Drew Dowdell

Good one croc!

Well duh! You should have changed the plugs 37k miles ago according to your sig.

Some examples from that other blog: Cursive! I have three kids in elementary school wasting countless hours learning cursive. Why? I can't remember the last time I wrote anything longer than a grocery list by hand. With technological development, they'll do that even less frequently than I do. Sure, everyone needs a signature, but why not teach a signature alone? Kids in countries that are our largest competitors worldwide are learning advanced math while America's kids have to struggle to make a proper freaking Q. Moronic.

Stole this idea from a blog I read and thought it would be fun for us here. What widely accepted practice, custom or societal norm do you regard as irrational, absurd, offensive, silly, nonsensical, counterproductive, or morally wrong? Here's your chance to challenge the conventional wisdom. Anything that is already a matter of intense controversy, like abortion or the death penalty, doesn't count -- that aside, however, take liberties with the question.

Dwight, I think he meant he'd like to see the 3.6 offered in the Equinox

Already posted Government Motors No More

dirty injector or failing fuel pump?

I picked the 3.6 so it would be different from the Regal. Let the Regal have the turbo charged 4-cylinders.

I don't know about you, but I really would have liked to see a Malibu SS of the current generation. Give it the 3.6 in 305hp form, AWD, and 6-speed manual or auto. Revised front and rear facia, lower ride height...... make mine black please.

I doubt GM would resurrect GMPD just for the Aveo and Cruze. There's more up their sleeve I'm sure.

But in the meantime, till some RWD lustwagons are available, let GMPD get back into the game on these two.

Like the Colorado or Tahoe? The CTS-V is already done... no other RWD left.

Isn't part of the problem with rail subsides then just with lack of use... and that lack of use is caused by poor service due to poor funding? On lines where Amtrak was able to make the investment into high speed rail, they are bursting at the seams with ridership. They have over 50% market share in DC and NYC. People aren't unwilling to use rail, they're just unwilling to pay for crap service. Taking the Capitol Limited from Pittsburgh to DC is plenty cheap enough, but the only departure Denver has great air service because it has a great airport. Pittsburgh has mediocre air service despite having a great airport (regularly considered in the top 10) because no one wants the hassle of driving out that far. Right now, Amtrak has just enough subsidy to keep them alive and barely functioning but until early last year, nothing to make any substantial hardware upgrades with. Imagine if an infrastructure service, fairly vital to the country's needs (as all major modes of transportation are) were last overhauled in 1991. The whole system was operating on Windows 3.1 computers, which were state of the art at the time. But while other infrastructure services got eventual upgrades to Win 95, Win XP (new airports or substantially upgraded ones), this infrastructure services was told it'd have to learn to fend for itself and it would have to do it's own upgrades while it's competition got them for free. Listen, I can completely sympathize with your "no subsidies" position.... but don't pick on rail just because they're currently the underdog and they've been kicked and neglected since birth.

Have you just checked the fluid level at all? It could simply be low. If it's low, you probably need at least a gasket change... but if you're going to do that, do the filter too.

OMG, you're always going to be able to find an example of it not working. Air travel has a very high fixed cost that is subsidized by the government! On top of that, it's less energy efficient per passenger. I'm sure you'll return with some obscure statistic about a diesel powered rail line in upstate New Hampshire or something that is somehow less efficient per passenger... but it's not relevant because it isn't indicative of a modern normalized system. If you want to fight against public subsidies, fine, but you can't single out rail while ignoring 41% of the Interstate's yearly budget that DOES NOT COME FROM THE GAS TAX. You can't ignore the massive subsidies given to air travel.

It's as if Apple was trying it's hand at making a modern version of Falling Water

Lots of great shots..... good shots of Pittsburgh too!

Oh yeah... cause I can't think of a better way to deal with claustrophobia than cramming into a two story bus with 1,500 people.

A mobile traffic constrictor is what it is.....

If this were Price is Right! Reg would be the only partial winner. Aztek - $12,995 Ranger - $9999 Reg gets to pick next.

One more guess and I reveal the prices.

We should turn this into a game. Guess the asking price! Find an advertisement - Name the vehicle, mileage, and major amenities (drive train, engine, leather or not) and we guess the asking price. I'll start with a few: 2004 Pontiac Aztec - 38k miles - V6 FWD - Cloth interior 2003 Ford Ranger - 135k miles - V6 M/T 4WD - Cloth Interior

I wish I could have... I just didn't have the means at the time.

The ways trains get more efficient: 1. Add cars - simplest and most effective way to increase fuel economy per passenger. There are of course limits. You can't simply continue to add cars without also adding locomotive power. Still, almost all electric locomotives are far more powerful than generally needed, the high speed ones especially so. A typical electric locomotive can yank around a 15 car train as if it were paper. The second problem with adding cars is station platform length. This is a relatively easy work around since certain cars can be designated for passengers headed to certain destinations. At those destinations, only the designated cars will have platform access. 2. Train splitting and grouping - trains can be scheduled to combine and split at certain stops. For example, a train from Cleveland and a train from Columbus both heading to Washington DC can meet in Pittsburgh. The cars are combined and a single locomotive and crew takes the train the rest of the way to D.C. The process would be reversed for the return trip. 3. Motor Coaches - In electric trains, most of the dirty bits are actually under the locomotive. After space is taken for the engineer, 75% of the locomotive is available for passenger seating. 4. Double Decker and wide body cars - currently few <any?> of the HS rail lines use double decker cars 5. Train "sets" - This concept has been around since the 1930 but never widely adopted in the US until the Acela went into service. Passenger trains sets are actually a set of 3 - 5 permanently coupled cars. Having this arrangement reduces the number of wheels on the rail by 30%. Doing so reduces rolling friction and wear on the tracks. Train sets don't preclude train splitting mentioned in point 2 because independent sets can be controlled from a single cab. Extra locomotives can be left in "neutral" when not needed, engaged if encountering an increasing grade, or engage regenerative braking during a descending grade... which bring us to 6. Regenerative braking - Diesel locomotives have used something called dynamic braking since the 1940s... but all they did was exhaust the excess heat into the air. The Virginian railway experimented, and was successful, with using a descending train to power an ascending train. Most of the modern HS rail trainsets use regenerative braking, but only in their locomotive units. Increasing the regenerative braking to all axles of a train set would greatly increase it's regenerative capacity when used as the primary braking source. Additionally, railroad regenerative braking with electric locomotives suffers no weight penalty from batteries like hybrid automobiles do. The electricity goes back up into the wire and directly feeds another train.

I think C4C is only a small factor here. I don't think the market for '89 Devilles that were selling for $3,000 is really going to affect the market for newish Fusions, Tauruses and Malibus... I can see it being a factor for trucks though as C4C probably took a load of 80s and 90s F-150s, CK1500s, and Rams off the road.