They solved 90% of the problem and think they're nearly done, when it's more like having solved 90% of perpetual motion.

No amount of pattern recognition is ever going to be enough.

Electrodynamic Tether propulsion tests have been conducted that generated more than 4 newtons of force -- 9 orders of magnitude more than a nano-newton.

The tethers were much longer than a shoe box, but achieving milli-newtons of force with a shoebox sized superconducting magnet isn't unreasonable (near the earth).

Although in theory you could push into higher and higher orbits until you reach escape velocity,
I think this is only going to be good for station keeping -- basically just enough propulsion to cancel air friction/orbital decay, or maybe lift from NEO to GEO over a long time.

I remember a story a while back, diamond couriers were losing too many packages due to theft. Their solution? Send the diamonds via regular mail.
Losses in the mail were tiny compared to targeted thefts.

I wonder if it's mail that's the problem, or if it's banks cashing checks they really shouldn't and trying to blame their customers for the banks own negligence.

The greater metropolitan area of Mexico City uses around 7.5 billion kg (liters) of water per day.
(25,000,000 people using 300 liters)
Lithium is about 100 parts per billion in sea water.
So if you desalinated enough water to supply Mexico city, and sorted off all of lithium, that would be 750 kg per day, or 270 tonnes per year.
Annual global lithium production is about 290,000 tonnes per year.

Desalinate water for all of Mexico city, add an extra 0.1% to lithium production.

Color me unimpressed.

Maybe.
The classic case is Sickle Cell, which protects against Malaria.
Is eliminating Malaria a good thing? Not if it means giving everyone Sickle Cell Anemia.
Is Eliminating Sickle Cell Anemia a good thing? Not if it means wide spread Malaria epidemics.

As a pro-technologist I'm all for having the option to edit genes, but it's something that needs to be studied over generations to determine "goodness".

Since the introduction of ghost guns, homicides have been on the decline.
Does that mean ghost guns are responsible?
No. It's more likely that homicide rates are declining in spite of ghost guns, not because of them.

A larger percentage of gun crimes are being committed with ghost guns.
Does that mean ghost guns are responsible for gun crimes?
Again no. It's more likely that people who commit crimes decide to use ghost guns than people who have ghost guns decide to commit crimes.

If you don't like the second amendment, then campaign to change it. There's a procedure for doing that.

The bill of rights is a guideline for government actions, not an obstacle to get around.

Inflation during that period was 24%.
Food prices have risen 37% during the same time period -- Are data centers responsible for that too?

Ignoring for the moment that these <mumble> think the 1st amendment is an obstacle to get around rather than a guiding principle to try and live up to,
I expect this policy to be about as effective as asking people if they've done anything illegal lately before letting them into the country.

Just like every job I've worked, ever.

Until there's some sort of penalty for managers asking for more while giving less, managers are going to keep asking for more and giving less.

Pro tip: Nearly everyone in every company is behind schedule, and yet, those companies that are on schedule and on budget haven't dominated the market. From this we can conclude, that meeting your bosses' schedule isn't actually that important.

I like to call JIT anti-insurance.
If you get rid of fire insurance, your company will make more money -- until there's a fire that causes it to go out of business completely.

My ex-company didn't even inventory the screws needed to make our products. Covid caused a shortage of screws, and exposed the shortage of brains involved in making that decision.

The word "charging" shouldn't have been used at all here. It implies that the factory is going to be producing energy when instead it's going to produce energy storage devices.
It's like confusing petrol with jerrycans.

The Tesla model S battery pack is 60-100kWh (depending on option chosen, YMMV)
24gigawatt hours == 24,000,000 kWh.
24,000,000 kWh / 60 kWh = 400,000
24,000,000 kWh / 100 kWh = 240,000

It's unclear from the "article" but it seems that the factory is currently in the planning stage, and is expected to take 12 years to build, once they finish designing it.

In other words, when completed (in 12-15 years), they project that the factory could produce enough batteries to equip 240,000 - 400,000 EVs every year (if it ran at maximum capacity 24/7)

Glad to hear that, in the UK at least, overpopulation is being dealt with.

Isn't Reddit user generated content?

In addition to all the other reasons this stunt shouldn't be allowed, Wyoming requires you be at least 18 to hold any public office.

If this reduces armed response by the police, I'm all for it.
When police respond to a situation, they often use lethal force when no force is required at all.