Long before I made the first prototype I knew that YouTube commenters included some of the worst people in the world. If someone doesn't like the tone, I won't say anything. If they say it's big and heavy, I'll show them stats comparing to a traditional rig with a mic. However, if they say that it's a stupid looking plastic harmonica, well, see my first remark above about YouTube commenters.
What's funny about the negative comments is that the review is better than any manufacturer could hope for. The guy talked about a couple of advantages that I hadn't even considered. The people at Seydel in Germany, who make the actual harmonica components that I use (they're the only company that makes steel harmonica reeds, which makes my entire concept possible), were pretty happy with the video.
One of the challenges in developing my gizmo is that harmonica players are traditional and a bit resistant to change. Many won't use pedals. Some will insist playing only Hohner Marine Bands with pear wood combs. They've spent sometimes decades working on technique with a microphone and I'm trying to sell them something that's not inexpensive. I've had to discern between resistance to change and genuine criticism. Jason Ricci is one of the best harmonica players ever and he told me that he "hated" the previous version, which I'd given to him as a birthday gift. I've since thanked him for being honest even if he never likes it. It's because of substantive criticism from some of the world's best players that I've gone through two complete redesigns and then refinements.
I. On 2024-12-09, our Erik made a couple of valuable comments[0,1] emphasizing Justin Trudeau's background as a drama teacher. I initially dismissed these due to actor Ronald Reagan's successful presidency[2]. Upon reflection, I maintain that the key to understanding JT's psyche and motivation is not his mere lack of experience, but his specific occupation of _drama teacher_.
As a drama expert in an English-speaking province, he would be familiar with Shakespeare. As a drama _teacher_, he would desire to direct a large-scale production. Observing the outcome of his leadership shows what play he believes he is directing. To wit:
"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
In a production of Raspail's _The Camp of the Saints_"
II. The openSUSE Linux distribution, after attacking conservatives and centrists, now has zero nominations for the current board election. [3]
III. The Biden/Harris administration is ~still~ at it! Alejandro N. Mayorkas and the DHS have ~made a few...Changes!~[4] to the beloved H-1B program to "enhance U.S. companies’ ability to fill job vacancies in critical fields, strengthening our economy"[5]; discussion[6]. Meanwhile, as of 2018, the average unemployment for Americans aged 25-29 with degrees in "computer and information sciences" was higher than almost any other major[7].
One of the changes is to EXPAND the number of entities which are allowed UNLIMITED H-1Bs[8]:
"Specifically, through this rulemaking, DHS is changing the definition of “nonprofit research organization” and “governmental research organization” by replacing the terms “primarily engaged” and “primary mission” with “fundamental activity” to permit nonprofit entities or governmental research organizations that conduct research as a fundamental activity, but are not primarily engaged in research or where research is not a primary mission, to meet the definition of a nonprofit research entity or governmental research organization for purposes of establishing exemption from the annual statutory limit on H-1B visas. Additionally, DHS is revising the regulations to recognize that certain beneficiaries may qualify for H-1B cap exemption when they are not directly employed by a qualifying organization, but still spend at least half of their time providing essential work that supports or advances a fundamental purpose, mission, objective, or function of the qualifying organization.
[2] Reagan was also president of his college's student body and led a strike resulting in the college president's resignation, Army Captain, and SAG president before running for governor.
Maybe give him a little lecture about bootstraps next, and about how he should start a drop shipping amazon business, or maybe get his real estate license!
a) From at least high school, I put a tremendous amount of work into, and have sacrificed health, romance, and the possibility of social connections (due to relocating, at my own expense, to an isolated factory town) for what I had reason to believe would "benefit me in career terms," only to see
b) It is not an "obsession:" it happened to be one of the top stories on Hacker News today, which is comparable to the FT or WSJ in my field.
c) It is not a "narrative," but a fact and the reality of my life (and that many other un/under-employed citizens): I have repeatedly provided evidence to support this, and many others have experienced it.
d) It is a matter of PUBLIC POLICY, that can and should be changed, in the same way that "Jim Crow" laws were once normal and are now illegal, and in the same way that ILLEGAL immigration was once broadly supported by BOTH parties before a billionaire moved the Overton Window. Why are you so intent on stifling discussion and awareness of this issue?
A) That’s table stakes. This very morning, I volunteered to relocate (to an open-ended, unknown destination) for a project I’m working on.
B) & C) If these hard-working immigrants are so hapless, why can’t you outcompete them?
D) I think you (specifically YOU) would be well-served and happier if you focused your energies in a productive direction rather than whining about misfortune, perceived or otherwise.
a) was not ONLY about relocation (and no, a healthy economy should require educated and skilled individuals to move far away from family and the opportunity for a life worth living just to get a job): it was also about spending years working very hard to acquire tangible skills.
b&c was because you accused me of having an "obsession" with a "narrative." Lately MAJOR stories have been dropping almost every day in major publications like Bloomberg, and, as I already explained, are widely shared on industry news sites.
Were you not aware of the Fed's rate cuts? Would you not be interested if tomorrow's WSJ announces:
"DOJ, 37 STATES INDICT ONLYFANS - AG's Say 'Teledildonics' Violate Prostitution Laws; DOJ Agrees, Invokes Mann Act"
For me, and about half the readership here, changing visa requirements are equally salient.
Regarding the "outcompete," if you had read any of the links I've posted in the last week or so, you would see that "outcompete" has nothing to do with it: ethnic gangs now control a significant share of the labor market: they would actually save a lot of time if they just put "Telegu Only" in the job postings.
And even in the highly unlikely case that they would somehow hire a non-Telegu or non-Gudjarati or whatever they are, the jobs now pay so poorly that it would be difficult to survive without sharing a flophouse with 5 other Telegus / Gudjaratis, which obviously isn't going to happen.
I took a class in neural networks many years ago, but have never used any form of generative AI. To the extent that it works, it definitely cheapens my talents and the skills that I have worked hard over the years to develop.
If present trends continue we are heading for some sort of mass culling of the population (over and above the opioid epidemic). Canada seems to be addressing this with "MAiD."
You should spend 6 months in Brampton, or better yet, actual India, before trying to invoke some sort of woke "-ist" slur. Most people these days are against mass population replacement, even in Canada and Sweden.
Opposition to handing over important sectors of the labor market to ethnic gangs of indentured servants is not "anti-competitive." Most white-collar workers already compete with offshore labor in very low cost areas.
TIG is for show, stick is for the dough. Stick weld during the day in the oil fields freezing your ass off, and tig up pretty shit for the tuner bros at night, if you're lucky you'll be able to transition full time into fabricator bro with a reality TV show and everything.
I did not know, but I am hardly surprised. Currently he is allegedly banging his minister of foreign affairs (she’s a piece of work, btw, gorgeous but completely out of her depth on the foreign stage and looks like a deer in the headlights most of the time).
He’s also been captured on camera in blackface more than once, so you would have to wonder how often he does this. Maybe the foreign minister and Justin like to cosplay Ike and Tina….
The only one who is even remotely competent is Anita Anand, and he’s been sure to shuffle her off into some invisible ministry where she doesn’t pose a threat to him for the leadership of the party.
I lose my temper every time I hear Freeland say something on TV. She’s a sycophantic bobble head completely out of touch with reality.
Her Monday morning resignation was a preemptive strike. She jumped before she was pushed, and now she has grand delusions about the leadership of the party. Good luck with that.
It is time for some serious changes in the Great White North.
Regardless of anyone's stance on labor law, or even who you voted for, the idea that a lame duck administration would do anything other than keep the lights on and prepare for the transition is ridiculous.
The country told Biden/Harris to GTFO, yet they are spending their last days in office enacting policies at odds with the will of the voters. Trump is sure to reverse everything he can - what's the point?
Trump is clearly against _illegal_ immigration, but he has made some EXTREMELY concerning statements about so-called "skilled" immigration. Almost as though he is planning to adopt the Canadian plan.
I'm hoping Honda is the pale horse to Nissan and not the other way round. Reminds me of Packard buying Studebaker. Packard did not accurately measure just how bad a shape Stude was in, and it was the final of many nails in their coffin.
It's probably not THAT bad for either Honda or Nissan though, and maybe I'm overreacting.
Oh Honda absolutely is stronger, I'd just hate for things to sideways for them due to some BS with Nissan. They're probably a lot smarter than Packard was in 1956, though.
Maybe if it brings Honda back to reliability, along with a little fun back into the main lineup, e.g., an actual power upgrade available once again in the premium mainline sedan product, i.e., Accord.
If Honda is the Boeing to Nissan’s McDonnell-Douglas, they’re truly fucked!
You've already made my point. This is the first thing that I thought about when I heard that Honda was considering merging with the car company that can have you locked up for managing it too effectively. Boeing used to be a respected aircraft manufacturer, but they tried to absorb a company of people who knew how to fight for their fiefdoms and nothing else. It reminds me of my time at Wachovia.
In a way Honda could be the white knight like Jack describes- use Honda cars, keep Nissan trucks, put the EV stuff out as Nissan, and away we go. However mergers/tie-ups never seem to happen so cleanly without a big leader/personality at the helm.
The auto industry is crying out for some leadership like we had in the last generation, but it seems like they won't get it. Hopefully we're surprised in the next 18-24 months as the Trump admin adjust standards.
I’ve said this in a couple other place but it’s funny so I’m going to repeat it: I know nothing about this merger other than that a Honda-Nissan merger will create the worst non-manual transmissions this world has ever seen.
Got a text and email from Casio pushing the Dw-5000r that Jack wrote about, pushed the buy now button, was directed to the notify me when it’s back in stock, I opened the email when casio sent it…. What a tease…😂
super glad the harmonicaster is getting more eyes on as ronnie deserves the success without question
"“DEAR GOD - THANK YOU FOR NOT MAKING ME ATTRACTED TO FEET.”"
just another reason as to why i think that ones own sexual fetish is determined at a very young age and not something that corrupts you over time into something far more depraved
either you want random belizian women to shit in your mouth or you dont theres no real pathway to that
"“Fuck Off And Don’t Come Back Here Again, Because The Site Is Closed (No Refunds).”"
what did we do to deserve such hate
the gw5000-1 is the closest ive ever been to wanting a g-shock
I would strongly disagree about the fetish stuff: we have abundant evidence of life pre/post ubiquitous porn and pre/post Reddit grooming brigades, and most of us know the difference. I had zero (although there's one I suspect) homosexuals in my middle school class, and I know a parent in a rural small town who says EVERY BOY in his daughter's class claims to be LGBT.
i think youre right with regards to heavy influence from external sources shaping an individual but i was referring more to a self led discovery if you wanted to call it that
That's because society hates straight white males. Everything is geared against them. All of the pop culture hates them. The schools hate them. Go check out the art sites that people post art to, and think about what those sites were posting 20, 30 years ago.
So it's not that the kids are actually the word salad, it's just that if they don't claim to be, they'll be destroyed.
I did my kids the favor of banging their Japanese mom. Now my boys can fall back on "I'm Asian!" instead of "I'm gay/bi!" It doesn't seem to be a problem in our district on the edge of the wilderness, though.
Aside from speculation about the meaning behind the drones, does anyone here have any first- / second- / or even trusted third-hand observations of the purported drones? In other words, "IIII wanna know, have you evah seeen the drones?"
I have some first and second hand reports being originally from New Jersey. We have family friends in Monmouth County near Sandy Hook and Naval Weapons Station Earle where they've seen some hovering lights of a "drone" over the bay close to the pier for Earle. The thought there seems to lean towards US Navy testing as you usually don't see anything that close to the pier...
Also seen some lights myself with my parents at their house in Bergen County, but we have enough flight paths crossing over us and nearby that it could be anything.
For a second, I thought there was a drone over Dearborn early this morning. Then I realized that it was just the local traffic copter. Being up for 30+ hours can mess with one’s head.
I think it's safest to only trust the very earliest reports. At this point, people who are looking at the sky and reporting anything they don't recognize...and since apparently a large %age of our population has never routinely looked at the sky before, they don't recognize anything at all.
I got to view (via a chain of people) my nephew's friend's video, in which he reports that "it sounds like an airplane!" and damn if it doesn't look like one too. Occam's Razor suggests that a thing in the sky that sounds like an airplane and looks like one is....
And our unreasonably credulous news media is unhelpful here, illustrating one story I read about "unidentified lights" with a picture of a winged craft with FAA-required red and green wing lights, tail light, and underbody strobe that's lighting up the craft well enough that someone with better aircraft ID knowledge than me could tell whether it was a 737 or an A-300.
Congrats to Ronnie! I have no clue how to properly play a harmonica, but that's an awesome design.
As someone who's in the ProAV and now live events/streaming space (which has a lot of overlap with the NAMM crowd), I'll say your description of the customer base is spot on - "a niche market, as well as one that tends to be overfilled with difficult and/or opinionated people". Word of mouth is definitely what sells, so I'm glad to see the Harmonicaster getting buzz.
At the risk of revealing things I know that I should not be revealing:
Your last point about Honda wanting to protect a Japanese company is 110 percent of the reason for this merger.
There is a real desire among the Japanese OEMs to eliminate the Gaijin from the business. Renault’s ownership stake of Nissan is already incredibly distasteful to them, and there is discussion amongst the Japanese companies and government to reduce the Japanese auto business down to two manufacturers—Toyota and Honda. Toyota will keep Mazda and Subaru afloat and Honda will do the same for Nissan.
That makes total sense knowing the Japanese. However kind of sad to see Infiniti would take the fall as they've typically had better product than Acura, but I guess that's shifted as SUVs took over.
The Q50 is genuinely insulting. Do you know how many generations of the Q50 there have been? ONE.
The QX80 is too little too late at this point. And who is spending $110,000 on a marque that is widely considered to be the “luxury brand for credit criminals.”
INFINITI dealers are averaging 24 new cars per location per month. They lose an average of 6k per copy. I was at their western region offices last month and it was just depressing. Everybody who can be laid off has been laid off.
I guess my view on Infiniti is stuck in 2015. I haven't driven anything since then, but always liked friends G's I'd drive in college and after. The M45's were quite impressive for their time too.
The QX80 we sat in was quite nice 2 years ago when we were shopping, but not enough to tempt us to go with it over the Expedition. Thinking about it, the brand was a part of it there. We do see a bunch in Nashville, but that's probably due to it being filled with Nissan folks.
It sounds like the end is near then, or Bomnin needs to buy the Miami store so that we can see Q50's everywhere just like the Alfas...
The problem is you get all the expenses with not enough sales to pay them which is why for the first time Nissan is now allowing Infiniti dealers to consolidate with Nissan stores.
I don’t mean to “one up” you, but this did remind me of a fascinating conversation I had earlier today:
I have a friend who is a minority owner in a Ferrari dealership group. He also owns 7-8 Ferraris, has 4 on order, races in Ferrari Challenge, has a meaningful position in RACE, etc. He did all of this over the past decade or so to get what ended up being the F80 … which he has zero interest in. He is instead eagerly awaiting delivery of his GMA T.33 spider.
Anyway. He wants to get OUT of the dealership investment, and apparently the terms are rather compelling. I would’ve thought being a Ferrari dealer would get you plenty of privileges, but according to a man who would know, it gets you NOTHING in terms of VS and up allocations.
Just an amusing (and borderline surreal) little anecdote.
He also has a matching pair of purple (‘Viola Hong Kong’) Ferraris incoming that he’d like to dump since he’s “graduating” from Ferrari - a Purosangue* and a Roma Spider - and he seems to think that I would know many people who might want to buy these cars … sadly I don’t! Everyone in Atlanta has a Rolls Royce Cullinan already!
*You should love the Purosangue. It’s all about pure blooded, thoroughbred nativism. If Doug’s parents will co-sign for you on the loan (my buddy wants $200K over list so about $800K out the door w/ taxes paid), I’ll hire Tracy Chapman to perform a Cameo video for you in which she subtly alters the lyrics to ‘Fast Car.’
If I, in any way, mis-state or mis-speak, please let me know. I welcome constructive criticism.
Not to brag, but to put in context; in my senior year in high school, in juried statewide competitions, I was adjudged to be one of the Top Six Non-Native Speakers of French in Rhode Island.
I was accepted Early Decision at Brown University to study French Literary Criticism. Halfway through my first semester, I changed my Concentration to American Civilization. Because Deconstructionism was a total Crock.
I obsessively read everything I could about Vietnam... because I did not want to end up there. I even started learning Russian (French is claimed to be the best Gateway Language to Russian), to make myself too valuable to ship off to the rice paddies.
Of course, one cannot understand the Indochinese Wars, without understanding French Politics, post WWII.
My favorite Political-Science Question-and-Answer Joke goes like this:
Q.: What is the difference between Perception and Reality?
A.: Reality, you can change.
So, please remember (i) that whatever I write will be a blend of reality and perception; and (ii) I am going by memory, going 40 or 50 years back.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Post-WWII, those who would wish to govern France, had to "thread the needle" among:
* Punishing Collaborators with the Nazis--real or imagined
*Punishing Nazis, when they could: E.g., Inviting Herr Porsche to a car show in France, so they can arrest him for alleged War Crimes (that's a book that should be written--in English)
*Keeping the Americans Happy, by not going 100% Communist
The totally IMHO tragic sad ironic result of all that is, that the car company Renault, perhaps because its workforce was PERCEIVED to be a Hotbed of Communism, was Nationalized as soon as de Gaulle took power:
"On 1 January 1945, by de Gaulle's decree, the company was posthumously expropriated from Louis Renault. On 16 January 1945, it was formally nationalized as Régie Nationale des Usines Renault. Renault's were the only factories permanently expropriated by the French government." WIKI
The Unintended Consequence that makes me want to cry is, because Renault suddenly was being run by French Government Employees: IT COULD NOT FAIL!!!
Whereas Peugeot, an equally long-standing and respected family car company, had to compete in the open market with a government-funded (LAZY) competitor.
IMHO, Renault marrying Nissan was a case of two psychotics agreeing to swap STDs.
I am writing as a carbon-based Life Form who owned and drove five Peugeot 505s (one was a hot STI (Gas) Intercooler Turbo!); and I owned one Citroen DS 21 Pallas, long wheelbase deluxe interior, one step below the one that de Gaulle almost got assassinated in.
BTW, French is a language where so many words or phrases are Homonyms.
So, in rapid conversation, there is no sonic way to distinguish "de Gaulle" from "Two Fishing Poles." You have to discern by context.
Peugeot made tanks for the Nazis... but their workers were not rabid Communists, so...
Peugeot could remain in private hands, where they would learn to make some money in the Post-WWII world, BY MAKING A BETTER CAR!
So ironical,
jean/john
(My Catholic Name Day Saint was St.-Jean le Baptiste de la Salle. As I get older, I try to identify with him more. His mother was related to the Moet Champagne family. But St. Jean squandered all his inherited money feeding and teaching poor children. He died of exhaustion and malnutrition. Brian Eno and I share him as our Name Day Saint. Please pray for us both.)
I was thinking that it was interesting how many more Japanese OEMs remain than American. But only two, with Mazda and Subaru being part of Toyota, portends a bland future (thankfully I have no history or planned involvement with Mazda or Subaru).
Mitsubishi is a frickin' HUGE company with banks, trading companies, insurance companies, appliance companies, petroleum interests, etc. It is Japan's biggest company and you can't go anywhere there without seeing the three diamonds somewhere along the way. We had Mitsubishi shit in our apartments (the air conditioner units, I think) and their commercials, particularly the life insurance and bank ones, are aired every break. If you wanted, you could live your life in Japan exclusively using Mitsubishi products, living in a Mitsubishi house, protected by Mitsubishi insurance with your money in a Mitsubishi bank while shopping at a grocery store owned by Mitsubishi...
Mitsubishi could be an offroady brand, leveraging their rally heritage to take on Subaru? Not sure what else they could bring to the table in our local market. I understand they are still a prominent player in SE Asia.
I drove by the local Infinity dealer last week and noticed they didn't have a single Infinity out front on the road. It was all used Raptors, TRXs and other Hemi/SRT vehicles. It is a shame, they used to make some great cars, and some of their new cross overs look good, until you go and read the spec sheet on them.
I don’t think this point is anything new or secretive. The Japanese government is the one pushing these two towards the altar. Industrial policy and nationalism are powerful things.
The Doug thing really comes down to perceived privilege and nuance (I texted with him about this topic last night):
He was certainly privileged in some ways, but not necessarily in others.
-Grew up in suburban Denver, a world away from sponsor-backed exits
-Went to Emory undergrad and graduated debt free; his older brother had earned an undergraduate scholarship which, according to the telling, afforded his parents the ability to pay Doug’s way in full to Emory
-Doug went to work for PCNA out of school; anyone who knows anything about PCNA knows that (1) the pay is poor, (2) most of the people they hire are unremarkable (they don’t recruit at good schools), and (3) very little value is created at PCNA: they don’t engineer or market or sell the cars, they merely import them from PAG and sell them to dealers and then provide after sales support (and PR, of course!)
-I knew him before he got the 360, and I recall from that time that his parents did co-sign the loan; obviously they were never had to come out of pocket and bail him out from the car.
-He was an early YouTuber and was fortunate to be in the space before it got crowded.
-Then - unlike most (any?) other prominent car YouTubers - he was smart enough to build an ancillary business, which is the only online auction site with any real viability beyond BaT; how many others have exited?
-And the exit: He got Peter Chernin (smart money) to write him a big, fat check!
Edit: In summary, he’s a (very) smart guy from a middle class and middle income background who went out of his way to say he was very fortunate / lucky (he belabored this point, in fact) in the now-deleted video. It went over the heads of the peanut gallery, which is no surprise.
I agree with you that Doug deserves credit for using the circumstances he found himself in to build quite a successful venture as a YouTuber and then turn that into a business and exit with C&B. In a way we all step into life with certain advantages and challenges, and Doug seems to have maximized his to get where he wanted, so you have to give him credit.
Poking Jack a bit, his criticism can sometimes come across as a bit of jealousy, but I think in a way both he and Doug have been equally successful on their own terms. I do sympathize with Jack though, if I had a $20million exit, there's no way I'd be anywhere public on social media. Though in a way, if you've made your life a certain character as a business, it's much harder to extract yourself as I would imagine it becomes more of your identity.
Unfortunately for us all, today's society also seems to be holding up "influencers" as the new ones to listen to, as the self promoting, loud voices seem to carry the day in terms of promotions and success in most B2C industries. I'm just here hoping it's a bubble, but Doug sure is emblematic of it.
I'm openly envious of anyone who has $20 million dollars, no mystery there. But i would rather wake up tomorrow as a quadriplegic version of myself than wake up as Doug. He's as soft as butter and twice as rancid.
Thats the problem with life: you can't have just one part of it. You can't pick and choose. You can't be a weird spergy cuck for 30 years then magically turn into Steve McQueen when you sell the rest of the business and retire. You can't be a banker your whole life and turn into a biker at 65. You can't avoid having a family and a real life until you're 45 then have a son who sees you as anything other than a rusty ATM.
I don't know if I'm griping about him. He hasn't done me any harm, doesn't owe me any money. This whole "rich parents video" falls into the same category as the Hearst MT acquisition or the death of Jean Lindamood or any other wacky industry baseball.
Since you're an engineer and value precision, let's reframe this correctly as "envy".
"Jealousy" would imply that I think he can take something I have, which is obviously false.
We'll do better as a society when we can rid ourselves of the notion that legitimate and contextual criticism and/or discussion is rooted in envy by default. This notion, which is rooted in the very poor soil of low culture, is used by idiots to deflect anything but the most fawning of opinions.
I can think that Fall Out Boy is a loathsome band; it doesn't mean that I secretly want to play "Sugar, It's Going Down" to an audience of Millennial wine moms a hundred times a year. I can think that Barack Obama was a tool of corporate interests; that doesn't mean I want to wake up next to Michelle Obama and take calls from Chuck Schumer.
I'm fucked, with fifteen years into the marriage and kids but about to turn sixty. Fortunately I long ago learned to worry more what I think about others than what they think of me. Junior's going to have to make a good case before the vault door will open.
If Junior doesn't make a good case, that's more a reflection of you and your parenting I feel like.
This mentality that we should shun wealth or helping our offspring should die. We screw ourselves over by not transferring wealth and knowledge. Now that doesn't mean we should remove all hardship or make a bunch of brats. But, it does mean we SHOULD know that by the time their old enough to be opening that vault, we've raised upright children of God that will use resources for good and for their own families... not just starting a youtube channel.
Sherman, I often hear what you say is middle class and I have to disagree. There is as much of a chance his parents were middle class as Kamala Harris grew up in a household as one.
I don't mean that as a personal attack, but I think you often have a very, very skewed notion of where the middle actually is... especially post Covid inflation.
His background was both middle income and middle class:
-Small legal practice (law doesn’t pay terribly well)
-Suburbs (and I have seen pictures of the house - modest ranch)
-Public high school
-Emory undergrad (his parents paid his way since his brother had earned a scholarship to college)
-Started his career at PCNA making ~$48K / year
To put it another way: I (probably) grew up with mor ‘privilege’ (not just financial) than he did overall, and I had a middle class / middle income upbringing.
There is a broad swath of middle between the lower and upper bounds of middle class. Which breeds a vastly different perspective depending on where on that spectrum one falls.
Based on how you describe his upbringing, and my own experience, Doug sounds like he had an average upbringing amongst college educated Millennials.
Per the power of Google AI Overview 38% of the total population of Millennials are college educated. I've found that college educated Millennials are the most out of touch with the reality of the rest of the average Americans life experience. Especially amongst the home owning, TrendUV driving set. I include myself, at times, in that group.
And I do believe his father practiced insurance law, which is the worst kind in terms of ROI. If you’re doing say, oil & gas M&A, you can bill $1500 an hour and make very good money even if, as you and I have discussed, it’s still trading time for money (I am thinking of my former boss at an internship, who billed at that rate yet primarily drove a 2004 4Runner to his 5M Eastern Shore MD home). But insurance companies are the cheapest clients; they like to cut rates, whittle bills down as cheap as possible, and it’s still hours and documents intensive. So unlike my former boss, you’re probably working almost as much in total hours but at $250-$350 an hour and your hours get cut on the final bill if you want to keep the insurance client.
It seems like Doug’s parents gave him some leash but he didn’t need them to use the shock collar. The moneyed people I know seem to do the same.
Take advantage of the additional opportunities that wealth provides but be wise in your decisions. That method builds legacy money. I won’t cast any stones with that way of life.
He had tons of advantages I did not have, but I can still recognize the hours and the foresight it took to get where he is now. If he was dumb, he would've simply wasted all the opportunities and advantages given to him as so many other upper-middle class kids have done and will continue to do.
On his latest Smoking Tire appearance, Doug alluded to how there is a level of wealthy socialite he has no desire to know and/or hang out with. I wouldn't call myself a "fan" of Doug or his content, but I would have a beer or whatever with him.
I think this is the right take. Maybe because I had a similar upbringing through college, I can easily see how Doug is a success story in business. He was more fortunate than most, that his parents could "invest" in his business idea but it's taken off spectacularly, so good on him for grinding to make it happen. He's grown his own business, and I'm sure "repaid" his parents investment too. It may be a different business than many of us would choose, but is this really that different than the guy who goes in with his father to start a landscaping business, just on a larger scale?
I will agree with Doug though. There's definitely a tier of wealthy social types that I have no desire to interact with, and it's usually tied to those who've never been involved in a business of any kind, in any way. In some way's I'd think Matt Farah is closer to that, than Doug, so it can be weird sometimes how Doug creates more controversy around his personality.
Matt embodies the remark about wanting to be liked by other men he doesn’t know to a far greater extent than Doug … or - frankly - almost anyone else I can think of!
But Jack has a soft spot for Matt and dislikes Doug.
Roger Farah is almost certainly worth north of $500MM and Matt whines about rich people because he’s insecure with who he is and the advantages he has enjoyed.
I agree 100%. Hasn't anyone been paying attention to Matt Farah's trajectory? By the time he was about 25, he had owned probably about 10 cars (including a Fox-body Mustang, a Legacy GT, an Expedition, an S4, a Hummer H1, a Mini Cooper, and a C5 Corvette), lived in a house on the boardwalk on Venice Beach (owned by his father), and then bought/leased even more cars.
A few years ago, things really got interesting. He bought a Countach (among other cars) and spent quite a bit of money on repairs/upgrades on other cars (engine rebuild on safari 911) while simultaneously purchasing commercial land and building his collector car storage facility (which took years and went way, way over budget). Let's not forget his growing watch collection. Then he bought a house with his wife soon after they got married. Then he purchased another piece of land and built another car storage facility, all the while continuing to buy cars (E46 M3, Ferrari 328, NSX, Bentley Turbo R).
So, what kind of money does it take to do all these things? I'm sure quite a few people thought it was all made possible by YouTube money. Family money is the answer.
One of my best friends has never really done anything, and he rarely pretends to do (or have done) anything other than luxuriate in the considerable shadow his (adoptive) father casts.
Edit: What Matt does when he fully inherits the pot of gold will be interesting. I KNOW what my buddy will do!
I agree that there's nothing wrong with it, but while he portrays himself as privileged, he then mentions those who have come from even more money. I guess this is just human nature at play, but it comes off as disingenuous.
You could have made $300k+ per year for the last decade or more and still not be able to afford that kind of lifestyle.
That's true. I did so because that's how he makes it sound ("I had to pay extra for irrigation on the roof," "I had to pay to repave the entire alleyway," etc.). He never leveled with us and said that none of this would have been possible without his father's financial help. He's always made it sound like he had an idea and made it happen on his own.
Despite how Jack portrays him, Doug has never struck me as someone focused on cosplaying as some sort of inherited wealth elite; there is ample evidence in favor of my argument and virtually none in favor of Jack’s:
-Doug makes a living in public, playing a caricature of himself (if I did not know him personally, I wouldn’t like him either; I do not watch his content, in general); making money on YouTube or as a content creator is distasteful in the eyes of many Nantucket / Old Money types.
-Doug doesn’t drink, doesn’t party, and dresses poorly - those sorts of appearances are unimportant to him.
-Doug spends his money on expensive, indulgent cars including what is widely perceived as one of the most crass, obnoxious vehicles ever conceived: a Lamborghini Countach (cf. Wolf of Wall Street); an interest in cars is seen as hopelessly infra dig by true Old Money, worse still a Countach of ALL cars!
-Doug literally made a video about how he did NOT grow up rich! If he wanted to “pass” as Old Money, wouldn’t he want to keep that a secret?
I always find it funny how people think that you can "pass" as Old Money. I guess I've had too much proximity to it, both American and my Cuban version of it to know better.
It's more adapt and assimilate the next generation in my mind.
You just have to watch a few Old Money TikToks and buy some affordable basics from Suit Supply* to complement your Quiet Luxury Loro Piana baseball cap you scored on sale from Mr. Porter and soon enough you’ll be invited to fly around on a Gulfstream while the theme song from Succession plays in the background.
*Other Old Money aEsThEtIc brands include: Polo RL from the outlet mall and, obviously, these shoes!
i wasnt sure if it was going to be old money enough but then i saw that it was sold by old money dot com which is clearly where people with old money shop and i was sold
I think one could make an argument that the most embarrassing place to be photographed (or, better said, a venue from which one might share a photograph of oneself) is the interior of a PJ.
People who are about that life rarely, if ever, post it.
You mean my old Wagoneer doesn’t paint me as old money??
The more someone tells you what old money is and does, the less they know about it. -Guy who grew up in CT spending huge chunks of his time in Stonington Borough, Watch Hill, and on Fisher’s Island.
I don’t care for DDM and his circus act, but I think he showed really poor judgement releasing that video. It’s even worse because he is in the public persona business, yet he still didn’t realize that it was a dumb thing to do?
Has he not heard of “Never complain, never explain”?
He’s already cashed out and the second bite at the apple may be at such an unappealing valuation (is Cars & Bids worth the valuation Chernin paid? Almost certainly not) that he may not care.
If it were me, I’d behave like Jack suggested:
A big middle finger to the haters and then just disappear from being an internet public figure.
Well I jettisoned much of my former life when I retired and then did a fair amount of disappearing from former acquaintances, so I agree.
But if I had cashed out and had FU money, I would not feel some weird compulsion to explain that I didn’t have rich parents, and in a public video no less. Kind of defeats the point of having FU money.
Having to explain the concept of FU money, on the other hand, may not be trivial. I've sworn to attempt medical school if my life should ever be ruined by sudden money if only to make an example for my children.
I should have clarified: for people his age (mid 30s) and up.
The people the apparent (🙄) social climber would want to impress so that he could move into 740 Park or similar and walk his dog with Steve Schwarzman.
I wouldn't conflate Greenwich with old money either though... The town is HUGE and quite transient in terms of high earning finance, lawyer, and executive types moving in and out.
I think Sherman is right, there's still a stigma if your over 30 and it seems under 30 too but Gen Z is their own kind of weird..
The wealthy people I've come in contact with in life all come from family money and pretend they didn't grow up rich. Pulling themselves up by their golden bootstraps seems like such a good story they feel they should share. I, nor anyone I've asked, agree that the "story" is compelling enough to be shared.
I wanted to punch him in the face the first time I saw him, so I will go ahead and continue to trust my biological reaction that tells me to assault him, which feels like as close to from God’s lips to my ears as Im gonna get
That's my gut instinct as well. Punchable face, grating voice. He's reviewed some cars that I really like but I simply can't make it more than 5-10 seconds before I have to turn the video off.
Zero sympathy here. He has spent a lifetime sucking the limp dick of the lowest common denominator in public. Live by the sword, cash out by the sword, die by it.
The longer he beclowns himself in public, the less it looks like a business strategy and more like the old joke about the bear who tells the hunter "you're not really here to shoot me, are you?"
I mistakenly clicked on one of his videos the other day, and apparently he’s trying to emulate podcasters by having his friends with him at a table, but it was really cringe. Who wants to watch NPCs who dress like slobs and have bad or irrelevant car opinions?
He does have a podcast now, which is - in my opinion - an American emulation of Chris Harris’s weekly (both shows drop on Fridays) podcast with his friends.
The CH podcast promoted Ed Lovett’s Collecting Cars (online car auctions) business; then the other blokes kicked Ed out and re-started without him.
Based on my research, the Nissan VK56 has the most displacement potential of any current production V8 DOHC motor besides the new GM unit in corvettes.
Probably not relevant but I just like big V8s.
The bore spacing and deck height of engines is actually quite hard to pin down.
If I won the lottery I wouldn't tell anyone... but I would take a C6.R on a tour of European race tracks on the back of a duramax swapped 1996 Chevy crew cab ramp truck (with matching livery) after ghost riding a new EV Charger thru my employer's front door; which would definitely be signs.
The AMC Pacer could have been transformed into a high mpg economy car by replacing the AMC straight six with the diesel engine and four speed transmission out of a Mercedes 240D.
Yes. And weirdly, the passenger door was longer than the driver’s door. It was unexpected, so sometimes when you were closing the open door and were standing beside it, you would unintentionally hit yourself with the door because you misjudged the door length.
I wouldn't say "weirdly". It's an extension of the choice that has the front passenger seat in my Accord Coupe slide and flap forward while the drivers seat only flaps. Most back seat passengers get in via the passenger door.
Agreed, it makes ergonomic sense. I just think it’s weird because I don’t believe any manufacturer has done it before. I probably should have said it’s unique, but the word weird runs through your head when you're thinking about the Pacer.
On the other end of the spectrum would an AMG AMC Eagle Limited 6.9 would be more to your liking? They could have replaced some of the cheesy plastic fake wood on the dashboard with genuine Mercedes zebrano wood.
Honestly I eschew the Pacer in all its forms, but I think the wide track and short wheelbase may have had more development potential in performance than economy.
Ok, how about a AMC Pacer 4.5 Sport with the V8 from a Mercedes 450SEL and independent rear suspension? Maybe do both and have a full range of Pacers to satisfy a broader range of shoppers.
It’s that “backing and assistance” you mention that makes the real difference.
I know that we like to dunk on Matt Farrah here, but it’s so easy (I’m one of the biggest offenders). I don’t deny that the guy has hustled to make this a “career”, but I find it disingenuous when he acts as though he put it all on the line and moved to LA. Had he failed, what consequences would there have been aside from being lectured by his father?
From the sound of things, that same situation more or less would apply to most of these so-called journalists. How many have their parents or a spouse as a safety net?
Couldn’t give you a specific podcast, he might have not even outlined it all in chronological order.
He was talking about starting TST, how he sold his Mini to (and) moved out to LA. They started with shitty gigs for G4, barely getting paid, and how he bounced at a bar in Playa for extra cash. Then, IIRC came /Drive and Emil Rensing screwing everybody. He mentioned that he never really made money from YouTube until doing One Takes due to the significantly deducted production costs.
My prediction: Sergio Perez will take a year off and show up in the 2nd Cadillac seat alongside Colton Herta
The new FCA Hurricane inline-6 seems impressive from when I flipped through an issue of Car and Driver while cleaning my office recently. The high-output version in a Ram 1500 did 0-60 in 4.2s, and it gets through the quarter-mile in 12.8s @ 106 MPH
I like your Sergio Perez prediction. Maybe they take him on as a test/development driver to debut in '26.
4.2s seems wild for that motor Ram given that the similar F150/Expeditions are around 5second trucks with the high output 3.5. It's not outside the realm of possibility after C&D's "corrections" though. Will be interesting to see how it performs in real world use
OT shameless promotion: LUGGY TON's sister band just released another record, OBSOLETE MEATS II, give it a spin whydontcha.
https://obsoletemeats.bandcamp.com/album/obsolete-meats-ii?label=1752503009
Pinned: let's get this music out into the WORLD!
❤️
Great name if the AI pushers are correct.
We're an anti-AI band!
Dear Lord those youtube comments on the Harmonicaster.
I don't know how you do it, Ronnie!
As to the GShock - no EL backlight! Ugh!
Long before I made the first prototype I knew that YouTube commenters included some of the worst people in the world. If someone doesn't like the tone, I won't say anything. If they say it's big and heavy, I'll show them stats comparing to a traditional rig with a mic. However, if they say that it's a stupid looking plastic harmonica, well, see my first remark above about YouTube commenters.
What's funny about the negative comments is that the review is better than any manufacturer could hope for. The guy talked about a couple of advantages that I hadn't even considered. The people at Seydel in Germany, who make the actual harmonica components that I use (they're the only company that makes steel harmonica reeds, which makes my entire concept possible), were pretty happy with the video.
One of the challenges in developing my gizmo is that harmonica players are traditional and a bit resistant to change. Many won't use pedals. Some will insist playing only Hohner Marine Bands with pear wood combs. They've spent sometimes decades working on technique with a microphone and I'm trying to sell them something that's not inexpensive. I've had to discern between resistance to change and genuine criticism. Jason Ricci is one of the best harmonica players ever and he told me that he "hated" the previous version, which I'd given to him as a birthday gift. I've since thanked him for being honest even if he never likes it. It's because of substantive criticism from some of the world's best players that I've gone through two complete redesigns and then refinements.
Back in the day I bought a cheap ($30) Casio Waveceptor with MultiBand and Solar. Made sure all 2 of my GShocks had both features.
All G-Shocks look like $30 watches. Might as well get the $30 one. (Orient, on the other hand...)
I. On 2024-12-09, our Erik made a couple of valuable comments[0,1] emphasizing Justin Trudeau's background as a drama teacher. I initially dismissed these due to actor Ronald Reagan's successful presidency[2]. Upon reflection, I maintain that the key to understanding JT's psyche and motivation is not his mere lack of experience, but his specific occupation of _drama teacher_.
As a drama expert in an English-speaking province, he would be familiar with Shakespeare. As a drama _teacher_, he would desire to direct a large-scale production. Observing the outcome of his leadership shows what play he believes he is directing. To wit:
"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
In a production of Raspail's _The Camp of the Saints_"
II. The openSUSE Linux distribution, after attacking conservatives and centrists, now has zero nominations for the current board election. [3]
III. The Biden/Harris administration is ~still~ at it! Alejandro N. Mayorkas and the DHS have ~made a few...Changes!~[4] to the beloved H-1B program to "enhance U.S. companies’ ability to fill job vacancies in critical fields, strengthening our economy"[5]; discussion[6]. Meanwhile, as of 2018, the average unemployment for Americans aged 25-29 with degrees in "computer and information sciences" was higher than almost any other major[7].
One of the changes is to EXPAND the number of entities which are allowed UNLIMITED H-1Bs[8]:
"Specifically, through this rulemaking, DHS is changing the definition of “nonprofit research organization” and “governmental research organization” by replacing the terms “primarily engaged” and “primary mission” with “fundamental activity” to permit nonprofit entities or governmental research organizations that conduct research as a fundamental activity, but are not primarily engaged in research or where research is not a primary mission, to meet the definition of a nonprofit research entity or governmental research organization for purposes of establishing exemption from the annual statutory limit on H-1B visas. Additionally, DHS is revising the regulations to recognize that certain beneficiaries may qualify for H-1B cap exemption when they are not directly employed by a qualifying organization, but still spend at least half of their time providing essential work that supports or advances a fundamental purpose, mission, objective, or function of the qualifying organization.
[0] https://www.avoidablecontact.com/p/sunday-ot-customink-sucks-assad-blows/comment/80699754
[1] https://www.avoidablecontact.com/p/sunday-ot-customink-sucks-assad-blows/comment/80729835
[2] Reagan was also president of his college's student body and led a strike resulting in the college president's resignation, Army Captain, and SAG president before running for governor.
[3] https://youtu.be/e4ZKtKGiNq8 (10:10)
[4] https://youtu.be/RDkDcc5IMSA (0:36)
[5] https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/dhs-strengthens-h-1b-program-allowing-us-employers-to-more-quickly-fill-critical-jobs
[6] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42450413
[7] https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/coe_sbc.pdf
[8] https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/12/18/2024-29354/modernizing-h-1b-requirements-providing-flexibility-in-the-f-1-program-and-program-improvements
Serious, genuine question:
Have you contemplated redirecting your ire toward something that might benefit you in career terms?
Is this regarding I, II, or III?
It’s regarding your obsession with the “TOOK OUR JERBS” narrative
Come on man, if yer gonna show a blade you might as well try to use it. Quit mincing around
I’m trying to be constructive!
Maybe give him a little lecture about bootstraps next, and about how he should start a drop shipping amazon business, or maybe get his real estate license!
a) From at least high school, I put a tremendous amount of work into, and have sacrificed health, romance, and the possibility of social connections (due to relocating, at my own expense, to an isolated factory town) for what I had reason to believe would "benefit me in career terms," only to see
b) It is not an "obsession:" it happened to be one of the top stories on Hacker News today, which is comparable to the FT or WSJ in my field.
c) It is not a "narrative," but a fact and the reality of my life (and that many other un/under-employed citizens): I have repeatedly provided evidence to support this, and many others have experienced it.
d) It is a matter of PUBLIC POLICY, that can and should be changed, in the same way that "Jim Crow" laws were once normal and are now illegal, and in the same way that ILLEGAL immigration was once broadly supported by BOTH parties before a billionaire moved the Overton Window. Why are you so intent on stifling discussion and awareness of this issue?
A) That’s table stakes. This very morning, I volunteered to relocate (to an open-ended, unknown destination) for a project I’m working on.
B) & C) If these hard-working immigrants are so hapless, why can’t you outcompete them?
D) I think you (specifically YOU) would be well-served and happier if you focused your energies in a productive direction rather than whining about misfortune, perceived or otherwise.
to compete with these immigrants is to commit yourself to being a wageslave in the uncomfortable sense
maybe its different over there but here theyre not being hired for their experience or knowledge
theyre just cheap serfs essentially
a) was not ONLY about relocation (and no, a healthy economy should require educated and skilled individuals to move far away from family and the opportunity for a life worth living just to get a job): it was also about spending years working very hard to acquire tangible skills.
b&c was because you accused me of having an "obsession" with a "narrative." Lately MAJOR stories have been dropping almost every day in major publications like Bloomberg, and, as I already explained, are widely shared on industry news sites.
Were you not aware of the Fed's rate cuts? Would you not be interested if tomorrow's WSJ announces:
"DOJ, 37 STATES INDICT ONLYFANS - AG's Say 'Teledildonics' Violate Prostitution Laws; DOJ Agrees, Invokes Mann Act"
For me, and about half the readership here, changing visa requirements are equally salient.
Regarding the "outcompete," if you had read any of the links I've posted in the last week or so, you would see that "outcompete" has nothing to do with it: ethnic gangs now control a significant share of the labor market: they would actually save a lot of time if they just put "Telegu Only" in the job postings.
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-cognizant-h1b-visas-discriminates-us-workers/
https://www.timesunion.com/capitol/article/insiders-say-fraud-computer-programming-sector-19941411.php
https://www.timesunion.com/capitol/article/feds-probing-migrant-ny-government-workers-19877732.php
And even in the highly unlikely case that they would somehow hire a non-Telegu or non-Gudjarati or whatever they are, the jobs now pay so poorly that it would be difficult to survive without sharing a flophouse with 5 other Telegus / Gudjaratis, which obviously isn't going to happen.
"LEARN TO CODE!!!"
--Sherman McCoy
That would’ve been a bad decision!
My computer skills barely extend beyond ctrl + alt + del, but I scrape by.
Sarcasm & irony, son. Sarcasm & irony.
I know he’s one of those “works with computers” fellows.
Maybe he has Chat GPT formulating his nativist, anti-competitive screeds.
I took a class in neural networks many years ago, but have never used any form of generative AI. To the extent that it works, it definitely cheapens my talents and the skills that I have worked hard over the years to develop.
If present trends continue we are heading for some sort of mass culling of the population (over and above the opioid epidemic). Canada seems to be addressing this with "MAiD."
You should spend 6 months in Brampton, or better yet, actual India, before trying to invoke some sort of woke "-ist" slur. Most people these days are against mass population replacement, even in Canada and Sweden.
Opposition to handing over important sectors of the labor market to ethnic gangs of indentured servants is not "anti-competitive." Most white-collar workers already compete with offshore labor in very low cost areas.
Sherman can't name any tangible skills, yet also fails at basic social skills.
It must be because - like Jack - I secretly have multiple fat trust funds supporting me.
"Learn to weld," might be better advice.
i really wish my local college or trade school taught tig
they only offer mig and stick
TIG is for show, stick is for the dough. Stick weld during the day in the oil fields freezing your ass off, and tig up pretty shit for the tuner bros at night, if you're lucky you'll be able to transition full time into fabricator bro with a reality TV show and everything.
if being viciously racist can get you a job id never go broke again
You have a spot in detroit when we annex canada
Make the Windsor Ballet great again.
the cool part about trudeau being a drama teacher is that he left that profession becuase he molested some girl
anyway everything is still going to hell over here
Really?
possibly
even if he didnt it really wouldnt improve his standings with anyone
Word on the street is that he did and all the msm journos know her name too.
I did not know, but I am hardly surprised. Currently he is allegedly banging his minister of foreign affairs (she’s a piece of work, btw, gorgeous but completely out of her depth on the foreign stage and looks like a deer in the headlights most of the time).
He’s also been captured on camera in blackface more than once, so you would have to wonder how often he does this. Maybe the foreign minister and Justin like to cosplay Ike and Tina….
this is usually what happens when you force half of the cabinet to be women
unqualified people will fill those spots
also i thought he was gay
The only one who is even remotely competent is Anita Anand, and he’s been sure to shuffle her off into some invisible ministry where she doesn’t pose a threat to him for the leadership of the party.
Melanie Joly is indeed, but Chrystia is the new Lib it girl.
I lose my temper every time I hear Freeland say something on TV. She’s a sycophantic bobble head completely out of touch with reality.
Her Monday morning resignation was a preemptive strike. She jumped before she was pushed, and now she has grand delusions about the leadership of the party. Good luck with that.
It is time for some serious changes in the Great White North.
H-1B visas should be banned. Its just another give away to corporate greed.
Regardless of anyone's stance on labor law, or even who you voted for, the idea that a lame duck administration would do anything other than keep the lights on and prepare for the transition is ridiculous.
The country told Biden/Harris to GTFO, yet they are spending their last days in office enacting policies at odds with the will of the voters. Trump is sure to reverse everything he can - what's the point?
Trump is clearly against _illegal_ immigration, but he has made some EXTREMELY concerning statements about so-called "skilled" immigration. Almost as though he is planning to adopt the Canadian plan.
Nissan is an, ahem, Ghosn Concern absent a white knight (or maybe it’s a pale horse anyway).
someone at honda or nissan got visited by the ghosn of christmas past
Ghosn of Carlos' past perhaps?
I'm hoping Honda is the pale horse to Nissan and not the other way round. Reminds me of Packard buying Studebaker. Packard did not accurately measure just how bad a shape Stude was in, and it was the final of many nails in their coffin.
It's probably not THAT bad for either Honda or Nissan though, and maybe I'm overreacting.
Update: after reading Jack's summary, this plan doesn't actually sound too terrible for everyone.
Nissan is screwed.
Honda is in a position of relative strength in these negotiations.
Oh Honda absolutely is stronger, I'd just hate for things to sideways for them due to some BS with Nissan. They're probably a lot smarter than Packard was in 1956, though.
A putative deal would probably include some governmental assurances that would immunize Honda from a lot of downside.
It is a crisis situation at present for many OEMs, Nissan included.
And, e.g.:
https://www.ft.com/content/696b4d53-1415-47ae-a832-b2a6ceb4cc77
I can't read that because I'm poor hahahah
"It is a crisis situation at present for many OEMs, Nissan included."
Good. They tried to shove garbage at us and we told them to get bent.
They deserve whatever they get.
https://www.speedsportlife.com/2008/12/09/avoidable-contact-21-oppose-the-bailout-youre-a-moron/
Related content.
Stellantis Pt Deux
Maybe if it brings Honda back to reliability, along with a little fun back into the main lineup, e.g., an actual power upgrade available once again in the premium mainline sedan product, i.e., Accord.
If Honda is the Boeing to Nissan’s McDonnell-Douglas, they’re truly fucked!
Somehow I don't see the Nissan management being allowed to run Honda the way the McDonnell-Douglas people did to Boeing...
Part of it is culture, and the other part is that most of the auto business is not government contracts and procurement processes (yet).
Great analogy… but if our big two keep up with this EV nonsense, government contracts may be their only customer out side of blue state urban areas
You've already made my point. This is the first thing that I thought about when I heard that Honda was considering merging with the car company that can have you locked up for managing it too effectively. Boeing used to be a respected aircraft manufacturer, but they tried to absorb a company of people who knew how to fight for their fiefdoms and nothing else. It reminds me of my time at Wachovia.
I had a similar thought about Nissan being Honda’s Studebaker.
In a way Honda could be the white knight like Jack describes- use Honda cars, keep Nissan trucks, put the EV stuff out as Nissan, and away we go. However mergers/tie-ups never seem to happen so cleanly without a big leader/personality at the helm.
The auto industry is crying out for some leadership like we had in the last generation, but it seems like they won't get it. Hopefully we're surprised in the next 18-24 months as the Trump admin adjust standards.
Nissan could be Ram+evs to Honda's Chrysler.
I'd think Honda would manage it a little better than Chrysler has....
Or you keep them around as a sort of "Dacia" low cost brand + trucks, which would be a very interest sell in a gas powered-post inflation America.
I’ve said this in a couple other place but it’s funny so I’m going to repeat it: I know nothing about this merger other than that a Honda-Nissan merger will create the worst non-manual transmissions this world has ever seen.
You get a CVT! And you get a CVT! And YOU get a CVT!
Your 15k car needs a brand new transmission! It costs 8k and your warranty ended 17 seconds ago
Got a text and email from Casio pushing the Dw-5000r that Jack wrote about, pushed the buy now button, was directed to the notify me when it’s back in stock, I opened the email when casio sent it…. What a tease…😂
Stopping in for an early comment after hearing the first Harmonicaster notes to say:
HOLY SHIT RONNIE THAT THING SOUNDS AWESOME!
I will report back after reading everything else
ITS SO COOL THO
Thank you.
super glad the harmonicaster is getting more eyes on as ronnie deserves the success without question
"“DEAR GOD - THANK YOU FOR NOT MAKING ME ATTRACTED TO FEET.”"
just another reason as to why i think that ones own sexual fetish is determined at a very young age and not something that corrupts you over time into something far more depraved
either you want random belizian women to shit in your mouth or you dont theres no real pathway to that
"“Fuck Off And Don’t Come Back Here Again, Because The Site Is Closed (No Refunds).”"
what did we do to deserve such hate
the gw5000-1 is the closest ive ever been to wanting a g-shock
I would strongly disagree about the fetish stuff: we have abundant evidence of life pre/post ubiquitous porn and pre/post Reddit grooming brigades, and most of us know the difference. I had zero (although there's one I suspect) homosexuals in my middle school class, and I know a parent in a rural small town who says EVERY BOY in his daughter's class claims to be LGBT.
i think youre right with regards to heavy influence from external sources shaping an individual but i was referring more to a self led discovery if you wanted to call it that
The fetid Fetish bloom is 100% a result of the Sexual Revolution
That's because society hates straight white males. Everything is geared against them. All of the pop culture hates them. The schools hate them. Go check out the art sites that people post art to, and think about what those sites were posting 20, 30 years ago.
So it's not that the kids are actually the word salad, it's just that if they don't claim to be, they'll be destroyed.
I did my kids the favor of banging their Japanese mom. Now my boys can fall back on "I'm Asian!" instead of "I'm gay/bi!" It doesn't seem to be a problem in our district on the edge of the wilderness, though.
I would marry Margaret Qualley for her... armpit hair.
Which would have the benefit of my being able to skip the "12-Step Program" meetings!
john/jean
Im personally a fan of boobs and vagine. But not in a creepy way
Aside from speculation about the meaning behind the drones, does anyone here have any first- / second- / or even trusted third-hand observations of the purported drones? In other words, "IIII wanna know, have you evah seeen the drones?"
I have some first and second hand reports being originally from New Jersey. We have family friends in Monmouth County near Sandy Hook and Naval Weapons Station Earle where they've seen some hovering lights of a "drone" over the bay close to the pier for Earle. The thought there seems to lean towards US Navy testing as you usually don't see anything that close to the pier...
Also seen some lights myself with my parents at their house in Bergen County, but we have enough flight paths crossing over us and nearby that it could be anything.
For a second, I thought there was a drone over Dearborn early this morning. Then I realized that it was just the local traffic copter. Being up for 30+ hours can mess with one’s head.
Please go to bed my guy
Typical end of year scramble. I slept well last night. Now I’m off for nearly 3 weeks.
I think it's safest to only trust the very earliest reports. At this point, people who are looking at the sky and reporting anything they don't recognize...and since apparently a large %age of our population has never routinely looked at the sky before, they don't recognize anything at all.
I got to view (via a chain of people) my nephew's friend's video, in which he reports that "it sounds like an airplane!" and damn if it doesn't look like one too. Occam's Razor suggests that a thing in the sky that sounds like an airplane and looks like one is....
And our unreasonably credulous news media is unhelpful here, illustrating one story I read about "unidentified lights" with a picture of a winged craft with FAA-required red and green wing lights, tail light, and underbody strobe that's lighting up the craft well enough that someone with better aircraft ID knowledge than me could tell whether it was a 737 or an A-300.
Congrats to Ronnie! I have no clue how to properly play a harmonica, but that's an awesome design.
As someone who's in the ProAV and now live events/streaming space (which has a lot of overlap with the NAMM crowd), I'll say your description of the customer base is spot on - "a niche market, as well as one that tends to be overfilled with difficult and/or opinionated people". Word of mouth is definitely what sells, so I'm glad to see the Harmonicaster getting buzz.
At the risk of revealing things I know that I should not be revealing:
Your last point about Honda wanting to protect a Japanese company is 110 percent of the reason for this merger.
There is a real desire among the Japanese OEMs to eliminate the Gaijin from the business. Renault’s ownership stake of Nissan is already incredibly distasteful to them, and there is discussion amongst the Japanese companies and government to reduce the Japanese auto business down to two manufacturers—Toyota and Honda. Toyota will keep Mazda and Subaru afloat and Honda will do the same for Nissan.
INFINITI is fucked though.
That makes total sense knowing the Japanese. However kind of sad to see Infiniti would take the fall as they've typically had better product than Acura, but I guess that's shifted as SUVs took over.
That hasn’t true since…the M45?
The Q50 is genuinely insulting. Do you know how many generations of the Q50 there have been? ONE.
The QX80 is too little too late at this point. And who is spending $110,000 on a marque that is widely considered to be the “luxury brand for credit criminals.”
INFINITI dealers are averaging 24 new cars per location per month. They lose an average of 6k per copy. I was at their western region offices last month and it was just depressing. Everybody who can be laid off has been laid off.
I guess my view on Infiniti is stuck in 2015. I haven't driven anything since then, but always liked friends G's I'd drive in college and after. The M45's were quite impressive for their time too.
The QX80 we sat in was quite nice 2 years ago when we were shopping, but not enough to tempt us to go with it over the Expedition. Thinking about it, the brand was a part of it there. We do see a bunch in Nashville, but that's probably due to it being filled with Nissan folks.
It sounds like the end is near then, or Bomnin needs to buy the Miami store so that we can see Q50's everywhere just like the Alfas...
The last good infiniti was eriks skyline
A friend recently had the opportunity to buy a decent chunk of an Infiniti dealer for not a whole lot of money. Fortunately for him he passed on it.
If he waits a little longer they might be giving Infiniti dealerships away. Might be worth it for all the easily impressed single mothers who show up
imagine getting a 0 down 0 interest for 24 month lease on a whole dealership lol
The problem is you get all the expenses with not enough sales to pay them which is why for the first time Nissan is now allowing Infiniti dealers to consolidate with Nissan stores.
I don’t mean to “one up” you, but this did remind me of a fascinating conversation I had earlier today:
I have a friend who is a minority owner in a Ferrari dealership group. He also owns 7-8 Ferraris, has 4 on order, races in Ferrari Challenge, has a meaningful position in RACE, etc. He did all of this over the past decade or so to get what ended up being the F80 … which he has zero interest in. He is instead eagerly awaiting delivery of his GMA T.33 spider.
Anyway. He wants to get OUT of the dealership investment, and apparently the terms are rather compelling. I would’ve thought being a Ferrari dealer would get you plenty of privileges, but according to a man who would know, it gets you NOTHING in terms of VS and up allocations.
Nice to hear about the lives of the kind of people who you deem worthy of existence.
Just an amusing (and borderline surreal) little anecdote.
He also has a matching pair of purple (‘Viola Hong Kong’) Ferraris incoming that he’d like to dump since he’s “graduating” from Ferrari - a Purosangue* and a Roma Spider - and he seems to think that I would know many people who might want to buy these cars … sadly I don’t! Everyone in Atlanta has a Rolls Royce Cullinan already!
*You should love the Purosangue. It’s all about pure blooded, thoroughbred nativism. If Doug’s parents will co-sign for you on the loan (my buddy wants $200K over list so about $800K out the door w/ taxes paid), I’ll hire Tracy Chapman to perform a Cameo video for you in which she subtly alters the lyrics to ‘Fast Car.’
“He had a Fascist Car…”
"Friend" is doing a lot of heavy lifting I think.
Well its a good thing they don’t sell more, cause if they did they would lose real money.
Are Infinity buyers as subprime as Nissan buyers?
The Infiniti dealer by me closed earlier this year. You just explained why.
If we get more and/or better Japanese cars because of this, full speed ahead.
Small chance we get a S2000 out of this.
man i really hope its not turbocharged or a hybrid
Earth Dreams, baby.
We’re talking about a company who single-handedly killed 2 stroke motorcycles because it was against their company ethos. This was two decades ago.
Despite the above, Honda could simply reintroduce the 07 CR250 and corner the market overnight.
Hi.
If I, in any way, mis-state or mis-speak, please let me know. I welcome constructive criticism.
Not to brag, but to put in context; in my senior year in high school, in juried statewide competitions, I was adjudged to be one of the Top Six Non-Native Speakers of French in Rhode Island.
I was accepted Early Decision at Brown University to study French Literary Criticism. Halfway through my first semester, I changed my Concentration to American Civilization. Because Deconstructionism was a total Crock.
I obsessively read everything I could about Vietnam... because I did not want to end up there. I even started learning Russian (French is claimed to be the best Gateway Language to Russian), to make myself too valuable to ship off to the rice paddies.
Of course, one cannot understand the Indochinese Wars, without understanding French Politics, post WWII.
My favorite Political-Science Question-and-Answer Joke goes like this:
Q.: What is the difference between Perception and Reality?
A.: Reality, you can change.
So, please remember (i) that whatever I write will be a blend of reality and perception; and (ii) I am going by memory, going 40 or 50 years back.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Post-WWII, those who would wish to govern France, had to "thread the needle" among:
* Punishing Collaborators with the Nazis--real or imagined
*Punishing Nazis, when they could: E.g., Inviting Herr Porsche to a car show in France, so they can arrest him for alleged War Crimes (that's a book that should be written--in English)
*Keeping the Americans Happy, by not going 100% Communist
The totally IMHO tragic sad ironic result of all that is, that the car company Renault, perhaps because its workforce was PERCEIVED to be a Hotbed of Communism, was Nationalized as soon as de Gaulle took power:
"On 1 January 1945, by de Gaulle's decree, the company was posthumously expropriated from Louis Renault. On 16 January 1945, it was formally nationalized as Régie Nationale des Usines Renault. Renault's were the only factories permanently expropriated by the French government." WIKI
The Unintended Consequence that makes me want to cry is, because Renault suddenly was being run by French Government Employees: IT COULD NOT FAIL!!!
Whereas Peugeot, an equally long-standing and respected family car company, had to compete in the open market with a government-funded (LAZY) competitor.
IMHO, Renault marrying Nissan was a case of two psychotics agreeing to swap STDs.
I am writing as a carbon-based Life Form who owned and drove five Peugeot 505s (one was a hot STI (Gas) Intercooler Turbo!); and I owned one Citroen DS 21 Pallas, long wheelbase deluxe interior, one step below the one that de Gaulle almost got assassinated in.
BTW, French is a language where so many words or phrases are Homonyms.
So, in rapid conversation, there is no sonic way to distinguish "de Gaulle" from "Two Fishing Poles." You have to discern by context.
amb,
john
Hmm. Did not know Renault was nationalized. It puts a different light on the AMC debacle.
Another thing that makes me want to cry:
Peugeot made tanks for the Nazis... but their workers were not rabid Communists, so...
Peugeot could remain in private hands, where they would learn to make some money in the Post-WWII world, BY MAKING A BETTER CAR!
So ironical,
jean/john
(My Catholic Name Day Saint was St.-Jean le Baptiste de la Salle. As I get older, I try to identify with him more. His mother was related to the Moet Champagne family. But St. Jean squandered all his inherited money feeding and teaching poor children. He died of exhaustion and malnutrition. Brian Eno and I share him as our Name Day Saint. Please pray for us both.)
Paul-Marie Pons should have stuck to naval architecture.
I was thinking that it was interesting how many more Japanese OEMs remain than American. But only two, with Mazda and Subaru being part of Toyota, portends a bland future (thankfully I have no history or planned involvement with Mazda or Subaru).
If Mazda's collaboration with Toyota means I can get a Miata in Cypress Green, now available for the CX-50, I'm all in.
OH MY.
So what does Honda get out of it, beside the nationalist brownie points, some empty factories and headaches?
Surely they don’t want anything to do with Renault.
And what about Mitsubishi?
man what about mitsubishi
after the evo x died i think pretty much everyone stopped caring
Bishi is big in the rest of the world.
mitsu heavy industry and their big trucks are still valuable i think
Correct. That and Suzuki are more popular than you think
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is big into aerospace, ships, trains, infrastructure stuff, you name it. Cars were a minor distraction for the company.
Mitsubishi is a frickin' HUGE company with banks, trading companies, insurance companies, appliance companies, petroleum interests, etc. It is Japan's biggest company and you can't go anywhere there without seeing the three diamonds somewhere along the way. We had Mitsubishi shit in our apartments (the air conditioner units, I think) and their commercials, particularly the life insurance and bank ones, are aired every break. If you wanted, you could live your life in Japan exclusively using Mitsubishi products, living in a Mitsubishi house, protected by Mitsubishi insurance with your money in a Mitsubishi bank while shopping at a grocery store owned by Mitsubishi...
Our first VHS VCR was a Mitsubishi. Our original Beta (Sony I think) is still sitting on top of a console TV in my parents' basement.
I think it works, because Honda will operate at proper scale. As weird as this analogy would have seemed 20 years…heck, 10 years ago:
Genesis=Acura
Hyundai=Honda
Kia=Nissan
??=Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi barely exists in this market anyway. Could they become a Nissan sub-brand? Like a Scion?
Probably not.
The VAG brands seem to be a closer analogy. Acura=Audi, Honda=VW, Nissan=Skoda
Infiniti can die and Mitsubishi can be left to developing markets
Mitsubishi could be an offroady brand, leveraging their rally heritage to take on Subaru? Not sure what else they could bring to the table in our local market. I understand they are still a prominent player in SE Asia.
I drove by the local Infinity dealer last week and noticed they didn't have a single Infinity out front on the road. It was all used Raptors, TRXs and other Hemi/SRT vehicles. It is a shame, they used to make some great cars, and some of their new cross overs look good, until you go and read the spec sheet on them.
I don’t think this point is anything new or secretive. The Japanese government is the one pushing these two towards the altar. Industrial policy and nationalism are powerful things.
The Doug thing really comes down to perceived privilege and nuance (I texted with him about this topic last night):
He was certainly privileged in some ways, but not necessarily in others.
-Grew up in suburban Denver, a world away from sponsor-backed exits
-Went to Emory undergrad and graduated debt free; his older brother had earned an undergraduate scholarship which, according to the telling, afforded his parents the ability to pay Doug’s way in full to Emory
-Doug went to work for PCNA out of school; anyone who knows anything about PCNA knows that (1) the pay is poor, (2) most of the people they hire are unremarkable (they don’t recruit at good schools), and (3) very little value is created at PCNA: they don’t engineer or market or sell the cars, they merely import them from PAG and sell them to dealers and then provide after sales support (and PR, of course!)
-I knew him before he got the 360, and I recall from that time that his parents did co-sign the loan; obviously they were never had to come out of pocket and bail him out from the car.
-He was an early YouTuber and was fortunate to be in the space before it got crowded.
-Then - unlike most (any?) other prominent car YouTubers - he was smart enough to build an ancillary business, which is the only online auction site with any real viability beyond BaT; how many others have exited?
-And the exit: He got Peter Chernin (smart money) to write him a big, fat check!
Edit: In summary, he’s a (very) smart guy from a middle class and middle income background who went out of his way to say he was very fortunate / lucky (he belabored this point, in fact) in the now-deleted video. It went over the heads of the peanut gallery, which is no surprise.
I agree with you that Doug deserves credit for using the circumstances he found himself in to build quite a successful venture as a YouTuber and then turn that into a business and exit with C&B. In a way we all step into life with certain advantages and challenges, and Doug seems to have maximized his to get where he wanted, so you have to give him credit.
Poking Jack a bit, his criticism can sometimes come across as a bit of jealousy, but I think in a way both he and Doug have been equally successful on their own terms. I do sympathize with Jack though, if I had a $20million exit, there's no way I'd be anywhere public on social media. Though in a way, if you've made your life a certain character as a business, it's much harder to extract yourself as I would imagine it becomes more of your identity.
Unfortunately for us all, today's society also seems to be holding up "influencers" as the new ones to listen to, as the self promoting, loud voices seem to carry the day in terms of promotions and success in most B2C industries. I'm just here hoping it's a bubble, but Doug sure is emblematic of it.
Reading between the lines:
He has an incentive to remain a public figure, for now.
I figured that it was tied to the business in some way.
What incentive? More millions on top of what he already has, to take abuse from FurryTube69 and have to APOLOGIZE afterwards? That's not a man.
Suspect the first exit required him to remain as the face of the businesses.
They tried to get big FAT Alanis in there as an alternate Doug but that didn’t work.
Never apologize to FurryTube69, a toothless non-entity.
QueefBurgler on the other hand, can't alienate they/them.
I'm openly envious of anyone who has $20 million dollars, no mystery there. But i would rather wake up tomorrow as a quadriplegic version of myself than wake up as Doug. He's as soft as butter and twice as rancid.
Thats the problem with life: you can't have just one part of it. You can't pick and choose. You can't be a weird spergy cuck for 30 years then magically turn into Steve McQueen when you sell the rest of the business and retire. You can't be a banker your whole life and turn into a biker at 65. You can't avoid having a family and a real life until you're 45 then have a son who sees you as anything other than a rusty ATM.
So why don't you stop griping about Doug?
I don't know if I'm griping about him. He hasn't done me any harm, doesn't owe me any money. This whole "rich parents video" falls into the same category as the Hearst MT acquisition or the death of Jean Lindamood or any other wacky industry baseball.
Making a list of things that he had an advantage from, which you yourself share at least half of, does come across as jealousy.
Since you're an engineer and value precision, let's reframe this correctly as "envy".
"Jealousy" would imply that I think he can take something I have, which is obviously false.
We'll do better as a society when we can rid ourselves of the notion that legitimate and contextual criticism and/or discussion is rooted in envy by default. This notion, which is rooted in the very poor soil of low culture, is used by idiots to deflect anything but the most fawning of opinions.
I can think that Fall Out Boy is a loathsome band; it doesn't mean that I secretly want to play "Sugar, It's Going Down" to an audience of Millennial wine moms a hundred times a year. I can think that Barack Obama was a tool of corporate interests; that doesn't mean I want to wake up next to Michelle Obama and take calls from Chuck Schumer.
I'm fucked, with fifteen years into the marriage and kids but about to turn sixty. Fortunately I long ago learned to worry more what I think about others than what they think of me. Junior's going to have to make a good case before the vault door will open.
If Junior doesn't make a good case, that's more a reflection of you and your parenting I feel like.
This mentality that we should shun wealth or helping our offspring should die. We screw ourselves over by not transferring wealth and knowledge. Now that doesn't mean we should remove all hardship or make a bunch of brats. But, it does mean we SHOULD know that by the time their old enough to be opening that vault, we've raised upright children of God that will use resources for good and for their own families... not just starting a youtube channel.
Yeah because no one will ever tell you they grew up wealthy, especially anyone who has a public facing career.
I find his “story” hard to believe. No middle class family co-signs for a Ferrari loan.
It was ~$80K IIRC. He had a down, just didn’t have the credit history to qualify for the loan.
Obviously the return for his parents was infinite - good decision.
Sherman, I often hear what you say is middle class and I have to disagree. There is as much of a chance his parents were middle class as Kamala Harris grew up in a household as one.
I don't mean that as a personal attack, but I think you often have a very, very skewed notion of where the middle actually is... especially post Covid inflation.
His background was both middle income and middle class:
-Small legal practice (law doesn’t pay terribly well)
-Suburbs (and I have seen pictures of the house - modest ranch)
-Public high school
-Emory undergrad (his parents paid his way since his brother had earned a scholarship to college)
-Started his career at PCNA making ~$48K / year
To put it another way: I (probably) grew up with mor ‘privilege’ (not just financial) than he did overall, and I had a middle class / middle income upbringing.
There is a broad swath of middle between the lower and upper bounds of middle class. Which breeds a vastly different perspective depending on where on that spectrum one falls.
Based on how you describe his upbringing, and my own experience, Doug sounds like he had an average upbringing amongst college educated Millennials.
Per the power of Google AI Overview 38% of the total population of Millennials are college educated. I've found that college educated Millennials are the most out of touch with the reality of the rest of the average Americans life experience. Especially amongst the home owning, TrendUV driving set. I include myself, at times, in that group.
And I do believe his father practiced insurance law, which is the worst kind in terms of ROI. If you’re doing say, oil & gas M&A, you can bill $1500 an hour and make very good money even if, as you and I have discussed, it’s still trading time for money (I am thinking of my former boss at an internship, who billed at that rate yet primarily drove a 2004 4Runner to his 5M Eastern Shore MD home). But insurance companies are the cheapest clients; they like to cut rates, whittle bills down as cheap as possible, and it’s still hours and documents intensive. So unlike my former boss, you’re probably working almost as much in total hours but at $250-$350 an hour and your hours get cut on the final bill if you want to keep the insurance client.
I'm middle class. I was afraid to ask my parents for laundry money in college.
We had concierge service who did ours for us 😂
It was cheap, as I recall, since they did so much volume
We are not of the same world.
I just checked; it’s about $1,000 / year now for weekly wash and fold services.
It seems like Doug’s parents gave him some leash but he didn’t need them to use the shock collar. The moneyed people I know seem to do the same.
Take advantage of the additional opportunities that wealth provides but be wise in your decisions. That method builds legacy money. I won’t cast any stones with that way of life.
He had tons of advantages I did not have, but I can still recognize the hours and the foresight it took to get where he is now. If he was dumb, he would've simply wasted all the opportunities and advantages given to him as so many other upper-middle class kids have done and will continue to do.
On his latest Smoking Tire appearance, Doug alluded to how there is a level of wealthy socialite he has no desire to know and/or hang out with. I wouldn't call myself a "fan" of Doug or his content, but I would have a beer or whatever with him.
I think this is the right take. Maybe because I had a similar upbringing through college, I can easily see how Doug is a success story in business. He was more fortunate than most, that his parents could "invest" in his business idea but it's taken off spectacularly, so good on him for grinding to make it happen. He's grown his own business, and I'm sure "repaid" his parents investment too. It may be a different business than many of us would choose, but is this really that different than the guy who goes in with his father to start a landscaping business, just on a larger scale?
I will agree with Doug though. There's definitely a tier of wealthy social types that I have no desire to interact with, and it's usually tied to those who've never been involved in a business of any kind, in any way. In some way's I'd think Matt Farah is closer to that, than Doug, so it can be weird sometimes how Doug creates more controversy around his personality.
Matt embodies the remark about wanting to be liked by other men he doesn’t know to a far greater extent than Doug … or - frankly - almost anyone else I can think of!
But Jack has a soft spot for Matt and dislikes Doug.
Roger Farah is almost certainly worth north of $500MM and Matt whines about rich people because he’s insecure with who he is and the advantages he has enjoyed.
I agree 100%. Hasn't anyone been paying attention to Matt Farah's trajectory? By the time he was about 25, he had owned probably about 10 cars (including a Fox-body Mustang, a Legacy GT, an Expedition, an S4, a Hummer H1, a Mini Cooper, and a C5 Corvette), lived in a house on the boardwalk on Venice Beach (owned by his father), and then bought/leased even more cars.
A few years ago, things really got interesting. He bought a Countach (among other cars) and spent quite a bit of money on repairs/upgrades on other cars (engine rebuild on safari 911) while simultaneously purchasing commercial land and building his collector car storage facility (which took years and went way, way over budget). Let's not forget his growing watch collection. Then he bought a house with his wife soon after they got married. Then he purchased another piece of land and built another car storage facility, all the while continuing to buy cars (E46 M3, Ferrari 328, NSX, Bentley Turbo R).
So, what kind of money does it take to do all these things? I'm sure quite a few people thought it was all made possible by YouTube money. Family money is the answer.
Well, of course it is.
There’s nothing wrong with that.
One of my best friends has never really done anything, and he rarely pretends to do (or have done) anything other than luxuriate in the considerable shadow his (adoptive) father casts.
Edit: What Matt does when he fully inherits the pot of gold will be interesting. I KNOW what my buddy will do!
I agree that there's nothing wrong with it, but while he portrays himself as privileged, he then mentions those who have come from even more money. I guess this is just human nature at play, but it comes off as disingenuous.
You could have made $300k+ per year for the last decade or more and still not be able to afford that kind of lifestyle.
You kind of wrote that like the storage facilities aren't funded by his father. Those weren't built with youtube money.
That's true. I did so because that's how he makes it sound ("I had to pay extra for irrigation on the roof," "I had to pay to repave the entire alleyway," etc.). He never leveled with us and said that none of this would have been possible without his father's financial help. He's always made it sound like he had an idea and made it happen on his own.
Good points.
Despite how Jack portrays him, Doug has never struck me as someone focused on cosplaying as some sort of inherited wealth elite; there is ample evidence in favor of my argument and virtually none in favor of Jack’s:
-Doug makes a living in public, playing a caricature of himself (if I did not know him personally, I wouldn’t like him either; I do not watch his content, in general); making money on YouTube or as a content creator is distasteful in the eyes of many Nantucket / Old Money types.
-Doug doesn’t drink, doesn’t party, and dresses poorly - those sorts of appearances are unimportant to him.
-Doug spends his money on expensive, indulgent cars including what is widely perceived as one of the most crass, obnoxious vehicles ever conceived: a Lamborghini Countach (cf. Wolf of Wall Street); an interest in cars is seen as hopelessly infra dig by true Old Money, worse still a Countach of ALL cars!
-Doug literally made a video about how he did NOT grow up rich! If he wanted to “pass” as Old Money, wouldn’t he want to keep that a secret?
I always find it funny how people think that you can "pass" as Old Money. I guess I've had too much proximity to it, both American and my Cuban version of it to know better.
It's more adapt and assimilate the next generation in my mind.
You just have to watch a few Old Money TikToks and buy some affordable basics from Suit Supply* to complement your Quiet Luxury Loro Piana baseball cap you scored on sale from Mr. Porter and soon enough you’ll be invited to fly around on a Gulfstream while the theme song from Succession plays in the background.
*Other Old Money aEsThEtIc brands include: Polo RL from the outlet mall and, obviously, these shoes!
https://old-money.com/products/old-money-suede-loafers
i wasnt sure if it was going to be old money enough but then i saw that it was sold by old money dot com which is clearly where people with old money shop and i was sold
I see that shit and laugh out loud because it’s all so wrong.
I think one could make an argument that the most embarrassing place to be photographed (or, better said, a venue from which one might share a photograph of oneself) is the interior of a PJ.
People who are about that life rarely, if ever, post it.
You mean my old Wagoneer doesn’t paint me as old money??
The more someone tells you what old money is and does, the less they know about it. -Guy who grew up in CT spending huge chunks of his time in Stonington Borough, Watch Hill, and on Fisher’s Island.
I don’t care for DDM and his circus act, but I think he showed really poor judgement releasing that video. It’s even worse because he is in the public persona business, yet he still didn’t realize that it was a dumb thing to do?
Has he not heard of “Never complain, never explain”?
He’s already cashed out and the second bite at the apple may be at such an unappealing valuation (is Cars & Bids worth the valuation Chernin paid? Almost certainly not) that he may not care.
If it were me, I’d behave like Jack suggested:
A big middle finger to the haters and then just disappear from being an internet public figure.
Well I jettisoned much of my former life when I retired and then did a fair amount of disappearing from former acquaintances, so I agree.
But if I had cashed out and had FU money, I would not feel some weird compulsion to explain that I didn’t have rich parents, and in a public video no less. Kind of defeats the point of having FU money.
Agreed
Having to explain the concept of FU money, on the other hand, may not be trivial. I've sworn to attempt medical school if my life should ever be ruined by sudden money if only to make an example for my children.
“ making money on YouTube or as a content creator is distasteful in the eyes of many Nantucket / Old Money types.”
Untrue! You’d be surprised Duexmoi is run by some Greenwich academy chicks. There’s more out there
I should have clarified: for people his age (mid 30s) and up.
The people the apparent (🙄) social climber would want to impress so that he could move into 740 Park or similar and walk his dog with Steve Schwarzman.
I wouldn't conflate Greenwich with old money either though... The town is HUGE and quite transient in terms of high earning finance, lawyer, and executive types moving in and out.
I think Sherman is right, there's still a stigma if your over 30 and it seems under 30 too but Gen Z is their own kind of weird..
The wealthy people I've come in contact with in life all come from family money and pretend they didn't grow up rich. Pulling themselves up by their golden bootstraps seems like such a good story they feel they should share. I, nor anyone I've asked, agree that the "story" is compelling enough to be shared.
I wanted to punch him in the face the first time I saw him, so I will go ahead and continue to trust my biological reaction that tells me to assault him, which feels like as close to from God’s lips to my ears as Im gonna get
That's my gut instinct as well. Punchable face, grating voice. He's reviewed some cars that I really like but I simply can't make it more than 5-10 seconds before I have to turn the video off.
My sister’s husband is what I’d describe as a “normie” car guy. He loves Doug’s videos. That’s when I knew that his tastes were suspect.
There's something primal about my dislike for him as well. Just gut instinct.
Zero sympathy here. He has spent a lifetime sucking the limp dick of the lowest common denominator in public. Live by the sword, cash out by the sword, die by it.
The longer he beclowns himself in public, the less it looks like a business strategy and more like the old joke about the bear who tells the hunter "you're not really here to shoot me, are you?"
I mistakenly clicked on one of his videos the other day, and apparently he’s trying to emulate podcasters by having his friends with him at a table, but it was really cringe. Who wants to watch NPCs who dress like slobs and have bad or irrelevant car opinions?
He does have a podcast now, which is - in my opinion - an American emulation of Chris Harris’s weekly (both shows drop on Fridays) podcast with his friends.
The CH podcast promoted Ed Lovett’s Collecting Cars (online car auctions) business; then the other blokes kicked Ed out and re-started without him.
Based on my research, the Nissan VK56 has the most displacement potential of any current production V8 DOHC motor besides the new GM unit in corvettes.
Probably not relevant but I just like big V8s.
The bore spacing and deck height of engines is actually quite hard to pin down.
that might have been the basis for the v8 supercars engine
anyway it would have been neat to see that in the 350/370z to make a japanese mustang or throw it in a gtr or do something with it
big na engines are great
It is the supercars engine, yes.
I always thought a infinity coupe with a stretched front end 5.6 NA V8 would be cool.
Given that Lexus did it multiple times, it's ridiculous that Nissan never did.
I was expecting the $20MM line to finish with: RADICALS FOR EVERYONE
The Radicals disappear.
The LMP2 appears. As if by magic. See you at Spa!
If I won the lottery I wouldn't tell anyone... but I would take a C6.R on a tour of European race tracks on the back of a duramax swapped 1996 Chevy crew cab ramp truck (with matching livery) after ghost riding a new EV Charger thru my employer's front door; which would definitely be signs.
Ah, a like-minded deviant. Carry on, Sir.
Here’s why I am a satisfied ACF customer week after week:
This seems uncomfortably like the idea of a 1975-era Daimler-Benz trying to merge with American Motors for leadership in the Pet Rock “space”.
Keep ‘em coming, Jack!
My favorite was “…his mere existence trivializes an industry that is already pathetic.”
Three words: Maybach Matador Barcelona.
Hard to believe that the dinosaur auto manufacturers have not brought back designer editions
Sounds like you missed our discussion of the lululemon Subaru!
The AMC Pacer could have been transformed into a high mpg economy car by replacing the AMC straight six with the diesel engine and four speed transmission out of a Mercedes 240D.
wasn't that platform unusually heavy for its class due to its width and extensive rear glass?
Yes. And weirdly, the passenger door was longer than the driver’s door. It was unexpected, so sometimes when you were closing the open door and were standing beside it, you would unintentionally hit yourself with the door because you misjudged the door length.
I wouldn't say "weirdly". It's an extension of the choice that has the front passenger seat in my Accord Coupe slide and flap forward while the drivers seat only flaps. Most back seat passengers get in via the passenger door.
Agreed, it makes ergonomic sense. I just think it’s weird because I don’t believe any manufacturer has done it before. I probably should have said it’s unique, but the word weird runs through your head when you're thinking about the Pacer.
On the other end of the spectrum would an AMG AMC Eagle Limited 6.9 would be more to your liking? They could have replaced some of the cheesy plastic fake wood on the dashboard with genuine Mercedes zebrano wood.
Honestly I eschew the Pacer in all its forms, but I think the wide track and short wheelbase may have had more development potential in performance than economy.
Ok, how about a AMC Pacer 4.5 Sport with the V8 from a Mercedes 450SEL and independent rear suspension? Maybe do both and have a full range of Pacers to satisfy a broader range of shoppers.
It’s that “backing and assistance” you mention that makes the real difference.
I know that we like to dunk on Matt Farrah here, but it’s so easy (I’m one of the biggest offenders). I don’t deny that the guy has hustled to make this a “career”, but I find it disingenuous when he acts as though he put it all on the line and moved to LA. Had he failed, what consequences would there have been aside from being lectured by his father?
From the sound of things, that same situation more or less would apply to most of these so-called journalists. How many have their parents or a spouse as a safety net?
Where / when has Matt implied that he put it all on the line to move to LA?
I always thought he was fairly transparent about his family’s means and the support he had been given.
Couldn’t give you a specific podcast, he might have not even outlined it all in chronological order.
He was talking about starting TST, how he sold his Mini to (and) moved out to LA. They started with shitty gigs for G4, barely getting paid, and how he bounced at a bar in Playa for extra cash. Then, IIRC came /Drive and Emil Rensing screwing everybody. He mentioned that he never really made money from YouTube until doing One Takes due to the significantly deducted production costs.
My prediction: Sergio Perez will take a year off and show up in the 2nd Cadillac seat alongside Colton Herta
The new FCA Hurricane inline-6 seems impressive from when I flipped through an issue of Car and Driver while cleaning my office recently. The high-output version in a Ram 1500 did 0-60 in 4.2s, and it gets through the quarter-mile in 12.8s @ 106 MPH
I like your Sergio Perez prediction. Maybe they take him on as a test/development driver to debut in '26.
4.2s seems wild for that motor Ram given that the similar F150/Expeditions are around 5second trucks with the high output 3.5. It's not outside the realm of possibility after C&D's "corrections" though. Will be interesting to see how it performs in real world use
entirely on brand for gm to outsource to mexicans lol
insane that a regular truck would eat an ls6 chevelle for breakfast
That LS6 Chevelle will still be running long after the last Hurricane is recycled.
you betcha
its been cherished for 60 years and it will continue to be lusted after for another 60