$499 is pretty nuts for this. Kids will hate it no matter what*, but if it were $99 they would probably sell way more than 5x the units. Seems like they think they are marketing to adults that have enough self awareness that they have a "problem" with social media, but something like this would make more sense as a first phone for a kid, but the price is too high for that.

For a $499 "minimal phone" I would want something crazy like an iPhone style form factor but with a color e-ink display and an open source OS, not this.

*Also, kids hating it is, you know, bad for the brand.

Countries that welcome immigrants are able to increase the tax base, and supply critical labor that locals don't want to do, including taking care of the elderly.

But you take in too many, too fast, AND if you allow those that are diametrically opposed to your values and way of life.....YOU LOSE YOUR COUNTRY.

and that's what we're seeing now across EU and trying to combat in the US.

POKE 59458,62

The US solved this problem 150 years ago. First with the observation that immigrants acculturate. Second with the acceptance that elements of their culture are going to get melded in to form a new culture. Culture is never static, anyway, it always drifts and morphs. Immigration just changes it a bit faster. But it's good! This ongoing immigrant-driven culture change is what made the US a superpower. Embrace it.

Indeed is USED to work this way....and if so, sure, cool.

The trouble is...it no longer works that way, there is no more 'melting pot'.

For various reasons, one being we've let WAY too many in at once....they do not come here to become Americans and assimilate, they are here to take over and make a Mini-whatever country they came from .

They segregate, they do NOT learn the language and in Muslim cases, they try to change our laws to fit their religion.

In the old days, you didn't see protests with migrants waving flags of their home land, but instead were waving the US flag....

So, no that old way isn't working....and if we don't stop the influx....we risk losing our country even more than we risk losing it right now.

Doing that in the Commonwealth of Virginia is just going to get you a bigger fine. Radar detectors are illegal (or at least used to be the last time I drove there).

Glad most of the US doesn't suck like the Commonwealth of Virginia.....where we are free to know when we are being observed and electronically surveyed by the police.

Fortunately in the UK we have average speed checks over long distances so arseholes find a hole in their bank account and maybe points on their driving license too.

Ah....well, while it is getting bad here in the US, at least we're not the dystopian hell the UK is at this point....

Governments are supposed to correct market failures. When a technology has a trajectory to be an eventual winner but faces short-term obstacles that the market isn't handling, that's an appropriate time for government to step in.

/me thumbs through his copy of the US Constitution looking for this amongst the limited, enumerated responsibilities of the Federal Govt.....

I need to get my readers, I'm just NOT seeing it....

I just turn on the radar detector and don't bother looking at the speedometer anymore....and just drive....fast.

If 30 seems safe to him, who should argue?

Then he needs to get the fuck OFF the highway and drive regular roads with lower speed limits....until he can earn his "big boy pants" and learn to drive at highway speeds with the adults.

If you can't hack it, then you don't belong there impeding other people with the proper driving skills.

Maybe they're trying to compensate a little for all the fentanyl they've been flooding the US and rest of the western world with...?

And now....time for another thrilling episode of:

TEMU Hospital....

Today on Temu Hospital we see Dr. Nick.......

You don't have to be all over your partner(s) all the time to result in a childbirth.

It certainly HELPS!!!

Geez, then I was a teen (way before cell phones and internet).....my girlfriend and I were fucking constantly, basically any time opportunity presented itself.

This was the "norm" for most of my peers in my HS years....

So if not cell phones and social media....what's the explanation for such a drastic change?

Declining population is solved rather easy. You just open a border here and there.

And then, you lose your country....the culture is lost, what makes your country YOUR country....disappears.

And if that's the fate.....I'd rather have it die slowly of population decline than see it evaporate and become unrecognizable in my lifetime .

and irrelevant to the future?

Do real people ACTUALLY think that way?!?!?

I mean, once I'm dead and in the ground, I don't give a flying fuck what the 'future' holds for earth....I won't be here and I won't know anything about it.

That's why I'm all for having as much fun and enjoyable life experiences while I'm above ground and processing oxygen.

Those in the future? I dont give a fuck....why should it?

Government has a role in helping a new technology reach economies of scale

Governments are (supposed to be) first and FOREMOST answerable to the people and acting at their bidding...not the other way around.

So, the govt is not there to try to force or guide the people any one way....or the other.