economics: Germany

My last four cars have been Fiesta (made in Germany), VW Golf, VW Rabbit, and now an Audi A3 Quattro. The A3 is beautiful and awesome mechanically, but the firmware sort of sucks.

It's excellent, better than that of many of the American posters here.

John

VW Rabbit is funny, I had to look that one up. Here it's only known as "VW Golf I".

I drive an Golf Mk3 from 1997 with 75 (metric) HP. Perfect car for me: simple, robust and relatively low fuel consumption (important, if you have to pay up to 1.45 Euros per liter). Unfortunately it has started to rust lately and I already had to replace some body parts. I hope I can still drive it for a few years.

The A3 is really a great car. I wouldn't mind owning one.

The firmware and electronics seem to be an issue for this generation of (german?) cars in general. I know quite some people who also had had problems with their cars in this respect. That's why I love my Golf, it hasn't much electronics and firmware that can fail (writes an elecrical engineer, pure irony).

Thank you. Means a lot to me by a native speaker. Google Translate helped a bit and it took me some time.

A german

The Hungarian revolution in '56 comes to mind. The US promised the wood-be revolutionaries that once they started the revolt, help would be on the way. They started the revolt and the States did NOTHING.

87+ thousand dead and almost 200 thousand taken to Siberia. So much for promises. Taiwan has been promised protection since what, '49? It seems that's been a promise of rapidly diminishing value and as soon as China says 'jump', Washington will. They owe too much money not to.

As for Tibet, the US has broken every promise it has ever made concerning 'negotiating with China'.The present administration is as guilty as all the previous ones. Business trumps freedom everytime.

Let's not get into the origins of 'Banana Republic' or the 500 thousand dead Philippinos killed by their Liberators.

The scenario typically runs like this:

US: Be nicer to (.......) China: You have our money? US: Kill 'em all and let the bookkeepers sort 'em out.

VW can't decide whether it's a Golf or a Rabbit here. They have changed back and forth 3 or 4 times now. I think it's a Golf this year.

I hate over-tech stuff. The Audi thinks it's smarter than I am. All the HVAC and radio and nav controls are digital and incremental, so you have to take your eyes off the road and press a sequence of tiny, confusing buttons to do anything. It's downright dangerous. There's a separate manual for the radio/navigation subsystem.

I haven't yet figured out the door locks. It will lock itself whenever it feels like. I don't dare leave the keys in the car, because it might decide to lock me out.

What sort of engineering do you do?

John

That's what I would do with one.

or "reborn".

Bullshit. There were no "promises" made to Tibet.

Another question might be "Where" are they going to invest surplus profits other than US securities, which can be exchanged on a minutes notice?

Why don't the Chinese just buy gold instead of US bonds?

They couldn't demand payment until maturity. They would have to sell to someone else, and find a buyer. The market would crash.

-Bill

.

Right, so if we need more toilet paper, increase the money supply. Too many toothpicks? Increase the money supply.

"Now, this president understands deeply that governments don't create jobs, businesses create jobs." --Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury, United States, 7- Jul-2010

-- Cheers, James Arthur

"There are no civil engineers."

--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

Who has enough gold to sell them?

--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

I fully agree with you. I hated that too when I occasionally drove a car of this generation. It really is dangerous, you can end in the ditch if you simply want to adjust the temperature.

Seems to be same with VW. I heard about this "feature" from a friend two or three years ago, who got locked out by his car. I didn't believe it at first hearing, because I thought, why would VW want to upset their customers considering this could happen far from home, where one doesn't has his spare key at hand and has to call the breakdown service.

I have a degree in "general electrical engineering" (I hope this has some meaning in the US as the titles and descriptions can't be translated one to one, I believe). At the moment I'm studying in a master course. After that I hope to get a job that involves electronic design.

A German

with

d to

nt

"Twelve yards long and two lanes wide, sixty-five tons of American pride, Canyonero... Canyonero"

Hmmm, I've never owned a truck...maybe I've been missing something? (I've been thinking a pickup would be handy these days.)

Cheers, James

They're handy for hauling lumber home from the BORG. I gotta take a run or two up North to fetch some furniture. It doesn't fit well in a car. ;-)

Indeed they are. Since having one, I'd not be without one.

A hatchback with a roof rack is might handy. [1] And it looks a little more macho, not that things like that make a particle of difference to me, dude.

John

[1] I wonder if anybody has ever tried hauling a single really big load on two or more cars with roof racks. That would be fun to see.

[snip]

I had a VW (Avis rental) in Germany decide the driver's side door would be forever locked :-( Fortunately I was able to climb over the gear-box hump and get in and out from the passenger side. ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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snipped-for-privacy@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz wrote:

One of MANY pages, if you care to look.

============================================= By March

10, 1959 the US Government had been involved in the affairs of Tibet for almost a decade. This relationship, which was to continue through 1974, carried commitments some of which were fulfilled and others from which our government walked away. The motivation for our involvement was mixed, and its legacy was one of both good will and disappointment. The accomplishments were similarly varied, ranging from dismal to those that had lasting value. The consequences of these actions taken over a period of twenty-five years a quarter of a century ago are s till with us today.

Prior to 1949, the US Government had taken only occasional and passing interest in Tibet. Since 1913 its Chinese suzerain had exercised no authority there, and the Tibetans had been managing their own affairs in splendid isolation under the benign eye of its friendly British India neighbor. Now a new and aggressive power was taking over in Beijing, capable of exercising full military and political control of an area it intended to reclaim as its own. Washington was forced to take a new inventory of what its policy concerning Tibet should be. Weighing the threat of contributing to the further dismemberment of China and the enormous logistical and political problems involved in providing effective support to the Tibetans against a genuine desire to help a staunchly anti-Communist country, the State Department temporized. It thereby avoided the domestic dilemma of appearing to be hastening the demise of the Nationalists' hold over mainland China when the Truman administration and especially Secretary of State Acheson were already under attack for "losing China." In New Delhi, closer to the scene, the embassy was more concerned about the threat of a Communist occupied Tibet. It warned that "if we make no effort to demonstrate a friendly interest in Tibet until a Communist-dominated regime consolidates its hold on China, the impression will be created among the Tibetans that we were moved only by a desire to contain Communism and not to develop cordial relations with the Tibetan people." The Embassy was right. Almost fifty years later both the Dalai Lama and his elder brother told me that they felt the United States had used the Tibet as a pawn in the Cold War and they still resented it.

=====================================================================

Perhaps UK firmware version with enabled child lock on passenger's side door ;)

A German

with

I used to use roof racks to haul lumber; no fun at all.

It would be illegal in every state, not that it would stop many from trying.

So, you do advocate going to war with China over Tibet.