There is some truth in that I guess. BUT your system stands to lose all credibility between now and November around the world for the next 20 years (my opinion only, time will tell) whereas mine won't. All caused by a truly weird voting system that has all the bits in place to allow your country to descend into a dictatorship or to allow single individuals to dictate their own individual ideas and allow them to go against the majority. Your constitution needs a few tweaks to prevent this from happening again. A system designed 237 years ago can not be expected to still be current in modern times. Dammit I hear attic doors creaking again.

The whole 4 should be right at the front of your mind. I can't name them here because I see the attic door starting to make wheezing noises.

I think if a few things happen this year in your voting system that the USA will lose so much standing in the International community that you will lose 20 years of effort and it will take that long to restore. However if common sense takes over and things go a different direction it should only take you about 5 years to get back to where you were. Personally I am currently wondering whether your water supplies have been tampered with and it has affected your ability to think. Sorry forgot to answer your question - not sure but about 100 I would guess, not so much laughing but with a high degree of sadness. There are 4 of them (and probably a few hangers on as well) who are very happy with the way things are going.

Best form of defence is attack. Usually an acknowledgement that you are right but I am not willing to concede anything so I will attack.

At the risk of this heading towards the attic the USA has the most bizarre system of government and voting of anything I have seen. You guys have no right to criticize another system of government when yours is so bad (leaving aside a few communist types). Although I too would like to see their rationalisation for a decision like this.

With your high car mechanics repair labor charges I can imagine how much a printer repair charge would be.
I have an HP enterprise laser printer which I bought cheap new (1/2 price) because I was a dealer then. It cost me $500 (NZD). A set of 4 toner cartridges (admittedly double capacity sizes) last cost me $1200. I did investigate buying a new printer but they only came with starter cartridges.

I have 2 Manfrotto mono-pods and they are both lever type. Twist lock types occupy a smaller space so there is that. Maybe a tripod exclusive used for travel might be twist lock but that is about the only upside as far as I can tell.

Another problem with screw type locks is when you only want to change one leg for height. You then need two hands to lock the leg. With the lever type one hand can do the job. I suppose it is what you get used to. If you start off with twist lock you would probably use them the rest of your life. Same with lever lock. BUT use a lever lock for a few days and you will never go back.

I have a 90/10 % rule. If anything is set up it will only suit 90% of who it was done for. The other 10% will find it is utter crap for them. In NZ this is for stuff like banks doing away with checks, or reward schemes requiring smart phones which 10% of the population don't have etc. It also works the other way. I find that 90% of EV owners have never bothered to calculate the true cost of owning an EV or its cost to the environment. The other 10% are good citizens and you appear to be one of those.

I do hope that all Prius owners include the cost of the 12v battery, and any labour, in their cost of running. I suspect most don't.

AS far as I am concerned the cost/value of any used EV after 5 years old is the cost of the replacement battery after the battery replacement. Before battery replacement its value is zero.
No replacement battery then the value is zero also (or maybe some small residual vale for other parts eg body panels when it is scrapped).
What does this do to its depreciation value ? So for 5 years you have had cheap running (plus tires, brake fluid etc). Then divide the total purchase price by 5 and add that to your running costs for each year. Not looking so good then.
Unless you can find a mug to buy it off you. Hertz seems to have realised this somewhat late to their cost.

It might well be that the cost of all the hardware over those 20 years, including batteries and their replacements AND the time to install and maintain it, plus the research time and the amount of time spent discarding some of the ideas which wouldn't have worked out may well have actually funded the cost of electricity. I do note that in the even of a global meltdown I don't like your chances of being able to buy the next set of replacement batteries. Just several thoughts here.

I suspect that repair costs for all the earlier EV car batteries will be high. Each new model that comes out will use a new shape and different technology for the battery packs. I think there will be little repair and more likely a full replacement and that will be expensive. I bet you anything you like that the EVs have NOT been designed to make a battery swap an easy process. The cost of the battery (if one even exists) and the swap labour will be prohibitive. They will effectively be obsolete and the whole vehicle will be scrap. So much for saving the environment. I will have no sympathy for people caught up in this as they appear to be woefully misinformed and have a belief system that is not adequate.

Sorry for repeat.

There's one in China. Type in "China's mind-bending mega bridge". Probably the second hit although the first one might be the same place. You would not want to use this in any way bearing in mind tofu construction.