Posts

Showing posts from May 21, 2006

Woohoo! We're free!

Image
Oh my god! We're free. Free of James R Oyler. Can it be true? Can we really have been saved? We've all been given parachutes and allowed to leave the Hindenburg. Thank you, thank you, thank you Rockwell Collins. The paperwork has been signed. I officially do not work for The Oilyman any more. I did have a really long post ready for this historic moment, that talked about all sorts of things, but instead, a simple picture sums up the moment. Especially given Jim's hatred for simulation and his comment to my boss that everyone in simulation is (and I quote) "just a bunch of primadonnas". So long and farewell Mr Oyler.

That's special.

Well that's it then. I now work for Rockwell Collins. The shareholders voted unanimously to approve E&S divesting its simulation division (the core business) to Rockwell Collins. The best part? Jim's parting shot : "Since I joined 8 years ago, simulation has never made any money." That's special given that simulation has in fact been the only part of the company making enough money to prop the rest of it up.

Yawn. American Idol is over for another year.

I'm not sure how anyone can be surprised by the result, but that Taylor Hicks guy won American Idol. It's been pretty obvious since the beginning. I mean it was months ago that Fox started pouring money into marketing that guy over all the other contestants, with video clips, interviews and local news channel "features" where they went out and found Taylor Hicks lookalikes. The whole notion of American Idol being a vote-driven program is such a joke. Fox know exactly who the winner is before anyone picks up a phone or any shows have aired. They're not going to leave that much money and that sort of decision in the hands of stupid TV viewers. Come on.

...and speaking of petrol...

Forbes have published their least fuel-efficient cars of the year list today. (check it out here The top few are über bullets like the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 and the Lamborghini Murciélago, which isn't surprising. But scattered in amongst all those super-expensive sports cars and luxury sofas-on-wheels are all of the Cadillac and Lincoln SUVs, right between the Aston Martin V8 Vantage and the Rolls-Royce Phantom sedan. How is it possible that people are still buying SUVs that do a paltry 13mpg? With the luxury and sports cars, it's obvious - pockets deep enough to buy one of those mean you can afford to fill it. But family SUVs? The Cadillac Escalade isn't exactly an uncommon sight on the roads, so how the hell can the family that buys one afford to fill it up? That's a 31 gallon tank at $3.00 a gallon! That's $93 every 400 miles! I know Americans live in debt but to have so little common sense as to own an SUV nowadays just makes my brain hurt. I'm looking at al

The petrol price conundrum.

Here's one for you. Why is the price of petrol at the pump more expensive right now than it was last year after hurricane Katrina supposedly damaged all the Gulf Of Mexico refineries? The price of a barrel of oil is about the same now - $70 a barrel but I'm paying a good 35¢ more per gallon at the pump. Of course it's not at all curious given Bush and the oil companies over here. My guess is the actual price at the pump should be around $2.05 a gallon right now. The other 90¢ is pure greed on the behalf of the pump owners and the oil companies. And I don't for one millisecond believe the yarn that petrol station owners only make 3¢ off every gallon. That's total bullshit. If that was the case they'd all have gone out of business a long time ago.

No, really?

Shock ! Horror! The dams and levees in New Orleans can't withstand another storm, all the repairs are temporary, and we're heading into a worse hurricane season than last year. Not that this wasn't predictable of course. Let me consult the Not-so-Magic 8 Ball: "Will New Orleans still be a viable, rebuildable city by the end of this year?" (shake shake shake) "Don't count on it" "Will there be untold destruction, flooding and death during this hurricane season in New Orleans?" (shake shake shake) "It's a certainty". Captain Obvious has spoken. Glad I don't live down there.

Semi-normality

Wow! We have the house to ourselves. Short of a grounding rod, a power line for the dimmer in the dining room and three nightlights, all the work is done. I built a mini entertainment centre yesterday to house all the kit for the DVD player. Got fed up of trying to find one the right size so I bought a book on furniture-making and made one myself instead :-)