Stuff, Rant, Blah and Meh

my thoughts exactly


yeap.. he is right


Awesome!

Ok.. So I was at Best Buy on Friday...with my friend George... just the typical ogling the electro toys... but alas the skies opened up in a big way.. so we where stuck there.... not a bad place to be stuck.. but after a few minutes we found ourselves checking out the appliances... It was one of those moments where you realize your getting old... I was more interested in the newest bad ass steam dryer rather than the newest xbox accessories... That is where we found this bad ass fridge....

Note the Stainless steel.... ohhhh


Whats this... full colour front mount temp display and controls with USB port?!?!?


Thats right... colour tv int he front door.... god damnit.. This Fridge has AV inputs


Ohhh yeah.. thats the catch....

I know it’s been a while since I have posted. But, I hope this will make up for it. Since the rampant increase of gas prices; I have started a lot of research into the electric car market. I have a Honda CRX “project car” at home that I plan to modify cosmetically and convert to full battery electric. In my research I have run across a great many disturbing things about the government, car companies and the oil industry.

 

What sets this in motion is that in 1990, California “CARB” (a division of the EPA) instated the “Zero Emission Vehicle act”. This mandated that if a car company wanted to sell cars in California after the year 2000 that 10% of the vehicles sold needed to have zero emissions. So, in response several auto makers responded.

  

I am not sure if you may remember… but in 1996 GM started to tout the GM EV-1. It was a full electric 2 seater car that was highway capable and had a useable range. It was an outstanding step forward towards a “green” solution. But it was a program that was doomed from the beginning; doomed by the automaker themselves. The prerequisites for owning one eliminated 95% of the people interested.

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From:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1

 

“GM never offered the EV1 for public sale. It was only available to consumers under a lease program that had no clause allowing for purchase at the conclusion of the lease. 650 EV1s were produced for the 1997 model year, using lead acid batteries; each found a lessee. In 1999, GM switched the EV1 to a nickel metal hydride battery; 465 were produced, all were leased.

 

In 1999, the original 650 1997 EV1s were all returned to GM because of a "voluntary recall" to repair a cable from the charge port that GM claimed would lead to heat buildup and even fire.

 

In 2000, about 200 of the 1997 EV1s were re-issued to their original lessees on revised two-year leases.

 

Over the next 18 months, the remaining 200-odd 1999 EV1s were released, a few at a time, to selected lessees, mostly high-profile celebrities and politicians.”

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Several other car makers followed suit with this. Toyota had a battery electric Rav-4, Ford had the Th!nk and EV Ranger and Honda had the EV+. All of which could not be purchased; only leased with not option to buyout that lease. And for a good reason…. The auto makers still owned them.

 

In 2003, CARB amended the act and basically let the automakers off the hook. They where no longer required to make electric cars. This was the final blow… all of the above mentioned EV programs where immediately stopped… the cars leases not renewed and all but a few example autos where crushed. WTF!

 

Why, you ask?…. A lot of people did not know these cars even existed. So if they are not on the road and being seen… then no one will know how good they really are.

 

The new CARB mandate pushed for Hybrids and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles. These both are a copout. Yes, Hybrids are a step in the right direction… but they still require a dependence on oil… oil to lubricate it…oil to fuel it. So now the oil companies are happy… note: US hybrids are only getting 50% of the mileage of what other nation’s hybrids are getting. And the fuel cell cars are 10-15 years off in the most optimistic estimate. Not to mention that no one has really developed a way to make the hydrogen with out the use of oil or vast amounts of electricity. Hence, the oil companies are still happy.

 

Electric cars are ready to go... the battery technology to give them immense range is here. Those same batteries can now be full charged in 20 minutes… the cost of those batteries is high now because they are low production. With demand comes reaction…

 

 

There are a few fully EV companies out there…. And they have an ocean of opposition from big oil and mainstream car makers to fight. EV cars are quite, smooth, fast and require little to maintain them. The EV-1’s service required rotating the tires and topping off the wiper fluid. This type of stuff scares these companies and the have the money and influence to stamp it out.

 

 

I strongly suggest that everyone watches the Sony Classic Movie “Who Killed the Electric Car” This will help put it all in perspective.

 

 

http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/

 

 

 

 

 

 

holy crap... this laptop is huge!!!!

wtf!?

yes... another example... that Steven Seagal is a marketing whore.

So I got one of those calls today... my buddy called to inform me that his roommate.. another friend of mine had totaled his Scion. Well i assumed the worst.... he is just fine... but it got some air in this scuffle... totaled... this is what happens when the guy behind you falls asleep at the wheel and fails to brake.. at all and then send you spinning on to the retaining wall and one of those u-turn things in the center wall

well i was told i should get one.... here it is... now to just find something worth the post...