Croc

I'm an ESTP, but my S-N is the least pronounced. I definitely think I am a little bit more sensing than intuitive, but I do have a really good intuition about myself, so I guess I'm well-rounded?

No way in hell could it be better than my great-grandmother's banana cream pie. No f'in way... I've been told my recipe for coconut cream is good, but I don't think it's ready for primetime yet...not enough coconut flavor. And I've tried using real coconut milk in the custard, coconut extract, freshly grated and/or toasted coconut in the filling...nothing gives it that PUNCH! I want it to. I make a damn good pumpkin pie, completely from scratch. I have a pretty good sugar cream pie recipe (posted it in the Cooking with Croc thread, IIRC). I haven't made key lime yet...that's my next project, especially since I LOVE real key limes. My cherry pie was pretty good the one time I made it, and my apple was fantastic. Man, now I wanna bake...

It's about structure. English is Germanic in structure. English does not conjugate verbs like Romance languages, and nouns do not have masculine/feminine connotations. Much of our vocabulary is derived from other languages, particularly French when discussing governmental, legal, and some cultural concepts, but the structure of the language is solidly Germanic.

You're right, C&G would be free of the tres gauche stench of the nouveaux riche. This seriously sounds like an "event" straight from the Real Housewives of Orange County.

Don't get the Storm--it isn't a true touch screen. The screen sits on top of buttons...ummmmmmmm I give those about 4 months before they self-destruct.

Yeah, but wouldn't decent, dependable blogs deliver the same thing, but without the soundbyte form? Without having ANY of the trivial stuff? Maybe I just don't "get it," but since it doesn't deliver anything particularly exclusive or unique, I don't see a point--it's a trendy thing, and like all trends it will be replaced by The Next Big Thing.

What the digerati are saying...about what exactly? What they had for breakfast? How they "just had a random thought...more to come"? I mean I find facebook status annoying enough, and I can't imagine finding anything of value on Twitter that I could not find elsewhere sans the inanity. And for breaking news there are many, many other options. God forbid you don't hear of something BEFORE you sip your latte, rather than 8 sips into it.

steak Turtle is very, very yummy

Oh, no offense moltar, but I have some very strongly negative opinions about Twitter and the twits who use it. I find it extremely narcissistic, and can encourage stalker-like behavior. To use your example: Why the hell do I give a rat's ass where Shaq likes eating in the Scottsdale area? Does he really think he's a tastemaker? Am I going to elevate him to tastemaker status? ...and Twitter is a perpetuator of the classic problem of "the guy no one ever invites, yet always manages to show up." Creepy.

spork

Seriously, go for it if you can. Those are sooooooo sick.

Good call, because it won't make any difference. If you want to do something proactive, buy several Pontiacs. This month. And get alllllllllll your friends and fellow petitioners to do the same. I'm thinking like 5 to 7 brand new, incentive-free, over-sticker Pontiacs per person. Oh, you don't have the money? Well maybe there isn't much of a REAL DEMAND or REAL MARKET for Pontiac after all.

This is fantastic news, and a potential revenue windfall for GM, if they play their cards right. Yes, fleeted vehicles aren't much in the way of $$$ profit margins, but think of the opportunities for servicing government vehicles. Licensing revenue, custom paint jobs and decals, etc. GM could certainly do worse. Oh, and that would extend the shelf life of the G8, huh? Maybe it'll be on the market a lot longer than 3-4 more years.

Camry and Accord have a much more premium interior design. They are comfortable, quiet, and drive more than adequately. They may not have all the freebie amenities included in the base, but the base trims still feel more upscale in materials, design and build quality than many of GM's midlevel trims on comparable cars. Interiors are not just "simply a fashion issue." There are certain levels of refinement in design, materials, and fit-and-finish for each vehicle class (size and "prestige" classes). GM hasn't gotten totally it yet--only random vehicles hit the mark, and not all on the same platform/build schedules do, either. Perceptions of cars are like perceptions of people--so many posters on here complain about reviews that nitpick little things on GM cars, but little things add up--say you meet a person in real life, and they don't make eye contact, smirk slightly from time to time, and wear really oversized clothes. Taken on their own, maybe they are insecure and unsure of themselves around new people, have an off-beat sense of humor, and really bad fashion sense...or maybe taken as a whole they seem shady and untrustworthy. You go car shopping, and while everything might be competitive on paper, you get behind the wheel and notice how the switches move, the shift knob feels, the way the car squeaks or doesn't squeak when going over bumps...you come out of it with a perception of quality or lack of quality. GM just doesn't sweat the details in enough of its product offerings, and unfortunately not in its big volume products, because those segments "always sell." But not forever, and not on any perceptions of quality. Daewoo sold cars--they were damn cheap. But the honeymoon sure didn't last very long, now did it?

The Catera was very heavily revised, both inside and out. If you put the two side-by-side the differences would be obvious. I'm not really trying to continue an argument on this or anything, but from the numerous Cadillac owners and dealership employees / service technicians I know, they all refer to them as different "gens" because the driving dynamics, amenities, and most importantly reliability, are like night and day between the two iterations--pretty much the only thing unchanged were a few exterior body panels; the mechanics were thoroughly reworked.

With all due respect, this is horse$h!. Do you see what GM's financials look like? They are not making good enough vehicles with real consumer appeal across the board. Has the G6 sold units? Of course. But how many of those units have produced profit? How many of them were to real consumers (i.e. sales that matter)? Has GM broken even on the development costs for the G6? Here's what GM apologists forget: if GM were building desirable cars that even attempted to be in the top THIRD of their class, GM wouldn't be in the financial situation they currently are in, and we'd have G8 STs, Zeta Impalas, Cadillac Sixteens, and all the other little goodies the site's populace is bitching about being "shelved." Car companies NEED to build ultra-competitive cars, especially in VOLUME SEGMENTS, because that subsidizes all the other little niche vehicles that appeal to enthusiasts. Acura never would have built an Integra if Honda weren't selling a $h!load of Accords. BMW couldn't make the 6er if it weren't selling a $h!load of 3ers. Simple economics.

Meh...the 2000 restyle is often referred to as the "2nd gen" because of all the changes, as well as the much-improved reliability.

Really? That's not what I've heard at all. 1st-gens were very hit-or-miss, but the 2nd gens were consistently good.

2nd-gen Cateras are fine. The first-gens were notorious for problems, and it did not help that dealerships weren't used to the completely different assembly practices in Europe.

Look at the fleet sales and real sales, you know, the ones GM actually makes money off of. Why are you also comparing cars with different price ranges? Profitability...

Why design, build, and invest in a vehicle with zero chance of sales traction in the first place?

OK.

This plan is not only ridiculously shortsighted, but completely ignores global realities that make the plan impossible to implement without costing the company more money than it would to play it forward as-is. I like my proposals with a hint of realism, please.

I have very little problems with the exterior. Even the old exterior was fine with me...especially since they pretty much just changed the front bumper. Why not invest ALL of the $$$ into the car's biggest weakness: its substandard, rudimentary interior. Guess what, fewer incentives needed to sell it, and numbers will go up. Look at what has happened with the SRX: the year they upgraded the interior and changed virtually NOTHING about the exterior, numbers improved dramatically.

How is it extreme in the least? Do you know how little certain things cost, on a per car basis, when allocated over volume? $50 per car is TINY, but if it went into upgrading the interior, consumer perceptions would be much improved. GM has admitted that one of its biggest mistakes in the past was allocating a budget for a car, and then focusing on the exterior to the extent that all overruns in other design/engineering areas came out of the interior budget. Guess what, you spend far more time in an interior, and appreciate the interior far more than the exterior. Exterior only turns heads. How many of those heads are snapped so much that they want to plop down $$,$$$ for a vehicle with a $h!ty interior? But what about people who drive a blandmobile with an incredible interior, with storage and controls in all the right places? A car with an inspiring rear seat? You buy one of those, and shuttle your friends around in it, and you'll get compliments on it constantly. My 3.5 Aurora is a great example of this..."sleeper," though pretty exterior, good proportions, etc., but completely invisible to cops. But the interior is very nice, even for rear-seat passengers. Hell, it's even comfortable, with loads of legroom. And when they see first-hand the performance the V6 packs, and hear about the great fuel economy, I hear "damn, too bad they still don't make these anymore!" More often than not, though, I don't even have to give a sales pitch. 95% of the time I am about 5 minutes into the carpool, and I hear "Wow, you have a REALLY nice car--I never would have expected it!" Contrast that to the G6, a car that feels like it was designed by Fisher-Price, especially in the backseat...yeah you won't hear any of those kind of compliments.