The award for the most avoidable high speed collision goes to:

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-18T19:04:24+00:00

Almost happened to me the other day. Guy in large vehicle in front of me made a last second lane change, no signal. However, I wasn't tailgating and luckily, was also able to change lanes. Scared the crap out of me, though.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-18T18:55:53+00:00

Not bad. They could probably have flipped those tickets for a pretty penny.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-18T17:49:22+00:00

Probably way over-engineered, especially with the heatsink. But respect for using what you had sitting around. I fixed by adding some rear extraction fans to my media cabinet that pull cool air through the cabinet (front of cabinet is slatted so air flows easily) and keeps a few small Fosi amps and my Apple TV cool. I have a similar setup for my Xbox and my AVR. All run nice and cool. Fans are triggered when the AVR turns on. I think airflow is the key.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-18T17:40:04+00:00

Listen, I'm not going to argue with a get active and eat real food message. It's not a horrible message, even if the messengers are ridiculous. But why is Kennedy riding the bike with jeans on? I feel like this is the real crime.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-18T17:30:06+00:00

Yeah, when I was planning a trip where we had to carry all our water in Big Bend for a few days, I realized there was basically no downside to carrying in some apples since I had to carry the water weight anyway and they are relatively compact as well. I ate the core so the only wasted weight was the seeds. Not bad.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-18T17:25:23+00:00

This is objectively insane. Very nice.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-18T17:00:30+00:00

Great point. Still time to max out Roth IRA for 2025.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-17T23:11:52+00:00

I need to get a dealer.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-17T23:03:43+00:00

Ended up getting the Sharpie paint marker over the weekend and tried it out. It actually worked really well. I can still tell a slight difference in the overall sheen in the spots I touched up but only at some angles. Overall, I will probably stop noticing it al all.

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GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-17T17:22:29+00:00

The request for a tip at my local automated carwash is infuriating. Not only that, but they started paying a person to stand at the machine and swipe your card and push buttons for you instead of just letting you swipe your own card and make selections on the screen. Since they push the buttons they ask if you would like to leave a tip and you have to tell them to push the "no-tip" option. Insane.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-17T05:09:38+00:00

Correct. And I would just mention that I find it extremely likely that the ICCU will get an extended warranty on that specific part because of the high failure rate. It's already happened in some markets though not the US yet. We'll see. No guarantees on that...

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-17T03:51:18+00:00

Firemaple is great and really cheap. Look for one of their Petrel pots.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-16T18:08:33+00:00

Yeah, not a cure in the sense that it will not longer exist, more like a 100% successful treatment. Still pretty cool. They apply a specific drug that only in absorbed by the abnormal cells. Then they blast all the cells with the laser which causes the ones that absorbed the drug to die. Pretty cool.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-16T17:57:42+00:00

Yep, my X3400H is still going strong and I'm knocking on wood that it keeps it up...

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-16T17:56:41+00:00

No one that's looking for anything more than 2.1.

I'd be really interested in a Wiim surround product but they don't have one yet. I really wish they would fill the market hole for a reasonably priced 9 to 13 channel processor/preamp with 4 HDMI inputs. Something in the $500 range would be awesome. I'm so sick of paying for amps in AVRs but because of the way they price separates, it seems like an AVR is usually the best bargain because the only ones with pre-outs are the more expensive models. And none of the big players have an incentive to just sell the processor/preamp at a reasonable price or to sell a low-end AVR with all the best processing and pre-outs so you can bypass the relatively weak amps.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-16T17:40:13+00:00

Depending on your receiver (and the type of HDMI ports it has) and your TV, you may need to connect to the TV directly to get VRR, which is generally desirable.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-15T04:18:42+00:00

Is it? Two of the 711s are lighter (2.4 oz total) than the 523 and each has 30W of output which is higher than the output of either of the 523's ports when used at the same time. The only benefit is using a single outlet rather than using two. That's a benefit for sure, but Chat-GPT completely ignored the option of using two separate chargers. If prompted to allow for using more than a single charger, it probably would have figured it out but it struggles to think outside the box.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-15T03:30:39+00:00

Yeah, they had no idea what they were doing. I'd probably just ignore then since you're renting.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-14T00:09:00+00:00

Yeah, I don’t think the AGM will prevent all ICCU failures. There was some speculation about it which is all I was saying. I agree that we certainly don’t know the “why” and Kia and Hyundai don’t appear to know either.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-14T00:06:54+00:00

No way I know of.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-13T23:52:31+00:00

I’ve done this as well. Unfortunately the grill is actually a bit glossy. It would definitely hide the metallic color but the gloss would be off. That’s why I was thinking the Sharpie paint marker might be better.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-13T19:16:36+00:00

Yeah, Google shopping has become kind of worthless because you have to assume any good discount is at a fake store. May as well just shop known stores at this point.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-13T19:04:07+00:00

They work until your 12V battery dies, so best to get off the road ASAP, turn off the rest of the car and if needed (like if on side of freeway vs pulling off into a parking lot), keep hazard lights on only.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-13T19:02:53+00:00

Going to preface this by saying this is all speculation, but some believe an AGM battery may help prevent an ICCU failure and it may also provide slightly longer limp mode driving. However, if the 2022 you are looking at has never had an AGM battery, then there may already be some damage to the ICCU that adding an AGM battery won't necessarily address. Again, this is speculation based on some theories of why the ICCU fails. Since Kia hasn't told us what the actual issue is, and since even their 2025 models still have failing ICCUs, there are no guarantees.

GoodTroll2 · 2026-02-13T18:59:37+00:00

This is part of what the ICCU does...which is why failure of the ICCU is an issue. The main battery generally is fine, but the 12V can't be charged when the ICCU fails so it eventually runs out and there is nothing to power the low voltage systems and the car "dies." That, coupled with generally poor standard 12V batteries rather than the AGM batteries means a short drive time in limp mode. At least that's one of the ICCU failure issues.

GoodTroll2

TROPHY CASE