Archive for February 2003
Feb 26th, 2003
Congress is taking a close look at the dangers of the SUV at a Senate Commerce Committee today:
The spotlight will be on the nation’s top auto safety regulator, Jeffrey Runge, who last month stunned the industry by criticizing SUV safety. The administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration called for meaningful and swift changes.
Runge, an emergency room physician who will be the featured witness at the hearing, is most concerned about rollover deaths and injuries in sport utility vehicles, seat belt use, and the threat posed to smaller cars by bigger and stronger SUVs.
“SUVs inflict more harm on occupants than other cars do,” said Brian O’Neill, president of an insurance industry group that will release new statistics on SUV safety at the hearing. (from CNN.com)
With the popularity of cross-over vehicles on the rise I think the SUV debate will move from the safety of the vehicles themselves to the safety of others on the road. It will be interesting to see how Congress deals with this issue considering there’s a war brewing in the middle east that, at it’s core, has a lot to do about oil. Also of interest is how they’ll react considering that many of them are shuttled around Washington in monster SUVs themselves.
Feb 25th, 2003
-10 with wind chill. Ok I'm now ready for spring.
Feb 22nd, 2003
Not sure how i feel about that number. I can't say “mid-twenties” anymore. On the other hand it's just a number… right?
Feb 22nd, 2003
Another very solid show this year. I was able to get in a little early with the BMWCCA and was treated with an outstadning Q&A session with the BMW North America M Brand Manager Tom Salkowsky. He did a great job not only with the initial presentation but with talking one on one with current owners. We actually got a chance to talk for quite awhile about all things BMW, MINI, and as it turns out Apple computers!
I managed to take a good amount of photos
of some of the various displays around the show. Here are some of the highlights:
- The new X Activity (the new X3?) by BMW was very impressive in person. The first SUV that I’ve seen that made sense.
- The new 330i Sport is a fairly impressive looking car - BMW will sell a ton of these I suspect.
- SMG on the Z4 looks and feels very impressive
- The Monster Garage MINI was in attendance and I can safely say pictures just don’t do this car justice.
- The Maybach was most unimpressive (especially at 300k+)
- The Ferrari Enzo - wow
- Once again the BMW display (along with MINI) was enormously popular - obviously more so than Mercedes or Jaguar (which were just next door)
- Scion? I guess you have to give some sort props to a car company that launches it’s brand on a car that’s designed after a Chevy Astro Van.
- The new Caddy show car is incredible. I looks much better in person than in pictures
Here’s the photo site: www.bridger.us/mini/chicagoautoshow03
Feb 20th, 2003
The most interesting question of this year's Oscar race was not who would be named, but whether Hollywood was prepared to adjust traditional definitions of talent and achievement to honor the first wave of computer-generated performers.
The question arose in response to public statements made in December that New Line Cinema would seek a best supporting actor nomination for Andy Serkis, the human actor whose talents were tapped to guide the computer-generated performance of the pitiful wretch, Gollum, in “The Two Towers,” the second installment of the epic “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. And while Gollum's performance is nothing short of breathtaking, earning praise from critics as the most impressive aspect of the altogether overwhelming “Towers,” it was not clear whether audiences or Academy members were prepared to see Oscar honors go to an actor whose face they have never seen. Is Hollywood ready to acknowledge and honor digital performances, or even human-digital hybrids? This year, the answer seems to be a resounding no. When the nominees for best supporting actor were named on Tuesday, Serkis was not among them.(Salon.com)
I totally agree with the assertion Serkis was robbed. And I think it's time that the Academy awards wake up to a future that contains these type of roles.
Feb 17th, 2003
On the occasion of MJ's 40th birthday ESPN has a story on it's site about his 40 greatest moments as an athlete
There's also a very interesting poll in the article about which is his greatest moment. My vote is for his final shot (known as the “Pose”) as a Bull against the Jazz in '98 but the “Shrug” is a close second.
Feb 13th, 2003
The Music Industry has been pushing the idea that piracy has been responsible for the 2 year dip in it’s profits. While this has been proven to be a stretch by a number of people a new article by BusinessWeek is particularly eye opening:
George Ziemann is striking back. Ziemann, a musician and the owner of MacWizards Music, a Tempe [Ariz.] music production company, posted an article, “RIAA Statistics Don’t Add Up To Piracy”, on his Web site on Dec. 11. In it, he claims that one reason sales might be down is that the industry released 27,000 new titles in 2001, according to a speech made by an RIAA official, a 25% drop from the high of 38,900 in 1999.
…Things could get worse. The Canadian Copyright Board is weighing a plan to raise a levy on every CD-R sold from 21 cents to 59 cents, as well as on the hard drives found in MP3 players, where, theoretically anyway, stolen music is stored. That’s a huge tax, especially when you consider that blank CDs usually sell for less than $1 (sic. actually less than 25 cents).
There’s more. The price of Apple’s popular 5gig iPod would increase by 33%, from $300 to $400, if the levy is imposed. A 60-gigabyte car stereo from MP3 maker Rio would face a $1,260 tax. Twenty five countries, including most of the European Union, have introduced similar plans. The U.S. already imposes levies on digital media, including digital audio tapes and recordable CDs designed especially for audio. ( BusinessWeek).
Feb 12th, 2003
To many this is probably old news but to me it's still hard to comprehend how much LEDs will change our world.
“L.E.D.'s are only limited by what we put in the computer,” said Fred Oberkircher, director of the Center for Lighting Education at Texas Christian University. “I'm waiting for the day when clouds of light float across my ceiling.”(nytimes.com)
Feb 10th, 2003
That last second shot in the 1st overtime of the NBA allstar game was a thing of beauty. It should have been the last shot of the game.
Feb 6th, 2003
For 2 years straight I thought about getting a PDA. At first it was a Handspring Visor or a Palm 5. I figured it would not only help me stay organized but would be a sort of digital side kick. I looked forward to the day I could pop it out of my pocket and jot down notes, play a game, or surf the internet.
As time passed the thought of a device that combined a cell phone with a palm seemed to be closer to the promise land - enter the Handspring Treo.
But through it all I never pulled the trigger and purchased anything. I never felt compelled enough to put down my mobile let alone add another gadget to my pocket with a standard Palm. So I started using some of the PDA-like functions on my trusty Nokia 8260.
Finally with the purchse of my SonyEricsson T68i it became clear I had absolutely no need for a dedicated PDA. I could carry something in my pocket that was less than half the size yet was more advanced and cost much less (with a year ATTWS activation).
So where does the PDA go from here? The soon to be released SonyEricsson P800 and Nokia 3650 are about to make the traditional PDA look painfully reduntant. In my eyes simple java based, color screened cell phones and smart phones are the future in the US.
BTW this post was inspired by a post on Russell Beattie's weblog.
Feb 3rd, 2003
There's been another shot fired across the bow of the music industry. This time by a record executive. John Snyder is president of Artist House Records, a board member of the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), and a 32-time Grammy nominee. On Thursday night, he submitted this paper to NARAS:
Embrace File-sharing, or Die
Highly recommended reading.
Feb 1st, 2003
Here is a good selection of links put together by Dave Winer on his weblog Scripting News about todays tragedy
An animated radar image
(2mb) over Texas this morning. (thanks Tom F. for the original image series)
The transcript of President Regans famous speech following the Challenger disaster in 1986.
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