That would work, as long as making all prices in even dollars (always ending with .00) is mandatory and accompanied with sales taxes in multiples of 5%. Or, we can just get rid of all sales taxes, or make all sales taxes a multiple of 100%, and then set prices in multiples of $0.05.

Sure, there are skills that the young generation could use, but AM radio is not one of them as it's no longer a required skill in our society - other technology has replaced it (just like AM radio replaced couriers, or perhaps smoke signals). The word continually evolves, and certain skills just become obsolete. Radio tech got replaced by new alternatives. However, regardless of the reason why less and less people how what a radio is, mandating AM radio is just pointless, like mandating "one abacus per child" would be, or mandating rotary phones at every household. All were useful at some point, and to this day you could argue rotary phone could have an advantage over cell phones in an emergency situation (for one, they never run out of batteries), but gone are the days of hard-wired rotary phones.

If we want to wall off the US and be entirely self-sufficient, we need to prepare for the costs. Looking at other independent, self-sufficient countries gives a good glimpse of what it's like - North Korea, Cuba. Of course they became "self-sufficient" involuntarily because of the trade embargos, but self imposed trade barriers can do the same thing.

The threshold was probably picked due to the brokerage costs of assessing and collecting duties. I remember many years ago having something shipped from Canada (a jacket I forgot to take with me when I was visiting there). The used jacket was valued at $50. The duties were maybe $5, but the brokerage and assessment fees were $55. So I ended up having to pay an extra $60 in addition to shipping, for a $50 jacket I forgot to pack. Had I known that, I would have just told my family to send it to the landfill instead of paying to ship it to me. That was many years ago, I suspect the assessment and brokerage fees (and probably fees for collecting said fees) is even higher today.

AM radio is considered BY YOU safety equipment. Most Gen-Z have no clue what it is, or how to turn it on in cars which do have it. Other people may want a satellite emergency pager, flares, cell phone, satellite phone, bullet proofing of the car, maybe even a rifle - all could be considered safety equipment by some people. Where do you draw the line of which "safety equipment" everyone should be forced to buy for their cars?

Wow, that is some leap in logic. Let's see if I can continue with your hyperbole - by your extreme logic, we should design a perfect human DNA, then only allow human reproduction by cloning this perfect design. All other humans should be sterilized, or perhaps euthanized, to ensure there is no imperfect humans, because allowing those imperfect humans to exist would be evil, right?

Many acknowledged "geniuses" might be classified as having a disease (being in the wrong part of the autism spectrum for example). By definition, "normal" means average, so by genetically ensuring everyone is average, you would be eliminating potential progress. The problem in your logic is what is considered "deleterious genes". What about people who start revolutions? US would not exist had it not been for a revolution. Beethoven lost his hearing, something I am certain would be considered deleterious to composing music, yet his compositions live to this day as exceptional. Evolution requires diversity, and yes some divergent paths are dead ends, but eliminating all divergent paths is simply killing evolution, so we should not let humans decides what genes are deleterious.

Consumers should not buy anything that shouldn't need an internet connection to operate. Email, that needs to be connected. Baby crib, it does not (you should not be monitoring your baby from far enough that it's out of range of your home WiFi). There are many reasons not do to that. If it's internet connected, it relies on the company supporting it, upkeeping its servers, and yet, not charging you (or not raising your rates) to keep on using their products. Worse, internet connected means it can be hacked, I don't see ANY companies putting in writing they will cover all damages in case their devices get hacked. So best way not to get hacked, keep it off the internet. I get that internet connected devices may be cheaper, for example when shopping for a dishwasher not long ago I realized that the internet connected ones are actually less expensive, so in my mind I'd be paying with my data and/or dependence on the company and their service. I sprung for the non-internet connected - it had more buttons on its control panel, so perhaps some of the cost went to those buttons (the connected units required the phone app to access all the features, so they didn't need as many buttons).

Time machine for what? I bet the regulators had not clue about Porsche Macan or Cayman/Boxter (718) specifically, that were not very cybersecure, but it didn't stop them from passing regulation to require all cars to meet some minimum standard for security. How would requiring all power grid controls to also meet some minimum cyber-security standards be different? That would trigger a review of said grid controls, and perhaps someone would notice that they cannot check the "authenticated" and "encrypted" checkboxes.

Those researchers say they only considered turning off 60GW, but I wonder if they considered other possible attacks, turning loads/generators on/off at various frequencies, see if they could find a resonant frequency, or overload the grid, or whatever else. Sadly, I fall into the second category who is not surprised the control communications are unsecured. Come one EU, you recently implemented cyber security regulations for cars, forcing some manufacturer to not sell older, unsecured designs. Why not regulate this too? Grid is kind of an important strategic target. Or is government regulating government a no-no in EU?

There is no bidirectional EVSE, only bidirectional chargers. EVSE is a glorified extension cord with a bunch of require safety mechanisms, such as ground fault protection, communication (but no enforcement) of max current available, etc. EVSE delivers AC voltage to the car's onboard charger. A charger converts 240/120V AC to 400-1000V DC, bypasses car's onboard charger and charges the battery directly. Bidirectional charger can also draw DC from the vehicle battery and convert it to AC for home usage. Chargers are significantly more expensive than EVSE's, bidirectional chargers even more so.

5mA is over-sensitive, as it can occur in perfectly safe situations when charging cars outdoors. The auto reset is so that if a transient fault occurs, the car can continue to charge, without human intervention.

You may not care to install new app stores to access content. I don't care to have, and never had actually, a facebook/meta/instagram, X/Twitter, TikTok, accounts. However, a lot of people do, even when they are told they are giving away their data, which in turn can cost them real money through personalized targeted marketing, pricing, etc. So while there will be people who won't trust content from non-Apple store, many will eventually cave to be able to play with their friends. No different than people paying for multiple video streaming subscriptions, so they can access the series they want to watch. Furthermore, while today Epic is trying to attract people with free games, I can absolutely see them eventually charging a subscription for their app store which will grant you discounts on games, some free games, or perhaps both. Some newest games will then require the subscription to the app store, furthering the enshittification of games. Just like video streaming, except with potentially worse repercussions, because apps stores are granted security privileges no streaming app has today, meaning they have the potential to compromise your phone security.

They are trying to give people a reason to install their app store (free games). How long before other 3rd party app stores start doing the same? It will be like streaming services, more and more of them show up, and more and more content gets fragmented. How long before every large developer has their own app store to install to use their stuff?

Do they offer maximum downtime guarantees as part of the service contract? With monetary penalties of course for every hour of downtime above the guarantee. This machines make money for the hospital, so hospital can allocate fast response technicians, stock their own parts, to minimize down time. Once it's all exclusively done by the manufacturer, they control the downtime. As the sole provider and the manufacturer, they have the scale, so they could even provide temporary loaners if a repair requires longer time, or has to wait on parts, etc.