Also the notion of a reconfigurable ship, not unlike the shop on the Hail Mary Project. Configured one way for acceleration phase, then another way for centripedal gravity, and then back to acceleration (deceleration) for arrival. Heinlein thought a lot of it out!

Me too. Classic story. And they spend a lot of time on the idea of grinding up rocks to make powder and then adding cow dung to get it grow things. Of course they have an artificial atmosphere on Ganymede also, and a "heat dome" to keep the heat in. Fantastic story. Juvenile Fictions, but hard sci fi at the same time.

As fun as the Martian is, and as scientifically accurate it is supposed to be, growing potatoes in Martian soil is one thing that definitely was an artistic liberty. All of the Martian soil we've looked at so far has been highly toxic to humans and plants. Even just physical exposure would be poisonous, to say nothing of trying to grow plants.

Moon soil, near as we can tell, is not toxic in the same chemical way. However it's still incredibly hazardous to human health, in some ways more than Martian soil. Without an atmosphere to weather the soil particles, Moon dust is incredibly sharp and jagged. It definitely is harmful to human lungs, much like asbestos is. Further, experiments in growing plants in real lunar regolith, showed they began having problems and became stunted, partly because the particles physically damaged the roots.

Maybe the experiment authors should retry their experiment with 100% asbestos and get back to us. Otherwise all they've shown is that you can add organic matter to earth sand and grow things.

If you can't partition on the device itself, you could just have two shields, one for Google-blessed DRM content, and one for a fully non-Google experience.

Yes that's what creates the market liquidity that we all depend on. As long as they buy back their positions or sell their contracts, the system actually works quite well. Speculators speculate, but everyone else with real interest hedges. Unfortunately hedging isn't possible without speculators providing liquidity.

Easy to say and I partly share the sentiment. But the futures market allows me to hedge prices on commodities I produce and sell. Liquidity is essential to fair price discovery.

Jihad sympathizers? Oh please. Criticizing the government of Israel's decades-long mistreatment of Palestinians in no way means one is an Islamist or supports "jihad." Criticizing Trump's nonsensical and groundless war against Iran does not make one a jihadist. Being shocked that the leader of the free world would go into another country and kidnap its leader (no matter how awful he is) does not make one a jihad sympathizer either. Come to think of it, a lot of the current events that are so troubling seem like an American form of jihad. Can't say I'm in favor of any of it.

That would shut stock and futures markets down in a heartbeat! A huge amount of liquidity in the market is generated by trades using borrowed money.

It's worth noting this squeeze from Google only applies to Android if you have Google Play Services installed. With absolute rubbish like this coming from Google, secure systems like GrapheneOS are going to be the only way forward, as I see it. GrapheneOS implements secure, isolated sandboxes for Apps and App Stores to run in.

Unless I'm mistaken this allows you to run a normal Google Play app in one sandbox where it meets all of Google's silly requirements, and then F-Droid apps in another sandbox that is completely free of Google Play.

GrapheneOS is a bit of a hassle, which is why I have been putting it off. But now that Motorola is officially supporting GrapheneOS on some of their new phones, and with Google's corrupted desire to tax everything, I will soon have to bite the bullet and get GrapheneOS going.

That is very odd. I've used F-Droid for at least six years. Now running F-Droid on three devices currently and have not seen that problem on any of my devices so far.

Don't forget Fennec F-Droid, which is a clean build if Firefox mobile. With uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger browsing is a lot safer than with any chrome based browser.

There's zero chance the slate will be under $30k. In fact it's very possible it will be as much as $50k by the time you outfit it with the features you want, such as air conditioning. I hope I'm wrong.

Yeah I'm not surprised that's the way it is in Australia. Makes a ton of sense. In North America there's still an expectation by home owners that they'll make retail rates, which surely is unrealistic.

I have very mixed feelings about home solar and grid-tying. Particularly with two-way meters where you sell power. Pushing power into the grids from homes is a challenge for grid operators to balance, particularly when for residential areas peak solar doesn't coincide wit peak demand. And the idea that home owners should sell power to the grid at retail rates is pretty silly, honestly.

On the other hand I think solar is awesome ad we should have more of it, along with battery storage.

If these systems simply supplement in-home power demand with solar without pushing any out to the grid, and if they can do it safely, then I'm all in favor of such systems. It's not like the utilities can get upset if you turn lights off. You'll always pay for grid maintenance (connection and transmission fees), but at least the energy itself can be cut and money saved... at least if the solar panels themselves are ever paid off which is questionable for home owners.

Yes you're right. One militaristic state has indeed brought down the entire edifice of interconnectedness. But I don't think it's the one you imply.

As represented by this administration, there is very little moral window dressing now. They don't even try. Heck the president is talking openly about eugenics. Everything old is new again.

So yes. Perpetual war is inevitable in this post-global, tribal world we now have. So you hope the US "wins" somehow. And then what?