The domino effect also applies to car makers such as GM, they go under and a gazzillion local businesses go down with them. I like your comparison to organics, large companies are like keystone species, remove them and the micro-environment they provide also disappears. Now you could say "don't let a company get that big in the first place" but then you are giving every other nation an "economy of scale" advantage you ideology won't allow you to use.

Why do people insist on repeating obvious nonsense they hear from political hacks, humans have been speculating in currency since the first caveman carried a sea shell into the mountains and traded it for a shinny rock.

The root problem with US politics is the number of people who are willing to give credence to the kind of myopic bullshit you just posted. You and your ilk are fearfull because you project your own meglomania onto others and then without a shread of evidence conclude that they will act the way you would (if given the chance).

So enlighten us.
- How does one teach understanding?
- How does one measure the progress of students?
- How does one understand something without remebering it?

"Rediculous" is the highest level of ridiculousness, there's also "Yellowdiculous" (a bit silly) and "Greendiculous" (sober)

Wonder why the global software industry is worth trillions of dollars?

Obvious nonesense, if not then point to the "control hierarchy" in an ant colony (no, the Queen ant does issue orders to the soldiers and workers).

Right, they're simultaneously laughably incompetent and a serious threat.

That would be the "Grand Ayatollah" mentioned in the post you are replying to.

Ignoring an idle threat is a perfectly valid thing to do, corporations do it every day. Ignoring a demand backed by a court such as a summons, suit, or parking fine, is stupid.

The GP (who claims to be a lawyer) is offering sound advise, If you engage with these extortionists then they have their foot in the door and an opportunity to screw you with your own words. If you feel you must respond then respond with two words, "Sue me". If they are trolls then they certainly won't want to spend money on something as risky as a court case.

Yep, that's the way it's done.

As to the claim "The data, in fact, does not really prove it."', I find that hard to believe without some extraordinary evidence. I don't see any evidence in TFA, just some local politician making good on a populist pledge. As for tourists, I received a traffic fine from the UK after getting back home to Oz after a holiday. I paid it because I had fucked up and it was the RigthThingToDo(TM), not because of the risk of being turned back at Heathrow for outstanding fines next time I visit.

In the UK the stone walls on either side of the road leave no room for caravan mirrors, let alone merging lanes.

- An obscure library bug triggered by a magic string.

- In the latest version.

Agree! Watched it live on TV as a 10yo. :)

However since then there has been a growing stream of "cool" coming from space exploration - mostly cool engineering, discoveries, and Hubble style pictures, where the heroes are off camera.

NASA shot Cassini through gaps in the rings of Saturn, twice! However, if you want to see reckless then watch Armstrong navigate onto the moon in a tinfoil box.