Not sure of the specifics, but it is possible to measure the senses of non-human animals, measure various aspects of cognition and memory, and to detect anxiety etc.

There have been studies of the reactance of bananas. It apparently decreases as they ripen.

What gives the UK government the authority to order the deletion of the archive? Is there a contract between the government and the archive that gives them this power? Generally, once the government has released information, it loses the power to control it.

Nope. You're showing that you don't actually read the post, which says: " iPhones and other modern smartphones". And incidentally, I have a Samsung Android phone. I avoid Apple products because they're too controlling. I run GNU/Linux.

Really? It mentions other phones, which would include Android.

Yeah, but this is the Trump administration. They're probably planning on using cell phones in place of the radio communication systems, relying on an all natural organic wifi system designed by Robert Kennedy, Jr. and his buddies.

Does anti-virus software even exist for extra-terrestrial viruses? Do we know what hackers from Alpha Centauri are up to?

In the pocket on the driver's door of my vehicle I have a hand-powered flashlight and a glass-breaking device. Hardly anyone else I know has a glass-breaking device, although they are readily available and cheap. Too many people just aren't safety conscious. And yes, on one occasion, I was in an accident (not our fault) in which we couldn't open the doors and had to crawl out through the windshield. It happens.

I was a year behind Gates at Harvard and don't remember signing any such thing. It's conceivable I've forgotten, but any evidence of this?

That isn't the story the way I have heard it (e.g. as on Wikipedia). Gates and Allen used Harvard facilities to adapt an Intel 8008 emulator that Allen had written for their Traf-o-Data project. There doesn't seem to have been any kind of contract that made that work the property of Harvard even if Harvard did not intend their hardware to be used for commercial projects. They polished it on time purchased from a time-sharing service.

My understanding is that Gates bought what was then called QDOS from Seattle Computer Systems for $50K. There is much to be said about Microsoft's later business practices, but as far as I can tell, the acquisition of MS-DOS was perfectly ethical.

Unless and until air traffic control systems that can deal with these things are in place, "flying cars" (whether actually car-like or not) will be a nightmare. In some places the airspace is already congested. Adding thousands of small aircraft will be a mess unless there is a major improvement in air traffic control.

Exactly. One really wants to know what their capabilities as computers are and what kind of programming environment the provide. It sounds like the instruction set is non-standard. Also, how much RAM do they have?

He has retired.

Maybe, but remember, counties are not independent governmental units; they are creatures of the state, under the authority of the state. It is possible that the specific legislation governing this gave control to the county, but generally speaking, states can indeed tell counties what to do. The relationship between states and counties is not like the relationship between the federal government and the states.