Monday, July 03, 2006

Do you smell something burning??!!

Hello All,

Know it has been awhile since my last post. We finally completed getting the house ready for sale, put it on the market, have another house on contigency, took a week off of work and spent two weeks on Grand Jury duty. Little busy.

Shelle is swelling up, though everyone cannot believe she is 31 weeks pregnant. She is very small, yet the doctor has her in great shape and she is doing pretty good. She keeps asking me if she is waddling yet. I tell her no as I quietly laugh as she walks away like a little penguin.

Right now everyone knows what the baby is but us. That is right, we dont want to know what it is until Shelle spits it out. We had the nurse who did the sonogram write down the sex and put it in an envelope. So if anyone in the family is blogging make sure you dont put it in your writing.

OK, time to rant. Been reading a lot on alternative fuels and such. Chevy has their great yellow ads to make them look more enviormental and all, BS!!! Ford has been putting out Ethanol vehicles for years, heck, I drive a multi fuel Ranger I bought when I got home from Iraq and it is a 2003 Year model. Most manufacturers vehicles are E85 capable so the can get tax incentives but they never tell you.

Everyone wants to go enviromental so let me help you get a few things straight:

1. E85 is 85% Ethanol (which is about $2.45 + a gallon) and 15% regular petrol. Right now you run 85% petrol and 15% Ethanol.

2. E85 gives you less mileage (My Ranger gets 21+ miles on petrol whereas E85 I would get 14 to 17 MPG)

3. You have to change your fuel filters more regulary.

Ethanol is really nothing more than good ole moonshine (allbeit 140 to 190 proof). You can make it yourself at home with a still (you can obtain a permit from the ATF so you can produce up to 10,000 gallons a year) and something that will decompose. Once you have the sweet nectar of hillbillies you have to cut it (that is add) 15% gasoline so the govt knows you arent starting a shine operation.

Currently efforts are underway to use bacteria and enzymes to break down grasses and straw (generally E85 is made from old corn) to be able to make more for the market.

Now they are building hybrids (Still have to gas them). OK, great, they get 38 + MPG. Good idea but does not really take care of the problem.


Did you know that only 25% of the energy your car produces is put to the pavement??
In that 25% you are also running accessories such as A/C, power steering, and Alternator. 75% of the energy released from your car is heat, pure hotness.

So, you ask me "What can we do about it Mr. Know it all"


Demand electric vehicles from the Big 3 and make the Government (You know, that organization For the People by the People) .

But they dont have any range on them. Studies show that most families generally only drive about 20 to 30 miles a day. Some electric cars can go 100+ miles before they need recharging.

They are soooooo s-l-o-w. Most electric cars that have been manfactured by auto makers can do 55 to 75 MPH. There is a growing contigent of people building their own cars, some are even raced and can beat Ferraris, Porsches and yes, Corvettes.

Your switching from burning fossil fuels yourself to making the electric company burn more coal.
1. If you live in the U.S. we run on a 110 volt system that is very efficent.
2. Guess what, they are burining it anyway. If you dont burn it then you cut down on the pollution.
3. Most people recharge their vehicles at night when peak demand is lowest.

Did you know when autmobiles came about in the late 1800s that a majority of the vehicles on the road were electric??

Did you know the first speeding ticket was handed to a person driving an electric car?

Of course there are drawbacks:

The weight of the batteries and you have to change them about every 3 to 5 years.
(But then you are not changing oil, pulling over to the gas station (not to mention paying gas tax), changing fuel filters and air filters, etc. etc, etc).

You can generally drive about 30 to 100 miles per day (Set your trip every morning and check it when you get home and are not going anywhere until the next day, you may be surprised).

What it comes down to is being responsible (OMG, he didnt say it). Yes, RESPONSIBLE, being on Grand Jury showed the amount of people that are not personally responsible, and those are the ones got caught.


OKay, thanks for tuning in, gotta chow.

Until next time
Hello from Hell