Actually, magnetic bearings experience wear as well.

So called "permanent" magnets gradually lose their charge over time through interactions with opposing magnetic fields, heat, and mechanical stresses. Neodymium, for example, loses about 0.1% of it's field strength per year even when it isn't being used for anything. This is why you can't use magnets to make perpetual motion machines:

Magnets are basically batteries that store energy in the form of a magnetic field, eventually they run out of charge and need to be re-magnetized.

This makes passive magnetic bearings really tricky to design, so most of those in use are active types that also employ sensors and electromagnets to ensure stability. These electronics also degrade over time, so usually a mechanical bearing is a better choice unless the use-case requires a frictionless axle.

The weight of the blades on a typical windmill is aligned with the plane of rotation, so most of the forces are taken up by radial bearings:

They do need thrust bearings as well, but only to resist the force of the wind that isn't converted into rotation.

Vertical windmills, however, rotate perpendicular to their load and require a thrust bearing to support the full weight of the blades at all times:

This means that vertical windmills wear down the single thrust bearing that supports their weight significantly more quickly than others who can distribute the weight of the blades across multiple radial bearings. It's not a huge problem at a small scale where the weight is minimal, but as the weight per bearing increases, the rate of wear does as well.

Of course the polls don't matter. National elections don't even matter. But that's no excuse for being surprised about the results.

That hack was popular, but not a good analyst:

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/05/04/qa-political-polls-and-the-2016-election/

Not only were the national polls within 2% of the final total, the last series of state polls going into election day had a very obvious trend line:

I've talked to pollsters on occasion, but I don't click on any sus links or tolerate sms fundraising.

I remember that the results were within the expected margin of error, and a lot of people being surprised about this for some reason.

No, that's accurate. Polls had Trump sweeping the swing states and we've known since 2015 that the Dems would have to drop the incumbent to stand a chance in 2024.

The only person embarassing themselves here is the one getting bent out of shape to the point of capslock-shouting at some rando on the internet who doesn't agree with them.

You could have said nothing or just blocked me and gone on with your life, but you need people like me to support your candidate or else, so you take personal offense to the entirely-uncontroversial opinion that the Democrats are only "Left" when the window of acceptable politics is constrained to them and the Republicans.

The protesters displayed all of the traits you mentioned. By conspiring and planning to commit unlawful actions.

Are you talking about conspiracy to commit murder or conspiracy to commit minor traffic violations? XD

Highway engineers can be charged with manslaughter if they display willful ignorance, intent to break the law or have demonstrated that they were deceitful in acquiring a position they were not accredited for.

So the protesters would be innocent of everything except minor traffic violations.

It is not so hard to prove with a dozen or so activists who have a history of such actions which are wildly unpopular and illegal. Hence why they are charged.

With what, "disturbing the peace"? XD

So those workers who were made redundant got severance pay and training for the new jobs they were assigned to, right?

No? They got thrown out on their asses with no means to provide for themselves and their families?

Geeze, sounds like the Luddites were right.

The industrialization of industry under Capitalism benefits Capitalists, not Workers.

The luddites would never have been a thing if the rewards of automation were distributed among those whose labor they devalued.

You seem to be missing the Luddites point, which is that the benefits of industrialization all went to oligarchs and shareholders while the displaced workers suffered economically as the value of their skills evaporated.

The problem is Capitalism, having a machine do the work should liberate people from toil rather than income.

General Ludd is my hero:

I really, really hope that the Republican party collapses by then so that the Democrats can be challenged from the Left.

No, no. Lets be extremely clear here.

You think America is exceptional among countries on Earth for some reason, right? It's special so it gets to have its own special definitions for common political terms, right?

Elaborate on that for me, if you would.

No, no. Lets be extremely clear here.

You think America is exceptional among countries on Earth for some reason, right? It's special so it gets to have its own special definitions for common political terms, right?

No, no. Lets be extremely clear here.

You think America is exceptional among countries on Earth for some reason, right? It's special so it gets to have its own special definitions for common political terms, right?

You're talking about the America on Earth, right?

Jeeze, look at all the salty Bidenists giving you pissy downvotes now that their favorite big wet boy is planning for retirement.

I've been telling people that the Dems would have to drop the incumbent to win 2024 since 2016 when the DNC rigged their own primary, but no matter how I try to explain it I immediately get accused of being a Republican. I feel like Cassandra, cursed to utter true prophecies but never be believed.

No matter how reasonably I phrase the argument, I haven't been able to point out that the Dems would have better chances if Biden dropped out without getting accused of supporting Trump all the way up to the day Biden dropped out.