Change the phone....or use Swipe. It is really annoying to read like this - the brain notices and you get a "hick-up" in your reading flow every time when you see those mistakes. LiKE tryINg To ReAD thiS FoR eXAmplE...

You know what made me poor [PhD with good job in NL]? The privatization of the health care system. In other words - libertarianism. For 7 years I was not helped properly and the system always did the minimum to send me home [cutting costs]. The problem grew into disability and I was told [no kidding] "we cannot help you further". Like they helped up to that point?!?

I found a private doctor that could really help. I could not afford it but had no other choice but to patch-up the problem while bankrupting myself. It is only a patch-up mind you. For complete treatment I need an extra 30-50 K Euros. And it is not because the doctor is greedy but because medical services have grown artificially expensive because corporations and insurance companies know the society/government will accept almost any cost for health and cough up, so all the equipment and procedures prices are hugely inflated.

But according to Randoids I am lazy and stupid. Fuck off!!!

It's politics, pure and simple.

Just another case where politics/business brainwashed people there is no problem. Now, because Nature cannot be fooled and laws of Nature cannot be broken, finally the powerful have decided to do something [because they are scared for themselves]. But the public does not buy it after so many years of lies.

So, they are wondering how to sell the facts and they go for the most obvious - don't tell the whole ecosystem is in danger and billions of people already have troubles with water, don't tell about shortage of arable land [the rest being poisoned already by Roundup and the like] and so on [the list goes for weeks].

Instead tell them it is about the most sacred thing in the world - the health of the Americans.

This whole story is revolting. Thinking about the health of the people? After making them one of the sickest first world nations while spending quadrupled amounts of money compared to the rest? Really?

Politicians are prostitutes; businessmen are evil [both facts are result of the system, which filters out such people and promotes them]. It boggles my mind that people actually expect pro active measures from governments and corporations. Those entities never lead; they follow, because the only thing they are concerned about is preserving the status quo [where they are on the top]. There will never be meaningful CHANGE about anything under this system. Get your heads around this fact if you want our civilization to survive and prosper.

I am missing things because of not having Facebook. Specifically communication with the folks back home [immigrant here].

The reason I never subscribed is that I was suspicions from the beginning that it is a trap and once it becomes popular they'd abuse the data they collected. Which of course happened. Otherwise I'd happily participate...

That's all there is, really.

Yhea, right!

And that is why this show is watched by many people who don't even own a car (me, for instance).

Also, do you know who introduced me to the show? My wife! That's right! Somehow, the obnoxious, sexist, racist Clarkson drew the largest female audience of a car show in the world. Meditate on this you should....

People without imagination and scene of humor are always offended by those who do....

I think he is very loved in Eastern Europe too. The online edition of one of the most popular newspapers in my country [BG] runs 7 articles at the moment. The comments are full of exuberant praise for Sir Terry.

As for me, well, he is the first person that I do not know personally, who's death made me cry [came very close to tears for DNA].

His books felt to me like having a delightful conversation with an incredibly smart, knowledgeable, wise and extremely witty humanist, who, at the same time shares with me a certain fury against the state of man. Much like Vimes's fury and willingness to arrest even the gods for not doing it right. What a feast!

Bull. I got a simple Seiko for 400 euro. Ti casing, sapphire window, kinetic, simple and elegant. Booklet says 10 sec per month deviation. I timed it over 6 months - 1.5 seconds. So, how much more accurate the 20k watch would be? Is it worth the extra cost? I don't think so...

I had the very bad luck of dealing with a loved one with 3 suicide attempts provoked by psychosis. The problems followed heavy depression which in turn was provoked by...unemployment.

Once the person recovered, she went on restoring her brain faculties and although some portions of [very few] faculties could not be restored to previous levels. Nevertheless the doctors showed us that she has "dropped" from "extremely smart" to "very smart". Some faculties were better than before because she developed them further with brain games and what's not.

Now guess what happened? 4 years after the recovery there is no job [she is a PhD in physics with good articles and 2 successful post-doc projects]. There is not going to be a job, because noone takes "the risk" of hiring someone with few years interrupted career. It is a vicious cycle....

Meanwhile, the medical system bankrupted me and made me very sick [I've described it in detail for another thread] so we have no money, no job for her [and mine, although being very advance and interesting does not pay that well], debts and destroyed faculties by the medical system of both of us.

We need only one type of help, only one pill. Dignity!!! Which comes from sense of self-respect which comes from being economically sound, i.e. at least have a job [forget the whole discussion about the socioeconomic system, the times are like they are, we need jobs, the star trek future is postponed indefinitely due to greed].

That is what we need -- one "brave" company that wants to benefit tremendously by hiring [likely for less money than usual] someone who is so eager to contribute and restore their place in society....the social system even offers to pay her salary for a few months so that the company gets to evaluate her for free...and still nothing. Unemployment is rising everywhere in Europe, the "crisis" from 2009 will never end, the middle class is shrinking....expect rise in suicide in the whole western world...

So fuck those initiatives. No Facebook, nor anyone else can do squat about it. In fact Facebook, being greedy corporation which fucks its customers left right and centre, is part of the problem...

There are 3 things I adore about the Netherlands:

- bicycle culture [and infrastructure!]
- parks and gardens [this is a country-garden!]
- the civil liberties package

More than a decade I live here and a day does not pass without riding a bike. I never owned a car. And here, people do not stop for the weather, otherwise we would stay at home for most of the year:) There is always wind and often rain. Show and ice are somewhat scarce in recent years.

I find it somewhat strange that the Brits, for instance, are so crazy about protective gear, helmets and what's not, but once I saw the Top Gear episode where they raced across London I realize that they have almost no infrastructure. But helmet will not help in a frontal encounter with a bus [I was afraid for Ricard, really]. The best safety is achieved by separating as much as you can the cars from the bikes from the pedestrians. I always take pleasure when someone from home visits me and they see the roads in my district. 4 lanes for cars, 2 double size bike lanes on the side [effectively just as generous as for the cars] and two wide lanes for pedestrians. "Wat the hell's that?" is the usual reaction:)) Only in parts of towns where they want to preserve the architecture and cannot build wider roads is the bike lane painted on the car road. But then the drivers here are very well aware of the bikes.

No doubt that I am faster than any public transport bar metro and trains. Going out in a Dutch city with a car is idiotic. You'd spent long time in jams, pay a fortune for parking [if available] and cannot drink. What a drag...

This is a joke, right?

If true, you can take him to court, you know...

We also learned:

- That we should never trust marketing. GPP feature, anyone? Share and enjoy? [+5 Funny]
- That if life is to survive in a Universe this size the one thing it cannot afford to have is a sense of proportion [+5 Insightful]
- That galactic banks are a figment of our imagination [+5 Informative]
- That with a degree in math and another in astrophysics it is either this or the unemployment agency on Monday morning [+5 Informative]
- That cricket is evil [+5 Funny]
- That isolationism is bad. "It has to go" --> Krikkiters about the Universe, after discovering they are not alone [+5 Insightful]
- That it is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem [+5 Informative]
- That the one thing a bunch of respectable physicists cannot stand is a smart ass [+5 Funny]
- That the best way to break ice at parties is the finite probability generator [+5 Informative]
- That personally offending everyone in the Galaxy is a huge task, even for an immortal [+5 Informative]
- That prophets always come back, even if it is just a few seconds before the end of the Universe [+5 Funny]
- The the wheel is not commercially viable, mostly because of its color [+5 Funny]
- That the most effective devaluation financial program is to cut down the forest [+5 Insightful]
- That the best way to avoid tax is the afterlife [+5 Informative]
- That cauliflower has special opinion about food that does not want to be eaten [+5 Informative]
- That the function of a president is not to yield power, but to divert the attention from those that do [+5000 Informative]

This just from the top of my head. DNA found novel, fascinating and very funny WAY to say the truth. I mean, just for an illustration, the whole story of the total perspective vortex, its creation, effects, usage and the fate of ZB when he is subjected to it --> yes, this is the one and only way, IMO, to deal with the size of the Universe. Both humble and proud. With and without sense of proportion. There is a very healthy portion of real wisdom in those books, just like every good book I suspect.....

I disagree.

First, the dome [or sphere] of stars is majestic enough; if you are able to choose your position in space I am sure there are spectacular views. I mean we have them on Earth, just looking at the sky while in the desert for instance...

Secondly, the planets. And moons. Breakfast in orbit of a planet - bring it on..

Third - there are probably all kinds of interesting large scale phenomena [black holes eating something, that kind of stuff] where a lot is happening outside the visible part of the spectrum. But that is why we have machines and technology. What is wrong in visualizing x-rays and gamma bursts? As long as we remember it is a visualization. If I have spaceship that's how I want my "windows" - like the Predator, switching different sensors and visualizing the environment. I mean think of a SEM picture - that is what we do, converting electron energies and trajectories into visible light. Quite useful and spectacular to behold, is it not?

Hell is other people. Seriously....

Truly it is! There is a lot of noise recently about healthy gut and its profound influence on almost every aspect of our health. Good!

Back in the days of my biotechnology college education I learned a profound truth that I forgot for many years after that [partially because I went off doing physics and chemistry instead], until my own health got damaged due to unbalanced gut flora. A truth that most people on Earth are not aware off. And then I remembered....that this is not the planet of the apes, nor the planet of the mammals, birds, reptiles or whatever. This was, is, and will forever be the planet of the microorganisms! All the rest of life is just an overlay on top of the microbial ecosystem. The microbs are everything. Without them there is no complex life possible on any level. They determine or have profound influence on almost everything about life.