Actually my phone does it for me. I use an app called agent.

"Then you wait until the car stops moving probably. I don't mean to be snide (seriously) but it probably won't kill you to wait a few minutes/hours to receive or send a text message."
Why? Really why should I wait? I have an app on my phone that reads my text message if I am in my car. I never respond and it is no more distracting than the radio.

Until you pass a law that says that you are never allowed to drink again once you have a DUI conviction or even better pass a law that says if you hit a motorcyclist and the reason was "you did not see them" you must take a real driving school and pass then this is just an over reaction.
"An excellent idea and bravo to you but FAR too many people clearly cannot be trusted to be so responsible."
So I should be punished for their failings?
The whole idea is silly. Give them a fat ticket and be happy with the income and worry about real issues like drunk and flat out careless drivers in general.

If my wife is driving and I am riding then what?
When we are driving together the passenger is in charge of all devices. When I am driving I set up my podcasts to play and nav before I start off.

You must be tiny. I have a GNex and it fits just fine in my front pocket of my jeans.

That is impossible. The NFC chip is going to have to get some kind of key to create the one time payment codes for your credit card. It will have to talk to a PKI server someplace and send your cc number to the server so it can get the key to sign transactions. Is the PKI server located at the apple data center or is at the banks?
Your cc info will be sent to a server someplace at least once.

" monetizing transaction"
Are you sure about that? I do not think that Apple is not taking at least a small cut of the transactions.
Also let's be really honest. The stores are already collecting the data as are the credit card companies.

This is really nothing more than Google Wallet but for the iPhone. That is a good thing IMHO since it means more stores will start taking NFC. The folks at the 7/11 where so impressed when I paid with my phone 2 years ago.

Does not take a blockade, just an "accident". You will always want to have enough military force to win any war if possible. The goal is to never have to fight a war. The simple rule is no nation ever starts a war because the opponent is too strong. Nations start wars that they think they can win.

Good point.

Simple, steal one.
Or get one of the free emulators. The problem is finding the OS. You can only run zOS legally on real IBM hardware.

Exactly when cheap NG is cheap enough you can use it to make synth fuels for vehicles like trains, trucks, and aircraft. I do wonder if battery power would work for tractors? Weight is not an issue and range sure is not. The question would be is if they use too much energy for a practical battery. Of course a battery swap might be a simple solution for that.

You would save nothing.
Unless the Russia rapidly decreases the size of it's military you still need to have the military power to back it up.
After all a natural gas tanker could always just explode in the middle of the Atlantic or in a harbor in Europe.

Actually cheap natural gas and wind go hand in hand. You use Natural gas as a backing fuel for wind. If natural gas gets cheap enough you can turn it into clean burning diesel and jet fuel. Electricity is fine for many things but you will not see an electric airliners or long haul truck anytime soon. I also do not see the US electrifying all of it's railways anytime soon.

As to natural gas as a strategic fuel export might be a requirement strategically. Europe gets a lot of it's gas from Russia and may very well need to import a lot very soon if Russia keeps acting like the USSR under Stalin.

" Some of the first cars were electric, and since then incredibly wealthy auto manufacturers around the world have been telling us it is all but impossible."
And it still is. Even Elon Musk can not do it. Maybe someday but today you have to spend as much as many peoples homes cost to buy a Tesla.

Ignored do to being a grammar nazi. Real geeks do not care about grammar.

Those where Humpback whales not Blue whales. Turn in your geek card for making a faulty STOS reference.