On Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:18:44 -0600, dpb wrote:

Robatoy wrote:
On Dec 18, 10:35 am, "
wrote:
On Dec 18, 8:54 am, dpb wrote:

Well, yeahbbut... If there were a real market, it would make it
out. While there may be an element of truth in the claims,
it's unlikely this miracle product, whatever it might be, would
be producible at a competitive price or not have some other
problem or somebody would be doing it...there are an awful lot
of bright folks out there.
I agree. While I am sure that huge manufacturing concerns have
bought out their competitors and their product since time
immemorial, I don't think good product stand much of a chance of
being on the sidelines anymore. I think too many companies are too
hungry and the chance to make a buck is too much to resist.

I think we believe what we want to, especially if we are feeling a
little screwed about something. I remember in the 70s when we had
the first gas crunch, it really changed the way people looked at
gas. It became a precious commodity. Then somewhere along the
late 70s, early 80s, all of us "in the know" KNEW that Bill Lear,
the genius inventor had an 80+ mpg carburetor that was a simple
bolt on to any car. In fact (the irony was lost on me at the time)
the myth went that they tried it on Chevy trucks (wow.. I was
driving a 3/4 ton Chevy at the time that got a solid 10 mpg) and it
worked!

But then GM found out about it and bought it for almost 100 million
dollars, because we found out that General Motors owned the oil
companies. Yup, the job site brain trust was able to come up with
a good theory in spite of a lack of facts.

I later saw Bill Lear's wife and his best friend on a documentary/
biography and they even talked about the 90 mpg carburetor. They
had both heard of it, both got a chuckle out of it, and were amazed
that it had such legs. They both said the same thing: Bill
invented faster than he could come up with a money source to try
out his ideas, and he was ALWAYS cash poor.

They were both in complete agreement that if Bill had come up with
something that important, he would have sold it in a heartbeat.
And since this guy was at his side for soemthing like 20 years, he
felt like he would have known about a project that had actually
gone to live testing.

But we sure "knew" that to be true for about 20 years. And there
for a while it resurfaced every time we had a spike in gas price.


One of the most efficient ways to move people in large quantities
(over land, not water) is steel wheels on rails.

But it is terribly inconvenient other than for the daily commute--it
only runs when _IT_ runs, not necessarily when people _want_ to go. It
is also a pita if the station isn't all that close to where one wants to
be in the end...

Trams (streetcars) are the best example. Many cities in the US had
very advanced trams systems (Chicago, for instance). Yet the deal
schmoozed out between the man Firestone and one the US presidents
(forgot which one) suddenly found the sale of tires and fuel more
important and the whole transportation system went for crap just to
sell rubber and. Big industry very often influences bad decisions
propelled by their greed and executed by their campaign donations.in
fact, entire wars. Peace is easier and cheaper to negotiate but
doesn't sell hardware.

That's simply wishful thinking and retrofit "history"...it all has to do
with consumer choices and preferences. When Henry built an affordable
automobile, there was no way in the world folks weren't going to choose
the individualism of "having it their own way" over mass transportation
except for the morning/evening commute, if that...

Neville Chamberlain also thought "negotiating peace" was possible...

So, if a palm-sized cold fusion power source ever became available,
it wouldn't see the light of day.

That is also patently absurd (even if the concept were physically
realizable, which it isn't)...

Well, that's one for the old zebco...