ShadowDog

Even with the cast-sharing between the pushrod and OHC block, did not the LQ1 still end up one of the most expensive engine designs for its time? I would think if the same idea could be used, it would have to be based on development of a new block designed to share the different valvetrains, and not from a design originally for one or the other. This, because the LQ1 ended up a bunch of fussy fixes to accommodate the change from pushrod to DOHC with oil sealer plugs and funky hoses for coolant channeling, etc. Being belt driven wasn't such a bad thing, at least helping to reduce noise levels; however I imagine it was more of a necessity than an exact thought. I forget whether the fact that the 60 degree engine allowed for a tighter package to enable the cam alterations?

Religion

"Who keeps phuckin' with the temp control?! COLD! GAWLDAMNED IT! I want COLD not HOT!"

I missed this when it was first posted. G-D-Hilarious. So funny how a stupid comment to a stranger can turn into your inside fluids being cast on your outside. Well buddy, did it seem like a good idea at the time?

That's the wild for you. In fact, it's the sea lions hovering the rocky shores that cause the most problems out west. Most orcas seem to stay some distance, even when they were fishing or crabbing. Yes, kayaking is also a huge recreational past time throughout the islands with numerous tour companies offering exploration packages for all things marine-wise. The thing about orcas is that they aren't particularly dangerous to humans while in their natural habitat. I asked my sister about this one time and she directed me to a site with this quote: Site Link Meh, let them stay free. I'd rather enjoy a calm canoe trip in a nice, private setting with my own family off the coast to see them in person than to sit with a bunch of loud spectators and watch them swim in a bowl.

Sealife shows, in general, are highly educational; however, the pursuit of entertainment is the only way to get people through the gates. Performance and trick-training is the only way to do that. If a spectator area was on the edge of an inlet, where animals could roam in from the outside ocean, do you thing many would venture in to show off in front of a few hundred loud, obnoxious humans? My sister regularly sent me pictures from the coast on the islands of B.C. where all one needs is a boat a few hundred feet off the shore to see numerous large water mammals up close. She said to me that the wild makes the viewing far more spectacular and memorable than sitting on bleachers and listening to a trainer and/or marine biologist tell a tale of the same thing that can be found in a book or online. Sure, the tricks are amazing to watch, but so is watching them playing amongst each other in the waters of the bay.

Curious... How is "the controversy around Toyota and it hiding its quality problems" related to an "antitrust investigation"?

Seems like a better thing from a PR standpoint. At least they also won't have to give any tech info to the Chinese... even if the Chinese wouldn't bother getting it legally and would just take apart what ever they want to manufacture for themselves.

There is a very large gray area between a perfect and imperfect car. Unfortunately, those with a mob mentality do not recognize the gray area very much. If one suggests that Toyota isn't any better than the domestic makes and another in the same camp suggests Toyota is crap, where do you think that leaves the domestic makes? I suggest to let the story unfold. Toyota feeling the crunch now is no different than Ford or GM feeling the crunch in the many recalls they've had in their own past. Having owned a Toyota as well as my father having one once, I never identified them as "junk". To me, they were no different a vehicle than any other make, doing some things better, some things on par with everyone else and some things that could have been given more thought. The automotive industry you speak of has a huge territory outside of the U.S. for which Toyota has played a big role. Their success didn't come about from building "junk" cars. For Toyota to succeed as much as they have globally, they would have had to train dealers to single out the stupidest, most gullible consumers to brainwash into buying their "junk" vehicles; to ignore, or downplay any possible problem their vehicle ever had. Not even a government body can spew as much false propaganda to influence a global populace in the manner required to force people into "junk" vehicles to succeed the way Toyota has. How I see it: Toyota builds vehicles that many people appreciate over other makes. That's their success to capture the market where others have failed. Now, Toyota has a problem with their vehicles and will do what is necessary to rectify the situation and continue building vehicles that many people appreciate over other makes. One can't blame them for playing the game of Monopoly when everyone else is playing the same game.

That's funny. I thought I opened the same thread again when I saw this reply. Funny how the exact comment applies to both threads.

That's why I was so alarmed by the comment. I certainly know that it isn't as simple as that comment made it out to be.

WhA???

When I look at their school logo, nothing about it gets me to think about the Ram connection to Chrysler. I just don't see the resemblance that any forward-view of a ram wouldn't also look the same. The detail of the school logo makes theirs far more unique to Ram's silhouette style. WAY TO GO Chrysler! Lawyers never fail me in their quest for stupidity. I wonder if they must have went up against this school as well: Suitland High School Rams logo: I checked their website and see this is now their logo: Now that one, I can completely understand getting them to change.

[quote name='GMTruckGuy74' date='20 February 2010 - 11:44 PM' timestamp='1266731041' post='579009'] When I had the 2007 Saturn SKY roadster, I entered it in a local car show for the fun of it (May, 2006 when it was still pretty new). Several people asked what engine was under the hood and were surprised when I replied, "2.4 liter 4 cylinder". One guy approached me and asked if it has a 12 cylinder under the hood!! When I told him, 'No, a 4 cylinder', he gave me this awful look and said I had to be wrong because the car had the look that it was very fast. I don't think he was joking around, could have been drunk or high, but not joking [/quote] I find it funny how people think when they don't have a clue. I mean, what would this guy say if he were told the Miata was arguably among the best roadsters?

[quote name='Oldsmoboi' date='20 February 2010 - 02:19 PM' timestamp='1266697166' post='578968'] I know someone here who would argue that they never stopped until 2009. [/quote] That's a good point as well since one could have the same car either way from top to bottom with basically the only difference being the number of doors. LTZ / Z34 At any rate, the Monte Carlo was a shadow of its former self by being a W-body. Hopefully this won't open the FWD / RWD can 'o worms. While this wasn't about my car, I got thinking of the ol' days when managing a crew of gas jockeys. One dim bulb walked around an 80's Grand Prix and couldn't figure out where the gas door was. I told him it was behind the plate, so he promptly yanked up on it so hard he bent the plate right off its two upper bolts. Instead of saying sorry, he says, "It's not [b]my[/b] fault they put it in the wrong place." All I could reply with was, "Does that mean it's my fault [b]you[/b] work in the wrong place?"

[quote name='SAmadei' date='20 February 2010 - 02:03 AM' timestamp='1266653023' post='578895'] Actually, they made 2 door Luminas... but not long, and not after '95. [/quote] That is correct, but that was before the entire W-body changed for '95 and they reintroduced the Monte Carlo as their 2-door coupe of, essentially the same body style. This was in 2006, when most people in anything auto-related could probably remember that the Monte Carlo had been around again for over 10 years.

Getting new tires put on the '95 Monte Carlo some time ago, I walk in the shop to pay: Me: "Here to pick up my car." Him: "Right, the Lumina." Me: "Um, no. I have a Monte Carlo." Him (with a look of shitting bricks): "You had the white Lumina, right?" Me: "Um, nooo. The white Monte Carlo." Suddenly I felt like they put my new tires on someone else' car. Him: "The coupe." Me: "Yeah." Him: "Whew, you nearly gave me a heart attack there. But, isn't it a 2-door Lumina?" Me: "They don't make two-door Luminas." Him: "Well, sure they do." I stood in silence for a moment because he had me thinking that, technically, they [b]are[/b] pretty much the same car but for the body style. Still, his ignorance scared me for a second. ___ My wife just told me about a conversation they had at work. She and two co-workers were discussing Toyota's problems as of late when a regular customer came in and started to share his view on why imports like Toyota, Honda and Hyundai were built better because they were made by Japanese and Koreans. My wife shot back: "That makes lots of sense because your Toyota Camry was built in Kentucky and my Chevy Optra was built in South-Korea." Him: "You don't know what you're talking about." Her: "What ever you say. I mean, the customer is always right. Right?"

I was mildly interested in the tablet for some of my requirements; however, its limitations left me wondering how I could consider myself a smart guy by plunking down so much money on something so basic. I'll admit that I like to use my iMac 2.8 with OS X; however, not once have I ever considered it superior to a PC. Each has their benefits and drawbacks. In my case, the drawbacks with my iMac are rather annoying. My scroll ball on the wheel-mouse is garbage; the keyboard is so flat, seemingly for pure aesthetics than ergonomics, it's as if it requires perfection to operate; the DVD drive/burner bailed on me last week and the repair has been identified as stupidly expensive, so I will be replacing it later in the future myself and have an external DVD drive/burner currently hooked up; I either forget how to get to my desktop with a single click, or there just isn't a way to do so; ... and a bunch of other fairly insignificant details. Now, there are a bunch of positives that I won't bother mentioning for which I thoroughly enjoy my iMac for; however, they're all small features, creature comforts or eye-candy. I still have my Windows XP PC behind me as a backup and extra system for internet downloads and business-related work. When something goes kablooie on that thing, it's easy to fix if not a little time consuming. This stupid DVD drive on the iMac can absolutely cripple the entire machine if there is no backup! One can credit Apple for keeping money in the coffers by engineering expensive repairs for common conditions.

So you'll have to bum a ride for the next few years. Is it such a big deal to let pride take a back seat for such a short while?

There's a new place nearby called Mazatlan serving some exciting dishes. I must admit that I haven't dined there yet, so I'll reserve judgment on the taste until I've heard from others how nicely they'll have prepared their dishes. Still, most of the hippies living among us have this peculiar desire for the simple Mexican dish that isn't much different than fine dining at McDonalds.

Well, the irritated customer. The type to be annoyed while standing in a line if someone asks you, say, your opinion of a product you have in your hands. Or even if two people in front of you are talking about a product. Do these things bother you? Or is it just the random, "Nice weather we're having..." chatter because there's time to kill and people are just being nice?

I'm of Russian decent, so I particularly desire pastry foods like perogies, pirahi, and then borscht, etc.; however, I never shy away from other ethnic foods. I'm not particularly a fan of Mexican the way I notice so many people practically cream themselves over a bean burrito or taco. To me, those are boring quick fixin' foods when we don't feel like cooking. Also, anything overly spicy just ruins the experience. I really only have two 'food nevers': - Beets Not exactly sure why, but I'm not too fond of the odd-flavour sweetness. Which leads me to my next non-favourite... - Pineapple topping on pizza To me, virtually every ingredient on a pizza is anything but sweet. To add a sugary sweetness to things like tomato sauce and meats is just too much over-flavouring and too busy for the pallet. Any other foods I can tolerate to a degree, but these two just can't pass my lips.

Just curious if you are one of 'those' people whom appears never to have waited in a line before?

WORSE than salesmen or multi-level in my books. I don't know how I manage to sniff them out and avoid them. On a personal level, a friend of mine, formerly an excellent distributor for Christie Brown & Co., became my manager at my first job. I learned a great deal from him, considering him a mentor. I've since spread my own wings and we've managed to keep in touch. Over the years, I've found that when we talk, he seems to be more interested in who I know. This has led me to conclude that most of his own success has purely been through networking; which is fine for some, but I'd rather have friends as well. To each their own, I guess.

Wash up drying on shore and blown inland which makes its way into streams, as well as the open sewage trenches in streets which carries local garbage are the main culprits. It is correct that a waste issue is parallel to that of global climate change, indirectly related. Original topic resumes...