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Cars may not be essential anymore
The News-Times [Danbury, CT] ^ | December 11, 2006 | Mark Langlois

Posted on 12/11/2006 6:50:33 AM PST by LurkedLongEnough

For all the nonsense about the love affair between Americans and their cars, people seem to spend a whole lot of time and effort to avoid climbing into a car.

Super Stop & Shop's Peapod provides home delivery of groceries. That eliminates one's weekly trip to the grocery store. Get the grocery list online, pick the items, and the food appears in the insulated box outside your house.

People can go to Match, Jdate, EHarmony and Match.com to start dating without even heading to a bar. What happened to joining the ski club? What happened to taking night classes? Tennis, anyone? Too much car involved with all that.

How about Greensingles. com? That's for Naturenuts who want to get together with other natural types.

Actually, Naturenuts may be a strong way to describe them. The Web site says it is for vegetarians, animal rights activists, and environmentalists to meet each other. Talk about a good time.

Back in the day, a person would head to the bar and meet a few people. Buy someone a drink. Talk and decide if the person was OK or not. Get her number, and agree to meet later or another day.

I'm willing to bet even money it still works that way on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

In some cities, grocery stores are famous people pickup places. On the waterfront in San Francisco's Marina district was a famous grocery store where singles went to meet people they might like to date. To find a match, they would look in each other's grocery cart.

A Naturenut, for example, might check out the items in a person's cart to see if they're compatible. No ground beef. No steaks. No fur coat. O.K. It's veggies, pita and a match. Go back to the apartment and make dinner together.

A similar spot in San Francisco is the Buena Vista, a restaurant near Fisherman's Wharf. One famous story I know about the Buena Vista involves two people who went there by cable car, separately, and met and later married. They never owned a car.

John came from Sydney, Australia, and he'd heard stories about the Buena Vista in Australia to the point where he took a taxi (yes, that's a car) from the airport to the cable car to get there.

He got off at Fisherman's Wharf, found the bar and started drinking Irish coffees. He stayed for two days and met the woman who became his wife. Neither one of them owned a car. John literally traveled 4,000 miles -- without a car -- to meet a woman and settle down -- without a car.

People do so many things to avoid driving. How about the Domino pizza chain? The whole entire concept is you don't have to go out for Domino's. It's all about home delivery.

Animal groomers are willing to drive their grooming van to your house, and some vets will make house calls.

Maybe the love affair with the automobile is a thing of the past.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; US: Connecticut
KEYWORDS: automobile; bmw; car; cars; chrysler; driving; fomoco; ford; gm; honda; hyundai; internet; jeep; mercedesbenz; mitsubishi; suv; towme; toyota; truck; volkswagen
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Is this lighthearted or serious? Since the readership is Connecticut, I tend to think the writer is actually serious.
1 posted on 12/11/2006 6:50:34 AM PST by LurkedLongEnough
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To: LurkedLongEnough

tripe.

is the author saying that people no longer need to get from one place to another?

when the transporter is perfected, the car might be endangered, certainy not by the internet.


2 posted on 12/11/2006 6:54:07 AM PST by camle (keep your mind open and somebody will fill it full of something for you)
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To: LurkedLongEnough

This guy sure doesn't live in Texas. My office is 44 miles from home. I have lived in places where you have to drive an hour for groceries.


3 posted on 12/11/2006 6:54:53 AM PST by Rockhound
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To: LurkedLongEnough

Reminds me of the "paperless office" concept in the '80's.


4 posted on 12/11/2006 6:55:42 AM PST by facedown (Armed in the Heartland)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
I haven't used a car for a long time.

Ever since I got my truck.

5 posted on 12/11/2006 6:55:44 AM PST by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: LurkedLongEnough

I'll have to talk to the wife. I suspect she won't go for the 25 mile walk to work or the 15 mile walk to the train station.


6 posted on 12/11/2006 6:56:27 AM PST by cripplecreek (Peace without victory is a temporary illusion.)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
Is this lighthearted or serious? Since the readership is Connecticut, I tend to think the writer is actually serious.

Ever driven on the interstates through CT during rush hour? It's wishful thinking.

7 posted on 12/11/2006 6:56:28 AM PST by Alex Murphy
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To: LurkedLongEnough

Ahem, Somehow all those things are getting to your house... probably by CAR (or worse yet LIGHT TRUCK).


8 posted on 12/11/2006 6:56:31 AM PST by Pikachu_Dad
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To: LurkedLongEnough

The author overlooks all the vehicles required by the delivery people bringing things to them.


9 posted on 12/11/2006 6:56:32 AM PST by atomicpossum (Replies must follow approved guidelines or you will be kill-filed without appeal.)
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To: LurkedLongEnough

I do not know a single person as described by the author in this article. I didn't think Connecticut was such a foreign country.


10 posted on 12/11/2006 6:56:32 AM PST by caver (Yes, I did crawl out of a hole in the ground.)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
Maybe with all the conveniences listed in the article, people are just less likely to run their car into the ground, make it last longer, and take it places they'd rather go.
11 posted on 12/11/2006 6:56:51 AM PST by edpc (Violence is ALWAYS a solution. Maybe not the right one....but a solution nonetheless)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
Like other collectivists, liberals hate private transportation. People forced into collective transportation are far more easily controlled.

For the same reason, liberals hate "sprawl".

-Eric

12 posted on 12/11/2006 6:57:09 AM PST by E Rocc (Myspace "Freepers" group moderator)
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To: Izzy Dunne
Beat me to it...

I drive a truck also.


13 posted on 12/11/2006 6:57:17 AM PST by darkwing104 (Let's get dangerous)
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To: LurkedLongEnough

It's not cars for men, it is SHOPPING we avoid.


14 posted on 12/11/2006 6:57:27 AM PST by bmwcyle (The snake is loose in the garden and Eve just bit the apple.)
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To: Rockhound

He obviously doesn't live in Montana either.


15 posted on 12/11/2006 6:57:44 AM PST by the lastbestlady (I now believe that we have two lives; the life we learn with and the life we live with after that.)
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To: LurkedLongEnough

I like my car.

Unless you plan to never go outside of an urban area, it's damn near impossible to live conveniently without a car. I personally like to spend time in places that buses, planes, and trains don't go. I also hate being packed in like cattle on public transport.


16 posted on 12/11/2006 6:57:45 AM PST by RockinRight (Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. He's a Socialist. And unqualified.)
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To: caver
He got off at Fisherman's Wharf, found the bar and started drinking Irish coffees. He stayed for two days and met the woman who became his wife.

How much rum is in those Irish coffees?

I wonder if he has any buyers remorse?

17 posted on 12/11/2006 6:58:03 AM PST by Pikachu_Dad
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To: LurkedLongEnough

He forgot one thing. With places like FR, the MSM isn't needed anymore. Funny how he skipped that.


18 posted on 12/11/2006 6:58:05 AM PST by edpc (Violence is ALWAYS a solution. Maybe not the right one....but a solution nonetheless)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
Get a horse!

;^)

19 posted on 12/11/2006 6:59:19 AM PST by Just another Joe (Warning: FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
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To: camle

I lived in Connecticut for years...this guy is full of it. You need a car in Connecticut.


20 posted on 12/11/2006 7:00:22 AM PST by nyconse
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To: LurkedLongEnough
How about the Domino pizza chain? The whole entire concept is you don't have to go out for Domino's. It's all about home delivery.

The entire concept of owning a car is personal freedom. Now, whether or not you want to exercise it is another thing, but if Dominos is backed up, and it'll be an hour and a half to deliver, you can still *choose* to go pick it up yourself, drive somewhere else for food, or whatever you want.

A car means you have the ability to change your mind and do something else.

21 posted on 12/11/2006 7:00:47 AM PST by Steel Wolf (As Ibn Warraq said, "There are moderate Muslims but there is no moderate Islam.")
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To: nyconse

exactly. heck, I neeed five!
a summer car, a winter jeep, a motorhome, a toy car(jaguar) and, of course the harley!

this is just another juvenile writeup by some lunatic who thinks that the future is going to be perfect and that technology will save us all.


22 posted on 12/11/2006 7:02:22 AM PST by camle (keep your mind open and somebody will fill it full of something for you)
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To: facedown
Reminds me of the "paperless office" concept in the '80's.

Yup.... Printers sure have gotten fast and capable since then. LOL!

23 posted on 12/11/2006 7:02:41 AM PST by r9etb
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Comment #24 Removed by Moderator

To: LurkedLongEnough

Try telling this to the people of L.A.


25 posted on 12/11/2006 7:05:24 AM PST by marvlus
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To: camle

You must understand, the writer is of the belief that civilization stops West of the Hudson. He personally knows of a 4th cousin's friend's uncle whose guide was scalped on a trip to one of those states that ends in a vowel...


26 posted on 12/11/2006 7:05:37 AM PST by jonascord ("Don't shoot 'em! Let 'em burn!...")
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To: RockinRight
Unless you plan to never go outside of an urban area,

Now you're catching on. That's the goal of the oh so enlightened urbanites. The ruling classes can live in their spotless crime free cities while us lowly labor class people can live in apartment blocks surrounded by our farm collectives.
27 posted on 12/11/2006 7:08:10 AM PST by cripplecreek (Peace without victory is a temporary illusion.)
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To: facedown
Reminds me of the "paperless office" concept in the '80's.

LOL! I was just talking about this the other day. Being in computer science, people sometimes ask me when that paperless office is coming. The truth is that computers didn't reduce the paper in the office; they made it possible to print more paper, faster, than ever before.
28 posted on 12/11/2006 7:08:22 AM PST by JamesP81 (If you have to ask permission from Uncle Sam, then it's not a right)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
Get the grocery list online...  This is an aversion to grocery stores, not cars.

People can go to Match, Jdate, EHarmony and Match.com to start dating without even heading to a bar.  This is most likely an admission to being ugly, or not wanting to risk a DUI, but most certainly nothing against vehicles.


29 posted on 12/11/2006 7:09:17 AM PST by HawaiianGecko (Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.)
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To: cripplecreek

I'm in the type of job where I must go out to visit customers. Many of them live in small towns or rural areas. Without a car, I make no money. These urbanites can kiss my All-American a$$.


30 posted on 12/11/2006 7:09:23 AM PST by RockinRight (Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. He's a Socialist. And unqualified.)
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To: LurkedLongEnough

gaydar alert.


31 posted on 12/11/2006 7:09:50 AM PST by Pondman88
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To: LurkedLongEnough

Spent the better part of a decade in a dense urban area where I walked to work. The first few years I had a car and it wasn't worth the expense (even though I got a very good deal of $160/mo on parking) as I barely used it. It was easier to walk or take public transport everywhere as I didn't have to spend time looking for parking at my destinations. If I went out for the evening I didn't need to think about how much I drank. The times I needed a car for an out of town roadtrip I could walk down to my local car rental office and it was still cheaper than car ownership.


32 posted on 12/11/2006 7:10:20 AM PST by posterchild (Spent some money on women and beer, the rest was just wasted.)
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To: jonascord

teh word 'crackpot' comes to mind. I have littel patience with utopian pie-in-the-sky drivel.


33 posted on 12/11/2006 7:11:10 AM PST by camle (keep your mind open and somebody will fill it full of something for you)
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To: Rockhound

I live in Houston. My office is seven miles from home, and it takes me 44 minutes to drive it.


34 posted on 12/11/2006 7:11:30 AM PST by Xenalyte (Anything is possible when you don't understand how anything happens.)
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To: LurkedLongEnough

My car is a calming influence. I get in, start it up, find a nice highway and break the law while being careful. Gravity is both humbling and caressing. When I get out of the car, I am human again.


35 posted on 12/11/2006 7:13:08 AM PST by Glenn (Annoy a BushBot...Think for yourself.)
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To: E Rocc
» liberals hate private transportation. People forced into collective transportation are far more easily controlled.

Yep. This explains why they're always clamoring for more mass transit (or transportation by bicycles) and gushing about how wonderful Europe is, 'cuz the mass transit over there makes 'em feel all warm and fuzzy...

» For the same reason, liberals hate "sprawl".

Well, for the record I hate "sprawl" too. But not for the same reasons as liberals. My problem with sprawl is that it changes the character of so many good rural areas from God-fearing, freedom-loving country folks to uptight, gun-hating, homo-loving, socially liberal CITY PEOPLE (yuppies).

After that, it isn't long before the newly arrived urban liberals are demanding restrictive gun ordinances, meddlesome zoning regulations, smoking bans, noise codes, etc. Pretty soon, along comes mass transit, subsidized housing, etc.

In short, urban culture breeds liberalism and Nanny Statism, and that's why I hate sprawl.

36 posted on 12/11/2006 7:14:23 AM PST by TonyRo76 (American by birth. Patriot by choice. Christian by grace.)
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To: caver

.....I do not know a single person as described by the author in this article........

Gretchen Carlson very recently declined to participate in a Fox and Friends event because she can't drive. She advised she had not driven a car in ten years.

(That's the only person I know of that fits the bill. I once had a colleague who grew up in Philadelphis and after college got a job in Washington. He was having a terrible time adapting to a new job, a new city, and leaninig how to drive)


37 posted on 12/11/2006 7:14:52 AM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. Rozerem commercials give me nightmares)
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To: Glenn

Love that calming influence:) Hate commuting on the same repetitive route everyday through traffic, but love the long roadtrip especially through remote areas.


38 posted on 12/11/2006 7:16:46 AM PST by posterchild (Spent some money on women and beer, the rest was just wasted.)
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To: jonascord
» You must understand, the writer is of the belief that civilization stops West of the Hudson.

LOL! Yeah, one of those smug NE/Yankee provincials who's never actually traveled to America...

39 posted on 12/11/2006 7:16:48 AM PST by TonyRo76 (American by birth. Patriot by choice. Christian by grace.)
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To: Alex Murphy
Ever driven on the interstates through CT during rush hour?

84 through Hartford used to be a nightmare, and I thought that whoever under-engineered the design needed to be horsewhipped. It's been a few years since I've travelled it, though, hopefully it's been improved.

40 posted on 12/11/2006 7:17:57 AM PST by wbill
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To: LurkedLongEnough
Maybe the love affair with the automobile is a thing of the past.

Yep this liberal r-tard has it right, why everyone knows that the expressways are virtually empty and that the only cars on them are in the HOV lanes. As I walked the 12 miles to work this morning just to avoid my car I was unable to make very good time due to the vast numbers of other pedestrians on the sidewalks. Why some said that they walked 30 miles each way every day to avoid gettting in their cars. Some said that they'd walk a hundred miles just to avoid their cars < /sarcasm>

41 posted on 12/11/2006 7:18:24 AM PST by from occupied ga (Your most dangerous enemy is your own government)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
"Maybe the love affair with the automobile is a thing of the past."


Ya Can't Get There From Here

/s

42 posted on 12/11/2006 7:18:52 AM PST by Condor51 (Tagline Under Construction - Kindly Wear Your Hardhat)
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To: caver

Actually it's apparently another planet.


43 posted on 12/11/2006 7:20:41 AM PST by xowboy
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To: Pikachu_Dad

"How much rum is in those Irish coffees?
I wonder if he has any buyers remorse?"

Any woman would look good after drinking rum for two days.


44 posted on 12/11/2006 7:21:45 AM PST by caver (Yes, I did crawl out of a hole in the ground.)
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To: bert

I've heard of people in places like New York City not driving but not in Connecticut.


45 posted on 12/11/2006 7:23:13 AM PST by caver (Yes, I did crawl out of a hole in the ground.)
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To: JamesP81
LOL! I was just talking about this the other day. Being in computer science, people sometimes ask me when that paperless office is coming. The truth is that computers didn't reduce the paper in the office; they made it possible to print more paper, faster, than ever before.

Ha...very true. I'm in my 20s and have grown up with computers, and sit in front of one for 12 hours a day. Yet when I'm writing a brief or doing research, I still print constantly. There's nothing like having it all in front of you with the ability to make a quick note. Perhaps when 40" widescreen touch-sensitive desktop displays are more affordable, I'll be paperless.
46 posted on 12/11/2006 7:25:59 AM PST by July 4th (A vacant lot cancelled out my vote for Bush.)
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To: LurkedLongEnough

It's a slap at the internet, saying we don't communicate because it's all long distance.

But facts don't support his premise. The freeways are full and bars and restaurants are full.

What he apparently misses is the old days when you HAD to bitch about politics face to face to a small group of people who could only do that - just bitch. Now, we have the option to do the former while also networking with thousands across the country simultaneously and from time to time expose crooked politicians and medial personalities. Imagine that!


47 posted on 12/11/2006 7:26:29 AM PST by Larry Lucido
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To: Rockhound

We tried several of those Home Delivery grocery services. they were fine for canned goods and soap, but we also found it gives the market a great change to get rid of wilted vegetables and carrion.


48 posted on 12/11/2006 7:28:04 AM PST by Gorzaloon ("Illegal Immigrant": The Larval form of A Democrat.)
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To: LurkedLongEnough

Whatever


49 posted on 12/11/2006 7:28:24 AM PST by SengirV
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To: Condor51

Is that Wyoming....... 11 miles of perfectly straight road?


50 posted on 12/11/2006 7:28:45 AM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. Rozerem commercials give me nightmares)
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