100 mpg & pass even tough Federal Tier II and California ULEV standards is fairly easy if the vehicles don't have to meet safety standards and be large enough to be sellable in volume on the market. Sure, somebody will come up with a 1 behind the other 2 seater that weighs 900# and gets 120 mpg on the Federal test. Big deal... You can't sell it if it doesn't pass crash standards. These keep getting tougher, and automakers respond by adding to the structure every design cycle. That's why even a "MINI" today weighs close to 3000 lbs -- twice (!!!) the weight of the original Mini. It's a whole lot more impressive if somebody comes up with a practical high mpg vehicle that they actually believe there is a market for, and are willing to risk their own capital to develop for sale. Do that, and then I will be impressed.
#13: I don't think anybody is attacking the child. Rather, we consider it very likely that his mother is full of crap, and is shoveling him with food despite what she says.
There are all sorts of crazy (or at least semi-odd) people out there. In gradeschool & highschool, I had one good friend who was *perennially* (all 12 years) the fattest kid in the class by a long shot. This was back when most kids were NOT fat, so "Bob" was mocked constantly (kids are sweet, huh?). Anyhow, for whatever reason, Bob didn't want to be fat and ridiculed, so he actually tried to cut back and control the quality of what he ate. But his mother was intent on making him eat a lot! It got to the point that he asked his friends to lie if his mother asked if he had eaten while he was out with us. We were supposed to say that "we all had pizza". Otherwise, she'd be stuffing him with food as soon as we walked in the door.
Nonetheless, ultimately, it up to these parents to raise their kid(s) in whatever (screwed up or not) manner they feel best. It's gonna be tough for Eric, er... Justin to undo this when he is older, but a lot of us didn't have perfect parents. If you start taking fat kids away from their parents, skinny kids are next, and then kids who climb on rocks and kids with chickken pox. Where does it end?
It's a good thing it wasn't a Twinkie picture of Mohammed. Mocking Christians and their art is cool, but the Mohhamedans are a bit less forgiving in the matter.
If this is the same story, that was in the press a couple of weeks ago, the mother was a rather "big gal" herself which makes one kind of wonder exactly what her idea of "healthy eating" is. These cases almost always turn out being the kid's diet being horendous. I'm betting if he gets rigorously monitored for a couple weeks, he will eithe rlose a LOT of weight or they will soon figure out what the problem is.
Unfortunately, stupid ideas in architecture are nothing new. The way-too-admired Frank Lloyd Wright (a designer more than an architect, as real arcitects have to pay attention to structural engineering) left a legacy of form-over-function creations that today require constant upkeep, maintenance, and re-engineering to keep from collapsing upon themselves. "Falling(down)water" is but a single example of these... Not a great record for structures mostly still under 100 years old. Compare with the dome of the 15th century Cathedral Florence designed by Brunelleschi and then let me know who the *real* architect was.
Doing things for style alone that compromise ultimate durability of the structure is the work of a poor architect. Without knowing more about this apartment complex, it's a bit difficult to blast it that badly... yet. It does look like it might fall into that camp, though.
Wait a minute... since when do common North American tree squirrels (as shown in the picture) hibernate? These buggers keep going about their business all year long! I can't access the link from work, so maybe it explains it better there. Exactly *which* species of squirrel are they talking about?
In New York, it's cold & we've got snow all over and the squirrels have been busily visible all winter. I quickly looked it up online (www.squirrels.org of course) and no-hibernation seems to be the case for all species of North America tree squirrels. So does this Stanford guy have some lazy stoner squirrels?
I don't think anybody is attacking the child. Rather, we consider it very likely that his mother is full of crap, and is shoveling him with food despite what she says.
There are all sorts of crazy (or at least semi-odd) people out there. In gradeschool & highschool, I had one good friend who was *perennially* (all 12 years) the fattest kid in the class by a long shot. This was back when most kids were NOT fat, so "Bob" was mocked constantly (kids are sweet, huh?). Anyhow, for whatever reason, Bob didn't want to be fat and ridiculed, so he actually tried to cut back and control the quality of what he ate. But his mother was intent on making him eat a lot! It got to the point that he asked his friends to lie if his mother asked if he had eaten while he was out with us. We were supposed to say that "we all had pizza". Otherwise, she'd be stuffing him with food as soon as we walked in the door.
Nonetheless, ultimately, it up to these parents to raise their kid(s) in whatever (screwed up or not) manner they feel best. It's gonna be tough for Eric, er... Justin to undo this when he is older, but a lot of us didn't have perfect parents. If you start taking fat kids away from their parents, skinny kids are next, and then kids who climb on rocks and kids with chickken pox. Where does it end?
PS - deep fried Twinkies are not a vegetable.
Hail Xenu!
Doing things for style alone that compromise ultimate durability of the structure is the work of a poor architect. Without knowing more about this apartment complex, it's a bit difficult to blast it that badly... yet. It does look like it might fall into that camp, though.
In New York, it's cold & we've got snow all over and the squirrels have been busily visible all winter. I quickly looked it up online (www.squirrels.org of course) and no-hibernation seems to be the case for all species of North America tree squirrels. So does this Stanford guy have some lazy stoner squirrels?