The official E9x OT thread!

Happy 40th! My Monaco Blue is coming up on 40K miles as well....

Indeed that sucks....but it certainly could be worse. Glad your wife wasn't injured in her accident, too!

Originally Posted by cwinter

Well, looks like BMW is actually slightly cheaper than the other shop I got a quote from. Interesting. A full strip of the bumper and repaint, paired with the work on the fender will be about $1,000. Another $80 to PDR a small dent in the hood that is bugging me. Interestingly, the non-BMW shop said the hood couldn't be PDRed because it is aluminum...the BMW shop said no such thing.

Sounds like time to get the news directly from the person who will be doing the work. PDR is usually done by a third party who does only PDR. Maybe check Yelp for PDR companies in your area? Conceptually, it shouldn't matter whether the hood is aluminum or not, but there could be other reasons why the repair can't be done.

Originally Posted by anE934fun

Sounds like time to get the news directly from the person who will be doing the work. PDR is usually done by a third party who does only PDR. Maybe check Yelp for PDR companies in your area? Conceptually, it shouldn't matter whether the hood is aluminum or not, but there could be other reasons why the repair can't be done.

The BMW shop has an in-house PDR guy. You are correct that he works for a third-party, but when I got the quote at the BMW body shop, the estimator drove the car around the back and had his PDR guy look, who gave him the $80 price tag. I assume then he'd be happy to do it.

Originally Posted by cwinter

The BMW shop has an in-house PDR guy. You are correct that he works for a third-party, but when I got the quote at the BMW body shop, the estimator drove the car around the back and had his PDR guy look, who gave him the $80 price tag. I assume then he'd be happy to do it.

Really? Normally PDR guys only get paid when they are removing the dents, which is why they have their truck/van and are constantly driving from job to job. If the PDR guy was fine with doing the hood, then I would say go for it.

Originally Posted by anE934fun

Really? Normally PDR guys only get paid when they are removing the dents, which is why they have their truck/van and are constantly driving from job to job. If the PDR guy was fine with doing the hood, then I would say go for it.

Let me re-phrase, perhaps. Their PDR guy was in-house today and will be for a while, because of the recent hail storms we've had. That might be a better way to put it.

Originally Posted by cwinter

Let me re-phrase, perhaps. Their PDR guy was in-house today and will be for a while, because of the recent hail storms we've had. That might be a better way to put it.

Got it. Hail storms do tend to make for busy times in the PDR business.

View from the roof of my Office.

Originally Posted by captainaudio

View from the roof of my Office.

I saw that on the news. Great timing on getting that photo!

Originally Posted by furby076

I saw that on the news. Great timing on getting that photo!

Ditto, that's neat, CA!

Very cool. But I'm sad about it. It's pretty much the first time in my lifetime that the U.S. is behind other countries in our space capability.

Great pic. The space shuttle never lived up to its promise of cost-efficient space launches...each cost nearly a half billion dollars...and the program killed 14 astronauts. Nevertheless, we have lost our vision...leadership, I still remember JFK's challenge to put a man on the moon, and we did it with resolve and determination. Where have we gone wrong? NASA has a plan, but this "gap" and reliance on Russia is humiliating. Thank you Congress.

Originally Posted by pointandgo

Great pic. The space shuttle never lived up to its promise of cost-efficient space launches...each cost nearly a half billion dollars...and the program killed 14 astronauts. Nevertheless, we have lost our vision...leadership, I still remember JFK's challenge to put a man on the moon, and we did it with resolve and determination. Where have we gone wrong? NASA has a plan, but this "gap" and reliance on Russia is humiliating. Thank you Congress.

Perhaps it would have been a different outcome if we hadn't embarked on an adventure in Iraq and Afghanistan? Not to mention running up the credit card balance from 2001 onward?

Originally Posted by ProfessorCook

Very cool. But I'm sad about it. It's pretty much the first time in my lifetime that the U.S. is behind other countries in our space capability.

Quite true. Even North Korea is at least trying.

Originally Posted by anE934fun

Perhaps it would have been a different outcome if we hadn't embarked on an adventure in Iraq and Afghanistan? Not to mention running up the credit card balance from 2001 onward?

You may be too young to remember that we landed men on the moon while engaging in a war in Vietnam.

Originally Posted by pointandgo

You may be too young to remember that we landed men on the moon while engaging in a war in Vietnam.

You may be too young to remember that the war in Vietnam was funded in part with an income tax surcharge. And the credit card balance was nowhere near what it is now.

Originally Posted by anE934fun

You may be too young to remember that the war in Vietnam was funded in part with an income tax surcharge. And the credit card balance was nowhere near what it is now.

Hard to compare...but government debt was $290 billion in 1960 and $930 billion in 1980...I think the war had something to do with it. It certainly hasn't recovered since then.

Originally Posted by pointandgo

Hard to compare...but government debt was $290 billion in 1960 and $930 billion in 1980...I think the war had something to do with it. It certainly hasn't recovered since then.

Not in the least. Back in the 'good ole days', at least there was some semblance of living within one's means (either raise taxes to cover the deficit or don't incur the expense). Nowadays, the economic terrorists are ready to drive off a cliff, Thelma and Louise style.

Originally Posted by anE934fun

Not in the least. Back in the 'good ole days', at least there was some semblance of living within one's means (either raise taxes to cover the deficit or don't incur the expense). Nowadays, the economic terrorists are ready to drive off a cliff, Thelma and Louise style.

Since 1971 NASA spent $209 billion dollars on the space shuttle program. That's $209 billion dollars in 41 years.
Nasa's budget for 2011 - 18.4 billion dollars. Which comes to 0.5% of the 3.7 trillion dollar debt of the US.

From 1958 to 2008, the total spending (in real day dollars) was $790 billion dollars, or $15.818 billion dollars per year.

I think we can afford to double and even triple that, considering our annual budget is 3.7 trillion

That also neglects that a lot of NASA inventions discoveries have had positive economic impacts on our society - improvements in aerodynamics (fuel efficiency), consumer technology, rescue materials (e.g., the materials fire fighters use comes from NASA), dehydrated ice cream (come on you know your kids love the cereal with that stuff).

We can afford a bigger NASA program.

Originally Posted by furby076

snip...

We can afford a bigger NASA program.

How is it going to be paid for? Congress can't even pass legislation to fund road/bridge repairs.

Interesting charts Professor.

Originally Posted by anE934fun

How is it going to be paid for? Congress can't even pass legislation to fund road/bridge repairs.

They will pay for it like the way we pay for everything else.
Also, we just saw a small out of the military budget. By small, if you look at how much they cut, and then look that they are spreading it out over ten years...divide that number by ten and you will see how small it is.

Congress' lack of ability to pass a budget is because they are hell bent on making the other guy look bad and thus screwing over the people. That is a political issue that hurts us in many ways.

311 million citizens....18 billion comes to $57/year/person. Also, the benefits of NASA offsets that amount. By how much I don't have those figures

Originally Posted by furby076

They will pay for it like the way we pay for everything else.
Also, we just saw a small out of the military budget. By small, if you look at how much they cut, and then look that they are spreading it out over ten years...divide that number by ten and you will see how small it is.

Congress' lack of ability to pass a budget is because they are hell bent on making the other guy look bad and thus screwing over the people. That is a political issue that hurts us in many ways.

311 million citizens....18 billion comes to $57/year/person. Also, the benefits of NASA offsets that amount. By how much I don't have those figures

I read yesterday where they now predict Social Security and Medicare investment trusts will run out of funds in about 20-25 years, unless a solution is found.

Perfect, just when I'll begin to be eligible to get back the money I've put into them my whole life.

Originally Posted by furby076

They will pay for it like the way we pay for everything else.
Also, we just saw a small out of the military budget. By small, if you look at how much they cut, and then look that they are spreading it out over ten years...divide that number by ten and you will see how small it is.

Congress' lack of ability to pass a budget is because they are hell bent on making the other guy look bad and thus screwing over the people. That is a political issue that hurts us in many ways.

311 million citizens....18 billion comes to $57/year/person. Also, the benefits of NASA offsets that amount. By how much I don't have those figures

The actions of Congress to screw over the people are basically the actions of economic terrorists.

Originally Posted by andrew b

I read yesterday where they now predict Social Security and Medicare investment trusts will run out of funds in about 20-25 years, unless a solution is found.

Perfect, just when I'll begin to be eligible to get back the money I've put into them my whole life.

Yet another act of economic terrorism.