Okay. I see your point.

In reply to this comment by direpickle:
@bareboards2: While some of the people in the video are obviously going over nuts over not-much (TV, clothes, whatever), there were also people thrilled over a new car or a million dollars. Depending on a person's financial situation, those can be life-changing (including having a car that you don't have to worry about breaking down every thousand miles).

While I don't think he was born into money, my point is that these days Bill Maher, with his $23 million, 1) has probably lost touch with what some extra cash (even if not a million dollars) can mean to a person, and 2) can give the bulk of that to charity and live a pleasantly austere life, if he's anti-stuff.

@bareboards2: While some of the people in the video are obviously going over nuts over not-much (TV, clothes, whatever), there were also people thrilled over a new car or a million dollars. Depending on a person's financial situation, those can be life-changing (including having a car that you don't have to worry about breaking down every thousand miles).

While I don't think he was born into money, my point is that these days Bill Maher, with his $23 million, 1) has probably lost touch with what some extra cash (even if not a million dollars) can mean to a person, and 2) can give the bulk of that to charity and live a pleasantly austere life, if he's anti-stuff.

Don't put ethanol into your car just yet. In most engines it will actually make everything seize up, and you'll pretty much need to get a new car or engine.

>> ^robbersdog49:

What is it with American cars? I can routinely get 40mpg out of my VW golf without trying, and it's not a diesel. That's just normal driving around. It would help if he drove a manual.


i drove a vw golf (well a gti, but same deal in this case) for 11 years and consistently got around 22 mpg, maybe like 25-30 if it was all highway driving. this was a 1999, mk4 body style, 2.0 liter engine, automatic. so its not some "american car" thing. your car was either magical, or you're a hell of an exaggerator. or you're talking about a european version that doesn't have the restrictions on exhaust like cars sold in america.

new cars are better, some production cars are now getting rated at over 40 mpg highway without hybrid or diesel engines (hyundai sonata, and chevy cruze i believe).

and back on topic, this hyper miling stuff looks dangerous as hell. too much driving without the engine on and suddenly your power steering and power braking might go out.

In related news, Pioneer debuted a new car stereo in Russia.
(reference to : http://videosift.com/video/The-real-reason-for-galloping-gertie-bridge-collapse )

something seems not quite right with the footage...
might get some backlash, but I'll be the first to say it - fake!

I love the magic wand she has....the car companies go out of business and millions lose their jobs, but "someone will step up" and start new car companies. That's a pretty amazing level of self-delusion to think that would happen here. As Letterman pointed out, the new companies would most likely be in China.

She's certainly not helping to moderate the Tea Party's reputation as a bunch of nuts.

@NetRunner:

"...but for now this is a huge step in the right direction."

No, it is not.

The Democrats better not break their arms trying to pat themselves on the back for this.

This is like occupying France in WWII and declaring victory without marching to Berlin.

This is like promising a new car, delivering an old VW, and acting like it was a Mercedes.

The Democrats had a truly remarkable opportunity to install real "Health Care Reform."

What we have here is "Medical Insurance Reform" and a half-assed example of it.

There is a significant difference between the two concepts.

>> ^ghark:
>> ^rougy:
50% of the American people who pay no federal taxes

Is that a reference to people on low incomes? I didn't quite catch the point he was trying to make (not being sarcastic btw).
Kucinich seems like a genuine fellow, the one good aspect from Fox's side is that they didn't interrupt him like you often see in these interviews, the questions were as biased as ever though.
Overall though, I can't believe how badly American's are being conned right now, i wonder when enough will wake up to what's happening.


Yeah, we are being conned. The worst part of it is that so many adults are sucking it up like treacle.

50% who don't pay taxes? That's news to me. I pay taxes every time I put gas in my car, or buy a six pack to drink. Federal taxes? Fuck, only the poor pay those.

There are a lot of people in scAmerica who make six figures, and they think they're rich. They are much closer to the poor, but try telling them that.

They pick on the weak and bow to the strong. They turn their heads away from all of our defense spending, and then yell about the domestic spending.

They love bombs and hate people. Some of them are mad because they can't buy a new car every year "like everybody else."

No, man, you're right. We've got big problems here.

My first new car was a 2000 VW Beetle. There were two punchbug stories that I always like to recall.

The first was on Main St here in town. Traffic was just getting rolling from a red light so I was only doing like 5-10mph. There were some thugs sitting on the stairs in front of one of the stores to my right. One of them punches the other in the arm. The punchee then proceeds to jump up and shove the puncher into the wall. I couldn't really hear him, but I'm pretty sure I lipread "Yo, what the fuck, nigga!?" I didn't get to see how that played out but I got the impression he wasn't familiar with the game.

The other one was down the street from my job. I was returning to work at the end of lunch and there were two little kids riding bikes on the sidewalk, heading the same direction as me; a boy and girl. The boy was smaller and looked particularly shaky on his bike. As I passed them I looked in the mirror just in time to see the boy punch the girl who tipped over almost immediately. The boy, not being very stable to begin with, lost control of his bike, drove off the curb, and wiped out in the road. I like to picture the two of them going home to mommy and trying to explain why they're both scraped up, bruised and crying, and mommy trying to understand wtf they're saying.

>> ^Stormsinger:
And how many thousands of dollars does it cost to replace everything burned out by this? Kind of a nasty surprise, if your car happens to get zapped simply by being in line with the target, don't you think?


A friend of mine had a power line fall on top of his newer car (someone crashed into the pole and he was parked into the parking lot next to it.) He took it in and the mechanic said it would cost more than he paid for the car when he bought it brand new to replace the electrical system.

Don't get me wrong, I think this will be a very useful tool; however, I would hate to be in the position of having to prove and then get money from the police department for a new car if they zapped my car by accident.

>> ^jimnms:
Damn that looks like fun. I think I'm going to go reinstall Richard Burns Rally now.


Wish i could afford to rally

New RSRBR 2010 IS out for rbr new cars new tracks http://www.virtualr.net/rsrbr-2010-released/

rbr is amazing !

That's exactly how they're gonna convince me to buy a new car that's gonna become useless in a few years when the battery degrades. With a song and a dance.

My pleasure! And yes hopefully it's good.

In reply to this comment by dingens:
Thanks, and very good for Alvarez!

In reply to this comment by Duckman33:
*promote

Story behind this film:

An unknown filmmaker from Uruguay has been given $30m by Hollywood studio bosses - to turn his $500 YouTube video of a giant robot invasion into a movie. Would-be director Federico Alvarez, who runs a post-production visual effects house in Uruguay, filmed 'Panic Attack' with a budget of just $500 in his free time. The five minute clip - which he then uploaded to YouTube - shows an invasion of Montevideo by giant robots and had special effects which could rival many big budget movies.

Once online it got the attention of thousands of movie fans… and (not surprisingly) studio bosses who wanted to meet with Alvarez to talk about his movie. The 30-year-old was whisked to LA where he was offered a $1 million directors fee and up to £30 million to make the film, by Mandate Pictures. The plans for the movie are said to have a "compelling original story" beyond big robots blowing stuff up. Alvarez has also been put up in a new apartment, given a new car and will work with "Spider-Man" director Sam Raimi on developing the film.

Thanks, and very good for Alvarez!

In reply to this comment by Duckman33:
*promote

Story behind this film:

An unknown filmmaker from Uruguay has been given $30m by Hollywood studio bosses - to turn his $500 YouTube video of a giant robot invasion into a movie. Would-be director Federico Alvarez, who runs a post-production visual effects house in Uruguay, filmed 'Panic Attack' with a budget of just $500 in his free time. The five minute clip - which he then uploaded to YouTube - shows an invasion of Montevideo by giant robots and had special effects which could rival many big budget movies.

Once online it got the attention of thousands of movie fans… and (not surprisingly) studio bosses who wanted to meet with Alvarez to talk about his movie. The 30-year-old was whisked to LA where he was offered a $1 million directors fee and up to £30 million to make the film, by Mandate Pictures. The plans for the movie are said to have a "compelling original story" beyond big robots blowing stuff up. Alvarez has also been put up in a new apartment, given a new car and will work with "Spider-Man" director Sam Raimi on developing the film.

*promote

Story behind this film:

An unknown filmmaker from Uruguay has been given $30m by Hollywood studio bosses - to turn his $500 YouTube video of a giant robot invasion into a movie. Would-be director Federico Alvarez, who runs a post-production visual effects house in Uruguay, filmed 'Panic Attack' with a budget of just $500 in his free time. The five minute clip - which he then uploaded to YouTube - shows an invasion of Montevideo by giant robots and had special effects which could rival many big budget movies.

Once online it got the attention of thousands of movie fans… and (not surprisingly) studio bosses who wanted to meet with Alvarez to talk about his movie. The 30-year-old was whisked to LA where he was offered a $1 million directors fee and up to £30 million to make the film, by Mandate Pictures. The plans for the movie are said to have a "compelling original story" beyond big robots blowing stuff up. Alvarez has also been put up in a new apartment, given a new car and will work with "Spider-Man" director Sam Raimi on developing the film.