Saber Rattling at Mexico
by Little Guy 
, Saturday, August 26, 2023, 16:33 (37 days ago)
The failed former president of the USA wanted to build a wall to keep out Mexicans. (“And Mexico will pay for the wall!”)
Another American politician wants to up the ante by threatening to send troops into Mexico.
DeSantis said he would send Special Forces after the cartels in Mexico as president
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Saturday reiterated his pledge to send US Special Forces into Mexico to confront drug cartels if he is elected president, saying, “We are going to act.”
The Florida governor first addressed the issue Wednesday night at the GOP presidential debate. When asked whether he would support sending Special Forces into Mexico, DeSantis answered clearly: “Yes, and I will do it on day one.”
It’s as if he actually believes that starting an international war on this continent will eliminate America’s demand for mood-altering substances. Maybe it might be better to address why so many Americas are dissatisfied with their mood and seek mental escape from their circumstances in life.
Even if DeSantiscwere able to eliminate the presence of drug distributors in Mexico, it would do nothing to address the demand side of the marketplace. Suppliers would simply use a different route, either by amphibious landings on three coasts, or through the US border with Canada. And then we would have a US invasion of Canada.
Saber Rattling at Mexico
by Padrino 
, San Diego/Rosarito, Saturday, August 26, 2023, 17:16 (37 days ago) @ Little Guy
I am sure that México would not mind if we violated their sovereign borders. It's for a good cause, after all. We would welcome them if they invaded us. In fact, there are those who say that President Biden welcomes all the invaders with open arms! I heard it on Skunk News, ah, no, wait, Weasel News, uh, that's not correct, I know, Fox News!
Ya' know, if it weren't so insane and potentially disastrous, it would be hilarious.
P.S. By the way, Robert Kennedy, Jr., a Democrat, wants to do the same thing.
Saber Rattling at Mexico
by Ironwood , Saturday, August 26, 2023, 18:42 (37 days ago) @ Padrino
.....and GOP Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who is a certifiable lunatic, said the other day that climate change is a hoax.
Trump, DeSantis, Ramaswamy.....you can't make this stuff up, folks.
Saber Rattling at Mexico
by ZihuaRob , Zihuatanejo, México, Saturday, August 26, 2023, 19:20 (37 days ago) @ Ironwood
.....and GOP Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who is a certifiable lunatic, said the other day that climate change is a hoax.
Trump, DeSantis, Ramaswamy.....you can't make this stuff up, folks.
How many massacres were there today in the USA? And they ban U.S. federal employees from traveling to Zihuatanejo where we've had ZERO massacres in our entire modern history. Pure self-serving HYPOCRISY!
This should be the headlines in Mexican newspapers:
ATENCIÓN MEXICANOS. ¡ALERTA!
No viajen a los EE.UU. por razones de seguridad. Ha habido numerosos masacres incluyendo de familias y niños mexicanos en los últimos años por racistas ciudadanos estadounidenses armados.
That sounds about right.
Saber Rattling at Mexico
by Sandy feet , Seattle, Saturday, August 26, 2023, 19:22 (37 days ago) @ ZihuaRob
I agree 100%. It is pure chaos up here. I feel safer in Zihuatanejo.
Saber Rattling at Mexico
Reminds me of a joke.
Mexican guy in US on phone with his Mexican friend in Mexico says “ boy I do miss Mexico “
Mexican guy in Mexico says “ boy I would like to miss Mexico also “
Like I’ve always said - the people that really get to enjoy Mexico in a carefree way are foreign nationals living in Mexico or foreign tourist - the local Mexican doesn’t get to enjoy his country in a carefree way so much.
I’m Mexican raised abroad and I come to travel to Mexico -,and boy it’s to the point where when I’m in Mexico I wish I didn’t read write comprehend anything in Spanish - just say “ no comprendo “ ignorance is bliss and I truly wish I could enjoy Mexico - with that type of disconnect - as current foreign tourists and residents do. I’m jealous of them .lol lol.
I have to go to other countries to feel that carefree travel enjoyment - was just in france Italy and Croatia - and it was great - I don’t understand a lick of French Italian or Croatian - it was grand.
Distorting Perceptions of Our Lives
by Little Guy , Wednesday, September 06, 2023, 11:05 (26 days ago) @ zkaliman
I have to go to other countries to feel that carefree travel enjoyment - was just in france Italy and Croatia - and it was great - I don’t understand a lick of French Italian or Croatian - it was grand.
We are now all at risk of believing the world is a bad place where good things sometimes happen rather than a good place where bad things sometimes happen.
Something bad happens anywhere and it quickly shows up on the news. People then start to think it is relevant to their lives, regardless of whether that is true. If we don’t understand the local language, or don’t consume media, our perceptions don’t become so distorted.
Useful news stories are expensive to produce. There is research, writing, taping, production, etc. In contrast, “bleeding” news is quick and cheap. Send one reporter and one camera person to the scene of a car crash or a fire. In fact, I have a friend who “predicts the future”. They say that on tomorrow morning’s TV news broadcast there will be a fire, a car crash, and an assault.
It is even cheaper for a “news program” to buy news from somewhere else. When I lived in Vancouver Canada I would see news stories on Canadian TV about multiple car collisions on a California freeway and a shooting in Florida. Those were not relevant to my life, but it was cheaper for the station to buy those minutes of broadcast time than to produce something relevant to me.
I once lived in a small, safe rural community in northern British Columbia. When cable television came in and people started watching stations like CNN and Fox, they started to become more fearful.
Distorting Perceptions of Our Lives
by Geronimo , Playa Blanca, Sunday, September 10, 2023, 11:01 (22 days ago) @ Little Guy
Snip:
‘I once lived in a small, safe rural community in northern British Columbia. When cable television came in and people started watching stations like CNN and Fox, they started to become more fearful.’
Pretty vague statement of fact, where’s your proof?
Geronimo
Distorting Perceptions of Our Lives
by ZihuaRob , Zihuatanejo, México, Sunday, September 10, 2023, 12:08 (22 days ago) @ Geronimo
Snip:
‘I once lived in a small, safe rural community in northern British Columbia. When cable television came in and people started watching stations like CNN and Fox, they started to become more fearful.’
Pretty vague statement of fact, where’s your proof?
Geronimo
It's a legitimate OBSERVATION. It's what happens when people watch fear-mongering sources for news. A normal psychological process.
Distorting Perceptions of Our Lives
by Little Guy , Sunday, September 10, 2023, 14:52 (22 days ago) @ Geronimo
Snip:
‘I once lived in a small, safe rural community in northern British Columbia. When cable television came in and people started watching stations like CNN and Fox, they started to become more fearful.’
Pretty vague statement of fact, where’s your proof?
Geronimo
My comment was anecdotal, personal experience, but in case you are sincere in seeking confirmation,
By the 1970s, George Gerbner began studying what he termed the "mean-world" syndrome. Through his "cultivation" paradigm, Gerbner argued that because television programming contains much more violence than actually exists in the real world, people who watch a large amount of television come to view the world as a mean and dangerous place. The research of Gerbner and his associates (1994) has shown, for example, that heavy television viewers exceed light viewers in their estimates of the chances of being involved in violence and that they are also more prone to believe that others cannot be trusted.
Gerbner's research has focused primarily on viewers' beliefs about the world rather than on viewers' emotions. However, research in the late 1990s revealed that heavy television viewing is associated with fears, nightmares, and even symptoms of psychological trauma. A 1998 survey by Mark Singer and his associates of two thousand elementary and middle school children in Ohio showed that as the number of hours of television viewing per day increased, so did the prevalence of symptoms of anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress. Similarly, a 1999 survey by Judith Owens and her collaborators of the parents of almost five hundred elementary school children in Rhode Island revealed that heavy television viewing (especially television viewing at bedtime) was significantly related to sleep disturbances. In the Owens study, almost 10 percent of the parents reported that their child experienced television-induced nightmares as frequently as once a week.
…
A 1991 experiment by Cantor and Becky Omdahl explored the effect of witnessing scary media events on the subsequent behavioral choices of children in kindergarten through fifth grade. In this experiment, exposure to dramatized depictions of a deadly house fire or a drowning increased children's self-reports of worry about similar events in their own lives. More important, these fictional depictions affected the children's preferences for normal, everyday activities that were related to the tragedies they had just witnessed: Children who had seen a movie depicting a drowning expressed less willingness to go canoeing than other children; and those who had seen the program about a house fire were less eager to build a fire in a fireplace.
Travel Advisories to the USA
by Little Guy , Thursday, August 31, 2023, 09:48 (32 days ago) @ ZihuaRob
The Canadian government has recently amended its travel advisory for Canadians considering travel to the USA.
Canada warns LGBTQ residents of the risks of traveling to the US due to some state laws
Travel Advisories to the USA
Interesting link.
I got a chuckle out of the acronym 2SLGBTQI+.
They're getting creative.
Travel Advisories to the USA
by Little Guy , Thursday, August 31, 2023, 10:22 (32 days ago) @ Yandosan
Interesting link.
I got a chuckle out of the acronym 2SLGBTQI+.
They're getting creative.
I haven’t noticed the term two-spirit used in American media. It is typically included in Canadian parlance.
Many elements of Canadian society, including most governments, have been developing recognition, acknowledgement, and adjustments to address First Nations and the effects of colonialism. This includes the concept of two-spirit in many pre-colonial First Nations cultures.
Due to its cultural, spiritual, and historical context, the concept of "Two-Spirit" is to be used only by Indigenous people. However, not all Indigenous people who hold diverse sexual and gender identities consider themselves Two-Spirit, many identify themselves as LGBTQ+.
Before colonization, Two-Spirit people were included and respected as valued community members, often holding revered roles such as healers, matchmakers, and counsellors, among many others. As part of the colonization process, there has been an attempted erasure of Two-Spirit people. The western religious values and belief systems that were imposed on Indigenous people condemned any sort of sexual or gender diversity, and Two-Spirit people were killed or forced into assimilation and hiding. One of many lasting impacts of colonization on Two-Spirit people, is an increased level of homophobia and transphobia within many Indigenous communities, which can often cause Two-Spirit people to leave their home communities (and subsequently, their families, land, and culture).
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
by Little Guy , Sunday, August 27, 2023, 19:54 (36 days ago) @ Padrino
P.S. By the way, Robert Kennedy, Jr., a Democrat, wants to do the same thing.
(Nikki) Haley told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. "I would send special operations in there and eliminate them just like we eliminated ISIS and make sure that they know there's no place for them."
The former South Carolina governor, who is running for the Republican nomination for president, also stressed that to crack down on the fentanyl crisis in the U.S., the president has to "go to the true source."
"China knows exactly what they're doing when they're sending that fentanyl across the border. And we need to tell them we will stop all normal trade relations with you until you stop killing Americans," Haley said.
Just to be clear… “China is the true source that needs to be dealt with, but we’ll send troops into Mexico not China.”
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
by Ironwood , Monday, August 28, 2023, 00:08 (36 days ago) @ Little Guy
P.S. By the way, Robert Kennedy, Jr., a Democrat, wants to do the same thing.
(Nikki) Haley told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. "I would send special operations in there and eliminate them just like we eliminated ISIS and make sure that they know there's no place for them."The former South Carolina governor, who is running for the Republican nomination for president, also stressed that to crack down on the fentanyl crisis in the U.S., the president has to "go to the true source."
"China knows exactly what they're doing when they're sending that fentanyl across the border. And we need to tell them we will stop all normal trade relations with you until you stop killing Americans," Haley said.
Just to be clear… “China is the true source that needs to be dealt with, but we’ll send troops into Mexico not China.”
More GOP lunacy. As for RFK Jr's particular brand of craziness......that famous quote is apropos:
"........you're no Jack Kennedy."
To which I would add: "....and you're no Robert F. Kennedy either."
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
by Padrino , San Diego/Rosarito, Monday, August 28, 2023, 06:45 (35 days ago) @ Ironwood
More GOP lunacy. As for RFK Jr's particular brand of craziness......that famous quote is apropos:
"........you're no Jack Kennedy."
To which I would add: "....and you're no Robert F. Kennedy either."
For those members who are not Boomers or GenXers, here is Wikipedia's take on that famous "mic drop" moment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senator,_you%27re_no_Jack_Kennedy
I always thought that we would never again have someone so "intellectually challenged" in such an important leadership position as when Dan Quayle was the U.S. Vice President. Of course, then along came George Bush, the Younger. And then came Agent Orange. Fact is always stranger than fiction, Dear Friends.
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
by Ironwood , Monday, August 28, 2023, 15:37 (35 days ago) @ Padrino
More GOP lunacy. As for RFK Jr's particular brand of craziness......that famous quote is apropos:
"........you're no Jack Kennedy."
To which I would add: "....and you're no Robert F. Kennedy either."
For those members who are not Boomers or GenXers, here is Wikipedia's take on that famous "mic drop" moment.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senator,_you%27re_no_Jack_Kennedy
I always thought that we would never again have someone so "intellectually challenged" in such an important leadership position as when Dan Quayle was the U.S. Vice President. Of course, then along came George Bush, the Younger. And then came Agent Orange. Fact is always stranger than fiction, Dear Friends.
The GOP has a track record of putting the intellectually-challenged, bottom-feeders and wackos only a heartbeat away from the Presidency. Eisenhower's Nixon, Nixon's Spiral Corkscrew....sorry, Spiro Agnew....(he of "plain brown envelope" fame. What an unbelievably tacky and petty creep he was), H.W. Bush's Dan Quayle, Bush Jr's scary Dick Cheney and McCain's totally loopy Sarah Palin. Trump's Pence will go down in history for nothing more than following the law......which was sort of a prerequisite for the position.
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
The concept of US intervention in Mexico is pretty chilling tbh. I don’t think anyone on this board would agree that any benefit would come out of it, but my question is: What would Mexicos response be? If this were to happen.
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
by Little Guy , Monday, September 04, 2023, 08:40 (28 days ago) @ nicatnit
The concept of US intervention in Mexico is pretty chilling tbh. I don’t think anyone on this board would agree that any benefit would come out of it, but my question is: What would Mexicos response be? If this were to happen.
What has Ukraine’s response been to being invaded?
What would America’s response be to being invaded?
Would you think that Mexico’s response be different?
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
Mexico's response to invasion would be swift and brutal.
Have you ever seen Red Dawn? Glotones/Patriots age 12-72 would take to the hills and quash any attempt at invasion with slingshots, can openers converted into into ball crushers,IEDs made from Duracel batteries. Flamethrowers would be fashioned from bic lighters, crossbows from blow driers. It would be over in a few weeks, amigos.
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
by Padrino , San Diego/Rosarito, Monday, September 04, 2023, 12:38 (28 days ago) @ Yandosan
Mexico's response to invasion would be swift and brutal.
Have you ever seen Red Dawn? Glotones/Patriots age 12-72 would take to the hills and quash any attempt at invasion with slingshots, can openers converted into into ball crushers,IEDs made from Duracel batteries. Flamethrowers would be fashioned from bic lighters, crossbows from blow driers. It would be over in a few weeks, amigos.
As much as we all love to root for the underdog, those were movies. Let's not even think about how awful this scenario would be.
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
Of course the response would be different. The reason for the intervention would be to support Mexico’s fight against Cartel crime and control. But breaching sovereignty would be a huge deal. My question is would Mexico encourage or fight against the US?
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
by Little Guy , Tuesday, September 05, 2023, 07:59 (27 days ago) @ nicatnit
Of course the response would be different. The reason for the intervention would be to support Mexico’s fight against Cartel crime and control.
It is difficult to know whether you are being sarcastic.
I suggest that if Mexico were to wish to have support it would request support. Then if it were provided it would actually be support. But what these American politicians are proposing is not support.
In August 1968 the Soviet Union provided “support” to Czechoslovakia by sending its military into that country. In February 2022 Russia provided “support” to regions of Ukraine.
What these politicians are suggesting is “support” that is unwelcome, i.e., military incursion.
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
No sarcasm. Just an honest question. Organized crime rules Mexico. Will that situation ever end? In the 20’s and 30’s you could make the same claim of the US to a degree. For that matter until the 70’s-80’s the Mafia influence was huge in big cities and beyond. Not the case today. Now politicians are the Mafia.
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
by Little Guy , Wednesday, September 06, 2023, 11:12 (26 days ago) @ nicatnit
No sarcasm. Just an honest question.
My wondering about sarcasm was the apparent representation that an American military incursion into Mexico would be to help Mexican interests.
These saber-rattlers haven’t shown any indication in their representations about being interested in being friends to Mexico. They have shown only interest in pursuing American interests.
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
Crushing the Cartels would be a common interest, no? Just ask ISIS about the Americans.
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
by ZihuaRob , Zihuatanejo, México, Sunday, September 10, 2023, 18:06 (22 days ago) @ nicatnit
Crushing the Cartels would be a common interest, no? Just ask ISIS about the Americans.
No, it wouldn't. Legalizing stupidly banned substances would.
The USA created ISIS and the Taliban, just like they created the cartels.
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
by midalake , Sunday, September 10, 2023, 18:43 (22 days ago) @ ZihuaRob
Crushing the Cartels would be a common interest, no? Just ask ISIS about the Americans.
No, it wouldn't. Legalizing stupidly banned substances would.The USA created ISIS and the Taliban, just like they created the cartels.
You can not be so simple to think that allowing every substance known to man be legal and the Cartel would just disappear?
Can you?
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
by Padrino , San Diego/Rosarito, Sunday, September 10, 2023, 18:52 (22 days ago) @ midalake
You can not be so simple to think that allowing every substance known to man be legal and the Cartel would just disappear?Can you?
The cartels would not disappear. However, their largest cash cows would be removed. Organized crime thrived even after the alcohol cash cow was removed after Prohibition I.
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
by Little Guy , Sunday, September 10, 2023, 19:04 (22 days ago) @ nicatnit
Crushing the Cartels would be a common interest, no? Just ask ISIS about the Americans.
Really, you are bringing up ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in a discussion about the USA imposing military might in Mexico?
IS was a ragtag collection of extremists beginning in 1999. Then the US used military force in Iraq in the area. IS capitalized on the anti-American sentiment that results from invasion by foreign aggressors. It was that uninvited incursion that resulted in the horrors of ISIS.
If a country has a common interest with another country, let them enter into discussions and come up with a joint plan, not just impose military action.
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
by jay , Tuesday, September 05, 2023, 11:56 (27 days ago) @ nicatnit
would Mexico encourage or fight against the US?
I'll make it simple for you Nic - there is NO chance the Mexican public, or its government, would support an incursion/invasion/support action by the US military. I think they are all too well aware of how noble US intentions can quickly backslide into pure self-interest, to the detriment and misery of the locals. Examples abound.
But I'll make you a deal. I'll support a military incursion into Mexico to stop the flow of drugs that are killing Americans if you support a Mexican military invasion of South Texas to stop the flow of illegal guns that are killing Mexicans. We got a deal?
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
by Padrino , San Diego/Rosarito, Tuesday, September 05, 2023, 12:09 (27 days ago) @ jay
would Mexico encourage or fight against the US?
I'll make it simple for you Nic - there is NO chance the Mexican public, or its government, would support an incursion/invasion/support action by the US military. I think they are all too well aware of how noble US intentions can quickly backslide into pure self-interest, to the detriment and misery of the locals. Examples abound.
Well, at least the U.S. could say, "Hey, there's a precedent here. We've invaded 10 other times, right?"
175 Years of Border Invasions: The Anniversary of the U.S. War on Mexico
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
That’s a deal, but who would win that battle? There is no way to stop recreational drug demand. It’s biologic. However there was success in dealing with ISIS in Syria. You state that there would be no Mexican support for US intervention. How can you be so sure? I know this option seems outlandish, but the uS Mexico border is a mess. The Mexican Cartels are the biggest beneficiary of this “Mess”
Make Sense, Not War
by Little Guy , Wednesday, September 06, 2023, 11:31 (26 days ago) @ nicatnit
That’s a deal, but who would win that battle? There is no way to stop recreational drug demand. It’s biologic.
{snip}
The Mexican Cartels are the biggest beneficiary of this “Mess”
Drug suppliers are certainly beneficiaries of the demand. But the other big beneficiaries of the war on drugs is those who ignore the reality that you acknowledge, “There is no way to stop recreational drug demand.”
Think of the billions of dollars spent on the DEA, ATF, FBI, CBP, ICE, state police, local police, prisons, etc. on a Quixotic quest to stop something, “there is no way to stop”.
I read a joke about “consultants” one time. “If you’re not part of the solution, you can make a lot of money by perpetuating the problem.” It seems to me that those agencies all have an interest in perpetuating the problem.
If America wants to get ride of drug cartels, undercut their business. Make safe drugs legally available to Americans cheaply and make substance dependency treatment services available free to those who can benefit from them. That would be cheaper than what America is doing now.
But I guess for many, it sounds like the dreaded “socialism” of “radical left-wing Communist Fascists’.
Make Sense, Not War
by qwerty , Oregon, USA, Wednesday, September 06, 2023, 11:44 (26 days ago) @ Little Guy
The citizens of the state of Oregon voted to decriminalize possession of small amounts of recreational drugs in 2020 with violators being given the option for treatment or a $100 fine. The results have been nothing short of horrendous. The police in Portland completely stopped enforcing any drug violations - dealing is still a crime - and promised mental health services have been unbearably slow to be implemented. It sounded like a nice idea but backup services need to be in place before such a scenario is implemented anywhere else.
Make Sense, Not War
by Little Guy , Wednesday, September 06, 2023, 13:19 (26 days ago) @ qwerty
I guess they are not making war, but if what you describe is the case, it sounds like they aren’t making sense either.
In British Columbia where I live, politicians made the good decision to “deinstitutionalize” mentally ill and developmentally challenged people who had been effectively warehoused-for-life. They made the bad decision to not transfer the savings to adequate community-based services.
These kind of decisions require foresight and long term planning. But that necessity does not excuse the continued squandering of public resources on policies that have proven to be ineffective and costly for generations.
Make Sense, Not War
by qwerty , Oregon, USA, Wednesday, September 06, 2023, 13:57 (26 days ago) @ Little Guy
The "deinstitutionalization" of the mentally ill or incapacitated began happening all over the US in the 1980s. There is no "infrastructure", good or bad, available after 40+ years and communities are pretty much starting from scratch to establish services that will have a positive impact. I'm not at all sure there are any approaches that successfully deal with meth addiction, which is a scourge in Oregon and has been since the 1980s.
Make Sense, Not War
Western Oregon = Apocalypse Now
Make Sense, Not War
by qwerty , Oregon, USA, Monday, September 11, 2023, 12:48 (21 days ago) @ nicatnit
Not just Western Oregon but also Eastern Oregon and Idaho and Washington........
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
by Little Guy , Tuesday, September 05, 2023, 16:22 (27 days ago) @ nicatnit
Of course the response would be different. The reason for the intervention would be to support Mexico’s fight against Cartel crime and control. But breaching sovereignty would be a huge deal. My question is would Mexico encourage or fight against the US?
If Canada were to breach American sovereignty to ensure that women have access to reproductive health services such abortion, would the US encourage or fight against Canada? If Germany invaded the US to support America’s fight against racial discrimination, would the US encourage or fight against Germany?
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
by Padrino , San Diego/Rosarito, Tuesday, September 05, 2023, 16:30 (27 days ago) @ Little Guy
If Canada were to breach American sovereignty to ensure that women have access to reproductive health services such abortion, would the US encourage or fight against Canada? If Germany invaded the US to support America’s fight against racial discrimination, would the US encourage or fight against Germany?
But always remember, the U.S. is different.
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
by Little Guy , Tuesday, September 05, 2023, 19:18 (27 days ago) @ Padrino
But always remember, the U.S. is different.
Yes, America is unique… just as every nation on earth is unique. 
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
But America has the best bombs.
And the worst public transportation. I tried to take a train from Irvine to Union Station to get to LAX a few weeks ago. The Amtrak clerk, or security, or whatever the hell she was, in Irvine got on her computer and told us she "couldn't find" the 5:52 PM train, or the 6:52.
We got in an Uber and made it to Union Station by 6:30.
Scotty beam me up.
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
In the Midwest we’ve got the South Shore to hop a ride to Chitown. Always on time. You can set your clock to it. Otherwise use your EV and make it to that next instant charging station for that quick couple hours fill up.
Fast Charging BEVs
by Little Guy , Wednesday, September 06, 2023, 11:39 (26 days ago) @ nicatnit
Otherwise use your EV and make it to that next instant charging station for that quick couple hours fill up.
You must have very bad charging stations where you live.
“Tesla has more than 12,000 Superchargers across North America, Europe, and Asia and our network continues to grow daily: more than 99% of the U.S. population is covered by the network…”
The current Tesla Superchargers “charge at rates of up to 1,000 miles per hour”
Fast Charging BEVs
by midalake , Wednesday, September 06, 2023, 11:56 (26 days ago) @ Little Guy
Otherwise use your EV and make it to that next instant charging station for that quick couple hours fill up.
You must have very bad charging stations where you live.“Tesla has more than 12,000 Superchargers across North America, Europe, and Asia and our network continues to grow daily: more than 99% of the U.S. population is covered by the network…”
The current Tesla Superchargers “charge at rates of up to 1,000 miles per hour”
He is just another Republican afraid of Science and Technology.
Fast Charging BEVs
by Little Guy , Wednesday, September 06, 2023, 13:13 (26 days ago) @ midalake
“I don’t need none of that left-wing liberal science or technology. I’m content to sit here and engage on the internet just as the good Lord intended us to do.”
By the way, it cracks me up when right-wingers oppose battery electric vehicles as being “liberal”. As if Elon Musk is left-wing. 
Fast Charging BEVs
"By the way, it cracks me up when right-wingers oppose battery electric vehicles as being “liberal”. As if Elon Musk is left-wing."
I have noticed that Republicans hate trains,PBS, National Endowment of the Arts,Anthony Bourdain, France, and , of course, Sesame Street.
Fast Charging BEVs
Elon is not “left wing” by the way, but that really doesn’t matter. I’m certainly not against EV’s. I own a chunk of Tesla. My best performer ever. I absolutely love the battery tech. The major brain there is a guy from Canada. Some day those batteries will power our houses and factories, just the timing isn’t right for the US or the world for that matter to force a switch from fossil fuel. But the left can’t wait for innovation to evolve. Has to be forced you know, because hey they know better than us lowly citizens.
Fast Charging BEVs
by jay , Sunday, September 10, 2023, 13:11 (22 days ago) @ nicatnit
But the left can’t wait for innovation to evolve. Has to be forced you know, because hey they know better than us lowly citizens.
No. It's because global warming is an existential crisis that needs to be resolved as quickly as possible, and the free market isn't moving fast enough, largely because there are too many Luddites who refuse to admit what's clearly in front of their eyes.
Fast Charging BEVs
by frostbite , Hamilton MT, Wednesday, September 06, 2023, 18:08 (26 days ago) @ Little Guy
A bit of a stretch and apologies to the "Only Zihua" group, but re Elon Musk: What's the real story behind that allegedly power saving device he's peddling? Absurd numbers of ads but, as far as I can tell, no impartial critiques. I couldn't find anything on google and an email to Consumer Reports has not been answered. Any thoughts out there?
Fast Charging BEVs
by Little Guy , Wednesday, September 06, 2023, 18:37 (26 days ago) @ frostbite
Are you referring to the “Stop Watt? Or “Pro Power Saver”?
StopWatt is one of many names of a cheap and constantly rebranded "electricity-saving box" product that … scammers have misleadingly associated with Musk, Tesla (the company), and even Nikola Tesla himself. Pro Power Saver was one of the other rebranded product names, as we previously reported.
Fast Charging BEVs
by frostbite , Hamilton MT, Thursday, September 07, 2023, 06:00 (25 days ago) @ Little Guy
Thanks for clearing that up. You'd think Musk would have filed a suit.
Fast Charging BEVs
Stop Watt is a scam and IS NOT endorsed by Elon Musk. Defies the law of physics. On the other hand his company will likely be the one to revolutionize battery tech, though an interesting tech start up NDB ( Nano diamond battery) is interesting to say the least. If you are interested in diving into nerdy reading, these ideas are interesting. I’m not touching this stock until a proven prototype is fully vetted, but they are a real potential player as well. The concept is a self charging battery fueled with nuclear waste combined with diamond paste. They claim potential to power a phone for life (28 years) with no recharge needed.
Fast Charging BEVs
by ZihuaRob , Zihuatanejo, México, Sunday, September 10, 2023, 12:04 (22 days ago) @ nicatnit
Stop Watt is a scam and IS NOT endorsed by Elon Musk. Defies the law of physics. On the other hand his company will likely be the one to revolutionize battery tech, though an interesting tech start up NDB ( Nano diamond battery) is interesting to say the least. If you are interested in diving into nerdy reading, these ideas are interesting. I’m not touching this stock until a proven prototype is fully vetted, but they are a real potential player as well. The concept is a self charging battery fueled with nuclear waste combined with diamond paste. They claim potential to power a phone for life (28 years) with no recharge needed.
Nuclear waste. Just what I want in my pocket next to the family jewels.
Fast Charging BEVs
EV’s are not viewed as “liberal” by those common sense folks on the right. Just a new technology being pushed ahead of it’s time.
Fast Charging BEVs
by Padrino , San Diego/Rosarito, Sunday, September 10, 2023, 18:55 (22 days ago) @ nicatnit
EV’s are not viewed as “liberal” by those common sense folks on the right. Just a new technology being pushed ahead of it’s time.
Do you mean all the those common sense folks on the right who modify their diesel engines to "roll coal" in front of electric vehicles? They just love Elon!
Fast Charging BEVs
Tell that to those Ford Lightning buyers. They beg to differ. We are a decade out before EV makes any sense. For the record I own a very nice EGO electric lawn mower and I love it. Just won’t take me to work though.
Fast Charging BEVs
by jay , Sunday, September 10, 2023, 13:42 (22 days ago) @ nicatnit
We are a decade out before EV makes any sense
Oh I don't know. Volkswagen is selling its ID7 model in Europe now (soon in the US) - 385 miles on a charge, 25,000 euros (about $27,000 US). Seems like it checks most all the boxes. There are other good examples - Bolt, Leaf, Tesla, Kia etc - that are already here with much more coming soon, and in much less than a decade. EVs have already arrived in my book.
Fast Charging BEVs
by frostbite , Hamilton MT, Sunday, September 10, 2023, 15:35 (22 days ago) @ jay
I suspect that it'll be quite a while before charging stations are as plentiful as gas stations. We bought a Honda hybrid CRV, which gives us 45 MPG, a range of about 650 miles on a full tank. Less frustration, less air pollution and I can still hug trees without feeling guilty.
Fast Charging BEVs
The EV’s have arrived, just not the charging network. It will take a couple of decades for that to happen
Fast Charging BEVs
by Little Guy , Wednesday, September 20, 2023, 14:10 (12 days ago) @ nicatnit
The EV’s have arrived, just not the charging network. It will take a couple of decades for that to happen
Twenty years? ????
Years, not decades. Tesla has demonstrated the rapid nature of developing charging infrastructure.
With 50,000+ Superchargers, Tesla owns and operates the largest global, fast charging network in the world. Located on major routes near convenient amenities, Superchargers keep you charged when you're away from home. Simply plug in, charge and go.
That is just one company. And the first consumers were buying Teslas only 10 years ago.
Tesla’s charging standard, the NACS (North American Charging Standard) is being adopted for most other vehicles sold in North America.
In the USA, tax credits of 30% are available for charging stations. This incentivizes a more rapid expansion.
In any case, most charging takes place at home. I know that the majority of my charging conveniently takes place at home while I am engaged in other activities, not at a network charger.
Fast Charging BEVs
by Padrino , San Diego/Rosarito, Thursday, September 21, 2023, 02:41 (12 days ago) @ Little Guy
The EV’s have arrived, just not the charging network. It will take a couple of decades for that to happen
Twenty years? ????Years, not decades. Tesla has demonstrated the rapid nature of developing charging infrastructure.
With 50,000+ Superchargers, Tesla owns and operates the largest global, fast charging network in the world.
There you go again! You are confusing him with the facts! How dare you?!
Fast Charging BEVs
There are other obstacles to widespread EV adoption. Consider the weight factor and the impact to roads. EV’s are very heavy compared to combustion engine vehicles. But ironically EV’s don’t contribute to road repairs and construction thru gas taxes. How do you fix that dilemma? And to replace the battery equals a totaled car basically. Now look at insurance rates. Nearly double. It will take decades not years for this market to develop fully. Our government that thinks it knows better than the market, is wrong again. Isn’t it ironic that Biden is walking the picket lines with the auto unions while pushing EV adoption that threatens union jobs because EV’s don’t take nearly as much labor to build.
Fast Charging BEVs
by Padrino , San Diego/Rosarito, Wednesday, September 27, 2023, 08:17 (5 days ago) @ nicatnit
There are other obstacles to widespread EV adoption. Consider the weight factor and the impact to roads. EV’s are very heavy compared to combustion engine vehicles. But ironically EV’s don’t contribute to road repairs and construction thru gas taxes. How do you fix that dilemma? And to replace the battery equals a totaled car basically. Now look at insurance rates. Nearly double. It will take decades not years for this market to develop fully. Our government that thinks it knows better than the market, is wrong again. Isn’t it ironic that Biden is walking the picket lines with the auto unions while pushing EV adoption that threatens union jobs because EV’s don’t take nearly as much labor to build.
Problems, problems, problems. Let's just give up and keep burning oil. We got plenty of it, right? And we got plenty of atmosphere to burn it in, too. Climate change, shlimate change!
The road tax dilemma will be fixed. Whether we assess an annual fee for EVs when the registration is due similar to the amount that a gas-burning vehicle pays or hit right wing media agitators bent on dividing our society with a nasty-person tax, we must somehow pay to keep the roads in working operation.
Agreed. Batteries are the key to the future of EVs, yes? As we speak, there are really smart people doing their best to make batteries lighter, cheaper, more environmentally friendly, etc. This is not only because of EVs but also because of the widespread use of mobile electronics. The free market is working on it.
Senor Nic, I would have thought you would be pleased that President Biden is helping to destroy the unions. Isn't union busting on your Fox News bucket list?
Will there ever be a post where you say something positive about a tree-hugging, Godless, Communist, LGBTQ+-loving, LIBERAL Democrat?
FUD - Roads, Batteries, Insurance
by Little Guy , Wednesday, September 27, 2023, 18:37 (5 days ago) @ nicatnit
There are other obstacles to widespread EV adoption. Consider the weight factor and the impact to roads. EV’s are very heavy compared to combustion engine vehicles. But ironically EV’s don’t contribute to road repairs and construction thru gas taxes. How do you fix that dilemma?
First, I am not aware of any jurisdiction that specifically funds “road repairs and construction” from gas taxes. If it did, I suggest that gas taxes would be far higher than they are. The infrastructure supporting the motor vehicle and fossil fuel industries have been heavily subsidized from the beginning by funding from “general revenues”.
X dollars in gas taxes go into general revenues; Y dollars are taken out of general revenues for “road repairs and construction”; but X is less than Y.
But taxing BEVs for road usage isn’t rocket science. Calculate the weight of all vehicles. Each year when vehicle registration is renewed, record the distance driven. Weight times distance times a road-usage factor equals the assessment for the year.
And to replace the battery equals a totaled car basically.
Again the FUD about battery replacement. Show us reputable statistics of the number of batteries that have needed replacement among the millions of BEVs in North America.
Now look at insurance rates. Nearly double.
Show us statistics. Most insurance premium cost is for the risk of third-party liability risk. Then there is the risk profile of the driver. My insurance on my 2019 TM3 that is using electronsis marginally higher than what my wife pays for her 2019 Chevy Volt that is burning gasoline.
From MotorTrend magazine…
The entry-level Model 3 is the Standard Range Plus model, which costs $2,114 to insure on average. BMW's equivalent is the 330i, which costs the exact same $2,114 to insure.
Next up is the Model 3 Long Range, which costs $2,351 annually to insure. As its name suggests, this model's driving range is much longer, at an EPA-rated 353 miles. Starting price is around $50,000, and 0-60 mph takes 4.0 seconds. Meanwhile, the comparable BMW M340i costs $2,392 to insure.
The range-topping Model 3 Performance costs $2,307 annually to insure. It can cover 315 miles on a charge, and its 0-60 time is just over 3.0 seconds. Prices start at about $58,000. Only the mighty M3, which costs $2,749 to insure annually, has a chance at keeping up.
It will take decades not years for this market to develop fully. Our government that thinks it knows better than the market, is wrong again. Isn’t it ironic that Biden is walking the picket lines with the auto unions while pushing EV adoption that threatens union jobs because EV’s don’t take nearly as much labor to build.
How Much Is Insurance on a Tesla?
Now look at “total cost if ownership” (TCO). I have over 106,000 km on my TM3. My “maintenance” has comprised one cleaning/lubricating of the brakes and one replacement of the cabin air filter that I did myself. Imagine the maintenance costs on an ICE vehicle.
FUD - Roads, Batteries, Insurance
by Timmac , Steilacoom, WA, Wednesday, September 27, 2023, 19:24 (5 days ago) @ Little Guy
Washington state’s gas tax (49.4¢ per gallon) goes exclusively to the Transportation Department and can not be spent for anything other than roads. Because of the advent of hybrid and electric vehicles revenues are decreasing. Washington is in the process of figuring out how to charge per mile. The initial proposal is 2.5¢ per mile. They plan to have this rolled out by 2030. I drive a Prius and currently pay a $75 per year surcharge for driving a Prius. My vehicle license fee partially based on the value and weight of the car is around $350.$185 of this so to support regional transit which is expected to be built out to our area by 2045. This was approved by voters in 1996, two subsequent votes. It is way behind schedule and so far over budget it’s unbelievable.
FUD - Roads, Batteries, Insurance
by Little Guy , Thursday, September 28, 2023, 11:03 (4 days ago) @ Timmac
Washington state’s gas tax (49.4¢ per gallon) goes exclusively to the Transportation Department and can not be spent for anything other than roads.
Does the Washington state gas tax fully fund the maintenance and construction of highways and roads? Or is the maintenance and construction of highways and roads funded by a combination of gas taxes and other revenue?
If the sole revenue source for the maintenance and construction of highways and roads is the gas tax, then I stand corrected. “I am not aware of any jurisdiction that specifically funds “road repairs and construction” from gas taxes.”
If however the maintenance and construction of highways and roads is funded by additional sources (general revenue) then I think the idea my original point stands. “The infrastructure supporting the motor vehicle and fossil fuel industries have been heavily subsidized from the beginning by funding from “general revenues”.
It seems to me that under that model, the requirement that gas taxes be used for the maintenance and construction of highways and roads is a bit of a shell game.
If the maintenance and construction of highways and roads were to cost ten billion dollars, and gas taxes provided three billion million, then yes, the gas tax would “go exclusively to the Transportation Department”, but not fund
My understanding is that in Washington State money for the maintenance and construction of highways and roads comes from the federal government, a fuel export tax, license plate fees and infusions from the state’s operating budget as well as the per-gallon gas tax.
FUD - Roads, Batteries, Insurance
by Timmac , Steilacoom, WA, Thursday, September 28, 2023, 11:40 (4 days ago) @ Little Guy
The gas tax is mandated to go exclusively to the Dept of transportation. I’m sure there are Federal funds involved. Local governments can add funds to local projects.
Fast Charging BEVs
Unless you own a Tesla in a metro area you are screwed. We are a couple of decade’s away for this technology to truly work. Let the free market dictate the pace of change. Government has no business here. Btw I love my Tesla stock. If zi didn’t live in the rural Midwest I’d have a mini fleet. Teslas are awesome, except replacing the battery is very very expensive. And the extra weight is hard on the roads. Someday better lighter and cheaper batteries will come but until then this folly by the big car companies is going to hurt their workers and their shareholders. Just look at what’s going on at Ford. An epic disaster right now. The CEO should be fired
Fast Charging BEVs
by Padrino , San Diego/Rosarito, Thursday, September 21, 2023, 08:50 (11 days ago) @ nicatnit
Unless you own a Tesla in a metro area you are screwed. We are a couple of decade’s away for this technology to truly work. Let the free market dictate the pace of change. Government has no business here. Btw I love my Tesla stock. If zi didn’t live in the rural Midwest I’d have a mini fleet. Teslas are awesome, except replacing the battery is very very expensive. And the extra weight is hard on the roads. Someday better lighter and cheaper batteries will come but until then this folly by the big car companies is going to hurt their workers and their shareholders. Just look at what’s going on at Ford. An epic disaster right now. The CEO should be fired
"A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." -- Old adage
Three things I learned road tripping across 12 states in our Tesla Model 3
Obviously the author is an Antifa Black Lives Matter Tree-Hugging Sierra Club LGBTQ+ Woke Communist! She can't possibly be telling the truth about the current charging network. Plus she loves cats! That seals it! She can't be trusted!
P.S. I agree that batteries still have some serious innovations that are necessary. Supposedly, Toyota is about unleash upon the world the "Holy Grail" of batteries, a solid-state lithium-ion battery. Stay tuned!
Fast Charging BEVs
by jay , Thursday, September 21, 2023, 16:28 (11 days ago) @ Padrino
Supposedly, Toyota is about unleash upon the world the "Holy Grail" of batteries, a solid-state lithium-ion battery. Stay tuned!
Nio, a Chinese company, announced just the other day that they're selling a midsize sedan with a solid-state battery that gets nearly 600 miles on a charge. And don't knock Chinese batteries - they're among the best in the world.
Fast Charging BEVs
by Little Guy , Thursday, September 21, 2023, 16:50 (11 days ago) @ Padrino
P.S. I agree that batteries still have some serious innovations that are necessary. Supposedly, Toyota is about unleash upon the world the "Holy Grail" of batteries, a solid-state lithium-ion battery. Stay tuned!
Is that the same solid state battery that Toyota was promoting in 2017?
Toyota is touting its progress on a new kind of battery technology, which uses a solid electrolyte instead of the conventional semi-liquid version used in today’s lithium-ion batteries. The car maker said that it’s near a breakthrough in production engineering that could help it put the new tech in production electric vehicles as early as 2020, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Toyota’s new solid-state battery could make its way to cars by 2020
BEV FUD
by Little Guy , Thursday, September 21, 2023, 12:36 (11 days ago) @ nicatnit
edited by Little Guy, Thursday, September 21, 2023, 12:49
Some people spread FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) deliberately. Others do it out of ignorance.
Unless you own a Tesla in a metro area you are screwed.
It is 20 years since I lived in an urban area, including the most recent four years since I bought my Tesla in 2019. In 2019 and 2020 I was driving 4,000 to 5,000 kilometres a month. To give you an idea of how non-urban I live, the nearest Costco is 50 kilometres away.
Tesla has a route-planning website. You can go see how easy it is to get around the USA in a Tesla.
Have any BEV? Use “A Better Route Planner” to plan your BEV trip.
We are a couple of decade’s away for this technology to truly work.
“This technology” is working every day for me and millions of other drivers.
> Let the free market dictate the pace of change. Government has no business here.
“The free market” has never worked without government participation. Look at US government support for legacy automobile technology.
In 2009 the US government had $25 billion in low interest loans for the auto industry. Tesla got a paltry $465 million.
How Tesla Went From Near-Failure To Stunning Profitability In Just A Few Years
Look at US government “business” in agricultural industries.
In 2021, the federal government provided farms with $28.5 billion in subsidies, or direct farm program payments.
Teslas are awesome, except replacing the battery is very very expensive.
Now that is a ridiculous statement. Show us some data. Of the millions of teslas that haven been sold, how many owners have had their battery replaced and at what cost? You might as well say, “Human bodies are awesome, except replacing the heart and lungs is very very expensive.“
BEV FUD
Btw I own Tesla not the car but the stock, plenty enough for a fleet of cars, so I believe in the company and have for well over a decade. But the battery replacement problem is real. Look at insurance rates almost double in many areas. Try to resell the car with an older battery. You get pounded right now. Using your analogy the battery would be like the whole body core of organs not just a heart bypass like when an internal combustion engine goes bad.
More BEV FUD
by Little Guy , Wednesday, September 27, 2023, 10:39 (5 days ago) @ nicatnit
More unsubstantiated FUD.
Show us credible statistics on the frequency of battery replacements among the millions of Teslas sold.
Your comments remind me of the fear mongering and FUD when I bought my first Prius in 2004. “You;ll have to have the battery replaced. It will cost as much as a new car.”
We drove that car hundreds of thousands of kilometers over 10 years. When it was totaled in a collision, the battery was still in good working order and was repurposed.
aBEV FUD
by jay , Wednesday, September 27, 2023, 19:08 (5 days ago) @ nicatnit
But the battery replacement problem is real
You're absolutely right in that batteries have to be replaced often. Or were right maybe 10-12 years ago. Back then Nissan Leaf batteries were only expected to last about 40k miles. But you probably haven't noticed that technology has come a long way. Now a battery pack is expected to last well over 100k miles, and newer designs coming online now will last the lifetime of the car, or beyond, as Little Guy mentioned. With far less maintenance.
Look at insurance rates almost double in many areas.
Perhaps those areas are high meth-house areas with very poor drivers. My insurance rates didn't move an inch.
Try to resell the car with an older battery. You get pounded right now.
I don't know. I look at Edmund's and Kelley Blue Book and it seems that EV value holds up about as well as ICE's.
Don't make the mistake, as many others have, of thinking that technology stops today, or in your case, about 7 years ago. Try to find more up-to-date sources of information other than right-wing media. It's out there if you care to look, even if it takes more effort. Try this for starters:
https://chargedevs.com/
The rest of the battery world has caught up to Tesla, and Elon has to swim in the same waters as everyone else, chasing the best technology on the market. Tesla tech is, and has been, outstanding, but there are an awful lot of brilliant people out there working on this technology, and Tesla no longer has a corner on the market.
Fast Charging BEVs
by Little Guy , Sunday, September 10, 2023, 16:29 (22 days ago) @ nicatnit
Tell that to those Ford Lightning buyers. They beg to differ. We are a decade out before EV makes any sense. For the record I own a very nice EGO electric lawn mower and I love it. Just won’t take me to work though.
The early experience of one late comer to the technology (Ford) is not compelling evidence regarding the technology.
EV has been making sense for me since 2019 when I bought me Tesla. Quickly, I was putting 4,000 to 5,000 kilometres on it per month, saving a bundle in fuel costs. Right now, gasoline is C$2/litre where I live. That is like US$5.56 per US gallon. Instead, I pay C$0.14 per kWh. I use about 13 kWh per 100 Km, so that works out to about C$1.82 per 100 Km for “fuel”. That C$1.82 would have bought me less than a litre of gasoline that would not have gotten me anywhere close to 100 Km.
Tesla has demonstrated what is achievable now with its charging. It appears that vehicle sellers in the US are acknowledging that with adoption of Tesla’s NACS (North American Charging Standard). Fisker, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Polestar, Rivian, and Volvo have announced that starting from 2025, their electric vehicles will be equipped with the NACS charge port.
The future is now for Tesla owners. It will be here for others in a year or two, not a decade from now.
Fast Charging BEVs
by Ironwood , Monday, September 11, 2023, 00:19 (22 days ago) @ nicatnit
.... We are a decade out before EV makes any sense.
I guess Norway missed your memo, since 80% of all new vehicle sales are EVs.
Fast Charging BEVs
by Little Guy , Monday, September 11, 2023, 09:42 (21 days ago) @ Ironwood
Even California is moving there fast.
In Q2 2023, 125,939 new ZEVs (BEV, PHEV, FCEV) were sold in California (up 59 percent year-over-year), which is a new record and 25.4 percent of the total volume..
Fast Charging BEVs
by Padrino , San Diego/Rosarito, Monday, September 11, 2023, 11:26 (21 days ago) @ Little Guy
I hate cars. I hate driving. Ask me about my bicycle or motor scooter. However, I do own a motor vehicle and with the small amount of driving I do, I hope to never have to buy another car again in my lifetime. However, for what it is worth, if I were to have to buy another car, I would definitely want to buy an electric car. The electric motor should easily outlive you. No need to get a complex chemical reaction started to get your vehicle to move. No need to ever stop at a gas station. The batteries are getting cheaper and better every year. Very cool! (Okay, okay. If you do long distance road trips, they ain't ideal. But all my long distance trips are via Volaris.)
Having said that, I am in my no rush as the current crop of electric cars are mostly targeted at the high-end consumers with tons of whiz-bang bells and whistles technology that is totally useless and only going to cost a ton of money to keep working as the vehicle ages. Does it really make any sense to have to use the touch screen to open the glove box as you must do in a Tesla? Dumb. All I want from a car is to get from point A to point B and back again as reliably and economically as possible. I wonder if I can convert my 1996 Toyota Previa with only 130,000 miles on it to all electric?
dairy queen
"All I want from a car is to get from point A to point B and back again as reliably and economically as possible."
What could be more anti-American than this? I bet this guy never had a RAM or F-250 and laid rubber in front of Dairy Queen.
dairy queen
by Padrino , San Diego/Rosarito, Tuesday, September 12, 2023, 08:14 (20 days ago) @ Yandosan
"All I want from a car is to get from point A to point B and back again as reliably and economically as possible."
What could be more anti-American than this? I bet this guy never had a RAM or F-250 and laid rubber in front of Dairy Queen.
Asi es, mi amigo! If you will indulge me, I do have a kinda' funny story to relate regarding this all-too-common American mindset. Many years ago, I was working downtown San Diego in the IT department of one of our major employers. The head of the department was the only woman nerd in the group of about 7 of us. All of us male nerds were infatuated with her. We had walked down to a restaurant for lunch and were leaving to return. A gentleman who appeared to be an extra from the movie Deliverance in his jacked up pickup truck with four-foot high tires laid rubber as he exited the parking lot next to the restaurant. Our celebrated department head made a comment speculating about the minuscule size of the gentleman's reproductive organ. After an appropriate pause, a fellow nerd said, "I have a Honda Civic." I chimed in, "I have a Toyota Tercel."
Oh, well. I thought it was funny.
P.S. Could someone actually lay rubber with a Toyota Previa? A friend of mine told me that this minivan has a supercharger, whatever that is.
He didn't have a set of balls hanging off his trailer hitch? What a wuss!
Fast Charging BEVs
by Little Guy , Monday, September 11, 2023, 19:48 (21 days ago) @ Padrino
In a way, I admire your reliance on bike and motor scooter. I have seen too many reasons why I don’t want to end up in the hospital from riding one of those. (Come to think of it, I have been in the hospital twice because of mishaps on bicycles.)
I want to have a BEV in Mexico but the charging infrastructure is far from good enough for anything but local driving. One can’t even get to Morelia from Zihuatanejo.
By the way, one doesn’t have to use the touch screen on a Tesla to open the glove box. One can use voice command instead. “Open glove box.” ????
(I’m serious; I do it.)
Fast Charging BEVs
by Padrino , San Diego/Rosarito, Tuesday, September 12, 2023, 16:42 (20 days ago) @ Little Guy
By the way, one doesn’t have to use the touch screen on a Tesla to open the glove box. One can use voice command instead. “Open glove box.” ????
(I’m serious; I do it.)
Hasn't anyone ever read 1984?!
I guess I am just really old.
This is just great, LG. Now not only do you have the lackeys at Tesla listening in on your conversations, Putin's and Xi's boyz and girlz are determining if you are a worthy target.
I don't want my car to listen to my conversations and track my whereabouts. I don't want my phone to listen to my conversations and track my whereabouts. (The damned thing keeps trying to get me to turn on the microphone and turn on the location services. Every time it does, I want to smash it!) I don't want any of my household appliances to be hooked to the Internet and listening into my conversations. No, no, no, no, no!
Orwell could never have imagined that we would welcome these spying devices with open arms. He envisioned that they would be slammed down our throats. Aha! Brave New World!
Again, I guess I am just really, really old ... and paranoid.
Fast Charging BEVs
by frostbite , Hamilton MT, Wednesday, September 13, 2023, 03:39 (19 days ago) @ Padrino
Wow! Another old fart who dislikes all these electronic intrusions. I feel better now.
Fast Charging BEVs
Phone talking to my toaster, chatting with my toilet which is hooked up to my lawn mower. Used to hear about this a lot, the "Internet of Everything."
Fortunately I have not heard this idiotic expression in several years. Let me check my blow dryer for an explanation.
Fast Charging BEVs
by frostbite , Hamilton MT, Wednesday, September 13, 2023, 09:17 (19 days ago) @ Yandosan
As long as you don't confuse your blow dryer with a willing young wench, you'll be OK.
Fast Charging BEVs
by Timmac , Steilacoom, WA, Wednesday, September 13, 2023, 13:12 (19 days ago) @ frostbite
As long as you don't confuse your blow dryer with a willing young wench, you'll be OK.
wouldn’t it depend on if it/she was AC or DC
Old Folk Paranoia
by Little Guy , Wednesday, September 13, 2023, 15:09 (19 days ago) @ Padrino
I suspect that the ghosts of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley will not haunt you for the mixed references to 1984 and Brave New World. ????
Big Brother wasn’t monitoring the residents of Oceana, only Party members. It was the constant broadcasting of fear that kept people in line and thinking that leaders like Putin (of Orwell’s Eurasia), and Xi (of Orwell’s Eastasia) would bother to notice prols like you and me. It seems that it is working.
I suspect that the lackeys at Tesla have long ago become bored of my occasional utterances when I am in my car.
My thermostat is connected to the internet. I am quite confident it hasn’t been listening to me. It certainly hasn’t engaged me in conversation. The same goes for the water leak sensors in my crawl space, my internet-connected cameras in Canada and Mexico, and my wifi enabled doorbell. My Sonos speakers and my internet-connected television talk to me, but like my wife, I am quite certain they don’t listen to me.
And of course, I know that regardless of how I set location services on my phone, my location is always known as the cel phone towers triangulate my location, ensuring I have the best signal.
I do find it humorous when people who cross borders, fly on airplanes, use credit cards or debit cards, transfer money, etc. and post messages, using an internet-connected device, worry about internet-connected devices.
In 2019, government auditors said the FBI had access to more than 640 million face photos and that the FACE unit had run more than 390,000 facial recognition searches over the previous eight years.
A Government Accountability Office audit in 2021 found that 20 federal agencies, including the U.S. Postal Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service, had used facial recognition in some capacity, though most of the agencies did “not have awareness” of which tools employees were using and had “therefore not fully assessed the potential risks.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/03/07/facial-recognition-fbi-dod-research-aclu/#
Read that again… “… these agencies did “not have awareness” of which tools employees were using and had “therefore not fully assessed the potential risks.
I suggest there are more important things to be thinking about than how people open their glove box.
Old Folk Paranoia
by Padrino , San Diego/Rosarito, Thursday, September 14, 2023, 08:33 (18 days ago) @ Little Guy
I suspect that the ghosts of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley will not haunt you for the mixed references to 1984 and Brave New World. ????
Let's hope they will be pleased that they are not forgotten!
Big Brother wasn’t monitoring the residents of Oceana, only Party members. It was the constant broadcasting of fear that kept people in line and thinking that leaders like Putin (of Orwell’s Eurasia), and Xi (of Orwell’s Eastasia) would bother to notice prols like you and me. It seems that it is working.
From the text, it's not clear whether or not the proles were being monitored by the government apparatus. I suspect they were.
I suspect that the lackeys at Tesla have long ago become bored of my occasional utterances when I am in my car.
Their AI searches for the more salacious and illicit conversations and alert the lackeys to some good stuff to listen to.
My thermostat is connected to the internet. I am quite confident it hasn’t been listening to me. It certainly hasn’t engaged me in conversation. The same goes for the water leak sensors in my crawl space, my internet-connected cameras in Canada and Mexico, and my wifi enabled doorbell. My Sonos speakers and my internet-connected television talk to me, but like my wife, I am quite certain they don’t listen to me.
Those are not the reports that have made their way into the news media.
And of course, I know that regardless of how I set location services on my phone, my location is always known as the cell phone towers triangulate my location, ensuring I have the best signal.
Personally, I don't know what I am more scared about. The fact that this technology is so widespread and unregulated or the fact that the vast majority of the population has resigned itself to having no privacy whatsoever.
I suggest there are more important things to be thinking about than how people open their glove box.
Not worried about the glove box? I agree. That's just dumb. However, given the rise of authoritarianism around the world, including the historical bastion of freedom, the United States, all the other spying technology scares me to death. I wonder if I could learn to love Big Brother without having to follow Winston's path of horror. (If you have no idea what that last sentence means, please, please, please read 1984. You young'uns can download it to your phone so you don't have to be seen reading a book.)
Old Folk Paranoia
by jay , Thursday, September 14, 2023, 09:11 (18 days ago) @ Padrino
I try to limit my exposure as much as possible, but I take some comfort in knowing that what little information is gathered about me will get hopelessly and forever buried in the multi-qubits of information that is gathered in massive server farms every day.
Old Folk Paranoia
I wonder if even Orwell could wrap his head around Uncle Sam collecting terabytes of information from communications of millions of Americans. Precisely why I rely on carrier pigeons, or smoke signals, when I talk to spies.
Old Folk Paranoia
by Ironwood , Thursday, September 14, 2023, 23:32 (18 days ago) @ Yandosan
Precisely why I rely on carrier pigeons, or smoke signals, when I talk to spies.
Deep State: "Duly noted."
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
The US would kick ass like usual, then declare victory,except for all the times we fail, like Afghanistan. Then rebuild the war machine. Kind of like Ukraine. But that’s a proxy war.
Saber Rattling - Doubling Down
by Ironwood , Wednesday, September 06, 2023, 12:31 (26 days ago) @ nicatnit
The US would kick ass like usual, then declare victory,except for all the times we fail, like Afghanistan. Then rebuild the war machine. Kind of like Ukraine. But that’s a proxy war.
I'm always a tad leery of people who use the phrase "kick ass."
"Boots on the ground" is another one.
