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Lately, it’s hard to go anywhere in the automotive world without hearing excitement (and, to be fair, the standard dose of criticism) about the forthcoming Chevy Volt. People -car types in particular- are excited about this car, and with good reason: more than just picking up where the famed EV-1 left off, it’s coming at a time when people are more receptive (and enthusiastic) about alternative propulsion than ever, and it’s addressing a lot of the fundamental issues that the EV-1 had.

But foreign-oil-dependence, carbon footprints and super-cool interior features aside, there’s one aspect of the Volt that slipped by my radar completely: the fact that when you hit the accelerator pedal, it’s going to give you a ride that’ll make even the staunchest V8-head gasp in delight.

While I was cruising through a Volt fact sheet today, I discovered an interesting tidbit: while the Volt’s electric motor only turns out 150 horsepower, it delivers a tongue-slacking 273 ft-lbs of torque. And we all know the old saying: horsepower sells cars, but torque wins races. In this case, that torque is instantly available at just about any wheel speed, so prepare for your posterior to get very well-acquainted with the Volt’s seats!

As a point of reference, the V-6 engine in my Saab 9-3 Aero – which will get you to 60 in just over six seconds – only gives you 258 ft-lbs of torque. And that still gets to go through a 6-speed transmission (which steals a bit of oomph) before it gets to the ground to propel the 3,400-lb sedan. Given my presumption that the Volt will be lighter – it is, after all, smaller and powered by Lithium-ion batteries – combined with the higher torque figure and we just might have an eco-sleeper on our hands!

It seems like once in a while, unrelated things combine to create something unique. Tonight, while sitting in the kitchen at the ambulance base, I auditioned Robert Rich’s album Open Window, a collection of improvised instrumental piano solos that are nothing short of breathtakingly beautiful.

While listening on my open-air Grado headphones, the sounds around me blended with Robert’s music. What would in nearly any other situation be an annoyance became an organic superimposition of sound: behind Rich’s subtle piano notes came the muffled voices and dissonances of the dispatch radio, the quiet scratch of one partner’s pen against a stack of paper, and the occasional swoosh as the other partner turned pages in her glossy textbook.

These things will never happen in the same order, at the same time again. Try as I might to repeat the experience or synthesize the results, it was as stochastic an experience as is possible. It will be different with each repetition; a new and unique and singular experience.

If you’d like to try out your own version, check out Open Window at magnatune.com, or listen to it here:

Open Window by Robert Rich

Since the unveiling this morning, a few more photos have been posted in the media gallery…

All images are © GM Corp and are used with permission under a Creative Commons 3.0 license for non-commercial purposes.

After GM’s official unveil of the 2011 Chevy Volt at it’s 100th-Birthday celebration this morning – which we enjoyed at my site via satellite broadcast – official photos of the production Volt interior, exterior and powertrain appeared on the GM Media web site!

All images are © GM Corp and are used with permission under a Creative Commons 3.0 license for non-commercial purposes.

Update 10:37AM: You can see more images, as well as photos from the Detroit unveiling, over at AutoBlogGreen

When I was in middle school, our social studies teacher gave us what seemed like a simple assignment: write 5 things we wanted to accomplish on a piece of loose-leaf paper, and seal it in an envelope. The envelopes were handed back to us when we picked up our graduation caps and gowns in 1998.

One of my aspirations? Get my first patent by the time I left high school. I guess I underestimated just how expensive and time-consuming a proposition that was, and needless to say it didn’t happen.

But at least I can finally check that item off my list now, a little over a decade later; as of September 2nd, it’s official: US Patent number 7,421,356 is on the books!

Update (2008-09-10) – You can check out the patent’s front page in PDF here.

Ever heard of Michael Fiola? Thousands of people in Massachusetts have, and thanks to the swiss-cheese security of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, they think he’s a child pornography peddler.

I’ve always warned people about the security risks of using Windows, but this is one I never saw coming. Sure, viruses and spyware can obliterate your work documents, bring your finances to a grinding halt, or nuke your collection of family photos, and sure, the really bad ones can be gateways to identity theft … But in Michael’s case, a virus almost landed him in prison.

Thanks to the insecurities of Windows, the virus on Michael’s work-issued computer busily set up shop distributing child pornography. It was a smart little bugger – it snagged “content” from all the seediest sources, and hastily redistributed it by the gigabyte. The IT folks at Fiola’s then-employer picked up on his higher-than-usual Internet “usage”, and recalled his now-infected laptop. On finding out what was now living there, they promptly fired Michael, and filed criminal charges. “They destroy[ed] our lives,” he said after the smoke cleared.

As it turns out, Michael had the good sense that his [now former] employer lacked: he hired a computer forensics expert, and they went to work figuring out where all the porn came from. After a month of carefully reconstructing what had occurred – under the radar of the IT department, their “antivirus” software, and Fiola’s awareness – they presented their findings and the charges were dropped.

Meanwhile, Michael Fiola had to go find work in another state, his family shellshocked and his life overturned and violated. Granted, a lot of things had to happen the wrong way to end up at this result: The IT department had to mess up Fiola’s antivirus configuration. The virus had to infect his machine. The network folks had to notice his increased usage, and the techs had to uncover the virus’s porn stash. The Massachusetts DOIA had to make the decision to fire Fiola without a proper forensic investigation, and they had to choose to go public with their decision. But if the machine had been secure in the first place, none of it would ever have happened.

If you’re reading this blog entry from a Windows PC, take a second to think about what security means to you as a computer user. Insecurity could mean that your resumes, family pictures and financial records might all be gone (or at least hopelessly inaccessible) by the time you wake up tomorrow morning, or when you return from getting a cup of coffee. It could mean that your “digital personal effects” – maybe your journal, maybe your finances, maybe your political aspirations, maybe your protest plans – might be aired for all to see. It could mean that, when you go to bed tonight, someone halfway around the world could be logging into your bank accounts and helping themselves to your hard-earned identity.

Or, as Michael Fiola found out – the hard way – it could mean that someone, or some faceless piece of malicious code, is able to commit one of the most heinous of human crimes in your name. I’m glad that Michael has been exonerated, but I’m saddened by the fate he’s been forced to endure at the hands of cowards who inhabit the darkest parts of the digital world.

I’m not trying to scare you out of using Windows. I’m just trying to make it clear that if you do choose to use Windows, you should invest in good security software, and know how to use it and keep it updated. And if you’d like to consider an option that’s more secure by design, then we can talk about Mac OS-X or Linux.

I bought one of those health food bars the other day, for an afternoon boost before my after-work bike ride. Something about the label just didn’t sit right with me though…

Natural Flavor with Other Natural Flavor

…whatever…

There’s plenty of alphabet soup out there – I see more than my share of it at work, where it seems like there’s an endless stream of acronyms, callouts and outlines. But this post is about number soup – specifically, the number soup I’ve been encountering in trying to quantify the benefits I might be deriving from running.

Though I’ve been running consistently since the snow stopped this spring (and sporadically through the preceding winter), I’ve only recently resumed wearing my heartrate monitor – and using its various functions – in the last couple of weeks. Among those functions is a calorie counter – you enter your age, sex and weight, and it calculates the calories you’ve burnt during a given workout.

Today, after running our standard 3.78 mile course in 37:02 (for a mildly disappointing average pace of 9:51/mile), my HRM proudly proclaimed that I’d burned 739 calories. Not bad for a lunchtime run!

But then I got home tonight, and decided to do a sanity check – and hence started my batch of number soup. I compared my HRM’s calorie count against three other calculators, which put me at 542, 583 and 551 calories respectively. So now the question is: who’s right? The online calculators take more personal factors into account than my ride-along instrumentation, but they’re still ultimately limited to calculating based on linear distance traveled, presumably without elevation data. Though it might seem outvoted, my HRM can watch my heart rate as I run, so it’s better-attuned to my actual level of effort. But it’s still banking on a calorie burn rate that’s based on fewer factors.

This is about the point where the runner in me had to remind the geek in me that … it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is pulling on those running clothes, getting outside, and enjoying the road under my feet. What does matter is strapping on those running shoes and getting a regular dose of natural antidepressant. What does matter is running because I. want. to. run.

One foot in front of the other. Reverse. Breathe. Repeat.