'Fraid not. I never even saw any myself ( I was working in NY and the car was being built in Iowa). Wasn't even really interested in such at the time and didn't ask for any. I had my drawings and models. That's what was important to me as an engineer.
I suppose there may be some pictures of the mule (so far as I know as far as the project ever got. Company founded by a couple of starry eyed Mother Earth readers. Part of the Electric Car Bubble of the 70s) still existing in the attic of some farmhouse in Iowa, but my drawings and models have gone the way of all physical objects that live below grade on a river flood plain.
Next time I guess I can be a real man and just upload to ftp and let the world mirror the stuff, but that option was only available for ASCII art at the time. I'm also afraid I'm one of those engineers with little interest in archiving. There's nothing less interesting to me than a dead project, and the important ideas live on in my head.
Well, at least so long as I retain a functioning head, which is under question at the very moment.
The problem with electric cars was never performance, it's range.
It isn't even ranger, per se. Gas cars don't have any better range, what they can do is refuel quickly and easily.
The electric car I designed back in the late seventies was built around a central spine which contained a standard "stick pack", just like an electric R/C car. When the batteries are drained simply slide out the tray and slide in a new one.
In a commercial setting you wouldn't own your batteries, you'd lease them, and simply stop for a tray switch when needed, taking no more time than a gas fill up.
What electrics lack is "filling stations," not range.
My first response to the blurb as well, I'm afraid. On the whole Apple markets to those people, rather successfully, who do not want to know about technology and desire that their computers "just work."
Graphic artists, writers, sound engineers, the so called "creative" people.
Perhaps it is true that Apple users, prodded by the marketing of the company, like to think they are on, and understand, the cutting edge of technology, but thinking you understand and understanding are two very different things.
I have some passing understanding of computer technology at a low level. I've built computers by hand wiring vacuum tubes (whose functioning I also understand) into bistable multivibrators (two tubes per bit). All of my PCs in regular use were assembled by me from parts, some of which were custom made by myself (data acqiusition stuff mostly).
But I'm currently building a PC based sound recording studio and I expect I'll get an Apple.
Why? Because I don't give a damn about understanding the technology involved, and, for the most part. ..don't. I have a specialized job for the machine to do. I want to just buy it, plug it in, turn it on and have it work.
In this limited case I have turned into the perfect Apple customer. I have money and don't know, don't care about the damned "technology." I just want to get my work done.
Why does microsoft feel the need to get into this market? They are a software producer...
Because they are obsessed with software as an Internet service. At the moment it is a battle mainly for power and control, but it is, ultimately, intended to transform software from an item "sold" into a continuing revenue stream from use.
He who has the power and control will get the revenue stream.
"But customers don't want that; and with large HDs and OSS don't need it," I hear you cry, "and what has all of this got to do with turning into an advertising company anyway?"
Ahhhhhhhhh, Grasshopper, shift your point of view and see things behind the veil of illusion. You are still thinking of yourself as the customer and Office as the content to be delivered to you over the net, for a fee.
Microsoft now views the advertiser as the customer and is putting their research dollars into ways to deliver content to them, for a fee.
And what is this content that the advertisers desire?
Doesn't this mean that the Senate shall enact no such treaty?
The Senate may well do what all countries actually do with such treaties, sign the thing as a matter of polity, then either ignore or enforce it as benefits them in any particular situation.
Witness the power of the Geneva Convention Treaty.
to Microsoft: never mind. You don't need to lift a finger.
Yes, but not having a finger lifted was Microsoft's optimum strategy.
If there is something your enemy would be a complete idiot to do, make them a gift of it. (This is where the phrase White Elephant comes from)
Their hand has been prised from their cold, dead monopolistic format by interoperability. The issue is choice vs. monopoly, not my monopoly vs. their monopoly.
Microsoft has been very publicly denouncing the move to ODF as a my monopoly vs. their monopoly issue. Not only does this blow that argument out of the water, it makes MS look like complete assholes in the process.
I always thought that Japanese udon noodles were he inspiration for Play-Doh.
Basically you're right. Just add some mineral oil to get Play Doh.
Roll it over your wallpaper. The mineral oil disolves the paste haze and the dough picks it up, just like cleaning a "bread" board used to knead noodle dough on, except for a bread board you'd use a bit of vegetable oil instead of mineral oil.
Cool! The resale value of my 10-year-old car just went up!
Chief auto theft deterant device: Driving a ten year old, Monkey Shit Brown Oldsmobile Delta 88 with flower vases in the rear window and a "Support the Troops" ribbon on the trunk lid.
My #1 sign that Microsoft's competitors are going over the water at 100 knots while Microsoft is getting fat and drunk on wings and umbrella drinks at the Disney cruise ship bar: 38B USD in profit.
Ah, but I'm afraid this technology is going to be most useful in hiding things from machines that go "Ping!" when they "see" something.
It isn't going to be enough to create a Somebody Else's Problem Field around the object to be hidden. You'll also need one around the detecting device so that people ignore it. That's a much harder problem.
"Brain the size of a planet, but do they listen to me when I tell them they're standing right underneath a Vogon battle cruiser? Noooooooooooo! I'll just go sit over here on this rock and rust."
Slashdot Mirror
Do you have any pictures of that car?
'Fraid not. I never even saw any myself ( I was working in NY and the car was being built in Iowa). Wasn't even really interested in such at the time and didn't ask for any. I had my drawings and models. That's what was important to me as an engineer.
I suppose there may be some pictures of the mule (so far as I know as far as the project ever got. Company founded by a couple of starry eyed Mother Earth readers. Part of the Electric Car Bubble of the 70s) still existing in the attic of some farmhouse in Iowa, but my drawings and models have gone the way of all physical objects that live below grade on a river flood plain.
Next time I guess I can be a real man and just upload to ftp and let the world mirror the stuff, but that option was only available for ASCII art at the time. I'm also afraid I'm one of those engineers with little interest in archiving. There's nothing less interesting to me than a dead project, and the important ideas live on in my head.
Well, at least so long as I retain a functioning head, which is under question at the very moment.
KFG
The problem with electric cars was never performance, it's range.
It isn't even ranger, per se. Gas cars don't have any better range, what they can do is refuel quickly and easily.
The electric car I designed back in the late seventies was built around a central spine which contained a standard "stick pack", just like an electric R/C car. When the batteries are drained simply slide out the tray and slide in a new one.
In a commercial setting you wouldn't own your batteries, you'd lease them, and simply stop for a tray switch when needed, taking no more time than a gas fill up.
What electrics lack is "filling stations," not range.
KFG
My first response to the blurb as well, I'm afraid. On the whole Apple markets to those people, rather successfully, who do not want to know about technology and desire that their computers "just work."
.don't. I have a specialized job for the machine to do. I want to just buy it, plug it in, turn it on and have it work.
Graphic artists, writers, sound engineers, the so called "creative" people.
Perhaps it is true that Apple users, prodded by the marketing of the company, like to think they are on, and understand, the cutting edge of technology, but thinking you understand and understanding are two very different things.
I have some passing understanding of computer technology at a low level. I've built computers by hand wiring vacuum tubes (whose functioning I also understand) into bistable multivibrators (two tubes per bit). All of my PCs in regular use were assembled by me from parts, some of which were custom made by myself (data acqiusition stuff mostly).
But I'm currently building a PC based sound recording studio and I expect I'll get an Apple.
Why? Because I don't give a damn about understanding the technology involved, and, for the most part. .
In this limited case I have turned into the perfect Apple customer. I have money and don't know, don't care about the damned "technology." I just want to get my work done.
As a music geek, not a computer geek.
KFG
Why does microsoft feel the need to get into this market? They are a software producer...
Because they are obsessed with software as an Internet service. At the moment it is a battle mainly for power and control, but it is, ultimately, intended to transform software from an item "sold" into a continuing revenue stream from use.
He who has the power and control will get the revenue stream.
"But customers don't want that; and with large HDs and OSS don't need it," I hear you cry, "and what has all of this got to do with turning into an advertising company anyway?"
Ahhhhhhhhh, Grasshopper, shift your point of view and see things behind the veil of illusion. You are still thinking of yourself as the customer and Office as the content to be delivered to you over the net, for a fee.
Microsoft now views the advertiser as the customer and is putting their research dollars into ways to deliver content to them, for a fee.
And what is this content that the advertisers desire?
You my pet. You!
Happy surfing.
KFG
Doesn't this mean that the Senate shall enact no such treaty?
The Senate may well do what all countries actually do with such treaties, sign the thing as a matter of polity, then either ignore or enforce it as benefits them in any particular situation.
Witness the power of the Geneva Convention Treaty.
KFG
In DC we don't call them "loiterers."
We call them "lobbyists" and "facilitators."
The only difference between the two is which way the money flows. Follow the money.
KFG
to Microsoft: never mind. You don't need to lift a finger.
Yes, but not having a finger lifted was Microsoft's optimum strategy.
If there is something your enemy would be a complete idiot to do, make them a gift of it. (This is where the phrase White Elephant comes from)
Their hand has been prised from their cold, dead monopolistic format by interoperability. The issue is choice vs. monopoly, not my monopoly vs. their monopoly.
Microsoft has been very publicly denouncing the move to ODF as a my monopoly vs. their monopoly issue. Not only does this blow that argument out of the water, it makes MS look like complete assholes in the process.
KFG
I'm a vintage open wheel/sporty car nut. We use castor oil in our matzo balls.
KFG
I always thought that Japanese udon noodles were he inspiration for Play-Doh.
Basically you're right. Just add some mineral oil to get Play Doh.
Roll it over your wallpaper. The mineral oil disolves the paste haze and the dough picks it up, just like cleaning a "bread" board used to knead noodle dough on, except for a bread board you'd use a bit of vegetable oil instead of mineral oil.
KFG
Let's pretend this patent just appeared on the Slasdot front page. Is it valid?
Depends on whether you consider substituting Penzoil for schmaltz in your matzo balls a nonobvious idea.
All I can say is, it never would have occured to me.
KFG
Those kind of cars are pretty much used by joy-drivers and sometimes by homeless people to sleep in. . .
Worse than that. He's a drummer.
KFG
Maybe you also had a meeting with santa clause.
You can't fool me. There is no sanity claus.
KFG
is there any reason at all that anybody should be taking these numbers seriously?
If they come stapled to a $6.1 billion check made out to cash and slipped under the back door of the Captiol Building?
KFG
Can't anyone read articles before posting them?
I don't know. Maybe it's the geek version the gentleman joke.
What's the definition of a gentleman?
Someone who knows how to play the banjo/bagpipes/accordian/viola, . . . but doesn't.
KFG
but it did go 185...
Dunno, I decided not to lose my license finding out. I like to drive.
But, ummmmmmmmmm, It was really sweet at a buck and quarter. Don't tell anyone 'bout that, 'K? Life's been good to me so far.
KFG
I have a hard time believing my fellow Americans actually trust the Republican mouthpieces at Fox more than any other media.
Look at the posts immediately before and after your own.
Think hard about what all those numbers actually mean.
KFG
Cool! The resale value of my 10-year-old car just went up!
Chief auto theft deterant device: Driving a ten year old, Monkey Shit Brown Oldsmobile Delta 88 with flower vases in the rear window and a "Support the Troops" ribbon on the trunk lid.
KFG
Are parts for luxury cars that specialized?
On my Maserati even the paint was specialized.
KFG
I'm surprised it took this long.
It didn't. They've been showing it on TV cops and robbers shows for some years already. It aint' exactly news if they did it on The A Team.
KFG
And thats why people will want a regular key.
So the car'll be Gone in Sixty Seconds.
KFG
My #1 sign that Microsoft's competitors are going over the water at 100 knots while Microsoft is getting fat and drunk on wings and umbrella drinks at the Disney cruise ship bar: 38B USD in profit.
KFG
I work in HECTOR and get done before I start, leaving plenty of free time to get dragged around the city.
KFG
go do your astronaut,. . .
.
I told you I'm not an astronaut.
cowboy,. .
Not since my youth.
super secret agent shit.
No comment, or I'd have to kill you.
KFG
Ah, but I'm afraid this technology is going to be most useful in hiding things from machines that go "Ping!" when they "see" something.
It isn't going to be enough to create a Somebody Else's Problem Field around the object to be hidden. You'll also need one around the detecting device so that people ignore it. That's a much harder problem.
"Brain the size of a planet, but do they listen to me when I tell them they're standing right underneath a Vogon battle cruiser? Noooooooooooo! I'll just go sit over here on this rock and rust."
KFG
Why do people keep repeating this absurd claim?
Because people are absurd?
KFG