Moonage SpaceDream

Watch out GM, there’s a new competitor in the hybrid market:

Actually, that’s the rear of the Aptera.  Pretty spacey lookin huh?  Might explain some of the UFO sightings in California of late.  Now, on a more serious note, this things gets something like 230 miles per gallon.

That’s the front of the Typ-1.  Looks like  a plane with the wings chopped off to me.  And, for all intents, it is.  Keep the aerodynamics and run it on electricity and you’ve got a low drag vehicle that doesn’t take a whole lot to get moving.  Toss in some pretty space-age digital only displays and you’ve really got something to play with.  Price it at less than $30,000 and you’ve actually got the potential to sell some of them as well.

Now, imagine the shape the US would be in if everyone were getting, at worst, 230 miles per gallon.  Figured it this way, that $200 a month on gasoline would be reduced to about $16.

What I do like about this thing is the outrageous mpg if you go that route ( they have an electric only option as well ).  What I don’t like is the rather spare interior.  It’s small, so you’re going to be right on top of everything inside.  More color, more flash, more gadgets are needed.  I hate white interiors.  Secondly, although I’m sure it’s an option not shown, flashier exterior paint jobs would be a boon as well.  This thing is a one trick pony, it can easily be a lot more appealing.  Other than that.  I’m hopped up about this.

I’ll bet GM is too.  They are promoting their Volt will be ready in a couple of years for mass markets.  Aptera is claiming they are right now.

Technorati Tags: aptera, gasoline, gm, hybrid, miles per gallon, mpg, typ 1, volt

A while back I did a little piece on the future of cars.  Namely I was writing about the Chevy Volt.  Well, actually it was more than a little while back.  It was actually January 2007.  Eighteen months later I see these headlines:

General Motors announced plans Tuesday to shut four truck and SUV plants that employ thousands of workers. It also said high gas prices are here to stay - and, with them, consumers’ growing preference for more fuel-efficient vehicles.…..

The company said it believes that high oil and gasoline prices will be the norm, and that prices are likely to go higher due to strong global demand for oil.…..

“These higher gasoline prices are changing consumer behavior and rapidly,” said Wagoner. “We don’t think this is a temporary spike or shift. We think it is permanent.”…….

He also announced that GM has approved production of the Chevrolet Volt, a so-called plug-in hybrid vehicle that can run about 40 miles without any use of gasoline. The Volt will be built in GM’s Hamtramck, Mich., plant and is due in showrooms by the end of 2010.……

“We believe it’s the biggest step yet in our industry’s move away from its historic, nearly complete reliance upon petroleum to power vehicles,” he said. “We believe the Volt is an important investment for the future of our company and our shareholders.”……

Now, I guess I should be thrilled they’re following my suggestion.  However, I just gotta wonder exactly how many Prious were sold in those same eighteen months?

I also gotta wonder why CNN refers to the Volt as “a so-called plug-in hybrid”?  Seems kinda snide for no reason at all to me.  If a person doesn’t have to go more than 40 or so miles between charges, it uses no gasoline at all.  In case of emergency, that electrical boost/back-up is there.  It is, in the truest sense, a hybrid.  Now, to put it complete perspective, a truly electric only car is NOT a hybrid.  It just strikes me these days that in order to make sure everyone knows CNN is a bunch of biased idiots, they go the extra mile.

I haven’t seen a Volt yet.  But, as I said eighteen months ago, make it cheap and I’m all over it!

Technorati Tags: Add new tag, chevrolet volt, chevy volt, cnn, fuel efficient vehicles, gas prices, gasoline prices, general motors, hamtramck mich, hybrid vehicle, more fuel efficient vehicles, plug in hybrid

Jeff Peckman wants Denver to form an extra-terrestrial affairs committee.  The reason is he has a video that proves aliens exist.  They apparently are about four feet tall.  He apparently got this video of the alien peeping through a window at night on infra-red ( night vision ) camera.  Of course, his main point is this proves a government cover-up.

Now, this is where it gets predictable.

Peckman’s former efforts in dealing with the council included a proposed ballot for “safety through peace” and most recently, a device to reduce the chaos of electromagnetic fields.

In support(?) of Peckman, a group of local high school students showed up at the meeting wearing, you guessed it, tin foil hats.

• May 30, 2008: Well, the day has pretty much come and gone, and all we got was a still from the video.  Not much proof of anything.  However, what I did get was something more interesting I think.  The video is from a fellow named Stan Romanek.  He caused a pretty good stir a few years ago with about five or ten people by predicting something would occur 12/12/03.  Nothing did.  Stan’s other problem, depending on when you asked the question, is he has been abducted by aliens.  And, has had hundreds of run-ins with aliens.  That is the source of the video we are supposed to believe how we perceive aliens forever.
• For those of you who do believe in what Peckman is doing, you can sign his petition here: http://www.extracampaign.org/

This just keeps getting better every day.

Technorati Tags: abduction, aliens, colorado, conspiracy, denver, electromagnetic fields, government, jeff peckman, petition, stan romanek, terrestrial affairs, tin foil hat, video

This is very cool:
 

The picture is of Phoenix landing on Mars and was taken by the Mars Orbiter.  Hard to imagine that there is so much stuff flying around and on Mars that they can now take pictures of each other.

Technorati Tags: jpl, mars, nasa, orbiter, phoenix

I’m watching the streaming broadcast of Mission Control handling the Phoenix landing on Mars.  This is very cool!

Technorati Tags: mars, nasa, phoenix

This is the story that caught my eye:

New Mexico Wi-Fi ‘Allergy’ Sufferers Want Wireless Ban

As usual, Fox didn’t give much insight into the issue.  So I did a little more reading.  Notably:

The woman who needs a veil of protection from modern life

Now, I’m a skeptic.  I really think these people have a little more going on than an “allergy” to frequencies that occur naturally.  However, I have been wrong about something in the past I’m sure.  So, I’d really like to see what others think ( yeah, another poll! ).

Technorati Tags: allergy, electromagnetic sensitivity, wi-fi, wifi

This is kinda cool.  See anything kinda odd laying around Mars in this pic?

If not in that pic, try this one:

I know, it can not possibly be what it looks exactly like because we haven’t found anything resembling life on Mars.

H/T: Abovetopsecret

Technorati Tags: mars, skull

I’ve always heard the world will probably end December 21, 2012.  The logic is very simple.  The Mayan calendar runs out on December 21, 2012, so therefore there are no days after December 21, 2012.  Simple.  Now, I’ve never bought into that doomsday prophecy for simple reason that if the Mayans knew the future, they would have known their calendar would serve them no purpose long, long, long, before 2012.  So, since they had no days long before 2012, the logic they could predict the future with a calendar seems seriously flawed to me.  However, Universe Today explains it even more logically.  Namely, the reason their calendar runs out on December 21, 2012 is because their date will look something like this:

13.0.0.0.0

Look familar?

Looks a lot like an IP address to me.

The Mayans used basically an arbitrary cross of base-13 and base-20 numbering to mark passing years and their version of months.  I’m not sure if the Mayans or Ian O’Neill at Universe Today simply used this format to make it easier to understand.  But, the basica concept is the same as IP addressing that is the heart of basically all communications and data exchange for the human race at this time.  Now, this leads me to wonder that since someone figured out that if there are no days left after the Mayan Calendar runs out, what happens when we run out of IP addresses?  Will the ability to communicate via internet cease to exist as well?

Just gotta wonder, dontcha?

( Quickie update:  No sooner than I posted it, the ICANN people came out and said we’re running out of UP addresses.  Does this mean the end of the world? )

Technorati Tags: 2012, 21, calendar, december, doomsday, ICANN, IP, mayan

Technorati Tags: alternative, biofuel, Energy, geothermal, nuclear, Polls, solar, tidal, wind

Man, I LOVE a good volcano!

Technorati Tags: chaiten, chile, lightning, volcano