2,400 acres x (43,560 square feet / acre) = 104,544,000 square feet
104,544,000 square feet / (5280 feet / mile) = 19,800 square miles
sqrt(19,800 square miles) * sqrt(19,800 square miles) = 140.71247279 x 140.71247279

So that's a block 140.71247279 miles on a side (someone recheck my math)

Texas has 268,596 square miles, so 268,596 square miles / 19,800 square miles = 0.07371666 of Texas land mass, so roughly 7 percent of Texas land mass.

I'm dubious. Of course the project will only sit on that land, not that land entirely covered in solar panels.

and yet, they still whole-heartedly support el Bunko. I think their economic philosophy means shit to tree. Their only actually philosophy is to make money off whatever political grift-horse is current.

"o why not deploy a shield-like structure that looks and acts as Earth's stargate (incl. its iris). Strategic placement in space and opening/closing it would help out saving Mars' magnetosphere."

You do not really understand interplanetary distances or radiation, do you?

"Regarding magnetosphere: you put a satellite into L1 Langrange point between Mars and Sun, that provides an artificial magnetic field."

A pinkish unicorn at an L1 Lagrange point would work just as well. See, it doesn't have to be entirely pink. I'd lend you mine but he's usually pretty busy.

It has just been announced that el Bunko has done a deal with Palantir and other data brokers to buy DoD U.S. personnel in theater data for suggested retail price of $19.99/Mo per person. In an ancillary development, these brokers will contribute to el Bunko's Arch de Stupid and the Golden Ballroom to the Stars.

Yeah, I'm joking, but I had to tell you that, didn't I.

I do not know what is worse, having THIS government hand out plutonium or THIS government's "inspectors" ride shotgun over the operation.

"Gee, I see you wants some plutonium for your "startup". That would be wrong!! But for the "correct" contribution to the "proper" fund, we can make it right."

"Another fun technique was storing a string of bytes in one of these buffers, and then executing it as machine code"

Ah, brings back memories of my compiler class long ago and in an era far, far away. We'd compile into an array and then jump into the array executing it. It probably saved disk space since intermediate compiled files were not hanging around. Since it was at uni on a CDC 6500 (60 bit words), it was probably harmless....probably.

As for the Taiwanese, I think it will come down to greed vs. self-determination. Emperor Xi will offer greed. The U.S. will not be there to back up Taiwan self-determination until el Bunko leaves office. I believe he's done a deal with Emperor Xi to sell them Taiwan.

Ukraine might be a point in favor of self-determination. After having been thoroughly screwed by being part of the USSR, and making moves towards the West, the Great Putini thought it was not a real country and his for the taking. He MADE Ukraine into a real country. When they turned back the original invasion, I think the Ukrainians were as surprised as the Russians. They started to feel like they were somebody (if a country can feel that) rather than a Soviet doorstop. The harder the Great Putini tried, the deeper became their resolve. When they discovered drone warfare, they realized they might have a chance at surviving. Now if la Presidenta (Putin's bitch) in the U.S. hadn't pulled the rug out from under Ukraine, they'd be a'marching on Moscow right now.

"that as being in Huang's or NVIDIA's favor." it is if you have done a deal with Emperor Xi and el Bunko to get chips from Taiwan after el Bunko sells it to China.

Nope, el Bunko has done a deal with Emperor Xi, he'll sell them Taiwan for some golden gewgaws and dibs on any chips still produced in Taiwan after the takeover. Huang is in on the deal, he wouldn't be doing this if he thought Taiwan was toast after the takeover. He'd want some assurances he'll get remunerated, and probably a yields a kickback to el Bunko.

Like with rodeo, football, car racing and a ton of other competitive or recreational endeavors.
People can decide what they want to do and what they are willing to pay to do it. It is freedom. Freedom to thrive, freedom die, freedom to excel and the freedom to fail.
People die. As a society, being ok with people dying while trying to accomplish what is difficult needs to be ok. As long as they are adults making informed decisions ...

No responsible parent would do such a thing. And any reasonably intelligent kid will get around whatever the parents did, or the kid will ask a reasonably intelligent friend to do it for them.

Check your beliefs, it is the right wingnuts that are grabbing everyone else stuff and giving it away to themselves. What do you think the Big Stupid Bill was all about? Girl Scout cookies? Look at what el Bunko is going with his Monuments to his Ego. Or his stealing $1.76 Billion to pay off his thugs. Or his turning bits and bobs of the Fed. Government over to his rich friends for tidy little kickback under the table. Or protecting the Oil and Gas industry to keep a lock on U.S. energy markets and those big fat contributions to Republicans flowing, minus bit off the top for his own bank account.

I'm sure the poor will belly right up the corporate stocks, bonds, and wealth funds will all the money the rich haven't yet taken from them. Tell you what, quit your job, move to Smalltown, U.S.A., try to find a job, and attempt to make ends meet. Oh, and you'll be wanting to pay for your health insurance by yourself.

""The project was founded by entrepreneurs Aron D'Souza and Maximilian Martin in 2023," the artidcle points out, "and has attracted backing from prominent investors including billionaire Peter Thiel and Donald Trump Jr.""

I prefer to think of them as scavengers, ready to pounce on the not-quite-dead-yet-but-we-have-hopes. If the participants die, they cannot file lawsuits. It is all very tidy for the wealthy.

Yep, here the SNL skit I like the best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...