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At the point where it becomes a government function to weigh in and distribute the wealth (e.g. with over-generous welfare handouts) it becomes a disincentive to work, i.e. if I can get free money from the government, why should I work?

Even in the Nordic countries with their generous welfare states, the great majority of people get up and go to work everyday. Even among the people who don't work and get some kind of public support, many are pursuing a degree, or in fact working some small job under the table. A lot of people would be bored without some routine, and most people want the nice amenities they could buy beyond what a basic income scheme would provide.

In any event, as we move towards increasing automation, at some point we will have to stop thinking it a bad thing when a person chooses not to work, if the only jobs he/she could do would be artificial makework. In the past, retraining redundant workers allowed them to stay productive, but now so much of what people were retrained to do is being automated away. While the new "creative economy" or "internet economy" has offered some new markets, the world only needs so many Perez Hiltons, for example, and it would be unreasonable to expect the masses of unemployed workers around the world to become professional bloggers just for the sake of "not being unemployed".

We've already had Apple vs. Samsung this week, plus the oblig swipe at Windows, so tomorrow, it must be another Rasperry Pi story, eh?

Well, if you don't like news for nerds there are probably more suitable sites for you.

not another we'll-never-see-it solar breakthrough. I suppose highly-efficient batteries, flying cars, and fusion power will be the next stories.

Yes, you will probably see more technology articles on Slashdot. If you don't like technology articles, there are other sites. that don't have them.

ps you forgot to mention the space elevator stories ;^)

The existance of scalpers shows that the ticket office sells the tickets at far below market value.

Ticketmaster is guilty of this. Bruce Springstein did a series of concerts and wanted his regular street-level fans to be able to attend. Ticketmaster and Bruce's management agreed upon a range of ticket prices.

Ticketmaster operates a few subsidiary companies that also sell tickets. These companies bought the Springstein tickets at face value and turned around and sold them with a scalper's mark-up. The common folk were then priced out of the Bruce Springstein concerts and the Boss didn't see any of that premium pricing in the form of additional revenue.

The paid-for news/media is already stupid enough. I can't wait until all the semi-talented writers start charging, and 99% of america gets their news and election info from a right-wing or left-wing blog site... or worse.

Seriously, I think the easy availability of respected newspapers such as the NYTimes has helped improved American's awareness of political issues. Whatever my problems with the NYTimes biases are, they're 100x better than the local news.

President Bush has as much power to declare himself dictator as I do. Which is to say that he can do it, but he'll just be pissing in the wind.

In that case he can get a workshop from Prince Willie!

... or boys in Sweden! Another important reason for going to live there ;-)

http://digg.com/television/Brits_VS_Swedish_nightclub,_Can_you_tell_the_difference_(NFS)?

I'm British and believe me there is a difference ;) If you come to the UK there are some useful acronyms to learn to describe many women here... RAF = Rough As F^%K and FUGLY (F^%King Ugly). Some example usages:

Jade Goody is RAF! (URL:http://www.startrip.tv/2007/07/posh-parents-vs.html> - the UK's answer to ugly Betty!!!!)
Lily Allen is seriously FUGLY and talentless! (http://perezhilton.com/category/lily-allen/)

Maybe they fired this guy to replace him with Perez Hilton.

Whats that? To visit space, I don't have to fly on VirginSpaceLines, I can just goto SoCal? (if you don't get the joke, leave the site now)

Alternate humorous statement:

So can we send some of the excess "stars" we have here into space to help fill that interstellar void? I think we have way more than we need now. (Bonus points are credited for this option too, as many in SoCal are just waiting for the spaceship to take them away anyways)

But he didn't say Paris Hilton, he said Perez Hilton. The fact that you don't know who this "celebrity" is validates the original poster's idea that there will be no more superstar celebrities.

Good thing I live in Los Angeles. There are only skinny people here!