" It never crashes"

Ever dealt with a schizophrenic or someone in the throes of a manic episode? Or just a drunk?

No, Canada is a wimpy place where criminals have more rights than a regular citizen.

If that was your only worry about opening a bar... Here in Montreal within a week you'll have your local thugs muscling in. No matter how upscale the neighborhood looks during the day. I used to work in Old Montreal when there was a broad daylight assassination on my street. The bar also had regular stabbings at night...

I hear good things from Dr Rudy Wells over at OSI.

http://www.dangeroustrailers.o...

Seems like SOP.

Exactly. Which is why I would never encourage my kids to go into engineering. It's not the 1960s anymore, we've squeezed all we can out of engineering and we're coasting back to the historical mean of how humans behave.

I'm afraid that we've already got everything we need to make a much more comfortable society even with "just" the technology and resources we have now. That fact that we don't shows that something else is hard-wired into our biology: how to be complete and utter assholes.

I suspect even with completely free everything we'll still find ways to have taxes and rich and poor people.

I think you mean a time domain reflectometer. A VNA would be a terrible choice.

and brains and talent and resources... for a fucking video game. I wonder if people a hundred years from now will laugh at us or hate us for the squandered resources?

I understand and I agree; I don't like where we are heading collectively. But what can I do about it? If I see a big rainstorm coming, do I complain about the fact I don't like being wet or do I get an umbrella?

Easy to say. When Grace was around she wasn't competing against Indian, Chinese, Brazilian and Russian university students being pumped out by the thousands every year.

I wish your comment made sense. What are you trying to say?

Pretty much, yes. Would you rather I tell my kids "be a poor peon to keep other people rich"?

You can do that if you want, but my eyes are opened now. I used to be idealistic too.

If you buy a rental property, it will generate passive revenues in ten years.

What will the code you wrote today do for you in ten years? Yeah, unless you own it, nothing.

You can keep investing your time and energy to make other people rich, that's fine, but why burden your children with your neuroses?

Smart parenting. If I have kids, I'll pound it into their heads that technical stuff is for hobbies only. Unfortunately I fear we are heading back to the historical mean for the human race, laborers work garbage jobs with no future, you have the "gentry" and you have the rich families that control everything by blood line.

The gentry would be notaries, lawyers, accountants, managers, etc all jobs which could have been equally well replaced by outsourcing or automation but will never, ever be.

I'd also encourage them to become rentiers, buy a rental property ASAP.

Now that I'm 40 and am still struggling to find work in a dwindling technical area in Montreal, I see other people my age making millions for doing nothing of any real value I can see.

One guy opened an expensive all-hype hair salon. He has 5 expensive cars. All he does is maintain an image.

Real estate agents and notaries provide little to no actual service but have a legal framework to ensure their jobs. Optometrists are another case of something that could easily be replaced by automation but will never be.

Simply put, if you interact with a machine of any kind, you'll either be stuck in stagnating wages or in the perpetual education (at your expense!) treadmill.

I don't see my local landlords or business owners wearing diapers because they fear for their future.

I bet the IT department is changing each other's diapers now! And updating their resumés....