I gotta get these things off my chest before 2007 ends! Some may be offended, but hey its the Internet and personal opinions grow like weeds in a vacant lot.

Hate:
The word "Hate" is a harsh and vile word that should not be used out lightly or out of context. It seems to be used quite freely in discussions around the net and NAM. We should hate child molestors, murderers, and terrorists, but not people who drive a different type of car than we do.

Poseurs:
I still and will always say bonnets and boots are called hoods and trunks in America folks, unless you are from Britain, Australia, etc... Even funnier is Americans who pepper their vocab or posts with "British" saying or terms such as ******, bollocks, bugger, Yank, "chips" instead of fries, etc...

Kudos to Mini USA, this is commercial marketing at it's best, for them to get thousands of American consumers talking "pretend British" is an accomplishment probably beyond their wildest expectations. Maybe one of the greatest automobile manufacturer marketing coups ever. And really, honestly folks you sound silly when you do it, IMO.

SUV's:
There is nothing wrong with SUV's, and the folks who drive them are not messengers of Satan. Thank god we live in a country where our auto choices are amost limitless, to each his own. There are many Mini drivers out there that are crappy drivers too, many who drive unsafely or beyond their personal limits, or with total ingnorance to what is taking place around them. If you lived in Russia you could choose between a Lada or Volga, so lets be thankful we have the vast amount of choices we do. To take a quote from another manufacturer - Love what you drive.

BTW, I still firmly beleive most soccer moms who drive SUV'a are pretty damn hot.

Firearms and knives:
If you carry a concealed weapon and you are not in law enforcement or have some sort of valid reason, you are PARANOID, IMO. Nobody needs to go to a Mini event with a hidden gun, and those of you who do, you still make me really nervous. I don't really care if you are ex military, have had 10,000 hours of training, or whatever, if you can't leave you house without a hidden firearm or weapon, I have no idea if you are mentally unstable, permit or not. As far as knifes go, same deal, if you use a boxcutter for work that is one thing, but there is a big difference from using a box cutter and using a "flip" knife, a box cutter works fine, a flip knife screams that you are trying to compensate for something else. Why the need anyway to walk around going about your daily activities with a "flip" knife, or belt knife when you go out of the house. I can't remember the last time I saw anyone wearing a suit with a clip knife peaking out of their front or back pants pocket! Carry a pocket knife on camping or road trips, but you dont need to take your "blade" to the park to walk your dog, or to my kids birthday party, or out for pizza with friends, etc...

NAM and Forums in general:
I love NAM, motoringunderground, MINI2, and Mini forums in general as much anyone. I am on NAM daily picking up advice, gaining info, getting a good laugh, and occasionally posting, but remember folks the real world is still outside the front door. Best advice I think for some folks is they should should close the laptop or put down the mouse and go DRIVE!

Happy New Year, looking forward a great 2008, now I'm going out to get familiar with my new Alta 19mm sway bar! Let so let the disagreements begin..... Fun!

 

Good observations.

I'll say Bonnet and Boot all I want. It's fun! I don't care what other people think about it - I'm not saying it for them. Blimey, mate! If I didn't want to look silly to others, I wouldn't drive a clown car.

Not going to get baited into a second amendment debate. But I'm not uncomfortable about anyone who is legally entitled to carry a firearm doing so in my presence. It's darn hard to do so these days, since just about any commercial or government building you walk into prohibits them. I'm more comfortable thinking there may be some trained, law-abiding, well-meaning folks packing heat in my presence than to know that the only folks with guns walking around my town intend to make mischief with them...

As for knives - one of man's handiest inventions. I carry a thumb-assist lockback ALWAYS, and find a non-mischievous and non-deadly use for it every day. Even opening presents at kid's birthdays. By the way, there is a special place in hell for anyone working in toy packaging design.

And in a pinch, might be able to fight off a wild animal with it. At least think my odds are better with it than without...

Couldn't agree more with you about SUVs, and freedom of choice, and non-hating, and soccer moms.

 

Ditto, what Blimey said!

 

I gotta go with Blimey on this one. By the way, I'm one of those crazy concealed carry guys . I keep it in my Kilt .

 

******.

Don't you mean 'MOTOR'?

Shouldn't this be in OT:Rants?

 

That's not what I meant , I do in fact have a concealed carry permit, and yes I do carry on occasions. Have so for years after being properly trained. This does not however mean you make it obvious or let it effect your everyday life or that of others.

 

As silly as Bonnet and Boot sound to you, hood and trunk sound just as goofy to me when you're talking about a MINI. Maybe your MINI has a hood, but mine does not !

SUVs... nothing wrong with anybody who drives one. I have nothing against them. We own one ourselves (it's my fiancee's and she had it before I met her). What wrong is the number of gaz-guzzling, vision-blocking, behemoths in our country... your Escalades and Hummers and Suburbans. Those things should be done away with for the general good of the country.

Most often, the word "hate" is used to replace "I really really really really really do not like that". It's shorter to type. If I say I hate anchovies or I hate the Scion xB, I don't see anything wrong with that. I mean... I really really really really don't like them. But if I were to say I hate Hispanics or I hate people who order Clubmans, then I'm out of line. In other words, hating stuff is okay, hating people without valid reason is not.

Anyway, glad you got all that stuff off your chest. Feel better ?

 

-----------------------------

....yeah, but when you start asking your girfriend if she wants to get knocked up in the morning, or if you start asking for spotted **** at the supper table you just might be in a little trouble till it's sorted out...

edit by moderator: see you can't even use a perfectly good word like **** here in the politically correct good ole USA...

 

I'm with Blimey, im my opinion itburns is off base on several items:

1. SUVs are a tool of Satan, at least when they are used to carry 4+ people. They have thier place, however big 3 marketing convinced everyone on the 90s that you need 4 wheel drive a huge clearance just to drive down the road. Unfortunately, this makes driving dangerous for others due to the large difference in vehicle weights.

2. I am more comfortable with many people that are carrying concealed weapons than I am with many police officers. There is a time and place and need for firearms, this is reality not paranoia.

BTW, two days ago my wife and dog were attached by a Rotweiller two days ago in a suburban neighborhood. Everyone is fine, but things like this happen anywhere. BTW I don't blame the dog as it is the owner than is irresponsible, however I would have no problem using a weapon during such an attack.

The great thing is as you mentioned, we are all allowed our own approaches and opinions.

 

You sound like a fun person to be around. =)

 

I have carried many weapons on my person, firearms and knives, depended on the situation. Looking fromt he stndpoint that I could cut a seat belt with a knife, if I had to warrants carring one. As for the Brit sayings and such, if you are like some of us blokes who lived with them for an extended period of time, things rub off. Now do you say TuhmAtO or MAter, or Tuhmoto?

 

It's fun. Simple as that but I agree. You do sound silly saying it. However, everyone has the right to act silly whenever they want to and make others smile doing it.

Ok, agreed except for one point I'd like to make. If your vehicle gets roughly 20 mpg and costs double what an average vehicle costs then do us all a favor and sell it. Get yourself two vehicles, one that gets 30+ mpg, and drive that one to work everyday so you are not clogging the roadways and burning fuel for no reason. It really upsets me when I see $60,000+ SUV sitting in traffic for no reason instead of leaving the SUV at home and driving something "cheap" to save us all.

Anyone who carries "concealed" does not bother me. I mean, that is the point. However, if people know you carry then the "concealing" part you failed at and maybe it's time to re-evaluate why you left the house with that thing in the first place.

I just wish states would sync up their laws a little better. It's damn confusing trying to figure out the laws from state to state and who honers who's permits. I just leave the thing at home and don't bother anymore.

I'll add one more thing I withheld comment about until now.

Wave people! This is my first MINI and to hear all the people who have given up on this simple act really upsets me. I will wave. I expect you to do the same. Now let's all motor happy in 2008.

 

I feel much better now, thanks for giving me the opportunity to vent!

 

Happy New Year...I'm sure it was cathartic

 

But it is a boot and bonnet!!!!

 

Hey you! Back to OT!

 

Agreed! I don't know how many times I've sliced open fingers trying to open the dang things!

Can't agree more! I drove to my dealership today and saw 4 different MINIs. I waved at all 4, but didn't get a single response - even when we were driving TWO MINIs back!! (Mine and my partner's new one) We got a stare from the driver we saw on the way back, but no other acknowledgment. Of course, there were plenty of other drivers who noticed these two little cars zipping down the interstate!

 

Glad you feel better....we all need to do it now and again..

Donna

 

I can add one thing about carrying concealed. We have the largest population of mountain lions in the state less than a mile behind our house. One in particular has been coming by the houses at night and sleeping behind houses in the daylight--not normal. I carry concealed with a mountain lion hunting license just in case as I walk the area every day. But I also have to say that having been robbed at gunpoint at 19 and put face down waiting to be shot in the head, I will never go through that again.
As a store owner who is alone at all times I will never look down the wrong end of a gun barrel without having a chance to defend myself. I've been trained and licensed for years and feel better knowing that if I had to I could defend myself. No one is in danger unless they are a mortal threat to my disabled husband or my family.

 

Better yet, see if you can join a carpool, at least a few days a week.

 

Hi, NMgokart here; still using scooter's login.
I don't know how or why the concealed carry thing got mixed in with things automotive, and I'm not going to give you the full-on lambasting which I feel like doing, but let me just point out 2 examples from the recent past: The Von Maur shootings in Omaha and the church shooting in Colorado.
At Von Maur, like most businesses in Omaha, there are signs on the doors disallowing concealed carry within. And it seems that everyone obeyed....well, with one minor exception; the whacko with the rifle.
He was able to kill at will until he decided that time was up, and no one else was able to do anything to stop him.
At the church in CO, different whacko, same purpose. Only difference was an armed person in the crowd who had the guts ( and means) to do something to stop him. And she did. Quite handily. Net result: one dead whacko and a whole bunch of scared, but alive, churchgoers.
If that doesn't explain it in terms that you can understand, then there is no hope for you. Just don't try to tell me that I can't protect myself, just because it makes you nervous.
Now back to our regularly scheduled automotive/ MINI related discussions.

 

+1

 

Speaking of wanting to be just like England: you're against firearms?

Sorry to break the news: the Second Amendment was put into place for a reason. Fortunately the writers of the Constitution were not complacent or naive: they knew the threats of big government as well as the right to defend oneself.

Little known fact: Tricycles kill more children than guns do... so should we ban tricycles? What about Andrea Yates?? Should we ban bathtubs??

Again, I hate to be cliche, but guns do not kill people, people kill people.

For someone who sees others as paranoid, I wonder if you are not transferring your own paranioa onto others... you see them as paranoid, but you are really the one who is paranoid, perhaps!

With all respect, please do actual research before going on emotions alone. Look at statistics, look at England who has banned guns and now suffers from guns being in the hands of the criminals, look at the town in Georgia who REQUIRES all citizens to have a firearm... and then look at their non-existent crime/murder rate.

 

Another fun tidbit: "Aluminum" is just a misspelling of "Aluminium" (notice how the other elements end with "ium"?)

Motor on

 

I never said anything about banning guns, I don't know where you got that. I own a handgun, and value and respect the Second Amendment.

Throughout my years as a part of NAM, my personal opinion it for whatever reasons it seems to me (remember we are on the internet and personal opinions run rampant), that there is a higher percentage of Mini owners that carry concealed than in other groups I am a part of. Why is that? It strikes me as odd?

For those who state the possibly I'm the paranoid one, take note - I'm not the one who feels then need to be armed or carry a weapon when I leave my house!