regfootball

suggestion, want to wind down? spend a few weeks in remote western ND. you'll unwind and destress, for sure.

scary thing is i was chatting with some coworkers earlier in the day about earthquakes.....

the electric only mode is great for going stealth on city streets at night....stalking exes.......

http://wcco.com/health/health_story_214152859.html

the bridge does not go through a wealthy part of town, hence, not many imports.

yup, those were the dumbasses i was referring to. same folks who pay say, 45k for an A4, or way too much for an accord TSX, which amounts to an accord with nice plastic, good handling, and a torqueless wonder under the hood that won't even give enough accelaration to make it seem like its worth 10-12 grand over say, a camry. not that the camry is insanely wonderful.

another co-worker's wife was on the bridge. i think she escaped. i was talking with a structural engineer here. his theory is that it is primarily a function of expansive stresses on the concrete from multiple days of extreme hot weather, and the there was not enough slack in the joints to make that up and that perhaps it sent improper axial loading through the structure. there was no propoer path for these forces to be handled and then one part let go and the rest followed in quick succession. He thought fatigue over time is also a culprit and that the lack of redundant design in this structure is a big time flaw. His theory was that vibration probably wasn't a factor although some of the jacking from the restoration maybe could have had a minimal contribution. I've seen interstate sections in rural areas buckle on endless 90+ degree days. As much as the concrete expands, you would not believe how much it expands and how much force is built up until you see big chunks of road buckle.

you cannot BELIEVE the amount of irresponsible reporting going on right now. it's sickening. its worse than the auto rags by a factor of 10. but one caller into KFAN put it correctly.......if the bridge was unsafe at time of inspection it would shut down. people who have no study in the field of structures do not understand that concrete cracks, bridges flex, and they do not understand how loads are carried and resisted and how dynamic they are. I don't understand it most of the time either, but I totally trust the world class structural engineers I work with daily. I was just walking around in a 13 story building yesterday in the middle of construction, they are building the concrete substructure. you worry about stuff happening. you have to trust that events have occured so that you are safe, even though nature and human error are everyday facts of life. if you want to see a big time bleeding heart liberal journalist go off and lay brame for this tragic event, go to startribune.com and click on the nick coleman article.

one of the busiest bridges in the state startribune article...one of my coworkers survived it, ouch, i thought of him when i heard about this....i'm glad he's alive.

first off, the buyer shift has been to cheaper and more fuel efficient cars. having a 4 cylinder and cheaper version addresses that. secondly, mags have ragged the pushrod v6 for not being as smooth or fast as a competing 4 cylinder. the ecotec 4 cylinder being offered addresses this to some degree, needing ot have a competitive four cylinder option. third, not having a stick is ok for now i think. it would sell to small a numbers, even though myself i would be attracted to a turbo four aura.....hard sell when the 3.6/6 speed paddle shifter combo is so sweet. the fusion manual is selling ok but not setting the world on fire. four, saturn's traditonal customer base and market perception is used to a 4 cylinder option as a base. so to appeal to the old saturn base, they need a four cylinder. this is GM's response to jump start the aura line. give it time to work. the 6 speed will come soon. until then, lets give this model a chance to survive. keep in mind so many other cars sell for much more than the aura and still have four poppers in them. why dumbasses pay 30k for an accord TSX for example, or loaded passats. yeah they drive nice, but its not like its a good sixpot under the hood. the aura is a good car, the word is not out yet.!

the hybrid is ok for PR and for the tax credit.

wow, retail is up for GM even if the economy is in the crapper and other makers like honda are way down on so many models. kudos to gm for a strong month.

wow. some major decreases there!

our economy is in the crapper, yet bmw increases by 20%. well, at least for a few of us, its going better.

the elantra is new, how can it be down?

i do not get where there turds are selling, they have to be lying? i see none around here. MASSIVE sales declines pretty much everywhere else, too for the big T. wow, i hope this keeps up.

go.......crossfire? sebring and avenger seem to be doing ok. vans are WAY down. new models coming out may be why, or, the van market is really tanking.

taurus and sable seemed to do ok out of the gate.

at least ike believed in investing in the country and infrastructure.........40+ years? "It was a nice run" except when it ends like this.

oh man, 20 minutes.....that is scary.

just got back into town got off the plane and the first thing i see in the airport is this. man, this sucks. i will say this though. i've always HATED going on that bridge. it was HIGH up in the air and the side guardrails were very low and there is hardly any shoulders on that (former) stretch of road. its like one of the 3 or so bridges around here I hate. never knowing ahead of time about this accident, i would have been majorly freaked and scared if i had to stay stopped on that bridge for a long time. CNN is at least doing an educated reporting job. the local stations are absolutely terrible at this stuff. i hope this doesn't get political.

fisher price recalls more toys with lead paint from...........you guessed it

no 500's here. haven't been any for two months. meanwhile, the chargers, 300's, and magnums rot on the chrysler lot next door. oh wait, those are all mullet or gangsta cars. my bad. explains why they aren't selling tho.

haha funny. so you'd apparently rather drive a ridgeline or a kia amanti then

the suspense is killing me on what sort of accord is under that tarp.