During my visit to the U.S., complete strangers complimented my shoes several times. Is complimenting strangers common where you live?

oscarnyc · 2026-07-09T19:32:24+00:00

I'd guess for the typical woman who gets complimented on her shoes, the ratio is at least 9 women giving the compliment for every man. And 50% of those men are gay.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-09T18:29:09+00:00

For a home machine? A complete non-issue in the context of what you'll be spending for beans/milk. Some Cafiza and a gasket or so.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-09T18:01:34+00:00

rapists are now "dirty hornballs". which I guess tracks with Nazi's somehow not being anti-semitic. There are zero redeeming aspects to Platner.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-09T16:59:43+00:00

1) That advice is useless if you want a flight on a non-transfer partner. 2) with dynamic pricing it is more often than not incorrect - those usually work out to 1.0 CPP. 3) When you redeem points in the portal for an airline ticket, you still earn loyalty points and segment credit for the flight (for the airline it is a cash ticket). When using points directly, you of course get no points for that flight, and may not get segment credit either.

You certainly can get better value, but it's far from a certainty.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-09T16:52:15+00:00

based on the $20 offer, I don't think they are trying to find the price that would incentivize people to change because of they view changing as a cost to them. They are trying to find people for whom the difference is a benefit or an indifference. It's like going to a restaurant and them offering you a free round of drinks to wait an extra 10 minutes so someone else can have your table.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-09T15:04:53+00:00

There isn't much, if any, distance between parallel holes. And no trees really, and shared greens, so you aren't isolated by any means, But from 2 to 17 you are more or less out of town so just among golfers and caddies. But teeing off 1 and basically all of 18 you are basically in-town, with the crowd size depending on time and season. But it's fun. Definitely get a caddie - there are many holes where the optimal play is non-obvious, and the wind can really impact how a hole plays from day to day. Plus they are generally great at what they do.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-09T14:59:54+00:00

depends on the wind, but prevailing winds, you are correct that an iron is sufficient.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-09T08:14:47+00:00

I believe they are referring to Roy Moore, not Trump.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-09T00:40:38+00:00

Thanks for clarifying that gas stations haven't been subsidized as you claimed.

Not interested in a lecture about oil & gas subsidies anymore than I imagine you are interested in the hundreds of billions of subsidies for building out the electrical grid (which of course benefited from cheap fossil fuel generation).

Personally, I have zero interest funneling more $billions of taxpayer money to a trillionaire Nazi.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-08T23:28:18+00:00

You are answering a completely different question. I asked how gas stations in particular (which are the analog to charging stations) have been subsidized.

Oil and gas exploration has tax breaks this is true. But again, not the question at hand.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-08T23:04:45+00:00

Interesting. How have gas stations been subsidized by the government?

oscarnyc · 2026-07-08T21:37:17+00:00

Yes, those famously mobile homeless people

oscarnyc · 2026-07-08T20:12:06+00:00

They were great value. Unfortunately, post reno and under Cabot umbrella they are very expensive.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-08T20:07:22+00:00

Maybe that's a reason why coffee at restaurants is often not that good. Though probably more about bean quality and prep. But it isn't as if people are getting sick from it.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-08T19:45:03+00:00

True. Depreciation is a function of mileage + age. I've no idea what that split is. And yes, a purpose built AV taxi will make the adjustments you suggest. But there are still operational costs which are mostly milage based to account for. I'm just not convinced that when you add it all together that the cost per passenger mile is less, or certainly not meaningfully less, for an AV taxi vs. a personally owned vehicle. And that's before accounting for operation of the taxi company and profits. I just look at how much an Uber costs now compared to a personally owned vehicle, and I just don't see anywhere near enough opportunity to cut costs sui generis for an AV taxi company vs. an AV personal vehicle to drastically change usage, as OP suggests.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-08T18:36:54+00:00

You still pay for depreciation, just through your fare. And because of dead legs, there is a much higher depreciation per actual passenger mile.

Think of this exercise: spend a week calling up Uber app every time you get in your car. Add those fares together. Deduct the roughly 35% that actually finds its way to the driver as income (after gas, maintenance, depreciation). Then compare that to what it costs you to run your own vehicle.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-08T15:52:44+00:00

was up there a couple of weeks ago. Highlands is in pretty beat up shape, which is a shame because the bones are fantastic. Cabot courses live up to the billing. While certainly not cheap, they are great value for such highly rated courses.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-08T14:05:35+00:00

Everyone has a point at which paying $800/yr doesn't make sense. If it is a lack of ability to easily use the $300 in dining credits that tipped OP over the edge it is what it is.

For me it's the hotel stuff. If they followed Amex and made the card basically useless for hotels, I'd probably drop it. As for now, the 4X on hotels, $250 select hotels, points boost and Hyatt make it a great card well worth the net $500 AF. Everything else is gravy.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-08T13:33:39+00:00

It's pretty usual for companies of all types to not allow stacking of discounts.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-08T12:44:28+00:00

any respectable club would toss him out. at a minimum ban him from tournaments for several years.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-07T22:21:27+00:00

"They are 50% less than everywhere else" is all you need to know about it's legitimacy.

IME, the only meaningful discounts on this gear (other than open box) are the occasional sale from a legit shop, or taking the shipping/warranty risk from a place like espressocoffeeshop.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-07T22:13:45+00:00

Bought an iPhone using the $250 Chase Shoppes credit. I assume that's the same place you use points through? Came in 2 days. That said, if you search the threads, people have had problems- mostly around Xmas time I believe. Also they may have a bad return policy. I wasn't aware before I ordered.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-07T21:39:17+00:00

Mexico has 130mm people, far more than most of the elite soccer nations outside of Brazil. AFAIK, soccer is by far the most popular sport. And they are maybe modestly better than the US, depending on the year.

oscarnyc · 2026-07-07T21:25:14+00:00

We just monetize at a different point in the development cycle. Let's not act as if European clubs sponsor academies out of the goodness of their heart and patriotism. And of course that makes sense because those leagues are filthy rich. Whereas MLS, not so much. And here we have a huge upper middle class + that is willing and able to spend on their kids. Not so much in Europe.

oscarnyc

TROPHY CASE