People forget, or never knew, how much bigger of a pain car ownership used to be. I spent the first part of my young adult life keeping the family's '71 Super Beetle alive. Easy to fix is very different from reliable. Brakes that don't self-adjust, carburetor disassembly and cleaning to allow the engine to keep from stalling for a few more months, different starting and driving methods for different temperatures. Maybe a relaxing hobby for some, but a source of life shortening stress if you depend on it for daily transportation.
Now I look forward to the time that we feel sorry for people that had to struggle with 21st century computer hassles.
To clarify, the car is a great example of what society is capable of, but the way they are being used is not.
I own a car, but the more it stays in the driveway to rust in peace, the better things are for the world and for me.
Cars can have their place, but with car sharing, car rentals, public transport, I don't plan to replace my car after it dies.
How about adding her name in the 'credits' after the other developers' names, perhaps with a short compliment on her qualities as a person? Or associated more closely with your name to avoid the team feeling as if you've appropriated the entire project.
It took me a while to make the decision to bike to work. In retrospect, my whole life was colored by car culture. They're beautiful machines, and my friends and I spent large amounts of time talking about them and using them.
I also finally realized that our understandable desire to make our lives more comfortable and effortless is ultimately unhealthy.
All my notions and excuses left me, and I've been biking to work every day, unless snow and ice preclude it.
It's such an amazing way to start and end the day, even though it's not glamorized on TV.
On business a few years ago, a nice young man who was shuttling me into downtown Copenhagen in a company car described to me his intense interest in buying his own car, despite the tax disincentives to do so. And China is abandoning their bike culture, making single occupancy vehicle trips a sign of progress. And as an American I've found myself thinking: "It's not obligatory to copy every mistake we've made, feel free to learn from our bad examples."
Solutions are obvious if one only has the optical power to observe them over the horizon. -- K.A. Arsdall