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Everything old is new again


Bill Stoneberg

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The fact that next year's car is cheaper to build and/or lighter isn't necessarily a bad thing. The Ford mono-block V-8 of 1932 and the Chevy (actually Pontiac) stamped rocker arms of 1955 are obvious examples of things that were improved at the same time as they were made cheaper and lighter.<P>What I was commenting on was the automotive industry's (and especially GM's) proclivity for making a virtue of this at inappropriate times. There was never a question of aluminum wiring (which I understand had already been banned from housing in most areas by 1974) or the elimination of dual note horns being anything like an improvement in the quality or function of the automobile. And it certainly wasn't being done for fuel economy! rolleyes.gif" border="0<P>The hyperbole Bill transcribed in starting this thread almost certainly came from some marketing whiz (note the "h" tongue.gif" border="0 ) at GM. These are the same guys who had people waving goodby to Mr. Goodwrench [in the first series of Mr. Goodwrench TV commercials] out of rear seat windows in 1978 A-body wagons that in reality were fixed glass and couldn't be opened. <P>Actions like these have created an atmosphere where people view anything coming out of GM with a jaundiced eye. Time and time again its very difficult to view such scepticism as anything but healthy.

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I think what this all comes down to is that there are certain "professions" whose opinions I will never trust;<P>Lawyers<P>Statistics<P>Marketing<P>Politics<P>Why? because the nature of these professions involve interpreting results and inevitably are biased toward what ever it is they are trying to sell. I guess that's the key, when someone's selling something a lie is sure to follow somewhere.<P>Feel free to add to this list as you see fit.

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Lest we forget to include stock analysts or "senior accountants" among the list of biased proffessions who seem to encourage P.T. Barnum's theorem, at least Charles Ponzi never disguised what he was doing.

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Ex98th I don't know how I could have missed out on the Doctor quotient, definetly belongs. ALWAYS get a second opinion unless you've got minutes to live.

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I am reminded of the story of the little boy in school whose teacher asked, "Johnny, is the world round or flat?"<P>He responded, "My daddy says it's crooked."<P>Seems to fit in here somewhere don't you think? rolleyes.gif" border="0 ~ hvs<p>[ 02-20-2002: Message edited by: hvs ]

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Statistics is a perfectly fine subset of mathematics. Twisting what it means is another thing - the 3 kinds of falsehoods- lies, damn lies, and statistics.

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Guest De Soto Frank

Split55555,<P>May I suggest a candidate for a 4th falsehood?<P>"...And for 2003, the Mucky Motor Corp. is bringing out an "All-new car"!!!"

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