Tuesday, December 09, 2008

alternative energy & crowing for coffee

click to enlarge

Wowee...........today I received the item on the right
from a fellow blogger (you know who you are) and need
to say I'm touched and most appreciative. As I mentioned
in the email, you shouldn't have ; )

And the Book Bag on the left and the Peace booklet are
also from a fellow blogger and I too extend much gratitude
for the thought and cool surprises.

Thanks to ya both! ; )

In 1727 or so, a Brazilian, sent by the
royal authorities, obtained Brazils' first
coffee seeds from the wife of the Governor of
French Guina. The golden seeds he brought
back to Brazil are considered to have given
birth to Brazil's current billion dollar coffee industry.



click to enlarge

Seeing as there's been all this talk about
the Energy Crisis we are in these days,
I thought I might point it this fascinating
find in the Dec 1932 Popular Science.

Remember, the Electric Car was alive
and making it's first foray in California
in the 1970s, before someone or company
decided to get rid of them. Of course, now
you hear the talk coming around again.

If someone would finally say enough is enough
to the big oil companies and finally do something.

I may be a bit daft, but at least from the '70s,
if left to the public and companies continuing to
work on the electric cars, where do you think we might
be now with our cars and energy?

Going further, Interurbans, street/trolley cars,
shopping local, no malls, hmmmmm????????

Who Killed The Electric Car?




17 comments:

tut-tut said...

I'd say we'd be a lot further along with mass transit. It's a crying shame. Read about the Big Dig in Boston sometime. All that $$ could have gone into furthering the bus and T systems.

Joanne said...

Trolley cars/shopping local/no malls? As wonderful as that sounds, I just don't know if we'll ever get there. The automobile has a powerful stronghold.

Merle Sneed said...

We would be so much better off.

Squirrel said...

I like electricity and would buy an electric car if they were even slightly mainstream. There's a long waiting list for hybrids here. Who wants to put money down to get on a waiting list?

tony said...

Old Blue Eyes

Kurt said...

Jay Leno has an electric car built by Baker Electric in 1909. Apparently, well-to-do women preferred electric cars because gasoline cares were smelly and fumey, so quite a lot of them were built. Go figure.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/automobiles/05BAKER.html

Ténèbres à la lumière... said...

Hi! Coffee Messiah,
A very interesting review/post...and since I don't drive a car, I know that I am not contributing to the Energy Crisis personally,(Well, at least when it comes to driving a car.) but I also know that I (we all) will be are "effected" by the Energy Crisis if not one way, then another.
Tks,

mouse (aka kimy) said...

;) cock-a-doodle0doo!!

I love the notion of fueling cars or even homes with briquettes made from coffee beans - although at $8/lb for fair trade beans I don't know if it's a savings! how many miles can one go on a pound of java?

I haven't had a car for over two and a half years. it's wrong to feel smug and self-righteous but when I think of how I didn't cave in when my old car died, I must admit I do feel a little smug and self-righteous. it might take longer to get from point a to point b... but there's a lot of community building that goes on riding a bus or a rapid...and walking is much healthier than turning a key in the ignition! if I really really need an automobile I am fortunate as I can borrow one or even rent one (which I am prone to do if I have people flying in from out of town.... then I become mass transit!)

go mass transit! when will america wake up and smell the coffee when it comes to our transportation system/options?

Megan said...

The bus-stops around my place are always crowded to the brink with people.

But they don't add more buses, because they don't have the funding...in fact, they are having to cut down on service.

Sigh.

Megan said...

P.S. Nice swag!

Coffee Messiah said...

t & t: I know in SF, it worked well, although not timely at all. My trips to Europe were amazing, night or day, times posted and within a minute or two of posted times, they were there, any transit above or below ground. Just goes to show if you stick with something it'll work. Sadly, we gave up local for mall-al.

joanne: Since I rarely if ever get near a mall, I still look for local business, wherever I go. And yes, we got suckered into the car and the highway, not to mention oil.

merle: That's what I think. I could easily do it, but honestly, living where we are, mass transportation isn't available. At least since they got rid of the interurbans many years ago.

squirrel: I read there's plenty of those sitting on docks all across the usa, not moving at all.

tony: Thanks, I have that one and didn't put on the CD, as I figured everyones heard it a time or 2. But its a good one! ; )

kurt: It pays, to have plenty of moolah.

editor: We keep thinking, once things get positive again, we'd like to live in a city where we can rely on mass transit and go to the places we really like to go to.
It's been 13 yrs since leaving SF.

kimy: As the picture stated, there was too much coffee then, so they thought of a way to use it. We all know there have been many people who have come up with alternated fuels, cars that can get over 100 miles to the gallon, only to have the oil companies purchase the license and kill the idea. Perplexing and begs the question, are we really free?

megan: I notice that in Chicago too, cutbacks in funds, and in the amount of trips per line. Strange and sad since it works so well.

Squirrel said...

That's a nice book bag!

dennis said...

Dennis likes the rooster coffeepot.

Megan said...

Oh, and I think I lost that email...what did it say?

Echo said...

You are blessed with blogger friends to send you such wonders. I love your blog, It's difficult sometimes to call what my coworkers drink coffee. That is the stuff we should use in our cars.

lettuce said...

is anyone ever really going to say enough, to the oil companies?

about time alternative energy really got some kind of a look in though... maybe now it will get the space and resources to grow a bit


i love the coffee pot!
and recognise the lovely needlework too

Coffee Messiah said...

squirrel: Very Peaceful ; )

dennis: It's very cool and was quite the surprise ; )

megan: I'll resend it.

echo: Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment ; )

lettuce: After all these years, I wonder (oil companies that is)

They were very nice to me ; )