mr50bmg

*whew* It looks like my search for "boobies" is under the radar then. -Dave

Whoa. I must respectfully disagree on the Elan +2 and the 308 GT/4. At the right angle, oblique and low, the GT/4 is tr

Most of the reviews of Vista focus on the superficial aspects of the OS, such as transparent window edges; if there are any fundamental architectural improvements, I haven't heard anything other than the promise of better security. However, I'm not looking all that hard to find the differences. I grew up on System V and BSD Unix, so to me Windows is a morbidly obese hack job. On my laptop with XP, I am tired of all its popup distractions, nagging, and constant updates. If I can get Linux running on it instead, that will be the end of XP for me. Regardless, I won't be buying Vista. Fortunately, at work, we develop our code on Linux based workstations.

I love it! Very clever. -Dave

I'm confused about which of the two silver cars shown in this thread is the one which appeared at the 1972 Turin show. I thought it was this one:

Well, you've certainly piqued my curiosity on what this new dream car might be! If you do get it, certainly the new owner of your red S1 will be getting a very sweet car. Also, just out of curiosity, where did Giorgetto sign your car? I know John DeLorean would sign the glovebox covers of his cars. -Dave

Very nice to see that!

Eeek!!! I know that car! One of the former members of our club, about 10 years ago, had the lightweight black G-car body that you can see in one of those photos and raced it here at PIR. The car weighed barely over 1200 lbs and it was very fast. He also had a Ferrari 308 and a very nice X180R -- in fact, I got a ride in it through the corkscrew at Laguna Seca. I don't know who the new owner is of this car, but it may be a cheap way of getting a spare engine and gearbox. -Dave

One thing that has constantly suprised me is the contrast in achievement between immigrants to the U.S. and some of the people born here. I realize this is a broad generalization, but I have observed people come here from a truly foreign country, such as Vietnam, where the culture and the language is so different from our own, and within a generation they own their own businesses, their children excel in school, and they have a very comfortable lifestyle. Perhaps it is part of the Asian culture or work ethic to recognize the opportunities presented to them and their desire to excel that drives them to achieve this. Yet some people born here, who have the advantage of a familiar language and culture, somehow feel they should automatically have nice cars and a nice place to live. Furthermore, they feel that if you have a nice car or nice place to live, somehow it has come at their expense. Perhaps one of the major factors that influences expectations is the unity of the family - the Asians and the Mexicans have strong families. Among whites and blacks, it is getting increasingly common to have single parent families where for almost the child's entire formative years there is only one parent. I don't know about other countries drug problems, but here we are essentially in the midst of a methamphetamine epidemic and this is a source of a lot of crime. Arresting and putting these people in jail doesn't seem to do any good and doesn't solve the problem. I don't like the thought of legalizing drugs, but if drugs were legal and cheap, that would certainly be a big step in reducing crime. The problem with that is that we would be helping people burn themselves out - so there would have to be some sort of program to wean them off the drug. -Dave

Ok, I do have a few comments after all. In the U.S., regarding gun ownership, I see several cultures. For example, in one culture, nearly everyone has guns and crime is low. In another, relatively few have guns and crime is high. To elaborate, one culture consists of the people who have grown up around guns either for hunting, for sport and, very remotely, for self defense. In this culture, the men, women, and children are comfortable and educated in the use and responsibility of firearms. They do not live their lives in paranoia or some vague fear of being attacked. In fact, in this culture, which is seen in more rural areas such as eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, nearly all of Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah, nearly all households have one or more guns yet crime is low and incidents of crime with a gun is low. Yes, people get mad and get into fights, but even though the gun might be in the next room, the nature of these people is that they wouldn't dream of using it. I know from long firsthand experience this is the case and the statistics are there to prove how low the instance of gun-related crime is in these situations. Another culture, primarily in large urban areas, consists of people whose ownership of the gun comes either out of genuine curiosity, or out of being exposed to one of the many shooting sports, or as a reaction to urban crime. These people, when they get a CCW (concealed carry waiver), learn about the serious consequences of self defense. They learn immediately that the ONLY instance you may shoot someone is if you or someone else is in grave danger of being killed or seriously injured. If you shoot someone running away or shoot them when they are too far away to immediately harm you, then you yourself will be in extremely serious trouble with the law. Therefore, these people -who have the guns- are very careful not to be aggressive and not to escalate the situation. Contrary to what is portrayed in the media, these people are the exact opposite of the stereotype hothead who is looking for a confrontation or looking for an excuse to shoot someone. As I wrote to Wayne in email, the respected police trainer and lawyer, Massad Ayoob, gave as an example in his book, In the Gravest Extreme, the incident he and wife experienced where he was confronted on the street by a gang with knives and, although he was armed, he simply gave them his wallet. He teaches this, as do other firearm instructors, as being the proper response in this case. He lost only a bit of money, but he saved himself from a nightmare of legal battles. Now, if the gang had not been satisfied with the wallet and started to attack him or his wife, I'm sure he would've responded. In these two cultures, which makes up the vast majority of gun ownership in the U.S., the concept of self defense is to AVOID having to use the firearm except as a last resort. In American Rifleman magazine, there is a column which is devoted to documenting on a monthly basis actual incidents in which a crime was prevented simply by making the attacker know that the intended victim was armed. The news media gleefully reports when a shooting occurs, but deliberately does not report the many more instances in which a crime was prevented when the intended victim deterred the attacker without having to fire a shot. There is another culture, much, much smaller, but it is the one that gets all the attention: the gangs, the psychopaths, uneducated idiots, and those seeking notoriety. All they know about weapons is what they've seen in movies or on TV. They are completely irresponsible. They have no respect for any laws, so no gun-control laws will affect them. These are the people you always hear about and which give the false impression that our country is filled with gun wielding hotheads ready to shoot anyone who looks at them the wrong way. These are the type of people that Wayne and others had the misfortune of encountering; I don't deny they exist. Neighborhoods filled with drug labs, gangs, or angry unemployed people are the ones where you don't want to walk down the street and that's where the overwhelming instances of gun crime occur. It actually doesn't matter what kind of weapon they have in that case, does it? The average working class neighborhood is not where people are afraid of being shot. For the most part, the reality that I see, having lived in this country for many decades, is that the vast majority of gun owners are among the most law abiding and among the most peaceful (least hostile) people of all. -Dave

I would say a gun's primary purpose is to deter a criminal act without it ever having to be fired, with a secondary purpose of being able to stop the attacker. You'll never hear it on the nightly news, but far more crimes are prevented when the supposed victim shows the attacker that he's armed, as opposed to crimes being committed with a firearm. There has been much independent study of this. That said, in the 20 years I've owned guns (having initially being a gun hater), I've never been in any need of doing the above. All of my experience with firearms has been in the many shooting sports, which I suppose can be considered a third purpose. That is a legitimate concern and I believe every firearm owner has the responsibility to secure their weapons as much as possible. Which is why my house has numerous actively monitored security systems and an enormously thick and heavy safe. Plus an attack cat. -Dave What law would you create that would prevent the nutter from doing that? What law would the nutter obey? There have been numerous instances here of nutty people driving their car into crowds of people and killing them, so a nut always will have some means to carry out their act. I think the better approach is to identify and confine the psychopaths rather than passing laws that they won't obey. Anyway, rather than have this spiral into another one of those endless gun-control debates, I will end my participation in this thread here (having already said as much as I can say) and politely just agree to disagree. -Dave

It is already illegal to kill people, so any gun control laws beyond that not only punishes the law abiding, but disarms those law abiding people and makes them prey to criminals who by definition ignore all laws including gun laws. Of course, by my username you probably already knew my opinion. I own over 20 firearms (as in any hobby, once you exceed 20 items, you stop counting ); these range from a simple .22 pistol to a .50 BMG rifle that I use in 1000-yard and 1-mile competition. By the way, the world record for five shots at 1000 yards with this caliber rifle is a group size of a mere two and a quarter inches in diameter. For the price of that rifle, I may be able to get a nice older Porsche 911. Society has changed: here in the Portland/Vancouver area I have friends who, as teenagers in the 1960's, walked to school with their rifles for use in the school target shooting team. They would walk down the street with their rifles visible and no one gave them a second glance because it was unthinkable that they would use their weapons to harm people. Guns were not demonized by media as they are today - they were far more commonplace (ownership was higher), yet crime was low. Today, guns are protrayed as forbidden fruit, so idiots use them to get attention. In fact, there is a film made in the 1950's or 1960's of the Washington D.C. girl's high school shooting team practicing in view of the U.S. Capitol -- you won't see that film publicized today! I constantly read the Australian online newspapers and frequently read of home invasions, where the occupants can't defend themselves (perhaps they legally cannot?). Yet, here, most of the violent crime, to put it bluntly, occurs in poor neighborhoods where gangs or druggies fight with each other. Crime in middle class neighborhoods is, in my opinion, low, having myself lived in many lower middle class neighborhoods for nearly 30 years. It's been years since I've heard of anyone's house or car being broken into, or anyone being assaulted on the street. I'm confident I could walk anywhere within 15 miles from my house at three in the morning, unarmed, without any fear of being robbed or assaulted. In fact, twice in the 16-year ownership of my Esprit, a fellow Lotus club member has had my car sitting in their outside driveway for two months, day and night, fully visible to anyone, while they worked on it. Nothing ever happened to it -- and this was in a perfectly representative middle class neighborhood. The mere knowledge that people have the capability to defend themselves causes criminals to seek easier prey (perhaps going to a house with a "no guns allowed" sign on the lawn ; this is why we don't have daily gunfights in our neighborhoods despite the media attempting to paint that picture. There was a statement made above about fully automatic firearms being illegal. That is not correct - many states, such as Oregon, allow private ownership of fully automatic weapons. It requires a background check and a special "tax" - and must be bought through what is called a Class 3 dealer. However, you will find that those people who do own fully automatic firearms -- ranging from the WWII German MG-42, to an AK-47, to an HK MP5, or whatever, are the most respectable, law abiding people with the cleanest possible record you could ever imagine. They have to be, they don't want to get even a felony speeding ticket which could jeopardize their full-auto ownership. I use my guns in all sorts of sporting competition; it is great fun. The kids (teenagers), women, and others who participate in these sports have a healthy respect and sense of responsibility towards firearms and understand safe gun handling and usage. Guns, like many mechanisms, are at least as much fun as mechanical cameras and watches and cars. There is an enormous amount of history and romance that is associated with the design of each firearm. Now I will shock you all with a small display of my collection What we have pictured below are 1) a Chinese 56S-1 semiauto AKM, with corresponding 75-round drum, 2) a Barrett M82A1 .50 BMG semiauto rifle which I use in 1000-yard competition, an HK-91A2 in .308 (semiauto version of the German G3), a 9mm Beretta 92FS, and a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in .30-06, the satin finish and lines of which I just love. -Dave

"Aerodynamics are for people who don't know how to build engines" -- Enzo Ferrari actually, the opposite is true -Dave

Is that a ham radio tower I see? I would love to be able to put up a decent antenna in my neighborhood (the Homeowners Association Nazis won't allow (visible) antennas). -Dave

Many magazines today have lost my interest because either they put too much emphasis on comparing supercars that most enthusiasts will never own, or they ignore any cars except those for the current year. I used to read Top Gear, but have now come to the conclusion that Clarkson, at least, is disingenuous if not a total wanker. More on that below. Having said that, I've discovered two wonderful magazines in the last year! They are Hemmings Sports and Exotic Car and Sports Car Market. Hemmings Sports and Exotic Car is different because it has a balanced mixed of classic sports cars of the past, plus contemporary classics. Almost all the cars they write about are non-American (what other magazine today would devote four pages to a Citroen DS-19 or a Skoda?). You'll see sporty cars anywhere from the 1950's (possibly earlier) through the 1990's. Plus, the cars they write about are often daily drivers, with all the wear that such a car undergoes. Additionally, they profile the great people of the automotive world. For example, the issue I'm reading now has an article on John Cooper. Plus, they review automotive books and models. Sports Car Market is fascinating, fun, educational, and witty. I like them because they have articles about sports or exotics within financial reach of many enthusiasts. Their Legal Files section is one of my favorites; reading that column is like being hooked into reading a good book. Lastly, they have auction results plus commentary that is often hilarious. As for Top Gear, I loved the TV show when we could get it here on cable (for some reason it was discontinued). Very clever, very funny, I loved it. The magazine, however, has annoyed me recently. It began when Clarkson told the story of some idiot Elise owner in Nevada or somewhere who'd basically screwed up his car in an attempt to "improve" it. Clarkson painted a distorted picture of Elise ownership here: there are thousands upon thousands of Elise owners in the U.S. who absolutely love their car just the way it came from the factory. Also, it appears that they also like to bash the Corvette Z06. Although I've never owned an American car, never wanted to, and don't ever plan to, in the interest of being fair I have to say the Z06 is not a piece of crap. I believe it is not only shorter than the current 911-evolved Porsche, but lighter as well. Looking at the Nurburgring lap times, as reported by Motor Trend (2006.09 issue), it seems to handle fairly well, too: Porsche Carrera GT 7:32, Corvette Z06 7:42, Porsche 996 GT2 7:42, Pagani Zonda S 7:44, Lamborghini Murcielago 7:50, Lamborghini Gallaedo 7:52, Mercedes-McLaren SLR 7:52, Corvette C6 7:59, Porsche 911 8:07, Dodge Viper GTS 8:10, Anyway... -Dave

Artie, that is not Kansas City! Anyway, I love the houses and streets in England and Europe. Here is my Esprit after being washed: -Dave

I've had my Esprit for 16 years, so I'd be upset. However, G-Esprits are still relatively easy to find, so I could replace it with the insurance money. Now, if that'd happened to a Lamborghini Miura... -Dave

1) View of Mt. Hood as it appears behind a local hill. 2) View from one of the lawns at work, boys practicing football. -Dave

Impressive amount of work you've done. -Dave

Ah, I'm also a connoisseur of Sako and agree that their craftsmanship is excellent. I've thrown many thousands of dollars their way: my small contribution to our trade debt and to the Finnish economy. -Dave

Iain, Wonderful bikes and models! -Dave

Very nice S1. It's up to $17,500 with 12 hours still to go! Eventually the 80's sports cars are going to be worth a lot more; I think this is just the beginning. -Dave

Very nice watches here! When (if) you take it off at night, try placing it in a different position for a series of nights (e.g. crown up, crown down, face down, face up); that may affect the rate it gains or loses. Even so, a couple minutes a week is nothing to worry about. A watch that is consistent in its gain or loss is easier to regulate than one which is erratic. -Dave

I would try to find an Essex Esprit - good looks, good performance, and you don't see them every day! -Dave