EV's: "We're DOOMED, all Doomed, DOOMED I tell you!!

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I try and walk a minimum of 10,000 steps every day and average over 75,000 per week. Most of this is from walking the dogs at least once a day (except when there is heavy rain when I walk back and forth along the veranda while throwing ball).
Several friends my age don't do even half that. One does less than a quarter. He was very active until covid came along and now he is using a walker even tho he never got covid and has a dog. Like me he is not in a city so he had no excuse not to keep active.
 
Right up to the time of my wreck in 2013, I was in great shape, could work circles around the guys in the shop who were half my age and had no problem walking to the store that was almost a mile away.
A case in point: when Rosi and I visited the Acropolis, we started off on the walk up and after a bit, she was getting winded and had to rest a moment. Then we started off again, reaching about two-thirds they way up, she had to stop again, for a moment.
She looked at me and said "look at you, hiding a teenager in that old man's body!"
She was in good shape herself, but to be honest, that walk up to the top is not an easy one (but certainly worth the effort).

Anyway, since then, I haven't been able to walk far, I can't ride a bike or do any strenuous activity. It really sucks.
 
I am glad I am injury free so far.
In PNG I was a member of Hash House Harriers (a running club that has a high alcohol consumption after the run - often referred to as alcoholics with a running problem) and I could still outrun most of our younger pilots even in my mid 60s. Now I just walk and in the last couple of years the average time per km has risen from 10 to 12 minutes and distance dropped from 5km in the morning to half that.
 
Is there a branch of the Hash House Harriers in Khorat, Thailand?
 
Quite likely - websearch Hash House Harriers Khorat
They are very common in the tropics and even small cities like Port Moresby often have multiple Hash groups (POM had 3 - two of which I was in). The Monday one was for serious drinkers so I avoided that one though I was a member of an offshoot called TLC - the Tuesday Laksa Club. It came about when one Monday sufferer said he felt like shit on Tuesdays until he had laksa for lunch. After that up to 30 of us would descend on a different laksa joint for lunch every Tuesday. The food ranged from fantastic to insipid and the camaraderie was always first class.
 
MiTasol said:
Now I just walk and in the last couple of years the average time per km has risen from 10 to 12 minutes and distance dropped from 5km in the morning to half that.
Click to expand...

That's just getting old, MiTasol... Happens to all of us. I slipped and fell down the stairs the other day. My girlfriend just laughed and said, "you're getting on, old man..."

I do like walking the doggo. A great way to exercise and being around dogs is very good for the soul.
 
In 1957, as a CAP cadet on summer encampment at England AFB, a Captain had been assigned to us for the two weeks. He preached physical fitness and got us up one hour early for P.E. each morning.
As teenagers will, a prank was conceived. One of the cadet squadrons had a 17 year old who had just set a new high school AAAA state record for the 50 yard dash. During one of the P.E. lectures someone questioned how this could benefit us when we were the Captain's age (in his thirties). Of course he took the bait and various test were discussed until a 50 yard dash was selected. The conversations went round and round with him saying he could beat any of us. The High School record breaker was a most unlikely looking track star, so when someone suggested "How about him?" The Captain answered, "Of course." The contest was to be held the next morning and would be timed and the course measured by three other officers. Fifty yards was measured, starting blocks were set, stopwatches ready. At the starting pistol shot, the teen shot off first but at the finish it was a dead tie. We Cadets learned an impressive lesson and in later years we realised the Captain most likely got free drinks at the O club with the knowledge the kid held the state record.
 
Yes, EVs are the way of the future. As yet they can't replace internal combustion power because they have so many limitations that need to be overcome, but it'll happen eventually. Hybrids are a better stepping stone at this stage in EV development though. Until they can get longer life batteries, internal combustion will stick around.

Let's not kid ourselves about the environmental impact of EVs, though. Mining rare elements required for batteries is harmful to the environment, not least exploitative as its usually an underpaid workforce in poor countries that supply these things. Not only that but unless your country has a completely renewable electricity industry and doesn't rely on fossil fuelled powerplants for energy, EVs don't offer expected benefits. They serve a purpose and the people who I know who have them say it saves them fuel costs, skyrocketing at the moment, but these same people still have SUVs for taking the kids and their bikes out for a ride and hauling stuff about in the tray of their utes. We have a long way to go before EVs become the absolute norm.

I'm not giving up my V8 yet...
 

Ancient, not old. Dogs are definitely good for the soul, we always have two so they are not lonely when we are away or busy.

One of our neighbors has a great dane that is always lonely. On its own and nobody home all day during the week and I have never seen it being walked or played with. Depressing.
 
I think that today's EV's are the compact fluorescent bulbs of the auto world. Various people want to ignore environmental problems with them and force us all to adopt them but something better is going to come along and make us realize how inadequate they are.
 
Whatever happened to hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars? About 25 years ago those and battery-powered electric cars were both being developed as alternatives to gasoline-fueled cars, but somewhere along the way hydrogen fuel cells fell away and electric batteries became the only option.
 
That's what I want to know.

There is actually a way to get gasoline engines to run on Hydrogen, and that interests me, because I own several vintage autos and I won't give them up to drive a computer controlled battery car that in reality, is dependant on fossil fuel.
 
GrauGeist said:
That's what I want to know.

There is actually a way to get gasoline engines to run on Hydrogen . . .
Click to expand...

Yes, that's what I remember too from back then. The big issue was storing the hydrogen in the vehicle; it wasn't practical to do so as a liquid or a gas. I remember hydrides — compounds which can absorb and release hydrogen under various conditions — were being discussed as the best way to store the hydrogen inside the car.
 
Hey special ed,

re your post#33

If that is really where you are getting your lithium you should switch suppliers.

"The World's Ten Biggest Lithium Mines"


Admittedly, there were a few mines (in the pre-1990s era) similar to the one in the image you posted. But (unless my information is way off) something like 95%+ of the world's lithium is produced in mines like the ones in the link posted above (ie using modern processes and heavy equipment of one form or another, and without adults or little kids using their hands and submerging themselves in the process).

The main problem today is the pollution due to the waste products getting into the water systems.
 
Last edited:
The photo Ed posted is actually miscaptioned.

They are mining for Cobalt, not Lithium.

Search for "Cobalt mining in the Congo".
 
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