But which manufacturers were even interested in competing with them in the diesel market? I never worked in the auto-industry, but usually reverse engineering is expensive and time-consuming and you would only bother if you thought you could improve your own product or to prove that they were copying a patent. Maybe…

Good to see you in the comments Jerry!

Honestly, I have not heard it recently, but several friends I made in the late 90s who were temporarily in the US for school (and to be fair, they were all German) commented frequently on the racial unrest in the US. It could come off a bit condescending. However, some who have stayed in the US since, now lament the…

YES! Why does the ABC need an armed force to prevent underage drinking????

It is terrible to say, but if nothing changed after this, where the victim was a white sorority girl, I doubt that this incident will instigate change. The only benefit here is that there were photos and social media attention. But either way, the ABC is stepping waaaay out of line for “underage drinking” - I do not…

Eh - I have lived in 10 states and visited all but Maine (sorry Maine). EVERY state has people who love it and people who think it sucks. I live in VA now, moved here from San Diego. If you think there is a population that thinks their state is Ahh-mazing, go talk to someone in coastal California. They are all willing…

I will note that you said “you always made good money” - now imagine that instead of just “forgetting” to pay a bill, you didn’t have the funds to pay a bill - I don’t mean a credit card, as most of the people we are talking about do not have access to credit, I mean your electricity/phone/rent kind of bills. There…

How do you convert your paycheck over to cash? I do think your system is one of the best and safest, but I know for many there is still a need to convert a paycheck into cash and that requires some financial institution.

I will assume you are not a troll. Bank accounts require minimum balances, usually higher ones if you have a poor credit score. If you live paycheck-to-paycheck, by definition you have no savings and therefore, no bank account. Add this to the fact that many large banks are behind some of the payday advance businesses…

This is the only good I can see coming from this and the Jimmy Saville scandal. The idea of giving people who are huge names in the industry a pass on what surely had to be observed by many as questionable behavior, those days are done (I hope). I also hope as these brave women have come forward with their stories…

The Cosby show did this when network TV still ruled EVERYONE’s entertainment. No one can capture those high percentages of viewing population in recent times because there is now cable TV, internet and million other sub-divided genres. Growing up, I loved The Jeffersons, Good Times, The Cosby Show, 227 and The Fresh…

If I had to learn how to deal with it because I had full-time sitter for my son, I think it is reasonable to expect the owner of a business with multiple employees to learn how to deal with payroll taxes.

I live away from a large metro area and the prices are much higher than when I lived in southern california. My SIL said her friend travelled to LA from Seattle and came back saying “we are getting ripped off up here for manicures”. The prices are shockingly low because they are not following basic labor laws. I am…

To be fair, the huge variation in the cost of pedicures should have been a big hint. When I lived in Southern California, you could get a pedicure as cheap as $15 at a strip mall nail salon. I have skin problems and was always afraid to go to salons that had the foot tub/chair combos as those tubs don’t get cleaned as…

Your husband publicly supporting Trump on the other hand...

Someday I will enjoy watching the documentary on this whole thing. I am guessing it was an unsolvable problem to meet both emission standards and the MPG and power that a diesel-buyer wants along with cost. It is just amazing that they pushed this technology through the heavy marketing knowing it was all a sham. I bet…

I saw that too and was wondering if this whole scheme was approved by VW’s legal department. I also did not realize that VW had acknowledged all the parameters they used for the “cheat”. The image analysis stuff is obviously not so simple to implement and I am guessing not all these cars had back up cameras, but they…

I find this part baffling as well. Internally someone must have been eager to file a patent on any tech that was giving such a great advantage, or at least getting the details for a marketing push.

I have no idea what the culture is like at VAG, but I have to agree that it is impossible that this is the work of a rogue engineer or engineering team. No way someone would work on this unless given an explicit directive to do so and I have to say I am surprised there were no whistleblowers (unless we just haven’t…

According to wikipedia, the US EPA has adopted California’s standards by 2016. Prior to this about 15 or so states chose to follow California’s standards. In any event, I don’t think there are any manufacturers left that have a “california model” and a “US model” - it is just too expensive. So California’s standard is…