that renewable sources of energy are a good thing.
why?
because my HOA (home owners association) does not permit them. As such it would take State or local laws to override the HOA; because in many States the HOA rules have strong legal backing at the State level.
This is akin to the problems satellite TV faced in many locales. There were numerous ordinaces, both at the HOA and local level which blocked satellite dishes. Even the small ones we are accustomed to today were blocked. It took a Federal Law to end that restriction. Unfortunately its going to take another such law to allow many of us to use renewable energy. Hell, I cannot even get rain barrels approved even though they would not be visible from the street.
and their bottom mileage figures are going to be closing in on 20mpg... at that point many who thought of switching when gas gets over $3 are simply going to get a hybrid tech'd SUV.
Combine this with the fact that many new technologies being developed to create hyper efficient small cars can also easily be adapted for big vehicles and pretty soon you'll be back to where you started.
In fact, its far easier to make the big SUV and trucks this way. They have more slack in their price than small cars meaning some of the new tech's cost can be absorbed and the final price more tolerable for consumers.
In other words, the world of big SUVs isn't going anywhere, its going to transform into more fuel efficient forms because it has to. People want big vehicles and all this gee-whiz fuel tech works just fine in that size too. Hell, a series hybrid would be very easy to do in the space afforded by most SUVs. They even have loads of space for batteries under the chassis.
Go check out the spec's on the new hybrid-Tahoes coming out. Then think down the road how new technologies will further increase their efficiency which at the same times decreases the desire to be rid of them
and I didn't pay a dime for it. I pay 5.99 a month to have a DVR from my Satellite company. It can play to any two devices in my house too.
Sorry, but TIVO's subscription price is excessive. It should be no more than $4.99 if you buy the hardware. Oh, a second DVR is the same price. So I can have two DVRs for the price on one TIVO subscription. That doesn't include the fact that my TIVO cost me money up front.
If your trying to dodge crapware wasting money on an already out of date machine isn't the way to do it. I prefer the Dell as it has future expandibility I do not think the Everex has. You can pop 4gb on the Dell board. The Nvidia 6150LE chipset is very well known and good. The dual core processor will have more longevity.
Frankly, if one of us had the choice and had to buy one of these who would not go with the Dell and just wipe it? If my parents were looking I would make them get the Dell, at least I know the components and crapware isn't but a few minutes of work to ditch
I buy all my DVDs, usually either on release day when they are heavily discounted or from online sellers (like deep discount dvd) when I can get most for 6 dollars or less. Yeah I know I am indirectly supporting the evil MPAA but the fact is I want these movies and its not worth the risk to just buy them, especially when I get them for such a great price. I usually buy odd movies; like those people like us like; and series (again those people here are more likely to buy) that don't hold their price original prices very long.
I tried many of the copy programs, have downloaded torrents of current series, and all that. Now I record on the fly with the tivo-clone what series I want and keep them around till the dvd comes out and gets to a ok price. For the most part copying DVDs was more of a novelty to me and others, its the "oh, I did that when I was a kid" type stuff that just isn't worth the hassle or civil penalties to do anymore
How long before we see communities where cameras are in all aspects of our lives, after all trust in government is beaten into us by the press and academics. They go out of their way to portray distrust of government as a Physcological defect. Before 9/11 trust in government hovered in the 30% range... immediately afterward that trust shot up to nearly 75%... and in that time we saw some of the greatest erosion of our rights. The very same government that was seen as being able to protect us had just failed miserably yet somehow this was twisted by the media, academia, and politicians, to show how it was this distrust of government that got us into the problem in the first place. Look at the press immediately following Ruby Ridge or Waco. Everyone who was pushing forward theories or facts showing government incompetence or actual threat of government was labeled a loon or worse. We even had government and academia use the OKC bombing as an excuse for Waco even though Waco preceeded the other by years...yet in their defense they claimed that such reaction could prevent other OKCs and the like even though McVeigh and supporters specifically cited Waco
Fear is being exploited to make us trust government. We are not only surrendering our rights we are surrendering our right to question those who have the power of life and death over us. Our history is replete with examples of government agencies being used to suppress those who distrust the government who do nothing more than speak and assemble. How long before "benign" things like these cameras are used to monitor protests and act on them?
Our founding fathers distrusted government so much they specifically wrote the Constitution to give government rights and reserve all others for the people. The Constitution is a limit on government, not us. Yet we can see daily abuse of this document, see it twisted, by the very people we put in office.
Don't trust them for one minute. call me a malcontent, a whack if you will, but when you start giving these officials the near unconditional trust that some have you take away the power of others to speak out. By the blind acceptance enforced by media, academia, and politicians, those who would bring true and factual debate are cowered or made moot.
does Nintendo void your warranty if you choose to change the battery yourself?
the iphone is marketed as a phone, as such the battery should be replaceable without cracking the case. Market acceptance and industry reaction should be very interesting 10-18 months into this products life
Because Hybrid technology will preserve, if not exaggerate, the number of larger vehicles on the road. GM is coming out with hybrid TAHOEs and other large vehicles. Not the fake hybrids of the previous generation but real hybrids.
As the tech advances even large vehicles will get better mileage than many midsize cars of these days and as such people will have even less inclination to buy a baby car.
Also, whats wrong with SUVs and trucks? Many familes can afford two cars and one has to pull double duty. Own a home and loading garden supplies into your civic isn't going to cut it. Want to pull a boat or trailer (we are allowed to go on vacations aren't we???) and your little car won't cut it.
Honestly all the SUV/Truck hate is misplaced. It comes down to perception, you only get to see how someone else uses a vehicle how much each day? 15 minutes or so on the expressway? So the wife/husband drives the SUV to work by themselves, when they get home its hauling kids, the dog, going on camping trips, taking the neighbors kids to the ball game, etc... you don't see that yet in your selfish world you still want to pass judgement.
Look, quit trying to guilt America. People like you need to GET OVER YOURSELVES. This is a free society and as such people should be free to do as they please provided it does not deprive another of life and liberty. Just because you cannot justify a SUV for yourself or someone else does not mean they cannot justify for themselves. They know their needs you do not.
So, grow up and realize you don't know everything, let alone everyone.
considering the 24-way, 20tb disk, and 10g memory monster in the room next to me. Its got a cousin in another state as well.
AS/400s are essentially mainframes now. The next generation of iSeries will run the same processors as the zSeries. They already share a HMC and a lot of basic hardware.
We have a shop with multiple AS/400s, a zSeries, couple of xSeries, a Tandem, and a whole mess of PCs. The only systems we have downtime with are PCs. The network goes down, Notes server dies or locks up, etc. As such the Notes server is being moved to an AS/400 because we cannot afford downtime even for e-mail.
PCs look attractive because of their individual price. When setting up enough of them to do the same work they start getting expensive in base cost, power, and cooling. The other big factor in our use of AS/400s is that with over 80 of them we only have one primary Administrator and 3 back ups. Our Network support department (supports just managing the network servers and such) is larger and busier!
Mainframes (inc AS/400s) are here to stay because they just work. They nearly run themselves and that counts for a lot. You cannot underestimate the greatness of a system when people don't have to tweak or manage them daily - mostly because it seems to encourage some people to manage/tweak systems into downtime
Hell, they don't even have to frighten business users. Linux already does.
Look, hoping that Microsofts actions lead to more adoption of Linux isn't going to work. They don't have to do anything, its up to linux promoters to convince people that it will work AS WELL AS windows WITHOUT any interruption in their use of it, meaning that they don't have to think.
Until you can provide a "don't think about it - it just works" Linux desktop the users aren't going to switch. Even then it had best come preinstalled and have a near seamless way to run windows software that they might want.
Linux and Windows don't compete for the same people and the Linux people should understand that, it sounds like Microsoft already does
Russia doesn't need a stable Middle East so they can afford to trade with countries that actually compete with it in energy production without fear of unbalancing the region, hell its in their best interest to have an unbalanced region.
Cuba never had anything valuable other than location for Russia, ICBMs made it irrelevant long ago
they might be convincing themselves
on
All Things iPhone
·
· Score: 1
not to buy it.
Its really easy to just repeat a known list, listing only what affects the poster seems to be missing from most. I figure many are just trying to keep themselves from joining the horde.
Myself, I don't use cellphones enough for it to matter. Work is on an entirely different provider so its not an option for that either (and I really cannot consider carrying two cellphones)
Its very nice looking and when its available for ANY network I will look
Because, most likely you cannot, more than likely someone else won't, and even then you might not apply the fix should it become available.
Its human nature. Its far easier to take an easy shot at someone else other than act. Oh sure I can say I will fix it, but fact is its easier to say so on some message board that take the action.
Look, with Vista they have a vested interest in correcting the bugs. For those in Linux I cannot overcome I can only hope someone else sees it as important enough to warrant a fix. Thats the crux of it. Sure I could do it, if I had time, if I had the knowledge, if I had the resources. Saying "with Linux you can just change it" is akin to handing someone a bunch of parts and telling them if they don't like the car they can fix it. Being able to use something, having an generalized knowledge of how it works, is all a far cry from being able to actually change it.
So while cheap shots at MS are the forte of many we can't forget that just because its open source, its linux, that we have the power. The opening is there, just don't expect someone to walk through it
You said nothing in your comment to explain your stance, so either your being irrational in your anti-SOE views or just FUDing for karma (which unfortunately works here)
Hell I know people who will not touch a Blizzard game. When pressed they eventually fall back on the problems with B-Net and Diablo. Fine, thats their choice. But if your going to FUD something at least tell us why.
FWIW, unless it personally affects you get over it. Too many people like to make themselves out to be victims to feel as if they are part of something. I was never a victim of SWG's problems (SOE publish), or Vangard, or B-Net, or the browser wars. They were just things I read and at most I noticed them, but hell they had no real effect on my life. Do not assume a problem that isn't yours, it will make your life easier.
After all, using B5 as an example the "Techno Mages" are viewed either as gods, magicians, or freaks, depending on where they are. For what we may construe as purely fantasy may simply be because we don't understand science enough to know what is and what isn't truly possible.
We are an arrogant people who for some reason think we know everything yet laugh at those who came before us for thinking the very same thing
Because it really doesn't when it comes to NASA funding.
NASA funding is only popular when NASA does something that keeps it in the eye of the public for weeks on end. Then and only then does NASA get any real consideration from Congress.
When the rovers were first popular you could always find a Congressman on tv or print saying how important NASA was for science and America. Yet when the mission goes on without press release after press release of something that catches the public's eye; the space station doesn't seem to anymore; they get ignored.
The Iraq issue is just a convienent dodge. The money would be sucked up somewhere else for someone's bridge, library, or homeland security project, long before it ever made its way to NASA.
Only two ways NASA is going to get more money. The people who support it make sure that their local Congressmen know that as VOTERS its important or if NASA can find an exciting way to market the mundane activities of a space station to where enough public support occurs simply because its on the tube everyday
because China effectively has two populations, those in the present and all those 'out there'
A large number of China's population will not become modernized within our lifetimes... but they apparently sure do well to keep the averages down when painting China's bad behaviour
#1. There were not enough people that wanted the car, yeah a lot of them with it but many didn't want to pay for it. #2. Blame the government. Laws requiring replacement parts and service over reasonably expected lifetimes meant GM would be subsidizing the ownership of the cars #3. Can't attest to that, GM did get rid of theirs for money reasons #4. Repeat of #1 #5. States should not be allowed to create rules that affect other states adversely. Also, California for all its so called environmentalism was one of the primary reasons diesels died here, yet Europe seems them as a solution #6. Laughable #7. Not true. Electric cars require different skills and with limited applicability with the low numbers of them they could not create enough interest in people training for it 8. There were not enough people who wanted them.
the problem with the EV and related cars is they did not fit the lives of the majority of drivers. They were inconveinent and not practical.
the have created 3 items that all players want, they don't necessarily need them, but they want them. they are epic land mounts, flying mounts, and epic flying mounts. All are obtainable through gold purchases. Now normally this would not be a problem except that they are not low gold amounts. Whereas the current expansion did make gold much more available to the average player the cost of an epic flying mount is very high. It would require a load of farming just for gold to obtain. Yes there are other epic flying mounts you can gain from reputation, a grind of its own, but you still must buy the epic riding skill which is where the boatload of money comes in.
This money issue compounds itself when players have multiple characters all at the level required to obtain an epic flying mount. Simply put, if the cost was not so extreme there would be less need of an outside collector. Blizzard could do away with the bulk of the gold farming revenue by either replacing the costs with quests to get the skill or reducing the cost to something someone can obtain fairly quickly.
I know, I know, some will chime in, "There needs to be reward for work". ITS A GAME. There are many other ways to represent accomplishment in this game, either through battlegrounds or raids of very high content. I have more respect for someone's game skill who can successfully work with others to conquer 10,20, and 40-character instances than who has epic flying mounts.
It was this way in other games I played before. There were suppliers who augmented the average players ability to obtain what was all so desirable without wasting their life farming.
Look, these are games meant to be played for enjoyment. Me, I don't considering farming gold for something that is practically expected of me to have just to group with others. Its a game, I want to play it, not make a job of it. Yeah I spend too much time in it but please make it so I don't have go even beyond that. Its a lot cheaper for me and others to buy our gold if you look on it as a job. the hourly rate to what a 100 gold cost is substaintially lower than what I make, hell its probably close to minimum wage at that.
So, if the game companies have a problem with farmers instead of going after the farmers directly they need to correct the game mechanisms that spawn them.
Slashdot Mirror
that renewable sources of energy are a good thing.
why?
because my HOA (home owners association) does not permit them. As such it would take State or local laws to override the HOA; because in many States the HOA rules have strong legal backing at the State level.
This is akin to the problems satellite TV faced in many locales. There were numerous ordinaces, both at the HOA and local level which blocked satellite dishes. Even the small ones we are accustomed to today were blocked. It took a Federal Law to end that restriction. Unfortunately its going to take another such law to allow many of us to use renewable energy. Hell, I cannot even get rain barrels approved even though they would not be visible from the street.
and their bottom mileage figures are going to be closing in on 20mpg... at that point many who thought of switching when gas gets over $3 are simply going to get a hybrid tech'd SUV.
Combine this with the fact that many new technologies being developed to create hyper efficient small cars can also easily be adapted for big vehicles and pretty soon you'll be back to where you started.
In fact, its far easier to make the big SUV and trucks this way. They have more slack in their price than small cars meaning some of the new tech's cost can be absorbed and the final price more tolerable for consumers.
In other words, the world of big SUVs isn't going anywhere, its going to transform into more fuel efficient forms because it has to. People want big vehicles and all this gee-whiz fuel tech works just fine in that size too. Hell, a series hybrid would be very easy to do in the space afforded by most SUVs. They even have loads of space for batteries under the chassis.
Go check out the spec's on the new hybrid-Tahoes coming out. Then think down the road how new technologies will further increase their efficiency which at the same times decreases the desire to be rid of them
and I didn't pay a dime for it. I pay 5.99 a month to have a DVR from my Satellite company. It can play to any two devices in my house too.
Sorry, but TIVO's subscription price is excessive. It should be no more than $4.99 if you buy the hardware. Oh, a second DVR is the same price. So I can have two DVRs for the price on one TIVO subscription. That doesn't include the fact that my TIVO cost me money up front.
You of course could get a better compaq for http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_ id=5750873
If your trying to dodge crapware wasting money on an already out of date machine isn't the way to do it. I prefer the Dell as it has future expandibility I do not think the Everex has. You can pop 4gb on the Dell board. The Nvidia 6150LE chipset is very well known and good. The dual core processor will have more longevity.
Frankly, if one of us had the choice and had to buy one of these who would not go with the Dell and just wipe it? If my parents were looking I would make them get the Dell, at least I know the components and crapware isn't but a few minutes of work to ditch
I read that as
fancy-schmancy == Ready for the public.
sorry, but thats the first thought I had...
I buy all my DVDs, usually either on release day when they are heavily discounted or from online sellers (like deep discount dvd) when I can get most for 6 dollars or less. Yeah I know I am indirectly supporting the evil MPAA but the fact is I want these movies and its not worth the risk to just buy them, especially when I get them for such a great price. I usually buy odd movies; like those people like us like; and series (again those people here are more likely to buy) that don't hold their price original prices very long.
I tried many of the copy programs, have downloaded torrents of current series, and all that. Now I record on the fly with the tivo-clone what series I want and keep them around till the dvd comes out and gets to a ok price. For the most part copying DVDs was more of a novelty to me and others, its the "oh, I did that when I was a kid" type stuff that just isn't worth the hassle or civil penalties to do anymore
More and more we are starting to see a world like that portrayed in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_Fealty_(novel )
.yet in their defense they claimed that such reaction could prevent other OKCs and the like even though McVeigh and supporters specifically cited Waco
Think of it as Evolution in Action
How long before we see communities where cameras are in all aspects of our lives, after all trust in government is beaten into us by the press and academics. They go out of their way to portray distrust of government as a Physcological defect. Before 9/11 trust in government hovered in the 30% range... immediately afterward that trust shot up to nearly 75%... and in that time we saw some of the greatest erosion of our rights. The very same government that was seen as being able to protect us had just failed miserably yet somehow this was twisted by the media, academia, and politicians, to show how it was this distrust of government that got us into the problem in the first place. Look at the press immediately following Ruby Ridge or Waco. Everyone who was pushing forward theories or facts showing government incompetence or actual threat of government was labeled a loon or worse. We even had government and academia use the OKC bombing as an excuse for Waco even though Waco preceeded the other by years..
Fear is being exploited to make us trust government. We are not only surrendering our rights we are surrendering our right to question those who have the power of life and death over us. Our history is replete with examples of government agencies being used to suppress those who distrust the government who do nothing more than speak and assemble. How long before "benign" things like these cameras are used to monitor protests and act on them?
Our founding fathers distrusted government so much they specifically wrote the Constitution to give government rights and reserve all others for the people. The Constitution is a limit on government, not us. Yet we can see daily abuse of this document, see it twisted, by the very people we put in office.
Don't trust them for one minute. call me a malcontent, a whack if you will, but when you start giving these officials the near unconditional trust that some have you take away the power of others to speak out. By the blind acceptance enforced by media, academia, and politicians, those who would bring true and factual debate are cowered or made moot.
does Nintendo void your warranty if you choose to change the battery yourself?
the iphone is marketed as a phone, as such the battery should be replaceable without cracking the case. Market acceptance and industry reaction should be very interesting 10-18 months into this products life
Because Hybrid technology will preserve, if not exaggerate, the number of larger vehicles on the road. GM is coming out with hybrid TAHOEs and other large vehicles. Not the fake hybrids of the previous generation but real hybrids.
As the tech advances even large vehicles will get better mileage than many midsize cars of these days and as such people will have even less inclination to buy a baby car.
Also, whats wrong with SUVs and trucks? Many familes can afford two cars and one has to pull double duty. Own a home and loading garden supplies into your civic isn't going to cut it. Want to pull a boat or trailer (we are allowed to go on vacations aren't we???) and your little car won't cut it.
Honestly all the SUV/Truck hate is misplaced. It comes down to perception, you only get to see how someone else uses a vehicle how much each day? 15 minutes or so on the expressway? So the wife/husband drives the SUV to work by themselves, when they get home its hauling kids, the dog, going on camping trips, taking the neighbors kids to the ball game, etc... you don't see that yet in your selfish world you still want to pass judgement.
Look, quit trying to guilt America. People like you need to GET OVER YOURSELVES. This is a free society and as such people should be free to do as they please provided it does not deprive another of life and liberty. Just because you cannot justify a SUV for yourself or someone else does not mean they cannot justify for themselves. They know their needs you do not.
So, grow up and realize you don't know everything, let alone everyone.
considering the 24-way, 20tb disk, and 10g memory monster in the room next to me. Its got a cousin in another state as well.
AS/400s are essentially mainframes now. The next generation of iSeries will run the same processors as the zSeries. They already share a HMC and a lot of basic hardware.
We have a shop with multiple AS/400s, a zSeries, couple of xSeries, a Tandem, and a whole mess of PCs. The only systems we have downtime with are PCs. The network goes down, Notes server dies or locks up, etc. As such the Notes server is being moved to an AS/400 because we cannot afford downtime even for e-mail.
PCs look attractive because of their individual price. When setting up enough of them to do the same work they start getting expensive in base cost, power, and cooling. The other big factor in our use of AS/400s is that with over 80 of them we only have one primary Administrator and 3 back ups. Our Network support department (supports just managing the network servers and such) is larger and busier!
Mainframes (inc AS/400s) are here to stay because they just work. They nearly run themselves and that counts for a lot. You cannot underestimate the greatness of a system when people don't have to tweak or manage them daily - mostly because it seems to encourage some people to manage/tweak systems into downtime
Hell, they don't even have to frighten business users. Linux already does.
Look, hoping that Microsofts actions lead to more adoption of Linux isn't going to work. They don't have to do anything, its up to linux promoters to convince people that it will work AS WELL AS windows WITHOUT any interruption in their use of it, meaning that they don't have to think.
Until you can provide a "don't think about it - it just works" Linux desktop the users aren't going to switch. Even then it had best come preinstalled and have a near seamless way to run windows software that they might want.
Linux and Windows don't compete for the same people and the Linux people should understand that, it sounds like Microsoft already does
Activate it on both and see if they can tell.
and to make it even more fun, put something extra on them too.
Russia doesn't need a stable Middle East so they can afford to trade with countries that actually compete with it in energy production without fear of unbalancing the region, hell its in their best interest to have an unbalanced region.
Cuba never had anything valuable other than location for Russia, ICBMs made it irrelevant long ago
not to buy it.
Its really easy to just repeat a known list, listing only what affects the poster seems to be missing from most. I figure many are just trying to keep themselves from joining the horde.
Myself, I don't use cellphones enough for it to matter. Work is on an entirely different provider so its not an option for that either (and I really cannot consider carrying two cellphones)
Its very nice looking and when its available for ANY network I will look
Because, most likely you cannot, more than likely someone else won't, and even then you might not apply the fix should it become available.
Its human nature. Its far easier to take an easy shot at someone else other than act. Oh sure I can say I will fix it, but fact is its easier to say so on some message board that take the action.
Look, with Vista they have a vested interest in correcting the bugs. For those in Linux I cannot overcome I can only hope someone else sees it as important enough to warrant a fix. Thats the crux of it. Sure I could do it, if I had time, if I had the knowledge, if I had the resources. Saying "with Linux you can just change it" is akin to handing someone a bunch of parts and telling them if they don't like the car they can fix it. Being able to use something, having an generalized knowledge of how it works, is all a far cry from being able to actually change it.
So while cheap shots at MS are the forte of many we can't forget that just because its open source, its linux, that we have the power. The opening is there, just don't expect someone to walk through it
You said nothing in your comment to explain your stance, so either your being irrational in your anti-SOE views or just FUDing for karma (which unfortunately works here)
Hell I know people who will not touch a Blizzard game. When pressed they eventually fall back on the problems with B-Net and Diablo. Fine, thats their choice. But if your going to FUD something at least tell us why.
FWIW, unless it personally affects you get over it. Too many people like to make themselves out to be victims to feel as if they are part of something. I was never a victim of SWG's problems (SOE publish), or Vangard, or B-Net, or the browser wars. They were just things I read and at most I noticed them, but hell they had no real effect on my life. Do not assume a problem that isn't yours, it will make your life easier.
It appears to be included but to me the voice over was key to the movie, it let us in his head.
I was supremely disappointed with the directors cut, yet the movie is so good I still would watch it.
What I would not give to see the follow up book made into a movie... then again part of me thinks all that the first movie had to say has been said
After all, using B5 as an example the "Techno Mages" are viewed either as gods, magicians, or freaks, depending on where they are. For what we may construe as purely fantasy may simply be because we don't understand science enough to know what is and what isn't truly possible.
We are an arrogant people who for some reason think we know everything yet laugh at those who came before us for thinking the very same thing
its called a MAC TAX.
Don't you guys rememeber anything around here?
Because it really doesn't when it comes to NASA funding.
NASA funding is only popular when NASA does something that keeps it in the eye of the public for weeks on end. Then and only then does NASA get any real consideration from Congress.
When the rovers were first popular you could always find a Congressman on tv or print saying how important NASA was for science and America. Yet when the mission goes on without press release after press release of something that catches the public's eye; the space station doesn't seem to anymore; they get ignored.
The Iraq issue is just a convienent dodge. The money would be sucked up somewhere else for someone's bridge, library, or homeland security project, long before it ever made its way to NASA.
Only two ways NASA is going to get more money. The people who support it make sure that their local Congressmen know that as VOTERS its important or if NASA can find an exciting way to market the mundane activities of a space station to where enough public support occurs simply because its on the tube everyday
because China effectively has two populations, those in the present and all those 'out there'
A large number of China's population will not become modernized within our lifetimes... but they apparently sure do well to keep the averages down when painting China's bad behaviour
Reminds me a lot of Outland.
Still it also hints of an arcology, at least it could be extended into that idea.
Mostly has been discounted.
#1. There were not enough people that wanted the car, yeah a lot of them with it but many didn't want to pay for it.
#2. Blame the government. Laws requiring replacement parts and service over reasonably expected lifetimes meant GM would be subsidizing the ownership of the cars
#3. Can't attest to that, GM did get rid of theirs for money reasons
#4. Repeat of #1
#5. States should not be allowed to create rules that affect other states adversely. Also, California for all its so called environmentalism was one of the primary reasons diesels died here, yet Europe seems them as a solution
#6. Laughable
#7. Not true. Electric cars require different skills and with limited applicability with the low numbers of them they could not create enough interest in people training for it
8. There were not enough people who wanted them.
the problem with the EV and related cars is they did not fit the lives of the majority of drivers. They were inconveinent and not practical.
I know quite a few people with 1 or two kids who pay nearly $100 a month for cell service.
Combine that with all the other monthlies people tend to accumulate and no wonder most are always "broke"
Lets take World of Warcraft as an example.
the have created 3 items that all players want, they don't necessarily need them, but they want them. they are epic land mounts, flying mounts, and epic flying mounts. All are obtainable through gold purchases. Now normally this would not be a problem except that they are not low gold amounts. Whereas the current expansion did make gold much more available to the average player the cost of an epic flying mount is very high. It would require a load of farming just for gold to obtain. Yes there are other epic flying mounts you can gain from reputation, a grind of its own, but you still must buy the epic riding skill which is where the boatload of money comes in.
This money issue compounds itself when players have multiple characters all at the level required to obtain an epic flying mount. Simply put, if the cost was not so extreme there would be less need of an outside collector. Blizzard could do away with the bulk of the gold farming revenue by either replacing the costs with quests to get the skill or reducing the cost to something someone can obtain fairly quickly.
I know, I know, some will chime in, "There needs to be reward for work". ITS A GAME. There are many other ways to represent accomplishment in this game, either through battlegrounds or raids of very high content. I have more respect for someone's game skill who can successfully work with others to conquer 10,20, and 40-character instances than who has epic flying mounts.
It was this way in other games I played before. There were suppliers who augmented the average players ability to obtain what was all so desirable without wasting their life farming.
Look, these are games meant to be played for enjoyment. Me, I don't considering farming gold for something that is practically expected of me to have just to group with others. Its a game, I want to play it, not make a job of it. Yeah I spend too much time in it but please make it so I don't have go even beyond that. Its a lot cheaper for me and others to buy our gold if you look on it as a job. the hourly rate to what a 100 gold cost is substaintially lower than what I make, hell its probably close to minimum wage at that.
So, if the game companies have a problem with farmers instead of going after the farmers directly they need to correct the game mechanisms that spawn them.