They're going to be constantly replacing LiOn packs on any appreciable sized system. Why not go with a NiFe battery system that will last for fifty years? The price won't be much different, especially over the life of the system, or is the system life that short? Its not like you need to keep weight and size down in a building. Also who wants the fire risk that LiOn's pose in their business or home?

I've been intrigued by the Spark EV since it hit Car and Drivers list of best cars under $30k, but It seems only available in very select markets. How can I get one in the southeast US?

The reason it changes is with the sequential system the MPG when running gasoline was very disappointing with the engines that would allow full electric power. Going to the parallel allowed for better fuel economy when in that mode, and note people still complained about that economy.

I like the way the volt fixes range anxiety by allowing serial hybrid/generation. That makes it the only electric vehicle for sale that can easily be taken on long travel. I wonder if some people don't get into one because the electric only range is a bit longer than their commute. So the question is: Could GM have an option for the volt to add battery storage in the trunk to boost electric range? Then the owner could remove it for long trips but it would boost the range for normal commute and driving. You could possibly get the same range as a Tesla like this, but the advantage is that when traveling you could remove it and use the trunk space for suitcases and rely on the gas engine for the travel, whereas the Tesla would have to add a motor and generator to get similar travel performance, and that would limit its space/weight.

The Swatch did save the Swiss watch industry though.

There is one thing missing in this thread. The Swiss Watch industry's main purchasers are men. Men buy the expensive high end, and mostly the mid range as well. Women do not tend to buy expensive watches; they spend on other jewelry instead.
The Apple Watch will be mostly purchased by women and not men. Apple knows this. Look at the modeling of the watch on their site and its almost all women wearing it. They had a women on stage during the announce of it. If its sucessful it will be a female market.
Women shoppers follow fashion and have no problem spending large amounts of money on an expensive status symbol that falls out of style rather rapidly and loses all its value and is replaced. Think expensive purses and shoes here. They do this to display status to each other. This is where apple will sell the watch, if it sells. But it won't hurt the Swiss makers much, if at all. They're really trying to open a new market here, but fashion is fickle, and it may boom for a year or three and then die rapidly, or not take off at all.

I suggest you take a look at some of the Russian Vostok watches, especially the Amphibia, to add to your collection. You can get a quality sapphire jewel automatic mechanical movement, water resistant, even to 200m for well under $100. These are also very easy to maintain. For your $30 you can get a Comanderski manual wind, also a sapphire jewel movement, but not automatic.

The original article is wrong. This has been studied before and noted that Canada decreased its gun suicide rate but the overall rate didn't change. Instead the rate of jumping suicides increased. It may be that suicides decrease as guns increase for some cultures; however it is very likely that will not be the case in USA. It is also true that somewhere between 1million and 3million crimes are prevented by privately owned firearms every year in the USA. So is it worth and extra couple millions crimes to shift the suicide methods of men?

Truth is this is simply a tool for gun control. In other countries they just use other means more, but same demographic. Note too that even this article isn't "how to help prevent men from becoming victims of suicides" but rather "lets get rid of a method of suicide" as if the method and the path were intertwined.

He's too smart to take the job though.

Its not that; its also that bi-party system aggrandizes so much power to the two parties and leaves no competition available. If the parties always pick those who can run, then what difference, at this point, does it make who the people vote for?

Jeb Bush wants to model himself after Lyndon Johnson. I think we can all agree that he is a disaster equal to or greater than Hillary.

Or the CIA got Nemtsov and Snowden is afraid they'll get him next.