Really can’t complain about Hyundai/Kia and Volvo (Android) so far.

Yeah. Both hardware and software, sadly. Their QA is going down the drain.

Happy Hyundai customer now.

If you count cars: A Skoda Octavia PHEV.

I love Skoda. I love the Octavia. It was my fourth Octavia and I already ordered two more for my staff. PHEV would have been ideal for our use case.

Well,things didn’t go as planned.

The whole car was bugged with software and hardware problems from day one - controll units randomly crapping out, when my dealer wanted to replace them he often had to get 5 units because four would be DOA and the one that worked kicked the bucket before I left his premises. Highlights:

• A steering wheel coming loose (only slightly,but still)
• The main display that shows your speed,etc. randomly shutting down. (Especially nice as I live close to Switzerland with their exorbitant speeding tickets)
• Randomly playing a screeching sound at full volume (especially nice at 3am or when on a highway)
• Randomly shutting of AC, some motor controls , etc.

It took 12 months for VW to take that steaming pile back, and only we sued them (Shortly before the hearing).

Second place goes to LG which sold me a OLED TV for 2k that randomly showed faulty pixel lines exactly 3 years and 3 days after I bought it (so it’s out of the extended warranty programs as well). And when asked for a quote for the repair they had the audacity to ask for almost the new price for the TV back then, aka 150% of the current market value - without even looking at it first. Good way to make sure that I never buy LG anymore.

Just as a sidenote: I would consider getting a used mini-PC with proxmox for the servers. The energy saving alone will pay for this.

Gaming PCs are incredibly energy consuming compared to a mini PC and Jellyfin,etc. doesn’t need much resources.

damn, sorry to hear that. Most of our clients are pretty happy with them,but they usually are somewhat VIP so mileage may vary.

At least Mayo has decent healthcare most of the time, that’s at least what I hear from my colleagues. The elephant in the room in the US is not only the affordability and access, sadly it’s also very often the quality.

As someone who has changed roles from an actual healthcare provider to a healthcare economist/manager in international health(amongst others)I am often appalled by the qualify some US facilities provide - while others offer astonishing levels of care. And often the former are the more expensive ones.

Both.

The US never had a comprehensive EMS system as it was never seen as an essential service, both because EMS is expensive to run (especially in the healthcare/insurance/taxation environment the US has) and because there was significant lobbying against it (there is money in EMS on a large scale if you operate it in a very cut-throat way).

But the recent downturn in healthcare availability and county-tax-income in rural regions and the dwindling volunteer numbers and enshitification of medicine have all done their part in making the whole situation so much worse.

There is actually a good study showing “ambulance deserts”. (Just as a reminder: That does not mean that no Advanced life support provider comes…it means that no Ambulance is available at all. So not even one staffed by an EMT-B and an emergency medical responder. And we’re not talking about "what happens if we need two ambulances at the same time)

A EMT is in no way qualified to handle emergencies on their own (and yes,I know their curriculum very well). And no, the majority of ambulances are not paramedic-staffed in the US - Actually only 25% of all licenced providers are Paramedics and there are large areas which have only BLS available in a reasonable timeframe. Or no EMS at all, as ambulance services are NOT an essential service in most states. (Only 11 States see it differently).

So no, not even remotely “most ambulances” are paramedic staffed. Mathematically impossible.

Besides: The shortest current timeframe in the US for paramedic training is 6 months.

That is incredibly short in international comparisons, especially when one does compare it to the skills allowed with it.

Comparison: Australia: 3 year bachelor degree to even make it on a Emergency ambulance (not counting very rural WA&NT), a master degree for the more serious skills.

Germany: 3 Year apprenticeship to be in command in the ALS ambulance, but emergency physicians are tasked to more serious cases

Switzerland: 3 year degree, emergency physicians being somewhat common, though, often additional nursing and critcare degree required for more serious cases.

Hungary: 2 Year EMT course for EMT, 4 year Bachelor for Paramedic

Poland: 3year Bachelor as minimum.

South Africa: 1year minimum for the entry, 2 year’s for most jobs, 4 years for paramedic.

Emergency Medical Service/Ambulances are a ridiculously low qualified in a fair shair of industrial nations, especially the US,France, or Austria.

Even in the countries with more training/physician based services (Germany, Belgium, Italy)the actual qualification of the responders varies widely - most of them wouldn’t be allowed to care for a single emergency within a hospital on their own.

Yeah,same for me. I avoid non-chain-operated hotels for that meanwhile - they are usually worse and often the owners are on such a high horse that they expect you to be thankful to spend your money there. With hotel chains you at least have a central customer support you can complain to.

Last highlight: Was in a mid-market private hotel (no chains around there) and on the first evening my toilet seat broke. I mean, yeah, I am a little bit overweight but not nearly enough for that being the cause normally, so very likely it was just wear. Happens, no biggie.

The reaction of the owner was the reason why I will never visit that establishment again - and neither will any of my staff: First they tried to ridicule me/accused me of intentionally vandalism, then they tried to make me put it through my insurance (won’t fly, they won’t pay a thing unless they can prove proper maintenance). And then she took 5 days to repair the bloody thing.

Saw her treat her staff incredibly bad as well…so…

Yeah, neither my staff nor me will come back. That makes them lose around 10k in income. But hey, it’s just “that remote working thing” and “everything getting more expensive”. Nope. It isn’t. It’s them.