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[20 Jun 09|1648 hrs] |
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If recent history is accurate, the price tag the government claims before the vote is less than a third of the actual cost.
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[16 Jun 09|1155 hrs] |
Cox is rolling out DOCSIS 3.0 service in Lafayette. It's $89.99/mo for 50 mbps down and 5 mbps up, but I'd need to buy a new cable modem. lol @ time warner
For some strange reason, Cox believes that their DOCSIS 3.0 customers will download less than 300gb/mo.
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[16 Jun 09|0633 hrs] |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l8ZOMd468o
Much of the money [for healthcare reform] is likely to come from reining in spending on federal health programs for the elderly and the poor. Obama has proposed trimming more than $600 billion from Medicare and Medicaid by 2019 -- including more than $300 billion in cuts unveiled in his Saturday radio and Internet address -- which could fulfill the promise to curb the growth of federal health spending.
The rest of the cash will probably come from new taxes. But Democrats are deeply divided over which taxes to raise, and the issue has become a central stumbling block in the push to enact legislation by fall.
In recent days, Obama has revived a tax plan he first offered in February: limiting itemized deductions for the nation's 3 million highest earners. Polls show that the idea is popular -- it was Obama's biggest applause line last week at an event in Wisconsin -- and it would enable him to abide by a campaign pledge to pay for coverage for the uninsured with new taxes on the rich.
"He believes this is the most equitable way to do this," said senior White House strategist David Axelrod. "It places the burden on people who can most afford it."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/14/AR2009061402769.html?hpid=topnews
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[15 Jun 09|1428 hrs] |
The hard drive on my media server died. I used it as an excuse to buy a new hard drive and a dvd-rom drive for $30. I'm installing Windows 7 RC on it now and it's taking forever. I really really hope that the remote desktop server is in the or I'm going to feel like an idiot.
That was a bust. Windows 7 is retardedly unstable with the SATA card I'm using. Every time I try to access something, Windows crashes. Oh well.
After installing Vista, it works fine. I did like what little of Windows 7's UI I saw. I liked the ability to pin applications on the toolbar.
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[15 Jun 09|1113 hrs] |
When I got to work this morning, I smelled something that strongly resembled kimchi. I now have a craving for bibimbop. According to Yelp, there's only one Korean restaurant in all of Lafayette.
I'm at an oil change place getting the company cars up to date on that. Depending on when I get out of here, I might go visit that restaurant.
Posted via mobilebloger
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[15 Jun 09|0710 hrs] |
I noticed that unemployment was following a linear relationship, so I did a little extrapolation:
25% by the end of his "first" term! We're going back to the great depression and Hoover v2.0 is leading us there.
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[14 Jun 09|0858 hrs] |
The Lafayette BMW/Mercedes/Honda(???) dealership has a brand new 2006 SLR. The asking price is $465k, which is more than MSRP.
When I went outside to throw some trash away, I saw a woman dumpster diving. Eww.
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[13 Jun 09|1408 hrs] |
I just checked my credit report and I found out that I had an outstanding collection?!? I never got anything in the mail. On a whim, I called Sprint and found out that it was indeed them and paid the balance. I didn't need help ruining my credit, Sprint.
OTOH, I found out that new frames + lenses are only $10 :x It's been ten years since my last pair of glasses.
Old Navy is having a 50% off clearance sale so I bought some crappy clothes to go offshore in. Actually, they're not that crappy since the rest of the clothes in my closet are from Old Navy, except some jeans from Aeropostale and American Eagle which I bought when they were on clearance. I think I'm going to buy some polos next month from Gap.
http://tehranbureau.com/2009/06/13/faulty-election-data/
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[12 Jun 09|1907 hrs] |
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I'm going to bed now so I can wake up at 1 to drive someone out to Port Fourchon. I've been there three times in the last 6 days :x
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[09 Jun 09|1331 hrs] |
Chase's CEOs are morons. I went into a Chase branch in Louisiana the other day because there are no WaMu branches here and they told me it'd take a week for a deposit to post. Note to self: if your bank gets purchased by another bank, close all your accounts and move to a different bank.
Sigh. Some asshole abandoned his cat here. I've noticed it get skinnier and skinnier.
I just found out that I can't close my WaMu account at a Chase branch. If I wanted to close my account over the phone, I'd have to empty the account first. Chase can't write me a check for the remaining balance unless I send them a snail mail request. I didn't realize Chase's banking system hasn't been upgraded since the 80's. The 1880's, that is.
I'm tempted to accept an offer from CapitalOne for a 25% APR credit card so I could balance transfer my Chase credit cards. The people at Chase obviously have no fucking clue how to run a bank, which is probably why they tied fourth for bank bailout monies.
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[08 Jun 09|0746 hrs] |
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I convinced one of my co-workers that a taxidermist is someone who prepares taxes.
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[06 Jun 09|1008 hrs] |
from here
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[04 Jun 09|2056 hrs] |
'I understand that during [Sotomayor's] career, she's written hundreds and hundreds of opinions," [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid said. "I haven't read a single one of them, and if I'm fortunate before we end this, I won't have to read one of them.
Either Harry Reid knows that Sotomayor won't be confirmed or he doesn't care who President Obama nominates to the SCOTUS. I hope he's not the kind of person who'd vote for this.
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[04 Jun 09|1831 hrs] |
I completed HUET training today. That anigif is pretty much what happens, except it takes about 15 seconds from when the crane starts going down and the last frame. Actually, that's not an anigif - it's an animated flash movie. Anyways, it was quite a bit more difficult than I thought it would be. Not being able to swim made it much more of a pain in the ass. I'm surprised how tired I am. Half assed swimming in t-shirt/jeans wore me out.
Tomorrow, I'm going to Houma for some oil company's orientation. They require special orientation before someone can go out to one of their rigs.
One of my rear tires is leaking a lot of air. It lost about 20 psi in the span of a week (120 miles).
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[03 Jun 09|1025 hrs] |
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I just called a BMW dealership. They want 5 hours of labor at $100/hr to replace the water pump, whereas the independent shop I went to in Austin wanted 3.6 hours at $82/hr. 800 miles of gas is about $120. Some guy at work has an E36 M3. I need to find out where he goes.
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[02 Jun 09|0651 hrs] |
I read somewhere that Rep. Diana Degette (D-CO) wants the EPA to regulate fracturing fluids because of the fear they'll migrate up to the water table or leak through casing. It's unlikely fracturing fluids will migrate up to the water table because there has to be a seal in the reservoir or the natural gas, which is less dense than water, would've migrated out of that zone. It's possible that the cement job wasn't done correctly but that would've been obvious. The driller would have noticed that he's losing mud.
Anyways, no one calls it fracking/fraking because that's something out of BSG.It's fracing, but I've never heard it referred to it as that. I usually hear just "frac" or "frac job."
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[01 Jun 09|1948 hrs] |
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I went to Wal-Mart today to buy some houseware stuff and I somehow wandered into the gun and ammo aisle. There were 0 boxes of 9mm Parabellum, .45 ACP, or .40 SW left. There were three boxes of .308 Winchester and one of .30-06. I didn't see any .223 Remington, 5.56 NATO, or 7.62 NATO.
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[31 May 09|1047 hrs] |
I mentioned this pizza a year ago and I did get some before I left Austin. It did not disappoint.
I found Shiner the other day but the price is uh...
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[29 May 09|1938 hrs] |
Shit like this is why I'm no longer going to bank with WaMu/Chase. Chase decided to close every single WaMu branch I knew of. The problem is that they did this and only a handful of Chase branches take WaMu customers. A few weeks ago, I was a dumbass and drove around to three different WaMu branches before I found a sign that pointed me to a Chase branch that accepted WaMu customers. I could've looked it up on the interwebs but whatever.
I'm going to bank with USAA exclusively from now on.
lol
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[26 May 09|1604 hrs] |
Internets, yay. The first thing I downloaded was last night's Jon and Kate episode. I can't believe all the kids they got to go to their kids' birthday party. It's gotta be a bitch to buy 6 birthday presents. It'd totally be lame to buy only one or two gifts for sextuplets. Also, Jon drives a 350z???
( spoilerz )
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[24 May 09|1327 hrs] |
WTF, the thunderstorms are following I-10.
If NASAplace didn't think it'd be a good idea to land the shuttle in Florida today, there's no way in hell I'm going to drive to Lafayette today.
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[24 May 09|0859 hrs] |
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I will be without tv and internets tomorrow night when the season premiere of massive drama/Jon and Kate plus 8 airs. Those kids are going to require thousands of dollars of psychiatric help.
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[23 May 09|1730 hrs] |
800 miles in the span of 24 hours. The drive to Lafayette was awful. I left at 11 and got there at 7. Google Maps said it was supposed to take six hours but I got stuck in traffic outside Houston. Between 2 and 3:20, I traveled maybe 3 miles because I10 went from three lanes to two lanes. There was just so much traffic. I took 290 to Houston because I haven't gone that way in a long time. Big mistake. In the span of two miles, 290 went from 4 lanes to about 10 in order to accommodate people who wanted to merge onto I10. Other than that, the drive wasn't that bad.
I got to Lafayette, unloaded my crap, and went out and bought a bed frame and a new table. I couldn't fit my old bed frame or table in the truck I rented and there was no way in hell I'd drive a UHaul truck through Houston during Memorial Day weekend traffic. I rented a 2008 F-150. It's the third worst car I've ever driven, after some Kia and a Chevy Aveo. The engine felt gutless and it still got about 20 mpg on the highway. The fuel gauge is broken. The first time it was at 1/2, I filled it up with 10 gal. The second and third time were 10 and 13 gal. The fourth time I filled it up, it was between 1/2 and 3/4 and it was 13 gal. Either I got shafted by broken fuel pumps or the fuel gauge is broken.
There are some minor quibbles with my new apartment and I submitted a maintenance request. Whoever the architect was, he's an idiot. All the windows in my apartment face the parking lot. I woke up several times last night because of some car's headlights. I woke up at 4:30 and started driving back at 5:10. The drive back took only six hours even though I took as many breaks as I did going there. There was still a massive amount of traffic in Houston at 9am.
I'm not sure if I'm driving back tomorrow or Monday - it's supposed to rain tomorrow.
I went to a Rite Aid and got ripped off on toiletries (about 200% what I pay at HEB). However, they do sell liquor there - rum and vodka. Also, there were ducks outside my apartment last night. I should've caught one.
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[22 May 09|2139 hrs] |
I placed an order for internets on Wednesday with Cox, and I got this today.
Thank you for your order. We apologize for the delay and appreciate your patience. Due to an outstanding balance owed on this address, proof of residency will be required in our retail lobby. Acceptable forms of proof of residency include Original dated lease/purchase sales agreement, Original dated notarized letter from landlord, or a utility bill with deposit information posted.
Your following online order for Cox Communications services has been canceled.
[snip]
If your order was cancelled in error, please reply to this e-mail so that we may assist you in completing your order. So I send a reply and I get...This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification
Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:
acadiana.services@cox.com
Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 550 550 Mailbox unavailable or access denied - <acadiana.services@cox.com> (state 14). I may have to go with DSL.
When I placed the order online, it made me select "professional installation" for $99.99. The form said that professional installation may be necessary if the address has never been serviced by Cox. There are two cable outlets in my apartment.
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[21 May 09|1827 hrs] |
Terminator wasn't very good. It was entertaining but I think it's worse than 3. So, 2,3,4,1. It definitely wasn't one of Christian Bale's better performances. The story was terrible and it didn't help that it was rated PG-13.
I picked up my new key and keyless entry works, yay. I do have some complaints about my car - the steering ratio is the slowest of any car I've driven in recent history. Also, I hate drive by wire. I have to guess how much throttle the computer thinks I want to apply while letting the clutch out and I usually peel out (100% unintentional). Then, traction control cuts in and reduces throttle. At least the clutch isn't awful. I drove my friend's Z4M coupe and the clutch was terrible for a daily driver.
My friend since upgraded to an E92 M3 with DCT. I've ridden in it a few times and while it's fast, I prefer the 5 series. Once I pay off most of my debt, I might buy a CPO E60.
Here's the problem: Terminator Salvation was directed by the same guy who directed the Charlie's Angels movies.
The geniuses at NYTimes.com keep closing the logins I've been using. I've been using isonews2/isonews2 for years and it stopped working the other day. So far, two of the logins I found on bugmenot have been deactivated.
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[20 May 09|1949 hrs] |
AIG had some problems. People were fired and some new people came in and agreed to work on a salary of $1 per year. California is facing something like a $20+B deficit this year. Californians went to the ballot yesterday and rejected ballot measures which would have increased taxes. Today, the state cut salaries of state employees for next year by 18%.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who appoints the commissioners and supported their action today, does not take a salary. One legislator, Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria), said he would voluntarily accept the pay cut effective June 1. But state Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny (D-San Diego), who will be termed out of the Legislature next year, called the decrease "excessive" and "punitive" and said it may discourage some people from running for state office.
Most state legislators currently are paid $116,208 annually in salary and $35,000 in per diem living expenses. The 100 lawmakers who will be elected in November of next year will receive the same per diem, but a salary of $95,291. Legislative leaders make more. Even with the pay cut, California lawmakers will be the country's highest-paid. The next best compensated are in Michigan, which pays legislators $79,650.
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[19 May 09|1832 hrs] |
I don't know why I listen to NPR. The other day, some guy was talking about some banks' plan to avoid foreclosure. Say some guy owed $400k on a house now worth $200k. Instead of letting that guy foreclose, the bank is willing to write down the loan to $300k. The guy on NPR was highly supportive of this course of action.
Today, the NPR said some WHO spokeswoman said swine flu may not be over and the deaths so far may be the tip of the iceberg. Also, the WHO is trying to determine risk factors. Gee, going by who's died so far, the risk factors are residence in Mexico, the young and old, and the sick. Also, the 1% fatality rate is much less than the 9.6% fatality rate of SARS.
Stop talking about swine flu and it'll go away.
http://www.snotr.com/video/2655
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[17 May 09|1107 hrs] |
Last night, I tried to start my car and got CLICK CLICK CLICK. I checked the battery with the OBC and it said 11.9V :/ The second time, though, the car started and I was able to get home. The OBC said the charging system produced 13.4-13.7V while I was driving home. After I got home, I turned the car off and watched the OBC. It went from 12.6 to 12.4 to 12.0V in about twenty seconds, so the battery wasn't holding a charge.
I called NTB this morning and they quoted me $175 for the battery and the "installation service." O'reilly's had an AGM battery for $160+tax. I ended up driving to Autozone and buying a normal battery for $100. They wouldn't help me install it because it was in the trunk. Otherwise, they'd install it for free. Installing it was a pain in the ass. Well, it was a pain in the ass because I'm skinny and the OE battery probably weighed 60-70lbs. I replaced it with a battery that weighs 47 lbs.
The new battery showed 12.1V right after I installed it and after 30 minutes of driving, it's at 12.4-12.5V.
what the hell...
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[16 May 09|0855 hrs] |
Last final ever!
I paid $40 for 16.5 gallons of gas the other day. I don't think I've ever paid more than $25 for a fillup. The OBC says 14mpg but I got about 100 gallons on a quarter of a tank (total 18.5 gal), so that's about 21 mpg. Three times the displacement and twice the weight, and my 540i isn't any less efficient than my MIata. I need to figure out how to reset the OBC. Hell, I need to figure out if the induction charging system for my key's remote works or if the remote's battery is dead.
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[15 May 09|1107 hrs] |
I remember reading about how inefficient Soviet styled communism/socialism/lenism/stalinism/whateverism was.
The new buy American provisions, the company said, are being so broadly interpreted that Duferco Farrell is on the verge of shutting down. Part of an increasingly global supply chain that seeks efficiencies by spreading production among multiple nations, it manufactures coils at its Pennsylvania plant using imported steel slabs that are generally not sold commercially in the United States. The partially foreign production process means the company's coils do not fit the current definition of made in the USA -- a designation that the stimulus law requires for thousands of public works projects across the nation.
In recent weeks, its largest client -- a steel pipemaker located one mile down the road -- notified Duferco Farrell that it would be canceling orders. Instead, the client is buying from companies with 100 percent U.S. production to meet the new stimulus regulations. Duferco has had to furlough 80 percent of its workforce.
"You need to tell me how inhibiting business between two companies located one mile apart is going to save American jobs," said Bob Miller, Duferco Farrell's executive vice president. "I've got 600 United Steel Workers out there who are going to lose their jobs because of this. And you tell me this is good for America?" Good job Congress!
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[14 May 09|1239 hrs] |
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I'm going to need new control arms soon-ish. I think I'm going to replace the upper control arms and water pump some time next month.
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[13 May 09|1612 hrs] |
My fan clutch is dying. If I let my car idle, the fan is incredibly loud and slightly reminiscent of a jet turbine. After turning the engine off, the fan spun for six seconds. Since I don't want to spend $3k when it fails, I bought a new one off the internets. The shop I just used for the valve cover gasket, power steering hose, etc said they'd put in the fan clutch for free, since they also did the buyer's check.
In other news, I'm selling my camera!
I am definitely going to buy some tools after I move. Most of the stuff that needs to be fixed takes time, not skill.
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[11 May 09|1716 hrs] |
I saw Star Trek. It was pretty entertaining. The food at the Village Drafthouse is getting worse and worse. I've ordered the same burger three times in the last six months and every time, the bun was stale.
My neighbor is a Vietnam veteran and served with the 101st Airborne.
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[03 May 09|2309 hrs] |
I missed 123456 by a hair :(
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[03 May 09|1516 hrs] |
This is what passes for journalism on MSNBC:
Not surprisingly, someone vandalized Michael Musto's Wikipedia page. No, it wasn't me.
Name: host.234.85.mtl.cablemodem.vdn.ca
Address: 206.223.234.85
Looking at his contributions, I have no idea how he hasn't been banned yet.
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[27 Apr 09|0030 hrs] |
http://www.fijiwater.com/Artesian.aspx
http://www.fijiwater.com/Untouched.aspx
oh my god. I'm never buying fiji water again.
1) the picture says water flows through an impermeable "rock" (clay) and enters an artesian aquifer. impermeable, by definition, means nothing can flow through it. if there's really a layer of clay on top of the aquifer, then the aquifer isn't being recharged and eventually, the aquifer will no longer be an artesian aquifer.
2) unless fiji is filling its bottles after pulling a vacuum on the bottles, and then capping the bottle while it's under a vacuum, the water that fills the bottle touches air. since I didn't hear air rushing into the bottle right as I opened it, I doubt they're filling it under a vacuum.
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[25 Apr 09|0540 hrs] |
gee what a surprise
WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama unveiled new steps on Saturday to restore U.S. fiscal discipline, including support for legislation that would require Congress to pay for any new programs by raising taxes or cutting other expenditures.
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2439600020090425
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[24 Apr 09|0911 hrs] |
People are giving Carrie Prejean shit for the wrong reason. I'm pretty sure she sounded like an idiot because Perez ambushed her with a complicated question that she probably didn't prepare for. Scroll to 3:18 in this - Miss Kentucky was asked if pop culture had too much of an effect on young people three years ago. Her answer was pretty bad, but not quite Miss South Carolina. Miss Kentucky's next question was what was her largest flaw and her answer was significantly better.
The point is, most people aren't able to give you a straight answer if you ask them a complicated question. If you don't believe me, watch the presidential debates or some of Robert Gibbs' press conferences.
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[18 Apr 09|1208 hrs] |
I was behind one of those new Scion xB's yesterday and I noticed that it only had one reverse light...
$12k for private pilot license and IFR rating
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[14 Apr 09|2232 hrs] |
The IIHS tests car crash worthiness by crashing cars into a stationary barrier at 40 mph. For whatever reason, they wanted to see what would happen if they crashed two cars traveling at 40 mph into each other, but offset a little bit. The IIHS chose the smallest car some car companies made and pitted them against a medium sized car (Accord vs Fit, Camry vs Yaris, C300 vs smart). The smaller car always showed more deformation than the larger car, but that really shouldn't be news.
smart found out about this and got defensive: We here at smart USA strongly disagree with this non-standard test that simulates a crash that is rare and extreme. In fact, the severity of the crash test accounts for less than 1% of all accidents of this type. This sounds like something someone from marketing would say, not an engineer. While it is true what the president of smart said, it does not accurately represent reality.
Cutting through the bullshit marketing speak, the president of smart basically said that smart doesn't engineer their cars for 80 mph collisions, which is incredibly strange. In every design equation where something can break, there's always a safety factor of about 15%. So, if the maximum tension a casing string is expected to carry is 4,000 psi, then we'll pick casing that'll yield at at least 4,600 psi.
Just because crash testing is usually done at 40 mph doesn't mean you should design your car to survive only up to a 40 mph crash.
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[12 Apr 09|2127 hrs] |
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I finished The Lost World yesterday and Disclosure today. The last book I finished before this was in summer of 06. I've purchased several books since then but never finished any of them.
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[11 Apr 09|1414 hrs] |
April 11 (Bloomberg) -- Somali pirates hijacked an Italian tugboat in the Gulf of Aden as bandits holding the American captain of a U.S.-flagged container ship said they would seek to restart talks on his release for ransom.
The Buccaneer, a tugboat with a crew of 16, was seized as it was towing two barges, said Shona Lowe, a spokeswoman for NATO’s Northwood Maritime Command Center near London. Ten of the crew are Italian nationals, she said. The vessel is also Italian-owned, said Laura Tischler, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aSlanT6acaCU&refer=home
If I ever get to name a ship, it'll be named "Don't Hijack Me Bro."
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[10 Apr 09|1728 hrs] |
President Obama flew some pizza chef from St. Louis to DC to make pizza and this is how USA Today, MSNBC, AP, Newsweek, and the Chicago Sun-Tribune spin it: he got deep dish pizza from St. Louis and not Chicago??? "Do as I say, not as I do" in action here.
Speaking of ridiculous things in the news, four dumbasses murdered former SEAL Marcus Luttrell's dog last week. These morons were joyriding around, shooting dogs, and they happened to shoot Luttrell's dog. Luttrell runs out with a gun but they run back into their car before Luttrell has an opportunity to shoot them. Luttrell chases these guys down and runs them off the road, while waiting for authorities to arrive. While these four morons were getting arrested, one of said "[w]hen we get out, we're coming for you next. First it was your dog. It's going to be you next. You don't know who you're messin' with."
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[06 Apr 09|2252 hrs] |
North Korea launches a ballistic missile/satellite launch vehicle (even though there were UN sanctions against it), while USN and JMSDF BMD assets watched. I understand why the USN ships didn't do anything, but what the fuck Japan? North Korea lobs a ballistic missile over your country and you did nothing? It's not like the world hates you. You totally could've gotten away with shooting it down.
Shortly afterward, President Obama told his teleprompters the world that no one should have nuclear weapons. Also, if North Korea launches another missile, he'll write another sternly worded letter. This is after Al-Qaeda laughed at Secretary Clinton's offer for reconciliation.
After giving $14B to GM (which Obama now wants to go into bankruptcy), President Obama and Secretary Gates thought it'd be a good idea to decrease BMD funding by $1.4B for FY10.
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