Why pick on Toyota?

The news has been full of the "sudden acceleration" problem with some of the Toyota cars. Their president has been summoned to Congress and lambasted by any congress critter that wanted to make the local news back home.

Let's consider a moment. All of the US auto makers, GM, Ford, Chrysler have been plagued with the same problem. Leaving for a moment, the assessment of the National Transportation Safety group that most of these accidents were caused by the driver hitting the gas instead of the brake, what is it about Toyota that makes it the target of so much wrath? Is it because they have been the most successful car maker in the United States for a couple of years? Is it because they are Japanese owned?

People, myself included, were buying foreign due to the abysmal record of American car manufacturers in responding to buyer complaints. Even the line employees of these big three were warning friends not to buy cars made on Mondays or Fridays because the quality control simply disappeared then. How the devil could we know on which day the car we were buying was made?

Now think about how we have been treated by Japanese companies. When the battery on my Nissan froze solid one cold winter's day, the battery maker responded to my letter with an apology and a check for the cost of towing the car to the dealer. That worthy had replaced the battery at no charge, with no questions. How many of us have had anything close to that experience with one of our own?

It is almost axiomatic that any complaint about an American made car would be treated as cavalierly as a feather in the wind. So what prompts this avalanche of diatribe against Toyota?

I suspect that it has two root causes. First, Toyota has been the watch word of quality for the past ten years. We're disappointed that they are fallible. Next, we have watched our automobile industry sink the same way our steel makers did. Their executives concentrated on power and glamor and pretty much ignored quality. We're the home team. Finally, Toyota has been guilty for the past few years of ignoring complaints, treating them as incorrect or inconsequential. Those three things go a long way in changing our perception of a product.

As for me, I drive a hybrid. It gets excellent gas mileage for an SUV and has proved itself reliable over the past 75,000 miles. I have no intention of changing cars. And Toyota will be among the top contenders for my business when, at last, my present motor gives me more trouble than a new car is worth.

short update for Monday

The weekend was a little gray. Clouds and rain Saturday, then cloudy all day Sunday with more rain. I'm definitely in the mood for a little more springtime. Besides, there aren't many blossoms for the horticulture exhibition.

The Arkansas Flower and Garden Show is this weekend. I'm helping out by organizing the volunteers. It's fun and I get to talk to people I hardly ever see. Of course, there are lots of changes to the schedule. One person is going to a grand-daughter's christening that weekend. Another was scheduled for a fishing trip. Alas for him, the rivers here are in spate and floating would be hazardous, not to mention no fun. That sort of thing.

A new helper has come on the scene. Shaquira, the cat a friend gave Fran has decided that the pointer on my screen is Very Interesting. She hunted it for about fifteen minutes this morning. Naturally I helped by moving the mouse around so she could track the little arrow on the screen.

Now, I have to get back to work on the volunteer schedule. The night before we start setting up, there is a dinner for the vendors. I'm bringing a dessert... strawberries and angel food cake. It's really easy and pretty yummy.

If someone wishes, I'll post the recipe here.

Just when most of the snow had melted off the streets, it started again. These are photos taken around 1530 hours, local time.

Superbowl Party

Here I sit, in a hotel room (with wifi) watching the Superbowl on an excellent television. It's a good game and I enjoyed The Who halftime show.

So why am I alone? This afternoon, I watched a wonderful presentation at Washington University in St. Louis. Their women's soccer team took second in their division and the women's volleyball team won the national division III championship. None of these beautiful women, who I have been supporting for over 20 years expected to see me. They were very sweet and one invited me to the sophomore suite for a Superbowl party.

I had to refuse. Each of them has family and friends their own age. I'm sure that the presence of a quiet, old man would add nothing to their enjoyment... and probably decrease it. I've noticed that their exuberance is somewhat restrained when they know I'm around. I'm taking nothing from this day for them. These are women that I have learned to love. I can enjoy this game (and the commercials) by myself tonight and think fondly of them having a rowdy good time. That's better.

I wish I had some pictures of the team to post. But mine have not been sent to me yet. All of you would agree that this is a group of lovely people. In addition to their physical talent and appearance, they have a superb intelligence and are highly disciplined. While their course load is distributed pretty much the same as the rest of WU's student population, their GPA is outstanding. They are just a pleasure to know.

Heck. I've forgotten which superbowl team I wanted to win.

Oh yes. I went to Whole Foods and bought a gourmet set of game noshes for one. Delicious.

Things I did not learn in school

Picture by Sigfried Rhinehart

This morning, I began thinking of some information that had recently come my way. Some of it was interesting, some informative and some was funny. So I'm making a little list:

- The company Arrhythmia Research Technology pays irregular dividends.

- A popular (not with me) method of consuming alcohol is by using an enema. The booze is absorbed more quickly than it is when drunk. One caution, a man gave himself a massive vodka enema and passed out during the course of absorption. Of course, the enema continued to work, eventually killing the @ssh0le by alcohol poisoning. (source: "The Darwin Awards" by Wendy Northcutt)

- The Marines are adding a minigun in a pod (called all quadrant gun) underneath the fusilage of their V22 Osprey for use in Afghanistan. The weapon can fire 360 degrees around the ship. It is fired by a crew member using what looks like a Play Station controller. Deadly video game! (source: Aviation Week 11JAN2010)

- Average alcohol consumption for an American was about 11 gallons per year (GPY) (average for all alcoholic beverages sold divided by persons alive over the age of 15). This compares to 8 (GPY) for WWII, 4.5 during prohibition and 29 GPY at the end of the American revolutionary war. (source: American History vol.43, No.5, DEC 08)

- You make a lemon "vinagrette" by whisking two tablespoons of lemon juice with four to six tablespoons of olive oil.

- Last year, a concerted cyber attack on the offices of the Dalai Lama, some embassies and foreign ministries. Canadians discovered that the operation, called Ghost Net collected information from computers and turned on cameras, allowing the operators to see and hear what was going on in the room where the computer was. The Canadians traced Ghost Net as far as servers in the People's Republic of China. (source: The Dispatch, vol.31, no.12, December 2009)

Don't you just love random information?

Horrible memory

A friend was telling me and some others about the trip he took to New York, NY in September of 2001. Yes, he was there when the Trade Center was hit. In fact, he was near enough to go try to help.

When he arrived, people were still fleeing the buildings. The thing he remembers most graphically was women running from the danger. Most of them had been wearing high heels and lost their shoes. The shattered glass from the windows was in their path. He recalls that their feet were bleeding.

That mental picture has stayed with me ever since our conversation. I remind myself that shoes are the most important thing to wear in any disaster, whether it be earthquake, tornado, fire or explosion. And I keep imagining those torn feet. The image is so horrid that I had to share it, in the hope that if I talked about it, the horror would lessen.

pictures

Last night, I promised to upload a few pics of the Santa Fe Christmas eve celebrations. They are above.

First is the Spirit of Christmas. She gave out candy canes and was gracious to all.

Next down is a tree that one of the galleries decorated with lights.

The third photo is of one of the pieces at a gallery. The owner gave permission to photograph it. I want some of the Arkanas artists to see and get ideas for new work. This one is very complex. The iron is formed first. The four glass blowers use their pipes to form the glass inside. Because the iron is such a good heat sink, someone has to keep it to temperature where the glass approaches or touches it.

The last picture is a blurry one of the luminaria. Traditionally, these are candles in paper bags that have sand in the bottom. Because the candles burn out, many people use electric lights in brown plastic wrappings to simulate them. One of the galleries that used the traditional method had trouble with the candles burning out. One of their volunteers stayed outside, tending the bonfire and replacing candles.

The people last night were so friendly and helpful. It made me think that the spirit is alive and well. There was a warm, community feeling in spite of the cold temperature.

Thank you Santa Fe.