Jeez I knew about the rent one. I'm not exactly surprised by the rest of these. I am a little surprised how blatant it is now that even the US Gov cannot pretend anymore.

I used have a early 00s Sentra and did the same cassette to aux thing. I thought it was a big deal when I got some head unit on clearance put in, and then and I blew out the speakers.

Yeah, I have the same. I would like carplay/ android auto or whatever. But really don't need much of a screen. Just something big enough for GPS and see the current thing playing.

Otherwise yeah I could care less about most of what others consider essential. I don't even like leather seats lol.

I believe it was Mazda? I saw recently that was already doing this since they saw distracted driving massively increases with less buttons and knobs and whatnot.

I feel like whenever my current car dies I'm going to be looked at like a weirdo because I want buttons and knobs and analog gauges.

Edit: Thought the Mazda thing was more recent. I guess it's from 2019 Why Mazda is Purging Touchscreens From its Vehicles

The r/soccer threads on this have been consistently dreadful. I didn't think it was a massive deal before the details dropped. Now especially don't see anything wrong at all and think it's hilarious how enraged so many are. I just wish she used some thing more creative then "stupid white bastard".

Yeah I suspected there's a bit of truth in there on the first part, the second bit seemed more like pure propaganda as they're needs to be some crazy explanation for the lack of defectors.

both established advanced air combat schools to try and teach their pilots similar tactics (Top Gun in America and the 1521st Aviation Base in Turkmenistan for the Soviets).

I did not realize the soviet's also setup an equivalent.

Alright well this hubris reminds me of when I was taking with a former air force pilot years ago. He was at least a lot less ridiculous than this individual in the article. What stood out to me was that basically he said they'd win for sure because the Soviet/ Russian pilots weren't trained right because their respective military was too afraid they'd just leave with the planes. He also added the ones that were any good were also too by the book with no freedom to operate independently based on the mission.

It's something I feel like I've heard once in an article shared here about the Chinese pilots as well. Not sure if that's just kool-aid moving through the system and how true it is exactly. I'm sure some of it is doctrine related and most of it is kool-aid.

Yeah, I saw you were quoting a Fair.org article so figured I'd read the archive link first. What a whiff.

I definitely agree, with some of your points remind me of what I read this morning on Michael Robert's blog and additional ones that are all correct.

What is puzzling many is that the US economy at least is apparently achieving a ‘soft landing’ from the pandemic, with inflation down, unemployment low and average real incomes beginning to rise, but the American public still seems depressed and uncertain about the future.

The problem is that inflation has only fallen by half and remains well above the pre-pandemic level of under 2%. And that fall is almost entirely due to the end of supply blockages caused by the pandemic and the eventual fall in energy and food prices. As many have explained, it has had little to do with the monetary policy of the central banks.

The misery index may be down, but most households in the US, Europe and Japan are still suffering the after-effects of the pandemic slump. Prices in Europe and the US are higher by about 17-20% compared to the end of the pandemic. Jobs may be plentiful, but in general they do not pay well and are often part-time or temporary. Moreover, the continuing war in Ukraine and now the horrendous decimation of Gaza could lead to a reversal of the past fall in global supply chain pressure – according to the New York Fed index.

The hope of the optimists is that AI and LLMs will kick-start a ‘roaring 20s’, similar to that experienced in the US after the end of the Spanish flu epidemic from 1918-20 and the subsequent slump of 1920-21. But some things are different now. In 1921, the US was fast-rising manufacturing power, sweeping past war-torn Europe and a declining Britain. Now the US economy is in relative decline, manufacturing is stagnating and the US faces the threat of the rise of China, forcing it to conduct proxy wars globally to preserve its hegemony.

Yeah I'll have to figure out when the new booster is going to come out and plan accordingly I think. Feel like I'm in no man's land timing wise

Have you been boosting every 6 months? I've been mulling over getting another booster or waiting till the new one comes out. I've been more up to date than most, but last one I got was when the bivalent vaccine came out.

Yeah, that's pretty similar. I know the one basically told his family repeatedly that he didn't want to be buried with honors (I think that's what they call it) and actually adhered to the request. My other grandfather was buried with the whole ceremony but I don't think he really would have wanted it. A lot of my family are complete chuds so it pretty much was going to happen come hell or high water.

Yeah, having a better understanding of those wars than when I was younger (especially Korea). I now completely understand why both my grandfather's who were in Korea never wanted to talk about it. Like they'd talk about the time at base and whatnot but really never much about what happened when they were in Korea. Especially my one grandfather who was in the Air Force.