Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Would Someone Please Turn Off The Wind-Machine?

The New York Times hits my sweet spot and gets bonus points from me this week for this:
On paper it seems unremarkable, but a mere spec sheet won’t divulge the essence of this car. Its 166-horsepower engine doesn’t make face-melting power, but it seems to have no flywheel whatsoever, and a blip of the throttle results in an instant, melodic zing that begs you to match revs on your next downshift. The shifter feels as though a team of engineers spent months working on its action, and a flick of the wrist rewards you with the rare feeling of metal engaging metal, a precision machine at work.
The chassis won’t generate blackout-inducing G-forces, yet note the steering wheel when you ease off in a corner: it stays almost where it is, having almost no self-centering tendency.
There’s no traction control, no stability control, no computers subtly undermining your throttle or steering inputs with their own second-guesses. It’s just you and the car, and it’s great gobs of fun.
The Miata is, and always has been, a meticulously engineered sports car for hard-core purists. But it gets used as a Corky Romano sight gag because it’s not macho in any way that our culture comprehends.
I certainly don’t agree with the NYT’s politics, but they have great insight into what makes the Miata work. All of what’s written above applies to the Miata I own and love… with the exception of 166 horsepower found in the current iteration of the car. Subtract 23 horses and you essentially have the Green Hornet, minus that spiffy power retractable hardtop (PRHT), among other (mostly minor) things.
That PRHT is sexy, I love the styling on the new car, and I sure wouldn’t turn down those additional horses. But everything on the Green Hornet works as it did when new and she has one huge advantage over the newer model: she’s been paid off for a little over five years now.
Life without a car payment is good, Gentle Reader.
―:☺:―
Also in today’s NYTQueenfish: A Cold War Tale. When the Cold War was really cold, or, submarine operations in the Arctic, a subject about which very little has been revealed, ever. Excerpt:
Atop the globe, the icy surface of the Arctic Ocean has remained relatively peaceful. But its depths have boiled with intrigue, no more so than in the cold war.
Although the superpowers planned to turn those depths into an inferno of exploding torpedoes and rising missiles, the brotherhood of submariners — the silent service, both Russian and American — has worked hard over the decades to keep the particulars of those plans hush-hush.
Now, a few secrets are spilling through a crack in the wall of silence, revealing some of the science and spying that went into the doomsday preparations.
A new book, “Unknown Waters,” recounts the 1970 voyage of a submarine, the Queenfish, on a pioneering dive beneath the ice pack to map the Siberian continental shelf. The United States did so as part of a clandestine effort to prepare for Arctic submarine operations and to win any military showdown with the Soviet Union.
In great secrecy, moving as quietly as possible below treacherous ice, the Queenfish, under the command of Captain Alfred S. McLaren, mapped thousands of miles of previously uncharted seabed in search of safe submarine routes. It often had to maneuver between shallow bottoms and ice keels extending down from the surface more than 100 feet, threatening the sub and the crew of 117 men with ruin.
Fascinating stuff, including an escape from a dead-end, wherein the Queenfish was surrounded by ice that threatened to entomb her and her crew.
You did know SN2 was in subs, right, Gentle Reader? There's a pic of him with his Dolphins prominently displayed here.
―:☺:―
Yet another day in the maelstrom here on The High Plains of New Mexico… steady winds of 26 mph, gusting to 33… and temps in the low to mid-50s. Shorter: Not a nice day outside.
We DO have indications of Spring, however. The trees that typically blossom early are doing so, and there’s even a lonely blossom or three on the ornamental cherry that stands a few feet from my door. There aren’t enough blossoms for photos yet, though. I’m not sure if I’ll take new and different cherry blossom pics this year. If I posted these today or tomorrow you probably wouldn’t know the difference now, would ya?

13 comments:

  1. Years ago, I remarked to Toby that I wanted a fifth-wheel so we could travel and see the sights. He said how, "How about we buy a Miata and stay in motels."

    I love that picture of SN2

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  2. 166 horses? I had no idea. I'll have to keep that in mind for when the time comes.

    Life without a car payment is good, Gentle Reader.

    Ouch. Twist the knife a little more, why don'cha.

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  3. I great car without car payments is a plus! I like your car. I have never driven one but it sure looks fun. When I learned how to drive the car of choice was a big long bed, crew cab one-ton Dodge. Now I occasionally drive a newer version of the Dodge. I call it the Beast. I have only driven a small car a hand full of times. Sad. And to make it worse I don't know how to drive a standard!

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  4. the Miata is pretty much loaded, including goodies like a Bose stereo and heated leather seats.

    That's enough to start me drooling! but hey, I'll take the one that's paid off any day too :)

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  5. Buck - SO glad to see that you are feeling on top of your game again!

    No car payments are indeed a thing of beauty.

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  6. Why is it that the ride seems so much sweeter as soon as it's paid off? Here's to no car payments.

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  7. Speaking for many others, I've had life with 'em and I've had life without 'em, and I too prefer not having 'em.

    Now here's where I rain on your parade: Men who know things about cars, including me, generally agree that my life without car payments probably came to a slow but inevitable end when the lady backed into ol' Bessie without looking. Which is exactly what happened to you around the same time, if memory serves. Der hood krinkling is connected to der radiator getting all twisty, is connected to der engine getting toasty, is connected to a zillion and one mechanics saying "nope, I looked real hard for radiator damage and didn't see any." Nine month later...kerblewy. And here comes a car payment.

    Evidence seems to indicate your mishap is concluding differently. I hope that remains the case.

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  8. I hate to put the jinx on myself, but... Yes, life without a car payment is a rush. I've had mine - a '98 Pontiac Grand Am - paid off for two years or so.

    (It was used when I bought it, so I wasn't paying payments for 10 years or anything. Got it in 2004. Cherry - under 25,000 original miles when I got it. Great car.)

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  9. Lou sez: ..."How about we buy a Miata and stay in motels."

    Strange, that... coz it's exactly how life was lived when the ex-GF and I went traveling then and the way it's done now. And I live in an RV. Go figure...

    Morgan sez: Ouch. Twist the knife a little more, why don'cha. and

    Evidence seems to indicate your mishap is concluding differently. I hope that remains the case.

    I sympathize, Morgan. The damage to the Green Hornet was all superficial, thank God. We're over three months removed from the incident and (knock, knock, knock) things are fine.

    Ashley sez: I have only driven a small car a hand full of times. Sad. And to make it worse I don't know how to drive a standard!

    The Miata is very small, and that might be its principal drawback for most people, especially here in the US of A where big is always better. Not knowing how to drive a standard is easily fixed, Ash. It doesn't take long to learn the basics, but it takes a lot of practice to get really good. I can't see myself owning another automatic ever again...

    Dawn: The Green Hornet has a Bose set-up and leather, albeit unheated, seats. Two more reasons to stay put, eh?

    Kris, Phlegmmy, and Jim: We're all agreed, then. I'll raise my coffee cup to NO car payments!

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  10. If the weather guessers are right (heh - I should know better than that), the Mustang's winter slumbers come to an end this weekend and we'll give it a shot, even with a splint on the ol' shifting arm ;)
    - SJS

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  11. SJS sez: f the weather guessers are right (heh - I should know better than that), the Mustang's winter slumbers come to an end this weekend and we'll give it a shot, even with a splint on the ol' shifting arm ;)

    I hope the WX Gods smile on ya, SJS. Not to rub it in or anything, but yesterday (or was it Tuesday?) was a top-down sort of day here. Today, not so much. It's that Ol' Debbil Wind and the persistent and accompanying dust...

    Your arm is healing well, I trust? I see you haven't updated us in a while on that front. It IS possible I missed an update, though... ;-)

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  12. Back to the hand doc this coming week for to see if we can be divested of the splint for good. Can't complain too much - better a splint than a cast, especially come shower time... Still, when a shifter and drop-top beckons, the fewer impediments, the better. As for the wind -- thought that's what leather jackets and ball caps were for? =:D
    -SJS

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  13. SJS sez: Can't complain too much - better a splint than a cast, especially come shower time...

    That's great to hear, SJS. I appreciate the update... and I hope you get rid of that splint before ragtop weather really gets going!

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