>"Unfortunately, it's becoming increasingly likely that every other damn site on the internet is going to make you show ID, all because parental control settings are too much of a hassle."

Which is why approval to access a site or not needs to be under parental control on the devices, themselves. It should not be the responsibility of every single site on the Internet.

The "solution" is *NOT* to pick a few sites and force every adult to "ID" themselves. Children should not have access to unrestricted Internet-connected devices when not supervised by a trusted adult. That needs to be the new cultural norm and expectation. In my view, the parents (or their agents) allowing otherwise are guilty of possible child neglect or abuse.

>"Too many people major in a subject they like, instead of ones that are in demand."

It is more complex than that. Also, too many people major in a subject that is in demand FOR WHICH they ALSO have no interest and no talent. They end up dropping out, or getting by and hit the workforce and are pretty much useless. I have seen it. Having a "degree" is not a golden ticket to a happy and productive career. I am not sure if ever has been, but it is especially less so as each decade goes by.

So:

1) Determine what interests you.
2) Determine what your skills and strengths are.
3) Determine where #1 and #2 overlap.
4) Determine what the jobs market is like.
5) Determine the overlap between #3 and #4.
6) Determine if a college degree is even necessary for #5
7) And if it is, match your realistic ability to pay now/later with which school/college/whatever.
8) Do it.

>"Problem is few high school seniors are informed enough to make this decision, and we are seeing the results."

Bingo

It is a lot of work, and it is something high-school guidance counselors and parents are not doing enough of or well-enough. And we need to start holding colleges at least partially financially responsible for the real-world outcomes of their offerings (which degrees, which subjects, which students to admit to them, how well they actually learned, and what assistance was given to get a job in that field).

>"The lawsuit says that Juliana was using the app without her parents' knowledge or permission."

Let's be real about this. We all know that the parents very likely had NO KNOWLEDGE OR PERMISSION about ANYTHING that child was doing on those devices. They probably gave her a phone and/or tablet and/or computer with full (or nearly full) access to the Internet to do whatever she wanted and install any app she wanted and communicate with any stranger she wanted. This is THE NORM right now and has been for many years. **THAT** is the main problem.

You CANNOT approach this problem with a no-list or blacklist mentality. You can't expect the problem to be solved by pointing at a few aspects/apps/sites to be responsible or magically restrict things to be safe. It isn't just a "social media" problem, or "AI problem", or "violence/porn/whatever site" problem.

It has to be approached with a whitelist mentality- these are the few things that are safe to install/use, the few people that are safe to communicate with, the few sites that are safe to visit, and everything else is ACCESS DENIED without active adult supervision. Scale and adjust based on age/maturity.

>"The battery heater in BEVs does NOT use water-based coolants at all because of the risk in case it leaks. Instead, they use glycol."

That generalization is not correct. My Ariya uses regular antifreeze:

"The cooling system is filled at the factory with a pre-diluted mixture of 50% Genuine NISSAN Long Life Antifreeze/Coolant
(blue) and 50% water to provide year-round antifreeze and coolant protection. The antifreeze solution contains rust and
corrosion inhibitors. Additional cooling system additives are not necessary."

There are two circuits and two tanks which both use the same type of traditional coolant. One for the battery system and one for the electric drive train. The battery coolant circulates below the battery pack and is used both for cooling and heating the battery pack.

>"Tesla even has a sensor that will disable the HV battery if it detects a conductive liquid in the battery loop."

Not all EV's are Teslas.

>"I recently got a mobility scooter. Its speed is limited to 4mph. Maybe e-bikes should be limited thusly. Slow everyone the fuck down."

Um, 4mph is unreasonably low for any type of bicycle. That is just brisk walking speed. Had you said 10mph, I would probably agree. One of the purposes of riding a bike instead of walking is save some significant time.

In any case, if it is a true "e-bike" then you can't really limit speed, you can just limit how much assistance to pedaling effort. So a 10mph limit would just mean it would no longer assist you if you try to go above 10mph. You can still go faster with human effort...

That is, unless you want the motor to be programmed to work AGAINST you after a certain speed. But regular bicycles have no such limits, so doing that would be strange. I don't think such a move/restriction would be accepted as rational.

>"In July 2025, Dongfeng and Nissan formed Dongfeng Nissan [wikipedia.org]. One of the products coming from its assembly lines is - tada! - the Nissan Ariya."

My understanding is it just means that Dongfeng is licensed the ability to PRODUCE the Ariya (or other CMF stuff) for their own market. It was designed by Nissan and the ones available/sold in the West, NZ, and Australia are built in Japan.

>"The amount of times my browser has stumbled across an actual mkv file is still approximately zero."

I converted all my home videos and other stuff to MKV containers years ago. But I haven't really had to the need to point my browser at them directly. Yet, it is still a great thing they are adding MKV support, even if this initial support is a bit limited.

>"The question being: Will you be able get an U.S. or Japanese EV then which is not based on Chinese technology?"

I did. I just bought a Nissan Ariya a few months ago. 100% Japanese (and packed with lots of nice design and features). And the new Leaf is coming out soon with a major redesign and using a lot of the upgraded technology found in the Ariya.

>"And does it make sense to keep up a mindset adapted to internal combustion engines in an era of electrical cars?"

If you mean to have long-term parts and support, YES. Because I don't drive much, my car needs to last for many years to justify the purchase cost. My last car was 16 years old and had only 43,000 miles on it (and in very good condition). I can't think of a car as "disposable" or being replaced every 5 years, that would make zero sense for my type of use case.

Agreed 100%.

>"Beer Drinkers Are Mosquito Magnets"

Well, that doesn't explain MY problem with them. I have never consumed alcohol, and mosquitos seem to target me more than anyone in any group, my whole life. I absolutely hate them and wouldn't shed a tear if the entire species disappeared forever. I know there are other factors that might put me in that 20% of people "irresistible to mosquitos"

https://www.verywellhealth.com...

That is a "bump stock", which is different than an automatic weapon. It does increase the speed of fire more than repeatedly pulling the trigger. But it is much slower than a true automatic and less precise, as well. An M16 fires twice as fast as an AR-15 with a bump stock. The Supreme Court ruled a bump stock does not make a rifle an "automatic", ending Trump's ban of them.

https://www.krgv.com/news/gun-...

>"FFP2, FFP3, N95 are not respirators, they are standards."

They are standards for respirators. Generally, respirators create a seal to the face and masks do not. I have worked with dozens of various types.

>"if a device meeting the standard is strapped to your face, then it is a mask."

Nobody in the medical field (at least in my experience in the USA) calls a procedure mask or surgical mask a "respirator" nor a respirator a "mask."

https://www.fda.gov/medical-de...

>"Every mask examined ... leached microplastics, but it was the FFP2 and FFP3 masks -- marketed as the gold-standard protection against the transmission of the virus"

FFP2, FFP3, N95 are not "masks", they are respirators. And yes, they are the gold-standard because they actually work when fitted, worn, and handled properly. And they were probably a very, very tiny fraction of the trillions of mostly ineffective face coverings used.

Nova Launcher is/was a great app. I used it for years on a few different phones to have a SANE launcher that worked when phone manufactures had to muck around with their launchers to the point they were stupid, slow, buggy, and yet very limited.

That said, I haven't needed Nova Launcher since I moved to Samsung phones/tablets, because the launchers have worked properly for many years now.

It is a shame the project is being destroyed.

>"I am not a gun guy, so I don't even know the diff between semi/fully."

It is fairly simple. A semi-automatic will fire a round each time the trigger is pulled. A full-automatic (or just "automatic") will continuously fire rounds, as fast as possible, as long as the trigger is held in. A "select fire" is [almost always] a rifle, and can be changed between semi-automatic and automatic (and sometimes "burst") modes with a selector on the weapon.

>"What I do know is rifles semi/full are the ones responsible for the really deadly ones."

Only semi-automatics, when it comes to mass shootings. Full automatic rifles have not been documented in any mass shooting. Yes, semi-automatic rifles are, generally, far more potentially deadly than handguns because they are much easier to control, are more accurate, have larger ammunition options, and higher velocities. Their main drawbacks are large size and weight, and lack of concealability.

>"Semi-automatic assault weapons have been used [...]"

There is nothing special about the nebulously so-called "assault weapons". For all intents and purposes, they are just modern, semi-automatic rifles. It is just the appearance and a few accessory features that end up having a scary label placed on them. A modern, semi-automatic hunting rifle is just as deadly, shoots and loads at the same speed, but it is less "scary" looking.

>"he chose a semiautomatic rifle because itâ(TM)s âoevery deadly.â"

As opposed to a manual rifle? Those are pretty rare.

>"Growing up in the 60's were even semi auto's available?"

Yes. Since 1885. But it took several more decades to become more available and standard.

>"As a kid, a rifle meant a 22, which I think I fired once in my life at a camp, and it seemed like a pretty slow fire rate, but that was a very long time ago and I was a kid."

A ".22" is just the caliber. That doesn't denote if it is semi-automatic or not. Nor if it is a rifle or pistol.

A non-semi-automatic (manual/single shot) weapon requires the user to cycle the mechanism (to eject the spent cartridge and load the next one) by hand, before the trigger can be pulled again. There are lots of semi-automatic 22 pistols and rifles, as well as many other calibers, and also shotguns.

>"Just looked there is a report https://abcnews.go.com/US/memo... [go.com] that the pistol was fully automatic [...]
Apparently the "Glock switch" is easy to add afterwards.

That is not a true automatic weapon. The so-called "Glock Switch" is for handguns (pistols) only, and it is an illegal modification. The resulting weapon is usually much WORSE for defense (and effective offense) because it is inaccurate and difficult to control.