Thorium Reactors,,,, Why Not?

Posted by Greybeard on Mar 18th, 2011 in News and weather, Technology and Music | 0 comments

It appears that a much better, cleaner,  source of energy than Uranium,  may be readily available.

Unfortunately it appears that our SENATE has shot down all research into this wonder product that could supposedly wean us off OIL in 5 years.

This is what wikipedia has to say about it!!

Corvette!!

Posted by Greybeard on Mar 13th, 2011 in News and weather, Technology and Music | 0 comments

We had house guests over the weekend,  and they surprised us by arriving in  a new Corvette.  The weather conditions weren’t perfect for it,

with spitting snow and rain sprinkles, but we went for a test ride anyway.  With traction control on,  the Vette wouldn’t move on my icy driveway,

so we clicked it off and pulled out to the road,  where the pavement was mostly dry,  but with some wet area’s.  So,,, we clicked traction control back on,

(in competition mode).   A slow warm up drive down Main St. to U.S. 23, warmed it up a bit and pulled over 30 (instant read) miles per gallon, (of Premium gas).

Once on the highway and out of town,  I discoverd that this thing is,  FAASSTT.  (and believe me,  I know a bit about fast cars).

I was VERY Impressed!  With the traction control limiting the power,  it was quite fast off the line,  but at about 40 to 50 miles per hour,  it started peeling my lips back!

The tale of the tape says, it will do a 1/4 mile in a tenth over 12 seconds,  and top speed, is an incredible 190 mph. (and this isn’t the supercharged one).

All from a very luxurious vehicle.  Awesome Ride!

If you need video,  go here to see one dust a Lamborgini Murcielago.

Comments off problem?

Posted by Greybeard on Mar 8th, 2011 in Technology and Music | 0 comments

It seems that a few of my posts have turned up with commenting turned off.  This was not by design,  and I’ve tried to turn commenting back on.

Sorry ’bout that.

Waiting for “SuperMan”

Posted by Greybeard on Feb 25th, 2011 in News and weather, Political, Technology and Music | 0 comments

A Groundbreaking film from the Academy Award winning director of, “An Inconvenient” Lie,  er,  I mean “Truth”.  ”It’s impossible not to be inspired”,  ”An Electrifying call to Action” , “Top Ten Movie of the Year”.

Wow,  where have I heard all that hype before?  Ok,  I’ll admit, I haven’t seen the movie yet,  and I’m not sure I want to see it.  ”An electrifying call to action”,  ya,   that’s what I’m afraid of.  If the science of this documentary,  is as far off base as “Inconvenient” ,  and it calls thousands of do-gooders to action,  (THE WRONG ACTION),  where will we be then???  As we suffer though the coldest winter of the decade,  with record snows,  it’s hard to put another round of  belief into this director.   And,  belief is kind of important in supposedly fact based documentaries.

As a former employee of a public school,  I don’t argue with the fact that they are very much in trouble, (mirroring the troubles in government and big business maybe).   I’m just not sure I can suspend my senses long enough to believe anything this guy has to say.

Gas quality VS Gas mileage

Posted by Greybeard on Feb 17th, 2011 in News and weather, Technology and Music | 2 comments

My normal day to day economy vehicle is a Chevy HHR.   If I’m not pulling something, or hauling something,  I usually drive the HHR.   Why,,, because, on a good day, it get’s 34 to 36 mile per gallon and sometimes as high as 40 mpg with the right conditions.  This beat the h— out of the 12 to 17 mpg my Silverado gets.

I normally keep a pretty close eye on the mileage the HHR is getting at any given time.   When it drops more that 1 to 2 miles per gallon,  there’s usually something wrong.   (Most common event causing mileage drop is a low tire).

Last week during a trip back from downstate,  I stopped at the halfway point and filled up.  When I pulled in for the fill,  I was getting 34.5 miles per gallon. (It was very COLD outside)    Anyway,  I put in about a half tank to fill it up and drove home.   A couple of days later,  we drove to a town about 20 miles south,  straight drive with only 2 stop lights.  As we pulled into town I checked the mileage and it read  27.5 mpg . I immediately stopped and checked the tires,  A-OK,  and I also checked the air intakes for snow blockage.  I found no problems.   Driving down we had had a slight tail wind,  which normally -increases- the mileage,  by 2 to 3 mpg. Obviously it hadn’t helped on the trip down.    On the way back we were against about a 10 mph headwind,  and it did make a difference,  the vehicle actually got down to 26.5 mpg, on that tank of gas.

Today,  we drove north about 25 miles to see a doctor.   Before we left town,  I stopped and filled up again, and again it took about half a tank.   Now, I had a half tank of last weeks gas,  and a half tank of today’s gas,  from two different gas stations,  (two different brands of gas).   About 5 miles into the 25 mile trip,  I noticed that the gas mileage was going up,  it was over 30 and climbing.   By the time we arrived at our destination,  the HHR was pulling 37.5 miles per gallon again.   (it was 45 degree’s today and no wind)

Now I understand that this isn’t a scientific experiment.  There are some variables.  But,  as I stated,  I”m very aware of the performance of the car,  and always take weather,  wind and road conditions into consideration.  The road both North and South,  is flat in this area,  and though wind can be a factor,  the only time it was,  was on the first trip,  and the mileage values were the reverse of what the wind should have caused.

Therefore,   I’m taking the stance that there is a huge amount if difference in energy available from different brands of Gasoline.    All the varieties I used were 10 percent ethanol.   (I would fully expect a loss of available energy with a 15 percent ethanol blend) I would never have expected the variation to be that large,  10 miles per gallon  or in other words,  a 27 percent decrease in gas mileage!!

At this rate,  It looks like it time to start keeping track of where my gas comes from,  and what kind of mileage I get on it.  It would very likely be more cost efficient to drive a little out of the way,  and even pay a little more,  for gasoline that provides 27 percent more mileage!!