There’s no defense of gun ownership. Guns are specifically designed to take lives—defensively or otherwise. If you need to cripple someone to defend yourself, get a knife, or a heavy pan, or a bat, or a monkey wrench, or pepper spray, etc.

I’ll also note that I don’t know any Nazis or rapists personally, and I hate all…

That you’re ashamed to say it is telling; and ashamed you should be.

So, what do we do if we allow a privilege to a group of people, and some of those people abuse that privilege? We take it away. This “right” to gun ownership is as constructed as the “right” to own slaves, and equally removable. And why are you holding your right to expensive toys—which, by the way, were invented for…

I’m saying this to you because I have the luck of not knowing any NRA members in real life: fuck you.

Welcome to late stage advanced capitalism, where the only thing that matters is your exchange value.

This is one of the benefits of good regulation—to provide certainty, to consumers and businesses. If I (customer or business person) know that regulation will create environment X such that product A will best serve my needs over a long period of time, then I can know to keep buying or producing product A and its…

Nothing more saccharine than wishing something would die to have it, then, persist out of sheer spite.

Just wondering, how does a positive void coefficient square with passive cooling systems? I know that the latter are relatively newer, and there are few enough PVC designs around that the question may be (for my lay purposes) academic, but I’m curious about these things.

Hey, resident Mazda PR guy, quick O/T question you may or may not know the answer to.

Seriously; having a Forester, I realize just how much more of a pain it is changing spark plugs in flat engines than in inlines or V’s.

To my eyes, the big MB coupe lost all distinctiveness when redesigned into its current form. The previous 2 generations of CL’s were big and imposing, but also somewhat anonymous, but in a way that cars just aren’t anymore; it was all about size and proportion, and on those cars, they were grand.

The vice president of Hyundai Motor Group, which owns Hyundai and has a 33% stake in Kia, is a designer. At this point, all aspects of Korea know that appearance is important—sometimes at the expense of other things.

Very true, and as turbo-corolla mentioned, it’s a bigger upgrade in comparison to the V6 it’s replacing. However, I don’t know that many consumers will think in terms of percentage difference; absolutes tend to be easier to deal with.

The EPA released the MPG estimates for the new QX...50 (?) with the VC-T, and at 24/30 with AWD, it only has 1-3mpg over competitors. Maybe it’ll significantly outperform those estimates, but the preliminary figures hardly seem to have been worth all the effort and hype.

I just don’t understand Hyundai’s reluctance in using or even offering their better engines. The 1.4t in the Elantra Eco seems to offer better fuel economy AND acceleration than the 2.0, yet that’s the only North American model in which it’s offered, and it’s a relatively rare car, at least here in the northeast.

...Why does it look so similar to the Kia Niro, aside from the front? Seems like a pretty major mistake.

Question: does this change with hybrid vehicles?

I’ve been directing my mother to buy a hybrid for her next purchase because she’s not the kind of driver who drives her cars hard, and most of her driving (as with many of us) is within a 5-mile city-drive from home.

Note, though, that it really isn’t just a trim package. An IRS, the 1.6 turbo, and the DCT and manual are all pieces that the other Elantra versions don’t have.

Can we all just admit that deinstitutionalization failed? A lot of homeless people have just been down on their luck for too long, fucked over by a system which puts on airs about being democratic and then promptly doesn’t give a shit about anyone without large quantities of money. However, a lot of other homeless…

From my time-wasting studies of weird engines, I’ve read (also on Wikipedia) that the engine was abandoned due to balance and timing issues. Apparently, a three-bank engine is a complicated thing, even if it’d be an actual W engine, instead of the double-V like VW ended up making.