Oh, that is sweet!

I too carry useless trivia in my back pocket to rain on other peoples' parades but...come on...labor day? It's just a day off near the end of summer. No one cares from whence it came or why. If you're going to pick on something, at least pick on the apathetic nature of Memorial Day or the commercialization of Christmas. :)

I LOVE this type of story. Anyone building a magnificent home (and this one sure is!) out of recycled materials in such a creative and unique way has my utmost admiration. I enjoyed every slide in that slideshow, especially the "wood-burning stove from an old ship found a new home in Mr. Phillips's "tree house." "

GailPink, certainly many "fallout shelters" are built simply for mental paranoia comfort; simple holes for reassurance. However the inevitable thought for anyone who's truly serious about survival shelters always goes through a period of "could I actually stay here for weeks...months...years?" as they're preparing.

"nature's tuning fork"....really? How gullible!

Geese fly in a V because they're drifting not unlike Nascar racers. Moss grows on the north side of trees (kinda...sorta) in this hemisphere because fo the position of the sun.

It's not Nature's tuning fork. It's the reality of the physics of existence.

Feel free to thank the Lord for that. But not any anthropomorphized "nature"!

Rintrah, I completely agree (especially since you were originally agreeing with me). Their justification comes in that they can make some neat headlines, thus ensuring future grant dollars. Perhaps this is a necessary step towards actual AI (not that I think we should bother) but for heck's sake, why is the media so obsessed with these easily digestible "I knew it!" headlines?!

Step 1) they sculpt it out of fondant

the end

"a measure of autonomy"

No, not really. It's still just a program written by programmers. They told it to sometimes not alert the other robots, and it clocked that there was more food available.

They're not telling lies.

So glad to see Mister Haldeman up there! My favorite author.

seekshelter: for what it's worth, Haldeman is a big fan of old typewriters too, so he probably submits manuscripts in all manner of formats. He has a bunch of fancy ink pens...probably for personal idea taking.

smoke rings.

amazing.

Hah. Rad. I knew it was going to end up all purple one way or another but still, super cute.

Loved when they were running. Reminded me of that computer animation with the octopi.

Larfin: it's crucial to Jewish history, which means it's also crucial to Christian history - two of the WORLD'S most widespread religions.

Without the plagues and the leadership of Moses, the Israelites would still be slaves in Egypt.

Also, that "dead first born son" puppet is creepy.

It's also water impregnated crappy fake chicken. Tender, yes, but disgusting.

Wait, we need more credit, more easily available? I don't like the sound of that. Why should we help people to spend beyond their means?

good point ted.