Verites of an Electric Mule

By Richard Flentge

History and future of Climate Change and solutions with Electric vehicle technology.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard Flentge
• Release date: Dec 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215662281

Richard Flentge

Richard Flentge, author, businessman and historian is best known for Mule Tack, a history book on how the mule became the official state animal of Missouri. A true fact based story of a Cape Girardeau, Missouri man fighting injustice to get the Mule legally adopted as the state animal of Missouri. The book details the adventures of the discovery and correction of this political misdeed with a mix of humorous mule lore, life in a small town, and, of course politics and religion.He is a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration. In his 8 year corporate career as a consumer products sales representative in the St Louis and surgical products representative Peoria areas, he traveled the Midwest selling toothpaste and then surgical stapling instruments. Richard patented the design of a composite truck bed cover for improving gas mileage and storage capabilities of the modern pickup truck. These were sold worldwide under the name Checkmate covers. He holds two U.S. patents for this technology. Richard also wrote advertising copy, technical manuals and catalogues many of which were featured in national magazines like Truckin’.He is a strong proponent of sustainable energy. As co-host of EVTV.me the world wide broadcast of electric vehicle television, his segment on the “Raid on Livonia” the story of failed electric auto maker Azure Dynamics, was featured on Auto Blog Green .He also served as convention manager for the EVCCON, electric vehicle conversion conference.He is an open heart surgery survivor and often embeds vegetarian health tips in his stories and writing. His work speaks clearly to the deepest meaning of life and understanding human conditions in the modern day. Richard’s activities also include; past president of a Rotary International chapter, recording storytelling for a PBS children’s program, and volunteering at local nursing homes.He has done radio interviews and is a speaker on the ever growing popular subject of End times. His radio show the End Times Minute detailed the fast moving pace of the news in the tribulation. In 2008, Richard maintained a highly successful blog long before blogging was widespread. His blog had 50,000 page visits a month and 2,500 registered contributors. From these his creative webby style posts, his writing became identified by pioneering thought by getting reader to entirely new paradigms.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Twain’s World

Twain wrote of mosquitos:

Two of them could whip a dog.

Four of them could hold a man down.

Local wags said they wore wristwatches.

That would be Mark Twain, not Shania, for any of you that have never heard of Elvis. Living around the river has convinced me that Mr. Twain was making an accurate timeless statement when he wrote of mosquitos out here in river country. We still got bugs, mosquitos, biting flies, deer flies, and horseflies as big as a zip drive. One thing is for certain about living here around the Mississippi River, if you go near the river, you're going to come back itching. Local Walmart stores sell bug bite treatment by the case.

I will get into this ecology stuff later in the book. First let's focus on the task at hand, running our lives on sunshine, stopping the air poison, and getting out of debt. Let’s all end up shiny happy people that have a ticket to energy paradise. A car we can drive around all week for less than the price of Chicken McNuggets, clean water to drink, air to breathe. Imagine living in the LED light and not receiving a red printed electric bill cut off notice in the mail. Can this be done? Yes, I'm sure it can.

During westward expansion, the barrel was a popular packing system. The round shape made it able to be rolled when turned over on its side. Barrels were a floatable form of watertight storage able to withstand pressure. Barrels were popular for shipping bulk goods such as hard bread, smoked bacon, sugar cured hams, coffee, dried mashed potatoes, sugar, fermented spirits, vinegar and salt. And tobacco, the addiction was booming. This massive amount of barrel usage as freight cargo set the standard term barrel. Per barrel. It was this wooden barrel unit of measurement that set us on the course of oil by the barrel.

Repurposing timbers used to build longboats, as depicted in some of the beautiful riverfront paintings was common. Since they had no motor, the boat riders steered with a long stick. Timbers cut to a specific size to build the boat, if the board were 12 feet, it was a 12-foot-long boat. The practical boat would be disassembled at the other end so the timber could be reused. Thus, the boat became the packaging as well as the product. The first smart play of ecology in efficiency of design, done out of practicability, no ideology needed.

Twain’s steamboat was a beast machine, powered by a high-pressure piston engine. It drew cold water from the river. Black smoke exhausted the pipes, designed tall so embers did not fall back on something flammable. No environmental concerns here, thick black smoke and piles of ash pouring out of pipes, unfiltered, unregulated, and ugly.

With the exhaust pipes pouring black smoke, huffing passengers and coughing was constant. Crew members ventilated excess steam creating magical music. The steamboat companies added to this elaborate combination with whistles and bells to create a flotilla of magic sound. All in all, paddling up and down rivers was dirty and noisy.

Traveling as fast as you can on boats with hundreds of feet of wood, dry cotton, horses and drunk people in fevered rush to get to golden opportunity, powered by high-pressure engine with a fire big enough to heat a high rise. What could go wrong?

The downfall of this transportation technology was the boiler, which was built right in the center of the boats. Not surprisingly, they were not very safe. If anything happened that caused the boat to catch fire or if the boiler blew up, the people on the boat were stuck in a dangerous situation. Of course, this was all prior to life jackets, swimming safety lessons and full knowledge of how powerful and deadly the current moving through the Mighty Mississippi could be. So, people fell in and several thousand were killed over a few years until the government passed a law banishing passenger wooden boats on the river systems. That law is still in effect today, but stubborn crows still have not learned the history lesson.

People didn’t notice because all they wanted was to go fast.

Boiler explosions illustrate the risk of combustible fuel to make transportation energy. Energy technologies sneak up and bite us. Today’s combustibles gas and diesel have greenhouse gases, particulate matter and chemicals pouring out of exhaust pipes.

Chapter 2

Simple light

Twain’s parents used the light of whale oil, spermaceti. That is a fuel source from America’s dark energy past that was awful. Whale oil was harvested from killing sperm whales. It readied the market for liquid fuel. Nantucket, Massachusetts was the center of the sperm whale industry. Work crews would go out in 30-ton sloops and stay out for quite some time then come back with dead whales. Harpooned whales’ fat was squeezed out and cooked. Blubber made oil and was used in soap recipes; providing evidence humans in haste think resources are unlimited for their convenience.

Ponder the following examples involving cotton, wood, and oats to substantiate a connection with the ultimate truth, that all of earth’s living energy comes from the sun. At the time of his birth, Twain’s parents would rise each morning and use candles. A candle, the original light bulb, has been used for centuries. . These old-time candle makers would dip a cotton wick in and out of hot wax and hang it to dry. Then, repeat to recoat it. This was an industrial process. It was the predecessor of the electric light business.

In wintertime, every household had a wood stack. Wood handling habits formed quickly. Chopping, stacking, and bringing wood inside all took effort.

Many homes had a stone fireplace constructed directly in the center of the home. It was about the size of a medium console television before flat screens.

In Twain’s world, the hearth was where human energy consumption was centered. The fire provided heat, cooking, entertainment, light, and warm water for a hot bath or washing. Try getting your remote to do all that.

Fuel for Mark Twain's family energy center was readily available. Trees were easy to find, cut and cleared. Wood became their fuel or was turned into products for the region’s consumption.

This natural resource was abundant. The constructive collaboration of fuel, product, and wage labor was beneficial and simple. The bonus of clearing the fields made way for farming. That hard labor became an industry that employed men with gainful duty.

The Twain family’s mode of transportation, by horse and mule, were the original rechargeable vehicles.

This allowed flexibility. They could be ridden or outfitted with a harness to pull a wagon or plow; both took effort. This original rechargeable vehicle moved people and freight.

All one had to do to recharge them was to let them eat. Field grasses and grains are nature’s perfect solar collectors. Grains, like oats, were fast chargers. These were the simpler times for transportation.

Think of how simple life would be with a Solar array charging system right on your house. Never going to the gas station, never having that expense.

That future is possible. The one thing Electric Vehicle owners mention more than anything, no gas station trips. A return to simple would be driving on sunshine with an Electric vehicle that plugs in and charges from solar panels.

Chapter 3

Hell on Wheels

The Netflix series Hell on Wheels is a good representation of the work done to complete the transcontinental railroad. It shows the temporary housing and small construction factory settlement towns as they worked to connect the transportation dots across the country. Hell on Wheels showed eco carelessness, everything was messy.

The Trans-Continental Railway joined the coasts in Utah on May 10, 1869. With full completion, the time travel from New York to San Francisco reduced from three months down to eight days.

The most important engineering feat of early Americans and the reason to expand the US population without a doubt was the transcontinental railroad. This 2000+ mile track overcame massive amounts of obstacles. The Hell on Wheels docudrama shows the ecological struggles of mass transit. Massive amount of machinery and men trampled through the Midwest, the rocks of the mountains, the blizzards, and the desert. The government paid compensation for every mile of track completed. Two companies, the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific stuck it out to the end, making the country connected from one ocean to the other. Crews had to endure attacks by Indians, rugged conditions, dynamite blasting. It was one of the most important achievements of man during that century. Along with the final spike of gold, the news spread across the country, done. We are united.

In less than 10 years, after the completion of the rail line, train travel transformed the nation. Transportation mobility moved people and products across the country. It was transportation at speed that created the market economy. In just six years after the completion, there were some 40,000 miles of track in the United States.

In 1872, John D Rockefeller, Cleveland Ohio, at the ripe old age of thirty-three, controlled the nation's largest oil refining company. His standard oil is the oil capital of the United States. Rockefeller leverages exclusive deals with railroads. He was positioned to move the oil to the first mass market, vehicles of the East Coast. The automobile wasn’t here yet, but the oil was.

Covered wagons were still being used across the West at the same time his oil was being shipped east.

The power of the oil industry flexes his muscles. Standard Oil, operating with huge margins on a cash pay basis, monopolized a huge amount of liquid wealth. This cash flow allowed it to integrate into all different businesses, banking, real estate, and well-equipped railroads. A large