Right, and why doesn't someone come up with a way to simplify bridge design so that anyone can design a bridge? There are simpler systems for building things, like LEGO and Meccano, but you wouldn't build a bridge out of those, would you?

Programming, serious programming anyway, is hard. A new programming language isn't going to change that. For the simple stuff, there are simpler scripting languages. For the complex stuff, the languages involved are necessarily going to be more complex.

Uh... Twitter64, anyone? I'd imagine 16 billion billion twits should be enough, no?

What's wrong with drinking fountains?

@Tachy: "Hybrids doesn't solve any problem of importing foreign oil and oil-wars the USA have today!"

Of course they do. Hybrids... pay attention here... *use less oil*. Electrics, on the other hand, have to get their electricity from somewhere. And in the US that means, primarily, coal *and oil*.

Well, c'mon, an '09 Vette also *massively* outperforms a '53, by any imaginable standard of measurement. The '53 was a pretty little roadster, but not a really serious sports car. An '09 eats Porsches for breakfast, especially in a straight line, and especially at anything near the Vette's price point.

It's even better than the Sword of a Thousand Truths! ;-)

This is a terrible idea. It combines Big Brother surveillance with a disincentive to use less fuel. Way to go, Oregon. A gas tax would've been much more productive and less intrusive. If revenues drop due to increased efficiency... then raise the tax, and encourage even *more* efficiency.

"Hell, what we really oughta do is kill the sugar subsidy."

Oops, I meant tarriffs.

Indeed. I don't get it either. Subsidizing corn-based ethanol benefits a few megafarm corporations at the taxpayers' expense. Cleaner, non-Mideast-sourced fuels like ethanol benefit *all* Americans, just as much if they're made from cane sugar as if they're made from corn. Hell, what we really oughta do is kill the sugar subsidy. Then we could import the sugar to make ethanol, which would create a new industry and employ people, rather than importing the ethanol, and instead of using corn to make ethanol (and HFCS), we could use it to, like, *feed people* instead.

Re your choice of a Prius, ForTwo, or fat bloated SUV: that's a false dilemma, bucko. Make mine a BMW 3er, or an Audi A4 or Benz C-class, and I'll *avoid* the accident and watch it in my rear-view mirror. And still get better gas mileage than you, and go through life having *fun* rather than living in fear.