I bought one of their mattress toppers for Burning Man figuring that it's much more efficient to chill a bed than chill a space. However, setting the thing up required an internet connection. By using my phone as a hotspot, I was just barely able to bridge the gap so the mattress would connect to the internet. But then it also required a Bluetooth connection from the same phone to the bed, to actually turn it on, and the bridging-the-gap location was just outside Bluetooth range. What a completely frustrating, overengineered piece of crap. How about a simple couple of buttons to set the temperature?

>> countries with better healthcare
That's pretty much all countries, right?

Every time I go overseas (I'm in Australia), seeking travel insurance, the very first question is always - "Are you travelling to the United States of America?"

It's interesting to reflect on how modern hardware would have performed.
Faster, sure. Smaller, sure. Less power, sure. But would it survive in space? Given how small the elements are, wouldn't the occasional cosmic ray destroy sufficient elements to kill the whole gadget?
I have a sneaking suspicion a modern processor would be dead within months, or possibly years - but surviving decades?

"Turbo Pascal"? Oh, those were the days ...

The thing about a 32 hour week is that it enables more people to work. It allows more time for other activities, eg childcare, salsa lessons, exercise classes, caring for elderly relatives, etc. This would actually expand the economy.
It's true of course that if everyone offered this, it would not be a competitive advantage. But it would create a slightly wider pool of possible workers.
And, I must say, a race to the bottom for least hours in the workweek sounds quite appealing!

I’ve lived in several countries around the world. But there’s only one where school shooting occur on a regular basis.
In general, I’ve found, it’s good to look at examples elsewhere when you have some deep seated problem.
So, USA, may I suggest you consider taking a look at other countries. Canada is pretty close, Australia is a bit further away, but a decent example of actually doing things in response to a catastrophe.

I predict a dozen southerners (I think of the as northers, given, you know, actual geography) will yell and scream. “Second amendment” they will cry.
It was 200 years ago. A kid would not have been able to do what he did. Things have changed. The laws need to as well. After all, it’s an amendment, and can be further amended!

To reduce traffic congestion, make roads narrower, add bike lanes, decent pavements/sidewalks, and decent public transport.
Easy. Cheaper. Fewer cars means less congestion.

So if they do this, we can expect a substantial reduction in the cost of these once shared items?
No? Did I miss something?

I'm in Sydney, Australia. I connect to the NBN (National Broadband Network) via a retailer (iinet in case anyone cares).. I have a 50Mbps business connection, with phone and static IP - it costs AUD 80 per month with a modem thrown in. That's USD 52 per month. No data limit.
The cheapest plan is AUD 59.99 per month - that's USD 39.00 per month. 20Mbps, no data limit.

Australia is not considered a cheap country. The government does attempt to supply a "cheap" broadband service - but this is what competition gets you. USA plans seem to start at USD 40 per month (T-mobile) - though there may be some gochas I don't know about, it does say something something about a "Premium voice line discount". Pretty much the same as Australia. I gather things vary drastically between states, though.

Still, 30 dollars to 40 dollars. Not a massive difference.

Maybe the gift card company is using CrowdStrike software?

"Died so young"

So his religion didn't help him much, did it?

So the casino business was so profitable that it did not notice 2 million just flowing out of the door

Impressive. Or horrifying. Or maybe astoundingly incompetent.

Sounds like Boeing did exactly the same as the banks, ie outsourcing to an external company, thus losing the decades gained experience.
Crazy.

I feel this approach - cut costs at all costs (get rid of expensive engineers) - actually destroyed HP. Remember when they made great equipment ... and now they make ok printers? I think Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard must be rolling in their graves.

We see this in many companies. I have worked in several major banks where they have efficiently outsourced software development, usually to India.
Considering the most critical part of a bank is its software, you’d think ending up with all the knowledge of said software being with people in another company, another country, and indeed, with people you never meet, this sounds foolish in the extreme.
But it does save a little money (actually surprisingly little) in the short term.
It used to be that managers, even owners, of companies knew the business they were in. They were engineers, chemists, or cobblers, perhaps. But now they know “business”. Which often seems to be about cutting costs and boosting the share price. For a while