Oh as a cyclist, I'm looking forward to self-driving cars.

Seriously. It's going to be nice. Not because I'm an asshole, but because these things are going to follow the law, which means stuff like 3' passing distance!

Oh really? Which problem are you saying is common? Having 20 toxic chemicals found in your body?

I'd probably say that most of us have toxic chemicals in our bodies. Look at what chemicals are found in animals in remote areas in the world. Now consider that most of us live in non-remote areas where pollution is higher. Add in our homes, which outgas other pollutants, from the construction of the home, furnishings, cleaning supplies, etc.

Even the food we eat tends to have residential pesticides and persistent organic pollutants.

For example, say you have someone with Chlordane, DDE, DDT, Dieldrin, Dioxin, Endrine, Heptachlor, Hexachlorobenzene, and Toxaphene. Sounds like they walked through a Soviet-era industrial zone, right? But those chemicals can be found in a typical daily diet (table 1).

So yes, we all probably have detectable levels of hazardous materials in our bodies.

What I would like to see, before I pass judgement, is if the toxic chemicals in their bodies correlates with the chemicals and their amounts used in fracking.

Let me tell you how this will work, if it's a plausible business plan. First, the early adopters will benefit. Then, as more and more people use it, it will encourage more traffic as the opportunity "cost" (traffic jams & parking) can be partially mitigated. Finally, it'll evolve to the same point as before, or even worse - everyone will be trying to avoid the jams, everyone will be going for the same parking spot, and the next big thing will come along promising to solve both problems.

I solved both issues by bicycling to work. It saves $15 for parking (plus around $2 for gas, wear & tear, depreciation, etc on the car, at a conservative $0.25/mi) or about $4.50 in bus fare.

It also has helped me lose about 30 pounds.

I've known other people who do a combination car/bike ride - drive to the outskirts, then park in a residential neighborhood, grab their bike, and commute through the traffic and navigate parking that way.

Assuming you're fit, and can dress for the weather, it's actually easier to avoid all the problems of driving in dense urban areas.

So yes, just checking in with a smug post. :p

Umm, have you looked at who runs the schools that are failing to teach minorities to read? In particular you might want to take a close look at the party affiliation of those running the school boards, and the rest of the political machinery of the local government in those place. Further, you might want to look at the history of the political party in question. Then you should ask yourself, if they still held to the political philosophy and beliefs they held in 1860, what would they do differently to better accomplish goals in line with that political philosophy?

Without looking, it seems that, at least in inner urban areas, it would lean Democratic. Which makes it seem like failing to teach minorities to read would be in line with their belief in 1860.

On the other hand, such districts can be poorer. While the suburban schools are wealthier. My state used to have heavy state funding of schools, to even out disparities), but that started to be cut. According to a quick google search, the year it came under heavy attack involved a state congress that leaned Republican.

So depending on your political affiliation, you can blame whatever party you choose!

A couple decades back, house prices and lot sizes were a lot smaller.

Most Americans may "need" to drive to work. But most don't need to be on a cell phone while they are driving.

If that patch didn't exist, I'd recommend finding the mailing list or forum, then asking them. Else, check the package maintainer for your distribution, and email them directly.

Sounds like something straight out of the humanure book.

IIRC, the compost in a properly setup and maintained system will destroy pathogens, at least according to the tests the author did.

IMO, the technology/cost of this biochar system seems like it could, in most circumstances, be spent better elsewhere, since a humanure setup should cost less and be able to be built with mostly local materials.

That's just a recipe for waking up one day and finding a large ethnic enclave in an American city (oh wait, that's precisely what's happened in many areas because of this, silly me).

You say this like it's a problem.

When my grandmother's grandfather first came to this country, they lived in a section of the city that was so heavily associated with immigrants from their part of the world that the main boulevard was nicknamed after one of their more disgusting habits. The immigrants had their own churches, frequently with non-English records. They had their own newspapers, frequently in their native language. They kept their own food, their own culture. They even had their own colleges.

Now that section of the city is home to another large immigrant community, complete with their own newspapers, religious institutions, restaurants, etc. There's a different derogatory nickname for that same section of town, but the name is still a dig at the immigrants.

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

I see no cause for concern that the latest round of immigration will turn out any differently.

If I could rent the same truck that I own, it would be worth at least considering. But it isn't an option, no one rents such vehicles, the people who would rent them, own them.

I can rent a 24 to 26' flatbed truck. I can rent a pickup, such as a Dakota or Quad Cab Ram 1500. This is all local.

What do you need that you can't rent?

Why were people willing to trade gold for food, but not, say, rocks for food?

Right now, I have a family member that trade rocks for food, although money is an intermediary store of value.

Some people want large rocks for landscaping, building retaining walls, whatnot. *shrugs*

They'll even truck rocks across the state so they have the right rock.

It's not too odd if you think about it. Gold is just a special form of rock, purified. It's rare enough to be valued, yet common enough to still be useful as a unit of exchange. But, like the common rocks, it doesn't have any innate value. Nor does any other precious metal. Tis is easy to demonstrate - if precious metals had a specific value, their prices wouldn't fluctuate in regards to each other.

I'm for this if it becomes a regular habit to the point that if there isn't a recording, the case is almost certainly to be dismissed.

If we can ensure that, then google glass should reduce bad cops and increase the number of good cops. If we can't, then it's just another tool for abuse.

All I'm pointing out that there's a health cost to increased commute times and poorly maintained roads.

0 dollars of income taxes are spent on the roads. 0%. Roads are maintained with the excise tax on gasoline.

Maybe that's the case in your country, but in the United States, road funding tends to come from a variety of sources.

Specifically, road funding tends to come from the general fund for state roads, and out of local funding sources for local roads - this includes stuff like income taxes and property taxes. Roughly speaking, road users are subsidized, for good or bad.

For the United States state spending, you can find a chart here for how much each state actually takes in via user fees, and pays out on roads. The best state is Delaware, where for every $1.00 spent on roads, about $0.60 comes from user fees. The worst state is Alaska or Wyoming - where for every $1.00 spent on roads, about $0.05 comes from user fees. The average is about $0.32 from user fees for every $1.00 spent.

Again, I can't say how your country funds roads, but in the United States, a strong argument can be made that income taxes, as well as other sources, funds roads.