Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

roadburner

venture said:

Since there's a wealth of information here. Has anyone been through buying a backyard playset? Brand, where to buy, how to get assembled, and anything else.

It would be used two days a week during May, June, July, and August. Size and price is not an object other than I'm not looking at a gigantic plastic set that costs $25k and up.

I've looked at Lowes and Home Depot. They both offer interesting examples.

It wasn't cheap-my mom helped us out, BIG time-but we went with a set from CedarWorks. We designed our own set and my son and his friends loved it.

https://www.cedarworks.com/

explorerx4

So Driver100,
Are you doing some social engineering asking about my age?
You'll probably have to look up what it means on the internet.
I will say this, My age is more than 3 times the number of years since the century number changed and I do more pushups a few times a week than my actual age.
I do like to take a few short walks every day possible.

stickguy

getting a 404 error on that link.

jmonroe1

driver100 said:

snakeweasel said:

ab348 said:

I had lunch with a group of 60-somethings today and the unanimous opinion was that tolerance for winter weather decreases exponentially with increasing age. 

Pushing 60 here and I can attest that winters seem to be getting harder and harder to tolerate.

I will be 72 in a few months, we have had our Florida place for 8 years....which has flown by, but, every year I am more and more thankful I don't have to put up with cold and snow.

You're just a kid, so you know how I feel. I used to laugh at pepole who complained about the Winters in the Burgh (whose Winters ain't as bad as some). Now, I'm leading the parade.

jmonroe

stickguy

I spent 4 years up past OldFarmer. In days when it was colder and got more snow, and I had to walk a lot (college days). and at least 1 year, my winter coat consisted of a zip up sweat shirt, and an imitation down vest (full of some polyester stuff and not real fluffy).

that ain't happening these days!

jmonroe1

tjc78 said:

I could never live south. I loathe the heat so much I'll put up with the cold

I just came back from a trip to Scottsdale (work) and the first thing I noticed on the drive to the hotel were these almost commercial size AC units on the roof of every house. If that's what you need to stay cool.... I'm out.

I'm in. Small price to pay for no snow and cold Winters. If I had one of those on my roof, I'd put a roof and walls on it so people would think it's my up and out of the way man-cave.

FWIW, I'm still waiting for Mike to send my airfare money. Hopefully, before this Winter is over.

jmonroe

stickguy

serious question. why do they put them up on the roof instead of on the ground like around here?

driver100

Mr_Shiftright said:

driver100 said:

People still choose to live in Kansas and it is always getting hit. You make your decisions to the best of your ability at the time and then hope for the best,
If we get hit with a hurricane now I still made the right decision, 8 years of spending winter in the sun and warmth.
Not much gain without some risk!

Well that's a bit different. If a tornado ripped your house apart every two years, you'd probably move, at least away from that alley.

Yup, I would, but it hasn't yet, so I won't.
If it strikes once your odds are probably good it won't strike again.....oh no, that's lightening I think!

driver100

stickguy said:

serious question. why do they put them up on the roof instead of on the ground like around here?

Possibly no basements. We had an a/c on the roof on one house we had. It was in the country and part of the house - the living room dining room was built out of a 150 yer old farm house that was still there...the rest was new. Because we were in the country electrical heat was our best option, and there was NO duct work in the farm house part...so a roof air conditioner was a logical choice. It can be very efficient even without duct work.

jmonroe1

Mr_Shiftright said:

He never said that either, and Tony Curtis never said "Yonda lies da castle of my fodder, da' caliph!"

Which reminds me--can an EV actually plow through water like a ICE car? What happens?

I'm not really sure but having a pair of non-conducting rubber underwear couldn't hurt.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe1 said:

explorerx4 said:

I'd rather have cold than hot and humid. Of course, not cold all the time.
Shoveling/Snow blowing snow can be a lot of work, but I don't really mind it.
The other day, several of my neighbors didn't mind it either since they were cleaning other neighbor's sidewalks.
We had someone who used to live around the corner visit for the weekend.
They kept looking out the back of the house and saying there is nothing like that where they live in Florida.
It's all homes, apartments and shopping areas. Nothing nice to look at.

Oh, I wouldn't say that. When I visit my late brothers wife, who has chosen to stay in Delray Beach after his death, I see tons of good looking women of all ages. More than I see in the Burgh. Maybe all that sun has played tricks with my eyes but I doubt it. In any case, I like it down there. Especially when I visit when it's Winter time in the North.

jmonroe

Maybe they look better because you can see more of them in the warm climate.

Exactly. I knew an old fart would point that out without me having to provide a hint.

jmonroe

suydam

Different kind of refrigeration too.

jmonroe1

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

serious question. why do they put them up on the roof instead of on the ground like around here?

Possibly no basements. We had an a/c on the roof on one house we had. It was in the country and part of the house - the living room dining room was built out of a 150 yer old farm house that was still there...the rest was new. Because we were in the country electrical heat was our best option, and there was NO duct work in the farm house part...so a roof air conditioner was a logical choice. It can be very efficient even without duct work.

I'm confused. I've never seen an A/C system that didn't have duct work. Since you have to pump cool air to be comfortable. Therefore, you have to have at least one outlet which would require duct work and if that is the case the A/C system would be horribly inefficient.

jmonroe

suydam

I didn’t think swamp coolers (what you use in the desert for some homes) use ducts.

jmonroe1

suydam said:

I didn’t think swamp coolers (what you use in the desert for some homes) use ducts.

I'm not familiar with "swamp coolers" and I'm not going to waste my time looking it up but I have heard of them and from what I remember hearing, they are not all that good at least not when they are compared to a real central A/C system. Anyway, I thought we were talking about real A/C not some wannabe system.

jmonroe

stickguy

those look like normal AC compressor units. Just up on the roof.

cdnpinhead

stickguy said:

serious question. why do they put them up on the roof instead of on the ground like around here?

Rooftop units combine the air handler (blower/cooling coil) with the compressor into a single unit -- generally cheaper than split units with the air handler in the house and the compressor in a separate unit on the ground. Two story houses usually have two separate systems, as do larger single-story houses.

venture

oldfarmer50 said:

venture said:

Since there's a wealth of information here. Has anyone been through buying a backyard playset? Brand, where to buy, how to get assembled, and anything else.

It would be used two days a week during May, June, July, and August. Size and price is not an object other than I'm not looking at a gigantic plastic set that costs $25k and up.

I've looked at Lowes and Home Depot. They both offer interesting examples.

I built a play fort for my kids up in a tree when they were little. Just did it freehand and it came out pretty good, ladders, ropes, swings etc.

Why not sit down with the kids and see what comes up?

There's no tree where it will go and we would like to have it in place before the season starts in May. Great idea though. I should have asked them last fall.

venture

roadburner said:

venture said:

Since there's a wealth of information here. Has anyone been through buying a backyard playset? Brand, where to buy, how to get assembled, and anything else.

It would be used two days a week during May, June, July, and August. Size and price is not an object other than I'm not looking at a gigantic plastic set that costs $25k and up.

I've looked at Lowes and Home Depot. They both offer interesting examples.

It wasn't cheap-my mom helped us out, BIG time-but we went with a set from CedarWorks. We designed our own set and my son and his friends loved it.

https://www.cedarworks.com/

Wow. Nice. Thanks.

ronsteve

oldfarmer50 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

houdini2 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

isellhondas said:

snakeweasel said:

fintail said:

People in FL get what they pay for, maybe like that part of the country in general. Low taxes, low amenities, other issues. I like in an area invaded by transplants, and I know nobody who moved to FL and didn't come running back.

stickguy said:

nice house. and cheap per Zillow. I can see why people move to FLorida if can get that house for that price, and negligible property taxes (and cheap state taxes). I just know that my wife would never live there year round.

Strange, I know nobody who moved to Florida that didn't stay.

I do! The BUGS and the humidity got to them and they bailed out of Florida!

Wait until the serious flooding starts to get worse. St Petersburg, Tampa, Miami, Miami Beach and Panama City are predicted to be seriously compromised. Zillow advises buyers that 1 in 8 homes in Florida will be underwater by 2100 and NOAA says that Miami streets will flood every year after 2070. Nothing for US to worry about unless you are a baby checking into the Forums.

All this has been predicted before, but was supposed to happen by 2020. OOPS !

Seeing is believing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7gbjOEsXAg

If nothing else, don't own an EV in those cities.

Looks like bad infrastructure construction to me. Also the statement about 8 inch sea level rise in the last 60 years is factually incorrect. Then the projection of another 8 inch rise without supporting proof is also suspect.

Tidal flooding has been happening for eons. Just a matter of how close we choose to build. Most of the areas where this happens are about 3 ft above MSL.

tjc78

stickguy said:

serious question. why do they put them up on the roof instead of on the ground like around here?

I can only assume it’s more efficient since the coil and compressor are all together (rather than having the refrigerant travel through long lines) plus cold air falls so you gain some efficiency there.  

My grandfather’s house had the A.C. ducting and air handler in the attic (but a typical compressor on the side of the house) and it always felt nice and cool in there with the cold air blowing down.   The house also had forced hot water radiators, great combination.  

driver100

jmonroe1 said:

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

serious question. why do they put them up on the roof instead of on the ground like around here?

Possibly no basements. We had an a/c on the roof on one house we had. It was in the country and part of the house - the living room dining room was built out of a 150 yer old farm house that was still there...the rest was new. Because we were in the country electrical heat was our best option, and there was NO duct work in the farm house part...so a roof air conditioner was a logical choice. It can be very efficient even without duct work.

I'm confused. I've never seen an A/C system that didn't have duct work. Since you have to pump cool air to be comfortable. Therefore, you have to have at least one outlet which would require duct work and if that is the case the A/C system would be horribly inefficient.

jmonroe

Even I, who is technically challenged, will try to explain. Houses in the north usually have pipes and duct work to carry heat.....if you add an a/c to the system it can use the same duct work as the heating unit.

Sometimes, not all the time, you have a house without a basement, and you want to add an a/c unit later. If you install it on the roof you need minimal duct work to carry the air into the house. Since cold air falls it is actually pretty efficient.

In the case of the 150 year old farm house, there was no furnace and no duct work, and it was heated with electricity....a grid plastered into the ceiling. The easiest solution was an a/c unit on the roof. There was minimal duct work. Stores use roof a/c's all the time...efficient and less expensive.....also fairly quiet.

Probably good in areas that could flood too.

ab348

My brother dropped by for a visit last night and mentioned that his daughter and some of her girlfriends were visiting Las Vegas this week on a girls holiday and that they were very disappointed because it is cold and snowing there. I had not heard that but I guess it is true. It made him wonder if places there actually have much in the way of heating systems. I have to think they would but perhaps not as much heating capacity as you would typically find.

tjc78

In Scottsdale it dropped to about 35 one night we were there. The meeting spaces were all really chilly. They said the heaters were on but they weren't keeping up. I'm sure you are correct that they systems just aren't sized to handle extreme cold. On the other hand, I'm sure that the AC systems in the northeast wouldn't cut it in Arizona. I know that when we get the occasional 98+ degree day my AC runs very often and sometimes won't shut off for an hour more in the late afternoon to keep the house at 73. No way it would keep up on a 116 degree day!

abacomike

ab348 said:

My brother dropped by for a visit last night and mentioned that his daughter and some of her girlfriends were visiting Las Vegas this week on a girls holiday and that they were very disappointed because it is cold and snowing there. I had not heard that but I guess it is true. It made him wonder if places there actually have much in the way of heating systems. I have to think they would but perhaps not as much heating capacity as you would typically find.

In winter, Las Vegas gets quite cold.  Snow is not that uncommon.  Las Vegas is “high desert” (3000+ feet above sea level).  Palm Desert is 265 miles southwest of Las Vegas but is “low desert” (less than 100 feet above sea level) which is why it is warmer in winter.

Summers, on the other hand, are extremely hot in both places.  When I used to drive to Vegas from Palm Desert, I often had to pull over due to ice and snow on I-15 at the higher elevations.  But 3000+ foot altitudes in winter (like Vegas) can be quite cold.

snakeweasel

Mr_Shiftright said:

No point discussing this further. The controversy is political, not scientific.

Not to be political or anything but when I was in consulting I had a boss who always said "you don't make money telling people everything is OK".

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

People still choose to live in Kansas and it is always getting hit. You make your decisions to the best of your ability at the time and then hope for the best, If we get hit with a hurricane now I still made the right decision, 8 years of spending winter in the sun and warmth. Not much gain without some risk!

Kansas getting hit by what? tornados? Those tend to be very localized and don't have the widespread devastation that hurricanes have. Live if Florida for 10 years and there is a good chance of being hit by a hurricane, live in Kansas for 20 and there is a good chance you will never see a tornado. 

snakeweasel

venture said:

Since there's a wealth of information here. Has anyone been through buying a backyard playset? Brand, where to buy, how to get assembled, and anything else. It would be used two days a week during May, June, July, and August. Size and price is not an object other than I'm not looking at a gigantic plastic set that costs $25k and up. I've looked at Lowes and Home Depot. They both offer interesting examples.

The only experience I have is putting together my grandkids set. My advice is if you are going to put it together plan on it being an all day job and learn some new curse words.

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

serious question. why do they put them up on the roof instead of on the ground like around here?

Possibly no basements. We had an a/c on the roof on one house we had. It was in the country and part of the house - the living room dining room was built out of a 150 yer old farm house that was still there...the rest was new. Because we were in the country electrical heat was our best option, and there was NO duct work in the farm house part...so a roof air conditioner was a logical choice. It can be very efficient even without duct work.

I'm confused. I've never seen an A/C system that didn't have duct work. Since you have to pump cool air to be comfortable. Therefore, you have to have at least one outlet which would require duct work and if that is the case the A/C system would be horribly inefficient. jmonroe

Even I, who is technically challenged, will try to explain. Houses in the north usually have pipes and duct work to carry heat.....if you add an a/c to the system it can use the same duct work as the heating unit. Sometimes, not all the time, you have a house without a basement, and you want to add an a/c unit later. If you install it on the roof you need minimal duct work to carry the air into the house. Since cold air falls it is actually pretty efficient. In the case of the 150 year old farm house, there was no furnace and no duct work, and it was heated with electricity....a grid plastered into the ceiling. The easiest solution was an a/c unit on the roof. There was minimal duct work. Stores use roof a/c's all the time...efficient and less expensive.....also fairly quiet. Probably good in areas that could flood too.

Houses without basements can have ductwork and can have the ac unit on the ground.

graphicguy

Climate....

As Ned Stark said many times before his beheading...”Winter is coming”!

Sorry.....couldn’t help myself with a little Game of Thrones....

houdini2

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

People still choose to live in Kansas and it is always getting hit. You make your decisions to the best of your ability at the time and then hope for the best,
If we get hit with a hurricane now I still made the right decision, 8 years of spending winter in the sun and warmth.
Not much gain without some risk!

Kansas getting hit by what? tornados? Those tend to be very localized and don't have the widespread devastation that hurricanes have. Live if Florida for 10 years and there is a good chance of being hit by a hurricane, live in Kansas for 20 and there is a good chance you will never see a tornado. 

Yep, I've been in Kansas for 40 years and never seen one. Knock on wood.

graphicguy

It doesn’t happen often, but it seems 2 or 3 times a decade the Ohio River floods.

Invariably, the folks who live on the River’s banks bemoan that they suffer lots of damage to their homes when this happens and that insurance is extremely expensive (or, they can’t obtain insurance at all). Yet, they do rebuild.

Then, it happens again, and the same people get in the same snit all over again.

Just like tornado alley, or living where there are active earthquakes, or living where monsoons, tsunamis, hurricanes, etc occur on a semi-regular basis, if you don’t like where you’re at, you’re not a tree. You can always move.

houdini2

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

jmonroe1 said:

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

serious question. why do they put them up on the roof instead of on the ground like around here?

Possibly no basements. We had an a/c on the roof on one house we had. It was in the country and part of the house - the living room dining room was built out of a 150 yer old farm house that was still there...the rest was new. Because we were in the country electrical heat was our best option, and there was NO duct work in the farm house part...so a roof air conditioner was a logical choice. It can be very efficient even without duct work.

I'm confused. I've never seen an A/C system that didn't have duct work. Since you have to pump cool air to be comfortable. Therefore, you have to have at least one outlet which would require duct work and if that is the case the A/C system would be horribly inefficient.

jmonroe

Even I, who is technically challenged, will try to explain. Houses in the north usually have pipes and duct work to carry heat.....if you add an a/c to the system it can use the same duct work as the heating unit.

Sometimes, not all the time, you have a house without a basement, and you want to add an a/c unit later. If you install it on the roof you need minimal duct work to carry the air into the house. Since cold air falls it is actually pretty efficient.

In the case of the 150 year old farm house, there was no furnace and no duct work, and it was heated with electricity....a grid plastered into the ceiling. The easiest solution was an a/c unit on the roof. There was minimal duct work. Stores use roof a/c's all the time...efficient and less expensive.....also fairly quiet.

Probably good in areas that could flood too.

Houses without basements can have ductwork and can have the ac unit on the ground.

Yes, the ductwork just goes in the attic. I have recently noticed that they are beginning to use flexible plastic tubing instead of metal ducts in these cases. The type used for venting clothes dryers, just a little bigger. This is especially useful in houses that were built without a duct system and are being retrofitted with central AC.

tjc78

@houdini2
That is exactly how my Grandfather's house was done. Flexible insulated ductwork in the attic. Coil/air handler was in attic and the compressor outside. Lines for the refrigerant were run into the basement and up wall next to the chimney in the attic.

This was installed in the late 80s, so they have been doing it a while

28firefighter

houdini2 said:

Houses without basements can have ductwork and can have the ac unit on the ground.

Yes, the ductwork just goes in the attic. I have recently noticed that they are beginning to use flexible plastic tubing instead of metal ducts in these cases. The type used for venting clothes dryers, just a little bigger. This is especially useful in houses that were built without a duct system and are being retrofitted with central AC.

Our home in Seattle is a relatively new build (2012) and has no basement. All of our HVAC, Hot Water, etc is in a corner for the garage that is blocked off by a couple of pylons. Most of our ducting runs through the crawl space or the attic. When the AC was added we simply lifted the furnace a bit in the garage to accommodate the coil box and placed the compressor on the other side of the garage wall.

snakeweasel

houdini2 said:

driver100 said:

serious question. why do they put them up on the roof instead of on the ground like around here?

Possibly no basements. We had an a/c on the roof on one house we had. It was in the country and part of the house - the living room dining room was built out of a 150 yer old farm house that was still there...the rest was new. Because we were in the country electrical heat was our best option, and there was NO duct work in the farm house part...so a roof air conditioner was a logical choice. It can be very efficient even without duct work.

I'm confused. I've never seen an A/C system that didn't have duct work. Since you have to pump cool air to be comfortable. Therefore, you have to have at least one outlet which would require duct work and if that is the case the A/C system would be horribly inefficient. jmonroe

Even I, who is technically challenged, will try to explain. Houses in the north usually have pipes and duct work to carry heat.....if you add an a/c to the system it can use the same duct work as the heating unit. Sometimes, not all the time, you have a house without a basement, and you want to add an a/c unit later. If you install it on the roof you need minimal duct work to carry the air into the house. Since cold air falls it is actually pretty efficient. In the case of the 150 year old farm house, there was no furnace and no duct work, and it was heated with electricity....a grid plastered into the ceiling. The easiest solution was an a/c unit on the roof. There was minimal duct work. Stores use roof a/c's all the time...efficient and less expensive.....also fairly quiet. Probably good in areas that could flood too.

Houses without basements can have ductwork and can have the ac unit on the ground.

Yes, the ductwork just goes in the attic. I have recently noticed that they are beginning to use flexible plastic tubing instead of metal ducts in these cases. The type used for venting clothes dryers, just a little bigger. This is especially useful in houses that were built without a duct system and are being retrofitted with central AC.

If they are retrofitting older homes, new construction runs them through the walls.

driver100

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

People still choose to live in Kansas and it is always getting hit. You make your decisions to the best of your ability at the time and then hope for the best,
If we get hit with a hurricane now I still made the right decision, 8 years of spending winter in the sun and warmth.
Not much gain without some risk!

Kansas getting hit by what? tornados? Those tend to be very localized and don't have the widespread devastation that hurricanes have. Live if Florida for 10 years and there is a good chance of being hit by a hurricane, live in Kansas for 20 and there is a good chance you will never see a tornado. 

Tell that to Dorothy and Toto.

Mr_Shiftright

Tidal flooding has been happening for eons. Just a matter of how close we choose to build. Most of the areas where this happens are about 3 ft above MSL.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes, of course it has, but that isn't quite the point. The flooding is happening both faster and more severely than historical and geological records show from the past. So what you have is normal phenomenon accelerating at an abnormal and less predictable rate, with greater extremes.

"They" say humans don't project well past 3-5 years. After that, it doesn't seem to concern them.

driver100

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

jmonroe1 said:

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

serious question. why do they put them up on the roof instead of on the ground like around here?

Possibly no basements. We had an a/c on the roof on one house we had. It was in the country and part of the house - the living room dining room was built out of a 150 yer old farm house that was still there...the rest was new. Because we were in the country electrical heat was our best option, and there was NO duct work in the farm house part...so a roof air conditioner was a logical choice. It can be very efficient even without duct work.

I'm confused. I've never seen an A/C system that didn't have duct work. Since you have to pump cool air to be comfortable. Therefore, you have to have at least one outlet which would require duct work and if that is the case the A/C system would be horribly inefficient.

jmonroe

Even I, who is technically challenged, will try to explain. Houses in the north usually have pipes and duct work to carry heat.....if you add an a/c to the system it can use the same duct work as the heating unit.

Sometimes, not all the time, you have a house without a basement, and you want to add an a/c unit later. If you install it on the roof you need minimal duct work to carry the air into the house. Since cold air falls it is actually pretty efficient.

In the case of the 150 year old farm house, there was no furnace and no duct work, and it was heated with electricity....a grid plastered into the ceiling. The easiest solution was an a/c unit on the roof. There was minimal duct work. Stores use roof a/c's all the time...efficient and less expensive.....also fairly quiet.

Probably good in areas that could flood too.

Houses without basements can have ductwork and can have the ac unit on the ground.

Sometimes they built houses that used a wooden stove, or even electricity, they didn't need ducts at the time, so when they add an a/c unit, it might be easier to put it on the roof, and the air can be vented or ducts could be added in an attic area. Homes with a basement and a furnace have the ducts already in place if you add an a/c unit.

Our warehouse in Canada had a cement floor, and they used gave us gas heaters that hung from the ceiling. When we wanted to add an a/c unit - which we paid for, we put it on the roof.....not much ductwork, it just blew air straight down.

ab348

I watched the latest episode of The Grand Tour where they went to China. I knew development has exploded there but some of the things they showed were just mind-boggling, like a city of 30 million people which neither they nor I had ever heard of, absolutely filled with highrises and roads/tunnels/bridges/etc that were unlike anything I have ever seen. Project that over that whole country, then tell me again how my plastic shopping bag or drinking straw is killing the environment.

Mr_Shiftright

That's not going to change until all of humanity realizes that they share the same planet. I admire any country that is at least trying.

Who knows? It may be that future wars will be fought over things like clean water.

[Deleted User]

explorerx4 said:

@tyguy, 'Folksvagen', that's how my mom pronounced it.

Smart woman.  Today I learned VW is pronounced “faw-vee”.

Even better:  ausfart.  Yep, it’s pronounced like you think it is.  My colleagues can’t understand why I keep laughing to myself while we drive along the autobahn.  

[Deleted User]

I noticed a lot of Tesla’s in Netherlands today and asked a customer about it.  Apparently it’s becoming a more common executive car.  There have been tax advantages and companies provided them to leadership as part of their incentive package instead of a BMW/Audi/MB.  I haven’t seen a supercharger yet, so I guess home and/or work charging has been suitable for the current owners.

driver100

ab348 said:

I watched the latest episode of The Grand Tour where they went to China. I knew development has exploded there but some of the things they showed were just mind-boggling, like a city of 30 million people which neither they nor I had ever heard of, absolutely filled with highrises and roads/tunnels/bridges/etc that were unlike anything I have ever seen. Project that over that whole country, then tell me again how my plastic shopping bag or drinking straw is killing the environment.

We were there a few years ago, Chungking. They say it has 30 million people but it is really a few districts tied together to make a city. There was little there before but they built a lot of highrises, for one thing to give people a home if they were displaced because of the Three Gorges Dam Project. You give up your little shack so they can fill the gorge with water, and you are offered an apartment in town.

But the building and infrastructure in China is incredible. I mean, how do you govern 1.4 billion people? Saw the Terra Cotta Soldiers, Great Wall, pandas, Shanghai and Beijing on that trip.

28firefighter

tyguy said:

I noticed a lot of Tesla’s in Netherlands today and asked a customer about it.  Apparently it’s becoming a more common executive car.  There have been tax advantages and companies provided them to leadership as part of their incentive package instead of a BMW/Audi/MB.  I haven’t seen a supercharger yet, so I guess home and/or work charging has been suitable for the current owners.

My company does this, from what I understand.

Mr_Shiftright

driver100 said:

ab348 said:

I watched the latest episode of The Grand Tour where they went to China. I knew development has exploded there but some of the things they showed were just mind-boggling, like a city of 30 million people which neither they nor I had ever heard of, absolutely filled with highrises and roads/tunnels/bridges/etc that were unlike anything I have ever seen. Project that over that whole country, then tell me again how my plastic shopping bag or drinking straw is killing the environment.

We were there a few years ago, Chungking. They say it has 30 million people but it is really a few districts tied together to make a city. There was little there before but they built a lot of highrises, for one thing to give people a home if they were displaced because of the Three Gorges Dam Project. You give up your little shack so they can fill the gorge with water, and you are offered an apartment in town.

But the building and infrastructure in China is incredible. I mean, how do you govern 1.4 billion people? Saw the Terra Cotta Soldiers, Great Wall, pandas, Shanghai and Beijing on that trip.

Actually a member of the Shiftright family has been to Chungking, many times. That was my dad, who as a very young man flew "over the Hump" from Burma during WW II. From Brooklyn to Burma in one year--what a ride! The U.S. Army supported the Chinese with supplies and intelligence info. He wrote home and predicted that the Communists would beat the crap out of the Nationalists after the war, and by god, he was right!

I wonder what he would think of Buick being one of the best selling cars in China today!

ruking1

driver100 said:

ab348 said:

I watched the latest episode of The Grand Tour where they went to China. I knew development has exploded there but some of the things they showed were just mind-boggling, like a city of 30 million people which neither they nor I had ever heard of, absolutely filled with highrises and roads/tunnels/bridges/etc that were unlike anything I have ever seen. Project that over that whole country, then tell me again how my plastic shopping bag or drinking straw is killing the environment.

We were there a few years ago, Chungking. They say it has 30 million people but it is really a few districts tied together to make a city. There was little there before but they built a lot of highrises, for one thing to give people a home if they were displaced because of the Three Gorges Dam Project. You give up your little shack so they can fill the gorge with water, and you are offered an apartment in town.

But the building and infrastructure in China is incredible. I mean, how do you govern 1.4 billion people? Saw the Terra Cotta Soldiers, Great Wall, pandas, Shanghai and Beijing on that trip.

In light of the 2016 population of Canada, at about 36.2 M, 30 M in Chungking, China is probably a mind blower.

Another of mine blower in light of China’s 1.4+ B people, fully 300 M (21%) are in the middle class. This miracle growth in the middle class has happened largely during the last three decades. Isn’t it wonderful what can be done with American money, education, know-how, technology & markets?

It’s almost easy to see why China’s car market @ 20 M? beats USA’s @ 17.5 M.

ab348

One of the interesting things noted on the episode, apparently true, were the arrays of cameras strung across expressways that took flash photos of every single car passing by. They said each was reviewed by someone in the bureaucracy although I suspect there had to be a pre-screening process that was automated. What they are looking for I do not know. Imagine how well that would go over here.

houdini2

Mr_Shiftright said:

Tidal flooding has been happening for eons. Just a matter of how close we choose to build. Most of the areas where this happens are about 3 ft above MSL.

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Yes, of course it has, but that isn't quite the point. The flooding is happening both faster and more severely than historical and geological records show from the past. So what you have is normal phenomenon accelerating at an abnormal and less predictable rate, with greater extremes.

"They" say humans don't project well past 3-5 years. After that, it doesn't seem to concern them.

Mr_Shiftright said:

Tidal flooding has been happening for eons. Just a matter of how close we choose to build. Most of the areas where this happens are about 3 ft above MSL.

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Yes, of course it has, but that isn't quite the point. The flooding is happening both faster and more severely than historical and geological records show from the past. So what you have is normal phenomenon accelerating at an abnormal and less predictable rate, with greater extremes.

"They" say humans don't project well past 3-5 years. After that, it doesn't seem to concern them.



What is concerning is that people continue to build and re-build in flood areas, and when they flood they say they didn't realize that all that water would be so wet.

fintail

Middle class is a relative construct.

Isn't it wonderful what one can do without cares in terms of social and environmental matters, corruption (look at west coast real estate, which is directly impacted by this same region), IP regulations, etc.

ruking1 said:

In light of the 2016 population of Canada, at about 36.2 M, 30 M in Chungking, China is probably a mind blower.

Another of mine blower in light of China’s 1.4+ B people, fully 300 M (21%) are in the middle class. This miracle growth in the middle class has happened largely during the last three decades. Isn’t it wonderful what can be done with American money, education, know-how, technology & markets?

It’s almost easy to see why China’s car market @ 20 M? beats USA’s @ 17.5 M.