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If you are not seeing RED you came to the wrong place.This is a place where you can get that pet peeve off your chest. Try to keep it automotive related However, if you have a gripe (not automotive) that I think is interesting I will list it. ( So much for freedom of the press). You need not list your name. If you have a subject that you want to say something good about we will talk about that too. No foul language and No over use of sweet things to say. In the interest of time and space, I may condense your statements. I will list the statements under a category of a subject. We can add new subject as they arise. Since this is a NEW page and I am the only one who knew about it, You will have to listen to my gripes first. Then you can send in yours and your responses to listed gripes. Or nice statements.
Automotive
Safety
added 2/23/01
SUV roll over - The recent death toll due to tire failure (Firestone) has been mainly put on firestone tires, and a high tire failure rate should be jumped on hard and right away. BUT! The vehicle manufacture should bear the main part of the death rate. ANYTHING that goes wrong at highway speed to a UNSTABLE vehicle will cause it to go out of control. A HIGH CENTER OF GRAVITY VEHICLE WITH SOFT SUSPENSION AND OVERLY POWER STEERING IS PRONE TO ROLL OVER ANYWAY!
If all new vehicles were tested as for a blown tire in various road conditions and that info labeled in big red print on all new vehicles maybe the public (not too bright in automotive stuff) would think twice before putting their families in these "Death Traps". I know it has been difficult to educate the public as to what is safe and what is not. I meet people all the time that will not wear their seat belts. The usual response to a warning to wear the belt is, "I don't have time to fool with that thing" or "The government is not going to tell me what to do in my own car". Some part of that is also the car manufactures fault, many cars, and trucks are a pain in the butt to get connected in a belt. This forces some people not to use the belts. The combination of not wearing a belt and driving an SUV is "ASKING TO DIE". I have asked many people why they like the SUV and a common response is, "It sits up high so I can see over traffic." This gives them a FALSE sense of security and make them move into a more dangerous position of TAILGATING. Two car lengths at 70+ MPH is tailgating. Especially now with a cell phone stuck to the side of their face and paying little to no attention to their driving.
I'm convinced the auto manufactures and the government has their head where the sun don't shine when it comes to automotive safety. The racing industry has done more to advance driver safety than anyone has. MOST race drivers walk away from the most horrible crashes at unbelievable speeds now. MOST street drivers need to go to the hospital in crashes of 20 MPH and up. My question is; How many children are they going to kill before someone figures out why there are no air bags in race cars. Or why there are no 4 or 5 point shoulder belts in any street car. Or why there is no head protection on the "B" post in any street car. The standard "BS" statement from the auto industry of "The Public Don't Want It". is not a valid reason. It dose not make sense to cater to Idiots when trying to make the automobile idiot proof. It's a well known fact that 99 and 9/10 % of all accidents are DRIVER ERROR. The auto industry and the government's response to this is; "Lets put air bags in the cars to soften the blow of these idiots who won't buy or ware a good belt system. and for added incentive we will kill a bunch of their children to get their attention. Also, we will force these air bags on everyone to help pay for all the law suits we get from the families of the children we kill."
I doubt that was the plan. But, isn't that the end result?
Show me what has been done to make the driver of a car more alert and aware of what he or she is doing when driving. Is it: Make the seats more comfortable, Make the car quieter so you can't hear anything outside, Make the car smoother so you have the feeling you are in your living room, Improve the surround sound of your radio or CD sound system so you can completely drown out the outside world. Improve the power steering so you can not possibly feel any feedback from the road., and of course, make a cell phone available so the driver will have something to do while driving and keep his mind occupied because we sure wouldn't want him to have his undivided attention to be on something so easy as driving a car. HMF
Let's hear some responses or your ideas
Fuel Price 2/29/00
The viper is raising it's ugly head again. The oil producing countries again are manipulating flow to raise prices, ours included. I include our own oil companies because the last time OPEC went bananas, Our own oil companies jumped on the band wagon to financially rape the world. Not to mention the mindless consumer who have raced right back to the gas guzzeler cars. If you say; "Well, they made their bed so let them lay in it." The trouble with that is, we all have to lay in it. If the Republicans (large oil companies best friend) get in power this will continue. They openly say they want to stop all subsidy for alternative fuels.
Oil companies can not raise their prices unless they all stick together and the users continue to buy. Every product we have is moved, manufactured, heated or cooled with some use of oil. Thus, the only way we will ever be able to cut our use of oil is to get off of our cans and work at alternative fuels. The whole US can not operate right now on alternative fuel, but we could use it enough to control the price of oil. During the fuel shortage of the late 70s the oil companies put out a lot of false information about Alcohol as a alternative fuel in an attempt to turn people away from any interest in it. For example; They said that Ethanol alcohol was very expensive to produce. What they were talking about was 200 proof alcohol (pure alcohol) Which they have to use 200 proof to get it to mix with gasoline to prevent separation. What they neglected to tell the people was that 190+ proof was relatively inexpensive to produce. Also, that an engine can easily be modified to run very well on 170 proof alcohol and that is 15% water. I modified an engine to run on straight alcohol and found that I could displace 15% of the fuel with water and loose little to no power.
HMF
Automotive Quality (or lack of)
F.C. writes; "Chinese Junk Does Not Belong On British Cars". He asks why some vendors are supplying substandard stuff. His chrome bumper looked great until he washed it and the chrome fell off. Mirrors pitted in 60 days. All the rubber parts went away in less than a year. The file to fit body panels didn't fair any better. He did have a kind word to say about the fuel sending unit. "It worked a whole month, but backwards" He ends with these words of advice; "No Chinese junk on British cars! Your safety and sanity are not worth it."
Family
Quality Time with your children
Is "Quality Time with your children" a term applied to the "LACK OF TIME" you spend with them, usually for monetary reasons and a term JUST to make yourself feel better about what you are doing to them? Spend more time with your kids, It's a good investment.
HMF
Good Advice
1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great
risk.
2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three Rs: Respect for self, respect for others and responsibility
for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of
luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll
be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation.
Don't bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go some place you've never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other
exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon
Noise @ a sporting event
A Study in Concentration
(Noise @ a Sporting Event)
This is not meant to knock anyone nor any sport but an attempt to put things in perspective. Question! What is it when during a golf game they want absolute quiet? Do they want to hear the strike of the club on the ball? Or is the golfer listening for some slight whisper of maybe a change in the breeze or a quiet word of encouragement from his caddy? Or can he (or she) hear the difference in the sound of the swish of the swing or crack of the club striking the ball as an indicator of the accuracy of the swing? Or does the golfer just enjoy peace and quiet? Do noises upset the accuracy of a swing?
It is well known that the skill to put the ball where you want it is a combination of ones natural ability plus hours and hours of practice and training. However, is the football player who is about to throw that touch-down pass to a very small spot in space to a moving target while a crowd of thousands are screaming at the top of their lungs and the sound of crunching bodies all around him and knowing a muscle brisling hulk is bearing down on him at full speed any less concentrating on the accuracy of his throw? Is his natural ability any less or his practice and training any less than that golfer? Are deft people any better at any sport than anyone else?
What about the pressure of the moment? Is it the pressure of the moment? Lets look at what is at stake! The money? The prestige? The self inflicted pressure to WIN? Lets look at what is on the line for other sports.
Pro football,- Money? Prestige? Muscle pain? Broken bones? Loss of your job due to injury? Self inflicted pressure to WIN?
Baseball,- Money? Prestige? Muscle pain? Possible broken bones? Loss of your job due to injury? Self inflicted pressure to WIN?
Tennis,- Money? Prestige? Muscle pain? Injury? Loss of your job due to injury? Self inflicted pressure to WIN?
Soccer, Rugby, etc-- about the same as football
Car, Motorcycle, Boat & Airplane racing, - Money? Prestige? Muscle pain? Broken bones? Death? Loss of your job due to injury? Self inflicted pressure to WIN?
I do however, think that the hand held air horns should be banned from all sports. Not because it would upset the concentration of any competitor, but because it upsets many spectators eardrums. Not all spectators are drunk on their butts and enjoy the horns.
All of these share another aspect and it is probably the most dominant and that is the thrill of competing. This is why many keep competing even though they are in last place. But back to "Concentration", Does anyone really think that an Indy car driver could concentrate any better if he or she were deft? Does anyone think that pilot can't concentrate on that pylon turn because his engine and prop are making a lot of noise. The picture below is a picture of 110% concentration.
Noise? yes! lots of it.
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And in spite of the noise a Central regional states champion, second in the Southeast and third in the Northeast.
PC Stuff
Ulead products -- I have used several "Ulead" programs in the past so when I purchased a capture card and it came with a "Ulead" program for video editing I felt comfortable that it was going to work well. My first sign that something was different was that the "Help" section was about 75% Useless. So I spent the first day figuring out how to use it. (typical of many low grade programs) However, with some trial & error, I was able to use it. I started working on home movies that I had on VHS. The program used a typical "time line" method of editing. It took me several hours a day for a week to get all of the VHS tape cut up into sections. Hmmmm? no shutter wheel control. Only one frame at a time or an insensitive slide bar. It did have color and brightness control. On about the 14th day of use it would not open telling me that it was a "TRIAL VERSION" and I would have to purchase it. Hmmmm? nothing up front told me this was a "Trial Version". I was a little angered that they would try to "HOOK" me by not letting me know this was a trial version. After I cooled off a little I hit the button to "Purchase now" to see how much it cost and maybe buy it. Guess what! it is no longer available!!!!!! BUT!!!! you can buy the newer version "10" for a DISCOUNT price of only $125. Hmmmmm? I can buy this not so great program (a $30. class program) for the discount price of $125. Like PT Barnum said "There is a sucker born every day" I wonder how many "suckers" bought this program before the "Discount" Ha! (or after) ha!
Ulead company must have had a management change because I can't see a company using underhanded tactics with an over priced product evolving from what I knew of Ulead in the past. Now I am leery of anything with the Ulead name on it.
Other Categories
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