wealthier people in other countries buy the products, is what happens now.

Sure, the sales guy sits down and shows you this:

and you see that monthly payment and go 🥴 and then your new ‘friend’ helps you get that payment down to something you can afford.

They then go through a bunch of antics designed to confuse you, the monthly payment drops a ton but overall you’re getting reamed on the deal (often longer payments at worse terms for instance) then they get you to initial it and will then hold that over your head as if it’s legally binding.

It’s a huge pain in the ass, and you won’t win, they are experts at it. Negotiate the price of the car and the price of your trade in separately. Ideally you will have sold your ‘trade in’ on the private market and pre secured your loan through a credit union but that isn’t always possible.

For a better more comprehensive explanation see the article i just stole that image from: https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/buying-a-car/beat-four-square-and-other-car-dealership-sales-tactics-a7590220303/?srsltid=AfmBOopFCHIp5zbHgU1xngvt_LLdWvkEu_3zG6cCGcAFp9JWpwYtGL5_

my SO didn’t finish high school. Became an executive assistant but felt really unfulfilled, she really hated doing lunch orders especially.

Went back to college as an adult and got a degree and now her favorite part of her much better job is when they cater lunch and she gets to be on the other side getting spoiled.

I couldn’t be prouder.

I hate them, but if you treat it like a game and operate within their rules it can be fun instead of a pain. I think if it a lot like poker. I sure would bluff my own grandma to win a pot. Same thing in car buying. They aren’t your friends but your adversaries.

I have bought 7-8 cars of my own over the years and helped 4 friends buy cars because they know I love doing it.

First, if at all feasible bring several thousand dollars cash, no matter what your goal is. When you buy a car without cash the sales people get their cut at the end of the month in a lot of places but if your cash down payment is large they will usually get their cut immediately and this puts them a little more on your side at the close. Make sure you show them the cash when you’re safely doing a test ride and tell them you want to give it to them! Don’t do this if you can’t do it while feeling safe i’m very large and do car shopping mostly in big safe city areas.

Second, don’t ever fall in love with a car. You always have to be prepared to walk away from a bad deal. And in fact you will find that your willingness to walk away can often get you a better deal. I balked once over a $300 dealer fee, that only popped up while signing paperwork. They bitched at me, a lot, (we had been at the deal for about five hours) but they got the fee worked off.

Third, do not ever let them get you into the ‘four square’ that’s a suckers game. Negotiate the price of the vehicle directly or go to another dealership that will. I have been forced to leave when the sales guy told me flat out the four square was a requirement at their dealership. Smart for them but lame for you it’s like playing a complicated game for the first time against someone who plays it many times a day and is hugely financially incentivized to confuse you with it. Refuse it.

If you are buying a new car (which i don’t really recommend) wait until they have given you the absolute rock bottom lowest price. Then tell them that you think there’s still a little room. On speakerphone call other dealerships in your area and tell them the price you’re getting offered on that exact make and model. If it’s actually a good price they will tell you they can’t beat it. I have been invited across town to save $1,000, whereupon the now angry sales manager agreed to match that price. You gotta do it on the speakerphone with them hearing the better offer though or you’ll have to drive to the other dealership. They have heard that ‘it’s $1000 cheaper over on the eastside’ before.

Don’t be rude, don’t be an intentional dick, but play their sleezy game with their rules and you can save a lot of money.

It’s a shitty system that should be abolished.

Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman and Raytheon Technologies. Just pure, unmitigated evil.

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you should check out tildes or metafilter both are link aggregators that are highly curated to foster discussion

This is my go to as well. They know way more about hair and style than me. My haircut life got way easier when I have no expectations and just let them do their thing.

sure, it’s really easy and if you like hotc sauce it’s both fun and saves you money.

The only special equipment I use are wire bale jars, a stick blender and xanthan gum for some sauces. Can get jars and bottles cheap at goodwill. I also keep sodium benzoate and add it to sauces i give away but just keep the ones i make in the fridge and they are always gone fast.

My method: Boil a big pot of water and let it sit with a lid overnight to get all the chlorine out. We are counting on lactobacillus to outcompete any other bacteria and to provide us with the lactic acid that preserves the peppers. Don’t want to kill the lactobacillus with too much heat or chlorine but she can handle a little salt.

Wash (with some of the de-chlorinated water) and cut a pound or 1000 grams of peppers up (it’s easier for me to buy a pound but easier to calculate the additives with a kilogram just go with whatever you got), leaving the stems on a few of them for flavor. You can add in garlic, onion, whatever. i have big jars that can hold this many at once but you might use less peppers or more jars as needed.

Whatever amount of peppers you end up with, stuff them in your jars leaving a couple inches at the top. sprinkle them with 3 to 5% of their total weight of kosher salt. Then top it up almost to the top with dechlorinated water.

Then I put a plastic bag filled with water in at the top of the jar so all the peppers are submerged and clamp it shut.

brine may ooze or even spray out under pressure so i put a towel over the top.

let it sit for a week or a few months and when your’re ready separate the brine from the soft pickled peppers, blend up the peppers and add in your cloudy brine until you like the consistency (lean towards watery), then add in 2-3% by weight of xanthan gum to stabilize it, thicken it and keep it from separating in the fridge.

I put mine in those sealable glass bottles with the rubber gasket and wire clamp and they last months in the fridge and are so good! I get all my equipment at goodwill I wait until they are half priced or marked cheap and only pay $1 per bottle or jar unless it’s very big or has cool designs.

good luck!

oh yeah if you get farty smells or you just want a more mellow flavor or you are storing it in bottles without a rubber gasket seal you can cook the pepper mash and brine and that’ll mellow it out.

thanks for the very well written post!!

I make my own fermented hot sauce and ginger bug but haven’t done cabbage yet and didn’t even think of saurkraut i was gonna do kimchi but my roommates love saurkraut so i’m excited to try this out.

one thing i learned about dealing with headspace is to put a ziplock bag of water at the very top of of the jar. Nothing can squeeze past it except liquid so you don’t end up with anything solid poking out and getting moldy! I just did a sriracha that sat for months and it was heavenly. I don’t crack my jars though i use the wire bale type that’ll vent gas so i just look for the cloudiness from the lactobacillus.

i’m gonna do this very soon.

it may be that the image size exceeds your client’s capabilities; she’s a looong boi

interested

I know this!

I only ever had the soylent in the bottles. I was really surprised when i tried unflavored soy milk and it was almost the exact same flavor as the white bottles! Soylent is just soy milk with vitamins in it!

[Chorus]
Want to ride my
Want to ride my bicycle
Want to ride my bike
Want to ride my bicycle
Want to ride it where I like

there are some hints!

after watching this zoomed in a bunch of times Rock really is leading with his face towards Smith’s hand and reacts as he swings but it’s also possible he just figured out what Smith had in mind because they are friends or something and he read it in his face.

I have been (deservedly) hit by friends and known as the person was approaching me what their intent was.

He definitely looks ready for it though I agree with you on that part!

walkie talkie internet

i use it to make outlines which are usually very good and then I use the class materials to flesh out the outlines in my own words. All my words but ChatGPT told me what to include and in what order.

the dog that bites cops? I’d vote for that dog!

cocaine makes all of it make sense