I see a lot of drivers that seem to think that, if they cede the right of way to a pedestrian as required by law it's some kind of personal favor, and the lowly pedestrian should tug his forelock, say "thank you baas", and run.

Bullshit.

Motor boy gets it wrong on at least two counts:

1) There is absolutely no reason to try to be nice to someone who is texting while in control of a motor vehicle -- they are endangering everyone around them and richly deserve social opprobrium.

2) Teenagers, like old ladies in walkers, have the fucking right of way in the crosswalk, and are in no way obligated to go as fast as some asshole driver wants them to.

An engineer wakes in the night and finds his waste basket on fire. He grabs the biggest bucket he can, fills it with water, and dumps it on the fire. He makes a mess. The fire is out.

A physicist wakes in the night and finds his waste basket on fire. He does a quick calculation of how much water is required, measures it approximately, and dumps it on the fire. He's pretty neat. The fire might be out.

A mathematician wakes in the night and finds his waste basket on fire. He grabs a pencil and paper, satisfies himself that a solution exists, throws the paper in the basket, and goes peacefully back to sleep.

I was educated in chemical engineering (bailed out of a PhD). Currently I work in embedded software.

The conclusion, that we are somehow living in the best of times, life of the universe wise, is suspect. We can't possibly know that there isn't larger scale structure beyond the limits of our observable universe. We are content with what we can see, just as some hypothetical people in the far future probably would be.

Also, don't most people internally substitute "here be dragons" whenever they hear "dark matter/energy"?

One grating mistake: nogal (pl nogales) means "walnut tree", not walnut. Nuez (pl nueces) means walnut, although it has been applied to pecans in the new world.

The story I have read is that honey locusts have thorns because North American elephants (mammoths, mastodons) were once tempted to push them over.

Some other evolutionary whodunits from the new world:

Why did pronghorn antelopes become the second fastest running animals in the world?

Why do honey locust trees have thorns all over their trunks?

Sure, but the odd thing is that human technology, which we agree to be designed, develops in much the same way, by trial and error. Usually only small, incremental improvements can actually be designed.