Let's think practical about this new "ice".....

As in...will this keep my cocktail cold longer?

Will this keep the beer in my ice chest colder for longer?

;)

It just sounds like the greatest nation in the world is incapable of doing what other smaller nations do

We just don't want it...nor need it.

Then I travelled the world and actually looked at how things work and now I'm just sad that I lived with my own narrow minded view. Stay ignorant buddy, you'll kick yourself if you actually experience something that changes your world view, it's not a nice feeling

I've been to Europe and some other parts of the world.

While visiting I had fun and thought it was "quaint".....but it's not how I would like to live.

As I've mentioned before, I don't want to share walls with neighbors or live in tower apartments....

I like to have a yard to enjoy....I've always owned FUN sports cars and motorcycles, I love to drive them....every time I jump in my car or on my bike, I get a big stupid ass smile on my face 'cause I'm off on a new adventure.

I think much of the difference is due to mindeset of nations. The US has long been a country of the "individual". Places like the EU are more group think...."the needs of the many".

And those differences lend themselves to different lifestyles.

Different strokes for different folks.

And again...in the US, if you don't like the lifestyles,, laws, etc of where you live...you CAN move to where things more align with your life preferences.

Here we don't have to depend on one size fits all....and, isn't choice the best thing?

You know what is unreliable? Cars. I have no idea what traffic will do. Will I be there in 35minutes or an hour and 10mintes?

Sounds like poor road design if that's your problems.

I rarely run into "traffic" that is in anyway bad ....it's not something I have to plan for...and I can get to where I want door-to-door in minutes anywhere in the city.

And I live in New Orleans....so, quite often there is going to be drinking involved, and in my older years, I just don't bother driving after adult beverages anymore, so I just call an uber for those times....again, door-to-door.

No needing to deal with the elements walking to a train station, etc.....we might not get THAT cold down here, but a large part of the year is very HOT and HUMID.....and at times you really wanna limit your outdoor time, especially if you are dressed nice...otherwise you show up at your destination as a sweat stain.

Public transport...it just really isn't a thing here, nor in most cities I've lived in in the US, but I'm not felt my life has suffered in the least because if it.

I've always had a car or motorcycle that is FUN to drive and I hop in and enjoy it....

Obviously even Americans prefer walkable cities.

Obviously we don't....if we did, we'd either have more of them or would have more in the works.

That just isn't our mindset.

We generally don't like to be clumped all together, we prefer more open spaces and elbow room.

I prefer to have a yard where I can, in the back, set up my large log burning offset smoker to do BBQ, or set up a large 100 gallon pot for crawfish boils.....and have friends and neighbors over to enjoy a nice day with me.

And going out to see things?

I live in the New Orleans area....we only have 52 weeks a year, and there are FAR more fests (music, food, etc) that you can attended if you tried annually.

And yet, I don't live in "walkable"....nor do I want to.

I have my nice yard, my friends have places to park their boats and we go out on them fishing or just for fun....and again BEST of all, I do not share walls with anyone. Over the years I put a LOT of investments into building my AV system and I occasionally like to exercise its decibel range....with no shared walls, I don't disturb the neighbors and they don't bother me.

I do walk my dog...daily and meet my neighbors as I do...the nice thing is...it's not all concrete like an urban city where you have limited green space.

And guess what - they serve wine on all those occasions.

LOL, I live in fucking New Orleans....we have wine....beer and hard liquor cocktails anywhere here you want, 24/7.....no open container laws either.

Try THAT in your urban paradise.

You still can. Just look at the Netherlands. In the 60s the Netherlands was a car mecca. It was following American style city design (including actually importing American city designers). They had grand plans to bulldoze poor neighbourhoods to build highways, heck at one point even the IJ in Amsterdam was proposed to be filled with concrete and turned into an inner city mega highway.

Well, there's no need to in the US.

The Netherlands is SMALL....and US is quite large and well, for the most part, if you want to live careless in a dense urban city, we have them and you can move there.

If you don't want this, and to date many if not most in the US do not want it....you can live in other cities were you don't share walls and have the independence of a private vehicle.

If more people in the US actually wanted less cars and "walkable cities"....we'd have them.

We have voters and if the voters wanted that, they'd elect people to help implement it.

Buit just face the facts,most people today do not want that car-less utopia many of you are promoting.

That's because your city is designed wrong.

Walkable cities have always been a thing. Only in America were cities designed around the car.

I can only guess that people like you can't undertake or fathom that a large majority of people out here, ENJOY our lifestyle and the city designs and types that support them....eh?

I do NOT want to ever live in a heavy urban city where I have to share walls, and depend on public transport and their schedules and shoehorn my life into someone else's timetable....

You do you.....in the US, at least, it is a large and diversified area....you can find cities that cater to your needs and likings and so can I.

One size does NOT fit all.

Almost all driving is pointless driving. You should be able to get everything you need on foot. After that there should be good public transit. Other than maybe for the disabled and emergency vehicles, cars should never be necessary.

I dunno...I LIKE driving....I was so happy to get my license finally as a teen....

I guess it's due to my always buying cars that were FUN to drive....performance oriented, good looking and well...FUN.

It's the same reason I own a motorcycle....fun.

And I don't care how well your public transport it, it will never be as quick and convenient. Door-to-door as I have with my private car on MY timetable.

Besides, I'd not like to try to schlub. My weekly shopping by hand on public transport....hell just a trip to Costco would be a nightmare hauling a 15lb brisket and 40lb bag of lump charcoal....and that doesn't even touch on the other things I generally buy on a Costco trip....

If you want that lifestyle, live somewhere extremely urban...more power to you but I and many others do NOT want that lifestyle....I like to drive and I like to NOT share walls with other people.

Clearly everyone wants to sit in an office where a dozen people are all talking to their PCs to write Word documents

Hell I can't stand having to be back in the office and having to listen to people yammer on in Teams meetings, or shoot the shit with a work friend near my desk....or just anything.

I dunno how I must have ignored in years back before I had to come back in, but I cannot fucking stand it and have great difficulty getting things done and keeping my concentration.

Are people louder today? Less considerate....or what?

Ugh...I gain absolutely NOTHING by coming into an office....and lose advantages I had. I got more done and FAR easier to eat on my proper diet since I was near my kitchen, that trying to haul all my food for the day to the office....

So many negatives to the office....and not a single positive can I think of....

But what if it was as good as on Star Trek?

MS' marketing is bull, but let's not pretend that being able to just tell a computer what to do hasn't been a long-term goal. It is something people want.

It is bad and has potential for REALLY bad.

You use Star Trek as you example...

I tend to think more towards HAL from 2001, or the Terminator movies (1-2...screw the rest of the crap).

No, I don't want to talk to machines AND...I don't want them turned loose to do things independently.

Clippy was just mildly annoying but I'd hate having to talk to my computer.

thank you!!

I was wondering if I was the ONLY person out here that didn't like talking to a fucking computer!!!

Hell I can't stand talking to the damned auto support numbers you get before you get a real person....I just tell it "Operator" over and over till I get a real person.

I hate that especially now that back in the office and everyone can hear what you're saying on the phone....I'd rather punch a damned number....but no they want a spoken prompt.

I don't want to talk to my regular computer or phone either....hell, I learned to fucking type for a reason....and again, at minimum, I'm not having to let the rest of the world listen in on my computer/internet queries.....my subject or thought processes....

And I don't want the computer doing shit independently of my commands....unless I tell it , don't just do shit.

Martha Stewart bakes bread...on Mars!

Fuck that.....think BEER!!!

lol...get your priorities together man....

;)

That's the key to life....so, maybe we can do it!!

I mean, the pilgrims stopped when and where they did because they ran outta beer...so, we know how important it is to long travel.....

The VA system performs as well or better than the private health care system

I can speak from first hand knowledge, that simply is NOT the case.

There are good people working there, but the care is NOT the best in the world....and the red tape prevents progress in any meaningful time scale....

Again....we cannot afford the govt health we have NOW with Medicare and Medicaid.....those two alone make up a large part of the annnual US budget as it is....and it's growing.

Just try adding the rest of the nation on there and well, you'll see bankrupt really quick.

But I do agree we still pay too much for health care and the outcomes we receive are sub optimal. Obamacare was insurance reform, but I would like to see the U.S. pursue a universal single-payer system like pretty much every other high-income country in the world. Oh no, wait, "socialism!!!"

Oh God no...please never let the US govt be in charge of my health care.

It's not even the socialism thing.....it's just the massive clusterfuck that government is running things.

Some are a necessary evil....military....etc.

But no....I've been to Social Security offices....ugh.

I've been to other federal offices and it almost agony getting anything done.....and often it takes way more than one trip.

I imagine it would be akin to the DMV with govt medical care.....and I just do now trust MY health to the bloated mechanisms of the govt bureaucracy .....

That's not even getting into the politics that would inevitably get involved.

And the US....we could not afford it for everyone, hell we can't afford the US health care we DO have....Medicare and Medicaid....too bloated, too $$$ and just horrible to have to deal with....

Sure we need to fix the private industry....lots to be done there, but the govt is NOT the answer I want.

Hell.....who'd want to have govt run medical centers right now with a govt shutdown going on....?

No thanks.

we have seen more de-regulation, more tax cuts, more gutting of labor

Ah....isn't it GREAT???

Thank God we've gotten them in office periodically to roll back the government some....

We need more of this IMHO.....