So if you want to "inspect" someone, just start a wildfire nearby, and you've got all the excuse you need!

Well, this IS Governor Moonbeam, after all... if he is for or against something, best consider cui bono.

That's great if I remember what the hell I'm looking for is named... and any linux user oughta know that filename, app name, and what it does often have squat to do with each other. Perhaps Windows is just trying to catch up on that front. :/

Yep, I know the conflict. I'm glad to have had that aspect of my education (dull as it was at the time), but I was already a compulsive reader, so they didn't discourage me. What happens with kids who aren't into reading in the first place?

My high school understood this -- the classes for remedial readers were so much fun that regular students sometimes took them too, and nearly all the kids came out of them with more desire to read, not less.

As it was explained to me by the engineering dept. at SoCalEdison, the more power I use, the more it costs them, so they'd rather I used less, and if I used none at all that would be perfect.

Incidentally Sam's Club has started putting little wind generators on the lampposts in their parking lots. Manager at the one I frequented in SoCal told me this had already dropped their power bill by 5%, which is significant if you're in retail (even bulk-wholesale-priced retail).

I've had CFLs all over the map too, from with lifespan in months to over a decade. When they fail, first they get dim, and at that point the transformer is also getting too hot. I pitch them then as a fire hazard (I've had 'em seriously brown the lamp socket).

On thinking about it, tho, CFL and incandescent lifespan was about the same in a given fixture or socket. I put one of each in several fixtures (both open and enclosed, some old, some new), and in the 13 years I owned the house, not a one of those burned out. Conversely anything I put in the open porch socket burned out in a few months, regardless of the season. The large open desk lamps, always in 3 to 5 years. How much a given light was used didn't seem to be a factor.

I've found that the first symptom that the transformer is going bad (without going around burning my fingers on 'em) is that the CFL gets dimmer. Without fail, those have overheating transformers.

I've had 'em last anywhere from a few months to over 12 years. Perhaps significant, incandescent lifespan was similar in the same sockets.

There's a guy north of Los Angeles who did that with junk property -- sold it over and over with owner financing, and the expectation that the buyer would default. Last I heard he'd sold the same junk lot five times and made way more than he had in it.

Back in the ancient times of carburetors, the way most Fords came from the factory, they'd start easy but stall when idling. If you fixed that, they'd idle good but would take two tries to start. (Which I found preferable to having to restart in traffic.)

I like your solution, with the warning light and delayed disable. I'll bet these lenders' liability insurers would prefer it too.

Just for comparison with the cost of a monthly loan payment, I figured out that major maintenance on my old truck averages around $700 every three years. This includes stuff like having the engine and transmission rebuilt.

OTOH, liability insurance (at best rates) over the lifetime of the truck has so far come to four times what I paid for the truck brand new, in 1978.

Absolutely, and without 'censoring' any of the language of his time. I wonder if the newly-censored versions realise what the book is about, or even preserve it. (The one I've looked at was a rather horrible editing job.)

"...The Human Centipede..."

I learn so much from this site.... ;) :O

That's a damn good point. How is a kid to learn to think critically about a controversial topic if all he learns is that studying an unpopular or discredited viewpoint (which is to say, reading one of these books) gets him punished? That might create a radical, but it won't create a critical thinker.

I think the AC makes a good point, in that if schools stuck to public domain works for teaching purposes, there'd be more teaching and less pushing of modern agendas.

But teachers could make better choices regardless. A lot of the novels we had to study in junior high onward were, bluntly, dull. That does nothing to encourage kids to read. There are plenty of classics that would attract young readers, if only they knew they existed. Why must it be The Scarlet Letter? why not Scaramouche, which is at least a fun read? or if you want symbolism and social themes, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, where at least something happens to keep young minds attentive (I read it when I was 12, so it couldn't be too bad for that). My 8th grade teacher understood this, which was why our studied classic was The Scarlet Pimpernel.

General fiction is a much larger market. But I've yet to see anything that called itself "speculative fiction" that I cared for, so I'll consider myself warned.