"The Volt" May BE SCRAPPED!- NEVER BUILT!!

[cfg83]

Frank -

The egg-zact same kind of thing happened to my Dad. He was the manager of an engineering "Fire Team". It was a crack squad of engineers that would be called on to save failing projects. Above him was a wingnut bass-turd that liked to scream a lot. My Dad became the "the buffer" between the team and this boss. My Dad went to other managers to tell them what was happening. Then he found out that all these managers he was talking to were the friends of the wingnut. My Dad quit. Without him as a buffer, the whole team quit within a week. They assembled a new team for the wingnut. Within two months, that whole team quit. The wingnut had a nervous breakdown. When he came back, they promoted him. Bad guy wins.

Short story long. My Dad was a scientist that wasn't able to see this person for what he was. He saw the purity of the scientific problems being solved and his people being abused, not the "connections" that the wingnut had, and he paid for it.


CarloSW2

[Christ]

Your dad's boss was a fish poop?

Carlos - Unfortunately, that happens all too often. People are replaced because they're expendable, and once you've got someone in your back pocket, you button that piece down tight so they can't get out.

I've been in a few positions where my work was appreciated, though. Often, those same companies are mom & pop operations that usually can't afford to pay much, but have "other" benefits, often including personal use of equipment, etc.

For instance - A company I worked for a few years ago could only afford to pay me $10.00 per hour for what equated to first-step and prototype engineering work... and me oh my, I don't have a degree... because I didn't have a piece of paper that said I knew the same amount of information as the "real" engineers about the job I was doing (more, in most cases), I wasn't allowed to make "the big bucks" like they did. (I was short almost $23/hour for the same work they were doing.) My boss saw this conundrum and helped me make the best of it. As I worked nights, there were never bosses around, not even mine, so as long as my work was done, and I didn't piss off my team leader (who didn't speak english) I had free run of my area. Tools, Machines, Parts, Equipment, etc. Do what you will. I also had unlimited access to overtime when I needed it, open ended. Also, I could (within reason) set my own schedule, so that if I needed to come a few minutes late, my boss would "fix" my time records for me. If I came in an hour late, I worked an hour over, simple as that.

That is a prime example of appreciation for the work I did. I had "benefits" that others could not have gotten, and in most cases, did not deserve.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

I'm not sure if this was already posted on this thread:

(click on image for link)
There's a lot more pictures of these eight Volt preproduction units (not the Cruze mules) on their 1,200 miles test drive...

[jamesqf]

[QUOTE=cfg83;134752]TeeVee has indeed made it worse, but this is not a recent phenomenon in American culture:"

I don't really agree, but I'm using a rather different sense of the word intellectual than I think Hofstadter does. (I vaguely recall reading that piece...). If you think about the times prior to WWII, you had the practical inventor/scientist as hero: Edison, Bell, the Wright brothers and more in real life; Tom Swift and imitations, endless pulp science fiction stories, etc. Even in the years up to about the end of the '50s, you had Heinlein &c, kids building their own hot rods and so forth. These may not have been intellectual in the academic sense, but neither were they exalting dumbness :-)

It's too simplistic to say that a rocket scientist is better suited to run the country.

But I don't think that's what I said. I said the current President, contrary to what his fans would have us believe, ain't no rocket scientist :-) Nor do think that the country needs a rocket scientist in that office, just that its current holder isn't one.

[theunchosen]

For the price of the volt... you could manufacture an inline 4 with a CF chassis VVT and all the modern trimmings of smart engines... and... it would still get better post charge FE than the volt. So the result would be a much much faster 4-seater and a more eco(nomical/logical) friendly car.

[Frank Lee]

cfg and james:

From my POV America really has dumbed down in recent times.

As merely one example I offer this:

In Popular Mechanics magazines from the turn of the last century to, oh, the 1970's, you'd find articles for building your own ____boat, radio, shed, go kart, mini-bike, special shop tool... whatever____ from practically scratch at home. And you'd see articles and letters about boys and men from about 13 years old on up successfully building these things, or modding them, or showing off their own inventions.

So I'm at the doctor's office a while back and there's a Popular Mechanics magazine in the waiting room. Hmmm... I haven't looked in one in years. What did I see?

A two or three page article on how to use the jack that comes with your car to put the spare tire on.

Yup.

[dwtaylorpdx]

Take a tour of the back streets of Telaviv.. youl find family shops building Uzi's with nothing but a rat lathe and a file. I'm not kidding, the kids do the fit and finish work...

My Bro in law spent a lot of time in Isreal as a Civil Engineer. He showed me pics.

Its freeking impressive.

I alsso have a aquaintenance that rode a Honda XL650 to Brazil form Portland Or.
he brolks a transmision shaft in a podunk town in central america. His riding partner towed him in to a gas station, they were asking about a ports sotre, (No way) and the
10 year old pumping gas said "NO problem we make it." They pulled the main shaft and gave the two parts to the kid. The kid and his dad evidentially stayed up all night buildig the shaft using a forge, a file and skill. His dad hammer welded the shaft back together and turned it on a hand powered lathe using a file and sand paper and hand tools to match the running areas, it was not pretty but it spun perfectly true and got the bike another 1200+ miles til they got to a town with a Honda shop.

They asked for 2 US dollars for the work. My friend gave them a roll of quarters and had to run cause they kept trying to give them change....

Craftsmanship is dead....Nobody gets it anymore.
Dave

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

cfg and james:

From my POV America really has dumbed down in recent times.

As merely one example I offer this:

In Popular Mechanics magazines from the turn of the last century to, oh, the 1970's, you'd find articles for building your own ____boat, radio, shed, go kart, mini-bike, special shop tool... whatever____ from practically scratch at home. And you'd see articles and letters about boys and men from about 13 years old on up successfully building these things, or modding them, or showing off their own inventions.

So I'm at the doctor's office a while back and there's a Popular Mechanics magazine in the waiting room. Hmmm... I haven't looked in one in years. What did I see?

A two or three page article on how to use the jack that comes with your car to put the spare tire on.

Yup.

While I totally agree with the dumbing down of America, I happen to be a person that would love to read that 3 pages if it can make heads or tails out of the twisted piece of metal GM calls a jack in the back of my car. Silly me I figured it would be obvious, but instead I have a donut spare with a bunch of twisted metal with plenty of wing nuts on it holding the spare down. I actually had to get the manual out and I'll be dang if I have YET to understand this contraption! This is one complaint I have with GM/Chevy- While a kick ass Bose made stereo appears to be standard equipment, the spare tire and jack cost extra. And now I have a jack that I have yet to figure out how to use.

I'm actually thinking about just buying one of those heavy large hydraulic jacks because I understand them better and I feel they are more reliable and very well might work better. I like to be prepared the best I can for an accident, dead battery, flat tires etc.. I already have a small air pump and a can of Fix a Flat in my trunk, but if I ever have to change a flat with that dang hunk of metal GM calls a jack I'm going to be off the road a long time.

[dcb]

I died a little when our (USA) previous president promoted the "hydrogen economy" as a means to energy independence.

[cfg83]

NeilBlanchard -

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Hi,

I'm not sure if this was already posted on this thread:
...
(click on image for link)
There's a lot more pictures of these eight Volt preproduction units (not the Cruze mules) on their 1,200 miles test drive...

Ok, there's the rear window :



And the rear slope of the window seems to be about 13.5 degrees :



13.5 degrees seems a wee bit steep. Maybe it could use one of those flat-salt-flat spoiler extensions.

CarloSW2