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tronrpg · 3 years

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what are Sirens?

what are Sirens? we just don't know.

but i'm getting ahead of myself.

To my knowledge, there has never been an officially-released Tron pen-and-paper RPG. There certainly would have been a market for it around the original film's release, had it done better at the box office. And assuredly there have been dozens of homebrew splats and rulesets shared between fans and friends over the years. The Fract, in an ideal world, would eventually be a complete RPG system, enough to fill up a corebook and run a game. But in thinking about worldbuilding, I've run into a storytelling problem that, if not unique to the world of Tron, is certainly still a sore-thumb kind of issue.

Tron--that is to say the OG 1982 Grid, the New Grid, and whatever metatextual setting that the Fract takes place in--is neither science fiction nor science fantasy. For those who aren't clear on the delineation between the two, the plainest I can describe it is to say that "Star Trek" is (generally) science fiction, and "Star Wars" is (generally) science fantasy. Science fiction is nominally supposed to adhere to scientific rules or at least bend them to a reasonable degree in order to tell a story. Science Fantasy bends and breaks those rules, sometimes with impunity, because space wizards waving laser swords around speaks for itself.

The setting of Tron, taking place as it does outside the Grid, is a simulacra of a modern-day "real world" as we know it, with science and computers behaving the way we know they normally do. Except for in the Grid itself. We have to assume that both the Old and New Grids were special in some way, or at the very least that Grid-like systems with sentient programs are few and far between; because computer systems and programs as we know them do not behave like they do on either Grid. If they did, why would Flynn have bothered to create a new one if there are Grids within every computer in the world?

And that's where the science fiction of Tron falls down. Stephen Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird were not computer experts, and they wrote the original screenplay during a time when computers were widely known but not widely understood, particularly by the common person. They can be forgiven for leaning hard on the fantasy and spirituality elements that make Tron a work of more consequence than oh, say, Computer Warriors. But by the time Legacy was released, the world was a very different place, and the ubiquity of computers and technology meant that the average person had a basic knowledge of how a computer works and what it can do; and the OG Grid does not fall into those parameters. So it's hard to say that Tron is strictly science fiction, where rules have meanings, or science fantasy where rules are up for grabs, because each of us carry around a real-world analogue to the Grid in our pockets all day and by now we are all pretty sure that Google Chrome does not, in a metaphorical or spiritual sense, fight for us.

(This, incidentally, is where I feel Legacy did the right thing by having Flynn starting from almost-scratch with the New Grid instead of attempting to apply real-world IT logic to the Grid like Tron 2.0. Divorcing the fiction from things like emails and spreadsheets allowed Legacy to retain some of the spirituality and potential of 1982; and inasmuch as Tron 2.0 is a great game that I intend to revisit soon, I find the "real computer" stuff to be kinda cringey.)

And here's where we come around to Sirens, finally. What the hell are they? Aside from being conventionally-attractive female-coded Programs in white vinyl outfits who appear to have largely representational or ritualistic roles in the New Grid, it's not entirely clear what they do or what separates them from a garden-variety Program. We see Gem and the three other Sirens in Legacy, there are a handful of Sirens in Uprising, including Lux, who appears to have been a...battle Siren? Maybe?

When it comes to putting together an RPG, you have to lean on rules. You have to nail things down and say, outside of GM fiat, a dice roll does that and a stat means this and an attack is performed thusly. So in thinking about squishing the world of Tron into an RPG format, which unlike most video games does not contain a single linear storyline; you have to think about making the world digestible and processable by squaring the edges and making definitions. You want the players and the GM to be able to exercise the vastness of their imaginations, but you want to set the parameters of the playing field, or else why have a themed RPG at all?

That's where I started thinking about how Tron's mish-mash of science fiction/fantasy elements make it a unique challenge to format as an RPG setting. Would it be better to emphasize the fantasy theming, or would players prefer a more grounded approach with real-world computer elements? Is it possible to have a balanced approach? How do you color in the missing information about how the Grid and Programs work, the stuff that the original works never really explained? Just what the HELL are Sirens anyway? Is there some sort of unspoken caste system in the Grid? Are there male-presenting Sirens? Can they suit up and play in the Games? Can they all do that synchronized-walking-backwards thing? Do Sirens just show up when Programs are about to compete at something? Why so much eyeshadow? Why does it rain in the Grid? Why did Flynn serve Sam and Quorra a roast suckling pig? Why does Clu 2.0 look more like Lord Farquahd than Jeff Bridges? WHAT HAPPENED TO RAM? IS HE PART OF THE JUNKY RECOGNIZER NOW OR DID HE TURN INTO THE BIT OR WHAT? KEVIN FLYNN, WHERE ARE YOU NOW?

...okay, got that out of my system, thanks for bearing with me. The point is that there are a lot of fill-in-the-blanks when it comes to worldbuilding lore in the Tron universe, and that may be by design. I love Star Wars, but the industry that has been built up over the last 40+ years to make sure every puppet, alien and CGI blob with a nanosecond of screen time has a full backstory and Wookieepedia entry, I find, largely detracts from the magic of the original movies. Not having everything explained adds to Tron's lasting allure. On the other hand, it makes a project like the Fract a product of guesswork and blue-skying.

So let's say I was creating a Tron RPG, like you do. And I wanted to make Sirens a playable class (which I intend to). Based on the information given to us by the canon, which isn't much; I'd say that Sirens are, first and foremost, specialists. They have specific skills that they hone and adhere to and do not deviate from to take on other roles, which makes them in-demand as bodyguards or enforcers but their specialization limits a players' build choices. They are also largely recognized in the Grid as having ritualistic or shamanistic public roles, perhaps representing the link between Programs and Users. (Maybe Dumont was a Siren 1.0. He could have had on a white vinyl singlet under that getup, who knows?) Maybe they're like priestesses or shrine maidens, maybe they take vows like nuns. This might make them like Monks in D&D.

You see how narrowing the possibilities of what Sirens are in order to fit them into an RPG character class box also reduces their potential in canon--but of course canon's not being contradicted here; this is a fan work and is not intended to overwrite the creative work of others. I just hope that if it ever gets completed, it plays enough like the work that inspired it, so that other fans can get the same rush of imagining what it's like to be on the Grid.

#tron #tron 1982 #tronblr #tron lives #tron legacy #rpg #flynn lives #worldbuilding

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smoothshift · 5 years

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I bought a 2019 Civic Type-R (Comparisons to other vehicles inside) via /r/cars

I bought a 2019 Civic Type-R (Comparisons to other vehicles inside)

New owner of a 2019 Championship White Civic Type R. Cross shopped this car with a Camaro 2SS 1LE, Bullitt Mustang, Scat Pack Challenger Widebody, Focus RS, and Golf R.

I'm writing this post because I don't think this is a cross-shop that happens very often (hatchbacks and performance coupes/sedans)... at least in my hunting it didn't seem to. Hopefully people googling something like this in the future will come across this post and find some helpful thoughts. My requirements were that the car fit a cello case and have Android Auto/Apple CarPlay. I'm spoiled, manufacturer infotainment systems are universally garbage compared to Android Auto/Apple CarPlay. My budget was $45k.

I traded in my 2017 Civic Si Sedan, which I loved, because I was looking for the next step in performance. I only tracked the car a total of 14 times over the course of two years, so I definitely consider myself casual in that regard, but if you are on the fence I strongly recommend getting some track days in. It's some of the most fun I've had in my adult life.

Cars missing from this test: G70, STI. I refuse to support not putting the manual in the top engine spec for a car, sorry G70. The STI doesn't come with Android Auto, but if that's not a requirement for you I don't blame you for picking up one of these bad boys.

Onto the comparisons and why I chose the CTR. I'll go in reverse order from cars I felt were the worst to best... except the Camaro which is second due to GM fiat.

Ford Mustang Bullitt

I've never been more disappointed in a car. From the outside this car is GORGEOUS. To me it is the best looking car of everything I tested. Ford designers knocked it out of the park. This immediately falls away the moment you sit down inside of one.

The interior was worse than my Civic. The seats weren't as comfortable, the buttons were harsh, and the fitment of everything seemed off. The digital dash is fantastic, though.

Then you start the car and you can almost forgive the interior quality. The sound this car makes was also the best of any car I tested. Then you go to shift and the years you've spent with a Honda shifter make you realize how spoiled you are. This way this transmission shifted was terrifying, and I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't failures related to it down the road. Having said that, press your foot on the gas and hear the engine climb to redline... you can almost forget the shifter.

The back seats could actually fit a human being in a pinch, good job there, and I was able to fit a cello case inside when folding the rear seats down. That's all the practicality I needed. Ford's version of comfort mode is great, but there is a LOT of road noise that leaks into the car. The freeway was very loud...

There's a running theme here of ecstasy and disappointment. I couldn't get over the disappointments from this fifty thousand dollar car. I expect more from such a size-able expense. For the people who prioritize looks, sound, power I don't know if there's a competitor outside the Challenger. I can see why it's the best selling pony car in America.

Driving Experience: 8/10

Practicality: 3/10

Challenger Scat Pack Widebody

Oh man... this car is delicious. I feel like if I ended up in this car I'd move to the South and get the giant flags to attach to my car. My brain shut off when I pressed the pedal. I'm not entirely sure this car should be paired with a 6-speed, or maybe the 1st gear should be made longer. Even with the widebody this thing wants to eat your tires for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I can't even imagine the Hellcat Challenger in a manual... wow. It's also an absolute boat, but it's a great boat!

The interior is... not as bad as the Mustang. Still leaves some question marks on the fitment front. The trunk is GARGANTUAN and so are the rear seats. Will your passengers have to wiggle their way into them because there's only 2 doors? Yes, but they are very usable once inside. Where's my manual Charger :< The sheer amount of space you have, and how quiet it is on the freeway gets big ups from me.

Sound system was the best out of anything I tested. Cello fits. Uconnect is great, and has AA/AC. The manual's gear ratios need to be changed, a burnout a day is not getting positive marks from me.

Driving Experience: 7/10

Practicality: 5/10

Focus RS

This car is more than the sum of its parts. I hadn't even considered it initially due to ride quality concerns until another of my posts had someone recommend it saying it wasn't so bad.

I'm glad I got to drive it, because it's a blast! The ride quality is indeed as harsh as the reviews say, though. I live in Los Angeles, our roads are garbage (I know yours are worse Michigan). I drive clients in my car sometimes, I don't want them bouncing around too much for the drive that's mostly freeway from LAX to SFV. I'm slightly exaggerating here, but it was too much.

The interior here is nicer than the Bullitt. The sound is worse, but better than the Type R. The shifter is better than the Mustang, but maybe that's due to the engine it's paired with? I only spent 20 minutes with the car, I can't go into as much detail as with the other cars. The car feels like a track weapon, at all times. Which is crazy because it's probably slower than a Bullitt around a track, but it certainly doesn't feel like it.

Cello case fit easily, back seats could fit real humans on a road trip. Drift mode. It's a hatchback, there are perks.

Driving Experience: 8/10

Practicality: 5/10

Golf R

I'm surprised I didn't choose this car when I consider it from just the exterior. It's professional, well put together, and a jack of all trades. Maybe I should have rated it higher somewhere but I don't know where.

The sound is subdued when it needs to be, it's comfortable on the freeway, when you floor it you grin. People can fit in the back just fine, and it checks every box neatly. How very German!

It's missing emotion? Maybe some steering feel? The car felt like it was holding back, or maybe it was the weight. I don't know. I spent almost three hours with this car. I could see myself taking this to work, taking it to the track, and being pleasantly surprised with just how capable it would be every day.

The Golf R checks all the boxes, and is capability personified. If the R wagon was here I'd have said to hell with "emotion" I'm getting the wagon... but this is just practicality on par with the Type R, while lacking some of the driving character. Or maybe if I lived up north and the AWD was super important to me.

Driving Experience: 7/10

Practicality: 7/10

Camaro 2SS 1LE

My younger self hates me for not buying this car. Driving this car is an absolute pleasure. As I write this I almost feel regret for not buying it in spite of its shortcomings, but the axe fell. I'll write this so future buyers can save themselves from driving this, falling in love, then having to take it out back.

The sound is a tuning fork next to the ears, while maintaining comfortable noise levels on the freeway. The manual is second only to the Honda. The suspension is actually better than expected when in comfort, and the best in track mode. The pillbox you drive in isn't that bad when you have blind spot monitoring... I could not buy the 1SS 1LE version since it doesn't have the option to add this. Feels criminal. Seats are comfortable, and most of all everything is TIGHT.

Fitment of the interior is great, steering feel is precise, and you can break the back end loose on command... that's probably the greatest thing about this car, the control you feel. I can't talk about it too much, the reviewers have said it enough and they're right. To me there is no car that will give you this level of performance for so cheap. Maybe a used Corvette, but I was buying new.

To answer the question you've all been wondering: will it fit a cello in a case? No. I tried. I tried so hard. I twisted, I turned, I did every trick learned from moving couches through doorways I could think of... but I could not get the thing to fit in the car. Who designed this trunk opening? Kill them. I hate them with a burning passion. El Fin.

Decent sound system. Back seats only for small bags and people you hate. Trunk opening designed by Satan.

I can't put it anywhere but 2nd even if the scoring system I derived says it should be lower. Driving it was that good. Maybe the Driving Experience scale should be adjusted to move everything else down a point or two.

Driving Experience: 10/10

Practicality: 2/10 (+1 because you can throw a couple backpacks in the back seat with a carry on in the trunk)

Civic Type R

When I set out to purchase the car I had ruled out the Type R because I live in SoCal and I refuse to purchase a car above MSRP. Plus, I wanted to move to an AWD or RWD platform.

To start things off, I bought a Type R for MSRP in Southern California... and from said dealer I also bought paint protection film/tinting. Full disclosure because that's not just the car for straight MSRP. These are things I was going to buy anyways and they priced them at regular local prices, which I know because I had PPF and tinting done by a local shop last go around. If you don't want these things shop around, and don't impulse buy this car. It will take a week or two of waiting, but someone will make a deal with you. Or just go out of state and buy one for MSRP. The road trip back should be a blast.

The steering is fantastic... much better than you'd expect out of a car as high seated as the Civic has gotten. You can definitely tell it's the lightest car of this group because it feels the most "chuckable". ((The Camaro isn't as "chuckable" because I reached the limits of my courage turning this thing in the canyons above SCV before it reached the limit of where it will stop turning in))

Shifting is easy and smooth, but maybe that's because it feels nearly identical to the one in the Si I've become accustomed to. It has 4 doors, the opening in the back when you lift the trunk is cavernous.

The ride in comfort mode is the largest difference from track mode (+R) to comfort out of anything I tested. +R to sport I can hardly tell that much of a difference, but when you click down into comfort some withcraft magic happens, the car gets quieter, and the road noise drops. Ride is still more bumpy than I would hope for, though... I think this comes down to how thin the tires are. Strongly considering a drop to 18" wheels with 275/35 or 255/40 tires. I won't be lowering the car because my driveway is a cliff, a common theme in Los Angeles.

It feels much more spacious than the Golf R when you sit inside it, even though the specs say that isn't true. I'm 6'2" and there's so much headroom compared to my civic sedan I had to laugh. The back seats have plenty of leg room, while being much easier to get into than something like the Challenger. Why are there only 4 seats instead of 5? Whatever. The seats are stellar, though overly bolstered if you are a wider dude. I love that when I'm wearing a helmet, the upper portion of the seat from your shoulders leans back to allow for room. With the helmet on I don't have to slouch forward like I did with the seats in my Si.

Sound system is good, but not as good as the Challenger. For spirited driving +R mode steering/suspension is great, but the Camaro and RS felt better. In comfort mode road noise is third to the Golf R and Challenger, suspension is third to the Challenger and Camaro. With the seats folded down it feels like it has more space than the Golf R even though I don't think that's quite the case.

Driving Experience: 8/10

Practicality: 7/10

Final note: The looks are very polarizing. They must be, because you get a LOT of stares in this car and a LOT of rev bombs from other drivers. If you want attention get a Type R. Downside is, I don't want attention. Maybe more points for the Golf R should you find yourself in the market. This car is a great car, I can see why reviewers love it so damn much. I smile when I think about driving it, and I can throw a bunch of shit in it for road trips or carpool to work without issue. What more could you ask for?... Chevy SS dreams intensify

TL;DR: Set out to buy an AWD/RWD car that can fit a cello case, has Android Auto/Apple CarPlay, and costs ~$45k or less. Bought a FWD car because, to me, it's the best blend of fun driving and practicality on the market.

#reddit #autonews #auto #cars

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o-hybridity · 5 years

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how would you make a tabletop system like D&D that's crunchy for players, but not a huge pain in the ass for the DM to make monsters?

This is the Eternal Question, and it cuts pretty close to the core of my basic principles of design philosophy! I don’t know if I have a definitive answer but I can springboard into a meandering explanation of the things I’ve done to wrangle with this exact problem. Here goes:

for a while I thought there was a game that answered that question perfectly, and it was called Dungeon Crawl Classics. I don’t hold that belief now (Zocchi dice…), but we can loot an important principle from its couple of good design decisions:

1. Every player gets one really good toy. DCC’s chief virtue is that it found a way to make Fighters a fun choice, not just the choice that’s less mentally taxing than being a spellcaster, and the way they make that work is by giving the role an inherently textured core mechanic called Mighty Deeds of Arms. Instead of giving them a flat ascending to-hit bonus that’s just numerically better than the other classes get, Fighters in DCC roll a separate Deed die that scales with level alongside the attack roll and add the Deed die to the to-hit roll and damage, and if the Deed die comes up 3 or higher they also pull off a maneuver that improves their immediate tactical situation.

Swashbuckling chandelier swings, disarms, feints, coating your foe in lamp oil, and basically anything Jackie Chan has ever done besides just hit guys count as Deeds, and the only things you need to make them happen are your own imagination, GM fiat, and the will of the dice—just so long as the effect isn’t “do more damage.”

Altogether, the method requires even less bookkeeping than your standard D&D fighter, while being way more versatile and giving the player something to actively play with and find new implementations for every time their class role is relevant.

Spellcasters in DCC similarly put some wrinkles in the Vancian procedures by getting rid of conventional spell levels, turning each spell into a range of effects keyed to the results of a casting check, and letting casters burn their physical stats temporarily to pump up a single casting attempt—and that’s before we get into mutations and faustian pacts. The role falls into some of the same pitfalls it always has: spellcaster players have to juggle a lot more functions than fighters or thieves and at the top of their game they’re still going to make wilder shit happen than the other classes, though it balances out a bit by making casting itself a higher-risk affair.

The trouble with DCC’s classes is it tries to spread about 2.75 really good player toys across five classes, and when it comes to thief stuff it can’t really come up with anything all that good.

So Digression 1: What makes a really good player toy? How do we fill out those empty spaces in the party roster with cool stuff for players to use that isn’t a headache to keep track of?

In my humble onion, a good player toy needs to be flexible, haptically engaging, low-bookkeeping, and freely usable but not strictly predictable. To be flexible, a player needs to be able to apply the toy in a range of play situations—getting too attached to pre-defined mechanical effects is toxic to flexibility. A haptically engaging toy prompts the player to engage with something physically at the table to use it; die rolls are the most obvious but there’s lots of options ranging from the nifty to the balls-out bizarre.

There’s also some mechanics that I think are inherently more satisfying because the things they make you do with numbers has kind of an inherent pleasure that feels kinesthetic—I get warm, kind of stimmy feelings thinking about roll-high-but-not-too-high dice pool systems.

Low-bookkeeping toys are pretty self-explanatory; if it requires resource management or tracking multiple modifiers across different locations on the character sheet, those elements need to be doing extra work to make themselves memorable. The Goblin Laws of Gaming’s spellcasting system introduces a bookkeeping element in that you have to track your caster’s accumulated Dooms, but any caster only ever gets 3, the last one is pretty final, and they all translate into memorable moments of play.

When I say that a good toy is freely usable but unpredictable, I mean that the mechanic should tempt the player to use it often—because it’s powerful, because the results are exciting or cool—and temper that eagerness to toy with it less with anxiety over whether they’re going to blow one of their limited uses on a whiff or a no-sell when they could need it later and more with the question of whether it might blow up in their faces this time. Spellcasters in DCC or GLOG are way more equipped to cast all day long compared to their D&D brethren, and that leaves caster players in a position to have more fun with their role, but there’s always the lingering possibility a spell might pop off wrong and now you’ve got a lobster hand. Even when a PC gimmick doesn’t work in the player’s favor, it should make the next moment more exciting. Non-events are poison to gameplay.

Something to keep in mind in reference to player toys: nothing obligates you to make these toys all fit into a single coherent reference frame or “preserve game balance.” What you’re looking to do here is create what game devs over on the digital side of things call Incomparables—play elements that you can’t meaningfully “balance” because you can’t meaningfully convert one into the terms of another.

All of this is building up to point 2. Monsters are self-contained toys for the GM to play with. Like how you’re not obligated to have player toys all fit together neatly into a balanced and 100% shared language of play, monsters can and should operate on their own distinct mechanical plane, and not every monster will be able to fit within the same framework of rules matter.

By that token, I strongly encourage anyone looking to break out of the framework of play you’ll find in a WotC book to ditch as much of the content in your statblock that carries over into the character sheet as you can. Give ‘em hit dice and hp totals, sure, give ‘em an AC rating and I won’t complain, to-hit bonuses even if you’re feeling nasty, but skip the ability scores and saving throws and proficiencies, and remember that there’s a special circle in hell for designers who give monsters big piles of feats that you have to dig back and forth through the damn book to find and make spot play decisions around (admittedly that’s not the problem it used to be back when 3e was what everyone was doing, but damned if I’m going to let anyone forget that it was a thing).

That sounds like heresy, but here’s the wild thing: there’s a whole armature of play to D&D that nobody uses and it would make the whole affair so, so much simpler if we did, because D&D is built to be a player-facing system, despite appearances. The original mechanic’s been buried under ability score modifiers, saving throws, attack rolls, and skill DCs, but it’s still there, baked into the dice and the stat spread. Roll a d20 and compare the result against the relevant ability score; if it’s equal to or lower than the stat in question, you done did the thing. High rolls within the margin of success are better than low ones; use this to determine who comes out on top in a contested action when there’s a tie.

Bam, you’re done. That’s your core task resolution mechanic. The great thing about this is that it takes a huge amount of pressure off the GM to pin down extraneous numbers. Your monster doesn’t need an AC score, just a penalty it applies to a player’s attack check. Same with to-hit bonuses, just applied to the roll the player’s making to avoid or resist the attacks it has. Same with exceptional (or exceptionally shitty) base abilities like strength, speed, and intelligence. You don’t need to so much as think the phrase “Passive Perception.” All of that lets you pare down a monster’s statblock to a pretty spare couple of lines that you can fit on a notecard, leaving you room and time to come up with mechanical texture that’s actually fun.

Additionally, using stats this way leaves plenty of room to come up with fun implementations on the players’ end. Stat damage rules begin to make a lot more sense when you strip away all the derived values and re-center your players’ attention on those 5% probability increments. Rolling high but shooting for less than a target number is one of those mechanics that’s really satisfying to then carry over into some kind of direct numeric result. Just narrowing things down to a smattering of possibilities for martial characters, n this framework you can set up mechanics for defensive fighters to convert a failing attack roll into a substitute AC score for the next round, while a more buckwild berserker type who plays more for risk/reward sets their hp total to whatever the die result is—that 1 hits, but now your timetable for the fight’s shifted drastically, but if you hit high, you can pull in a killer second wind. In short, you have an infinite canvas for crunch if that’s what your players are into.

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deniscollins · 5 years

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G.M. Workers Say They Sacrificed, and Now They Want Their Due

The United Auto Workers agreed to substantial wage concessions when General Motors was on the verge of bankruptcy 10 years ago. Over the last three years, GM has earned solid profits — it made $35 billion in North America — while closing plants in the United States. Under the contract just ended, workers have gotten a share of G.M.’s profits averaging $11,000 a year over the last three years, and now want an even “fairer” share of profits. If you were a GM executive, how would you determine what are the union workers fair share of profits?

A decade ago, when General Motors was on the brink of collapse and was ushered into bankruptcy by the federal government, the company’s unionized workers bore a significant portion of the pain to bring the automaker back to financial health.

The United Auto Workers agreed to allow General Motors to hire significant numbers of new workers at roughly half the hourly wage of those already on the payroll and with reduced retirement benefits. In the following years, G.M. was also able to bring in temporary workers with even slimmer wage-and-benefit packages and little job security.

The bitter medicine helped reinvigorate the automaker, and for the last several years it has been reaping record profits. Along the way, it has pared its United States payrolls, closed several plants and moved more work to Mexico.

Now nearly 50,000 workers have walked off the job at more than 50 G.M. plants and other locations across the Midwest and South, striking to get what they see as their fair share of the company’s hefty returns and block further erosion of their ranks.

“We have given away so many concessions over the last eight-plus years, and this company has been ridiculously profitable over that time,” said Chaz Akers, 24, an assembler at G.M.’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant, which is set to close in January unless the labor talks can win a reprieve. “That’s why we’re here. We’re fighting to get everything that we lost back.”

The across-the-board strike, the first by the U.A.W. since 2007, began at midnight Sunday, a day after the G.M. contract expired. Industry analysts said the walkout could cost the company tens of millions of dollars a day.

The company had no comment on the talks on Monday but said on Sunday: “We presented a strong offer that improves wages, benefits and grows U.S. jobs in substantive ways, and it is disappointing that the U.A.W. leadership has chosen to strike.”

In negotiations that resumed Monday morning and continued into the evening, the company has offered to invest $7 billion in United States plants and add 5,400 jobs. It also said it was willing to increase pay and benefits, without offering details.

That’s not enough for Wiley Turnage, president of U.A.W. Local 22, who represents the 700 workers at the Hamtramck plant. “I don’t like where we’re at,” he said at the plant’s main gate Monday, a picket sign reading “U.A.W. on Strike” propped on his shoulder. “We need job security. Our plant doesn’t have production beyond January. We have a lot of young, growing families and we need work for them.”

Focusing on a single company is standard practice in the talks between the U.A.W. and the Detroit automakers every four years. And although G.M. has a smaller domestic work force than its American rivals, Ford Motor and Fiat Chrysler, it presented an inviting target.

The automaker has earned solid profits — it made $35 billion in North America over the last three years — while closing plants in the United States. Ford, in contrast, canceled plans to build a plant in Mexico, and Fiat Chrysler has announced plans for a new factory in Detroit.

“The U.A.W. is making a significant move here and sending a strong signal that what G.M. has been offering is not acceptable,” said Peter Berg, a labor-relations professor at Michigan State University.

Among autoworkers, there is a strong sense that G.M. is not only making enough profit to increase wages but should be obligated to do so because the federal government rescued the company in 2009.

“We literally gave up a lot during the bankruptcy and the American taxpayer gave up a lot,” said Ashley Scales, 32, a G.M. worker walking the picket line outside the Hamtramck plant’s main gate. “We gave up twice because we pay taxes and we gave up in the contractual agreement. And now the corporation is making more profit than ever and they still want to play games.”

It also does not sit well with workers that G.M. has chosen to make certain vehicles in Mexico rather than in American plants. For example, the new Chevrolet Blazer, a sport utility vehicle that years ago was made in the United States, was assigned to a Mexican plant when it was reintroduced last year.

President Trump, who even before taking office castigated G.M. for shifting production to Mexico, returned to the theme on Monday in comments at the White House. While he said he was “sad to see the strike” and hoped it would be short, he emphasized his relationship with autoworkers, and added: “I don’t want General Motors to be building plants outside of this country. You know they built many plants in China and Mexico, and I don’t like that at all.”

Under the contract just ended, workers have gotten a share of G.M.’s profits averaging $11,000 a year over the last three years. But some contend that the U.A.W. failed to push hard enough as G.M. and the other automakers bounced back over the last decade, including the union’s efforts in the last contract talks four years ago.

“The leadership is feeling some pressure from below to deliver something better than what we got in 2015,” Martha Grevatt, a U.A.W. member who retired from a Fiat Chrysler plant in Michigan earlier this year, said in an interview in August.

After making G.M. its target, the U.A.W. extended its contracts with Ford and Fiat Chrysler. The G.M. outcome is meant to set a pattern for the other companies.

But G.M. is looking to cut costs, or at least avoid cost increases, in a difficult business environment. Auto sales are slowing in the United States and China, the world’s largest and most lucrative markets, and the company is spending billions of dollars to develop electric vehicles and self-driving cars.

It still has room to get leaner. At the end of last year, G.M. had the capacity to make one million more vehicles that it was selling, said Kristin Dziczek, vice president for industry, labor and economics at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.

To trim capacity, it has closed a small-car plant in Lordstown, Ohio, and components plants in Baltimore and Warren, Mich. The Hamtramck plant makes the Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac CT6, two slow-selling sedans that would need to be retained or replaced to keep the factory running.

Aside from keeping the Hamtramck plant open, the biggest issue for strikers is the tiered wage system, which leaves some workers making significantly less than others for comparable work.

Workers hired before 2007 make about $31 an hour, and can retire with a lifelong pension. Those hired after them (now more than a third of the work force) start at about $17 an hour and can work their way up to about $29 an hour over eight years. They also have to rely on 401(k) retirement accounts instead of pensions.

In addition, G.M. uses temporary workers (about 7 percent of the staff) who earn about $15 an hour, and do not have vision or dental benefits. The system has helped G.M. compete with Toyota, Honda and other foreign automakers operating nonunion plants in Southern states where hourly wages tend to range from $15 to $18 an hour.

But Hamtramck workers said the disparity in compensation under one roof created tension and resentment on the assembly line. “It’s a matter of fairness if someone next to you is making double for the same work,” said Stephanie Brown, 35, a Head Start teacher for 10 years until she took a temp position at G.M. three months ago.

Mr. Akers said he was paid $18 an hour for installing passenger-side headlights, while the driver’s-side headlights were installed by a temporary worker making $3 less.

“That guy has been a temp for two-and-a-half years,” Mr. Akers said. “Is that temporary to you?”

Depending on its length, the strike could have far-reaching effects, potentially hurting some of the thousands of companies that supply G.M. with parts like seats, motors and brake systems, as well as the components that go into those parts.

Other parts of the labor movement may be an asset to the U.A.W. Bret Caldwell, a Teamsters spokesman, said that his union represented about 1,000 drivers who transport G.M. vehicles to dealerships and that their contracts allowed them to avoid crossing a picket line.

Mr. Caldwell said he expected almost all of the car haulers to be idle throughout the strike. “That’ll be a big impact holding up any remaining inventory G.M. has, anything they try to bring in from out of the country,” he said. “It’s the main area of support we’re able to show.”

#General Motors #Unions

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dustindahusky-blog · 5 years

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Would Americans buy a Chinese car?

From my view, yes. Here’s why a Chinese car might stick around long enough to catch on with American buyers.

Cars are pillars of status, privilege, and pride in the USA. The car has truly made its home in our country and to many we often see them as members of the family or a faithful friend. Some like to show off with luxury or sport models or brands to denote their position in their company, neighborhood, or for the thrill of driving something fun or special. Most of us own what I would refer to as a daily driver, a car that gets you to A and B without fuss with creature comforts that make the everyday drive possible and while adding buckets of practically for any adventure. Some own minivans or CUVs/SUVs for hauling stuff around easier or to move large families around with oodles of space. Trucks are great for even bigger hauling and towing things around like boats or trailers of beer or stolen copper wire. However there is a price to pay with all this, depending on brand or model, new or used. Buying a vehicle is quite the important purchase for many. And they aren’t cheap depending on entirely what you’re looking for. And this is where the Chinese auto manufacturers might have a leg on nearly all brands currently selling in the US. This even includes the value leaders of Kia and Hyundai, who have been known to sell cars at more reasonable prices than their competitors and offer more for what you’re buying.

Installing a brand into a new market isn’t easy, however we have seen a template in which new guests into the US auto arena have done very well to get anchored in and to weather to storm ahead. At first European brands immediately after WWII have established themselves and have secured a foothold in the US, so did the Japanese in the mid 1960’s and early 1970’s, the Koreans in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and even late newcomers back on American soil like Tesla in the 2010’s have found their way to be taken seriously on the big stage. That successful template is offer something special or affordable in value, or do both. The original Volkswagen Beetle offered affordability, simplicity, and economy that was hard to pass up in the car starved post war era of the late 40’s. So was the Toyota Corona and Corolla of the late 60’s. The Koreans offered the Hyundai Excel that also provided much the same qualities. At the time when they were new, they were “the” disposable car of their time. They did a job well and adequately without many frills, and they were good value for the money for their respected time periods. Even the little Yugo from Socialist Yugoslavia offered the cheapest car in the US that only did the job to get you around town that didn’t get you wet when it rained. They offered both young people and adults who didn’t have a lot of money to spend or who wanted to buy a new car at second hand car prices, cheap affordable wheels they can take home with.

Now it’s 2018, and the brands that introduced themselves humbly during their times are now well established with the American buying public. No longer do we look at brands like Toyota, Honda, or Nissan with skeptical views of cheapness or being unpatriotic of not buying domestic, even today the scrutiny of buying Kia and Hyundai products is nearly nonexistent in our day and age because they have continued to up their quality and value game. Much like the many imports before them, we see them no differently than how we see GM, FoCoMo, and Chrysler-Fiat products. Just another quality brand. However now, there is a catch that we now see today, the import brands that came into our country that once touted affordability have now slowly over the passage of time become a tad out of reach for younger buyers. Yes cars are expensive, but most cars you see on dealer lots tend to be more expensive mid and upper trim option levels for most models, and you have to do some digging around to find a new car that is cheap enough to fit within budget needs. And here’s why this affordability is important with the feasibility of seeing Chinese cars in the US market. The average age of a car in the US is 11 years old, which honestly doesn’t sound that bad, though that feels kinda low. I’d feel it’s more like 15 years old, there are still a ton of older cars still rolling about the hills and the back roads. But whatever it is, people are holding on to them for many reasons. Can’t afford a newer car, maybe with plenty of work done a car could be driven for a lot longer, or maybe life priorities don’t call for the purchase of a newer car.

Now let’s take a look at the Chinese auto industry. The Chinese economy is very much a living example of the Yugoslavian hybrid model of “market socialism”, centralized planning with capitalist competitiveness coexisting well together that promotes more frequent updates or advancements with the goal to sell to the consumer without having industrial or economic waste. Other socialist states didn’t work like this, and how they had vehicle development, marketing, and production was a much more different animal than what is seen in China today. And because of this, China’s automotive industry is has blossomed into many companies producing many models of vehicles for its vast “captive” and export markets. Some companies have properly obtained licensing agreements and their technical packages to produce vehicles, while some others have reverse engineered vehicles to blatantly copy. Their quality ranges from comparable to Western cars we come to expect to just low quality junk that we haven’t seen in cars since the 80’s or 90’s.

If China makes most of our consumer products, cameras, phones, selfie sticks, appliances, industrial equipment and car parts, why not whole cars. Well China did try to extend into our auto market by selling us the Coda electric sedan on the West coast for only a model year from 2012 to 2013, and selling a dismal 117 units. Quality wasn’t where it should have been for the cost of $40k, and initially scheduled to be launched back in 2010 was held back two years due to lack of developmental time for durability. For the first US market launch of a Chinese made car that designed in 2004 on an older Mitsubishi platform, and an electric car right off the bat, no bite and little positive impression.

Now for real, let’s say China markets a car brand for the US that passes Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) and fuel economy/emissions standards, they should start with basic affordable cars that people want to buy. It’s a no brainer that the US market for car sales is a huge market on its own, and even other European companies are envisioning a return back to grab a small slice of the market pie. For one, Americans might draw some skepticism to a Chinese car but the idea of buying a compact or even midsized sedan with loads of options for less than $15-20k is a tantalizing prospect and would buy them up like they did the Yugo. The Yugo did alright for staying in the market from 1985 to 1992, selling 142k units. If you can sell ten thousand cars like how Scion began in 2003, you’ll make a good enough foothold in the market, unless you’re Daihatsu. Sorry Daihatsu, maybe a subject for another day.

What are you going to expect with your Chinese car when you get it. I would expect body panels that don’t align well as they should have, “orange peel” paint finish, interior plastics that look like they won’t last long, sheet metal that might go rusty in a couple years, seat fabric that might rip in not much time, fit and finish overall is generally an afterthought. Again, you’re paying to get pissed off like buying a $3990 Yugo sold new in 1986 (if you could ever find one that sold for that low back then), but remember that you’re buying a set of wheels that’ll get you by for the time being. Much like how people expected Hyundai Excels to be just garbage piles, still preformed the duty of a basic if not agricultural car. But that would be a worst expectation of what a Chinese car could be. Who knows, maybe if the Chinese are that serious about the US market, they’ll build a separate assembly line like the Zastava factory who built the Yugo for the USDM. Here’s a scary thought, we all know how much of a mixed bag the Yugo was in the US, and to think the ones that made it here were built better on another assembly line meant for our market, I can’t imagine what the Yugoslavian market Yugos were like.

Much like every cheap and affordable car that introduces itself to our market, expect it to have little to no resale value to speak of, however you’re not really expecting to sell this car if you were looking at buying one. In your situation, you’re buying your first car for the first time or needing a second car, something to get you rolling for the time being. Whether if you’re in college or in highschool, or down on your luck with an older car that kept falling apart. The idea that you could buy a Chinese car for peanuts is something that’ll get the job done, and not care much about what you’re driving. You’re not expecting mind bending performance or luxury, you know what you’re getting into if you do, and the more you accept this the better. I mean no Toyota Corolla was ever sporty in the 70’s, it was the car you bought after the Ford Falcon finally rusted away and you needed to buy something fast so you can still go to night class. And if there were Chinese cars in the market here to buy, I’d buy one to drive it into the ground to either save up for a better car or just to buy another if one wasn’t enough. In the world of millennials sometimes having no credit or shit credit could transpire into a hairy situation of sticking with a rusty 90’s Nissan Sentra affectionately named “Liam Nissan” that eats too much oil or asking your aunt to buy her equally rusty Plymouth Breeze with empty cigarette packs scattered around. You’d rather buy a Chevy Cruze however you’re afraid that one for $10k and 83K miles might end up needing routine maintenance that you couldn’t afford to pull off on the spot and any new Kia Rio found on a dealer lot is still thousands over the mythical minimum sticker price. Hell, if a Chinese car was too expensive brand new, wait a year and you could even get one for sub $6-8k prices, maybe even less.

Honestly I’m really surprised that the Chinese haven’t entered our market yet, they have entered the European zone and been a huge mainstay in Russia (I guess Ladas aren’t cheap enough for them) for years now. They can range from cheap to really adequate modes of transportation, even something to own for more than you really require of it. The Chinese have been making Audi’s, BMW’s, and Buick’s with huge demands because they have been grand sellers in terms of luxury, and they tend to be of quality similar to their genuine originals. Whatever the Chinese do throw out us someday, we’ll gladly be in open arms for cheaper alternatives to newer, or really used cars. Plus, we Americans love to rip on unknown shitboxes, then in 15 years’ time we are buying them by the thousands. Who would guess in 1966 that Toyota would be producing quality luxury sporty cars under the Lexus brand. In 1995 when Kia would one day be producing a car like the Stinger that is chasing around other RWD sport sedans. In 1992 the Yugo going on to better things….oh wait we ran out of Yugoslavia by then. Mhmmmm we never really did get the Tata Nano here in the states (who remembered when that came out, $3000 car that had a fire problem), even though that there was an interest for a short while. In 1970 Americans wouldn’t expect Datsuns to be called “Datsun by Nissan” in 1984 and just Nissan by 1985. Import brands change and morph in the fluid of time, and many are still here. I wouldn’t be surprised if a Chinese brand turns out to be a good seller in 5-10 years time much like how the other imports started out.

And apparently on a quick google search, it seems that the Chinese auto company GAC has an interest in joining the US market in late 2019. Under the local Chinese brand name….Trumpchi. They are serious, and honestly their vehicles don’t look that bad either. In fact they would fit right in with this country. They are figuring out a newer name to use in North America. No one is certain how reliable a new Chinese car will be in the states, but if it’s cheap don’t expect it to last forever.

If you made it this far, hurray! If you like my rambling, you’d like what I’d have in store in the future. If you don’t, well, I’m still going to write it down anyways. :D

Keep zooming!

#DustinDaHusky autos ramblings Chinese cars furry

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zarekthelordofthefries · 6 years

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Any tips for putting together a Monster Of The Week game? I'm making a campaign and haven't ever played before 😅

Oh, sure! Some of this might be kind of basic stuff that you might’ve covered already but since I don’t know where you’re at in the process yet I’ll try to give some general starting stuff advice. (From your phrasing I’m gonna assume you’re the GM for this.) (Also, uh, some of this got kind of long-winded, but mostly it’s stuff I feel is really important)

Initial thing to consider: Have you played a Powered By The Apocalypse game like MotW before? If not, it’s important to get into the right headspace for it, especially if you’re coming into it off of playing another game, like D&D. D&D and MotW have pretty different design philosophies. Getting into things like “You as the GM don’t plan scenes, you plan a situation” and “You literally never roll, only the players do, you just make your moves” – or hell, the entire concept of GM moves – can be difficult to grasp if you’re like most roleplayers and are coming off a background primarily of D&D, where the GM plans dungeon setpieces and is encouraged to make a ton of rolls and doesn’t really have a system of responding to players’ roll failures in the way GM moves function. I don’t really have any particular advice for this, it’s just kind of a mental unlearning-relearning process anyone has to go through when they pick up a new game. But again, I don’t know your gaming background – you might’ve already cleared this step, it’s just something to keep in mind!

So, I think an important early step in ANY game is having an in-depth conversation with your group about what you want to get out of the game. In fact, I would say the most important early thing in MotW, moreso than the players picking their playbooks, is to have a group discussion of what style of game you want. MotW supports several styles of play that can give you very different-feeling games. You can use MotW to play Supernatural, Buffy, The X-Files, Scooby-Doo, The Dresden Files, or something in between two or more of those – and it’s not gonna be fun if you start playing what you want to be Supernatural and the players want to be Buffy. Talk to your players about tone first and foremost – do you, as a group, prefer something very silly (Scooby-Doo), something grim and brutal (Supernatural), or something in the middle (Buffy)? The MOST IMPORTANT part of this is talking to your players about boundaries. MotW is an action-horror game, and horror comes in many forms that can be touchy for some folks. Talk about what might or might not be comfortable for everyone at the table when it comes to serious subjects that might come up in the game.

Another aspect of that early discussion, less important than boundary-setting but definitely important for the type of story you want to build together, is what kind of setting and style you want for the game. I think it can be useful to establish early on what ties the player characters together. It could just be a location, maybe all the characters just happen to live together in the same weird monster-heavy town and happen to work together, but it can be stabilizing to have something more concrete. The book goes over some of these ideas (I believe it mentions the idea of belonging to the same organization investigating monsters or all the player characters being family members). An important aspect of this is also deciding whether you want the game to be mobile, with the PC hunters traveling from location to location to deal with monsters (this is, funnily enough, both Scooby-Doo and Supernatural style), or centralized in one location with repeated monster attacks (this is more Buffy style). I technically only have direct experience with the latter, but I think both require roughly the same investment on your part, just in different ways (you don’t have to map out every town you go to every session in a mobile game, but you may want to sketch out a map of town in an immobile game, or just use an existing real town and see if you can find a map online – rule 1 of GMing is knowing when and what to steal!).

I think this initial conversation may be more important than playbook-picks, but it shouldn’t be a huge deal if your players already have an idea of what they want to play, as long as you make sure to get on the same page re: tone and style. Additionally, I assume you’re using the updated ruleset from the revised edition of the game, but I’d advise you to check out the old MotW site and its free downloads of other classes that didn’t get added to the revised edition: Here. You’re not obligated to allow any playbooks in particular in the game, of course, but I’d at least say check ‘em out and if you think they work for you, let your players see them too. (You might be discouraged from some of them by tone, and that’s totally fair, some of them are definitely built for sillier games, but keep in mind that can be changed by the right player. My group has both a Luchador and a Meddling Kid that are really human, multidimensional characters, so if that’s what you want and it’s what your players want to do with them, that can work. Of course, if you want cartoon characters, they’re also very good classes for playing cartoon characters.)

As for, y’know, playing the actual game, I would advise you to avoid my mistakes and try to really follow the book’s advice when it comes to early mysteries. Try to make fairly simple, straightforward hunts at first before you start getting complex or esoteric. If you’re like me you might get excited to try to mess with the formula before you even establish a formula for your players, and in a game you’re new to, that can be overly ambitious. (Although you can, of course, get really creative within the formula. Just look at the two example mysteries in the book – in their STRUCTURE they’re very standard, one big monster with a handful of minions that the players have to find a kill, but with radically different styles.)

Remember you aren’t making scenes for your players to run through, you’re making a situation with many dangers (not just the monsters – remember locations and NPCs are dangers, too!) and a ticking clock that the players have to figure out their own clever ways to overcome. It’s their job to be proactive and your job to put things in their way, but let them shove the things out of their way if they figure out how. (Also keep in mind the players can always prevent things on the countdown clock! This is a minor point that I think the game states directly, but don’t start your countdown clocks at something the players have no chance of stopping and/or already happened.)

Don’t worry too much right now about setting up arcs – your players, through their choices in character creation, are likely to give you a ton of fodder for that stuff. IIRC the book advises to start thinking about arcs after you’ve already had the first session, and that’s good advice, but you can probably wait even later than that if you can’t think of anything yet.

Some advice on magic: Let cool stuff happen, but keep in mind the tone and style you set up with your players before allowing something. Magic is flexible in the game, but don’t let clever magic-using players walk all over you. Like I do. A lot. But uh yeah, keep in mind you get to pick the restrictions on a spell. This is one case where GM fiat kinda has to come in to regulate things slightly and you have to decide what makes sense narratively as a cost for the action being attempted. Some characters, like the Monstrous or the Spooky, will logically in the fiction be (super?)naturally magical, so they can get away with fewer of the material-component-type stuff for Use Magic rolls that seem like they should be part of the characters’ natural abilities, especially if you’re going for more of a high-magic game where magic is a little less limited, but you can still put restrictions on things like time in those cases.

Lastly, I don’t want to overwhelm you with options, but I’d advise you to give this PDF a look-see if you haven’t already. It’s about introducing other forms of the supernatural into MotW in addition to the basic magic stuff that the game assumes by default. It adds new “monster” types that are built to emulate threats posed from weird happenings or alien phenomena, to give more of an X-Files or Warehouse 13 feeling where instead of hunting a physical monster, the players are unravelling a strange circumstance and trying to prevent the phenomenon from hurting more people. It also adds options for characters replacing the Use Magic basic move with some other different Weird-based move, which might be near-superhuman physical feats, mundane gut instinct, psychic powers, etc. You don’t have to allow or use these options in your game, but it can make more sense for specific styles of game if you and your players don’t want a setting where everybody can use magic, and/or your players want more thematically appropriate Weird powers for their character if they don’t see themselves using magic often. It can be a good incentive to avoid Weird being a dump-stat for players who don’t want to play a magic-user, but the game is perfectly playable and fun in either style. Again, don’t want to overwhelm you or your players, but I really like the More Weirdness rules and remember how I could’ve used them in some of my earlier sessions, so I want to make sure you’re at least aware of them even if you want to play a more Buffy/Supernatural-style “everybody can use magic fairly easily if they know the rituals” type of setting.

(Okay, actually-lastly, one more minor thing: This isn’t really advice on playing the game, but I would advise you and your group to come up with a title and theme song for the monster-of-the-week TV show that your game is telling the stories of, purely because I found that really fun in my own game. Our theme song is “Stone Cold Sober” by Paloma Faith, if you’re curious. I link the music video in our game chat every time we start a game, after I narrate a cold open.)

I think that covers all the basic stuff I can give advice on off the top of my head. If there’s something I haven’t covered here that you’d like more detail on, or you have a more specific question about how the game is played, feel free to ask! Happy to see more folks playing the game and happy to help out!

#monster of the week #tabletop rpg #original content #rpg #holy shit someone i don't personally know asked me for GM advice #this is a good day

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carobd2unit · 3 years

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Autel Maxisys MS906BT Diagnostic Scanner Review: Good or Not?

The Autel MS906BT scan tool shares the same OBD scanning and testing capabilities with Maxisys MS906 scanner. The two professional automotive diagnostic scanners can read and clear error codes, read live data, perform ECU coding, actuation tests, and adaptations. Furthermore, they are difficult to differentiate as they have a similar physical appearance. To know their differences and MS906BT features details, read this Autel Maxisys MS906BT reviews article.

Regardless of their resemblance, the Autel MS906BT comes with some additional features and functions that the MS906 doesn’t have. For example, the MS906BT can connect to the vehicle’s OBD system using VCI, while the MS906 cannot. Moreover, the MS906 code reader supports digital inspection camera add-ons and oscilloscope, while the MS906 doesn’t support them. Another unique thing about the MS906BT scan tool is that it has the same functions as the Autel Maxisys MS908, but it is quite smaller and more convenient to carry around or use. To learn more about this outstanding scan tool, please continue reading the content below and you will get what you want to know.

Autel Maxisys MS906BT’s Technical Specifications Chart:

FeaturesAutel Maxisys MS906BT

Operating System(OS)Android 4.4.2, KitKat

ProcessorSamsung Exynos T5260 6-Core Processor (1.3 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 + 1.7 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A15)

Display8.0″ LED capacitive touch screen with 1024x768P resolution

Internal Memory2 GB RAM and 32 GB ROM

Oil ResetYES

CameraBuilt-in 8-megapixel rear camera, autofocus & flashlight

Live dataYES

Views freeze frame dataYES

Instant remote control tech support anytime, anywhereYES

ConnectivityWi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), USB: 2.0, Mini USB 2.0, Wireless BT V2.1+EDR, Class1, HDMI 1.4a

Real-time push message notificationsYES

Smart AutoVIN technologyYES

Audio Input/OutputMicrophone, Single Speaker, 3-Band 3.5 mm stereo/standard headset jack

SensorsGravity Accelerometer, Ambient Light Sensor (ALS)

Power and Battery10,000 mAh 3.7 V lithium-polymer battery, Charging via 12 V AC/DC power supply (up to 14 hours of continuous operation)

Input Voltage12 V (9-35 V)

Vehicle Coverage

more than 80 US, Asian and European makes and models; Abarth, Acura, Alfa, Audi, Bentley, Benz, Bmw, Fiat, Ford, Gm, Holden, Bugatti, Chevrolet, Chrysler,

Hyundai, Infiniti, Isuzu, Citroen, Dodge, Dacia, Daihatsu, Kia, Land Rover, Lexus, Lancia, Maybach, Mazda, Mini, Mitsubishi,Honda, Jaguar, Jeep, Nissan, Opel, Peugeot, Saab, Scion, Seat, Skoda, Smart, Sprinter, Subaru, Porsche, Renault, Suzuki, Toyota, Vw, Vauxhall, Volvo, Etc.

Operating Temperature-10 to 55°C (14 to 131°F)

Storage Temperature-20 to 70°C (-4 to 158°F)

Update OptionYes. (via internet)

Warranty12-Month Limited Warranty

Here we go for the specific description of MS906BT from NINE Aspects:

Extensive vehicle coverage

This is one of the most extensive car scan tools that you will ever come across. It has exceptional vehicle coverage of more than 80 US domestic, European, and Asian vehicle makes and models.

Large display

It features a large 7-inch display screen that is easy to operate. You will just feel like you’re using an ordinary tablet. The screen is not only large but has a resolution of 1024 x 768. This means that you will get clear results in all light conditions.

Intuitive user interface

The icons on the touchscreen are easy to access and respond quickly by simply touching the function that you want. On top of that, it has a multilingual menu that makes it easy for different language speakers.

Fast processor

With an Android operating system and a fast quad-core processor, this is a suitable scanner for big garage and car repair shops. It uses the powerful Exynos 5260 6-core processor, which is extremely fast.

A wide range of functions

This is an amazing scan tool for technicians and mechanics looking for an advanced code reader that can perform basic functions, advanced functions, and special functions. Some of its functions include read/clear error codes, live data, oil reset, ECU coding, DPF service, EPB, BMS, matching, and many others.

Advanced support

Another reason why this scan tool beats other high-end scanners on the market is that you get comprehensive support. The Wi-Fi connectivity allows the user to link up with other technicians or check verified repairs and tips online. And if you want to contact the manufacturer directly, you can use the interactive data logging feature

Built-in rechargeable lithium-polymer battery

This is a powerful scan tool that comes with its own battery. The built-in lithium-polymer 10, 0000 mAh 3.7v battery is double the size of the MS906 scan tool. It provides 14 hours of continuous use without having to recharge it.

Compact and portable

With dimensions of 25.6 x 16.7 x 7.4 inches, the MS907BT is a very compact and convenient battery to carry or use. It also weighs 19.25, which is quite light when compared to other scanners in the same category.

12-month warranty

The manufacturer as well offers the user with a 12-month warranty. This assures the buyer that they are getting a quality product and in case of any issue, they are free to return the scanner.

MS906BT scanner is an amazing scanner, but it still has some shortcomings...

Limited updates– one of the challenges of using this scan tool is that you will have to pay for the updates after one year. This is very disappointing considering the initial price and quality of the scan tool. It could have been a free lifetime update.

Compatibility issues– get in touch with the Autel support team and find out if the code reader is compatible with your car make and model or not.

To sum up:

If you’re in search of a more advanced scan tool at an outstanding price, then the Autel MS906bt is the code reader for you. Not only can it perform the most basic functions, but it can as well perform a number of advanced functions such as ECU coding and data logging. This makes it be suitable for professional mechanics as well as a DIY enthusiast who handles different car makes and models.

That’s all. Thanks so much for sharing your time with us!

Don't forget to contact us at:

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Source:http://blog.cardiagtool.co.uk/autel-maxisys-ms906bt-diagnostic-scanner-review-good-or-not/

#Autel Maxisys MS906BT

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fictionfromgames · 4 years

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Routine Concerns (ATLA/LOK fluff)

“Gran, you’re not gonna get arrested!”

Hiyara balled her fists as her grandmother continued packing a bag. The elder didn’t stop.

“Soon enough,” she stated matter-of-factly, “Remember a few years ago when I ‘went to the North’ for a week? When the Avatar was visiting?”

“Yeah,” Hiyara looked skeptical, “Your first vacation in two years at that point. Are you saying you went to jail?”

“Yep,” gran smiled, “Well, sort of a house arrest, wherein they lent me a lush mansion on the other side of the world while Avatar Weiyong was in Harbor City.”

“What could they possibly have against you, gran? You’re a healer.”

Gran turned and looked at Hiyara with a professional smile. She was always good at dealing with belligerent people, patients or otherwise, so she was practiced well enough by the time she had a family. Still, it annoyed Hiyara.

“You know my illustrious career, of course, but do you know much about history?” gran asked. At least she’d stopped packing.

“History is a broad term, gran, what kind of history?”

Gran shrugged, “Oh, like Avatar Korra, Amon. Bloodbending?”

“Some, iittle, and none, in descending according to the legality of each subject,” Hiyara started to frown, “You’re not a bloodbender, are you?”

“Not really?” gran shrugged, though she sounded unsure, “But my thesis on Amon’s ability to take away people’s bending is the theoretical foundation of my practice today.”

“You’re a bloodbender,” Hiyara was stunned.

“No, not really, I promise!” Gran moved closer, “I just... I was fascinated with Avatar Korra since I was little, all the things she achieved and survived even by your age now. But one of the things we’d always hear about in the healing huts was Amon. born Noatak in the Northern Tribe. Bloodbender, bending stealer, everyone knows that part, But no doctor, and no waterbender had figured out exactly how he’d stolen people’s powers. The standing, unimpeachable answer was always “vascular and/or neurological damage caused by bloodbending,” and was not subject to question due to the ethics and, yeah, legality involved. It was generally supported by head wounds that rendered much more than bending unusable, and wasn’t to be investigated otherwise.”

“Can you take bending away??” Hiyara was starting to feel a little horrified.

“Only theoretically!” Gran pointed enthusiastically, “There are a lot of things I wanted to avoid-- being stuck in the healing huts with all the old women back home, being called a ‘guru’, or a ‘mad scientist,’ and most definitely charges of bloodblending. I wanted nothing except to be Doctor Kayada. But... for as much as I wanted to get away from home, I remembered two things. The way Amon would access bending through the forehead, and the old healing dummies I was started on. He was using the meridians we used for water healing, just as conduits to the appropriate chakras through the Light chakra itself!”

“Gran you still haven’t said how this isn’t bloodbending!”

“Oh, that’s easy, I used a saline solution and sort of push that around,” Gran continued, almost ignoring the conflict in the conversation, “It somehow satisfies their strictures. But chakras, Hiyara, they’re opened and closed through emotion, and what emotions govern the Light chakra?”

Gran pointed again, waiting for the answer, but Hiyara just shook her head. She wasn’t in school for religious studies or medicine.

“Insight and illusion!” Gran cried, “Amon created illusory wounds to those areas through the chakra most susceptible to them, which is why no one but the Avatar figured out how to fix them! Lies they and their bodies believed! And he used water healing principles to accomplish it!”

At this point gran’s arms were in the air, as if reliving the revelatory moment. Hiyara just looked at her normally reserved grandmother with confusion and a little fear.

“But why would they arrest you?” she asked quietly.

“Oh, the White Lotus just thinks your genius gran could be a threat to the current Avatar because of the one time I stopped him.”

Kayada returned to packing. It was maybe a bit too hopeful to assume she could have gone to see the rocket launch if Weiyong was going to be there.

“Stopped him from what, gran?!”

******************

Kayada M.D.

Kayada’s theory is not mine, I stole it in whatever form I internalized it from Hello Future Me’s video in this link, but I wanted to have someone in the setting to realize that, as a potential conflict from either Kayada herself or an a new external threat. I imagine Kayada as generally genial, well-meaning, and not as invested in mysticism UNTIL it intersects with medical science. She has a practice in Shaomen, a newer United Republic City in the Hu Xin provinces. Shaomen is not canon except to this setting, and because I am running out of United Republic place names. Kayada’s clinic is like, 1/3 general practice (water healing is generally very useful), 1/3 sports medicine (pro-benders seek her out in particular because what if their loss was bending related rather than injury or skill related????? Big money there), and 1/3 “psychiatry” (because manipulating positive emotions through waterbending is at least palliative therapy, and at best, an actual ATLA-unique version of psychiatric medicine).

Kayada vs. Weiyong

Why would someone who’s only ever trying to help cross the Avatar and be subsequently banned from any and all contact within a number of miles?

Political Differences

In one scenario, I think of Kayada as having been a witness to some massive infrastructural damage to Shaomen, and going out personally to close off some bending to make it stop, getting mixed up about who’s who and accidentally closing off some of Weiyong’s bending until things are cleared up. This one incident meshes with her standard do-gooding persona, and explains why her family doesn’t always know why she keeps avoiding the Avatar (willingly or by state order). The realization of her abilities by the White Lotus with regards to Weiyong have placed her on a watchlist.

Trade Secrets

A colleague or academic rival has learned Kayada’s methods and has used it to profitable and definitely unethical ends. I am leaving a lot of details ambiguous in this scenario, just because a new bending-stealer could easily be used in “present day.” You could still have Kayada and Weiyong’s now-genial relationship as a background distance between them, and calling off the minimum distance order she has to keep in order to help hunt down your new antagonist. However. I envision this as being Kayada’s “real” backstory. Tesroq, a water bender and Kayada’s number one at her practice, was taught how to heal her way and fill in for her while she was on Team Avatar during the Deep Spirit crises. And rather than open abuse, he’d covertly mess with pro-benders in order to help fix matches, which drew the considerable attention of Boss Shai and the Agni Kai Triad. The technical prowess of Kayada being passed on to someone less incorruptible also drew notice from the Dai Li, who had hoped to recruit Tesroq for some super shady shit regarding the situation of the Earth States, but Tesroq himself was enamored with the metropolitan lifestyle in the United Republic, and refused. Of course, the Deep Spirits crises weren’t constant or all at once, and Team Avatar started heading home, first visiting Shaomen, since Kayada was less combat oriented than the rest. The timing for Tesroq couldn’t have gone better-- with the Dai Li sending alternating offers and threats, the Agni Kais thoroughly pissed regarding an undefeated pro bending team, and Kayada starting to wonder what was amiss, his escape was provided by the threeway battle over his capture. Even with help from the White Lotus, Tesroq was never caught. Weiyong did get some of his bending blocked, but the White Lotus arranged a cover story and confiscated all scholastic papers regarding Kayada’s methods. She was still allowed to practice on the condition that she would be portrayed as the danger to the Avatar, avoiding all mention of Tesroq. She and Weiyong still correspond though, since they were close as comrades and confidants, and Weiyong always sends photos of an event related to his latest obligations. She’s Definitely a Mad Scientist

In this scenario, I kind of see her as morally ambivalent and always chasing the goal of learning more, kinda like Entrapta in She Ra, where the sides don’t matter as long as she keeps Doing the Thing, that maybe she’ll finally unlock something amazing. Her practice is more or less a front for capital, and while she may only take willing subjects, it’s still fucking sketchy, and requires a stronger synthesis between bloodbending and water healing. Perhaps here she’s looking for a way to actually produce bending in subjects that never had it, or add new elements to existing benders, since they already possess energy bending of any kind and it’s just easier or something. I like Kayada as a friend and ally but there are seeds for so much mischief.

Mechanically Speaking

No player character should have the ability to block bending beyond Ty Lee levels, which exists in the game already. But, should your characters have their bending blocked, it should be a several Chi-cost adventure to regain it. It’s also hard to manage since you don’t need bending to access every move in a playbook, so it’s more of a GM fiat move than systematic usage.

You can check out Legend of the Elements on DriveThru RPG and their page full of extra resources, Actual Play links, and essays at the Logbook Project!

#atla #lok #Avatar The Last Airbender #legend of korra #legend of the elements #Legend of Korra rpg #atla rpg #avatar rpg #korra rpg #rpg fluff

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doctorjackaroo-blog · 7 years

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Grimdark vs. Noblebright and why you can’t have both

Man, I fucking hate it when setting, plot, and rules don’t reconcile.

Here we’ve got this noblebright adventure setting - the heroes triumph, the monster is slain, the demons are driven back - with a metaplot that keeps making characters either feel like shit for participating or drive them towards being fucking psychopaths. I’m a between-games actions marshal. I see the day-to-day shit a lot of characters get up to between live games. Some of them do guard duty, or work in businesses, or preach the word of their god. But over time, there’s been a trend towards the bloody and brutal. Serial killing. Self-mutilation. Hard, unmerciful training sessions. As one marshal put it, “Have the PC’s gone feral?” Yes. Yes they have. Why? Because you pushed them that way. It started with Bloodtide - a weapon absolutely necessary to save the world, but forged through vile methods. Yeah, I’ve heard that we didn’t strictly need it, but we only could have avoided it if we were all proactive starting nearly a year prior, in a game where proactivity is generally met with “you get nothing from your research”, aka “we haven’t written the plot yet so stop bothering us” (a whole other post on its own). And then we had to free the ultimate personification of evil for yet another apocalypse prevention method. And then we were punished by neighboring nations for being “evil”. All the while, traditionally evil and dark PC classes began to legally be allowed to operate in the open, by essentially GM fiat of altering kingdom law. When darkness is all around you and even the plot is punishing you for being a decent person, we’ve moved from a noblebright setting to a grimdark one. Characters are going to swing dark. Even the more traditional goodguys are going to abandon years of principles and walk arm-in-arm with evil, because “maintaining balance is necessary to prevent the end of the world”. The problem with the “balance” model is that good needs to compromise and evil does not. Over time, this turns the game into a pile of edgelords and suffer puppets. (An aside, for another post: “BALANCE” DOES NOT MEAN THE TWO SIDES HAVE TO BE EQUAL IN NUMBER. FFS, go YouTube an art class and pay attention to the lesson on negative space and balance.) Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with or bad about a grimdark setting for a larp. There are plenty of larps that do this, and do it well. The problem comes in when your game’s rating and stated setting say “PG-13 high fantasy adventure”, while your plot says “TREMBLE, MORTALS, AS YOUR PATHETIC MORALS BETRAY YOU!” It also doesn’t help when people are encouraged to roleplay the high toll that constant battles, broken limbs, face-stabbing, etc. would have on any normal mind. Spoiler alert: everyone who wants to keep playing turns their characters into psychopaths. They’re only not psychopaths in noblebright because battles are hard but not scarring. (Side note: I’m not saying don’t say “ow” when your character gets stabbed. RP’ing physical pain in the moment and physical/mental/emotional trauma after the fact are two VASTLY different things.) On top of this, we have rules that include magical fixes for... pretty much everything. If you can near-instantly cure literally every ailment except for special plot effects, including *mental* illnesses, this is the antithesis of grimdark. There are no consequences but what we choose. Let me say that again: THERE ARE NO CONSEQUENCES BUT WHAT WE CHOOSE.

The game will go on. Your PC will have all their shit fixed, usually within 30 minutes or your Feast is free. We have a noblebright setting, grimdark plots, and rules that encourage the immediate erasure of consequences. Yeah, I think my character’s going to go join the rest of the feral PCs now. If I’m going to have to play a psychopath just to be able to operate in these conflicting structures, I might as well try and figure out how many pins I can shove in an angel before they stop dancing.

#larp #setting #gamedesign #immastabsomeone #murderhobos

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autobodyrepaircalifornia · 4 years

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smoothshift · 6 years

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Alternate history of motoring - 1st part (1950-55) via /r/cars

Alternate history of motoring - 1st part (1950-55)

Decided to write and post this, starting a little series. It would come in 5-year installements (so the next one will be 1956-60) once a week or so.

1950:

Americas:

Most of the year went as in our timeline.

However, the start of the Korean War in September brought change. Customers, fearing more rationing, started slightly turning towards smaller import cars. While the usual fullsizes strongly remained king, cars like the VW Beetle or Morris Minor gained noticeable ground in the early '51 model year.

Seeing that, the US makers started seeking solutions.

By late November of 1950, GM and Ford already started their work. The Ford Anglia, Consul and Zephyr, as well as the Holden 48-215 and Opel Olympia, got federalized and opened to decent sales for the Holden, Consul and Zephyr, and somewhat weaker for the Opel and Anglia. Still, by the end of the year, it' was decided that the next generations of them would be developed with at least a partial focus on the US market.

In the same vein, the sales of the Henry J rose, though not to British/Australian car levels.

However, Chrysler and the independent makes were faced with trouble, not having such overseas divisions to import cars from. The only exception was Nash, which was already working on the American, a compact car.

Chrysler decided to work around the problem by investing in diesel engines. The plan involved rolling out 3 diesels, a 100 HP 241 ci Hemi V8 (Plymouth, Dodge), a 115 HP 276 ci Hemi V8 (DeSoto), a 135 HP 331 ci Hemi V8 (Chrysler) and a 160 HP 405 ci Hemi V8 (large pickups). The engines were planned to be ready by 1952, shortly after the gas Hemis. A compact car was also in development, but on the back burner.

Meanwhile, Studebaker, Packard, Hudson, Kaiser and Willys merged into United Auto Manufacturing (UAM), in order to survive the competition. They started working on a new, unibody compact to fight the Consul, Zodiac and Holden. They decided to pull off a large gamble by hiring W.E. Deming, the statistician behind the concept of reliability as the main manufacturing axiom, and paying him more than the Japanese offered. (Yes, it means not-so-reliable Japanese cars.) The rationale was that if the UAM can't fight on prices, they would fight on quality.

Europe:

Most automakers were scrambling to make a car for the developed market. While many companies had different approaches, all the vehicles are quite similar - 1000-1300 cc of cubic capacity, 4-door sedan unibody (with some other body options), compact size.

However, many companies approach it differently - for example, Citroen was making the Ami a flat-4 FWD car, the Saab 93 was going to be a 2-stroke FWD machine, while the VW Type 3 was going to have a Beetle-derived rear flat-4 transaxle, notably, with an optional diesel.

The list of makers in that idea included Ford, Opel, Peugeot, Citroen, Renault, Simca, VW, NSU, DKW, BMW, Saab, Volvo, Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Austin, Hillman, Standard and others.

Meanwhile, Alfa Romeo revolutionized the performance world by making the Alfetta, a mid-engined performance coupe with a 235 HP 2.0 V6 supercharged engine in the middle. The car was the world's fastest, and achieved notable victories in performance. Other makers, like Jaguar or Aston Martin, started developing similar ones.

Behind the Iron Curtain, the engineers of GAZ in the USSR started working on a relatively affordable, 600 cc small car, with the intent of it being cheap enough for most Soviet car owners.

Asia:

In Japan, the first kei cars, a class of cars limited to 200 cc and 280x120x130 cm, started being produced. Toyota, Nissan, Mazda and Suzuki all entered the class.

China started designing a similar sort of car, but larger and 300cc. While it was called a "people's car", the engineers slowly started seeing this goal as impossible, due to the Chinese society being seemingly too poor for that.

1951:

Americas:

As the war went on, (sub)compacts and imports retained their popularity, which was showed by the fact that Holden, Opels, Fords, VWs and Morrises all received new styling for 1952, as per US custom, and the ongoing projects kept running.

However, seeing the new Alfa's fame, UAM decided to start working on a similar supercar. This was part of a larger development project, involving the development of a new range of fullsize cars - and the supercar was meant to have a similar suspension setup and V8 engine to the new Packards.

But what shook the US auto industry were "Deming system" 1952 UAM cars, which were of better quality than their competitors, though it was offset by a higher price. While the original sales were just OK, an ad campaign and word of mouth helped them. These cars got especially popular in rural areas, where customers wanted simple, reliable cars.

Mopar's new gasoline Hemi V8s were also a good development for the company, burning less fuel than the competors, while having better performance.

Europe:

The new midsize cars, like the Opel Kadett, BMW 1200, Standard 10 or Austin A50 started appearing, with more coming and decent perspectives on the US market.

However, many of the automakers ended up spending a lot on them, and had trouble recouping the costs or continuing development - this especially touched small brands, like BMW, Borgward or Hotchkiss. Also, the sales figures were worse than expected.

What actually sold well, though, was the Citroen 2CV van - a cheap, reliable vehicle that could haul a family. Citroen quickly found itself doing well, and even started exporting to the US, with quite limited success, and other companies started looking at their business model more closely.

Another revolution were the redesigned Opels, Fords, VWs and Morrises - the practice started bringing image-conscious customers towards these brands, and made others think about new '53 styling.

Also, as Hotchkiss started merger talks with UAM, the French goverment started working on its own Jeep-like vehicle, produced by Renault. The Hotchkiss Jeep was something they didn't want made by another country's company.

Behind the Iron Curtain, the USSR temporarily abandoned its economy car project to focus on defense.

Asia:

China took a similar approach to the USSR - abandoned the "people's car" project to focus on defense.

However, the kei car segment was booming - most manufacturers had at least one of these 150 cc cars, and smaller brands started feeling the competition from ones like Toyota, Hino or Nissan.

1952:

Americas:

Faced with rising unionism, UAM began looking into outsourcing production. Finally, in June, they started working on a new investment - a "Deming system" factory in Tijuana, Mexico, in order to bring better quality than the Big Three at lower prices. The factory was meant to produce compacts and subcompacts by Willys, Studebaker and Hotchkiss.

The 1953 model year brought a lot of new stuff.

For one, GM, Ford and UAM all had all-new compacts - the 1953 Holden line, with independent suspension (except for the ute), the FWD Ford Taunus and the Deming system Willys Aero/Studebaker Lark. They ended up selling like hotcakes, stealing buyers from cheaper fullsize models.

Also, Mopar debuted all-new car designs and Hemi V8 diesels. The cars themselves caught on, and the diesels weren't doing bad either, although they were limited to buyers who did not care about the rough operation of these machines.

However, on 28th November 1952, the market suffered a huge downturn. The reason?

Well, President Dewey authorized an atomic attack on Pyongyang. The world stood in shock, and the attack is often seen as the cause of Joseph Stalin's 7th December 1952 fatal heart attack. Car sales quickly fell, and makers lowered R&D expenses to almost zero.

Europe:

More midsize family cars were hitting the showroom floors, and smaller makers found themselves in trouble. Hotchkiss was bought by UAM and BMW went to Mercedes-Benz.

Citroen could have suffered the same fate, but 2CV and HY orders were coming in quickly. Seeing that, other brands also started working on their own economy cars and vans.

The French government, with Hotchkiss now being an US-owned maker, accelerated its work on a "light troop carrier". It was meant to be a Renault 4CV-based light amphibious vehicle, and its similarity to the Schwimmwagen led many to calling it "Le Schwimmwagenoix". It had a lot to do with Ferdinand Porsche working on it, following his late father's design work for Renault.

On the sports car front, Mercedes-Benz and Lancia joined the fight against the Alfetta. The new 320RS and Stelvio were seen as great performance cars, and the Stelvio was exceptionally good, thanks to being engineered by Lancia's new recruit, Enzo Ferrari.

Behind the Iron Curtain, the idea of a "car of the people" appeared in the form of the AWZ P70, a low-power, partially wooden, yet practical FWD minibus. The Western press even showed it as an example of a good car for so little money.

Of course, the atomic bombing of Pyongyang made things... somewhat worse on the economic front.

Asia:

After the Japanese government gave significant incentives for company mergers, they started quickly happening. In fact, by the end of the year, only Toyota, Nissan, Isuzu, Suzuki and Hino were left on the scene.

India started working on its "national car" program. It was meant to be conducted by Hindustan's factory, and the car design was strongly inspired by the new AWZ - and even the Pyongyang attack didn't stop them.

1953:

Global politics:

On 4th January, 1953,the USSR joined the Korean War by dropping a nuclear bomb on Seoul. This started the nuclear war stage of the conflict, with both sides using them.

However, both countries’ leaders knew what dropping a bomb on the rival’s territory would mean and kept the attacks to Korean soil. Nevertheless, further economic stagnation ensued.

What’s more, on 26th February, the Iranian prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, would nationalise the country’s oil, shaking the market. The US feared that for some time, but was too tied in Korea to stop him.

Egypt, Jordan and Syria dealt another blow to the oil market with a joint operation to capture the Suez Channel in March, making it harder to export oil. When it comes to producing the black stuff, May’s Arab power struggles after King Ibn Saud’s death did not help. The country went through a 7-month-long civil war, ending with the victory of his son Turki, the continuator of the dynasty.

This also let to the European NATO's near-downfall - the USSR threatened to cut oil supply to any NATO member. The only country to stay was Germany, supported by the US when it came to oil.

24th November brought the start of the peace movenent. A demonstration against the war and related draft in New York turned into a brawl with the police and an ostentatious burning of draft cards. Similar events happened in LA (7th December) and San Francisco (19th December).

Americas:

1953 had some of the worst sales for years, and model year 1954 had the worst opening in years. Still, new car designs were significantly different, in order to draw customers.

It also had compacts and subcompacts gaining even more ground, with Holden even outselling Chevy's debut (that said, Chevy's designs were rather old by the point). This made GM decide to start making Holdens in Van Nuys, and the Ford Taunus also got US manufacturing by the end of the year.

Chrysler's new compacts, the Plymouth Lancer (Chrysler in Australia) and Dodge Coronet, as well as the company's diesels, including a new I6 one, and the purchase of Borgward gave it a well-needed boost.

The compact commercial vehicle segment also shone, with Holden's Half-Ton Ute, Ford 's Transit and VW Transporter fighting for domination.

Nash's compacts were buying it some time, together with redesigned fullsizes.

Seeing that, GM and Ford started independently developing "senior compacts" - cars that would slot between compacts and fullsizes.

Also, imports were making huge inroads in the US. Not only were Holdens, Opels, Fords of Germany , Hotchkisses and Borgwards (though the first had "gone native") sold through Big Four dealers, VWs, Saabs, Morrises, DKWs, etc. were selling better than ever.

Despite the push for economy, a GM dealer from New Orleans, Mike Persia, fitted a Holden Deluxe coupe with Oldsmobile mechanical parts and widened wheelarches, as well as stripping the interior. The car was raced in NASCAR, and achieved great victories there, with Mr. Persia finally selling the design of the Holden TSC (Track Special Coupe) to GM.

In the same year, after the Brazilian president's appeal, Ford and Chrysler pledged to biild factories there, while GM decided to build one in Chile.

Europe:

As in America, the market had a slump, yet the cars were greatly restyled to attract customers to them.

Germany's decision to stay in NATO led to gasoline having to be rationed, which had a bad effect on the German luxury car market. While Mercedes-Benz and BMW survived, Borgward was bought by Chrysler and Ferdinand Porsche sold his company to work for Citroen.

VW, meanwhile, scored a hit with the diesel-optioned Type 3,a Beetle-based, contemporary-styled 4-door sedan.

Meanwhile, the center of luxury was moving to France, with the new Delahaye 400,boasting of a 4.0 V12 and Citroen-licensed hydropneumatic suspension, was launched. It was the fastest luxury car of the time.

Also, Bugatti built the Type 302, a 4.5 V12 mid-engined supercar - the world's fastest, reaching 270 km/h and winning the 1953 LeMans.

This overshadowed Jaguar's new, mid-engined XK170. What's worse, the Jag went through engine trouble during LeMans.

France also completed its new, Renault-based light military vehicle - an amphibious one. However, many experts deemed such things irrelevant in the era of the atomic bomb.

Competitors to the Citroën 2CV in the form of the Ford Brompton (UK) and Harz (Germany), small, yet 4-door FWD vehicles that sold quite well.

The Portugese government decided to start a "national car" program to lower the country's foreign dependence.

Poland also decided to work on such a thing, starting to test microcar prototypes.

Asia:

Japan's car industry kept on developing, with the new Toyota Crown, a contemporary-styled large sedan and rebodied Austin A70, seen as a reach beyond cheap kei cars. Still, the quality was what you could expect from an underdeveloped country.

The Japanese makers started looking towards expansion - Toyota began estabilishing an assembly in Taiwan, and Isuzu had sights set on the French Indochina.

Despite droughts weakening the economy, the Indian national car project kept on continuing.

1954:

Politics:

The Korean War continued, despite protests all across the US.

Its continuing was helped by the fact that many African-Americans enlisted, hoping to use it for societal ascent. The viewpoint was reinforced by the GI Bill being extended to all servicepeople.

While the US had the military upper hand, it was having funding problems, due to many politicians opposing further funding for it, sometimes for racially-charged reasons.

In Europe, the Suez Coalition (Egypt, Jordan, Syria) restarted the sale of oil in March, and a month later, Iran did the same thing.

Noticing their dependence on the Arab nations, European nations started diplomatic efforts to bring about the Euro-Arabian Oil Commonwealth, similar to the already existing one for coal and steel.

Also, France and South Vietnamese forces won the battle of Dien Bien Phu, stopping the Vietcong, and started preparing an offensive.

Americas:

1954 brought an end to the fuel crisis and saw a start to a scrappage scheme, meant to give the army more steel and help the car market, as well as the GI Bill extended to car buying and loans.

The biggest winners were compacts and subcompacts, cheap enough not to require a large investment besides the scrappage money. UAM, with its cheap Mexican manufacturing, and GM’s leasing benefited the most.

Sales were also boosted by all of the Big Four rolling out new, striking fullsize designs for all brands, from Chevrolet to Packard (unibody at Ford and UAM), new GM, Ford and UAM V8s, UAM’s torsion beam suspension, as well as Nash abandoning the segment to focus on compacts and imported Peugeot subcompacts.

That year is also seen as “the American performance car’s birthdate” - Packard rolled out the Talladega, a supercharged V8 supercar that debuted in the 1954 LeMans, and Holden started making the ASC with some roadworthiness changes.

Cadillac began the development of the Eldorado, a sporty 4-door sedan/convertible to fight the new Delahaye.

Opel was removed from the US market, and the Kadett and Olympia models were transferred to Holden, and added to their Australian offerings.

Seeing how the Deming process was kept at a lower cost by Mexican manufacturing at UAM, the rest of the Big Four started working on their own Mexican assemblies.

Europe:

The Citroen 13CV, a groundbreaking luxury car, was released. Not only it had hydropneumatic systems all around, it had striking fastback bodywork with an opening rear window and a drivetrain tuned by Ferdinand Porsche and Maserati brothers. It was meant to be a prelude for the upcoming 6CV, 9CV and 16CV.

At the same time, Delahaye began work on the 2500, a smaller luxury car and a 13CV rival.

The British government instituted an antitrust law, which stopped the planned merger of Morris and Austin. However, these companies made their own mergers - Morris with Lanchester and Daimler, and Austin with Rover. Austin-Rover began adopting the Deming system.

Still, their joint project, a 3-wheeled sub-Minor/A30 economy car, the Mini/A10, hit the market. Unfortunately for them, it was overshadowed by the Hillman Imp, an Alec Issigonis-designed FWD small car with surprisingly good handling.

Jaguar, following financial troubles, went bankrupt, which was a surprise for the performance car world.

Mercedes-Benz, with the new Delahaye, Packard and Bugatti on the market, as well as the Eldorado and 16CV in development, started working on the 400S and 400RS - “new standards in luxury”.

Meanwhile, BMW, their subsidiary, started making a licensed version of the new Fiat 500 - a decision that helped the company’s finances a lot. The Fiat itself also was a success in its native Italy.

The 1954 LeMans was the spot of fierce competition between the new Alfa Romeo Alfetta, Packard Talladega, Lancia Stelvio and Mercedes 320RS. However, the winner was unlikely - it was the Lotus 6, a lightweight mid-engined race car using tuned Jaguar XK120 mechanicals. After the race, Colin Chapman was approached with orders for a road-going version, and by the end of the year, there was one.

Behind the big companies was TVR with its 2000, built in a similar way with Bristol parts, yet not as refined. Still, TVR ended up in a similar situation, and by the end of the year, there was a production 2000.

Asia:

India’s new “national car”, the AWZ-derived Hindustan Premier, ended up being quite successful. Still, it did not motorize the largely-undeveloped country, as its cost was still relatively high.

Meanwhile, Japanese manufacturers Toyota and Nissan developed the Land Cruiser Series 30 and Nissan Patrol, two Land Rover-derived 4x4s. They were quite unrefined, yet successful in developing markets, thanks to the low prices.

1955:

Politics:

The war continued to draw ire, now on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Also, it was so damaging and costly that the participants wanted to end it.

In July, the American scrappage scheme ended and finally, on 27th October, the Tokyo Agreement between 5 leaders, Thomas Dewey, Lavrientiy Beria, Mao Zedong, Kim Il-Sung and Syngman Rhee ended the war and drew the border on the 37th parallel north.

By that time, the Franco-Vietnamese anti-Vietcong offense was already ongoing, with good results for the South.

Americas

Good car sales continued. While the end of scrappage slowed down cheap car sales, the rest of the market made up for that.

UAM showed some new things that changed the US car scene. The first was the '56 "Low Step" series of Studebaker pickup trucks, which used a less bulky frame design to give more space, also offering typical UAM quality, as well as good-value Mexican production. '56's UAM design also showed their new diesels, from Hotchkiss 4-bangers to Hudson/Kaiser V8s, which gave Mopars a run for their money.

Chrysler was falling into financial troubles, as they couldn't get enough sales during the scrappage scene, as Borgwards were relatively expensive, and their cars were showing reliability problems.

GM and Ford's new intermediate vehicles, the RWD Holden Superior (AU-only)/Chevrolet Chevelle/Pontiac LeMans/Oldsmobile 76/78/Buick Special and the FWD Ford Fairbank/Mercury Comet, were also hits, well-slotting between the compacts and fullsizes, offering both I6s and V8s.

Meanwhile, the Holden ASC got a more "civilian" version, the Sport Coupe, with an SBC 281 ci V8, and competitors for either - the Studebaker Sport Lark/Super Lark, with a normal Studebaker V8 and a 374 ci Packard one, respectively.

Also, GM began working on a cheaper, more mass-market alternative to the Packard Talladega, the Corvette, and Ford's Thunderbird was meant to be the same.

This year also had the first Japanese car stateside, the Toyotas: 200, Crown and Land Cruiser. However, all were derided for a lack of refinement, with very few sold in that only year of sales.

Europe:

Diesels kept gaining ground, with Borgward, BMW, Volvo, Peugeot, Citroen (Ami, 6CV, 9CV) and both Austin and Morris Group cars getting them. By then, not only fleet customers were getting such cars - they were getting more and more common on the average driveway.

In the UK, Austin-Rover and Morris were taking two different routes - AR began improving their quality, while also making the '56 designs appealing and introducing the Rover P5, while Morris risked large loans for making new car designs for Lanchester and Daimler, neglecting the 1956s. Rootes Group bought Standard-Triumph.

In Germany, the VW Type 3 was challenged by the new Opel Kadett. Meanwhile, both brands started working on sports csrs using these two's mechanicals.

Citroen revealed the 6CV and 9CV, looking much like the 13CV, but with less complex styling and mechanicals, while work on the 16CV and the range-topping GT continued, with the Porsche-Maserati team leading them.

In Italy, the new Fiat 600 had its premiere, attracting many 600 buyers. On the opposite end of the scale, the 2nd gen Lancia Stelvio surfaced, with a 4.7 V12. It was the fastest car in the world.

However, LeMans had another Lotus victory on the track, showing that the Six wasn't a one-hit wonder. Lotus was working on its own, non-Jaguar engine.

In Poland, the new microcar, Mikrus, debuted as a small 4-door sedan, and was directed to production. The USSR restarted its national car program after the war.

Asia

China resumed its national car program, as defense was no longer as prioritized, and a symbol of the Great Leap Forward was needed.

Meanwhile, in Japan, the economy was growing, and another company expanded - the Dutch colonies had a Hino factory set up, and Suzuki, now talking Citroen 2CV licensing, took its chances in post-nuclear-war Korea, or what was left of it in the south.

That is all for now. Hope you enjoy.

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ericfruits · 5 years

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Beleaguered unions seek members beyond the factory floor

JUDGING BY RECENT headlines, America’s unions appear stuck in time. Consider one of the biggest, the United Auto Workers (UAW). Its 400,000-odd members include nearly 150,000 who work at Detroit’s “big three” carmakers—GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler. The UAW’s boss, Gary Jones, was busy this week hammering out a four-year labour contract for them, starting at GM, before the current one expires on September 15th. If not, strikes loom.

Yet he is likely to feel distracted. Mr Jones has endured intense scrutiny since federal investigators in late August raided his home, those of former bosses and a union resort in Michigan. The feds have been busy exposing bribery at the UAW in a case that has rumbled on for years. So far nine union leaders have been charged and eight convicted for taking dodgy payments and gifts, including pairs of $1,000 shoes.

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Mr Jones has not been charged, but fellow bosses’ graft casts a poor light. If members lose trust in him, they might strike rather than take whatever deal he extracts from carmakers. That reputational hit could weaken union efforts elsewhere. The UAW and others long dreamed of organising workers at southern, foreign-owned “transplants” whose car factories are likelier than Detroit’s to grow. Scandal makes it harder to imagine winning them over. At the same time, overall union membership has been declining. Just 6% of private-sector employees are in unions, from a peak of 35% in 1954. Last year the Supreme Court reduced unions’ ability to take levies from public-sector workers.

Beyond recent headlines, however, the likes of the UAW have some reasons to cheer. As unions have weakened the public’s sympathy for them has grown. A Gallup poll on August 28th suggested 64% of Americans approve of unions, close to a 50-year high (see chart). Similarly a Pew study last year said 51% see less unionisation as “mostly bad” for working people.

This uptick probably has many causes. For one, workers are in a jauntier mood thanks to a tightening labour market, with rising wages, in the past few years. Harry Katz of Cornell University suggests unions are also helped by their “remarkable success” in promoting higher minimum wages in many states.

Politics may be shifting attitudes, too. Donald Trump won votes of 43% of union households in 2016, a historically high share that was only slightly behind Hillary Clinton’s 51%, poor for a Democrat. This year Democratic candidates—not just the leftiest ones—are falling over each other to praise unions and labour rights such as paid parental leave, sick days and holidays.

Among the public, youngsters look the most supportive, points out Steven Greenhouse, author of a book that traces unions’ changing fortunes. An earlier poll shows 65% of 18- to 34-year-olds approve of unions. He argues the young are spurred on by worries over income inequality and burdens of student debt. Mr Katz sees other drivers, such as the rise of informal “affinity groups”, when workers organise over a particular issue rather than pay bargaining. For example last November 20,000 Google staff walked out to protest against the way bosses handled charges of sexual harassment. Such groups, Mr Katz thinks, might stir interest in unions proper.

Industrial unions have also spent the past few decades hunting for professional members. Overall white-collar unionisation slid to 9.5% last year, down from 11% a decade before. But the decline has been less rapid than for blue-collar workers.

The UAW counts 109,000 white-collar members among its ranks. Staff at the Brooklyn Academy of Music belong to a UAW local, as do casino workers and civil servants in Michigan. Technical workers at the Guggenheim museum in Manhattan enrolled in a union this summer, the first time they have unionised. More journalists appear to be joining unions—the NewsGuild, representing print and digital workers, says it has 25,000 members in North America, a slight increase over the past few years. The United Steel Workers is trying to unionise tech staff, including the Pittsburgh branch of HCL, an Indian firm that supplies contractors to Google.

Bigger unions see potential in higher education. The UAW boasts of 50,000 academic members, mostly junior staff who may face precarious working conditions. Dan Parsons, president of a 6,000-strong UAW affiliate at the University of Washington, traces a “pretty rapid increase” in recent membership. His union recently signed up 900 post-doctoral staff.

Todd Wolfson, president of a union of 8,000 at Rutgers, says in the past year he has seen “more interest than for a decade” as adjuncts and graduate workers enrolled. Junior instructors feel exploited when asked to work 60-hour weeks for paltry pay, he says. As universities hire fewer tenured staff, they depend on such non-faculty, so “we are all just widgets, that’s why people are so attracted to unions.”

If the UAW and others sign up more white-collar workers while losing blue ones, will the clout of the unions change? Not for a while. Mr Katz points out that academic unions remain fragmented across the country. And as Marick Masters at Wayne State University notes, service workers have less bargaining power than carmakers who can threaten—as in Detroit this month—to close massive factories. Strikes by casino staff or graduate lecturers might not make the same impression. ■

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline "Highbrow organising"

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plusorminuscongress · 5 years

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New story in Politics from Time: Trump’s Threatened Tariffs on Mexico Are Already Wreaking Havoc With American Companies

The surprise announcement by President Donald Trump of an escalating tariff regime against Mexico sent ripples through almost every economic sector in the U.S., hammering American companies that sell automobiles or run railroads, grow vegetables or build power infrastructure.

Trump tweeted late Thursday that he is slapping a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports, effective June 10, and will raise those tariffs to 25%, “until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied.”

Whether it’s avocados on a taco or a new Chevrolet Blazer SUV in the driveway, if the tariffs go into effect, Americans could feel it.

The companies that produce such goods felt it immediately Friday.

Shares of General Motors Co., which imports more vehicles into the U.S. than any other automaker, slid 4% at the opening bell. European and Asian automakers ship cars across the border to the massive U.S. market as well. Fiat Chrysler and Nissan Motor Co. both tumbled more than 5%

“For GM, we roughly estimate that a 5% tariff could be a several-hundred-million dollar annual earnings hit,” said Itay Michaeli of Citi Investment Research.

That potential damage rippled outward to auto suppliers. American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. slid 4%.

All of the 11 sectors in the S&P 500 were getting hit Friday, save for utilities because there is no or little cross boarder traffic in that sector. Many investors trying to get out of the way off falling shares put money there, or in treasury bonds.

Companies in the consumer staples sector, sellers of food and groceries, were under significant pressure. Cysco Corp., Costco and Kroger, the nation’s biggest grocery chain, all slid.

Constellation Brands, an American company that sells Corona and a bunch of other Mexican beers, plunged 7 percent. Molson Coors, which also makes Miller High Life and Leinenkugel, fell as well.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., which advertises its food as the freshest, slipped 2 percent.

The companies that transport goods across the country, especially across the border were punished, too.

Kansas City Southern operates a commercial corridor of the Mexican railroad system and owns a track between Mexico City and Laredo, Texas. It gets almost half its revenue from Mexico each year. Its shares are plunged 7%. All major railroads fell, as did every major airline and tanker company.

“This is opening up a trade war in a new direction that had not been on the radar screen for most people, ” said David French, senior vice president of government relations at the National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group. “This could be very disruptive and costly.”

The most prominent mindset seemed to be bafflement, with industry groups again warning of price hikes for everyone.

“Threatening tariffs on Mexican imports while simultaneously seeking support in Congress for a trade deal aimed at keeping trade barriers low with Mexico is a confusing and counterproductive strategy,” said Hun Quach, vice president of international trade at The Retail Industry Leaders Association. “Whether the rhetorical target is Mexico or China, the bill is adding up for American consumers who will pay the price for these tariffs.”

Some of those groups sought to intervene, following others like Nike and Adidas earlier this month in the U.S. trade war with China, who warned an additional tariff of 25% will be “catastrophic.”

“We appeal to President Trump to reconsider plans to open a new trade dispute with Mexico,” said David Herring, president of the National Pork Producers Council and a pork producer from Lillington, North Carolina. “American pork producers cannot afford retaliatory tariffs from its largest export market, tariffs which Mexico will surely implement.”

Tyson Foods Inc., which sells pork and beef, slid.

Early Friday, it did not appear that Trump was prepared to back down with just over a week until the tariffs would go into effect on Mexico.

In a tweet one hour after U.S. markets opened and plunged, Trump tied the immigration issue to tariffs.

“In order not to pay Tariffs, if they start rising, companies will leave Mexico, which has taken 30% of our Auto Industry, and come back home to the USA,” Trump tweeted. “Mexico must take back their country from the drug lords and cartels. The Tariff is about stopping drugs as well as illegals!”

In order not to pay Tariffs, if they start rising, companies will leave Mexico, which has taken 30% of our Auto Industry, and come back home to the USA. Mexico must take back their country from the drug lords and cartels. The Tariff is about stopping drugs as well as illegals!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2019

By Associated Press on May 31, 2019 at 11:05AM

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