Coffee: It's All About the Brand

Would you pay seven dollars for a cup of coffee?  Even though it may seem insane to some, others are more than willing to pay that much for a specially brewed cup of coffee at Starbucks.  The drink, currently only available at select Starbucks stores, is from Costa Rica and is part of their “reserve line”.  A grande cup (16oz) of the drink costs a pricey seven dollars.  Making it the most expensive coffee at Starbucks.  With the introduction of this drink, a question came to mind: do people buy coffee and other drinks from places like Peet’s or Starbucks for the name, or the actual beverage?  I hosted a blind taste test with two cups of coffee, one from a gas station (cost: $1) and the other from Starbucks (cost: $2).  The drinks were put into the same cup and presented to ten people for tasting.  The results were surprising.  Seven people choose the gas station coffee as their favorite, while only three preferred the Starbucks coffee.  This seems to reinforce what many people (including me) have been arguing for years.  People will easily spend more money on coffee simply because it says Starbucks on the cup, even though it isn’t the best.    

Truth About Hybrids

     For years hybrid cars have been seen as a solution to the growing concern of greenhouse gases and the world's diminishing supply of fossil fuels.  We are made to believe that hybrids will help save the environment and help stop global warming.  And even some of the  cars, commonly the Toyota Prius, have become a sort of fashion and political statement.  Some of these drivers act , because they drive a hybrid, like they are somehow better than us driving our evil purely gas-powered cars.  But the simple fact is this: hybrids aren't saving, or even helping, the environment;  they’re really helping to ruin it.  
     
     In a study a few years ago, it was found that a Toyota Prius produces more emissions pollution in it’s lifetime  than a big SUV like a Land Rover Discovery or a Hummer.  According to the website Worldcarfans.com, Toyota itself showed that the Prius was below average compared to other cars regarding emissions.  It was also found that the Prius was also below average in manufacturing emissions when compared with other cars in it’s class.  This is the achilles heel of the Prius.  Although it may use very little gas and produce few emissions when being driven, the process of actually making it outweighs the good it does when it’s being driven.
    
      It is noble that people are willing to forgo speed, and in most cases good handling, to help preserve our earth, but most buyers of hybrids are in it for the wrong reason.  If you buy it to save gas, thats fine.  If you live in Santa Rosa and have to commute everyday to San Francisco, the money  saved from not having to use a lot of gas can be substantial.  But when people buy a hybrid as a statement of their commitment to save the earth, it’s just wrong.  
      
     The process of making a hybrid car is what causes it to pollute so much.  Most Hybrids use  nickel-metal hydride batteries.  Even though these batteries can in fact be recycled, actually mining and making these batteries pollutes.  Other materials that go into making a hybrid, are copper and other rare earth materials.  Lithium, used to make the magnets in the batteries, is also causing a fair amount of pollution.  China has a monopoly on lithium, and a reason for why they can export so much so fast is that the Chinese government simply ignores environmental safeguards.  You also need to take in account how the materials for these cars to be made actually get around (such as shipping the nickel from a mine in Canada to Europe to be refined)   Toyota itself, according to the New York Times,  acknowledges that hybrid car production is more carbon dioxide heavy than that of gas-engine cars. 
     
     What people need to learn is that there is no reason to ditch their cars in favor of these hybrids.  Keeping a car longer could actually be helpful for the environment.  If people don’t constantly buy a new car every few years, less energy will go into making them.  There are some very simple ways to improve the gas mileage of your current car and save money.  

1. Get rid of unnecessary weight- If a car  is jam packed with unnecessary things it will add weight to the car.  Weight ruins performance, gas mileage, acceleration, and handling.  When a car is weighed down too much the engine will have to work harder to move the bulk around and in turn use more gas.
2. Don’t drive aggressively- If you constantly slam on the brakes or accelerate hard your car is wasting gas.  If you drive at a steady pace, minimizing hard braking or acceleration, you’ll save gas.  Using cruise control is an easy way to improve your miles per gallon as well.
3. Windows up or down?- When driving around town having your windows down and air conditioning off will actually use less gas.  But once you get up to highway speeds having the air conditioning on and windows rolled up will use less gas.
4. Proper car maintenance- Simple car maintenance like keeping your tires properly inflated to manufactures specifications will help you improve your car’s M.P.G.  Also replacing dirty air filters, replenishing low fluids, and changing spark plugs can all help you save gas.

    Tips like these are simple and easy and can help cut down the money you spend on gas.  So why go out and buy a hybrid?  With your current car you can actually help to save the environment.  The process of building a hybrid makes them, besides saving gas, useless.

     
           

Driving

What teenager who get's their license actually abides to the restrictions and rules we have? 

Restrictions for the first year:
• Can't drive anyone under 25
• Can't drive between 5a.m. to 11p.m.

I personally broke the "can't drive anyone" rule the first day I got my license.  It's a pointless rule, what good does it serve?  When I have friends in the car I usually drive safer then when I'm by myself, the risk of endangering a friends life scare's me more than endangering my own.  I regularly drive my friends to lunch almost every day and get some gas money in the process.  As long as I'm not speeding or driving recklessly I shouldn't get a ticket or my license revoked just for driving a friend.  Like most law's imposed on teen's, it's fucking pointless.      

Reliance on Technoology

How disgusting is it that most of us can't imagine going a week without an internet connection or a cell phone?  We think, oh it won't be that bad, until we actually go a day without anything and realize we have nothing to fucking do with our time.  This happened to me today, when we were packing to go to a vacation house on the coast my mom told me that the house didn't have internet.  In response to that I did what every mature, grown-up, 16 year old would do: got pissed off and called the whole trip "bull shit", and start pouting like a 5 year old.  How did we get to this point?  Hopefully I'm not the only one.

Side note: I did end up getting internet by "stealing" a WiFi connection from our neighbors, all well that end's well I guess......... 

English class books

  What good will come of us analyzing books like Lord of the Flies and The Color of Water?  In ten years time we won't remember this shit.  I get we have to read books (and sometimes, if the teacher is good, the books are good) but can't, for once, the book be interesting?  It's like the English teachers have a meeting and decide, "That book is boring and completely uninteresting.  Let's make them read that."  And, this is directed towards my English teacher, why are you trying so hard to be like the teacher from Freedom Writers?  Stop trying to get the Hispanic and stoner kids to like you.  Nobody does, only the kiss ass teachers pets do.  She tries to act like a fucking scholar when in reality she's a sub-par English teacher in a sub-par school.  Only upside is she got knocked up and is leaving this month.  Thank.  Fucking.  God.