Myths of the Golden Era -- Exploded!

[V.C. Brunswick]

And don't get me going about power windows and locks with no mechanical backup -- I swear, it's as if it was designed to the specifications of some predator.

 

[William Stratford]

And don't get me going about power windows and locks with no mechanical backup -- a predator's dream.

Indeed. I actually specially bought my car because it is diesel and has manual windows.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I drove a diesel for thirteen years, and so far as simplicity goes, you could pour Crisco in the fuel tank and it'd run. The only reason I got rid of it was that it was eventually consumed by road salt. No doubt that's part of the conspiracy too -- get rid of all the old cars by forcing them to rust out.

I'd like to take the guy who invented power windows and jam his neck in one. However, they aren't strictly a modern invention -- a few Packards and Lincolns had them before the war.

 

[William Stratford]

I drove a diesel for thirteen years, and so far as simplicity goes, you could pour Crisco in the fuel tank and it'd run. The only reason I got rid of it was that it was eventually consumed by road salt. No doubt that's part of the conspiracy too -- get rid of all the old cars by forcing them to rust out.

Over here, for a while, it was even more explicit than that....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8012492.stm

I'd like to take the guy who invented power windows and jam his neck in one.

 

[Flicka]

I have a bicycle. No power windows on that, I'd like to point out.

 

[William Stratford]

I have a bicycle. No power windows on that, I'd like to point out.

Runs on smoked herring...and lets not mention the emissions.

 

[dhermann1]

I'd beg to differ on that; working on a 40 year old engine is a matter of spanners and experience, whilst working on a 5 month old one needs college time on electronics and expensive kit that would make nasa envious....

The same is true of working with wood rather than working with plastic. The former needs hand tools and a supply of trees, whilst the latter needs complex factories and a means of dealing with the pollution. And speaking as a fletcher, I can make my own arrows very simply, but to make cartridges for a rifle would take far more complex equipment.

To suggest that older times were not simpler is a quite strange assertion.

All very true. I was really talking about the moral and emotional realities of life. They never change.

 

[William Stratford]

All very true. I was really talking about the moral and emotional realities of life. They never change.

Ah, well in that case I would say that manners played a greater part in life prior to the "Let it all hang out" 1960s, and from that recall "How but in custom and in ceremony are innocence and beauty born?".

 

[Flicka]

Runs on smoked herring...and lets not mention the emissions.

I must be very ignorant because I wasn't aware I was supposed to feed it kippers. I think you must be thinking of British bicycles.

 

[Edward]

Well, I seem to fail to see the basic moral parity between the positions of the Allies and the Axis.

WE're off on another tangent here, although I am firmly of the belief than pointing to a greater evil "over there" can never excuse the wrong done by oneself.

Perhaps Germany could have withheld the reparation payments without leveling Guernica for practice or rounding-up Jews for the gas chambers.

Possible. I wonder hat the Allied response to that would have been? Of course, as I have already noted, Stresemann did much to reduce the burden throughout the twenties without any resort to this sort of thing.

Perhaps it really wasn't Clemenceau's fault that Germany invaded Poland, Norway, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union (inter alia).

Why would it be? It was clearly Hitler's fault. Clemenceau et al certainly contributed to the climate in Germany which Hitler so successfully exploited to gain power intially, however. My hypothesis above is simply that had the post-WW1 settlement been less focussed upon the humiliation of the losing parties and more focussed on a workable peace, such conditions may not have arisen, which in turn may have made it much harder for Hitler to seize power. Of course, the Versailles planners were not to know the future, but we certainly need to learn lessons from how history panned out in order that we do not repeat the cycle of creating the conditions in which such evil men thrive. We certainly don't yet appear to have done so.

Perhaps, despite your carefully worded but persistent insinuations to the contrary, we really did have a contest between good and evil.

I have made no such insinuation. Naizism was evil and did evil things. The people who countered it also occasionally did evil things. Some of the conditions which allowed Nazism to thrive in 30s Germany were created by outside forces. These were, in retrospect, mistakes. If we refuse to acknowledge these in order to persist an overly-simplistic narrative, we lay the foundations for it happening again. Simple logic. I'm very glad Hitler was beaten, but I'd rather live in a world where he'd never been a factor.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Yup, I had a couple problems with my truck a year or two ago and every time I took it in, it was a $500 bill. I finally asked them if they knew how to charge anything besides $500 on their cash register. Every time except once, I found out what was broke from them, then took it home and fixed it lol

Personally, I think cars today are designed primarily to provide continuous employment for professional auto mechanics. $500 repair bill just to replace a chip? Well, we had to pull out the engine to get to it. :doh:

I do like power windows, until they break. One in my Cadillac is tricky to roll up. The driver's one in my Mercury wagon has to be helped up and down, same with the passenger, and the tailgate window. The driver one in my Caprice wagon is off-track, and the rear-driver's side one is held up by a 2x4.

 

[Edward]

Well, you know what they say... the more complicated a machine is, the more there is to go wrong. It's certainly true that modern cars are much more complex machines, and require a much greater level of specialist knowledge to work on. Probably true of a lot of things.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Well, you know what they say... the more complicated a machine is, the more there is to go wrong. It's certainly true that modern cars are much more complex machines, and require a much greater level of specialist knowledge to work on. Probably true of a lot of things.

That's the problem: every little thing now requires some kind of expert. We're being experted to death!

 

[John in Covina]

Lampoon said Roosvelt dimes carry polio.

Just read about the end of prohibition that many rumrunners and bootleggers remained in the liquor business due to dedicated customers even in wet states.

 

[jamespowers]

That's the problem: every little thing now requires some kind of expert. We're being experted to death!

You know what they say an expert is---someone who knows just a bit more than you and can make you pay for it.

 

[Stearmen]

I figured out and fixed the problem on my new motorcycle a few months ago, which my delership could not do. My neighbor said, "thats the difference between a mechanic and a technician!"

 

[jamespowers]

I figured out and fixed the problem on my new motorcycle a few months ago, which my delership could not do. My neighbor said, "thats the difference between a mechanic and a technician!"

Years ago, my father had to take time off of work to show the "mechanics" at the Ford dealership where the huge oil leaks were coming from. They had mirrors and all kinds of stuff and still couldn't find it even though it was dripping down the block like rain. The morons at the factory had forgotten to torque down the heads tight enough.:eusa_doh:

 

[Flicka]

Well, maybe new cars are difficult to fix, but hey, horse surgery is no picnic either!

 

[jamespowers]

Well, maybe new cars are difficult to fix, but hey, horse surgery is no picnic either!

Yes but a horse can take you home even though you cannot drive.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Musta been in the seventies.

Years ago, my father had to take time off of work to show the "mechanics" at the Ford dealership where the huge oil leaks were coming from. They had mirrors and all kinds of stuff and still couldn't find it even though it was dripping down the block like rain. The morons at the factory had forgotten to torque down the heads tight enough.:eusa_doh: