That's a good point about the outsized influence of a marginal cost difference. That said, the playing field might still be leveled if these costs were imposed everywhere (and if China continues to give low cost loans to developing countries). Though at minimum it would take an economist to figure out the true effects of climate commitments on developing nations.

I meant the implication is not true, not the basic claim itself. The false part is that less developed economies will get screwed if they are asked not to pollute because it's a necessary part of the evolution of an economy.

That is a popular claim, but I'm not sure it's true. Renewable power exists at a relatively low cost. It did not exist when the US and Europe were having industrial revolutions. Similarly, we know more about preventing environmental harm, though I'm not an expert on this. Thus, to forego greenhouse gas release and pollution a century ago would have meant the stymie of progress. Foregoing them now means a slightly higher cost of energy and industrial processes.

I for one had no idea my vegetable shortening was made with lead!

It's a cliche, but freedom ain't free. Some of the world's smaller countries probably wouldn't still exist if they didn't have a close working relationship with a stronger country. (Obviously that doesn't always work out great for the smaller country.)

That's also how I see it. And if the FSF is right, the company would be guilty of copyright infringement but their customers would still be bound by the license terms. (Failing that, the license would be invalid and there would be no license until the company provides a new one.)

Then why can't any other mobile browser do text reflow when you zoom in? Is China the only country that reads? Isn't this the most basic thing you expect a mobile browser to do? (That's not to say it's easy to implement.) Why would any user tolerate zooming in on a text block and having the edges expand off screen where you can't read it? Has the web become a PDF now?

It feels like the browser accomplishes this by shrinking the site's render area so the text block is smaller, then everything is zoomed so the text block fills the screen. Of course I'm sure it's more complicated (and actually done in the reverse order, resizing the canvas first then putting nicely rendered and wrapped text in the right area).

In point of fact, he could also have been Hispanic, black, or Asian and you might not have known. Race is the one thing that's not at play here, contrary to the racist headline.

A web browser that didn't use your data to help you interact with the web wouldn't be a web browser.

Yes, it's a stupid way to phrase it. A lawyer probably thought he was being cute.

So what works well for calling land lines, call centers, and cell phones in the US these days? Skype sometimes just doesn't work, so it's good to have a push to find an alternative.

That reminds me of an old joke:

> A patient says, "Doctor, last night I made a Freudian slip, I was having dinner with my mother-in-law and wanted to say: 'Could you please pass the butter?'
"But instead I said: 'You silly cow, you have completely ruined my life."'

It's not particularly funny, but it's appropriate. Well, it's not particularly appropriate either, but what can you do.

Reasonable answer. But here's the thing: memories aren't there all the time. They're only there when you reach for them, or

when triggered. These memories (or schemas in this case) aren't part of conscious experience until triggered somehow. Like at this moment, you probably have a bunch of memories and schema in your working memory, but there are a ton of others that aren't. I know you have opinions on politics, but I bet from the time you started reading this post until now, they were not present in your conscious experience. Yet that does not diminish the fact of your consciousness. Similarly, you could imagine a blank slate* still having conscious experience.

*I don't think a mammal-type brain could work as a blank slate due to the need to predict and recognize patterns, but some other architecture might work.

What would constitute evidence that something or someone has achieved consciousness?

That's a common misconception. This is ring of mice connected by single and double bonds.

Right, so an association like this is not implausible: "fragrant mouse -> musk rat -> musk gland -> butthole"

Like any reasonable person, I googled. Apparently musk is used as a fixative in perfumes--the same role as phthalates. (Note that the phthalate that's predominantly used in scents is not considered a health risk, so stop worrying about it [1].) A fixative is an agent that pulls down the combined vapor pressure of a mixture. Consider how neat ethanol will quickly evaporate--you will smell it right away, but the ethanol in beer or wine or even vodka is not so flighty.

But the usage of the word "musk" in our language and culture implies a scent. If you google it, you'll find marketing sentences like this:

Was musk a dual-use ingredient that served as a fixative and a scent compound at the same dosage? If so, it seems hard to believe that there isn't a better scent and a better fixative, but musk was easy at a time when chemistry was primitive.

Side note: "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" is a thriller that uses smell as a predominant part of the imagery. The book is unique.

1: The FDA and the nerds in reddit.com/r/fragrance agree on this: https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/...