irreality

Be energy independent?  Foolish Americans…

“I’d hope that the general public in the United States would be wiser than to be deceived into thinking that the U.S. can ever be energy independent”

So says Prince Turki al-Faisal, of … where else?  Saudi Arabia, of course, the worlds largest oil exporter, who has been one of our biggest suppliers of oil for entirely too long.

“You can’t get rid of oil. You can’t get rid of fossil fuels — gas and coal — unless you want to price yourself out of existence”

“If you are going to be paying for wind, electric and solar energy equivalents that cost five or 10 times more than it costs to use oil, you are going to price yourself out of the market. You are going to lose whatever competitiveness you have in your products.”

Sure sounds like someone’s worried that the endless stream of American dollars may eventually start to run dry.

Just your everyday average 700+HP AWD Nissan GT-R…

Switzer Performance pulls off this monstrous upgrade with bigger turbos, bigger intercoolers, custom fuel management, and by surgically removing emission components such as the catalytic converters.

Switzer Performance's P800 Nissan GT-R

The final results are brutal – over 700 horsepower at the wheels, while keeping the rest of the car intact and on a diet of 93 octane fuel.  More pictures and first drive comments can be found at Jalopnik.com.

Japenese tuner garage Kids Heart unveiled their newest creation this weekend at the Nagoya Auto Trend show.  Yes, that really is an R35 Nissan GT-R front end…

(thanks to jalopnik.com for the story and pictures!)

… and it really is welded to the back two-thirds of an M35 Nissan Stagea.

Kid’s Heart calls it called the “StaGT-R”.

I call it absolutely brilliant.

This is a short read, but it’s an interesting topic. I have to confess that I am inclined to agree – the more time I spent in Everquest2, and the less I spent outside the game, the easier it was for me to get down and feel like shit about everything. Of course, one could argue that too much of anything is a bad thing, but with MMORPGs being such notorious time sinks, and people easily becoming addicted to playing them, I’m a little surprised that the numbers aren’t higher.

Virtual online games involve chatting with people, performing quests together, forming groups and role-playing. One of the largest surveys of people who play virtual games, however, has found that time spent playing is linked to depression.

Researchers at Northwestern University surveyed 7,000 players of the virtual game EverQuest II. They found that depression levels in the groups ranged from almost 21% in people who didn’t play the game that often to more than 30% in those who played a lot. “This could mean that highly active players get more depressed or that depressed people are more likely to be active role players,” said the author of the study, Noshir Contractor, a professor of behavioral science.

The study was presented last week at a meeting of the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science. The study also found that many players underestimate the amount of time they spend playing and that women are the most dedicated and satisfied players. Studying people who play virtual games is important, Contractor said. “In many ways it’s a microcosm of our existence in the general social world.”

Last Thursday, a new wind farm was brought online and was quietly mentioned in USA Today.  But it’s not here in the United States – it’s in Mexico.

Spanish energy company Acciona Energia says the 6,180-acre farm should generate 250 megawatts of electricity with 167 turbines, 25 of which are already operating. The rest should be on line by the end of the year, making the project the largest of its kind in Latin America.

It will produce enough energy to power a city of 500,000 people

“If we don’t do something about this problem of climate change it probably could become — I’m sure it already is — one of the biggest threats to humanity,” said President Felipe Calderon

While the Department of Energy has claimed that wind power could generate 20% of US electricity by 2030, we’ve a long way to go.  American wind farms only generated about 1% of the entire US electricity supply in 2008.

2030 is a long way off, and may be too long for us to wait.  It is my hope that part of the massive infrastructure rebuilding that President Obama is pushing for will help push this technology further, resulting in more farms and more efficient turbines.

The Daily Mail is reporting that giant energy-guzzling Plasma flat screens are expected to be banned under legislation due to be agreed by the EU this spring.

Plasma screens have been nicknamed the ‘4×4s’ of the living room because they use up to four times as much electricity and are responsible for up to four times as much carbon dioxide as traditional cathode ray tube sets.

The most energy intensive will be phased out under the new EU standards for minimum energy performance, which will follow the voluntary withdrawal of the traditional 100watt light bulb.

The moves are part of an effort to tackle climate change by stemming the spiralling electricity consumption in households. It involves phasing out wasteful devices and introducing low-energy alternatives.

Since LCD flat screens are much more energy efficient, they are unlikely to be banned.

In the “That’s freaking cool” news department:

The University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Wausau, Wis., company have come up with a 37-inch, bullet and bomb-proof Humvee tire based on a polymeric web.

Honeycomb bullet & bomb-proof Humvee tire

Pretty awesome stuff.

The patent pending Resilient design relies on a precise pattern of six-sided cells that are arranged, like a honeycomb, in a way that best mimics the “ride feel” of pneumatic tires. The honeycomb geometry also does a great job of reducing noise levels and reducing heat generated during usage—two common problems with past applications.   …. Although the military application is the most urgent primary market, Veihl says the tire has potential for virtually any vehicle where a flat tire causes significant headaches. That includes ATVs, mining equipment, farm machinery and construction equipment. The passenger automobile industry may be on the horizon as well.

And perhaps the best part of it all – costs are expected to be about the same or less than current tires.  Delivery should be underway in 2011.

It sure looks like it.

The Austin Business Journal is reporting that a memo has been sent out to Dell workers asking them to consider taking up to five days of unpaid time off to further help the company save money and prevent layoffs.

According to spokesman David Frink, the memo from CEO Michael Dell says the new program calls for a temporary companywide hiring freeze, the elimination of contract employees, severance packages to those who depart voluntarily, and a voluntary furlough of one to five days. The memo also states that more layoffs may be necessary if the other elements of the program do not achieve enough cost savings.

A sobering memo indeed, as Dell Computer Corporation is one of Central Texas’ largest companies.

“We’re implementing a program that helps better position Dell for long-term competitiveness,” says Frink. “What we’re trying to do is address costs in a way that gives employees more choices.”

This memo follows an announcement last March disclosing the planned shutdown of Dell’s desktop manufacturing facility and layoffs of 8,800 in an effort to save money.

And if you think about it, it’s not a half bad idea.

“They need to go there more with the psychology of knowing that you are a pioneering settler and you don’t look forward to go back home again after a couple a years,” he said.

“At age 30, they are given an opportunity. If they accept, then we train them, at age 35, we send them. At age 65, who knows what advances have taken place. They can retire there, or maybe we can bring them back.”

When interviewed by AFP, America’s second man to walk on the moon asked -

“If we are going to put a few people down there and ensure their appropriate safety, would you then go through all that trouble and then bring them back immediately, after a year, a year and a half?”

Depending on planetary alignment, a trip to Mars could be anywhere between 34 million and 250 million miles.  At best, with current technology it would take around a year and a half to make a round trip, so obviously we would not be able to make a return trip right away.  But what if we didn’t have to return right away?  What if we could return 5 years later with even more people, supplies, and experiments, while we supplement the colony with unmanned flights before then?

Of course, there is no telling what would have to be done first before men could even consider staying on Mars, and with technology advancements things could be very different by the time we actually are ready send people there.

NASA is currently working out tenative plans to send a manned mission to Mars around 2030 or 2040.