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Vintage Cars Rock as Hard Drive on Wheels may be Hell on Wheels
March 12th, 2010. By Hunter West
I have a prediction: this whole Toyota mess is going to spawn a re-birth of vintage cars.
I have a friend who has a vintage Volkswagen Beetle. An original Veedub. It was made at the original Wolfsburg factory in Germany, has a carburetor and no pollution controls. It coughs, and wheezes. Despite the obvious fact that it’s loads of fun to drive, my pal has had it parked for a few years now due to his attempt to respect the environment—even though legally he can drive it as is—given the fact the car is so old it is grandfathered and is not governed by modern-day pollution control standards. 
He would sit there, at the red light, an obvious Old-World stench belching from the exhaust pipe, cowering under the scorn of other drivers sitting behind the wheels of their gleaming Toyotas that didn’t stink so much.
So he parked the car. There it sits in the garage, replaced by a more modern vehicle. He’s aware there are others in the vintage car communities who have done the same. They’re driving their vintage cars less, if at all, out of respect for the environment. Besides, newer cars are that much safer.
Or, are they?
Don’t be surprised if you see more old cars out on the road now. Cars that drive by mechanics, not electronics. The only circuit you’ll find is the battery that connects the starter, the headlights, the horn, the wipers and the radio.
That’s it. Cars according to KISS: ‘keep it simple, stupid…”
Are cars getting too complicated?
Toyota has been beleaguered with trouble. We all know that. We’ve all heard about the recall, and the sticky pedals. We’ve all heard that Toyota said it was NOT electronics that were at fault, then say they weren’t sure, and then say again as late as this week that in their view the electronics are fine. It’s sticking pedals and floor mats that are causing unexplained acceleration.
And yet we hear of reports where Toyota owners have experienced more incidents whereby their recalled cars have sped away seemingly under their own power AFTER the safety repairs were made. This week a guy driving a Prius is lucky to be alive after his car sped up along a California Interstate. He said the pedal stuck and wouldn’t let go. He even tried to pry it free with his hand. It wouldn’t budge. Floor mats were not the issue.
His car wasn’t on the recall list.
On Wednesday a woman was just heading out of her driveway when her Toyota suddenly lurched forward, sped up and she slammed into a retaining wall across from her property. 
Okay, so is the problem mechanical? Or electronic? Or a combination of both? Do you ever recall a 1964 Impala doing this kind of stuff?
Most agree that cars are getting increasingly complicated. Some say, too much so. Well if that’s you, then you don’t want to ever meet up with the 2010 Lexus HS 250h, manufactured by Toyota.
More computing power than a moonshot
Here is a car that can literally drive itself. Roman Mica, a reporter and producer for CNN reviewed Toyota’s latest marvel, calling the Lexus HS 250h a technological ‘tour de force.’ You don’t drive the car any more,
If the FDA Wore a Uniform
February 25th, 2010. By Hunter West
You gotta love the good ol’ FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) for its renewed stance on oversight on things such as drug advertising. Four months into the Obama Administration, the FDA gets a new leader—Margaret Gamburg—and all of a sudden things start happening.
Among other crackings of the whip, the FDA issued draft guidelines designed to clarify what is appropriate in drug ads. You know, things like upping the music volume when all those nasty, ‘adverse reaction’ bits appear. Or the use of distracting images and visuals to take the focus away from what you are hearing.
The renewed focus on what consumers are seeing in medicinal TV ads—which seem to take center sponsor stage on the major network television newscasts each night—stems from a few well-placed cat calls from John Dingell and Bart Stupak. Back in 2008 the two congressmen openly questioned if drug advertising properly presented product benefits and risks.
Among other complaints, Stupak criticized Pfizer for using the inventor of an artificial heart, Robert
A Facebook Lawsuit in Miami
February 22nd, 2010. By Hunter West
Okay, so here’s the deal. A high school student—an honors student, no less—is at odds with her teacher. They just didn’t seem to get along. They clashed over assignments. It happens. But the student had to vent. So Katherine Evans created a Facebook page titled ‘Ms. Sarah Phelps in the worst teacher I’ve ever had,’ and invited current and former students of the maligned instructor to post their own comments.
Some were in support of the student. Others were in support of the teacher. With Facebook, you get what you get. The student did not control the content beyond setting the page up in the first place, and after a few days she took it down.
For all of that, the honors student was suspended from school for three days, accused of cyber-bullying.
Bullying?
Or free speech?
That’s the question. And now it’s the basis for a lawsuit, brought by Evans.
Katherine Evans is now 19 and a sophomore at the University of Florida. Beyond seeking a “nominal
WellPoint, Anthem Blue Cross rate hikes: Bloodless Economics?
February 16th, 2010. By Hunter West
The mind-boggling increase in healthcare premiums promoted to policyholders of WellPoint Inc. and its subsidiary, Anthem Blue Cross comes down to a central question, according to a story today in the New York Times…
Is this the bloodless economics of risk, or a corporate culture of greed?
In Los Angeles Bernhard Punzet opened up his envelope from Anthem Blue Cross and saw that Anthem intended to increase his insurance premiums by 34 percent. His partner’s would rise by 36 percent.
Joshua Needle, a trial lawyer in Santa Monica, got a similar shock when he saw that Anthem intended to increase his premium by 33 percent. ”I have no problem with profits,” he said in comments published this morning in the New York Times, “but they’re maximizing profits without any concern that they have a captive audience.”
He is not alone. About 700,000 Anthem Blue Cross clients are reeling with the news that they may be facing increases averaging 25 percent. That’s the average. A full 25 percent of policyholders are facing premium increases of anywhere from 35 to 39 percent.
That’s four times the rate of medical inflation.
Needless to say, consumers are screaming bloody murder, while advocates of public healthcare are using the issue as fodder for a renewed push behind President Obama’s universal health care reform.
The increase has been delayed by two months, at the request of the insurance commissioner in California, in order
Car Recalls: Technocrats and Bureaucrats Need to put Safety First
February 12th, 2010. By Hunter West
(Source: A.S. Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, EE 249, UC Berkeley, Fall 2002.)
If the recall troubles of Toyota and now Honda are knocking you out of your comfort zone, better get used to it. As cars become more complicated and sophisticated, recalls are going to be a fact of life.
In other words, the more automakers do, the more they have to ‘undo.’
Tacked onto an MSNBC story about the recent Honda expanded recall for airbags was a comment from Yoshihiko Tabei, chief analyst at Kazaka Securities.
“While the way automakers handle recalls is important, I think people should be careful not to overreact to every single recall,” he said. “Rather, my concern for the auto industry is their earnings for the next financial year, given the absence of the boost they enjoyed from government incentives this year.”
Other automotive analysts agree that automakers regularly trigger recalls, although some have suggested the media reaction to the Toyota case has been overblown. That latter statement may, or may not be true depending upon one’s perspective. In the Toyota case, the story for decades has been that the Japanese automakers had it
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