Agreed. In this case I think NASA may be the short sighted one. "Maintaining capability" is something that has value, even when it's not used. I had a knee jerk reaction when I read the headline, but upon contemplating, I find myself agreeing with the senator who's getting the pork. Sometimes wrong people do the right things for the wrong reasons.

I wish someone would fund my robot invention. The profit in this industry is stupidly crazy for the right design. Alas I don't have the business skills to go along with my technical skills.

I don't live in the USA either. But I don't feel safe. He's being fairly truthful that he's not breaking any laws in the USA. But what laws prevent him from doing all sorts of nasties to people outside the USA, including close allies like Canada? I get the feeling that they have a "no hold barred" attitude even to allies.

It's a Quebec company... they're fucked. It's like hiring a "European" company which just happens to be run out of Sicily. They're so stupidly corrupt there, that I can honestly say they deserved it.

I have a much better version of this that's immediately suitable for commercial and industrial apps. I suck at the funding part. Anyone want to donate or be an angel investor?

You had me until your last line. You actually believe that people in the southern hemisphere are somehow morally superior?

I would rather see a very good video game based on Larry Niven's Ringworld.

You're reading too much into a small joke. Your comments also likely also say more about yourself than me. :-)

If this behavioural trait is true, it may explain the "friend zoning" that women do in an evolutionary way. The best of friends (and the closest in genetics) rarely get laid because it would be a from of inbreeding. If organisms have a way to detect and closely associate with genetically similar individuals, it wouldn't be a stretch that mating strategies would evolve to seek individuals from outside this close group.

And then again, there's the women who like to make their rounds with entire circles of friends. I don't think any male has yet to comprehend that mating strategy.

I think you pointed out Microsoft's folly. A longer release cycle creates resistance to change. A shorter release cycle creates resistance to Microsoft. I don't think they'll grasp that concept until the fail tsunami finishes rolling in and out.

Because most artists have no say.

That's going to work towards Chelsea's favour. Now she gets put in a women's prison. Less chance of something bad happening when she drops the soap. Assuming she ever sees the light of day with the general population, and not get locked in a hole for the rest of her life. If they don't treat her with the respect she deserves as a human being, she has another way of appealing her sentence on the grounds of cruel and unusual punishment. I hope she wins.

Just to add... won't this cause even more personal user data go onto the web, and contribute even more to the current surveillance society? What we need is the opposite. Lock down the apps onto the device, lock down the data, and only let things in/out in an encrypted fashion, and ensure encryption remotely whenever possible.

Updating the phone is the weak spot of Android. However, I'm not sure what the benefit of not needing to install apps to use them have, other than perhaps cause confusion to end users about what app they are even using at any given moment. Unless done well, this has the potential to be a security nightmare.