We already have a problem with wells in Florida getting salty, because when you lower the pressure of the aquifer by pumping millions of gallons out of it, the surrounding saltwater from the ocean flows in. It seems like this would happen even faster with an aquifer under the ocean if you start pumping the water out. I can't see this being a source of freshwater for very long.

"affecting the rotation of earth" is only noticeable because we have atomic clocks and thus can detect a change of 60 nanoseconds per day. That's not a lot. Weather has similar effects.

Fear does not work on a linear scale, so just converting Richter scale to linear as a fear ratio does not work.

An analogy is hearing. The decibel scale is logarithmic, but so is human hearing, so doubling the decibels sounds twice as loud even though it is exponentially more amplitude and energy.

Sturgeon's law: 90% of everything is crap.

This list of companies that don't take security seriously includes Equifax (at least as of 2017), and for all you know it includes your bank. I don't think you can assume that users know which sites are not serious about security and only use crap passwords on crap sites.

Also even the easiest password I have (which probably dates to 1995) is better than 123456.

I'm sure it comes down to specific models. One thing I really like about my Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS25 (quite a few years old already) is the 20x optical zoom. The Sony RX100 IV in the article you posted only has a 2.9x optical zoom. I get some rather impressive zoom shots with the Panasonic you could never get with a smart phone.

I still use point-and-shoots. The quality is still much better than the best smart phones (megapixels are misleading; the width and depth of the optics matter and can't be replicated in a smart phone) and ease of use, size, weight, and storage are all great. I'm not a pro photographer and don't want to learn a DSLR or carry it around.

You're both right, in that they did patent human DNA, and then those patents were declared invalid.

Shooting up synagogues is not a "lifestyle preference"

like the automation in the 737 MAX?

I'd be more concerned about the 45% false-negative rate

Yes, it was called Zem and lived in the swamps of Sqornshellous Zeta. Many of them are slaughtered, dried out, and shipped around the galaxy to be slept on by grateful customers. https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Mattresses

However, nicotine is much more addictive than caffeine. It would be a mistake to equate them. And there are a variety of other chemicals in the vapes, which may or may not be harmful. And nicotine itself may contribute to cancer too.

If you can convince some investor to invest $10 million in exchange for 10% of your company, then you are "valued at" $100 million. It's often based on the judgement of a few people who generally don't exhibit good judgement, but it is tied to actual money they invested.

Unless the phone manufacturer colludes with the app creator to circumvent the setting. But don't worry, there is clearly no collusion between Samsung and Facebook here.