How many years of food and water do you have canned in your parent's basement ?

There's something to be said for survialism, but even more to be said for natural selection. Those with 10 wives and 8 kids per wife might have an advantage there.

If we got rid of the Dept of Edu -
would my two high functioning autistic kids get any kind of free and appropriate public education ?

They are a pain to deal with sometime, but what else will society afford ?

I don't think it's dump. Just inaccurate.
The post-PC age is getting closer.
When my Droid XXI has a wireless virtually reality interface so I can play Duke Nukem, then I think we'll be there.

I have SLA batteries for radios. I can run my HF rig for quite a while on a 75Ah SLA.
My UPS is connected to my DVRs to permit for an orderly shutdown.

Terra has a magntic field which protects it from radiation.

One could be generated for a spacecraft. Not easy but likely not impossible.

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/36558

The TSA's purpose is security theatre. They have performed that service well.

After next terrorist airline attack, HAS replies "See, we did everything we could to prevent it. Freedom - that's the cause of the security breach."

Bye Bye Freedom.

The reminder of Byte's good parts - Jerry Pournelle also made me remember Steve Ciarcia.
Steve and Jerry are still around.
Steve's URL is http://www.circuitcellar.com/
Jerry's URL is http://www.jerrypournelle.com/

I took the time to subscribe to circuit cellar and to Jerry's site. They are good writers and deserve our support.