Linux got a leg up from all the Unix lawsuits, but also from all the commercial Unix vendors vying to be the next Microsoft with strategic incompatibilities.
And this valid experience obviously colored Torvalds' worldview.
Linux showed that the benefits of a common foundation far outweighed the marginal dollars lost from lock-in. So much so that if you waved a magic wand and got rid of the GPL restrictions, you'd still have everybody and his brother trying to push changes upstream. Because it's a hell of a lot easier to accept new version of code if you don't have to keep merging your customizations.
That's a completely different argument than "all taxation is theft."
In any case, the $7500 credit is not really designed as a taxpayer subsidy -- it was designed to reimburse the manufacturers for the R&D expenses of moving to electric, without direct government expenditure (but with a government loss of revenue). That's why it phases out after each manufacturer has sold a certain number.
However, it really does trickle down, in that used EV prices comprehend the credit. You can get a used i-Miev for $6K or so in some markets.
Sorry, must not have been you. Yes, I do own an EV. Yes, I live in Austin. Yes, I have seen somebody waiting to pick someone up at ACC, sitting in an EV at the charger with the AC on.
Come to think of it, though, it couldn't have been you because IIRC it was a plug-in hybrid, not a BEV.
And yes, I'm a prick, but not as much of one as someone who hogs the charger just to run the AC when their car is perfectly capable of running on gas anyway.
But the $7.5K is a non-refundable credit -- it reduces your taxes, but not past zero. So if you believe that all taxation is theft, maybe you should buy as many electric cars as you can so you can zero out your tax bill.
Actual transcription from a "conversation" between me and Alexa:
"Alexa, do you work for the CIA?" "Hmmm. I can't find the answer to the question I heard." "Alexa, do you work for the FBI?" "No, I'm not employed by them. I'm made by Amazon." "Alexa, do you work for the NSA?" (no voice -- descending 5th musical tone)
Actually, that's a bit optimistic. In some cases, earning an extra dollar can remove medical and/or housing benefits, making your effective marginal tax rate many thousands of percent.
You're probably right about the bats not getting too many dragonflies.
I think the article I read was conflating bats and purple martins as "stupid things people do thinking they will reduce mosquitoes."
In any case, I have found a source that claims that dragonflies do eat mosquitoes (adult dragonflies eat adult mosquitoes and larval dragonflies eat larval mosquitoes). I can easily believe this -- at least around here, they are both active in the dusk and morning.
Recently the public has shown increased interest in the value of insectivorous species of bats in controlling mosquitoes. Although untested lately, this is not a new idea. During the 1920's several bat towers were constructed near San Antonio, Texas, in order to help control malarial mosquitoes. Mosquito populations were not affected and the project was discontinued. Bats in temperate areas of the world are almost exclusively insectivorous. Food items identified in their diet are primarily beetles, wasps, and moths. Mosquitoes have comprised less than 1% of gut contents of wild caught bats in all studies to date. Bats tend to be opportunistic feeders. They do not appear to specialize on particular types of insects, but will feed on whatever food source presents itself. Large, concentrated populations of mosquitoes could provide adequate nutrition in the absence of alternative food. However, a moth provides much more nutritional value per capture than a mosquito.
They talk about other opinions, but most of those seem to be either anecdotal or from data taken in laboratories.
I also read that, not only do bats (and purple martins) not eat that many mosquitoes, they also eat other insects that would themselves eat mosquitoes, such as dragonflies.
I have first-hand knowledge that pads aren't used much with an electric car, and second-hand knowledge that that's how it works with a hybrid, as well -- my co-worker with the hybrid said the people at the garage marvelled at the lack of brake pad residue.
Sure. I could go either way on the fingerprinting. OTOH, if a lot of places do it but a few places don't, you know where the criminals are going to congregate.
In any case (despite all the protestations I see) it doesn't make sense to do fingerprinting for cabs and pedicabs and not Uber drivers. If you want to fix it, fix it all around. Don't make an ordinance specific to "ridesharing" and toss in a bunch of other garbage (like being able to stop anywhere on a whim).
And all the false information in some of the threads here about how the city never did this for cabs and pedicabs is, intentionally or not, completely wrong. For that many people to be that misinformed, somebody had to be actively lying.
Which is, IMO, why Uber lost -- reams and reams of mails and phone calls with active, malicious lies in them.
Austin did not "eliminate ride sharing on purpose." Austin is perfectly happy to have ride-sharing, but has a few restrictions on the operators.
Not all ride-sharing operators are leaving, and others will spring up to fill the void.
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And this valid experience obviously colored Torvalds' worldview.
Linux showed that the benefits of a common foundation far outweighed the marginal dollars lost from lock-in. So much so that if you waved a magic wand and got rid of the GPL restrictions, you'd still have everybody and his brother trying to push changes upstream. Because it's a hell of a lot easier to accept new version of code if you don't have to keep merging your customizations.
I suppose you're right -- it's a poor workman who blames his tools.
Citation needed.
In any case, the $7500 credit is not really designed as a taxpayer subsidy -- it was designed to reimburse the manufacturers for the R&D expenses of moving to electric, without direct government expenditure (but with a government loss of revenue). That's why it phases out after each manufacturer has sold a certain number.
However, it really does trickle down, in that used EV prices comprehend the credit. You can get a used i-Miev for $6K or so in some markets.
Come to think of it, though, it couldn't have been you because IIRC it was a plug-in hybrid, not a BEV.
And yes, I'm a prick, but not as much of one as someone who hogs the charger just to run the AC when their car is perfectly capable of running on gas anyway.
A compilation of names and phone numbers is not subject to copyright in the US. See, e.g. Feist
So you're the one hogging the charger when I want some juice so I can travel.
Why don't you pick your fat ass up and actually waddle the 100 feet over to the inside of the building?
But the $7.5K is a non-refundable credit -- it reduces your taxes, but not past zero. So if you believe that all taxation is theft, maybe you should buy as many electric cars as you can so you can zero out your tax bill.
Some of the new exploits can be precisely targeted and presumably leave very little evidence.
Umm, no, that's not a magical figure by itself. I want to see below a penny per (kilowatt hour * full discharge cycles).
Yes, kids, you too can try this at home.
Actual transcription from a "conversation" between me and Alexa:
"Alexa, do you work for the CIA?"
"Hmmm. I can't find the answer to the question I heard."
"Alexa, do you work for the FBI?"
"No, I'm not employed by them. I'm made by Amazon."
"Alexa, do you work for the NSA?"
(no voice -- descending 5th musical tone)
Actually, that's a bit optimistic. In some cases, earning an extra dollar can remove medical and/or housing benefits, making your effective marginal tax rate many thousands of percent.
That's a problem because anybody who engages the autopilot shouldn't be breeding.
I think the article I read was conflating bats and purple martins as "stupid things people do thinking they will reduce mosquitoes."
In any case, I have found a source that claims that dragonflies do eat mosquitoes (adult dragonflies eat adult mosquitoes and larval dragonflies eat larval mosquitoes). I can easily believe this -- at least around here, they are both active in the dusk and morning.
Also a source that claims that purple martins eat dragonflies, but very few, if any mosquitoes.
So the bats don't eat mosquitoes, but do carry rabies, and the purple martins don't eat mosquitoes, but do eat mosquito predators.
They talk about other opinions, but most of those seem to be either anecdotal or from data taken in laboratories.
I also read that, not only do bats (and purple martins) not eat that many mosquitoes, they also eat other insects that would themselves eat mosquitoes, such as dragonflies.
I came here to say the same thing, but with more snark. "Citation needed."
If I want the computer conch and am not interested in seeing a bunch of pictures of shells, I know what to type.
Unless we've gotten a lot more masochistic, they won't have too many takers.
I have first-hand knowledge that pads aren't used much with an electric car, and second-hand knowledge that that's how it works with a hybrid, as well -- my co-worker with the hybrid said the people at the garage marvelled at the lack of brake pad residue.
In any case (despite all the protestations I see) it doesn't make sense to do fingerprinting for cabs and pedicabs and not Uber drivers. If you want to fix it, fix it all around. Don't make an ordinance specific to "ridesharing" and toss in a bunch of other garbage (like being able to stop anywhere on a whim).
And all the false information in some of the threads here about how the city never did this for cabs and pedicabs is, intentionally or not, completely wrong. For that many people to be that misinformed, somebody had to be actively lying.
Which is, IMO, why Uber lost -- reams and reams of mails and phone calls with active, malicious lies in them.
This is utter bullshit. My daughter drove a pedicab in Austin in 2010 and had to get fingerprinted.
Interesting that you label others stupid when you have exhibited an inability to extrapolate what fingerprinting can mean for unsolved crimes.
This hasn't been true in a very long time. The only new thing is the prints are now going to be checked nationally, not statewide.
Hell, my daughter drove a pedicab starting in 2010 and had to get fingerprinted.
Austin did not "eliminate ride sharing on purpose." Austin is perfectly happy to have ride-sharing, but has a few restrictions on the operators. Not all ride-sharing operators are leaving, and others will spring up to fill the void.
There was discussion of allowing optional requests for fingerprinted drivers, but Uber and Lyft dismissed that possibility out of hand.