Hot Wheels... Gear Down My Ride!

Today's Blog was inspired by my neighbour.  Everyone loves the automobile.  So let's focus on the efficiency of the combustion engine.  Did you know that only about 19% of the energy created by the engine is converted into power to move the vehicle?  Did you know that an electric engine is 90%+ efficient in transferring energy into power?  What gives?  We have the technology, the brains, and the capability, but like so much in our lives... we have no will to Make It Better!  Instead, we cry helpless "What could one little old consumer do?  Call you friends and let's make one voice even louder and more powerful.  With this, we have made so many advancements in science, technology and with the materials we use to make everything on the planet, except for the automobile.  I think Saturn was onto something.  If we take the fibreglass body panels they used on their automobiles, and replaced that bulky, crappy steel with a high grade composite or aluminum (yes... it does exists... have you ever seen a jet in the sky?) and then re-geared the transmission, we could dramatically increase the efficiency of the combustion  and significantly reduce the amount of fuel, the number of parts and overall repair costs to make the automobile the means of transportation it should be.  Now how's that for a small foot print.  So next time you get into your car, just pause for a second and ask yourself; "It's time we make these improvements to Make It (the automobile) Better.  I'm sure Mr. Ford would appreciate this so he can stop rolling over in his grave. 

Oil vs the Sun

Ok... since it is 40 degrees outside today, I thought this would be an opportune time to talk about the production and consumption of oil vs the unlimited energy potential created by the sun.  Look up.... waaaaaay up... (as the Green Giant used to say) and you seen this massive sized, extremely hot light bulb spreading huge amounts of heat and daylight for everyone to enjoy.  When you compare the practicality of capturing this heat and energy vs the staggering costs to capture, refine and distribute oil, shame on us for creating and maintaining such a narrowed dependence.  For a society that has achieved so much, it's hard to believe companies like TCP are going to pipe oil from the Oil Sands of Northern Alberta all the way through the heart of the US to Houston to be processed and to feed the US oil addiction.  On the other side... we all have access to the Sun and now there is technology to "capture" the suns heat and energy so that it may be stored and used when needed at a later time.  This technology comes in the form of Liquid Batteries and if we'd put as much time and energy and support into this technology as we have done with other out of date and extremely wasteful practices, image where we'd be today.  Folks, is it too much to ask for us to use our gifts, intelligence and our common sense to force change, progress and a new way to create, develop and distribute energy?  Please make me believe it is possible.  I know what the whale sharks in the Gulf of Mexico would say if they had a choice. 

OH My God.... My PC crashed and I lost everything!

Has this every happened to you?  Well, I have a very simple design solution that could save you plenty of grief and the loss of your important files, pictures and documents when your PC crashes.  We have all heard of the famous memory stick and how we can save files on a back up basis externally, but how many of us still save everything to the C: drive on our computers?  It's a simple step, granted, but it requires a change in our behaviour to ensure our stuff is kept safe in the event bad things happen to our PC.  What if instead of us having to insert a memory stick into a usb port on our pc or laptop to save our files, PC manufacturers designed an internal "backup" memory stick inside our computer.  Just like that of the cd rom, if something goes wrong, ie our computer crashes, then all we'd have to do is push a little button on the side of our pc or laptop and voila, a memory stick pops out and all of our pictures, files and personal documents are backed up and safe in our hands.  Imagine... talk about Making It Better.  Is this so difficult or is there a real problem with those people who design, produce and sell pc's and laptops.  Remember..., YOU heard it here first.