Car seats aren't really the problem in that situation though. Most people struggle to do that even without them, even with mini-vans it could be a problem.
9 kids was reasonable for people who worked on a farm, expected a bunch of their kids to die early, and needed free labor. There's really no reason for 9 kids today.
I'd consider car seat laws to be an indicator for improvements to safety expectations. They are are a lot higher now.
You didn't have an 11 seater back in the day. You just put people wherever they fit and hoped nobody noticed. It was "fine" at one point. You'd be raked over the coals for it now.
Trucks were a great loophole because you were allowed to have more people than seatbelts as long as every seatbelt was in use. At least that was my understanding of the law.
For me it was sitting on a milk crate in the back of a van. I liked watching the road pass underneath us through the rust holes.
In trades, those projects have obvious beginnings, ends, and results. The driveway is poured. You’re often not expected to maintain that driveway either.
A lot of tech is basically a treadmill. You’re never finished. It is no wonder people burn out mentally.
Something like cybersecurity? Great, we made it through today, tomorrow will be worse. Repeat until something bad happens.
I was at a wedding a couple of weeks ago and the bride’s dress had pockets. It may have been the least important time in her life to have them, but it had them.
I don’t think people understand how convenient it is to be able to go 1000+ KM without thinking about filling up or charging, even if it isn’t in one trip.
I could do it in a 2002 Jetta. Why can’t I do it in a vehicle 25 years newer?
That’s a normal run for long-distance driving in the US. You stop for only a few minutes when you run out of fuel to fill the tank, which may coincide with a concurrent bathroom break. I don’t know anyone that regularly makes 20-30 minute stops on these kinds of trips even once. That adds up to a lot of unnecessary lost time.
Human endurance is more about the end-to-end time. Breaks barely help at all.
I've done a few road trips (2023, 2024, 2025) where It was 10 or more hours of driving without even factoring stops in.
Fuel-ups can be as fast as 5 minutes, if you have a co-pilot to run in and grab whatever else you need from inside while you travel. Might have one or two longer breaks in there for a proper lunch.
> Human endurance is more about the end-to-end time.
Yep. You also optimize for the drive itself; i.e. metering your overall methods and timing of hydration etc to avoid needing extra bathroom stops, making sure any food eaten can either be eaten quickly, or safely eaten while driving on a long boring highway (i.e. Tacos bad, simple burgers or sandwiches good.)
For an 800-ish mile drive in one day, longer stops make a huge difference from being able to make it all the way through with reasonable daylight.
> Breaks barely help at all.
Yep, too long of a break winds up having a negative effect where you get too relaxed.
Heck, in 2020 I did a shorter drive to a different region, but instead of a Ford Maverick that got 35-40MPG and 400+ miles to a tank, I was in my WRX which got maybe 330-ish miles per tank, and the extra stops definitely had me much more drained by the end of the trip.
(Although, it's also worth noting that the Maverick is a lot more 'comfy' than my WRX from a posture standpoint, which may have been a factor.)
to each his own but tbh that sounds like a really terrible travel experience.
I suppose I get wanting to get somewhere faster, but I honestly don't think Id want to put myself through it vs taking longer and enjoying the journey a bit more.
if you are putting yourself through that regularly you probably do need an ice car (for now, high speed charging and battery size is making progress too).
I've driven that long without an extended break beyond running to the bathroom and grabbing a snack. Even a fast charger won't get you much in 3 minutes or so.
I've also been on 24+ hour trips where we switched off drivers every 6 hours or so. Stopping too long for too many times on a trip like that adds up.
I can get about that on a tank of gas in my cmax. I wouldn't drive it non stop, but it means I can fill up before a long (for me) trip, drive a few hours, stop for food and restrooms, and drive on to my destination without stopping for gas. If it's not that long, I may be able to drive back too, without filling up.
If there's a charger close enough to a restaurant you'll eat at, that sounds convenient, and I've seen a lot more chargers on my long distance drives... but usually not at the restaurants I want to go to.
Exactly. Maybe it is just me, but with a range around 450km I feel like I’m planning trips around filling up. It’s something I never thought about before.
Now I am stuck in line ups for gas because I can’t decide I don’t need it. This is true even just around town.
Maybe it’s a first world issue. It gets better all the time though. Maybe next car.
I don't think people understand how incredibly convenient it is to wake up to a vehicle with a full "tank" every single morning. I'll take that over a Jetta that can do 1000 miles on a tank without any hesitation.
Well, the question is how often do you do that drive. My family lives 4 countries away and about 12 hour of driving. I do that drive about once a year. But I have a young child so I don't like doing this in one go anymore, we usually stop halfway at a hotel, have some nice food, get some sleep and carry on the next day - so charging is solved(because we can just stay at a hotel with a charger). If you're driving to see them every week then maybe an EV is not quite right for you yet.
>>Making that a longer trip sounds like torture, but range is getting better all the time.
On the other hand, my sister drives A LOT. Like 1000 miles(1600km) a week a lot. And she was spending a fortune on diesel, so recently got herself a second hand Polestar 2, even though it's a long range model she gets a comfortable 300km before she has to charge it - and I asked her hey do you find charging it annoying. And she says no, because she usually has to stop for a pee every 3 hours anyway, the car needs 15-20 minutes on a fast charger for a top up and then she can carry on. Saves her an absolute fortune in fuel money. She drives up and down the country and so far it just hasn't been a problem at all.
>>I also rent, so I’m stuck at 120v charging at home. Does that limit the convenience?
Yeah, that's going to be the biggest problem I think. If you can't charge at home(or can only charge at ~1kWh/hour of charging) that's not going to be a great experience. Realistically you can only replenish 12kWh overnight using a basic 120V socket and that's just not a lot.
Microsoft allows you to subscribe to Microsoft 365 personal or family without AI for a small discount, but they hid the option on a page you can only get to if you click cancel on your subscription.
Iirc Microsoft increased the pricing on existing subscriptions on next renewal citing AI as the reason for the increase, they then added a no AI version at the original price, effectively opting all users into the 'upgrade' rather than requiring them to explicitly upgrade their licence.
Some of us have internalized it! It's like walking around in the twilight zone or the bodysnatchers movie sometimes. In a dream society we could agree on some values and argue about how to direct our shared efforts. In this one we can't agree on values or even facts. It's equal parts maddening and terrifying.
We need help in avoiding the worst futures that could come from this.
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