#importance of an odometer

[mukulmittal1999]

Vehicle Odometer- Why It Matters for Your Car

Do you want to know that What an Odometer is and how it helps you track the distance your vehicle has traveled? Learn the benefits of accurate mileage records for car health and resale value only on Droom.

Click on the link to visit our website and read our blog containing all the relevant information about an odometer.

[superkilometerfilter]

Odometer In A Car: What Is It and Why Is It Important?

An odometer in a car has a crucial role in measuring mileage and following maintenance. The odometer is a part of a vehicle that tracks and records mileage. It is usually located in the dashboard so that you can easily check total traveled miles. Mileage is important for determining a vehicle’s resale price or insurance rates. If you know how to use the mileage information correctly, you can increase the value of your car and also plan your expenses with precision. In this blog, we will discuss the importance of mileage, what are the major challenges and how you can use miles data at your advantage.

Types of odometers in a car

There are two types of odometer in a car: mechanical and digital. Let’s briefly discuss both of them:

Mechanical Odometers work using gears and cogs. Each rotation counts for a certain distance. Hence, the number of gear rotations calculates how many miles your vehicle has covered. This method was common in older vehicles. Although they were reliable, the wear and tear remained the biggest issue.

Digital Odometers, on the other hand, are found in modern automobiles. They use electronic sensors to detect motion and measure mileage. Digital odometers are famous for their precision and convenience.

Of course, both mechanical and digital odometers measure the mileage correctly. These are just two common variations of the element. So, you shouldn’t worry whether your car has a mechanical or electronic one.

What is the importance of the odometer in a car?

Odometers are important components of every vehicle, and their displayed mileage can be used in various ways:

Maintenance Schedules

Every car needs maintenance, which is generally recommended by manufacturers. These schedules are directly linked to the mileage. After traveling a certain amount of mileage, the changes are necessary. For example, let’s take a look at oil changes. Depending on the manufacturer’s guidelines and model, oil changes are required for every 3,000 to 8,000 miles. As for the tires, the range is between 5,000 to 8,000, and for the timing belt, it varies from 60,000 to 100,000 miles. As you can see, mileage is essential when making changes. Without precise odometer readings, it would be impossible to know when a car needs servicing. That is why odometers have an irreplaceable role in auto performance and maintenance.

Resale prices

The odometer in a car can significantly change the resale value of your automobile. The lower the mileage is, the higher the resale price gets. For instance, a 5-year-old car with 40,000 miles would have a lower price than the same automobile with an 80,000 mileage record. Customers use odometers to determine the lifespan and the condition of the automobile. However, the odometer showing is sometimes misleading, and the more important aspects can be left behind.

Insurance Premiums

Insurance rates and warranties always depend on the vehicle mileage. Some insurance companies may offer better rates for lower-mileage cars. On the other hand, exceeding a certain mileage limit can cause the expiration of the premium. Therefore, tracking your miles is crucial for planning your monthly and annual expenses.

What are the issues with the odometers?

Odometers are a primary source of tracking real mileage. But do they have flaws? Yes, even though they are generally reliable, some aspects affect their efficiency and precision. Here are several common issues:

Mechanical damage is one of the major problems in older vehicles. After years of operation, some parts begin to wear. As a result, they start to lag or measure miles incorrectly.

Damaged sensors: Digital odometers that use electronic sensors may become faulty if the sensors get damaged. Even a slight malfunction can cause inaccurate mileage and mislead the owner.

Odometer fraud is the biggest challenge nowadays. Mechanical and digital odometers are equally vulnerable to this issue. People use multiple tools and devices to reprogram or physically manipulate odometers. Consequently, the system will display the wrong mileage.

How to Spot odometer fraud and manipulating

Tampering the odometer in a car can change mileage in both old and new dashboards. There are different methods of discrepancy. The following steps will help you identify the fraud and handle these issues promptly:

Compare the odometer reading and the appearance of the vehicle. If a car has low mileage on the dashboard, there should not be visible wear and tear.

Check if the mileage record and history reports align correctly. You can use Carfax to verify the mileage of any automobile. When you see the details, you can easily guess if there is some missing information.

Always request maintenance records and carefully examine if the data is correct. When a car undergoes service or maintenance checks, the mechanics put the existing data in the record. Hence, you have a chance to look at the services your car has gone through and compare them to the actual mileage.

How you can use an odometer to your advantage

Now, let’s discuss how you can use odometer information to achieve goals. Imagine you need to drive 200 miles. If you measure the mileage before and after your trip, you can determine fuel consumption and efficiency, which will help you be more prepared for future expenses. Moreover, if you are using your vehicle for work purposes, you can request the mileage reimbursement. IRS annually publishes the rates that indicate how much you will be compensated for using a personal vehicle for your job. The conditions may vary depending on the company, so you need to double-check the details in advance. You can also monitor your car’s overall mileage and compare it to the limits of the insurance premium. Based on this information, you can try not to exceed the limit and make the maximum profit from your policy. In addition, if you are planning to buy a car, you can now use the odometer and mileage information to make a better decision. You know how to verify the mileage and detect possible discrepancies.

What Is the Odometer In A Car?

An odometer in a car is a part of the automobile that measures miles and displays the information on the dashboard. It is usually located under or next to the speedometer. In general, you can find the odometer on the driver’s side of the control panel. These numbers, which sometimes are overlooked, contain crucial information that can be useful both for the car’s maintenance and for saving your annual expenses as well. If your vehicle has a mechanical odometer, the mileage numbers will always be displayed on the dashboard. However, if you have a car with a digital odometer, you usually need to turn the ignition on (not necessarily start the engine) for the mileage to appear.

The Best odometer tool in your car

The Mileage Blocker is a smart device that stops the mileage tracking process when a car is in motion. When you drive your vehicle, the system will not add up new miles. The blocker from SKF doesn’t store mileage information in the electronic control units. Therefore, the data is entirely undetected.

The blocker is exceptional in the market due to its unique features.

Untraceable effect: The mileage blocker from Super Kilometer Filter is the device that can effectively halt the miles recording process without leaving a trace;

Quality of the device: The blocker is assembled in Germany with the highest components that guarantee undisrupted performance in any weather conditions.

Easy installation: This tool involves easy installation guidelines that will help you install it without extra technical knowledge.

Mobile App: The SKF team has developed a mobile app for mileage blocker devices. This app allows you to monitor and control the device remotely from your phone.

Because of its high efficiency, people tried to use the mileage blocker unethically. It should be highlighted that the device is created only for car testing purposes and should never be used illegally or against local laws. The mileage blocker is now available, and you can purchase it from the SKF. If you have any questions, feel free to contact customer support or check the support webpage.

Takeaway

An odometer in a car is crucial for counting mileage precisely and following the manufacturer’s guidelines. The odometer is a part of a vehicle that tracks and records miles. Once you know the exact mileage, you can use it to meet insurance premiums, maintain high resale value, and follow maintenance schedules. However, make sure to carefully check the mileage, as there are various ways to trick you and provide misleading information.

[thecglcatalog]

The ToddleTreadle Rotary Walker

Help train an uncertain, adorable gait into your slave with this clever exercise machine, the ToddleTreadle! 

Two generously sized stepping pads await adult-baby feet on the treads of this stylish exerciser. 

As exercise time begins, pet simply paces, with each pad sliding backwards as they stride — zooming forward when their weight leaves it — so it can meet their forward-reaching foot again.

But gradually, the pads start to alter the walk. Maybe once a foot falls on a pad, the whole tread rises a little and swings in a gentle arc outward. Or maybe the pad rotates the toe just five degrees in. Baby must compensate for these unpredictable changes — practicing an ungainly waddle as they navigate such tricky terrain!

The result: careful little steps, an uneven little stride, and tired little calves. Ideal!

ToddleTreadle has multiple walk routines to keep movements unpredictable and balance a challenge … so it’s all the more important that it has stand-up handles with rubber grips, wrist-cuff tie points, and a per-session odometer. See how much imaginary ground your little one can cover before they topple!

Cloth-wrapped cord for power, or keyed unlock to use it unpowered as a non-toddling treadmill.

Specify style pink/brass, pink glitter/silver, green/copper, honey/rose gold, all black.

[villainofmyownstory]

Day Zero chapter 4

masterlist | taglist | AO3

Previous | Next

pairing: Simon “Ghost” Riley x plus size fem!reader

summary: Your horror and fear after what happened at the town hall are mixed with hope. Unfortunately, the newly met man in the mask doesn't make things any easier for you. He is stubborn and distrustful. However, when night comes, he takes you to his only safe place. To his house. Home.

tags: AFAB reader, plus size reader, dog german shepherd, weapon, suicide

author's note: I decided to post a new chapter today, unfortunately I'm having a worse time in my life again…. I hope it will get better soon. The longest chapter so far, let me know what you think.

Warning!! Mention of a suicide attempt, if you don't want to or can't read this, skip the parts where day 64 is referred to. Your mental health is more important! Take care of yourself, dear reader.

AO3

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

Chapter 4: The one where you visit Ghost's house

Day 732

Getting to the tower by car definitely shouldn't take as long as your hike. The distance to cover, from the center to the suburbs, did not seem so far. You both remain silent the entire way. Ghost keeps looking in the rearview mirror while driving. As if he had to make sure you were still sitting on the trunk. When it reduces speed or (worse) brakes to almost zero on the odometer. His gaze focuses on the mirror. As if the man expected you to take advantage of the opportunity and jump out of the car, taking Riley with you. You will run away and disappear, just as you suddenly and unexpectedly appeared.

Admittedly, you had no intention of doing so. Quite the opposite. You wanted to stay. Even though the man was hostile towards you, you were sure of that. Damn, he wanted to shoot you!

Like a hunter hunting a defenseless deer. A sniper in war, shooting at a designated, nameless target. Without blinking an eye, in cold blood, in one breath. Shot. Exhale. End.

Without even exchanging a word with you. Without asking you anything. Not wanting to know anything. One shot and you're done, you wouldn't even feel it. He pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Remembering what happened a dozen or so minutes ago, you clench your hands into fists. Rubbing the material of your gloves against each other. Feeling the rough material slide over the skin of your hand. You try to focus exactly on that feeling.. You don't want to let fear and terror get the best of you. Breathe, slowly. Don't let these bad thoughts defeat you. Luckily for you, the man didn't do anything to you. Maybe he is also a lost and lonely man. Who is slowly losing his mind under these circumstances. He can't cope. Just like you.

You swallow. The hands are still tightly clenched into fists. Your hands are sweaty from stress.

The sun slowly hides behind the buildings, getting darker with each passing minute. The night is getting closer. The car is traveling at a higher speed. There are fewer and fewer buildings, they are probably suburbs, so you are getting closer to your goal - the tower.

You have to be strong, not show weakness. Focus. To listen carefully. Observe.

Although it's all Ghost, he has the upper hand. He has the most important argument and strength - he has a gun. Also, he's in his own territory and is undoubtedly a man with military training. He's taller and better built than you. Definitely stronger and athletic. Yet you try to control another panic attack, you won't give in to him so easily. You may not be in a lost position. You just have to convince him somehow. After all, somehow he has to believe that you came here alone. If you gain his trust without lying to him, maybe he'll let you stay. You don't really have anywhere to go back to. That house somewhere far away wasn't fit to live in for another winter. No heating, a leaking roof, you could list more defects. And the food supply in the area was running out, you found almost everything edible. You didn't know if it would be safe to return to that place.

You swallow. Your hands are still clenched into fists. Sweaty from stress.

The sun slowly hides behind the buildings, getting darker by the minute. The night is getting closer. The car is traveling at an increasing speed. There are fewer and fewer buildings, probably suburbs, so you are getting closer to your goal - the tower.

You have to be strong, not show weakness. Focus. To listen carefully. Observe.

Without a doubt, the whole Ghost guy, has an advantage over you. He has the most important argument and power - he has a gun. Besides, he is in his own territory and is undoubtedly a man with military training. Higher and much better built than you. Stronger. Athletic. But, if you are trying to control another panic attack, you won't give in to him so easily. You may not be in a lost position. You just have to convince him somehow. After all, he has to believe in some way that you came here alone. If you gain his trust without lying to him, maybe he will let you stay. You don't really have anywhere to go back to. That house somewhere far away, is uninhabitable for another winter. There's no heating, the roof is leaking. And food supplies were running out in the area, you could find almost anything edible. You don't know if it would be safe to go back there.

This town you are in now is the only one of the larger ones in this area. He seems to be better organized, definitely better than you. You haven't even found a car in working order with at least a little bit of fuel in the tank. So maybe it's better to stay with him. It will be easier to survive. Maybe the two of you can find other people?

Maybe the man knows something more, maybe he knows about a settlement, a safe place? Some larger group of living people? Maybe there is some hope.

Meeting this man caused a small spark that some future might exist.

Although it is probably not difficult, you have never been able to plan or predict. You lived in the moment. Not worrying too much about what the next day will bring. Not really taking into account.

The consequences of your actions or, inversely, your inaction. It's time to grow up, the worried voices of your parents echo in your head. Well, maybe you should have listened to them.

You sigh and look away from the passing suburban landscape, still lost in your own thoughts. You look down for a moment, at your protruding belly and wide thighs. You haven't even lost much weight in the last two years. You blame it on your bad, inappropriate diet. You mainly ate carbohydrates and cans of ready-made or sweetened food. You found any canned vegetables less and less often. Lots of cans of carbonated drinks and lots of sweets. Not to mention salty snacks. It was easier that way. Everything had long expiration dates and was tightly packed. Thanks to this food, you satisfy your hunger and provide your body with endorphins. Fighting with your own bad, dark thoughts, when you had supplies of food and drink. You simply lay in bed on the mattress for weeks. Vegetating, waiting. Counting on... you didn't know what.

You look back at the passing landscape, individual buildings and road signs. City exit sign, highway exit, empty fields.

You regret that in the past you were never interested in the army. You didn't even know what military unit this man was from. The only thing that was clear to you was the British flag attached to his uniform. Maybe it meant something? Perhaps he was here for a reason?

Even now, when the cold of the coming evening and the breeze caused by the speed of the car caress your cheeks and exposed neck. This causes goosebumps and reddened cheeks. It was bearable, the feeling of cold wasn't really that bad.

The most significant thing is that you no longer have to walk.

The important thing is that after so many days you at last found hope.

The fact that you are finally not alone.

You choose not to think about it any longer, clinging to Riley, thanking him without words for saving him. You calm down a little.

When you finally arrive at your destination, the man hurriedly gets out of the car and opens the trunk with a gun in one hand.

“Riley stays with me”

If you don't mind the penetrating chill of the coming evening, the coldness in the man's voice definitely makes you shiver.

‘And you, woman, go into the building and tell your people to leave. I have you in my sights all the time.’

You don't have the strength to argue with him. Another exchange of words makes no sense at this point. You dream of eating something and finally taking off those damn shoes. Your legs hurt so terribly. Subconsciously, you already know that a verbal battle with this man is pointless now. He won't believe you anyway, he has to see for himself. See what you keep telling him.

One thing you were sure of right from the start. This guy was definitely confident and he didn't tolerate a word of disagreement, he knew best. Stubborn. Probably soulless, a killing machine. Who knows what bad shit he'd done in the past?

So as you slowly walk towards the building next to the tower, you wonder if your back might get shot. Simple and clear. He will execute you and this will all be over. Perhaps it would have been better. Maybe that was your end.

Fate. Destiny.

Maybe these two years of loneliness and torment were supposed to end this way. Your body will remain near the tower as a warning to other travelers. If anyone but the two of you had survived this long. Because during these few months, without seeing any sign of another person's life, you began to believe that you were completely alone. That somehow you were the only one who survived.

Day 64

You

You didn't think the crisis would come so quickly. That you will lose faith. You didn't see any solution to the situation, or there never was one.

You weren't the type of person who was sad, emotional, or prone to depression. You were always a ray of light, a cheerful green pea, as your dad used to say.

But now, as more days passed, more days of darkness, emptiness, silence. Fucking loneliness.

You couldn't handle it.

You have stopped looking out the window for hours, hoping that your loved ones will come home.

That some familiar face will save you. That someone will break the silence.

The worst were the sleepless nights. Curled up somewhere in a corner or hidden in a bathroom, somewhere in a room without windows. As far away from the outside walls as possible.

You gave up really fast. And you made one most important decision. And that day, early in the morning, when the first rays of sunlight appeared in the sky. You left the house at a brisk pace and easily reached your destination without stopping. Standing in front of the abandoned pharmacy, you knew why and for what you had come here. Without blinking an eye, you went inside and quickly found the right packages and took them from the shelves. Then, just as efficiently, you hurried back to the empty family house.

However, as you crossed the threshold of the building, the familiar smell, so close to your heart reached your nostrils. Home, the family nest. The door slammed behind you and then, for the first and only time, you hesitated.

Just as you had done for years, now, you called out to the empty rooms.

“Mom? Dad? Sis?... I'm back..."

Silence.

Nobody answered.

Emptiness.

So that was a sign, no one was there. And the decision was made, there was no turning back.

Sitting down on a chair in the dining room, you carefully unpacked the contents of the packages you brought. Earlier, you prepared a kitchen mortar and a glass of water.

Slowly, systematically, one by one, you place tablets of different sizes on the bottom of the agate dish. You don't know what quantity is right. Probably the bigger the better. The more the faster. The larger the quantity, the much painless it should be. You hope so. End the pain. Put an end to this misery.

Stirring slowly with a heavy stone pestle, you don't worry that some of the grinded medicine, will fall on the table. White powder stains the dining room table and your jeans.

Nobody will see the mess anyway. And if they do, they won't pay attention to such a detail anyway. They're more likely to notice you.

You pour the ground contents into a glass of water. Hoping that some of it will dissolve and make it easier for you to drink.

Bitterness. This is all you feel.

The cold water with the crushed tablets slowly passes down your throat into your stomach.... The bitterness on your tongue. The ground up undissolved pieces irritate your gums, sticking like sand between your teeth. You feel the acid under your tongue. Something in your throat.

You slowly swallow the rest of the mixture in the glass. Now you just have to wait. You fall asleep.

Alone.

But you won't wake up on your own. Eternal peace. Eternal peaceful sleep.

Maybe it'll be better if there's anything waiting for you afterward. If only this pain would go away.

That's what you're counting on. Well, you haven't been good at math since kindergarten.

Day 732 

Finally, after a long while of walking, with a feeling of fear, with the gun pointed at your back, you reach the door of the building. With a deep sigh, slightly irritated by this whole protracted situation, you open the door

“Hey guys, come out.”

With irony in your voice, you look at the man standing at a notable distance from you.

"You see? Like I said, no one. here. There isn't"

You say angrily, clenching your fists. After a few moments, you turn on your heel and cross your arms over your chest, waiting for Ghost to move. Whatever was going on in his head right now was starting to irritate you. Constant silence on his part, and when he did have something to say. It was his words that were cold, harsh. Angry, rough commands. He addresses you without respect.

In fact, he treats you worse than a dog.

“I'll shoot you if no one comes out soon."

Ghost adjusted the gun resting on his shoulder, still aiming at you.

“No one will come out of this building...”

You sigh.

“...maybe you'll finally believe me and we'll end this nonsense? If this is how you host all your guests. I'd rather not know how my predecessors ended up.”

You add, exhaling loudly through your nose

“And I don't really want to find out”

While waiting for the man's reaction, you look at him closely. Why is he so hostile? Why does he still not believe you?

Yes, no one had the right in these strange times to trust anyone or anything, however, you appeared in the area defenseless. Without any weapons. You didn't even think to bring a knife with you. Nothing for possible self-defense. So he, after all, was just plain stubborn.

Finally, the man slowly, silently approaches you and searches the inside of the building.

Of course there is no one inside.

Paying no attention to you, the masked man turned around and moves back toward the vehicle.

“Let's go. There's not much time left.”

He throws over his shoulder in your direction. Nothing more, no apologies, you're right. I believe you now. No remorse, no understanding. Heartless, strange, Ghost.

As you sit next to the dog, with your back to the boot, the man starts the car with a squeal of tyres. The speed of the car is definitely higher. You are going too fast, even though there are no other road users besides you. It's as if Ghost is racing against the setting sun. Every now and then he nervously checks his watch and turns his head over his shoulder, towards the western sky. And so on and on.

The streets grow darker and darker. Night is coming. Nightfall.

This time you are heading in a different direction from the centre. A new, unfamiliar one. With Riley at your side, you watch the changing landscape with curiosity. Crowded, densely built-up streets with many tall buildings turn into new suburbs. Single family houses and wide pavements with overgrown yards appear before our eyes. This must once have been a nice, quiet and green neighbourhood. Families with children probably spent their best moments here, enjoying a happy life together. The middle class probably lived here and worked hard for every square metre. After school, children rode their bikes on the wide streets or ran on the green, evenly mowed lawns.

Once. Past. Memories.

Finally, after several minutes of crazy driving, the man parks the car next to one of the houses. Hurriedly he gets out and opens the garage door with a flourish.

Ghost quickly pulls in and reaches for the dog and pulls him out of the trunk. He puts him in another car, parked in the garage next door.

“Hurry up, we don't have much time.”

With that, Ghost opens the passenger door and gets behind the wheel without waiting for you.

When you change to a smaller vehicle and sit on the passenger side, you ask in surprise

“Why a we changing the car? What's going on?"

He doesn't answer anything, he rushes away. He drives for a while, again, in silence you notice him circling the area. You definitely pass the same house several times.

“Why are we driving around?”

You ask with a little fear. From minute to minute, every behavior of a man causes increasing nervousness in your body. Again, you find his behavior strange, irrational.

‘We need to confuse the trail, cover our tracks.’

The man finally speaks up and after a few moments stops at the next house.

‘Stay in the car and don't go anywhere, understood?’

Ghost quickly picks up Riley and, with the dog in his arms, marches quickly in an unknown direction. Disappearing from your sight after a moment. You're left alone, in the car, in an unknown place.

The sun was almost below the horizon, a small red glow gently illuminated the wide street.

Suddenly, the door opens on your side and you jump in your seat, slightly scared. Seeing the now familiar, masked figure, you breathe a sigh of relief.

“Shit!”

 You clutch your chest, mumbling.

“Put this on your shoes and walk fast, damn it.”

The man hands you something like hospital slippers. You quickly put them on over your shoes. Hearing his voice, you know perfectly well that there is no time for discussion. Time is running out.

"Pull your hair back or keep it out of the wind and follow me quickly. Don't you dare turn around and stop!"

The man grabs you by the elbow and pulls you out of the car. He moves quickly, taking quick and decisive long strides. Compared to his legs, yours are considerably shorter than his, you practically have to run to keep up with his pace.

Not only do your legs hurt, but you are simply out of shape. Many weeks of trekking to this city and saving the portions of food you took with you. And also, the nerves caused by today have left you simply out of shape, out of strength.

Stumbling, your legs slowly give up and you hold your hair with one hand to keep it from being blown away by the wind, as commanded. You try not to fall behind the man.

At one point, Ghost slows down for a moment and turns his head, looking behind him.

“Damn it, faster.”

Regardless of your protests, he grabs you and lifts you off the ground.

"Hold on to me and don't let go."

He energetically grabs your hips and lifts you up, pulling your body towards him. He squeezes your plump body hard, digging into your skin. He's practically running now. You hold on to him, praying that he doesn't fall under the pressure of your weight or suddenly drop you.

However, nothing of the sort happens, and you both quickly reach one of the larger houses in the area. The only thing that distinguishes it from the others. Apart from its size, is that it has massive shutters and is not as overgrown with weeds as the others in the area.

The man opens the door locks, with one hand, and hurriedly enters the house. Finally, he sets you down on the floor, mumbles something unintelligible under his breath. He closes first one front door and then another, more massive one with multiple security features.

The room goes dark.

‘Where are we?’

You finally ask hesitantly, catching your breath. You didn't even notice when you held your breath.

‘In my house.’

He answers briefly and walks past you into the cramped vestibule, deep into the dark hallway

‘Take off your shoes and jacket, leave them here. Follow me.’

Ghost's house is warm and somehow strangely cozy. Standing in the doorway of the living room, while the man hastily closes the shutters and before the room goes completely dark, you try to look around. Get acquainted with the new surroundings.

The interior is decorated in a simple style. Plain, single-coloured shelves. The dark furniture bends slightly under the pressure of the collected objects. Against the walls, where there is no furniture, stand towers of neatly arranged things. There were a lot of objects here. Everything neatly, perfectly arranged. Books, CDs, clothes, bins, boxes containing other things (rather essential for survival and ordinary daily needs). Everything neatly and evenly grouped. You will not be surprised if you find that the man has everything carefully catalogued. So if you were to ask him for a small lithium battery of the CR1620 type, he would certainly find it in a few moments, without hesitation.

Despite the large number of items stored, the space does not seem cluttered. In the middle of the room is a large dark sofa with a small coffee table, opposite one of the walls on which is a large flat-screen TV. Looking to your right, you notice a slight glow and notice that instead of another wall with lots of cupboards and shelves filled in, there are open double sliding doors that lead into the kitchen. Now that glow reaches you, it's the light from the LED lamps above the worktop, slightly illuminating the distant room. You make a mental note to ask the man later where he gets his electricity from. Because he definitely has some sort of energy source. So it's not just the tower you were in last time that has a power source. It looks like this house has been inhabited for a long time and is definitely set up to live in such apocalyptic conditions for a long time. Rather, you could ask the man if he found this house by chance. Did he know about this building beforehand, and if not, how did he know to prepare so much?

Maybe he was one of those weirdos who believed every conspiracy theory, every rumour. Perhaps he was once in some sect that spoke of the imminent end of the world.

When Ghost finishes closing the shutters, the room is completely dark. You don't even hear the man moving around the room because suddenly you hear his low voice from behind you.

“Follow me, you need to wash up.”

It's only now that it's come to you. That's right. You must stink badly. Now the smell must be clearly noticeable in an enclosed room.

You feel a wave of shame sweep over you. Your cheeks are definitely red.

So many days of wandering, sleeping anywhere, as long as there was a roof over your head.

When you set off, you didn't take too many things with you. You mainly packed food, a sleeping bag and one thick sweatshirt, which usually served as a pillow. In order not to carry too many weight in your rucksack. You did not take excess clothing, but only the most necessary things to survive. You didn't expect to find much food along the way that was still edible. You didn't know how long the trek would take. However, you didn't think it would be that long. Too long.

So you turn away in shame, lowering your head, even though the house is dark, you are afraid of the man's gaze. You feel your way towards where the Ghost's voice had just come from.

You feel embarrassed about yourself, you must have, well literally, stank. You can't even remember the last time you washed yourself properly. Before setting off, you managed to heat up the water you had collected and washed yourself thoroughly in the bath. You don't even remember how many days ago that was. Too long ago to remember.

You have quite long hair, which you had tied up in a braid for days without even untangling it or combing it every day. Now many strands have fallen out of the braid, in fact, even your hairstyle looked more like your hair was loose than braided.

But the fatigue and frustration of the ongoing journey had subsided and you no longer cared about looking presentable. You didn't expect to meet anyone.

Seeing the soft light that spread a pleasant warm and yellow aura in the narrow corridor. You slowly approach the open door. Finally you hear the clear voice of a man from deep in the room, and he speaks to you again in the same dark and monotonous voice.

“Take a bath, you have everything you need in the bathtub”

Then, following his voice, you enter a slightly lit room.

It is a large bathroom decorated in a minimalist style. Dark tiles and silver fittings. No windows, no shelves of supplies. Simple minimalist interior.

A man stands next to a large free-standing bathtub. Without waiting for your answer, he leaves and speaks again.

“Wait a few minutes, the water needs to heat up”

Before you can say anything, Ghost pushes past you and closes the door behind him.

You stand in the room for a few moments, you feel so unreal and strange. As if you were in some hotel. On a special vacation.

There was a time, well, you hardly even remember, when you had things like hot water, warmth, a house without a dripping roof and just a safe space. Everything is prepared and at your disposal. You don't have to search for anything. Scouring shops and houses to find the thing you need like shampoo, toothpaste or a hairbrush.

You sit down on the closed toilet, gently remove your gloves and place them on the sink, having to wash them by hand to put them back on as quickly as possible.

You struggle to remove your shoes, and a terrible sight appears to your eyes: socks that were probably white were now a mixture of several colours. Brown, greyish black or crimson. With great difficulty you remove the sock, hissing loudly in pain. The cotton material has stuck to the dried blood, fusing with the cotton material of the sock and with your foot. Some of the wounds are reopening. Most of the nails are practically black. They are likely to fall off soon. Now that your feet are finally uncovered and you are free to lay them on the cold stone tiles on the bathroom floor. You breathe more deeply.

Cursing under your breath, you try to undress. You slowly stand up, shaking on your swollen legs. It seems to you that it is even worse than when you had tightly knotted shoes on your feet the whole time.

After a few moments, you slowly reach for the rest of your clothes and slowly undress, throwing your dirty clothes on the floor. The last layer of clothes, the one closest to your skin, has practically stuck to it. The material is wet, as if greasy and even hard in some places, soaked through with the sweat that your skin has secreted over many weeks.

When you finally manage to undress, with shaking legs you walk over to the bath and sit down on its edge. As you turn on the tap you almost sob with joy. It's been a long time since you've seen running water. Hot straight from the tap. It used to be a normal thing that attracted attention, today it's an incredible luxury.

You hesitantly reach your hand under the flowing stream of water and shiver with pleasure. It's really, really warm. You don't even know what you're going to say to Ghost when you get out after your bath. You are so grateful to him. There are no words now to describe your joy and gratitude over such a trivial matter as this bath.

You reach for the bottle standing next to the bath. A 3-in-1 body wash. For men. Well, you can't have everything. But even if you only had warm running water at your disposal, you wouldn't mind at all.

When the bath fills to the bottom, you slowly step into it and sit down. Despite the growing tingling on your skin and the pinching of your wounds. You lean more comfortably against the tub, tilt your head back and close your eyes. You finally feel comfortable and can relax, at least for a while. Your muscles and injured skin, although they seem to hurt less for a while, can finally rest.

Hot water heats the bathroom, slowly steam appears in this small space, it becomes stuffy.

The bath takes a really long time. You contemplate how the water will slowly warm your frozen, swollen body. You wash every inch of your body thoroughly. The gel smells nice, you can feel lavender and sandalwood.

You don't care that a man might be angry with you and full of further resentment. Because you spent so much time in the bathroom. That you used too much water.

It feels so wonderful. Blissful. You finally wash your greasy and tangled hair and massage your scalp. You feel tears coming to your eyes. For the first time in you don't know when, you feel safe, just clean and comfortable. You allow yourself moments of weakness.

Relaxed, you fall asleep, but unfortunately the bad memories haunt you once again.

Days 64-66

You

You didn't see how long it would be before these peculiar cocktails full of anxiety would kick in, so you chose the closest place that seemed comfortable. The sofa in the living room.

Lying down, you hugged one of the cushions you had taken from your parents' bedroom earlier. It was big, soft and smelled like.... Mum. Home. The closeness. Security. Stability. All the good things that no longer existed.

You don't know how much time has passed, each passing minute seems like an eternity.

Eventually your eyelids become heavier and heavier. Your breathing slows down. You fall asleep. Hoping forever.

Unfortunately, you were wrong, the mixture of drugs was not what you expected. You wake up with a terrible, huge stomach ache, headache, nausea. You don't even have the strength to open your eyes.

You vomit. You can't collect your thoughts, you don't know what's going on. There is only one thing in your head: pain, pain, pain.

All this goes on for hours, moaning in pain, nausea, fainting. Breathing problems come on suddenly, convulsions occur.

Everything is one long agony.

This is not how it was supposed to be.

You were not meant to suffer.

Tears run down your cheeks, mixing with the vomit that is practically everywhere. You must have fallen off the couch. You don't even feel yourself hitting the floor.

Everything hurts so much.

 You fall asleep for brief moments. It all continues, the pain, the crying, the momentary loss of consciousness and then back again. Vicious circle. Endless.

When it all goes away for a while, you don't have the strength to get up, you stare at the white ceiling. Your heart beats fast.

Night and day pass. In the end, everything slowly subsides. This time you have failed. Something gave you another chance. Maybe there was a reason that you survived after all.

Days 732

You

You wake up abruptly and only after a while do you remember where you are. The bath water is already cold. You sit up shrinking your legs, hugging your legs tightly to your chest, wrapping your arms tightly around them. You bury your head, trying to make the bad memories disappear, hide, or preferably erase them from your mind.

It's not just the constant, daily nightmares that remind you of the ordeal that day. When you swallowed the ground pills and the wrong mixture caused one of the side effects to appear. That night you lost some of your hearing.

Maybe it was a punishment, or maybe it was meant as a reminder. It's not worth it. You shouldn't. No.

You will never forget.

Once the water is very cold, we get out of the bath. Although your body has thankfully relaxed a little. You wrap yourself in a towel and look around the bathroom. No sign of a change of clothes. After all, you're not going to parade around in a small towel that barely covers your pudgy body.

Slowly, hesitantly, you open the bathroom door, wanting to call out and ask a man for clean clothes. Because there is no point in wearing the old ones. They are fit to burn at most. You don't believe that even the best washing machine and detergents can cope with such dirt that has dried for weeks.

Looking down the corridor you notice a few changes. The corridor is softly lit, no longer dark.

And the other thing is that there is a chair opposite the bathroom door.

And on it lie nicely stacked brand new clothes, deodorant and a toothbrush. Next to it lie plasters, bandages and wound disinfectant.

You look around the corridor, but there is no one there but you.

In the distant kitchen you hear the clink of plates and cupboards being opened. You think you hear the clatter of Riley's claws walking quickly across the kitchen floor, a very familiar sound, something known from the past.

In addition to the symphony of sounds, your nostrils are filled with a smell. Food. Dinner. Definitely a warm meal. It's all so unreal, ordinary, idyllic. So innocent and mundane. As if those two years never happened, as if you were spending your weekend off gossiping at a friend's house. And you weren't struggling in drudgery and terror to survive.

Hurriedly, feeling your stomach growl with hunger, you pick up the things Ghost left for you from the chair. You glance at the tag of one of the clothes, not only were they the right size, they were from a really good and expensive company.

Returning to the bathroom you smile slightly, hugging the fresh and tactile clothes.

Well, maybe meeting and visiting Ghost's house wasn't as bad as you thought at first.

And maybe under the mask he wasn't such a scary person after all.

taglist:

@leviathanleva @chocolate-noodles @vmaxis @poohkie90 @ghostlythots @nobodys-coffee @famouscattale @youdontneedtoknow1226 @pimpinsins @justguessfan @novasilvae @pausbirudanlumbalumba @ella2497 @lunamoonbby @sams-pineapples @tonylagsagne @lurkinwbreexy

[acurlygirlamy1]

Written by a 90 year old!!

42 lessons life taught me

It is something we should all read at least once a week! Make sure you read to the end!

Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio.

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 42 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short – enjoy it..

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Stay true to yourself.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. Save for retirement starting with your first pay check.

9. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

10. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

11. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

12. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

13. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it...

14 Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

15. Get rid of anything that isn't useful. Clutter weighs you down in many ways.

16. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

17. It's never too late to be happy. But it’s all up to you and no one else.

18. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

19. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

20. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

21. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

22. The most important sex organ is the brain.

23. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

24. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

25. Always choose life.

26. Forgive but don’t forget.

27. What other people think of you is none of your business.

28. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

30. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does..

31. Believe in miracles.

32. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

33. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

34. Your children get only one childhood.

35. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

36. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere. (I love this one)

37. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

38. Envy is a waste of time. Accept what you already have not what you need.

39. The best is yet to come...

40. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

41. Yield.

42. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

Echoes of Insight

[wheelsgoroundincircles]

1992 PORSCHE 964 CARRERA RS

1992 PORSCHE 964 CARRERA RS

1992 PORSCHE 964 CARRERA RS

1992 PORSCHE 964 CARRERA RS

1992 PORSCHE 964 CARRERA RS

1992 PORSCHE 964 CARRERA RS

1992 PORSCHE 964 CARRERA RS

1992 PORSCHE 964 CARRERA RS

One of the most celebrated models in Porsche’s racebred “RS” lineage, the 964 Carrera RS was produced exclusively for the European/RoW markets featuring a special seam-welded bodyshell, a minimal lightweight interior, shorter gear ratios, unassisted steering, lowered suspension, magnesium wheels, and a more powerful 3.6-liter flat-six engine. This 1992 example was sold new in Japan finished in Polar Silver Metallic over a black interior with tri-tone leather Recaro bucket seats. The car was relocated to Germany in 2013 and was imported to the U.S. by the seller in 2023. Benefitting from a major service within the last year including valve adjustments, new spark plugs, and rebuilt brake calipers, this 964 Carrera RS is now being offered for auction on PCARMARKET with 41,684 kilometers (25,901 miles) showing on the odometer.

[airplanned]

How did Zorro lose his eye? (wrong answers only)

He didn’t lose it. His eyelid is just superglued shut, and he won’t ask for help.

He needed a place to stash a great big diamond. The diamond is the One Piece.

It was Mihawk’s fault: Eye-liner accident.

He replaced it with a tiny computer that is a combo odometer-speedometer-depth finder. He’s like “Fuck yeah. I’m invincible now.” Refuses to admit it’s completely useless except for bragging rights. This is a throw away joke until 500 chapters later it turns out the depth finder is actually super important to over-arching plot reasons.

(I got distracted yesterday. So sorry. I might write something more on this later, but I need you to know about the big diamond that is the One Piece right this second.)

[chacaillejdr]

How to make your sidequests relevant ?

Let’s imagine you’re writing an RPG campaign. You have a good scenario, a coherent universe… and there’s a particular scene you’d really like to add but it doesn’t seem to fit in the logical continuity of your story. Don’t panic : the sidequests are here. What’s a sidequest you ask ? It’s simply an optional (this is important) chapter of your scenario, that you’ll present to your players and that they’ll have the possibility to follow.

It is absolutely possible to write a scenario without any sidequest (I checked : it is legal). But if you want to add one, it needs to feel natural, logical and organic within your campaign. Here are a few pieces of advice to make this detour on the road of your story without your players checking the odometer wondering if they’re not wasting gas.

Let’s start by writing a first draft of your sidequest (don’t worry, there won’t be more than two drafts, three for the bravest amongst you), but specifically considering that you’re creating a one-shot game, completely dissociated from your campaign. Not only will it give you a scenario to pull out of your bag if you find players that aren’t ready for a full blown campaign, but above all it will draw a general structure and unraveling of your quest.

Then you’ll have to ask yourself what this sidequest will bring to your campaign, what we’ll call its purpose. You must make sure that it checks one of the following points (but let’s be honest it’s better if it checks them all) : 

to have an original gameplay element : a main point of your sidequest can be based on a novel approach to the game (rules, skills, etc.) that cannot be found anywhere else in the campaign and makes it appear like a standalone entertainment.

to deepen the lore of your universe : if your scenario is lore-heavy, you cannot just dump it all like a sack of bricks on your players’ shoulders in your main story arc. A sidequest can be the ideal occasion to explore some specific aspects of this lore.

to give a special reward : the completion of the sidequest can be a good opportunity to give an object, a skill, an advantage or whatever else seems appropriate to one or several PCs, to help them in the main storyline.

to give a scene for player interaction : whether the sidequest uses elements of a PC’s background, or resonates with what they’re experiencing in the main storyline, it gives them a framework to express themselves and deepen their characters.

Once you have determined why your sidequest exists, you’ll have to define when it happens in the main storyline. To do that you’ll have to look at its purpose, and find its prerequisites : 

for the gameplay element : at which point in the story do the PCs are at a sufficient level to enjoy it, and at which point will they become too powerful to consider it ?

for the lore : at which point does this lore become relevant, and before which chapter of the story must it be learned in order to become useful ?

for the reward : on which point of the storyline is this reward balanced with the standard progression ?

for the interaction : how long must the PCs have been together for the discussion to be meaningful and impactful ?

Now that your sidequest is comfortably settled in your storyline, you’ll have to build links with the campaign itself. You’ll still have its purpose to help you, especially if you have a lore or interaction based purpose. Ask yourself “Why would the PCs want to explore this path ?” And beware : those links must not only be built over the sidequest. You’ll also have to draw them from the main storyline, upstream of your sidequest, to create some foreshadowing. And you can also make a third hook to tie your links to ! Make callbacks between your sidequest and your PCs’ backgrounds, for example by locating them near the birthplace of one of them, or by integrating NPCs from their past like friends or family ! (we’ll come back later on this specific advice in a future article named “how to include the PCs in your universe”)

Is it at last time to end the rewriting of your sidequest, now that you have all these points ? Well yes… and no. It is eventually a good time to revise your first draft, this time through the perspective of its purpose, and while highlighting the links you made with the main storyline. But a last step may still remain, based on the number of sidequests you considered integrating in the whole scenario.

For this final operation we’ll need to introduce the concept of secondary arcs, as opposed to the main storyline. Once you have the sequence and events of all of your sidequests, try to group them based on a focus (places, main NPCs, links with a PC’s background, type of adversary, etc.), then create an evolution of this focus within each group. This could be the transformative story of an NPC, a PC’s past coming back to haunt them, a threat looming on a specific town… whatever it is there must be a progression : the secondary arc. You can even find more focus by linking each secondary arc into a whole secondary campaign, nested within your main one. Once this progression is drawn, you’ll rewrite once again each sidequest in your arc within the scope of the focus progression. A few tips : 

write every scene of this secondary arc as mobile points (see the article “how to write a TTRPG scenario”)

from the second quest of the arc onwards, start using conditional writing to incorporate the previous choices of your PCs (see the article “how to avoid railroading”)

add at least one recurring NPC (“actor”) that appears in at least half of the quest of your secondary arc, which has an evolution tied to the choices made by the PCs in the arc. If you consider adding a Gathering in your main storyline, make sure that one of these recurring NPCs is present (see the article “how to write a remarkable NPC”, yeah I make a lot of references to previous articles, as if there was a reason for the order in which I published them)

consider giving a particularly important reward at the end of the last quest of the secondary arc, one that cannot be found anywhere else in the campaign

There you have it, after two phases of planification and three of writing, you should have a sidequest that distinguishes itself from the main storyline, that both the PCs and the players behind them will want to explore, and that merges itself fluidly within your campaign instead of giving the impression it was just put there upon it. Do you have examples of well (or poorly) integrated sidequests ? Do you have other advice on this topic you’d like to share ? Please write in the comments !

[ceekbee]

👵Written by a 90 year old!!❤️

🤙42 lessons life taught me 💖

It is something we should all read at least once a week! Make sure you read to the end!

Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio.

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 42 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short – enjoy it..

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Stay true to yourself.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. Save for retirement starting with your first pay check.

9. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

10. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

11. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

12. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

13. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it...

14 Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

15. Get rid of anything that isn't useful. Clutter weighs you down in many ways.

16. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

17. It's never too late to be happy. But it’s all up to you and no one else.

18. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

19. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

20. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

21. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.💖

22. The most important sex organ is the brain.

23. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

24. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

25. Always choose life.

26. Forgive but don’t forget.

27. What other people think of you is none of your business.

28. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

30. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does..

31. Believe in miracles.

32. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

33. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

34. Your children get only one childhood.

35. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

36. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere. (I love this one)

37. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

38. Envy is a waste of time. Accept what you already have not what you need.

39. The best is yet to come...

40. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

41. Yield.

42. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

[rabbitcruiser]

National Odometer Day

Be thankful for the odometer, a device that keeps track of your mileage, which in turn helps you know when and how to get your car looked at and adjusted.

Odometers are one of the meters that come standard when purchasing a new car. Keeping track of the wear put on your engine by tracking the distance you’ve traveled. How did this invention come to be? Why is it so important?

National Odometer Day is all about celebrating the invention of the odometer and how it has helped the design and function of automobiles progress. Without odometers, how could we track the progress we made?

History of National Odometer Day

The origin of the word odometer comes from the Greek words hodos meaning path or gateway and metron, meaning measure. In Ancient Greece, the distance was measured by bematists, people specially trained to measure the distances by counting steps. However, the first odometer was invented in the Han Dynasty in China.

The device was a road carriage with a drum, and with each time their measurement of distance was met, a drum was hit by a wooden figure. This device is considered to be highly advanced and helped influence the invention of the odometer.

As for the modern odometer, there have been multiple stories about when it first came to be. No matter how it happened they all contribute towards what we consider to be an essential part of people’s cars. In 1847, William Clayton, a Mormon pioneer, invented his “roadmometer” and attached it to his wagon while heading to Utah.

The idea helped build the odometer for the first automobiles invented during the early 1900s. This odometer was developed by Arthur P. and Charles H. Warner of Beloit, Wisconsin, and was patented as the “Auto-Meter”.

Since then, odometers have helped understand the lifespan of cars and gives vehicle owners the ability to pay attention to their car and do maintenance. National Odometer Day was created to remind people of this fact, remind them to check their odometers and take better care of their cars.

How to Celebrate National Odometer Day

Take a drive in your car and see where you end up. Get in the habit of tracking your miles and reset your odometer after each drive. By keeping track of your mileage, you’ll be able to better care for it and track how efficiently you’re using gas.

Share pictures of your travels and odometer on this day with your friends and family. Odometers are useful whether you’re driving around the corner to your local grocery store or on a long trip. Paying attention to the distances you’ve traveled will help you maintain your car and ensure its performing well.

Source

[mariacallous]

This summer, a Vancouver car mechanic named Max got a perplexing ping on his phone: Betty White was in Ukraine and needed his help. This was surprising because she had died on a Canadian highway back in January.

When Max last saw Betty White, his nickname for his Tesla Model Y Performance, they were both in rough shape after getting sideswiped on the highway. Max’s rotator cuff was torn in several places. The small SUV had bounced off multiple concrete barriers at high speed and was bashed in on all four corners, its wheels ripped to pieces. Coolant appeared to be leaking into the battery chamber. From his own work on EVs in the garage, Max knew that Betty was done for. “No auto shop would put a repair person at risk with that kind of damage,” says Max, whose last name isn’t being used out of doxing concerns. A damaged EV battery can become dangerous due to the risk of shocks, fire, and toxic fumes. His insurer agreed, and Betty was written off and sent to a salvage yard.

Months after he had last seen the car, Max’s Tesla app was now telling him that Betty needed a software update. It showed the car with an extra 200 kilometers on the odometer, fully charged, and parked in Uman, a town in Ukraine’s Cherkasy Oblast, midway between Kyiv and the front line with Russia’s invasion force. Minutes after that first ping, the app showed the car in service mode, suggesting Betty was undergoing repairs. “I thought it must be a mistake,” Max says.

There was no mistake. WIRED tracked Betty down to a Ukrainian auto auction website, looking good as new, maybe even better, with newly tinted windows and rearview mirrors wrapped in black. Betty 2.0 was being sold by “Mikhailo,” who wrote that the car had suffered “a small blow” in Canada and been repaired with original Tesla parts. The price, $55,000, was roughly the same as a new Model Y Performance costs in the US.

Betty White’s intercontinental resurrection was impressive but not unusual. For a long time, cars written off in North America have found their way to Eastern European repair shops willing to take on damage that US and Canadian mechanics won’t touch. In 2021, the most recent data available, Ukraine was a top-three destination for used US passenger vehicles sent overseas, close behind Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates. And Ukraine’s wreck importers and repairers are particularly known for their ingenuity. Some have made fixing EVs written off across the Atlantic into a specialty, helping to drive a surge in the number of electric vehicles on the country’s roads, even as the war with Russia rages.

Though few automakers sell new EVs in Ukraine, the share of newly registered vehicles that are fully electric, 9 percent, is about the same as in the US and nearly double that of neighboring Poland and the Czech Republic. Most of Ukraine’s refurbished EVs come from North America, and many arrive with major damage.

There’s a ready supply of crashed North American EVs in part because electrics are becoming more common, and also because in recent years, relatively new EVs with low mileage have been written off at a higher rate than their gas-powered equivalents, according to data from insurers. US and Canadian repair shops and insurers see them as more dangerous and difficult to fix. Scrapyards find it hard to make money from their parts and instead ship them abroad.

Ivan Malakhovsky is not afraid to work on cases like Betty White. His five-year-old repair business in Dnipro, in eastern Ukraine, fixes about 100 Teslas a month, roughly a fifth of them from overseas, and employs a staff that varies between six to 10 people. He’s currently away from home, serving with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but he manages his workers, and sometimes makes software-mediated repairs, remotely. “We have problems in our lives and can fix them, whether a battery or a full-scale invasion,” says Malakhovsky. “Electric cars, electric car batteries—it’s no problem.”

An electric vehicle battery is made up of thousands of individual cells, which store and release energy. Sometimes, Malakhovsky says, he and his coworkers will break up large EV batteries damaged beyond repair and repurpose the cells to power electric scooters or even drones for the war effort. He says the vast majority of Teslas on Ukrainian roads were once involved in wrecks in North America.

The war has even boosted Ukraine’s EV resurrection business at times, by driving up gas prices and making electrics more attractive to drivers. Ukraine has a public charging network of some 11,000 chargers, according to Volodymyr Ivanov, the head of communications at Nissan Motor Ukraine—that’s more than the state of New York, and double the number in neighboring Poland. Since 2018, Ukraine’s government has removed most taxes and customs duties on used EV imports. In the US, electric vehicles tend to be expensive, and the average EV driver is still a high-income male homeowner. North American wrecks, Ukraine’s EV incentives, and its relatively low electricity prices have created a different picture. “There is a joke here that all poor people are driving electric cars, and all the rich people are driving petrol cars,” says Malakhovsky. “Tesla is a common-people, popular car because it’s very cheap in maintenance.”

That’s a relatively recent development, says Hans Eric Melin, head of Circular Energy Storage, a UK-based consultancy that tracks the international flows of used EVs and batteries. He began watching the Ukraine market in particular a few years ago, after he noticed more ads for Nissan Leafs on auction sites listed in Ukrainian than in English. At the time, the Leaf, a pioneer among EVs, was essentially the only one that had been around long enough to develop a healthy used market. Over time, Ukraine’s electric fleet grew to encompass the full range of EVs sold around the world, including Teslas, as more cars hit the roads and aged or got into crashes.

Melin had suspected Ukraine’s EV boom would end with the war. “I was completely wrong,” he says. By this summer, Ukraine’s EV fleet had doubled since July 2021, to 64,312, according to data compiled by the Automotive Market Research Institute, a Ukrainian research and advocacy group.

Roman Tyschenko, a 25-year-old IT worker who lives in Kyiv, decided last September that he was sick of his Jeep’s $400-a-month gas bill. Friends had purchased used, damaged electric cars on an online auction website called Copart, a US-based public auto reseller with 200 locations around the world. He logged on and spent $24,000 on a gray 2021 Tesla Model Y that had taken a solid blow to its passenger side in Dallas, Texas. Its bumper was almost fully detached; its hood was tented; some of its airbags had deployed.

That Texan Model Y was likely declared totaled by an insurer. From there, it probably moved to a salvage auction in the US, where licensed exporters, salvage shops, and repairers tried to figure out how much value they could squeeze out of the wreck. The winner, or perhaps the insurer itself, listed the car on Copart, which made it available to anyone around the world who wanted a smashed-up Tesla and was willing to pay for shipping.

If Tyschenko hadn’t brought the Texan Tesla to Ukraine himself, it had a good chance of being shipped there anyway by someone who professionally flips cars to countries like Ukraine. These exporters look for wrecks potentially worth more than their scrap value, but little enough that an expensive US repair and resale wouldn’t make sense. Some ship vehicles directly to Ukrainian repairers and pay for the fix, while others import damaged cars and relist them for sale to Ukrainian buyers who can figure it out for themselves.

It takes a damaged North American car between one and five months to reach a nearby port. Before the war, wrecked cars headed to Ukraine’s Port of Odessa on the Black Sea. Since Russia invaded in 2022, they come through Klaipėda in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea, or Koper in Slovenia on the Adriatic, and are brought to Ukraine by truck. A shop like Malakhovsky’s can fix a Tesla in somewhere between one week and one year, depending on the damage.

Tyschenko arranged for his Model Y to be shipped to a local repair shop in Kyiv, where it arrived in February 2023, five months after he hit the Buy button online. The technician sent him videos of the EV’s ongoing revamp every few weeks, and Tyschenko stopped by to visit a handful of times. By May, he had paid the technician some $25,000 for his work and was driving the Model Y around Kyiv.

Two months later, the battery died and Tyschenko spent another $4,000 to replace it—a demonstration of the risks of electric vehicle rescues. Still, he’s happy with how things worked out, and now pays just $10 to $100 a month to refuel his car, depending on whether he charges at home or at public stations.

Finding parts to repair Teslas and other EVs can be a challenge. On Facebook and Telegram, groups like “Renault Zoe Club Ukraine” host thousands of EV owners who barter with each other for spare parts. Oleksandr Perepelitsa, a 25-year-old electric vehicle repairer in Kyiv, says that when he first began his work three years ago, he and his business partners would buy two wrecked Teslas from overseas to create a single working vehicle to sell to local Ukranians. “Even that was profitable for us,” he says. Now, business connections can send Tesla parts from the US or Europe, or repairers buy cheaper Chinese reproductions.

The success of Ukraine’s EV resurrection industry is the flip side of the failure of insurers and manufacturers in North America to figure out what to do when a shiny new EV becomes roadkill.

US insurers are more willing to write off vehicles of all kinds that in the past may have been fixed. New vehicle repairs have gotten more expensive, in part due to vehicles getting more complex and computerized, as well as a shortage of vehicle technicians. In the past decade, the damaged cars up for auction “are better and less damaged,” Copart CEO Jeff Liaw told investors on an earnings call this year.

Industry-wide data is hard to come by, but numerous sources suggest that EVs are more likely to be written off than gas-powered cars, and can be declared unfixable after even minor crashes. A Reuters analysis this year found that a “large portion” of damaged EVs sold for scrap were low-mileage, nearly-new vehicles. While one in 10 new cars sold in the US and Canada this year are forecasted to be electric, the infrastructure and expertise needed to assess and fix damaged EVs can be patchy. “In an ideal world, electric vehicles are as easy to repair as internal combustion engine vehicles,” says Mark Fry, research manager at Thatcham Research, which crunches auto market data for insurers and other clients. It recently found British EVs get written off at disproportionately high rates.

The main reason EV repairs are so tricky comes down to a lack of agreement on how to handle EV batteries after a crash. Worldwide, there is no industry standard for measuring battery health. Vehicle manufacturers sometimes refuse to sanction battery repairs because of liability concerns. “If you repair the battery, what's it going to be like after another two, three years and another 50,000 miles?” Fry says. It’s easier to let nearly new vehicles be declared dead than to find out.

The North American scrap industry is also somewhat leery of EVs, says Megan Slattery, a researcher at UC Davis who studies what happens to damaged EV batteries. Scrap businesses generally make money by taking cars apart to extract the most valuable widgets to resell. But dismantling a battery takes dedicated workers, equipment, and—most important of all—space, due to the fire risks of storing lithium-ion cells. Many mom-and-pop dismantlers don’t have any of that.

Plus, EVs tend to have simpler drivetrains, with more plastic and large, prefabricated body components that can’t be easily pulled apart. In some electric vehicles, the battery is built directly into the car’s structure, making it especially difficult to dismantle or repair. All of that means that exporters looking to sell to eager buyers abroad have less competition when bidding on totaled cars.

In the US, there’s increasing pressure to keep broken EVs from heading overseas. Regulators are concerned about safety, hoping to better track broken batteries through shipping channels as fears rise of fires sparked by used EVs, including on cargo ships. Another is to avoid dumping e-waste on countries without the means to recycle or repurpose, and instead keep the valuable minerals inside batteries local. Battery recycling startups have received vast amounts of private and public investment—both in Western Europe and the US, with funds from the Inflation Reduction Act—with a promise to help shore up raw material supply chains. But so far, they have received only a trickle of used batteries.

Policies that wind up choking off the export of EV wrecks would in some ways be a shame, Slattery says. More stringent European Union export rules for used cars and EV batteries in particular are one reason why the supply of Teslas to Eastern Europe is so dependent on North American wrecks. Without them, the electric revolution would be much less advanced in places like Ukraine, where US and Canadian write-offs have helped support the emergence of charger networks, trained repair specialists, and a wide familiarity and acceptance that electric propulsion is not just green but also practical.

In North America, there's a widespread belief that “people don't want electric vehicles and that it's just laws and regulations that push us to buy them,” says Melin, the used EV analyst. “There are other markets that want to have electrics.” It’s a testament to a system that is working, Melin adds, that used EVs end up in places like Ukraine, where new models are difficult to come by.

For Max in Vancouver, Betty White’s reappearance overseas did cause some headaches. The car was still logged into his Google, Netflix, and Spotify accounts, potentially allowing the new owners to access his personal data. When he asked Tesla support, he was advised to change his passwords, Max says. (Tesla did not respond to WIRED’s questions.)

But looking back on the crash, and now driving a new Model Y—named Black Betty—Max says his old car’s resurrection is the best possible outcome. “I’m happy to see that Betty White has lived to see another day,” he says.

[pbandjesse]

It was a very gray day today. My stomach still hurts really bad and I'm a little exhausted but I'm at the museum now and so far I'm having a good time. It's a fundraiser tonight and those are fun. Everyone is usually in a really good mood. And I had a good day beyond that even if I wasn't feeling my best.

I thought I slept good last night. I had some really nice dreams. But I woke up at 6:00 a.m. The horrible pain in my stomach and then I could not fall back asleep. So after washing my face and putting on nice pajamas I would just hang out in bed. Someone knocked on the door to deliver a package and I went down to get that and made up peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And watch tik toks and listen to a podcast and just enjoyed being upstairs in our room. Sweet pea would come and hang out and then leave and then come back again and I wasn't feeling amazing but I was trying to be gentle with myself.

Eventually I would go downstairs and put some stuff away. I open the back door so sweet pea could walk around. And he was very good and when I asked him to come back inside by name he came in very chatty. I gave him a treat for listening. And I did a little tidying up and putting things away. Just trying to make the space normal again. James had done a very good job this morning and so there wasn't a 10 for me to do but I did appreciate that I no longer had to dump the ice out of the collars. I was not looking forward to that. But it was done and I only had to put away a few things.

Around 10:00 I went and got back in bed and put on a video and fell asleep. I have some really nice dreams. Like I felt very comforted in them. And when I woke up at noon I didn't feel as horrible. I would take my time getting up though. Watch my face and put on more lotion. Got dressed for real. I decided not to wear my original planned outfit for the event tonight cuz I wanted to wear a little more color. And I'm glad I did because the corporate colors for this charity are rainbow so it all worked out. And I made my outfits for the week. They may or may not be the ones I stick with but at least I have a plan. And I struggled with being cold so I had to go and pull my favorite black sweater out of storage but it only worried in the house because as soon as I got outside it was too humid. But that was fine. I'm glad that I had it when I needed it.

I decided to leave the house around 1:30 and I would go to Target and the thrift store and get Five guys. Not in that order. I decided to start with Five guys.

I drove out to Glen Burnie and got my little lunch. And the cashier was really nice and complimented all the stickers on my water bottle and my cup. He actually just said it about the cop and I was oh wait and then I pulled My water bottle out of my backpack and he was like laughing and it was really sweet I was just like everything I own is covered in stickers. And then I ate my lunch and walked over to the Target. I heard a couple people compliment my dress and my shoes to the person they were with. Not to me but I still heard it. So I take the compliment. And I walked around the store looking for the few things that I needed.

The most important thing I was there for was to replace my eyeliner that I accidentally like a dried out. I know that I'm not wearing eyeliner everyday now but I like having the option. And I struggled to find it but once I did it was $5 cheaper than Walgreens. Annoying. How dare they. And then I went and found the paper towels. I thought they were going to be on a different part of the store so I walked around farther than I needed to but I did eventually find them after asking an employee. Paper towels coming rolls that are entirely too large but I found the ones that I thought I could fit in the closet and that was all that mattered.

When I got back to the car I noticed that our odometer was that a very particular number. And was going to be at a very funny number It only a few miles. So I knew I had to watch this like a hawk because I was not going to miss it.

I drove down to the thrift store and I had a nice time walking around. I did not find any shoes that I liked but I did find a robot clock and a bathing suit cover up and a sweater dress and a linen shirt. And some pretty napkins. And I paid and left and calculated that I would arrive at the museum at the perfect number. And I did not want to miss this. This was important to me.

So I leave the thrift store and I'm driving down the road and I'm watching. I'm paying attention on the road but I'm checking periodically and I'm doing the math and I'm making sure and as I'm rounding the corner to the museum I see that we are about point of three miles away from the number changing. I take my camera out I am taking a video I am ready. And as I pulled into the museum are odometer changes over to 42,0069. I'm a mementos occasion I was laughing so hard.

After I got a good picture I threw the car in park and ran into the museum didn't even bring any of my stuff in so that I could make James go outside and see it too. And we were having such a silly moment. I was just like this is the best day of our lives This is so great. And I was a full hour early to work I didn't even care. I was just in a silly goofy mood and very very happy.

So I was walking around the museum and I told Jesse And then I went to go find some of the materials I had left here from my last workshop. And we were just being goofy.

But eventually I went to go sit in the educators room and ate the rest of my french fries. I would save some to share with James. And the educator who was here today, whose name I didn't catch, was really fun to talk to. She's an older woman and we were talking about the different things in the museum that we love and the reasons we like giving tours in different ways. And she told me that she really loves the steamroller because apparently a band is named after for that particular brand. I'm going to have to double check what that is. But it was really cute like she was so excited about it and I just thought it was so sweet.

And after she left I just chilled and tried to finish watching my YouTube video. But eventually I would come back to the front desk to say goodbye to James and they headed home. And I just was wandering around looking in all of our touch boxes which are all messed up right now. But that's not a big deal. And then I met one of the new caterers and it's her very first day and so I was like oh my god let's go look at the machine shop and so I turned on some machines for her and we chatted and we went and smell all the soaps and candles. She was very nice.

I'm in a good mood. Physically I don't feel good but mentally I'm in a really good spot. And I'm just really excited that tomorrow we're going to have the whole day off. And I don't have to worry about anything. We're going to do chores and hang out and just have a nice day. And I hope you do too. You're getting this post early tonight because when I'm done here I would really like to go home and just do nothing. I hope that the event tonight is just a lot of fun and everyone is excited to support a good cause. I hope you'll have a great evening. Until next time.

[viceroy-transporter]

Cost Factors of Enclosed Auto Transport

Enclosed Auto Transport: Cost Factors and Benefits Explained and Why it Enclosed is Priced Higher

Auto transport, the process of moving vehicles from one location to another, comes in different flavors. One distinction that often arises in discussions is the choice between open transport and enclosed carriers. While open transport is the more economical option, enclosed auto transport tends to cost more. But why is this the case, and is the additional expense justified?

In this post, we'll cruise into the world of enclosed auto transport and look at the factors that contribute to its higher price tag.

Why Does Enclosed Transport Cost More?

Now, you might be wondering why enclosed transport is pricier than the open option. Well, there are a few reasons:

Extra Protection: With enclosed transport, your car gets extra protection from the elements and road debris. It's like upgrading to a first-class ticket for your vehicle.

Limited Space: Enclosed carriers can't fit as many cars as open ones. Since they carry fewer vehicles, the cost per car goes up.

Specialized Handling: Transporting cars in enclosed carriers requires more care and attention to detail. Drivers have to be extra careful to make sure everything stays safe and secure.

Is the Extra Expense Justified?

Paying the extra cost for enclosed transport depends on your priorities. If you have a valuable or classic car that you want to keep in pristine condition, then the extra expense might be worth it for the added peace of mind. But if you're shipping a regular car and don't mind a few extra miles on the odometer, then open transport might be just fine.

Making an Informed Choice

Enclosed auto transport offers an extra layer of protection for your vehicle, but it comes at a higher cost. By understanding the factors that contribute to this expense, you can make an informed decision that best suits your needs and priorities.

Whether you opt for open or enclosed transport, the most important thing is ensuring that your vehicle reaches its destination safely and securely. You can trust Viceroy Auto Transport with all your car shipping needs

Helpful Links

How Enclosed Auto Transport Works

Enclosed Transport: Safest Way by Carrier

Enclosed Transport: Everything to Know

[alphaman99]

Halde Pottinger Ceremonie

It is something we should all read at least once a week! Make sure you read to the end!

Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio.

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 42 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short – enjoy it..

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Stay true to yourself.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. Save for retirement starting with your first pay check.

9. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

10. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

11. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

12. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

13. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it...

14 Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

15. Get rid of anything that isn't useful. Clutter weighs you down in many ways.

16. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

17. It's never too late to be happy. But it’s all up to you and no one else.

18. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

19. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

20. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

22. The most important sex organ is the brain.

23. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

24. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

25. Always choose life.

26. Forgive but don’t forget.

27. What other people think of you is none of your business.

28. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

30. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does..

31. Believe in miracles.

32. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

33. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

34. Your children get only one childhood.

35. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

36. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere. (I love this one)

37. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

38. Envy is a waste of time. Accept what you already have not what you need.

39. The best is yet to come...

40. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

41. Yield.

42. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

[phillipschevrolet]

Chevy Silverado Named Best Truck for the Money

Vehicle shopping comparison site iseecars.com recently released the results of their Best Cars for the Money study, and we are pleased to report that the Chevy Silverado 1500 tops their list among full size trucks. To determine which vehicles offer the best value, iseecars compared purchase prices and odometer readings of over 181 million used cars to calculate price per 10,000 miles. The Silverado came out on top among trucks with a price of $2,863 per 10,000 miles, with an average purchase price of $57,129, and an average lifespan of 199,544 miles. “New car prices keep climbing, which makes finding the highest value models more important than ever for buyers,” said iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer. “By identifying cars that combine the lowest purchase price with the longest lifespan, we’re helping consumers who want to maximize their car-buying budget.” Phillips Chevrolet of Frankfort, Lansing, and Bradley has Illinois’ Largest Chevy Inventory including a great selection of affordable, dependable Silverados in stock!

112 Chevrolet Silverado 1500s currently in stock at Phillips Chevrolet

2024 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Work Truck Regular Cab - #L40366

Internet Price: $36,208 - $1,982 off MSRP

Click here to view our complete Silverado Inventory

[desayjames1]

Exploring the Fascinating World of Salvage History Checks in the UK

Salvage history checks have emerged as an indispensable step in the process of acquiring a used vehicle in the United Kingdom. These checks offer valuable insights into a vehicle's past, enabling potential buyers to make well-informed choices and sidestep potential pitfalls. In this article, we will delve into the significance of salvage history checks, the information they unveil, and their role in fostering a safer and more transparent used car market in the UK.

Understanding Salvage History Checks

A salvage history check, also known as a reg check, stands as an all-encompassing scrutiny of a vehicle's history, with a particular focus on its repair and damage records. The primary goal of this examination is to unearth whether a vehicle has been categorized as a total loss by an insurance company. This categorization occurs due to extensive damage resulting from accidents, theft, or other factors jeopardizing the vehicle's safety and integrity. By procuring a salvage history report, potential buyers can attain profound insights into the vehicle's true condition, enabling them to make informed decisions about their impending purchase.

Information Revealed by Salvage History Checks

1. Total Loss Status: A salvage history check divulges whether a vehicle has previously received the designation of a total loss from an insurance company. This designation signifies that the vehicle endured damage beyond a certain threshold, rendering repairs economically unfeasible or potentially compromising its structural soundness.

2. Accident History: The report may encompass details about any accidents the vehicle has been involved in, offering information about the scale of damage and subsequent repairs undertaken. This data empowers buyers to assess potential risks linked with the vehicle.

3. Category Designation: In the UK, salvage vehicles are categorized under distinct codes based on the extent and nature of their damage. These categories, spanning from A to N, indicate varying levels of damage and repair. The report specifies the category code, enabling buyers to comprehend the severity of the vehicle's historical issues.

4. Previous Owners: Salvage history checks frequently incorporate details about the vehicle's previous owners. This information can shed light on the vehicle's maintenance history and whether it has undergone frequent changes in ownership.

5. Mileage Verification: The report might also include mileage information, a crucial aspect in validating the accuracy of the stated mileage on the vehicle. Odometer tampering poses a concern in the used car market, and a salvage history check aids buyers in recognizing potential discrepancies.

Importance for Buyers and the Used Car Market

Salvage history checks play a pivotal role in promoting transparency and safeguarding consumers within the UK's used car market. Here is why they are essential:

1. Informed Decisions: Armed with salvage history reports, buyers can wield the power of informed decision-making. They can evaluate the associated risks of a specific vehicle, align it with their budget and safety criteria, and make a well-judged choice.

2. Avoiding Scams: Dishonest sellers might endeavour to obscure a vehicle's actual history to facilitate a sale. Salvage history checks empower buyers to uncover potential frauds and extricate themselves from transactions that might lead to costly repairs and safety concerns.

3. Market Integrity: The availability of salvage history checks encourages sellers to be upfront about a vehicle's history. This fosters a climate of trust within the used car market and propels fair transactions.

Salvage history checks have seamlessly woven themselves into the fabric of the UK's used vehicle purchasing landscape. By furnishing crucial insights into a vehicle's past, they empower buyers to make informed choices and navigate the intricate terrain of the used car market. Through illuminating a vehicle's repair history, total loss status, and potential risks, salvage history checks contribute to a more secure, transparent, and reliable environment that benefits both buyers and sellers alike.