10/05/2006
For
background on this read the daily quote http://www.amerhicka.com/dailyquoteshome.html
I had been procrastinating on volunteering for Ken Gordon's campaign. His
odds on http://www.coloradopols.com/ are only slightly worse than republican SOS
candidate Mike Coffman. Ken Gordon is running without accepting any
special interest PAC money. I don't see how I can stay on the fence in the
SOS race. Visit http://www.kengordon.com/index.htm and give the man some
money.
I haven't felt this way since I watched the presidential election results veer statistically significantly from the exit poll results. Fair elections are a necessary condition.
10/20/2006
This is my first entry directly onto the new website. All the others previous have been pastes from my old site. I know I don't make it easy on anyone visiting here. If I knew what I were doing I still wouldn't be dangerous, but no one would confuse me for a fool. As it is, it satisfies me and that's more than I can say for most of what I interact with.
10/21/2006
I often have half baked ideas, you know, cockamamy. I've been reading my old journal entries as I post them in their new online home. I can't help but feel a little lethargic, a little heavy limbed, compared to the same time last year. I say that as I brought a load of boxes home from the storage unit last night and as I prepare to move more of the same for Edwin today, reset the music gear in the basement and take Arthur to Nebraska on Sunday.
I don't know. I think I am ready to finish studying, ready to work and earn my own money for that work.
I am certainly glad to have this back as an outlet. I have missed it. Love to you all, love to me.
10/30/2006
It's been a while since I mused wildly. In this age of sustainability concerns and conscientious choices why aren't there "hybrid" meat products analogous to the cars? Everybody assumes a McDonald's hamburger patty is in large part other items like soy and "seasonings". Like E85 as a fuel blend or biodiesel grades of B100, B80 and B20 or even like octanes. Go ahead and market the half beef patty or the thirty percent chicken nugget. Think of it like crab cakes.. who wants to eat a solid oily unseasoned lump of sea floor bug? Maybe this is a high end entry item like sushi fusion first and KFC last to join in but I bet if you market the makeup as better tasting, more responsible and healthier it would ease a lot of consciences and waistlines. Not to mention the actual gains in animal and environmental rights.
I've also been thinking of how wasteful the automobile carcass is. I know plenty of vehicles get recycled but the energy wasted and the notions of what a vehicle should be (conceptual previous investment) are enormous obstacles to sustainable private transportation. Apart from the necessary radical reconceptualization, I think most of the answer lies in two areas: interchangeable parts and renewable/sustainable materials.
Remember the plastic body panels on Saturns? Heard of the in hub electric motor? Noticed GM's hydrogen program focuses on a single chassis for multiple vehicle applications? Hell, the automobile manufacturing world is evolving into a handful of factories that share a handful of parts bins synthesizing a wide array of seemingly unique vehicles. Chipotle restaurants fill a standard menu board of options from barely two dozen basic ingredients.
My druthers regarding vehicle design put everything on the outside.. motors, crash protection etc with only a passenger cage in the safe room. It has real bumpers and not a smooth glossy painted surface anywhere. Everything (motors safety systems, batteries, controllers) is interchangeable and runs on a full drive by wire system with redundant mechanical braking, fire and ventilation systems. One of the first things Toyota did with the Scion vehicles is release the CAD engineering files to the aftermarket.. brilliant! I want a computer under every seat for navigation and internet. I want free high speed in the air over metropolitan areas with full neutrality enforced by pirate vigilantism. I want the internet to be regarded as essential to civic participation as running water and libraries.
Anyways...
So we put a plug on every hybrid vehicle and melt down the gasoline motor when it wears out or we run out of affordable gas. We bolster carbon neutral power generation (renewables) so you can securely power an all electric civilization. We replace incandescent lighting with LEDs and CFC (compact fluorescent) and replace natural gas heating with solar and electric. We abandon ethanol as a virgin fuel instead relying on waste vegetable oil to run veggiediesel-electric hybrids for applications unsuitable to electric only (rail transport and heavy equipment). Maybe eventually give up on the national/regional AC grid and go local DC. You get the idea... and you know why I am not sleeping right now!