By the way, I love driving my car... and it doesn't look goofy.:)
I generally think the pre-Ion Saturns were the only American compact cars worth buying. Saturn S-series even gets a "recommended used car" rating by CR, which is quite an achievment for any American car in that class (compare to Chevy Cavalier--yuck). It's too bad they can't be bought new, anymore.
You obviously have a knack for legal things (I'm just a whack job libertarian). Basically, everything I've seen criticizing the PATRIOT Act boils down to these lines in the Bill of Rights:
"Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech" (library surveillence)
"...no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." (lax warrant rules)
"...nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law..." (detainment, lax warrant rules)
"...be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him..." (lack of disclosure)
Specifically, at the ACLU site, for example, they claim repeatedly that due process is compromised by the lack of requirements for disclosure and the more lax requirements for issuing warrants. That, effectively, people can be put under surveillance for merely-tangentially-terrorist-related reasons, and the barriers for picking on common citizens are actually quite low. Even if in practice these things don't happen, the potential for abuse is there without guarantees for the public to know about them until after damage is done.
Is all this actually untrue, and the PATRIOT Act should give everyone warm fuzzies, where being spied on should be considered the height of patriotic contribution?
I'm not talking about direct money, but how many wars have been paid for by everyone to go to war to keep our gas prices low and alternatives out of the market?
The scenario I was imagininging would put gas prices like this: $0.10/gal for the actual gas, $5.00 or more per gallon to pay for the roads. I'm talking very high gas prices--high enough that no other hidden taxes are needed for the roads: no auto property taxes, no line items in for state income taxes, no fractions of sales tax, etc. The people pay up front and in person at the gas pump, knowing clearly how much it is really costing them to own a car. I would also bet with this system that those mythical 100MPG cars become reality pretty darn quick.
The dealer readily admits they aren't entirely sure how long the battery pack will remain useful.
This will be a factor in the secondary market for these cars. It's sort of like buying a used laptop computer and then realizing there's another $250 required to replace the spent NiCad battery pack.
You bought that overpriced penis extension, learn to live with the consequences.
For women, would one of those consequences be a little penis that grew after buying the SUV? Personally, I find that a little freaky, but I suppose there would be a few in-the-closet husbands out there who wouldn't mind.
BTW, is a woman who drives an SUV a shelia or a bloke when at Outback?
If you really want to whine, come to the UK where our Government has turned taxing petrol into an art form.
If done well, gas taxes (for an IC-engine economy) are among the most fair methods for funding road construction and maintainence, where people pay by usage according to car type without needing intrusions into their privacy. It's also an incentive to keep the car tuned up, so it won't be getting 12MPG while blowing out a oil cloud behind it. Hybrid and electric cars cause controversy in all this, but perhaps they can be taxed by their odometer readings (cars wear on roads based on milage and weight, generally).
The best solution would be for all road funding to be paid for by gas/milage-based taxes, so the cost of transportation is more transparent and other taxes can be lowered accordingly.
Montana winters (4-wheel drive), cargo capacity for musical gear, room for additional passengers (though admittedly, I frequently drive in it alone), and easier access in and out (I am rather tall).
The Subaru station wagons are fair compromises for people who would otherwise buy an SUV. They are cheaper (in the $20Ks, not $30Ks), get decent gas milage relative to an SUV, handle amazingly well with their 16" low-profile tire and good suspension, etc. The only drawback is that tall people (taller than 6'1" or so) will probably find the driver's seat uncomfortable.
What if you made a full internal combustion car with a lightweight aluminum chasis, a variable speed transmission, low resistance tires and sleek aerodynamics?
This has pretty much been done. Aside from the full CVT, I believe this kind of car is called one of "Saturn S Series", "Honda Civic", "Toyota Corrola", etc. These cars pretty much all have a spaceframe chassis, small 4-cylinder engine, smaller tires, etc, and they represent just about the best mass-produced conventional cars can do without becoming a "Toyota Echo" or "Geo Metro".
I personally have no problems with the idea of a hybrid car. However, all we need, now, is economies of scale bringing down price. The relative simplicity of a hybrid car (electric + smaller gas engine) should allow up-front costs and maintenance costs to go even lower than current cars (eventually, that is).
plenty of those menu systems are done in straight javascript, though.
I especially like the JavaScript menus that draw in completely unexpected places on the web page. Chasing a popup menu before the mouse times out to get that oh so important hyperlink is a fun game indeed!
I also like the menus that come up completely misaligned leaving the user to guess what goes with what! More fun fun fun!
...any evidence gathered in violation of those Ammendments is still inadmissable in court.
Are you absolutely sure about this? If a person is deemed a suspected terrorist, they don't even have a guarantee of going to a constitutionally-bound court.
So, what does a person do when they come home to find the FBI broke into their home and stole their belongings while they were away? Be thankful that their Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights are completely intact?
What should a person do when checking out a controversial book at the library puts them on an FBI watch list? Be thankful their First Amendment rights are unscathed?
What should a person do when their employers and neighbors effectively become agents of the police behind their backs? Be thankful that their society is falling apart before their eyes?
The death of flash would be the most wonderful day in web browsing history since it's inception.
What do you mean? I think the most fun aspect of browsing the web is when a website brings a 450MHz CPU to its knees while it draws its hand-rolled menu system! It's even more fun when the menu system doesn't even work! Oh boy, this is the end of an era.:(
I payed FICA for years in order to support my grandparents while they were alive. I'm looking forward to supporting my parents and my in-laws.
Why not simply hand them a check, "Pay to the order of (family member)".
Why contribute FICA, where they are getting less than the dollar you contributed.
I consider every dollar I contribute to Social Security to be money wasted. It won't be there for me or my family in 40 years. It would be better for everyone to create a communal mattress that everyone throws a dollar under when they have one and takes a dollar when they need one. I call it the "take a penny leave a penny" superior alternative to social security.
Yeah, I'm sure we'll all get a good laugh after contributing without choice for 40 years, and, then, see that Social Security went bankrupt 5 years before our retirement! LOL! Oh boy, that's a good one (wipes eye).
I'm so happy Congress keeps our best interests in check by maintaining Social Security with the utmost in integrity and sound investment.
I was attempting to point you to much more information than I could ever give in a Slashdot post. It should be at least interesting to you that groups of a variety of political biases, such as the Greens and the Libertarians, all question the real value of this act.
Okay, what about the PATRIOT Act do you think is doing genuine good towards protecting The Land of the Free?
BTW, the "nothing to hide" argument is a fallacy in a free country.
Cringely got his 300,000 IDs from a publicly available government data source. He barely did any work to get them; all it took was some ingenuity to cross-reference two separate sources.
This is why centralization of data is bad. The convenience isn't worth it when the consequences are destroyed livlihoods or, at least, seven days stolen from a person's life (175 man-hours average to resolve identity theft).
So, why are so many people begging for things like social security in the first place? Nationalized health care? Federal income tax? TIA? The percieved benefit of these things is superficial, when much deeper and more dangerous rifts are just waiting to surface.
A person's identity has many more dimensions than simply address, SSN, and mother's maiden name, but government complacency has filtered into nearly every aspect of our lives and our businesees to create a timebomb of terrible proportions.
There is a pretty strong consensus among many US citizens that the PATRIOT Act was a power grab by the government during a time when the populace was vulnerable.
The only people who don't seem to be concerned about the PATRIOT Act are the Republicans and Democrats who voted it in and stand to gain the most from it. I hope this concerns you, especially if you are a US citizen.
Holy moly.. and I thought I needed more tinfoil on my hat..;)
Don't forget the tinfoil Jimmy Hat. It keeps out the battling thought beams of the gays and Christian right. If they accidentally converge at...a highly sensitive point...uh, think overcooked microwaved hotdog.
Imagine...Windows CE Pacemaker Edition with bundled IIS.
MS Technical Support: "Yes, sir, that fluttering sound is simply the Microsoft Butterfly working hard for you! The tunnel vision shows our advanced Microsoft technology that simplifies your life in real-time is working flawlessly!"
Slashdot Mirror
By the way, I love driving my car... and it doesn't look goofy. :)
I generally think the pre-Ion Saturns were the only American compact cars worth buying. Saturn S-series even gets a "recommended used car" rating by CR, which is quite an achievment for any American car in that class (compare to Chevy Cavalier--yuck). It's too bad they can't be bought new, anymore.
You obviously have a knack for legal things (I'm just a whack job libertarian). Basically, everything I've seen criticizing the PATRIOT Act boils down to these lines in the Bill of Rights:
"Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech" (library surveillence)
"...no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." (lax warrant rules)
"...nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law..." (detainment, lax warrant rules)
"...be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him..." (lack of disclosure)
Specifically, at the ACLU site, for example, they claim repeatedly that due process is compromised by the lack of requirements for disclosure and the more lax requirements for issuing warrants. That, effectively, people can be put under surveillance for merely-tangentially-terrorist-related reasons, and the barriers for picking on common citizens are actually quite low. Even if in practice these things don't happen, the potential for abuse is there without guarantees for the public to know about them until after damage is done.
Is all this actually untrue, and the PATRIOT Act should give everyone warm fuzzies, where being spied on should be considered the height of patriotic contribution?
I'm not talking about direct money, but how many wars have been paid for by everyone to go to war to keep our gas prices low and alternatives out of the market?
The scenario I was imagininging would put gas prices like this: $0.10/gal for the actual gas, $5.00 or more per gallon to pay for the roads. I'm talking very high gas prices--high enough that no other hidden taxes are needed for the roads: no auto property taxes, no line items in for state income taxes, no fractions of sales tax, etc. The people pay up front and in person at the gas pump, knowing clearly how much it is really costing them to own a car. I would also bet with this system that those mythical 100MPG cars become reality pretty darn quick.
The dealer readily admits they aren't entirely sure how long the battery pack will remain useful.
This will be a factor in the secondary market for these cars. It's sort of like buying a used laptop computer and then realizing there's another $250 required to replace the spent NiCad battery pack.
You bought that overpriced penis extension, learn to live with the consequences.
For women, would one of those consequences be a little penis that grew after buying the SUV? Personally, I find that a little freaky, but I suppose there would be a few in-the-closet husbands out there who wouldn't mind.
BTW, is a woman who drives an SUV a shelia or a bloke when at Outback?
Hybrid cars recharge themselves, they don't rely on external electrical power.
If all the energy comes in as gasoline, then is it simply that the electric motor drivetrain is more efficient?
Otherwise, I wouldn't expect significantly higher MPG, thermodynamically speaking.
If you really want to whine, come to the UK where our Government has turned taxing petrol into an art form.
If done well, gas taxes (for an IC-engine economy) are among the most fair methods for funding road construction and maintainence, where people pay by usage according to car type without needing intrusions into their privacy. It's also an incentive to keep the car tuned up, so it won't be getting 12MPG while blowing out a oil cloud behind it. Hybrid and electric cars cause controversy in all this, but perhaps they can be taxed by their odometer readings (cars wear on roads based on milage and weight, generally).
The best solution would be for all road funding to be paid for by gas/milage-based taxes, so the cost of transportation is more transparent and other taxes can be lowered accordingly.
Montana winters (4-wheel drive), cargo capacity for musical gear, room for additional passengers (though admittedly, I frequently drive in it alone), and easier access in and out (I am rather tall).
The Subaru station wagons are fair compromises for people who would otherwise buy an SUV. They are cheaper (in the $20Ks, not $30Ks), get decent gas milage relative to an SUV, handle amazingly well with their 16" low-profile tire and good suspension, etc. The only drawback is that tall people (taller than 6'1" or so) will probably find the driver's seat uncomfortable.
What if you made a full internal combustion car with a lightweight aluminum chasis, a variable speed transmission, low resistance tires and sleek aerodynamics?
This has pretty much been done. Aside from the full CVT, I believe this kind of car is called one of "Saturn S Series", "Honda Civic", "Toyota Corrola", etc. These cars pretty much all have a spaceframe chassis, small 4-cylinder engine, smaller tires, etc, and they represent just about the best mass-produced conventional cars can do without becoming a "Toyota Echo" or "Geo Metro".
I personally have no problems with the idea of a hybrid car. However, all we need, now, is economies of scale bringing down price. The relative simplicity of a hybrid car (electric + smaller gas engine) should allow up-front costs and maintenance costs to go even lower than current cars (eventually, that is).
There is nothing straight about JavaScript.
Well, the 'i', is relatively straight, especailly in a sans-serif font.
plenty of those menu systems are done in straight javascript, though.
I especially like the JavaScript menus that draw in completely unexpected places on the web page. Chasing a popup menu before the mouse times out to get that oh so important hyperlink is a fun game indeed!
I also like the menus that come up completely misaligned leaving the user to guess what goes with what! More fun fun fun!
...any evidence gathered in violation of those Ammendments is still inadmissable in court.
Are you absolutely sure about this? If a person is deemed a suspected terrorist, they don't even have a guarantee of going to a constitutionally-bound court.
So, what does a person do when they come home to find the FBI broke into their home and stole their belongings while they were away? Be thankful that their Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights are completely intact?
What should a person do when checking out a controversial book at the library puts them on an FBI watch list? Be thankful their First Amendment rights are unscathed?
What should a person do when their employers and neighbors effectively become agents of the police behind their backs? Be thankful that their society is falling apart before their eyes?
After all, isn't that where women originated from?
But, then, the men arrived with beer, brauts, and football. The atmosphere turned in a matter of weeks.
The death of flash would be the most wonderful day in web browsing history since it's inception.
:(
What do you mean? I think the most fun aspect of browsing the web is when a website brings a 450MHz CPU to its knees while it draws its hand-rolled menu system! It's even more fun when the menu system doesn't even work! Oh boy, this is the end of an era.
I payed FICA for years in order to support my grandparents while they were alive. I'm looking forward to supporting my parents and my in-laws.
Why not simply hand them a check, "Pay to the order of (family member)".
Why contribute FICA, where they are getting less than the dollar you contributed.
I consider every dollar I contribute to Social Security to be money wasted. It won't be there for me or my family in 40 years. It would be better for everyone to create a communal mattress that everyone throws a dollar under when they have one and takes a dollar when they need one. I call it the "take a penny leave a penny" superior alternative to social security.
Social security is not a voluntary system.
Yeah, I'm sure we'll all get a good laugh after contributing without choice for 40 years, and, then, see that Social Security went bankrupt 5 years before our retirement! LOL! Oh boy, that's a good one (wipes eye).
I'm so happy Congress keeps our best interests in check by maintaining Social Security with the utmost in integrity and sound investment.
I was attempting to point you to much more information than I could ever give in a Slashdot post. It should be at least interesting to you that groups of a variety of political biases, such as the Greens and the Libertarians, all question the real value of this act.
Okay, what about the PATRIOT Act do you think is doing genuine good towards protecting The Land of the Free?
BTW, the "nothing to hide" argument is a fallacy in a free country.
Cringely got his 300,000 IDs from a publicly available government data source. He barely did any work to get them; all it took was some ingenuity to cross-reference two separate sources.
This is why centralization of data is bad. The convenience isn't worth it when the consequences are destroyed livlihoods or, at least, seven days stolen from a person's life (175 man-hours average to resolve identity theft).
So, why are so many people begging for things like social security in the first place? Nationalized health care? Federal income tax? TIA? The percieved benefit of these things is superficial, when much deeper and more dangerous rifts are just waiting to surface.
A person's identity has many more dimensions than simply address, SSN, and mother's maiden name, but government complacency has filtered into nearly every aspect of our lives and our businesees to create a timebomb of terrible proportions.
by combining the hearts of Bill Gates, John Ashcroft, and Hillary Clinton.
There is a pretty strong consensus among many US citizens that the PATRIOT Act was a power grab by the government during a time when the populace was vulnerable.
People who are very concerned about the PATRIOT Act:
Libertarians
The Green Party
The EFF
The ACLU
EPIC
The only people who don't seem to be concerned about the PATRIOT Act are the Republicans and Democrats who voted it in and stand to gain the most from it. I hope this concerns you, especially if you are a US citizen.
Goatse
Of all the things that get burned into the public consciousness, this is one of the few that did so literally.
Holy moly.. and I thought I needed more tinfoil on my hat.. ;)
Don't forget the tinfoil Jimmy Hat. It keeps out the battling thought beams of the gays and Christian right. If they accidentally converge at...a highly sensitive point...uh, think overcooked microwaved hotdog.
No, I think the fungus is simply a side-effect of the RIAA asshats.
I have a faulty pacemaker to sell you.
Imagine...Windows CE Pacemaker Edition with bundled IIS.
MS Technical Support: "Yes, sir, that fluttering sound is simply the Microsoft Butterfly working hard for you! The tunnel vision shows our advanced Microsoft technology that simplifies your life in real-time is working flawlessly!"
I prefer Quaker State and ball bearings, myself.