If the replicator was able to make T-bone steak and cabernet, why couldn't it make latinum? Wait, I just did a search.  Apparently this has been asked and answered, lol: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicator_(Star_Trek) The drawback of doing so is that it is impossible to replicate objects with c...

Do they stick to English dictionaries for American accounts?  Mixing a couple of languages ought to help.

A dictionary attack won't guess four random whole words that are in the dictionary?  I'm skeptical.  4^4? I think it would take a very long time. Is that because the attacks aren't looking for words, but rather for letters?  Or are there true dictionary attacks being used?  If so, I feel the same w...

Many if not most college grads don't stay in the field of their degree.  On the one hand, that allows for someone to get an art degree.  On the other, I still say get something that will at least shuttle you into a career start.

Yesterday's Dilbert comic sums it up.  I'm one of the Elbonians in the last frame.  And no, I'm not saying anyone here is an idiot.

I had a real good run but only say 10 years, with a low Sharpe ratio.  I didn't have such a well defined system.  Mine was to buy beaten down stock market sectors, and hold them till they went up enough.  Rinse and repeat.  It seems like today, sectors are more correlated, so I don't know if I could...

Any fans of the Gold Rush reality TV series?  Wife and I have watched the past 3 seasons.  Man, you get the impression that there is still an awful lot of gold to be mined in the Yukon.

I know we talk about not looking.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I don't check my PP daily or even weekly.  Sometimes for whatever reason I'll take a look.  I will say "damn, I wonder what's dropping?"  Or, "Hey, good deal!"  Then what?  Nothing, that's what.  It ha...

PS, where in the midwest did you grow up?

At some point I have to conclude that the military industrial complex is real, it simply wants wars.  Say they are at the top of a pyramid labeled "we want war".  As you move down the pyramid, the motivations change.  You find the Zionists, the neocons (do I repeat myself), and other aggre...

I'm okay with the PS prescription except for all the civilian casualties.  Just their bad luck to be in the caliphate?  In any event, that is probably what is going to happen once ISIS get more set up.

Not to pile on, but yeah that's pretty funny!

They are playing you like a fiddle.  That ought to give you pause.

As far as being a younger liberal and then becoming conservative... Reub, I was JUST LIKE YOU until 2003-4. I mean, I would have agreed 100% with everything you write here.  Up till then I had been very politically active.  It started dawning on me how the Bush team lied to us and led us into a tota...

Reub, the other day you said we'd have been speaking German.  I laughed it off without replying.  Now here you are again. So you contend, had we remained neutral in WWII, that Germany would have invaded us??? I've heard the speak German thing many times before.  Please realize it's just VFW sloganee...

Yes, and it's too late for me to take any solace from the fact that Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld bear a huge responsibility for the rise of ISIS. I am not convinced we need to take the fight to them.  First of all, that is exactly what they want, and it will be another war we can't win. They know that.  Bin...

I usually test as ISTJ, although I'll test as INTJ every now & then. When comparing a list of famous ISTJs vs INTJs, I strongly self-identify with the ISTJs. I'm similar.  I have tested as both ISTJ and ESTJ.  Although the older I get, the more "I" I become, for whatever reason.  As p...

This whole thread is a great discussion.  Thanks to all for the sincere and insightful comments.  I've been reading attentively. I have a good friend with a daughter due to start college next year.  The girl is as sharp as can be and can pass any class.  She likes the arts, but also shows up for ma...

INTJ

If the article is correct, they are not gunning for us as in coming to the US.  They are wanting us to do battle in Syria, Jerusalem, etc. because that's what is predicted in the Quran. 

There was a very good article on Flipboard today about ISIS.  I think it is from the Atlantic magazine.  After reading it and getting an understanding of what ISIS wants, I do think they will have to be taken on militarily.  They are not going away until they are defeated. And I am as anti-war as th...

I will add one thing I strongly believe in.  Whatever is gotten out of college is 90% up to the student.  There are differences in the quality of the offering, but the student is ultimately the determining factor.  IMO.

One thing about community college... transferees to 4 year colleges are not given anywhere near the scholarship money that they could get as a freshman. I honestly don't know how to advise on this matter.  Friends and I have talked about it as our kids went through college.  The most we could come u...

I didn't want to hijack the Fred and Shop Class threads.... I am sure this has been discussed here before, at least tangentially to some other point.  I contend that college education is a false god.  Too many kids are going to college.  It's a bubble.  Fred Read pretty much spelled it out.  Point 1...

Anyone interested in the topic might enjoy this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Shop-Class-Soulcr ... 0143117467