Avgas in France has reached $7.50/gal !

In article , Matt Barrow wrote:
Personally, I'd rather have the shorter working week and the time off!

I'll take the 70 hour weeks and still have enough to take several nice
vacations each year.

So long as you can get the vacation time; at least when working in the
US for a major computer firm people worked the 70+ hour weeks and were
expected to not take their paltry two weeks of paid leave.

I'm sorry, but I work to live, not live to work. Although I *greatly*
enjoy what I do, after that experience, sorry - no more unpaid overtime
until I'm either running a business or in upper management if I so
choose to eventually follow that career. I can still do office work even
if I was to have an accident and end up in a wheel chair (or just get
old). But I don't want to be 80 years old and look back and say that I
wish I had gone out and done something that required youth and fitness,
but didn't to get some more unpaid overtime in at the office!

It cost me dearly (in lost income) to take months off when I finished
with the project I was working on in the US, but it was worth an order
of magnitude more than the lost income to fly my Cessna 140 across the
US from coast to coast. That trip was priceless.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

In article , Matt Barrow wrote:
It's much easier to convert the diesel infrastructure to use
non-crude oil based fuel than it is to move to a hydrogen economy.

Hmmm...a series of tests by the Univeristy of Colorado a few years ago
indicated the a HUGH proportion of pollution comes from diesels.

That's why there are strict emissions standards for diesel engines in
cars here. You can *see* the smoke from trucks in the US, typically the
~17 tonner fixed body four axle construction trucks which seemed to make
up 75% of the truck population in Houston. Every time they accelerated
there was a *thick* pall of black smoke. Those trucks wouldn't be
allowed on the roads here.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

In article , Morgans wrote:
Rotax aren't a bad engine manufacturers - you've gotta remember a lot of
their output is inherently less reliable 2-strokes.

So lots of people say. Nevertheless, you'll not catch me flying behind one,
anywhere except the plains, or the water with floats.

I guess I live dangerously, I've flown the Europa across the Irish Sea
on several occasions! The 914S is a smooth engine giving good power. I
don't hear about them failing any more frequently than the traditional
Lyco-Conti engines (which I also fly behind quite frequently, our glider
club towplane has an O-320).

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

"Dylan Smith" wrote in message
...
In article 8GUae.17388$NU4.3706@attbi_s22, Jay Honeck wrote:
b) Political correctness, dictated by umpteen zillion stupid lawsuits
over
the years, dictates that the TSA must frisk EVERYONE, even though any
idiot
knows that a 93 year old woman in a wheelchair is probably not a
security
risk. It's a sign of the times, not of the TSA.

Actually - if you want your security to work then you *cannot* profile.
It's not a case of political correctness. If you only frisk brown
people, soon the terrorists will find non-brown extremists to perpetrate
attacks.

Profiling only uses race as ONE facet of many.

"Dylan Smith" wrote in message
...
In article , Matt Barrow wrote:
companies ploughed vast amounts of money into 3G licenses which were
ALL
to do with the dot.com bubble)

They did so under the orders of the FCC. (See first article below).

Not here they didn't - they did it to themselves - the mad scramble for
3G licenses sold by auction pushed the value way above what they were
worth as the telecoms companies scrambled blindly to get on the 3G
bandwagon.

Sounds like your 3G licenses are similar to our FCC requirements, just with
a different name.

"Dylan Smith" wrote in message
...
In article , Matt Barrow wrote:
Many Europeans tell us we should drive microcars, but they have no
comprehension of just how big and spread out the US is.

Hardly, it's quite possible to make a mid or fullsize diesel car very
economical on fuel.

And as I said, Americans hate diesels. Also, see the other point about
diesel pollution.

"Dylan Smith" wrote in message
...
In article , Matt Barrow wrote:
Speeds are generally much higher in Europe than the western US.

Have you ever driven the western US?

Yes. In a Volkswagen TDi in fact. However, I generally preferred to fly
over the western US in my C140.

Speed limit is generally 75 and that's
ususally scoffed at. What are speed limits in the rest of Europe other
than
the autobahn?

Right-o. That's why when I was doing 80 in the Jetta through Colorado
and Utah I was passing practically everything.

Sure you were.

If your were doing 80, you'd have people flashing their highbeams at you to
get out of the way. They raised the speedlimits to 75 about five years ago
and now 85 is normal and 90 is common.



I was going I-40 through northern Arizona, doing 100 and passed two trucks
and GOT passed twice.

The prevailing speed of
motorway traffic in Britain is generally 80mph (even though the limit is
70).

When I was in the UK in the 80's it was 90-100k, 56-62MPH.

In France, I think the autoroutes have a speed limit of 130km/h which is

They must have raied it because I remember it too being 100k's.

80mph - faster than your freeways out west - and having driven in
France, I know the French pay little attention to that speed limit (or
many other good principles of road safety!)

Yup, they have one of the highest highway fatality rates in Europe.


Additionally, take the range of a Volkswagen Jetta TDi - it'll get
around 700 miles off a tank of diesel. It will also give good power in
the mountains, I have friends in Utah who love their TDi. My Dad's last
diesel, a Peugeot, lasted over 350,000 miles.

Americans just don't like diesels. They're better than the junk that
came
out 20-25 years ago, but they still sell abysmally other than in the
bigger
pickup trucks.

I know that - but that doesn't mean that diesels AREN'T good now and
AREN'T up to the job because they most certianly are. A modern turbo
diesel car is as comfortable as a gasoline driven one, just as fast and
often has way better endurance and often has an engine which will last
much longer on less maintenance. Just because Americans in general
haven't considered a diesel car doesn't some how mean the modern
turbo diesel can't cope with distances or speeds out west - on the
distance they are unarguably BETTER than gasoline cars - the range on a
tank of fuel is often 50 to 100% greater than the equivalent gasoline
car, the engines generally are much stronger and last longer,

You sound like the last car salesman I ran into. :~)

"Dylan Smith" wrote in message
...
In article , Matt Barrow wrote:
Personally, I'd rather have the shorter working week and the time off!

I'll take the 70 hour weeks and still have enough to take several nice
vacations each year.

So long as you can get the vacation time;

I work for myself (I own the company).

at least when working in the
US for a major computer firm people worked the 70+ hour weeks and were
expected to not take their paltry two weeks of paid leave.

To every instance there is a reciprocal.

And as I said, suit yourself. OTOH, many nations have a lagging (and
diminishing) standard of living and are gritting their teeth in ENVY.

I'm sorry, but I work to live, not live to work.

Me too. I work 70 hour weeks for 10 months of the year and 40 hour weeks
when we do a month at our summer home.

Unfortunately, I've run into SOOOO many people (professionally and
personally) that don't have much (or any) motiviation, but they expect
people that are willing to work to support them (welfare). Some entire
nations operate that way.


Although I *greatly*
enjoy what I do, after that experience, sorry - no more unpaid overtime
until I'm either running a business or in upper management if I so
choose to eventually follow that career. I can still do office work even
if I was to have an accident and end up in a wheel chair (or just get
old). But I don't want to be 80 years old and look back and say that I
wish I had gone out and done something that required youth and fitness,
but didn't to get some more unpaid overtime in at the office!

I felt that way too, until I had kids and then got laid off at 43 years old
in a dead job market. Now, it's worth it for the independance, the
prosperity (lot's more) and I even take more, longer, and better vacations
than when I was working in the corporate world.


It cost me dearly (in lost income) to take months off when I finished

The purpose of working harder/longer is to have the time/resources to play
longer/better.

with the project I was working on in the US, but it was worth an order
of magnitude more than the lost income to fly my Cessna 140 across the
US from coast to coast. That trip was priceless.

As was my trip two years ago to Virginia to see my son commissioned in the
Navy. We took our Bonanza and made a couple stops along with way both going
out and coming back. Nine days and $8K total.

"Dylan Smith" wrote in message
...
In article , Matt Barrow wrote:
It's much easier to convert the diesel infrastructure to use
non-crude oil based fuel than it is to move to a hydrogen economy.

Hmmm...a series of tests by the Univeristy of Colorado a few years ago
indicated the a HUGH proportion of pollution comes from diesels.

That's why there are strict emissions standards for diesel engines in
cars here. You can *see* the smoke from trucks in the US, typically the
~17 tonner fixed body four axle construction trucks which seemed to make
up 75% of the truck population in Houston.

Quite! In many states they emmission test the newer vehicles but exempt
older (1981 +/- or earlier) and diesels.

Every time they accelerated
there was a *thick* pall of black smoke. Those trucks wouldn't be
allowed on the roads here.

Faulty/untuned injectors. My neighbors Dodge 3500 (?) dually makes not even
a wisp of smoke.

"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Dylan Smith" wrote in message
...
In article , Matt Barrow wrote:
http://www.timbro.com/euvsusa/ (EU vs. USA) by a think tank in
Stockholm,
Sweden Read particularly the summary at the bottom and some of he
charts
comparing the various EU countries against the US.

The EU will always lag behind the US in productivity - mainly because we
have a shorter working week and a lot more vacation time. Less hours to
work. I think in Germany the usual new employee gets something like 6
weeks paid leave (vs 2 in the US), and works a 35 hr week (vs 40 hrs in
the US).

Personally, I'd rather have the shorter working week and the time off!

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

I also think that Euope has a higher percentage of retired people than the
US.

They do because their retirement is much earlier (AIUI) as they want to
clear the work rolls for younger people.