eNeRGy

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This post is related to both the automotive industry and the Nation of Earth -- however I'm posting it here, as I feel it will take on the form of a personal rant...

eNeRGy

Among the tabs I have open in my browser are a couple of items from Autoweek. Both are about vehicles planned to be released sometime next year -- and in my opinion, both of those vehicles miss the mark...


The Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid, scheduled to be ready for the 2009 model year, is little more than yet another hybrid entering the market -- and by that I mean yet another hybrid that isn't a PLUG-IN hybrid. The simple facts are that no method of wheeled vehicle propulsion is more efficient than electric motors, and most drivers hardly ever need a range beyond what a battery-powered electric vehicle can provide.

When they do, they need a range extender. It would be nice to be able to rent a generator on a trailer -- and when a significant percentage of drivers own electric vehicles, that kind of rental service will be widely available. Meanwhile, if you go to a car dealership, the closest you're likely to find to an electric vehicle will be a parallel hybrid.

Parallel hybrids, instead of relying mainly on electric propulsion, use electric motors to augment propulsion. They are a step in the right direction, but in an unnecessary circle, walking backward. While many, the Silverado included, offer an electric-only mode, they all rely completely upon their internal combustion engines.

Some of these hybrids are being converted. With extra batteries, modified controllers, and charging ports, they become plug-in hybrids and then don't necessarily need their engines. Unless their motors are upgraded, though, they suffer from poor performance. The electric motors fitted to hybrids, after all, were meant to work in concert with internal combustion engines.

Parallel hybrid vehicles are only a little better than internal combustion vehicles. SERIES hybrids, on the other hand... A series hybrid is basically an electric vehicle with an onboard generator...



The Honda FCX Clarity will be available for lease in southern California next summer. As a series hybrid, it is closer to what we ought to be seeing in showrooms everywhere. It has a fuel cell to generate electricity, which is a good idea -- but what is NOT a good idea is that it uses HYDROGEN.

The use of hydrogen as a fuel is, excuse me, just plain stupid. Use all the safeguards you want, I don't care, because safety isn't the issue. Go ahead and build all the hydrogen fuel stations you like -- once again I don't care. Fuel availability isn't the issue either.

The problem is that somewhere, somehow, the hydrogen has to be generated or extracted -- and it takes more energy to generate or extract than you'll ever get back out of it.

Considering all the added expense, including the trillions it would take just to set up a distribution system, it baffles me that hydrogen is being pushed as the fuel of the future. Equally baffling is all the time and money being spent by automotive manufacturers to develop hydrogen-powered vehicles.

I'm downright confounded at the industry's refusal to offer pure electric vehicles.

The good news about the FCX Clarity is that it would be relatively simple to replace its tank and fuel cell with more batteries. As conversions go, it would be an easy one. The bad news is that these cars will be leased, not owned -- so if anyone is going to convert them (even by replacing their hydrogen cells with ones that use a different fuel), it is going to have to be Honda.

Here's hoping they use the FCX platform for a pure electric, somewhere down the line...

RANGE

The ONE disadvantage of electric vehicles is slow recharge. When you reach the end of your range, it takes hours instead of minutes to restore. Even when range is increased to over 200 miles (as Tesla Motors has done with their Roadster), recharge time becomes an issue. As stated above, it would be nice if drivers could rent trailer-mounted generators (perhaps fuelled by propane, using exchange tanks designed for outdoor grills) for longer trips -- but there are other solutions.

If electric vehicles were designed so that their battery packs could be easily removed and replaced, and enough battery-swap stations were established, range would no longer be an issue. We'd want these packs to be standardized -- one size would have to fit all -- but some (larger) vehicles could use more than one pack. For that matter, most could use two smaller packs, and smaller vehicles could operate on one.

You're absolutely correct if you think that would be a huge undertaking. It would take years of planning and require cooperation among dozens of corporations. Here's the thing: If the electric car hadn't been driven to near extinction during the last round, and this plan had been implemented, by now we'd have those standardized battery packs ready to go in swap stations all over the world...

...but that would be a world where the most sensible actions are the ones that are taken -- a world without 9/11 and the Iraq war, without Katrina and other engineered disasters, without an unelected puppet in the Oval Office -- not the world we find ourselves in today.



What those who run everything from behind the scenes don't seem to realize, or care about, is that many of the things that have been held back would be extremely good for the economy. The only reason we aren't moving more quickly toward a changeover to electric vehicles charged by solar panels, windmills, and micro-hydro is that THEY want to continue to control energy and keep making money hand over fist.

They try to tell us that WE are the cause of global warming (when we would all know, if the information were broadcast, that every planet in our solar system is experiencing global warming) and that global warming causes more extreme weather (when they've secretly developed weather engineering so precise as to be able to generate a massive hurricane and deliver it to a specific target -- and could instead be using the technology to combat damaging storms, bring rain to drought-afflicted areas, et cetera).

They foster violence in an incredible range of manifestations to frighten us into giving up our civil liberties, and try to tell us that the unlawful invasion of a foreign country is in our best interests -- when we know, or should know, that freedom is in no way being defended. Can't everyone see how much money is being made through all this killing?

In case you've forgotten, or don't know me very well yet, I happen to be an Army veteran. I was quite young and didn't know better, had just dropped out of college and didn't know what to do next. Almost all of our armed forces personnel join at a very young age, technically adults but not wise enough yet to see things for what they are. They do not get paid well, and have to jump through hoops to receive medical care (if you can call it that) from the Veterans' Administration. Military personnel are cannon fodder -- expendable Humans...


Now, see? I start by revealing why a couple of upcoming 'green' vehicles aren't what they should be, and end up ranting about oligarchic cryptocracy. But, you know, it's all tied together. When there is power without accountability, everyone suffers.



Phil Smith
November 17, 2007


PS Look for a post on the Tellurian Motors blog in the next few days about my truck concept, the original version of which was to be powered by steam. I updated it to be an EV, but after writing the above I feel it should be a (plug-in) series hybrid -- with a propane-fired steam turbine generator...

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Festivus

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I could hardly believe it.

Today, ten days BEFORE Thanksgiving, I stopped by the grocery store for some juice -- only to be confronted with the incessant annoyance of a Salvation Army bell.

My senses and sensibilities assaulted, I marched past the offender with a scowl, shaking my head at him. The mental message: "You ought to know better. It's too soon!" I might have added, in the thoughts I was trying to send the guy, how I never ever want to hear the sound of that bell again, and that if it only had a more pleasant tone their collections would doubtless increase, but I was in a rush...

It's not that I was in too much of a hurry to think about donating. I was just trying to get past the noise as quickly as possible -- a noise that, at the very least, no one should be hearing for a couple more weeks. As much as I felt like asking him how much it would take to make the noise stop, I couldn't have gotten close enough. It's horrendous. What I really wanted to do was grab the damned thing and silence it, shouting something in his face about how it was much too soon...

It's enough to make me drive farther, to another store, for my groceries. I've done exactly that in years past.

I know they're collecting donations to help the less fortunate. I know they mean well. I just wonder what measures I have to take, to keep from seeing and hearing Xmas-related things before Thanksgiving! Seems there's nothing for it but to go on a month-long hermitage near the end of October.

I also wonder, seriously, what kind of mindset it takes to look so forward to Xmas that you start shopping for decorations in October -- and if retailers ever think about the possibility that some potential customers might AVOID their stores when they decorate too soon.

I know I'm not alone. A LOT of people get depressed during 'the holidays', too many for it to only be about lack of sunlight. There's the sheer pressure of not being able to escape the commercialism, the near-constant reminders of a day you are pretty much forced to spend time with people you'd rather not see -- never mind the expectation of gifts, to give and receive, trying to make people happy, whether you want to or not.

Checking Wikipedia, I was somewhat astonished. It seems nearly every culture has, or has had, a midwinter celebration of its own. Can we hope that, after an end to the rampant commercialism that has ruined the season, people will use this time of year to embrace their heritage and celebrate as their ancestors did?

Now ask yourself: How soon do you think people began decorating for those celebrations? A few days? Maybe a week?


I look forward to the Thanksgiving when I'm able to give thanks that I haven't been bombarded with Xmas crap before the 4th Thursday in November.



Phil Smith
November 12, 2007


PS YESTERDAY was Veterans' Day, and I see no good reason to ever 'observe' it on a day other than 11/11...

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Limbo

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Maybe I'm supposed to have taken control of my life by now -- but you know, all my life it seems I've been waiting for something...

What that something is, I couldn't tell you. I feel lost -- adrift -- and it's nothing new.

I love having creative projects to work on, but it's hard to maintain focus on them in this house, as part of a family of five. Writing? Yeah, writing I can do, but I can't tell you how many trains of thought have been derailed in that realm -- how many words, sentences, paragraphs have begun to form in my head only to be blasted away by some random (non-) emergency. Writing is the easiest thing to get back to and the best kind of project to be working on while staying connected to e-mail and instant messaging (while drinking, smoking, and listening to music).

Yet, working on fiction requires the same kind of solitude I can't seem to find in order to work on my music...

What I need is to be able to wake up when I want to, with no one around to bug me, and an open-ended frame of time in which to create. Novelists often go off somewhere to work in private, and other artists have studios. I have a crowded house, and only a few hours at a time by myself. There's always some demand or other on my attention. When I do get to be alone, in the back of my mind is an expiration date on that solitude -- one I often can't read...

One great fantasy that I share with countless millions is winning the lottery. But, would that solve my dilemma? Only if I made it a priority, naturally. I've told myself that, if such a windfall does come, that will be my chance to finally build (electric) vehicles of my own design. Wouldn't that be a way to not only make a significant creative contribution, but help change the world as well?

I'd also like to set up shop, picking up where the late Jim Cadle left off, producing copies of the Flag of Earth to sell. Seriously, I still think it's an image, just when people see, it, will help bring us all together. Mugs, T-shirts...



Is that it? Am I waiting for a lottery win, so I can do whatever the bleep I want? Sounds pathetic. So what if someone once told me (and repeatedly confirmed) that it was in the cards for me? Should I really take that on faith, or should I be taking hold of my own destiny, making things happen for myself?

It's all too easy to dream of the things you'd do, if you could pretty much do anything you wanted. It's all too easy, for that matter, to sit here and write about it.


Maybe I'm waiting for The End of the World As We Know It, the inimitable change that will happen at the end of this particular Long Count of the Mayan Calendar. I'm quite convinced the world will be a much better place after that, one I'm much better suited to. Maybe then, and only then, will I be able to reach my true potential.

Maybe all the experiences I'm having in this life are leading up to that, preparing me for something I can only dream of...

But what of the next five years? What will I do until then?

I need to get organized, and doggedly apply myself to the project at hand, whichever project that is at the time. I need to stop dreaming long enough to DO something.

Yeah, sure, I'm doing something right now. I be bloggin'. Big whoop.


One of my favourite all-time drivers, Colin McRae, bit it this weekend. He crashed his helicopter, taking his son, and his best friend, and his son's best friend with him. Ouch.

I once asked myself how long I'd live, and the answer came back so quickly and clearly that I can't doubt it: 147. I'll live to be 147 years old, this time around. Plenty of time to make some sort of impact, one might say, but it's tough to be 40 and try to rely on the next 107 years for my life to begin to mean something.

Yeah, here I am, kicking myself in the head. Self-admonition...

I have too many unfinished projects to count. I have spoons to carve, to sand, to apply oil to. I have an abandoned novel, and a short story that was supposed to have been the beginning of another novel. I gave up on a career in furniture-building, mid-project (in my defense, there were circumstances beyond my control). I have several automotive designs in my head, and way too few visual representations of them. I'm supposedly in a band, but I have yet to compose anything for it or teach myself to play my bass guitar.

In short, I have little to show for my life, so far. Colin McRae was 39. Even closer to my age, at the time, was Kurt Cobain. If I were to suddenly be no more (which I won't -- see above), I'd hardly be missed.

No biggie, no pressure, more than a century left. Right? Not exactly.

There will be those who will say that my being a part of a surf band (even if we create a new genre, 'electrosurf'), at my age, is evidence of a 'mid-life crisis'. Bleep all those people -- I won't reach 'mid-life' until I'm in my seventies.

Yeah, maybe I'll look back at tonight, and this post, glibly. I'm looking forward to that. You're reading the post of someone who is about to BURST. I can't take it anymore.


Something's gotta give.


Phil Smith
September 16, 2007

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Ear Candy

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In the late Eighties, I got together with a couple of friends in the forming of a 'band'. Before we could get beyond a few experimental recordings -- we would simply set things up and start rolling tape -- in 1991 my fiancee pulled something worse than 'a Yoko', leaving me for another member of our little trio. Not only did she break up the band, but she took a close friend away from us.

Gary was gracious enough to give up all rights to the existing material, so now Patrick and I can do whatever we want with it. So far, that has amounted to bupkis. However, since that time, technology has caught up with us. All we have to do is get the material from cassette to digital...

...and then we can grab those occasional brilliant bits and use them as the basis for several brilliant tracks. There is at least one, for that matter, that can stand on its own.

Meanwhile, Patrick has been producing music using computers, gathering all the necessary software and pumping out some very interesting stuff -- that he mostly keeps to himself. For my part, a few years ago I bought a bass guitar...

...but then, after idly messing around with it for a while, I came up with a new concept for how to play a bass that, quite frankly, intimidates me. I can hear how it will sound, in my head, but I haven't attempted it. In fact, my red & white Peavy Fury (named Christine, after Stephen King's Plymouth Fury) has been largely confined to her case ever since.

Oh sure, I found a site where I could compose music online, and created a track that some of you reading this have heard. Big deal. I like it, and my son likes it, but that track will go down as a footnote if anyone remembers it at all. The program was very limited. I did my best, at the time...

Yes, it is possible for one person to author music and make it successful. Dave Grohl, for example, after drumming with Nirvana wrote all the music and played all the instruments for the first Foo Fighters album. The thing is, it really really helps to have someone else there to tell you whether it's any good, and/or to add something. There is a reason that we (mostly) listen to music created by bands rather than by solitary composers.

Not that I know what it will sound like, exactly, but Patrick and I have been talking about collaborating on new music for quite a while now. There is, of course, apprehension, as we know it will take untold hours and the creative process will temporarily eclipse everything else in our lives.

Tension builds. This fall, Patrick and I will have known one another for 25 years. A quarter-century is nothing to sneeze at. When my kids are back in school at the end of August, I'll have some time alone in the house to finally approach my so-far-conceptual bass method without interruption.

Actually I may try to tackle it before then, or at least grab hold of it and wrestle it to the ground. We'll see...

One may think that a slacker like me would have plenty of time for creative endeavours, but you have no idea of the demands on my existence that keep me busy. I'm the only driver in a family of five, for one thing...

One thing is clear: When we have music to share, it will be available at no cost, downloadable from whatever site we set up. Not that we won't pursue CD sales, but Patrick and I both feel that copyrights and litigation are bullshit. It may be a while, but you may eventually find a link in this space to some mind-blowing ear candy.


Phil Smith
July 16, 2007

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Saying Goodbye To an Old Friend

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Old brown chair, you were a good friend...

...but the time has come, to say goodbye.

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Spoon Season

Spoon season is in full swing. I've got a crop of 3 at the moment, one left over from last season.

What is spoon season? I create wooden utensil art, far removed from traditional spoon carving. If I carve inside, there's a mess to clean up. Outside, I can literally let the chips fall where they may. Spoon season covers those months where it's warm enough to carve outside.

Problem is, creative projects often get quite a grip on me, so it can be hard to quit when it gets dark or starts raining. As I type this, there are some wood chips under my chair...

The one left over from last season is fairly large, and of furniture-grade cherry. I knew it would take a long time. By the way? It wasn't always the case, but nowadays I carve these things completely by hand.

My main carving tool is a utility knife. This season I treated myself to some new steel -- a folding, one-hand action, quick-change Craftsman with Brazilian cherry (a hardwood from Brazil that merely resembles cherry, and is much harder -- many owners of this model knife likely mistake it for plastic).

I've carved Brazilian cherry before, but not by hand. I like a challenge, but...


The other two spoons I've got going right now are of wild cherry -- but get this: As unusual as you might think wild cherry is, this wood is special.

Let me tell you why:

One night last year I had a sudden urge to run out into the woods behind my house (I live in town, but near a steep ridge). I was in some sort of state of heightened awareness. Found a log and rushed back to the yard with it, stuck it in the shed.

Next day I brought it out to look at my prize. It was damp, had some white rot fungus on it. Peeling back some of the bark confirmed its species. Back in the shed it went, to dry...

The first I've started with this wood, I'm not sure of yet -- but the second? One of the best I've done, so far...


Images when available.



Phil Smith
June 1st, 2007


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MOTHERSHIP NEW CHICAGO

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MOTHERSHIP NEW CHICAGO

Jane hadn't been abducted, exactly. Things had been explained to her, after a fashion. She had known what she was getting into, sort of.

She looked around the main room, still unsure whether she should call this place her 'quarters' or her 'apartment'. Over on the desk were her MacBook and iPod, the two things she was most glad to have been allowed to bring along. One small bag, she had been told, and those had been stuffed into her backpack first.

There was a cover story Jane was supposed to keep using while in contact with friends in ‘Old’ Chicago and elsewhere on the surface, but her disdain for dishonesty kept her offline most of the time and caused a shortage of details in her instant messaging and e-mails. She was somewhat out-of-touch. Her blog page had been virtually abandoned.

Maybe it was time for a new blog. The mental question was sent out, and the immediate answer was yes, as though they had been waiting for her to ask. Maybe it was to be one of her duties all along. Jane couldn’t be sure.

In the background of that answer were what could be referred to as a set of instructions. Jane immediately sat down at her computer and created a new Google account to work from, then went to Blogger and began to compose her first post to the Mothership New Chicago blog, calling up a playlist after deciding on a title. With some of her favourite music to keep her company, she was soon finished. Then she asked another mental question and contacted the half-dozen other Earth Humans on board, inviting them to become contributors and alerting them to her alternate address.

It was nice, after three months, to be able to honestly share some of her experiences. Her only complaint, really, about life aboard the mothership was the veil of secrecy. Who would believe her, even if she were to try to tell them?

As the replicator produced a flip-top bottle of Grolsch at her request, Jane asked another question. Yes, there were three, but only three, of her previous contacts that she could e-mail with her alternate Gmail address and new blog URL. The replicator had to produce another pint before that message was complete, but it was soon sent...

...and then they would know. Meanwhile she had gotten responses from a couple of her shipmates, who both wanted in on the blog action. Awesome, but then she had to arrange for them to do so while her buzz intensified. No big deal, done and done.

With the absence of a proper day/night cycle, Jane’s body clock had set her on a 30-hour day -- twenty hours awake, ten hours of sleep. She’d had to check her computer clock for Chicago time and date before publishing her blog post, and now realized her e-mail had been sent out at a crazy hour. She made a mental note to tell them about her new schedule in the next message, then rocked out to the sounds of her iPod docked into the incredible sound system her place had come with, losing track of how many Grolsch bottles she’d put in the sub-molecular recycling unit.


Ten hours of sleep are a big help when you’ve reached a point of near-oblivion with alcohol. As Jane made use of her alien-alloy lavatory, the details of the previous ‘night’ slowly came back to her. Showering could wait. Her replicator produced black Columbian coffee at the perfect temperature for drinking. She powered up her MacBook, signed in with her new account, and re-read her blog post.

This ‘morning’ was a good one, one to go down in the books. Virtual windows around her simulating a beautiful post-dawn, Jane cupped her mug lovingly and basked in the telepathic approval of the beings who had brought her here.

It was a wonderful moment.

Soon, the silent voices in Jane’s head began to speak again. Her role in upcoming events became more clear. She was compelled to message her shipmates again, to stress the responsibility they had all taken on with the blog. Her mug drained, Jane got up to get another and mulled things over.

She was here on Mothership New Chicago for more than one reason. To begin with, as a former resident of ‘Old’ Chicago she was expected to be a barometer for what Chicagoans would expect from an orbital (and incredibly mobile) version of their city. Also, with her telepathic abilities, she was expected to be a sort of ambassador between her people and the rest of Galactic Society. As it turned out, the blog she had just created was to be the first of many.

Soon Jane was online with the contacts she had been given from other motherships. She sent messages to New London, New New York, New Tokyo, on and on until the silent voices finally shut up about whom she ought to alert. Though the messages were all in English, all the recipients instantly understood. Within hours, pages in many languages were published, recounting the experiences of those involved and giving the people of Earth a taste of what was to come.

Breakfast. Brunch. Lunch. By teatime Jane’s inbox was full of messages containing links to new pages where people could learn about how Humanity was to enter into Galactic Society. As she went out to tour the robotic construction of New Chicago’s interior, Jane was filled with the unparalleled sense of accomplishment that can only come from the approval of an entire telepathic delegation of a more-advanced race.

Dinner? Forget dinner. Time to send out a telepathic invitation to the few other Human residents of New Chicago for a party. Might as well invite the Syrians too. Jane is told to move the event to a larger space, and a mothership connection ensues.

Fortunately, Jane has ample George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic available on iPod for this extraglobal celebration...




Phil Smith
May 23, 2007
Earth (just west of Appalachia)


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Phil of the Future

Am I a 22nd Century man?

(For those of you blissfully unaware of cable television, there is a show on the Disney Channel with the same title as this post...)

Anyway yes, I do expect to live until the year 2114, so I will be a 22nd Century Man -- or if you entertain the idea that time is only linear from our current, limited perspective, maybe I already am.

Does this qualify me to perhaps be in some sort of contact with my future self, in order to lay down a few foolproof predictions? In a word, no. My writings on the future are merely based on my personal impressions of how things will go, extrapolations from the information I have at the moment...


While I find it quite annoying that people began to discuss the 2008 election even before November 2004 and have barely taken a break since, I can't help thinking about it myself. Never mind that I've never voted and don't plan to -- unless they bring up a vote to dissolve the Federal government. Looking at the candidates, and having gotten a better feel for the pulse of the American people, I have a prediction.

A prediction, I might add, that I made in November 2004; During an instant messaging session, or in an e-mail, can't remember which (nor to whom I was typing), I said, "looking forward to the Giuliani Presidency"...

It's not that I'll think he'll do the best job, or that I like him better than all the other candidates, but simply that I think he has the best chance of getting elected. It seemed inevitable 2 1/2 years ago.

I look for John Edwards to either win the Democratic primary or repeat his role as Dem VP candidate. As for Giuliani's running mate, I won't venture a guess at this point...

...But you know what I'd like to see? I think it would be only fair if the 'first loser' in the race got to be VP. Second place, second-in-command makes sense, yes? And then maybe the Prez and VP should take turns making Cabinet appointments, like team captains in dodgeball...


Next elections after 2008 will be in 2012, and since "the end of the world as we know it" is scheduled for the Winter Solstice (December 21st) 2012, it might not matter. Our next President -- or at least whomever holds office at that time -- will be the one to deal with it all. Perhaps Giuliani will gain reelection...


My thoughts on the future are many and varied. The above represents but a single aspect. If anyone out there has a question for me about the future, please leave it as a comment on this blog. If so inspired, I'll answer as a subject of the next post here...


Yours in time,


Phil Smith
May 17, 2007


PS Today is the 37th anniversary of the day Jim Cadle first flew the Flag of Earth...

http://www.setileague.org/general/whatflag.htm



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Who Needs 3 Blogs?

The image above is a capture from the Pinzgauer factory video.


There's no denying it; The Pinzgauer 710K definitely played a part in the inspiration for EXOVAN (it's a 710M in the capture, but never mind that). Other vehicles that can be credited are: the Tesla Roadster, various extreme rock-crawlers and, believe it or not, Grave Digger...


Now to the question posed, "Who needs 3 blogs?" Well I'm sure lots of people feel they do, though a couple of years ago I myself would've thought it excessive. This one here was my first, and then my baby Unified Settlement / Nation of Earth needed its own, and now with the advent of a concept that just begs to be built, all of a sudden we have the Tellurian Motors blog as well.

Last night found me at work on my 3D CAD model of EXOVAN. I cropped screenshots and posted them along with some text. There are people out there who are excited for me, in that I've realized I AM an automotive designer and am now applying myself in that field as never before, so if nothing else the 3rd blog represents a link I can provide to them for updates (having 2 Google groups helps here as well). The main reason for the Tellurian Motors blog, however, is to give me a web* presence as a designer.

Now, if I want to contact someone in the business about one of my designs, I have a URL to direct them to. I can even provide a specific link to the post I'd like them to view. Suddenly, 3 blogs doesn't sound like too many.


By the way, I've decided to alter the EXOVAN concept a bit by moving the forward portal (a 2-part hatch, much like the ones on the sides, with drop-down pneumatic steps and a glass upper that slides electrically up between the body and exoframe) over toward the passenger side. This offset is meant to allow better visibility for the driver. As a welcome side-effect, EXOVAN becomes somewhat asymmetrical, adding to its outlandishness. Expect the next Tellurian Motors blog post to show this feature...


Phil Smith
May 1st, 2007


*I refuse to capitalize 'internet' and 'web'.

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Design of the Times

All my life, I've been an automotive designer. In public school, no one ever encouraged me to pursue it as a career. Had I been encouraged, I might have lived a very different life thus far.

Just because I wasn't, and just because I didn't pursue it later, doesn't mean I'm not still an automotive designer. And, just because I do not hold a degree in Industrial Design, that doesn't mean I don't have the talent and passion for it.

There is nothing that holds my attention more than automotive design. I continue to think about it every day, and I continue to come up with new designs of my own. Can I be forgiven for not being interested in employment? The one thing I'm meant to do, I've been unable to. It's not an easy industry to crack your way into, now is it? And, at this point in my life, there's no way I'm going back to college.

HOWEVER.

However, having recently come to terms with this dilemma and realizing that I should make it a definite goal to get at least ONE of my designs built, I've come up with something new...

...and this latest design just happens to be something that a couple of companies may be interested in building -- and so, if I can present it to them well enough, I just may be able to finally break my way into the world of professional automotive design. Better late than never, right?


EXOVAN

It's a vehicle designed specifically for Mattracks -- rubber tracks made to replace wheels and tires on four-wheel-drive vehicles. To my knowledge, no one except the Mattracks company has built a vehicle with those tracks in mind -- the Gladiator. I actually didn't know about Mattracks' little TUV until after my own tracked utility vehicle concept had taken shape in my mind.

The other company I'd like to involve is Tesla Motors. They are demonstrating, with their Tesla Roadster, how well electric vehicles can perform. I understand they're working on a sedan, but haven't heard of anything for off-road.

It's important for EXOVAN to be electric -- I've given up on internal combustion for new vehicles (though not, it must be said, for customs and hot rods I'd like to build). The Brubeck twin-engined sports car (conceived while listening to Dave Brubeck albums on vinyl) may be the last of my designs to use internal combustion. The future is electric, and Tesla Motors is leading the, um, charge.

My concept is called EXOVAN because it's a van with its frame on the outside. For me, and for this vehicle, the term 'exoskeletal frame' is shortened to 'exoframe', and it's more than a rollcage added to the outside of a rock crawler's sheetmetal. Any serious off-roader can expect a certain amount of body damage -- this vehicle is designed with its frame on the outside to minimize such damage while avoiding the extra weight of a body-on-frame or unibody with an external rollcage added on.

The name also refers to the outside, as in 'the great outdoors' and/or 'outside the realm of experience'. Photovoltaic panels in the roof may offer only a very slow charge, but a properly outfitted EXOVAN could theoretically travel far into the wilderness, having been charged perhaps at home but returning on power harvested from the Sun -- or for that matter travelling a great distance without once having its charging port opened.

One area in which the Tesla Roadster excels is in its range -- up to 250 miles per charge. For this and many other reasons, you can see why Tesla Motors is the company I want to deal with.

And what about the other company, Mattracks? Just take a look at the videos presented on their site. Vehicles can do astonishing things when their wheels are replaced with Mattracks. Plus, they look really cool...

This vehicle represents a real challenge, as there are two distinct layers of exterior design. I intend for the exoframe to stand on its own (which will be a good thing, as one version of EXOVAN has no body at all, open to the air for the dunes) with sweeping curves of tubular steel -- while the body, in stark contrast, will be comprised of flat glass and flat aluminum panels, and flat solar panels. Now that I think of it, the open version will have the option of some roofing, in the form of those solar panels.

I had indeed worked up a preliminary sketch of a flat-panel van with Mattracks before, and not too long ago. It made me think of a van design I used to draw way back in the 8th grade, and it was yet another thing I'd like to see and own and drive -- but it didn't have the cachet of the EXOVAN.

Since it IS a van, EXOVAN can be built in any number of configurations. It can be an ambulance, a party car, a small camper, or a cargo hauler. Anything you want. And, it can go anywhere (if relatively slowly, since Mattracks can't take sustained highway speeds). The layout I keep thinking of, though, is 8 seats with the rear 6 on swivels, packed to the rafters with electronics.

At least 2 more companies can be brought in on the project, those being Skyjacker for the suspension and Rhino Linings for the tough coating (in any colour) that the exoframe should have.

This is a vehicle that should be the star of SEMA and gain attention at many other auto shows, attention that will be beneficial for any company involved.

It is a vehicle for these times, the early 21st Century. It is the very model of mobility and eco-friendliness (one thing about Mattracks, by the way, is that they scar the landscape much less than tires do).


I've got much work ahead, doing pencil sketches to scan and manipulate with a few graphics programs before I actually approach Tesla Motors and Mattracks. An image or two may show up here on this blog before I send them anything at all.


It won't be for everyone -- no vehicle is -- but if I'm right about it, it will damn well get built and cause a minor sensation. If it ever reaches (limited) production, my guess is that each example will go for somewhere over $100,000 and be greatly prized by each and every owner.

It's up to me to turn this dream into a reality. I've left a few details out of this blog post, partially because of the time it would take to describe them. EXOVAN may not be the best design I've come up with, but it's the ONE that will get me noticed as a designer.

Slacker I may be, but this is my life. Automotive design is one thing I truly care about, and this is (finally) my chance to make a contribution.

This is something I feel strongly about, something I have to pursue. Someday I'll be designing flying saucers, but EXOVAN is the thing that will have people asking me to pen those space yachts for them.

Nation of Earth? Will anyone ever credit me for thinking of something that is inevitable? Do I even THINK of being credited for things? No, I only want to CREATE, which in the world of automotive design is not an easy thing to do. I've built furniture of my own design, which was immensely rewarding in its own right, though a few projects got left undone. Over the decades I've drawn countless automotive designs, but only several furniture designs.

Automotive design is my passion. Maybe, just maybe, I've come up with something that someone else will care enough about to build. I was barely able to build wooden furniture of my own design -- no way I could construct an entire VEHICLE myself.

This is it, this is my chance. Wish me luck.



Phil Smith
April Fourteenth, Twenty-Oh-Seven

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The Great Indoors

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Lately (and again) I find myself guilty of escapism.

There are e-mails from caring friends that I've left unopened, but I can tell from what I see of them in my inbox that they're in the category of small bright things in this dark dark world -- and not wanting to be reminded of the dark dark world, I just don't want to look.

Instead I visit other realms, chief among them The Sims 2 for PC and Gran Turismo 4 on PlayStation 2. While I'm playing God, creating and controlling Sim-ulated people, and when I'm racing cars I could never afford in events I could never attend, I can forget...

Forget about politics and the politicians themselves. Forget about what capitalism has done to this world. Forget how hard it seems it will be to fix everything. Forget that a major part of the problem is the LCD, lowest common demonitator of human intelligence -- I keep having to remind myself that the majority don't have the capacity to think for themselves, and that's seriously depressing...

No, I disable my connection and load the disk, or in another room I insert a different disk and grab the controller. Hours of fun can be had.

Should I feel guilty? Oughtn't I be out in the world (or at least online) trying to make a difference? Or am I merely preparing myself for a future in which gaming is how we occupy our minds, when everything is running smoothly so long as we're all in our respective saucers in orbit and not down on the planet damaging the ecosystem?

My son coined a new term: "disencouraging". To me it means, instead of a youthful alternative to "discouraging", a negative effect on the ability to be encouraged. This, to my mind, puts a mirror up to the state of Humanity. There is so much to put us DOWN that it's hard to see the UPside of things.

Upside is, once the technology is available we'll all be doing as we please, without ecological impact. We will have left the planet, orbiting or zooming off somewhere in everything from motherships to space yachts. Everything we could need or want will be either replicated or simulated. Work? Computers and robotics will take care of all the actual work, except where we want to do it ourselves, and except for those of us who wish to maintain the computers and robotics or get our hands dirty doing things they could take care of.

There will be room for a segment of the population to live like the Amish or similar agrarian societies, because we as a species need to keep in touch with the skills necessary to flourish without advanced technology, should advanced technology fail.

Meanwhile our personal environments will be as fantastic as we want, or as realistic as we want, or actually real -- and even our real environments can be rich with objects either salvaged or replicated, or even brought to existence out of our own original thoughts. Good thing, too -- because the preservation of this planet (and therefore the survival of our species) demands our removal. Cooped up in a flying Winnebago or in quarters aboard a floating city, we'll need to be able to entertain ourselves...

Which reminds me: Another escape I have is writing an as-yet-untitled science fiction short about a man who has spent ten years alone in space...


Phil Smith
March 23 + 30, Twenty-Oh-Seven
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A Slacker Looks at 40

Faded Memory:
Me at 23 or 24, looking toward the future.

Procrastinator? That's what I used to call myself; The public school system labelled me an "underachiever", which must be a "politically correct" term for SLACKER.

I meant to write this post before I turned 40 -- I'm about 3 months behind, so there you go. SLACKER.


What did I think my life would be like at 40? Didn't think about it, didn't set any goals. So I sit here in my Hawaiian shirt with a week's worth of stubble, idly musing -- and generally happy.

They say stress is a factor in male pattern baldness. My already-high hairline has receded a bit, and I can tell things are getting a bit thin up there, but I've hung on to much more of it than any of my brothers had when each of them were my age. I've got some grey, but who cares?

From my last post, you can see what I've been up to. I've also got a spoon in front of me that I began carving about a year ago. Now that it's Spring (I carve outside) I'll be getting back to that -- when I feel like it.

Stress is bullshit. I don't give in to it. That ends up pissing a lot of people off...

SLACKER.

A century from now, expect my autobiography: A Slacker Looks at 140. Margaritas will be served at the launch party.



Phil Smith
March 30, Twenty-Oh-Seven
(despite what the timestamp might say)
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Tat-Tuesday

Scott Lure is purported to be the best tattoo artist in the Mid-Ohio Valley. Since I've only had the one tattoo done, I have no reference for comparison. HOWEVER... If my experience is anything to go by, I'd say that's a fair assessment.

LURE TATTOOING AND PIERCING

He said it would feel something like a scrape or a sunburn for a while afterward, which it does -- somewhere in between those two. The process itself wasn't as painful as one imagines. Now, three days later, there is still healing to do, but thanks to liberal use of a salve called Tattoo Goo it's coming along quite nicely.

It was very odd to have a perfect rectangle of swelling on my shoulder, and it still sorta looks like something temporary, but I could tell when only about half of the black was done that it was going to look awesome -- and, it does. I guess I hadn't been able to imagine quite how it would appear, and so it exceeds any expectations I might have had.

I can tell it's going to peel soon, and the colours still aren't what they will be after that top layer of skin with blood in it has shed (the yellow is more orange than it will be, and the white is still dull and pinkish), so I won't try to photograph it just yet. I'll post a photo here soon.

As for the white band on my right arm for Arms Against War, it'll have to wait -- and then I might have to start with a thin black outline of it, as my skin is pretty white already. Time will tell, but as anyone who's been inked will tell you, tattoos can be addictive. This Flag of Earth on my shoulder may be my first, but it won't be my ONLY tattoo forever...


Phil Smith
January 19th, 2007

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The Lure of Ink

Today (which would have been my father's 72nd birthday) I finally went to the Lure website, called their number, and then sent them an e-mail.

http://www.luretattoo.com/

They used to be located just around the corner from me, and if they hadn't moved I might already have one if not both of the tats I've been wanting for months (and months and months, for the first one). I'll be entering another zip code, a drive that will take longer than my walk would've, but Lure is still my choice.

In a week I'll be turning 40, and I'm determined to have at least the Flag of Earth inked on my left shoulder by then. If I can get the white band around my right bicep (for Arms Against War) done within that time frame also, I'll be very happy.

An update will follow, with photos if possible.


I can almost feel them already, such is my anticipation...


Phil Smith
January 11th, 2007


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