| Saturday, January 17, 2004 |  |
| SkyCar |
 The Moller SkyCar seems to be making progress. If you don't know what it is, it is a project to make a flying car about the same size and price as a big Mercedes automobile. But which can fly 500km/h, by auto-pilot, and which can hover in the air and land just about anywhere.
Paul Moller's company has worked on it for years. It is a significant enginineering task. They've spent 100 million dollars on R&D, which is really very little in this context. Recently they've done successful hover tests, and expect to do full flight testing within 5 months. Seems like it would at the earliest be available for real use in about 4 years. But you can reserve yours right now if you can afford it. Various things will need to happen before it can be in normal use, as it is intended to fly by computer control in designated highway corridors in the air. So that needs to be set aside, and the thing needs to be approved by the proper authorities. And, yes, it guzzles gas. Per kilometer it won't be anything more than a regular car. But you're of course more likely to go shopping 100s of km away if you have one of these. Nevertheless, it is about time we get some flying cars. [ Technology | 2004-01-17 06:46 | 24 comments | PermaLink ] More > |
| One-way ticket to Mars |
 George Bush announced the intent to put humans on Mars. Which is primarily a good distractionary move now that an election is coming up, and he doesn't have to figure out how to pay for it. Aside from that it is a fine idea.
But with the kind of technology that is envisioned for the purpose it is very difficult. In part that is because the people who go there need to bring equipment and fuel for getting back again. And it takes a lot of fuel to take off from Mars. So, one alternative, but somewhat controversial idea would be that it initially would be a one-way ticket rather than a return ticket. Article here in NY Times (registration required). It is really not a problem finding volunteers. They need to bring enough equipment to survive and be able to start utilizing Martian resources. And every couple of years new supplies and volunteers can arrive. Until the colony becomes self-sufficient. And (via Le Danois) somebody should maybe think a bit bigger and study this How-To for Terra-Forming. Mars is quite well suited for a large scale transformation into a green and lively planet. Which it might or might not have been in the past. Of course it would be sensible to thoroughly investigate what is already there, before re-formatting and re-booting the whole place. [ Science | 2004-01-17 16:41 | 0 comments | PermaLink ] |
| Blood and Art |
 Why would an educated person, a lawyer, and a mother of two choose to strap explosives to her body and go and blow up herself and a lot of random innocent people?
Hanadi Jaradat did just that in October, killing 21 Israelis in Haifa. Artists Gunilla Skoeld Feiler from Sweden and Israeli born Dror Feiler created an artwork titled "Snow White and the Madness of Truth" for an exhibition in Stockholm, to make people ponder the incomprehensibility of this. On a pool of blood a little sailboat is floating, with a picture of a smiling Hanadi Jaradat as its sail. "When I saw her picture in the paper, I thought she looked like Snow White, that's why I gave that name to the piece" said Gunilla Feiler. The Israeli ambassador didn't ponder the incomprehensibility of the scenario. He went amock and destroyed the piece the moment he saw it, and subsequently got kicked out of the museum. I suppose that illustrates well another angle of the problem. And it instantly made the art piece much more famous than it could have been otherwise. Anyway, he should probably find himself another line of work. [ Culture | 2004-01-17 17:14 | 18 comments | PermaLink ] More > |