The only new car I'm aware of that should not monitor you would be the Slate pickup. Early in their development they mentioned this as a feature, but they haven't brought it up in a while. So something to double check.

I used a Philips for about 7-8 years. Liked it well enough that when the battery died, I bought another.

Regardless of which brand you buy, pay attention to the replacement heads, they can be expensive. Not too far off from how printer ink costs more than the printer.

79.3 years, putting us just below Panama.

Have to drill through two articles and scroll down to the bottom get to the actual number.

Super cool!

I grind my own, which I always thought was a big deal. But roasting it as well, wow, that's impressive!

I have a toy train from the 1976 USA bicentennial. I was born in 1974, so it's the oldest thing I've owned since new.

Here's an example on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d4e_net1HQ

Made by Lionel to be a 'gotta catch them all' type deal, which they milked for four years if you wanted the full 15 piece set (engine, caboose, and 13 boxcars for the 13 original colonies). I do not have them all, but both my dad & I each had the engine, and between us we had enough of the common cars to build a nice enough playset to run around the Christmas tree.

Mildly interesting, in that Lionel can build some really nice toys, but this was not one of them. Train collectors call this generation the "Mostly Plastic Crap" era, and this set solidly ticks that box. Perhaps interesting (or frustrating), Lionel also made quality stuff during this exact same timeframe. You just had to know what to look for. But in hindsight, probably a good thing this was cheap. If it had been a nice set, I wouldn't have gotten to play with it as a 2 year old...

Over the years I've updated these engines with the better parts, I'd argue they run better than when they were new. Quite proud of that - as a kid I ran my engine until it simply could not run any more. Decades later I was able to not only repair it, but improve it. It will not ever be valuable, but it still makes me happy when I pull them out & run them around. Really triggers the old memories.

This is one of those points that's been really bothering me lately. Seriously, pick an industry, and then think about who actually does the work. Farmers, Teachers, Nurses, Construction workers, Musicians, Machinists... The folks doing the work are poorer than they've ever been, and yet somehow those services cost more than ever. Where is the money going?

I was always fond of: "Fuck you, you fucking fuck."

Remember that any advice your parent's give you is a minimum of 20 years past the 'best by' date.

I'm going to say Magic the Gathering, which is practically two games in one. I'm talking about Commander in particular, but this applies to pretty much any format under the Magic umbrella.

The first game is building the deck. That appeals to my geek-core, you're searching through literal decades of cards trying to find combos that are interesting, unique, fun, powerful, or all the above.

The second game is actually playing with other nerds. That's a social game, which is something I didn't realize I also enjoy. Nice thing about Magic is it definitely attracts a certain type. The type I want to be friends with. =)

When I was in college, I blew almost my entire savings buying a new Playstation and the latest copy of Street Fighter. The practical side of me immediately started second guessing myself for 'wasting' all my money. So I started tracking how many hours I spent playing it.

By the time I graduated, it worked out to something like costing me 10 center per hour of playtime. I reached the point where I probably needed to start adding in the cost of electricity. Although the initial buy in price is high, gaming is an amazingly cost effective entertainment. (Not sure this holds true anymore with subscription games charging a monthly fee, but it was solid when you owned them)

You might check out Free Guy. It's about a video game NPC who comes to life in a Grand Theft Auto themed universe.

I think you're going to find that your scooter isn't really up for pulling much more weight beyond yourself.

If you are unlucky enough to cross that first hurdle, I fear you will quickly discover that the brakes are not able to stop the inertia once you get going.

I wish you the best of luck. Please keep safety in mind.