Ok thanks for the SPR definition, etc.

Yes, we are more car dependent than the 70's, but thats only because we're a larger country, more populace more cities than the 70s

I grew up in the 70's....and to my eyes, it isn't much different as far as requiring a car to live....never in my lifetime has there been any meaningful public transit anywhere I've lived across the US, but it isn't like anyone I've ever known missed it, etc.

Just normal way of life here.....I started working at restaurants when I was about 16yrs....saved my money and bought my first car (with some parental help) as a senior in High School.....and got that first taste of independence ..

I just thank GOD there was no social media back then and we didn't have cameras everywhere....ugh.

But the US has always in modern times been car centric....to see when it was not you'd likely have to look back about 100 years....

At least some of this will be stress. If you're enjoying something, then you won't be stressed. If you're feeling positive and delighting in what you do, then you won't be stressed in unhealthy ways. This looks similar to the Mozart Effect, which turned out to be that if you liked something, your brain functioned better.

Yes, charging around the stage playing rock music isn't exactly gentle, but it IS extremely good exercise for the heart and the rest of the body. Again, that's going to have positive effects.

(We can ignore Keith Richards in this model, as he's older than the universe and only created it as a place to store his guitars.)

I don't need 1000 miles. 600 (unencumbered) is definitely sufficient, and 500 might be okay. The thing is that I'll lose half to 2/3 of that range when towing my camp trailer, and that's not even considering that I'm typically towing it up into the mountains, gaining ~5000 vertical feet. I also need minimum 12k pounds of towing capacity and I'd like a little headroom, so call it 16k, and the bed payload has to be able to take at least 2000 pounds, because that's how much the trailer puts on the fifth-wheel hitch.

I'm anxiously awaiting an EV pickup that can do this. I'd love to have essentially unllimited electricity to buffer cloudy days (I have 1 kW of solar panels on the trailer and on sunny days they generate way more than enough, but consecutive cloudy days can leave be difficult).

3/4 ton and 1-ton gas and diesel pickups typically have oversized fuel tanks that provide about 600 miles of range, because that's what you actually need when you start hauling or towing significant loads. I don't think an EV pickup needs to have more range, but it needs to be comparable, and to be able to tow and haul comparable loads.

I'm not anti-EV by any means. I bought my first EV in 2011, and have had electric cars ever since. Trucks are a different sort of problem, though.

That's getting there, though I'd like to see some driving tests with a good-sized fifth wheel at highway speeds. The towing capacity is probably okay, though it provides very little headroom for when I'm towing both my camp trailer (~8k) and my boat (~3.5k), which I actually do several times each summer. But I think the payload capacity is too small to tow the trailer, which puts about 2000 points on the truck.

A few years back, I went to a local community college...paid a few dollars to "apply" to take some grad courses.....sent transcripts, etc....I think a total of maybe $50 to apply.

For that I got a student ID with picture...and NO DATEs on it.

I also got an .edu email address. I've not used that in ages, but likely could reactivate it with some phone calls.

But that ID alone has saved me a TON of money over the years getting educational rates and prices.

Check to see what your local colleges put on their IDs and you might find it worth it to do the same.

It's going to get substantially higher than $4. I think it could end up pushing 7 bucks. Historically, the US has tolerated recessions more lightly than it has gas above 5 bucks. So this is a really really big deal, not least because demand destruction through mode shifting is much less tenable than in the 70s due to greater car dependency, and the SPR is already extensively drawn down ahead of winter. A whacking great recession may well be on the way.

Maybe that high in the "weird" states that overtax and have massive regulations on formulation, etc.....but here in the New Orleans...TX area, I don't see it getting that expensive.....

I don't get from you response one thing clearly...are you saying we had greater car dependency in the 70's or we have it now?

Also, what is "SPR" please?

I just don't see an electric bike/motorcycle holding any interest whatsoever to me...I LOVE my regular motorcycle....the sounds, smells, mechanical vibrations and with all the controls, clutches, going through gears, etc....it's all part of a visceral feel that you only get from a real motorcycle.....

Just pulling a throttle on a silent EV "motorcycle"....even though it might launch you into the future....will not have the same appeal...

Jensen Huang to college grads: "Run. Don't walk" toward AI

https://www.axios.com/2026/05/...

Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang told graduates at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh yesterday that demand for AI infrastructure is creating a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to reindustrialize America and restore the nation's capacity to build."

Why it matters: With many college grads fearing AI could obliterate their career dreams, Huang pointed to boundless opportunity as a "new industry is being born. A new era of science and discovery is beginning ... I cannot imagine a more exciting time to begin your life's work."

Nvidia, which makes AI chips, is the world's most valuable company. Huang told 5,800 recipients of undergraduate and graduate degrees that the AI buildout will require plumbers, electricians, ironworkers, and builders for chip factories, data centers and advanced manufacturing facilities.

"No generation has entered the world with more powerful tools â" or greater opportunities â" than you," he said. "We are all standing at the same starting line. This is your moment to help shape what comes next. So run. Don't walk."

"Every major technological revolution in history created fear alongside opportunity," Huang added. "When society engages technology openly, responsibly, and optimistically, we expand human potential far more than we diminish it."

Full speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

I wonder how many people on this site can ride a motorcycle. They have lots of opinions about the clutch, though.

I do. Just about a year ago, I bought a 2023 Indian Chief Bobber (dark horse edition)....just shy of 1900 CC of pure fun.

I could not imagine buying an electric motorcycle....even with all the things they may try to emulate.

There's now way they can simulate how a big V-Twin rumbles at idle or roars with gas......no way an electric can simulate that zen as you become one with the road and a mechanical beast.

Why go to all the trouble with fake clutches and sound effects and shaker motors....to simulate what is already simple there with an ICE motorcycle.

Without even going into real range anxiety (bikes cannot carry large batteries)....it's just the experiences.

The sounds and smells and feel of a real bike....every time I jump on mine, it's an adventure.

I had mine a couple months and removed the slip on exhaust parts and replaced with some "shorties"....now it sound just right....I can't imagine changing the mp3 recording on an EV bike would be quite so rewarding.

Around here you have your summer car and your winter beater. Sure you drive the winter beater all year round to pickup landscaping materials and such, but your summer car never hits those pot holes and salt.

Where do you live where you have "winter" and "summer" cars...??

I've never even heard of such a thing......

Hello from New Orleans....

Hell...still better than an Iran with nuke.....

We can wait them out....$4 gas isn't that big a deal....

Agreed. My sedan has been electric for nearly a decade now, but I'm still driving a diesel pickup (1-ton, though a 3/4 ton would be sufficient) because EV pickup range is inadequate -- and I think it may be inadequate for a while. I need 250 miles of range when towing a trailer, which means I need ~500 -- maybe 600 -- miles of range without.

I'm not generally a fan of hybrids, but I think plug-in hybrids with large-ish batteries may be the sweet spot for a while with pickups. The Dodge Ramcharger is looking really good to me, though I'd like to see them make a 2500.

It is effective at reducing staff cheaply, but it has a huge downside, shared with most attrition-based schemes for reducing payroll: The best employees are also the ones who find it the easiest to leave. The worst employees are also the ones who will grit their teeth and hold on to the bitter end.

It's harder and more costly (in the short term) to do targeted layoffs which allows the company to target low-performers, or those who are low performers relative to their cost. It's the better choice, though.

Lots of the top performers will.

Most posters seem to be assuming it's a scam. I can't possibly think of a reason why they might think that. (A few million, yes, but getting it down to one is hard.)

However, that's almost by the by. It's rated for 5G. 5G is old. 6G is the new standard and WiFi 6 has been around for a while now. If you're actually serious about designing a new phone from scratch, and have not yet released it, you'd almost certainly want it to be 6G-capable. Nobody in their right minds designs for yesterday's standards, when they're going to be competing with tomorrow's products.

This, to me, is far far more important than whether or not it is real. If you're designing a product for a market that's on its way out, you've got a serious problem. If you're clamouring for a product that's designed for a standard that could be phased out by the time you see it, then you're not thinking straight.

Why does this matter, if the product isn't real anyway? First, we don't know it's not real, we shouldn't assume that. But, second, it means that nobody thought it was worth bothering with taking the potential customers seriously. The customers are merely meat with cash. That's not an attitude I can respect. Whichever vendor is making these phones is worthy only of my utmost contempt.

The problem isn't the population. Bedrock can handle more than that. London isn't sinking because of all the people (and London is huge!), it's sinking because the ice sheet that pressed the Highlands deep into the crust has been gone for the last 10,000 years, resulting in the entire island tilting back to where it naturally should be. You could move London's population into the Great Glen and it would not make the slightest difference - London would still be sinking. The ice sheets were a whole lot heavier than a few tens of millions of people.

(Ok, it would make a difference. If the rich people actually lived in Scotland, the transit system and public services would see a thousand percent improvement inside a week. If they were also forced to speak Gaelic, English would vanish in a month.)