Ok, I’ve never done this in a blog before, but I feel it’s time I get some things off my chest.
The war on terror
I know we’re only trying to help the people of Iraq, but don’t you think we’ve done enough already? I mean, we wiped out their government and installed a new one, that should be it right? First off, what gives us the right to be a global police force anyways? Oil? Probably. One of the things I don’t get is if the terrorists and insurgents are so angry at us for being in Iraq, why do they keep attacking? Don’t they understand that the longer they attack our troops, the longer we will stay? Think about it, if everything in Iraq was all good, then we would leave, but daily suicide bombings are only going to make the point that Iraq cannot function without our military.
So to all you terrorists that are reading this while taping dynamite to your chest, think about it. Every day you attack us is just one more day we’ll be in your backyard playing with your kickball.
Gas prices, and alternative fuels
About a year or so ago I remember saying that “the biggest push for alternative fuels will come from the most unlikely source, the oil companies”. I feel I was right because you see the price of gas going up almost every day, making alternative fuels more appealing to the masses. The oil companies themselves have begun the end of their own business by making it so expensive. Now granted we don’t have it nearly as bad as people overseas, I think England is up to like $5.00 a gallon or something crazy, not to mention the oriental countries, it’s insane there. Do you know how they cope with it? They ride bicycles.
I want to clue you all in on a nifty little automobile called The Smart Car. This little puppy has excellent gas mileage, very low emissions, and a pretty neat style. They also have a four-seat, and Sportster edition. Best of all, it’s made by Chrysler. If I could own one of these for my daily commute, I would snatch it up in a second.
I watched a video of one of the little Smart Cars being run into a concrete barrier at over 70mph, literally moving the 21-ton block of concrete. Of course, it was remote-controlled. What got me sold was one of the testers walked up to the wreck, opened the driver’s side door, and climbed inside. That’s right, he was able to get in and out of the vehicle with little effort, despite the fact the front end was completely crushed. The engine is in the back, which I always thought was a good idea. Later on, I watched a video done pretty much the same way, only this time it was with a full-size Hummer. As the result, the Hummers front end was completely crushed, and the steering wheel was pinned against the driver seat. In conclusion, if you were to get into an accident in a Hummer, there’s a very good chance of having a steering wheel through your chest. So even the largest and “most safe” vehicle Detroit has made, is more unsafe than a little speck of a vehicle.
What am I trying to get at? You don’t need an SUV. Let’s face it, when was the last time you saw an SUV off-road? A friend of mine bought a Full-sized Dodge Ram 1500, and on more than one occasion, told me he was never going to haul any wood or anything but bikes and boxes in the bed. So basically he bought a cab with an engine and tacked on a 10-foot swimming pool to the rest of the vehicle. We as a nation must accept the fact that we are wasteful, and we need to make a severe change in order to survive the next 50 years.
My personal solution: Once I establish a full-time job, I plan on getting my motorcycle license. During the spring and summer months, I plan on riding a cycle into work, I figure I would probably fill the tank about once a month, or hell, even at twice a month, it’s better than once a week now. I only have a 32mile round-trip to work now. Another alternative would be to get a completely electric vehicle. The latest stats I’ve seen is 200miles per charge. So basically I could drive to and from work for an entire week without having to charge my car.
We as a nation need to embrace an alternative to combustion fuels. Hydrogen fuel cells are coming a long way, and it’s becoming a very easy fuel to create as well. Think of this, Algae gives off hydrogen as a byproduct of its digestive process, so all we need to do is create an algae ecology in our waste treatment plants, and guess what? Free hydrogen made outta our poo! The real cool thing is, the byproduct of a hydrogen fuel cell is water. Run that water through some charcoal or other natural mineral deposit, and you’ve got clean drinking water for the masses.
Energy in general
I’m looking around, and the one thing I see in every community is a bare, black roof on every house. What if each house had a bank of solar cells on it? How much money would be saved per house? How much less electricity would need to be generated if every house collected enough energy to at least power the refrigerator, or lights for that matter. In California, they built several houses with solar panels integrated into the roof. The people living in those houses pay nearly nothing in energy costs each year, proving the technology works and is viable.
We live on the top of a hill, the highest point in our neighborhood, so there are no trees blocking our view, a perfect place to have a solar farm on the roof. We also get a lot of high-gusting wind, a perfect place to put some pic-turbines. Bottom line, mother earth gave us the means to live the way we want without destroying the world, why then are we not taking full advantage of it?
My dream
If I can do it, one day I will wake up in a home that is powered mostly by solar, wind, and possible hydroelectric means. When I take a shower or run the washer, that water is then slightly filtered, and stored in a tank in the basement, to be used to flush the toilet and wash my car. My cars are all-electric, with a hydrogen fuel cell add-on that sits in the trunk for when we go on long trips. In my dream, the air is clean, I generate my own power, and life is better. Whether or not my dream will come true is uncertain, but I’m going to do everything in my power to make it happen for me, and the rest of the world be damned if they don’t follow in my footsteps. Change starts with you, so start changing.
Now, I love muscle cars, my father and I have both owned several Ford Mustangs, a key status symbol in the muscle car genre. I enjoy the roar of a throaty v-8 engine, and the feeling you get from peeling out in a cloud of smoke. So you might think me crazy when I say I hope my children never get the chance to experience that. Combustion engines have had their time, and like most technologies, it’s time for their time to end. If we are smart enough to put a man in space and send unmanned drones to Mars, I think we can make a viable renewable energy source vehicle.
There’s a book that lists the requirements to get a vehicle registered with the Department of Transportation for legal road use. Sometime soon I’m going to try and get a hold of that book and build my own car. A car that is all-electric, safe, and easy to maintain. Now I don’t believe for a second that I will go into the car-building business, but if I can sell just one, be it to a friend or whatnot, then I feel I’ve made an achievement.
WAKE UP BIG AMERICA! IT’S THE NEW MILLENNIUM, TIME TO START ACTING LIKE IT! GROW UP!
Geek OFF!