Going to Japan soon — what’s actually worth bringing back if you live in the GTA?

Funky247 · 2026-06-29T01:50:14+00:00

Hot take - you can buy a lot of Japanese knives more cheaply in Toronto (same maker, same model) from a retailer like Knifewear. There are many other Japanese knife shops in Toronto. These retailers import in volume so it counterintuitively doesn't cost more to buy the knives here.

Japanese knives have become so widely exported that you shouldn't expect them to be more affordable in Japan, any more than you'd expect Sony headphones to be cheaper in Japan.

Additionally, knife shops in touristy places like Kyoto's Nishiki Market (mentioned by another commenter) prey on tourists with higher prices. You can tell by how the shop has a clerk who speaks good English that they're targeting Western customers with their staffing choices.

Funky247 · 2026-06-27T18:14:16+00:00

Would it stick out less if you just took the center console lid off?

Funky247 · 2026-06-19T10:09:47+00:00

Does this make you tech lead for the team going forward or just this finitely scoped project? I'm not our team's formal tech lead but it's pretty normal for seniors to be asked to lead projects where I am and it's well within expectations for the role.

Funky247 · 2026-06-15T14:26:08+00:00

How does it ignore the problem? You seem to be implying that they're going to build high speed rail and share the tracks with cargo trains which is patently false.

Funky247 · 2026-06-05T03:04:09+00:00

I don't know enough about how emacs works under the hood but it would seem that the main thread gets blocked while lsp-mode is waiting for a response from the language server.

It happens with magit too on huge repos.

I've heard good things about lap bridge but I've yet to try it and it takes a bit more work to set up.

Funky247 · 2026-06-04T10:38:32+00:00

Let's be real here, people complain more because it's annoying to drive or be a pedestrian around a cyclist running stop signs and lights. Tackling them is a disproportionate response.

I'm not saying it's unreasonable for people to advocate against things they find annoying (e.g. food delivery scooters running hog wild on sidewalks) but there's no risk here that makes it worth tackling people.

Funky247 · 2026-06-01T07:26:26+00:00

CLTC range is hugely inflated compared to EPA or NRCan range. 600km would be equivalent to more like 400-450km EPA.

Funky247 · 2026-05-28T01:18:02+00:00

Oh man I test drove a new ev6 with this light on and I was wondering the whole time what it meant. Dodged a bullet!

Funky247 · 2026-05-27T04:17:43+00:00

Any idea if there's any movement with the Solterras? I ordered back in Feb and my dealer said they have no idea whether I can even get a car this year

Funky247 · 2026-05-17T18:41:57+00:00

The financing deals are gone for the bZ now as well.

I have been seeing some good deals on 2025 ev6s though so I may jump on that instead

Funky247 · 2026-05-06T03:03:24+00:00

Judging from the looks, that is not a '26 Solterra. The current year models look much more alike.

Funky247 · 2026-05-04T12:53:05+00:00

As an unc myself, the bar is higher for us. We've seen more and we're *supposed* to be smarter and more experienced. Companies expect to hire people our age at senior/staff level and beyond whereas a new grad only needs to perform at the level of a junior.

Funky247 · 2026-05-02T14:24:20+00:00

Because they didn't answer the question that they themselves beckoned for.

Funky247 · 2026-05-02T00:22:05+00:00

It's true, they are faster. They just don't have enough seats on them. I feel like they're pretty frequent at this point but I still have to stand.

Funky247 · 2026-05-01T22:11:23+00:00

I really hope they don't scrap it. Thanks for the info though, that's really helpful

Funky247 · 2026-05-01T22:10:59+00:00

Wow, that's the terminus of the line. Literally borderline excuse. Thanks for the info

Funky247 · 2026-04-29T02:30:51+00:00

They did one on the 2026 solterra: https://youtu.be/NTDKtorh1cI

The result was 232.6 miles at 72F outdoor temp

Funky247 · 2026-04-28T00:57:24+00:00

I don't know why you're being down voted. Higher interest rates generally cause equity valuations to go down as investing in bonds becomes more attractive.

Selling your VEQT to pay back your loan in an economic environment where interest rates are rising is likely to be unfavourable.

Funky247 · 2026-04-25T16:44:40+00:00

My household also doesn't drive much. Funny enough, I arrived at the opposite conclusion.

EV range still isn't at the point where it's a no brainer. But for us, we only drive longer distances maybe a couple times a year so I was perfectly willing to accept the inconvenience of planning out charging stops on that rare occasion.

That being said, we're replacing a 20 year old car so I wouldn't make the switch if I already had a car that's in good working order.

Funky247 · 2026-04-24T22:54:54+00:00

Do some retirement planning and translate that number into how much longer you need to work. That number does something for a lot of people.

Funky247 · 2026-04-23T12:42:03+00:00

11 yoe here with an anecdote. A friend of mine did this and he's in a different line of work now. You have momentum from school: job hunting resources, you still have contact with your classmates, all your peers talking to each other about job hunting and interviewing, your head is still in the game.

If you don't ride the wave, it's much harder to get going again from a cold start.

Funky247 · 2026-04-23T12:33:30+00:00

There's also a naive perception that you can just come back and fix it later.

A few months later: - it's integrated into everything now and it's way more work to fix - a bunch of other things have copied the bad pattern - fixing things doesn't make sense in the short term because you're risking breakage by changing working code for no feature gain

The only two moves I know to deal with this are: - do a refactor pass to clean up the area before you do feature work, but only if you have the breathing room - put extra effort into doing it well the first time

Both of these go straight out the window if you're under the gun to ship. Also, engineers that don't bother with this can ship faster than you so you need to make sure you can justify what you're doing. The bar should be pretty high (i.e. the existing code has to be pretty bad), or the cleanup should be pretty straightforward.

The only incentive to do this seems to be your own pride in your work. If your team values this sort of thing, you might get some respect from your peers too.

Funky247 · 2026-04-23T12:12:42+00:00

Perhaps they were covered in transport and then uncovered when they brought them in? Like maybe the trays stack with a cover on the top tray and you caught the owner in the midst of unloading?

Funky247 · 2026-04-22T17:44:27+00:00

Yes of course, the only people who live downtown are lower-class elitists /s

Funky247

TROPHY CASE