G. David Felt

Starting work, took out the food scrapes from dinner last night to the compost bin, trash, etc. Cloudy, a break in the rain, but otherwise a lovely Washington day of clouds, rain off n on and a good day to get my work done for our new products coming out on 6/16. Another awesome day of working for Dell Technologies and I want to say to @ocnblu @balthazar @oldshurst442 @USA-1 @trinacriabob @riviera74 and everyone else, thank you always for the challanging, stimulating and thought provoking discussions here be it mostly about auto's to the rare tangent on semi political news issues. I truly appreciate the ability to discuss our view points and think about the ways we can make humanity better in the awesome multi-cultural world we live in. Want to leave you with these quotes which always is thoughtful to me. "This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it." - Abraham Lincoln "I can imagine no greater disservice to the country than to establish a system of censorship that would deny to the people of a free republic like our own their indisputable right to criticize their own public officials." - Woodrow Wilson "Peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict. Only a just peace based on the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting." - Barack Obama "The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one who gets the people to do the greatest things." - Ronald Reagan "Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error." - Andrew Jackson Humor for us all: "Being president is like running a cemetery: you've got a lot of people under you and nobody's listening." - Bill Clinton

A c8 Cadillac based sport Halo car would be good. This is a nice knock off of the corvette and I am sure many of us here can hear @smk4565 say this is a rebadged Corvette, not a pure Cadillac. In this regards, I think we do need a true change in the body, not the mid engine tech details as everyone uses the same bones to build verious version, but a new skin that does say Cadillac, not Corvette. Good Start to what can become a Great Halo Sports car for Cadillac.

I cannot seem to find the writeup that stated it, but I thought this last 7.3L V8 was it for ford. It would carry them through till the conversion of EV trucks was standard. I know GM has stated that the blueprint design of the small block V8 motor will get tweaks over the next decade, but they expect it to also be the last of the V8 motors as they move to an all EV product lineup. I suspect with Europe and Asia motor taxes on size, that the power will come in Hybrid and EV auto's.

@oldshurst442 @balthazar Yes we are NOT supposed to talk politics here and I did think long and hard on posting that news story that also includes the local news video clip showing the 75 year old man getting pushed down by the cops. I also understand that a Curfew was in effect. Yet with that, I also understand that our constitution is about freedom and peaceful resistance to the system when us citizens disagree with what is going on. I then rewatched and rewatched the video and a few things really stood out to me. The man was not doing anything physically aggressive towards the cops. Why did the two police officers feel the need to shove him backwards so hard when he was not threatening them. One of the two grabbed the other officer when he attempted to squat down to check on the guy and pushed him forward. While one cop radioed for medical, NO ONE ELSE bothered to look or stop on a man who was clearly unconscious and bleeding from his ears clearly in the video I also noticed the heavy use of military gear on all these police officers and the Military SUV in the background. I get the need for crowd control, I get the need to have rapid response units to deal with looting and criminal activity. I DO NOT get the lack of empathy for humanity and that the job of the police is to interact with and find a peaceful resolution to defuse all situations. The Police Forces around the US and for that matter around the world have leapt to using extreme force first rather than human verbal skills to control crowds. Just as I would leap into a situation where another person be male, female, hetro, gay, etc. was being physically hurt by another to protect them, I would also rather use my words to diffuse a situation first than blunt force. One that comes from generations of Military who have proudly served America and who has relatives who serve in the police departments here locally, I take a deeper personal feeling about the poor direction our police forces have taken in the last 30 years especially. When I first got married in 1991, my Uncle, a sergeant in the Kirkland Police Department talked to me about the life I could provide to my wife at the time and being a body builder and physical fitness nut fresh out of college choose to try out not just for Kirkland but also for Redmond, Tukwila, Seattle and our state WSP. I scored consistently in the mid 90's on my physical and mental testing and yet was passed over due to Military folks with NO COLLEGE education getting the 15 point bonus all because they served in the military. These same people while most are decent folks also came to the job with anger issues and other issues from the gulf war. I heard from my Uncle of the people who got the openings in the Kirkland Police force were all medically discharged within a couple years after I tried out. I choose to go with my education and the tech industry and have no regrets. Yet in looking back at my own experience and watching this video of the assualt on the senior, it reinforces to me that while we need to take military training into account it should by all means not be given such a bonus when we are talking about a very important role that requires people skills and many of the military folks come out still lacking in people skills that allow them to defuse tense situations. If we take these folks, it should be a requirement to go through a psychological training program so that they have the mental tools to deal with this better. We have to rise to be better than those causing criminal activity when we deal with protesters. Yes I could go on but I hope I have clearly explained myself.

Sheldon Brown, Toyota's Chief Truck Engineer explained that Truck owners value Low end Torque and electrification makes sense. This does not confirm an EV or Hybrid Tundra truck, but with the success of the Rav 4 Hybrid, this is an interesting read on Toyota and competition with Ford, GM and Ram and how this Engineer see's that Electrification can help give you more Torque than a Diesel with the cleanliness of a Hybrid powertrain. He does say that truck buyers value ability over MPG so any MPG increase that a possible Hybrid power train gives on top of instant torque from zero would be a bonus. They also say that the V8 production of engines for Toyota and Lexus is coming to an end, so a TTV6 might be the V8 replacement or a the Hybrid Prime system since the new Rav4 Prime is the fastest auto Toyota makes other than the Supra built by BMW. https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/toyota-says-electrified-trucks-make-sense-thanks-to-beefy-low-end-torque/ar-BB157Wb9?ocid=msedgntp

Wow, 6th of June and no one has spotted anything interesting to mention even when out for Groceries. Today was a weird day as I found a very rusty Yugo, an old baby powder blue Chevrolet Luv Truck and a Yellow rusty Datsun mini pickup. Have not seen any of these auto's in years.

Mossy

Slimy

One your wrong, the semi truck drivers might cover 400 to 500 miles in a day, but not the local deliver folks. Your also wrong on the battery pack charging full on a lunch break. All the current 300 mile battery packs fully recharge in under an hour on DC fast chargers. I agree with you that the GM Voltec should never have been a car and they first VOLT should have been a CUV and they should have had it in multiple CUVs by now. Spent the last 5 years commuting to work daily in a Volt as a team member has one and it is great other than no one can sit behind me cause there is not enough room and my knees hit the volt dash.

WOW, have to say that they can fire the whole emergency response team as the lack of empathy and the unneeded blunt use of force and the I do not care action by the whole group of police officers shows me that we have way too many EX-Military in the police force with no mental training on how to interact with citizens. This was totally uncalled for pushing down a 75 year old man where he is bleeding out his ear and clearly not moving. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/57-buffalo-officers-resign-from-emergency-response-team-after-two-cops-suspended/ar-BB156hh9?ocid=msedgntp I truly believe in our constitution and equality for all regardless of race, sex, etc. I truly think we have hit a breaking point of police being to militarized. Now back to our normal schedule of discussing auto's.

All businesses that have EVs have fast chargers and as such your looking at 40 min for full recharge not waiting till the next day. STOP THE FUD! about EVs. A full recharge is very doable during a lunch break. We already know that the average route for US mail is under 100 miles a day, so no problem going EV for USPS, Amazon also has stated that their average daily route is no more than 150 miles if Urban, on average 50 to 80 miles in the City, so again no problem for EVs. Multiple sites that have UPS or FedEx drivers posting that on average they drive 100 to 150 miles with anywhere from 150 to 220 packages to be delivered. I have a hard time believing that the delivery drivers taking the package the last step to the customers door are driving 300 to 500 miles a day. 300 to 500 miles a day makes no business sense as they would never have time to stop and deliver the packages. There are posts that many drivers are like USPS with routes under 100 miles a day but hundreds of packages that have to be delivered.

You will love all the vending machines, there is nothing you cannot get out of a vending machine. It is OK for kids to buy cigarettes and 5th of whiskey for their parents. There is far more respect for both youth and older adults than we see here in the US. We could learn a few things on having a better open society leading to respect for each other. This is not to say they are perfect as they have their own issues also much like us.

Very true, as one that went to college at Kobe University, I have spent much time in Tokyo and this is true of the whole country, people are raised to not impose their choices of music, auto noise, etc. on others around them and as such you do have traditional city noise without all the extraneous noise of music, open pipe auto's exhausts, etc. The worst thing I remember before the Pandemic was the Harley open header bikes coming into the city of Seattle early in the morning for construction jobs and how loud and noisy it was. I felt for those living in the city that are woke up by the rude noise of the bikes or auto's that also have loud exhausts. EV's will bring much tranquility to the cities as well as the urban areas.

Very exciting to see that the future will have quiet zero emission delivery vans in cities and urban areas. Should help with clean air as well as just keeping things quiet. Right now it is so noisy with all the diesel UPS and FedEx vans moving around to deliver everything due to the pandemic.

Gouda

Do not forget the crazy Jug handles and then left turns every other intersection. The year and 1/2 I lived there and worked in Princeton, I was still amazed at the two road standards that competed for how you got around. Very crazy, but yes the traffic volumes are heavy.

Actually people have no problem changing out Propane BBQ Tanks as to why the growth of having $17.99 propane tank swaps everywhere. Fast and easy compared to waiting to fuel up the tank. Tesla dropped the battery swap as the cost of the automated equipment at the time was so expensive, but now especially in china, ya drive into the assigned space, and boom, 90 seconds later your done with a fully charged battery. I suspect times have changed big enough to make it a more feasible option than the charging station at least in china. Be interesting to see how this all pans out. ICE has a diverse choice of auto's something that EVs are not yet there which you know.

Crackers

Yes another kind of beauty. I love my rain, hike and camp year round. Only wimps do not go out in the rain. The ability to ski, the Hoh Rain Forest with 200 to 300 year old Douglas fir trees, all the water, mountains, see to mountain fun year round just like you, just more water and green.

Spanking

No trees either, easy to just pave over everything. I agree the Prius and BMW drivers are the worst with Mercedes-Benz second for getting over to the left and driving 10 under the posted limit. Drives me nuts. Last summer both Washington and Oregon created laws with heavy fines, $259 dollars for driving under the posted speed limit in the left lane. At first they were enforcing it till the pandemic and now they are not and with the state opening back up, seems that BMW / MB and the Prius drivers are back to their 10 under ways of driving.

In 2019 the largest investment in oil refinery was finally allowing gas production to catch up to consumer consumption, then the Pandemic hit and Covid-19 brought people moving about to a halt. With that change and especially here in the US with everyone under shelter in place orders for the last 10 weeks, Electricity has become the biggest cost to a persons budget for the first time ever over oil / gas according to the latest reports from IEA (International Energy Agency) https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1128365_energy-investment-to-drop-20-in-2020-a-turning-point-toward-greening-the-grid Oil amounted to 50% of consumer spending on energy and electricity was 38%. World Wide oil consumption is expected to drop by over $1 Trillion dollars due to the pandemic. Due to a huge consumer change in taste to trucks and SUV's/CUV's auto efficiency took a significant hit in 2019. Lots of interesting details in this IEA report story. https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2020 To quote the story: Global energy demand declined by 3.8% in the first quarter of 2020, with most of the impact felt in March as confinement measures were enforced in Europe, North America and elsewhere. Global coal demand was hit the hardest, falling by almost 8% compared with the first quarter of 2019. Three reasons converged to explain this drop. China – a coal-based economy – was the country the hardest hit by Covid‑19 in the first quarter; cheap gas and continued growth in renewables elsewhere challenged coal; and mild weather also capped coal use. Oil demand was also hit strongly, down nearly 5% in the first quarter, mostly by curtailment in mobility and aviation, which account for nearly 60% of global oil demand. By the end of March, global road transport activity was almost 50% below the 2019 average and aviation 60% below. The impact of the pandemic on gas demand was more moderate, at around 2%, as gas-based economies were not strongly affected in the first quarter of 2020. Renewables were the only source that posted a growth in demand, driven by larger installed capacity and priority dispatch. Electricity demand has been significantly reduced as a result of lockdown measures, with knock-on effects on the power mix. Electricity demand has been depressed by 20% or more during periods of full lockdown in several countries, as upticks for residential demand are far outweighed by reductions in commercial and industrial operations. For weeks, the shape of demand resembled that of a prolonged Sunday. Demand reductions have lifted the share of renewables in the electricity supply, as their output is largely unaffected by demand. Demand fell for all other sources of electricity, including coal, gas and nuclear power. All fuels will be affected: Oil demand could drop by 9%, or 9 mb/d on average across the year, returning oil consumption to 2012 levels. Coal demand could decline by 8%, in large part because electricity demand will be nearly 5% lower over the course of the year. The recovery of coal demand for industry and electricity generation in China could offset larger declines elsewhere. Gas demand could fall much further across the full year than in the first quarter, with reduced demand in power and industry applications. Nuclear power demand would also fall in response to lower electricity demand. Renewables demand is expected to increase because of low operating costs and preferential access to many power systems. Recent growth in capacity, some new projects coming online in 2020, would also boost output.

GM supposedly is going after the Commercial delivery fleet of the world. Production and availability is expected by the end of 2021 for Electric Delivery van. Sounds like this is an answer to Rivian and their 100,000 EV van contract with Amazon. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1128390_report-gm-electric-van-for-fleets-due-as-early-as-2021 Chinese EV auto company NIO has proven what Tesla originally proposed and then failed to deliver that Battery swapping is faster and makes customers happier than sitting and charging. According to NIO and their country wide battery swapping sites, NIO had their 500,000 battery swap. Not that people do not also recharge their NIO, but when on the road, a 90 second battery swap and off for another 300 miles is faster than any Gas fueling ICE auto can do. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1128364_hey-tesla-china-s-nio-has-completed-500-000-battery-swaps

I did get a response from @Drew Dowdell He has been dealing with other stuff but he says we will see him around more as he does some maintenance and other stuff. I also have to think as he did loose his job that job hunting right now is hard. Over all, am looking forward to seeing him around in the near future. Saw this on YouTube and I have to say I agree with the guys laughing at this turd. I see so many Subaru STI / WRX do this and they deserve to get nailed.

Interesting song, the guy looks like he needs to eat as he is looking anorexic.