Drew Dowdell

It was a bubble in the price of shipping. Three years ago, near total capacity was reached in the global shipping fleet. Shipping prices skyrocketed. At the same time a whole bunch of new keels were laid down to increase capacity. By the time the new ships were complete, the global economy started to wobble. What started as a slight excess in capacity turned into a bubble popping as shipping prices fell just to keep the lights on. It was never their to begin with. It was made up money, created by the banks at 40:1 leverage. The credit market drying up has given the appearance of the shrinking of the money supply... but the old view was a delusion illusion.

Whatever I get will be a diesel, that much is certain. The whole point of buying a car over there is to go on long distance road trips, usually to the Provance and such. I want the most fuel efficient vehicle in the size class I'm shopping in.

oh man!

Is it even being built yet? I've been shopping the used car sites over there and it seems that the E-class, 5-series, A8, and 7-series all have Lincoln Towncar like depreciation rates. I may just get one of those and save myself the money. The CTS-D may be nice, but if I can snag a low mileage 7-series <the only BMW I like> for half the price or less, I'll do it.

A 64 bit linux distro will fry XP in terms of speed, but hardware compatibility is limited. There are a few CAD programs out there for Linux that get very good reviews and at least one that will read autocad files if you purchase the commercial version. If you're just looking for a good, stable, internet surfer that will let you do all of your basic household tasks <Office suite, email, IM/Chat, photo editing, etc> then just use the 32Bit distro. I would prefer to just email it to you. It's a rather small install. On October 28th, Crossover was giving away free copies all day to anyone who went to their website.

I have the free copy of Crossover Pro. Contact me if you'd like a copy of it. It lets you run Windows XP apps inside of Ubuntu.

I dunno man. Obama was a n00b to the scene who has run a top notch organization that took out the Clintons and looks likely to take out McCain. Let me put it this way. If Hillary has won the nomination instead, do you think McCain would have run his campaign differently or do you think we'd be sitting here discussing Hilz's nutcase preacher/husband/fellow board members/less than savory old lawschool friends? Do you think McCain would have won against Hillary running the same campaign against her as he has against Obama? Since I think Hillary would have an easier time getting elected than Obama has <no muslim/terrrorist/commie/big ears slurs to throw about and Palin would have been neutralized>, what does that say McCain's leadership?

Have you dabbled with the new Ubuntu - Intrepid Ibex released last week? Works great. Ubuntu + Crossover Pro = no need for windows.

Many of the larger GM stores offer $19.95 quicklube service. Find one and take it there.

Do you actually use all of that? My Ubuntu install is my main interwebs surfing machine. Now that Crossover Pro supports Quicken 2008, I may just switch to Ubuntu entirely. I already have Office 2007 running on it.

I imagine most here use Windows. I'm curious what percentage of Mac and Linux users we have here. Myself, I must use windows at work, but I dual boot into Ubuntu Linux when I'm at home. I just upgraded to Ubuntu - Intrepid over the weekend and it's great. Everything JustWorks™ and speed is great on this older machine.

What the hell? Wasn't this a daily driver when it was sold?

Capesize ships now go for $6365 a day, $365 above the average daily cost of crew and fuel. There is so little shipping to be done that ports around the world are filling up with empty ships - and full ships that won't unload because no letters of credit are being accepted. No shipping, no trade. No trade, no globalization.

lol... that has to be from some german language book!

Two days from now I'm heading to Germany for vacation. I'll also be inspecting the house being built. Construction is scheduled to be complete in mid-December. If the American electorate gives me the birthday gift I want this time around, I'll be staying till at least January 20th. If not, I'll be leaving anytime after the 1st of the year. PCS, if you're in Frankfurt, be sure to wave as my ICE rushes by you on Thursday morning.

Or even More classic damn, I'm not a big fan of car based trucks, but this one is badass looking.

Something a bit more classic then?

It's even a manual!

Ford RancharSHO

I get better than that on my Chase credit card...... then again... I'm probably more solvent than GM.

Looks like the deal is off or on hold.

Well this was an '01. I understand they have a completely different V6 now.

Are these based off of unemployment figures for how many are collecting? If so... it's horribly inaccurate.

The crossfire platform was dated when Chrysler got it <it was a first gen SLK>. Kappas are better.

There is simply nothing in Chrysler's stable that would make a good addition to GM other than some Jeep models and the mini'vans. Sigma or Zeta > LX Epsilon > Sebring/Avenger Delta > Caliber/PT Cruiser Gbody has no overlap GMT-900s > Ram Theta has no overlap Kappa has no overlap Lambda has no overlap Hell, even the GMT-360s, as old as they are, are doing better than the Durango/Aspen Chrysler brings no engine technology, transmission technology <hah!>, any significant global presence GM doesn't need the capacity, doesn't need the legacy costs, doesn't need the headache