MattPie

I'm confused, do you see this as a positive or at least something to aspire to? China is a particularly interesting example, as they have a very heavy handed government (what you seem to oppose) which is part of the reason they're current successful. Their stock market is a disaster lately, but things keep going because the government keeps pushing along. Nah, I know, it just struck me as funny. - Sincerely, Met'yuPirog.

While I completely agree with you, the avatar and username are just too funny paired with this post. I'm not sure Russian Commie Robot is going to convince Wookie.

Can we move this to the Toilet Talk thread?

I'm trying to figure out a nice way to say you're wrong. Diesels don't restrict the intake like a gasoline engine does; instead they vary the amount of fuel squirted into the engine to vary the amount of power it will create. Gas engines use a butterfly valve to restrict the air coming into the engine and squirt the right amount of fuel for the amount of air. When you let off the gas, engine braking happens because the engine is trying to move the same volume of air through a very small intake area. Think trying to suck a milk shake through a cocktail vs. a regular straw. In fact, a "Jake Brake" (when trucks make that loud engine sound when slowing down) is an add-on that turns the engine into a compressor using the trucks momentum as power. The truck slows down since the compressor is offering resistance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine_braking Looks like engine braking is either added by VW to make it feel like a gas car, or the emissions equipment is doing it. All I'll say is: brakes are a lot cheaper and easier to replace than transmissions.

Yeah, the WRX is a bit of a pig. I actually do a few MPG better with the winter tires on it, they're lighter (less rotating mass) 16" where the OEM rims are 17" and wider, but all those holes in the front of the car don't help its mileage.

It is certainly both, but as I understand it the demographics of enlistment says the poorer people enlist more so economics certainly plays a part. I have at least one friend that joined the Army after washing out of college and a series of dead-end jobs. It worked for him, as he's a happy dotcom tech guy now. I did read an article though that it's not sunshine and roses though. The focus of the article was an unhappy army private that was assigned to be a janitor based on his scores on the aptitude tests. There's nothing wrong with good, honest work but he was hoping that he'd get further ahead. That's the downside of military life: you're signing over 6 years (minimum) with almost no say in what you do. It's fine if you test well and get ahead, but you may end up no further ahead at the end or will a set of skills that doesn't translate well to the outside world.

There's plenty of mid and upper level military officers that need to get their fair share of the blame too.

Keep the reports coming over time. A VW diesel is on my future short-list of vehicles when it's time to trade in my WRX. I love Subarus, but I'd like to have something that gets better than 22 MPG (requires premium). Van-dor the Unstoppable gets the same, but at least it's regular gas.

I'd say Cayuga Cruiser from Ithaca too. Sour, but not so sour that it makes you pucker.

Questioning someone's heritage because they have a dwarf as an ancestor isn't cool, man.

I think you missed the analogy. :)

A quick look says we have the better Gionta, and I'd have to say the better Miller.

Maybe the US teams need to retaliate against the CFL and its minimum number of Canadian-born player rule with a minimum number of US-born players per team.

You got the context right, I was referring to my daughter. The acronym is "Little Poop Machine" though.

That seems a little over the top. Am I missing the sarcasm?

I think it's pretty fair to blame Texas for forcing political decisions into textbooks.

It's not, unless you consider "assault" weapon bans. And Obama taking away everyone's guns. I seriously doubt that if power reverted back to the states that the money wouldn't follow. You might have more access to your rep now, but he's probably not going to listen when the SIGs are spending a lot more to buy the local/state reps. The other issue is state laws will become a hodge-podge of slightly different regulations that make it really difficult to run a business large enough to cross state lines. I like the USA, I'm not sure I'd like a collection of kinda-related states.

Gun rights and Education. I can see Gun rights; even though I don't like the direction NYS is taking on guns, the needs of NYS are wildly different than the needs of (say) Montana in terms of gun violence and public safety. Education seems to be some states want to reserve the right to teach their children myth as fact.

I'd agree with that, if not for some states being collectively jerks. I guess in my world view, having a strong, cohesive US is more important than State's Rights. It's great that I can (possibly) change my local or state politics. But I have a tough time with the concept that some Americans have more or fewer rights depending on which state they live in.

Quick, change your name and avatar to Danny Briere!

Anyone know where his birth certificate is? Agreed.

The answer to the ultimate question to everything? It does seem fitting. NCAA would probably still have an issue, as you're giving the kid something with some value. I tend to to agree, but what happens when numbers like 8 and 12 are birth years too, are they still vanity? Dibs. Shut yo mouth.

Plain greek yogurt with maple syrup is pretty good too. We can't give LPM honey until 1 yr so I was looking for something to replace it. I'm using "real" syrup so I'm not sure how the corn syrup based stuff would work.

nobody is calling the Sabres in the conference finals.

I'm surprised, there's so much good music coming out that I'm sad I can't keep up with it. I'm not talking about the radio though, you have to go find it. And maybe my definition of "these days" is a little loose, I take that to mean anything in the last 10 years. My recommendation is to try Pandora or something similar and start picking odd artists and listen to their "channel" for awhile. Often, the primary artist is good, but some of the related tracks are great. I'll give you two leads that I like: Asteroids Galaxy Tour (props to someone on here that got me turned onto them in the "Stuck in my Head" thread) and Hank Williams III. OK, one more: Dirty Dozen Brass Band (found that one through the Frankie Yankovic channel). I need to see Lettuce one of these days.