I can almost smell it!

A view of the open end of Ohio Stadium with the new "FieldTurf" playing surface visible. Only 33 days till kick off!

I aint no Tie Rant

Hugo Chavez, the hero of the left (think Jimmy Carter) and the enemy of the right (think me) is upset about dirty feriners talking trash about him being a "tyrant". Here is the quote from the AP article,

How long are we going to allow a person — from any country in the world — to come to our own house to say there's a dictatorship here, that the president is a tyrant, and nobody does anything about it?

Hugo Chavez (in the red shirt), who is in no way shape or form a tyrant, points out the next industry he plans on nationalizing.
Yes, how long? Well apparently in an effort to show how he is not a tyranny they will be taking it no longer and kicking them dirty feriners out of the country who dare suggest that he is. I aint no daggum tie rant and if'in you say I is I'm gonna use the power of the state to crush you.

Remember this..
Chavez = Man of the People (keep you mouth shut or get the boot)
Bush = Hitler (Cindy Sheehan running for Congress)

Caveat Emptor

Ebay is an interesting universe where people of all stripes rub virtual elbows while participating in an underground economy that Congress would probably love to find a way to tax into oblivion. Much ink is spilled over the abuses of shady sellers and buyers looking to scam the innocent. But what is never mentioned is the much larger number of honest players that allow Ebay to thrive and grow.

Many of these honest folk will go out of their way to clearly and openly describe the item they are selling in the most accurate manner they can. It is in that light that I'd like to single out one cruiserhead7 for his striving to describe his 1974 MG Midget in a way that won't confuse the great unwashed masses. One need look no farther that his opening headline description of the car as: 1974 MG Midget not MGB, Trans Am or Mustang 77 78 70 68

"Are we clear on this?" cruiserhead7 wants to know. This is not an MGB. It is not a Pontiac Trans Am. It is not a Ford Mustang. It was not made in 1968, 1970, 1977 or 1978. No. This is a 1974 MG Midget. Nothing more, nothing less. These are the people that give me faith in the Ebay community.

Are you sure there's no chicken on that hood?
I just wish he had, in the body description, gone on to explain that his 1974 MG Midget was not a 1975 Cadillac Sedan Deville, 1936 Auburn Speedster, 2001 Porsche 911, 1986 Saab 900 or 1959 Chevrolet Biscayne. He doesn't take this extra step so please to those of you out there bidding, buyer beware!

UPDATE: I used Ebay's "Ask seller a question" feature to find out if the seller was 100% sure that the car for sale was in fact not a T/A or Mustang and cruiserhead7 responded by saying, "I'm about 99.9999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999% sure.
Thanks for looking". That's not 100% so this could be a Mustang. Be careful out there guys!

The $400 Blender

Now, I don't know if a blender is worth $400 or not but I have to admit that the Total Bender is one impressive machine and just what the doctor ordered if in your kitchen you need the ability to blend golf balls, iPhones, marbles, die cast matchbox car or a Sony Handycam.

Click here to watch the BlendTec Total Blender make an iPhone release all of its magic dust, and remeber don't breath it in!

Walking the line.

Barack Obama apparently thinks that the way to appeal to the American voter is to state that he will walk a picket line" for union workers. Now this might have had a great and powerful populist reverberation 40 years ago but today? WTF? Almost no one is a member of a union and a large portion of Americans see unions like the UAW as something that is inhibiting jobs in the US and Obama is saying he's going to help the unions protect their jobs. This is so special interest that it's on par with a Republican hopeful saying that he'll shot an abortion doctor. It's just off the pale and while it may garner some dollars in the short term it will help bury him in a national election.

FOR THE ENVIRON

It's one thing to single our the H2 (made by GM who makes some of the most fuel efficient cars on the planet, though most of them aren't sold in the US, and is only one of 4 makers of hybrids) as the devil incarnate while holding up Toyota as a defender of all that's green (though they make gas guzzling trucks hand over fist). But it's something entirely different, and stunningly idiotic, to think that you are defending the environment by vandalizing personal property... and here's how.


Damages done:
All windows broken.
All headlights broken.
All tires slashed.
"FOR THE ENVIRON" scratched into the paint.

This guy may have one really dumb ass little pencil thin beard type things but leave his truck alone.
Now this is a very expensive new vehicle and the insurance company will not be writing it off. The evil H2 is going to be repaired and that will require; new glass, new oil based sealants for the new windows, new headlights that are made of plastics that are of course petroleum based, new tires that are both rubber (made from oppressed 3rd world workers) and oil based and a whole bunch of stuff being thrown into land fills as a result of all the repair work. And that's not to mention all the chemicals that are going to be released into the atmosphere during the repainting of the SUV.

If you really do care about the ENIVRON then about the worst thing you could do is attack an H2 like this morons did. But reactionary environmentalists goal is not so much about making things better as it is about making themselves feel better.

Why is Bush thinking of talking with Iran again?

So according to everything I have heard and read, and this AP Article, the Bush administration is thinking of having talks with Iran.

Is this the same Iran that imprisons Iranians for nothing other than having spent time in America? Is this the same Iran that is "cracking down" on unIslamic dress and hairstyles? Is this the same Iran that has spent the last 28 years being the #1 supporter of international terrorism? Is this the same Iran that wants nuclear weapons in order to wipe Israel off the map? Is this the same Iran that is run by nut job zealots who think it's correct to lie to infidels if in doing so you are attempting to further the cause of Islam?

Or is this some new Iran that I haven't heard of, cause for the life of me I can't think of a good reason to talk with the one I have.

Report terrorist like activity? Get sued.

Why, in the name of all that's good, did the Democrats block language that would protect people reporting terrorist behavior from being sued? Why?
Was he a bomber or just acting like a bomber? I better keep my mouth shut. Oops.

The last of the Potter books

Out of shear contrarianism (that's not really a word is it?) I avoided the Potter series like the plague when it came out. After all it was a kids book that everyone was creaming about. It was so popular I figured that it had to be crap. Chalk this up to my general distrust of the advertising media machine that tells us what is the cutting edge in popular culture, think American Idol.

So it was on a flight to Europe where I was given a choice of pretending to sleep, as I am irrationally afraid of flying, continuing to read a book that I had been reading for the last few hours or seeing what all the fuss was about as they were playing the second Potter movie on the plane. 10 minutes into the film I said to myself that when I got home, I needed to get the first movie form Mr. Bussey.

It was, while simple, such a rich and diverse universe that JK Rowling had created, and I could not help myself from enjoying the ride. Since I have seen all the movies, including the recent #5, and read all the books. From book 1 to 6 I could not help but see the character development that even a 19th century Russian writer would think was taking a while to get going, and with the development a darkening of the series as Harry and his friends aged.


Now comes the 7th and last book; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It is the logical conclusion of the darkening of the series. It is in short, a blood bath. The first significant death in the series is when a tangential character, that is friendly to Harry, dies while Harry looks on helpless. In the next book one of the central characters and mentors to Harry dies, again while he looks on helpless. In the last book I lost track of who was and was not dead and the end of the book is reminiscent of an epic Viking poem listing the warriors who died fighting. The last book is so bloody that the movie version will have to really tone thing down in order to keep from getting an R rating.

It's a rich universe, it's a great ride and ends with blood on the walls and bodies littering the grounds of Hogwarts. Sometimes the machine does put out something good.

REVIEWS:
National Review
New York Times

Behold!

After many hours and $140 to upgrade Helen's G3 iBook to Tiger I finaly have her iPhone up and running. And while it seems that her UK email manu not be compatible with the phone I am making this post on her phone and over AT&T's Edge network. Nice.

Honda copies Scion

2004 Scion Tc

2008 Honda Accord Coupe

Is it me or has Honda mailed this one in?

Well how about that

It must be worth noting that now the richest man in the world is from Mexico, one of the poorer nations in the world. Talk about a disparity between rich and poor! That said I must agree with news article that uses the word "staggering" to describe his 53.1 billion dollar wealth. Ouch.

If his worth was converted into cash he could buy General Motors... and Toyota.

That wacky Horseman

I came across this sign while north bound on Old Sleepy Hollow Road between Sleepy Hollow and Briarcliff. The extra 1 seems to be made from black electrical tape and at first glance made me do a triple take. I guess someone has once again stolen the Horseman's head and in lieu of any murderous intent has him going around town playing practical jokes.

This is one upcoming turn speed suggestion sign that I will not be exceeding, ever.

My Fireworks

This year I had my best overall fireworks experience to date. Why the best? Well all I had to do was walk down to the end of the street and into the back yard of the funeral home that has a million dollar panoramic view overlooking the Hudson River. The night started with the fireworks in Ossining and then when they finished we could watch the finale of the Tarrytown fireworks a little farther down the river. Then through a valley dip in the Palisade mountains we could see the New City works, and then over the range flashes from West Nyack. After that was all finished they started the fireworks in Harverstraw that is directly across the river from Croton. In all it was an hour and 15 minutes of fireworks and when it was all over I had to face the daunting 38 second walk home. I checked on Google Earth and it's a 525 foot hike, that's a tenth of a mile! I mean you got to pack a lunch.


Anyway, while the works were off in the distance when I remember sitting for hours in traffic to and from Red, White and Boom this was a much better experience.

Chinese Quality

So far 2007 is starting to stand out as an amazing year for Chinese exports to the US.

The year started with poisoned pet food, then moved onto children's toys with high lead content, then counterfeit Colgate tooth paste made with ethylene glycol (automotive anti-freeze), then back to food with tainted fish and now as summer gets into full swing it looks like it's next going to be exploding tires. Just what in the hell is going on you ask?

Chinese manufacturers are having difficulties with the concept that dead consumers are less likely to make purchases than living ones.

Well the short answer is that between China's incomprehensibly large population and 5,000 years of capricious totalitarian rule from the first emperor through to the Communists of today the nation has, as a whole, a complete and utter disregard for the sanctity of human life. The question now is this the beginning of a trend that ends with people in Europe and North America simply avoiding anything made in China for fear of their own safety or will the Chinese buckle down and clean their act up? I'm not a particularly paranoid person but I'm not too far off from beginning to avoid Chinese products myself. And what happens to China and its economy if they do ruin their reputation?

Which gets us to where Chinese quality and cars meet... the crash test. Idiots in the press have been writing mindless articles that worry about the doom that Chinese auto makers spell for Detroit. After all the Japanese and Koreans make good cars and since the Chinese are also Asian their cars much be great too. Right. If you believe that then I have some great Spanish beers to sell you because they're European just like the Germans.

Exhibit 1 - The Jiangling Motors' Landwind

The test broke the dummy.
That's ZERO stars

This midsize SUV was trying to be the first Chinese car in the European market. It failed the crash test. And I don't mean it did "poor" on some overly cautious rating system like the IIHS, no, I mean it did not pass. Jiangling Motors was told to go away and redesign the SUV. Think about it. They knew the SUV was going to be tested and they knew what the tests were going to be and the car still failed. The only reason for such complete failure is that they either have some really lousy engineers on staff at Jiangling or they simply never even tried.

Exhibit 2 - The Brilliance BS6

You'll want to be a defensive driver in the BS6. "BS"?

This missize $30,000 sedan got one star. One. We in the US wonder what's wrong with Toyota with the new Tundra gets 4 stars, the BS6 got one. At $30k the BS6 is in no way an amazing bargain and at 40mph it collapses in on itself and kills the driver. This car, while approved for sale in Europe - barely - performed so badly that at least one dealer as decided that he in fact will not be selling the BS6.

Now from Business Week and Brilliance of North America comes word that they will be the first Chinese auto maker to penetrate into the US market. And with it Business Week worries, " As if Toyota's (TM ) overtaking General Motors (GM ) as the world's biggest car maker weren't enough distraction, Detroit is now bracing for an invasion of Chinese cars. Brilliance China Automotive". Bracing for the lose of loved ones involved in an accident in a Chinese car perhaps.

Just look at their website for one thing, none of the links work. How hard is that? More or less difficult than designing cars that implode on impact? And what's with the names of the cars? E series? E3, E5 and E7? Why don't you just rename the company Mercedes-Bavarian? Or maybe Benz Motor Works?

Quality, safety and reliability are, for the Chinese auto industry nothing more than works cut and pasted from the advertisements for cars made in other countries and while Chinese cars may, in some future date, pose a threat to the Big3, it won't be any time soon.

News Round Up - I

I know that The Onion has to be pissed that they didn't think up this headline first, "Michigan Woman Claims Starburst Candies Are Dangerously Chewy in Lawsuit". Only it would have been funny had it been an Onion story, while this real lawsuit is just plain sad.

Here is a catchy headline from the Ann Arbor News, "< ; FEFF> ; < ; FEFF> ; < ; FEFF> ;I enjoy my summertime colle". WTF? The article is dated July 1st and as of the 4th still shows that utter gibberish as the headline. But appropriately enough the headline does in fact set the tone for the rest of the article which seems to have been written by a 6th grader. Of course as a Buckeye fan I am in no way surprised to see such high brow journalism coming from Ann Arbor.

The AP is reporting on the terrorists in the recent UK bombing attempt as, "Diverse group allegedly in British plot" Okay, let's see. They are all men, all young, all work in medicine and all radical Muslims. My friend I was force fed a diet of diversity growing up watching Sesame Street and I can tell you with great assurance that this group of "alleged" would-be mass murders is in no way, shape and or form, diverse.