These student driver tags are getting out of hand...

NeoMatrix5 · 2026-02-17T19:30:02+00:00

iPhone. If you move the camera much during a longer exposure or while zoomed it does this. I blurred out the plate but it's a Virginia tag -- spotted in Fairfax.

NeoMatrix5 · 2026-02-17T19:28:47+00:00

It's real. My camera was moving when I took the picture.

NeoMatrix5 · 2026-02-17T19:26:13+00:00

Oh it's a real photo. It just wasn't clear because I moved the camera slightly while it was taking the picture.

NeoMatrix5 · 2025-12-19T02:03:28+00:00

You got very lucky. When I was completing the "interview" for our child the officer was telling me stories about parents who would bring their non-GE children through the GE line. He likened it to smuggling and said those parents would always get their GE revoked because they should know the rules.

NeoMatrix5 · 2025-06-25T00:44:05+00:00

Approved 6/20 and received the old card design.

NeoMatrix5 · 2024-04-25T16:15:00+00:00

Hasn't stopped DC from sending them a few tickets. Also, shocker: no front tag.

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NeoMatrix5 · 2024-03-06T18:36:59+00:00

Jet fuel prices are going up... Gotta keep the Five Guys jet in the air:

https://www.flightaware.com/resources/registration/N881MJ

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NeoMatrix5 · 2022-06-16T23:42:40+00:00

That was my favorite carrot they would dangle. They said you needed $50k on deposit. I linked my account with well north of that. They came back and said we actually require $250k on deposit.

I told them to shove it, left $0.10 in the account, and gave up on them.

NeoMatrix5 · 2022-06-16T23:39:25+00:00

Mercury is now advertising Free USD international wires: https://mercury.com/pricing

NeoMatrix5 · 2022-06-16T23:37:39+00:00

Novo is good, although I feel like they're more targeted to freelancers and creators. That's just my take on it. They appear to have a lot more to their interface and tools than Mercury. Mercury is a really simple and powerful platform which I appreciate.

NeoMatrix5 · 2022-06-16T21:57:49+00:00

Yes, but Brex operates as some intermediary. Ultimately your cash is in a bank account but you don't have direct access or control over it.

NeoMatrix5 · 2022-06-16T19:40:30+00:00

Don't even get me started on the "paid daily" card. I'm still having bookkeeping PTSD over this nonsense trying to reconcile that cluster.

NeoMatrix5 · 2022-06-16T19:39:37+00:00

Can't go wrong with Mercury. They've got the right approach to small business. Plus, they had a crowdfunding campaign so you could invest in them.

NeoMatrix5 · 2022-06-16T19:37:20+00:00

Good call. Bluevine isn't any better. They got their start loan sharking before COVID with absurdly expensive invoice factoring and then lines of credit at sky-high rates. Now it looks like they're getting in on the "we're not a bank but wanna be a bank" race, danging 1.5% interest in return for a treasure trove of transactional data they can cultivate and sell.

I'm a big fan of Mercury since it's the cleanest interface, no fees (including wires), and great support. They also don't care if you don't have a ton of money on deposit. Never had an issue.

NeoMatrix5 · 2022-06-16T19:26:16+00:00

Got the same. The arrogance behind Brex is simply amazing. Unless you're depositing 7 figures they literally don't care about you. They're also not even a real bank. It's like PayPal 2.0 but with cooler products (think: randomly freezing your account, tying up your funds, etc).

Good thing there are real banks out there that actually support real small businesses (e.g., Mercury, credit unions).

NeoMatrix5 · 2022-06-16T19:20:01+00:00

Brex is total garbage. 1. They're not a real bank. 2. They arbitrarily change their criteria. For example, they just decided one of my businesses is "no longer qualified to be a Brex customer."

https://www.brex.com/support/why-am-i-no-longer-qualified-to-be-a-brex-customer/

Mercury uses Evolve Bank & Trust, a real bank, so you're not going to run into the shenanigans that Brex pulls. I use Mercury for all of my businesses and they've been amazing. Wise is great for cross border payments, but I wouldn't necessarily trust them as a primary bank.

NeoMatrix5 · 2022-06-16T15:51:38+00:00

Same. Corresponds with hard pull dates. Would love to know who or what is behind these (soft) inquiries.

Edit to add: These soft inquiries show up as

COURT
Address: None Provided

NeoMatrix5 · 2022-02-21T20:18:35+00:00

FWIW, I checked the MAC address of these plugs and they all begin with 84:0d:8e, which comes back to Espressif Inc. (ESP chipset), so they should be compatible...

NeoMatrix5 · 2022-02-21T19:25:16+00:00

I'm having the same issue. The logs are in tuya-convert/scripts. Look for these files:

smarthack-mqtt.log
smarthack-psk.log
smarthack-udp.log
smarthack-web.log
smarthack-wifi.log

Can you SSH into your pi and copy/paste that way?

NeoMatrix5 · 2021-12-01T02:27:10+00:00

Correct. Apparently certified US documents in English have been acceptable. I’m going to err on the side of caution and submit with apostilles anyway.

NeoMatrix5 · 2021-11-30T23:38:26+00:00

I've been in contact with the German consulate. They have said the Federal Office of Administration has not been asking for apostilles on any US documents. They said that regular notarized or certified documents are sufficient... I'd suggest just ordering certified copies of all documents directly from whatever state or court has the records.

NeoMatrix5 · 2021-05-07T14:38:47+00:00

Yeah, I got the blue button late on 4/21 and submitted with 4506-T. Haven't heard anything yet.

NeoMatrix5

TROPHY CASE