Issue 10, Volume 1
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Our on the streets feature is a few old BMW's from the Lutz era. Bob Lutz was known most famously for bringing about the Dodge Viper and releasing radical cars at Chrysler, and then on to GM where he fought to have the Volt released as his last hurrah. Lutz, a former Marine Corps pilot, attended college at UC Berkeley with a degree in Production Management and later an MBA. Although he was a great businessman, his head was in styling. Although not a designer himself, he would often rag on his production and design team to come up with better and more outrageous things. His first experiment was the Opel Kadett for GM Europe, followed by the BMW 3 series, shown above. He would later move on to Ford to have the infamous Taurus approved, and then to Chrysler for the Viper, and GM afterwards. He had a keen and unique sense of what the public wanted; often did battle with what the 'bean counters' wanted to do. Remember when all the GM vehicles were all the same, whether badged Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Chevrolet? Lutz put an end to that. Lutz has a new book out called Car Guys vs. Bean Counters: The Battle For The Soul Of American Business. At BMW, Lutz saw the original styling of their new 3 series model, and indicated that the car had to be completely changed. It was redesigned into what was basically seen above. This is a collection of a few old BMW's by my old house on the North End. The one with the famed 'M' sport paint job is a 1975-1983 (E21) model, likey a 318 (1.8L 4 cylinder) or 320 (2.0L 4 cylinder). These cars earned a great deal of market notoriety for BMW in North America; turning the brand into an upscale household name for German Luxury cars, where once only Mercedes and Porsche reigned. Very few are still in any sort of shape. The silver car is a 325e, a rare bird indeed. The 1983-1990 models (E30) were available with a 2.5L 4 cylinder. The 325 was the standard non-fuel injected model. The 325i was the upscaled injected model. However, there was a rare and affordable '325e' with the 'e' standing for 'economy' that was a no-frills, gas sipping model. The red one appears to be an E28 5-series model, still rare for these parts. Whilst most of our neighbors are out there souping up their pickups, we still have some that have strange and inquisitive automobile tastes; but luckily, are preserving history, in however perverse a manor (and likely to the chagrin of their neighbors).
Rude Society: Homicide Edition
Someone asked me if I'd discuss the homicide rates, since that's what's been dominating the news. So: yeah, we have a big huge homicide problem (apparently). The reason I say (apparently) is because there are discrepancies with how the numbers are tallied. For example, two of the 34 homicides were actually from last year. It was up to the medical examiners to add them to this year's statistics. Two more of the homicides took place in a penitentiary, and two more were police shootings. So that brings the number down to 28, which is still alarmingly high, I know. Compared to Detroit, which had 308 murders in 2010. But they're celebrating, because apparently the amount of murders had dropped 15% prior to the year before.
But this is Canada, and of course we're not comparable to Detroit, by any standard. Except that we are part of North America, have McDonald's and Wal Marts and auto manufacturing and drug gangs and...well pretty much everything the US has except summer.
Generally the Police are indicating that the problem is mainly among the homeless, while advocates are indicating it's because too many people are carrying knives. Well, yeah, why are people carrying around knives? Because they don't want to get mugged?
Ultimately what it comes down to; for those that aren't homeless and of sound faculty of body and mind (the police indicate that those committing the crimes among the homeless are either mentally ill or under the influence of alcohol and drugs most of the time - this isn't a statement about homeless in general), is that a culture of violence is becoming more rampant. Is it video games, obesity, bad parenting? Who knows. All I know is that now it's more than acceptable to honk at someone because you don't agree with what they're doing in traffic. I remember a time when honking was only done if you were in imminent danger of a collision. Now it's secondary to the finger. Which, by the way, why is it okay, because you don't like someone going slower than you, or making a left turn, that they held you up, to give you the finger? Or if someone generally makes a mistake in traffic? Oh well, let them go. It's not like you're perfect. Remember the CAA study I discussed a few issues earlier about how people felt other drivers were discourteous? Most of the individuals polled rated themselves a B+ in driving, while rating other drivers a C-. So in that case, the study shows most people believe they are good drivers and everyone else is a bad driver. Well that's impossible. But the biggest finding were that people were simply discourteous and impatient, not necessarily lacking skill.
This bleeds over to other areas of society too. Things that would never have once been acceptable are becoming so. Last week, a website, cheaterville.com, regarding the defamation of anyone (you can make a profile about ANYONE you want to with stories about how they are a cheat) was brought to attention by news media, after advocates were curious how the site was able to operate. Defamation law, however, when it comes to the internet is uncertain, and thus at this point lawyers are hesitant to go after defamation suits, even by individuals who have indicated their lives have been ruined by untrue defamation of ex jilted lovers. This generally, without social media, would have been impossible. Just imagine if 15 years ago, someone was talking on the phone or writing a note to someone else the entire time you were talking. Of course, they'd need to carry the entire cord around with them. We accept things are okay with this, generally, because we're unfamiliar with what etiquette should be associated with technology.
Is this acceptable?
Ultimately I find that people have generally became one of two ways:
-extremely self centered
-uncaring of what others feel in general
I know those sound like the same two things, but a person can care mostly about themselves while still wanting their existence to cause no harm to others. While the second category indicates that people don't care if they do cause harm to others. They just can't see other people as having any feelings like them.
Oh, wait, maybe they have no feelings.
Anyway, the homicide situation will continue to be a problem as long as people continue to backslide in general human morality and etiquette.
Letters To The Editor: Job Market Update
I recently got a note from Jen who had found herself unemployed and on 2 weeks of EI. It wasn't long until she found placement agencies. She said soon she found a job she was qualified for and had great benefits and salary. Her advice was to dress up nice, spruce up your resume, and generally 'attack' employment agencies to place you somewhere. Many of the positions may be initially temporary. However, many of them may end up with much better results for you in the long term.
In addition to this, Banks usually are a good marker of how the economy is doing. RBC just hosted a massive open house for hiring where you could actually apply via a regular paper resume. Oh wait, I know a lot of you won't remember what that might be.
If you'd like to comment on anything I've written about; or contribute to the blog, you can get me at rbw2@ualberta.ca
Milestone
Our last fashion issue saw almost 40-50 hits, and that put us over the 300 hit mark. Thank you so much for your support and for reading!
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