The Night's Dawn trilogy by Peter F Hamilton will absolutely rock your world, going by what you are asking for. After this, go for The Commonwealth Saga by the same author.
You really, really are missing out on a treat, but the best thing is that you have around 6,000 pages worth of epic space opera waiting for you in those books, and I envy the fact that you have all of them still to read - as quickly as you want!
I would find it very enlightening to find out what kind of organisation system he used for his trades/paperwork. Did he have a stash somewhere where he could store documents? Did he have a PO Box?
How would people on HN organise themselves without any permanent address...or by the looks of it, laptop/smart phone/access to computer, whilst tending to a portfolio that would end up being in excess of $4 million?
From a UK point of view - I left University in 2001. I finished paying off my student loan this month. And this is strictly because I have a very well paying job (I believe that you do not start paying off the loan until you earn >£18k per annum).
The job I have has nothing to do with my degree (getting a First in Multimedia Design and Virtual Reality didn't count for a lot 10 months after those 767's got flown into the towers).
However, I do believe, had I chosen to do a degree that was actually useful, I may have felt that higher education was the only way.
As it is, I could have got a job at 18, arrived where I am now at 26 instead of 31 and then got my company to put me through a degree at their expense.
Not done much research, but if there was an option to study a large amount of entrepreneurialism at degree level, then this would really float my (and a lot of other peoples) boat.
Several years on smaller routes, yes. But ultimately, they will not bother type rating any new pilots on the 717, move as many over to the 737 as possible (not forgetting the 65 extra 737's that Southwest will be getting from the deal) and the 717 will die it's own death.
Whether Southwest choose to then go for another smaller (90 - 100 seat) option is the really interesting question. Possibly if Boeing decided to step into the A318 market, then it could be a go - type ratings could be transfered down to the smaller jets, and commonality would keep costs down.
Looking at the fleets, the article does not mention the fact that AirTran has 65 Orders for 737-700's (the type that Southwest uses),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirTran_Airways#Current_Fleet and is looking at options to replace its current 717 fleet....
As well as landing slots, increased build slots at Boeing are always very welcome.
Books - yes, the physical kind. Although this has to be calmed down a bit, because I can only get through about 2 a week, but they make me feel very wealthy indeed.
Food - We have an excellent butchers in the town, and it's game season, so I am looking forward to getting a brace of Partridge and cooking something up.
Travel - it really does expand the mind. I did not realise how educated I had become from being 'dragged' away 5 times a year by my Mum. Even if I can only go 100 miles away for a weekend, it's still wonderful.
And the deviation from everything else I have read so far on here:
Exercise: I really value the money I spent on my MTB. I love my Bouldering gear (shoes, crash mat and chalk really), and I wouldn't be without going to Muay Thai twice a week. Doing all of this makes me feel like I have more of a rounded life - Yeah, I get to be sedentary for 14 hours at a time tweeking stuff on various VM's, but I also get to test my body to (what feels like) its limits, and I get physical camaraderie from the boxing, or the biking that just isn't the same from a book.
The third world country's / developing country's. How would they get a piece of this?
I'm quite sure they wouldn't - or if so, it would be an order of magnitude below what the western world would have.
Already more than enough to go to war for, by the havenots.
And resources? Would we just ultimately end up allowing 1 child per 1k couples to try and stem the rampant population explosion and resultant resource drain?
Would we tackle extreme age with a longevity based tax on a log scale?
It's the little things that add up and kick us in the arse, because even though we could live 12 times longer, the human condition would not advance anywhere as much.
.Getting a degree.
Honestly, I didn't need it. Contentious subject I know, but from the Hacker perspective, I have always relied on self learning in concentrated bursts to get me through - want a thorough understanding of TCP/IP? Spend 3 weekends going through the documentation and then playing around. Not 6 months in rigidly structured classes with no leeway for progression above and beyond what is in the curriculum.
I could have got a job that paid my pocket money, whilst learning more and coming out with less debt.
"but would this have paid off?" I hear everyone say.
My degree or time in education has absolutely no standing of where I am now, apart from the fact that I feel I could have been here by early twenties instead of mid twenties
I can understand this sentiment, but from my experience a lot of the value from doing a degree isn't from what you learn in class.
For me, the biggest value came from meeting other like minded people and being exposed to brand new concepts.
There's also value in learning how to finish things. I can understand that people drop out (for many reasons) and that's fine, but I think it's important to learn how to finish things off.
Although, knowing when to bail is probably also just as important. :)
The only thing I find is that I need to manage the volume of Caffeine flowing throuh my veins - the initial rush can last 30 minutes, during which time I start getting seriously distracted until I calm back down again.
Slow and steady rules the day where the coffee intake is concerned.
So out of interest, what do you think is the proportion of people who really know what they are doing vs the wannabes?
I think that those of us with our collection of domain names are going to see an exponential increase in value over the next two quarters.
The question is, how bothered are all of you about the impending Get Rich quick rush.
So far the Get Rich Quick crowd seems to have focused their attention on the website marketplace sites like SitePoint, which drives up sale prices for those who are willing to find sites to sell in other (smarter but harder) ways.
