tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20104292.post8762222287487195855..comments2024-02-10T21:04:22.822-05:00Comments on The Familyhood Church: The Green MilesKevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16788817477327510023noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20104292.post-22117347232267494172008-03-06T08:19:00.000-05:002008-03-06T08:19:00.000-05:00I'm with eclexia.. Car and Driver needs you CP! T...I'm with eclexia.. Car and Driver needs you CP! That backup beeper would drive me crazy!kc bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17440862813109808755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20104292.post-19082095801139011942008-03-05T21:16:00.000-05:002008-03-05T21:16:00.000-05:00Definitely some of your best writing! A grinner a...Definitely some of your best writing! A grinner all the way thru. :)Bill Heromanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05283809456471966882noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20104292.post-69097042086840610362008-03-05T09:28:00.000-05:002008-03-05T09:28:00.000-05:00Again, CP, you need a book deal - or like eclexia ...Again, CP, you need a book deal - or like eclexia said, magazine reviews or such. You have the most entertaining way of telling stories!<BR/><BR/>1) I always put the em. brake on when I park, too.<BR/><BR/>2) I once stopped at a light, put it in park, and then in reverse when the light turned green. I did a bit of damage to a Suburban behind me. I needed that annoying beep.<BR/><BR/>I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the conference. Glad you made it home safely!Missyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16638784910676212171noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20104292.post-30732244347700023352008-03-05T00:50:00.000-05:002008-03-05T00:50:00.000-05:00That was fun! I must admit I never realised how di...That was fun! I must admit I never realised how different those things were to drive! Ah well, I won't be looking for a new car for a few more years .. my 6 yo Rav 4 and I are very bonded!Lynnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20104292.post-38324880061880279402008-03-04T23:31:00.000-05:002008-03-04T23:31:00.000-05:00Sorry about the migraine, Milly. I hope your siste...Sorry about the migraine, Milly. I hope your sister gets a laugh. I doubt it will help her with her decision much. <BR/><BR/>My merc was $500 short of being totalled after a T-bone in 2001. Insurance rebuilt the car, but the lady who owned it never "bonded" with it again after the accident so her husband sold it to me for exact book. Anyway, the hit seems to have allowed the windshield frame to rust, and the rust allows water to drip in, sometimes right into my thigh.<BR/><BR/>Sigh. <BR/><BR/>I keep thinking I'm going to ask some mechanic what it would cost to fix it, but I keep "forgetting".Kevin Knoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16788817477327510023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20104292.post-9796856374295154612008-03-04T23:28:00.000-05:002008-03-04T23:28:00.000-05:00Salguod, Yeah. Watching the little lines definitel...Salguod, <BR/><BR/>Yeah. Watching the little lines definitely kept me slow, but it's nothing new. All the old rules are just verified. Accelerate slowly. Decelerate as little as possible. Use hills, instead of fighting against them. The feedback just informs you how right the rules are. <BR/><BR/>One thing I found interesting was how wrong I was about the slope on some hills. In some places, it looked like straight downhill and the engine was engaged, while other places seemed uphill and I was actually regenerating. I doubt the computer was wrong, because I was actually maintaining my desired speed. It was fun to see how subject to illusions I am. <BR/><BR/>On the CVT, you're right. Nissan's idea is putting cards in the tire spokes. It's just dumb. And, it completely ruins the whole point of CVT in the first place - keeping the engine in its "sweet spot." <BR/><BR/>Have you seen the ball bearing-based CVT solution they've rolled out for bicycles? Really cool.Kevin Knoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16788817477327510023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20104292.post-3967795472658071952008-03-04T23:23:00.000-05:002008-03-04T23:23:00.000-05:00Thank you, Eclexia for laughing. It was the only w...Thank you, Eclexia for laughing. It was the only way I could treat a subject so "important" to me. :-) <BR/><BR/>Maybe I could start writing the car reviews for the The Onion.Kevin Knoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16788817477327510023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20104292.post-39809219885118666962008-03-04T21:39:00.000-05:002008-03-04T21:39:00.000-05:00>rain dripping onto my thighSup wit dat?>rain dripping onto my thigh<BR/><BR/>Sup wit dat?Millyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08676326805474564427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20104292.post-36755224775247567572008-03-04T21:35:00.000-05:002008-03-04T21:35:00.000-05:00I’ll stick to my Eclipse Momcar. I love the abilit...I’ll stick to my Eclipse Momcar. I love the ability to start it from across the parking lot. I love having the remote to lock it or unlock it. I love the sun roof, leather heated seats, and On Star. <BR/>My sis was looking at a Prius so I printed this post for her. Oops I think I killed a tree. I copied it in larger print because of the head banger.Millyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08676326805474564427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20104292.post-43161764054255672292008-03-04T17:06:00.000-05:002008-03-04T17:06:00.000-05:00technicalities, technicalities... :)Actually, seri...technicalities, technicalities... :)<BR/><BR/>Actually, seriously, Salguod, I appreciate your correcting my vocabulary. I do know energy doesn't magically appear, but I'm not very good at talking about it properly. The way you put it in words is helpful.<BR/><BR/>What I had in mind when I was erroneously talking about "creating" energy was something similar we had wanted to do in Africa--set up a stationary bike for our kids hooked up to the batteries for our house. In my mind I thought of that as "generating" (except I said "creating") energy, when, I'm guessing from your description and codepoke's original wording, what we would have been doing was converting our kids' potential energy to another form of energy, which we would be storing as potential energy in the batteries, and then using as electrical (?) energy to power our lights? <BR/><BR/>I suppose the real proof that I'm more of a feeler than a thinker is that I "feel" what's going on when I read about energy or think about it/picture it, but I get confused when I try to think about it in concrete, precise words... Anyway, the similarity in the bike-generator and recovering the energy off the motion of the tires is what I was thinking of at the time I read it. I do think it is cool that the car intentionally recovers some of the "leftover" energy (is that a correct way of saying it, or am I still missing the point with my words?) from the motion. <BR/><BR/>(And I hope I'm not making a fool of myself trying to talk about this more :) I do like learning about the whole energy thing and trying to understand it (and the vocabulary that describes it) more precisely and accurately.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20104292.post-34187123716558644952008-03-04T13:14:00.000-05:002008-03-04T13:14:00.000-05:00eclexia - You don't magically make energy, you rec...eclexia - You don't magically make energy, you recover a little bit of what you spent. The gas has energy stored in it (potential energy), you convert that energy into motion (move the car), either directly or by charging the batteries and then using them to power the car. When coasting or braking, a hybrid recovers some of that energy from the motion (inertia) back into the battery by recharging it. You don't get it all back (some goes to heat from friction), but you get some back which is more than regular cars do. In regular cars all that inertia goes into heat when you stop.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20104292.post-71477988669063336922008-03-04T13:05:00.000-05:002008-03-04T13:05:00.000-05:00I didn't know you could rent a Prius, that's cool....I didn't know you could rent a Prius, that's cool. A guy here at work has one. Not my kind of car, but I appreciate the technology.<BR/><BR/>I wonder if all the constant MPG tracking isn't leading to hybrid owners creeping along impeding traffic flow trying to squeeze another MPG out. I've come across more than one hybrid driver very leisurely accelerating or poking along much slower than the flow. Of course, it may just be the madman driver in me. I'm not the most patient on the road, unfortunately.<BR/><BR/>I wonder if that backup thing was added by the rental company. Doesn't sound very Toyota. If I think of it, I'll ask the guy here.<BR/><BR/>On the CVT - Nissan found that the constant droning unsettled some folks, so they built shift points into theirs complete with paddle shifters so you can 'shift' it yourself. If you understand the mechanics of a CVT, you realize how goofy that is.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20104292.post-40284807024204437702008-03-04T13:01:00.000-05:002008-03-04T13:01:00.000-05:00Oh, this is hilarious writing/story telling. They ...Oh, this is hilarious writing/story telling. They should pay you to write this up in a magazine review somewhere. <BR/><BR/>"watching the little bugger interpret it's own feelings about my driving was irresistible"--I'm sure I'd wreck one if I tried to drive it for that very reason. And as much as I like to connect with people and listen to their feelings, I'm not sure if I'm quite ready for my car to be so emotionally transparent with me :)<BR/><BR/>Not being one who has ever been able to even think about buying a new car, I had not bothered to learn much about they hybrids. But your story sent me straight to (cough) Wikipedia. What I learned was interesting (but not nearly as fun to read as what you wrote here). <BR/><BR/>"regenerating electricity from the tires to the battery for later conspicuous consumption" That would give me incredible joy--the act of driving creating its own energy. I mean the energy is there, already being created, but to harness it--how great. I get a similar rush (for a lot less money) when I hang clothes on the line. It's like all that heat energy is there, and it's doing its thing, but so much is going to waste, and borrowing some of it, almost incidentally, well...What can I say. I'm easily entertained. <BR/><BR/>Glad you had so much fun with the car. It's amazing that the car could curse you for doing something so energy inefficient as driving up mountains and STILL get you, on average, 39 mpg. It makes me want to go outside and give my Taurus a lecture and call it a few names.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com