Letters: Diesel, voicemail, health care
TEXT OF STORY
Kai Ryssdal: It’s time to dig into that bag of letters, hear what you have to say about what we said. Last week we told you about carmakers working on models that are going to run on clean diesel fuel. We said diesel costs more than gasoline does. What we should have said was “depending on where you live.” Ian Miller’s in San Diego, Calif., where regular unleaded is pretty expensive.
IAN MILLER: Diesel fuel is significantly cheaper than gasoline, and in general, diesel and gas prices go back and forth. I think it hurts diesel all the more when people hear that diesel is flat out more expensive than gas. Diesel is one of the many tools that can help us stretch our petroleum buck as we work to develop a perfect battery-fuel cell vehicle.
A lot of you enjoyed Beth Teitell’s story on hating voicemail, and you wrote to tell us what you do to avoid listening to those messages. Joe Condo of Mclean, Va., said this after the beep.
JOE CONDO: I have been waiting years for this story! I’m a divorce lawyer, and my voice mail greeting used to say right up front, “If you leave anything more than your name and number, I probably won’t listen.” A couple of clients told me that I sounded gruff, so now it just says “Leave a very brief message!”
Speaking of messages, commentator Farhad Manjoo had one for President Obama last week. In a commentary on the health-care debate, he told the president to stop fighting the rumors. That repeating lies actually just adds to the number of people who believe them. Mike Mickson of Seattle, Wash., sees it a little bit differently.
MIKE MICKSON: I go the other way, and say where people are misinformed it hurts democracy. I understand the commentator’s points about how people deal badly with wrong information. And habitually correcting factual errors may be a headache today, but it should pay long-term dividends.
Finally, a correction to my interview last week about the National Football League’s blackout policy. We had said the Arizona Cardinals home opener wasn’t sold out and so did not air in the greater Phoenix area. Those of you in Phoenix who watched the game on TV wrote to tell us otherwise. We double checked. Seems that even though the game did not sell out, the league lifted the blackout the night before the game anyway.
Keep those cards and letters and corrections coming.
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