#the past is a road map to a better future. pay heed to it

[armsmaster-mando]

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[201909617caic2021]

The Art of the Steel: The Rise and Fall of Donald Trump in the Rust Belt

To speak of Detroit is to speak of a fall from grace. The Motor City, once the heart of the American car industry, is now a punchline, a place to leave, a problem to solve. Detroit is both the literal and metaphorical centre of the Rust Belt, the North-eastern United States around the Great Lakes and Appalachian Mountains, the part of America that the rest has grown beyond. America will always need the Democratic money-making cities of the East and West Coasts and the Republican farms and oilfields of the South and Midwest. It doesn’t need Detroit cars, or Pittsburgh steel, or Akron tyres. Left behind by Washington, the forgotten factories of the Rust Belt were the ones to shock the world in 2016 with Donald Trump’s election, and oversee his downfall four years later.

The North East was once the jewel in the crown of American Industry. As the country ran out of Western Frontier, it needed steel, coal, and the other industries for an industrialising nation, as well as the means to transport them. With the Erie Canal completed and a great mass of railways built in the North East, as well as a growing supply of European immigrants willing to work for low wages, the factories of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Western New York boomed. But in the post war years, as families left for the suburbs (Detroit’s population dropped by one million between 1950 and 2019) and manufacturing left for cheaper countries (China’s population boom left many people willing to work for pennies on the dollar), no one knew what to with the forgotten factories. If the 50s, 60s, and 70s were America looking outward globally and abandoning its heartland, the 80s and Reaganomics did little to solve it. Finally, in 1984, Walter Mondale coined a term for what America had seen but not been able to quantify; “Reagan’s policies are turning our industrial Midwest into a rust bowl.” While it’s been tweaked in the years since, he linked the legacy of the ground itself being used and abused to the point of ruin by 1930s America to the descendants of those who made the country great being cast aside for cheaper manufacturing abroad and an increasingly services based economy. Mondale saw the region needed someone to represent its past and future in the White House, and while it wasn’t him (his 13 electoral votes are the fewest for a major candidate in the 50 State Era), the seeds were there for the upset 32 years later.

Within the framework of America’s outdated/working-as-intended (depending on who you ask) system, there are States worth campaigning in, and States that aren’t. And while the Rust Belt isn’t homogenous in its polling (good luck to any Republican that tries to campaign in Buffalo or southern Illinois in the hope of flipping those 55 votes), it placed increased pressure on getting those razor thin margins in States like Ohio, Florida and Michigan to land on your side. Looking at a county by county map of voting change, the largest shifts occurred in the Northeast, particularly Ohio, which was enough to earn him the Oval Office for the past four years.

But why was the man who had bankrupted so many businesses the one to save these ones? Well first we have to wonder how of it much Hillary Clinton was losing the 2016 election compared to Donald Trump winning it. Four years is plenty of time to write and rewrite history as to what exactly caused the 2016 ballot. Clinton has her own opinions on what happened, so many in fact she wrote a book full on them. In ‘What Happened’, the Secretary of State points to attacks from the Left (Bernie Sanders and Green Party candidate Jill Stein), attacks from the right (Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and FBI Director James Comey), attacks from abroad (the Russian influence and Wikileaks emails), but also her own mistakes and misgivings.

“Basket of Deplorables”. With context, a rejection of Trump’s close relationship with white supremist and other ‘alt-right’ factions. Without, a rallying cry for those left behind by Obama and Clinton, words those just trying to get by knew these career politicians called them behind their back, but now were so bold as to say it in public, feeling assured that the votes were already cast. A visit to Mingo County, West Virginia’s “Ground Zero for the coal crisis”, and being unable at the time to understand the level of anger felt there, shows a level of soul searching from Clinton that future Democrats would do well to heed.

Clinton was the continuation candidate. Voting for her was voting for four more years of Obama’s legacy. And let’s not forget that nationwide, more people did. But in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, people didn’t want continuation. They wanted the one who was promising them the world.

‘Make America Great Again’. A slogan tailor made for forgotten America, the one that had crushed the Nazis and outpaced the Soviets, but had been sold out by Democrats and Republicans alike for decades, bowing down to those with big chequebooks, whether they were in Silicon Valley, Beijing, or Mexico. An early split with Mitt Romney proved that Trump wasn’t the Republican candidate of the last 20 years. And he said it how it was! So much has been made of Trump’s style over the last five years, but do you remember what it was like when we first heard about a candidate calling George Bush’s brother ‘low energy’ to his face? Here he was, saying what so many Americans had thought about the last three Republican candidates, that they were too imbedded in the Washington system to see what life was really like for Americans, even if it came from the man with his name in gold on skyscrapers.

The controversial Paris Accords presented another sore point that Clinton had no salve for. Maybe miners didn’t necessarily agree that climate change was invented by the Chinese, but the sentiment was there: America was having to give up its centuries old coal mining industry for ‘clean’ power, while China and the rest of the world was doing nothing of the sort. Obama, Clinton, and all those other world leaders that signed the Paris Accords didn’t care about the generations spent underground in the Appalachian Mountains so that America could become so strong, but Trump did.

On 24th February 2016, Carrier Air Conditioning announced it would move its factory from Indianapolis to Mexico. Trump, still a Republican Primary candidate at the time, used the move as a central argument against free global trade, threatening to slap on a 35% tariff on anything they tried to bring back across the border to sell. Once elected, Trump managed to keep the factory in Indiana. It came at the cost of tax concessions and a sizable proportion of the jobs still going South, but Trump had proved his point. He wasn’t making empty promises, he would sit down at the negotiating table and use those years of business acumen to hash out a deal that put Americans first.

So how did the goodwill Trump earned in 2016 dissipate over the next four years?

March 2017, barely two months into his first term, Trump attempted to complete a campaign promise of “repealing and replacing” Obamacare and with something better. This superior option was kept incredibly vague throughout the campaign, but Obamacare had nationwide dislike attached to the name, through Republican efforts to paint it as simultaneously ineffective and not covering enough while being an overreach of the government on American liberties. When time came to demonstrate this new and improved healthcare plan, one Republicans had had since 2008 to come up with, the one they’d constantly assured the country was the best thing available, they unveiled…very little.

The Rust Belt was set to benefit the least from the new plan. Pre-existing conditions, such as those suffered on the factory floor, were no longer covered. Businesses were no longer enforced to provide healthcare, and in industries looking to cut costs to stay afloat, this would have been the first benefit to go. Despite Trump’s support and all Republican Rust Belt Senators’ votes, the plan failed in the upper house, and many who had supported his inauguration 2 months earlier breathed a sigh of relief. But this was just Trump appeasing the Republican Party on their biggest crusade of the last eight years, and now he’d get on with making America Great Again, right?

Trump’s other key legislation for 2017 were his new tax cuts, a long-term Republican goal that was meant to increase American industry by giving the business owners more income to hire and build in America, while letting the workers keep a bit more of their pay cheque. In reality, the cuts added $1.9 trillion to the deficit, and workers were unimpressed with their slight increase in pay when their bosses were now able to write their private jets off as tax deductible. With the economy steadily improving throughout his term (until the pandemic) due to a mix of Obama’s actions after the 2008 crash and the tax cuts pumping up the stock market, the blue-collar workers of America needed to know, where’s our legislation?

That question would be answered in 2018 once his Republican obligations were out of the way, with Trump announcing his new tariff policy, just in time for the midterms. His centrepiece Rust Belt revival plan added 25% to any import of steel or aluminium, expecting this encouragement to return enthusiasm to American manufacturers. While it did decrease the amount of steel being imported, it did little to restart domestic manufacturing, which if anything, hurt the Rust Belt more. Higher costs of steel simply kicked the unemployment can down the road (or rather the Interstate), with job cuts happening at the Chevrolet and General Motors car factories.

And even now, as Republicans in Congress are forced to declare where they stand on Trump’s legacy at his impeachment hearing, the most common defences (aside from witch hunt and fake news) are the outstanding economy he created (pre-pandemic) and his efforts to create peace in the Middle East. But to the forgotten workers of forgotten factories, Israel and Iran are abstract concepts. Trump campaigned on helping them, not getting mixed up in the Middle Eastern quagmire that had dominated George W. Bush’s term. Even as the pandemic struck in early 2020, the perfect time to cut America off from the rest of the world, Trump was too busy settling personal scores and assigning blame to help his voters, and with a measly $1,200 cheque provided in March, American voters had to admit that the Trump experiment had been a failure.

It is arguable how much Donald Trump ever cared for the Rust Belt. If the man has proved anything, it’s that everyone else are toys to be played with, tools to use when useful and throw aside when not. But there is a certain sense you get from his speeches, and rallies, and tweets (well…not anymore) that Trump wanted the voters more than the votes. These weren’t fans of the Trump business, or The Apprentice, or the Republican party, they were fans of Donald J. Trump, people willing to storm the capitol for him if he implied he wanted them to. And in return Trump told them what they wanted to hear, that they were the America of today and tomorrow, not yesterday.

And to say that Trump lost the Rust Belt would be incorrect. Indiana and the coal mining States of Kentucky and West Virginia stayed as Republican strongholds, with the mountaineer state returning Mitch McConnell to the Senate despite national unpopularity. Ohio stuck with Trump, breaking its 24 year-long streak of siding with the winner, while the all-important polls in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania flipped back to Democrats, sealing Biden’s win.

But if Trump did lose the Rust Belt, who can win it back? Both parties appear to be at a crossroads as to their direction. The Republicans have seen that Trumpism doesn’t have the national appeal needed to win the presidency, but his core is willing to follow his every word. And besides, they’ve attached themselves to him for the last four years, it’s hard to pivot now.

And for the Democrats, they won this round, but can they secure the votes again in 2024? Will Biden still be able to carry the States needed without Trump as the alternate on the ballot? Time will tell, and time is not on the side of the centrist Democrats. Biden will be 82 and Pelosi 84 in 2024, and with the young Congresswomen Ocasio-Cortez and Omar practically begging for the torch to be passed. Their flagship proposal, the ‘Green New Deal’ would all but spell an end to the coal mining and manufacturing industries, but with provisions for retraining, free higher education and free healthcare. Some see it as Washington finally completing the sell-out of the American way for a pipe dream, others as the only way forward for a region stuck in the past. We’ll never know how it’s fully received until it’s on the ballot, and the establishment Democrats are doing everything they can to keep their seat at the head of the table.

And maybe now the electoral battleground turns South. Georgia’s shock flip to the Democrats in both the presidency and the Senate, and Trump’s surprising appeal to Latino men keeping Florida red (making it the first time the State hadn’t picked the winner since 1992), might mark the North East’s use as a political football coming to an end. We’ll see where it lies in either sides’ midterm plans, with the Republicans defending their 2016 Senate victories of Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, a sweep by either party could see the loser looking elsewhere, with new battlegrounds opening up with every demographic shift.

It is hard to say the future of a land stuck in the past. But for four glorious years, the people so used to watching the country move on without them had every candidate banging on their door, wondering what could be done to earn their vote. Donald Trump may have done a lot of damage to families, businesses, and democracy itself, but governments worldwide will see that an electorate with nothing left to lose will make sure their frustrations are felt nationwide.

[creatingawitch]

Tarot - F.A.Qs

People have been sending me asks about Tarot cards lately and I thought I’d collate to most common ones in one post. Hopefully this answers the most burning questions. If not, feel free to send me more messages and I’ll answer or put together another FAQs post!

What is Tarot?

Tarot (pronounced ta-row) is the use of 78 Tarot cards to divine the future. It doesn’t predict the future like fortune-telling does. That means you won’t hear things like “On the 23rd Feb 2048, you will die of the plague / have your fifth child / get a job offer.” Tarot is part of divination which is more about possibilities like “Look, dude, if you keep on with this attitude you might end up in a bad place. Maybe sort it out? Like take a break or something.”

 How does it work?

The cards read energy. Call it what you will – the divine, god, magic, fate, forces, energy, spiritual influences– whatever it is, the cards read it and then they listen to the question you should be asking whilst you’re shuffling them. As you’re shuffling, the cards naturally fall into place. Once the cards are flipped and read, a reader can interpreted them into advice on your future and how you could proceed.

Yes, could. Because no one else can decide what you should do. That’s for you and you alone. The cards are just about advice.

The cards aren’t possessed – it’s not like a Ouija board. There are no spirits, there are no demons, you don’t need to worship anything, and you don’t need to provide offerings. It’s all about the energy that you put out and what magic/the cosmos can see happening.

 Is the future set in stone?

Nope. Every decision you make influences the future. Tarot cards simply interpret the most likely outcome of the current path you’re on. Think about your future like a road map. Every road you’re on is connected to hundreds of others. At any point in your life you can take one of the slip roads or turn left or turn right turn around completely. Each time you do that, you change course and so you change the future.

 How do I start?

Get a deck. Shuffle it. Turn over a card. 

Congratulations, you’re now a tarot reader!!

 No, seriously, how do I start?

Get a deck. You should cleanse the cards to get rid of any nasty energies that are clinging to it (I didn’t the first time, not the end of the world but you might get some funky readings at first!). You need to bond with the cards (basically this is just trust. This will take time and can be done by simply using them). You should learn what the cards mean (again, this will take time), get to know the personality of your deck and experiment with spreads.

As you learn more, practise more, you’ll naturally get better. 

 Wait- did you just say decks have personalities…?

Lmao, yes! 

I have two decks right now (I had more but it’s not story time right now so I’ll move on). One is vicious and blunt as hell, the other is more caring and sugar coats the truth somewhat. I used to have another deck that was like a energetic, inquisitive child and yet another that was straight-to-the-point and almost seemed bored with life. 

Ask any tarot reader, and they will be able to tell you that every decks has a different feel. Once you get to really know your deck, you’ll find it has a personality.

 How do I pick a deck?

The “classic” deck is usually considered to be the Rider Waite deck. Most books and websites base their information on this deck. For the purpose of learning the cards, this might be a good place to start. If you don’t like the deck then I’d suggest getting another, but make sure you get one that uses the typical suits – wands, pentacles, swords and cups. Some decks call the suits different things (e.g. water, air, fire and earth) and if you’re just starting out, this can make things suuuppperr confusing.

Once you have the basics down, or if you hate the deck, or you’re just going to completely ignore my advice altogether (which is totally fine), then pick a deck that calls to you. I find it easiest to find a new deck when I can actually handle the cards. If this isn’t possible, google images is going to be your best friend! Look at the pictures. Look at the back of the cards, look at the major AND the minor cards. Do you like them? Do you like the theme of the cards? Do they make sense to you? Do they call to you?

Yes? Get them! If you don’t like them then no big. Keep experimenting.

If you STILL can’t find a deck you like or don’t have the money, you can read a normal playing deck of cards like Tarot cards.

 What spreads should I use?

Look, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that you need to use a certain spread. Have a look at the tarot tag on tumblr, there are literally hundreds. Use what feels right. Use what fits the topic of the reading you want to do. Use a spread you feel curious about. Or, make it up. There are no hard and fast rules here.

The spread that EVERYONE seems to know is the Celtic Cross. That’s how I used to do all my tarot readings, but I’ve now moved onto just reading the cards in terms of Past, Present and Future, and I let my intuition take over.

You don’t have to use a spread. You can simply shuffle and then cut the deck (half, third, or quarter it). You can flip the first three cards (past, present and future). You can spread the cards out face down and pick the ones you’re drawn to. You can just do a daily read and pick the first card. Seriously, dude, just read your cards however you want! You’ll soon figure it out.

 Reversed cards: Does this mean I have to learn two definitions of every card?!

Well… erm… kinda? Maybe? If you’re new to tarot then it might be an idea to just learn the upright cards first. Afterall, there are 78! Adding a second meaning to all of the cards is just… yeah, let’s not confuse you right now.

But, to be honest, it’s really up to you. Every reader reads differently. And every reader interprets reversals in different ways. Some people ignore reversals. Others say reversals are complete opposites of the upright definitions. Others say it’s the negative aspects of the original meaning. Others say that it’s internally expressed emotions or actions whereas upright cards are external manifestations of the cards. You need to go with your intuition. 

I typically go with the original definition of the cards but kinda magnified, if that makes sense? So, for example, if a card typically means confidence, a reversed card would typically mean overconfidence to the point of arrogance. Or a conflict between friends might become a huge falling out. Love might become obsession.

 Fallout cards - What’s with that?!

Fallout cards are cards that literally fall out of the deck as you shuffle / handle it.

To me, fallout cards are dead cards. They fall out and I literally feel nothing from them. I’ve read them before and they’ve had no relation to the question I was asking. Face up, face down, upside down, right way up, sideways, it doesn’t matter. They’re gone. I just put them to one side.

I personally don’t take heed of every card that jumps out of my hand because… well, to be quite honest, I’m clumsy as hell. If I was going to read these cards every time, I wouldn’t have time for a real reading. I try not to read into things which are usually accidents. But that’s just me.

I know some people feel that if a card has literally jumped out of your hands and landed face up (so you can see the picture) then it’s for a reason. And that’s completely fair! If you fall into this category, read the card and take heed. Compare it to the reading. Compare it to the question you asked. Maybe note it down in your BOS and see what happens. If it turns out the card was significant then you know you need to pay attention to fallout cards in the future.

 Does the death card actually mean I’m going to die?

HELL NO! It means the ending (or death) of a period of time in your life. That could mean a project, a friendship, a relationship, a period of strife, good health, bad health, you get the picture.

[smoothshift]

Tesla Model X 1000 mile road-trip report via /r/cars

Tesla Model X 1000 mile road-trip report

I thought I’d write a review of a Tesla Model X for the sub from the perspective of a V8 loving petrolhead. There’s a lot of hate on here, and even more misinformation, so I thought I’d give the car a chance.

I’ve just spent 5 days with a P75D and done over 1000 miles. The car was a 2016 with Gen 1 Autonomous tech, 68,000 miles on the clock, and a 200 mile range battery.

My last big drive was in a 3.0D Range Rover Velar, and the road-trip car before that was a Merc C63 AMG V8 Bi-turbo. I’ve owned 15+ cars, many over 400bhp, and driven dozens more in Europe, UAE and the US.

The car was booked through Turo. This was for a road-trip from Vegas to San Diego and back, so some days I was doing around 350 miles. Other days I started in the city center of SD and then drove to attractions in and outside the city. I covered all kinds of roads, but the vast majority were freeway and city driving.

Originally I’d booked a BMW i8 to do the trip, but the car was apparently totaled two days before my booking, so the Model X was a last-minute alternative. I’m aware of how unreliable Turo bookings can be, so I had my eyes on a Tesla as a replacement in case of issues.

First the bad.

This car has a massive blind spot. Within 10 minutes of being in the car I was blasted with horn as I nearly wiped out some poor fucker in a SUV. It seems this blind spot exists when in Autopilot too, as it sometimes happened when the car was autonomously changing lanes.

There’s a wonderful driver’s display that shows the car in relation to the lanes, the cars, trucks, and bikes around it. But the icons of passing cars only appear once they are a car-length in front of the Tesla. With the blind spot issue, it would be super duper useful if this showed cars beside the Model X!

Anyway, I quickly came to respect the danger, and learned to not trust the mirrors or autopilot. Every lane change I looked over my shoulder for an extended period to scrutinize the space before moving over, or activating the autopilot lane change.

The second bad thing was the size. It is a big, wide car. In LV and SD this was not too much of an issue, but in the UK, where I’m from, we have tiny roads. I’m not sure it would fit.

As it was a Turo rental, I didn’t get to hook the Tesla up to the Tesla mobile app, so I’m sure it is much better when using this, but the key was confusing, dumb and frustrating. I soon gave up trying to open or close doors with it from afar.

You can open the "frunk" from the key or the screen, but you can’t close it.

Price. New, this car is apparently over $100k. That is a stupid amount of money. It did not feel like a $100k car. The Turo cost was the same as an i8, so that's what it's competing against!

My last criticism is other Tesla owners. At a supercharger bank on the edge of LA so many empty parked Teslas were just left taking up a supercharger way past full. You can see the green light as it is charging. Most were not green. Maybe it's just LA that’s full of assholes, as I didn’t experience this problem anywhere else.

Now the good.

This car is the future.

I say that without hyperbole or hype.

There’ve been a few moments in my life where I’ve seen the future. Playing Quake for the first time. Dialing up to the internet for the first time. Listening to my first mp3. Using WiFi. Putting on a VR headset. Using my first smartphone. Wireless charging. Seeing the Burj Khalifa.

These were all crystallizing moments. They all felt right. They all felt like a huge step forward, like the future had arrived and become real. This is the first time a car has done that for me. From a user experience, it is so far ahead of anything else I’ve ever driven before.

I’ve been in cars that redefined what I’d considered fast (Nobel M14). I’ve driven a Lotus Exige that realigned cornering physics. I’ve been in opulent luxury (Velar, S Class Limo, Aston Martin), and total, hilarious shit (2CV). But all these cars were a variation on a theme. They all did the same thing.

You put fuel in. It burns the fuel. You drive the car, until that fuel runs out. Repeat.

The Tesla changed that perspective.

Walk up to the door and it pops open automatically. If you’re approaching from the front, the door waits until you’ve passed by before fully opening. Pop the rear gullwing doors for a bit of theater, but also for a practical way to load the car.

When you get in, the car is on (is it ever really off?) Touch the brake and the driver’s door closes. The massive screen and clean, button-free interior greets you. From the screen you can shut all other doors and trunk.

The screen shows a familiar Google Maps satellite view with simple car controls along the bottom. Set your nav destination and it will calculate expected charge at arrival, and expected charge if you make a return trip. If the car needs charging, it will add Superchargers to the stops, with estimated charge and charge time displayed when you get there.

The car is ready to go as soon as you take it out of park. No key to turn or engine to start. The moment you hit the accelerator, the car moves smoothly and with plenty of torque. Mash the gas and you’re firmly shoved with a relentless insistence.

Everything is just easier driving this car. It does a lot for you. If it can be automated, it is. Lights. Wipers. Handbrake. All controls are intuitive and easy to find on the screen. I see criticisms on here about hunting around for controls on a giant iPad, but in reality all common car controls are always along the bottom and clearly visible for both driver and passenger. Use it and you will wonder why we still have dashboards covered in knobs and dials and buttons and stalks.

The nav is clear and clever. Not only does it show on the massive shared screen, it also shows further details, lane position, and a zoomed detailed view on the driver screen.

Then you get to a freeway and pull the autopilot stalk. Set a speed and the car does the rest. It is eerie. I’ve driven cars with radar cruise, and lane assist, but spend some time with the Tesla and you know it is much cleverer than that.

It anticipates issues and it doesn’t panic. For example, if a car pulls into your stopping gap in most radar cruise cars, they slam on the anchors until the stopping gap is acceptable. The Tesla just calmly backs off.

I could feel it anticipating a potential crash when one car darted in front of the car we were following. The brake tensed and it shifted the weight onto the front wheels, but once the situation was over it relaxed. No speed was scrubbed.

It gave passing bikes room if they were filtering.

It can be duped, but in a safe way. For example, on the way into a car park the car in front almost stopped while approaching a speed bump. The Tesla saw this as the car having an emergency moment, so highlighted it red, sounded the alarm and slowed the car. I wasn’t driving with autopilot engaged at the time.

It was a joy when we hit start stop traffic. It slowed to a stop and just got on with it when cars started flowing again.

If the lanes get confusing, or if it anticipates trouble that it can’t deal with, it disengages with an alarm with the expectation you’re paying attention. And it effectively enforces that attention. All I had to do was hang on to the wheel, but this forces you to take heed and not be complacent. It alerts if you don’t. And if it alerts too many times in a row, it bans you from using autopilot until you park up and leave the car!

If you spend any time using autopilot, you’d be a moron to trust it 100%. It has its limitations, yes, and there’s a long way to go before its Level 5, but that’s clearly within reach. A few more iterations and its there. And those iterations are likely software rather than hardware.

It is leagues ahead of anything else out there that I have driven.

Given this was a two year old car with Gen 1 autonomous tech, it was mightily impressive. It did 99% of the freeway driving for me on my road-trip, even in the pouring rain. It soon got to the point where I felt safer with it doing the driving. It makes you realise just how often you do dumb shit in a car that distracts you. Faffing with the radio, glancing at your phone, grabbing a drink, munching on a snack, chatting to the other half. All these things are now OK when you know the car is watching the road all around you.

But what about that range? Really, it was not a problem. Every night I parked the car at the hotel EV charging station (once next to a Hummer H2!) and by morning it was fully charged for my day’s activities.

As I said above, the nav works out the Supercharger stops for you if it needs it during a journey. Crucially it tells you how much charge you will need to continue your journey, and how long it will take. It is smart. It will split a long journey into two smaller supercharger stops. Our trip back to LV from SD had two stops. One ten minutes, one 40 mins. The 40 mins one was at lunchtime, so we grabbed some food.

Walking up to your car knowing it can do another 200 miles, and it has cost you nothing is an amazing feeling. For 20 years I’ve had to consider MPG and the ever rising cost of fuel. With a Tesla that worry disappears.

Also it coaches you during the journey to make sure you don’t use all your charge. If you keep nailing it from onramps (like I did), then it will recommend you stay below 75mph to maintain predicted arrival charge.

An electric motor is so much better than ICE. Safer, simpler, cleaner and quieter. Those last two points are critical. I live in a city and walk through car and bus fumes every day. It is nasty. And our environment isn’t all too happy about the shit we pump into the air. But a lot of that shit is sound. Noise pollution pisses me off. I can appreciate a nice engine noise, but let's be honest. Most ICE engines sound like shit. And then you have trucks, busses and dumb kids with shitty aftermarket mufflers making everyone’s lives hell.

The sooner vehicles can be quiet and clean the better.

There were other things I loved about the car. Black on black it looked mean. The huge windshield that reached way up into the roof was amazing. The clever little touches like the sun visors, were a delight. The sound system was awesome. And the car was holding together well. Two years old and 68k on the clock, and there wasn’t a rattle or a squeak. All 4 of my brand new BMWs couldn’t boast that.

Oh, and it had this feature.

The Model X is the benchmark for what cars should all be soon. It is clever, fast, clean, quiet, safe, practical and good looking. It is obvious with the way all manufacturers are trying to emulate Tesla that they have made waves.

I have put down a deposit for a Model 3 after this experience. Talking to the Turo host, he also has a Model 3 and had a Model S. The 3 is his favorite.

Consider me converted.