So no matter what happens in Massachusetts tomorrow..

[doucanoe]

Here is another one:

While I will admit that some purchase the evil SUV for whatever "coolness" factor they believe it has, for many others its for practical reasons and just a matter of getting around. If you live in snowless areas you might not get this but up here in the great white north, it's pretty practical.

If you are a family of four of five with kids and want to visit Grandma, the electric scooter with four wheels ain't going to cut it to get everybody there or wherever. So, you end up driving 2 scooters every time you set out. That kinda defeats the reasoning behind it.

RC

[d-ray657]

Originally Posted by doucanoe

Here is another one:

While will admit the some purchase the evil SUV for whatever "coolness" factor they believe it has, for many others its for practical reasons and just a matter of getting around. If you live in snowless areas you might not get this but up here in the great white north, it's pretty practical.

If you are a family of four of five with kids and want to visit Grandma, the electric scooter with four wheels ain't going to cut it to get everybody there or wherever. So, you end up driving 2 scooters every time you set out. That kinda defeats the reasoning behind it.

RC

Another way of looking at it, however, is how much of the time do drivers of SUV's end up toting around high fuel consuming excess capacity? I drive a compact hatchback because I find it to provide a happy medium - for my needs. Most of the time I drive, however, even the hatchback has excess capacity. How much do we pay for something that will suit almost every need all of the time?

Regards,

D-Ray

[doucanoe]

Originally Posted by d-ray657

With respect to the value of environmentally friendly technology. Quite a bit of useful technology or other products came out of the space program - Tang and velcro among the more visible. Similarly, there have been viable products arise from technology developed for the military - GPS for example. The space program was in large part, one of the fronts sin the Cold War. The point - the subsidies paid in the form of a defense budget resulted in commercially viable products There is no telling whether these products would have been developed and made commercially viable without the huge amounts spent on the military.

If the scientists are right that environmental issues significantly threaten our way of life, would not the development of technology and products that reduce the degradation of the environment carry the moral equivalent of war? Invest in the technology and commit sufficient resources to R&D that commercially viable/ environmentally safe products are a regular part of the market.

How many holes does this bucket have in it?

Regards,

D-Ray

Not many actually

RC

[merrylander]

As near as I can tell putting power generation in private hands was a large error. Our local bunch put a former investment banker in as CEO. He invested the profits, not in research or plant maintenance, but in other companies - he lost big time. We got a 72% increase in rates, thanks to Bobby Haircut, and no real improvement in quality.

[piece-itpete]

Originally Posted by d-ray657

With respect to the value of environmentally friendly technology. Quite a bit of useful technology or other products came out of the space program - Tang and velcro among the more visible. Similarly, there have been viable products arise from technology developed for the military - GPS for example. The space program was in large part, one of the fronts sin the Cold War. The point - the subsidies paid in the form of a defense budget resulted in commercially viable products There is no telling whether these products would have been developed and made commercially viable without the huge amounts spent on the military.

If the scientists are right that environmental issues significantly threaten our way of life, would not the development of technology and products that reduce the degradation of the environment carry the moral equivalent of war? Invest in the technology and commit sufficient resources to R&D that commercially viable/ environmentally safe products are a regular part of the market.

How many holes does this bucket have in it?

Regards,

D-Ray

I didn't see this D.

No holes, except in our fellow citizens heads (ok that's too rough )

I read a series of articles in the old Analog magazine that discussed what we got from the moon shot. It was Amazing! (No, really, not the magazine )

The real boon would be fusion (which was a magazine too ). Amazing ( :-) ) amounts of power can do amazing seemingly impossible miraculous things. Forget futile efforts to stop global warming, and even the stimulus - spend it all on development of fusion power.

The obvious and simplest way it would generate wealth with fusion is, mine the asteriod belt. Very simple once you have propulsion. How much is a mile diameter chunk of nickle worth?

Pete

[merrylander]

Tony Auth got it right.