Yes, I've been keeping count too. This is a real statistical outlier, even for December.

(Mind you, I've seen fewer ravens on one thread -- but never more.)

Awesome, so you're offering to pay for everyone's speeding tickets? And the spike in insurance rates when we accrue "points" on our licenses?

What you think about speed limits is totally irrelevant. For that matter, what I think of them -- and I do agree that they're often BS -- is totally irrelevant too. As long as they exist, people have the right to follow them and not take crap for it, because you're not the one paying for it if a cop pulls them over for doing 50 MPH in a 35 MPH zone.

In my experience, most tailgaters seem to want to go 15+ MPH over the speed limit, whereas I prefer to go no more than 10 MPH over the speed limit so that I don't get pulled over (and aren't completely fucked if I am pulled over). That's their prerogative, but especially on a two-lane road, the rest of us aren't obligated to pull off to the side of the road en masse so they can drive the way they want to.

The rules of the road don't say "the people who drive the fastest have the most rights, and everyone else should accommodate them".

Isn't it strange?
Way over there?
Me here inside the soil-bed,
You with no air.
Send in the worms.

Isn't it cold?
Don't you get blue?
One who's by oxygen fed,
One CO2.
Where are the worms?
Send in the worms.

Just when I'd stopped
Chewing through gore,
Finally knowing
The spicule I wanted was yours,
Making my wormhole again
In my usual place,
Ready for eggs...
You're off in space.

Don't you love Mars?
It's your abode.
I thought that you'd want what I want --
Alas, nematode.
But where are the worms?
There ought to be worms.
Quick, send in the worms.

What a surprise.
Who could foresee
I'd yearn for dioecious love
When you're in zero-g?
Why only now when you're off
To see Olympus Mons?
What a surprise.
How...elegans.

Isn't it sad?
Quite a heartbreaker?
You're off in space -- like the space
In my cloaca?
And where are the worms?
Quick, send in the worms.
Don't bother - they're here.

Perhaps the US vs. EU perspective is relevant here. Unless they come from a rich family, most US residents need to take out loans to pay for college. Similarly, most people also need financing for their cars, a mortgage for any real estate they might buy, and so on. If you start a business with a physical presence, you'll almost certainly need a loan to cover startup costs and acquire capital. Remember, I said "going into long-term debt and repaying it in a timely manner" is a sign of good character. These are all legitimate reasons to do that.

There are damn good reasons to have a credit card other than living beyond one's means. They're safer than debit cards for many situations (better fraud protection), and they offer decent incentives to people who can pay their bills on time every month. Here, again, they provide evidence of a person's ability to manage his/her money. People also lose their jobs, have unexpected medical bills, or go through messy divorces, and credit cards can be a lifesaver in those situations.

Obviously age is a factor and I wouldn't judge a 20-year-old by the same standards as a 40-year-old. But certainly if you reach middle adulthood (30-45) and have never had any of the experiences I describe above, I'd be suspicious and expect that either

(a) you were a Dale Gribble-esque figure with a paranoid, black-helicopters political ideology and a habit of pontificating about it, or

(b) you were unable to accept the idea that being an adult means owing debts to other people -- financial debts, professional obligations, personal relationships -- and sticking around, no matter what, to repay the people who trust and depend on you.

The perfect is the enemy of the good, as the famous aphorism says. People who try to be perfect -- who refuse to accept that life is complicated, and that you can't do anything worthwhile without making compromises and incurring debts -- are generally unambitious at best, and toxic at worst.

If you have NO credit history whatsoever, then yes, I think it's a fair bet that you're the kind of person who's too attached to his fantasies of perfect autonomy, and who uses words like "sheeple". Such a person is someone I'd rather not hire, if an equally (or more) competent candidate is available; they're generally tiresome, pedantic, and childish, and see themselves as enlightened figures in a world of fools.

It's a serious hassle to do without credit in this society, and you have to have some serious ideological baggage to make a lifelong point of doing so. More to the point, credit represents a willingness to take on obligations to other people and fulfill them over the long term. Going into long-term debt and repaying it in a timely manner is a sign (not 100% reliable, but still a sign) good judgment, fiscal discipline, and personal integrity.

If someone isn't willing to do that -- if they go to great lengths to retain the fantasy that they can give it all up at any time and head off into the wilderness, perfectly autonomous and beholden to no one -- then it seems to me that they probably haven't come to terms with adulthood.

There are, however, plenty of employers who will refuse to hire someone because their views and habits demonstrate that they're likely to be a total pain in the ass, lack a sense of proportion, and/or are fixated on being "purer than thou".

No one wants to hire Dale Gribble -- at least if an equally competent and less self-righteous person is available. If you're damn good, they might put up with you, but you'd better be damn good.

Like...? Like what, Mr. Plait?

Phil, are you there? Phil, answer me! Phil!!

Oh no, a NEO got him!!! The bastards, they finally got him! Aww, he didn't even have time to close his parentheses... ):

(P.S. I blame Keanu Reeves)

Huh, I completely disagree. I watched the original three movies on TV recently, for the first time in ages, and I was impressed by how well they hold up. They're not perfect, and some of the aura around them is a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, i.e. we're measuring them against their own yardstick so of course they come out well. Still, there's a sense of momentum and verisimilitude and spontaneity ("I know.") that's totally absent from the prequels. Then again I find that almost all 20th-century SF movies are more satisfying than their 21st-century equivalents, including the ones I hadn't seen when I was a kid (so it's not just nostalgia talking). Most recent SF movies feel like someone shouting "Fuck you!" in my ear while force-feeding me an energy drink. For two hours.

Ah, but there are two keys. Solved one way, you get the Jailbreaker edition, which is nicely formatted for iPhones.

The other key, however, gives you the Proletariat version. I've almost got this one cracked, given that the text is very short:

"!N $@V!3+ R%$$!&, C@Dx BR3&K$ ¥@%"

Just a little more CPU time, and I think I'll have it...

This is the premise of A.E. Van Vogt's story "Far Centaurus", which I learned about via Barnard’s Star and the ‘Wait Equation’, an article/blogpost on the same topic on the Tau Zero Foundation site.

You must be great at parties. (Not to mention blind dates.)

...because unlike regular water torture, after a couple hours you don't feel full anymore?

(Thanks, everyone, you've been a great audience. Be sure to try the veal!)

Thinking that the world is fundamentally characterized by violence and sadism is just as simplistic as thinking that it's all sunshine and roses. Though both perspectives have some truth to them, neither one represents the whole truth, and it's simply (and demonstrably) false to say the world "is" one or another of those things.

You also need to keep in mind that there are market and political forces that want you to look at the world that way, because it suits their ends. Politicians with an authoritarian worldview, or business interests who profit from fear and anxiety, all nod approvingly at shows like:

• CSI (message: all crimes will inevitably be caught and punished, no matter how carefully planned)
• 24 (message: we're under severe threat from irredeemably evil terrorists; any restraint on the heroes who pursue them undermines our national security, since weapons like torture and extrajudicial killing are a crucial part of their toolkit)
• Criminal Minds (message: every place in the world is full of serial killers who perpetrate unimaginable cruelty on their victims, and the only way to avoid that fate is to trust no one and be hypervigilant)

I don't think many people realize the extent to which they internalize the vision of the world communicated by mass media. There's a lot of money to be made -- and power to be consolidated -- by making people feel anxious and threatened.

"With so much drama in the one-OB
It's kinda hard bein' Betel-g-e-u-s-e
But I, somehow, some way
Keep freakin' out the eschatologists like every single day..."