ShadowDog

Exactly. It's like a home owner with no clue that the contractor had an argument over which type of drywall tape to use. One wants the ease of fabric while the other wants pre-mudded paper and everyone else in the world goes, "..."

I don't mind Comic Sans simply because it's refreshing to utilize something for general notations or memos that doesn't appear as though I have a stick up my ass. All my staff meetings were printed in Comic Sans so that everyone felt more comfortable and at ease with the material. Using Times New Roman for my agendas sometimes appeared as though all points were 'set in stone' and would not be subject to discussion. Even if I indicated, "Subject to discussion"... it still appeared too rigid. Of course, department reports and employee appraisals deserve more appropriate typeface, so a small-font Arial or Times New Roman were the norm. I don't think I could feel comfortable typing these more important documents with a kiddie-font design. It would take a designer mentality to come up with the overly dramatic hate-on for a friggin' font. OMG! The humanity! Kids all around the world will be dropping dead on the spot at the sight of Comic Sans!!! This is what struck me as odd: They offer degrees in type design... MASTER'S degrees no less? Wow... the world would be so devastated without the importance of type design.

CAAASH IIIN THEEE TRAAASH! On that note, yes, my wife picked up a box of ShamWow from, Walmart?, maybe? It works pretty darned good. Not that we've experienced any 2 litre Cola spills with coffee in the exact same spot on the carpet, or anywhere else for that matter; but, we do use it for cleaning. We also put it under the drip rack when drying the oddball dishes when the washer is full. We don't have to use the tray anymore as it catches all the water. Then we pull it out to dry any remaining pot and pans too big for the rack and everything is done. All we do is wring it out and hang it to dry. Miracle towel? Eh... all I can say is that it does a better job drying as compared to a terry-cloth because you can wring it out like a sponge while the cloth is still 'wet' and just smears the water around.

1:44 - "Dingle-arm" :rotflmao:

Vince makes the more subdued pitch while Billy makes like a Carnie-booth operator you want to point the BB gun at.

Everywhere else outside of the U.S. seems to be doing just fine in smaller cars. The U.S. is a victim of its own automotive creation when trucks and SUVs are considered the necessity, causing the public to fear a need for larger vehicles to survive their near-death experience intact. Societies with predominantly smaller vehicles only need small vehicles; all while many people, even in the U.S., simply prefer them altogether. GM is global, so there's no need to impose the needs of one nation's desire for hulking cars on the entire global market.

What I don't understand is why Bumblebee isn't talking normally as he did when he was fixed at the end of the first film? Typical ACDelco parts failure?

I already know her answer and it would be 42... because, like, that's the ultimate and universal answer to, like, everything? ...and, like, because it's always said so on, like, T.V. shows?

Around here, Pontiac is on the same level as Chevrolet. There's a ways to go before they could begin to appear mid-lux. The only Pontiac that's worth keeping is one with NO badge engineered models. I know you all would like that; however, the Pontiac dealerships don't want to be anything different. They want to cater to the same clients as Chevrolet. They don't want to miss out on those sales because they flippin' need them. Until they accept the changes in order to provide a clear strategy to market towards the niche market buyers, GM will continue to be watered down with the same issues and lack-lustre public perception. If Pontiac is to make its mark as a competitor to the European manufacturers, they'll have to let go of their 'me too' cars and leave them to Chevrolet. To me, this is the only way to remove the perception that consumers could have about Pontiac; i.e.: 'Nice G8... but what's it doing next to that Aveo...er G3?' I get it, you get it, GM would 'appear' to get it, but Pontiac dealers keep pissing and moaning and end up selling a Chevrolet because they think they need to.

Link Fiat CEO warns Chrysler unions: cut costs or we walk REUTERS April 15, 2009 By Gilles Castonguay MILAN (Reuters) - Fiat SpA's chief executive, facing a two-week deadline to work out a partnership with Chrysler LLC, warned the troubled U.S. carmaker's unions he would ditch the idea unless they agreed to cut labor costs. In a clear message to U.S. and Canadian unions, Sergio Marchionne told Wednesday's Globe and Mail newspaper a deal on the partnership had only a 50-50 chance of succeeding because of lack of progress in talks with union leaders. "Absolutely we are prepared to walk. There is no doubt in my mind," Marchionne said in an interview posted on the Toronto newspaper's website. The Chrysler unions had to agree to match the lower labor costs of plants run by Japanese and German carmakers in the United States and Canada, he said, adding that Canadian unions were especially resistant to the idea. Nomura analyst Michael Tyndall said Marchionne was probably not bluffing in talking tough with the unions. "He's playing hardball," he said, adding that the unions' position would make the deal too costly for Fiat. "We want them (Fiat) to walk away ... I don't see any benefits in this deal." Under the latest version of the proposed partnership, first announced in January, Fiat would take an initial 20 percent stake in Chrysler in exchange for the technology to make small cars and access to foreign markets. The two carmakers are under pressure to reach a deal on the proposal with Chrysler's unions and bondholders before an April 30 deadline set by the U.S. government. Chrysler has been warned by Washington that it would go into bankruptcy if it fails to complete the deal, designed to save the smallest of Detroit's Big Three car makers. But its lenders have so far refused efforts to eliminate most -- if not all -- of the $7 billion owed to them. If a deal is reached, Chrysler would get at least $6 billion in extra government funding, having received $4 billion so far. Fiat would get access to the U.S. market and gain the scale it needs to survive the worst industry crisis in decades. It would bring to North America its popular Cinquecento (500) car next year, while its premium Alfa Romeo brand would make cars in Canada or the United States, Marchionne said.

I blame Pontiac. Why were they crying out for a 'me-too' model? It's obvious they didn't need it, especially in the U.S. - I mean, really, the U.S. is practically the only place in the world where the small car isn't popular.

The public simply won't see the common sense results as an "I told you so." Nor will they accept the fact that a final result is the lesser many possible evils. They won't take the time to understand the cause-and-effect; rather, they will only dredge up the past and say things like: "If GM only built better cars that people wanted, they wouldn't have required government money or bankruptcy protection." "All these people lost their jobs because GM was incompetent." In a situation like this, just as any argument, people tend to dig deeper for their idea of facts to support their opinions long before they concede to common sense... if ever.

Wouldn't it make more sense to compare the numbers of a Trans Am or Firebird to the Camaro rather than the Corvette? I only say this because the 'Vette is rather world-class while the TA and Firebird are largely a North American entity. Also, Scion was to pander to the wants and desires of the youth. I wonder how many youth are attached to Pontiac's image as compared to those merely hanging-on to their youth?

I'm never surprised by the stupidity of the masses these days: The mob cannot be reasoned with. Society needs to design bad news in order to vent; otherwise, they'll asplode!

Seriously... with all those cars wrecked, your family could (should?) hire a driver. Yeah, I kid. That's a whole lot of wrecking with, I hope, no tragedy.

It rained here over the last two days and was quite chilly today. I just didn't feel like being in the office today so I cleaned and swapped on the summer wheels and power washed the engine bay. That was the most fun I've had in months... retraining my muscle memory with the grippy tires so as not to oversteer around corners.

Not sure whether all dealership shops operate this way, but where my wife worked, the service advisors received commissions by the companies providing the products for particular service tasks. Transmission fluid changes were one of them.

I certainly didn't expect it to go any other way. It was never a matter of 'if', but 'when'. The only thing left to do is continue to fill topics with discussion and argument on which brands are deemed "unwanted" as the report suggests. Apparently, they're ALL 'wanted'.

It appears to me that his articles are more of an editorial piece than a news report. Yes, it's overly dramatic, but it gets the point across... eventually. I actually appreciated the context of his piece this time.

Agreed.

Long running lanes for on-off ramps. Easy to access the forced-merge on ramp (if you get to traffic flow speeds and find a spot to squeeze in, depending upon how courteous the fellow in the lane is to let you in front of them). Easy to access the exit lanes which tend to even double-up lanes for adjacent directions of travel at the next intersection (my wife's pet peeve is to see some jackhole weaving in the left lanes and expect to find some magical opening that will allow for a California-Lane Change all the way across to the right to exit in less than 200 meters). Distances vary for all the ramps, depending upon their regular volume and how many lanes they have (one or two). The Calgary section (Deerfoot Trail) of Highway 2 is part of the CANAMEX Trade Corridor that extends north to Alaska and south to the United States and Mexico. I can't find the info, but I know it's been around as a main highway for several decades. There have been ongoing upgrades and newly developed exchanges to ease congestion; however, the study that was developed brought a lot of interesting info to light: Crash Data Analysis - Between 2005 and 2006 with data from both city and Alberta Transportation: 67% - Rear end collisions 14% - Sideswipes 8% - Right angle (intersections) 4% - Left-turn across path (intersections) 4% - Off road ("OMG I fell off the highway!" - Likely loss of control and skidding off the pavement) 2% - Backing (REALLY stupid people) 1% - Passing Left Turn (Unsure) Crash Types: - Rear-end crashes are the most common crash type, comprising 67 percent of the total. Rear-end and sideswipe crashes account for a combined 81 percent of all crashes. This indicates that the majority of crashes occur during higher traffic conditions and involve lane changes and following too closely. Temporal Distributions: - Crashes peak in February and September. Day of the week analysis showed that most crashes occurred on Wednesday (19 percent). The most distinct crash peak occurred between 2:00pm and 6:00pm and contributed 35 percent of total crashes. (Worth noting is Calgary often sees its first snowfall in September-October and drivers do not adjust for conditions. It's like a NASCAR event to locals when "The Big One" is expected to happen some time during that first good snowfall) HOWEVER The majority of crashes (73 percent) occurred when pavement surface conditions were dry, and 75 percent of crashes occurred during daylight conditions. There was also a recommendation for review of traffic cameras at the high profile interchanges where safety concerns involved excessive speed. That's sure to be a sore spot to numerous drivers.

It's a 30 mile stretch. Reports and statistics from the Alberta Motor Transportation Association suggest that the majority of collisions resulted due to distracted drivers, cars weaving in and out of traffic and changing lanes without signaling make the thoroughfare most dangerous. One of the greatest causes of concern is when drivers maneuver their vehicles into the space tractor-trailer drivers leave in front of them in order to have adequate room to stop. Too often, drivers fill the space as soon as it's created and do not allow room for a 40,000 kg truck to slow down when required. Aggressive behavior and inconsistent, highly-variable speed rates between vehicles (slower vs speed limits vs speeders) has prompted a safety review of the road to determine what changes would be required to reduce the number of collisions. In a news report, Caroline Surbey, who drives the Deerfoot twice daily, said traffic has become heavier and rush hours longer. Along with cars constantly changing lanes, she said distracted drivers are a serious concern. "It's nothing to look over and see someone reading the paper," she said. The bumper-to-bumper reference occurs at even the posted speed limit due to tailgating. This was shown to happen because there are multiple main intersections with a heavy flow of merging traffic on and off Deerfoot Trail. The off-merging traffic creates great openings where people find the need to increase speed. The on-merging traffic then slows these speeds down, but apparently too quickly for those not paying enough attention, or trying to find a quicker lane to weave through the suddenly increasing traffic. I'm always comfortable on Deerfoot because I have no trouble keeping with the flow in the upper speed regions. If the lane I'm in slows, I'm not quick to jump into another lane if it 'appears' to be moving quicker. Often, someone else will get my attention by doing just what I mentioned without signaling and sometimes forcing their way between vehicles. It's quite uncommon for those lane-weavers to end up more than a few car-lengths ahead of me by the time we reach a 10 mile distance. To me, those are the safety hazards on the road. I'm just fine in my lane, getting where I need to go and not pissing off multiple drivers to save 20 seconds on my trip. Heck, as Deerfoot leaves Calgary heading north to Edmonton, suddenly it's not uncommon to be blasting along at 140 km/h. That was loads of fun! ...that is, until some middle-aged, blonde woman in a Jetta half-way ahead of me on my right suddenly decided she wanted the left lane. I saw her drifting over the lines as I just passed her rear bumper and I didn't one observe her to even glance in her mirror at my direction. Needless to say, my horn sounded as I was straddling the white line to my left and she darted back into her lane with a snide look... yeah right, my mistake? Deerfoot has 93 access points on its length! Its flaw is that it was designed for a quarter of the daily volume it now sees; something in the neighborhood of 200,000 vehicles. This, combined with both meek and the aggressive drivers has created the safety hazards observed up to now. So yes, the data suggests the design is poor; however, it's apparent that drivers are unable or unwilling to adjust for that.

Still mulling over the trip to the Okanagan some day? Good Friday - I contemplated just going to the office today and taking Monday off instead... but the inlaws are coming on Sunday and we'll be doing some cleaning around the house to enjoy a free day tomorrow before all hell breaks loose Sunday. I guess I'll take the rest of today to do more reno-work on my son's new bedroom. I gutted it, added sound proofing and redesigned his closet layout... now just have to drywall, paint and install the laminate floor. ...and change back to the summer tires on the car; ...and on the van; ...my mother's car; ...do some pruning to the fruit trees; ...prep the yard machines; ...de-thatch the yards; ... I think I should get off the computer now.

Pff, I'm stuck here... GM offers a lot of vehicles I'm interested in; however, I don't really need anything right now. The Grand Caravan handles all family functions, long trips and multi-passenger transportation. The Optra5 handles all small, runabout trips. The business has the GMC 5-Ton diesel (Top Kick w/ dumper) for all major utility duties; the Chevy 1-Ton diesel flat deck for material hauling duties; the Dodge pickup w/ canopy for covered-needs duties and the GMC 3/4 Ton diesel pickup for hauling or minor utility duties. About all I could 'use' is a weekender sports car that I just don't have time to drive anyway. It might be a few years before I bother replacing anything. If GM is still around in some way, maybe they'll have something for my needs at that point.

The road is (was) quite reasonable. I've never had any problems driving it, but for just the poor drivers (both too fast and too slow). I think everyone just thinks all other drivers should go the speed they're going. How the hell is that going to happen? I tend to think the problem is with the massive population growth of the city that the road can no longer accommodate for. Changes are certainly needed, but many of the people who drive the way they do and defend the speeds and aggressiveness they choose to travel at say nothing should change, that the problem is just with the slow or incompetent drivers. This may very well be the case; however, I think the fact that the road is just too congested is the main issue. Rush hour is bumper-to-bumper, nearly 3 hours long, idling down the road for miles. Who can justify attempting to drive the same speed every time when there's just too many vehicles at any given moment? So yeah, road design is highly important. Still, the design was great for decades, only over the most recent years becoming a problem due to extremely rapid population growth that planning and construction just cannot accommodate for at the same pace.