As a native New Englander, I concur with you 100%. Don't get me wrong I am Sox and Pats all the way but there is a stranger kind of racism in Boston that I have never experienced anywhere else. Southern California had neo Nazis, Texas has its rednecks, but there is something more cold and insidious about the racism in Boston.

More to the other points, I have lived in Boston, So. Cal., and Texas. For me at this point in my life, Texas works for me better than the others. Inexpensive housing and low cost of living for my family is what matters most. I am employed by an out of state company that baselines the pay for all employees to the bay area. I worked for the same company in socal and my living conditions were pretty awful being a single parent at the time. Between rent and day care, I had only a few hundred dollars a month to feed 3. My 1 bedroom apartment for me and my 2 kids, had mic and my neighbours were clearly dealing in illegally substances.

In Texas, I have a big house, big yard, and pool, parks, family activities and money left over. I know its not for everybody bit for a homebody who just wants to raise his kids Texas has been good to me.

That hurt, I am currently watching all of ST:Voyager.

On Topic I am smoking my turkey.

I have a few questions and perhaps one of the more enlightened slashdotters can help me out.

If the Earth was really hit with a Mars sized object that eventually became our moon, does that put the earth "behind" other earth like planets in the amount of time it would have taken the earth to restabilize and have the right conditions for life? In other words, if the Earth was never hit by the Mars sized object and conditions for life were still present, would the Earth have developed life millions if not billions of years sooner? So there is a chance could be millions of years behind other extraterrestrial civilizations.

My other question: If we assume the earth was hit by a Mars sized object, giving our oceans tides and our mantel stability, and if we also assume that the these factors speed up the evolutionary process, is it possible that we could be much more advanced than other alien civilizations?(assuming we all started at the same time). They could still be working on crawling out of the water.

Scary thought either way.

I am going to second his story. I didn't take high school seriously, joined the military and learned the electronics. I also do six figures in the Houston area after leaving the LA area. My life is 100% improved with much more disposable income since moving. I wonder about my old classmates some are still paying on their college loans . I wonder how common mine and the parent poster's story are..

My son has autism and I agree with you whole heartedly. After I got custody I cut of my cable. No TV, no Movies, no DVDs. The improvemt in my son in a six month period was dramatic. He literally knew nothing and the only activity he would do was fold up paper to make Blue Cluesn notebooks. No ABCs, No colors, No numbers no interactions with others.
After 6 months he knew all of that. After a year he could read and now he is acedemically at grade level. His communication is still poor and he barely speaks in complete sentences at age 7. He does interact more with kids and he will play with other kids rather than parallel play. I have given the TV back but it is limited. I do my best to engage him in activities that force him to interact with others. We started Cub scouts this year and I I bring him out in public to teach him how to behave(many parents do not bring out there autistic children because its to stressful.) But how else are they going to learn appropriate behavior unless they experience it? So please if you see a parent with a screaming kid have some patience with us, we want our kids to be productive members of society rather than another SSI check.