Depends on where you want to go or do. 4WD isn't a necessity, but it sure is handy for getting in and out of the woods on unmaintained logging trails. Besides the obvious recreational value, there are times when it comes in handy for working, too. A buddy of mine and I used to split hauling duty when we went in to cut firewood, for example. We could get a lot more out with my '97 4WD fully loaded plus towing a loaded trailer than we could with his 2WD Dodge with automatic transmission. I think we figured that we were getting 6-7 cords with my vehicle vs. 2-4 with his.

I'm a HUGE believer in manual transmissions. Sadly, I don't think anyone is selling a 1/2 ton pickup or SUV with one any longer. Don't know what I'll do when it comes time to go car shopping again. :-(

Let me guess: 2WD automatic transmission in the F150 and no weight behind the rear wheels, right? I'll grant you, one thing that Ford never got quite right was the gearing in their 2WD automatic truck trannies. Never enough torque when you needed it.

Also, let me ask. Did the Dakota come with a limited slip differential? The F150s that I owned didn't have one, although my dad's old 1970 Mustang did. Makes quite a difference in traction.

I normally don't reply to myself, but I saw this right after I posted:

That should read 250ci (cubic inch).

I know you're trolling because this is the second time that you posted this, but what the hell.

I live in Minnesota. I've never been a single manufacturer buyer. Over the past 30+ years my immediate family has owned Volkswagens, Toyotas, Mazdas, Saturns, Chevys, and yes, Fords. I've bought cars of all sizes as well as pickups.

To your complaints, the best vehicle that I ever owned in terms of both durability and its ability to avoid getting stuck in the snow was a 1997 F150 XLT 4x4 with the 4.6L V8 and standard 5 speed manual transmission (4 speed plus an overdrive gear). I only got the truck stuck so bad that I needed help getting out once when I dropped the front end into a really deep, narrow mud hole while 4 wheeling.

I drove that truck nearly 300,000 miles in 15 years. It never had an engine overhaul in all that time. I finally replaced the clutch at 275,000 miles and there was still some wear left on the clutch face. Rust didn't become an issue until right before I sold it.

I only sold the truck because we had two kids going off to college and needed to cut down on the number of vehicles sitting in the driveway. It was the oldest vehicle we had by about 6 years, sooo... There are times I still miss driving it, though.

The second most reliable vehicle that I owned was a 1987 F150 XLT 2 wheel drive with the big V6 (250cc? not sure any more) and manual 4 speed transmission (basically, a 3 speed with a low low "granny" gear for 1st). I drove that one for 10 years and well over 150,000 miles. Again, never had an overhaul or a new clutch. And again, rust was not an issue.

That one got stuck a little easier because of the lack of 4 wheel and the light ass end when it wasn't loaded. It was easy enough to compensate for, though. I just threw about 150 lbs behind each rear wheel well and didn't treat it as a 4x4. I can only recall getting stuck in it twice.

The first time was when my wife and I were out in the woods on an old, unmaintained logging trail. No big deal, really. She wanted a chance to drive it out there but didn't know how to read the ground. There was a wet patch where the road was really soggy and she drove into it instead of around it. :-) My fault for not realizing soon enough that she didn't see it.

The second was on an iced up 90 degree curve. There was a school bus and about a dozen cars and pickups off the road on both sides. I was only a 1/2 mile from home after a long commute, so I tried to squeak through at about 5 miles an hour. I literally slid off the road on the inside of the turn. Trust me, nobody was getting through that corner that night without 4 wheel drive, studs (illegal here), and/or a lot of luck. ;-)

Both vehicles handled snow pretty well, although the 4x4 was obviously far better with really deep snow. I commuted over 50 miles every day for a long time through some pretty nasty Minnesota blizzards. Never had a problem getting home in snow.

Ice, OTOH, is not a pickup's friend. You have so much mass that if you break traction you're going skating. NEVER overdrive your vehicle.

Gapminder's main site

Go ahead, check out the stats. By any measure, the US is NOT number one when it comes to health care and we spend a higher percentage of our GDP than everyone else for demonstrably poorer results.

Cue conspiracy theories about how Microsoft persuaded Nokia to go all in on Windows phones, knowing full well it would flop and cause the company to stumble hard enough to enable a cheap buyout.

"We" already are starving and overpopulated**.

"we" are not. In fact, only a small portion of the world now faces starvation, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.

The evidence so far strongly suggests that we now live in a "winner-take-all" world economy, where technological advances do not filter down and only serve to deepen the inequality both within a countries population and between countries.

Again, alarmist babble with little basis in fact. The truth is that the technological revolution of the last 200+ years has extended the average lifespan worldwide from around 30 in 1800 for most people to well over 70. Even the poorest people have seen average life expectancy go from 30 to about 60.

Is everyone where they need to be? No. But let's stop with the Chicken Little imatation, shall we, so we can concentrated on the remaining problems? This scientific research/engineering project is exploring one of those ways to extend benefits to exactly the groups that need it most. Why not just evaluate the feasibility of the project, both economic and environmental, on its own merits?

Our elected representatives live in a fantasy world where their votes are now bought and paid for legally. We are no longer their concern. It's all about the money.

"First you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the women." -- Tony Montana

Nevertheless, you get what you pay for and most Americans get healthcare which is higher-quality than that received by Europeans

That is simply not true. Life expectancy. Infant mortality. Deaths from burns. Drownings. Deaths from falls. Deaths from poison.

Pick any metric that you like and you'll see similar results. The reality is that the U.S. paying FAR more than virtually all other countries for health care and getting demonstrably poorer results than many, including most of Europe. (We're tied with the Marshall Islands with Tuvalu and Niue close behind. Everyone else spends far less than we do.)

Worse, if you set any of the graphs in motion it becomes blatantly clear that for the past several years, we have been spending ever more on health care and seeing next to no improvment. It's most blatantly obvious in the case of infant mortality but the same trend is clear for virtually all variables. Meanwhile, country after country following more 'socialist' models are seeing far better results from the dollars that they spend.

rant.

Life expectancy vs. % of GDP spent on health care.

Life expectancy vs. Government share of total health spending.

Tell me again why government funded health care is a bad idea? We get less for our health care than every other developed nation and pay far, FAR more than anyone else does. We are clearly doing something wrong. Maybe we ought to take a look at what works for a change instead of getting our 'facts' from Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly.

There are plenty of games out there that meet your criteria if you're willing to look around a bit. For example, just about Valve's entire catalog has consistently had plenty of new material included for free at later dates. Sometimes in addition to DLC that required a payment, sometimes not.

Tripwire Interactive does the same thing with the Red Orchestra series. They recently released an expansion to Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad that not only added a whole new campaign called Rising Storm based on the Pacific Theater, but also added several maps to HoS.

There are plenty of publishers out there with established track records for doing this kind of thing. Just look around a little.

It's only a whoosh when you've never had a senior help desk monkey tell you that. :-)

Speaking of Windows sounds: Ever hear a person say "h", "t", "t", "p", "colon", "slash", "slash", ... ?

FTFY ...What? Am I the only one who remembers which was designated which back when typewriters and terminals ruled the world? Just because Microsoft chose to confuse people yet again doesn't mean we should perpetuate the mistake! :-)

From Wikipedia:

According to an estimate of 2011 the population of the city was 32,036

Ummm, yeah. We're talking about an awfully small city, here. I doubt that there's much of a security threat. Kids joyriding might be the worst, and why bother with the airport when there are thousands of square miles to go off-roading just outside of town?

Personally, I think we'd be far, FAR better off if had a much more pluralistic, parliamentary structure instead of the false right-left dichomoty that has dominated American politics since the country was founded. We need flexibility in our governmental system, not some ossified, static monolith.