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'My Corduroyed Life' - Mark A's Journal
I promise not to make a habit of making this blog a crackpot conspiracy theory site, but if I suddenly disappear, you'll know why... ;)
My mind wandered as I took over a milk float on the way to work today. For those who don't know (as I suspect that milk floats are very much just a British phenomenon), a milk float is an electric powered vehicle that milkmen load up with milk and use to get around to deliver milk to people. Milkmen are people who deliver milk to people's houses on a daily basis, and leave it on their doorstep (once a week they collect all the money for it).
Of course, in this ridiculous OTT PC world, I've probably been predjudiced against women by calling them milkmen istead of milkstaff (but that's a blog for another time)...
Anyway, milk floats have been around ever since I can remember, trundling as they do at their top speed of around 15 mph. And that's the thing: for at least the last 20 years, their top speed has been 15 mph. Surely in 20 years, technology in electric cars would have advanced somewhat? A perfect example to look at is the mobile phone: in the early 80s they were breifcase sized, then they were housebrick sized, and then they became tiny little things that can be a phone, a pocket PC, a games console and goodness knows what else. So why hasn't electric float/ car technology gone in the same leaps and bounds?
I'm not technical/ electronic/ engineeringy minded, but my simplistic logic makes sense, right? Mobile phone batteries have got progressively smaller with prolongued life, so surely float technology could reflect?
Rob made a good point when I was talking to him in the car about it. He said, "Wouldn't the milk bottles fall off the back if it went faster?"
This is very true, but if float technology were put into cars, then they wouldn't have milk bottles on the back, and they would want a better top speed.
Electric cars make sense environmentally, so why hasn't float technology been worked on in 20 years?
I'm going to blame Americans and Saudis. If anyone has seen the awful Keanu Reeves film Conspiracy Theory, the Oil Companies stop his water fuel system by basically chasing him and threatening him and killing him. There's also the classic theory that Oil companies fund the environmentally friendly energy people and buy exclusive rights and then just shelve it to keep oil going. Sad thing is that the amount of money that is in oil means that this is not only a possibility, but a probability. Afterall, were an electric car that was as cheap and/ or reliable as (or cheaper than) a foul gas emitting petrol car, even the most bloody minded person would go for the environmentally friendly option. This would, in turn, destroy the oil industry. Perfect way to stop this would be to make sure the nice environmentally friendly option is never launched, so throw money at the people who made it until it goes away.
Amazing how a simple milk float and a moments mind wander can make you think such paranoid thoughts...
Have fun,
M x
Current mood:
contemplative.Current music: User Friendly by Marilyn Manson.