So far about all I've cared to watch is women's gymnastics and women's hurdles (Shawn Johnson and Lolo Jones are both hometown girls), and swimming (the whole Michael Phelps thing has been fun to watch).
Other than those events, though, every time I try to watch I just end up dozing off.
Yep, we would. The US media, that I've seen, anyway, has presented the list sorted that way for as long as I can remember (which is at least as far back as watching Mary Lou Retton compete.), regardless of where the sorting put us on the list.
I know America bashing is the hot, new trend these days, but there's no great conspiracy going on here.
My apologies if I misunderstood your post. The way I read it, it sounded like you were being sarcastic.
I was simply trying to point out that, even though you're still running the car off of gasoline, if such a setup were properly designed, it would use much, much less gasoline per mile than any "standard" ICE vehicle currently produced.
I remember those as well. I believe I paid around $600 for my first 500 MB hard drive, and at the time it was a steal.
Also when upgrading your memory meant buying an expansion card, buying the memory chips separately, and having to plug them all into the card when you got home.
Then there was used computer shop down the street where I always bought my SIMS, because they were "only" $50 per meg. At those prices, the amount of memory in my girlfriend's iPhone would be worth enough to pay cash for EIGHT houses in my neighborhood.
That's actually not a horrible idea. (in fact, you basically just described a plug-in hybrid.)
Even though you're still using gasoline, you get to use a much smaller engine, and it will run more efficiently since it can always run exactly at its most efficient rpm.
The flaw in your logic is that if Hasbro was intelligent enough to regret the path they've chosen, they would have done just as you suggest in the first place.
Why do you need money, when the autofusinator can create it for you using molecules in your environment?
Because you still need a way to motivate people to get off their lazy asses and do something productive when they would really rather lounge on the beach and sip margaritas every day.
A currency and economic system is about the only way I can think of to ensure this without resorting to slavery.
I just can't really envision a situation where you can do away with currency and/or barter.
There are many reasons, but one of the simplest is this: Without a currency and economy, how do you provide motivation for the lazy people in the population to get off their asses and do something?
This box I speak of is an opt-in program, it's not forced on me. I figure it's a good deal since even though $40 isn't much money, why turn it down? Part of the deal is that they only turn off the A/C during "business hours", which around here is M-F 8-5. And they only shut me down for 20 minutes before moving on to the next "batch" of people who have signed up for the program. Evenings, weekends, and holidays are off limits, so I have full control when I'm at home.
What do I care if my house warms up 3 or 4 extra degrees for 15 minutes while I'm at work? (It probably doesn't even do that, I have good insulation.)
That box was already on my house when I moved in 5 years ago, so we're not talking about cutting edge technology. They could easily adapt the technology to do a round-robin charging scheme so that everyone got some juice in their car overnight, but the grid doesn't get overloaded. Meaning they could stop, or slow, the rate your car is charging without interrupting your TV, lights, refrigerator, etc....
They could even do "subscription levels" so that if you had a legitimate need for more range than your neighbor, you could choose to pay a little more per month to get more juice than he does every night.
Of course, with millions of cars demanding huge amounts of electricity to recharge overnight, the entire definition of "peak hours" will do a flip-flop.
The capitalization serves to make clear which meaning of the word you are using. The Internet (capitalized) is the worldwide network that most people think about when they hear the word. However, I also have an internet (lower case) in my basement at home.
My apologies, I should have been more clear. That wasn't directed specifically at you, but toward the larger population of people who, when I mention the length of my commute, always respond with "OMFG!!!! You live 4 miles from work!!!!! Ride a bike!!!!!"
I'll throw this in there for that same crowd, as long as I'm already posting: Have you ever ridden a bicycle on a sheet of ice? I'm sure there are plenty of videos to be found on youtube that will show you how well that works out. They should be mixed in amongst the videos of skateboarders cracking their nuts on handrails.
Once you've figured out the inevitability of landing on your ass a few times every commute, now imagine doing it in 45 mph traffic.
Holy fucking shit. What the hell is wrong with people like you?
High oil prices are already destroying peoples lives, and now you want to put even more people out on the street with high electricity prices?
You're as sick and deranged as any mass murderer I've ever heard about. Intentionally promoting the suffering of others just to make your own agenda easier to achieve. You're a danger to society and should be in prison, for the safety of the rest of us.
All good slashdotters should know who Dr. Robert Zubrin is. If you don't, then suffice it to say that he's much smarter than you. And he does much more thorough research.
That talk is an hour and a half (and well worth watching), so for the patience impaired, here's a 10 minute segment from a news program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU-RzrJdnKQ
Bus? More expensive than driving in my city. Subway? Don't have one. Train? Ditto. Bicycle? Doctor says no, knees are too beat up.
Even at 8 mpg (city traffic) and $4/gallon, my Durango still gets me back and forth to work for less money than the bus could.
I actually love bicycling, but I'm not getting any younger, and the doctor has totally nixed the idea, for either recreation or transportation, if I want to avoid knee replacement surgery.
Those are all great ideas, for the people who could make use of them. Just don't make the error of thinking they're realistic for everyone.
. I can't really imagine a one-wheel-in-the-back covered trike doing anything other than getting stuck with any amount of snow.
It's called computer assisted traction control.
You've never seen a blizzard in person, have you?
Last winter I had to walk home to get my "big" SUV to pull my "small" SUV out of a slick spot. Not even what you would call a drift, just a few (about 7) inches of snow with glare ice underneath. Both vehicles weigh plenty, and have great tires.
Sorry, the reality is that no amount of computer power is going to make your little tricycle a practical vehicle in the snow.
The power company already has the ability to turn off my air conditioner during peak usage, if they need to. In exchange for letting them have that box installed on my house, I get $40 back on my electric bill every fall.
It couldn't really be that hard to adapt that technology to regulate vehicle recharging.
The downside (and there always is one) is that you might wake up one morning when you really needed a 100% charge, and only have 75%.
With the proper hydraulic lifts, or a group of friends, I could manage to swap a 500 lb battery pack if I really needed to. Still, I'd prefer to only have to take on such a task every year or two. Definitely not on a weekly or daily basis.
there's still a COST, yes, but it's with a renewable source,
That's a fine argument when you're addressing the tree huggers. When you're addressing the rest of us *real people*, you'll sound much more convincing if you talk in terms of dollars than "carbon units".
As opposed to the enormously higher operating cost of using a Ford F250 as a daily drive so you can haul all your trailer and gear a few times a year?
What if, like me, you haul either a camper or a boat somewhere nearly every weekend during the warm months of the year? And let's not discount the practicality of 4WD when the roads are covered in 6 inches of snow and you have to get to work.
Even still, although I do need two SUVs to maintain the lifestyle that my family and I enjoy, I am considering adding a pure electric to my "fleet". It's still not cost effective at current gas prices, but another dollar or two per gallon and a homebrew electric conversion for our weekday driving will be a money saver.
Show me a minivan that will safely tow my 6,500 pound boat to the lake. First of all, the minivan drive train would overheat like crazy and die within the first few trips. A bigger issue is that minivans use unibody construction. For towing heavy items like my boat and camper, you need a vehicle with an actual frame. This limits you to an SUV or a pickup. With 2 adults, 2 kids, and 2 dogs that all need to ride along to the lake or campground, the SUV is far more practical than the pickup.
Also, when towing that kind of weight, I actually get BETTER gas mileage in my Durango (with a big V8) than I do in my GMC Jimmy (with a mid-sized V6). When you push an engine beyond the limits of what it was designed to pull, gas mileage falls through the floor.
All it needs is a voltage regulating system and a panel and something to sense when the battery is full if the car can't do that itself and I think that's it.
Not quite.
You also need a big-ass battery bank, since your solar panel will be producing juice during the day, while your car is not at home. You can easily expect that battery bank alone to cost many times the $1000 that you quoted for your fantasy-world solar system.
I also think you're being just an itsy bitsy bit optimistic regarding the amount of time that it's going to take for residential solar to become cost-effective for the average person.
but for a lot of people the 40 mile limit will be kind of a barrier.
This has been one of my major objections to purely electric vehicles for some time, but I'm starting to change my mind.
While my family does to quite a bit of traveling on the weekends, usually towing a boat or camper in the process, our weekday driving is 99% limited to within the range of one of these vehicles. Because our recreational choices involve a lot of camping and boating, our main vehicles have been SUVs for quite some time (which raises our cost per mile a bit).
Doing some quick math, at the $0.02 per mile I see waved around for a battery electric car, I could commute to work and back for $0.16 instead of the $2.00 it costs me per day in the GMC Jimmy at current gas prices. Throw in grocery runs, trips to the library, the mall, etc... and the savings could really start to add up.
Now, at the price of a Chevy Volt, it would take a long time for it to pay for itself, so what I'm going to do is buy a small, used car and convert it to electric. My grandfather was a mechanic and I've been working on cars since long before I could drive one, so I'm not afraid of taking on the job myself (and, of course, I have the tools).
From the research I've done so far, I should have about $7,000 in the finished car. That's still a few years for it to pay for itself at current gas prices, but my gut instinct is that we're only seeing the beginning, so I'll have some bit of insurance against future price increases. Plus, I'll have a fun project to keep me busy for awhile.
Mounted on the back of my house is a little box that gives the power company the ability to turn off my air conditioner during peak usage, should the need arise. As compensation, I get about $40 refunded on my electric bill at the end of every summer.
It's not hard to imagine a similar device that could be installed to only charge the car during off-peak hours. Hell, the same box could probably be adapted to the purpose. Well, except that it doesn't have a customer override switch, which would be necessary for vehicle charging so that you could choose to pay the higher price if you have an urgent enough need to use your vehicle sooner.
Also, you should include in your math allowances for what gas prices are likely to be in the next few years.
Even at current prices, I would see large savings by going to an electric vehicle (but then again, both of my vehicles are large SUVs). Two years down the road at $6 or $8 per gallon, there's just no comparison.
And if electricity prices skyrocket to negate that advantage, at least I have the option of installing solar panels and a small turbine to help compensate. Can't really say the same for gasoline, my back yard just isn't big enough for both an oil rig and a refinery.
Having an electric vehicle opens up your range of options far more than any other solution I've heard proposed.
Slashdot Mirror
So far about all I've cared to watch is women's gymnastics and women's hurdles (Shawn Johnson and Lolo Jones are both hometown girls), and swimming (the whole Michael Phelps thing has been fun to watch).
Other than those events, though, every time I try to watch I just end up dozing off.
Yep, we would. The US media, that I've seen, anyway, has presented the list sorted that way for as long as I can remember (which is at least as far back as watching Mary Lou Retton compete.), regardless of where the sorting put us on the list.
I know America bashing is the hot, new trend these days, but there's no great conspiracy going on here.
My apologies if I misunderstood your post. The way I read it, it sounded like you were being sarcastic.
I was simply trying to point out that, even though you're still running the car off of gasoline, if such a setup were properly designed, it would use much, much less gasoline per mile than any "standard" ICE vehicle currently produced.
I remember those as well. I believe I paid around $600 for my first 500 MB hard drive, and at the time it was a steal.
Also when upgrading your memory meant buying an expansion card, buying the memory chips separately, and having to plug them all into the card when you got home.
Then there was used computer shop down the street where I always bought my SIMS, because they were "only" $50 per meg. At those prices, the amount of memory in my girlfriend's iPhone would be worth enough to pay cash for EIGHT houses in my neighborhood.
That's actually not a horrible idea. (in fact, you basically just described a plug-in hybrid.)
Even though you're still using gasoline, you get to use a much smaller engine, and it will run more efficiently since it can always run exactly at its most efficient rpm.
The flaw in your logic is that if Hasbro was intelligent enough to regret the path they've chosen, they would have done just as you suggest in the first place.
So, yeah, I doubt they regret it a bit.
Why do you need money, when the autofusinator can create it for you using molecules in your environment?
Because you still need a way to motivate people to get off their lazy asses and do something productive when they would really rather lounge on the beach and sip margaritas every day.
A currency and economic system is about the only way I can think of to ensure this without resorting to slavery.
I just can't really envision a situation where you can do away with currency and/or barter.
There are many reasons, but one of the simplest is this: Without a currency and economy, how do you provide motivation for the lazy people in the population to get off their asses and do something?
I should add...
This box I speak of is an opt-in program, it's not forced on me. I figure it's a good deal since even though $40 isn't much money, why turn it down? Part of the deal is that they only turn off the A/C during "business hours", which around here is M-F 8-5. And they only shut me down for 20 minutes before moving on to the next "batch" of people who have signed up for the program. Evenings, weekends, and holidays are off limits, so I have full control when I'm at home.
What do I care if my house warms up 3 or 4 extra degrees for 15 minutes while I'm at work? (It probably doesn't even do that, I have good insulation.)
That box was already on my house when I moved in 5 years ago, so we're not talking about cutting edge technology. They could easily adapt the technology to do a round-robin charging scheme so that everyone got some juice in their car overnight, but the grid doesn't get overloaded. Meaning they could stop, or slow, the rate your car is charging without interrupting your TV, lights, refrigerator, etc....
They could even do "subscription levels" so that if you had a legitimate need for more range than your neighbor, you could choose to pay a little more per month to get more juice than he does every night.
Of course, with millions of cars demanding huge amounts of electricity to recharge overnight, the entire definition of "peak hours" will do a flip-flop.
Exactly.
The capitalization serves to make clear which meaning of the word you are using. The Internet (capitalized) is the worldwide network that most people think about when they hear the word. However, I also have an internet (lower case) in my basement at home.
My apologies, I should have been more clear. That wasn't directed specifically at you, but toward the larger population of people who, when I mention the length of my commute, always respond with "OMFG!!!! You live 4 miles from work!!!!! Ride a bike!!!!!"
I'll throw this in there for that same crowd, as long as I'm already posting: Have you ever ridden a bicycle on a sheet of ice? I'm sure there are plenty of videos to be found on youtube that will show you how well that works out. They should be mixed in amongst the videos of skateboarders cracking their nuts on handrails.
Once you've figured out the inevitability of landing on your ass a few times every commute, now imagine doing it in 45 mph traffic.
Holy fucking shit. What the hell is wrong with people like you?
High oil prices are already destroying peoples lives, and now you want to put even more people out on the street with high electricity prices?
You're as sick and deranged as any mass murderer I've ever heard about. Intentionally promoting the suffering of others just to make your own agenda easier to achieve. You're a danger to society and should be in prison, for the safety of the rest of us.
You make me want to fucking puke.
You have it exactly right.
All good slashdotters should know who Dr. Robert Zubrin is. If you don't, then suffice it to say that he's much smarter than you. And he does much more thorough research.
Here's what he has to say about the oil situation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLRuGUPkyh4
That talk is an hour and a half (and well worth watching), so for the patience impaired, here's a 10 minute segment from a news program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU-RzrJdnKQ
Bus? More expensive than driving in my city.
Subway? Don't have one.
Train? Ditto.
Bicycle? Doctor says no, knees are too beat up.
Even at 8 mpg (city traffic) and $4/gallon, my Durango still gets me back and forth to work for less money than the bus could.
I actually love bicycling, but I'm not getting any younger, and the doctor has totally nixed the idea, for either recreation or transportation, if I want to avoid knee replacement surgery.
Those are all great ideas, for the people who could make use of them. Just don't make the error of thinking they're realistic for everyone.
. I can't really imagine a one-wheel-in-the-back covered trike doing anything other than getting stuck with any amount of snow.
It's called computer assisted traction control.
You've never seen a blizzard in person, have you?
Last winter I had to walk home to get my "big" SUV to pull my "small" SUV out of a slick spot. Not even what you would call a drift, just a few (about 7) inches of snow with glare ice underneath. Both vehicles weigh plenty, and have great tires.
Sorry, the reality is that no amount of computer power is going to make your little tricycle a practical vehicle in the snow.
The power company already has the ability to turn off my air conditioner during peak usage, if they need to. In exchange for letting them have that box installed on my house, I get $40 back on my electric bill every fall.
It couldn't really be that hard to adapt that technology to regulate vehicle recharging.
The downside (and there always is one) is that you might wake up one morning when you really needed a 100% charge, and only have 75%.
With the proper hydraulic lifts, or a group of friends, I could manage to swap a 500 lb battery pack if I really needed to. Still, I'd prefer to only have to take on such a task every year or two. Definitely not on a weekly or daily basis.
My grandma, on the other hand.....
there's still a COST, yes, but it's with a renewable source,
That's a fine argument when you're addressing the tree huggers. When you're addressing the rest of us *real people*, you'll sound much more convincing if you talk in terms of dollars than "carbon units".
As opposed to the enormously higher operating cost of using a Ford F250 as a daily drive so you can haul all your trailer and gear a few times a year?
What if, like me, you haul either a camper or a boat somewhere nearly every weekend during the warm months of the year? And let's not discount the practicality of 4WD when the roads are covered in 6 inches of snow and you have to get to work.
Even still, although I do need two SUVs to maintain the lifestyle that my family and I enjoy, I am considering adding a pure electric to my "fleet". It's still not cost effective at current gas prices, but another dollar or two per gallon and a homebrew electric conversion for our weekday driving will be a money saver.
Show me a minivan that will safely tow my 6,500 pound boat to the lake. First of all, the minivan drive train would overheat like crazy and die within the first few trips. A bigger issue is that minivans use unibody construction. For towing heavy items like my boat and camper, you need a vehicle with an actual frame. This limits you to an SUV or a pickup. With 2 adults, 2 kids, and 2 dogs that all need to ride along to the lake or campground, the SUV is far more practical than the pickup.
Also, when towing that kind of weight, I actually get BETTER gas mileage in my Durango (with a big V8) than I do in my GMC Jimmy (with a mid-sized V6). When you push an engine beyond the limits of what it was designed to pull, gas mileage falls through the floor.
All it needs is a voltage regulating system and a panel and something to sense when the battery is full if the car can't do that itself and I think that's it.
Not quite.
You also need a big-ass battery bank, since your solar panel will be producing juice during the day, while your car is not at home. You can easily expect that battery bank alone to cost many times the $1000 that you quoted for your fantasy-world solar system.
I also think you're being just an itsy bitsy bit optimistic regarding the amount of time that it's going to take for residential solar to become cost-effective for the average person.
but for a lot of people the 40 mile limit will be kind of a barrier.
This has been one of my major objections to purely electric vehicles for some time, but I'm starting to change my mind.
While my family does to quite a bit of traveling on the weekends, usually towing a boat or camper in the process, our weekday driving is 99% limited to within the range of one of these vehicles. Because our recreational choices involve a lot of camping and boating, our main vehicles have been SUVs for quite some time (which raises our cost per mile a bit).
Doing some quick math, at the $0.02 per mile I see waved around for a battery electric car, I could commute to work and back for $0.16 instead of the $2.00 it costs me per day in the GMC Jimmy at current gas prices. Throw in grocery runs, trips to the library, the mall, etc... and the savings could really start to add up.
Now, at the price of a Chevy Volt, it would take a long time for it to pay for itself, so what I'm going to do is buy a small, used car and convert it to electric. My grandfather was a mechanic and I've been working on cars since long before I could drive one, so I'm not afraid of taking on the job myself (and, of course, I have the tools).
From the research I've done so far, I should have about $7,000 in the finished car. That's still a few years for it to pay for itself at current gas prices, but my gut instinct is that we're only seeing the beginning, so I'll have some bit of insurance against future price increases. Plus, I'll have a fun project to keep me busy for awhile.
Except that where I live, a motorcycle would be uncomfortable for pretty much the entire year *except* for about 4 weeks.
Not to mention flat out suicidal for the six months of icy roads and dangerous wind chills we get.
Mounted on the back of my house is a little box that gives the power company the ability to turn off my air conditioner during peak usage, should the need arise. As compensation, I get about $40 refunded on my electric bill at the end of every summer.
It's not hard to imagine a similar device that could be installed to only charge the car during off-peak hours. Hell, the same box could probably be adapted to the purpose. Well, except that it doesn't have a customer override switch, which would be necessary for vehicle charging so that you could choose to pay the higher price if you have an urgent enough need to use your vehicle sooner.
Also, you should include in your math allowances for what gas prices are likely to be in the next few years.
Even at current prices, I would see large savings by going to an electric vehicle (but then again, both of my vehicles are large SUVs). Two years down the road at $6 or $8 per gallon, there's just no comparison.
And if electricity prices skyrocket to negate that advantage, at least I have the option of installing solar panels and a small turbine to help compensate. Can't really say the same for gasoline, my back yard just isn't big enough for both an oil rig and a refinery.
Having an electric vehicle opens up your range of options far more than any other solution I've heard proposed.