CoPilot seems to like either PowerShell or C# for some reason. Go figure.

I don't know of anyone who offers an infinite warranty. We all die eventually. The problem with old Windows stuff is that you have to airgap it these days, which can limit the functionality. I know of several BMS (building automation systems) that require Win98 for the controller software. The BMS controllers themselves are not internet connected and the Win98-based configuration software doesn't need to be connected continuously so we built VMs for them that get spun up on modern hardware when needed. Fortunately, they use serial interfaces (-232 or -485) so can get proper emulation for that.

It is squatting if those 13 million are in less than 70% of the licensed geography, which is one of the things being asserted. Have a read through Carr's letter to Echostar on May 9 (see the FCC web site for it). He lays out the conditions that needed to be met to keep the licenses.

Yes, this looks like invisible hand of Musk, but Dish/Echostar has been slow to build their network. Can't blame them too much as it is very capital-intensive and Echostar isn't well-capitalized.

Just throwing this out there, but unless you're sure where your network-connected drones and robots are sourced from and where they "call home" to, it's not an irrational policy to not allow that stuff. Some of the cheaper crap does phone home to some China-based server infrastructure, sometimes over VPN tunnels to get around basic filtering. Do you know what's being passed on to those servers?

With the way California is treating the POL industry, internal combustion engines are likely going to get VERY expensive to operate. California is losing refineries as operators decide to shut them down instead of deal with all the regulatory crap that has been piled on lately.

No further taxes will be needed to get people to move to EVs, public transportation (heh) or out of the state.

Yeah, but the Pooh bears sold there all have these giant googly eyes, just to make sure they can't be confused with Xi, even by a blind person.

I use 100 nanosecond increments since Jan 1, 1601. Fie on your puny Unix time standard.

You're not alone in the need but, believe me, most of the competent C programmers are laying low, doing what they want by being big fish in smaller ponds. It's like COBOL greybeards...most of them either have developed a fiefdom in the company they work at or have a good consultancy going and don't need to hire out further.

I've found fertile ground in the Arduino hacker space if you're looking to do simpler things. Big enterprise projects take a whole 'nother mindset but smaller projects are what these self-directed hackers excel at. Some will level-up to enterprise level projects, some won't. Either way, they can get a crack at something career-making.

Carpenters are still used on prefab assembly lines and site placements of prefab modules. I have relatives that have been doing prefab stuff for 20 years now.
Car mechanics still have to replace that half of the car that you mention.
Harvesting has been heavily automated but field-tending is still very manual for some types of crops. That may get automated at some point though.
AI can't wield a needle or empty a bed pan yet.
Prisons do a lot more than contain prisoners. AI won't ever be the chaplain, the psychologist or the warden as they all require a human perspective that crime is uniquely human.
Same with cops. Without empathy, something that is unique to humans, policing is reduced to the social equivalent to running "lint" on humans' behavior.
AI does well in spotting trends, yes. But until AI comes up through the ranks, holding the coats, getting the doors for their bosses and knowing where the booze is in the cloakroom adjacent to chambers and when to bring it out, it won't be doing much, politically.

If you're disparaging the trades, at least learn a little more about them.

Amazon is good at curating all the odd bits of Chineseum that one could want but Walmart, in the Americas at least, is better when you need the basics right now. BnM locations will always beat "next day" for a large number of immediate-need everyday items. I also think Walmart's attempts at e-commerce are a pretty good attempt at curbing Amazon's dominance. I wish we had a good 3rd competitor but Sears F'd themselves when they decided back in the late 90s that they were a real estate holding company that also sold stuff.

I was in the Walmart in San Jose, Costa Rica a while ago. It's a real slice of middle-class US and you could plunk your Grandma from Joplin, MO down in the middle of it and she'd have the fixings for a 5-cup fruit salad in her cart before you could finish your coffee.

You'd think that someone would've done thermal storage with PV: PV electrical power can either be shuttled to the grid or be used to heat a thermal storage medium, which can then be used to generate power when PV output is low.

Instead, we use batteries.

We're talking about LA, not Las Vegas. The greater LA area is comprised of several climate types that are mostly variants of the Mediterranean type.

"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown".

That's because Kia/Hyundai/Genesis has been hiring design leads from VAG for the past 15+ years. The newer vehicles really resonate with this former Audi owner.

Viet Nam has always been more Western aligned than otherwise, with their history as a French colony. They've always been friendly with the West but didn't want to get the full colonial treatment, with puppet governments that grow more corrupt each iteration, so the more aggressive hooked up with the communists in the 60s, thus the war. The aftermath didn't work out as well as they'd hoped so they're doing their own version of Communist government/Capitalist relationships, like China. Their government is quite friendly with the US but wants to keep an arm's length on policy. Quite understandable and quite workable from an economic stance.

Cuba got the shitty end of the stick in the mid 1900s with corporate and mafia entanglements that were propping up Batista so turned to the Russians, who really just fuck up everyone. The confiscation by Cuba of US interests (assets) when Castro took over, plus the Russian military presence, slammed the door on any real relationship with the US. Until Cuba's attitude changes, the US really has no reason to do anything special for them. Obama thought that he could get the Cuban people behind him. He forgot that Cuba's authoritarian and tries to be alert to any attempts to build organic popular support for a regime change. So...the leaders of Cuba choose to slit their country's throats, slowly.