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)

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.

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?...

The article does discuss that issue, and it can't be dismissed, but says at least Japan checked and pruned their records in 2010. It was prompted by a really extreme example of pension fraud:

The national inquiry was launched after the remains of Sogen Koto, believed to be the oldest man in Tokyo at 111, were found in his family home 32 years after his death.

Wow, they did get greedy didn't they - trying to push it to 110+, as if that wouldn't draw scrutiny. Per wikipedia:

Two of his relatives were arrested in August 2010, and subsequently charged with fraud.[10] Prosecutors alleged that Michiko Kato, 81, Kato's daughter, and Tokimi Kato, 53, his granddaughter, fraudulently received about ¥9,500,000 ($117,939; £72,030) of pension money.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Vigo aside, I thought all the steps involved in reconditioning the stolen phones were quite elaborate. Interesting that it requires site spoofing which means they haven't developed a technical means to defeat the phone's security measures.

Even most people who do exercise don't do interval training. That is discomfort-level exercise!

It's funny because bike messengers were legendary (notorious) even before e-bikes.

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

Why the lower weight limit? ("Upper" weight limit maybe?)

You can say the infrastructure is "shit" for ebikes, but how could it not be? It's a new class of vehicle, so people want it not to mix with pedestrians, and not to mix with cars. OK, so where do we paint lines for these new lanes exactly?

Bicycles themselves have always had the same issue because of their small numbers - only a certain type of person commonly rides even 10+ miles consistently in a day. e-bikes could bring that to the masses with speeds that are less than scooters mixing with traffic but more than walking. But where to put them?

So have you still experienced rapid tire wear by driving your electric car gently?

I've owned a lot of different motorcycles with very different levels of power over the years, some very quick by (pre-electric) car standards. The powerful bikes gobble the tires. Even a heavier touring bike that tends to be driven more sedately, not so much. (Yes, tire compound matters too)