spJon's recent activity

  1. Comment on NASA says chances are growing that astronauts may switch from Boeing to a SpaceX ride back to Earth in ~space

    spJon
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    I wonder if the two astronauts have any say in which capsule they'd prefer to return home. And can they refuse to return home in the Starliner? At this point if I were them, I want to take a...

    I wonder if the two astronauts have any say in which capsule they'd prefer to return home. And can they refuse to return home in the Starliner? At this point if I were them, I want to take a Dragon Crew home.

    9 votes

  2. Comment on Pace of electric car adoption has markedly slowed in the US in ~transport

    spJon
    Link Parent
    The eGolf is such a great car. Our family had 2 at one point, then we sold one for an ID4 (growing family). Later on, we needed to sell either the eGolf or ID4 to get our next EV, we ended up...

    electric VW golf

    The eGolf is such a great car. Our family had 2 at one point, then we sold one for an ID4 (growing family). Later on, we needed to sell either the eGolf or ID4 to get our next EV, we ended up selling the newer and "better" ID4 and keeping the eGolf because we like it that much. It's too bad they stopped making the eGolf.

    I do hope this becomes reality and makes it to the US market: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a44974983/vw-id-gti-concept-revealed/

    12 votes

  3. Comment on It’s official: Cars are the worst product category we have ever reviewed for privacy in ~tech

    spJon
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    It has never leaked on me or accidentally opened up. There’s a decently heavy spring on it, as well as it drops into a locking channel when the valve is closed. It would be very difficult for it...

    It has never leaked on me or accidentally opened up. There’s a decently heavy spring on it, as well as it drops into a locking channel when the valve is closed. It would be very difficult for it to open on its own. I’ve been using one for 6 yrs and many many off road miles in my current SUV with no issues.

    1 vote

  4. Comment on It’s official: Cars are the worst product category we have ever reviewed for privacy in ~tech

    spJon
    Link Parent
    These drain-plug valves might help if you wanted to start changing your own oil again. I have one on my car and not only is it easier to change oil with the valve, it's also not nearly as messy as...

    2012 Fod Focus, which runs great. But the oil pan bolt

    These drain-plug valves might help if you wanted to start changing your own oil again. I have one on my car and not only is it easier to change oil with the valve, it's also not nearly as messy as a drain-bolt.
    https://www.fumotousa.com/cars-pickups-ford-2012-focus-2-0l-l4

    5 votes

  5. Comment on What is one food item that you absolutely hated initially but it slowly grew on you? in ~food

  6. Comment on Shopping for induction ranges in ~food

    spJon
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    We had the GE Cafe Induction double oven (they are sold at Costco) installed for a couple of months now. I have the Wi-Fi enabled, but I don’t use it much on a day to day basis. It does send a...

    We had the GE Cafe Induction double oven (they are sold at Costco) installed for a couple of months now. I have the Wi-Fi enabled, but I don’t use it much on a day to day basis. It does send a notification to my phone and watch that the oven preheat is complete, but the range also beeps to let you know. One reason to hook up Wi-Fi initially is that they’ve updated the firmware to enable the air-fry feature in the lower oven.

    Things we like about induction in general

    • induction cooks faster than the ge cafe gas range it replaced.
    • better temperature control
    • much easier to clean up messes
    • cooking is cooler, there’s no wasted heat from the burners heating up the space around the range

    Like about the cafe specifically

    • the oven can reach 550° F, some ovens don’t go that high.
    • like the knobs for cooktop temperature control. A lot of induction cooktops and ranges have touch controls. They seem harder to control and any spills on the controls might change your temp settings.
    • we like the induction burner layout

    Dislikes about the GE Cafe specifically

    • The rubber gasket between the ceramic/glass cooktop and the metal control surface tends to collect food debris

    Dislikes about induction in general

    • have to or careful with cast iron pans, we don’t want to scratch the surface. To help with this we bought several 8” and a 10” SilPat silicone baking sheets to place between the cooktop and the pan. It the silicone can melt at a high enough temperature so gotta be careful about that as well.

    • doesn’t work with aluminum pans. Unusually nonstick pans are aluminum. We use our cast irons for non stick cooking

    • doesn’t work well with wok pans. Wok pans use the rising heat from the gas burner to heat the bowl sides of the pan.

    • have to be careful about the amount of power you put into your pans. It can warp pans.

    Overall very happy with the Cafe and induction in general. We’ll never go back to a gas range.

    One other device that made cooking much more enjoyable was a dedicated hood. We replaced the microwave/hood (claimed 300cfm) that was above our range with a vent-a-hood (rated at 600cfm). That did require new 8” ducting to the outside, but that wasn’t too difficult for our contractor.

    I’ll reply again if I can think of anything else.