Sounds like you want to drive our country into the ground. The one distinct advantage the US has is that even though you may be a "late bloomer", your entire future is not decided the moment you turn twelve. If my future had been decided by the time I was in junior high, I'd be a hell of a lot worse off than I am now. I went from a basically mediocre performance in high school (possibly due more to social issues than intelligence), to obtaining a PhD in mathematics. I'm definitely not saying that having this degree means I'm smarter than those who don't have such a degree, but it does show that, in my case at least, my parents were right not to give up on being "110% supporting" of me (Oh, but how I frustrated them when I was young!) In closing, let me just say fuck you, and fuck what you said.

Hmm, a colleague of mine had the same question from Google a while back. Are you sure they were looking for "ls"? (i.e., did she say that?) The answer of course, is "stat". (To be honest, that was a command with which I was unfamiliar until my colleague told me about the question. Since then, I've found it to be quite handy in certain situations.)

Heh, I guess I belong here. I just spent a moment trying to figure out which were the "geek city states"...