I used to use the docker + homebridge route but it became tedious to maintain.
Instead, I connected it via the Google Home integration (requires an Insights plan) and then use my existing Starling Home hub to access it via HomeKit. This seems to be more reliable and less work than before.
> how did you get them to give you a price without showing up?
Ask. Let them know you're reaching out to other dealers. Be clear about your timeline for buying ("this weekend", "ready to buy today if I can get it at $X", etc) so they know you're not wasting their time. Don't discuss trade-in or financing.
Remember, if you're buying, financing and trading in (selling) at the same place, that's 3 opportunities for them to take advantage of you. So don't actually visit the dealership until you have a price, financing already secured (from someplace else, but stay open to theirs, too) and have an offer for your trade-in ready (Carvana or equivalent, at least), too.
I wonder if for those who it was very obvious for "put their money where their mouths were" and bought a set of securities that would make them a ton of money on what was obvious when the obvious materializes in real life.
then, with that ton of money, they could buy enough shares to influence the board to implement their agenda.
in theory, this would quantify the definition of "obvious".
> create a management committee, possibly with a rotating chairship, and in general give the employees more say over the direction of the company they work for".
this sounds very similar to a government where politicians are elected (un)fairly.
likely, this just presents another set of trade-offs.
Whenever you have to make decisions involving multiple humans, tradeoffs are pretty much a guarantee.
However, over the past few hundred years, we've been gradually coming to the collective conclusion that autocracy is inferior to democracy for systems involving larger numbers of people and decisions of larger stakes.
I don't see why that should apply any less to replacing the hierarchical model of companies, where a CEO can walk into any room and say "You're fired," with a (more-)democratic system, than it did to replacing kingdoms, where a king could walk into any room and say "Off with your head," with a representative democracy.
It's a very different situation. In a country you cannot escape the king, he will be the absolute ruler until he dies. Since there was no escape eventually they were replaced with democracy. You can willingly leave a corporation at anytime you want. Autocracy have an advantage over democracy when it comes to speed of change. Sometimes it's good change (progress) and sometimes it's bad change (i.e. over-hiring). Large corporations that become democratic will lose the ability to react quickly. In order for such companies to survive, the environment must remain consistent (no competition, no new technology).
> Large corporations that become democratic will lose the ability to react quickly.
Not really clear that corporations that stay autocratic do much better. As with kingdoms that turn into sprawling empires, all you're left is a bunch of middle management petty kings who the CEO-emperor delegates power to, who might not be much better. Bureaucratic rot sets in.
You can willingly leave a corporation the same way you could willingly leave a kingdom: easily if you're rich, and with great effort and danger if you're not.
Income is evidence of a person's ability to pay. Credit history is evidence of a person's willingness to pay. I would expect a positive correlation between the two but relying on that correlation seems risky.
