I remember events somewhat differently: they first encouraged people not to buy up n95 masks because it was more important that healthcare workers have them. That was true. Then they said homemade/cloth masks don't work, and that was also true in the sense that a mask doesn't provide the wearer with reliable protection from COVID. But then they realized that maybe it did "work" in the sense of reducing the infection rate, particularly when worn by infected persons. That is somewhat true... certainty it was a reasonable guess and a valid change in tactics even though later studies cast doubt on how worthwhile it was. You see "liars", but I see public health officials scrambling to make the best decisions (within the framework of their medical understanding) while working with a lot of unknowns in a serious, quickly changing situation. If course, it didn't help that some politicians were overzealous and/or hypocritical in applying mask mandates. Localities that closed public beaches, for instance, were clearly being absurd. It's the job of a politician to balance competing concerns (medicine vs economics, for instance), and there were many who did a shit job.

Because it's not free: it was bundled with the purchase of my PC and the manufacturer paid a hefty sum for that privilege. Why do we tolerate abusive behaviors from the products we buy?

No one? I'm disappointed in y'all.

> There's not much taught in a college class that can't be learned from books. Yes, but how do you know which books, and which chapters, and who do you get clarifications from, and what projects do you undertake to get beyond book knowledge, and what tools (labs, software, specimen, etc) do you use, and who struggles thru the learning with you providing mutual support, and what group do you discuss literature and philosophy with, and who provides expert perspective, where do you find a community of fellow scholars, and how do you evaluate your progress, and how do you signal to the job marketplace at large that you've acquired some skills and are capable of holding a professional position? You might be able to figure out or stumble upon some of these answers (hard to do since you're starting from a position where you don't know much), but a University can answer all of them.

Bullshit. It's the duplication that's the "crime". There is no law against running unauthorized copies. And you completely overlook OP's about Nintendo enjoying anti-competitive secondary effects from the aggressive enforcements of their "rights". Personally, I think remote bricking a machine without the explicit content of the owner should qualify as hacking under CFAA.

This is what our Congressmen/women should be doing... structuring markets to unleash the creative forces of competition while retarding rent-seeking extraction.

How's that boot taste? This is terrible for free speech. If you would love liberty, adopt the attitude of Voltaire: âoeI may disagree with you, but I defend to the death your right to say it.â

This will be really nice once it gets into their default server OS install, because then you'll be able to use it via remote PowerShell sessions. Currently you can use psedit to do this, but it only works if you're using the PowerShell IDE.

Chalk up another competitive advantage for Linux!

Critical race theory is the retelling of American history thru the lens of a "white oppressor" narrative that downplays American and Western accomplishments in freedom and democracy while ignoring the broader (and more brutal) historical context in which it occurred. CRT constructs a world in which all socioeconomic differences are the result of oppression with the implication that present day whites owe a moral debt for the sins of their ancestors.

It's not propaganda, it's education. Education that we're all being skull-fucked by idiotic policy decisions that any economist could have told you would be disastrous.

Markets are apolitical. They hate chaotic change and restrictions on trade, especially when the specifics of the policy are nonsensical. Any president who did this could expect a similar market reaction. And things aren't back to where they are: S&P is down 8% since tariffs were announced and 15% since Trump took office. It'll take some time to retake lost ground since the threats of capricious tariffs and irresponsible leadership haven't gone away. Further, we've lost geopolitical influence by threatening the sovereignty of other nations, aligning with autocrats against our allies, and launching trade wars. Several countries have cancelled orders of F-35's and Starlink. Canadians seem set to boycott American brands for a generation. Not everything that happens in the market is the president's fault (we're overdue for a recession, so that played a factor in the drop as well), but these policies don't help.

This is what I did. They're basically indestructible and once I learned how they worked, I haven't needed anything else. They also seem to be easier to clean than the old nonstick pans. Oh, and they give you a little extra iron in your food.

> "Art" that is created by a non-scient, non-sapient entity, that has neither an idea what it is doing nor an artist's intention is by definition not art.

This is how I feel about the banana duck taped to the wall.

What was controversial about it? I don't recall anyone defending the vessel, CEO, or company... It was pretty much an open-and-closed case of hubris and negligence.