Category Archives: Transportation

Possible Reasons Behind Air France jet Atlantic Tragedy

Posted on by
Reply

According to ChannelNewsAsia:

None of the airliner’s emergency beacons, which are trackable by satellite unless they sink deep into the ocean, have been detected, suggesting it crashed violently, said Philippe Hazanne of the French space studies agency.

Flight AF 447 hit fierce turbulence at about 0200 GMT Monday about four hours after it left Rio, and 14 minutes later sent an automatic error message reporting a fault in an electrical circuit, Gourgeon said in Paris.

AF A330-200
This is a terrible tragedy and I sincerely send my condolences to the family members of the victims that comes from all over the world, however I like to find out more about the cause of this “accident” or was it caused by human error or other weird explanations.

Currently, the official explanation is a possible lightning strike which may be too early to assume this conclusion based on a automatic error message reporting a fault in an electrical circuit.

Let’s point all explanation imaginable behind the cause of this tragedy

  1. The plane went into a worm hole into alternate reality similar to the hit television series “LOST” where they crashed in another world (Highly unlikely without any possible scientific evidence to prove that alternate worlds exist for now)
  2. Bermuda Triangle claimed another vessel? The “Bermuda or Devil’s Triangle” is an imaginary area located off the southeastern Atlantic coast of the United States, which is noted for a high incidence of unexplained losses of ships, small boats, and aircraft.
  3. Exploded in mid air into million pieces for whatever possible reasons from missile attack to explosive on board (Highly unlikely due to the fact that the bomb or missile shouldn’t be affecting the airliner’s emergency beacons which is built to endure large impacts)
  4. Lightning Storms strikes the plane and cause a major electrical power outage within the plane or cause extensive damage to the flight control system to bring down the plane immediately which may explains the airliner’s emergency beacons to malfunction simultaneously. (However, this cannot be 100% accurate until the black box is located & examined)
  5. Sudden outburst of Solar Storm that similar to the movie “Knowing” that multiple planes crashes down due to suspected electrical faults caused by the solar storms that NASA had warned time and time again.
  6. It’s just human error or some suicidal pilot(s) but unless comes with further evidence to suggest this possibility, it’s highly unlikely.

Regardless what is the real reasons behind the cause of the crash/disappearance of the plane & passengers, I pray to God to give strengths to the victims’ family members & love ones that was left behind to face this terrible tragedy.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Space scientists warn of possible disaster in three years’ time, 2012 Solar Storm.

Posted on by
23

According to The Electric New Paper:

A GRIM prediction of a world teetering on the edge of apocalypse has come, not from the lips of soothsayers or lunatics, but from space scientists. In a report funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) and issued by the US National Academy of Sciences earlier this year, space scientists warned of a massive solar storm wreaking havoc on Earth in 2012.

A solar storm – essentially plasma balls spewing from the surface of the sun – can distort the Earth’s magnetic field. A particularly big one can destroy the tens of thousands of expensive and hard-to-build transformers in power grids worldwide. This will plunge major cities like Singapore into blackouts, which are expected to last months, or even years, as new transformers are painstakingly manufactured.

Meanwhile, with no power, modern life grinds to a standstill. In the first moments of this catastrophe, trains will collide and planes will crash, as their communications systems fail. Satellites will crash back to Earth like meteors. Hospitals, with their life-sustaining support systems, will see some of the most urgent needs at first.

But eventually, millions may die from hunger and thirst. With no power, food cannot be processed or delivered. Water cannot be pumped from reservoirs into homes. Back-up generators will help, but only for a few days before their fuel runs out.

As sewage systems fail, diseases will break out. Horses will replace cars, the financial system will collapse and, in a silver lining of sorts, there will certainly be no more e-mails for you to clear.

- Read the full article at The Electric New Paper:

Yes, this is related to the solar storms that is currently causing some “warming” in many planets recently but predicted to peak in solar activities in 2012 as “planet x” passes.

Knowing

Knowing

What we can do is to find underground caves in desperate search for safety to be away from the burning sun just like the ending of the latest blockbuster movie “Knowing” or the best case scenario is global blackout for a few months pushing millions of people into 3rd world country in a concrete city like Singapore.

Those who cannot find food & water will simply perish easily in this kind of apocalyptic future with massive & immediate job losses (who will work without electricity?) and total chaos will erupt.

My hope is Singapore will band together and “prepare” for any contingencies by being as self sustainable as possible and buy ALL kinds of renewable energies available that is suitable for Singapore.

The government should not hinder the work of invention with patent laws & the inventions should not be profit driven but survival driven…this is a global disaster not just Singapore alone….and everyone have their parts to play…

Do you want to be the victim or the provider? You decide.

Popularity: 55% [?]

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Defiant North fires rocket

Posted on by
Reply

Obama leads global condemnation; Security Council to meet Monday

SEOUL/TOKYO – BRUSHING aside warnings from the international community, North Korea launched a long-range rocket yesterday, putting another wrinkle into efforts to denuclearise the North and raising tensions in the region.

The rocket hurtled over Japan within seven minutes of liftoff at 11.20am local time from the North’s north-east coast.

For some tense moments, Japan’s military, which had been given authority to shoot down any threat to its soil, watched the rocket fly through its territory. North Korea had warned that any attempt to block its launch or intercept the rocket would be tantamount to war.

The rocket traced out its predicted flight path, dumping its first stage booster – the engine – into the ocean 280km west of Japan, and its second booster 1,270km in the Pacific Ocean east of the Japanese coast.

Four hours after the launch, Pyongyang declared it a success.

‘The satellite is orbiting Earth and transmitting the melodies of the immortal revolutionary paeans Song Of General Kim Il Sung and Song Of General Kim Jong Il, as well as measurement data back to Earth,’ the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, referring to praise music for North Korea’s late founder and his son, its current leader.

But the US military said that no object entered orbit. The final two stages of the rocket and its payload – the part carrying the satellite – landed in the Pacific Ocean, according to North American Aerospace Defence Command and US Northern Command officials.

Words Must Mean Something

Words Must Mean Something

- this means either the N.Korea knew about it’s satellite failure but success on testing the range if a longer range missile.

Cloak and dagger scenairo here, even the press dare not leak any information if the missile was shot down or not.

The problems is KoRea had threaten war if the ‘Satelite’ is shot down.

Obama had just got his first taste of serious threat of global poportion, what will he and his advisors decide to do to punish north Korea?

Does it means more economic sanctions which obviously did not work previously or international condemation or military actions?

Time will tell…

Popularity: 2% [?]

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

The North Korea Madness.

Posted on by
Reply
North Korean ballistic missiles

North Korean ballistic missiles

April 2009 will be the month that historian will remember as the day of infamy for North Korea at least.

N.Korea had been trying their luck to boost attention back to them by planning to send a “satellite” into space (ICBM anyone?) and concurrently threaten more nuclear test.

Any sane leaders of the world will condemn such actions and declare “financial punishment” in the form of economic sanctions.

However, I personally think N.Korea either have a suicidal wish or they just want more assistance instead…for more money & food.

In the mean time, N.Korea conveniently stated their launch date (between April 4th to 8th) for their “satellite” for the neighbors to prepare for either a big spectacular fireworks or interception by Japan.

Well, the world can easily monitor the live photographic feeds from military satellites to “estimate” the date of launch from the time the rocket was placed on the platform to the fueling preparation and completion of fueling.

USA seems to be confident that the “missile” won’t have the range to be able to reach Alaska hence declare they “won’t be shooting down the North Korean missile” but if that missile fails and it looks like it’s going to drop debris on Japan, that they might take some action.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Sunday that spy satellites had photographed the nose cone of a long-range North Korean rocket on its launch pad.

“But it is impossible to tell what object has been loaded onto the round-shaped (rocket) top — a satellite or a warhead,” an unnamed government source told Yonhap.

Now that we won’t know

Popularity: 2% [?]

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

35 Cool Activities You can do During Earth Hour 28 March 2009 8.30pm to 9.30pm

Posted on by
Reply

Since I had joined Earth Hour for this coming Saturday 8.30pm to 9.30pm to voluntary switching off all the lights…(and everything else …if you dare) during this ONE hour.

I do ask around what people will do during this Earth Hour self controlled blackout…and the result is the list below.

  1. Send A Twitter Message “Commencing Earth Hour Blackout 3…2…1…” to all Twitter linked applications.
  2. Join the Earth Hour Concert In the Dark 7pm to 10pm if you are in Singapore.
  3. Gather around with friends indoor at the most windy spot to tell Ghost Stories!
  4. Light all the scented candles, then let loose!
  5. Open All Windows & Doors (not the grills) and let the wind pass through the whole house
  6. 1 Hours before Earth Hour, SMS or Email Everyone to remind them of the countdown.
  7. BUY NOW Glow in the dark T-Shirt and wear during the Earth Hour…(Remember to shine light on it first)
  8. Battery Powered Aquarium Bubble Generator to avoid dead fish.
  9. Go out of your house and get to know your neighbors.
  10. Candle Light Dinner with Love ones
  11. Scented Bed Sex for ONE FULL HOUR in total darkness.
  12. Soak in bubble bathtub with facial mask on, with a candle.
  13. Sleep!
  14. Set a verbal discussion about the future with your friends, family or love ones.
  15. Dance Naked in Darkness
  16. Use manual hand held fans & Torches to do your homework (sucks).
  17. Use hand cranked radio for music
  18. Solar Charged LED lights for moving around the house
  19. Listen to Neighbors talking if nearby
  20. Go around the area with Earth Hour pamphlet (few hours before it happen)
  21. Go Sell Earth Hour T-Shirt, Hand Crank Torch/Radio, Candles, Shopping List.
  22. Get enough bottle plain water or mineral water for the whole family.
  23. Drinking session in the dark!!
  24. Set up a small tent inside the house and pretend to be in the wilderness.
  25. Go camping in the wilderness.
  26. Teach your kids during this hour why Earth is changing climate & the fossil fuel problems that will cause to their future (Research more)
  27. Pray to God for 1 full hour with your cell group
  28. Sing a song without the music.
  29. Play with your iPhone/iPod/PSP/netbook until the battery goes flat (and find ideas how to charge it without electricity from the grid)
  30. Yoga in darkness
  31. Exercise in nude?
  32. Meditate in the dark
  33. Visit places that had pledged to switch of all their lights for Earth Hour (don’t bring valuables).
  34. Gather all available friends with candles inside lanterns to go round the neighborhoods in Earth Hour T-Shirts.
  35. Go to the sea side and listen to the waves in darkness!

Do email me or comment below for what WILL YOU DO during Earth Hour to contribute to the awareness of saving mother Earth (actually our own asses from self destruction!).

Popularity: 2% [?]

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

[Transport] Green Vehicles News Round Up

Posted on by
4
electric smart car EV

electric smart car EV

According to star-telegram.com:

Fort Worth entrepreneurs try to make electric cars a thing of the now

Long and O’Neal, with initial backing from a handful of other investors, have formed Evcarco (for environmental car company) to develop a chain of dealerships that would specialize in the sales of new and used green vehicles.

Read the full article at star-telegram.com:

Recently, Volkswagen and Toshiba signed a letter of intent to cooperate on the development of electric vehicles.which may spur some positive market movement in both companies.

Ford plans to have a family of plug-in, battery and hybrid vehicles by 2012. Chevrolet plans to introduce an electric car to the consumer market by the end of next year. Toyota says it plans to add solar panels to its hybrid Prius in 2010.

French tire maker Michelin SA and car-parts maker Valeo SA Friday said they will link up to develop systems for electric and hybrid vehicles.

The two companies have signed an agreement to develop new technologies for creating tires, drivetrains, systems for engine and battery-cooling management, climate control, lighting and energy management.

Honda said that demand for hybrid vehicle Insight is soaring in Japan with orders topping its monthly target of 5,000 in just over a week.

- It seems to me that the world is currently stirring with excitement to the new possibilities of green vehicles such as plug-in hybrids & full electric vehicles, it’s now the battle for the most energy efficient cars and hopefully this MAY be the real bail out from their recent financial troubles.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

[Food] Easy DIY Indoor Aquaponic Growth System (Part 01)

Posted on by
2

This is a upgrade to my Aquaponic Growth System that I had posted in “My Project” page.

14 Feb 2009

Today I made a small innovation upgrade to my Aquaponic Indoor Grow System, I realized a very serious problem of small fishes or shrimps being sucked into the water pump…causing lot’s of pain both in my heart and pocket…($_$)

In order to reduce more unnecessary death I had decided to find a way to do the following requirements.

  1. Water Pump remain powerful to suck up the  fish waste as fertilizer to the plants above.
  2. No more death of small fishes or shrimps.
  3. No blockage at the water inlet.

Here’s the the update…drum roll!

Double Barrel Plastic Fish Protector

Double Barrel Plastic Fish Protector

Ta da!!!

Popularity: 2% [?]

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

OPEC delays production projects

Posted on by
1
OPEC

OPEC

According to Yahoo!News:

OPEC Secretary General Abdalla el-Badri said the group would postpone 35 of 150 new oil and gas projects and would likely fall short of its goal to raise production capacity by five million barrels per day by 2012, according to a research note by analyst Addison Armstrong.

el-Badri also said that OPEC is close to completing its previously announced cut of 4.2 million barrels per day, Armstrong said.

The announcement may boost crude prices, but “they’re only hurting themselves,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp.

Read the full article at Yahoo!News:

- My previous article try to speculate what will be the next move by OPEC and they had currently announced that they will cut 4.2 million barrels a day and halt 35 out of 150 oil & gas projects!!

This means a higher percentage of oil & gas will be cut off from the world until 2012!!

My personal speculation is either of the following

  1. They had already reached peak oil production and now using the economic bubble weapon to cripple demand before cutting oil output artificially with a more subtle way instead of creating massive panic by telling the world that they can no longer boost output…
  2. They have no more money to continue…as expected of any well deserving company will do…going bankrupt soon hence risk causing more irreversible damages to existing oil fields by using cheap substandard equipment, cheap unqualified workers and more potential problems caused by overworked workers who are not retrenched.

The seriousness of this which I had reiterated again here is a potential for disaster in the near future if the oil price remain under their expected $75 per barrel to remain operational to at least maintain current oil supply.

There could be a sudden but temporary drop in oil demand now due to the economic crisis but that does not means the world population will drop together with the demand, more people will bound to be born and demand the use of OIL.

Oil is the feed stock for the world economy and basically EVERYTHING is associated with oil, even the food we eat are directly or indirectly the product of oil.

Without oil, the pesticides will never be used, transportation to deliver food & products will not be possible, plastic which makes all our modern equipment are no longer cheap to make, paints, roads and nearly everything we touch including clothes are made from oil.

The current demand destruction is purely the result of traders speculation and not the result of basic fudamental of actual usage of oil.

What we shall see more is sudden spike in cost of everything due to scarcity & inflation plainly caused by the money the Government printed out of thin air…

The value of our money will shrink to a point that the salary we get from current work will diminish the purchasing power rather quickly…

Imagine $2500 today can buy lot’s of stuff and suddenly the value drop so much that it can only buy $10 worth of goods of today.

That happened in Zimbabwe where you need a stack of cash to buy anything in the country…

Imagine you had saved up $100,000 for retirement but only to find out the value drops to just $5,000 worth of today’s value in a few months…what do you do? Do you starts to retire or continue to slave further to save up more money?

Or you invest in something to beat the inflation as per most sales people will try to convince you to…such as buying investment in Lehman Brothers minibonds, Madoff little investment basket or some multilevel marketing…?

All of the above became zero value overnight due to the economic crisis…

What makes you think what you are investing is actually worthless?

Is there an insurance to claim against the collapse of an insurance company?

Will the internet be available during the energy crisis where electricity may go off suddenly, can I get my money back then?

If there is a world wide disruption in electronic system due to some kind of weird extreme wheather phenomenal such as a serious EMP solar storm in 2012 to 2013 will the bank be able to use their computer to find out how much money you have left in the system?

Does physical gold or metals worth any value in the future if there is even a serious crisis such as a world war 3 or nuclear holocaust?

What is the value of anything to you considering the world now infront of you? Money that printed out of thin air? Oil pumped from mother nature that is not infinite? Air we breath?

Very simple…

Assets are things we consider to hold some form of value to that individual and the basic fundamental value is things that have demand…or a neccessity to survive.

Let’s list a few.

  • Water
  • Air
  • Food
  • Shelter
  • Energy

There may be many more to list according to different individual but let’s talk more about the MOST basic sustainability requirements.

The things to invest in is your brain…skills to survive a bad economic crisis, food production, water desalination equipment, shelter building skills, renewable energy equipment or skills, clean air making plants and basic community defence against rioters & trouble makers.

Companies or individual that does the above will be the most valuble asset to invest in however do note that anything as intengible as electronic transaction via internet or ATM may not be 100% safe.

They are just digital data at any computer that have the potential for failures & in the event of a prolong war or disaster unable to liquidate your assets regardless of their performance.

Just imagine you stuck in a country or town where there are absolutely no access to a working ATM machine…or no telephone or internet network access for even the credit card machine cannot be used in stalls.

What then can you do?

Do you

  1. Pluck leaves out of public trees and eat?
  2. Carve some tree bark out to eat?
  3. Hunt some animals using your unskilled bare hands?
  4. Start to scavenge for food together with millions of looters against hundreds of police…?
  5. Hunt humans?
  6. Eat the tasty mushroom & vegetables that you had grown in your back yard, drinking water from a solar distill water device you had bought previously, ride that solar powered car around town and hide in that well protected underground basement that you had stock up 5 years supply of food?

Yes, survival is at stake here…anything is possible when the oil shortages comes…or planet x pass by causing grave climate changes…or any kind of nuclear disasters.

Make your decisions clear, greed will never give you 100% survival but it’s your instincts to prepare will.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

[Transport] Electric Car Evolution

Posted on by
Reply
Electric Vehicle

Electric Vehicle

The current craze for transportation in the post oil future is to go electric and these cars have many existing obstacles to overcome especially the consumer confidence.

Many motor corporations’ stocks are now almost at the all time low by holding on to their proprietary oil based vehicles design for a very long time and with a serious mindset change by the public had seriously plummet the demand of oil based cars.

The economic crisis had also contributed to the fall of public spending on oil based vehicles…and many are desperately seeking alternative energy powered vehicles to commute within the city and minimised long distance travels or totally avoid travelling unnecessary.

Let me list a couple of problems of the old electric vehicles or misconceptions of electric powered vehicles.

  1. Limited Travel Distance
  2. Long Charging Time
  3. Lack of Infrastructure for charging

There are more problems including the expected cost of buying  electric vehicles & charging them compared to the oil powered vehicles.

The usual excuses that drivers make is that they think it’s too costly, too troublesome, fear of being stranded in the highway with limited battery capacity, not fast enough to suit their needs and for countries that do not have renewable energy or totally dependent on fossil fuel may counter that it’s not environmentally friendly anyway.

HOWEVER, I need to reiterate that the future of oil powered vehicles WILL NEVER BE LONG LASTING.

The fact that oil is finite and we are approaching a possible global peak in oil production and now with economic crisis causing many non-conventional oil supply to delay their expansion or even caused OPEC to cut more oil supply to “stabilize” oil prices.

I found a news article that echo one of my ideas about the possibilities of electric vehicles swapping depleted batteries at kiosk that can be set up anywhere with existing lamp pole infrastructure.

This method will solve the limited distance problems provided all the kiosk carry the SAME type of batteries for your electric vehicle.

Another news article quoted the possibility of an electric car that have 700 HP and can go from 0 to 60 mph in just 4 seconds! This solved the speed problem and the same electric vehicle claim to be able to recharge in 10 minutes!!

Well, if you do not have the budget to buy a “experimental” vehicles that bound to change in technology similar to computer devices…feel free to try to D.I.Y. your own electric vehicles with permission from local Land Transport Authority of course.

My dream electric minivan comes with a roof full of solar panels & a simple charging mechanism to an array of car batteries running a electric motor that can travel within small city of Singapore with no problems at all.

If there are excess electricity, the electric minivan can be used as a mobile office with laptops & chairs behind hopefully powering a small ventilation fan as well.

Feel free to comments and give your ideas of your dream electric vehicle!

Popularity: 3% [?]

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Bolivia Has Half of World’s Lithium for Electric Cars, NYT Says

Posted on by
Reply
Energizer® Ultimate Lithium Batteries

Energizer® Ultimate Lithium Batteries

Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) — Bolivia holds as much as half of the world’s lithium reserves, a key component in making hybrid or electric cars, the New York Times reported, citing Oji Baba, an executive with Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp.’s base metals unit.

- The future of our electric powered vehicles need one key component to be light & compact enought to be practical however half of the lithium is in this country Bolivia.

According to Nation & World:

UYUNI, Bolivia — In the rush to build the next generation of hybrid or electric cars, a sobering fact confronts both automakers and governments seeking to lower their reliance on foreign oil: Almost half of the world’s lithium, the mineral needed to power the vehicles, is found in Bolivia — a country that may not be willing to surrender it easily.

Read the Full Article at Nation & World:

- The above article describe Bolivia as “Saudi Arabia of Lithium” but also have difficult nationalistic government that had been hard for foreigners to draw on it’s lithium resources for profit.

Having discovering that where else can we find lithium deposit?

According to US Geological Survey

  • 5.4 million tons of lithium could potentially be extracted in Bolivia
  • 3 million in Chile
  • 1.1 million in China
  • 410,000 in the United States.

These articles also noted several corporations are desperately seeking these lithium for development of the next generation electric vehicles or electronic devices.

They are

  • Mitsubishi and Sumitomo
  • A group led by a French industrialist, Vincent Bollore
  • General Motors next year plans to roll out its Volt
  • Nissan, Ford and BMW, among other car makers, have similar projects.

Demand for lithium, long used in small amounts in mood-stabilizing drugs and thermonuclear weapons, has climbed as makers of batteries for BlackBerrys and other electronic devices use the mineral. But the automotive industry holds the biggest untapped potential for lithium, analysts say. Since it weighs less than nickel, which is also used in batteries, it would allow electric cars to store more energy and be driven longer distances.

Knowing the above information may give some ideas on opportunities for investment directions however bewarned that lithium batteries are potentially explosive when over charged hence users have to be extremely careful while charging these babies.

The future may spell danger if countries that hold such valuable resources refused to “sell” them quickly to other countries to manufacture electric vehicles hence resulting a reduce the dependence of oil…which simply means “Huston, we have a problem…again”.

Unfortunately, in the times of economic crisis…many countries had started their own “protectionistic” campaign to protect their own country from recession shockwave which might result in “a significant slowdown” in the progress of future technological improvement of the world of electronics.

Oh, we don’t want another Iraq War or nuclear war but hopefully someone can invest in Bolivia enough to convince them to open the lithium “tap” wider for the benefit of the world future development on “alternative” energy to divert away from dirty fuels such as coal or crude oil.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post