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Misc General Banter Thread

For “Spaceballs” fans, the sequel is finally going to be released (in April of ‘27). Mel Brooks explains in this short video why it will not be called “Spaceballs 2, The Search for More Money” as he had earlier envisioned:

 
GeorgiaGirl said:
Getting more and more likely that it is over tbh. I’ll set the likelihood that it isn’t at about 20-30% here, I think since it feels iffier than last summer.

Probably need a bit lower on gas for it to be possible this slips away as a thing months from here, but I know I can say personally that I can grit my teeth and bear regular gas at these levels and even slightly higher, so it’s going to be hello to the southern part of WNC as of now for me in a few months. (can’t believe I didn’t get the gumption until recent years to do this)

And hopefully it rains enough for some good waterfall viewing.
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As an add, although current plans are going to place me to the east of the area, I've spent part of my workday just gawking at US 64 between Highlands and Franklin and have been reminded why I fell in love with the area as a young teen.

Very remote, but one of the most gorgeous areas in the southeastern US. It's why while I thought about it, I'm not going on my own. I'm going with a friend and probably her fiancé too (and kinda want to tap my cousin that's a little younger than us, but he has his own life, so who knows if he can).
 
finally gets warm enough to plant seed in ground and its 100% drought

i cant wait to get out of this pathetic region of the usa
 
weather nerd said:
finally gets warm enough to plant seed in ground and its 100% drought

i cant wait to get out of this pathetic region of the usa
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I put seed in the ground in February and early March for almost everything that I wasn't starting inside
 
Raleigh starts water restrictions Monday. No watering of the lawns with sprinklers except one day a week. But those AI data centers can use all the water they want.
 
Do we have a gas price thread? If we don't then one might not be a bad idea until Trump's adventure in Iran is over.

I just found gas for $ 3.38 a gallon at the BJ's Wholesale in Garner. There was a long line at the pumps but this was one of the few occasions where it was worth the wait considering I have a 25 gallon gas tank on the Dodge Ram to fill up.
 
So I finally upgraded to RadarScope Pro and was just playing with the archive and I noticed back in 2005 there were storm based warnings, but I thought storm based warnings weren’t a thing until 2007, at least I don’t remember seeing them until 2007.
 
Imagine being delusional enough to think you could pull something like this off...

uk.finance.yahoo.com

France Probes Weather Data Tampering After Surge in Polymarket Bets

(Bloomberg) -- France’s forecasting office flagged suspected tampering with weather sensors at the country’s largest airport and referred the case to police, after detecting unusual readings alongside heavy betting on a popular prediction market.Most Read from BloombergAnthropic’s Mythos Model...
uk.finance.yahoo.com uk.finance.yahoo.com
 
Any of y'all use Google Pixel as a smartphone?

Mine is all of a sudden now very shot and I'm at a loss as to what to do. It froze this morning while I was browsing the internet and I can't get it out of just boot looping or even enter recovery or rescue mode.
 
GeorgiaGirl said:
Any of y'all use Google Pixel as a smartphone?

Mine is all of a sudden now very shot and I'm at a loss as to what to do. It froze this morning while I was browsing the internet and I can't get it out of just boot looping or even enter recovery or rescue mode.
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P9Pro here, thankfully haven't had that happen.
 
Avalanche said:
Looking at the severe thread and thinking to myself “a light shower would seem severe here given we’ve forgot what actual rain looks like”
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It's been a pretty crazy start for sure considering it's still April

I mean we've had legit sirens twice already(technically the first time in March it was two separate tornadoes even) which is definitely weird. I have no recollection of sirens twice already

And this isn't even our peak season yet or certainly Iowa and the rest of the Midwest where it's been way worse. That ridge over yall is just forcing everything up there
 
weather bubba said:
Do we have a gas price thread? If we don't then one might not be a bad idea until Trump's adventure in Iran is over.

I just found gas for $ 3.38 a gallon at the BJ's Wholesale in Garner. There was a long line at the pumps but this was one of the few occasions where it was worth the wait considering I have a 25 gallon gas tank on the Dodge Ram to fill up.
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I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY encourage anyone in the market for a new or used car to look at an EV. If you live in a single family home it's trivial to get home charging set up. Unfortunately if you live in an apartment or condo you're beholden to the landlord putting in charging equipment. Our Equinox EV costs about $2 per day for a 100 mile round trip commute with Santee Cooper off peak rates of $.08 per kWh. It could be even cheaper but I've been too lazy to switch to the super off peak rate that's under 5 cents at night.

The insurance is stupid cheap and the out the door price was $29K. Used ones can be had for under $25k. My job involves a lot of international markets and the projections for prices of any type of petroleum distillate are bleak. There's so much production offline and damaged in the Middle East it's almost crazy. The way the big wigs describe it as the "calm before the storm" is telling. The last shipments into North America of things like acetone, naphtha, and other chemicals are getting here now and even if everything over there went back to normal tomorrow you're talking many months of screwed up markets with high prices and shortages. We don't have the domestic capacity to produce enough of what we use of those things.

We're also not out of the woods for gasoline and diesel shortages in the US. Here on the east coast we get a LOT of gasoline and diesel from Canada and depending how the political situation goes between the two counties there's risk there. Not to mention if things get worse in Europe they're going to bid up for those commodities. California is even in worse shape as they get a lot of fuel from South Korea. They're already facing shortages over there and will prioritize their domestic market first.
 
ChrisAMB said:
I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY encourage anyone in the market for a new or used car to look at an EV. If you live in a single family home it's trivial to get home charging set up. Unfortunately if you live in an apartment or condo you're beholden to the landlord putting in charging equipment. Our Equinox EV costs about $2 per day for a 100 mile round trip commute with Santee Cooper off peak rates of $.08 per kWh. It could be even cheaper but I've been too lazy to switch to the super off peak rate that's under 5 cents at night.

The insurance is stupid cheap and the out the door price was $29K. Used ones can be had for under $25k. My job involves a lot of international markets and the projections for prices of any type of petroleum distillate are bleak. There's so much production offline and damaged in the Middle East it's almost crazy. The way the big wigs describe it as the "calm before the storm" is telling. The last shipments into North America of things like acetone, naphtha, and other chemicals are getting here now and even if everything over there went back to normal tomorrow you're talking many months of screwed up markets with high prices and shortages. We don't have the domestic capacity to produce enough of what we use of those things.

We're also not out of the woods for gasoline and diesel shortages in the US. Here on the east coast we get a LOT of gasoline and diesel from Canada and depending how the political situation goes between the two counties there's risk there. Not to mention if things get worse in Europe they're going to bid up for those commodities. California is even in worse shape as they get a lot of fuel from South Korea. They're already facing shortages over there and will prioritize their domestic market first.
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All that's well and good until you need to get a new battery from what I understand. My company car is a hybrid I kind of like it.
 
Bham 99 said:
All that's well and good until you need to get a new battery from what I understand. My company car is a hybrid I kind of like it.
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Batteries are like anything else electronic in that if you pass the "infant mortality" phase they tend to last a long time. Prismatic cells used in vehicles made by GM, Ford, Hyundai/Kia, Toyota, etc all show next to no calendar aging or mileage aging. Some of this is due to a built in battery buffer. Unfortunately Tesla uses a different type of cell that's more power dense but degrades horribly. If after 8 or 10 years your EV has 80-85% of it's original capacity that's not a huge deal.

Just for the heck of it's here's a used pack for our Equinox. That's similar or less cost than replacing a transmission and way less than a motor. Labor to replace it would also be much less since it's about 2 hours of book time to swap it out.

1777064915022.png
 
ChrisAMB said:
iles
Batteries are like anything else electronic in that if you pass the "infant mortality" phase they tend to last a long time. Prismatic cells used in vehicles made by GM, Ford, Hyundai/Kia, Toyota, etc all show next to no calendar aging or mileage aging. Some of this is due to a built in battery buffer. Unfortunately Tesla uses a different type of cell that's more power dense but degrades horribly. If after 8 or 10 years your EV has 80-85% of it's original capacity that's not a huge deal.

Just for the heck of it's here's a used pack for our Equinox. That's similar or less cost than replacing a transmission and way less than a motor. Labor to replace it would also be much less since it's about 2 hours of book time to swap it out.

View attachment 195643
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A friend of mine who is an auto mechanic told me that the average life for the batteries on EVs was about 150,000 miles these days. I am going to give the EVs a look when I decide it's time for a new vehicle. In a few years, I imagine technological advances will have increased the battery life even further and EVs will be easier to charge with improvements in that regard.
 
ChrisAMB said:
I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY encourage anyone in the market for a new or used car to look at an EV. If you live in a single family home it's trivial to get home charging set up. Unfortunately if you live in an apartment or condo you're beholden to the landlord putting in charging equipment. Our Equinox EV costs about $2 per day for a 100 mile round trip commute with Santee Cooper off peak rates of $.08 per kWh. It could be even cheaper but I've been too lazy to switch to the super off peak rate that's under 5 cents at night.

The insurance is stupid cheap and the out the door price was $29K. Used ones can be had for under $25k. My job involves a lot of international markets and the projections for prices of any type of petroleum distillate are bleak. There's so much production offline and damaged in the Middle East it's almost crazy. The way the big wigs describe it as the "calm before the storm" is telling. The last shipments into North America of things like acetone, naphtha, and other chemicals are getting here now and even if everything over there went back to normal tomorrow you're talking many months of screwed up markets with high prices and shortages. We don't have the domestic capacity to produce enough of what we use of those things.

We're also not out of the woods for gasoline and diesel shortages in the US. Here on the east coast we get a LOT of gasoline and diesel from Canada and depending how the political situation goes between the two counties there's risk there. Not to mention if things get worse in Europe they're going to bid up for those commodities. California is even in worse shape as they get a lot of fuel from South Korea. They're already facing shortages over there and will prioritize their domestic market first.
Click to expand...

Considering I can go buy a Chevy Cruze for under 8k with less than 100k miles, I'll pass on electric until the battery life extends past 300k miles and the price is near comparable.
 
weather bubba said:
A friend of mine who is an auto mechanic told me that the average life for the batteries on EVs was about 150,000 miles these days. I am going to give the EVs a look when I decide it's time for a new vehicle. In a few years, I imagine technological advances will have increased the battery life even further and EVs will be easier to charge with improvements in that regard.
Click to expand...

That number was true around a decade ago when air cooled Nissan Leafs were popular and Tesla was still figuring out their battery chemistry. Nowadays I'd be upset if our Equinox or my neighbor's Lightning needed any battery service before 250K miles. There are thousands of Jaguar I-pace SUVs running around with Waymo putting hundreds of thousands of miles on them for their autonomy program. They're quite literally running them until they die since they bought so many when the cars were dropped by Jaguar. It's really quite amazing how tough the batteries are. Even with Tesla their stuff is good just not as repairable as the big legacy makers. Not sure about the others but GM and Ford make their batteries modular. Each cell (about the size of a microwave) can be replaced if there's an issue so the cost of a full pack is kind of irrelevant unless there's severe crash damage.

Ford will have a new electric midsize (Ranger esque) pickup rolling out later in 2027 that I have my eye on. Really would prefer an F150 Lightning but I find the current gen F150 uncomfortable. The Silverado/Sierra is nice just comically huge and overpriced. It's nice to have if you want to drive 500 miles without stopping though. The new hotness is going to be Toyotas Highlander EV going on sale this year. Big 3 row SUV with over 300 miles of range and the Toyota badge means they'll sell a billion of them (not literally). If that's too big the bZ Woodland is on sale now and is a neat wagon.
 
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