Walk Away from Traffic

The true causes Traffic jam?

Photo from geo.sunysb.edu

It isn’t the density of people, but the density of cars. As shown in the photo above, a bunch of people occupied the whole street when they rode with their personal cars. Head-striking traffic is eradicated when people use economical mediums such as a bus or environmental such as bicycle.

December of last year sold 1,145,079 vehicles in United States. With roughly a million cars sold each month, no wonder why our roads are intersected with traffic.

People blame different factors to traffic. Main in the list was the disturbances, like accident or construction constricting the road. And of course, rush hour, the most used excuse.

Japan Airlines CEO Haruka Nishimatsu rides the public bus to work; while every person is prided with his or her own vehicle in the United States.

If you’ll just go to the book store a block away, walking won’t be bad. Cycling is a nice time to think and feel the rush of air while all those time burning hundreds of calories. Technology can help us live better, but not to the point of laziness. There’s no technology for clearing away traffic magically nor technology to permanently keep an inactive body healthy.

If people use their feet to pace a proximity, or be smart to ride with other people than seclude themselves on their personal cars all the time, there will be less traffic.

So, can you walk?

Sources:
December Auto Sales Primed For Year’s High; Auto Observer
Japan Airlines’ CEO pays himself less than the pilots, takes the bus to work; boingboing

Made in China

Why is it we so distrust products made in China, or Japan?

Photo from Martin Abegglen’s flickr

For example cars. It isn’t cool to drive a Japanese car. Why? A Japanese car costs less, is more reliable, more innovative. Yet we don’t want those cars. A German car costs more, is less reliable, and looks like the German cars 20 years ago.

There are multiple explanations I can think of. A car is no more just a means of transportation; it is a symbol of status. The bigger your Mercedes, the richer you are. This is logical, we (yes, ‘we’, the cool guys from the western world) produce cars for the wealthy, they produce cars for transport. It is a different market, in which Japan conquers, who can afford a 50, 000 dollar Mercedes and who just needs a means of transport, a car that fits a parking spot.

The other explanation is that we are afraid for change. Which is logical too, we like the old-fashioned expensive cars. They worked 20 years ago, we can’t say that of a Japanese car. And a car produced in Germany or the US sounds safe. The world that we know. China is too far away.

But what if Mercedes suddenly lets its cars be produced in China, because of the low wages? It won’t keep us from buying them and this seems strange. As long as the brand is western, it doesn’t matter where it really comes from. An iPhone is made in China, yet we buy it. The Meizu, a mobile bigger, faster and better than an iPhone, doesn’t sell in the US. We like the Chinese wages, not the Chinese brand.

What is your honest opinion about products made in China?

Cars Turn Invisible

These cars won’t leave any footprint – in the environment!

Photo from inhabitat.com

The prior month, Mercedes announced their invisible car invention. Invisible automation is science’s breakthrough technology in the coming years, and it’s hard not to love the idea.

My concern with invisible car is safety. Numerous are accidents on pedestrians hit by cars. Imagine it increased because turn off the cars’ visibility – it’s risky and suspenseful to cross the road. It’s like they’ve blinded us and we only have our hearing senses to depend on.

It should not be taken literally though. Invisible car is only a marketing strategy of the ostentatious car brand. They are set to produce their F-cell vehicles in 2014, claiming it as “virtually invisible to the environment”.

The promise is vast – an electric car fueled by hydrogen and emits water vapor as a repercussion. It’s the best economical product I’ve known in years. It thrashed gasoline dependency of motor vehicles, a depleting resource, and used what is abundant to the environment – hydrogen (only the most abundant in the universe!)

It can travel up to 240 miles, the first of its kind, and it’s Mercedes made. I don’t think I’d want to see the pricetag.

But really, this is what invention is all about – making our lives better. And it’s time include mother nature in the equation of our decisions. Gasoline only pollutes our air and even spills in our oceans. Just let it be underground.

Would you drive an invisible car?

More Moments for you:
Technology of Invisibility
Demise of Computer Mouse
Weight-Loss And Science: What You Should Know That Helps

Source:
Mercedes’ Invisible Car; Discovery News