"Road usage" has been taxed through the fuel excise paid at the bowser. This method is far from perfect, but it does allow reasonably anonymous travel.
In the future, the gov't will have (at least) two ways of taxing the road usage of EVs.
One way will be fair, equitable, based on 'mileage', and anonymous.
The other way will permit the government to conduct 'real time' monitoring of every vehicle's speed and position.
Our gov't will choose this second option, and with bipartisan support.
The French wouldn't say that. They'd say whatever is French for "Sign here!"
We'd then pay them a few more BILLION dollars, and the French would wait a week or two for another policy reversal.
At the rate we're going, we'll end up buying our subs from China...
Yes...
... but that's OK.
Lemme explain...
A Signal user will commonly have the client app installed on their mobile device.
They may also have a second client on a laptop that syncs the same data.
If the user goes on holiday for a week but leaves their laptop behind, it won't be synced to the laptop.
On return from holiday, the laptop client uses its decryption keys to retrieve the last week's worth of messages.
I *think* Signal can do this (retrieve cached messages from the Signal servers) for up to 14 days.
That said, the entire Signal cache is encrypted on their servers, and one's messages are fully E2EE and retrievable only by the user.
(However, one weakness of Signal is that a desktop or laptop client's cache is stored unencrypted. To secure these, one needs to use full disk encryption at the OS level or higher.)
The government will LOVE this scheme...
Then, in 10 years' time...
7. Spend a fortune on an advertising campaign trying to get people back on 'traditional' bicycles.
Kangaroo populations will naturally go through "boom and bust" cycles as the amount of available feed and water varies tremendously. (Aussies often forget that this is the world's driest continent.)
Mass deaths within local kangaroo populations will always occur due to drought. That's nature, and it's a bad way to die
Having 'extra' dingos manage the 'roo population' would mean they'd suffer a similar fate, just delayed by a few months, if that.
When the 'roo population fell to low numbers, the dingos would turn on whatever is available... including, as you say, livestock.
It's a complex problem, and there are no easy answers.
However, which is worse? Letting 'roos die horrible mass deaths from inevitable droughts, or controlling their numbers via managed culls, and then tapping into that resource? Most, but not all, kangaroos that are culled will die an instant death.
In fact, for those of us who eat meat, we should avoid beef, lamb, and pork. Kangaroo is FAR more sustainable from an environmental perspective...
... even if Skippy is on our National Coat of Arms.
Methinks Zag was suggesting (possibly) that 'age verification' should be a *device* and *operating system* (& platform) feature that would be *inactive* by default.
In other words, there should be nothing for an adult (without kids) to do in order for their devices to function as they do now.
A parent would be required to activate a 'child lock' feature on a device before handing it to their kids.
Unfortunately, all governments are too chicken-shit scared to compel parents to do this small thing.
Governments *prefer* the option of compelling ALL users to provide 'age verification' (possibly Gov't issued ID) to the relevant platforms.
For the 'Liberals' this would be a natural extension of their right wing fascism.
For the Labor party, it's merely a reflection of their general incompetence.
No, nothing wrong.
However, due to their shape, there is the delightful possibility of the misapplication of said vegetables as a particular variety of adult toy.
(Everyone's mind went there... didn't it? Didn't it?)
China does make a LOT of really low quality goods. However...
... those goods are made to the quality specified by the importer / wholesaler / buyer...
... because 'cheap' goods are often preferred over 'more expensive but higher quality' goods...
... by the people who buy them.
Which is probably what happened in this case!
I *think* that most Ming dynasty vases are still 'under warranty'!
Some more "research" materials regarding unrecognised "micronations":
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micronation
As usual, Australia punches above its weight in this regard...
@wildwhitehorses
Yeah, right. Any water shortages are likely due to personal hygiene requirements of people, and nothing to do with new b.s. AI data processing centres using gigalitres to cool equipment and maintain humidity levels.
Got it.