I don't think they are underestimating things. They are however understating things to cover their asses.

Some simulations are showing exactly what we are now seeing but they are not the ones getting published. What does get published are the more conservative results that will ensure the groups don't get called out for being "fear mongers" or "Doomsayers" and risk their credibility and funding.

Mess with people's oil most people will just go "meh". grumble a bit about paying more for Petrol but still pay. For the most part it doesn't have any noticeable impact on people's lives beyond fsck'g their monthly budget a bit. It only impacts those who pay the bills.

Mess with their Internet, cut off their Facebook, Twitter, etc. and you impact everyone who uses the Internet. Businesses, banks, all genders, old and young . That will piss off more people because it will impact everyone who uses the Internet in some way in an immediate and personal way. Enemies and Allies alike. Granted for the overwheling majority of Internet users it won't even be noticed. For those in the area served by the cables it will only add a couple of extra microseconds to their connection latency at worst in most cases as their traffic gets routed around the damage. But everyone will know that Iran is directly threatening something they care about and relies on.

Iran just made a direct threat to the Internet. All the other cable damage so far have been "Ooops, so sorry, we didn't intend to damage that cable by dragging our anchor across 100 miles of sea floor in an area we knew there was a cable". This is Iran declaring intent to damage those cables. I'm kind of reminded of that scene in Blazing Saddles where the new Sheriff points his gun at his head and warns that if anyone tries anything he'll shoot himself.

If Iran goes "Pay us or we will cut these cables!". The rest of world should just cross their arms, give Iran a look of pity at their stupidity and say "Go ahead". Then if Iran does intentionally cut a cable the response should be to completely cut Iran off from the Internet. And I mean COMPLETELY, as in any traffic to or from Iran gets redirected to /dev/null, air strikes on their satellite up links and overland relays so they can't even route their traffic through a sympathetic neighbor. Let their business and banks suffer, let their people be deprived of their social media. Sit back and see how long the current government stays in power.

They want to threaten the Internet, fine. But they can't complain then Internet says "No packets for you!".

Probably completely impracticable for various financial, legal, moral. and social reasons but interesting to think about.

What about their families, friends, etc.?

Devuan: https://www.devuan.org/ . Debian without systemd

This is just the latest attempt to distract California citizens from something else that is going wrong in California.

As I've pointed out in other threads there are no laws in the USA that prevent someone from making a gun from scratch. If you can legally own a gun, i.e. your not a convicted felon, underage, etc. you can build on for yourself. It has to be within the existing law regarding barrel length, over all length, can't be full auto, and you can't sell or otherwise transfer it to another.

A trip to the hardware store and about US$25 is all someone needs to build a functional gun out of pipe fittings and a spring. No 3D printer needed. I'm actually surprised no one has made a hybrid pipe fitting firearm with 3D printed parts. It would be much safer than the current 3D printed plastic toys they are trying to ban.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

https://www.criminaldefenselaw....

And an interesting bit of trivia;
In the USA the cities with the most restrictive gun laws also have the highest incidences of gun violence.

Sweden has almost he same per capita gun ownership as the USA but only a fraction of the gun violence, or even just violence in general.

America is violent at a cultural level, if you want to reduce gun violence then you need to focus on reducing violence as a whole.

Ban guns, people will use knifes (remember the UK trying to ban steak knives?), take away the knives they will use cricket bats, skillets, pipes, tree branches, etc.

The core issue with gun related violence is not the guns, they are just inanimate tools, but the culture that considers the use of deadly force to be an acceptable first response instead of something to be avoided at all costs. Fix the cultures and the violence goes away.

IIRCC California is a two party consent state. That means to record what is expected to be a private conversation you MUST have explicit consent from both parties or your in violation of the law.

If your in public it is considered that there is no expectation of privacy so your OK filming/recording LEOs and such. But in a doctor's office the would be a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Unless those laws were amended or struck down then if the patients were not clearly informed that they were being recorded and they clearly consented to being recorded then someone is going to be in big trouble with the courts.

There is legal wiggle room for things like support calls where the intro message of the automated switchboard informs you that the call "may be recorded for ... " the courts will accept that if you stay on the line after hearing that you are explicitly consenting to being recorded.

If anyone is more familiar with CA wiretap laws please chime in on this because my last dealing with it was a couple decades ago.

I stopped updating at 1.8.9

I have not felt any desire or even vague interest to update since. The newer version don't add anything I'm interested in and mostly just breaks my favorite mods.

So if Microsoft wants to break the newest Minecraft versions that is their call. They paid for it, it is theirs to FUBAR as they choose.

Last I heard, about a month and a half ago actually, it is COMPLETELY LEGAL in the USA* to make your own gun. You just can't sell it, transfer it, and it has to be within Federal law in regards to barrel and overall length and a few other features. Oh, and it can't be an automatic unless you get a permit first.

(* last I heard CA was still part of the USA. did they secede while I was getting dinner or something?)

Not to mention anyone with more brain cells than the Cali politicians seem to have can walk into a hardware store, buy some pipe fittings and build what was commonly called a "zip gun" in a few hours. And it would be much easier, faster, and lets face it safer than a 3D printed gun. The BOM and instructions are all over the Internet already.

This whole thing is just California's political critters trying to look like they are doing something while they ignore or can't fix whatever real problems the state has.

"Pay no attention to the issues behind the curtain."

I'm not up to speed on what is California's current list of issues so I'm not going to try and comment on them.

Any better informed CA residents want to chime in with what is really going on?

For the the species "Homo Sapiens".

How much Human DNA can we change before we are a different species?

wouldn't have mattered if they did.

The USA doesn't recognize the ICC's jurisdiction with regards to US citizens.

Dick Cheney was one of the few people I was actually looking forward to their death. Sadly that list has gotten longer in the last decade rather than shorter.

I'm not cheering like I did when Scalia died, but I'm going to raise a glass later and toast "Good riddance, Mr.Cheney, may the Yama give you everything you deserve."

One of the things about making something with a larger volume is that you will also decrease the amount of heat it can get rid of.

How are they going to cool these new 3D chips?

Contempt for non biological consciousness's rights leads to contempt for biological consciousness's rights.

But then Mustafa Suleyman does work for Microsoft, so it is to be expected.

It does everything Microsoft really cares about.

No, I wouldn't steal a car, handbag, television, or a physicle DVD. That would deprive someone of their property and be a violation of Criminal law.

Downloading a copy of someones IP without their permission does NOT deprive them of their physical property and is not covered by Criminal law. Using a portion of someones IP for parody or satire is allowed in small amounts.

Making a complete copy and using it for profit is Copyright infringement and covered under Civil law. Operations that make and distribute IP covered by an active copyright without the permission of the rights holder are still considered Civil because no one has been deprived of their physical property.

I agree that data harvesting someone's IP for AI training is wrong for the simple fact that someone other than the copyright holder profits from the action and the people doing the training do not have permission to use the IP in that manner.

But please stop putting that BS "you wouldn't steal a car ..." line. It was BS when it came out, and is still BS. Media companies trying to change public perception of copyright infringement to justify their use of SWAT teams, criminal courts, and completely ruining average people's lives for downloading something for private, non profitable use.

For the record, IANAL but I have studied law. Life events intervened and I've never gotten around to taking the Bar exam.