is "Race to the Bottom", not "competitive workforce". It's a matter of perspective really. You're one of the lucky winners. If you had the wind knocked out of you by a few more rounds of offshoring though things might turn out differently for you.

I didn't say humanity was going away. I said that a substantial amount of the population was going to be stuck living in abject poverty for 50/60 years until our economy somehow catches up and finds new jobs for them. This is what happened when the Industrial revolution hit. A whole lot of completely unnecessary Human suffering...

If you have a specific concern, tell us.

I had to take a bus a few weeks ago because of the weather and there are a whole lot of mutants out there. A couple of them even looked like they could have been Slashdot readers.

RF radiation and high-fructose corn syrup are as good an explanation as any.

Me. I love earbuds. I even love the old fashioned kind that sit outside the ear canal. I've found some that have remarkable sound and they're a little expensive but man are they good.

This has nothing to do with financial resources. Pretty much every single apartment building in Finland has a sauna somewhere for the residents.

You're talking about a country with a very high standard of living and well-distributed wealth. Yes, it has to do with financial resources.

it's quite the contrary, we (finns) throw water to stove, which boils immediately forming steam (löyly) which fills the 'sauna room' (löylyhuoneen).

Considering the drinking habits of the Finns I've known, I'm not sure I want to be copying their health regime.

I've known some big drinkers, but Finns are in a class by themselves.

After a while, the meat is done, but you're not.

I've seen some of the people going into the sauna. I'm pretty sure you'd get done.

Hotter than the boiling point of water? I would think your eyeballs would explode or something.

Germans also do "Aufguss" (not sure what Fins call it or whether they do it) in 90C.

"Aufguss"? Is that like a sex thing? I couldn't find it on Urban Dictionary.

90C? Don't you start to cook at that temperature? What the hell.

Of course. I would bet that you'd get the same results from people who spend an hour doing tai chi or meditating or just relaxing on the back porch with a good book.

But I can't remember, is the sauna the one where naked people whip each other with eucalyptus leaves or is that the steam bath? Or is that something from a nightmare?

So stay away from full-length mirrors.

Big surprise: People that take time out of their day for things they enjoy and self-care live longer. Who knew?

So, someone who has the time and financial resources to spend an hour in a sauna probably has a long list of factors that will contribute to longer life, none of which involve the life-giving effects of sitting in a hot box.

it pretty much _did_ happen. There was a 60 year period during the industrial revolution when millions were put out of work and tossed to the wayside. There's a reason why Luddites existed. They weren't forward think people. They were Luddites for Pete's sake. They were living in the misery caused by a lack of jobs in their day.

The industrial revolution caused massive unemployment, and it took the economy 60 years to catch up and start creating new jobs. If you lived after that period things got better as new tech created new jobs. If you lived during that period and weren't born wealthy life was Nasty, Brutish and Short. I'd like to skip that cycle this time.

Oh and there's one other thing: we're better at automation this time. So there's a good time the cycle will last a _lot_ longer. e.g. instead of 60 years of poverty we might be looking at 100, 200 or more while we wait for Star Trek style replicators and massive population declines to fix things.

If 6 was 9...

Now you're talking about good music: http://youtu.be/Ui4ckbUNe3k