Author: Kim du Toit

Blast From The Past: 70s Roadtrip

Drive Time

Time to wax nostalgic (again).  The setup:

You are going back to 1973 to make a trans-continental car trip from Savannah GA to Monterey CA:

For the sake of convenience, let’s say that the trip will take place in the early summer (mid-May to mid-June), which would be months before the Arab oil embargo was imposed later in the fall.  In other words, gasoline prices and availability will not be an issue.

You need not take any particular road (the above map is just a guideline), and you can take up to two weeks to complete the journey.

Your choice of companion is up to you:  a buddy, your wife, your girlfriend, the girl of your dreams, or even that rather skanky-looking thing you picked up at the gas station while filling up before setting off.  Your call.

As with all these little games of mine, imagine that your car will prove to be 100% reliable (as much of a stretch as it may be to imagine, in some cases).

Your choice of 1973-model cars comes from the following list (no substitutions are allowed):

Dodge Challenger 

BMW 3.0 CSi

Chevy Corvette

Mercedes 450SL

Ford Mustang Mach 1

Jaguar XKE

Plymouth Barracuda

Ferrari Daytona GTB4

Pontiac Formula 455

Porsche 911T Coupe 

Choose wisely, O my droogies…

Read more

Priceless

Journalist Scum, Marxists

Okay, the bullshit is strong with this one [Brian Stelter alert] :

Trump’s victory over PBS and NPR ‘bias’ will be ‘devastating’ for rural areas, station leaders say

Of course, given that “rural areas” happen to be where conservative talk radio programs find their biggest audience, I think we may safely say that the disappearance of these pore rural NPR broadcasters will hardly be missed.

One could test this hypothesis, of course, simply by polling said audiences to make a simple choice between “NPR federal funding” and (say) “federal funding for rural road improvements”.  My guess:

(sent to me by Reader Mike L., thankee;  I would never have seen this, coming as it did from CNN)

Quote Of The Day

Technology

…from Jim Treacher, talking about Grok:

“This thing is just telling me what I want to hear. Which is a nice feeling, but that’s all it is. The user is being manipulated, by design. People are now learning the hard way that these machines are programmed to give an answer, not necessarily the answer. They’re incredibly sophisticated, but they literally don’t know what they’re talking about. They don’t know anything.”

It’s received, not actual “wisdom”, because it’s only as good as what’s been fed into it.  Moreover, there are no footnotes to say where they got it, and there’s no telling how many hands may have played with it, massaged it and directed it before it reaches the end user.

Caveat lector.

Sanity Returns, Part XVIII

Corporate Fuckery, Drive Time, Eco-Crap

Then:

GM CEO Mary Barra said in 2021 that the company would exclusively offer EVs by 2035, citing carbon emissions.

“For General Motors, our most significant carbon impact comes from tailpipe emissions of the vehicles that we sell — in our case, it’s 75 percent,” Barra said. “That is why it is so important that we accelerate toward a future in which every vehicle we sell is a zero-emissions vehicle.”

From another GM management dweeb, Dane Parker, former GM chief sustainability officer:

“We feel this is going to be the successful business model of the future,” he said in 2021. “We know there are hurdles, we know there are technology challenges, but we’re confident that with the resources we have and the expertise we have that we’ll overcome those challenges and this will be a business model that we will be able to thrive in the future.”

Yeah, about that:

General Motors has announced plans to expand production of gasoline-powered vehicles and SUVs in Michigan as well as the manufacturing of pickup trucks.

The Detroit-based auto manufacturer said in a statement on Tuesday that it will “begin production of the Cadillac Escalade, as well as the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra light duty pickups at Orion Assembly in early 2027 to help meet continued strong customer demand.”

Yeah, it seems as though not that many people want to buy their, or anybody’s Duracell cars after all — at least, not enough to keep once-mighty General Motors in business.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to borrow Sarah Hoyt’s Shocked Face.

Sorry, Wrong Guy

Funny Stuff

Reader Brian H. set me this lovely piece of satire:

“I could find someone here in town as important as a bass player.”

Ohhhhh, that stings.


Atlantic Showband’s bass player, June 1977

In my defense, I should point out that at that particular gig I managed to bed a girl that at least two others in the band had tried it on with, and been rebuffed.