Hypercapacitors

Ok, my little slice of the internet looks like it may be in danger of becoming The Electric Car Blog, but would that really be so bad?
Knowing my proclivities, my good friend Cameron Gordon (the actor, not the mathematician) shared with me this little blurb about the rise of cheap Supercapacitors / Ultracapacitors / Whateverintensifieryouwanttousecapacitors.

To clarify, these are not the devices that send your DeLorean back to the future, but big brothers of the little things inside your TV or computer that can make it hazardous to open the case months after the device was unplugged due to their ability to charge (and discharge!) rapidly. This technology has long seemed the obvious answer to the problem with electric cars -- even with reliably-spaced charging points, a long-distance trip becomes an exercise in tedium while you wait for your car's batteries to charge before you can speed off again. You may recall my last post about the Tesla Model S kerfuffle, where the New York Times reviewer failed to fully charge the batteries, thereby screwing up Tesla's mileage calculations and instigating the whole thing. (On a side note, perhaps it wasn't the BEST design strategy to have the car's dashboard interface read "Charge Complete" while the battery meter reads only 90%, but without such ambiguity, we wouldn't have all these fun semantic arguments to keep us entertained.)

And if you watch the video (hidden above under the Supercapacitors link), you may note that the graphene substrate used is fabricated using a consumer-grade Lightscribe DVD burner. So buy whatever kind of stock you want, or maybe just go to your local electronics dealer and see if you can corner the market.
And if you're not clicking all my links anyway, you're missing out.

(Note: the white lightning bolt car is a Shelby Aero EV. Not actually powered by capacitors... yet... cuz then it'd be even FASTER.)

It IS electric!

Wow, what a watershed week for the electric car! I try not to use exclamation points on this blog overmuch, but wow, wow, wow. Tesla Motors has gone to war with the New York Times, and seems to be winning.

It wasn't so recently that electric cars (or EVs) were "Three-wheeled bubble things that were slow and kind of silly" (Tesla promotional video), and that an American car driver who wanted to break free of internal combustion engines would have to build his own Frankenstonian conversion or do something silly:

Yes, that is a Porsche/bike.

Anyway, Tesla Motors made one of the first and best electric cars of the modern era, the Tesla Roadster.

0-60 in 3.9 seconds, 244-mile range. Bam.
The roadster was the motivating icon of the modern EV movement, paving the way for plug-in hybrids like the Chevy Volt and true EVs like the Nissan Leaf. While out of the everyman's price range ($109k base), the Roadster bridged the gap beyond the 1990s-era EV1 and marginal sub-consumer options like scooters and low-speed vehicles. And bridged it sexily.
Anyway again, Tesla's more sensible recent EV entry, the Tesla Model S, has been earning things like Motor Trend's Car of the Year (2013) Award while still being (unfairly?) panned by many parts of the mainstream auto industry. Tesla even sued the venerable British show Top Gear over staged breakdowns playing on public uncertainty about electric cars.
In the Times's recent article by John Broder, there are enough inconsistencies for Tesla to take real offense, and while their rebuttal seems a little touchy and riddled with overreaching conclusions of their own, I think it makes a very strong case. Re-rebuttals and meta analysis continue to fly in online news articles, but I think that Tesla has made its point and staked a claim for itself and for electric vehicles in the real world.

Sometimes there really is a sea change, and I think we're in the midst of one.

Buy stock now.

The future makes a whirring sound.

It occurs to me that I might never buy an internal combustion engine car (hybrid maybe) or a TV (computer monitor with speakers maybe -- see poll in sidebar). This is somewhat shocking and mildly comforting. I mean, the zipper has been around for a hundred years (thanks, Statesman!), but not everything gets so good a run.

Smoothies and Privacy

Ah, parenting! My boy wraps up his first full week of preschool today. Not sure if or how we should celebrate. He seems remarkably chill about the whole thing...
 Last Friday (after only two days), I took him for a treat at the local JuiceLand. Might do so again today!

I hope that one day I'll get around to posting the video of his first day (or, more accurately, the trip to drop him off), but I have a feeling I should edit it a bit for anonymity. What do you lovely readers think?


Sometimes it's hard to make the right choices, and harder to know which one is right. More on this later...
Also, a thoughtful video about the evolution of parenting as a child grows.
Also also, I was surprised to discover that such a thing as the Air Barrier Association of America existed. I wonder if Rule 34 applies...

First day of school, last creek hike.

My boy started pre-school yesterday. This mark of progress is bittersweet, of course (and I'm not just talking about the financial burden of a private pre-school). While his new occupation frees up some of my time to pursue schoolwork and business ventures, it seriously curtails our previous father/son always-adventuresome dynamic. Morning creek walks with our little dog Howie, trips to the Austin Children's Museum (where we'd just gotten a family membership!), launching rockets, and baking from a 30-yr-old copy of Kinder-Krunchies (courtesy of my local Discovery Toys sales rep)... The thoughtful activities that I hoped made me a particularly awesome dad will have to be pared down to fit into the tiny bit of day left between his nap and dinner. And I presume his mom will still want him some times... :-/

At least I've got a few pictures of the good ol' days!