Reg versus Premium Fuel experiament in 09 PT Cruiser

Microsoft was thought to be the cream of the crop by many people. It isnt,
and they
arent even the lowest bidder.

If software had the same sort of exposure that medicine had, these people
would
perfect their crappy code before maneuvering people into a position that
they
practically are forced to buy it.

 

You mean "especially" from Microsoft, don't you?

Yes, but that's a different thing. That's what you get when the marketing
department designs software. The end result is something that looks really
nice, but has major compromises underneath to make it look nice. Actually
making an operating system that has normal operating system features is not
a priority... look how long it took for Microsoft to come up with pre-emptive
multitasking, as used by real operating systems since the early seventies.

Businesses look on computer systems as expenses, they don't think so much
about what they are getting for their money. Consequently you see a lot of
this kind of thing, but let me say it is MUCH worse when businesses which
are not technology-driven contract out for custom software. Sometimes, if
they have one smart person in charge of the contract, it works out really
well. Most of the time it does not.

I had a very bad support experience with Microsoft in 1978 and have not
used any products of theirs since. I'm not a big Linux fan, and my number
one complaint with Linux is the same as my number one complaint with
Microsoft: poor documentation of internals. At least with Linux you can
read the source code if you have to, but you shouldn't have to.
--scott

 

Just ask your doctor about cholesterol-lowering drugs. Microsoft isn't
the only outfit pushing inadequate and untested products on the market.
--scott

 

Sorry, I guess I forgot a smiley. I've got exactly two applications
that force me to run Windows in a virtual machine environment: a
schematic diagram drawing program and PCB layout program needed to
submit work to expresspcb.com, an extremely inexpensive source for small
numbers of custom PC boards. Anybody got a comparable source that will
take a gerber file?

 

Filled it up today. The pencil and paper answer is that I got about 1
mpg less on the premium. The electronic info center readout says it
was about 2 mpg less. Not a huge difference obviously. Certainly it
would indicate that there is no point to using premium since it's at
best a wash and the performance was no better by seat of the pants.
Nothing surprising.

 

There are a bunch of them out there. Start with the ads in the back of
AudioXPress magazine. Most of them do the same thing expresspcb.com does,
and batch up hundreds of boards together in one run. Some of them send
them to China, though, so you have a week or two turnaround, but you
usually save bigtime in the process.

Thing is, I like the expresspcb.com layout program a lot. It's nowhere
near as cumbersome as Eagle... but Eagle will run on Unix boxes...
--scott

 

I think the rule of thumb is still in effect, that if your car doesnt need
the
octane rating of the premium fuels then it is money wasted.

 

I've been looking (mostly in the back of Circuit Cellar), but haven't
come across one really comparable: send off the layout and my credit
card number, 2 days (IIRC) and ~$75 later (including shipping) I've got
three circuit boards on my doorstep. All the others I've come across
seem to want to go through a "request a quote" step, or have a setup
charge, or something...

Their schematic program, their layout program, and especially the
linking between the two, is really nice.

 

I also have been using expresspcb.com. Great for low quantity boards as
you said. That reminds me - I have a defective board to talk to them
about. First one I've had, so I don't know how they're going to handle
it. Too much set up to make just one board, so I suspect they will just
refund the incremental cost that I paid for the one board.

 

I remember that ;-) Didn't someone actually make up a few stickers? Its
certainly true that Y2K had no affect whatsoever on my Carter AVS
carburetors....

 

Glad I don't know any of those people....

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a feral Microsoft hater. Some of their
products have surprised me (a properly configured version of Windows
Embedded, for example, that will boot in <20 seconds on a 500 MHz
embedded processor, run for months on end, supports very easy
development, and has a tiny footprint- so far we haven't been able to
match all that with Linux for this application) But "cream of the crop?"
Egads. What a narrow view of the software world THAT must be!

 

But, much as the designers of the 1957 BelAir and 1968 Roadrunner didn't
expect those vehicles to remain hugely popular in 2009 and didn't design
them for that kind of lifespan and maintainability, software developers
in 1988 didn't REALLY expect their code snippets (or hell, whole
programs!) to still be running in 1999/2000.

 

Actually I don't find that to be a problem with current generation CFLs
anymore. What I still don't like is the fact that initial light output
is VERY low until the tube heats up. I'm even more impressed with the
LED replacement fixtures I've seen- in terms of color rendering AND in
terms of light output as well as being truly instant-on. What doesn't
impress me (at least not positively...) is the $50 cost of a PAR-30 LED
flood in 50-watt equivalent light output. Gads. Even I'm smart enough to
know that it won't really last the 10+ years it would need to break
even... I'll lose the darn thing or replace the lamp it fits before
then! I do believe the cost will drop, though. The big problem I see
for LEDs is getting them to work in a non-flood configuration (ie,
radiate light uniformly like a regular round bulb does.)


and too late to re-tool and re-legislate for

Google a bit, extreme environuts are ALREADY whining about CFLs,
although it amuses me how conflicted and angsty they seem to be over it.

 

Damn. I didn't know GE had bailed on that... too bad.

I think Phillips is still working on theirs, though,

Actually I've seen a few Philips products already on the market. ie.,
their 45W PAR20 that matches 55W conventional incandescent PAR20 in
lumen output.

 

OK, I'm a little beyond my depth of knowledge here, but AFAIK *ALL*
flat-tappet cams have to be hardened (usually nitrided or some other
surface process) after the cam lobes are ground on the blank. Too much
material has to be removed when the lobes are ground to shape to use a
pre-grind hardening process- all the hardening would be removed except
on the very tip of the lobe and it would get undercut very quickly. I'm
sure that the quality and thickness of the hardening can vary, though.

In addition GM (Chevrolet division engines in particular) up through the
end of factory flat-tappet cams had comparatively high cam wear because
they used a smaller diameter lifter than Ford, Chrysler, AMC, and (I
think) some of the other GM divisions like Oldsmobile and Cadillac.

 

Strange.. that would be only 12 years, and the millenium change would have
been rather obvious, I think, especially in light of all the importance that
was
given to it at the last moment.

 

Yes - of course the nitriding was done after grinding - the treatment is
only microns thick.

I'm just telling you what the word on the street was - I have to think
it would have trickled down from someone with engineering level
understanding - the typical guy on the street back then wouldn't have
thought up the nitriding explanation on his own.

Perhaps that long ago, it was a new process that has been greatly
improved over the years. If other manufacturers were nitriding at the
time, perhaps GM's process or their vendor's process was inferior. But
I know it was a consistent rumor for years. Whether the stated cause was
wrong, it was universally accepted that GM cams had such a problem that
other manufacturer's vehicles didn't - maybe for the reason you state in
your next paragraph...

 

For what it is worth

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2003-07-30-premiumgas_x.htm

 

I haven`t had a dam cfl last more than a year yet. KB

 

That was my experience up to about 18 months ago. Since then they
seem to have gotten a lot better. The only problem for me is that I
have a lot of rooms with dimmers and dimming CFL's are pricey and from
what I read they don't work very well.