We’ve all already heard it in the news already: Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple Inc., was recently pulled over in California for driving at a rate of 104 mph (167 km/h) in his Toyota Prius. You may read the original article by Gary Richards at the San Jose Mercury News website: “Can Prius top 100 mph? Ask Wozniak.” Now, according to the list of speed limits in the United States, Mr. Wozniak was likely in an area where the speed limit was 70 mph, putting him 34 mph above the legal limit and therefore justifying his approximately $700 ticket. I believe Woz’s story of 104 mph (though cops do sometimes get speeds wrong, as in this recent story from my state: “Motorcycle enthusiasts question 205 mph ticket.”) I do not, however, believe Woz’s explanation.
First, let’s cast aside all the “haha, the wimpy Prius can go fast” quips, similar to those put forth by Mr. Richards, Mr. Gruber, and others. Let’s look at the facts. The United States 2007 Toyota Prius spec sheet does not supply the top rated speed of the vehicle. The European spec sheet, however, does. That speed is 106 mph (170km/h). Now, given the fact that European and American specs can differ due to discrepancies in environmental impact regulations and electronic governors, it is helpful to turn to the “HEVAmerica, U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity: Toyota Prius” stats, which report that the top speed reached by a US 2004 Prius after one mile of driving was 104.2 mph. Given that the 2004-2007 Prius body styles are aerodynamically identical, all having a coefficient of drag of 0.26, it is reasonable to assume that the top speed of a US Prius is something like 105 mph, giving Woz about 1 mph of headroom on his claim.
Here’s where things make less sense: Woz, in his “guilty with an excuse” courtroom appearance, declared that his scientifically inclined mind and worldly traveling of late put his mind in kilometers per hour mode. This argument has a modicum of truth in one specific situation: if one is accustomed to fixating on the interior region of the speed limit dial, where the units are kilometers. The problem is, the Prius doesn’t have a speed limit dial. It has a digital readout (image from an Edmunds Prius Gallery) of the current speed, with two digital reminders (odometer and speedometer) that the units are in miles per hour. So, yes, the car could’ve gone that speed and no, I do not believe Woz’s weak excuse.
Flat out, without a doubt, straight up, indubitably gorgeous letter pressed wedding invitations are produced right here in Minneapolis, MN by Armato Design. Watch their quick video (the one labeled “2 color job”) of the printing process, complete with fun music from the movie Amélie (the song’s called “La Noyee”). If you would like to buy some of their work straight away, Armato’s on etsy, too: http://armatodesign.etsy.com.
Katy showed me this hilarious Monty Python sketch on the DVD’s I got her for Christmas. It’s called the “Silly Job Interview.” I like how the guy starts hyperventilating with “Oh dear, I don’t think I’m doing very well!”
John Cleese’s facial expressions are extraordinarily well done, too.
Trading Yesterday is a great take on uplifting alt rock. Very major chords — which I’ve been known to love. They’re changing their name soon and releasing an album in the next month or so.
I’m not sure why they are changing their name… I wonder what they will be called in the future?
Here’s a great write-up from blurbomat.com about “How to Turn an Ordinary Photo Into an Extraordinary Photo”. I really like his masking technique - I never got around to figuring out how to feather the edges of a selection properly. Good stuff.
You may have all read the mainstream media blip two years back about an extensive thread on a message board simply called “i am lonely will anyone speak to me.” In fact, over three years after it’s creation, you can still read the thousands and thousands of responses to one person’s plea for a human connection. The stark reality is that three years ago, many of the most active citizens of the internet were technologically minded, shy individuals. So, from this preponderance of socially awkward people, there was bound to come a post like this, with a corresponding outpouring of responses. Naturally, as the demographics of the internet have evolved, the responses have also diversified. However, the central point remains: the cold online world still feels lonely to many people. A 2004 article in the New Yorker, called, “Hello, Loneliness” put forth a good summary:
Visitors from around the world logged on with personal expressions of solitude, ranging from the adolescent (“Spring break really fucking sucks”) and the temporary (“My wife is gone for the night”) to the involved (“I’m in the final year of my Ph.D., I have no life, and I am broken up with my gf because she joined a cult”), the confused (“I typed: ‘why is abc bittorrent not working’ and I got ‘I am lonely.’ Not too hilarious”), and the existential (“I feel like a floating piece of dust in outer space”).
The only thing I disagree with in that quote is that “visitors from around the world” are still logging on with their own thoughts to add. After all, the most recent post on this loneliness thread was yesterday. The interesting thing to note here, is that one of the largest trends in the online world is directly related to this loneliness post: Facebook, MySpace, Virb, etc. are the internet’s response. That is, when somebody thinks “I am lonely,” they type in a social networking address and hit the enter key, hoping for a human feeling of connection to the world around them. That’s not to say that people always visit for this reason, but the desire to feel interconnected with a community is undeniably a central reason for the growth of social networks.
The concept of connectivity is going in new directions, too. For example, there’s Twittervision, which shows you a map of the world, and updates live as people microblog their lives. Updates ranges from:
“jen - i made a cafepress sale - but it was Bingo related - so it wasn’t a penguin”
- billykay
to:
“Sometimes it is good to spend some time doing nothing at all”
- betobeto
You can just sit there and stare at the monitor, watching people’s lives (worldwide) flow by in real time. Could this make a person feel any less lonely? I don’t know. Could a message board make the original poster 3+ years ago feel less lonely? Hard to say. It is undeniable, however, that each new disruptive technology (automobiles, the internet, personal computers, digital photography, telephones, etc.) impact our social fabric in ways we can not predict.
Great comic: “man it’s great to be able to fly!” It actually took me a while to figure out the location of the scene… I doubt you’ll have the same problem.
In this short article and accompanying movie clip, “Tokyo Summerland wave pool manages to fit in some water,” we find that the pool was packed really really closely because the wave mechanism was broken. Then, said mechanism begins working. I’ve never seen so many people floating in such a small space.
