  For decades, H_0 and q_0 were the quest of cosmology, as they promised to
characterize our "world model" without reference to a specific cosmological
framework. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we show that q_0 cannot be directly
measured using distance indicators with both accuracy (without offset away from
its true value) and precision (small error bar). While H_0 can be measured with
accuracy and precision, to avoid a small bias in its direct measurement (of
order 5%) we demonstrate that the pair H_0 and Omega_M (assuming flatness and w
= -1) is a better choice of two parameters, even if our world model is not
precisely LambdaCDM. We illustrate with analysis of the Constitution set of
supernovae and indirectly infer q_0 = -0.57+/-0.04. Finally, we show that it
may be possible to directly determine q_0 with both accuracy and precision
using the time dependence of redshifts ("redshift drift").
