Well I’ve gone a bit to political lately as I look back on the last several days of topics, but then that’s been the news in the U.S. this week. Unfortunately as I look beyond our borders, politics and events are even worse, so one more day on this topic.
The middle east is a pile of powder kegs just waiting to be ignited. It seems neither diplomacy or military force helps the situation.
Iraq saw yet another day of bombings, this time terrorists killed over 50 civilians with two bombs in a Baghdad marketplace. Although life for Iraqi’s is improving, the violence isn’t stopping. Seeing that most of the targets are innocent civilians, it is difficult to believe that “all would be well” if American forces just up and left? As terrible as it is in Iraq, a more concerning escalation is occurring between Palestinians and Israel … again. On Thursday a “Palestinian or an Israeli Arab” sprayed over 400 rounds in a school library in Jerusalem. The gunman, before being kill by a soldier, was able to make it through security checkpoints with his weapon and opened fire on students. Witnesses referred to it as a “slaughterhouse” as people in this 400 student seminary school jumped from windows. Combine this ugly event with praise for the attack from Hamas and comments that it was “heroic” will surely will not temper Israel’s response. Unfortunately Palestinians in Gaza didn’t respond any better. They took to the street on the news and celebrated, with people firing into the air and sounding their horns … even though Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, condemned the attack. Gaza will not be a very safe place to be in the next few days.
As crude oil hit $103.98 per barrel today, President Bush spoke at the 2008 Washington International Renewable Energy Conference. Although he stressed ethanol and pointed out that the federal government has invested more than $12 billion to research, develop and promotion of alternative energy, he did mention biodiesel in a positive light. (link)
Biodiesel is the most promising of these fuels. Biodiesel refineries can produce fuel from soybeans, and vegetable oils, and recycled cooking grease, from waste materials. All you out there with waste, you may be in business before you know it as this new technology kicks in. Most Americans — or, more Americans are beginning to realize the benefits of biodiesel every year. Last year, we produced 450 million gallons of biodiesel. That’s up 80 percent from 2006. Today there are more than 650 biodiesel fueling stations in America. There are hundreds of fleet operators that use biodiesel to fuel their trucks, and that’s just the beginning of what is going to be a substantial change in our driving habits.
On Tuesday Republicans selected their nominee for President and as expected Senator John McCain took the prize. With Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island voters selecting McCain over Mike Huckabee, the magic delegate number of 1191 has been reached.
For the Democrats, the picture is much less clear. The states have resulted in a much closer competition. Ohio and Rhode Island have gone to Clinton … and as Karl Rove would say, the “Granola eating anti-war liberals” in Vermont (smile) have opted for Barack Obama. The big enchilada, the state of Texas, was the closest of all the races and even at this hour the race is too close to call. (although Clinton is a couple percentage points in front of as of this posting — 12:30AM) EDIT 8 AM: Clinton Texas win confirmed; Tues. election results:
An interesting story to come out of watching the political news was that Texas Democrats have an interesting combination of a primary and caucus. Voters in this state are permitted to vote twice … see the Greta VanSusteran clip below.
Although there are local elections and issues on the ballot here in Ohio, the biggest attention is the selection of a Republican and Democrat candidate that will run for President in November. In the “delegate rich states” of Texas and Ohio, Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama have gone head to head in aggressive campaigning to be the Dem’s nominee. Senator John McCain has all but clinched the nomination for the Republicans although Mike Huckabee has yet to decide on giving up … “until the fat lady sings.” (I think I hear her) Whichever your party, today would be a good day to exercise your right to vote.
I’m slow in mentioning Volkswagen’s Geneva Auto Show announcement of a Diesel/Hybrid hatchback. I’ve been waiting for a more definitive news from Volkswagen and how North America fits in to their plan. Nevertheless, enough time has passed that I should a least say something … and I’ll say what most TDI owners are thinking, “what has taken a company so long to market a diesel hybrid?”
The new VW diesel hybrid is a familiar looking car — in fact it is the ‘über’ successful Golf model. This new vehicle will use the 1.4 liter 74 HP three-cylinder TDI engine found in the Polo BlueMotion, according to the German automotive news publication Auto Bild. For the hybrid electric side it will mate with a 27 HP electric motor and a nickel-metal hydride battery in the rear. The computer management circuitry will also employ regenerative braking and start/stop engine capability seen in other hybrid vehicles. Unique to Volkswagen though, is how this diesel/electric power is delivered to the wheels. VW will used their 7 – speed DSG gearbox rather than a CVT transmission in many hybrids. An impressive “energy monitor” will be on the instrument panel and will display exactly how the power is being produced and used. According to the press information, this VW TDI Hybrid will return nearly 70 MPG (69.9MPG), and it CO2 emission a small 90 g/km.
There is no news about ‘if’ or ‘when’ it will show up in the U.S., but according to a European report it will head to the UK late in 2009.
Leasing a car is a popular option when shopping for a new car and it makes sense in some situations. In fact as prices of new cars rise, so do the number of people opting for leasing since the initial monthly outlay is generally lower. According to Motorweek, over 17 million Americans are now in automobile leases. The long running PBS automotive television program offered some advice to those considering leasing and clearly points out the pluses and minuses. Besides the mileage overage charge, which got me in trouble back in the 1990s, Yolanda Vazquez points out that other overlooked costs are the acquisition fee, disposition fee and the “dreaded” early termination penalty.
An interesting option for those wanting out of a lease is LeaseTrader.com, a site that matches up those wanting to save money by opting for a secondhand lease and those needing out of a lease. If you are looking for low cost option, this might be a great place to get a deal from someone willing to “pay you” to acquire their lease? Check out the video clip below.
The Geneva Auto Show will have another new clean diesel vehicle which would probably appeal to families here in the U.S. — the Volkswagen Sharan BlueMotion. Unfortunately it is headed to the UK later this year with no indication that it is coming to North America. The turbo diesel powered Sharan offers an impressively low CO2 emission number (159g/km) and excellent fuel economy of 45.6 mpg UK — translates to about 38 mpg US.
The Sharan follows standard BlueMotion practice in that its 138bhp two-litre TDI turbo diesel engine has been modified for better fuel economy, while the gearbox has higher than standard ratios fitted. The ride height has been lowered by 25mm and the front cooling ducts have been repositioned, both in the interests of reducing aerodynamic drag.
I read a Washington Post story regarding border security measures which allows for searching hard-drives of someone’s computer entering the United States. Its a sensible approach to border security, but what will they find if someone wants to protect their data? Is there a way to still secure information? John Sawyer from the University of Florida IT security team wrote:
One method that I’d be willing to try is encryption, using the free, open-source tool, TrueCrypt. TrueCrypt creates an encrypted volume for storing sensitive information. The newest version — released last week — added support for Mac OS X (it already supports Windows and Linux). Applications like Firefox could even be run from the encrypted volume so that all browsing history and cached files would be encrypted. A key feature of TrueCrypt — in contrast to full disk encryption, which is visible when the computer boots — is that the TrueCrypt volume can’t easily be detected. It just looks like random data.
Since I already use Truecrypt on my VistaOS notebook, I attempted to create the hidden volume inside the fully encrypted volume mentioned by Sawyer. It worked like a charm and was a cinch. (HMM … cinch … that will be a post for tomorrow)
Here’s how it might work if someone was to have their sensitive data stored on their hard-drive with this ‘hidden volume encryption’ method. When a border agent (or thief) opens your computer they will request your login and expect that you would allow access. (easy enough to access the data on your hard-drive even without the login so that’s not really security) The agent would then detect the encrypted data volume and see the truecrypt files (.ts) and software — and again a request would be made to access this encrypted data. You would offer the password and access to this encrypted volume and it would mount revealing your data, BUT not the hidden encrypted volume inside which holds the information you want to protect. The beauty is that outside of a polygraph, there is no way to determine if you used this hidden volume inside the Truecrypt encrypted volume.
I also installed the newly released Macintosh Truecrypt software, but I noticed it doesn’t offer a hidden encrypted volume option … yet. (only the single encrypted volume)
For those of you with a taste for performance AND a sport utility vehicle that could use some biodiesel, checkout the diesel version of the Porsche Cayenne expected in 2009. Industry analyst Peter Schmidt indicated the the primary motivation for the diesel Porsche Cayenne is the cost of fuel and improving emissions in diesel technology. The engine fitted into the Cayenne will be an Audi built 3.2 liter twin turbo V6 and Automotive News Europe states that this 300 HP SUV will return about 30 mpg. (no indication whether this vehicle will make it to North America in 2009) See MotorAuthority article.
In a press conference on Thursday, President Bush referenced his administration’s heavy investing in renewable fuels and the problem this expansion creates as it competes for food crops (particularly corn based ethanol). The President stressed that we also “need more oil and gas exploration and for less money to be spent on foreign oil.” These remarks came as some areas of the United States have seen pump prices hit $4.00 per gallon. Its possible with summer around the corner that prices could go even higher, and this could make an already sluggish economy more vulnerable to recession. We can only hope that the Federal Reserves interest rate moves and the tax rebates headed in our direction this May will make a difference. My concern is that this extra cash will be spent on foreign oil or credit card debt and that this will leave very little tax rebate left to stimulate the American economy. (segment of the press conference below)
As terrible as it is in Iraq, a more concerning escalation is occurring between Palestinians and Israel … again. On Thursday a “Palestinian or an Israeli Arab” sprayed over 400 rounds in a school library in Jerusalem. The gunman, before being kill by a soldier, was able to make it through security checkpoints with his weapon and opened fire on students. Witnesses referred to it as a “slaughterhouse” as people in this 400 student seminary school jumped from windows. Combine this ugly event with praise for the attack from Hamas and comments that it was “heroic” will surely will not temper Israel’s response. Unfortunately Palestinians in Gaza didn’t respond any better. They took to the street on the news and celebrated, with people firing into the air and sounding their horns … even though Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, condemned the attack. Gaza will not be a very safe place to be in the next few days. 
As crude oil hit 
On Tuesday Republicans selected their nominee for President and as expected Senator John McCain took the prize. With Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island voters selecting McCain over Mike Huckabee, the magic delegate number of 1191 has been reached.
Although there are local elections and issues on the ballot here in Ohio, the biggest attention is the selection of a Republican and Democrat candidate that will run for President in November. In the “delegate rich states” of Texas and Ohio, Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama have gone head to head in aggressive campaigning to be the Dem’s nominee. Senator John McCain has all but clinched the nomination for the Republicans although Mike Huckabee has yet to decide on giving up … “until the fat lady sings.” (I think I hear her) Whichever your party, today would be a good day to exercise your right to vote.
An interesting option for those wanting out of a lease is 
The Geneva Auto Show will have another new clean diesel vehicle which would probably appeal to families here in the U.S. — the 
For those of you with a taste for performance AND a sport utility vehicle that could use some biodiesel, checkout the diesel version of the Porsche Cayenne expected in 2009. Industry analyst Peter Schmidt indicated the the primary motivation for the diesel Porsche Cayenne is the cost of fuel and improving emissions in diesel technology. The engine fitted into the Cayenne will be an Audi built 3.2 liter twin turbo V6 and Automotive News Europe states that this 300 HP SUV will return about 30 mpg. (no indication whether this vehicle will make it to North America in 2009) See 
In a press conference on Thursday, President Bush referenced his administration’s heavy investing in renewable fuels and the problem this expansion creates as it competes for food crops (particularly corn based ethanol). The President stressed that we also “need more oil and gas exploration and for less money to be spent on foreign oil.” These remarks came as some areas of the United States have seen pump prices hit $4.00 per gallon. Its possible with summer around the corner that prices could go even higher, and this could make an already sluggish economy more vulnerable to recession. We can only hope that the Federal Reserves interest rate moves and the tax rebates headed in our direction this May will make a difference. My concern is that this extra cash will be spent on foreign oil or credit card debt and that this will leave very little tax rebate left to stimulate the American economy. (segment of the press conference below)