Oil Crisis: Solution
 

Stop accelerating towards red lights. Stop repeatedly accelerating and slamming on your brakes and accelerating again just to get a few car lengths ahead. Do you realize what you've gained, when you've achieved the advantage of a few car lengths? Imagine your car passing a fixed point. Then, the people you've struggled diligently to get around, they pass that same fixed point a few seconds later, at most. The net gain of all your furious maneuvering ultimately amounts to a net gain of a few meaningless seconds.

What does it matter, you may ask? Well, during all your adrenaline-driven fits of useless accelaration, the MPG of your automobile sinks to abysmal levels. In order to preserve our current fuel supplies, for many generations to come, all we need do is for you to quit driving like a complete asshole.

No technological breakthroughs, no government regulations, no car-pooling or bike-riding or tele-commuting necessary. Just pull your head out of your ass and start driving like a decent human being.

Actually the acceleration isn't the problem, it's the braking. Every time you apply the brakes you're wasting gas.

My definition of "driving like a decent human being", would be not causing the line of cars behind you to sit through another light. They'll, combined, use more fuel sitting through another light cycle than you would doing a 6000rpm hole-shot, through the light. Moderation, balance, consideration, brains,....it takes all of them to...... I'd like to teach the World to sing, in perfect.... ;)

Maybe, but I'm actually getting really excited at the thought of biofuel and hybrids taking off. My prediction is a combination biodiesel/electric hybrid, electric for shorter runs around town and bio for long hauls.

I saw a program on the Discovery Channel a few days ago that showed a guy making biodiesel from old cooking oil he collected from Mexican restaurants. Very little loss of performace, plus the exhaust smelled like taco meat!:D

But again, you ignore the problem. This 'need' for 'performance' - not to be confused with what performance really is. No car or SUV needs anything larger than a four cylinder (standard or high performance version) because no car needs all that wonton acceleration. (Acceleration being confused with performance.) Acceleration need is due to psychological hype - just like the SUV driver who needs to be higher.

Correct. We are wasting most of our fuel, getting noting in return but "feeling powerful" or whatever it is people get off on. Our vehicles are a conveyance intended to transport us to a destination. We can't afford to treat them as playthings, because there is no metaphorical mommy and daddy to keep buying batteries for us. We're dealing with a finite amount of resources, but we aren't treating it as such.

Jeeze, take deep breath and chill out tw. Only you would take something like taco scented exhaust and turn it into a scowl-fest about SUV drivers. I never attempted to address 'the problem', just offered my personal hope for a silver lining and a humorous tidbit about a possible green technology.
Man oh man, you are as sour as they come.

The real problem is the litigation that will ensue when militant vegetarians are subjected to second-hand taco exhaust.

Jesus H. Christ in a chicken basket!!! That driving behaviour you note, Flint, makes me want to scream (I actually do sometimes).

In my mind I'm working on a pod system; pods that run on tracks or monorail. They will use the same ROW as existing roads and be automated so monkeys are will no longer operate vehicles. How stupid is having a primate operate a deadly car? Imagine: no accident death, no drunken driving death. The automoble companies can get the contract to design the pods, and our Nation's universities will design the system. I think it will be electric.

And that is the problem with the line of reasoning I have presented here. It's logical conclusion results in some kind of restrictive social engineering.

No no, weren't you paying attention? It was Mexican grease, not Chinese.

:thumbsup: :lol2:

Otherwise all that energy consumption adds up to a very dim sum.

:::groan::: You fill your car up...and it's hungry an hour later . . .

Since we have to consider Baby Flint's future World, it's time to stop wasting valuable energy and raw materials making musical instruments. After all, computers can do all that stuff now. :cool:

Not so fast, Mr. Bruce.

When I made decision to concentrate exclusively on accoustic drums, I took into account, primarily, that the definition of a drum, to me, is something which can produce music without dependance on a source of electrical power. A drum is a simple construction, made of renewable, recyleable, organic materials materials like wood and animals skins.

Now, these computers you refer to, I believe they quickly become obsolete, and are promptly deployed to clog our landfills with toxic chemicals . . . What exactly was your point?