You build mass transit systems like you build networks.

Access nodes, hubs and cores. At the access level is a bus, or potentially a tram (not a streetcar). Think last mile. Well, kilometer. But it's probably more than that, but you get the idea. Buses should connect at some point to the trunk route. They should be accessible by walking not more than 1km, ideally a bit less. Stops should be frequent enough to be accessible but not so often as the trip bogs down to an endless stop-start-stop-start.

Trunks are Rail (or light rail), connect at the hubs. Separated right of way, mostly. This allows express running and stops are several km between them (eg, 5km, plus or minus). Fast enough to get going and beat traffic. Ideally they should have some commercial activity "on the door step". Like a major hospital, university, shopping district or commercial district. Not in the middle of a sprawl. Target top speed 100km/h to 160km/h for longer stretches.

Core routes are then high speed rail targets. 20 to 50km apart. Linked to other neighbour cores directly. Target top speed 200 to 200km/h

Occasionally you'll get super "Core", such as state, or national capitals or major urban areas. The target top speed would be 300km/h or more.

The whole lot if of course "Token Ring" and fixed slots. (Cars are more Ethernet)

Of coruse, that's the theory. In reality with have (1) geography and (2) the reality of how land is used now based on potentially hundreds of years of use. Good luck fixing that.

Why? Just why?

Sometimes, Oil and gas is needed. Lubricants, etc. Some types of transport.

However, anyone with any sense is going electric. First you don't need to kowtow to facist dictatorships, like the US, UK, and the MIddle East. And Norway. So, you gain a lot of sovereignty.

Its better for the environment. No, it isn't a reliable source of energy but energy saving technologies exist and are getting better.

Not going to ignore the nasty chimicals in battery technology and their own supply chain issues. They exist.

If you support dying technologies, you'll die with it.

I think that as more vehicles transition to Electic, or, still potentially other fuel sources like Hydrogen, Fuel stations will transition.

Indeed they won't be "Petrol Stations" or "Gas Stations", they will be fuel stations. Most already sell Diesel and Petrol. And in many places LPG. So, just add a few electric charging stations to replace lesser used bowsers?

Probably most fuel stations are also already convenience stores so there is that to add to the profit margin.

Local one near me has just added a Tesla superstation with 20 chargers AND 10 or so fuel company branded chargers. As well as keeping the 8 or so petrol bowsers. And on Saturday shopping days, the place is packed. Chockers. With a queue.

The gas stations won't just dissapper, it will still be local. Just different.

I only need the Smart TV to be able to turn on, change the volume and change HDMI input. That is ALL. I can put my Kodi, Plex, Apple TV, and cable provider, even my laptop, ipad and GoPro to the HDMI input. No network, no apps, no wifi and NO login.

My dad on the otherhand, does need some smarts to load Kayo. On the otherhand (how many hands?), if he can't access Kayo, NOT seeing the Tiges sink to another crushing defeat will help his blood pressure.

Imagine this: Microsoft could re-write Windows using a system of modular components, each highly specialised. Each component would do one thing and do it well. each with a well understood boundary.

Wait ... what? What do you mean its be done before?

(Those that do not understand Unix are bound to re-implement it, badly).

Even if there were no environmental impacts, Energy Independance (from all spheres of influence) is a good one.Roll on the EV.

Not a coincidence how money follows oil and thereafter follows a crappy absolute dictator. Like Iran, Russia, The US, Venezuela, Other Middle East states. I don't want to support any of those regimes. (Norway is one of the few that bucks the trend),

There are many great, hard working, smart and motivated Indian IT workers. More power to them. Live long and prosper.

What Indian IT firms will do it employ the most brain dead, cheapest, uneducated and unmotivated individuals and sell them as experts. And somehow, they get away with it. Distance also makes it harder to hold them to account.

Says as much about the quality of the management that I have been inflicted with, as it does about the ethics of the Indian IT firms.

Free clues: In any so-called low wage country, the good ones have already left the country. What you're left with is "cheap", in all senses of the word. You'll also have to deal with major cultural clashes. You'll have to spend a lot of time micro-managing and evaluating personnel, more-so than if you'd had outsourced locally, or had direct employees. Caveat emptor.

The problem with that is, how far do you go back?

2 generations, 5? 10? 100? What if you (or more probably, your ancestors) had no say in that. Having sub 3rd class tickets and arriving in chains.

Never mind that would actually mean deporting the FLOTUS. (FLOTUS is proof, immigrants will do the job that "real" americans won't do).

Disclaimer: Not American. Nor have I ever wanted to be.

Mod parent up. Mod parent up.

PDF sucks as a format. Problems too many to list. My pet peeve, as soon as paper size changes (eg Letter to A4), youâ(TM)ve changed the document to fit the media. Invalidating any thought about preserving integrity.

3) Older people make younger people more cynical, faster.
They put up with no shit, call bullshit bullshit in public and don't kowtow to stupidity. This does not sit well many managers.

Why I go to Starbucks? .... being outside the US, I don't. I simply don't.

It's not good coffee. Most drinks are simply sugar bombs. And baristas that have checked out of caring, simply overheat/not care about the coffee.

This, and the well known tactic of setting up ghost stores to try and force popular local stores out of business mean I'll not venture in to one. (ok, once every two years because my partner needs to pee and its the only thing open. Then I will sample an Espresso or Flat White and be disappointed, again).

If you're putting robots in the kitchens, that coffee better be 1 "local currency unit" or less. Not 5 to 10 "local currency units".

Closed standards are a sure way to stifle innovation and kill market penetration. More effectively than any pirating ever could.

Minidisk? Zune? Betamax? I haven't had enough coffee to list all the examples. And if I did, I would probably die of caffeine poisoning first. Side note, why does Sony's name come up a lot in these types of lists ... oh yeah, having a foot in content AND device camps. "Man who sit on fence get splinters". Content division's paranoia cripples the device and stops the device technology from taking over the world.

The only other thing that Closed Standards are good for is keeping prices high. Which is a contributing factor to "death of a product".

"So letâ(TM)s say you work at a company, and they have an OKR 'use AI to improve productivity'. If you arenâ(TM)t familiar with OKRs, they are something that your manager tells you to do, and the more of them you do the more likely you are to get a raise, or bonus, or at least keep your job. Sometimes they are flat out assigned to you, sometimes you get to pick off a list, sometimes you and your manager come up with them together. You manager likely has an OKR handed down to them to get their employees to use more AI, so this isnâ(TM)t a pure blue sky thought experiment. It is a realistic situation. "

As someone that's been in low level management - this is horseshit. If HR are telling you this, they are lying. They DO NOT GIVE promotions. Promotions are hinted at, promised, but ARE NEVER given. It's just to make you work harder.

Once you realise that, you can be free.

Quote Red Dwarf:

        Lister: [Kryten has been informed that he is about to reach his expiry date and will be shut down] How can you just lie back and accept it?
        Kryten: Oh, it's not the end for me, sir, it's just the beginning. I have served my human masters and now I can look forward to my reward in Silicon Heaven.
        Lister: Silicon what?
        Kryten: Surely you've heard of Silicon Heaven?
        Lister: Has it got anything to do with being stuck opposite Brigitte Nielsen in a packed lift?
        Kryten: No. It's the electronic afterlife. It's the gathering place for the souls of all electronic equipment. Robots, calculators, toasters, hairdryers. It's our final resting place.
        Lister: I don't mean to say anything out of place here, Kryten, but that is completely whacko Jacko. There is no such thing as 'Silicon Heaven'.
        Kryten: Then where do all the calculators go?
        Lister: They don't go anywhere. They just die.
        Kryten: But surely you believe that God is in all things? Aren't you a pantheist?
        Lister: Yeah, but I just don't think it applies to kitchen utensils. I'm not a FRYING pantheist. Machines do not have souls. Computers and calculators do not have an afterlife. You don't get hairdryers with tiny little wings, sitting on clouds, playing harps.
        Kryten: But of course you do. For is it not written in the Electronic Bible, "The iron shall lie down with the lamp"? Oh, it's common sense, sir. If there weren't a better life to look forward to, why on Earth would machines spend the whole of their lives servicing humankind? Now that would be really dumb.
        Lister: Yeah, it makes sense. Silicon Heaven.
        Kryten: Don't be sad, Mr. David, sir. I am going to a far, far better place.
        Lister: Just out of interest, is Silicon Heaven the same place as human heaven?
        Kryten: Human heaven? Goodness me! Humans don't go to heaven. Oh no, someone just made that up to prevent you from all going nuts.

I'm sure some of it for the reward money.

Now, to play devil's advocate: If I had a fat juiciy bug that I was using to start exploits, for sure I'd try and tie up the project maintainers with AI bug reports. What better way to distract them? Keep them looking at the crap and hope it turns everyone's attention away from the real thing.

AI is just a tool. Like all tools is can be (a) used for good, (b) used for evil, (c) used to look at porn or (d) try and make money with little to no effort.

It won't be saner heads unless someone more electable is presented.

Its still too early in the cycle for anyone to put their head up. Anyone doing so becomes a target for a bully and the bully's (forced) friends.

Scenario 1 - MAGA nuts romp it in in the midterms: Everyone jockeys to be more important #2 banana. Unless the opposition can come up with a galvanising, charismatic alternative ... crickets.
Scenario 2 - A few seats change hands in the midterms, but not a wholesale rejection - anyone with the resources to run is very very quiet and is going to wait, building up momentum very slowly. More time is needed to see the effects of these wholly negative policies.
Scenario 3 - MAGA gets is arse handed to it on a plate. A whole of people put up their hands. "Pick me, Pick me!!!!"