I'm doing *what* wrong? When I'm driving I often don't see recumbents well. I'm not driving with my eyes closed, nor am I failing to use due care and attention. Granted, few if any of them seem to have a bright flag.
even if fuel went up that much, I think most folks would pay it
Correct - When fuel prices go up people tend to cut back on other stuff, rather than stop driving. What fuel prices *do* influence is the type of car people buy when they buy a new car.
What does reduce driving are the ancillary costs. Why does no one have a car in NYC? Not because fuel is expensive, but rather because parking it is expensive.
The problem with recumbent cyclists riding in traffic is they're invisible. A cyclist riding a traditional bicycle with a blinking light on his helmet is up high and very visible to me as a driver - I give him space. Often with recumbent cyclists people don't see them until they're on top of them. I think if your region has lots of cycling infrastructure that keeps you separate from cars (Vancouver / Amsterdam) then recumbents make sense, but not if you're in traffic.
False logic. They'd use the money they get from selling oil to the Chinese to fund attacks on Western targets. They wouldn't attack China - As others have said, the Chinese don't cower and start groping grannies at airport checkpoints when they're attacked the way North Americans do, so there's little propaganda value in attacking China.
You know..if we could just become energy independent....we could just then pull out of the whole middle east and let those f*ckers blow themselves up and be done with them.
Energy independence is very important for many reasons, but it won't have any effect on the middle east. If the west stopped buying Saudi oil China would just step in and buy whatever is available. The Saudis would still have as much cash as ever to fund gullible Taliban morons.
The 'new world' isn't a valid comparison to space travel. The new world was able to be explored and exploited with a good ROI with techology available at that time. We have no means today to go 'explore' Alpha Centauri to see if there's anything there worth exploiting, and certainly no means to bring anything back - And no investor is going to fund such a thing because you won't see returns for 300 years. Will the free market take us to the moon? Probably, eventually, but not to deep space.
a single engine fault is something that the Falcon 9 is designed for and can continue the mission
"Thirteen, we're not sure why the inboard cut out early, but the other engines are go, so we're just gonna burn those remaining engines for a little bit longer."
There will never be a profit model for exploration - Or, if there is one, the profits will be so many generations into the future to make it not worthwhile calculating (mining unobtainium on asteroids or on Pandora 300 years from now). Will there be profit in space travel one day? Sure - But not exploration.
I agree it's impossibly hard, but if vendors really want to take things 'to the next level' these are the sorts of things they need to start offering. I don't want to be given the option to 'want' a wreath, I want to be able to figure out exactly where I can get something that I happen to 'want.'
What I "want" is a powerful database that can search for specialty products *in stock* at local brick and mortars. I want a pair of brown leather closed toe, closed heel sandals, brown leather, size 11.5. Who has them in stock in a store a 30km radius from me? It's Sunday and I want an 8-port gigabit hub *now* - I'm prepared to pay up to $50. Where can I go get one? In the city where I live (Vancouver, Canada) these types of searches are impossible.
Put me on a Ferris wheet and I'm grabbing the bar with white knuckles
Thank you! I'm in exactly the same boat. Could never figure out why I love Big Thunder Mountain Railroad but ferris wheels make me crap my pants in terror. Plus, it always feels like they're turning in the wrong direction.
What drives me bananas about these plans is in the end it's all data anyway. Whether you're updating Facebook or chatting with Granny, in the end it's just bits streaming to and from your phone. In the old analog cell phone days a case could be made for a user using up a circuit-switched channel for their voice call, but today with packet switching it seems irrelevant.
The Channels seems to be wider than the Atlantic...
I remember once visiting my Grandparents' home near Dover and noticing they could see France out their kitchen window. I was stunned to learn that while they had visited us in Canada, they'd never been to France. Not once. When I asked why, their reply was simple: "Because it's full of French people, dear."
During the recent healthcare debates in the USA I was stunned to read how many American women deliver babies with zero prenatal care - They present at emergency in labour and it's the first time they see a doc. Blew my mind that that sort of thing could go on in 'the greatest nation on earth.' Sounded more like The Sudan to me.
My point is that if you wanted to sneak into the USA, why would you add the extra complication of sneaking into Canada first? Why wouldn't you just sneak into the USA directly. For example, if you're doing it by boat just land yourself on the Olympic Peninsula or Maine - Heck even Alaska and then just fly from Anchorage to Seattle with no CBP checks. If you're coming in in a container, land yourself at Baltimore or Long Beach... and on and on. And yes, my coin is on option 3 as well.
The problem with the Israeli model is that it isn't terribly feasible at a large scale
Agreed, but you could still take a large dose of it in the USA. Empower and train clever screeners to ascertain that Granny or a toddler isn't a threat and send them on their way. Realize that some 19 year old coed in a Berkeley shirt probably isn't going to take down the plane with her tube of moisturizer. Would the odd mistake be made? Maybe - But the price for the alternate situation (loss of freedom) is too high.
What the hell do you mean 'drive in through Canada?' How do they get into Canada? And assuming they're in, they still have to go through US CBP to get into the USA, unless they drive over the border in a deserted spot in a Humvee, avoiding the motion sensors.
explain why we're allowed to take them on aircraft but nailclippers and scissors are banned
Because Ma and Pa Kettle "feel" secure when scissors are banned. They don't feel that way when jewel cases are banned. US security is all about making the Kettles feel comfortable so they keep buying plane tickets, not actual security.
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You're doing it wrong.
I'm doing *what* wrong? When I'm driving I often don't see recumbents well. I'm not driving with my eyes closed, nor am I failing to use due care and attention. Granted, few if any of them seem to have a bright flag.
even if fuel went up that much, I think most folks would pay it
Correct - When fuel prices go up people tend to cut back on other stuff, rather than stop driving. What fuel prices *do* influence is the type of car people buy when they buy a new car.
What does reduce driving are the ancillary costs. Why does no one have a car in NYC? Not because fuel is expensive, but rather because parking it is expensive.
Riding a recumbent fixes this
The problem with recumbent cyclists riding in traffic is they're invisible. A cyclist riding a traditional bicycle with a blinking light on his helmet is up high and very visible to me as a driver - I give him space. Often with recumbent cyclists people don't see them until they're on top of them. I think if your region has lots of cycling infrastructure that keeps you separate from cars (Vancouver / Amsterdam) then recumbents make sense, but not if you're in traffic.
Well at the very least it will be China's problem
How it is China's problem if the Saudis use profits from selling oil to the Chinese to fund attacks on the west?
But then they'd be China's problem, not ours.
?!?!?
False logic. They'd use the money they get from selling oil to the Chinese to fund attacks on Western targets. They wouldn't attack China - As others have said, the Chinese don't cower and start groping grannies at airport checkpoints when they're attacked the way North Americans do, so there's little propaganda value in attacking China.
You know..if we could just become energy independent....we could just then pull out of the whole middle east and let those f*ckers blow themselves up and be done with them.
Energy independence is very important for many reasons, but it won't have any effect on the middle east. If the west stopped buying Saudi oil China would just step in and buy whatever is available. The Saudis would still have as much cash as ever to fund gullible Taliban morons.
>That's absurd.
What's absurd?
The 'new world' isn't a valid comparison to space travel. The new world was able to be explored and exploited with a good ROI with techology available at that time. We have no means today to go 'explore' Alpha Centauri to see if there's anything there worth exploiting, and certainly no means to bring anything back - And no investor is going to fund such a thing because you won't see returns for 300 years. Will the free market take us to the moon? Probably, eventually, but not to deep space.
a single engine fault is something that the Falcon 9 is designed for and can continue the mission
"Thirteen, we're not sure why the inboard cut out early, but the other engines are go, so we're just gonna burn those remaining engines for a little bit longer."
Nothing to do with government or military
So who wrote the cheque to pay for their delivery to the ISS? The Coca-Cola company?
The real challenge now is finding a profit model
There will never be a profit model for exploration - Or, if there is one, the profits will be so many generations into the future to make it not worthwhile calculating (mining unobtainium on asteroids or on Pandora 300 years from now). Will there be profit in space travel one day? Sure - But not exploration.
I agree it's impossibly hard, but if vendors really want to take things 'to the next level' these are the sorts of things they need to start offering. I don't want to be given the option to 'want' a wreath, I want to be able to figure out exactly where I can get something that I happen to 'want.'
What I "want" is a powerful database that can search for specialty products *in stock* at local brick and mortars. I want a pair of brown leather closed toe, closed heel sandals, brown leather, size 11.5. Who has them in stock in a store a 30km radius from me? It's Sunday and I want an 8-port gigabit hub *now* - I'm prepared to pay up to $50. Where can I go get one? In the city where I live (Vancouver, Canada) these types of searches are impossible.
A sign or two saying something like "PRIVATE PROPERTY NO DUMPING" might help, if you don't already have a sign like that which is being ignored.
Great idea - Except I'd add "VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED" and "THIS AREA UNDER VIDEO SURVEILLANCE"
Put me on a Ferris wheet and I'm grabbing the bar with white knuckles
Thank you! I'm in exactly the same boat. Could never figure out why I love Big Thunder Mountain Railroad but ferris wheels make me crap my pants in terror. Plus, it always feels like they're turning in the wrong direction.
What drives me bananas about these plans is in the end it's all data anyway. Whether you're updating Facebook or chatting with Granny, in the end it's just bits streaming to and from your phone. In the old analog cell phone days a case could be made for a user using up a circuit-switched channel for their voice call, but today with packet switching it seems irrelevant.
The Channels seems to be wider than the Atlantic...
I remember once visiting my Grandparents' home near Dover and noticing they could see France out their kitchen window. I was stunned to learn that while they had visited us in Canada, they'd never been to France. Not once. When I asked why, their reply was simple: "Because it's full of French people, dear."
If you've got that much money you can hire a jet. Or take them across a land border.
Jet? Yes. It is, on the other hand, pretty tough to drive to The Cayman Islands.
First tricky part is de-accelerating from orbital velocity.
During the recent healthcare debates in the USA I was stunned to read how many American women deliver babies with zero prenatal care - They present at emergency in labour and it's the first time they see a doc. Blew my mind that that sort of thing could go on in 'the greatest nation on earth.' Sounded more like The Sudan to me.
My point is that if you wanted to sneak into the USA, why would you add the extra complication of sneaking into Canada first? Why wouldn't you just sneak into the USA directly. For example, if you're doing it by boat just land yourself on the Olympic Peninsula or Maine - Heck even Alaska and then just fly from Anchorage to Seattle with no CBP checks. If you're coming in in a container, land yourself at Baltimore or Long Beach... and on and on. And yes, my coin is on option 3 as well.
False passport, student Visa, smuggled in on a container ship, or any one of the other million ways it's been done since there's the dawn of time
But why would they go into Canada first, then attempt to cross the US border? Why wouldn't they just enter the US directly using one of these methods?
The problem with the Israeli model is that it isn't terribly feasible at a large scale
Agreed, but you could still take a large dose of it in the USA. Empower and train clever screeners to ascertain that Granny or a toddler isn't a threat and send them on their way. Realize that some 19 year old coed in a Berkeley shirt probably isn't going to take down the plane with her tube of moisturizer. Would the odd mistake be made? Maybe - But the price for the alternate situation (loss of freedom) is too high.
The terrorists will just drive in through Canada
What the hell do you mean 'drive in through Canada?' How do they get into Canada? And assuming they're in, they still have to go through US CBP to get into the USA, unless they drive over the border in a deserted spot in a Humvee, avoiding the motion sensors.
explain why we're allowed to take them on aircraft but nailclippers and scissors are banned
Because Ma and Pa Kettle "feel" secure when scissors are banned. They don't feel that way when jewel cases are banned. US security is all about making the Kettles feel comfortable so they keep buying plane tickets, not actual security.