I noticed in car news today....that Smart (the sub-brand off Mercedes) was ending sales in the US at the end of 2019.
Chief reason? Well....when they started US sales in 2008....they sold a fair number of the vehicles (in the 25k range). It'd been drifting downward for five or six years, and last year.....they went with only the battery version. That was a total failure....barely selling 1,200 Smarts. The range of that battery Smart? 108 miles on one charge.....dismal.
I owned a Smart for three years....all of 51 hp.
It was a death-trap. No spare-tire. Hot as heck in the summer with the marginal AC unit, and the glass roof. The thing had no real suspension. If you pumped the gas hard, you might get up to around 65 mph. The gas tank barely held four gallons of fuel.
The list went on and on. I think at one point toward the end, I had forty issues with the car. Just changing a lightbulb on the front.....I required the services of a 8-year old kid with small hands. Changing the oil was next to impossible because it had to be 'sucked' out (there was no drain plug).
It made sense if you were just living in a small town, and wanted something to haul groceries, or get your dog to the vet. Oh, and the mpg situation was terrific, but since you had only room for four gallons, you still had to refuel about every five days.
Tuesday, 30 April 2019
Fumbling Around on Sundays
With all this church shooting business from the last couple of years (especially recently).....folks are now reaching the point of talking over the idea of taking a gun into a Sunday service. I sat and pondered over this, and remember the Baptist church environment as a kid in rural Alabama.
Typically, that long hour on Sundays (11 AM to noon)....was the most unbelievably boring period that you could imagine. This was before the smart-phone era, and you could gaze around the rear of the church, and note at least two or three of the older guys nodding off to sleep.
Some kids would have pens and would be doodling around or doing artistic pieces. You'd occasionally notice some women fumbling their pursues (perhaps counting change).
If the current environment continued on and guys started to tote a pistol into service.....I could imagine some guy sitting there and removing the magazine to the PPK pistol, or tripling-checking (every five minutes) the safety....to make sure it was absolutely safe. Some would quietly be pulling their pistol out to show their associate, and gun trades might even occur in the midst of a minister chat about Japheth (son of Noah) and how he didn't get much attention because he was a 'slacker'.
In simple terms, all of this would lead to poor gun handling practices, and one day.....some idiot would flip it accidentally off safety, and let loose one round. Someone would interpret this as the first shot of some terrorist, and then a dozen rounds would be fired toward the backdoor of the church. It'd be one of those events that would kinda end services for the day, and be talked over for months.
Typically, that long hour on Sundays (11 AM to noon)....was the most unbelievably boring period that you could imagine. This was before the smart-phone era, and you could gaze around the rear of the church, and note at least two or three of the older guys nodding off to sleep.
Some kids would have pens and would be doodling around or doing artistic pieces. You'd occasionally notice some women fumbling their pursues (perhaps counting change).
If the current environment continued on and guys started to tote a pistol into service.....I could imagine some guy sitting there and removing the magazine to the PPK pistol, or tripling-checking (every five minutes) the safety....to make sure it was absolutely safe. Some would quietly be pulling their pistol out to show their associate, and gun trades might even occur in the midst of a minister chat about Japheth (son of Noah) and how he didn't get much attention because he was a 'slacker'.
In simple terms, all of this would lead to poor gun handling practices, and one day.....some idiot would flip it accidentally off safety, and let loose one round. Someone would interpret this as the first shot of some terrorist, and then a dozen rounds would be fired toward the backdoor of the church. It'd be one of those events that would kinda end services for the day, and be talked over for months.
What's Done?
Since January, and the arrival of all these House Democrats....what's the achievement tally?
Well....it's short.
They did have some impeachment stuff discussed in January, but ever since Mueller turned in his report.....that seemed to just go away.
They did fight off Trump's budget discussion, but that really didn't get any public interest.
AOC? There's not a single day that some network or news media group hasn't hyped up her chatter or political discussion. But is that something that you'd consider an achievement?
We are around 90 days from summer vacation for Congress, and unless something really arrive soon.....we will be in the October period, with zero accomplishments for 2019.
If we arrive at this same time period in 2020.....with zero accomplishments, what does that do for the House election cycle in the fall of 2020? In blunt terms, something of some public significance really needs to be put on the board, and accomplished this year....or a hundred of these guys disappear toward the end of 2020.
Well....it's short.
They did have some impeachment stuff discussed in January, but ever since Mueller turned in his report.....that seemed to just go away.
They did fight off Trump's budget discussion, but that really didn't get any public interest.
AOC? There's not a single day that some network or news media group hasn't hyped up her chatter or political discussion. But is that something that you'd consider an achievement?
We are around 90 days from summer vacation for Congress, and unless something really arrive soon.....we will be in the October period, with zero accomplishments for 2019.
If we arrive at this same time period in 2020.....with zero accomplishments, what does that do for the House election cycle in the fall of 2020? In blunt terms, something of some public significance really needs to be put on the board, and accomplished this year....or a hundred of these guys disappear toward the end of 2020.
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