It's all over the place. While his stats analysis is interesting, and he makes some interesting, if poorly thought out, conclusions, he can't hide his personal vitriol of American stereotypes and that ruins the integrity of his piece.
Other than his calculations, there is little news here. The economy sucks, people are losing their jobs and homes, nobody has excess cash to spend on driving all over town shopping and eating. In further news, water is wet. Thanks, Nate, back to you in the studio.
It's like he had all these random thoughts but needed some stats to connect them enough to get his check from Esquire. This is what happens when your publication relies on freelancers. See Slate, Details, Maxim, et al.
It's an interesting topic but written by someone pretty clueless and too consumed with his hate of a different American culture. Stereotypically typical. I won't be subscribing to Mr. Silver's newsletter.
Last night, the gas station I usually stop at to and from work was $2.02.
This morning, approximately 13 hours later, it was $2.18.
I think that sort of thing is going to change all but the hardest core car nuts.
Ultimately, society is changing. Oil (well, cheap oil) is getting harder and harder to come by. It doesn't really matter if it really is getting harder to come by or if the oil industry is just getting better (or more ruthless) in manipulating it, the bottom line remains the same.
As soon and I mean the minute this economy begins to turn around, gas will be $4 a gallon again. And when people realize $4 a gallon isn't a temporary thing and it's not the future, but simply the baseline of the future, it will fundamentally change peoples habits.
I believe the next 25 years will see a monumental shift in the view of the automobile by the general citizenry.
I could be wrong, I have been before. I said McCain was gonna' win, so what do I know?
@Formerlythegreatestdriver: The lesson we need to take away from this is that just because a magazine prints Megan Fox pics does not make them an automatic authority on everything.
However, had Megan herself penned this, we'd probably have a lot more "Hey, she makes good point" reactions ;)
Car Culture in the USA is dying because anyone that would be interested in "tuning" Domestic cars gets caught up in Roush / Lingenfelter / Artisen "Performance Kits" that cost 4x the base price of the car they're buying. That or the lesser cars they offer, (Neon SRT - Cobolt SS) have no real aftermarket because the companies charge so fraking much for product licensing that the only companies that can even support tuning are the companies I mentioned above - hence their prices soar with every piece of equipment, no matter how minute an upgrade it is.
Car culture isn't so much "dying" as it's been stabbed in the back and bled out by Domestic manufacturers.
We went to Subaru and Honda, and there we will stay, probably for ever at this point. Because none of the idiots at GM, Ford or Chrysler have any clue what the "tuner" segment is really about these days.
@SoK: Tuning isn't the core of American Car Culture. Not in the way you're saying. Supplanting American Car Culture with another won't mean its survival anyway.
*I just realized that the picture next to your name is an Impreza. It was so stretched I though it was a Kei car.
I'm sorry, who is Artisan Performance, again? This is the second time you've mentioned them.
Other than doing what pretty much every mod shop does (body kits, wheels and tires, turbo upgrades, etc) they don't seem all that impressive. I mean, they have six dealers nationwide. They're a far cry from Roush Performance and Lingenfelter who have decades of advanced technology development under their belts.
Please, if you're going to make some goofball comment about expensive mods, try to make some sense so we can attempt to understand your point.
"Building a light-rail system might not persuade Bubba to get rid of his vehicle - but forcing him to buy foreign might."
Hi, I'm Bubba, I hope your pathetic, Esquire writing Ass gets on a train. It will leave me more room to drive my old rusty gas guzzling American cars. As for the foreign cars you want me in. Sorry, they aren't building anything I am interested in. My Mullet only matches my Camaro thank you very much.
While I admire Nate's work with stats (be it baseball, the Academy Awards or the US electorate), in this instance he's clearly fucking high.....probably on Peter's NOS canisters.
One other thing, I'm an unashamed Liberal/Progressive/Socialist/Pinko/Fake American/insert your perjorative term here...who likes mustard on his cheeseburgers....and I L-U-V LOVE cars! Take THAT, stupid stereotype!
If FromaBuick6 has to watch one more Chevy commercial, he's going to punch Howie Long in the face was starred
If FromaBuick6 has to watch one more Chevy commercial, he's going to punch Howie Long in the face was unstarred
@FromaBuick6: yeah doesnt say where in PA he was from. We are a very large state with many many different populations living inside our borders.
From your Philly types, to yinz down in the 'burg. This sounds more like someone out in the middle of the state in no mans land. Doubt it was Allentown or he would have been humming Billy Joel when he called.
If FromaBuick6 has to watch one more Chevy commercial, he's going to punch Howie Long in the face was starred
If FromaBuick6 has to watch one more Chevy commercial, he's going to punch Howie Long in the face was unstarred
@fodder650: Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton are part of the Philly Metro like Erie is... well... it's just Erie I guess. They live by their own rules up yonder.
@lilwillie: I also. I grew up in a small town, and one night I came walking out of the pub, and knew I absolutely should not be driving. So I walked around the corner to the hiding spot where the police like to sit and wait for drunk drivers.
I had a smoke and chatted for a few (in a small town, you know most of the cops), and when they asked what I was doing, I told them I was sure I would blow over the limit, so I had to wait a few hours before I could go home, so I was going for a walk.
They said that if they didn't see anyone who appeared intoxicated, or if I was willing to wait, they'd give me a ride home as soon as the bar rush was over.
Nice guys, and I actually pulled the same stunt two or three times.
It actually paid off huge later, because they now knew that if I was driving home I was probably sober, because I'd just come chat with them if I'd had too much.
+1 for acknowledging his folly and getting off of the road.
- about a million for calling the police rather than a cab, or even just trying to sleep it off in his car that was parked in a parking lot.
If the parking lot was that of a privately owned business, he will likely get out of a DUI charge. The most they could get him for is public intoxication, unless they have a sworn statement admitting his traveling on public roads whilst impaired.
I had a coworker get arrested one night for DUI. He was in a blanket in the passenger seat sleeping after having left the bar. He had planned on staying there until the morning. The officer woke him up with a flashlight tapping on the glass. When he explained the officer said "You're under arrest for DUI, etc." It had just happened when I heard about it and I have no idea if it held up in court.
@78_elky: Probably wouldn't hold up in Georgia. I was a witness to similar case.
I pulled into my neighborhood about 11pm on a Saturday night in December. In the dead enter of the road, differential lined up on the centerline, is a Chevy truck with the window down and some guy slumped over the wheel. Didn't know if the guy was dead or what. I went home and called the cops. Cops show up, guy gets arrested for DUI. Turns out that he had been to a Christmas party at his boss's house way back in the neighborhood. They got in a fight after getting lost in the neighborhood, she called a cab, took the truck keys and left him. I had to go to court and testify since I was the one that called the cops. The guy got off the DUI because he didn't have any keys to the truck available to him.
@P161911 misses weekday Murilee: My old roommate got a DUI because he had pulled over at a gas station and decided to sleep until he wasn't drunk any longer. It was pretty cold that night so he left the car running for the heat. City of Atlanta considered that a DUI.
@devilock138: This guy got a lawyer and "not guilty" in Newton County. He tried to claim the truck was pulled over to the side of the road, it was in the middle. Stupid still hurt for this guy (legal fees) but not as bad as it cold have (jail time, driving record). I think the fact the cops didn't see any keys helped.
05/08/09
It's all over the place. While his stats analysis is interesting, and he makes some interesting, if poorly thought out, conclusions, he can't hide his personal vitriol of American stereotypes and that ruins the integrity of his piece.
Other than his calculations, there is little news here. The economy sucks, people are losing their jobs and homes, nobody has excess cash to spend on driving all over town shopping and eating. In further news, water is wet. Thanks, Nate, back to you in the studio.
It's like he had all these random thoughts but needed some stats to connect them enough to get his check from Esquire. This is what happens when your publication relies on freelancers. See Slate, Details, Maxim, et al.
It's an interesting topic but written by someone pretty clueless and too consumed with his hate of a different American culture. Stereotypically typical. I won't be subscribing to Mr. Silver's newsletter.
05/08/09
This morning, approximately 13 hours later, it was $2.18.
I think that sort of thing is going to change all but the hardest core car nuts.
Ultimately, society is changing. Oil (well, cheap oil) is getting harder and harder to come by. It doesn't really matter if it really is getting harder to come by or if the oil industry is just getting better (or more ruthless) in manipulating it, the bottom line remains the same.
As soon and I mean the minute this economy begins to turn around, gas will be $4 a gallon again. And when people realize $4 a gallon isn't a temporary thing and it's not the future, but simply the baseline of the future, it will fundamentally change peoples habits.
I believe the next 25 years will see a monumental shift in the view of the automobile by the general citizenry.
I could be wrong, I have been before. I said McCain was gonna' win, so what do I know?
05/08/09
05/08/09
05/08/09
However, had Megan herself penned this, we'd probably have a lot more "Hey, she makes good point" reactions ;)
05/08/09
Car culture isn't so much "dying" as it's been stabbed in the back and bled out by Domestic manufacturers.
We went to Subaru and Honda, and there we will stay, probably for ever at this point. Because none of the idiots at GM, Ford or Chrysler have any clue what the "tuner" segment is really about these days.
Out of touch, those ones are.
05/08/09
*I just realized that the picture next to your name is an Impreza. It was so stretched I though it was a Kei car.
05/08/09
I'm sorry, who is Artisan Performance, again? This is the second time you've mentioned them.
Other than doing what pretty much every mod shop does (body kits, wheels and tires, turbo upgrades, etc) they don't seem all that impressive. I mean, they have six dealers nationwide. They're a far cry from Roush Performance and Lingenfelter who have decades of advanced technology development under their belts.
Please, if you're going to make some goofball comment about expensive mods, try to make some sense so we can attempt to understand your point.
05/08/09
Hi, I'm Bubba, I hope your pathetic, Esquire writing Ass gets on a train. It will leave me more room to drive my old rusty gas guzzling American cars. As for the foreign cars you want me in. Sorry, they aren't building anything I am interested in. My Mullet only matches my Camaro thank you very much.
05/08/09
05/08/09
One other thing, I'm an unashamed Liberal/Progressive/Socialist/Pinko/Fake American/insert your perjorative term here...who likes mustard on his cheeseburgers....and I L-U-V LOVE cars! Take THAT, stupid stereotype!
05/08/09
05/08/09
02/23/09
Still, though, that would take a fair bit of alcohol and some big brass balls.
02/23/09
02/23/09
Five bucks says its one of my hillbilly relatives.
02/23/09
From your Philly types, to yinz down in the 'burg. This sounds more like someone out in the middle of the state in no mans land. Doubt it was Allentown or he would have been humming Billy Joel when he called.
02/23/09
02/23/09
02/23/09
All I can say is, don't ever drive from Altoona to Pittsburgh on back roads in the middle of the night. And definitely don't stop for gas and coffee.
Trust me.
02/24/09
02/23/09
02/23/09
BTDT.
02/23/09
Town drunk? ;-)
02/23/09
I had a smoke and chatted for a few (in a small town, you know most of the cops), and when they asked what I was doing, I told them I was sure I would blow over the limit, so I had to wait a few hours before I could go home, so I was going for a walk.
They said that if they didn't see anyone who appeared intoxicated, or if I was willing to wait, they'd give me a ride home as soon as the bar rush was over.
Nice guys, and I actually pulled the same stunt two or three times.
It actually paid off huge later, because they now knew that if I was driving home I was probably sober, because I'd just come chat with them if I'd had too much.
02/23/09
- about a million for calling the police rather than a cab, or even just trying to sleep it off in his car that was parked in a parking lot.
If the parking lot was that of a privately owned business, he will likely get out of a DUI charge. The most they could get him for is public intoxication, unless they have a sworn statement admitting his traveling on public roads whilst impaired.
02/23/09
02/23/09
If the keys are in the ignition, running or not, it will hold up. At least with Wisconsin law.
02/23/09
I pulled into my neighborhood about 11pm on a Saturday night in December. In the dead enter of the road, differential lined up on the centerline, is a Chevy truck with the window down and some guy slumped over the wheel. Didn't know if the guy was dead or what. I went home and called the cops. Cops show up, guy gets arrested for DUI. Turns out that he had been to a Christmas party at his boss's house way back in the neighborhood. They got in a fight after getting lost in the neighborhood, she called a cab, took the truck keys and left him. I had to go to court and testify since I was the one that called the cops. The guy got off the DUI because he didn't have any keys to the truck available to him.
02/23/09
Stupid, but it is.
02/23/09
02/23/09