As someone who resides in a region that is prone to landslides and gets a good amount of precipitation it's illuminating. We've known that landslides can happen after heavy rains (obviously) but happening some days after the fact due to air pressure variations? That's novel and not something many people consider -- this will definitely be something I take into account when heading out into the backcountry after heavy rains.

Storage just isn't there yet... which brings up another question: How "dirty" are the batteries going to be?

Storage can absolutely be there: Pumped-storage has been a thing for over a century and continues to expand around the world.

Looks like it's on arxiv, as it's paywalled by nature: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2107.096...

But a "handful of employees" at "a Seattle thrift store" union busting, etc, etc wow makes one wonder who would want to work at such a questionable place.

Questionable? Hardly -- I live a block away from the place.

It's a popular and highly-trafficked store, usually with throngs of fashion-conscious Seattle-ites milling about inside and on the sidewalk right by it.

Hanlon's Razor

Probable safe to assume it's not outright malice.

How about Alberta?

Sounds like they've been doing this for a while: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

I want to use Signal, but it requires phone numbers. :(

Threema has no such requirement: it's possible to create a completely anonymous account, not tied to any other identifier.

Not open source = does not qualify. That includes Threema (from Switzerland that was caught running several fake security software businesses for the CIA, for the sole purpose of trapping people and spying on them)

Threema indeed is open source.

Code is available here if you wish to review: https://github.com/threema-ch

Threema wasn't open source until somewhat recently but kudos to them for making the promise and sticking with it: https://www.zdnet.com/article/...

One key thing to note is that not all chargers/cables provide you rapid charging. So, sure, you can use any old set and get some juice but charging at 3x won't happen unless the charger/cable support it.

Check out the following for a bit more info: https://www.androidauthority.c...

I can't help but be reminded of the Steele Dossier, it's publication, wide circulation and discussion in 2016 by "journalists" who didn't bother to authenticate or verify the contents. It turned out to be Russian disinformation paid for by Hillary, but is Twitter intervening to stop the ongoing Trump-Putin conspiracy theory the dossier created?

Incorrect, actually. It was funded initially by anti-Trump Republicans and then funded as oppo by the Clinton camp.
And FYI, the Steele Dossier was generally determined to be factual, despite claims to the contrary:

The Mueller Report substantiates the core reporting and many of the specifics in Christopher Steele's 2016 memoranda, including that Trump campaign figures were secretly meeting Kremlin figures, that Russia was conducting a covert operation to elect Donald Trump, and that the aim of the Russian operation was to sow discord and disunity in the US and within the Transatlantic Alliance. To our knowledge, nothing in the Steele memoranda has been disproven.

Is this designed just for tourism, or is there some intended use for this thing that can cost-justify it? I have a tough time imagining what that use might be.

According to the Daily Mail it's a tourist thing (which kinda makes sense):

Engineers at Gundam Factory in Yokohama have been working on a 60ft reconstruction of the robot, which is being created as a major tourist attraction looming over the port city from Yamashita Pier.

If I'm going to have to do all my own bagging and ringing-up, I'd damned well better be compensated for it.

You're already doing that if you're shopping at the grocery store a block away from this new Amazon construction.

Welcome to 21st-century Seattle.

It's more geared for being overheard while in public. Here's a video demonstrating it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...