That's not necessarily true. Almost all homes and apartments in the South are air conditioned unless you're very poor. That kind of spoils us when it comes to high heat, as I learned when I moved for a few years out to the Pacific Northwest where they don't bother with A/C because it's only really needed in August.

Maybe it's different if you're an outdoors type, but for most of us 40 C is "stay the f--- indoors" weather, especially when humidity is as high as it is in most of the South.

That's true, but you need to take the tally with a grain of salt. Everybody knows what the outcome will be before the vote is taken, so they each get to plan their votes according to what they think will get them re-elected. You could switch your vote when it's actually taken, but lying to the party whip is a good way to get yourself shut out of important meetings.

There were probably some who would have switched votes each direction if the tally were taken entirely in secret. I can't really say whether it would have gotten closer or further from passing, though I suspect the whips could take a stab at it.

As I said elsewhere, I get tailgated in the *slow lane* where I live. Usually while going 5-10 over. If you don't run into that, then I'd like to live there. I miss my short stint in another state where people drove the freaking speed limit and gave each other space. If only I could have gotten a job there...

Isn't it the aggressor's fault for spreading the rage around? The tailgater is the one creating a potential accident. Nothing requires that person to follow at an unsafe distance until one of us decides to change lane. How am I the one "trying to control others" by minding my own business? I'm not the one trying to push someone else around.

No, but I've also never been forced to commit sexual acts on myself by someone giving me the finger. Doesn't make their naked aggression and attempt to spread around their own rage and misery justifiable.

Huh. I thought that meant the exact opposite: that the speed limits provide the exception to the requirement to keep up with the flow of traffic, not that the requirement to keep up is the exception to the speed limit.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that only apply in two situations:

1) You are travelling less than the speed limit AND slower than the flow of traffic. (Vehicle Code Section 21654.)
2) You are on a two-lane road, and there are more than five vehicles lined up behind you. (Vehicle Code Section 21656.)

I've always though California's split speed limit was insanity and a recipe for road rage, sudden braking and congestion, and accidents. Do you have any idea what the rationale is for it?

No, many of the long term projects that get a lot of media attention are funded by wealthy individuals. Taxpayer dollars go to many long-term projects that will benefit humanity as well.

The LHC, Super Kamiokande, and almost all the big physics projects are taxpayer funded. Almost all the big brain mapping initiatives going on today are publicly funded -- particularly through the NIH. Most climate monitoring is done by national governments and universities. Government funding is about the only thing keeping new antibiotics research alive since it's unprofitable.

Personally, I'd rather vote for people to put the money into projects that won't deliver short-term profits in hopes of greater long-term profits than cross my fingers and hope that if we let some people amass enough concentrated money that they'll spend it on something other than their own, narrow interests. For every Carnegie or Gates there are a dozen Koch brothers, Trumps, and second-generation rich twits like Paris Hilton.

No, I'm the one in the right lane, going ten over the speed limit, and ticked off immensely by people who *still* tailgate you in the slow lane.

What about all the stuff his foundation does about malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV? Or the stuff he's doing for sanitation and disaster relief? Heck, even if you're looking for something closer to home, then what about try to fund a better condom so that people will be faced with less of a choice between pleasure and safety?

I may not like the man and bear a huge grudge for some his more destructive effects on the computer industry, but all of that kind of seems piddling compared to the effect his actions will have on billions of the world's poorest people. I have been forced to grudgingly admire him for quite some time now over his philanthropy and the transparency and effectiveness of his charity compared to some of its "rivals."

Assume for a moment that you had his job. Wouldn't you?

In my experience, most cops have more of a sense of humor, especially black humor, than the public realizes. Comes the territory of any kind of difficult, unappreciated job.

Okay, that's a pretty horrible potential future, but I think I could live with it if they also targeted tailgaters and people who don't use their turn signals.

In no way did their statement imply direction or control over their evolution. They merely described the selective pressure under which the mutations would have given them a survival advantage. Don't hijack their words to air your quibbling, semantic pet peeves.

He is the god known for eating his immortal goats over and over again, which he can only do if he doesn't break their bones. So, I guess he's semi-relevant to bones.

(That said, what a horrible life for his goats!)