myStrangerFace Home of the Whopper.

Orv

Bio

Skinny, androgynous techno-nerd Weaknesses include a love of microbrewed beer and a preference for cars… more »

Refresh

May 15 Orv commented on What Do You Think of the Riddick Trailer?.

I walked out of the theater feeling like I'd enjoyed "Chronicles of Riddick," but I had no idea what, if anything, the plot was about. And for the life of me I couldn't tell you a single thing that happened in that film, now, except the scene where he kills a guy with a tin cup.

I sorta assumed it was aimed at people who had read the books, which I hadn't.

Apr 16 Orv commented on House Transportation Funding Package Includes Metro-Saving Local MVET Option.

@10: Yes, but an excise tax is usually based on vehicle value, not size. So a 23-year-old land barge would probably be cheaper to license than a new small car.

Apr 12 Orv commented on The War on Cabs.

@36: I call BS. Why would it take a week? I have a Square account, and if I swipe a credit card through that thing the cash is in my bank account within a day or two.

I suspect the real problem is when they get paid via debit/credit card, they have to pay taxes on their tips instead of taking them under the table.

@66: I don't have it in for cabbies. I just want good service. I've loved the cabbies I've gotten in other cities, even the guy in San Jose who was clearly ripping off his employer. (He took me to the train station with the meter off so he could pocket the money for the trip.) I suspect the problem is Seattle's regulatory scheme inadvertently shifts money from the actual drivers to the license holders, thus ensuring anyone who isn't a taxi driver out of pure desperation will give up and do something else for a living.

@69: That's the Port of Seattle's fault. They control who is allowed to do trips to the airport, and essentially award that license as a monopoly. They also decree that the company that does trips *to* the airport is not allowed to do pickups *from* the airport, thus ensuring that everyone will have to drive empty one way.

More...

Apr 12 Orv commented on Dear Reddit—We Get It!.

Now you've done it. They'll probably ban all links to The Stranger, just like they did with Gawker.

Apr 10 Orv commented on Attacked By an Owl!.

God help you when they bill you for the coinsurance. Most insurance plans I've had only pay 100% for ER visits if you're admitted to the hospital, to try to encourage you to only go if you're deathly ill. You'd probably have been better off going to an Urgent Care center.

Apr 10 Orv commented on The War on Cabs.

Last time I took a cab from King Street Station, the driver got lost trying to get on the freeway and my wife had to give him directions. Compared to other cities I've been in, Seattle cabs seem like a high-cost, low value service.

BTW, if you drive a Car2Go, every taxi driver that sees you will honk their horn at you.

Mar 15 Orv commented on Candy Whistle-Blowers.

@3: "Mostly plants" doesn't seem to line up with the current studies claiming low-carb, high-protein diets are best.

Mar 15 Orv commented on "It's Unsinkable!".

Also, there's absolutely no incentive for Boeing to cheap out on this fix. At this point, when trust is already damaged, one major incident that resulted in the death of passengers would probably be enough to kill the whole aircraft program, and would put the future of the whole company at risk. This is an area where the interests of passengers and the interests of shareholders actually line up pretty well. (The DC-10 is an example -- it was a promising aircraft, but after some major incidents very few of them were sold for passenger use, and toward the end of its production it was almost exclusively a cargo airplane.)

Mar 15 Orv commented on "It's Unsinkable!".

@5: The design changes are to contain the fire so it doesn't threaten the rest of the aircraft. I think that's pretty sensible. (And it's worth noting that the aircraft were able to land safely even in the incidents before these changes were made.)

An analogy is to jet engine design. They design them to be as failsafe as they can, but they know that there are scenarios where pieces can come off the turbine blades inside the engine. So the engines are designed so that those pieces are contained and can't damage other parts of the aircraft.

We don't know how to build aircraft so that nothing will ever fail. That's why we design them so they can keep flying when things do.

Mar 14 Orv commented on I, Anonymous.

I got the opposite reaction from my parents -- they visited Seattle from the Midwest, and were amazed at how *few* fat people there are here. Frankly, if you stared at every fat person you ran across in the Midwest, you'd never have time for anything else. I'm not sure what makes the difference, although I imagine walkable neighborhoods and relatively mild winters help, by keeping people more active.