The French have defeated us

At least in the category of hot news anchors. Mélissa Theuriau is far hotter than any of the vapid, barbie doll wannabe, beauty pageant rejects that infest American cable news. Why do we seek such tepid crap? Why are we satisfied with such banal eye candy? When will Americans stand up and demand our cable news networks to get truly beautiful, sexy news anchors? This travesty can not go on, I demand action! I’m not going to go on gushing endlessly about the beauty of Ms. Theuriau, many others have done so, and I don’t wish to join the ranks of creepy stalker types.

It’s going to be Clark for VP

All this talk of him being out of the country during the convention is all just way too convenient. Plus, according to Clark, the Obama campaign said there would be no reason for him to go, which makes zero sense at all. Clark will be VP!

 

Either that, or someone else.

Tire Gauges and where the Republicans can stick them

Lately, the Republicans have been mocking Obama over his suggestion to keep your tires inflated and get regular tune ups. It’s particularly ridiculous, since Obama was in fact correct. The White House estimates that new drilling will give an additional 200,000 barrels a day, by 2030. America uses about 20 million a day right now, so that’s 1% of our current demand, but we won’t even see it for another couple decades. Keeping tires properly inflated, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, improves milage by about 3%, regular tune ups another 4%. The math is pretty clear which will help more.

I know it’s just a part of politics, but really, mocking common sense suggestions to ease the pain at the pump? Then again, these are all bigtime Washington insiders, the same people who’ve worked hard to “protect” Detroit from having to make more fuel efficient vehicles. Which hasn’t exactly been working out real well for Detroit these days.

Even if drilling is started now, we won’t see any benefit from it for a couple of decades, so why not attack the problem from the demand side? There’s a reason fuel efficient vehicles, hybrids, diesels,  are becoming more and more popular. Those things give some real relief now, not a minor blip in 20 years. It’s gotten to the point where Mercedes Benz will stop selling vehicles with gasoline engines in a couple of years. Opting instead for the considerably more efficient diesel, and hybrids.

Of course, it would also help if the oil companies stopped selling so much of the oil to foreign countries, and would bother to make use of the leases they already have. Not something that gets much attention, but out of the land the oil companies currently have leases on, 75% of it remains unexplored. Could also reign in the futures trading, which contributes a not insignificant chunk to the cost of oil.

If we wanted to take things to a real extreme, from a solutions perspective, we could take all those billions in tax breaks given to the oil companies, and invest it in algaculture research. Micro algae produces more oil than any of the currently used plants for biofuels. And you can theoretically grow it in waste water, such as at a sewage treatment plant. Can make diesel, ethanol, and gasoline from biofuels, so why not just cut the oil companies out of the loop if we can? It’s likely to take as long to develop algaculture refineries as it is to get any increased supply from drilling, and the former is a renewable fuel.

But, that won’t happen, big oil owns our government as surely as the financial sector and defense contractors do. So maybe we’re all just fucked.

AKACOD

Just thought I’d share this song, by an amazing band from the Boston area, AKACOD. Great music, that you’ll never see on MTV or hear on any of that Clear Channel owned corporate fuckwad radio. As a bonus, on saxaphone is Dana Colley, more commonly known as the sax player for Morphine.

 

Wind powered cars motherfucker!

Face it, it’s fucking genius! Sure, it might not be possible, but just imagine, little turbines on your car, or motorcycle, powering the electric motor with the wind created as you move. It’s perfect symbiotic symmetry, if it could work. And plus, you’d have cool air intakes on your ride, that actually serve a practical purpose, even if you only drive a compact car. Air intakes for everyone! Fuck yeah!

The Electric Vehicle, doomed to failure

I know there’s plenty of people out there who think EVs are the future, that they’re the key to saving us from global warming, that everyone will abandon their gas and diesel powered vehicles for them, but they won’t. Not now, and not ever. There’s several problems that EV proponents choose to overlook.

Range: Yes, the electric motor is, all other things being equal, is a more efficient way to generate power. Unfortunately, all other things are not equal. Gasoline, diesel, ethanol, hydrogen and CNG are all considerably more portable than their equivalent in batteries. Very likely always will be. Even with lithium ion, it requires too much volume, and weighs too much. So just to carry around the needed energy to make an EV useful for more than just commuting, it would take an impractical amount of space, and the added weight would decrease the range of the EV considerably.

But that’s not the only problem with regards to range. With an ICE, when you need more energy, you just stop at the pump and fill up. With an EV, you have to wait for the thing to recharge. Hours of waiting. This immediately eliminates tractor trailers, as well as buses. It also eliminates road trips, and you can just forget about air travel, in addition to the range limitations, there’s also the previously mentioned weight and volume required.

There’s also cost, the things are just flat out prohibitively expensive for most people. Look at the Tesla Roadster. The only thing going for it is the electric motor, and that’s really just a gimmick. It’s slower than even a Mustang, and looks just like a Lotus, which aren’t exactly the most inspired of cars to begin with. Yet they want to charge a massive amount of money for it. At least the Mustang has backseats, and it costs less. But that’s not quite a fair comparison, since the Mustang is cheaper than the Roadster. For the price of a Roadster, you can get yourself a Corvette, or a Viper. Both of which have far superior styling, and performance. So why would anybody who’s seriously into sports cars want a Tesla? People who plunk down that kind of cash for a sports car aren’t concerned about fuel economy, or emissions. They want to go fast. And usually do so in a stylish car.

Which brings me to the next issue facing the EV. and this is one that really can’t be fixed. The pleasure factor. Yes, there are many of us out there who like the vibrations and the noise of an internal combustion engine. Hell, why do you think Harleys are still being sold? It’s not like they’re using any state of the art technology. It’s part of the experience. Hearing that engine revving, feeling the vibrations, it speaks to something within the psyche, something very powerful. EVs on the other hand are quiet, and don’t have that sweet vibration. It’s just a smooth, quiet ride. Boring.

Besides, EVs aren’t as green as their proponents make them out to be. They get their power from the grid. So it’s entirely dependent on where the grid is getting its power. If from coal, well, you’re not driving an electric vehicle anymore, you’re driving a coal-powered vehicle. Now imagine an entire city of vehicles running on coal.

There’s challenges with every alternative, but with the EV, I don’t see how they can be overcome. Biofuels have the whole food vs. fuel thing, which is a serious consideration. But with the continued development of algaculture, as well as cellulosic ethanol, and anything else that works, that can possibly be solved.

Economic stimulus packages are placebos for crack addicts

Whether it’s “Gas Tax Holidays” or “Rebate Checks,” it seems politicians want to give us these petty little things, to make us feel that they really care, or that things are getting so much better now. The truth is, they don’t help. They’ve never helped, and they never will help. They don’t improve your long-term financial situation. Look at your monthly bills, the mortgage, the credit card payments, the car payments, and any other debts you’re trying to pay off. These are the source of financial woe for Americans. If politicans actually cared to help us, they’d zero out all the personal debt. Yes, the lenders will lose money, but who gives a shit about them? They’re leeches, contributing nothing to society, simply taking money, and trying to make more money out of it, and endless cycle of drudgery and greed. Let them all go bankrupt, to hell with Citibank, and Chevy Chase (The bank, I’m still on the fence about the comedian.) All of them are worthless institutions whose sole purpose is to fuck America over.

 

I’ve no concern for the well being of billionaires, with or without them, this country moves along into the future. But without us, the country comes to a screeching halt.

 

My first post

Not very much to say right now, still fleshing this out, and feeling my way through its insides, seeing what tastes good. For now though, I’ll offer a bit of amusement I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.