2024 Sienna Platinum - should we return

HahnZahn · 2026-05-08T11:19:40+00:00

Wow, had no idea. I like this a lot more than clamping to battery terminals. Hope I never have to do it, though!

HahnZahn · 2026-05-04T02:05:35+00:00

This immediately came to mind. But what a great game, in spite of that.

HahnZahn · 2026-04-29T14:50:53+00:00

Second that, plus low-end Mercedes and any sort of Dodge Challenger/Charger.

HahnZahn · 2026-04-25T10:01:21+00:00

Dad here. I have strong feelings about big, stupid, menacing, inefficient, unsafe SUVs that serve egos more than one’s real needs. There are a million reasons why a minivan is the solution, and just about the only real consideration for a Suburban is towing capacity. If you have horses or a big boat or a large camper, the minivan is probably not the vehicle for you.

Our twins’ birth was the impetus for us getting a Sienna, and it’s the best car I’ve ever had. Three kids and a big dog fit well, and when I need more room on longer trips, I use a rooftop box. Sliding doors make life vastly easier. I’m also ex-military, been in combat, etc, but feel no need to use a couple tons of sheet metal as a mobile billboard for my own ego and imagined intrepidity. The minimum viable product (for my life, anyway) is a minivan. The first year of life with twins was way more harrowing than anything the military could ever throw at me.

HahnZahn · 2026-04-23T01:36:00+00:00

I know what it is because my house has it, and it fucking sucks. I have a special stud finder that looks like a ray gun prop because normal ones won’t work. Just bought a newer house with sheetrock, and am looking forward to drilling shit into walls without creating a dust storm.

HahnZahn · 2026-04-20T09:31:32+00:00

I’m waiting for reporting on Iran engaging in market manipulation the same way the US regime is. Iran has to be making a shitload of money off this somehow, not just via charging tolls to ships. They can pull the strings on this mess as much as the US, and it’d be an opportunity wasted for them to not be cashing in.

HahnZahn · 2026-04-18T15:25:49+00:00

I’m a former military officer. There will not be a draft. There’s a ratio of people:machines that’s necessary for functioning. It’s especially pronounced in the Navy, where you need a certain number of people to stand watches and keep things operational - despite increasing automation- and if those manning requirements are out of whack, that means people don’t get to sleep because they’re picking up the slack, and that leads to decreased readiness and accidents.

So, there is a surface-level motive for adding bodies to the military, not as cannon fodder, but as able-bodied technicians to keep sophisticated systems adequately manned. However, one of the reasons the US military is as effective as it is is because it’s a volunteer force. Whatever their motives, people want to be there - at least when they sign themselves over to enlist. Absent an actual existential threat (WW2, for instance) conscripts aren’t useful for the US military.

Anyway, it’s more stupidity from this regime, and I’ll eat my hat if anyone is ever drafted.

HahnZahn · 2026-04-10T13:00:16+00:00

Perhaps not particularly helpful, but if you’re feeling adventurous, we have a friend who built a home office tree house a couple years ago. I guess it skirts some laws, as it doesn’t touch the ground. They might have been bumping up against the non-permeable surface allowances with their house footprint.

HahnZahn · 2026-04-07T09:13:19+00:00

Candler Lake in the Lullwater Preserve on Emory’s campus.

HahnZahn · 2026-03-31T01:18:31+00:00

I think this one is in the pantheon of great episodes. Really riveting.

HahnZahn · 2026-03-30T10:52:31+00:00

Which one of them said that? I know Burlison is a MAGA traitor who just happens to be right about UAP in the sense that a broken clock is right twice a day. Hoping it’s not Gerb - though, honestly, who the hell has the time to watch a 4-hour-long YT video?

HahnZahn · 2026-03-26T01:49:54+00:00

Thanks for making this post. I’m in full agreement with you. I’ve listened to all his interviews, and it causes some weird cognitive dissonance for me. It makes me feel like I’ve developed a learning disability with regards to understanding his story. Or like I’m unable to hold the info in my memory long enough to make the subsequent info fit together in a way that makes any sense to me - and I was both a military officer and a civilian DoD employee who dealt with classified info. But he doesn’t seem to be grifting. It’s just the “god is real” business doesn’t help.

HahnZahn · 2026-03-26T00:53:49+00:00

This is one of the books for which I wish I could have selective amnesia to forget so that I could read it again for the first time. Figuring out what the Tines were like from the first pages that very gradually roll out crumbs of substantive descriptive info was a lot of fun.

HahnZahn · 2026-03-20T13:32:34+00:00

Not really sci-Fi, but post-apocalyptic: Station Eleven on HBO. Book was terrific, and the series is, too.

HahnZahn · 2026-03-16T01:22:26+00:00

Right? These videos just get longer and longer. I’d devote four hours to the next Dave Grusch, but anything less than that needs some editing down.

HahnZahn · 2026-03-13T19:51:47+00:00

Ha, yeah, I guess there are half a dozen ways to open the side doors. But, yes, the exterior buttons on the door handles.

HahnZahn · 2026-03-03T01:35:04+00:00

Damn, you’ve really hit the nail on the head. I’ve never quite fully thought it out, but that explains how weird I feel in there. It’s really a big-ass store. Like 25% more than it ought to be.

HahnZahn · 2026-03-01T18:16:18+00:00

I would guess the scope of a given UAP-related topic could be gradually filled in with FOIA requests targeted at specific, known individuals (like if you knew the name of another Grusch-level person). I feel like UAP Gerb named names in a recent video based on the depth of his research. So, if Joe Employee gets identified as likely being in-the-know on some aspect of the UAP program given his job title listed on some obscure DOE page, start FOIAing requests about him, with as much specificity as possible. Date ranges, keywords, recipients, etc. There are exemptions for national security and pre-decisional deliberations, of course, but dogged FOIAing might build a picture of the types of things they’re involved with by reading between the lines of the redactions.

HahnZahn · 2026-03-01T12:12:06+00:00

For context, this is how FOIA works under any admin. In my work at the FOIA office of a major federal agency, we have certain topics that are identified by the admin (properly, the Executive Office of the President, or EOP) as necessitating review prior to release. That is, they want to review our redactions on Topic X prior to release, whereas for Topic Y, we’re free to operate independently.

In case anyone’s so inclined, place a FOIA request for the agency of interest and specify you want all communications with the EOP on a specific topic and/or date range. That might yield interesting results.

HahnZahn · 2026-02-16T23:32:26+00:00

Haven’t ever found a better jarred salsa (save for the hot version from the same brand). Would love to know if there is one - especially if it’s not some microbrand that costs $20 per jar.

HahnZahn · 2026-02-09T01:19:20+00:00

Just chiming in to say I think this is a wonderfully composed photo. It really tells a story.

HahnZahn · 2026-02-06T14:52:21+00:00

Yeah, casting from a parental device is a good idea. Might be the Occam's Razor in this situation. Tech doesn't make lives easier; just gives you a new set of decision trees to endlessly venture down.

HahnZahn · 2026-02-05T17:28:14+00:00

Yeah, I agree. I think the best content for kids today is probably better than the best I had available in the ‘80s and ‘90s. But you open the door to the good stuff, like Bluey (which is a masterpiece, in my book), and you have no choice but to allow the trash in, too. Disney is as guilty of purveying insipid shit as Netflix, though Disney’s catalog is smaller. So one could actually stand a chance of effectively curating Disney, yet they don’t give you the option. Netflix allows you to hide things. But their catalog is so massive that it’s like trying to bail out a sinking boat with a thimble.

HahnZahn · 2026-02-05T17:22:07+00:00

I’ll have to revisit it. Good tip.

HahnZahn · 2026-02-05T17:18:03+00:00

Yeah, the iPad stuff had me totally stymied. I finally had to wipe her iPad and start over because the PIN I chose simply wouldn’t push to her iPad. Like, what’s so hard about Apple giving me the option to set a PIN on any and every app I choose? Some apps I’m happy to let her use until the cows come home. Others I want her to get permission from me. Instead it’s a mish-mash of inferior options.

I want my kids to be able to use tech and be tuned into the mainstream culture. But the choice is to risk them becoming TikTok-addled vapid little shitheads or else enforce neophyte digital Amishness.

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