Let's get right to the root cause. Having people on this planet is the primary driver of climate change. If we could remove all of the people - climate change would probably heal itself in due time.
And given all of the other things we, as species, must do to otherwise slow down the climate change - perhaps it'd be better for us to be gone, because frankly that would not be much of an existence anyway.
(For the record, I eat very little meat, and in general consume as little as humanly possible while still maintaining a semblance of normal life. If more cuts are necessary - well then, this is it, frankly, for human civilization)

They also just changed the rules, so that the $5 autopay discount only applies if customers pay using a debit card or a bank ACH. Previously it applied to credit card payments. Given that credit cards often provide cell phone insurance, if used to pay the cell phone bill, this is a pretty crappy change.

Lots of customers are unhappy about that, and there are quite a few discussions on Reddit and elsewhere.

I contacted TMo and their support actually told me that the "official" answer for now is to register a debit card for autopay, to keep the discount, and then preemptively pay monthly with a credit card to continue getting the credit card benefits. This is something that Verizon did in the past, and then once users figured it out - they closed this "loophole". I assume the answer from TMo customer support is also "unofficial" and eventually this will go away.

They should have never allowed Sprint to be sold to TMobile. Our anti-monopoly laws are a joke.

When this works, US will be finally catching up with the rest of the world (including pretty much every "third world" country we normally scoff at).
Now, if US banks also joined the IBAN schema, we might be able to move into the 21st century only 20-something years late.

Yes, if AI can't handle the real world - we just modify the real world so the limited AI can handle it. Why didn't we think of it before?
And if we simplify the world sufficiently and limit the options for the human participants enough - may not even need an AI.

Grifts change, grifters remain the same.

Funny, all of the replies missed my point :) I am not advocating for not checking ids here. I am merely stating that the government can track travelers without the need to check ids, and therefore it is unlikely that that is the purpose of TSA.

As far as checking ids goes, the airlines would do it regardless, due to simple commercial requirements, because if they did not - indeed a wrong person could fly, resulting in various commercial losses (stolen ticket, theft of services such as elite benefits, etc).

Given that airline ticket information is available to the government (in fact, available from the point you buy that airline ticket with a credit/debit card, so way before travel), I don't think they really need to check ids to track anyone.

Just to be pedantic, Cruise ships do have security. Everyone goes through a WTMD when they board, and then again when they return at all ports of call.
The luggage is also scanned (when they take it from you at check in, before it is delivered to your cabin).

*Some* security is definitely needed on public transportation. The question is how much is enough.

Personally, I have a lot less issues with face recognition (my photo is already on the ID I present) than I do with "nudoscopes" used to scan travelers. The latter have an opt out procedure, which I used for several years initially. However, most recently, opt outs became extremely rare and difficult (and, of course, those who really want to avoid the "nudoscope" apply for "TSA Pre").

Moreover, these "body scanners" are now used at some non-transportation facilities (such as Smithsonian museums in Wash. DC for example). The new generation of scanners no longer looks like a scanner - it is simply a kind of a "standing wall" on wheels that is just to the side of the passage. It also does not require the person to be in any particular position, or even stop. So most visitors do not even realize they are being "nudoscoped" :)

In my apartment in a certain warm-weather country there is a severe pigeon infestation outside the building. They land and poop everywhere - window sills, balconies, AC compressors, you name it.

I've installed carpets of bird spikes everywhere I could. Several times I've seen pigeons build their nests right on top of the spikes, incorporating spikes into the structure. These birds are extremely tough too. I've noticed an unusual sound from the outside once, and upon further look found a pigeon repeatedly pushing with its body into a narrow area between the tops of metal spikes and the wall, until it was able to bend the spikes enough to squeeze in there. Over time I've noticed the same in many areas - these birds used their bodies to bend spikes and then build nests in the newly opened area.

Unfortunately, that country is also famous for poor hygiene and open trash containers, so there is no way to resolve this issue fundamentally.

Much like everything else in Las Vegas, it's a waste of resources and human ingenuity. It will be underutilized, and eventually (fairly soon in building terms) subject to poor maintenance, decay, abandonment (when the owners go bankrupt) and then, one day in the not-too-distant future, will be demolished with little to remind of it.

Meanwhile, Las Vegas still is an unsustainable depressing poor slum (anywhere outside the "strip") in the middle of waterless desert, trying way too hard to make a show of being a fun and attractive place.

Went to look it up. So, apparently that 1200 Gwatt represents about 50% of China's total generation capacity (of 2500 Gwatt or so). Way to go.
By comparison, US total generation capacity is about 1200 GWatt of which renewables represent 30%.

US uses natural gas for about half of its generation capacity, while China uses mostly coal for the remainder. But the trajectory looks good for them. Perhaps the one area where authoritarian regimes work well is such large scale whole-economy efforts (as long as they are real, and not Potemkin villages mired in corruption of course).

Is this limited specifically to H1B holders? Can I go as a US citizen?

The AS (artificual stupidity) generated seas of junk misinformation will only make actual precise and correct information more valuable, at least to those who actually need it. The rest were misinformed anyway, and will continue to be so.

So, I am a software developer for my entire adult life, I like solving technical problems and usually don't miss a chance to look at/play with code (esp. if not too onerous).

Now, I only looked at question 4. It is technically trivial. However - it is just so extremely tedious and boring. I started nodding off after the first 2 paragraphs. They keep going in circles re-explaining what was already explained, declare minutae of API for you and then ask for implementation or results that (at least myself) had absolutely no motivation to look for (as in - intellectual curiosity or need for order).

Personally, I'd probably fall asleep at the keyboard and that'd be it for the test.

Software development is fun, but plenty of people (esp. professors) know how to make it unbearable. Same reason many people (esp. in this country) "hate math".

Wait, let me get this clear - so these are the employees that "do what they are told" and you are wondering "why any Western company wants employees like this"? Hmm.