I’m not concerned that they followed the best advice of their lawyers to respond to the legal and political challenges that currently exist.

I am concerned that hostile nation states (define those as you will) have made supply chain attacks (remember the xz Utils backdoor) so common that actions like this or worse are becoming necessary and that open source, globally contributed software could be at risk.

When, given a choice between doing something fun and something necessary that can be easily put off, you default to doing the necessary.

Trump seems to always exceed expectations, so I fear he will almost certainly win unless a health condition forces him out of the race.

However, I have consistently under estimated Harris, so maybe I’ll be wrong yet again and she will be the one to overperform…

Yes and no. For close friends, family, and long time coworkers. I care that you had a good trip, that mom and baby are healthy, and would not mind a few photos. But that’s it. I don’t need a 500 page travel album or daily baby pics.

Self driving cars and fusion. I’m still optimistic about fusion.

4′33″. I hate that melody and would rather just listen to silence.

Washcloths are used once then go in the hamper. Towels 3-5 days. Sheets 1-2 times per month (showering at night and wearing pajamas…, plus keeping the house colder at night)

I suspect my cellphone does, but not my work or home internet.

IPv6 is now twice as old as IPv4 was when IPv6 was introduced. 20 years ago I worried about needing to support it. Now I don’t even think about it at all.

I think the movie actually did a reasonable job of explaining it. Multiple different households were traveling together, the whole thing was chaotic, a neighbors kid dropped by and was included in the head count, Kevin was on the attic and so out of sight, they were running late, etc.

Volcanos being caused by overpopulation in hell.

Almost makes me wonder if this is a mechanical turk situation.

Oh, another thing about secret votes. It transfers blame from individuals to congess itself. If votes are public, and a popular bill fails, then the individuals and parties are blamed, if secret, then the whole of congress gets blamed and you could see incumbents lose reelection not because of how they individually voted but because of how the body as a whole did. That could force cooperation, but it could also introduce a new form of gamemanship.

This isn’t an ideal solution, but a practical one. A simple hack for the U.S. would be to make congressional votes secret. Yes, this means congress people would be less accountable, but think about where their accountabilites lie. These people are far more worried about their parties’ strongmen and sponsors than their gerrymandered constituents.

Impossible to implement in the present U.S. climate, but more idealistic is to divide the US into 50,000 person districts (greatly expanding an individuals access to their rep), then group those into evenly sized super districts. The reps choose from among themselves a super rep to attend congress, who they can recall at anytime. This should make gerrymandering more difficult, and dilute the effectiveness of corporate donors while increasing the influence of individual voters.

Changes could have so many repercussions even well meaning actions could make things worse. The safer bet would be to collect lost books and art.

That said, stopping the Lincoln assassination is tempting. I’d hope to change reconstruction to better wipe out the confederacy, prevent lost cause doctrine, and better integrate former slaves into full citizenship and society.

VR - It has been through a few hype cycles, but never quite makes it. Cost, weight, battery life (or tethers), lack of highly desirable games, required floor space, nausea (in some people), etc.

Starlink - when announced it sounded like the solution to ISP monopolies and rural broadband access. But the roll out was so slow that other solutions have caught up. For people with no option other than satellite internet, it is still great (if they can get it) but for a lot of people, better options now exist.

One second ago I put a dollar on my dresser. That’s on pace to be 30 million in a year.

Hot dog buns. In my opinion, the generic, white, store brand buns make the best hot dogs.

Earthday. Not just on its own merits (which are substantial) but because there is a general lack of US federal holidays on that side of the calendar.

Instant karma. Weighted based on intent. E.g. If CEO cuts benefits to improve his stock value, then his balls explode. If a driver accidentally cuts someone off but feels bad about it, a full mosquito hits the windshield.