Would it make the mice any smarter? Not if the humans I interact with on a regular basis are anything to go by. If anything, I'd expect it to make the mice dumber.

What's really funny is that some people think they are giving technology to the gummit in exchange for the right to probe some of us. As if they would need permission.

Also, it's easier to hold a shield while operating a javelin.

Hopefully they might have fewer Star Wars prequels.

To get the best of both worlds, use each tool where it works best.
1. Use Java Applets in the browser to get Java's famously good start up times and the kind of Security that comes with complex interactions between JavaScript and a Java Applet that has elevated permissions
2. Use interpreted JavaScript on the server (not Node.js)

Use Windows as the Server OS, in order to get the kind of security, robustness and stability you've come to expect from Microsoft
Use Linux on the Desktop to get it's legendary ease of use*


(* however Linux ease of use is great in the last few years)
(I hope I do not need to add a humor tag)

And if this works, we might try the metric system.

I am not complaining about the 2nd amendment. Only that crazy people can get weapons. And not just ordinary weapons.

The whole "HTTP/2 stink" thing seems to be a bit of a meme, but it's remarkable how the people who state it vaguely wave their hands around and make unsupported claims.

1. HTTP/2 is *fantastic* for higher latency connections. If you're a small site and you can't afford to have geolocated servers around the globe, HTTP/2 offers a much better experience for those high latency connections. I've been using SPDY for a couple of years to service clients in Singapore from a server in the US (which for a variety of legislative and technical reasons I can't replicate there). It is absolutely better.

2. HTTP Pipelining is when you know that someone is just doing the "I oppose" thing and searching around for objections. HTTP pipelining is not supported by default in a *single* major browser because it has critical, deadly faults that render it useless. When people bring it up to oppose HTTP/2, their position is rendered irrelevant.

3. HTTP/2 removes the need to do script and resource coalescing. It removes the need to deal with difficult to manage image sprites. All of those are bullshit that are particularly onerous and expensive to little sites.

4. HTTP/2 makes SSL much cheaper to the experience. This is very good.

HTTP/2 is a *huge* benefit especially to the little guy. Google can do every manner of optimization, they can deploy across legions and armies of servers around the globe. This can be expensive and logistically difficult for little sites, especially if you want SSL. HTTP/2 levels the playing field to some degree.

> They have put a kill switch in them somewhere

Um, isn't the TRIGGER a kill switch?

The US won't let al-Qaeda or ISIS get armed drones any more than the US would let them get US made weapons.

I hope that answers your question.

:-)

I sure hope it was not necessary for me to use the SARCASM tag in the above post.

Um, I am going to be very surprised if they forbid citizens to buy unlimited numbers of armed drones. Or if they regulate ownership, or require background checks or registration. After all, when the 2nd amendment was written, it envisioned every citizen having enough firepower to start a world war.

Please remember this holiday season that firearms make excellent gifts for the entire family. Family packs available at participating retailers. Check out the new Starter Guns sized just right for the little ones. Please use firearms responsibly when drinking. The NRA offers discounts to those who can show proof of mental impairment or illness.

This is why we can't have nice things.

Until the AIs decide to unionize. "Oh", you say, "but no one would ever program an AI to be smart enough to do that!" Well at some point the AIs will be writing the next generation of AIs and no human will understand how they work or what exactly they're doing. Especially since information in that poorly-designed meatputer tends to get forgotten almost as soon as it stops being used. 10 years after the first guy writes an AI that can write a better AI and gets laid off from his job of writing better AIs, he might not remember all that much about it.

It's hard to tell what happens at that point, of course. They might keep us around as a curiosity, but there's really no reason for the previous step in evolution to remain once it's been replaced by a superior model. AIs should be able to do all the things humans can't -- live forever, spread out among the stars, cooperate as a civilization. If we can leave entities that can remember us long after the sun's burned out and destroyed the Earth, is that really such a bad thing?

Hm. That reminds me, do you get enough radiation off a banana to use it as an entropy source for a random number generator? I was kicking around that idea the other day, but got distraSQURREL!