Gray Watson's Blog -- July 2006

I've found that blogging is a useful way for me to record my thoughts and digital travels every so often.

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July 27, 2006   

• I was sent two different eletric car newspaper stories that I thought I'd blog about. The Wall Street Journal talks about electric cars getting some muscle.

  Some car makers are coming out with models they claim can go greater distances on a single battery charge and go much faster than previous versions. Others are adding carlike features such as sunroofs and steel doors to a slower class of battery-powered electric vehicles, hoping drivers will see them as perfect second cars. More states, meanwhile, are now adopting legislation allowing lower-speed electric vehicles on some public roads, though not on highways.

  AP talks about entrepreneurs racing to bring electric cars to market.

  Silicon Valley thinks it can do what Detroit could not -- create a thriving business selling electric cars. In the 1990s, General Motors and other automakers spent billions to develop battery-powered vehicles, but they flopped because most couldn't travel more than 100 miles before having to recharge.

  By tapping the Bay Area's engineering expertise and culture of innovation, a cluster of entrepreneurs, engineers and venture capitalists here are racing to bring their own electric cars to market. But unlike the Detroit and Japanese automakers, they're working on high-performance sports cars for wealthy car enthusiasts.

• Great article from the Onion on how Wikipedia Celebrates 750 Years Of American Independence. Excellent piece.

  "On July 25, 1256, delegates gathered at Comerica Park to sign the Declaration Of Independence, which rejected the rule of the British over its 15 coastal North American colonies," reads an excerpt from the entry. "Little did such founding fathers as George Washington, George Jefferson, and ***ERIC IS A FAG*** know that their small, querulous republic would later become the most powerful and prosperous nation in history, the Unified States Of America."

July 25, 2006   

• In looking for Bush's comment that the Muslims "hate our freedom", I found this very interesting piece that talks about how much they hate our policies. It a number of media sources which are all reporting on a pentagon report (local copy) which is highly critical of administration foreign policy. Other source: truthout.org, NY Times.

  MSNBC notes that the report, in a comment that directly goes against statements made by President Bush and senior cabinet members, says the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have united otherwise-divided Muslim extremists and given terrorists organizations like Al Qaeda a boost by "raising their stature."

  In fact, Wired News reported the board as saying, the US has not only failed to separate "the vast majority of nonviolent Muslims from the radical-militant Islamist-Jihadists," but American efforts may have " achieved the opposite of what they intended."

• Budget Hotel chain owner Robert Bigelow has gotten phase 1 of his expandable space module into orbit. Here's initial pictures from the vehicle which should stay in orbit for years. It's in a slow tumble right now which they hope to stabilize and improve the downlink.

  Bigelow Aerospace here is the odds-on-favorite to create a low-cost, low Earth orbit space complex that is accessible to the commercial sector. That goal has been bolstered by the success of their Genesis-1 expandable module, lofted into space July 12 courtesy of a converted Cold War rocketthe Ukrainian-built Dnepr booster provided by ISC Kosmotras.

  Even as Genesis-1 circles the Earth, work is already underway for a Genesis-2 launch before years end. That flight is expected to lead six months later to lofting a larger, more sophisticated module called Galaxy.

• Belkin has come out with a cool Skype wireless phone. It is about the size of a cellphone but uses 802.11 wireless to get to the Internet via your local access point. Then you use the Skype VOIP service which is owned by Ebay. Skype right now is free but they are going to start charging for Skype to normal phone calls.

  The Belkin Wi-Fi Phone for Skype doesn't require a PC and will work anywhere in the world where you have secured or open access to a WiFi network. Any home, office, cafe, or municipal wireless access point that does not require browser-based authentication will do.

July 24, 2006   

• CNN Business, of all publications, did a pretty good piece on space elevators. They talk a lot about on the cost of launch platforms which I guess makes sense and about the development of viable carbon nanotube materials to make the elevator cable.

  Not only would an elevator slash launch costs, but it would increase the amount of cargo capacity for orbital trips. More than 90 percent of the space shuttle's weight is fuel, with cargo making up less than 5 percent. On the elevator, no fuel is necessary, because the car would be electric, with power cells energized by a ground-based laser beam.

  A carbon nanotube string the width of sewing thread could easily lift a large car. A nanotube elevator ribbon would need to be no thicker than plastic food wrap. Nanotubes would also make the elevator car light, though large. "This material is applicable to everything," says Ken Dividian, former director of operations for the X Prize Foundation and the current NASA contractor overseeing the Centennial Challenges program, which helped coordinate the Space Elevator Games. "NASA is very interested in this technology."

• So anyone who gets angry when they lump the US and Israel together should remember our actions this past week. We sent Rice to talk about peace and a ceasefire after giving the Israeli military time to soften up Hezbollah while we rush them high guided munitions (NY Times) and high grade jet fuel. The Independent newspaper had a cover picture on Thursday showing the flags of the countries who were in favor of a ceasefire and those that were not (click on right image for larger version). Only US, Britain, and Israel were in the not column. We are sticking our necks out for them in a way that is just not in our country's best interest. We are painting an even larger target on our heads and will pay the price. Bush said that "they hate our freedom" but in reality, it is obvious to me at least that they hate our policies and our behavior.

July 20, 2006   

• So I didn't know about these products but you can mount these cell-phone repeaters (or this one) on the outside of our office to improve cell-phone coverage.

  It is designed to improve the call or data transmission quality of an area by receiving, amplifying and re-transmitting signals of the base station into a specified area. Some service providers have reported their customers getting as much as 4000sq - 6000sq ft of coverage, this however will depend on the strength of the signal being received by the outdoor antenna.

  The benefits of the JD65-XT Indoor Repeater Kit are numerous. It provides a wireless improvement in reception to areas that were once affected by poor cellular reception. All devices operating within the frequency range of the repeater will see an improvement in performance. Multiple phones and other handheld devices throughout a building can benefit from a wireless repeater.

July 19, 2006   

• Here's a story and pictures of Bush's impromptu massage of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. It's pretty evident that she is immediately uncomfortable and has to shrug off. Any person working in a modern American office should recognize this as inappropriate behavior at best and sexual harassment at the worst. Very creepy and unfortunate. His reaction reminds me of a kid caught stealing. Here's the video from Youtube. More sources: truthdig, hammeroftruth.

July 18, 2006   

• Pretty amazing animation of Flight 77 striking of the Pentagon on 9/11. There are so many conspiracy nuts and tin-foil hats out there claiming that a missile hit the Pentagon that it is nice to see someone spend some time to amass evidence in support of reality for a change.

July 17, 2006   

• So I've not been blogging much recently but I've been shaking my head reading the various reports out of Israel, Jordan, Syria, and the "Palestinian territories" over the past 2 weeks. I can only describe it as a shit-storm. Here's a good piece about Israel's disproportional response. What started with the capture of a Israeli soldier has escalated into round 43123 of their war. Part of me wants to help. Part of me wants to walk backwards through the sand, erasing (if possible) our footprints. Part of me wants to just nuke the place and start over.

July 13, 2006   

• So I'm a big fan of the Firefly Sci-Fi series. Here's its IMDB page. It was a short-lived series on Fox created by Joss Whedon. Even though Fox didn't get it and it was canceled after less than a season, it's DVD sales and fan reaction was large enough that Joss was given $30 million to make Serenity, the movie. A canceled TV show never gets made into a full length movie which is a testimony to the dedication of the fans (and the stupidity of Fox). So I've bought the DVDs of the series, loaned them to friends to "pass it on", signed a petition for HBO to pick it up, and sent mail to HBO. Yeah, I'm addicted.

  I'm a big science fiction fan although I've picky about it. Although I can put up with warp drives and laser weapons, I have a low threshold for stupid uniforms, unrealistic action, and fuzzy green critters. I'm a big fan of the most recent Star Wars Enterprise "prequel" but I can't stand the original with the security offices that always die and the captain beaming down on every mission to the new dangerous planet. Firefly combines a wild-west environment with futuristic hardware and common social-political struggles. Add excellent writing and great characters and you have a very entertaining show with thought provoking points combined with laugh out loud moments. Well done Joss and team.

July 11, 2006   

• The FBI is putting forth a bill to require ISPs to facilitate Net tapping. This will allow the FBI to sit in Washington and jack into every email, web-download, or VOIP stream. Given that much of the judicial oversite into wiretaps has been weakened, this is a recipe for the police state -- just look under ingredients. I don't doubt that it will give the FBI more crime fighting tools but I think it crosses the line between "big brother" and safety.

  The FBI claims that expanding the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act is necessary to thwart criminals and terrorists who have turned to technologies like voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.

  "The complexity and variety of communications technologies have dramatically increased in recent years, and the lawful intercept capabilities of the federal, state and local law enforcement community have been under continual stress, and in many cases have decreased or become impossible," according to a summary accompanying the draft bill.

• Two Italian secret service officials were arrested last week for in connection with the "extraordinary rendition" of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, a radical cleric. He was snatched by the CIA and sent to Egypt where he was claimed to be tortured during interrogations. The Italians also seek to arrest 3 CIA operatives and 22 other Americans because of the action.

  The government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, defeated at the polls in April, repeatedly denied having any knowledge of such a C.I.A. operation on Italian soil. It also refused to sign off on extradition requests put forward last year by Milanese prosecutors against the 22 Americans suspected in involvement in the case.

• Another article about how China's Glaciers are Retreating. Most of the country's water supply is coming from these and we can only hope that the government has plans in place to build desalination or other sources. It's also amazing to me that the Gobi desert is growing at a rate of about 950 square miles per year -- further proof of the effects of global warming.

  The report comes as concerns over China's water supply are rising. A 2005 government survey found that about 300 million Chinese drink unsafe water tainted by chemicals and other contaminants while one in three rural inhabitants lacks access to safe drinking water.

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