All Kinds of Stuff

I'm all over the grid today, so will spend a paragraph on each thing that caught my eye recently...

The LHC is broken, and all testing delayed until April of next year while repairs are carried out. But in other big science news, SpaceX successfully launched their partially reusable rocket into orbit. They claim once in production, launches will cost 8.5 million a piece. Far better than NASA's 450 million for launching the Shuttle.

Today, the CRTC launched the National Do Not Call List. The website's at https://www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/, and while it has been very loaded all day, it promises to bring some much anticipated relief from telemarketing calls during supper. No, I don't want a preapproved Discover card! And no, I don't want to join Columbia House!

The market's kind've been in the suck the last few days. With the choice of falling stocks, or a 700 billion dollar bailout which causes inflation, which merely hides the falling stocks. This correction is long overdue, and unfortunately I think it has a ways to go before things get better.

Finally, Ryan Reynolds has managed to provoke the anger of nearly 3 billion men on the planet. The biggest mainstream media story in the last week is that he has taken Scarlett Johansson off the market. See, that's far more important than private investment in new technologies and the stock market, isn't it?

More Thursday....

TV almost seems better this year...

Well, I've taken to watching TV in my old age. While Battlestar Galactica is on yet another one of its extended hiatus', there are a few other shows worth watching out there for die hard geeks.

1) The Big Bang Theory - Hilarious show if you are or hang out with geeks. Exagerrates OCD and other geek traits to the extreme.

2) Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles - I have mixed feelings about this one, as the Terminator movie franchise leaves very large shoes to fill, but season one was very good, and season two hasn't disappointed yet.

3) Knight Rider - Not sure how this will pan out. The inclusion of a modernized version of the original Knight Rider theme song is a step in the right direction though. The fact that KITT, now a Mustang, can turn into a Ford pickup truck at a whim is a little far fetched though...

This is a good change from years of television that have been filled with reality show after reality show. Survivor is on what must be at least its 8th incarnation, and quite frankly, it is tiring. Four or five years have past since American Idol brought us the genius of William Hung.

The time has come for real television shows again, even if you aren't a fan of science fiction or geek humour. Reality shows represent the height of laziness in television programming, the only genre that approaches it was the variety shows of the 70s. So I look forward to more new programming, of all types.

Or perhaps it is all bread and circuses, given to the masses to distract from the wars and ailing economies of many nations. But at least it stopped me from ranting about THOSE tonight.

No blog tonight...

No blog tonight, back Thursday...(not feeling 100%)

So there.

Wow...and it looks good too!

This week, General Motors finally gave us the first glimpse at the Chevy Volt, a "hybrid" car that will be released in 2010. While this car does have a gasoline engine, it is only used to charge the batteries if they run low - the drivetrain is full electric, much like the much missed EV-1. While electric cars are really cars with very long tailpipes, offshoring their emissions to the nearest power plant, GM claims that the Volt will be able to drive 40 miles without recharge on a charge that costs as little as a cup of coffee (probably Starbucks, but at current gas prices, still a steal).

The real surprise of this is the Volt actually LOOKS like a tech savvy leap forward, unlike the current bland line of Impalas, Malibus and Cobalts which look like they are straight out of the late 90s. It's quite possibly the first hybrid I've seen that I wouldn't mind driving, and coming from a company that's as unoriginal as GM usually is, that says something. Perhaps they are not only investing in new technologies, but about to change their image in the car world.

Check out the upcoming Volt at http://www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/.

Bad times in the stocks

First Merryl Lynch is sold to the Bank of America, then Lehman Brothers’ files for bankruptcy. Today, JP Morgan has announced that it plans to build to buy Washington Mutual for next to nothing, and people are speculating that without US Government intervention, AIG will have to declare bankruptcy by the end of the week. If AIG fails, brace yourself. We’d be in for an unprecedented storm of epic proportions, perhaps exceeding the Great Depression of the 1930s in severity.

AIG is an insurance firm, not a lending institution, so it seems counter-intuitive that they have been affected by this financial crisis, and could affect us. Unfortunately, AIG is one of the largest insurance firms around, with more than a trillion dollars in business, and they invested heavily in assets backed by subprime mortgages. Since the loans are defaulting, its importance, and unsurprisingly, its exposure, has increased. Like most Wall Street institutions, they have been caught unaware, and their stock has paid the price, down over 90% since the beginning of the year, dropping to less than half of yesterday's worth before rallying on news of a potential Federal Reserve bailout plan.

What does this mean for us commoners on the outside of this financial game? Any investments held in mutual funds have the possibility for exposure, as many mutual funds invest in AIG (and the other firms that are collapsing at the moment). Prices on everything could inexplicably go up, as the Wall Street world “passes the savings on to you” so to speak, increasing the cost of credit (unavoidable at this point, or reckless to avoid it any longer). Companies will be forced to increase their prices, lest their liquidity dry up.

And it’s just Tuesday. I’ll try to get something positive for Thursday…

The market has been overdue for a correction for a long time, as I mused about nearly a year ago. Unfortunately for us, it is likely to be a big one. I just hope I wasn’t right when I mused that we could be looking at the beginning of a collapse much like the end of the USSR’s economy, because I haven’t stocked up on enough food and vodka for that yet.

The Return of Big Science - congrats to CERN and the LHC

Tonight's post is going to be short and positive, in an effort not to bore anyone with technical details. Yesterday, the Large Hadron Collider came online over in Europe. With it, scientists hope to recreate the conditions of the universe as it was milliseconds after the big bang. This could fundamentally alter the way we understand the universe, and is an amazing feat, if they can even approach success. The LHC will try to synthesize an early universe on a miniature scale by launching protons at each other at near the speed of light. When the protons collide, they will split into their fundamental particles, giving us a rare opportunity to study them.

CERN is doing something great here, as all of the money spent on this project is going to further our knowledge of the world we live in, instead of bombing people out of existence. I recently complained about lack of progress in the last fifty years, well this is one of the rare occasions that we move forward.

Congratulations to CERN on a successful powerup, and hopefully within a short time, the machine will start with experiments and discover something awesome!

Still won't stop me from buying a red crowbar though, just in case. ;)

Coffee coffee coffee......!!!!

Recently released results from the Nurses’ Health Study from 1980 to 2004 have shown that drinking two to three cups of coffee a day can reduce your chance of death from all causes, but mainly fatal heart disease. The beneficial effects were most noticeable in women, but were also present in men as well. Yet again, health professionals have come full circle on an opinion of what is and is not healthy. I guess I’ll get my butt back on the caffeine, since all of a sudden, downing up to three cups of coffee (which is still quite a bit of caffeine) is healthy again.

Many of you no doubt know of my long standing love-hate relationship with caffeine. I spent years drinking Jolt cola by the bottle, then the canful when the format changed. I then drank a Starbucks’ white chocolate mocha every day before work until I realized this was a very expensive hobby. A number of times, I have been proud of kicking the caffeine habit, like so many smokers before relapse, and perhaps at times, my caffeine habit has been a little…excessive would be the word I use.

This is much like the continuous flip flop about one or two drinks a day being healthy. I think it’s almost at the stage where I start drinking two cups of coffee in the morning, and having one or two glasses a wine with dinner an evening. Would keep all the bases covered, wouldn’t it?

Regardless, this is good news for coffee drinkers everywhere, so I thought it would make a good Tuesday post. Enjoy your Timmy’s tomorrow morning!

In a science related note, the LHC goes online tomorrow. If the whole world is destroyed like the nutters think will happen – farewell to all. Otherwise, brace yourselves for imminent awesome science! (Actually, unless you’re a science nerd, don’t even give it a passing thought, particle physics is kind of boring.)

Infrastructure and a ‘Do Nothing’ Generation

An August 22nd article in the Ottawa Citizen brought to light what anyone driving a sports car with a stiff suspension has known for years. Our infrastructure, built in the 1960s and earlier, is starting to fall apart. The article said that the Institute for Research on Public Policy claims that our national infrastructure requires 200 billion dollars in investment soon, or industry will be adversely affected. This is 72 billion dollars for new investments, and the remainder to repair existing routes, facilities, and equipment. I started this blog post then, and abandoned it in favour about writing about John McCain. I will eventually talk about his VP selection, but want to get both sides of the story so I'm not so negative. Today, the Ottawa Citizen had another article on the problem, and I decided to wrap this little rant up.

While that 200 billion figure covers roads, rail, water, power, and pretty much everything else you can imagine, it is still a number that is absolutely staggering. This is what happens when you let things get out of hand. Think about it for a moment – when was the last time you’ve seen potholes go unattended for months on end, or railway tracks being removed? When was the last time you’ve seen new power towers going up? Not an individual telephone pole being replaced, but the huge backbone towers that actually feed cities? Even at that, when’s the last time you’ve seen telephone poles being replaced before they are entirely rotted out?

I hate to rail on the boomers, but I am really getting sick of hearing stories like this. In my 25 years, all I have ever heard is how things are breaking down and wearing out. There is a sense of complacency that has settled in that has literally stopped growth in its tracks.

The last major highway to be built in Ontario was the 416, completed in 1999 (but mostly complete in 1996). It is only roughly 100km long, and nothing has been built in almost a decade. Contrast that to the 401, completed to a minimum of 4 lanes in 1968. Our investment in our roads has been lacking. Electronic Fuel Injection, the most current method of getting fuel into an engine, was invented by Bendix Corporation in 1957 for the AMC Rambler Rebel, and became truly modern in 1982 when Bosch invented the Mass Air Flow Sensor. Even in aviation, the 747, first in commercial use in 1970, is still the most popular jumbo jet, only now starting to be replaced by the Airbus A380. Contrast that to the mere 12 year reign of the 707, the 747’s predecessor.

Space travel has long been seen as the source of cutting edge technology, having provided us with Velcro and Tang. But the space shuttle was basically designed in 1977, and first flew in 1981. It replaced the Apollo Saturn V rocket, which flew from 1967-1973. We’re only now looking at replacing the shuttle, and the Orion rocket they intend to replace it with admittedly harkens back to the Saturn V days, and won’t be ready until at least 2014!

The last nuclear power plant to come online in Canada is now 15 years old, with new ones just now being planned. The situation is similar south of the border. Wind generators have been refined technologies for many years, but we still don’t use them. Hell, Jimmy Carter had solar panels on the roof of the White House in 1977 – why are we still burning coal and oil for power, and why are most of our hydroelectric dams aging mainstays? There has been little to no investment in the power infrastructure in North America in at least 20 years, and all the talk of fixing it after the blackout of 2003 did little.

Politically not much has changed in the last while either. Look at 3 of the last 4 US Presidents, arguably leaders of the free world. Reagan, Bush I, Bush II. In the last 28 years, the United States has been led by Presidents that could have otherwise been interchangeable, other than the 8 years under Clinton. Even counting Clinton’s time, in almost 30 years there have been no visionaries, no grand dream of going to the Moon like Kennedy, no dreams of peace in the Middle East and clean solar power for everyone like Carter. Hell, even Nixon opened relations with China! Everything has been status quo except for the few brief times that Reagan sat down with Gorbachev to work out our differences with the East, and as I’ve covered in another post, he did almost as much to damage our relationship with the East in his term.

But what about computers? People will surely ask that question, and they are right to ask. Computers have advanced by leaps and bounds in the last 25 years. But there are two caveats to that statement. Despite all of the processor speed increases, most home PCs are still based on 8086-style chipsets. Technology that while much faster than, is still based on a chip released in 1978. The Internet, heralded as a lifestyle-changer worldwide, is evolved from the ARPANET, created by the US military in 1969. So even there, innovation has been lacking. Progress – yes, new radical thinking – certainly not. Dual core processors and 64 bit computing will not bring us any closer to AI.

Where are the flying cars? Where’s the free cheap power that will unite mankind? And most importantly, where are the killer sentient robots bent on destroying humanity? The future is here, now, and the first decade of the 21st century is almost complete. As a society, we haven’t thought of very much of anything in at least 20 years. You could argue that it’s not one generation’s fault, as some people in charge were older, some younger, but a more or less 20 year span is still that. 20 years is a generation, no matter how you cut it.

My generation is only now coming into its own. Hopefully for our own sake, we have among us some minds that are far more innovative than the ones that have been running the show for the last 25 years. We face the greatest challenge thus far, automating the care and maintenance of our infrastructure. Because after the boomers all retire, there won’t be nearly enough people to try to take care of this setup the way we have been – especially if we inherit an infrastructure that is more than half a century old and starting to crumble. As with the oil problem, as with the environmental problem, as with the Cold War’s nuclear stockpile problem, we will inherit their mess, once again. Our nice shiny Blu-Ray discs and flat screen TVs will do us little good when the power is out because the power plants have long since broken down, and you can’t get to the next town because the roads are a crumbling mess, and even if they weren’t gasoline will have long since gone the way of the dodo bird. In short, I think the 200 billion is needed. Maybe more, so we can avoid this problem in the future.

Election Fever? Maybe Election Sore Throat…

With an election almost certainly slated for October 14th, national news will no doubt start to focus on the campaigns. I expect to see a number of things brought to the forefront of our attention.

I would expect that we will no doubt hear about increased funding for the military and other security-related concerns. Our current commitment in Afghanistan will no doubt be debated again. I may write of that further when the debate rages, but in short, I believe history proves that we will be in Afghanistan until we lose the will to continue fighting, not the other way around. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear about terrorism again, and the pressing need to expand CSIS and the CSEs roll in protecting us.

The current listeriosis outbreak will no doubt be brought up at least in passing, as it has all the potential to turn into a talking point the likes of Walkerton. Government involvement in food inspection will be debated, as the administration HAD planned to offload this responsibility to the industries themselves.

It wouldn’t be surprising to hear about Global Warming, our commitments to Kyoto, and efforts to be “green”. While most high level leaders only have a passing knowledge of the environment, it is the latest fashion, so I would expect to hear about it. The usual topics will be discussed – renewable energy, the need to look at the wisdom of expanding our oil industry, carbon taxes, and so on. If we’re lucky, we may see an increased commitment to infrastructure improvements and public transportation.

There may be talk about restructuring equalization payments between the provinces, as Ontario is now a “have not” province in a full blown recession instead of the usual “have” status. I wouldn’t expect to see very much press on this, as I think everyone involved might want to keep the status quo quiet, so not to rile up the masses.

Do I expect it to be an exciting campaign? Probably not. The Canadian public seems apathetic, and hasn’t been discussing how eager it is to head to the polls. Both the leadership and the opposition have not presented a valid case as to why we need a vote at this time. I would suspect that if a majority government gets in, it will be by a very slim margin.

By the way – The new CBC Radio Two content is nearly indistinguishable from the cultural pop played on Radio One. Excellent decision making on their part (/scarcasm). On a brighter note, at least The Signal didn't get cancelled, so at least I can get my fix of techno/ambient music in the evenings.