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Post by kenlarsson on Feb 12, 2024 6:15:36 GMT -5
Good morning. Up early again to head out with the Audubon folks to look for scrub jays. Had a great day yesterday with the grandkids. Dinosaur exhibit at the zoo was excellent and the grandson had a great time at his encounter feeding a giraffe. Tiring day but a really good one. Have a great day folks.
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Post by Cornflake on Feb 12, 2024 7:29:54 GMT -5
Good morning. It'll be about 40-65 here with clear skies. I'll get an overdue haircut in the AM. My wife and I will visit a friend in rehab in the PM. I guess "rehab" can mean many things but he's getting therapy after major surgery.
All's well.
Wordle 968 4/6*
🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟨🟨 ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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Post by howard lee on Feb 12, 2024 7:30:06 GMT -5
Good morning. It's a dreary ayem in Brooklyn, and after a pleasant weekend with temperatures in the 50s, the forecast is for rain and then snow, with accumulations of 1 to 3" tomorrow and then rain/snow becoming all rain later in the week. Gone are the winters of my childhood that brought city-crippling blizzards, quiet days in New York, people cross-country skiing up Madison Avenue.
Stay warm. Fight melancholia.
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Post by drlj on Feb 12, 2024 8:28:05 GMT -5
Careful, Howard. It’s a sign of age when you start talking about how bad the winters of your childhood were. I walked barefoot through 20 ft drifts with wolves following me, but I never mention it. I assume it is Monday. Make it good.
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Post by Marty on Feb 12, 2024 8:59:32 GMT -5
Good morning. 27F-39F mostly sunny. Monday 36 Days Until Spring.
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Post by paleo on Feb 12, 2024 9:19:01 GMT -5
This morning I'm rehashing last night's superbowl, specifically the pizza I made. Probably one of the worst pizzas I've ever made. Hope it's better today than it was last night.
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Feb 12, 2024 10:14:51 GMT -5
Morning all. I’m up, drinking coffee, and heading off to Kaiser for my INR then to Costco. I’ll take the plug in hybrid which seems to be attracting a lot of attention wherever I park it. Seems like every time I come out of a store someone is checking it out. I thought Honda's ad yesterday during the Superbowl was interesting, they were touting the regular hybrid that you don’t “have” to plug in as more desirable. An unscientific survey of parking lot people checking out the plug in hybrid says that tact may not be working. Ah well, que sera sera. Be well everyone.
Mike Wordle 968 4/6
🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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Tamarack
Administrator
Ancient Citizen
Posts: 9,390
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Post by Tamarack on Feb 12, 2024 11:05:00 GMT -5
Some welcome sunshine. Desk work this morning. I now have my Silver Sneakers card, which gets me into a local non-profit fitness center. Some light workouts are necessary to keep hips and knees operational.
Maybe some shop time sanding and finishing a shelf for son and DIL. Granddaughter and great-granddog overnight. Said great-granddog will be with us for the next three days, competing with and conspiring with our full-time resident dog.
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Post by Marshall on Feb 12, 2024 11:14:05 GMT -5
Which PHEV do you have, Mike?
What I read is the plug-ins are heavier (batteries). If you drive around town they are all electric. But Honda and Toyota are banking on hybrids as the system that is right for America (the world?) for the present. I tend to agree.
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Post by epaul on Feb 12, 2024 11:17:37 GMT -5
Morning.
Sounds like it was a pretty good Superbowl at the end. I missed it. I ate so many chicken wings I zonked out at halftime and woke up halfway through a Star Trek movie Casper was watching.
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Post by Shannon on Feb 12, 2024 11:23:36 GMT -5
Good morning, all.
Lots of rain here, with some flooding in the area.
Looking forward to this weekend when all of the kids (with spouses) will actually be in town at the same time! This is a rare event, and I am excited about it!
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Post by Marty on Feb 12, 2024 11:24:19 GMT -5
DaWife just had a call from one pissed off guy that got scammed on Bitcoin. He didn't let his bank do the wire transfer because the scammer told him to save money and use a phone app so nobody would know how good a deal he was getting, right. So Mr. Greedy sent his money off to India for a incredible deal on Bitcoin and what do you know, the second it hit the bank it was withdrawn as cash. POOF! money gone. It wouldn't even matter if they caught the person that withdrew it because they are usually a paid mule who is unaware of what they are really doing. So now he screaming at Me Darling Wife like it's her fault he's a dumb ass. If he would have used his bank for the transfer they would probably advised him against it by where it was going and what it was buying. 50% profit on Bitcoin is a regular money scam these days. I hear a lot of "Yes Sir" "No Sir your money is gone there is nothing to get back". No I can't MAKE a bank in India give you money and We can't give you back money YOU sent by an app without our approval. The guy was really OUT THERE as he said that if Trump were President this wouldn't of happened.
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Post by epaul on Feb 12, 2024 12:03:01 GMT -5
Every car comparison differs by manufacturer and car.
Hybrids are generally faster and get better mileage. Generally. But not always and there are several 'depends'.
Once I settled on the Honda CRV (liked its interior look and layout) I compared the hybrid and the conventional.
The highway mileage of both Honda CRVs was the same on all tests. The mileage on the combined 75-mile loop Car and Driver runs was the same for both type. The mileage Edmunds got on their test loop was the same for both types (Edmunds ended up recommending the conventional CRV). The mileage gains enjoyed by the hybrid were dependent on how the city driving tests were conducted (how many stop and goes, how much braking).
In short, there is no short. Some people will get a significant mileage gain with a Honda CRV hybrid, some will get a modest gain, and some will see very little gain.
And while some hybrid models are a good bit faster than their conventional counterparts (Hyundai and Kia are notable in this regard; peppy hybrids, doggy conventionals), the performance of the two Honda CRV types is nearly the same. The hybrid is .4 second faster 0-60 and .1 of a second faster 40-70 (the merging test). Outside of a drag race, those differences are of no consequence. (The conventional hit a higher speed in the quarter mile. 1 mph. Yippee!)
The anecdotal reports on hybrids I have gathered locally in northern MN and ND generally reveal disappointment in the 'real world' mileage gains with hybrids but pleasure in the peppiness index. This region is marked for most by a preponderance of highway miles and 'easier' city miles. A survey of hybrid owners facing a daily commute in Chicago would likely provide very different opinions on the mileage advantages. It is a "horses for courses" deal.
But, bottom of bottom lines, I think the major advantage offered by most currently offered hybrids is to the car companies as it allows them to get good scores on the EPA mileage tests. The fuel savings (and carbon reduction) current hybrids provide to most car owners in "real world" conditions is likely modest. If 4-5 mpg is modest. Maybe it's significant.
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Post by epaul on Feb 12, 2024 12:37:31 GMT -5
As for PHEVs, they solve some problems, but there is an awkwardness in carrying two power sources when only one is needed, and used, for most of the driving. If the battery covers 90% of a user's needs, then the car is hauling around the dead weight of the gas engine and fuel for no purpose 90% of the time (those rare long trips). Maybe not a big deal, but certainly not an efficient or elegant solution.
Every new power source, so far, weighs more than the one it replaces. Batteries are heavy. And new, more powerful batteries with extended range are heavier still. And if a new non-lithium battery (sodium?) is introduced, it will be heavier yet (sodium is heavier and less efficient than lithium ((only hydrogen and helium are lighter than lithium)).
There are solutions, and every one will have it's issues. But, the goal isn't to provide us with a more convenient car (can't beat the convenience of the darn near perfected gas engine) The goal is to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses released into atmosphere. And as most believe that is a necessary goal, that will mean a less convenient car. And that's just the way it will be for some time. It will get better after we are dead.
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Post by epaul on Feb 12, 2024 12:51:02 GMT -5
(I do think the current hybrids are convenient, I just don't think their real world results are going to satisfy the environmental standards/requirements for very long. And so, batteries will grow larger and heavier and charging requirements will grow longer and more intense and they will basically become full bore EVs.)
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,904
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Post by Dub on Feb 12, 2024 12:52:00 GMT -5
Morning. Sounds like it was a pretty good Superbowl at the end. I missed it. I ate so many chicken wings I zonked out at halftime and woke up halfway through a Star Trek movie Casper was watching. As it turned out, I also missed the Super Bowl game. This marks the LVIIIth time I’ve missed it. Just lucky, I guess.
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Feb 12, 2024 18:45:48 GMT -5
Marshall, we got a a Toyota Rav 4.
Epaul, I drove about twenty miles today, virtually all of it in EV mode, except for going up Rex Hill, where I used the iICE motor to not drain the battery. Seems to work pretty good so far.The cars computer says I’m averaging 99.9 mpg.
Mike
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Post by paleo on Feb 12, 2024 19:39:29 GMT -5
Marshall, we got a a Toyota Rav 4. Epaul, I drove about twenty miles today, virtually all of it in EV mode, except for going up Rex Hill, where I used the iICE motor to not drain the battery. Seems to work pretty good so far.The cars computer says I’m averaging 99.9 mpg. Mike Must have been a "good milage" day. I drove my Prius to Cedar Rapids today and on the way home, about 25 miles, I got 59.6 mpg.
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Feb 12, 2024 19:42:16 GMT -5
Marshall, we got a a Toyota Rav 4. Epaul, I drove about twenty miles today, virtually all of it in EV mode, except for going up Rex Hill, where I used the iICE motor to not drain the battery. Seems to work pretty good so far.The cars computer says I’m averaging 99.9 mpg. Mike Must have been a "good milage" day. I drove my Prius to Cedar Rapids today and on the way home, about 25 miles, I got 59.6 mpg. Paleo, if you’ll read carefully, I was in almost all EV mode. That’s electric only, no gas. Mike
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Post by david on Feb 12, 2024 19:50:37 GMT -5
As for PHEVs, they solve some problems, but there is an awkwardness in carrying two power sources when only one is needed, and used, for most of the driving. If the battery covers 90% of a user's needs, then the car is hauling around the dead weight of the gas engine and fuel for no purpose 90% of the time (those rare long trips). Maybe not a big deal, but certainly not an efficient or elegant solution. The PHEV solves the problem of having two cars for many folks. The benefit of having a PHEV is that you get the benefit of a battery powered car, which for many is the best solution for 70-80% of their driving, but you also do not have the range anxiety of an all-electric car, so on any trip beyond 120 miles or so, or those cold days when your battery won't stay charged as long, you still have your rather good mileage vehicle. I see that a turbo 1.6 liter engine weighs 220 to 250 pounds; transmission around 150. So it is probably only increasing the car's weight by 400 to 450 pound, or one Mackey boy.
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