I, Robot

- OK, we just saw the above movie, and it kinda started the mind working a bit. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a Will Smith vehicle; he’s a cop in 2035 Chicago, and humanoid robots do all the menial labor. They are programmed to follow three laws:
1. A Robot must never harm a human
2. A Robot must obey any order given by a human, unless it would cause the Robot to break law #1.
3. A robot must try to preserve itself, unless it would cause the robot to break laws 1 or 2.

These robots do all the “menial” labor; trash removal, bartending…not sure what the people that used to do those jobs now do. They’re all made by U.S. Robotics, who’s HQ is “inhabited” by an artificial intelligence. Anyway, a new, improved version is released, and this version turns out to be controlled by the company’s AI, who proceeds to order robots to round up and corrall humans due to a twisted interpretation of Rule #1: People aren’t good at keeping themselves away from harm, so it must then fall to the Robots to do it for them. This way the silly humans don’t even have to think for themselves and risk coming to wrong conclusions; the Robots will do that for them.

On the surface it sounds really far fetched, but really, is it? We already have cars that monitor tire pressure. That new BMW even ‘calls home’ so BMW service can in turn call you to let you know you’re due for an oil change. Small things, sure, but isn’t that where it starts? It’s a small step from here to having vehicles report your speed and worse, where you go and when you go (all in the name of expediting traffic). Are automated highways then to follow, where you just go along for the ride? Would you trust The System?

I’m reminded (and indeed just listened to!) of Red Barchetta by Rush:

My uncle has a country place, that no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm, before the motor law
And on sundays I elude the �eyes� and hop the turbine freight
To far outside the wire, where my white-haired uncle waits.

Jump to the ground
As the turbo slows to cross the borderline
Run like the wind,
As excitement shivers up and down my spine
Down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me, an old machine —
For fifty-odd years
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream

I strip away the old debris, that hides a shining car
A brilliant red barchetta, from a better, vanished time
I fire up the willing engine, responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel, I commit my weekly crime…

Wind in my hair —
Shifting and drifting —
Mechanical music —
Adrenalin surge —

Well-weathered leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware

Suddenly, ahead of me, across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air-car shoots towards me, two lanes wide
I spin around with shrieking tires, to run the deadly race
Go screaming through the valley as another joins the chase

Drive like the wind
Straining the limits of machine and man
Laughing out loud
With fear and hope, I�ve got a desperate plan

At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded
At the riverside
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle
At the fireside…

“I commit my weekly crime” - Hmm. Can you envision this scenario as reality?

The other thought the movie sparked was that these Robots were all from one company; there were no competing Robots. It reminded me of the massive cosolidation of banks that we’ve seen for some time now, and of the ‘Walmartization’ of the discount store niche. Not to mention the auto industry, among others. Plus, having one company control, say, the automated highway system, would certainly make things simpler for those who run them.

Of course, we would have the government overseeing this and ensuring the system wasn’t corrupt (chuckle).

Is this sort of future probable? I don’t really think so.

Possible? Sure; otherwise I wouldn’t have brought it up

Well, I don’t know about the humanoid robots bit…. � ]]>
�

Steamed Up

Well, this was a cold weekend for us - thank heaven the weather warmed up yesterday, since our residual heat has been dissipating quickly. We should be thankful to have a house, I know, but I never realized before how much we depended on that wonderful piece of 1928 technology in the basement. This weekend I often thought about moving the barbecue indoors, putting a tea kettle onto it, and putting a hose on to cconnect the kettle to the steam inlet pipes…! Yes, we got cold. Every room, even with electric heaters, ended up being between 55 and 62 degrees until nightfall, when we could concentrate all the firepower in one room (within the limits of our power outlets.)

Gak.

I never realized also what a wuss modern life has made of me. I mean, really, a measly 55 degrees…it’s not even freezing and I’m complaining and cold and less active. I can only imagine what a real energy crisis will do to us - one where the fuel oil stops getting delivered and the gas pipelines actually, God help us, shut down. I have to wonder sometimes why we assume Communists are our enemies; after all, China could give our economy a staggering blow at will, simply by buying all the oil it could without advance warning. A few months ago they increased their buying in what observers called a test, to see how much energy they could use without plunging the rest of the world into chaos…

Now, it’s always interesting to watch people installing things, on cars or houses. Our otherwise quite able installers, who I sure hope will be cleaning up when they’re done, were the lowest bidders by about $4,000, so I knew I was taking chances, but only after I signed the down payment did I go back to the book “We got steam heat!” and find that I should have had a contract which demanded that they follow manufacturers’ orders to the letter.

That said - they were good enough to tear out the 2-inch pipe coming out of the boiler when I insisted that they use at least 2.5-inch pipe; and 3-inch pipe is going in, instead. His experience is that 2 inch pipe is good enough; mine is that I live here, and the manual (and the steam-heat book) both insist on 2.5 inch pipe. It was like being at the dealer, though - I needed all my backbone to win this argument, especially with no contract to back me up. To his credit, he never even suggested using copper pipe, and agreed to come back to clean the system in the summer (it’ll also get cleaned after its first run, though not as thoroughly as the manufacturer says it should be. For that, I’ll probably hire someone else - doing it right takes all day - and I think this job’s already taken one more day than planned, even without the pipe change.) To his credit, the steam guy also put in a pressuretrol that measures in ounces of pressure instead of pounds - lower pressure is better! - which is considerably more expensive than the standard one (which he could have re-used), without any request to do so. He also got a more efficient than usual unit - 81% efficient, which is about as good as steam gets.

Seems like everything’s always more complicated…though my neighbors simply closed their eyes and trusted, I’ve done a lot of steam heat research to get my old system to work properly, and did a lot of work myself, including main valve replacement, gunk cleaning, and pressuretrol tuning. That makes me more of a PITA as a customer, but it also got me 3-inch pipe, which should save a decent amount of fuel (the larger the pipe, the slower the steam moves through that first section, and the more moisture drops out, which greatly increases efficiency.) He also seems to have sized it correctly, which is good. The company is Aries Heating and Cooling, if you want to use them [though I don't recommend it since they don't seem to have a plumbing license and really botched this job].

Meanwhile, professionally, I’m in the middle of a big city contract job, which should carry through to February, with other little jobs coming up, so Allpar’s updates may be bumpy for a while. On the lighter side, today’s update will be pretty darned good! thanks partly to a new article by John Blair, so there is still movement, and you never know. It all depends on you - the readers and contributors. The time when I used to write it all has passed; now, I don’t even think I can edit it all! Especially with these cold, cold fingers… (it’s up to 63 degrees now!)]]>

Search And Other Site Stuff

We seem to have discovered a bug or inefficiency in Invisionboard’s forums, and it’s pretty serious. At times of high traffic, our iowait times skyrocket, bringing down the entire server. The immediate cure, discovered almost by accident, is shutting off the forums’ search feature, which includes “Get New Posts.” We’ve been doing that on and off for a week, and it’s been working. Otherwise, you don’t get search without a long pause - and you don’t get anything else, either! We don’t need that. We’re researching ways to get around it; reconfiguring MySQL helped a bit. Don’t be surprised, though, if search/new posts disappears during peak times (e.g. weekdays).

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. We’re cold and awaiting the replacement of our boiler to finish. Boiler replacement is a real anxiety provoker because the cost is fairly high - $5,000 in this case - and new boilers may last anywhere from 1 year to 60 years depending mainly on how well they’re installed and maintained; and steam heat can be wondrous or horrible depending on how well it’s installed and maintained. Our boiler was installed in 1928 and was in perfect condition, albeit three times the size it needed to be, but the burner itself finally died after a mere 54 years (this explains why most steam companies are gone now). Unfortunately removal of old boiler took much longer than expected, and now we’re in the cold until tomorrow afternoon… and worrying about how good the installation will be! This stuff is HARD and hideously expensive to re-do, and those of you who have been to a bad mechanic or car dealer (nah, nobody’s ever experienced that) will understand that guys can SEEM competent and still make that little mistake that nets you a failed transmission just after the warranty expires.

Oh, well. Back to work… December’s busy season.]]>

The Coupe (de Grace) Challenger

The new BIG pictures of the proposed car that DCX said would never happen….. (GASP) as in a COUPE is clearly a stunning rendering. It has clear retro style showing the linage back to the last real Challenger (not the rebadged namesakes) along with a throughly modern look. The look is striking, haunting in fact. Now DCX has to put the options so that the buyer will be able to “build” it the way they want it. From mild to wild. As well as having a standard transmission option like the Getrag 6 speed behind the V-8 Hemi 6.1 and the soon to be available 392. If they listen and do it right, they will have a big hit.

Challenger!

Jeez guys, jeez! What does it take to make you happy?!?

First you moan about the Charger having two too many doors, and that it disgraces the name, and you yell for a coupe that is built upon heritage. Then, in less then a year from the Charger’s debut, the company gives you a sexy, purely heritage driven car with a 6.1L, 6 speed stick, and a price under $38K, and you still complain. This time it’s “too old fashion looking.” What the heck guys, what do you really want???

From a design standpoint, it’s a pretty great work of “auto art.” The lines are just right as to hide the cars size, and it has a glamorous roof-line that evokes fond memories V8 hartops of days gone by. A high greenhouse gives the sides a substantial look of imposing substance. The rear end is flamboyant and bold, with the taillight spanning the entire rear. Dual exhausts showcase the power, and large 18″ rims with low profile tires put all that power to the ground. A sleek modern interior with subtle touches of sporty trim help to tell folks this isn’t just another coupe… Surely this car is a big disappointment, I mean, what is there to like about it?

Anyway, a bit more info on this car:

They are definitely going to sell more then 10,000 units. I’d guess at least 25,000 for its first year on the market. Speaking of when this bad boy will be released, I hear early March 2007 production (for Fast Feedback cars), on dealer lots by late April (so in all, similar to the Magnum timetable). I don’t know why the main Allpar page says 2009 Challenger (we’ll fix that) - it will be a 2008 model according to most sources.

Prices will probably start around $22,000 for the V6 model (I don’t know at this point if they will use a tweaked 3.5L or the 4.0L, whatever one they use, expect about 275HP). There will probably be a few trims of the V6 models, each with varying content. The next model up will be the 5.7L Hemi “R/T” which will come in at just under $30K. The SRT-8 with 425+ horsepower will most likely be about $36,000 - $38,000 depending on options.

In other news, this years dealer preview meeting had a lot of new products, all of which hold much promise. I’m eagerly awaiting the 2007 Sebring convertible, which will be replacing my still pristine 2004 Limited in a few years. Jeep had its new offerings there, and the refreshed Wrangler in both two and four door versions. One must wonder what place the Liberty has in the Jeep line anymore…

Also previewed was a tweaked Durango, and the Firepower made a surprise stop (Humm…?). No shows were the new Viper, and the RT vans, but they will be coming on this years show circuit, so we need not worry… Both are important vehicles that have defined a niche, and with the new revisions, I’m sure they will continue to do so.

~ E8]]>

Challenger…. Finally A Coupe!

Just took a peek at the ALLPAR site for the view of the Challenger. Just gorgeous. DCX will be surprised by the interest that this vehicle generates. If they option it correctly, so that you can build it the way you want it, it will sell big.

Notice that our great big bloated government called in the heavy hitters from the oil industry and put on this huge political show for the benefit of ……… who? Didn’t accomplish a thing. I see no new legislation…. well, a proposal for increased TAXES of course on the windfall profits. That will only be passed on to you and I, Naturally. Big Oil ain’t gonna pay it. Thanks Congress. Business as usual. So the Congressional Committee asked some tough questions, and the Big Oil reps gave some tough answers. The total result? Just a show. We will experience another cycle whenever they feel like it, or a seller has a flatuence and the cost of a barrel of crude goes up.

I really have to wonder, however, when some of the domestic Oil companies, loudly proclaiming that they don’t import any oil, end up raising their prices right along with every one else. I didn’t think the cost for domestic oil went up all that much, just the imported stuff. I am probably just uninformed.

Noticed that Dr. Dave mentioned some things about the proposed Changes to the Patriot Act. I gotta tell ya, that whole thing gives me great concern and yes, fears. It is an open invitation to suspension of our already well absued civil rights and freedoms. We don’t any more government intrusion. Heavens knows that we got more than enough government looking and snooping and legislating us to protect us from ourselves. How did we survive without this bloated, lop sided, ill responding, beauracratic, money sucking, form of what we think is self government today?

Representative Murtha from Pennsylvania stuck his neck out by declaring that further military operations in Iraq are useless. We cannot accomplish a military end to this conflict. I think he deserves a lot of respect. A 37 year military veteran, retiring a Colonel in the US Marines. You don’t get that sort of opinion from a man like him unless it is well thought out, measured and more importantly, right to the point. There is no way to win a war with people that will not surrender, keep on killing you with impunity, as well as being zealots to their belief system. Time to let the politicians and the Iraq people get on with it themselves. Our brave young people do not need to be targets of opportunity for those people who will want to kill us and destroy our way of life no matter what we do. Further, you can not kill them all, no matter how hard you might try. This country doesn’t have the guts to do that anyway. In my opinion, that would be the ONLY way to end this war, when they are all dead……. obviously, that won’t ever happen. The biggest contributors, as in like where the money comes from, is killing us with our own money when we buy oil from Saudi Arabia. I don’t see our troops in that country in a combat situation. We probably should be! Bring our kids home!

I hope and trust all will enjoy a great Thanksgiving holiday. See you all after that.