Even though the German empire existed since 1870, Bavaria had a King up through World War I. Bavaria existed long before Germany. Different countries have different rules.
So, does that mean we have 50+ (remember Guam, Virgin Islands, Samoa, Purto Rico & Mariana Islands) "countries"? They all have different rules too.
Are there even any star wars fans who care
You're kidding right?
No, because the only people who will give a shit, are those who attend Star Wars conventions, or live their lives through role playing. 99% of the consumer base does not.
I guess your definition of system doesn't include anything like the fuel system, or the exhaust system.
Well, sure, but not being rear-ended is also about driving defensively. If you're in the centre lane on a three-lane freeway, then you should be at least somewhat aware of what's going on in the eight other cars around you. If the person behind you is exhibiting rear-endery behaviours (looking down a lot, doing their makeup, eating chesseburgers, following too close for the conditions [e.g. snow], braking at the last minute) then you need to get out from in front of them. If they rear-end you it may not be your fault, but you've still got a smashed up car and maybe a bad neck.
Try doing that in rush hour here (DC area...some of the worst in traffic nationwide), and you'll only end up in another lane with someone else a few feet off your tail at 70mph. Yes, you can, and should take action when you possible. Don't pace other vehicles in their blind spots, watch ahead of the vehicle in front of you, etc., etc. I've been driving nearly 40 years, and only been rear-ended once as well...not a damn thing I could do to avoid it as the twit driver was chatting with her unbuckled kid in the front seat, and I was at a full stop behind another vehicle...all I could do was brace for the impact.
Short story, where I was technically at fault, but believe I was set up.
I pulled up behind another vehicle stopped at a Y intersection with a yield sign in front of the vehicle ahead. As the vehicle ahead started to pull away, I let off the brake, and started rolling toward the stop, and glanced over my shoulder to see if I could continue to roll, or needed to stop. No traffic in sight, and I turn forward, only to see the other vehicle stopping for no reason, and with only a split second to apply brakes, but not enough to avoid contact. There was less than $1k in vehicle damage. The driver had her two children in the back seat, one with stitches in his head from a prior accident. Fire trucks showed up, with police, and it was determined that we could all go on our way after exchanging info for insurance. She later was given $5000 by my insurance company against a medical claim...I suspect to just make her go away.
My fault? Legally, yes. Morally, I say bullshit.
Problem is that even these interfaces weren't available in in vehicles that long ago. Will my USB interface work with the next USB3?
So, when your desired location isn't found in the nav system, what do you do? I had it happen just last weekend, with a new shopping center containing the movie theater I wanted to go to. I was able to use my touch screen to put where I wanted to go (Alamo Drafthouse, Ashburn VA). The address isn't found on my one year old Garmin system, which is up to date with their current maps.
Touch screen isn't ALWAYs bad, I just don't use it while the vehicle is moving, in fact, that ability is disabled when the wheels are spinning.
I agree. My car has some simple radio controls duplicated on a stalk, up-down channel, volume and mute. I can use these without looking, which is great,
On the back of my steering wheel, I have buttons for volume, and channels, and can switch between radio, satellite, or my SD card. It's basically two up/down rockers, and a button in the center of each. Other than Dodge using cheap buttons, the implementation seems ideal to me, and I've been using it for a year. Additionally, I've got voice recognition options, but rarely use them other than to "phone home" through bluetooth.
Yes, they try to gouge us on these toys. No, it's far from the simplest system in any vehicle.
The problems you speak of are due to corruption, not free markets. Even in the height of the Soviet Union, most people were living in squalor while the few lived in luxury. I know you are not going to say that the former Soviet Union was a free market.
Iraq under Saddam Hussein had the same situation. Most people lived in poverty while those that were high ranking party members were rewarded handsomely.
China is not a free market either. While it does have some capitalist tendencies, it is still a Communist nation. You need government permission to run a business. However, in order to make it, you better be tight with the person approving the application. It's one thing to get your application approved. It's something else entirely to have your competition denied and your abuses of the law and your employees ignored.
Mexico is another example. While the market there is freer than the other places I've mentioned, the success of your business rests on your ability to grease the palms of the right people.
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries are in the same situation. It doesn't matter what laws you have in place when those that enforce those laws are on your side. Selective enforcement of the law is a major ingredient in any tyranny.
What sets Europe and America apart is the lack of corruption compared to most other countries. It's not the laws that are in place, but a willingness to enforce them equally. Unfortunately, America seems to be moving away from that. Our DOJ, EPA and IRS departments seem to apply different levels of enforcement based on the political beliefs of those being investigated.
Awesome false dichotomy you got there.
I don't think you are in any position to accuse anyone of creating a false dichotomy. Your whole point is that there are only very rich and very poor in America and yet the vast majority in America are neither. The fact that you are using a computer to spread your crap tells me that you are neither extremely rich nor extremely poor. Your existence proves that you are full of crap.
That's really odd. I can afford a home and I'm not rich. As a matter of fact, everyone in my neighborhood is in the same situation I am in. No one in my entire city is what I'd call "rich" and yet very few of them live in squalor. The few that are "living in squalor" are illegals passing through anyway.
I don't know what country you live in, but in this country, the average salary is over $50,000/yr. That's ample to buy a house in most communities.
To put it another way, you are full of shit.
So explain why all of these free market places end up with a few rich and everyone else living in squalor.
Talk about false dichotomies!
I'm not living in sqaulor. I'm not rich either. According to your theory, I don't exist.
Try to stick to the real world too, none of this theory BS.
Project much?
Does the NSA app come pre-installed, or do I have to download it?
It's the only app available at this time. More to come soon!
I've got lots of perfectly good hardware (scanners, printers...etc) that never received a Windows 7 driver. I have to keep at least one XP machine around just for that reason.
My nephew is staying at my place for the summer and brought an old Vista machine. Rather than run a network cable to his room, I gave him a USB wireless-N adapter. He tried for a couple of weeks to make it work while a cat-5 cable ran across my office floor into his room. The other day, he decided to install Linux on the system after using my machine every time his crashed. We downloaded Mint and installed it. Once it was up and running, I plugged in the USB adapter, unplugged the network cable, punched in my wifi password and BAM! He was on the network and reading reddit. (I guess reddit is what kids do these days).
Anyway, the point is that all the drivers you may need are probably included in some of the latest Linux distro's out there. You might want to try booting off a live CD and try it out. If you're not a gamer, I see no reason to be stuck running XP or any other Windows based system.
Always draw your curves, then plot your reading.
