Muenzer Blog

Imperial Palace Fire: $500,000 In Damage

2004-07-06T15:33:00.000-07:00

Was in Vegas this weekend and was on Las Vegas Boulevard when it was closed due to a fire in the Imperial Palace.

No one really knew what happened at the time, but there were 15-20 fire trucks and other emergency vehicles on the street. All north bound lanes were closed down and everything was a mess. Latter we found out about the fire.

What Happened to DoubleDave's

2004-06-28T21:06:00.000-07:00

I was in a DoubleDave's Pizza a few weeks ago for lunch and they were in the process of filling in their logo on all the benches. And today I see that the DoubleDave's in Lake Creek has a new name. Rockin' Tomato?

What's going on here? I couldn't find anything on the DoubleDave's website that would indicate a name change. Or is this a brand new company that bought that local stores?

Fuel cell firm's neat solution for batteries

2004-06-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

CNet has an article on a new firm touting fuel cells as a replacement for batteries. This sounds a lot like vaporware with no mention of capacity, power density, or release dates.

SpaceShipOne Lands Safely

2004-06-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

CNN is reporting a successful flight for Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne

Paris bid to ban designer jeeps

2004-06-10T07:34:00.000-07:00

Saw this CNN article on a Paris resolution to ban SUVs in the city center. The resolution, if passed, would ban large SUV during peak periods and deny owners from getting parking permits. There seems to be similar resentment of SUV's in London:

The proposal, certain to be opposed by motoring groups, follows similar remarks by the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, who in May month described SUVs as "bad for London -- completely unnecessary" and called their owners "complete idiots."

Vonage slashes price of Net telephony kit

2004-06-06T17:05:00.000-07:00

CNet's News.com has an article about further cost reductions at Vonage. This time its the cost of the start-up kit sold in retail stores. Reinforcing my earlier speculation, Daryl Schoolar of In-Stat/MDR believes that Vonage is feeling pressure from major telephone companies including AT&T.
When looking through the disruptive technology lens, this comment was interesting:

Schoolar said that just as important to Vonage is "competition from below," or smaller VoIP providers that offer the same kind of service for $5 to $10 less a month.

This raises two questions for me:
1) Why is Vonage disadvantaged vs. these smaller VoIP providers? Are they just willing to make less profit on the service or do they have a technology and/or business model advantage that allows them to undercut Vonage by $5 - $10 dollars?
2) What will Vonage's response be? Will they adjust their pricing to stay competitive or will they attempt to move up market by offering even more features? As a current Vonage customer, I'm pretty happy with my service package and can't think of any additional features I would be willing to pay more for.

Atom Feed Back Up

2004-05-22T16:11:00.000-07:00

I added the link to my Atom feed back into the template. It had been lost when I switched over to one of the stock templates. The feed is accessible via a Atom button generated in CSS (i.e. no image). The code was based off an XML button example by Michael Zajac

We are not the Huns

2004-05-19T21:24:00.000-07:00

Quiznos has a new Spongmonkey ad out. You know those little rat things on speed. But this time one of them has a viking hat.
This has to be one of the more brilliant marketing campaign. They stick in your head and help build the brand by talking about subs themselves. Much better then the "raised by wolves" ad. The original Spongmonkey song can be found here.

Vonage Reduces Unlimited Plan to $29.99

2004-05-19T11:36:00.000-07:00

Vonage has reduced thier unlimited local and long distance plan from $34.99 to $29.99. Could be a preemptive strike against AT&T's CallVantage? Either way, its a good deal if you already have broadband.

Bruce Sterling At BookPeople

2004-05-17T21:22:00.000-07:00

Bruce Sterling was at BookPeople tonight as part of the promotional tour for his new book, The Zenith Angle. I have been a big fan of his other books and of his non-fiction writing, so it was a treat to meet him in person. My new copy of his book has been added to the reading list.
In addition to reading a chapter of his new book and signing copies, he told a very funny story about the overwhelming success of his SXSW house party. This year everyone apparently invited all their friends, turning a small house party into a 600 person bash. Big enough that the cops stopped by because of noise complaints. The party only broke up when it was down to "tap water and bollywood movies." The whole party story was used as a model of what happen to both the internet and of the impact of globalization. All of a sudden, things grow so quickly that a structure needs to be put in place to manage. What worked on a small scale is now hopelessly broken.

Parent Company Closes Bahama Breeze In North Austin

2004-05-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

Just found out that the Bahama Breeze near the Gateway shopping center in North Austin has been closed. The parent company, Darden Restaurants, appears to be restructuring. I found this press release on their website. They are closing 6 restaurants nation-wide. No mention of which markets, but one of my co-workers is friends of an assistant manager at the Austin location.

New Template (Again)

2004-05-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

Switched back to one of the standard Blogger templates to get the new features to work. Need to fine some time to write a new template. Also, Douglas Bowman did a really good job on the redesign.

Has Anyone Seen My Lion

2004-05-09T21:11:00.000-07:00

It might just be a deer, but you can still buy the t-shirt.

The Atget Rephotographic Project

2004-05-09T20:36:00.000-07:00

"The photographs displayed here are the result of an ongoing project begun by students in the first Paris program group in 1987, the rephotography of sites photographed by the French photographer Eugene Atget who, between 1900 and 1926, made approximate 6,000 photographs of Paris. Using reproductions of Atget’s photographs, students attempted to locate his “tripod holes” and to replicate the exact view and framing of his original scene."

[via Eyebeam reBlog]

Lions, Snipers, and Buckeyes! Oh My!

2004-05-04T09:49:00.000-07:00

Just when you though it was safe to go back to Columbus after they caught the I-270 sniper. Now they have this to worry about.

Keep Austin Stupid

2004-05-03T20:30:00.000-07:00

Not sure if this is really the kind of national exposure that Austin needs. Also you really want to heed the advice about Hippie Hollow.

Motorola is no more

2004-04-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

I may have been the last person to know this, but I wasn't sure what was going on when the Motorola facility on Parmer changed its sign to Freescale. Turns out Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector has been renamed Freescale Semiconductor in preparation for an IPO. Both the Parmer and Ed Bluestein locations are now part of Freescale.

2004 Compubookie

2004-04-13T20:55:00.000-07:00

Since the Tartan is on haitus, Compubookie is now online. Enjoy.
See everyone on the backhills.

Los Lonely Boys on CNN.com

2004-04-12T13:35:00.000-07:00

Check out The rise of Los Lonely Boys on CNN.com. With all the airplay they were getting in Austin, it seemed like only a matter of time before they hit the national scene. As of April 1st, they are now managed by Epic Records.

Phil Mickelson wins the Masters

2004-04-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Phil Mickelson who wins the Masters by 1 stroke over Ernie Els. Way to get that monkey off your back with the first win in a major.

CSS Tweaks

2004-04-10T16:52:00.000-07:00

Had a few things I didn't like with the template, so its a little different now.

Camera Phone as Disruptive Technology

2004-04-10T15:41:00.000-07:00

"This is a classic case of disruptive technology." says Nokia Chief Executive Jorma Ollila in this BusinessWeek article on the camera phone industry. The article also highlights Sony's tactic of ceding the low end digital camera market to phones. While Nokia and other handset manufactures move into this low end market, established companies may want to review Clayton M. Christensen's study of the hard drive industry in The Innovator's Dilemma. Like in the hard drive industry, there is no reason to expect that the handset manufactures won't continue to push up market as camera technology improves. Nokia has already stated its goal to be the world's largest camera manufacture.
[via Reiter's Camera Phone Report]

Levitating trains make a racket

2004-04-09T07:09:00.000-07:00

According to this article Magnetic trains were more annoyingly noisy than the old-fashioned kind. This came as a surprise to me, as I had always assumed the lack of contact with a track would reduce a major source of the noise. The article does not say if the trains were moving at the same speed.
I will be interesting if further studies like this have any impact on the proposed US maglev programs, like this one in Pittsburgh.
[via Slashdot.org]

10 For 10

2004-04-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

A follow up to the Write-in for CD 10 entry on Monkey-brained Musings. While I'm sure Lorenzo Sadun is a great person to run for the district 10 seat, I think the 10 For 10 group is onto a great idea. A rep from 10 For 10 was at the Democracy for Texas MeetUp tonight talking about their plan. (I wish I remembered his name). Instead of focusing on one candidate, they are working to get a minimum of 10 candidates with the 500 signatures needed to be a write-in candidate. The goal is to show how far the deck is stacked against a Democrat winning district 10. Hopefully the additional media coverage of gerrymandering issues will do greater good then a "choice" in November.
[Via Austin Meta-Blog]

Poor judgement at the alma mater

2004-04-07T21:23:00.000-07:00

Student newspaper runs cartoon with racial slur - Saw this on the alumni email list. Looks like the Tartan is in hot water again. But no mention of anything on their web site.
Also Spring Carnival is less then two weeks away. What will happen to CompuBookie?

New CSS Template

2004-04-07T21:20:00.000-07:00

Got tired of the old design. This one still needs some work, but better then nothing.

Space Commercialization Bill Approved

2004-03-24T09:16:00.000-08:00

Space Commercialization Bill Approved - The US House has approved H.R. 3752, The Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004. From the article, the bill provides the following provisions:
* eliminate any confusion about who should regulate flights;
* make it easier to launch new types of reusable suborbital rockets by allowing experimental permits;
* extend government indemnification for the entire commercial space transportation industry for a period of three years; and
* require a study on how best to gradually eliminate indemnification for the commercial space transportation industry by 2008 or as soon as possible thereafter.
This is a key piece of legislation to enable the X-Prize competitors to test their vehicles. Hopefully this will pass in the Senate.
[Via composite.about.com]

Homeland Security Photo-Op

2004-03-23T12:14:00.000-08:00

As seen in Time Magazine, the Bush teams use of the Department of Homeland Security for photo-ops. Glad to see our tax dollars are being well spent fighting terrorism.
[Via Austin Meta Blog]

ATM Media Player

2004-03-20T11:20:00.000-08:00

Glad to see things haven't changed too much at CMU. It seems students got a crashed Diebold ATM machine play MP3s and say "What, am I made of money?" using the Windows XP text-to-speech program. Pictures even show the ATM relabeled as the Diebold ATM Media Player. I'll have to try to find the machine when I'm on campus for Carnival. Its also important to note that this is the same Diebold that is making voting machines.

Today's Growth Industries

2004-03-16T21:06:00.000-08:00

Mark Fiore's Recovery. Very funny flash animation. Really like the part poking fun at fast-food as manufacturing.

That's a lot of bling for 8 mpg

2004-03-16T11:20:00.000-08:00

I heard today on CNBC that there is a federal tax deduction for up to $100,000 on vehicles weighing more then 6,000 pounds. This tax deduction was designed to help small business buy trucks, but as this article shows people are using it to buy luxury SUVs:
Federal 'SUV' Tax Break Fuels Brisk Sales of Large Vehicles in Maine

The Union of Concerned Scientist had done further research on this issue:
The explosion of SUV, pickup, and minivan sales in America's passenger vehicle fleet has turned this small business benefit into a massive loophole in the tax law. Currently, 38 different passenger SUVs including the Lincoln Navigator, which nets a combined 15 miles per gallon according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Cadillac Escalade (16 mpg), the BMW X5 (18 mpg), the Mercedes-Benz ML55 (16 mpg), and the notorious Hummer H2 (11 mpg) all weigh more than 6,000 pounds. This loophole allows some of the most fuel-inefficient passenger vehicles on the road today to qualify for a significant tax break.
Tax Incentives: SUV Loophole Widens, Clean Vehicle Credits Face Uncertain Future

A few reasonable people in Congress tried to close this loophole, but were unsuccessful. If any of your congressmen were part of this effort, please thank them for me.

Disposable Fuel Cells?

2004-03-12T22:15:00.000-08:00

From InfoSync: Disposable fuel cells a reality

The article lists the size as 80 x 55 x 30 mm (3.2 x 2.2 x 1.2 inches). At that size they are too large for a notebook or cell phone. Also there is no mention of power densities, but the article claims 15 hours of talk time. With a cost of $14.99 that is a $1 an hour of talk time. Hopefully they can find a niche that will allow them to grow the technology, because they I don't think this can currently compete against other products in the cell phone charging space.

More stupid mascot news

2004-03-02T18:04:00.000-08:00

As seen on PTI:
WKU mascot takes on 'twin'
apparently Western Kentucky University is suing a Italian media company over the infringement of its mascot Big Red. And people say college athletics is too commercial these days...

The Billy Goat and The Babe

2003-10-16T21:20:00.000-07:00

And they didn't believe in curses....

China launches manned space mission

2003-10-14T21:14:00.000-07:00

From SpaceDaily: China launches manned space mission.

I would be curious to find out how people in Taiwan view this event. Anything that strengthens China tends to lead toward Reunification. But I'm out of touch on Taiwan's views on Reunification, since I'm sure a lot has changed in the two years since I've been there.

In a larger scale, I think this event goes a long way toward cementing China as the new fledgling superpower. They join the US and Russian as the only countries to put a man into space. Between their economic might, nuclear capability, and sheer population they should be able to have a larger sway over world events, especially in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Apparently it wasn't invented by Hallmark

2003-10-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

I just found out that this Saturday was Sweetest Day. Turns out that it's a real holiday after all. Some guy in Cleveland started it in the 1920s. And to think I had assumed it was just another excuse to buy Hallmark products like Love Day* or Columbus Day.

*Warning: Simpson Reference

Well so much for Willis

2003-10-11T18:41:00.000-07:00

12.38 ERA. 'Nuff said.

Marlins Win

2003-10-07T21:06:00.000-07:00

Game 1 of the NLCS is over. Marlins win 9-8 in 11 innings. Penny and Prior up tomorrow night. Can't wait to see the D-train in game 4.

'Scroll Lock' and Other Worthless Keys

2003-10-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

Find out about the 'Scroll Lock' key in this article linked from Slashdot. I can't believe we waste space for these keys on a laptop. And we even have an LED for the 'Scroll Lock'.

One chance left for the Cubs. Bottom of the 11th, down by one.

Total Recall

2003-10-07T20:52:00.000-07:00

CNN is projecting Arnold Schwarzenegger as the new Governor of California. Good luck Arnold, you are going to need it.

In other news, Marlins are up 9-8 in the top of the 11th.

Neal Stephenson at BookPeople

2003-10-02T20:12:00.000-07:00

Neal Stephenson did a book signing at BookPeople last night for his new book Quicksilver. He answered questions for about 45 minutes and then signed books for at least 150 people. One of the BookPeople staff thought that there had been about 300 people total at the event. Seems like a good turnout for this type of thing.
One of the more interesting points Mr. Stephenson made during the Q&A was in response to a question about his related to technology. While he professed that he didn't originate this idea, he stated that he liked to think about technology in a much broader sense that most people do today. That most people don't consider things like tires or a button technology because they just don't think about them. He also gave two tongue-in-check definitions for technology in today's society:
1) Anything made after you were born
2) Something that doesn't work

Stupid White Man Paid Too Much For This T-Shirt

2003-09-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what those T-shirts and Chinese character tattoos really say: this article tells all.

PTI Quote of the Week

2003-09-16T17:06:00.000-07:00

Wilbon: "Yeah we've got tennis courts in the 'hood."

Ultimate Cargo Pants

2003-09-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

They way things are going, these pants are almost practical. You need pants to hold a PDA, cell phone, and your side arm? These are for you.
I also like the use of the term "Future-Sarcastic." I wonder who coined that? Never mind it was from the previous article.

Hail to the Victors

2003-09-13T17:42:00.000-07:00

Woo-Hoo! Michigan trounced Notre Dame today. Run, Chris Perry, run...

New License Plate Law In Texas

2003-09-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

A friend sent me this article from ABC13 in Houston about a new license plate law. Here is the full text of the bill. From the article, it appears that people are getting $200 fines for having a sticker or frame covering part of their plate. Also in the bill, those plastic plates that cut the angular visibility are also outlawed.

Remembering September 11th

2003-09-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post this link from CNN about the different 9/11 tributes around the country. Hopefully everyone has taken the time today to think their loved ones, the troop, and the people directly affected by the events in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. God bless America.

No Americans Need Apply

2003-09-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

A story about an American programmer who lost his job when it was outsourced to India. After having no luck finding a job in the states he applied to companies in India and was told "Daniel, it is against the law for you to work here. You can come here on vacation, but you can't work here". Not the kind of story you want to read on September 11th.

Cool hacker tricks

2003-09-11T19:00:00.000-07:00

Looks like someone has figured out how to run a web gateway program on a Linksys WRT54G access point. I always wonder what a company like Linksys, who is owned by Cicso, thinks about something like this. I'm sure they get more sales from the /. crowd. But it might also cannibalize sales of high-end products.

By the way, I just used the new free spell checker to make sure I didn't misspell cannibalize. Thank you Google.

More monday night football ranting

2003-09-08T19:01:00.000-07:00

James Thrash just caught a basic 10+ pass and then does this "pointing to the sky" routine. Which was the same gesture he made after the big end around on then first drive. Come on do you really need to celebrate a third down conversion? Who are you pointing to anyway? I don't think god cares that you converted that third down. And based on last year, I would guess he was a Bucs fan. But more likely it would be the Saints.

(I think all this ranting is because my fantasy football team stunk up the joint this weekend. Less then 5 points between Faulk and Dillion come on.)

The problem with instant replay

2003-09-08T18:48:00.000-07:00

I'm watching the monday night game, and Andy Reid just challenged a illegal forward pass, that if over turned would only buy him about 7 yards, if that. And he ground the game to a halt. The game was just starting to get going, and then this. Something needs to be done to improve the speed of challenges. If there was anything else good on, I would have switched and I'm sure plently of other people did.

Update: The call turned a 2nd and 15 into a 3rd and 9. Yeah, that made sense.

iTunes for Windows and Mac iSbogus

2003-09-06T21:52:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to an interesting article on iTunes. Turns out the artist still don't get much of a cut from each download. And Apple makes $0.35 on the dollar. Not a bad profit margin for a middle man. Maybe that’s what Jobs meant by "revolutionizing music." [Via kuro5hin.org]

Aqua Teen Hunger Force

2003-09-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

Has anyone seen this show? I just caught an episode on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. It was recommended to my by a friend from school, so I knew it was going to be strange. But I don't think I was fully prepared for a cow that was trying to rob a bank by collecting fly acid by pretending to be a rapper to incite a food drive. Oh and the talking fries, shake and ball of meat. I've got it set up in the TiVo so I'm sure I'll watch a few more episodes to see if it grows on me.

How camera phones are changing the definition of picture-worthy

2003-09-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

Uses of camera phones really fascinate me. But so far the only application I've seen in the states in taking pictures of waitresses when we go out to lunch. Here is a more global-centric view: How camera phones are changing the definition of picture-worthy. [From picturephoning.com]

“2-D is dead.”

2003-08-28T19:37:00.000-07:00

A pretty sad article about the death of 2-D animation at Disney. I grew up on Winnie the Pooh, The Jungle Book, Pinocchio and the rest of the Disney collection. I hope someone there figures out the author's main point, that story and character creation make a classic, not technology. I bet Walt's head is rolling in its jar. [From Boing Boing Blog]

Ah, to have a lot of money....

2003-08-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

Slashdot reaction to an article about the X Prize and John Carmack from ABC News.
"Effectively, I stopped buying Ferraris and turbo-charging them and started building rocket ships," Carmack says.
Wish I could say that... But it is good to see the X Prize get some more press, even if it's John Carmack centric.
There are other companies competing, go check them out.

Getting things going again

2003-08-28T19:08:00.000-07:00

It's been almost 10 days since the last entry. Need to get this going again. Computer trouble has been keeping me from posting.

So we're to blame for crappy movies

2003-08-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

According to this article the movies this summer aren't any worse, it’s just that we find out quicker. Maybe if Hollywood focused on making a good movie and not marketing a movie, we wouldn't have this problem. After watching the last few episodes of Project Greenlight, its no wonder so many movies get screwed up. [Via Slashdot]

muteblog - strange but cool....

2003-08-17T21:15:00.000-07:00

muteblog

Too bad its RSS feed doesn't show up well in newsmonster.

Run, Mrs. T, Run

2003-08-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

In the battle for the Golden Skillet, the Milwaukee sausages were beaten by the Pittsburgh pierogies. Thankfully no one was hit by a bat and all finished safely. Now how could sports get any better then this?

The Blackout Will Be Photographed

2003-08-14T19:53:00.000-07:00

While sitting in Texas watching news on the east coast blackouts, I found this photo-blog from NYC. Seem like we are going to see a lot more of this in the future. (Photographs from live events, not blackouts I mean)

This might cause me to check a bag

2003-08-11T20:44:00.000-07:00

If it stops one person from blowing up a plane, it’s worth it. But it’s not going to help the lines at the airports. According to this Wired News article, you are going to have to turn on all electric devices at the security check point. I regularly travel with a notebook, PDA, cell phone, and digital camera. And I'm sure I'm not the only one. That could back up lines a lot, especially in tech cities like Austin. I'll have to ask some consultants I know, that fly almost every weekend, if they have seen this yet.

The Wire

2003-08-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

Make sure you catch this weeks episode of The Wire if you missed it. I'm still amazed how good a show it is. Big developments for the case and a major plot line change for Ziggy, plus Prez stands up for himself. Also get to see a lot more of Brother Mouzone,* who must have been very fun to write for. Looks like all the plot lines are getting pulled together for a season finale. I wonder who's going to end up riding the boat.

*Had to check HBO's web site to get the name right. Always sounded like everyone was saying "Brother Moves On"

Wiki Wiki Teriyaki

2003-08-11T20:18:00.000-07:00

I had lunch at Wiki Wiki Teriyaki this past weekend for the first time. It’s a little Japanese restaurant located in the Arboretum near ThunderClouds and Amy's Ice Cream. I think the place is pretty new, but I couldn't tell you when it opened.
Anyway, I got the Chicken Box Lunch, which came with a salad, tempura, california rolls, and a gyoza. Oh and it had teriyaki chicken too. (By the way, 'teriyaki' is a very hard word to spell). I don't know if the food was very authentic (my only times eating in Japan was the Narita airport), but it was very tasty. Everything seemed very fresh and you can watch them cook the chicken if you wanted. I think next time I might try their Udon noodles. One down side is that they are not open Sunday, which made it hard to go the first time I try. (I found out about Wiki Wiki through an ad in the Chronicle. See advertising does pay)

Post-Sonic Blue MP3 players from Rio

2003-08-11T20:03:00.000-07:00

Just saw that Rio is announcing a bunch of new MP3 payers. These are the first product launches since Sonic Blue went under. One of the players has Ogg Vorbis support, which is pretty cool because all of my CDs are ripped into this format. It's supposed to sound better then MP3's and it’s also smaller in size. The new player also has FLAC support, which I think is the loss-less format my brother was telling me about last month.

A Tragedy In Indonesia

2003-08-05T21:02:00.000-07:00

I was just catching up on my world news and saw that there had been a suicide bombing in Jakarta. My prayers go out to the families of the victims and the people of Indonesia.
I have a few friends near that part of the world and some co-workers traveling in Asia. I hope that they safe as well.

Stupid Google Tricks

2003-08-05T20:53:00.000-07:00

Use a new Google feature to uncover the mysteries of the universe.
Republican = Democrat
Scientology = Cult
Loser = Beck

I really feel sorry for this guy

2003-08-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

I guess this guy finally got his notebook fixed, but it's a really bad story. Unfortunately, I don't think it is an isolated incident. I don't know if I can write much more as a current wage slave of Mr. Dell, but I hope this help gets some changes made to our service procedures and training. The sad thing is we are ranked as the best in the industry, so I wonder what goes on at our competitors.
Only saving grace of this article was there wasn't a single "dude" reference.

NEC Fuel Cell Talk

2003-07-31T20:26:00.000-07:00

This article was linked off of Boing Boing and Gizmodo today. For starters I don't know why a month old article is getting buzz on two major blogs, but here it is.

Second, while I'm sure NEC can meet their 2004 deadline to ship a fuel cell notebook, it doesn't mean its a better solution. Here is the NEC press release showing their demo notebook. The notebook has a 14W fuel cell that can power the notebook for 5 hours. That’s only a 70 WHr power supply. This Dell Notebook has a 72 WHr 9 cell battery. This battery has more power, weighs less, takes up less space, and can be recharged with an AC adapter. You could easily design a 5 hour notebook with this battery, if there was a market for it, and you would be able to make it cheaper then the fuel cell.

While I'm sure they will have their time, fuel cells will have to provide a significant benefits before we see full-scale adoption. And battery chemistries are not standing still.

Theme of this blog

2003-07-31T14:50:00.000-07:00

Dean's 6 point plan for growth

2003-07-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

Dean's weblog highlighted his 6 point plan for economic growth today. While I agree that Bush's economy needs help, I have some questions about Dean's plan:

Raising the minimum wage to put more money in the hands of working Americans
Doesn't raising the minimum wage put more pressure on thin profit margins at American manufacturing? Money would be better spent on training the workers for skilled positions where they warrent more then minimum wage. Any manufacturing that relies on un-trained labor has already started moving offshore. Growth in American industry needs to focus on skilled manufacturing that can't be picked up in China overnight.
Expand unemployment insurance to cover more full and part-time workers
I have no problem with this, if there is room in a budget, but this seems more like a band-aid then a cure. We need a plan to create jobs to get people off of unemployment.
Expand aid to state and local government for homeland security and through doubling the Community Development Block Grant
I had to look up what CDBG's where to comment on this, but any money to rebuild urban centers to a boon. Hopefully this can lead to job creation.
Invest in job-creating infrastructure programs like school construction and increasing rural broadband access
What about programs like Mag-Lev or local light rail projects? How about a national Hydrogen initiative? More money needs to be focused on building jobs.
A health care plan that reduce costs to employers and frees up additional private money for investment and job creation
Sounds good on paper, but how will it be done?
A trade policy that ensures that strong and enforceable labor provisions are included in all trade agreements—to ensure that trade helps both us and our trading partners shore up middle class jobs.
I don't know if the "cat is out of the bag" already on this issue. Can we force China to improve its labor practices externally? I think the solution to the labor issues in China will have to be generated internally. Hopefully labor unions can start to take hold there as they did in the early 20th century in the US.

In summary, seems like a good plan on paper. Please let us see more of the details. This campaign has already been a lot more opened then anything else before it. Please keep it that way.

RX-7 Update

2003-07-29T21:49:00.000-07:00

I finally got something accomplished with the car today. The instrument cluster is now sitting on my kitchen table instead of in the car. I am now that guy, where being that guy means you have random auto parts lying around your apartment. Anyway, the thing was a pain to get out, so I'm going to try to do a write up in the next day or two to document how I got the thing out. Now I just need to figure out why the tach didn’t work.

Texas Dems Flee Austin

2003-07-29T21:37:00.000-07:00

I heard this on the radio going into work and then was reminded of it when I picked this link off the Austin Meta-Blog. While it comes off as being pretty strange at first, I think it’s pretty impressive that the Democratic Senators have the backbone to pull a stunt like this. From everything I've read, they were being railroaded in the Senate and this was their only recourse. So good for them.

In a related item, they fled to Albuquerque, which brings me to one of my favorite Simpsons quotes. In reference to moving the Dallas Cowboys to Albuquerque to play baseball:
Albuquerque Mayor: They'll play what I tell them to play. For I am the Mayor of Albuquerque. The episode was called Hungry, Hungry Homer. I'm sure you can steal it off the web somewhere if you haven't seen it.

Happy Birthday... To Me

2003-07-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

I turned 25 today... As people keep telling me, a quarter century. Well, time to get my drink on.

Latest Cancer Fighter: Pepperoni

2003-07-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

A study by Italian researchers shows that a pizza a week can help prevent cancer of the esophagus. This really just seems like a ploy to compete with the French's cancer fighting wine and Germany's cancer fighting beer. Or is it just another way to lie with statistics.

The RX-7 Is Here

2003-07-20T10:16:00.000-07:00

The got the car back home Thursday night. Its a little rough around the edges, but otherwise seems in good shape. Here's the short list of what I need to get done it before taking it autocrossing:

Replace the clutch. I got a used clutch with the car, but don't know if I want to use that or go with an aftermarket one.
Get the tach to work. Right now it doesn't budge.
Find an aftermarket steering wheel. The stock one is a little too big, and hits my knees. Not good for autocross.
Investigate a new seat. The current one has a big rip in it.

That's the minimum work, I would also like to look into:

Front anti-roll bar
Toyo RA-1 tires
Light weight 13X5.5 wheels

Fun on CNN

2003-07-15T18:35:00.000-07:00

There were two pretty funny stories on CNN.com today. The first was a page making fun of our inability to find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The cleverness comes in because it looks like a error message linked off of Google. Check it out. Even better is a story about a Rent-A-Cow company in Switzerland. If you rent the cow, you get a full supply of cheese from the cow, but you have to work at least on day in the field.

Virtual Economics

2003-07-14T21:50:00.000-07:00

Saw this linked off of Slashdot tonight: game girl advance: Galaxies Auctions - It Has Already Begun. How long till Star Wars Galaxies economy reaches the size of Bulgaria? EverQuest was already there last year according to this Wired article. Edward Castronova was the original author of the paper quoted Wired, his website seems to be under construction.
If you didn't read the Wired article, it is worth the time. It makes you really wonder if this is the tip of the real "post-industrial economy." How many people's livelihood can be supported by a virtual world? Makes me wish I paid more attention in economics class.

Jesus the Estimator or not

2003-07-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

Today a judge ruled in favor of Deion Sanders in the "Praise Jesus" car repair case. While Sanders was basically the laughing stock of morning sports radio because of his paraphrased statement that "He paid what Jesus told him to pay", Judge Joe Cox of the 160th Civil District Court of Dallas sided with Sanders. From what little I've seen of the verdict, I guess the statement of a Sanders representative that there was a $1,500 cap on the costs of the repairs was a deciding factor. So much for the Praise Jesus discount.

Spell Checker

2003-07-13T17:30:00.000-07:00

In other news, I really need a find a good spell checker for use within Mozilla. Using Word for this is getting old.

Blog for America

2003-07-13T17:29:00.000-07:00

I'm sure this is old news to most people, but I just found it today. Former Governor Howard Dean has a weblog about his presidential campaign called, Blog for America. I really can't say I know much about him, but I've added his RSS feed and I'll start checking out the site. Is this the new future of campaigning? How big is the blog community and how much clout does it have?

Salon on "The Wire"

2003-07-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

Salon has posted a review of HBO's "The Wire". I think the show is about half way through the second season, but there is still time to catch up. Make sure you set your TiVo to record it. Its well worth the time.

In the sports story that will not go away...

2003-07-13T14:29:00.000-07:00

PETA is back requesting a Soy Dog to participate in the Milwaukee Brewers Sausage Race as a response to the "Sausage-Gate" incident last week. Doesn’t PETA have significantly better things to do with its time then worry about costumed sausages running around a ball park? I don’t like cruelty to animals anymore then the next guy, but why does PETA always set itself up to be the punch line of a joke. All this really does is make me with the football season would get here a little sooner.

The RX-7 is comming soon

2003-07-12T16:22:00.000-07:00

By this time tomorrow I will be the owner of a brand new (to me) 1983 RX-7 GS. Check back for more details of this future Autocross/Spec RX-7 race car.