h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

for cheaper transportation?

Thanks for asking. It's on hold at the moment. I own three cars right now (two of them being old clunkers and the only new one being a gas hog). My plan is to divest myself of one clunker and the gas hog and then look into a gas-electric hybrid vehicle. Even though they're expensive, it should pay for itself in gas savings, given my hefty commute.

And you? How was the trip home?

Sounds like a good plan! I see a few wlectric vehicles around. But environmentally they really only make sense with "green" power sources rather than ooking them up to the nearest fossil fuel or nuclear power plant...

I'm home at the moment again, quite nice with all the berries ripe

How about biodiesel? If you're looking for something really low-impact check the National Geographic!

on the new school year, too, I just noticed it'll be on again shortly!

It's funny you should bring that up! I already had some interest in it, and then something happened at my school that made me think a little more seriously about it.

At the school where I work we are way out in the country and therefore have our own septic sewage system because there is no public sewage here. When you have your own sewage, there is no regulation of grease traps or anything, because you are supposedly taking care of it through your own system. If you are on public sewage you have to have a grease trap in an industrial kitchen and dispose of the grease yourself so that it doesn't clog up the public system.

As part of our overall renovation this summer, we are rebuilding the school's kitchen. The architects suggested that we put in a grease trap, just in case we get public sewage sometime in the next twenty or twenty-five years. That way we wouldn't have to tear up the floor again; it will already be there if we need it.

"So," I thought to myself, "we're going to collect up all this grease every day, and have to dispose of it somehow." If I had an old diesel vehicle and converted it over to run on grease, which everyone says is a fairly simple conversion to make, I'd have a steady supply right here at my workplace! I'd get fuel and the school district would not have to worry about getting rid of the grease. It's a win-win. So I may take a serious look at it.

Anything is possible.

Sounds liek a good method, there are quite a few sites on how to make it - and it is an educational project, so you might even have students turning your grease to diesel for you...

Ah-HA! A win-win-win. Getting students to do things for you and calling it educational is a time-honored method of getting free labor!

Yes, and then to justify *you* getting the diesel rather than the school , volunteer to show them how to do it, and tell them you'll do it without payment if you get the goods

Could always use the argument that, although we no doubt produce a lot of grease, it would never be enough to power all the school buses (or even one of them). Therefore the only logical solution is to offer it to the district employee with the longest commute... now who would THAT be?

And emphasise that it'S "for everyone, really" as the whole is less polluted - and don't suggest it yourself, let someone else do it!

It has long been my dream to live/work in a city with decent public transportation so that I wouldn't have to have a car. For ten years, while working for the University of Maryland I rode a bicycle to work. It was the greatest. I didn't even mind when it rained... just cooled me down.

Luckily, we've got that in Germany - I can forget my bicycle, my town's the german San Fransisco, but I ride public transport every morning and evening. And it's free for me

San Francisco would be hell on a bicycle. They do, however, have a great public transportation system. I have spent time there on a couple of different occasions. The second time, I was there for a week, didn't rent a car, and never missed it. Between the cable cars, buses, and subway, I managed to get everywhere I wanted/needed to go with a minimum of hassle.

We have the Schwebebahn, which is pretty handy except when it's full of tourists who want to see it

I lived in the Wahington, DC area for ten years and there is an excellent subway system there. The tourists are very, very annoying, but it was probably their ridership that kept the whole system operating in the black. A mixed blessing.

Yes, I suppose - they do pay for it happily, so they can stick the tickets in their scrapbooks!

Okay, I confess, I had to look up Schwebebahn to see what it was. It does look mighty cool. If I were there I'd want to ride it!

Oh, , I ought to have explained - it was built before 1900, when we still had an emperor!

Friends of mine who have been to Europe tell me that this is one of the things they find most impressive; that there is so much stuff around that is so old. When we have a building that's 200 years old, we consider it ancient, and in most parts of Europe that's relatively new! Even 1900 is not all that long ago in the big scheme of things.