And then we can all flashforward 2 Min 17 Seconds.

This is a bit harsh. Often RV'ers are gone for long periods of time. I know someone who spends his winters RVing in Mexico. he runs a business and needs to also be in touch with people regularly.

In that light - I once read a funny thing that I use to this day.

If you want to hide things in a folder on your computer - label that folder "Instruction Manuals".

I'll be a convert in year 2 of this move to LEDs in the household. (whem competition brings the prices down)

I've been waiting for this day.

After Christmas a few years back I bought a pile of the LED Christmas lights (Sale...) and life got easy. No more dicking around with broken bulbs, burnouts, Testing, heat, blah blah. They're interior / exterior and bulletproof. The wires will probably disintegrate before the bulbs.

I can see gradually converting the house over to these new LED house lights in time (All at once would cost me over $1,000 at starting prices). I see the long term payoff but really who had $1K sitting around to buy lightbulbs. Starting with my exterior front door light which we keep on all night.

Overall this is a wonderful change. Can't wait!

Casinos launching anti-gambling campaigns. Tobacco industry launching anti-smoking campaigns. Hmmm

They simply need to affix a bright yellow warning label on the front which will outline the dangers of wearing the helmets.

As far as non-north-american countries go - the UAE is very progressive. But a former client of mine who spent 8 yrs there working in administration pointed out - "in North America we are an odd country and culture - we simply take it as the norm that nobody will listen to us. That level of privacy is not the norm, it's unusual" He was in a senior healthcare position and essentially knew as a foreigner in a position of influence that he would be monitored regularly if not constantly.

I went to enroll my son in Hockey this year (Canada... We enroll our kids in June at the latest for Hockey Season which starts in Sept/Oct) and the Hockey Canada website doesn't allow IE6 to be used.

That's a problem for me from work - where we also only have IE6 only. We can't fart without permission on our systems.

I long for the day that a Kindle-like app will make things free and universal as the Ipod has. However closer it brings us to that moment- it's not there yet and simply buying the book is a wonderful choice that gets people out of this discussion.

"Compare with the earth being struck by a cataclysmic asteroid. In this case, there's no analogous process building up over time so it is fallacious to conclude that the chances are getting bigger every day that we don't get struck."

The Toronto Maple Leafs are the perfect analogy to the asteroid... They didn't win last year... it doesn't mean they'll be closer to winning next year.

OK back to serious issues: The potential problem is there - how do we deal with it? nothing will help if you are at ground zero of the impact zone or if the solar storm tears through us and peels our atmosphere off (conceptually...). BUT, we should all have that emergency kit ready and food and heat source (for us northern folks...ie buy a cord of wood) and be prepared. It's the best we can do and in fact came in handy when we lost power for 3 days in the blackout in the eastern half of Canada/US a few years back.

And I imagine the recharge time would be quick.

(I also am imagining a charger that looks like a miniature warp engine from the USS enterprise... pulsing along. COOL)

My European grandmother made a cake that could easily withstand the middle stages of a nuclear explosion.

Wouldn't it be ironic if the missing ingredient in making Fogbank was Butter?

Torontoman

I've read the book - (a must read!) Gladwell very actively promotes the idea that it was a lot of circumstance about Gates being able to have access to a computer PLUS a lot of work and effort as well. He could have done anything else with his time but he chose to play with the freely offered computer system.

The hockey thing is fascinating - he focuses on hockey but also references that it shows up in soccer in Europe and South America as well. His point is kids that might only be marginally better at the start become massively better over time because they veered down the path in the first part of their lives and receive marginally better coaching and a lot more ice time from the get-go. He isn't saying "Don't try" he's saying the system is steeped against you if you were born late in the year. Having said that - Sidney Crosby's birthday is August 7th. There's a guy in the OHL named John Tavares who plays for the London Knights who was born in Sept who is slated to go first overall this year. It can be done.

Torontoman

What was lacking here (perfectly visible with hindsight) is critical oversight of what the formula and theory results were really stating. And importantly we have all learned that trying to contain randomness of massively diverse circumstances is probably impossible. I recall a seldom used saying about this - Don't put all of your eggs in one basket - it works for investors still whether people run hedge funds or their own personal finances. Torontoman.