Leader of a large corporation says that corporation's product is essential to the future of the human race.

Exactly. I hate seeing 3D printing touted as a mass production technique when in fact it's terrible for that. Traditional mass production methods like injection molding, vacuum forming, milling, etc. are intrinsically better in most cases and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

3D printing is great for prototyping and very short production runs, not for mass production.

You think it started with this? US media didn't even want to report on the issues with Obama, rather all they wanted to do was sing about his racial background without doing any digging. Media in the US has long since moved from "providing information and letting you make a choice" to "telling you their point of view, framed as news." This is why Journolist existed.

As for cultural attention span being exhausted? Hah no. Rather the media is doing it's best to try and change the viewpoint on anything that happens especially when it becomes too "hot in the kitchen."

Someone call Poettering. Seriously, seems like they are doing systemd for robots.

It has nothing to do with power steering, it has all to do with the ability to make a turn without removing your hands from the wheel.

I had an idea that might not be so dangerous and pulled out my fone. âoeComputer,â I said, âoewhat's the best way to knock that bitch out?â
        The fone said âoeParse error, there are no female dogs on board and âknockâ(TM) is not in context. Please rephrase.â
        Who programs these God damned stupid things, anyway? Back when computers were new, science fiction movies had computers that could think. These stupid computers sure can't. God damn it, I was going to have to talk like I went to college... only I ain't went to college, damn it.

Except that LVM is a PITA, mixing with RAID makes it even more so, and the RAID is unaware of the actual used space, making RAID 5 or 6 very expensive, not to mention it cant assist FS level checksumming with restoring individual blocks, you need to fail the whole drive. Implementing network transparency at the block level is inefficient, but no other FS has ZFS connect functionality.

There's a simple solution then, we go back to doing what we had every time there was a serious outbreak of some disease. Quarantine and cutting that area off, eventually it'll simply kill the stupid people off. Something that most people don't realize is that many places outside of the western world, the understanding of the spread of infectious disease is where Europe was in the 900-1200's.

It's why I never understand comparing Android and iOS benchmarks. We run benchmark software on them, compare the two, then run completely different operating systems and applications on top of them. Android benchmarks routinely show better performance than IOS. But everytime I use an Apple iPhone it "feels faster" and is completely stutter free.

I cannot decide whether you lack comprehension of your own native language, or whether you are deliberately obtuse. Or maybe you believe that North America's civilization, which I do not dispute, means that your property is magically safe because the people around you are a different breed from the ones populating the rest of the world.

Let me recap.

You said: I don't see how that is different from what happens on earth (aside from the space fairy dust). Whoever digs the hole generally owns the minerals extracted.

This is completely incorrect everywhere I have been, and that certainly includes the United States, where I currently work. (BTW, the countries you call 'tiny' include six of the eight largest economies in the world)

In general, oil, gas and minerals in the US belong not to whoever digs the hole, but to whoever owns the land directly above them. That is different from most other countries in the world, where they belong to the State, period. Even in the US, the resource rights can be separated from surface ownership by an explicit deed, and there are provisions according to which land owners can be forced to sell their rights, even if they are already exploiting the resources, or even if the extraction of the resources will detrimentally affect their use of their property.

Familiarize yourself with the laws of your own country! They vary from state to state, but they have a few things in common. The most important thing, of which you are clearly unaware, is that you own fuck all. The deeds, titles, etc. which allow you to use land or resources are granted by the State, and the State can unilaterally break the contract if it deems it necessary. People living on lands needed for malls, people farming above oil deposits, people raising livestock on 'frackable' terrain... those have all learned exactly how much their deeds and titles are worth. Because the US is civilized, they will be reimbursed by their losses... exactly as much as those who matter think that they should be paid.

I explicitly said: the one holding a contract with the entity able to use violence to overwhelm anyone else. Who the hell do you think I was referring to? Who do you think has its monopoly on using violence enshrined in law?

Space will be no different. Resources will belong to whoever has come to an agreement with the entity that can enforce its will (project force, has monopoly on violence, blah blah blah) Right now, there is no entity that can do this in space, which means that if you could extract the resources, you could pretend you own them as long as you stay away from Earth. Once you enter the sphere of influence of various States, things will be different.

I don't see how that is different from what happens on earth (aside from the space fairy dust). Whoever digs the hole generally owns the minerals extracted.

Where are you from? Because I have lived in a dozen countries, on three continents, and the minerals have either belonged to the one being able to use violence to overwhelm anyone else who wants them, or to the one holding a contract an the entity able to use violence to overwhelm anyone else. (Also know as the State. The contract often has a name like deed, title, etc...)

There is no property, and I doubt there has ever been property, without the means to protect it. In the past, and in some shitty places in the present, that means the owner being able to protect it himself. But we, as a society, have decided that it is more efficient (for those who matter) to actually have a mechanism that allows property to be protected by a larger group than the owner.

I doubt space will be any different. When it is in the interest of those who matter, they will get together and come up with a mechanism that will allow people who matter to exploit space resources. By definition, if a group can keep other groups out, that's the only group that matters.

Now, everyone has his own opinion on who matters... I will not bother arguing about that.

No reason? You mean the massive corruption inquiry going on right now? How about the other ones in Montreal, or Hull, I can keep going man. Let's point out the rest, my comment wasn't racist. Quebec isn't a race, it might be considered a segment of Canadian culture however. If you don't think there isn't massive corruption going on in that province, you either have never lived there, or don't know anyone who lives there now. Even your died in the wool Quebecker will tell you exactly how corrupt it is: "Very."

Quite a bit actually, of course he'll have to pay for his own psychiatric evaluation to prove it. The government will only pay for it in some cases where the person is obviously a danger to themselves or others(such the killing of Tim McLean.) If however a recogonized individual(not a GP) states that he does have a psychiatric disorder, it can become a mitigating circumstance. This could lead to anyone of the following: Reduced sentence, confined to mental institution for the remainder of his life(basically as long as is required for treatment), and so on. It can also be a aggravating circumstance, such as he knew, family knew, and others knew he had a psychiatric disorder--was on meds, and stopped taking them. Which may lead him to be placed in short term psychiatric care, then moved to a regular prison. Most likely medium security.

This isn't news to Canucks, we've been dealing with this in our own country from Quebec for years. It's gotten better since the RCMP started an investigation on it though, but I got one a few years back. The last time I was in Quebec was in 1988 when I went there I was in middle school, and it was part of the "tour the capital" bit. Quebec is like NJ, full of slime, corruption, and fully broken.