They'd disclosed it but the first one hadn't finished testifying under oath about it. And that matters. The latter has status as evidence in court.

You're right: the cloud isn't going away.

What should go away is for-hire cloud services from monopolistic and abusive vendors. My hope is that people will eventually be able to deploy and manage their own clouds without paying a fortune to, or having your data pilfered by Big Data giants, thereby giving the Microsofts, Amazons and other Googles the middle finger they so richly deserve.

Maybe, just maybe, just like in the 80s when the personal computer finally broke the mainframe monopolies and freed us from insufferable BOFHs on power trips and insane pricings, someone or something will come along to break the cloud monopolies.

And then we'll be free again, until the next bunch of suckers lets history repeat itself once more. But I'll be long dead by then.

Because if they're explaining to non-scientists, they might as well be explaining to babies. The foundational knowledge taught in schools simply isn't up to the standard needed.

If you can't make useful predictions within the parameters of your model, you can't test the ideas. Ergo, the shut up and calculate side does have a good argument.

Previously, in physics, there has been a three-way dance between theorists who develop the mathematical description, theorists who develop the mechanical description, and practical physicists who carry out observations both to test the theories and to apply them in practical terms. This dance kept everything moving.

This may or may not be the correct way to approach quantum mechanics. The rules are very different in that domain.

On the other hand, it's easy to spot the hostility between the groups and it's obvious that the anticipated new physics isn't getting found. New models are rare and are struggling. The dance hasn't completely stopped, but it is definitely in trouble.

But, of course, that might equally be down to the increased competition, the need to publish trivial results quickly rather than do anything profound, and the greatly reduced investment in blue sky science.

I'm going to suggest it's a mix of stuff. We need a lot more funding, a lot less aggro, and we either need to get the mechanical description partner back on their feet or we need to find an alternative to them if that sort of description just doesn't work in this arena.

But I think the science dance needs three sides. I think we're going to find that the calculate lobby can't advance a whole lot further on their own, and that they cannot produce a theory of everything without some idea of what an everything is.

Yeah true. Minnesota never gets that hot.

Even Ford manages to make EVs that survive Minnesota winters for a few weeks.

And that's better... how?

India simply traded Chinese social media mediocrity and corporate surveillance with American equivalents. But America isn't the enemy, so it's okay I guess...

If a manufacturer knows that a system has a specific defect that makes it dangerous to use in certain contexts, it is usually obliged by law to report those circumstances. The license agreement is not necessarily considered legally binding or protective where there is a case of wilful neglect. Deliberate actions are not treated the same as lack of awareness or even negligence. But even negligence may be treated unsympathetically by the courts, no matter what customers sign up to.

Given that this defect could have left exposed critical infrastructure, banks, and businesses whose work is in the national interest, one might even be able to argue a case that this gave succour to hostile powers.

The most probable outcome is nothing happening. Companies are risk-averse and Microsoft has expensive lawyers. But a class action suit for wilful endangerment isn't wholly impossible, and I could see the DOJ investigating whether laws were broken, but only after the election.

This isn't one weird guy making a nutty comment one time. This is written on signs and barked out as chants at so-called "pro-Palestinian" rallies around the world every single day. College campuses across the US are awash in students and faculty chanting these slogans. These are popular sentiments among the "pro-Palestinian" groups. And they're just outright open calls for genocide.

I actually agree with you about the West Bank settlements, especially after the October attacks. It's felt very much like taking advantage of the situation. My comment was reserved for Gaza itself, where Israel has actually gone above and beyond the Geneva Protocols. And doing things like providing advanced warning for attacks have cost them militarily.

A hospital is a valid military target if it's being used for military purposes (e.g., storing weapons caches and hiding military personnel).

Geneva Protocol I, Article 21: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org...
Additional Protocol, Article 12: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org...
Convention IV, Article 19: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org...

When your terrorist buddies stored weapons, ammunition, and military personnel in a hospital that Israel built for Gaza, it lost its protected status.

I am disabled too but I still go out. It's strange but... I'm missing a few body parts, and the small degree of functional augmentation my implants provide my partially-failed biological body feels like fighting back disability through technology, if that makes sense.

It's hard to explain and most people don't understand, but my implants give me a degree of feeling like I can do something more than just endure the loss of amputation. It's entirely psycholofical, I know, but if you're disabled too, you understand.

Haha no. But I don't shy away from going all the way on solutions that I deem worth it to improve my quality of life.

Implants aren't fun to put in, they're not cheap, and the devices you use them with - like RFID or NFC locks and such - aren't cheap either. But if you have the money and you're willing to grit your teeth for a few minutes, they're totally worth it. At least that's my opinion.

There is, again if you have the money. I use this stupidly expensive padlock with an equally thick chain.

I hate having stuff on me. Worse: I hate having to remember that I need to take stuff with me, and then realize I need something and I forgot it. To each his own I guess.

I've been through a 2T MRI machine twice and have had numerous X-rays taken, no problem.

I can't count the number of times I've misplaced my keys or cards, or left them at home. Some people are good at never losing those things. I'm not.

But even if you never forget anything, there's nothing like going about your life without ever carrying anything in your pockets. It's truly liberating.