Fuel Economy: The MPG illusion. Quick, which of the following reduces gas consumption more? a) trading in a 33 mpg car for a fuel-sipping 50-mpg car b) trading in a 14 mpg SUV for a 16-mpg SUV hybrid. Answer: They are both roughly the same. This not surprising once you apply a little math. "Miles per gallon is a ratio. Gas consumed is an inverse of that ratio. A ratio and its inverse do not have a linear relationship. They have a curvilinear one."
posted by storybored on Dec 15, 2008 - 110 comments

You convert it.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Sep 19, 2007 - 25 comments

Say what you will. The new Land Rover Defender is rad.
posted by The Jesse Helms on Aug 23, 2006 - 66 comments

Panamacam! (warning: embedded mpg) Using available web-cam footage and a little DIY hackery, Stephan van der Palen created this nifty little time-lapse movie of shipping traffic in the Panama Canal zone (1 week=11 min.). Not to be outdone, the US Army Corps of Engineers has their own Lock-cams, and releases their own time-lapse movies of Soo Lock Traffic--from multiple cams--every day of the shipping season.
posted by Chrischris on Nov 18, 2005 - 17 comments

Biodiesel could be one way out of high fuel costs and foreign oil dependency. Fuel efficient vehicles are on my mind lately. Will we ever be driving vehicles like this DIY special? or even this one?
posted by pekar wood on Sep 11, 2005 - 50 comments

The bizarre instruments and superb sounds of Kitundu, Sound Artist.
posted by dobbs on Oct 23, 2004 - 5 comments

As the world meets in Bangkok to discuss responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic (wow, even Richard Gere thinks it's important!), these very effective public service ads (1, 2, 3 all .mpg files) from the Stephen Lewis Foundation bring the epidemic down (or up) to an emotional level.
posted by stonerose on Jul 14, 2004 - 2 comments

A tornado picks up a house while a storm chaser tapes it. Later, he finds himself getting a little too close for comfort. (27 meg download - some swearing) Fortunately, no one was in that house at the time.
posted by pyramid termite on May 16, 2004 - 37 comments

Shop At Home TV Network salesdroid hurts self. You take a guess at what it ensues.
posted by xmutex on Feb 6, 2004 - 41 comments

Sure, we all know the story about how Detroit developed, and then kept under wraps, a 100mpg carburetor is false. However, affordable 80mpg family sedans are real: behold the Supercar! They are the results of a nearly decade-long partnership between The Big Three and the Clinton administration. However the program was quietly shelved last June, the victim of the Bush administration, and corporate backpedaling. Read the whole sordid tale here. [use username/password for login] In the meantime, you'll have to settle for one of these.
posted by thewittyname on Dec 13, 2002 - 22 comments

Merry Xmas! MPG/Video w/sound. Safe for Work!
posted by Niahmas on Dec 14, 2001 - 3 comments