The problem with trying to compete with the Wrangler, IMHO, is that nostalgia for the Wrangler provides sales that it otherwise wouldn’t have. The Wrangler is a barely compromised off-road vehicle. For its off-road capabilities (at an affordable price point), Wrangler owners put up with awful ergonomics, lots of…

If Disney was smart, they would get Rogue One out on consumer media (digital download, DVD, Blu Ray) as quickly as possible. Personally, I found the Tarkin CGI to be pretty good, but the Leia CGI to be a little jarring. I have a suspicion that the CGI will be less noticeable on a TV at home where the image isn’t…

As a motorcyclist, I’ve learned to count to three after the light turns green and look in the crossing-traffic directions before going. I may need to up the count to five after watching these videos.

Two things:

Your list of Christmas songs that need to go away permanently is woefully incomplete. Missing are:

We had a similar parking lot - reserved for the seniors. The juniors had to park in another parking lot that was further away and down a pretty big hill. When I was a junior (1993-1994), my parents bought a 1987 Renault Alliance convertible (the GTA “sporty” model) so that I could drive me and my brothers to/from…

Yes, but this would be mechanical failure, not hooning or crashing.

Or it’s the equivalent of driving to look at Christmas lights...

I think that’s the equivalent of driving slowly in the left lane...

You’re missing another important distinction that hurts the elevator-as-vehicle argument. There is no way to hoon or crash an elevator. OK, I take back the hooning part - you can hoon an elevator by jumping up and down while inside to watch it bounce on its cables.

This is bullshit and clearly a money grab. A la carte fees like this only make sense for avoidable activities for which the airline incurs a cost . There is no “pressurized air” fee because pressurizing an aircraft flying at 35,000 feet is unavoidable. Likewise, most air travelers are staying at their destinations…

I always thought the heels made Claire more of the bad-ass in the vein of the famous line about Ginger Rogers (with respect to Fred Astaire): “Sure he was great, but don’t forget that Ginger Rogers did everything he did, ...backwards and in high heels.”

I didn’t suggest using the laws to protect a bad business model. My point is only that there is potentially an issue with allowing direct sales in the sense that an existing manufacturer with an established dealer network could theoretically circumvent its contractual obligations to those dealers by starting a “new”…

Hopefully, anyone who cares about the rule of law will care about this. Again, I have no problem with Tesla selling cars directly. Part of that reason is that Tesla has never been involved in a dealership model. My only concern is the precedent it sets for existing manufacturers to potentially have a way to…

I don’t think there is a downside to manufacturers selling direct to consumers per se. I also don’t disagree with your point that a lot of dealerships make the purchasing process unpleasant. However, let’s avoid the pros/cons of the car dealership sales model for a moment and assume that it is a valid means of…

To clarify, when I’m riding, I have my index and middle finger resting on top of and kind-of overhanging the brake lever; I am not squeezing it at all.

For sure, Tesla’s argument that it does not have dealers and therefore cannot violate the franchise laws makes sense. However, I do see the potential slippery slope here. What would prevent an established automaker with franchises from starting a new car company sell particular cars under a direct sales model?

Wait. They told you to not cover the brake? That makes no sense whatsoever! What is their rationale? The only guess I can even make is that someone may inadvertently ride the brake lever and prematurely wear out the front brakes, but that seems pretty remote. About the only time I don’t have at least my index and…

I was given a Challenger as a rental at Long Beach airport. I’m not sure what engine it had, but Hellcat it was not. Like most (all?) of you, I prefer to be as close to highway speed when merging as possible. This was not possible in So. Cal. traffic. Once I had the room, I floored it to accelerate to highway…

I agree, and part of my point is that the plaintiff appears to be purposely conflating the regen and normal modes of operation. On the one hand, they say that the emissions levels are really high for a portion of the driving time, which implies regen. The plaintiff goes on to state that the truck didn’t throw any…