I am one of the evil ones with a 3/4 acre lawn, with lots of trees however. My lawnmower broke years ago and my lawn is mowed by Mexicans who speak no English (illegal?). However, I notice that I can buy a robot lawnmower at Costco, Sears, etc, that will mow my lawn quite nicely. It also runs on electicity and charges itself when needed. I don't know how many Mexicans are employed mowing lawns, but four of my closest neighbors use the same service. If we were to switch to robots that would eliminate many jobs for illegals. Since I can pay for the mower with one years savings on paying the Mexicans I might do it next summer. I'm sure there are many other simple laborious jobs that can be replaced by robots. On the other hand I would rather not own or maintain a mower, so there is opportuinty for someone with a little capital and repair skills to contract with me and my neighbors to supply and maintain the robots. If this capability spreads to other areas there will be a lot fewer jobs for low-skill people.

I would love to see $5 gas. I have a sailboat and I XC ski in the winter. Anything that gets the powerboats off the water and the snowmobiles off the snow is OK with me. For the few hundred miles I have to tow my sailboat in the summer I can live with poor towing mileage.

What about the fact that the incidence of most cancers is proportional to your distance from the equator, and that the incidence of breast and bowel cancer is much lower in the southern half of the US? What about the excessive use of sunblock, which blocks vitamin D creating UVB, while passing the cancer-causing UVA? What has that got to do with genetic predispositions that would have been irreleavant to our ancestors who evolved near the equator, and lived outside all the time? They did not suffer from the endemic vitamin D deficiency that most Americans suffer from. How many scientists can dance on the head of a pin while doing bullshit science?

A couple of decades ago a study at (I believe) UCLA found that high testosterone women (horny women) got far less sex than their more demure fellows. Men do not like assertive women, even if they are easier to screw. However, age has its benefits. My 64-year old wife is a lot hotter than her 72-year old husband, and that is OK with me. Whenever I get the urge I know she'll be ready. But if it's not twice a week she gets really bitchy.

The major problem with having a gun for self-defense is the ability to use it. A gun is not to be used as a threat, because a violent criminal can take it from you. If you need to take your gun out, you must fire it without second thoughts. You must fire it to kill the attacker. If you are not convinced that you can do that, don't own a gun. At our house we keep cans of bear mace next our bed. Bear mace will shoot 20 feet and incapacitate anyone long enough for them to be stabbed, or for their throats to be cut, or to beaten to death with a baseball bat. Using a weapon is like any physical skill, thought is the enemy of effectiveness.

Even more important than the deterrence of crime is protection from government thugs. We are not quite yet at the point where we need protection from a fascist government, but when we reach it we will need lots of unregistered firepower. We don't want the thugs with federal credentials to be sure that they won't be killed if they try to arrest us because some government official doesn't like us.

In our small city (50,000) there appears to be a payday loan center on every corner. I have been told that with $10,000 you can go into the business and make enough to live on. At least in our town the loans are secured (more or less), auto title loans and post-dated check loans. In the old days the loan sharks charged 6 for 5 on Friday. That's very similar to the storefront loan rates. Many years ago, before the storefronts got going, a similar method involved making a $500 loan at low interest for 6 months, at which time if the loan was not paid off the interest rate jumped. Since short term treasuries offerred a higher rate than the $500 low interest loan charged I borrowed $500 and bought a 6 month note. I made $20 on the deal, which wasn't worth the effort, but I told the lender what I was going to do and it was fun to watch his disbelief.

Teenage boys have to be sent away to rape and pillage others. There is nothing more you can do for him, he needs the world to shape him up. He will either go to college or find a job somewhere. In either event he will be on his own. Almost all boys go through a phase like this. A famous economist once said "to understand the entrepreneur, study the juvenile delinquent". His rage and fierceness could propel him to great success when he learns to channel it properly.