I think it's pretty similar in Canada, although I can't speak to the comparative levels of complexity. One reason is that, like the U.S., many powers are held by the federal government, while others are exclusive to the various provincial governments. A notable example is the provinces' ability to levy taxes in addition to federal ones. There may also be other provincial records that the federal government does not have direct access to, such as marriage records.

So it "dissolves"... into what? Last I heard, microplastics in our water (and later, our food) are raising ever more concerns about human health.

OK, can anyone explain to me what an "AI-powered browser" will do for me? Will it help me, uh ... browse ... the, uh ... web?

San Francisco resident here. As far as I can tell from all the various things I've read, the news surrounding this issue is badly reported based on interviews with uninformed and technically un-savvy public spokespeople.

I mean, some of the stories talk about needing to find programmers proficient in "90s-era programming languages." Which ones might those be? I'm unaware of languages that were widely used in 1998 and are completely obsolete today. I'm betting the real challenge is finding programmers proficient in C or even assembly language for embedded systems based on obsolete processors or microcontrollers. That makes sense, but the mainstream press doesn't report it that way because they can't understand it,

So I really doubt the floppy disk issue is a significant problem (and I'm even dubious of the claim that they have to boot the system from floppy disks every night). It's just a savvy PR hook to gain public support for the funding they need to upgrade the entire train control system.

Read here for an official press release from the transit agency that explains the main issue is replacing the extremely antiquated wireless communication system that the trains use now. It's a hardware and networking issue, which naturally needs entirely new control software as well, but not really anything to do with storage media.

Two different things. Tesla only provides driver-assist technology, like you'll find in any luxury automobile these days. "Full self-driving" is a total misnomer, bordering on fraud. WAymo, on the other hand, is truly self-driving, and to do that it relies on tons and tons of mapping and telemetry data. I'm not even sure how it plans to adapt its technology to highway environments, but Tesla is nowhere close.

I think we're still a long way from that. I'm told Waymo has been given permission to start training its vehicles on highways in California, but it has yet to do so. The company rolls its stuff out very carefully and thoughtfully, the way it needs to be.

Nobody is saying it's an epidemic. It's just a major outbreak that's unprecedented in recent decades. Measles is unlikely to become an epidemic in the U.S., because most of us have been vaccinated and the vaccine provides lifelong immunity. Only very foolish people (or people with foolish parents) are contributing the the measles outbreak.

And had you done that in the case of TDAP, you would have gone ahead and had her get the injection anyway, because there are no statistics that suggest or would even hint at what you're claiming was an adverse effect.

The data is publicly available. It's just not all that statistically significant. The reports are all self-selecting; that is, many people who might have experienced an adverse effect do not report it, and many people who think they have experienced an adverse effect do report it, even though they're wrong about the cause. All VAERS does is gather reports. It's up to doctors and scientists to decide whether there is any validity to the reports. VAERS itself draws no conclusions.

A lot of subway trains are essentially autonomous, yet they still have operators in the event of some kind of failure state.

I buy Waymo's assertion that the actual driving is fully autonomous. Remember, you will never go to a dealership and buy your own Waymo. The whole project is designed as a service, not the future of private car ownership.

In San Francisco, getting to the airport generally means taking the freeway. Although Waymo has permission to test its vehicles on the freeway, I don't think it's begun doing so. There is probably a way to get to the airport without the freeway, but it would take a very long time and it would mean boing outside of Waymo's service area. Effectively, going to the airport is not a use case for Waymo in San Francisco.

You're thinking of Teslas. There's a sign on the Waymo steering wheel warning passengers never to touch the controls.

OK, but scientific studies don't typically take the entire world into consideration. They tend to focus on one specific area of research. I have anecdotal evidence that Waymo cars also corner exceptionally well, accelerate and brake efficiently, and do a great job of observing traffic rules and laws ... but this study didn't look at those things.

California has just about any time of bad weather you want, from scorching desert heat to snowstorms and hail ... so Waymo doesn't operate in those areas.

But companies can be held liable for defective products. This type of case would proceed as a wrongful death suit in civil court, for monetary damages.