Speaking of rampant eco-stupidity, Ars Technica has an article today on why American cars "guzzle" gas. Of course the SUV boom comes up first, but after that they say, "It would be wrong, however, to think that America’s fuel economy problem is solely due to the SUV and truck market."
The article is full of BS and stupidity. There's a picture of some moron's Honda Civic which has been "eco-modded" so that it gets about 70 MPG. Problem is, here's what it looks like:
(That image is on the 3rd page of the article.)
Can American automakers do more to make cars more fuel-efficient? Sure they can. Will Americans buy those cars?
Hell no.
The "low-hanging fruit" of fuel economy upgrades that the article mentions will make cars look like the Dorkmobile, above.
If the most important thing in the world to you is the environment and fuel economy, you're going to think that automakers should do everything they can to make vehicles fuel efficient, and Congress should make the CAFE standard super-high. The problem is, people will then stop buying new cars because there won't be anything they want to buy.
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I don't have the energy or patience to deal with that article in detail right now. In fact, I ought to go outside and mow the lawn. It hasn't been done in more than a week, and with all the rain we got Monday and Tuesday I expect it's shooting skyward fast enough to see.
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I started watching Comic Party Revolution. I really hope it gets better, because the first episode was awful. It really felt like a lot of junk thrown together, and due to the change of character designs the girls aren't even cute anymore. It seemed a lot longer than it actually was, and a few times I was on the verge of skipping to the next show on the playlist.
Ep 48 of Hayate no Gotoku was, as advertised, equipped with awesome amounts of Hinagiku.
I've got to dig through the F: drive and see what I'm going to watch now that Mokke is over, and El Cazador and True Tears are almost over. And Hayate no Gotoku isn't going to last much longer, either.
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Last night around 9-ish I woke up with a taste for a couple cheesy double-beef burritos, so I hied myself over to Taco Bell. I bought 5 of them. Mom wanted a taco salad, so I got one of those, too. My 5 burritos cost less than the taco salad did. Hmm.
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No I didn't eat 5 burritos at one sitting. I'm not that much of a glutton. I ate 2. Then I had 1 around 3 AM. And had another around 4-ish this afternoon. I expect I'll eat the last one before getting onto the lawn tractor.
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I keep thinking about getting some over-the-ear hearing protectors...and then sticking earbuds in my ears and listening to music while mowing the grass. Heh.
Oh well. Probably better if I don't.
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Yay yay yay yay yay yay! "Bush Seeks to Jump-Start Nuclear Power"! Hoody hoo! "The Bush administration plans to announce a $250 million initiative to reprocess spent nuclear fuel, a first step toward reversing a 1970s policy that rejected reprocessing as too dangerous to pursue."
Finally some common freaking sense!
...unfortunately, this article is from January of 2006. (Insert crying emoticon here.)
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And I have added Atomic Insights to my blogroll.
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I guess I'd better think about getting after that lawn....