My W11 laptop after the last Windows update, nuked the sound drivers, nuked Bluetooth, and nuked the rotary knob for the SDR radio, rendering the unit non-functional. I emplaced a W10 machine which will be used until there is a fair chance that Windows 11 will reliably function, because this is like the third time Microsoft borked the system.

And I can protect the computer myself, so I'm not worried about Microsofts "security through malfunction ideology.

FTA the boomer rate was 83 percent, and GenZ rate of 39 percent, both of those numbers seem credible to me. When I was in HS, we did at least half our Drivers Ed training in standard shift cars. So if you took Drivers ed, you knew how to drive a standard at the time.

Out of curiosity, how did you equate registration with number of motorcycle riders? Seems to be a very loose connection to me. While registered bikes almost certainly equate to a person who is familiar with standard, there are people who know how to shift who don't own a bike. Also there are people with more than one registered bike. Finally in off road biking, most are titled, but not registered. They can't be put on the highway, they do not have the required equipment to be inspected, like my old Montesa Cota and VR.

The nutty thing is that learning to drive a stick shift is dain bread easy. I've taught a few people including my wife and son. Find an empty parking lot. First depress the clutch and let it out a few times while in neutral, then put in gear, and drop the clutch. it will stall, but fine. Student now knows what happens and when the clutch engages., then have them give it a little gas and slowly let the clutch out. They'll figure out the sweet spot, and then you drive around on the straight. The hardest part is the hill start. Start them with the emergency brake method. Super easy with modern electrical Emergency brakes. have them give some gas, then as soon as it starts to bog, push the brake release button. Soon they'll be shifting like a boss and won't need the EB method.

I mean I could teach the wife standard shifting, and teaching a spouse is seldom a good idea, and she's pretty spunky. I don't think she called me an asshole once!

Just about every motorcycle rider has intimate knowledge of manual shifting. If they are included, 60 percent could be about right.

note, there were some auto bikes, but not many.

A fair number of Petro-fueld sporty cars likewise have speakers https://www.slashgear.com/1929...

Goofy. Although I need to find out if my Jeep has that. When I need to kick it in the arse, it positively howls. My wife's Jeep has the same engine, but hers is much more civilized. Her's is a Cherokee, mine is a Trailhawk. I hope not, that would be embarrassing.

That said, while automatic, I can put it in "I shift mode". Don't need it much though. It shifts under full power just fine.

Aside from Onedrive, there are people out there who "store" all their photos on Facebook. Then they wonder why they are all messed up when they want to say, make a print. For myself, I have a couple Time Machine backups, so even if one of the drives fails, I have the other, backups of backups.

Speaking of workflows, on my W11 laptop, I have scripts for launching some programs that need launched in a particular sequence. Somehow an update changed the sequence and required everything be changed - didn't take much time to change, took time to troubleshoot though. Knocked out a USB trackpad, and where the hell did Bluetooth go? Changed the audio settings, more troubleshooting, more wasted time, more downtime.

I think the Einsteins at Microsoft actually came to understand they FUBAR'd, as the next day another update came in, and I at least got Bluetooth back.

Not to mention the system instabilities that happen when a downloaded update is ready to be installed. More wasted time.

Windows is not functional IMO.

I still need the laptop for the classes I teach, and there is one program that is only on Windows, but I'm experimenting now with a VM that might be able to run it on my Mac (UTM). So far, it's all good except for the SDR radio, it needed to connect to, but I think I have that worked out.

The last one, about hardware stopping function is a real killer. I teach some emergency communications classes. Smart people who just need exposure, digging into their computers a bit to have their systems run. Much of the software is on multiple platforms, but most use Windows 11. Back when Windows 7 was in its heyday, it took two class sessions to get everyone running, then we'd delve into the details of the software. Windows 10 wasn't too much of a problem, after some weird audio driver issues were ironed out.

Windows 11? It was a disaster. Took several sessions to get things working, then an update would come along and bollix things up. Sometimes even during class sessions, someone's computer would stop working. Seemed almost random at times. The question asked was "What if I need to pass data and forms, and the computer suddenly stops working". Good question. The answer was you don't. So after a few months, never getting to the details of using the software, Me running the software on my Mac so I didn't have to join the dysfunctional fun, the guys and gals really wanted to try Linux, especially since one of the ladies was already a Mac and Linux guru. We disbanded for a while to put together a new class plan.

The results? Two classes and everything ran. It stayed running. The aforementioned woman helped, and we accomplished every task in a short time. Created a new batch of Linux lovers. Even had some starting to enjoy installation from source, as they found out a lot of the anti-linux stuff was just propaganda.

tl;dr When the state of W11 is for all intents malfunctioning, sometimes ya gotta start using an alternative.

Yes, and of course, with the longitudinal areas varying in east to west length, and north to south as you note, in a sort of jumble, so in some places there is quite a difference in sunrise and sunset over the lower latitudes, and eventually nothing at the poles, but the lower latitudes don't matter as much - we can end up with a hella headache! Spherical trig anyone?

We can use Universal time - I do a lot, but it still has to be correlated with local time, especially since some places it is tomorrow at times, still today here. The complications of a connected globe I suppose. tl;dr - the people who came up with DST were not stupid. Not remotely. They knew whatever system they came up with was a compromise. But they knew enough that it was needed.

Permanent DST is one of those topics that strains credulity. Some crew, usually those nearer the equator, know for an absolute fact that the worst idea ever foisted on humanity was DST, as there is not, nor has there ever been a need for it. It is their personal unassailable truth. Because the daylight and dark times of the day don't change much over the year, no one needs to ever change the time, anywhere for any reason.

Others, living at higher latitudes, have a deep experienced understanding just how much an adjustment is needed, because of the wild swings in daylight and night in those regions.

And some others among us realize the need for it at those higher latitudes, based on the physics of the situation, and find that going on permanent DST is like thinking we can make a piece of cloth longer by cutting off the bottom and sewing it to the top.

Finally, let's not forget that during the early 1970's oil embargo, the US did go on permanent DST. Most of the public hated it. Didn't save anything either, just changed the times of energy use. We dropped it like an unredacted Epstein file. Even now there are people demanding not permanent DST, but permanent Standard time. This is one of the never-ending topics that deserves ridicule.

Not for nothing, there is one country on Permanent DST, the Russian Federation.

A decent point. It seems however, that Windows will soon be running Office 365, and not much else.

Were there 500 security updates a month after there were 200 updates? I have Linux Mint as well as Raspbian, and keep track up updates. Perhaps I didn't count correctly.

And no where did I say that MacOS and Linux don't have security flaws. There is no perfectly secure OS. If can be written, it can be compromised. But to suggest that Windows is the equal of the other two, well, that needs a whole lot of proof.

You mean the famous Microsoft bloat? That's a feature I guess.

So the last couple years of destroyed functionality, are suddenly going to end, and we'll have the secure OS they've been telling us is the most secure and it'll be puppy dogs and rainbows?

Meanwhile, the presumably insecure MacOS and Linux don't seem to have this issue. I'll believe it when the other Os' end up gone, and Microsoft is so secure, all the AV providers go out of business.

Does it even matter any more? It is the Microsoft way, and their "patches" tend to just turn needed things off. Meanwhile the faithful can continue the claims that Microsoft is every bit as secure as any other OS out there.