My Desultory Blog

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.

Category: Automotive, Video-TV | No Comments »
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!
🙂

Rally Rollover – Subaru Nation

Category: Automotive, Video, Volkswagen | 2 Comments »
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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???

The O’Reilly Factor Follow up Segment – March 30,2006

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Posted By RichC on March 31, 2006

How much would you pay for this ‘keyboard?’ Nope that’s not quite enough. Ebay has it listed for a few more dollars than you were thinking. ($19K?)
🙂
This item is priced for true collectors and most likely wealthy ones with an interested in items from World World II and Nazi Germany. Its and Enigma electrical cryptography machine. Obviously in looking at the bidding on Ebay the item is valued at a few more dollars than my first computers. I’ll post a photo of my first portable someday — and no its not a slide rule, although I did use one of those!

The Enigma electrical cryptography machine was used by the Germans in 1925 after realizig the British found it realtively easy to cracked their codes in World War I. The machine improved on the monoalphabetic ciphers (where letters are exchanged in a one-to-one fashion throughout a piece of text) by altering the cipher each time a new letter was encoded, giving the machine over 10,000,000,000,000,000 possible keys.

A best selling novel was written by Robert Harris and movie called Enigma with Dougray Scott and academy award winner Kate Winslet release in 2001.

Category: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
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Posted By RichC on March 29, 2006

The President has his work cut out for him in gaining national acceptance for a new US energy plan. Almost everyone is talking about energy these days, particularly oil since the barrel price has steadied in the mid- $60 per barrel range and gasoline at the pump is about $2.50/gallon nationally. (Wednesday, March 29, 2006, NYMEX West Texas Intermediate for May delivery closed up $0.38 at $66.45 per barrel.)

I happen to be a supporter of the President’s Advanced Energy Initiative and have hopes that our nation discusses and agrees on some kind of improved energy policy.

The President goal is, and actually has been, to reduce our use of fossil fuels, particularly foreign sources. (10 billion in alternative energy since 2001) One of the ways he outlines is through the use of technology and “the innovative spirit of America.” He proposes steps toward energy conservation, the repairing and modernizing our energy infrastructure, and is encouraging only increasing our energy supplies in ways that protect and improve the environment.

I believe too many on the environmental left do not factor in our countries financial soundness when they talk radical environmental change. Their deference to our national economy puts our country at risk. A sound environmental policy keeping the the economy growing is vital to national security for without reasonably prosperous conditions, the support of protecting the environment will surely take a back seat.

Back to energy — consider the President recognizes that the US spends more than half a billion dollars a day on imported oil, he has developed the Advanced Energy Initiative. Our country has been spending considerable amounts of tax dollars (billions) developing cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable alternative energy sources. Because of this, technology has now brought us far closer to being able to offset dirtier forms of energy as well as some imported oils. This new Initiative calls for even more billions, and has submitted a budget with a 22% increase in funding for clean-energy technology.

First, President Bush’s plan focuses on transportation. His plan intends to reduce our imported petroleum through technologies that “reduce oil use by improving efficiency, expansion of alternative fuels from homegrown biomass, and development of fuel cells that use hydrogen from domestic feedstocks.” Second, is how we use energy in our homes, offices and factories. Instead of relying on natural gas or electricity produced by natural gas, he intends promote generating more electricity from clean coal, pushing advanced nuclear power, and will encourage renewables like solar and wind.

It is easy to dislike the President for many things (depending on how your see his leadership), but he has supported a variety (keyword – variety) of alternatives that everyone might not always see eye-to-eye with. Ten billion dollars is significant and a 22% increase for that budget is the largest increase any President has proposed. His constant use of the bully pulpit is nothing to sneeze at either — he spent a considerable amount of time even during the State of the Union Address … some call it rhetoric, but that’s what President’s do when they push for their agenda. (most Presidents have done far less)

I recorded a little discussion on CNBC on ‘just one’ of the solutions (ethanol) that deals with our dependence on foreign oil … it was an interesting interview.

CNBC discusses Ethanol

Category: Energy, Environment, Video | 2 Comments »
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Posted By RichC on March 29, 2006

There was an excellent program on public television’s NOVA Tuesday night detailing the DARPA Challenge that I mentioned back in October of 2005. I’ve included the intro video clip below, but the program is well worth watching as it introduces the different teams, individuals and strategies. Considering none of the ‘driverless’ vehicles went farther than 7 miles in 2004, this year was a huge success for several teams.

Perhaps the primary reason for mentioning this program is because the Sanford team built their computers, video camera, lasers and GPS equipment around a Volkswagen Touareg TDI diesel. In their first year competing for the 2 million dollar prize, they focused on the software end of robotics and kept the hardware realatively simple. This proved to be a winning strategy.
One observation I made after watching the program and seeing the many failures robotic vehicles had in discerning obsticles, was that finishing this race was victory enough. It was quite an impressive combination of brains and creativity that someday may find its place in future vehicles. As some of us conclude, it would be nice if the purpose was non-military rather than yet another unmanned weapon platform. Nevertheless we do need the military and hopefully future robotic vehicles and equipment will save the lives of those fighting to protect us from enemies while securing our nation.

If the program reairs be sure to check it out. I’ll include a web streaming intro clip below. (or for a downloadable, higher quality H.264 20meg Quicktime clip just right-click/save as)

Nova DARPA Challenge Program

Category: Automotive, Video | 1 Comment »
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Posted By RichC on March 28, 2006

Jeff, a good friend of mine had the gall to send back a few photos while skiing in Canadian Rockies today … then follow up with a phone call asking if he should dine on steak or seafood tonight. I recommend steak and hope you choke on it!
🙂
Not only am I stuck in rainy Ohio this week while he is up in Canada skiing and living the high life (literally … see continental divide photo below), my wife just so happened to phone me only moments while lounging on Delray Beach in Florida. Ouch, two jabs in one day — I’m doing something wrong?

Jeff took the photo above this morning from the Continental Divide, unfortunately the small sizes don’t do the photos justice. He is looking south from Sunshine Village in Alberta Canada. Sunshine Village is a popular ski resort situated 1½ hour west of Calgary in the Canadian Rockies; 15 minutes from Banff. The weather this time of year is warming slightly at the lower elevations, especially during the day, but still can be quite cold at the mountain peaks.

Have a good time bud … if I were more of a snow boarder or skier I’d really be jealous.

Category: Travel | No Comments »
Tags: canada, rockies, skiing

Posted By RichC on March 27, 2006

This patent/technology story was too much for me to pass on. It is amazing what strange things people will work to patent and most likely promote pretty well. In this particular Samsung patent application, the cell phone is equipped with a perfume sprayer that release an odor at the appropriate time. I’ll not go into detail, but here’s a blog link that details the patent application. Is it me or is this just odd?
🙂

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Posted By RichC on March 26, 2006

I’ve waited a week to post my concerns about the sport of rugby which is growing quickly in the United States. (far more popular in other countries) My son is a sophomore and this is his first year on the team which is comprised of students from a couple different local high schools. Rugby is a physical game requiring an array of skills from endurance, physical ‘beastliness’ and as well as practice and conditioning — which may not be sufficient. After the first two matches, the three teams involved has had, ‘in my opinion’ too many severe injuries: 4 broken legs, a broken arm, 17 stitch cut along with the usual bruises, sprains, strains, small cuts and bloodied noses. All of this in two matches mind you, so I’m not the only parent showing concern.

I decided to talk to internet friends and search statistics on Rugby. It was sort of a fishing expedition into what is normal and abnormal, yet I still couldn’t find numbers to quantify participation and injuries like I wanted. In talking to college age intermural rugby players, the first thing I found out was that there was an immediate concern from all I talked to with the number of broken bones in our first two matches. A 3rd year medical student who played rugby 3 of his undergrad years indicated that concern for his health when he was finally accepted into med school was a reason to sit out his senior year — he had too much to risk. Others had played throughout their college years and couldn’t recall anyone with a broken leg or having to call the rescue squad. Interestingly last week, the rescue squad came 3 times — the final time they sent the ladder firetruck since the rescue squads were still returning from the prior calls.

In the same vein, the players that I talked to overseas indicated a very similar story. One English ‘chap’ had played a six years without seeing this kind of carnage. He was quick to point out that the game is physical, but that sportmanship, coaching and attentive referees usually maintain game control and they should stop illegal play and dangerous hits. He pointed out that the physical conditioning of our teams might not be as tailored to rugby as it needs to be.

The biggest concern for players of rugby are for injuries to the head, particularly for those not wearing head protection. Statistics state 25% of serious rugby injuries are to the head (1). (only two out of 60 players had head protection last week) According to the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Indiana University Medical Center, “rugby players should be encouraged to use the limited protective gear that is allowed: wraps, tape, joint sleeves, scrum caps, and facial grease to prevent lacerations. Mouthguards are strongly recommended at any level of play and should be mandated.” Another concern is that of proper coach preparation that stresses the conditioning of players. “Coaches should be experienced and attend clinics or complete video courses on medical emergencies and safe techniques of the game. Injury frequency and severity can be decreased by adequate preseason training and conditioning, proper tackling and falling techniques, strengthening of neck muscles, and allowing only experienced, fit athletes to play in the front row.”

The concern is enough that The United States Rugby Football Foundation on January 9, 2006 granted $14,000 to study safety in high school rugby. An immediate concern to me as a parent is that the Rugby Foundation’s earlier finding was that “5% of the injuries sustained in matches were attributed directly to action that was ruled illegal activity/foul play by a referee or disciplinary committee. While referees are responsible for penalizing foul play on the field, a commitment should be made by coaches, parents, and athletes to eliminate this avoidable injury risk from the game.”

After the number and severity of injuries in the first two games, I was particularly attentive to both teams this week. Frankly, from a spectators perspective, I was not able to see anything that looked unsportsmanlike in this weekend’s match. Both teams played hard although not necessarily well. (we lost but the match was without major injury) Nevertheless, I’ve made my parenting rounds and noted concerns from other parents as well since two of the broken legs were on our team. One player continues to be on pain medicine and is still in the hospital a week after his snapped leg.

There was a time I enjoyed watching my son compete in sports … win or lose … it was fun. Now I find myself more concerned that there will be another serious injury. Thankfully so far for Taylor, he generally just comes home caked in mud (and blood, most from his own nose) and complaining only that he is sore, bruised or was stepped on with those metal cleats (2)! (also I’m going to start covering my car seats in plastic.)

On a side note, in the US, American style football has put an extraordinary focus on safety and improving the gear in protecting players. As a comparison I would be curious as to what kind of thought is giving to high school and college rugby safety by those administrators who oversee safety of student athletes?

Category: Misc, Sports | 18 Comments »
Tags: cincinnati, ohio, rugby, taylor, west chester

Posted By RichC on March 25, 2006

I’ve been wanted to comment on one of the leading electric motor companies in the US — WaveCrest Laboratories in Rochester Hills, Michigan. Wavecrest is primarily known in the hybrid technology area by producing a high performance electric wheel. I’m not sure if anyone else as called it that, but the their brushless, high output motors are actually located directly at the wheels of a vehicle, be it a car or bike. (see TidalForce high performance bicycles) Locating the electric motor right where its power is used enhances dynamic performance and control of vehicles. They provide a high level of both positive and negative torque at the wheel, on demand. According to WaveCrest, their motors exhibit the highest torque density in the industry, which will eventually enable many user benefits including increased interior volume of vehicles.

The motors are low-speed, high torque and respond quickly to all computer controlled systems like anti-lock braking, traction control and vehicle stability systems. The WaveCrest motors have built in regenerative braking systems that reduces brake wear and extends range in electric operation mode by returned stopping and slowing power back to the power source. Used in combination with a power generation system, there is no need for a ICE in provided direct power to a vehicle as a Wavecrest motor in each wheel can provide 100% of the power needed.

The first place we are most likely to see the Wavecrest motors being used extensively are in bicycle police officers and military troops. The additional power and use of electric motors for rough offroad terrain made them an easy sell. Even I would like a TidalForce bike.
🙂

Pat Goss talks about Wavecrest Hybrids on Motorweek

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