Tonight was the school's homecoming dance. I took Susan to the Mandarin House, and we had a very nice time. The DJ at Homecoming was a lot better than the last time; he actually played a variety of different things. However, it became a variety of junk as the night progressed...
Oh, and I decided to wear all black tonight, and it turned out pretty nicely. I need to do this more often. Susan also wore all black, and it matched up pretty well. We got red flowers for each other that matched nicely. Dang it, I forgot my camera again. I have got to remember these things.
Friday, 13th of October, 2000
Thursday, 12th of October, 2000
Wednesday, 11th of October, 2000
"OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - A judge took the unprecedented step Wednesday of ordering the recall of as many as 1.7 million Ford cars and trucks sold in California, accusing the automaker of concealing a dangerous design flaw that can cause the vehicles to stall in traffic.
Ford has insisted all along that the ignition module at issue is safe, and it said it will appeal the ruling, arguing that a California state judge has no authority to issue such an order.
The device was put on 29 models between 1983 and 1995, including the Taurus, LTD, Ranger, Bronco, Mustang and Escort, according to Ford. During that period, Taurus was one of the top-selling cars in America.
Superior Court Judge Michael E. Ballachey said Ford sold as many as 23 million vehicles with the flaw, but his jurisdiction does not extend beyond California. Similar class-action suits are pending in Alabama, Maryland, Illinois, Tennessee and Washington.
The automaker has settled dozens of wrongful-death and personal-injury lawsuits nationwide in which a Ford vehicle was suspected of stalling. Ford never admitted any wrongdoing.
In his recall ruling, Ballachey said that Ford knew since at least 1982 that the vehicles were prone to stalling, especially when the engine was hot, but failed to alert consumers and repeatedly deceived federal regulators by claiming the modules were safe.
Ford said it does not know how much a California recall would cost, but the Center for Auto Safety estimated that it would be at least $125 million.
The plaintiffs claim that the TFI module, which regulates electric current to the spark plugs, was wrongly mounted on the distributor near the engine block, exposing it to excessive heat and stress. The plaintiffs say that caused the vehicles to stall.
Ford documents show the automaker was warned by an engineer that high temperatures would cause the device to fail and stall the engine. The documents also show that Ford confirmed the problem in internal studies and could have moved the module to a cooler spot for $4 per vehicle.
The largest recall by an automaker was in 1996, when Ford recalled 8.7 million vehicles with a type of ignition switch in the steering column that caught fire in hundreds of vehicles."
Tuesday, 10th of October, 2000
Monday, 9th of October, 2000
Sunday, 8th of October, 2000