Difficult to implode when the outside pressure is erm ... lets call it lower ... than the inside pressure.

Good idea!
But why not green?

No, I do not write that with a smile.

I just wonder how stupid you Americans are that you believe all the fake propaganda.

The last incident was which one?

Oh, and that was when? definitely OVER 30 years ago.

And what did "China" change after wards? Oh: EVERYTHING.

So no idea what your stupid problem is. Oh, it is simple: you actually don't know anything about China. That is your problem.

You do not grasp how a single party system works, while you simultaneously do not grasp why/how your two party system is the worst system ever invented.

Simple example: you have two parties. They have to decide it they are pro or anti abortion. For some stupid reason, the party that publishes first their point of view, forces the other one to take opposite stance. Makes sense? No, it does not. They could take the same stance.

So how does it work?
Party A has X1 members, 51% vote against abortions.
Party B has X2 members, 51% vote pro abortion.

It is already silly that 2% difference (51% - 49%) is counted as a clear vote.
And: how many people who are affected by that "vote" are represented by the size of the parties, X1 versus X2 members?

So, what now, you were in either party, does not matter which. Your vote lost. What are you going to do now? Switch to the other party?

So, now lets pick a second topic ... does not matter which one. Now the voting for yes or no are reverted in both parties. Because: that is what they want, what they think distinguishes them from the other one.

Now the outside voter is in a dilemma: I find party A good in topic one, but bad in topic two. And party B it is opposite. But I have to vote for one of them, or just swallow it and don't vote.

Both of your parties try to find controversial topics - that do not matter at all - (who the fuck cares if gays can marry?) to snatch a niche amount of voters next election.

And, how does that work in a single party system?
Simple, number one: you are not a member of the party, you shut up. No demonstrations against what was voted/decided in the party. If you ARE TO LAZY to join it, and to VOTE about it, shut up. You are not in harmony of system, you are sabotaging the system. And yes: everyone can join the party. The biggest parliament in the world.

Number two: all things where your two parties "argue" about - for the "sake of arguing" are big menu of topics to vote on in a single party. Every single voter can pick yes or no for every single topic. At the end you have a patchwork of clear decisions. Not two parties that somehow insist to take opposite position on every stupid topic.

Now, do you want to know how Taiwan works? They actually ask the population about EVERY new topic coming up. In a clever way. First it is published via internet. Up to 10,000 citizens who consider themselves "experts" in that topic can sign up to join a "task force" to tackle that topic. That task force is divided into 100 groups, which are supposed not to communicate amoung each other. They brainstorm, ideas and ways to implement them. Obviously, for example how to tackle fake news on social media, plenty of the groups come to the same (or similar) solution. So a relatively small set of solutions proposals emerge. Those are voted on again, amoung all of the task force, and the winning few are proposed to the parliament. And usually: the parliament votes them into action. Because: it is a disgrace for a politician who happens to be in the parliament - and has no clue about the topics solution - to vote against it, or follow a "party" line. All this is public. If a party dares to vote against expert's proposals they get hammered in the next election.

Both systems, Taiwan and China have two goals: vote for common sense solutions that can be implemented. And have the majourity of the population behind that decision.

Not a farking farked up voting system like yours. Population at the voting ballots about: TOPICS, not parties.

Yeah, and finally, don't come with the Uighur myth.
They live basically in their own country, with own language, wn schools, own government, own police, own military ground forces, where exempt from the one child policy from start on: like EVERY minourity in China.

Until the demonstrations and fights on Tiananmen square, the policy of China was: "one country, one culture".
Very quickly afterwards, the policy changed to: "China, the country of 1000 cultures".

Since then all minourities are encouraged to propagate their uniqueness. You should have watched the opening show of the Olympics in Beijing (actually: Peking).

But: China wants to be a united China. So, everyone, not only minourities, either has to do serve in the military, or do a "public service" - at a place remote from his "home culture" (for about 2 years). For example to accept other cultures, instead of claiming his own is the best. And: to learn mandarin. As the schools in the little provinces where the minourities live: teach in their own local language.

How assholes can call a mandatory service: forced labour, is beyond me. When I finished school in West Germany: I was supposed to either join the army or do a civil service. Because we had drafting. Just like nearly ever western nation. After the German reunion, most western European countries abolished drafting. Now as the new war is here, most European countries have mandatory inspections, and if voluntary numbers are not enough every year, they use drafting/pick a lot to get people that finish school into the army.

No one complains ... I never heard that americans made an uproar when Germany reinstalled drafting in the beginning of this year. But if China does it: it is forced labour?

How does the forced labour work? A guy with a gun is standing behind the guy who is using the CAD system to design a new optical TPU: "work faster"!! Or behind the guy who does QC on a new solid state battery is holding his kids hostage?

You morns know nothing about China. Except that it once had a leader called Mao, a famine, and ... what else? Ah the massacre, and that they "want Taiwan back" and that ... ah, Tibet, Mao the a*hole conquered it. So the Russians could not conquer it.

All the fancy stuff China is doing, is done by academics, and robots in 95% robotic factories. No one is putting "slave workers" into "forced labour camps" - if you believe that: you are a farking idiot.

Oh, btw, it is super easy, to avoid getting "drafted" into the "2 years displacement" program: you farking just go to an university on the other side of the country. Wow, that is so much life damaging. Become an academic, study where like minded people of ALL cultures come together. That is what China wants to do: just like Thailand did (but that would be another story).

You farking Americans are so out of place on this world. You are not interested to learn anything about how other cultures work. Everything that is like yours - a little bit, at least - is good. Everything that is not - is bad.

How many years did it take USA to reach its pinnacle after the revolution 1789? Oh, assuming you consider the current desolate state the pinnacle, obviously 236 years.

How long did it take China to emerge from a stone/bronze/iron age culture around 1930 to surpass USA? 95 years. Oh ... isn't that interesting? They did not even take half as long as your country exists to be the technology leader on the planet. And you still think: they are not the technology leader. Retards, sorry, so retarded.

They are supposedly suppressing minourites? For what? Because their universities are to small, and the minourities who want to become the next great minds to rule in STEM are taking up all the places?

Sorry, you Americans became a menace to mankind.

Hating something that you obviously know nothing about: is the most stupid thing you can do in life.

P.S. Taiwan tackles fake news supposedly published or supported by public figures, by forcing social media like Facebook, to sign every such post with a signature of that public figure. Facebook implemented that basically over night: in Taiwan. Rest of the world is waiting for the implementation :D

Well, not sure if I answered to the wrong person.

My point is that a Neo has nothing to do with a Mac Mini.

So? Why would anyone compare the prices? Does not make any sense.

A motorbike has nothing to do with an electric car ... regardless if the bike is electric or uses gasoline.

Of course, if it was "cheap enough" one might buy a Neo, and abuse it as a Mac Mini in a corner - why not.

Jobs also hated two button mice. No idea if that is true.
And not interesting enough to research - actually you would need to find a reliable source that claims s/he had heard him saying that.

Thankfully you could always turn on the context right click, but even to this day the right-click seems to be something you have to turn on in settings it never was in settings.
A mouse with more than one button always was interpreted correctly.
And: a single button mouse would use ctrl+mouse click as right click.

On the touch pad it is different: you can use settings to set, if a certain area is right click (I think lower left edge?) or if a two finger click is right click (or both?)

All the standard UNIX mouse clicks always worked in the Terminal. Pressing both buttons counts as middle button. If you have a middle button, or a wheel that also works as middle button: it works as paste.
The wheel works like always. In settings you set how far it scrolls. In some apps you can overwrite that. Especially in Games. The reason you can switch the scrolling direction on the pad is: most people like it either same way as on the iPad/iPhone, or same way as on the mouse wheel.

Nice story about your email!

If you don't like your honey having been regurgitated, there are alternatives for getting honey...

Drones are specifically the male bees. Most bees are not drones.

That's not what I said. I said that the word "drone", as in a mindless unthinking being, is derived from drones, as in male bees. I did not say "all bees are drone bees".

And an individual bee has limited memory. They even forget which hive they are from after a while if they don't return to it.

You are confusing "forgetting" with "disruption".

Bees have both a geospatial "mental map" (based on landmarks, the sun, etc) and a chemical fingerprint (they recognize their nestmates' smell). Concerning their geospatial memory, not only is it not poor, the main problem with it is that it's too stubborn. If you move a hive 20 meters away, the bees will fly back to the same empty location where their hive used to be and wait there. They don't adapt well to change because they have a long-term memory of "the hive was here".

If a beekeeper wants to move a hive, they have to trigger an "orientation flight" to get the bees to learn the new location (this typically involves locking them inside their hive for several days to disrupt their routine). During an orientation flight, the bees will learn the new hive location, and then they'll subbornly remember that location long-term, even if you move the hive again.

As for recognizing their nestmates, this is again based on smell. A bee being isolated for days or weeks will still be recognized by guard bees at the entrance and welcomed in. However, guards will sometimes let in bees that don't belong to that hive as well, if e.g. they're passive and laden with pollen and nectar; they haven't "forgotten" their scent, they're just "forgiving" of mistakes if there's a reward to be had (bees sometimes make navigation errors, esp. if all nest boxes are similar in shape/colour or due to wind, and enter the wrong hive)

I'll repeat: bees do NOT have a short memory. This is a myth. It's not true. The very example you gave is actually an example of bee memory being too rigid.

From outside, an IR imager should be able to see the heat from a leak. But who knows; one would imagine if it were that easy they'd have done it 7 years ago, when this crap Russian module's chronic leak issues began. My inner cynic thinks this is probably political; competent people aren't being permitted to deal with it.

They'll deal with it when some hatch or docking port blows out and sucks a couple people into space wearing NASA tee shirts. I'm rather certain about that much.

It does not matter if China or the US or Timbuctoo does this first. The world is fucked whoever gets there.

I would trust my American Overlords over the Chinese overlords ANY day of the week....

Most just want money....and that's the goal they will work for no matter what the perceived consequences might be.

And "might be" is the key phrase here.

I mean, unless a humanoid cyborg from the future comes to MY house, cuts and peels his arm skin away to show me the endo skeleton and maybe the chip in his head..I'm not going to believe "maybe" could happen and sacrifice my research and livelihood.

I don't "lighten up" when small minded people are talking about decreasing my quality of life for their selfish benefit. I look down on them, as is appropriate. You're a small little man, and you're also just not funny.

I've lived MANY MANY years before all the environmental crap has been thrown out there...and my quality of life has not suffered one iota due to it.

I think that's impossible for internal combustion engines. They can't meet the emission control standards without intricate computer engine controls.

Fuck the emissions control standards..hell, we're already rolling them back in the US.

They weren't realistic anyway....let users have a choice.

I lived all those years before we had them and feel no ill effects nor is my life any poorer for the experience.

Typical nostalgia story. You must have forgotten how many repairs were made when you were a kid. My 15 year old prius has never failed once. I have only taken it in for routine maintenance: oil changes, AC recharging, bulbs replaced, battery changed every few years. It's never broken down or failed to start or made a funny noise and I live in a frozen hellhole. When I was a kid, this level of reliability was UNHEARD of. My parent's Chevy's were being repaired constantly. We knew the local auto mechanic well. I remember being stranded on the side of the road and getting a ride from a stranger to a pay phone to have our 5yo car towed. I was probably 8 and the lady driving had a bag of sour cream and onion chips open she was eating and that was my first time eating one (and I didn't like it, but was so glad she gave me a snack). It was kinda scary being stuck and seeing my dad stressed out in the days before cellphones on a rural road.

Funny....my family had pretty much the direct opposite experience yours did.

In the 70's and 80's....Let's see. My '78 280Z ran like a top...the only repairs it really ever needed was when I kept wrecking it as a kid. But I changed the oil regularly on it myself, easily....and mechanically ran with very minimal shop needs.

We had a Buick Le Saber early 80s....never really problems with it, I think it had AC work on it once that I recall. We had a '69 Volkswagen bug....pretty much ran till it just one day fell apart in the mid 80's and was then replaced. 280ZX....ran great for years, no shop time that I can recall.

And as for washing machines and dryers....hell the stuff from 30 years ago is STILL usually runing just fine today, it's the new shit that fails in a few months.

My mom has had to replace high end washers once and dryers twice in the past 2 years....

Computers and other crap are just extras to go wrong...I dont need 55 gradients of water or warm air temperatures...just the basics...wash....dry.

If my old trusty units finally give up the ghost....not a lot of simple dryers to find, but I'll spend over $1K to get the simple Speed Queen mechanical washer....just the basics and should last the rest of my life time.

It's IMHO amazingly impressive how dense information can be stored within neural networks. Even a comparably tiny LLM can store more information than the human brain, despite the brain's theoretical storage being far higher due to its vast number of connections (ANNs are better at information density, we're better at learning from limited datasets). The tiny LLM will crush humans at a quiz in virtually anything except said human's particular areas of expertise. Storing information as a superposition of states across a large number of neurons and connections (whether we're talking artificial or biological) is an immensely space-efficient way to do so, and the human mind is nowhere near the limits of information storage capability.

There is no technical reason why a given organism, such as a bee, could not achieve far denser information representations in order to be able to do more with its limited neural capacity (though there are always tradeoffs). One of the reasons that ANNs learn slower-but-denser is the use of a very low learning rate with a very large amount of data that covers the same topic from many different angles, giving the weights ample time to explore different possible circuits in parallel and seeing which ones predict reality the best ("learn everything all at once" vs. "learn this thing NOW"). Bees aren't tasked with learning anywhere nearly as diverse things as a human is and spend all day doing the same basic job (the same information "from different angles"), so it seems quite possible that their greater "information specialization" as they go about their day may be able to lead to denser representations of said information.

BTW, at risk of a tangent (your comment about non-neuron cells playing roles), it's been really interesting to me seeing how a key difference between artificial and biological learning has been clearing up. In biological neural networks, weight cannot flip sign (Dale's Principle). In the general case, a neuron is either excitatory or inhibitory (usually a small number of inhibitory neurons per cluster of excitatory neurons); it can't change from one to the other even if learning would favour that. At a first glance, that would seem to cripple learning capability (and definitely does if you implement that in ANNs). But what appears to actually happen in biological neural networks is a sort of horizontal learning, co-dependent synaptic plasticity, between excitatory and inhibitory neurons. Instead of merely weakening an excitatory connection down to zero and then being able to go no further, learning simultaneously weakens the excitatory connections and strengthens the inhibitory connections. The excitatory neurons are the primary drivers of information storage and processing, but the inhibitory neurons adjust the baseline to give them the flexibility to express negative net activations as needed.

It is a myth that individual bees only retain information for half an hour. Depending on the memory at hand, bee memories can last days, weeks, or even the remainder of their foraging life. They have to remember things, because the timeframes a hive operates on are much longer than half an hour, including night time and being kept inside by inclement weather for days or even weeks at at time. Individual bees also learn much more than can be conveyed through waggle dances, such as what colours and shapes of flowers are yielding best in a given area at what time of day (bee learning is essential to them being able to function as generalists, able to handle any mix of plants at any latitude).

Also, the hive doesn't just blindly accept whatever any bee says. Each bee functions as an individual in a society. When a bee waggles in the "town square" (on the comb), other bees gather around to "listen" (detecting oscillating shifts in the electric field plus tactile contact and sound). But whether a bee actually decides to make use of that information depends on whether they're having good or bad foraging success. Only a small fraction of bees on average (usually a single-digit percentage of watchers) will decide to make use of the information. And if another bee "disagrees" with a waggle dance - for example, if they've been there and found nothing, or worse, found dead bees, predators or a rival hive), they can make a counter-buzz to argue against it. The arguments can get quite "heated", with many bees taking part.

We think of bees as mindless drones (literally, we took the very word!), but they're all individuals each acting on their own. There are simply various rallying factors that keep them together (for example, the scent of the queen, the desire to live in a warm hive, etc). The information communicated within a hive is limited; bees overwhelmingly rely on their own mind and memory, and perform their tasks as individuals.