2016 Detroit Auto tv Show, 30 flashy minutes, and did not hear "front drive" once.

Die, die, die FWD.

QVC and HSN just print "imported" instead of actual country of manufacturing.

Aren't you at least curious?
Do buyers have Rights??

Capitola has too many night time raccoons, carriers of dangerous brain roundworm.

The KQED documentary says the poop easily becomes aerosol dust we inhale.

City County and State government agencies won't do enough to control this major health risk. So many racoons don't belong in urban areas where they sleep in sheds or attics. And because they boldly come out at night, almost as unhealthy garbage fat as badketballs, does not mean we should just go to bed and close our eyes on the problem.

dear fellow Costco shoppers, item#948 400, the Kirkland Signature Super Premium Vanilla Ice Cream Pure Vanilla, no hormones,,, is too sticky, not good enough.

Please make it better , so you can sell more.
Hear ice cream should be kept in an air tight plastic bag.
Will try that.
Thanks!

dear fellow Coctco shoppers, another UNSAT to item#444 808, the Cuisine Adventures , Mini Quiche, classic florentine, swiss cheese and applewood smoked uncured bacon.

First, the box photo shows larger pieces of bacon. Sooo
Misrepresentation.  Ouch.

Second, the bacon pieces are teeny tiny, for no reason. So fails the "Where's the meat?"test. Ouch.

Nancy's were better, more tasty, savory.

These are ,,, crummy crumbly pastry shells too.

NOT RECOMMENDED.
save your money.

Jan.2016, Big news so far: Use AAA instead of slow arrogant thieving California DMV .

I had my front license plate stolen.
GO TO AAA."YES, we do that."
(wouldn't it be nice if you never ever had to go and wait wait wait, without chairs, for HOURS, at the Damned DMV?)

What useful well-designed product is just "no longer being made"??

My vote, first vote, goes to the Rubbermaid Cool Seat, black hard plastic. Plastic hinges didn't last long, so used nylon rope. But for long drives in hot humid weather, it was the best cool seat to keep your backside ventilated and cool. All those wire and plastic ones were too compressible and barely lasted one driving vacation. I still have one. Only one. Use it every day as a limo, truck, bus, school bus driver.

Second one I invented; an air brake button leash, unless you are that stupid to let the button hurt your hand every time you pull on the dash air brake button. Never seen a short rope one in a truck stop. Sure does save your gloved or especially ungloved hand.

Third, a 1951 Chevy "suburban", tho that model was called somehing else , way back then. Passenger jumpseat folded under dash.
Lots of leg room.
Could hose off interior after hauling yard trimmings to dump.
Had very reliable straight 6 cylinder engine.
Big stick shift "H" pattern on the floor, where it belongs.
4 bench seats with wingnuts to remove from durable and easy to clean rubber floor.
Our family had a 1941 model and a 1951 model, as Dad bought a new car every 10 years and did his own maintenance on brakes and engine.
The "black mariah" and the "green bean", great family vehicles for a family of 6 and all their backpacks or suitcases, and I mean all.
We loved those 2 cars.
Can't get them anymore.

The most valuable, most famous and most popular railroad line is ,,, the south coast rxr line, from say sj/sf-la/sd. Period. Second would be old Donner Pass. So why is the legislature wasting $M and $Bs on a Central Valley, cotton most toxic crop rxr line somewhere between oily Bakerfield and gangland Modesto and Fresno?

Over $6B was wasted on the "new" Oakland Bay Bridge with 100s-1000s of large cracked defective bolts installed, poor welds confessed on tv by the welders, and leaky tower.
Thanks again, Sacramento legislature, Caltrans and gov. Jerry Brown.

Let's see if the history whitewashers can hide this!

dear fellow Costco shoppers: item #204022, the Kirkland fiber tabs, full daily dose, don't work for me, so NOT RECOMMENDED.

Save your money.

dear fellow Costco shoppers:item #275336 , the Minh Egg Rolls , Pork & Vegetable,,, is NOT RECOMMENDED.

First, could not find the "pork" or taste it.

Cooked by rolling in paper towels , as directed, and microwaved twice to get hotter.
Maybe you can only deep fry or oven heat these.

But for "wave" me, they Failed the "Where's the meat?" test and the "tastes good enough, I guess" test.

Ate the 6.
Tossed the remaining 12.
Save your money !!
And much do better, Minh.

What is so wrong with guest workers in the Usa!? Citizenship doesn't mean their wages won't be stolen like here in California. Grow up, America!!

Citizenship and voting don't mean much anymore with Supreme Court ruling corporations are people and cash is free speech.

Is SF ready , on Thursday 28jan, for the SuperBowl 50, starting Saturday, in 2 days? Saw some uncleaned greasy backside streetcars this morning.

Lots of crosswalks need repainting.

Where are all the buses ,100s to 1000s, going to park? Pier 30 again?

Will the police be polite patient and helpful at this "party" or the usual sfpd impatient and foul mouthed??

Sf's major train station, CalTrain by the AT&T ballpark, still still does not have an interior electronic big sign for train arrivals and depatures. Still.

Will the DPT be out all day in full force around the 2 party locations of FBldg and Moscone,since sfpd doesn't do parking and traffic?

NPR radio and KQED radio, what is the harm in letting your live audience live text or email participate?

You have a tiny few live callers sometimes.
And you are almost always asking too long for public money donations.
Please respect the word "public" more.

It's Thursday,28jan2016, just 2 days before the start of the SuperBowl 50 Party, and Caltrans has not even started filling all the potholes in the new asphalt between Levi Stadium and SF on hwy 101 !!

I'm talking over 40 new/recent potholes in new asphalt just in the half mile of 101S , lanes 3 and 4, at Oyster Point and the 425s exits for SSF city.

Big news.
Unreported.
And unrepaired.

dear fellow Costco shoppers:Cream Cheese #4893 in smaller , hand size foil wraps. Good idea.

Previously it was the large tub, softball size, or the tiny individual , thumb size, tubs.
The larger size lasted a week or two in the frig. And the tiny size kept it fresher but used a lot of packaging,2-4 tiny tubs, for one person's breakfast.

So besides the always reliable rotisserie chicken and panty store for weeks Langers pasteurized OJ that never sours, these 6-packs are a good addition. Oh, Langers Mango Nectar is a wonderful smoothies mixer!!

The 3 Nov 2015 election was supposed to be a "county test of mail-in voting". Only 29.5% voted in San Mateo County. Pathetic civic responsibility !!

The official county mailer of "voter information" had so little information.  That was a big problem.

State law currently does not allow the candidates party choice to be published on the ballot. "Non-partisan". As if there is no difference between Dems and Republicans!  Another obvious huge mistake from Sacramento.

But it is legal to call the SM county and ask for the city council candidates chosen party.

Eric is registered Democrat.
Thank you for running Sir and speaking for renters, the majority.

Emily is registered Republican.

Donna is registered non-partisan.

Nirmala is registered "Democrat".
(Does Hillary know?)

And a write-in candidate I did not know about, very pro renter, was a renter named Alex Kent.
I would have voted for you had I known. Sorry.

Big Lie, as you have seen the rainy increase in spinouts with FWD compacts !!

"FWD has some operational advantages, as well. With all that weight concentrated over the (front) drive wheels, it offers very good traction on slippery surfaces at relatively lower speeds."
BS.

Practical problem is there are many more spinout accidents,statistically I'll bet, drivers loosing traction on just wet and not icy roads and sliding into concrete barricades.  All you have to do is drive a curvy highway like 17 in the rain to see all the spinouts, broken body parts littering the highway and many many big scratches on the concrete medians caused by FWD cars loosing control in the wet.  Plus the midnight "tuners" drift and spin because of FWD's design flaw, instead of just speeding and racing after dark, like in the old days. Having the steering wheels also be the power wheels invites loss of traction with normal braking in just the rain; You turn and brake and you risk losing the small power patch under both front tires in a light rain.  I have had light rain, scary-fast spinouts in an Acura Integra and strongly recommend not buying this dangerous unsafe FWD car.

Big Greyhound bus accident on 101N , near San Jose. 2 ejected are dead.

So picture a low wage driver driving at night when most people naturally tend to fall asleep, usually Greyhound buses are speeding on the highway, and all the way from LA to SAC in the rain and irresponsible cut-off drivers, oh and you paxs don't have to wear a seatbelt over 40-50mph.
The paxs want the heat on and that, from personal and professional experience, really makes bus drivers sleepy.
Plus you can not wear head phones and listen to music to stay awake. Some buses don't even have built-in coffee cup holders. Stupid.

So taking a night bus long distance is a considerable risk.
Did the driver have full benefits and matching 401k or was he working two jobs driving, just to pay the out of control rent increases in California?
As a bus driver since 1976, I tried driving a night bus charter from Reno to Boise.
Headlights coming high head-on hurt your eyes. The lane on 2 lane "highways" in Nevada and Idaho are too narrow for big wide trucks and buses, so you either hit the noisy tire bots-dots on Your side of the double yellow or and the noisy gravel on the shoulder. Where are safer Federal standards !?
Crazy stupid.

As a professional bus truck limo driver, since 1976, what I want to feel safer on highways in fast heavy crowded buses is a driver monitor, so if the truck or bus driver starts to fall asleep , it is electronically recorded and sent to his office and the driver is small shocked awake. I use to drive the women overnight from SJ to indian gambling near Solvang, getting back in San Jose in the early morning. Some nights there were 6 full buses of gambling women. We drivers tried to sleep in a no a/c tiny single dirt cheap motel bedroom, but in the bus's warm heat, dark sky drive back North I often caught myself falling asleep as I crossed the right shoulder and started to hit the dirt and gravel and drive off the 101N highway !. Scared the hell out of me! Had to refuse those runs finally. I am Definitely diurnal, and must sleep at night. Must. Though one company ordered me to drive from SF to LA and back to SF , even tho that is way over legal hours,14 at the time. Governor Grey Davis and Sacramento have made it 16hrs now. Totally irresponsible !! And the annual CHP bus inspections are a "show" joke that no one in the industry fears or respects, as that is what the politicians want.

Pilots for decades have refused to be video monitored.
Their union is against it.
Now is the time to stop the sham and get serious about truck bus and commercial airplane driver video monitoring. Some companies are doing it for 911 security reasons with bus locator small black modules on the dash and front-rear cameras on the front windshield. The Feds offered to pay for all of it.

No excuses.

When I was a kid we could drive 101 to LA or fly out of sj in the narrowest commercial jet 1-1 seating or take the luxury overnight sleeper car train from sf/sj -la. Amtrak is a disaster on rented late waiting for freight trains bus and train to LA. I don't want to take a bus. Think of all the cars we could remove from the 101 and planes from the sky if we brought back the luxury trains of the 50s. Of course the politicans will say "it is impossible and too expensive" . Yet a train company, Southern Pacific , ran wonderful luxury stainless steel trains up and down the coast. Western Europe does it so well, inspite of crazy Thatcher selling off public assets and taxing rich less and voting pole tax. California , even after spending over $6B on the tiny Oakland Bay Bridge, should be able to find the visionary vs lazy leaders !!
Tourist would fill the trains.
The train right of way should be a public asset after what the railroad companies overcharged the usa to build the transcontinental !! Corrupt companies and their corrupt politicians.

I so miss MTV. 24-7 constant quality music videos. Why not a "MTV rerun" , take 30-50years on one HD channel.

Also a 24-7 Nature channel, full rerun, show it all again, on one Nature HD channel.

And rerun all Frontline shows on another HD channel.

And rerun all 60Minutes shows on a HD channel, and make airwave hdtv so much better !!

There is so much GREAT tv in "old" storage ,,, and so much junk tv on air now. Can I block that channel?
Can I renumber all the channels to put them in my preferred order, without the cursed hyphen??
Can I speed up channel changing on my new expensive flat screen that is sooo slow??
Can I get scan for tv?
Can I get 8 picture window grid and skip around??
Can I get a huge cheap digital tv recorder so I can store tv shows, timeshift,skip commercials or at least mute that loud stupid dishonest pitch, and watch when I am not working 12hrs /day and 6-7 days a week at 68??

Oh, and can the tech geeks give us language "just english" control/translation ??
I am Not learning chinese, korean teen pop, vietnamese and Hindu. Not !!
Street Mexican German and french were hard enuf .

Guided fishing by row boats should be allowed on Crystal Springs Reservoir, SF be dammed !!

Who does SF think they ,805,000 residents, are anyway!?

They tap YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK inside, with big dam and power station on Tuolumne River, pipe 170 MILES all that high quality cheap water and power to SF.
Store it in San Mateo county, once part of sf. Rumored to be huge lake trout in Crystal Springs Reservoir.  And SF says "no fishing, no access, no rowing even." The dam could a, should have been built outside in the National Forest below Yosemite. Another big mistake.

Remind me again, who the hell does sf think they are ?

WARNING:BRIDGE TOLL $7 TO ENTER SF ON GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE becomes a $35 MAILED BILLING

The Golden Gate Bridge is not a state owned and operated bridge. First mis-assumption. First big mistake.

State highway vista point parking lots and rest areas at North and especially South are too small. Public toilet are too snall and not staffed by trailer residents like at other Ca.rest areas. Consider driving thru tunnel to outer Pt.Bonita(local secret mindblowing scenic old ww2 gunnery spot with small dirt lot.) or no park ,drive around the roundabout below Hawk Hill and just drive slow and enjoy the anazing views and don't even think! about double parking and triple parking in the too few legal parking spaces. OK?

So if you are driving South on 101 and entering City-County of SF, the toll takers have been dismissed. Second big mistake of putting mismanaged "district" ahead of valuable hard working front line employees. More people need more good pay jobs with full benefits like govt civil service jobs, hello !!

So there is a very tiny lot you can pull in on the far right, behind the bus stop , to pay the $7 toll in the tiny office.
But certainly not room for more than a few cars.
Again, really bad design use of space at old Army base called the Presidio. Run by a bunch of Obama appointees, who rejected the offered Star Wars Museum! Like SF rejected a battleship. Big mistake.Huge.

So easiest is to go online and pay ASAP. Find the closed govt, secretive, Golden Gate Bridge District website and pay $7.
BEFORE you get billed for $35.

(It's an abusive crime.)
You have been informed, advised and warned.
;)

Kaiser? 97 and nauseated for a month."Your doctor is off tomorrow." Not 'We have lots of good doctors and we can see you tonight in ER or tomorrow early by appointment. "

Kaiser is expensive.
Kaiser's care stinks!

WoW, the Supreme Court battle of teachers vs force-paid unions is going to be Heated, Revelatory, and a Big Fun Public Fight !!

My Mom and Dad met as high school teacher , before the, ww2, war. Mom taught Home Ec. and at 97 is still an amazing talented fast cook. Dad taught the shop classes. So Mom, an L.A. short dancin' social hottie would break a toaster over and over to have footballer big rugged handsome , hunt and fish in NorCal before and after classes, "please fix my toaster again" date. Pretty sly, eh?
They both served as officers, Army and Navy, in the war. Kept writing and married right after the war. New custom ranch house for $18,000.

So I am on the teachers side. Two of three sisters taught public school. I, briefly, sold 403b's for pittance "straight com." The public does not care to see the lousy mgmt of public schools. Nor the terrible captive nature of the selfish teacher unions. Our "public" schools are so hidden and abused!!

Shame on both the CTA and CFA for not getting at least $50k/yr starting salaries for every public school teacher in California that has a dammit "4 year degree" and bloody "1-2 yr Masters teaching credential" by torture hell.
Teaching is a talent and a passion; you either have it or you read the text to the class.

Does the squalor public masses know or care that golden handshakes and golden parachutes to principals and superintendents are not proven to be cost effective, but are just a huge waste of tax money? Do people know that the #1 public school admin. mantra in the usa is "spend it, so we get the same or more next year"!!??  Good teachers do not autmatically make better public school administrators and the reverse. And there are sooo many bad teachers and bad administrators in public education.

Yes, even the Teamsters won't help you with 3 lincoln penny too thin tread tires in winter rain on a "faster faster!!" UPS delivery truck. So why expect anything of benefit from the public school teachers unions? They "take" $400-650/yr for horrible lazy traitorous "representation". Yes, I have had my 4xs a Teamster rep tell me "We don't represent you. Sit down. Shut up. We are going for cocktails in company mgmt office now. And you will be lucky to keep what you already have! So forget about your fair dispatch rules." These American unions, public especially, are no better than parasites. And yes, I have been in one of the most famous public elementary school districts, public union office many times. Almost as scary selfish, anti-dues paying members, union shop office as any Teamsters office, like the ones in SF.

So bring it, public school teachers!!

The state, the feds and testing crazy "no chold left behind", and the admins, and the public unions are all not your friends. Public education in the usa must must be saved. Rich parents and expensive "insider"private schools be damned. The usa must be improved and defended, progressively.
Not nearly enough has been done. If I see/hear one more lazy irresponsible sellout American politician,,,

Let's Plus and Minus evaluate Every President and Politician.

I'll start.

BILL CLINTON:
PLUSSES-uh, any ideas, submissions?
NEGATIVES-
1-signed NAFTA
2-signed death of Glass-Steagal, resulting in usa and world economy "crash of 2008"
3-the whole embarrassing multiple sex partner impropriety and perjury case before the Supreme Court.
Thanks, a bunch, you horse's ass and fraud, Mr. President, Bill Clinton.
A Democrat.

Senators Feinstein, Pelosi, Boxer, Speier:
Plusses-
Minuses-
They are all Rich.
Thanks , a bunch.
And all "Democrats".

Matson shipping, right?, loses 12 SHIPPING CONTAINERS going out the Golden Gate,,, and the freakin' California Coastal Commission is not going to make them find and retrieve every bloody mysterious contents one !!??

This is our God dam California Coast and piece of The Pacific, dammit !!

Let's live camera embarrass every one of those wankers.

WTF,,, You have to join "Google+ to rate an app on google "play store"!!??

That's BS !!

Isn't interesting that the IRS has been going hard on working poor waitresses tips and yet lets all these rich ".com" companies here in Silicon Valley give their over $100k/yr high salary not hourly employees UNTAXED free bus rides, free restaurant meals at work all day, free laundry, free daycare, free wi-fi, free dog care, every day !! Do we Americans give too much "welfare for the Rich" or what!?

Remember, faceebook is just chat. That's all.
Oh, and data mining.

Front engine, front drive compact cars are TOO DANGEROUS AND TEND TO SPIN OUT TOO EASILY !!

Even in the lightest rain with wide groove tires, if you tap your brakes in a turn, the car will break traction and VIOLENTLY SPIN !!

I will never ever buy such a car again. My first, and last, front engine car with front drive was a 2000 Acura Integra, a very popular model. But just once at 40mph on a damp curved road, I tapped the brakes and the CAR VIOLENTLY AND RAPIDLY SPUN OUT INTO THE CONCRETE MEDIAN BARRICADE, both the front and rear were damaged, costing $8000. No comp-collision coverage because I am such a safe driver, so I PAID $8000 from SAVINGS !!

This uncontrollable unpreventable accident would not have occurred in a weight balanced, front engine REAR DRIVE CAR !! That is why the Acura Integra is so popular with "street racers" and "tuners" who terrorize our streets at night with SPEEDING AND SPINNING !! Watch the "drift"  movie in Japan with that car mob of speeders.

Most average drivers should not be guinea pigs for Detroit's bad experiments !! Why isn't the federal govt protecting us from this huge common problem with our autos?? Remember , I was on a highway , speed limit of 55, in a very light rain, slowing to yellow sign recommended "40mph" in a turn, yet I could not normally use my brakes. I tried to find no hydroplane, unrated tires. And my tires were properly inflated. I am sure you have seen the same thing here in California over and over again, all over our freeways, with JUST A LITTLE RAIN. Imagine if we had snow and ice every Winter!
The auto industry lied when they told us we didn't need a "heavy drive shaft" and rear wheel drive for less expensive cars. My previous car was a mid-engine rear drive Toyota MR2, that was the most weight balanced and safest car I ever drove !  The braking and handling were superb ! And when the timing rubber belt broke inside the engine, the Toyota engine was designed to not self-destruct like the Acura and sooo many other, inferior designed cars.  Why !?

Yes, I have had other bad design vehicles like a VW 70s bus that was pushed sideways from lane to lane in crosswinds and the air cooled engine would blow up if you didn't adjust the valves every "less than 3000 miles", a car mechanic's dream car;  Frequent tune-ups and I went thru 2 engines before quick sale that monster !  But at least I COULD TRUST THE BRAKES. Yes, rear engine and rear drive.

I had 2 60s Honda motorcycles that felt like I was sitting on a saw horse, such poor ergonomics, if that word was even invented then for such mass produced poor design. Both 350cc's. The tire stand hooked the asphalt on the first turn, almost dumped the new bike, so removed the darn rear tire stand !!

We should not be afraid to use our brakes in a very light rain, because our compact light cars are so weight unbalanced with front drive, front engines.
This Detroit now world car mfg "experiment" should be marked "F", for fatally dangerous.

Why are the car magazines not talking enough about unsafe and expensive bad design ?

Beware of travel agent "cruise specialists" who tell you usually there are "lots of Orcas and whales in May cruising the Inside Passage". Usually a lie, until the tiny herring and large slamon come into the coast from the ocean, in june or july or even august!!

If seeing Orcas is your goal, check with the Alaska department of fish and game on when the herring feed fish are expected from the ocean to the coast to spawn.

DO NOT BELIEVE A "CRUISE SPECIALIST" travel agent !!
I had a dozen such lie to me in the SF Bay Area.

Travel scam,,, inside passage cruise,,, bait and switch,,, large powerful more comfortable Beaver or Otter scenic flight "shore excursion",,, switched at last minute to small cramped less powerful Cessnas, for same price !!

"So sorry, the Beavers and Otters are sold out. All we have left are Cessnas. Take it or full refund."

Always TAKE THE FULL REFUND, as taking a reservation for one larger engine and more comfortable plane knowing the seats are not available is an accepted common lie on cruising the Inside Passage !!

Wikipedia is wrong, again !!

First in posting the Golden Gate Bridge only "flattened" instead of deeply sagged on its Spring 1987 Birthday due to 100,000s of pedestrians and no cars,  totally unexpected. I was there.

Second in labeling Sutro Tower a "radio mast" when according to sutrotower.com, the owners, it was lengthened with a much taller TV tower in 1973 at 977ft, so taller than the Trans Am bldg, and converted to free free Free!! HD digital tv signals for 8million people in the Bay Area in 2009. It is also used to attach many other antennas.

My 97 yr old Mom has a 2007 Ford Taurus 4 door; It has zero recalls. The neighbor has a Honda minivan with several recalls, like the fatal shrapnel exploding drivers airbag to replace!!; This Honda also has really bad design like putting the transmission oil filter inside the trany instead of outside for faster easier cheaper periodic replacement.

Good job, Ford !!