So I guess SETI won't be looking for life anywhere in the region then. Right? ... unless (as you said) it wouldn't necessarily kill us all.

"Sorta, but not really. Debt is a type of mutual bet made by the investor/banker and the beneficiary that the value of the assets purchased by the debt will exceed the value of the money the debt reflects. And most of the time, it works out, and everybody wins!"

Buzz. Wrong. Actually, that's mostly not how it works. But it's a wonderful fantasy. To say that everybody wins, is a dangerous definition of "everybody".

The problem with debt is that pervasive use of debt actually drives up the price of assets and is disastrous for non-debtors, which in turn forces more and more people into the hands of the banks.

In literally every area of he economy where debt is employed, prices inflate and affordability is reduced.

Take education: it is government "affordability" policies and readily available debt that are responsible for soaring costs. Take housing: without debt it would be affordable.

Of course, you could say that homeowners and bankers have both benefited. (If that's your definition of "everybody"). But the availability of debt has destroyed the buying power of any party not willing to more themselves in debt. The pervasive use of debt is what drives prices to levels of unaffordability.

Micro finance is indeed capable of a lot of good. But it's also still debt, and still carries with if all the personal (and macroeconomic) evils of debt. Non-performing loans in microfinance are still a major issue despite the claims to the opposite. The public-relations positioning of micro finance as "help for the poor" is a bit laughable as it can just as easily be construed as opportunistic bankers eager for new markets. Does it help society overall? That's questionable. All debt appears to help on a macroeconomic level at the beginning if the credit cycle.

On a larger level, debt is still tomorrow's demand, spent today. The notion that debt will always create a "virtuous circle" of ever increasing growth and demand has been proven wrong repeatedly by the credit cycle of booms and busts. A boom creates as many victims as it does beneficiaries, as rising prices burden those who do not participate in the game of debt.

Are there positive stories of individuals who make use of micro finance to build businesses and lift themselves out of poverty? Yes. But there is also debt which enslaves and burdens. Debt is debt. It's net benefits to society are zero sum, for all but the bankers.

I am smoking US Law.

"Q. Am I obligated to return or pay for merchandise I never ordered?
A. No. If you receive merchandise that you didn’t order, you have a legal right to keep it as a free gift."

Source: Federal Trade Commission Re: Unordered Merchandise
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/a...

What these drivers are asking for is a special privilege to be a superior class of citizen: To be spared any natural competition.

And what they're doing is not protesting. It's throwing a tantrum.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you receive something addressed to you that was sent by accident, you are under no obligation to return it and it legally belongs to you. I'm pretty sure this is US Postal Law.

IANAL so anyone more familiar with this, feel free to chime in. But AFAIK the parts now legally belong to the kid.

Right. And the only reason that the "desktop class" A7 isn't running Flash is because it's a threat to Apple's business model.

Yawn... "another HTML5 is almost there" post. Technology is either here or it's vapor. .. And it's not here.

"Also, please elaborate on the massive HTML5 problems."

The fact that you're asking why HTML5 isn't usable for games just shows that you're really not familiar with either platform.

Please tell me you're not actually trying to make the case that HTML5 is usable for video game development.

Nature abhors a vacuum Lorizean. HTML5 sure isn't being ignored because it hasn't been hyped enough yet. As the other poster said, "show me Kingdom Rush written in HTML5 and I'll begin to think you're not a troll".

No Flash is not terrible at all.

Name me another valid gaming platform for casual games on the web. Do sites like Kongregate use HTML5 for their games? Java? Just no.

They use Flash because for all the talk about alternatives to Flash, it's still *** BY FAR *** the best platform their is. And there are massive problems which prevent HTML5 being a valid gaming platform.

It's only one particular class of humans on earth that is waiting longer. The uneducated, the religious and the poor (which are often one and the same group) are actually having babies at an increasing rate, starting at a younger age.

The global effects of "waiting" on overall population are actually very small when measured against the overall metrics of global population. It's a big world out there. The effects on demographics and culture are actually profound though -- but they are opposite to the intent of those who wait: Populations are dumbing down precisely because the educated have decreased their rate of reproduction.

What is good for the individual family, may be fatal for the society.

It would be foolish to think that the government "wants" this for out benefit. One thing has become abundantly clear over the past decade and that is that our government(s) want power, however illicit, and they are prepared to override personal and constitutional rights at literally every turn in order to achieve that power.

While this new power may be useful in the event of a "stolen phone" one also can't help notice that it can also be used to instantly disrupt communications between entire groups of people, for whatever reason the government should deem necessary.

But who is dismissing what? There has never in the history of the world been climate-stability. The causality of *all* prior changes appears to have been dismissed.

The poster you are referring to made a legitimate argument. Your strategy was a silly ad hominem.

I don't know what the right answer is, but between your two comments I can easily say who the winner is.

No. Nothing like nuclear fusion. This is not an energy source. It is a fuel source.