The jumping crap was annoying, but it did not take that long. I finished close to all the HL games (2, ep 1, ep 2, HL, blue shift, at the last chapter of opposing force) without cheats (on wuss level), without taking huge amounts of time, and I'm not even a good FPS player. Not every part of every game works (the bits where you have to move stuff and walk on it so as not to touch the ground tried my patience) but overall I'm glad I did not miss any bits or use cheats. I was happy to pay full price for portal 2 (I got portal late) even though I finished it in about 8 hours over less than a week. And that is considering I have not played the multiplayer yet. I will take quality over length. On the other hand I miss games like the original X-com (finishing that was time consuming) and master of orion (that I still play occasionally). One observation is that I now choose to lower the difficulty level and finish games where I used to leave it really high and often burn out. I'll have to go back and try dragon age on a lower level, or maybe just play better (but then I finished Baldur's Gate and many/most of the sequels, not sure why I did not stick with Dragon Age).

Actually, other than Thomas, Bush I was remarkably good, raised taxes appropriately (yes, very possible), ran his war well, got respect from people in other countries, was turfed by the neo-cons. Bush II was remarkably bad, ran his war badly, sold out the economy to a few rich friends and some people in other countries, was hated by most people in other countries, and was loved by the neo-cons. Not much similarity really.... Clinton was closer to Bush II unfortunately, as is Obama. More a product of both parties basing all their processes around fundraising instead of trying to get votes or do what is right for the country. Bush I actually appeared to believe he had some sort of "duty" to his country, and was hated by his party because of it.

Well, to be fair, some science is stamp collecting.

I was pleasantly surprised by Anathem as well. The Baroque Cycle had occasional neat bits but they were few and far between.

I think eggs were supposed to be bad because of the cholesterol link (that was poorly understood), and not because people who ate more eggs died young.

I have more confidence in a study that says "we did some research and we found X but we don't know why" than in a study that says "hey X probably causes Y so we should reduce X." At least for human health and other complex items.

2019 maybe?

Unfortunately they tend to remove others... Like the one who used to signal a lane change (without looking), wait 5 seconds, and change lane (again, without looking). Never had an accident, but probably ignored a trail of accidents in the (unused) rear-view mirror.

Does not work out. Cost of raising a child is purely dependent on your level of responsibility, i.e. time you spend with kids, schooling you pay for, stuff you buy them. For irresponsible low income people the cost is negligible (ignore kids, buy nothing) so the free birth control does not prevent pregnancies. For responsible middle income (or low income) people the birth control IS used but society would benefit from more children with responsible parents.

And yes, that does mean that Bristol Palin is irresponsible.

For the very rich all the above costs are lost in rounding errors anyway.

I thought Niven was way better before he started writing with Pournelle, but what do I know?

With a design that produces a beam slightly wider than a light saber.

Snacking works better when you are 10 feet from a TV with your hands empty then when you are over your keyboard mousing and typing.

I disagree, I find the Touch to be fine for book reading and I can't think of anything else on the market I would actually want to buy for that (Kindle, no, Sony, no...). I did not get the touch specifically to read books on it but I read on it and I have no complaints.

Both genders, at least in bars, tend to prefer good-looking, dumb, and happy. Most guys and girls I know who pick up a lot have a fake personality they use when they talk to another attractive person they want to pick up. Lots of dumb but happy looks...

I think part of it comes down to most people wanting to believe they are smarter than the people they date (and women are willing to let men believe that they are smarter). I don't get it myself: why date someone who is not fun to talk to?

Don't know why you would need 24/7 daycare. 8-6 daycare at $7/day heavily subsidized seems to work here in Quebec. It is a hit to the budget, but, like medicare, it is one that benefits a lot of people. I'm happy to pay taxes (and the taxes just are not that high; compensate for the services you get and the only people who don't come out ahead are the people rich enough to want special services and they can afford the tax hit) to pay for it.

Not sure where all the negativity toward gender equality is coming from. My wife always did better than I did at school and now that she has given up on the pure research thing she is outcompeting the men she works with in business.

I agree the ideal is having one parent at home (6 month rotation anyone?), but the one working parent has to do really well to make it work out. It is not like having two incomes caused any increase in standard of living. Housing prices went up by an income and now most families need two incomes to live as their parents lived with one.

Why would anyone go into science or IT in a North American school? The jobs are being offshored as fast as executives can find people who claim to be able to do them cheap (with pathetic CVs and fake certifications). Pretty much all science jobs are being offshored, engineering, programming, research...

It is not easy competing with people who make $5/hour no matter how little they know. Lots of execs prefer to fail projects cheap than to try to sell them at a reasonable price.