The question is whether we expect the car to ever reach the point where something bad happens. It's possible the stresses are so low it's unlikely ever to be driven to wherever the failure point is. Whoever designed it must have considered that bringing in cars to have them checked is expensive and inconvenient. Alternatively, whichever part will fail might be cheap enough that it can just be swapped at a regular service. Would be cool if somebody knew.

Read with less jaded eyes. I didn't ever say people shouldn't have these cars. Totally up to them. I just pointed out that it's mostly a matter of taste, not necessity. There aren't that many farmers that half a mall car park can be full of pickup trucks with nothing in them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatigue_limit

Useful graph. The wording "no limit" can be a bit confusing to people who haven't done a materials course. In this case, having a limit is good.

Isn't there a massive oil boom going on in the US and other countries at the moment? I heard the shale oil thing is huge.

My thought as well. It's totally baffling that this beast is the world's top selling car. I'm a European currently visiting the US, and my wife and I are constantly pointing at what to us looks like a monster truck. I actually took a photo of me standing next to a random US pickup truck to demonstrate the ridiculousness of a car whose roof I can barely touch.

The pickup idea is also completely foreign to me as a European city-dweller. Maybe it's because I have a family I can't see why they don't just put in a row of folding seats. I've never needed to carry anything that my Freelander couldn't handle.

I love the names though. They really know how to name the giant vehicles. Ram, Silverado, Expedition, Armada...

http://heatball.de/en/

Yes. The average American is of recent European descent, speaks a European language, and lives under a system derived from European thought history.

Is he financially better off by giving away stock?

Looks quite green. What do they get up to there? Big agro / natural resources?

What's 1980s algebra?

The FDA isn't entirely free from distorting incentives. Suppose you're the FDA boss. Do you want some scandal about some guy dying due to a false test? Of course not. Simpler just to ban it. But what if the test is sound? Well, nobody will know that some other dude died due to not being diagnosed because the test wasn't administered.

It would have made more sense to make sure consumers understood that the FDA had not yet finished it's product approval, while letting them continue. People can decide for themselves how to react to a test.

They can just check the blockchain on any web browser, and it will tell them if they've been paid. You don't need any particular client to receive the things.

The addresses can be followed, that's true. But that doesn't mean anything while the coins are in the system. Anyone can create a bitcoin address, and get someone else to send it to them. They don't actually need to use their computer to receive or send them. They can just go to a computer cafe with the private key and move the BTC like that.

Your problem is when you are turning it into fiat currency. There's money laundering controls that requite strict ID. I don't just mean a passport and utility bill.

The worst is when they tell you one of your colleagues is leaving, and they've recommended you to them, so they need your CV.

I turned around and asked my three partners what they were selling their shares for. Recruiter hung up while they were laughing.

A chimp may not have the hardware to do higher math, but who's to say that most humans don't? Why is that fine genetic line somewhere amongst humans, rather than between us and the chimps?

You may not be able to rival Usain Bolt, but you'd certainly benefit from training. It seems clear to me most people are not at the limit of their math ability. In fact, we have a society where being innumerate is perfectly acceptable. I think the easiest gains are to be had in training people more (if math is what we want) rather than to try and move the limits.

The example of Bolt is also interesting. He's of a type that is not normally pushed to do sprints (too tall), yet there he is, the fastest man ever. It will be interesting to see what they conclude about genetic influences on math skill.