Letters to the Editor
curmudgeon2
Published Letters: 414 Editor's Choice: 64
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No way out, yet.
[Read the article: The only way out]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]No plan will work as long as Cheney and Rumsfeld have any influence. Cheney made a deal with the Texas Oil Oligarchs and their Saudi confederates to get control of Iraqi oil. Both the US oil companies and the Saudi royal family are in desperate need of additional resources to maintain their wealth. It takes a lot of money to maintain the lifestyle of Saudi princes, and the Saudis have appeared to have damaged their oilfields so that they are no longer as productive as they once were. Needless to say there is no limit to the greed of Texas oilmen. They still believe that somehow we can install a puppet government that will allow them to make lots of money off the Iraqi oil. It's going to have to get a lot worse before it gets better.
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Detroit plays the blame game
[Read the article: Detroit plays the blame game]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Two stories illustrate the problems that Detroit has. Years ago there was an article in the New Yorker about Detroit blaming its workers for poor quality. The author visited a Chrysler plant and saw workers grinding crankshafts. The crankshaft grinder had worn leadscrews (the author did not know this, but it was easy to surmise from his description), and the workers had devised a method of making an acceptable crankshaft despite the limitations of the grinder. It wasted time, but it worked. The ridiculous aspect is that worn leadscrews are an easy and cheap fix, but management had no knowledge of the nitty gritty aspects of their company, so they didn't spend the trivial amounts required for the fix. The other story is that GM decided to make automatic transmissions in Japan. The Japanese transmissions were made to the same blueprints as the US ones, but their warranty costs were a small fraction of the US transmissions. It turned out that the tolerances on the blueprints were set by the limitations of worn out machines in the US, but since the Japeanese won't tolerate worn out machines they tightened the tolerances to what was required for reliablity. These stories illustrate an attitude that is taking decades to change. Toyota and other Japanese companies prove that attention to detail pays off. Now it appears that Hyundai has quickly come to the same conclusion. The American Big 3 (not so big anymore) should offer 10 year warranties. That would prove that their money is where their mouths are, and they could probably raise their prices and increase sales. And the bean counters that still bedevil their companies would demand better reliability.
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Detroit and Trains
[Read the article: Detroit plays the blame game]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Rob has it wrong, newly designed OHV engines (vs OHC) are not throwbacks to old technology. Although OHC are more powerful per liter, OHV engines are lighter and smaller for the same output. Drivers don't care about power or economy per liter, only about power and economy. The real worry is whether Detroit will make them smooth and reliable, or will they revert to their normal corner-cutting ways.
Elmore also has it wrong. Computer controlled cars and highways are in the immediate future. Cars, not under the drivers control, will travel 80 mph a few feet apart. Road capacity will increase by many factors, with accidents almost eliminated. This will yield all the advantages of light rail at a small fraction of the cost of light rail, and without the unsolvable problems of interface connections. Also without the constant threats of strikes by transit workers. Light rail is not more fuel efficient than ordinary mid-size cars, even with only one to two people in the car.
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Fast food
[Read the article: It's a McWorld after all]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My wife did not work until the children were grown. This meant that we could not afford to eat out very often, and when we did it meant going to a local Chinese restaurant where the main ingredient was vegetables. Now they are in their 30's and do not eat fast food at all, nor do their children. My wife and I still look at eating in any restaurant as eating enjoyable poison, OK occasionally but deadly if indulged in often. We both enjoy cooking, so we aren't giving up anything. Both our daughters eat like horses, and are very slender and strong. I believe that their life when growing up, when weekend recreation amounted to long distance hiking or XC skiing, modified their metabolisms to immunize them against desires for poor food. They both were able to hike or ski 5-10 miles by the time they were three. When you do that the food you eat becomes critical to survival, especially when you have to carry it on your back. I expect that our grandchildren will be the same. Of course many of the people we know eat junk and take glucophage to stave off Type 2 diabetes. Very sad.
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Drenville
[Read the article: It's a McWorld after all]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I posted a letter about how to immunize against fast food relating our experience. Humans evolved burning lots of calories of hard to digest food. We attempted as well as we could to do that. It seemed to work. There is no question that the nutritional content of any restaurant food, let alone fast food, is suspect. Drenville didn't like what I had to say. Instead of arguing the merits of my case, he did an ad hominem on me. I suspect that Drenville has a more than passing association with some of the evils that we taught our kids to avoid. We still practice what we preach, we just came in from a long brisk walk with a wind chill of minus 10. Now we will eat a meal prepared from scratch, with no semi-prepared junk from the supermarket. It ain't easy but someone has to do it.