The hajj is the granddaddy of pilgimages. It wasn't the first, but it was the first of its size and continues to be teh world's largest annual pilgrimage. Would fear of contracting a deadly disease keep pilgrims, and pilgrim riyals, out of the country? Maybe, maybe not, but clearly the Saudi government doesn't want to take that chance.

The primary definition of esoteric is things that are known only to a small circle, i.e., things that most people don't know about.
That's what the Internet is for, learning about things you don't already know.
Except, I suppose, for those people who only use it to look at pictures of kittens.

...that when most people ask, "How does it work," what they really mean is, "How do I work it?" i.e., they really only want to know which buttons to push to get their desired result. It's like the Automat: you put a nickel in the slot, turn the knob and pull out the sandwich. How the sandwich got there in the first place is of no interest.
Computers are magical objects to most people, inscrutable machines which perform mystical tasks if the propler incantations are performed. And most people seem to like it that way.

After hacking the controls of the DE-STAR a Supervillain demands a ransom of $1 trillion or he will turn the lasers on Earth. Only an International Man of Mystery or a Double Naught Spy can save us from the photonic clutches of, who? Dr. Evil or SPECTRE?"
Coming to a theater near you.

My construction toy was an Erector Set, now long gone. These days Erector Sets in the US are rebranded Meccano sets.
Anyway, the thing about the Erector Set was that it not only exercised your imagination, as does LEGO, but it also exercised your manual dexterity, which LEGO does not. When you have to use little nuts and bolts to put things together you get good at manipulating small parts, which is excellent for improving hand-eye coordination, improving delicacy of touch and learning patience.
If you make things too easy for kids how are they to learn?

If he rats them out maybe he can cut a deal.

Truthy, Indiana,
Truthy, Indiana,
Truthy, Indiana,
That's the site I'm gonna surf.
Truthy, Indiana,
Truthy, Indiana,
Truthy, Indiana,
Tells me if it's astroturf.
If you need to get political explication,
Or to know whether it's data manipulation,
Or perhaps it is an outright prevarication,
There is just one page to fuel your outrage.
Truthy, Indiana,
Truthy, Indiana,
Not O'Reillyana, Beckistan,or Hannitone,
But Truthy, Indiana,
Truthy, Indiana,
Truthy, Indiana,
The real spin-free zone.

My apologies for Hannitone, but once I'd thought of the last line I really needed to make the rhyme work.

At least, that is the standard in the publishing industry. Two spaces is a convention invented by typing teachers for reasons which I've never understood, and which screws up justification once the document needs to be set. One of the first things that has to be done when bringing a document into a page layout program is to search for periods followed by two spaces and replace them with periods and one space. PITA for the Quark/InDesign/Scribus operator.

From the article:
“The Texas Public School Nutrition Policy (TPSNP) explicitly states that it does not restrict what foods or beverages parents may provide for their own children's consumption.
"Brazos Elementary Principal Jeanne Young, said the problem, in this instance, was that the candy was provided by another student – not the girl’s parents."

I think the candy pusher deserves the sentence, not the simple user. This is just like the Rockefeller laws, punishing the victim of sugar addiction rather than the seller. Oh, I know she didn't buy the candy, but the first one is always free, y'know.

Original Series, NextGen, DSN or Voyager. Seems reasonable to me.

Blame the lawyers who specialize in patents, trademarks and copyrights. Ever since they invented the term "Intellectual Property" folks have become increasingly confused. This has benefited "IP" lawyers and those rights holders who try to overreach by playing on the public's confusion.

That's not made clear in the article.
Also, it was very odd the way everyone stood around the poster on the floor, not touching it or picking it up, as though it were a diseased, dead body which no one was willing to touch. So they called the police to come an take it away.
Why didn't the folks promoting the book just stand it up again, I wonder?

There's also an add-on called Master Password Timeout. You set a period of time after which it will again ask for your master password when you log in somewhere. The security feature here is that if you get a password prompt without expecting it, you'll know that there's some background code on the page poking into places it shouldn't be. It is also good in a workplace if you happen to leave your browser open while away from your desk. Keeps co-workers from checking your webmail, or bidding for you on ebay. I usually set mine for 15 minutes. You can set it to a really short period if your particularly paranoid.