You're asking the wrong question, you should be asking things more along the lines of:

"When is BO going to send humans to space for more than a few minutes?"
"When is blue origin going to send humans to orbit?"
"When is blue origin going to rendezvous and dock with a space station or other craft?"

For now, they've got an expensive carnival ride.

And... who's going to verify/certify/ensure that those appliances are actually as energy efficient as claimed?

Consumer Reports?

Who says they are the only candidate? The government has the NHTSA, while the private sector has the more rigorous IIHS. UL has done this kind

Speaking of UL... you realize that they are one of those who does the testing under the EngeryStar program, right? ex: https://www.ul.com/services/en...

If the program goes away tomorrow, no doubt they'd simply close their doors and never test energy efficiency again.

That's what I logged in to ask... what's the point of a scheme like this when blocking exists?

A couple of years ago I ordered a iPhone & case from T-Mobile, and one day a signature required box showed up with just the case in site. Upon investigation by T-Mobile & FedEx, it was found the box was light from the original warehouse, so someone must have screwed up and not put the phone in the box... but had scanned it as linked to my account. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I get an email noting that the IMEI of that phone had been permanently blocked and would not be activatable.

Sure, maybe some random carrier in far away country doesn't check those lists... but wouldn't Apple also block such a device?

Unless the something they decide to do is ban all guns, they won't do anything even remotely useful.

And if they did ban all guns... then what? Even if all police and military firearms were included in the ban... do we really think all guns everywhere in the United States would suddenly disappear? If successful at legislating a ban, and collecting all of the firearms which exist today... as seen here and plenty elsewhere, manufacturing of new ones is trivially easy, rendering the ban largely ineffective.

So, why make a big deal of it ?

Because it's the highest profile murder in the United States with a 3d printed firearm.

Also because it gives an opportunity for the politicians to say "We must do something about this immediately! Immediately! Immediately! Harrumph! Harrumph!"

It used to be the case that if you wanted to make your own semi-automatic then the receiver would be the hardest part to make

The reason the receivers are traditionally part which makes it legally a 'gun' on it's own is because more of tradition (it's how it's been for a long time) and the fact they usually have a flat surface where a serial number can be added. Yes, plenty of rifles & shotguns have stamped information on the barrel, even sometimes including a serial number, it's more work to do it there.

He likely let it because he was afraid of fingerprints tying him to the killing, but when he left DNA and fingerprints in the trash in/on his Starbucks water bottle

What do you think the chances his fingerprints or DNA were already on file somewhere AND associated with his identity? I'm guessing pretty low, so those only become a risk if he ever gets suspected and they find ways to take them (or force them).

Those whose fingerprints are permanently on file in different states/feds, either because of run-ins with law enforcement or regulations requiring them (certain positions of trust, concealed carry permit, etc) would be more careful, knowing that there is an easy way to get them.

Thankfully his biggest mistake was showing his face to the hostel clerk, making initial identification easier.

So where's the need / market for a saliva test anyway?

Accurately measuring a body temperature can be more invasive than the less precise ways. Urine tests are also rather inconvenient, urinating in a cup and all and sticking a test strip in and then having a urine covered test laying around for 5 minutes.

We use signatures as a security solution for vote by mail in more than a few states, 31 according to this PolitiFact article: https://www.politifact.com/fac...

When cars started becoming a thing banning horses and horse-and-buggy or wagon setups...

As acmena noted, nice strawman. We also ban bikes from some roads, and it has nothing to do with the preference of type of motive power, but safety at posted speeds. Care to try again?

One example: https://www.cspdailynews.com/f... [cspdailynews.com]

Did you read that article? I did, and you know what stood out to me? The word replacing/replace/replacements appeared four times. I specifically asked about the building of new stations to meet unmet demand, and even if we squint really really hard, you could try to make an argument that some portion of the money is going to build a new station or two, because someone somewhere really wants to buy biofuels... except that's not how the market usually works.

The ubiquity of gas stations in the United States isn't because the state or Federal government was handing out money or mandates left and right to require private businesses to convert to sell gasoline, or that they must must open a station at a particular location, it was businesses deciding to because they thought it would be a good venture.

Weird how that isn't the same in the bio-fuels space without government incentives...

Same thing that incentivizes landords to provide parking in the first place.

You mean... state & local government? ... at least until recently it was a widely mandated thing, which now is being thrown out: https://www.npr.org/2024/01/02...

Depending on the location, yes, some parking is provided because the builder/owner knows that it's needed and they won't be able to sell/rent places without it, in other places, it and the amount of it is mandated (and sometimes even limited) by the local governments.

Until/unless a condo or apartment complex is struggling to fill vacancies and can point to throngs of people showing up saying "I'd happily rent from you today, but only if you install enough EV chargers", they are likely to go the cheaper route and simply accept the money of those who are willing to pay without as many accommodations.

Now do fossil fuel subsidies.

Which ones exactly? Be specific. And if you're going to be honest, only call out those which *only* apply to the fossil fuel industry and not any other.

Remind me: Has the federal or state governments been seeking to ban one kind of automobile to support the purchase of their favored, petroleum burning ones?

Where are all the grants to build gasoline stations throughout the country to meet the unmet demand for them?

We are currently seeing the government attempt to pick winners and losers in an industry which came about because of consumer demand, which we've not seen the same kind of organic demand on the EV side for.

Because it's absolutely impossible for apartment owners to install chargers in their building's parking areas

What incentivizes apartment owners to do so? Are there really that many renters hounding their landlords for such a perk? Or will the government have to get involved to subsidize or mandate them, further proving that the modern EV is simply a government car.

I see it like "1999/20XX will be the year of Linux on the desktop!" with constant claims of why one tech is superior to another, simply expecting people to switch without ever honestly understanding why people have and will continue to stick with the other.

The government should completely get out of the system, let banks run it, which likely would tie continued funding to your grades.

While I tend to be in favor of the government getting out of... just about everything, the argument for government being in this system is that if it were up to the banks, only people with good co-signers with great credit are going to be able to get loans for their kids, and only non-traditional students who've already worked for a while and built up their own credit are going to be able to get loans themselves. In short, if left just to the banks, only those with money or age will be able to go to college.