Help me name my 6000 mpg vehicle!

Let's not forget Bob. Very strangely, Richard was indeed my fathers uncle. One Bob was a bit of a failure.

"Very strangely, Richard was indeed my fathers uncle."

Strangely ain't the half of it, mate! King Richard was your father's uncle? Just how old ARE you, ennyways?!? That's the only 'Richard' mentioned in yer link, anyway...and I misdoubt you meant Mr. Penniman...

For some reason there's a lot of Bobs on TV. Spongebob Squarepants, Bob the builder, Fingerbob, even plain old Bob. OK so I meant Brother, but it might be equally true. Richard the third is another thing alltogether.

Squaresponge Pantsbob, resident of Bikini Bottom... Yet another cartoon ostensibly for the kiddies, but with a certain adult charm, don't you think?

That song is sooooo annoying ! Somebody must have been really whacked-out when they put him in a pineapple.

Pineapple? I thought it was a blue orange...

http://mqup.mcgill.ca/book.php?bookid=1822

You took the blue pill, didn't you. It was a suppository.

But as your signature line says, this too shall pass. I thought sure it was a...

From post #171:

"I have heard that names with a K in them are very memorable."

Thinkest thou there be veritas in this? Or was it thee he heard it from?

(Last Xmas I made a typo in my wish list letter - I asked Satan to bring me a blow-up Buffy doll...but it WORKED!)

That's a hard act to follow.

"That's a hard act to follow."

"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

And if it follows you back home, you can keep it if you promise to take care of it. Although what you'd feed a trail, I'm not clear on. Hikers, maybe?

"Although what you'd feed a trail, I'm not clear on. Hikers, maybe?"

Only their footprints.

I had to give you an off topic there EnviroMan, sorry, but Sponge Bob is absolutely appalling to my mind, what the kids & some adults!) see in that rubbish I cannot imagine.....

Both my kids of 22 and 25 hate "modern" cartoons, they show good taste to my mind....they are otherwise exceedingly modern in their outlook etc..

I gave you a point 'cos I agree ! Probably worse than rubbish cartoons, is programmes where the camera angle changes several times a second. No wonder kids are hyperactive and have no attention span.

Danke!

Right - what you seek is a steady camera angle. Check THIS one out...

http://www.mountwashington.org/weather/cam/presidentials/

That should lengthen your attention span!

That's good, but this may provide more action;

http://www.santorini.net/caldera.html

There are those who hope you are wrong about the action...

Hee hee. The Minoans disappeared pretty quick with Santorini. Mount St Helens was a pimple by comparison, and it's not that long since Krakatoa sent waves around the world. If Santorini blows, we ain't gonna need no shades. Even Jellystone might pop it's cork and ruin the weekend. It could give 'weekend' a whole new maning.

You wrote:-

It could give 'weekend' a whole new maning.

Did you want to write "meaning" or "moaning"?

Since We've moved on to volcanos, the whole discussion could devolve into a climate change argument.

Most threads seem to...

Quite likely either would apply...

I'm feeling a little horse.

That would explain the meaning even better!!

"I'm feeling a little horse."

Like this?

Curiosity got the better of me.....meet Thumberlina ;

I think the horse in the background is smaller.

Looks to me like the horse on the left has amorous intentions for Thumbelina. See that gleam in his eye. Wait, maybe from your perspective in UK you can't see his eye like I can here? Definitely love!

Erratum to #230:

"Looks to me like the horse on the left..."

Should read "Looks to me like the horse on the right..."

I think I was viewing it through my magic mirror.

No, in the UK they drive on the other side of the road, so I think you were right to begin with... Over there, left is right and right is wrong. Over here, two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.

Near as I can tell, the horse (?) in the background is half the size of the rat terrier in the foreground, and WAY smaller than the horse...

I'm feeling a little horse.

Is the horse enjoying it?

ROFLMSAO!!! Let's hope so!

OK, I'm busted ! Now I shall smack the pony.

Had me worried up until I clicked the link (fool that I am, I do that). Here I was thinking "is this another way of saying 'spank the monkey' or 'choke the chicken'?". But no, apparently it's the Brit version of the US Saturday Night Live or Canadian Second City. WHEW! Once again, tragedy was narrowly averted...

Silly Boy!!!

I hope you guys watched that clip to the end - my head nearly fell off laughing, especially when I heard the name. There's no similarity to me btw, it would be hard to type with a frying-pan jammed in my head !

ps - I don't want to hijack Ken's thread, but whadya think of my latest creation ? ;

It uses no energy, save the occasion Pizza + beer, and as yet lacks a name. I may have tempted others to compete for a distance test on the 'Dragster' thread.

Don't tell me, let me guess - it's two thread spools, a crochet hook, a couple of matchsticks, and an elastic band...used to make 'em when I was 5 or 6... Let's give it a name - I suggest "Squirrel Chaser"! And now, I'm off to the local for a:

Do I detect a slightly dismissive tone ? You'll be sorry when you stagger home with a skin-full and one of these leaves dust in yer face ! Nobody will believe you the next day - I know this from bitter experience ( 'ale' would be closer, but ya know what I mean ). Have a good 'un, and don't eat too many pickled onions/eggs.

So long as there's a single blade of grass I can grasp to keep meself from fallin' off the world, I'll get home just fine. And no, not dismissive, just perhaps a bit jaded - one of our NZ/OZ colleagues posted something about those in another thread (so to speak) earlier this week, so when you showed up with one, it struck me as inducive to ennui. Beer does not do that. Therefore, it's off to the pub wi' me now! Happy Easter and all that, it comes on a Sunday this year y'know!

You mean I was beaten to it ? I'm going to sulk now. There's so much confusion about 'Holy Week' vs 'Easter Week', and all it's knock on effect on St Patricks Day are just horendous. I don't know how bad it is in the states, but in the UK, this month goes nuts. School holidays don't coincide across various parts of the country (they be trying to harmonize a change from 3-term university style years to 4-term, Each education authority are also has it's own district), and mothers day was recent. It's a mad month here ( perfect opportunity for you to find a Mad March Hair' . Try Don King), and to cap it all I have several family members with birthdays. I'm going to hang fire till Sunday, do my obligations at a usual Easter Sunday lunch, then recover on Monday and commence some traditional 'Spring-cleaning'. Not just cleaning the house, but consigning a years worth of paper-work to the shreader. Man, it's going to earn it's pay. Thermite would possibly be cheaper and quicker.

It goes nutsy here too. We have 'spring break' from the schools (which I am thankfully out of the mainstream on, so little personal effect) that varies from district to district too. Usually it coincides with Easter, but for some it's already happened, for some it was last week, and for some it doesn't go down until next month. The church holidays are as bad here as there, we have all of the denominations you have, plus maybe a few home-grown ones you haven't. Did the Ether Bunny visit Etherville? Here, we have some churches that actually boycott bunnyism, they say it's Paganism. But others have 20,000-egg Easter egg hunts so the young'uns will have something to occupy them. There's just NO accounting for folks...

Flipping Churches, they always get in the way of Easter. We usually get lots of Biblical films on TV at Easter, but we didn't have many this year. Instead we had some really good documentaries on biblical archaeology. I have no idea how I got here from naming Kens vehicle !!

Obviously via a long and winding road, which is what Ken's vehicle is designed for. See, you've been on-topic all along, and had no idea. Surprise!!!

On....I'm ill....that's made me think 'The Beatles'...then VW cars....arghhhhhh !

Custard doesn't go very well with Kippers. Ahh.... that's better. Oh no, kippers might have a hydrodynamic shape....it could lead to new naming possibilities.....NURSE !!!!!

Now, now - calm down - take this...

...and have a nice nap, why don't you? It's all good, even with kippers and custard.

If you look long enough, it looks like a panda..crawling up...... from behing the TV.......with a squidgy red nose......blue dungaree's ....and...........

See? Calmed us right down, didn't it? And no high colonic with seltzer water required... (Damnit!)

And I thought Gomez got carreid away when he kissed Morticia's arm on The Addam's Family back in the 1960's. At least you didn't jump the shark.

Tee-hee. It could almost be a personality test - Addam's Family or Munsters ? I go with the latter for it's blatant madness (not that the former lacks it). Oddly, I've even had to explain 'jumped it's shark' to Americans on occasion. Clearly they never watched enough TV. The thing that amazes me is how Ron Howard survived it all and went on to make some really good films. Another good 'tester' would be Little House on the Prairie vs Walton's. No contest, at least in the early 'shoe-less' days. It may have been sugar-coated, but who could fail to like the closing 'Goodnight everybody' bit. For an explanation of Brits, go no further than 'Corrie'. Jack Duckworth's glasses, ad Hilda's last view of Stans is all I can bring myself to say. Nearly as sad as the final view of Grandad (Only Fools...)/Victor Meldrew's (One Foot...) cloth cap.

I preferred the Addams myself. The characters were more original, while the Munsters were knock-offs of movie creatures. The Munsters did have a cooler car, though.

If you like the Munsters, you might also be interested in Car 54 Where Are You? Fred Gwynne (Herman Munster) was the co-star of that series, and Al Lewis (Grandpa) was a regular supporting character.

LOL. They don't make 'em like that anymore.

"...an explanation of Brits..."

Such a thing exists?!? I thought that was kinda like 'Nessie'...

'Brit' is a kinda flexible word, though 'American' is probably even more so. Is it true that being born on an overseas Naval base is a slight problem in running for president ? I read a report of that once, then the story fizzled out.

Not that I'm aware of, although I don't think it's ever seriously come up. With American parents, it shouldn't be an issue, because the child would have the same citizenship as the parents unless s/he decided to claim citizenship of the country of birth (which I presume is possible). Heck, our present Governor of the great state of California was born in Austria, of Austrian parentage, and even he could run for Vice-President. Just he'd be out of the running for succession if the President cashed in during the elected term. Then it would go to the Speaker of the House, or the Secretary of State, or whomever is normally in the third spot. "American" is a pretty flexible term all right - we come from pretty much every country there is or has been in the last 250 years, some of which no longer exist. And including the Native American population, that's even true of this one...

I couldn't find the original source, but this one is along the same lines;

http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd342.htm

It seems a bit late in the day to question eligibility ! It's pretty cool to have a heritage that derives from all sorts of cultures.

I thought we had this discussion once - you've Picts, Celts, Gauls, Romans, Angles, Saxons, Danes, Vikings, Teutons, Spaniards, whoever the prehistoric people there first, who go nameless for lacking writing were, a veritable slumgullion yourselves! Pretty good for a tiny little island archipelago...

I'm sure you missed a few, except the Spaniards is news to me ! Kens vehicle sort of resembles the ridge on an old Spanish helmet......'Conquistador' is a bit long for a car name. I'm not sure if the term 'car' is OK with Ken (?). It affects how the thing is marketed/perceived, just as much as a specific name. Without firmly promoting some 'type' the media might pigeon-hole it pre-emptively.

When the Channel storms threw a spanner in the works for the Spanish Armada, the survivors washed ashore. Most of 'em made landfall in southern Ireland (hence, I'm told, the origin of the term "Black Irish"). I'm fairly certain some of 'em made it to Merry Olde England, though, and even if they did not, surely some of Catherine of Aragon's countrymen sallied forth...how else to explain Procol Harum? The last verse is rather obviously my own...

Conquistador, your stallion stands in need of company
And like some angel's haloed brow you reek of purity
I see your armor-plated breast
Has long since lost its sheen
And in your death mask face
There are no signs which can be seen

Though I hoped for something to find
I could see no maze to unwind

Conquistador, a vulture sits upon your silver sheath
And in your rusty scabbard now the sand has taken seed
And though your jewel-encrusted blade
Has not been plundered still
The sea has washed across your face
And taken of its fill

{Refrain twice}

Conquistador, there is no time, I must pay my respects
And though I came to jeer at you, I leave now with regrets
And as the gloom begins to fall
I see there is no, only all
And though you came with sword held high
You did not conquer, only die

{Refrain}

Conquistador, you're Blinks car, built by his company

And like some green machine, you reek of purity

I see your three wheeled stance

Your body, razor keen

And in your windsheld glance

There are no flaws which can be seen

And though I hoped for something to wind,

I could see no elastic bands I could find

Your still on them funny molecules, aren't you !

I shall go re-study the Armada.............

Car?

Yeah, I think so. It will be registered as a motorcycle in the US, but understood as a car. Perhaps if zillions sell, then people will start to think that three-wheeled vehicles should be considered cars, and subject to all the same standards... but if zillions sell, then making the required changes would not be problematic financially. If not many sell, then there is unlikely to be a push to register them as cars, I think.

What, may I enquire, is your estimated Manufacturer's Suggested Retail price?

$13,995: Half the price of an Aptera, itself a pretty good vehicle about which I am loathe to say anything derogatory.*

Even with it's limitations, some people will pay as much for an Aptera as a small Mercedes, for the cachet, and for the fuel efficiency. I'm not going to rely so heavily on cachet, but look for a larger market by focusing on real value: mc² is cheaper to operate than any other car.

If you run the numbers, it costs less, overall, to operate a new Chevy Aveo (or zillions of used cars) than an Aptera, unless you expect to wrack up a lot of miles. There is no question that both the Aptera and mc² are better for the environment than other cars, but we'd rather not force people to make a choice to do what's better for the pocketbook vs what's better for the environment. For those who are really committed to doing the right thing, then buy the mc² and give the other $15,000 to the cause of your choice.

* Although I might mention that it appears to have inadequate side impact protection, given its low weight. Side impact crush distance is near 0 on most cars: the door beam is just under the outer door skin. In light cars, there is a need for substantial crush space before the (almost certainly much) larger vehicle hits the safety cage, which is intended to be near impenetrable, rather than absorptive (meaning that the accelerations are extremely high -- too often lethally high. Without a lot of crush space, the small vehicle is at too large a disadvantage in mass.

I will refrain from mentioning that a single rear drive wheel is unsafe under many conditions, because my website already says that. Also, it can be argued that a single rear drive wheel can add a jaunty unpredictability to driving that is lacking in front wheel drive vehicles: my brother used to say, "Heck, anyone can quit smoking. It takes a real man to face cancer."

I will definitely not mention that the original 330 mpg fuel efficiency claim (as a normal single-source hybrid) dropped to 230 mpg in the first prototype, and has now dropped again to 130, (which you can find only if you dig far enough in their website).

I certainly won't mention that their originally projected weight has almost doubled, because that might suggest, to some, that they don't really have a handle on engineering.

OK, OK, OK enough poking fun at Aptera. The Aptera is certainly safer than a motorcycle by a factor of at least 10 (and probably by a factor of 38 -- which is the ratio between death rates motorcycle vs car). And it certainly has very high fuel efficiency. Nevertheless, it is fun to make fun of their over-hype promotion style. At least they are not so far out there as Jim Woolsey -- as I say in the original post, my perfectly stock Honda Accord gets 300 mpg of ethanol by exactly the same logic Jim uses to say that his dream car gets 500 mpg of gasoline.

The magic of math.

Fourteen large, eh? I could swing that! When will serial #00001 be ready for pickup? Presuming FOB Hotlanta...

"...give the other $15,000 to the cause of your choice..."

I could swing THAT, too, but it's an awful lot of...

Don't be lured By Enviroman at #180, he's clearly angling for a discount because of his input here.

mc² is fine, but how about mc³ ? It suggests more power, and also alludes to it's 3 wheels. It also avoids being seen as 'square'. I don't want a discount, I want a free one !

Ken would have to re-tool to make a right-hand-drive model, so "FREE" might be a bit of a reach...whereas I do not require anything exotic. Well, apart from the nickel vs chrome plating, burl maple panel insets, and alpaca upholstery that is.

I thought it was already right-hand drive !

Your OTHER right...

Just he'd be out of the running for succession if the President cashed in during the elected term.

My only comment here is this essential one: Given that this is an international forum, we must be ever mindful that American is a second language for many participants. Thus when speaking to a foreigner, such as Kris, it is important to write slowly and loudly, and to avoid the use of too many idioms. I note that you used the term "cashed in." I'm sure what you intended to say was "bought the farm." Another possible alternative, might be to say "... it the President pushes up daisies during the elected term". "Punches his ticket" is, of course perfectly literal and universally understood. One of my favorites is as follows - one that has a respectful, calm feel to it, and is therefore appropriate for describing a somewhat solemn event. It is used most often in rather formal statements, where, for example, the regularly scheduled program is interrupted to bring you an important announcement from the White House: "We regret to inform you that the President was found at room temperature today." It is also especially appropriate in an engineering forum, where the change is energy level suggested by a change in temperature can be appreciated.

Also, while I hate to feel as if I am being the "thought police", I am nevertheless compelled to at least mention that flat lining can be a difficult experience for those left behind, and that it behooves us all to be gentle in our language around such an event. Our British friends are well known for their tact at such times. So my suggestion, respectfully submitted, is that we employ the utmost delicacy in communication when humans display the blue screen.

"...American is a second language for many participants..."

Indeed; even some with addresses in the U.S. seem readily challenged. I concur that it would be highly appropriate to use engineering, or at least scientific terminology. Therefore, it is with great anticipation that I await our current top elected officials earliest opportunity for their ΔT to approach ambient, whether in traditional American °F, or the more European °C. I shall endeavor to tactfully maintain an appropriately solemn demeanor upon receipt of this news, as evidenced below...

p.s. - did you see the proffered name of 'Conquistador' for your vehicle? Perhaps longer than the wheelbase, but still...

"We regret to inform you that the President was found at room temperature today."

ROFLMAO !

Nope - and we ain't no rainbow over Texas, either...

As my Granddad used to say; 'if you really can do it, it ain't braggin', it's just describin'.

Indeed - 'weekend' would never mean quite the same thing to most all of us...

From what I understand, St. Helens was possibly an exhaust valve for the Yellowstone caldera. If 'Old Yeller' ever decides to howl, it'll be the biggest jolt since the Rocky Mountain orogeny finished rockin' and rollin' over here. Everything from Minneapolis to Seattle, and Calgary to Texas would be immediately and directly affected, according to the experts. Wotta ride!

Oh, I agree that on a kid level modern cartoons are definitely apalling. But the Sponge lives in Bikini Bottom...what makes you think I could resist humor like that?!?

Maybe if it had 8 wheels we could call it "Octopussy". Hey, maybe the pod could be adapted as company for "Spirit" and "Oportunity".

Think about it, what a collaboration: Spirit, oportunity and octoPUSSY!

Del, I think we're on to something here. Well, whatda' think? Maybe we should keep this one secret from Ken. Shhhhh, he may have the room bugged. Just write down your answer, and I'll watch for it. Keep quiet.

Shhhhhhhhhh....

Octopus? Sounds fishy to me. And Octopussy just makes it some kind of aquatic relative of Del's...

Older Brits would want some substitutuion with the word 'bottom', or at least 'but-tocks'. Kens vehicle does have a cleft-like profile, but the marketing department might struggle with 'Bildazarss'.

I did miss that. I have decided to change the name to the entire text of your post, and will embed chips in the paint that play Procol Harem tunes.

OK, but I'm thinking the entire paint job will consist of the name, if it is to be the entire text in a large enough font to remain legible. Make sure you set the deal up with Procol Harum for royalties ahead of time, woudn't want to see you run afoul of ASCAP/BMI!