The Electric Car
in [Design]
|
From: Simon S Aysdie on 14 Aug 2007 20:38 On Jul 29, 6:20 am, "J.A. Legris" <jaleg...(a)sympatico.ca> wrote: > Personally, I almost never use a car any more - I walk or take the > bus. I work at at home and I don't travel except for a vacation every > 5 years or so. ... I got rid of the > central air-conditioner and put a fan in the attic instead (only 150 > watts!). Do you believe this behavior has one iota of difference in the aggregate (global) "carbon footprint?" If so, why? Do you believe this behavior has one iota of difference in aggregate (global) energy consumption? If so, why? > The one real > contribution I've made is having no kids,... That actually might help.
From: Simon S Aysdie on 14 Aug 2007 20:54 On Jul 29, 8:14 pm, "J.A. Legris" <jaleg...(a)sympatico.ca> wrote: > What's really sad is people squandering their children's future on > today's mindless consumption. Mindless? Hardly. The wise legislators designed it that way by embracing Keynesian economics, which basically says "go shopping if you want a better job, life, etc." I mean, if the federal reserve inflates the currency -- which it does -- a good strategy is to spend since today's dollar will buy more than tomorrow's. It makes sense, given the circumstances.
From: Richard The Dreaded Libertarian on 14 Aug 2007 21:17 On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 23:50:38 +0100, Eeyore wrote: > John Larkin wrote: >> "Michael A. Terrell" wrote: >> > >> > 20 years ago you could find a decent used car for $50. Now, junkers >> >are over $1000. >> >> Anything that's less than 20 years old, and sctually runs, has an >> engine control unit, a catalytic converter, a bunch of sensors, and >> likely air bags that are worth $1000 in scrap value. >> >> Besides, a year's insurance will cost a lot more. > > More than $1000 for insurance ? Yes, some states have mandatory insurance, which amounts to granting the rich fat white insurance executives a license to steal. Thanks, Rich
From: Eeyore on 14 Aug 2007 21:27 Richard The Dreaded Libertarian wrote: > Eeyore wrote: > > John Larkin wrote: > >> "Michael A. Terrell" wrote: > >> > > >> > 20 years ago you could find a decent used car for $50. Now, junkers > >> >are over $1000. > >> > >> Anything that's less than 20 years old, and sctually runs, has an > >> engine control unit, a catalytic converter, a bunch of sensors, and > >> likely air bags that are worth $1000 in scrap value. > >> > >> Besides, a year's insurance will cost a lot more. > > > > More than $1000 for insurance ? > > Yes, some states have mandatory insurance, which amounts to granting the > rich fat white insurance executives a license to steal. Insurance is mandatory here but doesn't have to cost anything near that much. Competition it seems may actually work. Graham
From: krw on 14 Aug 2007 23:00
In article <nvk3c354linvkcq94hmb0scjn85s7rmemt(a)4ax.com>, jjlarkin(a)highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com says... > On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:45:09 -0700, Jim Thompson > <To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-Icon(a)My-Web-Site.com> wrote: > > >On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:18:18 -0700, John Larkin > ><jjlarkin(a)highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote: > > > >>On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:41:57 -0700, Jim Thompson > >><To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-Icon(a)My-Web-Site.com> wrote: > >> > >[snip] > >>> > >>>This will get the leftists weenies all in a twist and screw up their > >>>image of me... > >>> > >>>The ONLY charity that I give money to is the St. Mary's Food Bank > >>>Alliance... food and shelter for the homeless, and a Catholic > >>>organization to boot ;-) > >>> > >>> ...Jim Thompson > >> > >>We give about $20K a year to various charities, mostly foreign, like > >>Doctors Without Borders and some organizations that run schools for > >>girls in Africa. Locally, we support one of the few homeless > >>organizations that gets actual results, the MS society, and a few > >>minor local things. > >> > >>Catholic organizations do seem to be unusually efficient. > > > >Isn't that amazing! They also seem to run hospitals rather well. > > > >> > >>I'm being bugged to endow a scholarship at Tulane's new > >>science/engineering department, which would allow me to aim it at > >>potential circuit designers! > >> > >>John > > > >I'm not at the endowment level, but I contribute to an MIT scholarship > >for a "married student in electrical engineering"... knowing full-well > >the economic struggles of such a student ;-) > > > > ...Jim Thompson > > The minimum endowed scholarship takes $20K. 5% of that goes to a > student, only $1K per year at first, and the rest is invested with any > excess return dumped back into the fund. One can of course add more > any time. The giver is allowed to make stipulations as to what sort of > student he's prefer to get the bucks, but that's usually just a > preference, not a hard rule. I might also wind up with summer interns > and even employees some day, which would be worth it from a pure > pragmatic view. IBM has what they call the "Watson Scolarship". It's a scholarship for the kids of employees and is awarded to National Merit Scollarship winners. The winners are also guaranteed summer internships while they're in school. Sometimes the particular jobs aren't great (in lean times the only positions may have have been warehouse workers) but they were usually pretty good and paid well. Internships are a good well to draw future employees. If they're on your scholarship it can be even better. -- Keith |