How crappy are American cars?

They're so crappy that Chrysler is going to stop leasing cars as of Aug. 1st because their values plummet so quickly. The writing's been on the wall for a long time, Detroit. Some can read. I heard another story on NPR Wed. about Ford's drastic changes, and how they're too late. Ironically, Ford has reacted quicker than GM - I expect GM won't be able to hide their precarious position much longer, and having waited so long, will announce even more dire news. Think they won't? Ford is smart to bring their European autos to the US. Finally we'll get some decent cars that they've been making for Europe for a long time now. I expect more Opels under the Saturn name soon too.

The saddest part is that those who are paying for the suits' greediness and short-sightedness are the American auto workers and the American economy in general.

The music industry abuses us and we're to blame

Article

Try as it might to do things the right way, iTunes is the result of countless negotiations with the record labels that continue to dislike everything we stand for and do everything they can to ensure that we're paying too much for a track that's locked down worse than anything we have ever witnessed in this business.

When you "buy" a song on iTunes, you're not really buying it. Instead, you're acquiring the license to listen to a song that can be taken away from you at any moment, can't be sent anywhere you'd like for it to be, and is subject to draconian copyright laws that see you paying too much for too little.

I, for one, am not to blame. Call me a curmudgeon (there are plenty of other reasons to), but I refuse to use iTunes, I refuse to buy music that's in any way locked, not portable, not full quality, uncompressed and re-rippable using any codec at whatever bit rate I choose at any time. In other words, so far, that means CDs. I'd be open to uncompressed CD tracks.

Now, the same thing is happening with video. I want to watch the current season of Battlestar Galactica. I'm totally willing to pay for it. But I don't want my computer hijacked, I don't want mandatory proprietary software, I don't want to "rent" it, and I want it to work. The DVD won't be out until next year. Is that too much to ask? Are we going to take this?

I know, I'm a total nerd.

Blood pressure/grammar

more graph humor and song chart memes

Strib blames the victim

This seems to be a disturbing trend at the Strib. Title is "Motorcyclist without helmet suffers severe head injuries after crash" leading one to believe it was the motorcyclist's own dumb fault. The first paragraph reiterates the headline. Only when you read the whole article do you find out what happened. Getting desperate as the paper declines?

A van pulled out in front of the motorcycle at an intersection on the southeast side of town, causing the collision, the patrol said.

Cruise intervals

On paper, this is an awesome training technique. Cruise at LT for 6-8 minutes, rest 2 minutes, repeat. Except in this suburban hell we call the Twin Cities, a 48 mile ride doesn't get you out of suburbia to be able to complete even two intervals without running into a stoplight, stop sign that's not rollable or idiot in an SUV making a left turn right into you! I'd really like to incorporate this into my training, but I just don't see how that's going to happen in reality. Portlanders and Boulderites(?), count your blessings and appreciate your urban growth boundary. Maybe I'll have to load up the bike and head out for grav rides once a week...

Justice

From CNN:

TUCSON, Arizona (AP) -- A judge sentenced a woman to nearly the maximum prison term for negligent homicide after hearing a recorded jail conversation in which she made light of the bicyclist she killed.

Melissa Arrington, 27, was convicted two months ago of negligent homicide and two counts of aggravated DUI in connection with the December 2006 death of Paul L'Ecuyer.

She could have gotten as few as four years behind bars, but Superior Court Judge Michael Cruikshank sentenced her Tuesday to 10½ years -- one year shy of the maximum.

Cruikshank said he found a telephone conversation between Arrington and an unknown male friend, a week after L'Ecuyer was killed, to be "breathtaking in its inhumanity."

During the conversation, the man told Arrington that an acquaintance believed she should get a medal and a parade because she had "taken out" a "tree hugger, a bicyclist, a Frenchman and a gay guy all in one shot."

Arrington laughed. When the man said he knew it was a terrible thing to say, she responded, "No, it's not."

Assistant Public Defender Michael Rosenbluth told the judge his client has never been "cold, callous or flippant" about L'Ecuyer's death and has always felt remorseful.

Arrington said words couldn't express how she feels, and that once she's out of prison, she hopes to share her story with Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

L'Ecuyer, 45, was riding his bike the night of December 1, 2006 when Arrington swerved off the road, hit him and then continued for 800 feet before stopping, according to Deputy Pima County Attorney Jonathan Mosher.

Arrington's blood-alcohol content was .156 percent, nearly double Arizona's .08 legal limit. She had been driving on a suspended license for a prior DUI

Teen taunted tiger while tanked: cops

Darwinism at work. It really angers me that the tiger had to die because of these kids' idiocy. Additionally, there is evidence the kids were inside the railing and that synthetic urine was found in their car, an attempt to beat drug tests (both alcohol and marijuana were found in blood tests).

Andreu leaves Rock Racing

The only surprise is he lasted as long as he did there. Who'd want to work with Michael Ball? Fcuk* them. Frankie has talent and deserves better than what he got at both Rock Racing and Toyota United. At Toyota United he put together the ass-kickingest domestic squad and got the shaft for telling the truth. Chris Horner was smart to stay away. I wish Frankie luck.

*Smithers blog is retired, but as background here's a snippet from an earlier post:

I heard a story about those Rock Racing guys. There was a group at the race venue promoting a youth cycling rodeo where a bunch of kids were riding bikes around road cones and having fun. The Rock guys showed up and moved all the cones out of the way so they could park their team SUV and Lamborghini next to the course. So much for the kids.

When someone asked them about it the response from the team was an enthusiastic Fuck You.

Ball has made clear his intentions of building his domestic squad into a Tour de France-caliber team, telling VeloNews earlier this year, “I want a yellow jersey on my wall.”

Fuck you.