> Another option if you have the backup space is image your existing install as a complete backup, then do a clean new install overwriting your old drive. That sounds most promising, if one is optimistic the new install will be worth it. In case there are no deal-breakers, you just stay with it. I do have backup space. Is there a way to image the old install such that it's mountable from the backup drive once I boot the new install? The old install encrypts the entire disk with LVM / something called "cryptsetup" if I remember the post-boot screen correctly.

What can you do if you want to upgrade because Ubuntu 20 supports your hardware better? For example, on 7th gen ThinkPads X1C, Ubuntu 18 does not have microphone support, at all. Sound is also wonky, the trackpad sometimes stops working after resume, and the fingerprint reader doesn't work. I could live without that last one, but I need a mike for conferencing, and Ubuntu 20 is supposed to have fixed that issue.

I'd also favor Jitsti for the encryption and being open source, but how's the quality compared to Zoom? Audio stuttering, echo, A/V out of sync etc?

No, for the same reasons no government has bombed a cruise ship:

1. Vessels fly the flag of a nation, and attacking a vessel like that means declaring war on that nation.
2. There is no economic incentive.

PS: I'm one of the co-founders of Blueseed, the first commercial seasteading venture, back in 2011. This is the last arrogant comment I will be engaging with here. Most of the other "objections" have been answered over and over, and we've even put up an FAQ at blueseed.com/faq.

...is Google, via a feature in Chrome to share comments across all Google users. I don't foresee that happening any time soon. As others have pointed out, there have been quite a few comment layers over arbitrary web pages, but none of them reached critical mass.

In addition to the one above (USCG Doc. No. 1243693), here's another one on the way: USCG Doc. No.: 1225103.

According to this CBS Local article, construction stopped a few weeks ago due to a lack of permits:

The reason: Google does not have a permit for a floating anything. “Google has spent millions on this,” said an insider close to the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. “But they can’t park this barge on the waterfront without a permit, and they don’t have one.” A BCDC official confirmed the agency has held discussions with Google about “hypothetical operations” on the water, but he complained the tech giant has been vague about how the barge would be used.

According to this CBS Local article, construction stopped a few weeks ago due to a lack of permits:

The reason: Google does not have a permit for a floating anything. “Google has spent millions on this,” said an insider close to the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. “But they can’t park this barge on the waterfront without a permit, and they don’t have one.” A BCDC official confirmed the agency has held discussions with Google about “hypothetical operations” on the water, but he complained the tech giant has been vague about how the barge would be used.

You don't have to submerge a barge to keep it in one spot. There are two easier options: mooring (a few $M upfront cost) and Dynamic Positioning (high running cost).

If you read through the Wikipedia article you quoted, you'll learn that OTEC only really works in warm waters, where the heat difference between surface and depth is large enough. The best US location for OTEC is Hawaii, and there's only one functioning OTEC plant in the world, near Japan. So Google is most likely not building an OTEC plant, or they'd do so in a very different shipyard instead of on Treasure Island.

Fixed now.

Steve Blank should stop lamenting and instead invest in Blueseed. Now THAT's hardware.

Blueseed is a visa-free startup community located on a cruise ship 30 minutes from the coast of Silicon Valley, in international waters outside the jurisdiction of the United States.

The value proposition is proximity to Silicon Valley - http://www.blueseed.co/faq.html#silicon_valley

See http://www.blueseed.co/faq.html#silicon_valley. And again, Blueseed will host startups. The project that intended to host coders was Sea Code, http://sea-code.com/

Very well put. There's nothing radical about Blueseed. People from Vancouver have been traveling to Silicon Valley for tens of years to conduct business. Blueseed is legally just like Vancouver, but closer.