With lead-acid and extended run times, volume starts mattering again. Especially if one is trying to retrofit cell towers that might not have had significant UPS capability before.

In addition, the lead-acid batteries in this use can last for a long time, and perhaps more importantly, the UPS equipment is set up for lead-acid. It's cheaper to replace the lead-acid batteries than it is to switch to a newer chemistry, even if LFP is getting down to lead-acid prices per kWh.

For a NEW install, I'd very much look at newer chemistries. Though NMC would be low on the consideration list. As you said, need durability not low mass/volume, and lower cost is always good.

I had an aftermarket remote starter in my truck, professionally installed, no problems with it for a decade.
They did hook it up, it replaced my original remote, so I didn't have to carry both.

I remember that, but things have improved a lot. A cell tower only takes 1-8kW, and we have drastically better batteries.
Plus, a lot fewer land lines, so need to keep the towers up for emergency services.

Vs Android:

- The device is relevant (updated and secure) for 2+ years
- Things usually work, and what doesn't work, is predictable and consistent (total grabbag with Android, where nothing will get fixed)
- IPv6 support

Vs Windows:
- No mandatory online accounts
- Stable
- Performant
- It's not Windows

General:
- superior AI inference and memory bandwidth
- Able to play older games (unless they're old mac games, ironically)
- Able to use UNIX-like tools because it's UNIX
- Superior hardware (runs cool, good battery life)
- High performance graphically and otherwise for the cost

If I had the points, I'm not sure whether I'd mod you insightful or funny. I certainly laughed at it.
I also just replaced the starter in mom's 2005 Saturn Vue due to the relay going bad.
I'm not sure how that thing would start a fire, there's only 2 wires to it, unless the starter itself was bad.

Aftermarket power steering, that's a *shudder* from me.

I'm also very curious as to how one ends up with a separate fob for the starter, even in an ICE vehicle. Maybe fluffer is talking about a different part than what I'm thinking about?

Fluffer - to most of us, the starter is the electric motor that turns the engine in order to start the engine. It generally has a relay to signal time to start, and a wire directly from the battery to provide the amperage necessary to turn everything. Were you thinking of something different? I'm not aware of any starters that have anything really remote.

Unless the thinking is having a different fob for the car doors and operating the vehicle, like how early cars would have different keys for the doors and the starter, because they hadn't thought to match the two up yet, or that was considered too expensive.

You're mistaken. Those H4 headlights are absolutely visually assaulting, and some of the worst on the road.

It's mostly simply kept 'light trucks' out of the US market entirely - or did, for about 20 years, until federal legislation caught up and made them simply illegal for one reason or another (safety, fuel economy).

On the flip side, even most US vehicles are (Ford, GM) are made in Mexico and Canada.

"most people only need a small family size car"

Even in town, I will find myself using my truck's "truck" capabilities at least 2 times a week for things which would be awkward or impossible with a "small family sized car".

* Going to the grandparents' house with the kids and their bikes
* Helping a neighbor donate furniture
* Getting soil for the garden
* Getting plants for the garden
* Camping
* Moving equipment for work

Granted, I've got a Tacoma and not an F150, and I largely agree that large trucks are excessive (and they've been made to be so due to fuel use regulations not consumer desire). But, you can't buy "small family sized car" today with the capacity and capability of a 1980s family sedan.

You used to be able to get a family sedan that's big enough to take you and your family to do things, but 'efficiency' and 'safety' mandated features and capabilities which were no longer possible in smaller vehicles - so they pushed everyone to 'commercially exempt' vehicles, instead, because those have the capability to do the things people want to do. You can track the advent of the double cab pickup to the changes in government regulations exactly.

You realize how silly your cost comparison is, right?

You're evaluating a full sized truck to an 'economy' car. Entirely different capabilities.

I don't disagree with the gist of what you're saying, particularly with new vehicle prices getting insane in the past couple years and the increases in gas cost. Also, Dave Ramsey is a complete bumbling idiot who is out of touch with the economy, and has been for years.

This is almost as dubious as claims of baby car seats saving lives (which, if you look into it, isn't significantly supported by the data and tracks consistently with other vehicle safety changes - it tracks the general population decrease in vehicular deaths/injury).

Did they control for the following (just off the top of my head)?

* Changes in demographics of drivers
* Age and gender of those buying newer/ high-hooded cars and trucks
* General population mental injury (eg. from covid)
* Autonomous vehicles interfering with traffic
* General traffic pattern changes
* Cyclist density

As a counterpoint to their dubious rationalization: cars made 'around the turn of the century' had smaller A pillars and often obscured blind spots and made seeing everything from street signs to pedestrians and cross traffic almost impossible due to their length/horizontal view. They were horrible.

Tell me what is truthful about obscuring negative associations with an ideology?

It isn't "bad mouthing" an ideology to clearly indicate the consistent ideological association of that ideology with state-sponsored genocide.

That's kind of a big thing.

"Cancer is the rapid growth of cells, just like when you're young and growing strong!" is how most advocates paint socialism. It's dishonest.

That's why systemd has been systematically making interoperability with grub and encryption more difficult, in no small part.

Oh cool so they fixed all the problems!

Simplification?

There was no simplification. It was all markedly more complicated and interdependent. That was literally the primary selling point of systemd, aside from "faster boot times".