No, but they were the first to sell an EV that made non-geeks' pulses quicken. The vehicles sold before that were more of the "eat your vegetables" variety, and thus doomed to be money-losing niche vehicles, useful only as arguments against the viability of the electric vehicle market.
Personally I think this is the key. They were the first manufacture of EVs to make one that young boys would want a poster of to put on their wall, or would want a Hot Wheels car of. Seriously my oldest child really wanted the poster of the Tesla roadster at his school's book fair and my youngest though the Tesla roadster Hot Wheels car was really cool looking.
Also I would say most of the previous EVs were less "eat your vegetables" and more 1970s space cadet category (who wants to buy a strange looking little car), but the Nissan Leaf I would put in eat your veggies category.
Wow that is a bit concerning, then again it is Missouri and shouldn't surprise me. The only time I have been in that state I saw some interesting things. A couple that stand our were the 2 billboards on the highway right next to each other. The first one read something like "Jesus Saves, some church exit what ever", the second one was something like "Live XXX nudes, some other exit". The other was when I went into a gas station and saw a display of Jack Daniel's and other hard liquors for sale.
Also the gun show loop hole in Minnesota doesn't really apply as any dealer (FFL holder) there has to follow the same laws just as if they were in there store. If an individual is there selling their firearms then the private party sales rules apply but even those in Minnesota tend to be stricter than most states. I remember reading that if the transfer isn't registered and if the firearm is used in a crime within a year the original owner is still liable to some degree. I can't find the MN statute so my google-fu must be off today but I would have provided a link if I had.. So this has lead a number of private parties to only sell to people who have a permit to purchase or to people they have known for a long time. Granted this still doesn't stop the gang members from getting them but it does seem to keep the crimes of passion down.
Now if people would just store them properly as I get real sick of the kid finds parent's gun and shoots someone stories but that is a different rant.
I had a similar thought years ago when I read about the amount of lead fishing tackle lost in Minnesota lakes. The estimate was that about 1 ton (2000lbs) was lost in Minnesota lakes each year. Then I did a bit thinking and all that tackle would be a cube about a foot and a half on edge and thought it can't be that small of an amount. Then I realized that I didn't own any lead fishing tackle any more and was pleased that the amount of lead fishing tackle getting lost in lakes would continue to go down as it becomes harder to even find it.
Or you do what I do and go up to the cashiers at MicroCenter and ask for whatever is the current largest sized flash drive, SD card, or microSD card that is under $20. No packaging (unless it is the SD card case) and I have a new one that will last until I either fill it or end up destroying it on accident.
I think it varies mostly by family here but having the occasional drink was fine in my family. In my family it has been acceptable for underage people to have a beer, glass of wine, glass of the good stuff (take your pick) at family gatherings and outing as far back as I can remember. No one got shitface drunk either. Then again it was nice to when I turned 21 to actually to finally be able to go down to the liquor store and buy what I wanted.
Actually feral cats or cats people don't give a shit about do roam freely where I hunt, and there are all sorts of predators up there, I have seen the cougar on a number of occasions, been stalked by the wolves, seen a lynx at a distance, been about 2 feet from a black bear, have taken a number of coyotes, and have seen the foxes prancing down the road. There isn't a house for 5 miles in just about any direction and the house cat is not something that is native to north America. Also feral cats do do a large amount of damage to game birds like grouse.
Here is an idea if you don't want someone shooting your cat out in the woods don't let them wander around outside off of your property and be sure to get the damn thing fixed. We aren't talking about popping a cat that is wandering around in the park behind my house but ones miles from anyone's house out in woods. I know a lot of hunters and we all will shoot a feral cat, possum (they are not native here as well) and any other of invasive species. My neighbor across the street shot a feral pig a few years back while he was out deer hunting.
Well deer are really just giant stilted rats with their only real predator being something that has 4 or more wheels. Also would say deer are a problem because too many people think they are wonderful majestic creatures and feed the dumb things. You know your state has a problem when phrases like "urban deer herd" are used and one goes running through the state capitol building.
If you have a vehicle that can run on E85 running on isopropanol wouldn't be a problem. Going up to butanol would be even better as it can basically be use in unmodified gasoline engines. As you point out neither of these is safe for human consumption but then neither is gasoline.
I would have thought it was all the walking. Seriously they walk or take public transportation everywhere. Also even though their food is very rich it isn't the laoded with fillers stuff you find in the US but instead it is made with real components of food.
I would have thought there would be given how those people generally preach the benefits of eating organic hormone free, antibiotic free, free range, humanly raised, responsibly farmed food.
I would be more worried about the damage cats do to bird populations. I have not problems shooting feral house cats or any house cats I find out in the woods, and I have shot a number of them. With so many people worried about invasive non native species I'm surprised more attention isn't given to all of those feral house cats. Those stupid things are substantially more destructive than most other non native species but yet because cats are kept as pets people get upset about dispatching feral ones.
By optimized I mean having a compression ratio that fits the fuel. Tinkering with air/fuel rations, injector pulse width and timing, spark timing, and cam, timing can do some to get better mileage out of alcohol fuels in flex fuel vehicles but here you would only be looking at probably a few percent. Since the vehicle would be expected to run on regular 87 octane fuel you really can't be running a 14:1 compression ratio so instead run it at 9:1 or 10:1 range and let the injectors, ping sensors, and ECU figure out how to handle it. So in this case when running on regular 87 octane fuel it is dumping more fuel in to prevent pinging so you get slightly worse mileage than you would if it had been optimized for it. At the same time when running on E85 it doesn't have the compression ratio to bring up the Carnot Cycle efficiency to start to overcome having ~2/3 energy by volume of regular unleaded.
This also ignores the whole issue of boosting an engine with a super charger or turbo but that wouldn't make the numbers look any better for E85 mpg since you would be dumping in even more fuel (to maintain the correct air/fuel ratios) . The adiabatic efficiency of any forced induction system isn't 100% across at any point in the RPM range so you are going to have additional losses, typically less with a turbo than a supercharger. There is some efficiency gains in running alcohol fuels with forced induction as higher boost pressures are similar to raising the compression ratio but now you need to overcome the additional substantial losses of the compressor as well so it wouldn't surprise me if MPG was even worse than a NA engine with similar power.
So no your E85 optimized vehicle isn't really optimized for E85 and is still a mixed bag of compromises. This also assumes correct injector sizing as you would need injectors that are capable of delivering ~40% more fuel at peak times with a similar duty cycle than ones for a gasoline only vehicle. I would assume that manufactures would do this but maybe all vehicles are just running over sized injectors but on non flex fuel vehicles they have a shorter pulse width since it would keep the unique part count down.
As much as I wished Bachmann would have just shut her pie hole while in office she actually did represent her constituents. She came from the reddest district in Minnesota and her major work was pushing for the new St. Croix river bridge that most people in her district wanted. So lover her or hate her she was fairly representative of her district.
I thing we may be talking past each other here. When I hear people saying that they want firearms regulated like vehicles they usually assume that things would get substantially more restrictive for gun owners. I was trying to point out how making firearm ownership comparable to vehicle ownership, not operation in the public where there is probably a pretty good parity already, would result in laxer gun laws.
I would agree that we should have stricter laws on carrying a firearm while intoxicated as it appears that in my state it is legal to carry one while intoxicated but you can't hunt while intoxicated. I was familiar with the second part being an avid hunter and had just assumed it was similar for the first.
As far as training it sounds like what is offered in Illinois is similar to what is offered in Minnesota which is why I pointed out the BSA merit badges as examples of substantially above average training. Unless you had grown up being taught how to handle, maintain, store, and use firearms there is no way one could pass in even a single day. The driver training is also horrible and when I went through it I had already been driving vehicles for 7 years and had been racing for 3 so found the drivers ed offered by the school to be lacking. No skid pad, no operating it at speeds above about 5 mph until you did your 2 one hour sessions on the road, no how to handle emergency situations, etc.
I am actually surprised that there are places where there isn't a waiting period for a handgun purchase. In Minnesota to purchase a handgun or "assault weapon" (I really hate this term as all it seems to really mean AR or AK platform semi auto rifle) you need to go to your local police station and apply for a permit to purchase. They run some checks and respond back in 1-2 weeks and if you are good then you get a permit that is valid for one year that allows you to purchase handguns and assault weapons. When you go and purchase one at a store you present your permit and they check that as well as running the standard instant background check that is run for standard long gun purchases. So in this case there is at least a week if not closer to 2 week wait from when you decide you want to purchase a handgun to when you are able to do so.
Also I agree there are too many people purchase more handgun that what they need to the point of being silly. Most are just a range toy but using anything that is a magnum class round for self defense against another person is excessive and would be the wrong choice. I say this as someone who owns a revolver on the upper end of the magnum side of the spectrum. That was gotten for protection against bear and the other large predators in norther Minnesota since I wanted something that would stop a bear with a reasonable shot in an emergency. Also I am a fairly big guy (5'9" 250lbs and does power lifting) and don't have a problem with handling a large heavy handgun.
I just want the same reasonable restrictions that as you say, government puts on driving cars, because guns are dangerous.
Careful with that reasoning it may not lead to where you think it will. For example as a private citizen I can legally own any type of vehicle I can afford or build myself while the types of firearms I could own are limited to a subset of those available or ones I could build similar to those available for sale. There is also the whole issue of licenses, registration, or training to own a firearm. Again here it may not work out how one would think. I can own any vehicle I want and neither I nor the vehicle needs to be licensed, registered, or have any proof that I am competent to operate it so long as it remains on private property or not used on public property. Now in my state if I want to use a firearm on public property I either need to have a CCW permit and be carrying only a hand gun or be out hunting with the appropriate hunting license and firearm acceptable for the game I am after. To get a hunting license in Minnesota if you were born on or after Jan 1, 1979 you need have gone through the basic hunter safety course which does have a meager shooting proficiency requirement that is sadly about as good as the standard driving proficiency test given to 16 year olds. The shooting proficiency for the CCW is fairly comparable and a rather sad joke as well. What we find is that firearms are already as or more regulated than vehicles.
Personally I would prefer that everyone who wants a firearm go through a real training course that offers a rather exhaustive training with stringent requirements. The best example I have experience with would be the BAS Shotgun or Rifle merit badges. Having also gone through hunter safety and the CCW classes they were a joke by comparison to those merit badges that were taught by a retired US Marine (picture R. Lee Ermey and you aren't far off). I would imagine that the US military also does an even more comprehensive training less the game hunting aspects so that would be acceptable to me as well. Problem no one wants to talk about that kind of regulation.
The fact that they are doing this at gun shows...well...it's really no surprise. Knowing and recording that someone attended a gun show and associating it with a vehicle could, theoretically, save an officer's life given the likelihood that the vehicle may have a someone in it that may have a weapon (licensed or unlicensed).
You know what else could potentially save an officer's life? Maybe searching everyone's home to see if they have any items that would indicate that they own a firearm.
Yes I realize that there is a difference between having a vehicle out in public vs. a private home but I don't like the automated surveillance that is becoming more ubiquitous. Now toss in ALPRs on regular police cruisers running all the time as well as any stationary units and being able to surveil the entire population becomes easy. At what point are you willing to say enough is enough in the name of safety. At least with the old meat bag, pad of paper, and pencil it required them to expend real resources, now it is just automatic.
When it comes to charter schools NY seems like a bad example as I asked around and found out the ones in NY get to be selective like private schools with their students. So since they are allowed to avoid the problem students they have an easier time doing well. That said in Minnesota the charter schools aren't allowed to be selective and must take any child who lives within the district that the charter resides provided there is a spot, otherwise they go on a waiting list. The only preference given is to siblings of existing students and that seems reasonable so that all students have the same schedule. In Minnesota charter schools don't seem to do worse than the surrounding public schools and in some cases do substantially better. The surprising thing is that the local public schools have been trying to push their problem students to the charter schools to get them off their roles. So with a higher percentage of problem students than the local public schools it is impressive that the charters are even able to match the performance of public schools. On the other hand charter schools aren't all pixi dust and unicorn farts there is a lot of issues especially when you get into some of the management levels and some of the more specialized charter schools. I say this as someone who's wife worked in charter schools for 10 years and has seen the incompetence, and megalomania of various directors, as well as following the TiZa Academy story that didn't pass the smell test and seemed to be a way to offer religious instruction and funnel public dollars to a religious institution.
But then again, there's a Nobel prize for literature, so maybe they could merge the economics prize into that one.
If I had mod points today I would be facing a difficult decision of funny or insightful. I might lean towards the funny because of the hyper cube statement earlier though although that seems as likely an explanation as any when it comes to economics. There really should be a +1 funny because it is true mod that boosts karma.
In the dust bowl seemed like capitalism worked and in the other ones there sure seemed to be a lot of government intervention. The one thing everyone seems to forget about is that in capitalism there are going to be busts that will wipe out businesses and actors. The invisible hand isn't always benevolent and does seem to like to smash things from time to time.
In the case of the dust bowl a lot of bad farming practices were taking place and it did destroy a lot of farmers. Granted it wasn't just contained to the bad actors but farming is going strong in the US now with better practices. I'm not sure where you were going with tobacco marketing but there has been a large amount of government intervention in that as well as various government lawsuits to recover costs associated with tobacco use. Now depending on what numbers you read to gov is getting a sweet deal with their settlement money from those lawsuits since tobacco users die quicker and end up costing the government less money, not to mention the special higher taxes government already levy against tobacco products. Finally the whole credit crunch and financial disaster of '08 seemed to be the invisible hand trying to slap bad actors back to the stone age but the government stepped in and prevented that from happening.
Also for pure capitalism to work everyone must have perfect information which is never the case but it also requires strong courts to punish fraud and it doesn't seem like either of those are happening now, maybe this is what you meant with the tobacco marketing in which case it wasn't a failure of capitalism since the courts did award large judgments to states.
I haven't played around with any of the toy cameras, but I do like some of the things I can do with my old No. II Kodak Pocket Jr. It doesn't match the image quality of the Spotmatic F but it is so simple and makes no effort to be idiot proof you can do the double exposures then add in that the lens while probably pretty good for the time (1920s) isn't what I would call good compared to anything post WWII. As another poster put it elsewhere in the thread:
"Amateurs worry about gear; professionals worry about money; masters worry about light."
Since I am not a professional and have moved beyond getting gear for the most part (I still want an M42 screw mount fisheye and 400+mm telephoto) I look for getting the good shot and capturing it in focus with the exposure that will bring out what I want to show. I have gotten some great shots with my old gear and do love screwing with the gadget people.
One of the best cases of this was when I was in Israel for work and went on a tour of Jerusalem with a few of the guys I work with. They all had iPhones and were giving me a hard time with my "antique" but then from the overlook on Mount of Olives outside of the old city that we stopped at first I was able to get some nice pictures of Dome of the Rock (200mm lens with a 2x telephoto converter) and be able to clearly make out the mosaic patterns on it. Then toss in being able to take pictures in the dark areas(the Cenacle, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre) with or without a real flash and that by the end of the day I hadn't run out of batteries they started to come around. Granted I wasn't able to show them my pictures until after I got the developed but the picture quality is dramatically different. Things that were the subject of the photo weren't the biggest speck off in the distance, the dark room shots weren't a blurry or noisy mess, the shot down a side street captures the narrowness of how those streets feel (28mm wide angle).
Also I find having a proper camera can open up some doors for pictures you otherwise wouldn't be able to take. I got some beautiful shots of the interior of the Stella Maris Monastery after regular hours by asking the head priest. So as to not disturb the people who were visiting to pray he had me come back after hours and told me not to use the flash, I wouldn't of anyway as it is too big of a space, he took me around showed me some things. I ended up going through almost an entire roll of film but those are some phenomenal pictures.
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No, but they were the first to sell an EV that made non-geeks' pulses quicken. The vehicles sold before that were more of the "eat your vegetables" variety, and thus doomed to be money-losing niche vehicles, useful only as arguments against the viability of the electric vehicle market.
Personally I think this is the key. They were the first manufacture of EVs to make one that young boys would want a poster of to put on their wall, or would want a Hot Wheels car of. Seriously my oldest child really wanted the poster of the Tesla roadster at his school's book fair and my youngest though the Tesla roadster Hot Wheels car was really cool looking.
Also I would say most of the previous EVs were less "eat your vegetables" and more 1970s space cadet category (who wants to buy a strange looking little car), but the Nissan Leaf I would put in eat your veggies category.
Wow that is a bit concerning, then again it is Missouri and shouldn't surprise me. The only time I have been in that state I saw some interesting things. A couple that stand our were the 2 billboards on the highway right next to each other. The first one read something like "Jesus Saves, some church exit what ever", the second one was something like "Live XXX nudes, some other exit". The other was when I went into a gas station and saw a display of Jack Daniel's and other hard liquors for sale.
Also the gun show loop hole in Minnesota doesn't really apply as any dealer (FFL holder) there has to follow the same laws just as if they were in there store. If an individual is there selling their firearms then the private party sales rules apply but even those in Minnesota tend to be stricter than most states. I remember reading that if the transfer isn't registered and if the firearm is used in a crime within a year the original owner is still liable to some degree. I can't find the MN statute so my google-fu must be off today but I would have provided a link if I had.. So this has lead a number of private parties to only sell to people who have a permit to purchase or to people they have known for a long time. Granted this still doesn't stop the gang members from getting them but it does seem to keep the crimes of passion down.
Now if people would just store them properly as I get real sick of the kid finds parent's gun and shoots someone stories but that is a different rant.
I had a similar thought years ago when I read about the amount of lead fishing tackle lost in Minnesota lakes. The estimate was that about 1 ton (2000lbs) was lost in Minnesota lakes each year. Then I did a bit thinking and all that tackle would be a cube about a foot and a half on edge and thought it can't be that small of an amount. Then I realized that I didn't own any lead fishing tackle any more and was pleased that the amount of lead fishing tackle getting lost in lakes would continue to go down as it becomes harder to even find it.
Or you do what I do and go up to the cashiers at MicroCenter and ask for whatever is the current largest sized flash drive, SD card, or microSD card that is under $20. No packaging (unless it is the SD card case) and I have a new one that will last until I either fill it or end up destroying it on accident.
I think it varies mostly by family here but having the occasional drink was fine in my family. In my family it has been acceptable for underage people to have a beer, glass of wine, glass of the good stuff (take your pick) at family gatherings and outing as far back as I can remember. No one got shitface drunk either. Then again it was nice to when I turned 21 to actually to finally be able to go down to the liquor store and buy what I wanted.
Actually feral cats or cats people don't give a shit about do roam freely where I hunt, and there are all sorts of predators up there, I have seen the cougar on a number of occasions, been stalked by the wolves, seen a lynx at a distance, been about 2 feet from a black bear, have taken a number of coyotes, and have seen the foxes prancing down the road. There isn't a house for 5 miles in just about any direction and the house cat is not something that is native to north America. Also feral cats do do a large amount of damage to game birds like grouse.
Here is an idea if you don't want someone shooting your cat out in the woods don't let them wander around outside off of your property and be sure to get the damn thing fixed. We aren't talking about popping a cat that is wandering around in the park behind my house but ones miles from anyone's house out in woods. I know a lot of hunters and we all will shoot a feral cat, possum (they are not native here as well) and any other of invasive species. My neighbor across the street shot a feral pig a few years back while he was out deer hunting.
Well deer are really just giant stilted rats with their only real predator being something that has 4 or more wheels. Also would say deer are a problem because too many people think they are wonderful majestic creatures and feed the dumb things. You know your state has a problem when phrases like "urban deer herd" are used and one goes running through the state capitol building.
That is true but it is still a fairly solid red district even with Stillwater in there as Emmer did win by a pretty large margin.
If you have a vehicle that can run on E85 running on isopropanol wouldn't be a problem. Going up to butanol would be even better as it can basically be use in unmodified gasoline engines. As you point out neither of these is safe for human consumption but then neither is gasoline.
Well not exactly. Take shellac in water is is basically non soluble but in ethanol it is soluble.
I would have thought it was all the walking. Seriously they walk or take public transportation everywhere. Also even though their food is very rich it isn't the laoded with fillers stuff you find in the US but instead it is made with real components of food.
I would have thought there would be given how those people generally preach the benefits of eating organic hormone free, antibiotic free, free range, humanly raised, responsibly farmed food.
A slight increase in the price for a head of lettuce.
I would be more worried about the damage cats do to bird populations. I have not problems shooting feral house cats or any house cats I find out in the woods, and I have shot a number of them. With so many people worried about invasive non native species I'm surprised more attention isn't given to all of those feral house cats. Those stupid things are substantially more destructive than most other non native species but yet because cats are kept as pets people get upset about dispatching feral ones.
Compare wolves to rats, say.
It is only because dispatching rats by high power rifle isn't allowed in lots of jurisdictions.
By optimized I mean having a compression ratio that fits the fuel. Tinkering with air/fuel rations, injector pulse width and timing, spark timing, and cam, timing can do some to get better mileage out of alcohol fuels in flex fuel vehicles but here you would only be looking at probably a few percent. Since the vehicle would be expected to run on regular 87 octane fuel you really can't be running a 14:1 compression ratio so instead run it at 9:1 or 10:1 range and let the injectors, ping sensors, and ECU figure out how to handle it. So in this case when running on regular 87 octane fuel it is dumping more fuel in to prevent pinging so you get slightly worse mileage than you would if it had been optimized for it. At the same time when running on E85 it doesn't have the compression ratio to bring up the Carnot Cycle efficiency to start to overcome having ~2/3 energy by volume of regular unleaded.
This also ignores the whole issue of boosting an engine with a super charger or turbo but that wouldn't make the numbers look any better for E85 mpg since you would be dumping in even more fuel (to maintain the correct air/fuel ratios) . The adiabatic efficiency of any forced induction system isn't 100% across at any point in the RPM range so you are going to have additional losses, typically less with a turbo than a supercharger. There is some efficiency gains in running alcohol fuels with forced induction as higher boost pressures are similar to raising the compression ratio but now you need to overcome the additional substantial losses of the compressor as well so it wouldn't surprise me if MPG was even worse than a NA engine with similar power.
So no your E85 optimized vehicle isn't really optimized for E85 and is still a mixed bag of compromises. This also assumes correct injector sizing as you would need injectors that are capable of delivering ~40% more fuel at peak times with a similar duty cycle than ones for a gasoline only vehicle. I would assume that manufactures would do this but maybe all vehicles are just running over sized injectors but on non flex fuel vehicles they have a shorter pulse width since it would keep the unique part count down.
As much as I wished Bachmann would have just shut her pie hole while in office she actually did represent her constituents. She came from the reddest district in Minnesota and her major work was pushing for the new St. Croix river bridge that most people in her district wanted. So lover her or hate her she was fairly representative of her district.
I thing we may be talking past each other here. When I hear people saying that they want firearms regulated like vehicles they usually assume that things would get substantially more restrictive for gun owners. I was trying to point out how making firearm ownership comparable to vehicle ownership, not operation in the public where there is probably a pretty good parity already, would result in laxer gun laws.
I would agree that we should have stricter laws on carrying a firearm while intoxicated as it appears that in my state it is legal to carry one while intoxicated but you can't hunt while intoxicated. I was familiar with the second part being an avid hunter and had just assumed it was similar for the first.
As far as training it sounds like what is offered in Illinois is similar to what is offered in Minnesota which is why I pointed out the BSA merit badges as examples of substantially above average training. Unless you had grown up being taught how to handle, maintain, store, and use firearms there is no way one could pass in even a single day. The driver training is also horrible and when I went through it I had already been driving vehicles for 7 years and had been racing for 3 so found the drivers ed offered by the school to be lacking. No skid pad, no operating it at speeds above about 5 mph until you did your 2 one hour sessions on the road, no how to handle emergency situations, etc.
I am actually surprised that there are places where there isn't a waiting period for a handgun purchase. In Minnesota to purchase a handgun or "assault weapon" (I really hate this term as all it seems to really mean AR or AK platform semi auto rifle) you need to go to your local police station and apply for a permit to purchase. They run some checks and respond back in 1-2 weeks and if you are good then you get a permit that is valid for one year that allows you to purchase handguns and assault weapons. When you go and purchase one at a store you present your permit and they check that as well as running the standard instant background check that is run for standard long gun purchases. So in this case there is at least a week if not closer to 2 week wait from when you decide you want to purchase a handgun to when you are able to do so.
Also I agree there are too many people purchase more handgun that what they need to the point of being silly. Most are just a range toy but using anything that is a magnum class round for self defense against another person is excessive and would be the wrong choice. I say this as someone who owns a revolver on the upper end of the magnum side of the spectrum. That was gotten for protection against bear and the other large predators in norther Minnesota since I wanted something that would stop a bear with a reasonable shot in an emergency. Also I am a fairly big guy (5'9" 250lbs and does power lifting) and don't have a problem with handling a large heavy handgun.
I just want the same reasonable restrictions that as you say, government puts on driving cars, because guns are dangerous.
Careful with that reasoning it may not lead to where you think it will. For example as a private citizen I can legally own any type of vehicle I can afford or build myself while the types of firearms I could own are limited to a subset of those available or ones I could build similar to those available for sale. There is also the whole issue of licenses, registration, or training to own a firearm. Again here it may not work out how one would think. I can own any vehicle I want and neither I nor the vehicle needs to be licensed, registered, or have any proof that I am competent to operate it so long as it remains on private property or not used on public property. Now in my state if I want to use a firearm on public property I either need to have a CCW permit and be carrying only a hand gun or be out hunting with the appropriate hunting license and firearm acceptable for the game I am after. To get a hunting license in Minnesota if you were born on or after Jan 1, 1979 you need have gone through the basic hunter safety course which does have a meager shooting proficiency requirement that is sadly about as good as the standard driving proficiency test given to 16 year olds. The shooting proficiency for the CCW is fairly comparable and a rather sad joke as well. What we find is that firearms are already as or more regulated than vehicles.
Personally I would prefer that everyone who wants a firearm go through a real training course that offers a rather exhaustive training with stringent requirements. The best example I have experience with would be the BAS Shotgun or Rifle merit badges. Having also gone through hunter safety and the CCW classes they were a joke by comparison to those merit badges that were taught by a retired US Marine (picture R. Lee Ermey and you aren't far off). I would imagine that the US military also does an even more comprehensive training less the game hunting aspects so that would be acceptable to me as well. Problem no one wants to talk about that kind of regulation.
The fact that they are doing this at gun shows...well...it's really no surprise. Knowing and recording that someone attended a gun show and associating it with a vehicle could, theoretically, save an officer's life given the likelihood that the vehicle may have a someone in it that may have a weapon (licensed or unlicensed).
You know what else could potentially save an officer's life? Maybe searching everyone's home to see if they have any items that would indicate that they own a firearm.
Yes I realize that there is a difference between having a vehicle out in public vs. a private home but I don't like the automated surveillance that is becoming more ubiquitous. Now toss in ALPRs on regular police cruisers running all the time as well as any stationary units and being able to surveil the entire population becomes easy. At what point are you willing to say enough is enough in the name of safety. At least with the old meat bag, pad of paper, and pencil it required them to expend real resources, now it is just automatic.
When it comes to charter schools NY seems like a bad example as I asked around and found out the ones in NY get to be selective like private schools with their students. So since they are allowed to avoid the problem students they have an easier time doing well. That said in Minnesota the charter schools aren't allowed to be selective and must take any child who lives within the district that the charter resides provided there is a spot, otherwise they go on a waiting list. The only preference given is to siblings of existing students and that seems reasonable so that all students have the same schedule. In Minnesota charter schools don't seem to do worse than the surrounding public schools and in some cases do substantially better. The surprising thing is that the local public schools have been trying to push their problem students to the charter schools to get them off their roles. So with a higher percentage of problem students than the local public schools it is impressive that the charters are even able to match the performance of public schools. On the other hand charter schools aren't all pixi dust and unicorn farts there is a lot of issues especially when you get into some of the management levels and some of the more specialized charter schools. I say this as someone who's wife worked in charter schools for 10 years and has seen the incompetence, and megalomania of various directors, as well as following the TiZa Academy story that didn't pass the smell test and seemed to be a way to offer religious instruction and funnel public dollars to a religious institution.
But then again, there's a Nobel prize for literature, so maybe they could merge the economics prize into that one.
If I had mod points today I would be facing a difficult decision of funny or insightful. I might lean towards the funny because of the hyper cube statement earlier though although that seems as likely an explanation as any when it comes to economics. There really should be a +1 funny because it is true mod that boosts karma.
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Repeat until the problem goes away
In the dust bowl seemed like capitalism worked and in the other ones there sure seemed to be a lot of government intervention. The one thing everyone seems to forget about is that in capitalism there are going to be busts that will wipe out businesses and actors. The invisible hand isn't always benevolent and does seem to like to smash things from time to time.
In the case of the dust bowl a lot of bad farming practices were taking place and it did destroy a lot of farmers. Granted it wasn't just contained to the bad actors but farming is going strong in the US now with better practices. I'm not sure where you were going with tobacco marketing but there has been a large amount of government intervention in that as well as various government lawsuits to recover costs associated with tobacco use. Now depending on what numbers you read to gov is getting a sweet deal with their settlement money from those lawsuits since tobacco users die quicker and end up costing the government less money, not to mention the special higher taxes government already levy against tobacco products. Finally the whole credit crunch and financial disaster of '08 seemed to be the invisible hand trying to slap bad actors back to the stone age but the government stepped in and prevented that from happening.
Also for pure capitalism to work everyone must have perfect information which is never the case but it also requires strong courts to punish fraud and it doesn't seem like either of those are happening now, maybe this is what you meant with the tobacco marketing in which case it wasn't a failure of capitalism since the courts did award large judgments to states.
"Amateurs worry about gear; professionals worry about money; masters worry about light."
Since I am not a professional and have moved beyond getting gear for the most part (I still want an M42 screw mount fisheye and 400+mm telephoto) I look for getting the good shot and capturing it in focus with the exposure that will bring out what I want to show. I have gotten some great shots with my old gear and do love screwing with the gadget people.
One of the best cases of this was when I was in Israel for work and went on a tour of Jerusalem with a few of the guys I work with. They all had iPhones and were giving me a hard time with my "antique" but then from the overlook on Mount of Olives outside of the old city that we stopped at first I was able to get some nice pictures of Dome of the Rock (200mm lens with a 2x telephoto converter) and be able to clearly make out the mosaic patterns on it. Then toss in being able to take pictures in the dark areas(the Cenacle, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre) with or without a real flash and that by the end of the day I hadn't run out of batteries they started to come around. Granted I wasn't able to show them my pictures until after I got the developed but the picture quality is dramatically different. Things that were the subject of the photo weren't the biggest speck off in the distance, the dark room shots weren't a blurry or noisy mess, the shot down a side street captures the narrowness of how those streets feel (28mm wide angle).
Also I find having a proper camera can open up some doors for pictures you otherwise wouldn't be able to take. I got some beautiful shots of the interior of the Stella Maris Monastery after regular hours by asking the head priest. So as to not disturb the people who were visiting to pray he had me come back after hours and told me not to use the flash, I wouldn't of anyway as it is too big of a space, he took me around showed me some things. I ended up going through almost an entire roll of film but those are some phenomenal pictures.