In SE Michigan it doesn’t matter if you’re in a 55 or 70mph speed zone, people will be averaging about 80mph including in the winter. Try to stay right and it should be safe if you’re doing the speed limit. The most unexpected dangerous part of driving when it gets really cold is it will freeze under an overpass and it’s very hard to see. Spinning on that is non uncommon. Just hold your line when you go under them and even if you slip you’re back on dry pavement in a second.
Shoveling isn’t too bad if you’re in decent shape. When it’s really wet it can be rough on my back but otherwise it’s just exercise. In freezing cold weather. With numb hands and feet from the cold. Usually needing to be done before your drive to work or just as you’re getting home, so perfect timing when you’re looking for something to take up some free time. ;-p
Good snow tires make a huge difference. They still stick in cold weather unlike harder summer tires and they can save you in bad conditions.
8-10 inches of snow is not rare but it is uncommon. 2-4 inches of snow at some points is usually expected. Freezing rain sucks and will take out power to a lot of people from branches falling. It’s become a lot more common. Backup generators are becoming more common. However we don’t have the problems Texas has with their grid and it’s usually pretty sound.

Both parties are beholden to Israel and the power of AIPAC

I contracted to one of the big 3 for over 30 years. When we decided to quit making cars and focus on trucks, SUV’s, and crossovers it seemed like they were giving up future numbers for short term profit. It’s obvious small electric cars are the future but our big 3 want to ignore that. Blaming the lost market share on small cars from China disregards that they chose to leave that market. Of course Asia would step into that market and fill it

I remember reading about a Pa Kua Chang master who could walk through a crowd with a full teacup and not spill any. For whatever reason I started to practice walking with a full to the brim teacup (with or without a handle) and now I can go up and down stairs with one or two and not spill anything. Usually

What’s the sound of one hand clapping? ;-p

Elon is the tech version of Murdoch and is more dangerous because of his worldwide access through Twitter. Unfortunately the extremists will have more of a voice and propaganda will overwhelm the media. Since the media is controlled by billionaires they have no interest in exposing them

The Dr said my foot was squished like stepping on a grape and you can’t put the grape back together again. But I’m so thankful to have a foot and leg at all after that so I appreciate what I have not what I don’t have, even though it does get burdensome when pain or lack of movement is high

I don’t post a lot but I have a lot of free time due to being T-boned on my motorcycle from someone running a red light. My mobility has been seriously restricted since. When I was working full time and posting a lot on Reddit I was training corporate engineering sw. When I wasn’t training I had a lot of time on my hands at work so I’d scroll reddit. I was also traveling a lot so I was away from home and reddit was sort of my travel family

Imagine pods dropped like old parachutes but they become embedded in the ground with a drone controller and all the drones needed for the job at hand. You could drop hundreds of those in an area and create fortifications and drone weapon bases in one swoop. I imagine drone bases would be heavily protected from EMI type attacks

But it’s enough of a game changer that large and emplaced targets will be overwhelmed. Watching those drone shows and their ability to communicate with each other like a hive mind blew my mind thinking about that from a military standpoint. I think it will be like stealth technology and radar. Most planes are not stealth so old radar is still effective. Some things will be able to protect themselves from drone attacks, but most will be vulnerable in one way or another. I’m just a military gamer and I can think of hundreds of types of drones I’d create if I was planning for a defense or attack, the experts have likely thought of those and thousands more; diggers, crawlers, flyers, dummies until signaled, attaching things coming in and out from ground, air, etc, and on and on.

I love India and the people from India. I worked in IT for Ford for over 30 years and had a lot of Indian coworkers and traveled to India a few times for work. Like others have said, all of them came over through technology jobs. Unfortunately many companies in the US play the green card game to keep your wages low. Finding a company that will help get your card is very tough. If you can handle the learning for controls engineering, a 2 year degree will get you a good paying job in a lot of the western world helping companies with their automation of production lines. One of my friends who had all the needed skills wanted to come to the US so much but his pronunciation of words was really bad and it was very hard to understand him so he could never get past an initial interview.
But I agree about the current state of India but nationalist leaders are gaining more power and Modi is an example of that. His playing the Hindu and nationalist card over and over again is an example of that. When I’d walk around it was always amazing to see stone and bronze workers doing work that’s been done for hundreds of years along side shops with ISO certification making advanced tooling and micro parts. India is where the Bronze age meets the digital age. I’ve never seen that anywhere else. China is probably the closest but I didn’t see as much technical incongruity on one street like I would in India.
As a worker and many agreed with this view, Indians and many Asians are great at following orders which is what they grew up with, but thinking out of the box was usually a challenge. I believe the freedoms of the west allow people more ability to see things differently and we feel like our view/idea/opinion has value and should be heard because of the differences in the individual. Because of that we’re more willing to contemplate other methods in our own heads about possibilities instead of just doing what rote learning taught and not go against the grain with teachers, bosses, etc. Like you’re finding, seeing what others choose not to see is a challenge. The young are the future and need to stand up for the view of the world they want. It has to start at the local level with enough force to be a regional power. Unfortunately the nationalist have a lot of thugs to do their work and wrack havoc on people trying to bring about change that would challenge those in power and bring more power to the individuals.

Drones are going to change future warfare so much. Big ships, fortifications, and slow planes/choppers are going to be very vulnerable imo

You said there was a vote though? It couldn’t get enough Dem’s to even bring it to a vote. And no I don’t think a majority of Dem’s would choose to allow non adults to vote and it would certainly be dead if it made it to the floor. There are significantly more examples of Repub’s trying to restrict voting since the 60’s than Dem’s trying to expand voting beyond groups of adults who were deprived from voting like women, African Americans, etc.

I didn’t realize Meng had tried to do this in 21 but it didn’t even get a vote as far as I can see which is why it was reintroduced again in 23 and it hasn’t moved. So they being a small group of Dems who can’t even get it to a vote doesn’t mean that much so I stand by not anyone with any power will do anything. It’s not like Dem’s have some Project 2025 with this in that goal book for the future.

No one is trying to get the voting age lowered. Could some people be talking about it and some media hacks focus on that talk? Sure, but not anyone with any power to do anything. It’s like those on the right who want to increase it again to 21. Are there some talking about it? Sure. Will anything be done about it? Not anymore chance than it would be lowered to under 18. It’s a BS media talking point click bait

I worked with a lot of people making close to 6 figures who only had a 2 year associates degree in controls traveling right along side of me. They made more than me with less education but more technical skill. It’s also a job market that is growing like crazy; automation.

I had a triple major of Psych/Soc/Phil with the intent of teaching. My focus in Philosophy was mostly logic and analytical reasoning. I ended up marrying my GF and had to quit college and go to work where I ended up doing a lot of computer work on the IBM XT. One late night working on electronic bids for parts we sold I realized computers are not going anywhere and focusing on that would get me out of this sales job. Programming was nothing but logic which was my focus in college so it came pretty easy to me. That was 1989. I contracted to Ford for the next 30+ years doing everything from data analysis at the start to SQL and DB’s for a while, and then I ended up on teams delivering software to the plants. I always wanted a job that would allow me to see the world and for over 20 years I traveled on the corporate dime, including an around the world trip for work in Asia and Europe on the same trip. I traveled almost 300k miles on planes during that time and had a chance to see how people live and work all over the world.

IMO no comparison to a nice pair of sandals. My grandkids got me some with pins? or whatever they’re called in them. They’re like slippers around the house and about as comfie but walking they’re not as nice as good sandals and driving in them is not great. However it is nice having an enclosed toe. If I had been wearing my sandals on a walk the other night when I caught a stick with the tip of the shoe it would have torn up my toe so they do offer more protection than an open toe sandal

I’ve seen 3 major highways built around Detroit while I’ve lived here. There was very little choice among normal citizens who live in the line of “progress”. 375 ruined some dynamic neighborhoods because those people lacked the power to force a change in the proposals. 696 spent significant additional money accommodating the citizens who had the power to modify the proposals. Highways make cities very unwalkable as well as taking space that could be better used