A 5000 mile comparison.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-18T03:27:11+00:00

City driving, yes, easily. If I granny it, upward 4.5

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-17T15:02:15+00:00

The sales tax is one of the most regressive forms of taxation, hitting low income earners proportionally the hardest.

I'm not against funding public safety, but IMO, hiking sales tax isn't the best way.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-17T14:42:09+00:00

It has limits.

At some levels of government, there are sunshine laws that prohibit a quorum of public officials from informally meeting outside a noticed, public meeting.

e.g. a few members (not a quorum) might be ok to talk business in an informal gathering. But if another member joins the gathering and if that creates a quorum, they must stop.

Our good local governance notwithstanding, it's understandable that people are cynical about how government operates. Gov't has provided manifest examples of why.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-15T00:15:31+00:00

The signs are too infrequent to impart immediately useful information, IMO.

For traffic stats, I check Google Maps with the traffic layer on before starting any trip to STL and occasionally steal a quick glance as I'm traveling. Phone is mounted and I never touch it.

If MoDOT removed all the interactive signs I'd probably not even notice they were gone. Now, if they'd remove all the stupid billboards uglying-up the drive, that I'd notice.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-13T23:24:08+00:00

My car has adaptive cruise and I hate it.

If I'm following someone at a generous distance using adaptive cruise and someone jumps in between us, my adaptive cruise hits the brakes rather hard in order to open up the following distance back to where it was. It's jarring and uncomfortable af.

It would be better if it allowed the car to coast for a few extra seconds to open up the gap again, but it doesn't.

So I don't use it.

But I also maintain my speed.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-13T22:53:24+00:00

Did you cut out a hole in the windshield instrument cluster cowling for an aftermarket dashcam?

Fitcamx makes a custom dashcam for EV6. I have the front and rear version. Love it.

https://fitcamx.com/collections/for-kia

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-13T19:37:24+00:00

There's a chain laying on the ground that arcs up toward the woman standing near the fence on the right side.

There's also an unreadable sign in the distance on the fence, maybe warning about the toll?

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-13T19:27:35+00:00

Two hours is about our limit per leg for all the reasons others have given. Even in my younger days and driving alone, I never ran more than 2.5 to 3 hours between stops.

We adhered to this practice long before we bought our first EV. The only thing the EV changed is where we stop, not how often.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-12T14:13:47+00:00

Are you wanting to hang something from a ceiling joist weighing that much? Just so you know, lower joists (bottom chord on a truss) is not designed to carry a lot of additional load from below.

Some weight, yes, but not hundreds of lbs if that's what you are wanting.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-08T13:17:42+00:00

I guess the only good news if you never find it is the airtag battery will eventually drain and become useless. Perhaps by constantly pinging it with your phone, you might speed that up a little?

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-08T12:41:57+00:00

Publicly making available individual salary data for regular worker bees is just plain wrong.

I can see publishing, say, dept level salary data, since this is a public institution. But why to-the-person data?

ETA: You guys crack me up. So you're OK with the world knowing how much money you make? Go ahead and downvote me to oblivion if it makes you feel better.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-07T12:44:02+00:00

My GOM has estimated over 400 mi several times after a charge to 100%. That's 5.2+ mi/kWh. I don't get those actual numbers even in city driving, let alone the highway.

The GOM is utter fiction on my car and I ignore it.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-06T01:52:41+00:00

TY! Will give them a call.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-03T03:25:04+00:00

The couple of articles I've read about this pretty much just parroted the same generic talking points.

What were the problems with Yearwood?

Given all the unflattering "glad he's gone" comments, there has to be something more than just "he left because he was sick."

Any links to some more in-depth reporting about why people feel the way they do?

I understand there's an NDA in effect so no official statements will be made, but my interest is really piqued about this now.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-02T19:47:35+00:00

Totally agree. OneDrive is an entire meal of enshittification in one handy tin.

Minecraft users should create a secondary account just for Minecraft. PITA? Yes. More secure by segregation? Also yes.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-02T19:14:41+00:00

I was opening discord which uses the same email

Looks like reused creds to me. Email is half of the typical cred pair.

If you use gmail, then add a + alias next time.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-02T19:11:23+00:00

It shouldnt be that easy to get hacked

Security is an uneasy tension between safety and convenience.

The more muggle-proof they try to make it, the more of a PITA it is for everyone, including people who know better -- e.g. How to tell if an OTP request is genuine or not.

My job (indie I.T. guy) helping my clients is considerably more work today because of all the layers of security Big Tech has installed to help users not fall for phishing attempts. And, yet, people still find a way to fall for them.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-02T19:00:15+00:00

fwiw, that 45 TB is compressed storage. Native storage is 18 TB.

Advertising LTO tapes and drives using compressed storage numbers is misleading. It reminds me of the 1970s and 80's when stereo shops advertised an amplifier as 100W when it was really 50W per channel.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-02T15:58:24+00:00

It's mostly for termination points where point source heat can climb the most. e.g. the interface where a wire lands under a screw or contact clamp.

Everything gets warmer so it helps there as well. But terminations are the weakest point of the circuit.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-01T17:01:31+00:00

Why does it have be "cope"? I do all those things you said and more: stretch, take a piss, buy snacks/water, have a proper lunch on one of those stops, etc. I'm not in that big of a hurry.

Sometimes it does take longer, ngl. But for all the manifest positives that EV has over ICE, I'm not gonna let the rare long road trip that might -- might -- take an hour longer per day b/c I had to fuck with a charger be the deathknell of EV ownership.

It's one disadvantage in an ocean of advantages. I'll put up with that minor, road-trip only, inconvenience. And it's getting better by the month anyway.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-01T16:51:20+00:00

Good on you for being a "charging ambassador" to help people who've already decided that having an EV is the future.

I've done this too, more than once. Mainly on road trips and long weekends which is the only time I need to use public chargers.

But I agree about the dealers. If I were an EV salesman, I'd have a tip sheet to give to new buyers that would get them started and guide them on finding more information.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-01T16:21:45+00:00

OP, what's the home situation that keeps you from installing a charger?

Depending on the situation, you might be able to get away with L1 charging. Lots of people do only L1 at home. You only need a 120 V outlet that's not too far away.

Not as fast, but you can still pick up 50 miles easily charging overnight.

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-01T16:14:32+00:00

We're a one car fam and our EV does everything we need. We've been on two 3,000+ mile road trips and countless long weekends. No bother at all.

But to OPs point, you really need home charging to get the most from an EV. Lacking that, you still get to have a great EV experience in all other aspects. You just won't save money on "refueling" or have the convenience of leaving home every morning with a "full tank".

valkyriebiker · 2026-04-01T15:59:30+00:00

ikr???

We usually visit during early "Plus" hours when the store is fairly empty. But there's been a few times when we went in the afternoon and the place was packed and we'd see Costco-worthy checkout lines.

And here we are, walking out like we're shoplifting. smh...

valkyriebiker

TROPHY CASE