...and they have almost 18 times the population of 1900 America.

It can be, but it can also get to be a bit of a slogfest with more than two or three players. I've played games that have lasted six hours because the incentive is to constantly team up against the person in the lead, and there are so many ways to knock them down. I've also seen people get pissed off at other people while playing, which is probably to be expected in a game that openly encourages you to stab your buddy in the back.

It's clever and the cards are especially funny the first three or four times you play it, but after that, I really prefer games like The Resistance, or Ticket to Ride, or even Pandemic (which is cooperative play, and very rarely results in any one person getting pissed off or feeling like a loser).

...they want their dead horse back.

You know, I was just going to let this go, chalked up as random Internet stranger being an asshat, but seriously. Are you SO bored or jealous of other people's achievements that you have nothing better to do than to sit around and nitpick the friggin' ad copy of a marketing page that was undoubtedly written not just for people who want to know the technical specifications of the product, but common usage applications for it also? What you're calling a "buzzword" is information that business wonks need to know when faced with the question, "Will this solve my problem/fulfill my needs?"

When you develop your own database system, you can write your own ad copy to say whatever you want it to. Or if you prefer, apply for a job at Postgres as their chief marketing guru, and if they're dumb enough to hire you, you can write its ad copy to be purely technical-oriented until the product is completely irrelevant in an actual production environment. ("Now for OS/2 Warp and BeOS!") Otherwise, forgive me if I don't put much weight into your opinion on the matter over the people who have written a kick-ass enterprise-quality system that is pretty much given away for free.

Seriously, what exactly are you implying by your comment, that PostgreSQL isn't a capable database system? That they just use buzzwords instead of actual technical brainpower and muscle as the basis of their software? Because I can tell you that to people who architect, engineer, administer, and eat database systems for breakfast, you are sadly off-base here, and this comment comes off as extremely pompous and ignorant.

Hardly. The most technologically advanced diesel engines with two-stage turbos and common rail injection are in small passenger vehicles. The engines in large trucks have much longer update cycles and are typically older technology than what you see from VW or BMW.

Why stop there? Why not also object to tire friction, air friction etc? Let's not be pedantic here, the initial discussion was raw efficiency of the power plant, ICE vs electric motor, which basically means shaft output. You can significantly improve the overall efficiency of a system with a hybrid turbo-diesel setup where the TD drives a generator directly in its optimum power band, thus also gaining regen braking advantages etc. The most efficient setup may very well end up being a consumer targeted KERS system with a battery just big enough to always run the car electrically and a TDI engine just big enough to always keep the battery topped up. Long term of course a micro gas turbine could be the bestr answer, but those are only just starting to leave the R&D stages at small companies and aren't yet tested in high production volumes.

> a GMC Yukon SLT that is nicer inside than most of what BMW, Audi, and Mercedes sells at that price point, it rides better

"Nicer" is truly in the eye of the beholder. I have yet to see an American vehicle whose interior doesn't--to me--scream cheap and amateurish plastic, your particular truck included. And "better ride" is also highly subjective. For me a better ride means a good amount of road feel without being jarring, good road feel through the steering wheel, a low center of gravity and the ability to take tight turns reliably and without losing traction or lots of body roll, etc. IOW the types of things a Yukon or Denali don't have a prayer in ever giving me, yet my lowly Jetta has in spades. I'm really not interested in tons of power since it's mostly pointless with our ludicrous speed limits. But I do want a stick shift so I can get really good 0 - 35mph times at the lights, which is where--let's face it--the real fun is! :D

Here is a Wikipedia excerpt regarding modern turbo diesels, currently the most efficient automotive ICEs:

"Modern turbo-diesel engines are using electronically controlled, common-rail fuel injection, that increases the efficiency up to 50% with the help of geometrically variable turbo-charging system; this also increases the engines' torque at low engine speeds (1200-1800RPM)."

A 50% efficiency is pretty amazing and testament to over a century of dogged, steady improvement. We're approaching the theoretical maximum efficiency of the ICE.