The Cellar - Carmakers Back Strict New Rules for Gas Mileage

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I have heard Nelson Mandela express very similar sentiments: you ask me, who am I to shine? I ask you, who are you not to shine?

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Originally Posted by Undertoad (Post 747247)

Mathematically, all they need to do is add one electric car to the fleet.

Hey boss we have five models and they get MPGs of 22, 24, 26, 28 and 30

So our fleet average is 22+24+26+28+30 / 5 = 26 mpg, and we are illegal, what to do?

Just add an electric model, which by definition gets infinity miles per gallon.

Now the fleet has MPGs of 22, 24, 26, 28, 30 and infinity.

The average fleet MPG is now 22+24+26+28+30+infinity / 6 = infinity mpg.

Good point. I don't think full sized pickups will ever make that grade. We need more of those diesel cars like the UK has.

Apparently full-size pickups get a break for a long time under these rules.

VW is against it because the formula didn't include diesel.

Quote:

Volkswagen says the current proposed rules place an unfairly high burden on passenger cars, while allowing special compliance flexibility for heavier light trucks.

While passenger cars would be required to achieve 5% annual improvements, and light trucks 3.5% annual improvements, the largest trucks carry almost no burden for the 2017-2020 timeframe.

Instead, they are granted numerous ways to mathematically meet targets in the outlying years without significant real-world gains, a VW spokesman says.

“The proposal encourages manufacturers and customers to shift toward larger, less-efficient vehicles, defeating the goal of reduced greenhouse-gas emissions,” the spokesman says.

Reminds me of the SUV exemption all over again. That one, from the 80's, moved Americans away from large cars and into SUVs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZenGum (Post 748649)

I have heard Nelson Mandela express very similar sentiments: you ask me, who am I to shine? I ask you, who are you not to shine?

It's often been attributed to Mandela. In fact, the first time I read it was in Reader's Digest and I cut it out and hung it on my fridge and it was attributed to Mandela even there. So, you may have heard about hearing it but you didn't actually hear it. ;)

(I cut out the God parts, just because I think the point is made without bringing gods into it.)

Quote:

The famous passage from her book is often erroneously attributed to the inaugural address of Nelson Mandela. About the misattribution Williamson said, "Several years ago, this paragraph from A Return to Love began popping up everywhere, attributed to Nelson Mandela's 1994 inaugural address. As honored as I would be had President Mandela quoted my words, indeed he did not. I have no idea where that story came from, but I am gratified that the paragraph has come to mean so much to so many people."
The poem was also included in the movie, Invictus, about Nelson Mandela and the South African Rugby team.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marianne_Williamson

And more. Apparently, no one believes it was written by a white woman. ;)

Quote:

*The film Akeelah and the Bee includes this quotation without citing its source. Some viewers have inferred that the source is W.E.B. Du Bois. There is a later scene in the movie in which Akeela reads a passage from The Souls of Black Folk written by Du Bois ("He began to have a dim feeling that, to attain his place in the world, he must be himself, and not another”).
*The film Coach Carter includes a variation of this quote: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
*The Israeli bestseller "Badulina" by the author Gabi Nitzan opens with this quote, also attributing it to Nelson Mandela.

And another link:

http://www.aetw.org/mandela.htm

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It nutshells what I try to live by when I'm not feeling inadequate and small, like most of the time.

Good for you then. And the same phrase with a comma in it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by infinite monkey (Post 748731)

The hell I didn't. ;)

Seriously, in abut 2002 or so when I was at the ANU, the uni gave him an honorary doctorate. I got a ticket to hear him speak. He used a line almost exactly as I reported here.

Now I grant you he may well have been quoting some other source, but nevertheless, he said it.

And afterwards I hung around at the reception and as he left he made eye contact with me. My friend even shook his hand.