Art Sandusky

Used to, for a side job I had for a few months last year. No longer. I saw one of the guys from my old job whiz past on that little moped, with the helmet and jumpsuit uniform and backpack and all that. I don't think I've ever felt so suddenly relieved I didn't have a certain job anymore.

You forgot how he insists on torture being a bad thing. I mean, what fuckin' country is he looking out for? Terroristia, that's where.

Riddles have never had any other point.

The auto companies build what people want. Why do you think Porsche of all people made an SUV also? It also doesn't help that the environmental movement has been painted as an unamerican pursuit (even last night during a discussion on the auto industry on Hannity and Colmes, Sean Hannity said he'd never give up his gas-guzzler) because apparently behaviors that don't just concentrate on yourself are evil. And the sweeping "all the domestics are just putting out bigger gas hogs" statement can really only be applied to GM, the only major automaker that sees potential in that shrinking segment, as shown by their trotting out a full new line of large trucks and SUVs for 2007. Ford dropped the Excursion and Lincoln's Aviator and is working on putting out 250,000 hybrid vehicles a year by the end of 2008. Bill Ford is probably the biggest environmental nut CEO this side of Honda. Of course, you could also ignore how much it costs to continue making cars the current way instead of all that would have to be invested in re-tooling factories and products. Again, these companies aren't making cuts because they feel like screwing over a bunch of people. They're doing what must be done to continue functioning and halt the losses of market share. There would have to be even greater cuts if they were to all decide to suddenly make economical and environmentally friendly vehicles. If there's anyone you should be pissed with, it should be the oil lobby that keeps this country addicted to fossil fuels and does its damndest to prevent alternative forms of energy from getting off the ground. Finally, the domestic car makers are making automobiles that stand up well to foreign competitors, but the perception is going to continue to be that they're inferior thanks to that message being pounded into our heads on a regular basis. A car is something people don't think much about, so they go off of whatever Consumer Reports tells them, or a magazine they might pick up. Much like how the country as a whole is in the mess it's in, it's a matter of people not caring enough to look for the facts. I mean, the Honda Ridgeline won the Truck of the Year honors at the Detroit show this year, despite it having a useless bed, an underpowered drivetrain compared to what its competitors are putting out, horrendous styling, and only a single model line that prices well above other trucks in the segment, and that's with very few options. Oh, and the vaunted Japanese economical mindset is nowhere to be found, as a small engine plus all-wheel drive plus a heavy truck (that isn't even on a real truck platform and can't go off-road all that much) equals you being lucky to swing 20mpg in normal driving.

But it isn't like CNN was portraying it yesterday, interviewing workers who were sad and wondering what they were going to do with their lives and wondering how it'll affect the economy, as though Ford did this for shits and giggles. If they maintained their former structure, they'd be driven out of North America and then there'd be zero jobs. It's changing in order to be a viable competitor again, in the same way they're curtailing fleet/rental sales and concentrating on hybrid technology while trying to eliminate incentives on their cars. I mean, their report yesterday concentrated on the Atlanta plant that makes the Taurus and Mercury's Sable, but not once did they mention during the report that both cars were ancient (15+ year old platforms, stuck-in-the-90s design) and less than half of their sales were to actual consumers. Believe it or not, you can't keep building the same car for years and years and maintain the same market share. That's why the Japanese are in the position they're in, they refresh their vehicles every three years or so, compared to the domestic average of 4.6 years between product cycles. EDIT: And our own media continuing to run down our own companies is only going to lead to greater negative perception and success for foreign automakers. Betcha didn't know that Buick (near-luxury domestic) is second only to Lexus (full-fledged luxury divison of Toyota) in JD Power and Associates' problems per 100 vehicles leaving the factory. Where are Toyota, Nissan, and Honda? Behind Mercury, Jaguar, and Lincoln, a trifecta of non-media approved automobile companies.

The more often a character says "from now on...," the weaker the character is. Just like a friend of yours who seemingly changes his life philosophy every couple of weeks.

I wish I was around during the time when quarterbacks called the plays and men played for the full sixty minutes.

Not really, it's got a reputation as an extremely poppy country song around here.

Mozambique, which could possibly be the worst place in the world to live and home of the coolest flag ever.

The DEVILS! The DEVILS! (sticks out tongue and makes a weird demon noise)

You could just do what I do, which is continue to watch it and keep up with the latest news or whatever, but don't discuss it on the internet. There was wrestling before the internet, it's not like it's a necessary part of the fan experience. You know very well that people aren't going to like anything, so don't worry about it. Let them all be unhappy. Adopting this policy has made the product much more tolerable as well, since I'm not hearing constant negative reactions anymore.

As if that's a threat in the first place.

Real automotive insight there. Once you can actually produce some real reasons for hating on the domestic automakers instead of repeating the overall message the media would have you believe (domestic and British = bad, all other imports = good), we'll talk.

How could this happen to Inc...? Seriously, man. Come on.

I haven't heard the Electric Slide anywhere besides a wedding since 1992, lol. Oh yeah, you live in Rhode Island. It used to be a nightly staple at one place I frequented, despite it being one of those stereotypical places I referenced earlier.

Yeah, I noticed they were only showing Miyazaki films, which are mainstream-approved now that Disney helps distribute them I guess.

Stomp stomp stomp. I can dance.

I've always liked Martina Hingis. It's good to see her doing well again since she seems to have been off the radar of us non-dedicated tennis watchers for a long, long time.

(insert riddle here that helps people cope with their own deficiencies by making up or repeating some dumb word problem or "mind game" that people can't solve)

Whatta party pooper.

I approve of the new avatar, because it 1) won't make people continue this dumbass behavior, and 2) I watched the match that I'm guessing prompted her to make that her new avatar earlier when PTI bored me and I switched over to ESPN2. That was some cool stuff.

We actually got one of those push polling calls at my house back during the 2000 primaries since my grandmother was a registered Republican. She said that it certainly would change her feelings about him if she found out that he had fathered an illegitimate child with a black woman, and she was even one of the people who helped organize McCain campaign efforts!

The only time a threat has ever bothered me was the time a guy I was arguing with told me he could fuck with my computer (which I normally don't worry about) and then made my CD drives open and close.

Because concepts and prototypes are meant to give more of an overall idea of what a car will/might be, before the loads and loads of federal regulations (crash restrictions, emissions, width, stuff like that) tonethe idea down to make what looks like something you'd actually see on the street. I'll still take this over the hideous faux-Rolls Chrysler Imperial concept car. For anyone interested, here's a look at where the already established auto companies of the world are heading: 2006 Detroit Auto Show concepts and production models

Man, those ads would always move everything down and make you click on the wrong thing, and then they were gone, and now it's back because people don't like a scrollbar at the bottom of their screen despite it not affecting the readability or spacing of anything?