“Champions of Diversity”

By
eric
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Here is a picture of everything that’s wrong with the car industry, car journalism and pretty much everything else corrupted by what Elon Musk rightly refers to as the “Woke mind virus.”

Automotive News – which was once a trade publication of the auto industry – published an article article the other day “celebrating” (how joyful!) what it styles the “Champions of Diversity.” In other words, people who are anything but white and male and heterosexual.

As if that mattered – when it comes to whether a given person is competent in their field, especially fields such as engineering – where incompetence often has consequences. See, for instance, what has been happening at Boeing lately. The latter company is also suffering from the consequences of the Woke mind virus – which esteems color (well, except the one color) and sex (well, the female sex) and sexuality (provided it’s not heterosexuality) more than it esteems competence. Because it matters more – ideologically – that a jet engine be engineered or assembled or quality-control-checked by a diversity hire than by someone who is competent to do those things.

“Automotive News’ fourth annual Notable Champions of Diversity list features 10 individuals from companies and backgrounds across the auto industry with one thing in common: They are all leading their employers’ efforts to achieve greater diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Pardon the obvious – and the expletives – but what the fuck does “equity” and “inclusion” have to do with competence? Do you care whether the person who designed some critical system in your car – or the aircraft you’re a passenger in – was the right color (that is to say, not the wrong color)? Whether it was a he or a she? Do you give two fucks – or one, for that matter – who they like to fuck?

I don’t know how you feel about it, but I’d like to think the person who designed some critical system in my car or in the aircraft I’m in at 30,000 feet and 350 MPH knew what the fuck they were doing. I do not care who they are. I do not car whether they are “diverse.” I care whether they’re competent. You probably do, too.

Assuming you are a thinker rather than a feeler.

But the feelers have been doing a number on thinkers – the latter often disabled by feeling guilty for thinking rather than feeling.

Herewith a story from a time before the Woke mind virus broke out that traces back its etiology (i.e., its disease process) to the late ’90s:

I was at the New York Auto Show in downtown Manhattan during what is called press week – which is the week before the show opens to the public. Just journalists – there to attend press briefings and so on about the pending public reveals of next-year’s new vehicles. On the press jitney bus to the Javits Center – which was where the NY Auto Show was held – the guy sitting next to me said hello, introduced himself as the car writer for some publication I can’t recall the name of, probably on account of PTSD. He said he knew I wrote about motorcycles as well as cars and was interested to know whether I had any advice for him about how to get into that.

So far, so good. And then it went bad.

Given he wanted to write about motorcycles, I naturally asked him about his bikes. He told me – without embarrassment – that he didn’t own a motorcycle. That he didn’t know how to ride a motorcycle. It took what felt like a thousand years to process this.

What the fuck?

Dude, I said. If you do not ride what do you know about riding? What do you know about motorcycles if you’ve never owned one? It didn’t register. There was nothing else to say. So I didn’t. I went back to my laptop and ignored the guy – who was white and male (as far as I could tell) not gay. And yet, he not only wanted to do what he had no business doing, he wasn’t bothered at all that he had no business doing it.

He seemed to me to believe he had as much right to do it as someone who knew a great deal about motorcycles and riding them; he felt no shame feigning competence. He just wanted in.

Fast forward to the present. This effronterous sickness hasn’t just spread. It has metastasized. Incompetence is now an employment criteria. Provided one is the right color or sex or grossly public about one’s sexuality.

And it is publicly celebrated by an industry journal. Because the industry has given itself over to this Woke mind virus that corrupts everything it touches, including – ironically – the achievements of “people of color” as well as women and people who aren’t heterosexual but who are competent and want to be hired and promoted based on that rather than what they do with their equipment, what their equipment is and what color their skin is.

Once again, all I can say is: And they ask me why I drink.

. . .

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Related posts:
  1. Vice President of Diversity
  2. Diversity Not
  3. How About Four Wheeled Diversity?
  4. When “Diversity” isn’t Our Strength
  5. BMW Targeted By “Diversity” Hustlers

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

130 COMMENTS

  1. FYI – in case you are not aware – Since lately you are ending a lot of columns about maybe that’s why I drink and also complaining of memory problems and also indicate your mom has memory problems (not sure her age) just wanted to let you know that you need to be taking B1 and B12 vitamins if you’re drinking a lot and should probably stop if you are noticing memory problems. It could also be stress/you’re just noticing it because of your mom’s condition scaring you. Or you’re just being funny. It has happened to people close to me – one dead at 61 (during covid) after 3 years of memory loss requiring institutionalization.

    If you’ve had stomach or bowel surgery/digestive tract issues drinking could seriously affect you:
    https://homedetox.com/alcohol-dependence-alcohol-abuse-vitamin-b-and-alcohol/
    https://resetiv.com/blogs/news/vitamin-b12-hangover

    • I think Vitamin B needs a drink…of alcohol….or three….and then a class on sarcasm in writing….

      Whew…..no one is so bad they can’t serve as a bad example!

  2. Designed by the woke DEI hires….

    Defective AI in cars is very dangerous…it rats you out and crashes your car….cars have turned evil….

    NHTSA investigating about 3 million Hondas due to AEB…. automatic emergency braking…defects….

    These cars can activate AEB for no reason…locking up the brakes in the middle of traffic….causing crashes….

    GM recalled 56,000 pickup trucks in February for the same problem

    Mazda recalled 10,000 hybrids for the same problem

    The Fisker Ocean has the same problem

    Model X, 3, S and Y Tesla’s have this problem….

    When they remotely crash you into wall…for wrong think…they can say it was defective AEB, FSD…or whatever….just a glitch….

    • These cars can activate AEB for no reason…locking up the brakes in the middle of traffic….causing crashes….

      This makes it pretty interesting to drive down the street now…..

  5. We interrupt this election farce with some humor from Yukon Jack. Just think Goyim, in less than one week the nightmare of the 2024 election will be finally over! The previously selected glorious leader will be announced by the owners, the plebs cheering the results. Yeah, yeah! We have elected a new whore for the white man’s house.

    Rammstein – Amerika (English version)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH_o8po2PbE

    (INote: “Amerika” is, according to the band, a satirical commentary on Americanization and the misconceptions foreigners, as well as some Americans, have about the American utopia.)

    Yukon Jack improved lyrics adapted to the fading EV craze, now death spiral:

    We’re all living in Amerika
    Amerika ist wunderbar
    We’re all living in Amerika
    Amerika, Amerika
    We’re all living in Amerika
    Amerika ist wunderbar
    We’re all living in Amerika
    Amerika, Amerika

    [Verse 1]
    Do you want an EV? (No, I don’t)
    Do you need an EV? (No, I don’t)
    Buy an EV, Elon in the lead (No, I can’t)
    Will you love Kamala? (No, I won’t)
    This is not a love song (No, it’s not)
    I don’t accept her mother’s tongue (No, I don’t)
    Africa for Amerika shores
    Taylor Swift and Micky Mouse

    We’re all living in Amerika
    Amerika ist wunderbar
    We’re all living in Amerika
    Amerika, Amerika

    [Verse 2]
    Will you buy it? (No, I won’t)
    Should you buy one? (No, I won’t)
    Could you buy one? (No, I can’t)
    Will you please her? (No, I won’t)
    If you don’t want an EV (You get hurt)
    If you don’t need an EV (You get hurt)
    If you don’t love EVs (You get hurt)
    “Fuck you” is the magic word

    [Chorus]
    We’re all living in Amerika
    Amerika ist wunderbar
    We’re all living in Amerika
    Amerika, Amerika
    We’re all living in Amerika
    Coca-Cola, Wonderbra
    We’re all living in Amerika
    Amerika, Amerika

    This is not a love song
    No, this is not a love song
    This is how we do it (You’ll get hurt)
    “Fuck you” is the sweetest word

    [Chorus]
    We’re all living in Amerika
    Amerika ist wunderbar
    We’re all living in Amerika
    Amerika, Amerika
    We’re all living in Amerika
    Coca-Cola, always war
    We’re all living in Amerika
    Amerika, Amerika

    • Hey Yukon, relax!! Luv yer stuff…but….

      The real nightmare starts after the
      (S)Election!!!!!

      We’re all losers in this zero sum circus

      The winner is…(((Government)))

  10. A big problem is DEI hires often lie on applications and in interviews. They have nothing to lose, everything to gain. Once the job is theirs, after ninety days or so, they become bulletproof. The hand holding they require, quickly affects productivity and shop safety in the workplace. If its a female with multiple babies, from different baby daddies she can get away with no call, no show anytime she likes. The incentives from govco must be stunning to make a corporation brave enough to look the other way, ignoring the obvious ill effects to their stockholders and bottom lines.

    One thing that fixes this is people of quality/competence going Galt. Its either that or a purge of the corporate Rat Finks that conjured this abortion into existence. Followed by a real life holocaust in every HR department across the entirety of the fruited plan. What do these pencil pushing, airheaded gurls in stockings and skirts add to a productive country? I cant think of a single thing.

  11. ‘Here is a picture of everything that’s wrong with the car industry, car journalism and pretty much everything else’ — eric

    Here is an essay — by Neil Graham in the motorcycle magazine advrider — offering actual automotive journalism. Excerpt:

    ‘Although in my life I’ve primarily made my living by typing — unlike my machinist father — I inherited his curiosity for things mechanical. And mechanical things are beautiful things. Even the most supremely ugly motorcycle, be it Cold War-era MZs or the chromed-plastic bombast of a modern Suzuki cruiser, has, within its engine cases, components of astounding beauty. Crankshafts and con-rods and pistons are designed purely for mechanical effectiveness and aren’t sullied by ham-fisted stylists. But not just engine internals are beautiful — don’t get me started about the joys of finely meshing transmission gears. But theory and practice are two different things.

    ‘For most of my life I’ve found solace in fixing things, in building things, in figuring out what’s wrong and trying to make it right. But, of late, the magic of this has been slipping away. Too many things seem to either be beyond my ability to fix or to require more time than I have to give. I used to mock those who slapped down a credit card to solve their problems. Oil changes? Tires rotated? Fork seals leaking? Drop it at the dealership. But I can’t do that. I don’t have the means to have other people do all the things I need done. For those of you who can afford to have the dirty work done for you, I’m envious. And for those of you in the same boat as me, grab a tin can and start bailing. We’ve got water coming in.’

    https://www.advrider.com/the-curse-of-the-do-it-yourselfer/

    Oh, beautiful! Where do you find writing like this anymore? At EP Autos, at Adventure Rider, and at very few other places. We’ve got water wokesters coming in.

  12. I would like a job as a motorcycle journalist. I’ve had a dozen motorcycles and ridden all over this country. Oh wait, I’m a white guy and hetero. I guess I’m disqualified.

  13. When I hear someone using the term “people of color” I like to point out that according to physics and actual science, white is all colors and black is no color. Then I step back and watch their heads explode 😆.

  14. JayEmm on Cars Utube….385K subscribers…..1,515 videos…..131,299,156 views

    where he reviews and hosts discussions about the oldest and most modern cars. His videos garner him more than 380,000 subscribers and over 131 million views from fellow car enthusiasts who are captivated by his insight and thorough car analyses.

    Review……427CI (7 Litre!) 1968 Chevrolet Camaro SS – a MANUAL Muscle Car!!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe97iQLecx4&list=PLZwd7oD3lNvT6TB5w_1bAiwT_5sL0iRyf&index=10

  15. Number 27 – YouTube Channel – Jack Pegoraro

    The man behind the Number 27 YouTube channel is Jack Pegoraro. Jack is a British classic car enthusiast who shares his experiences and insights on various vehicles through his channel. Jack’s content often includes reviews, restorations, and detailed looks at different classic cars – he’s well worth a watch and a follow.

    160K subscribers….616 videos….49,731,253 views

    https://www.youtube.com/@Number27/videos

  16. THE expert on Italian cars Davide Cironi…..

    They take barn finds and rebuild/modify them…the video shows the build process, then a track video…then they sell the cars…

    He also interviews people from the industry…designers, engineers, etc.

    609K subscribers…352 videos….165,628,059 views

    https://www.youtube.com/@davidecironi/videos

  17. Late-’70s I worked with a competant female software engineer at one of Huntsville’s aerospace companies. Each of us felt free to rattle each other’s chains once in a while. One day she told me she had an interview with another company. I said she was a shoe-in, being a woman. She laughed. She went to the interview and when it was over the person interviewing her said that being a woman she had a big advantage. Next day she told me the story, eating a little crow. When the offer arrived (a very good one, too) she turned it down, on the basis of that remark alone.

  19. I’m a simple man of modest education, but how in hell does diversity outweigh competence in a business that is built on engineering?

    • Government contract competition. Want that Air Force contract? Better have the diversity system in place and hit those quota numbers.

      I can’t prove this but in my 35 years in aerospace there was an overgrowth of non-direct (overhead) payroll and the only way it made sense was a deal with the Feds to pad the payroll. Lots of women and diverse folks in those positions, keep dissent down to a dull roar by giving them jobs. (?). The design guys, manufacturing engineers (me), tooling, and of course the mechanics on the floor, all direct labor. Us direct guys “Last to go, first to come back” when the business cycle took a dump. I was fortunate to never get laid off, I’d step off one dissolving program into a new one before the axe fell.

  20. Why not credit Elon Musk? He has been a champion of diversity of thought!

    I was talking to an aquaintence at a bar last night about his Model 3. Now that Elon has come out as Dark MAGA, he told me that people come up to him like 50/50 thinking he’s a leftist liberal or thinking he’s a republican and also saying the truckers like the fact he drives it too.

    Oh wait they didn’t mean that kind of diversity.

    Cheers for being a real [checks notes] Journalist.

  21. As others have pointed out, DEI has been going on for a lot longer than being the latest fad of corporate America.
    I was interviewed for a position with one of the major auto companies. Both my resume and supplemental information should have resulted in my hiring, but no dice.
    The interviewer who was also the hiring manager hemmed and hawed, attempting to “let me down slowly” as to why I would not be hired. He wanted to avoid giving me a reason.
    I spoke up and stated that I was not being hired because of my race (White). He turned beet red, and admitted that it was indeed the case. After he regained his composure, he actually thanked me for pointing that out and apologized profusely stating that the decision was not his, but was that of “higher-ups”.
    At the time, under laws passed by congress, Vietnam veterans were supposed to get some sort of preference. That didn’t work as we were all considered to be loose cannons, baby-killers and the like.
    Talk about a double-whammy…

    • Hi anarchyst,

      I liked reading about your interview experience.

      My experience was the opposite. In 2003, I had a tiff with owner of the company that I was working for at that time (aka my father) and decided to quit. Of course, hubby and I had just purchased a house a year ago and my salary was needed so I went job hunting immediately.

      I have a pretty unusual name. It is Slavic and people have been butchering it all my life. I am use to it. I have never been offended when someone mispronounces it. Well, on my resume I decided to use my full name first/middle/maiden-married. This was a dumb move on my part. At that time I had nine years of experience in bookkeeping, accounting, and finance (I started worked at 14). I sent my resume to over 50+ companies around the DC area. I could not get any interest. Three weeks in and I still couldn’t get a return phone call or an interview.

      Finally, Week 4 approaches and I get a phone call from a small business out in Sterling. The business owner asked me a few questions and calls me out the next day for an interview. I show up and I meet the two owners of the business, both black men. The younger gentleman looks at me and says “You weren’t what we were expecting.” I didn’t think anything of it. I have a tendency to overdress so I just thought it was in reference to my business suit and high heels. I noticed most of the employees were in T-shirts and blue jeans. I sit down in the conference room and answer their questions regarding my expertise in government contracting (which at time I did not have any – only accounting in the private sector).

      At the end of the interview the men thank me for coming in and stated my lack of experience in government accounting was an issue, but they were also a minority owned firm and they would prefer to hire minorities, too. It only dawned on my little, naïve, twenty three year old self on why I wasn’t getting phone calls. I went home and changed my full name to my nick name and dropped my middle and maiden name and resubmitted my resume. Three days later I had four interviews. A name means a lot.

      • “It is Slavic and people have been butchering it all my life”

        In the army I was called alphabet, Ski and lastly “The other one” by the first sergeant. My name does not end with ski.

        • Hi euro,

          I feel your pain. 🙂 My mother assigned all of her daughters weird names, but our last name is very easy to pronounce so we were always known as one of the “(Last Name Inserted) Girls”.

          • Fun with names. I have an obscure Scottish last name and also my brother and I first names start with “D”.

            So, all along my life path the last name gets butchered then to top it off I’m a double first name since we never moved and I ended up with the same teachers in school after he went thru. Constantly getting called his name first quickly followed by mine as they tried to correct the name mistake. Even my mom did it, sheesh.

            Sparkey is my biker handle – first group ride I helped fix an electrical failure on some guys Harley. Some chick cleaning her finger nails with a knife asked “What’s his handle?” No response. She says “We’ll call him Sparkey”. I didn’t argue with a knife toting girl so that’s it since Memorial Day weekend 1987.

      • I went home and changed my full name to my nick name and dropped my middle and maiden name and resubmitted my resume. Three days later I had four interviews.

        Jesus. that sux.
        At least you figured out how to game the system. Good on you, RG.

    • The diversity issue works during layoffs as well as hiring. Friend was assured by his supervisor his retention rating was great so he’d be out of the layoff cycle unless months later it got worse. Next week he gets his WARN notice, WTF? In a rare case of honesty his supervisor told him direction from much higher up “too many women getting laid off” so that was that for him. He probably could have sued for reverse discrimination but too high a risk of blacklisting for being a “troublemaker”.

  22. Confessions of WaPo owner Jeff Bezos:

    ‘In the annual public surveys about trust and reputation, journalists and the media have regularly fallen near the very bottom, often just above Congress. But in this year’s Gallup poll, we have managed to fall below Congress. Our profession is now the least trusted of all.

    ‘Lack of credibility isn’t unique to The Post. Many people are turning to … unverified news sources, which can quickly spread misinformation and deepen divisions. The Washington Post and the New York Times win prizes, but increasingly we talk only to a certain elite. More and more, we talk to ourselves.

    ‘Many of the finest journalists you’ll find anywhere work at The Washington Post, and they work painstakingly every day to get to the truth. They deserve to be believed.’ — WaPo

    https://tinyurl.com/yspz3fxs

    From billionaire Bezos’s 30,000-foot point of view, EP Autos is an ‘unverified’ news source, spreading misinformation about ‘vaccines’ and deepening divisions by questioning diversity. This is pure, elitist condescension.

    So is his claim that frayed-collar WaPo stenographers ‘deserve to be believed.’ WHY? Surveys regularly show that 90 percent or more of journos are leftist Democrats. They don’t look like America, either: one small minority ethnic group is over-represented in their ranks by a factor of ten to twenty times. So we get totally one-sided reporting on the middle east, which happens to be their ethnic obsession.

    Like election-loser Hitlary, who actually doubled down this month on her slur against
    ‘deplorables,’ elitist Bezos just can’t conceal his contempt for uncredentialed little people trying to do honest reporting. I myself look forward to reporting on the day the WaPo closes its doors forever. So long, and thanks for all the fishwrappers! 🙂

    • I find it easier to discern TRUTH nowadays because of the internet. I remember the days when most people had two or three television channels and one or two newspapers. Talking heads like traitor Walter Cronkite (who was considered the most trusted man on television) was only spouting off what slanted “news” that his jewish masters authorized. Back then, us truth seekers had a much more difficult time getting alternative sources of information. Mail and newsletters were the only ways most alternative sites had at their disposal to communicate.
      The internet was (and still is) the most liberating of mediums as anyone can start and run a website and get his or her point across with the touch of a button. This is why both governments and NGOs want to throttle those who “stray from the official discourse”. Today, it is much easier for anyone to become an informed citizen, unlike the days of old. Of course, it takes effort, something that many people are not willing to peruse, but the TRUTH IS out there…
      In the days of old, “three television stations and two newspapers”, the Gaza genocide would have been described as “brave israelis fighting a determined enemy that endangers the jewish people and the whole world”.
      Keep in mind the 1967 jewish “six day war” is still being described as a “defensive action” by israel, rather than the pre-emptive strike and the subsequent genocide of retreating Egyptian troops and civilians.
      If the internet was available in those days, the deliberate “act of war”, the attack by israel on the USS Liberty (AGTR-5) on June 8, 1967 would have been exposed as not only an attack by israel, but with complicity at the highest levels of the U S government. Crypto-jew Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara would have been duly tried and executed for treason. Quite possibly, israel would have ceased to exist–a good thing.
      Even the so-called jewish “holocaust” is receiving scrutiny that would have been impossible in past decades. It is finally being exposed as the most massive jewish grift of both the twentieth and twenty-first centuries…
      From engineering, technical and logistical standpoints, the jewish “holocaust” can easily be shown to be totally fraudulent. Nowadays, it takes jew-run “Hollywood productions” to keep the taxpayer-funded jewish “freak shows” known as “holocaust museums” to keep the grift alive.
      Keep in mind, with the advent of cell phones and go-pro cameras ANYONE can be a true “journalist” who is on scene before the “official” journalists arrive.
      It could be argued that we are living in a “panopticon society”, only that us citizens also have the same capabilities.

      • anarchist: “Walter Cronkite (who was considered the most trusted man on television) ”

        I believe the actual tag line was most trusted man in America.

    • >we get totally one-sided reporting on the middle east
      As well as rubbish “opinion” pieces such as this nonsense:
      https://www.pressenterprise.com/2024/10/27/the-biggest-election-issue-no-one-is-talking-about/

      By no stretch of anyone’s fevered imagination can the Islamic Republic of Iran be considered a “threat” to the United States of America.
      Consider:
      1. Iran has no navy, only a few lightly armed speedboats.
      Iran has no aircraft carriers, no frigates nor submarines of any kind.
      2. Iran has no long range aircraft, nor airborne refueling capability.
      3. Iran has no Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) only intermediate range rockets.
      4. Iran has no nuclear weapons, and its religious leadership, which has a significant role in the government, has stated that it is contrary to the principles of Islam to possess such weapons.

      So why does a “responsible,” “mainstream” U.S. “newspaper” publish horseshit nonsense such as the above referenced article, even as “opinion?” What’s next, Flat Earth? Perhaps a Martian invasion…

      • Hi Adi,

        The Deep State needs someone to blame when they take out a Presidential candidate/soon to be President Elect. No one was buying the 20 year old kid and crazy guy from Hawaii as viable options.

        • >No one was buying the 20 year old kid and crazy guy from Hawaii as viable options.

          True enough.
          Very few bought the “lone nut with a mail order rifle and a Russian wife” narrative, either. Ho, hum.

  23. I work in a senior role at a company in Silicon Valley that’s half woke. It’s half woke because it’s old, and lots of people here established the culture before wokeness, but the HR department (mostly middle aged women, hundreds of them) are doing their best to make everything totally woke.

    It’s illegal in the US to discriminate in hiring based on sex, race, religion, whatever, however, these woke HR fools tell us engineers, who interview people, that we should hire a woman or a black person for the current position. I ask repeatedly, are you asking me to hire someone based on their gender or race, and they say no, of course, it would just be nice to have more diversity on your team. They can’t force us to hire someone specific, but what they can do is that when it comes time for performance evaluations for the whole team, they can make less money available to our division since it’s not as diverse as it should be, or not as fair to women, etc. There’s some financial incentive to comply, and they will keep harassing the management chain about lack of diversity until they get sick of it and bark some orders to us underlings to make things more diverse.

    So, now I have this problem. I have a dozen really good engineers (a mix of races, but mostly male) and a couple of really bad ones (one hispanic, one a woman). If the bad performers were one of the whites, or Indians, or Chinese, I could fire them, because we have enough of those. However, I can’t get rid of the hispanic guy or the woman, HR simply won’t let me. So, I have to find a role for engineers who actively sabotage the others through their incompetence; for each hour of their work, a couple of people have to each spend an hour cleaning up. HR is asking me why I consistently rate these two as low performers, and that it’s my failure as a senior engineer that I’m not helping them rise, but I have tried and failed to get them to shape up, so all I can do is make use of what I have, two barely useful people who no longer work on anything critical. They were both hired over my objections.

    During performance evaluation time, there is always pressure to make engineers grow in their careers, promote them, and if that doesn’t happen at some steady pace, HR is unhappy. If it’s not a privileged race or gender, they ask me whether it’s time to get rid of someone, but with the privileged ones, it’s a question of how I can bend over backwards to not admit that they were bad hires.

    When you give people preferential treatment, you get more good ones, but you also get more bad ones, and those bad ones really disrupt a team, it sucks.

    • Prop ummmmmmm 209 like 1996

      Why did you let them infest your company at all? Prop 209 banned that sorta bullshit. I voted for it.

      So why did you allow the idiots when it was illegal for them to put you in the bind you bitch here now !

      Answer up!

      The hypocrisy of society there is !

      I left Cupertino after being labeled rayciss for wondering why Wolfe and Homestead went chinese 30 years ago. What happened to prop 209?

      • It’s not my company, I’m an employee, and the board of directors and company leadership let the HR wokesters infest the company.

    • [It’s illegal in the US to discriminate in hiring based on sex, race, religion,,, ……..]- OpositeLock

      I don’t recall reading the word competent in any corpgov labor lingo. It’s been my experience,,, gov itself doesn’t exactly exude competence. Then why would we expect anything different in labor law.

      Most competent persons are used and abused. These are the usual go to people. Others dislike them because they ARE competent. Ninety percent of HR are incompetent and haven’t a clue. Yet they do the hiring and firing. They all consider themselves legal eagles and will do the bidding of the one entity that maintains their jobs… the government. One can see the ‘peak’ of competence when businesses started using HR teams. The US did its best at the time when there was few if any demands from corpgov when hiring or firing.

      Today corporations revolve around government as the Earth does the Sun. Gov regulations are smothering most businesses and is why the US is no longer the shiny city on the hill. The US cannot compete due to killer regs.

      Much of the country is far under educated with little to no skills. They can only do the most basic jobs at a very basic salary which is the cause for most of the failing social programs.

      When I was young few complained about social programs. Wages were high, jobs plentiful, and only intermittent inflation. Then… corpgov decided to get involved with every nickel and dime operation. Only two industries remain for most people,,, trucking and automotive. Corpgov is killing both as we speak. The result of money expansion, unjustified wars, wages too low, inflation high, decent jobs scarce, are making these social programs hard to justify to people that need every dime. History is replete with nations and empires that have done the same and disappeared. Their peoples suffering for years.

      Many groups today are fighting each other for what wealth and power remains in these disunited States. The debauchery, depravity and senseless greed are off the charts. They don’t understand that when the country finally flushes any gains they may have made likely will be useless in the new paradyme.

      Sadly,,, The nation has to go,,, there is no cure for woke, the constant religious wars, the debauchery, the lying, cheating and theft. Without,,, this alone would eliminate all present presidential candidates.

      On November 5 an election will take place that many States say will take weeks, months to tabulate the vote. In the meantime there will be so much screaming, hollering, cheating and other obfuscation going on that no one will ever know for sure the actual outcome.

      Just another step on the stairway to hell for the US. If there is a future history,,, the US will not be spoken well of.

    • >HR department (mostly middle aged women, hundreds of them)

      I have never worked for a company which was large enough to have an “HR department” whatever the hell that is. It appears we live in two different universes. ??

      To me, 500 employees is a large company, and I would rather work for myself, in any case.

    • >hispanic guy

      I don’t understand. “Hispanic “means “comes from Spain,” does it not”

      This is the King of Spain:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felipe_VI
      who is white European.
      >he obtained a Master of Science in Foreign Service degree from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University
      His daughters have fair skin and blonde hair.
      Do they get “special consideration” because they live on the “wrong” side of the Pyrenees?
      Inquiring minds want to know…

  24. Quote: “I went back to my laptop and ignored the guy – who was white and male (as far as I could tell) not gay.”

    Reality: I went back to my laptop and ignored the guy — who was AS FAR AS I COULD TELL White and male and not a homo.”

    Most of the paid, unqualified “journalists” in White-founded White-built countries are jews pretending to be Whites. You probably could tell as to male or female. You probably could not tell as to hetero or homo. Right?

  25. Eric, feel your frustration – dont think you’ve ever sworn this much in an article in all the years i’ve been following you ! 😂😂😂

      • They probably would not know what you are referring to when you asked them such a question. Throw them off more by asking them about “three on a tree”, and really see their minds go sideways. Knowing them, they would cry that you are being racist, hatful, and mean for asking them such a question. Yes, some days you probably could not drink enough, even if it is not good for you.

  26. I think the push for “diversity” is an underhanded way of creating more racial animosity. How can I not look suspiciously on my mechanic or my doctor or a nurse who is “diverse” without thinking “hmmm, was this person hired for their competence or because they checked the right boxes?”. A few years ago, I would have had instant respect for their achievements. Now only suspicion. Sad.

    • Keeps wages down.

      Makes it harder to unionize (yes unions are all those things but there are reasons why we have them, mostly having to do with bad management).

      Maybe hopefully keeps the regulatory apparatchiks at bay.

      Looks good to (portions of) the public at large, keeping the angry mobs at bay.

      Having someone who knows the language/culture helps with offshoring jobs.

      It’s a great short-term strategy.

      • It was a great short term strategy. Like eating the meat next to the rotten part. But now all the edible roadkill is gone and we’re faced with eating the corruption or going hungry. Or going hunting.

  27. My overpaid overweight gal assistant wants to be a construction superintendent. She has not gone to college for any type of construction engineering training nor has gone thru any trade school program and apprenticeship. She just wants the job. I told her in my youth I worked during the day and went to night school for both technical and college engineering training, then took me 30 years before I became a program superintendent on a large Data Center project. I told her she will start in the field at the bottom of the ladder and better get the suitcase packed because I spent half my life on the road, not at home with the kids. I asked her how her husband felt about this, and she said, “he is just going to have to buck up and take care of the kids.” Ahhh…another divorce in the works. Hope she likes the frozen mud puddle she will be standing in as she holds the leveling stick all day for the next 10 years. Better buy some good boots.

    DIE has inculcated people into the mindset that they all want what they want, and entitled to *when* they want it, but do not appreciate the price paid to get there.

    • >She has not gone to college for any type of construction engineering training nor has gone thru any trade school program and apprenticeship.
      Based on my experience…
      When I went to work for my Dad in early 1970s, fresh outta collidge, he said, “Son, if you are going to work in this industry, you will be starting at the bottom. Here is your shovel.” I saluted (figuratively), said “Yes sir, Dad sir,” and became the best goddammed ditch digger I could be.

      Lord knows, you have got to pay your dues. ITLR, I earned my journeyman carpenter qualification, and will bow my head to no one.

      There is also the matter of doing whatever needs to be done on any given day. Construction is a messy business, and if you have to wade through smelly water(BTDT), then that is what you must do.

      I have a vivid memory of climbing around on top of a garbage compactor (slippery surface) in the basement of a parking garage to take field measurements. My assistant for that day was a “Junior Engineer” for the general contractor, who held a CE degree from Princeton. Neither one of us complained, we just did what needed to be done. Her job for that day was to hold the dumb end of the tape, which she did without complaint. Between the two of us, we got good field measurements. I drew up the steel, it all fit, and everyone was happy. As my friend Jeff Williamson says, “I love it when a plan comes together.” 🙂

  28. In The Republic, Plato proposed a guardian class equally comprised of males and females who were equally dedicated to the truth and to understanding objective reality — the “Forms” or “Ideals.”

    Insofar as women or blacks or gays partake in an endeavor in which the focus is on some objective ideal and other characteristics are secondary or irrelevant, “diversity” (sometimes) works.

    For instance, I do a lot of competitive shooting, which is probably 90% white male. Despite that fact some of the very best shooters are always women. Nobody cares. White men do not resent them, and they do not make an issue of their femaleness. It is a non-issue, because every one is competing under the same objective rules. The score is the score is the score, it is purely objective and if a female wins, she wins. If a guy wins, he wins.

    However, if competitive shooting were 90% female it wouldn’t be the same, and if it were 90% female and the top shooters were men you’d never hear the end of it.

    In reality it is rare for a large group of people to set aside their personal characteristics for an objective goal. Objectivity is generally a white male thing in the first place.

    When you get a large group of people, particularly non-whites and non-males, you are going to get a “regression to the mean.” I love Clarence Thomas dearly and believe that no one in this country has a greater understanding of the Founders’ constitution than he does. Yet we must all admit that he is a unicorn, and that if the Supreme Court had nine blacks on it they would surely not all be like Clarence Thomas.

    “Diversity” as we understand it today in the “Woke” era is simply race and gender communism. It is not about blacks or women or gays being objectively equal or objectively better, it is about them seizing a piece of the wealth and power and status largely created by white males.

    If you want proof of that you need look no further than the presidential election. There is no Harris Tower in Manhattan and no Harris International golf course.

    Trump actually accomplished tangible things.

    Kamala sucked off Willie Brown.

  29. You know that your article brings up good points which remind me of the concept of emotional maturity. People like to divide each other by concepts like “thinker” or “feeler” rather than considering that a balanced individual is more evolved than either. As a life-long computer software engineer (now a “Principal Software Engineer”), I think that I can claim the role of “thinker” without a second thought.

    However, having expanded my horizons in philosophy and even religion, I have learned a great deal about feelings and the emotional body. It is not that rabid liberals are just “feelers”, it is that they have the emotional maturity of a two-year-old.

    I have learned and understood for years, decades now, that feelings are nothing more than an analog signal to which we individually associate whatever words. Feelings don’t come with words nor a political agenda. It’s quite similar to an analog electrical signal, i.e., there’s voltage, current, and resistance in whatever amounts.

    My feelings rarely, if ever, indicate anything that I don’t think and believe because what I think and believe have already been shaped by what I feel. I don’t wake up and decide that I feel like I’m a freaking pansexual fairy folk or furry one day, and I certainly don’t “get the feeling” that there’s anything wrong with the concepts of liberty or a merit-based system based on demonstrated competence. My feelings and thoughts are in alignment. I have some amount of emotional maturity.

    The “feelers” that are in opposition to everything sane are not just out of balance, they are quite broken. They have denied (hey! there’s that “denial” term) the feelings that they don’t like and have associated magical theories to ones that they do. Because they say so. In turn this is why everything they touch, everything they shout and shriek their way into being in control of, turns to absolute shit. It is why they don’t have an idea of what to build, just somehow “know” that they have to destroy everything they don’t like because of how it makes them feel.

    I know what I know, not just because of my thoughts on the subject, but also because my feelings and emotional body are in alignment. I don’t just think or feel, I do both continually as anyone with an iota of emotional maturity does every day. It’s clearly well beyond time to stop handing these broken children leave to conduct their destruction on everything decent and sane.

    If you’re gonna point out the insanity of mask wearing, notice the elephant in the room which is the real reason for it. That is that these people are fragmented, broken, confused, conflicted, and also schizophrenic.

    • Very well said. The virtues you are praising are maturity and humility. Unfortunately we are dealing with a couple generations of the insane. Kids who grew older in a world that made no sense because they were never taught the real rules to live by, so their world never made sense and it made them crazy. They “competed” in “competitions” where everybody “won” and nobody “lost”. Though in point of fact, the ones who lost were the ones who deserved to win by virtue of talent and effort. And nobody really won because nobody gained or learned anything of value.

      Being a very smart engineer does NOT mean being an asocial neutered geek. A very smart engineer will do things to learn like running for office, cultivating arts like music, poetry, sculpture. Sadly the DIE crowd are inhumanly shallow.

  30. ‘As if that mattered – when it comes to whether a given person is competent in their field.’ — eric

    Engineering tends to attract visual thinkers. It also attracts those more interested in objects and abstractions than in people. Does this sound like most women you know? Not to me!

    Compare, say, fashion design. Most of the prominent men in the field have been and are gay. How many boys did you know growing up who liked drawing women’s clothing instead of cars, guns and airplanes? I can think of only two, and they were proto-gays even in elementary school, playing house with girls in the bushes around the playground while the rest of us boys played bomber flight crew in the jungle gym.

    The two genders are different, and it’s a rudimentary error to think that all professions should attract a 50-50 mix.

    Once it was theorized that women leaders would keep countries out of war, preferring negotiation and compromise. Then we met the ghastly Nimarata skank, who autographed US bombs in Israel that were dropped on Gazans (55 dead today). And I won’t go into Hitlary, laughing and smirking over Gaddafi’s death by anal sodomy with a sword.

    Someday America will have a sensible female president, and I will gladly vote for her. Meanwhile, how long will it take for Demonrats to grok that airheaded leftist diversity-hire females are patently unelectable?

    • Victoria Kagen-Nuland has been instrumental in stirring the pot in Ukraine, basically since Yeltsin was replaced by Putin. She was in the state department since the Clinton administration, a lifer.

      Here’s an opinion piece from 2015 that tells the tale of the neocon’s takeover of Ukraine. Worth a read, knowing what we know now.

    • Actually, I once thought like you, but I will never vote for another female. Tulsi Gabbard is pretty great, but I’m sick to death of the “boss grrl “ crap. I’ve lived 60 years and observed that power is insanely dangerous and few men and even fewer women may be trusted with it.

  32. 27 years spent in the auto industry working for the OEMs as an engineer.

    DIE has been in effect long before it had been named as such. Used to just be called by what it is, affirmative action.

    I can’t tell you the number of young females I worked with over the years that come into the industry, only to leave the engineering ranks a few years later to become mommies.

    Nothing wrong with being a mommy. The world needs more good mothers.

    What is wrong, is the number of engineering positions that are taken up by females and foreigners in the engineering schools, forcing out otherwise qualified men. It’s a given the university is favoring women and ethnic minorities in their admissions to the engineering schools under the guise of diversity.

    When they finally graduate, these young women don’t stay in the work force or the career field for more than about 5 years on average. In general, when they leave to become a mommy, they don’t come back. Essentially, they are sucking up resources and keeping competent men out of the industry.

    So then being short of qualified engineers who are US citizens, the company hires tons foreigners as H1-b visa holders. Basically a H1-b worker is just shy of an indentured servant who is dependent on company sponsorship to stay in the US. They often work for lower wages just to be able to stay in the US vs going back to wherever they came from.

    It gets worse.

    I kid you not. . . I’ve seen engineers back in the day working on manual transmissions that couldn’t even drive a manual!

    Likewise, I’ve seen plenty of the H1 holders that are barely able to pass the company driving test to do work on the test tracks. They can barely keep a car between the lane makers and navigate a corner while testing. So basically, although, they are engineering cars, they have only recently learned to drive and are barely proficient at driving.

    The whole industry is a mess!

    • “I kid you not. . . I’ve seen engineers back in the day working on manual transmissions that couldn’t even drive a manual!”

      I replaced a late 1980s Toyota pickup with a mid-2000s Tacoma a few years ago, both stick shifts. There’s no question in my mind as to the truth of what you said here. The old 5 speed was a fine piece of machinery, rowed gears like a champ, did it’s job for 350,000 miles with only a couple of clutches and occasional gear lube change. The only failure was the seat on the end of the stick itself broke on me once and jammed. That was plastic and I suppose necessary as the wear point, so my fault for not inspecting more often. Easy fix, though.

      The 6 speed Aisin made for that Tacoma. Not bad exactly but clearly they’d lost some institutional knowledge it would seem around 2004 or so. The release bearing, having a steel inner race, riding on an aluminum extension tube was just stupid. It needed a Speedi-Sleeve at 90K since the groove worn in prevent full disengagement. Then no pilot bearing, yeah, not sure. And hydraulic accumulators? Maybe they had to do that to sell sticks to people who can’t drive sticks, I dunno. Not a great idea in very cold weather still.

      Yeah, it seemed to me that it was designed by people who did not drive a manual transmission.

  33. After observing and reading about this DEI & ESG crap that many large corporations have been infected with the past several years, I can’t help but think it’s a form of virtue signaling to the globalist/ technocratic elite and liberals who’ve bought the narratives involving DEI & ESG.

    It seems it’s also a way to avoid punishment for stuff that ordinary people would be put in prison for. Examples include Kellogg’s putting toxic chemicals in Froot Loops and other food products they sell but bragging about how they’re into DEI. Another one would be green energy companies installing windmills in oceans and rural areas but those windmills harming or even killing birds and whales. I imagine another example might be these Big Pharma companies such as Pfizer that made mRNA COVID “vaccines” and want to use mRNA to make other “vaccines” for the next “Declared public health emergency” such as bird flu, Monkeypox, or even “Disease X”. Unsurprisingly, the CDC is STILL pushing for people to take COVID jabs (despite what we KNOW about them) and considering that we’re in late October, they’re pushing for people to take a flu shot as well. And guess what? IIRC, Big Pharma & the CDC are pushing “Health equity”, whatever the heck that means.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if this DEI/ ESG push is also a way to get LOTS of money regardless of the consequences, such as faulty Boeing planes, people consuming toxic chemicals disguised as FOOD, or EVs spontaneously combusting.

  34. Well I clicked on the link and read some of the “bios”. It’s worse than I imagined. I actually feel mentally ill now. The world seems to be hurtling to a collision course with the “competence crisis”.

  35. Boeing’s problems are far deeper than DEI. Until recently it was run by a GE alum, Dave Calhoun. “Dave” grew up at GE under Jack Welch. ‘Nuff said.

    Welch was a horrible CEO and destroyed a once-mighty company. It only makes sense that his protégé would do the same thing. I remember reading blog posts from GE engineers in the 1990s about the company culture becoming “cutthroat” and how coworkers would intentionally rank each other low just because if they didn’t they’d be ones at the bottom. This became known as “rank and yank” amongst the workforce. Calhoun didn’t implement stack ranking directly, but a lot of the “data driven” management by metrics comes from GE and Welch.

    The thing is, this so-called data driven management is everywhere in US corporations. How many of something has replaced a manager’s ability to recognize a good worker over a bad one. Just get the numbers, no matter if they actually measured something worth measuring. For example, it’s been pretty easy to install keystroke loggers on company PCs. Web sites can log your mouse movement in the browser and play it back. Reams of data are generated that have no meaning at all, but it can be quantified.

    “What gets measured gets managed,” said Peter Drucker. Never mind that what you measure has any meaning. But it makes a lot of charts and presentations for the quarterly meetings. And managers managing from their laptops don’t see the loose bolts and design mistakes until it hits their news feed. But the numbers look good.

    • I see the same thing RK. Our little company represents, as sales agents, for a few large multinational manufacturers. The things these people do and worry about astounds me.
      The good news is we sell more than most, so we have a lot of clout with the local brass.
      My standard response to most things they say/do/ask is “If it is not going to help me sell, we will not do XX or YY”. They say ‘But you have to get your salesman to do this’. NO. basically go away until you come up with something to help me sell your product.
      My own HR department says ‘you have to do this now’ NO.

  36. All the car magazines are full of woke EV bs.

    I used to read a lot of car magazines…not anymore….there is nothing of interest anymore…the new cars….same problem…..there is nothing of interest anymore…it has all been ruined, thanks to regulations, etc….

    Once a month I will go to a good newstand and look through the car magazines..doesn’t take long…a lot of them I won’t even pickup…they are full of EV bs which I hate…..there is usually close to nothing of interest to me…

    Online content is a different story….if you hunt around there is still sources of good content…like Eric’s site….

    A lot of the old, good, car journalist’s, that got fired….. because everything must be pro EV now or some woke bs….. have Utube channels now, there is some interesting content out there for real car freaks….

  37. Car journalists that actually like real cars…old analog ice….

    Geoff interviews James Ruppert, who spent 36 years working as an automotive journalist for car magazines…..

    @ 33:37 in video…James says…EV’s are the gateway drug to no cars at all…..

    @ 35:00 in video….soon a real ID card required to charge an EV….

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol3X0n8Gbpc

    • Hi Anon,

      I feel his pain – and share his sorrow. I have also been at this for 30 years and in that time have written for many of the “major” car publications and web sites. I feel like the last of the Mohicans now. Or at least, one of them!

      • You being the last of the Mohicans is the problem though. Back in the old media one could earn a fairly OK living writing for a major newspaper or being a stringer for one of the many automotive magazines. These days you blog, and probably don’t make much more than you did at WaPo.

        Where are today’s Eric Peters? Sure they get hits on YouTube but they don’t make any money. They also probably hit a limit to their audience too. There’s very little can be done to overcome the cacophony of part time and no time “citizen journalists” to get recognition.

        Maybe it’s nothing. After all I never heard of Eric Peters before seeing your posts picked up by Lew Rockwell. But then again, Lew probably wouldn’t have heard of you if you hadn’t spent time honing your craft (and building your rolodex) in the “majors” either.

        • That’s true, RK –

          Dawn and I were talking about it this morning. About maybe opening this site to contributions written by young (and worthy) people who are interested in becoming car journalists. I like the idea of helping the rising generation – so that there is one. What do you guys think?

          • Do it! You someone competent doesn’t mentor them we are left with the likes of Jalopnik.

            Build the site, build the Eric Peters brand.

          • Eric,

            That’s not a bad idea. It’s become sad that many younger people don’t seem all that interested in automobiles anymore, let alone drive one given the freedom and mobility that comes with being able to drive one. But after the past few years, that seems to be changing, and it could well spread. Those who are in a war against people owning an automobile, particularly one with a gas engine, will NOT like that, to which I say “Too F-ing bad!”

            However, I don’t know what it is with newer automobiles, but not only are they equipped with all this Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaafety equipment and equipment that the government and insurance mafia can use to SPY on the driver, but they also look UGLY compared to automobiles made pre-2010. And then I see Tesla’s Cybertruck, which has to be the ugliest truck I’ve ever seen.

            • Hi John,

              I have a possible candidate in mind. He’s my buddy’s kid – and this kid can weld, operate heavy equipment and fly an airplane. He is learning how to drive – seriously – right now, at a school that teaches it. He loves vehicles and machinery. He’s squared away. It gives me hope that all may not be lost.

          • Eric. Yes.
            we recently had to decide to sell or build a legacy. we studied both options for a long time. We decided to build a legacy. Easy to say, hard to do. It is way easier to sell, but then what we built and how we do it goes away with corp. bs types. In the past 2-3 yrs we have hired 4 in their 30’s and 4 in their 20’s. It has changed everything for the better. But it’s hard, the only way we know to build competence/success and of course legacy.

          • Do it. You have a good infrastructure with EPAutos, add more quality content. Move toward editorship, part time. Right now you’re in my position, you control your job but there is no succession plan.

            • I have to agree with, Ernie. I am all for it.

              It allows the writers/mechanics/techs to reach a whole new audience and to build their craft and also to give and get feedback and advice.

  38. DEI is a bastardized-to-be-legitimized version of Dunning-Kruger. That is, allowing stupid people to crow over their vast knowledge and skill when in reality they have neither.

  39. Reminds me a bit about a story an actual reporter told of being on a news bus in Iraq (I think it was during Gulf War I) going to a “hot zone” and as the reporters were riding along one reporter asked another, “Where’s your fuel can?”
    “My what?”
    The, ‘actual reporter’ thought the fuel cans must be in case the bus runs out of fuel during the trip.
    But, no. The fuel was used to light up on fire several long unused destroyed tanks (left over from war with Iran?) to produce black smoke so it looked like all the reporters on the news bus could make videos making it look like they were in an active war zone. Complete with reporters ducking from non-existent gunfire.
    It was interesting, reading about the manipulations of public perception & all that. I don’t recall the ‘actual reporters’ name.
    The story might, or might not, still be online.

  40. Hi Eric,

    Yes, and I can add that if anything, if I’m flying in an airplane, I’d like to know that it was designed and built by males, rather than females.

    Speaking of airplanes, do you know that the mainstream theory of lift (explaining how airplanes stay in the air) is rather inadequate, to put it mildly? Miles Mathis was the first one to write about this (https://milesmathis.com/lift.pdf), as far as I’m aware, but without even reading his lengthy paper, you can see this by doing a simple back-of-the-envelope calculation. Just compare the force of gravity acting on any airplane to the thrust of its engines, and you’ll see that the latter is way lower than the former, not even taking into account the conversion of the engines’ horizontal thrust to the vertical lift.

    For instance, Boeing 777-300 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_777#Specifications):

    Weight (MTOW) 300 tonnes -> force of gravity 9.8 * 300,000 ~ 3 mln newtons (3,000 kN).
    Max thrust (2x): 440 kN for each engine, so 440 kN *2 = 880 kN.

    Now, 880 kN is abviously less than 3,000 kN, so the question is, how does it stay up in the air? The math doesn’t work.

    Perhaps you or your readers (many of whom come from diverse backgrounds, including aerospace engineering) can comment and correct me on this. Perhaps I’m simply wrong somewhere, I have been drinking too much vodka lately. Would appreciate your feedback nonetheless.

    • Hi Yuri,

      I’ll take a look – as I’m sure others here will as well!

      My initial reaction, though, is that the Bernoulli’s principle seems to govern the design of airfoils as a general thing, since the era of the Wright Brothers. Is that so?

    • Miles Mathis is a flake who wrote a paper claiming that pi equals four. I’ll disprove that claim right now.

      Imagine a square which measures one unit in height and width. Its circumference is four units. Now inscribe a circle in the square, tangent to its sides. Since the circle cuts across the corners of the square and reduces the distance between the points of tangency, the circle’s perimeter must be less than four units (and in fact, is 3.1416 units).

      In the case of an aircraft, engine thrust only needs to equal the weight if the aircraft is taking off vertically, without airfoil lift. Practical proof? A glider, which can fly a substantial distance with no thrust at all.

      • “Miles Mathis is a flake who wrote a paper claiming that pi equals four.”

        A few quick queries and it’s apparent Miles makes up his own maff and science.

        You would think with that sort of non-conventional insight he had he would have turned the world upside down by implementing his revelations to produce some miraculous new technologies. Not so much.

        I read stuff like this and then I feel like civilization is doomed.

        This is what happens when basic math and science are not only no longer taught but are considered racist.

          • Eric,

            There’s no flat earth stuff here, and it doesn’t matter who Miles Mathis is. The question still stands: how do airplanes stay in the air? It’s not about Bernoulli, it’s about simple math.

            Let’s see what people say. I wish I knew the answer, but I don’t.

            • “It’s not about Bernoulli, it’s about simple math.”

              Unfortunately you are mistaken.

              Bernoulli’s principles are well understood as is the math behind them.

              When someone puts forth the idea that Pi=4 or that Bernoulli’s principles don’t have a bearing on how an airfoil generates lift, it is on that person to effectively prove the science wrong.

              Miles Mathis fails to do that despite his ability to generate page after page of pseudo-scientific nonsense.

              MIT has an extensive offering of FREE math and science courses. There is no excuse for not having a command of basic math and science.

              https://mitxonline.mit.edu/programs/program-v1:MITxT+8.01x/

              • There are substantial reservations in the flying and physics communities about Bernoulli effects allowing enough lift for wings to work. It’s also partly a momentum equation where angle of attack actually controls/creates lift. Bernoulli/airfoils provide some lift and lots of efficiency gain. Real physics gets complicated fast.

              • I see that you don’t have anything other than ad hominems or strawmans in reply to my question above. It wasn’t about Miles Mathis claiming PI=4 or Bernouilli’s fancy formula, it’s about the fact that the Newton’s first law is violated. The force pushing an airplane up should be equal to the force pulling it down (force of gravity), otherwise it would fall down. The fact that it doesn’t means that there’s something else holding it up.

                • Basic aero engineering 101, lift=weight, thrust=drag. While the airfoil helps efficiency and makes it possible the actual lift comes mostly from the angle of attack. Mass flowing under the wing is directed down by said angle, leaving an equal and opposite lift component.

                  Not denying Bernoulli, carburetors work great. But Bernoulli is most observable in a closed system like a carb throat. And without that airfoil shape, the drag of the wing due to that angle of attack will likely exceed the thrust available.

      • Miles Mathis is worse than a flake. He is a crypto-jew planted in the truth movement to mislead people who are making progress. His absurdly wrong “science” is secondary.

        Another secondary purpose is his extremism in claiming historical events as fakes. Example: He says the assassination of JFK was a fake, a hoax, and JFK went “underground” to continue his rule.

        His main purpose is to be so extremely absurd about identifying jews as to discredit the admirable work done by some of us of identifying secret jews. For example, he says every single president of the USA has been a jew. The truth is that many have, including surprises, but many others have not.

        My show goes into details:
        https://mywhitetv.nfshost.com/?p=746

      • Thanks, Peter – will have a look!

        PS: You were hung in the Moderation queue because of the link; this happens sometimes. I try to be on top of this and approve such posts as soon as I can.

    • The wings moving through the air create a lifting force up that is greater than the weight. But ya need speed to do it. That’s what the engines do, create speed.
      Wing design is a compromise, as most things are.
      Want more lift? wings have to get bigger, or you have to go faster. But then how do you take off or land?
      Want more speed? wings have to get smaller or swept back. but then you need more thrust. There is a practical limit of thrust though unless you through mega $ at it.

      • My brother built a little experimental aircraft. It is fast relative to other light planes, about 200mph. It was designed to be a practical fast plane using std. 6cyl lycoming engines. How did they do it? They chopped the end of the wings off. less drag = faster. But then it’s slow speed performance suffers. Only better pilots can fly it.
        And why my brother makes me where a parachute in it. “if the engine dies, we drop like a rock. I have one chance to find a place to land or we bail”

    • Some facts:

      “The Saturn V rocket was 363 feet tall, about the height of a 36-story building, and 60 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty. Fully fueled for liftoff, the Saturn V weighed 6.2 million pounds, the weight of about 400 elephants. The rocket generated 34.5 million newtons (7.6 million pounds) of thrust at launch, creating more power than 85 Hoover Dams. A car that gets 30 miles to the gallon could drive around the world around 800 times with the amount of fuel the Saturn V used for a lunar landing mission. It could launch about 130 tons into Earth orbit. That’s about as much weight as 10 school buses. The Saturn V could launch about 50 tons to the moon. That’s about the same as four school buses.”

      Cradle of Aviation

      That’s more than 10 times more than the 3000KN.

      Achieve orbit, fire the rocket engines to reach escape velocity.

      So there you go.

  41. Car magazines are impulse buys on airport newsstands these days, and, here in Austin, with the giant TESLA logo visible out the window on the Gigafactory located just across the taxiway from the terminal — Elon’s true genius — the “journalists” will target the business traveler audience, who generally don’t know much about cars either.

  42. I was once an Automotive News subscriber. At that time, you had to almost prove that you were an employee in the automotive industry to even subscribe to it. I was able to fake it and started receiving subscriptions sometime around 1991 or so. Maybe 1992. I subscribed for maybe 4 years or so. At the time, you got to read the prevailing automotive opinions and trends. I remember thinking at the time that this publication was kind of on the putz side of things.

    They reported events and innovations. They famously had an article on toyotas new upcoming innovations that would only allow you to start the car if it was able to read your drivers license. There was an article on drunk driving interlocks towards the end of my subscription. They gave no opinion on it.

    The only red flag that I saw was one opinion piece on controlling emissions, safety, and fuel economy and how that was “important.” I wasn’t too happy to read any of that, but being focused on things like the National Speed Limit, traffic congestion and car features like braking, handling, and steering, I wasn’t too concerned at the time.

    I never really liked them, but as they continued to raise their subscription costs, I stopped subscribing as it was headed to north of $200 a year.

    Automotive News also owned Auto Week, a magazine I became increasingly frustrated with.

    Both magazines never questioned the narratives of the time and both were followers of the “current thing.” Auto Week, in particular was rude and hostile to the issue of motorists rights during the 1990s, choosing to ignore every single NMA press release and instead publishing clips from IIHS, Center for Auto Safety, the Sierra Club and other anti automotive organizations.

    Crain Communications continues in their 70th year of journalistic malpractice. I am unsurprised. My old copies of Automotive news hit the landfill decades ago. Auto week, even before…

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