I have to say, if you're worried about fire, (or even theft), you have to have an off-site backup. If it's only 5 GB of data, there's no reason you should worry about cloud backup if you encrypt the data before uploading. Just pick one of these giant companies that look like they'll be around a while, (Apple, Google, Amazon, etc.). I doubt they'd pull the plug overnight anyway. You should have an opportunity to recover your data before that happens.
Another way would be to backup, or upload, to another remote machine of your own. Again, just encrypt it before sending it over the intertubes.

Ah, yes. I remember well, sticking a floppy into a rent-a-Mac at the local copy shop, and watching the virus scan.

Yeah, I don't know. Maybe my case is unusual, but I was always a poor student, getting "D's", barely passing, up through grade school. Then I started getting high in the eighth grade. I went to school high, everyday of my high school years. Suddenly, school became interesting. I began reading books, lots of them, including the text books I was given. I began to enjoy the back and forth with the teachers. In short, I became an "A" student without even trying. People began to regard me as "smart." It changed me.
I definitely credit (mostly psychedelic) drugs with expanding my mind, and getting me interested in intellectual topics, art, music, and literature. Being stoned is not like being drunk. Really, they couldn't be more different. And these studies, especially in the social sciences - let's be honest, a lot of them aren't worth a shit.

I remember the early web, and how I'd be reading a very interesting article, and how hyperlinks would take me to another, related, and just as interesting article, and so on, and so on... Text with links, on a soothing amber screen - I loved it.
Then I remember the commercial gold rush, and how I hoped to god these people would all quickly lose money, then disappear. It's been quite a while since I clicked on a link and found something interesting on the other side. Oh, well...

"We know where to look. We know how to look," Stofan added

Yeah, all it has to do is be there. The fact is, is we have no idea how life began. Until we figure that out, we can only speculate whether it exists anywhere else, whether it was a unique event, or whether it might be a common occurrence. Don't get me wrong - we should look. We should explore for the sake of exploration. But to extrapolate, or make predictions, based a sample of one, when we don't even understand that one sample? It's just wishful thinking.

The way the word "addiction" is thrown around debases its meaning. What is being talked about in most cases - shopping addiction, computer addiction, sex addiction, cocaine addiction - is really compulsive behavior. And what ends up happening, in practice, because of this, is that actual addiction, (such as to opiates), is treated the same as compulsive behavior. Or rather, vice-versa. The Chinese, at least, are appropriately treating this compulsive behavior with behavior modification.
I think it would benefit everybody to distinguish these two very different problems.

Well, here's another thing - you can have a cell phone, which is very handy to have, and not have to play with it all day long. Just keep it in your pocket until you need to make a call.

Sure, why not? The word's been rendered meaningless already.

What's the difference between NK and Iran?

China.

Actually, the loading and unloading of container ships is automated in most modern ports. Crane operators are used to load and unload trucks, and of course to move containers around the port.

I did see that statistic recently. I was surprised, too.

Since I saw your (Score:5 Insighful), I feel I should comment directly. Like most people, I too was completely ignorant about trucking until began doing it myself.

Actually, no. A truck driver can make a thousand, to twelve-hundred, per week before deductions at the highest paying companies, if they're experienced drivers. But when you consider they're putting in ten to fourteen hours per day, often seven days per week, it no longer seems like a lot. Also consider that these guys have no lives. They're really at work twenty-four hours per day, sleeping in a truck, often not seeing home for weeks at a time. But the truth is, most drivers are making eight, nine-hundred per week, even less when they start out. But that's an average. Truck drivers never know what their check is going to be, as they are paid by the mile. Some weeks, you might spend three days sitting in a truck stop with no load. You only make money when the wheels are turning, and you don't get paid for any of the other work you do. Then there are the many ways truck drivers are abused by trucking companies, and the personal liability truckers have in this job. You kill someone, that's on you.
If they work a local job, and are home every night, and every weekend, they likely work fifty to seventy hours per week for seven to eight-hundred dollars. Does any of this sound attractive to you?

I'm not sure how big you think those fuel tanks are, but typically the most fuel they can carry is five-hundred gallons, more often four-hundred. If you figure an average fuel mileage of 5.5 gallons per mile, you're gonna have to stop every 2200 miles, or so. Obviously, you have to turn it off during fueling, but the only reason to leave a truck running when it's not moving is to keep the driver comfortable. You burn a gallon an hour idling.

Except for the first and last mile of the trip. See my other post.

The Teamsters represent a very small proportion of truck drivers these days. In fact, few truck drivers are unionized at all. Years of anti-union legislation and Right to Fire laws have made unions irrelevant to the trucking industry. And this is very much reflected by the low pay truckers make, and the way they are treated by the industry. Why do you think there's such a shortage of truck drivers?

It's a little more complicated with a truck. First off, people will be - rightfully - wary of an autonomous 80,000 lb., 13.5' high, 70 ft. long vehicle. Not just the general public, but owners and insurance companies. The slightest screw-up with a vehicle this heavy, and someone's gonna die, or something will be destroyed. And simply going down the interstate is the easiest part. What happens at the last mile of the trip? I can tell you, as a truck driver, that my Garmin truck route GPS is almost always wrong when it comes to these industrial areas that I have to go to. It'll get me in the vicinity, sometimes within eyesight, but even when it's occasionally spot on, that's often the main gate. I still have to figure out which gate my load goes into, which is often on the other side of the plant. GPS is going to have to get a lot more accurate than it is in these outlying areas.
Trucks have to make some fairly complicated maneuvers, and go into some tight spaces, while loading, unloading, and fueling. And as often as not, this occurs on dirt roads. A human being has a hard time doing this stuff until they have about a year's experience. You can't imagine how easy it is to get jammed-up in these vehicles, by simply making a wrong turn, or miscalculating how much space you have, and how hard it can be to extricate yourself.
If it would work at all, it would likely only be feasible for freight trucks (dry van or refrigerated). Even there, many shippers and receivers are set up where, instead of backing into a dock, you drop an empty/loaded trailer, and grab an empty/loaded trailer. That can't be done autonomously. Shipping containers might be able to be loaded somewhat autonomously, but you still need someone on the ground, if only to flip and tie down the locks. And, of course, the entire port would have to be modified. The whole freight infrastructure of the country would have to be modified to accommodate autonomous trucks, and in many places, such as cities, it wouldn't be possible.
Other types of trailers - dump trucks, tankers, bulk trailers, flat beds - need an operator who's familiar with the equipment. I could see in some cases where some shippers and receivers could keep full-time loaders and unloaders, but they would probably have to be truck drivers as well, to maneuver the truck into place. I can't see letting a tanker full of some hazardous material trundle along on its own through a chemical plant. You'd have to hire people to do everything a truck driver does - loading, unloading, fueling, and inspection. Flatbed operators have to tighten their straps or chains (at least) everytime they stop. Straps loosen as you drive, and sometimes break or come off. Who's gonna keep an eye on that?
Trucks require, by law, at least one daily inspection. You might be willing to allow another company's employee to do the loading and unloading, but since you, as the truck owner, are responsible (liable) for the truck's safety, how is that going to work? What happens if the truck breaks down, as they very often do, and there's no driver? They're complicated machines, and with the addition of computers, getting more complicated. There are too many things that can go wrong, and you need someone there who can figure out what to do.

tl;dr - Driving a truck is nothing like driving a car. In the end, I think they'll keep a truck driver aboard, even if he's not always driving. It's by far the simplest and cheapest solution.

By the looks of it, Mercedes doesn't get it either. Four bucket seats? Please! I'm already dreaming of how I'll lay down in the back seat of my autonomous car, sleeping, reading, or whatever. Give me a nice bench seat, at least in the back, and if I ever feel like sitting up and staring straight ahead at the road, I'll do so.

Two things I find interesting about today's right-wing thinking. One, is that they seem to not understand where the wealthy get their money. It comes from the rest of us. Two, is how poor and working-class people will defend this right-wing nonsense.