In the news...

[meepmeepmayer]

Those random fees are ridiculous. 700 for a license plate? But maybe this is where the "tax increases need a 2/3 majority" gets you (or whatever exactly it is, I heard California has something like this in its constitution). Instead of plain and reasonable (and probably fairer) taxes, you get less taxes + crazy surprise fees at every corner.

Not trying to start a political discussion or anything, please.

On topic:

News: Cars are generally evil, I think we can all agree on that

[Thai-lad]

55 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

I just bought a new car (it's been 15-years since our last car). Our old 'beater' car had a yearly license plate renewal fee of ~$250. The new car? $700 per year.

One wonders where all the money goes in California - oh yeah, I forgot, the bullet train to nowhere.

How much is the annual insurance premium?  Add that to the cost and you're close to the price of a new EUC each year...

As to keeping cars 11 years... yes thats the average age of an auto in the US.  As it gets older not only does it need more and more of the rubber based materials replaced, but for some models those parts begin to get difficult to find. 

[Marty Backe]

40 minutes ago, meepmeepmayer said:

Those random fees are ridiculous. 700 for a license plate? But maybe this is where the "tax increases need a 2/3 majority" gets you (or whatever exactly it is, I heard California has something like this in its constitution). Instead of plain and reasonable (and probably fairer) taxes, you get less taxes + crazy surprise fees at every corner.

Not trying to start a political discussion or anything, please.

On topic:

News: Cars are generally evil, I think we can all agree on that

Just to clarify any possible misconception that you may have about California, everything in California is high. Relative to probably every other state we have very high income taxes, sales tax, gasoline taxe (and the price of gasoline since it has to be a special California-only formulation), electricity rates, home prices, etc.  Go to the grocery store and want plastic bags for your groceries? A state mandated 10-cents per bag. And now the price of new homes is going up for new buyers because every new home has to have solar arrays installed. It's endless.

There is no lower fees/taxes that offset the higher taxes like what I'm paying for the yearly license. It's crazy taxes and crazy fees. If I were starting off in life now, I don't think I could do it in California.

[RockyTop]

   I know that some people only keep a car for 3 years or maybe 12 years but when they trade it in someone else buys it and gets more years out of it. I had a 1973 Internal truck that I put 1.2 million miles on. ( it was actually easier to do in the old days: compression, gas, spark, you are good). 

[Dingfelder]

It's definitely a young person's game, and for people who are living comfortably due to quite good finances.  Even a law degree, for example, isn't enough to finance a house these days.  Plenty of older people living in houses their children couldn't possibly afford, even if their kids have much better jobs than they ever did.

But for young people, it can work out if you are pushing toward a high-income job.  You certainly have to compare it to places like where I live, where there are almost no jobs outside of retail and the hospitals for all the retirees.  They say the best graduation present you can give a high school graduate here is a one-way bus ticket out.

So L.A. and similar huge, costly cities do have their benefits for certain population segments.  And it won't depopulate like Detroit, not a chance.  It's got some of the biggest ports in America in a still-new century that people have long characterized as being all about trans-Pacific trade and the rise of Asia.  And it's still full of colleges, hospitals, functional transportation, with access to abundant agriculture, and with an incredible investment in the public and private resources needed to keep commerce flowing.

That said, I wouldn't want to live there, and won't do it again.

 

 

[LanghamP]

2 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

I just bought a new car (it's been 15-years since our last car). Our old 'beater' car had a yearly license plate renewal fee of ~$250. The new car? $700 per year.

One wonders where all the money goes in California - oh yeah, I forgot, the bullet train to nowhere.

Cities and towns are like drunken gamblers; the bet big hoping for the huge payday.

Rather than buy a bullet train the costs billions of dollars and has stations only in neighborhoods that are single housing detached (pull out a map and notice how train stations always do that--you'd think there was a conspiracy), wouldn't it be better to put a bunch of tiny rail, micro buses, and cheap eScooters in the dense areas? Nope, never...

A fiscally prudent town wins by not losing. Stop making big gambles.

Also, Raleigh charges more per year for their eScooter tax than you do for your old car.

https://abc11.com/society/city-of-raleigh-releases-electric-scooter-regulations/4641783/

[Dingfelder]

Without big gambles, there aren't big pay-offs to pay the politicians with or big promises to pay the citizens with.

Perhaps not many segments of our society are in it for the long-term anymore.

[Thai-lad]

21 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

Just to clarify any possible misconception that you may have about California, everything in California is high. Relative to probably every other state we have very high income taxes, sales tax, gasoline taxe (and the price of gasoline since it has to be a special California-only formulation), electricity rates, home prices, etc.  Go to the grocery store and want plastic bags for your groceries? A state mandated 10-cents per bag. And now the price of new homes is going up for new buyers because every new home has to have solar arrays installed. It's endless.

There is no lower fees/taxes that offset the higher taxes like what I'm paying for the yearly license. It's crazy taxes and crazy fees. If I were starting off in life now, I don't think I could do it in California.

Speaking of electric rates, hope you're not with PG&E...

Earlier this year, a federal judge asked the company to detail any role it may have played in causing the Camp Fire, which killed more than 80 people. Company employees reported power outages and flaming poles near the starting location of the fire.

Thursday, the utility company submitted a revenue increase proposal to the CPUC which would, among other things, fund wildfire precaution measures.

 

And you thought the utility company was going to be out of pocket for any liabilities relating to fires from power lines??

[RockyTop]

EUC rider injured in a hit and run in San Francisco.   (August ?)(http://www.sfexaminer.com/electric-unicycle-rider-injured-hit-run-driver/

Edited December 16, 2018 by RockyTop

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

4 hours ago, RockyTop said:

EUC rider injured in a hit and run in San Francisco.   (August ?)(http://www.sfexaminer.com/electric-unicycle-rider-injured-hit-run-driver/

That was a bad accident that happened shortly after Marty’s visit to San Francisco IIRC.  It sounds like they never caught the guy.

 

Edited December 16, 2018 by Hunka Hunka Burning Love

[LanghamP]

7 hours ago, Thai-lad said:

Speaking of electric rates, hope you're not with PG&E...

Earlier this year, a federal judge asked the company to detail any role it may have played in causing the Camp Fire, which killed more than 80 people. Company employees reported power outages and flaming poles near the starting location of the fire.

Thursday, the utility company submitted a revenue increase proposal to the CPUC which would, among other things, fund wildfire precaution measures.

 

And you thought the utility company was going to be out of pocket for any liabilities relating to fires from power lines??

The West Coast's fire problems are almost entirely man-made because 100 plus years of putting out fires has placed the area in a highly unnatural state. That is, there's so much inflammable material that they are likely to easily start, yet doing an artificial burn will result in an uncontrollable fire.

There's a strange irony that CA with the strictest environmental regulations consistently pollutes the most, with the most driving and certainly the most fires.

[Dingfelder]

Definitely a queer situation.

[Thai-lad]

3 hours ago, LanghamP said:

The West Coast's fire problems are almost entirely man-made because 100 plus years of putting out fires has placed the area in a highly unnatural state. That is, there's so much inflammable material that they are likely to easily start, yet doing an artificial burn will result in an uncontrollable fire.

There's a strange irony that CA with the strictest environmental regulations consistently pollutes the most, with the most driving and certainly the most fires.

In April we had:

https://www.willitsnews.com/2016/04/29/hack-and-squirt-foes-challenge-industry-technique/

(timber industry kills unwanted trees but leaves them standing in place, I never heard if the ballot measure passed)

Then a few months later we had

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendocino_Complex_Fire

according to wiki,  the largest recorded fire complex in California history...

But nowhere was there any mention if the areas burned had been previously been subjected to hack and squirt deforestation....

[Rehab1]

On 12/14/2018 at 7:29 PM, Marty Backe said:

Go to the grocery store and want plastic bags for your groceries? A state mandated 10-cents per bag. 

California’s mandates and regulations are off the chart. How much is the down payment for a plastic straw? 

[Marty Backe]

12 hours ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

That was a bad accident that happened shortly after Marty’s visit to San Francisco IIRC.  It sounds like they never caught the guy.

 

That occurred during my visit. I had just met Anthony in the late afternoon. Then later as some of us were riding around the city at night, we got a text that he had been hit and was in the hospital.

He's back riding now.

[Marty Backe]

4 hours ago, Rehab1 said:

California’s mandates and regulations are off the chart. How much is the down payment for a plastic straw? 

I'm not joking, but plastic straws are now illegal in California restaurants. You can still get a server to give you one, but it actually feels like you're doing a drug deal (again, I'm really not exaggerating).

[Rehab1]

4 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

I'm not joking, but plastic straws are now illegal in California restaurants. You can still get a server to give you one, but it actually feels like you're doing a drug deal (again, I'm really not exaggerating).

I heard the mandate was coming but it sounds like it arrived. I met a guy at our lake over the summer that makes the push up tubes and yogurt squeeze boxes. He was in the process of purchasing the specialized equipment from Germany to manufacture the cardboard straws. His company has some proprietary method to coat the inside of the straw’s cardboard to resist moisture.  He is the wealthiest gentleman I have ever met. 

[Alex_from_NZ]

9 hours ago, Rehab1 said:

California’s mandates and regulations are off the chart. How much is the down payment for a plastic straw? 

New Zealand just did this, and i have to say being from a small island nation, and as someone who spends half his life in or beside the ocean its really needed.  The amount of plastic bags in the water and on beaches destroys my Maori soul    

[RockyTop]

  Would it not make more sense to figure out how the plastic is getting in the ocean and stop it? Mabe recycle instead of throwing it in the ocean.

  Someone or some countries are likely just throwing trash in the ocean.  My straws aren’t getting to the ocean. 

[Rehab1]

1 hour ago, Alex_from_NZ said:

New Zealand just did this, and i have to say being from a small island nation, and as someone who spends half his life in or beside the ocean its really needed.  The amount of plastic bags in the water and on beaches destroys my Maori soul    

I fully understand. That’s sad.  I never litter but for those that do they should be sentenced to spend a day cleaning up beaches and roadways with the men wearing pink jump suits. 

[Alex_from_NZ]

3 hours ago, RockyTop said:

  Would it not make more sense to figure out how the plastic is getting in the ocean and stop it? Mabe recycle instead of throwing it in the ocean.

  Someone or some countries are likely just throwing trash in the ocean.  My straws aren’t getting to the ocean. 

People do, in fact there are industries made of it.  Problem is no matter what, the shit gets there.  Tsunami, landslide, heavy rains, shitty people, accidents, yada yada yada..  At some point you have to tackle the issue at the root cause and accept relying on people to do the right thing isnt going to work.

Not coming down on anyone, im not an eco warrior by any means.  I love animals, they taste great and all that.. So please no one get twisted nickers over my comments.  As you can tell, im a jokey bastard full of good intentions here to talk shit and learn how to not break my knee (didnt help).  But seeing bits of plasticy stuff when i cut open a fish gut to check what its been feeding on, makes me wonder if i should still eat some of it.. (Spoiler: I always eat it  except when they have weird growths.. i dont eat that .. gotta cut it out first  )

[LanghamP]

I found this article about major causes of death in children to be dishonest because the entire article focused on gun deaths instead of the biggest killer by far...drivers.

https://qz.com/1505227/guns-kill-more-more-us-children-per-year-than-cancer/

Guns kill more US children than cancer

 

 

[RockyTop]

1 hour ago, LanghamP said:

Guns kill more US children than cancer

   Sound awful! ......  Until you realize that most of the “kids “ are gang members. When they say kids most people tend to think of 7 year old Tammy playing ball with Timmy instead of 17 year old drug dealers killed off by their competition. The title should be “ More kids are killed in and by gangs than die of cancer.”

   Keep in mind that way too many innocent kids die every year. In most cases you can blame the parents. 

  The car deaths include teenagers driving and texting. The stats tell you the percentages without giving you numbers. How many kids die. 

   You just have to love statistics. The average person has an above average number of legs. ( most people have two but the average is less than two)

Edited December 27, 2018 by RockyTop

[LanghamP]

2 hours ago, RockyTop said:

   Sound awful! ......  Until you realize that most of the “kids “ are gang members. When they say kids most people tend to think of 7 year old Tammy playing ball with Timmy instead of 17 year old drug dealers killed off by their competition. The title should be “ More kids are killed in and by gangs than die of cancer.”

   Keep in mind that way too many innocent kids die every year. In most cases you can blame the parents. 

 

That's a point I wasn't thinking of as my definition of children excludes 15 year olds that can kick my ass. Without even looking up data, I can with confidence say most gun deaths of children are young males 15-25.

However, the reason I brought this news topic up was because you need to be careful to not be squished on your EUC.

In my opinion gun deaths are never accidental because someone was pointing the gun with the finger on the trigger. However, getting hit by a car can occur at any time, on accident and on purpose, by both careless and careful drivers.

[Dingfelder]

4 hours ago, RockyTop said:

   Sound awful! ......  Until you realize that most of the “kids “ are gang members. When they say kids most people tend to think of 7 year old Tammy playing ball with Timmy instead of 17 year old drug dealers killed off by their competition. The title should be “ More kids are killed in and by gangs than die of cancer.”

   Keep in mind that way too many innocent kids die every year. In most cases you can blame the parents. 

  The car deaths include teenagers driving and texting. The stats tell you the percentages without giving you numbers. How many kids die. 

   You just have to love statistics. The average person has an above average number of legs. ( most people have two but the average is less than two)

Good points, Rocky.

Many young gangsters live incredibly violent lives in large urban communities ruled over or even devoted to gangs.  They do not reflect the level of violence in society as a whole, but throw a monkey wrench into the statistics that is easily and commonly exploited.