Archive for June 2008
Cars
When you have to spend hours in traffic jam each day and spend a large chunk of your paycheck on the insane gas price, driving isn’t much fun.
There are some ways to make it better. Hybrid cars (wikipedia) uses the traditional gasoline engine to generate and store electricity in a battery. The engine is more efficient and emits less pollution. Honda and Toyota are the major players in the field now, with nice offerings such as the Prius and Civic Hybrid. While fuel-cell cars still have many years to go to become realistic, hybrid vehicles are already on the streets. Best hybrids today can achieve fuel economy of about 46 miles per gallon (or nearly 20 km per liter).
Thailand government only supports development of alternative bio fuels. Thus, the cost of hybrids is high. I don’t think this is the right approach. However, there is a step in bringing hybrids to Thailand by Toyota.
There are other eco car options. I doubt any of this will be available at “eco” price in Thailand soon.
I still think the best solution for Thailand, especially Bangkok, is the efficient mass transit system. Build more subways, skytrains, railroads, whatever. Don’t force people to depend on personal cars. The traffic is awful in big cities and it’s just gonna get worse as number of population is growing.
LHC
Large Hadron Collider will be colliding 7-TeV protons with 7-TeV protons, creating the center of mass energy never before achieved on Earth.
There have been many alarmists calling for the stop on LHC. They fear that the mini blackholes which may be generated by the high energy collisions at the accelerator will destroy the Earth. The smaller accelerator, RHIC, has been run without any hint of catastrophic incident for years. Cosmic rays containing particles of the energy 10 million times higher than the LHC protons have been found colliding the Earth.
Today CERN released a report outlining the safety of LHC. The LSAG report linked on the page is an interesting read.
Vision
Science is the basis of every development. It paves the road for the better future and helps advance the human race.
Research institutes that only think of short-term benefits, of making money are ones who stifle creativity and have no future.
Wedding photos
Photos of Aim’s wedding on 14 June 2008. Siam City Hotel, Bangkok.
(Same set of photos are also on zooomr.)
Tim Russert
Tim Russert, a great political journalist, passed away. Rest in peace.
Life is short. You can be gone at any moment. Live life to the fullest.
Reflections on the Grind 