More Stuff

[Dave]

Oops.

[Sgt. Howard]

Pain in every nerve keeping me awake for days, and making me want to claw my joints apart. Allergies giving me a dry, unproductive cough that's so painful it rattles my shoulders. Stress bringing my normally very low bp high, and resulting in bloody noses. I'm anemic, so that doesn't help. Hypoglycemic too, so my diet is usually pretty healthy(except for coffee) to keep myself healthy.

I am:

Drinking more water than junk.
Cooking and eating healthy.
Exercising moderately with appropriate warm up/cool down.
Taking all medicines and supplements exactly as prescribed.
Trying to avoid pain medicines.

This is driving me mad. It comes and goes at random, and no pattern to duration, month, weather, nor season.

"Experts" say it's not real/possible, so I cannot get insurance assistance to pay to discover what it is, and find treatments.

Sorry for the rant. Not looking for responses or sympathy, just trying to get this negativity out of my system before my son gets home.

Fibromyalgia- go gluten free

[shadowinthelight]

At least no one was hurt. Yesterday someone at work lost part of a finger. He was holding a screw he had to put in place when he started the driver and it caught his glove. The assembly line never stopped.

[Jabberwonky]

Clean Suit Tech 1:Call the boss and tell him.
Clean Suit Tech 2: Uh-uh, you call him...

[Dave]

To bolt, or not to bolt, that is the question.

One way or another.

[Alkarii]

I think the weather's on crack.

Just a little while ago, it wasn't raining, just cloudy. Then, for maybe 30 seconds, it was a light rain, then the bottom completely dropped out. Not a big deal, really, except I was outside (and I'm at work, too). My rain suit and waterproof boots are in my car at the far end of the parking lot, and my keys are in my locker. So I get my keys, put on one of the crappy spare rain suits with a few large holes in it, and step outside.

The rain had completely stopped, and the sun was doing its thing (it had been cloudy all day).

Howdy! And welcome to Texas!

I'm actually in Arkansas. Been living in the area since '93, so it's nothing new. I just wish the timing were better.

And that reminds me of what happened several weeks ago: working outside, and shortly after it starts raining, I head towards the rest room. About ten seconds after I enter the building, it starts to hail. Twenty minutes later, I go back outside, and there's no evidence there was any hail.

[Jabberwonky]

... Twenty minutes later,...

[DinkyInky]

Pain in every nerve keeping me awake for days, and making me want to claw my joints apart. Allergies giving me a dry, unproductive cough that's so painful it rattles my shoulders. Stress bringing my normally very low bp high, and resulting in bloody noses. I'm anemic, so that doesn't help. Hypoglycemic too, so my diet is usually pretty healthy(except for coffee) to keep myself healthy.

I am:

Drinking more water than junk.
Cooking and eating healthy.
Exercising moderately with appropriate warm up/cool down.
Taking all medicines and supplements exactly as prescribed.
Trying to avoid pain medicines.

This is driving me mad. It comes and goes at random, and no pattern to duration, month, weather, nor season.

"Experts" say it's not real/possible, so I cannot get insurance assistance to pay to discover what it is, and find treatments.

Sorry for the rant. Not looking for responses or sympathy, just trying to get this negativity out of my system before my son gets home.

Fibromyalgia- go gluten free

Having friends and "family" with Celiacs, I was gf for a while, and I still got it. They tested me for it, and ruled it out saying I didn't have enough symptoms for it. Prolly will try it again though. Thanks.

[AnotherFairportfan]

Lies, Damned Lies and Anything Ralph Nader Ever Wrote

This whole list is pretty laughable...

[hr]
An article that quotes Consumer Reports as to whether cars are unsafe, which is ludicrous, since CU has consistently made completely wrong-headed judgements of cars, and has (as shall be seen) been caught faking results to make cars look bad.

The Omnirozon

Consumer's Union is notorious for protecting its "good name" - it has sued companies that quoted its good reviews, in order to prevent any possible claims that its ratings were tailored in the manufacturer's favour. It is also notorious for suing those who defame its good name.

So, when CU rated the Omni/Horizon twins "Not Acceptable", on the basis of a test that they asserted was a standard test at the various automakers. (The automakers, BTW, said "What? We never even heard of that 'test'!" The "test" in question consisted of flooring the accelerator, twisting the wheel ninety degrees and releasing it. The Omnirizon spun, straight down the middle of the road. This made it "Not Acceptable". One van {i forget which} did not spin - it continued in a straight line. Straight off the road. That van was rated "Acceptable".), Pat Bedard, then Tech Editor for Car & Driver, later Editor, and a former Chrysler engineer quoted an engineer acquaintance form his Chrysler days, then working at CU.

His buddy told Bedard that the manufacturers weren't afraid enough of CU, so CU decided to find a pretext to "get" one of them with a "Not Acceptable" rating, so they could see how much CU's wrath could cost them in sales, and that the Omnirizon was the easiest target. (Not an exact quote, but one could prolly find the exact wording with about fifteen minutes' research as an reasonable-sized library.)

C&D printed this as part of Bedard's regular column. It had to have passed CBS' lawyers.

Remember Consumer's Union, the organisation so anxious to sue to prevent the smallest smirch on their escutcheon?

Never said "Boo", so far as i ever heard.

The Suzuki Samurai

A 1988 Consumer Reports test deemed it dangerously unsafe for American roads. The report was unusual in its strong language, and publicly called for Suzuki to recall all 150,000 Samurais and immediately replace them with a safer model. A damning investigation later found that the magazine altered their tests to increase the possibility of a rollover, and in 1996, Suzuki sued Consumer Reports for the damage the report did to the brands sales and reputation. The lawsuit dragged on for years before it was settled out of court in 2004.

CU released video of their test at the time of their report, showing the test. They had a Samurai fitted with outriggers to prevent an actual rollover, and their test driver was demonstrating how likely it was to roll over in relatively low-speed J-turns. It would try to roll, the outrigger would bounce it back upright, and then he's do it the other way, and it would try to roll again.

I immediately spotted that the driver was cutting the wheel sharply left, then, before the car actually began to turn, slamming it the other way to make the J-turn. Basic rule: If you get the suspension headed one way and then suddenly try to turn ninety degrees the other, Bad Things Will Happen. Movie stunt drivers have been exploiting this since movie stunt drivers existed.

Isuzu Trooper
 

Like the Suzuki incident, Consumer Reports was taken to court over their questionable rollover testing of the Isuzu Trooper (and the identical Acura SLX). After receiving Not Acceptable ratings in the magazines rollover tests, Puerto Ricos Isuzu distributor sued the magazine alleging a sharp decline in sales after the trucks were deemed unsafe. When the case went to trial in 2000, a jury found that the magazines staff had made several false statements in an article and at a news conference in which it branded the Isuzu Trooper sport utility vehicle unsafe. The lawsuit was a major embarrassment for the magazine.

The above quotes, BTW, are directly from the slideshow touting CU's ratings of cars as accurate indicators of how dangerous the cars were.

[hr]
From a list of "seriously underrated cars"
 

1980-1988 AMC Eagle

American Motors was the last surviving independent automaker in the U.S. until it was absorbed by Chrysler in 1988. Although it was plagued by constant money woes, AMC managed to eke out a number of unique and iconic products in its final decades like the AMX, Gremlin, and Pacer. Taking an advanced selectable four-wheel drive system from Jeep (which they owned), and putting it into their mild-mannered Concord...

Sounds lovely. However, a quick trip to Wikipedia confirmed what i thought i recalled:
 

In February 1977, AMC contracted FF Developments to build a prototype vehicle based on a production V8 powered AMC Hornet with drive torque split 33% front and 66% rear. Testing and further development proved the feasibility of a vehicle with greater ground clearance, larger 15-inch wheels, as well as a torque split closer to 50% - 50%, with Lunn recommending using the AMC straight-6 engine coupled to an automatic transmission.

Thus, the AMC Eagle came about when Jeep's chief engineer joined a Concord body with a four-wheel-drive system.

{Also note that the slideshow says the 4WD was selectable, whereas it actually was full-time - unlike the Jensen Interceptor with FF 4WD)

That straight-6, BTW, was available in sizes up to 258 CID, and the 232-cube version in my folks' '67 Rambler Rebel wagon - NOT a small car - easily pushed it to 100+ on the Interstate one night in 1970...

[hr]
Different on-line article/slideshow.

Volkswagen Transporter Van
 

These vans have a look all their own. Used in famous cartoons and part of iconic history, they didn't provide a good ride or a good look. The rear engine van was an epic failure, but they have definitely gained a cult following.

Volkswagen Beetle

Every kid in America has played slug bug. When these rear engine cars came out in the 70s, they were the go to toy. But their poor handling in snow and rain and strange appearance made them less than desirable.

I cannot begin to list all the false statements in those two short paragraphs.

Well, no, i can.

All of them.

Even the one about slug bug/punch buggy.

Honda Civic CRX
 

This chopped off version of the Civic was nothing but small. It lacked the back seat and the lack of trunk space was a huge turn off. It may have looked sporty, but it lacked the charm of the original Civic.

Do these characters even live in the same Universe as i do?

[Typeminer]

My folks had a whole series of Ramblers. We had a '67 Rebel 4-door sedan; nice-looking car, but it was sort of cursed, and I never liked it much. It handled reasonably well, was good in the snow, had decent power, and had great cabin heat, but the controls were weird, and it didn't like to start in rain or deep cold. Even better, both the parking brake and the park detent were broken (automatic transmission), so you had to keep half a brick handy to park on a hill. And this was in the Allegheny Mountains--there isn't a lot of level ground.

You'd get into position to park with the nose uphill, open the door and drop the brick on the ground, and let the Rambler coast back till the brick chocked the left front wheel. To get going again, you'd pull forward, reach down, and pick up the brick. And this was the GOOD car. The 1955 Willys Jeep wagon was more challenging.

Somehow, that Rebel wound up with all four fenders banged up by the time Dad got rid of it. It just seemed to be a magnet for trouble. You hardly see any Rebels anymore, for some reason.

VW beetles had many shortcomings, but winter handling was not one of them. Both the beetle and the Transporter were good in the snow. When I was 20 or 21, I hung around for too many beers with a college buddy in Pittsburgh one winter day, and ended up driving east on the Turnpike, through the mountains, in a 1965 Beetle with nearly bald tires, in near whiteout conditions. The 5-hour trip took 8 or 9 hours, but I made it. Spent a looong time staring at the woodstove before I went to bed, though.

[Alkarii]

I find it baffling when customers get an attitude with me over the price of a product or the marketing method of a manufacturer, or the fact that we never have the staffing we need.

Case in point: a customer came to the store looking to buy one of those wood swing sets. On the box, in the brochure, and on the advertising all around it, it mentions that the slide and the four-by-fours are sold separately. He starts getting pissed at me like it's my fault those things aren't included with the $600 set.

Here's the thing that everyone should know: the guy working at the store is not responsible for the price of anything on the shelf. When it comes to staffing, blame the shareholders. They want the company to cut operating costs so they don't lose money. This is done by cutting hours. That's why you can't find an associate at Home Depot.

(though everyone here seems sensible and smart enough to not do something like the guy I mentioned)

[DinkyInky]

I find it baffling when customers get an attitude with me over the price of a product or the marketing method of a manufacturer, or the fact that we never have the staffing we need.

Case in point: a customer came to the store looking to buy one of those wood swing sets. On the box, in the brochure, and on the advertising all around it, it mentions that the slide and the four-by-fours are sold separately. He starts getting pissed at me like it's my fault those things aren't included with the $600 set.

Here's the thing that everyone should know: the guy working at the store is not responsible for the price of anything on the shelf. When it comes to staffing, blame the shareholders. They want the company to cut operating costs so they don't lose money. This is done by cutting hours. That's why you can't find an associate at Home Depot.

(though everyone here seems sensible and smart enough to not do something like the guy I mentioned)

Maybe it's location, but both in my hometown, and my new digs, both College Towns, we're never short on staff at orange apron or blue apron hardware. Usually it's drunken contractors causing the issues.
I'm actually on call lists for a certain paint colour to arrive, as my son wants his room to look like a minion house. First time he's chosen for himself.

[Catawampus]

I find it baffling when customers get an attitude with me over the price of a product or the marketing method of a manufacturer, or the fact that we never have the staffing we need.

Well, the manufacturer isn't there for them to fuss at, and they feel the need to make somebody feel bad. So you get to be that lucky person!

. . .my son wants his room to look like a minion house.

A what?

[jwhouk]

Minions!

[DinkyInky]

Minions!

Yes, those adorable guys! Besides, doesn't it feel so good to be evil?

Ah Hah!

EDIT: Interesting Picture
Edit for update: Now posting from the new PC which now dual-boots into the OS of my choice. MuHahahahahaha.... < cough >

You can't just bust into a villain laugh. To gotta practice that stuff first. Supervillain 101 material, man.

I dunno, I usually roll right into this one rather easily.

[Dave]

I dunno, I usually roll right into this one rather easily.

Your new ring-tone?

[DinkyInky]

I dunno, I usually roll right into this one rather easily.

Your new ring-tone?

Nope. That is my, "You're not serious, are you?" evil laugh.

[MerchManDan]

An article that quotes Consumer Reports as to whether cars are unsafe, which is ludicrous, since CU has consistently made completely wrong-headed judgements of cars, and has (as shall be seen) been caught faking results to make cars look bad.

It's a dark day indeed when one learns that an organization allegedly with a mandate to protect consumers can be just as petty & small-minded as the companies that prey on consumers.

I dunno, I usually roll right into this one rather easily.

...huh? There was laughter in that video? I didn't notice, must have been distracted by...uh, something. I'll have to watch it again.

[Jabberwonky]

I dunno, I usually roll right into this one rather easily.

But does it come with the, apparently mandatory, boob 'fwobble'?

[Jabberwonky]

One of my fave villain laughs at 1:16, but the whole thing is worth the watch...