Meniere’s Monday

I don’t know if my Meniere’s Disease has become more active because of stress due to the fact that the house situation is still not quite resolved. I have been told just to accept whatever happens. That is most decidedly not in my nature.

I don’t think the San Francisco 49ers can accept that their chances of going to the Super Bowl disappeared when their starting quarterback, and the third QB they’d played this season, suffered a severe elbow injury on their sixth offensive play. I don’t think the Cincinnati Bengals can accept the “do-over” when a clock operator mistakenly started the clock on a Kansas City play or the unnecessary roughness penalty that put the Chiefs in position to kick the game-winning field goal to send them to the Super Bowl. By the way, the latter call was correct, IMO, although I’ve seen officials swallow their whistles on plays like that in crunch time.

The 49ers were also the “victim” when what appeared to be a great catch by the Eagles’ DeVonta Smith that enabled Philadelphia to convert on a fourth down was not really a catch. Wisely, the Eagles hustled to the line after the play, the 49ers didn’t challenge the call and the NFL’s new replay system failed to notice the mistake in time.

Life gives all of us things that are unfair. Whether or not we have any recourse it is only human nature to be angry and for that anger to manifest itself in protest. Hopefully, the protest does not cause more harm. For the nth time:

“If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, do we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.”

– Shakespeare

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That’s probably more football than many of you want to read. I will add that, unlike the apparent opinion of the commentators, Jalen Hurts, Eagles QB, did not look anywhere near 100%. Some of his throws fluttered to the ground short of their target and he could not really complete passes down the field. Hurts only threw for 121 yards on 25 attempts. Also, apart from too many defensive penalties (seven of the Eagles’ 25 first downs came via penalty), the 49ers vaunted defense played well, holding Philadelphia to 3.8 yards per play, compared to their season average of 6.1.

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It’s still hard to believe so many people think cryptocurrency is a legitimate asset or investment. This CNBC article is titled, “North Korea-linked hackers behind $100 million crypto heist, FBI says.” Yes, hackers can steal “real money” online. Still, we have been told that blockchain, the technology that makes crypto possible, is inviolable. Obviously, that is false. Once again, while sovereign fiat currency is not foolproof, at least it is backed by government’s ability to tax and to borrow. What backs crypto? Nothing except people’s faith in it.

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Time compression due to aging is very real. The Arizona Concours my wonderful wife and I attended seems like it was yesterday, not eight days ago. Below is a picture of the car named Best In Show.

The car is a 1947 Talbot with coachwork by Fagoni and Falaschi. My favorite car, the 1961 Ghia L 6.4 coupe shown below, was given a Best In Class award.

While the reasons are not that important, because I do accept that I can’t change them, my interest in cars has definitely waned in the last year. I did not watch a single minute of the TV broadcast of the recently completed Barrett-Jackson auction and we did not watch any of the car auction live. We only attended three days of the nine the event was held.

While the recent announcement that General Motors is investing a nine-figure sum in a new generation of gasoline-powered small-block V8 engines might, might, be a sign that US automakers know they will have to manufacture ICE-powered vehicles for the foreseeable future, the severely misguided EV propaganda coming from governments and car companies is just too much for me to stomach.

#Meniere’sMonday

#NFLConferenceChampionshipGames

#CryptoIsAScam

#DeathBeforeEV

#somanyCARSjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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Wise Words From Dirty Dingus McGee

I suspect only a small percentage of readers reads the comments. That’s their loss. Dirty Dingus McGee submitted a comment that I think is worthy of being shared with all readers.

“In the headlong rush to make EVERYTHING electric, there quite a few things that are flat out ignored.

First: there is NOTHING “green” about an electric vehicle. They use more resources to manufacture than an ICE vehicle. They require a supply of power, a battery stores electricity it does not generate any, and roughly 2/3 of that power comes from coal power. When that battery reaches the end of its life, they are currently not recyclable. Probably 90% of my ICE vehicles are recyclable. In my current fleet there are molecules of steel that were once my grandmother’s refrigerator, my neighbors wore out backhoe and even my great grandfathers hand saw.

Second: there is an element of control involved I think. It’s easier to control a population that is less mobile. If I can only get 2-300 miles on a charge, then have to wait to recharge for a couple hours due to a line in front of me, then spend 1 hour charging, how far from home can I afford to go? And there is also the reality of blackouts. Remember all the way back to last summer in California? “We have to have rolling blackouts due to excessive load on the grid. Oh yeah, we’re also gonna make you buy only electric vehicles.” But you’ll be able to take a bus to get where you want to go. Ever take a bus? I would almost rather hitch hike.

Third: Most all of the promises for the future are just that, promises. Based mostly on hopeium and unobtanium, with dashes of pixie dust and unicorn farts. And these promises are made by politicians, the most honest and trustworthy folks around. Who are also, strangely, exempt from the policies they force us to live by. So please forgive me for not believing it’s raining, when I can see you pissing on my back.”

Bravo, DDM, Bravo!

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Here’s a video from a tweet that read, “Why Bob Barker quit The Price Is Right.” Sorry, but all I can think when I see this is we have WAY too many stupid people in this country.

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My wonderful wife took this pic and sent it to me. It almost doesn’t look real, but it is.

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If it hadn’t been for DDM’s comment, I wasn’t going to post today. With the disappointing lipase result, the process of filing a grievance against the GI practice that refused to do anything to help me because I was late for an appointment–only time I have ever been late for a medical appointment, the uncertainty surrounding the potential sale of our current home and potential purchase of the “Goose Bumps” house, I am just frazzled beyond hope.

I am going to try to fast today to give my pancreas a day off. When I was in the ER in early December, even though my lipase level was only slightly above the normal range, the ER physician suggested I spend 1-3 days in the hospital on IV fluids and probably partially sedated. I chose not to stay, but have come to regret that decision in the past two days. I wonder if 10mg of melatonin will make me sleepy enough so I can spend part of the day napping.

#WiseWordsFromDirtyDingusMcGee

#DeathBeforeEV

#somanyCARSjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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Ahead Of My Time

As I have written before, I was using statistical analysis, or analytics, to help a major league baseball team make decisions in a full-time job 15 years before Moneyball was published. No one had heard of Michael Lewis and Billy Beane was just another first-round bust.

In the late 1990s, while I was Director of Baseball Operations for a major league team, I proposed that position players (non-pitchers) without enough service time to be eligible for salary arbitration be compensated on the basis of OPS, On-Base Percentage Plus Slugging Percentage, adjusted for position and weighted for playing time. The data that allowed for solid, objective evaluation of defense was just over the horizon at that point. I also proposed a similar scheme for pitchers, but obviously one that was based on pitching metrics.

Someone recently sent me this link to an ESPN article that reported on the first bonus pool for players not yet eligible for salary arbitration. The top 100 players in WAR–Wins Above Replacement, a “modern” metric for evaluating performance–among those who do not have enough service time for arbitration received bonuses. Such bonuses were also paid for players in this group who finished first or second in Rookie of the Year voting, in the top five for MVP and Cy Young as well as first and second-team All-MLB. A good percentage of these players will earn more in bonuses than their salary.

Can you understand my continuing bitterness towards major league baseball? Maybe they are simply being kind, but the very few people still in the game with whom I still have any communication tell me that the “kids” being hired today by teams don’t know as much about the game as I did. Yet, they are in and I am out.

One thing that aggravates me to no end is people who believe that everyone gets what they deserve. That to me is SUB: Sheer Unadulterated Bullshit. NO ONE even knows what anyone else deserves.

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Here are links to two stories about Tesla cars:

A Tesla Owner Says He Was Locked Out Of His Car After The Battery Died

Tesla Magically Ignites While Sitting In Junkyard

My wonderful wife sent me these stories. Philip Maynard sent me this link to a story about automakers are now charging subscription fees, which is made much easier with electric cars, for features like heated seats.

The EV lemmings/zealots refuse to acknowledge that electric cars have drawbacks. NOTHING made by human beings is perfect because NO human being is perfect. #DeathBeforeEV

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This recent Hagerty article is about their “Bull Market” list for 2023, the hottest collector vehicles. One point they make is that more than half of the list–6 of 11–was built after 2000. I was pleasantly surprised that most of the vehicles were actually cars and not SUVs or pickup trucks. My wonderful wife is a big fan of this car that made the list; me, not so much.

AMC AMX side pan high angle

I have always thought that the C-pillar (some would call it the B-pillar) for the original AMC AMX is simply too large for the car. Here is the Hagerty “Intelligence” on the AMX that led it to making this list:

“The AMX is the other two-seat American performance car of the 1960s, and though its appreciation lags behind other muscle cars, younger enthusiasts are increasingly shopping for it. Appreciation since 2019 for the AMX was 28.8 percent, which is behind the ’67–69 Camaro (up 40.5 percent). However, interest from next-generation enthusiasts has nearly tripled since 2019, from a share of 13 percent to 38, suggesting further appreciation is likely.”

My idiosyncratic “appreciation” of small cars has manifested itself in strange ways, including a like of this car that made the list:

Suzuki Cappuccino rear three-quarter driving action

This is a Suzuki Cappuccino. I have written about this car before, here and here. Here is the Hagerty summary for the Cappuccino.

“The Cappuccino never got the same attention as its fellow ABC kei cars, the Autozam AZ-1 and Honda Beat. However, demand for this more “practical” kei car is increasing. Imports have outpaced the Beat in recent years and average protected values are increasing at twice the rate of those for the Beat. Millennial and Gen Z enthusiasts submit over 80 percent of insurance quotes, which assures there will be a dedicated following in the future. It’s nearly impossible to find a more interesting car for under $10,000, assuming you can fit in one.”

Was my interest in this car ahead of its time (the first time I wrote about it was in 2018)? I’ll let you decide.

#AheadOfMyTime

#SUB

#EVsAreNOTTheAnswer

#DeathBeforeEV

#HagertyBullMarket

#AMCAMX

#SuzukiCappuccino

#somanyCARSjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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A New Hero

The rebooted De Tomaso automobile company is building a limited-edition, zero-emission, track-only supercar. Why is this news? The De Tomaso P900 is NOT electric, but runs on synthetic fuels. Norman Choi, De Tomaso CEO, is my new hero. Here are his remarks as published in this Hagerty article:

“As a passionate automotive enthusiast, it is difficult for me to accept a silent EV-driven future. We believe that alternatives do exist, and the development of our new platform, driven by synthetic fuels, is our solution for keeping this shared passion for the theatre of combustion engines alive. This venture into synthetic fuels represents our commitment to the pursuit of a zero-emissions mobility future without sacrificing the crucial element which we all hold so dear— the soul and symphony of an engine.”

The soul and symphony of an engine. Amen! We believe that alternatives do exist. Double Amen! Here is a picture of the P 900.

Manifold-News-DeTomaso-V12-lead

“Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

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I have been having health issues. (What a surprise…not.) Or have I? Physical exams have proven to be unremarkable and testing suggests I am very healthy. For example, this week my resting heart rate was measured at 63 BPM and my blood pressure at 110-over-70.

I am beginning to think my general state of ennui, of boredom is manifesting itself in physical issues. I have read in multiple places that many physicians think 80%-90% of illness in the “developed” world (I don’t think it’s as developed as its residents think) is the result of stress. That could apply to illness that cannot be confirmed by testing, I suppose.

I am having blood drawn today for more testing and since a Hemoglobin A1C level will be part of that testing, I am going to eat whatever I want at a breakfast shared with my wonderful wife AFTER they take blood. What’s the joke about the engraving on the tombstone of a hypochondriac? See, I told you I was sick.

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I don’t really care if USC makes this year’s College Football Playoff (CFP), but much in the same way I rooted for Cincinnati to get in last year, I would much prefer that TCU make the four-team field instead of Ohio State or Alabama, not that I have anything against those schools’ football teams. By the way, the word is the people in charge of the CFP and who are trying to accelerate the expansion to 12 teams before 2026 have given the Rose Bowl “administrators” a deadline of today to accept CFP proposals. If the Rose Bowl refuses to agree, then it’s my understanding that playoff expansion will have to wait until 2026 AND that the Rose Bowl could then be left out of the playoff completely.

The arrogance of those in charge of the Rose Bowl is mind-boggling to me. They are going to cost the schools hundreds of millions of dollars and hurt one of their affiliated conferences, the Pac-12, that would benefit greatly by playoff expansion. Once again, the Rose Bowl is NOT bigger than college football.

#ANewHero

#DeTomasoP900

#NormanChoi

#DeathBeforeEV

#IdleHandsAreBadForYourHealth

#F—TheRoseBowl

#somanyCARSjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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Munday Mosings

I wasn’t going to post today, in no small way due to the fact about which I am going to write. Yesterday saw fewer views on a day with a post than on many days without. Sorry, but that bothers me.

Here is some news:

Etxe bat erosteko eskaintza egin genuen.

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On this day in 1945 Robert H. Jackson, United States Supreme Court Justice and US Chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials under an international military tribunal, gave the opening speech for the prosecution at Nuremberg. From Jackson’s perspective, the purpose of the trial was not just to convict the defendants but also to assemble irrefutable evidence of Nazi crimes, establish individual responsibility and the crime of aggression in international law, offer a history lesson to the defeated Germans, de-legitimize the traditional German elite and allow the Allies to distance themselves from appeasement. Jackson maintained that while the United States did “not seek to convict the whole German people of crime”, neither did the trial “serve to absolve the whole German people except 21 men in the dock.”

Recently, the FBI reported that crimes against Jews in the US have risen fourfold in the last decade. The Holocaust did not begin with bullets and gas chambers, it began with words and hate. I think the beginning of another Holocaust is in the making.

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From Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated: “CFP [College Football Playoff] presidents do not plan to guarantee the Rose Bowl an exclusive January 1st window in future playoffs, giving the bowl a deadline to make its decision on early expansion.” Early expansion refers to increasing the playoff field from 4 teams to 12 before 2026.

I think those who govern the Rose Bowl need an operation to have their heads removed from their rectums. The Rose Bowl is NOT bigger than college football. They have continued to insist that their game be played at 2 PM Pacific Time on January 1st regardless of what else is happening with the CFP. Basically, the Rose Bowl “issue” is the last thing to be resolved before early expansion becomes likely.

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A cousin of the Kia Stinger, the Genesis G90, has recently been named the 2023 Motor Trend Car of the Year. I don’t know if this link will break, but here is a picture of the G90 from the Motor Trend article.

2023 genesis g90 07

The first paragraph of the piece contains the following:

“Cars are becoming a niche commodity. Once the dominant form of family transportation, the “car” as we once knew it now toes the endangered segment list…And as cars get rarer, they’re also becoming rarified. The few remaining producers of mainstream econoboxes, compacts, and midsize sedans fielded no newcomers this year. In their place was a roster of mostly sporty or luxurious contestants.”

I see an irony in the fact that while pure electric cars are still primarily the plaything of wealthy urban dwellers, particularly in the US, some with money still want performance and luxury from an “old-fashioned” car. (The G90 is about $100,000.) My tweet to General Motors tells you everything you need to know about where I stand, as if you didn’t already know.

#MundayMosings

#NurembergTrials

#DeathBeforeEV

#somanyCARSjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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