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eclarkso

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iPhone Air 10 months ago

From https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/2024-suppl... :

  Suppose that you have an emergency expense that costs $400. Based on your current financial situation, how would you pay for this expense?
  If you would use more than one method to cover this expense, please select all that apply.
  a. Put it on my credit card and pay it off in full at the next statement
  b. Put it on my credit card and pay it off over time
  c. With the money currently in my checking/savings account or with cash
  d. Using money from a bank loan or line of credit
  e. By borrowing from a friend or family member
  f. Using a payday loan, deposit advance, or overdraft
  g. By selling something
  h. I wouldn’t be able to pay for the expense right now
A and c count as "cash or cash equivalents".

That is impossible to say in a general way but generally speaking: significantly less.

On our PHEV minivan, the electric range is ~30mi, and costs ~$1.50 in electricity (12 kWh usable, ~13c/kWh). On gas, it's ~$3. (30 mi/g, $3/g). Some places you'll save substantially more (cheaper electricity, more expensive gas) or less (vice versa).

I agree with others that this is pretty personal to your own values.

For me: it was definitely worth it, and if you buy a decent quality frame/desktop it'll be durable and a pretty minimal premium over time. I usually switch sitting standing 1-10 times/day depending on how restless I'm feeling.

That said:

- it's hard to know how much you'll like standing (or switching) until you try it

- it is pretty hard to vet quality unless you find a Costco/Ikea type vendor that has one in person. I personally have bought two Uplift models (me, spouse) and have been happy with how they've held up (7+ and 3+ years, respectively).

Willing to bet a subscription is a service/person pair, not a person. E.g., a person with iCloud and Apple TV+ is 2 subscriptions, and wouldn't be surprised if the Apple One (or whatever the bulk-subscribe thing is called) counts for all the individual services even if you only use say 3 of the 5 (or whatever the right counts are).

I agree that seems expensive, but I wouldn't be totally shocked if a high-SEER, "name brand" unit with a pricey contractor could get that high. I had >100% cost variation for similar equipment between HVAC contractor quotes the last time I replaced a unit.

I can only speculate, but in my last replacement scenario, higher-SEER units (17+) had dramatically higher quotes, to the point where it was difficult to justify financially. On top of that, there were dramatic (~100%) variations in prices on similar equipment (but different brands) between installers. I can only imagine that regional differences are yet another source of variation...

All that is to say, my first guess is that the GP was quoted a high-SEER unit for name-ish brand equipment.

I went to a private Montessori school grades 3K-5, and my children have been or are in Montessori school grades 3K-6. As you might have guessed, I am a fan.

As most Montessori schools are private, my impression is that the variance in the quality of Montessori implementation varies considerably, but at a high level I have positive views of many of the same method characteristics as other comments:

  - mixed-age classes
  - learner-driven scheduling/work
  - non-test-centric evaluation
  - etc.
I would guess that most Montessori schools are smaller than schools kids transition into, which might make transitioning to other schools hard socially (it was for me, but not for my kids), but that also is highly dependent on the individual I think. Other than that, I think the method tends to yield:
  - independence in both learning/working and life in general
  - love of learning
  - kindness towards others
Things I would ask about before choosing a school:
  - are you accredited by AMS, AMI and/or SAIS?
  - are your teachers trained primarily through AMS or AMI?
  - how long have your teachers been with the school, on average?
  - where do students go after this school, and what are their outcomes (what colleges, high school honor graduates, etc.)?
  - does the school do standardized testing that is accepted by the local school district or otherwise make it easy to transition to other schools after they age out?

I am really surprised no one has mentioned that a whole book devoted to this topic has existed for 15 years: https://www.amazon.com/Software-Estimation-Demystifying-Deve...

It's by Steve McConnell (also author of Code Complete) and largely covers what this author does (but more, and in more detail). I have found it consistently one of the more useful books in my library - particularly for its emphasis on error bounds and on how bad people are at estimating confidence intervals...

Another upvote from me. Purchased November 2016 for my home office and it's held up very well. I've found the (memory) motor controller a little cheap (it'll just stop and/or switch directions sometimes), but otherwise materials have held up well.