The next common enemy... - Page 10 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

mikemover · #**136** 03-21-2006, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lebenz

A nice fantasy but cheap fuel oil will soon be more aggressively scavenged than pop bottles and quarters laying on the sidewalk

Perhaps.

But it still beats sticking your head in the sand and your middle finger in the air, as he is doing.

Mike

aklim · #**137** 03-21-2006, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikemover

Ever hear the wise old saying that goes, "If you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem"?......

Mike

Yes I have. However, if you have given up on people, why bust yourself up? I learnt to take care of #1. I used to believe that people were basicall good and if you gave them a chance, the good in them would come out. I went to the Skool of Hard Knocks and graduate with Honors. I learnt to take care of myself FIRST. Later on, if I have time, I might help others if it can help me somehow.

Lebenz · #**138** 03-21-2006, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Botnst

I agree that there is a huge potential for somebody to make a profit off the differential between costs of personal ownership and the cost of a taxi service. .

I agree with the assessment. Does anyone know of anyone who has applied for a grant from the Gates foundation? The first task is getting some information about the number of vehicles that commute. I found some information about congestion but not on the # of vehicles per city. Next would be to figure out what wages are for drivers, mechanics, and all the support staff. My hipshot said about $38K annual, including benefits, or $3b for about 47K employees. Next is vehicle cost, fuel cost, maintenance cost. Building and infrastructure cost. Then comes revenue.

The cool thing is that according to my model, at 30 rides per vehicle per day, it would make a ton of $$. My model was contrived at $7 per trip. It would also replace about 1.2 million trips per day. That is a lot of cars off the road.

Lebenz · #**139** 03-21-2006, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikemover

Perhaps.

But it still beats sticking your head in the sand and your middle finger in the air, as he is doing.

Mike

Not sure it isn't merely a different rules for the same fantasy....

aklim · #**140** 03-21-2006, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikemover

Perhaps.

But it still beats sticking your head in the sand and your middle finger in the air, as he is doing.

Mike

I'm not. I know there might be a possible problem. I just couldn't care enough to try do something about it when it doesn't profit me and when nobody seems to care enough other than a select few. Most people seem to care until it hits them. IOW, lip service. So, since I tend to believe people are bad already and won't bother to do more than pay lip service, why bang my head against the wall for nothing?

aklim · #**141** 03-21-2006, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lebenz

My model was contrived at $7 per trip. It would also replace about 1.2 million trips per day. That is a lot of cars off the road.

$7 a trip? Lets see, it takes my wife half a gallon of diesel to go to work. She can leave when she wants and goes when she wants and does what else she wants. Why should we pay $14 to go to work? I think the government figures it at $0.38 a mile. So, unless she commutes to work at least 38 miles away, what does it pay?

Lebenz · #**142** 03-21-2006, 12:45 PM

Good feedback. The number was contrived as a minimum to pay labor costs. Consider the costs of the vehicle (maintenance + depreciation), the fuel, the insurance. Does .38 per mile pay for that?

mikemover · #**143** 03-21-2006, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

Yes I have. However, if you have given up on people, why bust yourself up? I learnt to take care of #1. I used to believe that people were basicall good and if you gave them a chance, the good in them would come out. I went to the Skool of Hard Knocks and graduate with Honors. I learnt to take care of myself FIRST. Later on, if I have time, I might help others if it can help me somehow.

Well, if you are so convinced that your glass is "half empty", then there's not much I can do to make you see it as "half full".

I refuse to allow myself to be so defeatist, selfish, and negative. At that point, I would become part of the problem.

Mike.

Botnst · #**144** 03-21-2006, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lebenz

I agree with the assessment. Does anyone know of anyone who has applied for a grant from the Gates foundation? The first task is getting some information about the number of vehicles that commute. I found some information about congestion but not on the # of vehicles per city. Next would be to figure out what wages are for drivers, mechanics, and all the support staff. My hipshot said about $38K annual, including benefits, or $3b for about 47K employees. Next is vehicle cost, fuel cost, maintenance cost. Building and infrastructure cost. Then comes revenue.

The cool thing is that according to my model, at 30 rides per vehicle per day, it would make a ton of $$. My model was contrived at $7 per trip. It would also replace about 1.2 million trips per day. That is a lot of cars off the road.

CMAC used to be a cabbie. He might be able to put you on the right path.

aklim · #**145** 03-21-2006, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikemover

Well, if you are so convinced that your glass is "half empty", then there's not much I can do to make you see it as "half full".

I refuse to allow myself to be so defeatist, selfish, and negative. At that point, I would become part of the problem.

Mike.

Let me put this in perspective. I love my dogs. We have plans to take care of them in the event we both die suddenly. I'd sell all my toys if they needed a very expensive surgery. However, there is a limit. When one of them got sick, I dropped $2500 to see what was wrong with her. Once I got the result back from 2 sources and it was pronounced to be liver cancer and spread to the rest of the organs, there was nothing to be done. We are making her comfortable for the rest of her days whether it is one more day or 3 more weeks. Up till then, we gave them the best food, medical care, etc, etc. Once it is terminal, there is no point struggling against what must come. Now, she is on comfort care. Just like that, I see no hope when it comes to people for the most part. As such, I am not going to be interested in the long term end result. So you see, it is difficult to be selfless when the situation is a write off. Same as with a casino. I go in and already know how much I am prepared to lose. I don't get upset when it happens. Low or no expectations, low or no disappointments. Nobody has disappointed me yet.

The glass is either half full, half empty? Not me. I wonder who stole my beer.

Edit: If the glass holds 500cc and there is 250cc, it holds 250cc whether the glass is looked on as half full or half empty. You can say it is half full but what does that change? Say it is half empty? No difference. Still 250cc either way.

John Doe · #**146** 03-21-2006, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmac2012

It used to be incredibly thick along the coast but has now diminished considerably. It's still being harvested in Chesapeake Bay for oil and fertilizer.

Omega Proteins is leaving the Bay, thank God. For some heated discussions on the subject, checkout www.tidalfish.org

Botnst · #**147** 03-22-2006, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Doe

Omega Proteins is leaving the Bay, thank God. For some heated discussions on the subject, checkout www.tidalfish.org

There used to be a pogey plant (menhaden) in Cameron, Louisiana. Hurricane Rita destroyed it. I remember when the wind was, "favorable" you could smell it in Holly Beach, about 5 miles away. Rita took out Holly Beach, too. All that is left are pilings and slabs.

crash9 · #**148** 03-22-2006, 09:25 AM

Pogey much stinky. Never new what they really were. They've got their own name for everything down there. We had our shop along Bayou Boeuf in Amelia and there was a pogey plant to the south. When the wind turned it was stiinnky. When I Goggle Menhaden, first thing up “Menhaden are a delicacy which are served at numerous restaurants in the Bay” and makes me think how things have changed from the sea.
When I was a kid we'd have salmon patties once a week because fish was cheap. Eating fish was a way of saving money. Then they slowly became less available and fish I'd never heard of started to appear. All of a sudden “Orange Roughfy”sp shows up. A fish I'd never seen before, but they were good – now I never see it – what happened? Now we see a lot of Talpia which can be farm raised in warm waters, but have no flavor whatsoever that I can detect. I think they've raised them in Mexico for a long time, because they're on most menus in SA. Cooked whole on an open fire with lots of spices. Just reminds me that things are changing.

cmac2012 · #**149** 03-22-2006, 09:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crash9

Gradual may be yesterdays hope. Words like “tipping point” and logarithmically are popping up a lot. Some ideas that the bottom of the food chain in the southern ocean have died already and that the polar regions are melting ever faster. My understanding is that an “Ice Age” develops very quickly - 4/5 years after some tipping point is reached- and maybe the inverse is the same.
I just had the first heavy snow, or any real moisture for that matter, the day before the first day of spring.

The much maligned NOW with Bill Moyers (now retired) had a piece 2 or 3 years back about a scientist, I forget what kind of earth science, who did a test on a patch of hillside to measure what effects an increase in temp would have.

I think I have it on VHS somewhere, I forget where he did the test, but essentially, he found a grassy, hillside with some trees, bushes, and wildflowers, and built a plastic canopy over it to provide a small greenhouse effect on a sample of an ecosystem.

With a few degrees of increase, the ground became browner, but more importantly, much carbon was liberated from the soil and vegetable cover. That's why one reason sign-tists talk about snowball affects, I think.

We take life for granted: water out of our faucets, food in the grocery store.

I'm past the gloom and doom nonsense. This is serious bid-ness.

cmac2012 · #**150** 03-22-2006, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crash9

Pogey much stinky. Never new what they really were. They've got their own name for everything down there. We had our shop along Bayou Boeuf in Amelia and there was a pogey plant to the south. When the wind turned it was stiinnky. When I Goggle Menhaden, first thing up “Menhaden are a delicacy which are served at numerous restaurants in the Bay” and makes me think how things have changed from the sea.
When I was a kid we'd have salmon patties once a week because fish was cheap. Eating fish was a way of saving money. Then they slowly became less available and fish I'd never heard of started to appear. All of a sudden “Orange Roughfy”sp shows up. A fish I'd never seen before, but they were good – now I never see it – what happened? Now we see a lot of Talpia which can be farm raised in warm waters, but have no flavor whatsoever that I can detect. I think they've raised them in Mexico for a long time, because they're on most menus in SA. Cooked whole on an open fire with lots of spices. Just reminds me that things are changing.

Try this article I posted a link to above:

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2006/03/net_losses.html

It gave me a lot of information about menhaden I'd never heard before. Don't know if their account is too anxiety ridden or not.