The cartalk.com TIME KILL WEEKLY Special "Dump AAA" Edition ______________________________________________ Killing Time, Unencumbered by the Work Process ______________________________________________ Maury Maille, Editor
What's new at Car Talk Plaza? A chance to put your money where your values are, is what's new. Are you a member of AAA? Over the years many of you have complained that, aside from providing emergency towing services, AAA uses your money to support big oil and everything related to it. It lobbies for highway construction over mass transit; lower gas prices over fossil fuel alternatives; and spends millions of dollars of your membership money doing this. Want the details? Check this out: http://www.nrdc.org/amicus/01win/aaa/aaa.asp Ugly, eh? Now, a lot of you have said you'd love to join a different road club, BUT are afraid you won't get the same great service (you know, that patented, AAA wait-four-hours-in-the-snowstorm service we've all come to love and trust!). Well, now there is an alternative. It's called Better World. And it uses virtually the same network of tow providers that AAA uses, so you can get service all over the country, 24 hours a day. The Better World Club was founded by people who wanted reliable emergency road service but who didn't want their membership dues used to oppose things like bike paths and train service. In the interests of full disclosure, Better World is forking over dineros to advertise on the Car Talk web site. But despite this demonstration of poor business judgment, we still think it's a business worth supporting. Better World is trying to do well by doing good. If you'd like your road service dues to go to road service and not to defoliating the last unpaved parcels of America, you should check them out. You can get all the details by clicking on the Better World logo at: http://www.cartalk.com In other news, we're just pouring over some brand-spanking-new crash test results from our pals at NHSTA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. They've just released the first results for many 2005 cars, SUVs and trucks. How'd everyone do? Well, you'll have to see for yourself as to which crash test dummies got smushed, tipped over-- and those that got off with hardly a scratch. You can find the scores via our homepage at http://www.cartalk.com We will tell you this much, though: Be careful driving around in a Ford Ranger truck, it has all the stability of a Mexican jumping bean. That's all for now. Back to drooling over the Bentley that Ray's been "test driving".... for two weeks now-- no kidding. Some schmoes have all the luck. Maury Maille Chief Crash Test Dummy Car Talk Plaza P.S. Here's this week's Lame Joke Of The Week, courtesy of John Hudak: A postal worker comes across an envelope addressed to God. So he opens it. The letter reads, "Dear God, Please send me $100.00. I am a widow who has gotten used to her loss but I have two widow friends who have recently lost their husbands and I would like to put on a nice Sunday dinner to cheer them up. Thank you." The postal worker is touched and he shows the letter to the others worker and they, too, are touched. They all reach into their pockets -- some even give up their lunch money -- and come up with $96.00, which they send to the lady. A while later, another envelope arrives at the post office addressed to God and again the postal worker opens it. It reads, "Dear God, Thank you so much for the money. I was able to buy a nice ham, vegetables, dessert, coffee, wine and even some after-dinner drinks. We enjoyed ourselves immensely -- laughing and taking away some of the sadness. But I do want to tell you that four dollars was missing. It must have been those thieves at the Post Office." Remember that no good deed goes unpunished. ******************* USEFUL INFORMATION ALERT: Tired of paying auto club dues to an outfit that lobbies against environmental causes? Check out the Better World Club. It's an auto club with genuinely decent values-- unlike some others we could name... whose initials just so happen to be AAA. Better World Club cares about your... *Environmental interests: It gives 1% of its revenue towards environmental clean up and advocacy; *Consumer interests: It even has discounts on hybrid rental cars; and *It has the nation's only bicycle roadside assistance program. Dump your AAA membership and join Better World! If you join via the Car Talk web site, you'll get an extra month's membership. Check out Better World now at http://www.cartalk.com ******************** Got more time to kill? This past weekend's new, lousy Car Talk show is now on the web site, at http://www.cartalk.com/Radio/Show/ ******************** Miss the puzzler? Losing sleep over it? Add your e-mail to our Car Talk Puzzler Psychic Friends Network and we'll personally hand deliver Ray's new puzzler to your inbox every Monday. http://www.cartalk.com/ct/maillist.jsp?puzzler_list=subscribe#psychic ******************* Embarrassed by having e-mails from Car Talk in your inbox? Can't say that we blame you. Unsubscribe any time, via http://www.cartalk.com/ct/maillist.jsp?mailing_list=subscribe
