Do you care where your tools are manufactured?

[J. Clarke]

I've never met a nurse who was paid as a sub-contractor. In fact I suspect their union would go ballistic over it.

Which accounts for at most a quarter of the sales of SUVs.

[J. Clarke]

I'm sorry, but the post from Stephen Hawking has not made it to my server. Would you be kind enough to quote it?

Which facts, that the Chinese don't adhere to American notions of morality? Or that they have a far greater population density than the US, making reduction of their population a societal priority? Or what?

No, you I'm going to accuse of being too chicken to debate me directly.

[J. Clarke]

It's true that Hillary's eye-rolling seemed to me to be inappropriate at the time. In retrospect though . . .

In this case though, whatever one thinks of China, their efforts to get their population under control without marching people into gas chambers would seem to be making the best of a bad situation.

[B A R R Y]

There are lots of different types of nurses.

A specific example is a friend of mine is a nurse who specializes in cardiac (ex:// angioplasty) operations. He'll do a several month contract at Hartford Hospital, do one or two at Yale, go back to Hartford... He takes summers off to fly his r/c planes. He's not in a union, and totally self-employed.

Private duty, in-home care nurses, are quite often sub-contractors to shift some of the extreme liability away from the agencies.

I only attempt to point out one factor. Style is probably the biggest driver in vehicle sales.

[Leon]

If I was, I'd be having more fun and so would the car. LOL

[Leon]

That too. ;~) Even after all those years it was in production it was always changing and getting no better.

[dpb]

Never ran across home-care nurses or other similar subcontracted areas? I suspect you're thinking of on-floor hospital nurses only -- there are many others as well. And here, at least, they're non-union even in the hospital altho they're not considered subcontractors, of course.

...

I wouldn't be too sure of that w/o more data than I have (or care to research), but the general assumption of tax law being a driver to the mix of vehicles is certainly true.

[Brian Henderson]

Gas is a natural resource, there's only so much out there and eventually we won't be able to find any more. That's like saying we'll all be able to keep working with wood when we cut down all the trees.

[J. Clarke]

I don't think that style was ever the reason that people bought station wagons. It might be the reason they bought one in preference to another but not the reason that they bought one in preference to a sedan.

[dpb]

J. Clarke wrote: ...

For some appropriate definition of "best", I suppose... :(

It would seem to be essentially the equivalent, however, for the victim so pretty sure I don't think it a very promising comparison.

[Brian Henderson]

The only problem with that is the recharge time. Currently, battery technology doesn't allow for enough use between charges, nor a fast enough charge time. Having to charge your battery for 8 horus for every 4-5 hours of use will never work and the things are so ridiculously heavy that exchanging them at a station is unworkable.

I agree that it's just not reached an efficiency that's worthwhile yet but it's a growing technology and one that's feasibly renewable.

[Brian Henderson]

That only applies to current engines though. If someone could build a high-temp ceramic engine, just to make up an example, water wouldn't be a problem at all.

[Brian Henderson]

Tell that to the 12-20 million illegals that are here then. Please invite them to go the hell home.

[dpb]

Yeah, the key phrase before was "in Mexico at a good job" -- there are sadly few of those available given the population and very little effort, it seems, by the government to resolve the issue except by dumping their excess on their northern neighbor.

Then again, it's essentially impossible to find a native-born "'Murricun" who'll actually show up to work in many labor-intensive areas while we pay who knows how many millions to stay on welfare...

The system is terribly broke and seemingly irretrievably so unless and until there becomes a watershed change in overall opinion at more than the scattered grassroots level.

--

[Leon]

True but I suspect we have only tapped 10-15% of the supply and that is the "gravy". I doubt our grandkids, grand kids will see an end to oil.

[Leon]

Up to a point, since it does not burn and because it does not compress it could cause engine damage from tolerances that are too small. Very small amounts of water in diesel fuel can cause broken pistons and bent connection rods in a diesel engine. I suspect that a very good filtration system that could remove the water from the alcohol would be needed.

[Leon]

Snip

Take a look at

They are claiming that the technology is here now. Crusing range of 350 miles, 1 cent per mile energy cost, recharge time in as little as 10 minutes, and loads of hp. IIRC DeWalt is getting similar results from their latest batteries.

Unfortunately I can see the oil companies buying this company out and shutting the whole thing down.

[Doug Winterburn]

The US has 1 to 1.5 million casualties to Roe vs Wade every year - 48 million since it became law. I don't believe they were volunteers.

[todd]

So all those cars burning E85 should be getting, what, 4 mpg? Give it up.

todd

[dpb]

Filtration doesn't work for solutions...

--