A Red Letter Day

Henry your comments about the orthopod had me on the floor in tears I was laughing so hard.

 

Henry, too bad you are not a psychiatrist because all the Hummer and SUV folks need one badly. 8)

 

Do you think you could take a picture of your parking lot full of Prii, outnumbering SUVs, and post it here? I would dearly love to see that!

 

Our long-term (15-year) and highly credible mechanic finished maintenance on my wife's 1997 Mercury Mountaineer and at the end of the day drove it to the house. She was accompanied by another employee driving her personal Ford Expedition. I opened the garage and introduced her to the 2005 Prius. She had many misconceptions and was genuinely curious.

I pointed out this is Prius' 8th year of production, demonstrated the lock, ignition, sound and MFD systems and she commented on the interior and exterior size of the vehicle. The MFD showed 52 mpg. I opened the hood and pointed out the arrangement of fluids for ease of self-service.

She left stating that her husband and their shop are going to have to upgrade their knowledge, skills and abilities. They had been told in various training seminars that hybrids are only a short-term and limited effort. I pointed out that Ford, Lexis, Honda, Toyota Highlander and other manufacturers either are bringing out hybrids in 2005 or will soon have hybrids.

She asked about the batteries (150k warranty in California) and warranty (7 years - 100k miles). She left with a much higher opinion of hybrids and Prii in particular.

 

How am I going to do my legal research now that Lexis is going into the car manufacturing business?

:wink:

 

You'll have to switch to Westlaw or have your paralegal use other databases. Or, get a Treo Mac with bluetooth and when you run into those tough legal questions that have not been shepardized, sit in your Lexis and prepare your legal briefs on your Powerbook.

 

Were you aware of the legal history of the battle over the Lexus brand name?

Mead Data Central Inc. provided computer assisted legal research services under the registered trademark LEXIS®, based on the Latin word "lex" for law and "is" for information systems. Mead sued Toyota for "dilution" of its trademark when it announced its new LEXUS® line of luxury automobiles.

The court held that despite the marks' similarity, LEXUS® would not dilute LEXIS® because (1) LEXIS® had a special meaning only to a small percentage of the public (i.e.,lawyers and accountants); (2) the LEXIS® research service and the LEXUS® cars were dissimilar in nature; and (3) lawyers and accountants were "sophisticated" consumers, making it unlikely that any significant blurring between the LEXIS® and LEXUS® marks would occur.

Mead Data Central Inc. v. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A Inc., 10 U.S.P.Q. 2d 1961 (2d Cir. 1989).

 

Henry you just need a cattle prod to get their attention that's all. No Psych involved, just basic training. Dump the H2 or get it again. Most would only need one Bzzzzzappp.