Every time you wash your car, hose off the underside too, then go for a long-ish drive to dry it all out.

Ziebart is still a thing.

Waxing the undercarriage is also still a thing, and now there's even better - silica coatings, ceramic coatings.

You do'nt get a car to last by being a passive customer, you get one to last by being an active steward.

And yes I've lived in rust belt. In snow country where sand and salt are used. I've worked on machinery that required the ultimate persuader - the blue wrench. (the torch.)

Today I live in sunny south florida, the car is garaged since day 1, and I still hose off the undercarriage at every wash as if I still was in snow country.

For every risk, there's an action you can take to reduce / eliminate that risk. in cars it's keeping it clean, on top and under the car, too.

I wouldn't know - my UI is toggle switches, rockers, rotary controls, levers.

The few times i've had to drive a "new" vehicle with touch-everything, they've all been uniformly terrible.

And I can't stand Tesla build quality. Have a co-worker with an S. It's mid-70's Detroit build quality. Loose trim, things that don't line up, panel gaps that aren't perfect, etc etc.

I'm keeping my current wheels until death do us part.

if the wheels fall off I put em back on again.

Light, stickshift, simple, joyful. No watchful eye. No connection to any network. It does have a black box that can be played back tho.

But today's cars? An affront to privacy, an affront to the person who enjoys driving, an affront to basic decency.

Maintain your old cars, folks - they don't make 'em like they used to now, and this time is far worse than prior shockwaves.

Stuff like this makes the federally-mandated screen seem downright tame.

...you could have a jar where you put, say, $20 a week. Or $10.

Even if you have a device now.

Let that jar fill. In 2 or 3 or 4 years, when you need a new phone, there'll be enough in that jar to buy that new phone outright without having to finance.

I understand if you can't do it the very first time. Fine. Finance that first phone. But immediately start on the saving $10-20 a week, for years.

You'll break the cycle, and it is liberating

(jar is metaphorical. You could open a savings account that you don't touch for anything except phones. And direct-deposit a tiny slice of your paycheck into it, and forget it exists until new phone time.)

Try it.

I've kept most formats, but abandoned tape in all formats.

I LP, CD, DVD, Blu-Ray and stream.

And rip.

Ripping replaced my tape deck. Make my own "mixtapes" only now they're playlists. I rip vinyl to MP3 like I use dto make tapes for my car or walkman.

Streaming is for Suckers, and for Convenience.

Physical is permanent (to some definition of "permanent")

I just bought my first paper manga in a while, after reading the digital. It's so good it's no shame to double-dip this one, get the author her 100 yen per book.

I love Media OCD's tagline: You'll own nothing and be happy -- only the "nothing" is crossed out, and "everything" is gratified in.

Brother, at least for now, doesn't do this. And that's what I use at the house.

That was my experience with epson mid 90's too.

And back then, i was a frequent printer.

If you don't print often, go laser. Can sit for years without use, wake it up, and it all works.

My last HP was the 5L. nearly 30 years ago. Never had another HP. Brother ever since, even now.

Every single Indian IT outfit I've directly worked with has been a dumpster fire. Why should Tata be any different?

That Apple relies on them is scary. That Apple's info has been leaked thanks to Tata is no surprise.

Surely, in the meeting where this partnership was green-lit at apple someone must've objected, right? Right?.

OMG you do'nt know how to set up a car, do you.

1. Fore-aft. Slide seat forwards (or backwards) until your extended leg is past the pedals. Which means when you put the foot on the pedal, you'll have a comfortable bend in knee.

2. Set seat rake. Extend arm out, fingertips should touch radio / shifter when fully extended.

3. Set wheel. If telescoping wheel, extend arm out, put rim on wrist. That'll give you the proper bend.

4. Set seat height.

5. Set mirrors. And if you belive in blind spots, you're doing it wrong. Google "adjusting side view mirrors" and the old Car and Driver article shoudl surface. The one painstakingly explaining why blind spots are bullshit.

Only then are you "set up."

If you got gangsta lean - wrong. if your wheel is in your chest.. wrong. There's only ONE correct solution for cockpit position.

And as for seat height adjustment, IME is the ohter way around - most cars, even shitboxes, since the 90's have them. You may not *realize* it's there, but explore the car some, and you may find it. Some are manual, some are powered.

Christ. They don't teach this anymore, don't they..

Be sure to bow down and kowtow to the environazis mandating EVs. All that newfound mass is from battery packs.

Hilarious. My last 35 years' worth of cars have had them.

My '92 mitsubishi mirage had it. My rx8 had it. My mini has it.

My 70's claptrap didn't.

So much for "Most"

C'mon, people. Cars have seat adjusters.

If you're short, in a big car, and can't see past the hood - raise your seat.

I see so many hunkered down in their tank-like cars it's legit scary. "How can they even see?"

I give such vehicles as wide a berth as I do ones covered in dents, or with obviously degraded tires.

Use your mirrors to spot them. Don't be a passive motorist, be an active driver. There is a huge difference between those two points.

If you want to understand why we are at this level at this point in time you need to study the disastrous effects of the "reforms" put in place by Lyndon Baines Johnson in the mid-to-late-60's.

Think a little next time you vote for local dog-catcher, schoolboard, and such. Those local elections matter more than you think. And for the past 60 years you've been putting treasonous filth in the school boards.

Treasonous filth that taught the children of treasonous filth, and now here we are, with a generation or two completely unable to deal with even life's little challenges, let alone the big heavy ones, without yelling for Government or Daddy or Mommy or AI to help them.

The problem with America is very much its educational system and the two or three generations of traitors it's created.

But, even daring to point it out gets you called Racist and worse.

I don't care. America's problem is very much its educational system and the two or three generations of traitors it's created

This is from my own pile of experience in the past 6 years:

When you interview with us over teleconference, do not remain in your PJs. Do not remain in bed. Put some damn effort into your appearance. And stop using ChatGPT to answer questions, we can see your eyes moving from screen to screen, and we hear your keyboard.

At least put on a shirt and comb your hair. We've had interviews where the person being interviews is still in bed. No joke, no hyperbole.

No, they didn't get hired. Mainly 'cause they kept delaying responses to wait for their chatbot to give answers.