Category: Drive Time

Checkpoint

Drive Time, Legal Stuff

From Loyal Friend & Reader John C. comes this:

See, what gets up my nose about this is that when Gummint puts up signs, there needs to be clarity above all things.

Take that “requirement” addendum, for instance.  Is that a 2-gun minimum per car, or a 2-gun minimum per occupant?  This ambiguity certainly leaves the interpretation up to the supervising official, and I’d hate to run afoul of state law just because of the lack of clear signage.

My advice, therefore, is for people to carry at least two guns per person when they visit Texas.  Or anywhere else, for that matter.

Owning, Or Being Owned?

Corporate Fuckery, Drive Time, Technology

Several Readers (thankee) have pointed me to this article at American Thinker:

There was a time — not very long ago — when the automobile represented one of the clearest expressions of individual choice in a free society. Limited only by fuel, roads, and imagination, a person could choose where to go, when to go, and how to get there. The car was not merely a machine. It was mobility made personal — an extension of autonomy and freedom.

Sadly, that is no longer the case. Increasingly, this same instrument, once a tool to facilitate individual independence, has been repurposed into a system of monitoring and control. Though advertised as safety measures for the consumer, these measures were clearly designed to empower the state.

Modern vehicles are no longer just mechanical devices; they are computers on wheels. Embedded sensors track speed, braking patterns, seatbelt usage, location, and even driver attention. Event Data Recorders — commonly referred to as “black boxes” — have been standard in most new vehicles for years. Originally justified as instruments to reconstruct accidents, these devices record data in the moments before a crash. Few object to understanding the causes of collisions. But it is worth noting that once data exists, its use rarely remains confined to its original purpose.

Insurance companies now seek access to driving data to adjust premiums. Law enforcement agencies have used vehicle data in criminal investigations. Courts have admitted such data as evidence. Each of these developments can be justified in isolation. Together, they represent a quiet but unmistakable shift: the automobile is no longer simply your property — it is a source of information about you.

More recently, legislative developments have accelerated this trend. The federal infrastructure legislation passed in 2021 includes a mandate for advanced impaired driving prevention technology to be installed in all new vehicles within the coming years. While often described in benign terms — systems that passively detect intoxication or driver impairment — the practical reality is that these systems must continuously monitor driver behavior in order to function. Monitoring creates data. And data, once created, rarely remains unused. It takes on a life of its own.

Proposals and discussions around remote vehicle disablement — popularly referred to as “kill switches” — have raised further concerns. While proponents argue that such features could prevent high-speed chases or stop stolen vehicles, the existence of remote-control capabilities introduces a fundamentally different relationship between the individual and the machine. A car that can be disabled remotely is clearly not under the control of its owner.

I’ve ranted about this little bit of rampant evil on many occasion, and the gist of all my screeds has been all around this concept:  giving up control — to anyone, for even the most laudable purposes — will, inevitably, end your freedom.

I’m unlikely ever to buy a new car, and certainly not a “modern” car which would contain all the electronic snoopery and filth as discussed above, and most especially at today’s bloated and excessive prices.  But if I were ever to be forced into buying a replacement for the Tiguan or the Fiat, and given that no matter what I buy, it would carry a horrible price tag withal, then why would I just not get a much older car that while expensive, at least allows me the freedom that cars of yore gave me?  Something like this one, for instance:

I know, fifty-odd grand for what is in essence a gift-wrapped VW 2300cc engine may seem excessive to some;  but I don’t need much more than 145hp (especially on that featherweight chassis), and it least it doesn’t look like every other car on the road (#WindTunnel).  But most of all:

…please note the refreshing absence of all the modern electronic geegaws which bedevil today’s automotive offerings.  The only thing missing (which I’d add with alacrity) is air conditioning. (#TexasSummer)

For the faint of heart, let me point out that a new VW Tiguan base model will set you back close to $40,000, and a Jetta (with a stick shift!) only five grand less.  And you can bet your ass that both the VWs will come equipped with all the latest in snoop-‘n-control electronics.

Sorry, but no.  To hell with all that.  I want simple, and I want freedom.

Shutdown

Advice, Drive Time

As Longtime Readers know, I’m not shy to take the occasional swipe at Oz and the Strylians.  This, however, is not good:

We are fifteen days into the Iran–US war. The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow stretch of water through which 20% of the world’s oil and gas normally flows, is effectively closed. Tankers have been hit. Insurers have pulled coverage. Commercial shipping has ground to a standstill for over a week. Brent crude closed Friday at US$103 per barrel, up from $70 before the war, having already spiked to $119.50 during the week. Iran’s military spokesperson has warned oil could reach $200.

Australia imports over 90% of its refined petrol, diesel and jet fuel, almost all of it processed in Asian refineries that are now hoarding output for their own populations. China has banned refined fuel exports. Thailand has suspended petroleum exports. Singapore and South Korean refineries are operating under force majeure. The International Energy Agency has just announced the largest emergency stockpile release in its 50-year history — 400 million barrels across 32 nations.

When the world’s energy watchdog fires its biggest gun, you don’t need a PhD to know the situation is serious.

I hope my Oz Readers (both of them) will take this warning to heart, if they haven’t already.

It’s no longer a joke.

Relative Beauty

Drive Time, Modernism, The Gun Thing

“Oh bloody hell, here goes old Kim again, bitching about how ugly new stuff is compared to old stuff.”

Well, yes.  I am very aware that the new stuff is streets ahead of the old stuff, technologically speaking.  I am also aware that despite this, in many cases this techno-superiority makes very little difference in terms of everyday use.  Here’s an example, using this modern iteration of the venerable 1911 handgun:

…versus the traditional:

Now I know that there are all sorts of reasons why the SIG P211 is a great pistol, probably far better than the Gold Cup in terms of, well, everything, from features to function and so on.  But at the end of the day, will both guns deliver a half-dozen or so rounds of manly .45 ACP goodness into the desired target area?  Yes, the P211 has more rounds to deliver, and yes, it has a tacti-cool red-dot sight which I guess will make this new model x times more accurate than the old-fashioned Gold Cup.  If all that floats your boat, have at it.  I’ll stick with the old 1911, because it’s enough for me, and it will shoot better than I can shoot it anyway.

Consider another example of this phenomenon, using high-end sports cars this time.  Here’s Ferrari’s La Ferrari:

Looks good, is super-fast, has all those holes in the body to make the airflow more efficient, etc.  And hoo boy, it sure is super-fast.  No argument about that, least of all from me.

So let’s look at an older version of a supercar, the Jaguar E-type Series 2:

It’s for sure not as fast as the Ferrari — hell, a tuned E-type can only manage at best ~150mph compared to the 220mph of the Scuderia creation, and its piddly little 4.2-liter straight 6 engine pushes out at best 265hp (compared to the newer supercar’s 6.3-liter V12 plus the F1-derived KERS system yielding 850hp).

So… no contest, right?

Quite right.  I’d take the Jag any day of the week, six ways to Sunday.  The looks of the Jag are smoother, less angular and frankly, streamlined enough for me, and the performance is frankly much more than I need.  (The Ferrari’s performance is not only excessive, it frightens me because I wouldn’t be able to control the beast.)

Frankly, both the SIG and LaFerrari embody to me a “modern” style that I have come to detest — much as this example of a “modern” building compares very badly to an older one:

 

Your opinions on all the above examples may vary.

Canceled Entertainment

Drive Time, Sports

Great moments in bad timing, #435:

Formula 1 is going to have to cancel the two Grand Prix races in April, because the venues (Bahrain and Saudi Arabia) have become an unwitting victim of Operation Kick Shi’a Iranian Ass.

This sucks big time….

…although strictly speaking it serves F1 right because they should never have given the Arabs so many Grands Prix in the first place.

The races can’t be rescheduled because the calendar is full and there’s no room at the inn.

But in the grand scheme of things, it’s irrelevant because the new “formula” in Formula 1 has turned the races into even more boring spectacles than they were before, which is saying something.

I have a simple fix for their “boring” problem, by the way (although they won’t want to hear it):

Ditch those pathetic half-Duracell / half-tiny-turbo engines (1500cc?  WTF?) and replace them with gasoline-powered 2.5-litre V16s, screaming their lungs out and deafening spectators at 18,000rpm.  And let the drivers drive, instead of forcing them to be battery-power managers.

And then I’ll show you all around my unicorn garden.