Can we please re-classify our annual bonuses as "tips" from the company?

Because you can't compete with the efficiency with which the world creates idiots and assholes.

The problem is that garages have been shrinking to the point that you can barely put two cars in a "two-car" garage and still be able to open the doors. This means that there's no room to put things like yard equipment, etc. that can't go in the house without leaving at least one car in the driveway. Add the shrinking lots, and you can't build a shed, either, because there's no space left inside the build lines and setbacks. The newer homes I've been in have next to no storage space inside, either.

Came here to say this, as well. The useless amber alerts (and silver/blue alerts) from 600 miles away are the number one reason I and most people I know turn them off.
The reality is that basically all amber alerts are "false alarms" in that people can't do anything with them in most situations:
- At home? Useless unless the abductor is breaking into your house with the abductee.
- At work? Basically same as above. Office workers won't see them, and retail/similar employees probably aren't allowed on their cellphones to get the alert.
- Driving? You shouldn't be getting out your cellphone to check an alert while you're driving.

We all know what happens when people get useless alerts: they turn them off or just ignore them.

Fortunately, you can usually turn of JUST amber alerts on phones, but not all radio devices.

This is why it's more important than ever to maintain friendships/acquaintances/etc. with professional colleagues. I haven't gone into an application cold in about 20 years, because if I don't have previous coworkers/bosses actively trying to recruit me, I at least have lots of people to ask.

The problem I see is one of scale. The places you describe often have 30+ gas pumps, and around here, we have Bucee's that have about 100 - with usually 95%+ in use during peak times. You need 5-10x as many chargers to keep the same car throughput, so you're looking at 150-1000 charging stations. At 300kW each, that's 45-300MW of electric service for one business. Not only do you need 10x the real estate, you need room for a pretty sizeable substation, and access to pretty hefty power lines (probably 200-300kV, from some cursory research).

The problem with that plan is that collectively, those companies have a lot of resources to develop other solutions. It's only a matter of time before they form an industry group that duplicates VMWare with open-source tools, that's just as easy to use. Someone will also sell support for it. At that point, VMWare as a platform is done.

I suppose it's possible that Broadcom sees that happening anyway, and is just trying to squeeze as much out of it as possible before then.

I think this is also due to cars becoming more aerodynamic for fuel efficiency. My newer cars will get bugs on the flatter areas of the front, but rarely the windshield anymore, unless it's a particularly large one that the slipstream can't get out of the way fast enough.

So if no one hires entry-level coders, then in 10 years, there won't be any experienced programmers, either.

We'll either be totally dependent on AI, or software quality will go (more) into the toilet. Probably both.

"Normal" is just the average of everyone's individual crazy...

I'm mildly autistic, with an official diagnosis. This is considered a disability under the ADA, and thus employers must provide reasonable accommodation.

My employer recently started requiring everyone within 50 miles of an office to come in 2x/week, but the offices are all high-density shared workspaces - a nightmare for anyone on the spectrum. I talked to my manager, he talked to HR, and surprise, surprise, the most logical accommodation was to continue to work from home full time.

If there's one thing HR is terrified of, it's exposing themselves to lawsuits stemming from discrimination or disabilities, so use that to your advantage!

The thing is, in a global economy, you can't just look at two parties and call it a trade imbalance. It's like Trump has forgotten why currency was invented.
I want to buy WidgetA from Mr. A, but I don't have the WidgetB he's looking for, which only Mr. B has. Mr. B doesn't want WidgetA - he wants WidgetC. And so on around the world until you get to Mr. Zed, who wants my widget, but doesn't have the WidgetA that I want.

So either every transaction requires orchestrating a complex, multi-party barter, or I just give Mr A 10 clams for his widget, he uses them to get Mr B's widget, and so on until I get the 10 clams backs from Mr. Zed. No trade imbalance at all, unless you're so shortsighted as to only look at Mr. A and Zed.

Or the cards for people with low credit will just charge annual fees instead. Which is actually worse - at least you can normally avoid the interest by keeping it paid off, but you can't avoid the fees.

The only thing that we know for sure is that the companies won't accept at hit to their profits.

The problem with this is that it doesn't pass the "what if everyone did it" test (or what happens when everyone has an electric car). No restaurant is going to install enough charging stations that a significant percentage (assuming it's along a heavily-traveled-by-long-distance-trippers route) of its patrons can charge at the same time. So what are you going to do? Jump up and dash outside to try to get a charger every time you see someone leave? Leave the car at a charger somewhere else and taxi/uber to your restaurant? Go through a drive-through and eat in your car while camping the chargers until someone leaves?

Well, it's China, so it's possible that they could be infested by the digital equivalent of rats. Cheap hosting for state sponsored hackers and malware.