Excellent analysis.  Even though I hated the look of those things :-)

I’m 47, and to this day, a 300ZX Twin Turbo haunts my dreams as the car I wanted more than any other car, ever. I remember a R&T review called it “a rocket ship with a living room”. Today, these things still look totally badass and timeless, and they are so small, not bloated like modern GT cars. For me they epitomize…

I mean hell, election day was set in November to accommodate the farmers, we hold onto all sorts of stupid traditions that no longer make sense.

As a brief aside, the book “Fins” which tells the genesis of GM from the 20's through the 60's, is an excellent read and talks about the invention of this planned design obsolesce and the fostering of FOMO on new models.

There must be some perceived value in whatever technology they did develop and which a Greater Fool is willing to buy from them. 

What, seriously?  I’ve never been to SF, but looking at a map, I guess I’m not even sure what side that would be.  North face?  South face?  

It’s all buggy, we just may not have discovered some of the bugs yet.

Don’t be nice, be predictable is a great saying!  Should be heavily applied at 4-way stops.

If the Founding Fathers didn’t envision a weapon that fires supersonic bullets 1,000 times per minute, while also allowing said weapon to be carried aloft in a magic flying machine 6 miles into the sky at near supersonic speed, then what the hell do we even have a second amendment for?

Everything I read says the EV credit is NOT refundable. This means that the Venn diagram of people with $7,500 in tax liability AND who are below the 300% federal poverty level basically does not exist. Add in “shopping for a car costing more than $27,000" and “owning a place where they could plug in an EV”, and I’m…

Good grief this is so damn wrong. Tax liability has NOTHING to do with withholding!!! Liability is what you owe via the tax tables. I’ll keep it simple - you’re single and have a taxable income of $40,770...which is exactly 300% of the Federal Poverty level of $13,590 for single. You owe 10% tax on the first $10,275…

Toto rage-smashing his headset in lederhosen was peak DTS. We will never get such brutal honesty again.

I was thinking the exact same thing. What I fear most is getting T-boned by a red light runner, bonus points if they are in a full-size pickup/killing machine, or getting rear-ended while stopped. Crash avoidance tech - while often laughable in real-world use anyway - does not do squat for me in these situations.

I’ve heard of that. I actually play fair bit of golf, but as I tell Mrs. Birdlaw, I like golf, I just can’t stand most golfers (Rory excepted). Throw in the Saudis and this sounds like a Must Miss opportunity for me!

I’ll subscribe to your newsletter, with a small cavate - never for a mega-company, and no way in hell for a public one. I work for a 100-person engineering company privately owned 2/3 by me and about 15 others, plus a 1/3 ESOP for the rest of the firm. I’ve been here 23 years. I have sacrificed a LOT to get where I…

I can’t wait for next season to hear all about how great the Saudis are, how amazing the racing in Vegas was, and how teams are clamoring for even more races!

No. Because the energy required to turn those turbines will in all cases be more than they could generate. For example, assume it takes 100 Newtons of force to drive the car through the air without the turbines. The force required to spin those turbines will always be some additional force, say 5 Newtons. But they…

I mean hell, Florida passes 99 laws I don’t like, they’re bound to pass one that I do like.

I got tired and just lit my money on fire and watched it burn.

Higher than non-military aircraft. Commercial airliners fly between 30,000 & 42,000 feet. Some business jets can get to 50,000, but that’s it, and usually not worth it. The bulk of travel is between 34K and 38K.  The U2 can get to 80,000+.  Some say above 100,000 feet.