Internetless Workplace

So this past Monday was an interesting day in the workplace.  To begin with, let me set the stage.  Because of where Canada Day fell this year (Tuesday, July 1), Monday was pretty much going to be a wash to begin with.  Most people were taking the Monday off to make a nice long weekend, while poor saps like me were stuck dragging our butts in.

I had all sorts of plans - I was going to do my online banking, work on my resume, write a nice post for Ben Co., and generally dink around online.  But something went horribly, horribly wrong…on Monday, June 30, I had no internet for the entire day.

Daily Fluff

Believe it or not, I don’t have anything that is infuriating me today (outside of my works network, which I won’t get into…grr).  So, how about a little harmless fluff courtesy of Gizmodo?

It seems that Panasonic has developed a lil’ robot (under 7″) that just climbed part of the Grand Canyon in 7 hours and on two AA batteries.  Called the EVOLTA (like revolt? like I, Robot? eep!), it’s a cute little devil.  Coming to a crawlspace near you…equipped with a camera…hooked up to the Feds.

Image courtesty of Gizmodo

Wii Strip

So Gizmodo is reporting that a game developer really is planning on releasing a Wii pole dancing game. I don’t know if I believe it or not, but it’s a mildly amusing tidbit nonetheless. Check out Gizmodo’s take here.

[Creative Commons photo - don't even know]

I can’t really figure out the logistics of it. Do you strap the nun-chuck to your, umm, bits and the wiimote to your chestular region? Can’t really see it. And, as the Running Blogfather pointed out when he tipped me to this, do you think it comes bundled with a G-string?

Really, the best part of all of this was the video Gizmodo included with their post. Those crazy Germans will fight over anything:

Whaaaa?

Finally I have an answer to the age old question, “Where is your keyboard?” I can say with great certainty that I gotchere keyboard right here [insert thrusting motion here].

No word of a lie, pants with a fully functioning, blue tooth enabled keyboard and speakers. Check it out at Engadget here.

I don’t know if this is cool or not (I’m leaning towards the not), but with the propensity I have for either getting beer spilled on my pants or getting caught in the rain, I don’t think I’ll be investing in a pair of these.

Nine Cities, Nine Green Ideas

The Wall Street Journal ran a nice piece on Monday looking at 9 cities around the world and steps they’ve taken to reduce energy consumption.

 Some of the highlights:

• Chicago’s efforts to plant rooftop gardens to cool municipal buildings.

• Amsterdam’s cool water air conditioning system.

• London’s “localized power” concept - moving energy generation closer to users.

  
• New York’s tidal generation - this is my personal favourite.

The only one on the list that didn’t make sense to me was Bejing.  Apparently, in an effort to both cut energy consumption and reduce pollution leading up to the Olympics, Bejing has been focusing on closing and moving a number of cement kilns, coal mines and chemical plants.  I think the key piece is the moving aspect.  I’m pretty sure it doesn’t count as reduction if you’re just shifting the plant to another area…but I’m not an scientist, nor am I Chinese.

San Francisco converts city fleet to biodiesel fuel

The New York Times is reporting that San Francisco has just completed a year long project which converted all city vehicles to be able to run on bio-diesel fuel.

The fleet of city vehicles have been converted to run on B20, a mix of 20% soy-based fuel and 80% petroleum based diesel fuel. 

This fleet switch over has also been coupled with a new “SFGreasecycle” program designed to collect fats and cooking oils from city restaurants for conversion to bio-diesel fuels.

While there are obvious benefits to using bio-diesel fuel, the method is not without critics.  Some argue that bio-diesel fuels have the possibility to create food shortages while the positive overall impact on the climate is questioned.

However, do I think this is better than a strict fossil fuel diet?  Can’t hurt.

Incredible efficiency and lower emissions - the genius of Jonathan Goodwin

“Johnathan Goodwin can get 100 mpg out of a Lincoln Continental, cut emissions by 80%, and double the horsepower. Does the car business have the guts to follow him?”

I had this article from FastCompany.com passed on from the Blogfather and it is still blowing my mind.

Jonathan Goodwin is a self-taught gear-head who is creating a stir in the automotive world by taking production cars, using almost exclusively parts that are widely available, and modifying these cars to create incredibly high efficiency vehicles that run on a variety of fuels (diesel, bio-diesel, hydrogen, recycled cooking oil, you name it).  Oh yeah, and all his mods also produce ridiculous improvements in horse-power!

Here are some excerpts from the article.

In reference to the H3 Hummer he is working on:

“Conservatively,” Goodwin muses, scratching his chin, “it’ll get 60 miles to the gallon. With 2,000 foot-pounds of torque. You’ll be able to smoke the tires. And it’s going to be superefficient.”

He laughs. “Think about it: a 5,000-pound vehicle that gets 60 miles to the gallon and does zero to 60 in five seconds!”

On the big three:

Goodwin is doing precisely what the big American automakers have always insisted is impossible. They have long argued that fuel-efficient and alternative-fuel cars are a hard sell because they’re too cramped and meek for our market…

Goodwin’s work proves that a counterattack is possible, and maybe easier than many of us imagined. If the dream is a big, badass ride that’s also clean, well, he’s there already. As he points out, his conversions consist almost entirely of taking stock GM parts and snapping them together in clever new ways. “They could do all this stuff if they wanted to,” he tells me, slapping on a visor and hunching over an arc welder. “The technology has been there forever. They make 90% of the components I use.” He doesn’t have an engineering degree; he didn’t even go to high school: “I’ve just been messing around and seeing what I can do.”

So the question is, does Goodwin’s work offer a way for the Big 3 to achieve remarkable improvements to their dismal fuel efficiency, compete with foreign automakers, and jump-start the shift away from non-renewable fossil fuels?

That all depends on the willingness of the Big 3 to move away from tired excuses and tired thinking.  Goodwin shows us that the technology already exists, the skills already exist, and the “bad-ass-ness” Americans seem to crave can co-exist.  The only question is, will the Big 3 adopt these ideas before it’s too late - for their companies, for Americans, and for the planet?

Oh, and a great video of one of his mods featured on Pimp My Ride destroying a Lamborghini:

And an interview with Jonathan Goodwin:

Storm Virus clouds on the horizon

I’ll be the first to admit I know very little about technology.   I atrribute it to growing up at a time when computers and all those other gadgets I use have just been there, and more often than not they worked.  When something goes wrong I am clueless.  And most people out there are probably like me.

That’s what makes the Storm virus so freakin’ scary.

What is the Storm Virus, you ask?  Well, if you’re like me, you didn’t realize that it’s been around for a while.  Apparently it is a nasty little virus that infects your machine and makes it part of a “botnet.”  The articles below explain it all, but I guess the end result is you get a virus that hands over control of your machine to someone else and acts as a sleeper cell, lying dormant on your computer for months until it springs into action periodically.

Possible end result?  Chaos, apparently.  Or at least a massive network of enslaved machines doing whatever some freaky puppet-master tells them to do.  The possibilities are chilling, even for a non-techie such as myself.

Here’s a good article, Symantec’s take, and Cnet’s take on the black-market aspects of the virus.

Yikes!

Thanks to Mark for the tip.