tingilinde

on the federal debt limit

Jim points to a nice discussion on the politics of the debt limit by Bruce Bartlett.

 

google+

xkcd gets it

There is a good chance many will use it like Facebook and Twitter - which brings the question "why migrate?"  Circles isn't a new idea, but a large body of research suggests that it is difficult to get people to create and use groups, even if the tools to aid that are compelling (and Circles appears to be very compelling).

It will be interesting to watch ...  I have a gut feeling all of the social tools (everyone - not just Google+) are a bit tone deaf so far.

audio kit

My seven year old iPod was getting unreliable - the headphone jack was giving out and frustrating.  Fixing it was too difficult so I lucked out and was given a new iPod nano for my birthday.    It is amazing how small the thing is - almost too small, but it is still very usable and excellent for exercising.  

Amazingly my original iPod (day one) still works.  I've replaced the battery a few times, but it still works although I only use it to remind myself of older tech.  I love the feel of the old mechanical scroll wheel.

from the tingilinde fashion desk... hair feathers

Offered without much comment as I have zero fashion sense, but a friend who happens to be a fashion model notes weaving feathers into hair is becoming popular in the US and has started to spread to Europe.  Sukie found a how-to for those of you who are into this sort of thing.

micro/megacity car ev

News on Gordon Murray's T.27.  I'm skeptical of most new car designs, but this guy is one of the real gods of automotive design and the prototypes have crashed well ...  He doesn't intend to manufacture them, but rather license the design and an interesting manufacturing process.

If gasoline becomes very expensive the gas version (T.25) of this might make an interesting daily car.  The electric version (T.27) only needs a 12kWh battery pack and in large quantities might be reasonably priced.  They need very little parking space.  Once could imagine urban areas repurposing parking spots as 2-3 microcars or 12 bicycles per conventional spot.  There is a huge amount of energy and space inefficiency in our current system.

It is possible - perhaps likely - that it will not see use in the US, but it might point the way to the evolution of the emerging megacity car

what should an electric car sound like

At low speeds they will be mandated to make enough sound to warn pedestrians...  Ford is being proactive in the discovery process...

 

how about this? 

or 

this?  (sort mp3s)

amazing photos

Bjarne notes the building of a bridge via a nytimes blog

Bart notes some great earth photos via reddit

the $300 house .. meeting real needs or a huge potential failure based on misconceptions?

The $300 House is a concept that came out of a blog post at the Harvard Business Review.  The idea is a mass produced, mostly robust, mass produced-for-profit dwelling for the third world.

Since then there has been quite  bit of criticism of the idea - a sampling of positive and negative comments.  I'm guessing you really need to get the culture right and solutions that involve the end users as much as possible are going to be more sustainable.

microsoft goes for very high quality aerial maps

Some of the samples are art -  a cnet article

 

I've been using Bing more frequently these days...

 

kicking and screaming...

It seems unlikely that petroleum prices will drop over the next decade, but car manufacturers appear unhappy with proposals that would dramatically change EPA fuel mileage standards.  I wonder how many people would be clamoring for 20 or 25mpg cars if gasoline rose to $8 a gallon in 2011 dollars?  Many Europeans already pay prices like that and the type of car used tends to be smaller and much more fuel efficient than in the US - about twice as efficient at this point.    

The test loops in the UK are different from the US, but ballpark comparisons can be made - how about a VW Passat that delivers about 70 mpg on diesel?