Japan has been stagnating a bit, but what's wrong with stagnation when you have an unemployment rate of 3.6 percent, a crime rate of practically zero and a populace that is generally well of? We really do have this obsession with growth, but I don't see anything wrong with stagnation once you have reached a certain level of wealth and comfort.

I think the problem might have to do with the fact that Hamas has repeatedly stated that it will never accept the state of Israel.

I am not a fan of Israels "foreign policy" towards Palestine, especially the Gaza Strip. On the other hand, it's hard to argue with someone who says he will never accept and will always fight you.

On the other, other hand, Israel has been nurturing this sentiment towards it for decades by indiscriminately leveling buildings and killing dozens of Palestinians every time some idiots fire a mostly useless rocket over the border.

Basically, both sides are being jerks and feeding the hatred towards each other. This is how far "eye for an eye" will get you.

Wow, so this is how little we really know about our cosmic surroundings...
There is this big mystery about why stars further away from the galactic center orbit at the same speed as the inner stars, defying the laws of gravitation, scientists invent dark matter and other interesting theories, then it turns out we misjudge the size of our own galaxy by 50 percent?

How can we even think about stuff like that if we don't even really know how large our galaxy is?

Flying a PT-22 ain't like dusting crops, boy! Without precise calculations we could fly right through the walk of fame, or bounce off a golf club and that'd end your trip real quick, wouldn't it.

If its just the fluids on the ears, people should be able to get accustomed to the change. Astronauts do.

I for one am looking forward to my future, virtual, bikini-clad room mates.

What's wrong with branded LEGO stuff?

I for one love my LEGO Star Wars miniatures.

Do whatever you enjoy in life. Drink, smoke, eat meat, take drugs. Don't listen to the alarmists, everything is bad for you. Instead, learn to enjoy in moderation, at the right moments.

Just don't let it become a habit. There is no savor in habits, only self contempt and other bad things, like addiction.

It only works if you suck monkey balls, preferably in space. Sucking on donkey balls actually doesn't do anything.

Sorry to break it to ya.

Yeah, I also run AdBlock for safety first, and to remove ads I will never click on anyway second. AdBlock is the most important security software for surfing the internet.

I'm sorry about the websites that depend on ad revenue. But if the advertising companies can't get their shit together and instead abstract their business model in such a way that it's impossible to know where an ad is coming from, it's their fault not mine.

This is the one thing that drives most non-native English speakers crazy. Interestingly I found that many native English speakers are not even consciously aware of this difficulty in learning the English language.

Stuff like
You have to polish my car until it is shiny.
But: The Polish car salesman made me a good deal.

Or
I read something in todays paper.
But: did you read that one article?

Then, for good measure you have words that sound the same but, of course, are spelled differently, like knight and night or were and where. Yes, my username also became victim to this consequence.

IT IS MADNESS!!!

You can get up and take a five minute smoke break every 30 minutes.
Sitting on your ass all day sounds so bad, taking up smoking might actually be a net-win.

I continue to be shocked about the sad state of affairs in the U.S. concerning services like Internet access, health care, power grid, water and food supply... I read recently that most of the "chocolate" you buy in the U.S. has zero cacao in it.

It seems to me most of it is due to the extreme "free market" policies with as little as possible government regulation and other socialist evils in it.

Which ironically results in funny facts like two cable providers dividing the market between them, each reigning over their own territorial monopoly, Americans paying exorbitant fees for subpar health care, power outages after every hurricane or chocolate without chocolate in it.

And when you get lucky by getting a president like Obama, with the balls and ability to change some things, ever so little as your congress and political bickering allows, everyone starts hating on him.

It would be funny if it were not so sad.

As a guy with some degree of competence on the subject, I would say that something like the Matrix (fully immersive virtual reality) is already on the horizon, whereas Terminator style virtual intelligence is not even on the radar yet.

Barring any amazing breakthroughs that change everything.

If this universe (or what you perceive as reality) is a simulation or some other kind of contrived illusion, then it is very possible that the human brain runs on a bit of "magic" which is impossible for us to recreate.