Velocity squared is not exponential? Raising something to the second power and all, I thought that was exponential.

...by going to my friend's to watch it. I don't have cable TV. But I do like the show. I'm sure there's someone in the entertainment industry who considers that a form of piracy.

That may be true but it is not really relevant under real world conditions, where you lose energy through braking. Gradual acceleration and braking is more efficient. Also, as speed increases, wind resistance increases exponentially, so going faster harms fuel economy. It's not just the engine's peak efficiency that factors into the equation.

This does not take into consideration the energy wasted by spinning your tires against the pavement, and wasting energy by not coasting, resulting in much of the energy being lost during braking.

Are we really supposed to be maxing out our vehicle's performance when we drive? I accelerate slowly because it's safer and because it's more fuel efficient. I like the fact that if I stomp on it, I can GTFO in a hurry. That doesn't mean I need to use it every chance I get.

150 mile commute? There's your problem.

I understand the appeal of fixing your own stuff, being able to take things apart and figure out how they work, and making them work better, but there's some things that are just not suitable for that kind of thing. Like, you don't hear people bitching that the transistors aren't replaceable on their CPU. As other components miniaturize, it's just too difficult to effect field repairs. They become too small and too delicate and tolerances are too tight.

In my area, I'm lucky that we have a large number of self-organizing developer groups. I found a bunch through meetup.com, and since I started going I've gotten much in the way of advice and encouragement, and picked up some insight. If you participate, don't just go and hang out -- put together presentations, and ask the audience for their thoughts. Probably lurk a while before doing that, but once you get the flavor of how they are run, put something together that you feel strong at, and present on it.

Wow, they can digitize my digital versatile discs? That's, like, so versatile!

Analytical Engine 2: Electric Boogaloo.