I miss Jobst

Ron Ruff writes:

On May 18, 8:10*pm, Radey Shouman wrote:
The U.S. government has always needed at least part of their
constituency to buy into war, they can't simply attack whenever they
feel like it.

I felt like I'd landed in an alternate universe after 9/11. Bush's
"rousing" idiotic speech and nearly 100% approval rating... and
posters showing him as some sort of godlike being... and then the
invasion of Afghanistan and the killing and ousting of the Taliban...
who had nothing to do with 9/11. Followed by the clever associations
of Iraq with 9/11, and the bogus WMD propaganda.

Such a complete distortion of reality could not happen by accident.

Remember the Maine, to Hell with Spain!
--

Shifting a little closer to the original topic, a 200 mpg car is not
difficult to produce with existing technology. Just make it smaller,
lighter and more aero. 660 lb, 300cc engine, tandem seating.
http://www.motorauthority.com/blog/1...010-production

Of course this would not make you feel like the "King of the Road" in
your Escalade, but it would be a huge step up in comfort and
convenience from trying to get around on a bicycle in anything less
than ideal weather.

The biggest obstacle is that all our infrastructure is designed to
favor the 6000 lb SUV or truck. Anything smaller is a "death trap".

Ron Ruff wrote:
Shifting a little closer to the original topic, a 200 mpg car is not
difficult to produce with existing technology. Just make it smaller,
lighter and more aero. 660 lb, 300cc engine, tandem seating.
http://www.motorauthority.com/blog/1...010-production

Of course this would not make you feel like the "King of the Road" in
your Escalade, but it would be a huge step up in comfort and
convenience from trying to get around on a bicycle in anything less
than ideal weather.

The biggest obstacle is that all our infrastructure is designed to
favor the 6000 lb SUV or truck. Anything smaller is a "death trap".

More and more I find that car parking spaces are shrinking. It is
difficult enough to park a medium size sedan in some places, let alone
park a Toorak Tractor or bigger.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...orak%20Tractor

Anything bigger than a medium size sedan can be a pain in the arse
around the city and surrounding suburbs of Melbourne.

JS.

On Wed, 18 May 2011 22:10:32 -0400, Radey Shouman
wrote:

Michael Press writes:

In article ,
Radey Shouman wrote:

john B. writes:

It is never entered my mind that the U.S. government felt that any
provocation was needed to go to war. Just jump in and bash them in the
chops.

Based on their armed intervention Cuba (1898), Russia in 1918, Korea,

No one remembers the Maine?

That was the causus belli for the 1898 intervention in Cuba.
Why do you ask?

john B. said that the U.S. government never felt the need for a fig leaf
before going to war, and held up that one as an example. In fact,
whether the explosion of the Maine was a convenient accident, an act of
war, or a false flag operation, it did provide a casus belli, and was
flogged like grandma's cart horse up San Juan hill.

The U.S. government has always needed at least part of their
constituency to buy into war, they can't simply attack whenever they
feel like it.


That wasn't quite what I said. I said that then hadn't needed a
disaster like the WTC as an excuse to go to war.

The more usual excuse is something like steel tubes and other weapons
of mass destruction.

On Wed, 18 May 2011 22:47:24 -0700 (PDT), Ron Ruff
wrote:

Shifting a little closer to the original topic, a 200 mpg car is not
difficult to produce with existing technology. Just make it smaller,
lighter and more aero. 660 lb, 300cc engine, tandem seating.
http://www.motorauthority.com/blog/1...010-production

Of course this would not make you feel like the "King of the Road" in
your Escalade, but it would be a huge step up in comfort and
convenience from trying to get around on a bicycle in anything less
than ideal weather.

The biggest obstacle is that all our infrastructure is designed to
favor the 6000 lb SUV or truck. Anything smaller is a "death trap".


And just how do you expect my wife to ferry the grand kids around in a
two place car; or take the Great Dane to the Vets. Or even carry the
beer home for the poker game Friday night ?-)

Damn, I NEED that big car.

On May 19, 7:49*am, john B. wrote:

And just how do you expect my wife to ferry the grand kids around in a
two place car; or take the Great Dane to the Vets. Or even carry the
beer home for the poker game Friday night ?-)

Damn, I NEED that big car.

Not if you've got a Great Dane. They make saddles, don't they? ;-)

- Frank Krygowski

On May 19, 5:49*am, john B. wrote:
Damn, I NEED that big car.

Of course some accommodation needs to be made for larger vehicles. But
most vehicles I see on the road only have one passenger... so why not
accommodate efficient 2 passenger vehicles first, and make travel in
larger vehicles possible, but less convenient?

I can hear the tea party railing now about the loss of our god given
freedoms!

Ron Ruff wrote:
Shifting a little closer to the original topic, a 200 mpg car is not
difficult to produce with existing technology. Just make it smaller,
lighter and more aero. 660 lb, 300cc engine, tandem seating.
http://www.motorauthority.com/blog/1...010-production

Of course this would not make you feel like the "King of the Road" in
your Escalade, but it would be a huge step up in comfort and
convenience from trying to get around on a bicycle in anything less
than ideal weather.

The biggest obstacle is that all our infrastructure is designed to
favor the 6000 lb SUV or truck. Anything smaller is a "death trap".


There are lots of counters to progress and rationality
beyond engineering and design. Typical Hondas in the
mid-1980s got 50mpg, now 30. Ever wonder why that happened?

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Thu, 19 May 2011 09:01:45 -0700 (PDT), Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On May 19, 7:49*am, john B. wrote:

And just how do you expect my wife to ferry the grand kids around in a
two place car; or take the Great Dane to the Vets. Or even carry the
beer home for the poker game Friday night ?-)

Damn, I NEED that big car.

Not if you've got a Great Dane. They make saddles, don't they? ;-)

- Frank Krygowski


Naw, the grand kids adore him, and he them, and will only let them
ride :-)

On May 20, 12:05*am, AMuzi wrote:
Ron Ruff wrote:
Shifting a little closer to the original topic, a 200 mpg car is not
difficult to produce with existing technology. Just make it smaller,
lighter and more aero. 660 lb, 300cc engine, tandem seating.
http://www.motorauthority.com/blog/1...andem-city-car...

Of course this would not make you feel like the "King of the Road" *in
your Escalade, but it would be a huge step up in comfort and
convenience from trying to get around on a bicycle in anything less
than ideal weather.

The biggest obstacle is that all our infrastructure is designed to
favor the 6000 lb SUV or truck. Anything smaller is a "death trap".

There are lots of counters to progress and rationality
beyond engineering and design. Typical Hondas in the
mid-1980s got 50mpg, now 30. Ever wonder why that happened?

Low polution high efficiency engine not entirely suitable for
connecting up to a catalyst exhaust box. It requires fueling to keep
it hot and causes an unnecessary drag on exhaust flow too close to the
manifold. Engines would idle and cruise in the lean range of about
18:1 and overun at 22:1, but catalysts require fuel so mixtures run at
15:1 almost constantly. Coring the cat is a way to get at the lost
power and some of the economy, but the engine will still run with
relatively high ratios of fuel. Toyota have a lean burn engine which
uses a two shot injection sytem for stratified and non-stratified
charge for a more efficient burn.

All the car companies have messed about with the ignition system. The
optimum for efficiency on a road car is dual copper core plugs, long
reach, with the earth electrode filed back to ushield the spark, using
a rotor distributer with electronic firing of the coil. Double ended
coils and split coils etc are for selling. They have not proven
reliability and create an inferior spark with expensive platinum
plugs.