tingilinde

what goes into an epa rating

A nice description appears in Car and Driver.

an interesting tidbit:

One last fuel-economy tidbit: Don’t even think of comparing EPA figures with stand ardized fuel-economy tests from other countries because the test cycles are very different. For example, the European highway rating, called “extra urban,” is higher than the EPA’s by about 30 percent, so a rating on that cycle of, say, 60 mpg, would be closer to 40 in this country. The mainstream press, not realizing the difference, often complains that automakers refuse to bring efficient models here when, in fact, they may not be all that efficient when measured by U.S. standards.

(a tip of the hat to Tom)

lipstick on a pig

Making fast food fancy --- this just seems wrong.

(er - thanks for the link Sara)

a livable planned community

Forest Hills Gardens in Queens (noted in Slate).  

A bit  different than the direction most of the US took after WWII.

la fires

the current view from the Mount Wilson observatory

"organic" support for coal

“This is the truest form of grass-roots there is. We don’t charge people to be members of the Citizen Army, so if anything, it’s more organic than what some of the environmental groups do. We allow these people to express their own opinions on these issues.”

—Joe Lucas, senior vice president for communications at the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, defending the actions of coal lobbyists against accusations of “astroturfing.” (via The NY Times)

Perhaps true about expressing their own opinions - the far right can be passionate about some very crazy schemes.

practical commuting bikes become more popular

In the past year or two high end commuter bikes have appeared on the American market and now the trend is shifting towards large makers like Trek.

Three speeds probably means a flat commute, but this should be a very practical bike for many.  This may be a very good way to get rid of one of your cars.

a significant anniversary

today is the 150^th anniversary of Col Drake's announcement of the first oil well in Titusville PA

For what it is worth the current world oil consumption is about one cubic mile a yeat.  The historic total is about 40 cubic miles.  Current US oil consumption is very close to 1 cubic kilometer per year.

bike + ice cream maker

The serious student of mobile ice cream should be able to improve on this, but a cute idea

painful, but amusing

“I am not the smartest man in the world, but I have been trained to read scientific documents, and [climate change] is malarkey.”

—Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who also explained why Jesus would oppose a public option in health care reform

human electric hybrids

Trek recently introduced a line of electric assist bikes to the US market.  Take a look at the video.

They've gone with the BionX system and made some improvements - including a dealer network that can offer service when something breaks.  These are ideal for people who don't want to get too sweaty when riding or who have a long ride that might have hills (or a persistent headwind).  Prices are in the $2500 range which turns out not to be too spendy for a well engineered ebike (there is a lot of garbage on the market for under $1000).  These may be the most practical ebikes at the moment.

$2500 is spendy, but if you give up one of the cars you can probably justify one or two ...