I feel as if all the point of progressivism has just served to use it as a target. Every place where there has been an attempt to move forward, it turns out that the forces of moving back are more motivated, more powerful, and they play dirty.
Again, I take advantage of the AI image generators, to illustrate a posting with emotional content. Does it convey adequately? Caravaggio would do it better, but he’s not around so this suffices to make my point.
I saw a piece the other day on one of my usual climate sources, that apparently we may be headed for what they are calling a “super el nino” event. What’s so super about it? It’s just another way of saying a “hotter longer drier summer.” They keep pulling in the date for when the global economy collapses and the great dying starts – as if blocking the Strait of Hormuz wasn’t a bit of a problem. But I feel like we are just adding insult to injury: how can we even pretend that governments care about climate change, when the first thing they seem to like to do is set eachothers’ oil supplies on fire? My efforts are no long even a fart in a hurricane.
It also seems as though even the “good guys” are going into this, stupid. In 1988 I bought a Honda CRX HF – the “HF” stood for high fuel efficiency. I was so excited! It was my first new car (my previous one was the proverbial $75 car) and I put low profile, harder wheels on it so it would turn sharper (I thought) and I was pretty amazed that I was getting about 50mpg. Partly that was because I realized that the 1200CC engine in the thing meant it wanted to be driven like a motorcycle, and knew how to do that. It was a good car and lasted almost a decade until someone T-boned me in the process of doing a U-turn in an open 4-lane street. That impact was terrifying; it folded the little honda almost in half. From then on I remembered that it’s not how light my vehicle is, if someone in a tank smashes into me. Flash forward, and now I have 2 cars – a highway car and a farm truck. The farm truck is a big V-8 powered Silverado that gets 20mpg. The highway car is a honda that gets 25mpg in fuel saver mode. I keep wondering what happened to 50mpg cars? Of course the answer is that they cannot co-exist on highways with semitrailers and big V-8 powered Silverados like mine. Of course there is absolute lack of political will to do anything – in fact the political will runs more toward undoing anything. It’s shocking as hell. Anyhow, I decided to gift the honda to a friend who really needs it, and now as I am older and less concerned, I thought I’d buy something I always wanted: a Toyota land cruiser. I started looking at them and saw that they’re hybrids, using the same highly successful principles as the Prius. I was going to become a hybrid-driving liberal! Shall I pierce my septum? But then I noticed that the land cruiser, even though it’s a hybrid, etc., gets 24-25mpg. It doesn’t take a degree in rocket scatology to figure that if it was a V-6 in there it would outperform the hybrid, and my Silverado, too.
Then, the war started and I realized how huge my carbon footprint is, and at this point I almost hope future generations die quickly with a minimum of whining. Especially the descendants of Trump voters. Eat them, first.
That’ll be because you are using US gallons. Convert your car to run on UK gallons and you’ll get an extra 19.78% fuel efficiency!
E.g. for Califonia and an increasing number of other regions, that is or should be called “fire season” now.
astringer@#1:
That’ll be because you are using US gallons. Convert your car to run on UK gallons and you’ll get an extra 19.78% fuel efficiency!
I’m using Freedom Units. So you’re saying if I buy gas in Imperialist units I become French? Or something like that? I am glaring suspiciously at the screen!!
Jörg @#2:
E.g. for Califonia and an increasing number of other regions, that is or should be called “fire season” now.
It’s all leading up to the collapse of agriculture.
My father died at 69½ years old. My mother lived to almost 93 (3 weeks short of her birthday).
I will be 71 in a couple of weeks.
Fortunately she left alot of money. I wonder if it will last until the End.
chigau@#5:
I wonder if it will last until the End.
Having no plan is the best plan for cataclysmic times. We need to remember that things don’t go according to our plans, and to avoid the grief and stress we experience as chaos takes over. In a way, this is a nihilistic form of bushido – rather than being prepared to die in the service of of authority, we can be prepared do die in the unexpected, but still be prepared for our own comfort and to perhaps shank the other guy, first, so their friends remember you.
My first car, which I bought used, got 45-50 MPG on the highway. I was thrilled! Then I took it to AAA for a thorough inspection. The dynamometer told the truth: the previous owner had cheaped out and put smaller tires on it, so the speedometer/odometer was off by about 10%.
My ’74 710 Datsun wagon got 28-33 mpg hwy back in the 70’s. Doesn’t sound like there’s been much improvement over the last 50 years from what y’all are saying.
I’ve posted this before on FTB but I don’t remember where. It seems relevant, and the rant at the end is golden, so do watch that. :)
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ9nt2ZeGM
Marcus
I think I should have a t-shirt with “shank the other guy” one one side and “first” on the other.
In March 2017 I purchased a new Hyundai Accent which is a 5-seat 5-door hatch with a 1.4L petrol powerplant. It has averaged 5.4L/100km, or about 43mpg. Hyundai still produce vehicles with this level of fuel efficiency.
My current work vehicle is a Geely EX5 Pure EV (one of 4 company-owned EVs), using an average 14kWh/100km. Our company office has a large rooftop PV array and two EV chargers. We essentially pay nothing for travel, and are carbon-negative given the lifespan of PV modules. My boss is proactive about carbon emissions reduction and is reducing his operating costs at the same time.
too gay to know how to drive. i drive a hongra buttbungler with a fuckshift and five-wheel drives, 2.5 kCal per gram, top of the line, 10 cm rims, double barrel chrome.
I’m a vegetarian. How dare you suggest I eat Trump voters!
I will use them for cat food, instead.
The Tabliduck seems to have pretty accurate reporting compared to the tabloids grew up with.