Here's some news for you buddy - you live a very ordinary, verging on 'American Dream' Californian life. Leave the US, see what happens to minds that didn't grow up there.

Real confidence is good. Most people seem to think confidence is just being a self centered asshole and talking over other people.

Excellent post. I agree with everything you said except for the bit where you say that drugs don't solve problems. If I hadn't had access to LSD and cannabis when I needed them, I would probably still be a depressed anxiety-ridden shut in relying on prescription drugs.

So, because the situation is now hopelessly fscked up and it's almost impossible to establish cause and effect for all the minor incidents that occur, we should all forget that Palestine was invaded, occupied and settled?

Survivor Man just had to survive, Grylls is moving from a drop location to an extraction point.

Except he's not a military operation. The whole wikileaks crew is probably not as armed as your average US citizen.

Worked out pretty well for silicon valley.

That will never happen. They will go for the command & control systems instead of seeking robotic attrition.

do you know what bandwidth means?

In New Zealand we've been waiting about 12 years for competition between carriers to remove caps. Still hasn't happened. Good luck with that.

Charging per unit of data is as retarded as charging per unit of electricity. Both show total lack of understanding of the concepts and both should be handled by nonprofits.

I remember video chats on dialup. 2 - 3 fps at 320x300, terrible 8kbit sound streams. Cellphone video cameras are upwards of 8 megapixel these days. 1080p video conferencing on a desktop is not at all an unreasonable request. Maybe we should just stop developing all types of tech once they become just bareable enough to use?

"I've also heard that MS has gotten their QA problems largely solved with the 360"

It's finally out of beta?

Don't forget that the US uses the CIA to advance corporate interests in foreign countries. Loaning money is one of the nicer things they do.

Whatever color his skin is, he lies like a rich white man.