I may be wrong, but I think I heard somewhere that flamethrowers aren't classified as weapons in the US. Might be why it's legally easy to market Thermo.

They are not classified as a firearm...they are perfectly legal to own in the US.

... and simply mount an automatic rifle on the top. That after all is where this ultimately is all leading but no one dare say it.

Well, at least in the US, it is incredibly expensive to attain any full auto weapon (can't be manufactured after 1986 for any civilian possession)....and with that scarcity factor, you might be a bit apprehensive to modify or alter a collectors piece.

Then, you have to go through the lengthy federal background checks and licensing to possess a full auto weapon.

And frankly, IMHO...the ATF may see what you are doing with it and reclassify it as AOW (Any Other Weapon)....which I think (not sure) requires more paperwork, and/or might be denied as something a regular US citizen civilian can own...?

That last part I don't know about....but have my suspicions.

People keep seeming to think it is easy to own a full auto weapon (Machine gun)...it really is not.

An AR-15 is not a "machine gun"/Assault Weapon/full auto weapon.

It is merely a semi-auto rifle....it goes bang once each time you pull the trigger.

Security consulting in Abu Dhabi.

OOps...you're right.

There's no way I'd even go visit that part of the world for any length of time for any amount of money.

I value my life above all else.

It's also disingenuous to say it will be done in a decade for $12B.

There is zero chance of that happening.

Is it legal for LV casinos to offer odds on when public projects will be done and what they will cost?

I'd take this bet at a hundred to one.

California banned non-competes in 1874 when they were a solidly Republican state.

Indeed. Both employees and companies do better in jurisdictions that ban non-competes.

Employees do better for obvious reasons since they can hop to better jobs.

It is not as obvious for companies, but they benefit from more freedom to hire, ideas and innovation spreading faster, and more satisfied employees.

Non-competes are a prisoner's dilemma. An individual company benefits from a non-compete but is harmed even more when other companies do the same. They are collectively better off if none of them do it. But the only way to enforce that, is a legal ban.

The FTC finally did something I agree with. That hasn't happened in a long time.

I'm pretty sure it was that Larry was so insensitive as to require all of the staff to attend a Catholic church service on a Sunday morning to get fired.

> Powershell has its weird quirks, but after writing a lot of bash, I can't stand it.

Can't stand PowerShell or Bash?

Yeah, I don't know where the *good* Sci-Fi authors went either?

* Does anyone know if Lindsay Ellis' Axiom's End is any good?
* I'm extremely disappointed in Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary. I'm about 2/3 of the way through and it is SO boring.
* I was given Ready Player One as a gift and I'm NOT looking forward to reading given how shit the movie is/was. Are the books any good?
* Apparently the original Chinese book is better then Netflix's adaption of the 3 Body Problem but the series highlights the idiotic nature of the source material so I'm not interested in reading that either.
* Apple TV's adaption of Foundation was decent (even with the changes) but it just reminds me that I miss Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein even more.

SF/Fantasy seems to be the way things are going. :-/

* Netflix's adaptation of Lev Grossman's The Magicians was good.

What I want is a site is where I rate a book I've read 0 to 5 stars and it will recommend similar books that I will like. I haven't checked goodreads but maybe I should?

That rare dude who invests in a home theater to watch alone, that's the target audience.

I was thinking it's for the person that wants to bring their home theater somewhere AWAY from home, like on an airplane.

That alone has been tempting me....

The greatest benefit of remote meetings is not having to look at one another. The only people that want to ruin that are people that live to have meetings, and don't really see them as a function of the job.

THANK YOU!!!

You get it...

I've been working remotely for about the past 14+ years or so.....

And for most of it, I did not have a working camera on the work computer (security)...and even those that did...I think I've been made to turn it on exactly 2 times that I can recall...and that was only to identify myself to a new team coming in....

Hell, for years now I've been asking my CPA if I can write off t-shirts and boxer shorts as business attire...and there's a reason for that...NO CAMERAS!!

On my Firefox Nightly I have an extension to set Yandex as an allowed default search engine. Makes it easier to pop up another browser for a session.

Somebody fix that extension to work on mobile, eh?

They don't - something like this needs an Act or Congress.

SCOTUS made up some BS "Chevron Deference" in the 80's which has been abused like this since.

The current /Maine Fisheries/ case should dissolve Chevron deference.

We may like the FTC proposal on this one but with that kind of power and no representation it's only counting the days until they do something we absolutely detest. And then there's no effective recourse.

Apple spent $10 billion on the car project.

I don't know the NRE expenses for the AVP, but Apple spends $70B annually on R&D. It's reasonable to assume a good chunk of that was on the AVP.

EDIT: Here's a link that says they spent $20 billion to develop it. It's from a VC, and they never lie.

But another reason I decided to wait is Apple would let me try it. Dropping $3500 on a product I'm not allowed to test isn't gonna happen.

I did the in-store demo, but it is totally scripted and 100% focused on consuming content. Going off-script is a big no-no.

The demo does not include using the AVP with a keyboard and mouse or integrating with a MacBook.

I also wanted to try using the AVP while reclining or lying down. Not allowed.

Well, I guess you ...could do what others did and basically put down a $3500 *deposit*, and try it for 30 days and return it for refund if you didn't like it.

I'm largely in the same boat as you are....and while that is not my style, to buy $$ things only to return them....I might consider doing it.

AVP looks like something I"d REALLY like to travel with...on a plane with the huge immersive screen and tuning out the world, I'd love that.

Having a large virtual desktop screen on a computer, especially when out on the road...I'd love that.

There's use cases I'd see I'd like it....but it's a lot of money not to really get to try it in the store...