Will the New Dodge Aspen match the Old Dodge Aspen?
Daimler Chrysler announced that it's new SUV will be named the Dodge Aspen. Do they really want customers to remember the car that was the most recalled (and I don't mean remembered) vehicle of all times?
I remember driving an Aspen as a teenager in the late 1970s. It scared the bejezes 9ut of me. It seemed like half the parts were left off, and those that were attached weren't attached well.
From the allpar.com article linked below:
By 1978 fenders on many '76 models began showing rust, hoods began flying up and even the "indestructible" Slant Six and 318 V8 seemed to have caught a virus from body and began faltering and stalling. In all, the '76 Volarés and Aspens were subject to five mandated recalls on suspension, ignition and fuel systems, brakes, steering and the body. Chrysler instituted a voluntary recall on all front fenders and adjacent sheet metal which cost them $109 million they could ill afford. The problem was in quality control--poor fit of fenders on the assembly line--rather than design.
The Motor Trend Car of the Year award winners "won" another, the Lemon of the Year from the Center for Auto Safety, founded by Ralph Nader. The Volaré/Aspen twins became the most recalled vehicles in history...for a couple of years, that is, until General Motor' X-cars took the "honor" from them. Due to its size, GM was much better able to take the hit than Chrysler which almost went under until finally getting its true savior car, the K-car Reliant and Aries.
1976 Plymouth Volare and Dodge Aspen - Introduction and Reviews
Friday, June 17, 2005
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
The History of Goalie Masks
I was talking to some guys, and one of them said that hockey goalie face masks didn't become common until the 1960s. No way, I said. A quick Google search - then - well, I'll be darned.
A guy named Clint Benedict experimented with a homemade mask in 1930,but quickly gave it up. Nothing new until a guy named Plante came along in 1959.
Benedict' experiment was not recorded as the first goalie mask in history. That moment came nearly thirty years later on November 1, 1959 after New York Ranger Andy Bathgate hit Montreal Canadien goalie Jacques Plante with a shot off the face. Plante would leave the game to get stitched up and later return wearing a mask he had made himself for practices. Plante won the game. This was the birth of the goalie mask. Plante was ridiculed for wearing this mask. Goaltenders were considered cowards to even think of wearing one, but Plante would often say "If you jump from an airplane without a parachute, is that considered an act of bravery?" In the time between Clint Benedict's experiment and Jacques Plante first putting on his mask, Benedict would encounter a mask that actually worked, worn by an unheralded young Canadian.
When Bendict's playing career was over, he turned to coaching and managing a team from the British Ice Hockey League named the Wembley Lions around 1934. There he encountered a young goalie from Winnipeg named Roy Mosgrove. Mosgrove had to wear glasses all the time. And so, in Winnipeg and then in England, Mosgrove donned a wire cage worn by baseball catchers. And it worked again thirty years later when a young goalie named Tony Esposito in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, could not play goal without glasses and borrowed the same piece of equipment from the sandlot. It would take decades for the players and the tinkerers to see the wisdom of Roy Mosgrove, and incorporate the wire cage with the fibreglass mask of Jacques Plante.
Are you telling me that it took until 1959 for some genius goalie to try a baseball catcher's mask? For crying out loud! I guess that's whey there aren't many goalies on the Nobel prize winners' list.
The idea was dropped until 1959History of Goalie Masks
I was talking to some guys, and one of them said that hockey goalie face masks didn't become common until the 1960s. No way, I said. A quick Google search - then - well, I'll be darned.
A guy named Clint Benedict experimented with a homemade mask in 1930,but quickly gave it up. Nothing new until a guy named Plante came along in 1959.
Benedict' experiment was not recorded as the first goalie mask in history. That moment came nearly thirty years later on November 1, 1959 after New York Ranger Andy Bathgate hit Montreal Canadien goalie Jacques Plante with a shot off the face. Plante would leave the game to get stitched up and later return wearing a mask he had made himself for practices. Plante won the game. This was the birth of the goalie mask. Plante was ridiculed for wearing this mask. Goaltenders were considered cowards to even think of wearing one, but Plante would often say "If you jump from an airplane without a parachute, is that considered an act of bravery?" In the time between Clint Benedict's experiment and Jacques Plante first putting on his mask, Benedict would encounter a mask that actually worked, worn by an unheralded young Canadian.
When Bendict's playing career was over, he turned to coaching and managing a team from the British Ice Hockey League named the Wembley Lions around 1934. There he encountered a young goalie from Winnipeg named Roy Mosgrove. Mosgrove had to wear glasses all the time. And so, in Winnipeg and then in England, Mosgrove donned a wire cage worn by baseball catchers. And it worked again thirty years later when a young goalie named Tony Esposito in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, could not play goal without glasses and borrowed the same piece of equipment from the sandlot. It would take decades for the players and the tinkerers to see the wisdom of Roy Mosgrove, and incorporate the wire cage with the fibreglass mask of Jacques Plante.
Are you telling me that it took until 1959 for some genius goalie to try a baseball catcher's mask? For crying out loud! I guess that's whey there aren't many goalies on the Nobel prize winners' list.
The idea was dropped until 1959History of Goalie Masks
Senator Evan Bayh is a Health Insurance Millionaire
United States Senator Evan Bayh, Democrat from Indiana, publicly released his asset information. He and his wife own more than $1 million in stock in Anthem Corporation. Ages ago, in the 1990s, Anthem was Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Indiana, a not for profit corporation. BC-BS Indiana changed its status to a for profit corporation, went on an acquisition spree and made its executives and shareholders a whole lot of money. At the same time, Anthem has been opposed to measures that would extend coverage and affordability to the uninsured.
I consider Sen. Bayh's assets noteworthy because he is expected to announce a candidacy for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2008. Healthcare is expected to be a key issue. You can expect candidate Bayh to make lofty speeches about changing our healthcare system, but the fact is, he's invested in the status quo. You can expect him to fight single payer coverage and anything else that will hurt the Anthem profit machine. In the end, you can expect him to side more with Republicans than Democrats, just like he did on the BARF bankruptcy reform bill and the war in Iraq.
Hoosiers among 46 millionaires
United States Senator Evan Bayh, Democrat from Indiana, publicly released his asset information. He and his wife own more than $1 million in stock in Anthem Corporation. Ages ago, in the 1990s, Anthem was Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Indiana, a not for profit corporation. BC-BS Indiana changed its status to a for profit corporation, went on an acquisition spree and made its executives and shareholders a whole lot of money. At the same time, Anthem has been opposed to measures that would extend coverage and affordability to the uninsured.
I consider Sen. Bayh's assets noteworthy because he is expected to announce a candidacy for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2008. Healthcare is expected to be a key issue. You can expect candidate Bayh to make lofty speeches about changing our healthcare system, but the fact is, he's invested in the status quo. You can expect him to fight single payer coverage and anything else that will hurt the Anthem profit machine. In the end, you can expect him to side more with Republicans than Democrats, just like he did on the BARF bankruptcy reform bill and the war in Iraq.
Hoosiers among 46 millionaires
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Dear George W., Walter Cronkite is pissed and he's coming for you:
Walter Cronkite is joining the march on Washington to stop global warming. Oh bummer, it's a VIRTUAL march.
The Huffington Post Front Page
Walter Cronkite is joining the march on Washington to stop global warming. Oh bummer, it's a VIRTUAL march.
The Huffington Post Front Page
GM Health Insurance Cuts Imminent?
Apparently the collective bargaining agreement between the UAW and GM gives GM some authority to cut, but either GM wants more OR the boundaries of the authority are ambiguous.
How do the rank & file members feel about this? From the Detroit News article linked below:
Some UAW members said they don't support any reduction of health care coverage. "Don't touch it," said Robert Johnson, a member of UAW Local 652 who works at GM's Lansing Grand River Cadillac plant. "I don't want to compromise on anything."
Johnson, a GM employee for 27 years, said he'd rather see a program like legal services cut. But Bill Price, who has been placed in GM's "jobs bank" now that his production job has been cut, said he'd "be willing to pay $20 for an office visit. What's good for GM is good for us."
Here are some more tidbits:
GM wants to close the gap in health coverage between its 111,000 U.S. hourly workers and 39,000 salaried workers. Hourly employees pay 7 percent of their annual health care costs, on average, while salaried workers kick in 27 percent.
By instituting health care parity among all employees, GM "could save $2,500 per person and $300 million (per year) overall," Rod Lache, an analyst who follows the auto industry for Deutsche Bank, said in a report released Monday. "Unfortunately this equates to less than one year's health care inflation."
Union leaders are urging that health care benefits for retirees should not be touched, although the potential savings could be significant. About 1.2 million people, including 340,000 UAW retirees, are covered by GM health care coverage. Almost half of the automaker's active hourly work force will be eligible to retire within the next five years.
Half of the hourly work force can retire within 5 years? How can GM ever shrink itself to profitability with those numbers?
Note the 20% increase in health care costs shifted to the workers gains $300 million to GM's bottom line. Here's the problem: That's only a tenth of the savings they need. Where are they going to get the other 90%?
In our parochial interest: I don't think legal service benefits are in any immediate jeopardy. We are relatively cheap, no more than $.07 per hour. Moreover, some of that is recovered in productivity when whe deal with things the employee would otherwise have to deal with. Nevertheless, at the next contract renegotiation, all bets are off.
UAW: GM health cutbacks imminent - 06/14/05
Apparently the collective bargaining agreement between the UAW and GM gives GM some authority to cut, but either GM wants more OR the boundaries of the authority are ambiguous.
How do the rank & file members feel about this? From the Detroit News article linked below:
Some UAW members said they don't support any reduction of health care coverage. "Don't touch it," said Robert Johnson, a member of UAW Local 652 who works at GM's Lansing Grand River Cadillac plant. "I don't want to compromise on anything."
Johnson, a GM employee for 27 years, said he'd rather see a program like legal services cut. But Bill Price, who has been placed in GM's "jobs bank" now that his production job has been cut, said he'd "be willing to pay $20 for an office visit. What's good for GM is good for us."
Here are some more tidbits:
GM wants to close the gap in health coverage between its 111,000 U.S. hourly workers and 39,000 salaried workers. Hourly employees pay 7 percent of their annual health care costs, on average, while salaried workers kick in 27 percent.
By instituting health care parity among all employees, GM "could save $2,500 per person and $300 million (per year) overall," Rod Lache, an analyst who follows the auto industry for Deutsche Bank, said in a report released Monday. "Unfortunately this equates to less than one year's health care inflation."
Union leaders are urging that health care benefits for retirees should not be touched, although the potential savings could be significant. About 1.2 million people, including 340,000 UAW retirees, are covered by GM health care coverage. Almost half of the automaker's active hourly work force will be eligible to retire within the next five years.
Half of the hourly work force can retire within 5 years? How can GM ever shrink itself to profitability with those numbers?
Note the 20% increase in health care costs shifted to the workers gains $300 million to GM's bottom line. Here's the problem: That's only a tenth of the savings they need. Where are they going to get the other 90%?
In our parochial interest: I don't think legal service benefits are in any immediate jeopardy. We are relatively cheap, no more than $.07 per hour. Moreover, some of that is recovered in productivity when whe deal with things the employee would otherwise have to deal with. Nevertheless, at the next contract renegotiation, all bets are off.
UAW: GM health cutbacks imminent - 06/14/05
Drunk Driver 1 : Batman 0
The Detroit News reports that a drunk driver crashed into a batmobile, wrecking it, before it could be used for this summer's Batman Begins. Superhero huh?
Batman returns in a rugged ride - 06/13/05
The Detroit News reports that a drunk driver crashed into a batmobile, wrecking it, before it could be used for this summer's Batman Begins. Superhero huh?
Batman returns in a rugged ride - 06/13/05
Monday, June 13, 2005
Apple vs. GM two Case Studies in Planning for Change
The more I read about the turnaround plan announced by GM CEO Rick Wagoner last week, the less impressed I become. GM is famous for its corporate doublespeak, and when you sift through the announced "changes", there's not much new, and what is new is not nearly enough to get the job done.
To start with, let's talk about the 25,000 announced job cuts. These cuts are to be mostly accomplished through attrition and retirement over 3 1/2 years. At the current rate of loss, and increase in rate of loss, GM won't be here in its current form in 3 1/2 years. Did GM announce any radical new products? Nope. Any new lines of business or any new revenue sources? Nope. Any plan for increased government assistance? Nope. Any great changes in the healthcare situation? Nope.
Now, contrast Wagoner's appearance with Apple Computer honcho Steve Job's announcement last week that Apple was going to shift microprocessors from IBM to Intel. Steve J. did the job right. First, he showed that Apple had been preparing for contingencies for five years and had secretly kept up an intel operating system during that whole time. Secondly, he showed that the company has already ported its most popular software to the new processor. Thirdly, he trotted out a number of key suppliers who said that they were behind the move and that they easily made the transition. In other words, Apple showed that it anticipated the need for change, made contingency plans, implemented the plan with a demonstration of the new software, and showed that other stakeholders would both be behind the switch and be supported during the switch.
Have you ever been playing chess, and at some point in the middle of game, you know that even though you still have more than half your pieces, there's no way that you can win? You look ahead, and you see half a dozen ways the other player can beat you, and you can't do a damn thing about it. That's where General Motors is now.
The game isn't over, but the end game is but a formality. To change this outcome will take an external force. There are five external forces that might be relevant. (1) Kerkorian. If he took over, you could expect him to piece out GM. At least part of the company would survive in this alternative. Ironically, some of the better GM auto components may end up owned by Honda or Toyota. (2) The UAW. The UAW would have to agree to massive give backs to get GM solvent. Wage & benefit givebacks of 20% will likely not be good enough. Would you give back 20% of your wages to a company that just paid Fiat $2 billion for the privilege of not buying it? (3) The Government. The government would have to come through with some sort of subsidy or some sort of health care plan that gets GM out of its mess. Based on the Bush Administration's response to the airline crisis, I foresee any such help on the horizon. This is true even though the Bush administration owes GM big time. After President Bush's heavy handed, the-sky-is-falling, response to 9/11, public confidence and the U.S. economy threatened to tank. GM, probably smarter then than it is now, realized that it couldn't prosper in a downturn with production-cutbacks, and threw unpresidented incentives at the market. The market responded with enhanced consumption. The increased consumer spending in the auto market helped minimize the recessive effect of 9/11.
I saved the most probable outside force for last. Number 5 is bankruptcy. In bankruptcy court GM can shed its union contracts, perhaps even its pension obligations and can emerge as a vastly different company. In bankruptcy court, GM's creditors would rule. GM shareholders would hold the short end of the stick, and America's greatest industrial corporation could have a net worth of zero. What does that say about the strength of the U.S. economy? Bankruptcy of GM is not a happy thought, but it could be just 2-3 years away.
Almost 30 years ago Chrysler Corporation was hurting. Lee Iacocca flat out laid his cards on the table with this pitch: Chrysler needs help. We need people to buy our cars now. We'll make Omni & Horizon America models with airbags & airconditioning, all for a low price. We'll throw in leather on the Cordoba, just buy our cars. We need the government to guarantee our loans. It's not pure capitalism, but it saves jobs and saves communities. FINALLY, we have a new products coming around the bend. We'll have K-cars, and we'll have something called a minivan. All of these things Iacocca said. His plan included new products and outside help. The loans bought the company time. The new cars came, and Chrysler paid its loans ahead of schedule. GM is yet to formally admit that it needs outside help. GM has yet to convince the world that it has products in the pipeline that can make the losses go away. I know I'm not convinced.
Can cuts lift GM? - 06/08/05: "updated 12/19/2002). "
The more I read about the turnaround plan announced by GM CEO Rick Wagoner last week, the less impressed I become. GM is famous for its corporate doublespeak, and when you sift through the announced "changes", there's not much new, and what is new is not nearly enough to get the job done.
To start with, let's talk about the 25,000 announced job cuts. These cuts are to be mostly accomplished through attrition and retirement over 3 1/2 years. At the current rate of loss, and increase in rate of loss, GM won't be here in its current form in 3 1/2 years. Did GM announce any radical new products? Nope. Any new lines of business or any new revenue sources? Nope. Any plan for increased government assistance? Nope. Any great changes in the healthcare situation? Nope.
Now, contrast Wagoner's appearance with Apple Computer honcho Steve Job's announcement last week that Apple was going to shift microprocessors from IBM to Intel. Steve J. did the job right. First, he showed that Apple had been preparing for contingencies for five years and had secretly kept up an intel operating system during that whole time. Secondly, he showed that the company has already ported its most popular software to the new processor. Thirdly, he trotted out a number of key suppliers who said that they were behind the move and that they easily made the transition. In other words, Apple showed that it anticipated the need for change, made contingency plans, implemented the plan with a demonstration of the new software, and showed that other stakeholders would both be behind the switch and be supported during the switch.
Have you ever been playing chess, and at some point in the middle of game, you know that even though you still have more than half your pieces, there's no way that you can win? You look ahead, and you see half a dozen ways the other player can beat you, and you can't do a damn thing about it. That's where General Motors is now.
The game isn't over, but the end game is but a formality. To change this outcome will take an external force. There are five external forces that might be relevant. (1) Kerkorian. If he took over, you could expect him to piece out GM. At least part of the company would survive in this alternative. Ironically, some of the better GM auto components may end up owned by Honda or Toyota. (2) The UAW. The UAW would have to agree to massive give backs to get GM solvent. Wage & benefit givebacks of 20% will likely not be good enough. Would you give back 20% of your wages to a company that just paid Fiat $2 billion for the privilege of not buying it? (3) The Government. The government would have to come through with some sort of subsidy or some sort of health care plan that gets GM out of its mess. Based on the Bush Administration's response to the airline crisis, I foresee any such help on the horizon. This is true even though the Bush administration owes GM big time. After President Bush's heavy handed, the-sky-is-falling, response to 9/11, public confidence and the U.S. economy threatened to tank. GM, probably smarter then than it is now, realized that it couldn't prosper in a downturn with production-cutbacks, and threw unpresidented incentives at the market. The market responded with enhanced consumption. The increased consumer spending in the auto market helped minimize the recessive effect of 9/11.
I saved the most probable outside force for last. Number 5 is bankruptcy. In bankruptcy court GM can shed its union contracts, perhaps even its pension obligations and can emerge as a vastly different company. In bankruptcy court, GM's creditors would rule. GM shareholders would hold the short end of the stick, and America's greatest industrial corporation could have a net worth of zero. What does that say about the strength of the U.S. economy? Bankruptcy of GM is not a happy thought, but it could be just 2-3 years away.
Almost 30 years ago Chrysler Corporation was hurting. Lee Iacocca flat out laid his cards on the table with this pitch: Chrysler needs help. We need people to buy our cars now. We'll make Omni & Horizon America models with airbags & airconditioning, all for a low price. We'll throw in leather on the Cordoba, just buy our cars. We need the government to guarantee our loans. It's not pure capitalism, but it saves jobs and saves communities. FINALLY, we have a new products coming around the bend. We'll have K-cars, and we'll have something called a minivan. All of these things Iacocca said. His plan included new products and outside help. The loans bought the company time. The new cars came, and Chrysler paid its loans ahead of schedule. GM is yet to formally admit that it needs outside help. GM has yet to convince the world that it has products in the pipeline that can make the losses go away. I know I'm not convinced.
Can cuts lift GM? - 06/08/05: "updated 12/19/2002). "
GM's 2006 New Product Line-up
From this article, I can't say any models that will significantly increase GM's market share. The Pontiac Sky & Saturn Solstice 2-seat sportscars seem interesting, but that's a small segment of the market at best.
The Car Connection - Future Cars: General Motors
From this article, I can't say any models that will significantly increase GM's market share. The Pontiac Sky & Saturn Solstice 2-seat sportscars seem interesting, but that's a small segment of the market at best.
The Car Connection - Future Cars: General Motors
Don't look now, Tennessee, but India is Mocking you
Here's a link to a news report at www.dailyindia.com about a big bust in Cocke County, Tennessee for, what else, cockfighting. Tennessee troopers shut down the Del Rio cockfighting pit, seizing about $40,000 and more than 300 roosters. The cockfighting venue seated 400.
Thank goodness for the "new south".
Cockfighting Bust in Tennessee Riles Hillside Locals
Here's a link to a news report at www.dailyindia.com about a big bust in Cocke County, Tennessee for, what else, cockfighting. Tennessee troopers shut down the Del Rio cockfighting pit, seizing about $40,000 and more than 300 roosters. The cockfighting venue seated 400.
Thank goodness for the "new south".
Cockfighting Bust in Tennessee Riles Hillside Locals
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