I don't know what era you grew up in, but when I was a child, Sears and Pennys were direct competitors. Sears just had a better catalog and automotive section. People going to malls would go to both to see who had the better deal on competing items. Especially for clothing. Montgomery Ward was a competitor, but they were the Chrysler to Sears/Penney's GM and Ford, the third wheel that no one went to first.

Sears fate was sealed the moment Amazon was created. The "vulture capitalist" just squeezed what value he could from the dying remains. With their catalogue business, and being "America's general store", they were in the perfect position to move from paper catalog to Internet based ordering. They adapted too late. Malls and physical department stores are never coming back at a level necessary for a Sears to thrive. It's Amazon and everyone else now.

Inevitable. LOL.

The EU will break up before it truly bans ICE engines. It's not going to happen in our lifetime. Brussels may impose a penalty of some kind on member states that don't comply, but it'll be fairly cheap. Some tax or another will be imposed, everyone will claim victory, and ICE vehicles will continue to roll off production lines on the Continent.

Most people are not "deeply stupid". But that post was deeply arrogant.

Well, yes, you do, because the BMS keeps track of that.

A gas car, on the other hand....

The coin should show his Mercedes in a handicapped spot.

Gas cars lose comparable range in cold weather, so...?

https://www.energy.gov/energys...

And when you mix in 'you can preheat your cabin while still connnected to your charger,' EVs lose *less* range than gas cars.

I suspect they'll just ignore it because no one will want to actually use it.

The problem with these ideology-based projects is that they have no mass appeal. No one out there in userland gives a flying fuck about free software. They want the latest apps. They want a seamless experience. Especially Gen Z who were raised on mobile devices. Tell them that they should give up iPhones and Android phones because "Free as in Freedom is the right way", and they're going to look at you like you're a tentacled thing from Mars. There simply aren't enough nerds on the fringe to make a "free" phone system work.

Not really. If social media causes stupidity, kids should stop using social media, cuz it'll make them stupid.

If stupid people use social media, kids should stop using social media, because it obviously isn't making them smarter, while other activities just might.

Gambling has been lucrative since a bunch of cavemen got together and started rolling rocks in the back of the cave for the best cut of Wooly Mammoth. That's never going to change. The dropout will more than likely die a rich man.

I've been skeptical about the "Windows games on Linux" thing, but I'm hearing nothing but good things about Proton. If it is indeed as good as advertised, it could truly a way for young men to finally get out of the Windows world.

I would have moved my parents to Google's Chrome OS Flex, but while it's super fast and does a few things extremely well, its lack of support for things like DVD playback is a killer in the "Upgrade for Grandma" department.

It may never be a better time, but this is a huge reason why there will never be a "year of the Linux desktop". When Microsoft cuts support, most people will just knuckle under and buy new machines, even if they're happy with what they've been using. They bitch. They threaten. They shake their fist and tell Microsoft they'll go to something else. But most just give in and write the check.