So, like, … maybe 50 or so smaller regions? And a few other mostly even smaller territories that don’t get those rights, just for funsies?

I joke, of course. But in seriousness: Are you suggesting the US just defederate and become more like, say, the EU? What are you anticipating that would solve? Moreover, what is it that makes it too big to be a democracy? Can large governments exist only in authoritarian forms? Why would that be?

Pro-business/anti-regulation types teamed up with the anti-abortion types around 50 years ago in order to get votes for their unpopular ideas, then they did everything they could to conflate the two ideologies to where Christians (the dominant religious group) now think Republican=Christian=Republican and thus ALL Republican ideas intrinsically align with their religion. I.e., Jesus was a capitalist rather than anything that’s actually in the bible.

Tl;Dr: propaganda and the natural human tendency toward in-group bias.

It was really only the OG Pebble and the Steel. It was resolved by using a different screen connector in the Pebble 2 and Time.

I’ve had multiple OG’s over the years and each have developed the tearing issue. It’s a fairly easy fix if you’re comfortable opening electronics, but obviously that’s not going to work for every customer of a mass market product…

No moving on here. I still wear a OG Pebble daily, and I’m super excited about this. I just wish they hadn’t chosen ‘Core 2 Duo’ like it hadn’t been the name of another product…

Most phones support multiple regions’ frequency bands, especially these days. Some don’t, probably mostly older ones. Manufacturers used to make different versions of the same model for different regions.

Are you me? Because this is me.

The iPhone keyboard requires 2 taps for punctuation, including periods. Americans (and iirc especially younger ones) use more iPhones than Android phones (don’t know about other countries, but OP indicated in a comment that they’re in the US). I’m not some old guy saying the youngsters are just lazy, but I do think the iPhone keyboard is a factor in how text-based communication has evolved.

Pleasing the copyright holders. I don’t know how it is for the Dutch national library, but with a system used by many libraries in the US there’s a cost to the library based on the number of times it’s checked out, so more revenue for the copyright holder and the digital middle man. Allowing you to have the e-book indefinitely would be, at least in their minds, no different than giving it away. 🤷

I needed a laugh. Let me know when you publish your first novel; I’ll be pre-ordering it.

And make it abundantly clear to everyone that you’re not suicidal. Record videos with date stamps. Send date stamped letters by mail to friends, with instructions to retain the letters indefinitely, and perhaps which are clearly marked “to be opened in the event of my death”. The letters should say something along the lines of “I am not suicidal. I do not want to die. I am not going to kill myself under any circumstances. If I die, it was not by suicide. I want to live. I have ABC reasons to live. I have XYZ plans for the future.” Etc.

Keep multiple copies of the information in multiple locations, and make sure multiple people know where a copy is. Ideally, have a dead-man’s switch set up, or someone you trust to do it, to automatically send all the information to all the major news outlets if you do turn up dead, along with a statement akin to the letter outlined above to make it clear you were murdered.

They also want the ability to make you agree to a TOS with an arbitration clause so you can’t sue them when your wife dies because they screwed up her food.

Yesterday, at a park, I saw some Patriot Front (a neonazi group) posters on two adjacent polls. One was something about the “American spirit” descending from “European blood”. The other said “America is for Americans”. Without a hint of irony.

As if Europeans didn’t immigrate but just popped out of the ground here, or something?

Racists aren’t known for their critical thinking skills.

That resulted in this weird situation, where the most prestigious facilities are just sport centers with a side hustle in education.

When the football coach is paid literally actually 100 times or more what the average professor is paid, we’ve royally fucked up our priorities. Coaches are making millions per year while adjunct professors are struggling to make ends meet. It’s disgusting.

Edited to add: the head football coach at my undergrad university makes 9 MILLION, PER YEAR. And his current contract runs through 2029. Let’s also not discuss how most of these contracts require they keep getting paid even if they’re fired for poor performance. Meanwhile, annual mean wage for a professor is like 80-90k.

I doubt before. They’re still hoping they can erase or villainize him. I expect the news media will ignore his trial in favor of whatever antics Trump or Musk are up to, and we won’t hear much about him until there’s a guilty verdict they can parade before the masses in order to dissuade them from copying him. If he does get mentioned, they’ll be trying to frame him in as negative a light as possible and downplay his motives. I also expect the big social media will censor discussion under the guise of not promoting violence, or simply shadow ban any mention of him.