Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go pair my bike with my phone so I can upgrade the derailleur’s firmware…

I agree that Snowden didn’t have much impact on a broad population, which is really disappointing. However, his leaks went a long way toward encouraging broad use of encryption on the internet. Before Snowden, http:// was a perfectly normal thing to encounter in your browser. Not it’s rare and triggers warnings when it is encountered. Similarly, encrypted SMS (iMessage, RCS, etc) is common, etc. Snowden’s leaks accelerated the deployment of all of these techniques, which is better than nothing.

Its use of a single letter app name did, too, and we see how quickly they bent the rules to accommodate the name change.

“I’m gonna tell my daddy on you. Then you’re in real trouble!”

That's not limited to EVs, though. Most modern cars have the same antifeatures.

Just ask ChatGPT; it's better than humans at proving its humanity with these stupid things.

Exactly this. An arraignment of a former president has become a non-event. This is ideal for Trump, regardless of how MSNBC tries to spin it.

I consider electric only to be a commuter car at best. It’s not going to be able to do a road trip. And depending on the car and the commute may even not be able to do a grocery run after work some days.

I really wonder what kind of car you drive. Sounds like a Nissan Leaf or something.

I'll share a couple of anecdotes regarding my experience with EVs:

My parents live on a farm in rural Maine. They are on their second Chevy Bolt (first was a lease, and they liked it so much that they upgraded to a later generation when the lease expired). It's an inexpensive, no-frills EV that is their primary means of transportation. Living in the country, the shortest trip they take is likely to be at least 20 miles round-trip. In the past, I've borrowed that car for an overnight trip to Vermont. We made sure to charge it at home before the leaving, and drove to Vermont without needing to stop. I don't recall the exact distance, but it was about 4 hours of driving through rolling hills. We charged it again in Vermont, and drove home the next day.

My partner and I have a 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5 that we bought used for $28k. It's all-wheel drive and has a battery warmer, both of which are helpful in cold climates. We do not have a charger at home. My wife's commute is 20 miles round trip, and we are able to charge the car where she works, which we do roughly once a week. Although the car itself is capable of charging very quickly, the charger available to us is a low-power home charger, so it's nice to be able to leave it plugged in during the full work day. We don't hesitate to take this car on longer trips, especially if they take the interstate highway system or pass through major cities, where faster charging is always available.

When I bought the car, it was 150 miles away from my house. It was charged to 100% when I picked it up, and the car estimated 300 miles of range. We arrived at home with 50% charge remaining, so I'd say the 300 mile range was pretty accurate.

With this car and our charging habits, daily driving doesn't really require any special thought or planning at all. For longer trips, anything less than a 150 mile round trip requires no more planning than "I should make sure to charge it within a day or so of the trip, if possible." For a trip in the 250 mile range, I would definitely prefer to start fully charged, if possible, otherwise I'd want to explore charging options along the way. Only if going over that would I definitely feel the need to investigate charging options at my destination or along the route. A home charger would make things even simpler, but as it is it's so low-stress that we don't feel a lot of urgency to get one installed.

I recommend reading Tim Bray's experiences with several years of EV-only ownership, including some long (1000+ mile) road trips in Canada. Here are a couple:

• 5 year retrospective
• An in-depth report of a 1000 mile trip from Vancouver, BC to Regina, Saskatchewan

Most of David Lynch's Dune.

Bush's 2000 campaign is largely responsible for mobilizing the evangelical Christian voting block in the US. So in no small way, we have him to thank for the rise of Christian nationalism that we've seen over the past 20 years.

I won't judge him as a person, but there's no rehabilitation possible for his presidency.

at least three congressional Republicans

How does that compare with the number of congressional Republicans actively spreading this disinformation?

We should be passing bills that make President Trump’s executive orders permanent.

It's not like she suddenly woke up sane or anything.

Sometimes you need to check your tire pressure, too.

The general reduction in scheduled maintenance requirements is really wonderful.

I've owned two Kindle devices over the years, and the ability to directly load content, without involving a third-party service, was a big part of what made them usable for me. If that feature is gone, these devices will no longer be viable for my needs.

And the enshittification continues...

That's kinda the point

Turnout matters, though. Biden in 2020 won more votes than any presidential candidate in history, but the second place winner was Trump in 2020. There will be similar loyalty to Trump on the right in 2024, and if Biden can't match that, he loses. So I'm not afraid of the youth vote either, but I am afraid of the lack of it.

Forgive my pessimism, but while this is the sort of thing that could sink a "normal" campaign, the cult of personality around Trump has been weathering stuff like this since 2016 or even earlier. I'll believe that this is impacting voter sentiment when I see it reflected in the results after election day. Until then, it just feels like more wishful thinking.

Holy shit

Where I live, there are still Trump and MAGA flags all over the place. None have come down over the past year, and many are replaced with new ones as they fade. Nothing Trump has done has put a dent in his support among his most vocal supporters. This is further reflected in the campaigning among the GOP candidates in the recent primary election for the state governor’s position, where they’re basically in a competition to prove that they’re more like Trump than any of the other choices. It goes as far as one using “Fight Like Hell” (remember that one?) as a campaign slogan.

There’s no hope for some people.

Those aren't tubes, they're whole tubular tires, essentially an integrated tube and tire in one unit that is glued to the rim. Changing a flat first required peeling the old one off before the new tire could be stretched (they fit tight!) onto the rim.

Tubulars are still used regularly by at least one world tour team (French, naturally), but these days a flat is fixed by swapping the wheel or even the whole bike for a spare carried by the team car. That wasn't allowed in the early days.