magnetosphere

It’s the word “concept” that worries me. Concept cars rarely make it into production without significant alterations, and frequently those alterations take away what made the concept interesting and unique in the first place.

Concept cars are usually just the company/designers showing what they could do, not what they will do.

When was this? Not arguing; I just must have forgotten or somehow missed it.

Because it is.

The EU (and the rest of the world) should also be much, much more open to permanently eliminating the need for any fossil fuels.

Besides, a “peace deal” with Ukraine won’t be reliable. It will only mean that Putin has run out of options, not that he’s had a change of heart. Anyone with half a brain knows Putin can’t be trusted. He will go back on his word. Sanctions should remain in place for as long as he remains in office.

I wonder: would that region of the world have reached some sort of equilibrium if the rest of the world didn’t constantly fuck with them, or would it just be a different kind of shitshow?

I use Germany (appropriately, I think) as my tool for comparison.

It took Germany generations to overcome the pariah status and national shame caused by Hitler. Granted, the U.S. hasn’t started a war or Holocaust (yet), but we’re directly supporting and encouraging one, and the mass deportations are a sort of “Holocaust lite”. Plus, I think there’s a good chance that we’ll end up attacking Iran.

It’s going to take about sixty years of continuous, uninterrupted “good behavior” for the U.S. to regain any credibility, and that’s just counting what Trump has pulled so far. Still, I don’t think the U.S. will ever be able to completely outlive this.

It’s virtually the opposite here. Most cars are automatics. Lots of drivers never learn how to operate a manual transmission, because they simply don’t have to.

I’m just biased by my own experience, I guess. I was relieved to already be familiar with the basics of operating a car. It made easier to concentrate on shifting when I already knew the “feel” of driving.

Driving is complex. Knowing what to pay attention to when takes time to learn.

I recommend not trying to drive a manual until you’ve already learned the basics in an automatic. In my opinion, learning to drive AND learning how to handle a manual transmission is too much at once.

I used to be on the fence concerning AI graphics, but I’ve learned since then and am now totally against AI slop. Amusing “that’s kinda neat” images like the one above are absolutely not worth the cost to artists. I just can’t get excited about software that’s designed to plagiarize the work of people who are barely scraping by. Plus, those data centers are an energy-hogging nightmare.

Either reason alone is good enough to be against AI, but together, the situation is simply ludicrous.

It’s the best of both worlds!

If it was a quote, I would have used the quote feature, like this:

People began shouting for the agents to leave him alone and told the man not to sign anything.

Sorry for the confusion.

“Let HIM go, and we’ll let YOU go.” Seems fair.