Sort of reminded me of something I unfortunately learned. If you want to pick an Orthopedic Surgeon to fix your knee and shoulders (that's plural) go talk to the physical therapists. They're the ones who work with the outcome every day - they tend to know better than most who's good, who's not & most importantly, who's really good.

There can be a very strong, positive peer pressure effect for some kids. My daughter talked late - but then in complete sentences almost immediately. We basically went through the letter sounds maybe once or twice & she was off & running. Was reading at a 3rd grade level in kindergarten. Granted, she has an amazing memory - academically, she tested as Aspergers but did not medically. With my son, before he started in school, working on reading was tough. No real interest, and unwilling to spend more than a few minutes on the basics like letter sounds. Writing - forget it, not when there's a sun shining in the sky or toys to play with. We didn't push or anything - didn't want to make it a chore. Then he started school and he's off & running. Good teachers no doubt, (small town Wisconsin, pragmatic farmer influenced community that values education & hard work). But following along with the other kids and probably to some degree, a bit of a competitive nature lit a spark and now he's reading well above his grade level too. Will be interesting to see how #3 turns out (he's 10 months).

So all the people who have taken photos of people "holding up" the Leaning Tower of Pisa are in for a world of hurt, huh?

While that is a huge number, and certainly a lot of it is not terribly secure, I have to wonder how much of it is very secure? Though I went to an instate school & worked 3 jobs my last few years to try & minimize debt, I still took out some student loans. I think in total maybe $11k. I've been out for over 10 years & employed the whole time. I still owe about $5000. At numerous times I've considered paying it off but the rate is so low it's just never made financial sense to do - I've always had better places to put the money.

Put me on the side of believing too many people go to college when a trade/tech school would be a better choice. I have a tough time feeling much sympathy for those who voluntarily took on huge debts without consideration for how they were going to pay it off. I worked my tail off, had a ton of fun & drank plenty of beer, but never did the tropical spring break thing and don't regret it at all.

Fuck. That's not old, she's about my age and I'm most certainly not approaching 40...Ah Fuck.

Huh? How do you know she's going after roles inappropriate for her age? For the most part, there's not such thing as an "appropriate age" for a role in Hollywood anyway. They don't give a shit how old you are. How old you look on the other hand matters tremendously. Think of how old the actors often are who play teens on TV & in movies.

Why do you believe that recognizing the impact of Jobs necessarily discredits the contribution of those who worked for him? It does not.

But it's so much more pervasive than that. The fact is all over the place from national to the most yokel local reports on it, and all over including common conversation even among people who should know better, "How'd the market do today" almost universally refers to how the Dow did. Maybe it's just laziness, I don't know but I try to point it out to people I run into whenever it comes up.

I have a hard time coming up with any sympathy towards Adobe. They're a billion dollar technology company. If they couldn't figure out a way to either modernize the code they bought or rewrite it to be more efficient and current, it's their own damn fault. I met a lot of Macromedia people awhile back - there were a lot of great people: some brilliant geeks, some brilliant artists and even some really rare freaks who were both. I think Adobe replaced them with "brilliant" marketing people.

The problem is I've heard an awful lot of legal experts say that by putting the IRS in charge of assessing & collecting the fine, they've done enough to get by it because the courts have given the the Federal government so much latitude as far as taxation for the "general welfare."

Honestly, I'm so down on things. And not just that a monstrosity of a bill that will only make things worse has passed. But more that it will also accelerate us into an absolutely frightening death spiral of debt leading to nightmare inflation. The ends justify the means is just so common and accepted, and the federal government effectively has almost no restraints any more. The courts have ceded so much ground. The attitude of the Constitution being just some quaint old document, that liberty and freedom are just words the fringe use and care about. It's really sad.