I’ve posted a couple times (1 & 2) before on Terrafugia’s Transition experimental airplane/car and wanted to include a little video from the Tampa Fox affiliate taken at the Sun ‘n Fun airshow in Landland Florida. A group of students from M.I.T. developed a two-seat aircraft that can take off and land at small airports and drive within seconds drive on the roadways. The airplane/car vehicle runs on regular gasoline and can fly at 115 mph or drive on highways at up to 65 mph.
The company says that they expect to have models ready for delivery next year for about $200,000. According to the company’s CEO, Carl Deitrich, they are taking refundable deposits — $10,000 deposit for a production slot. (video below)
A couple guys on their way to the popular spring aviation event called Sun ‘n Fun in Lakeland Florida had a interesting landing after an engine failure. Pilot, and flight instructor Kyle Davis along with his friend and passenger, a professional videographer, left Winter Haven on there way to Lakeland Florida. It was just a short flight from Gilbert Field at about 10:30 in the morning. They experienced an engine failure without too much altitude shortly after take-off and were faced with an emergency landing situation. Davis remained calm and began searching for the best place to put his plane down while he attempted a couple restarts … some he has no doubt practice over and over with his students. Eventually he spotted a section of a boulevard street in Winterhaven and it was fortunately without many cars (sheer luck); he was able to make a safe engine out landing and even pulled into a parking lot. Their video has been shared on network news programs and around the web. It is posted below.
While I’m not a fan of the iPhone or the iPod Touch, I am impressed with the shear number of devices and software “app” downloads in less than 2 years. Apple has a counter running on their site as the Online App Store nears 1 Billion downloads. Very impressive.
Although as readers may have surmised from previous posts, I’m looking forward to the Palm Pre, in hopes that it will be my Treo replacement … but the new WebOS device has a long way to go before software offerings are anywhere close to what the iPhone has available. That said, I remember when that was stated as the Apple Macintosh‘s disadvantage too — yet it hasn’t stopped sales.
I’m all for lightening my environmental footprint on our planet, but the mission statement for PlantAmnesty.org is a bit over the top. I enjoyed the chuckle — thanks for the forward Jeff; I hope you enjoy “eating a pinecone” for Earth Day.
😆
I don’t normally think about Earth Day in advance, but since Ed Begley Jr. sent me an email mentioning he and his daughter were going to be on Nickelodeon, I set my Tivo. Since I’ve ‘archived’ Season 1 and Season 2 of Living with Ed I figured this would be a good post to mention it.
Unfortunately I spend the evening typing a fairly long post reflecting on our waste of energy and ended up loosing my entire post. Basically my thinking was that we don’t need to live “off the grid” to make a difference, but we can all do a few small things to live a little ‘greener.’ Combining trips, right sizing our homes and vehicles, insulating, being conscious of our thermostats and how many light we leave on are just a few simple things we can do. I’ve got a sense that our kids will be able to make this change easier than us?
Some days I can’t help but question my intelligence or lapse of judgment. I’m about to embarrass myself, for at minimum, lack of forethought — if not just being a dummy.
There was a container of antibacterial wipes sitting in the washroom and I noticed that the dispensing cap wasn’t “loaded” correctly. I opened the container and proceded to re-load the next moist towellette into the cap … using of all things my finger. Without thinking I pushed both the disposable cloth and my finger into the sharp star designed lid, the one which holds the Wet Ones® style cloths so they can be torn. To my shock, I couldn’t get my finger back out and a bit of pain began to register. The harder I pulled the deeper the stiff, sharp plastic points went into my finger.
😯
So … a bit of advice for those with similar “lapse of judgment” … don’t use your finger.
Willie Nelson talks a bit about his advocacy for biodiesel on the FoxNews program Huckabee this past weekend. (Huckabee airs at 8PM on Saturday evenings and is rebroadcast at 11PM and Sunday evening)
I posted a follow up letter from the FCC on my junk fax post and below. Also pointing out that so far this month I haven’t received any additional faxes from the two companies that have been sending marketing by fax.
I’m not a Type-A personality, nor do I frustrate easily, but that said, I do spend a significant amount of time on the road and appreciate being able to liberally use the throttle to get where I need to go … which in a diesel vehicle can still be pretty efficient. Thankfully, I haven’t noticed all that many hypermilers or as the WSJ referred to them, “eco drivers“, slowing down the highways, although I expect that it is a growing trend as more an more of us seek to improve our vehicles efficiency. (WSJ video below)
With the addition of computerized monitoring being added to not just hybrid vehicles, it shouldn’t be a surprise to see a few more drivers attempting to stretch their tanks of fuel … fueling at least a few blood pressure points of those following them. I’m not sure I’m ready for serious ‘green’ drivers clogging the roads and can’t imagine what true Type-A’s think about it?
Some of the “Green Driving 101” tips bound to bug all but the most patient follower are:
Accelerate slowly from a stop — “even if the cars around you zoom past”
When turning the corner slow down well before the turn and allow the car’s momentum to carry you around. You done well if you don’t have to use your brakes.
In city driving watch traffic lights and coast so you don’t have to come to a full stop.
When on an incline coast as much as possible.
On the highway don’t cruise above 60mph — that’s one that will drive me crazy.
Keep the engine RPM’s below 2000 revolutions per minute to minimize work on the engine. (this need adjusted for diesel owners. 😛 )
I’ve posted a couple times (1 & 2) before on Terrafugia’s Transition experimental airplane/car and wanted to include a little video from the Tampa Fox affiliate taken at the Sun ‘n Fun airshow in Landland Florida. A group of students from M.I.T. developed a two-seat aircraft that can take off and land at small airports and drive within seconds drive on the roadways. The airplane/car vehicle runs on regular gasoline and can fly at 115 mph or drive on highways at up to 65 mph.
A couple guys on their way to the popular spring aviation event called 
Although as readers may have surmised from 
I don’t normally think about 
I’m not a