and in the process, its likely that the actual scientists will be harmed as well. if it werent for that, id say have at it.

yea, 'people get in my way when i perform exceptionally dangerous tasks for my job that create additional unnecessary threats to my life and theirs' does sound awful whiny.

would you also believe it whiny if, for example, people started invading steel mills just for the thrill, and the steelworkers complained? or lets be a little more congruent, thrill seekers that go out during a hurricane to watch the coast guard rescue people from distressed vessels, to which the media aired stories featuring coastguardsmen warning people not to do that?

if you dont drive a car, you dont pay NEARLY as much as anyone else on the road. gas taxes are the primary source for road funding. you dont buy gas, ergo you dont pay to maintain the roads.

a short, relatively unintelligible message that gets interpreted through wishful thinking to something of meaning.

my god, twitter reinvented ouija.

legislating against jackassery is impossible.

and yet companies still hire overpriced 'independant' consultants to analyze the breach and make a determination as to the value of the loss.

and recovering from a data breach takes, what, infinity time? an employee being cavalier with their access can cause unmeasurable damage to the company they work for.

to be fair, i mostly agree with you. i do think you took it a little too far though.

no, you tell the automatic when to shift. not how quickly or into what gear. just up or down, and as quickly as it can.

and heres the assumption (which you alluded to earlier). you think that just because i like to be in control (and dislike giving that to the AT) i drive like a maniac. i used a bit of hyperbole and its been taken as the literal truth, my mistake.

i like being able to know when the car is going to behave in a certain way, so that i can plan my actions accordingly. with an AT you have a reasonable guess, but its a guess and sometimes they do screwy things like not shifting or shifting too quickly for the conditions. this toyota thing is case in point.

you simply dont have the same level of control over the car, and i find it uncomfortable. even given the choice of an AT with manual-like shifting.

can you imagine the bliss of dialing a phone number with a model M? or texting while on the go? i think id actually get a texting plan if that were available.

leave it to /. to use a coding analogy to explain cars...

Teenage girls.

That being said, i agree with you 100%. Ive been driving manual since getting my license, and find AT to be very annoying.

have to disagree with you there chief.

having driven manuals, AT, AT w/clutchless shifting at the stick, AT w/paddles, on nearly the same model car (dealer loaners) i find automatics of any type more annoying, either for the reasons GP noted (poor shifting choices mostly), or because for 95% of driving time its not necessary to manage the gearing effectively. when I get to that 5%, I either pound frantically for a nonexistent clutch (and sometimes hit the brake...) or forget to shift entirely because im not in 'what gear should i be in' mode. its an annoying combination of a helping hand and pseudo-control. also shifting in an AT is nothing like shifting a manual. you dont get a clutch, so you cant control when you engage the gears. you push the stick/button and it goes. no feathering makes it not the same. i can start my car in 3rd gear if i really want to, do you know of an AT that can do that?

griping about crappy software is not the same as not being able to drive it. AT drives 'adequately'. im not used to 'adequately', im used to 'cylinders to the asphalt, so dont screw up'.

especially in new jersey.

i think you mean Visual Basic

dont you mean once or twice a month?

these emergency IE patches are getting tiresome.