Flutterby™! : Random stuff 2005-04-22 14:16:56.385301+00

Random stuff

2005-04-22 14:16:56.385301+00 by Dan Lyke 4 comments

A few quick ones I don't have a chance to do the background on to back up:

Andrew Orlowski cliams a study has shown that email destroys IQ faster than marijuana, alas searches on the pertinent names aren't pulling up the source material. [Update: New Scientist article.]
Mark Morford's latest rant points to a Knight Ridder article that claims that the latest U.S. Department of State Patterns of Global Terrorism report shows terrorism incidents at their highest since 1985. Don't have time to go verify this or make sure that the article is what it claims to be.

Finally, a question that I think may have an analog to other issues: It seems like the SUV has peaked. But whether or not it has, do you think that the social shunning from a small minority of the SUV over the past decade or so helped, hurt, or had no effect on the sales of that class of car?

I suspect that it had no effect. In the end, my mockery of SUVs and scorn for those who owned them didn't even stop me from getting one. Of course, I have my justifications (I actually use the four-wheel drive, and the whole point of buying the thing was so that I could haul large quantities of people and stuff out to remote locations), but I'm sure Ms. Bellevue Soccer Mom in her gleaming new Expedition has her own reasons, too.

I don't think the bulk of SUV owners ever even noticed the shunning and mockery.

I can't imagine they missed it, and a whole lot of 'em were self-righteous and testy about it, too. I was attacked then shunned from a parenting mailing list I'd been on for over 10 years after I inadvertently OOPS-mailed an anti-SUV rant to the list. Who knew my "friends" were such jerks?

I heard recently that J.D. Power and Associates found that once gas gets to $4 a gallon, 75% of the US population will be willing to consider buying a hybrid. I'm not sure what to make of that, but it sounds as if auto makers have a year or so to get all those options ready for eager buyers.

Yeah, I'm keeping my big truck, it's useful and paid for. Nancy's been driving the Subaru, which only get's 28-30mpg but is awesome to drive. If I start driving a lot for work related things, I'll be buying another something small and efficient.