Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Monday, September 15, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Daimler to offer electric Mercedes in 2010
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| Daimler to offer electric Mercedes in 2010 | ||
| Fri Jun 20 19:19:41 UTC 2008 FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Daimler <DAIGn.DE> plans to roll out a Mercedes-Benz model that runs on electricity in 2010, its chief executive said in a newspaper interview. "We plan an electric Smart for 2010 and for the same year a Mercedes (electric) model as well," Dieter Zetsche told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in comments to be published in the Saturday edition. Daimler currently has in London a fleet of 100 first-generation Smart cars that run on electricity. Unlike General Motors Corp <GM.N>, which has promised to launch a Chevrolet Volt plug-in electric car in 2010 selling for about $30,000 (15,182 pounds), Zetsche said no decision has been made regarding the price for the electric models. "That depends on whether we sell the batteries with the car or lease them. The willingness (on the part of consumers) to pay more is limited," he said, adding that the group is also considering whether to manufacture electric motors itself. Daimler, which spends about half of its research and development budget on powertrains and CO2 reduction, is also in talks with ex-SAP <SAPG.DE> executive Shai Agassi regarding his plan to create a mass-market infrastructure for electric cars. Zetsche also said he aimed to bring a small series of fuel cell cars to the market in 2010. Earlier this week, Honda <7267.T> kicked off production of its FCX Clarity fuel cell sedan, which will be leased in the United States via a special dealership network starting in July and then in autumn in Japan. Honda targets a volume of 200 cars in the first three years in the two countries combined. Zetsche, who reaffirmed the Mercedes-Benz operating margin target of 10 percent, said Daimler so far had not been hurt by a drop in used car prices in North America that forced BMW <BMWG.DE> to raise its risk provisions by 236 million euros ($366.5 million) in April. He also called the talks with BMW to cooperate on components for the next generation of compact models as "good and concrete." (Reporting by Christiaan Hetzner; editing by John Wallace) Tuesday, June 17, 2008The 3,000 Mile Oil Change Myth
By Bill Siuru, Greencar.com
According to a recent study by the California Integrated Waste Management Board, 73 percent of California drivers change their oil more frequently than required. This same scenario no doubt repeats itself across the country. Besides wasting money, this translates into unnecessary consumption of $100-a-barrel oil, much of it imported. Using 2005 data, the Board estimates that Californians alone generate about 153.5 million gallons of waste oil annually, of which only about 60 percent is recycled. Used motor oil poses the greatest environmental risk of all automotive fluids because it is insoluble, persistent, and contains heavy metal and toxic chemicals. One gallon of used oil can foul the taste of one million gallons of water. » Article provided by GreenCar.com It’s been a misconception for years that engine oil should be changed every 3000 miles, even though most auto manufacturers now recommend oil changes at 5,000, 7,000, or even 10,000 mile intervals under normal driving conditions. Greatly improved oils, including synthetic oils, coupled with better engines mean longer spans between oil changes without harming an engine. The 3000 mile interval is a carryover from days when engines used single-grade, non-detergent oils. Read more at link. Wednesday, June 11, 2008The 3 am Call
No. This is not Hillary Clinton calling you from New York for a booty call. This is the call that many businesses and professionals need in today's society. The answer is here.
Tuesday, June 10, 200810 best excuses for coming to work late
STOP COMING TO WORK LATE
32% of workers attribute their late arrivals to traffic gridlock 17% claim a lack of sleep is the reason 7% have trouble arriving on time because they need to get their children ready for school or day care. Other issues, like forgetting something at home or not feeling well, are also popular. Fortunately for late arrivers, 43 percent of hiring managers won't count tardiness against you as long as you meet deadlines and turn in good work. Here are the top 10 according to careerbuilder.com 1. While rowing across the river to work, I got lost in the fog. 2. Someone stole all my daffodils. 3. I had to go audition for American Idol. 4. My ex-husband stole my car so I couldn't drive to work. 5. My route to work was shut down by a Presidential motorcade. 6. I have transient amnesia and couldn't remember my job. 7. I was indicted for securities fraud this morning. 8. The line was too long at Starbucks. 9. I was trying to get my gun back from the police. 10. I didn't have money for gas because all of the pawn shops were closed. Cheap Gas in Missouri
Explainer Cheap Gas in Missouri What keeps pump prices so low in certain states? By Jacob Leibenluft Posted Monday, June 9, 2008, at 6:43 PM ET While the average gas price nationwide passed $4 last weekend, Missouri could boast of prices around $3.825, the cheapest in the country. How come the Show Me State has the lowest gas prices? Taxes, pipelines, and ethanol. State gas taxes—which are assessed on top of the federal rate of 18.4 cents per gallon—tend to get the most attention in comparisons of fuel prices across states. At 17.6 cents per gallon, Missouri's gas taxes are low, but they aren't quite as low as some other states'. New Jersey, for example, takes just 14.5 cents per gallon, but its prices remain more expensive than Missouri's. (The Garden State's ban on self-service pumps adds an estimated nickel or so per gallon to the retail price.) In Missouri, geography helps keep prices low. The state doesn't have any oil refineries, and its share of U.S. crude oil production is so small that the Department of Energy reports it as 0 percent. But because of its proximity to Texas, Oklahoma, and the Gulf Coast states, Missouri is crisscrossed by some of the nation's larger pipelines. Oil barges also pass through the state on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Proximity to producers reduces transportation costs a little, but it also makes Missouri less susceptible to price spikes when individual refineries run into problems. The distribution of gas stations within a state can also make a difference. In Missouri, many pumps are at big-box stores or stations attached to convenience stores—which take in significant income from secondary sales. At these locations, retail gas prices tend to be closer to wholesale prices. (You can find a similar effect on gas prices in Kansas, parts of Pennsylvania, and the upper Great Lakes region.) Retail gas prices can vary depending on state and local environmental requirements. Urban areas with particularly dirty air are required by federal law to sell "reformulated gas" for all or part of the year, and because the cleaner-burning fuel is refined through a special process, it tends to be a little more expensive than regular gas. Within Missouri, for example, St. Louis and Kansas City have higher prices compared with the rest of the state because of mandates for cleaner gas. California uses a unique blend of gas due to environmental regulations and is generally cut off from supplies east of the Rockies; there, prices can spike to more than 40 cents above the national average. Yet one piece of legislation designed to help the environment may have had the unusual effect of reducing gas prices in Missouri—at least in the short term. At the beginning of this year, the state implemented a new law requiring that all gasoline include 10 percent ethanol. With the price of crude oil rising much faster than that of ethanol, the new formulation may save consumers about 10 cents per gallon (PDF) relative to regular gas. But with ethanol production being blamed for rising food prices, Missouri lawmakers are debating rolling back the law—a change that might allow South Carolina or New Jersey to reclaim the title of the nation's cheapest gas. Bonus Explainer: How come diesel fuel*—in Missouri and elsewhere—costs so much more than the regular stuff? Global demand. Historically, diesel has often been cheaper than regular gas. But with the rest of the world—including fast-growing China and India—so reliant on diesel, U.S. refiners have increased their exports abroad. While European refiners export gasoline to the United States, some tankers return with diesel to fulfill high demand across the Atlantic. Reduced supplies in the United States mean diesel is, on average, about 65 cents per gallon more expensive than gasoline. While diesel and gasoline both use the same basic raw ingredient—crude oil—they require a different refining process. Given diesel's higher price, refiners almost certainly would produce more if they could, but it may take them years to build that additional capacity. Got a question about today's news? Ask the Explainer. Explainer thanks Severin Borenstein of the University of California Energy Institute, Hayley Chouinard of Washington State University, Michael Davis of the Missouri University of Science and Technology, Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service, Matthew Lewis of Ohio State University, Erich Muehlegger of Harvard University, and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Energy Center. Correction, June 10, 2008: Due to an error introduced during editing, diesel fuel was incorrectly described as a kind of gasoline. (Return to the corrected sentence.) Jacob Leibenluft is a writer from Washington, D.C.Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2193222/ | ||
Sunday, June 8, 2008
6 Ways You're Wasting Gas
It's not easy to break bad driving habits, but if you don't, the money you lose on gas could wind up breaking your bank.
By Peter Valdes-Dapena provided by: NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com)
With all the worry over fuel prices, you'd think drivers would do whatever they can not to waste gas. But look around and you'll see lots of them tooling around as if they owned their own tanker fleet. One of them might be you.
Here are six ways drivers typically waste gas on every trip:
1. When the light turns green, you don't have to take off as quickly as possible. That pedal under your right foot is called the "gas pedal" for a good reason. The more you press down on it, the more gas you're pumping into the engine.
Press lightly on the gas pedal, and you'll still accelerate, and you'll still get where you're going. You might be surprised at how little pressure it takes to get your car up to speed in a reasonable time.
2. Racing up to red lights
When you're driving down the street, and you see a light red light or stop sign up ahead, you should lay off the gas sooner rather than later.
There's no point in keeping your foot on the gas until just before you reach the intersection. Let off the pedal sooner and give your engine a rest as you coast to the stop while braking gently. As an added benefit, your brake pads will last longer, too.
By themselves, these first two tips can improve your fuel economy around town by as much as 35 percent, according to tests conducted by automotive information Web site Edmunds.com.
3. Confusing the highway with a speedway
Even if it doesn't involve hard acceleration, speeding wastes gas. The faster you go, the more air your vehicle has to push out of the way. It's like moving your hand through water. The faster you try to move your hand, the harder the water pushes back.
In tests by Consumer Reports, driving at 75 miles per hour instead of 65 miles per hour reduced fuel economy by between 3 and 5 miles per gallon, depending on the vehicle.
4. Bumper-buzzing
Tailgating is a bad move for many reasons. First of all, it's unsafe. You reduce your ability to react if the car in front of you slows or stops. It also means you have to pay ultra-close attention to that car which reduces your ability to scan for other hazards ahead of you and to the sides.
And tailgating wastes gas. Every time the driver ahead taps his brakes, you have to slow down even more than he did. (That's because you can't react immediately so you have to slow even more because you're slowing down later.) Then you accelerate again to get back up to speed and resume your bumper-buzzing routine.
Hang back and you'll be safer - plus you'll be able to drive more smoothly and use less fuel. A good rule of thumb is to allow two seconds of space between your car and the one ahead. You can figure that out by counting off two seconds after the car in front of you passes an obvious landmark like an overpass.
5. Driving standing still
You've probably heard that it takes more gas to restart a car than to let it run. Maybe that used to be true, but it isn't anymore. With modern fuel-injection engines, it takes very little extra gas to restart a car once it's warmed up.
Idling, meanwhile, burns about a half-mile worth of gas every minute, according to the California Energy Commission. That's why hybrid cars shut down their gasoline engines whenever they stop, even for a moment.
Now you don't want to shut your engine down for every little stop in your regular, non-hybrid car - it's not designed for that - but if you're waiting for someone to run in and out of a convenience store, turn off the engine.
And don't go through the drive-through at fast food restaurants. You're already paying enough for the oil in those chicken nuggets.
Bonus tip: Don't idle your engine to let it warm up before driving. It does your engine no good and it wastes gas. Instead, start driving right away, but drive gently until the engine is warm.
6. Short hops
For really short trips, take advantage of the opportunity to get some exercise. Try walking to the store instead of driving. You can save gas and burn a few calories instead.
If you can't hoof it, save up your errands. A lot of short hops that let the engine cool down at home between trips can use twice as much gas as starting the car once and making a big sweep to all your stops, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Go to your farthest destination first so your engine has a chance to reach its optimal operating temperature. Then make your other stops on the way back. With the engine warmed up, the car will restart easily and run efficiently all the way home.
If these tips don't work, here are some alternatives from your boy.
1. Call off work - don't work, don't drive.
2. Only make necessary trips. No more driving to see people, that's what email is for.
3. Trade in your SUV. Oooopps. Too late. They are no longer taking SUV's as trade bait. You are better off trading in a salvaged vehicle.
4. If all else fails, catch the bus. In some instances, this is a bigger hassle than help (Like St. Louis and the wack Metro link). But it will only be a matter of time before they go up on prices also.
By Peter Valdes-Dapena provided by: NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com)
With all the worry over fuel prices, you'd think drivers would do whatever they can not to waste gas. But look around and you'll see lots of them tooling around as if they owned their own tanker fleet. One of them might be you.
Here are six ways drivers typically waste gas on every trip:
1. When the light turns green, you don't have to take off as quickly as possible. That pedal under your right foot is called the "gas pedal" for a good reason. The more you press down on it, the more gas you're pumping into the engine.
Press lightly on the gas pedal, and you'll still accelerate, and you'll still get where you're going. You might be surprised at how little pressure it takes to get your car up to speed in a reasonable time.
2. Racing up to red lights
When you're driving down the street, and you see a light red light or stop sign up ahead, you should lay off the gas sooner rather than later.
There's no point in keeping your foot on the gas until just before you reach the intersection. Let off the pedal sooner and give your engine a rest as you coast to the stop while braking gently. As an added benefit, your brake pads will last longer, too.
By themselves, these first two tips can improve your fuel economy around town by as much as 35 percent, according to tests conducted by automotive information Web site Edmunds.com.
3. Confusing the highway with a speedway
Even if it doesn't involve hard acceleration, speeding wastes gas. The faster you go, the more air your vehicle has to push out of the way. It's like moving your hand through water. The faster you try to move your hand, the harder the water pushes back.
In tests by Consumer Reports, driving at 75 miles per hour instead of 65 miles per hour reduced fuel economy by between 3 and 5 miles per gallon, depending on the vehicle.
4. Bumper-buzzing
Tailgating is a bad move for many reasons. First of all, it's unsafe. You reduce your ability to react if the car in front of you slows or stops. It also means you have to pay ultra-close attention to that car which reduces your ability to scan for other hazards ahead of you and to the sides.
And tailgating wastes gas. Every time the driver ahead taps his brakes, you have to slow down even more than he did. (That's because you can't react immediately so you have to slow even more because you're slowing down later.) Then you accelerate again to get back up to speed and resume your bumper-buzzing routine.
Hang back and you'll be safer - plus you'll be able to drive more smoothly and use less fuel. A good rule of thumb is to allow two seconds of space between your car and the one ahead. You can figure that out by counting off two seconds after the car in front of you passes an obvious landmark like an overpass.
5. Driving standing still
You've probably heard that it takes more gas to restart a car than to let it run. Maybe that used to be true, but it isn't anymore. With modern fuel-injection engines, it takes very little extra gas to restart a car once it's warmed up.
Idling, meanwhile, burns about a half-mile worth of gas every minute, according to the California Energy Commission. That's why hybrid cars shut down their gasoline engines whenever they stop, even for a moment.
Now you don't want to shut your engine down for every little stop in your regular, non-hybrid car - it's not designed for that - but if you're waiting for someone to run in and out of a convenience store, turn off the engine.
And don't go through the drive-through at fast food restaurants. You're already paying enough for the oil in those chicken nuggets.
Bonus tip: Don't idle your engine to let it warm up before driving. It does your engine no good and it wastes gas. Instead, start driving right away, but drive gently until the engine is warm.
6. Short hops
For really short trips, take advantage of the opportunity to get some exercise. Try walking to the store instead of driving. You can save gas and burn a few calories instead.
If you can't hoof it, save up your errands. A lot of short hops that let the engine cool down at home between trips can use twice as much gas as starting the car once and making a big sweep to all your stops, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Go to your farthest destination first so your engine has a chance to reach its optimal operating temperature. Then make your other stops on the way back. With the engine warmed up, the car will restart easily and run efficiently all the way home.
If these tips don't work, here are some alternatives from your boy.
1. Call off work - don't work, don't drive.
2. Only make necessary trips. No more driving to see people, that's what email is for.
3. Trade in your SUV. Oooopps. Too late. They are no longer taking SUV's as trade bait. You are better off trading in a salvaged vehicle.
4. If all else fails, catch the bus. In some instances, this is a bigger hassle than help (Like St. Louis and the wack Metro link). But it will only be a matter of time before they go up on prices also.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Top 15 Places Every Kid Should See
According to Yahoo Travel: (no particular order)
Get out and explore. Exposure is the name of the game. With that being said, some of these places I have either been to or opted not to go to.
Ellis Island Museum, New York City (boring)
Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. (boring)
Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Va. (boring)
USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (sounds boring)
Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz. (boring)
National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis (on the list to do)
Redwood National Park, Calif. (on the list to do)
Monticello, Va. (sounds boring)
Gettysburg, Pa. (boring)
The Alamo, San Antonio, Texas (on the list to do)
Ground Zero, New York City (on the list to do)
Niagara Falls, N.Y. (on the list to do)
Freedom Trail, Boston (sounds boring)
Independence Hall, Philadelphia (boring)
Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (on the list to do)
Just think when I was a kid my list looked like this:
Forest Park
Six Flags
California (anywhere would be fine)
The Beach (could have been the Ozarks for all I cared.)
Cousin house - They have Sega and Nintendo
Well you get the point.
Get out and explore. Exposure is the name of the game. With that being said, some of these places I have either been to or opted not to go to.
Ellis Island Museum, New York City (boring)
Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. (boring)
Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Va. (boring)
USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (sounds boring)
Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz. (boring)
National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis (on the list to do)
Redwood National Park, Calif. (on the list to do)
Monticello, Va. (sounds boring)
Gettysburg, Pa. (boring)
The Alamo, San Antonio, Texas (on the list to do)
Ground Zero, New York City (on the list to do)
Niagara Falls, N.Y. (on the list to do)
Freedom Trail, Boston (sounds boring)
Independence Hall, Philadelphia (boring)
Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (on the list to do)
Just think when I was a kid my list looked like this:
Forest Park
Six Flags
California (anywhere would be fine)
The Beach (could have been the Ozarks for all I cared.)
Cousin house - They have Sega and Nintendo
Well you get the point.
$3.79 9/10 for the cheap stuff
Has the price of gas caused you to start making life decisions at the gas pump? I remember when gas was 89cents. Yeah that long ago. Could fill up for $20. You could actually put $3 in the tank and take a trip to somebody house. Now, I am almost to the point of cementing my back yard to circumvent having to cut the gas which might cost me $5/pop this summer. No such thing as breaking out the gas trimmer. Oh no. That has now carried over to the way a number of businesses are starting to operate.
Examples:
Some Police stations are requiring more foot patrol to cut down.
With no surprise, Ford cuts profit projections and production on those $110/tank fill ups called F150's. Built Ford tough (fill in the blank here).
American Airlines not only cuts jobs and flights, but also are charging a premium per bag now. $15 for your first checked bad and $25 for the second. Did you catch the part that this is each way?
Examples:
Some Police stations are requiring more foot patrol to cut down.
With no surprise, Ford cuts profit projections and production on those $110/tank fill ups called F150's. Built Ford tough (fill in the blank here).
American Airlines not only cuts jobs and flights, but also are charging a premium per bag now. $15 for your first checked bad and $25 for the second. Did you catch the part that this is each way?
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