Cars are just catching up to HVAC systems... In the last 3 years I've had to replace both inside and outside fan motors because their (maintenance free) bearings failed.
Weight speeds you up downhill more than it slows you down uphill. The trick is to not coast - keep pedaling downhill, use the momentum to get up the next hill.
It wasn't that a professional standing army "wasn't expected" - in fact they were quite common at the time. Standing armies don't tend to go unused, they make it easy for asshole politicians to pick stupid fights with other countries. Not having one was a deliberate choice we made to avoid such things, and for the most part it worked, for a little while at least.
If you end your argument with "and you know it", you've already lost. Which is unfortunate since in this case I happen to agree with you. But you're not going to convince anyone of anything with the shitty attitude.
When VHS was still around, DVDs were priced higher even though they were much cheaper to produce. If people are willing to pay more, producers/distributors will charge more. Yay capitalism.
I remember that being the one where you can headshot someone and their head explodes with a spurt of blood and their arms reach up and flail around briefly before they die... Wonder why they didn't keep that around with the later sequels? Oh and finding the double ended purple dildo in the police station...
TSA screening is required for every flight, domestic as well as international. So no, not every country has an equivalent. Yes they all have some sort of airport security, but no they're not as invasive and ineffective as the TSA.
I didn't forget. Deliberate choice.