Hey, don't laugh, I remember when seat belts were an option. My grandmother literally said "I don't want to wear a seat belt. If I get in an accident, I want to be thrown from the car."

Then of course she would talk about one person who was thrown from a car and then the vehicle caught on fire. "And if they had worn their seat belt they wouldn't be alive today." It didn't matter that almost any day in the newspaper you could point out where someone died in an auto accident and almost every time they were not wearing a seat belt.

No, you really can't count on people on their own to do what is best even for their own long term self interest.

Congress (especially GOP members) don't seem to understand that we have no choice but to pick losers and winners. Their reluctance to fund research into alternative energy sources just ensures that the United States will lose. By the time they finally realize we have no choice but to get on board, we will have to pay China, Germany ..... to use the technology because it will have already been developed and made practical (and profitable) by them.

Yep, Tempest would be my first choice. Loved that game.

If you work for the public, you can't count on this information not being exposed in a freedom of information act request. I don't think it is fair either. But, this kind of information is posted at least once a year by our local newspaper for people working for our county.

So if you don't want this kind of information publicly available, don't work in a public sector job.

I can certainly understand their desire to get away from these devices. So many people use these devices to 'entertain' their children. I've always found you are trading one problem for another. When we bought our last van I refused to have a DVD player in the vehicle. Having three children, I knew I'd be replacing 'I'm bored' with a battle over which video they would watch. BTW: try finding a used Sienna XLE without a DVD player. On long trips, we talk or listen to music. We do have tablet devices, cell phones and iPad touches. But we monitor their use. Until homework is done, they are not touched. If the weather is nice we ask them why they aren't outside playing. Without supervision, they would never take their eyes off the devices.

But, these devices also really do provide services that I would not want to do without. One great example, the quality of textbooks today is often poor. Sometimes my children actually do not have a textbook they can bring home. I'm often using the internet to help them when they run into a road block doing their homework. I would not do without that.

I worked in electronics sales in the early 80s. In San Antonio, TX at the time you had to take a polygraph to work almost anywhere (for example, Radio Shack was one). As soon as I was hired in most places, my new co-workers started telling me how to beat the polygraph. (I had no reason to worry, but they told me anyway). In the end I found out that many of these folks were robbing the employer blind. And all had passed a polygraph.

Of course, your ability to beat the polygraph probably has a lot to do with who was administering the test. Since so manyl employers back then required polygraphs, you ended up with a bunch of 'Polygraph Marts' who had people administering the tests who really weren't qualified to do so.

I have no interested in texting and driving. But, I can't help but wonder if these hands free capabilities were easier to use if the outcome of this study would have been different. I have two cars with voice recognition capabilities. One, works pretty well. The other is so difficult to use I would never use it while driving. If using hands free technologies were like having a conversation with someone sitting beside you, I would think the level of distraction would be significantly less than is currently the case. Maybe we just aren't there yet.

That would be a waste of time. Many jurisdictions are already paying for aerial imagery taken by aircraft flying and filming precise routes over their territory. They can clearly see when new structures appear or when existing structures are modified. In fact, automated algorithms can actually find the changes for them. With oblique imagery, jurisdictions can even measure the height of structures. Here is an example of a company that provides such services. Pictometry - Government - Assess

It sure would be nice if this served as a wake up call to Congress. Our space program could use some attention too (...the good kind).

Neither is hydrogen hydroxide

Compromise is impossible to avoid. We will never be in a situation where everyone's interests align. We will never be in a situation where one priority has no competing priorities.

However, your elected officials agree with you 100%. But, in one area only. They absolutely will not compromise when it comes to decisions that might affect their electability. And because of this, they will compromise everything else.

We are not in this mess because of compromise. We are in this mess because of what won't be compromised. We are in this mess because the next election is the only thing consistently on the minds of our representatives.

Where you refuse to compromise will only dictate where do compromise. Compromise will happen anyway.

Legislators often back legislation that is not supported by the majority of their constituents. Often they represent those who make the most noise (or contribute the most money). That is often not the majority. So, clearly they are often not representing the majority. If that is their function, they do a very poor job of it.

So, when you and your neighbor's 'interests' don't coincide, who are they representing? (Of course, I'm sure that never happens) :-)

Never having to leave their 'one viewpoint', 'no compromise required', gerrymandered home district will surely increase their awareness of others, empathy towards others, and enhance that necessary ability to find common ground and compromise when legislating.

Clearly one of congress' biggest problems until now has been that members are entirely too familiar with each other and each other's constituents and that extreme familiarity is what breeds all of this contention that keeps them from getting anything done..

Yep, Sure sounds like a great idea to me!