bakerzdosen

bakerzdosen t1_jd4j2h7 wrote

That’s the thing though: NOW (or maybe better said: post competition) she’s has seemed like a fantastic human being - or at least a decent above-average one.

That’s why my memories of her frustrate me: either I got it entirely wrong or she has changed a lot.

It’s probably a combination of both though. And I have a tough time judging someone for not being very good at being famous - especially in their 20’s…

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bakerzdosen t1_jd3g05m wrote

I’ve thought about it a bit since making that comment.

I think not only was it about rooting for the underdog or similar, it was just that she wasn’t as personable of a player. In her post-playing years you got to see a bit more of her personality, but when she was playing, she kinda came across as that stereotypical eastern-bloc Ivan Drago-type athlete.

That made it easy to dislike her - especially in the Cold War climate during which she played.

These days I don’t think of her that way at all, but at the time, according to my own (potentially faulty) memory, her interviews and the political climate of the day made her seem… cold.

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bakerzdosen t1_jd2xw3n wrote

I remember absolutely hating her back in the day. I mean, I hated the athlete who seemingly constantly beat whomever I was cheering for, not the person.

She was just frighteningly dominant at times.

So, even as someone who was never her biggest fan, I’m thrilled to hear this news. I hope she has many more happy and cancer-free years ahead of her.

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bakerzdosen t1_j9q47g8 wrote

Honestly, I think Air New Zealand might just be my favorite airline that I’ve ever flown (and I was a Delta Medallion-level - usually Gold - flyer for like 15 years straight.) Every single ANZ flight I‘ve been on it seemed like an attendant went above and beyond for me.

For example, I boarded and sat in my seat. Less than a minute into the flight, I noticed my shoe sticking to the floor (carpet.) I’d removed my shoe to look at it and realized someone had dropped gum on the floor.

While I was looking at the bottom of my shoe (literally less than 5 seconds) a flight attendant passed by and asked me if everything was ok.

I explained it wasn’t a huge deal - just gum.

She immediately took (after asking) my shoe and someone else guided me to a different seat.

A few minutes after that, they returned my shoe to me completely cleaned of all the gum.

And I never felt like a burden. Whether it was faked in any way or not, they all just seemed… sincerely happy to help.

Simple stuff really, but I’ve never experienced anything like it on any other airline.

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bakerzdosen t1_j6nbgsh wrote

I think Shantaram really messed things up for Apple in that regard. To make an announcement mere hours before the season finale was released (that ended in “To Be Continued” no less) saying it would not be renewed was a pretty lousy move IMHO.

It’s left us questioning every new show from them now (eg Echo 3).

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bakerzdosen t1_j1v4vbp wrote

I can agree to that.

I simply trust Apple more than I trust Google (or Amazon or Samsung or Microsoft) with my private data.

And really, when it comes right down to it, I don’t trust Apple.

But with that said, yeah, Google’s assistant is superior to Siri or Alexa (both of which I’ve put through their paces.) There are a lot of things Google does better than Siri for sure. The problem is that after the novelty those things has worn off, I found I don’t actually use them in my normal day-to-day life. The things I do (turn on/off lights, run a scene, play music, time/weather request, timer/alarm, call or text someone) can be done by any voice assistant equally well. They all work well most of the time, and they all fail at seemingly puzzlingly simple requests on occasion.

So yeah, perhaps voice assistants aren’t exactly for me, but again, for me, Siri has struck a decent balance between privacy and functionality.

As always though, YMMV.

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bakerzdosen t1_ixtxfwl wrote

A couple of decades ago when I was in high school, I had an old beater Chevy Cavalier. The starter died on it and my dad thought it important I change it myself (something I definitely agree with now.)

Except he saved a few bucks by buying a rebuilt one figuring it was fine as they had a lifetime warranty on them. We learned after I put in the 5th one why that warranty was so critical.

Point is: I never actually trusted that car to start. So I always parked on a hill and when I couldn’t, I left the engine running. So I probably filled that tank for two solid years with the engine running. There were occasionally signs but really, no one ever said a word to me. And I miraculously lived to tell the tale.

(Once we put in an OEM starter I never had a problem again.)

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bakerzdosen t1_iuhmh20 wrote

Also keep in mind that internal combustion engines aren’t very efficient overall at converting the energy stored in the gasoline into kinetic energy. (aka a lot of the energy from gasoline is converted into heat instead.)

My favorite recent real-world example is that a current model Ford F150 Lightning with the largest-capacity battery is only capable of carrying the energy equivalent of 4 gallons of gasoline.

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bakerzdosen t1_isah2gl wrote

Sure. If that’s what’s causing you stress, get rid of it.

Everything affects each person differently.

But the need to fill air time in a 24 hour a day channel has caused news channels to overly sensationalize MANY stories, and the need to be “first” to report things has often outweighed the need for accuracy. And those two things combined causes many needless stress in their lives.

If you’re not one of those, feel free to continue to enjoy the theatrics of cable news.

There are numerous sources of “news” out there. I’d just recommend being selective about your sources.

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bakerzdosen t1_irrd5ib wrote

To all those saying the premise of the article is false: would you consider a Mclaren ($200k+ MSRP) a bargain at $100,000?

Even though it’s more than most people can afford, it’s still a good price for what you get.

I can’t afford (justify?) $25k for a TV, but I can still recognize that it’s a good price for what it is.

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