On Improbable Realities, Part One, Or, "I Want A Jet Car With Frickin' Lasers…"

by: fake consultant

Wed Sep 23, 2009 at 01:33:16 AM EDT

As a result, our cars have evolved into "land yachts", our trucks have become "monster trucks", and the desire to drag our living spaces around with us has morphed into converted busses with rooms that pop out of the side, a Mini-Cooper hidden under the master bedroom floor, and self-tracking satellite dishes that fight for space on the roof with air conditioning equipment.

And for more than a few of us, "what if...?" has even extended to "what if my car...was a jet car?"

In today's improbable reality I'm here to tell you that Chrysler engineers asked that exact same question, for roughly a quarter of a century, and as a result they actually designed and deployed seven generations of cars with jet engines-and they came darn close to putting the eighth-generation design on sale to the general public.

It's a story of pocket protectors and slide rules and offices full of guys who look a bit like Drew Carey...but as we'll see in Part Two, it may also be a story of technology that couldn't be perfected "back then", but could be reborn in our own times.

State Republicans Admit That They Lag Behind Tech Savvy Democrats

by: robert.harding

Tue May 19, 2009 at 18:19:33 PM EDT

Liz has more on the story:

Some 100 Republican county chairs, operatives, and past and future candidates for elected office are gathered in Albany today to attend the state GOP's first-ever "Politics Online Seminar," an event designed to help train party members in "the latest cutting-edge" political technologies.

According to Niagara County GOP Chairman Henry Wojtaszek, who organized the seminar at state Party Chairman Joe Mondello's request, this includes tools that have come to be considered fairly standard in political circles - things like Twitter and Facebook, for example.

The fact that this is the first time the New York Republicans have ever held an event like this underscores just how far behind the eight ball they are in this realm, particularly when you consider how tech-savvy the Democrats have become.

I'm sorry, but if you consider Facebook the "latest cutting-edge political technologies" then you are definitely far behind. I have been a Facebook member since 2004. That is a full five years before the state Republican Party caught up with the rest of the world and decided that they wanted to talk about "the Google."

I can't say that the national Republicans are that far behind the Democrats, but Democrats all over the country have dominated the Internet this decade. In New York, the gap is wider. The Republicans lack a strong tech foundation. The number of pro-Republican blogs in New York is very low. That alone tells you the story of the state GOP's Internet operations.

In 2008, the blogosphere and Internet proved to be key at the state and national levels. In New York, the takeover of the New York State Senate by the Democrats was aided by a strong blogosphere and tech presence.

There is always room for improvement, however. I believe that the Democrats can widen the gap by including technology more and more. Whether that means Tweets from the Senate floor or Facebook groups for ALL Democratic senators and their respective campaigns (some of them already do this, but all of them should be), we can increase our lead on the Republicans by simply doing what we do best.

While the Republicans are still educating themselves on how to create an account on Facebook or learning what a blog is, we can better ourselves. Remember the saying "more and better Democrats?" Well, why not more and better tech savvy Democrats? It is possible and we can do it right here in New York.  

Net Neutrality: Follow the Money

by: DragonFlyEye

Mon Jul 16, 2007 at 12:59:01 PM EDT

But in debating this issue, we should not lose sight of where it began: with corporations.  On both sides of the issue, there are huge multi-national technology companies pouring enormous revenue into winning this fight.  They do not do this for ideological, let alone altruistic, reasons.  As important as it is to understand the idealistic poles of this argument - as important as it is to be sure you're arguing for something you can believe in - it is equally important to understand the motivations of the companies fueling the debate.  Otherwise, some activists may be surprised and dismayed to discover that they've ushered in a new era of profit making for one of two large camps of corporations.