I really do think they should teach some sort of assembler for a very simple architecture in the introductory curriculum for computer science.

They do not?

I got my Master of Engineering in Computer Science in 1997, and I had three or four classes that touched on Assembly, including one where we rolled our own, for a basic microprocessor we designed ourselves. That was purely theoretical, but another class's final project included writing a compiler for a simple procedural language to Assembly.

Now, I went to college having disassembled and commented one or two different BIOSes, and having written PC drivers for custom controllers for the Bulgarian People's Army, so I had a head start, but I am pretty sure that the above mentioned classes would have given me decent understanding of what an Assembly Language is, and how to use it if needed.

This said, since the 90s, I have never written in Assembly, except for maybe 100 lines to speed up some time-critical searches through a custom data structure. But I have done a fair bit of disassembling, to figure what the hell was going on in some device drivers in an automated cell (robot arms + CNC lathes and mills)

But frankly, this may just be my being a old fart. I have met young programmers who did not understand stacks, so...

Hell yeah, something is wrong.

Missing it by 15-20 minutes? Considering the Earth's rotation, that's missing it by 400-500 kilometers.

HOW DO THEY DARE, dropping their stuff only 500 kilometers into the ocean?!?!?!? Clearly, they should have dropped it much further, somewhere over Africa.

They were somewhat popular in the Eastern Block, in the 70s. Cassette players were nearly impossible to get without hard currency, but the Russians were making some half-way decent reel to reel players. I think they were called Romantic/POMAHTUK (in 2020, Slashdot still cannot display Unicode, i.e. no Cyrillic)

I had a Grundig portable cassette player, and that was considered the apogee of luxury. I had bartered a case of melons for it with a German tourist, who could not be bothered to fix what turned out to be a bad solder connection. Finding cassettes was very hard. Many 80% of what I had were Western pre-recorded cassettes which came with music that I did not case about, that I would record over.

And I was recording from reel to reel and vinyl, practically always. I do not remember ever recording from another cassette directly, because I did not get along with the only other guy whom I knew had a cassette player. It was funny, because that Grundig was the only music player we could take to class trip, and many people in my class had one cherished cassette that they would bring, despite not having any way to play it themselves. And those cassettes were duplicated with a reel to reel as a intermediate step.

The funny part is that when I last went back home in 2016, that Grundig still worked. It was over 40 years old.

I did not, at any point, say that we should stop preparing. I actually pointed out the value of reconnaissance tech and offensive weapons. I am no pacifist. As a matter of fact, I have military experience that probably dwarfs yours.

I expressed doubt in the usefulness of blinding the adversary without destroying him first, or at least simultaneously. Peace is best kept when you know what your opponent is doing, and when you are armed so that you do not look like a victim. This 'blinding the satellites' approach is similar to squirting lemon juice in the eyes of someone who's holding a sawed-off shotgun, and is trapped with you in an elevator.

Even if you want to project power, and even if you want to moderately escalate a conflict, blinding the satellites is a terrible idea. You want the adversary to know what you are doing, namely that you are not starting WWIII, because otherwise they will assume the worst. If you are about the do the worst, you may as well start by firing missiles from right outside their borders (bases or subs) If you blind them, they will assume that this is exactly what you are doing.

So, this capability sends a very nasty message, because the only point I see is to either hurt a much weaker state actor, or to get a minute advantage when launching a first strike.

Two things I would not like people to think that we are about to do.

I think that having their satellites blinded is probably the best way to provoke the enemy into launching every single ICBM they have, sending a "You're on your own, do maximum damage" order to their subs, and basically ending civilization.

And once you know the enemy has this 'blinding' capability, it will be more likely that technical problems will tempt the person at the switch to overreact.

We were lucky that we did not end ourselves in 80s. It is now known that there were a few very close calls, and I am sure there were many, many more times that the fate of the world hung on someone not doing his job by the book, and wasting time ascertaining that enemy had not started WWIII.

I really do not understand why anyone would want to bring those days back. As someone who lives in the United States, I am a lot less worried the conscious actions of state actors with satellites and nukes, than technical problems resulting in first strikes which are thought to be retaliatory ones.

China will fight us economically and politically. Russia is a threat to its neighbors, but is unlikely to do more to us than what we have been doing to each other for decades (propaganda, disinformation campaigns and similar nuisances) Europe is so passive and demotivated that it is no threat. The UK is an ally, and will remain one, unless they want to be completely isolated. India, Israel and Pakistan are regional powers that are looking for allies, not enemies.

The only reason to develop a space force would be to have better reconnaissance capabilities, and more utterly final offensive capabilities. This is neither. And frankly, is the ability to take out satellites so novel? Sure, this is a newish way of doing it. But orbital debris and land based missiles have been a known method for a long, long time.

These guys deserve an award.

They made their lock vulnerable to practically everything I can think of: physically easily to compromise (screwdriver) CHECK, vulnerable to man in the middle attacks CHECK, poorly designed web site CHECK, motor not shielded from magnetic manipulation CHECK, etc.

Did they actually try to catch them all?

I think the problem is that the sneeze droplets ends on the visor, interfering with visibility.

I do not ride motorcycles with a closed face helmet (I only ride in the desert, I'm a coward) but I've used visored helmets on the race track in a car. I kept the visor up, because even tiny specks of dirt or droplets of liquid on it can obscure things. The instructors were telling me that I would not have time to drop the visor in case of a fire, but... I took my chances, and luck was with the fool.

The Internet as we knew it might have been able to survive... but then, a few months later, came Eternal September.

No, I cannot, and neither can you.

What we are smelling is the compounds which are generated when organic materials are oxidized by the metals.

For example, you touch a steel key with your somewhat moist hand, and it oxidizes your skin lipids. That's what you smell.

In the same way, copper in spilled blood reacts with the outer surface of the victim's skin (or exposed fat), and produces aldehydes (or I think ketones) which we have been evolutionary prepared to detect.

This is established science. A lot of people have worked on artificial sensors that can detect specific odors. Detecting metal atoms and even ions is not the way, because there are too few, if any. Detecting the compounds created from those metals interactions with other things? Yes, but those do not necessarily contain any metal.

I assume that by 'resident of the Bahamas', the OP meant a company registered and doing business in a tax shelter. The car would not have to be in the US, either.

Try "spend 1 million of dirty money and get 300,000 of clean income" that you can move around. Or funnel a bunch of money you cannot explain into vendors that you actually control. Or "lose a few millions that you write off your taxes, because you just paid them to a shell company of yours". Or "drive your company's stockholders bankrupt, because you bought cheap services at exorbitant prices from a company which profits you reap".

But why should I give you an education in money-laundering? And why do you need one? Hmm...

As someone who has had to carry extra belts for the RPK in addition to one extra bag for the Kalashnikov (8 magazines plus the one in the rifle) I can tell you:

Yes, there is such a thing as too much ammo, if it degrades your combat effectiveness.

After that freaking 70km march was over, we spent a few days trying to figure out a way to carry the damn 250 round belts comfortably. I'm a short guy, the 13 kilos were not a problem, but the length was.

We did not think of anything. At the end, we just decided that 200 round belts made more senser to carry. 20% fewer cartridges, a lot less PITA.

Weeks? Are you kidding? None of this would take more than a trip to a good library. And I grew up with both Great Russian Encyclopedia and Encyclopaedia Britannica in a library less than 1km away.

> What is the most poisonous spider in South America?
It's relatively easy to find a list of poisonous South American spiders in a library. I do not give a flying fuck which one is the most poisonous, just which ones are a threat.

> How far is it in feet from Duluth to Barstow?
Trivial to find. I still have the old California atlas under my car's passenger seat, although I have not cracked it in years. If I had a reason to drive across the United States (Duluth is on one of the Great Lakes, right?) I'd have the relevant maps. And a maps with driving distances is a part of the California atlas, so I bet they would be part of an US one, as well.

> Approximately how many people are living in Frederick MD today?
Have you heard of microfiche? That's how we used to check the census results, back in the 80s. I doubt Wikipedia has more up to date information (compared to the 2010 census, not the 80s).

And I bet that if I added 6-10% (10 years of growth) I'd be close.

> What about Pompano Beach?
Don't care. As me about Laguna Beach, and I'll know. Pompano Beach is not in my weekend driving radius.

> How long does a marmoset live?
Don't care. It's a small mammal, probably about a dozen years. (Looked it up, 15-18. Close enough, I cannot fathom why it would make a difference to anyone but a Trivia player)

> What was the 7th movie that Claude Rains was in?
This is the only one that I would not be able to answer with a trip to the library.

And it is still a trivia question. If I wanted to know whether actor A was in film F, there were books that would answer the question. Book for specialists and enthusiasts. I'm neither. I did know, as a teenager, exactly which movies Jennifer Connelly was in, though. I did not care much about the order.

Come on, be serious.

This is meant for jamming other people's devices, not your own.

I do not let Amazon, Google, etc. install microphones in my house... as far as I know. But I have plenty of acquaintances who have the damn things. This would help when I want to say something I do not want recorded and stored on someone's servers.

By the way, how do the owners of Alexa and Co get around the laws forbidding recording people without their consent? Or does entering an Alexa infested house qualify as consent?

I live in the land of fruits and nuts. California. We're fine. (Not that I'm a vegetarian, lets alone vegan)

In California, being a vegan is quite survivable. You can get the supplements that you need to combat the deficiencies in your diet. Well-off people can afford to spend a lot to get what they should be getting from meat and animal products.

As for being a vegetarian, that's even easier. Milk, eggs, cheese... all these help.

The problem is with people who are vegetarians or vegan, but have no access to all the supplements, due to cost, access or whatever. By whatever, I would include a kid whose nutty parents have gone for a in-vogue trend, and do not understand the chemistry or nutritional science. And of course, some people, in or outside of First World, simply cannot afford meat.

So, if you have the brains and resources to make up for what animal products have been should bringing, you'll be fine. If you do not have access to meat, animal products, or supplements, you're in trouble.