March 11, 2004

Robots-- Start your engines!

And they're off!

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) ponied up a cool mil for the first unmanned vehicle to navigate a 210 mile race from Barstow, California to Primm, Nevada... in under 10 hours. The actual path won't be announced until a few hours before the race.

CalTech, Carnegie Mellon University, and even a HIGH SCHOOL are in the running for the big bucks.

Posted by Lito at 09:30 PM

March 02, 2004

Uncle Sam wants you...

... to burn more oil!

I love my new car.

No, really. I love the way it drives. I love how quiet it is. I love how responsive it is. I love how much less gas it burns. I love that city, state and federal legislative bodies reward me for conserving energy--

Federal:
More Honda Vehicles Certified for Clean-Fuel Vehicle Deduction
Woo hoo! I get money back for buying a hybrid! "Under the law, the one-time deduction must be taken in the year the vehicle was originally used. The taxpayer must be the original owner." .... crap.... I bought it used. BUT! If I bought a new $85,000 Hummer for my business... then with enough creative accounting, I could write THE WHOLE THING OFF!

State:
Doesn't California knows better than to allow such a loophole in the State Tax Code? nah uh--
Bill to Close Luxury SUV Tax Loophole Fails on Assembly Floor

What about State tax incentives?
The Efficient Vehicle Incentive Program has no more funding available for hybrid vehicles.

But I can at least drive solo in the carpool lanes, right? .... nope....
Why can't the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight get a carpool lane sticker?

Local:
Any love from Los Angeles?
Alternative Fueled Vehicles Consumer Incentives
"Because the State does not issue DMV HOV lane access stickers to hybrid vehicles, they are not included in the City's Program allowing free parking at City Meters."

But if I lived in San Jose--
Clean-Fuel Vehicle Purchase Incentive Program

::sigh::

If you've considered purchasing an alternative fuels vehicle, don't let any of this discourage you. I'm still saving a bundle on gas and loving everything else about my car. Just because the much touted consumer incentives we hear about have absolutely no teeth, doesn't mean Hybrids aren't good investments to consider.

And did I mention I love my car?

- Lito

Posted by Lito at 10:13 PM

March 01, 2004

It's easy being Green

My conservative-liberal ways have gotten the best of me yesterday. I was able to support both the economy and the environment and my own pocket all at the same time! I bought a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid!

Gas prices out here are already hitting $2.50/GAL and projected to reach over $3 by the end of the year. Driving my 1991, straight-six, 4WD Jeep Cherokee in rush-hour traffic through the "worst freeway bottleneck in the nation" at 12 - 15 MPG costs me up to $200 a month in gas.

This Honda will cut that by up to 75%.

This Honda will cut that by up to 75%. That, PLUS the $1,500 tax deduction I'll receive next year, puts me in the green in more ways than one!

- Lito

Posted by Lito at 02:10 PM

If you build websites...

AND you use Mozilla or Firefox...

Get: http://webdeveloper.mozdev.org/

Oh, the things it does to make life easier.

Now-- If you use some wysiwyg, drag-n-drop site builder and the sight of HTML source code scares the crap outta you. Chances are, you've never heard of Mozilla, Linux, or O'Reilly.

That's ok. Just because my favorite site-building application is TextPad, doesn't mean you can't take avantage of Webdeveloper's tools, especially since the price is right-- $0.00, free, gratis, take it 'n use it! The only catch, it's a plugin for Mozilla or Firefox.

shameless open source plug, part 2
Mozilla is the open source response from Netscape to the anti-trust practices of Microsoft. A sweet, suite of promising products available to all.

Check it out.

- Lito

Posted by Lito at 12:20 PM