Lately I find myself drawn more and more to music. Listening, production, the gear, the culture. And not just the electronica, but all sorts. For example, I really want to get back into jazz. (What I wouldn’t give for a nice tenor sax right now.)

But this stupid subwoofer issue is really irritating. If I don’t get this fixed soon (M-Audio is still slacking on sending the schematics) I’m probably just going to have to go out and buy a different sub. I know it’s stupid to let this bother me that much, but for whatever reason it does. I guess I just got really used to having that supportive low end in my music. And I’m a perfectionist when it comes to my craft and that means having my setup as perfect as possible too.

Soon though it will be taken care of and I can go back to making aural magic. Some days I feel like I’m near to some kind of breakthrough and that I will really be able to make all the pieces in my setup work in unison. It just takes time and effort though more than anything else.

Effort I don’t mind one bit. Time is another story unfortunately. Work is so out of control at the moment that what free time I have usually has to go to the other necessities of life. I’m lucky if I get 4 hours a week to work on music and that really doesn’t cut it.

In part 1 of Why I hate E85 I examined some of the background principles at work and why alcohol based fuels can actually be good. This post will be more about why I think corn-based E85 is a waste of time from a technology stand point and bad for our economy.

The cliff-hanger I left with was that flex-fuel vehicles are a not designed to be run only on a fuel with a high amount of ethanol, hence the term flex-fuel. After all that talking I did about octane ratings, compression ratios and energy extraction it should be obvious why this matters. You have to run a flex-fuel vehicle at a low compression ratio so that normal gas doesn’t pre-ignite or knock. So what you get is an engine that can’t extract as much work from a larger volume of fuel (richer air/fuel ratio) and that means lower miles per gallon.

It’s not even better for the environment. With a non-optimal compression ratio the E85 fuel actually gives off more emissions. And despite what the advertising would like you to believe, ethanol emissions aren’t that great.

But it goes deeper.  Julius beat me to the punch and did a great job talking about many of the reasons why corn is a horrible choice to create ethanol. I won’t bother reiterating any of those points here, just read the post yourself and ask yourself why politics is interfering with the logical choices we should be making to insure a responsible energy policy. This is the main reason why I dislike E85.

Another ridiculous fact is that often the price of E85 and gas are locked. So if gas goes up 10 cents, E85 also goes up 10 cents. Now E85 is 15% gasoline, so if it goes up 1.5 cents that would make sense. Unfortunately people are used to fuel costs going up together and so they take advantage. Everyone wants to get rich quick.

If we were selling cars with power trains designed to run only ethanol as well as creating the fuel from a source that was actually renewable (like switchgrass) then I wouldn’t have to write this post. Unfortunately our current policies are half-assed attempts that are not only ineffective but might actually cause more problems.

From an email I exchanged earlier with Julie:

The security guards in my building will always say “Happy Friday” in the mornings when you come in or when you’re coming back from lunch, etc. It’s very refreshing and always makes me smile. Well today as I was was coming in there was a new guy. I scanned my badge and walked passed the desk and when I didn’t hear “Happy Friday” it stopped me dead in my tracks.

I turned and shot a sidelong glance at him and he said, “Can I help you?”
What I replied must have seemed somewhat rude, “You’re supposed to say ‘Happy Friday.’ People count on that. They need to hear it.”
“Why?” was the stone wall answer I was hoping not to hear.
“Well,” with what must have been a small amount of panic showing in my voice at this point, “that’s just what we do here. Friday isn’t just another day. It’s a state of mind. It makes the fact that you’re here on what should be the first day of weekend OK. Isn’t it good that it’s Friday?”
He looked at me for a minute and then said “If you think it’s that important I will. I have to work the weekend shift though, so my ‘Friday’ starts on Tuesday–”
I cut him off, “I will tell you ‘Happy Tuesday’ if you tell me ‘Happy Friday’. Come on man, what do you say?”
He smiled. “Happy Friday.”

Well not completely fried, but my M-Audio BX10s has developed an unfortunate problem. It appears the right channel is kind of dead. I say kind of because the crossover seems to still be kind of working, i.e. audio will still play from the right monitor, but the low end (the lower half of the crossover) is completely absent. This problem doesn’t exist on the left channel, but there is some line noise there. No, it’s not cables, I checked.

Edit: I’m also quite sure it’s not ground loop. It’s probably the crossover on the right channel, or the mix between the left and right crossover.

This is annoying enough but it’s more annoying because it’s out of warranty now. So I will get to pay to ship this heavy subwoofer to California, pay $40/hour to get it fixed, and then pay to have it shipped back. Honestly buying a new one might be cheaper.

I’m half tempted to see if I can fix it myself. Crossover circuits aren’t exactly complicated and it’s already out of warranty. I swear, it’s always something.

Opening weekend of the NAIAS to the public is always busy, but this one seemed particularly packed. Maybe it was just because I had more exposure to it, being in the city all three days. The charity preview on Friday evening (a black tie affair) brought out a good deal of glitz and glamor. It’s a pretty big deal around here. In fact, it’s the biggest restaurant night of the year in Detroit. I however was not at the charity preview. Instead I went to a party that my good friend Dan was having at his place in midtown. What an awesome building with a fantastic view of the city from the roof.

All that aside, I did go to the auto show on Saturday; the first day it was open to the public. As expected the show was packed with all sorts of people, young and old. Some go to look to see the concepts and technologies that they might be driving in the future, some shop for the next car they’re looking to buy and some go to drool over cars they’ll never have. I personally enjoy the show for the concepts, the technology displays and just the overall atmosphere. I also like talking cars with some of the people working for the various companies, although some are better for this than other. (Guy from Cali who races and was working at the Lincoln/Mercury booth, it was a pleasure talking with you. Guy working for Lexus, it was not.) And yes I might snap a shot or two of a Lamborghini or Ferrari, but I assure you it’s just for completeness. Plus they’re beautiful machines.

I have to say I continue to be impressed with the direction that Ford is managing to take their products. Besides the GT500KR (one of my favorite cars of the show) models like the Verve and even the Flex were very interesting. I hope they do well in the market. The Edge and Fusion drew quite a few visitors; both are pretty sharp cars. I was disappointed they didn’t have one of their EcoBoost direct injection engines on display though. They did have some marketing displays about the technology, and the figures I’m hearing from people in the know make it sound like it’s going to be a huge step forward in engine technology for Ford in terms of fuel efficiency, power output in smaller displacement engines and emissions.

Speaking of beastly engines, I think my favorite car of the show was the new Cadillac CTS-V they were showing off with the Corvette ZR1 engine crammed in it. 550 bhp and 550 ft-lb of torque in a really refined and luxurious package? Sign me up. It’s big 6.2 L supercharged engine is thirsty though I’m sure, so as nice as the CTS-V is I’m more excited about Lincolns coming out with the EcoBoost. The more efficient, smaller engine puts out some serious power, while saving weight, so from a performance standpoint there should be some amazingly quick Fords. Remember all that stuff I said about engine knock? Direct injection is a good way to counter that in lower octane fuels because the fuel is injected straight into the cylinder just later in the compression cycle (just before spark). That means they can run regular gas engines at higher compression ratios, so you get higher efficiencies. And if they ever come out with an EcoBoost tuned for ethanol? We’re talking serious compression ratios and that works even more to counteract the fact that you have to run ethanol richer than normal gas. Think that its pointless to focus on gas engine technology right now? Take a look at this:

“Compared with the current cost of diesel and hybrid technologies, customers can expect to recoup their initial investment in a 4-cylinder EcoBoost engine through fuel savings in approximately 30 months. A diesel will take an average of seven and one-half years, while the cost of a hybrid will take nearly 12 years to recoup – given equivalent miles driven per year and fuel costs,” [Derrick Kuzak] said. (source)

Anyway, back to the show. Diesels definitely do seem to be coming back into fashion, with many of the automakers announcing new diesel powertrains or that they would be bringing their overseas diesels stateside. Despite the fact that I think Ford’s GTDI engine is great, we do need a diversification of options right now, if only to help stimulate innovation across the board and lead to the “next big thing.” BMW in particular was showing off their fancy new clean diesel, and they do a pretty good job at them, so I’m sure it’s a great (if overpriced) engine.

As an aside, the BMW 1 series is a waste of time. For the price it’s too small and underpowered. The only BMW I really think offers something that resembles value is the 335i, and even then it has a base price of around $42,000. You could get a Volvo S40 T5 AWD optioned all out for $10K less than that, and while the 335i is more powerful and luxurious, I’m not sure it’s $10+K (with options) more powerful and luxurious.

GM had a solid lineup across most of their brands. Once upon a time I loathed GM products (for good reason). Now they definitely have more than a few cars that I rather like. In particular the ZR1 Corvette that I mentioned is an amazing looking car. I seriously doubt that I will ever get one myself, but I am looking forward to when they get one of those on Top Gear (especially because they liked the Z06 so much).

Well I think that’s enough for this post. I will have a second one that covers some other aspects of the auto show that I didn’t touch on, like some of the wild concept cars and hilariously bad offerings.

As I mentioned it’s the 2008 NAIAS here in Detroit and “being green” is one of the biggest things here. Everyone is showing off their alternative-fuel vehicles. Besides all the hybrids (that’s a topic worthy of a post all its own) and the smattering of plug-ins and hydrogen fuel cell cars, E85 seems to dominate when talking about “getting environmentally friendly.” Heck, even the racing segment is getting into the mix with the Corvette C6.4 GT1 team switching to E85 for the 2008 season. (Side note: Compuware is the team sponsor and despite my dislike of E85 that car is sweet.)

Despite it’s seemingly unstoppable popularity, our current approach to E85 ethanol based fuel isn’t really the best idea in my opinion. It’s not that I like being tied to petroleum based gasoline or think that research into alternative propulsion systems is a bad idea; far from it. It’s just that I really like popcorn… and that E85 is more like a stopgap measure that isn’t even all that effective. If it is created from corn then the total energy life cycle of E85 is actually less efficient than producing gasoline from oil. Hard to believe? This three part post will help to inform, I hope.

Now, being the son of an engineer who worked at FoMoCo for over 40 years (much of it in powertrain R&D) and of course being a native son of Detroit this kind of car stuff is in my blood, so allow me to indulge for a bit in part one of this post and explain first a bit about the engineering principles at work here. I will assume you don’t know much about internal combustion engines but if you do feel free to fact check me and please don’t feel like I’m talking down to you.

Read the rest of this entry »

The top-of-the-charts hip-hop hit “This is Why I’m Hot” by Mims has some really profound lyrics. It is not just a look at what makes Mims himself hot, but is easily applied as a general template of hotness.

In this case all the hard work was even done for me, because I wasn’t the only one who noticed this. The Village Voice shows us in what can only be called a thesis on hotness why it is exactly Mims is hot, as well as what this means in the grander scheme of “hotness” in the music industry as a whole.

I strongly encourage you to examine this article and use it to your advantage. Knowledge is power.

The 2008 North American International Auto Show to be specific. In a time of the year when people are normally settling in for the post-holiday blues Metro Detroit gears up and puts on a great show that is pretty much guaranteed to keep you out of a funk. Despite the economic hardships that the area is dealing with, the Auto Show offers a real sense of hope that the future will get better.

And I have to say, despite the economic situation being what it is things are still improving. This signals to me the start of a long needed change in attitude. The product pipelines from the automakers seem to be improving nicely and now that reliability issues are behind them they can turn their attention to making their cars greener and more technologically advanced. The city itself is also working hard to better itself, and is really starting to challenge long held perceptions that the city is a place you wouldn’t want to visit. And projects like the recently announced Cadillac Center will continue to help and show that the attitude around here is starting to shift. I look forward to what people will do with those attitudes when the economic situation does shift (though that might take a few years).

But enough about that, back to the show itself. Like I already mentioned this year there is a new emphasis on green technologies, which is a good thing and a long time coming. Already we’ve seen announcements from Ford and GM that they’re not only developing new platforms, but also focusing on increasing fuel efficiency considerably by using technologies like direct fuel injection, turbo charging engines with smaller displacement. They’ve also done some great work improving the “desirability” factor as well as all the other little touches that make a good product a great one.

The NAIAS is really something you need to attend to experience. Beyond the cars and the amazing displays, extravagant events and flashy unveilings it’s good to see the crowds wandering around a city I love with smiles on their faces. I won’t even complain about all the extra traffic I’m going to have to deal with for the next two weeks.

Today is the 70th birthday of Donald Knuth. For those of you who don’t know, he is arguably one of the most notable and influential figures in the history of computer science, and certainly the most important one who is still alive today. Though the guy has produced just an amazing amount of written works he’s probably best known for The Art of Computer Programming; that’s how I was first introduced.

When I was a young kid, around six or seven years old, I was starting to get more and more interested in computers and more specifically how they worked. I was extraordinarily lucky. At that age (we’re talking around 1988) I wasn’t only fortunate enough to have access to a computer in the home, but I had my own computer. My dad (being an electrical engineer and very interested in computers) always liked this kind of stuff, and so we had a computer in the house from as early as I can remember. I remember getting several different computers. First, there was the old Radio Shack kit. Next, the Atari ST and then, a quantum leap in terms of capability and power: the Amiga 1000.

This was the system that I really cut my teeth on. I learned my first programming language (AMOS Pro) on that system when I was about 8. Looking back the AMOS Pro (albeit a simple language) was an amazingly complete package. I think it was a great language to learn as a beginner, not only because it was simple, but also because it didn’t actually interface with AmigaOS; programs you wrote in AMOS controlled the computer directly. This ended up being a bit of a fault with the language in the long run (the Wikipedia article cites a few reasons) but as a kid just trying to understand exactly what was going on it provided that “against the metal” experience that I think is crucial to really form a solid understanding of what it means to actually program a computer. The tools have gotten sophisticated enough and the systems have gotten sufficiently complicated that I think some of that is lost in the current day and age, definitely for most general programmers. Even graduates of well renowned computer science programs often don’t have would I would consider a complete understanding of the processes involved.

But I digress. The point is that I was lucky to have so much exposure so early to computers. (Well, I guess lucky is one way of looking at it.) Some years pass and I’m now about 9 or 10 I have my very own Amiga 2000 in my bedroom and we also have a Hayes 1200 baud modem. Talk about good times. But it wasn’t enough. I needed to know more. I was interested in it, but beyond doing some sprite-based games in AMOS I didn’t really have an appreciation for everything else that you could do with a computer. That’s when I found my dad’s copy of The Art of Computer Programming Volume 1: Fundamental Algorithms.

This book basically laid it all out. While a good deal of it was over my head, I was sufficiently familiar with the concepts where I was able to understand a fair bit, and figure out quite a bit more. I think that was probably one of my biggest jumps in understanding about programming, even more than when I went to college to study computer science. And at that point I was also hooked. The light had turned on and finally I understood just how broad the field was.

So, thank you Donald Knuth. I’m sure there are many others like me who found something amazing in your books and made it their life’s work as well.

Despite the title this post doesn’t contain any advice. I could actually probably use some advice in that category. Instead, I will discuss something far more meaningless.

Have you ever seen those commercials for various mutual funds, bonds, and brokerage firms that all say “you tell us your dreams, we’ll make sure they happen” or something to that effect? They seem to becoming more and more popular these days, probably because pensions are long gone and there are all kinds of Baby Boomers getting ready to retire. And they can make a lot of money on them.

I’ve always felt like calling them up and just saying strange things, like “I’ve always wanted to get into falconry,” or perhaps something like “I’d like to ride a tame T-Rex around San Francisco.” I mean, those are a couple of my dreams. They’d be lucky I didn’t ask about the ones involving Scarlett Johansson.

I wonder if they’d hang up on me or still try to sell me on their product.