Right on brother. It should also be obvious to the USPTO when some 'invention' is obvious!

I vote that Gawker implement a proper web-based voting system. This one where you have to manually type "VOTE: xyz" is lame.

Thank-you Master Po ;-)

OK so we have the author's side of the story. It's hardly reasonable to reach conclusions based on that alone.

TiVo seems to have lost the plot since the series 3 HD. Have they fixed the UI performance issues on the Premiere yet, or are people just using the menus in SD mode? And putting a literal representation of the remote control spanning 3 iPhone screens is just wrong — you've got a whole new world of visual and…

I suspect that some important piece of information is missing here. Anyhow, I'd take it up with my credit car company, assuming that I had used a credit card to pay for the car rental, insurance, and damage. Maybe you were charged for loss-of-use or diminished value while the insurance covered the physical damage.

Yes, you book it through Costco Travel and it's fulfilled by Alamo. See [www.costcotravel.com]

Ouch, were you trying to rent a premium car or buying insurance? Avis online prices a standard size car (Ford Fusion or similar) for that trip at $839 plus tax. Now maybe when it comes down to actually booking it they add on a bunch of stuff but it's hard to imagine it would be an extra $650.

So was their argument that you didn't have the right kind of insurance, or that you needed to pay a deductible or something?

Did not know that about Germany — I'll change my roundabout behavior next time I'm there. Also, on the topic of what is legally proper in any of the States, I'll bet you that each State in the US has its own distinct rules for roundabouts ;-)

You'd have thought that you'd need to take a basic course on towing before you could hitch up and tow a 3,000lb boat, or at least show that you can do it safely. What's worse, I suppose, is that people are not very realistic about their skills or the dangers involved so they don't bother to go and find out how to do…

Good on ya mate. It's those other dimwits who can't close their trunk lid that I take issue with, especially when they tie the lid down with a thin piece of string (more to keep the lid from bouncing around than to restrain the cargo).

I think the biggest problem here is that the people who fail at tying stuff down are often also the people who think it's reasonable to transport a 300lb grill in the trunk of a sedan or an upright refrigerator in the bed of a small pickup. Get it delivered people, or rent a decent truck with tie-downs for an hour. …

Note to American drivers: stop making damned u-turns on major roads! Just because there isn't a "No u-turns allowed" sign doesn't mean that it's OK and safe to make a u-turn. Generally it's not OK. Just take the next available left turn and make your way from there. Turn around in a minor street or strip mall if…

I'm guessing that you have little experience of driving in a country that has lots of roundabouts, or you did not read my original post carefully. As stated earlier, if you're going 270 degrees then you signal left until just after you hit 180 degrees at which point you signal right. Your initial left signal tells…

You could start a new craze — be the only one in town to signal correctly at a roundabout.

You *should* signal prior to entering the roundabout. Signal right if you intend to exit the roundabout at 90 degrees, don't signal at all if you're exiting at 180 degrees, and signal left if you're exiting at 270 degrees (change to signal right after you've passed 180 degrees). That's how other traffic knows your…

Hmm, two of the advantages of a roundabout over a traffic light intersection are that collisions are a) lower speed and b) usually not T-bone, so on balance are much less lethal.

I don't understand how the nation that introduced the (excellent) right-turn-on-red also introduced the (despicable) four-way-stop.