#Housekeeping

It’s TTAC Future Writers Week where YOU decide who will write at TTAC in the future. This could be their first (or last) step on the way to their eventual Pulitzer or Wurlitzer Prize. Please choose wisely, carefully, and fairly. It’s your, the future of several nations, and most of all, the auto industry that is at stake.

The echo to Writers Wanted was is phenomenal. 22 applications poured in so far, and they still keep coming. I quickly looked over them. Some are good, real good. Some are real funny. Some are funny, even if they are not trying to be funny. YOU will decide who makes the grade.

TTAC has always been proud of the quality of its writers. Founder Farago did set a very high standard. His wit was lethal at TTAC, he had a killer instinct for a good story, he was dead on target with GM. Knowing that, the fact that he now writes Thetruthaboutguns.com has me mildly worried. TTAC turned into a flow-heater for successful careers. We had Brock Yates , before he chose a better paid career in screenwriting and television. We had Jonny Lieberman, who, after a stint at Jalopnik, found his calling at Motor Trend. Ed went to The Dark Side. If you want to make TTAC a stepping stone in your career, or if you simply love to write, then let’s talk about it.

The gang at TTAC wishes all its readers a happy and prosperous New Year. May it bring you all the new cars you wish, and may it have mercy on your old ones.

It’s beginning to look at lot like than unmentionable holiday period, except where I am at the moment. But even in heathen China, the restaurant was full with cute waitresses with even cuter Santa hats today. Air China treated me to the full panoply of You-Know-What carols, from “O Come All Ye Faithful” all the way to “Silent Night”. It’s a strange world where one must fly to a communist country to hear “O Christmas Tree” without recrimination.

This being an international site, with readers and editors in all corners of the world, we celebrate this occasion in our traditional nondenominational style.

Shaikh Jalal Ahmad wrote a very informative series on car suspensions. Sgeffe called it “an interesting (and timely) series.” Felix Hoennikker could not “wait for the next one.” JuniperBug welcomed the series from “a highly respected suspension tuner/builder.” But it takes only one drunk or rude guest to ruin a whole party. We are about to lose a valuable and knowledgeable contributor, just because commenters forgot their manners.

Many years ago, when I was a partner in a Madison Avenue ad agency, our client Swissair asked us to come up with an ad that asked affluent American Express holders to do their Christmas shopping in Zurich, Switzerland. I wrote “Merry Swissmas” on a sheet of paper. My Art Director Juergen Dahlen came up with a picture. It was pasted on foamcore, was run over to the Swissair offices and met with applause. Two weeks later, I had a lady from American Express on the line.

“Christmas! You can’t say that!”

“It’s Swissmas.”

“Come on, I know what you wanted to say.”

“So, what should I say?”

“You know. Happy holidays.”

“Alright. I’ll change the headline to Merry Swolidays.”

“You are kidding me.”

To be used as burn packs in Sharia jurisdictions

Yesterday’s anomalies with TTAC’s commenting system were fixed after long hours in short order by our crack technical team, cheered on with robust language undying praise by our editorial team. In Wednesday’s evening hours, the problem was declared as solved. All TTAC correspondents could comment again, unencumbered by announcements that the post is roasting in moderation purgatory. All except DeadWeight.

… most, if not all of them seem to land in the moderation queue at the moment. This appears to be caused by a computer problem of so far unknown nature, and is not due to some baton-wielding police action.

Two weeks ago, we had a rash of annoying ads. We are talking about autoplay video with autoplay audio. Not good. Especially in a work setting. Our technical crew worked quickly to have them turned off. And they did. Now we hear reports that they are back.

Update: We are in touch with the ad network. and we were told they are stopping the auto playing videos. Please report whether the auto playing videos have stopped for you. Please focus only on the auto playing part, i.e. video that begins to play when you bring up the page and you do not click on the video. This has stopped for me. Please comment: Stopped yes or no. And please say where you are, some ads are localized. Thank you.

Please let’s discuss other things, like in picture ads etc. later. Let’s solve this issue now.

I have attracted the attention of our technical people to the plight of smartphone users. YOU can be instrumental in bringing TTAC to a new smartphone glory.

“And all the troubled world around us
Seems an eternity away
And all the debt collectors
Rent collectors
All will be behind us
But they’ll never find us
‘Cos we’ll be dri-i-i-i-ivin'”
-The Kinks “Drivin'”

The last time I made an announcement about my status here at TTAC, I made it clear in the headline that I was bidding the site “au revoir” rather than “adieu.” Having taken an opportunity to work in politics for a year, I was absolutely planning on returning to the fold. Unfortunately, that plan has now changed, and I have informed TTAC’s owners that today will be my last day on the site’s masthead.

Now that the banning rules are out of the way, here a few more reasons why your comment may not show up.

Your comment will not show up, if …