Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Chevy Volt






Many people have been waiting for the Chevy Volt. General Motors Company Electric Car.

Chevy unveiled the production model of the Volt to the world today. Man. What a change from the concept car! So many bloggers are disappointed. Me too. I was actually thinking about waiting two years for Chevy to launch this car in 2010. I was seriously considering buying one. My car is 15 years old and I have been waiting for something that I might want in it's place.

Bloggers and people who have been waiting for this car are cancelling pre-orders. The production model looks like any standard model old lady's Chevy sedan off any Chevy lot in America? Just look for yourself. Isn't this a disappointment? Chevy blew it yet again? This production car does not look like the Chevy Volt that they have been bragging about all this time.


This is a clip of part of what CNN has to say today.
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GM debuts the Chevy Volt

General Motors gives the world an up-close look at its new electric car.


DETROIT (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors unveiled the Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle on Tuesday, allowing outsiders their first full look at the car GM says will go on sale in 2010.

"The Volt symbolizes GM's commitment to the future," said Rick Wagoner, the company's chairman and CEO.

The Volt will be driven by electricity stored in a large T-shaped lithium-ion battery pack running the length of the car. After charging for several hours, the Volt will be able to run for up to about 40 miles without using gasoline.

GM did not announce pricing for the car, which will have the equivalent of about 150 horsepower and a top speed of 100 mph, the automaker said.

To charge the batteries, drivers will plug a cord into one of the ports just ahead of the driver's side mirror. The cord can then be attached to an ordinary home electrical outlet.

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Then this news article goes on and on...

I don't think I will wait for the Chevy Volt now. It isn't the same car that they said it would be. It is just an old lady car now.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Longfellow and Ojibwa

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


Ojibwa Wigwam in the late 1800's



The Ojibwa peoples lived in the area of Lake Superior (Gitchee Gumee), and actually they still live there.

Longfellow wrote a lot more than the excerpt here, but this is the one you hear about.

I thought I would continue this line of thinking for one more day.

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.
There the wrinkled old Nokomis
Nursed the little Hiawatha,
Rocked him in his linden cradle,
Bedded soft in moss and rushes.
Safely bound with reindeer sinews;
Stilled his fretful wail by saying,
"Hush! the Naked Bear will hear thee!"
Lulled him into slumber, singing,
"Ewa-yea! my little owlet!
Who is this, that lights the wigwam?
With his great eyes lights the wigwam?
Ewa-yea! my little owlet!"

Friday, September 5, 2008

Gitchee Gumee, Wow!


This photo is borrowed again from The Upper Michigan site today. Seems to happen here from time to time?

This picture just has to be seen here on this blog. What a great photo!

No, it isn't Photo-shopped or manipulated somehow. This is how it really is. Who could have planted a tree at the end of this cliff? Only God.. Can you believe this? Next to a waterfall? On the shore of Gitchee Gumee?

(Lake Superior is Gitchee Gumee in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha)