If you take off your "Electric Companies are TEH EVIL" hat for a second, it's pretty interesting that they have the same issue that states do with paying for roads in relation to electric cars. That is, someone generating electricity or using an electric car is making use of a resource where the cost of access is subsidized by something you are no longer consuming.

I think the electric companies have a pretty good point that they still have to pay to maintain lines to your house even though you are now consuming a fraction of what you would have.

Outside of US territory.

See, within the US or when targeting Americans, the Constitution and other laws apply.

When the US kills non-citizens on foreign soil, there's no US law against it. That's because that's armed combat. (It might also be a covert operation, in which case whether it's legal is up to the country in which it took place. It's probably not legal.) Dealing with other countries killing your citizens within your borders has traditionally been dealt with through this thing called "war", and, more recently, through the UN and other international alliances.

This idea is not getting modded up enough.

You could charge a fortune, and people would happily pay it, to have old-timey carriages pulled by robotic animals in New York City. That just screams "shut up and take my money".

I have always thought a small car-mounted drone could be incredibly useful. Even if it could not be used above say 10MPH, just something that could pop up a few hundred feet in the air to give you a quick overview would be awesome.

Especially for finding parking.

I wish my car had a drone for instant scouting of traffic-jam alternates.

You do, it's called the Waze user that is ten minutes ahead of you down the road, mixed with many road sensors reporting traffic flow rates.

If you are using navigation many mapping applications automatically route around traffic issues (including Waze). I personally just have it up while driving, not really using navigation but just to keep an eye on traffic rates and issues. I've turned off many a highway before to avoid a Waze reported issue and taken a pretty obvious alternate route you could see at a glance on the map.

For anyone that has not tried leaving modern mapping applications open with traffic status enabled, I highly recommend it - just get a decent car mount so it's easy to see the display. I recommend Waze in particular only because it's one of the best at taking in user reports as to police or road hazards (like chair in right lane! just one example of something I have reported in the past).

It's probably impossible to know until you are actually in the same situation.

It's possible to know because you know how it is from the side of people noticing things. I find artificial hands immediately obvious, as much so as a robotic hand would be.

I think either would fare just as well in terms of not attracting notice when covered by a glove. Why not, then you would just look a little odd in summer...

An Aeropress doesn't make espresso. It makes a good drink, and it does it decently well, but you're comparing different coffee beverages. (Could the beverage made by a $30 Aeropress satisfy many people just as well as espresso. Sure!)

Formica doesn't have anywhere near the mechanical and chemical properties of granite or other high-end countertops. If all you want is something that will hold up cutting boards and room-temperature objects, they do the same thing, yes. But a granite countertop is practically indestructible.

Because the depth-of-field effect generated by your eyes depends on the distance to the subject, which is largely flat in 3D movies. They can't add DoF blur because they don't know where your eye will focus. They can put the most-obvious object in focus and then the other objects will be blurred, but if you focus your eyes on them, they won't come in to focus, which is not how your eyes normally work. (The same is true in 2D movies, naturally, but there isn't the illusion of the ability to focus in those.) They can make all objects in focus (if they can light the scene enough to use a small enough aperture), but then you won't get the correct DoF blur generated by your eyes.

I have no love for Healthcare.gov, but honestly just about every site is sending out notices that people may want to change passwords. Heck, Yahoo *made* me change my password.

Like everyone else they don't know if anything was taken. And frankly, Heatbleed is probably the least of the security issues Healthcare.gov has... I'd be way more worried about backbend systems, and then it doesn't matter what your password is.

Well, ok, but then again, in Europe, you don't need a car. Not even to "get away".

I've lived there. Yes, you do. You can get around any U.S. city just as well by public transport, but you can do a LOT more with a car in the U.S. or the EU...

The expense of food in the Netherlands is what prompted me to post...

I was living in Amsterdam for a few months a few years ago and I thought food was damn expensive (raw or otherwise) compared to the U.S. Perhaps in the 90's that was true but I think taxes have gone up substantially since then, also the fuel costs used to transport the food.

So you're confirming his point that starting out in a civilized country

You mean the ones with statues in every square commemorating one of the many wars you guys have constantly had?

Perhaps one of the ones that is constantly rioting because basic services can no longer be provided by the government...

OK then.

You know, not having to pay for college does wonders.

For everything except your education. And your job prospects...

Although costs for school in U.S. now are so out of hand I would warrant you are better off in Europe since you can easily supplement education for very little, whereas the geas a huge student loan places upon you is nearly unrecoverable even after decades.

I didn't NEED a car in school either, I lived on campus or could also take the bus. But a car gives you a lot more latitude - even in Europe it gets you places not easy to visit by public transport (I've travelled a lot in Europe both by car and train/bus/tram so I know what's what there).

As if food isn't going to be a problem in Europe, where the food and books and gas are far more expensive...

I was dirt poor as a student in college, but I still managed to eat just fine and have a car I could get away with when I needed a break. No way I could have afforded having and using a car in Europe.