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Talk about fuel efficiency

Ever since I moved to the US 2 years ago I have asked myself why there are so many gasoline powered cars, vans and trucks, and why almost nobody runs diesel cars. There are a few of the big pick-up trucks, and occasionally some VW Jetta, but otherwise it’s all gasoline. And I know that diesel has higher energy content, and that modern technology has made diesel engines just as good to drive as gasoline. On top op that the emissions are of a less nasty kind.

Then a while ago I spotted this company called Lovecraft Bio-Fuels in Wired Magazine, and they showed that you could easily convert a diesel engine to run on normal vegetable oil. Talk about renewable energy source, especially in a country where deep frying is popular. You can use the oil more than once. And to be honest, I’m considering switching to a diesel and convert it next time I change cars.

Then two days ago I was reading Fast Company, and I came across an article about Johnathan Goodwin, a self taught car mechanic wizard. This is how the article opens up:

“Check it out. It’s actually a jet engine,” says Johnathan Goodwin, with a low whistle. “This thing is gonna be even cooler than I thought.” We’re hunched on the floor of Goodwin’s gleaming workshop in Wichita, Kansas, surrounded by the shards of a wooden packing crate. Inside the wreckage sits his latest toy–a 1985-issue turbine engine originally designed for the military. It can spin at a blistering 60,000 rpm and burn almost any fuel. And Goodwin has some startling plans for this esoteric piece of hardware: He’s going to use it to create the most fuel-efficient Hummer in history.

What this guy has done is outright amazing. He is experimenting with putting GM semi-truck engines in GM cars and are getting 2 to 4 times the miles per gallon rating of the standard off the factory line cars. And that is even before starting to play with hybrid technology. What excites and outrages me at the same time is that Goodwin has managed to create all this using mostly off the shelf equipment, most of the time from the same car manufacturers who say that we cannot create anything but gasoline cars until a few years from now, and whose first step towards alternative fuel is an ethanol-gasoline mix. Not exactly the most forward thinking solution.

Another telling quote from the article is when Goodwin had a by chance demonstration to some GM engineers.

One engineer turned and said, “GM said this wouldn’t work.”

“Well,” Goodwin replied, “here it is.”

And that captures a lot of his gusto. I hope I will be able to join Neil Young in driving a nice 100+ mpg car in the not too distant future. Read the article and join me in wishing for a more fuel efficient, and greener, future.

Quote of the Day:
You are not what you own.
–Fugazi, American rock band

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It’s a blast!

Yesterday I was driving from Seattle to Gig Harbor. When I got to Tacoma the traffic was murder and police everywhere redirecting people away from SR-16, the freeway I intended on taking for the last few miles. I was swearing under my breath wondering what numbskull could have created such havoc to Saturday traffic.

It turned out to be the Tacoma Foundry that had literarily exploded, with flames rising hundreds of feet into the air and more propane gas ready to blow at any second. All we saw was a limited amount of smoke. And police cars with lights flashing.Scary when you find it out afterwards.

 

Map image

Here is where the foundry is, so you can see why they would like to shut SR-16 off.

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Automated phone service

I am having a pet peeve when it comes to automated phone services that don’t take their users into consideration. Today I experienced it once again. This time it was Comcast, but this is not something that only they do. A lot of companies do this. And it’s all bout the human interface design.

What happened when I called today (my connections just dropped) was that after I called the Comcast customer service number, 1-866-COMCAST, I was asked to enter my ten digit phone number, followed by a "1" for English. Once that had happened I was told that my call was being routed to the correct call center (or something along those lines). I then was asked to enter a "1" for English and then to enter my ten digit phone number. So after having entered the phone number twice, I still had to give them my name and address when I got through.

Now, my gripe is that if they use the first number only to get it to the right region, then they should either ask me to enter my area code and then just transfer me, alternatively get my area code from the incoming caller ID and ask me if that is the area I want to use. Alternatively, they should send my ten digit phone number and language preference as part of the transfer request, so that the receiving PBX knows who I am and can handle the call appropriately.

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Mind breaking news

This posting is just a long rant, so there.

The other day I was watching TV when the programming was interrupted because a bridge had collapsed in Minneapolis, MN. The pictures were strong and the reports from the scene were surreal. How could something like this happen?

Anyway, this is not what this post is about. What it is about is that four hours later this story was still labeled as “breaking news” on CNN, FAUX Noise and MSNBC. That really gets to me, especially since they were still rehashing the same film clips, interviews and facts. Nothing new had been added in the last few hours. To me that is still important and urgent news, but not breaking news.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel with the victims in the disaster, and all people affected in one way or another, I really do. And I think that we uregently need to get to the bottom of how this could happen in the first place. I don’t want any bridges collapsing unexpectedly, not anywhere.

But I think that the TV stations should have a 10-15 minute limit on the “breaking news” label. And I think they could continue their normal programming and then have short interruptions with regular intervals with a brief summary and any updates. After all, just because one disaster happens doesn’t mean that other things in the world stop happening. And just regurgitating the same story over and over again makes me at least go away. It also makes you numb to the disaster much quicker.

My $.02

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Fortunate Unfortune

Maybe I should call it “saving graces for a clumsy guy” instead. I’ll try to explain.

Today Dee and I went to play tennis. It is something we have started doing recently, and it’s a good and fun way to get a bit of exercise. We don’t live too far from the court, but since it’s taken sometimes we usually drive to make sure that we can go elsewhere should the court be taken. As we were getting ready our dog got extremely excited, since she thought we were taking her for a walk, so we decided to bring her along and walk her after our tennis.

During our little game the dog stayed in the car, and before you start scolding me the car was parked in shadow, all the windows were slightly open and she had water. On top of that we could see and hear her from the tennis court, so we were looking after her in a fashion. After the game we went back to the car, brought the dog out, and I closed all the windows. Dee took some money out so we could go for coffee. Then I locked the door, held in the handle and pushed it shut. And then I put my hand in my pocket and realized that the keys were still in the ignition. I asked Dee if she had hers, and she said “yes, they are in the car.” Curtains.

Fortunately I remembered that I have roadside assistance through American Express, so I called them and did, after lots of talking and describing, get them to send a tow truck to help us open the car. For once a card service that actually benefited me.

Whule we waited for an hour we had a chance to take the dog for a little walk, and get ourselves some coffees and scones at Tully’s. I owe the dog a walk.

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Comcast Home Networking

I recently upgraded some of my computer equipment and connected it to my home network. Suddenly I started getting all kind of strange networking problems with 2 computers trying to use the same IP address, etc.

After looking at my Comcast (yes I have Comcast) settings it turned out that I only had 5 addresses in my DHCP range, so occasionally I wouldn’t get an IP address, or the computers would fight over a lease.

I tried setting one computer outside of the DHCP IP range and it quickly turned out that the routing table in the Comcast branded Linksys router was set up only to allow the 5 IP addresses in the DHCP range. I asked Comcast if there was a way to increase the number of computers allowed, and they informed me that I would have to upgrade to a business account for that.

Although I understand why this rule exists in Comcast’s Home Networking Terms of Service, they simply don’t want people to share out their network to neighbors and other people, I do see this as a big problem. Look at a high-tech family with 2 adults and 2 school children. What will this look like? Two professionals that have laptops from their employers, a media center computer, a game console and a wireless printer. Oops that is 5 computers already. Then we have the two children and their computers for doing homework, the Wi-Fi enabled PDA or cell phone, maybe yet another game console and so on. And this is even before things like surveillance cameras, networked fridges, NAS, etc. As you can see I can easily get the number up to 10 and soon to possibly 15 devices that need internet access. OK, I could probably get away with the printer not having Internet access, but I still want it to be able to use DHCP.

I know that cable and telco companies are not generally on the forefront. It wasn’t that long ago that you were only allowed one computer connected to broadband for home use, and some companies had special task forces tracking down people who were using a NAT router to share the connection. Now Comcast allows 5 devices, and their TOS is very clear on that you are not allowed to connect more computers. What is a person to do?