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A fond goodbye to George Carlin, who "passed away" yesterday evening. "Life is a zero sum game."

I know it's only been four months since my last Poker Notes post but I decided to make another one. It's about how a tournament player jinxed himself by refusing to make a deal.

Just two weeks until I hit the lake. If you see me lying on a float in the middle of the lake without any clothes on, just assume I'm working on my tan for the class reunion.

Increasing Fuel Efficiency

Here are some great ways to increase the fuel efficiency you experience. A great deal of this entry is taken directly from an article by xcel, a user at cleanmpg.com forums. Some of these are advanced techniques that most drivers will not likely ever fully utilize, but I’ve sorted for ease of use so work your way down the list. Don't forget that decreasing the amount of gas we use not only costs less money now, but if demand decreases the price per gallon will go down, or at least not go up quite so fast. The original article can be found here if you want additional information or just to see what I messed up.

Step One – Vehicle Setup

1. Tire Inflation. Keep your tires inflated to their maximum safe inflation. The higher the pressure, the lower the rolling resistance, the higher the fuel economy. The absolute minimum you should use is the driver’s side door or owners manual recommended tire inflation criteria. This is what the EPA and your car manufacturer sets tire pressures to during the EPA city/highway testing. MAX sidewall is what I would recommend for most as it is well within the safety limits of your car and tire and allows better FE than the pressure listed in the driver’s side door. I can discuss but cannot personally recommend upwards of 25% higher than MAX sidewall as there are legal constraints we all have to live with. That being said, 50 + #’s leads to even higher FE. Pros, higher FE, lower tread wear, more even tread wear across the treads width, shorter braking distances in a variety of conditions, and in many cases, even better handling. Cons, higher noise, vibration, harshness.

2. The Right Oil. Use lower weight oil slightly below the maximum fill line. A proper amount of low viscosity oil can do wonders for not only longevity of your engine but the fuel efficiency your automobile may be capable of. You should use oil with a viscosity that is within the band of your automobiles lubrication requirements. That being said, not all oils are the same. If your automobile allows a 5W-20, you should be OK using a high quality Synthetic 0W-20. Mobil1 0W-20 has the lowest viscosity as well as superior wear and breakdown properties vs. ANY non-synthetic I know of. I recommend that instead of filling the case up to the high level mark that you instead use just enough oil to bring the level up to between the high and low marks. You lose capacity in case of a leak and have a very slight increase in oil temps but gain a slight amount of fuel efficiency with a slightly lowered strain on the engine’s frictional components.

3. Filters and Plugs. Regularly check all your filters and your spark plugs and plug wires. Improperly firing plugs or stopped-up air, oil, or fuel filters decrease fuel efficiency dramatically.

4. Cargo racks. Remove cargo racks to increase fuel efficiency. Cargo and/or racks on top of your vehicle (e.g., cargo boxes, canoes, etc.) increase aerodynamic drag.

Step Two – Best Practices

1. Easy Does It. Start slowly and stop slowly. Quick acceleration and heavy braking reduce fuel economy by as much as 33 percent at highway speeds and 5 percent around town.

2. Slow Down. Don’t drive at higher speeds. The wind drag and mechanical resistance increase rapidly as speed increases. Drive the speed limit or below when not in a hurry and traffic is light. Hand in hand with that is to give yourself enough time to reach your destination without using excessive speed.

3. Cut Your Engine. Do not idle excessively. If the light just turned red it’s okay to cut the engine while you wait. Never leave the engine running when you “run in” at a stop.

4. Take the Long Ride First. Avoid short trips while the engine is cold. If you have many stops close to home, make the farthest stop first since it gives the engine time to warm up and run for the maximum time at the proper temperature, where fuel efficiency is greatest.

5. Stay Off The Slopes. Choose routes that are as flat as possible and with the fewest stop signs and stop lights.

6. Cool Down Wisely. Use the windows or the fan to keep cool if possible. Depending on the vehicle, fuel efficiency with the windows down is greater than with the air conditioner on, below 45 miles per hour. After 45 miles per hour use the AC, but if it isn’t too hot try to use the ventilation fan only.

Step Three – Advanced Techniques

1. Drafting. This is the same as in Nascar, except in Nascar they don’t have 12 foot tractor-trailers to duck behind. The author recommended a distant draft (over one second behind the other vehicle) but if you have the nerve for it a close-in draft (less than one second) gives incredible boosts to fuel efficiency. Just be careful that if the truck suddenly changes lanes you’re in a position to either follow or otherwise avoid whatever he’s avoiding. Sudden braking isn’t too much of a problem since these guys can’t slow down very quickly, but they can swerve, so be careful. Actually at 70 miles per hour one second equals 102 feet, so really you don’t have to be that close, and should have time to dodge any blown tires.

2. Driving Without Brakes. In its simplest form, you drive as if you do not have brakes. If you have degraded or no brakes for whatever reason, you will increase buffers in traffic like you may never have considered previously. In heavy traffic and traffic jam conditions, this will allow you to maintain some speed before throwing away energy to heating up the pads/shoes. With larger buffers comes the ability to maintain a very slow speed while most others are in a stop and go jam. You can use this in any traffic tie up or heavy congestion.

3. Smart Braking. When coming to a red light or stop sign on an incline heading upwards, you want to travel as far up the hill or ascent as possible before stopping. Starting from a dead stop while facing an uphill climb is the absolute worst FE scenario imaginable. When coming to a red light on a descent, you want to stop well before the actual light or traffic ahead so as to use the potential still available to help you accelerate back up to speed through the light. There will have to be at least one car well out in front in the case of weight-sensored lights so as to trip them for you so you can glide/coast down the incline and possibly across the intersection before having to restart your car for propulsion again. When coming to a red light, continue slowing before you actually stop until the light changes to green and you can re-accelerate without having to do so from a stop.

4. Ridge Riding. In inclement weather, you ride the center and white line edges to alleviate some of the drag caused during rain and/or wet conditions. In most cases during rain, the center crown or ridge will have the least depth of water to plow though as will the right or left edges of your lane. You can see the changing depths ahead and adjust your track as conditions change/allow. You want to ride the ridges whenever conditions make it possible to do so. In the snow, you will generally want to ride the most traveled tracks as they may be clear of snow, slush, water vs. riding the lanes with a snow cover or accumulation.

5. Rabbit Timing. Assume a stop light ½ a mile ahead. You see Stale Green (Green for a very long time ready to turn Yellow) or already red and will not change until a car comes up upon it and trips the sensors in the pavement to change it back to green. You want to have any traffic around you (the Rabbit) trip the weight sensor before you are anywhere near that light so you are unimpeded with a green light by the time you reach it.

6. Distant Anticipatory Focus. When driving in any environment, continuously scan the road far ahead looking for situations or obstacles that may impede your steady state progress. In the heavier suburban or city environment, I recommend looking ahead 3 lights. Not only will this give you an advantage of light timing but you will also have a much heightened awareness of the traffic and terrain conditions ahead, to the side, and even behind.

Step Four - Extreme Techniques

1. Forced Autostop. When coming to a stop or slowing down as part of a pulse-glide (explained later), shift to neutral, let the Tach stabilize, key back to IG-I (shuts down the engine), key back to IG-II, and coast to a stop or pre-determined lower speed depending on conditions. Recover by starting up the engine via key to IG-III, release to IG-II, and engage transmission with a rev match to continue on your way. Pros include a very noticeable increase in fuel efficiency over any short distance. Cons include powerless coast, power brake assist is lost after a few applications, power steering is lost although at speed, you do not need it, is illegal in some locales, and possibly both gear reduction starter wear from excessive engine starts and pre-mature wear from re-engagements of the transmission at speed.

2. Draft-Assisted Forced Autostop. When approaching a proper point to invoke a forced autostop, a draft target can be selected to increase the glide distance. You have a speed of 65 mph; a draft target is up ahead doing 57 mph. You invoke the autostop and glide into the distance draft, then into the close-in, fall back into the distance, and fall back away into a naked glide. Pros include extending glide distances significantly thus increasing overall fuel efficiency if performed properly. Cons include having to use brakes if you came into the draft target too hot, a close-in draft is dangerous, and the wear issues included above.

3. Pulse and Glide. Invoke a forced autostop to a lower target speed, reigniting the engine, re-engage the transmission with a rev match, and re-accelerate to a higher target speed, and then repeat. Pros include maximizing fuel efficiency in a low-speed suburban or city environment (speed limits less than 45 mph). Cons include lowering your overall average speed (more time to get to point B), a lot of work given the undulations depending on the type of vehicle you are driving, and both gear reduction starter and pre-mature transmission wear from re-engagements at speed depending on the automobile.

4. Warm-up Pulse and Glide. During warm-up, your automobile's fuel efficiency is at its absolute worst. To attempt to alleviate some of the hit, you begin pulsing and gliding almost immediately but at lower and increasing speed ranges. Speed ranges are significantly reduced and stepped up as you arrive to higher speed arterials, state routes, and then Interstates and highways. Here is just one example as you are leaving your home via the subdivision or local street when conditions allow … A range example could include 0 - 15 mph, FAS to 10, 10 - 20 mph, FAS to 15, 15 - 30 mph, FAS to 20, 20 - 40 mph, FAS to 30, 30 - 50 mph, FAS to 40 … Again, this was just 1 example of what may be performed under a specialized local driving condition and temps until the automobile in question is up to full temperature. Pros include alleviating the warm up fuel efficiency hit to far above what would normally be possible and help to maintain your overall fuel efficiency even though you are in effect warming up the car. Cons include the most work of any technique posted so far, a lot of wear on a cold engine, lengthier warm up time, and in some cases, more emissions on multiple re-ignitions. All other engine-off caveats also apply.