Actually, my first thought was "that's why you don't leave your email on somebody elses server." Gmail bothers me because I don't have a way to back it up. Well, actually I do - I pop mail to Tbird and backup that drive regularly, both to local backup and remotely.
You are correct on both counts, and there is useful reason for the way things are in both cases. As the government takes more power, more protections are needed for those who police them.
As for the "informants," - why bother to go to the papers to launder the information, unless they wanted it to be public. Ignoring the guilt or innocence of the organizations raided, someone thought the action was unwarranted and wanted it to see the light of day. If they just wanted to inform the right folks, all they needed was a payphone or a prepaid cell. Seems like an awful lot of crossed fingers to assume that the information would make it to the right people in the proper amount of time.
Oh, and as for you, Sen. McCarthy, what makes a terrorist? Is it the organization who plants the bombs, makes the bombs, trains the people, or funds the operation? According to the US public service announcements of (last year?)*, the people who are at fault are the ones who buy the products that make the money that trains the people who build the bombs so that they can be planted. And that, Mr. Senator, would be everyone who purchases gasoline. I suggest you grab a mirror before you start calling anyone else a terrortist.
*Okay, so techically it was targetted at drug users, but the analogy is pretty direct to oil-funded terrorism. Without that money, the end organization starves.
Insightful, indeed, however there are still dangers in that water. I lived in SoCal and couldn't wait to get out. To many stupid people to deal with. And I grew up in DC, so that's really saying quite a lot. It was nice not to have rain, but unless you lived on the coast the weather was stifling for a good bit of the year and the air made your throat and lungs hurt in the summer months.
If you're going to stay and ride the housing price wave, remember that prices can (and do) stagnate from time to time. Even while I was there, I saw some people's houses values stagnate, while others hit the lottery (one coworker bought a house in a neighborhood for $150k in January, and by May his development was considered "hip", and his next door neighbor sold a similar house in the low $400s). Think of it as investing in the stock market in the early 90s, and selling your portfolio and retiring in 2000. Everyone should do it because you can now live on the cash and not work again. Except, of course, that you happened to hit a nice ride, and everyone who jumped into the market in 2000 isn't quite so happy with the results. Housing prices are still speculative.
You're point that living in a high-dollar housing place will get you a nice sale and cash-out when you leave is true - that money does add up over time. Worse, if you live in a cheap, normal growth (which is about 6%/yr* before expenses, repairs, and taxes) and have to end up moving to the big cities, you're royally hosed. Houses really do drive the cost of living, but there is a certain investment quality to them, so its not all cost. The other big one is taxes. They can vary quite a bit, and are affected by RE price. I have a cousin who pays as much or more in taxes on her 5BR house in Jersey than I pay for the entire mortgage on my house in Virginia. That's money gone forever. And it's not necessarily proportional: I paid about $.20-$.23 per $100 of actual value in a rural county in VA, vs ~$2.40/$100 in Maryland.
Not saying that you aren't correct - your plan has merit if you can stand the atmosphere
*Data point: $130k house ~15m north of DC beltway in 1978 sold for $700k in 2003. Super hot area, McMansions galore, very desirable (large) lot with a horse barn, stone arena, fencing all put in since the original purchase. Realtor's "market value" was $540k (average from three good local agents), but the owners decided to advertise themselves instead. Increase over that 25 years: 7% per year actual, 6% by the "Realtors' Market Value" estimate. I think the realtors would have been on target if it hadn't been for the horse barn & amenities.
Red herring. Running a red light risks the direct injury or death of someone due to collision. Special traffic considerations were, as far as I know, never a special right of the press, whereas anonymous sources generally are held to be. It's worth noting that members of Congress can, in fact, ignore traffic laws while in session and have no fear of detention.
The ability for reporters to have anonymous sources is well accepted, and often staunchly upheld when it suits those in power. Eliminating that would, indeed, impede or restrict the press oversight of [organization which needs oversight]. It chills the atmosphere surrounding the entire process of investigative reporting.
Combine this with some sort of sliding-foot-interface and it could make for an interesting FPS. I don't know how you could allow the simulation of running/walking without something that was inherently unstable, but - hey - that's why I don't design that stuff.
So, I'm curious: Are we really to believe the head of new technology at Nintendo trolls/. and posts on occasion? Or are you just pulling our collective legs, trying to angle for a few more informative mods?;-)
That's a bad situation. In the climate-controlled comfort of my office with no pressure to "do something" to help, the logical choice would be to stop, then stay on the sidewalk with the girl and call the police on a cell phone. Tell them the story and have them come and get her and take her somewhere safe. Heck, I'd probably drop whatever I had planned and go with them to make sure she was okay, but that's mostly because I have a 4 year old daughter. I like to think in the small town where I live, anyone else would do the same thing. I know the older folks in my neighborhood would...I'm not so sure about those in my generation, though.
Sadly, 6/5/02 has already passed, as that was the computer I learned my first high level language (basic), low level language (assembly) and machine code on.
Not really. Go find a critically reviewed set of upsampling DVD players - there are a bunch on the market - and put that up against the HD versions, all fed through HDMI to the viewing device. You might even try the DVD as both an upsampled and at the native 480p, just for kicks. Players are still part of the picture, no matter what the format, since you have to have a player to view the movie.
Now, if you go out and buy a 50" monitor from Best Buy along with the cheapest player they carry of each type, plug it in and don't tweak it, view the discs in a room with several windows and some direct sunlight and white walls and ceiling, now you've got the typical viewing environment in the american home. See how they stack up there.
GM/Allison does, and they use their new phase II hybrid drive in municpal buses. I believe fuel efficiency went from 2.5-2.8mpg to 3.5mpg. That's a 25% minimum increase in efficiency. The new drive will be found in the GM SUVs next fall, and in their full sized pickups in 2008 (2009 model year), from what I've read.
Diesels, despite being fairly straigt forward engines, carry enormous pricetags here in the US. Getting a diesel adds $5000+ to a typical truck. It's cheaper for the low-milage driver to buy a gas engine and burn more gasoline. (sad but true) Me? Oh, I'd ba happy to perform a long-term test on the new VW diesel SUV, but I don't think that'll happen ($70k for a V10 toureg. Yikes.)
Most compaines won't let you "downgrade" during a revision cycle. The business version will probably have the same extras that XP Pro has, and Home did not. Its for business, it costs more. Get over it - at least its deductible (if, of course, you're a business).
It could just be that he/she's listening to too many books on tape (cd, mps). For a while I had a long commute, and would pick up the longest BOT I could find so they would last. As a result I manages to listen to 20-40 hour "performances" of those written works. They take on a space more purely entertaining (as in "less mind work") than written material, but far more deep and complex than can be offered in 120-180 minutes on the screen. I lost my taste for most movies because of BOT, and it takes a very good flick to make me feel emotionally satisfied when I leave the theater. Some films are still good, just as a chocolate truffle is good, but there's no comparison to the full steak dinner of a well performed novel reading.
For the money spent on renting gear, you should be able to buy the gear outright. Having built low-volume scientific equipment that is far more precise for dollars that would probably fit in a 100M film budget, it could be done. But, of course, I suspect that much of the stuff is locked up in IP rights and you can't buy the stuff for a reasonable fee. Which is one reason why film will die at the hands of digital production. Sure, there will still be IP and rentals, but that sort of thing is far more commoditizeable (is that even a word?).
Nobody cares what the final count is in December in Washington D.C.
It's a media event, and media events needs things to happen. They need the numbers as quickly as possible to retain the viewership for the evening. Plus, realistically, you need to be able to have the day's voting results before midnight, and preferrably before the 11 o'clock news goes on the air.
Urgency of the voting results is totally independent of the intent of the voting process (electing representatives and leaders). We could all put paper ballots in a box and ship them to DC and then wait for the end of the year. No big deal.
Alternatively, we could just replace all the representatives on the first Wednesday in November.
Bob: Did I do something illegal? Gilbert Huph: [begrudgingly] No. Bob: Are you saying we shouldn't help our customers? Gilbert Huph: [pacing back and forth] The law requires that I answer, No. Bob: I thought we were supposed to help people. Gilbert Huph: You're supposed to help *our* people! Starting with our stockholders! Who's helping them out, Huh?
She is made of iron, sir. I assure you, she can. And she will. It is a mathematical certainty.
Without a doubt, my favorite line from the movie. Though, to be honest, it's not high on my "what to watch" when I've got three hours to kill. A close second would have been a hearty "Game over, man!" from Bill Paxton, but it just never appeared.
No, actually we need the almost-current generation of senior citizens to die off, namely the baby boomers. Get the fat-ass, retirement-underfunded, whiney-I-know-better-than-you generation off the rocket sled to social security collapse and we just might have a chance.
Damned, I knew you were screwing with my computer! You're Fired!
Nearly OT - I run a small business with four employees, so I'm CEO and IT guy. When email, or anything network related, doesn't work I have to fix it. While I haven't left the caps lock on, I have had a frustrating morning recently when my laptop woudn't see the network, and I spent an hour fiddling with cables and routers before it dawned on me that I had set up my MIL's TiVo on her network the past weekend. I wanted to test the end-to-end connection before hooking into the TiVo. To do that, I manually entered an IP into the (network blind) laptop to pretend to be the same static IP I'd chosen for the TiVo and plugged in. It has a different subnet, and I forgot to switch back to DHCP when I was done. I suppose it might have been worse...if the subnet had been the same, my laptop would have "shared" an IP with one of the printers in the office.
Really OT - Hey the parent was my first non-anon FP. WooHoo! And, um, I'd better get back to work.
...and is the same as a DLP or LCOS (or CRT RP) TV that is being discussed, but is custom made. They're very common in high end settings because you just have a screen built into the wall and the projector sits in a room behing the screen with a mirror. Practically all front projectors can be set to project a mirror image for RP usage. You are limited if you want 1080 resolution, as there are still only a few available. This may be more cash than the OP wants to spend, and he'll need space behing the screen wall, but it does fit his requirements.
There must be a bunch of DaveRamsey crasies with mod points. His central tenet is potential suicide in modern banking. Yes, live on a budget. Yes, live within your means. Yes, pay off most of your debts.
NO, do not cut up all of your credit cards. NO, do not avoid loans like the plague.
Here's where his philosphy falls flat: Many insurance companies and all financial institutions need a FICO credit score to put in their system so they can evaluate you and produce a rate. If you don't have a credit score, you may as well have a 400 (bottom of the barrel). Keep two credit cards open, use them regularly (gas, groceries) and pay them off each month.
If you make a big purchase (house, car, student loan) get a low interest loan. You can pay it off quicker than necessary, but make sure it's on the books for at least a year. Don't want a mortgage and have the cash? Get a 5 year balloon an put the cash in a CD - the rates should cancel, or you'll end up a couple bucks ahead, and it'll look great on your credit report.
Remember, if you're not a multi-millionaire with cash-safe investments, you're going to need financial help at some time. Suprise medical costs can bury you financially, as can possible legal action. Don't get caught paying two or three times the going interest rate because you wanted to be "Dave Ramsey Debt Free". I've got news for you - if you pay your CC every month, and have more cash in the bank than you owe on your house, you're still debt free.
Please don't listen to Dsve Ramsey unless you're stinking rich (like he is) and will never need insurance or a loan for anything - not even a house or a triple bypass operation to save your life. Yu osee, he doesn't believe in a FICO score, and he doesn't have one because he doesn't have credit cards or debt. That's great if you've got six or seven zeros to the left of the decimal in your bank account, but not if you live in the real word.
Some of the rest of DR's stuff you can listen to - live frugally, pay down your large debts, keep a cash-like reserve. But get a CC and use it regularly. You buy gas and groceries, right? Use it for that and pay it off evey month. When you buy on cc, put the equivalent cash in a jar (that's a metaphor) and use that to pay it off every month. Keep your student loans as long as you're earning at least as much in your investments (I'm assuming SLs are tax deductible). Put as much as you can every year into a ROTH IRA - you can take principal out wihtout penalty if you need it, but if you keep it 'til you're 55 you get all the growth tax free.
I'm actually quite bummed that they won't be out sooner, and won't be offered on the Silverado. My current lease is up next year and I'll probably get a 1500 hybrid for my work (engineer). I don't haul much for work, but I have to get onto construction sites. My wife thinks I need a "macho" vehicle, I'd prefer a two-seater roadster that say's I've "arrived," as we already have a mini-van for hauling the family. Quite honestly, the 1500 hybrid has one thing I really want - 120V outlets so I can run a portable office in the back seat. It may only get 17-18mpg in the city, but that's most of my driving - short trips to sites and client offices. Heck, that better than most V6 passenger vehicles in the city.
Anyway, the disadvantages to the SUVs and trucks as passenger cars is drag coefficient/frontal area, internal friction in most 4WD/AWD systems, and weight. If you travel any highway miles, or like to jump off the line (guilty!), those factors will hurt, and are inherent to the vehicle type. Dropping the mechanically linked drive train (electric motors) and adding a very good regenrative braking system can overcome a lot of the internal stuff, and more detail to aerodynamics can help the exterior - maybe enough to make them competitive for city driving - but will never really match long haul.
What I want to know is why, with all the mini-vans out there, there isn't one that is a hybrid? It seems like the perfect market segment. Cost conscious buyers, space for the batteries, pregnant egg shape ripe for streamlining, performance issues mostly secondary (low towing, low acceleration is okay). Go figure.
Can you imagine what the $300B the US has spent in Iraq would have funded in alternative fuel/storage system research? I've heard rumors of 35-45% efficient photoelectric cells. We've seen research motes here on/. about continuous process biofuel/biodeisel conversion without large catalyst costs/waste. I'm not usually one to jump on alternative stuff, but the eceonomics of it are now paletable.
Of course, I find it interesting that the cost to take the oil out of the ground is about the same as it used to be (say 10 years ago), and I truly believe that a good portion of the cost of crude is due to speculators and futures traders. I say we outlaw the futures and derivatives markets and see where things go.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, my first thought was "that's why you don't leave your email on somebody elses server." Gmail bothers me because I don't have a way to back it up. Well, actually I do - I pop mail to Tbird and backup that drive regularly, both to local backup and remotely.
You are correct on both counts, and there is useful reason for the way things are in both cases. As the government takes more power, more protections are needed for those who police them.
As for the "informants," - why bother to go to the papers to launder the information, unless they wanted it to be public. Ignoring the guilt or innocence of the organizations raided, someone thought the action was unwarranted and wanted it to see the light of day. If they just wanted to inform the right folks, all they needed was a payphone or a prepaid cell. Seems like an awful lot of crossed fingers to assume that the information would make it to the right people in the proper amount of time.
Oh, and as for you, Sen. McCarthy, what makes a terrorist? Is it the organization who plants the bombs, makes the bombs, trains the people, or funds the operation? According to the US public service announcements of (last year?)*, the people who are at fault are the ones who buy the products that make the money that trains the people who build the bombs so that they can be planted. And that, Mr. Senator, would be everyone who purchases gasoline. I suggest you grab a mirror before you start calling anyone else a terrortist.
*Okay, so techically it was targetted at drug users, but the analogy is pretty direct to oil-funded terrorism. Without that money, the end organization starves.
Insightful, indeed, however there are still dangers in that water. I lived in SoCal and couldn't wait to get out. To many stupid people to deal with. And I grew up in DC, so that's really saying quite a lot. It was nice not to have rain, but unless you lived on the coast the weather was stifling for a good bit of the year and the air made your throat and lungs hurt in the summer months.
If you're going to stay and ride the housing price wave, remember that prices can (and do) stagnate from time to time. Even while I was there, I saw some people's houses values stagnate, while others hit the lottery (one coworker bought a house in a neighborhood for $150k in January, and by May his development was considered "hip", and his next door neighbor sold a similar house in the low $400s). Think of it as investing in the stock market in the early 90s, and selling your portfolio and retiring in 2000. Everyone should do it because you can now live on the cash and not work again. Except, of course, that you happened to hit a nice ride, and everyone who jumped into the market in 2000 isn't quite so happy with the results. Housing prices are still speculative.
You're point that living in a high-dollar housing place will get you a nice sale and cash-out when you leave is true - that money does add up over time. Worse, if you live in a cheap, normal growth (which is about 6%/yr* before expenses, repairs, and taxes) and have to end up moving to the big cities, you're royally hosed. Houses really do drive the cost of living, but there is a certain investment quality to them, so its not all cost. The other big one is taxes. They can vary quite a bit, and are affected by RE price. I have a cousin who pays as much or more in taxes on her 5BR house in Jersey than I pay for the entire mortgage on my house in Virginia. That's money gone forever. And it's not necessarily proportional: I paid about $.20-$.23 per $100 of actual value in a rural county in VA, vs ~$2.40/$100 in Maryland.
Not saying that you aren't correct - your plan has merit if you can stand the atmosphere
*Data point: $130k house ~15m north of DC beltway in 1978 sold for $700k in 2003. Super hot area, McMansions galore, very desirable (large) lot with a horse barn, stone arena, fencing all put in since the original purchase. Realtor's "market value" was $540k (average from three good local agents), but the owners decided to advertise themselves instead. Increase over that 25 years: 7% per year actual, 6% by the "Realtors' Market Value" estimate. I think the realtors would have been on target if it hadn't been for the horse barn & amenities.
Red herring. Running a red light risks the direct injury or death of someone due to collision. Special traffic considerations were, as far as I know, never a special right of the press, whereas anonymous sources generally are held to be. It's worth noting that members of Congress can, in fact, ignore traffic laws while in session and have no fear of detention.
The ability for reporters to have anonymous sources is well accepted, and often staunchly upheld when it suits those in power. Eliminating that would, indeed, impede or restrict the press oversight of [organization which needs oversight]. It chills the atmosphere surrounding the entire process of investigative reporting.
Combine this with some sort of sliding-foot-interface and it could make for an interesting FPS. I don't know how you could allow the simulation of running/walking without something that was inherently unstable, but - hey - that's why I don't design that stuff.
/. and posts on occasion? Or are you just pulling our collective legs, trying to angle for a few more informative mods? ;-)
So, I'm curious: Are we really to believe the head of new technology at Nintendo trolls
That's a bad situation. In the climate-controlled comfort of my office with no pressure to "do something" to help, the logical choice would be to stop, then stay on the sidewalk with the girl and call the police on a cell phone. Tell them the story and have them come and get her and take her somewhere safe. Heck, I'd probably drop whatever I had planned and go with them to make sure she was okay, but that's mostly because I have a 4 year old daughter. I like to think in the small town where I live, anyone else would do the same thing. I know the older folks in my neighborhood would...I'm not so sure about those in my generation, though.
Sadly, 6/5/02 has already passed, as that was the computer I learned my first high level language (basic), low level language (assembly) and machine code on.
Not really. Go find a critically reviewed set of upsampling DVD players - there are a bunch on the market - and put that up against the HD versions, all fed through HDMI to the viewing device. You might even try the DVD as both an upsampled and at the native 480p, just for kicks. Players are still part of the picture, no matter what the format, since you have to have a player to view the movie.
Now, if you go out and buy a 50" monitor from Best Buy along with the cheapest player they carry of each type, plug it in and don't tweak it, view the discs in a room with several windows and some direct sunlight and white walls and ceiling, now you've got the typical viewing environment in the american home. See how they stack up there.
No mod points to give out, but this is likely the most accurate post-reply to the GP.
GM/Allison does, and they use their new phase II hybrid drive in municpal buses. I believe fuel efficiency went from 2.5-2.8mpg to 3.5mpg. That's a 25% minimum increase in efficiency. The new drive will be found in the GM SUVs next fall, and in their full sized pickups in 2008 (2009 model year), from what I've read.
Diesels, despite being fairly straigt forward engines, carry enormous pricetags here in the US. Getting a diesel adds $5000+ to a typical truck. It's cheaper for the low-milage driver to buy a gas engine and burn more gasoline. (sad but true) Me? Oh, I'd ba happy to perform a long-term test on the new VW diesel SUV, but I don't think that'll happen ($70k for a V10 toureg. Yikes.)
Most compaines won't let you "downgrade" during a revision cycle. The business version will probably have the same extras that XP Pro has, and Home did not. Its for business, it costs more. Get over it - at least its deductible (if, of course, you're a business).
It could just be that he/she's listening to too many books on tape (cd, mps). For a while I had a long commute, and would pick up the longest BOT I could find so they would last. As a result I manages to listen to 20-40 hour "performances" of those written works. They take on a space more purely entertaining (as in "less mind work") than written material, but far more deep and complex than can be offered in 120-180 minutes on the screen. I lost my taste for most movies because of BOT, and it takes a very good flick to make me feel emotionally satisfied when I leave the theater. Some films are still good, just as a chocolate truffle is good, but there's no comparison to the full steak dinner of a well performed novel reading.
For the money spent on renting gear, you should be able to buy the gear outright. Having built low-volume scientific equipment that is far more precise for dollars that would probably fit in a 100M film budget, it could be done. But, of course, I suspect that much of the stuff is locked up in IP rights and you can't buy the stuff for a reasonable fee. Which is one reason why film will die at the hands of digital production. Sure, there will still be IP and rentals, but that sort of thing is far more commoditizeable (is that even a word?).
Nobody cares what the final count is in December in Washington D.C.
It's a media event, and media events needs things to happen. They need the numbers as quickly as possible to retain the viewership for the evening. Plus, realistically, you need to be able to have the day's voting results before midnight, and preferrably before the 11 o'clock news goes on the air.
Urgency of the voting results is totally independent of the intent of the voting process (electing representatives and leaders). We could all put paper ballots in a box and ship them to DC and then wait for the end of the year. No big deal.
Alternatively, we could just replace all the representatives on the first Wednesday in November.
quoth imdb:
Bob: Did I do something illegal?
Gilbert Huph: [begrudgingly] No.
Bob: Are you saying we shouldn't help our customers?
Gilbert Huph: [pacing back and forth] The law requires that I answer, No.
Bob: I thought we were supposed to help people.
Gilbert Huph: You're supposed to help *our* people! Starting with our stockholders! Who's helping them out, Huh?
She is made of iron, sir. I assure you, she can. And she will. It is a mathematical certainty.
Without a doubt, my favorite line from the movie. Though, to be honest, it's not high on my "what to watch" when I've got three hours to kill. A close second would have been a hearty "Game over, man!" from Bill Paxton, but it just never appeared.
Color screens that eat batteries for lunch
Portable video to small to watch
Ability to run desktop apps that are too complex and are unusably slow
Hmmm...oh, and wireless connectivity, because every year batteries get better and everyone want's to stay in that 4 hour "sweet spot"
*shakes head*
No, actually we need the almost-current generation of senior citizens to die off, namely the baby boomers. Get the fat-ass, retirement-underfunded, whiney-I-know-better-than-you generation off the rocket sled to social security collapse and we just might have a chance.
Damned, I knew you were screwing with my computer! You're Fired!
Nearly OT - I run a small business with four employees, so I'm CEO and IT guy. When email, or anything network related, doesn't work I have to fix it. While I haven't left the caps lock on, I have had a frustrating morning recently when my laptop woudn't see the network, and I spent an hour fiddling with cables and routers before it dawned on me that I had set up my MIL's TiVo on her network the past weekend. I wanted to test the end-to-end connection before hooking into the TiVo. To do that, I manually entered an IP into the (network blind) laptop to pretend to be the same static IP I'd chosen for the TiVo and plugged in. It has a different subnet, and I forgot to switch back to DHCP when I was done. I suppose it might have been worse...if the subnet had been the same, my laptop would have "shared" an IP with one of the printers in the office.
Really OT - Hey the parent was my first non-anon FP. WooHoo! And, um, I'd better get back to work.
Now get back to work, damnit. My email is down again.
Sincerely,
the CEO
...and is the same as a DLP or LCOS (or CRT RP) TV that is being discussed, but is custom made. They're very common in high end settings because you just have a screen built into the wall and the projector sits in a room behing the screen with a mirror. Practically all front projectors can be set to project a mirror image for RP usage. You are limited if you want 1080 resolution, as there are still only a few available. This may be more cash than the OP wants to spend, and he'll need space behing the screen wall, but it does fit his requirements.
There must be a bunch of DaveRamsey crasies with mod points. His central tenet is potential suicide in modern banking. Yes, live on a budget. Yes, live within your means. Yes, pay off most of your debts.
NO, do not cut up all of your credit cards.
NO, do not avoid loans like the plague.
Here's where his philosphy falls flat: Many insurance companies and all financial institutions need a FICO credit score to put in their system so they can evaluate you and produce a rate. If you don't have a credit score, you may as well have a 400 (bottom of the barrel). Keep two credit cards open, use them regularly (gas, groceries) and pay them off each month.
If you make a big purchase (house, car, student loan) get a low interest loan. You can pay it off quicker than necessary, but make sure it's on the books for at least a year. Don't want a mortgage and have the cash? Get a 5 year balloon an put the cash in a CD - the rates should cancel, or you'll end up a couple bucks ahead, and it'll look great on your credit report.
Remember, if you're not a multi-millionaire with cash-safe investments, you're going to need financial help at some time. Suprise medical costs can bury you financially, as can possible legal action. Don't get caught paying two or three times the going interest rate because you wanted to be "Dave Ramsey Debt Free". I've got news for you - if you pay your CC every month, and have more cash in the bank than you owe on your house, you're still debt free.
Please don't listen to Dsve Ramsey unless you're stinking rich (like he is) and will never need insurance or a loan for anything - not even a house or a triple bypass operation to save your life. Yu osee, he doesn't believe in a FICO score, and he doesn't have one because he doesn't have credit cards or debt. That's great if you've got six or seven zeros to the left of the decimal in your bank account, but not if you live in the real word.
Some of the rest of DR's stuff you can listen to - live frugally, pay down your large debts, keep a cash-like reserve. But get a CC and use it regularly. You buy gas and groceries, right? Use it for that and pay it off evey month. When you buy on cc, put the equivalent cash in a jar (that's a metaphor) and use that to pay it off every month. Keep your student loans as long as you're earning at least as much in your investments (I'm assuming SLs are tax deductible). Put as much as you can every year into a ROTH IRA - you can take principal out wihtout penalty if you need it, but if you keep it 'til you're 55 you get all the growth tax free.
Now I'm just rambling....
I'm actually quite bummed that they won't be out sooner, and won't be offered on the Silverado. My current lease is up next year and I'll probably get a 1500 hybrid for my work (engineer). I don't haul much for work, but I have to get onto construction sites. My wife thinks I need a "macho" vehicle, I'd prefer a two-seater roadster that say's I've "arrived," as we already have a mini-van for hauling the family. Quite honestly, the 1500 hybrid has one thing I really want - 120V outlets so I can run a portable office in the back seat. It may only get 17-18mpg in the city, but that's most of my driving - short trips to sites and client offices. Heck, that better than most V6 passenger vehicles in the city.
Anyway, the disadvantages to the SUVs and trucks as passenger cars is drag coefficient/frontal area, internal friction in most 4WD/AWD systems, and weight. If you travel any highway miles, or like to jump off the line (guilty!), those factors will hurt, and are inherent to the vehicle type. Dropping the mechanically linked drive train (electric motors) and adding a very good regenrative braking system can overcome a lot of the internal stuff, and more detail to aerodynamics can help the exterior - maybe enough to make them competitive for city driving - but will never really match long haul.
What I want to know is why, with all the mini-vans out there, there isn't one that is a hybrid? It seems like the perfect market segment. Cost conscious buyers, space for the batteries, pregnant egg shape ripe for streamlining, performance issues mostly secondary (low towing, low acceleration is okay). Go figure.
Can you imagine what the $300B the US has spent in Iraq would have funded in alternative fuel/storage system research? I've heard rumors of 35-45% efficient photoelectric cells. We've seen research motes here on /. about continuous process biofuel/biodeisel conversion without large catalyst costs/waste. I'm not usually one to jump on alternative stuff, but the eceonomics of it are now paletable.
Of course, I find it interesting that the cost to take the oil out of the ground is about the same as it used to be (say 10 years ago), and I truly believe that a good portion of the cost of crude is due to speculators and futures traders. I say we outlaw the futures and derivatives markets and see where things go.