Exactly. Lots of stuff is made in the US. They're often very expensive, high margin stuff that requires lots of skill to produce - aircraft, aircraft parts, aircraft accessories, avionics, etc. All very expensive, generally high-tech, and especially high margin low volume stuff.

Things that the US excels at, including precision manufacture and assembly - when "good enough" isn't good enough.

Leave the mass manufacturing stuff to other countries where you squeeze every last cent because you have to make it up in volume.

The problem is of course, the "highly skilled" part. It doesn't resonate well with the MAGA base because they're people who were used to earning a decent life even without a high school degree. Yet jobs like that still do exist (go to an oil field or crab fishing in Alaska - where you can do 6 figures with barely a high school degree).

Still though, much of the skill comes from years of apprenticeships and such - you aren't going to make that $10,000 aircraft part without undergoing a few years of training. But it's all on the job training, it's actually fairly clean work And yes, the pay is really, really good even when you're starting out.

I think games are the biggest risk, already they are digital only without physical copies (maybe a dvd box with a key to unlock the game at best) And there is worse than just losing ownership... I think we are heading to a subscription model for games, you can play it if you pay the monthly fee

That's why last year Steam had changed their license terms because they got sued for purchases as well.

The only store that didn't do anything was GoG because they were DRM free so you could always use their offline installers.

It's a long term rental. Just with an unspecified return date long into the future.

Or the fact that Windows 95 turned 30 yesterday and that was big news. Linux turns 34 today which makes it more newsworthy than if it was reported next year as 35 years.

Windows 95 was released. (It was released Aug 24, 1995).

365 days because 1992 was a leap year so it's technically 4*365 days ago but 1 day short of 4 years.

And between Linux and Windows 95 I got on the internet. I still remember the first Linux I used was some Slackware with kernel 1.2.3.

Because all those products were introduced by Steve Jobs. The iPad was the last device line that Jobs introduced.

The Apple Watch happened during the Tim Cook era.

Same goes with the Apple Vision Pro.

Yeah, I suspect this is going to end badly for him because Apple will probably release the actual numbers for the apps in question.

It's even funnier because Hank Green released an app that dethroned ChatGPT for a week or two because he released screen shots showing his app and ChatGPT is #1 while his app climbs the rankings. And you see the xAI app briefly hitting #3.

Deep Seek also dethroned ChatGPT when it was the big new thing as well.

I think Apple would simply release the numbers and then we might actually have a laugh at how pathetic Musk's app actually did.

Socializing with colleagues is an extremely important part of the job when you are in a company.

In that regard, being on-site has an edge.

But it doesn't have to be a full "return to office" to achieve this. You could make it that there's an in-person meeting that people show up for periodically. Like you could designate say, a meeting at 2pm on Wednesday. For that you don't need people to show up at 8AM and work to 5PM in the office, you just need people to gather. Chances are most people will start showing up from 1PM onwards and likely after the meeting ends, you'll hang around for an hour chatting.

That gets rid of the whole commuting problem - why rush with everyone else to get to the office at 8AM when I can go out for a lunch (perhaps with colleagues also attending the meeting), then go to the meeting. After the meeting then catch up, and then depart whenever.

Heck, have the meeting at 11AM, and people can start heading in after rush hour is over, then catch lunch together as a group and then go home at the end of lunch.

You can get the benefit of face of face without demanding people spend 8 hours of it together.

Additionally, beyond a certain size of company, RTO doesn't increase collaboration because at that point, it's too big. For a small and medium sized business that still fits on an office floor, OK. But once you span two or more floors, or multiple buildings, the benefit vanishes. No one is walking up or down multiple floors, or worse, across campus to meet face to face with someone else - at that point it's pull up the chat window and ask them, or send an email.

I've had to start a new job, and it's been over 6 months. I barely know the people in the cubes around me - we don't interact because we're not on the same team. At best we've chatted casually about nothing in particular, but the minutes of that would probably be in the handful. The team I work with is down the hall due to space issues, but I don't need to talk with them either. My current task has me working with people across the floor and multiple floors so it's mostly just a Teams chat window.

Sure, money's no problem for Uncle Don, but now help me carry this absolute zero refrigerator and power supply over to that fighter jet, ok?
I wonder how much that weighs?

The nice thing about this is that you don't need it in every device. There are alternate systems you can use to distribute location information within close proximity.

For example, you could load an AWACS with this, and the AWACS can compute the location of all the planes under its control and transmit to them their location information. It's part of the whole point of the F-35's "sensor fusion" package where sensors from compatible planes can be utilized to form a complete picture of what's around. This can be extended to satellite information as well.

And that's likely how it's going to be used - there are planes overflying the engagement area and providing al lthe background information as well as providing location information to each plane.

Then you won't fly this either.

There are two new techs mentioned: VTOL and electric. Self-flying is distinct from both and not mentioned. So you will need a pilot's license.

True. The first eVTOLs are still piloted normally, but the eventual goal is to have them all self-flying so they can be "air taxis"

So for now yes, you'll need a pilot's license, like all other eVTOLs currently in development right now. The eventual goal is to make them self-flying using technologies partly developed at NASA to manage traffic.

"invest anywhere else with cheap labor?" You mean offshore everything... I can probably find 50 people in my apartment building who'd like one of those jobs that are offshored.
Maybe, just maybe (my opinion, which is worth, well... not much)... keep jobs (especially manufacturing) in the US. I'm sure, given enough time... somebody will figure out a way to offshore flipping burgers (they do the burger flipping in India, ship them here, the usual suspects sell them for a massive mark-up).

When Trump started his term, there were nearly half a million open manufacturing jobs. These aren't jobs going offshore, they were jobs waiting for someone to fill them.

Right now, you want to onshore manufacturing - and where will be the people come from? There were half a million open jobs in manufacturing, add a million more, and where are the people?

Additionally, when Trump started, the economy was at full employment - there were no more people available who needed a job that was looking for a job. (There are probably lots of people b*tching about needing a job, but somehow entitled to expect to be handed one rather than go out and look for a job - that seems to be the new trend amongst younger men it seems). And that was probably why those jobs remained unfilled - there were more jobs than people.

Even Destin remarked about how hard it was to manufacture in the US, and many people in the manufacturing field could not get anyone to apprentice so the old timers have no one to pass their knowledge to. They're all dying with all the experience and knowledge not being passed on.

And now that all the illegals have been scattered into hiding, there's a lot more jobs available now, so I'm sure those people you mention should be able to find a job, any job, because lots of people are desperate to have someone.

I think it's also a case of picking the endpoints to suit your narrative.

Because big things happened between 2005 and 2025, namely the iPhone and the economy behind it that lead to Android and it basically wiping out all the traditional cellphone companies like BlackBerry and Nokia and such and turning the US into a mobile powerhouse, a position formerly held by Europe and Japan.

And it's also excluding the effects of Trump on the economy - the numbers are looking bad enough that they US government has to censor them - the GDP is being "recalculated" and the head of the BLS fired for not reporting the "right numbers".

Europe might be losing, but it seems the US is giving the world a few years to catch up.

I've seen many companies use a @gmail.com address. It's rather shocking how many will have a website and then email from hotmail, gmail, yahoo or other site.

If you're paying Microsoft to host your email on M365, you can probably pay for a domain.

should steal more ideas from Denmark. Not land.

But if you don't tax books, where will the money the government needs to rewards the billionaires come from?

Books are often exempt from sales tax though - I know in BC, we don't generally pay PST on books. We still have to pay the GST though.

240V outlets are not required to charge EVs, but are there any US homes that do not have at least 240V?

I would say many would have maybe 1x 240V outlet in their laundry room, for the dryer....unless they just do a gas dryer, etc....

But other than that...that's just usually the only one in the house that I've ever seen.

Exactly, it's a stupid narrative because for a lot of people, 120V charging is perfectly fine. And we really should be pushing for more 120V outlets in parking lots at offices and such - because it's far easier to install a bank of 120V outlets than 240V ones. If your car is parking for hours on end, 120V is adequate for home and work. And it should be much easier to run a bunch of 120V outlets to parking spaces at apartment buildings.

240V might be useful for more itinerant traffic that spends an hour or two - a supermarket or shopping mall, for example.

But for a remarkably large number of people, 120V is adequate, and not having a garage to charge is solved with an extension cord. They even come in outdoor ratings.

The UK has funny regulations regarding EV plugs - you would think since they have 240V that people would just use the wall sockets but it seems not.

The only times 120V might not be suitable is if you have a horrendously long commute, go on daily road trips, or have one of those monster cars they also make in EV form factor.

The Pro-EV crowd really needs to push the point that EVs can charge from regular wall outlets and your lifestyle probably suits that just fine.