Author Archives: Sci Fi Engineer

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Charge Your Phone (and Your Car) from Afar

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Charge Your Phone (and Your Car) from Afar – Technology Review.

This has been coming for some time but as the tag line says at the end, “…It’s going to catch on superfast…”  This may well be the technology that electric cars were looking for. Think about it coils at stop signs and stop lights, etc, or even in charging lanes.  With the technology of the battery and electric propulsion at its current level this should make the electric car a reasonable investment.  The problem is the deployment, investment, but spread out over time and geography and with the expectation that you’re going to have diesel, gas and LNG vehicles around for a long time I think you can see a realistic road to electric nirvanah.

George Washington, A Human for the Ages

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George Washington Circa 1782

Labour to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, Rules of Behavior

A man’s intentions should be allowed in some respects to plead for his actions.

 WASHINGTON, letter to the Speaker of the House of Burgesses, Dec 1756

There is a Destiny which has the control of our actions, not to be resisted by the strongest efforts of Human Nature.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, letter to Mrs. George William Fairfax, Sep. 12, 1758

I shall not be deprived … of a comfort in the worst event, if I retain a consciousness of having acted to the best of my judgment.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, letter to Colonel Bassett, Jun. 19, 1775

It is with pleasure I receive reproof, when reproof is due, because no person can be readier to accuse me, than I am to acknowledge an error, when I am guilty of one; nor more desirous of atoning for a crime, when I am sensible of having committed it.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, letter to Governor Dinwiddie, Aug. 27, 1757

Some quotes to think about in these days of chaos that are also potent with opportunities for renewal and change, they are words of a human as true today as then.  The man who spoke or wrote them would not recognize the world of  today.   Those living today might have the same trouble with the world twenty years hence,  but the quotes will be as true then as they are now and were in the eighteenth century.
 
 
 

Business Travel

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emb 190 usair

Embrear 190 Regional Jet

Sorry for the long periods between posting recently, I’ve been out-of-town on business for most of several weeks and while I’ve had the iPad I haven’t had the energy to do much thinking after I get back to the hotel room after a long day. 

Many people think that traveling for work is some kind of party and maybe if you’re a big shot or pampered sales slick that may be true but the reality is that most business travel is stressing and it gets worse as it grows longer and more frequent. 

Most people travel via airliner these days, but they think most businessmen travel in first class or business class.  In fact most of our travel is done in ‘cattle class’ and while we do have points etc that allow the occasional upgrade those perks are less common today because most business city pairs are heavily traveled and the aircraft are often near capacity with few opportunities for upgrade. 

While I and most business travelers stay in mid class hotels like Hampton Suites, Marriott Garden’s etc we do not stay at Hyatt’s that often (barring my last trip, but DC/Alexandria/Arlington are a bit of a special case….there a Hyatt is lower middle rank.)

When you travel often you find out just how unreliable air travel is.  I traveled about one week in two last year, though it felt like much more, but of those 28 some trips, I was stuck at an airport for longer than the scheduled time some 20 times (remember that most trips involve 4 ‘legs’ in the air) and I had to stay overnight 4 times. 

Also when you are working away from the office/home you are most likely not going to work regular hours.  When I am working at my company’s office (900 some miles from my home and home office) I am usually there from around 7:30 to 6:30 and often later.  I then have to find a meal and get back to the hotel to do some reading, writing or TV watching before going to sleep. 

When out on the road you will often have dinner late talking, write-up notes afterwards, then and wake up early to do eMails, wait around for a meeting in the middle of the day, catch a flight after navigating your way around an unfamiliar city and then do the whole thing again.

Many people disparage business travel in general and some executives seem to think that travel is something they should do and the mid rankers and below should do everything via the internet.  This is arrogance talking, ask one of these folks why they should travel and they say that the personal meeting gives them a better feel for their opposite part and how ‘real’ they and their business are.  The same is true for the sales / solutions / engineering folks as well.  The chances of misunderstanding are much higher with someone you have never met personally than with someone you have met and worked with for a few hours in person.  Seeing the real equipment and facilities that are the environment of the program provide a vast repository of background ‘insight’ that no amount of internet transmitted data offers.

3D printer builds a Lower Jawbone Replacement

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This piece of news popped up all over earlier this week, but the Technology Review piece though short gives it some context.  The rapid advances in imaging, tissue creation, stem cell technology, bio compatible materials, low impact surgery and 3D fabrication are being brought together to make things possible that were once fantasy and to eventually overtake transplants in the traditional sense.

While this is fascinating from a sci-fi writer’s viewpoint, the reality is something close to awe-inspiring.

GM Reveals Dismal Volt Sales in January – Technology Review

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GM Reveals Dismal Volt Sales in January – Technology Review.

The Volt is a pretty car but it’s just too expensive and too Me-to to gain real share.  The Prius is a Toyota and as such, up scale yuppies don’t feel down class when driving it, they feel virtuous. 

While the Chevy Brand is beloved by many middle class Americans it’s loved for its trucks and muscle cars, edgier yuppies buy Cadillacs.  If the Volt had been a Caddy and a bit more of everything:  bigger, striking, powerful, EXPENSIVE it might have had a better chance.  Yuppies feel dissed in a Chevy, however green, and the Red Staters aren’t going to buy a smaller, slower, more expensive car when they can get one of the quality new generation GMs, Fords or Chryslers for a few pennies more or less.

In the Developing World, Solar Is Cheaper than Fossil Fuels – Technology Review

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In the Developing World, Solar Is Cheaper than Fossil Fuels – Technology Review.

          The sudden interest is fueled by the advent of relatively low-cost LEDs, …., powering lightbulbs required a solar panel that could generate 20 to 30 watts, …. LEDs are far more efficient. Now people can have bright lighting using a panel that only generates a couple of watts of power…  

         But such technological improvements aren’t quite enough to open up the market. High-quality LED systems, with a pair of lamps and enough battery storage for several hours of lighting, cost less than $50. The systems can pay for themselves in less than two years, but the upfront cost is still too steep for many people. 

         Eight19, a company based in Cambridge, U.K., is one of several companies offering some type of payment plan to make the systems affordable. Customers pay $10 for the solar lighting system,….Then they pay a weekly fee for the power it generates.

It is a truism that new technology often needs a new business model to make it really pratctical.   This is an interesting and promising approach. 

 

Space X continues to make progress…

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The picture below was part of this article about Space X’s intentions to develop a better launch abort system using  the integrated rocket system on the Dragon Capsule.

Space X abort and landing system
Dragon Boosting clear on Draco motors

The cool thing about this is that the old system was horribly wasteful and a danger in itself.  This is the old and still standard way (from Wikipedia) a shot of the Apollo system under test, and that was just a larger version of what was on Mercury.

Apollo Pad Abort Test
Apollo Pad Abort Test

This is called a Tractor system, and it pulls the capsule off the booster in case of disaster.  The rocket motor is attached to a shell which attaches to the base of the capsule protecting the capsule in case of rocket ignition.  But for a successful, even survivable mission, now you have to discard the abort system during boost.  And it’s an expensive and heavy piece of gear tossed in the sea.  Even the Orion exploration vehicle, part of the SLS uses the same expensive and wasteful system.

Space X will make the rocket motors part of the Dragon, firing from the skirt area as you can kind of see in the picture at the top.  This rocket motor will Push the capsule off the booster.  It can also become part of the landing system, the intent is to make the Dragon a mixed mode lander, decelerating using rockets, heat shield, then parachute but finally landing under rocket power, this will allow for pin point landing in some reasonably remote and safe spot on land instead of at sea.  In fact the Russians have used a rocket ‘cushion’ system for landing their capsules forever, but the Dragon will be a real landing system, not just a cushion.

Below the Draco Rocket under test, and here the article in Wired that does a good job of explaining what’s going on in the picture.  There is also video at Wired so enjoy.

Draco Rocket Test

Draco Rocket Test