Canton-ese

Today’s post has nothing to do with China or Chinese. I have mentioned my brilliant high school classmate, TI. He is a Professor of Mathematics at a prestigious university in Switzerland.

Switzerland is a country with real federalism. It is divided into regions called cantons, which are analogous to US states, but as I understand it have more autonomy. Here is a joke TI sent to me:

 

Three boys are trying to figure out how babies are made.

The German boy: The babies are brought by the stork.
The French boy: I think it has something to do with love.
The Swiss boy: I don’t know how, but I’m sure that it varies from Canton to Canton.

 

To me, the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution (The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.) is the real basis for a federal system of government. In my opinion, the federal government has usurped many rights not delegated to it and which should be the sole domain of the states.

It is that amendment, explicitly or not, that is the basis for the relatively recent Supreme Court ruling that led to legalized sports gambling for more of the country. Smug, self-righteous and arrogant ideologues think that all US states must have the same legislation and/or give up autonomy to the federal government. Sorry, but that’s unconstitutional.

******************

Rubens Junior posted a comment asking the identity of a car shown in yesterday’s post. I commend him for doing so and ask that if any of you have questions about anything I publish, please feel free to submit them in a comment.

I always remember what many teachers used to say. If you have a question about something it is highly likely you are not the only person with the same question.

******************

What do you think about this car?

 

 

In case you don’t know, or even if you do, this is a Plymouth Prowler. When the Plymouth make was discontinued in 2001, Chrysler Corporation continued to produce the car as the Chrysler Prowler until this day in 2002 when the last Prowler was assembled. Total production was just 11,702 units.

While the Prowler is not my cup of tea, I do appreciate the effort Chrysler made to bring this “factory hot rod” into production. Some enthusiasts think the car was not more successful because it was under-powered (in their opinion) and not offered with a manual transmission. Others think the car was just too impractical to be successful. I think the fact that Mazda has built more than a million MX-5s/Miatas shows a market exists for a car like this.

The Prowler was first offered for the 1997 model year. It was not available for 1998, but was brought back for 1999 with an engine that, sure enough, had more power than the original. However, the upgraded V-6 produced 253 HP/255 LB-FT of torque. For a car that weighed about 2,850 pounds, that is not a poor output (same ratio as 310 HP/312 LB-FT in 3,500-pound car), but since both HP and torque figures started with a “2” and not a “3” or “4” the perception was that the car was under-powered.

I welcome any thoughts you have on the Prowler or almost any other topic published in this blog. Many thanks.

 

#Canton-ese

#10thAmendment

#PlymouthProwler

#somanyCARSjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

If you like this blog please tell your friends and share the blog URL (https://disaffectedmusings.com). Thanks.

 

PS, I had to add this picture.

 

 

We had quite the thunder and lightning show last night and I think even a little hail/sleet mixed in. The temps were in the low 40s.