"Certainly China seems far ahead of everyone, US as well as Japan, in being able to build low-cost desirable EVs."

Disclaimer: I'm basing my response on a number of videos and reporting from only a few sources, but...

If the videos (smuggled?) out of China are even half true, then China can certainly crank out a lot of low-cost EVs, but they have a real quality control problem. Lots of reports/videos of EVs bursting into flames while charging, while just parked and while being driven. That high of a percentage of exploding cars would not be tolerated in the USA if they were manufactured by the Big Three.

Also, the workmanship and materials in general are low-quality enough that people are spending a lot of time in the service departments of car dealerships.

Shouldn't "Nasa" be displayed as "NASA"? Mixed upper and lower -case implies it's a name or a word. All caps implies it's an acronym (or initialism).

(...slow Friday...)

"I'd argue horses became a lot more free"

Did you happen to consider that there are a LOT fewer horses?

"I can get a burger at my local pub or brewery for that price and the burger comes piping hot with fries or chips and a pint of beer."

I couldn't agree more. We should all make an effort to occasionally seek out those small local establishments where it's people serving people 'everybody knows your name'. I find those places so refreshing.

A co-worker and I go to a tiny neighborhood bar/restaurant that has been there for decades. Been there enough now so that when the bartender sees us come in, she asks if we want the usual drinks (a couple hefe's). And the food is fresh and hot. (OK, maybe not as healthy as I should be eating, but I'm not there every week...)

It says something about the age we live in that we're only mildly surprised to read a headline like

Meta's New Patent: an AI That Likes, Comments and Messages For You When You're Dead

It means that we immediately know what Meta, Patent, AI, social media (Likes, Comments and Messages) and dead mean.

Oh boy...

When I read the summary, my first thought was 'are they bringing a bunch of cell-satellites with them?'

Latency will be brutal.

I wouldn't call myself bilingual, but my experience is that there are lots of nuances that an author imbues their work with, based on choosing various turns of phrase. Learning to see, understand and translate the author's intent is a learned skill. I question whether AI is yet capable of discerning the author's intent.

A lot of the engineers that the Soviet Union and then Russia used in their space and nuclear programs were Ukrainian. I imagine even a signing bonus won't turn up many volunteers today or for the next 20 years.

--Why still have cables up in the air? --

While I agree that it would be much preferred to have both power and telecom cabling underground, the fact is that people demand lowest-cost services and it costs a lot more to place cables underground than aerially. I work in telecom and if someone asks me for a rough estimate of placement cost, I tell them that underground is often about 3x what aerial is. But customers insist on low service prices and aerial is cheaper. (if building the infrastructure costs more, then monthly service pricing has to pay for that higher build cost.)

--but if you are not actively looking for a job, you shouldn't get any benefits from the government (including SNAP). --

I think we should have temporary benefits for those who hit a rough patch. But I agree that it shouldn't be a continuing, open-ended thing.

Sadly, it then costs additional money to maintain a system to prod recipients to continue their job search.

"jobless boom."

What a mix of negative (jobless) and positive (boom).

Next thing you know they'll say that all those eliminated SNAP benefits (and resulting purchases) are saving money on storage space, refrigeration, gasoline (for transport), labor. All that money saved!

--Enough to be statistically significant? --

No, not really. Maybe 20 servers over the course of time. I have tended to keep them in a cool, dark place. ;)

I've run many Mac servers over the years and the hardware just keeps on chugging away. Web, email, even DNS (at one time) I typically don't retire a Mac until it's 8-10 years old. I have a couple at home right now running SurgeMail. Never give me a lick of trouble.

For those who'd like a chuckle at how sideways translations can go, take a look at English as She is Spoke, circa 1883.

The book was meant to be a serious attempt to offer a Portuguese to English translation guidebook. Unfortunately, the (Portuguese) author knew no English, but he knew some French and he knew a guy who knew French and some English.

It's still in print - there is even a version with a Foreword by Mark Twain: https://www.powells.com/book/e...
 

"It is not something for nothing. It is something for your money. A capital investment."

Quite right. Sorry, I didn't mean it literally. It was more along the lines of whether they could find a way to not expend effort.

Now that could be because the job market sucks. There's a limit to what you can do there.

But there was the hint that they were looking for a means to replace labor with just investment. Which works when you start off with a lot of money, but kinda falls flat if you have little to start with.