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Not to mention complete, balls-out arrogance as to their own importance:

We must not enter into political arrangements with countries ill-prepared to adequately protect our greatest economic assets.

So the RIAA did $12 billion in sales last year (link) That's *total* of all sales, including sales of downloads. In comparison, General Motors had $193 billion in revenue. (link)

You tell me which one's the real "great economic asset".

Grr... Why is the submit button so close tbe preview button.

There is also Biodiesel which would be quite adept at moving our vehicles in a more eco-friendly manner.

The major problem that I have seen mentioned about biodiesel is the fertilizer used to grow corn (or other oily crop) is usually derived from natural gas.

This problem could be mitigated by using different farming techniques and finding alternative sources of fertilizer.

Designing city spaces in such a way to take advantage of more efficient machines could have a much greater impact:

Assume a baseline of the Volkswagen Passat TDI which gets approximately 38 MPG from diesel fuel, which would be comparable to the mileage from biodiesel.

A 180 pound person will use about 120 calories per mile walking at 4.5 miles per hour. That is the number of calories in one Tablespoon of corn oil, the main constituent of biodiesel. Considering there are 256 teaspoons per gallon, that comes up with an efficiency of 256 miles per gallon of corn oil, or greater than six times the efficiency of the Passat TDI (which is a fairly efficient vehicle already.)

The human body can also use much more tasty fuels than drinking pure corn oil, although they might have lower energy densities and higer prices. Additionaly, walking places will actually bring the efficiency up as weight goes down! Other side effects would be reduced stress, lower health and auto insurance premiums, strengthened immune system, and a body that is not repulsive to the opposite sex.

If the commuter needs higher speeds, they can get on a bicycle and increase their speed while actually increasing efficiency to about 912 miles per gallon at 15 miles per hour, nearly thirty times the efficiency of that Passat.

Okay, I've convinced myself. I'm gonna go put on some shoes and take a walk now.

There is also Biodiesel which would be quite adept at moving our vehicles in a more eco-friendly manner.

The major problem that I have seen mentioned about biodiesel is the fertilizer used to grow the corn (or other oily crop) is usually derived from natural gas.

This problem could be mitigated by using different farming techniques and finding alternative sources of fertilizer.

Or even designing city spaces in such a way to take advantage of more efficient machines. We'll assume a baseline of the Volkswagen Passat TDI"> which gets approximately 38 MPG from diesel fuel, which would be comparable to the mileage from biodiesel.

A 180 pound person will use about walking at 4.5 miles per hour. That is the number of calories in one Tablespoon of corn oil, the main constituent of biodiesel. Considering there are 256 teaspoons per gallon, that comes up with an efficiency of 256 miles per gallon of corn oil. The human body can also use much more tasty fuels than drinking pure corn oil, although they might have lower energy densities and higer prices. And then walking places will actually bring the efficiency up as weight goes down!

I think a proper comparison would be a Porsche to a Ford. There are some beautiful Fords. There are Fords that are a work of art. It's not denegrating to Ford, it's just that Porsche's have that certain look and appeal. It's not for everyone, but those who are "into" Porsche's are *really* into them. I think it's safe to say that with Porsche and Mac, there is very little middle ground. Sure, to some Porsche owners it's "just a car", but on the other hand, they still are concious of the fact that it's a Porsche, even when driving it to the store.

And very expensive brakes.

The '04 seats five adults comfortably and has plenty of trunk space, but I imagine you're thinking more along the lines of something like the Hybrid Highander that they announced for early next year.

The potential for near-limitless energy is especially appealing, though fossil fules would sitll be used in most of our transportation systems for some time to come (no one I know has a mass-market purely-electrical car with over a 150 mile range or better speed than 60 MPH, please send in any info on e-cars that are better).

Maybe not purely electrical (well, in a sense it is), but cars powered by internal combustion engines running on hydrogen are pretty feasible. Iceland is running busses on hydrogen in stead of diesel oil, and preparing to switch over to hydrogen over gasoline altogether.

Ford is doing some things.