I have been reading about how experts warn that some of these EV automakers are destined to fail, for one reason or another. Bad timing into the market, inflation, cash flow, competition and so on. I was thinking, which creates this painful sensation above my neck, why don’t these companies do what all these other companies did, merge into a group. Lucid, Fisker and Rivian could become the first EV automotive group since the merger of Disney and Marvel, and look how that worked out. It worked out good, right? (stock price tanked from above $190 to about $90) I mean, they’re not an automotive group, but they are a merger. Now, I understand that there are financial backers of these companies and it might be more difficult than just signing a piece of paper that would save their companies from annihilation, I also understand that there’s also ego. Who is going to lead this group and what would you name it? If Rivian had a name that began with an E, they could have called it the ELF group, that would have been awesome, especially during Christmas, imagine the advertising that would go during that time. Let an ELF deliver your gift, pretty damn good. (I’m not in advertising) Their products, individually are pretty impressive, collectively a major force, but do you think they will do it, nope (good movie). Anyway, I’m pretty sure all that money I put into their stock, that I invested into these companies will be lost and instead of these companies merging into the biggest EV automakers in the world, they’re going to just die off, because not one wants to relinquish a bit of control. That’s why I won’t buy their cars. I don’t think they’ll be around long enough to fix any problems that may pop up. It’s funny. They’re not going to be able survive or compete against the big automakers unless they can consolidate their resources, there is no way. They’re going to be undersold with an equivalent product by these other guys or they’re going to start feeling the pain of warranty fixes and eventually go under. But they won’t find a solution that seems attainable. Maybe I’m wrong, I’m not very smart (a Daimler product). Maybe it’s not even possible in the first place, who knows. Or maybe Tesla will blow them up in all out EV war, that would be fun to watch on the Bravo channel. I hope I’m wrong, I hope those experts are wrong. I hope they succeed.

When I was a kid, while driving with my mom and dad, to go visit relatives or friends, I would imagine that I was controlling a remote control car behind us to pass the time. I would imagine that the the deflectors on the highway had microchips and that they would help guide my RC car from other traffic. I would imagine it taking turns and passing other cars and making it go at high speeds. Those microchips in the highway, that were powered by solar panels that were attached to the median, or maybe the medians were made of solar panels on the top, with wires that led to a battery pack underneath the concrete highway would make that technology self sufficient. It’s funny because we now have those autonomous cars with brain chips that could read microchips that if they were on the highway, could probably prevent accidents and guide those autonomous cars safely. I think it would be a great idea, if feasible, to probably do something like that. You could probably even team up with some high tech companies that are willing to come up with the tech to offset the costs and they would in turn lease there tech to the big car companies for a certain amount of time until the tech became public domain. This would save the government, more to the point, the tax payers money and boost the economy. I guess I’m saying that it’s time for infrastructure to catch up with the modern world.

Well, it only lasted 2 and half years but the midterm elections are over. And thank (fill in the deity or person you admire the most and hopefully it’s not yourself) because it seemed that the former President was going to get elected to all the open posts but he decided to drop out and concentrate on his one true love…. fighting all the civil and possible criminal charges he may be facing. Now, I would like to congratulate the Repubs and Demos because they seem to have beat out each other but not the American people because absolutely nothing has changed. I am awaiting to see who the adults in the room are to know how I am going to vote for 2024. All I see is grandstanding in the form of holding press conferences (was that paid by tax payers?) about how people are not going anywhere but are going to be there just not there there but definitely somewhere around there and how seemingly special they are to people saying I don’t want to play with you guys because you guys didn’t let us play so I’m going to restrict your committees because when you did it we thought it was wrong but when we do it it has to be the opposite or why we would do it and they’re going back to watching the 2016 elections which they have playing on a loop. So zero adults in the room. That’s great. A lot of…oooohhhhh look at me and not enough lets try and get this inflation down and lower the price of Honey Nut Cheerios. Disappointing. There are bright spots… there are people that realize politics isn’t a reality show on CBS. They keep the drama to a minimum and just do their jobs, you just never heard of them because they don’t seek the limelight and just do their jobs. Unfortunately they will probably never get elected to those high positions even though they should. I blame twitter. Not that they did anything but seemingly everyone else is for everything so might as well.

I will definitely vote for the people that can end crime scenes like Uvalde, El Paso, Florida thing that happened, and all similar massacres. Personally, I don’t think it has anything to do with gun rights, as an uptick in crowd blasting with vehicles has risen, it might have something to do with the electrical grid…. but whoever can end that crazy shit will get my vote and their party can also count on it, no matter how unqualified they are, they would still be more qualified then the people that can’t put an end to it. Seemingly, there hasn’t been anyone with the gonads to put an end to it. I think we all are tired of seeing someone’s son or daughter getting killed or hurt.

I grew up in Paterson, NJ, and I wouldn’t change that for anything, I mean, within reason. It was one of the best experiences I ever had. I don’t really know about now but back then, it was everything. Equal parts beautiful, diverse, exciting and dangerous (in some parts more than others). Not Crips and bloods dangerous, but enough to get your adrenaline flowing at times. Low income but high in neighborly treatment. House parties every weekend, block parties at times, your occasional, considering that occasional can mean almost daily, fist fight for your common dumb ass reason but not many shootings. Hardly any. You know what it meant when people circled, (toke toke pass) and for the record I never toked there, just passed. “More for me” was the common theme, no peer pressure. We weren’t rich so sharing was definitely a must. One joint for about 8 to 10 people. If the schools were better, I would have raised my child there. Not because of the fighting but because of the diversity and in some small sense the adversity. It really shapes people. If you can handle it, it will definitely make you a better person. People can live in their segregated, fenced in, barricaded neighborhoods, but they don’t know what they’re missing, albeit they will also wake up with nothing missing (in their home), which is a plus, I mentioned Paterson was a poorer neighborhood, but they will always be this scared, less adventurous, cynical of different people type person. They will have these perceptions of people that live in these towns that aren’t justified but are perpetuated because of a few rotten apples, like wall street guys aren’t worse. Some of those guys will steal the gold off your fillings if you fall asleep wrong. They do make gold fillings right because in Paterson they were aluminum spray painted gold. No, Paterson was an amazing experience, at least when I was growing up. From the drag races by Universal (the factory complex, not where Mickey Mouse lives, is it Mickey Mouse or?) to watching Kennedy beat some other HS football team and the the fist fight afterwards. To the house parties that lasted until 6 the next morning to doing the walk to your favorite diner with your buddies, which simply means going out at around 11 at night and walking to the diner for a glass water while we bullshitted, ours was the 7/11 (I know that’s not a diner, I did say we were dirt poor, right). Here are some luminaries of Paterson: (not necessarily born there but raised there or hung out there (or maybe drove through there?))

Bruce Arians (born 1952), head coach of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Jacob Bigeleisen (1919–2010), chemist who worked on the Manhattan Project on techniques to extract uranium-235 from uranium ore. (First time someone from Paterson “extracts” something and doesn’t get arrested)

Gaetano Bresci (1869–1901), weaver and anarchist, assassinated Italian king Umberto I (can’t all be great but how many cities can boast that one of their alums killed a King)

Rubin “Hurricane” Carter (1937–2014), boxer whose triple murder conviction was later overturned, subject of the Bob Dylan song “Hurricane” and the movie The Hurricane

Lou Costello (1906–1959), comedian, actor and producer and part of the comedy duo Abbott and Costello (used to be a boxer, no joke)

Larry Doby (1923–2003), Hall of Fame Major League Baseball player and manager who broke the color barrier in the American League

Edward L. Masry (1932–2005), attorney whose firm was behind the case featured in Erin Brockovich

Greg Olsen (born 1985), tight end for the Carolina Panthers

Joseph D. Pistone (born 1939), FBI agent and author who infiltrated the Bonanno crime family, as described in the film Donnie Brasco (grew up there and it served him well)

Frankie Ruiz (1958–1998), salsa music singer (everybody knows Frankie)

That’s to name a few…. Gaetano was a dear friend or would have been if he didn’t die in prison in 1901. Ahhh, the joking around while plotting coups and drinking espressos. He was a kidder that one, don’t let his anarchy paint him the wrong color. He had a light side…. I have no idea what I’m talking about. All I know is that he offed a King…. pretty crazy. Paterson, you learn all kind of skills and you’ll never know who you will meet, generally, I mean don’t hang out in alleys at night or you’ll meet a mugger, but besides that it was plenty diverse.