Kurt Vonnegut on 2 stroke Saab's

Still mourning his passing.

Old Norwegian proverb: “Swedes have short dicks but long memories.”

I was tempted to buy a 2-stroke Subaru 360 off eBay last year




(not in this good of condition)

That guy wrote the coolest short stories ever. I did many papers on his work in college.

HAR !

Interesting article. Basic current changes would eliminate problems. Such as, oil injection, light on dash when oil is low and shuts motor off if not any put in, just like fuel. Also, the new direct injection etc. Makes me wonder, if car makers started making them, would bike makers want them back? I know for vehicles, everyone wants the cars to last a long time, but on bikes, they make the money on valves etc. So does the 2 stroke make more sense in cars and trucks then motorcycles? hmmmm.

Vonnegut was bitterly cynical, but a genius. And extremely funny. Here's a good interview:
http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcriptNOW140_full.html

Mr. Vonnegut, thanks for coming by.

KURT VONNEGUT: My pleasure.

DAVID BRANCACCIO: How's life?

KURT VONNEGUT: Well, it's practically over, thank God.

DAVID BRANCACCIO: For Heaven's sake.

KURT VONNEGUT: I'm 80-- I'm practically 83. It won't be that much more of-- for me to put up with. I don't think.

DAVID BRANCACCIO: Well, you were writing about maybe you want to sue your cigarette companies? You smoked all those years and there's a warning on the package saying that this will --

KURT VONNEGUT: Brown and Williams, on their package, promise to kill me. And they haven't done it. I mean, here I am 83.

DAVID BRANCACCIO: False advertisers on the cigarettes?

KURT VONNEGUT: Yes.
*******
DAVID BRANCACCIO: Mr. Vonnegut, how does a man stay funny when he thinks the world stinks like this?

KURT VONNEGUT: He smokes.

DAVID BRANCACCIO: Is that the secret to humor?

KURT VONNEGUT: Yes. Yeah, it helps a lot.

DAVID BRANCACCIO: Well, I want to ask you about this. You ask in the book a question that actually you don't answer so I want to -

KURT VONNEGUT: I'm old.

DAVID BRANCACCIO: But I want to-- think about answering this one. You write "what can be said to our young people now that psychopathic personalities — which is to say persons without consciences, without senses of pity or shame — have taken all the money in the treasuries of our government and corporations and made it their own?" What can we say to younger people who have their whole lives ahead of them?

KURT VONNEGUT: Well, you are human beings. Resourceful. Form a little society of your own. And, hang out with them. Get a gang.

DAVID BRANCACCIO: You're preaching getting into gangs?

KURT VONNEGUT: Yes. Well, look, it's--

DAVID BRANCACCIO: A good gang.

KURT VONNEGUT: Look, I don't mean to intimidate you, but I have a master's degree in anthropology.

DAVID BRANCACCIO: I'm intimidated.

KURT VONNEGUT: From the University of Chicago-- as did Saul Bellow, incidentally. But anyway, one thing I found out was that we need extended families. We need gangs. And, of course, if they're tribes and clans and so forth have been dispersed by the industrial revolution by people looking for work wherever they can find it. And a nuclear family, a man, a woman and kids and a dog and cat is no survival scheme at all. Horribly vulnerable.

So yes, I tell people to formulate a little gang. And, you know, you love each other.

po-tee-weet

Pfft, what a load of meatloaf! I will make sure to remember you.

Very cool story. Kurt seemed like a very cool dude, and also intelligent no doubt!

Darn you, that was my line!

Btw, I heard the exhaust on those 2-stroke Saab's smelled of roses and mustard gas.

Orbital Engine built 3 cylinder direct injected 2-stroke engines for automobiles available in Australia and China until very recently,, and maybe still do, I really don't know.