Ok he managed to lie and bluff his way up, but at some point he had to have gone through an FBI background check for a security clearance, right??!

Yeah you might get something past Eunice in HR, but a security clearance background investigation??

i would generally agree that recomputing a contract is generally good, IF the competing entities have the experience and expertise in executing the terms of the contract. I think the thought process here is that the contract will be steered towards one of Trump's political allies that has no experience or business running JPL.

I was about to make a comment that you had to prove you are a US citizen to get a RealID, but then found that it is for identity only, not citizenship.

https://factually.co/fact-chec...

"The REAL ID regime sets federal minimum standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and ID cards and requires applicants to present documentary proof of identity and lawful status, but the card itself does not definitively prove U.S. citizenship because compliant REAL IDs may be issued to noncitizens with lawful presence [1] [2] [3]. Practical proof of U.S. citizenship remains specific documents — U.S. passport, Certificate of Naturalization or Citizenship, or state-issued enhanced driver’s licenses in some states — and those documents, not the REAL ID star, are what federal and administrative processes treat as evidence of citizenship [1] [4] [5]."

This will get kicked down the road again, just like RealID (so important to airline security after all) was kicked down the road 20+ years.

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.