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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Dave Sill<br><b>Sent:</b> Friday, March 30, 2012 11:49 AM<br><b>To:</b> ExI chat list<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] The silent PV revolution<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>On Fri, Mar 30, 2012 at 2:27 PM, spike <<a href="mailto:spike66@att.net">spike66@att.net</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>>>…</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>No need to </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>o</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>utlaw trucks. Divide the existing high-speed roads to physically separate lightweights from the existing fleet.</span><o:p></o:p></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span>That's not going to be cheap... It's not a showstopper<span style='color:#1F497D'>…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Dividing roads will be cheap enough, using existing tech, those highway barrier things. Keeping the surface smooth enough for low-structure weight vehicles will cost, but I have an idea, a radical one. Make a law requiring all motor-fuel taxes to be used only for road maintenance. Those taxes cannot be used for the general fund. Currently fuel taxes are used by state governments the way Lucy used the football to repeatedly trick Charlie Brown. They keep using rough roads to raise taxes, then dump the money into the general fund. The California taxpayers fall for it time after time, and we have not yet booted that football.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span> but it'll require leadership and commitment that aren't in sight<span style='color:#1F497D'>…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Not here yet, but perhaps in sight.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>>>…</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Dave me lad, there are PLENTY of technologies for lightweights that have patents long since expired. </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>….</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> We had everything we need, way back in my own misspent youth.</span><o:p></o:p></p></div></div></blockquote><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span>Hobbyists can get away with patent infringement. Nobody cares. But once you start selling a product, IP sharks take notice. And while it might be *possible* to avoid all existing patents, it's extremely difficult to know what patents you might be infringing.<span style='color:#1F497D'> –</span>Dave<span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Disagree sir. Everything you need to make a high mileage vehicle has been with us for a long time, way longer than the typical 20 yr life of a patent. You don’t really even need microprocessors. The single cylinder 50cc scooter motor, which has been in continuous production nearly unchanged for over half a century is the basis for plenty of super high mileage contests. You can use good old fashioned bicycle sprockets and chains, even go ahead and use off-road bicycle derailleur systems. Those are just sturdy enough to handle the torque of a detuned 50 cc single. In fact you could even go with a belt driven torque converter or an electronically controlled mechanical transmission, both of which we had perfected back in the 70s. Injection molded plastic has been around my entire life, and plain old flat track cart racer frames would provide at least a modicum of weather protection. None of this has any patents applicable: they used to play flat track racer when I was a kid.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>They used to call that sport Mini-sprints, and there are now 1000cc micro-sprints:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwO_PCjvkDM&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwO_PCjvkDM&feature=related</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>The frames for this are already mass produced, although even this would be overkill: these are made for racing and can handle the torque from a racing tuned 1000 liter 4 cylinder engine. I am talking about 200cc twin cylinders motors, detuned for optimal fuel efficiency. Note that mini-sprints will go 100 mph if you have room to turn them loose. The mini-sprint frames will handle typical street roughness as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Honestly, we can do this now, we can run these rigs on our streets. All we really need is to find a way to run them safely, and I think we can figure out what is needed to do that. Our existing high-speed streets are already wide: we can divide off a narrow low speed lane and pave it glass smooth. Our suburbian surface streets are narrower, but they are already lower speed routes. I predict that such a system would carry 20% of the traffic within five years if we would just do it. So let’s just do it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div></div></body></html>