My place may be tiny (single-wide trailer on a .1 acre lot) but I own it free and clear. No mortgage. So they can't check my mortgage info. Phht.

(shrug) This thing struck me as something an Audi buyer would want. I have a bike, but due to recent balance problems I have "stabilizer wheels" (adult training wheels) on it. Tomorrow my banana seat and sissy bar kit is supposed to get here. Crank-forward bikes cost mucho buckaroonies, so I figure a banana seat will give me an ass-back seating position and provide similar goodness for my old, messed-up knees. End result, hopefully finished by this weekend: A lowrider Aluminum (Schwinn) beach cruiser with training wheels. One of a kind. Cost? Not enough to buy ANY of these electric skateboard thingies. Not even close.

Maybe not for himself or herself. Bu I got cheapie Nextbook tablets for preteen granddaughters because they didn't have cameras, and almost all the trouble a young girl can get into with a tablet or smarty phone starts with a camera and a boy. I can't do much about boys from 1000 miles away, but I sure can prevent cameras in cellphone and tablets. Give them a shared (household) HP printer & bluetooth keyboards, and their tablets aren't just toys, but homework machines. And for $80 each, loss or breakage (which happens) isn't a huge tragedy.

I'm a devout bluetooth keyboard user. I have no use for a tablet without bluetooth.

"they do not have the power to arrest and kill you..." they used to, before unions. Now the loons are getting rid of the working people's only real voice, wages are dropping, and I suspect that it's only a matter of time until they can kill you again!

Oh, wait.... didn't BP kill 11 workers because they skated safety regs? And mine owners got a bunch of miners killed not long ago? And a Texas company blew up half a town?

Did any of the execs involved in these killing go to prison? No? so they have the power to kill you. Arrest, no. Unless they can get local LEO to help. But yeah, they can kill you, and all that might happen is a company fine that doesn't come out of the criminal executives' pockets.

Ain't America grand? :)

In Baltimore, you had (and maybe still have) "hack clubs" that were groups of (generally older) black men who would pick you up at the store with your bags or run other short errands cab drivers didn't want. The fare was always "whatever you feel like paying," a dodge that kept them from legally being cabs. Sort of. And if you shorted a driver, you'd go on the hack club list of bad fares, and they'd never pick you up again.

Yep. Those overpriced medallions are why NYC has a strong gypsy cab business, some licensed and some not. Don't believe me? Call a cab by phone, and you will NOT get a yellow car. You'll get a black one. Or maybe white. Depends on the company. And if a hotel doorman or concierge makes the call, you can bet he hit the driver up for 10% or 15%, just like he's a mini-Uber.

Exactly. And the Maryland Public Service Commission didn't blackball potential cab & limo drivers because they had criminal records. Violent crimes were the no-no for good reasons that most non- libbienuts understand.

Other crimes, you get an appeal hearing. Bring some friends who say you're a good person, wear decent clothes, have a drivers license with 2 points or fewer, don't call the hearing officer a motherfucker -- basic stuff like that, and they'd give you a license to carry passengers.

And the cab company garages? A den of criminals. I swear, the body shop/paint guys all smoked crack on their breaks. How do I know? They were nice people, offered to share with me. Plus they happily used company facilities and material for private "side" work. Which is how I got my wife's car painted for $20.... ...which was actually okay with the company. I ran the dispatch, and it was like a fringe bennie.

I don't know about you, but my car insurance policy (from The Hartford, through AARP) specifically states that it does *not* cover for-hire car use. Read your policy, and I expect it says something similar. When I had my limo service (note my Slashdot nickname) I had commercial insurance, and a minimum of $1 million instead of the $20,000 a cab was required to have. That $1 million policy cost me a lot less than a cab policy, because owner-operated limos are about the safest form of ground transport there is.

And when there are fines to be paid, Uber shows its true colors as it acts like the lowest form of taxi company and puts it all on the driver. I remember that bullshit from when I drove a cab in Baltimore.

The funny thing is, I think Uber is going to be very good for the livery car industry. When I started Robin's Limousine, Boston Coach was working hard to build their Baltimore operation. Customers asked me if I wasn't scared of them and their marketing muscle. "No," I said. "They're doing my marketing for me by selling the idea of a non-cab luxury transport service. All I have to do is be a little bit better and little cheaper, and I'll have the coolest customers. Like you. I notice you're riding with me and not Boston Coach."

I had a few friends, each with their own livery car or limo, and we covered for each other. The rule of the limo biz is that if you only have 2 customers, it won't be long before both of them need you at the same time, so you'd better team up with other reliable drivers.

One thing we did, by consensus, was *always* pop a small strip of red carpet for passengers getting in or leaving. That was quite the deal for proms and weddings, but we did it for transport jobs, too. George Clinton (the P-Funk dude) one told me that even though we charged less than most of our competition, he'd pay us extra (and believe me, he was a heavy tipper) because we were better at helping him make an entrance than any other limo company, ever.

If I hadn't moved off into writing (the limo company was taken over by my friend Charles, who still runs it), I might or might not join Uber today. But probably not. Once cell phones started giving you the first minute on incoming calls for free, I was cool on my own -- really in partnership with Charles. See, you called anyone else and you got an operator.flunky. Call us, and you got a boss. People like that. :)

Supposedly that's going to change soon. All the people who actually do the hands-on work on Slashdot would like to watch the videos in Linux and on our phones and tablets, too. I believe the higher-ups are finally coming around to our (your) point of view.

Scary how long I've been working on Slashdot, too. 1999 - 2008, then laid off with a nice buyout. Diabetes got bad, had some heart attacks, did some local (Bradenton, FL) reporting and editing, got on disability -- and here I am, working on Slashdot p/t.

Yeah, I remember that night. One of the good ones. Sometimes I miss the Balto/DC area. Then you guys had snow and my neuropathy (diabetes complication; cause mucho foot pain, sensitivity to cold) kicked up in sympathy and I was glad we moved to FL. Ah well....

Ask Tim Lord. He shot it. And where does he send it? To anonymous@coward.ly?

MacBooks: I have an old MacBook Pro I keep around for Mac software testing. I typically carry an Acer sub-notebook, dual-booting Linux and Windows, when I leave my home office. BUT now I'm getting accustomed to carrying a 7" Asus MemoPad tablet and this nice Bluetooth keyboard. I also have iRig directional and hand-held mics, and a clamp-on wide angle lens, so my tablet is a total "reporting machine." At some point I want to get a 9" or 10" tablet with a 12MP (or so) camera. Then I'll *really* be in business.

Oh - the iRig mics. They're set up so you can plug in your 'phones or buds while recording and monitor your sound. I wish *everybody* did that. Don't you?

Actually, Jon likes being outdoors (as do I). He just doesn't get stupid about it to the point where he turns red.

Yes, terrible audio. I cleaned it up as well as I could. There was some sort of broad-band static in those rooms. Not a single freq like a 60 Hz hum. Grr....