Off-topic: new take on the glass-bottom boat

My friends at Translogic point to a neat project to build a boat with a sub-marine pilot compartment (I'd argue against the use of the word "submarine" to describe the EGO, since the boat itself does not go under the water)

I've been fascinated by the sea all my life, and have enjoyed a "submarine" ride (actually, a deep-keeled boat with sub-waterline windows) on a trip to Catalina Island. I've also thoroughly enjoyed numerous snorkeling expeditions on Hawaii, and "do it yourself" snorkeling at the Kapoho Tidepools. If I ever found myself at a resort that had the EGOs available, I'd definitely jump at the chance. There's something truly magical about the world under the waves.

The real interesting thing about the EGO is that it's super-easy to pilot (a plus for the noob boating crowd at a resort) and is pilot-able from under the water.

I only hope that there are good "bumpers" on those pontoons...

Next week is Telework Week

I came across Telework Exchange today, which is hosting Telework Week on Feb 14 - 18, 2011.
I wasn't familiar with the site, but it boasts an impressive collection of links to resources, articles, papers, etc. I don't have time right now to review all of the site content (which is considerable), but skimming it, I see that it's geared primarily to a US and Federal Government audience, which is interesting an interesting focus. Nevertheless, it has resources that would be helpful for non-US and business audiences as well.


In my job, I already telecommute several times a week, enjoying a variety of benefits:

• flexibility (working around kids' doctors appointments)
• multitasking (when on certain boring conference calls that require only a portion of my attention, I've been known to run a load of laundry while waiting for a relevant topic for me to come up).
• fewer interruptions (when going into the office, the "dropin chats" totally kill my day and my productivity).
• clothes savings (Yes, when I work from home, I've been known to slum it in a 12-year old T-shirt that I got at some tradeshow. Helps stretch the clothes budget a bit further.)
• no wasted time commuting
• no wasted fuel commuting
• no wear and tear on my car commuting.
• no time spent trying to find parking (the parking around my office building really sucks, and easily adds another 15 minutes to a given day).
• I get sick less (not going into the office to breath the germ-y air really helps keep me from getting all the bugs that are going around).

My employer reaps benefits from me, in that:

• I tend to work a portion of what would have been my commute time. So if I'm required to work 8 hours, and my commute is 2 hours (1 hour each way), if I telecommute, I'll work from home for 9 hours. Not required by the company, but I feel it's a reward to the company for being willing to let me work from home.
• when I interact with other employees (though Skype screen sharing, for example), our interactions are higher quality than if I was actually in the office with that employee sitting beside me.
• I don't look for another job. Frankly, my job hasn't been amazing lately, so anything they can do to keep me happy will keep my expertise in the company. If they took telecommuting away from me, I'm certain I'd leave in short order.

There are drawbacks to telecommuting, to be sure, both for the employee and the employer. I'll be reviewing this website more closely in the coming days to see what solutions I can find to this.

Moron works hard to pay zero attention to his commute

Distractions in the car are dangerous.

Here in my neck of the woods, using any handheld electronic device while driving will get you a hefty fine and likely affect your insurance rates the following year through the "points" system they use. For example, phones must have a handsfree and have a one-touch dialer, and texting/email is totally illegal.
I admit that I don't always adhere 100% to these rules, although I try. When I can't/don't, I adhere to reasonable (I think) personal standards; for example, I never text when the car is moving more than 20 km/h. It's just too dangerous to do otherwise.

The following video shows a bright young spark who's a) flying down the road at highway speeds b) reading a paper book c) using an e-reader, and d) talking on the phone.
Brilliant.

What the video doesn't show is that he actually has his laptop open on the passenger seat as well. ;)

Late for work, late for posting

Hi folks,

I feel I should apologize for my tardiness in posting lately. Things have been very busy this past number of months, with a death in the family, the Christmas holidays and all the chaos that goes along with that. 

And then, in an event that seemed entirely too apropos, given my hatred of traffic, our lives were further complicated by a traffic incident.

Mrs. Frustrated was running errands when she was rear-ended by some guy who tried to avoid damage by going around her, but he still clipped the back 3/4 of the vehicle. So, the insurance company says it's a write-off, which means that I have to go vehicle shopping. Sigh.

At least Mrs. Frustrated seems fine (we think)... so that's good news.

For posting, I will try to do the best that I can, and I thank you for your patience.

Lurch

SARTRE in the wild (literally)

We reported earlier about the EU SARTRE project hitting its one-year anniversary.

Now, our friends at Translogic share a video of a recent road trial on some wilderness-looking highway (albeit, with a single car in the train, and at low speed). Nevertheless, it's not in a lab, and looks promising for the future.
I continue to watch this with great interest!

Car-babble doom-speak: Getting conned while having my oil changed.

I get my oil changed fairly often. I feel it's the single biggest thing I can do to keep my car from dying before its time.

However, I dislike changing my own oil. I know HOW to, it's just that I dislike it. It requires getting slippery and dirty in parts of the car that I'd rather not go. And oil filters are hard to get off if you don't have the proper tools. The last time I changed my oil myself, I had to pound a screwdriver through the filter so I could turn it to get it off. Messy.

So, I turn to the "professionals" for this task. And because I'm not one to plan too far ahead, I like to go to the local instant-lube place. Let's call it "Señor Lube". Which is why my complaints come in.

These places are run by generally friendly young folks. However, they're pressured to upsell. And upsell they do, in the most condescending possible way. However, over the years I've come to discredit almost everything they say.

• "Sir, your old oil is dark, so I recommend a hot oil flush to get the gunk out of the engine." Right. It's old oil. It's supposed to be dark. That's why I'm here, dude. And you're suggesting that I basically waste perfectly clean oil to "rinse" the inside of my engine? You want me to pay for 1 1/2 oil changes today?
• "Sir, I noticed your head gasket is damp, so I'd suggest that we put this special additive in to help with that." Right. Like your little $12 bottle of additive is going to prevent the head gasket blowing.
• "Sir, your air filter is quite dirty"<shows me the air filter which is slightly gray, and actually has a piece of 4" grass on it. It's March.>  Right. Like you didn't just put that piece of grass on the filter right now. No, take the grass back off the filter, and put it back in. It's good for another 5000 km.
• "Sir, I noticed that your car is old..." Yeah, that's right. It's because I don't have a lot of money. "...so I'd recommend you use a synthetic motor oil in it. It's only double the price of the usual oil you use." Right. Like a synthetic oil is really going to make this old heap run better than it currently is.
• "Sir, I noticed that your brake fluid is frothy, which indicates that it's going to break down and cause your brakes to fail at any moment. Naturally, I suggest you get this changed with our convenient brake fluid replacement service." Right. Looks fine to me. Plus, when I return 5000 km from now, and again 10,000 km from now, none of my subsequent "technicians" will comment on it.
• "Sir, OMG, I can't believe it. Your mechanic used green coolant in your radiator. Your car is only spec'ed for the orange coolant. I suggest we get this changed with our coolant service immediately." Really. You expect me to believe the opinion of a 16-year old oil change worker vs. the opinion of my mechanic, who has 35 years experience. I don't think so. Plus, I kind of like the color green. Leave it, kid.
• "Sir, your PVC valve (or sometimes it's the inside of the oil cap) is dirty. That's a sign that your engine is burning oil. I'd recommend you get our hot oil flush." Again with the hot oil flush. Gimme a break!

Mrs. Lurch is equally frustrated and intimidated by the barrage of auto-babble doom-speak. However, she simply bats her eyelashes at them and responds, "Oo, you better write that down. I'll ask my husband about that the moment I get home." Unfortunately, I can't do that trick; I have to resort to "Well, son, I'll have to ask my mechanic about that next time I bring the car in for scheduled maintenance"... which sounds pretty wimpy.

And yet, in spite of this, I keep coming back. I suppose I'm one of the many who's willing to put up with aggressive upselling in the name of a fast convenient oil change.

The EU SARTRE aka "the road train" is coming 'round the bend

The SARTRE project which "aims to develop, test and validate
technology for vehicles that can drive themselves in long road trains on motorways" is now a year into their 3-year investigation, and have released an interesting 8-minute video highlighting where they are so far.
I found it informative, interesting, and refreshing -- these are clearly smart people who are not naive about the challenges facing their project, and are considering the many human variables that can happen in real world traffic.

Like the Google Car, I think this is supremely valuable to the end user, who can now spend her time doing work, reading, eating, etc.
Unlike the Google Car, this seems more achievable in the short term, since the judgement calls are being made by human drivers, not by pure software.