You chose to pay off your house despite that not being the optimal economic strategy. Between low mortgage rates, tax deductions, and the (average) high return of the market, you should have gotten the largest mortgage you could, and invested the money over the minimum payments in the market. You instead made a choice to sacrifice return on investment for peace of mind. This is the same choice I'm making, but it is a choice. The homeowner tax deduction theoretically improves social stability, which or elected officials think is in our best interest. Is it? I Don't know, but stop whining about the choice you made given the rules of the game we are currently playing.
With kids I felt the same way for a long time, but again, you're not seeing it from a 'neutral' point of view. There is no deduction for children, and you aren't subsidizing anything. Every PERSON gets a roughly $4000 exemption, and taxpayers (adults) can claim a standard or itemized deduction that has nothing to do with children. You can argue about the child tax credits, but that is a separate issue attempting to ameliorate poverty, where income limits apply. In general we have a progressive tax system to account for the diminishing incremental usefulness of money. The Y intercept of that progression starts around $4000 per person.
The kind of people that argue for monolithic kernels are the same people that argue C over C++ because it's "faster" and "more portable." Possibly true in slight corner cases but completely outweighed by other use cases.
--Bzzzt-- I'm sorry, try again.
There are cases when C is FAR superior, and cases when C++ leads to a much cleaner design.
If you believe that:
C++ is always better --> You probably aren't good at procedural algorithms
C is always better --> You don't really firmly grasp object based design.
If you don't think there's a best tool for the job, then you're probably just beating everything with a hammer.
Flight plans are not required for VFR (Visual Flight Rules) flight.
Most airspace below 18,000 ft is uncontrolled, and as long as you avoid airports there is really a lot of sky out there with relativly few planes filling it.
Of course, It's still really easy to hit something.. notably the ground. That's why you need a license to fly this.
Personally I'd rather have an actual DeLorean and a small jet then this thing... and for.4 million dollars plus assembly, They would be easier to afford.
I disagree. I can honestly say that I learned more about electrical, mechanical, and aerospace engineering from my 2 1/2 years in solar car than the rest of my time in school. Student projects required for a degree are nothing compared to designing a working electric vehicle with maximum power point trackers, full telemetry, and driver controls.
Also keep in mind that we didn't just build cars, we designed them first. We had interdisciplinary design meetings where we would work together to come up with solutions to complex problems. For example, the choice of batteries affected the weight distribution and chassis/shell design, the array operating voltage, and the system bus voltage. Real world design problems aren't simple like in classes, they're part of a complicated system where everything affects everything else. Nothing prepares you for a real world problem as well as a real world problem like solar car.
As for the thread about no new technology coming out of this, check out NGM among others. They developed an in-wheel motor for their car in Sunrayce '95 that is now being used in other electric vehicle projects around the world.
Besides, anyone who doesn't think engineers could use some business and PR skill has never met a real engineer. By nature most of us can't even spell. Anything that broadens skills is a good idea.
Slashdot Mirror
So, this is an embedded advertisement, right?
Two alternate stating of the facts:
You chose to pay off your house despite that not being the optimal economic strategy. Between low mortgage rates, tax deductions, and the (average) high return of the market, you should have gotten the largest mortgage you could, and invested the money over the minimum payments in the market. You instead made a choice to sacrifice return on investment for peace of mind. This is the same choice I'm making, but it is a choice. The homeowner tax deduction theoretically improves social stability, which or elected officials think is in our best interest. Is it? I Don't know, but stop whining about the choice you made given the rules of the game we are currently playing.
With kids I felt the same way for a long time, but again, you're not seeing it from a 'neutral' point of view. There is no deduction for children, and you aren't subsidizing anything. Every PERSON gets a roughly $4000 exemption, and taxpayers (adults) can claim a standard or itemized deduction that has nothing to do with children. You can argue about the child tax credits, but that is a separate issue attempting to ameliorate poverty, where income limits apply. In general we have a progressive tax system to account for the diminishing incremental usefulness of money. The Y intercept of that progression starts around $4000 per person.
Falling down the stairs can kill!!! Outlaw stairs now! Won't someone think of the children?
Letting your kids take calculated risks is scary as hell. Not letting them eventually creates a 30 year old child. We have enough of those already.
Those who can do,
those who can't teach,
From every good teacher you ever had:
Fuck You.
The kind of people that argue for monolithic kernels are the same people that argue C over C++ because it's "faster" and "more portable." Possibly true in slight corner cases but completely outweighed by other use cases.
--Bzzzt-- I'm sorry, try again.
There are cases when C is FAR superior, and cases when C++ leads to a much cleaner design.
If you believe that:
C++ is always better --> You probably aren't good at procedural algorithms
C is always better --> You don't really firmly grasp object based design.
If you don't think there's a best tool for the job, then you're probably just beating everything with a hammer.
... but when do you poke?
Also at 3AM
remember.. that $400k buys you a kit, not a mig.
Flight plans are not required for VFR (Visual Flight Rules) flight.
.4 million dollars plus assembly, They would be easier to afford.
Most airspace below 18,000 ft is uncontrolled, and as long as you avoid airports there is really a lot of sky out there with relativly few planes filling it.
Of course, It's still really easy to hit something.. notably the ground. That's why you need a license to fly this.
Personally I'd rather have an actual DeLorean and a small jet then this thing... and for
I disagree. I can honestly say that I learned more about electrical, mechanical, and aerospace engineering from my 2 1/2 years in solar car than the rest of my time in school. Student projects required for a degree are nothing compared to designing a working electric vehicle with maximum power point trackers, full telemetry, and driver controls.
Also keep in mind that we didn't just build cars, we designed them first. We had interdisciplinary design meetings where we would work together to come up with solutions to complex problems. For example, the choice of batteries affected the weight distribution and chassis/shell design, the array operating voltage, and the system bus voltage. Real world design problems aren't simple like in classes, they're part of a complicated system where everything affects everything else. Nothing prepares you for a real world problem as well as a real world problem like solar car.
As for the thread about no new technology coming out of this, check out NGM among others. They developed an in-wheel motor for their car in Sunrayce '95 that is now being used in other electric vehicle projects around the world.
Besides, anyone who doesn't think engineers could use some business and PR skill has never met a real engineer. By nature most of us can't even spell. Anything that broadens skills is a good idea.