I expect humans to be a fair bit more intelligent than dogs.

You've never lived in a rural Red state, I take it. Our dogs are probably brighter than half the population of Arkansas.

Madison Avenue advertising agencies have been at the forefront of selling this to the public. I have yet to see anything so slimy or disgusting that they couldn't find an advertising agency willing to promote it as the most important thing ever to happen to humanity.

Good news on the military spending front! Since China and Russia have raised their military budgets the Pentagram now accounts for only 40 percent of worldwide military spending, and its budget is only larger than the next two countries combined instead of the next five! Of course that doesn't include the Black Budget, Fatherland Security, or the thousands of mercenaries contracted to do things like guard our embassies, consulates and some of the multinational corporations' oil pipelines , but who's counting?

Penetrators with seismographs have been developed for for use on Mars missions, and then cancelled several times. It should be possible to adapt them for lunar use.

'Lunar meteor showers' have turned out to be more common than anyone expected

I find this a bit worrying. When Comet Shoemaker-Levy hit Jupiter it was estimated to be a once in a century or more event, but since then marks left behind by at least two and possibly three other strikes have been seen. I wonder if estimates for the amount of material drifting around the solar system aren't considerably off.

That would have all been interesting, if it had happened. Too bad for the fossil fuel industry that it really didn't.

To a great extent the Second Amendment's purpose was to protect commerce and property. Notice that it never distinguishes between different kinds of weapons, only says "arms". Not long guns, not handguns, not even cannons. This was because commercial shipping was commonly armed (some of them better than some of the naval ships), convoys of valuable goods traveled with armed guards, and the 'town hall cannon' wasn't just decorative. Communities mounted cannon at the mouth of their harbors for fear of pirates and Spaniards. Local militias formed to protect against roving bands of brigands. Frontier communities built palisades where they could retreat if Indians or Frenchmen attacked. It was a different world.

And video analytics are useless for finding that kind of information. They work fine for vehicles going the wrong way, objects being moved, sometimes for objects left behind and for loitering (what else is in the field of view is extremely important), but not a lot more. Yes IAAPSP (physical security professional).

Actually the first object into interplanetary space was a manhole cover that predated the Space Race. The Pascal-B nuclear test in 1957 was supposed to test safety features which would stop an accidental premature detonation of a nuclear weapon. Instead the safety features failed miserably, the nuke went off with almost the full force, and the 900 kg steel cover welded on top of the test shaft was launched into space at several times escape velocity.

I know far too much trivia.

People bought houses they couldn't afford because the people who were supposed to be "experts" told them they actually could afford the payments. I doubt anyone thought, "I know we can't make these payments for more than a few months, but lets throw all that money down the toilet anyway." The family across the street were told by two different banks and multiple realtors that they could afford that house, that it was entirely within their means, and that lots of other people even less qualified then them were buying houses. No one learns how to make a budget any more, and schools long ago gave up teaching financial literacy, I only blame them for being gullible. Now it belongs to the bank and sits empty.

Other than that, I pretty much agree. No, it wasn't "just a few people", there were thousands involved, a very large percentage of which knowingly and willingly broke laws in order to enrich themselves. Almost none of them are going to jail.

YouTube's, Facebooks, and whoever else's rights

Human beings have rights. Corporations don't have rights, they have legal permissions and obligations.

Madoff only went to jail because he ripped off rich people. The ones that stole so much they crashed the worldwide economy got bonuses.

put their people in prison for stealing less than $100 million.

FTFY.

Er, no. The Internet actually belongs to a bunch of companies that very few people have ever heard of, like Alter.net, Level13, Akamai and the like, who own the backbone that all your data flows through. It's a nice fantasy, though.

Counties in Michigan started doing that in the 1970s, giving property tax breaks and free infrastructure to "attract jobs", with the result that Kalkaska County was the first school district in North America to declare bankruptcy.

I like how you're talking up waterboarding (which when the Germans did it to US troops in WWII was called torture), and completely ignoring the sleep deprivation that has been known for decades to produce mental illness in previously healthy individuals. Now you get to use that deliberately induced mental illness as an excuse for something else. You are a truly sick individual.