You will have to tear my loaded, 8MB ram 486 from my cold...dead...hands.

Nikola Tesla invented wireless electricity transfer at the turn of the 20th (yes, 20th) century. He was trying to prototype it by constructing what was called the Wardenclyffe Tower. Of course, everyone during that time thought he was a nut and the funding ran out.

Tesla is a candidate for the title of "smartest person who ever lived," and without him we probably would not have alternating current, which probably means we would get zapped much more often from our PCs (or "PMFs", i.e. Personal MainFrames). Now, considering the way society neglects its heroes of innovation, just watch Sony finish this and claim to have brought "wireless power" to the world, without ever having mentioned Tesla. "Oh yeah, him? Well we figured this out on our own. We just read a lot of these old books on magnetic resonance and pieced it all together. So smart is we!"

"Ok, the question for our next candidate goes to Mr. Handsome Dashing. Please explain your stance on HERF guns. You have two minutes, starting now."

Been there. This is hard to see right now because it's all you've been exposed to, but the microcosm that is high school is such an insignificant part of your life that you'll forget about much sooner than you think. For the bullies and "cool crowd" that like to think they're better than everyone, this is the best part of their life. Once you graduate, reality sets in. Those people generally don't make it very far because instead of building a foundation of tools to succeed in life (e.g. disciplined reading, sound math skills, critical thinking, and problem solving), they're distracted by the need to climb to the top of this small social bubble that eventually bursts on graduation day.

Life is not like high school. Unlike kids who never study and are simply pushed through the educational system, people who don't try hard in life struggle to get by. Society doesn't need people to look cool (there's a surplus of that). It needs people who excel at things to advance society. People who fill the needs of society profit. The people who prosper are generally intelligent, talented, or both. Oh, and if you've slacked a bit so far, it's never too late to start building this foundation for yourself. Luckily, you won't have the same fruitless distractions those kids have.

College is a lot like life, because people organize themselves into groups according to their talents. Logical people become science or math majors. Extroverts become business majors. Artistic people become arts majors. People who excel are rewarded for their achievements (academic awards, scholarships, internships, professional networking). Those who fail do not graduate.

And because of the nature of college, people generally treat each other with respect. This not only goes between students, but for student-professor relationships as well. And because you're treated like an adult, there's people there to help you like an adult. If you are struggling with depression or social anxiety, there are student-life staff who will listen and talk with you. They genuinely care. This is much more the case in college than in high school.

Smart people are sexy. Smart people are in college. You'll have much more intimate relationships with people who can engage you in enthralling conversation than with airheads. Smart people are more approachable because they're more down-to-earth. Sign up for activities in college that might seem stupid at first just to meet people. Go in without any expectations, don't put any pressure on yourself, be nice, make friends, and yes, you will get laid sooner or later.

Yes, things will improve after high school, without question. Don't be hard on yourself, and do the things that make you happy without worrying about what anyone thinks.

P.S. the REALLY funny part is that as you get older, usually you see the attractive kids get fat and ugly, and the "ugly ducklings" turn out to be fit and good-looking. My theory is because the latter typically learn how to prioritize the things of substance in their life (such as health and life-long learning), as opposed to falling prey to addictions and lack of motivation.

Doing something right would piss off a US Democrat, doing something left would get you mad mod points on slashdot.

So does this mean they'll speed up the Netbeans build process by replacing the ant harness by writing to database and using stored procedures?

Could you imagine the snowball scenario described in the example happening in real life? You would randomly see adults acting like idiots in the middle of the street. They'd be running in front of cars, diving across hoods, running into people, ducking behind old ladies, and pretty much just be acting like a-holes. You basically would just succumb to never being able to get laid again. I could imagine the scenario, "Well, he's good-looking, dresses well, and has 12-pack abs, but he play's SnoFight (tm)". Maybe the same argument can be made about MMORPGs, but at least you can hide that from the rest of the world. Then what would happen when RockStar games licenses the technology and makes GTA 10. "Your honor, I was just playing a game. I needed to get my money back from that girl so I could buy more ammo. She's supposed to respawn like every 5 minutes."

Just pour green ooze into the closest sewer drain. This will cause the rats to transform into martial arts sensais. They will then start working for you, training the nearest reptilian mutants into crime fighting ninjas with immature attitudes.

By these standard, G.W. Bush is a genius.

They obviously want to dig into the moon so they can build a giant laser on the surface capable of destroying planets. In the process, they can mine the moon for cheese and repackage it as a U.S. export. That way, we can raise taxes on rising GDP which we can use to bail out mortgage-backed securities owned by the government so people who don't want to work can buy houses. See, war profiteering is your friend!