[ale] [OT] cartoon on BP spill blame

Fri Jun 18 16:14:10 EDT 2010

Do I have to color you a masochist? Weird maybe (I happen to love to 
drive, just hate to pay the bills). Commuting by any means is a pain in 
the posterior however.

On 06/18/2010 02:38:18 PM, Charles Shapiro wrote:
> Color me a masochist then. I'd much much rather sit on a train than
> drive. I'm currently commuting in a car for the first time in 10 
> years
> and find it nearly unbearable. I'm multi-moding it across town to 
> some
> of my extracurricular activities, 'cause the thought of driving an
> extra inch is unbearable.
> 
> -- CHS
> 
> 
> On Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 1:10 PM, Lightner, Jeff <jlightner at water.com>
> wrote:
> > One problem with trying to be responsible is that smaller cars only
> fit
> > smaller people.   Being 6'3" and ...umm... full figured I find few
> > "cars" that actually fit me.   Despite that I've shopped around and
> > found cars that do and resisted the urge to simply get a pickup or
> SUV
> > even though I know many of of them will.
> >
> > If "public transportation" actually went from point to point AND 
> was
> > policed so that thugs and lunatics didn't make it unbearable more
> people
> > would probably prefer to use it.   Having had to use it back when I
> was
> > young and poor and had cheap auto insurance taught me that it is
> fairly
> > worthless and only masochists would willingly subject themselves to
> its
> > use if they could afford any other method.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of
> > Michael Potter
> > Sent: Friday, June 18, 2010 12:58 PM
> > To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux!
> > Subject: Re: [ale] [OT] cartoon on BP spill blame
> >
> > I had a BMW Z3 in 1997.  My friend had a Geo Metro.
> >
> > My cost per mile for tires was higher than his cost per mile in 
> gas.
> > His cost for tires was just a little bit less than the cost of tax
> on my
> > tires.
> >
> > I am not exaggerating.
> >
> > My opinion is that the government should not set artificial milage
> > requirements for the automakers.
> > The government should just tax gas such that people will make 
> better
> > choices for which cars they buy and which cars they drive.
> > Automakers will respond to people's preferences by building cars
> that
> > get better gas milage.
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 12:07 PM, Tom Freeman
> > <tfreeman at intel.digichem.net> wrote:
> >> Well, the majority of the race seems to lack the desire/ability/
> >> education (pick one or more blame points, or add one) to make much
> of
> >> any choice except on the basis of upfront cost.
> >>
> >> How often have you had the conversation with somebody about to, or
> >> justifying the purchase of a SUV where the _only_ cost that they
> >> consider is the cost of the fuel to drive it somewhere? Funny 
> thing
> > is,
> >> fuel cost is a fraction of the total cost of driving, yet the cost
> of
> >> fuel drives the whole dynamic because it is visible.
> >>
> >> My Mazda 6 is getting about 30 mpg overall at the moment. With 
> fuel
> >> running about $2.70/gal, that works out to about $0.09/mile.
> Capital
> >> cost happens to run about, wait for it, $0.09/mile (I was able to
> pay
> >> cash - it will be higher if you have to finance). I haven't 
> figured
> > the
> >> maintanace on this car, but the last one worked out to perhaps
> $0.06/
> >> mile over 270,000 miles. Add in insurance at something near or
> better
> >> than $0.05/mile (in my case - YMWV), and you might see the cost of
> >> driving is at least three, probably four times the cost of fuel -
> >> assuming that all the costs are accounted for. Plus the cost of
> >> maintaining the roadway is almost impossible to account for here,
> as
> >> there are multiple sources of funding (including but not limited 
> to
> > the
> >> road use tax on fuel.)
> >>
> >> What I'm trying to suggest is that "price saver" mentality isn't
> the
> >> only force in play here. There is also the hiding of costs through
> >> various mechanisms The bright people around here can probably add
> two
> >> or three more cost hiding/transfer mechanisms in further
> discussion.
> >>
> >> Jim - I do so agree that we need to own up to our participation in
> the
> >> whole process, and not foist the responisiblity off onto somebody
> or
> >> something else. My driving habits drive the need for more oil
> wells,
> >> oil wells will leak/spill oil even if handled with the highest
> degree
> >> of professionalism, so part of the "fault" of the catastrophe in
> the
> >> gulf is mine. The owners/stockholders of record at the time of the
> >> blowout have a larger, more direct responsibility since they own
> the
> >> entity which acted in a less than perfectly professional manner.
> (If
> >> you want the profits - you should take responsibilty for the oopes
> >> also. IMHO)
> >>
> >> On 06/18/2010 11:25:55 AM, Jim Kinney wrote:
> >>> I am willing to pay MUCH more on my plane tickets if the extra $$
> >>> goes
> >>> to
> >>> improve service and reliability and safety, etc.
> >>>
> >>> We have developed too much of the walmart mentality for my 
> tastes.
> >>> cut
> >>> costs
> >>> to save $ with no regard for the quality (or lack) or damage it
> does
> >>> to the
> >>> surrounding.
> >>>
> >>> We _so_ need to start evaluating our own individual participation
> in
> >>> the
> >>> process around us.
> >>>
> >>> On Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 10:37 AM, Greg Freemyer
> >>> <greg.freemyer at gmail.com>wrote:
> >>>
> >>> > Damn,
> >>> >
> >>> > I guess we should blame the passengers if a commercial airplane
> >>> > crashes due to poor maintenance and pilot error.
> >>> >
> >>> > Greg
> >>> >
> >>> > On 6/18/10, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>> > >
> >>> > http://blogs.ajc.com/mike-luckovich/2010/05/31/mike-luckovich-
> >>> june-1-cartoon/
> >>> > >
> >> <<snip for brevity>>
> >>
> >>
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