Good point and I amend my statement to include, "Do NOT use the Big Dig model as your reference or as your influence. Also, don't be cheap, pay for proper studies, vet them, and use good engineers who have done this work before."

As for rail? I can now drive down to Portland and hop a train to Boston to catch a Bruins game. It is, by no means, high speed though. The Big Dig was a horrific project and, yeah, I suppose you may be right in that that's what government projects will result in. We *can* do better though.

California had subways. Their inclusion will be no more catastrophic than without when the big one hits so that is a moot point. Seriously, they had them. I don't recall if it was the automobile companies or the oil companies that bought them and closed them (watched a documentary on it once but it was quite a while ago) but they had them then. That and we've gotten pretty good at making things withstand quite a bit of abuse. They have subways in Japan which is more tectonically active than California. So, yes, put in subways but be smart about it and don't be cheap.

You do know that we have invented machines that dig tunnels at various depths, yes? That is just one solution. That one can be done with little bother to the traffic above even. It CAN be done but will take time and cost money. Those are two things the little people and the politicians hate.

Pretty much the same here though I don't rent DVDs as I have yet to find anyone renting the material I want to watch. I pretty much only watch educational material and usually in the form of documentaries. The Red Box machine thingy didn't appear to have a single educational DVD in it. It was the same at the (now long closed) rental stores in the area. I do watch, I tend to binge watch, some television that's entertaining but I normally just stick to something that's going to make me a little more in touch with the world around me. I like science and history documentaries best so I frequent YouTube and Netflix. I can't deal with the ads - even with a paid account - from Hulu so I don't give them money any more. I did for two months as I recall and found it worthless.

He hadn't taught them yet, that was the issue.

What I take from all of this?

Everyone learns differently. You recommend one thing, the author another, and I learned another. I'm not sure that the iPad is the right choice but I would agree that a tablet, seeing as it has greater potential, is probably a better choice of aids for the students than any of the methods we've become attached to. Why? The tablet can emulate all of those things in one form or another and if they can't then they can have custom software that does if it is needed.

I guess, really, that what I'm saying is that the tablet offers all those choices (even an abacus I suppose) but doesn't lock anyone into a specific method, device, or thought process by default. It will, ideally, allow students to learn how they're best suited to learn.

We've been mucking about in the Middle East longer than that I'm afraid. *sighs* If you exclude the US it goes as far back as the Crusades. However, check what happened to the whole area after WWI and then under the direction of the League of Nations (which the US didn't join, we weren't wanting to police the planet back then - I'm not sure what happened to change the mentality honestly except maybe the Cold War happened but that's a rather generic statement and I can't pin it down to a specific turning point so I'd be curious to hear thoughts on the subject).

The truth and the short answer:

Their side is in office.

The Cold War is long since over, McCarthyism is no longer fashionable, and bad government policy or actions do not automatically equal communism. Communism has a definition. If you learn that definition, it's real definition, you may actually not be so scared of it but I digress and that's not the point. The point is that, no, it's not communism by any stretch of the imagination.

Anyhow, no, I don't recommend communism as a system of government for anything larger than a tribe. In and of itself it isn't a bad system. Unfortunately it has had its name tarnished by lots of people and governments self-defining themselves as communists when they are nothing even close to communists. Today's seemingly more popular example would be the self-defining libertarians who don't understand the platform, don't even know what libertarianism is, and generally seem to do so because it is no longer fashionable to admit that they're Republican extremists, authoritarians, or extreme right-wing theocrats who believe capitalism is a system of governance.

But, still, I digress and will assert, again, that this isn't (and I'm not in favor of it either) communism. I can only wonder if your post was an attempt at humor.

Don't make fun of him! It's his MEDICINE!

I smoke weed, I smoke it 'cause I like to get high. I advocated for legal weed, we have it, but I think it should be completely legal for consumption by anyone who's reached the age of majority. I'm also retired. Chucklefuck here is 31, has no job (or will lie about one) worth mentioning, and is obviously a loser. But, hey, they haven't had any credit, a new car, a house, a checking account, bills in their name, or anything like that. But oh yeah are they happy with themselves and what they've made of themselves. *sighs* The world is full of pathetic people. That's okay - and if they find the lifestyle fitting then good for them. They shouldn't lie and pretend to be something more than what they are though.

You assume they're not living in their mother's basement or some other cliche that is similar. If they're 31 and have no debt or credit rating then they're likely a failure at life by most metrics. But I'm sure they're happy and I'm completely positive that anything they type to refute the idea is 100% true. They'd probably get a stark realization if people would stop tipping the 31 year old pizza delivery man. Seriously, go pick your pizza up personally or tell them you'd rather a delivery person who's not stoned and actually needs the job - it will help him out in the long run.

What do you think you're doing when you put money in the bank? That's why they pay you interest (well, used to) on the money you put into your account. You're loaning 'em money.

If you cared you would not give that information out to people and surely wouldn't give that information out to a source that is looking to monetize it AND tells you ahead of time that giving them this information means you have no control of it. You'd look out for yourself and think about what you're doing, right?

That's a pretty strange leap in logic up there.

How about if you hang out with your drunk driving buddy, and a few others, and they keep doing it while you continue to hang out with them you *will* be judged by those who know this information. "Oh, him? He hangs out with so-and-so and his friends." Not only is it a valid metric it's a pretty good way to draw assumptions when you're looking at a group as a whole.

Are there exceptions? Of course.

Are you wanting government to step in and save you from your association's behavior and the potential judgment from it? Why yes, yes you are.

You can tell which one I think is worse...