The more competition in that space the better.

(And no, those wascally wepubwicans aren't at fault for my latest USPS package taking a leisurely loop-de-loop path through the country - if it ever even gets here, and doesn't join a back of the truck sale in Chicago. As with public schools, the problem isn't with any lack of dollars being thrown at it ... )

So when government took its thumb off the scales, the scales shifted? Okay.

EV Policy Timeline & Tracker

You definitely need to step away from the things that use data centers (social media, chatbots ...).

Well, why not? It's mainstream now to dabble in sympathetic magic. "If I dress like and pretend to be that sort of person, then I am that sort of person! And everyone else HAS to agree!"

Honestly, cryptids seem rather mild by comparison.

Never going to say that we can't optimize something better.

But let's get real - the engines have got insanely more capable. We can do things with just CSS now that it took reams of JS to do before, if you could even do them.

But -- we can do that because the browser engine is now capable of it.

He'd just leave the same day though, being able to lift that burning cauldron with no pain ...

Yes, you can shoot yourself in the foot with a gun.

You can also use a gun as an excellent tool for security.

I'd recommend the latter, lol

Or we could use the less emotionally charged word, the one that normal people use, which is "use".

Steve must be so proud.

lol okay. I work with a bunch of website clients and multiple hosting companies. We use systems that lock out by individual IP address all the time. E.g. 5 failed login attempts from the same IP address; that address gets blocked (for X hours).

It's not pointless at all; it works well. It's not a panacea - nothing is - but it's a nice layer.

I find it interesting that a silly, middle-school level taunt word had to be invented to support a position that can't be supported otherwise.

There is no "phobia". People aren't "afraid" of something that's ridiculous and insane*. There's a reason that so much British comedy used to revolve around cross dressing, lol. Because it's absurd and laughable.

* With logical exceptions. One can be "afraid" of a rabid dog, or of the consequences of a boy in the girl's locker room. But that's a logical form of "fear", not a phobia.

Rationalization?

Why would "multiple low-level brain processes" need to "rationalize" (whatever that would mean, if this theory were true)?

Who is rationalizing? Why? And for the benefit of who/what?

Nobody was against the feds spending the money.

It's already spent, so any "refunds" are going to come from the taxpayers. (Or from everybody, via "printing" money and the resultant inflation.)

But okay, Dems will cheerlead transferring money from taxpayers to CEO's. Sounds good ...

No, because (in good setups) you lock out per IP address. The botnet machines locked themselves out, but they didn't lock me out.