I should also have said, I agree with you on anxiety disorders - my daughter has a panic disorder and it's really been difficult for all of us to deal with. But sister demonstrably doesn't really have the disorder she claims to have. Test by: Although she tells the social worker she's incapable of driving, due to be terrified of the open spaces, so that the social worker has to do her grocery shopping, she has no trouble driving her 4x4 in the desert or taking her RV to the coast. (My understanding is that she tells them that a friend drives the RV and she stays inside the entire trip -- demonstrably untrue by anyone who knows her.)

My sister lives two states away from me. I'm not going to lie to any official who asks me about her, (I'd be happy to tell them she's faking her afflictions) but I'm not the welfare police and I don't see where it's my place to engage the government in order to rat on her. I just try to keep her out of my life and minimize the damage she causes to the rest of the family. Besides, she's known to be sue-happy, and getting on her bad side is not conducive to my financial health.

I actually don't know where she got the money. She got a lot of things by signing up to make payments and then... not making the payments. I'm not sure whether the vehicles fall into that category or whether they had some other source. I do note that neither her nor her husband worked a day after the mid 1990s, that they were both receiving disability and other forms of assistance, and that they also got a chunk of money from the lawsuit. I've tried to stay out of her drama otherwise.

Ok, here's a hard one. From the same novel, finish this quote: "A difference that makes no difference,"

It was actually not a bad novel, from a decent author (James Blish). Too bad about the title.

I guess you have to be really geeky to remember the philosophical discussion between Spock and McCoy over this very question in the novel somewhat stupidly named "Spock must die!"

I think I've heard this story before.

I'll have to go with "not perfect but better than the alternatives", then. I've worked hard all my life and there have been ups and downs. (I was financially wiped out by dot.com.bust, for instance, and had to really scramble to avoid losing the house.) I still think your character is measured by how you react to the misfortunes.

My sister (two years younger than I) quit her bank job in the 1990's because she saw a way to "work the system", went the disability route, is currently considered mentally (or emotionally? I forget) disabled ("agoraphobia") and physically disabled (She uses a walker during the times the case worker visits). She recently got additional income from a high profile lawsuit against the county.

In her copious free time she rides one of her 4-wheelers in the Nevada desert or travels the west coast in her 24 foot RV. (I note that although I've been in IT since the eighties in one capacity or another, I've never managed to justify the cost of a recreational vehicle or an offroad vehicle.) She's pretty open to her relatives about how she's gaming the system, and is forever telling me that I should chuck it all, get disability status like her and go on permanent vacation. Your tax dollars at work.

So yeah, obviously there's more to success or failure than hard work. I've thought long and hard about this, and even though how hard I work doesn't necessarily have a 1:1 correspondence to my success, I've decided it's the way to go to keep one's self-respect. Your mileage, as always, may vary.

I admire your intellectual honesty. I'm conservative-leaning libertarian, currently registered Republican, but I don't let this prevent me from really liking Ron Wyden.

To the outside world, my manager says there is a shortage of qualified labor. In managerial meetings, he states openly that his intention is to replace all new openings with H-1B workers for budgetary reasons. Entirely coincidentally, during that time it has become less and less pleasant to work here, and also coincidentally, all of the attrition last year was amongst regular (non-H-1B) employees.

What I take away from this is that "qualified" in this context means "willing to work for third world wages and no benefits".

Not only that, but how could "severing the internet cables" keep him offline for any longer than, oh, say, a round trip to the local Radio Shack?

Funny you should mention that. I noticed that also. They do kind-of sound like that in real life.

The Livewire has more in common with Buell than the conventional Harley models. All aluminium frame, monoshock rear, inverted front forks, light, fast, nimble. Of course, this is the prototype model. By release date, maybe Harley will find a way to make them slow and heavy.

That said, I ride a 2014 Ultra Classic Limited, and at 900+ pounds it feels like a much lighter bike. Harley, *even* Harley, has come a long ways this century. Even the sound system has been dragged kicking and screaming into the nineties -- they now have bluetooth support for phones, although unfortunately not for headsets -- there they use the same DIN connector from the 1950's.

> it's not surprising when you are selling an image rather than just a product.

Well, I'd say that you're selling an image and a product. Or a product and an image. Or something.

I was at the local dealer during the Livewire tour, (the Livewire being Harley's all electric bike) and like you I wondered how they were going to make the "classic Harley sound". They didn't try, at least in the current version of the product. But it hasn't been released yet, so there's still time.

Something I've never really understood is the customer compulsion to make it "sound like a Harley". (It *is* a Harley -- it sounds like a Harley *by definition*.) My first two Harleys were used, and the previous owners in each case had replaced the mufflers for something significantly louder. Setting off car alarms as you ride by gets old fast, as does the constant exhaust drone over long distances. On the second bike (a touring model) I talked to the parts guy about it, saying I was looking for a quieter set of mufflers, and he said -- this is a direct quote -- "Oh, you mean the old man mufflers."

Parenthetically, it's more than just the volume, the pitch makes a lot of difference also. The "aftermarket not legal in California" mufflers that came on my used Ultra Classic had a very high pitched blat that was especially obnoxious. The replacements besides being quieter had a bigger resonating chamber and the noise was pitched significantly lower in frequency. If you must have noise, it helps to rumble, not blat.

My current bike is my first new Harley (2014 touring model) and from the first time I rode it, I was shocked at how quiet it was. You just don't think of "harley" and "quiet" in the same sentence. It still had a low pitched rumble when you opened the throttle, but not enough to make you want to wear earplugs on long trips. (I guess I'm getting old...)

So back to the Livewire. I'd be disappointed if Harley saw the necessity to fake the sound of an internal combustion engine digitally. I've seen the Livewire in action (didn't get to ride one only because there was a LONG waiting line) and it makes a low pitched electric-engine growl that still sounds like the bike means business. I suspect that this sound will in time become the new standard.

> Obama will veto the bill anyway, so its all a wash anyway... except for the grandstanding.

Except (and this may be a minor point) we'd have a clear record of who voted for it and who voted against it, which might have an effect on the next election cycle.

There are no longterm jobs. And barring government positions, there's no such thing as a permanent employee.