The reason automatics rule in the US is because no one has time to use a manual. We are all busy texting, talking on the phone, eating, watching movies and sleeping. Sometimes, a few of those things at the same time... We only have two hands a knee to drive with!

As well as the Santa Fe and Elantra. Actually, it was Elantra's and Santa Fe's advertised 40mpg sticker that really got Hyundai in trouble. Those were heavy cars and very little of them got close to the advertised MPG.

Accents on the other hand, are not that far off. While officially they do get 37mpg (I drive one that gets this), there are a lot of Accents (more than Elantras) that do get the stated 40mpg.

There are rumors that Hyundai wants to stop the "lifetime" debit card and instead give out a one-time cash payout to each original owner that still owns the car.

I drive a lot and a single pay-out is not worth it and even though I like my car, if Hyundai does stop the debit card program, I might consider trading my car in for another one because I, as well as many others, bought these cars for their MPGs.

...with these images for their cover when I was in middle school.

I went to middle school in the late 90s, the textbooks were circa 1980s. Goes to show how outdated Florida textbooks were at that time and probably still are somewhat outdated.

I loved glazing over the cover as it made my imagination wonder how they would go about building those mega colonies.

It also signals you are likely loaded with student loan debt and are desperately in need of a job. This will gives you a disadvantage as the company will you see a hard-working, low payable employee. In other words, your ass will get ridden by management and subliminally reminded that they can easily let you go, which will effectively limit your career growth.

I see this in all types of careers.

Another source for the devaluation of the 4-year college degree are these Baccalaureate degrees from these for-profit universities.

Having a masters degree, even more debt, helps you grow in your career and in a few years from now, a masters will be considered a "diploma" in the math/science industry. These for-profit schools are beginning to push these degrees to unsuspecting victims.

If you're in Mars doing a one-way mission with no hopes of returning. What would you do before you died?

I'd make an effort to fuck with people's minds in the future.

I would make an elaborate treasure map of ancient alien civilizations in areas that are suitable for future human settlements. That way when people find my map and realize a government building is built on a location that apparently has ancient alien bones, treasure, etc., they think it was a government conspiracy or cover up and madness will ensue (but I'll be laughing from the heavans).

I would look for a cave and set up fake cave paintings like Prometheus pointing towards the Sun. That way they may send some poor sap to go explore the sun for possible clues (and possibly make great discoveries along the way) but in the end a lot of people will die because the Sun is really dangerous.

And the day I will fall to near death I will walk as far as I can, fall flat on my face, break my protective suit and have my right arm point in some arbitrary direction, so when rigormortous kicks in, my arm stays in that position. That way people will wonder what the hell I was pointing at.

I guess I want to be an asshole astronaut lol.

Regardless of Mr. Mannings outcome, the "average american" would still view him as a spy/traitor/terrorist sympathizer.

This trial will end in two ways... either he is found not guilty of all charges and he let go; or he is found guilty of the minor charges, while the major charges are dropped and the judge finds his pre-trial confinement as punishment enough for the guilty charges and lets him go.

Manning is small fries. This trial is also taking the spotlight away from General Penetration (I mean Petraeus) mistress who had tons of secret documents, etc. on her personal laptop.

The relative ease of pirating Windows 8 by what the article describes is still not enough to persuade me into using Windows 8...

Sorry, Microsoft.

Back then, the common folk couldn't read, couldn't write - they talked and remembered. They learned by trial and error and memorized the procedures that lead to the results they desire. THis is how they built monuments, pyramids, etc. The pyramids of giza are technically third-generation pyramids.. the generations previous to them were inferior because they learned how to build them via trial and error, to put it so simply.

Back then, people could recite Homer's illiad in verbatim (or very close) because stories, news, and information was passed around by word-of-mouth, not by paper, or books. The gospels were remembered and only written well after jesus died and well after many of the disciples died.

Some would say that the advancement of technology can help us use our mental capacity to retain more advance information by taking the burden of "rudementary" knowledge.

STEM degrees, as well as law and medical doctorals help people from low-income backgrounds and families have rich and successful lives.

I've seen and worked with many people who came from humble beginnings growing up and putting themselves through college for that engineering degree or medical degree has surely helped them have the rich life they now have.

By rich I don't mean just money, but stability, low stress, etc. - it sure makes life easier.

I'm also one of them. Partially put my self through school with the help of student loans and small pell grants while I worked part-time. My parents didn't make enough to pay for school. Now I'm in a secure job, going back to school to get my masters (paid by employer), live in a decent neighborhood, drive a new car and overall am happy with my accomplishments.

But that's just my 2 cents.

Giving more kids the chance to make it out in the real world by getting a skill-degree is worth trying.

Historically, people pursuing art degrees, obscure sociology degrees and the like usually were from affluent families and were likely to inherent a bustling company left by their parents.

I remember a Dirty Jobs episode where Mike Rowe was at a fish farm that recycled their water.

They used tilapia/carp to eat the poop.

Here's a clip of the show on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGoR4dbE1os

Regardless, stay away from fish harvested by Chinese. They are either grown in poorly maintained farms, or fished from endangered parts of the ocean where fisheries are nearly depleted.

Well yeah, I know i can't have my cake and eat it, too, unless I was Romney.

The evolution of society is a rollercoaster ride. It has its ups and its downs.

The Internet makes you stupid.

I used to visit Somethingawful a lot and one of the features they had was they would reveal such weird subgroups, such as forums and websites and report them in an amusing manner. Some great examples are the flat-earth society forums and furry forums. Of course, Somethingawful is also known for uncovering child-predator sites and gather as many IPs, etc. to report to police officials. Each of these articles revealed just how dedicated these members are into believing that what they believe is perfectly normal and that everyone else that doesn't believe is wrong.

What I've learned, and SA has pointed this out numerous times in those articles was that the Internet makes you stupid. The Internet has become a place where people with different beliefs, weird fetishes, etc. can find others with similar beliefs.

This is good and bad. What is good is that I can read about sexual fanfiction stories for the show Castle and its cast, which I thoroughly enjoy. The bad thing about this is now you have these groups that are big enough to permeate into mainstream society and garner enough political power to contribute to government policy (i.e. Scientology, Tea Partiers, Creationists, etc.) and de-evolve society into their way of thinking.

I just don't like the term "BrewPi".

Most beer drinkers will read it as "BrewPee"

No thanks.

"It's important to encourage girls to take up a professional career. So that in the future we have a strong motivated work force that costs only 60% of what it costs to pay a man."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jEmwtA_Ys4