Ryan's Wisdumb

  A recent article in The Morning newsletter from the New York Times rekindled a smoldering ember of thought that resides in a corner of my mind.  It has never burned hot enough to inspire me to serious study on the subject, but this time it has at least motivated me enough to write about it.  The topic is growth; how our society and economy are dependent on it, why I think that is problematic, and how it can change.  My thoughts on this subject are not well formed at this time and, unusually for Wisdumb, I offer no answers, only more questions. The Times article covered the aging population of Japan and showed the chart below projecting other major economies and the world as a whole being on the brink of a rapidly aging populous. The article primarily focused on the social impacts of this aging population, in particular that Japan is running out of workers.  It posits the only solution is to bring in more immigrants.  This is what bothers me and stokes that ember in the back of my min

 I've spent the past two weeks doing battle with my pool cleaning robot and want to share what I've learned so others can fix their own if they run into the same problem. My robot is a Maytronics Dolphin S200.  The internals are probably very similar or identical to other models, and I think there are even rebranded versions, so the details below likely apply to a fair amount of the population.  These robots are pretty expensive to buy, but they are, in my opinion, the best way to clean my pool.  My pool is surrounded by pine trees and they are always dropping stuff in the water, so I keep my robot in the pool and it runs daily on its timer with little intervention from me and uses much, much less electricity than my previous pressure-side pool cleaner. Rant on Robot Manufacturer Greed There is a lot of markup on these robots.  The S200 I got for $600 in 2017 (and its equivalents) now sell for more than $1000.  The exact same design.  No new technology in it.  No new R&D to

It's new car buying time in the Wisdumb household.  Well, not "new" new (you've read my financial advice on cars , right?).  And not exactly "buying time".  Rather, it is time for the prep work to figure out what steed to add to our stable when the first Wisdumb young'n reaches driving age next year.  Boy am glad I'm starting early; finding the right car seems more difficult now than it has ever been.  This post is going to explore why I'm having such a hard time finding the perfect car. Is it me? You have likely figured out by now that I am very particular about product features, and my desires often run counter to the mainstream.  I blame the mainstream for that, not me!  Things I want in no particular order: Good Highway Gas Mileage Reliability Good towing capacity (3500lb min, 5000lb preferred) Minimum 35 cu ft usable cargo capacity with 4 passengers.  >40 preferred. Wireless Android Auto Heated and Ventilated Seats Adaptive Cruise Control