BailOut's Interview: Conservation in 2009 and Beyond

[1NZYaris1]

+1 and look we are all acting our age
see we can play nicely togeather.

[Shroomster]

until you anger the spelling gods.....


anyways where is Brian anyways? out saving rainforests?


I swear to god if he is on that damned 'Steve Irwin' ship with the ex-PETA guy....

[freeridelectric]

The best thing oil did was save the whale. It also gave us energy for a long time. It has had a good run but all things must end.

All wars have been over energy. In the times of kings, kingdoms would fight for land. What is land but energy. Kingdom's would fight for lands and the people in them. The people represented energy. They produced crops which were energy. Raised animals, taxes, and buildings all forms of energy or used to purchase energy. MHO.

I liked the interview. Brian I wish I could give you my car because you deserv it more than I.

[daf62757]

Originally Posted by freeridelectric

The best thing oil did was save the whale. It also gave us energy for a long time. It has had a good run but all things must end.

All wars have been over energy. In the times of kings, kingdoms would fight for land. What is land but energy. Kingdom's would fight for lands and the people in them. The people represented energy. They produced crops which were energy. Raised animals, taxes, and buildings all forms of energy or used to purchase energy. MHO.

I liked the interview. Brian I wish I could give you my car because you deserv it more than I.

Just curious..how old are you?

[freeridelectric]

Originally Posted by daf62757

Just curious..how old are you?

Well big Dave I am 47 now. I am young and dumb at heart though. How about you?

[churp]

Originally Posted by freeridelectric

.....
All wars have been over energy. In the times of kings, kingdoms would fight for land. What is land but energy. ......

I would use the term 'greed' instead of energy. 'Greed' for the items that were important to that time in history.

Brian is commended for his conservation efforts, and I applaud him. The Gulf War was about oil....but was it because of Iraq's wanting to overtake Kuwait's oil fields and shipping ports, or our fear (and some allies) of how our economy and way of life would suffer because of it. The Iraq war was/is about oil also....an unstable dictator in control of a lot of oil, while all indicators showing flagrant defiance with possible WMD's, which most democrats and republicans in the House and Senate agreed upon (as the country becomes more stable our troops will no longer be needed).

We all need to conserve more, and look to alternative energy sources for the long run. As we get closer to alternative sources (I believe it will take a decade or two) drilling for oil on our own borders is a good choice for the transition to maintain our economy, way of life, and possibly relieve tensions world wide.

to Brian

[GeneW]

I work testing energy conversion devices for industry. I do more to save energy in an hour's work than most folks do in a year by voting or recycling. You all want to help the environment get a job in energy R&D or in the power conversion industry. Go to school or at least pick up a book and understand where your electricity comes from and how it's generated.

People voted for "Change" last fall. All we got is almost a trillion bucks more debt, in exchange for a Pork laden "stimulus" package. The same Congress which passed that crap with less debate than they exerted to send those guys over to the Mid East has the power to bring them all back. Why won't they do it? Who is kidding whom here?

Ah heck, Bush wasn't my choice, nor was McCain. We'll see how it goes next year when the unemployment rate is ten percent, we're still bringing home bodies from Iraq and Afghanistan and all the Democrats can do is blame the last eight years. Pointing fingers is easy, rolling up the sleeves and doing the work is hard. You either do or don't - it's that simple.

Gene

[drummerboy2004]

Great interview guys...

To all others,

Earth, and the fact that we live on it, is a privilege to us, not a right. No matter how you look at the world, and no matter what perspective you take on anything, the things you do every day affect nature. With too much abuse to the earth, it will fight back. So, no matter left/right, rep/dem, christian/atheist, old/young, or hypermiler/leadfoot you are all still humans. You take the expensive car, house, and job away from the CEO he is nothing more than equal to a disease-stricken, poverty-living individual in a third world country. All here should learn to get along, and stop picking up on each and every difference that is pushing us all into smaller and smaller groups of interests and world views.

I seldom sign into this site anymore because the comments and opinions speak so highly of unease in the ways others live their lives. For instance, if you post about, "Hey, did you see the new 300$ item that gives you 1 more HP?", you will receive admonishment from the hypermilers. If you say, "Man, last week I got 55 miles a gallon in my yaris!" others will say you are not enjoying the car. Just cut it out, and maybe I would find this site pleasant to come to... but for now I will stay over there at CleanMpg, where most seem to be fair.

Matt

P.S. if this was in any way offensive to anyone, I apologize, just making a point.

[freeridelectric]

Originally Posted by churp

I would use the term 'greed' instead of energy. 'Greed' for the items that were important to that time in history.

I agree. Greed for resources. Same today as it was back then. Mass is energy. More land mass more energy.

Originally Posted by churp

Brian is commended for his conservation efforts, and I applaud him. The Gulf War was about oil....but was it because of Iraq's wanting to overtake Kuwait's oil fields and shipping ports, or our fear (and some allies) of how our economy and way of life would suffer because of it. The Iraq war was/is about oil also....an unstable dictator in control of a lot of oil, while all indicators showing flagrant defiance with possible WMD's, which most democrats and republicans in the House and Senate agreed upon (as the country becomes more stable our troops will no longer be needed).

Good point. We did not want a dictator to control that resource or energy so we would have better access to it. Same as through out history.

Originally Posted by churp

We all need to conserve more, and look to alternative energy sources for the long run. As we get closer to alternative sources (I believe it will take a decade or two) drilling for oil on our own borders is a good choice for the transition to maintain our economy, way of life, and possibly relieve tensions world wide.

to Brian

We only have 3% of the worlds oil reserves and we consume 25% percent of the worlds oil each day.

We need off oil. We need the oil and car companies to quit poring millions of dollars into our political system polluting it with lobbing dollars to keep every thing the same so they can make there profits. Since Bush and Cheney, both of whom were x-oil executives have been in office the oil and gas industry spent 393 million dollars in lobbing money.

America needs to lead the way and show these other less fortunate countries how to switch to renewable sources for transportation and household convieniances.

Their is and has been a grassroots movement to do this but it takes a long time.

Originally Posted by GeneW

I work testing energy conversion devices for industry. I do more to save energy in an hour's work than most folks do in a year by voting or recycling. You all want to help the environment get a job in energy R&D or in the power conversion industry. Go to school or at least pick up a book and understand where your electricity comes from and how it's generated.

I agree. I am 47 but I am going to try and get a job doing some thing with alternative energy. Or start a shop building electric cars. I won't be happy unless I do.

Originally Posted by GeneW

People voted for "Change" last fall. All we got is almost a trillion bucks more debt, in exchange for a Pork laden "stimulus" package. The same Congress which passed that crap with less debate than they exerted to send those guys over to the Mid East has the power to bring them all back. Why won't they do it? Who is kidding whom here?

At leased there are provisions in there for green jobs like solar panels and battery manufacturers.

More than anything Bush ever proposed in the way of green stimulation. He stimulated the economy by giving concessions to big oil and big auto. (ie)100,000 dollar tax break for Hummers. Cheney's energy policies consisted of getting all the oil executives together and creating a energy policy and excluded all others.

http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/347/oil-politics.html

Originally Posted by GeneW

Ah heck, Bush wasn't my choice, nor was McCain. We'll see how it goes next year when the unemployment rate is ten percent, we're still bringing home bodies from Iraq and Afghanistan and all the Democrats can do is blame the last eight years. Pointing fingers is easy, rolling up the sleeves and doing the work is hard. You either do or don't - it's that simple.

Gene

Originally Posted by drummerboy2004

Great interview guys...

To all others,

Earth, and the fact that we live on it, is a privilege to us, not a right. No matter how you look at the world, and no matter what perspective you take on anything, the things you do every day affect nature. With too much abuse to the earth, it will fight back..

The earth should fight back.

Originally Posted by drummerboy2004

So, no matter left/right, rep/dem, christian/atheist, old/young, or hypermiler/leadfoot you are all still humans. You take the expensive car, house, and job away from the CEO he is nothing more than equal to a disease-stricken, poverty-living individual in a third world country. All here should learn to get along, and stop picking up on each and every difference that is pushing us all into smaller and smaller groups of interests and world views. .

I believe there will be more smaller and smaller groups of interest as the population continues to rise. Isn't that the real problem? We just keep populating like the fruit fly. Wonder if we will ever get off this berg called earth. If the population is going to keep on doubling we really need to be able to go exploit other planets. That or the earth will have it's revenge in the way of the avian bird flew or a new kind of aids or some other disease that will kill off the population.

Originally Posted by drummerboy2004

I seldom sign into this site anymore because the comments and opinions speak so highly of unease in the ways others live their lives. For instance, if you post about, "Hey, did you see the new 300$ item that gives you 1 more HP?", you will receive admonishment from the hypermilers. If you say, "Man, last week I got 55 miles a gallon in my yaris!" others will say you are not enjoying the car. Just cut it out, and maybe I would find this site pleasant to come to... but for now I will stay over there at CleanMpg, where most seem to be fair.

Matt

P.S. if this was in any way offensive to anyone, I apologize, just making a point.

Not offensive at all. Happy to read your comments. Cheers.

[GeneW]

At leased there are provisions in there for green jobs like solar panels and battery manufacturers.

More than anything Bush ever proposed in the way of green stimulation. He stimulated the economy by giving concessions to big oil and big auto. (ie)100,000 dollar tax break for Hummers. Cheney's energy policies consisted of getting all the oil executives together and creating a energy policy and excluded all others.

If something needs a subsidy, unless it's in an R&D phase, this ought to inform us that it's gonna cost the average person more money. How many decades have photo voltaic cells been around? Forty, fifty?

The sun isn't going to get any brighter. The physics of semi-conductors hasn't changed very radically.

If anything the manufacturing processes have improved, how much I do not know. I'm not a specialist in that field. I do know that I ran the numbers for my home, and I would have "broken even" in about eight years at today's power rates. Broken even means that the power savings paid off the investment. Ain't impressed.

Fact is that until the mid 1800s people used "sustainable" energy. They quit using it because...

1. Unreliable - the wind isn't always blowing nor the water always flowing. Sometimes vegetable matter gets diseases, drought and so on.
2. Expensive - takes human labor to work some of it. People = $$$
3. Not sufficiently "dense". They could not run an entire factory on one water mill or windmill.
4. Took a lot of manpower to gather if it was wood or vegetable matter (biomass).

The future belongs to nuclear energy, especially nuclear fusion. We've had it since the 1940s, when the first tritium boosted nukes were tested.

However it's been a problematic issue. Very tough to work with plasmas. Also, the Greens DO NOT LIKE NUCLEAR FUSION. Greens do not like cheap energy because cheap energy equals "big footprints", which Buckminster Fuller showed was NOT THE CASE.

However the Greens have, more and more, been about political control and not about saving the planet. Bucky Fuller could do more on a sheet of paper than Greenpeace can do in one year of lobbying, chasing whalers and so on.



For the cost of subsidizing ACORN ($4 billion US) eighty percent of the the cost of the ITER could have been realized. I want people to see that comparison in print... The ITER will cost $5 billion US dollars, plus one billion for staffing.

Eighty percent of the cost to build the world's most advanced nuclear fusion reactor, versus subsidizing a Rent-a-Mob.

I think the priorities of the Obama Administration are pretty clear - hold and maintain power. Political power.

Now if the "Stimulus" had been about building a twin to the ITER in the US, in order to increase the amount of experimentation on nuclear fusion I'd have been more impressed. Instead money was beshat upon all sorts of cute programs that pay off various interest groups in urban areas. Including ACORN.

Gene

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by drummerboy2004

You take the expensive car, house, and job away from the CEO he is nothing more than equal to a disease-stricken, poverty-living individual in a third world country.

Depending upon how the car and job were taken the CEO would probably have them back within a short period of time. They have the confidence, they know the tricks and they know the Game.

Bernard Baruch used to say, "IF we took all of the world's money and distributed it equally, within a few years all of the people who have most of it today would have it again". While I am somewhat skeptical about this I do think that most CEOs have that combination of brains, guts, drive, energy and lack of empathy for others that sets them apart from the average person.

I work with guys who came from Africa China, India and elsewhere. They're good people, and talented. Just don't see any of them being as crafty, driven and hard nosed as your average CEO.

Originally Posted by drummerboy2004

I seldom sign into this site anymore because the comments and opinions speak so highly of unease in the ways others live their lives. For instance, if you post about, "Hey, did you see the new 300$ item that gives you 1 more HP?", you will receive admonishment from the hypermilers. If you say, "Man, last week I got 55 miles a gallon in my yaris!" others will say you are not enjoying the car. Just cut it out, and maybe I would find this site pleasant to come to... but for now I will stay over there at CleanMpg, where most seem to be fair.

Matt

P.S. if this was in any way offensive to anyone, I apologize, just making a point.

Matt, isn't your own opinion good enough for you? Why do you care what others think of your posts or your lifestyle?

You have come a ways in life and live in a particular place. You're happy being a good steward to the planet. Some of us, in contrast, are just cheap and get a small stroke from being efficient, is all. Others want to party or have a greed for speed.

Some people are not going to agree with you. Some will call you names. I don't agree with all that you claim here but I think that you're sincere.

Let the bad roll off of your back. I've had people come at me here and as long as they don't get too intense I let it go. If they want to scrap I give it to them. Life is too short to worry about what others think of you, besides the people who you pledge allegiance to in RL. I care what my lovers, friends and family think, not of me but of what I do with them.

Everyone else? It's nice but not essential.

Gene

[daf62757]

Originally Posted by freeridelectric

Well big Dave I am 47 now. I am young and dumb at heart though. How about you?

Well I am 51. I would have guessed you were much younger by your comments.

[drummerboy2004]

Originally Posted by GeneW

Depending upon how the car and job were taken the CEO would probably have them back within a short period of time. They have the confidence, they know the tricks and they know the Game.

Bernard Baruch used to say, "IF we took all of the world's money and distributed it equally, within a few years all of the people who have most of it today would have it again". While I am somewhat skeptical about this I do think that most CEOs have that combination of brains, guts, drive, energy and lack of empathy for others that sets them apart from the average person.

I work with guys who came from Africa China, India and elsewhere. They're good people, and talented. Just don't see any of them being as crafty, driven and hard nosed as your average CEO.



Matt, isn't your own opinion good enough for you? Why do you care what others think of your posts or your lifestyle?

You have come a ways in life and live in a particular place. You're happy being a good steward to the planet. Some of us, in contrast, are just cheap and get a small stroke from being efficient, is all. Others want to party or have a greed for speed.

Some people are not going to agree with you. Some will call you names. I don't agree with all that you claim here but I think that you're sincere.

Let the bad roll off of your back. I've had people come at me here and as long as they don't get too intense I let it go. If they want to scrap I give it to them. Life is too short to worry about what others think of you, besides the people who you pledge allegiance to in RL. I care what my lovers, friends and family think, not of me but of what I do with them.

Everyone else? It's nice but not essential.

Gene

Gene,

You seem very wise, and your words are encouraging and useful.

I see what you mean about the CEOs, but some in this world do get certain things in life from knowing successful others. This is often not the case, but some will argue that a certain "C" student got into office as president because of his connections in life.

I also see what you mean about the comments regarding, "caring what others think"... I am not one to care what others think too often... I was just indicating that people are pushing themselves into nice, neat little world views, and that we should more often than push others away, should embrace similarity... all in which, would lead to kinder people.

Thanks Gene for putting a better face on Yaris World, and continue to do your part for efficiency from a technological standpoint... very interesting!

Matt

[Jeff E.]

Originally Posted by ChinoCharles

Brian Morris is certainly one of the more unorthodox Yaris owners in the country. While the online subcompact community clamors about the latest supercharger or one of a gaggle of other ways to squeeze every available horse out of our displacement-challenged engines, Brian is somewhere coasting with his car turned off. He belongs to an up-and-coming (and often misunderstood) niche in the world of automotive enthusiasts, one that places emphasis on economy over ego and MPG over Max HP. We now know these men and women to be Hypermilers, intent on making a gallon of gas go further than anyone imagined possible. However, Brian's involvement in the Hypermiling community is symptomatic of a larger ideology, and a timely one at that. As the United States is drowning in its own energy dependencies, there are people out there waking up and realizing their consumption affects more than just this month's bills. Brian is one of those people. I wanted to sit down and pick his brain a bit about what he stands for in hopes that we could all take a lesson from it. His battle is a noble one, but it is admittedly against the grain of societal norms. It takes courage, discipline, and a spirit of individuality that few possess.



Thanks again to Brian for taking some time to speak with me. I sincerely hope that as time goes on we can learn something from people like him. They are all around us. Society is conforming to scarcity, as it always has and as it always will. Those that don't will inevitably fall. We can all do our part to help, whether it be one step at a time or in a drastic epiphany of change and adaptation. Whatever your favorite flavor of progress may be, tap into it this year. Do something more. Now is the time!

truly a secular progressive point of view.

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by drummerboy2004

I see what you mean about the CEOs, but some in this world do get certain things in life from knowing successful others. This is often not the case, but some will argue that a certain "C" student got into office as president because of his connections in life.

Matt

If the C average guy you're speaking of is Bush he has a lot of company.

The most educated President in US history was Woodrow Wilson. He held a PhD in Political Science. Only PhD to ever be President. Some people say that Obama is the most educated President in History. This is patent non-sense; many many US Presidents were lawyers. Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Bill Clinton, and quite a few others were lawyers. Ford and Clinton were graduates of Yale Law School. Nixon graduated from Duke University.

Wilson is known for letting the British skunk him into declaring an unpopular and unnecessary war on Germany. We were neutral until about 1916-1917, when US banking interests decided that their seven billion in loans to the British were not going to get repaid if the Brits lost the war. Hence Wilson's Advisors, including a member of the Council of Foreign Relations named Edward House, lobbied him to move towards the British.

Wilson also introduced the Income Tax, central economic planning and a lot of other modern day woes into American life.

Harry S. Truman never went to college. I think he'd do a better job than our current Harvard educated whiz kid.


CEOs do not win popular votes. They obtain a majority of shareholder votes and can be expelled at any time from the position.

CEOs keep their position at the sufferance of shareholders. Their most bitter enemies are their rivals for power in the office. They must always be on guard from intrigue from VPs and assistants who fancy that they could do a better job if they were given the nod.

The Office is a jungle. If you've never worked in an office let me break it down for you. Everyone wants to keep their rice bowl and gain more power, prestige, turf and influence. They jealously guard their things and authority. There is a pecking order, even in nice places.

The higher up you go, the more power and juice you got and the harder you fall when you fall from favor. You grow empires by hiring more people, poaching staff from other departments and hoarding resources for yourself. You score points at meetings, humiliating and downgrading others. It's how things go with people - in government it's almost the same way.

This is how it is at the bottom of the power pyramid. As you go up in rank the stakes and the consequences also grow bigger.

When you get to the top you have no friends. You are alone. You are in the dark in many ways, because people have an agenda for keeping you in the dark. You can punish them so they will never be completely frank with you. You can get other people punished so anyone under them will not be frank with you either. Nobody wants to say that the Emperor has no clothes.

This is the world of the CEO. Powerful. Alone. At the top. Able to read between the lines and judge which is said and not said but should be said.

Few people can manage up there. You have to be people smart, book smart and have a lot of confidence in yourself.

Gene

[drummerboy2004]

Originally Posted by GeneW

If the C average guy you're speaking of is Bush he has a lot of company.

The most educated President in US history was Woodrow Wilson. He held a PhD in Political Science. Only PhD to ever be President. Some people say that Obama is the most educated President in History. This is patent non-sense; many many US Presidents were lawyers. Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Bill Clinton, and quite a few others were lawyers. Ford and Clinton were graduates of Yale Law School. Nixon graduated from Duke University.

Wilson is known for letting the British skunk him into declaring an unpopular and unnecessary war on Germany. We were neutral until about 1916-1917, when US banking interests decided that their seven billion in loans to the British were not going to get repaid if the Brits lost the war. Hence Wilson's Advisors, including a member of the Council of Foreign Relations named Edward House, lobbied him to move towards the British.

Wilson also introduced the Income Tax, central economic planning and a lot of other modern day woes into American life.

Harry S. Truman never went to college. I think he'd do a better job than our current Harvard educated whiz kid.


CEOs do not win popular votes. They obtain a majority of shareholder votes and can be expelled at any time from the position.

CEOs keep their position at the sufferance of shareholders. Their most bitter enemies are their rivals for power in the office. They must always be on guard from intrigue from VPs and assistants who fancy that they could do a better job if they were given the nod.

The Office is a jungle. If you've never worked in an office let me break it down for you. Everyone wants to keep their rice bowl and gain more power, prestige, turf and influence. They jealously guard their things and authority. There is a pecking order, even in nice places.

The higher up you go, the more power and juice you got and the harder you fall when you fall from favor. You grow empires by hiring more people, poaching staff from other departments and hoarding resources for yourself. You score points at meetings, humiliating and downgrading others. It's how things go with people - in government it's almost the same way.

This is how it is at the bottom of the power pyramid. As you go up in rank the stakes and the consequences also grow bigger.

When you get to the top you have no friends. You are alone. You are in the dark in many ways, because people have an agenda for keeping you in the dark. You can punish them so they will never be completely frank with you. You can get other people punished so anyone under them will not be frank with you either. Nobody wants to say that the Emperor has no clothes.

This is the world of the CEO. Powerful. Alone. At the top. Able to read between the lines and judge which is said and not said but should be said.

Few people can manage up there. You have to be people smart, book smart and have a lot of confidence in yourself.

Gene

A very eye-opening post

Not sure about the whiz kid comment..., but I respect others and their opinions. My honors thesis is actually about psychological perceptions, stereotypes, and President Obama (more in depth than this obviously). I guess my idea of the fathered in CEO, is one of the exception to the rule, or the improbable. Much like the penguin being a bird that cannot fly. Thanks once again for the well-stated presidential history lesson.

Matt

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by drummerboy2004

I guess my idea of the fathered in CEO, is one of the exception to the rule, or the improbable.

Matt

Some families will groom their kids to succeed them in the family business. A late friend of mine did this with his own kids. He set out to teach the kids how to manage people and how to lead them. One became a Navy SEAL - not an easy trick in itself - and the other today runs a retail store.

Most of the time the kid grows up in a home where they do not get the kind of challenges needed to grow confident. Instead they get lazy or feel entitled. They don't grow into a CEO but instead become a spoiled brat who ultimately crashes the family business.

My own family is the latter case. My Exec Grandpa would not let his kid go into industry. He insisted that Dad become a professional. Dad was not groomed to survive in the Corporate jungle. I know more about it then he.

Grandpa was a holy terror, having come up from poverty in a ghetto area of Pittsburgh. He earned his spurs working up through the ranks, which included getting his Law degree on his own dime and time, but not taking the Bar - so he could do tax work. He also wasted a guy on the job who was trying to rob the payroll. Shot him dead and kept the money safe.

Grandpa was an Irish Catholic, a group which faced as much discrimination then as Mexicans do in most of the US today. So when one got to the top he was exceptional.

When Grandpa's "old fashioned" ways caught up to him he engineered a trick that put the company over a barrel. He saw the handwriting on the wall and put most of the physical plant into his name - he financed it.

They had to buy him out after they forced him out, and then he consulted and lived a nice life thereafter. I never had the pleasure of meeting him nor benefited from his moderation of Dad's drinking. My Dad is a good man but a spoiled brat who never quite grew up. My younger brothers like to play the "Inheritance Game" - they pass each other dollars bills and say, "Here's your inheritance".

I already got mine - an education, an attitude and a fine negative example. I won't touch liquor. My Dad can keep his money.

I lived an easy life until I got out on my own. The reality wall hit me pretty hard and I had to scrap a bit. Today I make my own way.

Gene

[GeneW]

I worked with a girl who looked like Keri Wuhrer, she was that pretty. Her husband runs the family business. The two of them spend money like water, cannot deny themselves the smallest indulgences and will not entertain guests at home.

They recently poured almost a million dollars into a home in a small town. The original house was handsome and functional, now it's gauche and needlessly overblown, with marble floors, sculptures and other trappings.

She used to complain that her husband's friends looked like "bums" even though they were "millionaires". She could not understand why these people would not "spend some of that money". Later she demanded that her husband buy her an Audi, "since he's so rich".

I cautioned her that her refusal to entertain at home is an impediment to her husband's long term happiness. "You need to make a good impression on customers and friends", I said. "It's not the money, it's the small gestures that cement an impression of generosity and ability".

She looked at me like I said it in Mandarin.

I don't understand someone who thinks that money is to be spent for frivolous reasons. You spend money and time on things that will better your life, not things that impress other people.

Gene