Things I've Noticed

Would You Buy This Non-Hybrid Fuel Efficient Vehicle?

The Autoblog showed this new vehicle a couple of days ago.  It's the Loremo, which stands for LOw REsistance MObile, and the company is offering two versions, one of which gets 150 mpg.  Now, it looks a bit different, as you can see, but it's cool in a funky kind of way.  It definitely looks better than a Scion bB, that miniaturized Chevy Astro at least.

http://www.autoblog.com/2006/02/27/loremo-debuts-150-mpg-concept-car-in-geneva/

http://www.loremo.com/

I would consider buying one, but it will initially only be available in Europe.  It just goes to show that a hybrid isn't necessary.  Diesels would be a good solution here once low sulfur fuel gets here next year, as they are in Europe.  But, (and I have to insert my opinion here), what bothers me is that hybrids get tax deductions here even if they're less efficient than other normal gasoline-powered cars.  It's the efficiency that should matter, not the technology!  I get 30+ mpg on the highway, so how about I get a small tax deduction as well?  Don't even get me started on the fact that Bush and the Republicans still allow a tax deduction on the extremely large SUV's for "business" purposes.  That is unforgiveable with our current energy and political situation.

+ Atul

Olympic Thoughts on Torino 2006

 

I watched as much of the Winter Olympics as I could.  I especially enjoyed the bobsledding, skiing, curling, and ice dancing believe it or not.  Some thoughts on the games...

- In the speed sports, it often comes down to hundredths of a second and possibly even thousandths of a second to distinguish a "winner" from a "loser".  Do we have to split hairs that finely?  If they're that close, they're all really great.  On the four man bobsled competition, the commentator was complaining that the start took 5.77 seconds instead of 5.72 which would be good.  Twenty extra snowflakes on the ice could make that difference.

-  I'm convinced that figure skating is just an excuse to do obscene dance moves, (although in a graceful manner).  Nobody could get away with moves where the person shows his/her crotch with his/her leg in the air.  (And they get to do this while spinning around like Julie Andrews.)  Guys get to pick up women and hold them in somewhat sensual places.  These are things that can only be done in our society if you're on the ice.  Two person luge is also questionable, but I won't get into that one.

-  People aren't watching the Winter games as much as they used to.  One could attribute it to the lack of American superstars (or their inability to perform in the clutch), but I think it's partially NBC's fault.  They cover the games like it's live, show only sports in which the Americans have a chance which aren't always the most exciting ones to watch.  Plus they have way too many cheesy human drama stories.  I want to watch sports, not interviews!

-  Although the USA had the second most medals in Torino, a lot of them were in the newly created subjective X-Games type sports such as moguls skiing and half-pipe snowboarding.  If we keep being creative, we can make more sports that we can dominate.  To be fair though, we did do well in speed skating, and snowboard racing.

http://www.torino2006.org/ENG/IDF/MDL/MDL_NOC_USA.html

Well, here's looking to THE biggest sports spectacular in the world, the soccer World Cup in Germany.

+ Atul

Quick Quote on Opinions

"An opinion is all that is needed to become an enemy."

+ Atul

Sudoku - Time Waster or Answer to Life's Problems?

I've recently come across a few random Sudoku puzzles while traveling for work, and being the engineer that I am at heart, I had to try to solve them.  It took me a little while to figure out the most efficient way to solve them, but once I did, the next few became easier.  Then I realized that I knew I could eventually solve it by repeating the same methods over and over again.  This became an addictive motivator.  Then I thought, "After I solve it, what's the pay-off?"  All I end up with is numbers on a grid.  Then I vowed never to do Sudoku again.  I thought I would use my mind to come up with blog posts or something new in the world.

Today, I came across this article on MSNBC that says Sudoku is good for you.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11529399/site/newsweek/

I agree that Sudoku is challenging, and that it may sharpen your mind, but relieve stress?  I think it adds stress because I get worried about screwing up or failing to solve the puzzle.  (Plus my neck hurts from looking down at it).  And I totally agree that it is addictive.  With the internet, blogs, alcohol, video games, the world doesn't need another addictive activity :-).

In the process of writing this, I thought of a marketing tagline for the puzzle...

"Can you do Sudoku?"

I just wish I had created Sudoku first.  I could have retired by now.

+ Atul

Quick Quote on Memory

"Forgetting is just remembering a bit too late."

+ Atul

My First Bloggers Roundtable Post

As fate would have it, by way of my presence on the www.dETROITfUNK.com blogroll, Sereena noticed my blog and invited me to join their Roundtable of bloggers to rotate who contributes the post of the week.   All of the others link to that post and comment on that post.  To kick off my participation, here's a link to Trish's post on the trials and tribulations of being a redhead.  Now I can't relate completely, but as an Indian-American, I understand what it's like to be considered different to some extent.  I think the mis-treatment all comes down to treating those that are "different" as if they are weird.

As for redheads in particular, I never used to be attracted to them.  Perhaps it was just the particular redheads I went to school with.  After seeing Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman, and having seen many throughout my lifetime now, I have realized that I do find many redheaded women to be attractive.

http://andiwastheecho.blogspot.com/2006/02/its-roundtable-red-headed-stepchildren.html

Also, here's an interesting article on a book about the allure of redheads called The Roots of Desire by Marion Roach.

http://www.azcentral.com/ent/pop/articles/0712redhead0712.html

+ Atul

Random Animals versus Random People

When a normal person sees a cute cat or dog, they instantly go to the animal, and start petting it.  Typically, (and especially with dogs), they let the animal sniff and lick them too.  Why do people let random animals lick them, but not random people?  I can guarantee you that 100% of the people you encounter don't have dogfood breath and haven't licked their behinds within the last few minutes, but if some person were to come up to you and try to lick you, you would be very offended.  The really gross part is when a dog's owner basically lets the dog lick them at the mouth.  Of course I'm not advocating random licking of strangers on the face or hands, but you might want to reconsider the liberties you give to dogs and cats.

+ Atul 

Einstein Is Watching You!

This video is just too cool.  Forget Elvis, Einstein lives and he knows what you're doing.  See the video...

http://www.grand-illusions.com/images/articles/toyshop/einstein_hollow_face_illusion/main.wmv

+ Atul

May This Blog Post Interest You

So now that I've been blogging individually here and at Detroit Essentials  www.uh2l.blogs.com/detroitessentials as part of a class group for about a month and a half, I've seen quite a few other blogs to see how other people do it.  One thing that struck me is how many well-established blogs just don't offer much value.

Some do little more than link to other sites that provide interesting or pertinent topics.  These bloggers are hardly contributing anything other than information delivery so they are modern-day newspaper delivery people.  They could at least offer insightful comments about the article or link.  (There are some blogs do a great job of this.)  Then there are other bloggers who treat a blog as just a diary about their daily lives.  These are the ones with posts starting off, "Today was a good day.  I got a lot done..."  Do their blog readers want to know everything that happened in their life when it's not at all interesting?  The last thing that irks me about some bloggers is that  many of them can barely write.  I hope nobody considers that I fall in this category.

Now I'm not saying I run the best blog in the world as I rank about 343,000th in popularity on Technorati, (up from 985,000th not too long ago), but I try to add some value in my posts.  I attempt to make people think or laugh and I don't expect them to use me as a newspaper delivery person or expect them to care about every little thing that happens to me.  So if you're a subscriber, thank you.  I intend to keep this up as long as I have readers.  I can track who's coming by location so I know how many people are visiting too.  All I ask is for some comments or emails every once in a while to tell me if you want to see more articles of a certain type.  I'm all about customer service, (and getting "Things I've Noticed" off my chest).

+ Atul

Simple Rationale Behind The Need for Global Warming Action

First of all, I and the majority of scientists believe that man-made global warming is happening.  So it seems that we should take steps to curb emissions, recycle, reuse and take care of natural environments.  But for those that don't believe it is happening, I give one simple reason why you should do something about it anyway.  If you consider the earth's atmosphere as the air in a large room in which you were situated, would you rather have more artficial pollutants in the air to breathe in or less?  Which is more natural?  Which will have less of an impact on the environment?  That's all the naysayers on global warming need to think about.  Less bad stuff is good.  Our atmosphere is not infinite and it can only handle so much.

So, try to live efficiently, drive efficiently, use less, waste less.

On a related note, see this ironic article.  Canada wants to build an oil pipeline, but because of global warming (which can be partially attributed to emissions from oil product usage), the permafrost, (used to always be frozen ground), is now melting.  This would make a pipeline a dangerous proposition because the ground beneath it could not be relied upon for support.  Perhaps nature is telling us to use less oil.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11383809/

+ Atul