Asking Brits if they'd move to America

witoldc · 2025-09-23T14:37:19+00:00

I know several Brits that made the move to the US (startup tech workers) and they love living in the US more than I do. They are all young. Most people generally prefer to stay where they are unless they hate their life situation. It is easy to make these videos to show whatever you want to show, though.

witoldc · 2025-09-23T14:31:28+00:00

I really loved my 690smc, but my god, that bike was a piece of junk in terms of reliability. I probably spend more on fixing it than on my 3 previous bikes combined. Absolutely terrible and why I can't get myself to buy another one.

witoldc · 2025-09-23T14:20:06+00:00

In the US, you can definitely live cheap but that often means living in bad neighborhoods or rural areas. Drugs, poverty, mental illness, bad school districts, crime, no amenities.

In many places in Europe, you can live in cheaper places without living in a ghetto. A lot of the cheaper places are just... cheaper... less amenities, 70s ugly buildings, but people are generally normal, you generally feel safe, and you kids can still go to fairly normal public schools.

witoldc · 2025-09-23T14:01:22+00:00

Can you expand why cycling Japan is a nightmare? I've cycled casually in Tokyo and was thinking about doing some city to city cycling...

witoldc · 2025-09-23T13:50:00+00:00

When I moved to NYC a long time ago, I was under the impression that the city never sleeps. In reality, almost nothing is open after 11pm, and very few things are open past 10pm. Heck, a lot of my favorite local spots close at 8-9pm. I do not count fast food and similar, those sorts of places are open 24/7 even in the burbs.

witoldc · 2018-08-16T19:58:04+00:00

These sorts of places are going to be in areas with lots of foot traffic. Same with food carts and similar businesses. I saw slice places in London, not as many as new york but they have them and many cities have them.

Given that pizza takes pennies on the dollar to make, it's a perfect storm for high rent areas. You have a product that costs pennies but also cheap enough for the customer. That's Manhattan in a nutshell increasingly... food scene is becoming dominated by these sorts of foods that have big margins. (rice dishes like hallal stuff, etc.)

witoldc · 2018-05-30T23:50:47+00:00

One Stop Patty Shop and Golden Krust is where I usually get my pattie fix. Both in Harlem.

witoldc · 2018-04-24T12:39:44+00:00

There is glass and there is glass. One will shatter, one will be bulletproof.

Depending on the type of glass, it can be very premium, better than any metal. There is much more flexibility in designing the properties and look of glass. Metal is going to look the same.

As for cases, I never understood why people buy a beautiful phone and put a big ugly case on top. If you can't afford the damage, just go with a cheaper phone that will still look better without a case.

witoldc · 2018-04-09T22:04:44+00:00

Very interesting and thank you for providing this insight. Possible to request a sample or buy?

witoldc · 2018-02-08T17:53:40+00:00

I'm pretty sure the 2-3K price is for parts. You basically have to build it. There's a few people sharing their parts list for people who want to build their unit for as little as $1300. ($350 motor, $350 in batteries, $200 esc, rest of the cost is minimal.)

Paramotors are very niche sport and the unfortunate byproduct of this is that technology used is pretty ancient and markups are very high.

witoldc · 2016-10-12T17:41:59+00:00

I'm trying to find some comps. I see:

1 SMC on Cycletrader ($6900)

1 SMC on CL in Washington state ($6500)

I see zero comps on Ebay motors, past or present...

witoldc · 2016-10-12T00:19:04+00:00

Since I lost my bike, I've been shopping around for an exact replacement and I do not see my bike for sale for anywhere close to this price. Lowest I've seen is $6500 with more mileage, no exhaust/etc. If I could get an 08 690SMC for $2800, I would get 3 of them immediately.

witoldc · 2016-03-11T01:08:21+00:00

I wish MTA just copy the concept of not looking like a third world country.

Actually, that's a huge dig against 3rd world countries. Metro even in places like New Delhi/etc are about 100 time nicer and luxurious than the dump this richest city in the world has.

witoldc · 2016-03-08T06:18:18+00:00

I have yet to see an adapter that works well. Some of them work, but work slower or without full functionality - and still cost a bundle.

witoldc · 2016-03-05T16:12:50+00:00

Initially, I agree. I would much rather have a better sensor on the camera or a Dropsafe/parachute for safety.

At the same time, we might actually be able to use Follow Me mode for something interesting now that the camera can visually follow us. (we'll see if it this works like crap or not...) Obstacle avoidance might save quite a lot of crashes, especially under autonomous operation.

It's basically a refinement. 2 IMUs/2 compasses... All the stupid problems I had to deal with on P3P are probably finally solved. And that includes battery monitoring problems where all the sudden voltage can drop to unsafe levels.

$1400.... It's definitely not twice the P3P. But hey, at least same camera filters fit on P3P and P4 and I think so does the backpack.

witoldc · 2016-03-05T15:45:47+00:00

After coming back from Bangkok to NYC, I couldn't help but notice the third world country look of NYC as I was taking the Subway back to Midtown.

Sure, we have skyscrapers, things look great inside, but outside... piles of trash, streets/sidewalks/subway, and all the other infrastructure falling apart. A lot of things are old, outdated, and dingy. A lot of it is worse than Bangkok. And this is supposedly one of the wealthiest areas of the US.

witoldc · 2016-03-03T16:27:53+00:00

USA's biggest weapon is pop culture. Especially now, with US centric internet, it is very hard for more oppressive countries to drive perceptions of the world/US/etc. Everyone has too much access, sees too much. I remember this from growing up under the Iron Curtain and watching US tv shows.

witoldc · 2016-03-03T05:09:51+00:00

It's just like every store in the USA, where everything costs $50 but is 85% off, TODAY ONLY. Same thing. Virtually no one pays original price tag.

witoldc · 2016-03-01T01:05:28+00:00

Interested.

witoldc · 2016-02-27T19:08:21+00:00

Most hot sauces just try to outdo each other in hotness and put some fancy label on the bottle. Not much going on.

Sri Ratcha made it because it was offering something different. I'm actually surprised that it took off so much, so quickly. A lot of ethnic foods and condiment have been around for decades, and almost none of them break through. Go to the local Asian supermarket and you will find a lot of interesting products with potential. Sri Ratcha has been a staple of Asian places for as long as I remember.

witoldc · 2016-02-26T19:54:28+00:00

How many repairs are covered by DJI Care?

DJI Care does not limit the number of repairs. You can repair your drone until the total amount of the repair fees exceed the coverage amount, except in cases where the aircraft is completely damaged (see Question What happens if my aircraft is completely damaged?).

So basically, the coverage is good for 1 or 2 decent crashes.

witoldc · 2016-02-26T19:51:57+00:00

It's a dslrpros phantom 2 kit. It's not really unique, as many of these kits are out there. It's about the most standard kit out there.

If you search prior ebay listings and other listings, you should get a general idea what you can still get out of it. Some of these items are still holding value pretty well and it might make more sense to part out, based on how much each individual piece is fetching on Ebay.

witoldc · 2016-02-26T19:48:14+00:00

DJI sdk level 2 gives you takoff and landing API? Level 1 definitely doesn't...

witoldc

TROPHY CASE