If we’re talking hand tools, those 70s tools will be the best you ever use. In my experience the whole “they don’t make em like they used to” thing very much applies to tools. Nothing wrong with harbor freight tools though as long as you have realistic expectations. If nothing else, they are a good “trial run” to see how much you actually use it and if it’s worth getting an actually nice one.

I’m hyped for this, I still use my Pebble Time 2 but it’s getting old and the battery doesn’t last nearly as long as it used to. I’ve tried other smart watches since then but none even compared. Personally I think Pebble has the perfect blend of features to make the perfect smartwatch for what I want to do with it. And the fact that the software is open source is really cool too. I hope the new hardware can still run my old watch faces and apps from before Pebble got shut down

Yeah I think technically they did re-write them, but the actual gameplay, graphics, and music is identical to the original

OpenTTD or OpenRTC possibly could qualify here?

Harbor freight has some diamonds in the rough, just gotta be careful of what you get there. Some stuff is great, some is crap.

I have one of those harbor freight Daytona 3 ton low profile ones that I really like. Also let me introduce you to the Project Farm channel on YouTube, he does non-biased scientifically fair comparisons of lots of different kinds of tools including jacks and jack stands.

Me: yes, it’s still available Them: never to be heard from again

It definitely takes some careful scrutiny to find a good one, but I’ve had my 07 Grand Prix for about 3 years now (in the rust belt even) and in total it has still cost me less than $7k including initial purchase and all repairs. Even if it dies right now I’d say I got my money’s worth, considering no car payment since I bought it outright. Although I would consider myself pretty handy and I do most repairs and maintenance myself which saves a ton of money. Maintenance and reliability aside, in my opinion the actual driving experience is as good as if not better than some brand new cars, as long as you do the aforementioned radio mod to get AA/car play. Just an option, and obviously it’s a bit of a risk, but it could get you through a year or two to allow you to save up enough for a newer car.

I love my Grand Prix, it has a heads-up display like a frickin fighter jet or something. Very few cars have that even today.

If you don’t live in the rust belt, find you a GM W-body with a 3.8 V6. Pontiac Grand Prix, Buick regal, Chevy Impala, maybe more I don’t remember. Cheap to buy, reliable drivetrain, plentiful and cheap parts. Get a double-DIN radio unit with Android Auto/apple car play for that touch of modern convenience, it’s super easy to replace yourself even if you aren’t super handy. Just look underneath and make sure the rockers aren’t rusty (rockers are the part of the car directly underneath the doors, you need to look at them from below the car to see them because there is usually a plastic cover over them).

Bow hunters?

Mostly I get printers at the thrift store. For some reason people donate perfectly good working printers. They cost like $15 and all you need to do is find out what kind of ink they use and get some

I have internal curtains and blinds and this actually still works well, at least better than keeping them open. Maybe it would work better with externals but this is still worth doing if all you have is internal

I used to not have AC. I found the best strategy was to open up all the windows at night and let the cool night air in, and then as soon as I wake up I close all the windows, curtains and blinds to trap the cool air in and prevent the sun from heating it up through the windows. If you live in a house that has a basement and central heating, you could add some intake ducts down there and turn your furnace on to fan only mode to circulate the cool basement air into the rest of the house.

Thinking a lot smaller here… I’ve always wanted to build a custom pinball machine. I already possess most of the necessary skills, but the materials are expensive and I don’t really have the time or space to do it right

GM W-body and GMT platform cars from around 2002-2008 I’ve found to be decent. The GM 3800 V6 engine and 5.3L Vortec V8 are extremely reliable and easy to maintain yourself if you’re into that kind of thing. You can very easily replace the stock radio with an aftermarket unit that has Android auto/Apple Car play and won’t spy on you. Since it’s an American car and so many were sold in America, both new and used parts are pretty easy to find and pretty cheap. The biggest thing that kills these cars is rust, especially if you live in the salt belt, so just make sure you look underneath the car before buying.

Look for: Pontiac Grand Prix, Chevy Monte Carlo, Chevy Tahoe, Buick Regal, Chevy Avalanche/Silverado. A good example of these can be found for under $10k easily and if you look a little harder you can usually find good ones or ones that need minimal work for less than $5k.

Personally I plan on driving these cars until it becomes impossible to find them anymore. There’s a junkyard near me that specializes in GM cars where I can get parts for DIRT cheap.

Currently I have an 05 Avalanche (140k miles) and an 07 Grand Prix (165k miles). Before those I had an 05 Grand Prix which died only due to rust, engine and transmission still strong at 160k miles. They hardly ever have issues, and when they do they are typically cheap issues or issues I can easily fix myself.

Sure - they’re nothing flashy, but the cost of purchase + repairs is almost certainly less than the cost of a new or lightly used car alone. Also, minimal complicated computer systems, and no corporate spying.

I miss craigslist, but unfortunately just nobody uses it anymore. Everyone is using Facebook marketplace and for this type of thing you kind of have to sell where the buyers are. It sucks because the quality of people is so much worse, but at least there are actually people there. I can’t even count the number of times I’m selling something and get a “Is tHIs sTILl aVaiLAble??!!?!;;??!”, which I answer “yes, if you see the ad it’s available” and then never hear from them again. Very frustrating. On the flip side, BUYING things is actually easier because if you prove that you’re intelligent enough to reply to a message then you basically are guaranteed to be able to buy the item