Compared to what? Acrobat Reader?
I use Linux and Adobe stopped providing updates to the Acrobat Reader port several years ago, there is no PDF reader under Linux which covers all the many "features" Adobe inserted into the PDF specs so I'm quite happy with those which cover most of the bases.

Child safety and actual auto deaths are nothing when compared to the inconvenience of, y'know, changing the time you get up TWO WHOLE TIMES a year. THAT'S the REAL ISSUE. /sarcasm

People can't even complain they have to change their clocks, since easily 95%+ get their time from their phones or computers that auto-set anyway.

As someone who's been on VOIP for around 8 years now, what's wrong with that?
This is VOIP over cable, cable which was originally laid down for cable TV.
My internet plan is good for 300Mb (I could get 1Gb if I needed it). Most of the time it will actually give me 350, but occasionally something goes wrong and it drops to single digit speeds. It costs me in the region of $60 monthly including 5G mobile.

> radical increase in legal wage floors
The Federal minimum wage remains unchanged.

Notice how I didn't say anything about the Federal minimum wage?
30 states + DC (basically, the blue ones) have implemented minimums of $15 and higher, some of those nearly doubling their previous $8 rates.

Pls, show me where QE or QE-like policies were implemented in 2001? The Fed rate was cut, but they didn't print money like drunken sailors in 2008, 2010 (less so), and 2012. What incompetent wastrel was president each of these times, again? I'm not even arguing 2008 due to the crisis (I still disagree with it, but my job isn't to get re-elected either). But democrats perhaps need to stop trying to print themselves out of every crisis, maybe?

I don't get your point about qe vs money to 'ordinary people'? I prefer NO increase in M1 no matter in whose pockets it lands. Whether it's largesse to billionaires or 'hardship checks' to 200m 'ordinary' people, THAT INCREASES INFLATION.

And no, it WAS $1trn, or as close as matters:
I see:
1) (CARES Act, 2020): Up to $1,200/adult + $500/child. Total: ~$300b.
2) (Dec. 2020 / Consolidated Appropriations Act): Up to $600/adult + $600/child. Total: ~165b.
3) (American Rescue Plan, 2021): Up to $1,400/person incl dependents Total: ~$410b.
I callt it about $900b, the GAO tallies $931 billion across roughly 165 million recipients

(https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-106044)

This is DIRECT PAYMENTS to people.

Stupid Keynesians actively validating the damned gold-bugs.

You can't just stop and ask for directions, can you? Just this once?

Yeah but which of these can I do from my chair while reading slashdot, mr smarty-pants?

Not sure this is really news. Well, except that Texas has stopped buying American.

"if they can accuse important people without evidence and make them spend time and money"

So, for example, dredging up (in a suitable venue ofc) some ancient bimbo who diddled some rich guy in a dressing room (though she can't remember exactly when, or what she was wearing, and....well... She does admit to finding rape kinda sexy before she's dragged off the air), carefully not bringing the case to criminal court? Like that?

"... the way that the Federal reserve deals with that is every few years they crank interest rates. "

What?
That's absolutely the opposite of the data.

The US has generally had - aside from ww1/WW2, and the explosive 1970s - an inflation rate of 3-3.5% since 1900.

The last 25 years have had extraordinarily LOW inflation until the literal shoveling of money toward the public during COVID. ($5t in "assistance" including $1.8t in DIRECT payments).
Couple that with an insistence on the radical increase in legal wage floors across the country - how would those policies (which, I recall, you militantly supported) NOT be inflationary?

It's hypocrisy to blame "the Federal Reserve" for the logical, predicted outcome of the policies you have rather militantly endorsed.

If even he thinks AI is dubious, you know AI is bad news.

"only 60% of Americans know how to drive a manual transmission (according to a survey from auto parts retailer AmericanMuscle)"

1) that seems like 60% of the readers of American Muscle
2) 'know how to' is covering a lot of ground here. "Knows how to start a stick, and how to probably get it moving from level ground with 25% of killing it" maybe. Can confidently and reliably drive with a stick, knowing basic techniques? 25% or less, certainly.

Having a stick shift is 100% the simplest security system you can have on a car in the US in 2026. Your car might still get broken into, but they'll abandon it quickly.

Lol

Unfortunately, afaik red dwarf stars are so cool that any planet in their liquid water zone are also almost certainly tidally locked.
Not saying that doesn't make it habitable (as ample science fiction authors have imagined alternatives) just that that might make the challenge harder.

Then again, life finds a way.

First, let's note the referenced article IS A SALES PITCH.
Second, electrical outages are a normal thing in a storm prone country. The "outages" aren't news, it's only meaningful if they're growing more frequent.
The article asks plaintively "is this the new normal" without ever establishing what the old normal was.

When taking into account the higher population and higher electrical demand per person, are large blackouts becoming more common in the US?
Per ai: no.

"The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) tracks Bulk Power System (BPS) performance annually in its State of Reliability (SOR) reports. Key takeaways from the 2025 SOR (covering 2024 data):

The BPS "remains highly reliable and resilient." Core metrics like frequency response, misoperations, and many transmission outage categories are stable or improving.
Severe weather (hurricanes, winter storms) caused the most impactful outages, as in prior years. In 2024, events like Hurricanes Helene and Milton led to millions of (mostly distribution-level) customer outages, but BES restoration was often faster than historical averages for similar storms due to hardening efforts. No major operator-initiated load shed during key winter events.
There were notable events, but the Severity Risk Index (SRI) and other indicators do not show a clear upward trend in frequency or severity of large-scale BPS disruptions when viewed over multiple years. Distribution outages (local, below 100 kV) are more visible to customers and can be widespread, but they are outside NERC's primary jurisdiction."

I fully agree our policies toward the increasingly critical electrical grid infrastructure are incoherent. That's said: quit buying into advertisers insisting the world is ending and here's some snake oil that will fix it.