Warum?

Well, by mentioning that you're a 'dude', you've already done half the work for them. Now instead of 7 billion possibilities, there are only 3.5 billion possibilities. Way to go Einstein.

from your comment..

The most fair way to finance roads is to pay by the mile traveled with the weight of the vehicle factored in

so does that mean government odometer checks every few months... being required to keep a logbook (as truckers do), or have some monitoring equipment in the car (that you of course can't hack)?

Also, the criteria you describe 'pay by the mile' and 'weight of the vehicle' are exactly how gas taxes work..

more distance > more gas > more tax
more weight > more gas > more tax

It already works that way.

The one question I have, especially from the non drivers/environmentalists is.

When all personal vehicles are electric, and gas tax revenue drops by 50% or more, are you willing to make up the difference on your personal taxes?

I did read TFA, and I truly apologize for that, but in there was this little tidbit:
A toll-taker's base pay starts at $48,672 a year and tops out at $54,080

Does it strike anyone else that this is a ridiculously high salary for the work involved? Is it possible that pay structures such as this for snivel servants are part of the problem with Californias' budget?

I say this from Vancouver, where the cost of living is higher than S.F.

As a fellow lower mainlander, I think I got very lucky on December 26, at 10:12 am. I saw very bright light from the above me, that looked eerily similar to what's being described. However, since it only lasted a minute, I was unable to confirm.

On a positive note, others have told me that this bright light does in fact happen once a year, there's just no way to predict when.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go outside and take a shower before I swim to work.

I like your comments. They are valid and well thought out. I would like to add one thing though. Even though we are societys' pariah right now, we are not yet criminals. Please consider a comfortable place for the smokers to go. Of course this will depend on local laws, but some reasonable accommodation can be made I'm sure.

Thanks,

How anyone, except those that will profit from this, can think this a good idea is beyond me. Should enough politicians be bought, and sheeple swayed that this makes it into Canada and the US, I'm going to have to move into the mountains, or under a bridge. I've got a sneaking suspicion that this one of the 'boiling frog' ideas where the original is so outlandish that a watered down version would be accepted. This is just a bad idea on so many levels. I will refuse to participate.

Since the information would be kept in a private companys' database, I can't help but think of the movie Robocop, where all of society is run by a single corporation. I genuinely hope that I, or my family don't live to see such a society.

In response to your sig..

I've taught at both union and non-union schools. Unions are better for students and teachers.

[citation needed]

Tell us how you really feel... Please don't sugarcoat it with well thought out rebuttals to blanket statements that are lacking in substance and anything at all to back them up. Also, where the hell is the ad hominem attack? This is /. after all. Sheesh, just can't get any good posts around here anymore.

All this talk about his goats, and not a single goatse comment... are we losing our touch?

In reference to your sig..

I've taught at both union and non-union schools. Unions are better for students and teachers.

NO, they are not.

So the global temperature in about 130 years rises 0.8C and now we all need to panic? Perhaps just the fact that the global population went from about 2 billion to 6 billion in that time period might have something to do with it? I think the real problem is not that we're burning fossil fuels, although that doesn't help and I think the earth ultimately can process it, it just that there's too many fucking people on the planet. The trillion $ question is what to do about that. Personally, assuming catastrophic climate change, for humans anyways, I think can be considered sort of a 'global reboot', or anti-virus, where the planet is just purging itself of malware. Part of me welcomes this as I think that society (globally) has fucked itself and needs to be rebuilt. Bring it on.