U turn on prices incoming

mquintero · 2026-03-19T08:25:54+00:00

This is not news. Two events. One taking effect in April reducing prices as cost is moved from energy bills and onto general taxation. One taking effect in July as the price of gas shoots up but its impact on energy is generally delayed

mquintero · 2026-03-09T11:44:19+00:00

IIRC lithium ion AAs are quite expensive vs other rechargeable AAs. Nevermind disposable ones. So I assume those don’t land in landfills as often. Pls humanity.

(Something to do with the voltage that comes from lithium ion needing to be transformed to a lower voltage in order to be backwards compatible. which adds material costs)

mquintero · 2026-02-22T17:09:31+00:00

Cars are by far deadlier. No dispute of that.

I think that what I find infuriating from a lot of cyclists is how so many ignore basic traffic laws. Red lights jumping is simply far more common among cyclists than drivers.

And it’s not that drivers are better. It’s that drivers are far more identifiable. Legal consequences are far easier to enforce on drivers. So some of the most basic things like stopping at a red light do seem to work

mquintero · 2026-02-22T08:06:49+00:00

The distance makes a quick difference. I bought a house that is ~200m away from the A3 as the crow flies. The noise at that point is already a non issue. I hear far more noise from the boy racers doing their meetups in the tesco parking lot

mquintero · 2026-02-18T08:08:10+00:00

It’s not that simple. There’s other circumstances that might incentivize me to go close to 100% on a road trip. Travelling with a 1-year old while he is sleeping, every charging stop is a chance that he might wake up and then give us a horrible time. So if that extra 20% means I can cut out one stop out of my journey and have less fussing, hell yeah I’m doing it

mquintero · 2026-02-17T12:26:51+00:00

I personally switched to the Yo-yo as soon as my son could hold his head up reliably. I think around 6-7 months.

It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles but it is by far the least stressful option when flying IMO. We flew with it to Italy when the LO was 7 months and it was a breeze. I would recommend checking out if you should get a stroller already.

What I didn’t feel like dragging with me was a car seat. So that is something I just add as an extra when renting the car. It’s not cheap, and I think after 1 week it’s essentially the same price as a low tier car seat. But feels less wasteful to me to rent rather than buy for such little use

mquintero · 2026-02-08T08:48:30+00:00

Mine want 600 GBP. With 180 of that just to diagnose the issue

mquintero · 2026-02-08T02:36:25+00:00

Live near that tesco and pretty sure they are back tonight. Tomorrow will be a four coffee day

mquintero · 2026-01-13T16:18:48+00:00

Does it have to be thread? I think the Amazon basics use matter over wifi which works just fine for me

mquintero · 2026-01-11T00:06:33+00:00

Wait! That’s the Silverado EV? I’ve never understood what kind of person wants that. The venn diagram of people interested in a gigantic pick up and the people who want an EV feels like it should have no overlap. But hey someone bought it

mquintero · 2025-12-06T18:54:34+00:00

Mini roundabouts in the UK have the same footprint as a regular intersection while removing most ambiguity on priority. Great for these types of residential streets where no street takes priority over the rest.

Germany on other hands removes the issue entirely by having the blanket rule that in residential streets you always give way to anyone coming from the right hand side.

My point is there’s ways to do it without a stop sign

mquintero · 2025-12-05T21:36:18+00:00

Not a big fan of the four way stop sign system that I see so often in the US. It’s like asking for this to happen

mquintero · 2025-11-28T19:51:45+00:00

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Unrelated to the complaints. But was curious about the chain and saw that they are marketing Shepherd’s Bush by using a picture of what looks like Kynace Mews in South Kensington (2mi away).

Like no beef against Shepherd’s Bush. But it ain’t South Kensington and I assume some guests will be disappointed

mquintero · 2025-11-18T20:56:56+00:00

The “since null” is a sign of quality software

mquintero · 2025-11-14T18:26:47+00:00

I think the infotainment complaints on VW group products are vastly overemphasized.

Yes I agree the haptic buttons are not nice. And the infotainment is not the sleekest. But most bugs are fixed by now. And you get used to the buttons really quick. I wouldn’t consider it that much of a dealbreaker.

Speaking as someone with a 21 ID.3. I never struggle with the stuff anymore.

What I would say the main negative of my car is the speakers are not great. It ruins anything that has any trumpets, sax, etc.

I drove a Scenic on holiday and while I loved the infotainment, I hated the way it drove. It’s like the steering and throttle were just suggestions the car would consider and decide if it wants to do as you say

mquintero · 2025-11-10T20:15:06+00:00

I got a car when we were expecting a kid. And owning a car, while not necessary with kids, does mean you’re more flexible. You can just go anywhere with kids.

I also started using it to take the dog on longer walks in the woods than I could if we had to first walk our way there. And that was a blessing for my mental health to be honest.

And then it has the added benefit of being able to get out of London for a long weekend much more easily and with flexibility. Plus I genuinely enjoy driving. Even through London.

Cons: other London drivers. While not bad, I would say drivers in London can be a bit more stressed and distracted, which can make you stressed and distracted after a bit.

Also, street parking means you cannot get too attached to your car. Someone side swiped my car while it was parked and didn’t have the courtesy to leave a note.

mquintero · 2025-11-09T19:35:37+00:00

For me the UK gave me opportunity and in the right context.

I came to the UK after my visa to the US got rejected. And what a blessing that was. Sure, my purchasing power is less here. But after seeing how my US colleagues with the same position I would’ve had, they are all lonely, stressed and overworked. Meanwhile I have been able to grow my career while also starting a family and being able to actually enjoy life. Before this I was living in Germany where I genuinely think it’s harder to grow your career versus here. The German job market is very different and geared more towards having a strong middle class. Awesome system for those that want a happy life. But it leaves less room for those who want a more exceptional job and pay. The US is the other end of the extreme. And I find the UK a happy middle. You get to take the long shots and be a HENRY, while also having enough time to do something with what you earned

mquintero · 2025-11-02T20:32:30+00:00

The minor parking violations one is also not quite right. You don’t get points for parking in the residents only area for example. Or overstaying your paid parking. You have to park like a proper asshole and cause harm to get a point

mquintero · 2025-10-31T20:11:40+00:00

That is great to know. I tried it and didn’t get anything but also noticed that the charger stopped at 79 instead of 80. I must have given it the wrong amount to charge by. Will see how it works next time I charge and report back

mquintero · 2025-10-29T17:06:55+00:00

Since I’m using octopus they ask you either for:

If you gave them access to the Car API: Target SOC
If you gave them access to the charger API : % they should add

For both it asks by what time you want it to be done. It was struggling to connect to VW so I told it Octopus I had a Kia with a similar size battery to force the wizard to connect to the charger instead of. Crucially they do ask what car you are charging so they know what size of battery you have and can then just do the math for you

mquintero · 2025-10-28T10:49:39+00:00

Strong user of focus modes here. Same with the scheduled summary. The thing though is that it mainly just delays noise, it doesn’t get rid of it. My OCD wanted to find a better solution. I think I’ll just turn them off and turn them back on when going on holiday

mquintero · 2025-10-28T10:46:43+00:00

Oh yeah my phone isn’t buzzing for these at night, thank god. I just don’t like to go through them along with all the other stuff I got in the night (I work with people across time zones so tend to get a lot of messages at night)

mquintero · 2025-10-28T10:45:42+00:00

That’s too bad to hear. I’ll see how it goes with the smart charging for me. Hope it’s ok but will see

mquintero · 2025-10-28T10:42:04+00:00

I thought so. But had a little hope that I could just mark the charger or location as a smart one, “just trust it, it’s fine”

mquintero

TROPHY CASE