Sometimes you can prove it was a bit flip [caused by cosmic ray, local radioactivity or a glitch in the Matrix], you just need to find the exact bit. A friend of that managed to do exactly that after an error in his monthly accounting software. He proved you could only get the resulting sum if you flipped bit Nth of a certain value during the summation. It took him a while and he had written the software himself.

Ha, brings back identical memories of that time period. At one point the teacher was out of his field and I kept pointing out errors. He held the chalk to me and said un-sarcastically: "come here and finish the course for us"...

If it's not an original part, then don't use the reference code, it's as simple as that. Otherwise that's counterfeit.
To give more details, I hate it when nowadays you order a part online and you get a 3D-printed piece of shit instead. I've had several bad experiences, one being a wheel for a suitcase, when I put the empty suitcase up, the wheel broke off. Others are 3D-printed plastic to replace a metal bike part; really ?!? Even things like wood knife handle replaced by 3D-printed garbage !
The very structure of 3D-prints make it so there is a weakness in the layering; it'll break at the 1st opportunity.

I ordered a single run of the mill 16Gb SoDimm DDR4 to upgrade a laptop 2 weeks ago. After a week the order was showing delivery in... april 2026 !!! I canceled the order and ordered from somewhere a bit more efficient. I dunno if that's related as AI uses top of the line ECC DDR5 in banks way bigger than 16Gb... But if so that's fucking dumb.

I'm in the same situation as you (embedded C and real-time Linux kernel programming), and last year I got handled exam results that were *very* obviously written by chatgpt. When I asked the university about what the policy about this was, the answer was "there is no policy about AI" so I was disgusted to have to give grade 'A' to ChatGPT. And this year there's been no policy change so I expect the same, and I can tell already the students are far from being as good as last year.

SpaceX can probably accelerate their flight schedule to accommodate Russian crew needs. There's the question of if Russia is able/willing to pay nearly $100m per seat. Their flights on Crew Dragon are currently paid through NASA in a seat exchange program where they provide flights from this site on Soyuz for US astronauts. They don't actually pony up the cash.

This launch site is also essential to attitude control of ISS. To refuel the ISS stabilizer thrusters and hold it steady while the gyroscopes are relieved periodically requires Progress modules launched from there. There isn't currently a backup plan for those services.

My ISP in the US has had broken SSL on POP3/SMTP for a year. It just won't work so matter how many tickets I fill: all their certificates and protocols are outdated and the 'fix' is to disable SSL. In other words everything in the clear. Incompetence ? Or a clear design to 'open up' to outside listeners ?

Just last week I ordered a very banal 16Gb memory bank to upgrade a laptop. A few days later I saw that the delivery was for... May 2026 !!! Was the vendor site simply gone to shits or is that related, I have no idea, but I canceled and ordered somewhere else and I'm still waiting.

Well, they didn't have very much health care back then, so a wrong stab wound and...

There's a lot to unpack in your 3 lines of text, but most of it is wrong, you should read some history books. Human sacrifice wasn't practiced in the roman empire. Indeed at the time of the Trojan War it was already old memory and found abhorrent. As for gladiator, it was similar to american wrestling: trained pro athletes putting on a show. Accidents did happen, but killing each other wasn't part of the show. Now prisoners condemned to death sometimes yes, but remind me how many people the US executed last year ?

I work in IT supporting about 300 scientists with Win+Linux+Mac, about 33% each, but with Win11 we decided to change policy: deny requests for Windows unless really necessary and give that user a Linux PC for a month. After a month, if they *still* want Windows, okay.

Yes, absolutely right. But the homeschooled US kids I saw had their entire 'social mixup' done in church or at the gun range...

True. When buying a PC if there was an OS option choice [Windows] [Linux] [None] I'm sure Linux would be on par with Windows. Why there hasn't been an anti-trust settlement to enforce this 25 years ago is beyond me.
Disclaimer: 25 years ago, doing technical support to my family (about 10PCs), I got pissed at them for having to clean viruses over and over week after week, so I gave them an ultimatum: I install Linux and provide full support, or you get a Mac and are on your own, or I categorically refuse to approach Windows anymore. 75% took the Linux options, 25 the Mac. And it's been about 10min a week (total) of support via ssh since then. My 60yo parents didn't even notice the change (I put them up with KDE with a Windows look).

It really shouldn't be a political stance. Psychologists (and common sense) show that children *need* contact with other children. Otherwise they grow up into little cultists of various ilks. I grew up where homeschooling is next to non-existent and when I moved to the US I saw how close minded it turned many adults into.

This. Homeschooling should be illegal. Except in rare cases of severe handicap. Or as an option for *additional* credits if not available in the public school where the kid is going. But as you say it's used for control and to keep kids from meeting different viewpoints. Do you think there would be so many young nazi and evangelists if everyone was going to public school ?!?

And BTW I also strongly think that private schools should not exist. Finland closed them all and they are now... #1 in education worldwide. If the rich have to send their kids with the plebe, they make sure it's at least well funded.