"And we would look elsewhere.." The previous three sentences were quite enough basis for some (many?) of us to realize that none of it is for our benefit. Monarchy, Communism, Theocracy, Democracy, and the rest are all designed for those that rule. Fortunately, Democracy's rule making process, up to recently, makes very hard to affect anything very positively or very negatively, really, so it gets my vote. And, no, I don't vote. The good news: Looking anywhere outside yourself for answers is waste of time. However, one can penetrate the illusion of all this silliness to find mental peace. It's just not easy. Good Luck.

Interesting idea. Main reason I have a pc is gaming. (Well, I also have an xbox360 but wouldn't have bought if the kids were so adamant. Now that they are in college, I don't play it much.) Not a social fellow so the tablets and smartphones are useless. Fortunately, the wife agrees with all the above (or all bets would be off).

Indeed, Paul's original mission was to wipe out the religion of Christ. (Christianity) Looks like he did a pretty good job.

Sadly, the SFP (Sci-Fi Paradise) will not happen as long as people regard everything as territory. (Or some clever saying to that effect.) "Work", "Accomplishment", and "Success" are just concepts with no real foundation but someone's idea of what they think they want that really turns out to be really nothing but "chicken feathers" that will disappear in a good wind. Ah, well. (Off the lawn, bud.)

1. Astronomers view light that was created in the past. Is the past is viewable in all directions or just one? (If my laymans' view of the "view of the past via light" is way off, please tell me how that works.) If the past is viewable in all directions, the stuff you are looking at is on the rim of the expansion which seems backwards to what I would have guessed. 2. Here on earth, things speed up or accelerate either due to a force from the initial event or an external force (like gravity, energy addition, etc.). Is the accelerating expansion of our universe due to the initial event? If so, how? (Maybe that is where all the "missing anti-gravity" is. lol) Thanks.

To not want to work for Facebook.

Yawn...Who profits the most? The contractor doing the work, I think.

Oh, my. I wish I had mod points. Too bad John Galt was in such a (ultimately) useless book.

When I was in high school, in the 70's, we "studied" the book "1984". We all assumed, I assume, that "1984" would happen in Russia or in a bizarro America. I do not remember anyone suggesting that religion would be the driver. ( I don't include the Chinese government in this particular assumption as China, to me, seems to have simply re-introduced the feudal system for the masses with a "ruling committee" replacing the emperor at the top.) What a mess.

Interestingly, a distant cousin of mine just today posted a picture of a family group which includes our great(-great?)-grandfather, which is a copy of picture taken around 1875. One of my cousins presumably still has this picture. I have no idea where the pictures I took of my daughter currently are. I took movies of her and her brother on the mini-tape format. Only way to show them is through the camera to the VHS machine. (Not exactly sure where the camera is.) So, good luck with that! My advice. Take a few pictures to get it out of your system then enjoy every swinging second of being with your kids. They will grow up and head out into the world unbelievably fast. (I still can't believe mine are in college.) Good Luck!

The idea of "Lying", or more closely, "Denying", is more like they are purposely showing you your (or our) inability to do anything about what they just did right back in your face. I think it's more about "Screw you, scum. What can you do about it?" than "Who, me?" Which is pretty much what they do to their people all the time. "Might is right. Peasants suck. Go, Communism! Have a nice day." And they think they are making themselves "happier".

Comedy Central's Short Attention Span Theater => which was shortened to SAST cuz we viewers were, um, too, um, ... what?

The reviewer, unsurprisingly, left off (or didn't emphasize) a quite important part of the study. Still it's pretty neat. From TFA: "At the head of the research team was Alessandro Acquisti, a CMU professor who pointed out in 2009 that the social security number system has a huge security flaw — social security numbers are predictable if you know a person’s hometown and date of birth [emphasis mine] . This study essentially adds a facial recognition component to that study. Acquisti, Ralph Gross and Fred Stutzman ran three experiments. In the first, they data mined Facebook for photos of people with searchable profiles. They then used that database of faces and identities when applying off-the-shelf facial recognition technology (PittPatt) to “anonymous” singles on a popular dating site. Acquisti told me in an interview last month that they were able to reidentify 15% of the digital Cupids. In the second experiment, they used a $35 webcam to take photos of CMU students. They then asked the 93 participants to take a quick online survey. While they did that, the facial recognition software went to work figuring out who they were. Acquisti told me that 42% of those participants were linked to their Facebook profiles. Finally, the third experiment was the one to link faces to their unique nine digits For those participants who had date of birth and city publicly available on their account, the researchers could predict a social security number (based on the work from their 2009 study). "

(That would also be "Place of Birth", not hometown, as those two items are often quite different.)

Sorry, I really don't want to talk or even interact with anyone not accountable for their actions. (And yes, my account name has a real name behind it so I am accountable, too.) Generally, it's no big deal. However, it's a problem just often enough that I want to be able to report "jerkish" behavior when necessary. And I want someone to do something about it. (I am not allowed to shoot these people.) Sites that do not respond these reports lose my business. Just my 2 cents. Literally.

Don't drive in Europe if you do not want to be tracked by your license plate.