Harry P.

I think you're slightly off-base here. Before the advent of digital mass media, the only people involved in "journalism" and in producing books, magazines, etc. were professionals, with training, who did it for a living. Today, literally anyone can publish a digital magazine, book, blog, etc. You no longer need an actual publisher and an actual copy editor and an actual staff and an actual printing plant to produce an e-zine or e-book. Any schmuck in his parent's basement can put out anything digitally, whether it's high quality content or pure garbage, to a worldwide audience of billions. So that's why the increase in krap. It's not that the ""real" journalists no longer exist or have all suddenly lost their abilities... it's the fact they are being overshadowed by all the new electronic media, that by its nature doesn't need anyone but one ill-informed goof to produce and distribute.

I thought this was a thread on self-driving cars, not alt-fuel technology...

Doesn't it always?

A BMI of 35 or more is considered "Class II Obese" (severely obese). There's only one higher classification (40 and up, or in other words, the walking dead)... so having a BMI of 35+ puts you in danger no matter what you do for a living.

Wouldn't it be a lot easier to just raise the axle stubs up higher?

Wasn't it DARPA that basically invented the internet many years ago? Or what came to be called the internet. It was called "DARPANET," IIRC. Or "ARPANET" or something like that? Basically the first time that multiple computers in separate locations were able to connect with each other using an electronic network. (See... it wasn't Al Gore after all!)

It would be a real convoluted mess, that's what it would be! I think it could actually take longer to sort out the legal issues than it would to transition to driverless cars.

Actually it's just the opposite of what you say. It's designed to take away (or lessen) driver input. From the story... The actuator—an electric motor and gearing system—can essentially add to or subtract from a driver’s steering inputs. Or in other words, change the driver's inputs. That is taking away control. Or at the very least, modifying or overriding it. But my point wasn't to point out the "evils" of this system, only to make the point that this is just another step in the overall process that is happening... the process of giving more control to the car and taking more away from the driver, and questioning whether that was a good or a bad thing.

Exactly what I was thinking! That thing is India's "Checker."

Isn't it possible to download any digital file, including magazines, to your desktop? Just in case you want to, I mean. Theoretically you could subscribe to a digital magazine and still download the file and print it out any time, if you wanted to do that.

Sort of semi-related to this... that Progressive Insurance electronic nanny gizmo that you put in your car and it tracks your driving habits (acceleration, how many "panic stops" you've made, etc.) under the guise of "lowering" your insurance rate. It seems to me that all the proof an insurance company needs that you are a relatively safe driver would be the fact that you haven't been involved in an accident! No insurance claims... safe driver. Lower rates. I have to wonder what the real reason is that Progressive wants to track your driving habits (I seriously doubt the intent is to lower your insurance rates, which makes no sense for the insurance company!). Obviously it's somehow beneficial to them and not to you to have that information, but I'm not quite sure what their angle is. They claim that data collected by the device will not be used as a reason to raise the rates of what they consider an "unsafe" driver (based on the data collected)... but I have to wonder...

Right, in and of itself no big deal. But just another small incremental step that takes a bit of control away from the driver. Part of the ongoing process of gradually taking more and more driver control away in the name of safety. I'm not sure that's necessarily a good or bad trend. Probably good if it results in fewer traffic accidents and/or injury and death. But it just seems sort of creepy and "big brotherish" to me.

Good question! Who is at fault when two driverless cars crash? It could get very messy, legally. Lots of "unforeseen consequences" ahead if the day comes where cars are actually driverless. Will driverless cars be mandated by law one day? If so, what about the millions and millions of "regular" cars on the road? Would we get a certain amount of time to all buy a new driverless car before "old fashioned" cars would no longer be legal to drive? Would driverless cars be phased in over time? How would a crash involving a driver and a driverless car work as far as insurance? What if a driverless car was full of passengers, none of which are the owner, and that car is involved in a crash? Who's responsible for any damage/injury/death caused?

As cars become "smarter" and more involved in the driver's reactions and inputs, like crash avoidance systems and other electronic nannies that either work with the driver's inputs or actually override them, or systems that can parallel park while the driver just sits there, the role of the driver is constantly being diminished... to the point where one day cars will not even need a driver at all. Good or bad? You can't stop the march of progress–the traditional roles of car and driver are changing rapidly, with the car relying less on driver input and taking over more and more of the actual driving process. Ford is now bringing "smart" steering to the masses... http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2014/05/30/ford-introducing-adaptive-steering/?intcmp=features

Final vote: 11 REAL, 31 MODEL. And the answer is... MODEL! http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/05/31/handsome-half-pints-colin-rules-tiny-tributes-to-the-big-healey/

Good looking hot rod.... but there's no radiator behind that PE grille!

Going digital only... or going away altogether?

You don't want to add white to a black wash... you'll get gray. What you want is a darker shade of the body color, so yellow with a tiny bit of black. Add more black if necessary, but the goal is a dark yellow, NOT a stark black. The perfect example: look at the real panel lines on the hood, where they are actual open gaps. Those lines are nowhere near as dark as the black lines you added to the doors and trunk.

Yep. it's an adventure for a lot of people!

You're not the only one. For some reason a lot of people make that same mistake.

Jairus. J-A-I-R-U-S.

If we all transitioned into driverless cars, how would that affect the auto insurance industry? Since there would no longer be human drivers, how would fault be assessed in a collision? Who sues who? Or does collision insurance just go away? Who's liable (at fault) for a collision between two driverless cars?

Yes it will. Sooner than you think.

GMP. As stated in the title of the topic.

Here's one I did a few years ago when the new Charger came out. Not a ground-up new design, but changing the existing design to make it more "Charger."