You miss the point.

From the standpoint of someone from the US East or West Coast; or almost anywhere in Europe, the entire state of Wyoming is "rural". Even the urban areas are rural. The most populous city has 60,000 residents. The same can be said (to a slightly lesser degree) of Montana, the Dakotas, and Idaho. And then a whole slew of additional western states outside of one or two large cities per state.

You are proposing that these entire states, and their citizens, don't matter. That we can ignore them entirely when it comes to policy because they are outliers. Twenty percent of the population and half the landmass- irrelevant?

The dense urban areas of the US do have public transit. Even Cheyenne, Wyoming has six bus routes (closed on Sundays and holidays).

Many Europeans fail to grasp that items on a national policy level in the US are akin to a EU-wide mandate. Should Estonia and France have an identical transit policy? The state gasoline tax is nearly 50-cents per gallon in New York and California, as compared to 14-cents in Wyoming. The federal tax is (an additional) 18 cents. Europeans like to ignore the state-by-state issues entirely and paint the US with a broad brush.

If someone is passing a number of doctors during that 75-mile trip then you make a very good point. There are rural areas of the US, however, in which there may be no medical services in that distance. Fewer than 600,000 people live in the US state of Wyoming, an area roughly the same size as the UK.

US Population Density Map

Is is true of the entire US? No. It isn't true for the majority of the population (since the majority live in the dense areas- that's why they are densely populated).

If the law was only concerned with consequences then there would be no difference between manslaughter and first-degree murder. The outcome is the same: someone died. Action (or inaction, in the case of negligence) plus intent are a part of the law.

Especially when you're 16.

Fakes are only allowed for the food not being sold advertised.

Motor oil could be used as syrup when advertising pancakes, but not when advertising maple syrup.

He referred to Netflix "shooting itself in the foot" and did not mention only the price increase. There was also the spin-off of mail delivery to Qwikster, leaving Netflix as a streaming-only operation. The net effect, combined with their public statements about the future, showed that Netflix management considers DVD-by-mail to be a dead model and was willing to abandon it immediately.

Also, it has been reported that Netflix mail costs are 20-times more expensive than their streaming costs. The reported change in their studio contracts is about 10x.

I've worked in the (same) office since 1997 and I don't get lunch, beers, or t-shirts either.

I do, however, get to sit in traffic for 40 to 60 minutes a day.

You are correct, it will cause local cooling and require 30 to 200 years of time to "recharge" after a 30 to 50 year production life for the geothermal site.

See the PDF in this comment.

At What Time Scale Are Geothermal Resources Renewable?"

The answer appears to be, "it depends". The problem appears to be that any given geothermal installation becomes unusable after a period of time. Shallow systems recharge in 30 years after 30 years of operation. Deep systems need a few hundred years after 50 years of operation.

Why DARPA and not NASA?

DARPA has money. NASA does not.

I have been having the same thoughts. I don't agree with their position entirely. I think the lower/broader tax plan is a great idea, and the balanced budget amendment is totally unworkable. Still, they are doing exactly what they said they'd do when elected.

More significantly, it appears that they can't be strong-armed by party leadership on the issue. They want significant cuts and won't agree to a plan that doesn't provide that.

People complain about spineless politicians. People complain about the two party system. The alternative is right unfolding right now. This block of representatives is, for practical purposes, a third party. They aren't voting with the Democrats or the national Republican leadership, they're voting their own way.

I agree, the "Lucas is greedy" bit is far overblown. Yes, he makes a ton of money. But he doesn't live like Donald Trump, even though he easily could. From all accounts, he has a rather modest lifestyle for someone of his wealth. He pours the money into what he likes: making films. He seems to enjoy it from the macro level, and isn't so good at the details.

Plus, a lot of people overlook the influence of his former wife, Marcia. She edited Graffiti, Scorsese's Taxi Driver, and all three in the original Star Wars trilogy. For the prequel trilogy there was no studio or editor who could force hard decisions on Lucas.

Working in the field of transportation safety research (including distraction) my observation is that people over-estimate the control of the device as a problem (punching in the phone number), and under-estimate the mental resources dedicated to the task (the conversation). This is why radios, fast food, and other "distractions" don't generally produce the same level of effect as cell phones.

It doesn't make a lot of resources to push the button (assuming you already know how to operate the device) or shove a cheeseburger in your mouth. This is why hands-free shows the same level of distraction as hand-held phones, and both are worse than other tasks.

As to why in-car conversations are less of a problem than cell conversations... no one has any convincing proof. One is the difference between self-paced and forced-pace tasks. Others theorize a "day dreaming" state in which the person dedicates a lot of mental resources to put themselves into the remote conversation. Adults are the best at safely maintaining in-car conversations. Teenagers are significantly more dangerous with other teens in the vehicle.

Your comment about your father-in-law is interesting, and (in my opinion) a great example of distraction. He isn't operating a gadget, he is getting lost mentally. This is the issue with phones.