A modern car without airbags is no less safe than a car with airbags if the livestock is strapped down right — and with false positive airbag deployment? they’re safer.

Give me a roll cage and some earplugs, and I’d daily this.

Cars with airbags are demonstrably safer than cars without. Even though they sometimes deploy in situations where they’re not necessary, the rate at which they do so is radically lower than the rate at which they prevent injuries and save lives.

It’s not really for no reason, though: exposure to mild misery makes you more able to handle moderate misery, and makes mild misery disappear entirely. If you’re in a position where being in the sun makes you miserable - keeping in mind you’re an organism capable of spending 16 hours a day in the sun, particularly…

If you’re just getting started tracking a car, something fairly stock and meant for enjoyable road use like the Lancer is a good option. That scary body roll communicates exactly where the weight of the car is going, so if your instructor brings up weight transfer and how that works on track, you feel it with your…

What do you mean “secretly” compromised? There are no secrets.

No shit. It’s so adorable when people who aren’t from Michigan talk about rusty cars.

All very important points! The prices I’m throwing out are for Cherokees, I live in a place where the cost of living is extremely low, and my standards for things like “pretty decent” are likely...uh, somewhat lower than standards held by other people. So adjust accordingly for your own locale and expectations!

I know these kind of have to be stupid, because most car arguments really are, at their core, but this isn’t even really a choice. Checking Autotrader real quick, there are 94 Defenders for sale in the US, of which the least expensive is over $18,000, for a car that’s 30 years old. The closest Land Rover dealership is…

You know, now that you mention it, no, I was never confused by Swift. He was a good, clear writer whose satire was piercing, whose word choices were precise, whose articulation was unparalleled. So strange that I wouldn’t be able to parse your...wait, I’ve lost track: was it sarcasm, or intentional oversimplification?…

I’m sorry, I can’t tell: was any of that supposed to be sarcasm? Your use of it is so subtle, it’s absolutely indistinguishable from someone who just can’t admit that they overstated their case and are trying to walk it back by claiming they were being sarcastic all along.

That’s right, the problem in this conversation is that other people can’t pick up sarcasm. It certainly isn’t that you’ve oversimplified a problem and for whatever reason aren’t able to admit that. Clearly, the solution you’ve provided was never intended to be complete, it was just a laughy-joke, and everyone here was…

Or could be the four-point principle.

Right, but that’s not what you said. You didn’t say, “I have a way of decreasing demand that will contribute to the overall solution, which must be complex and multi-faceted,” what you said was, “You want to fix illegal immigration? You could do it pretty much completely in about a year.” That statement is incorrect.

You know they don’t all have TVs and radios, right? And that they won’t all believe what they’re told? And that jobs notwithstanding, they’re still going to want to come to America because gangs and warlords are tearing up the nations they live in, or are murdering everyone who worships the gods they do?

How does this work? Do the vast majority of illegal immigrants know they have a job waiting for them when they arrive? No, because then they could just have a visa. So all radically increasing penalties will do is lead to more and more illegal immigrants in crushing poverty. Poverty which, as we all know, leads to…

You’ve gotta REALLY want those doors off. :)

Before we delve into any deeper discussion, can I just say that I let out probably the biggest squeal in the theater when I saw the Serenity from Firefly?

The old Jeep Cherokee (XJ) has a hidden feature, though I think many owners are probably aware of it. Though the doors aren’t obviously removable (they totally are; it just takes some work), the pins that tell the car the door is closed absolutely are removable, and clearly intended to be.

As usual, David, thank you for showing everyone that it doesn’t take a $40,000 Jeep with a six-inch lift to go off-roading. I take my $1500 23-year-old XJ the same places people are taking their $100,000 modified JLs, because underneath, we’re actually pretty much driving the same car. Mine will just break a little…