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Two books on this theme of diminishing returns for addictions to extremes:
    "The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force That Undermines Health & Happiness"
        http://www.amazon.com/Pleasure-Trap-Mastering-Undermines-Happiness/dp/1570671508
    "Supernormal Stimuli: How Primal Urges Overran Their Evolutionary Purpose"
        http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/039306848X
We can resensitize our taste buds in a few weeks by eating differently, as Joel Fuhrman suggests:
    http://www.drfuhrman.com/
And adequate vitamin D can also help end depression that leads us to craving escape and stimulants:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
And we can change our physical infrastructure to be more life-affirming:
    http://www.bluezones.com/makeover-about
Or our social infrastructure:
    http://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Americas-Depression-Epidemic-Community/dp/1933392711
Or our mental infrastructure:
    http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Nights-Soul-Finding-Through/dp/1592400671
Put that knowledge all together, and put in in practice, and it is help for breaking out of some harmful feedback cycles.
   

"The Food Pyramid of the Insane"
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/debunking-diet-myths-the-food-pyramid-of-the-insane.html

Not that these doctors all agree, but there is a lot of overlap and they cover the essentials (typically lots of organic veggies, fruits, beans, nuts, seeds, maybe fish, vitamin D, and very little processed foods or factory farmed meats):
http://www.drfuhrman.com/
http://www.drmcdougall.com/
http://www.drweil.com/
http://www.mercola.com/
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

Occasional fasting may help some conditions, too:
http://www.healthpromoting.com/Articles/articles/PleasureTrap.htm

This is a good video about the future of medicine based on nutrition, including teaching people how to shop at the grocery store, how to cook at home, and how to order in restaurants to stay healthy:
    http://www.drmcdougall.com/health_10_day_program_video.html

Another video on curing disease by better nutrition:
    "Eat For Health - Joel Fuhrman, M.D."
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPiR9VcuVWw

Someone (not a doctor) who puts a lot of these ideas together into cooking advice:
    http://www.andreabeaman.com/
"Read Andrea's inspiring story, The Whole Truth - How I Naturally Reclaimed My Health, and You Can Too! A story you can relate to as you make diet and lifestyle changes in your own life. Learn how to make health-promoting food taste absolutely scrumptious with the Eating and Recipe Guide. Infused with humor, in depth knowledge about food, and over 120 easy recipes, this is a wise tool to have in your kitchen."

A group helping communities be healthier by changing their public infrastructure:
    http://www.bluezones.com/makeover-about

Anyway, most disease in the USA could be prevented by better nutrition, moderate exercise, less stress (like through meditation), good sleep, adequate vitamin D from sunlight, more and better community interactions, more positive thinking, and a few other similar basic things.

"Phage Therapy: Where Communism Succeeded and Capitalism Failed"
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL9910/S00096.htm
"""
While there are some genuine reasons why phage treatments of bacterial diseases were overlooked in the 1930s and 1940s, the failure to develop a western research program into bacteriophage treatment in the 1980s and 1990s represents an inexcusable failure of western capitalism. By the 1980s, there could be no denial that antibiotic resistance was going to be a major problem in (if not before) the twenty-first century. Yet, we just didn't want to know about what will probably turn out to be the most important medical breakthrough in the twentieth century; a breakthrough made in communist Georgia, in Stalin's Soviet Union.
    It is embarrassing when western science is out-trumped, especially by the "communists". Usually, when out-trumped, we don't tell anyone. That's what happened here. Not only did we not have the nous to start a western programme in bacteriophage research; we looked the other way when the files of phials threatened to be destroyed following the breakup of the Soviet Union, and during the little reported civil war that engulfed Georgia a few years ago. So much for the knowledge economies of the west. How can such valuable knowledge be so cheap?
    It's not too late for western medicine to enter the post-antibiotic bacteriophage era. Our grandchildren will hardly thank us if we persevere with our corporate-profit-motivated conservatism.
    The Soviets were able, eventually, to admit that they were wrong to follow Lysenko. Will we in the west be equally able to admit that we were wrong to put all our medical eggs into the one antibiotic basket, in the process ignoring the most basic tenets of the theory of evolution?
"""

So, with this as an example, what else has capitalism ignored as it relates to cancer?
Nutrition?
    http://www.drfuhrman.com/
Vitamin D?
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
Fasting?
    http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/shelton.bio.bidwell.htm
    http://www.healingcancernaturally.com/fasting-cure-for-health.html
   

Just for reference, it seems most cancer can be prevented (and sometimes cured) by a healthy diet (heavy on the vegetables, and perhaps including occasional fasting), enough vitamin D3 from sunlight, moderate exercise (helps keep the lymph system working among other things), avoiding pollution (like in water), some positive thinking and positive relationships, and the ususal lifestyle choices (like avoiding smoking).

Joel Fuhrman is an MD who talks a lot about this sort of stuff:
    http://www.drfuhrman.com/
"""
Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to live the rest of your life in pain or on medication.
    You can reverse disease, reduce high blood pressure, lose unwanted weight, lower your cholesterol levels, prevent heart disease and cancer, and improve your health - all without relying on drugs and fad diets. The importance of good nutrition is emphasized in Dr. Fuhrman's dietary program, Eat To Live.
    Reduce high blood pressure, reverse diabetes and dramatically lower cholesterol without drugs. Dr. Fuhrman offers advanced nutritional advice based on scientific research.
"""

On the right amount of vitamin D:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
"""
We predict that treatment with physiological doses of vitamin D3 (between 4,000-10,000 IU/day from all sources, including sun, food and supplements) along with periodic monitoring of blood calcidiol and calcium levels will become routine. [Zittermann A. Vitamin D in preventive medicine: are we ignoring the evidence? Br J of Nutr. 2003;89:552-572. Holick M. Vitamin D: A Millennium Perspective. J Cell Biochem. 2003;88:296-307.] Research indicates it will help several vitamin D deficiency-associated diseases such as: autism, autoimmune illness, cancer, chronic pain, depression, diabetes, heart disease, hyperparathyroidism, hypertension, influenza, myopathy (neuromuscular disorders), and osteoporosis.
"""

Bluezones is a community-wide effort that does similar things but at the community (not individual) level, as many things like having healthier menus in restaurants, building sidewalks, creating walking trails, making parks, and fostering a sense of community are more than any one individual can do alone.
    http://www.bluezones.com/makeover-about
"""
The AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project will focus on four areas that are crucial to health and longevity: Community Environment, Social Networks, Habitat and Individual Sense of Purpose.
"""

Anyway, these cheap things -- sunlight, clean water, fresh air, more vegetables (and fruits, pulses like beans, and nuts and seeds), avoiding processed foods, walking and swimming, healthy relationshiips and attitudes, and not smoking etc. -- are not going to be promoted by most of our profit-oriented industrial system (even if many individuals have written books on these or sell some related products like good blenders for making green smoothies).

Best wishes for staying well.

Many dedicated hackers don't get enough sunlight, which can cause vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D defiency, now widespread in the USA, is a seriously deadly situation, which can cause depression, schizophrenia (Hans Reiser?), cancer, heart disease, autism, and other things. Almost all indoor professionals in the USA should probably be taking 5000 IU D3 in gelcaps daily (except days when they get a lot of sun) as well as eat right to get the other co-nutrients needed for vitamin D to work optimally (a very tiny fraction of people may have health issues that contraindicated vitamin D supplementation). See:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
RMS, I hope you read this; I'd miss you if you were not around.

The US RDA for vitamin D was set decades ago for healthy bones, not a healthy brain, healthy heart, healthy immune system, or healthy weight. It is probably more than ten times too low. The toxicity worries for vitamin D have also been overblown, epsecially if you supplement with D3 (not D2). All this is according to Dr. John Cannell, M.D., of the Vitamin D Council website:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDPhysiology.shtml
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDToxicity.shtml
A blood test is the only way to know for sure on your vitamin D levels.
    http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html

Many dedicated hackers don't get enough sunlight, which can cause vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D defiency, now widespread in the USA, is a seriously deadly situation, which can cause depression, schizophrenia (Hans Reiser?), cancer, heart disease, autism, and other things. Almost all indoor professionals in the USA should probably be taking 5000 IU D3 in gelcaps daily (except days when they get a lot of sun) as well as eat right to get the other co-nutrients needed for vitamin D to work optimally (a very tiny fraction of people may have health issues that contraindicated vitamin D supplementation). See:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
RMS, I hope you read this; I'd miss you if you were not around.

The US RDA for vitamin D was set decades ago for healthy bones, not a healthy brain, healthy heart, healthy immune system, or healthy weight. It is probably more than ten times too low. The toxicity worries for vitamin D have also been overblown, epsecially if you supplement with D3 (not D2). All this is according to Dr. John Cannell, M.D., of the Vitamin D Council website:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDPhysiology.shtml
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDToxicity.shtml
A blood test is the only way to know for sure on your vitamin D levels.
    http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html

Many dedicated hackers don't get enough sunlight, which can cause vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D defiency, now widespread in the USA, is a seriously deadly situation, which can cause depression, schizophrenia (Hans Reiser?), cancer, heart disease, autism, and other things. Almost all indoor professionals in the USA should probably be taking 5000 IU D3 in gelcaps daily (except days when they get a lot of sun) as well as eat right to get the other co-nutrients needed for vitamin D to work optimally (a very tiny fraction of people may have health issues that contraindicated vitamin D supplementation). See:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
RMS, I hope you read this; I'd miss you if you were not around.

The US RDA for vitamin D was set decades ago for healthy bones, not a healthy brain, healthy heart, healthy immune system, or healthy weight. It is probably more than ten times too low. The toxicity worries for vitamin D have also been overblown, epsecially if you supplement with D3 (not D2). All this is according to Dr. John Cannell, M.D., of the Vitamin D Council website:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDPhysiology.shtml
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDToxicity.shtml
A blood test is the only way to know for sure on your vitamin D levels.
    http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html

A basic income would eliminate poverty (and was endorsed by Nobel Prize winners):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income
http://www.basicincome.org/bien/aboutbasicincome.html
http://www.usbig.net/
http://www.pdfernhout.net/basic-income-from-a-millionaires-perspective.html
The right amount of vitamin D would reduce sick care costs by maybe a third in industrialized countries:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi111.html
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
A good diet, occasional fasting, and moderate exercise would reduce another third or so of sick care expenses by helping people break out of a pleasure trap from supernormal stimuli:
http://www.amazon.com/Pleasure-Trap-Mastering-Undermines-Happiness/dp/1570671508
http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/039306848X
Single payer health care in the USA would reduce expenses (for paperwork) by a third as well (these are not all additive, of course):
http://www.pnhp.org/facts/what-is-single-payer
Reinstating regulation on children's TV might help prevent damage to kids:
http://www.amazon.com/War-Play-Dilemma-Childhood-Education/dp/080774638X
http://www.amazon.com/So-Sexy-Soon-Sexualized-Childhood/dp/0345505077
A more vegetarian diet would also free up three-quarters of agricultural lands in the USA:
http://www.westernwatersheds.org/watmess/watmess_2002/2002html_summer/article6.htm
Renewable energy has been cheaper than fossil fuels and nuclear, when you factor in the externalities, like pollution, defense spending, and risk:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittle_Power
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality
http://www.energyandcapital.com/articles/oil-gas-crude/461
Switching to electric cars would probably reduce our electricity use, and eliminate the need for much oil (since it takes more electricity to refine the oil into gas than it would to run electric cars the same distance as a gallon of gas in an ICE car):
http://www.evnut.com/gasoline_oil.htm
We can develop the technology of being able to produce almost anything from commonly found raw materials:
http://www.islandone.org/MMSG/aasm/
We know how to make healthier communities:
http://www.bluezones.com/makeover-about
http://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Americas-Depression-Epidemic-Community/dp/1933392711
Nuclear weapons and military robots are ironic because the same technology could produce abundanc

Albert Eintsein on the need for *both* science and religion:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/aor/einstein/einsci.htm

Also, while you would be right to say some things are better than in the past, many things are not. Rampant vitamin D deficiency from too much time indoors (and listening to dermatologists) is contributing to all sorts of health problems like cancer, heart disease, and even increasing autism.
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
Depression from lack of community (something not valued by modern economists) is widespread.
http://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Americas-Depression-Epidemic-Community/dp/1933392711
Herbert Shelton, who from the 1920s advocated sunlight, better diet, and occasional fasting as proven ways for good health, was hit with endless lawsuits and harrasment from medical professionals:
http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/shelton.bio.bidwell.htm
Our entire society has become locked in pleasure traps associated with supernomal stimuli, manipulated by advertisers to destroy children for profit:
http://www.amazon.com/Pleasure-Trap-Mastering-Undermines-Happiness/dp/1570671508
http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/039306848X
http://www.amazon.com/War-Play-Dilemma-Childhood-Education/dp/080774638X
http://www.amazon.com/So-Sexy-Soon-Sexualized-Childhood/dp/0345505077

Sure, we have neat iPads now. What does it matter if the kids are all obese and depressed?

The mainstream USA is in a death spiral as a society because it refuses to acknowledge things like the irony of using the tools of abundance like robotics, AI, material science, and so on to build weapons of destruction like nuclear millsiles and killer robot drones, rather than use the same tech to create abundance for all and have a basic income. Likewise, our society is unable to admit the declining value fo most human labor and the need for a rethink of our economics like a basic income. Renewable energy like solar thermal, geothermal, and wind have been cheaper than fossil fuels or nuclear for decades when you factor in the external costs of war, pollution, health costs, and risks, but our society refuses to price those costs in. I could go on about many other issues (like how organic agriculture is cheaper when looking at all the costs including soil depletion and oil, singple payer health care being way cheaper, and so on). Still, there are hopeful signs here and there, so our society may yet heal itself -- but such a society might not be recognizable to many in the USA today.

So, while you have some points, the poster you are replying too makes many good ones too. As Albert Einstein says in the link at the top, science can tell us what is, maybe some of what was, and matbe even some of what could be, but science can't tell us what *should* be. That is a realm beyond science, to set our goals and the patterns we choose to preserve or strive for. Unfortunately, too often science gets misused to claim it is telling what should be. (Economists often do that with claimed mathematical precision.)

To understand another aspect of how academic science is a cult in a sense, with conservative politics woven throughout is, see Jeff Schmidt on how all professio

Adequate vitamin D (the sunlight vitamin) helps prevent pneumonia:
    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=pneumonia+vitamin+d

At the end of the winter, Ed Roberts' vitamin D supplies would have been depleted.

The right amount of vitamin D also helps prevent influenza, cancer, heart disease, and a variety of other illnesses:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

All computers should come with a warning label about this, IMHO. :-)
    http://blogs.intel.com/csr/2010/02/with_all_of_the_debate.php

I'd suggest it is possible that vitamin D deficiency is the leading cause of death of computer users including most slashdotters. See also:
    "A Decade Of Vitamin D Supplementation Would Save $4.4 Trillion Over A Decade; Would Save $1346 Per Person Per Annum"
    http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi111.html

Related to mental illness: http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
Also lack of community:
http://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Americas-Depression-Epidemic-Community/dp/1933392711
Also poor diet:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2006/oct/17/prisonsandprobation.ukcrime

The "Rat Park" experiment showed that addictive behavior results from stress.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park
"""
Rat Park was a study into drug addiction conducted in the late 1970s (and published in 1980), by Canadian psychologist Bruce K. Alexander and his colleagues at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.
    Alexander's hypothesis was that drugs do not cause addiction, and that the apparent addiction to opiate drugs commonly observed in laboratory rats exposed to it is attributable to their living conditions, and not to any addictive property of the drug itself. [1] He told the Canadian Senate in 2001 that prior experiments in which laboratory rats were kept isolated in cramped metal cages, tethered to a self-injection apparatus, show only that "severely distressed animals, like severely distressed people, will relieve their distress pharmacologically if they can." [2]
    To test his hypothesis, Alexander built Rat Park, a 8.8 m2 (95 sq ft) housing colony, 200 times the square footage of a standard laboratory cage. There were 16-20 rats of both sexes in residence, an abundance of food, balls and wheels for play, and enough space for mating and raising litters. [3] The results of the experiment appeared to support his hypothesis. Rats who had been forced to consume morphine hydrochloride for 57 consecutive days were brought to Rat Park and given a choice between plain tap water and water laced with morphine. For the most part, they chose the plain water. "Nothing that we tried," Alexander wrote, "... produced anything that looked like addiction in rats that were housed in a reasonably normal environment." [1] Control groups of rats isolated in small cages consumed much more morphine in this and several subsequent experiments.
    The two major science journals, Science and Nature, rejected Alexander, Coambs, and Hadaway's first paper, which appeared instead in Psychopharmacology, a respectable but much smaller journal in 1978. The paper's publication initially attracted no response. [4] Within a few years, Simon Fraser University withdrew Rat Park's funding.
"""

Many people in today's industrialized society are under a lot of stress. Creating healthier communities may help reduce addictive behavior. One example of how to do that is here:
    "About the AARP/Bluezones Vitality Project"
    http://www.bluezones.com/makeover-about

Another is here:
    "Surviving America's Depression Epidemic: How to Find Morale, Energy, and Community in a World Gone Crazy"
  http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C

Vitamin D deficiency from being indoors too much also contributes to obesity and depression.
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

For more on breaking out of a "pleasure trap" leading to obesity, see these:
    http://www.healthpromoting.com/Articles/articles/PleasureTrap.htm
    http://www.amazon.com/Pleasure-Trap-Mastering-Undermines-Happiness/dp/1570671508
    http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/039306848X

Most cancer can be prevented or sometimes cured with the right amount of vitamin D3 (5000 IU daily as a base for most adults with a few exceptions, but you need a blood test periodically to be sure), a diet of mostly organic natural foods (whole grains, fruits, vegetables), occasional fasting, and moderate exercise -- along with quitting smoking and some other lifestyle changes, and living in a cleaner environment (especially clean water), and some positive emotions, spirituality, and community helps too. These things (especially the right amount of vitamin D) will also sometimes prevent or sometimes cure a good amount of the many other chronic diseases of our modern society as well like heart disease, diabetes, depression, -- and maybe even autism which may result in part from inadequate vitamin D by parents before conception, during pregnancy, and while nursing (as dermatologists have told us all to fear the sun and we also live indoors more at screens). For references to all this, see:
Vitamin D:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/cancerMain.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/new-harvard-paper-on-autism.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/2008-october.shtml
http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi111.html
Fasting and better diet:
http://www.healthpromoting.com/Articles/articles/PleasureTrap.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Pleasure-Trap-Mastering-Undermines-Happiness/dp/1570671508
http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/039306848X
http://books.google.com/books?id=nRurn6C142YC
Lifestyle and cancer:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elaine-schattner/we-are-all-fat-and-have-c_b_506247.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html
Exercise:
http://www.letsmove.gov/
Community infrastructure:
http://www.bluezones.com/makeover-about
Positive emotions, community, and spirituality:
http://books.google.com/books?id=RKZreNYKNHQC
http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C

Magic bullets like this RNA-loaded nanoparticle stuff are potentially great (if they have no side effects), but how about just encouraging (and making easy) the simple things first?

We don't have to wait for magic bullets to cure most ill health. Why not put a few trillion US dollars into these things? It would be enormously cost effective. One link above suggests curing vitamin D deficiency alone in Western Europe would save US$4.4 trillion dollars in health care expense over a decade (the USA might see a comparable amount in savings). Of course, in our current economic and sick

Most cancer can be prevented or sometimes cured with the right amount of vitamin D3 (5000 IU daily as a base for most adults with a few exceptions, but you need a blood test periodically to be sure), a diet of mostly organic natural foods (whole grains, fruits, vegetables), occasional fasting, and moderate exercise -- along with quitting smoking and some other lifestyle changes, and living in a cleaner environment (especially clean water), and some positive emotions, spirituality, and community helps too. These things (especially the right amount of vitamin D) will also sometimes prevent or sometimes cure a good amount of the many other chronic diseases of our modern society as well like heart disease, diabetes, depression, -- and maybe even autism which may result in part from inadequate vitamin D by parents before conception, during pregnancy, and while nursing (as dermatologists have told us all to fear the sun and we also live indoors more at screens). For references to all this, see:
Vitamin D:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/cancerMain.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/new-harvard-paper-on-autism.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/2008-october.shtml
http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi111.html
Fasting and better diet:
http://www.healthpromoting.com/Articles/articles/PleasureTrap.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Pleasure-Trap-Mastering-Undermines-Happiness/dp/1570671508
http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/039306848X
http://books.google.com/books?id=nRurn6C142YC
Lifestyle and cancer:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elaine-schattner/we-are-all-fat-and-have-c_b_506247.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html
Exercise:
http://www.letsmove.gov/
Community infrastructure:
http://www.bluezones.com/makeover-about
Positive emotions, community, and spirituality:
http://books.google.com/books?id=RKZreNYKNHQC
http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C

Magic bullets like this RNA-loaded nanoparticle stuff are potentially great (if they have no side effects), but how about just encouraging (and making easy) the simple things first?

We don't have to wait for magic bullets to cure most ill health. Why not put a few trillion US dollars into these things? It would be enormously cost effective. One link above suggests curing vitamin D deficiency alone in Western Europe would save US$4.4 trillion dollars in health care expense over a decade (the USA might see a comparable amount in savings). Of course, in our current economic and sick

Most cancer can be prevented or sometimes cured with the right amount of vitamin D3 (5000 IU daily as a base for most adults with a few exceptions, but you need a blood test periodically to be sure), a diet of mostly organic natural foods (whole grains, fruits, vegetables), occasional fasting, and moderate exercise -- along with quitting smoking and some other lifestyle changes, and living in a cleaner environment (especially clean water), and some positive emotions, spirituality, and community helps too. These things (especially the right amount of vitamin D) will also sometimes prevent or sometimes cure a good amount of the many other chronic diseases of our modern society as well like heart disease, diabetes, depression, -- and maybe even autism which may result in part from inadequate vitamin D by parents before conception, during pregnancy, and while nursing (as dermatologists have told us all to fear the sun and we also live indoors more at screens). For references to all this, see:
Vitamin D:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/cancerMain.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/new-harvard-paper-on-autism.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/2008-october.shtml
http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi111.html
Fasting and better diet:
http://www.healthpromoting.com/Articles/articles/PleasureTrap.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Pleasure-Trap-Mastering-Undermines-Happiness/dp/1570671508
http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/039306848X
http://books.google.com/books?id=nRurn6C142YC
Lifestyle and cancer:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elaine-schattner/we-are-all-fat-and-have-c_b_506247.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html
Exercise:
http://www.letsmove.gov/
Community infrastructure:
http://www.bluezones.com/makeover-about
Positive emotions, community, and spirituality:
http://books.google.com/books?id=RKZreNYKNHQC
http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C

Magic bullets like this RNA-loaded nanoparticle stuff are potentially great (if they have no side effects), but how about just encouraging (and making easy) the simple things first?

We don't have to wait for magic bullets to cure most ill health. Why not put a few trillion US dollars into these things? It would be enormously cost effective. One link above suggests curing vitamin D deficiency alone in Western Europe would save US$4.4 trillion dollars in health care expense over a decade (the USA might see a comparable amount in savings). Of course, in our current economic and sick

Most cancer can be prevented or sometimes cured with the right amount of vitamin D3 (5000 IU daily as a base for most adults with a few exceptions, but you need a blood test periodically to be sure), a diet of mostly organic natural foods (whole grains, fruits, vegetables), occasional fasting, and moderate exercise -- along with quitting smoking and some other lifestyle changes, and living in a cleaner environment (especially clean water), and some positive emotions, spirituality, and community helps too. These things (especially the right amount of vitamin D) will also sometimes prevent or sometimes cure a good amount of the many other chronic diseases of our modern society as well like heart disease, diabetes, depression, -- and maybe even autism which may result in part from inadequate vitamin D by parents before conception, during pregnancy, and while nursing (as dermatologists have told us all to fear the sun and we also live indoors more at screens). For references to all this, see:
Vitamin D:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/cancerMain.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/new-harvard-paper-on-autism.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/2008-october.shtml
http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi111.html
Fasting and better diet:
http://www.healthpromoting.com/Articles/articles/PleasureTrap.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Pleasure-Trap-Mastering-Undermines-Happiness/dp/1570671508
http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/039306848X
http://books.google.com/books?id=nRurn6C142YC
Lifestyle and cancer:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elaine-schattner/we-are-all-fat-and-have-c_b_506247.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html
Exercise:
http://www.letsmove.gov/
Community infrastructure:
http://www.bluezones.com/makeover-about
Positive emotions, community, and spirituality:
http://books.google.com/books?id=RKZreNYKNHQC
http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C

Magic bullets like this RNA-loaded nanoparticle stuff are potentially great (if they have no side effects), but how about just encouraging (and making easy) the simple things first?

We don't have to wait for magic bullets to cure most ill health. Why not put a few trillion US dollars into these things? It would be enormously cost effective. One link above suggests curing vitamin D deficiency alone in Western Europe would save US$4.4 trillion dollars in health care expense over a decade (the USA might see a comparable amount in savings). Of course, in our current economic and sick

Yes, you have a great point about Self (which would have been licensing cost free in theory...)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_(programming_language)
"The first public release was in 1990, and the next year the team moved to Sun Microsystems where they continued work on the language. Several new releases followed until falling largely dormant in 1995 with the 4.0 version. The latest 4.3 version was released in 2006 and runs on Mac OS X and Solaris."

I don't know why Sun did not choose that. I'd be curious what David Ungar would say about that?

I met David Ungar once, at OOPSLA-97, but he had a bad cold and so was not that chatty then... I hope he is getting enough vitamin D, as vitamin D deficiency is an occupational hazard of the indoor worker, though I did not know that then either, and it is connected with colds and influenza, as well as many other health issues:
        http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D_and_influenza
"A study published in the February 2009 Archives of Internal Medicine involving 1900 adults and children done by the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Children's Hospital Boston, found that people with the lowest blood vitamin D levels reported having significantly more recent colds or cases of the flu. The risks were even higher for those with chronic respiratory disorders, such as asthma and emphysema. They reported that asthma patients with the lowest vitamin D levels were five times more likely to have had a recent respiratory infection; while among COPD patients, respiratory infections were twice as common among those with vitamin D deficiency. However, the authors stress that the study's results need to be confirmed in clinical trials before vitamin D can be recommended to prevent colds and flu..[4][5]"

Could vitamin D deficiency syndrome explain why we got Java instead of Self? :-(

Beyond the opposite of Not-Invented-Here (A prophet is without honor in his or her own country), perhaps Sun's choice is because Self used an enormous amount of memory for the time, whereas Smalltalk could run on smaller systems (part of that is about the implementation efficiencies of using classes)? VisualWorks was already used in embedded stuff (running Fabs as "ControlWorks") so it would have been a much safer bet in that sense.

And then, if you are going to do a home-brew system, the C syntax is commonplace...

I also have some comments about my own attempts at prototype-based systems, and why classes have some big advantages practically:
    "PataPata critique: the good, the bad, the ugly"
    http://patapata.sourceforge.net/critique.html

Again though, you still have a great point. And NewtonScript, say, was a prototype-based system designed for low memory environments like the Newton, so it was not impossible...

I think most people just don't understand how problematical the C-style syntax is for creating self-documenting easy-to-read code compared to Smalltalk's.

With such a schedule, please make sure you get enough vitamin D3 (the sunlight vitamin), like from supplements and have your vitamin D3 levels checked with a 25(OH)D blood test:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
"""
We predict that treatment with physiological doses of vitamin D3 (between 4,000-10,000 IU/day from all sources, including sun, food and supplements) along with periodic monitoring of blood calcidiol and calcium levels will become routine. [Zittermann A. Vitamin D in preventive medicine: are we ignoring the evidence? Br J of Nutr. 2003;89:552-572. Holick M. Vitamin D: A Millennium Perspective. J Cell Biochem. 2003;88:296-307.] Research indicates it will help several vitamin D deficiency-associated diseases such as: autism, autoimmune illness, cancer, chronic pain, depression, diabetes, heart disease, hyperparathyroidism, hypertension, influenza, myopathy (neuromuscular disorders), and osteoporosis.
"""

Most people in the USA are vitamin D deficient from our indoor lifestyle, but a schedule like would just about ensures it.

My wife is a night owl, and I'm not, another set of issues... I stayed up late a lot when I met her, and she just assumed that meant I was a night owl. :-) With that said, I've seen both her and my sleep patterns shift over time in different ways, including when having a kid... So, these rhythms can changes sometimes. But, there are advantages and disadvantages to all sorts of things. Getting up late on, say, the US East Coast means you can better connect to people in certain other timezones. Because we both work at home, and I need somewhat less sleep than her, we see a lot of each other anyway. If we both worked outside the home, this would be much more problematical. She has trouble getting up for a 9-5 job (she needs many alarm clocks) -- which her mom growing up probably saw as laziness; but she can happily work very hard on stuff long into the small hours of the morning after everyone else has given up for the day in exhaustion...

We homeschool, and our kid is following her sleep patterns... And it creates another issue, since while we're happy to do afternoon and evening things, many homeschoolers, like most people, seem to be early in the morning kind of people...

And sadly, night driving is several times more dangerous as far as frequency of accidents, since many drivers get tired late at night but push it anyway, and even with good headlights, you see a lot less at night than during the day.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/21/car-accident-times-forbeslife-cx_he_0121driving.html
"Nationwide, 49% of fatal crashes happen at night, with a fatality rate per mile of travel about three times as high as daytime hours. Of people killed at night, roughly two-thirds aren't wearing restraints. During the day, the percentage of unrestrained fatalities tends to be under half."

So, my advice for night owls:
* Use vitamin D supplements or UV-B lamps and have regular 25(OH)D blood tests;
* Marry someone with a similar schedule (or, work at home together), and don't assume about people you're seeing;
* Homeschool; and
* Drive a Volvo or other extra safe car and wear your seat belt.

Well, I'd say those same advice for anyone, :-) but those all can be a bigger issues for people with different rhythms.

Just to note that curing vitamin D deficiency (very inexpensive, either from sunlight or supplements) can prevent many cases of cancer:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/cancerMain.shtml
as well as many cases of heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, periodontal disease, influenza, autism, and more (there are different degrees of scientific evidence for those). See:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

But vitamin D supplements or sunbathing is so cheap, there is not profit in telling people about this...
"Treating Disease With Vitamin D"
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
"Why Michelle Obama is More Likely to Die From Breast Cancer than Hillary Clinton"
http://curtisduncan.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-michelle-obama-is-more-likely-to.html

There are other inexpensive treatments to prevent or cure cancer with various degrees of anecdotal evidence (like IV vitamin C as a cancer treatment),
http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/OtherCancers/2938
but curing vitamin D deficiency (now widespread as we all spend more time indoors at computers) has lots of scientific evidence about its value in relation to cancer and a wide variety of other things because vitamin D is essential to regulating the expression of thousands of gene. That is why being vitamin D deficient has such widespread negative effects -- sort of like deleting thousands of files at random on your hard drive... What's amazing is that humans survive at all with so little sunlight... So big is this effect of vitamin D deficiency on health that for Western Europe alone it has been suggested:
"A Decade Of Vitamin D Supplementation Would Save $4.4 Trillion Over A Decade; Would Save $1346 Per Person Per Annum"
http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi111.html

Where are the US CDC, FDA, AMA, and other acronyms doing about all this? Good question...

Essentially, the US RDA for vitamin D is about ten times too low, as it was set decades ago for healthy bones, not a healthy heart, a healthy brain, a healthy immune system, or a healthy weight. The toxicity fears have also been overblown (vitamin A is much more toxic, and according to Dr. Cannell who runs the vitamin D council website, many people through supplements have too much vitamin A which interferes with vitamin D.)
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDToxicity.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/2008-december.shtml

Although just how much vitamin D as supplements you need depends on things like your weight, your skin color, your behavior outdoors, your latitude, your personal biochemestry, and so on, so regular blood tests are important (even though people still disagree over what the optimum level should be). Example:
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html

The average light skinned human adult in a bathing suit at moderate latitudes under noonday summer sun will make 10,000 to 20,000 IUs of vitamin D in twenty minutes or so in their skin, and up to 50,000 units before their skin turns pink (sunburns are of course bad for you). The reaction is self

Just to note that curing vitamin D deficiency (very inexpensive, either from sunlight or supplements) can prevent many cases of cancer:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/cancerMain.shtml
as well as many cases of heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, periodontal disease, influenza, autism, and more (there are different degrees of scientific evidence for those). See:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

But vitamin D supplements or sunbathing is so cheap, there is not profit in telling people about this...
"Treating Disease With Vitamin D"
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
"Why Michelle Obama is More Likely to Die From Breast Cancer than Hillary Clinton"
http://curtisduncan.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-michelle-obama-is-more-likely-to.html

There are other inexpensive treatments to prevent or cure cancer with various degrees of anecdotal evidence (like IV vitamin C as a cancer treatment),
http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/OtherCancers/2938
but curing vitamin D deficiency (now widespread as we all spend more time indoors at computers) has lots of scientific evidence about its value in relation to cancer and a wide variety of other things because vitamin D is essential to regulating the expression of thousands of gene. That is why being vitamin D deficient has such widespread negative effects -- sort of like deleting thousands of files at random on your hard drive... What's amazing is that humans survive at all with so little sunlight... So big is this effect of vitamin D deficiency on health that for Western Europe alone it has been suggested:
"A Decade Of Vitamin D Supplementation Would Save $4.4 Trillion Over A Decade; Would Save $1346 Per Person Per Annum"
http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi111.html

Where are the US CDC, FDA, AMA, and other acronyms doing about all this? Good question...

Essentially, the US RDA for vitamin D is about ten times too low, as it was set decades ago for healthy bones, not a healthy heart, a healthy brain, a healthy immune system, or a healthy weight. The toxicity fears have also been overblown (vitamin A is much more toxic, and according to Dr. Cannell who runs the vitamin D council website, many people through supplements have too much vitamin A which interferes with vitamin D.)
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDToxicity.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/2008-december.shtml

Although just how much vitamin D as supplements you need depends on things like your weight, your skin color, your behavior outdoors, your latitude, your personal biochemestry, and so on, so regular blood tests are important (even though people still disagree over what the optimum level should be). Example:
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html

The average light skinned human adult in a bathing suit at moderate latitudes under noonday summer sun will make 10,000 to 20,000 IUs of vitamin D in twenty minutes or so in their skin, and up to 50,000 units before their skin turns pink (sunburns are of course bad for you). The reaction is self

Just to note that curing vitamin D deficiency (very inexpensive, either from sunlight or supplements) can prevent many cases of cancer:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/cancerMain.shtml
as well as many cases of heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, periodontal disease, influenza, autism, and more (there are different degrees of scientific evidence for those). See:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

But vitamin D supplements or sunbathing is so cheap, there is not profit in telling people about this...
"Treating Disease With Vitamin D"
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
"Why Michelle Obama is More Likely to Die From Breast Cancer than Hillary Clinton"
http://curtisduncan.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-michelle-obama-is-more-likely-to.html

There are other inexpensive treatments to prevent or cure cancer with various degrees of anecdotal evidence (like IV vitamin C as a cancer treatment),
http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/OtherCancers/2938
but curing vitamin D deficiency (now widespread as we all spend more time indoors at computers) has lots of scientific evidence about its value in relation to cancer and a wide variety of other things because vitamin D is essential to regulating the expression of thousands of gene. That is why being vitamin D deficient has such widespread negative effects -- sort of like deleting thousands of files at random on your hard drive... What's amazing is that humans survive at all with so little sunlight... So big is this effect of vitamin D deficiency on health that for Western Europe alone it has been suggested:
"A Decade Of Vitamin D Supplementation Would Save $4.4 Trillion Over A Decade; Would Save $1346 Per Person Per Annum"
http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi111.html

Where are the US CDC, FDA, AMA, and other acronyms doing about all this? Good question...

Essentially, the US RDA for vitamin D is about ten times too low, as it was set decades ago for healthy bones, not a healthy heart, a healthy brain, a healthy immune system, or a healthy weight. The toxicity fears have also been overblown (vitamin A is much more toxic, and according to Dr. Cannell who runs the vitamin D council website, many people through supplements have too much vitamin A which interferes with vitamin D.)
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDToxicity.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/2008-december.shtml

Although just how much vitamin D as supplements you need depends on things like your weight, your skin color, your behavior outdoors, your latitude, your personal biochemestry, and so on, so regular blood tests are important (even though people still disagree over what the optimum level should be). Example:
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html

The average light skinned human adult in a bathing suit at moderate latitudes under noonday summer sun will make 10,000 to 20,000 IUs of vitamin D in twenty minutes or so in their skin, and up to 50,000 units before their skin turns pink (sunburns are of course bad for you). The reaction is self

Just to note that curing vitamin D deficiency (very inexpensive, either from sunlight or supplements) can prevent many cases of cancer:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/cancerMain.shtml
as well as many cases of heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, periodontal disease, influenza, autism, and more (there are different degrees of scientific evidence for those). See:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

But vitamin D supplements or sunbathing is so cheap, there is not profit in telling people about this...
"Treating Disease With Vitamin D"
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
"Why Michelle Obama is More Likely to Die From Breast Cancer than Hillary Clinton"
http://curtisduncan.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-michelle-obama-is-more-likely-to.html

There are other inexpensive treatments to prevent or cure cancer with various degrees of anecdotal evidence (like IV vitamin C as a cancer treatment),
http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/OtherCancers/2938
but curing vitamin D deficiency (now widespread as we all spend more time indoors at computers) has lots of scientific evidence about its value in relation to cancer and a wide variety of other things because vitamin D is essential to regulating the expression of thousands of gene. That is why being vitamin D deficient has such widespread negative effects -- sort of like deleting thousands of files at random on your hard drive... What's amazing is that humans survive at all with so little sunlight... So big is this effect of vitamin D deficiency on health that for Western Europe alone it has been suggested:
"A Decade Of Vitamin D Supplementation Would Save $4.4 Trillion Over A Decade; Would Save $1346 Per Person Per Annum"
http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi111.html

Where are the US CDC, FDA, AMA, and other acronyms doing about all this? Good question...

Essentially, the US RDA for vitamin D is about ten times too low, as it was set decades ago for healthy bones, not a healthy heart, a healthy brain, a healthy immune system, or a healthy weight. The toxicity fears have also been overblown (vitamin A is much more toxic, and according to Dr. Cannell who runs the vitamin D council website, many people through supplements have too much vitamin A which interferes with vitamin D.)
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDToxicity.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/2008-december.shtml

Although just how much vitamin D as supplements you need depends on things like your weight, your skin color, your behavior outdoors, your latitude, your personal biochemestry, and so on, so regular blood tests are important (even though people still disagree over what the optimum level should be). Example:
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html

The average light skinned human adult in a bathing suit at moderate latitudes under noonday summer sun will make 10,000 to 20,000 IUs of vitamin D in twenty minutes or so in their skin, and up to 50,000 units before their skin turns pink (sunburns are of course bad for you). The reaction is self

Just to note that curing vitamin D deficiency (very inexpensive, either from sunlight or supplements) can prevent many cases of cancer:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/cancerMain.shtml
as well as many cases of heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, periodontal disease, influenza, autism, and more (there are different degrees of scientific evidence for those). See:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

But vitamin D supplements or sunbathing is so cheap, there is not profit in telling people about this...
"Treating Disease With Vitamin D"
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
"Why Michelle Obama is More Likely to Die From Breast Cancer than Hillary Clinton"
http://curtisduncan.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-michelle-obama-is-more-likely-to.html

There are other inexpensive treatments to prevent or cure cancer with various degrees of anecdotal evidence (like IV vitamin C as a cancer treatment),
http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/OtherCancers/2938
but curing vitamin D deficiency (now widespread as we all spend more time indoors at computers) has lots of scientific evidence about its value in relation to cancer and a wide variety of other things because vitamin D is essential to regulating the expression of thousands of gene. That is why being vitamin D deficient has such widespread negative effects -- sort of like deleting thousands of files at random on your hard drive... What's amazing is that humans survive at all with so little sunlight... So big is this effect of vitamin D deficiency on health that for Western Europe alone it has been suggested:
"A Decade Of Vitamin D Supplementation Would Save $4.4 Trillion Over A Decade; Would Save $1346 Per Person Per Annum"
http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi111.html

Where are the US CDC, FDA, AMA, and other acronyms doing about all this? Good question...

Essentially, the US RDA for vitamin D is about ten times too low, as it was set decades ago for healthy bones, not a healthy heart, a healthy brain, a healthy immune system, or a healthy weight. The toxicity fears have also been overblown (vitamin A is much more toxic, and according to Dr. Cannell who runs the vitamin D council website, many people through supplements have too much vitamin A which interferes with vitamin D.)
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDToxicity.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/2008-december.shtml

Although just how much vitamin D as supplements you need depends on things like your weight, your skin color, your behavior outdoors, your latitude, your personal biochemestry, and so on, so regular blood tests are important (even though people still disagree over what the optimum level should be). Example:
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html

The average light skinned human adult in a bathing suit at moderate latitudes under noonday summer sun will make 10,000 to 20,000 IUs of vitamin D in twenty minutes or so in their skin, and up to 50,000 units before their skin turns pink (sunburns are of course bad for you). The reaction is self

Except that the problem is not solved if (and I say if, since it is controversial) violent games contribute to broader social violence and dysfunction.

We do know for sure that spending too much time indoors leads to vitamin D deficiency from lack of sunlight that leads to grumpy people with lots of health problems. Of course, reading anything too much indoors (even sacred texts) can do that too. So, if you are an indoor gamer or a reader of any sort, please at least get vitamin D from supplements of some sort:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

There is also the bigger issue that advertising creates demand for these violent products. And like cigarettes, violent games and toys are often targeted to very young children in various ways (Joe Camel, etc.). As talked about here:
"The War Play Dilemma: What Every Parent And Teacher Needs to Know"
http://www.amazon.com/War-Play-Dilemma-Childhood-Education/dp/080774638X
their is an unhealthy alliance between toy makers, fast food makers, video game makers, media makers, and licensed product makers to bombard young boys 24X7 with violence-related images to sell product. So, for example, a ten year old boy gets a Star Wars "Happy" meal at McDonalds, watches Star Wars cartoons at home, sleeps under Star Wars blankets, buys Star Wars lightsabers, plays Star Wars video games, sees Star Wars related commercials at random times even when watching other things on TV, has Star Wars pictures on their school notebook covers, and so on. This is 24X7 infiltration of the kid's mind with the implicit suggestion that violence and wars are the best way to solve conflicts, and that there are clearly defined good guys (us) and clearly defined bad guys (by whatever means, color, shape, speech, dress, etc.), and that military robots are a good idea (rather than using technology to bring abundance to all). Rather than define the Emperor as a mentally ill and financially obese person needing help, he is just "evil" and only killing him is the solution. And kids get locked in a cycle of endless tightly scripted play at home, at school, outdoors -- anywhere, where there is only one solution to a conflict -- killing. There are a lot of other reasons kids are hurting, but this continual onslaught by for-profit companies 24X7 just adds to it.

For girls, it is even worse: :-(
http://www.amazon.com/So-Sexy-Soon-Sexualized-Childhood/dp/0345505077

Though some of that is also from environmental toxins (estrogen mimics) and poor nutrition heavy on fats connected especially to fast foods; see:
http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/039306848X

So, while it is easy to blame the parents for not regulating everything a child engages in, clearly the job of parenting has become much harder over the last few decades in this regard (even since the "family values" Reagan Administration gave this alliance their blessing), and parents are not getting much help in general. It takes a village to raise a child.

Everyone acts so concerned about physical predation by strangers on a child (which very rarely happens even if it is a tragedy when it does). But people in the USA just accept mental predation on young children as a given in our society through the logic of profit-making and an unregulated "free market". But the fact is, any marketplace is a social construction:
"The Mythology of Wealth"
http://www.conceptualguerilla.com/?q=node/402
Venezuela has decided to change the nature of that social construction. I don't agree w

Well, I guess people agree with you that citing two experts in the field on child development and violent media and games is "trolling" in the context of a discussion on banning violent video games (people who outline a nuanced view if anyone bothered to look at the book). The link again:
"The War Play Dilemma: What Every Parent And Teacher Needs to Know"
http://www.amazon.com/War-Play-Dilemma-Childhood-Education/dp/080774638X

The "dilemma" in the title is the conflict between helping kids work through developmental issues about violence vs. sending a message about violence being undesirable. I wrote a review of that book here with the key points:
http://www.pdfernhout.net/the-war-play-dilemma.html
"""
From the table of contents, here is the list of topics in their "Guidelines for Resolving the War Play Dilemma" (each topic has a few pages of explanation and suggestions):
* Guideline 1: Limit Children's Exposure to Violence
* Guideline 2: Help Children Engage in Creative and Meaningful Dramatic Play
* Guideline 3: Learn as Much as You Can [about the media scenes kids view]
* Guideline 4: In Children's War Play, Address the Issues
* Guideline 5: Work to Counteract the Lessons About Violence and Stereotyping
* Guideline 6: Make Keeping the Play Safe You Highest Priority
* Guideline 7: Limit the Use of Highly Structured Violent Toys
* Guideline 8: Work to Counteract Highly Stereotyped and Limiting Gender Roles
* Guideline 9: Create an Ongoing Dialog Between Educators and Parents
In my own life, I grew up being taught in public school that I lived in a modern day Athens. As I've grow older, and paid more attention to politics and where taxes go, it feels more to me more like I live in a modern day Sparta. :-( Here is a long list of where many of our tax dollars have gone:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_military_history_events
I was surprised to learn how long that list is, regardless of how one feels about the value of any specific event.
I've come to agree with the late Major General Smedley D. Butler (USMC Retired), based on his decades of combat experience, that "War is a Racket":
http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm
"""

Whatever you think of the rest of what I wrote, please look into the issue of vitamin D deficiency I mentioned, both for yourself and to help your family or friends or neighbors:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

Most slashdotters probably suffer from vitamin D deficiency, and it might help explain some of the increasing hostility and problematical posts here with people spending so much time indoors using computers, whether they are playing violent games or not:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/depression.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/mentalIllness.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/

But it is not just mental things; vitamin D deficiency can also contribute to joint pain, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, tooth decay,

Well, I guess people agree with you that citing two experts in the field on child development and violent media and games is "trolling" in the context of a discussion on banning violent video games (people who outline a nuanced view if anyone bothered to look at the book). The link again:
"The War Play Dilemma: What Every Parent And Teacher Needs to Know"
http://www.amazon.com/War-Play-Dilemma-Childhood-Education/dp/080774638X

The "dilemma" in the title is the conflict between helping kids work through developmental issues about violence vs. sending a message about violence being undesirable. I wrote a review of that book here with the key points:
http://www.pdfernhout.net/the-war-play-dilemma.html
"""
From the table of contents, here is the list of topics in their "Guidelines for Resolving the War Play Dilemma" (each topic has a few pages of explanation and suggestions):
* Guideline 1: Limit Children's Exposure to Violence
* Guideline 2: Help Children Engage in Creative and Meaningful Dramatic Play
* Guideline 3: Learn as Much as You Can [about the media scenes kids view]
* Guideline 4: In Children's War Play, Address the Issues
* Guideline 5: Work to Counteract the Lessons About Violence and Stereotyping
* Guideline 6: Make Keeping the Play Safe You Highest Priority
* Guideline 7: Limit the Use of Highly Structured Violent Toys
* Guideline 8: Work to Counteract Highly Stereotyped and Limiting Gender Roles
* Guideline 9: Create an Ongoing Dialog Between Educators and Parents
In my own life, I grew up being taught in public school that I lived in a modern day Athens. As I've grow older, and paid more attention to politics and where taxes go, it feels more to me more like I live in a modern day Sparta. :-( Here is a long list of where many of our tax dollars have gone:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_military_history_events
I was surprised to learn how long that list is, regardless of how one feels about the value of any specific event.
I've come to agree with the late Major General Smedley D. Butler (USMC Retired), based on his decades of combat experience, that "War is a Racket":
http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm
"""

Whatever you think of the rest of what I wrote, please look into the issue of vitamin D deficiency I mentioned, both for yourself and to help your family or friends or neighbors:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

Most slashdotters probably suffer from vitamin D deficiency, and it might help explain some of the increasing hostility and problematical posts here with people spending so much time indoors using computers, whether they are playing violent games or not:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/depression.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/mentalIllness.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/

But it is not just mental things; vitamin D deficiency can also contribute to joint pain, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, tooth decay,

Well, I guess people agree with you that citing two experts in the field on child development and violent media and games is "trolling" in the context of a discussion on banning violent video games (people who outline a nuanced view if anyone bothered to look at the book). The link again:
"The War Play Dilemma: What Every Parent And Teacher Needs to Know"
http://www.amazon.com/War-Play-Dilemma-Childhood-Education/dp/080774638X

The "dilemma" in the title is the conflict between helping kids work through developmental issues about violence vs. sending a message about violence being undesirable. I wrote a review of that book here with the key points:
http://www.pdfernhout.net/the-war-play-dilemma.html
"""
From the table of contents, here is the list of topics in their "Guidelines for Resolving the War Play Dilemma" (each topic has a few pages of explanation and suggestions):
* Guideline 1: Limit Children's Exposure to Violence
* Guideline 2: Help Children Engage in Creative and Meaningful Dramatic Play
* Guideline 3: Learn as Much as You Can [about the media scenes kids view]
* Guideline 4: In Children's War Play, Address the Issues
* Guideline 5: Work to Counteract the Lessons About Violence and Stereotyping
* Guideline 6: Make Keeping the Play Safe You Highest Priority
* Guideline 7: Limit the Use of Highly Structured Violent Toys
* Guideline 8: Work to Counteract Highly Stereotyped and Limiting Gender Roles
* Guideline 9: Create an Ongoing Dialog Between Educators and Parents
In my own life, I grew up being taught in public school that I lived in a modern day Athens. As I've grow older, and paid more attention to politics and where taxes go, it feels more to me more like I live in a modern day Sparta. :-( Here is a long list of where many of our tax dollars have gone:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_military_history_events
I was surprised to learn how long that list is, regardless of how one feels about the value of any specific event.
I've come to agree with the late Major General Smedley D. Butler (USMC Retired), based on his decades of combat experience, that "War is a Racket":
http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm
"""

Whatever you think of the rest of what I wrote, please look into the issue of vitamin D deficiency I mentioned, both for yourself and to help your family or friends or neighbors:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

Most slashdotters probably suffer from vitamin D deficiency, and it might help explain some of the increasing hostility and problematical posts here with people spending so much time indoors using computers, whether they are playing violent games or not:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/depression.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/mentalIllness.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/

But it is not just mental things; vitamin D deficiency can also contribute to joint pain, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, tooth decay,

Well, I guess people agree with you that citing two experts in the field on child development and violent media and games is "trolling" in the context of a discussion on banning violent video games (people who outline a nuanced view if anyone bothered to look at the book). The link again:
"The War Play Dilemma: What Every Parent And Teacher Needs to Know"
http://www.amazon.com/War-Play-Dilemma-Childhood-Education/dp/080774638X

The "dilemma" in the title is the conflict between helping kids work through developmental issues about violence vs. sending a message about violence being undesirable. I wrote a review of that book here with the key points:
http://www.pdfernhout.net/the-war-play-dilemma.html
"""
From the table of contents, here is the list of topics in their "Guidelines for Resolving the War Play Dilemma" (each topic has a few pages of explanation and suggestions):
* Guideline 1: Limit Children's Exposure to Violence
* Guideline 2: Help Children Engage in Creative and Meaningful Dramatic Play
* Guideline 3: Learn as Much as You Can [about the media scenes kids view]
* Guideline 4: In Children's War Play, Address the Issues
* Guideline 5: Work to Counteract the Lessons About Violence and Stereotyping
* Guideline 6: Make Keeping the Play Safe You Highest Priority
* Guideline 7: Limit the Use of Highly Structured Violent Toys
* Guideline 8: Work to Counteract Highly Stereotyped and Limiting Gender Roles
* Guideline 9: Create an Ongoing Dialog Between Educators and Parents
In my own life, I grew up being taught in public school that I lived in a modern day Athens. As I've grow older, and paid more attention to politics and where taxes go, it feels more to me more like I live in a modern day Sparta. :-( Here is a long list of where many of our tax dollars have gone:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_military_history_events
I was surprised to learn how long that list is, regardless of how one feels about the value of any specific event.
I've come to agree with the late Major General Smedley D. Butler (USMC Retired), based on his decades of combat experience, that "War is a Racket":
http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm
"""

Whatever you think of the rest of what I wrote, please look into the issue of vitamin D deficiency I mentioned, both for yourself and to help your family or friends or neighbors:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

Most slashdotters probably suffer from vitamin D deficiency, and it might help explain some of the increasing hostility and problematical posts here with people spending so much time indoors using computers, whether they are playing violent games or not:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/depression.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/mentalIllness.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/

But it is not just mental things; vitamin D deficiency can also contribute to joint pain, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, tooth decay,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Freedoms
"""
The Four Freedoms were goals articulated by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt on January 6, 1941. In an address known as the Four Freedoms speech (technically the 1941 State of the Union address), he proposed four fundamental freedoms that people "everywhere in the world" ought to enjoy:
1. Freedom of speech and expression
2. Freedom of religion
3. Freedom from want
4. Freedom from fear
"""

Freedom from want includes things like redistribution, but also socially-directed investment to create health and material abundance for all. Freedom from fear includes things like reducing violence in a society. In this case, the chose method of banning the games to free people from fear and want can be seen as conflicting with freedom of speech and expression.

I think taxing the games would have been a more sensible approach to the externality created by violent media:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality
and either redistributing the tax revenue equally to everyone, or using it to combat violence somehow and promote the creation of more pro-social media.

A tax on violent media is kind of like saying people could shout "fire" in a crowded theater, but if they do it as a prank and it makes trouble for everyone, they are going to pay a serious fine to reimburse everyone for the trouble they cause.

Still, it is hard to say how much different games (violent or not) really harm society. A worse general problem is that people spending too much time indoors playing any sort of game (or even reading books) become vitamin D deficient.
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/
So, should all games and books have a tax on them for that?

And, children do need to work through issues of violence, even as they also need to be told that violence (and other aggression) is anti-social, which creates a dilemma (discussed in this book, which recommends reducing exposure to violent media, but not banning it):
http://www.amazon.com/War-Play-Dilemma-Childhood-Education/dp/080774638X

I wrote a review of that book here:
http://www.pdfernhout.net/the-war-play-dilemma.html
"""
From the table of contents, here is the list of topics in their "Guidelines for Resolving the War Play Dilemma" (each topic has a few pages of explanation and suggestions):
* Guideline 1: Limit Children's Exposure to Violence
* Guideline 2: Help Children Engage in Creative and Meaningful Dramatic Play
* Guideline 3: Learn as Much as You Can [about the media scenes kids view]
* Guideline 4: In Children's War Play, Address the Issues
* Guideline 5: Work to Counteract the Lessons About Violence and Stereotyping
* Guideline 6: Make Keeping the Play Safe You Highest Priority
* Guideline 7: Limit the Use of Highly Structured Violent Toys
* Guideline 8: Work to Counteract Highly Stereotyped and Limiting Gender Roles
* Guideline 9: Create an Ongoing Dialog Between Educators and Parents
"""

On the broader topic of freedom, consider:
"Libertarianism: Marxism of the Right"
http://www.amconmag.com/article/2005/mar/14/00017/
"""
The most fundamental problem with libertarianism is very simple: freedom, though a good thing, is simp

Mutual security is a better answer than unilateral security (and even deterrence):
    http://www.beyondintractability.org/audio/morton_deutsch/?nid=2430

Intrinsic security (sustainable, resilient infrastructure) is a better answer than extrinsic security (soldier-defended infrastructure).
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittle_Power

The problem is that unilateral extrinsic security theater that actually is insecure and spawns more enemies (like in Iraq) is very profitable, according to a US Major General:
    http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

So, we may need to move to a society that is moving beyond the profit motive to have true security. To do that, we need a basic income, an expanding gift economy, improved local subsistence with 3D printing and organic gardening, more resource-based planning, a push to turn work into play, and other similar things, if we are to be reasonably secure. As long as war is profitable and profits are worshiped, we will have endless war.

Censoring the games won't fix that. People tend to turn to addictive behavior when they are under stress.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park
We need to improve society so there is less bad stress. One part of that is improving general human health now that we all spend so much time indoors:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
Another part is making sure everyone feels secure in the basics.
    http://www.basicincome.org/bien/aboutbasicincome.html
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Freedoms
And then more things flow from there.

Please see this book (and my other previous comment here):
    http://www.amazon.com/War-Play-Dilemma-Childhood-Education/dp/080774638X

I wrote a review of it here:
    http://www.pdfernhout.net/the-war-play-dilemma.html

Other related books about general issues and about what has been done to girls via media (and poor nutrition):
    http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/039306848X
    http://www.amazon.com/So-Sexy-Soon-Sexualized-Childhood/dp/0345505077

And something every caregiver should know now that kids spend a lot of time indoors and have become vitamin D deficient:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

We got rid of broadcast TV long ago too (we do use DVDs like Mr. Rogers and nature videos, and selected YouTube).

While I don't recommend any screen media for younger kids if you can avoid it, this site is pretty good for age four:
    http://www.poissonrouge.com/

As is this:
    http://www.starfall.com/

For older ages, some good things are:
    http://www.learner.org/
    http://www.khanacademy.org/
    http://www.cosmolearning.com/

A caregiver needs to create a safe nurturing environment within a child's needs and abilities. You are doing the right thing.

Other useful links:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parenting_styles
    http://www.motherstyles.com/

It's been said by Major General Smedly Butler that War is a Racket:
http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

Well, another racket is the unhealthy alliance between toymakers and media makers, a racket that started with deregulation of children's media under the "family values" Reagan Administration. That racket has destroyed big chunks of healthy childhood for many young boys:
"The War Play Dilemma: What Every Parent And Teacher Needs to Know"
http://www.amazon.com/War-Play-Dilemma-Childhood-Education/dp/080774638X

One of the authors of that book suggests a similar unhealthy alliance has make a lot of money harming young girls as a racket, too:
"So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids"
http://www.amazon.com/So-Sexy-Soon-Sexualized-Childhood/dp/0345505077

Also, an indirectly related book from the time just before the first September 11th (in Chile in 1973):
"How to Read Donald Duck: Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comic"
http://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Donald-Duck-Imperialist/dp/0884770230

With that said, I don't think banning is the answer. Money poured into alternatives and discussion is probably a better solution. Alfie Kohn's work is a good start for such discussion (beyond the above books):
"No Contest: The Case Against Competition"
http://www.share-international.org/archives/cooperation/co_nocontest.htm
http://www.amazon.com/No-Contest-Case-Against-Competition/dp/0395631254
"Contending that competition in all areas -- school, family, sports and business -- is destructive, and that success so achieved is at the expense of another's failure, Kohn, a correspondent for USA Today, advocates a restructuring of our institutions to replace competition with cooperation. He persuasively demonstrates how the ingrained American myth that competition is the only normal and desirable way of life -- from Little Leagues to the presidency -- is counterproductive, personally and for the national economy, and how psychologically it poisons relationships, fosters anxiety and takes the fun out of work and play. He charges that competition is a learned phenomenon and denies that it builds character and self-esteem. Kohn's measures to encourage cooperation in lieu of competition include promoting noncompetitive games, eliminating scholastic grades and substitution of mutual security for national security."

Another related book to understand how it all went so wrong:
"Supernormal Stimuli: How Primal Urges Overran Their Evolutionary Purpose"
http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/039306848X

Also, curing vitamin D deficiency that people get from staying indoors too much playing games or even just reading is probably more important:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

Also, kids need to learn the irony that in a world full of fancy computers and advanced manufacturing (like depicted in many such violent games), fighting over land or oil is just ironically stupid, instead of using that technology to make the world work for everyone. The unrecognized irony is more deadly than those games.

"21,000 Flexible Public Fabrication Facilities across the USA"
http://opengov.ideascale.com/a/dtd/8412-4049

Also:
"Revisit the Triple Revolution Memorandum sent to President Johnson"
http://opengov.ideascale.com/a/dtd/8402-4049

Also:
"Something I tried to post here but did not appear:
"Policy Forum on Public Access to Federally Funded Research: Implementation""
http://www.cnewmark.com/2009/12/making-govt-work-a-huge-step.html#comments
"""
Summary: This topic of how government funds academic research is fairly inseparable from related STEM education issues that touch on every aspect of the USA as it becomes a 21st-century society heavily dependent on science and technology while at the same time facing an employment crisis (in part from automation and better design causing structural unemployment -- even within academia and related research institutions). The essay explores problems with the current research funding model (of which open publication is just one part) with connections to all levels of the K-emeritus academic enterprise. Then it points towards some solutions like a "basic income" to help the USA transition to a full-fledged 21st century "post-scarcity" society where giving information away under open licenses would be the default in most situations.
"""

And I've posted stuff on how treating vitamin D deficiency could save hundreds of billions of dollars a year in US medical costs:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

Thanks. I've enjoyed our dialogue.

On your point, while I like the metaphor, we are not talking about real tapeworms. We are talking about human beings with a certain culture and a certain ideology that make them act like tapeworms. And we are talking about others who help them to be parasites through ignorance or not thinking they have options. How many kids join the military due to the "economic draft"?
http://www.workers.org/us/2005/economic-draft-0303/
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/War_Peace/Economic_Draft.html

And sure, many parasites got these wars going precisely so they could get a bit of the action, one dollar in their pocket for ever thousand dollars of tax payer money wasted. A key idea here:
http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

A good sci-fi book on this broader theme of abundance and war is James P. Hogan's 1982 novel "Voyage from Yesteryear".
http://www.jamesphogan.com/books/info.php?titleID=29&cmd=summary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyage_from_Yesteryear

As he points out there, the tapeworms as you mention will not get much support if everyone else has abundance. Besides, in a word of abundance, if some "lunatic" wants to build self-replicating space habitats on the Moon, why worry about it? There would be plenty of energy and stuff to go around, and it might provide some amusement.

So, ask yourself, why do people want to be tapeworms? And why do others go along with their plans?

I think key issues are "ignorance" and "want":
"A Christmas Carol: Ignorance and Want"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6MFN8yiVc0

But it is precisely abundance from the internet and robotics that may end ignorance and want.

So then, we are left mainly with the issue of mental illness to have people causing wars. Adequate vitamin D from supplements or sunshine can help relieve a lot of that too:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/mentalIllness.shtml

More resources for families could help relieve some of it too:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/dobbs-orchid-gene
"Most of us have genes that make us as hardy as dandelions: able to take root and survive almost anywhere. A few of us, however, are more like the orchid: fragile and fickle, but capable of blooming spectacularly if given greenhouse care. So holds a provocative new theory of genetics, which asserts that the very genes that give us the most trouble as a species, causing behaviors that are self-destructive and antisocial, also underlie humankind's phenomenal adaptability and evolutionary success. With a bad environment and poor parenting, orchid children can end up depressed, drug-addicted, or in jail--but with the right environment and good parenting, they can grow up to be society's most creative, successful, and happy people."

Hitler wanted to be a painter for example:
"Adolf Hitler painting may have hung in Sigmund Freud's surgery"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7221058/Adolf-Hitler-painting-may-have-hung-in-Sigmund-Freuds-surgery.html
Would he have turned to politics if he had not had to worry about selling his paintings?

Will the world always have a problem with bullies and the mentally ill who hoard w

I decided to post the whole thing as a reply here since it is not easily accessible, even though there are a couple of replies there and additional comments by me.

Embedded software developer Joseph Stack allegedly intentionally flew a small plane into government offices in Austin, TX, in an act that has been labeled as domestic terrorism. He cited, among other things, IRS regulations about independent contractor status as well as other issues related to government corruption.

Could his behavior have been partially due to vitamin D deficiency syndrome from indoor work? Could vitamin D deficiency also have contributed to the violent behavior alleged of Hans Reiser or Amy Bishop? And is part of the problem also that Joe Stack was not talking to anyone about any of this to think through real solutions and find positive things to do that, as Mr. Rogers sang, would not hurt himself or anyone else?

Here are some useful resources for preventing more copycat violence to show how there are plenty of alternatives to violence despite Joe Stack's claim otherwise in his manifesto:

Treating Disease With Vitamin D

Surviving America's Depression Epidemic: How to Find Morale, Energy, and Community in a World Gone Crazy

Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way Through Life's Ordeals

Albert Einstein on: Religion and Science

A wombat talks about a global mindshift

TED | Peter Eigen on moving beyond corruption

The Optimism of Uncertainty

Social Movements and Strategic Nonviolence

As another software developer who has done embedded work, here are some non-programming things I've worked on related to helping people see positive alternatives to violence:

Possible cures for a jobless recovery

Post-Scarcity Princeton, or, Reading between the lines of PAW for prospective Princeton students, or, the Health Risks of Heart Disease

Rebutting Communiqué from an Absent Future

The amazing thing to me is not that stuff like this happens. What is amazing is that it does not happen more often, which is a tribute to most of humanity's basic social nature. In a way, even Joe Stack chose a relatively limited approach; an embedded software developer such as he was could have done far more damage if trying to create general mayhem (he could have tampered with nuclear power plants or medical devices or airplane software). There is also irony here that a person took a very advanced piece of technology — a private airplane, and all that it represents as a technological marvel — and used it to destroy a past instead of to create a future.

What do people think and feel about all this?

I decided to post the whole thing as a reply here since it is not easily accessible, even though there are a couple of replies there and additional comments by me.

Embedded software developer Joseph Stack allegedly intentionally flew a small plane into government offices in Austin, TX, in an act that has been labeled as domestic terrorism. He cited, among other things, IRS regulations about independent contractor status as well as other issues related to government corruption.

Could his behavior have been partially due to vitamin D deficiency syndrome from indoor work? Could vitamin D deficiency also have contributed to the violent behavior alleged of Hans Reiser or Amy Bishop? And is part of the problem also that Joe Stack was not talking to anyone about any of this to think through real solutions and find positive things to do that, as Mr. Rogers sang, would not hurt himself or anyone else?

Here are some useful resources for preventing more copycat violence to show how there are plenty of alternatives to violence despite Joe Stack's claim otherwise in his manifesto:

Treating Disease With Vitamin D

Surviving America's Depression Epidemic: How to Find Morale, Energy, and Community in a World Gone Crazy

Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way Through Life's Ordeals

Albert Einstein on: Religion and Science

A wombat talks about a global mindshift

TED | Peter Eigen on moving beyond corruption

The Optimism of Uncertainty

Social Movements and Strategic Nonviolence

As another software developer who has done embedded work, here are some non-programming things I've worked on related to helping people see positive alternatives to violence:

Possible cures for a jobless recovery

Post-Scarcity Princeton, or, Reading between the lines of PAW for prospective Princeton students, or, the Health Risks of Heart Disease

Rebutting Communiqué from an Absent Future

The amazing thing to me is not that stuff like this happens. What is amazing is that it does not happen more often, which is a tribute to most of humanity's basic social nature. In a way, even Joe Stack chose a relatively limited approach; an embedded software developer such as he was could have done far more damage if trying to create general mayhem (he could have tampered with nuclear power plants or medical devices or airplane software). There is also irony here that a person took a very advanced piece of technology — a private airplane, and all that it represents as a technological marvel — and used it to destroy a past instead of to create a future.

What do people think and feel about all this?

Here is my story submission on it (I think you have to be logged in to see it):
    http://slashdot.org/submission/1176330/Programmer-plane-crash-targeted-feds

I suggested that vitamin D deficiency may be one factor, since inadequate vitamin D is slowly being recognized as an occupational hazard of indoor office work creating all sorts of health risks. Vitamin D deficiency can contribute to depression and schizophrenia, as well as cancer and heart disease, obesity, influenza, autism, and other things. Vitamin D deficiency is now common in the USA, since that many people as we all spend more time indoors at computer screens; here is how to treat it and prevent it:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

I listed other ways there that might help prevent additional such tragedies. There is a deep irony here that a person took a very advanced piece of technology -- a private airplane, and all that it represents as a technological marvel -- and used it to destroy a past instead of to create a future. Very sad situation for everyone all around. We need to build a 21st century society socially and economically to go with the 21st century society we now have technically -- otherwise the divide-by-zero errors (from automated production costs falling to zero) and social absurdities and ironies will drag our society down eventually. We were lucky that Joe Stack, an embedded software developer, chose such a limited means (relatively) to express his anger, when you consider how much of our civilization depends on embedded software (from airplanes to nuclear power plants to medical equipment to electronic voting).

A lot of people become homeschoolers because they tried for decades to change the system from within. From Wikipedia: "John Taylor Gatto (born December 15, 1935) is an American retired school teacher of 29 years and 8 months and author of several books on education. He is an activist critical of compulsory schooling and of what he characterizes as the hegemonic nature of discourse on education and the education professions."

More from there:
"""
What does the school do with the children? Gatto takes this in "Dumbing Us Down", the following propositions:
1. Makes the the children confused. It presents an incoherent ensemble of information that the child needs to memorize, to stay in school. Apart from the tests and trials that programming is similar to the television, fills almost the whole, "free" time of the children. One sees and hears something, to forget it again.
2. It teaches them to accept their class affiliation.
3. It makes them indifferent.
4. It makes them emotionally dependent.
5. It teaches them a kind of self-confidence, which require constant confirmation by experts (provisional self-esteem).
6. It makes it clear to them that they can not hide, because they are always supervised.
"""

Another such person was John Holt, who also tried to improve things for years inside the system. In turn, the have inspired others, like Grace Llewelyn. There are many more. Both boredom and burnout (common in children as well as teachers) can be deadly.

So, this spying with webcams is just a continuation of a general trend for one hundred and fifty years.

Here is a good discussion of the current dynamics of what is going on in the educational world, from an interview with Jerry Mintz on Sustainable Education: " Nevertheless, there is an education revolution going on, and it is long overdue. It is moving in the diametrically opposite direction of the "testing" push. The latter comes from the bureaucrats from within that dying system, who do know there is something wrong. But since they can't think "out of the box," the only remedy they can come up with is longer hours, more homework, and "teaching to the test," in other words, more of the same. The education revolution is coming from people who have created alternative schools and programs, thousands of them, and from others who have checked "none of the above" and have decided to home educate. There are now nearly two million people home educating. The first charter school was started in 1991. Now there are 2500 of them! And there are over 7500 additional alternatives in our database and many thousands more we have yet to discover. All of these fall in the general category of "learner-centered" approaches. We list many of them in our book, The Almanac of Education Choices. These people are steadfastly OPPOSED to the governmental thrust for more "standardization" and testing."

If you are burned out as a schoolteacher (and, in some ways, teachers are the worst victims of all this), here are some resources:
Treating Disease With Vitamin D
Surviving America's Depression Epidemic: How to Find Morale, Energy, and Community in a World Gone Crazy
Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way Through Life's Ordeals
Albert Einstein on: Religion and Science
A wombat talks about a global mindshift

If kids are animals in that sense, why are so many homeschoolers at the same age so well behaved? No group is perfect, of course, just an alternative thing to consider that the environment may be causing a lot of behavior problems.

Other aspects of the solution, as a care package of healing-related links. :-)
    "Treating Disease With Vitamin D" (anyone like a school child spending most of their time indoors is at risk)
        http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
    "Surviving America's Depression Epidemic: How to Find Morale, Energy, and
Community in a World Gone Crazy"
      http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C
    "Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way Through Life's Ordeals"
        http://books.google.com/books?id=RKZreNYKNHQC
    "Albert Einstein on: Religion and Science"
        http://www.sacred-texts.com/aor/einstein/einsci.htm
    "A wombat talks about a global mindshift"
        http://www.global-mindshift.org/memes/wombat.swf
    "The Orchid Child"
    http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/dobbs-orchid-gene

From the last: "Most of us have genes that make us as hardy as dandelions: able to take root and survive almost anywhere. A few of us, however, are more like the orchid: fragile and fickle, but capable of blooming spectacularly if given greenhouse care. So holds a provocative new theory of genetics, which asserts that the very genes that give us the most trouble as a species, causing behaviors that are self-destructive and antisocial, also underlie humankind’s phenomenal adaptability and evolutionary success. With a bad environment and poor parenting, orchid children can end up depressed, drug-addicted, or in jail—but with the right environment and good parenting, they can grow up to be society’s most creative, successful, and happy people."

Bullying will always be with us, but we can reduce it by having a better society with happier and more fulfilled individuals. Wi-Fi on school buses empowering children to do self-directed learning using networked computers is a big step forward in many ways, even if there are downsides as well (vitamin D deficiency from not walking outdoors, obesity from sedentary behavior, some media content is candy or even toxic, and it displaces other good things like face-to-face interaction, relationships with nature, hands-on hobbies, helping others physically, and so on).

It's been know since the 1930s:
    http://www.orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v05n03.shtml

Treatment:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

This may be an especially big problem these days in pediatric dentistry, as kids spend more and more time indoors.

Widespread vitamin D deficiency may be causing autism, both directly through damage and indirectly in impairing the bodies ability to deal with heavy metals and other toxins in vaccines as well as the environment. See:
    "New Harvard Paper on Autism"
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/new-harvard-paper-on-autism.shtml
And:
    "Vitamin D and the Brain"
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/vit-D-and-brain.shtml
"""
Vitamin D's role in increasing glutathione levels may explain the link between mercury and other heavy metals, oxidative stress, and autism. For example, activated vitamin D lessens heavy metal induced oxidative injuries in rat brain. The primary route for brain toxicity of most heavy metals is through depletion of glutathione. Besides its function as a master antioxidant, glutathione acts as a chelating (binding) agent to remove heavy metals such as mercury. Autistic individuals have difficulty excreting heavy metals like mercury. If brain levels of activated vitamin D are too low to employ glutathione properly, and thus unable to remove heavy metals, they may be damaged by heavy metal loads normal children easily excrete. That is, the mercury in Thiomerosol vaccines may have injured vitamin D deficient children while normal children would have easily bound the mercury and excreted it. These studies offer further hope that sun-exposure or vitamin D supplements may help autistic children by increasing glutathione and removing heavy metals. Not only do we have more clues that vitamin D is involved in autism, the vitamin D theory just did something else: it explained two other theories of autism, the mercury accumulation theory and the oxidative stress theory. [Lin AM, Chen KB, Chao PL. Antioxidative effect of vitamin D3 on zinc-induced oxidative stress in CNS. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2005 Aug;1053:319–29. Valko M, Morris H, Cronin MT. Metals, toxicity and oxidative stress. Curr Med Chem. 2005;12(10):1161–208.]
"""

Also related:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/the-black-community.shtml

But that is not to disagree with your main point. :-) Even as now that drumbeat is that because one doctor who did one study was publicly discredited, that somehow proves all vaccines are "safe and effective" in all ways. But it is easy to get behind the curve on some issue, especially when there is big money involved. Vitamin D supplements could help save literally hundreds of billions of dollars a year in global health care costs (between preventing some of cancer, mental illness, heart disease, autism, and so on). Sunshine is free, and supplements are cheap. But then who loses out?

By the way, if you spend a lot of time indoors at computers, see this:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

Could correlations with cellphone use or WiFi be better explained by correlations with being indoors a lot (or in the car a lot) and so becoming vitamin D deficient?

Widespread vitamin D deficiency may be causing autism, both directly through damage and indirectly in impairing the bodies ability to deal with heavy metals and other toxins in vaccines as well as the environment. See:
    "New Harvard Paper on Autism"
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/new-harvard-paper-on-autism.shtml
And:
    "Vitamin D and the Brain"
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/vit-D-and-brain.shtml
"""
Vitamin D's role in increasing glutathione levels may explain the link between mercury and other heavy metals, oxidative stress, and autism. For example, activated vitamin D lessens heavy metal induced oxidative injuries in rat brain. The primary route for brain toxicity of most heavy metals is through depletion of glutathione. Besides its function as a master antioxidant, glutathione acts as a chelating (binding) agent to remove heavy metals such as mercury. Autistic individuals have difficulty excreting heavy metals like mercury. If brain levels of activated vitamin D are too low to employ glutathione properly, and thus unable to remove heavy metals, they may be damaged by heavy metal loads normal children easily excrete. That is, the mercury in Thiomerosol vaccines may have injured vitamin D deficient children while normal children would have easily bound the mercury and excreted it. These studies offer further hope that sun-exposure or vitamin D supplements may help autistic children by increasing glutathione and removing heavy metals. Not only do we have more clues that vitamin D is involved in autism, the vitamin D theory just did something else: it explained two other theories of autism, the mercury accumulation theory and the oxidative stress theory. [Lin AM, Chen KB, Chao PL. Antioxidative effect of vitamin D3 on zinc-induced oxidative stress in CNS. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2005 Aug;1053:319–29. Valko M, Morris H, Cronin MT. Metals, toxicity and oxidative stress. Curr Med Chem. 2005;12(10):1161–208.]
"""

Also related:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/the-black-community.shtml

But that is not to disagree with your main point. :-) Even as now that drumbeat is that because one doctor who did one study was publicly discredited, that somehow proves all vaccines are "safe and effective" in all ways. But it is easy to get behind the curve on some issue, especially when there is big money involved. Vitamin D supplements could help save literally hundreds of billions of dollars a year in global health care costs (between preventing some of cancer, mental illness, heart disease, autism, and so on). Sunshine is free, and supplements are cheap. But then who loses out?

By the way, if you spend a lot of time indoors at computers, see this:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

Could correlations with cellphone use or WiFi be better explained by correlations with being indoors a lot (or in the car a lot) and so becoming vitamin D deficient?

Widespread vitamin D deficiency may be causing autism, both directly through damage and indirectly in impairing the bodies ability to deal with heavy metals and other toxins in vaccines as well as the environment. See:
    "New Harvard Paper on Autism"
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/new-harvard-paper-on-autism.shtml
And:
    "Vitamin D and the Brain"
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/vit-D-and-brain.shtml
"""
Vitamin D's role in increasing glutathione levels may explain the link between mercury and other heavy metals, oxidative stress, and autism. For example, activated vitamin D lessens heavy metal induced oxidative injuries in rat brain. The primary route for brain toxicity of most heavy metals is through depletion of glutathione. Besides its function as a master antioxidant, glutathione acts as a chelating (binding) agent to remove heavy metals such as mercury. Autistic individuals have difficulty excreting heavy metals like mercury. If brain levels of activated vitamin D are too low to employ glutathione properly, and thus unable to remove heavy metals, they may be damaged by heavy metal loads normal children easily excrete. That is, the mercury in Thiomerosol vaccines may have injured vitamin D deficient children while normal children would have easily bound the mercury and excreted it. These studies offer further hope that sun-exposure or vitamin D supplements may help autistic children by increasing glutathione and removing heavy metals. Not only do we have more clues that vitamin D is involved in autism, the vitamin D theory just did something else: it explained two other theories of autism, the mercury accumulation theory and the oxidative stress theory. [Lin AM, Chen KB, Chao PL. Antioxidative effect of vitamin D3 on zinc-induced oxidative stress in CNS. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2005 Aug;1053:319–29. Valko M, Morris H, Cronin MT. Metals, toxicity and oxidative stress. Curr Med Chem. 2005;12(10):1161–208.]
"""

Also related:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/the-black-community.shtml

But that is not to disagree with your main point. :-) Even as now that drumbeat is that because one doctor who did one study was publicly discredited, that somehow proves all vaccines are "safe and effective" in all ways. But it is easy to get behind the curve on some issue, especially when there is big money involved. Vitamin D supplements could help save literally hundreds of billions of dollars a year in global health care costs (between preventing some of cancer, mental illness, heart disease, autism, and so on). Sunshine is free, and supplements are cheap. But then who loses out?

By the way, if you spend a lot of time indoors at computers, see this:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

Could correlations with cellphone use or WiFi be better explained by correlations with being indoors a lot (or in the car a lot) and so becoming vitamin D deficient?

Widespread vitamin D deficiency may be causing autism, both directly through damage and indirectly in impairing the bodies ability to deal with heavy metals and other toxins in vaccines as well as the environment. See:
    "New Harvard Paper on Autism"
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/new-harvard-paper-on-autism.shtml
And:
    "Vitamin D and the Brain"
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/vit-D-and-brain.shtml
"""
Vitamin D's role in increasing glutathione levels may explain the link between mercury and other heavy metals, oxidative stress, and autism. For example, activated vitamin D lessens heavy metal induced oxidative injuries in rat brain. The primary route for brain toxicity of most heavy metals is through depletion of glutathione. Besides its function as a master antioxidant, glutathione acts as a chelating (binding) agent to remove heavy metals such as mercury. Autistic individuals have difficulty excreting heavy metals like mercury. If brain levels of activated vitamin D are too low to employ glutathione properly, and thus unable to remove heavy metals, they may be damaged by heavy metal loads normal children easily excrete. That is, the mercury in Thiomerosol vaccines may have injured vitamin D deficient children while normal children would have easily bound the mercury and excreted it. These studies offer further hope that sun-exposure or vitamin D supplements may help autistic children by increasing glutathione and removing heavy metals. Not only do we have more clues that vitamin D is involved in autism, the vitamin D theory just did something else: it explained two other theories of autism, the mercury accumulation theory and the oxidative stress theory. [Lin AM, Chen KB, Chao PL. Antioxidative effect of vitamin D3 on zinc-induced oxidative stress in CNS. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2005 Aug;1053:319–29. Valko M, Morris H, Cronin MT. Metals, toxicity and oxidative stress. Curr Med Chem. 2005;12(10):1161–208.]
"""

Also related:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/the-black-community.shtml

But that is not to disagree with your main point. :-) Even as now that drumbeat is that because one doctor who did one study was publicly discredited, that somehow proves all vaccines are "safe and effective" in all ways. But it is easy to get behind the curve on some issue, especially when there is big money involved. Vitamin D supplements could help save literally hundreds of billions of dollars a year in global health care costs (between preventing some of cancer, mental illness, heart disease, autism, and so on). Sunshine is free, and supplements are cheap. But then who loses out?

By the way, if you spend a lot of time indoors at computers, see this:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

Could correlations with cellphone use or WiFi be better explained by correlations with being indoors a lot (or in the car a lot) and so becoming vitamin D deficient?

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/research.shtml
"An inability to tan is the number one risk factor for melanoma. Those who tan easily or who have darker skin are far less likely to develop the disease. A new theory is that melanoma is actually caused by sunlight (vitamin D) deficiency and that safe sun exposure actually helps prevent the deadly disease."

So, the body takes something that might be dangerous (UVB) and uses it to help be healthy in that case (Vitamin D). In general, the same is true of its use of oxygen, which is a deadly poison to anaerobic bacteria. With that said, some poisonous things are just poisonous.

See also, if you spend a lot of time indoors, how to help prevent lots of diseases that stem from vitamin D deficiency:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/research.shtml
"An inability to tan is the number one risk factor for melanoma. Those who tan easily or who have darker skin are far less likely to develop the disease. A new theory is that melanoma is actually caused by sunlight (vitamin D) deficiency and that safe sun exposure actually helps prevent the deadly disease."

So, the body takes something that might be dangerous (UVB) and uses it to help be healthy in that case (Vitamin D). In general, the same is true of its use of oxygen, which is a deadly poison to anaerobic bacteria. With that said, some poisonous things are just poisonous.

See also, if you spend a lot of time indoors, how to help prevent lots of diseases that stem from vitamin D deficiency:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

Thanks for your other replies. Sorry to hear about your ex-girlfriend's negative spiral. Certainly her case should show how wealth has diminishing returns for most people, and things like physical health, mental health, and community become better investments by society at some point than just producing more stuff and and isolated indoors lifestyle to go with that? Some ways past that:
"Surviving America's Depression Epidemic: How to Find Morale, Energy, and Community in a World Gone Crazy"
http://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Americas-Depression-Epidemic-Community/dp/1933392711
"Vitamin D and Depression"
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/depression.shtml
"Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way Through Life's Ordeals"
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Nights-Soul-Finding-Through/dp/1592400671

You continue to evade some key points I have made. The most important is that, as Einstein said, there is no objective way to decide what we want to do without considering values and priorities and related assumptions, which are things that stem for essentially a religious impulse.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/aor/einstein/einsci.htm

By the way, a toilet cleaning robot (not that it looks that well worked out):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9vaqsd1iP4

Here is a better idea, that, using better design, makes a toilet into more of a self-cleaning appliance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcpZgp23nzM&NR=1

There are more links in the sidebar. Why do we have to build an entire society and economy around forcing people to clean other people's toilets when we can build robots to do it, or build better toilets that clean themselves? And the same extends to any disagreeable task you can name -- we can either build a robot to do it at this point, redesign the process so it does not need to be done, redesign the process so it is fun, decide it is not as important as we thought, or figure out some equitable way to share the disagreeable parts. But you still seem fixated on this issue that people have to be motivated to do stuff. Healthy humans do stuff because that is what healthy humans do. Granted, between school, TV, authoritarian workplaces, lack of sunlight, broken communities, and so on, most US Americans are not very healthy, as reflected in the skyrocketing depression rates at ever earlier ages, and also as reflected by a growing rich/poor divide that split our society into three classes -- those with no need to work, those who work too much, and those who can't get jobs at all.

As was said in 1964,
http://educationanddemocracy.org/FSCfiles/C_CC2a_TripleRevolution.htm
"The industrial system was designed to produce an ever-increasing quantity of goods as efficiently as possible, and it was assumed that the distribution of the power to purchase these goods would occur almost automatically. The continuance of the income-through jobs link as the only major mechanism for distributing effective demand--for granting the right to consume--now acts as the main brake on the almost unlimited capacity of a cybernated productive system."

That is what you are ignoring, as are most of the other believers in essentially mainstream economics. The "Midas Plague" is totally changing the nature of economics, and the choice are essentially to waste all that productivity to keep a scarcity-based economic model working or to broadly

That's a good point. However, think about the consequences to materially poorer nations of industrialized nations armed with nuclear weapons controlled by people with widespread mental illness due to vitamin D deficiency. Or, what about depressed and unbalanced world bankers making crazy financial policies effecting poor countries?
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/mentalIllness.shtml
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/depression.shtml

And what of people from poor countries who go live abroad in the North to send back money, but then get vitamin D deficient?

And what of health care researchers who are less productive because they are vitamin D deficient?

Also, even in materially poorer nations at the equator, you can be vitamin D deficient if you need to work indoors all day at a low wage job, or even if you are a professional, like a doctor or bureaucraty, who works indoors all day. So, even poor countries may be facing this problem.

Also, even in poor countries near the equator, there is often a rainy season when people spend a lot of time indoors and may become vitamin D deficient (that is when flus and colds tend to strike in tropical areas, in the rainy season, which shows what bunk the common explanation for getting more colds and flus in the winter in the USA is, suggested due to "dry air" in the winter, but then why do people in the tropics get the flu when the air is 100% humidity endlessly).

It's true that a sedentary lifestyle plays a role, especially as people like most slashdotters like myself have made it ever more interesting to be inside with computer media. But, there is specific medical advice (well intended, but harmful) by dermatologists to avoid the sun. It might have not been bad if dermatologist had said, and also you need to take 5000 IU D3 daily and have your blood tested regularly to make up for not being in the sun. But they did not. So, are dematologists all liable for such advice?

Anyway, this vitamin D issue is really a global one, with a much bigger impact than any vaccine, even a vaccine for malaria, as bad as that problem is. Of course, like all things, different people may get the immediate costs and benefits of different health approaches. And no doubt some few people will be harmed by too much vitamin D (even if it is much fewer than commonly thought, but that's why a blood test is a good idea if you supplement):
    "The Truth About Vitamin D Toxicity"
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDToxicity.shtml

Luckily, there are some grassroots campaigns about these issues:
    http://www.grassrootshealth.net/

And many individual efforts:
    http://curtisduncan.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-michelle-obama-is-more-likely-to.html
    http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html

But it is such a big issue, more should be done IMHO. Vitamin D deficiency is just a widespread epidemic that is a consequence of and indoors and sun-avoiding lifestyle centered around technology. It is the thing every slashdotter should be aware of at least for themselves and their family.

That's a good point. However, think about the consequences to materially poorer nations of industrialized nations armed with nuclear weapons controlled by people with widespread mental illness due to vitamin D deficiency. Or, what about depressed and unbalanced world bankers making crazy financial policies effecting poor countries?
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/mentalIllness.shtml
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/depression.shtml

And what of people from poor countries who go live abroad in the North to send back money, but then get vitamin D deficient?

And what of health care researchers who are less productive because they are vitamin D deficient?

Also, even in materially poorer nations at the equator, you can be vitamin D deficient if you need to work indoors all day at a low wage job, or even if you are a professional, like a doctor or bureaucraty, who works indoors all day. So, even poor countries may be facing this problem.

Also, even in poor countries near the equator, there is often a rainy season when people spend a lot of time indoors and may become vitamin D deficient (that is when flus and colds tend to strike in tropical areas, in the rainy season, which shows what bunk the common explanation for getting more colds and flus in the winter in the USA is, suggested due to "dry air" in the winter, but then why do people in the tropics get the flu when the air is 100% humidity endlessly).

It's true that a sedentary lifestyle plays a role, especially as people like most slashdotters like myself have made it ever more interesting to be inside with computer media. But, there is specific medical advice (well intended, but harmful) by dermatologists to avoid the sun. It might have not been bad if dermatologist had said, and also you need to take 5000 IU D3 daily and have your blood tested regularly to make up for not being in the sun. But they did not. So, are dematologists all liable for such advice?

Anyway, this vitamin D issue is really a global one, with a much bigger impact than any vaccine, even a vaccine for malaria, as bad as that problem is. Of course, like all things, different people may get the immediate costs and benefits of different health approaches. And no doubt some few people will be harmed by too much vitamin D (even if it is much fewer than commonly thought, but that's why a blood test is a good idea if you supplement):
    "The Truth About Vitamin D Toxicity"
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDToxicity.shtml

Luckily, there are some grassroots campaigns about these issues:
    http://www.grassrootshealth.net/

And many individual efforts:
    http://curtisduncan.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-michelle-obama-is-more-likely-to.html
    http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html

But it is such a big issue, more should be done IMHO. Vitamin D deficiency is just a widespread epidemic that is a consequence of and indoors and sun-avoiding lifestyle centered around technology. It is the thing every slashdotter should be aware of at least for themselves and their family.

That's a good point. However, think about the consequences to materially poorer nations of industrialized nations armed with nuclear weapons controlled by people with widespread mental illness due to vitamin D deficiency. Or, what about depressed and unbalanced world bankers making crazy financial policies effecting poor countries?
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/mentalIllness.shtml
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/depression.shtml

And what of people from poor countries who go live abroad in the North to send back money, but then get vitamin D deficient?

And what of health care researchers who are less productive because they are vitamin D deficient?

Also, even in materially poorer nations at the equator, you can be vitamin D deficient if you need to work indoors all day at a low wage job, or even if you are a professional, like a doctor or bureaucraty, who works indoors all day. So, even poor countries may be facing this problem.

Also, even in poor countries near the equator, there is often a rainy season when people spend a lot of time indoors and may become vitamin D deficient (that is when flus and colds tend to strike in tropical areas, in the rainy season, which shows what bunk the common explanation for getting more colds and flus in the winter in the USA is, suggested due to "dry air" in the winter, but then why do people in the tropics get the flu when the air is 100% humidity endlessly).

It's true that a sedentary lifestyle plays a role, especially as people like most slashdotters like myself have made it ever more interesting to be inside with computer media. But, there is specific medical advice (well intended, but harmful) by dermatologists to avoid the sun. It might have not been bad if dermatologist had said, and also you need to take 5000 IU D3 daily and have your blood tested regularly to make up for not being in the sun. But they did not. So, are dematologists all liable for such advice?

Anyway, this vitamin D issue is really a global one, with a much bigger impact than any vaccine, even a vaccine for malaria, as bad as that problem is. Of course, like all things, different people may get the immediate costs and benefits of different health approaches. And no doubt some few people will be harmed by too much vitamin D (even if it is much fewer than commonly thought, but that's why a blood test is a good idea if you supplement):
    "The Truth About Vitamin D Toxicity"
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDToxicity.shtml

Luckily, there are some grassroots campaigns about these issues:
    http://www.grassrootshealth.net/

And many individual efforts:
    http://curtisduncan.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-michelle-obama-is-more-likely-to.html
    http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html

But it is such a big issue, more should be done IMHO. Vitamin D deficiency is just a widespread epidemic that is a consequence of and indoors and sun-avoiding lifestyle centered around technology. It is the thing every slashdotter should be aware of at least for themselves and their family.