A Curious Statistical Anomaly

Okay, I was reading one of those technology sites today — I’m a geek, so tech news rocks, what can I say? Anyway, there was this article on the Tata Nano. It’s made by Tata Motors and will be sold in India. It seats 5 and is expected to get 54 US miles per gallon.

Sounds great and the price is under $3,000. Why don’t we have a car like that in the United States? If you go to the article there’s a link to a video of the unveiling (watch with sound OFF — it’s horrible and the video is shaky) — the car is really cute — but that’s beside the point.

My point is that I’ve been reading about these new cars in Europe that are coming to the US. They all get tremendous mileage compared to American made cars (here I’m talking American brand of cars not foreign cars made in America (Honda)). So, why can’t America make a car that gets 54 miles per gallon and doesn’t cost the same as 4 years tuition for a college education? We’re supposed to be the best and yet we continue to put out cars as if there isn’t an oil crisis. We built bigger and with more bells and whistles that we don’t need, as if the environment isn’t also having a crisis. What’s wrong with us?

I’m talking not just about the industry, but you and me. They’re never going to change if we don’t stand up and say “this has got to stop, make me an ecologically sound car that gets 80 miles per gallon, that can take me and my family to school, work, and on errands.” The government recently changed the rules and now US cars have to have meet 35 miles per gallon (currently 27.5 mpg) averaged over their fleet of cars by the year 2020. What that means is that car manufacturers only have to drop their most gas guzzling model or two and hey we meet the standard, business as usual. Whoopee for the company and the heck with the consumer and the environment. And they don’t even have to do it for another 18 years.

Someone once told me that American’s don’t want hybrids or fuel efficient cars. I said, “But I know that Honda has waiting lists for their hybrids.” The response: “See, no one wants one.” “How can that be, if there’s a waiting list to get one. Obviously people are willing to wait their turn to get one.” But says he, “American’s don’t want them or there’d be more on the road.” I hope you understand that logic because I surely didn’t and still don’t. I’ve known people who waited for almost a year for their shot at a hybrid and they love the ones they have. I’d certainly get one if I could afford one, but my old Honda (over 10 years old) is still running strong and most of the time gives me better mileage than that new ruling from Congress.

It seems to me that as long as we as taxpayers, consumers, and citizens are willing to sit back and let corporations rule us, we’re never going to get out from under. I believe that if Tata’s Nano could be sold in the US — it would sell like hotcakes. Who wouldn’t want a car for under 3K that got 54 mpg. Oh, I forgot — it might not make it in an accident with those big behemoth gas guzzlers. Because, I also know that people are afraid that if they get a smaller, lighter car that gets good mileage, they might not be as safe as in the big behemoth that would probably hit them since they couldn’t see them since they’d be so much smaller in comparison. But, maybe, if we all drove the smaller more ecological and economical cars that safety factor would cancel out. [NOTE: Found a site with some safety information on the Nano — Jan 10.]

So, I ask why can’t America come up with a decent low prices, high mileage car? Is there any other reason other than they don’t want to — because the rest of the world seems to be able to do it.

I’ve just about had it with spam. I mean I get a lot of spam every day and most of it gets caught by my filters and it’s not that much of a problem except for the amount; but, I have to visually scan to make sure real mail has not been misfiled in the Junk folder. The subject lines are really getting to me. Subject lines like:

No woman can resist a man with a big **** — news flash, unless you intend to flash this equipment by dropping your drawers at every opportunity, including public events, how would any woman know? Second news flash – no woman privy to such a display would give a guy a second look no matter how big the ****.

Be the envy of your friends — Do guys make a habit of dropping their pants and checking measurements when they go out with the other guys? Weird and rather disturbing, if you ask me. Women seldom, if ever (I don’t know every woman in the world so I’ll go with seldom) exchange bra sizes. Why would we? Who’d care unless it was for a shopping trip. According to the volume of spam with similar subject lines it seems men do this comparison all the time. Weird.

Forget the foreplay when you have a big **** — No wonder so many men have problems with relationships. Even if you had the Washington Monument in your trousers, no woman wants to skip the best part of love making — the cuddling.

Put an anaconda in your trousers — Yuck, now there’s an image no woman wants to deal with.

The only people these ads can possibly be aimed at is teens who don’t know any better or don’t know who to talk to, or men/teens who are so insecure they’ll believe anything. If a person had at least two neurons in their craniums, they’d know better. And yet they’re still being sent out, which means somebody has to be clicking on them or replying to them.

I know that E.D. is a very real problem but none of these ads are ever going to solve the problem. Are men so embarrassed that they’d rather take medical advice from spam than a doctor? If you’re reading this and are even remotely tempted, let me advise you– don’t answer these spam email ads. NEVER EVER take advice on … well this isn’t dating advice is it… or anything from spam. Get a good book out of the library and listen to your girlfriend, wife, or significant other — if a medical problem talk to your doctor.

Whatever you do don’t answer no matter what they promise — it’s all vapor, smoke, and mirrors. As long as even one in a million people respond, they’ll keep sending it out and as a woman, well, I don’t need a bigger **** in my trousers. Since I keep getting these ads I can only imagine what a wonderful screening job they do before sending out their crap.

Note: Write to your congress critters and tell them you want a real anti-Spam act passed. No, you don’t want this crap in your mailboxes. And no, the spammers don’t have the right to deluge us with this patently offensive drivel!