Push start and stop the Push

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It feels weird. It is almost 8 o'clock at night and I haven't posted anything yet. Have I missed something since being gone? Probably not. The reason I haven't been on really today, other than a couple quick comments and votes was, I did what I didn't want to do and bought a car, although it wasn't what I had planned.

I wanted a hybrid, but the only ones that were in our price range were Japanese or Korean, and after test driving them, they were far too noisy. While I loved driving my Honda, the road noise on the highway meant that it was near impossible to hold a conversation with the front passenger, let alone anyone in the back. A quiet ride was very high on the list for the next car and unfortunately, that seems to mean European. I think it has something to do with road quality and in Finland at least, studded tires for the winter increase the cabin sound a lot.

Another aspect I wanted was fuel efficiency and the hybrids offered a pretty decent per 100km, but not that much better than what I ended up going for, remembering that I also needed space in the back. After test driving a couple hybrids (a Toyota and a Kia), in the end, we bought a 2018 1.4 Volkswagon Passat that fits all the criteria we wanted except the hybrid part. It has a lot of features that I haven't explored yet, which is great as it does what I want without them, so that is all a bonus.

Well, that is that - Another crappy use of money that had to happen. Cars are ridiculous and I do not know why anyone who doesn't make money from one can call it an investment. When growing up people would say that "a car is likely the second largest investment after a house". Perhaps this is why people are so bad at investing, they have been led to believe that an investment depreciates in value.

Speaking of investments.

Last night I hit a UI milestone:

30,000 posts with the split according to SteemWorld.org being 3,516 posts and 26,502 comments, which for some reason, doesn't add up to 30020 - I guess the blockchain did forget two comments.

I bet they were the best ones as well....

For me, Steem has been a massive time sink of an investment and while it has also been rewarding in multiple ways ... it really is a lot of time. If this all works out for the positive, the community grows, apps get built and STEEM eventually moons, I do not think I will have the feeling I didn't work for it. Of course, I am not alone in this and I am definitely not alone in getting to where I am as I have had a lot of support in many ways, from many people.

I think it is pretty amazing that a content creator can actually make inroads and non-capital investments to have stake in Steem and in so doing, help others also. I do think that people overestimate the importance of content creators at this stage of the project however, and underestimate the code and application developers. Sure, without content Steem isn't much, but without the development taking place, content creators don't have a hook to hang their hat on.

This is an ecosystem that is in a continual struggle to find a balance between all kinds of participants in order to create a viable and healthy, economically-driven social environment. Content creation in the form of writing and images is only one aspect of it, as is content development. What needs to eventually happen is that businesses run on Steem and have different kinds of content, like a variety of bricks and mortar shops will have on their shelves.

The potential is that Steem will eventually become a digital marketplace that works firstly like a shopping center where businesses cluster around a point, and later like a city that has multiple shopping centers, business districts and all kinds of good and service providers that do everything from integrate SMTs into website, to providing analytic services for an application to leverage to gamify their UX.

While everyone just wants Steem to go to the moon so they can cash out what they have put in with profits, or cash out what they have earned for profits - the larger position on Steem is to have a place where people see the value in cashing-in on Steem, where people would rather spend their time and money here than elsewhere.

For many in countries with decent economic availability, the amount of wastage on unnecessary is enormous - cars included. If I could get away with having no car or, if the car wasn't necessary for bringing in an income, I would happily go without. The status that some people think they gain from a car isn't in the car, it is in the showing off that one can waste the money on a car. Most luxury items are the same with a Rolex having the same use case as a Swatch watch.

Perhaps in time, social status won't be derived from what can waste, but rather, what one can save or more precisely, how well one can use their resources. Waste resources on consumables or invest resources into improvement - which carries the higher social standing? The consumables currently.

But then, perhaps it will never change. It might not matter of course for the value of something like Steem as being a minority doesn't mean it has no value and can actually be quite the opposite. If Steem became the go to place to tokenize websites and businesses due to the scalability, security, speed and free transactions - all those who hold Steem will benefit. I do not believe that the Steem tap will be open forever and eventually, the only way to get in on Steem will be to buy in - just like every other investment in the world.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]

Onboarding



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Perhaps in time, social status won't be derived from what can waste, but rather, what one can save or more precisely, how well one can use their resources.

A nice thought :)

Never owned a car myself - the expense not being worth the convenience. It's funny watching folks drive into work each morning, I cant remember the last time I saw 2 people get out of the same vehicle.

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Driverless vehicles will make a massive dent in the numbers on the road as blockchain for verification and micropay allow for people to lease them cheaply and easily. It is senseless that while I am working in an office, my car isn't driving some little old lady to the shops.

I cant remember the last time I saw 2 people get out of the same vehicle.

This is me most mornings, but most afternoons I carpool people home. We also carpool if several of us are going to another office location. For my own business, many of the companies have factory locations that are out of the way with no other possibility than to drive.

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Carpooling is the way forward. A driverless pool of company cars have the addresses of staff members and depending on location/shift start time, holidays etc, work out the most efficient way to get everyone to work and home :)

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I am hoping apartment building body corporates will have a couple of their own that tenants can utilise or, apps will make it easy to get a group ride in a suburb. So many options.

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In the Washington, DC area they have what they call slug lots. You stand in line at a metro lot and people pull up and will be going to the State Department, Pentagon or WhiteHouse, somewhere governmenty. If you don't have three people in the car, you cannot use the HOV lanes (High Occupancy Vehicles) and are relegated to those people who would rather be alone.

So yes!! We really do carpool here! :) And its free. (oh, the government pays our gas!)

!tip

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That sounds great! Something the rest of the world needs to aspire to :)

!ENGAGE 50

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Congratulations @tarazkp! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You received more than 450000 upvotes. Your next target is to reach 460000 upvotes.

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We have currently 5 owned cars and 2 press cars and another one arriving on Sunday, if we had the room we'd have more, 3 are classics and one a 1998 Civic.

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My first Honda was an 89 civic that was like rock, but looked like it was on the last legs - it still started (no engine warmer) at minus 25C. What kinds of classics do you have? One of my bothers builds custom cars (won a couple awards even) and collects classics - While I can appreciate cars, I am just not much of a car person as a buyer - likely due to finances :D

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The Civic is a fantastic car, we have an ek3, and id have an FK8 tomorrow, we own a Mk2 Golf GTI 16v, Mercedes 230CE and Alfa 145 Cloverleaf. We love cars we'd have more if we had more space, your brothers cars sound awesome, thank you

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I once had the opportunity to drive a type-R very hard (about 2008) and gotta say ---- I would do it again :D

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I can't wait for the driverless Revolution. I hate driving and hate having a car but I found that after dodging it most of my life I had to cave with the kids. Gaar. I know what you mean about the noise too, it's a weirdly underrated thing, a quiet car.

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I can't wait for the kidless revolution! Only 15 more years if lucky...

The sound of the drone from the passenger seats is bad enough without them trying to compete with road noise.

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Hehe, yeah, I have been counting down for test one as well

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Long time no interaction! :)
liked the topic...
may the force be with you too! ;)

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Enjoy your new whip dude! Always drive carefully and safely!

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Cheers! I am hoping it does the job til I can get what I really want :)

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Given the economy is built entirely on people buying as much as possible from the companies etc that make things as much as possible, it's probably a hard thing to shift XD

Yay for new car anyway, hope it's at least a nicer and more reliable drive than the previous car even if it wasn't a hybrid :)

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Nicer ride and hopefully survives until I can buy a driverless car that I can rent out on a blockchain app :)

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Start Engine - Civic MK8, right? I'm shocked how loud it is inside in comparison with Accord I used to have and Volvo V70 is even quieter than Accord. It's strange there is so much noise despite aerodynamic and futuristic looks of Civic. Congratulations on your Passat, much more comfortable ride than Civic, although engine not as reliable as Honda.

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1.8 Sport Euro - not sure what that is :)

It was very loud and you are right about the reliability. If the asian cars soundproofed better, it would have been a very simple choice. 90% of my cars have been Japanese so far - Nissan, Toyotas, Honda.

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Will also add, the civic handled more like a go-kart, it was fun to drive.

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