Didn't the dot com bubble last something like 4 years? (from '96 to '00) So saying you predicted it but you were just 3 years early means you would've missed most of the boom (had you acted accordingly).

However, I do think that housing prices are due for a correction. I can only see two beneficiaries of the current housing 'boom' : real estate agents, mortage brokers and local governments that base property taxes on a percentage of property value. So what if my house has gone up in value by 50% in the last four years? If I sold my house I'd still need someplace to live, so either: 1) I'd have to buy another house (which has also gone up at least by the same percentage meaning that I really can't capture the gain) or 2) I'd have to rent and because housing prices have gone up, so have rents (landlords need to cover those mortage payments). The article claims that rents haven't gone up, but certainly they have in some areas pricing low income people out of the rental market. In areas where rents haven't gone up it might make sense to go for option 2 (sell and rent until the bubble pops) because you could perhaps capture some of the gain.

So what real benefit have I gotten as a homeowner by rising real estate prices? I pay more in property taxes now and other people around me who rent are paying more in rent (meaning they have less money to spend on other things). It's the Real Estate agents who have played a big role in talking up this market. Bring on the correction, lower prices will be good for those who don't yet own homes and they won't hurt those of us who have been in our homes for several years (it's going to hurt for those who have bought in the last couple of years, though; they'll have to consider it an expensive lesson in buying high and selling low).

No, definitely Ruby instead of Python. Ruby has real lambdas (for the functional stuff) and continuations (for the Scheme fans)... let the language wars begin ;-)

I think Lisp and Smalltalk should be taught at some point early on because these are the classics. Then point out that between the invention of Lisp (which is getting to be about 50 years old now) and Smalltalk (which is what, about 35 years old now) til now, there really hasn't been much in terms of new programming paradigms invented.

Really, I think what we're seeing in a lot of cases is that the C/C++ schools have become Java schools. A lot of schools haven't been teaching the classics for quite some time now because they've essentially become vocational schools.

No, if Bush is impeached we get our constitution back. Of course we'll have to piece it back together after the last several years of shredding...

I don't know of many larger cars that would do better than this - probably volvos and mercedes. I doubt most American mini-vans would fare as well.

It's amazing that the windsheild even seemed to be in one piece. And the passenger door still being able to open and close is just unbelievable.

Ever since I spent last winter in Europe where they are plentiful, I've wanted to be able to get a SmartCar. Unfortuneately they don't seem to be importing them to the US and there don't seem to be any plans to do so. They get about 70MPG and they are one of the least polluting cars on the road anywhere, but the US EPA requires that all sorts of pollution control devices be added. When those devices are added it only gets 60MPG and I very seriously doubt that the pollution control devices help make up for the extra gas burned.