A: an under-served market. Most likely because the costs of providing service are too high to support more than one player.

An "under-served market," huh? Alright then: the market I'm talking about is in almost the middle of the ninth largest metropolitan area in the United States, about four miles from the middle of downtown (which, in Atlanta, is not very far at all). If that's not dense enough to support more than one provider, then where the fuck is?!

It is not a government-enforced monopoly, it is a defacto monopoly

Yes, and a de-facto monopoly is still a monopoly.

It doesn't change the fact that one of those players (AT&T) got huge government subsidies to wire it up in the first place and then more huge subsidies to upgrade it for "broadband" (money it simply pocketed instead of performing the upgrade, by the way), and the other player (Comcast) actually is a de jure monopoly for services delivered over coaxial cable (it has a franchise agreement with the City of Atlanta, which prohibits other cable providers such as Charter from coming in).

Q: What is it called when you can only get high-speed Internet within a particular geographic area from one company?

A: a monopoly.

In my area (within the Atlanta city limits), there are three alleged choices for high-speed home Internet (i.e., Internet with a large enough data cap to be usable for things like video, gaming and software updates): Clear Wi-Max, AT&T DSL, and Comcast cable. Clear Wi-Max doesn't work (literally, at all) because the towers are too far away. AT&T DSL doesn't work (literally, at all) because the telephone infrastructure is too old. And yes, I did personally try to use both those services before resorting to Comcast -- if either of them had worked, even marginally, I'd still be using it. However, Comcast cable is literally the only choice, and is therefore a monopoly.

Look, you sick fuck, we're tired of your totalitarian bullshit. Just go fuck off and die already, won't you?

I have seen one website where some guy rebuilt his Toyota Prius battery pack himself; the problem wasn't the cells, it was the connections, which had corroded I believe. I think he spent maybe $10-20, plus labor, when the new pack was going to cost a few thousand. If problems like this become common, we'll probably see a lot of remanufacturing services popping up for EV battery packs.

I've seen a website where a first-gen Insight owner rebuilt his battery pack, where fixing the problem actually did involve replacing a few cells that had gone bad. Even then, apparently it was less complicated or expensive than you might expect.

My Miata gets about the same fuel economy as your GTI, but the tank only holds about 8 gallons. You do the math.

A crate motor direct from the OEM can be pretty damn expensive, which is why those (third-party) specialist companies exist. Similarly, I'd fully expect a third-party remanufactured battery to cost a whole lot less than a new one from Tesla (i.e., a lot less than $20k).

If your life depends on not running out of battery power, I think you can probably stand to roll down the damn windows!

(Note: I live in the South, and I know how hot it gets. My point stands anyway.)

How would you feel about, say, 10% of the cars on the road running custom software by the next door kid?

How would you feel about the food you eat being prepared at home by a mere lay "cook" without any formal food service training (shock, horror!) instead of on a McDonalds assembly line?

How would you feel about playing sports with friends instead of having it be prohibited except for "professionals" because somebody might get hurt?

How would you feel about wiping your ass yourself, rather than having to hire a Certified Asswipe to do it for you because you're apparently so fucking incompetent that you might miss a spot and get sick?

You're comparing apples (code) to oranges (break pads). Third party manufactured break pads will be subject to some oversight and regulation, especially as you can't just whip up break pads in your garage. On the other hand you are suggesting that anyone who really wants to can modify and install software without oversight or regulation - and that is not something I'd like to see in safety critical systems.

Bullshit. Sure, brake pads in particular might end up with oversight and regulation (in the sense of regulating the operations of the factory, but not necessarily in the sense of their suitability for the application) because they're hard for one person to make himself, but there are plenty of other things on a car that are almost as essential but completely unregulated. There's nothing whatsoever stopping a random guy with a welder from fabricating his own suspension parts, engine parts, the entire car body, etc. He could even weld a big spike on the front of the car if he wanted. The police would probably look at him funny, but they wouldn't stop him.

And if the people writing the code have to get it certified before it can be used, then that puts them on the level of car manufactures right now

If you're a car manufacturer -- which means somebody who builds more than X cars a year, where X is a pretty big number -- then you need to meet regulations. However, home-built cars are exempt from most (if not all) of it.

Having to do with Leases. It is incorrect usage in this context.

Unfortunately, so is trying to use a dependent clause as a complete sentence.

Better yet, let's hypothesize that the place you needed to go was too far away to reasonably walk to without this device, so you drove a car there instead. Now, with the device, you can walk farther than you were willing to walk before, causing a net increase in exercise (and a more eco-friendly commute).

Truecrypt lets you pick which encryption algorithm (and key generation mechanism, IIRC) that you want to use. So just pick one that the NSA didn't compromise!

No kidding. I live in Atlanta and have Comcast internet. If they roll out 2 gigabit service to me for any sort of reasonable price before Google Fiber becomes available, I'll eat my hat.

Wait, you say that in response to an APK post, and a misattributed quote is the part you're worried about?!

You see taxes as a weapon to punish the wealthy and successful.

On the contrary, taxes are a way to maintain the stability of society and thus save the wealthy and successful from their own shortsightedness. Without progressive taxation to maintain a middle class, wealthy elites will eventually end up being lynched by rampaging hordes of serfs. History has shown it to be pretty much inevitable.

If you're a member of the wealthy elite, your choice is not between being taxed or not being taxed; your choice is between being taxed and having your head forced into a guillotine.