"Who Killed the Electric Car? is a 2006 documentary film that explores the creation, limited commercialization, and subsequent destruction of the battery electric vehicle in the United States, specifically the General Motors EV1 of the 1990s. The film explores the roles of automobile manufacturers, the oil industry, the US government, the Californian government, batteries, hydrogen vehicles, and consumers in limiting the development and adoption of this technology." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W...] - MikeAmundsen
"How does it go with out gas and air? /
How does it go without sparks and explosions? /
How does it go without gears or transmissions? /
How does it go you will ask yourself. /
And then, /
You will ask, /
How did we go so long without it?" - MikeAmundsen
there's an advert 30sec into this clip. i'd like to get comments from folks in the ad/marketing biz on the visuals for that spot. i find it an amazing ad. - MikeAmundsen
"The original EV1s came equipped with Delphi-built lead-acid batteries that gave the car a real world range of between 60 to 75 miles, depending on how you drove it. GM eventually replaced the trouble-prone Delphi's with Panasonic advanced lead-acid batteries in the second generation of the car, which became available in 1999. It also offered an advanced model equipped with GM-Ovonic NiMH batteries that nearly doubled the range of the car to 140 miles. Under special test conditions, the NiMH car could go 200 miles on a single charge" [http://www.evworld.com/article...] - MikeAmundsen
"The EV1 was the first modern production electric vehicle from a major automaker and also the first purpose-built electric car produced by General Motors (GM) in the United States.
Introduced in 1996, The EV1 electric cars were available in California and Arizona as a lease only, as well as through a Southern Company employee lease program in Georgia, and could be serviced at designated Saturn retailers. They were discontinued after 1999 and subsequently removed from the roads in 2003 by General Motors (except for a few). The car's discontinuation was and remains a controversial topic." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G...] - MikeAmundsen
"Today is the 10th Annual National Survivors of Suicide Day. Survivors are the ones left behind when someone commits suicide. There will be conferences all over the country to help people learn more about depression and suicide. More than 32,000 Americans take their own lives every year. It's the fourth leading cause of death for adults and the third leading cause among 15 to 24-year-olds. For the survivors, getting over the grief, anger and the lingering questions can be difficult. Doug Merrill has had to struggle with how to carry on. He's lived through the suicide of eight people - most of them teens - in the bedroom community of Bowling Green, Ohio, just south of Toledo. Weekend America's Desiree Cooper went to hear his story of survival." - MikeAmundsen
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"Strapped to a gurney, Chapman - who had asked that none of his family be present for his execution - was given a lethal injection of three drugs. He was sentenced to death for assaulting Carolyn Marksberry and slashing the throats of her children, Cody Sharon, 6, and Chelbi Sharon, 7, in 2002. A third child, Courtney Sharon, now 16, was stabbed and survived the attack by playing dead. Since pleading guilty in 2004, Chapman has resisted attempts to delay the execution, saying it was too much for him to bear." - MikeAmundsen
"The Architects Sketch by John Cleese and Graham Chapman from "Monty Python's Flying Circus", 20 October 1970
Scene: A large posh office. Two clients, well-dressed city gents, sit facing a large table at which stands Mr. Tid, the account manager of the architectural firm.
(original cast: Mr Tid, Graham Chapman; Mr Wiggin, John Cleese; City Gent One, Michael Palin; Client 2:, Terry Jones; Mr Wymer, Eric Idle) " [http://www.geocities.com/TheTr...] - MikeAmundsen
"NASA is scrapping a controversial piece of hardware from its next-generation Mars rover that would have allowed the spacecraft to store rock fragments in a mini-basket for a future mission.
The decision to slash the storage bin from the Mars Science Laboratory's payload came as engineers raced to meet an October 2009 launch deadline on a project beset by escalating costs and technical challenges.
After consulting with independent scientists, NASA this week notified the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the mission, to fly the nuclear-powered mega-rover without the container because of its "low science value." Removing the already-built part also means engineers would not have to spend time testing it." - MikeAmundsen
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"The Federal Emergency Management Agency said if earthquakes strike in what geologists define as the New Madrid Seismic Zone, they would cause "the highest economic losses due to a natural disaster in the United States."
FEMA predicted a large earthquake would cause "widespread and catastrophic physical damage" across Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee -- home to some 44 million people.
Tennessee is likely to be hardest hit, according to the study that sought to gauge the impact of a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in order to guide the government's response." - MikeAmundsen
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"Kill -9 song is written by Monzy. Monzy’s real name is Dan Maynes-Aminzade and he is a Ph.D. student at Stanford. Here is an article on Wired about him.
In his songs, Monzy bashes another nerdcore hip-hop musician Mc Plus+. I actually published a geek song by Mc Plus+ on previous Musical Geek Friday - MGF #14: Alice and Bob." - MikeAmundsen
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"fs sa rlidwka / I’ll chown your home and take your access away / Comin’ straight outta Stanford, ain’t nobody tougher, / Control-X, Control-C, I’ll discard your f**kin’ buffer." - MikeAmundsen
"Mr Bush's comments seemed to please investors, as America's main Dow Jones index ended up 6.7%." ohh, i see. 'cuz Bush defneds 'free-market' capitalism. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/bus...] - MikeAmundsen
Mike: Since he said we would drill off shore oil prices have gone down 60 percent. ;p - Jay Tannenbaum
"Sun Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, legal name Le Sony'r Ra[1]; born May 22, 1914 in Birmingham, Alabama – May 30, 1993 in Birmingham, Alabama) was a jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy", musical compositions and performances." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...] - MikeAmundsen
"Don (Donald Eugene) Cherry (November 18, 1936 – October 19, 1995) was an innovative African-American jazz trumpeter whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman, and who would go on to live and work with a wide variety of musicians in many parts of the world. Don Cherry was only 58 when he died in Málaga, Spain in 1995 due to liver failure brought about by hepatitis. His stepdaughters Neneh Cherry and Titiyo and his sons David Cherry and Eagle-Eye Cherry are also musicians.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D...] - MikeAmundsen
"Joseph Rudolph (Philly Joe) Jones (July 15, 1923 – August 30, 1985) was a Philadelphia-born United States jazz drummer. The name "Philly Joe" was used to avoid confusion with Jo Jones, the drummer from the Count Basie Orchestra, who became known as "Papa Jo Jones". In 1947 he became the house drummer at Café Society in New York City, where he played with the leading bebop players of the day. The most important influence on Jones among them was Tadd Dameron." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P...] - MikeAmundsen
just incredible stuff. i had the opp. to see these guys live (several times over the years) and *being there* is so freekin' awesome. listening takes me back - damn. - MikeAmundsen
I love Sun Ra! For those who don't know who he is check out his film Space is the Place. You cn rent it on Netflix. - Kelli Anderson
space is the place is one of the funniest, most bizarre sci-fi blaxploitation flicks made. i actually think this is the only one of its kind come to think of it. i got to see sun ra several times before he passed onto pluto. those shows were magic - Cee Bee
"Kirk was born Ronald Theodore Kirk in Columbus, Ohio, but felt compelled by a dream to transpose two letters in his first name to make Roland. He went blind at an early age due to poor medical treatment. In 1970, Kirk added "Rahsaan" to his name after hearing it in a dream.
Preferring to lead his own groups, Kirk rarely performed as a sideman, although he did record with arranger Quincy Jones, drummer Roy Haynes and had especially notable stints with bassist Charles Mingus. His best-known performance is probably the lead flute and solo on Jones' "Soul Bossa Nova", a 1964 hit song repopularized in the Austin Powers films (Jones 1964; McLeod et al. 1997)." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R...] - MikeAmundsen
