Portrait Of The Artist As Commuter

http://www.creativecreativity.com/2008/07/making-your-com.html

I quite liked this simple blog post about a man who decided one day to walk his commute - all 16 miles of it - and record the experience in photos and words.

New York Subway Romance Hits End Of The Line

Remember this guy? Saw a girl on the subway, drew a picture of her and posted it on the web. Took less than 48 hours for his technique to work, and apparently they dated for awhile. But alas, it was not meant to be...

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Do You Use Premium Gas?

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/the-price-of-premium-gas/

The Freakonomics guy notices that as gas prices go up, the differential between the prices for normal and premium grows as well.  He speculates that as the price increases, more people switch back to regular gas, thus leaving those that still use premium "less sensitive" to the price.

The only good thing from soaring oil prices

The only good thing from soaring oil prices is the start of an energy revolution. From Texas to Tel Aviv inventors and investors are putting their mind and money into clean energy solutions.

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10 Most and Least Expensive Cars to Insure

Chances are it's the price of gas, not auto insurance, that's driving you to the poor house. But if you want to cut your auto insurance premiums to the bone, stay away from small, fast cars. Contrary to the idea that smaller cars can help you avoid crashes, the data shows that small cars get into more accidents...

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The 10 Weirdest Cars of All Time

These are some of the most innovative and unique cars ever exposed to the public. Some are viable- most will never make it to market. Either way, these cars are some of the most unusual vehicles you will ever see. Which would you drive?

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Why is it So Hard to Wake Up in the Morning?

It’s not necessarily laziness that makes people hit the “snooze” button in the morning. Most likely, your body clock is mismatched with the demands of your life. Your clock is controlled by the suprachiasmatic nucleus, a part of the brain that controls the body’s biological rhythms.

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Electric cars look appealing, but where will you plug it in?

The Chevy Volt is due out in 2010. Others are working on plug-in hybrids as well. What happens to the power grid if too many drivers plug in their cars during the day, and how will apartment or condo dwellers juice up if they don't have access to a garage with an outlet?

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Cheaper Gas for Cash? OK!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/07/22/cash.vs.credit/index.html

If a station near me said that gas would be cheaper if I paid cash (rather than credit), I'd do it in a heart beat.  Why not?  Maybe not every time, like for instance if I didn't conveniently have the cash on me.  But as my schedule goes I tend to have to make a dedicated trip to the gas station anyway, it's not something I just "swing by", so I could just as easily swing by an ATM on the way I suppose.

The big question is whether that's a true discount for cash, or whether it's a surcharge for credit.  That's not the same thing.  I don't want to suddenly roll up to my regular station and have them tell me its 10 cents more a gallon today than it was last week, although I'd be happy if they tell me it's 10 cents less.

GM Bailout, Part II

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/18/if-gms-situation-worsens-mccain-open-to-every-option/

Hot on the heels of Bush's firm "NO" on the subject of bailouts for auto companies, Obama and McCain look like they're a bit more open to the idea.  While neither suggests a bailout, Obama wants to be supportive of new fuel technologies while McCain says that everyone should be "open to every option."

10 things I've overheard about my Linux laptop while on publ

Personally I've never heard anybody comment on my laptop on the train. Once when I commented on somebody else's he looked no end of annoyed at me for interrupting him. This guy, on the other hand, appears to get it all the time and is collecting the best comments.

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Americas 10 Most Walkable Cities

Boston comes in at #3. I walk Boston every day. It's far more walkable than it is drivable (driveable?) I hate it when cars stop to ask me directions because I never bother with things like the name of roads, or whether something is one way. I don't need to. :)

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An Air Car You Could See in 2009: ZPM’s 106 MPG Hybrid

Car-tech aficionados may be familiar with Zero Pollution Motor’s compressed-air powered car. For those that haven’t heard of it yet: air cars could soon take you over 800 miles on a single fill-up, at speeds of up to 96 mph. They'll refuel in less than 3 minutes for around $2, and at speeds over 35 mph emit about half the CO2 of a Toyota Prius.

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Is reading in a moving car bad for your health?

Don't do it while driving! I've often tried, such as by setting my laptop up on the passenger seat and glancing down at documents or headlines whenever I can spare a glance. But not only is it nauseating, you don't really process any information that way.

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Bailouts for Auto Makers? Nope...

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/16/bush-says-no-bailouts-for-automakers/

Any chance of the government helping out the big auto makers like GM as they hit hard times?  No way, says Bush.  The government shouldn't be bailing out companies, apparently.

I'm not really up on the issue enough to fully understand, but what exactly is it that they're doing for the mortgage companies?

17 Electric Cars You Should Know About from 2005 to 2008

Electric Cars: You Want 'Em? We've Got 'Em!Over the past 3 years, we've written about many electric cars here onTreeHugger. We think it's time to look in the rearview mirror, so here's an overview.

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Tesla Roadsters now rolling off production line

The wait for the much-anticipated all-electric sports car is almost over, as manufacturing begins this summer with anticipated ramping up later this year.

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Cars that drive themselves aren’t that far off

I love the idea, although as a technology guy I think the idea is still about as far off as flying cars.

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Study: As gas prices go up, auto deaths drop

Well...ummm....I guess. Higher expense = less driving = less accidents = less death.

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6 Retarded Gas Schemes People Are Actually Trying

http://www.cracked.com/article_16484_6-retarded-gas-saving-schemes-people-are-actually-trying.html

Cracked.com (blame them for the title) skewers the latest in gas-saving "free lunches", including that Vortex thing we linked earlier.

Bush To Lift Oil Ban? Don't Get Too Excited

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/14/bush.offshore/index.html

Bush lifts oil ban, therefore gas prices go down, right?

Well, no.  First, there's also a federal ban on offshore oil drilling - all Bush is going to do is lift the symbolic executive order. 

Second, it's not like we know where the oil is out there and we just have to go get it.  First we have to *find* it, and experts say that'll take 3-5 years. 

How about we figure out a way to make mileage better with what we've got, or figure out how to make hybrids cheaper?  I'd rather not pay these prices for another 5 years and have Bush go into history saying "Hey man, I'm the president that did what I could, it's not my fault prices kept going up."

The Laptop Drive of Shame

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/29791

Not really as funny as it could have been, but gets a link anyway for being a real commuter issue.  This is when you get to work (or you're half way to work) and you realize you've forgotten something vital to your job, like say your laptop.  In all the time I've been commuting to work with a laptop (which is pretty much my entire career), I forgot my laptop once.  My wife brought it for me and we met in the middle at a coffee place.

Police Halt Mooning Of Trains After A Crowd Of 8,000 Gathers

If you've got nothing better to do on the train ride to and from work, keep your eyes on the scenery. You never know when a few thousand people might have gotten naked for you!

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10 Hidden Casualties Of $4 Gas

Truckers, taxi drivers and charities are just some of the groups being hit hard by high gas prices. Here are several more, all reeling from the sharp rise in fuel costs.

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100 Best Places to Live from Money Magazine

I always like lists like this, since inevitably the quality and length of your commute has to factor in to your overall quality of life.

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Does Your Subway Come With Strippers?

Ok, this is not really family friendly but it's certainly about the commute. Video of a woman down in Chile doing a pole dance on the subway.

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Escape! 5 Steps to Getting Your Boss to Let You Telecommute

Follow these five steps to freedom from the cubicle!

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Designers Present Bold Visions of Future Cars

The internal combustion engine will soon belong to the past -- at least that's what the designers of the future seem to think. Students at Pforzheim University have come up with radical new designs for cars that will run on batteries, photovoltaic and fuel cells...

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Toyota to Make Hybrid Prius in the U.S.

Toyota Motor of Japan said Thursday that it would build its popular gas-electric hybrid sedan, the Prius, in the United States for the first time as it tries to meet surging demand and struggles with falling sales of big trucks.

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How To Pay Less Than $1 For Gas

http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/save-money-gas-47050902

The Daily Green's got the usual array of tips up for saving commute money, including public transit, car pooling, biking and others.  Save money and help the environment!

Why Google's 'Lively' is great for telecommuters

Remember the date: July 8, 2008. Today is the day virtual worlds go mainstream. The reason is that Google has launched its own virtual world called Lively. It's free. And it changes everything. Especially for telecommuters, because it can serve as a replacement for real-world interaction.

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Gas Saving Gadgets

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/biztech/07/09/mileage.products.ap/index.html

This only makes sense - price of gas goes up, people start buying magical gadgets "guaranteed" to save gas.

Everybody -- Mythbusters did a whole episode on these things.  They're all busted.  Don't waste your money.  Drive less, drive smarter, or save up and buy a car with better mileage.  But as the old saying goes, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch!

Toyota Prius to Get Solar Power

The Toyota Prius is getting a solar boost in the next generation? Outstanding idea. Not quite sure what it'll do for us during our New England winters, but there's still plenty of sun even on the coldest days. I never quite understood "sunny but cold" until I spent a few winters in New England.

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Would A National Speed Limit Save Gas?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/03/warner.speed.limit.ap/index.html

So now the talk has come around again about decreasing the speed limit back to 55, where it used to be back before 1995.  Supposedly it'll save gas. Though I'm not quite sure how accurate that is, since the limit is 65 now, right?  Who drives that?  I figure my average commute speed is more like 75 or higher.  So if the limit is actually 55 again is the theory that everybody will drive 10mph slower?

No Sweat!

Here's a question for the walkers in the audience . On any meaningfully hot day, if you're walking any great distance, chances are you're going to work up a sweat.  It's a work day, you're in your work clothes (or are you?) and you're about to sit in your office for the next 8 hours.  How do you handle it?

Do you even bother to walk once it gets hot out? How hot does it have to get?  Personally I'm not a big fan of the alternate, which is jamming onto a hot and smelly train with a few hundred other hot and smelly people, so it has to be pretty darned hot for me to take that option.

Maybe you wear different clothes for the walk?  One of my coworkers changes into shorts for the walk back and forth, and brings regular work pants in his bag.  We actually just got a stern talking to from the company president recently when people had gotten into the habit of just wearing their shorts all day.  Can't be doing that!

Lately as I arrive at work, the first thing I do is take a swing by the men's room, wet a few paper towels and clean up a bit.  Beats the heck out of sitting in your cube dripping sweat (I know, ewww.)  I keep telling myself to bring a handkerchief with me on the walk, but I keep forgetting.  At least the paper towels you can just throw away. 

It's never a bad idea to keep an extra supply of deodorant in your desk drawer, too.  You know, just in case.

10 Things You Can Like About $4 Gas

Sure, in theory the "4 day workweek" is a good thing, but tell my boss that. And I certainly haven't seen a decrease in traffic yet. But in theory, the points are good ones.

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How Are Your Shoes?

If you're like me and you enjoy a nice walk to work, make sure to keep your shoes in good shape.  I found recently that I'd walked one pair down so far that the heel was basically gone.  Do you have any idea how bad that is for your back? 

If you're so inclined, wear the appropriate sneaker-like footwear on your walk across town, and then change at the office.  Personally that's too much trouble for me.  I don't have to wear fancy dress shoes at the office, but I can't get away with sneakers either, so I tend to find any nice comfortable shoe with good support that's comfortable to walk long distances in. You never really know until you take them for a good long hike, though.  I've had pairs that I thought would be great in the shop, only to actually take them for the 25 minute walk and find my feet are killing me.  But after you've done that it's pretty hard to bring them back, so choose as carefully as you can.

Mind Your Muni Manners

http://www.munimanners.com/

As a lifelong East Coast native, it took me a second to figure out what a "muni" is.  I'm assuming some form of public transportation.

As a lifelong Boston native, it took me a second to figure out what "manners" means....

Nah, just kidding.  Manners in Boston basically means not screaming F You! when somebody flips you off at the intersection.

Muni Manners is having none of that, and would like to remind people that there's still room for good old fashioned etiquette in the world, even on public transit.

A Train That Never Stops

http://www.carectomy.com/index.php/Train/All-Aboard-the-Train-that-Never-Stops

Maybe something you'd see in a sci-fi movie, but certainly not something I'd want to ride.  The general idea is that to get on you board a single car that then gets up to speed and attaches to the oncoming train.  To get off, you'd board the "getting off car" which would detach itself from the train and then slow to a stop at the station.

The most glaring problem would seem to be "What happens when all the people are not on/off the appropriate car when the speeding train comes through?"  When a traditional train stops, the conductors at least attempt to do a sweep of the doors to make sure that everybody is clear.