Today on my way back from evening classes, an SUV with the license plate 1337 happened to linger awhile in front of the car I was in. What are the odds?
Computational Social Science Researcher and Software Engineer
Today on my way back from evening classes, an SUV with the license plate 1337 happened to linger awhile in front of the car I was in. What are the odds?
Sorry Sohan, what is an SUV ?
ReplyDeleteI only knew what a noob means, not a Leet... :-)
SUV means Sports Utility Vehicle, Mlle Liu, like so! =)
ReplyDeleteIt is what Americans love to drive, it guzzles tons of fuel, produces greenhouse gases, poisonous monoxide, takes up a lot of room on the road and usually ferries one person. And then they complain about the environment. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd not to mention the roaring noise they make...
ReplyDelete;-P
Yes, I agree with you Cookie Monster. In France, in 2008, an 'Eco-Tax' has been established on the most polluting new vehicles. The more you pollute, the more you pay...
ReplyDeleteSounds fair. City folks should walk and cycle more. Not only does this cut down on pollution you get to exercise too!
ReplyDeleteUr, you were up at 4:09 AM??
ReplyDeleteur used to be known as the night terror..
ReplyDeleteWe need something like an SUV tax here in Dubai. Those things are pretty popular here because of the moneyed classes, and also because of the associated sense of relative safety in the face of common rash high-speed driving. I can understand having one if you have a large family or if you need to off-road, but I would personally not lug around a gigantic multi-tonne hunk o' metal just for single urban use. When I do get a vehicle, it'll be a compact.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to add that the 'Eco-Tax' is not only a penalty, it maybe also a bonus.
ReplyDeleteTo encourage the drivers to purchase non-polluting cars, those who will opt for small cars -that are consuming less petrol- will receive a bonus. This should cost nothing to the State: the penalties of the polluting vehicles (approximately 25 % of sales) should finance the bonus of the ecological vehicles (approximately 30 % of sales).
But if this bonus to the ecology works, "polluters" might not be enough numerous to reward the ecologists : To protect itself against such an imbalance, the ministry planned to harden the penalties: the levels will be decreased of 5 grammes of CO2/km every two years.
The grid of bonus/penalties is available here : http://www.01men.com/editorial/365549/magazine-auto/
Incidentally, on my way to evening classes today, a taxi numbered 666 lingered ahead of my cab. What are the odds? O_o
ReplyDelete