Posts by Sam 15 104 publicly visible posts • joined 25 Oct 2009
" But no manufacturer in their right mind is going to even consider investing in US fabs at a literal cost of several billion dollars a go when the case for that investment is based upon an economic situation that could change overnight."
Even if Trump was not inclined to reverse course every 25 minutes and kept the tariffs in place throughout his term, those multi billion dollar factories are unlikely to be in full operation before Trump's term expires and a sensible administration takes over (Hey! It could happen.)
Seem like a good investment to you?
"Governments deciding what technology they want to succeed is even worse"
"It's not as if industry has a better track record when it comes to deciding which horse to back"
"Industry" is not a monolith.
Different companies can choose to back different horses, and someone will succeed.
When Governments order every company to climb on the same horse, there is a special problem.
"FFS, as a new wet-behind-the-ears grad in the mid-70's I worked on a "cost+" defence contract. It was obvious to anyone looking at it that is was a licence to print money"
I too was a wet behind the ears engineer on a cost+ contract back than. As someone pointed out at the time, it was NOT a licence to print money.
The costs were audited by the MOD on a monthly basis, and that "+" (the profit) - was 5%.
At that time you could get more "profit" by putting your cash into a Posts Office Savings Account.
"but let's just watch the history of traveling improve if we can eventually get up to light speed then we might start to visit the universe."
Quite. We should ignore trivial details like accelerating up to light speed... and decelerating when approaching the destination.
Of course, getting close to the speed of light is a weighty issue.
"Pumping the brakes is only needed if you want to steer. Otherwise locking the wheels will brake more effectively (on tarmac and snow)."
Pumping the brakes is only needed if you don't care about steering.
With all wheels locked, the car is able to rotate around whichever tyre has the most grip. Hence you might meet some stationary object sideways on - or whichever aspect the car chooses to present to said object.
Hmm.
1. Spam coming from/via Google Groups ramps up to massive proportions (swamping many groups).
2. Google decides to axe Groups, leading to many people to say "Good Riddance!".
Was that spam flood like a artillery barrage to soften up the battlefield?
Supermarket pickers can always find the shelves empty when they reach for an item, because a customer took the last one off of the shelf just a moment earlier.
What I cannot understand is why Ocado - where there are no customers taking things from the shelves - can suddenly find they are out of stock?
"Some cats will eat dog food. A cat I had as a child didn't complain when we spilled some extra dog food and she got to snack on it."
I think you're missing the point.
A cat will eat almost anything - IF - they are stealing it.
Offer them the same thing in their own food bowl, and watch their lips curl with disdain.
"Unsurprising, as it is instability that is not in the Chinese economy's interest. They already have a problem with a property bubble that they've had to address. "
Err. They have, after a fashion, 'addressed' it, but only to apply a sticking plaster over the whole mess.
The bubble is still there and they have done nothing to fix it.
"Presidents can seemingly declassify documents without following any procedure at all. If a president wants a document to stop being classified then it just stops being. I agree with you that this is stupid but so are a lot of rules that apply to politicians."
Well no they can't.
They do indeed have the power to have something declassified, but it must still go through the laid down procedures - and that does not include waving a fairy-wand.
Indeed, for some highly sensitive material it has to go back to the originating department for them to sign off on the change.
In much the same way, Presidents can give pardons to anyone they like - no matter how venal or self-serving that might be - but they still have to go through the procedure.
Trump could not now say:
"Bye the way, I pardoned everyone involved in Jan 6th - including myself."
(Or rather he could, since that sounds just like some of his other claims.)
"She had state secrets on a public mail server under her personal control. Which got hacked, and some leaked. I'd suggest having uncontrolled access to controlled documents is actually quite uncommon. But no prosecutions for mishandling classified data."
Well, if she had taken a large van-load of highly sensitive documents with her when she left office.
Refused to return them when asked
Only returned a small quantity when faced with a subpoena - but claimed, in a written submission, that everything had been returned.
Then had her place raided, with a further large number of highly sensitive documents being found - despite the previous claims....
etc. etc. etc.
Well yes. I suppose she would have been facing some serious charges.
Odd that you didn't mention those aspects.
"sure you could operate your own email server and then explain to the supena brandishing SWAT team that you 'accidentally' erased all the emails about the share fraud/sanction busting/plan to kill the president"
No problem. Put your server on an Italian spy satellite where the SWAT team can't reach it.
"It's a shame that they felt the need to obscure what sounds like an interesting project behind that initial layer of spaff."
Writing that kind of spaff is a highly prized artform within the BBC (and other organisations too numerous to mention in this margin). It's a bit like a Han dynasty Chinese civil servant getting promotion for penning a particularly neat haiku.
Quote
"As waves are defined by ups and downs it's safe to say that the first wave is defined by the first up and down. Which are clearly over as we are unfortunately at the start of the next up.
Defining the start of the second wave."
/ End Quote.
<Looks at "COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU)" - United Kingdom - graph for Daily Cases>
Mate. This had better not just be the start of the second wave since we've just hit the highest number to date.
"Is there anyone else getting the impression the The Trump is a little unhinged. He seems to live in an alternate reality. He seems to have lost his grip on the real world. Is he going mad?
If so just what is the constitutional process for removing him from office."
No problem.
Trump will simply define his mental state as "sane" - and have critics banged up in a sanatorium somewhere (costs of 'treatment' not covered by the ACA obviously).
"Sadly the USTR is not particularly interested in what's fair or even legal, as long as it protects American interests (i.e. money).
As for who's actually entitled to what, America is one of the world's most notorious rip-off artists. Just look at Disney and Apple, as two of the more prominent examples, or frankly anything in America's vast portfolio of laughable patents, or any of the supposed "create works" coming out of Hollywood or the American music industry."
I was startled to read that Waltzing Matilda is an American song.
It was Copyrighted in the US in 1941, so those criminals in Oz have been stealing this American creative product - ever since 1896.
Sort 'em out Trump!
" Many of Trump's policies are absolutely at odds with the agenda of his own party in Congress"
and
"Republicans may have a unified government at the moment, but they don't have a unified party."
Since no-one really knows exactly what Trump will actually do in office (his campaign rhetoric was all over the map) it may turn out to be misleading to describe Trump as a Republican.
"I don't care. I'm not voting for Trump because of facts of any sort. I'm voting for him because it's the political equivalent of pulling the pin and tossing the grenade in the china shop."
It's the political equivalent of pulling the pin and hugging that grenade closely to your chest.
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