Yes, Apple can have a bad Update, too; but Updates can be prevented on Apple equipment. No Registry Hacks, no Terminal Commands. And, unlike Windows, Apple doesn't go behind your back and turn that shit back on!

If you had any current knowledge of Windows administration, you'd know this is perfectly possible on Windows via a variety of means beyond the registry hacks you cite. A corporate/university environment is almost certain to have either the free WSUS or the paid-for SCCM product to handle patch/update distribution. Controlling masses of machines this way is both simple and commonplace.

I had one of those Tektronix solid ink printers. Marvelous things for their time, superlative output. They had a program where you could get a free (yes FREE) high-end printer, the catch being you had to print a certain number of pages per month and had to buy your ink and maintenance kits from Tektronix.

I wanted one of these babies for light home use so I came up with a plan. I got the free printer. Every month when it became time to submit my usage reports to Tektronix, I'd print off a few thousand sheets of paper with just one yellow dot on it, enough to meet my monthly usage quota without burning a lot of ink. The paper was easily re-used since the single dot was effectively invisible. It did run through maintenance kits faster that way but those weren't overly expensive. By the time the "free printer" contract ran out, I had paid far less overall in consumables than it would've cost to purchase the printer. Tektronix never caught on.

I'm reminded of Rogozin's threat from a few years ago when he said the US could use trampolines to get to the ISS, and Musk responded with "The trampoline is working!" tweet when SpaceX started regular ISS flights.

I'm personally waiting on Musk to paint the word "BROOMSTICK" in huge letters on the side of every SpaceX booster from now on.

It's not fooling anyone in the West. You make the assumption Rogozin's blatherings are intended for Western ears. They are not. The intended audience is Russia, where Rogozin's frankly childish posturing and infantile threats are instead taken as the Great Russian Bear Standing Up To The Evil Imperialists For The Love Of The Motherland!

Never underestimate the power of state-controlled media. The average Russian has no idea what is really going on outside of Russia.

Shuttle engines were "good" in the same way F1 racing engines are good: they produce exceptional power and are very efficient. They're also incredibly fiddly, with very high maintenance costs and lots of little things that can go wrong, requiring an expensive corps of techs to keep them running.

The Soviets did what the Soviets did best: create a reasonably efficient workhorse engine that, while not "class leading" in many respects, was cheap to build and worked reliably. It's the small-block Chevy 350 engine of the rocket world. It's the AK-47 to the American M-16.

As opposed to the average CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NY Times, Washington Post, and LA Times viewer who sees only one source of information as well, just parroted by a bunch of different outlets.

Can we please stop with the Fox News tropes? Fox leans right. Everybody else leans left. There is no source of objective news anywhere anymore. If you want unbiased news, you go and do your own research these days, or you listen to both and make up your own mind knowing the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

Hyperbole aside, you miss the point: the infrastructure for mass charging of 200k vehicles in existing USPS motor pools does not exist. Sure, it can be added...but for how much? Electricians don't work for free. Charging stations aren't free. Will the local delivery grid for the motor pool need upgrading as well to support the new load? Probably, which adds additional cost.

No one is saying this can't be done. The questions that need answering are:

1. Is it practical to do it based on the cost/benefit analysis?
2. Can it be done in a reasonable time frame given the existing fleet of ICE vehicles needs replacing NOW?
3. Are there any ancillary costs such as retraining maintenance workers? Parts warehousing? Infrastructure for disposal/recycling of worn battery packs?

EV's, while very good, have to compete against an extensive paid for infrastructure based around ICE-engined vehicles. You cannot handwave that advantage away just because you want to.

The USA would sit a lot prettier atop this high horse if all of its own citizens, in all of its claimed territories, enjoyed equal representation in government and equal protection under the law. Bonus if all the citizens of all the USA's allies enjoyed these as well.

This can happen anytime Puerto Rico wants by voting for statehood. Of course, along with that "representation" comes a bunch of negatives compared to their current situation, such as paying more and higher taxes, discontinuation of aids and subsidies they currently enjoy, and greater Federal regulation. So far, Puerto Rico seems to think they're getting a better deal as they are. So before you blame this all on the US, understand Puerto Rico has historically chosen to remain a territory when they have other options available, although recent referendums and polls indicate this may be changing.

The key phrase is "China accepted". China can quickly and easily un-accept whenever it feels like it. What's the Philippines and the International Court going to do about it if they do? Write a strongly-worded letter? China has the muscle and the will to use it. The only power on the planet with more muscle is the USA, yet we lack the will -- and especially leadership -- to do much of anything anymore.

The only thing keeping China in check these days is their economic interests. They would start a war in a flat minute if they knew it wouldn't disrupt things with their largest trading partner.

How, exactly, is a carrier going to "deter" something happening thousands of feet below it in international waters? Sure, it could always bomb or shoot up anything it doesn't like, but that would kinda start a war you know. Small detail you might've missed.

An "Independence Day" style salvo of thousands of tiny, EMP-hardened, possibly jet-turbine

We already have those. They're called "cruise missiles."

or even RTG powered drones with Mavic flight controllers and small bombs on them might be something of a pain in the ass for a carrier group to deal with

Oh. My. God. RTG powered drones? Have you considered the absolutely hideous power-to-weight ratio of RTG's? Not to mention the horrendous efficiency! For example, NASA's MHP-RTG weighs about 38kg and puts out only 157W...and 2400W of waste heat! Compare this to a Mavic's total weight of 743 grams. Truly, this is a terrible idea... ...which kinda flows with your entire concept. A swarm of such drones would be detected fairly easily. If you want to dispose of them at a distance, an airbust fragmentation warhead from a few SM-2 missiles would do the job. Closer in, CIWS or 5-inch airburst gunfire could, or perhaps even the new laser-based anti-drone system the Navy is already installing.

Even if a few made it through, there's not an awful lot a few drones carrying tiny payloads could do to a modern warship. Carriers have armored decks designed to resist 500-pound bombs, you know. Unless you have a drone carrying something substantially bigger, you're just going to piss off a battle group.

So...drone idea = stupid. You want to do any meaningful damage? You mount a 1000kg warhead on a missile that flies at Mach 3+ and swarm air-launch them...which oddly enough is exactly what the Russians came up with during the Cold War to threaten carrier groups and exactly what the Chinese already have.

Only in this case, the "wood" is a highly energetic gas made of mutually-repulsive bits of wood which you're trying to squeeze together to sustain the fire like trying to squeeze a blob of sentient jelly with rubber bands. It's much more complicated than "give it more fuel."

You seem to have missed the point of the experiment, mainly that it's an experiment. They're not attempting to build a functioning power plant out of this. We have to understand the principles of fusion better first, then comes the "OK, now how do we make a practical reactor out of this" part. You're essentially saying to a caveman who just discovered fire that he should immediately skip to building a modern internal combustion engine for an F1 car, all without ever understanding the principles of combustion, the materials science, and the century of experience and study required to make such a thing.

Since I do not permit the execution of arbitrary third-party code on my computer(s) for security reasons,

Unless you write and maintain your own closed-source OS, chances are this statement is categorically false. You're likely running all manner of "arbitrary third-party code" from hundreds if not thousands of different developers, none of whom you know or have any insight into. That is pretty much the definition of "arbitrary."

MakeMKV and LibreDrive have had UHD's cracked for a long, long time. I ripped all my 4k UHD's to my Plex. Screw all this DRM shit. I watch it when I want, where I want, on whatever I want. Only downside is there's no Dolby Vision support, but I can find most anything I want in HDR/HDR10/HDR10+ format.