And quite different than the US: "Mainline railroad electrification in the United States is quite rare in comparison to most European or East Asian rail networks, with less than 1% of mainline trackage in the country being electrified"

(wikipedia)

The author doesn't know the differences between WiFi, fiber and the internet.

At least in the US it doesn't matter until 2028. Whatever numbers the group arrived at through anything resembling reality will be replaced by ones more in keeping with the desires of the administration. In fact, why bother accumulating the stats at all?

A variation on the old joke about economists...

The president asks BLS, "What's 2 plus 2?"

The rep looks around, closes the shades, and whispers, "What would you like it to be?"

You're making a huge mistake by substituting your list of complaints for the actual question at hand - 'will I more likely be better off if I do or don't go to college.'

The answer is still quite clear. Look at this, the part about changing attitudes is interesting in some way, but the facts pertinent to somebody making this decision is the graph of median annual earnings for those with vs. without a college degree. People obsess over small relative shifts in this size of the gap, but it's nowhere near disappearing - it's huge. https://www.pewresearch.org/so...

Also near-perfect drafting to reduce air resistance.

80% less than cars is a lot less, but I'm kind of surprised it's that much. It actually makes me wonder how a Prius would fare compared to a klunky old half-full (per load factor statistics) Amtrak train.

Goofing off at work posting to Slashdot.

In the absence of the internet, voices were still heard globally. But I get your point. It's a mess. I don't know that there's a solution. I suspect there isn't.

But what I do suggest is that we can do without social media and be better off for it. It doesn't right the ship, but at least we can slow the rate at which we take on water.

I think the limit really is something like 1000 writes of the total capacity on a consumer drive.

Apparently this is also expressed as the number of full writes you can do per day within the warranty period; it's less than one on a consumer drive.

I actually compartmentalize forums and social media. I don't think online discussions by knitting fans is more toxic than Thursday night in person knitting groups are (or were). The problem is when the crap leaks over from social media. When your forum is about the finer points of hand building ukuleles and somebody posts rant about Jews, that's where the friction resides. But the difference is that forums like that can and should be moderated for topic, it's not a Wild West. There is supposed to be a point.

Slashdot is an interesting example. I don't read posts about climate change or piracy any more because the camps appear instantly, there is nothing new to say (EVER), and nobody is listening. They're talking at one another. But... except for the copy/paste morons, at least people have to make an effort to present a cogent point, or moderation usually works enough to hit -1. But there is still far too much reward for pandering.

I risk undoing my own point when I say I do appreciate a contrarian. I can have a good discussion with somebody who holds views wildly divergent than my own, provided they've thought them through and come by them honestly. In fact, I love it.

It's a good point. I was reading the summary thinking the terminal state of social media sounded a lot like TV always was.

That's just the nature of life in general, to expand to fill the niche, even at the cost of other things that were previously there, until carrying capacity is reached. If anything humans are pretty unique in exercising at least some restraint, particularly as we are now poised for a drastic voluntary reduction in population over the next hundred years or so - an instant in the scale of things.

Is it sad or "fucked up"? I suppose, compared to some imaginary ideal that never existed in reality. But at some point it's like getting angry with dandelions for trying to grow in your lawn. We were never not this and neither was anything else.

I don't think slashdot is overrun with bots. It's too small a target. I think that's why (a few) people still come here.

Stuff can be figured out, like refueling a helicopter while it's carrying a load:

https://taskandpurpose.com/new...

...but anyways, it does seem like a fixed-wing plane could drop a huge blade using guided parachutes or dropping the blade to skid to a stop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

given the reach of corporations and the fact of world trade, maybe individual citizens having global connection via the internet is better than not having it?

I wouldn't extend my argument to the entire internet. I think there's a great deal of it that is wonderful. I'm ranting about social media in the broadest sense. I like commerce via the internet... mostly. Although again there is a dark side to modernity. We are advertised at and sold to 24 hours a day, and that's new. When I was a child, most stores closed at 6 and almost none were open Sundays. Instant gratification meant leaving the house. It's no wonder savings rates have plummeted.

But I wouldn't wish it away.