Yearly Archives: 2007

TGV gets even faster (and maybe comes to California)

Environment, News, Technology, World

Oh, can we please order about a dozen of these?

A French high-speed train, with a souped-up engine and wheels, breaks the world speed record near Grigny, eastern France, Tuesday, April 3, 2007, reaching 574.8 kph (357.2 mph). The black and chrome train with three double-decker cars, named the V150, bettered the previous record of 515.3 (320.2 mph), set in 1990 by the French fast train. However, it fell short of the ultimate record set by Japan’s non-conventional magnetically levitated train, which sped to 581 kph (361 mph) in 2003.

More at the Houston Chronicle.  To save you the math, 350 mph gets one from San Diego to San Francisco in an hour and a half, an order of magnitude faster than Amtrak currently manages.   And that’s not just wishful thinking, either:

Hours before the run, Transport Minister Dominique Perben received a delegation from California, which is studying prospects for a high-speed line from Sacramento to San Diego, via San Francisco and Los Angeles.

There’s still a long way to go, but perhaps by the time Ben wants to explore California on his own, he’ll be able to go by (really fast) train.

just taking a stroll

Iraq, You have got to be kidding

Think Progress paints a slightly different picture than John McCain would like:

Sen. John McCain strolled briefly through an open-air market in Baghdad today in an effort to prove that Americans are “not getting the full picture” of what’s going on in Iraq.

NBC’s Nightly News provided further details about McCain’s one-hour guided tour. He was accompanied by “100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead.” Still photographs provided by the military to NBC News seemed to show McCain wearing a bulletproof vest during his visit.

McCain recently claimed that there “are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today.” In a press conference after his Baghdad tour, McCain told a reporter that his visit to the market today was proof that you could indeed “walk freely” in some areas of Baghdad.

I’m so glad to see that the security situation has improved so dramatically.  I’ll be sure to visit Baghdad for my next vacation, provided I can hire my security force in time.

a tale told by a chicken, full of sound and fury

April Foolishness, Fun, News, Technology, Web 2.0

So you may have wondered why I’m so busy at work these days. Well, here’s the deal:

Eventful, Inc., the leading global events service, announced today that it would cease the operation of its popular Web site Eventful.com on May 1st in favor of next-generation interface Twitter, provided by Obvious Corporation of San Francisco. Twitter is a service which allows users to get instant update messages (“tweets”) from friends via SMS, instant messenger, Web, or by way of a number of custom desktop clients.

Once the commitment was made, it was surprisingly quick work to adapt the Eventful API to the new platform. Development of the Twitter-based service, dubbed Eventful Chicken, took just over a week to reach the public beta stage, including event search, recommendations, watchlists, reminders, and Eventful Demand (renamed “I wish they’d come here”). The service can be previewed currently at http://twitter.com/echicken.

There’s more, but you get the idea. Take a look and let me know what you think. I’m too tired to comment intelligently.