Physicist Robert Bacher Dies at 99!

On Sun, 05 Dec 2004 18:17:48 -0600, Pat Flannery
wrote:

Think he'll run on 2008? Is there any possibility that we could lure him
into wearing a lightning rod between now and then?

....Why not? The living personification of an enema already wears a
tinfoil hat by most accounts.

OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

On Mon, 06 Dec 2004 03:24:17 GMT, h (Rand
Simberg) wrote:

Be easier than getting him to drive an old Corvair.

....What's interesting is that, almost 35 years after Nader forced
America's one true answer to the Volkswagen Bug(*) off the roads, car
collectors are only now restoring old Corvairs and are finding that
the "danger" caused by the lack of the anti-sway bars on the
rear-mounted engine were significantly exaggerated by Nader and his
cronies. And in addition, having those engine mounts retrofitted would
*not* have been as expensive as GM claimed they would have been, and
had they not been cheap it would have effectively neutralized the
amount of publicity that Nader got out of the deal.

The only thing, IMHO, that was wrong with the Corvair, was that it
really needed fins on the tail...

(*) A Corvair could be repaired almost as easily as the VW Bug could
be. It just used a bit more duct tape & bailing wire, as well as a
bobbie pin or two.
OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

OM wrote:


...What's interesting is that, almost 35 years after Nader forced
America's one true answer to the Volkswagen Bug(*) off the roads, car
collectors are only now restoring old Corvairs and are finding that
the "danger" caused by the lack of the anti-sway bars on the
rear-mounted engine were significantly exaggerated by Nader and his
cronies.


You might want to tell my late dad that; he had the suspension lock up
on our Corvair about a week after Nader came out with the report, and
went clean off the road. he never drove the thing on the highway again
after that little incident.
The gasoline powered heater located in the back of the passenger
compartment was a little odd also, as I always thought it was a good
idea to keep all the combustion processes on the car on the _far_ side
of the fire wall. It also meant that by the time the air had gotten up
to the front of the passenger compartment, it had cooled off.*

And in addition, having those engine mounts retrofitted would
*not* have been as expensive as GM claimed they would have been, and
had they not been cheap it would have effectively neutralized the
amount of publicity that Nader got out of the deal.

The only thing, IMHO, that was wrong with the Corvair, was that it
really needed fins on the tail...

God, where to begin? The car was cheaply made, and _looked_ cheaply
made- particularly the interior.
The Volkswagen was cheap in a cute way...the Corvair was just cheap.
The air-cooled motor was almost impossible to start in the winter, as
its aluminum block would dissipate heat faster than any block heater
could add it. The gasoline driven heater was an accident waiting to
happen, both from the having combustion occurring with a route into the
passenger compartment, and the carbon monoxide aspect. The aluminum
block air-cooled motor had all the durability of a wind-up toy- never
warming up in winter; overheating in summer- possessing "Wear-O-Matic"
bushings, not bearings, and losing compression from pretty much the
first moment the key was turned. Our Corvair's motor was trash inside of
four years of having purchased it...we literally had to push it down to
the used car dealership to trade it in... as it couldn't generate enough
compression to even run anymore due to loose fit of the pistons in the
cylinders and faulty valves. The used car dealership sent it straight to
the junkyard.
A big icicle fell onto the car from 200 feet up after we had it for a
year or two, and drove itself through the roof of the passenger
compartment, like God pinning a giant black beetle into a cigar box. We
didn't even care that it had been damaged, as by that point it was
fairly apparent that the car was accursed, and such things were to be
expected.
You can read up on the horror child he
http://www.vex.net/~guru/corvair/libry.htm
The thought that this little disaster area has become a collectable car
is truly disturbing- like keeping the cheap bubblegum and throwing the
baseball cards away.



(*) A Corvair could be repaired almost as easily as the VW Bug could
be. It just used a bit more duct tape & bailing wire, as well as a
bobbie pin or two.


Actually, the best way to repair one would have been to buy another
car...any car other than a Corvair. Ours would make a near monthly trip
to the dealership to be worked on, and within a couple of weeks it would
screw up again.
The car, not to put too fine of a point on it, was a complete piece of ****.

* The goofy heater:
http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/cata...AI N&page=101


Pat

Rand Simberg ) wrote:
: On Sun, 05 Dec 2004 18:17:48 -0600, in a place far, far away, Pat
: Flannery made the phosphor on my monitor glow in
: such a way as to indicate that:

: Loopy indeed. Did you ever see the videos of Nader's "virtual
: debates"?
:
: http://www.votenader.org/contribute/store2.php?cid=39
:
: hijinx ensue...
:
:
: That virtual debate is the very epitome of the concept of "pathetic".
: Think he'll run on 2008? Is there any possibility that we could lure him
: into wearing a lightning rod between now and then?

: Be easier than getting him to drive an old Corvair.

We could throw you into the front trunk to counterbalance the vehicle.