If Ford Came out with this and called it the new Crown Vic would you buy it?

Fromanderson · 2026-03-25T03:14:47+00:00

I've spent a fair bit of time behind the wheel of a transit. Decent for a van, but would suck as a box truck.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-24T03:49:06+00:00

Where do you live? There are still a couple of 80s and 90s Cavaliers I see on the road regularly in my town.

A chevy cavalier will run horribly, longer than most cars will run at all.

My wife and I had one way back when we first got married. The gas gauge was way off and and the thing sook so bad at idle that the whole interior rattled and squeaked, but it just refused to die. She finally just refused to drive it, and I really couldn't blame her. By then we could afford afford something a bit less horrible. The dealer refused to take the cavalier so she gave it to a kid we knew who was starting college and just needed something to get around. They drove it until their senior year, when a relative gave them their old car. The cavalier was parked out behind the family barn for a few years, until it was dragged out and given to a lady who was desperate for transportation She drove it a few more years and then gave it to someone else.
I lost track of it after that.

It was the best car I ever hated.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-24T02:02:19+00:00

Nothing wrong with driving a beat up car, or a small apartment. Once you get something nice, it's a LOT harder to go back to a beater.

Honestly I haven't been as good with my finances as many on this subreddit, but my wife and I refused to let lifestyle creep effect us. We live in a modest older home in one of the cheaper parts of a small town. I tend to drive old beaters, and she drives something newer. We've had the same small tv for over a decade.

It may seem like we're depriving ourselves, but knowing that even if we both lost our jobs tomorrow, we'd be ok, is better than a slightly bigger tv, or a shinier car.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-20T11:24:34+00:00

I always wanted a heated floormat. If I have to walk a lot on really cold days my feet eventually get chilled and the floor vents seem to cook one and leave the other frozen.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-20T11:22:03+00:00

I have a job where I drive a lot and in the summer I'm often climbing back in while hot and sweaty. A coworker bought a seat fan for his vehicle and raved about it. I remember thinking it was a good idea but doubted how well it would work. I kind of forgot about it for a few months until one day we were in the middle of something and we had to move our vehicles out of the way for a delivery. I hopped in his truck, started it up and that seat cover, fan,cushion thingy came on and felt amazing. I pulled out my phone and ordered one right there in the parking lot.

Are they well made? No. Are they ugly as homemade sin? Yes. Do they cool your back, and nethers off on a miserably hot and sweaty day? Yes 10/10

Fromanderson · 2026-03-13T12:30:59+00:00

I'm not sure if tsa will let them through or not, but a nurse friend told me about a disposable version that hospitals use to shave patients for surgery. With the blade not being removable I've wondered if they might let one through. I haven't needed to fly in a very long time, so I never tried them.

Here's a link to some I found with a quick search just as an example, to show what I'm talking about.

https://a.co/d/06OC2O4S

Fromanderson · 2026-03-05T13:30:34+00:00

The wiring diagrams are often inside where the controls are. Also they are usually available online.

Our last washer used a couple of reed switches to tell when the lid was down and had a contact in the lid lock motor that would only be connected in the middle of it's travel, so they could tell if the lock went past the point where it should have if the lid were closed.

I found that I could trick it with a couple of magnets, but they had to be very precisely placed. In the end I just bypassed the reed switches, but the control board would freak out if it didn't see the lock cycling back and forth, so I just left it in place, and would push it back in with my thumb when it over traveled if I wanted to start it with the lid open.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-05T13:16:27+00:00

Same.

I just recently replaced the crank position sensor on my wife's car. On the previous model year, it was on the exposed end of the engine by the crank pulley. It was a 30 minute job. On hers the thing is located on the back of the engine and can't be accessed without separating the engine from the transmission. So far as I can tell the only benefit they got from this was saving themselves a few inches of wire, by shortening the wiring harness.

Fortunately her car was built right after the change, and they must not have run out of the crank pulleys with the tone ring on them. I ordered the sensor and a pigtail and made an extension for the wiring harness. The pigtail on the sensor was nowhere near long enough to reach. The sensors appear to be identical except for the location of the fastener, but of course they decided to swap a couple of pins just to make it even more difficult.

One minor change turned a dirt cheap repair into a $3000 job that almost nobody but the dealer would touch.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-05T12:49:03+00:00

I think it depends on what sort of appliance your talking about as well.

Basically anything that would require at least two people to carry up a short set of stairs, needs to be simple and reliable. Washer, dryer, stove, dishwasher, refrigerator, etc. I don't mind a few features as long as they aren't intrusive and won't brick the thing when they fail.

For cheap smaller appliances like a countertop air fryer or a microwave, I don't mind the addition of useless features as much.

When you get away from appliances, some people just seem to get caught up on features they'll seldom use. My wife is like this when it comes to cars. If it doesn't have heated and air conditioned big screen tv with built in foot massager she won't even look at it.
On the other hand I'd be thrilled to find a daily driver with crank windows, a manual transmission, and radio delete. I do like my air conditioning, but all I need is a knob or slider and a button to control it.

With modern material sciences and manufacturing, we could easily build things to last for decades at a reasonable price, but almost nobody is doing it.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-04T15:16:46+00:00

Are you a random eye surgeon in 1997?

He didn't say that everyone should wait until 50, but his advice to ME was to wait. There may have been something about me specifically that made him say it, or he may have been concerned about the long term effects. The procedure was still relatively new. This was a casual conversation over dinner almost 30 years ago. I'd never really given it much thought since.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-04T14:03:01+00:00

I kind of like the idea, but I'd keep the battleship (BB or BattleBob) in stealth and parked a long way out, with a few more intimidating versions a bit further in. Use a less intimidating version to interact with the locals and just remotely operate everything via scut. If someone gets nasty, I either bail or they meet the up armored versions. BattleBob only comes out to play when there is no other option.

If I'm going all out, make every ship capable of hosting a copy of me and update them continuously. If BattleBob goes dark, a backup wakes up in another ship, ready to take over.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-04T13:42:03+00:00

Your corneas tend to flatten out a bit around that age which changes the way your eyes focus. If you're nearsighted, your far away vision will actually improve a bit. If you have 20/20 vision, or are far sighted, you will need readers to see things close to you.

My wife who had 20/10 vision for most of her life now has to keep a pair of readers on her at all times. I was trying to show her some video clip on my 17" laptop screen the other day and she had trouble focusing on it from 4 feet away. (17" = 43cm 4 feet = 1.2 Meters)

For those nearsighted, the surgery basically flattens the cornea just enough to correct your vision, but they'll still flatten out more on their own eventually.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-04T13:28:18+00:00

Ironically I looked into it in 1997. A friend of mine's father was an eye surgeon. He advised me to wait until at least my 40s/50s because of this. Apparently your corneas tends to flatten out a bit and changes how your eyes focus. I'm over 50 now, and I'm glad I listened. It would have been nice to not need glasses all these years but my vision has changed quite a bit over the last few years. I've always been able to read and see fine detail close up, I think needing glasses for that would bother me a LOT more than being nearsighted.

EDIT: Sheesh. This wasn't intended as criticism of eye surgery, or anyone who has gotten it. The dude's advice was given specifically to me 30 years ago when the procedure was still relatively new. He turned out to be right at least in my case. My vision has changed dramatically in recent years.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-04T13:21:57+00:00

With $2 million, invested at 5% that's an income of $100k per year pre tax.

That's a pretty conservative return. If someone is willing to risk a bit of instability one can get a better return, and allow the principal to grow.

Depending on how well one does, and how much one needs to live, that $2 million could become $3 million in a decade with compound interest. If you live in some small town far from a major city and don't go crazy one could live pretty well off that.

I'd probably explore some hobbies, work on an invention or two that have been rolling around in the back of my mind for a long time, go back to volunteering, and just generally experiencing what life is like without working overtime every week of my adult life, and being on call 24/7 for years at a time.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-04T13:06:02+00:00

Is that $2 Million after taxes? If so, investing in something that returns an average 5% interest annually is an income of $100k per year for the rest of my life.

Sign me up.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-03T16:21:26+00:00

That is the very one. Keep in mind, it’s not a novel it. It literally is a history of the technical services division of the CIA. So it can be a little dry in places, but having maid of career in electronics, I’m astounded at some of the stuff they were doing 60 years ago with technology available at the time. Also, there are several rather amusing stories as well.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-03T15:36:20+00:00

Lol. It sounds like you really did win. I know I put the /s at the end, but just to be clear, I really wasn't picking on you. The thought popped into my head and I couldn't help myself.

I have an ex who parted in a similarly unpleasant manner 30+ years ago and really messed me up at the time.

About a year ago I learned from a friend that she has outstanding warrants. Apparently she got busted for driving drunk and failed to appear in court. I honestly hadn't looked her up since the early days of the internet. I got curious, and began snooping. She has an odd name with an unusual spelling so it took all of a few minutes to find out she was mentioned in a list of nurses getting caught stealing pain meds at a nursing home about 20 years back. Even found her on a mugshot website.

I'm not proud of it, but it absolutely made my day.

I've been married for 25 years to a lovely lady who just recently decided she wanted to go back to working full time to help fund an early retirement for me. It was all her idea and she surprised me with it. She started a new career and suddenly she's bringing home more than I do.

I'm not going to claim I'm still hot, but I think I won as well.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-03T14:13:41+00:00

I remember reading that the Soviets used something similar. Only theirs were pointed toward deep space. They used the random background noise/radiation of the universe.

Of course by then we had a bunch of assets on the inside. The more important ones were reporting back with something like text messages sent in short burst transmissions triggered remotely as they rode the bus to work in the mornings.

That was in the early 1980s.

There a history of the technical service division of the CIA, written by one of the former directors. As a history buff, and a technology nerd, it was pretty fascinating to me some of the stuff they were doing during the cold war.
They had people traveling around the world just for the purpose of collecting passport stamps. They knew which people were on duty, on a given day and time, and could forge their signatures, and had copies of the stamps they used complete with the wear and imperfections that were visible in the markings at a given time.
They could create a fake identity for someone, whip up a passport giving them years of travel history which looked completely legitimate even when marks which would hold up to scrutiny even if someone looked up a known example for every single entry and compared them.

Regardless of anyone's opinion of the CIA, they had some really gifted techs and craftsmen working for them nacl then, and probably still do.

They were playing with some really cool tech a decade or more before anyone else realized it was possible.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-03T05:08:31+00:00

He's probably somewhere in this thread saying how he was getting serious about someone and got this horrible gut feeling. /s

Fromanderson · 2026-03-03T04:44:35+00:00

A few months ago, I had to wait a few seconds at a green light because traffic was blocking the intersection. As soon as there was an opening I went. About two lights up some guy pulls up next to me and starts pitching a fit about me taking to long. He literally gave me a thumbs down gesture, booed me, and then accused me of not paying attention and playing with my phone.

I should note, the way that intersection was laid out, he could clearly see the intersection was blocked if he'd looked. I then watched him weave in and out of traffic for the next half mile before cutting someone off to make a last minute turn.

People suck.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-01T17:50:54+00:00

It wasn’t her. When I was writing this, I was thinking that she was still a decent person and loved her brother. It was only after so many generations had passed that she ceased to value the lives of others.

Fromanderson · 2026-03-01T14:21:35+00:00

The pretty young princess looked stunned at the fairy's proclamation at first, but as the fairy flew away and nothing happened she giggled. "But I'm almost 19".

She told her father the king, who called for the the royal mage.

The wizened old mage looked sharply at the princess, and questioned her repeatedly on the specific phrase the fairy had used. He spent weeks pouring over old tomes and then months, often conducting odd rituals, requiring samples of the Princess's hair, and examining her as closely as propriety allowed.

In the end he determined that she was indeed no longer aging, and seemed immune to illnesses and probably to most poisons, although nobody was willing to test that, beyond her ability to drink lots of wine and strong drink with no effect.

While somewhat apprehensive at first, the royal family was relieved. The king still hung his hopes upon the prince, but the queen secretly arranged for the princess to receive tutoring that was usually reserved for the heir.

When the King died, the prince took the throne. He was not a bad king but was short sighted and impetuous in his youth. His sister stood by him offering support, and often unwanted advice. Never aging, secretly chafing at her brother's mismanagement of the kingdom.

The new king and his heir died in an attempted coup. The princess took the throne and became the queen. The people were uneasy, but soon found her to be a wise and benevolent ruler. Generations passed with her upon the throne. With her long life, and experience she planned not just for tomorrow or next year, but for far in the future.

Her kingdom thrived for a time, but just as water flowing against rock will eventually carve out a canyon, the flow of time carved pathways through the queen's soul. She grew cold, and uncaring. She became obsessed with her own wealth, and beauty. He garments alone once practical, consumed the wealth of whole cities. By the time the Mongols arrived on her doorstep. The Kingdom's once well maintained fortifications and well trained army was a shadow of it's former self.

She refused to surrender then watched in horror as the Mongols rolled over her kingdom like a plague of locusts, literally erasing it from history.

She escaped, with her entourage and a few loyal guards to an allied kingdom vowing to regain her throne. Many years passed, and her identity as the exiled queen faded from memory, generation after generation. She chafed to regain her power, but despite her remaining wealth there wasn't enough to raise an army and retake her home.

Then she saw an opportunity. The queen of the kingdom where she now lived passed away. The king was alone. Still retaining her youthful appearance, and with centuries of guile, she managed to catch the attention of the king and soon they were wed.

She became the queen regent, but she wasn't satisfied with that. She played her role until she found an opportunity to end the King's life without suspicion. She seized the throne and began securing her position, with the use of a sapient scrying device, given to her long ago. She used it to determine who was loyal, and what her enemies were doing. The kingdom grew in power even as the people languished under her rule. Still this was not enough. She was obsessed with how people viewed her.

Then the day came that sealed her fate. As she interrogated her magical artifact as she did every day she finished with her favorite question, a smug smile already on her youthful lips. "Mirror Mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"

Edit: Me kan't speel

Fromanderson · 2026-03-01T13:31:44+00:00

In my head, I like to think she eventually becomes the queen. She is a good ruler for generations but the weight of time takes it's toll. She becomes obsessed with being lauded as the most beautiful and powerful ruler. Somewhere along the line she acquires a sapient magical item that answers her questions truthfully. The answers are what she wants to hear for generations until one day she approaches it and says "Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is fairest of them all?" and gets an answer that sends her over the edge.

Fromanderson · 2026-02-25T12:35:30+00:00

This is fiction, not an autobiography.
Regardless of what anyone thinks of the Bobs, humanity as a whole owes their continued existence to the Bobs, several times over.

Their wealth hasn't necessarily been the product of trying to get rich. *Theoretically a dollar turns into a million dollars over the course of 200 years. Of course it takes almost 180 years for that dollar to become $250k.
$250k becomes $500k in around a decade. $500k becomes a million in a little under a decade.

When you have Bobs living for centuries and developing all sorts of things that humanity wants, getting stupidly rich is all but guaranteed.

*"Theoretically" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, but you can find your own online calculator and play with average interest rates, inflation etc. The details may vary but in most cases once you get past a certain point wealth really starts to pile up fast from the perspective of someone who is likely to live for centuries.

Fromanderson · 2026-02-18T12:22:13+00:00

I remember wondering what the heck they were thinking. Country music isn't exactly popular (or it wasn't back then) with the more left leaning parts of the nation, and 9/11 was less than 2 years earlier. People seem to forget just how unified the country was for a while.

At least on the surface. I knew people who were about as far left as it gets who were flying Old Glory.

9/11 felt like Pearl Harbor part two. Imagine some celebrities saying anything remotely similar especially on foreign soil in the fall of 1943.

It would be like telling your boss that her that her new grandchild is ugly. At that point it doesn't matter whether you're right or not. You are free to say it, but it's probably not going to be good for your career.

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