So was Linux...

2015 Camry, not 2018.

I've been married 40+ years. Until recently, I'd had manual shift cars (yes, including the Escort) and my wife has had automatics. While anecdotal, it's certainly been decades since we've had to have any significant transmission repair done - at all. With the manuals, obviously you're looking at clutches every so often.

While I enjoy driving stick, when the time came that I was ready to admit we had to replace the Escort (2018-ish), I got an 2018 Camry - which is an automatic. Part of the thinking there was about our daughter's anxiety about driving in general; but it was also true that cars with manual transmissions were few and far between... and, surprisingly, now more expensive than the same care with an automatic transmission.

I do make frequent use of the paddle shifters though, when on hills and windy roads.

Good thing you didn't have auto-pay enabled...

We were showing at over $660tn. Lol.

That more than all the wealth in the entire world (~$450tn).

I guess Amazon are trying to outdo Elon....

That's back pocket change to a company that big, and a teeny tiny fraction of the profits they made from their scummy scammy practises.

I regret to inform you that you have woefully underestimated it. The actual retail rate offered to consumers is closer to $2200 US per gallon. Sources: internet-ink.com, cbc.ca. This $14 million fine is only worth like, seven thousand gallons, or less than 200 oil barrels of ink.

EU: "By January 2027, Google must also begin sharing anonymized search data with some rivals"

Google: "Europeans' private searches would be exposed to unfamiliar companies, without adequate anonymization of the data"

Em.... Google, the data is supposed to adequately anonymised! Sheesh.

That's not an argument.

"Yeah, that guy is dead now. We have a pretty solid idea who did it. But not sure if that'll make him alive again, so let's not bother with catching them."

“Good artists copy, great artists steal” - Pablo Picasso

I believe the classic line between copying and synthesis is taking from three artists or more.

The author is allowed to not give a flying fig about that. Or anything else.

Did you miss the part about "approve or reject... on a case by case basis"? The people this is designed to "help" are the grifters currently occupying the white house and its cabinet.

At higher latitudes there are going to be some sorts of issues, one way or the other - either in summer or in winter. Right now, in Washington State (45 to 49 degrees N), it starts to get light between 4 and 5 am. If we're on permanent standard time, that'll be happening between 3 and 4 am.

I'm close enough to retirement that I no longer have a strong preference. I would prefer we stop switching twice a year, regardless.

* NOW with extra evil!! *

Your link - seriously?

"Tobacco giants say"? Dude, they said that smoking is actually healthy for a few decades. I'd trust my cat around buckets full of her favorite treat more than those companies.