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Comment: Re:It's about time! (Score 5, Insightful) 420

by Jeremi (#43800591) Attached to: Tesla Motors Repays $465M Government Loan 9 Years Early

If electric cars take over the market, the demand for car maintenance will collapse. Thats a big chunk of the job market in some areas and there will have to be some adjustment.

We should all have such problems. Also if they find the cure for cancer, a lot of oncologists will be out of a job. It's still a big net win for society in either case.

Comment: Re: Congratulations! (Score 1) 420

by Jeremi (#43800535) Attached to: Tesla Motors Repays $465M Government Loan 9 Years Early

IMO, Tesla needs to produce an EV that costs under $20K new. A $15K would be even better. It should have range ... as good as it gets. Beggars can't be choosers. But probably 100 miles per charge would be OK for many. A $15K car that costs little to run would be an excellent reason to buy - and that would appeal to the mass market, to the people who have to count each dollar when they fuel up their current vehicles.

I'd like to see that happen too, but I feel the need to point out that any number of electric car companies have tried exactly that approach and promptly gone out of business. At least in the past, a $15K electric car ended up being a glorified golf cart that didn't sell. Maybe in the future, battery technology will advance to the point where that is no longer the case; we can only hope. In the meantime, Tesla has approached the market from the other direction and appears to be doing quite well.

Comment: Re:That's a whole... (Score 1) 383

by tbannist (#43794529) Attached to: Xbox One: No Always-Online Requirement, But Needs To Phone Home

You can buy the game for less than the cost of new (or again whats the point) for a digitally identical product (no worrying about does it actually work) and do it instantly from your living room.

If they did that, the publishers would revolt. Think about it, Microsoft would be selling digital copies of the game for less than retail and probably not obliged to give any of the money back to the publisher. Of course, I suppose they could split the money three ways, but if you're getting less than a third of the retail price of the game in exchange for trading it, is it still worth it? An allternative way I see this working is if Microsoft allows you to "return" digitally downloaded games for a small refund in Microsoft dollars (M$) which can only be spent on other Xbox digital purchases. The carrot is the ability to get money for returned games, the stick is you can only spend the money on the Xbox. Lock-in achieved.

Comment: Re:Thoughts on Vampire rules? (Score 1) 102

But with the newer stuff, their abilities are amped and their weaknesses are nerfed. Why not?

Exactly. You get eternal youth (at whatever age you "died") and all kinds of extras in exchange for a literal blood thirst. Which may or may not require you to kill a person (depending upon the writer) or animal.

So what effect would that have on society? And when did it start?

Are there "good" vampires and if so, why aren't they converting some of our best scientists? Why aren't they our space program? Stake them on Earth, send them to Mars and have a machine pull the stake. No need for food during the trip. Be the first vampire to see Saturn up close and then turn the ship back to Earth. How many astronauts on Earth would willingly "go vampiric" to do that?

Comment: Re:Thoughts on Vampire rules? (Score 2) 102

Do you feel that we should stick more with the classic mythos? Or are you in favor with your own spin.

The problem would be FINDING the "classic" vampire. They've been changing ever since they were first invented. Mostly because the person telling the story needed a certain feature set for that story.

I'm not saying anything against Michael Reaves. But the main problem with most of the stories is that the reality created by the writer is inherently limited to the knowledge of the writer. So there are usually huge plot holes such as "if vampires are so cool then why wouldn't everyone want to be a vampire" or "if vampires are so powerful then why do they have to hide".

Let him choose out of my files, his projects to accomplish. -- Shakespeare, "Coriolanus"

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