Introducing Hermann - no really...

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Xist

...I tried to casually asked why they made that choice and they almost exclusively responded "Because it's cute!"

This is one of the reasons why I broke up with an extremely hot, young and sweet girl. Despite her many extremely attractive qualities, she was very driven by emotion.

When I met her, she drove a late model Aveo. One day she called me up saying a salesman wanted to sell her a new Aveo in a really cute color and credit her trade-in. She called me under the guise of asking my advise, but what she really wanted was for me to validate her irrational desire for the crappy car and horrible financial decision.

I validated her enthusiasm, but mentioned that it wasn't a sound financial decision and, at the very least, needed to sleep on the idea before committing to it. Perhaps I should have told her that our relationship hinged on her at least waiting 24hrs to make a decision, but if it wasn't the stupid Aveo, it would have eventually been many other things that drove me crazy. Needless to say, she traded in for the damned car. It took me 6 months and 3 break ups to finally end things. (did I mention she had many attractive qualities).

I chose Bacon because I chose the wrong girlfriend and she was more interested in me purchasing something cute and returning my full attention to her...

The first girl that I took on a date with Dad's F150 seemed to like the truck more than me.

Men are just as irrational as women when it comes to purchasing vehicles. Women might buy a car because it's cute and red, but men just as often buy a car because it's macho and fast. There is no denying that a woman's interest in a man can be influenced by the vehicle he drives, and men know this.

Women have said I look manly driving my big truck, and they have said I look hot riding my sport bike, but none have said anything about being attracted to me driving a practical Subaru Legacy.

My point is that women are crazy for wanting a red car, and men are crazy for wanting one with 500hp.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Daekar

Basically, you've got to be smart, you've got to have common sense, you've got to enjoy learning and sharing, and you've got to be able to do and comprehend things that I don't. Once you leap those hurdles, then we'll get into appearances.

Perhaps this is true of you, but just the opposite for most others. If you are a stranger to online dating, then you might not realize that the first thing both men and women do when browsing profiles is to look at the pictures. If they like what they see, then they are interested in reading more about the person and getting to know them.

The thing is, physical attraction can be quickly assessed. If there is none, then there is no point in investing further in pursuit of romance and a relationship. In the context of romantic relationships, aesthetic qualities are the first and primary motivator for both sexes. I'd even argue that most men don't move much further than aesthetics when considering a long term relationship, with women giving more consideration to other qualities.

[Daekar]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

This is one of the reasons why I broke up with an extremely hot, young and sweet girl. Despite her many extremely attractive qualities, she was very driven by emotion.

When I met her, she drove a late model Aveo. One day she called me up saying a salesman wanted to sell her a new Aveo in a really cute color and credit her trade-in. She called me under the guise of asking my advise, but what she really wanted was for me to validate her irrational desire for the crappy car and horrible financial decision.

I validated her enthusiasm, but mentioned that it wasn't a sound financial decision and, at the very least, needed to sleep on the idea before committing to it. Perhaps I should have told her that our relationship hinged on her at least waiting 24hrs to make a decision, but if it wasn't the stupid Aveo, it would have eventually been many other things that drove me crazy. Needless to say, she traded in for the damned car. It took me 6 months and 3 break ups to finally end things. (did I mention she had many attractive qualities).



Men are just as irrational as women when it comes to purchasing vehicles. Women might buy a car because it's cute and red, but men just as often buy a car because it's macho and fast. There is no denying that a woman's interest in a man can be influenced by the vehicle he drives, and men know this.

Women have said I look manly driving my big truck, and they have said I look hot riding my sport bike, but none have said anything about being attracted to me driving a practical Subaru Legacy.

My point is that women are crazy, and so are men.

So based on that, it seems we could argue that women are crazy because they are women, and men are crazy for the sake of women... ;-)

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I could be very off base by this comment, but I get the impression that the English tend to rely more on specialization than Americans. My imagination has this idea that if you are English and need bread, you go to the bakery to get a loaf. If you are English and need furniture moved, you hire movers to do it.

Less and less so for shops - we have Tesco - think Wallmart but much much more predatory... Specialist shops are becoming very rare, city high streets (aka Main Streets) are being swept away here as they are in the US.

Moving stuff depends, if you can do it yourself you get (or borrow) a van - Transit sized. If bigger then get a "Man with a Van" to help, or then if even bigger get a mover. Its not (for example) a weekly thing so we don't go buy a van or a pickup just in case.

Crew-cab type pickups became popular a few years ago but that was because they could be treated as a business vehicle for tax reasons - amazing how many people suddenly had their own business which seemed not to do much other than own a vehicle...

Originally Posted by Various on SUVs

...

My joke was intended to be on myself.

I've commented on "why do Americans need a Pickup Truck when nowhere else in the world feels the need" before (e.g. just above). And now I have my own fuel guzzling road ship which only has me in it 5 days out of 7.

There are other reasons, some sensible and some women style. Sensible - I intend to keep it for a while (costs willing) so it needs to be able to last and be "interesting", we needed something bigger and it is bigger, and it is AWD so when the snow comes back it should be OK (other option was a BMW 5 series which I would stack into a wall when the snow hits). Its also done all of it's depreciation and someone else has paid for that.

The women style reasons - it looks good, it is very nice inside, has toys and I've kind of wanted an A6 for ages.

First trip to work today. On the SG2 it registered about 23 MPG in very heavy stop start traffic, the on board said 38. I think without the stops and starts and periods of sitting in jams I could get it to mid-40s.

The SG2 is still reporting colonial gallons and needing to be calibrated (may take a while on a tank this size - hopefully). Remaining tank range is still in the 580-600 range and I've done 60 from this tank already.

Maybe a Kilo-tank would be a good aim.

[RedDevil]

(on why Europeans seldom buy pickup trucks)
A big pickup truck in Europe is very expensive to insure, very expensive to run (esp. on gas), and impossible to park anywhere; the whole infrastructure is based on car size.
Also it rains quite often around here.
The typical European farmer has a small van rather than a pickup truck, or maybe a Land Rover, Suzuki Vitara etc. along with special farm equipment.

[elhigh]

Arragonis, I love your Brunel avatar. That guy was an over-the-top Brit.

He always reminds me of a famous quote from Churchill: "I like a man who grins when he fights." I think Brunel in a dustup would look entirely too enthusiastic.

I actually like the European specialist paradigm. You go to the boulangerie for baguettes, you go to the tea shop for tea, you go to the milliner's for fabrics, you go to the shoemaker's for shoes.

In the States, you go to Walmart.

Frikkin Walmart. I live in East Tennessee where there are lots of smaller towns, and in the towns too small to support a Walmart, if they're more than 20 miles away from a town that does have a Walmart, those little towns' downtown areas are doing okay. The little hardware stores, the little shoe stores, the little barber shops are still in business. Not thriving, but hanging on. A bigger town/small city, something the size of Farnborough, Hampshire (about the size of Eau Claire, Wisconsin for my North American friends) could easily support a very vigorous downtown...but that's also a juicy target for a Walmart. And a Target, for that matter.

The old paradigm of specialization was attractive in that it got you out to meet more people, to be more involved in your community. But the siren song of convenience has more consumers looking for quick, easy one-stop shopping, and leaves us more and more inside our own heads, thinking about only ourselves, and not meeting people.

Sorry. This is off-thread, and this raveled fiber has touched a nerve.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by elhigh

...In the States, you go to Walmart.

Frikkin Walmart...

The old paradigm of specialization was attractive in that it got you out to meet more people, to be more involved in your community. But the siren song of convenience has more consumers looking for quick, easy one-stop shopping, and leaves us more and more inside our own heads, thinking about only ourselves, and not meeting people.

Funny, I have the opposite problem in Portland. When I need something simple, I can't find it because it's all specialty shops. I went to find Walmart so I could just quickly and easily purchase something, but found that Portland doesn't freakin' have a Walmart. It's impossible to find cheap groceries too.

There is nothing efficient about running all over tarnation to accomplish errands, and paying top dollar for the inconvenience.

[UltArc]

Originally Posted by elhigh

Frikkin Walmart. I live in East Tennessee where there are lots of smaller towns, and in the towns too small to support a Walmart, if they're more than 20 miles away from a town that does have a Walmart, those little towns' downtown areas are doing okay. The little hardware stores, the little shoe stores, the little barber shops are still in business. Not thriving, but hanging on. A bigger town/small city, something the size of Farnborough, Hampshire (about the size of Eau Claire, Wisconsin for my North American friends) could easily support a very vigorous downtown...but that's also a juicy target for a Walmart. And a Target, for that matter.

The old paradigm of specialization was attractive in that it got you out to meet more people, to be more involved in your community. But the siren song of convenience has more consumers looking for quick, easy one-stop shopping, and leaves us more and more inside our own heads, thinking about only ourselves, and not meeting people.

Sorry. This is off-thread, and this raveled fiber has touched a nerve.

But if everyone is at different shops, you see less people. If everyone is at Wal Mart, you can meet everyone there! I see your point, and agree in ways, I just wanted to play devils avacado (30 Rock anyone...).

[freebeard]

Arragonis -- Nice ride. Sorry for your loss.

Is the doggie going to be behind a dog car barrier or will you strap it down?

If you were going to spray 4 or 5 coats of PlastiDip S to protect the original finish, what colour would you prefer? Their matte pearlescents are nice.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

My point is that women are crazy for wanting a red car, and men are crazy for wanting one with 500hp.

If I mastered time and space, I would punch a guy before he married a certain young lady, who was always telling him about me, which, of course, she told me after they got married.

All kinds of things wrong there.

She loved my Prelude, which got decent mileage. We once walked past an Aveo and she said that those cars should not exist because they were too small for me.

She did like trucks and motorcycles. Hey, I preferred driving my dad's truck to Bacon, even after I fixed the air conditioning, but it was more comfortable, and handled better.

I still wish that I had my Focus.

For those of you that were not able to watch that YouTube video, here it is on Hulu, although I recommend that you skip it: https://secure.hulu.com/embed/cIfD8rJtAO2ePQ1KXtKBpw