My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on April 7, 2006

I spoke to soon in my complementary post in regard to Washington DC and our elected senators last night. Today the idea of a compromise seems to have disappeared and stonewalling is coming from both parties. So much for believing there was some sanity in Washington.

WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters)
U.S. senators failed on Friday to agree on a plan that would give millions of illegal immigrants a chance for citizenship, leaving the fate of a radical overhaul of immigration policy in doubt.

But the measure was shelved ahead of a two-week congressional break amid partisan bickering over amendments, possibly dooming efforts to pass comprehensive reform before the November mid-term elections.

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Posted By RichC on April 7, 2006

Dealing with illegal immigration reform in Washington while humanely dealing with the 11+ million Central American and Mexican people in the United States is a very challenging situation. First dealing with those who are here illegally by force is impossible; we need a better solution. Second if we don’t have border security, no matter who is sent back, they’ll continue to cross back over again and again. Thankfully for as much criticism our legislators receive, yesterday they seem to be able to creatively compromise a solution that to me is some of the most reasonable legislation in a long time — at least the Senate version.

The new bill has been written by Republican Senators Chuck Hagel and Mel Martinez and has at least 65 supporters. Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman believes there are enough senators onboard to override any potential filibuster by opponents — either on the right or the left. The House has presented a much stiffer proposal than in the one yesterday which has no so-called amnesty provisions for putting illegals on an eventual path to citizenship.

The compromise that finally got enough Senators concluded that an “estimated one million illegal immigrants who have been in the U.S. for less than two years would have to leave, or remain here illegally. Some three million or so illegal immigrants who have been in the U.S. between two and five years will have to report to their prior port of entry into the U.S. to be reclassified as temporary workers. The roughly 7 million immigrants who’ve spent more than five years here would be on a virtually guaranteed path to citizenship, provided they stay employed, pay a fine and back taxes and learn English.”

It will be interesting to see where the bill goes from here and if the President backs the Senate proposal as most suspect. Nevertheless, the political system is working and the solution being supported by most in the Senate seems realistic. I hope the rest of America climbs aboard and that we gain a handle on illegals living and working in the shadows.

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Posted By RichC on April 6, 2006

Today’s blog post is a little off the wall, but considering my father retired from the elevator business after 45 ‘up and down’ years … (groan … one) I thought he would appreciate me taking this topic to the ‘next level.’ (groan … two) If you can still bear to keep reading, the idea of a space elevator is does have some merit as a way to move cargo and people through our atomsphere and into space. It sounds sort of quirky but one company sees this as very realistic. They actually has a running countdown to an April 12, 2018 launch.

Imagine a carbon nanotube pole extending miles (62,000+) to an orbiting space station and complex that might offer a launching point for further exploration and research. The vehicle (elevator car) would slide up this pole and eventually reach the station without the usual navigation challenges that are currently inherit with a shuttle or rocket vehicle. There is a company that is beginning to move forward with experiments and plans to build such an elevator. Check out Lift Port Group.

LiftPort, Inc. was established in 2003 with the goal of building a space elevator. Located in Bremerton, WA, we have been diligently working toward that goal. Over the last two and a half years, we’ve gone through 14 generations of robots, successfully climbed over 1000ft, and opened our first carbon nanotube factory in Millville, NJ. We are recognized by the media as the leaders in space elevator technology. LiftPort, Inc. is a privately held Washington state ‘C’ corporation. We currently have a number of shareholders and a staff of 14 team members.
The company’s mission is simple: to build a complete space transportation infrastructure with a focus on the space elevator. Towards that goal, the team at LiftPort, Inc. is partnering with universities, research labs, Individuals, non-profit organizations, and private businesses to develop the necessary technologies and capabilities. The subject of research for more than a century, the space elevator is a unique way to ferry cargo and people into space. Recent advances in technology, most notably the development of carbon nanotube composites, now appear to make building it feasible. Initial research reports on building the space elevator that draw upon these discoveries have now been completed. As proposed in these preliminary reports, the space elevator will consist of a carbon nanotube composite ribbon stretching some 62,000 miles (100,000 km) from earth to space. The elevator will be anchored to a specially designed ocean going vessel named, “The LiftPort” near the equator in the Pacific Ocean, and to a small man-made counterweight in space. Lifters (robotic elevator cars) will move up and down the ribbon, carrying such items as satellites, solar power systems, exploration probes, factories, and eventually people into space. LiftPort’s plan is to take the concept from the research stage to commercial development.
The company is in the process of putting together a technology, marketing and operations team, as well as a technical and operation advisory board.

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Posted By RichC on April 5, 2006

Oh Boy … I wish I was home today to download the brand new “Boot Camp” patch for my Apple duo-core Intel-Based Macintosh computer. This patch is offered by Apple and will allow their new Macs to run the Windows XP operating system as well as most Windows software. This has been something that many have wanted to do for years and has plagued those of us in the printing and publishing world since computers took the printing industry by storm in the 1980s and 90s. (now … I’m not so naive to believe we will be without problems)

In my business, we have had to marry the creative and artistic work that has “always been easier on the Apple Macintosh” with the files and DOS/Windows type documents used buy the majority of customers and businesses we serve. In the early days of “Desk Top Publishing” and computer-generated design and graphics, this was a huge issue. Only recently have the advancements in software closed the divide; it is not nearly the issue it once was. Software companies like Adobe Systems have made working with two platforms far easier and most of the software vendors have worked closely with Microsoft (the window operating system developer) to improve on all aspects of font and graphics control.

Back to the story — When Apple announced the Intel-based Macs back in January the hackers and programmers began attempts to load the Windows operating system onto the new hardware. In fact, there was a contest to see who could do this first — yes it’s a ‘geek’ thing. Apple seems to have taken the same approach as the contest-winning hackers. The problem is that Apple uses a start-up technology that isn’t supported by Windows so the engineers at Apple went to work and created a patch called “Boot Camp” that allows the EFI (Apples start-up system) to communicate with Microsoft Windows XP in a computer language it understands. Sweet!

Apple must have been working on this a bit longer than the hackers, because what they bring is a nearly complete set of drivers, meaning that Windows XP should run on the Intel-based Macs at full speed. (Hackers didn’t have time to dig quite that deep)

To install Windows, Microsoft will still be kept happy because one is still required to purchase a copy of Windows XP with Service Pack 2, either Home or Professional editions. (the full edition … not the upgrade version) File sharing is also going to present a problem if the FAT32 format partitions are not used — and they most likely aren’t as they can’t support files larger than 4 GB. (Macs can see these drives and even copy files) But if your Windows partition uses the NTFS format, which allows larger partition sizes, the Mac can see files, but can’t write to the drive. Any other real negative is that Mac formatted drives can’t even be read by the Windows System without the use of special software such as Mediafour’s MacDrive.

As a Mac guy commented, “I’m more excited about Boot Camp than I was about the hackers’ method, mostly because this is something that regular computer users can do — it’s a simple installation method that doesn’t require any of the reformatting or file-tinkering that made the hackers’ method one for serious geeks only.”

Walt Mossberg the Technology Guru at the Wallstreet Journal has been quietly privy to the new Boot Camp for a few days now (he kept quiet) and made these comments:

I’ve been testing Windows on a new iMac for several days, and, except for a couple of trifling annoyances, it runs perfectly, just like a stand-alone Windows PC. I was able to install Boot Camp, and Windows XP Pro, on the Mac in under an hour. After that, I installed 15 Windows programs, most unavailable in Mac versions, and all ran properly.

In the meantime, the ability to run Windows natively on sexy Apple hardware opens up a new world. It finally opens up the stylist Macs to the business world — which has for years rejected them because they didn’t fit with the corporate Windows-based networks. No matter, noticing the nearly 10% pop in Apple Computer share price today, Wallstreet seems to like the news and so do I.

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Tags: bootcamp, intel, mac, windows

Posted By RichC on April 4, 2006

Are you a stock trader — or maybe a want to be stock trader? If so, you have eight weeks to build a fantasy portfolio that grows faster than anyone else in the nation and win a $110,000 Maserati (taxes paid). I really don’t want to give anyone else a heads up on this but considering the CNBC Porfolio Challenge website is overloaded this morning it doesn’t look to be a problem. (unfortunately they have been flooded with people signing on, trading, etc — looks like they didn’t plan for such extraordinary interest?)

The contest begins today, April 4th and will run for 4 months. If you can trade stocks and build a portfolio faster and larger than anyone else with a ‘fantasy million squawkbucks,’ then you’ll be the one driving off with a new Maserati. I might even retire my VW TDI for this Italian crafted 180mph performance luxury supercar.

Another tidbit for those wanting to participate is that each day there will be an additional 2000 ‘Squawk-BONUS-bucks’ added to your account “if you answer a question correctly.” Also if you answer five days a week correctly then you will then be given an additional bonus of 5000 more squawkbucks. So … if you start with a million, invest nothing but answer all five question for the week correctly you be up 15,000 for the week.

Here’s some help with the first bonus question and answer: How many of the Dow 30 stocks finished Q1 with a gain? 21
Good luck … but the Maserati is mine!

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Posted By RichC on April 4, 2006

There are some very interesting rumors floating around about the Audi R8 potentially being powered by a diesel after the LeMans and Sebring performances. No doubt they know what they are doing with TDI engines and could very well be the first to bring the diesel engine to a US bound supercar. Some speculate that a diesel engine is an all but done deal, but wonder it if is going to be the 4.2 V8 TDI from the A8, or the V10 that is in the Volkswagen Touareg. I’m sort of hoping that they go all out with this thing (not that I’m buying one) and put the V12 TDI in it!

For a few more photos and a bit more information, check out Fourtitude.

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Posted By RichC on April 3, 2006

What do you get when you drive a 1995 Dodge Ram 3500 Pickup a million miles? A phone call and a ‘self-promotion’ book.

According to Autoblog, Chrysler CEO Tom LaSorda went down to his companies call center and along with a 20-year call center employee called Robert Swan to congratulate him on driving 1,000,000 miles on a 1995 Dodge Ram 3500 pickup. Along with a phone call, Mr LaSorta sent along a copy of the book “Forward: The American Heritage of DaimlerChrysler” with the inscription “Please enjoy this great book on the history of our company.” (get your copy for $10.80)
🙂

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Posted By RichC on April 2, 2006

An interesting segment on the PBS program Motorweek compared the driving style of two very different drivers. One driver was Henry Kopacz, one of the program’s staff test drivers who has a heavier foot and simulated an aggressive driving technique. The other was the director of the US Department of Energy’s Clean Cities program, Dennis Smith who emulated more fuel efficient driving practices. They drove identical Chrysler 300c vehicles with the Hemi V-8 engine. (its as cylinder deactivation)

The two drivers drove identical test loops and registered their mileage in each segment. I was surprise at the fractional differences in city style driving (about 4% different) while actually shocked that there was a nearly a 20% difference on the highway loop. Obviously driving slower at highway speeds makes a world of a difference. I keep an accurate online log of my mileage which is usually 75% highway driving at above speed limit speeds. If I can find the discipline, I might give a long slower speed highway run a try.

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Tags: driving, efficient, fuel, motorweek, television

Posted By RichC on April 1, 2006

It’s been a long week and before I run out of steam I wanted to get this clip posted for April 1. Its ‘no joke’ and amazing these guys walked away uninjured. Click the Quicktime clip to watch the ‘rollover’ from three different angles: driver-cam, spectator video and the car mounted camera. It does makes me think my VW TDI friends on the RallyVW team — keep her on the road Jon!
🙂

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Posted By RichC on March 31, 2006

In a bipartisan vote, Ohio Senate Republicans and Democrats passed a version of “Jessica’s Law,” which mandates prison terms of 25 years to life for the rape of a child under 13. The bill which heads to the house also includes 15 years to life for the attempted rape of a minor and mandatory prison terms for offenders convicted of sexual batter against a child under 13. I expect that the House members will quickly approve and send to the governor. There was also a third component of this newly passed bill and it deals with child abuse. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Interestingly ‘loud’ reporting just a week prior to this bill by Bill O’Reilly on a recent case in Franklin county by Judge John Connor, sentence a 19 count sex offender to house arrest. (see last weeks post) It does seem that Mr. O’Reilly’s uproar was well timed to put pressure on legislators???

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