What erks me.

[winston]

This is just a friendly reminder. Let's not wander into politics and religion no matter how tempting those subjects maybe to underscore a point.

[jingle_jangle]

Right on the line...

BTW, it wasn't Barnum who made the statement about "nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public".

It was H. L. Mencken...

[just_bassics]

Long and fascinating? Hardly, on either count, in comparison... I decided to remove it for precisely the same reason that I should probably not be writing this - although, I admit, you did sort of walk straight into it, as I knew one person alone would have already read it. Since I removed the post, it doesn't really matter. at least, not to me.

When it comes to spelling, punctuation and grammar, I consider myself lucky as those things always came naturally to me. But, since I make my own share of errors in all those areas, I wouldn't so much as dare to publicly criticize another for such mistakes. I'll leave that to others more qualified. So thankful we have those to point out all the error of our ways.

I have a family member like that, with an IQ well above the recognized level of genius. This person loves to hit "reply all" in emails while pointing out the error of our ways. She is, also, quite lonely! Since it seems important to you, I'll admit to the error of the PT Barnum quote as I foolishly trusted an internet source for the quote - silly me!

Economics 101, get over it!

[johnhall]

After watching this thread, I'll only make one small comment:

Look at how many artist limited editions we've done in recent years.

[jingle_jangle]

I have a family member like that, with an IQ well above the recognized level of genius. This person loves to hit "reply all" in emails while pointing out the error of our ways. She is, also, quite lonely! Since it seems important to you, I'll admit to the error of the PT Barnum quote as I foolishly trusted an internet source for the quote - silly me!

Economics 101, get over it!

I think sarcasm can make a person lonelier than accuracy in English. I feel sorry for your "family member", who sounds like a pariah...

I killed my loneliness by getting married, raising children, adopting a doggie, having a career, taking up hobbies, and, of course...joining the RRF!!!

The Internet as a source, is no substitute for a mind filled with trivial pursuit answers.

[jingle_jangle]

Whoops. missed a comma. There, in that last sentence, right after "internet".

[just_bassics]

I apologize, Paul. I've been pushing your buttons. It was just too easy, but that certainly doesn't make it right.

I've seen examples of your work and know that your are very good at what you do. But I don't accept yours or anyone's opinion as the last word on any subject. Someone asked if there are too many signature models, I replied with my opinion that the market decides and I leave it at that. Not the last word on the issue, but certainly mine.

I have no opinion on artist models, other than they are a marketable product, companies have every right to make them (within trademark limitations, of course), consumers have every right to purchase them and individuals can agree or disagree as to their merits. Ad Naseum.

[jingle_jangle]

No need to apologize--I've been enjoying this, except for the sarcasm. Apology accepted for that.

I understand what you are saying, but you still seem to be missing (never mind willing to discuss) my point and how it differs from your own terse reply. The gist of my long response immediately above, is that marketing or economic ideas alone do not account for the unease many people feel over this sort of "limited edition" thing. Nobody is twisting your arm to see my views as a "be all, end all" position.

If you feel like discounting my opinions, fine; still, I'd enjoy a dialogue (on or off forum) with anyone holding a different point of view as to the source of this disquiet.

Re: ad nauseum: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictiona ... 1303858813

[just_bassics]

"Re: ad nauseum: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictiona ... 1303858813"

This is just too eazy... Have a great day, Paul. Someday I'll send you a 4001S for one of your famous FG treatments. Until then...

[jingle_jangle]

I'll hold you to that promise.

Otherwise I'd have to conclude that you were patronizing me.

[just_bassics]

No, I saw one of your FG finishes at RIO (Ricks in Ohio) in 2008. Stunning! I can imagine it on a 4001V63. But it will be some time before the missus allows another refin project.

[rickenbrother]

What irks me, is having a shot taken at me because I posted something that was just a joke in fun and ONLY a joke in fun.

[Tarrbot]

This sort of laissez-faire attitude toward ideas and products, puts marketing ahead of quality of idea and execution of product. In the hands of marketing "gurus", it degenerates into cynicism and disrespect for the consumer and his/her hard-earned money. It's why Detroit cars (with some exceptions) sucked for four decades, and why the Japanese took over the market, only to succumb to their own cynicism with the recent Toyota debacle.

You gotta be careful here. I'm in an area where this might be a sensitive subject (and debatable). There have been plenty of fine cars built during the last 40 years from Detroit.

There was a period of time in the late 70s and 80s that the oil embargo of the early 70s had Japanese autos being on the upswing due to their ability to sip the gasohol. The Japanese management--seeing an upswing in sales--proceeded to pour that profit back into the company and create better cars. If you recall, the early 70s Japanese autos weren't "stellar" but were competent and had great fuel efficiency. They were not pretty by any stretch--other than maybe the 240Z.

Regardless, Detroit's management didn't see their dominance start to falter and did nothing about the rising problem the Japanese market was putting on them. The typical frog in a boiling pot of water, if you will.

The upper management in Detroit seemed to be blind to a lot of things and innovation and styling were part of that problem.

It wasn't until the late 80s that they started doing better but even still, they had issues. It certainly wasn't 40 years of issues.

I could write a book on this subject but will only leave it at a crucial point in time 5 years ago when Alan Mulally came to Ford Motor Company. Many people here in Detroit hated the fact that an "outsider" was coming in, especially to FMC.

I was probably one of the only ones to be dancing in the streets here in Detroit when Mulally announced he was coming to FMC--as a lot of people in my family (myself included) worked for Boeing when Mulally was there. We already knew of him well.

You know something is different with management when the head of the UAW (Ron Gettelfinger) says Mulally is a stand up guy. It also should be noted that Fortune ranked Mulally the no 2 CEO in it's annual Businessperson of the Year award and the readership ranked him No 1

The point being is to be careful how you generalize as it's often seen as fashionable to beat on Detroit (for whatever topic you have) but the reality is quite different. Some of our issues are quite deserved--if overblown--but many are not.

[Tarrbot]

Whoops. missed a comma. There, in that last sentence, right after "internet".

Internet is actually supposed to be capitalized in that context, BTW.






Hey, I thought I should join in on the grammartization polizia shindig going on...

[jps]

...join the party! Or is that...par'tay?