Just curious, here in the US whenever I've gotten in a friend's vehicle with a manual, they tend to park in gear as well as use a handbrake. I put it in neutral and use the brake, which is thought to be the "proper" way? It's made for some interesting starts when driving friend's cars ;)

Can confirm: US driver here. Each car takes about 3-5 seconds to start moving when the car in front of them has left. Multiply that by 15 cars trying to get through an intersection and it makes for an increased level of anger in me when I sit at the same light twice. (Three times, I just turn around and call in sick)

2 out of the three of your compact cars weigh over 3300 lbs. on my side of the pond, and they barely break the 30 average mpg mark. Color me not impressed when I owned a 440hp v8 weighing in at 3800 that got 22 average. That eight mpg was made up in owning something I very much liked to drive. I was merely making the point that most cars today aren't especially light, regardless of where you live.

I hear this weight argument quite a bit about American cars. Outside of SUVs and trucks, what super fat cars do you actually think we drive? Of my last three cars, one of which is typically called a pig in terms of weight. I owned a 2010 Camaro SS, a 2009 Subaru STI, and most recently a 2012 Mustang GT. Their weights respectively? approx 3800, 3600 and 3600. 200 lbs in a car is the difference one passenger makes, which is negligible in my opinion. Also guess which one got the best fuel economy? The mustang gets around 20 mpg average with 3.73 gears, the camaro got about 22 mpg with (I think) 3.55 gears, and the Subaru trailed with about 19 mpg. Also I might be mistaken, but aren't most of the european cars in a similar weight category? Yes some American cars weigh more than this, but there are plenty of Euro-boats too. It's a very silly argument.

I grew up in Lycoming County and read about that truck leaking from the valve. Not sure how true it is, but the number of gallons leaked was reportedly less than 10, but I heard the real number was swept under the rug. :( It's really scary to have friends and family still living in that area. When I go to visit, I don't even recognize it anymore. Where there was once beauty and simplicity, it's now all about industry. I went to breakfast a few weeks ago outside of Muncy, and a restaurant that previously served water in a cup gave me a bottle.

This is a great start. I'm not familiar with the process. If they document that everyone hates the scanners, will they actually be removed?

Let's review every decision you made at 17 years old and see if it was smart. Overborrowing towards an education and supposed better life sounds not so bad to me.

Define enjoy..... Mostly ridiculously hot eating is part of a bunch of guys trying to prove they're as tough as each other :) That's why I do it, and will do it again. Enjoy it? Not really.

Yeah, that sentence made my head hurt just a bit.

Say what? I don't have any intent of having a family, and I already have a house. I'll gladly drop exorbitant amounts of money on a stupid inefficient go fast mobile. Just because you require economic things doesn't mean everyone does.

Some stores have good enough beer and food to warrant me kicking a couple quarters in a parking meter. I can't think of any other thing I would pay a premium to have the privelage to buy. Anything that is a mass produced product (clothes, drumsets, notebooks) does not warrant a stop in a small town with parking meters.

What a wonderful crime-free world we live in where we can be blissfully disconcerned with hardened crimes and finally crack down on lesser offenses like copyright infringement.

Like the Elder Scroll games?

Actual guitar player here. Guitar hero / rock band is just a fun means to drink beer and play a video game with friends. No reason to compare it to the real activity....and I find it really annoying when "real musicians" would criticise the the game. Some people don't like fun I guess.

Twom actually. I came due for a new phone as my Verizon contract was coming up as well. I had a EnV touch, which stopped working correctly to the point of being unable to dial most of the time. This was the point where they were trying to liquidate their Kin stock as the project was pulled. I was warned by Verizon staff that the phone is horrible. See the Kin was originally supposed to be a smart phone, but Microsoft and (partners) discontinued all the various interactive online services that communicated with the device rendered it simply a device that could text (qwerty keyboard), make calls (capacitive screen), take pictures (8MP camera), play music (Zune), and surf the net (WIFI) All of these things it does very well, for very cheap and NO required data plan. As a smart phone, there's plenty of better alternatives, but for those of use too primitive to own a smart phone, this thing has no equal. My point? Right product, wrong aim.