Author Archives: scottsoapbox

Crazy Ants Cousin Attacks Texas

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Remember this the next time customs is annoying you at the border…

DALLAS – In what sounds like a really low-budget horror film, voracious swarming ants that apparently arrived in Texas aboard a cargo ship are invading homes and yards across the Houston area, shorting out electrical boxes and messing up computers.

The hairy, reddish-brown creatures are known as “crazy rasberry ants” – crazy, because they wander erratically instead of marching in regimented lines, and “rasberry” after Tom Rasberry, an exterminator who did battle against them early on…

The newly recognized species is believed to have arrived in a cargo shipment through the port of Houston. Scientists are not sure exactly where the ants came from, but their cousins, commonly called crazy ants, are found in the Southeast and the Caribbean…

The good news? They eat fire ants, the stinging red terrors of Texas summers.

But the ants also like to suck the sweet juices from plants, feed on such beneficial insects as ladybugs, and eat the hatchlings of a small, endangered type of grouse known as the Attwater prairie chicken.

They also bite humans, though not with a stinger like fire ants.

Worse, they, like some other species of ants, are attracted to electrical equipment, for reasons that are not well understood by scientists.

They have ruined pumps at sewage pumping stations, fouled computers and at least one homeowner’s gas meter, and caused fire alarms to malfunction. They have been spotted at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and close to Hobby Airport, though they haven’t caused any major problems there yet.

Exterminators say calls from frustrated homeowners and businesses are increasing because the ants – which are starting to emerge by the billions with the onset of the warm, humid season – appear to be resistant to over-the-counter ant killers…

It’s not enough just to kill the queen. Experts say each colony has multiple queens that have to be taken out.

At the same time, the ants aren’t taking the bait usually left out in traps, according to exterminators, who want the Environmental Protection Agency to loosen restrictions on the use of more powerful pesticides.

And when you do kill these ants, the survivors turn it to their advantage: They pile up the dead, sometimes using them as a bridge to cross safely over surfaces treated with pesticide…

But don’t worry the state government and the EPA are working to stop the ants… I’m sure they’ll do a much better job than they did with the fire ants moving in from Mexico.

E-Car Roundup

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So as gas climbs to $4 and beyond, suddenly there seems to be a host of companies rushing to the rescue with their enviro-friendly car. So much so that I thought I would assemble them into one place for easy shopping. Interestingly many of these cars are not a friendly to your pocketbook as they are mother Earth.

Tesla Roadster – $109,000 telsa-roadster.jpg

  • Fully electric
  • 0-60 in 3.9 seconds
  • 125 mph (limited) top speed
  • 220 mile range
  • 2 seater

Tesla just opened a dealership in LA, but there is currently a 1000 vehicle waiting list since production was slowed due to transmission problems. Full production should be back up in December with the backlog cleared up by Spring.

Fisker Karma – $80,000 fisker-karma-electric-hybrid.jpg

  • Mostly electric
  • 0-6 in < 6 seconds
  • 125+ mph top speed
  • 50 mile electric only range
  • 100-650 mile hybrid mode range*
  • 4 seater
  • External speakers make sports car sounds when in electric mode

*The claims for both the range on gas and even the gas tank size are all over the place online. The lack of info regarding this on the company web site makes me believe the truth is on the low side of the speculation.

Preproduction models have been sold but regular production models won’t arrive until mid-2010.

Think City – $25,000 think-city.JPG

  • Fully electric
  • 65 mph top speed
  • 110 mile range
  • 4 seater

Goes on sale 2009 in the US

Green Vehicles Traic – $20,000 triac-rear-three-quarter.jpg

  • Fully electric
  • 80 mph top speed
  • 100 mile range
  • 2 Seater

Available “now” according to the company. Expect supplies to be limited until the company can get a full production line moving.

UPDATE: Green Vehicles are supposed to start shipping this July.

Toyota Prius 3rd Gen – $20-29,000 prius-ver3-concept.jpg

  • Hybrid
  • 160 HP (up 17 from 08)
  • 50-55 mpg
  • 0-60 in 12 seconds*
  • 99 mph top speed*
  • 4 seater

*08 Model specs

HTC Diamond – iPhone Killer?

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This summer should be a hot time for slick phones. The 3G iPhone is due out – hopefully with some additional tweaks. Also the HTC Diamond is getting launched. The Diamond is the successor to the Touch – the closest a windows mobile phone could come to an iPhone.

With a much improved user interface, an accelerometer, and a size that will make iPhone owners jealous – things should get interesting. Below are some comparison shots.

diamondvsiphone2.jpg diamondvsiphone3.jpg

diamondvsiphone.jpg diamondvsiphone4.jpg

Do Gooder Physics

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So I’ve realized that one of the main reasons “Do Good-ers” annoy me is not so much that they are trying to help – but that they make suggestions and try to fix things that they really don’t understand. Even a little.

So the following is an example of some do gooder physics I recently had to correct surrounding water powered (HHO/Hydroxy) cars:

DO GOODER (exact quote):

4-cylinder engines are nice, because they are slightly more efficient than their V8 counterparts. But take a look at this:

“Only about 12 to 20 percent of the energy originating in the fuel tank is ultimately transmitted through the vehicle’s driveline as mechanical energy to turn the wheels.” – TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD, SPECIAL REPORT #286

The problem is not the hydrxy… it’s the darn internal combustion engine. It’s only 22% efficient on it’s best day. The three-phase electric motor running my air compressor in the garage is 94% efficient (rated by NEMA).

We can have nice, big cars, with big seats, and nice stereos… we just have to get rid of the piston engine. I wish there was some way to use the hydroxy to EFFICIENTLY assist an electric motor… and leave out the piston engine, except for maybe charging the batteries (like in Bob’s car, only with a 2-cylinger engine). That way, you can make better use of the little power that hydroxy has to offer.

ME:

What your missing in your comparison is the efficiency of creating the electricity to power the electric motor. Most electricity is made inefficiently with coal at % I’m sure would make us all cry. But take the solar industry as an easier to quote number. Typical consumer solar cells that are 20-25% efficient at converting energy. The latest and greatest (and crazy expensive)
cells can only reach 40%.

So using cost effective and commercially available numbers for your comparison should really be this:

Comb. Engine 22% VS Elect Motor 94% * 25% = 23.5%

And this is before we account for the energy transfer loss between the engine and the tires, which is where your combustion #s are counting from (any hot rod tuner will tell you that there is a significant difference between HP at the engine and HP at the wheels). So while you could build a hydroxy generator to power an electric motor car it would be doubtful that it would actually be any more efficient that a combustion engine setup – oh and you would have to build a new car.

If you really want more efficiency, get congress to repeal recent safety mandates so that cars don’t have to weigh 2 tons to be street legal.

This is actually a common thing people miss. 90% of tree huggers assume that an electric car is sooo much greener than a gas/diesel car because it doesn’t burn fossil fuels. Yeah, not in the car. But guess where that current came from? Probably coal.

And this trip down bad physics lane reminds me of another Do Gooder lesson:

DO GOODER (paraphrased):

If we do end up building a water pipeline down to Atlanta, we should stick some turbines in it. Then we can get hydro power out of it…

Man if we put enough turbines in there, we could get a bunch of power out of that. I know that the turbines are expensive but we’ll get all that money back in free power. If we put enough turbines in today we can solve our energy problems of tomorrow!

ME:

That’s great! Too bad it breaks several laws of physics!

Now, to be fair (to me) I had already had a lengthy discussion with this person the last time they invented their free energy from the water tube idea a week earlier. But apparently US energy independence was too important to let a little thing like no knowledge stop one from spreading this breakthrough idea.

Oh and if you don’t understand why the water tube power doesn’t work – don’t try to solve anyone else’s problems today. The world could use a break from the Do Gooders…

Online Personals – Dos & Don’ts

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So after being mortified and amused by many of the online personals out there I’ve decided to help the desperate masses attract that mister or misses right (or right now). After perusing the best and worst of online personals, I have developed a handy guide for all those looking for love in cyberspace…. I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few rules, but don’t worry sad, lonely people! I will update this list as needed.

  1. Do post a pic. NO ONE believes your typed in description – Scratch that – no one bothers to read your typed in description because they moved to the next ad since you are obviously claw footed or worse.
  2. Do post a GOOD pic. Good will mostly be defined by avoiding all the don’ts below. Beyond that try different images until the love comes pouring in.
  3. Do get your age right if you are under 18. We know you’re excited about the fact that your parents started letting you wear makeup. But seriously online dating is pathetic scary enough without threat of showing up on Date Line.
  4. Don’t use a group photo. Most people will assume you are the worst looking of the bunch.
  5. Do use a group photo if you are the worst looking of the bunch. A few of the extra desperate will respond and pray that the pretty girl in the pic just used it for sentimental reasons.
  6. Don’t use a wedding picture. I don’t care if you looked great in that dress – don’t use it.
  7. Don’t include a picture with kids. No one knows that is your favorite nephew – it’s your kid now. And don’t try to find someone that will love you AND your kids online. It won’t happen. Try church.
  8. Do use a picture that some else has taken. If you don’t have enough friends to get someone to take a picture of you – you’ve just fallen below the level of loser allowable for online dating.
  9. Don’t take a picture of yourself with your web cam. This is for the people that got lost on rule #8 at the word “friend”. Also all web cams suck.
  10. Don’t take a picture of yourself in the mirror. You will always look weird from trying to watch the camera & smile while having your arm extended at an uncomfortable angle.
  11. Don’t use a picture of you and your boyfriend. Most men will be annoyed by this (which is one of the chief traits men avoid after ugly) and a few homophobs will be worried they accidentally clicked on M4M section and flee from your ad.
  12. Don’t use a picture of you and ex kissing. You are trying to get a new ex -er- relationship not cling to the old one.
  13. Do use a picture with a boyfriend if you have scratched out his face. This says to guys: rebound! catch me.
  14. Don’t use a picture with a girlfriend if you have scratched out her face. This will come across as stalkerish.
  15. Don’t use a picture of just your face. This will imply that you are fat.
  16. Do use a picture of just your face if you are fat. This will lure a few unsuspecting dolts to within sight distance of you – and then they’ll see you’re fat and break your heart in person instead of online. (this was a don’t right?)
  17. Do mention that you are a twin. This will increase your appearance by at least 1 (on a 10 pt scale).
  18. Don’t take a picture of your junk guys. NO ONE wants to see it, ok?
  19. Don’t take a picture of your junk with a ruler. We don’t need the visual aid to confirm your small size. This will not get you pity. It will get laughter or vomit. At least be clever enough to use a fake ruler that is not to scale… and then refer to rule #18.
  20. Don’t apply photoshop filters to your picture. If “mosaic” or “stylize” makes you look better, you’re already beyond help.