A little spare time to think. Remembering my Chevy Vega..
in [Toyota]
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From: Scott Dorsey on 5 Oct 2009 14:50 E. Meyer <epmeyer50(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> >In 1973, the computer we had in the University CS department had a 16K byte >memory, a 2 micro-second cycle time and cost $300,000. My cell phone is >orders of magnitude more powerful. I would say you are off by quite a bit. Yeah, but in 1973 that computer served an entire department and everyone was able to use it to get work done, whereas if you attempt to get something done with your cellphone, you'll find it's not so effective.... --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
From: dsi1 on 5 Oct 2009 15:00 Otis wrote: > On Oct 1, 7:55 pm, dsi1 <d...(a)humuhumunukunukuapuapa.org> wrote: >> Nate Nagel wrote: >>> dsi1 wrote: >>>> hls wrote: >>>>> "dsi1" <d...(a)humuhumunukunukuapuapa.org> wrote in message >>>>>>> Fiat is a bit of a joke, even in Europe. I lived there for many >>>>>>> many years. >>>>>> I'm guessing it's partially because they're such a big force in >>>>>> Europe, the same as GM is in the states. >>>>> You would be very wrong... In Europe, many people buy for quality, or >>>>> at least perceived quality. Fiat and Lancia suck in this perception >>>>> outside of Italia. People outside Italy buy Fiat largely on price. >>>> I'm not sure why you would say I was wrong. I made no comment about >>>> the quality of Fiat cars nor did I say anything about what Europeans >>>> are looking for when they buy a car. >>>> Obviously, most people would rather have a Mercedes or a Lexus but the >>>> reality is that most people settle for a Chevy over here and a Fiat(or >>>> VW) in Europe. >>> IME VW is a LARGE cut above Chevy... at least the A4 GTI I had felt >>> like a little luxury car inside, and I had no real problems with it save >>> for the #@$%@#$ window issues. My mom now loves it too :/ (gotta >>> figure out how to get her to buy a new car so I can have it back...) >>> nate >> I loved the VWs I've had. They did have some problems with the valve >> stem seals and the fuse boxes on the early FWD cars. Killer rust >> problems. As it goes, any car has it's weak points, well, Chevys and VWs >> and Fiats, anyway. :-) > > I've always thought the VW's were overpriced. And there was that > feeling--in > my family anyway--that a VW wasn't a "real car." I know there were > huge > numbers of VW owners in recent years who were more than a little > miffed > about their owners manuals saying their timing belts wouldn't need > changing > till 100k miles, with many actually failing at around 85k, doing > extensive > engine damage, and getting blown off by VW. Many Americans used to feel that foreign cars weren't real cars - I suppose there was some truth to that if the cars you're used to had an engine displacement of 350 cubic in or more vs. 98 cubic in or less.
From: David E. Powell on 5 Oct 2009 15:48 On Sep 30, 3:25 pm, "hls" <h...(a)nospam.nix> wrote: > "dsi1" <d...(a)spamnet.com> wrote in message > > news:jtNwm.221416$cf6.208145(a)newsfe16.iad... > > > > > > > hls wrote: > > >> "Otis" <rev_otis_mcn...(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message > >>news:1f20ce7d-cd39-4208-920c-08032814acbb(a)37g2000yqm.googlegroups.com.... > >>> Over the years, the inevitable subject of worst cars ever comes up, > >>> and the Vega > >>> is always at or near the top of the list. I've seen it a hundred > >>> times. I feel I should > >>> put in a good word for the little car. > > >> That is, I believe, the car with the silicon/aluminum alloy engine...That > >> thing > >> went out for most people very quickly. > > >> Now, believe it or not, I have seen Yugos still on the road. Even the > >> worst > >> automaker allows a good one to slip out occasionally. > > > Yugo = Fiat 128 > > Maybe the equality is not quite right, but similar. > Fiat also put Russia into the car business, IIRC. > > We have owned three Fiats...a 131 Mirafiore, a 128, and another I cant > remember. The engines were okay, but the bodies tended to rust out > very badly on some of them. My uncle had one that was the same way. Engine could keep going, but the floor plates went into Fred Flintstone mode. You had to keep your feet on the pedals at all time, because the floor couldn't be trusted. He kept it on his property a little while (he was in the country) after it got to this point but then he sold it. He was a tinkerer and I think it gave him some hobby time. His other cars then were a VW Rabbit and an early 1980s Mercedes.
From: E. Meyer on 5 Oct 2009 16:50 On 10/5/09 1:50 PM, in article hadf5q$slm$1(a)panix2.panix.com, "Scott Dorsey" <kludge(a)panix.com> wrote: > E. Meyer <epmeyer50(a)gmail.com> wrote: >>> >> In 1973, the computer we had in the University CS department had a 16K byte >> memory, a 2 micro-second cycle time and cost $300,000. My cell phone is >> orders of magnitude more powerful. I would say you are off by quite a bit. > > Yeah, but in 1973 that computer served an entire department and everyone > was able to use it to get work done, whereas if you attempt to get something > done with your cellphone, you'll find it's not so effective.... > --scott > Not the computer I'm talking about. Cards in, cards or paper out. One job at a time. I'll grant you I/O with the cell phone might be a bit tedious for batch processing, but my ipod touch (which runs Unix internally & cost $399) would have absolutely no problem running rings around that dinosaur.
From: Scott Dorsey on 5 Oct 2009 19:31
E. Meyer <epmeyer50(a)gmail.com> wrote: >On 10/5/09 1:50 PM, in article hadf5q$slm$1(a)panix2.panix.com, "Scott Dorsey" ><kludge(a)panix.com> wrote: > >> E. Meyer <epmeyer50(a)gmail.com> wrote: >>>> >>> In 1973, the computer we had in the University CS department had a 16K byte >>> memory, a 2 micro-second cycle time and cost $300,000. My cell phone is >>> orders of magnitude more powerful. I would say you are off by quite a bit. >> >> Yeah, but in 1973 that computer served an entire department and everyone >> was able to use it to get work done, whereas if you attempt to get something >> done with your cellphone, you'll find it's not so effective.... >> --scott >> >Not the computer I'm talking about. Cards in, cards or paper out. One job >at a time. I'll grant you I/O with the cell phone might be a bit tedious >for batch processing, but my ipod touch (which runs Unix internally & cost >$399) would have absolutely no problem running rings around that dinosaur. Yup... but I bet with that batch machine they were running three shifts of research work, student assignments, and maybe even administrative data (if it was anything like the 360/50 we had). All on the same machine. And everybody was happy, and everybody was amazed at how powerful it was. --scott > -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |