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#1

General Highway Talk / Re: Excluding states that bord...

Last post by JayhawkCO - Today at 11:51:44 AM

Yep. I see a fair amount of Hawai'i plates. I had only ever seen a Guam plate a) in Guam or b) on the wall in my garage in my license plate collection.

#2

General Highway Talk / Re: Excluding states that bord...

Last post by NWI_Irish96 - Today at 11:48:30 AM

I think for the category of "states you least likely see", this plate I saw yesterday takes the cake.

Most likely Air Force officer who just transferred. They will pay to ship your car.

#3

Off-Topic / Re: Layoffs at Tesla

Last post by bing101 - Today at 11:47:52 AM

Regarding Musk, I'm 36 percent of the way through Walter Isaacson's biography of him. It's a very interesting read. Worth getting a copy if you're interested in Tesla, SpaceX, or Musk generally. I had previously read Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs and I found it worthwhile, so when I saw he had written one about Musk I decided to read that as well.
(Back in 2017 or so I read an earlier Musk biography by Ashlee Vance. It was a good read as well, but Isaacson's is far more up-to-date given the whole Twitter saga of the last few years, Tesla's rollout of additional vehicle models, SpaceX's manned missions, and the Boring Company. The line in that one that stands out to me was when he talked about Musk's penchant for setting unrealistic deadlines and not recognizing that people cannot simply work nonstop without breaks. A colleague told Mush something along the lines of, "Look, Elon, sometimes a person just has to take a really big dump.")
Anyone who is considering buying a Tesla ought to consider renting one from Hertz for a couple of days before taking the plunge. The driving experience is very different from a conventional car, and not just because of the electrification and the "one-pedal driving." Just about everything, and I do mean everything, runs through the touchscreen. I think I read that in the newest vehicles (including the newest iterations of existing models) they're even trying to eliminate the two stalks on the steering column that you use to shift gears, activate the turn signals, and operate the windshield wipers.

The Musk Industrial Complex- Reuters

You gotta read this one by Reuters on how all of Elon Musk Operations in  a series of reports on all of Musk related companies and yes some include toxic work environment at Tesla and Space X. Plus this article showed how his companies lawsuits are like outside of Twitter. 

#4

Off-Topic / Re: Layoffs at Tesla

Last post by JayhawkCO - Today at 11:43:35 AM

This isn't particularly surprising as a) the EV market gets more saturated and b) Elon continues to alienate his core demographic through some of his random outbursts and political stances.

#5

Pacific Southwest / Re: California

Last post by heynow415 - Today at 11:41:43 AM

89 mile for mile is probably the most scenic California State Highway.  I'm not sure how it doesn't get more mainstream attention with stuff like Emerald Bay, Lassen Peak and Mount Shasta along the routing.

Almost certainly. 1, 4, 70, 108 have enough dull to drag down their ratings.

The section of 1 between Pismo Beach and Orcutt is definitely...far from interesting.

The original alignment through Oxnard and the section from Venice to east Long Beach doesn't win any prizes either.

#6

General Highway Talk / Re: Excluding states that bord...

Last post by JayhawkCO - Today at 11:36:22 AM

I think for the category of "states you least likely see", this plate I saw yesterday takes the cake.

#7

Mountain West / Re: Colorado

Last post by JayhawkCO - Today at 11:32:59 AM

Looks like the state highway shield got a redesign. I personally don't like it much standalone, but I've seen it on BGS plans and I really like it there.

I have not seen this in the wild at all.

#8

Off-Topic / Re: My idea for US currency re...

Last post by SEWIGuy - Today at 11:29:37 AM

I agree with your entire proposal, except for the "don't make any more nickels." Mostly because this reasoning has never made sense to me.

Pennies and nickels cost more than their face value to produce.

This doesn't mean they shouldn't be produced. If we need them for a currency system to operate as designed, the fact that it costs more than their face value isn't really relevant. 

[Cash purchases are rounded to the nearest 5¢ after tax is calculated.]

#9

Off-Topic / Re: My idea for US currency re...

Last post by 1995hoo - Today at 11:21:58 AM

....

1¢: Get rid of it entirely. Cash purchases are rounded to the nearest 5¢ after tax is calculated. If it's exactly halfway between multiples of 5¢ (e.g. $6.375 because it's $6 + 6.25% tax), round down. They don't need to be demonetized, but if Canada is any indication, people will stop using them pretty much immediately.

5¢: Stop making them. Unlike pennies, they might continue to see use even after production stops, but they'll eventually stop being used. This does make a coin (the quarter) not a multiple of the smallest coin (the dime), but any amount except 5¢ and 15¢ is possible. You can't really buy anything with 15¢ anyway. If your purchase comes out to x.05 or x.15, you can put down a quarter and get two dimes or one dime in change, or x.75 + three dimes or four dimes if you don't want change.

....

Rounding to the nearest 5¢ seems to conflict with the idea of abolishing the nickel because of the problems it would cause with giving change when someone does pay cash.

#10

Northeast / Re: Vermont

Last post by The Ghostbuster - Today at 11:17:12 AM

How often is the at-grade rail crossing used just west of the US 4 freeway's eastern terminus (I've never seen a rail crossing with traffic signals before)? Although I have seen at-grade rail crossings on freeways before, would it have been too expensive (and practically unnecessary due to the road's terminus just to the east) to grade-separate that rail crossing like the one near the freeway's western terminus?