America... Watch Out!

No Code, there's billions of dollars sitting out there ... there'd already be three operating Maglev systems operating in this country (Pittsburgh, Baltimore/DC and Las Vegas) if it wasn't for Bush's vaunted Department of Homeland Security (lose mass transportation, gain color coded nonsense) and NIMBY people clogging up the environmental process.

--Brett, who's enjoying his chance to be political until the mods shut him down ;)

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Impulse-ive said:
Yes, I'll buy a Hybrid and when it shuts off in the middle of the interstate on the way to Cedar Point and I get run over by a gas tanker doing 65 MPH, I'll just laugh HYSTERICALLY at the irony!!

Either that or I'll try and accelerate onto said 65 MPH road and since my hybrid takes 5 minutes to get to that kind of speed, I'll get rear-ended by a gas tanker going 65 and still laugh, right?!!?

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What? It accelerates just like any other car. And shutting off? Huh? Yeah it switches to electric only under 25MPH, Hybrid, above that. Wierd...Ok going to bed, almost midnight. And McAfee is slowing the computer with its regular virus check up. ttyl all.

*** Edited 8/30/2005 3:38:03 AM UTC by Colin Fisher***

You've got to be kidding. Take some food along with you in a cooler and there, you saved $30-45 a day on eatting out. Also you will probably eat more healthy IF YOU DO bring your own food then eatting out.

Impulsive-ive,

Last summer when I was in japan, the busses came every 10 minutes, subways every 3. I doubt those 5 minutes you spend waiting for a bus to arrive are going to screw your schedule.

And with subways it goes faster, no traffic, no stop lights, ect.

Looks pretty dangerous to me:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8059273/

Well, I used that example as the two people who mentioned the possibility of skipping a trip in this thread made it sounds like weekender or day trips.

I see what you're saying, Brett. But odds are you're not doing 1000+ miles for one park.

When you stop and figure the cost of an entire coaster trip, the 40 cent overnight increase will most likely be very small percentage of the total.

There are too many variables to make an example that even scratches the surface. I can only use my personal situation. We get 25 to 30 mpg (closer to 30, but we'll round down)

1000 miles / 25mpg = 40 gallons of gas.

40 gallons of gas x 40 extra cents = $16 additional cost

Still not seeing it.

Ok, not as bad as the exploding Fords and there cruise control. :D

*** Edited 8/30/2005 3:44:59 AM UTC by Colin Fisher***

Code: the subway goes faster while you're in the express line, but what happens when you get in the local line and you have to stop for every nincompoop along the way that needs to get home? It's just as bad as waiting at stoplights the whole way home (and most major routes are networked so that if you start hitting green lights and do the speed limit, you'll hit green lights the whole way through, a de-facto "express" route ... then again, that can work in reverse, so when you think you're hitting all red lights? You most likely really are ... )

And to get trains/cars/etc. with the frequency of those in Japan and elsewhere, it requires even MORE capital expenditure, even MORE land acquisiton, and a changing of the entire American psyche as far as mass transportation goes. It's just not an accepted form of transportation in this country, and until there's some form that finds it's way into very quick acceptability, no system has the ability to fund itself for the length of time that it would take to convince us stubbourn Americans that it's a good thing.

Well, I'm enjoying this thread immensely, but unfortunately, I have to go to work tomorrow to help build airports that will be useless once oil prices go up anyway ;) Night all.

Edit: and yes, the way I run my life, that extra 5 minutes DOES screw with my schedule ... greatly.
*** Edited 8/30/2005 3:52:07 AM UTC by Impulse-ive***

Well you just took 5 minutes out of it to post a response, unless that was scheduled. :-)

Blame Bush, he is killing this country. He is one of the worst leaders of this country ever. Just my two cents.

Don't hate on hybrids if you don't understand them. It makes you look ignorant. And remember that electric motor has more torque than most gas engines, so they'll beat you off the line anytime.

I don't have a bit of sympathy for this country when it comes to its ridiculous gas consumption. I remember filling up my crappy first car for .89 in the summer of 1994. Even that crappy Ford Escort got 35 mpg. When I pulled into the gas station, there were a few pickups now and then, and mini-vans, but none of the giant gas hogs that you'll see now. People were getting along just fine with normal cars.

Our public transportation sucks. Our cars are inefficient. Go to a place like Japan or virtually anywhere in Europe and see the difference.

Last week we traveled to Six Flags Great Adv. It cost me $111.00 in gas round trip, we stayed there Tue. thru Fri. I drive a 2004 Dodge Stratus about 30 miles to a gallon. I packed a cooler of food for lunches to help cut costs. We only ate dinner in the park, free breakfast at the hotel. I won't stop traveling to parks.Just look for differant ways to cut costs. Next year maybe I will pack my camping gear and save $ that way.

PS: my friend bought a hybred earlier this year. It has giving him many problems. It has been in the shop at least 6 times that I know of. It keeps stalling and shutting off all the time. I think I will hold off a couple of years before buying one, till they get all the kinks out.

Amen, Brother crazy horse!

^Are you using Priceline for your hotels? That will cut costs as well as I usually get pretty good motels for < $40/night.

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thepinkdoomofmonkeys said:
We need the lower gas prices than other countries because other countries have MUCH better public transportation.

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Yeah... either that or we need higher gas prices to force people in to using public transportation instead of driving their friggin' Suburban to their office job.

Sorry, but I just can't feel bad for people who buy unneccesarily big vehicles and then complain about the gas prices. Go buy another Hummer, jackass. I can drive from Pittsburgh to Charlotte on one tank of gas. That's less than $25 at $1.80, $35 at $2.70, and I drive a supercharged sports car. Take my mom's Prius, and you'd make it to Florida for that price.

P.S. I hate it when Gonchar beats me to calculating why people don't make sense.

P.P.S. $2.50/gal to get to the park, people comlain. $3 for 20 oz. of water in the park, and people fork it over in droves. Yeah, our priorities are great.

Crazy horse, Bush is only a small link in a long chain of either clueless or down right money grubbin polititions.

Bush did get a enegy bill passed. The pork alone in it would build a monorail from NY to LA.

3 million for a bike trail here. 5 million for a horse trail there. ect. ect. ect.

This is all crap by your do gooder state senators and representatives, NOT BUSH saying if you want me to vote for it, Put in this 100 million project that has nothing to do with energy.

Wanna trim billions in the budget? OUTLAW LOBBIEST and have the representatives listen to their districts needs and not PROCTOR AND GAMBLEs

I must have missed something...? I thought in America we had the freedom to drive the vehicle of choice...? I did not realize some were so offended by this. God forbid that somebody may want the added comfort/convienience and safety of driving a larger vehicle. Others may like the efficiency and cheapness of smaller models.

I'm loathe to participate in another CB political tirade...but when people start geting called "jackasses" for the horrendous crime of driving a vehicle that some do not approve of...I'm guessing it is time for a voice of reason to speak up! No matter your political orientation, I would like to think that most realize that calling somebody a jackass based soley upon the vehicle they drive is crossing a line!

P.S. I won't even go into the detailed realities that high taxes play in fuel prices in Europe/etc (ours too, but not as extreme) and how the Great European Atlantis does not have one among them that can boast the economic growth of the USA over any 10 year period of our existance...even today!

There was an article in the Detroit News a few days ago comparing the fuel consumption between two commuters; a Dodge Ram driver, and a Toyota Prius driver. The Ram driver fuels up a few times per week, and if I recall, doesn't use the Ram for any type of heavy hauling. The Prius driver fuels up once a month.

The best part of the article, though, was the research that said that the best way to improve gas milage was to change your driving habits. Less aggresive driving improves milage more than cruise control, and not using air conditioning.

Of course, people are lazy and unwilling to change their habits. Buy a more fuel efficient vehicle and drive less aggro (to benefit yourself and others!) and everyone is happy.

Edit: Jeffrey, I think the general point about people driving SUV's is that with the rising gas prices, SUV drivers don't have any room to complain. Low gas milage is a *very* obvious consequence of driving an SUV. If you have an SUV you should be prepared for that consequence; don't complain to me that your H2 gets 13 MPG.

*** Edited 8/30/2005 4:51:32 AM UTC by MiLLeNNiUMRiDeR***

Now heres the irony.

The people with the Hummers are the ones contribuiting to the problem but are also the ones least suffering from the effects.

Sorry but a lawyer making 400,000 buying a hummer isn't one bit worried about $4.00 a gallon gass while Joe Family man making $40,000 sees a big dent by the extra grand a year it cost to get to work.

Jeff, I also drove a escort that was supposed to save me big money. Oh but a two thousand dollar head replacement later and I was on the loosing end. Shoulda kept my GTO :)

Hybird are a investement not to be made by the *I can barely afford it group.* Sure, Some of these warrenties are good, Some are complete junk as in any car. Reserch it first, Know what it covers and what it don't before investing and you should be ok. Go in blind and you'll be loosing more than you'll ever save on gas.

There are Hydrogen cars almost market ready, Problem is the oil companies figuring out how to charge $4 a gallon for water

Hydrogen cars are a joke... Currently it takes more energy to extract pure hydrogen from sources (H2O) than it does making energy. Hydrogen is self-defeating in that respect. The pure chemical equation behind it is inefficient: (2) H2O -> (2) H2 + O2 -> (2) H2O... alot is lost when splitting H2O into its base Hydrogen/Oxygen components.