I recently watched Who Killed the Electric Car? and it made a recurring thought resurface: why do new model cars get such shitty gas mileage? I know that I'm awesome and my car is an anomaly, but I have a 4.6L V-8 engine and I just got 15.3mpg in the city. That's a little on the low side, but it was strictly city. When I go on strictly highway trips, I've pulled 29.9mpg in the past (maybe with a tailwind?) and a few 27+mpg trips, but I'm usually in the 24-25mpg range. Oh, did I mention that my car is THIRTEEN years old?? Oh, and it's a full size car, considered by many of my peers to be "huge" or "a boat"...
Given the performance of my huge old car with a big engine, it is absolutely pathetic that cars newer by a decade and smaller by over 1,000lbs are only getting 5 more mpg than I am. The 2008 model of my car is advertised to get 15/23 mileage!!! I pull better than that!! The only difference I can see in the engine is that I have ~190hp and the new one has 224hp. Honestly, the industry is moving NOWHERE in regards to fuel economy.
Who's letting car companies get away with their not-improving-fuel-economy shenanigans? Consumers and government. We keep buying gas guzzlers like the H2. Even for those of us who only need a commuter car and get a mid-size or economy car, we're not so selective when it comes to mileage. It's also partially a government problem due to the car companies' incentives. If one company tries to increase fuel economy, it will have to charge higher prices to compensate for R&D and higher manufacturing costs in the short run. Other companies will maintain their prices and our slightly improved company will lose market share and ergo profit. However, a government mandate can help some consumers get what they want while not putting car manufacturers at a loss for investing more into R&D.
OK, last rant: it pisses me off when new cars are marketed as having "good" fuel economy if they get more than 30mpg. Mostly because they hardly outperform my car (on the highway) and they're all tiny cars that get that only marginally more than 30mpg. By now, 55 or 60mpg should be the standard for "good" fuel economy, not half of that. Maybe by the time I'm ready to buy my next car, plug-in hybrids will be available factory.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Sunday, January 6, 2008
A Reflection on Picks of the Week
A handful of people share music with me. I've found that I usually like what they recommend. Often, something someone else introduced to me will grow on me so much that I end up using it for my pick of the week. I've noticed that Stephanie has a big representation in the pick of the week lineup. Maybe it's because she informs me about a ton of music. Maybe she has good taste. Maybe it just happens that way.
One of my rules for the pick of the week is that I cannot repeat an artist, ever. This should not be an impossible task since there are enough good artists to fill picks of the week for longer than my lifetime and there are new ones popping up every day. However, when I pick a song recently introduced to me, I don't have to go back and check if I've already used that artist. Sometimes the one song per artist rule keeps me from adding a song I'd really like to (like Days of the Phoenix by AFI), but I think that it helps keep the picks from getting too repetitive and incestuous.
One of my rules for the pick of the week is that I cannot repeat an artist, ever. This should not be an impossible task since there are enough good artists to fill picks of the week for longer than my lifetime and there are new ones popping up every day. However, when I pick a song recently introduced to me, I don't have to go back and check if I've already used that artist. Sometimes the one song per artist rule keeps me from adding a song I'd really like to (like Days of the Phoenix by AFI), but I think that it helps keep the picks from getting too repetitive and incestuous.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Friday, January 4, 2008
The Jungle
One book I've heard about a million times in history courses is Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. The things you remember is that: it's about the beef-packing industry and that Sinclair aimed for America's heart but hit it in the stomach. Maybe you also learn that Sinclair was more concerned with workers' rights.
After reading this book over my winter break, I can't see how everyone missed his point. Basically, the book follows a Lithuanian immigrant named Jurgis and his family. They end up in Packingtown, Chicago and suffer numerous mistreatments at the hands of capitalists. There are graphic depictions of the level of poverty and suffering of this family, which is supposed to be taken as a case study, reflecting conditions of all families living in the area. Basically everyone works until they cannot anymore, all the while suffering unthinkable abuse from their employers and anyone else who is not in the lower class. Without adequate funds, many go hungry or turn to prostitution or live in a space smaller than a jail cell.
There are only about 10 mentions of the gross things that packinghouses do to the food and I believe that they were included to show that the capitalists had no regard for anyone's wellbeing; they were not exclusive to not caring about their workers. Sinclair sets up the profit motive as sinister. I will concede that human rights should not be violated in the quest for profit. I imagine that the reason the free market failed to protect consumers from rotten food and workers from abuse is a combination of politics and an information problem. Consumer watchdog groups can help bridge the information gap between the public and what goes on in the stockyards. As long as politicians need campaign money, I don't think it is possible to fix the graft problem.
Some also say that Sinclair was expressing his socialist agenda. The only time I saw this in the book was near the end when Jurgis finds out about the socialist party, BUT all portrayals of the socialist party make it sound far from ideal. I guess I can't ridicule his contemporary readers for missing the mistreatment thing when I missed the "socialism is good" thing.
After reading this book over my winter break, I can't see how everyone missed his point. Basically, the book follows a Lithuanian immigrant named Jurgis and his family. They end up in Packingtown, Chicago and suffer numerous mistreatments at the hands of capitalists. There are graphic depictions of the level of poverty and suffering of this family, which is supposed to be taken as a case study, reflecting conditions of all families living in the area. Basically everyone works until they cannot anymore, all the while suffering unthinkable abuse from their employers and anyone else who is not in the lower class. Without adequate funds, many go hungry or turn to prostitution or live in a space smaller than a jail cell.
There are only about 10 mentions of the gross things that packinghouses do to the food and I believe that they were included to show that the capitalists had no regard for anyone's wellbeing; they were not exclusive to not caring about their workers. Sinclair sets up the profit motive as sinister. I will concede that human rights should not be violated in the quest for profit. I imagine that the reason the free market failed to protect consumers from rotten food and workers from abuse is a combination of politics and an information problem. Consumer watchdog groups can help bridge the information gap between the public and what goes on in the stockyards. As long as politicians need campaign money, I don't think it is possible to fix the graft problem.
Some also say that Sinclair was expressing his socialist agenda. The only time I saw this in the book was near the end when Jurgis finds out about the socialist party, BUT all portrayals of the socialist party make it sound far from ideal. I guess I can't ridicule his contemporary readers for missing the mistreatment thing when I missed the "socialism is good" thing.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Boats
I photoshopped this to take out 3 small boats in the background. Can you find where they used to be? (I'm not a pro).
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Unidimensional Diversity...
...is not diversity. *note: the focus here is on collegiate level education* A truly diverse scholastic environment offers a setting for multi-dimensional learning and extracurricular growth.
Diversity is also important in an individual's portfolio. Many have heard this argument and agree. However, when they look at a portfolio, somehow they think of multidimensinoal diversity. If you have enough money, you should put some away in diverse assets. Some dimensions of diversity here include:
beta
term (short, medium, long)
type (stock, bond, savings, mutual fund, futures, precious metals)
risk
cash
Schools often focus on race as their unidimensional indicator of diversity. However, if you have a school that is half black and half asian, it may not be diverse at all...or, it could be VERY diverse. Possible other dimensions of diversity for schools include:
income
geographic (not just in- vs. out-of- state, but intrastate locations and internationals)
age
academic credentials
majors/strengths (e.g. standardized tests vs. GPA)/extracurricular interests/talents
religion
social skills
foreign language proficiency
drug use
community involvement
While it is easy to measure racial diversity for a school, there are not established metrics for some of the other dimensions. And you can drill down...community involvement could be with children or elderly people, sporting teams or Habitat for Humanity, or any type of non-profit organization. Drug use could vary from daily use of cocaine to recreational use of marijuana.
SO, since a percentage of each minority really tells us only a small part of the picture, I suggest that schools stop concerning themselves with it or start giving data on some of the easier-to-measure metrics such as SAT scores, religion, and income ranges of students.
Diversity is also important in an individual's portfolio. Many have heard this argument and agree. However, when they look at a portfolio, somehow they think of multidimensinoal diversity. If you have enough money, you should put some away in diverse assets. Some dimensions of diversity here include:
beta
term (short, medium, long)
type (stock, bond, savings, mutual fund, futures, precious metals)
risk
cash
Schools often focus on race as their unidimensional indicator of diversity. However, if you have a school that is half black and half asian, it may not be diverse at all...or, it could be VERY diverse. Possible other dimensions of diversity for schools include:
income
geographic (not just in- vs. out-of- state, but intrastate locations and internationals)
age
academic credentials
majors/strengths (e.g. standardized tests vs. GPA)/extracurricular interests/talents
religion
social skills
foreign language proficiency
drug use
community involvement
While it is easy to measure racial diversity for a school, there are not established metrics for some of the other dimensions. And you can drill down...community involvement could be with children or elderly people, sporting teams or Habitat for Humanity, or any type of non-profit organization. Drug use could vary from daily use of cocaine to recreational use of marijuana.
SO, since a percentage of each minority really tells us only a small part of the picture, I suggest that schools stop concerning themselves with it or start giving data on some of the easier-to-measure metrics such as SAT scores, religion, and income ranges of students.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
This Will Be My Year
"you can tell yourself what you want to hear / but you have to believe / this will be my year" - Semisonic.
I have played that song every New Year's Eve/New Year's Day for about 6 years now. It's about all I need to do to have a decent celebration. TBW knows this and said something to me about it. I ended up staying in tonight on account of my wrists (which, as I found out today, were broken in more places than I previously thought). Now I'm in a cast where I can bend my elbow, which is nice.
I have played that song every New Year's Eve/New Year's Day for about 6 years now. It's about all I need to do to have a decent celebration. TBW knows this and said something to me about it. I ended up staying in tonight on account of my wrists (which, as I found out today, were broken in more places than I previously thought). Now I'm in a cast where I can bend my elbow, which is nice.
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