I would like to offer my congratulations to these drivers for their dedication and commitment! What a fun trip that was to follow.
You can check out the Twitter feed from this past weekend, complete with telemetry feeds. You may also want to check out their forum posts. The drivers also posted some videos to YouTube.
I look forward to reading the comments and news about these seven four “normal” drivers proving a NY Times reporter “wrong”, with thousands of people watching the data come in live. I also look forward to reading John Broder’s response to these driver’s recreation of his road trip.
Update: 18 February 2013, ~10 PM EST.Lauren Goode writes that four of the nine (whoops! I thought there were seven) completed the Tesla Road Trip. This was, however, preplanned for four of the drivers who left. I.e., four of the other drivers left of their own accord. A fifth driver ran into software problems, but the Tesla Motors help desk pushed software to him to fix it. Of the drivers who completed the journey, their consensus is that Broder did not adequately charge his car. It is equal to saying a gas engine does not work because you decide to fill it 1/4 of a tank, and then you cannot drive it for the same distance as a full tank.
The Twitter bio says it all: “7 Tesla Model S Owners Set out Saturday 2/16 to recreate the NY Times Reporter’s uncommitted test drive from Maryland to Connecticut and prove it can be done. East Coast Supercharger Trip.”
Note that weather conditions are harsh this weekend and within range of when Broder made his trip. So far, the drivers are reporting temperatures that are snowy and cold, e.g., 20s to the 50s.
Before I get on to Halloween, I’d like to thank the readers of this blog for your time and attention to my nattering.
Have you ever wondered how Halloween began? What is truth? What is fiction? The video below from National Geographic provides a quick history of the holiday.
Some Halloween statistics are listed after the video, courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Trick or Treat!
36 million
The estimated number of potential trick-or-treaters in 2009 — children 5 to 13 — across the United States. This number is up about 190,000 from a year earlier. Of course, many other children — older than 13, and younger than 5 — also go trick-or-treating.
Source: 2009 population estimates [http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/population/cb10-81.html].
111.3 million
Number of occupied housing units across the nation in 2009 — all potential stops for trick-or-treaters.
Source: Housing Vacancies and Homeownership [http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/hvs/historic/].
92%
Percentage of households with residents who consider their neighborhood safe. In addition, 78 percent said there was no place within a mile of their homes where they would be afraid to walk alone at night.
Source: Extended Measures of Well-Being: Living Conditions in the United States, 2005
[http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/extended-05.html] Table 4.
Jack-o’-Lanterns and Pumpkin Pies
931 million pounds
Total production of pumpkins by major pumpkin-producing states in 2009. Illinois led the country by producing 429 million pounds of the vined orange gourd. California and Ohio were also major pumpkin-producing states: each produced at least 100 million pounds.
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service
[http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/VegeSumm/VegeSumm-01-27-2010.pdf]
Where to Spend Halloween?
Some places around the country that may put you in the Halloween mood are:
1,317
Number of U.S. manufacturing establishments that produced chocolate and cocoa products in 2008, employing 38,369 people. California led the nation in the number of chocolate and cocoa manufacturing establishments, with 146, followed by Pennsylvania, with 115.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2008 [http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/] NAICS code (31132) and (31133)
422
Number of U.S. establishments that manufactured nonchocolate confectionary products in 2008. These establishments employed 16,860 people. California led the nation in this category, with 47 establishments.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2008 [http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/] NAICS code (31134)
I enjoyed this video. As an academic, I both wish my grammar were better, yet at the same time know that language is a fluid and living beast. Ah! the contradictions.
Do you have any comments on the video or essay that you’d like to share?
Some of the most important technology programs that keep Washington accountable are in danger of being eliminated. Data.gov, USASpending.gov, the IT Dashboard and other federal data transparency and government accountability programs are facing a massive budget cut, despite only being a tiny fraction of the national budget. Help save the data and make sure that Congress doesn’t leave the American people in the dark.
The video below provides a brief overview of some of the benefits the open data movement has provided.
If this issue is of concern to you, please sign a petition, write your Congressional Representative or Senator, write a letter to the editor, of just spread the word online via resources such as Twitter or Facebook.
The great Indian Ocean tsunami that struck 11 countries on 26 December 2004 killed an estimated 150,000 people and left millions homeless. The epicenter of that 9.0 quake was near the west coast of Sumatra, underneath the Indian Ocean.
On March 11, 2011, the Honshu Tsunami, caused by a 9.0 earthquake with its epicenter off of the northeast coast of Japan, struck the island nation, leaving thousands dead and thousands more homeless.
What causes a tsunami? How can an earthquake under the ocean cause so much damage on land?
Podders79′s ”Animation-Tsunami Guide” explains the ocean-side cause and effect of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, but leaves off what happened once the tsunami struck land. It is still chilling to watch.
What are your thoughts after watching Podders79′s animation of the cause and immediate effect of a tsunami?
We are told by the media in the aftermath of an earthquake that the ground moved and major “faults” shifted and collided because the earth’s “plates” are adjusting.
I would like to offer my congratulations to these drivers for their dedication and commitment! What a fun trip that was to follow.
