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To: Futurist who wrote (2960)	1/12/1999 10:46:00 PM
From: Futurist	Respond to of 8393

Board of Airport Commissioners Awards Contracts for 16 Alternative-Fuel Vehicles LOS ANGELES (BUSINESS WIRE) - The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners on Jan. 12 awarded contracts to Scott Robinson Honda, Torrance and Downey Ford for the purchase of 16 vehicles, powered exclusively by clean-burning compressed natural gas (CNG) to be used by various bureaus at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Alternative-fuel vehicles (natural gas and electric) play a significant part in the Los Angeles World Airports' (LAWA) commitment to a clean-air environment. These new vehicles (10 Honda compact sedans and 6 Ford 12-passenger vans) will bring LAX's total number of alternative-fuel vehicles to 209, which represents 30 percent of the airport's entire 680-vehicle fleet. As part of LAWA's ongoing fleet maintenance program, the new vehicles will replace similar vehicles that have reached the end of their useful life expectancy. LAWA's ultimate goal is to convert 100 percent of its passenger vehicle fleet, which excludes some heavy-duty and construction equipment, to alternative fuels.

To: Futurist who wrote (2960)	1/12/1999 11:58:00 PM
From: Ray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8393

Futurist, the article you posted contained the following: >Too much? However, the new MultiRead spec may attempt to do too much, warned Alan Bell, program director for digital media standards at IBM Corp. (NYSE:IBM) "There needs to be a balance between eliminating consumer confusion and preventing too much bundling of proprietary technology into one package," he said. Such overloading could make the spec too expensive for manufacturers to put into next-generation drives. Strategic Marketing Decisions' Freeman agrees. "Manufacturers are not interested in adding 10 or 15 dollars [in cost] to drives that the market wants to be at $65," he said. Meltdown potential Add to that the variety of interests and intellectual property concerns ... and you have a recipe for meltdown. "I would give them as much chance as I would the Republicans and Democrats getting together on an impeachment decision," said Freeman. < Hmmm. Market price of $65 for read-any-format drives? WHAT! Who expects any such rediculously low price. Why is $10 or $15 dollars cost(which sounds high anyway) an insurmountable barrier to manufacturer's? Since each mfgr is burdened the same, why is this a crucial problem. The mfgr just passes it along - unless the market will actually not sustain the the paltry extra 10 to 15 dollars. Can any one make genuine sense of this? It appears to be some sort of blather. Ray Bowman