The only way I can express it is by borrowing a line from (I think) WWII British prime minister Winston Churchill: "The Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing, when all other options have been exhausted."

This reminds me of the line from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" when Dr. Jones (the elder one) is asked about something regarding the grail contained in his diary (at that point being in the possession of the Nazis) but he couldn't remember it. When given the scornful "what do you mean you don't remember?" look, his reply is "I wrote it down in my diary so I wouldn't HAVE to remember!"

The key phrase is "if used correctly." Part of that is knowing when to look something up "in the moment you want to know them," and when looking up a particular thing can wait until later. Too often I see searches being made for answers to questions that don't warrant an immediate answer, interrupting the ongoing conversation or activity, or even diverting the whole train of thought onto a dead-end side spur completely unrelated to the original topic.

If it's germane to the present topic, then sure, look it up. If not, it can wait. If you forget to look it up later, then it wasn't that important.

This is called "Slashdot Editors Not Doing Their Jobs." Another example is the story headline: "How Teachers Fight Students' Shortening Attention Spans *(missing a : here)* Shorter Activities, Hands-On Projects, and Meditation."

That was my first thought too.

The conference is to explore ways to *wind down* the use of fossil fuels. The wells aren't being shut off next Tuesday.

figuring out how to get off the oil fossil fuel teat is going to take a long time, and it has to start somewhere. If not now, when? Five years? Ten years? When somebody decides to make the Strait of Hormuz completely and permanently impassible? Why not start now?

The same people usually don't want to learn either. I know of people for whom an EV would be a perfect fit; local driving only, low annual miles (I'm talking maybe 5k/year)...but claim that "there are too many unknowns" with EVs. The only "unknowns" are the ones you don't want to learn about.

I would add to that "on a regular basis." For example, if you're towing a boat to/from that marina twice a year for launching/storage, then a EV still makes sense; rent a big pickup for those few times per year that you need the capacity. If there is a need for the capacity on a frequent, regular basis, then the math certainly changes.

As a Mac user and electrical engineer, I respectfully disagree.

None of the engineering software I come across in daily use (SolidWorks, AutoCAD, power systems analysis, machine controls development) is available for the Mac. SolidWorks and power systems analysis work on a Windows VM (and now I'm tempted to try the controls software) but I haven't seen Mac versions.

Of course the answer will vary depending on your field, but if we are being honest with ourselves, most engineering applications are going to be Windows-based.

Wasn't it setup.bat? I remember having to modify the startup batch file when I expanded my first PC to a whopping 512KB of memory.

Can you still do hackintoshes now that Apple has moved to their own ARM-based processors?

Isn't touting its AI performance contrary to the phrase "giving the users only what they want?"

Well glad to see I'm not the only one who sees this.

I get it; it's Slashdot where knee jerk reactions to summaries are historically the norm. But when posting a summary this f*****g long, there's need LESS motivation to read the original story.

Hey editors, a SUMMARY is one or two paragraphs AT MOST, highlighting key phrases or ideas. you're just cutting and pasting major chunks of the story. Show a little effort ffs! SUMMARIZE the story so we can go read the full original and maybe encourage more intelligent comments!

I'd guess safety. Would you want to ride back to the recovery ship dangling from a chopper in a multi-ton capsule or up on the chopper itself?