I remember reading that, and actually being more frightened by it than 1984. 1984 seemed a long shot, but Brave new World was frightening because it seemed plausible.

I'd prefer a happy kid who's satisfied with working his "dead-end job" and generally satisfied with his life, than a kid who's a real hard charging go-getter asshole.
In fact, I'm almost comfortable making the argument that we should be scanning for the asshole gene, and eliminating it.

However, society needs a few assholes to keep things moving.
Society also needs, in vastly greater quantities, happy satisfied people who aren't always pushing ambition to it's limit. Though I'm sure someone somewhere will refer to them as sheeple and downplay their importance.

Thanks for that honest appraisal,
This is what scares me about when we begin mucking around with our genetic code to fish for better results: there are often unknown reasons for some of it. If people were MEANT to all be geniuses, we would have evolved that way a long time ago with it being such a huge advantage. Odds are, success in some areas means possibly shorting some other area: sociability, physical health, mental wellness, lack of imagination, etc.

I'm actually being serious here, and not trying to be a jerk. I don't know anybody who has been the victim of stalking, nor have I been.
Are there particular crowds/groups/cultures in which this is more common?

however, answer honestly, would you find it strange if someone told you: "we've been married for ten years, and never had sex"?

Wait, your vows will include sex? As in, you're at the church/court, you've written your own vows, and yours will say "Also, I demand consistent sex, plus blowjobs twice daily?"

PETA is angry about [very sensible and barely arguable thing] because it [involves animals in some way].
As a result, [insert lame pun/play on words here]

The FBI is limiting themselves to people who have no understanding of online behavior.
It's like hiring undercover drug snitches that have no experience with illegal substances beyond TV.

Ignorant or simply don't believe what you believe?
I have a friend who thinks that anyone who doesn't believe George Bush is a criminal who should be executed for war crimes is "ignorant".

While I generally agree with you, are you really pulling a six year old failed vice-presidential candidate out of the bag?
Also, to be pedantic, it was Flavor-Ade

"He who climbs on high-horse often falls and breaks face"
-me

It's their attempt to be personal.

The First US president did a fairly good job of it

I have to laugh a bit about all the stories on CFLs being so horribly toxic. My Dad's always telling stories about how, when he was a kid, he and his brothers would play with mercury they borrowed from a school lab, cleaning pennies with it, etc. This is all barehanded, no gloves or anything.
He's currently 78 and probably twice as smart as I am.

technically, swimming pools aren't as big and issue as lawns:
http://www.latimes.com/local/l...