The way the word "addiction" is thrown around debases its meaning. What is being talked about in most cases - shopping addiction, computer addiction, sex addiction, cocaine addiction - is really compulsive behavior. And what ends up happening, in practice, because of this, is that actual addiction, (such as to opiates), is treated the same as compulsive behavior. Or rather, vice-versa. The Chinese, at least, are appropriately treating this compulsive behavior with behavior modification.
I think it would benefit everybody to distinguish these two very different problems.

Well, here's another thing - you can have a cell phone, which is very handy to have, and not have to play with it all day long. Just keep it in your pocket until you need to make a call.

Sure, why not? The word's been rendered meaningless already.

What's the difference between NK and Iran?

China.

Actually, the loading and unloading of container ships is automated in most modern ports. Crane operators are used to load and unload trucks, and of course to move containers around the port.

I did see that statistic recently. I was surprised, too.

Since I saw your (Score:5 Insighful), I feel I should comment directly. Like most people, I too was completely ignorant about trucking until began doing it myself.

Actually, no. A truck driver can make a thousand, to twelve-hundred, per week before deductions at the highest paying companies, if they're experienced drivers. But when you consider they're putting in ten to fourteen hours per day, often seven days per week, it no longer seems like a lot. Also consider that these guys have no lives. They're really at work twenty-four hours per day, sleeping in a truck, often not seeing home for weeks at a time. But the truth is, most drivers are making eight, nine-hundred per week, even less when they start out. But that's an average. Truck drivers never know what their check is going to be, as they are paid by the mile. Some weeks, you might spend three days sitting in a truck stop with no load. You only make money when the wheels are turning, and you don't get paid for any of the other work you do. Then there are the many ways truck drivers are abused by trucking companies, and the personal liability truckers have in this job. You kill someone, that's on you.
If they work a local job, and are home every night, and every weekend, they likely work fifty to seventy hours per week for seven to eight-hundred dollars. Does any of this sound attractive to you?

I'm not sure how big you think those fuel tanks are, but typically the most fuel they can carry is five-hundred gallons, more often four-hundred. If you figure an average fuel mileage of 5.5 gallons per mile, you're gonna have to stop every 2200 miles, or so. Obviously, you have to turn it off during fueling, but the only reason to leave a truck running when it's not moving is to keep the driver comfortable. You burn a gallon an hour idling.

Except for the first and last mile of the trip. See my other post.

The Teamsters represent a very small proportion of truck drivers these days. In fact, few truck drivers are unionized at all. Years of anti-union legislation and Right to Fire laws have made unions irrelevant to the trucking industry. And this is very much reflected by the low pay truckers make, and the way they are treated by the industry. Why do you think there's such a shortage of truck drivers?

It's a little more complicated with a truck. First off, people will be - rightfully - wary of an autonomous 80,000 lb., 13.5' high, 70 ft. long vehicle. Not just the general public, but owners and insurance companies. The slightest screw-up with a vehicle this heavy, and someone's gonna die, or something will be destroyed. And simply going down the interstate is the easiest part. What happens at the last mile of the trip? I can tell you, as a truck driver, that my Garmin truck route GPS is almost always wrong when it comes to these industrial areas that I have to go to. It'll get me in the vicinity, sometimes within eyesight, but even when it's occasionally spot on, that's often the main gate. I still have to figure out which gate my load goes into, which is often on the other side of the plant. GPS is going to have to get a lot more accurate than it is in these outlying areas.
Trucks have to make some fairly complicated maneuvers, and go into some tight spaces, while loading, unloading, and fueling. And as often as not, this occurs on dirt roads. A human being has a hard time doing this stuff until they have about a year's experience. You can't imagine how easy it is to get jammed-up in these vehicles, by simply making a wrong turn, or miscalculating how much space you have, and how hard it can be to extricate yourself.
If it would work at all, it would likely only be feasible for freight trucks (dry van or refrigerated). Even there, many shippers and receivers are set up where, instead of backing into a dock, you drop an empty/loaded trailer, and grab an empty/loaded trailer. That can't be done autonomously. Shipping containers might be able to be loaded somewhat autonomously, but you still need someone on the ground, if only to flip and tie down the locks. And, of course, the entire port would have to be modified. The whole freight infrastructure of the country would have to be modified to accommodate autonomous trucks, and in many places, such as cities, it wouldn't be possible.
Other types of trailers - dump trucks, tankers, bulk trailers, flat beds - need an operator who's familiar with the equipment. I could see in some cases where some shippers and receivers could keep full-time loaders and unloaders, but they would probably have to be truck drivers as well, to maneuver the truck into place. I can't see letting a tanker full of some hazardous material trundle along on its own through a chemical plant. You'd have to hire people to do everything a truck driver does - loading, unloading, fueling, and inspection. Flatbed operators have to tighten their straps or chains (at least) everytime they stop. Straps loosen as you drive, and sometimes break or come off. Who's gonna keep an eye on that?
Trucks require, by law, at least one daily inspection. You might be willing to allow another company's employee to do the loading and unloading, but since you, as the truck owner, are responsible (liable) for the truck's safety, how is that going to work? What happens if the truck breaks down, as they very often do, and there's no driver? They're complicated machines, and with the addition of computers, getting more complicated. There are too many things that can go wrong, and you need someone there who can figure out what to do.

tl;dr - Driving a truck is nothing like driving a car. In the end, I think they'll keep a truck driver aboard, even if he's not always driving. It's by far the simplest and cheapest solution.

By the looks of it, Mercedes doesn't get it either. Four bucket seats? Please! I'm already dreaming of how I'll lay down in the back seat of my autonomous car, sleeping, reading, or whatever. Give me a nice bench seat, at least in the back, and if I ever feel like sitting up and staring straight ahead at the road, I'll do so.

Two things I find interesting about today's right-wing thinking. One, is that they seem to not understand where the wealthy get their money. It comes from the rest of us. Two, is how poor and working-class people will defend this right-wing nonsense.

If you had an internet connection on your computer, it'd be very easy to find out. Here, let me help:

---snip---
Are "We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to Anyone" Signs in Restaurants Legal?
Yes, however they still do not give a restaurant the power to refuse service on the basis of race, color, religion, or natural origin. These signs also do not preclude a court from finding other arbitrary refusals of service to be discriminatory. Simply put, restaurants that carry a "Right to Refuse Service" sign are subject to the same laws as restaurants without one.

What Conditions Allow a Restaurant to Refuse Service?
  There a number of legitimate reasons for a restaurant to refuse service, some of which include:

Patrons who are unreasonably rowdy or causing trouble
Patrons that may overfill capacity if let in
Patrons who come in just before closing time or when the kitchen is closed
Patrons accompanied by large groups of non-customers looking to sit in
Patrons lacking adequate hygiene (e.g. excess dirt, extreme body odor, etc.)
In most cases, refusal of service is warranted where a customer’s presence in the restaurant detracts from the safety, welfare, and well-being of other patrons and the restaurant itself.
---snip---

As a former bar owner, I would like to add: Assholes who bring their own booze.

Read the rest: http://www.legalmatch.com/law-...

By adding these religious exemption laws, you're opening up a loophole for all kinds of discrimination. For instance, a proprietor may decide he shouldn't have to serve the Sons of Ham, whom the Bible has said are bad people.
Yay, religion!

I have news for you - a lot of innocent people have been killed or injured in bungled raids already, mostly over small-time drug busts. That fact you're not even aware of this belies your assertion. Google: "innocent killed SWAT"

Yeah, I was going to say, we've been on ultra low sulfur diesel for a few years now. Another point worth mentioning is that all trucks in the US have to meet stringent exhaust regulations, so most have some form of exhaust cleaning system. I've seen, in my lifetime, trucks go from belching out big clouds of black smoke, to creating near invisible exhaust.
That said, I don't know where the OP got the idea diesel was cleaner than gasoline.

On today's web sites you're faced with a multitude of useless things popping up that you have to click away. Of course you begin to ignore them. Then, when some actually useful information comes along, you pay it no attention. I do wish web sites would stop spamming us with their various pop ups, or whatever they call that junk sliding in and out and over the page.

Right. I'd like to see an example of a child who's been damaged by seeing a film. Ok, I was damaged by seeing The Wax Museum as a six-year-old, but you know what I mean. I'd venture that most kids know these naughty words by the time they're nine or ten, certainly.