Automotive humor: Making a car can be one hot potato

Automotive News published this "potato" bit that's been going around the car industry.  I laughed my *ss off when I read it, it's incredibly true; my spouse works in the automotive supplier field and regales me with tales of woe which pretty much approximate the storyline in this bit.  I've worked for an automotive supplier as well, can testify to the accuracy of the depiction.

Ford is the fall guy here...but frankly, it could just as well be GM.

Wonder how those Germans, I mean, Americans at Daimler-Chrysler bake a potato?

5:31:46 PM    comment []

You Googled Me?:  “hand jestures”

Wow, “hand jestures” – someone’s Googled this search several times this week.  (And gotten me, of all things…)

3:33:14 PM    comment []

You Googled Me?:  “hand jestures”

Wow, “hand jestures” – someone’s Googled this search several times this week.  (And gotten me, of all things…)

Can you be more specific in your search?  Are you looking for American Sign Language?  Common obscene jestures in western or eastern cultures?  Hand signs used in traffic control or directing airplane traffic on tarmacs? 

If I could make a suggestion, please add more information to your search, you’ll have different and possibly better results.  Try using other search engines which aren’t powered by Google as well – different engines use different criteria for sorting sites.  Try Lycos, AltaVista, AskJeeves for starters.

I can tell you something about hand jestures, but I’ll bet it’s not what you’re really looking for…

Anybody got any feedback, feel free to comment (like I could stop you…).

2:32:21 PM    comment []

RantsCounterRants:  SEC Top Accountant Leaves Amid Probe

Leave already, will ya’?  Any of you wieners who were Pitt’s cronies or someone else’s political ‘boy’, just pack up and leave.  You’re part of the problem, not part of the solution.  Exit, stage left or right, doesn’t matter.

We’re simply not going to get transparency in corporate financial reporting if anyone on the oversight team is in someone else’s pocket or acquired their role for reason other than extensive, commendable experience.

2:20:08 PM    comment []

RantsCounterRants:  Teen Marriage Rate Doubles…

The U.S. Census reports that the rate of teen marriage (15 to 18 year olds) has DOUBLED in the past 10 years.

Not so good.  At all.  More here.

11:11:41 AM    comment []

§         changes to the welfare system which encourage marriage in order to receive aid;

§         cultural acceptance of early marriage among immigrant cultures.

Teenagers who marry are highly like to divorce within 10 years of marriage (50% divorce rate or greater), in comparison to a substantially lower divorce rate (approximate 25%) amongst woman 25 years or older at the time of marriage.

Teens who marry are much less likely to continue with post-high school education, a challenge in a society where college education is becoming a norm.

Personally, based on observations made over the last 25 years, I don’t think most men are really fully grown until at least age 25, and that women mature at ages all over the map.  Some women are very mature at 20, some at 25, but virtually none are really mature at 18 and younger.  People in their teens don’t realize they really are still children – I know I certainly didn’t.  In hindsight, there’s no way I would have done an adequate job of parenting children at that age, let alone be a reasonable partner and helpmate.  (I wasn’t, and neither was he.  I don’t recall any peers who were, either, even within the suburban middle class.)

There’s been a label assigned recently to these early marriages, some of which are doomed almost from “I do”:  starter marriages.  For whatever reason, these young folks marry early, with the prospect of leaving and remarrying better in the future.  It’s becoming a cultural phenomenon, young folks accepting this as normal behavior.

What of the structural costs, the long-term implications on our society that come from these “starter marriages”?  A number of marriages don’t yield children, but what of those which do?  Are we raising already a couple more generations of children who view “starter marriages” as acceptable practice?

And while it’s become more common that fathers become custodial parents, it’s still in far smaller numbers than mothers who retain custody.  The custodial parent is tied down, experiences a significant drain on resources in order to pay for childcare, and is significantly challenged to continue schooling.  The non-custodial parent loses control of resource expenditures for the children and is financially pressed to work rather than school.  All this on the backs of people who are hardly more than children themselves.

The next Census is 8 years away.  I hate to think we’ll wait around for the results of this survey and societal outcome from the next generation before we decide this trend is not a good thing.

10:18:25 AM    comment []