The Crisis in Neodymium Speaker Drivers

[johnnyrichards]

Pete, it is really easy to lay blame at the feet of people you have some ideological differences with, harder perhaps to assume your fair share of the blame.

If you can honestly say you have never funneled a dollar to China - then you are absolved.

Somehow, I doubt there are any of us here so concerned about China that we are boycotting their products in their entirety.

I doubt there are any of us concerned enough to actually do anything but pee and moan and point fingers.

Nope, we get on with our little rants about how evil they are and how crappy their living conditions are and all that, and then we go and drive our cars and use our computers and stop by the Walmart and buy our toothbrushes and plates and clothes and go home.

We are as responsible for that country as they are, and while it is cute and all to point at Obama to satisfy a little Obamarage - don't forget the flipside of the spectrum.

[Ryan]

+1 for diesel engines in more vehicles , yes it has its drawbacks diesels aren't as zippy as a comparable gasoline engines due to the mass of the moving parts and higher compression ratios , but it makes up for it in torque which is where it counts.
As for the 100 mpg "carburator" I'll call bull on that one , even with direct inject fuel injection technology , stop start , eco boost engines (which are really just smaller displacement turbo charged engines that produce the same power as a larger displacement engine) , better transmissions with more gears , better aerodynamics and weight reducing materials like high strength steel , aluminum and plastics a modern car doesn't get close to 100 mpg.
Current hybrids are not the answer , and electric cars are only as clean as the coal burning power plant down the block by the time you produce and dispose of them. But cars get a bad rap as one lawnmower produces more pollution than ten new cars , two stroke engines on boats and other recreation vehicles pollute far more than any car.
Natural gas and hydrogen have great potential for the future , but there needs to be infrastructure to support them.
For now I'll keep my four cylinder Toyota , (I like the way you think Mr. Schumacher).

[Pete Schumacher ®]

don't forget the flipside of the spectrum.

Right back at you Johnny.

[johnnyrichards]

Pete, I admit my culpability in both my rare voting habits (I rarely vote, it legitimizes a system generally considered broken and unworkable no matter which "party" is in charge), and my spending habits. I understand it, and as such I rarely complain about China and their looming presence.

Africa is being colonized by the Chinese, by the way.

[Pete Schumacher ®]

Pete, I admit my culpability in both my rare voting habits (I rarely vote, it legitimizes a system generally considered broken and unworkable no matter which "party" is in charge), and my spending habits. I understand it, and as such I rarely complain about China and their looming presence.

Africa is being colonized by the Chinese, by the way.

And our leadership is all "wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more."



Who is funding the largess in federal spending?

Our political leaders are far more interested in cheap Chinese political donations to fund our expansive social programs (vote buying schemes) than they're worried about the flood of slave labor produced goods undercutting the working men and women they lie about "protecting."

[Mark the Red]

Pete, it is really easy to lay blame at the feet of people you have some ideological differences with, harder perhaps to assume your fair share of the blame.

If you can honestly say you have never funneled a dollar to China - then you are absolved.

Somehow, I doubt there are any of us here so concerned about China that we are boycotting their products in their entirety.

I doubt there are any of us concerned enough to actually do anything but pee and moan and point fingers.

Nope, we get on with our little rants about how evil they are and how crappy their living conditions are and all that, and then we go and drive our cars and use our computers and stop by the Walmart and buy our toothbrushes and plates and clothes and go home.

We are as responsible for that country as they are, and while it is cute and all to point at Obama to satisfy a little Obamarage - don't forget the flipside of the spectrum.

I'm not saying we are better than them, but I am arguing the corollary. That they are NOT more enlightened and better than us.

And I take great exception to the claim that if I buy something made in China, I'm just as bad as the crony capitalists over there causing birth defects in Chinese babies.

China is awash with money and the technology to produce things just as clean as we can. Its just that they consider their peasants as disposable meat and not worth the trouble. There are plenty of companies that produce things in China without the disgusting side effects you see in that picture. I challenge you to read "Poorly made in China". I was forced to read it in college, but glad I did. You see the real problem over there is a unique combination of a cultural love of gambling and inherent cultural chauvinism. Amongst the elites, there is a "not-talked-about-at-Western-dinner-party's" rule that it is perfectly acceptable to cheat in business dealings with non-Chinese business partners.

A great example is Fisher Price. Now here's a western company who probably had the BEST reputation in Children's toys ever. They decided to ship production overseas to China to save costs. Yawn. But one of the factories over there, for no logical reason whatsoever, decided to save $0.001 per unit production costs by using lead based paint instead of what Fisher Price spec'd. The savings were infintesimally small and irrelevant to even the poorest of Chinese factory managers standards. But after all the dust settled, it turned out the guy loved to gamble and take risks. It was the "hey lets see if I get caught" mentality of ONE chinese factory manager that completely destroyed the reputation of Fisher Price. Now I 100% agree the net risk to children here was nothing and the media way over-hyped it, but I will still never buy another Fisher Price toy for my kids. Ever. To hell with them. My kids are not Mahjong tables or poker chips of Chinese businessmen who think its perfectly OK to rip off non-chinese people. Fisher Price should know better.

[dwigle]

We are as responsible for that country as they are,

Interesting that with liberals it always gets back to everything bad in the world is our fault! I've seen that michael moore movie too.

[johnnyrichards]

Interesting that with liberals it always gets back to everything bad in the world is our fault! I've seen that michael moore movie too.

Is the converse to this that with conservatives it is always someone else's fault? Please. I said we all share culpability, presumably that would include the Chinese but if you read that as "americans are only to blame for exploiting the poor, noble chinese" than that is your shortcoming, not mine.

[dwigle]

Is the converse to this that with conservatives it is always someone else's fault? Please. I said we all share culpability, presumably that would include the Chinese but if you read that as "americans are only to blame for exploiting the poor, noble chinese" than that is your shortcoming, not mine.

No it's exactly the opposite, conservatives believe in personal responsibility. Liberals line up to be victims, seek to be offended, then hire a personal injury attorney to seek justice.

[Pete Schumacher ®]

Is the converse to this that with conservatives it is always someone else's fault? Please. I said we all share culpability, presumably that would include the Chinese but if you read that as "americans are only to blame for exploiting the poor, noble chinese" than that is your shortcoming, not mine.

If you can show me that American companies importing goods from China instructed those polluters to pollute, I might agree with you Johnny, but those decisions to rape the land and their workers, is their decision alone.

That also is a trait of the political left . . . everyone is a victim of evil capitalist desires to turn a profit. No way could it possibly be the fault of those doing the polluting.

Sometimes, the blame actually lies with those who did the wrong, not the "community" at large.

[Mikers]

http://www.youtube.com/storyofstuffp...22/9GorqroigqM

[johnnyrichards]

No it's exactly the opposite, conservatives believe in personal responsibility. Liberals line up to be victims, seek to be offended, then hire a personal injury attorney to seek justice.

Belief and actions are very often at odds with one another. There is nothing about claiming conservative ideals that automatically creates a sense of personal responsibility in a human being. I understand the deep (false) dichotomy that america is in the grips of WRT left/right but come on... Let's be realistic here.

[johnnyrichards]

If you can show me that American companies importing goods from China instructed those polluters to pollute, I might agree with you Johnny, but those decisions to rape the land and their workers, is their decision alone.

That also is a trait of the political left . . . everyone is a victim of evil capitalist desires to turn a profit. No way could it possibly be the fault of those doing the polluting.

Sometimes, the blame actually lies with those who did the wrong, not the "community" at large.

It is also a trait of the political right to downplay environmentalism, unless it is China - then it seems to be an issue

[Pete Schumacher ®]

It is also a trait of the political right to downplay environmentalism, unless it is China - then it seems to be an issue

And it's a trait of the left to ignore the abuses of socialists world wide who are far more abusive of their own "environment", and instead pour their focus on "evil" western based corporations, proving that the environmental movement anymore is nothing but an empty shell for left wing political action against western society around the world.

[johnnyrichards]

And it's a trait of the left to ignore the abuses of socialists world wide who are far more abusive of their own "environment", and instead pour their focus on "evil" western based corporations, proving that the environmental movement anymore is nothing but an empty shell for left wing political action against western society around the world.

It is also a trait of the right to ignore the socialism in action in Northern Europe with their lovely wilderness areas, life expectancies that exceed our own... It is a trait of the political right to ignore the miserable living conditions of countries that force a non-secular government on their people. We can go back and forth all day on the inherent stupidities on both "sides", and the fury with which their adherents will defend those stupidities.

However, when a man is not willing to perform a little introspection on his own belief system, he is hardly qualified to comment on another's. It took me a long time to realize that little tidbit. For example, when presented with some compelling arguments years ago I shifted my opinions on gun control, gay marriage, environmentalism and a few other "issues". To unilaterally condemn 50% of the population of this country is unnecessarily belligerent - and is the easy way out.

The fact is, no one party is more responsible for anything. To believe so is to ignore about 200 years of american politics. To compound matters further, most of us in this country are now fueling our brains while watching deliberately decisive commentators on Fox or MSNBC. Most of the internet debates I have witnessed in the last ten years are people parroting what their television tells them to say. The term "ditto-head" comes to mind.

Like the "blame" thing. The american right wing finds it hard to put any blame on Bush for anything. The man assuredly deserves as much blame as our current president. Perhaps adhering to the concept of personal responsibility absolves them in their mind, who knows?

[Pete Schumacher ®]

Like the "blame" thing. The american right wing finds it hard to put any blame on Bush for anything. The man assuredly deserves as much blame as our current president. Perhaps adhering to the concept of personal responsibility absolves them in their mind, who knows?

You're talking with one conservative who doesn't take that stand, and it's obvious you don't listen to "ditto" who was a vociferous critic of the spending policies and political activity of Mr. Bush.

But, the current President is spending money at a rate 8 times the current revenue coming into the federal system. Sorry Johnny, but THAT is not the fault of the previous incompetent, it's totally the fault of the current one.

[johnnyrichards]

You're talking with one conservative who doesn't take that stand, and it's obvious you don't listen to "ditto" who was a vociferous critic of the spending policies and political activity of Mr. Bush.

But, the current President is spending money at a rate 8 times the current revenue coming into the federal system. Sorry Johnny, but THAT is not the fault of the previous incompetent, it's totally the fault of the current one.

You won't find me disagreeing, Pete. I am not aware of ever having publicly posted an endorsement of the president.

[czag]

Like the "blame" thing. The american right wing finds it hard to put any blame on Bush for anything. The man assuredly deserves as much blame as our current president. Perhaps adhering to the concept of personal responsibility absolves them in their mind, who knows?

That is just not true at all. Even here in Texas there are many on the right that are not at all happy with Bush. He was a progressive masquerading as a conservative.

Chris

[hasekisgod]

Im not picking sides, but I will say the right knew what they where doing after they controlled the hill from the mid 90's to 2006. the worse thing that happened was a right wing president added to it and from there it was down hill and look where we are now. The Fed in those years didnt help either with interest rates being so low for too long of a time.

Health care, was it the right time now probably not but we have to do something about it at some point or cost will be never in touch.

I will say obama had to spend money or if people think the economy is bad now man I would hate to see what it would be without the fed gov to step in. Most states would be bankrupt too

Social Security, If bush left his hands out of it and not take the money out for his games we would not be talking about it now. He just left an IOU.

Why wasnt the wars on the budget for the bush years? and why didnt he produce any jobs when he was in office? Clinton produced more jobs in under two years then bush did in 8.

Very sad time for us when we look back years from now.

I would not want to be in Obama's shoes and I think any other person that ran for president at the time would of had to do the same thing. I like the on the books wars and it should of always been on the books.

It is also a trait of the right to ignore the socialism in action in Northern Europe with their lovely wilderness areas, life expectancies that exceed our own... It is a trait of the political right to ignore the miserable living conditions of countries that force a non-secular government on their people. We can go back and forth all day on the inherent stupidities on both "sides", and the fury with which their adherents will defend those stupidities.

However, when a man is not willing to perform a little introspection on his own belief system, he is hardly qualified to comment on another's. It took me a long time to realize that little tidbit. For example, when presented with some compelling arguments years ago I shifted my opinions on gun control, gay marriage, environmentalism and a few other "issues". To unilaterally condemn 50% of the population of this country is unnecessarily belligerent - and is the easy way out.

The fact is, no one party is more responsible for anything. To believe so is to ignore about 200 years of american politics. To compound matters further, most of us in this country are now fueling our brains while watching deliberately decisive commentators on Fox or MSNBC. Most of the internet debates I have witnessed in the last ten years are people parroting what their television tells them to say. The term "ditto-head" comes to mind.

Like the "blame" thing. The american right wing finds it hard to put any blame on Bush for anything. The man assuredly deserves as much blame as our current president. Perhaps adhering to the concept of personal responsibility absolves them in their mind, who knows?

[MSaturn]

whoever added the "paranoid rightwing" tag is my hero.

also, everybody can the politics. it's ridiculously annoying.

China does things differently. OH NO. They do things just about how we did in the late 19th and early 20th century, when we were ramping up to become an indisputable superpower. Read some history before being so righteous.