I'm interested in a hybrid that folks can drive to and from work. Bus and delivery vehicles are an excellent start but I'd like to see a Prius with a diesel:-) I know that some have begun building these sorts of vehicles but they aren't here yet. In fact next year there won't even be any TDI here due to emissions regs changing and the fuel switchover. Come 2008 I expect to see alot more availability and maybe even some widespread biodiesel sales. Figure a biodiesel powered Prius sized vehicle that's hybrid with Li-Ion batteries onboard would make for some serious MPG. Build it out of aluminum and C/F tosave even more weight.... Sadly it would cost a mint and no American automaker is likely to make it since they seem fixated on bigger bigger bigger SUV. Bleah!
Duh, of course it should and it *does*. You'll note that COLDER temps actually cause LEANER Air/Fuel mixtures not rich which is what black smoke indicates. However colder temps also mean that the fuel doesn't atomize nearly as easily - even at the sick pressures the TDI uses. The result with a diesel, just like a gas vehicle, is rich mixtures in order to get combustion at all and that means some smoke from a diesel as unburned particles make it out the pipe. Warm it up quickly and the emissions impact is lessened.
Diesel gives more torque partly because as a fuel it contains more BTUs per gallon than gas - it has more energy. Compression ignition is also more effeciently (apparently) which results in better MPG. Part of the reason why that Audi did so well was because it didn't have to refuel nearly as often as it's competitors - I believe it was allowed to run the same size fuel tank as the others. As for weight - diesels generally have heavier engines as they stick to iron and don't use aluminum. The compression loads are a great deal higher and the aluminum apparently cannot handle it.
Personally I cannot wait for someone to build a diesel hybrid. Now that ought to get some good MPG!
This particular diesel doesn't smoke - it's running a blended mix to help prevent that. Black smoke is unburned fuel and a sign of an improperly tuned diesel. The low sulphur fuel will help air quality and allow us to FINALLY get some of the better diesels here but I don't think it will change the exhaust smoke since if the car is running right it shouldn't smoke anyway. I've got a new TDI and I've yet to see any smoke but expect to see some come Winter...
Well except that Direct no longer uses TIVO in IT'S receivers! They have dropped the DTIVOs and created their own POS. I switched FROm DISH to DIRECT because I knew the DISH PVRs were crap and wanted the TIVO functionality. Now I have it and DIRECT is dropping it - argh! On the plus side I *own* my DTIVO and have hacked the snot out of it to restore all of the functions DTV apparently never allowed. The biggest downside I see to all of this is that the new HD PVR boxes aren't TIVO and with the new fomat rolling out the DTIVO HD boxes are no longer viable. That leaves me and others down the road high and dry - that sux! I wish the S3 would hurry up and rollout so I'd have an option at least. Much as I hate cable I like my TIVO functionality more. Perhaps if Myth ever gets to the point where it just works and is easier to setup I'll switch. Yes I've tried Knoppmyth and I continue to try it as new versions come out but it ain't quite there yet for me.
Lime Technologies unRAID system instead. One drive is Parity the rest are data drives, no striping. If a disk fails you get your data back, if two disks fail you lose those disks worth of data but nothing else. I have 3TB in one of these and while it has it's quirks I'm *not* forced to have a bunch of drives all the same size....
People and companies who have money don't have it because they run out and blow it willy nilly. They have it because they have earned it and spent wisely. Just because they have a pile of cash doesn't mean they should spend it on something like this that might never earn back a single penny.....
AMD has licensed the technology behind what is supposed to be a VERY fast FPU device. It can supposedly do the math faster than a quad core AMD CPU. Intel also attempted to get the rights but AMD apparently got them and with their Hypertransport is supposed to be in a better position to actually use it. Obviously not released yet but I believe there was an article posted here a month or so talking about it. So yeah, seperate CPUs CAN be an advantage for specialized tasks...
Also, DRC has come out with a programmable coprocessor with the ability to tie into the Hypertransport on AMD CPUs. It's not so much different from some of the other add-in cards that do the same thing except that this new one can get direct access to memory and the CPU through Hypertransport. Specialized CPUs are apparently far from dead!
Hrm, and adding this to a graphics card makes sense to me. Chicken and egg problem - no one wants it because there's no games and there's no games because there's no market yet. These cards have been sold in OEM computers by some manufacturers already thoguh so hopefully that will jumpstart things. Personally I want to see what UT2K7 will do with it - if it's used to good effect I *will* buy one...
Umm, they ARE randomized! The Euro cars in particular are a real bitch with this kind of thing. Mercedes, BMW, blah blah - tough key systems. Dunno' if Domestic manufacturers are doing this or Japanese but the Germans sure are. Most of the Japanese and Domestic stuff I've seen is still keyed but Caddy, Corvette, and maybe some of the high end Japanese may be moving wireless and I doubt they are using static keys. Heck, some of the Euro stuff uses IRDA...
While I cannot say I agree with your comments 100% you are for the most part correct. I've done ECU programming of standalone ECUs and it can be a real bear to get a car running right! There are replacement ECUs out there though that can be swapped in - AEM makes a whole line of them. These can replace anti-theft hardware in some cases but in others you have to wire around some hardware - not something you're going to be doing someplace where you can be spotted. Just swapping in an ECU can be a bitch in some cars! Getting into the ECU with a laptop has gotten pretty easy on SOME cars - they can be programmed almost as easily as a standalone and that includes bypassing theft in SOME cars. The high end stuff isn't going to be that easy and the manufacturers are trying hard to keep people out of the ECUs for lots of reasons too.
I agree that electronics are the best and really only way to do emissions. Heck, we have BETTER running cars as a result too. Wideband O2s, coil on plug, vairable valve timing, and all sorts of engine controls have been a direct result of the desire to get better economy, power, and emissions from cars. Trying to do this mechanically is a joke - electronics HAVE to be in the mix to do it halfway right. Carbs are a JOKE and seldom if ever calibrated right and if they manage to hit stoich a weather change or altitude change will quickly modify the behaviour....
I've been running their client for MONTHS now and the most recent upgrade is much improved. It integrates with GMAIL and HotMail to make reporting SPAM quite easy. The result has been my reporting lots more SPAM to the system. It's no wonder to me that they are feeling the heat - my client has been working overtime submitting opt-out requests:-) I'm happy to use the bandwidth to help this cause out and would encourage others to do so too...
I'm *not* stuck in the middle of nowhere. However I have but two choices - 144K IDSL via a 3rd party (COVAD) or Comcast. As it happens I have both because one is used for hosting but probably not for much longer. FIOS is a pipedream but it's coming in areas near me. SAT is a joke since 500+ms Ping kills my gaming and THEY throttle like mad anyway.
So, while you may think there's competition out in the world it doesn't seem to be occuring anywhere near me. I'd bet that lots of others are in the same boat too. I live in a populated suburb of Washington D.C. so it's not some backwater.
P.S. GTE aka Verizon "promised" me DSL multiple times. I actually signed up for it three times but they could never get me a connection. In the end they couldn't provide but COVAD did and GTE still screwed around and dragged their feet providing the circuit. Felt good to dump them for Vonage! 2 days after the switch they called me up to offer me something but before starting the woman asked, rather smugly, if I was a Verizon customer. When I said no you'd have thought I kicked her puppy. I've not heard back from them since!
You may take your ASSumptions that I listen to Michael Moore and shove them someplace uncomfortable - for starters.
If you had been paying atention recently you will have heard Bush asking the American people to buy more hybrids and diesels. What a crock! ONE company is making a production diesel passenger vehicle in this country - that's VW which is a German company that assembles many of it's cars in Mexico (the Jetta TDI is assembled there). Honda and Toyota are the prime Hybrid builders with Ford's Escape being a pretty distant 3rd in the way of mileage and I believe it's mostly Mazda (Ford owns part of them at least). So it would seem that to relieve our current situation we MUST buy a foreign car at the urging of our leader. Niiiice!
Now, I'm NOT against buying a foreign car and I've owned a few that I really liked. However I think it's pretty pathetic that in order to save fuel we're being urged to buy foreign. The saddest thing is how we got into this mess in the first place - blame the Govt. CAFE standards had a loophole in them that allowed for vehicles classified as trucks to duck most of the stricter CAFE standards and OBTW crash standards too. Folks didn't want smaller vehicles so the manufacturers used that loophole to build truck like things that WOW sold like mad and sucked gas like crazy too. Years later anyone driving a normal sized car feels like a bug on the road trying not to get stepped on and NOW many years later we finally have some guy in office making a weak attempt to get us to conserve by asking us to drive a foreign built vehicle. Way to go!
Fund fuel cells, it's a great idea for a car *many* years from now. But in the meantime how about doing something to get diesel hybrids on the road? Or maybe just real hybrids at all from a domestic manufacturer? Why is there only ONE E85 station listed in my state? Why is our country so poorly funding solar and wind? Why are there no LNG fueling stations for passenger cars around? To purchase BioDiesel I would have to drive out into the hills and pay as much as I would for regular diesel in my area because there's so little production. I'd be better off making it myself. Hell, just finding normal diesel is a PITA but at least you can drive 500+ miles on a tank before needing it! How long ago did Europe and the rest of the world move to low sulphur diesel? We're moving to it next year and it's about time - it's a large part of why we have only one foreign manufacturer selling diesels here, our fuel suxs!
If the White House has been SO concerned about our dependence on oil why weren't the CAFE standards tweaked years ago to push out the SUVs and encourage conservation? At a time when we need to conserve the average car I see on the road is the size of an Explorer and I've seen quite a few dualies and Excursions being driven to and from work by ONE person too. Instead of our Govt. having done things to better guide the process towards conservation we've instead been forced into it by sky high fuel prices driven both by our gluttony and by gouging from the likes of EXXON that just turned in a 36+Billion dollar profit for a single quarter - yes *B*illion. Don't worry, they're going to "look into" their pricing. Considering where these bozos get their money I won't hold my breath that they will find any problems with the profits.
The funny thing is I'm not some tree hugging greenie. I happen to prefer fast sports cars and my last project dyno'd over 700HP at the wheels - from a 6banger Toyota motor. I appreciate power and I know what it takes to make it, I believe folks should be allowed to own things like that. Check out the price of race gas BTW and you'll understand why I wanted to run E85. However I'm also not so stupid as to think it's "okay" to drive something that gets crap gas mileage when all I'm doing is driving to work and back. Hell even that car making over 700HP got better mileage than many SUVs when I drove it on the street. (lol) For work and hauling groceries we all ought to be sensible. Hummers, Excursions,
I believe if you'll look through this very thread you'll find more than one motorcycle rider speaking about how they ride as if everyone is out to kill them. This is obviously a conclusion made after many close calls. I experience this from time to time in a car - including a pretty serious accident back in July that was sadly unavoidable (bike or not). If everyone is out to kill you they WILL eventually get you if you tempt fate often enough.
So on one hand you claim bikes just flat out outhandle and outstop cars yet on the other it seems everyone has it out to get you? Terrific that you've survived but your luck will run out eventually. In a car you're more likely to walk away, not so a bike. Your attitude is typical of those who ride bikes that I've spoken to. For some fun watch the new VW commercials - they give me flashbacks every time but I assure you it can and does occur just that fast!
Armor? What are you using for a crumple zone exactly? Oh yeah, ribs, wrists, and a helmet. Armor is terrific sliding across asphalt, it will do jack when you smack a signpost or get hit while laying on the pavement collecting your wits. Minor impacts and abrasions are where armor excels but if you equate that to the metal surrounding a caged car owner you need to rethink.
I know quite a few guys who ride bikes. ALL of them have been down at least once in their *years* of riding. Thankfully all are alive but more than one of them spent time in the hospital with things like broken collar bones, legs, skull fractures, and one with a pretty screwed up hand that required a specialist.
Yup, it can happen and when it does you'll figure out just how well that armor works I'd guess.
In the end, motorcycles would still end up being less safe for general use than a car, because motorcycles get more dangerous at night and in poor conditions. But if you restrict the use to decent weather and during the day, and properly control the demographics, I doubt that the fatality rates are all that different.
So if I'm reading this right you claim that motorcycles are just as safe as cars so long as not ridden at night or in bad weather? I'll play that game - crash 5 cars and 5 bikes in perfect weather, who's less hurt? A motorcycle rider has nothing around them to protect them and WILL be hurt worse on average. Add to that that a motorcylist is also likely to be run over when in an accident or may strike something like a signpost and things look pretty grim. In a car involved in a 3car accident the middle guy might be hurt a bit but the bike is going to be one hurtin' puppy.
Like it or not, bikes are *not* as safe as cars. Ride one if you want but please spare me the speaches about how it's safe - it's not. The risks are your own however and that's your business
As it happens we just bought a Jetta TDI. Fuel prices for regular gas are edging $3 a gallon here for even regular gas. The HIGHEST I've seen diesel is $3.15. The delta between highest diesel and lowest gas price is maybe 30CENTS. In driving during bumper to bumper traffic the car is reporting mileage of 36.5-39MPG. The vehicle it replaced (SUV) averaged 18MPG. The small sports car I drive gets 27MPG and I'm SERIOUSLY considering dumping it for a 2nd Jetta. I'll gain MPG, room, and lose the convertible top - oh well.
Even ASSuming that a normal gas powered car is going to get 27MPG the diesel trumps gas in cost per mile in bumper to bumper traffic. Speaking of which, I got an extra 3mpg by leaving early and avoiding traffic which the Jetta driver doesn't do. She was pumping $50 a tank into the SUV twice a week, the new vehicle is going to be alot less painful to fill I predict. A hybrid would've cost more and not done as well on the highway so this makes sense despite the lack of HOV and tax concesions.
Now, move to a highway scenario. The Jetta is supposedly capable of FIFTY MPG at highway speeds although we've yet to test it. Even if it gets high 40s it's going to EASILy trounce most any gas powered car. Hybrids do best in slow traffic and in that arena the TDI competes well but at highway speeds the Hybrids are running their motors and won't do nearly as well.
Some interesting bonus points of interest... Jetta TDI automatic is a computer controlled manual 6speed called a DSG. It gets as good or BETTER mileage than the manual models and doesn't shift like crap. The gas model GTis with the DSG are faster than the manuals for this reason. Despite some pretty anemic HP numbers this car gets up and moves when needed - it apparently outguns our previous SUV according to the driver. I expect it's highway performance to be good. For geeks there's lots of things to tinker with including an optional NAV display, iPOD interface (optional), and a CAN bus that can be manipulated with a laptop and the proper interface (VAG COM).
Now for a kick in the teeth.... VW is apparently the only one selling diesel equipped new cars in the States (hear that Bush?!). 2006's models will be built right to the limit because NONE will be shipped here in model year 2007. Emissions standards on diesels for 2007 are much higher and that's when the low sulphur fuel FINALLY kicks in. In 2008 I expect to see a bunch of diesels sold here from lots of manufacturers. Why we don't have a diesel electric hybrid is beyond me since that's an obviously smart way to go - just ask a locomotive driver:-) I had to laugh at Bush telling people to buy more diesel, I'm sure VW appreciates it.
Oh, out the door price on this little puppy with EVERYTHING including tax was $28K. No leather on this one (not cloth though)and no HIDS available, but overall it's plush and we're happy...
If you replace teh CMOS crap camera with a decent CCD model it's better but the range still blows chunks in my home where there's a TON of 2.4Gig chatter. It's the camera that sux the most though, complete POS.
I won't clam that this source is somehow authoratative but the claims can be checked. The claims are that indeed many glaciers, including those near where glaciers are supposedly becoming extinct, are GROWING! What makes a glacier grow? More snow is the argument. Artic is melting? Sure the Northern most tip is but down further South they are having to continuosly build new research stations because old ones are getting buried!
Perhaps not something that will change your mind but certainly some interesting counterpoints to the belief that suddenly everything is getting too hot - and facts you can doublecheck complete with refrences. Funny thing the other day - someone mentioned global warming to me and how the seas were rising blah blah. So I asked this person how much they thought the seas had risen based on all that they had read - "Several feet at least" was the response. I then pointed out that a relatives home I'm aware of is less than 18inches above sea level and is within a block of the beach - and has been for my entire life. It has NEVER been flooded, despite multiple hurricanes passing over this year, and is apparently in no immediete danger. They got real quiet after that.
The general public is being spooked by the press. The sky is falling! I'm still not quite convinced but will certainly be happy to cut back on emissions to a reaosnable degree - makes sens to me.
Available intelligence wasn't available.... Hey, how did the budget for the various intelligence and law enforcement agencies look leading up to 9/11? Cuts? There were cuts? No way! How could you make cuts and then wonder why there wasn't intelligence? The CIA is supposed to be the ones who put spies - that's people - on the ground in places where you can't use a satellite or some other way to get information. How do you cut that budget and then bitch about lack of info? That's like cuttig the budget for Border Security and then screaming about illegal immigration. Oh wait, we're doing that too!
I wonder, 9/11 happened - how many times before and since have really serious attempts like that been attempted? Honestly the worst part of 9/11 is that we're all kissing away our rights in the name of "security" and turning our society slowly but surely into exactly that which we're supposed to be fighting against. What are the chances we'll turn back the clock and get those rights back without pitchforks and torches?:-(
To your comment I'd add that a plot to fly an airliner into the CIA HQ a few years prior to 9/11 was broken up and reported on a few years ago. I've not tried Googling for it but it was indeed reported a few years before 9/11 and I remembered it pretty clearly when 9/11 occured. Then there was that whole attempt to blow up the towers with a bomb in the garage, it was obviously targeted and steps to prevent a repeat were taken. Somehow I don't think an airplane flying into the building could've been stopped by the security guys in the building though....
Slashdot Mirror
I'm interested in a hybrid that folks can drive to and from work. Bus and delivery vehicles are an excellent start but I'd like to see a Prius with a diesel :-) I know that some have begun building these sorts of vehicles but they aren't here yet. In fact next year there won't even be any TDI here due to emissions regs changing and the fuel switchover. Come 2008 I expect to see alot more availability and maybe even some widespread biodiesel sales. Figure a biodiesel powered Prius sized vehicle that's hybrid with Li-Ion batteries onboard would make for some serious MPG. Build it out of aluminum and C/F tosave even more weight.... Sadly it would cost a mint and no American automaker is likely to make it since they seem fixated on bigger bigger bigger SUV. Bleah!
Duh, of course it should and it *does*. You'll note that COLDER temps actually cause LEANER Air/Fuel mixtures not rich which is what black smoke indicates. However colder temps also mean that the fuel doesn't atomize nearly as easily - even at the sick pressures the TDI uses. The result with a diesel, just like a gas vehicle, is rich mixtures in order to get combustion at all and that means some smoke from a diesel as unburned particles make it out the pipe. Warm it up quickly and the emissions impact is lessened.
Diesel gives more torque partly because as a fuel it contains more BTUs per gallon than gas - it has more energy. Compression ignition is also more effeciently (apparently) which results in better MPG. Part of the reason why that Audi did so well was because it didn't have to refuel nearly as often as it's competitors - I believe it was allowed to run the same size fuel tank as the others. As for weight - diesels generally have heavier engines as they stick to iron and don't use aluminum. The compression loads are a great deal higher and the aluminum apparently cannot handle it.
Personally I cannot wait for someone to build a diesel hybrid. Now that ought to get some good MPG!
This particular diesel doesn't smoke - it's running a blended mix to help prevent that. Black smoke is unburned fuel and a sign of an improperly tuned diesel. The low sulphur fuel will help air quality and allow us to FINALLY get some of the better diesels here but I don't think it will change the exhaust smoke since if the car is running right it shouldn't smoke anyway. I've got a new TDI and I've yet to see any smoke but expect to see some come Winter...
Well except that Direct no longer uses TIVO in IT'S receivers! They have dropped the DTIVOs and created their own POS. I switched FROm DISH to DIRECT because I knew the DISH PVRs were crap and wanted the TIVO functionality. Now I have it and DIRECT is dropping it - argh! On the plus side I *own* my DTIVO and have hacked the snot out of it to restore all of the functions DTV apparently never allowed. The biggest downside I see to all of this is that the new HD PVR boxes aren't TIVO and with the new fomat rolling out the DTIVO HD boxes are no longer viable. That leaves me and others down the road high and dry - that sux! I wish the S3 would hurry up and rollout so I'd have an option at least. Much as I hate cable I like my TIVO functionality more. Perhaps if Myth ever gets to the point where it just works and is easier to setup I'll switch. Yes I've tried Knoppmyth and I continue to try it as new versions come out but it ain't quite there yet for me.
Google TinyXP and I think you'll have a head-start on what you're looking for there ;-)
Hrm, might be PPC - the new ones even have a crap Broadcom and some other O/S but you get the point :-P
Many of "those" Linksys routers are indeed ARM equipped computers running LINUX! Ref example - WRT54GS.
Lime Technologies unRAID system instead. One drive is Parity the rest are data drives, no striping. If a disk fails you get your data back, if two disks fail you lose those disks worth of data but nothing else. I have 3TB in one of these and while it has it's quirks I'm *not* forced to have a bunch of drives all the same size....
People and companies who have money don't have it because they run out and blow it willy nilly. They have it because they have earned it and spent wisely. Just because they have a pile of cash doesn't mean they should spend it on something like this that might never earn back a single penny.....
AMD has licensed the technology behind what is supposed to be a VERY fast FPU device. It can supposedly do the math faster than a quad core AMD CPU. Intel also attempted to get the rights but AMD apparently got them and with their Hypertransport is supposed to be in a better position to actually use it. Obviously not released yet but I believe there was an article posted here a month or so talking about it. So yeah, seperate CPUs CAN be an advantage for specialized tasks...
Also, DRC has come out with a programmable coprocessor with the ability to tie into the Hypertransport on AMD CPUs. It's not so much different from some of the other add-in cards that do the same thing except that this new one can get direct access to memory and the CPU through Hypertransport. Specialized CPUs are apparently far from dead!
Hrm, and adding this to a graphics card makes sense to me. Chicken and egg problem - no one wants it because there's no games and there's no games because there's no market yet. These cards have been sold in OEM computers by some manufacturers already thoguh so hopefully that will jumpstart things. Personally I want to see what UT2K7 will do with it - if it's used to good effect I *will* buy one...
No, it also has an additional power connector - this is mentioned early in the article.
Umm, they ARE randomized! The Euro cars in particular are a real bitch with this kind of thing. Mercedes, BMW, blah blah - tough key systems. Dunno' if Domestic manufacturers are doing this or Japanese but the Germans sure are. Most of the Japanese and Domestic stuff I've seen is still keyed but Caddy, Corvette, and maybe some of the high end Japanese may be moving wireless and I doubt they are using static keys. Heck, some of the Euro stuff uses IRDA...
While I cannot say I agree with your comments 100% you are for the most part correct. I've done ECU programming of standalone ECUs and it can be a real bear to get a car running right! There are replacement ECUs out there though that can be swapped in - AEM makes a whole line of them. These can replace anti-theft hardware in some cases but in others you have to wire around some hardware - not something you're going to be doing someplace where you can be spotted. Just swapping in an ECU can be a bitch in some cars! Getting into the ECU with a laptop has gotten pretty easy on SOME cars - they can be programmed almost as easily as a standalone and that includes bypassing theft in SOME cars. The high end stuff isn't going to be that easy and the manufacturers are trying hard to keep people out of the ECUs for lots of reasons too.
I agree that electronics are the best and really only way to do emissions. Heck, we have BETTER running cars as a result too. Wideband O2s, coil on plug, vairable valve timing, and all sorts of engine controls have been a direct result of the desire to get better economy, power, and emissions from cars. Trying to do this mechanically is a joke - electronics HAVE to be in the mix to do it halfway right. Carbs are a JOKE and seldom if ever calibrated right and if they manage to hit stoich a weather change or altitude change will quickly modify the behaviour....
What makes you say they have been compromised?
:-) I'm happy to use the bandwidth to help this cause out and would encourage others to do so too...
I've been running their client for MONTHS now and the most recent upgrade is much improved. It integrates with GMAIL and HotMail to make reporting SPAM quite easy. The result has been my reporting lots more SPAM to the system. It's no wonder to me that they are feeling the heat - my client has been working overtime submitting opt-out requests
I'm *not* stuck in the middle of nowhere. However I have but two choices - 144K IDSL via a 3rd party (COVAD) or Comcast. As it happens I have both because one is used for hosting but probably not for much longer. FIOS is a pipedream but it's coming in areas near me. SAT is a joke since 500+ms Ping kills my gaming and THEY throttle like mad anyway.
So, while you may think there's competition out in the world it doesn't seem to be occuring anywhere near me. I'd bet that lots of others are in the same boat too. I live in a populated suburb of Washington D.C. so it's not some backwater.
P.S. GTE aka Verizon "promised" me DSL multiple times. I actually signed up for it three times but they could never get me a connection. In the end they couldn't provide but COVAD did and GTE still screwed around and dragged their feet providing the circuit. Felt good to dump them for Vonage! 2 days after the switch they called me up to offer me something but before starting the woman asked, rather smugly, if I was a Verizon customer. When I said no you'd have thought I kicked her puppy. I've not heard back from them since!
You may take your ASSumptions that I listen to Michael Moore and shove them someplace uncomfortable - for starters.
If you had been paying atention recently you will have heard Bush asking the American people to buy more hybrids and diesels. What a crock! ONE company is making a production diesel passenger vehicle in this country - that's VW which is a German company that assembles many of it's cars in Mexico (the Jetta TDI is assembled there). Honda and Toyota are the prime Hybrid builders with Ford's Escape being a pretty distant 3rd in the way of mileage and I believe it's mostly Mazda (Ford owns part of them at least). So it would seem that to relieve our current situation we MUST buy a foreign car at the urging of our leader. Niiiice!
Now, I'm NOT against buying a foreign car and I've owned a few that I really liked. However I think it's pretty pathetic that in order to save fuel we're being urged to buy foreign. The saddest thing is how we got into this mess in the first place - blame the Govt. CAFE standards had a loophole in them that allowed for vehicles classified as trucks to duck most of the stricter CAFE standards and OBTW crash standards too. Folks didn't want smaller vehicles so the manufacturers used that loophole to build truck like things that WOW sold like mad and sucked gas like crazy too. Years later anyone driving a normal sized car feels like a bug on the road trying not to get stepped on and NOW many years later we finally have some guy in office making a weak attempt to get us to conserve by asking us to drive a foreign built vehicle. Way to go!
Fund fuel cells, it's a great idea for a car *many* years from now. But in the meantime how about doing something to get diesel hybrids on the road? Or maybe just real hybrids at all from a domestic manufacturer? Why is there only ONE E85 station listed in my state? Why is our country so poorly funding solar and wind? Why are there no LNG fueling stations for passenger cars around? To purchase BioDiesel I would have to drive out into the hills and pay as much as I would for regular diesel in my area because there's so little production. I'd be better off making it myself. Hell, just finding normal diesel is a PITA but at least you can drive 500+ miles on a tank before needing it! How long ago did Europe and the rest of the world move to low sulphur diesel? We're moving to it next year and it's about time - it's a large part of why we have only one foreign manufacturer selling diesels here, our fuel suxs!
If the White House has been SO concerned about our dependence on oil why weren't the CAFE standards tweaked years ago to push out the SUVs and encourage conservation? At a time when we need to conserve the average car I see on the road is the size of an Explorer and I've seen quite a few dualies and Excursions being driven to and from work by ONE person too. Instead of our Govt. having done things to better guide the process towards conservation we've instead been forced into it by sky high fuel prices driven both by our gluttony and by gouging from the likes of EXXON that just turned in a 36+Billion dollar profit for a single quarter - yes *B*illion. Don't worry, they're going to "look into" their pricing. Considering where these bozos get their money I won't hold my breath that they will find any problems with the profits.
The funny thing is I'm not some tree hugging greenie. I happen to prefer fast sports cars and my last project dyno'd over 700HP at the wheels - from a 6banger Toyota motor. I appreciate power and I know what it takes to make it, I believe folks should be allowed to own things like that. Check out the price of race gas BTW and you'll understand why I wanted to run E85. However I'm also not so stupid as to think it's "okay" to drive something that gets crap gas mileage when all I'm doing is driving to work and back. Hell even that car making over 700HP got better mileage than many SUVs when I drove it on the street. (lol) For work and hauling groceries we all ought to be sensible. Hummers, Excursions,
I believe if you'll look through this very thread you'll find more than one motorcycle rider speaking about how they ride as if everyone is out to kill them. This is obviously a conclusion made after many close calls. I experience this from time to time in a car - including a pretty serious accident back in July that was sadly unavoidable (bike or not). If everyone is out to kill you they WILL eventually get you if you tempt fate often enough.
So on one hand you claim bikes just flat out outhandle and outstop cars yet on the other it seems everyone has it out to get you? Terrific that you've survived but your luck will run out eventually. In a car you're more likely to walk away, not so a bike. Your attitude is typical of those who ride bikes that I've spoken to. For some fun watch the new VW commercials - they give me flashbacks every time but I assure you it can and does occur just that fast!
Armor? What are you using for a crumple zone exactly? Oh yeah, ribs, wrists, and a helmet. Armor is terrific sliding across asphalt, it will do jack when you smack a signpost or get hit while laying on the pavement collecting your wits. Minor impacts and abrasions are where armor excels but if you equate that to the metal surrounding a caged car owner you need to rethink.
I know quite a few guys who ride bikes. ALL of them have been down at least once in their *years* of riding. Thankfully all are alive but more than one of them spent time in the hospital with things like broken collar bones, legs, skull fractures, and one with a pretty screwed up hand that required a specialist.
Yup, it can happen and when it does you'll figure out just how well that armor works I'd guess.
So if I'm reading this right you claim that motorcycles are just as safe as cars so long as not ridden at night or in bad weather? I'll play that game - crash 5 cars and 5 bikes in perfect weather, who's less hurt? A motorcycle rider has nothing around them to protect them and WILL be hurt worse on average. Add to that that a motorcylist is also likely to be run over when in an accident or may strike something like a signpost and things look pretty grim. In a car involved in a 3car accident the middle guy might be hurt a bit but the bike is going to be one hurtin' puppy.
Like it or not, bikes are *not* as safe as cars. Ride one if you want but please spare me the speaches about how it's safe - it's not. The risks are your own however and that's your business
As it happens we just bought a Jetta TDI. Fuel prices for regular gas are edging $3 a gallon here for even regular gas. The HIGHEST I've seen diesel is $3.15. The delta between highest diesel and lowest gas price is maybe 30CENTS. In driving during bumper to bumper traffic the car is reporting mileage of 36.5-39MPG. The vehicle it replaced (SUV) averaged 18MPG. The small sports car I drive gets 27MPG and I'm SERIOUSLY considering dumping it for a 2nd Jetta. I'll gain MPG, room, and lose the convertible top - oh well.
:-) I had to laugh at Bush telling people to buy more diesel, I'm sure VW appreciates it.
Even ASSuming that a normal gas powered car is going to get 27MPG the diesel trumps gas in cost per mile in bumper to bumper traffic. Speaking of which, I got an extra 3mpg by leaving early and avoiding traffic which the Jetta driver doesn't do. She was pumping $50 a tank into the SUV twice a week, the new vehicle is going to be alot less painful to fill I predict. A hybrid would've cost more and not done as well on the highway so this makes sense despite the lack of HOV and tax concesions.
Now, move to a highway scenario. The Jetta is supposedly capable of FIFTY MPG at highway speeds although we've yet to test it. Even if it gets high 40s it's going to EASILy trounce most any gas powered car. Hybrids do best in slow traffic and in that arena the TDI competes well but at highway speeds the Hybrids are running their motors and won't do nearly as well.
Some interesting bonus points of interest... Jetta TDI automatic is a computer controlled manual 6speed called a DSG. It gets as good or BETTER mileage than the manual models and doesn't shift like crap. The gas model GTis with the DSG are faster than the manuals for this reason. Despite some pretty anemic HP numbers this car gets up and moves when needed - it apparently outguns our previous SUV according to the driver. I expect it's highway performance to be good. For geeks there's lots of things to tinker with including an optional NAV display, iPOD interface (optional), and a CAN bus that can be manipulated with a laptop and the proper interface (VAG COM).
Now for a kick in the teeth.... VW is apparently the only one selling diesel equipped new cars in the States (hear that Bush?!). 2006's models will be built right to the limit because NONE will be shipped here in model year 2007. Emissions standards on diesels for 2007 are much higher and that's when the low sulphur fuel FINALLY kicks in. In 2008 I expect to see a bunch of diesels sold here from lots of manufacturers. Why we don't have a diesel electric hybrid is beyond me since that's an obviously smart way to go - just ask a locomotive driver
Oh, out the door price on this little puppy with EVERYTHING including tax was $28K. No leather on this one (not cloth though)and no HIDS available, but overall it's plush and we're happy...
If you replace teh CMOS crap camera with a decent CCD model it's better but the range still blows chunks in my home where there's a TON of 2.4Gig chatter. It's the camera that sux the most though, complete POS.
http://iceagenow.com/
I won't clam that this source is somehow authoratative but the claims can be checked. The claims are that indeed many glaciers, including those near where glaciers are supposedly becoming extinct, are GROWING! What makes a glacier grow? More snow is the argument. Artic is melting? Sure the Northern most tip is but down further South they are having to continuosly build new research stations because old ones are getting buried!
Perhaps not something that will change your mind but certainly some interesting counterpoints to the belief that suddenly everything is getting too hot - and facts you can doublecheck complete with refrences. Funny thing the other day - someone mentioned global warming to me and how the seas were rising blah blah. So I asked this person how much they thought the seas had risen based on all that they had read - "Several feet at least" was the response. I then pointed out that a relatives home I'm aware of is less than 18inches above sea level and is within a block of the beach - and has been for my entire life. It has NEVER been flooded, despite multiple hurricanes passing over this year, and is apparently in no immediete danger. They got real quiet after that.
The general public is being spooked by the press. The sky is falling! I'm still not quite convinced but will certainly be happy to cut back on emissions to a reaosnable degree - makes sens to me.
That's an AOL WEB site and a conspiracy theorist WEB site. Might you have something a little less biased?
Available intelligence wasn't available.... Hey, how did the budget for the various intelligence and law enforcement agencies look leading up to 9/11? Cuts? There were cuts? No way! How could you make cuts and then wonder why there wasn't intelligence? The CIA is supposed to be the ones who put spies - that's people - on the ground in places where you can't use a satellite or some other way to get information. How do you cut that budget and then bitch about lack of info? That's like cuttig the budget for Border Security and then screaming about illegal immigration. Oh wait, we're doing that too!
:-(
I wonder, 9/11 happened - how many times before and since have really serious attempts like that been attempted? Honestly the worst part of 9/11 is that we're all kissing away our rights in the name of "security" and turning our society slowly but surely into exactly that which we're supposed to be fighting against. What are the chances we'll turn back the clock and get those rights back without pitchforks and torches?
To your comment I'd add that a plot to fly an airliner into the CIA HQ a few years prior to 9/11 was broken up and reported on a few years ago. I've not tried Googling for it but it was indeed reported a few years before 9/11 and I remembered it pretty clearly when 9/11 occured. Then there was that whole attempt to blow up the towers with a bomb in the garage, it was obviously targeted and steps to prevent a repeat were taken. Somehow I don't think an airplane flying into the building could've been stopped by the security guys in the building though....