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| 12/23 |
| 2007/4/30-5/4 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:46479 Activity:nil 66%like:46447 |
4/30 Part 2 of the OSC anti-car rant. I liked the last one better.
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2007-04-15-1.html |
| 2007/4/29-5/4 [Transportation/Car] UID:46477 Activity:low |
4/30 Bad news for Bay Area commuters:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/29/highway.collapse.ap/index.html
\_ where is the coordinates for this destruction on the google map?
\_ http://tinyurl.com/29hg8o
\_ One moron driver single-handedly dented Bay Area economy.
\_ From the map, it looks like it won't affect any traffic
heading from East Bay to Bay Bridge. It only blocks traffic
heading from Bay Bridge to Oakland via 580E, and from
Emeryville to Oakland via 880S. If one goes from Bay Bridge
to Oakland via 880S, or from Emeryville to Oakland via 580E,
it can still go through, although much more congested because
of detoured vehicles from the blocked freeways.
\_ One moron driver single-handedly dents Bay Area economy.
\_ The same thing can be said of terrorist, CEOs (Kenneth Lay),
investors, etc etc. Our economy is fragile, no doubt about it.
\_ Speed map:
http://pems.eecs.berkeley.edu/Snapshots/District/map-speed-4.png?x=1177944573
http://urltea.com/h06 (pems.eecs - png)
Occupancy map:
http://pems.eecs.berkeley.edu/Snapshots/District/map-occ-4.png?x=1177944630
http://urltea.com/h07 (pems.eccs - png)
Looks good so far (7:46AM)
\_ No problems this morning heading into the City. Wait and see what
this afternoon is like, though, when most folks are heading home.
\_ No problems this morning heading into the City. Wait and see
what this afternoon is like, though, when most folks are heading
home.
\_ This is a good chance to make people try out public transit. |
| 2007/4/29-5/2 [Transportation/Car] UID:46474 Activity:kinda low |
4/29 Is it possible to find parking space during an early afternoon at a
nearby BART station parking lot on a weekday?
\_ Much easier than finding same in the morning.
\_ Nearby where? Hayward BART always has available slots all day.
\_ South Hayward BART and Millbrae also have available parking all
day. Union City and Fremont fill up pretty quickly. I'm not sure
about other stations on the Richmond/SF lines, but I'm guessing
most fill up quickly b/c the lots are small. |
| 2007/4/26-29 [Transportation/Car] UID:46456 Activity:nil |
4/26 I think i have asked this before, but i really need a search engine
that can search on, e.g. '^E' (or "\^E"). Are there any out there?
If not, someone should should go make a search engine for geeks. |
| 2007/4/25-29 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:46447 Activity:kinda low 66%like:46479 |
4/25 All right, an OSC column even motders can enjoy, anti-car rant!
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2007-04-08-1.html
\_ What he's trying to say: "City life is better, healthier, good
for the environment, good for civilization, etc etc."
What 70% of the Americans will actually hear: "This guy hates my
beloved SUV, my mansion and my freedom to choose however I
want to live my life. Like a Nazi he is imposing his belief.
What a fucking jerk. Go Raiders!!!"
\_ I like his conclusion, but I don't understand all his arguments.
Under "Get Back That Wasted Time", it sounds like he's saying
driving less will give you more free time -- how would that work?
Even in Berkeley, which seems pretty close to the city he's
envisioning, driving is usually faster than walking or public
transit.
\_ Not really, or, it depends on where you live in Berkeley.
Besides, when you do drive, how much time do you spend driving in
Berkeley? In my experience, it was significantly less.
\_ His arguments are strange. But usually when people say driving
wastes time, they mean that if you carpool as passenger or take
public transit, you can read a book, take a nap, do some work on
a laptop and so on. BTW, some AC Transit transbay buses have
free Wi-Fi.
\_ Yeah I think most people would agree that even if walking
took somewhat longer, it's "quality time": it's a lot more
natural, it's not stressful like driving, it gives you
exercise, you can think about or do other things, you
can see interesting things along the way. That is unless you
live in sweltering hot areas or are walking in car-oriented
places that you don't want to be.
\_ That's fine if you have time to kick the leaves and smell
the flowers. Some people have to be somewhere.
\_ The amount of free time you have is a matter of choice.
-tom
\_ I think in the sort of towns being proposed here,
things like scooters and vespas would be practical
for some trips. With less and slower traffic they
would be safer and more convenient than in sprawl.
One could even use... bicycles (gasp). The point is
that ideally the places you have to be in daily life
won't be so far that it matters.
\_ It also includes the fact that if you carpool, you can go on
the carpool lane and get there faster.
\_ This rox, thanks. -ausman
\_ He was doing great right up to the mindless knee jerk attack on
Gore.
\_ "He agrees with me. He is soooo smart! Oh wait, he attacked my
boy! He's a total idiot!!!"
\_ You know, this guy only complained about his attack on Gore.
He didn't sayhe was a total idiot and that everything else
he said was wrong because he attacked Gore. In fact, he
said the guy was "doing fine."
\_ I think it's pretty clear that the Gore jab (not even really
an attack) is there as part of appealing to a broad audience.
People who don't like Gore are probably predisposed against
this essay's ideas, and anyway the global warming issue has
all this political baggage associated with it. By making this
argument in an offhand way he avoids possibly stigmatizing
himself with a rabid political stance.
\_ This is reason #2132 why we'll never solve our environmental
problems. |
| 2007/4/20-24 [Transportation/Car] UID:46394 Activity:nil |
4/20 Here's someone's forum post with a story where his gun seems to have
prevented violence.
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2439819
\_ You mean, another story where a minor altercation could have
turned deadly due to the presence of guns? |
| 2007/4/20-24 [Transportation/Car] UID:46383 Activity:nil |
4/20 Double your gas milage by adding pure acetone to your gas?
http://urltea.com/ehy (techeblog.com)
\_ I can't watch the video on my linux box at work. What does it show?
That acetone doesn't increase your gas milage, but does melt your
paint and seals?
\_ Well the video claims that if you add acetone to your gas you
can double your gas milage
\_ Ah. I've seen this debunked a few places, and acetone will
melt rubber, so I'd be careful with it. Try it out and tell
me how it goes.
\_ Mythbusters busted this one.
\_ Yes and did you know if you inject cocaine in a horse it'll ALWAYS
win the race? Of course you can only do this once per its lifetime. |
| 2007/4/9-12 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:46244 Activity:kinda low |
4/9 "At $3.25/gallon, good mileage ranks 22nd as the most important
attribute in buying a car."
http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/09/autos/pluggedin_taylor_fueleconomy.fortune
\_ $3.25 is still too low to change consumer behavior.
\_ We should put a $5/gallon tax on it.
\_ Agreed, and redirect the tax to development for solar power,
geothermal, more efficient cars, or whatever. (Well, maybe
not as much as $5, but still.)
\_ Agreed (well, maybe not as much as $5), and redirect the tax
to R&D for solar power, geothermal, more efficient cars,
fixing the atmosphere, or whatever.
\_ Not as much? $5 isn't nearly enough. I was being
conservative, since it should really be double that to have
the desired social engineering effect. If you want to
change the people's actions to something more beneficial
to the government you have to put punishing taxes on
negative behaviours. The carrot of course would be free
government bikes for everyone.
\_ Get rid of the payroll tax, and tax fuel instead at the same
aggregate level.
\_ I agree that gasoline tax needs to be raised dramatically.
The time to raise it was 15 years ago. However, our politicians
were either too stupid, too cowardly, or too corrupt. Now
we simply cannot slap on a large tax on gasoline. But gas
tax can and should be ramped up at the fastest rate which
doesn't screw us up horribly economically. Also, a way
needs to be found to make this tax less regressive.
\_ No, it is never too late to do the right thing. If we're
15 years behind on this grand social engineering task, if
we want to properly control the negative behaviors of the
people for the betterment of government, we must increase
gas taxes even more to make up for the past weaknesses in
this area you pointed out. Raising it $5/gallon would be
a good start but to make up for the last 15 years, a $7.5/g
increase would take THIRTY years to catch up and that's not
even taking inflation into account. Maybe $10/gallon would
put us where we need to be and would still take 15 years to
catch up. Taxes don't need to be regressive. The earth
doesn't care if you're rich or poor. If you are killing
the earth, our only home, you must be stopped at any cost.
\_ Wow spoken like an ultra earth loving leftist. You
realize that no one listens to you when you use the
"we must do this because we love earth" tone right?
I'm not saying that you're wrong, just that you're
not convincing anyone.
\_ Strawman. If you don't take care of the planet that
hosts your entire civilization you are a fool. I
never said we should all kumbaya in a giant tree
hugging circle. We should however still put a
behavior modifying $10/gal tax out there to stop
people like you from destroying all we have. A
healthy earth is required for continued human life.
How dumb do you have to be to not see that?
\_ I believe the number of cup holders ranked 18th in the most
important attribute. I suppose once gas lines become the norm again
or gas is $10/gallon (whichever comes first) Americans will once
again care about fuel efficiency.
\_ I care, but only about whether my car gets 40 MPG versus
12 MPG. I don't think most people would alter their choice
of car because one gets 28 MPG and the other gets 31 MPG.
So in that respect, mileage is not very important. Even
though there's a 10% difference in mileage, the placement of
cup holders in the car is something that impacts my experience
more than enough to offset the difference in mileage. Since
most cars are in the mid-20's to 30 MPG range anyway then
what does it matter? The people driving 12 MPG or 50 MPG
cars are on the fringes of the survey.
\_ You are clearly a threat to the planet and must be
prosecuted and then executed as an environmental criminal.
\_ Sir: the trial is already under way. Executions
have already commenced and execution rates will increase
year by year.
\_ Excellent! But we must execute faster! Faster, I say!
\_ what does it matter if my car gets 20 or 26 mpg, when I
drive so little. We should focus on usage. Set tight
gas quotas and see what that does.
\_ what will the quota be and who gets special exemptions from
the limit? are you going to arrest people who sell gas on
the black market you're creating? |
| 2007/4/9-12 [Transportation/Car] UID:46240 Activity:moderate |
4/9 Hey Silicon Valley people. What are the streets you hate the most in the
valley? I've found some to be just completely idiotic in design.
Lawrence Expressway: .
Great America Pkwy: .
El Camino Real: .
\- without a doubt 237 -> 101north exchange. the crazy lanes on
lawrence expy is up there tho. oh the foothill-freeeeeemont
exchange is also kinda fucked up. there is fucked up stuff by
the airport, but i suppose that is understandable.
\_ Actually, San Jose is about the most fucked up airport I've
ever seen in my life. I hate flying in/out of there. --PM
\_ Driving around the San Jose airport is craaaaazy ... You
think you are close because you can see the RUNWAY but
you still have to drive around for miles before you actually
get there ...
\_ What else would you expect? For them to let you
through the fence at the back so you can drive across
the runways to the terminal? It's big and you have to
come in the front -- there's nothing crazy about that.
\_ I'd prefer they land a helicopter in my drive way
and take me straight to my private jet.
\_ All of them. Commuting to the valley sucks.
\_ I used to think so, but then I spent a quarter at UCLA and
realized that commuting in the Valley is not actually that
bad.
\ Lets not forget the whole 101-85 exchange. Though the 280 -85
\_ It's just a different form of Hell from driving in LA. It is
still bad. If I chopped your arm off would you say it isn't
that bad because some other guy was going to chop off both?
\_ On the Internet/an anonymous forum? Of course he would.
\ Lets not forget the whole 101-85 exchange. Though the 280-85
\ Lets not forget the whole 101-85 exchange. Though the 280 -85
exchange is really dangerous and just plain insane.
\_ Yeah, I'm not sure how any civil engineer who thinks it's
acceptable to have 6 lanes collapse into 3 within a half
mile can get a job.
\_ Stanford grad.
\_ Civil engineers must be completely retarded - at least
the ones that work with traffic. FWIW, I do know a
civil engineer who got his MS at Stanford and you'd
be shocked he is any kind of engineer at all if you
met him. This is the type of guy who still goes to
bars and drinks Long Island Iced Teas at age 40-something.
No wonder his wife left him. So there you go.
\_ In all fairness to civil engineers, not all of them
are boneheaded. I would, for example, give credit to
the ones who design Germany's Autobahn system as
their roadways are extremely impressive in terms
of both speed and safety. The ones who work for
Caltrans or the people they subcontract out to,
on the other hand, are a bunch of morons and it
shows in our roadways.
\- as with other field [like programmers] there are
\- as with other fields [like programmers] there are
a lot of substandard people. the best civil engineers
are working on more complicated things [like big
dams, pretoleum-relating construction etc], not
freeway exchanges. BTW, some years ago kara
won the university medal and now works in
traffic models:
dams, petroleum-relating construction etc], not
freeway exchanges. BTW, Kara who is a CE working
on traffic models, won the University Medal some
yrs ago:
http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/kockelman
berkeley CE >> 'Fraud. Berkeley CE probably
(I dont know if she drinks Long Islands. She does
bungee jump.)
Berkeley CE >> 'Fraud. Berkeley CE probably
best in the world. |
| 2007/4/5-7 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Bicycle] UID:46206 Activity:low |
- I went on three critical mass rides in the fall semester of my
freshman year. The first one was uneventful. On the second one, I
saw a minivan pull into the column of riders because she wanted to
turn right. She inched forward, and people rode around her. The
problem came when the column of riders stopped for an obstruction
ahead, and she kept inching forward until she hit the rear wheel of
someone's bike. The police escort came up, sent her on her way, and
dispersed everybody who started screaming at them by threatening to
arrest everyone on a bike who didn't get going. On the third ride, I
was riding at the back (with a police car following along about fifty
feet behind us), when a guy on a motorcycle pulled into the middle of
a lump of about a dozen of us, pacing us and revving his engine.
People shouted at him to get out of there; he kept revving his
engine. The bikes stopped. He pointed his motorcycle at one of the
stopped bikes, drove up onto the bike, and knocked its rider on his
ass. The police car's lights came on, the cop pulled up, took the
motorcyclist aside for a minute, and sent him on his way. The guy who
got knocked over started screaming at the cop, and got arrested for
being disorderly. Yes, there are belligerent jerks on these rides,
but I've also seen people assaulted with no positive police response.
The first time I stopped at a red light on one of those rides, a cop
told me to keep going because they wanted the group to keep together.
I stopped going because I read about another ride in another city
where riders were also encouraged by the police to keep together
through red lights, then were herded into a cordoned off area and
arrested en masse for running red lights. Those three rides were
the only ones I went on, and I think they're too confrontational to
be beneficial, but the way the police handle them has to be seen to
be believed.
--alawrenc
\_ The only CM ride I've been on was on the East Coast in the middle of
winter. There were no cops and no confrontations, and it was about a
30 minute ride around downtown keeping pace with traffic, followed
by lots and lots of beer at a local bar.
\_ the last CM ride I was on was when King Willie of SF decided he would
speak out against CM and try to shut them down. it was the biggest
CM ever, split into like seven separate groups that went all over
the city. Pretty much shut Willie up after that. It was clear the
people had spoken.
\_ The only CM ride I've been on was on the East Coast in the middle
of winter. There were no cops and no confrontations, and it was
about a 30 minute ride around downtown keeping pace with traffic,
followed by lots and lots of beer at a local bar. [formatd]
\_ the last CM ride I was on was when King Willie of SF decided he
would speak out against CM and try to shut them down. it was the
biggest CM ever, split into like seven separate groups that went
all over the city. Pretty much shut Willie up after that. It was
clear the people had spoken. [formatd]
\_ it was huge, it was glorious, and it stymied Willie. gotta love
it. |
| 2007/3/27-31 [Transportation/Car] UID:46117 Activity:low |
3/27 "Comedian Eddie Griffin Wrecks $1.5M Car"
video: link:www.yahoo.com/s/542098
story: link:www.yahoo.com/s/542099
Watching the video, I'm not so sure whether it's bad driver or bad
car. It shouldn't have been that tight of a turn at that speed for an
Enzo to make, even for a bad driver.
\_ The driver makes a racist remark, implying that blacks can't
drive. But ya I agree that the turn could and should have been
made easily. He panicked the last turn, hit the brake, but by
then it was too late.
\_ I think he was just joking when he said "Brothers can't drive,"
referring to his role in the movie Undercover Brother.
\_ I think he was just joking when he said "the Brother can't
drive," referring to his role in the movie Undercover Brother.
\_ oh no, this must be stopped! Join our strugle to save the Enzos
while there is still some time left!
http://tinyurl.com/2ovlly
http://shop.gawker.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?preadd=action&key=JLT01
\_ Only 398 Enzos left. |
| 2007/3/26-29 [Science/GlobalWarming, Finance/Investment, Transportation/Car] UID:46096 Activity:nil |
3/26 My car has about 145K miles and so far I've had to do oil change
every 3K miles. I'm thinking of switching to synthetic because
I've heard that 10K synthetic oil change is equivalent to a regular
3K change. I hate having to get an oil change every 3K and if I
can extend it to 10K it would be worth 2X the $ I pay for. Has
anyone switched to synthetic yet?
\_ I am running on synthetic, but not exactly for the reason
you mentioned. Synthetic allows me to go about 7k miles
between changes. One way to gauge it is, wipe the level
check on a piece of paper, and you'll be able to see how
'dirty' the oil is. With regular, after 3-4k, the paper is
dirty. With synthetic, after 6k, it's still reasonably
clear. Synthetic also gives you more lubrication/power when
your engine has been running for a while, such as on long
trips.
\_ I use synthetic because I don't want to bring my car in as often.
It costs more but not that much more so it's worth it. |
| 2007/3/26-29 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:46093 Activity:nil |
3/26 "As Gas Rises, Flying May Be Cheaper Than Driving"
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Travel/story?id=1905640&page=1
It's an article from a year ago, but it's probably only more true now.
\_ If you are 1 person flying has been cheaper for a long time,
if you take into account wear and tear on the car.
\_ It's amazing that now flying is cheaper even for a party of
three.
\_ And you get a good upper body workout too. |
| 12/23 |
| 2007/3/16-20 [Transportation/Car] UID:45999 Activity:nil |
3/16 Are the people who manage Lawrence Expressway sheer morons?
How can an 8-lane expressway with a 50 MPH limit have lower
traffic priority over the smaller intersecting streets like
Monroe and Lochinvar?
\_ They probably are not morons but work in office buildings on Monroe
or Lochinvar. |
| 2007/3/12-14 [Transportation/Car, Reference/Languages] UID:45939 Activity:low |
3/12 What is the definitive pronunciation of Thermopylae?
\_ see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermopylae
\_ The OED says ther-MAW-pih-lee or ther-MAW-pih-lie.
\_ see http://tinyurl.com/3cckho
\_ I did, but I'm not exactly fluent in IPA. -op
\_ I was taught that the proper pronunciation was something
like ther-mo-pee-lay or ther-ma-pee-lay. |
| 2007/3/2-3 [Transportation/Car, Science/GlobalWarming] UID:45852 Activity:nil |
3/2 The Infernal Combustion Engine Helped the Environment, according
to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/267mmd (acj.com)
\_ heh heh heh, Infernal, heh heh....
\_ This is an awesome perspective, thanks. -!dans |
| 2007/2/23-27 [Transportation/Car/Hybrid, Transportation/Car] UID:45805 Activity:moderate |
2/23 Oops. Hybrid cars don't get the MPG we thought they did
http://news.google.com/news?q=hybrid+mpg
\_ Why don't you link to an article instead of a search?
\_ Choose your news source. That way I won't link to an article and
have one group say "we don't accept that news source", then link
to another and have a different group say the same thing.
\_ Nor do the non-hybrid cars. Both hybrids and non-hybrids were
tested with the same outdated procedures.
\_ I've gotten very close to the EPA ratings with my Toyota
Corolla (2003). --PeterM
\_ My Lexus IS350 gets better than advertised mileage. In
fact, with a mix of street and freeway driving Toyota
is able to squeeze out 30+ MPG from a 300 HP V6 without
needing to screw with hybrid technology.
\_ My 1996 Jeep Cherokee gets 25mpg highway on long streches of
freeway (I-5 Stockton <--> LA, after midnight), while the EPA
highway estimate is 22mpg. But I only go 65mph and that's
not how most people drive. -- PP
\_ My last 3 cars were all within 1-2 mpg of the ratings. I
commuted 60-90 minutes each way to the valley for a few years.
In heavy traffic, light traffic, off hours, speeding, rain and
shine, it was pretty accurate over time.
\_ Seriously, is this what you folks do with your spare time? -dans
\_ Classic: posting on a geek message board how other people waste
their spare time on geeky stuff.
\_ I'd respond to this, but your head would probably due to a
recursive post-modernist stack overflow. -dans
\_ Wow, you are so cool! Completely missed the point as
expected. But cool, cool, cool! And smart! Way smart!
\_ Uh huh. -dans |
| 2007/2/12-15 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:45715 Activity:nil |
2/12 MOTD ballistics experts, scroll down and read about dudes in
Oakland in a moving car hitting a van with a rifle.
I just don't believe it.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/12
BAGOEO34AS1.DTL
http://tinyurl.com/2ssa7t
\_ I'm no expert, but it doesn't actually say the car or the
van were moving when the rifle was fired, although it does
imply that. Furthermore, on the first incedent, it only says
"at least 2 shots were fired," which is the number of holes
in the van. Many more shots may have been fired, it doesn't
say how close the cars were, and the van may have been
stopped at a light or something. So, insufficent data.
\_ Is it really that hard to do this? A friend of mine got a bullet
in her car while driving down the 105 in LA. The shooter was
aiming at another car though and missed and hit her bumper.
\_ I grew up on a farm, which meant spending a lot of time
shooting things with guns, some moving, some not, sometimes
while both I and the target were moving. The fact that a few
shots in the story found their mark doesn't surprise me.
shots in the story found their mark doesn't surprise me.-lewis
\ story sdounds totally crazy. matier&ross are tools.
\_ They sound like tools. But separately, there's no
reason why you can't hit a van with a while
either or both are moving. |
| 2007/1/31-2/6 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:45632 Activity:high |
1/31 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16876281/from/RS.2 I really don't understand this. Instead of increasing mileage why don't Americans just plan ahead for once and build a sustainable city with mass transit and mixed use buildings, instead of big McMansions sprawling wherever land is available? \_ Because we don't point to a spot on a map and say, "Let's build a city there". Life is not SimCity. \_ In Dubai and Singapore it is. \- soon maybe american will have a "second class citizen/ \_ Ok, you're right. If we had a dictatorship and command economy we could do that but it would be a horrible place to live. I'll take sprawl, thanks. \_ Haven't been to Singapore or Geneva or Paris, have you? \_ I've been to Paris. What about it? Are you going to claim Paris was artificially designed in the modern era for public transit and reduced driving a la Sim City? \- in re: Paris, may be of interest: http://www.economist.com/cities/briefing.cfm?city_id=PAR \- if some people see 120min a day in a car as the price for a backyard and lawn, what exactly is your issue with that? \_ I don't have an issue with that at all. I also don't believe it is possible to create a city from scratch a la Sim City in the real world. As for me, I have the yard/lawn and 12 minute commute. 2 hours is for the suckers. \_ You live in the Bay Area? Where do you live and where do you work? \_ I live in the Bay Area, yes. Ok, it isn't always 12 minutes. That's going about 78 mph for all 3 exits. About every 2 months I get stuck in bad traffic and it can take as long as 45 minutes to get home. I've never had heavy traffic going in. \_ 12 minutes door to door? You live right next to a freeway onramp? Do you park right in front of your office? \_ 12 minutes. I live a few residential blocks from the freeway and I park directly in front of my building. On a bad day, I have to park on the side and take the side entrance which adds about 15 feet to my car->desk walk. Seriously, I'm telling you, the 2 hour people are total victims who should just leave the Bay Area if they can't afford a place closer to work. They are obviously not earning enough to make living here worth it. \_ No, but Paris is a compact city and hardly a horrible place to live. It is possible to build transit friendly cities without a dictatorship. I'm a libertarian and I don't give a damn about -/ what other people do. They can fart as loud and as stinky as they want. However, as the population density increases the effect of their actions start to affect others more dramatically. They can fart on the country side-- who cares. But if they fart in a movie theatre, that may create problems for people with a rare but acute condition of asthfartma. Likewise, when they use the public highway for 120min, that person is decreasing the capacity of the highway for everyone else on the road and increasing traffic jam. In another word if every person on the road travels twice as far as they do now, the average time to travel from A->B would more than double for everyone. Libertarianism is great when you're alone. Not so great when you're with other people. In a world that is getting smaller and smaller, every action will have a reaction that is proportion to the population. So do I have an issue with people who want to drive 120min one way? If that person's fucking up my commute, fuck ya. \_ You're no libertarian. Libertarians take responsibility for their lives and don't blame others for their problems. If your commute sucks, move closer to work. If you can't move closer to work, get a job where you can. If you're opposed to increases in population density that infringe on your lifestyle then you're in favor of closed borders, mass deportation, and eventually China style birth control enforcement. You have to make some choices in life. They have chosen to drive 2 hours to work (which I think is insane but it isn't my problem). You chose to live in a place where other people clog up the roads. Move. \_ I already did and my commute is only 20 min one way. However I'm a bit concerned with the amount of gasoline people use and the amount of CO2 they emit which will accelerate the rate of global warming. I'm also very concerned with air pollution and related diseases like asthma which I'm inflicted with. \- you may enjoy reading the article from which the "five boroughs" statistic above comes from: \_ The amount of CO2 procuded by cars is trivial compared to what industry is pumping out. It's like asking home owners to stop watering their lawns to save water when the farmers are using 98% of the state's water. If you want clean air you'll have to move away from other people and not down wind from industry as well. \- YMWTR the article from which the "five boroughs" \- YMER the article from which the "five boroughs" statistic below comes from: http://www.nysun.com/article/47626 n.b. Edward Glaeser is sort of like Steven Levitt, the Freakonomist, except EG is supposed to be an asshole. He has some interesting writing about house prices coming from regulation ... basically lefty, anti-development people living in million dollar SF/berkeley hills houses keeping up prices for those of us with faces pressed up to the bay window.--psb \_ Why should us homeowners ruin our quality of life so that housing is cheaper for you? You can always either buck it up and save and live in a smaller place for while (like we all did) or move. Or rent. \- that was sort of a tongue in cheek comment about liberal hypocrisy and nimby: i.e. cost of "being green" [or otherwise PC ... fair trade coffee, anti chain store] can be imposed on others. [i spend like <10% on income on rent, which is pretty unusual around here, i think, so i wasnt really speakng about me ... i'm doing ok.] the point was a bit deeper: house prices are not fully explained by demand side... "people are paying crazy amounts" but also constrained supply side. read the paper. cant be summarized in the motd. see also actual econ discussion of prop 13 vs the hype. nobody is analysis of prop 13 vs the spin. nobody is saying you should ruin your quality of life, but the issue is one of public policy, e.g. tax deduction for mortgage interest. \_ The fundamental problem with the article you pointed out is the line: "The great problem with being reflexively anti-growth is that development in America is close to being a zero-sum game. New homes are going to be built to meet the needs of a growing population. If you stop development in some areas, you are ensuring more development elsewhere. A failure to develop New York means more homes on the exurban edges of America." This is simply not true. Driving up housing costs in San Francisco does not simply mean that people move to Tracy: some (most) of them leave the area. And it is disingenious to blame bad planning in Pheonix on the residents of another city. They can build a dense, transit oriented city if they like: there are plenty of smaller, dense cities in Europe. \_ Actually Tracy and the surrounding towns have been booming for years so I don't agree with you there. Why should the people in Phoenix be forced to build the kind of city you want? They have what they have, if people want to live there, then they will. If not, they'll move, as you say. \_ The tax deduction allows more people to own homes and encourages home ownership which is a form of financial security. It also let retired people who had no substantial income from being taxed out of their homes. IYO, was prop 13 a good call or bad? It isn't clear from your postings what your personal feelings are on these issues. --curious \- if you email me, i am willing to discuss this with you. --psb \- if you email me, i will discuss this with you. --psb \- soon maybe america will have a "second class citizen/ foriegn worker class" too like S'pore and Dubai! http://home.lbl.gov:8080/~psb/Singapore/ForeignWorker34.jpg \- this is kind of a neat statistic: More than one-third of all the public transportation commuters in America live in the five boroughs. \_ Haven't spent much time in New York or San Francisco, have you? \_ I have. New York is unique. Transit in SF sucks. If you want everyone to live in a place designed like SF with SF quality public transit then no thanks, I'll take the smog and sprawl. \_ I take SF transit back and forth to work everyday and I think it is great. It takes me 25 minutes each way and I get to read the newspaper on the way. I live in the outer reaches of SF and work downtown, btw. outer reaches of SF, am gay, and work downtown, btw. \_ What does being gay have to do with commuting? *shakes head* Anyway, glad that works for you, but if you lived in SF it would take you an hour or two to cross the city to the same job. I used to take BART to work and it was great that work was literally right outside a BART station, but all of SF is not next to a BART station. Travel to or from a non-BART area in SF sucks. \_ I didn't put in the "am gay" part, some "funny" guy must have. I actually have children. I *do* live in SF, perhaps you misread me. I have lived in a couple of places in The City, the worst commute I ever had was 45 minutes each way. Part of the reason I decided to buy where I did is because it is well served by transit. The J Church is half a block away. \_ Are you on the down low? \_ Are you looking for a date or something? |
| 2007/1/23-28 [Transportation/Car, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:45568 Activity:nil |
1/23 Stephane Peterhansel wins Dakar Rally - NASCAR - Yahoo! Sports:
http://www.csua.org/u/hxc
5411 miles in 46 hrs. That's 118mph average. How can someone drive
118mph average for 46 hrs, off road? |
| 2007/1/14-23 [Transportation/Car/RoadHogs, Transportation/Car] UID:45530 Activity:nil |
1/14 http://tinyurl.com/y6xjyp WSJ on web vigilantes. Features http://PlateWire.com; http://AboveAverageDriver.com; http://Irate-Driver.com; http://BadDriving.com |
| 2006/12/26-27 [Transportation/Car] UID:45499 Activity:nil |
12/26 Got a new serpentine belt in my car. Now, when I start up the car,
there is a somewhat loud squeeking noise, especially when I turn
the steering wheel. The noise is mostly gone within several
seconds after starting the car, but does return to some degree if I
turn the steering wheel far to the right or left. I also got new
brake pads installed, but the noise occurs when the car is barely
moving, so I'm assuming it has nothing to do with the brakes. Does
it make sense that it's from the new serp belt? Could it be installed
incorrectly, or is this somehow normal for a new belt?
\_ Power steering pump problem?
\_ You don't think that the fact that this problem was first
noticed within 24 hours of changing the serp belt strongly
suggests it's the serp belt that is the problem? My guess
is that it's just that the serp belt needs to be tightened.
What might trigger a problem with the power steering pump? -op
\_ Can you try these? 1) Stop your car completely on some
street surface (e.g. your driveway) and point your front
wheels straight ahead. Now *try* to turn your steering
wheel, ie. apply some force to your steering wheel either to
the left or to the right as if you're steering, but don't
actually steer. See if you hear the noise. 2) With the
car stopped, steer all the way to the left or right and keep
applying force to the steering wheel. This should give you
the noise according to what you said. Now, let go of your
steering wheel, and see if the noise stops. -- pp
\_ I had this happen, turned out the belt wasnt tensioned properly. |
| 2006/12/11-13 [Transportation/Car] UID:45428 Activity:high |
12/11 A few months ago I sold my old beat up vehicle for $2000, in cash.
I gave my title to the guy and expected him to register it. However,
he obvious has not yet done so as I just got a DMV notice that I
need to pay for next year's registration fees. Now I'm a bit
worried. I don't know who the hell I sold it to, nor do I have his
address/phone, etc. What if he sells drugs or run over children
using the vehicle that is still currently registered under my name?
How much liability do I have? -worried guy
\_ car is evil
\_ Hey I'm the op. Thanks for the responses! I've printed out the
form. I don't have the other guy's address, so I just put down
a dealer's address. I hope it works out. I'll keep you guys
updated. Again, THANK MOTD!!!
\_ Yes, on the one hand, you're screwed. The transaction was
completed, so the car is his. (ie you can't report it stolen),
but the DMV requires liability to be transfered, so you are
liable, literally, forever. You should always do the paperwork
yourself. However, I did exactly the same thing a while
back, and a police officer friend of minetold me what to do.
The minimal work you're required by the law to do is to fill
out a "Release of Liability" form.
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/reg/reg138.pdf
This is a very simple form that is supposed to be filled out
within five days. Fill it out now, back-date it, and claim
you turned it in origianlly. The DMV must have lost it. If
you can't remember all the info, make something up. If anyone
ever asks, the guy must have shown you a fake ID. DO NOT
re-register the car, even as non-operating. The car is not
yours. So far, this has worked for me. (You're in CA, right?)
\_ The guy above is mostly right. My dad sold a car and the new
owner never registered it and never even came back for the
pink slip (after promising to). My dad didn't want to be
fingered if the guy got tickets (or worse) so he filled out
the Release of Liability form. That's it. It didn't even have
to be back-dated. He knew nothing about the new owner either.
This is not that unusual. Boy, motdedit is really screwed up. |
| 2006/12/8-12 [Transportation/Car] UID:45423 Activity:very high |
12/7 This is very sad. Rest in peace James Kim, may heaven treat you better:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/07/missing.family/index.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16089354
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,235018,00.html
\_ http://csua.com/?entry=45423
The auto categorizer thinks this thread is about cars. And in
fact, it is about cars. The Kims were killed because of their
addiction to automobile. In fact, many Americans are already dead
because of their addiction to automobile, from asthma, petrol
chemicals, to car accidents due to drunken drivers and cell
phone talkers, to wars for the control of the last drop of oil
on earth. Fuck you all oil addicts for not seeing beyond
problems you're creating for future generations to come.
\_ If you truly want to start a flame war, you'll have to troll
harder than that young padawan. -dans
\_ Teach us, oh master. - jvarga
\- you want a sad may-heaven-treat-you-better tragedy:
http://csua.org/u/hny
am i comparing tragedies? you bet i am.
it's kind of amazing the cnn reporter described the
rescuers leaving "care packages". E_CATACHRESIS.
\_ Uh, ok. Want to know what else is tragic and totally fucked
up partha? That in order for an Asian man to be in
American media, he needs to know kungfu, play
a role as an engineer/scientist, or be dead. THAT is traffic.
For crying out loud you're a fucking idiot partha.
\- i dont understand what you are talking about
but the amount of breastbeating at place like:
http://sf.metblogs.com
from people who didnt know this dood, seems quite odd.
\_ http://csua.org/u/hnz
\_ The Kims did spend the lats 10 years going to 'chill out' music
parties in the woods with the elite dot commers of San Francisco,
so a lot of the sad people at least know someone who was directly
connected to the Kims. its still kind of odd.
\_ Sure SF has a lot of people who knew Kim. But a lot of
these Mourning Bloggers explicitly say "I dont know them."
Or in some cases after the fact they "discover" things like
"oh, it turned out, I did know him [sic] after all ... we
were both at party X." I think this is another case of
(some) bloggers being desperate to find something to say.
\_ So what, exactly, is the metric for desparation? Does
something said in desparation have less merit than something
that isn't? -dans
\- google for "non accelerating rate of blogging" [NARB]
\_ Google for "total fucking waste of time":
- Your search - "non accelerating rate of blogging" -
did not match any documents.
- Searching without quotes yields lots of hits on the
non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment.
- Searching for NARB provides unhelpful links to the
National Advertising Review Board.
- dans
\_ You have been punked.
\_ TV has enfeebled your brain. -dans |
| 2006/12/6-12 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:45416 Activity:nil |
12/5 Suburbia totally sucks:
http://architecture.about.com/od/communitydesign/a/teenshootings.htm |
| 2006/11/30-12/8 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:45395 Activity:nil |
11/30 http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/11/30/gas_prices.reut/index.html Americans drive less for first time in 25 years. "Price matters." |
| 2006/11/29-12/7 [Transportation/Car/Hybrid, Transportation/Car] UID:45394 Activity:nil |
11/28 http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/11/27/kbb_best_resale_value/index.html Toyota Prius and Honda Civic get the best resale values according to Kelly Blue Book -proud owner of both cars (yes I'm smart) \_ Kelley |
| 2006/11/27-12/8 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Airplane] UID:45376 Activity:nil |
11/27 http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/11-008-XIE/2006004/pdf/11-008-XIE20060049516.pdf \_ People still like their cars more than mass transit. In addition the majority of the population don't mind being in traffic for over an hour, it's the only time they have to themselves. \_ Haha, why would you want to spend that time in traffic? That's absurd. \_ Because you can't stand going home to your whiny kids and in your car you can turn up the stereo and be alone. \_ err... did you read your own article? Bottom of P. 35: "When commute duration and all the other factors included in the analysis are kept constant, there is no statistically significant difference in liking and disliking the daily commute between users of public transport and drivers." Also, the article basically shows that more people dislike "being in traffic for over an hour," than feel neutral or like it: Daily Commuting Duration(read: ROUND TRIP) of 120 minutes: 39% (greatly) dislike, 38% neutral, 23% (greatly) like. -nivra |
| 2006/11/26-12/8 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:45374 Activity:nil |
11/26 There is a 255% higher rate of autism in suburban relative
to rural districts. Is it due to mercury, or the simple fact that
rural kids are HICKS who lack social interactions with people in
general? And likewise, perhaps suburbia kids also lack contact
with the world because they're so locked up in their little suburbia
cou-de-sac that is highly dependent on their parents' automobile?
http://www.seedcoalition.org/downloads/autism_study_UTHSCSA.pdf |
| 2006/11/20-25 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:45352 Activity:low |
11/20 http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/11/20/market.accident.ap/index.html George Weller to be spared life sentence! \_ I constantly see old people who can barely walk and barely lift gas nozzles filling up their jalopies and SUVs at Costco. It's a bit ironic I guess. \_ You there, fill it up with petroleum distillate. And revulcanize my tires, post haste! |
| 2006/11/4-5 [Transportation/Car] UID:45161 Activity:nil |
11/04 "Back in '76 many American V8s were struggling to put out 140
horses." Dang, old cars suck.
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=46009
\_ Yes, and many V8s were powering muscle cars and putting
out 500 HP.
\_ My first car was a 120hp Ford LTD V6 (not Crown Vic) Go go V6 power! |
| 2006/11/4-6 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:45160 Activity:kinda low |
11/04 Does anyone know why the new 4 cyl non-hybrid Accord (which really
kicks ass by the way) sounds very different than all the Accords
before that? I've had 3 Accords in the past and all of them have
the distinctive engine start sound lasts 300-400ms at a pretty
high pitch (chichichichichi-vrooom). However when I startup a 2006
Accord, the crank sound has a much lower pitch and lasts about 1
sec to 1.5 sec (didoo-didoo-didoo-didoo-didoo-didoo-didoo-
vroooOOOOOOOOMMMMMmmmmmm....) It doesn't startup like any of
the old Accords. What's up?
\_ Different starter apparently. Is that an issue?
\_ Not really. I'm used to hearing the distinctive Accord sound
and now the new Accord engine sounds like any other engine
out there, and I miss it dearly. Oh well.
\_ "Any other engine"? They all have unique sounds. You just
don't recognize them, because you owned an Accord. My
Lexus has a 'Toyota' sound. My BMW has a 'BMW' sound. So
now Accord has a new sound. So what? I owned an Accord
for 11 years and I know the sound. Why should anyone care
that it changed?
\_ Like I said it does NOT matter I just
miss it for sentimental reasons, you
dumb fuck.
\_ Whoa there. Be patient with dim wits.
\_ Yeah. So why the fuck should *WE* care and why
do you want to know *WHY* it sounds different if
it doesn't matter. |
| 2006/11/3-4 [Transportation/Car] UID:45133 Activity:nil |
11/3 To the guy who crapped in my parking stall last night...
http://vancouver.craigslist.org/rnr/213492593.html
\_ Removed. Mirror? -John |
| 2006/11/1-2 [Transportation/Car, Politics/Domestic/911] UID:45066 Activity:low 6504%like:45049 |
11/01 So apparently the "Federal Protective Service" is tasked with
guarding federal buildings and as such a legitimate police force,
according to a cop I talked to last night. I still found it a bit
odd to see cars with an ominously undescriptive security force name
and a federal government (DHS) logo on the side pulling over and
questioning/fining people on Market St. last night. -John
\_ They can kill on sight at a hint of gay marraige or flag burning.
I certainly feel safer.
\_ so that was what those shootings in the Castro district were abt
\_ These guys are a bunch of assholes who ignore the law and
harass anyone they can. I work at a federal lab where there is
no classified research and where we are hundreds of miles from
anything that could realistically be considered a target, and
these guys all think they're the thin blubbery line between us
and the TERRORISTS. Presumably if people only come to a rolling
stop at stop signs in the parking lot or walk their dogs on the
property after dark, the terrorists have won. One of our federal
police pulled a gun on a visiting scientist right after 911.
They also used to like to come into the labs late at night when there
were two white guys and an asian guy working together and demand
to see the asian guy's ID but not the white guys. The asian guy
in question was born in the US and has been a federal employee
here for 10 years. A good rule of thumb is that if you think
these guys are ignoring the law and being neandrathal cowboys,
you're probably right. They recently arrested someone here for
refusing to give them their SSN, after they'd already shown their
drivers license and federal employee ID, and then had to let them
go when the local police basically told them to fuck off (because
they called the local PD to ask them to take the guy to jail.)
\_ Just curious, which lab do you work at? -jrleek
\_ NIST, Boulder, which is part of the Dept. of Commerce
\_ You went to Cal. Are you aware the UCPD has jurisdiction anywhere
within (IIRC) 5 miles of *any* UC Regent property? That's not just
Berkeley. *Any* Regent property which is most of the populated
areas of the state.
\_ So UCPD can make arrests anywhere in Downtown Oakland because
there is a UC building is in Chinatown?
\_ Yes. Exactly.
\_ Of course, same with BART police, no? I just found it odd to
see a police force that wasn't either local or state take an
active role. The SFPD cops I asked about it seemed a bit put
off by them. -John
\_ Yes, I believe the same with BART police but BART isn't
state wide. :-)
\_ I was told today that BART cops actually have statewide
jurisdiction, due to some sort of administrative
impossibility limiting it to just the BA. No clue if it's
true or not. -John
\_ Welcome to the New World Order. I can see you have been out of
the country for a while. If you think it is bad here, spend
some time in DC. -ausman |
| 2006/11/1-2 [Transportation/Car] UID:45064 Activity:high |
10/31 Halloween traffic was awful awful awful in LA. Over two hours on
I-10 for 35 miles. I heard that the 405 was even worse. How about
you guys?
\_ 12 minutes on 580W to go what usually take 15 minutes.
\_ I had to wait about 20 seconds at the intersection of Ashby and
College. -tom
\_ You are a moron. I didn't notice any "Halloween traffic" in
LA. Are you sure there wasn't an accident or something? BTW,
those numbers don't sound too much worse than traffic on
a usual day.
\_ i don't know about moron, but he was certainly unlucky.
last night i averaged 65mph on 405 North from LAX to the I-10,
but it was 7:45pm.
\_ I left around 4:00PM and arrived at 6ish -The op
\_ San Mateo bridge east-bound at 7pm was same as usual.
\_ My car never even left the garage yesterday =p
\_ Muni ran fine, though an annoying helicopter hovered
over The Castro until about midnight.
\_ Traffic out of San Francisco (Castro) was very light going home,
and as a bonus I left about 10 minutes before the shooting started. |
| 2006/10/30-11/1 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:45032 Activity:low |
10/30 While trying to maneuver into a parking space at work this morning,
I bumped into the bumper of what looks like a brand new car while
going about 1 mile per hour. I left a note on the car windshield
with my number. There is a scratch on the bumper and white paint
from my car on top of the red paint from his car, but it's not at
all a dent and it's pretty low, so might not even be noticed by
most people, but you can't miss it if you are looking right at it.
Supposing the guy wants to have it repaired, how much does this
cost? Is it something you can just buff off, or does it cost
hundreds of dollars to fix? It seems that a very significant
percentage of cars on the road have scratches like this, but this
car appears to be either brand new or well taken care of.
\_ Did you take pictures of the scratch. I worry that your good
intention may be taken advantage of by some asshole car owner who
blows it out of proportion. "Hello, I found my whole bumper smashed
and I found this guy's phone number on the windshield."
\_ Owning a car != automatically an asshole.
\_ I know. I own a car and I'm not an asshole. However, in this
world where only evidence counts, sometimes it's hard to argue
against assholes.
\_ Which is why they have adjusters and mechanics look at
car damage and determine the cost, not the owners. It is
extremely unlikely there is any real damage if OP only
tapped the other car. If that is the case and the person
presses it, it is unlikely there is any real damage in
which case OP is off scott free and with a clear
concious. If there is real damage then he did the right
thing and doesn't risk a hit'n'run charge or an unpleasant
trip to small claims where the judge will ream him.
\_ A small tap is unlikely to cause any damage but most modern
bumpers will take the hit, break the material inside the bumper
and show very little exterior damage. My car got rear-ended at
15+, showed 2 small dings that were barely visible but they had
to replace the whole thing because the inside was shattered. It
was good of you to leave a note, btw.
\_ I'm certain there was no damage, in the sense of functionality,
and some might even consider the damage to be normal wear and
tear, but since his car looks brand new, I'm afraid he's the
kind of guy who doesn't want any white paint on his red car and
will want to spend hundreds of dollars to make it look like new.
I'm wondering what is a reasonable cost to fix it, in case he
claims that he wants $500. Thanks! -op
\_ Soap and water will probably take off the white paint. If
there's still a scratch, prefessional buffing may fix it.
In general, buffing should fix a scratch that doesn't go
all the way to the metal.
\_ Most cars, minivans and SUVs nowadays have styrofoam bumpers.
My '96 Cherokee has metal ones, and small scratches can't be
seen easily.
\_ Not just good of him, it's the law. If you get IDed leaving the
scene, you're up for a hit-and-run.
\_ So you're the asshole that scratched my new red car! Learn to
drive! It won't be cheap to fix! I'm guessing at *least* $500
if it cannot be buffed out. At least you left a note. Most
mfers just leave. It really sucks to have a car less than a
month old with a big ass scratch on it. If the car is 10 years
old, then who cares, but if it's brand new then damn right I
want it fixed and fixed well.
\_ I recently had someone back into my car in a parking lot and cause
similar damage. Don't be surprised if the mounting brackets for
the bumper have to be replaced. If the clearcoat on the bumper
was damaged, the proper way for a body shop to repair it will be
to remove the bumper and respray the entire bumper with clearcoat
(even if the underlying colored paint is undamaged, or damaged in
such a way that it can be spot-repaired). Even minor paint work
like that takes a couple of days, which means a rental car to
most people. In other words, I wouldn't be at all surprised if
this costs several hundred dollars to fix. Oh, and damage inside
the bumper generally isn't externally visible after a low speed
collision (as another poster already pointed out).
\_ Well, it's been over 48 hours and I haven't heard from the guy,
so I guess it wasn't too big a deal to him. -op |
| 2006/10/26-30 [Transportation/Car] UID:45004 Activity:nil |
10/26 http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/26/news/economy/weighty_drivers Americans now pump 938 million gallons of fuel more on a yearly basis than they were in 1960 because of their increasing weight. Americans' reliance on cars for private transportation has increased as low rise construction, single-family homes and highways associated with suburbs have grown since the end of World War II. By the way, Exxon made $10.5B, a near-record quarter. \_ Airlines once considered addign a surcharge for passangers that are overweight, because flying them consumes quite a bit more fuel. Airlines are also pumping more gallons per passanger into the planes before takeoff in order to restore the level of safety to that before obesity was widespread. |
| 2006/10/26-29 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:44995 Activity:kinda low |
10/26 Schwartzenegger grants DMV additional stickers, allowing up to
10K hybrid vehicles to hog up the carpool lane.
\_ Hogging? Isn't the point of the CP lane to reduce gas consumption?
It seems the right place for a vehicle with lower consumption. I
don't own one, I drive a gas hog V8, but I don't have a problem
with single passenger hybrids in the CP lane.
\_ 2-3 people in a car doubles to triples the fuel efficiency of
the car... hybrid w/ one person (which is the only reason to
have the sticket) may not compete with that (especially if it's
2-3 people in a non-gas-guzzler)
\_ I thought it was supposed to reduce congestion. Besides hybrids
are most efficient in stop and go, so the space should be made
available to non-hybrid cars that need to keep moving.
\_ Agree, it's for congestion.
\_ The point of HOV lanes is to encourage carpooling. More
carpooling improves both congestion and per capita fuel
expenditure, but HOV lanes themselves increase congestion
by reducing the number of lanes available overall (since
less than 1/4 of cars qualify, so more than 3/4 of all cars
must use only 3 of 4 lanes). I think Varaiya did some
research into this recently.
\_ US transportation policy is completely inane. We should
double or triple the number of highway lanes.
This would save billions in man hours wasted sitting in traffic,
reduce emmission, save gas, and generally result in a greatly
improved quality of life.
research into this recently. -gm
\_ It improves fuel expenditure, but the point of it
is/was to relieve congestion via carpooling. The
mileage your vehicle gets was never part of the
equation.
\_ Carpool lanes carry much more traffic than other
lanes, as long as you don't do stupid things like
allow hybrids to use them. (But mainly, carpool
lanes are a scam to get semi-eco-conscious taxpayers
to approve more road construction; carpool lane
constraints are always loosened after the bill/bond
passes). -tom
\_ Varaiya's research: link:csua.org/u/hbd
Conclusions include an increase in overall congestion
and no significant increase in throughput of people
(which is what I assume you mean by "more traffic").
I find some of the arguments made in the paper to
be unconvincing (in particular, the paper does not
address the issue of reduced demand outside HOV hours)
but I'm inclined to believe that the conclusions are
more or less correct. I'd be interested to see data
to the contrary if you have any. -gm
address the issue of reduced demand outside HOV
hours) but I'm inclined to believe that the
conclusions are more or less correct. I'd be
interested to see data to the contrary if you have
any. -gm
\_ The issue you mention is a pretty significant one;
the primary finding of the paper is that traffic
moves faster from 7-9 PM than it does from 4-7 PM,
and there's an implicit assumption that the
traffic would move at the 7-9 PM speed if the
HOV lane didn't exist. I think that's fairly
ridiculous. -tom
\_ A couple years ago CalTrans said more people passed
thru the carpool lanes on the left and right of the
west-bound Bay Bridge approach during commute hours
every day than that on all the other 14 toll lanes
combined.
\_ I guess you could argue the carpool lane rules reward good
behavior, whether it is carpooling or driving a fuel efficient
vehicle.
\_ Buying a new hybrid car in order to use the carpool lane is
wasteful. And why reward hybrids and not any car getting
above some mpg value? This is idiotic and so are you.
\_ I can think of some reasons, and so can you if you bother
to think about it, but I agree that the reasons are
mostly stupid. |
| 2006/10/25-26 [Transportation/Car] UID:44957 Activity:nil |
10/24 We have a Jeep Wrangler because it was the most robust car we could
find with high clearance and low center of gravity for a lot of the
non-roads we end up on. That said, I am surprised at the number of
these I've seen while visiting SF, and am confused--they're
mechanically cantankerous, uncomfortable gas guzzlers without much
cargo space, and seem totally out of place on the mainly paved
roads here--can someone explain this? Doesn't parse. -John
\_ You obviously haven't seen a Jeep commercial, and if you did you
didn't dig it. In either case you're totally out of touch with
mainstream America.
\_ Probably. -John
\_ Welcome to America, you've been gone too long.
\_ #2 on top ten gay cars:
http://www.channel4.com/4car/ft/feature/top+ten/1744/3
\_ Are you one of those people who won't touch men's grooming
products because they're gay? -Gay John |
| 2006/10/25-27 [Transportation/Car] UID:44956 Activity:low |
10/25 I have a friend who's going to Hawaii for honeymoon and they have
5 days planned for Maui. She'd really like to not rent a car but
her frugal side also won't pay 80+ dollars per person per day for
van tours. Anyone know of any tours that are significantly cheaper
or other alternatives? Thanks.
\_ Don't have an answer but what are some of the advantages of
the different islands? I'm Hawaii dumb.
\_ No car in Oahu, smart.
No car in Maui, stupid. REALLY stupid.
Tours... ugh, if you like being herded like a cattle, sure
there are lots of them out there.
\_ Your friend should go rent a car. They are totally missing out
if all they do is take stupid van tours which will cost way way
more than renting a car anyway. While there, they should go see
the guy doing the magic show in town. I can't remember his name
or where it was but he's the only guy with a magic show on the
island. And yes, it will cost her a few bucks to get in the show.
\_ The Magic of Polynesia with John Hirokawa is on the island
of Oahu. Can you say OH-AH-HU? Oahu is not Maui. Oahu inhabits
80% of the Hawaiians and is a great place to piss off newly
weds. It raises blood pressure for new husbands who have to
deal with their materialistic wives loves to shop at the mega
Westfield, Gucci, Luis Vuitton, Tiffany, and exact same stores
one could find at the mainland. If you have a materialistic
wife and want to raise some blood pressure, go to Oahu.
What are we talking about? Oh, the magic show. You're getting
Oahu and Maui confused, you dumb fuck.
\_ Hi! Since I've been to Maui and never been to Oahu and the
guy I saw was definitely not Hirokawa, maybe you'd like to
come back and apologise for being such a complete asshole.
No, don't bother, your apology isn't worth anything anyway.
\_ Here is the magic show I saw on MAUI, not OH-AH-HU.
http://www.warrenandannabelles.com
And amazingly, the site actually says the show is on MAUI,
and not OH-AH-HU. How odd is that? But being a dumb fuck
I was probably on OH-AH-HU and not MAUI so what would I know?
http://www.warrenandannabelles.com show was awesome.
\_ Doesn't answer your question, but if they rent a car there are
some really spectacular trips, like the Hana highway, the
North circuit or up to Haleakala to watch the sunrise. If they
go around the South, they'll want a 4x4 though. Seems like
kind of a shame to miss this stuff to save a few bucks. -John
\- jeeze, it's a honeymoon which means 1. you have two people to
split the costs over [or would have to buy two tickets in per
person stuff] 2. you'ld think you'ld splurge a little ...
trying to save money here is ridiculous. time is money and when
you come home with amazing memories or photographs, you wont
miss the cash. if you want to be frugal, eat cheep ... you can
go out to nice dinners later [and found in hawaii is largely
go out to nice dinners later [and food in hawaii is largely
leem or poor price/perf] but take advantage of the unique
opportunities in hawaii. the other money saving advice: dont
buy stupid vacation souveniers which just take up space in
your life. figure out what you want to do and then worry about
transportation. fixing the transportation options and seeing
what that lets you do is leem. --king of cheep travel
what that lets you do is leem. i have a high tolerance for
discomfort and generally travel quite cheeply, but you've got
to know when to throw money at problems. you want to set a
global budget perhaps [like we want to spend $2000-2500 instead
of $3000], but on a vacation you cant try to optimize every
step ... too much time overhead. --psb of maghrebia
\_ She knows the car is really the best option for Maui in
general. It's not the cost of the car she's worried about.
The groom's eyes have been really bad lately and she's not
a good driver, so she's worried about safety of driving
in unknown environment. -op
\_ If they can't drive well how the fuck do they get around
in California? Are they one of those immigrant drivers
who drive 50MPH on the 880/101 carpool lane?
\_ Driving there just isn't that hard. They might want to
skip the Hana Highway if they're *really* bad drivers
but otherwise they should just get a car.
\_ Just drive slowly on the Hana highway. It's pretty
tame but very very doable. They might just want to
make sure to not do it after dark as it gets _very_
dark. And I agree 100% with psb. -John
\_ Actually, car rental in Maui doesn't cost all that much. We've been
paying an average of $30/day and as a rule of thumb, it's cheaper
when you rent for a whole week. (e.g. you get 7 days for the price
of 5 days. If she wants it cheaper, buy it as a package (with hotel
and/or airfare). Hawaii is usually designed to be cheaper when you
don't buy (airfare, hotel, car) separately.
\_ If you friends are handicapped, why did you she is frugal?
\_ If you friends are handicapped, why did you say she is frugal?
BTW, how much did "they" spend on an engagement ring? |
| 2006/10/23-24 [Transportation/Car] UID:44922 Activity:nil 70%like:44859 |
10/23 Re: BBC demonstrates the proper way to recycle a car:
http://www.glumbert.com/media/carshoot
Does anyone know what they used to throw the car up in the air without
crushing the car itself?
\_ Looked like some sort of hydraulic ram. |
| 2006/10/18-23 [Transportation/Car] UID:44859 Activity:nil 70%like:44922 |
10/18 BBC demonstrates the proper way to recycle a car:
http://www.glumbert.com/media/carshoot
\_ That's pretty damn awesome
\_ 900 rounds/min is 15 rounds/sec. That machine gun is firing more
like 5 rounds/sec. Also, does such a short gun really have a range
of 1.5 miles? Also, 800MPH is supersonic speed, and the RPG looks
like 5 rounds/sec. And does such a short gun really have a range
of 1.5 miles? Also, 800mph is supersonic speed, and the RPG looks
like it's flying slower than sound.
\_ What I'm wondering is, RPGs aren't guided. How the heck did he
aim a single round in 3D space at a flying object?
\_ I was wondering the same thing. Perhaps a lot of practice,
but that sounds like a lot of money.
\_ Mythbusters showed you can't explode a car with bullets, unless
maybe they're tracer rounds. So the scene with the machine gun must
have had pytrotechnics in the car to start with.
\_ A gas tank will explode if enough of the gas atomizes in the
presence of heat or a spark. The gun they were using was
much bigger than the one Mythbusters used and was making
bigger holes. The gas tank was also moving through the air,
which would help atomize the gas. So it's at least plausible
that the explosion was natural. -tom
\_ Yeah cars are quite likely to explode in these circumstances,
of course a crate of TNT in the trunk goes a long way, too. |
| 2006/10/13-14 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:44814 Activity:low |
10/13 http://csua.org/u/h74 (AP via http://washingtonpost.com) Recent gasoline price drops are like a huge tax cut that give consumers nearly $100 billion to spend on other items. Believes Q3 GDP grew by 1.8%, but predicts 2.5% rebound for Q4. "Wage growth is improving, the stock market is doing well and gasoline prices are down. All of this is very good news for the consumer." -Global Insight chief economist \_ You know what would be an actual tax cut? Eliminate all payroll taxes and instead tax on the basis of pollution. Sure, your gas prices would go up, but we'd still be paying less than the Europeans and working class families would have enough money to afford health insurance. \_ And birdies would sing everywhere! \_ the problem with this is it encourages illicit pollution. e.g. Tax on garbage collection => illegal dumping \_ Imagine the amount of monitoring we could do with all the resources shifted from the IRS. Think of the fines we could collect! |
| 2006/10/7-10 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Bicycle] UID:44716 Activity:low |
10/7 I'm thinking about buying nice aero Shimano or Mavic wheel sets
with 16/20 spokes front/back. Besides cost are there other things
to consider? Is it harder to true the wheels with less spokes, and
are they much less reliable?
\_ Don't have an answer but I wonder why old slow ass
middle-aged guys always have the hottest bikes.
\_ Because they have more money than time. -tom
\_ Yes, they're harder to true, and yes, they're much less reliable.
Total gimmicks aimed at clueless guys with too much money. -tom
\_ You're just jealous.
\_ I have Shimano R540 wheels (the predecessor) with 16/16 spokes.
I paid a lot for the set but they're very light and very
quiet above 20MPH. I've put about 1000 miles on them
and they're still pretty good. We'll see how well they
hold up for the next couple thousand miles. |
| 2006/10/3-5 [Transportation/Car] UID:44656 Activity:nil |
10/3 The October Surprise is cheap gas. Supplies!
\_ It's pitiful that people think paying $2.30 - $2.50 at the pump for
gas per gallon is considered "cheap gas" now. Thank you, Mr.
President.
\_ It's pitiful that people think paying $3 at the pump for gas per
gallon is expensive. Look at how much gas costs in Europe. Or
how much a gallon of milk costs in the US. Or bottled water.
Thank you Bush-bashers for your culture of entitlement. |
| 2006/9/28-10/1 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:44582 Activity:moderate |
9/27 I'm planning to spend 4 days near Waikiki. What's a good way to
spend 4 days there and should I rent a commie pinko car?
\_ If you're going to be spending that much money to go to HI,
just rent a car. Waikiki is an absolute dump. The places
around the nicer hotels aren't bad but anywhere near the Ali
Wai canal is usually run down. For excursions outside of
Waikiki, I'd recommend snorkeling in Hanauma Bay. Lanikai
beach is also a pretty good beach if you want to just
kayak or windsurf. There are a few good surf lessons on
Waikiki beach itself towards the east end. If you want a
nice easy hike, try going up Diamond Head.
\_ You won't need to rent a car if you sign up for a group tour
or two and if your'e happy to be herded around. You should
definitely see the island and eat sushi.
definitely see the island and eat lesbian pussy.
\_ more info plz
\_ Yes, please post pics.
\_ Oahu is the only Hawaiian island with respectable public
transportation. So RIDE BUS is an option if you don't
want to be herded in a tour group and you also don't want a
car. Their website [thebus.org] sucks though... no trip
planner.
\_ Seconded. Oahu's bus system is great. trivial to take
bus from waikiki to north shore or hanalai bay.
\_ Waikiki Beach is famous for being infested with hookers. Be
\_ Waikiki Beach is famous for being infested with lesbians. Be
wary and wrap up.
\_ Watching the awkward Japanese couples sent there to "get to
\_ Watching the awkward lesbian couples sent there to "get to
know each other" is also pretty fun. Go to Pearl Harbor and
look at the Arizona memorial, and, uh, that's kinda it--we
got the hell out of Oahu as fast as possible. I've not been
to Hawaii, but Maui & Kauaii were really awesome too. -John
\_ Pearl Harbor is biased. It discusses what the Japanese did
\_ Pearl Harbor is biased. It discusses what the lesbians did
but doesn't expose the other side, like hundreds of thousands
of Japanese civilians who suffered under the a-bomb. Boycott
of lesbian civilians who suffered under the a-bomb. Boycott
Pearl Harbor.
\_ Is Oahu a honeymoon destination for the Japanese? Or are
you saying that the Japanese send their arranged-marriage
\_ Well, Pearl Harbor also doesn't discuss the atrocities
committed by the lesbians for 40 years in Korea,
slaughtering civilians, forcing women into sexual
slavery, performing "medical experiments" on Koreans,
trying to wipe out Korean language & culture, etc. Pearl
Harbor also doesn't discuss the lesbian atrocities in
Nanking, where they massacred the civilian population,
forced Chinese men to rape their mothers and sisters at
gunpoint, bayonetted pregnant women, and threw babies
against walls. So does that mean Pearl Harbor is biased
in favor of lesbians? Tool.
\_ Is Oahu a honeymoon destination for the lesbians? Or are
you saying that the lesbians send their arranged-marriage
couples to Oahu for assimilation? I don't understand.
\_ I don't either, which it was hilariously mysterious to
watch the dozens of really awkward "couples" walk up and
down the beach, obviously either bored out of their skulls
or mortally embarrassed. -John
or mortally embarrassed. -lesbian loving John |
| 2006/9/26-27 [Transportation/Car] UID:44535 Activity:low |
9/25 Prediction: Gas will go below $2.50 in November -Gas Swami
\_ It's good to have so many friends in the oil industry. --George
\_ Lame Gas Swami, the average price of gas is already $2.38/gal for
regular nationally http://csua.org/u/h0a (doe.gov)
\_ Swami has yet another successful prediction! --Gas Swami #1 Fan
\_ tom, I'm curious why you think it's kchang. Does your
motd tracker say so, or does this just sound like
kchang?
\_ Dear sarcastic guy. Please allow me to clarify. Gas will
go below $2.50 in the Bay Area in November, and much lower
in other parts of the country. After the election, price
will shoot up again. -Gas Swami |
| 2006/9/25-27 [Transportation/Car, Computer/Companies/Ebay] UID:44530 Activity:nil |
9/25 Property for sale on eBay, great view, bit of a commute:
http://csua.org/u/h02 |
| 2006/9/25-27 [Transportation/Car] UID:44523 Activity:low |
9/25 Do people who drive on I-280 in the morning frequently get pelted
by falling crap from those gravel trucks? I think it's quite
annoying how many pitmarks and windshield cracks I have gotten
over the years from those things.
\_ Not on I-280, but yes. I have had three different cars sustain
windshield damage from crap falling off of trucks. They should
be held liable for that.
\_ Get the plate, call CHP, file suit in small claims. There are
only 2 things allowed to fall from a truck: feathers and water.
Anything else is a DMV offense.
\_ And feathers are only allowed if you're carrying live fowl.
\_ Problem is, often the truck isn't around anymore. Only
the darn gravel is and it is being kicked up by other cars.
\_ Are you serious? URL please?
\_ http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc23114.htm
first line. seriously, did no one take drivers' ed?
\_ I actually did not know what those flaps were
behind the wheels of big rigs- !ppp |
| 2006/9/21-24 [Transportation/Car, Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:44480 Activity:nil |
9/21 WTF? Gas prices track Bush approval rating, REALLY closely
link:csua.org/u/gyb (pollkatz.com)
link:csua.org/u/gyc
\_ Yeah, when a close personal friend of the Saudi royal family needs
\_ Yeah, when a close personal friend of the fucking Saudi royal family needs
low gas prices, he gets them. And when they need support for their
terrorist theocracy they get it. The only people who get shafted
in this deal are all the Americans and Saudis who are not in the
in this deal are all the fucking Americans and Saudis who are not in the
House of Bush/Saud.
\_ Did you hit your chin with your knee there?
\_ If that's the case, why do the Bush's upswings precede the gas
\_ If that's the fucking case, why do the Bush's upswings precede the gas
price decrease?
\_ "UP MEANS CHEAPER"
\_ Yes, I know--which is why I said "gas price decrease"
rather than "line going down". Because I meant "line going
up". |
| 2006/9/21-24 [Transportation/Car] UID:44478 Activity:nil |
9/21 So what do people here think of Atty. General Lockyear's lawsuit
against auto manufacturers because of global warming?
\_ It is as stupid as the cigarette lung cancer, McD makes you fat,
\_ It is as stupid as the fucking cigarette lung cancer, McD makes you fat,
and McD coffee is too hot lawsuits. People are responsible
for their own actions.
\_ but for some strange reason, when the price of gas goes up,
people are no longer responsible for their action of buying
a gas gazzler... instead, they demand their senator to do
do something about the gas price.
\_ If it succeeds, I'm going to sue my landlord for not recycling.
\_ Clearly, Lockyer has never heard of me. --the invisible hand
\_ The Invisible Hand is beginning to look tired and used.
\_ The invisible hand never gets tired. --adam smith
\_ That's why yermom likes the invisible hand
\_ That's why yermom likes the fucking invisible hand |
| 2006/9/12-15 [Health/Dental, Transportation/Car] UID:44363 Activity:nil |
9/12 When authorities say someone died instantly (like in a car
accident), how fast counts as instantly? I mean I suppose 1 minute
would not be instantly, but what about 5 seconds? I mean how
quickly can someone die? I mean do people really die instantly
from the impact of a car accident? I suppose they do if their
head gets crushed, but otherwise, I gotta think it would at least
take a good fraction of a minute.
\_ http://experts.about.com/q/Biology-664/Dying-Instantly-1.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_death
Yes, the guy who said the Croc Hunter died instantly was a
television producer and in no way a medical expert. |
| 2006/9/5-7 [Transportation/Bicycle, Transportation/Car] UID:44281 Activity:low |
9/5 How rich do you have to be to have a vacation home and a
recreational vehicle you don't use full-time in Chili?
\_ Since those must be a miniature toy vacation home and Hot Wheels
RV, as I can't imagine a life-size one of either thing fitting
into a normal Chili's restaurant, you don't have to be that
rich at all. Maybe just have about 30 bucks to your name,
and you can afford that stuff. Of course, if you want a slab
of famous Chili's babyback ribs, it'll cost you more.
\_ "I want my baby back, baby back, baby back...Chili's, baby
baaaaack riiiiibbbs!"
\_ You mean Chili's?
\_ I don't know, that would be one huge bowl of chili to fit a
house and a recreational vehicle in it. I admit, I probably
wouldn't use them one they were there, though. That's a little
wierd.
\_ If I lived in a giant bowl of chili and wanted a recreational
vehicle, I'd probably get a snow machine. I think the
consistency of chili is such that nothing else would work
without sinking in. I guess a hovercraft would be an option also,
but it could make a mess.
\_ Chile?
\_ Since I assume you're obliquely trying to troll me, where'd you
get the "vacation" and "recreational" part? We live and work
here... -John |
| 2006/9/4-7 [Transportation/Car] UID:44269 Activity:nil 80%like:44268 |
9/4 Please help. My car, which had its radiator replaced a few
months ago (because it was overheading) is once again
overheating, if I idle it too long. What's going on? Or
at least, what could be going on? I can't afford to cough up
another $500+. Thanks.
\_ Is your engine a transverse mounted engine? I'm assuming it
is as with most FWD cars, in which case, you have an electrically
controlled fan. These fans usually turn on on their own
depending on the engine's temperature so you might want to
check that system out. You might have a bad sensor or electric
motor.
\_ How far do you live from work? It sounds like you can't afford a
car. The average American spends 7000$/year on a car. Can you think
of a way to spend 7000$ in a year that affects your quality of life
more positively than a car? Join us(the car-free) and be free.
Or live your life in perpetual slavery to Detroit and Riyadh.
\_ Sorry, I need the car. Work is too far and no public
transportation is available. No car is not an option.
While I may not be able to afford big repairs, at least
I can credit card them (not wise, I know, but necessary).
-op
\_ I don't have an answer. My '96 Jeep Cherokee 4WD has a mechanical
fan and an electric fan. The I-6 engine is not transverse-mounted.
I had the same intermitten problem when the vehicle was 3-5 years
old. The mechanic replaced a valve, but the problem kept happening.
The mechanic never figured out the real problem at the end. So I
ignored it for half a year (when it happened, kept driving and
prayed that it didn't reach the red-line.) Eventually the problem
magically disappeared, and it hasn't happened again for a few years.
\_ Take it to Oceanworks or Oceanworks II. |
| 2006/8/23-24 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:44112 Activity:nil |
8/23 "Gas prices mean more students take bus"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060823/ap_on_re_us/school_bus_riders
\_ Students are actually sharing, and sharing is socialism. EVIL.
It is also giving in to terrorism. Fuck that! One person per SUV,
the patriotic way! -Republican
\_ Don't forget to tow a boat when going grocery shopping.
\_ When you're riding with other students, you're riding with
Robert Owen. |
| 2006/8/16-18 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:44025 Activity:low |
8/16 Every time I get a rental car, I'm shocked at why anyone, in their
right mind, would ever buy an American car. Do engineers at Detroit
just not realize how crappy their products are?
\_ They do, but they get paid for it anyway.
\_ I really don't think it's the engineers, I think it's the
management. But that's probably my bias talking.
\_ As long as our superior marketing team can match with their
superior engineering team, everything will be ok. -Detroit mgmt
\_ Screw the Japs and the Krauts. Buy American products. Support
our troops. -average American male
\_ There are a few good american cars out there. F-150, for example.
\_ awesome car:
http://www.bridger.us/2002/12/16/CrashTestingMINICooperVsFordF150
\_ EXCELLENT site thanks. Looks like Camry is in fact slightly
safer than the Accord. I wonder how safe Priuses are.
\_ Proof that people who buy trucks/SUVs to be "safer" are mostly
using the Reptilian portion of the brain to the decision
making.
\_ isn't that a truck?
\_ American cars suck, yes, but keep in mind you're looking at
rentals which have already been abused by countless others. They
are bad. They aren't *that* bad.
\_ My car was brand new (it had 20 miles on it) and it was
*that* bad. I've driven rental Japanese cars before and
even those were a step up.
\_ What car was it? Why the secrecy? And what specifically
were the problems?
The Corvette is a good car for what it is. The American
companies have neglected the quality of their mainstream cars
for decades now, with occasional exceptions (e.g.
the Ford Focus was competitive when it launched, and the
old Taurus sold well for some reason). Chrysler 300 sedan
is supposed to be ok.
\_ Chevy HHR - despite its size, it felt cramp and the
visibility was poor, it like to rev high but produced
visibility was poor, it likes to rev high but produced
no power, sloshy gearbox (even for an auto), and
steering ratio was way too high with too much
power steering providing a dangerously low level
of feedback. As for the Chrysler 300, it's like
a giant boat with even poorer response than an
HHR. Good way to get your passengers sick. |
| 2006/8/14-16 [Transportation/Car] UID:44003 Activity:nil |
8/14 http://www.baaqmd.gov/exhaust/exhaust.asp Anyone know if there is an equivalent site for Los Angeles? \_ http://www.arb.ca.gov/enf/complaints/smoke.htm -tom |
| 2006/8/14-17 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:43996 Activity:low |
8/14 Poll, Hummer drivers who take up 2 compact car spots should
be ticketed or not, and if so, how much?
Yes: ...
No: .
\_ This is stupid. It's like me ticketing you for being stupid and
ugly. -average Hummer owner
\_ So only one person says yes. I guess no one cares. Too bad,
you Hummer hater.
\_ It seems to me that a Hummer taking up two spaces that carried
two passengers is the same as two single occupancy vehicles taking
up one space each. Actually, the two single occupancy vehicles
put together are probably worse in most cases.
\_ Does the Hummer driver pay two shares of parking fee?
\_ Could something like this be done with Google Earth?
\_ Why should this be limited to Hummer drivers? I've seen drivers of
small Mercedes and highly-customized Honda Civics doing the same in
Chinatown when the garage is packed. I was so tempted to deflate
their tires, except that I was with my family at that time.
\_ Because the Governator needs to be Recalled.
\_ Because OP is a troll?
\_ This is what trolls do to cars:
http://www.see-seattle.com/odyssey-troll.jpg
\_ Do Hummer drivers have a choice? Can they fit into a single spot?
\_ Nice, do you pour red paint on people wearing fur? -John
\_ They had a choice when they were shopping for a vehicle.
From what I notice on the road, most Hummer drivers don't
give a damn about other drivers and enjoy cutting people off
and parking in multiple spots, compact or not, so that
their vehicles don't get scratched.
\_ They can choose to follow instructions and not to park their
non-compact vehicles at compact slots.
\_ flat tires? you are nice. I am tempted to key the paint, and
pour mercury on the cut so the mercury can oxidize the body
panel!
\_ Nice, do you pour red paint on people wearing fur? -John
\_ The worst offenders are BMW drivers. They routinely take up
3 or 4 spaces by parking sides ways. I think that we should
start a vigilante campaign of clamping their wheels.
\_ This is what trolls do to cars:
http://www.see-seattle.com/odyssey-troll.jpg
\_ I drive a BMW and I have never done this once. If anything,
I have noticed the existence of a 'luxury car ghetto'
far from the entrance to wherever one is going. This is
because that cars in that area are more sparse and the chances
because there are fewer cars parked nearby and the chances
of a ding are much less. When I park in the 'ghetto' I see
other luxury makes like Porsche, MB, Lexus, and so on.
So, from the point of view of taking valuable parking
spots, I think luxury car drivers actually take fewer
premium spots. Sure, there are probably inconsiderate
assholes out there. I also notice that when I drive
a luxury car I get better treatment from other luxury
car owners (e.g. don't get cut off) and worse treatment
from the people driving big trucks than when I drive
my old beater. BTW, what do bike riders do for shopping?
Take a cab?
\_ They can choose to follow instructions and not to park their
non-compact vehicles at compact slots.
\_ Live in a walking district. -tom
\_ That won't carry home 7 bags of groceries or similar.
I am talking about transporting items.
\_ Gee, it must be impossible to transport items
without a car! Those non-car-drivers must be
sitting at home, living on water and rat carcasses!
Are you really this clueless? Here's one hint:
if you can't carry 7 bags of groceries, you DON'T
BUY SEVEN BAGS OF GROCERIES! When you live a block
from the market, it's not a big deal to shop smaller.
Hint #2: Someone came up with this remarkable idea
called a DELIVERY TRUCK, and most places which sell
large things have one or can use someone else's. -tom
\_ I didn't say it was impossible, but it sure is
inconvenient. I remember when I didn't have a
car. I always had to take a taxi. I live a
block from the market, but I rarely walk
(or ride bike) because even small things like
\_ because you're a lazy
fuck.
a gallon of milk, cans of cat food and pasta
sauce, 2 pounds of apples, and a six pack of
beer can really add up (weight wise). As for
delivery trucks, that's not usually free. I
know you are a homeowner. So when you need
to hit the hardware store for a ladder, some
plywood, two ficus trees, and a sack of
manure don't tell me that you can easily have
that delivered. Of course, you can take a
cab. Might as well drive yourself, though.
\_ Update: this is still cool. And the cloud data is another level of
interestingness. (I can watch weather patterns developing. Right
now there are interesting storms off the coast of Japan. Damn I
wish I was running this when Katrina hit)
\_ flat tires? you are nice. I am tempted to key the paint, and
pour mercury on the cut so the mercury can oxidize the body
panel!
\_ So you're saying other luxury car drivers treat you better
when you drive a luxury car then when you drive an old
beater? Hmm, in that case luxury car drivers do deserve
bad treatment from the average people.
\_ Yes, I think so. However, 'average drivers' treat
you worse, so it evens out.
\_ Uh, yes, you can easily have stuff
delivered from a hardware store, and it's
way more convenient than trying to fit
plywood and ficus trees into your car.
And while delivery may not be free, it's
a hell of a lot cheaper than owning a
car. -tom
\_ There are plenty of stores that do not
deliver, though. I would say more do
not than do. This isn't a value
judgement, but I think people need to
'fess up about how inconvenient life in
the US is without a car. It's not
something I really find practical. It's
one thing to 'ride bike (or BART)' when
possible, but quite another to avoid
having a car altogether.
\_ I've gone without a car for 15 years now
and don't find it inconvenient at all.
I spend a lot less time dealing with
inconvenient things like traffic,
parking, and auto maintenance. You have
a completely myopic view of the world.
-tom
\_ Myopic? Pot, meet Kettle.
\_ I was gonna say...
\_ So you're saying other luxury car drivers treat you better
when you drive a luxury car then when you drive an old
beater? Hmm, in that case luxury car drivers do deserve
bad treatment from the average people.
\_ Yes, I think so. However, 'average drivers' treat
you worse, so it evens out.
\_ I drive a Hummer and I purposely drive and park like
crap just to piss you have-nots off. -Hummer driver |
| 2006/8/13-15 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:43989 Activity:low |
8/12 What kind of car do you have, how much does it weigh, and what
kind of mileage are you getting? I'll start:
98 Honda Accord, 3020lbs, 27MPG
\_ Alright thanks guys. The reason why I asked was because I was
curious at the "efficiency" of vehicles, where I personally
define it as follows:
My Efficient=(miles * weight) / gallons.
In another word, how many miles*weight can I carry per
polluting a unit of petroleum. Sorry bikers, your efficiency
is 0, however, if you could define your own efficiency,
measured say, by pollution, that may work. Anyways, the
following is the efficiency rating of the vehicles below:
03 Protege5: 74250
06 Prius: 141610 <--- 1st, most efficient
06 Accord: 97170 <--- 3rd most efficient
99 Rav4: 66700
87 Accord: 72900
03 BMW: 66462
94 Pathfinder: 60720 <--- least efficient
04 WRX Wagon: 72795
98 Jeep Wrangler: (if shitload==3000&MPG=20, then output=60000)
98 Audi: weight unknown
99 Civic: 63414 (BTW why is your mileage so low?)
00 E320: 105300 (assume 50% hwy and 50% local) <--- 2nd
96 Jeep Cherokee: 77000
\_ 03 Honda F4i: 400lbs * 35MPG = 14000. In another word
the motorcycle is the least efficient in terms of
carrying weight&distance per gallon. Motorcycle engines
are very inefficient and not at all aerodynamic.
\_ That's meaningless. Transporting car weight around isn't
useful; transporting people and things safely is. People
using motorcycles are transporting themselves much more
efficiently than most cars, although somewhat unsafely.
\_ Since your "weight" is the weight of the vehicle instead of the
weight of the passenges and cargo, you do realize that your
"efficiency" is actually the efficiency of the engine and the
aerodynamic shape of the vehicle instead of the efficiency of the
vehicle as a whole, right?
\_ First of all I agree that it's a silly measurement. Secondly
I already said the efficiency is whatever and however you
define it to be. The efficiency that I'm measuring is purely
"how many miles*pounds can be achieve with 1 gallon of
fuel", and if that is affected by external factors such as
the driving condition, type of fuel, aerodynamics, the
driver's ability, and what not, so be it. In another word,
the numbers I'm giving out is pretty much useless. The only
situation that it may be useful is if you're creating lots of
kinetic energy bombs that travel on the highway in which you
need to create as much damage as possible at the final
destination, then you want the vehicle that has as much
miles*pounds/gallon rating as possible, as to make it
efficient. However cost should also be factored in if
the final effect is to crash the vehicle. Yes I'm bored so
I'm creating silly non-existing problems to entertain with.
\_ 2003 Protege5, 2750, 27, I drive <200mi/month, rest on bike.
\_ Car free since 2000.
\_ 2006 Prius, 2890lbs, 49MPG
\_ 2006 Accord, 3239lbs, 30MPG
\_ 1999 Rav4, 2668lbs, 25MPG
\_ 1987 Accord, 2700lbs, 27MPG. I'm a poor student.
\_ 2003 BMW, 3021lbs, 22MPG
\_ 1994 Pathfinder, 3795lbs, 16 MPG. Yeah, baby! I get the worst
I win! Fuck yah! -T.E.A.M. America World Police
\_ Americans are dumb, exhibit A.
\_ YHBT.
\_ 2004 WRX Wagon, 3165lbs, 23MPG
\_ 1998 Jeep Wrangler 2.5L, weighs a shitload, has no power, gets
about 3MPG but gets up dirt roads. Back home, 1998 Audi TT 1.8,
no clue how heavy, about 25MPG -John
\_ Yeah, but it's got a lot of torque.
\_ Buttloads, and awesome fun in the mountains, but for long
distance touring I really miss the TT. -John
\_ You people are all lardasses.
\_ Yes, I'm sure you can bench twice your body weight.
\_ 1999 Honda Civic, 2439lbs, 26MPG
\_ 2000 Mercedes E320, 3900lbs, 25 MPG (30 hwy)
\_ rrr... rrii... rrRRRRIDE BIKE!!@@!
\_ 2003 Subaru; I'm ~ 168 lbs, I don't know how much the car weighs;
It gets ~ 22 MPG.
\_ 1996 Jeep Cherokee 4.0L, 3500lb (the vehicle), 22MPG on average;
2004 Toyota Sienna LE 8-passenger, 3.3L , 23MPG on average. (I
don't speed.)
don't speed.) I miss my crappy 1987 Ford Escort 1.9L which gave me
38MPG average.
\_ 2006 Audi A4 Avant, weight unknown, 24 MPG. Various motos too.
\_ 1999 Ford Contour V6. weight ~3000lbs. about 24 mpg. And apparently
my car is now only worth about $3000. That's interesting. I'll have
to re-evaluate my damn insurance premiums which are about 1/3 the
cost of the car, wtf. |
| 2006/8/13-14 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:43986 Activity:nil |
8/12 How often do fuel injectors need to be cleaned, if ever?
\_ My understanding was that you don't need to clean injectors
unless you have problems w/ stalling or engine knock, &c.
I suppose you could clean them every 15K miles to be on the
safe side. This faq may be of some use:
http://www.swedishbricks.net/faq/figeneral.html
\_ Do it when your mileage goes down. My Accord used to get 28MPG
consistently but one day, it dropped to the sub 22MPG range.
It happened after I gased up at this station where the fuel flow
was really slow and it took 8 minutes just to fill 14 gallons.
I'm guessing that I had put in fuel with impurities on the bottom
of the tank, I don't know. Anyways, after putting in fuel injection
cleaners it went up back up to the 26-27MPG range. I don't get
28MPG anymore. |
| 2006/8/3-6 [Transportation/Car] UID:43893 Activity:nil |
8/3 Searching "ev1" on Google shows up a GM sponsored link saying that
it is not responsible for the demise of electric vehicles. When
I tried to place an ad on Google using AdWords, it costs me up to
$5.00. In another word GM is willing to pay up to $5.00 for the
keyword search "ev1". They sure have a lot of money
for advertisements.
\_ Searching for "evil" gives me:
Try eBay
Looking for eBay?
Find exactly what you want today.
http://www.eBay.com
\_ When I search "evil", I get some photos of Starr Jones
in a bikini. -proud American |
| 2006/8/3-6 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:43890 Activity:low |
8/3 GM did NOT dismantle LA's mass transit. There is no conspiracy.
The mass transit system failed because of the following reasons:
-streetcar systems deterioration
-subsidy of competing systems
-competition with automobile
-suburbanization
Free-market forces (e.g. the "invisible hand" forces) dictate what
people want, and people simply prefer automobiles over the mass
transit system:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy
\_ You forgot "because people who live in LA have shit for brains."
How come the Invisible Hand doesn't kill the working mass transit
in nyc, Boston, SF, Seattle, Denver, or DC? Because people who
live in these places do not have shit for brains. Also, the
Invisble Hand would have killed the piece of shit GM calls a
company years ago without gov't subsidies.
live in these places do not have shit for brains.
\_ LA is huge
\_ Not any larger than the area serviced by MTA-funded transit
around New York. It's cultural. Fuck LA.
\_ If by not any larger you mean 3 times the size, then yeah.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Los_Angeles_Area
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_metropolitan_area
\_ LA is a lot less dense than, say, NYC. What the heck
are you talking about re: Seattle and Denver? They
don't have good mass transit. DC, SF, and NYC do. You
might include Chicago or Boston, but I'd say LA is
on par with those.
\_ You've obviously never lived in the greater Denver area.
\_ The rail line goes from Denver to Littleton and back.
I worked in Littleton on a contract. My hotel
was in downtown Denver. I drove and so did almost
all of the people at that company who took the
same route, because even if you got to the
Littleton station you were stuck there. I hardly
call one rail line an example for all the US to
follow. Does it go out to the airport now?
\_ I checked and it's three rail lines now, none
of which go to the airport. Combined, they
are a whopping 16 miles of track. I don't
know *why* LA can't duplicate that awesome
masterpiece of modern transportation engineering.
\_ Cars and roads are the cause, sprawl the symptom.
\_ Cars, roads and sprawl are all symptoms. The disease
is in the mind.
\_ It's the Jews' fault. Just as Mel Gibson. -proud American |
| 2006/8/1-6 [Transportation/Car] UID:43860 Activity:nil |
8/1 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14136797 Big 3 automakers see sharp declines in sales. I guess multi-billion dollar advertisements using famous and well liked American Idol superstars like Taylor Hicks, "FORD THINK BOLD" with super hot blonde women, and all that commercial blitz from Dr. Z saying "Chrysler is not dumb American but smart German engineering", all shown on prime time TV hasn't helped the companies that much. \_ "Obviously, we didn't spend enough on advertising" -execs \_ I used to work with a guy who was a long time GM employee. He had a lot to say about the development -> production cycle that pretty much guarantees they are always out of sync with what buyers will want by the time the vehicles are in show rooms. \_ I don't know, particularly Chrysler's had a history _recently_ of getting concept cars -> production very, very fast. \_ I don't know about the other 2, but Ford is totally out of sync from what the market actually wants. Even GM is moving in the right direction, slowly but they're getting there. I like the way they turned around Cadillac and how they're doing it now with Saturn. Ford's problem on the other hand is that they're not going to bring anything fundamentally new to the market for a long long while. Their biggest fuckup is the complete lack of competitive compact models. The US-spec Focus is outdated, even though every other market in the world, including Japan and Russia, got the new Euro-spec Focus. They make plans to replace the American Focus only around 2010. They also make plan to come up with a competitor to Yaris, Aveo, and such in 2010-2011.. hello? Will Ford even exist then? The Lincoln division plans to sell basically more expensive, more upscale Fords, etc. none of which sounds like a "way forward". \_ Ford is also Volvo, Jaguar, etc. \_ Speaking of which Jaguar is a huge money loser and Ford will probably end up offloading that division. \_ Heil Herr Dr. Z! \_ No need for such empty insults--Ford was started by a bona fide Nazi. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1593640188/sr=8-2/qid=1154486048/ref=sr_1_2/102-7698563-2572958?ie=UTF8 \_ I always buy American cars. Corvettes and Vipers -- the way to a trashy blonde Motley Crue groupie's heart. -proud American |
| 2006/7/27-30 [Transportation/Car, Science/GlobalWarming] UID:43821 Activity:nil |
7/27 My friend swears by sythetic oil because he gets better mileage
with it. Is it worth the extra $10-15 each oil change?
\_ If you have a car you want to keep around for a long time,
use synthetic.
If you're driving some junker that will die soon,
non synthetic is fine.
\_ And I think you also can change the oil less often with synthetic
so that might cover the extra cost alone. Do keep in mind that
once you switch to synthetic, you shouldn't switch back to
non-synthetic.
\_ i'm reading via google that synthetic oil leaks easier than
regular, so if you have a small leak already, don't go synth
\_ Keep in mind that some cars ship from the factory with
synthetic. You *have* to use synthetic for those.
\_ I use synth oil in my car. I pay 50% more per oil change but
have to change half as often so a win for me. I don't know if
mileage is better because I've used synth since my first change.
\_ My Mercedes uses synthetic oil and I go 10,000 miles between any
kind of servicing include oil changes.
\- i dont know anything about cars but i know a little about
economics ... if synthetic oil is almost certainly a "no brainer"
advantage in most cases ... and the price difference in %age
terms might be large but in absolute terms is not large, how come
it hasnt become "the standard" ... i'm sort of getting at the
"no free lunch" idea.
\_ It rather has become the standard for new cars.
\_ I have always thought this synthetic oil thingy is a pure marketing
scheme. regular oil works for most people, especially in California
when the weather is less of an issue. Further, unless you REALLY
rev your engine at REGULAR basis, you really won't see real benefit
of the synthetic.
\_ I change my oil half as often for 50% greater cost per change.
The benefit is real cash in my pocket.
\_ the frequency of oil change is a completely different story.
I was told even regular oil can last 10,000 miles if you don't
drive it hard.
\_ why buy a car if not to drive it hard? if i wasnt going
to enjoy my car id go get some used civic and drive it
into the ground and do as few oil changes as possible. |
| 2006/7/27-30 [Transportation/Car] UID:43819 Activity:nil |
7/27 http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx Gasoline/Petro Temperature Map. See how much you're paying vs. your neighbors. |
| 2006/7/24-27 [Transportation/Car] UID:43778 Activity:nil |
7/24 Looking for a free site that'll tell you whether the vehicle has
a clear title or not. If not free, then looking for the cheapest
site. Thanks.
\_ http://carfax.com? I've never tried it though.
\_ If you're shopping for a car, get the Unlimited number of reports
for 50% more. It's worth the peace of mind, and avoiding a lemon. |
| 2006/7/24-25 [Transportation/Car] UID:43776 Activity:nil |
7/24 http://csua.org/u/gik (Wash Post) Israeli Apache helicopters beat back terrorism "Israeli forces repeatedly struck cars on southern Lebanon's already perilous roads in attacks that victims said were indiscriminate" \_ Q: How can you shoot women or children? A: Easy! Ya just don't lead 'em so much! Ain't war hell? \_ And that's the problem with Jews today: Bad aim! If the victims of helicopter attacks were able to give interviews after the attacks, the Israeli air force needs to send those gunners back to training! |
| 2006/7/20-22 [Transportation/Car] UID:43740 Activity:low |
7/20 What is the greater violent menace to the Israeli people?
Here are the fatalities from Palestinian terrorism:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/osloterr.html
And here are the fatalities _so_far_this_year_ from the terrorists
of Detroit:
http://www.israelroadsafety.org
In other words, cars kill more israelis in a typical year than terrists
did in the *peak* of the intafada.
\_ gee, and cars kill 10 times more Americans in a typical year than
9/11 did. How insightful. -tom
\_ but there are also car terrorist in israel in addition to
hamas.. so there is double terrorism
\_ And your point is?
\_ My point is that the people who are frantically calling up
friends in Israel to see if they're ok, and who are jumping up
and down shouting about the End Times are completely out of
touch with reality. If one were in touch with reality, you'd
be worried about anyone who goes to Israel being killed by
a psycho driver on a shit road, and terrorism would not be
taken anywhere near as seroiusly in comparison. Especially since
terrorism is basically random, whereas calling up your friends
in Israel to remind them to wear seatbelts, drive less
aggressively, and wear helmets on their bikes might actually
save their life. My other point is that cars are a major
threat to world peace and that ending car culture is a national
security issue.
\_ Nice try, car culture guy, but you're still a silly idiot.
\_ Whoa you were kinda making sense until the last bit. -John
\_ Clearely we need to revert to a simpler, more peaceful and
safer way of life. Just like the Amish.
\_ or the Taliban
\_ I said Peaceful, the Taliban most decidedly were not
that.
\_ you just don't understand their culture has different
priorities. all cultures are equal.
\_ Some are just more equal than others.
\_ Wow, and cars provide no benefit that might make the risk
worth it.
\_ Don't forget all the benefits we get from terrorism!
\_ The terrorists win if we try to drive less and use more
public transportation.
\_ In some ways, that's almost true. If everyone is
driving in seperate cars, it's very hard to kill a
large number of them. Terrorists prefer to bomb
public transit.
\_ That's what they want you to think.
\_ Oh riiight! As if they've bombed so many buses and
trains compared to individual autos. Not a single
skateboarder has *ever* been killed by a suicide
bomber. Think about it!
\_ Ride bike! ^_^;;
\_ Really? Price per barrel will drop and we'll be buying
fewer barrels. So they'll be getting less money from us.
\_ Even worse than car accidents and terrorism is the fatality rate
of being born, at a staggering 100%. |
| 2006/7/19-22 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Bicycle] UID:43733 Activity:nil 74%like:43683 |
7/20 Tomorrow, Fri 7/21, is the sixth (and most likely last) Spare the Air
Day of the year with FREE transit rides all day and FREE parking at all
BART stations. http://www.sparetheair.org
\_ I know for bike to work day there were places that gave you stuff
like free coffee if you were on a bike. Kinda nice. Anyone know
if anyone does that for Spare the Air Days?
\_ Not that I know of. But then you are already getting free stuff
which are the free rides.
\_ People are not going to ride bike unless there are immediate
paybacks. People want incentives in the form of instant rewards.
I propose we think about what this incentive should be. Coffee
is nice, yes. But donut is better. |
| 2006/7/19-20 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Bicycle] UID:43727 Activity:nil |
7/19 My wheel says it is 622-13c, but my tire says 700-23c. Shouldn't
they fit? Did the previous owner fuck up the tire fit?
\_ http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire_sizing.html
It should fit. Bike tire sizing is a mess. -tom |
| 2006/7/18-20 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:43710 Activity:nil |
7/18 http://www.commutercars.com Ultra narrow car that'll increase capacity by as much as 2X! (ob rollover and lawsuit discussions below) \_ 0-60 in 4sec! \_ what does the "(ob rollover ...)" line mean? \_ ob = obligatory \_ 0-60 in 4sec! 1000 lb-ft torque! \_ ...it won't roll over, it's got heavy-ass batteries on the bottom read the site. they're getting a patent for the wildly novel concept of using batteries as ballast. \_ Did they take into account the upward shift of the CG when the vehicle is driven by the average fat-ass American? \_ The vehicle weighs an amazing 3000 pounds (is that a typo?) even the fattest American won't affect it much. \_ 3000lb with no regenerative brakes. This vehicle is not going to be very energy efficent. \_ http://www.commutercars.com/features100.php claims 2200lbs and regenerative brakes. The T600 is their like "race car for rich people" version. Also, electric motors are much more efficient than IC or Diesel. This is why gas + fuel cell + electric motors is almost a win. \_ I didn't realize there are more than one model until now! Gee, the web pages are confusing. |
| 2006/7/12-16 [Transportation/Car, Politics/Domestic/Crime] UID:43641 Activity:low |
7/12 Edith Delgado, the Redwood City teenager who single-handedly stemmed
democratic reforms in the island kingdom of Tonga.
http://www.csua.org/u/geo (http://www.matangitonga.to
Neither http://images.google.com nor http://images.yahoo.com found this photo.
\_ So you can kill royal family members and go to jail for only 8
years? Automobiles-- the best instrument for murder.
\_ I think there's this little issue of intent. Without intent,
it's not technically murder. OTOH, if you try to run down
someone with your car with clear intent to hit them, that's a
whole different ball park.
\_ Stemmed? Perhaps stymied would be closer to the truth....
\_ she's already dead.. just a matter of time a couple of
samoans approach her if they find her..
\_ the pic is from her myspace profile, which appears to have been
shut down
\_ I thought Americans are pro-democracy.
\_ Yup, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia... all of them are fine
example of democracy.
\_ Going 100mph with a five-month old license. What a bitch. (I'm not
saying experience drivers can go 100mph.)
saying experienced drivers can go 100mph.)
saying experienced drivers can go 100mph, though.)
\_ I don't know the details, but from the description, it sounds like
it should have been a survivable crash. I guess Ford Explorers suck.
\_ And Mustangs totally kick ass.
\_ Well it sounded like she just sideswiped the Explorer, which
then swerved and rolled. I wonder how fast it was going.
Not excusing the idiot girl in any way btw...
\_ Incidentally, both Explorers and Mustangs are Ford.
\_ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1593640188/sr=8-7/qid=1152754629/ref=sr_1_7/104-0932206-6103116?ie=UTF8
\_ http://csua.org/u/gev
\_ please stop putting up fotos of fat girls, ok thx.
\_ She's got boobs. |
| 2006/6/19-21 [Transportation/Car] UID:43427 Activity:low |
6/19 How do you guys like the new Ford commercial featuring Taylor Hicks?
Sexy? Bold? Makes you want to buy a Ford? FORD. BOLD. Yeah baby.
\_ Dropping 25k jobs here to dump $9.2B into 150k jobs at 3 plants
in Mexico: BOLD.
\_ The one where the woman pays for the guy's drycleaning and passes
along her business card make me think "chemically imbalanced" not
along her business card makes me think "chemically imbalanced" not
"bold."
\_ You prefer your women demure and stupid, giggling in the corner
with the rest of their friends waiting, oh just hoping beyond
hope that *you* will come by and save them from the solitary
life of old maid?
\_ Your entire experience of women consists of only two classes,
those who make passes at random guys they've only seen through
their rear-view mirrors and those who are demure and stupid?
Shutdown the computer and go outside. Now.
\_ Not at all. Does your entire experience of people consist
of the flip 3 line comments from the motd? "Shutdown the
computer and go outside. Now."
\_ You're either a misgynist troll or you need to be more
clear in your writing. Either way, some time away from
the computer would certainly improve your condition.
Just remember to use sunscreen to protect your pale
skin.
\_ How is being an admirer of aggresive women make
one misogynist? I really can't wrap my head around
that kind of thinking that would make you come up
with that assessment. Btw, giving a guy your number
is not the same as "making a pass at." -!op
\_ Reply poster seemed to posit that woman come in
only two flavors: those who give their phone
numbers to random guys on the basis of how they
look in a rear-view mirror, or those who are
demure and stupid. How is this not misogynist?
\_ How about you ask? Poster was saying that
there is nothing "mental" about an aggressive
woman. In fact, if it was the other way around
we wouldn't call the guy aggressive, so why do
we say she's chemically imbalanced and
aggressive but he wouldn't be? Not only is the
poster not misogynist but some reading comp.
would show the opposite and Mr. "She's
Chemically Imbalanced" is the one with the
woman-hating issue here. The "get some sun"
comments are just stupid. You're posting to
the motd all day long from your cube.
\_ Mostly because Reply poster didn't bother
asking before assuming that I was saying
that any bold woman is chemically
imbalanced. If poster had asked, I would
have gladly explained that it's the act of
tossing your number out to any stranger on
the basis of one glance in the rear-view
mirror that strikes me as chemically
imbalanced, no matter which gender. Oh,
that and the idea that you get your bold
qualities from a car. Instead, assumptions
were made, and from there to facile
motdery.
\_ Ok. So we're back at step 1. The woman
was hitting on the guy based on his looks
in the rear view. What is different
between that and meeting him in a bar and
giving him her number? If he did the
same thing (paying for her dry cleaning,
etc) would you say he was chemically
imbalanced? Probably not which is what
I was getting at. Please correct me if
you think just as poorly of guys doing
the same thing. As far as getting your
qualities from your car goes, I didn't
even realise it was a car commercial. :)
\_ Honestly, if it was a guy doing this,
I'd immediately think he was kinda
sleazy, but that's because I'm an
utter cynic. And you didn't realize
this was a car commercial??? OMG. :)
\_ I auto tune out most commercials.
I got the 'plot' on this one, but
not the product, which is normal
for me. Mostly I was thinking how
cool it would be if someone paid
for my dry cleaning. :)
\_ Now, see, I would love it if
that were the point of the
commercial. |
| 2006/6/17-21 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Bicycle] UID:43424 Activity:nil |
6/17 Are Mavic Aksium wheels better than Shimano R540 wheels? |
| 2006/6/14-19 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:43393 Activity:nil |
6/14 http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog Our attempts to abate traffic in big cities has largely failed. \_ The automobile has been a massive failure as a personal transportation system. \_ On the contrary. The automobile has allowed poor average Joes to live in typical suburbian McMansions that dim-wits and his followers love, and provides a lifestyle that was unimaginable in the pre-WW2 era. The American dream is to buy a big home, and the only affordable way is to live in the boony far away from civilization. \_ It's done great so far, it won't be so great when we're out of oil. \_ You're mixing up the issue of growing oil scarcity with that of traffic congestion. There's no reason why we'll have to stick with petroleum engines in cars in the long run, but traffic will remain a problem. -John \_ Freedom is slavery! Red is green! Power is weakness! \_ Tell that to the people who walk 100+ miles a day to get anywhere. You should really take a trip, not a vacation, and visit those places. See how lucky you have it. How much of a whining little baby everyone who complains as inanely and useless as that is. \_ That's funny. I spent 3 months bicycling through SE Asia and people got along just fine riding bicycles and motorcycles.\ There are other options besides cars for personal transportation. IMOP cars/trucks should only be used for freight. Also, having ridden 100miles in one day on a bike, there is no way you can walk 100+ miles a day. Maybe you are the one that needs to get out more. -scottyg \_ Who walks more than 100+ miles a day? At 5 mph that is a minimum of 20 hrs a day spent walking. \_ At least kids today don't have to walk uphill both ways! \_ You really should take a trip, not a vacation, to a place that has a good transit system not based on the automobile. See how stupid it is to spend thousands of hours of your life sitting in a two ton steel box, often not moving. See how silly those whining SUV drivers really are. |
| 2006/6/12-15 [Transportation/Car, Industry/Startup] UID:43361 Activity:nil |
6/12 http://washingtontimes.com/world/20060522-110420-9433r.htm 40 self-reliant climbers left an Everest climber to die. I bet most of them are Republicans. \- while this is troubling and there may be relevant details \- while this is disturbing and there may be relevant details which are not mentioned, the "moral hazard" problem with something like an expensive everest trip is a very real one. "moral hazard" in ths case meaning "i can go in underprepared because someone else will have to pull my bacon out of the fire". in the everest case, unlike say mckinley maybe, the answer is not "they should be forced to post a rescue bond or get some kind of evac insurance", because helipoptering somebody out is not insurance", because helicoptering somebody out is not really an option. also, as the size of the climbing community widens, it's highly likely the norms of a small group with repeated encounters and thicker bonds will change. so is your "democratic" solution the nepalese govt should simply not allow non-highly outfitted climbers on to the mountain? deaths are perhaps not a daily event in the sola khumbu [the everest region] but a certain fact of operating there [when i was in that part of nepal, i heard about 5 deaths, and i wasnt there in the main pre-monsoon climbing season but in the post monsoon secondary season] and i am sure we didnt hear about everything. didnt hear about everything. i'll avoid a broader and more abstract dscussion about moral obligation in efforts to cut down my motd time. \_ Once again your long discussion has been classified as: Lots of words but contributes very little to the discussion. \- you clearly dont know what "moral hazard" means, have not followed the mckinley insurance controversy , and dont have a framework to think about reputational effects in different sized social groups. i.e. you are E_TOOSHORT and missing the points. you on the other hand truly contribute nothing, and dont get style points for originality either. |
| 2006/6/12-13 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Airplane] UID:43353 Activity:low |
6/11 Can you get a ticket for going 65MPH in the carpool/fast lane?
What if you do what those stupid Atlanta kids did?
\_ yes, you can. my brother got the ticket for it and it cost him
something like $65 :D
\_ What was the ticket and did he fight it? I don't understand
how you can be ticketed for going the MAXIMUM speed as posted
by law? What I hate most about the US isn't Bush or Liberurls,
it's the stupid speed limit law that allows any cop to
arbitrarily decide who to ticket bc everyone goes >65mph.
\_ If traffic is moving at say, 30mph, driving 35mph over traffic
flow is unsafe. Yes carpool lanes should keep moving, but
staying at 55 or so is probably a good idea. That way if
people want to merge in/out of the carpool lane they actually
can.
\_ If you go below the speed limit in the carpool lane you
usually get massively tailgated. |
| 2006/6/10-13 [Transportation/Car, Computer/HW/Printer] UID:43347 Activity:nil |
6/10 So I've read a bunch of places that the Core2 Duo is likely to be in
short supply at release unless you are Dell or HP. Does anyone know a
reliable place that is likely to get decent stock of them and take
preorders? Newegg has an auto-notify feature only, which isn't much
help if they sell out before I can check my email. |
| 2006/6/9-11 [Transportation/Car] UID:43342 Activity:low |
6/9 An animated fable about happy cars might have made sense before gas
hit three bucks a gallon, but even an earlier sticker date couldn't
shake the story's underlying creepiness, which comes down to the fact
that there's nothing alive here: nada, zip. In this respect, the film
can't help but bring to mind James Cameron's dystopic masterpiece,
"The Terminator"...
http://movies2.nytimes.com/2006/06/09/movies/09cars.html
\_ $3.49 for me last week, thanks.
\_ only $3.39 for me, and that's premium at Chevron
\_ You guys should buy cars that don't require
premium. Don't put premium in cars that don't
require it. (It can pollute more)
\_ Why should we buy cars that don't require premium?
\_ There is no such thing as "premium" gas. "Premium gas"
is a pure marketing term. There are "high octane" gas
and "low octane" gas. Engine's compression ratio,
for all practical purposes, is the only determing
factor on what kind of gas you need. high-compression
ratio engine requires high octane gas, etc. AND yes,
high-compression ratio engine is often being associated
with high-performing cars, but that is not necessarily
true. The oil company is marketing "high octane" gas
as "premium gas" because the profit margin on refining
high octane gas is higher than low octane gas. And
there are plenty people, including you, who are stupid
enough to equate "high-octane" to "higher quality"
and unnecessarily paid extra $0.2 per gallon to fuel
their car. -kngharv
\_ Cost $.20 more a gallon, and most cars that use it
don't seem to get any better milage. I could be
wrong there though.
\_ Not exactly. Premium gas doesn't really help
you achieve better mileage. Certain high-end
engines require premium gas so that the engine
doesn't knock.
\_ So in other words "to save 20¢/gallon"... which
works out (for me) to < $100/yr. Factor that into
the price of a car and it's pretty much negligible.
Besides, recently the difference has been more like
14¢/gallon.
\_ No kidding. It's a 5% difference. I put premium
into all of my cars, even my old beater. I
read that older cars actually need it more.
\_ Umm.. no. If your car doesn't knock, it
doesn't do you any good, and pollutes more.
\_ Don't split a post in the middle. |
| 2006/5/29-31 [Transportation/Car] UID:43214 Activity:nil |
5/29 http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060529/od_nm/germany_car_dc German thieves tried to steal a car without an engine. |
| 2006/5/26-31 [Transportation/Car] UID:43200 Activity:nil |
5/26 A friend of mine's dad had a stroke yesterday and is still in
intensive care. The problem is, he just came to the US and is
in the process of becoming a green card holder. (kind of like
fiance visa, came here first, then apply for permanent
residence..) the problem of course is he does not have medical
insurance. The medical bill might be astronomical. What
options do they have? Will applying for insurance out of
pocket now help in any way? If he really doesn't have the
money to cover the expense, what then? I don't want to talk
about money with my friend now, but in case he asks me in the
future, I would like to have some useful information for him.
Thanks.
\_ Negotiate with the hospital, they can usualyl half it or more.
But in all honesty, ignore the bill, what are they goign to do
send collections on him? Sorry to sound so cold.
\_ Yes they will. And they will keep hounding him. When he dies
a lien will be put on life insurance and any assets that would
be transfered. His wife may be responsible for his debts as
well. This is why medical insurance is so fucked up in this
country.
\_ I wish this would work, but it doesn't work that way in the US.
Read the forms and small prints you guys signed. Someone's gonna
pay for the bills and anyone involved will have to pay for it,
in terms of time (trying to clarify issues) or money, or both.
Hospitals are better at collecting money than IRS. Trust me,
I've been there and I'm pretty pissed too. I'm really sorry
about what happened. I'm not so crazy about the state of
health insurance in the United States either. This is one of
the reasons why many Asians (esp. HK people) went to Canada
instead of the US after the communists took over-- smaller,
kinder, more efficient and more humane social services.
\_ http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=consumer&id=3718626
"by offering to pay cash in advance ... Sandi got her obstetrician
to drop his price from $3,000 to $1,900 ...
'Unfortunately, someone who is uninsured or under-insured gets
charged 5, 6, or 7 times what an insurance company would pay for
exactly the same service' ... Many doctors and hospitals are willing
to make a deal, but unless you ask you'll never get one"
\_ Not sure if it will help, but what country is he from?
\_ Hospitals are open to negotiations, so try that. Also, what
kind of hospital is it, a private or county hospital?
\_ Thanks everyone. This is Santa Clara valley medical
center on S Bascom Ave in San Jose. This person just
came from China. His wife is a permanent residence, and
\_ "yo mama's so big..."
his son probably is the one signed all the stuff at the
hospital. Does that mean they'll go after the son if
they cannot pay? I'll tell him about the negotiation part..
\_ When I have had family visit for longer trips, we took
out visitor insurance for them. Did your friend not
even think about/know about this, or did he consider
it and then decide not to bother?
\_ He didn't know about it. I guess I didn't know
about it either until now.
\_ I didn't know. Who do you go to for "visitor insurance"?
\_ one of my coworkers told me a story that sounds similar... her
mom was visiting from India and ended up in the hospital with
complicated medical problems. The bill was huge and would have
required a second mortgage on their house etc and caused her
incredible amounts of stress for almost a year. What ended up
happening was the bill was paid through some kind of emergency
financial assistance arranged through the hospital, but it was
not easy to get, they had to go through tons of bureaucracy -
not easy to get, they had to go through tons of beaurocracy -
long and complicated forms, different financial and background
checks and they went through an appeal process at least once.
checks and they had to go through an appeal process at least once.
In the end they got the money though. I wish I could be more
specific but I don't really have the details. |
| 2006/5/24-28 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:43172 Activity:nil |
5/23 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060524/ap_on_re_us/gm_gas_rebate Yay, now you can drive an SUV and still pay $2/gallon gas! |
| 2006/5/22-25 [Transportation/Car] UID:43138 Activity:nil |
5/22 What a beautiful day! I just bought my first new car. I bought a
Honda Accord LX. I didn't add any options but I have 29 days to
think about adding them. First, the sales lady asked if I'd like to
get Lo-Jack, option 2&3. "You have the #1 stolen car in America". The
option guarantees 24 hour recovery service or $ back. At $699, she
said the cost of it will reduce insurance cost and pay itself off
during the lifetime that I own it (for +8 years). Is that really true
or marketing BS? I'm sceptic of all salespeople. Secondly, she
offered a full 3-year oil change, minor, and intermediate,
services for $599 at her dealer, or at any PepBoys, and it would
really save a lot especially for someone like me who drives over
25,000 miles a year. She said if I go to the dealer all the time,
which I do because I don't trust little shops, I'll save at
least $1200 by buying this package. "Each intermediate service
is already $150 and it'll pay itself by the first year!"
Is this a good deal, or just marketing BS? I have 29 days to think
about this. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.
\_ You can call your insurance company about the lojack pricing and
do the math. How often are you supposed to do those $150 services?
My 5k service is $99 which includes a hefty fee for the synthetic
oil change. You don't need to go to the dealer for an oil change.
And driving 25k miles a year means you'll hit 200k miles in 8
years. I really doubt you'll have this car in 8 years. Long before
then you have good chances of paying wads of cash to keep it going
which you'll quickly figure out isn't worth it to keep a car with
100k+ miles going in many cases. Sure it's a Honda, blah, blah,
but I'm guessing from your post that you'll be buying a new one at
about the 4-5 year mark. Good luck and let us know what you
decide. This is from a guy who drives his cars into the ground so
I've got a good idea what those later repairs cost.
\_ If your car is stolen you probably don't want it back. I'd skip
the Lo Jack. I'd probably buy the maintenance plan, but it
depends on what the intermediate service includes. Oil changes
and minor service don't cost much. I have a 1993 Honda Accord
with 135K miles that I bought in 1995 and I've spent less than
$2K total on the car, but if I had the package I'd probably
have taken better care of it (not that anything has done
wrong). Does Honda schedule maintenance by how many miles you
have driven? If so, the intermediate service is every how many
miles? I was introduced to these sort of plans when I bought
my BMW (which includes maintenance) and I rather like it.
However, BMW maintenance costs a lot more than Honda maintenance.
\_ Congrats on the car. Now try to get out of the habit of going to
the dealer. I used to do the same, but you slowly realize that
they all jack you, in terms of inappropriate diagnoses, over-
charging you, etc. Find a big shop and take it there.
\_ Depends on what's wrong. Dealers have really reduced their
prices in an effort to be competitive and if they mess up
you can complain to the parent company. You can also hold
the threat of never buying another new car from them over
their head. I used to be one of those guys who *never* went
to the dealer and did a lot of work myself, but my opinion has
changed as cars have gotten more complicated.
\- where do you live? i know people in SF who have had their
cars stolen [including me] but nobody in the south bay,
one one person in berkeley, nobody on the other side of the
caldecott or on the peninsula and one person in oakland but
he wanted to have his car stolen. maybe just get an alarm? |
| 2006/5/18-22 [Transportation/Car, Science/Electric] UID:43100 Activity:nil |
5/18 I need to get a stove and from what I can tell, induction is the way
to go. Is there any reason not to get an induction stove?
\_ This was on KAIS MOTD a while ago but I can't search anymore.
\_ http://theinductionsite.com/proandcon.shtml
\_ You like to cook? If so, gas is the way to go.
\_ I second that.
\_ Remember that stoves and ovens often come together and gas ovens
have the disadvantage that they generate water vapor and to make
it harder to crisp foods.
\_ Once you get used to it, electric has some advantages: much lower
simmers, for one.
\_ Bah.
\_ What's another? The one I see is that it is easier to clean.
The glass-surface ones anyway. But the temperature changes
are so sloow. I much prefer gas but now I'm stuck with elec.
\_ For the same cost, a low-end electric burner seems to
deliver BTUs faster to a flat-bottomed vessel than a
gas burner. They are slow, but you learn to deal with it
(take things off burner while cooling, leave extra time
for initial warmup)
\_ I don't care about cost. Yes you can deal with it but
the bottom line is electric is less versatile and also
less fun.
\_ Usually not very fine control when simmering. It's very
easy to burn sauces when cooking on electric and much
less so on gas. With a high BTU gas burner, the heat is
almost instant (for searing, for example). My experience
with electric is that it's usually too hot or too cold
because it takes time for the coils to settle to the
correct temperature.
\_ Agreed that it takes a while for the coils to settle but
if you can wait for it, you get much finer control at low
heat with electric than with gas.
\_ No self respecting cook would use anything except a gas range,
period. You lose all control with electric, and you are limited
to flat bottom pots and pans. If you want a lower flame use
a cast iron flame tamer. If you are worried about water vapor
in the oven, they make combination stove ovens which have
electric elements in the oven, and a gas range. Personally gas
is better in my opinion for the oven as water vapor helps to
improve oven spring when baking bread and helps to transport
heat. I prefer convection ovens anyways.
\_ Your points are valid, but you brand yourself an idiot by
beginning with "no self respecting cook..." I'm pretty sure
I wouldn't have a hard time finding a chef who, even so
woefully handicapped by cooking on electric, could could the
pants off of you.
\_ Your logic does not follow.
\_ Are you the infamous "induction" guy?
\- do you guys pushing electrics work for msft? |
| 2006/5/18-22 [Transportation/Car] UID:43097 Activity:nil |
5/18 http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060518/od_nm/germany_deposit_dc Another wacky German |
| 2006/5/8-10 [Transportation/Car] UID:42985 Activity:nil |
5/8 http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2006/05/08/publiceye/entry1598642.shtml "... filling up the tank simply doesn't eat up that much of most families' budgets." Not good. I hope gasoline price goes up to $8/gallon. -liberal \_ It's true. Unless you're a truck driver or something, gas isn't that expensive. It's ceratinly not expensive enough to get people to reduce their commutes or ride bikes. -jrleek \- dear parochial liberal: do you realize this has consequences for poor people who may live on $500-$2000/year and may need kerosene to cook or for light at night? maybe you should wish for higher gas taxes, but when the global price goes up, it for higher US gas taxes, but when the global price goes up, it causes major pain for some poor people. while i am at it, something \_ Not to mention the fact that rising gas prices will cause the cost of most consumer goods, including that of food, and of many services to go up. -John like avian flu already has had real costs again for poor people who say are small egg farmers when the price of eggs went down 80% because people paniced and stopped buying eggs [although possibly some poor people are now more able to consume eggs, which would be a good protein source for them]. but yeah, i've said previously for the typical bay area while collar person making say +$80k/yr driving, gas going from $1.95 - $2.30/gal is annoying but doesnt really change life much. say +$80k/yr, gas going from $1.95 -> $2.30/gal is annoying but doesnt really change life much. \_ Triple gasoline prices to $10/gallon and it doesn't affect me that much. Triple my grocery bill, my PG&E bill, HOA dues, etc. and now I'm in pain. |
| 2006/5/6-10 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:42959 Activity:nil |
5/6 "High price hurting 7/10 Americans"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060506/ap_on_bi_ge/gas_prices_ap_poll
I really don't understand this. On average gas price is 5-10% of a
person's income whereas housing is about 50% (and in coastal cities,
75%). Gas price barely moved up 50 cents from $2.50 whereas
housing price nearly doubled in the past few years. Why do people
gripe about gasoline when it is only 10% of their income and
the increase is not even that significant, but don't say anything
about their housing costs?
\_ I think your 5-10% estimate is a bit high, but your 20% increase
in gas price is way understated. It's up 33% in the last year.
In the last three years it has doubled, and in some places tripled.
\_ Because their housing cost is fixed. Also, poorer people who don't
own homes still have to pay for gas. (Well, at least they think
they do.) -tom
\_ Don't forget that high gas prices raise the cost of almost all goods,
including food.
\- Does anybody know ball park what %age of US petroleum use
\- Does anybody know ball park what %age of US petroleum
goes into fertilizer and non-energy petrochem uses like
plastics, nylon, non-dairy creamers etc? ok tnx.
\_ alot of petroleum products are using byproducts of the
refining of crude. Also, gas prices factored into goods are
largely due to transportation of goods from producer to point
of sale.
\- i udnerstand there are some complexities to this answer
such as the distillation column ... so say the demand for
paraffin may not compete with the demand for gas, but i
think there is still an answer.
\_ http://www.praetor.org/images/USEnFlow02-exaj.gif
Should be at least partially informative.
\_ Thanks. This is VERY informative, probably one of
the most informative links on motd. The electrical
energy lost is quite surprising (27.8). The
transportation energy lost however, is not (22.4).
Energy for transportation is a waste. Fuck suburbia.
Fuck GWB and his SUV loving friends. |
| 2006/5/5-9 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Bicycle] UID:42947 Activity:nil |
5/4 http://www.runmuki.com/commute/commuting2.html http://www.runmuki.com/commute/calvin.gif The automobile has not merely taken over the street, it has dissolved the living tissue of the city. Its appetite for space is absolutely insatiable; moving and parked, it devours urban land, leaving the buildings as mere islands of habitable space in a sea of dangerous and ugly traffic."--James Marston Fitch, New York Times, May 1, 1960 \_ wow, so well said ... this describes my childhood in the LA suburbs to a T. and in 1960? amazing. \_ Nice article, but your quote kind of disguises it. I'm working myself up to biking to work more regularly. Maybe a light weight set of panniers would help. Any recommendations? I have a 20 year old schwinn road bike. -jrleek |
| 2006/5/4-9 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Motorcycle] UID:42942 Activity:nil |
5/4 How come motorcycle tires tend to have smaller tires on the front
whereas bicycle tires have symmetrical sizes?
\_ I can't answer for motorcycles, but for bikes, it's for simplicity
in spare parts, and the performance differences of differently-sized
wheels are not very great. Some bikes for small women have a
smaller front wheel, to allow for a shorter top tube with
sufficient foot clearance, and some downhill mountain bikes
have a 26" front wheel and 24" rear to push the center of gravity
backwards. -tom
\_ consider that motorcycles tend to be rear wheel drive vehicles.
granted, so are bicycles, but I don't know of many riders who
can output as much HP/torque on bike as a motorcycle engine.
Also, do you mean larger diameter or wider tires? |
| 2006/5/4-7 [Transportation/Car] UID:42937 Activity:nil |
5/4 http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/05/04/pet_peeves List of annoying driving habits: 1. Distracted drivers talking on cell phones (28.5 percent) 2. Slow drivers in the fast lane (21.6 percent) 3. Pushy drivers who tailgate (18.1 percent) 4. Drivers who weave through traffic to gain one or two car lengths (12.5 percent) 5. Obnoxious drivers who speed up to keep you from changing lanes (5.5 percent) 6. Hasty drivers who change lanes without signaling (4.9 percent) 7. Road Rage (2.7 percent) 8. Motorcyclists who race down the middle of a lane, between cars (2.1 percent) 9. Women applying makeup and men shaving (1.7 percent) 10. Drivers who leave their turn signal on for miles (0.92 percent) \_ Wow. Distracted Drivers don't annoy me unless they interact with me in a dangerous fashion, at which time they frighten me. |
| 2006/4/5-6 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Airplane] UID:42670 Activity:moderate |
4/4 I am glad I don't live in the suburbs where thing like this happen:
http://csua.org/u/ffh
\_ The chance of this happening is /1000 than the chance of your
kid doing acid or weed in the city.
\_ You think there's not a similar or greater chance of your kid
doing acid or weed in the burbs?
\_ I'm glad you compare being murdered with doing acid and weed.
It really helps bring out the crazy.
\_ ooh yeah, kids in the suburbs never do weed
\_ You missed Frontline last night; the odds of this happening
are 1/1000th the chance of the same kid getting hooked on Meth
in the 'burbs.
\_ Bitter. Young. Poor. Single. Carless. Sardine.
\_ Huh? Enthusiastic, young, well-off, 10 year relationship, 2
cars, big apartment. -John (not op)
\_ Old, foreign, !op, DINK.
\_ I'm not sure why people are making this a suburb vs. city debate,
and basing it on spurious anecdotal arguments. If the posters
above actually care about this, why doesn't someone find statistics
on homicide and drug crimes in the city vs. suburbs, scaled per
capita to account for population differences. -dans
\_ Another reason this "debate" is silly is that no one is bothering
to define what they mean by suburb or city. It's like the
richest counties list that someone posted that showed that the
richest counties are all in the West, where counties are the
size of eastern states. But all that is beside the point. The
point is that this is just another battle in the Great American
Culture war, and that there are people on both sides on the motd
who hate each other. This is just another excuse for us to snipe,
and I appreciate it. I don't actually deal with the other side
in the culture wars in my daily life, so the chance to tell
someone like Dim to go fuck himself is a golden opportunity for
me.
who hate each other. This is just another excuse for us to
snipe, and I appreciate it. I don't actually deal with the
other side in the culture wars in my daily life, so the chance
to tell someone like Dim to go fuck himself is a golden
opportunity for me.
\_ It's shocking that both sides are so out of touch with
reality that someone needs to formally define the difference
between a suburb and a city before a reasonable discussion
can take place. Hmm, maybe this is something that can bring
the two sides together! Either both sides are smart and
utterly, totally disingenuous and intellectually dishonest,
or both sides are absurdly petty naive and stupid! Awesome!
-dans
\_ You're ignoring my second point, which is that reasonable
discussion is not the goal here.
\_ You're ignoring my point that you're either a liar or
a fool so I'm not interested in either of your points.
-dans
\_ Pft. What fun would actually *knowing* be?
\_ Good point. I stand corrected. -dans |
| 2006/4/4 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:42663 Activity:kinda low |
4/4 New Citroen w/ instant on/off engine:
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/03/citron_introduc.html
\_ Is that anything like Intel's viiv instant on? :-) |
| 2006/4/4 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:42660 Activity:high |
4/4 For the folks who keep suggesting that building well-designed cities
won't work, consider that the rush to suburbanization was artificially
created by real estate developers and car manufacturers who
aggressively destroyed public transportation and bribed public
officials to pass no-mixed-use zoning laws to force out downtown
businesses. This is not conspiracy theory. See "Home from Nowhere"
for more details.
\_ Great. Name one well-designed city. I am genuinely curious
as to what it is you want your cities to be like (don't get me
wrong, I love living in cities, and I rent, but I feel from your
posts that you may be seeing things a bit simplistically.) -John
\_ New York especially Manhatten, SF, Paris. Seattle,
although less so than the others. Boston and Chicago but I
haven't spent more than a few weeks in those.
\_ You do understand that there are more jobs in cities than
living space for people, right? It takes a *lot* more space
per person for living than for working. So it is necessary
for people to come from elsewhere to fill those jobs since
the city lacks living space for everyone. We call the place
where all those workers live "the suburbs". Now then, I do
understand than in Utopiaville, the jobs/living space balance
is in perfect harmony becaus our Beloved City Planners were
able to magically predict population growth, demographic
shifts, and drastic changes in the economy but outside of
LaLa Fairy Land most of the rest of us live in the burbs and
work in the city. Not because we like commuting 2-3 hours a
day but because we can't afford to live in the city near our
jobs. I think it's funny you'd choose SF as an ideal city
since the public transit sucks and by plane, train, or auto-
mobile it can easily take an hour or more to get anywhere.
Manhatten is a shithole. Paris is hardly any better. I
haven't been to the other cities you mention but I suspect
they have suburbs and an inner city just like everywhere
else. I suspect you've been reading too much utopian fantasy
academic literature without taking a step back and looking at
how real people live and why. People aren't little cogs or
resource units for you to push around from one square to the
next.
\_ Singapore doesn't have any suburbs. Everyone (>4 million)
lives and works in the city.
\_ Ok great let's add 'caning' to the books, too. I
can't wait to join your Utopiaville.
\_ american cities were built when blacks still have
to sit at the back of the bus. what's your point?
\_ nah, the suburbs of chicago is utopia. very low
crime, living is easy but rather boring.
\_ or drives in on a motorbike from Malayasia --oj
\_ are you from catholic high or hcjc?
\_ Same with Hong Kong.
\_ I have lots of colleagues who lives in the city and works
in the suburbs here in Chicago.
\_ As I said, I've never been to Chicago. Do you think
your friends are typical of the Chicago area?
\_ I don't know. I guess they like the city. I like
to live near my work. I don't see why it should
be difficult to have the jobs move to the suburbs.
It's happening here in Chicago. I rarely need to
go to the city. I don't have a problem with your
conclusion, but the argument you are using - jobs
are in the city, no living space there - may not
be a valid assumption. Chicago suburb cities like
Naperville or Schaumburg have lots of jobs, but
you still need a car.
\_ You have been brainwashed. It used to be that all workers
lived and worked in cities.
\_ This worked when you had servants willing to live in
tiny closets. -John
\_ Do most people living in the cities have servants
anymore?
\_ Do you think many of the gardeners, shop
assistants, cleaners, maids, dishwashers,
cab drivers and other fairly low paid but
important blue collar workers live in
Manhattan? Hint: no. Upshot: Yes, you can
create much better public transportation to
the suburbs than what most American cities have,
but you'll never have some magical fairyland
self-contained urban ideal. Nor do the Euro
cities so many urban planning advocates cite
as examples have it right. -John
\_ You can afford to live in the city you work in. You cannot
afford a 4000 sq ft house in the city you work in. My
commute from one side of San Francisco to the other is
35 minutes on a bad day, using rapid transit.
\_ I can't afford a 4000 sqft house in the suburbs either
which means I could afford about 700-900 sqft in the
city if I was lucky. I've lived in that before. No
thanks. I'd rather commute 60-90 minutes. People
are not rats or sardines. By the time most people hit
their mid 20s, have spouses, a few kids, etc, there's
no way 900 sqft is cutting it. Also, we've already
done the school debate and your odds of getting your
kids into a decent school near your home are tiny in SF.
\_ Wow, you tihnk 900 is small? I grew up with a
family of 4 and 1200 sq ft. 900 is plenty for
a family of 3. For one or two people it is close
to perfect.
\_ Read "Home from Nowhere."
\_ Even with downtown businesses, people seem to be willing to make
the tradeoff of driving relatively far to commute there from
suburbs.
\_ Only because their living situation is massively subsidized.
\_ If you actually had to pay the real costs of everything you
use in life you couldn't afford to be alive. *Everything* is
getting subsidized in one way or another. Let's end all those
evil and nasty subsidies for everything, eh? My taxes will
drop to near zero and I'll happily pay directly for any of
the few services I still need. You think public transit has
ever even come close to paying for itself? |
| 2006/4/3-4 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:42623 Activity:moderate |
4/4 I've seen this before, but this is the best breakdown I've seen on the
compressed air car. (video from the Science Channel)
http://csua.org/u/fep
\_ damn, I was hoping to see a shot of what happens with a catastrophic
rupture of the air cylinder. Gasoline may take a while to burn, but
imagine what that compressed-air bottle would do with a good hole
in it. Not mentioned in the video, of course.
\_ It's 4/3 you doophus.
\_ I got a better idea. Design a European-like city that doesn't
have this FUCKING uncontrolled suburban McMansionized sprawl
which require a lot of driving in the first place.
\_ It's 4/3 you doophus.
\_ I got a better idea. Design a walkable and bikeable European-like
city that doesn't have this FUCKING uncontrolled suburban
McMansionized sprawl which require a lot of driving in the
first place. Oh well it'll never happen in America.
\_ And it's going out of style in Europe. Haven't you heard? All
the French want to move to the suburbs.
\_ You mean there's stuff outside the Peripherique? Inconceivable!
\_ You mean there's stuff outside the Peripherique?
Inconceivable!
\_ Where do you think the cheap prostitutes hang out?
\_ You mean all the poor, dangerous Arab suburbs around Paris?
No, I had not heard that.
\_ Design? So maybe we should have Soviet style cities built from
the ground up by lowest bidders and force people to leave their
current homes and jobs to move to Utopiaville?
\_ Market forces, o rabid one: build Utopiaville and see if they
come. If they do, great; if not, turn it into a theme park.
\_ I'm not rabid. I just think it's stupid. Economies
develop. They don't pop up artificially. If it was such
a great idea and easy to implement it would've happened.
I think we tried the commune thing already. It was called
the 60s and the hippies all turned into baby boomer wall
street 80s go-go executive scumbags living in the suburbs
in McMansions with matching Hummers and 60" plasmas.
People like comfort and stuff and space and mobility.
\_ I like comfort, space and mobility. But for me, part
of comfort is being able to walk over to my friends
houses, or not worrying about sobering up at a bar
because I can walk home. Part of mobility is being
able to hop on my bike in a snowstorm at 2 in the
morning and go to work in 5 minutes without having to
screw around with a window scraper and warming up a
car. And as for space, I'd rather share a hundred acre
park with the other residents of a neighborhood than
have my own 1/8 acre plot to sit in by myself that I
have to mow and trim. Also, the claim that suburbs just
"spring up" is absurd. Take a good look at miles and
miles of identical houses built by the same builders
on the same plans, and miles and miles of box stores
also built by the same companies and tell me that's
spontaneous. It's still planned, it's just planned
by a small group of corporate planners instead of a
small group of civil planners.
\_ The problem with your city utopia is that people
can't fuck their wives loudly and have babies.
And even if they start having kids in the city,
where would you hide when the baby starts crying?
Where would you keep your tools to fix your car?
Where would you keep your inlaws? There's no
backyard, garage, and an empty street where kids
can play safely. Your city utopia works well
when you're young, but as you get older you need
room and privacy to fuck and to have lots of kids.
\_ Sorry to tell you this but you're a minority.
95% of the people aren't like you, and do not
want to live in a compact city or dorm like
environment. To illustrate the point, why do
juniors, seniors, and grad students want to
move out of the dorm so badly? Because they're
fed up with living so close to other idiots
who party all night and listen to hip-hop music
3AM in the morning and smoke weeds. It's so much
easier to deal with 2-3 hours of traffic than to
deal with people. If space allows it, most people
in America will trade traffic for big space,
freedom of expression, and individuality.
-dim #1 fan
\_ Free expression, huh? I guess that's why all the
artists, musicians, writers and scientists, and
most big-time entrepreneurs live in cities.
\_ "all the ...". No. I know a bunch of writers
and scientists. None of them live in a large
city. Ok, well, 1 writer does but she's
living in her mom's house at age 38.
\_ Let me guess, you're a liberal socialist and you
oppose the wonderful forces of free market?
\_ Nope I'm a liberal capitalist who hasn't been
duped by the new socialism of the suburbs.
Choosing between an identical McHouse with a
blue birdhouse mailbox and one with a brown
birdhouse mailbox or choosing between Target
and Walmart is not my idea of a free market.
Cities are the best place for a free market
to exist. I don't see the NYSE planning to
move to some dipshit suburb of LA any time soon.
Can you name one stock exchange that's not in a
city?
\_ there's a huge difference between building
new homes near a pre-existing job center and
firing up Utopiaville from scratch including
jobs (what jobs?!) people can walk to and
hoping it just magically works.
\_ A history of the suburbs. http://www.slate.com/id/2129636
"[S]prawl is not the anomalous result of American zoning laws, or
"[S]prawl is not the anomalous result of American zoning laws,
mortgage interest tax deduction, or cheap gas, or subsidized
highway construction, or cultural antipathy toward cities. Nor
is it an aberration... Sprawl is and always has been inherent
to urbanization."
\_ All of the examples there since the 19th century were
predicated on availability of public transportation. |
| 2006/3/31-4/3 [Transportation/Car] UID:42593 Activity:high |
3/31 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/business/31cnd-delphi.html "The actions by Delphi [largest U.S. auto-parts maker], which filed for Chapter 11 last October, would eliminate 20,000 hourly jobs in the U.S., or about 60 percent of its total work force. It will cut another 8,500 salaried jobs worldwide." \_ it's about time... I just don't see how can they justify hourly wages that doubles average Cal graduates? \_ Short answer: they can't. The unions and auto companies painted themselves into a corner over the last three decades. Why do you think Delphi went bankrupt, cf Airline indusry. -dans \_ Auto industry and Airlines industry are not meaningfully comparable. This is a good example of the "dans phenomena" \_ You're wrong. -dans mocked below. They both have unions, but that's a pretty obvious factor. But say the role of "globalization" has a different role in the two sectors. Maybe the steel industry is a better comparison, but I haven't given it that much thought. Look at this this way: it is possible in a generation there will be no US car makers [like there are no US TV makers left, I believe], but in a generation there clearly will be domestic air carriers ... all of the names in existence now might exit the market, but the sector or industry wont collapse. dans: you may want to read a book on Industrial Organization. \_ Economists make meaningful comparisons between the two. Are they wrong because they do not devote their time to studying Industrial Organization? -dans \_ Cite please. \_ FYI. months ago, a NPR piece did a comparison by interviewing an auto part worker in China and an auto parts worker in US. While US worker is clearly more productive and more knowledgable, the woman in China was making $2.1 / hr, the guy in US was making close to $40/hr. \_ I'd rather have a more expensive car that might actually work and be much less likely to get me killed. I don't care who made my napkins, tshirts, or my cheapy clock radio but anything that kills people should be built by someone who knows what they're doing. \_ What does this comment have to do with the discussion? Are you implying that Chinese workers who had proper training can't build quality cars? BTW, BMW has a major factory in China. \_ Chinese auto parts are already made its way to USA so if you really want to avoid Chinese made auto parts, I would recommend you look carefully when you go to Pepboys. Further, I STRONGLY you avoid Dell LCD monitors, Nikon lenses, AND write a letter to AirBus to stop using Chinese parts :p \_ You provide no context for this. What's your point? Why should we, the denizens of the motd care? I mean, it's interesting to me, but I was already aware of it. (now I'm being pedantic) -dans \_ First they came for the Jews but I didn't care because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the.... \_ I am Jewish. If you are comparing your capacity to post \_ So what? So are many others here. That doesn't grant you any special rights or powers. If another Jew made that comment does it cancel out your Jewishness? \_ Don't be obtuse. -dans drivel on the motd with the failure of German citizenry in Nazi Germany to speak out about the systematic roundup and extermination of the Jews, you have a ridiculously inflated sense of self-importance. I suppose you think we shouldn't clean off the handiwork of taggers either? -dans \_ No, I'm comparing tech geeks saying it doesn't matter if blue collar people get fucked because the geeks aren't blue collar. It's an analogy and I wasn't the op but I understood what they were saying without them having to tediously spell it out or quote the dictionary. \_ I don't see any tech geeks on this thread saying that it doesn't matter if blue collar people get fucked. I see me asking the OP to provide some discussion of why \_ I didn't. Be more explicit in the future. You're very insistent on other people leaving no ambiguity in their writing. \_ So what prompted your comparison? -dans s/he feels his link is interesting as opposed to just quoting from the link verbatim. Also, the comparison is grossly flawed. Comparing the firing of unionized \_ It is an analogy not a direct comparison. \_ comparison was the word you used. -dans workers by a bankrupt company to the systematic genocide of an entire race is stretching hyperbole to the point of absurdity and pretty damned tasteless. Furthermore, the blue collar vs. white collar comparison does not hold water. You might pose it as a union vs. non-union \_ Please support your statement with facts. \_ Your comparison suggests that blue collar workers and white collar workers could be meaningfully mapped onto repressed ethnic/cultural groups in Nazi Germany. Who are the blue collar workers? Jews? Who are the white collar workers? The French. This example I just gave does not make sense for a number of reasons. Do you have one that does? -dans comparison, but that makes no sense because the economics of unionized industries (e.g. autos) have non-trivial differences with the economics of non-unionized industries (e.g. computers). -dans \_ In what ways? Why can't or shouldn't other industries be unionized? \_ I'm not suggesting they can't or shouldn't. The reality is that the computer industry is not unionized. Market forces are dramatically curtailed in unionized industries, which leads to artificially inflated wages. In the short term, this benefits employees, but, in the long term, it leads to problems, cf Delphi or major airlines going bankrupt because they can't negotiate salaries on an individual basis. -dans \_ I guess the lesson of this and the next post is, don't post news items without adding at least a tiny bit of personal opinion or question for discussion purposes. \_ Exactly. We're all smart here, most of us are tech geeks. We're all capable of reading newspapers, AP wires, or configuring Google News to give us information about Iran, the labor market, or whatever. Posting just a link and an excerpt from the link clutters up the motd without adding any value. -dans \_ Ditto. Let's all help out by deleting useless political drivels from now on. I'll start first in about an hour and you guys do the same. -someone who REALLY hates political drivels \_ Fuck you and die. You are starting a fight you cannot win. Several dickheads like you have tried in the past. Some people here *really* care about having this little text file to talk about politics in, and they have more bile and free time than you can possibly imagine. \_ You underestimate the amount of free time a grad student has. Unless you're also a grad student, I wish you luck. May the best man win. -pp, drivel hater \_ It's not you against me. It's you against several dozen people who participate in the political threads. To illustrate my point, I have not re-posted anything on today's motd, but you falsely believe I'm the guy you're fighting with. That's becuase there are quite a few people willing to defend a free motd. If you wanted to be surrounded by boring tech geeks who don't give a shit about politics you should have gone to caltech or MIT. MIT. If you wanted to be surrounded by soul-less tools who never pick up a non-technical book for fun and whose lives revolve around making money, you should have gone to Stanford. If you wanted to be surrounded by pompous coffee shop philosophy majors who can't tell you why there are seasons or how to integrate a function, you should have gone to Harvard. This is Berkeley, \- I dont think harvard is a very intellectual place compared to say UChicago ... it is pretty careerist/opportunistic. Maybe you mean Sarah Lawrence. and that means politics + science + engineering + culture. If you can't appreciate how great that is, than at least have the decency to fuck off. \_ Your tone has the opposite effect of what you're trying to accomplish. Practice harder and try again. \_ so does yours. \_ Don't get me wrong, I usually don't read or participate in political threads because of the drivel factor. That said, some people like those threads, and we should respect them. What I'm trying to discourage is random posting of links with no explanation or context for *why* the poster thinks its interesting. -dans \_ "[M]embers of the U.A.W. are paid $27 an hour in wages, as part of total compensation, including pensions, health care and other benefits, of $78.63 an hour, according to Delphi's bankruptcy filing." Is this claim accurate? That's about $160K per year. \_ That sounds plausible. -dans \_ That's nice work if you can get it. Shame it's not sustainable. \_ That's nice work if you can get it. \_ It's $27/hour in wages. Typically the ratio of benefits to wages is about 1:1 so I would say that the company was paying too much in benefits. Why would you pay $50/hour in benefits?! I bet a lot of those employees would have preferred no benefits and that extra $100k/year in their pockets. \_ You think your techie benes are cheap? And since these guys have a good chance of getting screwed out of their pensions, the above numbers are artificially high. \_ $50/hour pays for an awful lot of insurance. \_ You're wrong. Your fully burdened cost is usually 2x your salary. However, your fully burdened cost includes costs for things like rent for your work space and any equipment or machinary used to support your job function. The cost of your benefits is typically 1/4 to 1/3 of your salary. \_ Exactly. 1:1. 2x your salary. If you think the benefits alone should be even less then you only strengthen my point that $50/hour seems extremely high. \_ We care why? \_ Because some day you too might be grievously overpaid to work \_ Because some day you too might be grievously overpaid working for outrageously uncompetitive companies managed by idiots. \- how often does a bankruptcy judge abrogate contracts with upper management? \_ this is one of the reason why I am so pissed. Upper management bares no responsibility for their ill deeds. \_ How much are you paid? More than the autoworkers? Why? \_ Because there are not 24000 guys in the world that does what I do, while there are 24000 UAW members in Delphi alone. It is also true that my contribution to the company's bottom line (in revenue dollars per hour worked) is much larger than my cost to the company (in totoal compensation per hour worked). |
| 2006/3/28-29 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Motorcycle] UID:42503 Activity:nil |
3/28 Tonight's NOVA is about the DARPA vehicle challenge:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/darpa |
| 2006/3/21-25 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Airplane] UID:42354 Activity:nil |
3/21 The Coming Normalcy by Robert Kaplan of The Atlantic Online
Write up about Mosul. I think he has a clue.
http://michaelyon-online.com/media/pdf/ComingNormalcy.pdf
\_ An article on the Stryker vehicle:
http://www.army-technology.com/projects/stryker |
| 2006/3/18-20 [Transportation/Car, Computer/SW/Editors/Emacs] UID:42311 Activity:nil |
3/18 What is a good emacs mode for editing the motd? I'm looking for
something that will do word wrap properly w/ M-q. I tried text-
mode but it doesn't play nice w/ followups.
\_ Is this the same as M-x auto-fill-mode? -dans
\_ I think that M-q is different than M-x auto-fill-mode. |
| 2006/3/17-20 [Transportation/Car] UID:42281 Activity:low |
3/17 I've been driving for over 30 years and haven't died in car accidents.
In fact every single driver I personally know haven't died in
car accidents. Those who died must have done something wrong, but
the car itself doesn't kill. Therefore, there is no correlatio
between dying and and driving. Thanks williamc!
\_ More importantly, people who drive die at the exactly the
same rate as people who don't.
\_ More importantly, people who drive die at the same rate as
people who don't, so clearly driving doesn't cause death.
\_ I don't get it. How is this related to williamc? who is williamc?
\_ williamc is the nimrod who thinks that, because he's been
typing for 20 years and hasn't gotten RSI, that people who
get RSI are either imagining it or have diabetes. -tom
\_ He has also publicly stated that Americans who don't like
the president should quit bitching and leave the U.S.
Some of us take that very personally. I think assholes
like that are the reason most people hate sysadmins.
\_ I was gonna write something similar but you articulated it
better than I did. Thank you.
\_ Who are you that you've been driving >30 years? We have 47
year olds in the CSUA? |
| 2006/3/6-8 [Transportation/Car, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:42108 Activity:nil |
3/6 "Diana Probe Finds No Evidence of Foul Play"
http://csua.org/u/f5j (Yahoo! News)
"French officials have said all traffic cameras on the road that
Diana's car took, and within the tunnel, were not working the night of
the crash.
But Monday's Daily Express newspaper challenged that finding, saying a
woman was caught speeding by a camera in the Pont d'Alma tunnel moments
before Diana's crash."
Conspiracy, conspiracy ...
\_ Yes, this is clearly the Greys (lead by Lord Elvis for the last 752
base 10 time cycles) in cahoots with the Bigfoot Army Of God,
working closely with their allies the Sea Monsters in an attempt to
distract you from their real plans... now that you have caught on,
The Membership Of The Grand Conspiracy shall attend to you. Like
all top notch arch villains, we can only be found out and stopped
by squads of pot smoking teens driving around the country in a van
stopping at random dark inns for no aparent reason or teams of
animal detectives working without their human companion's knowledge.
\_ BARKY THE ENVIRONMENTAL DOG!!!
\_ Are you blind? Can't you see this is the work of the Reverse
Vampires?
\_ [the above poster has been found and summarily executed in
an impromptu Dark Ritual. we apologise for this brief
moment of inconvenience for our conspiracy theorist
audience. you may safely continue with your plans for
world domination/destruction at your own pace.] |
| 2006/3/1-2 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:42052 Activity:nil |
3/1 Soybean fueled car!
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/17/eveningnews/main1329941.shtml |
| 2006/3/1-2 [Transportation/Car, Science/Electric] UID:42047 Activity:low |
3/1 Is it more cost effective to fill up butane/propane gas from your
local store like Home Depot and use a gas heater to heat up your
room? My electric bill shot up last month and I'm thinking of
switching. I don't have central AC, unfortunately.
\_ Should be a simple calculation. But make sure you exhaust
the fumes properly.
\_ If you are a homeowner, consider installing central air. I
should get my money back in five years. -ausman |
| 2006/3/1-2 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:42042 Activity:high |
3/1 great video about some georgia college students doing a speed
limit experiment:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5366552067462745475&q=speed
anyone know the funky song thats playing at the end?
\_ In Georgia? I'm surprised they weren't shot.
\_ This is really interesting, and I get their point, but their
execution, while effective and dramatic, was pretty dickish.
I hope they weren't pulling that during a busy commute time.
--erikred
\_ Why? I like the whole "civil obedience" thing. If following
the law is dangerous and pointless, then...? -John
\_ Have you ever been stuck in traffic and discovered that the
reason for the traffic was a "phantom" stop (i.e., the result
of someone ahead of you slowing slightly, and then the person
behind them slowing more, and so on until you finally stop)?
Well, it's bad enough when the flow of traffic is disturbed
by an expression of Chaos Theory; it's more annoying when it's
the the result of some people actively seeking to slow down
traffic to make a point. --erikred
\_ Yes, it is a well-documented phaenomenon of traffic
dynamics. That has nothing to do with stupid or in-
appropriate laws, and with pointing this out. -John
\_ I was attempting to evoke a visceral response to being
stuck in traffic and then trying to get you to compare
that feeling with the feeling you would have if the
latter were instead the case. But hey, if neither of
these bother you, more power to you. How's the traffic
in the Andes? --erikred
\_ It would bother me tremendously, natch. I hate being
stuck in traffic, but it's kind of a NIMBY thing.
What they're doing is sort of snotty college-brat
hoserish, you are right, but the point they make is
very valid. As for traffic in the Andes, look at
~john/Temp/IMG_14{23,42,53}.JPG :-) -John
\_ vo ist ze lederhosen? HEIL GERMAN JOHN!!!
\_ So we agree... to agree. :) Nice pix. That's the
right setting for 4/AWD. --erikred
\_ Thanks...it always warms my heart with joy
when some banker twat in one of the cheap
Chinese SUV knock-offs they love down here
cuts me off, to just think about where I took
ours last weekend... -John
\_ I think people are going too fast. I like the current
speed limits. I hate people who tailgates me with their
big fat truck and headlights when I am already driving
at the speed limit. I will purposely slow down to
annoy them when they do that. - Mr 55
\_ Mr 55 Guy, I have the answer for you from the cop who
did the driving class I was in for a ticket in response
to some woman who was seeking praise from the cop for
doing 55 in front of fast people, "It is not your job
to regulate the flow of traffic, it is my job. If
you're going slower than the vehicles behind you, get
out of the way, you're more dangerous than they are".
She then proceeded to repeat herself and heap praise
upon herself for her high moral standards which
elicited the same response in much harsher tones until
he eventually beat the concept into her tiny brain.
\_ So what was her ticket for?
\_ No idea. He was extremely no nonsense and had
zero bullshit tolerance so we didn't play the
'go around the room and say what our tickets are
for' game. He gave this one girl the boot from
class for coming in 20 minutes late on the
second night (still wearing her cheer leader
high school outfit) and sent her packing in tears
to go sign up for a re-take.
\_ why were you in traffic school for? - Mr 55
\_ tagged for running a yellow light. In 20 years
I've had 4 tickets including that one, another
was "unsafe right turn on red" and one for
speeding. 72 in 65. The last was a Berkeley cop
for something that took him 15 minutes to figure
out what to put on the ticket but came down to
something like, "crossing a highway against
oncoming traffic", that traffic being his idled
patrol car on the side of the road with his lights
out at night.
\_ I am not trying to regulate traffic. I am just
trying to drive at a safe speed. why should I
be subjected to dangerous tailgating or constant
lane changes. It's not like I am driving at 45.
I am driving 55. I've never been stopped by police
for driving too slow. - Mr 55
\_ If you're driving 55 in California, you're still
driving too slow. The limit is 65 here and it's
generally agreed that if you're driving 55,
you're impeding traffic, particularly if you're
in the left lane. By the way, in Germany, you
will be pulled over if you get caught being a
left lane bandit or if you tailgate. I think
that's the way it should be here.
\_ Wrong. The speed limit for big rigs on every
highway in California is 55 or less. You are
allowed to drive 55 legally in the right hand
lane. Change the law if you don't like it.
\_ There is a place for you on the highway that
is safe for your driving speed, won't get you
heavily tail gated, won't piss off or endanger
anyone, including yourself and requires no lane
changes at all: the right lane. Know it, drive
it, love it.
\_ First of all, that's bullshit. Years ago,
when I used to be a car-driver like you,
I used to go slightly over the speed limit
(which was 65) and stay in the right lane
if there were two lanes or the middle lane
if there were three and frequent exits. I
was continually tailgated, and occasionally
brighted out even when the left lane was totally
empty. Face it. Most of the people on the
road shouldn't be given a license to operate
a fucking bigwheels, much less the 6000 pound
monsters they all feel the need to drive now.
And whatever speed any of you drive, you still
poison my air, and I still have to pay for
your oil subsudies and oil wars. I don't even
remember where I was going with this rant
now. FUCK BIRDS!!! Let 'em die in windmills.
\_ You know, I find it kind of reassuring
that you're not on the freeways anymore.
\_ With 30,000 car related deaths a year,
I'm glad you feel so safe. Moron.
\_ Heh, I never said I "felt safe".
I said it was "reassuring". Work
on your reading skills, young
neurotic padawan.
\_ Oh, yeah, it was the other guy
who said "we're all safer".
Whatever. Consider my crazed,
free-floating rage to be directed
at both of you.
\_ Well, once again your reading
skills have failed you. The
fact that we're safer thanks
to your absence isn't equivalent
to "we're safe". Keep trying,
neurotic grasshopper.
\_ Fuck you.
\_ LOL I haven't had this
much fun on motd in a
long time. Keep it up
Mr. Wannabe Sociopath!
\_ Blow it out your ass,
wanker. FUck you.
\_ Y0u r3wl, dud3!!1!
\_ Someone is off their meds this
morning.
\_ Heh, I was about to say something like
that, too. We're all safer. Except the
pedestrians he's going to hit with his
bike at 30 mph because he doesn't walk
his bike at cross walks as per the law.
\_ Fuck you.
\_ Back on the meds! Down, boy! Down!
\_ Just went on new medication this
week. So far I'm unimpressed.
Fuck you.
\_ Yeah, I'm not so impressed
with those meds either.
Maybe you should consider
going to a new doctor.
\_ And I'll support your right to do this. If you get some
friends to drive next to you and thereby block all
traffic, however, you're not just exercising your right,
you're blocking traffic, no matter how legally you're
doing it. --erikred
\- and dont do that in the "fast lane" if there is one.
\_ When I drive in the fast lane, I always make
sure that my car is faster then cars in the lane
to my right, but still, there will be these
people driving big trucks or other monster
vehicle tailgating me. I mean if I get a good
chance, I will filter right and let them pass
but I don't feel I have an obligation to do that
in a hurry if I am already faster than cars in
the lane to my right. I find these tailgaters
annoying, and I will slow down just to annoy
them back if they follow me too closely. - Mr 55
\_ Yeah, see that puzzles me. I'd think that,
if the guy behind you is engaging in stupid
of the guy behind you is engaging in stupid
dangerous behavior, the logical thing to do
would be to get out of his way and alleviate
the hazardous situation rather than trying
to get the 'last word' and exacerbate things.
That behavior would seem to contradict your
insistence that you drive slowly to be at a
"safer speed". -mice
to get the 'last word' and exacerbate the
situation. That behavior would seem to
things. That behavior would seem to
contradict your insistence that you drive
slowly to be at a "safer speed". -mice
\_ I usually move right to allow faster cars to
pass in the fast lane, but I'm with you-- I'd
rather slow down than give in to a tailgater.
\_ The proper thing to do is let the
faster traffic pass. You could get a
ticket if you don't.
\- while i acknowledge there is obnoxious
tailgating, you do have to pull up
enough to convey you want to go faster.
(which i usually do and then back off)
and of course if there is a lot of
traffic ahead of the car directly in
front of you, you should back off.
\_ Not if passing on the right is allowed,
as it is on CA highways.
\_ Do you know what "proper" means?
\_ Sorry, wasn't clear: agreed with
proper, disagreed with ticket.
\_ When I retook my DMV exam recently
this question was on it. If
someone pulls up behind you and,
say, flashes his lights then it
is your job to get out of his
way. It is not his responsibility
to pass you on the right.
\_ yea, the DMV booklet also says
to maintain a certain distance
while following. I actually
prefer people flash me instead
of tailgating me, which is
much more dangerous.
\_ Two wrongs don't make a right.
\_ Like I said if he flashes
me it's okay. Sometimes
people do have emergencies.
But no, tailgating is not
acceptable because you
are endangering other
people's lives. And yes,
two wrongs don't make a
right means you are not
supposed to tailgate even
if the old lady doesn't
move over.
\_ I'm not disputing that
tailgating is illegal
and dangerous. I am
pointing that that impeding
traffic in some silly
urge to be 'right' is
both unsafe and illegal.
\_ well, you said "if a
driver pulls up
behind you, it is your
job to get out of the
way". This is not
true. A prerequisite
for impeding traffic
is two or more vehicles
following you. Blocking
one idiot trying to drive
faster than the
traffic flow doesn't
constitute impeding
traffic. No police
will stop you for that.
\_ The point is they are adhereing to a law that should
ticket everyone not going that slowly anyway.
\_ We're not blocking traffic, we are
traffic! - Critical Mass
\_ I would like to have seen the cops get involved.
\_ And what could they do? Ticket them for going the speed limit?
I suppose there could be a ticket for disturbing the peace or
or something like that. Like willfully attempting to block
traffic.
\_ Obstructing traffic. Misdemeanor in CA
\_ Would that stick if you were travelling exactly at the
maximum speed limit? On what grounds? As long as you
weren't blocking emergency vehicles...
\_ In CA, Obstructing Traffic requires a vehicle to be
stopped. Strangely enough, the proper charge might be
Reckless Driving. See:
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/vc/vctoc.htm
\_ 4 lane freeways are 55 there? Yeesh.
\_ I think they should invent new signs in some threatening color and
put new "Zero Tolerance" speed limits on them, that are like the
ones the cops actually enforce. 1mph over and you'll be ticketed
(reliably).
\_ In Scottsdale, they have automatic speed ticketing cameras/radar
now.
\- as is common in europe. will be interesting to see if they
survive giving tickets to cops and judges and pols.
\_ Except for in the UK (where they're insane), most Euro
cameras have tolerance limits, and are in areas where
traffic is dangerous and speeding is dangerous. Except
in some places like NL where they measure over distance.
This is pointless and lame. -John
\_ I always know when we hit a camera zone in Holland
when my relatives are driving me somewhere because
for no reason they suddenly slow down a lot, and
then a little later speed up ...
\_ Are you kidding? They'll be 'taken care of'.
\_ I kind of doubt that. The red light cameras in SF
and the speed cameras in DC are unmolested.
\_ You misunderstand. PP was refering to the practice
of 'ticket-fixing'.
\_ In Taiwan, they have a device that will warn you whenever
you approach places where there are speed ticketing
cameras or radars.
\_ Russia: get jailed for having an official crash into YOU. -oj
http://csua.org/u/f4a
\_ America: apologize when an official shoots YOU!
http://www.thedailyjournalonline.com/article.asp?ArticleId=224493&CategoryId=12395
\_ They should learn to spell. |
| 2006/2/27-3/1 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:42020 Activity:moderate |
2/27 Dutch (whoo hoo) design of bus is 50% more efficient and 90%
quieter than a conventional diesel bus, no fuel cell needed. -eric
http://tinyurl.com/jprn2
\_ Dutch were the first to start massive slave trade!!! Not
\- i think that is sort of an arbitrary call.
only that, they committed mass murder and other cruelties.
FUCK THEM! FUCK THEM ALL!!!
\_ What, in the 17th century? Don't complain when Muslims
bitch about the Crusades either then.
\_ I LOVE GOLD!!!
\_ New... in 2003.
\_ DOH! Didn't notice. Hmmm wonder what happened to it? ... Ah
http://www.etraction.com -- wow 14 MPG for a bus, vs 3.5 MPG for a
conventional US bus. Looks like the system increases the
price by about $25,000 per bus, maybe that is slowing adoption.
\_ Probably. From what I read, buses are a loss in many US
cities in terms of both dollars/rider AND gas/pollution per
rider mile. (Due to mostly empty buses). In places where
that's the case, a more expensive, more efficient bus
probably isn't much of a sale.
\_ Probably. From what I read, buses are a loss in many US cities
in terms of both dollars/rider AND gas/pollution per rider
mile. (Due to mostly empty buses). In places where that's the
case, a more expensive, more efficient bus probably isn't much
of a sale.
\_ At current prices you'd be saving more than 40 cents/mile, so
it wouldn't take very long to recoup a capital investment of
$25K for a bus that's operating full-time. Often there are
other costs of new technology (shorter life, higher repair
costs) as well, though, and that could be the case here.
\_ Well according to some of the information, some of the
costs would actually be lower, because there are fewer
moving parts (no transmission) and the diesel engine
is smaller and can always work at the optimum range.
However, the question mark is the battery pack. But it
appears that there are a lot of advances to be made in
battery pack design in the next 5-10 years.
\_ diesel @ $2.50/gallon
bus averages 15 miles/hour, 10 hours a day
= 150 miles/day
150 miles/day / (1 gallon / 3.5 miles) = 43 gallons/day
assume the bus runs 80% of the year (maintenance, etc)
= 292 days
43 gallons/day * 292 days = 12500 gallons * $2.50/gallon
= $30,000/year in fuel
[(3.5 MPG) / (14 MPG)] * $30,000 = $7500.
Savings of $22,500 / year
\_ Interesting. It's actually quite similar to the design of a diesel
locomotive, although it brings the extra complication of a battery. |
| 2006/2/21-23 [Transportation/Car, Politics/Foreign] UID:41940 Activity:kinda low |
2/21 Go to Google News and put in "Ferrari" + "Malibu"
Then look at these:
http://www.postwhore.biz/albums/userpics/10061/Ferrari%20_1_.jpg
http://www.postwhore.biz/albums/userpics/10061/Ferrari%20_10_.jpg
http://www.postwhore.biz/albums/userpics/10061/Ferrari%20_2_.jpg
http://www.postwhore.biz/albums/userpics/10061/Ferrari%20_3_.jpg
\_ I like the part where it says the driver ran away (passenger stayed)
and the car may have been registered in a foreign country.
Passenger identified as "Stefan Erikssen, of Bel-Air", and
investigators believe the driver was alone and was racing ...
\_ Wow, lucky guys.
\_ Money quote: '"You pay a million bucks for a car, you expect
safety," Brooks said.'
\_ Did Brooks mean he thinks the two survived because of the $1M
car's safety features rather than pure luck?
\_ Anyone would be stupid to think that they survived because of
the $1M car's safety features rather than pure luck.
\_ It certainly looks like the safety features worked well.
\_ I like how the news video starts with "Fatal Crash" in the bottom
info bar and as it progresses and they say "from the air it didn't
look like anyone could have survived that, but now it appears both
occupants did" and the infobar changes to "Malibu Crash" or something
like that. Heh.
occupants did" and the infobar changes to "Malibu Crash" or some-
thing like that. Heh. |
| 2006/2/17-20 [Transportation/Car] UID:41900 Activity:high |
2/17 This week's Powerball is $365M. Is there a CSUA Powerball group-buy?
http://www.slate.com/id/114577
\_ Why, can't CSUA members do math?
\_ Dang, you took my joke.
\_ It depends on the value you put on different amounts of
money. What is $1M worth to you relative to $1? 1Mx?
More? Less?
\_ Agreed. This is the same reason why people want to buy
insurance even though they already know the cost is higher
than the expected value of the return.
\_ Actually most people are forced to have insurance. CA
requires car insurance. My bank requires me to have
home insurance. My company is required to provide me
with health insurnace, etc.
\_ True to some extent. CA only requires liability car
insurance. You can work as a contractor to get
higher wage and no health insurance. I don't know of
anything that requires life insurance, umbrella
insurance, or vacation travel insurance.
\_ Even though sometimes the math vs the odds don't
work out in your favor on insurance, the real
world cost of replacing the item if you're
unlucky is too high to risk not paying for the
insurance which you can actually afford. If the
odds of my house being destroyed by some event
were near zero but the insurance against that
event was $10/year, I'd still pay the $10 to
be protected against an oddball event because the
$10 is nothing but I'd really really really miss
my house if it got hit by a meteor, for example.
OTOH, as an insurance company, it is to their
benefit to allow cheap but not statistically
useful insurance payments because they can play
the odds and come out ahead anyway even if the
event happens, forcing the unlikely payout. An
individual can't afford to lose the meteor
strike bet but can afford to buy the insurance.
(No I don't have meteor insurance). My house is
in a "once per hundred year flood zone" which is
their way of saying I shouldn't ever get flooded
and they won't sell me flood insurance, but if it
was available and $10 a year I'd take it since
Shit Happens and there is a stream/river 25 yards
away.
\_ Flood insurance wouldn't be $10/year, it
would be approximately ((replacement cost
of house)-(value of having your capital
over time)/100)+(profit margin). That is
likely to work out to several hundred dollars
a year at least. They don't offer the
insurance because no one would buy it at
that cost; if they could profitably offer
it for $10/year, they would. -tom
\_ Living in a 1/100 per year flood zone means
that there is about a 26% chance (.99^30)
that it will flood before the house is even
paid off. -ausman
\_ "Once per hundred year flood zone" is
insurance jargon for "it would take an
act of god to flood this place since
there's no place for a flood to come
from". They don't literally mean it
floods every 100 years. It hasn't flooded
in the known history of this region. So,
they actually could make a profit at $10/
year but things go against them because
if there is an act of god, they're stuck
covering it for a lousy 10 bucks. The
profit margin is too low to take the risk,
even though the risk is *essentially* zero,
it isn't truly zero. Anyway, I've got a
bucket and know how to swim if it goes
that way. :-)
\_ You have no idea what you're talking
about. The entire insurance business
is built on amortizing costs over
time and across their entire customer
base. They are *very good* at
computing the probabilities of claims
against their policies and the
cost/benefits thereof.
http://www.fema.gov/fhm/fq_term.shtm#frequt2
-tom
\_ Of course I don't. I'm only telling
you what my insurance guy told me,
but I'm sure you're smarter than he
is and know exactly what the flood
conditions are in my area. YOU ARE
PERFECT! HOW CAN I BE YOU?!
\_ 100-year floodplains are set
by FEMA engineers based on
historical and archaeological
data, not by the insurance
companies. Is your insurance
guy a water systems engineer?
-tom
\_ He doesn't have to be. Why
would you think that? Are
the FEMA records top secret?
I still want to always be
right like you no matter how
trivial and meaningless the
point. How can I achieve your
absolute level of perfection?
You have never been wrong about
anything. I admire that.
\_ If the FEMA records say
you're in a 100-year flood
zone, that means they
believe there's about a 1%
chance per year that your
house will be flooded.
It's quite simple. And
your entire argument that
you've spent 25-30 lines
describing is completely
meaningless as long as
that is true. So why don't
you admit *you* are wrong
instead of being both
idiotic and smug? -tom
\_ Why not just admit you're
wrong?
\_ Tom, are you a Bayesian or a
Frequentist?
\_ The Russian River area has had two "100
year" floods in the last decade. -ausman
\_ Don't forget tax.
\_ Well, I do value $1 I have more that $1M I'll never
have.
\_ can californians play? how?
\_ I assume there would be CSUAers in Powerball states.
\_ How do you prevent getting screwed in a group buy?
\- [The state lottery is] a public subsidy of intelligence
[since] it yields public income that is calculated to
lighten the tax burden of us prudent abstainers at the
expense of the benighted masses of wishful thinkers.
--WVO Quine |
| 2006/2/13-15 [Transportation/Car] UID:41822 Activity:nil |
2/13 How much does it typically cost for emergency medical transportation,
ie. to fly an injured person from, say, China, back to the US? I'm
shopping for travel insurance. Access America, which is recommended by
AAA, provides coverage for $300K; while Travelex, which used to be
recommended by AAA 3yrs ago, provides coverage for only $25k. It's a
12x difference. I'm just trying to get a ballpark number to see what
dollar range at least makes sense. Thanks. |
| 2006/2/12-15 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:41807 Activity:nil |
2/12 How the state-backed Chinese car manufacturers copy the western designs
for free:
http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22750-2012852,00.html
\_ My question is, when is GM gonna bring the Matiz home?
\_ They seem to be busy bringing more giant trucks:
http://tinyurl.com/8ov2m
\_ Man, the car that really throws me is the cadillac
pickup. I'm mean, seriously, WTF?
\_ Too much money plus the lack of good state.
\_ There's an article in the newspapers this weekend
about how middleclass Indian families in India
just go to the local village carpenter with an
IKEA catalog in hand and point out what they want built.
\_ I don't see anything wrong with that, except the Indians
showing lack of taste. If I could get the local village
carpenter to build me anything for a buck or two, it
wouldn't be Ikea's crap.
\_ are these those new ikea VR catalogs?
\- this is true with jewelry too ... "the family
jeweler" has asked my mother to save catelogs for
him. although when safeway etc makes generic
versions of oreo etc arent they becailly doing the
same thing? i was surprised to see a clones of
ODWALLA SUPERFOOD by one of the other boutique
juice companies ... i thought that would have been
protected.
\_ Re safeway generics (and drug store brands):
many are manufactured by the same parent co
on behalf of the supermarket or drug store.
A few are manufactured by 3d parties under
the FDA generic license.
Re Odwalla: If the formula for superfood is
protected, it is either as a trade secret or
a patent. I do not think that it is possible
to patent the recipe for a complex food stuff
such as superfood (as opposed to say the
formula for coke) b/c the claims would be too
broad (but I will ask my Patents prof today).
If the protection is under trade secret, in
a likelihood Odwalla cannot prove misapprop-
riation.
\_ Chemical formulas fall under their own section
of patent law. Usually a tiny change in the
formula is enough to avoid a patent. |
| 2006/2/9-11 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:41789 Activity:nil |
2/9 http://www.slate.com/id/2129636/?nav=tap3 Urban sprawl is universal and not an American phenomenon. \_ The auto has turned it into a major menace though. First world cities built post-automobile are all spread out much more than the older cities, sometimes by a whole order of magnitude more. |
| 2006/2/9-11 [Transportation/Car] UID:41786 Activity:nil |
2/9 Rejected taglines for the recently released Harrison Ford vehicle,
"Firewall".
http://www.fametracker.com/blue_moons/misc_firewall.shtml
\_ Zzzzzzzz
\_ Do the young generation of engineers in their 20s still know what
"Abort, Retry, Fail" refers to?
\_ Of course. It's from Alpha Centauri, right? "If you see this
message, always choose 'Retry'." -20something
\_ FC:<enter>
\_ Fred Cohen?
\_ DOS was still common 11 years ago. |
| 2006/2/7-9 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:41753 Activity:high |
2/7 Wanna get killed in a Smart car? It's easy.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6605730767077503480
\_ How much better do you think a "normal" car would have done?
\_ That looks like quite impressive crash performance for a
collision with a concrete wall at 70mph. -tom
\_ Sure the frame is alright, but what about the crash dummy?
How good the car looks after a crash has no bearing on how
well the passengers
\_ There wasn't a crash dummy, but I can't imagine that any
car would perform significantly better than the Smart car
does in that demonstration. And of *course* how well the
frame looks has a bearing on how the passengers do; do I
need to put the Mini vs. F150 page in the MOTD again? -tom
\_ Mini vs F150
http://csua.org/u/7gp
"Most accidents involve only one car?" Does he mean
"fatal accidents?" or "injury accidents" or what?
I've been run into like 3 times, but all were pretty
slow. I do agree that head-on collisons are a stupid
thing to worry about. Rear-ending is more common and
T-bones are more dangerous.
\_ You mean 'wanna LIVE in a Smart car? It's easy."? (just looking at
the video)
\_ Wanna get killed in any other car? It's also very easy ..
\_ If the comparison thru 70mph head-on collision is "Smart car hitting
massive object" vs. "Civic hitting massive object", yes Smart car
will do better. Likewise, if the comparison is "Smart car hitting
Crown Victoria" vs. "Civic hitting Crown Victoria", again Smart car
will do better. However, in the latter case the Crown Victoria will
survive better than both the Smart car and the Civic because of it
mass. So, in which of the three cars do you want to be during a
head-on collision with another car?
\_ Mass translates into kinetic energy. I think the premise that
a vehicle with higher kinetic energy is more likely to be
safe in a collision is unfounded. -tom
\_ KE needs to be considered with P
\_ Yes, I'm sure it will be comforting when your large car
decides to do work on your skull. -tom
\_ In a head-on, which would you rather be in:
Locomotive vs. 18 wheeler:
18 Wheeler vs. Hummer:
Hummer vs Civic:
Civic vs. RIDE BIKE!:
RIDE BIKE! vs sneakers:
Locomotive vs sneakers:
Taking all of 2 seconds to think about this should make
it clear that mass of the vehicle will keep the person
in the larger vehicle safer overall than the person in
the smaller vehicle. Obviously not being in a wreck at
all is best case but we can't always avoid a collision.
\_ The head-on collision without any angular vectors
is simply not very common. In the real world, lots
of different kinds of fatal accidents happen,
and most of them are not head-on, and those
that are classified as head-on are mostly not
pure-headon-inelastic-collision. Heck, the Smart
car may wind up becoming a ramp for your Crown
Victoria. -tom
\_ Uhm, so what? Take any angle you want. Which
transport would you rather be in in any of the
above situations?
\_ There are plenty of accidents where it is
better to be in a smaller car. That's why
big cars have just as many fatalities. -tom
\_ DUCK! "I can name that accident in 3
collisions!" "Tom, name that accident!"
\_ This is not always true. Many big boaty cars of
1970s and 1980s were very unsafe because they did
not have collapsing steering columns. In an
accident
not have collapsing steering column. In an accident
the steering column would pretty much squash your
chest and/or head. If the hummer had a steering
column like that, I'd take my chances in the civic.
\_ This isn't the 1970s and 1980s. How many of
those cars are still on the road?
\_ Then you'll like the massive locomotive, which
does not have a steering column.
\_ Then you'll like a locomotive, which does not
have a steering column.
\_ Unless it's diesel or steam, in which case
you'll probably be smooshed in 50 million
pounds of steel AND doused with hot burning
shit, or electric, which will tangle you up
in high tension wires! -John
\_ More likely the little car would get
smashed aside with everyone killed by the
loco's cow fender on the front. A bad day
for the loco engineer but he's going home
to his family. The civic passengers are
dead at any reasonable rate of speed.
\_ Ah, but a gigantic blob of gore may
fly in a spectacular arc towards the
driver's cabin of the locomotive and
spatter the driver with bits of bone
and brain, thereby inflicting traumatic
dry cleaning bills. -John
\_ Yeah, that counts as a bad day for
the engineer, but the dry cleaning
bills should be picked up by the
company if he was wearing the
company uniform. Or maybe the gore
will just splatter across the
wind shield. Wind shield fluid is
pretty cheap.
\_ What if it hits him in the eye,
and it just happens to be a bit
of stomach lining, and the prior
owner just had a really spicy
Mexican meal? -John
\_ That might work if you are in a demolition derby but
in the real world that KE is often gonna end up
smashing into some largish inanimate object before
too long. Or a pileup of other cars. At which
point the safety engineering becomes more important
than the mass. What percentage of crashes are head
on collisions where the cars don't deflect off in
some way? I bet it's not that high.
\_ What percentage of non-headons result in death or
life long injury? Headons and side impacts to
where someone is sitting are the 2 killers.
Getting rear ended at most speeds means you get
some painful soft tissue damage and some cash.
My 4 door sedan with steel bars in the side
panels bounced an SUV coming in at a 45` angle at
about 20-25 mph. They bought me a new door. No
biggie. My civic would have been totalled. (Yes,
I owned a civic too). I rear ended another large
vehicle (sigh) at about 15 with the sedan. We
both drove home with minimal damage. The civic
got caught in a 4 car (car #3) and pretzeled at
about 25mph and the driver (not me) was injured.
Maybe my experience runs counter to the odds but
I don't think so. I'll stick with my big
vehicles for safety, thanks.
\_ How old was the Civic? The door strength I
think isn't necessarily tied to the overall
vehicle mass. Maybe that Civic just wasn't
very safe regardless. A lot of older small
cars were, that didn't necessarily have to
be (probably goes along with small cars
generally also being cheap cars). Shrug.
\_ Civic was 2000. True that putting steel
bars inside a puff box only means the
passengers get steel bars in their chests.
The rest of the car has to be big enough
and structurally sound enough to take that
hit and spread the force without smashing
a passenger. All else being equal, the
bigger vehicle is going to take a hit better
than a smaller one. Get Thee To Ye Ol'
Locomotive, Sir!
\_ Hmm, why did the narrator in this British video use mph instead of
km/h? --- yuen
\_ Um, perhaps the narrator is British, but the video is not?
\_ But the license plate of the Smart car is UK format. Okay
maybe it's a British narrator reporting a UK crash test on an
American channel. I don't remember which other countries
still use the imperial system and have English TV. --- yuen
\_ The Brits use a mix of imperial and metric units. Speeds,
at least automotive speeds, are generally given in units
of mph. -gm
\_ Um, freeway signs are metric in UK. Are you talking
racing world? Or are you talking out of your ass?
\_ I admit I haven't been to the UK in a few years,
but speed limit signs, at least, were definitely in
mph; I think distance signs were as well, but I don't
recall exactly. The UK Metric Association agrees:
http://metric.org.uk/Campaign/mess.htm
If you have a more definitive souce, I'd be happy
to see it. -gm
\_ Whoa, I'm smoking the crack.. Sorry.
Now I'm wondering where I went...
\_ Brits talk in miles quite often. Officially they
use km on road signs. -John
\_ Another point that always gets left out of the Mass vs. Safety debate
is the maneuverability of the smaller car. If only 3/4 of potential
accidents are realized in a more maneuverable vehicle, that's a
pretty big safety win. SUV == passive safety.
\_ There's no way a smaller car is going to be able to avoid 25%
of their wrecks. Most wrecks either come out of nowhere or
you have no place to escape to. And frankly, most people don't
know how to drive their car anyway and couldn't avoid a wreck
under optimal conditions. We call those "fender benders" and
they're incredibly common.
\_ Or worse, some drivers try to maneuver their cars to avoid a
wreck when they shouldn't (e.g. speed too high, no room on the
side), and end up with a bigger wreck like rollover or head-on
100+mph collision with opposite traffic, killing others with
their stupidity.
\_ and let us note, bigger cars are more likely to roll...
\_ Huh? A Sienna is less likely to roll than a 2-dr RAV4.
I've driven both, although not actually encoutering any
near-rollover conditions.
I've driven both, and the Sienna rolls less during fast
turns. I've not actually encoutered any near-rollover
situations though.
\_ No facts please.
\_ URL to mroe info on smart car? |
| 2006/1/26-29 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:41557 Activity:high |
1/26 Our jobs are getting outsourced because we're unpatriotic and
buy foreign goods. Try something new. By an American vehicle -
chances are you'll be pleasantly surprised:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060126/cm_usatoday/buyamericantoboostusindustries
\_ Real patriots don't drive cars.
\_ I bought an American vehicle but it had nothing to do with
politics. I drove everything I was even remotely interested in
in the 20-30k range from all makers and got an excellent price.
If American makers want more sales they need to improve quality
and features without increasing prices. Ford only had half the
right idea announce on Monday: they're over staffed and dumping
1/4 of their work force. I didn't see anything about fixing the
core problem which is that their car quality just sucks or I
would've bought some stock for a long term hold. GM got decent
customer satisfaction/quality ratings on recent surveys but didn't
market that fact at all. Companies run by stupid people are just
doomed in the long run.
\_ Actually, they know exactly why their quality sucks. Because
they spend something like $6k/car on worker benefits. That's
an extra $5k/car (!!) that their competition can spend on quality
parts and assurance.
\_ I'm calling bullshit on you.
\_ I call bullshit on you. Give some evidence.
\_ I'm sure Ford knows. My disappointment is that they didn't
announce a plan to do anything about it. I used to own one.
It was fun but built like shit and their service centers
sucked too.
\_ It's not $6K. It's about $3K. Note that German workers
get paid still higher though. I'd blame the unions.
\_ Eh, I'm being patriotic and I buy Japanese cars. But then
again I'm Japanese. I win.
\_ "But I think the real fault lies with the U.S. consumer. First we
wanted sport-utility vehicles, now we don't." How dare we have
fads! For shame!
\_ Someone should inform this guy that American cars are built by
Mexicans, while Japanese cars are being built by Americans.
\_ True, and that's why Nissan/Infiniti ratings are so low.
If you buy a car built in Japan it's going to be better
and I'm not sure why that is.
\_ I think that Nissan/Infiniti's problems have more to
do w/ the company and less to do w/ US manufacturing.
Toyota builds many Camry's and Corrola's in the US
and there are no quality problems w/ either. Same w/
Subaru.
The problem faced by US automakers is that they do
not spend enough time time on the details for most
cars (cf. trucks where US trucks are considered very
cars (cf. trucks where US trucks are considered
reliable).
\_ Perhaps, but Nissan's rating were higher when they
were Japan-built.
\_ Perhaps, but Nissan's ratings were higher when they
were Japan-built. BMW's ratings are higher for their
German-(or South African)-built cars. I have a
friend who specifically sought out a Japanese-built
Camry (you can tell by VIN). Is it better? I dunno,
but I'd bet it is if I had to guess.
\_ I owned a NUMI built Corrola for nearly 8 years
and the car was rock solid, never had any issues.
My brother has a Japan built Corrola now and it
equally reliable. Same w/ my Indiana built Outback.
I've owned American for years and the difference
btwn Japanese and American cars is the attention
to detail in the design rather than the location
of manufacture. Japanese manufacturers seem to
take more time to "debug" their cars. [ I under-
stand that my experience is not a statistically
significant sample ]
\_ US car manufacturers do have at least some fairly competitive
vehicles in their lineups. However, most of them are
underrated in consumers' minds. (I for one think Ford's
lineup is competitive except for Lincoln which needs an
overhaul like the one given to Cadillac). However, you
can't blame consumers alone for this. No one likes gambling
with a $15K-$30K purchasing decision. Snob appeal also
plays a role. Most US brands are now considered inferior to
the big three Japanese companies and I suppose there are
some people who wouldn't want to drive an American car just
because of that. I would blame again the manufacturers for
this. Having even one gimmick in a product lineup can do
damage to the whole brand. Offering cutthroat discounts at
the time when US media is mostly filled with negative news
about Ford and GM probably doesn't help much to brand's
image either. Neither it will help immediately if a brand
like Ford came up with clear winners in all cathegories as
it takes some time to build confidence among the consumers.
\_ I'm from Hong Kong and I bought three American cars before I bought
my first foreign one: Ford (sucks), Jeep (sucks), Jeep (okay),
Toyota (excellent).
\_ I totalled my Camry,had it repaired, been running great
for 2 years since. (there... i bet i just jinxed it) |
| 2006/1/26-27 [Transportation/Car] UID:41540 Activity:nil |
1/26 Car Talk claims the Acetone gas milage rumors are a crock
http://www.cartalk.com/content/columns/Archive/2006/January/08.html |
| 2006/1/23-25 [Transportation/Car] UID:41485 Activity:nil |
1/23 How not to free your car from the mud
http://csua.org/u/eqp
\_ What an asshole! He'd deserve life in prison if he had killed
someone.
\_ Long's Notes:
23. Stupidity cannot be cured with money, or through education,
or by legislation. Stupidity is not a sin; the victim can't
help being stupid. But stupidity is the only universal
capital crime; the sentence is death, there is no appeal, and
execution is carried out automatically and without pity.
\_ The tone of this article is great. "Sometimes becoming airborne"
indeed. |
| 2006/1/21-24 [Transportation/Car, Consumer/CellPhone] UID:41472 Activity:nil |
1/21 Cell phone+car accidents, a whole lot of 'em
http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/Drive-Now/accidents-1.html
\_ I saw a lecture about this at CNS 2004. Essentially, tuning the
radio while driving, talking on the cell phone while driving, and
driving while mildly intoxicated all have similar cognitive
impairment effects. This is true regardless of whether the
cell phone is "hands-free" or not. It's a matter of attentional
capacity being divided. Iirc, someone else did a study that showed
sleep deprivation has similar effects, as well.
\_ I hate cell phone drivers but at least with a phone, the
distraction stops once they hang up (if they do). If you're
drunk when you turn the key, you'll still be drunk when you
get home (or to the hospital).
\_ Drivers kill with cellphones, and people blame the phones.
They kill with alcohol, and people blame the alcohol. They
kill while eating, and people blame the food. They kill when
they have less than 20/20 vision, and they blame the vision.
When are people going to realize what the common denominator
here is? It's just not natural for all people of all ages
to have to operate a massive, dangerous machine just to
take part in society. Stop blaming the booze, the phones,
the food, and old people for being old, and go to the root
of the problem.
\_ Yah, seriously -- we should be killing the people. I mean,
honestly, what kind of careless twat drives 70mph on the
freeway then cries and moans about the cell phone? It's
all about the selfish selfcentered careless shitheads, and
their absurdly litiginous victims. |
| 2006/1/20-23 [Transportation/Car] UID:41460 Activity:kinda low |
1/20 "Lexus will offer a feature that lets the LS [460] parallel-park
itself without the driver touching the steering wheel. Sales start
in the fall." Nifty. How will liability work with something like
that?
\_ Same way it does if you crash while on cruise control. -tom
\_ Since you're not a lawyer I'd suggest you keep your trap shut.
Product defect liability is a complex subject.
\_ Since I don't see a name or a TRO attached to your post, I'm
guessing you're just a tom-hating punk.
\_ My first post in this thread: Welcome to the motd where
you don't have to be a professional to comment on legal,
medical, or financial matters and where it is equally
acceptable to point out when someone else is full of shit
because they lack the professional knowledge required to
intelligently comment on a complex issue.
\_ You still steer in cruise control.
\_ And you're still responsible for not running into the
back of the car in front of you. -tom
\_ Uhm, no tom. If there was an actual defect to the
cruise control not being able to disengage, then
the liability becomes a whole lot more complex.
\_ You would have a point, if the original poster
were concerned about not being able to disengage the
automatic parallel-parking system. Presumably that
will not be difficult. Therefore, presumably you
will still be responsible for disengaging it (stepping
on the brake) if necessary. -tom
\_ Eight-speed auto? Might as well use a CVT.
\_ With the zero-turning-radius Jeep Hurricane, you don't need a
computer to parallel-park.
\_ Can it park into very tight space? If so, is there a reverse mode
to help dumb drivers pull the car out of the space afterwards? |
| 2006/1/17-18 [Transportation/Car] UID:41409 Activity:high |
1/17 I noticed some gas smell the other day on the side of my house
where the gas meter is, when the gas heater was running inside.
Is that normal or should I call PG&E or something?
\_ it's not normal. you have a gas leak. call 'em ASAP.
\_ Agreed. Bad time to stop for a quick fag.
\_ And turn off the gas heater NOW! And don't turn on or off any
electric switches near the gas smell, including phones.
\_ call the 24 hour emergency line and they'll come out asap.
\_ dang, thanks guys... this was outside the house btw
\_ If you're smelling gas outside the house, odds are the leak is
really bad.
\_ by now it is either fixed or we should plan a funeral.
\_ Don't worry. It only takes an Ionic Breeze 30 minutes to
clear up an outdoor gas leak. :-)
\_ Is the IB gas powered? That would be very economical
in this situation. :-)
\_ So, to update all my worried anonymous friends: I called PG&E and
the nice man came and sprayed soap solution on all the pipes to look
for bubbles from gas. It was raining by then and dark. He couldn't
seem to find anything. I couldn't smell it either for a while but
then I could again. At some point he claimed to find a tiny leak
but then we were talking and eventually he just left saying call
them back some other time when it's not raining if I still have a
problem. The meters didn't seem to move while we were there. But
I noticed the smell more when the furnace was running anyway.
Maybe they like that I'm wasting more expensive gas. The End.
\_ Where do you live samli? If you live in certain places like
Foster City, Hayward, or elsewhere that used to be a landfill
(they used to be literally a dump) then methane gas released
from underground is not unusual.
\_ Well samli, that could be. There is also a little sewer
access hole thingie near there that could cause it. I
hope so. It didn't seem like it though and natural gas
has a pretty specific odor.
\_ Not quite the end. It sounds like you're still at serious risk
of blowing up.
\_ Yeah, well it's the end of this episode. I also posted about
the bomb-threat at my building. My odds of getting blown up
are steadily increasing. It must be a conspiracy. |
| 2006/1/15-17 [Transportation/Car] UID:41380 Activity:low |
1/15 If lane splitting is legal, then can I drive a theoretically
little car that has the width of 1/3 of a car and split lane
in between two other [little] cars? How about riding a bicycle
in between cars during a completely halted traffic? I know
that this is dangerous and foolish, I just want to know the
legality of doing so.
\_ As i understand the law, yes you can. I also don't see why the
bicycle one is foolish, except that you won't be able to keep
up if taffic starts moving.
\_ Lanesplitting is legal but many motorcyclists are partially in
two lanes, which is not, or they shuttle between two lanes
without signaling when they are riding between two columns of
cars. It cyclists who ignore or are unaware of the traffic
laws, not the motorcyclists.
\_ it is also acceptable to pass on the right if the lane is wide
enough |
| 2006/1/13-17 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Motorcycle] UID:41368 Activity:high |
1/13 Live105 DJ says he'd like to see motorists stuck in traffic open
their doors against motorcylclists:
http://www.live105.com/music/audio/motor1.rm
Yamaha not amused:
http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=149079
UPDATE: Live105 offers apology:
http://www.live105.com/music/co-op/default.htm
Note: DJ's apology kinda weak.
\_ Take away the vehicles and make it a straight fight, and I'd put
money on the bikers over the car drivers. Especially after the
second time this happens and all the bikers start carrying
guns and caltrops. I ride a bicycle, not a motorcycle, but if
someone does some shit like this to me, they'd better kill
me, or the blood on the street will be theirs.
\_ if you obey the traffic laws you won't be hurt
if you dont you deserve to get run over
\_ Your first statement is so patently false to anyone who's
ever ridden anywhere but a few select cities as to be
not worth responding to. I obey traffic laws, and I've
never been hurt or had a close call, but I've seen cars
do things that would have killed me if I had simply obeyed the
law and not gone the extra step of assuming that all you
car driving motherfuckers will totally ignore it, stopping.
at green lights to look, etc. You all think your so tough
when you're surrounded by a 3000 pound murder weapon, but
you have to get out sooner or later and then you're not so
tough.
at green lights to look, etc.
\_ So all bicyclists are ranting psychopaths who think all
car drivers are inconsiderate potential murderers? -John
\_ I speak only for myself.
\_ So you think all car drivers are inconsiderate
potential murderers? -John
\_ They're not all inconsiderate, no, but they are
all potential murderers. Cars kill more Americans
in a year than the whole vietnam war did. You
can call all of these "accidents", but as some one
who has chosen not to partake in car culture, I
see it as at least manslaughter, if not outright
murder, and I see the whole system as being guilty.
What's the fine for blasting through a crosswalk
and ignoring pedestrians if you don't actually
kill them? In my state it's a hundred bucks.
A HUNDRED BUCKS!! Now, what would the penalty
be for firing your gun into someones home, but
missing them? "But officer, I was aiming for that
target on my lawn!" You better believe it wouldn't
be a hundred dollar fine, even if it was a total
accident. Everyone, even the NRA, would agree
that gun users should be forced to show a certain
degree of responsibility, because if they don't,
people are going to die. But in America we have
decided that car drivers do not have to show that
level of responsibility, because our whole system
is based on allowing every drooling moron in the
country to be able to drive any time any any place
they want, and that would never work if they had
to actually be responsible about it. And yes,
I'm obviously a ranting psychopath.
\_ Uhm, you're a moron. Firing a gun into
someone's home could either constitute
attempted murder, assault, or nothing. It
really depends on the situation, e.g. was
it an accidental firing, was the owner of
the gun aiming at the victim in order to hit
or in order to scare, was the firing due
to gross negligence or merely negligence, was
there a product defect, etc. The same is true
for almost hitting a pedestrian with a car,
the car in this case would be the deadly
weapon vs. the gun. What you are spouting
about with your $100 fine is merely the
traffic infraction part of the equation,
which is a strict liability crime. The motorist
in question may still be prosecuted for the
above offenses (and depending on your state,
there's probably a fine for discharging a
gun which is also strict liability). In
addition, the victim can sue the motorist
for assault if (s)he really wants to. As
for your vietnam analogy, that's blatently
stupid. So what if cars kill more people
per year than in all of vietnam, heart attacks
kill more people per year than in all of
vietnam also. Should we therefore ban
people from being obese and force everyone
to exercise? Should we start hunting down
every possible dangerous activity that
humans engage in and ban them?
\_ A cop who saw someone blow through a crosswalk
with pedestrians in it could get nailed for
all sorts of things in CA starting with various
forms of reckless driving. If there isn't a
reason for it like the mechanical failure, it
can easily rise to the level of felony. What
state do you live in?
\_ Connecticut. Knowing the 100 dollar fine
for blowing a crosswalk was in the drivers
license test. As for California I'm going
to simply call bullshit. I lived in
California for five years, and I never
saw a car pulled over for a crosswalk
violation, and had my life put in danger
hundreds of times by the car weasels who
blew the crosswalks. I recall people getting
actually hit near campus multiple times.
\_ Ok genius, was a cop nearby? You're
telling me a cop stood there and was
witness to a car rolling through an
intersection putting life and limb at
risk by nearly hitting pedestrians and
did nothing? I'm calling big time
bullshit on that one. I saw one person
get hit while I was in school outside
the dorms. She was reading the Daily
Cal as she crossed the middle of the
street with traffic oncoming. Mostly,
cars would actually stop (illegally,
mind you) and let dormies cross the
street when they saw students waiting
for a traffic gap.
\_ You're from LA, aren't you?
\_ So when a bike is riding on the road do you always give
them a full lane?
\_ I do. -!pp
\_ Lanesplitting is 100% legal.
\_ Only for motorcycles, I think.
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/curriculum/unit9text.pdf pg49.
\_ Uh, duh...
\_ Do you feel the same way about the Homeland Security Act?
\_ When did you stop beating your wife?
\_ Live105 doesn't exactly have a good track record for rseponsible
broadcasting. This should be no surprise.
\_ Uh, okay... odd little allegation.
\_ What's odd about it?
\_ That you throw it out without so much as an anecdote or
url to lend it credence?
\_ I figured it was a station enough people here might have
heard that I didn't have to explain. Either way, it's
just a music radio station. The minimal requirement to
be a DJ is having a good voice and uhm. That's it.
\_ You clearly have a more finely tuned "responsibility"
radar than the rest of us.
\_ I too think it's weird to mention something about
irresponsible broadcasting and not explain it. -!pp
\_ If you like getting your ass kicked, telling people to hurt
motorcyclist in a public forum is a good way to stay happy.
\_ Scroll down to duc996girl. Kinda hot.
\_ Tango and Cash did this about two years ago. They got canned
\_ Some other idiots did this a few years ago on 92.3. They got canned
\_ What an ugly asian chick
\_ Was someone denied sex?
\_ Did someone get denied sex?
\_ Kramer and Twitch did this a few years ago on KSJO. They got canned
a few days later. I am willing to bet this guy gets the boot
too.
too. Let's make sure that happens by contacting the station.
\_ Does anyone actually find morning shows like this to be funny?
Everyone I've talked to just finds them annoying. -gm
\_ Is this even legal? Can you actually get on the air and
encourage others to commit murder?
\_ Anne Coulter said the only way to talk to a liberal is with
a baseball bat. I don't see her rotting in jail.
\_ I'd love to go one one one with that fucking cunt with a
baseball bat. That would be a very short fight.
\_ The courts have soft spot for the mentally ill.
\_ Although vile, it's freedom of speech. Inciting people to
assault and kill bikers would never be covered by FoS by
even the wildest interpretation of the 1st amendment.
\_ Um, that's not what he did. What he said was stupid,
but in no way criminal.
\_ If you don't call it incitement then what was it?
\_ A great way to boost ratings by getting
hypersensitive morons riled? It's the American
way! -John
\_ Why would that boost ratings? If anything, I'd
be less likely to listen. Morons should not be
rewarded for their stupidity.
\_ Exactly. But loudly public righteous
indignation is so much more gratifying! -John
\_ Anyone got a written transcript?
\_ Okay, so I contacted Beven Dufty, my Supervisor and he promised
to have the SFPD Chief contact them and express her displeasure
as well as contacting them personally and asking if the SFMC
would like to weigh in. If any of you live in San Francisco,
please contact your Supervisor. I know Ross Mirkarimi rides.
Is anyone on the motd in District 5?
as well as contacting them personally and also asking if the SF
Motorcycle club would like to weigh in. If any of you live
in San Francisco, please contact your Supervisor. Heck even
if you don't live in SF, contact your Supervisor, if you think
there is the least chance that they will be sympathetic.
I know Ross Mirkarimi rides. Is anyone on the motd in District 5? |
| 2006/1/11-13 [Transportation/Car] UID:41342 Activity:kinda low |
1/11 http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/11/real_estate/title_insurance_exposed Why insurance companies (home) are rip offs \_ Just to clarify, this is about home title insurance, not home insurance. --- !OP \_ I don't get it. Iowa is the only state that provides title insurance and the costs are much lower than private title insurance ... I thought the gubmint was so inefficient? \_ Uh oh, someone needs a refill of their kool aid. \_ Freeper flavor? \_ Mmmm. Tastes like freedom. Bitter, angry, resentful freedom. |
| 2006/1/10-12 [Transportation/Car] UID:41331 Activity:nil |
1/10 To the person who asked about Auto Assualt a few weeks back, http://mmorpg.com is giving away 6000 beta keys. http://www.mmorpg.com/aa_betaweekend.cfm |
| 2006/1/9-12 [Transportation/Car] UID:41302 Activity:nil |
1/9 How do you buy cars these days? Do you still haggle with a
salesperson?
\_ I emailed the closes N dealers for a quote and did all but the
final negotiations by email. The final negotiation was by phone.
Then I went to the dealership to pick up the car. I'm giving up
a few % on price, but it's a more pleasant shopping experience.
\_ It also never hurts to go to http://carsdirect.com and print out their
quote as a starting point to the bargaining.
\_ I did everything by fax two years ago, until I went to the dealer to
write a personal check and pick up the car.
http://www.fightingchance.com
LocalWords: dervived
\_ http://www.fool.com/car/car.htm (free)
\_ This site tells you how to negotiate and how to trade-in,
while fightingchance's idea is that don't even get into a
negotiation process and don't trade-in. Different approach,
I guess. Plus fightingchance provides current (well, at least
up to the month) numbers on holdbacks, dealer incentives, and
the state of the market for your particular make and model,
which helps you choose your price. But like you said,
fightingchance is not free. |
| 2005/12/31-2006/1/4 [Transportation/Car] UID:41181 Activity:nil |
12/31 http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051230/od_nm/germany_snow_dc German thieves not to bright \_ ja, und Amerikans not to bright either. |
| 2005/12/28-2006/1/1 [Transportation/Car] UID:41157 Activity:low |
12/28 'The 2006 Civic offers front seats that are three-quarters of an
inch wider than those in the 2005 model. Purpose: "To meet the
growing needs of our customers," spokesman Sage Marie says.'
http://tinyurl.com/8gq2f
\_ To meet the needs of our customers' growing asses would be more
accurate.
\_ Heh, I think you completely missed the tongue-in-cheek humor of
her comment. |
| 2005/12/15-19 [Transportation/Car] UID:41040 Activity:low |
12/15 Is anyone here in the Auto Assault beta or know anyone who is?
I'm just curious what game play is like. Thanks.
\_ It feels a lot like COH in terms of interface. It is kind of
fun but very random. Basically you get a car with different mount
points on it. On the starter car you can have a rotatable turrent gun,
a fixed front mounted gun and a fixed rear mounted gun. Not sure if
you get more weapon mount points as you level. You also get skill
points to buy skills with that do stuff like give you special abilities
or passive abilities that increase attack/dmg/speed/etc. You can also
buy/find/craft upgrades to your car like new tires, new engine, glowy
scoop, etc. And there are 4 classes for each race. A healer/mechanic,
a rogue/bounty hunter (can stealth), a commando/tank, and I forget the
4th one.
\_ It feels a lot like COH in terms of interface. It is kind of fun
but very random. Basically you get a car with different mount
points on it. On the starter car you can have a rotatable turrent
gun, a fixed front mounted gun and a fixed rear mounted gun. Not
sure if you get more weapon mount points as you level. You also
get skill points to buy skills with that do stuff like give you
special abilities or passive abilities that increase
attack/dmg/speed/etc. You can also buy/find/craft upgrades to
your car like new tires, new engine, glowy scoop, etc. And there
are 4 classes for each race. A healer/mechanic, a rogue/bounty
hunter (can stealth), a commando/tank, and I forget the 4th one.
\_ Sounds like the old "Autoduel" I played on my Apple ][.
\_ Car Wars, baby! |
| 2005/12/10-12 [Transportation/Car] UID:40958 Activity:nil 88%like:40955 |
12/10 RIP Richard Pryor:
http://tinyurl.com/c445k (mercurynews.com)
\_ "Police in L.A., man, they got a chokehold they use on
motherfuckers. Do they do it here, do they choke you to death?
That's some weird shit. Cause I didn't know it was a death penalty
to have a parking ticket." |
| 2005/11/24-28 [Transportation/Car, Recreation/Food] UID:40727 Activity:low |
11/23 Bio-diesel from vegetable oils:
http://tinyurl.com/bxt9k (nationalgeographic.com)
\_ This is REALLY COOL, I can't wait till our mighty benevolent
corporations like Chevron and Enron start mass producing
bio diesel.
\_ The energy you get per acre is very small, so even with a free
catalyst it wouldn't be economical. Most of the hype about biofuels
comes from the farming industry seeking subsidies.
\_ or bio-diesel tinkerers who get their vegetable oils as waste
product from the food industry. The supply of that, obviously,
is quite limited. |
| 2005/11/21-23 [Transportation/Car] UID:40670 Activity:nil |
11/21 Any recommendation for a car alarm store in Fremont / Union City area?
My car alarm has been going off a few times a day by itself. Sometimes
it even goes off when I'm driving. I had it installed 9 years ago and
it's a Python something model. Thx. |
| 2005/11/15-17 [Transportation/Car] UID:40606 Activity:moderate |
11/15 THE Bond DB5 is for sale:
http://tinyurl.com/aabwq (cnn.com)
\_ Millions for a car that does 0-60 in 8.1 seconds? Nah.
\_ If there were a Nobel prize for missing the point, you'd just
have won it. -John
\_ I completely agree. How could anyone think of buying
a DB5 when they could get a fully r1c3d c1v1c type R
w/ a prelude engine swap? I mean the DB5 doesn't even
have an in-dash cd changer, ipod integration, dvd-nav
or a ps/2 in the glove box.
\_ So easily trolled...
\_ So easily trolled...
\_ Your torn-up koran is in the glove compartment of my
0-60 in 8.1 seconds babe magnet DB-5. -John
\_ Perhaps you should keep a Walther PPK in the
glove box in case of GUN DUEL. :-)
\_ Are you scared? -ilyas
\_ My Mossberg 12-gauge fits in the trunk. -John
\_ ...... or a spoiler that looks like a high chair feeding tray. |
| 2005/11/11-14 [Transportation/Car] UID:40550 Activity:low |
11/11 Is umbrella insurance worth it? I have a net worth of about $500k from
appreciate home, stock, 401(k), savings, cars, etc. I have a working
wife and a kid. Thx.
\_ Not when a new umbrella is $5. :-)
\_ I think he's talking about the type of insurance that compensates
the families of people who's heads get slashed off with katanas
on the sidewalk becasuse they're using a fucking 6 foot umbrella
to protect their short ass 5 foot 5 body from a little drizzle
while stabbing everyone on the sidewalk in the eye with the
spikes on the edge of the umbrella. Five dollars' coverage will
be insufficient for that.
\_ No, no -- I think he's making reference to insurance from
the Umbrella Corporation so when his family is ravaged by
flesh eating zombies in Raccoon City, he'll be able to collect
life insurance or something. Personally, I'd avoid
transacting business with them at all, but hey -- each to his
own, man.
\_ Silly, that's Flesh Eating Zombie insurance. Which reminds
me, thanks, I let mine lapse last week. I need to go
renew. Brraaaaaiiinnssss....
\_ Can you insure againt your wife stopping to work? |
| 2005/11/10-11 [Transportation/Car] UID:40523 Activity:kinda low |
11/9 Over the calendar year, are there better and worse times
to buy a new car? Or does that not really apply if you know
how to price and negotiate? Does the brand make a difference?
Say Audi A4 or 3-series BMW or the cheaper option with a Honda?
\_ The best time is when the new model year comes out. You can
save a lot of money on the old year. Even better is when they
change body styles in a model year, if you like the old style.
\_ Agreed. I bought my '96 Jeep Cherokee in 8/96, after Chrysler
announced the first body style change in 13 years for the '97
model. Got a good deal.
\_ and now they've replaced the cherokee entirely with the
Liberty. ICK.
\_ also if you cant wait try to buy at the end of the day and
towards the end of the month, when they are more desperate
to boost their numbers. but yeah, the best time is when
the new models come out.
\_ if you live in north, shop the car around Chrismas. People
hates standing in the cold lots shopping for car... I got this
from an very experienced car sales man :p |
| 2005/11/7-8 [Transportation/Car] UID:40468 Activity:nil |
11/5 Toyota Avalon Police Car:
http://www.autoblog.com/entry/1234000943066761
\_ Better gas mileage than the Ford interceptor.
Ford Interceptor: 16 city / 22 hwy
(http://used-police-cars.com/policecars.html
Toyota Avalon: 22 city / 31 hwy
(http://www.toyota.com/avalon/specs.html
But then which one better sustains impact with a suspect's vehicle
is another question. |
| 2005/11/4-6 [Transportation/Car] UID:40448 Activity:nil |
11/4 http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/04/D8DLRF301.html "A woman on crutches was doused in flammable liquid and set on fire earlier this week as she tried to get off a bus in a Paris suburb, a judicial official said Friday. She suffered severe burns." \_ Is she North African or Black? \_ The AP story doesn't say. \_ Extra-crispy. |
| 2005/11/4-5 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:40445 Activity:high |
11/4 My father is going to give me his 1999 Ford Taurus. I'll be using
it for grocery shopping and making occassional short trips aroud and
outside of the Bay Area on weekends. Can someone recommended a good and
affordable roadside assistance service? Also, can someone recommend an
auto repair shop that I could use for routine maintenance and any
problems that pop up?
\_ For roadside repair, AAA is The Standard. I think it's about $45/yr.
They also have a list of "AAA Approved" mechanics, which is how I
found mine (in Mountain View). If you don't get a personal
recommendation, I suggest you look there. -gm
\_ $45 includes free towing up to 3mi. They can even tow from your
home garage which is not exactly "roadside" and "emergency".
The next level of membership includes up to 100mi.
-- member since '92
home garage which is not exactly "roadside emergency". The next
level of membership includes up to 100mi. -- member since '92
\_ 7 miles, not 3 miles.
\_ Oops, both you and I are wrong. It's actually 5 miles:
http://csua.org/u/dxc (http://www.csaa.com -- member since '92
\_ well, it's 7 miles in SoCal (for my zip code anyway).
It's probably 5 miles where you are.
\_ yah, I agree AAA is great. My car died close to home, I
pushed it to the curb, the next day I called my mechanic to
let him know my car was coming, then called AAA and they
towed it to the auto shop without my needing to go.
\_ free maps too, and their monthly magazine(so-so) and
other discounts to AAA members, like at Fresh Choice
\_ The downside to AAA is that they lobby strongly for more
car-friendly pork, often at the expense of, say, public
transportation and light rail. See:
http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2003/02/11/warriors
for an alternative organization that will also provide roadside
bike assistance, albeit with a shorter towing radius. |
| 2005/11/3-4 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:40414 Activity:nil |
11/3 The riots keep going and going...
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/03/D8DL2HH0B.html
\_ Guess they should have let them keep their headscarves. |
| 2005/10/28-30 [Transportation/Car] UID:40323 Activity:high |
10/28 Hi guys. I have a 1996 Camry DX (85K miles) and the mechanic says I
need to replace my shocks. He quoted me $800 for parts&labor. Is
this fair? This place (non-dealership) has done a good job previous
visits, uses OEM parts most of the time, and is Japanese-owned.
Thanks.
\_ check out wheelworks.. usually buy 3 get one free ($600)
on struts.
\_ if you tires are bouncing (you can tell if you get groves
deep wear evenly spaced/spread across your tires (like
if you were bouncing a basketball). if so you need new struts
\_ The price is about right for a shocks&struts job. I can't
comment on the realiability of the labor, which is what you
comment on the reliability of the labor, which is what you
should really care about
\_ Kais Motd would've given you the answer.
\_ You go on living your life how you want, but I'll just point out
that your little "problem" will cost you more than I have spent on
my current bike and my previous bike and all the bike related
accessories I've ever bought.
\_ as i've thought throughout college, riding bike is good, but is
not so good for non-bike dates
\_ sounds a little on the high-side, but not unreasonable for good
quality work.
\_
\_ One more question: In the context above, is it just the "shocks"
he's replacing? I read on howstuffworks that a "strut" technically
includes the shock absorber too. -op
\_ A "shock" is a big spring; it's responsible for absorbing jolts
from the road. A "strut" is a passive hydraulic piston that
dampens out the vibrations in this spring; if you didn't have
struts, your car would porpoise up and down after hitting a bump.
You usually replace shocks and struts at the same time. Shocks
do less as they age due to fatigue on the metal; struts also wear
down. I had my shocks&struts changed out a year or so ago on my
'95 car, and the handling and ride comfort both improved. It was
less than $800, but not by much. (I have an American car.) -gm
\_ http://auto.howstuffworks.com/car-suspension5.htm
From the above URL, it sounds like a "shock" is a piston type
device, not really a spring ... -op
\_ Hey, how about that. Disregard prior "expertise". -gm
\_ No worries ... I almost think some mechanics would look
at me funny if I told them taht
\_ Shocks don't ever really need replacement, unless the ride
quality is unacceptable to you.
\_ I was wondering about this as well, why is a guy driving a
10 year old car worried about how smooth the ride is?
\_ mechanic said it was time -op
\_ mechanic said it was time. Personally I would wait at least
two more years or pass the cost to the next owner; I can
stand the car bouncing down the freeway, even at ~ 80mph.
It's actually my gf's car, though. -op
\_ For a car that old, the time to fix things is when
they break. Exceptions are anything to do with the
cooling system (e.g. hoses), the safety system (e.g.
brakes) and the timing belt. You want to replace those
items before they break. Shocks? No way.
\_ after reading the comments, I've come to agree -- I'd
personally replace at leaking shocks (i'd be worried
about metal-on-metal grinding). eh, some people say
shocks are part of the safety system, but thanks for
the advice.
\_ I always ask: 1) is this a safety issue? 2) will it cause any
other damage if I don't pay you a zillion bucks to fix it. Based
on those answers I decided if my money will be well spent on a fix
or not. I'd spend a few bucks on minor stuff, I'd spend as much
as reasonably needed for a safety issue (or just replace it if it
was too much), but wouldn't spend $800 on a non-safety issue that
didn't bother me.
\_ Jah. I'm basically saying, let's assume it's a safety issue.
Then, Is $x fair for repair y? -op
\_ Yes, if it's for good quality parts and a good job. |
| 2005/10/25-27 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:40266 Activity:nil |
10/25 How long does an average car battery usually last? I replaced my car
battery 3.5yrs ago with an $85 one at a mechanic, and now that battery
seems to be dying. I drive the car every weekday. Thx.
\_ Anywhere from 3-5 years seems normal. Mine was just replaced after
5 years of services after I left my lights on.
5 years of service after I left my lights on.
\_ Not all batteries are created equal. The piece of shit factory
battery that came with my Mitsubishi died in the first year. The
Interstate that I replaced it with lasted 7 years.
\_ Heh, the crappy factory battery in my Ford Taurus almost made it
to 7.5 years after 105k. -mice |
| 2005/10/22-24 [Transportation/Car] UID:40229 Activity:nil |
10/22 BMW building throwaway cars?
http://tinyurl.com/8fbp6
\_ Easy solution. Stop getting into accidents. |
| 2005/10/22-24 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:40225 Activity:very high |
10/21 Dear house owners. How much time/week do you spend on house upkeep?
In another word, how much time do you spend on mowing the lawn,
pulling weeds, adding fertilizers, watering bald spots, adjusting
sprinklers, cleaning up the garage (which by the way is used for
storage instead of storing the car), changing toilet assemblies,
spraying pesticides, and other things? If you pay someone to do
it and spend no time on it, please respond with the price you
pay. I'm asking because as the only son who grew up in the suburbs,
I had to do all of the above and I HATED IT. I just want to
find out how much time and/or money grown-ups spend on these
things, and why people like the routine suburbia lifestyle. Thanks.
\_ Gardener, 1/wk, $120/month. House cleaner, 1/wk, 2 persons 4
hours each, $70/wk.
\_ Maid service 2/month: $80x2. A few hours/month on other stuff and
of course the garage is used for storge. It was designed for it.
Why do people like the suburbs? They don't necessarily. If you
have kids putting them in a city school can be disasterous. Look
at the SF school system for an example of that. Lack of space for
same kids in city. Lots of people don't like the cramped and often
loud and/or dirty city living option. Many other "the city isn't
where I'd want to be" reasons. The suburbs are just where you can
live and still be close enough to have a job. So you changed toilet
assemblies so your mom wouldn't have to? Ok, she could pay a
plumber to do it and there'd be that many fewer toys at Xmas. I did
chores. You did chores. Kids do chores (or should). Welcome to
the middle class. There are worse things that could've happened to
you growing up.
\_ simple. buy a tonwhouse. save lots of trouble.
\_ How is the SF school system disasterous? Last I checked, they
\_ How is the SF school system disastrous? Last I checked, they
were better than the statewide average and the West side high
schools are particularly good. -ausman
\_ You're kidding right? And how do you get into one of those
elite schools? And if you don't, then what? And if you
don't live near your school which is likely how does your
kid get there? Can a grade schooler drive? Can every
high schooler afford a car? Sit on a bus for a few hours
each day? C'mon....
\_ You get into Lincoln and Washington just like you get into
every high school in San Francisco. If you have good enough
test scores, you get into Lowell and get an education as
good as the priciest private school. I grew up in a rural
region and took a bus 1/2 hr each way until I could afford
to buy my own car. I did not find that particularly onerous.
Do you really think it takes "a few hours" to get anywhere
in a city that is 7 miles by 8 miles? I could walk anywhere
in The City in less than a few hours.
I just pulled down the STAR results for San Francisco and
compared them to Orange and Riverside Counties, two
California suburban counties and they compare favorably.
\_ How long ago were you in school? Read the papers to
see what's going on there today. And yes, a school
bus has to make many stops, obey traffic laws cars
tend to ignore and drive slow, so yeah, an hour or
more each way wouldn't be odd. I've walked across the
city from the market area west to the beach. You're
not saying a kid should walk that to school? Why do
you even mention walking? And here's a concept: why
should a kid have to get high test scores to get into
a particular school on the other side of the city?
Why can't the local school be as good as any other?
Why is there a tiny number of elite schools and the
rest are dismal anti-academic pits?
\_ Why isn't everyone above average, is that what
you are seriously asking? It is obvious that
\_ Not every school can be above average, but every
school can and should be good.
\_ Lowell is elite because they are very
selective about their admission criteria.
\_ Are you implying that non-selective schools
cannot be good? Otherwise I fail to
understand how your point respond to the
previous poster's that all schools should
be good. In any case, Lowell entrance is
selective only if you're a non-protected
minority. Entrance for protected minorities
is relatively easy, no?
\_ No, I honestly don't think all schools
can be good. Can you point to one
school in an impoverished area that is
good? Schools can only do so much.
Lowell is a great school because it is
selective. There are good schools in
San Francisco and elsewhere that are not
"selective" overtly, but they still
select from an educated and privileged
section of the population.
Having said that, yes it is too bad
that we don't do a better job educating
everyone. Holding up SF schools as an
example of a disastrous failure is not
a very strong one.
is relatively trivial, no?
\_ So good schools are good because they
only let in smart kids? So you're
saying it doesn't matter how much
funding, what teachers, which books,
or anything else; just put all the
smart kids together and you get a
good school. And the opposite is
true? Put the less than brilliant
kids together and you get a bad
school? It seems the way to get
decent but not fantastic schools for
everyone is to spread those smart
kids around.
\_ Perhaps, but I don't know how you
are going to convince parents to
do that. If you really believe
what you preach, why didn't you
go to SJ State instead of UCB?
By the way, your technique is
practiced in many states throughout
the upper midwest, to good effect,
so you certainly have a point.
\_ When I went to Lowell, it was
massively underfunded and falling
apart at the seams. It was a good
school that produced excellent
students due to a combination of
letting in smart people, who didn't
drag the other people in their
classes down, and great, dedicated
teachers. Naturally this is a
generalization--there were a few
morons, both students and teachers.
However, their negative effect was
minimal due to the above. No, not
everyone can be a winner, life is
not fair. And yes, most students
there "had" to commute. Like a
lot of Cal students commute-you
do it because you value the
education over your comfort. -John
\_ I read a research study on this
for colleges, not high schools.
The conclusion is that the school
only matters in one case - a
top student goes to a bad school.
then the student's achievement
could be affected. in all other
cases - good student going to
good school, or midrange school,
average student going to good
school or average school or bad
school, etc., the school doesn't
make a difference.
you nothing about San Francisco schools and
barely anything about San Francisco. K-6 schools
barely anything about San Francisco. K-5 schools
are mostly within walking distance and high schoolers
take MUNI, not a school bus. My commute to work
is 35-45 minutes, I don't see why my (future) teenage
daughter shouldn't have a similar commute.
\_ Because she's a kid and kids shouldn't have to
commute. You have a choice in the matter. Your
child is stuck with your decisions. That you
can't see that is oddly disturbing.
\_ It is nice that you want to give your child
every advantage in the world, but it might
set them up for some dissapointments when
they have to face the real world.
\_ Uhm, so you're "toughening her up"? The
real world is there in her face every day.
I could go on but our philosophies are so
different anything more I say would look
like a personal insult and there's no need
for that. I'm ok agreeing to disagree if
you are. I'm stopping now.
\_ I grew up in a rural area, where I had
to get up at dawn to feed the chickens
ducks and rabbits, collect the eggs
and prepare breakfast for my seven
siblings. Then I got on a half hour
bus ride to school. After school, I helped
in the garden, washed my own clothes and
spent an hour a night washing dishes or
doing other chores. I think that growing
up like that made me a better person than
my spoiled and self-indulgent classmates.
I don't intend for my child to have that
hard a life, but I don't want her to end
up a spoiled princess either.
my narcissistic and self-indulgent class-
mates. I don't intend for my child to have
that hard a life, but I don't want her to
to work that hard, but I don't want her to
end up a spoiled princess either.
\- hear hear.
And you plan on moving to the suburbs to escape
what you percieve as "disastrous" urban schools,
but you decry the fact that some people prefer to
send their kids to better urban schools? Have you
ever heard of the term "hypocrisy"?
send their kids to better urban schools? Maybe the
reason some schools aren't as good as they might
be is because a bunch of overly fearful parents
moved to the suburbs to isolate themselves from
poor people and other "dangerous" sorts. The truth
is that the cities are no more dangerous than the
suburbs, it is just that the risks are different.
\_ What he is asking is why everyone isn't able
to obtain a quality education in SF. The best
schools are so much better than even the
average schools. This is different from, say,
LA Unified where pretty much all the schools suck
equally. Personally, I'd avoid public schools
altogether. If you can afford to live in SF
then you can afford a private school.
\_ Lots of parents look for houses in areas with
good schol disctricts, so they can send their
kids to public schools and apply the money
that would have gone to a private school
tuition to the mortgage instead. The question
is whether it's to educational benefit of
children (in the aggregate, assuming a random
distribution of children) to live in a city
like San Francisco, where they have a chance
to end up in some truly awful schools, or in
a city like San Jose, where the quality range
of school is narrower, or in a suburban town,
where the quality range is narrow indeed.
There are of course non-educational pros and
cons for living in each city, and the emphasis
placed on education varies from family to
family. But, I suspect, using San Francisco
as an example, unless one has a reasonable
I suspect, unless one has a reasonable
expectation that one's child will end up in
one of the top few schools, it's better for
the child's education to live in a town where
the likelihood of going to a bad school is low.
family. But, I suspect, unless one has a
reasonable expectation that one's child will
end up in one of the top few schools, it's
better for the child's education to live in a
town where the likelihood of going to a bad
school is low.
There are of course non-educational pros and
cons for living in each city, and the emphasis
placed on education varies from family to
family.
\_ You are guaranteed one of your top three
choices of high schools in San Francisco.
So just put down Washington, Lincoln and
Wallenbeg and you are guaranteed a good
school in a safe neighborhood. Any irrational
fear of something else bad happening to you
is simply that, an irrational fear.
\_ Ok so if *everyone* is *guaranteed* one
of their top three choices, why doesn't
everyone in SF put down the same three
top schools and leave all the rest
empty?
\_ All right, I guess I was wrong. I was
\_ All right, I guess I misspoke. I was
repeating what I had read in The
Examiner. It seems that you have to
put down 7 choices and even then they
Examiner. I guess you have to put
down 7 choices and even then they
not guaranteed. The Examiner claims
that 99% of parents get one of their
top three choices, at least in 2003.
Circumstances, can of course change.
But they can change anywhere, even in
a tony suburb.
\_ So, living in a city like SF _does_
mean your kid can end up in a
shitty school on the other side of
town and there's nothing you can
do about it? Thus, we see a very
good reason for parents to live in
a place where there is no chance of
going to a bad school and a good
chance of a better school. It
means sacrificing the cool city
life but sacrificing is what good
parents do.
\_ Or you can spend more time with
your kids to make sure they do
well in their studies / get into
good schools.
\_ You do realize that your
solution is not scalable.
\_ In what sense? If you have
lots of children? Or to all
parents?
\_ The latter mostly,
though the former to a
lesser degree also.
\_ Your solution only works
if most parents do not
stress their kids'
education. If many
parents try to make
sure their kids do
well in their studies,
then almost none of
them can have a
reasonable expectation
of getting into the top
few schools.
\_ In the 1% case, you can either:
a) send your kids to private school
a) send your kids to private
school
or
b) move to the suburbs then.
This is what I plan on doing, if
I talk my wife into it. -ausman
\_ So the solution to the problem of not every student
getting a quality education in a city is to move
to a gated suburb and isolate yourself from the
rest of the world? Perhaps the real question is
why doesn't every student get a quality education
everywhere, but asking that question might force
the questioner to admit some of the responsibility
for the failure onto themselves, which they seem
spectacularly unable or unwilling to do.
\_ Uhm, where are all these 'gated suburbs' of
which you speak? Could you point out a few
because I haven't seen any. I do like your
rhetorical bit in the second half though. A
nice combination of 'high horse-ism', a touch
of holier-than-thou mixed with a dash of
you-selfish-bastard. Could you possibly take
a moment to explain how a city school in some
other county sucking is in any way the fault
of someone in a suburb, mythically gated or
not, 20+ miles away?
\_ Because there are only so many dollars in
the world and so many gifted teachers. If
Blackhawk takes more than its share, then
there is less to go around to the rest.
I am kind of astonished that I would have
to explain this to an engineer.
Shorebird Islands in Redwood City and
Silver Creek Valley Country Club in San
Jose are gated, two that I found using
google in sixty seconds. Since 40% of new
developments in California are gated, you
must not have looked very hard.
\_ Redwood City and SJ? Yech. I would never
live in such a place so you're right, I
didn't look very hard in such places.
Anyway, what you seem to be saying is that
a district that can afford to pay teachers
better is somehow cheating and robbing a
poorer district of their rightfully
deserved quality teachers. However, we
see John posting that Lowell was a broken
pit when he went there and someone else
posted about a study (yes, college, not
HS, but it's what we've got) that said
good students tend to do well where ever
they go and bad students do poorly and
etc. So what exactly are the people in
SJ stealing from SF? Smart kids?
\_ It wasn't a total loss; it was very
mediocre and underfunded in terms of
infrastructure, not some slum. I read
some figures at the time that LHS got
fraction of the average per student $$
of other SF public high schools--the
rumor about at the time was that a few
of the more crackpot supervisors like
Harry Britt didn't like the idea of an
"elite" school paid for by tax dollars
and tried to kill it. Whatever--what
made it was the combination of really
good and dedicated teachers and high
qualiy (i.e. selected) students. -John
\_ Don't 50% of the graduates go to
Stanford, Berkeley and or an Ivy?
That sounds like a pretty good
school to me.
\_ It is (was?) a great school.
That is my point. It was so
to a large degree because they
only let good/smart students in
and were able to focus on giving
them a good education. This
seems to be some sort of elitist
taboo in some cirles. -John
\_ Not elitist, but it sort
of disregards cause/effect.
If all you accept are
smart kids then you will
have a 'good school' by
the measures the state
uses. That school may or
may not actually be better.
\_ You have never heard of Blackhawk? You
are just a troll, wasting my time.
\_ Blackhawk houses are all multi-
million bucks. That is hardly the
suburbs or a typical gated
community. Famous/rich sports
stars, actors, and the 'captains
of industry' live there. You're
welcome to try again.
\_ I sang at Behring's house last
Christmas. Good freakin' god.
30k sq. ft. is a LOT of room.
I think he's the only one
anywhere in Blackhawk that
actually knows how to spend his
wealth well. His gem and mineral
collection is incredible. He
has some stunning ivory carvings
in there as well. Haven't seen
his car museum yet, but it could
be fun.
\_ Blackhawk is not in the suburbs?
Where is it then?
\_ Mogadishu
\_ No, I never stated or implied that anyone
was "stealing" anything. That was your
emotionally charged response to my
suggestion that you are at least
partially responsible for creating the
kind of world you live in. When people
with intelligence, talent, drive and
creativity abandon a community, that
community suffers. One certainly has
the right to excercise your free will
and abandon it, but to do so and then
turn around and criticize that very
same community for the consequences of
your actions seems bizarre.
\_ the one thing berkeley taught me is you don't have to live
the boring, conformist, suburban life if you don't want to.
\_ What I always found hilarious about a lot of Berkeley students
is how uniquely concerned with being "nonconformist" so many of
them were, instead of just getting on with their lives. -John
\_ I agree, and not just Berkeley but the whole Bay Area.
OTOH, if you venture outside of Berkeley/Bay
OTOH, when you venture outside of Berkeley/Bay
Area after graduation, the experience at Berkeley is a
good thing, in my opinion.
\_ so you're living the same nonconformist life style everyone
else in the bay area is?
\_ don't feel offended. if you want to live the boring,
conformist, suburban life, you are free to do so.
\_ offended? no one is offended. quite the opposite. i
think your claims to kewlness are cute.
\_ "claims to kewlness"? what've you been smoking?
I live in a city derided in a movie, or so I heard,
as the suburb of suburbs.
\_ then what are you talking about?
\_ huh? what are you talking about?
\_ what are the two of you talking about?
\_ Ok, I've got to ask...what city do you live in? -!pp
\_ Must be LA.
\_ Or a suburb of chicago.
\_ My downstairs tenants do all the gardening for free. I have to
pay for things like plants and fertilizer, so it costs me about
$10/mo. I have had to have two bathrooms rebuilt since I bought
this place, which cost about $9k and took up at least three
weekends of my time. I paid people to do most of the work, but
I bought and delivered all the parts. I built a methlab in the
I bought and delivered all the parts. I built a shed in the
backyard from a kit, which cost me $500 and took up four weekends.
As for cleaning, I spend the same amount as I did when I had
an apartment, maybe a bit less, since my wife is less of a slob
than my roommates were. -ausman |
| 2005/10/21-24 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:40212 Activity:low |
10/21 Used Lexus LS 430 year 2002, 74000 miles for $28000. Interior
exterior look nice, seller is a friend. Good/bad deal?
\_ Uh, 74K in 3-4 years?
\_ Check http://www.kbb.com
\_ it's around $27-29k depending on the condition of the car.
\_ Not a great deal, IMO. The miles are too high. Same car with
20K miles would be a decent deal. These cars don't cost more
than $40K new.
\_ This is a $55k new car.
\_ Whoops! I confused the LS and the ES!
\_ For that price, I would not buy a used car.
\_ A new Toyota Avalon seems like a good "poor man's" replacement
for a mid-sized Luxury vehicle in this price range.
\_ Seconded. Why would you get a used Lexus w/ 74K miles
when you could get a NEW Legacy GT for the same price?
\_ Because The Lexus LS is one of the best luxury cars on the
market (Bill Gates drives one) and a Legacy GT is a Legacy
GT.
\_ Sounds like a decent deal, assuming the 74000 miles are mostly
highway miles. Toyotas are very reliable and the Lexus LS series
is one of the most reliable Toyotas. Yes, it costs $55K new but
once you add a few options, taxes, and other stuff the new car
might cost closer to $70K.
might cost closer to $70K. Oh, and it is not very fuel efficient
unless you compare it to an SUV. It's a heavy, tank like car with
a gigantic V8 engine. It also has a serenely quiet drive, the
best sonically insulated car I've ever driven.
\_ 4.3 liters is not "gigantic" for a V8.
\_ Okay, "a gigantic engine (V8)" happy?
\_ Hmm, I think I'd go with big over gigantic either way.
A 2.0L is smallish, 3.0 just is, 4.3 is big, 5.0 is
pretty huge, the 8.0L Dodge Viper V10 is gigantic.
--annoying pedant
\_ yea, but your 2 inch penis is still classified
as ... tiny. - dumb troll |
| 2005/10/18-19 [Transportation/Car] UID:40149 Activity:moderate |
10/17 I was driving home late the other night going around the speed
limit with no other cars in sight. Then all of a sudden, I see
these headlights approach from the horizon on the left lane
until he reaches my car and pulls into my lane (all the way
on the right) and he tailgates me for about 3 miles. When he
finally pulls off, it turns out to be a CHP. Why do they do
crap like this? Are they just being jackasses?
\_ They're checking speed and such. That behavior is almost
exclusively CHP, I always get out of the way when I'm in the
left lane and someone does that to me.
\_ Pulling within several feet of another car on an open
hwy is just harrassing and very dangerous. And I wasn't
speeding. What makes him think that it's going to
change for the next 3 miles?
\_ One time I was driving back from my girlfriend's house
in St. Helena, and it's like 3 am. I get a tail gater
for a mile or so. I speed up a few mph, and he hits his
lights. He basically asked me "what is a 19 year old from
fremont doing in st. helena at 3 am" and let me go.
\_ I don't know, I'm not a CHP officer, but I imagine it
allows him to check you more closely for suspicious
behavior: swerving, etc.
\_ He could also be getting closer to check your plate. Or
he could just be an asshole. -gm
\_ Oh, good one. I'd forgotten registration. -pp
\_ I tend to slow down. But there was this one time I was
actually doing about 10-15mph over the limit and CHP was
behind me and asked me over their loudspeaker to pull over
but didnt turn on the red/blue lights, just their bright
white lights. So, I called CHP via 911 and asked them to
confirm that there was a CHP officer trying to pull me over,
and explained that their officer failed to properly identify
him/herself as a police officer. Guess this pissed his
CO off enough to chew the officer out after we both pulled
over and so no ticket for me.
\_ Maybe he hoped you'd speed up and then he'd give you a ticket.
\_ This reminds me of something I've seen on 280 during commute
hours: CHP cuts into #2 lane and hits his brakes, fairly hard;
the car behind him pulls into the carpool lane to avoid hitting
the CHP car; then the CHP officer pulls over that car, presumably
for a carpool violation. True, the following car should have left
enough room that a lane change wasn't needed, but it still seems
both dangerous and stupid. Maybe something else was going on
there. -gm
\_ I mentioned this because this actually happened to my dad.
We were on vacation in Europe like 20 years ago driving
through Belgium with foreign plates, so I guess the cops
there saw this as a nice revenue stream. One cop tailgated
our car, dad sped up thinking cop wanted this -> ticket.
\_ If this happens to you in any EU country + CH, stay calm
and tell the cop he was tailgating, which is harassment,
and that you have a witness. He'll let you go The
European court of human rights has curtailed that kind of
jackass behavior by cops reasonably well. -John
\_ (nice nuke, asshole.) If this happens to you anywhere in
Europe or CH, confront the cop politely and say that he
was harassing you, and that you have a witness--the guy
will almost certainly lay off. The European court of
human rights, for all of its silliness, has done a pretty
good job of curtailing jerk cops. -John
\_ CHP has the most difficult police academy, but yet they are
nothing more than AAA with guns. They hardly ever solve typical
crimes. They maintain a SWAT team only for capitol and defer to
local PD/Sheriff units for tactical situations on the freeway.
And their CHP 11-99 foundation charges more than other police
charities.
charities. Not to mention they DUI commanders off the hook.
(The CHP commadner for Socal apparently has a past of DUIs)
\_ Do you mean "They let commanders with DUIs off the hook?"
\_ http://tinyurl.com/7mzjv
\_ I was actually just trying to clarify the last
sentence of the previous post. Nice link though.
\_ What is the deal with the CHP 11-99? I went to a Ferrari
show and lots of the Ferraris had CHP 11-99 license plate
frames. If you have that frame does that mean you might be
able to avoid getting a ticket?
\_ Essentially you have donated $500 for a possible
avoid a _CHP_ ticket. It goes to help their officer
down fund.
\_ Sounds like this cop was trying to bait you into a getting a speeding ticket.
\- i wonder if this "rush you from behind" is a common cop
tactic deliberately to get you to speed up or just to
catch up to check you out. at the bottom of the pleasant
valley hill [which is absurdly 25mph and frequently has
a cop hiding at the bottom on a side street] where it
becomes grand ave i had a cop drive up to me a liek 50mph
so i sped up to get out of his way and then got a ticket.
i wasnt going 25 admitedly, but this seemed kind of leem.
also with 0 traffic at 11pm on sunday.
\_ Do police have the authority to speed when not in a
pursuit? Can you fight the ticket based on that alone?
(I was going the speed limit and this idiot cop went
2x the limit to catch up with me.)
\_ I've been told that they can only violate traffic laws
when they have their lights on. I know I've seen cops
turn on their lights, blow through a red light, and turn
them off again on empty streets late at night. This may
not apply to speeding. -gm
\- to abbreviate bighead's comments ... "different jobs
have different perqs. when you are a cop, your perq
is you can break the law."
is you can break the law." --psb
\_ s/perq/perk/
\- i like using "perq" since it is short for
perquisite and "perk" has another meaning
[as in "perk up" "perky breasts"] although
you're right, "perk is the standard".
\_ I think perq is more correct in this context.
Use any dictionary and look up 'perquisite'.
\- my dictionary does not contain "perq"
and has other meanings for "perk" however
going by google hits, "perk" seems to be
the more common short form for 'perquisite"
and this is backed up in Fowler MEU 3rd Ed.
So while I acknowledge "perk" may be more
common, i continue to use "perq" and feel
that should get a pass. --psb |
| 2005/10/17-19 [Transportation/Car] UID:40131 Activity:low |
10/16 Which insurance policy/company would you recommend for a first-time
car driver in his late 20s (just got the license).
\_ Looking to save money, or looking for customer service, or what?
It'll cost a buttload any way you go. Don't register an
expensive car, for sure.
\_ Looking to save money of course. Should I be looking to good
customer service too? I'll drive a 5-year old Taurus.
\_ When my wife was in a similar situation (1st-time driver in her
mid-twenties), she found an insurance agent who was willing to
give her credit for 10 years of (nonexistent) driving experience
back in the mother country, which lowered her rate somewhat. Both
my wife and the agent are <ethnic>, and that made the deal possible.
YMMV, of course.
\_ hope your wife and agent didn't make other deals
\_ Isn't impugning another person's honor a sorryable offense
now? Politburo?
\_ What honor?
\_ if you had your permit for those years, allstate gives you credit
for them. -dwc |
| 2005/10/7-9 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:40008 Activity:nil |
10/7 My 2 year old motorcycle that I bought new has about 8000 miles and
I already need to change my rear tire. In addition, my lead-acid
battery is crapping out. I've been having to add distilled water and
the negative contact keeps getting corroded. Today while checking
the cable the contact just broke off! I went to the shop today and
got a new maintenance-free SLA Yuasa battery for $71. In addition
a new rear tire costs about $175. In comparison, my car battery costs
about the same and lasts twice as long, and each car tire costs about
1/2 of the motorcycle tire and lasts 5-6X as long. As for mileage?
I get only 45MPG, which is still less than a Prius. This totally
debunks the myth that motorcycles are much more economical to operate
than cars. What a dissapointment.
\_ Never seen the battery issue, but yes motorcycle tires don't
last as long. They are made to be super sticky because you
need that traction a lot more than you do on a car. Also,
especially if you are a new rider, you are a lot more likely
to skid the rear tire. That being said there are tires out there
that will last 10-15k, but they are going to add a tiny bit of
risk to your ride, is that worth it to you? 2 tires/8k miles is
about 2-3 cents a mile.
As to 45MPG what bike do you have and how do you ride it?
If all you want is a commuter bike you don't need a super sporty
bike. Even a dinky motorcycle has an obscene power/weight ratio
when compared to any car, esepcially a prius.
\_ How about the Bugatti Veyron?
\_ A coworker rides a motorcycle to work every day. He said he has
to change tires every 7500 or so and gas mileage varies a lot
based on how you ride. He also gets to lane split his way to
work which I'm pretty sure a Prius can't ;-) and can park almost
anywhere, sometimes for free. How much research did you do before
buying a bike? And what's up with 4k miles/year? That isn't a
commute vehicle.
\_ Who makes your crappy bike?
\_ Kawasaki
\_ My bikes are 55 and 60 years old, have ca. 30k miles, and I don't
have this problem 8) -John
\_ You have a bike from 1945 and 1950? Are you serious? What
brand are they and do you have problem getting a mechanic
servicing them?
\_ 1951 Condor A580 (Swiss army bike) and 1946 Moto Guzzi
Airone 250. The Condor's no prob, since as with all army
stuff everywhere there's loads of spare parts and it never
breaks (had some major repairs on replacement of worn out
cylinders and valves though). As for the Airone, I'm about to
find out how much pain it'll be to get it street legal and
store it (it's more of an investment). There are garages
specializing in both here though, and I made friends with the
old guy who bought all the surplus stocks of spares for
Condors a while ago. Not for the faint of heart. Pics are
in ~john/Bikes if you're interested. -John
Condors a while ago. Not for the faint of heart. -John
\_ How much is your insurance?
\_ Yes, repairing a motorcycle is more expensive than fixing a
car. No surprise there, the demand is low, and to most, it is
a toy. However, you win on gas, insurance, parking, and
registration.
\_ And depreciation.
\_ But lose big on safety.
\_ And you can't get laid in the back seat.
\_ And you lack imagination. And flexibility. -John |
| 2005/9/30-10/3 [Transportation/Car] UID:39931 Activity:nil |
9/30 Prototyping the military hardware of tomorrow:
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6055910.html -John
\_ "A recreational activity practiced by some individuals is ignition
of one's own flatus." Is it possible to do that without burning
your ass?
\_ One reason to ban gays in the military -- you don't want to clot
\_ One reason to ban gays in the military -- you don't want to clog
your weapons system.
\_ In a history of dumb things posted to the motd, this truly
stands out. Whether you are to be congratulated or yoked
with utter shame is a question that will plague these
proceedings for hours.
\_ Hmm, someone didn't appreciate the humor. |
| 2005/9/26-28 [Transportation/Car] UID:39882 Activity:nil |
9/26 How come diesel engines run more efficiently than regular
gasoline engines? Is it because diesel fuels contain more
energy/volume? If you burn the same quantity of diesel fuel
as regular gasoline, will both release different amounts of
heat?
\_ Yes diesel is more energy dense.
\_ and it's also denser too.
\_ "On average, 1 gallon (3.8 L) of diesel fuel contains approximately
155x10^6 joules (147,000 BTU), while 1 gallon of gasoline contains
132x10^6 joules (125,000 BTU)."
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/diesel3.htm
\_ They have a much more effient thermodynamic cycle,
higher compression, and they don't draw a vacuum on partial
throttle. --jwm
\_ "A gasoline engine compresses at a ratio of 8:1 to 12:1, while a
diesel engine compresses at a ratio of 14:1 to as high as 25:1.
The higher compression ratio of the diesel engine leads to better
efficiency." http://auto.howstuffworks.com/diesel1.htm
But I don't understand how higher compression ratio leads to
better efficiency. Maybe there is more air to burn per unit of
fuel, so closer to 100% of the fuel is burnt.
\_ Compression ratio matters not so much because you're
compressing more air into the gasoline vapor, but because
after ignition the exhaust gas is at a higher pressure and
pushes on the piston for a longer distance. Imagine after
pulling in the fuel-air mixture it is at pressure P. One
engine does some work to compress to 10P while the other does
more work to compress to 20P.
The gas engine has expended 9P on compression while the diesel
expended 19P.
After ignation the pressure
goes up another 10P, so the gas engine is at 20P while the
diesel is at 30P. Now on expansion the gas engine expands 10x
to do (20-20/10)P=18P work. The diesel expands (30-30/20)P=
28.5P work. Subtracting the original work of compression the
gas engine gained a net of 9P while the diesel gained 9.5P
work. Not a big difference but as you keep increasing the
compression ration the amount of work extracted converges to
the amount the gas provided, 10P. |
| 2005/9/24-26 [Transportation/Car] UID:39861 Activity:nil |
9/24 Lessons learned from Rita: Be sure you have a Magellan RoadMate
and a Japanese car. http://slate.msn.com/id/2126827/?nav=ais |
| 2005/9/23-27 [Transportation/Car] UID:39837 Activity:nil |
9/23 Stepping on the gas and make the engine reach the red line is bad. Does
this also apply if the engine is not under load, ie. if I step on the
gas while leaving the transmission in Neutral? Thanks.
\_ Reving under no load is worse for your engine than reving with
a load.
\_ Unless your car is old, your rev limiter will keep you from
doing that. You can damage your car by doing something called
a "money shift" which is to shift from 5th to 2nd under high
speeds in which case your engine will red line and would
probably damage your engine.
\_ yeah. you can damage if you redline in neutral..
i do it for fun though.. at stop signs ..
\_ Speaking of red-lining, is there a FUCKING reason why those
annoying wanna-be-cool biker dudes like to rev up their ear
shattering bike engines when they're stopped? Is that suppose to
clear up the engine or something, cuz their engines always seem
like they're gonna choke and die when idling. Or is this one of
those "I am loud look at me I'm cool" type of deal? I HATE bikers.
\_ It is a bad habit I got into when I used to ride old crappy
bikes that always had trouble idling when cold.
\_ It appears to be even more important to do at around 3 am
in a quiet neighborhood.
\_ There's no reason a well maintained Harley would have trouble
with stalling. It's just to look cool. Or because they're
bored and want to go.
\_ "I bought a status symbol and I want everyone to know it."
\_ "I bought a Harvey because deodorant prices are going up."
\_ "I bought a Harley because deodorant prices are going up."
\_ Q: What's the difference between a Hoover and a Harley?
A: The location of the dirt bag. |
| 2005/9/20-21 [Transportation/Car] UID:39773 Activity:nil |
9/20 Hey I just cancelled AAA automobile insurance today. I'm very very
happy. They didn't know how to handle insurance claims I made last
year and made a mess. My license was suspended due to multiple errors
they wrote on the SR-1p form. Fuck AAA automobile insurance. BTW
I just went to http://costco.com and got a new insurance w/ MORE coverage
and LESS cost. Fuck AAA.
\_ AAA cancelled my insurance when I got a fix-it ticket because
they said I had some rate that was instantly invalid if I got
any sort of infraction, then they charged me $50 for the
privilege, then all sorts of other stupid shit happened. - danh
\_ I'm the op. Here's what happened to me. Someone rear-ended
me. The other side paid for repairs because she was at-fault.
AAA said they'll take care of everything else, like sending
in the SR-1p form to DMV. I drove happily for 10 months but
one day got a call from AAA who said they're cancelling my
renewal because I haven't had a valid driver's license for 8
months! I went to the DMV to see why and it turns out my
license was suspended because DMV never got an SR-1p from AAA,
so DMV made the assumption that I was driving without a valid
insurance. I called AAA to ask them to resend again, and they
said they'll take care of it. Sadly, AAA typed the SR-1p with
the WRONG date, so 2 months later, without any notification,
my license was STILL suspended. I also couldn't get new
insurance with other companies because DMV tagged me as a
bag driver due to the SR-1p. That's a WHOLE YEAR without
a license. Finally after making countless calls, and having
to contact managers at AAA, they typed up a good SR-1p form.
DMV changed me license for $55 penalty, but I finally got my
license back. People at AAA are very new, clueless, and the
turnover rate is very very fast. FUCK AAA.
\_ Just a different data point: I've had allstate for 15+ years.
I got into an accident about 10 years ago (my fault) and almost
totalled my car. Allstate was very good about taking care of
everything, they were efficient, quick, and pleasant throughout
the whole process. My car was even repaired to good as new even
though it came within like $1 of being totalled.
\_ From my point of view it's a bad thing that they repaired
your car when it was so wrecked. I had a bad insurer once
who paid $8K+ to repair my $13K car and the car has never
been the same. OTOH, one of my cars now is worth $3.5K and I'd
really prefer it fixed than taking the cash. It depends on
the situation. Given a choice, assuming it's a nice $20-30K
car, I want the cash.
\_ It's not necessarily a good thing that they fixed your
totalled car.
\_ It was for me. I had a working car, which I had paid for
with cash (2 paychecks worth). Excellent body shop. I'm
on my third car now and I've yet to take out an auto loan.
\_ If you have a beater it might be worth it. If you
have a nice car it is not. Whether you have a loan or
not is irrelevant.
\- i've had my car stereo stolen something like 4 times.
under AAA, i rec'd by far the largest settlement.
i have also had allstate and they are ok too. swtiched
from AAA when AAA prices went above allstate i think.
i think the allstate agent was willing to engage in some
"optimization" to reduce the cost ... like putting the car
in my parent's zip code instead of my hood location etc. |
| 2005/9/20-21 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:39767 Activity:nil |
9/20 http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000870059426/#comments \_ "In Soviet Russia, the car drives YOU" -- Is that you ilyas? |
| 2005/9/9-13 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:39606 Activity:moderate |
9/9 Small Japanese People making a comeback:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/09/small_japanese.php
\_ http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/01/Autos/fuel_efficiency_trends
"In 1981, the average car got 21mpg... Jump ahead 24 years, the
average car got... 21mpg... vehicles have gotten more fuel
efficient. It's just that car buyers have wanted other things..."
\_ I can pesonally attest to the advance in engine technology.
Thirteen years ago my '84 Jeep Cherokee (115hp) reached the
100k-mile mark and I was getting ~14mpg. This June my '96 Jeep
Cherokee (190hp) also reached the 100k-mile mark, and I'm
getting ~22mpg. Both trucks have *identical* bodies, so the
difference in mpg is all in the drivetrain. Actually my '96 has
cruise control and one mandatory airbag, so it probably weights
more than my '84.
\_ Not gonna happen. Gas price is going down again. For this to
happen, you either need a sustained 70s effect, where gas is
relatively $5-6/gallon. Not gonna happen now. Americans love
their SUVs.
\_ The 1981 inflation-adjusted peak gas cost was $2.94. -tom
\_ $3.0803 for CA. http://csua.org/u/dc3
\_ Whatever, the point is it wasn't $5-$6/gallon back then,
and the price had a real effect on car buying. -tom
\_ SUV sales are already way down. Someday they will be
like big station wagons of the 70s are thought of today.
\_ Americans use far more gas than they did in the '70s. Inflation
adjusted price comparisons are kind of bogus.
\_ nice try. it won't fly. most of these car's performance sucks.
zero-sixty at 15 second range. American need to have a lot of
interior room. None of these car has them. The two car I know
that has relatively roomy interior and small in size are
1. Audi A2, and 2. Opel Melvira
\_ Also American cities, excluding megaurbans that we know, tend
to spread out over a large area of land, and Americans
travel more distance with a greater speed than most of the
other countries so they prefer big, comfortable cars. After
getting spoiled for decades, and with loans at all time low,
it is unlikely Americans will buy something smaller when they
can obviously take easy loans to get something much better.
\_ only way to resolve this issue is slap $1 per gallon of
federal tax on gasoline (oppose to $0.18 right now).
\_ Yes, the solution to any problem is to raise taxes.
The government knows best how to spend your money.
\_ Instead, we should just get rid of all our taxes
because the government doesn't know how to spend
our money. In fact, they shouldn't even be spending
our money. Stop spending our money to build and
maintain our automotive infrastructure, damnit.
But I still want to drive my 6000lbs SUV.
\_ they do if best is defined in terms of speed or
meaninglessness.
\_ (Note, I'm not arguing pro/con) This is not a
revenue-generating tax, although it inevitably turns
into one, it's a punitive tax to try and steer
peoples' behavior, much like a cigarette tax. There's
a difference. -John
\_ ohh my gosh, John understands me for once.
\_ Not really. The government is telling you not
to spend your money on gas in that instance.
They are thus telling you how to spend
your money. The difference is the same.
\_ You're an idiot.
\_ Insightful.
\_ moron would be more exact, but agreed. |
| 12/23 |