I want one

Mahindra Appalachian

Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. will shake up the U.S. truck market next year when it introduces a new midsize pickup called the Appalachian sporting a 2.2L four-cylinder diesel engine producing around 150 horsepower and 300 pound feet of torque. Speaking with Mike Levine from Pickuptruck.com, John Perez, the CEO of Atlanta-based importer Global Vehicles U.S.A. that's aiding Mahindra's entry into the U.S. market, revealed that the truck will deliver 30 to 35 miles per gallon and cost in the mid-$20,000 range. It will be paired with a six-speed automatic that's controlled via a floor-mounted shifter or paddle shifters(!), have a class-leading payload of 2,600 lbs. and feature a 60,000-mile, four year bumper-to-bumper warranty.

If that's not enough to strike fear in domestic and import truck makers alike, Mahindra has also revealed plans to sell a diesel hybrid version of its pickup by 2010. If it happens, the diesel hybrid Appalachian will be, as far as we know, the only diesel hybrid on sale in the U.S. market and achieve fuel economy figures even higher than its diesel-only counterpart. Imagine a midsize pickup in the low-$30,000 price range capable of 40+ mpg.

30 - 35 miles a gallon, from a pickup. Not only that, but its 2600 pound payload capacity beats out every compact, mid-size (its class), and full-size pickup on the market, American or Japanese. And not by a few pounds either, but by many hundreds of pounds. For comparison, the Ford F-150 has a payload capacity ranging from 1500 to 1800 pounds and gets, at best, 20 miles per gallon. The Ford Ranger, meanwhile, has a payload capacity of under 1300 pounds but has a maximum fuel efficiency of 26 miles per gallon. But then, the Ranger doesn't have 300 pounds of torque, nor does it hit hit that 26 mpg with an automatic transmission, or four-wheel drive. This thing even has external tie-downs! Is the Mahindra the most attractive truck? Nope, but damn, is it useful. I'll take a crew-cab, thanks.

A spectacular use of time and money

I'm glad our government spends so much of its time and money on investigating steroid use in baseball. It's not like we have other pressing matters, like murder, rape, terrorism, poverty, pollution, or a failing infrastructure. Nope.

FBI opens inquiry into Clemens' testimony

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The FBI is investigating whether baseball great Roger Clemens perjured himself in testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee earlier this month, government officials told CNN on Thursday.

The FBI will also probe whether his former personal trainer, Brian McNamee, lied in testimony to the same committee, the officials said.

"The request to open an investigation into the congressional testimony of Roger Clemens has been turned over to the FBI and will receive appropriate investigative action by the FBI's Washington field office," agency spokesman Richard Kolko said...

Why (continued)

http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/02/the-dungeon-of.php

...The jail in Fallujah is the only functioning jail I have ever visited. I did, however, go inside one of Saddam Hussein’s former jails in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The famous “Red Building” in the city of Suleimaniya is a horror show. It’s a museum of sorts now, in the way Auschwitz is a museum. Perhaps monument or memorial are better descriptions.

Before it was liberated by the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga, resistance fighters and their family members were arrested, interrogated, and sadistically tortured inside its walls. A free-standing rape room with large windows was built just outside. Bloody women’s underwear was found on the floor after the Baath regime agents were ousted. Inside some of the cells are messages carved by children into the walls. “I was ten years old. But they changed my age to 18 for execution.” “Dear Mom and Dad. I am going to be executed by the Baath. I will not see you again.”

10,725 people were murdered in the Red Building alone by the previous government of Iraq. All died during torture. Formal execution actually took place in Abu Ghraib.

I wrote about and photographed this hideous place on my first trip to the country, and Martin Kunert left the following note in my comments section:

“Two years ago, I produced the documentary film Voices of Iraq, where we sent 150 DV cameras across Iraq and allowed Iraqis to film their own lives. The cameras got into the prison you visited and others. I viewed several hours of video and testimony detailing the horrors of Saddam's torture. One woman recalled tearfully how her newborn baby was fed to dogs in front of her eyes. Another video shows floors stained with blood and fat that liquefied off torture victims and poured onto the tiles below them. What transpired in those chambers is beyond belief. It takes a strong stomach to go through the tours you're experiencing.”

An Iraqi interpreter I met in Baghdad who calls himself Hammer spent time in Abu Ghraib prison while Saddam was in charge.

“On the bus to the jail I didn’t have handcuffs,” he said. “I asked why. The guard said Look behind you. The first guy behind me got a 600 year sentence. The next guy got six hanging sentences. The third guy was sentenced to be thrown blindfolded out of a second story window. Twice. Another guy f*cked his mother and sisters three times. He was freed on Saddam’s birthday. Another guy had his hand cut off...

Why We (Should) Fight

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,330810,00.html

This, and worse, is the future of Iraq if we abandon those whom we conquered.

Black dog

No, not that one. This one:


Sarah's visit:



Playing with Ami in the fall:



Thanksgiving in Indiana



On the patio in Dallas:


Squirrel endeavors:


Cats at peace (with Jake outside) in the sun:


The long car ride back to Colorado:


He doesn't mind the snow:


In fact, he likes to eat it:


Chewing on a new Kong:


Playing with Ami this winter:

More political brilliance regarding oil

Federal Panel Calls for Serious Gas-Tax Hike

The Associated Press reports this week a special panel is recommending a significant increase in federal gasoline tax that would more than double today’s rate. If fully phased-in, the new tax rate could add 40 cents to the price of a gallon of fuel.

Hike in federal gas tax floated

The panel wants Congress to raise the federal gas tax – currently at 18.4 cents a gallon – by 5 to 8 cents a year for five years, and then allow the rate to grow with inflation after that. By then, drivers would be paying $6 extra for every 15-gallon tank. The panel also wants state gas taxes increased.

At least Kay Bailey said something intelligent about the whole thing:

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, also rejected the idea of raising the federal gas tax.

"With Americans paying more than $3 per gallon at the pump and the economy teetering on a recession, we should be providing tax relief, not imposing a tax that has the greatest impact on lower- and middle-class families," her spokesman Matt Mackowiak said.
...
One aspect of the report that would give states more authority to toll both new and existing interstates drew criticism from Ms. Hutchison.

"Taxpayers should never be asked to pay twice for a highway," said her spokesman, Mr. Mackowiak.

A follow-up to the fuel economy standards post

The Tax They Didn't Tell You About

I don't agree with everything they say, like small cars being unsafe, but they do make some good points.

Fine, say the populist politicians. Stick it to the automakers. But do they really think Ford and GM will pick up the tab? Of course not. It'll be you, as GM's Lutz made clear in comments Sunday.

"We've done even more research," Lutz said, "and (the cost per car of new CAFE standards is) going to be in the range of $4,000 to $10,000, with an average of about $6,000."

Let's put that in perspective. The average cost of an automobile in 2006 was $27,958, according to the Comerica (NYSE:CMA PRZ) (NYSE:CMA) Automotive Affordability Index. So our new energy bill is, in effect, going to be a 21.4% tax hike on the current car prices.

Bill of Rights Day

Brought to you by the Cato Institute (named after a really crotchety, conservative Roman politician):

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2007/12/15/bill-of-rights-day

The Rule of Idiots - or - Why the new fuel economy standard is asinine

So Congress is getting ready to raise fuel economy standards for passenger vehicles. Here's a story on it: http://money.cnn.com/2007/12/01/news/economy/fuel_efficiencysat/index.htm

What does it really mean? That our politicians are morons and our citizens fools. Consider that the only vehicles that currently meet the 35 mpg standard are the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid. Not even compact, economy cars like the Honda Fit achieve this new standard. Are people so misguided as to believe that automakers have some magic button that they can press to increase fuel efficiency? The CNN story compares the new standard to Europe and Japan, which is a flawed comparison for a variety of reasons. First, cityscapes in both are fundamentally different from those in the United States which leads to fundamentally different requirements for transportation and driving styles and frequency. Second, Japanese and European (and Canadian) methods of measuring fuel economy are less stringent than our standards. That is, a given car with the same engine, transmission, and gearing in Japan or Europe will be rated as more fuel efficient than in the United States. Moreover, the new fuel economy standard raises the mileage per gallon from 25 to 35, but doesn't take into account the fact that the new EPA method of measuring mileage is much more rigorous. Do politicians care about any of this? Of course not, because this legislation is just another easy way to garner votes and keep them in office. The cost burden of this increase is estimated to be an additional $2 - 3000. Advocates maintain that such a difference will be made up by increased fuel efficiency. But guess what? The people who will feel that additional cost most are people who are already burdened by a lack of money and who would be buying fuel efficient (cheap) cars anyway. People with the financial means to afford large, inefficient vehicles could give two shits about the cost of gas. The increased cost won't affect them one bit, while those living on meager means will be hit once more with governmental bullshit. Oh, and another thing. Trucks are exempt from the new standard because of a loophole classifying them as "work vehicles". Brilliant. Why should anyone buy a more expensive, less powerful vehicle when they can just go buy a pickup that doesn't have to adhere to the new mileage standard? The squeeze of increased fuel costs is pushing people to buy more fuel efficient vehicles like "crossovers" such as the GMC Acadia or Honda CR-V. By requiring these vehicles to adhere to the new standard, but not trucks, there is less incentive to purchase the more efficient of the two. Automakers like Toyota and Honda have done good jobs increasing the power, safety, size, and weight of their vehicles while simultaneously increasing their fuel efficiency. Take the new Honda Accord. It's now a full-size sedan, not a midsize, that can be had with a 268 horsepower 3.5L V6 engine. Thus, it's the most powerful and largest Accord ever, but also the most efficient because it achieves 19 | 29 miles a gallon on the city | highway respectively. (Compare that to the 4-cylinder version that achieves 23|31.) Other federal legislation requires greater safety from vehicles, a good cause. However, safety features add weight, which decreases fuel economy and increases cost. Consider the legislation requiring all vehicles to be equipped with stability control now. What does that do? It increases complexity and cost while separating the driver even more from responsibility. If the government was really concerned with the financial burden of gas costs, they'd stop taxing gas. But that would decrease the amount of money they get to waste and with which to fatten their pockets. There are better ways to encourage increased fuel economy. Tax credits for hybrid vehicles, for instance. Positive reinforcement is a better way of doing things than negative punishment, most of the time. Anyway, I've lost my train of thought so this has been a mess of a post. The point is that the government grows ever larger and the populace ever stupider, with no remedy in sight.

Resistance is futile

Michael Yon is a freelance reporter who has spent the past several years travelling Iraq with various military units, photographing and writing of his experiences and publishing them on yon (ha) intertubes. His writing style isn't as agreeable to me as Michael Totten's, but it's better than most anything you'll run across. His latest post is querulous, as he takes the media (and to a lesser extent the U.S. population) to task for their misunderstanding and misrepresentation of current events within Iraq. Certainly the situation has been bad, and nearly everything imaginable was botched by those in charge for the first few years. Lately, however, things have changed, and for the better. Once upon a time, we were a destabilizing force in the country; no longer. I type this today because of something happening on campus: another demonstration against the war. While I sympathize with the objections to the foolish escapade for Bush et alii, I disagree that withdrawal is the proper course of action. Indeed, if one of the complaints is that we harm the Iraqis by our presence, the alternative (the lack of our presence) would be even more damaging, not just to the Iraqis but the region as a whole. They, and Americans in general, hear the voices of Iraqis lamenting, but do not listen. The Shi'a say, "You betrayed us, we trust you no more, but do not leave us yet." Sunnis say, "Once you were our enemies, now allies, but we want our country back, but do not leave us yet." The Kurds say, "You betrayed us time and again, but never leave us, for we will be more certain friends to you than even the Israelis. If you leave us we will fight, but we will lose and die. Do not forsake us." The history of Americans in Iraq is at once glorious and disgraceful: we went and conquered swiftly, but ignored our friends in need, so that they suffered for it. I am no expert on the Near East, Iraq, the military, or many other things; I am quite a dilettante in such regards. But I attempt to inform myself and remain grounded in reality. Totten and Yon are two of the tools by which I do so, reputable writers who happen to publish via the internet, not simply attention whores of mediocrity as so many other "bloggers" and even journalists. (I have little respect for journalism as it is now taught and employed.) I highly recommend reading both on a regular basis. At the end of my little rant, I now provide you with the promised link to Yon's latest publication. Spend five, ten minutes and read it. Though not the ideal introduction to his writings, his proposal is sound and meritorious. Had I money to spare I would contribute.

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/resistance-is-futile.htm

Excerpt:

"A gulf. A gap. A chasm. A parallel universe.

All describe the bizarro-world contrast between what most Americans seem to think is happening in Iraq versus what is really happening in Iraq. Knowing this disconnect exists and experiencing it directly are two separate matters. It’s like the difference between holding the remote control during the telecast of a volcanic eruption on some distant island (and then flipping the channel), versus running for survival from a wretch of molten lava that just engulfed your car.

I was at home in the United States just one day before the magnitude hit me like vertigo: America seems to be under a glass dome which allows few hard facts from the field to filter in unless they are attached to a string of false assumptions. Considering that my trip home coincided with General Petraeus’ testimony before the US Congress, when media interest in the war was (I’m told) unusually concentrated, it’s a wonder my eardrums didn’t burst on the trip back to Iraq. In places like Singapore, Indonesia, and Britain people hardly seemed to notice that success is being achieved in Iraq, while in the United States, Britney was competing for airtime with O.J. in one of the saddest sideshows on Earth..."

Developments

Butch and Ami are getting along much better now. In fact, they love to wrestle each other outside and play chase.






Butch didn't like Ami coming up to me for petting at first but he's used to it now. Ami, however, likes to steal Butch's food. He doesn't seem to learn that doing so gets the crap beaten out of him by Butch. I took Butch to the dog park yesterday morning and then to PetCo for grooming in the afternoon, to get rid of two weeks' worth of stink out of his coat. They trimmed him up a bit, gave him a bath, some not-too-pleasant cologne, and an orange ribbon for his time there.



He didn't seem to mind it but was very happy to see me when I went to pick him up. That night Lior, Ami's owner, had a party in the house where Lior's brother brought his own dog, Moose, over.



Butch was okay with him at the start, but when Moose came up to me Butch got mad at him. Humping happened later on, once Butch realized he could dominate the much larger Moose. We're working on this possession thing.

Superdatum

Chances are if you're reading this you already know these things. In any case, summer was mildly eventful, mainly in the form of participating in the dig.



We went exploring behind the town one day and ran across a previously unknown Dead City, which was named Jebel Rosn after one of our participants. Below is a shot of me looking into a cistern at said site.



A man I ran into at the church one day told me that I looked like Jesus in the face. We had a costume party for Jesse's birthday so naturally I dressed up as Jesus, albeit with short hair (my wig idea didn't pan out).



I bought a crik (shovel) handle down in Jisr, which I used as a staff, as well as a sheet for the clothing, tied one of my shirts around me like a sash, and bought some prayer beads and hung them from some rope (which we used for the electroresistivity meter) that I wore like a belt. I think it turned out pretty well, all things considered.



I don't have all of my pictures from the trip yet, as I had to store them on Eric's and Jason's computers. Soon, hopefully.

I spent some time in Bloomington with Sarah, Tex, and Lucy, and there was much rejoicing, before going home to Dallas for a few weeks. I came up to Boulder about a week before classes began for training and to begin work at Testing Services. This year I'm a GA for Diane's class on Pompeii, which means that I have partial funding. Classes shouldn't be too bad this semester, but combined with the 6:00 a.m. wake-up time for Pompeii and the mess with having to apply to Ph.D. programs, things may prove hectic later on. Not all has been rosy, however, as Grandpa Dave died the other day. It was fairly sudden and only mildly expected. Thankfully he went quickly. It'll be strange without him. Mom flew up there immediately while Dad and I made our ways to Maine a few days later for the funeral and burial. We stayed with Steve and Paige at their fantastic house in Boothbay Harbor.



Once I got there I was greeted by family I hadn't seen in many years, as well as a fluffy thing named Butch, who was Grandpa's dog.



Other than the obviously doleful events, it was a good time. I enjoyed my time there, but I returned a few days later and took up class again. For a variety of reasons, today Butch arrived via Delta here in Denver and is now my dog. He's a smart and friendly little mutt, probably a mix of Australian Shepherd and perhaps lab.



Steve and Paige were kind enough to drive down to Portland and ship him out here for me. He was happy to see me and be out of the crate, of course, but he wasn't too thrilled about being left in the backyard for a few minutes while I unloaded the car. We went on a short walk around NIST and came home.



One of the new roommates, Lior, also has a dog. He's a five month-old pup named Ami, who is some sort of odd mixture. He's skinny but cute.



The two dogs haven't met yet, but they will later tonight. I hope all goes well. Ami was neutered a few days ago so he had to wear a plastic cone to keep him from licking and chewing at his wound.



Anyway, that's enough for now.

Eureka?

Butyric acid. It's the chemical I think is responsible for my dislike of popcorn and many cheesy Italian dishes. Apparently it's an acid common in parmesan, rancid butter, and vomit. I've always become unsettled and slightly nauseous around buttered popcorn and cooked Italian foods involving lots of parmesan and other strong cheeses. Even uncooked parmesan does the same thing. The taste is just fine but the smell is putrid to me. (Parmigiano reggiano, though not of the most pleasant smell, tastes great with some good Italian bread or prosciutto.) Nobody else I've met is this way; everyone has thought me strange for it. But maybe I can just smell the acid more strongly than most other people, hence my aversion to foods containing it.

People who annoy the crap out of me

Now that's a loaded statement right there. Such a list alone could go on for thousands of words, not to mention an essay. But I'll keep this one short.

Bloggers. Ironic, isn't it? I don't mean your run-of-the-mill ordinary person "blogging" about their lives, interests, what-have-you. No, I mean the idiots who vomit up often incorrect and mostly unsourced information about politics. It's one thing to give your opinions on political issues, but it's a completely different thing to present your opinion as something it's not. Unless you know what the hell you're talking about your words are useless. And guess what? Most of the idiots probably don't know their asses from holes in the ground. In fact, I'm willing to bet that many of the so-called "blogosphere" inhabitants are actually chuweros. But it doesn't matter who stupid, how ignorant, how wildly incorrect they are. Why? Because their readers are just as dumb. It's a rare thing indeed when you come across someone who is educated, professionally or not, on the subject about which they are speaking. Even then they often make fools of themselves with outlandish statements and arguments so convoluted, self-defeating, and chock-full of logical fallacies that you can't help but laugh. The saddest part of it all is not that they are so ill-informed or that they even get away with it, but that they are lauded and supported in their failure. I don't think highly of the media in any form, but I think the least of "bloggers", they who say nothing while they purport to speak ta alethe. My discipline is the search for facts, not truth, so I take issue greatly with such claims. If you seek the truth I can point you toward a philosophy department. It's a shame that people are so easily influenced that they refuse to assail critically what they are presented in any sort of media. Only when some "hot-button" issue appears do they take notice, and even then rarely do they investigate the reality of the situation. C'est la vie. You do what you can I suppose.

In other news the half-foot of snow predicted never arrived, nor did the low temperatures. Instead, we had a rather nice day with a high around 42, a tiny bit of snow that fell like rain and melted almost instantly, and a sunny afternoon/early evening. I eagerly await when it is warm enough for me to enjoy the outside in full once again. Of course, I'll be leaving town shortly thereafter but nonetheless, it will be pleasant.

Winter storm watch

The Weather Channel is predicting three to five inches and NOAA three to seven inches of snowfall tomorrow night. I think that's more snow than fell in all of my 18 years in Dallas.

Springtime for Boulder?

It was in the twenties and snowing a couple days ago. Yesterday reached the thirties I believe. And today? The forecast was 58. By the time I left work it was 65, bright, clear, and beautiful. I went home and changed into shorts and a t-shirt after work before running errands. Tomorrow's going to be colder and raining while more snow is expected later in the week. Oh well, at least the hills are verdant once more.

Februa

Sarah came to visit last Wednesday for a few days, leaving on Sunday evening. Neither one of us accomplished what we needed to, but spending time together was worth it. Basically we did a whole lot of nothing. On Thursday after my history class we went and had Sherpa's for lunch, I got a haircut, and we met up with some of the other Classics grad students for drinks at HalfFast. After a few hours there chatting we ate dinner at the Southern Sun. On Friday I had to work from 10 to 3, which allowed us both to work a bit. We went out to Skinny J's with Dragos and Kristen for dinner and played some pool before going back to his apartment and playing this strange board game whose name escapes me at the moment. Saturday we slept in late and then drove up to Nederland and had the lunch buffet at Kathmandu, which was excellent. They had this jalapeno & cabbage dish as well as one involving lots of okra. My mouth waters even now thinking about it. After lunch we drove around in the mountains some more, ending up over at Estes Park, which is absolutely gorgeous. It seems to be nestled in a valley-plain up in the mountains and would not be a bad place to live. It's only about 50 miles from Boulder, actually, nearly the same distance as Denver International Airport is from Boulder. When we got back into town that afternoon/early evening we went up to the humanities building on campus and spent some time reading. Later we ate dinner at Whole Foods; they have a great salad bar. We tried finding a Jason's Deli in Boulder (there isn't one) and ended up being directed to "Asian Deli" by Free411. We stopped back by the university and played some pool and bowled a few games before going back home for the night. We slept in late on Sunday again before going over to Foolish Craig's for some awesome crepes. Her flight left at 7:10 last night, so we left my place around 4:45 and stopped at Pei-Wei in Broomfield along the way. We just barely managed to get our food in time since the people working proved themselves rather incompetent. Thankfully we got there in plenty of time and ate dinner inside the airport together before she left. They were a good few days.

Cedars

In my studies I find that it is problematic, even foolish, to ignore present realities when speaking of the past. Likewise, we cannot separate ourselves from what has happened before, no matter how much we try or wish to do so. It's difficult for most people in the United States to comprehend, to wrap their minds around, what occurs in the Near East. Certainly you won't glean much useful information from any news program you might watch on the television. I've found, however, a reliable, knowledgeable, and insightful source of information on Lebanon: Michael Totten. If you have some spare time to spend reading his "blog" then you should. His site is now a permanent presence over in my links to the right. Click below or there to visit and read.

http://www.michaeltotten.com

What just might be my perfect car

I've been hearing the rumors for a while that Pontiac was going to replace the archaic Pontiac Grand Prix (seriously, the car basically dates back to the 1980s) with a rear-wheel drive sedan imported from Australia. GM owns the Australian company Holden and has previously rebadged the Holden Monaro as the lackluster and bland Pontiac GTO. However, Holden's latest sedan, known as the Commodore, is a spectacular vehicle. This is the car GM is redressing as a Pontiac, and here it is from Edmunds:




I can't wait for it to arrive at dealerships next January (2008). It'll come with either a 260 horsepower V6 or a 360 horsepower V8 and one of three transmissions, depending on which engine you choose. And all the transmissions are modern contraptions, unlike the four-speed automatic in my current Altima (I hate this transmission with a passion). Naturally I want the V8. The Holden version is even more attractive (no stupid hood scoops). This car makes me want to drive an American manufacturer again (even though the car is Australian). Unfortunately it will almost certainly be too expensive, plus it'll still be very new when my current Altima's lease is up. One can always dream, though.

Outlander!

I was watching television tonight (a raresome occasion) and saw a commercial for the new Mitsubishi Outlander. It's a nice little s.u.v. that has a smallish engine and six-speed transmission. Therefore, it gets decent gas mileage. During the montage of the commercial the camera shows the dashboard, specifically the display that acts as the odometer and trip computer. This is shown because the company wants you to see the transmission switching gears rapidly up from four to five and then six. If you look above these numbers you'll notice that the gas mileage is displayed in real time. The estimated mileage for for the 4wd version is 19/25 . And what did the readout show? 11.7 mpg. Call me crazy, but I don't think that's really something you want to advertise for your midsize, car-based s.u.v.