Looking at the methodology and results, it seems that the researchers chose a monoculture (the USA) and that the results they got, reflect the concerns and weaknesses of that.

I suspect that if they conducted the same survey in a country that had a free health service (or a very low cost one) then the priorities would be very different. Likewise, if they performed the same analysis in an autocratic country, their results would be skewed by that, too.

Yes, and people ride horses, walk, use pencils to write words, grow gardens, and knit sweaters. What's your point?

potentially making spam emails easier to identify in a sea of unread messages.

Apart from some rigorous courses where it is important to separate best from the mediocre, it probably doesn't matter.
For many arts and humanities courses, that don't have demonstrable facts and everything is based on consensus and opinion, giving everyone an A is probably an honest assessment. At least it removes the human element and avoids conflict with students who feel they should have got a better mark

It also seems to me that when someone calls, it is not because the call will benefit me, but because they want something.

And this non-expert attributes the trend to the number of SPAM phone calls. Trying to sell things that nobody wants. Or tricking you into committing to something.

So that would be considering the PR disaster rather than the purely financial cost?

Maybe playing video games turn good looking people into uglies?

Most EV chargers stop (or become impractically slow) to fully charge a battery. Leaving the battery with only 80% of its advertised capacity.
Plus, to account for the unavailability of public chargers in a working condition, it is wise to never allow your vehicle to drop below 20% charge. So in reality you only get 60% of the advertised range. And then, that is in ideal conditions. Add extra weight (passengers) and turn on the air-con and you will be lucky to get further than half the distance the manufacturer claims.

Isn't that process a major part of the problem

The authoritative DCRainmaker recently wrote:

"The activity band market continues to wane, both for Garmin and others. For a company like Fitbit however, they can still convert millions of existing long-term Fitbit band users to a new unit. Thus it’s worthwhile to invest in that form factor. Whereas Garmin appears to have made the accounting calculus that it’s just not worth investing in anything more than a basic rebranding as a new model. And frankly, if I was in Garmin’s shoes – I might make the same decision based on the current market realities. Or more likely, I’d simply have put my resources elsewhere.

Suck it up and get a Fitbit Inspire 3 (on sale) nobody will be supporting us geezers for long. Get it while you can. (Like buying a new US car with a manual transmission)

After expressing my thoughts on the clouds, I usually turn to police helicopters. Personally, I hate them.

I believe the police love them. Why? They are fun, it's cool to see stuff and have the feeling of power and control flying above others, and is a financial incentive to have them up in the air with "flight time" as opposed to sitting in a hanger.

I want ten thousand drone flights prior to a single police helicopter flight. Ten thousand drone flights primarily will save citizens a ton of money in policing costs. Being less "fun" and without the financial incentive of flight time they will have a disincentive for overuse. Privacy? Eh, who cares.

Lastly, and most critically, other than the full-throated love and expressions of need for police helicopters from members of law enforcement, there is no evidence at all that forces who freely use police helicopter show a reduction in crime. Zero.

Wildly fun, feels great, makes money, sure. Reduces crime, no.

China's intentions towards Taiwan are idealogical, not driven by a desire to control (or destroy) the world's supply of microchips.
So while disabling Taiwan's ability to produce sounds smart it isn't much of a deterrent.And with China already operating with an embargo on western technology, such a move would just reduce western technology down to their level. But without having the two or three years to adapt to the situation, as China currently has.

The same happens with smart TVs. In the showroom or the online seller's website, they list loads of features, apps and streaming options.
You take it home and sure, for a time they all work as advertised. Then the free subscriptions run out. Then the TV get a forced OTA update and loses a few features. Then the streaming apps mysteriously can't connect any more.
And long before the warranty expires (which only covers the hardware, not all the services that were prominently advertised) the TV is nothing more than a dumb panel with maybe a terrestrial aerial connection and some HDMI ports.

Hmm,

Just as GM announces the very highly rated, reliable, and economical Bolt is off the market, and their brethren at Ford rolls out their massive F-150 Lightening sales drop off in California. (What's that you say? American auto manufacturers profits went up during that window? That's peculiar)