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Joined 4 months ago
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Cake day: March 7th, 2024

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  • One of my friend’s life ambitions was to own a Jaguar, and he finally managed to buy a used one. He called his insurance agent to add the car to his policy. The agent was like, “Oh, a second car, a Jaguar, no problem. How many miles do you think you’ll be putting on it each year? Five thousand should be plenty, yeah?”

    And my friend is like, "No! I’m fixing it up and driving it everywhere! I need lots of miles!. and the insurance agent is very quiet and then suggests starting with 5k miles and see how it goes. Whatever, my friend thinks, this guy just doesn’t understand the allure of the Jaguar!

    He fixes it up, gets it running, here about three blocks from the house and it breaks down. Pushes it home, fixes it up again, gets about five blocks. This goes on for months.

    Eventually, my friend changes his car insurance back to 5k per year, and acknowledges that he’ll never ever ever reach that much. It’s mostly a garage princess, not (entirely) out of a desire to keep the body fresh, but more because it constantly needs babying.

    I’m not sure your dad’s Jaguar is any better.











  • I know there’s a floor insulation issue, but what about redirecting air, and other sources of leaks? Does your basement have vents in it? Turn them off and maybe consider getting bent covers that can seal in the summer. Close the vents on the first floor so that (the majority of) the cool air comes in at the second floor and sinks down. Weather-strip and baffle the basement door.

    Also, see if your electric company offers a home energy assessment. It takes about an hour, and there are usually two tiers: free, and a second tier where you pay for a blow test. They can make some recommendations on making your home more energy efficient.







  • With that technology, no. But retailers track where you are in their stores. And even if you don’t bring your phone with you, they’re using facial recognition technology and will eventually try working with that.

    So they probably have a good idea who you are. And they also have your purchase history - what you bought and at what price you bought it. They have your frequent shopper card history, your online purchases, everything they’ve put together from data aggregators.

    They have all the pieces: they can track you in the store, they know the prices you’re willing to pay for things, and they can change the price as you walk down the aisle. Do you seriously think someone isn’t going to start putting all that together?


  • More than that. They have your frequent shopper card and your online purchase history and everything else they’ve aggregated together. They know at what prices you purchase things, they know how much you shop around, they know the days of the week and times of day your more likely to make an impulse purchase. It’s lunch on Tuesday and your favorite snack suddenly costs five cents more because they’re moving the Overton window on your price points. It’s after work Friday and suddenly everything costs 10% more because they know it’s the end of the week and you’re tired and aren’t going to go to another store.