The Topmost Gear

So I have their little dohickey in the sidebar, but have never bothered to explain. Top Gear. Yummmmy.

Guys, if you're looking for a show about cars (sports cars and super cars, specifically) that your wife will watch with you - THIS IS IT! It is an explosive mix of fact based testing and review of the best cars, as well as stunts and challenges that will have you laughing yourself out of your chair! If you even remotely like cars, you have to give this a show a try. Tracy actually looks forward to watching this show with me - that's right - LOOKS FORWARD to it!

They dish it out for all types of cars though, so you'd better have thick skin. If you're driving a Mustang "you're the type that looks at your sister and says, Hmmm!" But they let me have it, too. They said, "The Audi TT is a comfortable ride to the hairdresser for guys who use moisturizer". And yet I still watch the show...

Check them out:
the site here
on BBC America here

It has been a long wait between seasons (or "series" as the Brits call them), but the season premier finally played on Monday. They are back, and so worth the wait.

Unfortunately, unlike our 24 weeks worth, a British "series" is only 10 episodes long.

That's like a kick in the "wedding vegetables".

Cultural Differences - Honor

Every morning I start my day with a look at the news. Not so much the inconsequential news of what Hillary Hussien Clinton Obama says that Mike McCain is wrong about, and definitely not how Britney is doing out of (and in, and out of, and in) rehab (and the mental hospital, and rehab, and rehab). No. News. I look at News.

While looking at the News, I saw this Article on a famous Chinese photo, the newsman who "took" it and his fall from grace. He faked it. He got caught. He resigned. Not only did HE resign. His editor resigned.
It got me thinking.

Now don't paint me so naive as to think that the Chinese government couldn't be behind the resignations. (Also, please do not paint my toys with lead paint.) I am sure there was pressure. As a matter of fact, don't be surprised to hear if this poor disgraced fellow ends up in some sort of "accident" or commits "suicide". But all that aside, there is still a cultural difference in their perception of honor.

It was not so long ago that our conservative friend Dan (I'd ) Rather (do it my way) found himself in a similair situation - and with a much different end. It seems that we in the west are often a lot more concerned about doing it "our way" than in doing it the right way.

We're entitled to opinions with no facts to base them on - or even piles of evidence to the contrary. We are innocent even when proven guilty. Guilty but proven innocent.

Corrupt but blameless.

Technology and the Environment

Between business, design, technology, cars, etc., I get a lot of magazines... I'm actually working on narrowing that list a little. But with the exception of a recent Popular Mechanics article on the costs of commiting to ethanol (the corn-based variety), it's been a while since something really went THWACK.

Yesterday though, I got one of my usually disposable "trade rags" and much to my surpise, found something that REALLY resonated with me.

Having branded a "green" company for several years, I have my share of issues with "environmentalism" for the sake of the movement. That is - I believe in preserving our environment, but not in using 1.3 gallons of one kind of fuel to create 1.0 gallons of another... Come on, people.

To paraphrase the two points I most appreciated:

1: Technology is to serve and enable us, not enslave us. (This is one that I need to remember.)
2: We can care about the our earth without being ridiculous. We don't need to print on paper made of recycled cat hair with inks made from oak leaves and gravel to be environmentally conscious.

Just a thought to cut through the environmentalist bull tootie (actually a very well calculated economic movement): Rather than creating a new "improved" 6,800LB Escalade hybrid and increasing the fuel economy from 11 to 14 miles per gallon (for a 24 year old trophy wife to drive around the city in unaccompanied, mind you), why don't we just use what we need for the purpose? You know...If you aren't pulling a train, you don't need a locomotive.

I get 28MPG (I've hit 31MPG on long trips) in a SPORTS car. I don't need a "HYBRID" logo on my car to be doing as much for the environment as any six hybrid SUV bandwagon jumpers. And honestly, probably more than the Pruis driving Leonardo De Crapio environmental posers of the world, too. At least I'm not desumating the environment to create something that's good for it.

Hang on. I just had an idea. I'm going to burn down a forest so that I can harvest the roots to make paper. Call the marketing people. "No trees were used in the creation of this paper."

BTW: Here's the letter I was talking about. After all, that's where this whole thing started.

The cost of living high...

Superbowl.

I have no thoughts on the superbowl, really. At least other than the fact that I really, really like the Audi R8.

But I did have a thought this morning that if the superbowl were political, right now the Patriots would be issuing a press release that everything is according to plan, and that they are still in the running.