For the love of God, HOW? This still plagues me today, and I could use some advice (at least better than "Just do it," which is effectively saying, "Quit pretending it's a real problem.")

Meditation worked for me. But don't overdo it like the Buddhists.

Finally, somebody with perspective. It is amazing how debates about IQ on Slashdot revolve around personal anecdotes. Many on Slashdot commenters seem to be completely unaware about the state of the research and seem to be completely dismissive about the validity of IQ tests themselves. (Everybody please consult Wikipedia on the subject)

I disagree that high IQ people are inherently unable to communicate with or understand the average Joe. It is rather lack of experience in my opinion. Slashdot nerds tend to hang out with other Slashdot nerds with similar IQs. That's not how you develop the social skills to communicate with construction workers, nurses or bartenders. I used to be as socially awkward a geek as they come, but I took the plunge and tried to hang out with regular folks and was able to adapt and feel at ease pretty quickly.
It is not that difficult. Don't endlessly pontificate about your field of expertise. Listen. Take your vis-à-vis seriously. Show some interest in their concerns, wishes, hobbies, work or life situation. It's not rocket science.

Other high IQ professionals, like doctors or lawyers have to deal with individuals from all over the IQ spectrum and of different personality types. That is how they develop their social skills.

Lack of experience with low IQ people is possibly one of the main reasons for IQ denialism among Slashdot readers.

Far more analgous is the old maxim, 'I may not like whFar more analgous is the old maxim, 'I may not like what you say, but I'll fight to the death for your right to say it.' I may never be a billionaireat you say, but I'll fight to the death for your right to say it.' I may never be a billionaire

There are all kinds of regulations that affect the little guy. Large numbers of Americans live, as I understand, in communities with strict regulations about what they have to do with their lawn or that prevent them from renting out rooms or even leave their garage door open. I would find that outrageous, if I were American. These regulations make a mockery of basic property rights. Peasants in feudal societies had more freedoms in that regard. Most of the output of libertarian punditry however is concerned with defending Walmart.

Or take global warming denial as an example. I am aware of on prominent German socialist who denies global warming as well as some conservatives. It is a fringe position that goes against the contemporary scientific consensus. How come that this fringe position happens to have so much currency in professional libertarianism?

It is not as if professional libertarians would defend a corporation or a billionaire here or there among hundreds of other issues, which would be perfectly consistent and understandable.

It is pretty obvious that Ayn Rand had a thing for wealthy industrialists and so do most libertarian pundits, it seems. Milton Friedman in contrast talked about the draft, school vouchers and licencing in the medical profession. I can't even come up with a specific corporation Milton Friedman defended. Now he was a true libertarian, not some kind of male money honey.

Liberarians tend to focus on "my freedom" more than on "your freedom".

Actually, a lot of them focus on the freedoms of their imaginary future selves and on the vast fortunes they are surely going to amass. See Joe the Plumber. So they end up defending big corporations and rich people, even if those pollute and exploit. The free market rhetoric is just a facade to sound somewhat reasonable.

Libertarianism itself has valuable insights and should be taken seriously. It is spoiled by those who read Ayn Rand as teenagers and took up a professional career in corporate sponsored think tank libertarianism.

the simple fact is that things WERE better built 50 years ago

That is not a simple fact, but a grandiose fact claim on your part.

Some products may have been more durable in the past, some not so much. You would have to look at a case by case analysis, do some testing, empirical work to figure out what is true.

Metal and steel rusts and bends. Lots of mechanical and moving parts can cause all sorts of problems, line shafts wear out, cloth cables, springs, reed relais, etc.

Wooden joints that where glued or screwed together tend to get loose, etc.

No material is perfect. And cost saving can leed to simplicity, which can benefit durability greatly.

I believe that especially eletronics and computing is getting much better. Complicated VHS tape drives broke down all of the time. Reel to Reel tape drives had lots of problems. Optical is better and solid state even moreso.

It is called survivorship bias. Almost all of the things produced in the past have long since broken down. We only see what stood the test of time and therefore tend to assume that things were built to last back in the day.

Every invention is obvious after someone thinks of it.

I thought of this before years ago and a million others probably too.

Teenagers are still faster with two thumbs and T9 on a dial pad anyway. Typing on smaller devices is only an issue for older folk who didn't grow up with texting.

Toyota, BMW, Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi etc. are all heavily unionized in their home countries and all of the companies you named got american tax-payer subsidies to set up shop in the US.

And how long do you think these factories will remain in the US, once your domestic industry is gone and with it the bargaining power it gives the US governement in setting import tariffs or threatening to increase them, like Reagan did?

The european and east asian auto industries are heavily unionized. German workers have a right to half the seats on the supervisory board and play an active role in the steering of the company.

You don't need a survey about potential SUV buyers in the EU. SUVs are everywhere, albeit not many of these ugly american trucks which masquerade as passenger cars.