Monthly Archives: December 2008

Yet Another 4 day Week

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With the holiday season in full swing, I’m looking forward to a couple of 4 day weekends1

And tomorrow is an off-day as well. The Long Fence and Door folks will be here tomorrow, to replace the sliding glass doors that open onto the patio here at tbbs WorldHQ.

This is a long overdue upgrade; the contractor-grade patio door we have now leaks air, is impossible to maintain, and even has one panel in backwards. Then the little spring-loaded interior lock broke some years past; you can push the button to lock the door from the inside; unlocking it requires the use of needlenose pliers to coax out the locking pin so the sliding panel can be opened. Those pliers are always handy, along with the teevee remote, on a chairside table. When the pliers were used for more plier-like tasks, we had to remember to put them back where they would be handy for the next time the door needed unlocking.

So, it’s time to upgrade, and should be a win-win situation. Even though this isn’t a cheap repair, we should realize some energy savings, while simultaneously being warmer. And I can restore the needlenose pliers to their proper place in the toolbox.

-k-

1 I’m taking off on 12/26, and 1/2/2009.

Finally, a Bailout I can support

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Hey, here's an idea, Nancy Murtha O'Reid. How about you bail out the American taxpayer? Instead of swizzling around hundreds of billions in a fruitless central-planning exercise, cut federal income taxes to zero for 90 days. For every taxpayer. I can guaran-dam-tee that less mortgages will fall behind, more cars will be purchased, retail will go nuts, etc.How about a bailout for the taxpayer? Heaven knows I’m no Newt Gingrich fan, but this badge, and the one I’ve put in the right sidebar link to an article by Newt detailing the efforts of Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert (R) to use the billions in bailout money to declare a 90 day Federal Tax Holiday.

There’s some wisdom in doing this; individuals should have control of more of their money, and determine the winners and losers in the marketplace by voting with their dollars, not by dumping their money into a huge bucket to be allocated by out of touch bureaucrats whose sole interest is to remain in office.

From the article:

In this citizen-empowerment model, you the customer pick the winners and losers and you have the power to decide where to spend your money and which innovations fit your values the most.

I’m sure the odds of this ever becoming reality are south of slim, and approaching zero. But I can dream. And if we’re going down the drain anyhow, at least give us the satisfaction of using our resources as we see fit.

-k-

Fall, 2009 Talladega Race

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If our Congressional douchebags representatives persist, you will be watching 43 of these bad boys on the high banks of Talladega in 2009:

Of course, this represents what you could buy in a showroom. The race version is always “green”, and will come with extra heavy-duty batteries. The specter of the big one will be present lap-by-lap, as the car of the future 1struggles to get up enough speed to hold itself on the banking.

If you used to have a twelver of your favorite race watchin’ brews, buy a case. The race will take long enough, you’ll need them. Some extra snack items won’t come amiss, either.

In case you are already depressed about the prospects, cheer up. How long has it been since you’ve seen a non-restrictor plate race from Talladega? These cars won’t have them.

-k-
H/T: Poggis, for the photo.

1 Which you will be driving, because that’s all you can buy. It’s the law.

Not Even a Power Outage Deters Me

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The power was out at tbbs WorldHQ when I got home from work tonight. We’ve been fortunate to have had few, and short outages in the 12+ years we’ve been in this house. Since we’re all-electric, I’d call it doubly fortunate. Tonight, MLB and I tried out the newly-opened Santini’s New York Style Deli around the corner while waiting for the ever vigilant Dominion Virginia linemen to restore service.

While we were sipping our beers, and waiting for her hot pastrami and my calzone1 to be delivered to our table, my cell phone rang, and the autobot voice of Dominion Virginia reassured me that our power had been restored. Turns out, according to the autobot voice, that the “foreign object in the wires”2 had been handled, and a several square block outage was over.

We ate leisurely, came home to a well-lit house. On firing up the laptop, I noticed that WordPress 2.7 is available. Hmm, I’m tired, really not in the mood, but WTF?.

Another painless, straightforward upgrade, and we’re flying WP 2.7.

With the lights on, too.

Thanks, WordPress!

-k-

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1 Both very good, by the way

2 I hope it was a squirrel; good riddance to another tree rat.

See the USA, in your Toyota?

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As an old guy who has been a General Motors zealot forever, I’m naturally dismayed at the current state of the US auto industry. My first real job was in the retail auto business, at a now-defunct Chevrolet-Oldsmobile-Cadillac dealership in Northwest Kansas. I worked there (twice); I also worked for a Pontiac-Cadillac dealer. Even when I wasn’t working in dealerships, I spent a number of years installing and tweaking the computer systems that kept the dealers abreast of their operations.

I’ve travelled thousands of miles, and visited 29 of the 50 states installing automotive computer systems. The retail auto dealer fraternity is hard-working, fun-loving, and I have great memories of my associations.

I’ve stuck with GM through thick and thin; sometimes, working at a GM retail outlet drove my loyalty; other times, it was my natural stubbornness that motivated me. I’ve had three Chevy Vegas, for heaven’s sake; and not as demos, either. Paid for out of my ass pocket, with some help from GMAC. After MLB and I traded our 1986 Chevy Cavalier for a 1994 Saturn, we were Chevyless for the first time in many years. The Saturn, though, let the GM love affair continue. We’ve owned 4 Saturns, the most recent one bought in May of this year. Despite my differences with the local Saturn dealer, the cars are very good.

The spectacle of GM’s and the rest of the Big Three’s management going to Congress and grovelling for money, a lot of money, to stay in business has forced me to consider a Big Three-less future. And it’s time for that to happen. The only salvation for America’s automakers will come via bankruptcy. Period. The originally requested $25B handout has grown to $34B in a week or ten day period. As they blow through $6B per month, this isn’t going to last. If they get the money, they’ll be back, hat in hand yet again, to grovel for more. And sooner or later, they won’t be in business, irrespective of any cash infusions.

None of these possible outcomes is pleasant; it seems to me that lumps should be taken now; let the Big Three declare bankruptcy, restructure, and try to reorganize to compete.

I’ll miss Chevy and Ford as I know them. I’ve survived the loss of friends, parents, and loved ones; I can survive the loss of GM. And so can the country.

-k-

Christmas Header Graphic

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When ya’ got nothing to say, you metablog. But check out the beautiful new header graphic of the Kansas City Plaza, decked out it all its Christmas finery. The graphic is from John Ong, who made it available via Creative Commons licensing.

I’m grateful for all those with talents who are willing to share the fruits of their labor. I’m also thankful that my ham-fisted Gimp skills didn’t overly damage the beauty of John’s magnificent photo.

Thanks, John!

-k-

You can view the header graphic history of this old blog by clicking that “Headers” thingy up top.

Happy Repeal Day!

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75 years ago today, the largest liberty-infringing, misguided moralistic social engineering experiment in the history of the United States ended, with the repeal of Prohibition1

As with most prohibitions on most things, the Prohibition era achieved the exact opposite of its aspirations: the cost of bad and dangerous liquor went up; drunkenness and its associated vices escalated. Corruption was rampant; from the “bad guys” who sold an “illegal” product at a huge profit, money flowed to police departments willing to look the other way. Honest folk, who enjoyed a libation, went begging.

What insanity. From this post, a quote from H.L. Mencken about the era:

Five years of Prohibition have had, at least, this one benign effect: they have completely disposed of all the favourite arguments of the Prohibitionists. None of the great boons and usufructs that were to follow the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment has come to pass. There is not less drunkenness in the Republic, but more. There is not less crime, but more. There is not less insanity, but more. The cost of government is not smaller, but vastly greater. Respect for law has not increased, but diminished.

The United States and its government should not make up a kind of Coast-to-Coast Homeowners Association. There are countless parallels between Prohibition and the War on Drugs, about which many will write more eloquently than I. That, however, does not deter me. I’ll write about the WoD later.

In the meantime, I’m lifting my glass.

-k-

1 on alcohol, that is.

It wasn’t that much of a Pisser

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I had an at-work meeting scheduled for tomorrow. For whatever reason, they rolled the date back to 12/5. The email announcing the schedule change contained the following line:

Sorry for any incontinence.

While I realize that the phrase was doubtless an inadvertent Bushism, really, I’m not that upset. Really.

-k-