Our civilization has been prevented from leaving the earth by our own silliness

 
Bullshit : energy and distance requirement belie this.

Look at the energy we have to expand to get out in LEO now. Even counting that and assuming you have a refuelling station , look at those requirement to go at 0.1%c speed and have enough fuel to brake. Even getting something like 0.1% C would be difficult. And at the distance we are speaking 0.1% c means thousand of years of travel. At such timescale, the GRB would still be able to wipe full quadrant out. Let us not get misty eyed, there is a lot of obstacle to going out there, and IMHO many people vastly underestimate the requirements. Technology helps us access more better energy source, and utilize that energy better, or make stronger material, but it does not remove the time length and energy requirements.

They are paying 26% tax. It's right there in the filing.

I hated Netscape in 1997... I kept picking up the phone to see if my modem was still connected before hitting ctrl-alt-delete.

It's a shame "Internet Explorer" was taken...

I was expecting this to be about slashdot.

How long is it going to take before the American people get fed up with this.

Their elected representatives are to blame. They don't put real pressure on them to clean up their act. And how could they? Considering what it takes to have a career in politics, surely the NSA has too much dirt on each of them. So they occasionally put on a show but that's the extent of it.

How much experience do you have, and what is it worth?

I've seen hundreds of students who try to learn to program. Some of them have the right kind of mind for it and most don't. The ratio seems to be about 40:60, which is what has been recorded in the literature as being the norm for most samples.

The right kind of mind is not necessarily that clever. It is not a 'special mind' in any kind of wonderful precocious sense. It is normally people who see through superficial explanations, that have a knack for modelling cause and effect in abstract systems that they cannot manipulate directly. I'm not sure how it relates to other clusters of skills that people may possess, but I have never seen any effective way to teach it to somebody who does not possess it naturally.

I've tried various methods of teaching it directly to students that do not have it. None of them have worked so far. I still hope that it is something that can be taught, although my experience so far suggests otherwise.

They are taking the average net worth in the world then apply it everywhere. You are not "rich" or even in the "10%" with 77K$ net worth in the USA or most of western europe. You have to compare against the LOCAL 1% and 10%. Not the global one. As such , there are far fewer of the 10% or 1% on slashdot than you would think.

Making it worst for 1 or 2 persons or even a hundred (realistically, how many people can you break into home and put a bug) will make it better for the privacy of a few dozen million. Go for it do your worst. Bug the shit out of those few houses. Physically. Like you used to. And like you probably already do as anyway computer communication is only 1 form. Woopy-doo.

PGP/GPG is much easier to use these days than it was in the 90's. Plugins exist for many mail clients that do the heavy lifting in the background.

Friends and family are surely tired of my tinfoil hat, they just do not seem to care about their privacy. Many say the "I have nothing to hide" line.

It happened once. 15 years ago. Stop recycling it.

Do you think that will last if the price of oil stays down? Serious question, not an argument. I don't know the answer.

Like send the Colorado congressional delegation to attack SpaceX for no particularly good reason. ULA has a large operation in Denver and they pay Colorado Republicans handsomely.

"Hydric acid"? Now that's weak! 8)

Struggling back from near extinction after decades of being hunted for their colorful hydes and unusual meat, sold under the brand name "SPAM".