In the US, automobile fuel economy is usually measured in miles per gallon, mpg. This works, but there is a better metric, especially for comparison between values. Gallons per 100 miles is the way to go!

This is very well known, and even I’ve talked about this before. There are numerous online tools to do the conversion from mpg to gallons per 100 miles… but there don’t appear to be any simple conversion or calibration charts for it.

Well, here you are — an easy to use chart to convert between mpg and gallons per 100 miles (or, equivalently, from km/l to liters per 100km).

What’s wrong with using miles per gallon, though? Well, there’s nothing wrong with using it, of course (we all use it, after all!). It’s that it’s just not a good metric when it comes to comparisons.

This is because the mpg metric is not linear. This means that even a consistent difference in mpg, say a “10 mpg difference”, means different things based on where the difference is calculated from. This makes it very hard to calculate and compare the benefits of better fuel efficiency!

Let’s take a couple of examples and use the chart below. Let’s say you’re planning to shift from owning a 15mpg vehicle to owning a 25mpg vehicle. What are your fuel savings? On the other hand, say you’re shifting from a 25mpg vehicle to a 35mpg vehicle. What about now?

Gallons per 100 miles Conversion (Download full size here)

Let’s look at the chart. The horizontal axis shows miles per gallon, as indicated. The vertical axis shows gallons per 100 miles, also as indicated. Let’s find approximate numbers for our cases above:

• 15mpg → ≈ 6.7 gallons per 100 miles
• 25mpg → 4 gallons per 100 miles
• 35mpg → ≈ 2.8 gallons per 100 miles

For every 100 miles you drive, a “10mpg improvement” from 15mpg saves you 2.5 gallons (≈ 40%) of fuel. On the other hand, over the same 100 miles and the same “10mpg improvement”, but from 25mpg, you save only 1.2 gallons (≈ 30%) of fuel. See how these numbers are different, even though the mpg metric difference between the two cases remains constant?

The mpg metric would have worked, if our baseline was different. But does anyone ever say: “Hey, I have 3 gallons of fuel; how far can I go with it?” Instead, our question is always: “I need to drive 500miles; how much fuel would I need?”

Go ahead and download the full size chart and keep with you. If you’re in the market for cars, this will come in handy! You know how much you drive; this chart gives you an easy way to measure your particular fuel requirements (or savings).

P.S.: The above chart works with any ratio of units; just keep the units the same between the horizontal and vertical axes. So, for example, the same chart applies for km/l vs. liters per 100km.

A great fighter—“The greatest ever”—but he was so much more than that.

[…] as a young heavyweight champion he converted to Islam and refused to serve in the Vietnam War, and became an emblem of strength, eloquence, conscience and courage. Ali was an anti-establishment showman who transcended borders and barriers, race and religion. His fights against other men became spectacles, but he embodied much greater battles.

Also, these are must watch, if you haven’t seem them already:

Rest in peace, sir.

An analysis of the dagger’s blade led by Daniela Comelli, a professor of materials science at the Polytechnic University of Milan in Italy, showed that it contains 10 per cent nickel and 0.6 per cent cobalt, the researchers report in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science.

(Also, I really love it when a news article references the actual journal article prominently. Nothing better for the interested reader!)

An Indian comedian, known for “edgy”, “controversial” material, apparently created something that pokes fun at Indian mega-stars and national heroes Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar.

And of course, this being India, some people found reason to be outraged. And of course, since these people have political affiliations linked to the government, the police are now “looking into the matter”.

Mumbai police has begun an inquiry into complaint against comedian Tanmay Bhat’s video of a mock conversation with Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar that prompted the Shiv Sena, Bhratiya [sic] Janata Party and MNS to call for action against Bhat and AIB.

The inquiry is based on the complaint by Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.

Bollywood has also reacted sharply to the comedian’s portrayal of the music and cricket icons, saying it is in poor taste.

Making videos in poor taste is not against the law, people. I have not seen the video; I will go ahead and concede nevertheless that the video is not worth its time on Youtube. OK, then don’t watch it! If no one watches it, guess what happens: they stop making such videos!

I find stuff like this maddening. “Freedom of speech” should be simple to understand, no? I can speak my mind; you can speak yours. Unless you’re putting words in my mouth, or are preventing me from living my life fully, I have no right to stop you making your speech, however offended or outraged I feel. Yes, if I feel your speech is “wrong” or “bad”, I might encourage my friends and family to boycott you. But only my sense of offense should have no effect on the legality of your speech!

The only people with say in the matter are the celebrities in question. Did Sachin Tendulkar complain? No. Did Lata? No! As long as everyone understands that the video was made by someone else and not the celebrities in question, how in the world does legality come into the picture?

Please, let the police do their thing and go after actual crime and actual criminals. “Distasteful” and “offensive” mean very different things than “illegal”.

If you’re looking to travel the world, this is a great list to have around when planning for it. Just enough things to carry, but not too much.

Bookmarked!