The upcoming Slate pickup claims to be focused on being a simple EV that a regular person could repair. It doesn't even have a stereo. That said, I have not specifically seen a guarantee that it doesn't have an internet connection.
ptc075
I'll try to keep these both short.
Magic the Gathering - the "Power Nine"
There's 9 cards from the first few printings that were simply deemed too powerful. Once they were out in the real world, the folks in charge realized they weren't fun to play against, and resulted in wildly uneven games. In extreme cases, the opponent could lose without even getting a single turn. They've been banned from every format*, and have never been reprinted*. *Except of course when they are. https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Power_Nine
Model railroading (O-gauge). Lionel 770e Hudson
For O gauge size, the train everyone wishes they had in their collection is the 1937-1941 Lionel 770E. This was a super-unusual toy for its day, pretty much everything else had been aimed at younger children and a lower price point. Lionel decided to take a gamble and build a hyper realistic scale model that was aimed at young adults. It was honestly not a great seller in its day due to the high price point and the looming threat of WW2. But it was, and still is, considered one of the highpoints of the industry. You could argue that the current Lionel company is founded on this concept, as their VisionLine products are focused on ultra-realistic toys for grown ups (which will always be funny, as yes, our track has 3 rails). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOdDw0-Tflg
Obviously we don't learn about unions at all. But the one that strikes me the most is the omission of the Battle of Blair Mountain, where the US government sent the army after the coal miners. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain
The Wilmington 1989 coup: After the Civil War, Wilmington North Carolina had a mostly black government. That didn't sit right with the whites, so they staged and successfully completed a Coup & overthrew the government. Only officially successful Coup to occur in the USA. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/when-white-supremacists-overthrew-government/
9/11 - The much lesser known 9/11 occurs in Chili in on 9/11/1973. During a US sponsored coup, the revolutionaries smash an airplane into the capitol building. My not-so-conspiracy theory is there's a reason the US event happened on 9/11 as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Chilean_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat
I'm at the very bottom level of management, so I'm not invited to these meetings. But I get to hear the story afterwards. The basic jist is that all the old employees are fine to work remote, however, the new employees are largely getting lost. There's no water cooler meetings or impromptu hallway discussions or 'hey Jim, I heard you screaming next door, what dumb thing did your customer do?'. The transfer of tribal knowledge isn't happening when the new folks are remote. As much as I will make fun of the above, I will admit that I learned more of how to do my job through those impromptu 'meetings' with my coworkers than I ever did from any formal training.
So, to your point, how do we get back to working from home again? I'm not sure, but I would starting thinking about how to encourage more connections with your coworkers. Not the forced meetings where you talk about why the wiggly line isn't going up, more like, "hey bob, whacha been up to today? Oh yeah, that system doesn't work for me either, the trick is you have to log-in through the other portal..."
I subscribe to a bunch of email newsletters. Read them during breakfast until I finish eating, which means I usually end up deleting about half of 'em. I think Tangle might be the best bet, as it tries to be middle ground and tries to provide context behind what both sides are saying. I'm also kinda a fan of "WhatTheFuckHappenedToday", mainly because it's brief & direct.
https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/
Perhaps not oddly, I struggle to find free Conservative news sources. All the 'good' ones requires a paid subscription. How conservative of them! =D If someone has some suggestions, I'm down to just Fox at this point, and it's like they put the interns in & aren't bothering to chaperone them anymore.
Somehow I never did, largely because it never came up. I always assumed my generation just doesn't do Potlucks, but as I'm typing this, maybe it's me?
Regardless, I barely cook. However, a few years ago I started baking Christmas cookies. Now I'm famous in the family for keeping the tradition alive. Long story short, Scottish shortbread cookies are my dad's favorite. But he & mom separated when we were still young. My grandma on my mother's side was the only one who had the recipe. So on years when dad was behaving, we'd have these cookies at Christmas. And vice versa. So I have a strong connection that these cookies = good times. I'm told I've gotten pretty good at making them. That, or we're just all fatties who love cookies. Could be both. =D
Perhaps not weird, but I love doubling the double of the double of the double to cook up some just ludicrous numbers. Yes, you may only have 40 life, but I'm hitting you for 78,125 damage. Because.
So cards like Isenguard Unleashed, Furnace of Rath, City on Fire.... Y'know what, here's my decklist, it'll be faster: https://moxfield.com/decks/IDBXvzYTHUy_2RZWiDPQuQ
I also love The Cheese Stands Alone. Never played it, and wouldn't enjoy playing it even if I did have a deck built around it. I just love the art. Makes me smile every time. https://gatherer.wizards.com/UG/en-us/2/the-cheese-stands-alone
I like to support the Electronics Frontier Foundation. They're generally pretty great about protecting our freedoms online. They constantly show up as the good guy in my feeds, whether it's explaining how to protest safely, or how to internet without leaving footprints, or just generally how to interact in today's online world. I think the only criticism I've ever heard against them is they don't stand up to Google quite as much as they maybe 'ought' to.
If you care about abortion rights, Planned Parenthood is as good a place to help as any. Although I've never contributed, the current administration seems to really be targeting them. Okay, they're targeting LOTS of minorities really.
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/
Speaking of which, the American Civil Liberties Union is one of the loudest voices trying to protect minorities from being illegally deported and stand up for birthright citizenship. Another good cause to support.
Closest I'm aware of is the Slate EV pickup, but it is too small imo. Hoping their first model catches on well enough that they build one with a larger bed, heck, a bit larger all around really. I like the truck to be wide enough to fit 3 people on the bench seat in a pinch, so I guess I'm looking for a 'medium' sized truck - something I don't think exists today.
Failing that, I have an older F-150 that I just restored. Perhaps in another ~10 years there will be some nice donor electric vehicles that I could use to do a conversion myself.
This is probably a "me" thing, but it works so I'll post. I go out for ice cream.
Yeah, I know that sounds incredibly simple, because, well, it is. The eat/sleep/work cycle just to survive America really wears on me. This breaks me out of that mental rut, even if my reality is still the same. And "fat & happy" is a cliche for a reason, there's something about putting sugar in our bodies that helps lift my mood.
But of course, this isn't a "fix". This is more like hitting the pause button. What you do in that hour is up to you. For me, giving myself that time out to reflect can be enough to salvage the day, if not the week.
I should add, I had two Italian grandmothers who absolutely stuffed us with treats. So there's almost certainly a mental connection for me that "sweet food" = "good memories". Not everyone is going to have that connection. You may have to dig a bit more to find what gives you that happy trigger.
Your link doesn't work for me, but that's HUGE news. Thank you!
Do they mention what vehicle tracking they DO have however? For example, I'm sure they're required by law to at least have a black box recorder that captures your speed before a crash. What I do not know is how far the law has crept into mandatory vehicle tracking.