Category Archives: Technology and Society

Technology and Society

To Coast

29 Comments

…or not to coast — that is the question.

From a safety (and brake wear) standpoint, I agree that it’s a bad idea to coast down a hill — you should use the engine to help brake the car. But I often coast pulling up to a stop sign or red light. I can whip it back into gear fast enough if I have to, and if I’m already in gear, it’s probably the wrong one for a rapid acceleration, unless I’ve been downshifting.

As for fuel economy, I’ll accept his argument for fuel injected cars, but I’ll bet that coasting saves gas over having the transmission engaged for a carburetted vehicle (do they even make them any more, though?).

[Update a few minutes later]

I guess not, if Wikipedia is to be trusted:

Carburetors were the usual fuel delivery method for most U.S. made gasoline-fueled engines up until the late 1980s, when fuel injection became the preferred method of automotive fuel delivery. In the U.S. market, the last carbureted cars were:

* 1990 (General public) : Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser, Buick Estate Wagon, and Subaru Justy
* 1991 (Police) : Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor with the 5.8 L (351 cu in) engine.
* 1991 (SUV) : Jeep Grand Wagoneer
* 1994 (Light truck) : Isuzu[5]

Elsewhere, certain Lada cars used carburetors until 2006. A majority of motorcycles still use carburetors due to lower cost and throttle response problems with early injection setups, but as of 2005 many new models are now being introduced with fuel injection. Carburetors are still found in small engines and in older or specialized automobiles, such as those designed for stock car racing. In such applications, carburetors reliably supply very high volumes of fuel at full load and are easy to set restrictions on to give even, fair racing.

So there you go.

Administrative, Technology and Society

Public Service Announcement

13 Comments

If you get a Facebook message from me or anyone saying that I liked “Girls Are Unable to Stare at This for 10 Seconds, but Guys Can…,” it’s some kind of scam. Don’t follow it.

I’d send a warning to all my FB friends, but my FB pages doesn’t seem to be working properly (e.g., I don’t seem to have a way to update my status, and I can’t type a list name into a message).

Humor, Technology and Society, Weird

From Ban Ki-Moon

8 Comments

This is my favorite spam scam so far:

Attention:

How are you today? Hope all is well with you and family? You may not understand why this email came to you. We have been having a meeting for the passed 7 months which ended 2 days ago with the then secretary to the UNITED NATIONS.

This email is to all the people that have been scammed in any part of the world, the UNITED NATIONS have agreed to compensate them with the sum of USD $850,000 (Eight hundred and fifty thousand United State Dollars Only), This also includes every foreign contractors that may have not received their contract sum, and people that have had an unfinished transaction or international businesses that failed due to Government problems etc.

We found your name in our list and that is why we are contacting you, this has been agreed upon and have been signed.

You are advised to contact Mr. Bret Wilson of BLAKWOODS INTERNATIONAL BANK UNITED KINGDOM, as he is our representative in Malaysia, contact him immediately for your payment of USD$850,000 (Eight hundred and fifty thousand United State Dollars Only)which way you need the fund to be delivered. So he will send it to you and you can clear it in any means of your choice.

You are advice to get in contact with Mr, Bret Wilson and provide him with below information.

Full Name:
Address:
Telephone Number:

Person to Contact Mr. Bret Wilson.
Email: bretwilson@secretarias.com

Thanks and God bless you and your family, Hoping to hear from you as soon as you cash your Fund.

Making the world a better place.

Regards,
Mr. Ban Ki-Moon
UN Secretary General.
This E-mail and any attachment are confidential and intended only for the use of the individuals or entity named above and may contain information that is privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this E-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this E-mail in error, please notify us immediately by return E-mail or telephone and destroy the original message.

I’ll be sure to do that.

Technology and Society

Ten Technologies

44 Comments

…that should be obsolete, but aren’t.

I’ve previously discussed the landline fallacy. If you don’t understand why people like landlines, you probably haven’t used them much, and are clueless as to what good phone service is like.

With regard to the turntables, the digital-converting ones I’ve seen a) have a vinyl lathe for a cartridge and b) overcompress the music when they convert. Fortunately, there are still a few surviving manufacturers of quality cartridges, and my audio equipment still has audio inputs. And they’ll take away my Conrad Johnson tube preamp when they pry it from my cold dead stereo cabinet.

Social Commentary, Technology and Society

No Self Esteem

3 Comments

I would find this to be a pretty big incompatibility. I had no idea that Robin Hanson’s wife was so opposed to cryonics:

“You have to understand,” says Peggy, who at 54 is given to exasperation about her husband’s more exotic ideas. “I am a hospice social worker. I work with people who are dying all the time. I see people dying All. The. Time. And what’s so good about me that I’m going to live forever?”

First of all, it’s not about living “forever.” It’s about living as long as you want to live. What’s so bad about you that you don’t want to do that?

If I were him, I’d be very worried about her fidelity to my wishes, if he goes first.

It’s a very interesting article with insight into the transhumanist subculture, by Kerry Howley.

Business, Political Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

Grazing Dinosaurs

33 Comments

Wow. Am I unimpressed with ESA’s plans for a new rocket:

Multiple designs for a two- or three-stage rocket with cryogenic, solid-fueled and methane/oxygen main stages will be studied not only for their performance, but also for their long-term operating costs.

While no decision has been made, the early design work will focus on a vehicle that would add or subtract strap-on boosters to lift satellites weighing as little as 3,000 kilograms and as much as 7,500 kilograms into geostationary transfer orbit, the destination of most telecommunications satellites.

Unlike the current Ariane 5, the next-generation launcher would, under the preliminary designs being investigated, launch one satellite at a time into geostationary orbit, not two as typically is the case with the current Ariane 5.

And this huge breakthrough in launch technology will be available in only fifteen years.

Between 1945 and 1960, we went from the DC-3 to the 7407. Between 1955 and 1970, we went from Aerobees to moon landings. And between now and 2025, the Europeans want to develop yet another expendable rocket. I guess they learned the lesson of the Shuttle. It was the wrong lesson, but at least they learned a lesson, right?