The details on the lab are (understandably and simultaneously frustratingly) quite sparse.

But it's worth keeping in mind that theoretically, the mold on that cucumber in your fridge constitutes some sort of biolab. The main released criteria about those lab that raised alarm was the presence of specimens, which does not imply any capability of creating a weaponized strain.

It's still alarming, but (at least in my opinion), still doesn't prove an effective bioweapon is buildable in a small-scale operation.

Georgetown has a good article on the general problems with our current "AI and bioweapons" dialog: https://gjia.georgetown.edu/science-technology/rethinking-th...

Without a whole lot of tacit knowledge no LLM can provide you, bioweapons are still pretty much out of range for most of the population. Doesn't mean we should ignore the problem, but a more reasoned approach would stand to benefit everybody.

No you book it on the grounds of "I have too much money" and then they don't ask questions.

...why would they do that? British Museum is a public insitution, is the director corrupt?

Public institutions don't take donations in the UK? They certainly do in the US.

Since when are donations equal to corruption? I certainly wasn't claiming that.

The article explicitly says Thiel hasn't made a donation. So if it's not in exchange for a donation, why is he being put forward for this? Ie - is the director of the museum(or someone else) receiving some benefit under the table to make this happen?

They have a donation page and everything

https://www.britishmuseum.org/support-us/donate

He has the possibility to become one? Maybe they were trying to draw donations.

>Guests at One Aldwych hotel, where rooms cost more than £1,000 a night, are also able to get tickets without joining the online queues.

He certainly could've booked a room at that price

Is it a net benefit to the user or a consistently equal transaction?

For some - like me - it is certainly a net benefit since there is no real transaction other than me buying the hardware and paying ~€2/month for mobile data/cell service:

- the device is 'Google-free'

- I only use free software

- the thing is firewalled for in- and outgoing traffic, only those applications I approve get to access the net

- I use a 'prepaid' data card, 250 GB valid for 2 years for ~€50 (~€2/month) which I won't use up. Last time I could take along unused data to the next 2 years so nothing is lost.

Here's the 'costs':

- between €120 and €170 for the hardware which tends to last around 8 years, i.e. between €15 and ~€21 per year

- sometimes something breaks (battery, screen, speaker, USB connection board) which I then repair, can be anything between €1 and €40 so let's put the repair costs at €24 per device or €3 per year

- €2/month for data and cell service valid in the whole EU (no roaming costs)

- electricity, comes from the sun -> free

- when the device is on I can be tracked by interested TLAs like any other 4/5G device

- same is true for Bluetooth, not so much for WiFi which is normally off and changes MAC address for every connection.

How many man hours could the department in question realistically dedicate to the investigation without the technology

Both Merriam-webster and thesaurus.com have intimate as a synonym for persaonl. Thesaurus.com says its one of the strongest.

Wild, there are also other people around you who might they're more fun too, they might want you to turn it up.

Unfortunately for those other people, there are rules and social customs about not being an inane goober when you're in a shared public space.

No expert but I would think an indoor pool in a temperature controlled environment would control for a lot of heat loss from the water.