I wish I could agree on a macro level, but I can't. Consumer 'interests' come into play when a narrow range of products are involved. I've lived in Spain, France and Greece at one time or another. And loved every minute. But protectionism is embedded in the EU. And, admittedly, probably necessary. Doesn't make it right nor does it make the American business model wrong. Americans go to Europe for a range of products, and vice versa.

Those who can - do. Those who can't - legislate and fine. But, seriously, I don't see any European company gaining from this decision. Chinese interest in Opera may affect privacy concerned Europeans from switching browsers. Firefox seems to have made more inroads in Europe than domestically. Licensing Google services to phone manufacturers - i.e. Chrome, Play Store - won't simply be costs absorbed but costs added to the product. The Android ecosystem and inter-dependencies is / are complex. Is the EU even pursuing the right target if they really want change? How about going to Samsung, Huawei, Oppo, etc? Their fines against MS ultimately had no effect. American tech companies have consistently stayed ahead of EU legislation & fines.

The Chinese businessman, Yahui Zhou, behind the investment in Opera is an interesting man. He also bought 60% of Grindr and partnered with Finnish Rovio (Angry Birds). He seems to be working outside the usual social norms of China. VPN is a problematic area in mainland China and gets a lot of attention from the government. I'm not sure just what sort of impact he's had on Opera. I'm not willing to say, knee jerk, that's it's been a negative investment for the browser. It does seem, however, an unlikely investment given that it's user base is relatively small. That being said, considering the attitude of Beijing toward their gay citizens, Grindr users would be justified to have serious concerns. Ain't nuthin simple no more.

Risk taking, dream chasing, gung-ho American drive. Where have you gone? Sit on the couch, play video games, let the other guys do the dangerous stuff. Why should actual biological beings walk on the moon or go to dry, oh-so-uncomfortable Mars? Don't we have robots or rovers for that? Haven't we learned our lessons about doing, you know, dangerous stuff? Don't we need another 5 year study on o-rings? America wasn't founded on 5 year studies of o-rings. The aviation industry was built on the backs of daring, living beings who were absolutely aware of the risks. We don't give meaning to past sacrifices by funding a NASA that's a bureaucratic sinkhole.

There's an accompanying miasma of responsibility aversion as well. "It's not my fault. I didn't do it." Just as Congress has ceded its responsibility for war to the Executive Branch, we, as a nation, have adopted a cautious vision of . . . what? What is our vision today? More martian rovers? Digging 6 inch holes for samples?

Can we go to the moon in 5 years? Sure we can. We did it in 1969 - 50 years ago. At the rate we're going we'd still be waiting for approval on the sale of Cessnas. My grandfather tested planes that would be grounded today. My mother was flying at 15. How do you say Captain Kirk in Chinese?

Prof. Randy Picker at the Univ. of Chicago has a good course - Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms - that includes a fairly in depth look at the EU's history of fines against American tech companies in the guise of anti-competitive practices. Microsoft, 2004, $578 million, began a string of significant fines by the EU. They went after Intel, Apple, Google, et al. They had MS jump through hoops to satisfy the regulators. MS Media Player - nope, no good. MS web browser - nope no good either. Fine, fine and fine some more. The problem is, and has been, isolating just exactly who has been hurt. Europe had no domestic companies that Europeans might have preferred. Europe was slow to create a culture of computer and tech innovation. If it was there, it was poorly introduced and marketed. It's not enough to create a good, or even great, product if you're unable to collaterally create an equally good marketing strategy. The privacy issues are separate and apart from the anti-competitive rulings.

Are American companies aggressive in pursuit of profits? Of course they are. And why should they not be? We all have choices. And a lot of people world wide have chosen to use Google, Intel, Apple, Chrome, Android, Amazon and others. American innovation has brought enormous profits. That's the whole point of business. The mantra of 'do no harm' has, of itself, seemingly done a bit of harm. At least to Google. Evidently not to doctors.

I don't resent Jobs or Gates for doing something I couldn't do. I don't resent that they became wealthy and I did not. The EU regulators need a bit of introspection. And the EU is not simply a large, harmonic monoculture. In some respects, Barcelona has more in common with Austin or Silicon V than Paris when it comes to innovation. C'mon EU, either do or get off of the pot.

I'm enormously thankful for the expansion of the MOOCs. I've completed 12 to date this year and am currently enrolled in 7. I've already tagged interest in 6 more. I'm auditing only and all have been free of cost. They are generally extremely polished and equal to in-room courses currently taught in universities. Princeton, Harvard, Penn Law, Illinois Law, U Cal Davis Law have all contributed to extending my knowledge. Professors I've only read about have taken their time to teach online. If these had been available before I started college I could have made better choices in my curriculum. When Professor Charles Fried or Professor Erwin Chemerinsky sign up for these classes, I'm greatly appreciative. Hats off and a deep bow.

I'm not convinced that style, in and of itself, needs the engineering changes that Apple's made since ca late 2012, which is my Mac mini. Perhaps it's the verticality that they're trying to protect / enhance. Less that gets outside of Apple's control, more the dependance on the Company. No matter how we feel about Apple the company, they've done a brilliant job marketing their products and making money. They have been so successful that they've engendered a lot of hostility from those who have not been able to do the same. Apple's business model doesn't have to impact us at all, if we choose. It's the businesses that I can't avoid, such as Lockheed Martin or Boeing, through my taxes, that are of more concern. $85-90 million per F 35. Defense budgets hyper-inflated by cost overruns, serious design concerns, slow and incremental design changes in the commercial market to protect profits and extend the life of their catalog. (https://reut.rs/2Ey8CLI)

I did transition to Apple a long time ago and have never regretted that decision. But I have the same concerns about repairability and have stayed with my late 2012 Mac mini, upgraded. When I finally move on, it will be elsewhere for a desktop. Tablets are another story and I don't buy a tablet based solely upon repair concerns. In 10 years I've never had a hardware failure caused by the Apple product or design. As others have often said, it simply works. So at the end of the day, you either choose to enter their garden or you don't.

It's interesting that the comments have skewed toward a fear, an existential fear, of this research. MIT Tech Review (https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612124/clearing-out-old-cells-might-help-the-brain/) on 9/19/2018 first caught my eye. The goal seems less about extending one's lifespan as retaining 'vigor' as we age. The diseases, age-related impairments, that are within the scope of this research are considerable. I haven't seen any documentation about the possible benefit of longer life. Doesn't sound unreasonable, however. We have a serious problem with ageism in the States. In the Bay Area, the 40's can be more than just a bump in the road for your career. More like a concrete barricade. We take for granted that there'll be a decline in our quality of life rather early on.

For those with the appropriate science background, here's a relevant article from Nature: https://go.nature.com/2PkZqLR (hope this shortened url works, the original was tremendously long). Also, under patent 9,980,962 May 2018, the abstract states, "Methods are provided herein for selectively killing senescent cells and for treating senescence-associated diseases and disorders by administering a senolytic agent. Senescence-associated diseases and disorders treatable by the methods using the senolytic agents described herein include cardiovascular diseases and disorders associated with or caused by arteriosclerosis, such as atherosclerosis; idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; osteoarthritis; senescence-associated ophthalmic diseases and disorders; and senescence-associated dermatological diseases and disorders."

In sum, not scary at all. At least to those with related conditions or the possibility of same. And that's just about all of us.

The project will be located 8 miles offshore, vertically. See the official website: http://www.leedco.org/index.ph... for the map / plan. There's little public or political will for the nuclear energy industry - at least beyond Tennessee's TVA. Per Wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_the_United_States), about 1/2 of the plants are operating at a loss. Shutdown expenses are substantial (https://www.energydigital.com/utilities/what-does-it-cost-decommission-nuclear-power-plant). 2nd, despite the Executive branch backing of the coal industry, it's decline is inevitable. Again, there's little public support beyond the coal producing regions for coal fired plants. Here's an interesting article on that subject: https://energytransition.org/2.... Murray coal is the biggest producer of coal today in the U.S., but like the Saudis, they need to look beyond their current business model. I find it difficult to understand the hostility toward renewables in the U.S., though it seems that hostility is on a decline. Anyone who has a romantic notion of coal and their supported communities must have little familiarity with actually working in the mines, even with contemporary technology. Families have paid a high cost over many generations for coal. And I say this from my own family's history. I've walked those hills, I've visited cousins in coal country towns. I've watched the young move as quickly as their feet can take them. As my dad would say, "it's a done deal'.

Update from iFixit - https://ifixit.org/blog/11673/... "This service document certainly paints a grim picture, but ever the optimists, we headed down to our friendly local Apple Store and bought a brand new 2018 13” MacBook Pro Touch Bar unit. Then we disassembled it and traded displays with our teardown unit from this summer. To our surprise, the displays and MacBooks functioned normally in every combination we tried. We also updated to Mojave and swapped logic boards with the same results." Apparently the updated policy is not yet in effect. Was this leaked to test the water?

This website is rather casual 3rd party observations. i.e. "Since last week I’ve encountered about a dozen non-working tablets, all reported as working by LinkNYC and indicated as such on this map." (https://www.payphone-project.com/linknyc-kiosk-installations-have-grinded-to-a-halt-and-other-observations.html). This is indicative of the nature of this website - they don't profess to be taking a comprehensive test per kiosk over significant periods. Seems more random takes as time or place allows. The project is getting both negative and positive reviews, as it should during an initial trial period. Tablet use was very often over-enthusiastically employed for porno and drug deals. It's probable that the consortium behind the installation over-estimated initial revenue along with difficulty of installation, and unintended re-purposing. There's a significant population in NYC that does not have home broadband. There's a homeless population as well that needs access for many reasons. Bottom line, the NYC install is successful enough. Enough that it's spreading to other locales, both domestically and abroad. Hope to see positive contributions toward this and similar projects from all of us.