Coming at that from the other side, I've been running Linux somewhere between 15 and 20 years, certainly far enough back that there was nothing like a newby distro when I began. I have a small server cluster in my home, 2 subnets, etc. I've debugged some ugly problems at home and at work, where I'm one of the local experts. (as opposed to real experts, which I'll admit that I'm not.) Given the level of deprecation generally heaped on Certifications here and other sites in the culture, I've wondered how hard it would be to go get a Certification cold. Does a decent background in theory and text file / command line configuration form a good basis, or are the Certifications all about driving dialog panels?

I heard recently that someone I know just got "Network+ Certified", whatever that means, and found that it improved his job hunt. Last I knew it hadn't resulted in a job, but at least he's getting more live interviews. That news prompted me to wonder how hard these things really were. That's not to denigrate him, just wondering if some practical basis plus a silly certification might make a good showing.

So let's take that shrunken United States, and the article does mention something of changing plate pressure due to changes in water and land mass.

However they weren't being imaginative enough... They were thinking only of its amplifying effect on shorelines - who gets inundated and who doesn't. With that major a change on plate pressure, think more about other possibly overdue tectonics events, like the Big One(s) on the west coast, New Madrid, or the Yellowstone supervolcano.

Good thing that global warming is just a fantasy dreamed up by money-grubbing scientists, and the altruistic fossil fuel industry is here to debunk them, for the good of ALL of us.

I like what you've said, but let's phrase this in a simpler, more basic way.

Once upon a time, I thought that the stock market was supposed to be a mechanism for investing in companies - a way for them to generate money to fund their real-world growth. I suspect that some of that is still happening, but from what I can see the stock market has largely turned into something else.

To me, these days the stock market looks more like a sanctioned gambling parlor. Even IPOs, which one would think of as the ultimate in funding growth of a new company, are at least partially viewed as a way for the founders to cash in. (or out)

If you've followed Jon Stewart more, you'd know that he's painfully aware of this. On several occasions he has rather angrily taken the mainstream media to task, primarily with the tune, "I'm a comedian, why aren't YOU covering this stuff the way it ought to be!"

Jon Stewart is the Court Jester of our day. (Which is a bit more than one might think, if you look up more of the role of the Court Jester in medieval times.)

You're overgeneralizing and misplacing me. I'm a near-tin-hatter, myself. Remember that one of Obama's election issues was greater transparency in government, which is one of his biggest failings.

By the way, you guessed wrong. I get most of my news from mainstream media, along with some from Comedy Central, which I'll admit has some left leanings, but in case you didn't know, has been known to roast Obama, as well. I won't accuse you (yet) of making the argument that ALL mainstream media is liberal, and only Fox is fair an balanced.

Personally I believe Libertarians are naive and have a rather small, short-term world view. That doesn't mean that I like mainstream Republicans or Democrats, either. With increasing years I think I identify more with Goldwater Republicans.

It's the Obama administration's idea, so it must be wrong. Just like when Obama has picked up old Republican ideas and tried to push them, they become wrong.

Sometimes I wonder it Obama's support of NSA domestic spying is just a clever way to get Republicans to come out in favor of personal privacy. It wasn't that long ago that the Republicans clearly stated that there was no right to privacy enumerated in the Constitution. Now because it's against Obama, they're thumping the privacy tub really hard. (Though I'll bet they still don't think any right to privacy applies to gay conduct, even in one's own home.)

But unfortunately I've lost sufficient faith to think that that's what he's doing, The "mini-me" cartoon seems scarily accurate, and makes today's Republican Congress-critters seem all the more buffoon-ish.

> I know you were somewhat joking here, but this is exactly why we can't have nice things.
> Too many damn laws stand in the way of true innovation anymore. It will be our demise.

And I suspect that some (specifically, the owners of that "Intellectual Property") peoples' real attitude is that they will be on top of you and me as we all sink, and the sinking will stop while they're still above water. Whether or not you and I are above water will not be relevant, as long there are enough left to do the necessary work for a pittance.

Goes to show it was quite a few years back when I read the book.

Brain-zapping sounds like expensive beer goggles, to me.

Ever read "Freakonomics"? The author spent some time with a gang (There's a story right there.) and found that economically the drug business resembles McDonalds. A few execs at the top make the big bucks, the rest have to live with their parents.

And doing some more reading, I see that they actually do have pumps in the Panama Canal to reduce the loss you speak of. When/where I saw this stuff in Canada, the locks were there for recreational boating, sized appropriately, and there was no shortage of water.

Multiple comments...

As fustakrakich says, no pumps needed. Need more water in the lock, get it from the higher water level side. Need less, give it to the lower water level side. As a kid, we went to a fishing camp along the Trent Waterway system in Ontario, Ca. I've had the now-rare experience of walking in circles, pushing the handles that operated the valves and doors of the locks. At that time it was fully manual, these days it's all electric. As for technology, I've also been on and to the Peterborough lift-locks, where the boats ride in pans on hydraulic rams. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterborough_Lift_Lock But the thing I hope to see someday is the Falkirk Wheel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkirk_Wheel

Yes, I'm a bit of a lock-junkie.

As for "succeed", China is embarking on a massive "manifest destiny" kick of their own, right now. I'll be curious to see what "Internet Time" does to that, as well as their changing demographics and internal tendency to corruption. It will be interesting to see how well they can keep their long-term focus with those other factors at work. (I'll agree that without them, China has been pretty good at long-term.)

Apple Maps led me to a wrong route from Oakland to SFO during rush hour as I was headed to the airport, and ended up having to double back through the tolls twice. I almost missed my flight and it was a nightmare of an experience. Not the mention some of the crazy UX problems that I had.

And if anything, I consider myself an Apple fanboy, but that whole experience threw me off Apple maps completely.

Add with turn-by-turn navigation, Google maps continues to dominate as my go-to choice for navigation. YMMV and all that.