I'll never be able to retire. Never made enough money, and never had enough, early enough for a useful 401k. Two bubbles bursting killed what little I was able to afford to put away. My parents technically didn't retire either, they just got too old, sick and tired to keep working. Unlike them I have no kids to help support me so when it's my turn in the next few decades I'll be out on the street.

Social Security my ass.

Did you get the idiots from Ars Technica to do this? It's ugly, inefficient, and hard to read.

It's time to assume that all forms of encryption and communication have been compromised and probably have been for many years. There's no coming back from this when the most powerful country on Earth intends to keep things this way.

People defend bullies and call a 12 year old suicide a "coward." It disgusts but does not surprise me:

1. ... that people want bullying to be considered protected speech.
2. ... that the bullied are expected to physically beat down their tormentors or else they must deserve what they get.
3. ...that some poor child that is so desperate that they kill themselves is branded a coward.

Human society will always raise up the violent and support their efforts to eliminate the weaker members as if we're all animals and need to cull impure genes from our species. We are no more advanced than we were 2,000 years ago, just a loose collection of intelligent, slavering beasts in business suits and yoga pants.

I spent alot of time on the website for this chatbot and was surprised by how awful it was. I remember using the old Eliza chatbot for Mac back in 1987 and this is barely more advanced. I used the website's "Turing test" page and on the very first answer to a simple question the chabot gave me something nonsensical. Every time I see one of these stories the chatbot in question always turns out to be just as clumsy as all the rest.

This could cost Exxon HUNDREDS of dollars!

It's nice to see another monument to short-sightedness being dismantled. The atomic era of investing heavily in a technology that burdens human beings with the most poisonous substances on earth for literally thousands of years needs to be put to rest and this is how we do it. Decades of hearing pro-nuclear people hem and haw about what will be done with nuclear waste is enough. Decades of continuous safety violations by the companies that run nuclear power plants is enough. The promise of truly safe nuclear power will never be delivered upon due to human greed and incompetence.

Criminal acts sometimes have personal consequences.

Thank you for contributing to the overall naive attitude American industry has for securing critical systems.

I still read lots of magazines. National Geographic, Smithsonian, several history magazines, Car and Driver, Outdoors, Discover, FlyPast, and so on. I prefer the print format for being easy on the eyes as well as lighter and easier to manipulate than any tablet. At this point I don't have even the slightest interest in digital subscriptions to magazines.

I don't know much about art but the idea of someone launching random street junk into space as a "satellite" made me laugh, and I think a big part of art is about provoking a reaction.

I know this is the way our government works, tacking on all sorts of stupid shit but it still seems absurd.

Yes, on a graph it will be a flat-line. But "flat-lining" is when someone's heart is no longer beating.

It doesn't matter if the processes that create the output are in your office, your server room or even your building. You're providing the services that produce the output the business needs and the business management wants. If I.T. has made the transition in your workplace to service provider you will always have a place as the person making sure the desired output is delivered. If management still sees I.T. as the people who take care of the computers then yes you'd have something to worry about.

Now the legions of contractors and subcontractors will sweep in on a tidal wave of self-service and mediocrity to see who can offer the lowest price for their labor and the best kickbacks to the politicians and NRC people in charge of protecting us.

It doesn't matter how good your design is or how strict your regulations are when the people that build, own, maintain and oversee nuclear power plants prize money over all other things, including the safety of the population. This is why we continue to have huge industrial disasters. Not because nuclear power is unsafe, or drilling for oil in the gulf is unsafe. It's because the people in positions of responsibility are weak, selfish idiots.