What they really need is a constant stream of non-Japanese speaking workers to "seek asylum" in Japan, so they can fill these low-skill jobs Japanese workers just won't do...

Schools are making factory workers? Then why did so many schools drop auto, wood, metal, etc classes?

The worst thing the educational system has done in my lifetime was, I think, was perpetuate the lie "every child can and should go to college." How many lives were ruined by schools/teachers telling unprepared students to go to college, only to fail and incur massive student loan debt.

Bullshit.

Teachers need to teach children.

We used to have curriculums that teachers were supposed to teach, but over time, they strayed from covering that material, so states started achievement tests to measure the effectiveness of school's programs (note, most state achievement test scores are not included in student records, they are about the school). Then teachers started complaining about being forced to be 'teaching to the test'... YES! The test captures the required material teachers are supposed to teach (and some teachers stress out their kids before state tests because their funding is impacted).

The important thing is that students be asked to independently reinforce/demonstrate their mastery of the subject matter. This does not have to be taken home and done - this could/should be done in a study hall setting during the school day.

Uh, if you want a simple way to play games, buy physical media, not digital downloads.

Game companies could simply offer low-priced physical media for folks that already bought the game online. Problem solved...

WTF, why do expats need VPN access? Do video games have country codes like DVDs?

Your entire argument is negated by the existence of starlink.

How did they digitally download a game without internet access?

The fix is to buy physical games, not digital downloads.

Physical media is PERFECT for users that, dare I say it, LACK INTERNET ACCESS and can't download digital copies of games...

Well put.

You can avoid this by "buying" physical games.

Please explain how I buy a digital download of a game yet lack internet access every 30 days?

Aren't physical game discs an option? This only affects digital downloaded games, not all games. Presumably you could buy a physical game, store it on the console HD, then go off to your unibomber cabin in Montana and live completely off-grid and never be impacted by this policy.

I'm trying to understand gamers that somehow buy digital downloads but don't have internet access - they don't use discord, the don't play networked multi-player games, they just sit in their cabins and play single-player, non-networked games and never buy upgrades or expansion packs... really, how many people fit that description?

So in those cases, why not just buy physical games, not digital downloads? If you know you are going to be "off-Internet" for extended periods, why not just buy game disks?

Also, the game only needs to "check-in" every 30 days, how are you loading digital downloads onto the console, then going over 30 days without internet access?

To be clear, you think people that are in the military, work on oil rigs or in remote areas or ar in "foreign countries" (whatever that means?) don't have internet access? Really? Ever heard of starlink? Offshore oil rigs, military bases, and "foreign countries" have internet access.

This is really a much smaller problem than many here are making it out to be...

Personally, I am not an accountant and I like having my keyboard centered on my laptop, not offset to make room for a num pad.

If having Linux installed costs exactly as much as no os option, I can see a potential customer choosing Linux if only to play with it before wiping the HD/SSD and installing Windows with your own key.

Why not?

Let's see how these non-US OS teams deal with the surge in User Age Reporting requirements for OSes.

I suspect they'll snap to attention to their European leaders just as fast as you imagine US companies comply with U.S. leaders requirements.