balthazar

I was able to uncover a 'surprise' via traditional 'paper' research- my mother could have been born under a different surname; her father ("JL") was born under a different one- his father ("JZ") died of TB when JL was 8 and JL never told anyone about it, and documents (such as his SS application form) list his step-father WL as his father, not JZ. U.S. Census records told the true story. If my mother's grandmother had not remarried, my mother would've known right off that she is 25% Italian via her surname, instead of believing she had English in her background instead. There's a lot of stories to be uncovered even thru 'dry' paperwork.

Right: by 'country' I did mean 'geographic area'. But if true; in Europe that's going to involve some degree of interpretation, no? Can the MtDNA distinguish -say- between different Slavic ethnicities ?? Still cannot see how this going to add much to the geneaology of an individual, unless a distant relative is far wide of the assumed enthicity... but this test will still not reveal an identity, just an existance. It seems to only bring new questions rather than answers.

>>"Oooooh, you're making a pun!"<< A pun? No; his mother remarried after his biological father left when BO was 2, and when he was enrolled in Indonesian schools (you know- under the religious category of 'Muslim'... but I digress), it was under the name 'Barry Soetoro'- his step-father's surname. Isn't this common knowledge ??

Pish-posh; libs don't know the meaning of the word. Go ahead & use '100 years'... and be convincing! Don't let facts slow your party's rhetoric down!

Looked at the site vid and the wiki entry on Mitochondrial DNA, but I don't see how the DNA test identifies your ancestors... unless their DNA is also somehow on file. I assume it can only -somehow- identify which country only, is that correct? DNA ethnicity markers have been identified then? More info, please.

McCain stated more than once he's only going to run for 1 term, so you're down to only 4 years. If McCain wanted to continue the war indefinately for these nameless 'buddies', why was he a proponent of the surge and the increasing control & declining violence it accomplished? Something's not consistant in Conspiracy World... Actually, I'm rather shocked you aren't trotting out the '100 years' quote and firing up your calculator for a dollar total.

>>"...there is the $171B a year to maintain 8 more years of 'all war, all the time'..."<< I ask this without expecting anything close to a serious answer, but here goes: By whom & where/when was it ever stated that there was an intent to extend the war "8 more years" ??? This should carry just as much weight as Barry's promise that 'nothing is off the table regarding Iran' and 'we'll invade Pakistan if we have to' comments, tho I know you Obamaniacs will 'poo-poo' this right away as taken out of context or some other excuse. Anyone at all concerned that Barry (as a "citizen of the world" ) & Joe have co-sponsored the Global Poverty Act, aiming to dump an estimated $850,000,000,000 overseas to cut the WORLD poverty rate in HALF by 2015 ? Think that's included in his dreamy tax chart above ?? You're being suckered.

Well, you're all wrong, no matter how firmly you 'know' this to be true a mere 26 years later. I happen to have the 8/81 C&D '82 Cimarron review in my files, so buckle yer belts. I cannot transcribe it all, but here's unedited sections (with zero monkey business on my part): "Though the Cimarron bears a close resemblence to other J-cars, we can say that the revisions Cadillac has made were all aimed in precisely the right direction." The restyling Cadillac did, for instance, could not have been more apropos. The Cimarron looks like the clean break with the past that it is. The typical-for-Cadillac bow-shaped hood and massive grille have given way to a front-end treatment that looks like that of an Impala (which itself started looking like a Cadillac a few years back). The tail is neat & simple. The standard tires are chunky blackwall Goodyear P195/70R-13s mounted on 5.5" wide alloys wheels, also standard. Chrome is used sparingly and wonder of wonders; there's not even a stand-up hood ornament. When you pull open a door you find more of the same inside. The interior styling is conservative to the point of being nondescript. All Cimarron seats are covered with handsome perforated leather. The door panels repeat the pleat theme with some of the world's best vinyl." "We're also happy to report that the Cimarron appears to be put together with more care than we've seen in most American cars until now. We managed to score a pair of early production cars for this test - #s 5 & 15 to be exact. We found their paintwork good, the fit of the doors snug, and the body panels and trim lines up just so. In the cabin, everything was battened down tightly as well. The body structure was rock solid. The overall feeling around these parts is that the Cimarron doesn't have quite the tight-fitting look of an audi 4000, but it isn't far off, either- and that's saying something. When you're keeping company with BMW & audi, a high level of fit & finish is expected. So are first-class road manners, and Cadillac didn't neglect it's duties on that front either." We rounded up 4 of the Caddy's world-class competitors- the audi 4000 4E, the BMW 320i, the honda accord se and the volvo GL, for a day-long drive-off just to see where it stands." For the first time in a Cadillac of recent vintage, you can actually feel there's a road down there. In fact, the ride is actually quite firm, about like the BMW's." On the twists & turns of our country-road test loop, the Cimarron showed it could cut & run almost as well as Europe's best. In most situations the tires stay planted securely & allow you to make good use of the .73-g cornering potential- which is well into BMW territory. The steering is quick and the tail tracks respectfully behind when you dive for an apex or whip around your favorite cloverleaf." The volvo, audi & honda 4-cyls whir like sewing machine motors when you press them, but the Cimarron thrashes in the upper rev ranges- though it doesn't assault your ears nearly as badly as the BMW's. And tho the Cadillac's 13.7 sec 0-60 time is a match for the honda's & within a tick of the audi's, the wide gearbox ratios keep the Cimarron feeling flatfooted." If the Cimarron isn't exactly a BMW killer, it's still solidly competitive elsewhere.For one thing, it's very roomy for a car so small. The seats front & rear are commendably supportive for long distance touring (tho the front buckets could use more lateral support). The Cimarron is a first-rate Interstate sled as well- as stable as an Amtrak liner & about the smoothest & quiestest 80-MPH cruiser in the group." Our sources report that a 2.0L injected 4-cyl & a 5-spd close-ratio manual are already under developement for the '83 MY." With a little polishing here & there, the Cimarron could actually make it as a world-class small sedan. (not even audi gets everything right the first time around). But even as is, the Cimarron is a pretty nice piece of work. And for a Cadillac- well, it's just plain amazing." Oh SNAP!! Volvo GL: 107HP 130 CI 4, 4-spd OD, 3100 lbs, 0-60: 10.9, 1/4mile: 17.8 @ 75, lateral g: .70, slalom: 55.6 Honda Acc: 75HP 107 CI 4, 5-spd, 2320 lbs, 0-60: 13.7, 1/4mile: 19.1 @ 69, lateral g: .71, slalom: 57.6 Audi 4000: 74HP 105 CI 4, 5-spd, 2300 lbs, 0-60: 13.3, 1/4mile: 18.7 @ 71, lateral g: .76 slalom: 57.8 BMW 320i: 101HP 108 CI 4, 5-spd, 2460 lbs, 0-60: 10.4, 1/4mile: 17.5 @ 76, lateral g: .74 slalom: 56.1 Cimarron: 85HP 112 CI 4, 4-spd, 2685 lbs, 0-60: 13.7, 1/4mile: 19.5 @ 70, lateral g: .73 slalom: 58.6 All the imports have those ungainly, tacked-on black rubber bumpers while -gasp- the Cimarron has integrated body-colored bumpers... just like every car on the road now. It's also a lot cleaner-lined that the other, with the possible exception of the lunchbox volvo. I guess the Telescope of Revisionism fails to show you guys how utterly wretched everyone else was too in the '80s. The Cadillac ran 2.5 MPH faster thru the slalom than the hand-delivered-by-God 320i. WTFH, right? How could the Cimarron be such an uncompetitive POS when it was so well matched to the segment ?? Were they all just uncompetitve POS ?? I guess so. -- -- -- -- Understand- I'm not defending the Cimarron (I have no interest in the car) in as much as I'm setting the record straight: like I said earlier: C&D was very favorable to the Cimarron, esp in comparison to it's competition. The segment was what it was, and all the players were very close. This one account disproves the 'common knowledge' that the J-cars were "absolute crap". Again- if you value the opinions of C&D as worth something, the only claim you detractors can make stick is that it's uncompetitive relative to today, but not to 1982. And that's hardly legitimate, sorry.

You know I hate that the Tri-Shield is commonly ID'd as beginning in '59. Technically that's correct, of course, but the car world revolves on model years, not calender.

I've been reading up on the auto industry for many years. I figure I have 25,000 pieces in my personal library, but that's a complete guess. The Camaro or Mustang story only goes so far... >>"vaporware"<< Well, as stated, there was a ground-up show chassis / powertrain of extreme quality- that was real. The...umm.. brochure was real (I have a copy). Apparently --and very sadly-- from the sketchy info available; not much else was. Unfortunately coinciding with the recession of '58, I doubt whether there was sufficient financial backing for the venture. Cadillac reputedly lost $10K on every $13K Eldorado Brougham they built in '57-58, and the Argonaut would've cost at least triple that $23K to build. In comaprison, the initial asking price for the Smoke was 'only' listed as $26K. It was too much for the market to bear.

I have to concur with CARBIZ & longtooth RE the '80 X-cars & the J-cars. It is only thru the distorted lense of revisionism that these cars were 'clearly uncompetitive' in their day. Anyone who values C&D's opinion should read the eye-opener review of the '81 Cimarron; they loved it.

THM 425 = Olds Toronado transaxle. I cannot continue my trivia question in good faith because it cannot be expected to be deduced. Car in question is the '59 Argonaut Smoke. Company founder claimed 3 were built, but to date research & pictorial evidence has only uncovered one bare show chassis. If 3 complete cars were built, believe me we historians would've had proof by now. I wrote a large portion of the wiki entry from my files. Sorry that my question was unfair, but I do love this car and I couldn't resist. Thread to come soon...

Hmmm..... that's a good one. Of course, B-59s didn't fly under the TriShield... Gonna have to guess on this one. The red, white & blue clearly represents the U.S. Flag. The earlier Tri-Shields encompassed detailing carried over from the earlier, single shield crest ('40s & '50s but dropped for '59); the antelope head, the cross, the checkered band (the later represented as seen in the above emblem). What I cannot positively ID is the representation of 3 - was it a take off of '59s 3 diamonds, representing the 3 model lines? Doesn't make big sense to me, as Buick clearly would've been working on the Special by '58-59...

>>"McCain has the author of the deregulation bill as his economic advisor."<< Barry had James Johnson involved in his VP vetting campaign. Johnson was CEO of Fannie Mae throughout the '90s, and was accused of received loans directly from Angelo Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide Financial... of course, implicated in the U.S. subprime mortgage lending crisis. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight report from 09-04 found that during Johnson's tenure as CEO, Fannie Mae had improperly deferred $200 million in expenses. This enabled top executives, including Johnson and his successor, Franklin Raines, to receive substantial bonuses in 1998. A '06 OFHEO report found that Fannie Mae had substantially under-reported Johnson's compensation. Originally reported as $6-7 million, Johnson actually received approximately $21 million. He stepped down this summer to 'avoid creating a distraction to BO's campaign'. No worries; there's a whole warehouse of people to keep him company. The mention above of Franklin Raines is timely, he is the most recent acquisition by Barry as an economic advisor. Raines has in his resume the reassuring distinction of having been an associate director of economics under Carter. On 12-21-04, Raines accepted what he called "early retirement" from his position as CEO of Fannie Mae, while SEC investigators continued to investigate alleged accounting irregularities. He is accused by the OFHEO, the regulating body of Fannie Mae, of abetting widespread accounting errors, which included the shifting of losses so senior executives, such as himself, could earn large bonuses. In '06, OFHEO sued Raines in order to recover some or all of the $50 million in payments made to Raines based on the overstated earnings initially estimated to be $9 billion but have been announced as 6.3 billion. Civil charges were also filed against Raines and two other former executives by the OFHEO in which the OFHEO sought $110 million in penalties and $115 million in returned bonuses from the three accused. On 04-18-08, the government announced a settlement with Raines together with J. Timothy Howard, Fannie's former chief financial officer, and Leanne G. Spencer, Fannie's former controller. The three executives agreed to pay fines totaling about $3 million, which will be paid by Fannie's insurance policies. Raines also agreed to donate the proceeds from the sale of $1.8 million of his Fannie stock and to give up stock options. The stock options however have no value. Raines also gave up an estimated $5.3 million of "other benefits" said to be related to his pension and forgone bonuses. A "paltry settlement" in light of the fact that Raines's compensation was over $20 million in '03 alone. Also in the settlement, Fannie paid a record $400 million civil fine. In 06-08, the WSJ reported that Raines was one of several public officials who received below market rates loans at Countrywide Financial because the corporation considered the officeholders "FOA's"--"Friends of Angelo" (Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo). He received loans for over $3 million while CEO of Fannie Mae and earning tens of millions. This is one of Barry's economic advisors. Funny, I thought he was an innate genius RE the ecomony relative to McCain. Not only is he not, he picks some reall winners. Of course, Barry himself was also involved in a sweetheart real estate deal with good friend & next-door neighbor Antoin "Tony" Rezko, convicted in '08 of 16 of 24 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, & corrupt solicitation. Rezko is currently in prision, awaiting trial on more charges of wire fraud & passing bad checks in casinos. Obama, while working for the law firm Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, represented Rezko's real estate front company and helped them get more than $43 million in government funding. Obama also urged city officials to support of a low-income senior citizen development project headed by Rezko and partner Allison Davis. The project received more than $14 million in taxpayer funds. In return, Resko was the first contributor to Barry's political career, eventually contributing a quarter million by Barry's accounting. This is EXACTLY the sort of cronyism and back-room criminality bullsh!t that Barry (dubbed 'The Messiah' by admitted friend, career racist and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakahn) is supposed to deliver us from. Fat f*cking chance of that. I don't care what sort of magic dust economic charts he puts out there to grease his own skids with, it's all, and always, about stuffing your buddies pockets and making deals. I'll give him one credit, he's damned good at hiding & shrugging damning information off, but I'm not sure that's something we should be looking for in a President. The nation has never before been so deep in the dark about a Presidential candidate. No Change, No Hope here.

R&T tested a Vector W8 in 3/91, engine was a twin-turbo 365 CI all-aluminum 16-valve IBC V-8, block was made by Rodeck, heads were by Air Flow Research. It was not a cheap piece; took most of the best from the aftermarket. Rodeck makes a number of aftermarket blocks, but obviously they're made to work with some OEM stuff; the Vector used a THM425. Specs~ 625 HP @ 5700 630 TRQ @ 4900 7000 RPM max weight : 3320 gears : 2.43 0-60 : 4.2 0-100 : 8.3 1/4 mile : 12.0 @ 124 lateral accel : .97 700-foot slalom : 60.6 I am pretty sure "W8" has nothing to do with a powerplant reference. CEO was Jerry Wiegart - I smell a connection. Within the 'supercar' genre, I always liked the W8's lines; to me it did the 'countach one-plane-windshield/hood' thing infinately better than anyone else. The subsequent redesign reminded me of the geo storm.

Quiz will tally #2 as incorrect even when answered correctly. All those who scored "13/15" and got #2 'incorrect' really got 14/15. So far it looks like a 3-way tie @ 14/15.

Nope: post-war. My description is doubly appropriate; I would easily term it the post-war incarnation of 68's vehicle. Don't fret over it tho- it takes 'obscure' to dizzying heights.

>>"Obama and Biden will require oil companies to develop the 68 million acres of land (over 40 million of which are offshore) which they have already leased and are not drilling on."<< If this is true, can we ask questions? Is there any oil there? Is there enough oil there? Will the cost of extraction/transport makes it much more expensive when it gets to the pump? Why is Congress opposed to swapping out current leases for other, much greater-potential acreage? Why do they continue to oppose drilling using this transparent tactic, period? Fact- Oil is in favor of drilling- they have stated that before Congress. Fact- many states have unequivocally opposed drilling; my dumb-a$$ed multi-millionaire Gov is whipping up the fear-mongering to oppose it. Fact- Oil is paying untold millions? / billions? in leasing this acreage. Question- why is Oil throwing this money away instead of doing what they've expressed they want to? Having more oil reserves per company would increase their marketshare- willfully refusing that is diametrically opposed to success. What piece is missing from the equation? Is it known that oil lies under all 68 million acres, because it's certainly spoken of as if it is. What has Congress said is the reason Oil is not drilling? Simple acceptance of 'they lease the land but are not drilling' is not enough.

PCS is correct: one question, answered correctly, returns an 'incorrect' mark. With that in mind I got 14/15.

>>"Hey, Bitter-zar.... Give the book a read...it's incredibly prescient regarding what has brought GM to its knees today. Don't want to believe the truth? I'm sure there's a corner office at GM for you."<< I will give it a read if I can get my hands on a copy, but I'm never eager to accept one person's account as unvarnished truth without corroborating evidence. The 'whistleblower' is too often given great benefits of doubt, even tho there be 6 or 8 different positions on the same issue. What convinced you the book is "the truth" ?? You have to admit, in the publishing field, accounts of wrong-doings and scandalous practices are at the forefront of successful efforts. People seem to inexplicably enjoy failure and finger-pointing in this country. In my study of the Corp over many years, if it has revealed nothing else it's that the entity is incredibly complex, has changed its SOP countless times and has generally shown indiffference to it's own history. However, no one has ever claimed they have been even close to perfect. At this point I have to believe a clear, succinct picture of the inner workings over it's history is completely beyond reach.

Such a tiny sheltered world without history.

>>"...almost any set of products from GM until about 2005"<< So 1981 - 2005 covers "almost any set of products" ?? Ummm, OK. You know; most of GM's problems, by popular choice, seem to stem from overlapping brands / models / pricing. Would this not support dating the cause back to 1908? By only 1920, GM owned or had owned 21 different brands, flirted with bankruptcy and ousted it's CEO twice, yet was a distant 2nd to Ford (with just 1 brand). I don't know about you guys, but I see a clear parallel from that right up to the current STS not having a glove box light, don't you? Ain't hindsight a barrel full of drunk monkeys ?

I know the answer (w/o gogglin'), so I am going to piggyback a description for another car, just because your passage reminds me of this car: >>>In addition to the normal compliment of instruments, included are; tachometer, chronometer, altimeter, barometer, compass, engine oil temperature, rear axle lubricant temperature and vacuum gauges.<<< - OHC - 24 valves - forced induction Sorry: no one will get this one in 100 years of guessing. Feel free to start cursing me now.

From when until 2005; 2000 ? 1980 ? 1960 ? 1910 ? Why not jot down the passages in question ?

Verizon, $30/month. Really should be $10 according to the screen @ Verizon, but it's a 3rd phone on my brother's plan, and in that he upped the plan to allow enough converage for all 3, I am subsidising some of his phone, too. Bastard. Phone is an LG VX4650. No complaints except the holster broke, got a new clip, broke in another way, so now I carry it 'nude', and it's a bit banged up cosmetically (I don't care). Service is just about excellent.