Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….
- Obama To Draw Sharp Distinction From Republicans On Budget – That would be greatly refreshing. I’ll believe it when I hear it.
- Sarah Palin’s 2012 Shot At The Presidency Is Probably Over – Plenty of crazies still in the pool, even if she leaves. And, honestly, she’ll make more money and secure far more ongoing fame staying in “private life.” Palin’s conservative spokescritter career is hardly over.
- Ann Coulter Strikes Back At Trump And Birthers, But Blames Liberals And Hillary For Promoting Them – I have no doubt that there are some liberals in the media who love to trumpet this crapola because they think it makes the conservatives spouting it sound like idiots. And there are some conservatives in the media who love to trumpet it because they think it causes trouble and distraction for their foes. And there are folks both conservative and liberal in the media who love to trumpet it because it engenders high ratings in a "bread & circuses" kind of way. (And, yes, I'm talking about Coulter AND Birthers.)
- Slide rules – “I’d recommend using a slide rule in high school for the same reason as using an abacus in elementary school: because it’s tangible, not because it’s practical.” An interesting notion.
- Vertical hanger straps bicycles to buildings – Clever. Assuming it doesn’t jam while your bike is still at the top …
- GM: Volt drivers getting 1,000 miles per tank – I suspect that’s in part because they’re being used by people for less drive-length-intensive purposes (the Volt for around town, the mini-van/SUV for stuff that goes further afield). However, it’s still a very cool statistic.
- Student loans, fuck yeah! – I neither object to reasonable borrowing for education, nor for reasonable actions to collect said debt. The problem is, between skyrocketing college prices (fueled in part by the availability of student loans) and the “for-profit” (whether private or taxpayer) aspect of debt collection, the system is set to screw unwary students over. Surely there’s a way to prevent deadbeat students from gaming they system without turning it into indentured servitude.
- More museums add their voices for evolution – Well, what would you expect from a bunch of commie atheist secular anti-Christian scientists who are probably also gay?! Defund! Defund!
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I always wanted a slide rule, but never owned one.
How many significant digits do you round to? I like two. Could I have been influenced by currency?
It depends on the purpose. As I get more and more managerial, I tend more toward larger rounding.
Had a great discussion with a friend re: changes to American car culture with the advent of electric and hybrid cars that are now affordable. He was wondering how we’d deal with the ‘need’ to take long trips/heavy hauling and towing.
We talked about most commuting being perfectly suited to electric vehicles and those who need to drive longer distances being perfectly accomodated by hybrid vehicles. The big change I would see is a need to shift from personally owning specialty vehicles to renting those specialty vehicles for their special use.
These are changes we could make now, and responsible and budget conscious consumers will be making them as they have to replace existing vehicles since the alternate fuel vehicles are finally reaching reasonable cost levels.
And, of course, there will be those who fight this to their last breath . . to whom I say, please drive what you want, and enjoy your high gas prices . . .
I just bought a new car. Since I do so much city driving, I thought a hybrid would be perfect. Unfortunately, they are expensive and it would have taken about eight years for the savings in gas to make up for the price difference. I need lower monthly payments, as I do not make much money, so got a gas-powered vehicle.
🙁
@Arty: I suspect you are correct on the rental picture. We consider that, in fact, when we swapped out the mini-van for the Outback, and, in so doing, “lost” two seats. Answer: should it be necessary, we’ll rent something larger (or even consider both cars). And certainly if we needed to tow something, we’d do a rental. (We’ve also considered rentals if we need more building material from Home Depot than we can now fit.)
@Avo: Understandable. The price point is not quite there yet, but (esp. with a few more generations of battery tech) it will be.