Slashdot Mirror

ah! here we go - http://thekneeslider.com/wesll...

Random thoughts...
...Why the USA has lots of roads is because of fiat currency. The interstates came later--but the USA began building lots of roads in the WPA projects during the 1930's, after the 1929 stock market crash,,,, which was used to justify the change to fiat currency. When gold=money the govt couldn't just pull a bunch of it out of a hat to get people to do whatever they wanted. After they could just print money on paper, they could--and one thing they decided to do was build roads, because the roads would in turn encourage all sorts of other consumption. Like the proliferation of cars. "The oil companies" didn't really have much to do with this in particular; it was the wealthiest people in the nation that made these decisions, and they also happened to run a lot of the oil companies. ...And this doesn't mean that gold money is superior or not, it has pros and cons,,,, but for various reasons debating that now is rather pointless.

...So now that the US can print money and is always causing inflation by doing so, the govt has to keep pushing ever-greater amounts of money into circulation. So now, they DO NOT look for the cheapest ways to do anything (interstate highways costing $2-$7 mil per mile?). There is no point. The money needs to be spent into circulation for it to do any good. The solutions usually proposed very often are not greatly concerned about overall efficiency. The more money they require further down the line, all the better.

...The govt also isn't trying to turn profits on everything they do, since doing so would be counter-productive. It would mean that overall they took more money OUT of the economy than they had put in, and since they are the creators of money, that's exactly what they aren't supposed to do. Anyone arguing that public transit "fails" because it doesn't turn a profit, does not understand this particular circumstance. Public transit fails for other reasons, but losing money isn't one of them.

...Mass-transit is not advanced transit, sorry. The practical problems that exist with it can't really be solved. There is the peak-issue problem (busy during rush hours but much-less-used at other times) and the accessibility problem (more stops=more accessible transit, but slower transit times,,, resulting in lower utilization). The most-ideal transportation would be that which starts wherever you are and ends at whatever destination you choose, and can be used at any time you want but doesn't waste energy when you aren't using it. Cars could stand a lot of improvement--but they are much closer to that than any trains or buses are. An IHPVA/Battle Mountain style vehicle with a ~1 HP engine can cost only a couple thousand dollars, can hold one person and cruise at 50+ MPH while getting ~200 MPG--except that current laws do not allow such vehicles. There is no exotic technologies required, at all. One particularly outstanding example: http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2010/01/21/do-it-yourself-214-mpg-motorcycle-project/

Then this would be the record for you...

http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2005/09/09/hayabusa-sets-speed-record/

This is the fastest I've seen from a street-legal motorcycle.

If the hard drive owners come to you saying they own her vocal cords or the sounds her vocal cords make... Because they are using the Harley-Davidson vs Honda muffler trademark/patent defense...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1464309/posts

http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2007/11/21/harley-davidson-dynamic-exhaust-system-patent/

If the hard drive manufacturers want, i imagine they could try such a stunt. But, the backlash might be more than they can handle.

But, if your wife can shatter glass, fend off attorneys, and kill hard drives and stop car ignitions, she might be worth all you can defend her for...

I wouldn't try running from the Oklahoma police. Perhaps the cops should switch to these:
http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2006/05/25/suzuki-hayabusa-police-interceptor/

So get one of these http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2005/06/08/smart -car-plus-gsxr-equals-smartuki-a-very-smart-car

Enough "weirdness" factor to satisfy most slashdotters.

The Smart cars are already turbocharged. The engine is a common-rail, direct injected, 3 cylinder turbo diesel. I don't think the Smart cars are anywhere near as unsafe at high speeds as you suggest. Here's an article about someone that swapped a GSXR1000 engine into one, tweaked it to 180 hp, and got it to run 12s in the 1/4 mile:

http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2005/06/08/smart -car-plus-gsxr-equals-smartuki-a-very-smart-car/#m ore-344