The chocolate isn't bad! Haven't tried the green bottle yet. Didn't have my reading glasses, so I'm not sure if It's mint, or mold.
Because I'm pretending to diet, I've been trying a variety of Fake Shakes. Something low sugar that will be a reasonably healthy desert treat.
The fad diet thing can be funny. Brand A boasts it's gluten free, No Dairy, and Plant Based. ( so is steak ) Right next to it is the All Dairy products including nacho chips and power bars. No gluten, of course.
Anyhoo...
The fake shake taste testing so far is widely variable. There's some Store brands that I have not tried since I've only seen them in bulk. I'm not buying 18 bottles of semi organic liquid just to try them.
And I'm in the early days, so my opinion will change based on tasting. So far just chocolate tested.
Winners?
So far, #2 is Fairlife Farms Core Power. They also have uber-filtered milk products with no ( something you're supposed to fear ) that taste like milk! Not surprising, it's milk.
#1 is Muscle Milk. I don't know how you milk muscles, so I assume it's a brag & not an ingredient. No sugar and a long ingredients list, Sucralose sweetner.
Which artificial sweeteners you hate or tolerate is personal choice.
My go to sports drinks, aka sweet salt water, use sucralose. Gatorade and Powerade no sugar. The fact that they taste mediocre with sugar may explain why the sugar free version is palatable, it's not Good, it's just no worse than the regular.
Btw, if you want to hydrate and want some flavor and electrolyte, I recommend cutting Gatorade 50/50 with water, or mixing the powder half strength. Full strength, in case of dehydration/heat problems, can cause vomiting and further worsen the situation. Literally decades of treating overheated amateur martial artists in heavy protective gear in summer heat gives me real world experience in first aid for heat.
We even have a saying... "if half strength Gatorade tastes good, you Need hydration!"
I like orange Gatorade. With all the sugar and undiluted. I like some of the other flavors, as well, but orange is my favorite. I don't do fake sugars. They're against my religion.
I admit I'm inspired by the nice folk at Volkswagen. They support peaceful protest, as do I.
But nothing requires anyone to literally cater to them.
If some useful idiots glue themselves to the street, it is a criminal act to assault them, for example, to run them over as they block the street. That's attempted murder! Or could be. That Would Be Wrong.
Otoh, they just rendered themselves helpless. That's why they have assistant thugs to bodyguard them. ( which you don't see on tv, but some viral videos show what happens when they don't, some old man drags them out of the way )
Dehydration is a serious health risk!
So, offering them water is an act of kindness. Soak them down with squirt guns/spray bottle. It's October.
Oh, and whatever you do, don't put methylene blue in the water. It stains everything and is very hard to clean off.
No, seriously, don't. It's easy evidence against you.
There's some great products at the better sporting goods stores you might want to avoid, they'll be in the section near the deer feeders iirc. Essence of lion urine, coyote stink, stuff like that I certainly don't recommend you buy, except to spray on flowers you don't want deer to eat.
I've got outside plugs, and my own driveway. ( owned by bank and State, but I call it mine ) So, I could recharge an Electric car or motorcycle or hovercraft and only worry about wildlife chewing wires. ( or the charging cable stolen, it's not crime free. But it's not bad. )
Apartment living? In New York, you're out of luck. In North Dakota, there may indeed be electric outlets in apartment and motel parking lots. When -20 is a common weather forecast, support systems evolved over time.
In time, there will be plenty of charging stations in the highway system. Might not be working, as energy policy is certainly not enlarging production to compensate, but if it's sunny, the winds are blowing moderately, and the government is a threat to "our democracy" ( reg trade mark ) then you can get some spare electrons.
At least one local diner chain has chargers to attract customers. I'm pretty sure they took advantage of a tax credit, but that's just playing the game smart. And their food is pretty good. ( Peppermints )
I think handicapped and charging parking will surround many restaurants in the near future. It's smart business.
But if you are a city dweller? Or suburban apartment complex living? Access to power your electric vehicles is far more difficult.
Insert rant here on class & economic distinction. Use many buzzwords.
Seriously, in many places you will have entrepreneurs pushing shopping carts down streets and parking lots, grabbing charging cables to sell for scrap and soon, on street corners.
I don't have a solution for that in the short term.
Oh, and if you have influence at Tesla or Ford or Stellantis, please tell them I will pay for a van version! Just one, not the entire development budget!
An electric Ford Transit version exists. Range is a bit low @ 126 miles.
I'd prefer something in between a Grand Caravan and Astro in size. And Fracking Knobs for the heater! ( I'm a touch screen Luddite!)
I'll stick with ICE-powered vehicles - EV tech is still only half-baked as far as I'm concerned. The electric F150 had what...a FIFTY mile range when towing?
It would be one thing if you could top off the batteries in 90 seconds like you do a fuel tank...but when you're talking HOURS to charge up?
Nah.
Get it figured out, and it may be a blip on my radar. For now, I'll stick with my ICE bikes and my diesel Jeep and my diesel Ram. Which is where electricity comes from anyway - burning fuel of some sort, somewhere. The only difference for the virtue-signaling EV driver? THEY aren't the ones actively burning fuel.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Because electricity is made of unicorn farts, and it "just comes out of that hole in the wall"....right?
And that's not even getting into the toxic materials (mostly from China) that are strip-mined (THAT's "eco friendly!) to make the batteries.
Batteries that like to explode after they're immersed in salt water (see: Hurricane Ian aftermath), and burn peoples homes to the ground, and take 30x as much water to extinguish as your "normal" car-b-que would take...
3.8 trillion dollars means loaning your multi-thousand dollar a day yacht to a teen is a good Investment.
Bottom line is the leaders making money know they make it based on lies. That's why questioning the cult is blasphemy.
And you can tell they know they're lying. Otherwise they'd have bought bison ranches in South Dakota instead of beach front mansions on islands on 2 oceans.
Neat. We just installed a ninth heater in one our PE units. I wonder what the cost/benefit ratio is for nuclear vs. natural gas in a process heater application. They may be on to something. There is significant risk, though. Turn arounds have to be planned years in advance. If this fails, either due to engineering or politics, it will significantly impact production. The risk of political interference is significant.
Personally I think he did a nice job of separating and showing off his inadequate engine. I like aluminum diamond plate.
It sure does demonstrate how much power an efficient car uses at highway speeds. And how much power is thrown away by converting gasoline to electricity.
I remember from the 1970s when Mother Earth News had a van converted to a hybrid using a Kubota diesel tractor engine turning a generator in the engine bay, a bank of lead acid deep cycle marine batteries between the frame rails, and a big electric motor bolted to the front of the differential, that a van needed 60 hp to overcome aerodynamic drag and that the motor controller/throttle was the most expensive single component.
A Tesla has a bit less drag. You might only need 40-45 ponies to keep the batteries charged. Could be a bit less. Do they publish the Coefficient of drag & cross sectional area? That'd make the math easy.
If he had done the math, he would have known just how much hp he would have needed to drive the generator and not wasted all that time and effort.
Not sure why he had to spend 5-6 hours a day charging. I’ve driven across the country a couple of times now, and didn’t spend that much time charging. I suspect he charged to 100% each time. Not the best way to go. That last 10% takes as long as the first 90%. Arriving nearly empty and only charging enough to get to the next charger ensures minimum wait times.