Why is there no "irresponsible speculation" about this? Do we really believe that there was any notification whatsoever of this incredibly threatening operation in advance? Isn't it much more likely that something extremely weird happened -- let's say, the pilot who realized he'd carried cartons of weaponized virus to Mexico in the President's diplomatic baggage was trying to escape a team of US Army assassins and was trying desperately to attract attention after his radio was jammed -- and the PTB are just lying about it?

If they knowingly broke the law, then they should be prepared to face the consequences.

We keep hearing of scenarios like you've captured a terrorist who's planted a nuke in Manhattan, but you can't torture him because of some stupid rules.

I think if something like that ever *did* happen, someone who really wanted to go ahead and torture the guy would take the risk of a few years in prison. And if he *wasn't* prepared to take that risk, then maybe he wasn't really so sure the victim had really planted a nuke, either.

Decision to fire a weapon, or to be more precise the ORDER to go 'weapons hot' will remain the same as it is today, from the chain of command.

If a human receives that order, he has the option of disobeying it. Indeed, I believe that US forces are still taught that it is their *duty* to do so under some circumstances.

I'd like not just a GPS display, but a printout. Ideally showing the route on the map, a text list of streets and turns, date and time of start and stop, itemized charges including tip and change, driver full name and car plate number, name and address of cab company.

It would cut out a lot of scams. Or maybe, when you're in your hotel room and you're looking at the printout and comparing it to the map, you say "Oh... huh. That's why it looked like he was taking a long route".

"Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence."

That's the kind of rule which people who don't want to be seen as malicious really like to promote.

Adding a note to my previous comment:

I happened to notice a story in the London Independent today which refers to this process, whereby antagonists evolve to live together:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/new-bird-flu-cases-suggest-the-danger-of-pandemic-is-rising-1667526.html/

Skynet noticed this and developed the Cameron model to look cute instead of scary. (Similarly Dick's "Second Variety".)

However, as this process continues -- assuming both sides survive -- the newer models start liking the *human* environment more and more, because that's what they've evolved for. Eventually their loyalties become compromised. Human loyalties too.

The same process happens with human infections. Syphilis arrived in Europe as a ghastly fast-burning killer like E-Bola. Within a few centuries it has adapted to having only a marginal effect on human reproduction. A few centuries from now, assuming it hasn't been eliminated or filtered out on upload or whatever, syphilis will be just another of the thousands of nondescript bugs which live on peaceably in humans which we pay no attention to.

I'd like to see a cellphone that you could plug into a wired jack.

That would often let you make calls more cheaply and reliably. It would presumably use a lot less battery power, and you might be able to charge the phone off the phoneline. And you would have all your stored contacts, messages and whatnot in the phone, so you wouldn't have to rekey anything.

It would probably need some sort of "locale" support, so that you could use different prefixes when dialling via the cell network or via the landline network, but that's doable.

I don't know if the wired network supports SMS, but it would be very handy.

Conceivably 3-way calling would be possible too.

tixxit:

First thing I learned in self-defense class in grade 7, never bring a weapon to a fight you don't want used against yourself.

That would restrict my choice of weapons to a fleshlight.

JoeBuck:

You are ignorant; the universe is already conducting high-energy physics experiments. They are called cosmic rays, and some of them are billions of times more powerful than the LH

On the other hand, cosmic rays arrive now and then, not in fiercely concentrated streams. Have you never heard of resonance cascade phenomena?

Having no faith in the integrity of Anything on the Web, I choose to block those ads

Also, have you ever looked at Adblock's *whitelist*, and wondered why things like "@@/flash.pcworld.com/video/pcw/ads/*.flv|" were on there? And checked what happens when you allow Adblock to update?

TubeSteak:

I bet most people take a lot more care with their wallet than they do with their work passwords.

Unfortunately, a lot of *other* people *also* think that your wallet is much more valuable than your work password.

Rick:

...If it makes other people be a little more self conscious about how their words can come across and breaks the social norms of using homosexual terms as insults, then I think it's AWESOME...

I love the movie Liquid Sky (although quite a few people hated it). One of the characters is a tiny lesbian who is sneeringly aggressive towards men. Her preferred term of abuse is "big cock". Every time she tries to use it as a putdown, the intended victim gets this bemused look on his face. You can see that he's wondering whether to explain the details of her misconception to her, but the moment passes.

In other words, it would be nice if "u r teh gheyness!" and suchlike phrases could be perceived differently.

Incidentally, I met the actress at a party in a lesbian's apartment a few years later, and managed to make her think I was an utter dweeb, when I was just trying to say I loved the atmosphere in the movie. Heigh-ho, suck air.

JesseL said:

I can't believe he hasn't been found in a cheap motel room; dead from autoerotic asphyxiation, wearing a gimp suit and a dildo in his ass.

One can conclude the Federal Government does not consider Jack Thompson to be an enemy.

Assuming one cosmic ray hit per m2 per year from all directions; one hole per hit; the surface of the Earth is about 500 M m2; resulting black holes do not have escape velocity; black holes do not evaporate; age of Earth is 5 B years; then the number of black holes inside Earth is 2.5 e18.

Apparently the risk of any individual black hole actually colliding with another particle is quite slight, but how slight can it be?

Maybe black holes are in *very* low Earth orbit and powering the Earth's magnetic field.