I've used TaxAct for years, out of familiarity more than anything, but find its user interface about as appealing as a dog's breakfast.

I see that you've never been to that part of the world. Grab is ubiquitous in Indonesia, to the point that if you're on the street you can't go more than a minute without seeing their brand.

This is mainly due to inflation and to some extent a move to bigger luxury cars. Apples to apples it's not so bad.

The typical well-equipped Civic from the early '90s (EX or Si in the $11kâ"$12k range) would be around $26,000â"$28,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars today.

The 2025 Honda Civic starts around $24,250 for the LX trim, with better-equipped versions reaching $30,000 or more. Not only is this roughly the same price, but you're also getting a bigger and drastically safer car for the money today, even before considering the extra features standard on cars now.

Many appliances can be scheduled to run at a later time. So you can set your dishwasher, washing machine and maybe your oven for some kinds of cooking to run even if you aren't at home.

I hope that things like pool pumps and hot water systems, which are already on off-peak rates, will be making use of this time.

There is a reason you might replace your 10 year old panels - you have limited roof space, personal demand for more solar power, and the higher output of newer panels will make you more than the power upgrade.

But if you do, you'll find a ready second hand market for those panels.

It just means that they'd prefer to get up and go to bed a bit earlier. That probably waking up in the dark in winter is worth an extra hour of light in the evening.

Beginning work as late as 9:00 - with a quarter of the average daylight gone - isn't really optimal. You could say this is already out of sync! Historically people get up nearer dawn.

Not normally a conspiracy theorist. First block chain (wont even go into the obscure inventor bit) becomes a thing requiring massive amounts of GPU computing power, to the extent where it was impossible to purchase a GPU to do GPU things. Now AI is a thing, even more so requiring GPUs to do not so much GPU things. Is there a secret world order which needs this massive pattern recognition global infrastructure for some ...... SIGNAL LOST

Not all Android Automotive cars support Google applications (like Google Maps or the Play store), and not all Android apps are supported, so it's very much not like Android Auto in that respect. And having to manually enable tethering on your phone every time you get in the car (to avoid burning battery life) is hardly an ideal solution. Not to mention the inconvenience for iPhone users, who represent 55-60% of all smartphone users in North America, and aren't going to have the same set of apps they want to use or the same integration into the Google/Android ecosystem.

Android Automotive still has a limited number of supported apps (it doesn't support all Android apps), doesn't necessarily have access to Google apps or the Google play store (licensing Google Automotive Services to get access to Google apps is not required, and a bunch of car makers don't), doesn't automatically have the same apps/settings/accounts that your phone does, doesn't have your media library, doesn't use your existing cellular connection and data plan (unless you tether your phone or pay for a second data plan), and if you're an iPhone user (as 55-60% of people in North America are), then there's an even bigger disconnect.

Having to pay for a separate data plan should be a deal killer right off the bat.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto allow your phone to take over the car's screens and speakers. If you're only playing music, then yes, a bluetooth connection is enough. But if you're using a map app with turn-by-turn directions (Google Maps, Waze, etc.) then you can see that app on the car's screen.

Turn-by-turn directions is also a good example of a service that's free with your phone, but subject to a subscription fees from many car makers that have their own built-in system.

I will not buy a car that does not have Apple CarPlay/Android Auto. Car systems always suck, and they don't have all the apps/accounts/settings/cellular connection/data plan that my phone does.

Literally the only reason that any car manufacturer tries to force you to use their own system is to sell you subscriptions.

They cite "cold winters" as why mosquitos aren't found in Iceland, but... Iceland doesn't have cold winters. In Reykjavik, their lowest mean daily minimum temperature is -2 C in January. Here in Montreal, it's -14 C, so much colder, and there have always been mosquitos in Montreal.

I would imagine that Iceland's cold *summers* is probably more responsible. It never gets very warm, with a highest mean daily maximum of 15 C in July, versus Montreal at 27 C.

I used to pay the small extra surcharge for Uber Green to get an electric vehicle for my trip, but that option disappeared and no "Uber Electric" option replaced it. There is currently no way for me to book an EV, where there was before.

I've just read the SeaWorld article and the proportion of the article related to controversies seems appropriate to me. I wouldn't expect the article on VW or Mercedes to include lengthy sections on Nazi collaboration either. These are important historical controversies but there is a lot more to say about these companies and main articles like these should have a reasonable word count. Extended topics on the details, including the controversies, generally get their own article.

Pressure on China recently has, in my opinion, been about the Ukraine war. We see the same playbook as India- tarrifs and screwing with visas and just today India says they will stop buying Russian oil. It's a costly move for India in the short term but they understand it's the right thing to do and prefer to play well with other countries. China is the last large-volume buyer of Russian oil left but they are too proud to be seen as folding to external pressure and their propaganda ministry has been following the Russian line on the topic. I doubt China will play ball with the West on this one, and some Chinese markets are already or will be closed to American farmers forever. It's also true that China aggressively steals every digital file they can find, friends or otherwise. They should be called out every time it happens, because it keeps happening.