And I totally understand the people who want to make that trade. I drive a vehicle that’s about one bad decision away from tipping over and killing all of the people, and my tires throw rocks at everywhere, and not everyone thinks 31 inch tires squealing is funfunfun like I do, and I understand when people want to…

Huh. I don’t think I’ve ever thought of it this way, but I’ve had an inline-6 for almost a decade now, despite having 6 different cars in that time: a BMW e30, and then five different Jeeps. I definitely did not need a foreign car to get an inline 6.

You’re definitely not alone - you’re in good company with Mr Jezza Clarkson, for example - but certainly not everyone agrees with you. Most informed people agree that there will come a day when human-driven cars are outlawed, or grandfathered in with limited exceptions, and a lot of enthusiasts are excited about that…

Is there an epidemic of door-dinging going out there that I’m just not privy to? This seems like a solution in search of a problem, but maybe I just don’t take my cars to the right places.

Is it not possible for people do to these things as ends unto themselves, rather than due to any desire to impress others? Can’t you be a minimalist just because you don’t like having a lot of things, not because you want to lord it over other people?

Impractical, and ineffective. There are people who need guns to survive or to protect their livelihoods (most of them in rural areas where gun violence is extremely minimal). No ban would be particularly effective, as it would simply create an underground economy in guns, the fabled “only outlaws will have guns”…

We have 12 pets, 8 of whom have fur of one kind or another, and in my experience, there really isn’t a shortcut. However, the basics apply:

This definitely goes for bigger “tools” as well, like welders and air compressors and the like. When you compare the “new” cost of a Harbor Freight or equivalent to the used price of a well-maintained Lincoln or Hobart, it often turns out to be worthwhile to get the used high-end tool or equipment. It’ll be of better…

To be fair, Plimer is a Professor of Mineral Geology, and the owner of some mineral exploration companies, and not a climatologist or student of volcanoes. He’s...kind of infamously unqualified to make the statements he does. While he certainly knows more about geology than I do, he’s like a neurosurgeon talking about…

There’s a bucket of water. Every hour, a machine spits an ice cube into it. The environmental conditions surrounding the bucket are such that the ice melts at a rate of about one cube an hour, so you have equilibrium.

A Jeep CJ-5 to show how a 4x4 works at its most basic level.

Yes, always. My parents had a different method of parenting: show me how, then never do it again themselves. You know how to wash dishes? Then washing dishes is your job now.

Where’s the project? ;) This is substantially nicer than my daily-driver Jeep. Like, really, substantially nicer.

As an emotional response, I totally get that, and there’s nothing abnormal about the reaction.

As a rule, cars stay pretty rigid even with the doors off; if you shove your fingers between the door and frame while you’re cornering, you can feel whatever flex the car has to offer. My Cherokees bend like crazy, but not enough to ever really compress onto the door itself, and doorless hasn’t broken any of them…

As someone who lives every day with a 20-year-old lifted SUV squeaking, rattling, and periodically grinding down the road, and as someone whose child drives a smooth, quiet, perfectly-behaved Audi quattro, I think about this dilemma all the time. I spent an afternoon behind the wheel of the Audi, and very very badly…

A difficult issue, with no clear correct answer. Perhaps an assumption of risk might be in order, as well as penalties for the use of resources. In other words, before you go, you have to be educated about what the risks are (and how best to avoid them), then agree to both those risks, and to the cost of any rescue.…

The last big one is feeding cost. As dumb as it sounds to use the Wrangler as an example of “good fuel economy,” you’re lucky to get 15 MPG in real-world driving, it beats the hell out of its predecessors which get around half that.

University of Florida toxicology professor Bruce Goldberger was quoted as saying, ““I don’t think it’s possible to rule out the possibility of use while in jail,” a notion so unlikely that it seems odd to publicize it; no evidence has been found to back up that claim.

With the caveat that carabiners have weight ratings for a reason, and that your big dog will not long be restricted by a small, consumer carabiner (like the one pictured above). Serious dogs mean serious carabiners (like climbing units). Also, tying your dog to things is not appropriate for all dogs, or in all…