"My teenage brain wasn't wired for going home and learning things I spent all day learning."

No teenage brain is. That is why parents also have to instill a reasonable work ethic and show them algorithms for reaching goals. If we all just passed stuff off that we weren't naturally good at as not being worth it we would be inadequately prepared for life.

I was not and am not naturally inclined towards math, but in my adulthood I went back to school, spent hours a day at it and had tutors and I finally got through basic calculus and even a little linear algebra. It was hard. And it was worth it.

Yes, a tired one.

"Do you pay to drive from one end of a WalMart parking lot to the other? It's private. Why aren't there any tolls?"

Two thoughts on that.

1. They don't charge tolls because they don't want to irritate potential customers.
2. The are charging a toll. It's built into the cost of their products.

As long as you're going for novelty why not a Jerry Garcia stamp? When you lick it you're dosed with a small amount of LSD. Initially the stamp is simply a black and white image, but after a few minutes, wow!

"I hope you also realize how difficult it is to loose [sic] weight and stay fit as you age; Jim was 58."

Perhaps that is why they say that the best way to get in shape is not to get out of shape.

"there is tech a few years off that will make them even safer.there is tech a few years off that will make them even safer."

Just like the singularity it seems that improved battery tech is always about 5-10 years down the road.

"cold fjord is a communist trying to subvert the principles the US was founded on."

So is the US government. Does that make them commies, too?

"Almost every decent computer security expert dabbled in black-hating a little"

Oh, my. I had no idea that the computer security field was so rife with racists.

"from where it spread to other offshoots of said sect"

It seems like no matter what the starting point the conversation always ends up revolving around sects.

There's a word for people like you. I can't quite recall what it is at the moment, but I know there is a word for people like you.

What do you mean, "in the future?" I live in L.A. where Obama has caused traffic jams from street closures many times on his fund raising visits here. Without any special devices being built into our cars.

"You forgot some pertinent facts: The U.S. has a long history of funding terrorists, supporting coups, and undermining democracies."

True, but I think all that was just practice for undermining our own democracy.

You have to go shallow and wide before you know where you want to go deep.

I've been perusing the Google Fiber site trying to understand how it works. Is Google going to be the ISP? Are they just working with local ISPs to implement some of this?

And if I get Google fiber who is in charge of making sure I can't get all the content of the web at equal speeds?