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Saturday, July 30, 2016
150,000km mark probably coming up in 4 months!
It's July 2016 and my car has 137,400 km on it. That's only 3.5 year
s of ownership. So how are my feelings this far along?
I am still loving this car. For all of the same reasons I listed in those other posts. But of course, there are some things I wish were better, if I'm going to be picky. And I am picky.
I wish this car had the same intelligent cruise control that comes on newer, upper end Mercedes models. I am really looking forward to the days of self-driving and even the incremental steps we're using to get there. It will definitely eliminate a lot of fatigue on long drives.
I wish this car had a softer suspension. It's jarring for this 55 year old body. I think that going forward Mercedes would do alright to offer the stiff suspension as part of the sports package and otherwise put a softer suspension on the car. Now that the run-flats are gone, things are better though. I opted for Michelin Premier for my regular (non-winter) tires.
Mercedes really charge way more for routine maintenance than they need to. $400 and $600 for the A and B service respectively. Having said that, there is a 20,000 km gap between visits (normally), but my maintenance costs have gone up on average. This would turn a lot of people off who might consider buying this brand. I don't regret the purchase, I've just budgeted more per month. That's right, I actually budget for my car maintenance.
Although newer versions of my car have 4Matic (all-wheel drive) as an option, I don't regret not having all-wheel drive. The car is so small and light, it doesn't really need it, especially if you throw on good winter tires when it's needed.
I finally found a phone mount that works. I went with the Aukey magnetic mount. I put a metal disc in between my iPhone and its case and now mounting it for navigating is so easy.
The only unexpected maintenance I've had to do is fix a wire harness pin (under warranty).
As you may have read in another post, I drove the B250 to San Diego in May. Over 5000 km round trip. That was a fun drive. Especially with the 80 mph speed limits in some parts of Montana, Idaho and Utah.
So, in summary, so far, so good.
Things I learned lately - 30 July
- 21% of people living in Canada were born somewhere else.
- Apple sold its billionth iPhone.
- Sorbet is non-dairy.
- Bananas will last longer if you wrap their stems in cellophane. That prevents the ethylene gas, which ripens the fruit faster, from escaping.
- The Dasht-e Lut Desert, in Iran can get as hot as 70 C (159 F).
- A Zappos employee broke the record for the longest customer service call ever at 10 hours and 43 minutes.
- Originally, an acre was used to describe the area a yoke of oxen could plow in a day.
- The word fortnight is derived from the Old English fēowertyne niht, meaning fourteen nights.
- A baker's dozen was created as a means of avoiding any chance of shortchanging customers, which in medieval England, was punishable by beatings or jail time.
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Almost consonant-free
I love the guy on the far left in the video.
Where to get the dental mouth openers.........
Change the world
"The point of all this was, and remains, accelerating the advent of sustainable energy, so that we can imagine far into the future and life is still good."
Read the whole thing. This man is a true visionary.
Disclaimer: That is not the de facto Tesla pickup design, just one suggested by a fan.
Things I learned lately - 21 July
- Believe it or not, there was still one manufacturer of VCRs making the machines. But Funai will stop the assembly line at the end of July.
- Infidelity (for women) in past centuries was considered really bad mostly because of property rights. Because illegitimate children could inherit their father's property.
- For the Peter Gabriel song "Don't Give Up", on the album "So", the duet was first offered to Dolly Parton, who passed. Peter had envisioned the depression themed song best suited to a duet with a country artist.
- Nearly 1,000 women are murdered in Pakistan every year for violating conservative norms on love and marriage. These "honour killings" are often carried out by family members.
- The Montreal Olympics are the reason we have lotteries in Canada. The lottery raised $15 million selling $10 tickets across Canada. The jackpot was $1 million, tax-free.
- By the 19th century, slaves made up 90% of the population of Haiti.
- We associate tea with the British, yet they didn't even have access to tea until the late 17th century.
Friday, July 15, 2016
Songs that are 40 years old this year (2016)
Abba - Dancing queen
Boston - More than a feeling
David Bowie - Golden years
Kiss - Beth / Shout it out loud
Stevie Wonder - Sir duke
The Eagles - Hotel California / New kid in town
ELO - Livin' thing / Telephone line
Tom Petty - Breakdown
Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak / The boys are back in town
AC/DC - Dirty deeds done dirt cheap
April Wine - You won't dance with me / Like a lover like a song
Paul Simon - 50 ways to leave your lover
Wings - Silly love songs / Let 'em in
Manhattans - Kiss and say goodbye
Bee Gees - You should be dancing / Love so right
Wild Cherry - Play that funky music
Steve Miller - Rock'n me / Fly like an eagle
Rod Stewart - Tonight's the night
Chicago - If you leave me now
Manfred Mann - Blinded by the light
Kansas - Carry on wayward son
Runaways - Cherry bomb
Heart - Crazy on you / Magic man
Cliff Richard - Devil woman
Blue Oyster Cult - Don't fear the reaper
Gary Wright - Dream weaver / Love is alive
Rolling Stones - Fool to cry
Boston - Foreplay/Long time
Alice Cooper - I never cry
Boz Scaggs - Lowdown
Starbuck - Moonlight feels right
Hall & Oates - Sara smile / She's gone
Henry Gross - Shannon
Elton John - Sorry seems to be the hardest word
10CC - The things we do for love
Gordon Lightfoot - Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Al Stewart - Year of the cat
Hot Chocolate - You sexy thing
Milky Way Night
On this night, with all of the outdoor lighting turned off, the light pollution would be reduced enough that we would be able to see the Milky Way in the night sky. And many more stars.
That would be cool. Who knows, I think the mere sight of this would be so overwhelming, we'd schedule it more often.
Things I learned lately - 15 July
- NASA is going to let the Juno spacecraft burn up in Jupiter's atmosphere mostly so that earth germs don't accidentally contaminate possible life on moons like Europa.
- The US still leads with the most Netflix titles at 5082. Canada only has 3435 (48th place). But at least we do better than Australia (2414), Germany (1642) or Greenland (953).
- The Mongols introduced rice to the Persians.
- Timbuktu is in the African nation of Mali.
- The Arabic word for God is Allah, whether you're Muslim, Jewish, or Christian. In case you thought only Muslims use that name.
- Theodora, empress of the Byzantine Empire, and wife of Emperor Justinian I, participated in Justinian's legal and spiritual reforms, and her involvement in the increase of the rights of women was substantial. She had laws passed that prohibited forced prostitution and closed brothels. She created a convent called the Metanoia, where the ex-prostitutes could support themselves. She also expanded the rights of women in divorce and property ownership, instituted the death penalty for rape, gave mothers some guardianship rights over their children, and forbade the killing of a wife who committed adultery.
Friday, July 08, 2016
Thoughts on fossil fuel
I've been witness to, and even participated in, some very heated discussions about oil. Our dependence on it, its effect on our climate, our economy, wars between nations, you name it. I've heard every argument from 'we can't end our dependence on oil' all the way to 'we need to stop using oil as soon as possible'.
I just thought I'd throw my own ideas and thoughts into the fire.
Oil makes a lot of money for a select group of people. Why is it still being subsidized?
Why are people alright with the oil industry being subsidized, but lose their minds if green energy and products are subsidized?
Why do some people continue to use the excuse 'China keeps using coal, why can't we?'? China abuses their people too. Why don't we?
If Germany can get to a point where on one particular day they were getting 95% of their electricity from renewable sources, why do our energy suppliers insist that our grid could never handle more than 20% coming from renewable sources?
If one company (Tesla) can build a fast, practical, safe all-electric vehicle, then add a world-wide free charging network to support it, why can't anyone else?
If Norway, one of the coldest countries in the world, can adopt the electric car faster than any other nation, why are places like Canada still suggesting that electric cars will never work there?
People ask 'What would all the oil workers do for work if we stopped pumping oil and switched to renewable energy?'. I'm guessing they would retrain for the renewable energy sector.
If energy suppliers are complaining that we use too much electricity for the grid to handle, why don't they build more supply? Or better yet, why are they against us providing some of our own (solar) on our premises?
Why do we need to find ways to export our oil to other countries when we're still importing oil and refined products from elsewhere?
Is it really true that if we stopped using oil, we wouldn't be able to make plastics? Can't plastics be made from other sources? More importantly, should we be finding a way to stop using plastics?
If all the money that had been invested in finding oil had been instead invested in nation-wide, high speed transportation, would we need long range cars at all?
Why aren't we leveraging geothermal more? Isn't there a practically limitless supply of heat energy underground?
If we have the technology and materials to build well insulated net-zero homes and offices, why do we continue to throw our heating money out the window by building marginally insulated homes?
While we argue about the safety of more pipelines, of which there are already a crap-load, the oil is instead being transported by the longest rail car trains in history. Does this make sense?
Do we not realize that by the time we get our oil to the coasts, the countries we intend to sell to will already be converting themselves to a more sustainable system?
Why do anti-pipeline folks get angry about the newly proposed pipelines, but ignore the substantial, existing network?
I truly believe that the resistance of switching off of oil has nothing to do with its practicality, or that pro-oil people are anti-environmentalists or don't care about the planet. I believe that we're still in oil because it makes money. The only thing that is going to stop our pursuit of getting it out of the ground is when people don't need it anymore.
Norway made a ridiculous amount of money from oil, which they saved up. Now they spend that money on making it cheap to buy electric cars. They fully intend to go oil-free in less than a decade.
I keep hearing the words "Look what oil has done for this country". Aside from jobs, I'm waiting for a more detailed explanation.
Why don't they stay secured?
It's odd that something used to secure things to vehicles is most often found on the road.
Things I learned lately - 8 July
- In the making of the Band of Brothers series, there were 10,000 extras, 500 speaking roles, and a massive wardrobe department that supplied detailed and authentic uniforms, including 500 pairs paratrooper jump boots manufactured to fit the original Army specifications.
- Creationists in Kentucky built a (supposedly) full sized replica of Noah's Ark, complete with fake dinosaurs and other animals inside.
- The Opportunity Mars rover, which was only designed to last 90 days on Mars, continues to function 12 years later.
- There is now a Lego Mayor Naheed Nenshi (Calgary). Not an official Lego product, but whatever.
- If you don’t sigh every five minutes or so, the alveoli will slowly collapse causing lung failure.
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