I had been wondering when we were going to start hearing stories about how the COVID pandemic has driven automation.

It is already happening. Before COVID we here in the San Francisco Bay Area had toll takers on our bridges. There were some fast-trac lanes but most lanes had a toll taker. Today all of our bridges are fast-trac and the toll authority is planning on removing all the toll booths within the next year.

There is a difference between wholesale and retail prices

I can't just reach out to Tesla or Ford's suppliers and expect them to sell me the same products they sell to those companies

Bullshit. I can walk into a Ford dealership and buy a starter for a Ford car or truck. I can walk into almost any auto parts store and get the same part.

Jeremy Clarkson is an overpaid writer / TV personality with way more money than brains. Watch the episode where the Top Gear guys attempt to build a Caterham. His answer to everything is to pick up a hammer. Farming is hard, Clarkson is a fool

Lots of my relatives that used to live in Buffalo, they all died of old age their kids fled to Florida . Imagine this, 5 months of a frozen wasteland and 5 months of a bug infested hell. How do you feel about shoveling wet, heavy snow all winter ? And wait till you get bit by a Deer Fly, those fuckers are relentless.

It seems that some local miners were optimistic that Sichuan's abundant hydroelectric energy would insulate the region from a cryptocurrency crackdown by authorities, but that optimism was obviously misplaced.

Do these guys not understand that they live in an authoritarian state? Of course the authorities would know who cryptocurrency miners are. Maybe if they had paid more of the higher ups in the government a larger cut of the profits they would still be in business.

If you want to protect your communications you should not use any digital methods. Google the phrase "Moscow Rules"

Yep. I used to own a 1970 VW Type 4 3 door station wagon, estate wagon to all you brits. It had a Bosch D-Jetronic fuel injection. The D-Jetronic failed twice before I replaced it with a pair of Weber carbs.

Read "Cadillac Desert" by Marc Reisner. This book came out in 1986 and there was a 4 part documentation on PBS in 1996. The Southwest has gone through a number of mega droughts over the centuries, some that lasted decades. One of the hallmarks of the Americans is we don't listen to warnings.

Of course Microsoft is going to say Edge is the best browser. Do you really think they are going to say "Edge is another one of our mediocre products and, yeah, it mostly sucks but please use anyway."

It's too bad the Special Police Unit does not spend more time dealing with the scammers in their country who are busy ripping off the elderly and those who are not very tech savvy. Maybe we should start a campaign posting how the Indian scammers were talking shit about the Bharatiya Janata Party, Maybe then they will give a shit about this.

At least everyone is keeping a sense of humor about this. The farmer will most likely grumble then move the stone back and everyone will go back to whatever.

I guess Bill finally figured who was the person responsible for Microsoft Bob
     

Former Yahoo employee here. I was there when Marissa Mayer showed up. Yahoo BMM (Before Marissa Mayer) was a small dumpster fire, she poured gasoline and liquid oxygen on that fire. Knowing what I know about investment companies ie. Apollo Global Management, they most likely bought Yahoo for its assets and within a year will start selling off the parts. Yahoo has a big portfolio of patents which have some value, that have a big server farm, they have licensing agreements with Microsoft and, last but not least, Yahoo has significant real estate holdings in the Silicon Valley. IIRC about 25 acres with building in Sunnyvale and Mountain View. Hell, I'll bet the real estate alone is worth more that the rest of the company.

I'm wondering how we are going to talk about the various components in an automotive braking system. We have the master brake cylinder and the 4 slave cylinders. Considering the politics of some of the guys where I get my car serviced, non-stop Fox and Rush, that should make for an interesting conversation.