A ton of money flows through the car business. Just one platform can cost hundreds of millions to develop and some car brands have been known to burn billions of dollars at points in their lives. It’s fun to think about what could happen if you were rich enough to influence an automaker.
Matt wrote a Morning Dump, which included a story about how Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway pumped $230 million into BYD, and that the company began selling shares years ago. Then Matt asked how you would spend the same money. Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man:
I’d invest the $230 million into “The Autopian Motors Corporation” “AMC”
Better get The Bishop to start on some more concept cars renderings ASAP!
I love this idea! Drew:
What’s Henrik Fisker doing these days? He’s always a safe bet, right?
GhosnInABox:
“If you had $230 million to spend on automaker stock, what are you buying?”
Whichever one that $230 million represents a significant enough controlling interest for me to get stuff done.
Investors are so out of touch and concerned with fast returns that the average man has no representation.
I want to go through that place like Hank Hill when he focus-grouped that fancy lawnmower.
Piano black plastic? Gone!
Physical knobs? Abundant!
Price? Starts at 15 mutha f**kin’ thou! (There’s your slogan, free of charge!)
Speaking of Chinese cars, the BYD Yangwang U9 Xtreme is now the world’s fastest production car, which is neat. Ariel E Jones makes a good point:
I see a lot of people sleeping on the Chinese. They’re working with 20 year old intel. Once the US realizes the Chinese are “catching up” they’ll be far ahead, which is probably the case already.
Jason wrote a Cold Start featuring 1956 Saab 93 brochure images. I love this extra context from Jeremy Aber:
That image on the beach has to be a Swedish beach, which means it’s about 64F and the water is like 50F, perfect weather for a beach day!
This is also the case when you look at most images of people enjoying a beach day on most of the Great Lakes. If you see me swimming in Lake Michigan in May, it’s not because it’s warm! Have a great evening, everyone!
Aww yeah, made it to the COTD for the first time!
So the illustration. I must be getting old. My first question isn’t about the women who might pop out of their strapless bathing suits at any second.
My first question is how fricking big that Garfield has to be to need that giant suction cup on the rear window.
My second question is why the dude has such epic Moobs.
Then I start wondering about what the women are wearing and thinking back to watching Wonder Woman as a kid
Tops were optional at many Swedish beaches.
As a kid I found that idea was very interesting until I discovered firsthand that leniency applied to EVERYONE and most tops are better left in place.
When I was in high school, the French Class did a summer trip to France. They said it was easy to spot the Americans on the beach. American Women wore tops and American Men carried Cameras.
But yes, what I’ve seen in my very limited experience is that 90% of the people that go to “clothing optional” areas should be labeled “clothing required”
“Clothing Required. MORE CLOTHING. KEEP PUTTING IT ON.”
My immediate reaction was to go look for this suction cup. I didn’t see the steering wheel as a suction cup until you said it, and now I can’t unsee it. As to the moobs, I zoomed in and I’m now concerned with his posture and right arm. It appears he is holding it at a really weird angle and I think he may be trying to hide a serious injury to impress the ladies.
I hope he’s hiding a serious injury and not just the fact his hand is down is shorts.
I almost said he was hiding a masturbation injury because hand down the shorts was my first thought, too. But it looks like both hands are visible. At least, I hope those are both hands.
“My second question is why the dude has such epic Moobs.”
OVBIOUSLY it’s because he’s transitioning…
I have a (laid-off) journalist friend who has a substack account (thewaryone.@substack.com) who posted how he would have spent the PowerBall jackpot. It’s very local to where he and I got old. (Davis, CA)
A life-long sports reporter, he also writes some of the smartest takes on current events I read.
So, some of it will go over a lot of people’s heads. Because of Davis references. But it’s really kind. And I don’t think he’ll mind me copying and pasting this. (It’s long, but I’m glad he can still write this stuff long and cogently.) And the formatting is a bit messed up from the copy and pasting. Bob actually knows how to use the return key. I could have omitted some of the preamble, but I didn’t want to. Because I think it gives a bit of context.
And if you like it, subscribe to his substack.
He has some cool friends, including cartoonist Jack Ohman who used to draw for the Sacramento Bee and the Portland Oregonian and still draws daily for some outlets and writes a weekly column for the SFO Chronicle.
I’ve never played Powerball.
I don’t play poker.
I don’t go to the track to bet on the ponies.
I think the devil himself lives inside a slot machine.
Scratchers are the biggest con job ever, revealing a “32,” on a printed ticket when a “33” would have won you a million dollars. This, just to trick you into thinking you were “so close” to winning, when “33” is actually no closer to “32” than it is to zero.
Lest you think I’m some sort of finger-wagging moralist trying to shame everyone for their shabby gambling habits, I will admit to having occasionally placed a legal bet or two on college football games when I’ve happened to be in the state of Nevada on game day.
The difference between making a wager on a sporting event and buying a lottery ticket is that the house doesn’t control the outcome in sports gambling.
The house does establish the point spread, but it is almost invariably wrong. Your task is to determine which way it’s wrong.
Let’s say the casino’s sports book establishes Cal as a seven and a half-point favorite over Stanford. Since you can’t score half a point in college football, that point spread is guaranteed to be wrong.
The house doesn’t force you to pick a certain team. If you think the point spread is out of whack, you can pick Cal or Stanford and the point spread remains the same. It’s your choice. The house truly doesn’t care. They’ll even buy you a drink while you make up your mind.
As a Portland native, I’ve made no secret of my lifelong love for the Oregon State Beavers, my dad’s alma mater.
I care so deeply that I can’t watch their games live. If they win, I’ll watch the replay with great joy. If they lose, I won’t watch a single play.
But I do have a system that will help ease the pain of another Oregon State loss.
I bet on the other team.
For instance, Oregon State is playing Fresno State on Saturday. If I put 20 bucks on Fresno State to win, one of two things will happen.
Either Oregon State will be victorious and I’ll be so overjoyed I won’t even miss that 20-dollar bill.
Or, Fresno State will win and I’ll now have 40 dollars in my pocket – my original 20 plus 20 more from the casino – to ease my pain.
It’s a way to win while losing. Or lose while winning.
If the Beavers are playing the Oregon Ducks, the wager is more likely to be 50 bucks.
So the Powerball jackpot is now $1.7 billion.
That’s 1,700 millions, an almost impossible number to fathom.
You could take the entire town of Davis out for a steak dinner at Cattlemens and pay for it with pocket change.
In Powerball, you pick five numbers between 1 and 69, plus one Powerball number between 1 and 26.
You have one chance in 292,201,338 of winning.
People describe those as “impossible” odds, but they truly aren’t. Every jackpot in Powerball history has eventually had a winner. Or winners.
Except the current one.
I was watching a news segment earlier today where the two co-anchors were talking about the massive Powerball jackpot as the day’s lead story.
One anchor offered that she wasn’t “any good” at picking winning numbers.
The other anchor scoffed and said “There’s no such thing as being good at picking numbers. It’s just pure luck.”
They went back and forth on air, she claiming that some folks are so skilled at it that they’ve won multiple jackpots, while he stuck to his guns that there’s no skill involved.
I thought they were going to come to blows.
Of course, once you elect to take the lump sum and then pay your state and federal taxes, that $1.7 billion has shrunk to about 95 cents, but it’s still more than you had when you started.
If I win, I plan to challenge the lump sum concept in court as false advertising, plus bait-and-switch, since all the ads encouraging you to play mention only the $1.7 billion.
Also, as a newly minted billionaire, I’ll refuse to pay any income tax at all, following the excellent example of the current occupant of the White House.
The first thing I’ll do is pay off my mom’s mortgage.
Wait, as I understand it, they don’t have mortgages in heaven. Housing is free.
I’ll pay to repave that shameful stretch of H Street all the way from E. 8th to the Little League Park. In gold.
I’ll buy a Foster’s Freeze franchise to replace the old Carl’s Jr. on E. Covell and give away free food to all comers 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
I’ll donate $100 million to the UC Davis athletic department so all Aggie athletes, men and women, can join the Pac-12 as God intended.
I’ll buy the Industrial Size jar of Best Foods Mayonnaise.
I’ll spend whatever it takes to house every member of Davis’ homeless population and provide whatever resources are available to help them get back on their feet.
I’ll buy 50,000 acres between here and Woodland and plant every species of tree known to man, open to the public.
I’ll buy a popcorn machine for movie night in our backyard.
I’ll get the driver’s seat of my Honda Accord reupholstered so I am no longer sitting on the coils of the bun warmer when I’m driving.
I’ll learn to speak Spanish.
I’ll donate to candidates of any political party who promise to support and defend Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
I’ll support the social justice mission of my beloved parish. (And other churches and synagogues as well.)
I’ll become a paid subscriber to hundreds of authors who are trying to make a living on Substack.
I’ll build a moat stocked with alligators, sharks and piranhas to keep Federal troops from breaching the Davis City Limits.
I’ll buy Cattlemens in Dixon and add an apostrophe between the “n” and the “s.”
I’ll tip generously at Froggy’s after consuming the best burger in town.
I’ll hire the best back surgeon in America to replace my entire spine.
I’ll find every little kid who couldn’t afford a Kings game and make sure they have a front row seat.
I’ll visit Mexico City on December 12.
I’ll spend a night at The Empress in Victoria.
I’ll donate heavily to the Yolo Crisis Nursery.
I’ll put a thousand dollars under the mattress for a rainy day.
I’ll sleep well at night.
Reach me at bobdunning@thewaryone.com
Best thing I’ve read in years. I’m all in on the moat, put in some lion fish and Asian carp for funsies though.
I attended UCD in the early to mid 90s. Davis has changed a lot since then, IMO for the worse. It’s become crowded, very expensive and lost much of its charm for icky ticky tack construction. And it seems to have traded its small town identity for some of Sacramento’s delusions of grandeur.
I graduated from UCD in ’78, but never lived on campus. I grew up in South Sacramento, commuted to UCD, then to Sac for work, then home. Did that for the two years I was there, so I didn’t really get to know the area well. Great schooling though!
When I lived on campus my dorm was between the cow sheds and the hog pens. You could always tell which way the wind was blowing.
Tercero for the win.
I was in Rienda.
I was as well. Davis has really changed. At least Sudwerk’s is still there.
Sudwerks was great. There was a Czech place that was really good too but I think that’s long gone.
Cafe Bohemia. We lived across the tracks from there… only went when someone’s parents were in town and we all “went out for dinner.”
Wow! A lot of UCD alumni here. My parents met at UCD and never left. I grew up in Davis and it seemed like about half of my senior high class (’75) went there. I was tired of it and went to UCSD instead.
And yes. It has certainly changed. I remember when the population was ~8,000 (not counting students). When I go back to visit family, I barely recognize some parts of downtown.
I don’t blame you. I went to UCSD for grad school and lived in Pacific Beach. San Diego is much nicer than Davis.
Unfortunately that area has changed a lot too. World Curry is gone as are many of my former favorite cheap poor college student eats. I can’t recall the name or exact location of the place but one served a massive plate of pasta and sauce for like $4. I think it was near Garnet and Ingram. Not *cuisine* but perfectly good eating and they offered a good selection. Bahia PB Mexican Grill (or whatever it was called then) on Bayard and Grand became my local go to for cheap Mexican. I still kick myself for not having discovered them earlier. They’re still there but I have no idea if they’re still cheap.
Brown Bag Deli was a place in OB that catered to Navy folks. You could get an awesome HUGE sandwich for IIRC $6 or a good sized one for $3.50 both with chips and a fountain soda. What I liked most about them is they baked their own bread in house. Togos? Who’s that? And the selection was extensive.
Gotta say I do miss the cheap eats. And sitting on the dock of Vacation Isle watching the Seaworld fireworks, then walking over to rejoin my friends at a pallet bonfire on the beach.
Sigh. Good times.
Ahhh. PB. I had some minor work done on my ’68 Datsun 510 station wagon at Pacific Datsun (just off Grand Ave where it split from Mission Bay Drive) and got a cool decal to put on the back window. A couple of month’s later, the entire exhaust system rotted out and there was a muffler shop next door to Pacific Datsun that could replace the entire system and put a glass pack in, instead of the muffler and a resonator for 30% of what PD wanted. It sounded cool, tooling around La Jolla, but it was pretty droney going up and down I-5 to and from Davis on quarter breaks.
Within 5 miles of the ocean, that area has arguably the best climate on the planet. At least back then.
After freshman year in the dorms right across from the VA hospital (4th College… Now Warren College. Batchelors Officer Quarters [BOQs] from what was Camp Matthews before it was UCSD), I lived in Del Mar. At 15th and Camino Del Mar in apartments that are now a luxury hotel (L’Auberge Del Mar). On a bicycle, the ride up to campus, on N Torrey Pines Road was a workout. And coming down was a bit terrifying, back before they had bike helmets.
There was a great pizza place, Carnegie’s A-440, I think on Carmel Valley Road.
That’s gone.
Togos!. There was one in Davis, before I left. Good sandwiches.
Before I went off to college, there was a great one-off sandwich place at 3rd (I think) and University. Kathy’s Korner. Best roast beef sandwich I have ever had.
That’s all gone too. What was an original Sambo’s, then a Denny’s is now a Black Bear Diner at 2nd and B. Huge breakfast and they have parking. Which is not always easy to come by in Davis.
Where do you live now? I moved around a bit (Rochester, NY and Cleveland) before settling in Seattle and now, Tacoma.
I’m in San Jose now where I find the climate suits me even better than San Diego. Thanks to the coastal mountains it’s a bit less humid here.
I never owned a 510 myself but they were very popular among my HS crowd so I have worked on a few. Good cheap cars and (relatively) crazy fast with a L18SSS motor.
Mine had a carbureted L16. And it was a station wagon. So, it didn’t have independent rear suspension, but its cargo capacity was perfect for me in that chapter of life. It was so easy to work on. And keep running until I could gift it to my brother. Who wrecked it less than six months later.
I had an uncle who lived in Saratoga, and yes, it’s beautiful there too. But it does get warmer there.
I once traced the San Andreas fault and was horrified to see that it ran along a ridge less than two miles from their home.
No warmer than San Diego when the Santa Ana’s are blowing.
If If his home survived Loma Prieta I wouldn’t worry much about earthquakes. If it was built after that I’d worry even less for anything up to an 8 and have mild concern something expensive might need fixing should a 9+ hit. I was much closer to the epicenter of Loma Prieta when it hit and my late 60s/ early 70’s neighborhood just shrugged it off. It was historical brick buildings and structures on landfill that suffered.
I worry more about the infrastructure going down for any length of time but nowadays I think that more likely thanks to PG&E rolling blackouts.