Made me smile, to see the Rifleman's Creed adapted for new purposes.

This is my good code / This is my bug
One is for running / One makes me shrug.

Agreed, "cycle of poverty" is a descriptive phrase, not a metaphor. Poor writing on my part; thank you for calling me out.

I like the excited electron model of entrepreneurship, because electron-entrepreneur commonly de-excite and fall back to lower orbital shells.

By the same token, I can see how many restaurateur-entrepreneurs achieve creamy Alfredo-sauceness with just a hint of garlic, yet some revert to bread and water.

"... become entrepreneurs and break the cycle of poverty that holds them down."

The phrase "cycle of poverty" -- while meaningful, and sad -- is a tired metaphor.

Successful entrepreneurs are more like excited electrons, jumping to a higher orbital shell.

... discover something new about the human rhythms by examining this scheme

More like this, please.

3-D Movies at Home + Nuclear Power = Entertainment Too Cheap to Meter!

While it's entirely possible to create trustworthy hardware, I don't know how it's possible to convey the trustworthiness. What you can do, which is probably as good as can be done, is to create things such that individually subverted instances of the hardware could be trivially distinguished from the standard issue hardware.

Yes. I think you have nailed it, right on the head.

The Long Now Foundation was established in 01996* to develop the Clock and Library projects, as well as to become the seed of a very long-term cultural institution. The Long Now Foundation hopes to provide a counterpoint to today's accelerating culture and help make long-term thinking more common. We hope to creatively foster responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years.

About

Let's be honest: we men want a sensor that will detect how badly a woman needs sex.

If involvement in second life isn't a marker for potential lifelong clinical depression, then I don't know what is.

A horrible thing to say about a possible suicide.

But it made me laugh.

We are not perfect.

I withdraw the word "surly" -- it's not appropriate here, and I apologize. Your phrase "The only exception I take ..." is not surly.

Also, I am pleased that you concluded your post with a sentiment that matches my own:

On the other hand, sparking that interest is fairly key. Shrug, if it works, it works.

... flood of useless coders ...

Who cares? What harm is done? It's not like these noobies are going to be our new co-workers, now or ever. It's not like they are taking bread from our mouths.

We should be happy that beginners take an interest in coding, not surly over some imagined insult to the collective intelligence of coders.

Galileo and other early inventors were bitter rivals for the secrets of optics. Lots of deception, aggrandizement, hard feelings and litigation.

Ancient tales of magical mirrors play a part in the tale of telescopy. We have numerous accounts of, say, a man atop the highest tower in Alexandria, who, with the aid of a magical glass, can see all that happens in London. These tall tales go on and on -- magical mirrors and lenses which see distant sights, peers around corners, see through walls ... mostly far-fetched, yet meaningful in an age of discovery.

I read a book on the topic -- the title escapes me, sorry -- thin, scholarly study. Good stuff, recommended.