What If Autonomous Cars Just Never Happen?

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What If Autonomous Cars Just Never Happen?

I am inclined to say that driverless cars will never happen. Some automation yes, like a better cruise control and automated emergency braking, but ultimately cars will continue to be operated mostly by humans.

The same will be true with electric cars. Some will get adapted but I'm not sure we can say that the internal combustion engine is dead. Not because of Trump or the oil companies but because it's always safer to believe current technology will be the future.

Congress Takes Aim At Tax Rules That Hit Hardest At Upper Middle Class

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AMT: Congress Takes Aim At Tax Rules That Hit Hardest At Upper Middle Class

"Scrapping the AMT would lower the potential tax hit for affluent families. But the AMT has survived for decades because it generates a lot of money for government coffers."

"Eliminating the AMT would cost the U.S. government some $700 billion in revenue over the next decade, about half the estimated price tag for the tax bill Congress is now considering."

"It would also potentially remove some of the constraints on the use of tax shelters by the wealthy, allowing taxpayers to take advantage of more loopholes and deductions, Gale notes."

November 28, 2017 8 AM Update

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Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Mostly sunny and 21 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south-southeast breeze at 6 mph. I forgot to turn off the heat before leaving home but that’s fine. It will be nice and warm in the evening when I get home.

Today will be sunny, with a high of 46 degrees at 2pm. Three degrees above normal. South wind 6 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 45 degrees. The record high of 68 was set in 1990. 6 inches of snow fell back in 1985.

The sun will set at 4:23 pm with dusk around 4:55 pm, which is 25 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for mostly clear conditions and 45 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 14 mph with gusts up to 25mph. Today will have 9 hours and 20 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 31 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear, with a low of 42 degrees at 7pm. 14 degrees above normal. South wind 8 to 13 mph. In 2016, we had clear skies with more clouds in the early hours of the next day. It got down to 30 degrees. The record low of 3 occurred back in 1875.

Taking the pusher articulated bus downtown, it rides as rough as they all do on the expressway. They were fun and neat to ride at first but they really aren’t that great on high speed roads because they pass through most of the bumps, as the trailer pushes the tractor, which requires a hard suspension.

Other than that its a bright and sunny but cold morning. November is rapidly coming to an end, information about the holiday party is posted in the office. The new phones are working after adjustments, which meant for a while we had no service at work. I also finally set up the voice mail on my phone, apparently it never got set up after I switched to the new phone. 

The bus driver stopped the big articulated bus on Elm Ave, to give me a ride part of the way down to the park and ride. That was nice of him, although I wouldn’t mind walking on a nice day like today. There is a bit of haze downtown.

Still thinking about heading out of town this weekend. Maybe back to the Adirondacks. I thought about taking off Monday but that isn’t available. Maybe Friday. I don’t think Friday would be difficult to get off. The forecast has improved for Friday. Then I could get the aluminum bars for building the rack for the solar panel then head up north. I will have to check my time bank and the forecast before deciding for sure.

Still thinking about what kind of soldering supplies I need. I am looking at getting a basic Weller WC100 solder station with variable heat output, but I might get something more expensive. I want something that will last. But then again, by the time you add in solder, solder wick, specialized wire stripping tools, perf board, and of course kyner wire, things get expensive. I think I just need to bite the bullet and realize that I will be able to build many electronics projects for ongoing use based on these supplies.

Looking ahead, there are 8 weeks until National Pie Day when the sun will be setting at 4:58 pm with dusk at 5:28 pm. On that day in 2017, we had rain, freezing rain, snow, sleet, mist, mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 39 and 32 degrees. Sounds like a wonderful winter day. I seem to remember it being more soggy than icy but I don’t know maybe that was the late night where everything turned to ice and it was a sloppy bus ride hike. After a while those winter nights stuck late at work all start to blend together. Typically, the high temperature is 31 degrees. We hit a record high of 64 back in 1906.