Hybrid cars

On the contrary, you must believe people are morons to believe the universe
just popped out of nowhere.

 

That wasn't exactly what I was getting at. You would get a maximum
fuel economy with an engine that is maxed out for engine efficiency
AND where the aerodynamics and rolling resistance don't increase
to the point where they overcome any efficiency gains for being
maxed out. A smaller engine is efficient at highway speeds because
it's being flogged. A larger engine would be theoretically more
efficient at higher speeds in a vacuum with no rolling resistance. Of
course in the real world, that's where the aerodynamics take away
gains in efficiency.

 

So where did God pop out of?

 

If you think big companies are effiicient, you have never worked for a big
company.

 

If you think the government is less efficient than big companies, you've
never worked for both to compare the two.

 

Don't forget that Catholics did not formally acknowledge a
heliocentric solar system until 1992, 350 years after Galileo produced
evidence supporting Copernicus's theory (for which Galileo was
condemned by the Catholic church):

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~nmcenter/sci-cp/sci-9211.html

Christians have a tendency to cling to beliefs long after overwhelming
evidence refutes them. This is because their beliefs are based on
faith, not fact. Science is open to the scrutiny of facts and the
addition of new information that may support or refute current
theories. While scienctific theories are flexible and can be adjusted
due to the introduction of new facts, faith-based religions cannot- it
goes against the whole idea of believing the impossible (or highly
unlikely) without supporting factual evidence. Science DOES NOT
introduce unsubstantiated beliefs in order to explain observable
phenomena. There's no need for it; you just accept the fact that you
don't have all of the information necessary to sove the puzzle...yet.

Ironically, two of the most controversial scientific theories of our
time were both introduced by practicing or aspiring clergy- Charles
Darwin was *this close* to joining the ministry before accepting a
position on the HMS Beagle, and one of the main contributors to the
theory which would be later known as the "Big Bang" was a Belgian
priest named George Lemaitre.


"It is necessary to repeat here what I said above. It is a duty for
theologians to keep themselves regularly informed of scientific
advances in order to examine if such be necessary, whether or not
there are reasons for taking them into account in their reflection or
for introducing changes in their teaching."- Pope John Paul II

 

Beautiful.

 

The term is "early adopters". I bought my first DVD player in 1997
before they really took off. Cost me $1099, although it was for the
Pioneer combinational LaserDisc/DVD player. I bought another one
later that Fall (from Sony) for $600. These days a machine for
under $100 will perform at least as well and have more capabilities
that were added as the technology progressed.

I used to work in downtown Berkeley, California. I would park at
a city owned garage which was used for part of the city's motor
pool. City Hall and many city offices were within a block. I
think the city's policy used to be to buy American makes. There
were a lot of white Ford Tempos, Chevy Cavaliers, and Dodge
Ram pickups. Recently though, they've had several Honda Civic
Hybrids.

 

I enjoyed being an early adopter of automotive tgechnology a lot more when
it was part of the job and didn 't cost me anything. I am a little less
enthusiastic now that I have to pay for cars :-(

I lived in the Bay area from '78 to '83 and noticed that there were a lot
more imports on the road in CA than in the Midwest. I suppose that the
trend towards imports may even be stronger than it was back then.

 

Not smart enough to figure it out? Hands in the air?

I'll try an analogy, though I've never encountered a leftist who could
understand the difference between analogy and testimony.

Picture a baby that dies at the age of two weeks. While he's alive, he
doesn't understand how he got there, who created his crib or the mobile
above his head, and the intelligence of those who put him on Earth is
so far beyond his that no one could explain it to him. His "creators"
were there before he was, and they will be there after he dies, and
he doesn't know why.

Now, I figure that any intelligence(s) who created the universe would be
enough above my abilities that it could be there before I or my ancestors
got here, could be there after the heat death of the Earth, and could be
so far beyond my mental powers that I'd never understand the story if
he/she/they explained it to me. Kinda like the baby.

The difference between the universe being created by an intelligent
designer, and the universe just popping out of nowhere, is pretty big.
And nowhere should it say that intelligent design prevents evolution.
In fact, if I were designing the universe, I'd put evolution in there.
And I figure whoever designed the universe is smarter than I, so I bet
he/she/it would figure that out too.

Feel free to have the last word. I'm back to autos.

 

agree. It's the base load that drives train ... but it's the peak load
that
drives required capacity because unless or until utilities are
permitted
to not deliver full adequate loads at peak - then they take the
economic
hit to add capacity ... which is in one way or other.. eventually
passed
on to consumers .. i.e. no business can be competitive much less
operate on a sustainable basis if it takes in less than it costs to
produce.

but I saw a presentation the other night from Dominion Power and they
showed a chart that indicated for the last 4 years almost the entire
added capacity is... provided by natural gas and guess what is
happening
to the price of NG? in a word - up... ergo higher prices for consumers.

.... but we all know what happens when something becomes more
expensive... it has a tendancy to moderate demand....

... NEW coal-fired plants have much stricter emission limits - so
that power is also going to be more expensive and the guy
from Virginia power said that there is already a gap window
too wide for new nukes and even new coal-fired...

 

The city population as a whole leans towards import makes, like
Honda, Toyota, Volvo, and BMW. The city itself has varying
incomes, and the tendency is towards American makes in some
of the lower income parts of town.

There's only a single new car dealer in Berkeley that still sells
an American make (a VW/Cadillac dealer). There used to be
dealers for Olds, Buick, and Chevy until business started waning
in the 90's. Reggie Jackson Chevrolet was the last to close. It's
now a bookstore.

 

Is Tim Soluthwick's Toyota of Berkeley still there?

 

did you hear about the early draft of "Of Pandas and People," the
premier ID textbook that was introduced into the Dover trial? It was
basically the same as the published version except that everywhere the
published version says "ID," the draft says "creationism."

Either way, it isn't science.

 

If the federal government isn't discouraging stem cell research, why is
it prohibiting federal funding to any institution that uses other
genetic lines, even if the latter are privately funded? Also the 60
lines are more like just 12 unique ones, and all have been contaminated
with non-human DNA, making them much less useful, practically useless.

 

this has all been very interesting. I don't feel so bad about driving
my Chevette at engine-screaming speeds when I was a teenager anymore

--
Thank you,


CL Gilbert
"Then said I, Wisdom [is] better than strength: nevertheless the poor
man's wisdom [is] despised, and his words are not heard." Ecclesiastes 9:16

 

One reason is that performance is not such a big issue, and typical cars
there have smaller engines, and already get better milage than typical
cars sold in US. Hybrids are way to keep performance AND high milage.
yeah, you pay a premium for a car with good milage and performance
compared to just small engined car, but US buyers are willing and able
to pay such a premium.

 

The engine with a smaller throttle opening is less efficient even on a
dyno. In fact, that is the way specific fuel consumption is measured.

So as long as we have the same car with the same hp requirement, and the
large engine is not wide open, a smaller engine with a higher percentage
throttle opening will be more efficient.

Yes, you can say the small engine is being flogged, but as long as it is
designed for continuous operation at its max hp rating (i.e., cooling
and bearings adequate) there is nothing wrong with that. Old beetle
used to be able to cruise all day at full throttle.

 

How would an air-cooled engine do on a dyno at full-throttle? I'm
curious how they would have been tested.

 

The venture capitalist won't fund stem cell research until more research is
done where it is at the level that those venture cabalist can make
investment decisions.

The net result is that the companies will start in other countries where the
research is being done and has the experienced people that are needed for
these start up companies.

The net result is that the Bush policy is highly anti-business in the US and
provides other countries to become dominant in what will be the biological
equivalent of Silicon Valley for medical companies. Those companies will
become the economic and power base for the Governments leading to a decline
of the US.

No matter what Bush and Fox says, the Bush administration is implementing a
anti-business, anti-powerful US, an US economic decline.