Tag Archives: cars

A Speedy Christmas

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Currently playing on Speed TV, a NASCAR Beyond the Wheel marathon. Each race of the 2006 season is being recapped, from a pit crew/spotter/crew chief point of view. At a half-hour per race, it’s a great way to review the season quickly.

Then at 6PM EST tonight, a bunch of Barrett-Jackson auto auctions. I admire and am a bit envious of those who can restore classic cars. But I do enjoy watching, and seeing the iron from days gone by. I’ll have my drool cup ready.

All in all, a good day for gearheads and gearhead wannabes.

-k-

Neither a Borrower nor a Lender Be

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Remember the signs that used to be posted in service stations, when they actually worked on cars, rather than selling warm Pepsi and 5 year old beef jerky? The ones that said something like “Please don’t ask to borrow our tools”? Aside from it taking more nerve than a bad tooth to make such a request, I understand the signage.

I’m no mechanic, but I get asked to loan out items in my job; it could be the latest set of Solaris CDs, the latest Red Hat CDs, books, DB25 or DB9-RJ45 adapters, and such. Most of the books and adapters I’ve provided for myself, on my own dime. All the CD images are staged and shared via NFS on easily accessible servers. So I fail to see why people are compelled to borrow things. I still don’t want to be a total dick about lending to coworkers, being a team player and all.

So, if you want to borrow something that I’ve provided out of my pocket, I’ll probably politely indicate that this is my personal item, and please return it by end of day. If it’s company property, I’ll probably enter the item you borrowed, and a due-back date, in my new GTD list, @Loaned_Items. To be fair, I’ve established another list, @Borrowed_Items, for those rare occasions when I’m forced to borrow something myself.

-k-

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No Santa’s Butt for Maine

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As I reported here last year, the state of Connecticut had banned a Holiday beer called Seriously Bad Elf, because it depicted Santa Claus on the label.

Not to be outdone, Maine has banned another offering from the same company. This one is called Santa’s Butt. The bottle, pictured here, depicts a Santa quaffing a beer while making his list and checking it twice.

The reason given by both states in banning the potables was that “the labels might be attractive to children.” OK, that’s good enough for me. I guess the inflatable NASCAR Budweiser cars, and stand-up cardboard cutouts of Dale Jr, that grace displays are not similarly attractive. News flash to Maine and Connecticut: children are attracted to lots of things, both good and bad. It’s the parent’s place to parent and provide guidance, not yours.

The brews are all imported by The Shelton Brothers, of Belchertown MA. They also have a blog, which unfortunately doesn’t support any kind of syndicated feed that I could find. The blog entry about the Maine case is here. The Maine Civil Liberties Union is representing the Sheltons, and the contention is that the labels have expressive value over and beyond identifying the contents of the bottle. It seems obvious to me that that’s the case; if they sold posters of either or both of the labels, I’d buy one. And if I see the beer for sale around here, I’ll buy a six-pack, at least.

-k-

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The Mighty Buick

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I’ve always reported vital statistics about my rental cars here on this old blog, but I’ve never before had an image of any car. Well, with this last trip, things have changed; we rented a Buick Lucerne CXS, which turns out to be the top-of-the-line Lucerne.

The life-to-date fuel economy increased from 21.7 MPG to 23.3; a noticeable, though not earth-shattering increase. As it turns out, this ol’ Buick had a 4.6L NorthStar V8. I noticed it had plenty of punch motor-wise, but compared to a Saturn, a lot of cars do.

There was also an electronic doo-dad that tracked LTD Average speed; with road driving, that went from 45.3 MPH to 55.3 MPH.

And talk creature comforts; I’d previously decided that heated leather seats perfectly symbolized America’s decline into excesses reminiscent of the Roman Empire. This car had them, SWMBO used them; she has a bad back, and finds it tedious at best and uncomfortable at worst to sit for any extended period. The butt-and-back warmers helped her to endure being confined in the passenger seat. It even had a heated steering wheel; I tried that out, just to say I had.

Having never experienced a dual-zone front air conditioning system, I’d have to label that a winner. SWMBO likes it significantly cooler than I; the dual-zone made it possible for us to maintain our preferred degree of warmth.

Then, there were the side rear-view mirrors, which automatically tilted down when the car was put into reverse, as well as the totally glare-free inside rear view, which made rolling across chunks of Tennessee at night tolerable.

There are doubtless features we totally missed, not knowing which buttons to push and all.

Why don’t I buy one? At a base MSRP of $35,440, it’s simply above my vehicular purchase threshold. I’ve lived in cheaper houses than that; don’t laugh, I come from humble roots, and am proud of that. However, when our travel plans call for long distances via car, I’m renting another one just like this one.

-k-

The picture was lifted via screen-capture from the Buick website. If any humorless GM/Buick tightasses object; then:

  • Don’t persist on using Flash Player
  • Look at the unsolicited review I just supplied, blogder-like, for free.

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    Why Not?

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    As much as I hate to steal an entire post, sometimes they’re just too good:

    There are two beliefs that animate government R&D policy in the energy arena.

    Belief #1: If you subsidize it, it will come. Wanting technology x to succeed in the market is a simple matter of throwing government money at technology x.

    Belief #2: Politicians have every right to tell market actors what to invest in and what to buy. George Bush’s preferences for what Detroit ought to build (engines powered by hydrogen-powered fuel cells) and his preferences for what we ought to put in our fuel tanks in the meantime (200 proof grain alcohol, which goes by the moniker “ethanol”) should rule the day.

    OK then, why not both subsidize the creation of — and mandate the production of — cars run by air? It’s doable. It’s carbon-free. And what possible environmental complaint might anyone have? Sure, it might be costly, and the car might not perform all that well, but government dough is like magic — all will be made right.

    Link to the air car is in the article. My mind reels. My pocketbook is tightening its sphincter.

    -k-

    Tasers and Farm Animals, Vol 2

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    I don’t know how this happens, but I’m becoming a magnet for stories involving farm animals, law enforcement, and Tasers. One might opine that I go out of my way to find these tales, but nope, they come to me like the spring rain to the fields. This particular instance involves a cow, and a Colleton County (SC) Sheriff’s deputy.

    The hapless bovine evidently got through a fence near Walterboro SC, and narrowly missed being hit by several cars, whereupon Deputy Jeff Scott received permission to stun the critter, so its owner might slip a rope around the animal’s neck. Unfortunately, after the first jolt:

    The cow lunged forward and fell to the ground but not into a position where the owner could wrangle its neck. The deputy charbroiled the cow again for another five seconds, but the owner still was unable to corral the animal.

    Charbroiled? Gotta love that. And the owner evidently needs some help with his ropin’. And from this inauspicious start, we’re heading downhill in a tailwind:

    By then the Taser prong fell off the cow, and the animal ran off. The report says law enforcement officers spent the next several hours chasing the cow in and out of traffic before giving up.

    Wow. Several hours? And then:

    They received a call later that the cow was running down Furlong Road toward Walterboro. City police spotted the cow but eventually lost it, according to the report.

    The article doesn’t mention whether or not the critter was ever rounded up, but concludes with this observation about Tasers and animals:

    A Taser International spokesman said then that the strangest animals he ever heard of stunned by officers were two moose in the Yukon and an ostrich.

    Tasin’ a moose would take some major league cojones. Moose size being what it is and all, and their poor eyesight leading them to use strength they don’t know they have.

    -k-

    GTD Omission

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    As part of the personal side of GTD, I’d heartily suggest going through the glove boxes in your cars. They become all-too-frequent burial grounds for the last 6 years of registration cards, emissions test receipts, and safety inspection certificates. Since you only need the current one, it’s a great idea to get rid of the old ones when the current one is put in. Seems simple now.

    Also, please be sure to have the card from your auto insurance carrier in there as well. My 2001 registration receipt didn’t double too well as one of those.

    -k-

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    Avian Flu Fearmongering

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    I guess the BM1 has nothing better to do than spread worst-case FUD about a major avian flu outbreak here in the US. NBC is going the extra mile, devoting a whole hour to the subject tomorrow night2. Every time I hear of avian flu, I’m reminded of the swine flu of a generation ago. We were encouraged, if not outright begged, to get the vaccine. Many did; got sick. Many didn’t; nothing happened. The late Johnny Carson mentioned swine flu in a Carnac bit:

    “Swine flu vaccine.”

    “The only cure for which there is no known disease.”

    Fine words.

    -k-

    1 – BM = Big Media. I like that better than MSM. It’s also descriptive of the media in other ways, if you get my drift.

    2 – On Dateline. This time, no Chevy pickups will be harmed in the production – I think.

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    New Wheels, Old Wheels

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    In the small but friendly confines of this old blog, we’ve had a spate of automotive upgrades. Frequent commenter Kathy has upgraded to a Honda Accord1. James, blogroll buddy and podcaster, has acquired a Honda Civic Hybrid2. Best wishes to both on their new rides.

    Meanwhile, SWMBO and I received our clear title, and the thanks for our business letter from GMAC, after paying off our latest Saturn. We’re now pushing around two Saturns, ages 8 and 5. We like Saturns, and we plan to hang on to these as long as they’ll hold up. I wonder, though, what’s the sweet spot at which it makes sense to turn these out to pasture (or salvage yard)? If we hit a bridge abutment with either one, and they haul it off on a rollback, we’re clearly done. But what about repairs? At what dollar level of single-instance repair does it make sense to pull the plug on the old iron? These are matters that I hope to struggle with deciding for a good long time.

    -k-

    1 – XM Radio-equipped. Enjoy!
    2 – A wise purchase, if you only take the consumables into account.

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    Not even my Saturn

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    Being a Saturn SL2 guy, I never saw my car on an interweb survey:


    You Should Drive a Saturn Sky


    You’re sleek and smooth, and you need a car to match your hot persona.
    Besides, sometimes you want your top up – and sometimes you want it down.

    And this isn’t it either

    -k-