If things are really borked, go to Marginalia, my Tumblelog. Listen to some eclectic music, read a few quotes, and view the photos and videos.

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Estimated ETA Date: June 2009 to August 2009

It is important to note that the DDE does not reflect any potential changes in vehicle production, distribution and Reservation Holder cancellations. Any of these factors could change your estimated delivery date. Please continue to check the DDE from time to time as information is updated on a continuous basis.”

2009? Ouch! So I could be driving a Smart Car in the summer, just not this summer.

I’m not happy about it, but waiting a year and a half will give me a chance to investigate new cars that other automakers will be releasing. VW has a 69.9 MPG diesel hybrid that is expected late next year. The Honda Fit is still a strong contender with lots of cargo room (surprisingly) and solid MPG numbers 32/38. The Nissan Cube is being released in 2008 with an estimated 40MPG. I’m not considering the new Scion xBs. The Scion’s milage went down when they released the 2007/2008 xB - from 30/34 to 22/28. The new Scion xD has mileage that’s similar to what I’m currently getting with my ‘06 xB, 27/33 MPG, but it’s a smaller vehicle.

I’m also curious to see what develops with plug-in hybrids like the Chevy Volt. Current hybrids use nickel-metal hydride batteries, but lithium-ion batteries which offer lower weight and higher energy densities are just starting to appear. Interesting concept cars like the Aptera and the Zero Pollution Motors compressed air powered car are out there a number of years in the future, but they bear watching.

Document Freedom Day (DFD) is a global day for document liberation. It will be a day of grassroots effort to educate the public about the importance of Free Document Formats and Open Standards in general.

DFD’s main goals are:

• promotion and adoption of free document formats
• forming a global network
• coordination of activities that happen on 26th of March, Document Freedom Day

I support open data formats. There are tradeoffs we accept when we use closed formats (convenience vs. access). Make sure you understand those tradeoffs — especially if you’re looking at long term data storage. Open formats give you the freedom to ensure that your data remains free and accessable.

(Photo credit: Documents, a photo by flickr user stilleben2001)

It just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead. There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead.
 ~ Miracle Max from The Princess Bride

I read a Wired.com article about a new brain peeling machine and several seemingly unconnected ideas came together in my head. Here’s the short version (links to referenced articles are after the jump):

Pascal’s wager states that since we can’t know if there is a God (and eternal life) we should make an attempt to believe because the consequences of being wrong are high. Now bring it into present times with a different wager. Since we can’t know if a frozen dead human can, or can’t, be repaired and resuscitated by future technology, we should be frozen after our death. If you can afford it, you’ve got nothing to lose.

Freezing a freshly dead human isn’t the same as chucking a pound of ground beef into the freezer, but in both cases, damage happens during the freezing process. How much, and if it’s ultimately repairable — who knows? There’s also ongoing freezer/storage maintenance and the risk that the only copy of you will be damaged in accidental thaw, a natural disaster, or other problem.

I’ve been assuming that only a head would need to be frozen and specifically only the brain needs to be preserved. Future nano-whatevers and year 2708 technology can recreate your body (or a better one) from your DNA.

Things get better with the brainpeeling machine. Take one freshly dead human and peel and map their brain to the smallest detail needed to reproduce it accurately later. Now you have a big collection of 1’s and 0’s that can be stored instead of frozen brain meat. You can make multiple copies of the brainmap to protect against natural disasters and human error.

This introduces different risks — mapping destroys the original, so if the conversion process is faulty there could be problems. Perhaps those scientists of 2708 can correct for low resolution mapping or transcription errors. It might be similar to how the faulty optics of the Hubble space telescope were corrected in post-processing or how an old recording can have pops and scratches removed.

Maybe by the time that mapping is advanced enough to capture all the details, it won’t be destructive or invasive. It might be a high-resolution MRI-like scanner that can map the connnections and structures. The original can be frozen as a backup to the backup. Maybe the scan will be taken while you’re alive….

Go to a cocktail party, coffeehouse, or dorm lounge where you can argue the details and impossibilities of it all with your friends. Like I mentioned, there are some reference articles following the jump.

• Pascal’s Wager - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Cryonics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Machine Peels Brain, So Scientists Can Map Synapses
• Mapping the Most Complex Structure in the Universe: Your Brain

The wonderfully appropriate photo peeled can be found in jspad’s photo collection on the flickr.com photo sharing site.

I should warn you, the first movie has a bit of hubris. I haven’t watched all four yet, they might all be that way. Maybe it’s a mid-fifties thing? The movies start with “Chevrolet Presents”, you can expect to see a lot of car-related engineering.

I think that’s changed. I ran across an article that mentioned that Google was making it easier to find user customized maps. I dug into the topic a little further and found that Google My Maps might do most of what I’m looking for. After the jump is a map mashup I created showing some of the great views around Fandango Pass, California. I was able to combine geographical context, route information, photos, and a video. And best of all, it was easy.

You can grab and drag the map (left click and hold) to scroll in any direction. You can select map, satellite, or terrain views. The terrain view is especially good for convincing yourself that you probably wouldn’t want to pull a trailer over that pass. Clicking on the blue markers will show content related to that location. Try it all for yourself:

View Larger Map
If you go to the map on the Google site, you’ll be able to see the names I’ve given the markers. Much easier than going through and clicking on each marker to see what content it has. It would be nice of hovering over the marker would give you that name. Maybe there’s a javascript way to accomplish that. I’ll have to see.

I’m going to do more research, but I think Google My Maps is exactly what I need for this project.

NOTE:

• If you change the name of your Picasa photo album, the referenced photo will show in the map when you click on the marker, but if you click on the photo you’ll get a 404 page not found error. I had to go back and update the album names embedded in the links.
• I haven’t tried embedding any flickr photos yet, but I can’t see why that wouldn’t work. Or a Vimeo video instead of YouTube.
• You might want to resize any YouTube videos you embed. Paste the embed HTML code into a text editor. Multiply the new height you want by 0.825 to get the new width. This will scale the video with the correct proportions. Replace the height an width numbers in the embed code with the new numbers. Paste this edited code into the My Maps pop-up. Whole numbers only.
• Save after changes. It’s easy to forget when the ‘Save’ button is scrolled out of view. Then click on the ‘Done’ button to test your changes.
• Picasa photo albums allow you to create a nearly similar Google map showing where your photos were taken, but I don’t think they allow you to embed a video or photo content from another site. I like the flexability that My Maps offers.
• The Google My Maps User Guide is here.

A big thanks to Brian (a.k.a. Hardware) for inspiring me to take the Fandango Pass route. It’s encouraged me to take several other interesting out-of-the-way routes. Here are some of his words of wisdom, appropriate in this context:

When the map runs out, trust your instincts.

Test/Manufacturing Engineer:

• Have a general pool of knowledge to draw from. Know how to find information. Be a quick study.
• The people who build and assemble the product(s) are my most valuable resource. They know the practical reasons for why things are, or aren’t, working.
• Know when to ask for help. It’s great to be a hero, but beating my head against the wall wastes time. Some problems need resources focused on them, and that can’t happen until an issue is escalated.

EMR Configuration Engineer:

• Things are not so different between widgets and the medical world — from an EMR config point of view, that is. Workflow is workflow. Time saved is time and money saved. Clear, simple, straight-ahead solutions are often the best approach.
• Engineering rigor can be missing from proposed solutions. I can help people step back and look at the overall problem that needs to be solved.
• My most important customer is the clinician, because their customer is the patient.

Graphic Design student:

• If it’s supposed to be different, make it noticeably different. (i.e. contrast 10pt type against 14pt type, instead of 11 pt.)
• A design can break the rules, but first I have to know the rules, and why they are rules.
• Don’t go with your first idea.
• Don’t present a “crappy” throw-away choice when offering design choices. It might get selected.

Burning Man participant:

• I need to let get go of my desire to have all contingencies covered – it’s impossible. Instead, I do my homework, plan ahead, and then rely on community to help me with the unexpected. I also make that work by being part of the community and helping others.
• Amazing creativity is everywhere. Look for it. Be inspired.
• Everyone is creative in some way or another. BMan is the perfect “sandbox” for exploring that creativity. I can help encourage creativity when I interact with people.
• It’s a long drive between Seattle and BRC. I enjoy it more when I make the journey part of the adventure.
• People are fascinating. Burning Man participants are incredibly fascinating. I cheat myself out of having a great time when I follow the Midwestern ethic of not talking to strangers.

I’ve been interested in Smart cars for awhile. I looked at one back in 2006, took photos of one in Mexico last year, and have been captivated every time I’ve seen one since.

At the end of 2007 I reserved a red fortwo. Exactly as shown here. There are still several outstanding issues: going on a successful road test; seeing if I can trade in my Scion xB, doing some more research into getting the car serviced in the Seattle area, and if my insurance company will insure the car (I’m pretty sure they will). But even with those potential show-stoppers, I’m closer to owning a Smart car than I’ve ever been.

I’ll post more as this adventure develops!

Joe and I stopped at the American Museum of Radio and Electricity on our way to a weekend vacation in Vancouver, BC. The museum is located in Bellingham, WA and has an amazing collection of scientific instruments from the early days of electricity, more radios than you can imagine, a working radio station (internet stream available through Shoutcast), and a replica of the radio room on the Titanic.

I learned that Benjamin Franklin’s kite didn’t get hit by lightning. He observed the fibers on the kite string becoming charged. Later, as the wet string became more conductive, he captured some of that charge in a Leyden jar. The kite experiment helped Franklin prove that static electricity and lightning were similar in nature. (Georg Wilhelm Richmann of St. Petersburg, Russia wasn’t so lucky. Shortly after Franklin’s experiment, he was killed by ball lightning in the course of his own investigations and became the first person to die while conducting electrical experiments.)

While walking through the museum, we got to see the insides of an old electromechanical pinball machine being restored. It was fascinating! The wiring harness was expertly wrapped and the timing motors and switches made a great whirring/clicking sound (like Robbie the Robot in the 50’s movie Forbidden Planet.). It’s too bad that all those interesting guts were usually hidden inside the machine.

I had a great time and I’m looking forward to a return trip to the museum someday.

The REI Boarding Bag is the perfect size for carrying the Asus Eee PC. The power adapter fits in the front pocket. A mouse, pens, pencils, flashdrive, cellphone, and a Moleskein Cahier notebook fit in the middle compartment. The final (largest) compartment holds the laptop and a Kensington security cable. What else do you need?

01/28/08 update: A French website, blogeee.net, has pictures of official Asus accessories — including laptop bags. If you want your laptop bag to be more unique, check out the article on EEE PC World. They discuss Fabrix cases for the Eee PC. The sleeves come in a variety of patterns and can be customized with handles. (And to think, I was simply going to sew an interesting patch on my REI bag…)

Both those articles came from the eeeuser.com website. They are “a community of individuals interested in the Asus Eee PC”. They also are an amazing repository for all kinds of information related to the EeePC.