There are plenty of smart people here who can form cogent thoughts. However we do seem to be free of the ambition to do so.

It's not that simple. Delay too long and you may need a present should the execution be botched. Too early and they wont have bought your present yet.

Or maybe just ban mouth-breathing.

Yeah, at least get up and walk the kid around to share the misery equally.

Naturally, if fiber were valuable for a dark market it would no longer be dark.

Forget terrorist watch-list. The data is also scraped for any evidence of any crime, which then allows them to permanently store that data and share it with the FBI and DOJ. Since the DOJ can't go after any person who ever commits a crime, the outcome is probably that they can just coerce just about anyone to do anything they want since any mistakes made are there in a neat little package for later use.

Not quite. Data about most things citizens do has a fairly short shelf-life before the NSA wipes it. However, any data that suggests any crime has taken place is stored and shared with other Government agencies.

The Government isn't building a dossier on every citizen, they are building a gigantic list of selectively enforceable violations so that they can coerce most people whenever they want.

How big is your gas tank that you come out ahead paying $16 to get back into NY?

There's a pretty hefty tax on leaving NJ.

Why go through all that hassle? Just contract out the CEO work and the pay is only limited to 12 times the lowest paid CEO in the group.

I agree, it's definitely time for a war.

Start an executive consultancy service. For $10,000 per day we will pay our 'consultant' $9,800 per day to provide guidance. Furthermore, we will hire anyone you want as a consultant.

Bullshit. Every manufacturer out there would LOVE to make EVs. They aren't bad people taking kickbacks from big oil. EVs have a ton of issues with legality (disposal) and logistics (shipping old batteries that are flamable if not discharged properly and leak hazardous waste) that make it almost impossible for manufacturers to sell them. Plus the laws say the manufacturer is responsible for all that disposal.

If any manufacturer can figure out how to make money on EVs they all will jump on the bandwagon within a year or two.

Savor the irony that it's environmental protection laws that are holding up EVs for all this time.

If you subtract the costs from legal obligation to dispose of the EV at the end of it's life the price is right in line. The big difference is the hidden tax from these things being unable to go to a landfill or be easily destoryed and the costs associated with disposal being a requirement on the manufacturer.

No problem. Just throw an electric generator in the back to charge it while you drive.

GM didn't quit on the Volt because they were stupid. They quit because of the logistics problems with EVs that still aren't solved. Tesla has a huge number of hurdles ahead of them that they have no idea how to deal with.

EV makers are responsible for the disposal of the vehicles and batteries they sell. That's the reason Chevy only leased the Volt, and that's why they quit making them. It's very expensive to dispose of EVs (hazardous waste, even shipping the battery back to Chevy is prohibitively expensive), and it's very difficult to track every single vehicle to know where it is so that should something happen to it they are there to take it away. It's a huge hassle they weren't prepared to deal with.