That's pretty much a distinction without a difference.

I was thinking the same thing. I doubt there's a lot of real money that anyone can call savings due to a change like this, but I also think that a longer window between reporting might increase longer term thinking. If that were to happen, I would call it a net positive.

Just so you know, St Croix is part of the US. That's why it's called the "US Virgin Islands". :)

But I hear you. Different places have different quality bags. The Kroger delivery ones are super thick. You can put a 20pk of 16oz drinks in it and it will survive fine. Those are our go-to for reuse. The ones on island are pretty thick too, but that's also because they're built to last since they're sold rather than given away as a default.

EVs are an acquired taste for sure. I don't blame anyone for not having one. I have a house, a garage, solar panels, and a garage that can fit 2 EVs and 2 distinct chargers. My charger of preference is Tesla even though I sold my Tesla cars in favor for the Ioniq 5's. You can chain 2 Tesla chargers on one 50 amp circuit with a communication cable and they will self balance the load to give the power to the car that needs it more.

Before I jumped into EVs in 2011, I was Hybrid starting in 2005. Toyota Prius is easily my favorite, and I'd recommend it to literally anyone interested in a hybrid. I had 4 over the years and never once had a single issue with any of them. The Ford C-Max was... ok... It had a bit more spunk in the acceleration, but the fit-and-finish always felt subpar vs the Prius to me.

Thought? Or hoped?

The cost to get to where we are now was astronomical too. The problem is that is a sunk cost that added up over time. So like someone who put in $500 to repair their car worth $1k, there's a innate resistance to believe what was already spent is lost and ignore that money when deciding what to do next. Imagine if people in the early 1900's were all like, "the cost to electrify everyone in the US is astronomical, we shouldn't even bother." The argument against net-zero is pretty much the same as that. You can't do it in a year, you do it over decades and the benefits accumulate over time.

I constantly reuse my plastic bags. On St Croix, where I often frequent, they even charge a fee for plastic bags at stores. We just save them and reuse them until they finally wear out. We even save the stronger ones that we get from Kroger delivery, and bring them with us for reuse. They are light, and make good filler in the suitcases anyway.

I have 2 EVs at home, and have personally been fully EV since 2011. I didn't do it because of the environment, I did it because they drive better, they are nicer, and never having to visit a gas station outside of needing windshield wiper cleaner is a huge plus for me. The fact that they are better for the environment is simply another plus, not my main decision driver. In no way, shape, or form do I feel or act "poor". I also simply choose not to be purposefully wasteful when it is so low effort not to be.

I wish that message wound sink in for the decision makers without having to wait out the entire process.

"But Billy, you need to understand... We thought we all would be dead before Man-Beast-Pig came back." -- South Park (Grandpa)

For a sizable portion of America's past, many of these jobs weren't done by workers, they were done by slaves. Once slavery ended, but legal slavery was enacted via the prison pipeline, many of the high effort / "low pay" jobs went to prisoners (who were basically slaves again). States, such as California still use prisoners as labor in roles such as firefighting and pay them so little they can't buy a value meal at McD's after a day of labor putting out wildfires. Later, Chinese and Irish immigrants would often do these types of jobs because, like current illegal ones, they could be exploited. Plus, let's not ignore the whole child labor parts of the US history, lest states try to bring back the practice...

It's a lot of whitewashing of history to pretend "Americans have done these jobs for centuries" or to pretend anyone has any interest in raising the wages in a way that would convince citizens to do them.

It can if you add in the CO2 that is also emitted by the fuel source created to heat or burn the polysterene. Possibly that accounts for the massive increase?

When I was 18, was working at a manufacturing company that built electronic scales for grocery stores. When I was doing the final testing, something wasn't working correctly so I naturally started with pushing down all the cables to check to make sure they were fully seated. I wasn't an idiot, even then, and had been sure to both turn it off and unplug it before I started the diagnostics. What I didn't think about was the amount of time it takes a capacitor to bleed out. Hand came in contact with a high voltage capacitor. First came the pain and then a "fun" tingling sensation for the next several minutes. Remember kids... Voltage hurts, Amperage kills.

Heh, well... Judges and lawyers who have tried AI on-the-job have not been doing well and sanctioned for it.

I've made this same point myself. When I was at Google I/O, I sat down for lunch with a table of Google engineers. AI came up, and the topic of jobs came up. I asked, "Let's say AI does actually replace the people that you think it can, after a few years, where does AI get the training data to keep up, or will we have a new wave of humans-replace-AI stories coming?"

To their credit, they confirmed that's a concern that no one seems to have figured out, and no one seems actively paying attention to simply because that's a "tomorrow problem".

In fact, decades ago Isaac Asimov actually foresaw a problem exactly like this in the story The Feeling of Power.

In most cases, the two sides can understand each other "enough" to complete the interaction without any AI. See also any grocery delivery or Uber driver in FL. The reason interpreters are needed is exactly because "most cases" don't require it, but when the case does require it, it's a really big deal when the wrong option is chosen. Interpreters even understand the subtly enough to know when to pause and ask a clarifying question. AI just powers through as if it knows it all.

Think interpreters especially. They're used in often politically charged scenarios between potentially unfriendly actors where a realtively simple misunderstand can have huge consequences. This quite literally happend between Couch F**ker and Zelenskyy a few months ago. Zelenskyy tried to speak English because it's well known Trump doesn't like interpreters, made a mistake, and Couch F**ker blew up on him in an entirely inappropriate, but consequential way. AI didn't even have to be involved for this to happen, but imagine the shit storm if it was.

LLMs are also not attached to specific point of view and do not care if they upset someone with their output

cough Grok nerfing cough ... The LLMs might not care, but the ones with the capacity to mindfuck them might...

Take what happening in Israel right now - no historian would touch it because of how controversial the subject is

Well, sure. But not for what you cite. Rather, it's not history yet as it's ongoing and the full details are still in flux.