# the usual government conspiracy stuff **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 18, 2000, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-government-conspiracy-stuff/37387 "2000-10-18T12:34:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-government-conspiracy-stuff/37387/21 "2000-10-19T15:38:51Z")
As others have hinted, you _can_ build cars with very high fuel efficiency rates (70-80 MPG). Unfortunately, they’re all so small that they’re only useful if you live alone and never have much baggage. And if Europeans will admit that the car is small, then you know that we’re talking about an egg crate on wheels 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-government-conspiracy-stuff/37387/22 "2000-10-19T16:34:11Z")
Read all about the VW Lupo 3L [here](http://www.volkswagen.de/lupo_3l_tdi/index_.htm). I wouldn’t say it’s an egg crate on wheels, but it’s damn close 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-government-conspiracy-stuff/37387/23 "2000-10-19T16:35:36Z")
I suppose it helps if you speak a little German, as the products site of VW hasn’t been translated in English. But then, who the hell wants a VW anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Opengrave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/919ad9/32.png) [@Opengrave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opengrave)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-government-conspiracy-stuff/37387/24 "2000-10-19T17:00:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HenrySpencer \***Aside from the physics of it, why would the US government do something that kept the US more dependent on possibly hostile countries (eg oil rich countries in the middle east). The government, and the country in general, would have a tremendous amount to gain by having less of a need for gas.** I would be glad for someone to pick this apart but here goes… When I was a senior in high school (about 14 years ago) I went to a science exhibit in done by NASA. They were extolling the virtues of ‘dual technologies’ and how things for space flight were also useful here on terra firma. One such item was the insulators used to keep the shuttle cool on re-entry - the ‘tiles’. The demonstrator took a shuttle tile in its raw form - a 2cm thick 10cm x 10cm white porous ‘tile’ (without all the black covering) and placed a penny on it. She then took a propane torch (no doubt from Hank Hill, remember he sells Propane AND Propane Accessories) and heated the penny to the point it was glowing orange, dropped the penny into a glass of water (I guess in an effort to show the heat involved) and continued to heat the tile using the blue flame of a propane torch until the tile also glowed lightly. She then removed the flame and IMMEDIATELY placed the tile against her cheek. Total time from application of the blue flame to touching the tile to her face was less than 1.5 seconds. She commented on how effective of insulator this would be and that as an insulator how, on a BTU ‘saved’ basis you could heat an average home in northern Minnesota during winter with the heat from a few light bulbs. She mentioned that the tiles were cheap to produce and very environmentally friendly (basically they are foamed sand). When pressed why they weren’t being used commercially she made an off the cuff remark about oil and gas companies trying to keep the product off the market due to it reducing demand for heating oil etc… and the big insulation manufacturers lobbying congress to keep it off the market because it was a far superior product on which they didn’t own the patent. Now I agree that shuttle tiles are very brittle and not easily workable but doesn’t it seem this technology could find SOME application and if so why is it not being used? Do I smell a conspiracy? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-government-conspiracy-stuff/37387/25 "2000-10-19T17:51:46Z")
> [@](#): > > …but doesn’t it seem this technology could find > SOME application and if so why is it not being used? It does have an application: Keeping the Space Shuttle from burning up on re-entry. This is not house insulation we’re talking about here. Your house doesn’t have to withstand propane torches, much less a re-entry at several kilometers per second. All your house needs to do is hold an inside temperature of 72 F against an outside temperature of maybe 0 F, and there are other, cheaper, materials that do that job just fine. Heat loss in a house isn’t primarily through the walls, it’s through the windows and various openings, so improving the walls wouldn’t do much good. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-government-conspiracy-stuff/37387/26 "2000-10-19T22:08:43Z")
> [@](#): > > For those who are wondering, the Three Laws of Thermodynamics can be paraphrased as follows: > > First Law (conservation of energy): You can’t win > > Second Law (entropy increases): You can’t break even > > Third Law (entropy always positive): You can’t get out of the game. And every major approach to Life violates one of the laws: Capitalism claims you can win. Socialism claims you can break even. Mysticism claims you can get out of the game. Therefore, according to the Laws of Nature: we’re screwed. ---
**Author:** ![andy\_bailey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@andy\_bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andy_bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-government-conspiracy-stuff/37387/27 "2000-10-20T01:38:37Z")
A body’s acceleration will continue, if undisturbed, along the path of least resistance. Major corporations work in this way. If they need to expend a little energy to lobby congress to supress things like solar technology development, they will. Its not necessarily a conspiracy, but the way our system is set up, it rewards greed and selfishness. I live in what is now called the most polluted city in America. The air is rare here in Atlanta. I can see what the problem is, does no one else?? When I watch TV, every other commercial is urging us to buy a new car, and fuel efficiency has not gotten much better. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-government-conspiracy-stuff/37387/28 "2000-10-20T01:47:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crafter\_Man \* > **Reminds me of the guy who supposedly invented run-free pantyhose. As the story goes, Sara Lee bought him out to keep him quiet. Right.** Right indeed. Every time I run after someone in panty hose, it costs me dearly 😃 Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-government-conspiracy-stuff/37387/29 "2000-10-20T12:48:58Z")
We all know that these ULs have amazingly long lives, right? Well, take a gander at this beauty: I happened to be reading George Orwell’s _The Road to Wigan Pier_ (first published in 1937), and lo and behold, in a footnote on p.207 he comes out with the following gem: > [@](#): > > Some years ago someone invented a gramophone needle that would last for decades. One of the big gramophone companies bought up patent rights, and that was the last that was ever heard of it. I can’t decide whether to laugh or cry. There’s probably some quote from Chaucer about a genius monk inventing a quill that would never wear out, and having it be suppressed by the repressive Goose Guild… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-government-conspiracy-stuff/37387.md?page=1)