OK, let me get this out of the way: I loved the movie. Mostly, I loved that scientists and engineers are the Heroes, and they talk like actual scientists and engineers that I know, and are flawed and human. So there’s that.
And the visuals were breathtaking. I need me some tickets to Saturn.
However, since poking holes in movies is in vogue, here is my engineery hole-pokingfest (spoilers after the More)
Elon and his followers like to tell you how easy it is to own an electric car: no more oil changes! Think of how much time you’ll save not getting gas! Hogwash. EV’s have their own special needs. Continue reading
Around Town
Driving the Roadster is a bit weird. With the hard top on, it’s very quiet, and the motor’s whine sounds like something out of Star Trek. With the top off, the wind drowns that out, and you just get the buffeting wind increasing your sensation of speed. It isn’t a quiet ride, nothing like the 500e, but still much quieter than a performance car like this should be. I still need a headset for phone conversations, but no more earplugs. And you can talk to your passenger!
The Roadster was Tesla’s first foray into making cars, and almost entirely unlike its current Model S. Built on a modified version of the Elise’s bonded-aluminum chassis (which was the secret sauce that made the Elise so perfect), it laid the groundwork for Tesla’s battery, motor and electronics design. In it’s driving dynamics, it feels very Elise-like. The steering is unassisted and very direct, just like the Elise’s. It understeers a bit more (easy to adjust if I wanted to, but I think I like it the way it is), and takes a bit longer to ‘set’ in a corner, but overall I’d say its 95% of what the Elise gave me, which is awesome.
At this point, I’ve owned more awesome cars than most car reviewers. I’ll cop to being a bit insane in this regard. On the other hand, it does give me a unique point of view. Below, some first week impressions of the Tesla Roadster, and how it compares to my beloved, departed Lotus Elise, my recently crunched 500e, the gone-too-soon CLS550, and my wife’s stalwart RRS.
Lots of political commentary this morning, all about ‘money in politics’ and ‘negative campaigns’. I have no idea what they’re talking about, because: 1) I tossed every flyer into the recycle bin, unread, 2) didn’t watch a single political ad on TV.
Don’t like money in politics? Ignore it. Make ’em billionaires mad :)
3rd Degree Testing from mookhead on Vimeo.
As a kid, I spent a lot of time on beaches, and not the boring wading-pool sand tubs most people go to: my parents favored big, surfy waves. I quickly learned how to deal with the biggest: you either ducked under them, or surfed over them. Get caught in the frothy, turbulent middle, and you’d wind up with a mouthful of sand.
Working in Silicon Valley is something like that: huge relentless waves of technology crash down on you non-stop. You have three options: you can either try to absorb the full brunt of that wave, reading everything you can, trying to understand the entirety of it, you can duck under it, or you can trust yourself to it, trying to surf it as far as it’ll take you. Continue reading
This video tickles me in all the right places…
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