My grandfather had a Bell 206 Jetranger. I loved the sound of that thing starting up. From inside the helicopter, the sound reminded me of the Millenium Falcon.

I'm gonna go with Prius. My experience is that these people want to look like they are environmentally friendly. Most of them even think they are. However, I've lost track of the number I have seen driving 25 MPH over the speed limit on the highway. Not very good gas mileage at those speeds...

You may be right. But the spares, ground support equipment, support crew, etc. could still be transferred via a C-5. I cannot think of another fixed wing aircraft in the US military that is ferried around like this. It seems like whatever incremental fuel savings may be gained by ferrying would be offset by the…

I had no idea you could disassemble an A-10 to fit in a C-5 like this. I wonder why you'd want to do that though. It seems like the cost of disassembly/reassembly of the A-10 and the chances of screwing something up would be greater than ferrying the aircraft.

Good article. Another point regarding fraud is that you basically have to lay out your case up front when you sue. For most causes of action, it's enough to state basic facts (e.g., "the seller described the car as a 1965 Mustang and what I received is a 1966 Pinto"). However, in many states, for fraud, you have to…

Audi 200 Quattro Turbo

Is this some type of clue as to what you're going to replace the Ferrari with?

Very sad news.

It's not that it's unfair. I agree that it would be more fair. It's more an issue that to track miles driven, you have to do one of two things. Either you have to include some sort of GPS into every car, old and new, that tracks and automatically reports miles driven OR have mileage reported at regular intervals…

Agreed. No single metric is perfect. My point is that the incremental improvement in taxing fairness by using a more complicated system (e.g., by tracking miles used) is probably not worth the expense, corruption, etc. of implementing the system.

The vehicle mileage tax idea always bothered me because it seems to solve a problem that doesn't exist - namely, coming up with a way that fairly taxes usage of public roads. The gas tax already does this in a near-perfect way. The more you drive, the more gas you use and the more tax you pay. The heavier your…

The U-2. Obviously, it was a very successful spy plane, but it's intended goal was to fly high enough that it couldn't be detected by Soviet radar. However, it was detected and tracked right away. The Skunkworks tried a bunch of different design changes to reduce its radar signature, but without success. …

That's my point. In the Prius, you probably aren't going to make it out of your neighborhood (much less the interstate) before the engine kicks in to charge the battery and provide some power to the wheels. Compare that to these newer hybrids that can go 20, 30, 40 miles on batteries alone unless you apply full…

Neutral: I support what the CFPB is trying to do in terms of eliminating discrimination, but I could see this going to far. These finance companies are in the business of making money. Roughly speaking, each company makes a calculation of risk of a borrower defaulting, and sets interest rates higher for riskier…

One thing I'm trying to understand about this type of hybrid as opposed to something like a Prius. I've only ridden in a Prius a few times, but my impression is that the engine is turning on early and often. In other words, you aren't driving very far before the engine has to run to charge the batteries. As a…

The title of this article should simply be "one reason why you should never buy a new car" and you can then cut out points 2, 3, and 4. If you decide to buy a new car (and there are plenty of perfectly-valid reasons to do so), financing is not necessarily a bad thing. It's called the time value of money. At some of…

Vehicle automation. Cars have gained significant weight over the last 20-30 years in an effort to save us from ourselves. We have added airbags, side impact protection, etc. to protect us in a collision. We have compromised aerodynamics by raising the hood to provide clearance above the engine in the event we hit a…

In my experience, a lack of a thank you wave is often an indication that the other driver is too preoccupied with other things. Hence, your drive behind that person is going to be miserable. When I lived in Massachusetts, I used to take secondary roads from my house to my office. When traffic was light, the roads…

If I recall, the "like a G6" song is intentionally wrong. The gist of it was that they are so awesome, they are on the non-existent next generation of the perceived best Gulfstream V.

In college, I was a rower. For a trip to a race that was only a few hours away, the school had one of their local "city" type of buses drive us to the race. There were two implications. First, the seating included sideways-facing benches that you don't see on a greyhound or the like. I was sitting on one of these…