I drive a manual diesel (like most people here with all their appendages intact does), and on an IC car that's what I prefer. If it has a transmission with several gears, I want to control it.
On an electric, you don't have an "automatic" transmission - you have a 1 speed transmission, as the engine is capable of putting out lots of torque over a very wide RPM range. Thus no need for anything more than "forward/backward/park", and you may have as much fun as you like while reprogramming the accelerator to also engage regeneration to simulate "engine braking" and provide single-foot control of vehicle speed. And yeah, if you'll give me a nice Tesla S (~500 km isn't it?), I would definitively consider trading in my diesel.
Why should it work any differently than for a normal key? Wiring the ignition to a push-button instead of key-operated switch, I don't see the difference. And I'm pretty sure I have driven manual cars with push-button start.
Direct fuel injection, ABS/ESC/antispin, more advanced engine controls (today including ignition and injection timing, tomorrow maybe replacing the cam?), AC, etc. are all nice things. The make the car safer and more efficient, with very few downsides except making it more complicated to repair. ESC is actually quite fantastic - selectively applying brakes to single wheels to point the car in the direction commanded by the driver, not something really possible to do by a human in real-time (to many buttons, not enough appendages).
However, the gearbox didn't *go away* - it's just basically just another layer of stuff on top of a system which is very much there. For electric cars which doesn't have a transmission, a forward/backward type selector makes sense. Not so much when propelled by an IC.
Oh, and yes, it is very nice to be able to disconnect the torque from the wheels, and to downshift/upshift as *I* like, as I have information the computer/hydraulics does not have.
However, what can happen is that one break a little bit over a long distance, riding the brakes instead of coming to a stop. Then the brakes can fade away - and you're *really* in trouble.
The cars with a "parking break pedal" scare me more. Is there any interlock on those useless things? Why do they even make some cars like that - what's wrong with the traditional parking break (which can also be useful when starting on steep hill / with a heavy load)?
Where I live, something like 75% of cars sold have a manual transmission. Auto is an (often expensive) option, which is mostly marketed towards the elderly and infirm, plus a few "luxury" vehicles where it's the default. That applies to anything from the tiniest citycars to the largest trucks.
To get a normal license allowing you to drive all passenger cars, you need to pass the test in a manual transmission. Some places (Denmark at least) it's not even allowed to take the test with an automatic transmission, unless you are missing an arm or a leg (etc.), in which case you may apply to take the test with an automatic transmission. If you took the test with an automatic transmission, this gets noted on your license, and means that you are not allowed to drive anything but automatics, which can be quite restrictive.
Thus rentals, fleet cars which are driven by multiple people, etc. are by default manual. Personally, the first time I drove with an a automatic transmission was with a rental in the US - as I never previously had even seen such a transmission up close, I had to Google how to use it...
Sure, it should do, but as far as I know all the "ignition control" on modern cars does is to tell the engine control unit whether to inject fuel and to make sparks if its a gasser. So pretty much the same as the push-button does. If the ECU doesn't co-operate, tough luck.
But of course, if you have a manual, you also have a extremely reliable and 100% mechanical way of disconnecting the drivetrain from the wheels.
Well, the world is bigger than the US. Don't assume that all/. readers are from there (I, for one, is not). I hope I'm still considered as a person, even if my home country has oil & gas reserves...
If you are "confronting" someone by showing up at their door and waving a gun around, that goes a bit beyond "without getting violent or intimidating". Same goes for doing a citizens arrest of someone you're suspecting for stealing you phone.
At least I thought this was what the AC was implying.
1) That applies to the guy who's door the victim is is banging on as well. And if you try to force yourself into his home - wouldn't he would have the right of self-defense (whether he stole the phone or not)?
2) I would think that if the police went to the home of someone who is innocent and arrested them, they would get in less trouble than if you and a couple of friends showed up at the door of some random guy you thought stole your phone, attacked him and subdued him, and then called the police to come and pick up the "criminal".
If you're playing the "we, as a civilization, should only be focusing on our worst problems" - why pick cancer? People are dying much earlier of completely treatable diseases, or just lack of clean water and proper sanitation. I would say that on a global scale, these are worse problem than cancer, and our resources would stretch a lot longer trying to fix these problems, as they *per person helped* are relatively simple problems.
So, what are you doing to fix this problem? Other than whining on./?
I guess they're judged by comparison to their main competitor.
It's a bit like many Americans would probably call all of the 7 parties currently represented in our parlament "communists", as they are all social democrats in some way or another.
And even a really good human driver has bad days, get fatigued, distracted etc. - that's problems avoided with a computer.
Actually, even if this ends up being mostly highway-only, that covers the most important part. Highway driving is pretty boring anyway, and plagued by the problem that nothing happens for hours, until you suddenly hit the back of a queue or someone around you does something stupid, and you have to react fast. Doing that automatically would combine the convenience and privacy of a car with the comfort of a train. But it would have to be good enough to be trusted *completely* while on the highway, with at least one minutes notice before the driver has to take the wheel manually, in order to put the seat back into driving position and put away books / laptop / food etc.
I really, really, hate people who point to the atomic bombings as proof that America is evil. The only way you can even remotely make that claim is by ignoring every reality of war and by using your modern knowledge of how things *did* happen to damn those who had to make the decision without the benefit of knowing how it turns out.
There is a bigger issue with the statement "America is evil" than hindsigth being 20/20 - all countries are composed of a lot of people, some good and some bad. At most one could claim that the *leadership* is evil, but claiming that the whole country is evil due to the actions of a few just doesn't work. A similar, modern day example is claiming that Israelis (or all jews, if you really want to put on the brown shirt...) are evil due to some of the actions of their governement being debatable morally. Or all muslims being evil due to the actions of a few madmen etc.
The other issue is the time - very few if any of the people involved in building and dropping the atomic bombs on Japan are still alive. You can't blame their kids and grandkids for the actions of their ancestors. Same goes for Germany - you can't really blame the people who live there today for what happened during WWII, even if many people who wherent even born during that war still have guilt complexes.
If you have a gun for "self defense" but never practice using it, or bother maintaining it - I don't think you have any chance of using it effectively in a scary situation.
Try not driving for a few years, and see badly you'll drive...
I was commenting on the choice of words in the headline, given that./'s "motto" is "News for nerds, stuff that matters", not "News for Americans, stuff that sometimes matters". A bit over 95% of the world lives outside the US, and many of us speak English as 1st or 2nd language.
But do you *have* to buy a phone with a contract? I would usually go to the electronics store / phone section, and get the box saying "Samsung S3 mini" or "Nokia dumphone" or "China dualSIM" or whatever I wanted. Bring the box home, charge the phone, configure, and pop in my SIM.
Tablets, laptops with built-in mobile modems etc. are similar. No gray-market involved.
Getting a SIM is usually similar - you go to a kiosk or electronics store, show and ID (since recently - you used to be able to pay cash) and fill out a form with my name & address, take the SIM home. Changing plan, demanding a transfer of phone number from an old plan with a different company, etc. can usually be done on-line.
Yes, you *can* get a phone which is locked to a plan, but that's for people who want phones which are more expensive than what they can really afford, and are willing to pay extra for the privilege and are OK to be locked to the same hardware & expensive contract for 1-2 years. Most people are not that stupid, even if it is what the companies advertise the heaviest...
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I drive a manual diesel (like most people here with all their appendages intact does), and on an IC car that's what I prefer. If it has a transmission with several gears, I want to control it.
On an electric, you don't have an "automatic" transmission - you have a 1 speed transmission, as the engine is capable of putting out lots of torque over a very wide RPM range. Thus no need for anything more than "forward/backward/park", and you may have as much fun as you like while reprogramming the accelerator to also engage regeneration to simulate "engine braking" and provide single-foot control of vehicle speed. And yeah, if you'll give me a nice Tesla S (~500 km isn't it?), I would definitively consider trading in my diesel.
Get in, push clutch and breaks, push button.
Why should it work any differently than for a normal key? Wiring the ignition to a push-button instead of key-operated switch, I don't see the difference. And I'm pretty sure I have driven manual cars with push-button start.
Direct fuel injection, ABS/ESC/antispin, more advanced engine controls (today including ignition and injection timing, tomorrow maybe replacing the cam?), AC, etc. are all nice things. The make the car safer and more efficient, with very few downsides except making it more complicated to repair. ESC is actually quite fantastic - selectively applying brakes to single wheels to point the car in the direction commanded by the driver, not something really possible to do by a human in real-time (to many buttons, not enough appendages).
However, the gearbox didn't *go away* - it's just basically just another layer of stuff on top of a system which is very much there. For electric cars which doesn't have a transmission, a forward/backward type selector makes sense. Not so much when propelled by an IC.
Oh, and yes, it is very nice to be able to disconnect the torque from the wheels, and to downshift/upshift as *I* like, as I have information the computer/hydraulics does not have.
Does break-by-wire even exist?
However, what can happen is that one break a little bit over a long distance, riding the brakes instead of coming to a stop. Then the brakes can fade away - and you're *really* in trouble.
The cars with a "parking break pedal" scare me more. Is there any interlock on those useless things? Why do they even make some cars like that - what's wrong with the traditional parking break (which can also be useful when starting on steep hill / with a heavy load)?
At least it had an indicator to tell which gear it was in, not just "drive" :)
Where I live, something like 75% of cars sold have a manual transmission. Auto is an (often expensive) option, which is mostly marketed towards the elderly and infirm, plus a few "luxury" vehicles where it's the default. That applies to anything from the tiniest citycars to the largest trucks.
To get a normal license allowing you to drive all passenger cars, you need to pass the test in a manual transmission. Some places (Denmark at least) it's not even allowed to take the test with an automatic transmission, unless you are missing an arm or a leg (etc.), in which case you may apply to take the test with an automatic transmission. If you took the test with an automatic transmission, this gets noted on your license, and means that you are not allowed to drive anything but automatics, which can be quite restrictive.
Thus rentals, fleet cars which are driven by multiple people, etc. are by default manual. Personally, the first time I drove with an a automatic transmission was with a rental in the US - as I never previously had even seen such a transmission up close, I had to Google how to use it...
Sure, it should do, but as far as I know all the "ignition control" on modern cars does is to tell the engine control unit whether to inject fuel and to make sparks if its a gasser. So pretty much the same as the push-button does. If the ECU doesn't co-operate, tough luck.
But of course, if you have a manual, you also have a extremely reliable and 100% mechanical way of disconnecting the drivetrain from the wheels.
I thought most "keyless keys" actually has a small key clipped to it (or inside it), which will open the door.
Sorry for your loss :(
May I ask why was she getting blood transfusions in the first place, and how old she was? And recover from what?
Well, the world is bigger than the US. Don't assume that all /. readers are from there (I, for one, is not). I hope I'm still considered as a person, even if my home country has oil & gas reserves...
If you are "confronting" someone by showing up at their door and waving a gun around, that goes a bit beyond "without getting violent or intimidating". Same goes for doing a citizens arrest of someone you're suspecting for stealing you phone.
At least I thought this was what the AC was implying.
1) That applies to the guy who's door the victim is is banging on as well. And if you try to force yourself into his home - wouldn't he would have the right of self-defense (whether he stole the phone or not)?
2) I would think that if the police went to the home of someone who is innocent and arrested them, they would get in less trouble than if you and a couple of friends showed up at the door of some random guy you thought stole your phone, attacked him and subdued him, and then called the police to come and pick up the "criminal".
If you're playing the "we, as a civilization, should only be focusing on our worst problems" - why pick cancer? People are dying much earlier of completely treatable diseases, or just lack of clean water and proper sanitation. I would say that on a global scale, these are worse problem than cancer, and our resources would stretch a lot longer trying to fix these problems, as they *per person helped* are relatively simple problems.
So, what are you doing to fix this problem? Other than whining on ./?
"The administration" consist of more than one person, many which will take part in the next election.
Yay, score!
Huh? I don't think Canada is going to run in the US elections any time soon :)
I guess they're judged by comparison to their main competitor.
It's a bit like many Americans would probably call all of the 7 parties currently represented in our parlament "communists", as they are all social democrats in some way or another.
Unless it can check a "pothole database" in the cloud, which will tell it where it needs to watch out.
And even a really good human driver has bad days, get fatigued, distracted etc. - that's problems avoided with a computer.
Actually, even if this ends up being mostly highway-only, that covers the most important part. Highway driving is pretty boring anyway, and plagued by the problem that nothing happens for hours, until you suddenly hit the back of a queue or someone around you does something stupid, and you have to react fast. Doing that automatically would combine the convenience and privacy of a car with the comfort of a train. But it would have to be good enough to be trusted *completely* while on the highway, with at least one minutes notice before the driver has to take the wheel manually, in order to put the seat back into driving position and put away books / laptop / food etc.
I really, really, hate people who point to the atomic bombings as proof that America is evil. The only way you can even remotely make that claim is by ignoring every reality of war and by using your modern knowledge of how things *did* happen to damn those who had to make the decision without the benefit of knowing how it turns out.
There is a bigger issue with the statement "America is evil" than hindsigth being 20/20 - all countries are composed of a lot of people, some good and some bad. At most one could claim that the *leadership* is evil, but claiming that the whole country is evil due to the actions of a few just doesn't work. A similar, modern day example is claiming that Israelis (or all jews, if you really want to put on the brown shirt...) are evil due to some of the actions of their governement being debatable morally. Or all muslims being evil due to the actions of a few madmen etc.
The other issue is the time - very few if any of the people involved in building and dropping the atomic bombs on Japan are still alive. You can't blame their kids and grandkids for the actions of their ancestors. Same goes for Germany - you can't really blame the people who live there today for what happened during WWII, even if many people who wherent even born during that war still have guilt complexes.
If you have a gun for "self defense" but never practice using it, or bother maintaining it - I don't think you have any chance of using it effectively in a scary situation.
Try not driving for a few years, and see badly you'll drive...
Then don't buy one :)
I was commenting on the choice of words in the headline, given that ./'s "motto" is "News for nerds, stuff that matters", not "News for Americans, stuff that sometimes matters". A bit over 95% of the world lives outside the US, and many of us speak English as 1st or 2nd language.
But do you *have* to buy a phone with a contract? I would usually go to the electronics store / phone section, and get the box saying "Samsung S3 mini" or "Nokia dumphone" or "China dualSIM" or whatever I wanted. Bring the box home, charge the phone, configure, and pop in my SIM.
Tablets, laptops with built-in mobile modems etc. are similar. No gray-market involved.
Getting a SIM is usually similar - you go to a kiosk or electronics store, show and ID (since recently - you used to be able to pay cash) and fill out a form with my name & address, take the SIM home. Changing plan, demanding a transfer of phone number from an old plan with a different company, etc. can usually be done on-line.
Yes, you *can* get a phone which is locked to a plan, but that's for people who want phones which are more expensive than what they can really afford, and are willing to pay extra for the privilege and are OK to be locked to the same hardware & expensive contract for 1-2 years. Most people are not that stupid, even if it is what the companies advertise the heaviest...