From the Geneva Auto Show - Toyota Hybrid X Showcar
Plus info on the 2008 Toyota Prius

The Hybrid X is Toyota's concept of where hybrid cars could be going in the year 2000, er, whatever. Actually, the next-generation Prius is rumored to look a lot like the current one, with some spyshots linked here. The 2008 Prius is expected to replace it's 1.5 liter engine with a 1.8 liter motivator. Smarter programming, better batteries, and maybe even a solar panel on the roof are said to raise the Prius's gas mileage to the 80 mpg mark.

Does Best Buy Use a Secret Website to Mislead its Customers?

George Gombossy, the Consumer Watchdog of the Hartford Courant newspaper, posted a column disclosing the existence of a secret intranet (that’s right, intra-net, as in internal) website that is identical to the company’s internet website, identical that is except for prices. George was alerted by a reader who said that the price for a price for a computer that he saw on the regular internet website was not the same as the store price. When the customer brought it to the sales clerk’s attention, the sales clerk, showed the customer a website reflecting a higher prices. Only later did the customer discover that there were actually TWO websites, one for the public, and one just for staff. After George failed to get a straight answer from Best Buy officials regarding the purpose of the website, he brought it to the attention of state regulators. They apparently haven't been completely satisfied with Best Buy's explanation of the purpose of the site, but Best Buy did confirm that the secret site exists. Read the details in the linked articles.

I can remember going to Best Buy several years ago with a web print-out in hand only to have the sales clerk tell me (and show me) that the actual sales price was now higher. Now it all kind of makes sense.

State False Claims Acts

Most attorneys know at least a little bit about the federal False Claims Act, a law that allows a whistle blower to seek a recovery on behalf of the government, and sometimes make a little profit to boot. Did you know that there is a growing trend for states to adopt their own false claims acts. The False Claims Legal Center, www.taf.org, collects information about these state laws.

What's more Dangerous than a Taser?
Complaining about the Taser Company

A website called Crunchgear.com posted this article about how Taser International, Inc. has a nasty habit of suing anybody who dares to criticize, or even attempt a scientific study of, its Taser immobilization devices.

Is Cerberus trying to Roll up Chrysler and GM?

The Detroit News reports that representatives from Cerberus Capital Management have met with high level executives of Daimler Chrysler, and are undertaking a complete review of the Chrysler division's books in preparation of making a concrete buy-out proposal. (DCX executives are also meeting with representatives of the Blackstone Group, another buyout firm.) Last year Cerberus completed the purchase of a 51% share of GMAC, and Cerberus is a leading contender to take over what is left of Delphi after bankruptcy. It looks to me that Cerberus's overall strategy could be one of opportunistic scavenging, or it could be a grand plan to take over the remains of the great American auto industry. I suspect the grand strategy will not become truly apparent until Chrysler and General Motors complete their UAW negotiations later this year. At least as far as GM is concerned, bankruptcy considerations will weigh heavily in Cerberus's business decision.

Subprime Mortgage Crash Could Cost GM Amost $1 Billion

Last fall, GM sold off 51% of GMAC to Cerebus Capital, a private equity firm. Good thing, too, because since then, the sub-prime mortgage market has gone Kablooey. The largest portion of GMAC's assets rest in the hands of its Rescap mortgage banking subsidiary. It was recently disclosed that 77% of Rescap's loans are subprime, or high-risk. A significant portion of the remainder are either "nonconforming" first mortgage loans or riskier second mortgage loans. All told, some analysts expect that when GM finally posts its 2006 annual statement (by March 15), the statement will include a new reserve for bad mortgage loans in the amount of $900 million or $950 million. IF GM would have retained all of GMAC, the loss would have been double that.

A Batch of Bad Gas Plagues Britain - For the Second Time
So what does this have to do with the P-38 and Green Acres?

Engines are stopping all over southern England, as a batch of bad gasoline is causing havoc with hundreds of car engines. The mysterious thing is that not all cars are affected, mostly those 2-5 years old, and the contaminant has not been identified.

I thought I'd pitch in one of my obscure historical antecedents. During World War II, the American bombing campaign by the 8th Air Force operating out of England suffered for lack of long range bomber escorts. In theory, the P-38 Lightning would have been ideal for the role, because it had inherent long-range and excellent high altitude performance. At least it did in the United States.

When the Lightning made it to England, the planes seemed to suffer from an unusual number of engine failures. Some attributed the problem to the extreme cold temperatures at high altitude over Europe, but the P-38 operated in the Alaska and Iceland with no problems. Even to this day, the problem is debated among plane wonks, but most sources indicate that the problem was that the tetra ethyl lead compounds used to boost the octane in the gasoline used in England were incompatible with the P-38's turbocharger system. The lead separated from the gas; and the gas lost its anti-knock properties. Uncontrolled detonation in the engines resulted in engine failure. The turbocharged P-47s and the supercharged P-51s used the same gas with no problems. By the time the problems were really isolated, General Doolittle, the commander of the 8th Air Force, had pretty much given up on the P-38. Almost all the Lightning units in the 8th converted to the P-51 Mustang.

So what does this have to do with cars, popular culture, or the law, the main topics of this blog? First, the Allison engines of the P-38 were produced by General Motors. That's the car part. Now here's the popular culture part: Eddie Albert's character in the television show Green Acres, was a P-38 pilot in World War II. The name of his character, Oliver Wendall Douglas, a lawyer, was a salute to two Supreme Court Justices, Oliver Wendall Holmes and William O.. Douglas. That's the law part.

(Okay, for the real Green Acres and plane wonks, Mr. Douglas was a photo-recon pilot, so his Lightning was probably technically an F-4 or F-5. In one episode, he flies a Mustang, which would have been an F-6.)

Eddie Albert, by the way, was a supremely cool dude. He was a WWII vet. He won a Bronze Star on Tarawa. He was a proto-environmentalist, serving as spokesman for the National Arbor Day Foundation. He lived to be 99 years old, dying in 2005.

Australian Philosopher to Head Indiana University

The Board of Trustees of Indiana University picked Michael McRobbie, an
Australian Philosopher, to be its new President. As I understand it, he's also in charge of the sheep dip.

What I don't understand is why he's not called Bruce. That's going to cause a bit of confusion.

Anyway, as an I.U. alum, I'd like to welcome Bruce, I mean, Michael, to God's own Earth, and remind him that we don't like stuck-up sticky-beaks here.

Anyway, let's all sing the song, and this time, I don't want to catch anybody not drinking. The lyrics are there, so no excuses.

GM Reports February Sales Increase
Ford & DCX - Nope

Riding the back of increased pick-up truck sales, GM reported a 3.4% unit sales increase for February (year over year). Ford's sales were down 13.5%, part of "The Way Forward" perhaps. Do you think it's time that Ford had somebody other than bravely bold Sir Robin lead the sales charge? Chrysler's sales were down 7.7%. Toyota logged a sales increase of 12.2%, and Honda sales went up 3.2%.

March Goes In Like a Lion

Here's the 1976 John Belushi Weatherman Skit on March going in like a lion. I don't usually post republish significant portions of other people's artistic work, but I can't find this on any authorized site, and it's too good to be lost to antiquity. I got it from this site.

Chevy Chase: Last week we made the comment that March comes in like a lion
and goes out like a lamb. Now here to reply is our chief meteorologist, John
Belushi, with a seasonal report.
John Belushi: Thank you Chevy. Well, another
winter is almost over and March true to form has come in like a lion, and
hopefully will go out like a lamb. At least that’s how March works here in the
United States.
But did you know that March behaves differently in other
countries? In Norway, for example, March comes in like a polar bear and goes out
like a walrus. Or, take the case of Honduras where March comes in like a lamb
and goes out like a salt marsh harvest mouse.
Let’s compare this to the
Maldive Islands where March comes in like a wildebeest and goes out like an ant.
A tiny, little ant about this big.
[holds thumb and index fingers a small
distance apart]
Unlike the Malay Peninsula where March comes in like a
worm-eating fernbird and goes out like a worm-eating fernbird. In fact, their
whole year is like a worm-eating fernbird.
Or consider the Republic of South
Africa where March comes in like a lion and goes out like a different lion. Like
one has a mane, and one doesn’t have a mane. Or in certain parts of South
America where March swims in like a sea otter, and then it slithers out like a
giant anaconda.
There you can buy land real cheap, you know. And there’s a
country where March hops in like a kangaroo, and stays a kangaroo for a while,
and then it becomes a slightly smaller kangaroo. Then, then, then for a couple
of days it’s sort of a cross between a, a frilled lizard and a common house
cat.
[Chevy Chase tries to interrupt him]
Wait wait wait wait. Then it
changes back into a smaller kangaroo, and then it goes out like a, like a wild
dingo. Now, now, and it’s not Australia! Now, now, you’d think it would be
Australia, but it’s not!
[Chevy Chase tries to interrupt him]
Now look,
pal! I know a country where March comes in like an emu and goes out like a
tapir. And they don’t even know what it means! All right? Now listen, there are
nine different countries, where March comes in like a frog, and goes out like a
golden retriever. But that- that’s not the weird part! No, no, the weird part
is, is the frog. The frog- The weird part is-
[has seizure and falls off
chair]