Chicken Little?

See...

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...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Jim Thompson
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Mr Van Jolissaint aprroaches the subject from an economic standpoint; oil prices, the housing marked, car prices, etc. The time period over which his projections/predictions apply are miniscule on a geologic scale. The more serious problem is the potential ecological distaster that could occur if the "greenies." predictions are are correct. I'm not an expert on global climate modelling, but it seems that it would be prudent to take whatever measures we can to minimize the probability of disaster until definitive results are in, since there is a tremendous lag between the time corrections would be made, and the time that benefits would be realized. (Ever try to stabilize a closed loop control system whose open loop time tonstant is 100 years?) After all, a soccer mom doesn't really need an SUV for the purpose of transporing her brat to school. The fact that she can afford one is irrelevant. regards, Jon

Reply to
Jon

Yep. What we should do is follow Phoenix' lead... put in light rail which will use more energy per passenger mile than private automobiles :-(

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

We never had global warming in the 50s when we had a layer of pollution to shield us from the suns harmful rays!

Reply to
ian field

Nah, it's that pesky ozone trapping all of the sun's heat! We should have stopped protecting it in the 80s. ;-)

As far as stopping global warming, I think it's a little late for that - seen the weather lately? ;-)

Cheers! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise, Plainclothes Hippi

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

It might cost the tax payers more than use of a private autos would too, yet I don't imagine anyone's suggesting giving away free cars. :-)

In my mind, mass transit is supposed to be one of those government-provided services that makes it possible for the folks making $6.75/hour (the minimum in Arizona) to get around at all. Making it "environmentally friendly" with, e.g., natural gas powered busses or electric trains is no more than a government sponsored "research program" bone thrown to the environmentalists.

This is a kinda interesting page:

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Reply to
Joel Kolstad

The forecast for the South of England is up to 13C - even Scotland isn't dropping below 5C.

OTOH the drought is in full force - Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire fire depts were kept busy today rowing boats along roads to rescue swamped motorists!

We are all mushrooms - they keep us in the dark and feed us bullshit!!!

Reply to
ian field

Actually, it's done in Arizona, to remove smog generators with clean but old vehicles.

Except it's another one of those boondoggle trains to nowhere :-(

That page is out-of-date. Last November the minimum wage was increased by the voters (I forget the amount, but it was a large increase)... then the law of unintended consequences stepped in and screwed those poor people who qualified for free medical care under AHCCCS... they now make too much money.

So much for leftist-weenie-fairy-queer-without-half-a-brain voters ;-)

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Jim Thompson

Very good point.

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Yeah, a Chrysler economist is the first place I'd go for an unbiased scientific assessment of global warming.

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Not out here (Northern California). Every winter is colder and longer than the one before. People used to burn 1-2 cords of wood. Now we are concerned whether the 4 cords we had by fall will last through the winter. Will probably get 5 cords next seeason :-(

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
Reply to
Joerg

And I guess it's time for him and the other two big ones to wake up. Else they might end up as a subsidiary of a Japanese manufacturer. Yesterday I rode back to an airport with a client's engineer, it's on his 1hr+ commute route. The reason why he drives Honda since many years boils down to two very simple facts: Better reliability, better gas mileage. Lamentations don't do any good. Rolling up the sleeves and firing up the CAD systems does.

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
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Joerg

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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- I drive an electric car. Not a hybrid -- a gasoline-powered car that gets some help from an electric motor -- but a full electric vehicle. I plug it in at night and can drive 100 miles the next day and go faster than 80 mph on the highway.

So don't think "golf cart"; these cars have power and pick-up.

While you won't see many electric cars on the road, they've been around longer than you might think.

In 1900, electric cars outsold both gasoline and steam vehicles because electric cars didn't have the vibration, noise and dirtiness associated with gas vehicles. But soon afterward -- with the discovery of Texas crude oil that reduced the price of gasoline, the invention of the electric starter in

1912 that eliminated the need for a hand crank, and the mass production of internal combustion engine vehicles by Henry Ford -- the electric vehicle went the way of the horse and buggy.

The energy crisis in the 1960s and 1970s revived interest briefly. There was another push in 1990, when General Motors Corp. unveiled the (ineptly named) Impact, a sporty, aerodynamic electric car prototype.

In 1998 the California Air Resources Board decided that if a car company could make such a car, it should, and mandated that 2 percent of vehicles sold in the state in 1998 must be emission-free, with that number rising to

10 percent by 2003.

Since California is a huge market, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Chrysler, Ford and GM started building electric vehicles -- about 5,000 were manufactured. But by 2005 the mandate had been eviscerated because of pressure from those same car companies, and 4,000 perfectly good electric vehicles were crushed.

But did car companies really want electric cars to succeed? The success of electric vehicles would have threatened the status quo and core business models of two of the world's biggest industries -- oil and automobile. It is more expedient for these companies to give lip service to hydrogen in an attempt to appear "green." But hydrogen is a technology that experts say is decades away.

Because the small print in California's mandate allowed for car companies to manufacture only as many cars as there was interest in them, the game became to pretend there was no interest. Virtually no advertising money was spent to let you know electric cars existed, and even if you did find out about them salespeople actively dissuaded you from getting one.

As with any new technology, an electric vehicle was more expensive than its gas counterpart. Also, the limited range scared off customers, even though the average American drives only 34 miles a day and every electric car could go at least twice that far on a full charge.

These cars had great potential, but no media covered their subsequent crushing. It is only with the release this summer of the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" that the full story comes out. This film chronicles the rise and fall of the General Motors EV1, an electric car I leased on the day it was released in 1996. Zero to 60 mph in 7.4 seconds, a top speed of 140 mph and a range of 120 miles. GM discontinued this car just a few years later. No car company today makes a mass-production electric vehicle.

My current electric vehicle, a Toyota RAV4 EV, also was discontinued a few years ago. This car costs me the equivalent of 60 cents a gallon to run. I never need to get a tune-up, change spark plugs or add water to the batteries or oil to the motor. The only maintenance for the first 150,000 miles is to rotate my tires. This car is quiet, fast and emission free. I plug it in every night at home, and it charges on off-peak energy.

Even if it were getting power solely from electricity derived from coal -- a common criticism of electric cars -- my vehicle uses 50 percent less carbon dioxide than a 24 mpg gas car (for a summary of more than 30 studies on the emissions of electric cars, hybrids and plug in hybrids, go to

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When I have to get new batteries, which I expect I'll will be when my car is 10 years old, the old ones will be over

90 percent recyclable.

The concern I hear most often about electric vehicles is their range. Well, at 100 miles per charge, my electric vehicle fulfills 98 percent of my driving needs, and I live in a city where everything seems to be 40 minutes away.

...

Reply to
Homer J Simpson

You forgot girly-men. :-)

Reply to
Joel Kolstad

More like an Ostrich methinks.

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John B
Reply to
John B

I'll add that ;-)

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Jim Thompson

And

Phoenix Light Rail a Draw for Investors

Source: Arizona Star [Dec 30, 2006]

SYNOPSIS: Two years before the light-rail system opens, private investors are starting to pump more than $1 billion into new developments near the rail stations.

PHOENIX ? Two years before the light-rail system opens, private investors are starting to pump more than $1 billion into new developments near the rail stations. The investments promise to reshape key corners and neighborhoods along the

20-mile route, an infusion that is typical of light-rail systems but is occurring earlier in the valley than in other cities. ...

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Reply to
Homer J Simpson

You'll upset Thompson if you call him that.

Reply to
Homer J Simpson

You mean "Ahhnold"? The sissy had to have surgery instead of toughing it out, like a real man.

At 54, Arnold Schwarzenegger still looks taut and youthful. Even despite heart surgery and, more recently, a recent motor bike accident. "I broke

6 ribs. My wife took my to the hospital right away because I knew that there was something feeling really uncomfortable when I inhaled. One of the ribs was kind of sticking into my lung. So I knew right then that I should go to the hospital. So they took X-rays. At first they thought it was four ribs, then a day later when my lugs filled up with blood, they did an MRI and they realized it was 6 ribs. And so it was obviously a very painful experience. You can't cough. You can't sneeze. You can't do anything. You just lie in a hospital bed and the only way you get out of it is by controlling the bed [with a remote] and then you can slowly get up. All those things that I hate such as having to be taken care of."
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Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

I just saw on CNN that last year was the warmest on record for the continental US.

There are quite a few tales of "well locally it's been colder", but the overall temperature trend is most definitely up.

Here in Upstate New York we've only just had our first inch and a half of snow for this winter. Historically, we'd have been three feet deep by now. Also, this is the first time this year I've actually had to dress as though it were winter and turn the central heat on permanently.

Two weeks ago I had the windows open because the house was too hot and I'd mothballed the ACs for the winter!

Reply to
Sean

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