Yes and no. For close friends, family, and long time coworkers. I care that you had a good trip, that mom and baby are healthy, and would not mind a few photos. But that’s it. I don’t need a 500 page travel album or daily baby pics.

Self driving cars and fusion. I’m still optimistic about fusion.

A few years ago I saw them in March ( way, way too early). Have not seen a one since.

4′33″. I hate that melody and would rather just listen to silence.

Washcloths are used once then go in the hamper. Towels 3-5 days. Sheets 1-2 times per month (showering at night and wearing pajamas…, plus keeping the house colder at night)

I suspect my cellphone does, but not my work or home internet.

IPv6 is now twice as old as IPv4 was when IPv6 was introduced. 20 years ago I worried about needing to support it. Now I don’t even think about it at all.

I think the movie actually did a reasonable job of explaining it. Multiple different households were traveling together, the whole thing was chaotic, a neighbors kid dropped by and was included in the head count, Kevin was on the attic and so out of sight, they were running late, etc.

You’re buying K’s? I only buy vowels.

Suppose you take a very superficial view of the U.S. without thinking too hard, and consider COVID to be either an exception or a conspiracy. Under Trump the economy seemed to be doing well, wages were up, inflation a nonissue, unemployment down, illegal immigration wasn’t often in the news, no war in Ukraine or Israel, Afghanistan had not collapsed, abortion was a nonissue, etc. Under Biden, constant news about illegal immigration waves, two wars, high inflation, abortion, etc.

Of course that ignores other issues, a lot of the “Trump economy” was actually the afterglow of the “Obama economy”, and if we give Trump a pass on COVID we should do the same for Biden and the economic shock that lead to inflation. Trump would not have supported Ukraine and layed the ground work for both the abortion and Afghanistan issues, etc.

But, keep in mind, half of Americans are below average and take whatever media they consume at face value, a lot of which is Fox News.

Volcanos being caused by overpopulation in hell.

Almost makes me wonder if this is a mechanical turk situation.

Oh, another thing about secret votes. It transfers blame from individuals to congess itself. If votes are public, and a popular bill fails, then the individuals and parties are blamed, if secret, then the whole of congress gets blamed and you could see incumbents lose reelection not because of how they individually voted but because of how the body as a whole did. That could force cooperation, but it could also introduce a new form of gamemanship.

This isn’t an ideal solution, but a practical one. A simple hack for the U.S. would be to make congressional votes secret. Yes, this means congress people would be less accountable, but think about where their accountabilites lie. These people are far more worried about their parties’ strongmen and sponsors than their gerrymandered constituents.

Impossible to implement in the present U.S. climate, but more idealistic is to divide the US into 50,000 person districts (greatly expanding an individuals access to their rep), then group those into evenly sized super districts. The reps choose from among themselves a super rep to attend congress, who they can recall at anytime. This should make gerrymandering more difficult, and dilute the effectiveness of corporate donors while increasing the influence of individual voters.

Changes could have so many repercussions even well meaning actions could make things worse. The safer bet would be to collect lost books and art.

That said, stopping the Lincoln assassination is tempting. I’d hope to change reconstruction to better wipe out the confederacy, prevent lost cause doctrine, and better integrate former slaves into full citizenship and society.

VR - It has been through a few hype cycles, but never quite makes it. Cost, weight, battery life (or tethers), lack of highly desirable games, required floor space, nausea (in some people), etc.

Starlink - when announced it sounded like the solution to ISP monopolies and rural broadband access. But the roll out was so slow that other solutions have caught up. For people with no option other than satellite internet, it is still great (if they can get it) but for a lot of people, better options now exist.

One second ago I put a dollar on my dresser. That’s on pace to be 30 million in a year.

Same here only it was 20 years ago. UML professor was convinced it would replace programming.

Hot dog buns. In my opinion, the generic, white, store brand buns make the best hot dogs.

I worry that she actually is “middle class” and the wealth disparity has moved to the point that those of us who cannot spend $150 on pet insurance or drop $750,000+ on a house or $100,000 on a truck are effectively “poor”, at least as far as the market is concerned.