Geek Habitat

Just as the documentary, “Who Killed the Electric Car?” is coming to theatres, and the general public is poised to learn about the EV1 and its premature demise, the Smithsonian has opted to remove the EV1 from display with no plans to exhibit it in the future.

Source: Smithsonian Removes Electric-Car Exhibit (AP)

The above decision ties back to a quote Al Gore uses in his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth:

Apparently, even the venerable Smithsonian would rather hide history than confront it, if said history makes a financial supporter uneasy. This is the “uncomfortable truth” that is part and parcel of our problems accepting and addressing the inconvenient truth of global warming and related issues.

I hesitantly clicked this link, Female GPS, noting to Justin “This is going to be sexist and insulting …”

Sexist? Naw… Right-on-the-money!

If you get an opportunity to view the PBS documentary Lion in the House (airdates), I heartily recommend doing so. It will shred your heartstrings, but like some of the other things I’ve posted about recently (Hotel Rwanda), it’s something everyone should see.

Here is a discussion forum related to the documentary.

Think conserving non-renewable fuel sources is just something hybrid drivers and other fuel economy-minded consumers are doing?

Think again:

UPS is beginning a pilot program with hydraulic hybrid delivery trucks. (more)
– Estimated savings: 1,000 gallons of fuel, annually. (Every little bit counts; UPS spends more than $1.4 billion annually on fuel!)

American Airlines has asked its pilots to taxi to airport gates using a single engine, not two, to cut the fuel consumption in half. It’s also working to reduce the weight and increase the efficiency of each aircraft through some inventive means. Cost-savings are the primary driver as the company struggles to remain viable. (more; Warning: difficult to read in Firefox; thanks, Microsoft)
– Estimated savings: $4 to $7 million, annually, in fuel costs alone.

NASA ignores the dissent and warnings of its own? Again.

NASA’s chief safety officer (a former Space Shuttle Commander) and the Space Shuttle Program Manager do not agree with the decision to go for launch of STS-121, but pressures force both to amend/table their dissent and sign off on launch for July 1, 2006. You can find their amended sign-offs on the last two pages of the Certificate of Flight Readiness PDF posted on NASA.gov.

NASA is also handling its employees, including top level safety and Shuttle program officials, preventing them from discussing concerns with the media. Statements are written and approved by the NASA Public Relations office for media dissemination.

We have had Hotel Rwanda from Netflix for at least a month. We kept putting off watching it, not ready for the drama and downer.

We almost put it off again, but I mentioned today happens to be World Refugee Day, and that was that. We watched it.