I just remember laughing my a$$ off when I saw the book in a book store

Hyundi make chips now? Jeeze! Those guys are in everything. From IC chips to huge ship engines. Has to be a government subsidizes company.

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past MB rides:
'68 220D
'68 220D(another one)
'67 230
'84 SD
Current rides:
'06 Lexus RX330
'93 Ford F-250
'96 Corvette
'99 Polaris 700 RMK sled
2011 Polaris Assault
'86 Yamaha TT350(good 'ol thumper)

one of my favs, how can you not like metaphysics and BMW motorcycles?

Yes but it bothers me to think that in there among the Penthouses, Hustlers and Zap Comics there might have actually been something in there worth reading.

Zeitgiest must have been getting all the women. He actually read it.

Why yes, I did read the book when I was single and looking to energetically mingle. But, I got the chicks with the help of tavern beer and an attitude of metaphysical debauchery, not intellectual sophistry.

I happened upon the book after purchasing my '73 R75/5, so yes, it did have a certain 'quality' appeal.

I generally just relied on my innate ability to correctly judge women of low moral character. If that didn't work I just went for the ugly ones.

Zen and Motorcycle maintenance- 1st half of book was great, nice story, I also love old airheads. I just can not get (or didnt read well enough) all the quality musings to get anything out of it. I've read the whole book 3 times and will hit it again in the next year. I think there is good stuff in there, but I cant find it.

Manufacturing quality- I am close to a BS in Mechanical engineering technology and have a job in the QA office of an ISO9000/ASxxxx ( I forget the number) aircraft parts supplier. Yeah our QA shop is busy, and I see lots of stuff getting done the wrong way, but even if we were perfect, the higher cost to produce goods in the US will consistently make foriegn-made parts cheaper...or at least make them **look** cheaper (this issue has been well debated in the past). Get that past your legacy-driven management =)

Bars and dating- 4 rules of dating
- be ugly, be early, beat the rush (alredy said)
- If you cant bench press her, dont pick her up
- If she's lower than your standards, lower your standards
- No woman looks bad with your d*** in her mouth.

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2009 Kia Sedona
2009 Honda Odyssey EX-L
12006 Jetta Pumpe Duse
(insert Mercedes here)

Husband, Father, sometimes friend =)

I don't want quality in everything I buy. Heck, VCR's should be cheap and not last decades. I don't want to have to keep it! I have tons of high-quality clothes that are in supeb condition, and hopelessly out of style. Now, I only buy high-quality timeless pieces. For anything "stylish" I go cheap as it's susally out of style at about the same time it wears out anyway.

Cars! Consumers today like to change cars every 2-3 years. Leasing has saved the automobile business. And if you think about it, this is nothing new. My grandfather bought a new car every 1-2 years, and many people did in his day. Mercedes was the "contrarian" point of view. They were the Saville Row suit that was made to last 20 years, and NOT be out of style in two.

Cameras are moving to digital, and I like it, in certain circumstances. Our new digital camera (Nikon 5700) has amazing resolution and incredible storage. I love that shots that don't meet my expectations are chucked. BUT...

My 1972 Pentax Spotmatic has better optics (depite it's not-top-of-the-line-status-in-1972) and with full manual exposure, offers me a great deal more creative control. It has a brass body that will hold up to my grandkids using it when they come along in 30 years. It's durable, reliable, and after 32 years, just like the day my Dad bought it.

I want Mercedes to stop making Gap-style Jeans and bell-bottom pants, but maybe the reality of the car biz is that if they don't, they'll die. The market may not be deep enough anymore for non-stylish against the trend cars. I'm not sure. Heck, Porsche, the contrarian maker's maker is now selling Cayennes almost exclusively, with cars barely making a dent anymore.

Maybe there are just too few of us left?

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

Quality is a nebulous thing. By quality is a ridiculously snappy fit and finish implied or mere long term reliability? If reliability is the issue, it is broadly available. It is not even necessarily expensive. If suitability to a task is implied, where does suitable end and superfluous begin?

BTW, I remember hearing that Pirsig committed suicide several years ago....


The companion must have book of the era was.........Jonathan Livingston Segal

PS John, I didn’t know you went digital. Cool! I like the optics of our Sony more than my Pentax Spotmatic. What attribute of the optics are you referring to? After a couple of years I'm learning some of the subtleties of the camera – mostly for taking long time exposures. The image resolution is awesome as is the color saturation.

__________________
...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

Yeah, I remember old Jonathon, but wasn't that girls dorm only, next to "Love Story, unless of course you wer trying to do the "sensitive male" thing?

In the boys dorm you had to have the Zen motorcyle thing, the Indian mystic thing, Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, and a couple of Vonnegut paperbacks scattered around your hooka. Of course, you read them by "black light" only.

Angel has learned well in college.

I have a ridiculously fast lense that provides superbly clear shots in really tough situations. (f1.2) With ASA64 or slower film (some 25!) I can enlarge to 16x20 or even larger and the finished products are crisp and crystal clear. Even at 5+ megapixels, 16x20's are not super-sharp. Also, cropping becomes a problem with digital when going to big enlargements.

The thing about the old SLR is that pretty much any of the lenses (maybe not the 28mm) are heavier than the entire 5700! The digital makes way more sense for backpacking, except for it's ability to chew up batteries.

Many cameras have digital zooms, and they SUCK. The 5700 has an optical zoom. I can live it on the camcorder, but not on something I use to "create."

But, for snaps of the munchkin and other duties, the little Elph APR camera is perfect. Three cameras! All different! All great!

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

He's still around, but his son, the young boy in "Zen", was murdered as a teenager.

It's been a few years, but didn't Pirsig actually come down hard on the BMW his friends were riding - it was so reliable there was no reason for his friends to develop a relationship with the bike, so they remained mechanically clueless?

You are talking about cameras yes a perfect example I bought nikon cool pix 2 meg pixel just a couple of years ago at a cost of about 400 buck it's worth nothing now.

when the Italians brought out a very high quality pocket bike the GRC (I think thats the right model) it was a hudge hit in Europe it cost about 3000 dollars and was easly repaired , Now pocket bikes are all over the internet anywhere from 299 to 600 dollars and reviews show that you are lucky if they last two months with no repair parts available, another toy in the junk heap.And that can not go on forever.Are people all over the world falling over themselves to buy these cheap items?

"Another toy in the junk heap be it a leased luxury car or a VCR" Build it in China sell it at super low prices and throw it away when it breaks can't work for long. Not only are we closing in on the day the last barrel of oil is pumped from the planet, it's seems you don't hear much about that, hey look what I just bought a wonderful device that can count the hairs on my cat for 49 dollars.A drive through Eugene OR past the RV and SUV lots will open your eyes..........

William Rogers........

Well, yer using it out of its design scope! I agree that the resolution breakup occurs in an unpleasant way with digital imagery, especially when compared to kodachrome 25. One of the projects I’m looking into is a yet newer generation of digital camera, with 8 mega pixel resolution (but I heard that 12 mega pixel is on the way), and a cool large format printer for the output. See http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF05a/18972-236251-236266-12600-236266-297079.html for the printer.

One of the features of our camera is that it has variable ASA/ISO with the ability to go up or down 2 stops over the stated resolution at any specified ASA. If you want to use manual control it can go even further.

We’ve had the digicam since the end of 01, and taken it everywhere. I doubt it will last as long as my Spotmatic – at least the battery won’t. Even so, compare the cost of a film camera, ongoing film, processing and printing costs, and then stack it up against a digi camera, Photoshop Elements, and decent photo paper and you’ll see the digi camera blows a film camera into the trash heap. And, its very nature makes it far far less wasteful of resources than a film camera, too, while encouraging more use due to it’s economy. I’d call that both excellent quality and superb value.


Kirk: When the hottie you’re dating says “Isn’t this an inspiring book?” (referring to JLS) only a pure-bread gravel chewer would slam the door on it, without at least reading it first....

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...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"