Hign mpg mileage cars

If you want to get good gas mileage you should by one of these three cars. The Base model Mini cooper with a 6 speed transmission. It need to be 2007 or newer as the older model is a different engine and does not get go mileage. The next car is the base honda civic with and automatic transmission. The last is the Toyota Corolla base model with the automatic transmission. Both honda and toyota put a lower geared transmission in the stick shift (standard) transmission for performance instead of mileage so the automatic is better gas mileage than the standard transmission. The mini is different as the 6 speed is setup with a really high gear ratio to get great gas mileage. At 65/70mph on the interstate you can get 45mpg with regular fuel. Going 85mph or faster and you can get 38mpg. What's weird is that the yaris and the fit get less mileage and the toyota prius gets about the same mileage on the highway as these cars. The prius gets better in city mileage but if you drive the mini with a soft foot you can get close and for the money difference the prius is still not worth it. If you want cool and high mpg get a mini. If you need to save a couple of thousand dollars and need a four door, get a toyota corolla.

Sharepoint

Everyone using Office 2007 is pushing sharepoint as it is the new replacement for Exchange public folders and the default way to share documents. Little does everyone know yet but sharepoint is slow and needs about one database server for every ten people. Microsoft is so smart. Did they make a deal with Dell or what. This system needs so many servers and so much money only the dumbest IT departments will be using this after trying to force their users into the black hole that is Microsoft.

Gas Mileage

I was looking at the new smart car to come over from Europe to the usa. The car gets 60mpg in Europe but the first government tests show that with emission controls the car only get 37 mpg. Sounds weird and seems wrong but if you look at all the small econo box cars they all get around 35-37 mpg. Could this be government mandated mpg. If you look at the hybrids like the prius they use a dirty engine to get better mileage. If you took out the electric motor and batteries it would get the same mpg. They get around the emission rules with the electric motor. Also since vw tdi cars got killed off for 2007 and the 2008 don't get as much mileage, something is up. Could there be laws in place to make the oil companies more money. I remember reading about a car years ago that got less emissions without the catalytic converter and the government made them put the cat back in.

Outsourcing email

Goals
email
group calendar
messaging
office doc / spreadsheet intergration
discussion groups

Technologies
Windows live
Google apps
Microsoft Exchange
Lotus Notes
Apple Mac OS X Server

Outsourcing solutions like windows live and google apps can save you money but put some else in control of your data. Googles solution has the best promiss right now. Microsoft still has not added all the extras needed to compete with google. Microsoft has also changed how the technology works many times in the last few years. Google seems more stable and dedicated to maintaining a stable platform. Exchange is still number one for the current future and with exchange 2007 claiming to be able to scale without the need for hundreds of servers it might be the case. If you can afford it exchange 2007 may be a good choice. One of the problems with exchange is they have not decided on what to do with public folders. They seem to want to have everyone move to sharepoint which just became usable. They have changed the IM solution on each version of exchange. All the apps to make up the exchange group solution are not very coordinated. The google soultion is still a work in progress but the single signon and the way the apps hinge on the email framework is a very good technology. If I was a small business I would not take a moment to pay google for the sla version and maybe dump windows and microsoft office all together. Might be something to look into.

Open Source College

I would like to take Wikipedia and opensource and make an open source college. What does it it take to be an acredited school? Talk to Wikipedia and see if they can help setup the site for the open versions of college text books. Maybe this could open up to free text books for k-12 schools and save education from some costs. Money that could be used somewhere else. If we could also take the great minds of the open source community to come up with open ways to have an online college that is free or nearly free. The only piece missing is the course and testing pieces. How would we build online courses. Could retired or part time teachers be able to give their time for free or maybe with some donations. Testing should be easy as there are many sources for these types of apps. The course work piece would come from computer training types of apps.

Microsoft

Microsoft is running on fumes and vista is a bust. I don't know how many xp boxes I have had to help friends get going because of spyware and worms. I have been in it for over 20 years and most machines in most homes have to be reinstalled on a regular basis and since most people don't have the right stuff to reinstall it makes it real difficult to get these machines back up a running. I remember a few years back I would say when asked how to fix their computer my answer was buy a mac. Now people don't think this is funny like it was two years ago. Vista is a hog on systems and to run anything cool you have to have a very expensive machine. Do yourself a favor and buy a macbook or macbook pro and forget about windows. And if you need you can still run windows in a virtual that can be reset back to a earlier version.

Work in Iraq

We have been trying to get into the middle east since the 70's and this time we have a firm hold in iraq. We are not likely to leave any time soon. We want to control the oil in the middle east and this is how to start. The other thing that bothers me is how little it seems that we care about the soldiers health. We have had this problem in the past but these almost seems calculated. Are we sending our poor and criminal to die? It's to bad we also have some smart and deadicated people that are also getting killed. WIth the technology and money we have there should only be the odd heart attack or natural causes deaths in iraq. Are we trying to reduce the population so the rest of us have more? Something is just not right here. The main reasons for going there are big business to make money and to control oil to make big business money. Could there be another reason or did the minds at work think of some other bright ideas. Maybe the top brass is just that lame. We as americans should start holding congress responsible for the deaths in iraq. Maybe if we killed a congress man lottery style for every 1000 soldiers they may put a little more thought into how to keep or soldiers alive.

Today

Another fun day. Too much and not enough.