Observation of Japanese imports

Well for the longest time Toyota was the #1 car company in terms of reliability, quality and everything else, but I think times have been changing. This is drawing from my own observations, but I believe Toyota has significantly gone down hill in terms of the quality of cars they make.

My mom has a 01 camry with only 50k miles on it, but it was already having problems with the idling engine, and needed its battery replaced already, it felt like it was going to stall any second. Then my sister who had a 99 camry had to get that sucker put in the shop numerous times for its transmissions problems, naturally after 100k miles, but that’s not normal for Japanese cars. Then also hearing from my friend, her 08 Lexus IS250 felt like it was stalling when she turns on the air conditioning on her car, like how older built cars would react because they would lack the horsepower; but in a luxury car, that’s unheard of for something so new. Also in 2007 Toyota had dropped in their ranking in their JD power and associates to be outranked by Ford, although in 2008, Toyota came out on top again in awards, but it still doesn’t discount personal experience with people I know who own them. Toyota/Lexus have probably one of the most refined interior designs on the market, but they have just been dropping the ball in terms of the quality of the cars they make.

I think Honda/Acura & Nissan/Infiniti are soon surpassing the infallible Toyota. I have a 01 Civic with 125k miles on it already, but have not had any significant problems at all with this car. I just replaced the stock battery at 120k miles, and still have yet to replace the stock original clutch. Yes I know I got to get that done, but that’s not one of my priorities in my life right now.  I drive it just as hard as I did the first year I got it, as I do now 8 years later.  Most people I know who have Honda’s drive them seriously into the ground, not to say that people don’t do that with toyota’s, but the problems seem less.

From the very few people I know whom own Nissans; they have very few mechanical problems in the past with their car, and are brand loyal to them. There is one thing I have to say about Nissan/Infiniti, which has changed for the better.  From my opinion, Nissan/Infiniti had subpar interior quality, yes even the Infiniti’s lacked in the detail and refined sophistication of a Lexus dashboard, but after riding in two new 2008 G37, I must say they have definitely stepped it up a notch, and I think I maybe a convert to the new Infiniti’s from 2008 on. For some odd reason Infiniti’s have the worst resale value out of Toyota & Honda, but I guess that’s good for anyone who wants to buy a used Nissan.

Conclusions: Get a Honda or Nissan, they’re better made cars. In terms of ride quality, Toyota is too mushy, poor handling, Honda’s are a bit too stiff, great handling, and Nissans lands somewhere right in between, smooth ride, and decent handling.  My next ride, after I kill my civic, is a 2006 and up Acura TSX.

If your wondering, “Ron, where do you have the time to write such long opinionated useless blogs?” Well I’m unemployed and this is one of the things that I haven’t done in a while to fill up my day. Good day.

wolverine

Hello….

Heidi Klum Strips for Guitar Hero | Games & Gadgets | SPIKE.com

Today’s Christianity

The great tragedy of our age is the fact, if one may dare to say it, that there are so many godless Christians – Christians, that is, whose religion is a matter of pure conformism and expediency.  Their “faith” is little more than a permanent evasion of reality – a compromise with life.  In order to avoid admitting the uncomfortable truth that they no longer have any real need for God or any vital faith in Him, they conform to the outward conduct of others like themselves.  And these “believers” cling together, offering one another an apparent justification for lives that are essentially the same as the lives of their materialistic neighbours whose horizons are purely those of the world and its transient values.

-Thomas Merton

Griffith Observatory hike

 I had the day off, and i took a hike at griffith observatory. Here are some shots.

You can see the pacific ocean at the horizon.

make a video

I saw this really video on youtube a while back. A girl took a picture of herself everyday for a year or something, and you can actually see all the changes she was going thru. Like the length of hair and everything. It was pretty cool

I plan to do the same thing, but I’m having a little trouble in finding an empty background and the motivation to take a picture of myself everyday.

Blu Ray vs. HD

Michael Bay Exposes Vast Microsoft Conspiracy

The dirty secret no one is talking about.

by Jeff Giles | December 07, 2007

Blog Article | Discuss Article

Have you been holding off on purchasing hi-def components for your home theater because you’re confused by the whole HD DVD vs. Blu-ray conundrum? Michael Bay feels your pain — and he says it’s all Microsoft’s fault.

Crave’s Ian Morris digs up a post from Bay’s official site in which the director — who famously threatened to withhold Transformers 2 from Paramount as retribution for the studio’s exclusive HD DVD support — tells us that he’s got the format war all figured out. Dig it:

“What you don’t understand is corporate politics. Microsoft wants both formats to fail so they can be heroes and make the world move to digital downloads. That is the dirty secret no one is talking about.

“That is why Microsoft is handing out $100m checks to studios just embrace the HD DVD and not the leading, and superior Blu-ray. They want confusion in the market until they perfect the digital downloads. Time will tell and you will see the truth.”

See, Bay haters? You’ve got the man all wrong. He isn’t all about explosions and unintentionally humorous dialogue. He’s a consumer crusader — the Ralph Nader of blockbuster movies!

To read Crave’s analysis of Bay’s comments (they don’t come out and accuse Bay of wearing a tinfoil hat, but they do come close), click on the link below!Blu

Google’s Philanthropy

The fact that google is investing into renewable energy resources, is awesome. Only companies that take risks, and really are the pioneers of their industry will succeed.  I love their google model, “don’t be evil” and that says a lot about a company, because they are not only about making money and abusing their power to do so, aka Walmart.

Here is the article in length.

Google Plans to Develop Cheaper Solar, Wind Power (Update3)
By Ari Levy

Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) — Google Inc., whose corporate motto is “don’t be evil,” created a research group to develop cheaper renewable energy sources, focusing on solar, wind and other alternative forms of power.

Google, the owner of the most-used Internet search engine, said today that it’s hiring engineers and energy experts to lead a process that may cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

The project, called Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal, is meant first to help Google cut its energy costs and then to offer customers cheaper power. It follows initiatives this year to maximize the efficiency of its data centers, which account for most of the energy Google consumes.

“We’re a large consumer of energy due to our data centers, so we’re a natural customer,” Larry Page, Google’s co-founder, said in an interview. “We see opportunities to make significant investments that generate positive returns.”

Investors might worry about the company’s “long-term focus” and questioned whether the project was a good fit for the company, said Jordan Rohan, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in New York. Mountain View, California-based Google makes 99 percent of its revenue selling advertising.

`What the Heck?’

“What the heck are they doing? It boggles the mind,” said Rohan, who advises buying Google shares. “The company is blessed with the best business model on the Internet. This makes me worry about Google’s priorities.”

Google rose $3.06 to $669.06 at 3:47 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares had gained 45 percent this year before today.

Through internal development and investments in other companies, Google expects to generate revenue in the alternative- energy market. Its philanthropic arm, Google.org, will make grants to companies, laboratories and universities working on related projects, the company said in a statement.

The goal is to create a gigawatt of renewable energy, enough to power a city the size of San Francisco for less than it would cost using coal, in “years, not in decades,” Page said. Coal accounts for more than 50 percent of all U.S. power and is one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions.

A typical data center consumes 300 megawatts to 400 megawatts of energy, according to Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. in San Francisco. Google probably has 10 to 15 data centers, he said. One gigawatt equals 1,000 megawatts.

Large Consumer

“If Google is consuming between 3,000 to 5,000 megawatts of energy, they might be one of the largest consumers of energy,” said Agarwal, who recommends buying the shares, which he doesn’t own. “If they can figure out how to save money in their energy consumption, this sounds like a positive to me.”

Google is already working with Pasadena, California-based ESolar Inc., a solar-power company, and Alameda, California-based Makani Power Inc., a developer of wind energy.

“Climate change is a very important reason for this announcement but it’s not the only reason,” Google co-founder Sergey Brin said today on a conference call. “There’s a lot of demand” for cheaper energy, he said.

The company plans to hire 20 to 30 people over the next year for the project, Bill Weihl, the head of Google’s environmental programs, said on the call. In June, Google and five partners including Microsoft Corp. started the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a plan to save electricity in personal computers.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ari Levy in San Francisco at levy5@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: November 27, 2007 15:47 EST

Mac’s

I finally understand these Mac commercials after getting a Mac

Ghana Team Reunion

I want a pool that does this.

“Listen up…”

Cynthia’s going away party.