Car pool lane & hybrids

Lexus GS 450h gets the car pool lane.

"The nearly $60,000 hybrid is eligible for tax breaks and single-occupancy transport in high-occupancy-vehicle lanes, although it gets 28 miles per gallon.

The 2007 Toyota Yaris, which starts at $10,950 and gets 40 miles per gallon on the highway with a traditional gasoline engine, gets none of those breaks."


To me, the rules and regulations of the land have no business encouraging a technology, like hybrid. Instead they should be encouraging fuel efficiency, irrespective of how it is achieved. The government should say: "Any car that gets more than 45 miles/gallon gets to use the car pool lane."

That way, the government need not worry whether a technology a car manufacturer selects to use is going to work or not. Thats not a government's job. It should just set a target (for fuel efficieny) and reward those who achieve it.

Some might say, the hybrid technology brings to the table an improvement in efficiency to existing cars and thats good and needs to be encouraged. Well, does making a 20 miles/gallon car give 28 miles/gallon mark an improvement worthy of tax breaks and car pool lane? Certainly not. While its an improvement, its not good enough. Improvements from a very low reference point are easier to achieve and less than say, improvements achieved on a car that already gives 35 miles/gallon. The rewards should be commensurate with the benefits to the environment achieved, not based on whether a particular technology is used on not. When the overall impact to the environment from the additional batteries in the hybrid still under debate, I am not sure if the owners should be rewarded yet for low levels of improvements.

Shoelace tieing technique

To most, tieing a shoelace is no big deal. To a few like me, its a constant source of pain. I never got the hang of it. Either the left or the right shoelace seem to always come off. Sometimes, I just leave the lace untied knowing the other lace is also going to untie very soon and I might as well do the two together. Why waste a stop and a bend? And thankfully, I have never triped over my own shoelace even though many say there is a very high danger of that happening with an untied shoelace. My friends have attempted to teach me, have demonstrated it to me, riducled me, even tied it for me once, hoping I will become a better tier. Of no use. Then, I come across this today:

Ian's Shoelace Site. Will this help? Only time will tell. In the meanwhile, those who have similar difficulties, lets join hands. Oh well, our hands are tied tieing our laces. Never mind.

Iruvar - Narumugayae

I just could not help put up another one. Its so cool. Here goes one of my fav. song.

You Tube test

Just wanted to see how would it turn out - adding youtube video to my blog. Btw, nice bastetkall sequence.

Strange Names

Weird Name.

"After nearly two decades of ridicule, a Vietnamese father has agreed to change his son's name from "Fined Six Thousand and Five Hundred."

Reminded me of the Johny Cash Song: A Boy Named Sue

"But the meanest thing that he ever did
Was before he left, he went and named me "Sue.""

In the interest of everyone, there should be some rules set up so that names don't go out of hand.

Some thoughts:
1. No numbers.
2. No more than 3 syllables.
3. No q,z,x and other such characters in the name.
4. No animal kinds or animal character names.

Any more pointers?

Yellowstone

As the July 4th long weekend came charging at us, my friends and I din't have any thing concrete planned. The thought of letting those 4 holidays go without doing anything was saddening. So we decided to go to Yellowstone National Park. The fact that it is 15 hours by road from the Bay Area din't deter us. Turned out, it was totally worth the drive. Take a look at the snaps and see for your self.

http://photosbydeena.googlepages.com/home

A few recommendations for those going to Yellowstone:

1. Whatever happens, don't miss Grand Teton National Park. It is just south of Yellowstone and absolutely gorgeous.
2. After a point, the Geysers tend to get repetitive. So don't bother visiting them all. Recommended Geyser: The Lone Star. Its accessible only after a 1 1/2 mile hike. But its not at all crowded and you can get as close as you like to the steam.
3. If on a hike, have sufficient mosquito repellent sprayed over you.
4. The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is well worth a visit.
5. Jump into a river and get yourself wet.
6. If you are entering from the West, stop by the information office, get your Yellowstone pass and stay on the right most lane on your way to the West Entrance check point. Will save you some time, esp. when it is crowded. (At least did for us.)
Plus you will get some very useful brochures and maps.

Innovation through accidents

http://hbsworkingknowledge.hbs.edu/item/5441.html

Is there a way innovators can encourage good accidents? In other words, is there anything we can control to foster this process?

A: Great question. Artists think they develop a talent for causing good accidents. Equally or perhaps even more important, they believe they cultivate an ability to notice the value in interesting accidents. This is a non-trivial capability. Pasteur called it the "prepared mind." There's an interesting analogy to evolutionary models of creativity here. In 1960, a guy named [Donald] Campbell proposed that we think of creativity as "Random variation + Selective Retention." That is, we need two processes, one to generate things we can't think of in advance, and another to figure out which of the things we generate are valuable and are worth keeping and building upon. In science, the arts, and other creative activities, the ability to know what to throw away and what to keep seems to arise from experience, from study, from command of fundamentals, and—interestingly—from being a bit skeptical of preset intentions and plans that commit you too firmly to the endpoints you can envision in advance. Knowing too clearly where you are going, focusing too hard on a predefined objective, can cause you to miss value that might lie in a different direction.


Found this answer very interesting. Take a look at the whole interview..

Drinking & driving vs. Talking & driving

Talking on the cell phone while driving. I recently read an article that spoke about how people talking on the cell phone while driving are similar to drinking and driving in terms of their reaction time.

While this study might encourage some to hang up and drive, I am afraid it might encourage some to drink and drive. Why? By equating drinking to talking on the cell phone while driving, the study potentially under plays the risk of drinking and driving. Many people use their cell while driving. They think they are aware of how much attention they can provide to the road, other road users, etc while chatting on the cell. And probably they were never involved in an accident while using their cell. Out of luck or for whatever reason. Now, by equating this habit to drunken driving:

Instead of thinking: Talking and driving is as bad as drunken driving.

People might conclude: Drunken driving is ONLY as bad as talking and driving. That’s not too bad. I do that all the time. So I can also drink and drive.

Having said that, don't drink and drive. Try avoiding talking and driving at the same time. Certain don't drink and drive at the same time.

Ref: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6089908.html