Military Hydrogen-Powered Chevy Colorado ZH2
October 11th, 2016Nothing but WTF? on this one…
Don’t look at me, I just work here.
Via: Green Car Reports:
Almost a year after it was first announced, General Motors and the U.S. Army will soon begin testing their jointly-developed hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle.
Called the Chevrolet Colorado ZH2, it is based on a stretched version of the Chevy Colorado mid-size pickup truck chassis, with radically-different bodywork and numerous other modifications.
Unveiled at a meeting of the Association of the United States Army in Washington, D.C., the Colorado ZH2 is to begin field testing next year.
GM and the Army were reticent about details of the actual fuel-cell powertrain, but did note that the truck rides on 37-inch tires and a beefed-up suspension.
While the cab is still somewhat recognizable as that of a current-generation Colorado, the hood, fenders, front end design, and bed are quite different.
The ZH2 features an Exportable Power Take-Off (EPTO) unit, which allows its fuel cells to power equipment in remote areas without electricity infrastructure.
Air Force’s X-37B Space Plane Mystery Mission Wings by 500 Days in Orbit
October 11th, 2016Via: Space:
The latest secretive mission of the United States Air Force’s X-37B space plane has cruised beyond 500 days in Earth orbit since its launch last year.
The U.S. military launched the robotic X-37B space plane on May 20, 2015, marking the fourth flight for the Air Force program. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lofted the spacecraft from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to kick off the OTV-4 mission (short for Orbital Test Vehicle-4).
Exactly what the winged space plane’s duties are while it’s in orbit continues to remain a tight-lipped affair. Similarly, how long the vehicle will remain in orbit has not been detailed.
London Police Charge Man with Terrorism Over Use of Encryption
October 11th, 2016Via: ZDnet:
A man has appeared in court in London on six counts of terrorism — one of which was related to researching and using encryption.
Samata Ullah, 33, appeared in court last week charged under the Terrorism Act 2006.
The Metropolitan Police said in a press release that Ullah was charged with one count of providing instructions in the use of encryption to a person who was preparing an act of terrorism.
But a second charge relating to his use of encryption cites a controversial statute under British law, which in the name of a terrorism offense can criminalize acts that on their own are legal.
Specifically, Ullah was charged with a count of preparing to engage in an act of terrorism namely by “researching an encryption program, developing an encrypted version of his blog site and publishing the instructions around the use of program on his blog site.”
Nearly 7 in 10 Americans Have Less Than $1,000 in Savings
October 9th, 2016Via: USA Today:
Last year, GoBankingRates surveyed more than 5,000 Americans only to uncover that 62% of them had less than $1,000 in savings. Last month GoBankingRates again posed the question to Americans of how much they had in their savings account, only this time it asked 7,052 people. The result? Nearly seven in 10 Americans (69%) had less than $1,000 in their savings account.
Breaking the survey data down a bit further, we find that 34% of Americans don’t have a dime in their savings account, while another 35% have less than $1,000. Of the remaining survey-takers, 11% have between $1,000 and $4,999, 4% have between $5,000 and $9,999, and 15% have more than $10,000.
Furthermore, even though lower-income adults struggle with saving money more than middle- and upper-income folks, no income group did particularly well. Some 29% of adults earning more than $150,000 a year, and 44% making between $100,000 and $149,999, had less than $1,000 in savings. Comparatively, 73% of the lowest income adults (those earnings $24,999 or less annually) had less than $1,000 in their savings account.
Tesla Wants to Nearly Double the Size of Fremont Auto Plant
October 8th, 2016Via: Mercury News:
Tesla Motors has proposed construction of 4.6 million square feet of new space next to its electric vehicle factory in Fremont, a move that could create 3,100 new jobs and would nearly double the size of its existing auto plant.
“The proposed master plan contemplates construction of approximately 4.6 million square
feet of new structures to support additional automobile production” by Tesla, according to documents prepared for a Fremont Planning Commission meeting on Oct. 13.
All told, Tesla is considering the construction of 11 buildings sprinkled next to or near its cavernous factory for production of electric vehicles.
Trump Bragged On Hot Mic About Being Able To Grope Women
October 7th, 2016I’m trying to understand this Trump situation and the hysterical freakout that’s ensuing in elite and media circles.
Trump could have been vote-frauded into oblivion by now.
Why hasn’t that happened?
My best guess is that the primary purpose of the Donald Trump candidacy—whether he knows it or not—is to escort Hillary to the White House by simply drawing attention away from the Clintons’ life of crime.
Via: CNN:
Donald Trump bragged about trying to have sex with a married woman and being able to grope women in previously unaired footage from 2005 that surfaced on Friday.
Trump is heard discussing women in vulgar terms during off-camera banter during the taping of a segment for “Access Hollywood,” footage which was obtained by The Washington Post.
During the lewd conversation captured by a microphone Trump was wearing on his lapel, Trump recounts how he tried to “fuck” an unidentified married woman before bragging that he is “automatically attracted to beautiful (women)” and just starts “kissing them.” The conversation came just months after Trump married his third and current wife, Melania.
He also said: “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.”
Children Inherit Their Intelligence from Their Mother Not Their Father
October 7th, 2016Via: Independent:
A mother’s genetics determines how clever her children are, according to researchers, and the father makes no difference.
Women are more likely to transmit intelligence genes to their children because they are carried on the X chromosome and women have two of these, while men only have one.
But in addition to this, scientists now believe genes for advanced cognitive functions which are inherited from the father may be automatically deactivated.
…
Concerned that people might not be like mice, researchers in Glasgow took a more human approach to exploring intelligence. They found the theories extrapolated from mice studies bear out in reality when they interviewed 12,686 young people between the ages of 14 and 22 every year from 1994. Despite taking into account several factors, from the participants education to their race and socio-economic status, the team still found the best predictor of intelligence was the IQ of the mother.
However, research also makes it clear that genetics are not the only determinant of intelligence – only 40 to 60 per cent of intelligence is estimated to be hereditary, leaving a similar chunk dependent on the environment.
…
But mothers have also been found to play an extremely significant role in this non-genetic part of intelligence, with some studies suggesting a secure bond between mother and child is intimately tied to intelligence.
U.S. Based VPN Tries to Get Me to Promote Their Service
October 7th, 2016As I’ve told you guys on here forever, all a VPN does is shift your Internet activity from one place to another. Instead of the logs being held by X, they’re held by Y. It’s not magic. You’re not anonymous online.
Since I can’t know what any VPN service is doing on the backend, I’ll never promote any VPN service. It’s that simple.
This was my concluding email to the persistent affiliate sales guy.
Hi Chuck,
There’s no way for me or my readers to know what you’re doing on the backend with the logs. The fact that the users’ IPs are hidden means nothing.
Even if there was a way to know that you weren’t handing everything over to ______ (fill in the blank), you’re a U.S. company and anyone who relies on a U.S. company for VPN services hasn’t been paying attention.
Anyway, there isn’t a chance in hell that I’d promote your, or any other, VPN service. haha. No way. I wish I had a dollar for each of these offers I’ve turned down, though.
A Few Solar Panels Turned Up…
October 7th, 2016This was the scene in Auckland yesterday at the company I work for. These are crates of the new 290 watt Trina Honey Plus panels. Monos. Top of the line from the #1 solar panel manufacturer in the world.
To all the politicians, power company executives and complicit media that continue to lie about solar power in New Zealand, here’s what you can do. Kindly put this in your pipe and smoke it:
In other news, my wife noticed that the meter reader came by two days in a row last week. On the second visit, she poked her head out the window and asked if everything was ok.
He said, “They think I’m not reading your meter right. They want me to do it again and take pictures this time.”
She told me what happened and I chuckled, knowing that we must have exported more than we imported during the last billing cycle, and some bean counter blew a fuse over it.
Sure enough, a few days later, our statement indicated that both registers added up to -11 units.
Maybe Meridian should send the guy out to read the meter three times next month, when our solar system will be making even more power. Let me pose next to the meter with a nice, big grin.
I am Jack’s smirking revenge.
I wish we could keep all of that juice we’re making, instead of exporting what we can’t use to the grid…
Tesla’s Gigafactory is going to drop prices on lithium batteries and I’m hoping that Aquion will respond by dropping prices on their offerings. We’re not interested in playing the hybrid game, staying connected to the grid and almost certainly getting hit with a solar tax in the future. When we pull the trigger on batteries, it’ll be for all the marbles. Grid defection.
Come on, Aquion. Daddy needs just one Aspen 48M.
British Pound Flash Crash
October 7th, 2016Punishment for Brexit?
Via: Reuters:
The sterling tripped lower on Friday on what traders called a “flash crash” that knocked the currency to a 31-year low, while the dollar slipped on news of unexpectedly weak U.S. job growth in September.
Even before a sudden plunge that briefly shaved a tenth of the pound’s value during Asian trading, the sterling was on track for its worst week since January 2009 as some national leaders call for Britain to make a “hard” exit from the European Union.
