I feel comfortable in concluding that something like huge squares of gray plastic molded to look like intakes, but which are not intakes, are frivolous design.

Mazda Miatas are clean and purposeful yet exciting. A lot of the Porsche / Audi / VW styling is clean and beautiful. BMW 2/3 series is largely good.

I like the four-door hatch layout, the wheels, most of what I can see of the interior, and could almost learn to love the Accord-ish snout. The crinkled, dimpled, acres-of-fake-honeycomb plastic rear I just can’t reconcile with “cool car” no matter how hard I squint. And let’s just let wings on cars that aren’t…

I think you meant “clean and purposeful.”

The problem is that people backing monied interests always bring up simplistic principles of “making good choices” when the issue is a major problem like lack of health care or education. They’re trying to insinuate that anyone who has a problem with these things has brought it on themselves and could solve it by…

The issue at hand IS health insurance, not the general concept of frugality. So it’s Chaffetz being disingenuous.

Yes. Elizabeth Warren’s book The Two Income Trap gets into this as well. Imported goods like clothing are cheap, but non-optional costs like food, housing, fuel, education and health care have exploded.

And yet you likely could not afford the cost of a single major medical procedure. Nor could you likely afford non-subsidized insurance. Almost no one can.

Because assuming the reason one person can afford health insurance (typically just because of the job they have) and another person cannot is really because the person without insurance is a fool with their money is a bullshit rationalization?

That’s always there, I’m sure. Consumer Reports I think insists on obtaining its review samples anonymously (or they used to). But the flip side is that honest reviews get the eyeballs companies want. All the weak sauce tongue-bathing puff articles in the world aren’t going to deliver the impact of one reviewer known…

This is the vision capital has always had for journalism, which is that it’s just another transaction where whoever has the money gets to dictate.

The better question is why would a movie based on a video game be any good? You can’t just “movie-ify” anything.

I drove a 2015 BMW X1 the other day, and while it wasn’t “confusing” per se, the whole idea of nudging a self-centering lever until a particular small light comes is just bad design choice for a vehicle. For something as critical as what gear a car is in, you should be able to just look at the control itself and see…

It’s not supporting “stupid” to argue critical controls in a motor vehicle shouldn’t require increasing amounts of attention just to confirm what they’re doing. Doesn’t matter whether it’s a lever or a button or a dial — you should be able to *look* at the control and know what setting is selected.

Wait til Seth Rogan shows up as a stoned alien.

It works. If I recall, the Boy Scout Handbook used to recommend four sharp blows between the shoulder blades before using the Heimlich. I’ve also used it and even had it used on myself once. It works, and is less likely to cause injury through incorrect application.

Examined one in person once and was impressed with the overall pol Sh (like a show vehicle from the factory?) and the air-conditioned seats (!)

Our house likes this show, but they are really dragging out the plot.

What supposition would that be? Mattis leaving the military to join the board of a scam company that stood to make a mint ripping off the American people and endangering soldiers is what actually happened.

It’s not a question of whether he’s a bad guy. It’s a question of whether the appearance of impropriety raised by a military commander gong into the private sector batting for a scam company indicates a real impropriety took place.