This is the year she should be born, the rump of the American century and the beginning of the technological era. The world is in recovery from an addiction to fear, and not doing well. In place of a bipolar tension it is kindling bushfire wars, getting up to speed for another hundred years of horror. Governments lie to themselves as much as to their citizens or their enemies, unnatural ebullience overvalues dross and sells worth at bargain prices, and the watchword is "free," not "freedom." Once again, the populace votes for lies and tinsel on a Christmas tree of ordure while on the world’s other face death is more common than shoelaces.