I question everything. Because the world is a dynamic place, and you invariably get different answers today, than yesterday, so you missed that one. A 20 minute ride in a tin can to see the curve of the world the way Alan Shepard first saw it in 1960 (and as I recall that effort took more than a couple tax dollars), well that would be pretty awesome (and who am I to tell a person with $20,000 to burn how to burn it.) Anyway, that money goes to developing a technology that can get people into space for a "Reasonable Price", and I'm personally waiting for the Hilton hotel that does figure eights between earth and the moon.
If you told those folks in Spain about what would be available in the new world in a couple hundred years back in 1692, they'd pee themselves laughing or have you taken for a nice spin down in the dungeon with Torquemada to get those demon out. The fact that you have neither vision, nor the interest to discover what is possible for humanity doesn't grant that you should turn a cynical eye at those that do. A wiser person than I once said "The meek shall inherit the earth, the rest of us shall receive the stars."
By all means, there's nothing wrong with primates... fine animals. They just tend to form hierarchies along lines off dominance, commit acts of violence on one another including infants, they're greedy, scheming, back-stabbing, self serving Machiavellian bastards (to paraphrase one of the world's leading authorities on primate research.
So we aren't as bad as baboons and we aren't as good as bonobos. We fall neatly on the primate continuum of behavior (good and bad.) The problem is that we have nukes. A pissing contest among humans could end in a 20 mile wide blue glass ashtray. All I'm saying is that as good as being a primate has gotten us so far, its perhaps time to begin rising above the worst of our inclinations while rising above them still makes a difference.
Just head to the deep south, you can travel entire counties without finding so much as a whole brain betwixt the entire population. Can't spread a disease without a vulnerable organ to house it. Just don't all come down all at once, it ruins the advantage.
I don't know what kind of space you're talking about, but the one being used for the purpose of these craft is above 60 miles altitude... figure the service ceiling for a 747 is what, 41,000 ft, 8 miles, uh, you're about 50 miles shy of space, but who am I to split hairs.
Friend, I'm betting some ignorant clod standing at the dock in Spain in the 17th century, said "There goes that Columbus whack-o-doodle, sailing off the edge of the world, I hope a great big fat sea monster swallows him whole." He redefined what was possible for being human.
The future is up there. Because what's down here is extinction. Not tomorrow, or the day after, but someday, perhaps soon. Because big, nasty events happen here. 'We have mega-volcanoes, tectonic hoohah, and tsunamis that can wipe out entire coastlines. We have Extinction Level Events, and bio hazards, and wars and technological snafus galore. Have you not been reading the news? The west is on fire, and the east is melting. More records were broken in last month than ever before in history, and the weather people are now saying that the duration and strength of the current heat wave places it in a completely new category, redefining what is even possible for a heat wave. So its time for us to at once begin cleaning up our messes, but also be aware of the mortality of our species and make arrangements to get off this little rock, because we've begun to wear out or welcome. Or perhaps you'd prefer a 99.9% die-off and going back to an agrarian society (minus oil, coal and the means to leave if things got ugly.)
Code is a way of expressing human thought (language) in a way that binary machines can interpret and perform. There has been a forever search for a language that best captures the grace and power of abstract human thinking elegantly.
One of those searches lead to Object Oriented Programming. An OO language breaks the organization of THINGS in a very natural way for western thinkers. The thought here is that by creating logical constructs representing an OBJECT which has both its own unique qualities and abilities, while at the same time inheriting qualities and capabilities from the family of OBJECT from whence it was derived, that you can perform wonderful things with a minimum of code and that if you were careful in designing your application that it should be easily adaptable and extensible to the vagaries of life. Of course this power doesn't come free, and there is operational code to support its behavior, so tiny problems or very small code may well demand C, while a large application is best implemented in a framework that gives you the logical freedom of an OO environment.
I see you nodding, is that you understanding or falling asleep... sorry if the monologue uses big words, they're part of the concepts. Anyway, languages have intrinsic power depending on their features and capabilities. Arguably, LISP is the most powerful language one can program in today. It is also one of the more syntactically challenging, and demands a fairly healthy understanding of what a machine is fundamentally capable of doing to use to its full potential. There is a spectacular free course available at MIT online, go here to read more about it, and decide if its something you might be interested in. While you're at it, you might want to read up in functional languages (for the more action oriented among us) or just spend a while over at Wikipedia learning about computer languages and how we got here. Definitely read a book on algorithms. Understanding how we take every day problems and reduce them to logical constructs, and how very smart people have optimized the process of managing those problems is a very cool exercise... and it'll grow your brain a notch or two (help you look at problems newly.) Master abstraction and reduction, and you've got a bright future wherever you go.
So strange... I find Ayn Rand completely guilty of the very same romantic notions that got the founders of Communism (she so despised) into so much hot water. Perhaps its true what they say about choosing your enemies well. Both presumed that the underlying greatness and magnificence of the human spirit either as a society or as a specific productive individual would prove the guiding light for humanity. In fact humanity has shown precious few guiding lights and for the most part, we are little descended from our primate ancestors. This isn't to say that we aren't capable of transcendence, simply that you can't depend on that to build a social or philosophical framework.
Design the system that demands human transcendence, inspires greatness, and puts strict limits to personal power and responsibly accounts for the grosser of human foibles and frailties, and you'll have a winner. We had that system in the form of checks and balances, until the "Randian" among us began to systematically dismantle those very defenses against our poorer natures, beginning in the 80s. Up until then, we had the time and means to look at the future we wanted as a society, not just a few social (read financial) elites, and strive towards that future wisely and with due consideration. Now we're in a kettle of fish. Those elite have proven to be every bit as ignorant, self obsessed/serving and foolish as everyone else and they've squandered the future on extra McMansions, expensive cars and yachts, and the virtual hijacking of our society.
C is a great language. You can't any closer to bare metal without slugging assembly around, and as we move to more and more intelligent particles infiltrating everything from household appliances to ubiquitous sensors in the roads we drive on, you better believe that C will bring consciousness to the dross matter that surrounds us. I can only hope, that we can put aside our prejudices (not only racial, but societal), and begin to replace belief systems with educated inquiry, and treat the future with our intelligence rather than our primate predilections. It is the only hope I can see for a future worth living in.
You're missing the fact that this is a FEATURE not a problem... they can search you're information as you search theirs. They've got you by the short and curlies... you are precisely as secure as they want you.
Perhaps you misunderstand the nature of business today and the government that... scuse me... regulates it... Hahahahaahahahaahahahahhaha... oh my, that is good. Every system and structure now exists to support, empower and reinforce the wealth and power of those who have wealth and power starting with businesses. Patents exist to allow businesses to own basic and fundamental ideas so you can't have a thought or perform an action that isn't controlled by another and for which you'll have to pay a licensing fee. In fact my lawyer says we shouldn't even be discussing this.
No, people will simply begin referring to them as BLAMS!!!! and the advertisements will say, come out and try the new Android Blam, or you could get stuck with an Apple phone instead... your choice!!!
Waitor!!! What have you this evening in the way of skullmeats??? Why Monsieur, we have a lovely Pate cerveau de porc! Ummm, sounds yummy. Would you have anything primate perhaps... er Neanderthal? Sorry Monsieur, we are all out of Neanderthal, perhaps you could come by tomorrow evening as the chef might be willing to whip you up some nice Australopithecine?
Here's a quick inventory of problems to cope with.
Florida has a maximum land height of 42 feet. A three foot rise in see level, plus shore erosion due to larger and more frequent storms could reduce Florida to a stub of the current state with central islands where the everglades are now.
Expanded erosion of barrier island and sand dunes along the gulf and eastern seaboard will eliminate thousands of square miles of existing shoreline, destroying some of the most valuable property in the country.
Much of the Mississippi delta and most of Louisiana will simply go away (a great deal of which is already below sea level due to subsidence from poor river engineering by the Army Corp of Engineers.)
The West Coast won't pass unscathed, because towns along the bays in both southern and northern California, will suffer significant land loss.
The simple fact is that the big cities of the world are virtually all coastal cities and as such will be seriously impacted. The amount of land shared be people and critters will shrink a couple percent (large coastal plains will be inundated... kiss Bangladesh and a number of small islands in the South Pacific goodbye.)
You bet we can engineer around it. Move cities slowly back. Build higher dikes and levees. Abandon places that are hopeless. Its just one more cost, and significant cost to consider as we continue to spew greenhouse gas into the air.
Congratulations, you've just invented the Caricature Assassination, my aren't we clever! Why do you people keep associating Obama with liberals? He is the limpest of milk-toast moderates, he's only liberal compared to the neo-nazi's and religious whack-o-doodles that wander mumbling to themselves on the Republican side of the House/Senate. I'm beginning to think that we should consider spiking the Republican water fountain with Thorazine as a national safety measure. I think the only true remaining liberal in the Senate is an ex-writer for Saturday Night Live. The Dems are now moderate conservatives and the Reps are simply shocking... no, I mean WTF, I get dizzy whenever I read the latest stupid thing uttered by a Washington Republican. They're like flounders, they only have a bottom and a right side. Its like Picasso had a psychotic break and breathed life into a one sided scribble.
You wanna know who's against managing illegal aliens? The Reps, because it would be bad for business. As for birth control, you can't have it both ways, you can't complain about them being here, then complain about the solution to fix the problem. Let me think, contraceptive pill 30 cents, new American Citizen with poor foreign national parents... from birth to 18, what $200,000 tax dollars? More? Even if you count all the contraceptive pills that couple can use over 18 years, those are some of the best tax dollar that ever got spent, talk about a bargain!
That's the other thing about these conservative spewings, they keep harping about the same crap, none of it makes any sense, none of it holds up to even the slightest logical inspection. Its just more mouth breathing, knuckle dragging noise being regurgitated by some "Click Head". You know why they call them "Click Heads" right? Because the poor little petrified bean between their ears makes a clicketty sound whenever the breeze between their ears rattles it around.
Oh, and one last thing... if you been getting that "called a racist, homophobic, bigot" thing a lot, perhaps its not the people pointing out the obvious who are the problem. Just a nugget for you to chew on, nightie, night.
Do not listen to this advice. The banks are still gambling with property because nobody in D.C. is willing to stop suckling on the Banker's teat long enough to pass legislation to make them stop. Everything they were doing before, they are still doing, and doing with impunity. Until the global market is flat, insane distortions and financial upheaval is going to be the status quo, and if you think for a moment that owning a home is going to protect you from anything then finding the next job is the least of your problems.
Find a good place to live. Be ready to move your family if you have to. Look for healthy economies with great need. Software engineers are gods in Brazil, just find the expat. community of the town of your preference and enjoy the view down on the beach. Viet Nam may end up being the next huge resort country (you just have to make nice nice with the locals... and I don't know how you feel about communists.) Point is, You want to our as much thought into your future as you do with your code, and you want to talk with your family about what they want and need.
You could always create an online school, you know, record classes on Youtube, that your children will be able to use. Give something back to the world. Maybe even get Bill Gates to throw in a few million dollars... sorry, that was a little cold.
Things are messed up, and the hogs are running the show (but then you work in the belly of the beast and I don't need to explain how broken it all is do I.) The good news is you can still create something of your own. Look at a thing, any thing that you love, that touches, moves and inspires you. Something you want your great great grandchildren to point at with pride. You will never polish enough turds to be happy, secure or skate through life unexamined. So confront what it is that stirs your soul. Figure out a strategy to migrate from here to there and give it a rip. Yes, you have family to take care of, make them part of the process.
Or you could just look for the next big thing. I'm guessing that would be home robotics. You know anything about AI?
Actually, you're going to have some serious problems with sea level rise and salt water intrusion into your water table. You will get plenty of rain, a lot of it torrential (as the poor folks on the east coast can attest to right now.) So the deep south is a crap shoot, and the biggest factor is how far from the ocean you are and high above sea level.
Try this site. Chemical condensers that can produce 32 liters of water from the energy of a single gallon of diesel. With these new filters that would improve by a factor of 5-10x. You could put these in places with little or no water and provide the water needs of an entire village. Add solar power and the thing is totally self sufficient. Unfortunately, technology like this will probably make someone very wealthy, and if it isn't made widely available at near cost, make little difference for those who will need it most.
Its a she and SHE is commenting on the fact that people who look at their Bibles to determine the weather as opposed to looking out door, tend to have a poor grasp of reality and explaining to them that there is a coming drought and they should prepare seems to fall on deaf ears. Followed by the resigned comment that they will at least earn the bonus suffering points to present at the pearly gates upon their arrival. Me, I think I've made my peace with the here and here after, and I still have room for making sane plans and contingencies for the actions or lack there of, being performed by the chronically ignorant. I don't dislike the stupid and proud of it, I hear Dubyah makes a mean barbeque (not that I'll ever find out for myself:-) I just prefer they stand back and don't touch the controls. Leave that to the engineers and the statesmen please.
Actually, cells are way amazing. Put carbon fiber in a human body to replace/repair a damaged tendon, and the body will eventually break down the fiber and replace it with new tendon tissue. The process includes the cellular matrix growing over the fibers and cellular action (and the mechanic process of motion) over time breaks down the fibers and macrophages carry out the carbon through the lymph system. There are some pretty rowdy organisms out there. You want to keep that water running fast so the they can't latch on to your graphene, or it might not last as long as your think. Its not the strength of the material, but its ability to escape attack from powerful enzymes.
That's not even the ugly part, when banks discovered they'd fouled things up so badly they started going to court with obviously counterfeited documents, often many documents from different financial organizations with the same single names here labels and president of finance there titles as executive loan officer, and all being done by some little old lady being paid minimum wage in Kansas. Its a wonder the banks were sued into the stone age and the executives jailed for fraud.
I'm sorry but have you seen who's working at the Federal Reserve or the FDIC? Bankers and Wallstreet CEOs, that's who. The banks and the government are the same guys and the line between them is no more. Regulation? Hahahahahahahahh... what a quaint notion. We got here through Capitalism... because corporations want power and they can rig the government game in their favor. Its time for something completely different and I don't mean a penguin on the telly!
Slashdot Mirror
I question everything. Because the world is a dynamic place, and you invariably get different answers today, than yesterday, so you missed that one. A 20 minute ride in a tin can to see the curve of the world the way Alan Shepard first saw it in 1960 (and as I recall that effort took more than a couple tax dollars), well that would be pretty awesome (and who am I to tell a person with $20,000 to burn how to burn it.) Anyway, that money goes to developing a technology that can get people into space for a "Reasonable Price", and I'm personally waiting for the Hilton hotel that does figure eights between earth and the moon.
If you told those folks in Spain about what would be available in the new world in a couple hundred years back in 1692, they'd pee themselves laughing or have you taken for a nice spin down in the dungeon with Torquemada to get those demon out. The fact that you have neither vision, nor the interest to discover what is possible for humanity doesn't grant that you should turn a cynical eye at those that do. A wiser person than I once said "The meek shall inherit the earth, the rest of us shall receive the stars."
By all means, there's nothing wrong with primates... fine animals. They just tend to form hierarchies along lines off dominance, commit acts of violence on one another including infants, they're greedy, scheming, back-stabbing, self serving Machiavellian bastards (to paraphrase one of the world's leading authorities on primate research.
So we aren't as bad as baboons and we aren't as good as bonobos. We fall neatly on the primate continuum of behavior (good and bad.) The problem is that we have nukes. A pissing contest among humans could end in a 20 mile wide blue glass ashtray. All I'm saying is that as good as being a primate has gotten us so far, its perhaps time to begin rising above the worst of our inclinations while rising above them still makes a difference.
The two things that make people crazy are sex and money. Start talking about either and stand back and watch the goofy unfurl./p?
Just head to the deep south, you can travel entire counties without finding so much as a whole brain betwixt the entire population. Can't spread a disease without a vulnerable organ to house it. Just don't all come down all at once, it ruins the advantage.
I don't know what kind of space you're talking about, but the one being used for the purpose of these craft is above 60 miles altitude... figure the service ceiling for a 747 is what, 41,000 ft, 8 miles, uh, you're about 50 miles shy of space, but who am I to split hairs.
Friend, I'm betting some ignorant clod standing at the dock in Spain in the 17th century, said "There goes that Columbus whack-o-doodle, sailing off the edge of the world, I hope a great big fat sea monster swallows him whole." He redefined what was possible for being human.
The future is up there. Because what's down here is extinction. Not tomorrow, or the day after, but someday, perhaps soon. Because big, nasty events happen here. 'We have mega-volcanoes, tectonic hoohah, and tsunamis that can wipe out entire coastlines. We have Extinction Level Events, and bio hazards, and wars and technological snafus galore. Have you not been reading the news? The west is on fire, and the east is melting. More records were broken in last month than ever before in history, and the weather people are now saying that the duration and strength of the current heat wave places it in a completely new category, redefining what is even possible for a heat wave. So its time for us to at once begin cleaning up our messes, but also be aware of the mortality of our species and make arrangements to get off this little rock, because we've begun to wear out or welcome. Or perhaps you'd prefer a 99.9% die-off and going back to an agrarian society (minus oil, coal and the means to leave if things got ugly.)
Code is a way of expressing human thought (language) in a way that binary machines can interpret and perform. There has been a forever search for a language that best captures the grace and power of abstract human thinking elegantly.
One of those searches lead to Object Oriented Programming. An OO language breaks the organization of THINGS in a very natural way for western thinkers. The thought here is that by creating logical constructs representing an OBJECT which has both its own unique qualities and abilities, while at the same time inheriting qualities and capabilities from the family of OBJECT from whence it was derived, that you can perform wonderful things with a minimum of code and that if you were careful in designing your application that it should be easily adaptable and extensible to the vagaries of life. Of course this power doesn't come free, and there is operational code to support its behavior, so tiny problems or very small code may well demand C, while a large application is best implemented in a framework that gives you the logical freedom of an OO environment.
I see you nodding, is that you understanding or falling asleep... sorry if the monologue uses big words, they're part of the concepts. Anyway, languages have intrinsic power depending on their features and capabilities. Arguably, LISP is the most powerful language one can program in today. It is also one of the more syntactically challenging, and demands a fairly healthy understanding of what a machine is fundamentally capable of doing to use to its full potential. There is a spectacular free course available at MIT online, go here to read more about it, and decide if its something you might be interested in. While you're at it, you might want to read up in functional languages (for the more action oriented among us) or just spend a while over at Wikipedia learning about computer languages and how we got here. Definitely read a book on algorithms. Understanding how we take every day problems and reduce them to logical constructs, and how very smart people have optimized the process of managing those problems is a very cool exercise... and it'll grow your brain a notch or two (help you look at problems newly.) Master abstraction and reduction, and you've got a bright future wherever you go.
Our educational institutions have become just one more kneeling acolyte, blowing the beast of many phalli, the corporation.
So strange... I find Ayn Rand completely guilty of the very same romantic notions that got the founders of Communism (she so despised) into so much hot water. Perhaps its true what they say about choosing your enemies well. Both presumed that the underlying greatness and magnificence of the human spirit either as a society or as a specific productive individual would prove the guiding light for humanity. In fact humanity has shown precious few guiding lights and for the most part, we are little descended from our primate ancestors. This isn't to say that we aren't capable of transcendence, simply that you can't depend on that to build a social or philosophical framework.
Design the system that demands human transcendence, inspires greatness, and puts strict limits to personal power and responsibly accounts for the grosser of human foibles and frailties, and you'll have a winner. We had that system in the form of checks and balances, until the "Randian" among us began to systematically dismantle those very defenses against our poorer natures, beginning in the 80s. Up until then, we had the time and means to look at the future we wanted as a society, not just a few social (read financial) elites, and strive towards that future wisely and with due consideration. Now we're in a kettle of fish. Those elite have proven to be every bit as ignorant, self obsessed/serving and foolish as everyone else and they've squandered the future on extra McMansions, expensive cars and yachts, and the virtual hijacking of our society.
C is a great language. You can't any closer to bare metal without slugging assembly around, and as we move to more and more intelligent particles infiltrating everything from household appliances to ubiquitous sensors in the roads we drive on, you better believe that C will bring consciousness to the dross matter that surrounds us. I can only hope, that we can put aside our prejudices (not only racial, but societal), and begin to replace belief systems with educated inquiry, and treat the future with our intelligence rather than our primate predilections. It is the only hope I can see for a future worth living in.
You're missing the fact that this is a FEATURE not a problem... they can search you're information as you search theirs. They've got you by the short and curlies... you are precisely as secure as they want you.
Perhaps you misunderstand the nature of business today and the government that... scuse me... regulates it... Hahahahaahahahaahahahahhaha... oh my, that is good. Every system and structure now exists to support, empower and reinforce the wealth and power of those who have wealth and power starting with businesses. Patents exist to allow businesses to own basic and fundamental ideas so you can't have a thought or perform an action that isn't controlled by another and for which you'll have to pay a licensing fee. In fact my lawyer says we shouldn't even be discussing this.
No, people will simply begin referring to them as BLAMS!!!! and the advertisements will say, come out and try the new Android Blam, or you could get stuck with an Apple phone instead... your choice!!!
Waitor!!! What have you this evening in the way of skullmeats??? Why Monsieur, we have a lovely Pate cerveau de porc! Ummm, sounds yummy. Would you have anything primate perhaps... er Neanderthal? Sorry Monsieur, we are all out of Neanderthal, perhaps you could come by tomorrow evening as the chef might be willing to whip you up some nice Australopithecine?
Here's a quick inventory of problems to cope with.
Florida has a maximum land height of 42 feet. A three foot rise in see level, plus shore erosion due to larger and more frequent storms could reduce Florida to a stub of the current state with central islands where the everglades are now.
Expanded erosion of barrier island and sand dunes along the gulf and eastern seaboard will eliminate thousands of square miles of existing shoreline, destroying some of the most valuable property in the country.
Much of the Mississippi delta and most of Louisiana will simply go away (a great deal of which is already below sea level due to subsidence from poor river engineering by the Army Corp of Engineers.)
The West Coast won't pass unscathed, because towns along the bays in both southern and northern California, will suffer significant land loss.
The simple fact is that the big cities of the world are virtually all coastal cities and as such will be seriously impacted. The amount of land shared be people and critters will shrink a couple percent (large coastal plains will be inundated... kiss Bangladesh and a number of small islands in the South Pacific goodbye.)
You bet we can engineer around it. Move cities slowly back. Build higher dikes and levees. Abandon places that are hopeless. Its just one more cost, and significant cost to consider as we continue to spew greenhouse gas into the air.
Congratulations, you've just invented the Caricature Assassination, my aren't we clever! Why do you people keep associating Obama with liberals? He is the limpest of milk-toast moderates, he's only liberal compared to the neo-nazi's and religious whack-o-doodles that wander mumbling to themselves on the Republican side of the House/Senate. I'm beginning to think that we should consider spiking the Republican water fountain with Thorazine as a national safety measure. I think the only true remaining liberal in the Senate is an ex-writer for Saturday Night Live. The Dems are now moderate conservatives and the Reps are simply shocking... no, I mean WTF, I get dizzy whenever I read the latest stupid thing uttered by a Washington Republican. They're like flounders, they only have a bottom and a right side. Its like Picasso had a psychotic break and breathed life into a one sided scribble.
You wanna know who's against managing illegal aliens? The Reps, because it would be bad for business. As for birth control, you can't have it both ways, you can't complain about them being here, then complain about the solution to fix the problem. Let me think, contraceptive pill 30 cents, new American Citizen with poor foreign national parents... from birth to 18, what $200,000 tax dollars? More? Even if you count all the contraceptive pills that couple can use over 18 years, those are some of the best tax dollar that ever got spent, talk about a bargain!
That's the other thing about these conservative spewings, they keep harping about the same crap, none of it makes any sense, none of it holds up to even the slightest logical inspection. Its just more mouth breathing, knuckle dragging noise being regurgitated by some "Click Head". You know why they call them "Click Heads" right? Because the poor little petrified bean between their ears makes a clicketty sound whenever the breeze between their ears rattles it around.
Oh, and one last thing... if you been getting that "called a racist, homophobic, bigot" thing a lot, perhaps its not the people pointing out the obvious who are the problem. Just a nugget for you to chew on, nightie, night.
Do not listen to this advice. The banks are still gambling with property because nobody in D.C. is willing to stop suckling on the Banker's teat long enough to pass legislation to make them stop. Everything they were doing before, they are still doing, and doing with impunity. Until the global market is flat, insane distortions and financial upheaval is going to be the status quo, and if you think for a moment that owning a home is going to protect you from anything then finding the next job is the least of your problems.
Find a good place to live. Be ready to move your family if you have to. Look for healthy economies with great need. Software engineers are gods in Brazil, just find the expat. community of the town of your preference and enjoy the view down on the beach. Viet Nam may end up being the next huge resort country (you just have to make nice nice with the locals... and I don't know how you feel about communists.) Point is, You want to our as much thought into your future as you do with your code, and you want to talk with your family about what they want and need.
You could always create an online school, you know, record classes on Youtube, that your children will be able to use. Give something back to the world. Maybe even get Bill Gates to throw in a few million dollars... sorry, that was a little cold.
Things are messed up, and the hogs are running the show (but then you work in the belly of the beast and I don't need to explain how broken it all is do I.) The good news is you can still create something of your own. Look at a thing, any thing that you love, that touches, moves and inspires you. Something you want your great great grandchildren to point at with pride. You will never polish enough turds to be happy, secure or skate through life unexamined. So confront what it is that stirs your soul. Figure out a strategy to migrate from here to there and give it a rip. Yes, you have family to take care of, make them part of the process.
Or you could just look for the next big thing. I'm guessing that would be home robotics. You know anything about AI?
Idiocracy may have been a comedy, but it called the shallow end of the gene pool straight up.
He takes his hand out to dinner... its the least he can do...
Actually, you're going to have some serious problems with sea level rise and salt water intrusion into your water table. You will get plenty of rain, a lot of it torrential (as the poor folks on the east coast can attest to right now.) So the deep south is a crap shoot, and the biggest factor is how far from the ocean you are and high above sea level.
Try this site. Chemical condensers that can produce 32 liters of water from the energy of a single gallon of diesel. With these new filters that would improve by a factor of 5-10x. You could put these in places with little or no water and provide the water needs of an entire village. Add solar power and the thing is totally self sufficient. Unfortunately, technology like this will probably make someone very wealthy, and if it isn't made widely available at near cost, make little difference for those who will need it most.
Its a she and SHE is commenting on the fact that people who look at their Bibles to determine the weather as opposed to looking out door, tend to have a poor grasp of reality and explaining to them that there is a coming drought and they should prepare seems to fall on deaf ears. Followed by the resigned comment that they will at least earn the bonus suffering points to present at the pearly gates upon their arrival. Me, I think I've made my peace with the here and here after, and I still have room for making sane plans and contingencies for the actions or lack there of, being performed by the chronically ignorant. I don't dislike the stupid and proud of it, I hear Dubyah makes a mean barbeque (not that I'll ever find out for myself :-) I just prefer they stand back and don't touch the controls. Leave that to the engineers and the statesmen please.
Actually, cells are way amazing. Put carbon fiber in a human body to replace/repair a damaged tendon, and the body will eventually break down the fiber and replace it with new tendon tissue. The process includes the cellular matrix growing over the fibers and cellular action (and the mechanic process of motion) over time breaks down the fibers and macrophages carry out the carbon through the lymph system. There are some pretty rowdy organisms out there. You want to keep that water running fast so the they can't latch on to your graphene, or it might not last as long as your think. Its not the strength of the material, but its ability to escape attack from powerful enzymes.
Water Molecule: 275 pico-meters Ecoli Bacteria: 0.6 micro-meters (109,000x larger) Rhinovirus: 30 nm (110x larger)
Rhinoceros: 4m (14,545,454,500x larger)
Alpha Monoceros: 144 ly (495,059,168,578,280,727,272,727,272x larger)
That's not even the ugly part, when banks discovered they'd fouled things up so badly they started going to court with obviously counterfeited documents, often many documents from different financial organizations with the same single names here labels and president of finance there titles as executive loan officer, and all being done by some little old lady being paid minimum wage in Kansas. Its a wonder the banks were sued into the stone age and the executives jailed for fraud.
I'm sorry but have you seen who's working at the Federal Reserve or the FDIC? Bankers and Wallstreet CEOs, that's who. The banks and the government are the same guys and the line between them is no more. Regulation? Hahahahahahahahh... what a quaint notion. We got here through Capitalism... because corporations want power and they can rig the government game in their favor. Its time for something completely different and I don't mean a penguin on the telly!