Enter the aftermarket replacement panel bolts with security heads. Now they can only mangle the panels while trying to remove them!

Slate has a size comparison widget on their website. You can show it with the silhouette of a current full size pickup and a circa 1985 small pickup. It's almost exactly the same size as that generation.

The modular approach is very appealing to me, even though I have little use for a pickup truck. For example, I read that the SUV configuration moves the back glass to the end of the SUV shell when you install it. That makes the SUV top lighter and cheaper.

Milk steak, boiled over hard, hold the milk please.

That's about how I feel too. Worth considering. My hesitation was reinforced, perhaps unfairly, at a prototype/mockup event. It wasn't very long ago, and prototype had a little too much slap-together feel. I know it was just a prototype, but I was hoping for something that looked a little closer to 'ready for production' if not exactly 'finished'.

New factory, new build methodology, new employees. I'm going to need about a year of consumer feedback, personally. But I'm glad there are more intrepid souls ready to buy now.

Seriously!

Yeah, leaving the destination charge unknown for this announcement leaves a lot of uncertainty.

Very interesting indeed.

That's my driving pattern too. Probably averaging <5mi since I don't drive most days, but yeah, 30 is as far as I'm likely to go when not on a trip.

You might also want to check out the Telo truck. It's a little more biased toward passenger space. It has 4 doors and a bed in the footprint of a Mini.

I wish the Telo was a bit more modular like the Slate design, with easily replaceable parts. And currently their rear glass is structural, so you can only remove the lower part of that rear partition when you put a shell over the bed, making it less like a normal SUV. I am also a bit more nervous about their viability/capitalization. Will they be around for a decade or more? Hope so, but not sure.

I remember watching that Mythbusters episode and being convinced. But it still doesn't fit neatly into my intuition of the thing.

That's fair. I much prefer a small vehicle with a short overhang for visibility and convenience.

In fact what I'd really like to see is a Telo truck with the modularity of the Slate. They're already planning AWD, but the SUV/hatchback option isn't as complete as Slate's. Hopefully their second gen nails everything and gets the price down. It seems like it will be difficult for them to compete with the much more heavily capitalized options.

Nice. Did they have options to select at this point, or just the base truck?

In what way? It's lighter than the average US vehicle. And the height of the grill/hood is much lower than a typical full size pickup truck. It's only a couple of inches higher in front than a circa 1985 compact pickup.

I think it has a substantial look to it that can make it seem larger than it is. I walked around a prototype and it definitely felt closer to my VW Golf in size than to a big modern pickup or SUV.

97/100

I had a vague sense of one I got wrong and second guessed, picking the opposite. Two of the 97 were 50:50 guesses.

Oh, and it estimated 81,250 words.

I thought the same. Basic arithmetic gets 500 word padding.

Plus, no mention of hybrid sleep on desktops writing RAM to the SSD on every sleep. Certain usage patterns could make that a larger problem if the PC sleeps multiple times per day. But still, nothing new.

Public transportation in cities varies. But inter-city transportation? In most of the USA you simply cannot travel between towns or cities on public transportation. There are a few inter-city bus options (Greyhound, Flix, Megabus), but those don't go everywhere.

The rail options outside of the NE corridor (Boston to Washington DC, basically) are very sparse. Here's the map: https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/Maps/Amtrak-System-Map-020923.pdf

That's it. Most of those routes are at most once per day in each direction. So if you city even has a stop (which it probably doesn't) the train may only come through in the middle of the night. Some routes are only 3x/week. And because of the massive distances involved and old equipment, it takes at least 70h+ to travel from coast to coast (more really, since connection times are long) and costs twice the price of a 6h flight ($250+ vs $80-120).

Trains are often on schedule, but can be many hours late. Once they are off schedule they are at the mercy of the freight train lines (who own the tracks) for passing. You can get stuck behind a slow moving cargo train for many hours.

Why is it like this? It's complicated. But it starts with very low population density, large areas/distances, and a very different relationship between the individual and the state in the US vs most of Europe. Add the rise of suburbs in the automobile right when many US cities were growing. Another factor is public attitudes. People think that public transportation is for poor people. I know people who have never ridden a city bus, and I live in a city that probably has above average public transportation for the region.

Anyway, as a public transportation rider-by-choice I feel your pain. Having spent a few weeks in Germany recently (with a DT for travel), and having ridden extensively on US train and bus networks, yous is definitely much, much better. Resist the politics of privatization and decay.

The Long Kiss Goodnight

https://imdb.com/title/tt0116908

Geena Davis and Samuel L Jackson. He said in 2019 that it was his favorite role. It was released after a flop for Davis and director Renny Harlin (then her husband), and may have had poor press related to that.

It has an unlikely hero, plenty of action sequences, some fun performances (I had to pause it after a funny line from Brian Cox cracked me up), and heart. Solidly entertaining. But low expectations might help.

Here's a fun comparison: Tennessee vs Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania

They have very similar population density (70/km² vs 65/km²). Tennessee is roughly 4x the area and population.

There are only 2 inter-city train stops in Tennessee, in Memphis and a small town to it's north, both on the 1x/day service between Chicago and New Orleans. The largest city (and its state capitol) Nashville has no rail service.

The entire state of Tennessee has only 10 inter-city bus stops. Ten! Serving 7M people. The 4th largest city in the state is Chattanooga (181k), and it has no inter-city bus and no rail.

Fascinated by your interesting content! I am grateful for your creativity! 🙏🍻🤌

It's not exactly featureless.

In electronics terms this is a switch.
Pushbutton
Momentary (meaning it doesn't remain in the pressed state when you stop touching it)
Panel mount
Anti Vandal
Non-illuminated (I'm guessing based on the photo)
Green

There aren't so many green switches as red or black, so that can help the search.
It's also probably something readily available since this doesn't look like a device built in the thousands.

I'll bet it's this one or a different size from the same manufacturer:
https://www.buerklin.com/en/p/eao/pushbutton-switches/82-6851-1000/12G0085/

Of course it could just as easily be something sourced in China if I'm wrong and this control panel is mass produced.