Is a Hybrid Worth It?

This article, although a couple months old, shows that even though gas-electric hybrids are the most fuel-efficient passenger cars on the road the industry-high efficiency can’t economically offset the steep sticker price. The author gets down and dirty with the math and specific examples.

Many modern miracles — such as microwave ovens, potato chips and Viagra — came on the scene due to sheer dumb luck. By Lucas Graves from Wired magazine.

[Via Wired News: Top Stories]

Geography lesson

Time for a major Geography lesson. (I know enough of these to be “true” to believe the others. – L)

Alaska

* More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska.

Amazon

*The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20% of the world’s oxygen supply.

* The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one
hundred miles at sea, off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the
ocean.

* The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest
rivers in the world combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States.

Antarctica

*Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country.

* Ninety percent of the world’s ice covers Antarctica. This ice also represents
seventy percent of all the fresh water in the world.

* As strange as it sounds, however, Antarctica is essentially a desert. The average
yearly total precipitation is about two inches.

* Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it, i.e.), Antarctica is the driest
place on the planet, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.

Brazil

* Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around.

Canada

* Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.

* Canada is an Indian word meaning “Big Village.”

Chicago

* Next to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world.

Detroit

* Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, carries the designation M – 1, so named
because it was the first paved road anywhere.

Damascus, Syria

* Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was
founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.

Istanbul, Turkey

* Istanbul, Turkey is the only city in the world located on two continents.

Los Angeles

* Los Angeles’s full name is “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de
Porciuncula” — and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A.

New York City

* The term “The Big Apple” was coined by touring jazz musicians of the 1930s who
used the slang expression Apple for any town or city. Therefore, to play New
York City is to play the big time – The Big Apple.

* There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland; more Italians in
New York City than in Rome, Italy; and more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Africa

* Perentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%. Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%.

Ohio

* There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, every one is manmade.

Pitcairn Island

* The smallest island with country status is Pitcairn in Polynesia, at just 1.75 sq. miles (4,53 sq. km).

Rome

* The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome, Italy in 133 B.C.

* There is a city called Rome on every continent.

Siberia

* Siberia contains more than 25% of the world’s forests.

S.M.O.M.

* The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order
of Malta (S.M.O.M.). It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, it has an area of two
tennis courts, and as of 2001 has a population of 80, 20 less people than the
Vatican. It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican is.

Sahara Desert

* In the Sahara Desert, there is a town named Tidikelt, which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years.

Spain

* Spain literally means ‘the land of rabbits.’

St. Paul Minnesota

* St. Paul, Minnesota was originally called “Pigs Eye” after a man named Pierre “Pig’s
Eye” Parrant who set up the first business there.

Roads

* Chances that a road is unpaved in the U.S.A.: 1%, in Canada: 75%.

Texas

* The deepest hole ever made in the world is in Texas. It is as deep as 20 empire
state buildings but only 3 inches wide.

United States

* The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one-mile in every five must be
straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.

Waterfalls

* The water of Angel Falls (the World’s highest) in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet (979
meters). They are 15 times higher than Niagara Falls

[Via The Braden Files]

Running Club Marks Blamed In Biohazard Scare – Yahoo! News

A white substance that investigators inititally identified as a potential biohazard turned out to be markings from a local running club, News 5’s Brian Hamrick reported.

The Hash House Harriers strike again! I used to run with the group in Houston back in the 80’s. The “hare” would lay a trail using flour and occasionally toilet paper. Our favorite trails were laid in the woods but out of necessity we also laid trails in the city. A short time later the pack(i.e. group of runners) would try to follow the trail and catch the hare. If all worked well the pack would finally catch up with hare at the end where we would have a little outdoor party.

Here is a link to a page of nice graphs of the 2004 election results.