Too_Many_Tools wrote:
On Dec 17, 7:45 am, "Leon" wrote:
"Swingman" wrote in message

news


Over 60 years ago one of the most reliable and efficient
automobiles known to mankind, and to this day the best selling car
in history, hit the ground running ... the "Volkswagen".

I will have to disagree with you there. Kim and I bought a new 99
Jetta, it left her stranded on the freeway 3 times under warranty
the first 18 months, and a dead battery replaced under warranty.
That was the Mexico built vehicle. Towed into the dealership and "no
problem found " on the 3 rd time we immediately traded for a German
built 2000 Passat. We almost kept it 4 years. While we had it, it
left Kim stranded 2 times, once was a faulty starter relay, the
second time another dead battery replaced by me. Then there were
numerous emissions problems, the need to replace both outer tie rod
ends at 30K, and the heater core at 43K. The transmission was
showing signs of failure. Traded for the 04 Accord at 47K. Both
vehicles were serviced more often than recommended by the dealer.
The 99 Jetta and 2000 Passat were serviced/oil changed at 3K VW
recommended every 10K. After trading the Passat we got a factory
letter rewording service intervals for the turbo, every 3K and with
synthetic oil. I saw that coming.

I bought the VW's on their past reputation.

Maybe my first VW's were a fluke but I'll probably never buy another.



Sheessh, it's sad, this total failure of the educational system and
the resultant ignorance!

Totally agree with that and I attribute the failure to poor teachers
that don't give a **** and that finally led to teachers that could
not find a job any where else. Long ago when teachers could step in
as a parent and administer discipline he or she could actually
teach. We have lost teachers that actually taught for baby sitters.

The true failure are the parents who do not support the teacher.

When there is no value placed on education at home, there will be no
learning at school.

Yeah, blame everybody but the bureaucrats who keep piling more and more and
more crap on the schools.


TMT

On 12/17/2009 8:37 AM Robatoy spake thus:

On Dec 17, 11:08 am, Swingman wrote:

Smitty Two wrote:

The original VW bug was inexpensive to buy, and relatively inexpensive
to repair. That is hardly the same as being reliable.

You obviously never owned one ... the original was one of the most
reliable automobiles ever made and their longevity is ample proof of
that "reliability".

'Reliability' is often confused with 'how-long-can-a-car-run-without-
proper-maintenance.'
If you changed the oil and set the tappets on an old Bug, on a regular
basis, those engines would run forever.

Exactamente.

I had an old bus ('65 w/a Super Beetle engine) that I drove from coast
to coast. It finally died, but nearly everything bad that happened to it
was my fault, even though I otherwise took very good care of it. (Like
the hole corroded through the floor of the engine compartment next to
the battery that allowed mud and wet sand to get sucked into the
generator driving through a rainstorm in New Mexico, killing it. No
mystery there.)

With old VWs, one had to be fairly religious about changing the oil,
adjusting the valves and setting the ignition timing every 3K miles or
so. And while my bus obviously couldn't charge uphill like a Hummer, it
was more than sufficiently powered for most situations. (Keep in mind
that the buses were geared lower than bugs, so one got a little more
oomph out of them at the expense of top-end speed.)

I rebuilt the engine myself, previously knowing nothing at all about
cars, using the "Complete Idiot" book as a guide. I ended up fancying up
the engine a bit; oversize (1650 cc) cylinders, plus an external oil
cooler which was a really good thing for driving through the desert.
(Plus scoops over the rear air intakes and a mechanical oil temperature
gauge.)

I can vouch that the old VWs were, in fact, reliable. (If taken care of.)


--
I am a Canadian who was born and raised in The Netherlands. I live on
Planet Earth on a spot of land called Canada. We have noisy neighbours.

- harvested from Usenet

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
Having owned four Chryslers (three with V8-318, and one with
slant 6-215 CED engine) I nominate them for the POS
category, also.

I had several with the 225 slant six and one with the 318. Did most of my
own work on them and all tune ups. Only thing I didn't like was setting the
points on the slant six (exhaust header burns on fore arm) and trying to
start either if a neighborhood dog peed within a block or so while the
engine was turning over ...


--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.


"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
...
Subject

Having owned two (2) Beetles and a diesel Rabbit, POS comes
to mind as
an apt description of VW product.

Lew

Too_Many_Tools wrote:
On Dec 17, 9:08 am, "J. Clarke" wrote:
Leon wrote:
"Swingman" wrote in message
news

Over 60 years ago one of the most reliable and efficient
automobiles known to mankind, and to this day the best selling car
in history, hit the ground running ... the "Volkswagen".

I will have to disagree with you there. Kim and I bought a new 99
Jetta, it left her stranded on the freeway 3 times under warranty
the first 18 months, and a dead battery replaced under warranty.
That was the Mexico built vehicle. Towed into the dealership and "no
problem found " on the 3 rd time we immediately traded for a German
built 2000 Passat. We almost kept it 4 years. While we had it, it
left Kim stranded 2 times, once was a faulty starter relay, the
second time another dead battery replaced by me. Then there were
numerous emissions problems, the need to replace both outer tie rod
ends at 30K, and the heater core at 43K. The transmission was
showing signs of failure. Traded for the 04 Accord at 47K. Both
vehicles were serviced more often than recommended by the dealer.
The 99 Jetta and 2000 Passat were serviced/oil changed at 3K VW
recommended every 10K. After trading the Passat we got a factory
letter rewording service intervals for the turbo, every 3K and with
synthetic oil. I saw that coming.

I bought the VW's on their past reputation.

Maybe my first VW's were a fluke but I'll probably never buy
another.

You folks who are going on about "Rabbits" and "Jettas" and suchlike
are missing the point.

THE Volkswagen, the Type I, aka the Beetle, aka the Porsche Type 60,
was in continuous production for over 60 years with more than 20
million built, both the longest and largest production runs in
automotive history.

Sheessh, it's sad, this total failure of the educational system and
the resultant ignorance!

Totally agree with that and I attribute the failure to poor teachers
that don't give a **** and that finally led to teachers that could
not find a job any where else. Long ago when teachers could step in
as a parent and administer discipline he or she could actually
teach. We have lost teachers that actually taught for baby sitters.

Uh, you might want to actually get drunk with a few teachers
sometime before you blame them. They have to do what they can with
what they've got and what they've got these days isn't much (and I'm
not talking about the kids, I'm talking about the rules they are
required to work under). Wanna fix education, first shoot all the
professors of education and all the school boards.- Hide quoted text
-

- Show quoted text -

Try volunteering in a school for awhile and you will have your eyes
opened.

The problem starts at home.

And the parents are Ground Zero for that problem.

So your solution to the problem is what, shoot all the parents?


TMT

"Swingman" wrote in message
...
Robatoy wrote:

I once met a beautiful French woman. I was fascinated by her
beauty...till I saw the hairy armpits and legs and smelled the
Gauloises on her clothes.

Early 70's Germany, bathes taken once a week, maybe; German nightclub in
the dead of winter, dancing, everyone wearing wool, deodorant apparently
an "American thing" ...

The Tube in London, early sixties. Would have been Pleasant if the Blokes
had bathed once a week. Deodorant???

"Leon" wrote in message
...

"LDosser" wrote in message
...

PGE recently replaced our analog meter with a digital one. So far it does
not 'phone home' to me and I only look at it when taking out the trash,
but the odd thing is my usage dropped by about ten percent since they put
it in. No changes at all in appliances or usage. I'm becoming very
suspicious that a faulty analog meter or reader's eyeballs have been
charging me an extra ten percent for years.


I'd suspect a faulty meter over being misread. While a meter is easily
misread it is usually corrected on the following read. If you are seeing
longer term less usage it sounds like the old meter was not being nice to
you.

I suspect so. I'm going to have a wee chat with them if the next couple of
bills bear me out. Perhaps we can come to a reasonable accomodation.
"Reasonable" being I don't tell channel 2.


My meter comunicated with the thermostat and then through the modem to
give the power company the information. The meter readers would give that
meter the strangest looks as it was not readabel IIRC, the modem was the
link to my billing.

I'm not sure what this one does or how it does it. Might be good to find
out. Be neat to have an easier way to figure out what is going on with
usage.

"Too_Many_Tools" wrote in message
...
Snip



Try volunteering in a school for awhile and you will have your eyes
opened.

The problem starts at home.

Totally agree with that statement. We want to keep up with the Jones'
although we don't have the education or aptitude to do that so both of us
have to work to keep up, and we still want 3.8 children, but we don't have
the time to supervise them. We want the school to do their share in raising
our children but don't do any thing to hurt their feelings or discipline
them more so than we would.

The ones in charge mostly being elected into the position and those that
have the powers to appoint positions really don't care if the education
system/factory turns out a smart child or not. They are supervising/baby
sitting for the parents, the ones too busy to properly watch over their own
children.

The teachers eat poo. They have to deal with the bureaucracy, don't scold
Mary, don't make Juan learn or speak English, make sure every one gets a
trophy, make sure they are taught the achievement tests, waste time with
kids that need a whoopin but their parents will not give them one. And for
God's sake don't show any extra attention to those that have true potential.

The good teachers find better jobs with less stress and a job that means
something, something they can proud to have been a part of. The good
teachers go to private schools where nonsense discipline matters get handled
and not shuffled into the next class.

Eventually the good teachers are very few and far in between. Not so many
fresh college graduate teachers have the maturity to deal with the politics.
The good ones find a better job.

Slowly but surely the school system becomes filled with "not so many" good
teachers and yet there are still lots of teacher in the public education
system. These teachers unfortunately are also a casualty of the system.
Fewer and fewer qualified teachers are attracted to the public school system
and finally the system takes what it can get.

What the system gets becomes another aspect of the problem and the cancer
spreads.



And the parents are Ground Zero for that problem.

Greed!

TMT

Too_Many_Tools wrote:
On Dec 17, 2:25 pm, "Leon" wrote:
"HeyBub" wrote in message

m...

J. Clarke wrote:

John Silber, former president of Boston College, was asked what one
thing could be done to improve the quality of education in America.
He answered: "Abolish colleges of education."

Sounds exactly like the typical "former" employee with an ax to
grind would say.

I'd say get rid of public education and all the bureaucracy that
come with it. Privatize it.

And fine the parents for Johnny's poor performance when it occurs.

I didn't realize that you were a liberal.

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...
Leon wrote:
"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...

FWIW, I have a friend who has a PhD in education, and is retired, not
fired,
so one can't claim that he is "disgruntled", who shares the opinion
that the
flaws in the system are inherent in the educational philosophy
currently being taught in the colleges of education, and in the
poltical tendency to require the schools to provide more and more
social functions that are not rightly part of education.


So what was he doing to remedy the situation?

What do you think he _can_ do? It's easy to recognize that the carrier is
aground. Getting it off the rocks is a lot harder.

I certainly don't think he can solve the problem.

"LDosser" wrote in message
...
"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
Having owned four Chryslers (three with V8-318, and one with
slant 6-215 CED engine) I nominate them for the POS
category, also.

I had several with the 225 slant six and one with the 318. Did most of my
own work on them and all tune ups. Only thing I didn't like was setting
the points on the slant six (exhaust header burns on fore arm) and trying
to start either if a neighborhood dog peed within a block or so while the
engine was turning over ...


They made a header for the slant 6??

Here hold my beer and watch this!

My buddy was given his mother's Beige 4 door 65 Dodge Coronet. Slant 6,
auto trans. That thing was full race and looked the part. OR NOT!.
One cold night we were out kinda late in Corpus Christi sipping on a couple
of large screw top bottles of beer. Brand, did not matter. We were going
down the freeway with darn little traffic so we are going about 70.

My buddy looked over at me and said, watch this. He reached up grabbed the
shift lever, and yanked it down all the way into low. The engine roared and
we suddenly slowed down.

On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:38:23 -0500, "J. Clarke"
wrote:

Too_Many_Tools wrote:
On Dec 17, 2:25 pm, "Leon" wrote:
"HeyBub" wrote in message

m...

J. Clarke wrote:

John Silber, former president of Boston College, was asked what one
thing could be done to improve the quality of education in America.
He answered: "Abolish colleges of education."

Sounds exactly like the typical "former" employee with an ax to
grind would say.

I'd say get rid of public education and all the bureaucracy that
come with it. Privatize it.

And fine the parents for Johnny's poor performance when it occurs.

I didn't realize that you were a liberal.

Whacko leftist nut-job, in fact.

On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 09:45:36 -0600, "HeyBub"
wrote:

Smitty Two wrote:

The original VW bug was inexpensive to buy, and relatively inexpensive
to repair. That is hardly the same as being reliable.

Yeah, but how many cars come with a tool kit? Admittedly, the tool kit
wasn't much. It consisted of a cylinder with two socket ends (which fit
virtually every nut on the car), two screwdrivers, a pair of pliers, and a
metal rod used to turn the socket cylinder.

Early Toyotas all came with tool kits, and the "worst car sold in
Canada", the LADA, came with a FULL tool kit.
In general you needed it, and needed to know how to use it, if you
hoped to drive one.

A poor russian copy of a poor Italian design.
There's a video floating aroung (Guiness Book of Records folks) showing a
crew removing a VW engine, moving the engine four feet from the rear bumper,
reinstalling the engine, then driving the bug away. In one minute, four
seconds.

On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 09:58:38 -0600, Swingman wrote:

HeyBub wrote:
Smitty Two wrote:
The original VW bug was inexpensive to buy, and relatively inexpensive
to repair. That is hardly the same as being reliable.

Yeah, but how many cars come with a tool kit? Admittedly, the tool kit
wasn't much. It consisted of a cylinder with two socket ends (which fit
virtually every nut on the car), two screwdrivers, a pair of pliers, and a
metal rod used to turn the socket cylinder.

There's a video floating aroung (Guiness Book of Records folks) showing a
crew removing a VW engine, moving the engine four feet from the rear bumper,
reinstalling the engine, then driving the bug away. In one minute, four
seconds.

My motor pool guys would repair any VW engine, on the mess hall table,
for no charge and in about twenty minutes. In the service in Germany in
the 60's and 70's there was the proverbial "$50 Volkswagen", which you
bought for $50 from the guy going back home, and sold it for $50 to the
next guy when you left. Some of those things had titles as long as your
arm and had changed hands literally dozens of times.

My "$50 Volkswagen" a 1960, with tire chains on it, would take on any
blizzard with style; being air cooled, it never failed to start in
subzero weather, and it would run on the Autobahn all day at 80mph.

When winter hit in Southern Bavaria, and since I lived 20 miles from
base on mountain roads, I left the 2002TI at home and drove the Bug by
choice for the duration.
Too bad the durn things never had a functional heater - except the
gas heaters that were generally functional about one year at a time.

On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:35:46 -0800, "Lew Hodgett"
wrote:

I wrote:

Reliability was NOT my experience with a diesel Rabbit.

"notbob" wrote:

They had great seat, though!

True.

Same with the Opel and the "Bug".

Lew


If you want REAL seats, you buy FRENCH. Renault seats were always
extremely comfortable - Peugeot and Citreon too.
The seats on my 49 bug?? Not terribly comfortable, but removing two
wingnuts gave you pretty good camping chairs.

On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:57:01 -0800, "CW"
wrote:


"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...
Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,
"Leon" wrote:

"Swingman" wrote in message
...
Leon wrote:
Snip


I bought the VW's on their past reputation.

The "Volkswagen", the original design, is what I was talking about.
Not the price point engineered models they started making to woo
and placate the American consumer with the junk they prefer.

Exactly!



The original VW bug was inexpensive to buy, and relatively inexpensive
to repair. That is hardly the same as being reliable.

However since there was so little to it, it tended to be reliable as
well--there just wan't much on it that could break.


Had two of them while living in Ethiopia. Very reliable. If parts were
needed, you could get them there, unlike most cars. Also, being air cooled,
would not boil over and leave you stranded in the desert, a potentially
deadly situation.


But when the head studs stripped out of the crankcase, letting the
heads sag off both sides, boiling over would have been by far the
lesser of two evils. And that was a VERY common problem, particularly
in warm countries with rough roads. Up to 1300ccs they were pretty
good, but the 1500 and 1600cc engines dropped heads like flies.
My 1949 had the early Kubbelwaggen 1098cc (10 taxable horsepower)
engine. It had over 200,000 miles on it and I believe one valve job.
The newer stuff was not nearly as dependable .

Mine were electronic (they went electronic after 1974). I
liked being able to set timing on the 225 CID with a 7/16
socket on the end of an extension, and a timing light. The
318 was a pain, I may still have my 12 point distributor
wrench. 9/16 was it?

The one slant six I had, I screwed up and got the wrong
plugs, one time. I had to troubleshoot and replace two
plugs. Under a bridge, in Wyoming, with about 40 or 50 MPH
wind from the west.

I remember my Mopars being very moisture sensetive. Even
knowing the module ground and all, somtimes they just didn't
want to start if there was some humidity around. Or rain the
day before.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"LDosser" wrote in message
...


I had several with the 225 slant six and one with the 318.
Did most of my
own work on them and all tune ups. Only thing I didn't like
was setting the
points on the slant six (exhaust header burns on fore arm)
and trying to
start either if a neighborhood dog peed within a block or so
while the
engine was turning over ...

"Swingman" wrote:


I have a 01 Dodge PU ... beginning to rethink the decision, a little
late.

Stepped out of the diesel rabbit and into a 99 "Tonka toy".

A 4 banger /W/ a 5 spd stick.

Passed 100K a few years ago with only rubber and wearing replacement
parts needed.

Still gets 25 MPG.

Can't complain.

Lew

On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:08:39 -0500, "J. Clarke"
wrote:

Leon wrote:
"Swingman" wrote in message
news

Over 60 years ago one of the most reliable and efficient automobiles
known to mankind, and to this day the best selling car in history,
hit the ground running ... the "Volkswagen".

I will have to disagree with you there. Kim and I bought a new 99
Jetta, it left her stranded on the freeway 3 times under warranty the
first 18 months, and a dead battery replaced under warranty. That
was the Mexico built vehicle. Towed into the dealership and "no
problem found " on the 3 rd time we immediately traded for a German
built 2000 Passat. We almost kept it 4 years. While we had it, it
left Kim stranded 2 times, once was a faulty starter relay, the
second time another dead battery replaced by me. Then there were
numerous emissions problems, the need to replace both outer tie rod
ends at 30K, and the heater core at 43K. The transmission was
showing signs of failure. Traded for the 04 Accord at 47K. Both
vehicles were serviced more often than recommended by the dealer.
The 99 Jetta and 2000 Passat were serviced/oil changed at 3K VW
recommended every 10K. After trading the Passat we got a factory
letter rewording service intervals for the turbo, every 3K and with
synthetic oil. I saw that coming.

I bought the VW's on their past reputation.

Maybe my first VW's were a fluke but I'll probably never buy another.

You folks who are going on about "Rabbits" and "Jettas" and suchlike are
missing the point.

THE Volkswagen, the Type I, aka the Beetle, aka the Porsche Type 60, was in
continuous production for over 60 years with more than 20 million built,
both the longest and largest production runs in automotive history.

Sheessh, it's sad, this total failure of the educational system and
the resultant ignorance!

Totally agree with that and I attribute the failure to poor teachers
that don't give a **** and that finally led to teachers that could
not find a job any where else. Long ago when teachers could step in
as a parent and administer discipline he or she could actually teach.
We have lost teachers that actually taught for baby sitters.

Uh, you might want to actually get drunk with a few teachers sometime before
you blame them. They have to do what they can with what they've got and
what they've got these days isn't much (and I'm not talking about the kids,
I'm talking about the rules they are required to work under). Wanna fix
education, first shoot all the professors of education and all the school
boards.
Shhot the politicians and lawyers first and mabee the rest could be
spared.

On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:25:49 -0600, Swingman wrote:

Lew Hodgett wrote:
Subject

Having owned two (2) Beetles and a diesel Rabbit, POS comes to mind as
an apt description of VW product.

Once again ... yours was engineered for the American market, so you are
likely missing the point about my first post on the subject, which was
_clearly_ about the original, European version, which started production
over 60 years ago.

Some of you guys need to learn to pay more attention to what's actually
written.
I owned one of the "original" export models - a 1949 - and not export
to America either.
In my experience and opinion, one of the most reliable built. It
couldn't get out of it's own way downhill with a tailwind, so didn't
have enough power to harm itself and was still going strong with over
200,000 miles on it when I sold it in 1974.

It was an experience to drive, with 4 wheel cable operated brakes that
would pull strongly one way or the other on initial application and
were almost useless at speeds of over 50mph.

Anything over 1300cc displacement lost the reliability.

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...

My son's calculus teacher asked the students , how to do, a problem,
she could not figure it out.

Could they figure it out? If so then she had done her job well. When a
student can do something the teacher can't then the teacher has succeeded.

Ok,,,, I can see how you and I are not going to agree on anything here now.
My son did not figure it out, he showed her how to solve the problem, he
knew because he studied the night before. She and most of the class was
lost on the next problem also. End of class perticipation for that day.



I was making a compairison, cigaretts/cancer, It started with
restrictions, then came the bureaucrat crap and eventually the cancer
spread to the teachers.

I'm not following you.

Then I'll not go any farther with that.



However the teachers are not the cause. They don't make the
decisions. They don't make the policies.

Don't recall saying the teachers were the cause but they have been
sucked in and have become part of the problem. The kids are more
intelligent than most of the teachers these days in the HISD.

I was more intelligent than most of my teachers through high school back
in
the '60s, or thought I was. I did know more about quite a lot. But they
were doing what was required of them.

Required of them? ... I went to school in the 60's and I recall my teachers
being pretty smart and they all had their own style. Some times it was
spare the rod, some time it was not.


You could staff the schools with a who's who of American leadership
and they
wouldn't be any better than they are now because they'd be operating
under the same rules.

That is right and the good ones eventually leave. Those that can't do
anything else or are in it for the benefits remain.


When there's something wrong with a huge organization, it's not the
peons at
the bottom who are causing it.

Correct, not the cause but do become part of the problem.


The HS my son went to was an exception to the norm, that school had
"good" teachers and there was not a discipline problem.

And this is symptomatic of the problem. Every parent knows that the
schools
are broken, but the one that their little darling went to was an
exception.

The only decent ones my son went to was the private school K-2 and
the HS 9-12, the other 3 sucked.



That public
HS was by invitation only. The only requirement to be invited to
attend that school was that you needed to have a "Satisfactory"
average, for conduct, that's it. If a student became a discipline
problem they were warned once and the second time transferred to one
of the other HS's in the district.

So the teachers at that school weren't any better than the ones in
the other
schools, they just made the problem kids somebody else's problem.
So do you
think that those same teachers would have done nearly as well at one
of the
other schools?

Yeah they were better teachers. There was a waiting list for them to
get into the school. Problem kids were few and very far in between.
My son knew of "1" in the school, a frined of his, and he tas
transferred out.

How do you know they were better teachers? Do you have results of some
kind
of teaching competition or something?

Absolutely have results. Look at "all" of the graduating classes that have
come out of that school. Consider also that the kids that went to that
school came from the same system and none of them were there because of good
grades. Coming out of that school they excelled compared to the other high
schools in the districe. Common sense would tell you that the teachers did
a better job.



When my son began at that HS the school had grades 9-12. In all
four grade levels there were only 650 students. I would estimate
that in the other 3 HS's that there were in excess of 10K and that
is a very conservative estimate. Out of all of those students
approximately 150 were invited each year to attend Kerr HS.

And from that you conclude that the _teachers_ at those other
schools are the problem?

"Part" of the problem and the ones we delt with, 3-8 grades seem
comfortable with that. They did not care for 3 way meetings with the
principal however.

I'm curious about what those meetings were typically about,.

One I recall specifically was with the 7th grade Science teacher that my
son had. A specific assignment given on a syllabus on a Monday was due on
Monday of the following week. The next day on Tuesday the class was unruly.
As punishment, that week long assignment would be due the following day. My
son came home from school and immediately went to work tying to complete the
assignment. The following day the teacher asked the students for the
assignment and about half of the students turned their work in. The teacher
asked those that did turn in the assignment who thought that they did a
good job on the assignment. My son raised his hand and she promptly picked
up his assignment from her desk, declared it trash, and threw it in the
trash, ungraded.

The Science teacher Ms. Delesbore, Ollie Middle School, AISD, met with my
wife and I and the principal. We arrived at the principals office
unannounced and told her of the circumstances, She in turn summoned the
teacher and we waited for her to come to the principals office. She had
absolutely no defense and immediately apologized for her inappropriate
actions.







Kerr HS taught the kids how to prepare for college every day. There
was no week off to study for the TAAS test, which is a Texas thing
to judge how the students are coming along for their grade level.
His middle school took a week every year to review for that test.
IIRC the year my son graduated 95% of the students had been
accepted to a college. IIRC 87% of those students had been awarded
scholarships of $15K or more.

And this is because the teachers were so brilliant you think.

I would not say brillinat so much as above average and the teachers
had nothing to do with obtaining the scolarships. That was all on
the kids to do the leg work.
The system was totally different in that school all the way up to the
principal. Teachers were allowed to teach and they did teach. And
yes most all of the teachers in that school were impressive, even to
the kids. Remember, the good teachers were lined up to get into Kerr.
They wanted to teach there, that came out at every PTA meeting.

In the other schools the teachers reminded me of typical "government
workers", there for the benefits.
I know that their attitudes were not all their fault, the system is
to blame but many of those teachers were like many of the kids, lost.
You know when the system sucks badly enough and you cannot attract
good help because of that fact you settle for less than desirable to
fill the classrooms. That is what I saw.

So we've got one school that cherry-picked the whole system and managed to
do well for a handful of kids. So how do you make that work for the rest
of
the system?

I'm certain that the education that my son received at Kerr HS
played a very major roll in him transitioning so smoothly into
college. I recall the 10th graders mentoring the incoming 9th
graders and most of them were high achievers. Life transitioning
into Kerr HS was a bigger challenge for my son than going from that
HS into college. I am also certain that Kerr HS played a major
part in my son getting into the Honors College his first year at
the university and graduating with a 4 year average GPA of 3.87.

And all of this you attribute to the excellence of the teachers and
not to the district policies that allowed the school to cherry-pick
students?

Do you call only accepting students with at least "Satisfactory"
conduct grade cherry picking?

Did they accept every student in the district who had such a grade?

Every student with a Satisfactory conduct grade. The school, during my sons
first year, was enlarged to accept an addition 500 or students for the next
year. The building was tiny to begin with, it was a small business prior to
being purchased by the school district and added as a HS. This school was
about 1/3 the size of a typical Sam's Club store, maybe. Befor my son
graduated, Taylor HS was built about 1/4 down the street. It looks like a
large shopping mall, probably 20 time larger than Kerr HS.



Let me mention also that younger
borthers and sisters were also accepted regardless of the conduct
grade.

So what percentage of students in the district were these?

I don't have those figures but I would say well below 3-4 %. While the
school invited all the students with a Satisfactory conduct grade a majority
of the students did not want to attend because there were no sports or band
or not enough of their friends were going to go to Kerr. For the most part
the kids at Kerr HS wanted to be there.

Kerr Hw was/is a shining example of a system that works for the kids and the
staff.

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...

Try volunteering in a school for awhile and you will have your eyes
opened.

The problem starts at home.

And the parents are Ground Zero for that problem.

So your solution to the problem is what, shoot all the parents?

Oh good Lord how can any one take you seriousely?

"Leon" wrote in message
...

"LDosser" wrote in message
...
"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
Having owned four Chryslers (three with V8-318, and one with
slant 6-215 CED engine) I nominate them for the POS
category, also.

I had several with the 225 slant six and one with the 318. Did most of my
own work on them and all tune ups. Only thing I didn't like was setting
the points on the slant six (exhaust header burns on fore arm) and trying
to start either if a neighborhood dog peed within a block or so while the
engine was turning over ...


They made a header for the slant 6??

Yes, but

My bad. Head was thinking exhaust manifold and fingers were busy thinking
about after market parts.


Here hold my beer and watch this!

My buddy was given his mother's Beige 4 door 65 Dodge Coronet. Slant 6,
auto trans. That thing was full race and looked the part. OR NOT!.
One cold night we were out kinda late in Corpus Christi sipping on a
couple of large screw top bottles of beer. Brand, did not matter.

If it was Lone Star ...

We were going down the freeway with darn little traffic so we are going
about 70.

My buddy looked over at me and said, watch this. He reached up grabbed
the shift lever, and yanked it down all the way into low. The engine
roared and we suddenly slowed down.

And?

Not something I ever tried!

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
Mine were electronic (they went electronic after 1974). I
liked being able to set timing on the 225 CID with a 7/16
socket on the end of an extension, and a timing light. The
318 was a pain, I may still have my 12 point distributor
wrench. 9/16 was it?

Something I worked on did, but I would have guessed the 62 Chevy with the
straight 6. There was an engine you could love when it came to tune ups. In
a fullsized Chevy you could just about clamber into the engine compartment
to work on it.


The one slant six I had, I screwed up and got the wrong
plugs, one time. I had to troubleshoot and replace two
plugs. Under a bridge, in Wyoming, with about 40 or 50 MPH
wind from the west.

Not winter, hopefuly ..


I remember my Mopars being very moisture sensetive. Even
knowing the module ground and all, somtimes they just didn't
want to start if there was some humidity around. Or rain the
day before.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.


"LDosser" wrote in message
...


I had several with the 225 slant six and one with the 318.
Did most of my
own work on them and all tune ups. Only thing I didn't like
was setting the
points on the slant six (exhaust header burns on fore arm)
and trying to
start either if a neighborhood dog peed within a block or so
while the
engine was turning over ...

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...

Yeah, blame everybody but the bureaucrats who keep piling more and more
and
more crap on the schools.

Who do you think the bureaucrats are trying to please????

You seem to have the unique ability to throw gasoline on the blaze and yet
show no hint of any rational ability to understand the problem.

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
Mine were electronic (they went electronic after 1974). I
liked being able to set timing on the 225 CID with a 7/16
socket on the end of an extension, and a timing light. The
318 was a pain, I may still have my 12 point distributor
wrench. 9/16 was it?

The one slant six I had, I screwed up and got the wrong
plugs, one time. I had to troubleshoot and replace two
plugs. Under a bridge, in Wyoming, with about 40 or 50 MPH
wind from the west.

I remember my Mopars being very moisture sensetive. Even
knowing the module ground and all, somtimes they just didn't
want to start if there was some humidity around. Or rain the
day before.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.


"LDosser" wrote in message
...


I had several with the 225 slant six and one with the 318.
Did most of my
own work on them and all tune ups. Only thing I didn't like
was setting the
points on the slant six (exhaust header burns on fore arm)
and trying to
start either if a neighborhood dog peed within a block or so
while the
engine was turning over ...


Wrong site Cris This is a woodworkers site. WW

wrote in message
...
On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:25:49 -0600, Swingman wrote:
I owned one of the "original" export models - a 1949 - and not export
to America either.
In my experience and opinion, one of the most reliable built. It
couldn't get out of it's own way downhill with a tailwind, so didn't
have enough power to harm itself and was still going strong with over
200,000 miles on it when I sold it in 1974.


Word. My first "here kid, we're tired of driving you to school and
work-drive yourself" car was a 59 VW that my dad bought for about $100. He
put another few bucks into it (tires, brakes, etc.) and I used it daily
until I went off to college, when I bought it from him for $100. I drove
that car until I got my first "real" job out of grad school when I was 24. I
just couldn't take the crappy/lack of heat in upstate NY winters (engine's
in the back). Plus, it was a convertible, so it was even colder than a
hardtop. I got $500 when I sold it and I still miss that car, at least in
the summer. I don't miss freezing my fingers and toes off, however

In article ,
"J. Clarke" wrote:

Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,
"J. Clarke" wrote:

You folks who are going on about "Rabbits" and "Jettas" and suchlike
are missing the point.

THE Volkswagen, the Type I, aka the Beetle, aka the Porsche Type 60,
was in continuous production for over 60 years with more than 20
million built, both the longest and largest production runs in
automotive history.

Completely irrelevant to the issue of reliability.

Please show me where the word "reliability" appears in the quotation to
which you were responding.

This entire branch of the thread is about the reliability of VWs. I
started this branch of the thread, so I'm pretty clear about that. Trace
it back if you're interested.

"LDosser" wrote in message
...


I had several with the 225 slant six and one with the 318. Did most of
my own work on them and all tune ups. Only thing I didn't like was
setting the points on the slant six (exhaust header burns on fore arm)
and trying to start either if a neighborhood dog peed within a block or
so while the engine was turning over ...


They made a header for the slant 6??

Yes, but

My bad. Head was thinking exhaust manifold and fingers were busy thinking
about after market parts.

Was your exhaust manifold cracked. IIRC that was a problem with that
engine. When cold the engine exhaust manifold was kinda noisy and quietened
up when it got hot.



Here hold my beer and watch this!

My buddy was given his mother's Beige 4 door 65 Dodge Coronet. Slant 6,
auto trans. That thing was full race and looked the part. OR NOT!.
One cold night we were out kinda late in Corpus Christi sipping on a
couple of large screw top bottles of beer. Brand, did not matter.

If it was Lone Star ...

I believe you are right.... MY BIL was the VP of the local Lone Star
distributorship.



We were going down the freeway with darn little traffic so we are going
about 70.

My buddy looked over at me and said, watch this. He reached up grabbed
the shift lever, and yanked it down all the way into low. The engine
roared and we suddenly slowed down.

And?

That's it the engine roared and we slowed down. That was an industrial
engine used on other applications other than automitive and they could be
abused. Back then was also when the Chrysler products had bullet proof
transmissions also. Remember the commericals where the guy floors the
accelerator pedal and does what my froend did except he goes from D to R and
back to D. Close up of the smokin rear tire shows it reversing dirrections
a couple of times.

That car was our "tank" It saw a lot of action in local farmers corn
fields.

"krw" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:51:01 -0600, "Leon"

"hot" water heater? I only need a "water heater". ;!) Iknow, I know,
it
reheats relatively hot water, but would a hot water heater work if it were
full of cold water?

Why would you want electric water, whether it be hot or cold?


LOL... good'n I would rather electric water than gassy water

"Leon" wrote in message
...

"LDosser" wrote in message
...


I had several with the 225 slant six and one with the 318. Did most of
my own work on them and all tune ups. Only thing I didn't like was
setting the points on the slant six (exhaust header burns on fore arm)
and trying to start either if a neighborhood dog peed within a block or
so while the engine was turning over ...


They made a header for the slant 6??

Yes, but

My bad. Head was thinking exhaust manifold and fingers were busy thinking
about after market parts.

Was your exhaust manifold cracked. IIRC that was a problem with that
engine. When cold the engine exhaust manifold was kinda noisy and
quietened up when it got hot.

No, but it was hot.




Here hold my beer and watch this!

My buddy was given his mother's Beige 4 door 65 Dodge Coronet. Slant 6,
auto trans. That thing was full race and looked the part. OR NOT!.
One cold night we were out kinda late in Corpus Christi sipping on a
couple of large screw top bottles of beer. Brand, did not matter.

If it was Lone Star ...

I believe you are right.... MY BIL was the VP of the local Lone Star
distributorship.



We were going down the freeway with darn little traffic so we are going
about 70.

My buddy looked over at me and said, watch this. He reached up grabbed
the shift lever, and yanked it down all the way into low. The engine
roared and we suddenly slowed down.

And?

That's it the engine roared and we slowed down. That was an industrial
engine used on other applications other than automitive and they could be
abused. Back then was also when the Chrysler products had bullet proof
transmissions also. Remember the commericals where the guy floors the
accelerator pedal and does what my froend did except he goes from D to R
and back to D. Close up of the smokin rear tire shows it reversing
dirrections a couple of times.

That car was our "tank" It saw a lot of action in local farmers corn
fields.

Leon wrote:
"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...

Yeah, blame everybody but the bureaucrats who keep piling more and
more and
more crap on the schools.

Who do you think the bureaucrats are trying to please????

The legislators of course.

You seem to have the unique ability to throw gasoline on the blaze
and yet show no hint of any rational ability to understand the
problem.

So what do you believe the problem to be?

Hint--blaming the teachers is like blaming the deckhands for what happened
to the
Titanic.

Leon wrote:
"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...

Try volunteering in a school for awhile and you will have your eyes
opened.

The problem starts at home.

And the parents are Ground Zero for that problem.

So your solution to the problem is what, shoot all the parents?

Oh good Lord how can any one take you seriousely?

Google "humor". You might want to buy some.

In article , "LDosser" wrote:

I had several with the 225 slant six and one with the 318. Did most of my
own work on them and all tune ups. Only thing I didn't like was setting the
points on the slant six (exhaust header burns on fore arm)

That'd be a pretty neat trick, considering that the distributor on a slant-six
is half-way down the block on the passenger side, and the exhaust manifold is
all the way at the top of the engine on the driver's side. You'd think that
someone who'd done all that work on a slant-six would know where the
distributor is.

wrote in message
...
On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:57:01 -0800, "CW"
wrote:


"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...
Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,
"Leon" wrote:

"Swingman" wrote in message
...
Leon wrote:
Snip


I bought the VW's on their past reputation.

The "Volkswagen", the original design, is what I was talking about.
Not the price point engineered models they started making to woo
and placate the American consumer with the junk they prefer.

Exactly!



The original VW bug was inexpensive to buy, and relatively inexpensive
to repair. That is hardly the same as being reliable.

However since there was so little to it, it tended to be reliable as
well--there just wan't much on it that could break.


Had two of them while living in Ethiopia. Very reliable. If parts were
needed, you could get them there, unlike most cars. Also, being air
cooled,
would not boil over and leave you stranded in the desert, a potentially
deadly situation.


But when the head studs stripped out of the crankcase, letting the
heads sag off both sides, boiling over would have been by far the
lesser of two evils. And that was a VERY common problem, particularly
in warm countries with rough roads. Up to 1300ccs they were pretty
good, but the 1500 and 1600cc engines dropped heads like flies.
My 1949 had the early Kubbelwaggen 1098cc (10 taxable horsepower)
engine. It had over 200,000 miles on it and I believe one valve job.
The newer stuff was not nearly as dependable .

Never had any trouble but, fact was that any long distance we traveled was
in convoy. Armed guards in front and recker in back. No one was left behind.

Long after my poor Superbeetle had seen its prime, I was at work
one day when I received a call that a nursing home we'd financed
was in dire financial straits. I summoned an attorney from our
legal pool and we almost immediately headed off for the abandon
nursing home and its several hundred patients in the old VW. My
wife packed a suitcase for me, and the attorney's wife did one for
him.

We spent a couple weeks in the town accomplishing some good work,
then it was time to turn the place over to a receiver and head
home.
1) The VW was so old that its air cooled heater was merely a
memory
2) The VW was so "broken in" that it had no gasket around the
doors and rain/snow blew in around the doors.
3) The VW's gas gauge was just a memory
4) The VW's interior was colder than Billy Hell in a Michigan
winter storm.

Given that, imagine running out of gas on I-68 about 1/2 mile
outside of Marshall MI in a big snowstorm.

There are a couple further tales to tell about this story, but
I'll leave that for a future post.

--
Nonny

ELOQUIDIOT (n) A highly educated, sophisticated,
and articulate person who has absolutely no clue
concerning what they are talking about.
The person is typically a media commentator or politician.

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
In article , "LDosser"
wrote:

I had several with the 225 slant six and one with the 318. Did most of my
own work on them and all tune ups. Only thing I didn't like was setting
the
points on the slant six (exhaust header burns on fore arm)

That'd be a pretty neat trick, considering that the distributor on a
slant-six
is half-way down the block on the passenger side, and the exhaust manifold
is
all the way at the top of the engine on the driver's side. You'd think
that
someone who'd done all that work on a slant-six would know where the
distributor is.


Long arms. They say memory is the first to go ... Anyone know what the hell
I was burning myself on?

In article , "LDosser" wrote:
"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
In article , "LDosser"
wrote:

I had several with the 225 slant six and one with the 318. Did most of my
own work on them and all tune ups. Only thing I didn't like was setting the
points on the slant six (exhaust header burns on fore arm)

That'd be a pretty neat trick, considering that the distributor on a slant-six
is half-way down the block on the passenger side, and the exhaust manifold is
all the way at the top of the engine on the driver's side. You'd think that
someone who'd done all that work on a slant-six would know where the
distributor is.

Long arms. They say memory is the first to go ... Anyone know what the hell
I was burning myself on?

Valve cover, maybe... ? I finally figured out that the easiest way, _by far_,
to change points on those engines was to take careful note of the position of
the rotor, then pull the distributor out and lay it on the workbench. Made it
real easy to set the gap right on spec with feeler gauges. Discovered that
entirely by accident one evening, when I dropped that damn tiny little screw
*into* the distributor, and *had* to pull it to retrieve the screw. Figured as
long as I had it out, I might as well put the new points in before
reinstalling it.... damn, that was easy... gotta remember that for next time!

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
In article , "LDosser"
wrote:
"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
In article , "LDosser"
wrote:

I had several with the 225 slant six and one with the 318. Did most of
my
own work on them and all tune ups. Only thing I didn't like was setting
the
points on the slant six (exhaust header burns on fore arm)

That'd be a pretty neat trick, considering that the distributor on a
slant-six
is half-way down the block on the passenger side, and the exhaust
manifold is
all the way at the top of the engine on the driver's side. You'd think
that
someone who'd done all that work on a slant-six would know where the
distributor is.

Long arms. They say memory is the first to go ... Anyone know what the
hell
I was burning myself on?

Valve cover, maybe... ?

Could be, but I'd still be a bit contorted. Ah well.

I finally figured out that the easiest way, _by far_,
to change points on those engines was to take careful note of the position
of
the rotor, then pull the distributor out and lay it on the workbench. Made
it
real easy to set the gap right on spec with feeler gauges. Discovered that
entirely by accident one evening, when I dropped that damn tiny little
screw
*into* the distributor, and *had* to pull it to retrieve the screw.
Figured as
long as I had it out, I might as well put the new points in before
reinstalling it.... damn, that was easy... gotta remember that for next
time!

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
In article , "LDosser"
wrote:
"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
In article , "LDosser"
wrote:

I had several with the 225 slant six and one with the 318. Did most of
my
own work on them and all tune ups. Only thing I didn't like was setting
the
points on the slant six (exhaust header burns on fore arm)

That'd be a pretty neat trick, considering that the distributor on a
slant-six
is half-way down the block on the passenger side, and the exhaust
manifold is
all the way at the top of the engine on the driver's side. You'd think
that
someone who'd done all that work on a slant-six would know where the
distributor is.

Long arms. They say memory is the first to go ... Anyone know what the
hell
I was burning myself on?

Valve cover, maybe... ? I finally figured out that the easiest way, _by
far_,
to change points on those engines was to take careful note of the position
of
the rotor, then pull the distributor out and lay it on the workbench. Made
it
real easy to set the gap right on spec with feeler gauges. Discovered that
entirely by accident one evening, when I dropped that damn tiny little
screw
*into* the distributor, and *had* to pull it to retrieve the screw.
Figured as
long as I had it out, I might as well put the new points in before
reinstalling it.... damn, that was easy... gotta remember that for next
time!


Pressed send too soon. Wish I'd thought of that!

Part of my problem was I never tuned to spec. I started there and adjusted
for 'feel'. Was a difficult engine to do that on.

In article 9280e86d-295a-4c0c-918f-
,
says...
If you changed the oil and set the tappets on an old Bug, on a regular
basis, those engines would run forever.
VW Diesels are as inconsistent as the fuel you feed them.



That's funny. My first diesel VW Golf (the German version of the
'rabbit') didn't make it to the end of its lifespan since my first wife
totalled it in a head-on. Only thing that ever failed was the electric
diesel line shutoff relay.
The second never had any mechanical problems outside a CV boot or two,
new brakeshoes and once, a slipped cambelt until it popped an engine
seal at around 230,000 km and suddenly had oil in the water ... I
decided to sell it for scrap at that point.
My father still drives his, about 21 years old now, never had a
breakdown yet ...

Incidentally, the Jetta and some of the Passat models had very bad reps
in Germany also 30 years ago. Although the vanilla Passat SW was the
travelling salesman's economy vehicle of choice. I haven't looked at
them since, due to emigrating half way round the globe.

And, talking of reliable European cars, I've known quite a few series 2
Volvos that cracked half a million kilometres ... Now that Ford are
messing with the Volvo design I think that will not be the case any
more, I won't buy another Volvo designed & built since 2006. Currently
driving an 850 wagon and an XC70. Wonderful cars to drive, but lots of
little things go wrong all of the time :-(

-P.