I wouldn't say it is a scam but it is misleading if you don't understand where the extra energy comes from, but then who cares as heat pumps are much more efficient at heating and cooling a house than a furnace, resistive heating elements, and air conditioners.
Unfortunately most of those "real" SUVs are never used for tasks that would require a SUV or 4WD truck. I have a real SUV and I know it gets bad mileage (best I have ever managed was 21 mpg) but it gets used very little as most of the time I am not driving on roads that are barely roads (dirt tracts with only small trees growing in them), don't need high clearance, don't need 4WD, don't need to pull stumps, am not hauling a bunch of large stuff, and don't need to ford a river. Granted when I am going to be doing those activities I love my Jeep but the rest of the time it sits along side the garage. I always laugh at the H2s I see driving around pounding pavement with a winch, all chrome suspension, a trailer hitch (receiver only), 24" chrome wheels with spinners, and not a scratch or speck of dust on them. Lots of people see them as a status symbol, I see them as an unused tool in most cases.
US gas prices are going up because your government subsidies are going away.
Not really. Granted the blender credit is going away but the other subsidies for producing ethanol are going to be sticking around as long as we have a farm lobby. Even if we got rid of all oxygenated fuel it would still be cheaper than most of the rest of the word because of the lower taxes we have on fuel. Beat up on ethanol all you want (it sucks as a general purpose motor fuel) but the additional cost of using it to cut gasoline is insignificant (it would probably be a few tens of cents a gallon). We don't have any direct subsidies of gasoline or diesel (the tax breaks oil companies get are ones that every company gets) so cutting non-existent subsidies won't have an effect on pump price. Now one could argue that we subsidize fuel by the tax deductions that oil companies get but then all companies are allowed to write off payroll and capital equipment purchases and probably most other expenses so that can't be it. So you must have been referring to the US military and their services in the middle east. If that were the case then we aren't the only nation to benefit from those, plus when we decided to liberate Iraq gas prices continued to increase so that can't be it.
Sounds like you found some people who got suckered. Random mystery chemical added to counteract the ethanol won't decrease your stops for fuel, I know for high alcohol concentrations (think alcohol fueled race cars) they have additives to add to the ability to lubricate to the fuel (gasoline and diesel have this ability already) or decrease the corrosion caused by alcohol fuels but those aren't needed in the mostly gasoline blends or even in the E85 blend in the US.
The addition of alcohol (specifically ethanol) doesn't cause the problems people claim it does. I have heard people claiming to loose 10% of their mileage by running on the E10 blend, claiming it clogged their fuel filter, rusting out their gas tank or fuel lines, destroys small engines in lawn equipment. A properly running vehicle would see a 3%-4% drop in mileage by running on E10 when compared to straight non-oxy gasoline. I have tried to test this but the difference is so small that my rather crude tests can't confirm it but would seem to indicate that those number are about right. There are a few stations that sell non-oxy gasoline but you need to put it into a gas can or a collector car that will accept the larger nozzle, but there are a large number that sell E85. I have tried different blends from non-oxy up to what would be E20 (the new Minnesota standard in 2013) and apart from actually being able to notice a consistent decrease near the E20 (lower blends it wasn't as consistent or large) haven't had any problems. There are a lot of things that have a greater impact on fuel economy than a 5% or 10% ethanol blend. Some good examples would be:
Proper tire pressure
Proper vehicle tune
Proper oil
Proper oil level
Head or tail wind
The stupid cargo container strapped to the top of the vehicle
Driving habits/style
The speed at which you drive
Well there go my mod points. Hemachromatosis runs very strong in my family on both sides. I started showing early signs of it about a decade ago and drawing blood is a very effective treatment of it. It has never manifested in me but I did have elevated iron levels so my doctor suggested that I consider donating blood as that would help keep it in check and possibly prevent it from ever manifesting. So now I donate blood every 8-10 weeks and help not only my self but others plus get some cookies and a pop, as an added benefit I found out I am a universal donor (O- blood type) which is always in demand. My doctor also suggested I say clear of eating liver which is probably what I will miss the most as I make a mean liver and onions. Getting pricked every 2 months is a small price to pay compared to the other side affects of the disease.
Well your state should have just gone through a process to redraw the congressional districts, so you are going to be stuck with them for the next 10 years. I have been trying to get my state house and senate members to change how it is done in Minnesota but they don't seem to care as they get the first pass at redrawing them. Then when they fail to get it past the governor the Minnesota supreme court gets to decide. I have suggested a less gerrymandered system but then it would probably eliminate some of the safe seats given some of the odd borders current districts have.
I actually do have a Warn winch and have used it to clear fallen trees from some of the roads I use. I always chuckle at some of the pavement pounders I see, my favorites are the H2s with a winch but they have 24 inch rims with spinners and all chrome suspension but not a speck of dust on them. My 4 door sedan has seen more off road usage than most people's 4WD vehicles but I needed to get a real off road vehicle since I was breaking lots of parts and getting it high and centered.
While I do agree that most people buy SUVs is because they need a station wagon or mini van but don't want the stigma there are a few people who buy them to actually do things that require that type of vehicle (trucks also work). Granted they don't look pristine but they work great for right tasks. I put about 3,000 miles a year on my beat up Jeep (previously it was a Bronco II) but that is doing stuff like going hunting, camping, fishing, hauling materials, and pulling stumps. There are a number of places where I end up fording a river to continue on the road, and large portion of the "roads" I go down in it are only passable in a vehicle with high clearance and 4 wheel drive. I don't even do off roading or mudding like one of my neighbors does. It doesn't get good gas mileage, has a higher center of gravity than I like, is quite beat up, but 4 wheel drive with posi differentials is great in bad weather and on questionable roads. I even have a tow rope and have pulled people out of ditches a number of times.
The happy cheerful Muppets that we are all familiar with is not what Jim Henson was after. His earlier works were more violent and darker but involved the beloved Muppets.
I love those old light gun games. I dug out my old NES and hooked it up to my hi def LCD TV only to discover that the light gun didn't work there. Hooked it up to the old CRT TV in the basement and it works like a charm.
Could flights that leave Alaska and cross into international waters or into Canadian airspace be considered an international flight rather than a domestic interstate flight?
Even if that were the classification the feds would still have jurisdiction according to the Commerce clause. The best chance where the feds wouldn't have jurisdiction would be flights that stay entirely within Alaska, but given previous rulings those wouldn't hold up because some where along the supply chain for the flight there was interstate commerce or it has an impact on interstate commerce.
When ever talking about evolution I find it is better to think about in terms of reproductive success. In this case I would assume that having grandparents helps with the overall reproductive success of younger generations as it can alleviate some of the burden from them as we have a very long period of childhood.
And then we tell them to go pound sand. Granted we wouldn't ever be able to sell bonds to a foreign nation again and that would make things difficult for a while until we finally decide to get our nations financial house in order but that needs to be done anyway. We would probably no longer be one of the reserve currencies but that would probably be less damaging than not being able to borrow. Not to mention that us doing so would tank probably every other country.
For what those Jeeps are they are great. Dead simple (my '96 Cherokee still has a distributor and the intake manifold looks like it was for a carburetor but was converted to be fuel injected), easy to fix, and great in harsh terrain. They don't get good gas mileage but are pretty forgiving, and have some great low end torque. It doesn't hold a candle to my daily drive in most aspects but then I can ford a river or go down some very questionable roads/trails and not have to worry about getting stuck or breaking parts on the undercarriage when hunting or camping with the Jeep. One thing I found out is that Jeeps with electric accessories tend to have problems with them, I am glad mine has the arm strong windows, manual 4 wheel drive selection, manual locking hubs, and a 5 speed manual transmission.
Most engines in recent history should be capable of reaching that kind of mileage if they are properly maintained. Something like an old MG A-Series engine I wouldn't expect to even with the best care, but my old junk truck (1988 Ford Bronco II with the 2.9L engine) was neglected and still made it to over 250,000 miles. My first car was an 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (3.8L V6) that I got for free and that made it to 257,XXX miles before it died. My next car was an 85 BMW 528e and that had 212,XXX miles on it and ran great until it got rear ended and totaled. After that I had a 96 BMW 318ti that got rear ended with 179,XXX miles on it and it ran perfectly until it got totaled. My current daily driver is a 97 BMW 540i and has 232,XXX miles on it and runs probably as good as it did new and my current junk truck is a 96 Jeep Cherokee and has 370,XXX miles on it and also runs great.
Regular maintenance and washing and waxing vehicles does wonders for longevity. If you replace O2 sensors, spark plugs, plug wires, belts, hoses, coolant, oil, fluids, and filters at the recommended intervals it does wonders for longevity. Treat you car like it is a new car and it will continue run like a new car.
The ones I maintain must be from Mexico then because they are absolute basket cases and total junk. They have been maintained well and the engines are fine but the seemingly endless accessory failure is what bothers me. I am really good are replacing alternators and starters on those 2.0L VW engines but don't want to deal with the incessant water pump failures so I let the dealerships fix those. I am pretty sure they use lots of Lucas Electric components in the passenger cabin as well.
Unless VWs have gotten better then the early 2000's ones I wouldn't want one. I know how to fix them but that is only because my wife and her family have several of them from 1998 to 2002 model years. They are just basket cases, the motors last but it is all the accessories on the engines like water pumps, alternators, starters, massive amounts of plastic bits, poor PCV system (they never seem to vent like they should), oil consumption, random electrical failures in the passenger compartment. None of the VWs I maintain have turbos but I guess that those only add to the problems on the vintages I am stuck with so it is probably a good thing. These are also relatively low mileage vehicles where the highest mileage one is my mother in-law's with 120,xxx miles on it which is the 2002 golf.
I figure I am just unlucky when it comes to hunting pheasants. I see plenty of birds but they tend to all be hens last year I probably saw at least a dozen hens each time I was out but only saw the one rooster. Grouse on the other hand I usually can get my limit when I go out since you can take either sex.
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Close but it would more likely be implemented with MS Access not an open source solution, the rest is probably spot on though.
only if you want to increase the entropy of the area surrounding your new glow in the dark fridge.
I wouldn't say it is a scam but it is misleading if you don't understand where the extra energy comes from, but then who cares as heat pumps are much more efficient at heating and cooling a house than a furnace, resistive heating elements, and air conditioners.
Do they need to have built-in blowjob machines?
It wouldn't hurt.
Unfortunately most of those "real" SUVs are never used for tasks that would require a SUV or 4WD truck. I have a real SUV and I know it gets bad mileage (best I have ever managed was 21 mpg) but it gets used very little as most of the time I am not driving on roads that are barely roads (dirt tracts with only small trees growing in them), don't need high clearance, don't need 4WD, don't need to pull stumps, am not hauling a bunch of large stuff, and don't need to ford a river. Granted when I am going to be doing those activities I love my Jeep but the rest of the time it sits along side the garage. I always laugh at the H2s I see driving around pounding pavement with a winch, all chrome suspension, a trailer hitch (receiver only), 24" chrome wheels with spinners, and not a scratch or speck of dust on them. Lots of people see them as a status symbol, I see them as an unused tool in most cases.
US gas prices are going up because your government subsidies are going away.
Not really. Granted the blender credit is going away but the other subsidies for producing ethanol are going to be sticking around as long as we have a farm lobby. Even if we got rid of all oxygenated fuel it would still be cheaper than most of the rest of the word because of the lower taxes we have on fuel. Beat up on ethanol all you want (it sucks as a general purpose motor fuel) but the additional cost of using it to cut gasoline is insignificant (it would probably be a few tens of cents a gallon). We don't have any direct subsidies of gasoline or diesel (the tax breaks oil companies get are ones that every company gets) so cutting non-existent subsidies won't have an effect on pump price. Now one could argue that we subsidize fuel by the tax deductions that oil companies get but then all companies are allowed to write off payroll and capital equipment purchases and probably most other expenses so that can't be it. So you must have been referring to the US military and their services in the middle east. If that were the case then we aren't the only nation to benefit from those, plus when we decided to liberate Iraq gas prices continued to increase so that can't be it.
Sounds like you found some people who got suckered. Random mystery chemical added to counteract the ethanol won't decrease your stops for fuel, I know for high alcohol concentrations (think alcohol fueled race cars) they have additives to add to the ability to lubricate to the fuel (gasoline and diesel have this ability already) or decrease the corrosion caused by alcohol fuels but those aren't needed in the mostly gasoline blends or even in the E85 blend in the US.
The addition of alcohol (specifically ethanol) doesn't cause the problems people claim it does. I have heard people claiming to loose 10% of their mileage by running on the E10 blend, claiming it clogged their fuel filter, rusting out their gas tank or fuel lines, destroys small engines in lawn equipment. A properly running vehicle would see a 3%-4% drop in mileage by running on E10 when compared to straight non-oxy gasoline. I have tried to test this but the difference is so small that my rather crude tests can't confirm it but would seem to indicate that those number are about right. There are a few stations that sell non-oxy gasoline but you need to put it into a gas can or a collector car that will accept the larger nozzle, but there are a large number that sell E85. I have tried different blends from non-oxy up to what would be E20 (the new Minnesota standard in 2013) and apart from actually being able to notice a consistent decrease near the E20 (lower blends it wasn't as consistent or large) haven't had any problems. There are a lot of things that have a greater impact on fuel economy than a 5% or 10% ethanol blend. Some good examples would be: Proper tire pressure
Proper vehicle tune
Proper oil
Proper oil level
Head or tail wind
The stupid cargo container strapped to the top of the vehicle
Driving habits/style
The speed at which you drive
Well there go my mod points. Hemachromatosis runs very strong in my family on both sides. I started showing early signs of it about a decade ago and drawing blood is a very effective treatment of it. It has never manifested in me but I did have elevated iron levels so my doctor suggested that I consider donating blood as that would help keep it in check and possibly prevent it from ever manifesting. So now I donate blood every 8-10 weeks and help not only my self but others plus get some cookies and a pop, as an added benefit I found out I am a universal donor (O- blood type) which is always in demand. My doctor also suggested I say clear of eating liver which is probably what I will miss the most as I make a mean liver and onions. Getting pricked every 2 months is a small price to pay compared to the other side affects of the disease.
Not a turning point but definitely an inflection point. It really started to accelerate after 9/11 and people actually started to notice.
Well your state should have just gone through a process to redraw the congressional districts, so you are going to be stuck with them for the next 10 years. I have been trying to get my state house and senate members to change how it is done in Minnesota but they don't seem to care as they get the first pass at redrawing them. Then when they fail to get it past the governor the Minnesota supreme court gets to decide. I have suggested a less gerrymandered system but then it would probably eliminate some of the safe seats given some of the odd borders current districts have.
I actually do have a Warn winch and have used it to clear fallen trees from some of the roads I use. I always chuckle at some of the pavement pounders I see, my favorites are the H2s with a winch but they have 24 inch rims with spinners and all chrome suspension but not a speck of dust on them. My 4 door sedan has seen more off road usage than most people's 4WD vehicles but I needed to get a real off road vehicle since I was breaking lots of parts and getting it high and centered.
While I do agree that most people buy SUVs is because they need a station wagon or mini van but don't want the stigma there are a few people who buy them to actually do things that require that type of vehicle (trucks also work). Granted they don't look pristine but they work great for right tasks. I put about 3,000 miles a year on my beat up Jeep (previously it was a Bronco II) but that is doing stuff like going hunting, camping, fishing, hauling materials, and pulling stumps. There are a number of places where I end up fording a river to continue on the road, and large portion of the "roads" I go down in it are only passable in a vehicle with high clearance and 4 wheel drive. I don't even do off roading or mudding like one of my neighbors does. It doesn't get good gas mileage, has a higher center of gravity than I like, is quite beat up, but 4 wheel drive with posi differentials is great in bad weather and on questionable roads. I even have a tow rope and have pulled people out of ditches a number of times.
A few years ago I saw some of his political cartoons. It was kind of odd seeing cartoons in the style of Suess but targeted to adults.
The happy cheerful Muppets that we are all familiar with is not what Jim Henson was after. His earlier works were more violent and darker but involved the beloved Muppets.
I do as well. I find this hilarious but then my sense of humor has always been a bit off.
I love those old light gun games. I dug out my old NES and hooked it up to my hi def LCD TV only to discover that the light gun didn't work there. Hooked it up to the old CRT TV in the basement and it works like a charm.
Could flights that leave Alaska and cross into international waters or into Canadian airspace be considered an international flight rather than a domestic interstate flight?
Even if that were the classification the feds would still have jurisdiction according to the Commerce clause. The best chance where the feds wouldn't have jurisdiction would be flights that stay entirely within Alaska, but given previous rulings those wouldn't hold up because some where along the supply chain for the flight there was interstate commerce or it has an impact on interstate commerce.
When ever talking about evolution I find it is better to think about in terms of reproductive success. In this case I would assume that having grandparents helps with the overall reproductive success of younger generations as it can alleviate some of the burden from them as we have a very long period of childhood.
And then we tell them to go pound sand. Granted we wouldn't ever be able to sell bonds to a foreign nation again and that would make things difficult for a while until we finally decide to get our nations financial house in order but that needs to be done anyway. We would probably no longer be one of the reserve currencies but that would probably be less damaging than not being able to borrow. Not to mention that us doing so would tank probably every other country.
Well I was going for a joke but Bosch has basically become the new Lucas.
For what those Jeeps are they are great. Dead simple (my '96 Cherokee still has a distributor and the intake manifold looks like it was for a carburetor but was converted to be fuel injected), easy to fix, and great in harsh terrain. They don't get good gas mileage but are pretty forgiving, and have some great low end torque. It doesn't hold a candle to my daily drive in most aspects but then I can ford a river or go down some very questionable roads/trails and not have to worry about getting stuck or breaking parts on the undercarriage when hunting or camping with the Jeep. One thing I found out is that Jeeps with electric accessories tend to have problems with them, I am glad mine has the arm strong windows, manual 4 wheel drive selection, manual locking hubs, and a 5 speed manual transmission.
Most engines in recent history should be capable of reaching that kind of mileage if they are properly maintained. Something like an old MG A-Series engine I wouldn't expect to even with the best care, but my old junk truck (1988 Ford Bronco II with the 2.9L engine) was neglected and still made it to over 250,000 miles. My first car was an 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (3.8L V6) that I got for free and that made it to 257,XXX miles before it died. My next car was an 85 BMW 528e and that had 212,XXX miles on it and ran great until it got rear ended and totaled. After that I had a 96 BMW 318ti that got rear ended with 179,XXX miles on it and it ran perfectly until it got totaled. My current daily driver is a 97 BMW 540i and has 232,XXX miles on it and runs probably as good as it did new and my current junk truck is a 96 Jeep Cherokee and has 370,XXX miles on it and also runs great.
Regular maintenance and washing and waxing vehicles does wonders for longevity. If you replace O2 sensors, spark plugs, plug wires, belts, hoses, coolant, oil, fluids, and filters at the recommended intervals it does wonders for longevity. Treat you car like it is a new car and it will continue run like a new car.
The ones I maintain must be from Mexico then because they are absolute basket cases and total junk. They have been maintained well and the engines are fine but the seemingly endless accessory failure is what bothers me. I am really good are replacing alternators and starters on those 2.0L VW engines but don't want to deal with the incessant water pump failures so I let the dealerships fix those. I am pretty sure they use lots of Lucas Electric components in the passenger cabin as well.
Unless VWs have gotten better then the early 2000's ones I wouldn't want one. I know how to fix them but that is only because my wife and her family have several of them from 1998 to 2002 model years. They are just basket cases, the motors last but it is all the accessories on the engines like water pumps, alternators, starters, massive amounts of plastic bits, poor PCV system (they never seem to vent like they should), oil consumption, random electrical failures in the passenger compartment. None of the VWs I maintain have turbos but I guess that those only add to the problems on the vintages I am stuck with so it is probably a good thing. These are also relatively low mileage vehicles where the highest mileage one is my mother in-law's with 120,xxx miles on it which is the 2002 golf.
I figure I am just unlucky when it comes to hunting pheasants. I see plenty of birds but they tend to all be hens last year I probably saw at least a dozen hens each time I was out but only saw the one rooster. Grouse on the other hand I usually can get my limit when I go out since you can take either sex.