It's mostly caused by demographic differences. Americans are much more likely to be ethnicities that have a genetic predisposition toward shorter lifetimes.

> Wait. Why on earth are you using an account for television.

So you can watch your YouTube videos on your TV?

Cut off the pharmaceuticals for a few years and we'll have all-new politicians.

It is the VERY loud, extreme progressive that have pulled the Democrats/Liberals SO far to the left that it makes the Republicans look far right.

The truth is, *most* Americans are still in the middle and wish both end would snap back to "normal" like we had, say up until maybe the 90's?

The US should start to steer itself away from any dependence on products from antagonistic countries.

Start immediately with any products that have obvious national security implications, and work your way down from those...slowly ween yourself off that test, and bring home as much manufacturing domestically and that which remains external to the US...should be in multiple friendly countries so as not to have a monoculture of any one country potentially holding us by the "short and curlies".

Even worse, they are smart people. What happens if they develop tech that we need, and refuse to sell it to us?

Apparently they're not THAT smart...to date, pretty much all they've done (with our blessing) is steal our US tech and use it against us....

Right now, it is best we do EVERYTHING we can to extricate ourselves from this bad relationship with China and move as much manufacturing as we can back domestically.

At least, move it to other, more friendly countries and not just one.....we need to learn our lessons from COVID....and not let those memories fade away as that we only got a SMALL taste of how bad it could get being dependent of China...or anyone other one country other than being as self sufficient as possible with regard to our manufacturing and food supply....oh and energy.

Just takes mostly determination.

well whats your excuse then?

Not sure what you're on about...

I'm actually quite happy with my life so far....

Sure, everyone could ALWAYS use a bit more money, but right now, I really want for nothing, I live well, eat well, have disposable income to afford the toys, travels and hobbies I want....

How about you?

The thing about roundabouts is that they're far superior to traffic lights but they require drivers to be aware of each other, be considerate, & be cooperative.

Well, that pretty much describes none of the average drivers in the US.

Most of the time they're texting on cell phones or swatting at their kids in their SUVs and cutting people off (accidentally or on purpose, often hard to tell).

It's hard enough to get them to actually stop all the time....the circles require a whole other order of driving attention and skill that just doesn't happen over here.

I personally have no problem driving here in the US the way it is....no need to throw in new confusing things like the roundabouts.

You might as well ask us to upend everything and switch to the metric system or something....it just does not offer perceivable reward worth the hassle it introduces....other than to "be like the rest of the world"....especially when most of us here never leave this country.

Hell many never leave the state they were born in...

With roundabouts...I've seen some with 2 lanes...cars are constantly cutting in front of you and potentially hitting you coming in or deciding at last minute to drive out across the lanes...etc.

I dunno, I just fucking hate them....hope they don't try to catch on here in the US, thankfully I've only seen about 2-3 of them anywhere I've driven.....

Well, in the U.K. roundabouts are awesome! I lived there while in the military. You don't have to wait on a long @$*! light! The trouble is, we don't do them right. In the U.K. there is one lane for every exit; so if there are five roads going in, there are 4 lanes (one will be the entry point, the rest exits). When entering, you move to the lane that corresponds with your exit i.e. if it's the last one, you go to the outer most lane, if it's the first, the first lane etc. Then when you pass an exit you move outward 1 lane. Everyone knows how to do this and it works. No waiting on long lights! Here we don't design them with the number of lanes and no one knows how to use them, so yeah, they kinda suck here, but can beat a light, still.

Ok...I'm having a real hard time picturing this....never seen a roundtable with multiple lanes like you mentioned...I've seen at most 2 lanes.

That being said, if I picture in my head what you're saying....the roundabout has 5 lanes coming in....and doing things to going to lane you are designated to be on...potentially you have to go around the damned things up to 4x times?

I'd rather be at a traffic signal or stop light.

I'm also trying to figure how you don't have wrecks or hit someone coming in to that 5 lane roundtable...crossing over 1,2,3 or 4 lanes with traffic all lanes circling, having to look around the whole time for space, etc....

Maybe I'm not seeing it in my head right, but that sounds downright confusing and potentially lethal unless everyone is paying 101% attention, not sleepy and is an excellent driver...?!?!

:O

Battery tech *already is* getting better quickly:

- A facelifted EQA saw range improved from 263 to 345 miles

- The facelifted Taycan has a 35% longer range because of a larger battery (in the same space) -- now at 421 miles

- CATL yesterday announced a new LFP battery with a 600 mile range, up from 400 miles in the old version. LFP was confined to things like buses until three years ago. Now it's in mass use for cars

- Findreams (owned by BYD) are on the cusp of launching Blade 2.0 battery packs, also LFP. It is smaller, lighter and more efficient than Blade 1.0. It also has a 600 mile range

- BMW are building out their Neue Klasse architecture with new batteries -- just the move from prismatic to cylindrical enables substantially better densities which means a range improvement of 30%+

This is going to continue for years ahead, much like chip improvements in the semiconductor industry.

It's exactly the rapid rate of improvement that's meant that I've always got my EVs on finance for the past 9 years:

2015 -- Gen 1 Zoe -- 80 miles(!)

2018 -- Gen 2 Zoe -- 186 miles

2020 -- Gen 3 Zoe -- 245 miles

2024 -- EQA -- 330 miles (I lost some range because I chose a premium version)

Ok...out of all of that you mentioned, I recognized only ONE name...BMW.

I take it you're not in the US?

Those do sound like improvements...let me ask, how long does it take to re-charge one of those improved batteries when they are drained?

Is it on par which how long it takes an ICE car to refuel?

I ask, because a LOT (close to half) of US citizens do not live in a single family dwelling with off street parking that they own and can install a charger for EVs.

That means a lot of people will have to charge and re-charge publicly, and unless you are in CA on the west coast or a large city on the east coast....there simply isn't much out there as far as easily accessible, dependable public facing charge stations.

For the foreseeable future, to get the majority of folks on board in the US, you're gonna need EVs to be extremely close to how ICE vehicles work with regards to refueling away from "home", since it simply is not and will not be an option for millions of folks/families.

Well,yeah, if $$$$ is your only criterion. Some of us value time off, lower stress, comfortable retirement, etc. over stock prices

Funny, I found that as I got more $$$ over time, I had lower stress, funded my retirement....and could afford time off somewhere nice.

I could also afford a nice single family home where I didn't share walls with neighbors, and had a nice back yard for my large offset wood burning smoker (BBQ is a big hobby of mine)....my ceramic grill....etc.

I like that with $$ I can fund all the hobbies that make me happy.

Indeed. Forcing somebody to work more than 10h/day and 50h/week counts as assault and can land you in prison in some countries in Europe.

Funny...that's not something I've ever run into my whole career.

There have been a very FEW long nighters here and there when we had to get something out the door, or maybe servers/database went off line....

But those were extremely rare occasions...which I could likely count on both hands all my life and still have fingers left.

No one holds a gun to your head to work outrageous hours in the US.

He is right that the gap between the US and Europe gets larger though: The US is losing its middle-class and everybody is getting poorer and poorer (excluding the rich).

But in the US, with so much opportunity...and sometimes a little luck, you CAN create your own business and do very well.

And like the article says, in America, you can try, fail, and try again....till you make it.

Just takes mostly determination.

I stopped asking them after years of a "coming soon" ticket if they were going to support tor hidden services and they were like "no really, soon!" every time.

OK, Lucy.

Don't assume only one intelligence service here.

(it takes one guy a day to set this up).