The term "Third World" was introduced during the Cold War. It meant countries not aligned with the liberal Western countries or the authoritarian "Communist" block.

Putin has done what he can to recreate the "communist block", and its successor could be called BRICS.

USA isn't a liberal Western country any more. It is not aligned with Western Europe any more. It does not have freedom of the press any more. It does not have free trade any more.
It is a country that has gone against the liberal Western democracies more and more; not just not recognising the ICC (which it once was part of creating) but now even sanctioning judges in it that do their job. Not being part of international treaties against torture, war crimes or heinous cruel weapons.

It is now a rogue nation. Neither aligned with the West or with BRICS.

You're pretending that the US wouldn't have already joined the Third World.

The reason why air travel is the safest way to travel is because the aircraft are kept MILES apart in all directions, as directed by air traffic control.

Most air accidents happen with small two-seat private planes that don't follow those same rules.
And many more accidents happen on the roads, where vehicles are even closer to one-another.

Risk has two dimensions: likelihood and magnitude of outcome. The above is about likelihood.
An aircraft accident practically always has a deadly outcome, whereas a car accident doesn't always.

Maximise both likelihood and outcome, and you've got disaster.

Reversible USB-A do exist. The connectors are on a thinner board in the middle of the connector. And they are of course non-standard.

You'd most often find them on a cable with reversible Micro USB B at the other end.
But I think I've seen some Matias Keyboards come with them as well.

I've worked a little bit with audio/video installations, such as conference rooms and auditoriums.
RS-232 serial ports are used a lot in those for control and communication of screens, projectors, DSPs and other devices.
The second most common interface is RS-232 over Ethernet.

These installations can last for decades. While components in them can get replaced like the Ship of Theseus, the interfaces tend to still stay the same.

There are different types of electric bikes.

Some jurisdictions restrict electric bicycles to those with "electric assist", where you'd still have to crank the pedals to make the motor run. Those are more or less operated like regular pedal-powered bikes but you won't have to be an athlete to get up a slope.
I don't think that type is the one called out here.

Any type where a motor is controlled by a "throttle" is actually a moped, and should be legally classified as a moped IMHO.

And neither mopeds or bicycles should be allowed to run at speed on a pedestrian path. If it is not a road or bicycle path, you should first not be there unless there is an alternative, and you are restricted to walking speed, regardless of vehicle. That is often the law.

There are many places where regulations originally for scooters for disabled people have been misapplies to newer types of electric vehicles that hadn't been envisioned yet when the rules were put in place.
Especially companies renting out electric kick-bikes have been taking advantage of that type of loophole, in too many cities. Those are the most dangerous of all: high centre of mass, small wheels, large mass because it is a rental vehicle and must be sturdy, and used by people that aren't used to bicycles and somehow think they are infinitesimally narrow and can move like pedestrians -- only faster.

Your 1800's link leads to a file on your local file system.
I assume that the paper was referring to Svante Arrhenius' work from 1896.

1896 !!

Cantrill was at Sun when it was taken over by ORACLE, and had some things to say about ORACLE.

This is gold, IMHO. Bear with it. It gets better and better.

Eating carbs triggers a release of serotonin, so people eat/drink when they feel stress.

And sugary snacks are the snacks with carbs that are available.

People need low-sugar snacks, not snacks where the sugar/salt/fat/MSG ratios have been optimised to themselves trigger compulsive eating.

If you have a watch that must be taken off to get charged every day, and you sleep with the watch on ... when are you supposed to take it off to charge it?

Not to mention that it is uncomfortable to have a watch on all the time.
I have a Casio wrist watch, with battery-life rated to five years, and I still take it off every night.

I am one of those people who really don't like cell phones.
i bought my first (and only) smartphone in 2020, to use it as a camera -- because I couldn't find a new point-and-shoot camera in the stores to replace my old broken one! During the first two years, I didn't even have a SIM card for it.

Back in 2020, I would have loved to have something like the original PowerShot Elph 360 HS.

Today though...

Before every Apple product launch day, the thing I am always looking forward to the most are all the jokes and memes about how Apple has become a parody of itself.

SAMTIME is one of the very best.
His job has been extra easy this year. The jokes about "iPhone Air" practically write themselves.

I'm jotting down "Broadcom" to the list of companies that are part of the dark side of tech, whose products I will avoid in the future.

It has been nice knowing you.

Many Europeans are hoping that this bubble will burst already ...

Calling someone a "dickhead" is merely pointing out that you find someone's behaviour disagreeable.

Is it bad language? Sure, but that is acceptable in some environments more than others.