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#51
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End of an Era
"Kennedy McEwen" wrote: I personally don't want to see someone in my rear view mirror approaching at 175MPH while I am stuck at traffic lights on my way home from work. The easy way to avoid that is to not own a car. (That's one of the reasons I ended up in Tokyo.) Seriously, I don't understand why more people don't decide not to own cars. The (quite rational*) decision not to own a car ought to be a possibility, right? *: Cars are dangerous and expensive (at the least; breathing gasoline fumes can't be good for one). And one can buy a lot of camera equipment for the price of a car. David J. Littleboy Tokyo, Japan |
#52
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End of an Era
In article ,
David J. Littleboy wrote: *: Cars are dangerous and expensive (at the least; breathing gasoline fumes can't be good for one). And one can buy a lot of camera equipment for the price of a car. However, often a car is the most convenient way to get all that gear to where you need it. :-) -- That was it. Done. The faulty Monk was turned out into the desert where it could believe what it liked, including the idea that it had been hard done by. It was allowed to keep its horse, since horses were so cheap to make. -- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency |
#53
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End of an Era
On Mon, 25 Dec 2006 22:03:39 -0800, "William Graham"
wrote: But I had a friend who walked away from an accident where his engine ended up where his lap would have been had he been wearing his seat belt......He didn't think much of them either.... Well, there had to be one. You really reckon this makes seat belts a Bad Thing? Or is it merely fuel for a pro-personal-choice agenda? I am impressed, however with these formula I cars that can hit the rails at 175 MPH, fly end over end a dozen times, completely come apart at the seams until there is nothing left of them but the cage containing the driver, which, after he unbelts himself, he walks away from without a scratch....Why can't they do that with the family sedan? They do, to an extent. Crumple zones. BTW, petrol IS $5 a gallon here in the UK. It's made no difference to the pattern of car usage. The only thing that DID make a difference was one week a few years back when an industrial dispute caused a petrol famine. Somehow, everyone got most places they HAD to get. But "convenience" trips were cut out, the roads were empty, and travel became a pleasure. Even allowing for some necessary journeys being postponed, there's obviously lots of scope for cutting down on car use without life grinding to a halt. |
#54
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End of an Era
"Philip Homburg" wrote: David J. Littleboy wrote: *: Cars are dangerous and expensive (at the least; breathing gasoline fumes can't be good for one). And one can buy a lot of camera equipment for the price of a car. However, often a car is the most convenient way to get all that gear to where you need it. :-) I can hire a cab for a day for many more days than I have days to go out shooting on the money I save not having a car. (Not that I've ever done that, since public transportation here is flipping amazing, but it's on my list of things to try for rural locations.) I could also legally rent a car, but that wouldn't be a good idea (I've never driven in Japan, and only drove for a year in the US and converted my US license to a Japanese one). David J. Littleboy Tokyo, Japan |
#55
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End of an Era
In article ,
"David J. Littleboy" wrote: Seriously, I don't understand why more people don't decide not to own cars. The (quite rational*) decision not to own a car ought to be a possibility, right? I live in Philadelphia for that reason -- public transportation. But I may end up leaving Philadelphia for a better job. The only places where Americans can afford not to have cars are small towns with viable downtowns and a handful of cities which have good enough public transportation. Some employers (Comcast in Philadelphia for one) have moved back into the cities (over a transportation interchange in Comcast's case); a lot are still out where the trans doesn't reach. The infrastructure of the US is auto-centric. |
#56
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End of an Era
Laurence Payne wrote:
petrol famine. Somehow, everyone got most places they HAD to get. But "convenience" trips were cut out, the roads were empty, and travel became a pleasure. Even allowing for some necessary journeys being postponed, there's obviously lots of scope for cutting down on car use without life grinding to a halt. People can make somewhat minor changes to their auto usage and have a great impact on fuel consumption. Immediate convenience always triumphs over thoughtfulness, however. |
#57
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End of an Era
"Alan Browne" wrote in message .. . Laurence Payne wrote: petrol famine. Somehow, everyone got most places they HAD to get. But "convenience" trips were cut out, the roads were empty, and travel became a pleasure. Even allowing for some necessary journeys being postponed, there's obviously lots of scope for cutting down on car use without life grinding to a halt. People can make somewhat minor changes to their auto usage and have a great impact on fuel consumption. Immediate convenience always triumphs over thoughtfulness, however. If we stop buying new cars and keep our present ones for an extra five years, the automobile industry will grind to a halt and our governments will find the needed petroleum. Who wants to pay beaucoup bucks for a car, only to be unable to use it? I think we squandered the 3 decades after the 70s Oil Embargo to have come up with autos that used alternative fuels. I am told that Brazil runs their cars on alcohol, which can be manufactured, rather than imported. How is it that a third world country can put a big dent in the oil shortage problem, while we cannot. Instead we squander time worrying about things like Monica's stained dress, and whether Hillary really will run for President in 2008. |
#58
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End of an Era
jeremy wrote:
"Alan Browne" wrote in message .. . Laurence Payne wrote: petrol famine. Somehow, everyone got most places they HAD to get. But "convenience" trips were cut out, the roads were empty, and travel became a pleasure. Even allowing for some necessary journeys being postponed, there's obviously lots of scope for cutting down on car use without life grinding to a halt. People can make somewhat minor changes to their auto usage and have a great impact on fuel consumption. Immediate convenience always triumphs over thoughtfulness, however. If we stop buying new cars and keep our present ones for an extra five years, the automobile industry will grind to a halt and our governments will find the needed petroleum. Who wants to pay beaucoup bucks for a car, only to be unable to use it? I think we squandered the 3 decades after the 70s Oil Embargo to have come up with autos that used alternative fuels. I am told that Brazil runs their cars on alcohol, which can be manufactured, rather than imported. How is it that a third world country can put a big dent in the oil shortage problem, while we cannot. While I agree with your basic sentiments, by minor changes in automobile use I simply mean using vehicles more efficiently. This includes maintenance and driving habits. (Such as combining erands). Brazil's automobile ethanol use is about 40 - 45%. Their feedstock is sugar cane which gives a very high energy return (you need energy to make ethanol). The US auto industry has made (so far) over 6M vehicles capable of burning E85 (85% ethanol; 15% gasoline). One issue is the price: you pay almost the same for a gallon of E85 as you do for gasoline. But you get 20 - 25% less miles per gallon when burning E85. Using ethanol is part of a good substitution strategy, however the first environmental tenant is "reduce". As to finding more petrol, we have burned the easiest and cheapest to find, easiest and cheapest to refine oils. Now we have to further, spend more (money and energy) to get oil that needs more money and energy to refine... The Canadian lunacy of using relatively clean burning ( but CO2 emitting ) natural gas to extract oil from tarsands to sell to the US who are the most prolifically wasteful energy users on the planet is personally shaming to me as a Canadian. Cheers, Alan -- -- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm -- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm -- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin -- e-meil: Remove FreeLunch. |
#59
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End of an Era
On Tue, 26 Dec 2006 14:11:36 +0000, jeremy wrote:
"Alan Browne" wrote in message .. . Laurence Payne wrote: petrol famine. Somehow, everyone got most places they HAD to get. But "convenience" trips were cut out, the roads were empty, and travel became a pleasure. Even allowing for some necessary journeys being postponed, there's obviously lots of scope for cutting down on car use without life grinding to a halt. People can make somewhat minor changes to their auto usage and have a great impact on fuel consumption. Immediate convenience always triumphs over thoughtfulness, however. If we stop buying new cars and keep our present ones for an extra five years, the automobile industry will grind to a halt and our governments will find the needed petroleum. Who wants to pay beaucoup bucks for a car, only to be unable to use it? I think we squandered the 3 decades after the 70s Oil Embargo to have come up with autos that used alternative fuels. I am told that Brazil runs their cars on alcohol, which can be manufactured, rather than imported. How is it that a third world country can put a big dent in the oil shortage problem, while we cannot. Instead we squander time worrying about things like Monica's stained dress, and whether Hillary really will run for President in 2008. You want to run your car on alcohol, find a drag racer and ask him to rechip it for you. No tricks, no massive government-funded research program, no new principles of science, just change the damned chip. You want everybody to run alcohol, double the price of gas and halve the price of alcohol and you'll see it happen. The trick isn't making cars run on it, which many high school kids know how to do, the trick is making people want to buy it. Lemme guess--everything you know about cars you learned from Ralph Nadir. -- --John to email, dial "usenet" and validate (was jclarke at eye bee em dot net) |
#60
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End of an Era
On Mon, 25 Dec 2006 22:03:39 -0800, "William Graham"
wrote: I am impressed, however with these formula I cars that can hit the rails at 175 MPH, fly end over end a dozen times, completely come apart at the seams until there is nothing left of them but the cage containing the driver, which, after he unbelts himself, he walks away from without a scratch....Why can't they do that with the family sedan? Because the people who ride in that sedan will not put up with being made to wear a helmet and suit that tend to keep all the various internal parts where they are supposed to, along with a 5-point harness and HANS device. Then add the cost for the car itself. -- Bill Funk replace "g" with "a" |
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