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Comment Re:prevents big 3 from controlling. Tesla monopoly (Score 1) 137

One major purpose of car dealerships is to confuse buyers concerning the cost of driving a mile. For example offering a $4,000 cut in price for any trade in that can be dragged in on a garden hose gives the buyer and illusion that the cost per mile of operation is reasonable. If one takes the cost of the vehicle, the interest on the loan, the compulory mainetence fees, the optional maintenance fees, the insurance, repairs, and gasoline over the life of tye car then one can get the cost per mile driven. For example you buy a $30,000 car and the instant depreciation is $10,000 and you only drive 10,000 miles that year the depreciation alone is $1.00 per mile. You first year per mile expenses when totaled may exceed $2.00 per mile. If people calculate the true cost per mile they may suddenly be confronted with the reality that they should not own a car. Dealerships use all kinds of gimmicks to cause people not to understand the cost of driving.

Comment The CARP WILL WIN (Score 1) 118

Frankly both the invasive carp as well as the snake head fish are something that interest fishermen and others. Opinions may vary but I'd bet money that a few people will quite deliberately sneak both species into the great lakes. Obviously when this occurs other species may not be able to do well at all but the fishermen will be able to easely catch carp and snake heads. Although the carp would be better raised in fish farms they could be considered a resource as they taste ok. We have had snale heads in south Florida since 1980 and maybe even before that. I've caught quite a few but never cooked one. They are simply a larger version of the American bowfin which have always existed in Florida.

Comment Out The Back Jack (Score 1) 720

There are many places more wonderful to live than Ohio. In Florida when the job market is tight even a minor misdemeanor can jamb you up for life as far as almost all companies are concerned and it doesn't matter what skill or trade you are in. But you can be elected to Congress and fit right in.

Comment Expansion of Rights (Score 2) 81

To be free of being a target of crime is also a reasonable human expectation or right. To live in a society that has a reasonable degree of order and regular function might also be described as a human right. To expect the full benefit of medical technology, food and housing as well as legal representation in both civil and criminal issues is also esential. Not to be lied to by our employees that we call "the government" is also vital. How is it that most of these areas only get lip service and any progress is astoundingly slow? Is it reasonable for veterans not to get benefits the moment they are discharged from duty? How can a man be held in a jail for four years awaiting trial? How is it that arrests that lead to not guilty verdicts do not compel government to compensate the person subjected to that false arrest?

Comment Traditional Industries Dead Meat (Score 1) 461

Progress is upon us and the social upheaval may stop it all. Just as workers are becomming obsolete in large numbers so will major businesses. Businesses lack a basic sense of co-operation and instead believe in ugly forms of competition. For example GM or Chrysler could have gone to Tesla and taken a lisence to build a set number of vehicles using Tesla's electrical and mechanical designs while offering a differnet body style or accessories. But instead they try every trick in the world to bury Tesla in the dirt. Now watch the electric utilities try to use influence to stop self generation of power for homes. The oil industry is in a panic and I suspect that the tumble in gasoline prices is a futile effort to try to hold onto the market. As 3D printing becomes more advanced factories all over the world will close. Methods of supporting the public must be a prime concern as we are going to see violent social unrest as people feel more and more economic pressure.

Comment Memorize (Score 1) 312

Simply dedicate time each day to memorizing anything. For example memorize Hamlet. You may not give a hoot about Hamlet but it gets you accustomed to focusing on a narrow subject for fairly long periods of time. When done with Hamlet pick a novel and try to memorize and maintain all of the novel. Education is focused on exactly that type of thing. It applies even to mathematics. I knew a school girl who committed the entire log tables to memory from one to one thousand in order to be able to conserve time on the SAT exams.

Comment Re:Intelligent life (Score 0) 334

I'm not certain any intelligent life exists on Earth. Compared to what an advanced being might be able to perceive and work with we might be so close to being as dumb as a common earth worm that the difference in intelligence is meaningless. For example give a worm an IQ of 1 and a human an IQ of 2 and an advanced being an IQ of 30,000. As far as i know there has been no prediction of just how advanced a really advanced species might get. It is also obvious that computers may already be far more advanced in certain ways than humans can hope to be and new areas for computer power seem to be opening rather quickly. Much depends on how one sees intelligence. If long life is any indicator turtles would be considered more intelligent than humans and unlike human turtles do not destroy nature or organize wars. Mankind thinks too highly of itself.

Comment The First Cop Tank (Score 2) 191

As far as i know it was 1961 when the city of Ft. Lauderdale got the first police tank. It was in fear of the dreaded college students on Ft. Lauderdale beach on spring break. It was stored underneath the local public swimming pool. It featured such things as tear gas sprays and rubber bullets. But the heavy, tracked vehicle was a threat as our beach road was normally covered with students. We had as many as 500,000 at one time. About 1962 colleges started to stagger their spring breaks to avoid crowding at resort areas and the FT. Lauderdale police and officials were ugly enough to cause less kids to come to Ft. Lauderdale anyway. And yes, kids really were assaulted for no reason by over worked cops. I was there and saw it first hand. Oh Lord save us from the hordes of scholars descending upon us.

Comment It's Easy (Score 1) 584

Sadly most young girls are obsessed with clothing and cosmetic products. And frankly there is nothing more likely to ruin a girl than going down that path. Look at the term model closely. Would you rather own a model car or a real car? Girls are socialized to be observable. Their culture involves how they look and not what they are. The Kahn Academy might be a great place to park your young girls to complete mini courses.

Comment I Have Doubts (Score 2) 196

In order for people in a nation to support a market place two things are required. The people must have disposable income and leisure time available. Sadly we are living in a time in the US where most people have less and less disposable income and either have way too much liesure time or way too little liesure time. We can assume the unemployed won't be getting "things" very much at all. And those that work anywhere near minimum wage won't be buying much either. And it is not a tax problem as politicians would have you believe. It is the cost of basic survival is too high and the wealth the rich have been allowed to accumulate has ruined the economy. Yes we do need a fair minimum wage and we also need a maximum wage and earnings limit as well. Failure to do this will result in some sort of revolution which may already be under way. Every crime has an element of rebellion against government in it and every arrest costs the tax payer more money. The downward path is chiseled in rock for all to see.

Comment Social Issue (Score 1) 375

There will be a stunning legal effect if cash is not the method of exchange. The rich will continue to be able to lead criminal lives with very little chance of being caught. But low level criminals will be swept up like never before. The thief with cash from stolen bicycles will not be able to spend his money as he can not verify his money intake. Even for organized crime it will create big problems as the lesser players that the mob depends upon will not be able to explain their income. Even the store owner who pays a bit of protection will become historic as with electronic money the books will never add up. In essence if the exact crime can not be proven the IRS would have people by the short hairs every time. Even the migrant farm workers as well as their employers could be swept up with great ease as electronic money will be unavoidable. Yet there are places such as New jersey where crime may be essential in the lives of most people as the state is known to be so corrupt that organized crime is actually a moderater for governmental and business corruption.

Comment Crushed Freedoms (Score 0, Flamebait) 355

This man is a victem of the politically moderated speech problem. He stated his beliefs and was then considered anti-female and anti black. In reference to black, native people I do not find it outlandish to suppose that there is little demand for esoteric reasoning as they are busy enough trying to eek out a living. I further do not think it is offensive to state that peoples' minds and social customs adapt to what is needful to survive. Therefore I would expect it to be very rare for native people, not exposed heavily to western life, may not have activated abilities in the mind that are more common in urban cultures. That is not looking down on anyone. People simply adapt their minds to their needs. As far as the remarks about female scientists in the workplace he is on target. The men probably enjoyed the company and therefore the men may not be as concentrated on their work. It does not attack the ability of women at all. It points to the difficulty in mixing sexes in some jobs. The notion of non-offensive speech is killing free speech.

Comment Laws By The Truck Load (Score 1) 213

The denser the population the more laws, rules and regulations get passed and the worse they get enforced. There is a certain reality that we are all hurdling through space on a rock and we are all doomed as well as the entire human race. As population swells and personal morality drops people become frightened and unable to cope with life. Politicians tossing out reams of laws as pablum to the people in order to get or keep a voting base is simply a form of corruption in itself. People do need to have a spine. To be able to stand and take the arrows and slings of fate while being aware that you are in a losing battle is just part of life. These days we have so many cowards who hide with alcohol or drugs and make all kinds of false justifications for their cowardice that I do not know how we expect to survive as a nation.

Comment The Weakest Ninny (Score 1) 436

So some Casper Milk Toast wets his pants over lyrics that many other people find funny. It seems to me Casper is the one to be punished for being such an over sensitive freak, A minister that complains that a person will burn in eternal hell if they are not a baptized and repentant Christian could be considered as menacing and threatening. These restraints on speech need to stop. A rap singer is says I'm going to eat your baby does it for comic effect. And I suppose that some listeners to rap music salivate over a day in which cops will be gunned down. But most sane people very much realize that the notion of fighting a well trained police force is foolish. And the notion that citizens with hand guns and rifles can put down the military is just plain stupid. There is no city anywhere that the military can not crush with ease. It is only because one goal is to avoid killing innocents that clearing a city of combatants is difficult at all.

Comment The Model (Score 1) 233

Football is modeled after warfare. The idea of charging the line in violent confrontation and almost assuring great injury or death was a common thing to do in the Civil War, WW1 and several lesser wars. At the time people didn't normally live very long and few were feeling good at the age of 40. We have classic players in major plays who called them selves old and senile at 35. So the idea of being snapped in half on a football field seemed quite acceptable and players were told that it was their responsibility to be trained and able to handle the conflict of the game. It is like telling them if they die in the game they just did not try hard enough. In 1860 a 10 year old boy might be treated as an adult. These days some parents consider their offspring to be kids until they are in their 40s. But after they mess up football what about boxing, motorcycle racing and sports that rip people limb from limb? In motorcycle racing there have been incidents in which the brain was bashed completely out of the head. The famous Mike Hailwood actually stopped to attend a dying rider in the middle of a race and other riders were actually driving over the brains on the track. Then again Mike the Bike and his son died in a car going out for fish and chips.

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