People here keep saying that it is financial, but that is only part of it. How many times have you woken up sick as a dog and then through the miracle of medicate feel 1/2 way alright by 10am? I know I go to work sick when that is the case as it is not worth the hassle to catch up from what I missed the day I am off. This is the reason why many Americans don't take all their vacation (if they are white collar workers - don't have the links to the numbers at my finger tips).

There is no redundancy built into the system at work that one person's job, they are responsible for tasks, and if they are not done "THAT DAY" then things go wrong for them. Deadlines are missed, backroom promises are broken, etc. I cannot tell you the number of times I went to work sick as I had a change to do, that I waited a month for approval for just to get implemented and if I missed my "window" I would have to redo all the change effort and approvals.

Bad policies, bad redundancy, bad management are all the reason why people come to work sick.

Indiana - land of supreme court tested voter ID act. I will stop by the polls at 4:30 and usually am out in less than 10 minutes, voting on a the same electronic machine that has been there for 15 years. Cheap and reliable and we usually have our complete county count by 7:30 on election night (polls close at 6:00). My son is there now (and texting me) and like 15 people are there but high school kids just got out of school.

Every person is different, but I bought a 12 port 4' power strip (15 bucks a frys) that mounted behind the desk. I have one small 4 port one that comes off and is mounted on the corner of my desk for "when I need to quickly plug something in". Everything else plugs in the big one in the back. I have one 8 port USB 3.0 hub with a 4 foot connection mounted on my desk plugged into a USB port in the back of the PC. Everything goes into there. I have a 4 port KVM, which has extra KVM for extra PCs (but I only use 3) so only one mouse and keyboard (and 3 monitors). I have all of my networking and printing on a separate desk so the only stuff on my work space desk is my monitor stand, keyboard and mouse, and the USB hub and small power strip in one corner (and my speakers, forgot about them). The office is in a 90 degree angle, so the PCs and stuff are in the area between the two desks.

I read the article (yes, I know fop-aux) but how can they "overstate" mileage? They submit the car to the EPA and the EPA tells them the numbers. There is no testing at the car manufacturers site. The EPA farms this out, but that is still the rule of law by the EPA. Were they not listing the numbers provided by the EPA? Then fine Hyundai's ass into oblivion. If they marked on the window stickers what the EPA told them, even if Hyundai knew the numbers were wrong, then there is no issues in my mind and people should sue the hell out of the EPA.

I am free to be an independent and impartial technology expert.

Are you good at taking tests? Are you well read? Can you memorize facts? Can you read patterns in the English language? Do you understand subtext? Can you speak comprehensible sentences to get a salient point across? Can you write efficiently? Can you research facts and figures? These are all skills. These are all skills which are taught in American schools.

Can you do basic accounting? Can you install an OS on a computer? Can you balance an checkbook? Can you build a home from scratch? Can you paint an oil painting? These are all Trades, and this is also what American schools teach.

Do you want to know what intelligence is? Stringing those individual skills together to do something with it. I can memorize facts, speak, write and research. Does that make me good at my job? No. Being able to put those together in a way which you can interpret, extrapolate, and create new and unique ideas is intelligence. This is not what is taught in many American schools.

The funny thing is that the highest IQ score I have ever got is 90. I have two masters degrees and work in Cyber Security as an IT Architect. I am not below average, just not good at test taking and what ever skills that I was tested on the supposed IQ test. I never cared that I have a below average IQ, I and everyone around me knows I am smarter than average.

And your point is? Yes I did not advocate that it had to be implemented, I just said that the solution would work, if fully implemented. International regulations, interfaces, etc. all do funky things to trying to create a homogeneous environment for things to work. I am just pointing out that it would have worked, just like if caller ID were required at the phone company (ie. who is paying the bill) on every phone number sent around the world (just like SPF). It is not .. thus the point is moot.

The government monitors all the phone calls anyways, start flagging the ones that sound like robo calls (ones where no one is there to answer the phone until you say hello 10 times to get someone's attention) and other behavioral type attributes that can be identified. Look at call duration. If there were 1000 calls an hour, each lasting under 30 seconds, then you know that is a robo caller as they don't leave messages. You can train IT systems to do that, and the monitoring infrastructure in the DHS and FBI are already there.

Wrong. First off investigations would cost millions of dollars to get one arrest. Secondly, no CEO knows 100% of the policies/practices being done within their organization. Some do know if they are doing this practice, and it was approved, but that number is low. All the CEO knows is they do some phone marketing and it is handled by the telecom and marketing folks, and they get XYZ results from it. Third, punishing CEOs would also just raise the cost of being a CEO, making their salaries even higher. The reason CEO salaries are so high now, is because they are taking all the risks by just being there. One asshole in their company fudges a number and they go to jail. You cannot run a business like that.

That is only because people don't fully implement the solution. If you blocked when SPF was not validated correctly, or if they don't have an SPF record, you could catch a lot more. This is the problem, it is a solution, but not fully implemented.

Then complain to congress. They are the ones that passed the laws in the 1990's (I think went into effect in 1998) that every car must have traction control, power steering, steel reinforced doors, dual stage air bags, dual airbags (driver and passenger), 5mph crumple zones, and some emissions standards. They even went so far as to state the color of the damn low fuel indicator light (orange). If your car is after 1998 and does not meet one of these standards, it is fined, and the cost is passed right onto the consumer. Ever wonder why imported cars in 1998 to about 2002 jumped in prices? They had thousands of dollars of fines on them until they met those standards. The good old Toyota corolla that got 50+ mpg and was a tin can on wheels would have had $8k in fines thus they had to quit selling it as they could not justify selling that car for $20k when it was worth $12k.

I say the same thing ... IT IS ALL ABOUT PREFERENCE AND COST.

Not all people can afford two cars, one as the daily commuter, and one for the weekends. Thus they have to combine them into one car. This means people have to prefer to put their utility to meet 100% of their needs with the most limited cost available.

A buddy of mine is a great example. He and his wife have 4 kids (2 each from previous marriage). Due to car seat regulations, seat belt laws, etc. you cannot put 4 kids in the same back seat even though they would fit. You MUST have 3 rows of seats. They have a Hyundai Sonata, and a Chevy Traverse. Now the guy drives the Traverse since his commute is shorter, but he would still love to buy a prius, but he cannot afford to have 3 cars just to make gas mileage better, when he HAS to take the family out places.

It is all about regulation, legislation (thus the preference that is applied to you), and limiting your own costs.

I am sorry - but this is not true. Why is it that if I want to purchase a diesel from VW, Mercedes, or BMW, and do the European pickup (where you pay $3k, they fly you to the factory, you drive the car for a week, and then they ship it to the US for you), you have to SPECIFICALLY get the US emissions, which is $3-5k more than the European standards? You have to have all the specifics in documentation. I know the NO2 is like one tenth the US level which requires the Urea and regenerative particulate filters (thus eating about 3-5 US MPG). Many of the European car companies are implementing these on their Euro models now so that they are "greener" and that they can lower costs to not have to build two lines.

Try to Buy a European Diesel engine. So for example, I want to buy a VW engine so I can put that in a Jeep Wrangler. Great, I have to buy the US model, and all the extras for it just to make it US EPA compliant, while already by default Euro compliant.

To quote a typical slashdot meme ... "Must be Russia"

Morality is a choice, and as such, part of the list of requirements when they purchase a vehicle. If someone makes a lifestyle choice that they are going to buy a prius and rent a pickup truck when they need it, that is a choice. If they choose to live someplace with good public transportation and not even own a car? That is a choice. The reason behind a choice is almost irrelevant as it is still with my greater point of requirements and finances.

But yes, if you look at the stats, 65% of all people buying a new car their top rated reason for purchasing it (after price, since the question was asked "that you can afford") was gas mileage. I would venture that 1/2 of all people want to spend less on gas, the other 1/2 want less pollution. That is a good thing, I agree with you.