Indeed. Silicon is already down to only 30% of the earth's crust, and aluminum has dwindled to only 8%. We are down to our last few peta-tonnes.

Also, silica conducts heat far better than cellulose, which means it can be made small, dense, and fanless, requiring less power and consuming fewer resources overall.

Yes it is. It has been a word for at least a decade. Just because you don't like the concept, doesn't mean the word describing it is uncromulent.

That is one of the problems these systems help solve. They are built into the dash, and integrated with the cars computers. So they know when you are moving, and if you are not moving, they know whether you are in "park" or just stopped at a light. They can also detect the weight in the passenger seat, so they know a second person may be using the system. It can be integrated with lane control, and adaptive cruise control, so those functions can be somewhat more responsive if the driver appears to be distracted.

Fine with me. They are unobtrusive, contain no malware, and don't blink or beep. I don't block them, and I occasionally even click on them.

Florida hurricanes are not a regular annual event like the monsoons are in India. They don't come every year, and when they do, they are somewhat localized.

Florida is the wrong place to live, but the hurricanes are only a minor part of that.

That is Adaptive or Autonomous Cruise Control and is not the same as low speed obstacle detection. ACC generally does not avoid pedestrians or other small objects.

It makes sense for them to support expanding the H1B program, and very little sense to oppose it. They look pro-growth, and can get campaign donations from many big corporations. The only people that oppose H1B are tech workers, who tend to be geographically diffuse, except for a few concentrations in non-swing states, like California, New York, and Massachusetts. Even for these tech workers, the H1B is not a priority issue, and the vast majority will cast their vote for other reasons.

My wife's car (not a Volvo) has obstacle detection, and "self-park". The obstacle detection only works at low speed, and it will only stop the car if the computer is in control (self-park activated). If a human is in control, it will beep and display the location and distance to the obstacle on the dash display, but it does not override the human. It does not distinguish between a pedestrian and other obstacles, like a tree or trash can.

For the situation in the video, where 1) a human was in control, and 2) the car was moving fairly quickly, the obstacle detection would not have prevented the collision, and likely would not have even been activated.

In my opinion, this is the correct division of blame for this incident:
Idiot driver: 99%
Idiot journalists who didn't get out of the way: 1%
Volvo: 0%

The monsoons are not horrific. They are a normal part of the annual weather cycle. Complaining about monsoons in India is as silly as complaining about snow in Minnesota. Far more horrific, is when the monsoons are weak, which has historically led to famine.

That appears to be the case. The reporting on this is very muddled, but at least one article says that the car was not in "self-parking" mode, so the pedestrian detection would not have been active even if this car had it. The driver was in full control of the car, and intentionally accelerated toward the reporters. So the real story here is that some random guy in the Dominican Republic is an idiot.

That is silly. The original point of SSNs was so that employers could use them to identify workers when paying social security taxes to the government. So, obviously, your employer needs to know it.

We need to get away from the ridiculous idea that something can be both widely known and secret. SSNs should only be used for identification, and should never be used for authentication. We should have a separate system for that.

No it isn't fair, because the number of medallions is artificially limited, so "everybody" can't get one. If anyone could enter the market, and licenses were priced to cover the cost of administration, that would be fair. What we have now is just an anti-competitive extortion racket.

What?? It this "opposites" day? Both health care (Medicare) and pensions (Social Security) have not only not been "raided", but are being unsustainably financed by politicians too terrified to attempt any reform. I wish that spending was being "raided". We should be investing more in young families with children, and get spending on retirees under control.

New York City has a nice bus system. It also has one of the most extensive subway systems in the world. There is still plenty of demand for taxis. A taxi can get you almost anywhere in less than half the time.

Also the only first world nation with a brain drain, of more educated people leaving than arriving, mostly because of lack of opportunity in a corrupt and over regulated economy. In the ease of doing business rankings, Italy is below Mexico and Colombia, and only a few notches above Russia.