From Boston comes the Flying Car

Admit it, you thought the Jetson’s aerocar was pretty cool.  But you never thought you’d see it in your lifetime.  Now from the same MIT grad students that brought us Car Talk comes a Federally-approved car that can fly.

Terrafugia recently got National Highway Traffic Safety Administration exemptions for their Transition vehicle, a car that can fly around as easily as it can fit in the garage.  The protoype’s already been flying around, but you’ll need to plunk down a $10K deposit to line up for the 2012 production model.  This article gives some more details on the NHTSA approval.

This isn’t the first time this has been tried. In fact the flying car has been a dream almost since the Wright Brothers flew their first airplane.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadable_aircraft

 

The company is Massachusetts based (Woburn) and funded so prepare yourself for flying cars, coming soon to New England.

Risk meets Foursquare meets NYC

Need a reason to Foursquare?  Use this latest nerd mashup to conquer lands in NYC by checking in at Foursquare places.  First declare your allegiance and then let your armies march across Gotham. 

Read the full article here at Mashable http://mashable.com/2011/06/29/world-of-fourcraft/

And watch the battle unfold here  http://worldoffourcraft.com/

 

 

Followup: The most interesting part of this app is how it was created.  It won People’s Choice Awards in Hackday, a two day event where the group works together to compete against other groups and output the app.  The list of characters that went into development reads like an IT staff.  The whole thing is amazing … to see what 7 people can do in two days with a bunch of open platforms: Foursquare, Google Maps, etc.

The Google Test

Tim Pawlenty wants to apply the Google test to the Federal government, saying “if you can find a good or service on the Internet, then the federal government probably doesn’t need to be doing it.”  He wants to kill the Postal Service, Amtrak, and federal home-mortgage agencies.  I say while we’re at it kill national parks, regulatory agencies, health insurance, and schools.  Then let’s kill libraries, sidewalks, and help for the poor.   Kill unemployment insurance and financial aid to college.

When we’re done, we’ll be super competitive.    Growth will be incredibly high and businesses will be humming as we will have fought the “unrelenting trench battle against the overregulation that’s suffocating America’s entrepreneurial spirit. (Pawlenty)”  Life will be wonderful once again.

Don’t have the $30 entrance fee to the national park?  Sorry, maybe you can go next year.

Can’t afford the $30,000 for a private school?  Come on, pull yourself up by your bootstraps.

Shy of the $10 you’ll need for the internet café because the libraries closed?  Maybe you can ask a friend.

Recently unemployed with 3 kids to feed?  Sucks to be them.  Maybe a church will help.

Can’t afford the lawyer to fight the chemicals in your drinking water from fracking? Walmart sells bottled water.

Don’t have the 20% down payment for a house? Renting is nice.

Yes, government costs money to run.  But the alternative is a place where, like Washington state and its state parks, only the rich can afford anything. 

The cycle of destroying our very social fabric is upon us and my small example is Mackworth Island.  Seems simple enough.  Budget in Portland is in trouble so you suspend payments to the park.  With suspended payments and the need for maintenance on the island, fees are charged.  What once was a nice island for hiking near the ocean with my girls is now a luxury at $3/person and we haven’t returned since.  And you could make a case that I could afford it.  But what about lower income people in Portland?  Mackworth Island might as well be Disney World.  In Tim Pawlenty’s world, we make everything pay per service.  Everything.

For Tim Pawlenty, the Google test represents the awesomeness of limited government.  But for most people, applying the Google test just leads to an empty search bar.

Where our debt comes from… and where its going.

Steny Hoyer reamed the GOP this week about the various causes of the debt.  Based on that the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) went all charty.  Look where our debt would be without the perfect storm of economy killing factors:

 

CJ Craig defeats old Kristen Bell in congressional upset!

the website that will make me care (more) about sports

Renown sports writer and “sports guy” Bill Simmons will be getting his own digital magazine.  A little gift from ESPN for all his years of sucking up to Isaiah Thomas. This promises to be quite awesome as some of the writers already signed up include Malcolm Gladwell and Dave Eggers, and Simmons himself used to write for Jimmy Kimmel Live.  The site is named after a famous sports writer from the 20s that helped make sports the mainstay of American life that it is.

 

Check out the “coming soon” screenshot to see what this is great for me.

The Bin Laden Bluth Connection

Dead serious story.  Googled Abbottabad and found the Google Maps location for Obama Bin Laden’s headquarters.  Was interested in where it was.  Clicked Reviews.  Here’s the page that came up.  Still laughing.