The privatized "DMV"s in Missourri are amazing. You have a question? Call your local "License Office" and you don't have to go through a robo call router, it rings and a person picks up. Go into the office and you get served almost immediately (depending on volume/time/location). In MO, vehicle registration is every second year (even year cars in even years, odd in odd). I am in every y ear for one vehicle or another. Last year I registered three cars in under five minutes. No papers to fill out, just showed them my tax invoice, my insurance card, and my inspection cards. They checked a few boxes, and told me to have a nice day.
Amazing you say? I have the opposite opinion and think they're quite trash. The ones I visit almost always have a long wait, multiple display TVs with non-stop advertising on them, the employees are frequently cantankerous, and being a for-profit entity, the amenities are always as sparse as possible or in need of repair.
Overall a rather soul-sucking example of a captive market optimizing for profit.
Also have the same experience with MO DMVs being slow like DMVs commonly are. I think being for profit also makes the quality of the locations inconsistent [1] and that is mostly due to no state funding.
For most common purposes the CA DMV experience has really improved. Most things can be done online quite easily and they actually have a decent website
For additional anecdata, I've had the same experience at the government-run Indiana BMV, and most recently, was able to go in and renew my plates from a kiosk in the lobby without waiting or talking to a human at all. When my wife changed her name and renewed her plates, the whole process took about 10 minutes, including sitting and waiting to talk to one of the 20 or so humans working there.
CA dmv, practically everything can be done online and through the mail; people love to complain about the lines and how everything is slow but I sincerely don't know what they expect: even when I had to go to the office I always made an appointment, got called in within 10 minutes of arriving, handled whatever I needed to handle expeditiously, and was on my way, and had this same experience in various locations. None of this "I stood in line for a zillion hours, in the sun, snowing, both ways..." nonsense.
TX here too. My 16-yo just got his learner's permit and that can't be done online. Many locations don't have available appointments for months. Some, such as in SE Texas, have same day appointments. We ended up driving over an hour away to get a same-week appointment.
I don't know if this is possible for your use case in TX but my local DMV in OR has a months-long wait for a REAL ID appointment. Or, you can walk in and get it done in about 30 minutes most days. I guess they only have one or two people fully trained to process the applications but similar to getting into a doctor's office when you have an urgent need, they can usually squeeze you in even without an appointment.
The last time I had to go into a DMV in TX was when I had let a motorcycle's registration lapse >1yr. It took going in-person to show some documents (I think the title?) to get it re-registered.
Other than that, for someone who already has their vehicle properly registered and they don't need a new photo for the DL, yeah you never really need to go in.
Also, last time I went in, they offered a text message queue system. Sign up online ahead of time, pick a rough time slot, they text you when you're ~10 minutes and then ~5 minutes until your number, then when you get in your number is one of the next ones up. I spent maybe five minutes total in there.
EDIT: Thinking back on that, it wasn't the DMV that I had to go to for that lapsed registration. It was the county tax office. So yeah, haven't been to a DMV in many years.
Lots of things can be done online in Indiana. Plate renewal is one of them.
Initial vehicle registration isn't if you didn't buy from a dealer and need a title.
One you are logged into the BMV site, they now have realtime chat that is prompt and helpful. When I do need to go in, I use that to make sure I have everything I need.
For those of us not in the US, can you explain what this means? And why it necessitates a physical visit to an office?
I have owned vehicles in the UK and Norway for fifty years and never had to visit such a place for the purpose of registering a vehicle. Even before it was done online all that was needed to register change of ownership was to send in the registration document. And we don't have to do it again. We have to pay an annual fee to the roads authority but that is now collected by the insurance company automatically in Norway so it cost money but not time or effort.
In most US states, the tag is registered to the owner and the car. I put old cars on/off the road and have 3-8 tags/yr come and go (+3 on daily drivers).
While the tag is in your possession, insurance must be kept active on that vehicle. If you pull a car off the road, you have to turn in the tag before canceling insurance.
Like lots of people, I've had my license auto-suspended for non-insurance. My company notified the state of renewal (old end+new begin) and state only recorded the old policy ending. I only found out because I routinely checked my license status online. Saved me a trip to jail and an impounded vehicle.
Its varies by state. In MO I can theoretically do it online, but I can't get through the ID verification step. I have to go to town to get my car inspected, so it's only an extra five or ten minutes to stop off at the License Office. If the experience was poor I'd work harder to get the online registration working, but it's so easy I don't see the point.
Like so many things, it varies by state. Where I live, the only reason I've had to physically go into the DMV in years, is to get a new license (they have to take a photo and capture a signature). Otherwise, it's just fill out a form online and they send me an updated registration in a week or so.
I have a similar experience in my state, but almost none of it is privatized. They made it so you can do most of what you need to online, like renewing your vehicle registration or driver's license. They also extricated all driver's license management from the DMV and put it under it's own Driver's License Division. When I have had to go in-person for either of these things, lines haven't been long and the staff have been very helpful.
Yep in Maryland we have "Tag & Title" places - they don't offer all the services of the MVA (our name for the DMV), but for what they do offer the fee is generally well worth it.
I kind of wish that the DMV was combined with an attached food court... I mean, that way you can come on your meal break, actually get something to eat while waiting etc.
Oklahoma has a similar system where you can register your vehicle or renew (not acquire) your license at a "tag agent", except they stopped calling them that a few years ago. I think the benefit of this arrangement is separation of concerns between normal citizens and the dregs of society. You see, in a state where you do all things at the state DMV office, normal functional people have to intermingle with alcoholics and ex-felons and other dysfunctional residents who are massively overrepresented. In Oklahoma only people in good standing are found at the tag agency, while felons and people trying to resolve their 37th DUI arrest are found only at the DMV. That makes it feel like a more efficient system, for the normal people.
I sometimes think about what my life would be like if my wife passed away. I'm also a father, and sometimes I wonder what life would be like if I lost my entire family. I think I'd have a hard time finding purpose and would either spiral or would become hyper focused in my career.
It is amazing. I had the same "best friend" for 20 years, from age 3 until 23, but almost as soon as I set eyes on my wife she became my best friend and became a much deeper and beloved one. I find that much of my motivation in life is because I want the best for her and our children.
Not a knock on Feynman, but he did re-marry in '52, which ended in divorce a few years later and then married a third time in '60, and stayed married until his death.
My sister is in her twenties. About the time she was in high school these tracking apps became available. My mother used it to keep an eye on her. Fast forward almost a decade, she freaks out if my mother isn't checking in on her now. It's quite disgusting.
I am glad to be about 10 years older and have entirely missed this plague.
I'm not sure I follow your meaning, kids still die. I have lost a child and a tracker that ruins their confidence and privacy wouldn't have done anything. Not that much changes.
I'm sorry for your loss. What I meant was that it used to be so common that it was something majority of parents (or large enough fraction) expeirienced so those that didn't experience it might have been seen as not experiencing full range of parenthood. One might say that modern medicine that vastly reduced child mortality somehow keeps most of modern parents from "growing up" in that sense that they never experience full range of parenthood from 200 years ago.
Ah, I see. I guess that's possibly true. On the other hand, the loss of someone close to you is practically inevitable. Eventually almost everyone will experience a devastating death (unless the person is the devastating death).
In my observation, the inability to let a child off on their own without any form of supervision or in this case tracking, means that the parent is not ready to let go of that child when they are an adult and need to be given the freedom to succeed or fail on their own.
I am admittedly biased. My sister was tracked from about 12 until this day and she's now 26, I believe. She gets upset when my mother isn't checking in on her. Likewise, my mother can't go more than a few hours without calling my sister. She will regularly check her phone to see where my sister is and then comment on her whereabouts and call or text her to ask why she's where ever.
Likely there are parents who are going to be able to handle these tools responsibly, but I am not sure there is a responsible way to use these.
But I am also biased against them, hopefully I am wrong. I saw how my sister has turned out from having a late-blooming helicopter parent and my wife (one of a dozen kids, so very hands off parents) and I have tried to give our own kids age appropriate freedoms.
I have been amazed by historic accounts of children. One example that sticks out to me is a letter a man in Texas wrote to his brother. The man's wife had died and he had to take care of some affairs in Texas. The man's brother lived in Kansas and he was writing because he'd sent his two children (12 & 13) to Kansas with his herd of cattle to sell. I don't think I'd ever be there, but I do think children are more capable and trustworthy than we give them credit for and we don't give children enough room and as a result we have some extremely childish adults who have never been given the chance to fail and get back up.
I think you're asking a bit much from a 6yo. My kid is more afraid of getting lost than getting found. I suspect most very young children are. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, and this watch seems to meet the need.
Every 12yo I know has a cellphone already. This watch is not aimed at them.
Also an American and the same story. I have owned six "modern" (post 2000) vehicles and none cost more than $5000 and all have had very long and problem free lives with me. The only two vehicles I don't still own is a Dodge van that had an engine issue (owner fault) and a Mitsubishi that my wife's friend wrapped around a pole.
Agreed, also a nuclear strike would serve no purpose to the aggressor, they would want the land to be healthy, not irradiated. Invasions are not ever going to be won through the threat of nuclear war.
I didn't think of it like that. Of course the land would be irradiated. That's wasn't the point.
Think of it like this: Developed nations caused our land to be uninhabitable, so we move to their's. If they don't accept us, we make their land uninhabitable too.
That’s just not how any government has ever thought out a problem. Nations don’t snap their fingers and everyone leaves at once. Emigration is slow, even in apocalypse heat waves.
The thermal equator passes through Sindh. The hottest temp ever recorded was 53.5C/128.3F on May 26, 2010, the previous record high was 52.8C/127F on June 12, 1919.
So sounds like this is a hot, but not uncommonly hot day there.
That doesn't follow. If the hottest temperature ever is 53.5, and the previous record was 52.8, then temperatures that cross 52 degrees don't sound "not uncommon" at all.
For comparison, the highest temperature in Denver history is 105 F (40.6 C). Denver gets 3-5 days above 100 F (37.8 C) in a typical year based on recent history. The total number of 100 degree days in Denver in the last 150 years is 105. The total count at 103 or above is 13. (source: https://www.weather.gov/bou/DenverSummerHeat).
I've seen some amazing old buildings there and elsewhere in that general area of the world that were able to even produce ice despite this heat. Shame that these olds technologies have been passed by for tech from more humid climates.
Yes I saw that too. Quite an extraordinary temp by almost any US state's standard! I looked up the temp in Turbat today, only 86F, cooler than where I live in the midwest. Wild the temp range between the two places.
You need to escape those *s with \ or put spaces around them.
This kind of method works much more generally. E.g. 58×33 will be close to 60×30 = 1800, so 58×30 = 1800 - 2×30 = 1740, so 58×33 = 1740+3×58 = 1740+3×60-3×2 = 1740+180-6 = 1940-20-6 = 1914.
