The economy being what it is, 99 percent of us are probably not in the position to light our $2 cigars with $50 bills – but could we? Is it within our legal rights to make a statement by tearing up a dollar, or could we be clapped in irons for crushing a zinc penny in a carnival souvenir machine? Reading the answer won’t cost you one red cent.
Is it Legal or Illegal to Destroy U.S. Coins and Paper Money?
Before the Internet, before personal computers and before he and William English invented the computer mouse, Doug Engelbart had a vision. It entailed putting a computer in every office, sharing ideas and resources across networks and raising the collective IQ of society through human-computer interactions. That dream drove him to design some of the foundational technologies that drive today’s information society – including a few that might surprise you.
As anyone who’s played the ponies, visited Tomorrowland or flipped through an old issue of Popular Mechanics can tell you, predicting the future is no mean feat. Even when we get the broad strokes right, we often misgauge society’s responses. Scientists reveal, inventors dream, engineers build and marketers flog, but human nature has the final say.
Prediction is a sucker’s game, but we have to play: If we don’t predict, we can’t plan. In this article, I look at how the field of futurology developed – and how it works.
If you’re an Aussie dag and some bogan is giving you a dunnyflushing, why not spend the time constructively? Watch which way the water swirls down the bog, and then call one of your nerdier Yank mates and compare notes on swirlie physics. Will this settle the age-old argument? Hardly. But, hey, it’s something to pass the time.
Does Water in a Drain Go a Different Direction in the Southern Hemisphere?
Mrs. O’Leary’s cow; David’s sling-stone; the thorn in a lion’s paw.
We relish tales of the mighty being felled by seemingly insignificant objects. But could a penny placed on railroad tracks really derail a train, or is this myth just a load of pig iron?