A Lot To Digest

As I begin writing this post–first, I have no idea when I will actually publish it–I am about 110,000 words short of a million in this forum. At the overall average number of words per post in the history of this blog I am 205 posts away, which is doable before the end of the year, but not a certainty.

At the average since the beginning of last year (2022), I am 172 posts away. That number is barely half the average of the first four calendar years I wrote Disaffected Musings (2018-2021) and 57% of the number of posts I wrote last year.

I almost called this post The Quest For A Million, but soured on that as I realized I had much more about which I wanted to write. Still, that goal is there for the taking, even if it means nothing to anyone else except me.

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

In my very strongly held opinion, people should refrain from commenting on topics about which they know nothing, or next to nothing. (Cliff Claven would not be funny in real life.) One thing I hear from time to time from people who don’t live here is how hot it must be everywhere. When I mention the change in temperature with respect to elevation (I seldom use the phrase “adiabatic lapse rate”) I often receive a scoff. “What difference could it make? So, it’s 100° at your house if it’s 102° at the airport.”

On the first day of the Mecum auction my wonderful wife and I pulled out of the parking lot at State Farm Stadium at 2:15 PM. The display on my Mustang GT indicated the outside temperature was 82°. When we pulled into the driveway at our house, the Goose Bumps house, at 3:15 PM the same display indicated a temperature of 72°.

On the second day of the auction, we left the parking lot at 2:30 PM and the display on my wonderful wife’s Corvette read 82°. When we pulled into the driveway at 3:20 PM (we didn’t have to stop for gas), the display read 73°.

On day three the particulars were: leaving State Farm Stadium at 2:50 PM, outside temperature was 68°. When we arrived home at 3:50 the temp was 55°, granting that our house was on the fringe of an area of rain.

This example leads to a bigger, more important point: if you don’t have command of the facts, then just shut up and listen. (It is better to be silent and thought the fool than to open one’s mouth and to remove all doubt.) This country has descended into a frenzy of shouting, not speaking, without thinking. It’s more than OK to admit that you don’t know something, it can be a great way to really learn something. Once again, freedom of speech (which doesn’t really mean what most people think it means) doesn’t mean anyone is obligated to listen. Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences and it doesn’t mean you can’t be called out when you are factually incorrect. People are entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts.

I am beyond fed up by idiots spouting off. It also seems that our governments have become confederacies of dunces, to borrow the title if not really the story from the novel by John Kennedy Toole.

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

What is the significance of this car?

 

 

This is a car on which I made a bid without ever having seen it before. It is a 2005 Cadillac XLR that intrigued me when it reached the block at the same time I was returning to my seat. (I am going to publish many of my photos from Mecum in one post after the auction ends on Saturday, April 1.)

I bid $13,000 ($14,300 all in); the car didn’t sell at a high bid of $16,500 ($18,150 all in). Is it a blessing that I didn’t end up with the car? Well, when one considers that it is rare to find an XLR without excessive mileage listed at under $20,000, maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.

Despite my “car captain” (not my wonderful wife) advising me not to buy an XLR and despite my one-hour “epiphany” at the auction that I should buy a C6 Corvette convertible, I am 95% sure that if/when I buy a car, it will be a Cadillac XLR. The heart wants what it wants. Besides, an XLR is in many ways a C6 Corvette convertible.

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

An extreme example of burying the lede: The European Union, after intense lobbying by Porsche and Ferrari, have agreed to allow the sale of new cars powered by Internal Combustion Engines to continue after 2035 as long as such cars run on synthetic fuels, or eFuels. I am sure that most of the US states that have banned the sale of new “polluting” cars after 2035 will not consider such a rule. That will only open the door for foreign makes to capture more of the US market. Remember that despite the years of hype and lobbying, pure electric vehicles constituted just 6% of all new vehicles sold in the US in 2022.

Maybe I am biased, but I think this EU ruling is a game-changer for cars going forward and an example of common sense winning out. It is beyond a fool’s errand to commit to pointless spending of untold billions to create an EV “infrastructure” when cars can be made zero-emission at the tailpipe by changing head design and timing to accommodate synthetic fuels. I will believe that for the rest of my life.

 

#ALotToDigest

#IfYouDon’tKnowThenShutUp

#CadillacXLR

#CommonSensePrevails

#DeathBeforeEV

#somanyCARSjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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