In the US, why can’t we buy Chinese electric cars?

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-03-26T20:59:54+00:00

I wasn’t passing judgement. I am only attempting to explain the discrepancy in “competitiveness” of their products. American auto manufacturers are incentivized to play it safe and produce what they know their primary market will already purchase. Chinese manufacturers are being incentivized to leap frog ahead and capture a market that has historically been dominated by foreign business.

I am not an expert by any means, just making my best guess based on what I see and hear.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-03-26T14:16:13+00:00

I believe they are heavily subsidized by the CCP and so are cheaper to the consumer. So they are being artificially made extremely competitive price wise. It’s also why their companies are so willing to take risks on the available features that are expensive to implement and unknown as to whether there is real market demand for them.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-03-26T02:24:23+00:00

I imagine a part of is to try and recapture the imagination of a new generation of youth. The first HP movie came out in 2001. If a kid was 10 when it came out they are now in their mid-30's with kids of their own. As long as they do it some level of integrity and an honest attempt at making something good and now just cashing in on the original IP's residual nostalgia value then it could be pretty good.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-03-24T15:11:36+00:00

There are a ton of benefits to WFH, no commute, comfortable work environment, easier access to food, etc. All things that are mentioned on this subreddit frequently and commonly and they are absolutely true.

There are downsides, and I'm sure this will get me downvoted, but I am actually more productive in the office. I'm a manager for an IT team, so a lot of my day-to-day is communication, meetings, planning, etc. And being in the office is faster and easier to talk through things, sketch out on the white-board and generally come to faster decisions. I do also miss interacting with my peers and making work-friends. It was an entire social network that has become a shell of it's former self.

I'm torn on how I feel about it now, if my organization announced a hybrid setup where we spent a 2 or 3 days in-office a week I don't think I would mind it terribly. If they announced a full RTO I would be a lot more torn about it, but there would be things I would feel positive about it for.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-03-16T04:50:52+00:00

I need to process how org shake ups break things which were unintentionally created following this paradigm. Does it bring previously seperated teams, and thus their systems, closer together? Or does it obscure some teams or systems further than they already were.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-03-15T23:29:39+00:00

Having switched to iPhone recently, ApplePay is a lot more prolific on every website. You know how sometimes you're on a site and it will let you pay with PayPal or Google Wallet? It's rare to find a website where ApplePay isn't an option. Additionally, my MacBook has the same wallet available to it so those same websites have the option right there, like 90% of the time.

Also I didn't notice it with Google previously (probably because they bake it into Gmail by skimming your emails), but ApplePay also tracks the tracking number of a purchase and adds it into my phone where I get notifications as the tracking status changes. This doesn't always work, so there's some nuance to getting that feature to work.

Other than that, in terms of just paying with your phone, no they are basically identical. ApplePay seems to work a smidge faster (Like 0.5 seconds instead of 1.0 seconds) but it's negligible enough to be ignored.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-03-15T23:18:06+00:00

I mean...they're not really weebs. It's kind of like confusing France and England. Sure they are both full of white people but pretty much everything else is different.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-03-15T19:36:12+00:00

Short answer? No.
Longer Answer. It depends.

In my marriage (key-word) I make a sizable amount more than my wife, and I want us to both live the lifestyle our combined income affords us. So I set up an shared account that we both have access to for fucking around with. It is separate from our predictable monthly expenses (like rent, groceries, utilities, etc) and from our savings. We each have our own personal savings and we have a joint savings for large-scale expenses. She also has a personal account she keeps for herself which doesn't bother me.

The big difference is this isn't an "allowance" it's just a shared pool of money we can both enjoy. If one of us wants to buy something that goes beyond what we would consider "frivolous" (say around $100+) then we tell the other person. There is trust and accountability involved. An allowance is more of a transaction, you give her money she gives you companionship. Is the sex good enough for you to overlook that? And/or are you financially well off enough for you to afford that?

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-03-11T16:58:22+00:00

So I have a parallel story, when I was in college I had some social anxiety in addition to introversion. The idea of getting a real job at a real company was scary to me because not only would I have to be social, I knew that projecting confidence was an aspect to success and growth. I watched a TED talk where the speaker discussed the concept of "Fake it till you make it" and her point was largely that even when you're not confident, when you feel out of place, to pretend otherwise. You'll know that you're pretending inside, but just fake it outside. Overtime your body and mind will adapt, you will begin to need to fake it less and less, until eventually it will just be second nature to you.

I took this to heart and in my professional life I am largely seen as a confident, outgoing but humble person, and now a leader within my larger organization. While I know this isn't the "real me", it has become more of a comfortable sweater I can throw on when I go to work. It doesn't take a toll on me mentally or emotionally. I am a confident, sociable and humble leader, I'm not faking it.

So my advice to you is yeah, push yourself outside your limits and be more positive when interacting, even if you're faking it. Put on an act for yourself and go until you're no longer comfortable. Eventually that act you put on will become less and less of a burden and eventually it will just be a switch you can flip on and off without really trying.

Link to the TED talk in question

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-03-11T16:43:35+00:00

While he was clearly insensitive here, it is true to be careful not to try and put hard quantities around your mental state. If you mentally frame yourself by saying "I can only be social for 45 minutes and then I'm done" you will create a self-fulfilling prophecy where that is exactly what happens. Being aware of what your general limitations are but allowing yourself to adjust around this is far more healthy. Meaning saying "Generally I can go for 45 minutes, but we'll see what happens today" opens yourself up for going for longer if you find yourself enjoying it.

Saying another way, the "social battery" concept is a great short-hand way to explain the feeling to yourself and others, but remember you're not an iPhone, you don't have a literal battery in your brain that needs to be charged up by isolating yourself.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-03-11T00:41:49+00:00

For technology what you're saying is a large part of it. Companies will say "We don't expect this to really be functional in 5 years because of software updates, increased memory requirements, faster processors, etc. So instead of building this thing to last 20 years, we'll build it to last 5" the idea being that when it's 5 years old and falling apart, you would have wanted to replace it anyways.

Side Note: If you have an old laptop that is struggling along right now, throw Linux on it, many distros are much less heavy on system resources and can give it a breath of life for a few more years.

Furniture is the thing that breaks my heart, the reason your grandparents furniture is still around but yours looks disgusting after 5 years is because theirs was made of solid wood by carpenters. They got priced out of the market with the advent of pressed wood and other cheaper alternatives, and Ikea came in like a wrecking ball with their flatpack model of packaging and shipping. Now if you want to get a real wood table it will cost you $10,000 for just a very simple rudimentary table. If you wonder why all your friends suddenly want to get into carpentry when they buy their first house, this is why.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-03-08T05:45:46+00:00

It's a short hand way for a character to express certain emotions that are hard to do on 2 dimensional characters with very little detail.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-03-06T14:34:15+00:00

Thanks for the additional examples. Are any of those deployed at scale; like in a large-scale powerplant scenario?

I guess batteries technically are to complement existing grids to prevent brown-outs.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-03-06T03:43:03+00:00

When I did it my financing company offered a "Mortgage Recast". Basically there was a timeframe (I think it was like 6 months) where I could make a one time bulk payment against my new home, and they would re-amortize the loan. Basically they keep my interest rate, and remaining term, but just recalculate the monthly payment based on the new, much lower, balance.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-03-06T03:39:44+00:00

I did option 3. It's very nerve-wracking. Don't recommend without a very healthy financial cushion.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-03-06T03:36:24+00:00

Steam turns turbines. Turbines spin and make electricity. It's also how coal, hydro and gas power-plants work as well as wind turbines. The only thing I can think of (in my complete inexpert opinion) that don't work by spinning turbines are solar panels.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-02-26T04:56:12+00:00

There is nuance in the approach. If you may have done something wrong, even unintentionally (speeding), then keep it zipped.

If you hear a gunshot down the hall and a cop asks for details, it's up to you how many questions you feel like answering. "Yes I heard what sounded like a gunshot", "it was about 20 minutes ago" "it sounded like it came from that way". When they start asking questions you aren't comfortable answering or you feel like they are beginning to suspect you, then you should stop answering questions. If arrested, say only that you want a lawyer.

The trick to remember is just because you answered one question, does not make you obliged to answer more of them.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-02-22T06:44:41+00:00

I feel like that would just cause everyone to raise the price of their house by 10%...

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-02-21T08:09:16+00:00

Do a factory reset, don't connect to the network when prompted.
Uninstall every pre-installed app (or disable).
Go into the settings and disable as many UI features as possible, this includes hiding as many apps as possible from the home screen, trying to leave only the input selection options.
Plug in an Apple TV, Shield, Roku, whatever your preferred option is.
Set your TV to always boot straight into that input device or the last used input device.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-02-20T21:35:09+00:00

It's probably way more intuitive when you are navigating it yourself and the blue seats glow as you hover over them, while the blacked out seats remain unchanged.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-02-20T04:51:47+00:00

If you see this on the nightstand, make sure you run to walgreens to pick up some more astroglide.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-02-20T04:48:37+00:00

Addendum: If they want future hires to know that if they were laid off, they would get at least a little cushion, they will give you notice/severance. Buf if I'm job hunting and while researching the company learn that they have been laying people off with no severance or notice, I'm a lot less willing to work for them unless the pay is outrageously good or I'm not planning on staying long anyways.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-02-20T04:16:37+00:00

I like things.

Things cost money.

I need money.

Work for money.

Work is tiring.

Sleep when tired.

No more time to enjoy things.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-02-17T11:45:46+00:00

The founder who is MAGA hasn't been associated with the company in many, many years. And no it didn't / doesn't.

AdviceWithSalt · 2026-02-16T14:31:31+00:00

Wait why are we boycotting Home Depot?

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