"On the other hand who owns Alibaba's 120 billion? Americans now. If the congress sicks their dogs on ALibaba it's the same as pilfering 120 billion from investors."

Sorry, no pity toward those investors. They knowingly invested in a criminal venture. They deserve not only to lose their money but to be in prison.

I don't know about universal remote brand but I've heard RTI have a dramatically inferior database and require you to "learn" most functions on remotes. For example, the harmony remote I use in the living room controls an xbox 360, fios cable box with dvr, an onkyo receiver, a samsung blu-ray player, a wd live, and a viewsonic projector. All of this purchased as near gear in the last year with the exception of the xbox. I had to "learn" one button (the DVR button to access the DVR portion of the cable box). Everything else worked with the profiles provided. After searching for each device, running a wizard for each activity (watch tv, watch a movie, play music, play a game) where I set the viewing device and which device to switch inputs on, and a quick once over of a picture of the remote to make sure all the critical buttons were assigned correctly I was good to go.

That is actually pretty simple. My only issue is that it's too simple. For instance, the first time I programmed the remote with this projector it didn't shut the projector off correctly because the projector needs power pressed twice. The old interface let me specify the power off sequence with presses and delays. The "simplified" new interface does not. When I programmed the remote again a month or two ago due to a new blu-ray player suddenly the remote handled the projector correctly.

Also the RTI are missing critical buttons like the back button. Exit and back are two different buttons.

Otherwise it looks like a solid contender.

The only remotes I'm finding searching for "big button remote" are the normal crappy "universal" remotes that support no custom buttons and couldn't even change inputs on a TV, let alone control the DVR functions of a cable box or be smart enough for volume up to be the volume control on your SRS receiver when watching a blu-ray or playing a video game without making you switch between button sets with a device button.

It's not really extraordinary, but here you go:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.g...

parts of the world relate to each other? who would have thought?

"They are dangerous with high amounts of crime. "
not really.

"They discourage innovation"
  false.
More innovation happen becasue there is more communication.

" little room for building things"
depends on the city. Cities created to support manufacturing usually have a lot of ware housing, and older building; both of which are perfect for start ups.

" They have nosy neighbors who try to mandate what you can do in your own home."
when the byproduct of what you do leaves your walls, then they have every right to do that, and visa versa.
There are also nosy neighbors in the suburbs.

I'm no against suburbs. In fact, I love the suburbs, and hate living in cities.

The problem is not waste, it's distribution. Even with the current level of waste, everyone could eat 3 meals and snacks, everyday.
Getting it to people is a lot harder.

If we ended all food waste right now, there would not be 1 less person going hungry.
Hell, we can't even get food to people going hungry in the US without a political shit storm happening from people who think it's the same thing as communism.

An untested theory, with almost most no supported tech even discussed is not ' Figured out'.

"Another hint: your windows are made of sand, so are the chips in your computer, so are solar panels, the glasses of your glasses ..."
no, they aren't. You might want to look it up.

The Sahara isn't a desert because of sand.

"(and the water being overexploited)

There is no such thing."

Yes, there is. Using more water at a rate then aquifers can be refilled is one example.

" that would make much more of Canada hospitable"
briefly.
It's not like the warming will stop just because Canada is more habitable

The CO2 being produced through breathing is a net neutral.
Plants are carbon neutral. They have been since the carboniferous era.
CO2 from using power will be the issue, unless we start a aggressive plan to stop using CO2 emitting technology for power.
By aggressive, I mean 75 years.

we need global encouragement for people to not have more than 2 children. I nice slow draw down to 3 billion over many decades.

Well then, don't drive on public roads.

The internet of things will make my life better. It will make everyones life better.
The data will allow you to improve everything you do.

Its not the tech, it's the usage.

A) EMP impact on vehicles is highy over rated. In testing the worse case was some erroneous dash lights. Which went away after restarting the car.
B) When you're the only one on the road, you will be trivial to watch and find.
C) You should probably learn about cars.