There is nothing about being a Republic that prevents a country from also being a Democracy. I'm sick of that false distinction. A Republic is a state whose head of state is not a monarch. A Democracy is a state whose government's authority derives from the people. A state can be one, both, or neither.

for computers that deliberately offer a server to the public. Do what you want to do with network topology, instead. If your computer offers a web server, why is it listening for anything other than HTTP requests on its public-facing interface? If its not listening for anything other than HTTP requests on its public-facing interface, what does the firewall do?

Not sure if that counts as a "tool", but I really don't think anyone uses them anymore. The Blue Pill and the Corrosive Sublimate are pretty much gone.

Right, that was my point. I read an article where a commentator said "We have a lot of Cassandras running around predicting doom, but nothing's happened yet." Of course (and maybe this was your point about self-consistent foolishness), this was about the financial system just before the collapse in 2008, so in a way the guy was vindicated in calling them Cassandras. It's just not what he meant.

We clearly went to different schools. In my case, EE 101 was a freshman survey course introducing students to engineering. And, yes, the "quantum leap" thing bugs the hell out of me too. That and dismissing doomsayers as "Cassandras".

Even non-hominids use implements like rocks and sticks. Tools are specifically fabricated or altered: what's important about tools is not that they are used but that they are made. Unless we find the rocks they used and see whether they were flaked by the hominids or just found already sharp, we can't call these "tools".

Just as a warning.

Hairy? Check. Water-repellent? Check. How hard is this, guys?

Just a thought.