oldshurst442

That is what I said... And yes it does. Our brain is the one that has deciphered to make codes for this computing power. Besides, our brain ALSO computes in microseconds. When we play sports, you think our brain does not use math and compute this mathematical equation in front of us and makes the necessary adjustments to our muscles and reflexes? Read my examples on my post about sports and then process that info with the examples you gave about the military... Why we do have computers in the military though? Because computers DO compute faster than we do and the calculations that they make are more accurate than what humans could do. At a faster rate, and we WILL make errors in adding things up. Stupid mistakes. So to eliminate the "human" factor, computers control the missiles and the like. But make no mistake about it. We could also make those calculations. If we were in control of those devices since the missiles were invented, late 1940s. That we give us 70 years worth of experience that we humans would be able to compute on the fly. Lots of errors in the process, but in 2019, we would have perfected our formulas to use on the fly... Remember, we used complex computing tools and camera lenses to drop bombs in WW2. It was an approximation of where we wanted those bombs to fall. And because we did not want to fail in the mission, we dropped a shyte load of bombs on the targets, but we hit our targets, and the surrounding areas but we did calculate for wind friction, altitude, velocity, gravity, etc...and what we learned from WW2 went on to the codes the computers use today to calculate how the smart missiles and smart bombs would travel and lock on to their target... Oh....but we are... In certain situations. Like sports...or racing other cars on the same track... We see an an autonomous Audi go around a track faster than a normal driver ever could. True. What we do NOT see however is that the track is PRE-PROGRAMMED in the Audi's computer brain... A VETERAN race car driver, when he KNOWS that track like the back of his hand, is JUST as fast... What we do NOT see is that put that autonomous Audi on that track with OTHER HUMAN driven cars, because us humans have one thing that computers will NEVER have a code for, is that we are UNPREDICTABLE...THAT is ONE of our traits of many that makes us human that separates us from the rest of the animal world... Put that autonomous Audi on a track with other race cars, and that Audi will probably not win...as there are too many factors to compute and that WE have not PROGRAMMED it for...yet pro race car drivers do those mathematical problems every Sunday since the 1940s in NASCAR, or just about 100 years in Daytona... OUR experience is the same as a computer code... A computer code that WE INVENTED... And here it is... And yes it does as a computer will not perform unless its programmed to do so. And if there is an error in code. Failure is the result. When we fail, we also have the capacity to correct the failure almost instantaneously. THAT is how powerful and fast our brain acts and reacts. And we do this because: And finally, you end up acknowledging what Ive said all along...

Um...NO! First of all, a computer...computes. But its because a HUMAN made a program for the computer to compute. So NO! A computer is NOT faster than a human brain. A human brain designed a code for the computer to follow... You may be talking about artificial intelligence. And we are not there yet. People in the A.I. business say we are not far off A.I. They say A.I. will be a thing in the next 20-50 years when computers and robots will be in our lives full with A.I. But I STILL do not think autonomous driving will be a thing by then either. WHY? Because the human brain is a fantastic thing... It took us 20 000 years to get us where we are. Survival of the fittest and natural selection is the darnedest thing. In a normal human, where old age has not deteriorated brain and muscles, where youth may be too foolish and not wise enough...the human eyes, the human brain, the human reflexes, the other human senses, HUMAN INTUITION and HUMAN INSTINCT, HUMAN PERCEPTION and HUMAN EXPERIENCE all work together almost INSTANTANEOUSLY...and then there is our 20 000 year old adrenaline factor when all that that I just mentioned gets to be magnified by 1000%. Something that computers do not do! You could see this at work if you watch sports. If you compare passed Olympic triumphs to now, or incredible sports feats. Such as speed skiing, or moguls, or boxing....or football. When a running back is trying to squeeze through a hole, but two huge guys are blocking his way, then he sees an opening completely on the other side, shifts his body, his weight and then...ZOOM, gets through that tiny opneing that was their for a split second and he is on his way to a touchdown. The way a running back processes that info. All the while trying to receive the football from his QB. Running to the side, front, looking out for holes, looking not to get tackled, pushing away his own teamates and others trying to tackle him. Shifting his weight and his position, all the while remaining on his feet, balancing himself, sprinting all this time. Bouncing off people. Running, jumping, skipping...all this is done with his eyes, his feet, his ears(balance and actually hearing things) and his brain controls all that INSTANTLY!!! Or a quarter back doing the same thing as that running back. Has to make a split second decision on whether to give the football away to his running back, pass it in the air or run with it when he sees a blitz coming to him...and more often than not, the decision made was a good one as the QB does NOT get sacked, but succeeds in getting a good play done. An extreme skier, going down a mountain (no trails), like going down a mountain...with just his gut feeling, his athletic prowess and his ability to make a split second decision, to correct his balance, to correct direction... I could do hockey or baseball analogies too. The thing is, day after day, week after week, year after year, game in and game out, we see athletes do these things... Its remarkable how fast our brain with our muscles react to the situations that happen in front of us right this second and we make a decision right away and our bodies react to that decision without missing a beat...and we keep our balance, while we throw our balance off kilter, our brain makes the necessary adjustments to land the way we wanna land, whether we wanna land on our bum, on our feet, on our hands, and when we do land, we could bounce back and unto the next split second decision we gotta make. And we continue that cycle until our opponent has made his decisions to stop us... When mother nature is concerned. Sometimes mother nature gets the best of us...and we die...but sometimes we beat mother nature...as in the extreme skiing example. What computers may do faster than us, is actually use its computing power to solve an equation, or pump the brakes faster than we can because our leg muscles are not faster than hydraulics...but when split second decisions need to be made, and movement corrrection and reaction need to be made that instant, a trained human being is still faster than ANY computer out there....20 000 years of evolution will do that...

There are a few colours on cars that I actually loathe. Gray. I hate gray cars. Its such a drab, boring, sad colour on a car. Especially if its a gray, rainy (or snowy) day outside, nothing makes me sadder and want to commit suicide than driving a gray car on a gray day. Charcoal. What sorcery colour is that? it aint gray, it aint black. Just buy black for phoque's sake!!! (PS...I bought a charcoal more black than gray Acura TL SH-AWD brand new in 2012) The only thing I hate about the car is the colour. And silver. This whole silver bullet, silver train...silver this and silver that is overdone in my opinion... Silver is such a secondary afterthought as compared to GOLD. GOLD is the gold standard. Silver just tries too hard to be relevant. It thinks it could be just as shiny as gold, but gets really dirty really quick. It thinks it could fool people thinking its valuable or something. MEH. Silver is just...soooooooo not gold. But...looking at your car, it is such a stunning car and a stunning colour for it! I like!!! Nice choice. 👍 PS: I hate brown coloured cars also. Thank the Lord the 70s is loooooong gone.

Joan Jett for me. Her vocals. But there was one song that Lita Ford got me rockin to. I never liked that ballad she did with Ozzy though. I acnt remeber the title of that song. Anyway...Kiss me deadly

I think its just an opinion piece like every other... EVs could very well be selling because its the "cool" thing to have. The Chevy Bolts are doing quite well in the market place, but not as well as their "cooler" brethren, the Tesla Model 3. Why is that? a) is it because the Model 3 is cooler than the Bolt? or b) is it because the Model 3 is actually easier to live with as its a bigger car/appliance. Notice I said appliance as we really do not know if EVs are considered appliances yet as how Toyota Corollas are perceived or just because the Model 3 as a car and sedan does a better job of hauling than the Bolt does. We already do know that Tesla DOES have that cool factor. We will find out soon enough when all these EVs from these several brands come strolling in and then we will see what the market place says and does. I do know why though, all these manufacturers are building all these EVs. So they dont miss out on the next big thing. So they dont get caught with their pants down. Throughout Detroit History, this is a common theme amongst automakers. They dont want to be the one to lag on a hot market and they want to be first to offer a product in that new hot market because the one that enters that market first is usually the one to get all the recognition and benefits. The Ford Mustang and the Chrysler Minivan come to mind. These two products still reap the benefits of being the first ones . I know of several other models but I currently do not remember which ones and I do not know right now where to start to get info to mention more models. Bummer! I got another, the Corvette. But there have been failures too. Ford, when they heard that Chevrolet might do a midengined Corvette in the 1970s, Ford rushed the Pantera just to be the first one to market a domestic, mass produced midengined car. (Because the GT40 was more of a British entry than it was an American one, and it was only a race car at that with a limited production run) But yeah, I gather its the fear of being left out that is driving this need for EVs more so than the actual market place. I still feel that the switch to EVs will happen sooner than most, because I feel that the want for EVs is there. Its just that the RIGHT TYPE of EV has not been given to the people yet. The Bolt and the Leaf are not exactly prom King and Queen here. And some of their hauling capabilities (interior qualities for hauling) as cars are not exactly ideal... The Golf EV is too expensive within comparison to its gasoline and Diesel brother. And so on and so on.

Homemade apple pie and 2 huge tablespoons full of Nutella (yes, just Nutella on that spoon) for me for dessert just now! And there are several Bond girls that my friends and I would like to have a field day with. More like a roll in the hay rather than a field day... But yeah! Bond girls...

INANIMATE OBJECT funny video though!

Your brother is dead on. Its less ugly all black like that. All black vehicles are all sinister lookin'. This one is no different. Even more so because its ugly. I mean, there are some all black cars that are sinister, mean lookin', but they have a certain scary charm to them. Like Dracula. This thing is Freddy Kruger sinister scary in all black clothes. (I think I like it a little also) I never got past the front end of the 2019 Silverado to tell you the truth. Im afraid to take a peak inside and see what is what. Maybe at the Montreal Auto Show... Oh dang...it finishes tomorrow and Im working. Oh well...

Did you put a bag on its hood while you were driving it? ('cause its sooooo ugly) But then again, all black like that and it becomes a 'butterface'...

That is more for people who change their vehicles often. I always buy new. But you wouldnt be buying my new car as a used one as I tend to keep them longer than what you may deem a good used car to buy. I amortize my new car purchases properly. I usually keep them at least 8 years. Keep in mind that is in Montreal Quebec where deep freeze and snowy winters are a thing. My last car was a 2005 Impala SS and I changed it for a 2012 Acura TL SH-AWD. I kept it only 7 years because I dumb driver ran into my passenger door. I never fixed the door. It was dented a little. And it pissed the phoque out of me looking at my car that way. So I decided to cut that car loose and buy the Acura. I could have fixed her, but in my eyes, she was no longer perfect and I just couldnt keep her. That and I was about to do some major overhauling on her soon. New battery, maybe a new exhaust etc...So I prefered to put that money into a new car instead. But, my Acura is 7 going on 8 years now. I am perfectly fine in owning her still. She has no major battle scars to speak of, couple of paint chips here and there on the hood, but Ive touched them up and she still looks good even with all that salt and sand and gravel they put on our snowy and icy roads. I think I will keep her until she dies on me. I dont think I mind repairing the things I need to repair on her in her older age now just to keep her on the road safely as she still puts a smile on my face as I drive her. That and there is really nothing out there that interests me in owning enough for me to invest in another new car so because I still love my Acura, she gets to stay with me.. So...the 2-3 years of horrendous depreciation does not really apply to me on the Acura...and if I keep her another 7-8 years, which I think the TL could last that long, then depreciation is really not a factor.

Take it easy there old timer. My wife too, has high blood pressure. Its been about 5 months she's been taking pills. Doctors think its hereditary. She thinks its me.

Not really. We get the good stuff. Maybe not the super special one-off Japanese or German sporty stuff, but we get most of it. We did not get the Skylines or the Euro spec only BMW M3 from 1992 or 1993 and other cool stuff, granted. But hey, we got to produce our own cool stuff. The Prowler, The SSr. V8 FWD cars like in Northstar powered Olds, Pontiacs and Caddys and LT1 based 5.3 liter WBody cars. All kinds of pick-up tuck stuff. The Fusion Sport is kinda cool. The Buick Regal GS is kinda cool. The Tesla Model 3 is kinda cool. All Cadillac V Series cars are kinda cool. All the Hemi stuff is kinda cool. Hellcat, Scatpack or even just the regular V8 Charger... The Ford ST and RS stuff is kinda cool. I know we just bashed some of that just now, but those cars are still kinda cool though. Its just that we like to look down on our stuff and over value the foreign stuff... We also produce the good stuff and we consume it in excess. Mustangs, Corvettes, Raptors, V10 Dodge Rams, Chevrolet 454 SS pick-up trucks, Typhoons, Syclones, Scatpack and Hellcat Challengers and Chargers and Trailhawks and off roading Wranglers... There are other good stuff that we just dont consume and let it die off and then we only miss it when its gone... Pontiac G8s, Pontiac GTOs, Pontiac Trans Ams, Cadillac CTS V Wagons, Chevrolet SSs and RWD Chevrolet Impalas and Caprices, and the like.. All V8s you say? Well, there was never anything wrong with a Cavalier Z24, Pontiac Grand Am Quad 4, Olds Calais 442, Beretta GTZ, Cobalt SS, Pontiac Fiero V6, FWD W-Body 3.8liter supercharged cars, per se. OK...some of those engines could have been a tad more gasket problem free... We also think that the grass is greener on the other side and wish we got some forbidden fruit our way, yet, other places, ironically, think that way about our stuff and its our stuff to them that is their forbidden fruit... The Ford Mustang is finally sold all over the world and its selling like there is no tomorrow. Our old skool Cadillacs and muscle cars are being restored and sent over to Europe(Finland, Sweden, Norway) the Middle East, in record numbers...

https://www.slashgear.com/2020-gmc-sierra-heavy-duty-towing-technology-22563148/ Then...No Mercedes either. Since all the brands YOU mentioned wipe the floor with Mercedes... GM is a corporation that has car brands under its umbrella. As does Mercedes Benz...within the 3 pointed star. In NO WAY IN HELL does a CLA, even an AMG CLA, is regarded as luxury...so...STOP MOVING THE GOAL POSTS! Those are all luxury priced brands...and FALSE... According to YOUR OWN criteria...General Motors sells MORE luxury priced vehicles... Its funny, you like to include Mercedes' numbers in sales of cars that are NOT luxury oriented...like I said, an AMG CLA is now way in hell a luxury car. But its priced that way... You cannot CONVENIENTLY add t those sales to the Mercedes company umbrella and CONVENIENTLY omit General Motors' umbrella brands... Nope, it touches 56 000. But its sibling, the Yukon XL Denali goes for 76 000. And if one customizes it...and there are a plenty, it touches 100 000. Because if you want to play the CLA AMG game of it being a luxury sale, then I can play the same game... Well...this is where you get to troll... You want to sell me the idea of selling a ton of products is a definition of luxury, and deny the idea of exclusivity as a true defintion of luxury. PS: There are some countries that do not have drinking water...some countries I say...California seems to fit that criteria. As abundant as drinking water is in Canada,and cheap to obtain, as in free. I get to waste as much as I want in Montreal without NOBODY telling me otherwise. ITS A FREAKING luxury in other parts of the world, this thing we call water... And THAT is where I think YOU do NOT want to admit...but here you are...admitiing it! YES! THAT is the TRUE measuring stick of luxury. Price? CHECK! Exclusivity? CHECK! Badge? CHECK! Notice I omitted your AMG ONE...as its not for sale yet. To boot, its been delayed as its got some teething problems... https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/future-cars/a23785672/mercedes-amg-project-one-delay-news/ Like I said...for Ferrari, its as easy as making cappuccino. For M-B. They spill that shyte all over the place...

In my humble opinion. To me, all full sized pick-up trucks the last few years are all ugly. Dont matter if Toyota, FoMoCo, Nissan, Chevy, GMC or Dodge. I dont mind a little in your face, testosterone filled machoness in a very masculine oriented market niche, but what we got going on lately is a tad overboard. Hey, this is how I feels about it. In no way do I wanna stop the industry to stop this styling. Because obviously I am very much so in the minority to feel that way. So I could understand if somebody wants to set me straight and call me out of touch with reality and that I dont know what Im talking about. And Im fine with that if someone does say that to me. Its just that...well, this is how I see things how pick-up truck styling has become...in human terms... We are bordering on the ridiculous. Like I said...in my humble opinion.

🤒 I feel for you. That is rough having high fever. You could literally not do anything. Even just tucked into bed is an energy sapping activity. Rest well. Eat well (if you can) and drink lots of liquids. Hope you get better soon!

What constitutes luxury? Because a Sierra Denali that creeps up to the 100 000 dollar price tag has all the electronic gadgetry and pizzazz that a 100 000 dollar Mercedes has... Obviously a Silverado does not get to be 100 000 dollars, but it gets pricey that it costs MORE than the lower level AMG branded Mercedes Benzes. That Silverado that creeps up in price to match lower level Mercedes Benzes has got the SAME amount of luxury features of those lower level AMG branded M-B cars... You put too much into the sales thing...it means nothing for luxury... EXCLUSIVITY is one of THE most important definitions of luxury and price has NOTHING to do with it! Along with that is desire to own that rare object...and while rarity often means high price, again, price has NOTHING to do with it. Value is something else altogether. But we must not confuse all those things... And...JUST because something has a high price tag does NOT mean its of value or its valuable or its worth the asking price...that includes Silverados, certain AMG cars. But if you gonna bring down Silverados, you MUST bring down Mercedes Benz and certain cars they sell at high prices that makes YOU think Mercedes Benz is THE #1 luxury maker. 1. That would only be YOU that says that. 2. Mercedes does NOT outsell the REAL luxury brands. Rolls Royce, Bentley in those REAL high priced luxury niches... In fact, they tried to do so but FAILED with the Maybach a decade ago... Maybach is also a failed brand from the past that M-B tried to resurrect with no success... 3. Ferrari and Lamborghini outsell Mercedes Benz in the 1 000 000 dollar car sweepstakes. Like since the automobile was invented. And Mercedes Benz had several cars in that realm over its course of its history, but Ferrari is Ferrari and million dollar cars for them is like making cappuccino...no big deal...to them, but to you and me, we make a mess out of it. So...we go back to a watered down definition of what constitutes sales and price tags of luxury cars, but even there, Mercedes is not #1 because General Motors sells MORE luxury priced cars than Mercedes does... 1. Mercedes does NOT outsell the REAL luxury cars...Rolls, Bentleys, hell even Ferrari and Lamboghini in those ultra high price tags. Mercedes Benz gets to sell 1 car model every decade in that stratosphere... 2. General Motors has got Mercedes beat in over all luxury priced vehicles... You got nowhere to go with this, SMK...

PS: let it be known that being arrogant and having the space in our countries and money to own and drive huge wasteful behemoths is a luxury in itself. Also, North America aint the only place in the world where such arrogance is present. I want you guys to observe, while there is a Mercedes Benz in that police force, so there is a FORD Mustang too. And THAT is my point, while Mercedes-Benz sells a lot of cars in many many niches and markets all over the world, luxury, especially today, has a different meaning. Badge? Price? Exclusivity? That particular Ford Mustang was not sold outside of North America. Its exclusive to that part of the world...and its just a Ford at the end of the day. Yet, here it is, proudly displayed with exotics... Price? Like I said, GM probably sells more mid level to high level priced cars than everybody else. Is THAT a definition of a #1 maker of luxury cars? Well, technically it is!!! Badge? Does Mercedes Benz really sell the most 100 000 dollar priced cars? But what about Lamborghini and Ferrari which actually sells a ton of 250 000 dollar plus vehicles respectively? Because Mercedes Benz actually does not sell THAT many as compared to Ferrari and Lambo...

You mean, and lets be honest, and there is nothing wrong with it, but you do really mean donkey trails for villages and horse trails for the main roads. The USA for the most part, was really built around the automobile. The North American indigenous peoples just used nature's trails to get around quickly. Which was ingenious in its own right as well. Now, us modern North Americans need that huge grilled, huge 35 000 pound towing capacity to tow our little dinky boats around. Sure! Absolutely! But being all that, is it fair to call M-B the world's best selling luxury maker? Because if we add all of GM's sales of cars/trucks/SUVs over the 50 000 -60 000 dollar "luxury" threshold, I would bet my money on GM being the world's most selling luxury maker.

I cringe every time you say that. Mercedes does sell a lot of cars, yes. But not all their sedans that they sell have that luxury status. In Europe and in North America. What constitutes luxury for you? Badge? Like I said, not all 3 pointed star sales are of the luxury appointment inside and outside the car. Price? Chevrolet, let alone GMC, overall sales outsells Mercedes Benz in the price department just with their top of the line Silverados and Tahoes. Meaning, more high priced Silverados and Tahoes that are MORE expensive than the lower tiered Mercedes cars, including the mid-ranged C and E Class cars are sold in the US and Canada... If you mean only the 100 000 dollar priced cars, then maybe Ill be in agreement with you. But then again, livery service S Classes dont mean anything to me either. Do not forget about GM. Buick seems to be going the all CUV and no sedan route also.

Wow... I thought only electrics will be homoginized and "souless"... Because of National pride...so I think this has good chances of happening. Yes, if we were was still in 1980s or 1990s. If GM and Ford could build transmissions together and before that, go to congress and try to get help together so no Big 3 goes under then I think BMW and M-B could do a platform or two for FWD mass market appliances. Sure, but if they could get some money from another source (BMW) to lesson the financial burden, then its win win, non? And no, like in North America, it wont be a good thing for Germany if one of their Big 3 goes under. M-B and BMW are probably aware of this as this nearly happened in North America. Im sure M-B, BMW, VAG and other German economists studied the Detroit situation and learned from that.

Everybody was an anti-Semite then. Including us in North America. All of us including those in power that controlled the fate of everybody in Europe. The Brits and the French. The Brits and the French knew what Hitler was doing before Sept. 1 1939. In fact, Hitler annexed Austria and the Brits and the French did nothing. March 12th, 1938. Lets talk about the anti-semitism. On November the 9th, 1938 for 24 hours, Germans, yes lets call them Nazis so we Westerners feel better about ourselves and as to not insult Germans either because Nazis were only a subset of Germans because Hitler did not win an election unanimously in 1933, well, they burned down synagogues, vandalized anything relating to Jewish peoples such as Jewish homes, Jewish business, Jewish schools and killed close to 100 Jewish peoples. This night was called Kristallnacht. And what did the Brits and the French do? NOTHING! What did WE do? Well, Time Life Man of the year in 1938 was one Adolf Hitler. Let it be known that Stalin was also killing Jewish people in Soviet Russia before Sept 1, 1939. What did the Brits and French do? NOTHING! What did we do? In 1939, Time Life Man of the year was another fine gentleman named Joseph Stalin. If those asshats Brits wanna harp on Henry Ford for being an anti-semite, they should also harp on their political leaders KNOWING allowing Hitler to kill Jews and do nothing because they were "too afraid" to make war again. Yet they knew that war was coming regardless because they knew France and themselves started this whirlwind when the Treaty of Versaille was signed on the 28th of June 1919. But they only put their foot down when Hitler attacked Poland on Sept 1, 1939 and THAT was too close to home, yet all the warning signs were there just a year prior, KNOWING that Hitler had killed Jews and was already sending them to concentration camps well before Sept. 1st 1939... Its a little hypocritical to point the anti-semitic finger on Henry Ford when the European world was rot with anti-semitism. I could go on about how Jewish people wanted to flee Germany just about when Hitler was voted in but France and England REFUSED them... But Ill just let Kristallnacht set into our thoughts and then Ill let the annexation of Austria settle in as well and how Austrian Jews were rounded up and put into Jewish Ghettos, and Ill let you decide if Henry Ford deserved to be dragged into a faslehood of dumb ass Brits talking casually about cars yet wanted to make it political and yet, these asshats are Brits, Neville Chamberlain was the one who could have really prevented anti-semitism to spread... but wanted to make a point about an American businessman being anti-semitic yet its in the Brits and the French and the Russian world that anti-semitism was created and flourished and spread around the world, including Henry Ford's world...but its in Britain and France that this started in...

I had a random thought when I saw a Yukon Denali pass me on the opposite side of the street today... I was stunned to realize how phoquing huge that Yukon grill is. Then I started laughing hysterically all by myself thinking about it.

Me too. And like her, I also love rock-n-roll!

I think were are, or should be, just about done with the EV having to be different just to stand out to tell people you "care" for the environment. EVs are just about getting ready for the big time mainstream spotlight. No need for this weird styling. That was all crap marketing and the folk that bought into that just wanted to pat themselves on the back "for doing the right thing" Poseurs and posturing. All hypocritical.

General Motors has that...in Chevrolet. And if they want, Buick and GMC. Rolls Royce does not have that, nor Bentley. Maybe Cadillac should align themselves closer to Rolls and Bentley? Like how they used to be since day one of their existence up until the 1970s...