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Friday, January 3, 2025

The Car as a Weapon: The Tragedy in New Orleans and Remembrance: Or why these type of events will take place in similar fashion again and again

 




New Orleans is a special place for me. Between 1974 and 1978 I lived there and loved the city. I never could find a job there that I could turn into a career that I felt comfortable with, and so I reluctantly left want went to graduate school at Johns Hopkins. But it always remains a happy place in my heart.


So, this early morning New Years' Day terrorist attack affected me greatly. And by cleaning it up, and returning Bourbon Street to "normal" a day later, disturbs me. As a society we tend to move on -- quickly -- with little deep thought about the event. We fail to soul search concerning aspects of our contemporary society. It is about making it like it never happened.  Like an accident at a street corner near my home, where things are cleaned up within an hour and off we go again.


Maybe it is our internet and AI culture -- faster, faster, the hell with others and a settled sense of community. Maybe we just don't want to think deeply about ourselves but rather prefer to stick our heads in the sand, keep very busy, and never take time to take stock of ourselves and the quality of life.  Surround ourselves with ephemeral plastic and metal things, and all will be fine. 

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

Happy New Year!


 Keep your hopes high for a good 2025. Accept what you cannot change, have courage to change what you can, Live every day to the fullest, every moment as it was your last!

Wednesday, December 25, 2024

Merry Christmas!

 




Christmas is about hope.  Another tough year for me, as my wife has dementia and trying to help her and keep her out of a home is a most difficult challenge . With Jesus by my side, I am trusting that all things work for good, but at the same time that this ends well  for all.


Monday, December 16, 2024

Lewis Hamilton and his Title-Winning Cars -- at the Museum

Formula 1® champion Lewis Hamilton with his winning cars in the Great Hall of the Mercedes-Benz Museum. Photo: Stephen Reuss, December 2024.



 Looking back at his record-breaking career under the banner of the Mercedes star: Lewis Hamilton is the world’s most successful Formula 1® racing driver of all time. He won seven World Championship titles in a Mercedes-Benz-powered car – the first in 2008 with the McLaren-Mercedes MP4-23 and six more with Silver Arrows. Now Hamilton and the team are parting ways, and the Mercedes-Benz Museum is celebrating the legendary champion with a very special presentation. Through to 6 January 2025, six of his title winning vehicles will be on display in the Great Hall on the entrance level. Entry to the Great Hall is free of charge. His 2020 World Championship car is on proud display in the permanent exhibition in Legends Room 7: Silver Arrows – Races and Records.

The vehicles of the Formula 1® special presentation at the Mercedes-Benz Museum

  • 2008: McLaren-Mercedes MP4-23
  • 2014: Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 W05
  • 2015: Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 W06 Hybrid
  • 2017: Mercedes-AMG F1 W08 EQ Power+
  • 2018: Mercedes-AMG F1 W09 EQ Power+
  • 2019: Mercedes-AMG F1 W10 EQ Power+
  • 2020: Mercedes-AMG F1 W11 EQ Performance (2020) – in Legends Room 

Saturday, December 7, 2024

German women and a Mercedes-Benz during the early 1930s -- are they lost?

 


German women from the 1930s were the most beautiful in the world - and on a trip with a 380 Cabriolet! My mother was of that generation!

Tuesday, December 3, 2024

The Mercedes-Benz Hood Emblem -- Symbolism, Meaning, and Representing a True Object of Desire


 It is often the everyday things around us that we take for granted, yet do not understand. How many M-B owners have ever thought about the badge on the hood of their car?  What about meaning of that badge? What about the company that made the car -- what is the organization trying to say about themselves to the public and competitors.  Can we interpret the history of the firm when the badge or logo changes, as it did several times in the history of Mercedes-Benz and its precursor compnies? What is the significance of the colors used and the design itself?

On the badge afixed to my hood (1982 Mercedes 380 SL) the three pointed star is white, the background is silver, and the laurels are blue. The three pointed star had its origins of the stationary used by the Daimler family in the 19th century. One story is that the Daimlier brothers used a 1872 family postcard, where thefamily home was marked with a star, as the insipiration for the logo. The laurels are from the Carl Benz side of the firm after the 1926 merger, and symbolize "victory" used in Greek Culture.

As I looked at the new M-B models on the lot the other day, the badge is a Black with a contrasting background.  A very different message is now sent to consumers in a complex global environment, where asia plays a major role in the marketplace. 



In 1902, the Mercedes symbol was first composed of an oval badge, positioned horizontally with a sans-serif wordmark in the center. The Mercedes badge here was a little unusual, with the central letters of “Mercedes” appearing larger than the surrounding characters. All of the letters in this logo were capitals and designed in a soft grey.The oval itself was in black, with a double outline of grey and black to draw further attention to the name in the middle.The design of the Mercedes car symbol changed significantly in 1909. This time, the company released a circular badge with the word “Benz” in capital, serif letters in the middle. The word was written in black on a grey circle, with a border in black around it. The black border featured a sort of crest-style wreath.

This design was far more traditional and detailed than the previous, intended to represent the brand's luxury.

1921 poster


The first version of the iconic Mercedes three-point star appeared in 1916, with a more color for the image too. The star was designed in gold and white, on a red background with a thick circular frame. the three points of the star represented the Daimler ambition for its engines to dominate and conquer travel on land, in the air, and on the seas.

After the merger


“Der Stern ihrer Sehnsucht” (1929, Atelier Hans Neumann ) and “Frau in Rot” (1928, Edward Cucuel Offelsmeyer) are two of the most striking advertising motifs of the 1920s.




After the merger of 1926 between Daimler and Benz, and then in 1933 with the rise of the Nazi party to power in Germany,  Mercedes-Benz began simplifying its logo. The Mercedes image quickly became a simple, minimalistic version of the three-pointed star inside of a circular emblem.






from W121 1960 190


note how it is attached. Now plastic grommets are used rather than a nut.



This is pretty much how my emblem looks on my 1982 Mercedes 380 SL My badge ihas a three pointed start that is infilled with white and silver lines demarking the stars. It is aluminum, and from what I hear now badges are plastic. with a different as you can see below.













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