The Daleks solved the stair problem the same way R2-D2 did, However both of them would be introuble with the EPA for emissions and OSHA for hot work permit violations. Admittedly the Daleks wouldn't care.

Back on earth if I recall from certain movies roller-skated waitresses were common at drive-in burger joints.

Robot roller-derby might be entertaining as well though without the romantic aspect of the Jim Croce song.

Wrong billionaire:

"Bill Gates: Within 10 years, AI will replace many doctors and teachers—humans won’t be needed ‘for most things’"

Electricity prices are only part of the utility bill. Locally the utility district is installing a new transmission line because the current one will be overloaded when the next data center goes on-line.

Your data is needed for training the AI.

Damage in the trillions offset by lives saved and burn injuries avoided or reduced. That's a tough calculation.

The mistake was assuming chemically inert was also biologically inert. That's happened more than once. The fire retardant they used to use in kids pajamas was another one, as was asbestos.

Google on the history of firefighting foams.
Synthetic AFFF & Fluorinated Foams (1960s)

  Invention: The U.S. Navy’s Naval Research Laboratory—working alongside 3M—developed Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF) in the 1960s.
  Mechanism: AFFF incorporated synthetic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), specifically long-chain compounds like PFOS and PFOA. It dramatically lowered surface tension, allowing a thin, aqueous film to spread rapidly across liquid fuel, choke off oxygen, and prevent re-ignition.

The people who originally decided to use that foam are dead by now. Throwing them in jail will be difficult at best though the British did dig up Cromwell and hang the corpse, so there is a precedent.

Given that using the foam also saved lives from fires cleaning up the sites where it is a problem is really all you can ask for.

Also keep in mind this was fire fighting foam. When the choice is die screaming in the fire right now or possibly die from the foams effects in 30 years the risk benefit ratio looks a lot different.

If you can live with DDR 4 RAM that is is still available and has 'only' doubled in price. A B550 motherboard and an AM4 processor is pretty decent. I use a 4600G and it does fine, but I'm not a gamer. Linux does fine with 16 GB. The price jump to a AM5 system and an 8600G is pretty large, Priced it out a couple months ago out of curiosity. I have no need for discrete graphics.

It depends on what you are doing of course.

That's my plan. Block it at the router.

This month I plan to replace my 720P maximum 2006 vintage Hewlet Packard TV I inherited when Dad passed on.

That should be quite a jump. There in only one wifi network in range and no OTA TV, so a dumb monitor is all it will be anyway.

My father actually did walk to school uphill both ways. He also walked downhill both ways but he never mentioned that part.

Out the door, downhill, across the creek, then uphill to school/home.

I walked a quarter mile to the bus stop. The dark was not a particular problem.

You can delete the stocks app etc.

No, you can not delete the Stocks app. It is in the protected system volume. Pages, numbers, etc is deletable, But not anything my list.

One thing I omitted on the slop, ads have appeared on Maps. Apple is going the way of Microsoft but with more expensive hardware.

The second try should have a better chance of success.

The other question is whether just boosting the altitude is enough. Does Hubble need a full service call? In other words do they need a manned mission to fully refurbish gyros and whatever else?

It's more stuff that is unnecessary and gets in the way of what I need to do. And in the case is the OS as I mentioned above, can not be deleted.

The hardware is usually pretty good, but the OS has badly decayed.

I counted them up last night, 20 undeletable applications on MacOS 27.2 that I am very unlikely to ever use. Another probably on the list for others is Stocks. It's fine to ship something like Voice Memos on the standard loadout, but why is it undeletable? I'll never use it. Mac Mini's don't even have a microphone.

Then we have the forced AI built in now, it takes a special script to get 30 GB of storage back on your 256 GB machine which Tightwad Tim held on to as the standard for far too long, and it's still the standard on some machines today.

Then there was the Liquid Glass fiasco which is mostly fixed now.

Oh, they screwed up the Music app too, the playback control is now at the bottom of the window where it covers up the bottom of the playlist. Simply brilliant.

So yes, slop is present and increasing.