can be in the right industry with a bad business plan and people will eventually figure it out. If having a startup fail was indication of a failed market we'd still be banging rocks together to cook our dinner. If you think...

After reading through this thread I can’t help but wonder what everyone’s opinion about kids on lawns is ;)

Well, actually.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Islands ;)

Can't really comment on what you've done so far but I'll say that I had this exact problem before. Turned out to be a very small piece of twig that got wedged in the groove of one of the pulleys. Almost couldn't see it but I could feel it. My belt would jump around like that and everything would...

I don't get this either. SpaceX is doing what just a few years ago would have been seen as a mixture of sci-fi fantasy and witchcraft yet most people have no clue and don't really seem to care. Makes you appreciate how rare real visionaries are. The landing starting at the 3:00 minute mark is...

Comparing a 1960s electric mail truck to what we have now is like looking at a multi-core gen 3 Xeon scalable processor and saying 'meh, we had CPUs in computers 40 years ago, nothing new here'.

I bought a Sun Joe electric off Amazon for around $150 and it's been great. Buddy of mine liked it so much he tossed his gas powered washer and got one as well. I have a Sun Joe electric tiller that quit after 11 months and Sun Joe sent me a brand new one no questions asked so it seems like a...

I pretty much have all my wants including my dream car, however if I won the lottery I'd buy a trawler and a modest 'sometimes' home in Cabo San Lucas. I'd also want enough to maintain a fulltime staff of one or two to live onsite and maintain both. Oh, and also enough to get me a couple decades...

Debt is not inherently good or bad, and with the vast majority of Ford's debt coming from Ford Credit it's not a big concern IMO. I would assume GM is in a similar boat but I don't know. Nissan's biggest problems seem to be poor product and poor leadership, two things that are a cancer in any...

You can option out a Honda Accord to over $40,000 so an F150 Lariat stickering around $50,000 seems pretty much inline considering the difference in capability. Vehicles in general are just more expensive than they were 40 years ago. 30 years ago a standard F150 was 79 inches in width. Today...

A lot of these EV startups are going to fail although that's often how bleeding edge tech startups tend to go. Lordstown seems like it may be extra shady IMO: Don’t trust that SPAC deck – TechCrunch

This conversation reminds me of when The Walking Dead was popular - everyone you talked to was so convinced that when the zombie apocalypse came they'd be one of the very few who survived while everyone else perished. Just stockpile a bunch of beans, antibiotics and weapons and you're good to...

Sounds like you have your answer but one thing you might consider is turning it into yard art. I gave away a slightly better 9n (or was it an 8n?) that I now wish I had kept just for that purpose. You might be surprised how many people would love to have an old, worn out antique tractor in their...

In my experience most Deere dealers don't want to take a non-Deere or non-Kubota in on trade so if you find one who will you may be disappointed in what they'll give you. You can always try selling it yourself but if you don't want that kind of hassle a better option might be to see what the...

But then you have to haul those horses around so you can fill up on your cross country road trip and that has to really cut your range.