bluGill

A scooter is great if you are taking transit for all long trips, but your walk from your front door to the transit stop is a little too long (or the walk from the transit stop to where you are going it too long.). A ebike is great if you are not taking transit it all, but I wouldn't want to get them on transit (I have a very low opinion on those front of bus bike racks - they might be full when you want them). Those are very different trip modes. The scooter is for trips where you could walk but it is bit far, while the ebike is for trips you wouldn't walk at all. Those are two different things and so we cannot give a correct answer.

Town and counry minivan.

where I like salt gets the body before the engine goes. I have 220k on one and it is starting to rust through.

Right, I'm saying the big one isn't coming - and even if it comes you won't survive so what is the point.

They did - but it was a lot more work - (and often mistakes were made) and that means costs were higher. Or more likely they didn't do the work as often and so it was a lot longer before they discovered problems.

Which is perfectly fine to do.

I can pay my bill online. That means there is a connection between the systems. They need to add up all the water everyone in my neighborhood uses compared to how much they pumped into my neighborhood - if there is a difference there is a leak someplace. While each link only needs to be connected to the next, eventually there is a system that is connected to the internet, and so the whole cannot be air gaped. Not to mention the internet is a really easy place to connect everything to.

Also, it is really nice if you work at the utility to be able to control the pumps and valved scattered all over the city without having to physically go to each one. Or better yet automatic control - which is only possible if all the systems are connected - see above about one of those systems leading to my bill and so must be connected.

Air gap is useful for a few military systems. Everything else (including most military systems) are better off networked. However we do need to protect the network better.

Society will not collapse. If it does odds are you won't survive what caused the collapse in the first place. (if you are a prepper make sure your neighbors know how to access you stash - both so that it doesn't go to waste if you can't get to it and because even if you can get to it you will need whatever neighbors survive to rebuild society)

However there are a lot of disasters that are much more likely that society collapse that are worth being prepared for.

They cannot legally do that in most areas. So long as you pay your actually bills they have to serve you. If you contest the bills and then never pay when the real bill is given they can disconnect you, but so long as you pay up they have to serve you. Where I live even if they disconnect you they have to reconnect you every winter.

Note that if you contest bills that are correct they can sue you. It isn't worth their time if it is just you (they would spend a million dollars in legal fees to get $1000), but if people start contesting legitimate bills they will start making examples of the loudest people. Pay your legitimate bills without complaint is the best advice here. Contest if they actually are wrong, this can happen, but it isn't common.

If you cannot pay your utility bills contact your utility - they are programs in place for the poor and they will guide you to them (they want their money, they don't care where it comes from)

If you have ate vegetables as most have had them they are gross.