Downshifting

Chris D'Agnolo wrote:
> Pat, stop it, people will think one of us is an evangelical preacher and one
> of us is a ..... ah ....... masseuse!? Ya, right!
>
> Chris
> 99BBB

If you are making fun of the Rev. Ted Haggard and his "friend", that is
very cruel.

Just because he hired a male masseuse who advertises in gay publications
does not mean that he had sex with the man, it was probably a simple
misunderstanding like we all make sometimes.

The good Reverend also admitted to purchasing methamphetamine, but he
says that he never snorted any of it.
Again, who hasn't done that? I once knew a girl who used baggies of the
stuff only for decorative purposes.

These assumptions are part of the problem with society today.
I would expect you to be more open-minded about these very plausible
explanations. ;-)

Pat

Don Bruder wrote:

> I wouldn't buy a car with airbags in the first place.

Didn't all production miatas come with at least the one driver-side airbag?

I have very mixed feelings on them.
Have they saved lives? Sure. Have they killed people in low-speed
accidents? Again, sure, especially the early generation airbags.

Finally, where does it end? Now that vehicles are offering side airbags,
does that now make vehicles with only front airbags too unsafe to drive?
Should passengers refuse to rise in a 1991 miata because it has no
passenger-side airbag?

I haven't done a study, but my guess is that if they had taken all of
the money put into airbag technology and applied it to increased
mandatory driver training and re-training, that more lives would have
been saved and more injuries prevented, plus we would not have had a
single case of someone being killed or suffering injuries from an
explosive automotive safety device going off in their face.

Pat

Slimebags! not for their perversions but for being hypocrites!

Chris
99BBB

"pws" > wrote in message
...
> Chris D'Agnolo wrote:
>> Pat, stop it, people will think one of us is an evangelical preacher and
>> one of us is a ..... ah ....... masseuse!? Ya, right!
>>
>> Chris
>> 99BBB
>
> If you are making fun of the Rev. Ted Haggard and his "friend", that is
> very cruel.
>
> Just because he hired a male masseuse who advertises in gay publications
> does not mean that he had sex with the man, it was probably a simple
> misunderstanding like we all make sometimes.
>
> The good Reverend also admitted to purchasing methamphetamine, but he says
> that he never snorted any of it.
> Again, who hasn't done that? I once knew a girl who used baggies of the
> stuff only for decorative purposes.
>
> These assumptions are part of the problem with society today.
> I would expect you to be more open-minded about these very plausible
> explanations. ;-)
>
> Pat

Chris D'Agnolo wrote:
> Slimebags! not for their perversions but for being hypocrites!
>
> Chris
> 99BBB

Hypo-Christians in this case......

These song lyrics describe the situation we have today perfectly. It is
not so much anti-religious as it is anti-hypocrisy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHjsa...e=user&search=


Pat

Don Bruder > wrote in
:

> Personally, if I've got the option, I'll take a stick over a slushbox
> EVERY time. Just something about the added level of power control
> available when you're the one choosing the gear/rev/groundspeed
> combination. (Yeah, yeah, I know... modern automatics are supposedly
> more efficient, do it better, yadda-yadda-yadda. You think so? That's
> nice. You drive 'em. I'm the brains of the operation.)
>
> Then there's the "fun" of coming up to a stop sign in a borrowed
> automatic, forgetting it IS an automatic, and out of 20-odd years of
> stick-driving habit, coming off the gas and mashing the clutch pedal
> (which is, of course, actually the left end of the triple-sized brake
> pedal) to the floor as you reach for the nonexistent stick for the
> downshift... <SQUAWK!> AUGH!!! No matter how loudly I tell myself
> "remember it isn't a stick, stupid!" it happens to me at least once
> every friggin' time I get in an automatic.
>

I almost got the crap beat out of me by a very large man in a large
orange pickup one time doing just that. It was not only an auto when I
was used to driving a manual, it was an auto Escort (loaner) when I was
used to driving a manual Escort (in the shop). The guy thought I was
screwing around when I mashed the brakes in the traffic lane.. I tried to
explain that it was an honest mistake but he was having none of it.

-Scott

Don Bruder wrote:
> In article <yd93h.1051032$084.240862@attbi_s22>,
> "tooloud" > wrote:
>
>> Don Bruder wrote:
>>> In article >,
>>> Grant Edwards > wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 2006-11-03, Don Bruder > wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> How do you handle stopping and starting?
>>>>>
>>>>> First, defeat whatever %(*#^^%#%%$ interlock the idiots put on the
>>>>> car to prevent cranking while in gear/clutch engaged.
>>>>
>>>> That's the tricky part if you didn't think of it until you're
>>>> stuck in a large empty parking lot after you return from a
>>>> business trip and find your clutch no longer works.
>>>
>>> Which is why, as I noted, it's the second thing that happens after I
>>> take posession of the vehicle. (Third is removing or permanently
>>> silencing those damned "door ajar" and "fasten seat belts"
>>> noisemakers)
>>
>> Better cut those pesky airbags out while you're operating, Doc.
>
> I wouldn't buy a car with airbags in the first place.

Must make for a pretty short list of cars to look at when you're Miata
shopping.

--
tooloud
Remove nothing to reply

Don Bruder wrote:
> In article >,
> pws > wrote:
>
>> tooloud wrote:
>>> Don Bruder wrote:
>>>> In article >,
>>>> Grant Edwards > wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 2006-11-03, Don Bruder > wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>> How do you handle stopping and starting?
>>>>>> First, defeat whatever %(*#^^%#%%$ interlock the idiots put on
>>>>>> the car to prevent cranking while in gear/clutch engaged.
>>>>> That's the tricky part if you didn't think of it until you're
>>>>> stuck in a large empty parking lot after you return from a
>>>>> business trip and find your clutch no longer works.
>>>> Which is why, as I noted, it's the second thing that happens after
>>>> I take posession of the vehicle. (Third is removing or permanently
>>>> silencing those damned "door ajar" and "fasten seat belts"
>>>> noisemakers)
>>>
>>> Better cut those pesky airbags out while you're operating, Doc.
>>>
>>
>>
>> My miata is missing all of the above, though I don't think it ever
>> had a door ajar buzzer, I'm not sure.
>>
>> The airbag, (it only came with one), is the only thing that I would
>> consider putting back in, and I don't want the one from 1991 in
>> there.
>>
>> The clutch lock is useless to me.
>> Now that it has the ACT3 clutch, disengaging the clutch lock is
>> beneficial enough to the point that I consider it mandatory.
>>
>> The day that I need a warning buzzer to tell me to put the seat belt
>> on or to tell me that a door is not fully closed will also be the
>> day that it is time to take away my keys and put me out to pasture.
>>
>> Pat
>
> Precisely my views. I don't need a vehicle tyring to "out-think" me
> about when it's OK to crank. When I turn the key, I mean crank, and do
> it now. Unconditionally. If it's in gear and I don't have the clutch
> mashed to the floorboards, crank anyway - I *WANT* the vehicle to move
> (or at least, the drive wheels to spin) as I'm cranking, for whatever
> silly (or not-so-silly) reason. That's why I'm turning the key! If I
> didn't wnat the drive wheels turning as it cranked, I would have
> either stomped the clutch or pulled it out of gear before turning the
> key, or simply not turned the key in the first place!

You sound bitter. I'm also concerned that you seem to believe that the car
has a personality and is trying to "out-think" you.

<shrug> Does using the cruise control mean the car's trying to out-think
you? What about the speedometer? I mean, if you didn't want to go that fast,
you wouldn't have pushed that hard on the pedal, right? Or the brake light
on the instrument panel--you're the one that lifted the brake lever, aren't
you?

> Likewise, I don't need to be buzzed, bleated, or beeped at for the
> door being open - It's open for a reason. Ditto the seatbelt - It's
> not fastened for a reason. Perhaps because I'm not intending to go
> anywhere. Perhaps simply because I choose not to fasten it. Whatever
> the reason, good, bad, or otherwise, SHUT UP ALREADY! I know it isn't
> fastened, and having a buzzer going off at me about it isn't going to
> change that!

You're complaining about perfectly innocuous little items. While you're
laughing at the idiots that haven't cut out their door buzzers, they're
laughing at the idea that a door buzzer could actually be such a problem for
someone that they'd resort to removing it. Are you *that* jumpy?

--
tooloud
Remove nothing to reply

In article <DEQ3h.135809$aJ.88421@attbi_s21>,
"tooloud" > wrote:

> Don Bruder wrote:
> > In article <yd93h.1051032$084.240862@attbi_s22>,
> > "tooloud" > wrote:
> >
> >> Don Bruder wrote:
> >>> In article >,
> >>> Grant Edwards > wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> On 2006-11-03, Don Bruder > wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>>> How do you handle stopping and starting?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> First, defeat whatever %(*#^^%#%%$ interlock the idiots put on the
> >>>>> car to prevent cranking while in gear/clutch engaged.
> >>>>
> >>>> That's the tricky part if you didn't think of it until you're
> >>>> stuck in a large empty parking lot after you return from a
> >>>> business trip and find your clutch no longer works.
> >>>
> >>> Which is why, as I noted, it's the second thing that happens after I
> >>> take posession of the vehicle. (Third is removing or permanently
> >>> silencing those damned "door ajar" and "fasten seat belts"
> >>> noisemakers)
> >>
> >> Better cut those pesky airbags out while you're operating, Doc.
> >
> > I wouldn't buy a car with airbags in the first place.
>
> Must make for a pretty short list of cars to look at when you're Miata
> shopping.

I'm a Mazda fan, yes, but Miatas, unfortunately, aren't on my shopping
list. Not because I don't like 'em, or because they have airbags, but
for purely financial reasons. I actually drive an '82 626. This is the
closest thing to a "general-purpose Mazda" newsgroup there is, and since
there's more than a little similarity between the 626 and the Miata...

--
Don Bruder - - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd> for more info

In article <%QQ3h.135822$aJ.30162@attbi_s21>,
"tooloud" > wrote:

> Don Bruder wrote:
> > In article >,
> > pws > wrote:
> >
> >> tooloud wrote:
> >>> Don Bruder wrote:
> >>>> In article >,
> >>>> Grant Edwards > wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> On 2006-11-03, Don Bruder > wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>>> How do you handle stopping and starting?
> >>>>>> First, defeat whatever %(*#^^%#%%$ interlock the idiots put on
> >>>>>> the car to prevent cranking while in gear/clutch engaged.
> >>>>> That's the tricky part if you didn't think of it until you're
> >>>>> stuck in a large empty parking lot after you return from a
> >>>>> business trip and find your clutch no longer works.
> >>>> Which is why, as I noted, it's the second thing that happens after
> >>>> I take posession of the vehicle. (Third is removing or permanently
> >>>> silencing those damned "door ajar" and "fasten seat belts"
> >>>> noisemakers)
> >>>
> >>> Better cut those pesky airbags out while you're operating, Doc.
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >> My miata is missing all of the above, though I don't think it ever
> >> had a door ajar buzzer, I'm not sure.
> >>
> >> The airbag, (it only came with one), is the only thing that I would
> >> consider putting back in, and I don't want the one from 1991 in
> >> there.
> >>
> >> The clutch lock is useless to me.
> >> Now that it has the ACT3 clutch, disengaging the clutch lock is
> >> beneficial enough to the point that I consider it mandatory.
> >>
> >> The day that I need a warning buzzer to tell me to put the seat belt
> >> on or to tell me that a door is not fully closed will also be the
> >> day that it is time to take away my keys and put me out to pasture.
> >>
> >> Pat
> >
> > Precisely my views. I don't need a vehicle tyring to "out-think" me
> > about when it's OK to crank. When I turn the key, I mean crank, and do
> > it now. Unconditionally. If it's in gear and I don't have the clutch
> > mashed to the floorboards, crank anyway - I *WANT* the vehicle to move
> > (or at least, the drive wheels to spin) as I'm cranking, for whatever
> > silly (or not-so-silly) reason. That's why I'm turning the key! If I
> > didn't wnat the drive wheels turning as it cranked, I would have
> > either stomped the clutch or pulled it out of gear before turning the
> > key, or simply not turned the key in the first place!
>
> You sound bitter. I'm also concerned that you seem to believe that the car
> has a personality and is trying to "out-think" you.

<snip the rest>

You might try trolling someplace else. Between this one, and your other
message, it's pretty obvious that your entire purpose for posting is to
try and pick a fight. Sorry, chum, but I ain't interested. Have a nice
life.

--
Don Bruder - - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd> for more info

tooloud wrote:

> You're complaining about perfectly innocuous little items. While you're
> laughing at the idiots that haven't cut out their door buzzers, they're
> laughing at the idea that a door buzzer could actually be such a problem for
> someone that they'd resort to removing it. Are you *that* jumpy?


I don't want to hear it either, it is not that strange and you don't
have to be jumpy, a desire not to hear an annoying buzz when the door is
open is enough for me. I don't want or need a buzzer on my car door any
more than I would want one on a door to my house.

He is not talking about disabling the brakes or something radical like
that, and anyone who needs a door buzzer as a safety feature should not
be driving.

You also don't have to cut out the buzzer, at least not on the first
generation miatas. It is a plug-in module that takes a few seconds to
remove or install.
I took it out within 4 hours of owning my first miata and it never went
back in. The previous owner had already yanked the one from my 1991 model.

Pat