It appears I have to stop putting multiple points in a sentence in this place.

An analogy is of course an analogy - so "good morning" is not the same as "I took the initiative" - yet you accuse ME of not being an English speaker and I've now got to explain something very simple to you!
Your silly suggestion that he was taking full credit relies on ignoring context just like an assumption that "good morning" means the person stating it MADE IT GOOD, which would be ignoring context in just as silly a way. It's a way of conveying how utterly ridiculous a stretch it is to turn that quote into something along the lines of Al Gore inventing the internet. Cocaine addled former DJ's may be able to get away with that sort of thing in the name of entertainment, but from anyone else it just looks like the babblings of an idiot and I suggest not bringing yourself down to that level even if it's a current cheer for your team.

E17

The important part is that we are NOT seeing such rapid changes amongst the PREDATOR population. So this is not unusual at all.

The lizards that are not sticky enough to climb out of reach of the predators are the lizards that get eaten by the predators.

Inches?
There isn't a single smartphone made in a country that use inches.
That farm has been sold.

so it's probably the first instance of interesting business practices by MS

Starting up after dumpster diving for BASIC interpreter source code wasn't interesting enough?

The MS business model has always been to sell something that has already been demonstrated as a success by someone else and then use lawyers to stop the next in line doing the same thing. It's not unique (outside of computing) and it's not as bad as some of the practices of Cisco, HP etc (and MS being underhanded enough to deal with clones led to the cheap PC) - the only tragedy is they came to dominate so there wasn't really a lot of other stuff to copy and compete with. That's probably a major reason why computers generally still suck to use compared to what we would have expected by now. The MS Windows 10 desktop looks like a linux desktop from before this site even existed and the back end is nowhere near as good - how pathetic is that?

If the USSR had planted Rand as a conspiracy to fuck up US politics they couldn't have planned it better (which is of course why it was an accident and not a conspiracy).

Algebra is taught with Algebra based Physics

That is pretty well the basis of the first couple of years of an engineering degree is about, which you would know if your title was earned instead of bestowed by HR to make a technician feel more important.

No he said "I took the initiative in creating the internet" as quoted and not your personal interpretation which makes zero sense as long as context is considered.
You interpretation is something like pretending someone saying "good morning" has suggested that they have personally made the sun rise and simply makes you look ridiculous.
Gore was in politics, everyone should know that (even someone like me from outside the US that doesn't have a political dog in the fight), of course he didn't invent the internet, he just tossed money in the direction of the people who did.

Can we get back to having something vaguely like a tech site instead of Reds versus Blues?

Either way it seems chronically fucked up and a recipie for taking a back seat in world affairs while China, India etc are moving towards giving millions the sort of education we used to value.
You don't need critical thinking in a country if your ambition is reduced to making movies and selling stuff to tourists.

Way too many people don't realize that our current economic and political system would not survive if critical thinking skills became commonplace.

Possibly. Although the same can be said of every other economic and political system as well. Which is a bit of a problem. People are messy. And each person has his/her own priorities and beliefs and weirdness.

We are destroying our own planet in the name of making 0.01% wealthy, and most of us, most of the time, are perfectly content to participate in the process in any way that pays decently and offers "interesting" work.

Just because someone exercises critical thinking does not mean that that person will come to the same conclusions that you have. They probably aren't starting with the same objectives as you.

Which is why companies DO NOT WANT real critical thinking skills.

They want people who think like they do and who come to the same conclusions that they do based upon the same information that they have.

or are you really that ignorant to the varying degrees of libertarianism?

It was only a short post so I'm not sure why you didn't read to the end of the second sentence which is the one that addressed that.

And even without the law it seems fairly simple.

You do not INTENTIONALLY break equipment that you do not own. You do not do that. No matter how you feel about that equipment. Particularly when the person who now owns said equipment has no idea that there is a problem.

And I'd be wary of any company that could not understand that.

Non-lethal weapons would allow protestors to protest without getting killed.

Protestors should be able to protest WITHOUT the police using either lethal or non-lethal weapons against them.

The important thing here is to take away the governments ability to kill.

Except that you are not doing that.

You are providing the police with pain-compliance (aka "torture") devices.

And as can be seen in many news reports, once the police/government has them, they will use them. And that use will not be INSTEAD of more lethal options. They will be used when the victims do not IMMEDIATELY follow the orders of the police. Even if those orders are illegal to begin with.

Those weapons will be treated as a "force multiplier". Not as a preferred option over lethal force.

Now, about that 121/hr work week

I've done weeks like that during plant shutdowns but never for more than five weeks in a row. Possible, but stupid for a wide range of reasons. Medical interns put in those sort of hours too but get sleep here and there during that time when they are on duty. Not just possible, but widespread, and stupid for an even wider range of reasons.