Don, the fish saga. I can relate. When we first put in our pond after tearing out the spring fed cattle trough, we traveled half way across the state to hand pick fancy fish. rofl. After watching them disappear one by one they were replaced with "feeder fish" from the box stores. Those poor little things raised to give to carnivorous fish instead of pellets. Those twenty cent specials cross bred with the fancies and it's been fun to watch over the years all the different shapes/sizes/fin configurations of the offspring. Some of them are large enough they'd meet legal limits for a pole. LOL. Funny thing is, I've never seen a coon at the pond. The tomcat sits and gazes longingly, a heron will come perch now and again, but never tried to catch one. As for culture disappearing over a relatively short period of time, how true it is. I went to a financial planning dinner once and the speaker asked how many of us could name all eight of our great grandparents. I was the only one in the room who could. That struck me dumb. What person doesn't expect to at least be remembered by their ancestors to the children of their grandchildren? But, most aren't. I do genealogical research for others on a volunteer basis, or did when I had the time for it, and one of it was taking off Church records written in old German script. Many of those in our community were members of German speaking churches, including a few of my kin. And it was the proverbial brick wall they ran into. One of my instructors in University insisted we learn it for research purposes and it was one of those things one thinks "yeah, and when I am ever going to use this in my life?" and ends up doing it, only it had nothing to do with chemistry. LOL.

I know that immigration is responsible for a large amount of the population growth of the U.S. Our birth rates have held steadily for quite awhile at just over two children per household, and actually after attrition due to infant mortality is less than replacement level. It's expected that the big surge by year 2050 will be due to immigration, either directly or indirectly. They aleady account for 65% of the population gain each year. Of the 3.3 million new people here, only 1.6 million are births of native born AND immigrant mothers. The rest are the influx. 1965 was the year the Immigration and Nationality Act passed, essentially increasing immigration sixfold, and later modifications have allowed even more. If our population doubles in fifty years, we'll be faced with increasing our infrastructure to twice its current level. Please don't think I'm making a political statement. I have family members who are immigrants. I am just saying our policies should look at these brass tacks and we need to weigh the benefits of such large demographic changes against the drawbacks. I doubt the typical person here even realises how significantly the border has raised.

My now 14 year-old step GS is/was mean-spirited, even as a little kid. When he was 9, the cops had been called on him many times. Then he broke a window (in custody of other Grandma) and tried to kill his 8 year-old brother with a piece of the glass. He went to kiddie jail for a year and a half, and his little brother came to live with us (with only eight hours notice). Little brother obviously had severe emotional and behavioral issues. Had been diagnosed with Asperger's. Right - NOT! He had never had discipline or consequences, had been severely abused by brother, had never been educated. Then when brother got out of jail, he sexually molested several of his grandma's daycare kids, including his 5 year old cousin. He has now been in a treatment center for several months. Rather than gracefully accept treatment, he has escaped campus, broken a staffperson's arm while wearing a straitjacket, etc. At first he had numerous episodes a day, now he can go for a few days. Prognosis is not good.

Thanks, Don, for the quotes from one of my favorite writer, Arthur Clarke. Morris Dees is one of the people I always admired, despite that he is a lawyer.