Wednesday 22 April 2009
Monday 13 April 2009
Ignorance of the science leads to bad decisions
I've been trying to find out what happened to the proposal to give poepl £2,000 towards a brand new car if they scrapped their old one. It seems strangely missing from all the online news feeds I have been looking at this afternoon. I'm quite angry about this proposal, because it is based on the flawed assumptions that new cars are always better on emissions than old ones, and that somehow making a car produces no emissions.
Actually, making a car is horrific on emissions, and more so since catalytic converters came on the scene. Those rare metals like Palladium are responsible for a lot of pollution when they are being refined. Unfortunately, politicians in western countries conveniently ignore pollution being made overseas when they champion cleaner air policies such as the introduction of cats. Politicians like to lie and bend the truth; nothing new there.
I remember a long time ago now receiving a magazine from an American great Uncle. I can't remember what the magazine was, but I do remember two articles from it. One was about the engineering problems and potential solutions about building a bridge to join Alaska to Russia. This blog post, however, is not to be about that story. The other story was about a bill that had been forced through the American Congress in the supposed name of cleaner air. The article outlined why this was a foolish and ill-conceived idea.
It was nicknamed the 'Junker bill' or some similar name if I recall correctly. The idea was, that heavily polluting industries could, instead of cleaning up their own emissions, buy 'pollution credits' to offset their emissions by buying and crushing old cars, or 'junkers'. The eroneous science behind this was that old cars produce more emissions, so by removing them from the roads, the cleaner emissions would offset the pollution the companies were making.
But, as the article pointed out, the science was totally wrong. A car when being produced causes the release of the same amount of pollution as that which would come from its exhaust in aproximately fifty years of running with average yearly mileages. So prematurely scrapping it was a woeful idea, quite apart from depriving poorer people from a source of cheap transportation. It also meant that reclaimed spare parts from auto salvage were harder to get, thus removing the recycling element that was already taking place when old vehicles were scrapped by conventional means (the car might have been shunted bad in the boot writing it off, but that front left wing is perfectly fine for repairing another car).
Of course, when I examined the detail of what was proposed and reported on in Saturday's papers, there were many catches. In essence it is all about helping car producers and nothing to do with the environment. I just object to 'the environment' being touted as a legitamate reason for this scheme. It was also not clear whether only new cars reaching certain emission and MPG standards would be included. At any rate, I thought it was a deeply flawed and expensive scheme. As with all things the government seems to propose to help industries, it all falls back on another failed tax on us, and it is us as the taxpayer who are expected to pick up the tab. Again.
£2,000 doesn't go far towards a new or nearly new car. That still leaves a hefty chunk to be found from a person's own pocket to make up the difference. All that money is just disappearing off then to bloated corporations who are in this mess because they acted badly in the boom times. Also, as everyone does or should know, the biggest cost of a new car is not fuel, or even insurance, but depreceation. That is, buy a new car and merely the act of buying it can remove in some cases thousands off its value.
My car falls within the nine year mark for cars that can be traded in and crushed for a credit note. It returns a respectable 36-40MPG with careful driving, which is nearly as good as a new car 13 years its junior in the comparable sector of the market. The emissions from its exhaust are not that much higher than a comparible new car. What a damn shame to therefore crush a fully working car. I certainly wouldn't. It would be another example of chronic waste of our resources just for the sake of bailing out an industry whose poor management decisions left it with over production, and fields of unsold cars that they should not have made in the first place. A boom built on easy credit was never going to last, and those who thought it would were fools.
Actually, making a car is horrific on emissions, and more so since catalytic converters came on the scene. Those rare metals like Palladium are responsible for a lot of pollution when they are being refined. Unfortunately, politicians in western countries conveniently ignore pollution being made overseas when they champion cleaner air policies such as the introduction of cats. Politicians like to lie and bend the truth; nothing new there.
I remember a long time ago now receiving a magazine from an American great Uncle. I can't remember what the magazine was, but I do remember two articles from it. One was about the engineering problems and potential solutions about building a bridge to join Alaska to Russia. This blog post, however, is not to be about that story. The other story was about a bill that had been forced through the American Congress in the supposed name of cleaner air. The article outlined why this was a foolish and ill-conceived idea.
It was nicknamed the 'Junker bill' or some similar name if I recall correctly. The idea was, that heavily polluting industries could, instead of cleaning up their own emissions, buy 'pollution credits' to offset their emissions by buying and crushing old cars, or 'junkers'. The eroneous science behind this was that old cars produce more emissions, so by removing them from the roads, the cleaner emissions would offset the pollution the companies were making.
But, as the article pointed out, the science was totally wrong. A car when being produced causes the release of the same amount of pollution as that which would come from its exhaust in aproximately fifty years of running with average yearly mileages. So prematurely scrapping it was a woeful idea, quite apart from depriving poorer people from a source of cheap transportation. It also meant that reclaimed spare parts from auto salvage were harder to get, thus removing the recycling element that was already taking place when old vehicles were scrapped by conventional means (the car might have been shunted bad in the boot writing it off, but that front left wing is perfectly fine for repairing another car).
Of course, when I examined the detail of what was proposed and reported on in Saturday's papers, there were many catches. In essence it is all about helping car producers and nothing to do with the environment. I just object to 'the environment' being touted as a legitamate reason for this scheme. It was also not clear whether only new cars reaching certain emission and MPG standards would be included. At any rate, I thought it was a deeply flawed and expensive scheme. As with all things the government seems to propose to help industries, it all falls back on another failed tax on us, and it is us as the taxpayer who are expected to pick up the tab. Again.
£2,000 doesn't go far towards a new or nearly new car. That still leaves a hefty chunk to be found from a person's own pocket to make up the difference. All that money is just disappearing off then to bloated corporations who are in this mess because they acted badly in the boom times. Also, as everyone does or should know, the biggest cost of a new car is not fuel, or even insurance, but depreceation. That is, buy a new car and merely the act of buying it can remove in some cases thousands off its value.
My car falls within the nine year mark for cars that can be traded in and crushed for a credit note. It returns a respectable 36-40MPG with careful driving, which is nearly as good as a new car 13 years its junior in the comparable sector of the market. The emissions from its exhaust are not that much higher than a comparible new car. What a damn shame to therefore crush a fully working car. I certainly wouldn't. It would be another example of chronic waste of our resources just for the sake of bailing out an industry whose poor management decisions left it with over production, and fields of unsold cars that they should not have made in the first place. A boom built on easy credit was never going to last, and those who thought it would were fools.
Sunday 12 April 2009
Your chance to read 'Bringing home the stars'
I've just subscribed to the Authonomy website, and uploaded a copy of the first 35,000 words or so of 'Bringing home the stars' for people to consider. If you want to have a read of it, then go there, read it, and vote for it if you like it. The more people who vote for it, the more likely it is to get noticed.
I have my fingers crossed!
I have my fingers crossed!
Thursday 9 April 2009
What's through the square window today?
The webmaster has been fiddling with how the blog looks after a few comments about it being a little harsh on the eye when being read. Unfortunately there are a few teething troubles, and at the moment the text looks too close to the edge on my PC (though it looked fine, strangely enough, when viewed on the Apple Mac). So rest assured, tinkering will get it right in the end. Probably.
In other news, the day job is getting a little shaky. The amount of work through the agent has declined considerably, and here I am on what I was expecting to be the busiest week so far, and I've done nothing. Easter weekend is upon us, and quite frankly I'm worried because I'm sat at home not working. At least, not working on anything that gets me paid much. It is a nightmare, and I'm sure that there are many people in the same position.
On the good news front, I'm through to the second round of interviews for the job I went to an interview/assessment on on Tuesday. On the day I found out that there had been something astronomical like 25,000 applicants, of which less than 100 were called for interview (of which I was one). I'm guessing that I must be down to the last couple of dozen now, maybe less. I'm not sure how many positions there are available, but I'm guessing off what I heard on the day maybe ten at most? Fingers crossed.
I finally grew tired of waiting for the agent to get back to me over 'Bringing home the stars'. He promised two weeks, and now it is closer to eight or even ten with no replies even though I sent a couple of email follow-ups and a message to his LJ account. I know he has been online, given his LJ got updated, but still no reply. Well, I'm not waiting indefinately, because I believe this book to be a potential million seller, so I've started sending to other agents.
'Orb of Arawaan' has slipped a little on schedule. I've got maybe 10% done, but it stalled there. I'd like to say that it is because of lack of time, but it isn't. I seem to have been unusually tired over the last few days, and have spent most of my time asleep. I really am not sure what the cause is, but if it continues I'll have to see my Doctor about it, because time is too precious to waste on excessive sleep.
In other news, the day job is getting a little shaky. The amount of work through the agent has declined considerably, and here I am on what I was expecting to be the busiest week so far, and I've done nothing. Easter weekend is upon us, and quite frankly I'm worried because I'm sat at home not working. At least, not working on anything that gets me paid much. It is a nightmare, and I'm sure that there are many people in the same position.
On the good news front, I'm through to the second round of interviews for the job I went to an interview/assessment on on Tuesday. On the day I found out that there had been something astronomical like 25,000 applicants, of which less than 100 were called for interview (of which I was one). I'm guessing that I must be down to the last couple of dozen now, maybe less. I'm not sure how many positions there are available, but I'm guessing off what I heard on the day maybe ten at most? Fingers crossed.
I finally grew tired of waiting for the agent to get back to me over 'Bringing home the stars'. He promised two weeks, and now it is closer to eight or even ten with no replies even though I sent a couple of email follow-ups and a message to his LJ account. I know he has been online, given his LJ got updated, but still no reply. Well, I'm not waiting indefinately, because I believe this book to be a potential million seller, so I've started sending to other agents.
'Orb of Arawaan' has slipped a little on schedule. I've got maybe 10% done, but it stalled there. I'd like to say that it is because of lack of time, but it isn't. I seem to have been unusually tired over the last few days, and have spent most of my time asleep. I really am not sure what the cause is, but if it continues I'll have to see my Doctor about it, because time is too precious to waste on excessive sleep.
Monday 6 April 2009
My weekend in brief
On Saturday, Zoë and I were on the radio and recorded what would have been the most outstanding of potentially award-winning radio programmes. That is, except the computer recording it crashed. Badly. Losing everything it had recorded. Perminantly. And just in case there weren't enough full stops in those sentances, here's a few I had spare: .......
Yesterday we were at a wedding for a couple of good friends down in Cambridge. It all went down rather well, in the rather nice setting of Magdelene college on the banks of the river Cam. They were lucky too with the weather, just as Zoë and I were three weeks ago with ours, and the sun was shining very nicely for them all day.
I seem to be doing a lot of travelling at the moment. On Saturday I went to Chorley and back, on Sunday I went to Cambridge, today I came back, and tomorrow I go to Lutterworth in Leicestershire and back. I've come to the conclusion that I don't really like driving. Actually, I suspect I came to that conclusion a long time ago. At any rate, the roads are too overcrowded, and there are too many morons with no ability to drive properly or safely. I much prefer driving at night; at least the morons are safely off the roads with only a few exceptions by then (can you tell I'm not really a people person yet?).
I've been experimenting with higher and higher tyre pressures on my car. It sits on low profile sporty tyres, and I've in the past always run them at around 32-35PSI. More recently I upped that to 38-40PSI, and for this trip I went to 42PSI on all tyres. The tyres are rated as safe up to 50PSI, so no danger of blowing them out there. The difference to the rolling resistance that it makes, and therefore the fuel economy, is quite staggering. Even with my foot down all the way home, we still averaged for the entire trip 37.6mpg, which from a large Swedish tank is not far off the record of 39.6mpg that it acheived whilst being driven by a Nun. Well, me driving like a Nun at any rate; I swear too much to be a real Nun. Oh, and I like lingerie and don't care about religion - that tends to disqualify you from being a Nun too I find.
Tomorrow's trip to Lutterworth is for a big job interview for the day job. Fingers crossed that I get it as it means a lot more money, job security and working hours that I know well in advance. Fingers crossed. Unfortunately any job that might come from this interview might impinge on the time I have for doing my writing, which isn't so hot. But needs must when times are hard in a recession. I haven't heard from the agent yet; I sent the last manuscript out over a month and a half ago. I've chased him up at least three times now with no answer, so I'm going to call it a loss and send out to other agents. I'm disappointed, but I've found in the past too many agents who promise the moon on a stick, but then struggle to even deliver the stick and even then only after many months of let downs.
Yesterday we were at a wedding for a couple of good friends down in Cambridge. It all went down rather well, in the rather nice setting of Magdelene college on the banks of the river Cam. They were lucky too with the weather, just as Zoë and I were three weeks ago with ours, and the sun was shining very nicely for them all day.
I seem to be doing a lot of travelling at the moment. On Saturday I went to Chorley and back, on Sunday I went to Cambridge, today I came back, and tomorrow I go to Lutterworth in Leicestershire and back. I've come to the conclusion that I don't really like driving. Actually, I suspect I came to that conclusion a long time ago. At any rate, the roads are too overcrowded, and there are too many morons with no ability to drive properly or safely. I much prefer driving at night; at least the morons are safely off the roads with only a few exceptions by then (can you tell I'm not really a people person yet?).
I've been experimenting with higher and higher tyre pressures on my car. It sits on low profile sporty tyres, and I've in the past always run them at around 32-35PSI. More recently I upped that to 38-40PSI, and for this trip I went to 42PSI on all tyres. The tyres are rated as safe up to 50PSI, so no danger of blowing them out there. The difference to the rolling resistance that it makes, and therefore the fuel economy, is quite staggering. Even with my foot down all the way home, we still averaged for the entire trip 37.6mpg, which from a large Swedish tank is not far off the record of 39.6mpg that it acheived whilst being driven by a Nun. Well, me driving like a Nun at any rate; I swear too much to be a real Nun. Oh, and I like lingerie and don't care about religion - that tends to disqualify you from being a Nun too I find.
Tomorrow's trip to Lutterworth is for a big job interview for the day job. Fingers crossed that I get it as it means a lot more money, job security and working hours that I know well in advance. Fingers crossed. Unfortunately any job that might come from this interview might impinge on the time I have for doing my writing, which isn't so hot. But needs must when times are hard in a recession. I haven't heard from the agent yet; I sent the last manuscript out over a month and a half ago. I've chased him up at least three times now with no answer, so I'm going to call it a loss and send out to other agents. I'm disappointed, but I've found in the past too many agents who promise the moon on a stick, but then struggle to even deliver the stick and even then only after many months of let downs.
Thursday 2 April 2009
Making the car go 'vroom-vroom' again.
I've been busy doing a little auto tinkering today. I rarely do much on my car. Perhaps I am the typical girl? Just run it until the problem gets too big to ignore then pay a little man to suck air through his teeth and say: "It's going to cost you" before invariably it does.
Actually, I know enough about cars to not get conned. I also like to do what servicing and repairs I can myself. It gives a smug sense of self-satisfaction to have not required outside help from a sweaty mechanic (though sometimes the cost is worth it to see the nice 20-something year old mechanic bend over my engine and show off his bum cleavage).
I'm not usually in the mood for car mechanics these days, being a very busy girl. But I'm also getting tired of the way the driver's side wing mirror seems to flap a little at any speed over 50mph. So I dusted off the Haynes manual for the car and went to work. Now, there's one thing I always find with Haynes manuals is that they are always economical with the information that you need. In fact, more often than not, they are written from the point of view of them being intended to be used by some-one who does not need a Haynes manual because they already know how to do the job. This one was no exception. But not to be foxed, I percevered and ended up with plenty of bits and the cause of the problem.
It seems the central spigot that holds the mirror on and lets it twist has rusted, because it is made of steel and the main structure of the internals of the mirror is an aluminium casting. Oh dear. That good old dissimilar metals reaction has been at work; I learnt all about it at school, so it's a shame that Volvo's design team didn't. I've affected a temporary repair using some pieces of an old eraser and a cable grip - cable grips are great on a car, as they can be used or adapted to repair most things.
I got it all back together despite the best efforts of the Hatnes manual to bamboozle me, and to boot I even had a prod at the central locking which has been playing up for years. For the last six months it has been disabled at the fuse panel, making getting in and out of the back of the car an effort. But whilst I was inside the door I had a spray around with WD40 and a few hits with a hammer (aka the 'Irish screwdriver' because it fits any size or drive of screw and cures most issues with a stout thump). That seemed to work, and I've left the fuse in to see whether it throws a wobbler before I next use it - it's parked safely in the back yard, so there's little risk of issues if it unlocks itself.
All in all it's made me feel quite good about myself, even if I haven't done much of the work I was supposed to be doing today (why do writing deadlines always produce a flurry of urges to complete non-relevent work and household chores?). Tomorrow's work avoidance, if it happens, may be changing oil and filters ready for driving to Cambridge on Sunday.
Actually, I know enough about cars to not get conned. I also like to do what servicing and repairs I can myself. It gives a smug sense of self-satisfaction to have not required outside help from a sweaty mechanic (though sometimes the cost is worth it to see the nice 20-something year old mechanic bend over my engine and show off his bum cleavage).
I'm not usually in the mood for car mechanics these days, being a very busy girl. But I'm also getting tired of the way the driver's side wing mirror seems to flap a little at any speed over 50mph. So I dusted off the Haynes manual for the car and went to work. Now, there's one thing I always find with Haynes manuals is that they are always economical with the information that you need. In fact, more often than not, they are written from the point of view of them being intended to be used by some-one who does not need a Haynes manual because they already know how to do the job. This one was no exception. But not to be foxed, I percevered and ended up with plenty of bits and the cause of the problem.
It seems the central spigot that holds the mirror on and lets it twist has rusted, because it is made of steel and the main structure of the internals of the mirror is an aluminium casting. Oh dear. That good old dissimilar metals reaction has been at work; I learnt all about it at school, so it's a shame that Volvo's design team didn't. I've affected a temporary repair using some pieces of an old eraser and a cable grip - cable grips are great on a car, as they can be used or adapted to repair most things.
I got it all back together despite the best efforts of the Hatnes manual to bamboozle me, and to boot I even had a prod at the central locking which has been playing up for years. For the last six months it has been disabled at the fuse panel, making getting in and out of the back of the car an effort. But whilst I was inside the door I had a spray around with WD40 and a few hits with a hammer (aka the 'Irish screwdriver' because it fits any size or drive of screw and cures most issues with a stout thump). That seemed to work, and I've left the fuse in to see whether it throws a wobbler before I next use it - it's parked safely in the back yard, so there's little risk of issues if it unlocks itself.
All in all it's made me feel quite good about myself, even if I haven't done much of the work I was supposed to be doing today (why do writing deadlines always produce a flurry of urges to complete non-relevent work and household chores?). Tomorrow's work avoidance, if it happens, may be changing oil and filters ready for driving to Cambridge on Sunday.
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