You're all very lucky over there. I can't even imagine what that kind of freedom is like. Stateside, I pay $600 a month for ACA insurance, $280/month for my prescriptions, $320 to one provider, $240 to another, and $500 to a third.

Huh. I always saw public charging infrastructure as kind of a prerequisite to EV adoption being viable in an area because the obscene amperage requirements for fast charging just aren't realistic for most buildings.

How are people with these things charging them at home now? Running off a regular 15amp/120v circuit with an extension cord going outside from inside takes like 40-50 hours to get to 80% from what I understand, which seems like a non-starter for how most people use cars. Do they all pay their landlords to have someone rip out and replace 100/150amp panels with 200amp or higher ones and use the extra capacity to run a 30amp/240v drop to the sidewalk in a lockbox so randos can't stop in front of your place and drive up your electrical bill while you're at at work?

And how do they get the parking garage/lot they use for work to electrify themselves to accommodate their power needs? Are they fronting the cost for those upgrades and outlets?

I suppose for those who have the up-front capital to do so, it lowers the cost of operating your car over its lifetime cause electricity is cheaper than gas for the same travel distance, but seems like a lot of money to burn just to be able to not be stranded due to slow or no charging available...

Up until about 2-3 years ago, I'd never had to return anything. These days there's something wrong with basically every other order -- order a two-pack of something and get one, order one color and get another, etc.

Depending on the destination city, usually a combination of trains and buses. Or if it's somewhere not reachable by rail and you're rich, a plane.

In my experience, IP geolocation as a feature is always an idea some manager came up with that involved developers unsuccessfully fought against.

I got mine primarily to save on yearly A/C usage costs (replacing 4 window air conditioners) in the face of rising electric rates. Getting the heat pump unit was only marginally more than the same A/C-only minisplit setup, and factoring in not needing to burn propane through most of the winter, being able to turn off other air handlers and heat only one room, etc made it in a no-brainer. Virtue doesn't have anything to do it, I just wanted to be able to be warm in the winter with propane at $3.50/gallon.

Yeah. Those third-party services like Venmo et al are able to exist because of time-sensitive situations like "I'm out with friends and need to give someone $20 for my share of the bill". You can't really use your bank directly to do that in any meaningful sense in the US. Even ignoring the overzealous security and nightmare UX of banks' apps (login, check your email to get a code cause none of them support proper 2FA, enter the code, hope that the public wifi you're on isn't a banned IP block, etc), the friend wouldn't be able to spend the $20 I send for at least a week.

Formalized ACH transfers are really only good for situations like if you've got several thousand dollars you won't need for a while in a savings account at one bank and want to move it into an account somewhere else. And even then you're better off physically going to the first bank, getting a cashier's check, and physically bringing it to the second place to avoid the wait times associated with ACH.

They'll take your money in 10 seconds here, that's for sure. Getting it to the other person takes a bit longer though.

I wish the credit union my mortgage is at and my HOA could figure out how to take electronic payments. Feels like I'm living in the 1950s, trying to keep track of checks in transit waiting to be cashed every month.

Wow, you must be one of those people who never had interest capitalization events on their loans! Congratulations! What's it like not a 20%-of-income-for-life shackle strapped to your ankle?

You mean back when people could fund a college education with the income from simply working while there? And buy houses on typical salaries?

They can do the main thing that debt prevents -- save money.

Sounds like a guy that's never read Upton Sinclair.

Just ignore 'em. Set yourself away and mute notifications. This isn't really a thing you can do in real life when people accost you while you're trying to get something done; they'll move around in front of you and wave their arms, make gestures for you to take off headphones, etc. They can't do that in Teams. They've got to wait. Its probably the single best productivity enhancer you get from WFH.

Interesting. These are the exact same reasons I'd give for being remote; I have far faster equipment, more monitors, a bigger desk and a more comfortable chair at home than work would ever splurge for. Its cleaner and smells nicer which helps me focus. I can prepare and eat a fresh lunch rather than bring in something to microwave. Most importantly, I have personal space and a room with just me in it to work -- something you definitely can't get at the office.

My jobs have always 24/7 on call type situations, so that aspect of it doesn't really change either way. That 3am hotfix deployment to fix what an external developer around the world just broke still has to happen regardless of what I building I was in 12 hours ago. Being remote just means my entire life doesn't have to revolve around being physically present at the office -- I'm not chained to being there during the hours everything else is open, so I can do things I could never do before like visit a dentist.

Lots of people that aren't low income still can't afford it.

Yeah. You can really see this mindset on LinkedIn, which is like an entire self-selected social network for those types of people.