Ben

As upset as I am about the rampaging douchbaggery of that parking job, I am possibly even more upset about the misused apostrophe in his graphics. Why do people not at least use spell check or run it by someone who speaks good English before they make a sign and advertise their stupidity to the world?

Dear all, The title pretty much says it all. But as I lawyer I rarely know when to just shut the hell up so I'm going to elaborate. Here goes. I'm thinking it is time for new brakes on the 135i. I measured my rotors and I'm near/barely below minimum thickness. I can get cross-drilled or slotted for pretty close to the same price as plain. So I figure, why not go for a bit of a cooler aesthetic? Thus the question: Cross-drilled or slotted? I like the look of cross-drilled better. The supplier has written assurances (and even a warranty) that their drilling misses all internal vanes and will not result in cracking. The mere fact that they feel the need to offer such a reassurance however, leaves me something less than reassured. In addition, I have heard much spouting on the internet about the benefits of cross-drilling being mostly illusory. But Porsche and Ferrari still do it. Is it really all just for show? (Also, just to get a bit psuedo-sciencey, all things being equal, an object's rate of cooling is increased if its surface area to volume ratio increases, which is what cross-drilling accomplishes with minimal decrease in heat-absorbing mass). Also, I have heard cross-drilling offers greater bite at the cost of faster pad degradation. On the other hand, I have heard that slotting offers a nice bite. It wouldn't have the cooling advantages suggested by my psuedo-science and it wouldn't look as cool. But it also wouldn't have the risk of cracking. OK. Thoughts? BTW, I did search for a thread on this already and found some relevant stuff but nothing that tackled it head-on. If I've missed something and there is a thread already like this, feel free to keep it to yourself.

This whole thing is comedy gold. I read somewhere that after receiving dildos, glitter, nail polish, lube, and feminine products, the occupiers clarified that their request for supplies was a request for food. Whereupon some responsive supporter sent them penis shaped candies.

It has been said by a number of folks already but in the spirit of adding a "vote" I'll say this: I like cars and coffee very much the way it is. I would likely be interested in cruising somewhere (lunch?) afterwards but not before.

In sooth, I know not why I am so sad: It wearies me; you say it wearies you; But how I caught it, found it, or came by it, What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born, I am to learn; And such a want-wit sadness makes of me, That I have much ado to know myself.

Don't forget that Obi Wan had a love interest in the (still cannon) animated series, a Duchess of Mandalore. The other question though is who is Kylo Ren's master? I've always been partial to the idea that Darth Bane (inventor of the rule of two and capable of performing essence transfer at the moment of death to possess a new body and take the new bodies' powers into his own) has lived down the centuries eventually becoming Palpatine. It would be cool to think that he is still alive somehow. But the only force-sensitives present at the time of Sidious' death (as far as we know) were Vader and Luke so to whom could his essence have transferred?

MoslerAuto.com has this gem of a quote under their purchasing guide: "Often boasting horsepower capabilities of roughly 500 miles per hour, these speed machines were built to take on most any condition." Yet even they only claim a "new" price of $475k

I love that the monkey doesn't even remotely hesitate. That guy throws his shoe and even though he is probably 5 times the monkey's weight the monkey immediately charges him.

I am loving my set of RS3s. Bit louder than other tires I've had. But it is hard to get them to break loose under acceleration when they are hot and through corners you feel your vertebrae start to slide before the tires do.

Sorry to hear that. Everyone has off days and there may be circumstances we are not aware of. But it really disappoints me when I hear about lawyers who apparently don't grasp that the practice of law should be regarded as a calling, not a job to be half-assed for a paycheck.

Sexy. Although not sure I want it if I can't be the first to violate the tailpipe with my fist, ya know?

Saw this the other day through some friends at BMW CCA. https://lexington.craigslist.org/cto/5307238517.html I have to ask though.... Why BMW for winter? I've definitely driven my share of bimmers over the years and the one thing they all have in common is they are shit in the snow (unless you get snow tires on them). Why not opt for some FWD/AWD honda/subaru/toyota beater instead?

I was excited for this car until I read the C & D first drive review (http://www.caranddriver.com/acura/nsx). It sounds like Honda couldn't decide whether they were building a supercar or an enormously expensive and impractical Civic. I mean what supercar comes with all season tires on it? Seriously Honda? It blows my mind that Honda made the NSX (original) and the S2000 and hasn't managed a single grain of excitement since. (The Honda s660 sounded promising but isn't making it to the USA...)

What Geeto said is correct. Whichever party issued the subpoena is the party that wants you as a witness. Contact the attorney for that party, tell them you have prepaid tickets and will be out of the country on an anniversary trip and ask them to seek a continuance. Seeking a continuance because a witness is unavailable is usually no big deal if done sufficiently in advance. But do it promptly. Seeking a continuance at the last minute annoys people, including judges, and is much harder to get done.

Yes, I am mad. Why aren't you? Our economy is still struggling. A tiny percentage of Americans have grabbed a huge portion of wealth for themselves and have attempted a de facto coup by buying and gerrymandering elections and people like you defend the very regime that disenfranchises you, me, and anyone worth less than 100 mil. Wake up! These people aren't on your side. To respond to your specific points: Many poor people do work and are still poor. That is precisely the problem. Supply only drives demand in an econ 101 class. The real world doen't work that way. You can supply as many betamax video tapes as you want. You won't create demand for them. Cutting income tax will actually have relatively little effect on the middle to upper middle. If you make 50k you will only see a couple of grand from even a huge tax decrease. In fact such a decrease would disproportionately put money into the hands of a relatively small number of persons each of whom is already so inordinately wealthy that their spending patterns will change little in response to almost any amount of income growth. You correctly note that multiple choice three would shift wealth to the poorer segments of society. But you fail to take into account what those people do with it-to wit, they spend it. Or, in other words, they become consumers driving demand, fueling business growth, creating the need for workers, funding jobs, creating more consumers, etc. History teaches that unrestrained undisciplined capitalism creates bubbles and crashes. Responsible regulated capitalism creates prosperity. I wasn't advocating socialism, just responsible economic policy. There is not and has never been a viable socialist party in America. Socialism is merely the scare word for people who have run out of excuses for why supply-side trickle down garbage is not working and never has worked. And yes, my argument is simple. Most good ones are.

Looks like an awesome time! One of these days I shall do one! (Just as soon as I convince my wife to stop making me go places with her instead. :fa:)

Also, I don't know who will make the next best President. I plan to listen, read, and think about it before making a decision. But I'm pretty sure it isn't someone whose life is a damn spectacle, who inherited a giant pile of money, and yet expects everyone to worship him as the Second Coming crossbred with Andrew Carnegie. I'm also pretty sure it isn't the imbecile who ran HP into the ground and merged HP with the only computer company less successful that it was before being ignominiously shit-canned. I'm pretty sure it isn't anyone who thinks that it is legitimate for the government of the United States, a constitutional republic of supposedly limited powers, to tell a woman what she ought to do with her vagina. I'm pretty sure it isn't anyone who thinks that the First Amendment can be construed to allow governance according to the literal and often contradictory edicts of Bible. I mean heck, should we be loving our neighbors or pillaging non-believers and collecting foreskins? Which is it man? I'm pretty sure it isn't anyone who rejects evidence and science in making decisions. And I am really very sure it isn't anyone who was in upper management of any of the financial firms who ran our frigging economy into the ground less than a decade ago. I mean, we couldn't be so stupid as to elect someone with intimate ties to Lehman Bros to the Presidency could we? Could we?

If this last recession (where a lot of companies had lots of unspent cash but weren't hiring) should have taught us anything it is that demand drives economies. The widget factory doesn't hire people when it gets a tax break or its CEO gets a tax break. It hires people when it needs to make more fucking widgets. Demand for widgets only increases when people are buying stuff and people buy stuff only when the two factors come together in potential consumers: (1) want/need and (2) money. So let's look at the three typical classes of Americans: 1.) Rich people have pretty much everything they want or need already. 2.) Middle class people have everything they need but not everything they want. 3.) Poor people do not have everything they need or want. Multiple choice question one: Out of those three classes of people, in whose hands should money be placed in order to drive demand? Multiple choice question two: If you just cut personal income tax, to whose pockets will money flow? Multiple choice question three: If you increase income tax, reduce sales tax, and raise wages into whose hands will money flow? If I hear another chucklehead start talking about how if we just lowered income taxes a bit more to stimulate the economy I am seriously going to lose it. It is simply a flawed premise and the last few decades have amply proven that.

OK, so here's the question: What would you do if you could lay hands on this 20-year-old brat who, in a petulant attempt to get a new Ferrari, torched his "old" 458 Italia? http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1025515_spoiled-son-sets-fire-to-gifted-ferrari-in-order-to-upgrade-to-new-model Drowning in fetid leper diarrhea doesn't even seem bad enough does it?

He hit it at night though no? No raised reflectors. No signs. No way you'll see a black line on the pavement at night in time to react, even at a relatively sedate 25mph. Also, I must say, I think I am thinking clearly and rationally about this rather than making it an emotional issue precisely because I don't have children. When it comes to public policy and urban planning, emotional considerations are valid. But if feelings and irrational levels of fear drive your analysis, it almost always leads to unwise conclusions.

Well... If this town isn't big enough for the two of us, perhaps a duel? Nerf guns only though. Anything else could poke out an eye.

I see where you're coming from but I don't buy it and here's why. I lived on lots of different streets growing up. So did you, and so did everyone I know. And no one, literally not a single one of my friends growing up was ever hit by a car. How about you? Maybe. But I'll bet not. It's pretty rare. And yet, we didn't have speed bumps on my street. The signal lights didn't have walk/don't walk signs. The lights didn't turn red in all four directions when you pressed the little button that actually didn't even exist then. Hell, mostly what we had were stop signs. And car brakes were terrible back then. Drums on a lot of cars. Stopping power like they were made out of cheese. But despite the utter lack of high childhood mortality in modern society, somewhere in the last 20 years or so the world went and got itself batshit crazy. Suddenly every damn thing has to be wrapped in bubble wrap, smothered in airbags, plastered with safety notices, and basically made unusable because people are convinced that their children are made out of spun glass. And while I appreciate that some safety advances (seatbelts and disc brakes, for instance) are a good thing, I worry about a few of things. 1. In the short term, stuff is getting less fun. The good fireworks are the big loud ones that can blow off your fingers not the little safe pill that turns into a doofy snake when you light it on fire. The fun cars are the fast light ones (not the ones porked up with safety features). I'm sure you can think of other examples, go nuts. 2. In a word, paranoia. People seem to be losing their ability to accurately assess risk (not that anyone was ever really very good at this, but it appears to be getting worse). Almost everyone keeps their doors locked and suspects virtually all strangers of being mad rapists. But in fact, by every measurable statistic, our neighborhoods in the U.S. are safer than they've ever been and the "mad rapist/serial killer" has always been a vanishingly rare phenomenon. And don't get me started about how every week there's some new thing that we've all been consuming here on the little blue planet for a thousand years that will totally kill you in horrible ways. Pass the gluten anyone? 3. In the long term, we just may be creating a generation of people with a completely underdeveloped sense of how to deal with hazards. If every street you cross is a four-way stop on red when you push the button, what will you do someday when you have to cross a street that isn't? If every time you came within sight of water mommy slapped a life-vest on you, what will you do if you someday have to swim? Learned helplessness is a phrase that comes floating to mind pretty often these days. One final thought and then I'll end this tirade. When I was in my teens, the SUV was in vogue for the first time. The idea I heard repeatedly was that the safety of the children justified this monstrous, pollution chugging, gas-guzzling, terrorism-financing (lots of oil money in terrorism back then) monstrosity. The idea seemed to be that if you just bought a big enough car, you could ensure your family's safety by crushing the life out of anything you hit. Everyone else be damned. You and your precious brood would survive. Even then, at the height of my self-absorbed teenage narcissism, I found this attitude revolting. Unjustified paranoia about child safety does not confer upon you the right to harm other people. Don't like how busy your street is? Then pack your stuff and move. Don't create road hazards in a fit of a self-righteous entitlement to trap passerby, damage their cars, and teach them some "lesson" that they won't get and have no interest in learning.

I know this is a forum on which all opinions can and often are voiced. But I am absolutely gobsmacked and flabbergasted that anyone on a car forum is speaking in defense of invisible extra-vicious unmarked speed bumps. Are you intentionally contrary or infected with crazy?

Good for you man! I've done centuries before but my wife and I didn't think we could both raise the cash to each do 100. Make sure you hydrate, eat, and get electrolytes. The first time I went over 50 I drank just a bit of water here and there. Holy cramps...

Hi all, My wife and I decided to ride in Pelotonia this year. Her father was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and my aunt was just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Neither of us know how to cure cancer, but we felt we needed to do something. And both of us can at least ride a bike. I also figured that we're probably not the only car people who also enjoy non-motorized wheeled contraptions. So, anyone else on here riding this year? Need help fundraising? Feel free to piggy back on this thread! Thanks! Ben P.S. If you'd like to help support either my wife or me in our own diminutive stand against cancer, we would appreciate it. http://www.pelotonia.org/bentracy : http://www.pelotonia.org/mallorytracy