>The original message I was commenting on was more about where technology could be in 50 years. HOPEFULLY, the scenario you paint with the complete depletion of all natural resources is MUCH further away from us than that. However, if you see that 4th horseman of the appocolypse trotting in over the horizon, do be a sport & post it on here so we'll know. <g>
>Just playing... I totally get your point.
>
>Oh, and sweet deal on that govt. funded College aid. I'd have killed for that. University prices keep going up, and it just seems that getting any substancial assistance is harder & harder to come by. TONS of people waiting in the wings to LOAN it to you though!

Yes indeed, today in the UK, not only do students NOT get grants etc., now they have to pay for their tuition. There are "Student Loans" companies and the student doesn't need to start paying back the loan till they are earning a certain amount (£18,000?), when, I think, it's auto. deducted from their pay. Still, not a nice way to start off your career, with a huge debt to repay.

I used to be proud of that fact in the UK, that ALL educ. was free. The Conservative govts. of Thatcher and Major gradually eroded these privileges, freezing the grant till it was phased out. I thought that New Labour, under Blair, being essentially a socialist party, would reinstate these. Instead they introduced tuition fees. Never was a truer word said about governing parties than "They're all just as bad as each other"