Utopia - Part One

I want to build the greatest community this country has ever seen, and I want to do it in Texas.

First off, I don't want it to focus on and be built around a golf course - the world has an excess of those. However, I still plan to have a country club - only it will be for a racetrack. The indulgence of the community will be for driving fast cars fast.

That said, I hate commuting, so I want to to be structured around not needing a car to get by. Ideally, day-to-day travel can be done on foot or via public transportation. The details are still being worked out in my dementobrain. I want it far enough from municipalities that it can be run with HOA and deed restriction governing, but close enough for a bearable trip via light-rail or more preferably by bullet train into San Antonio and Austin (the trains ought to be equipped with WiFi to encourage the move out to my dreamland). 

I want the place to be a haven for car nerds and have ways of transporting cars that are not strictly street legal to and from the track(s). I want people to be close enough to each other to inspire a sense of community but still have that time-honored American need for some isolation. That and the transportation stuff is proving the most difficult to conceive.

I think that a lot of parks with easy access and easy monitoring would be a great alternative to lawns, if it can be executed properly. I want to be as self-sufficient with energy as possible with solar/wind fields incorporated into the community. I want a family-friendly, eco-conscious society that gravitates toward powersports. My motorsports complex would incorporate a wide variety of sports and be set up for large racing events to take place there. I would like to attract high-profile racing there to encourage the overall buildup of the place. I want it to be a visitor-friendly place that encourages learning in a hands-on way. I want to foster an environment of thinking and real community. Americans are terrible at community. The advantage of such a car-themed community would be a thread connecting the residents.

From the business side, I want to have timeshares and rentable storage next to the track to draw in visiting outsiders. I want the place to draw tourists and enthusiasts and their dollars for short stays. The motorsports park could be the largest of its kind in the world, and I would welcome virtually every form of racing short of NASCAR - maybe even drag-racing. 

I would invite universities and companies to compete in green competitions - either racing or parameter challenges (like mpg shootouts or zero-emissions endurance racing). 

In short, I plan to remedy most of America's problems in my uber-society. 

Thank you,

Energy

I mean this post to be one for comments.

I have heard that the biggest expenditure of energy in America is in transportation of people and goods. Thus, to reduce the infamous "dependence on foreign oil," people feel we ought to burn less petroleum to move stuff. Plus there are environmental reasons and finite resource reasons. So my question is this: where do we get our energy if not from oil?

Hydrogen. I don't think hydrogen will work because getting H2 is such an energy intensive process, and every time you use energy to procure an energy source, some of that energy is lost. So why waste it? Plus burning hydrogen is weak and provides a nice compressed-Hindenberg situation. Fuel cells are boring and lame and complicated. Hydrogen is a waste of time. BTW, burning H2 may only chemically yield water, but it also produces heat - and why not pollute the air with toxicity if you are already going to heat it up?

Biofuels and ethanol. Still no. Even if everyone could make ethanol from sugar cane (a la Brazil), we still don't want to raze all open lands in America to produce it. Corn is a complete joke with something like 1/8 the possible ethanol yield of cane. Plus, you still CO, CO2, N2O, and heat. Biodiesel is a similar story, except you get to smell like French Fries - and who doesn't want that?

Electricity. I am partial to straight electricity, and I like the idea of getting it from renewable resources like our heat, sunlight, wind (made by the previous 2), water movement, geothermal, gerbils and other rodents in varying-sized wheels, etc. Maybe we can have our inmates turn large wheels to power their prisons - we'll rehabilitate them while teaching them how significant the energy situation is. Big downside: batteries. How do we make that many; how do we dispose of them or recycle them; can we use anything else like capacitors? Heat is hardly an issue as electric motors are so efficient, they produce SO much less heat than a comparably powered internal combustion engine. Plus, that gives yet another great reason for a windmill in my backyard - yes. 

Also, I think we ought to look more into nuclear energy. We can launch nuclear waste into space - possibly at the moon. Once we get cold fusion worked out, we will be set!

separate issue: Trains. I recently saw a commercial for some train company that said it can transport 1 ton of goods 438 miles with a gallon of fuel. I would like to personally experience both MagLevs and bullet trains - they are both awesome and efficient. I think future communities and developments ought to make greater use of various rails to move whatever. Equip them with WiFi and remove the higher-end work-people's and students' complaints. That would take away some of the pain of commuting. 

I would like to "hear" ya'll's comments on the subject of energy sources. Fact, figures and especially rumors and fiction are quite welcome. Is there a crisis? Is there even a problem? Any proposed solutions or un-solutions? Are SUV's to blame? (of course) Should we ignore it or make it priority number one or something somewhere in between? Think and speak!

Eco-Auto

Back to cars: I love them. I especially love fun, involving cars.

BUT, I feel sad that internal combustion's heyday seems to be drawing to a close. That said, I feel a strong responsibility to promote alternate energy and mobility solutions to reduce mankind's impact on our earth and to lengthen the availability of our finite resources. I think it is crazy that people who do not think humanity is to "blame" for global warming use that as an excuse to not take responsibility for their actions or purchasing.

Burning anything (e.g. combustion) releases chemicals into the air: CO2, CO, and NOx - not to mention unburned fuel molecules, sulfur, ash, particulates, and whatever else is in the fuel being burnt then. And, miracle of miracles, not burning those things does NOT release those chemicals into the air. So, as the day follows the night, less burning creates less combustion by-products. Thus - electric vehicles are good and will be better (Hydrogen is lame and boring and horrifically impractical - Ethanol is a publicity stunt).

However, this (electricity) does not sort out two issues with cars: making batteries which I am uninformedly guessing is a dirty process and will need a lot more work, and making the cars themselves. The latter motivates me to propose the following: let's try to make a car from a very renewable resource - bamboo.

I have been growing ever more fond of bamboo in recent years. It is a grass that can grow astonishingly rapidly (some species can grow over 3 feet in a day). It cares little for where it is grown. It is a low maintenance plant. It can reach usable maturity in as little as 3 years or so. It grows right on top of itself. It has more strength to weight than steel - although I have yet to discover what manner of strength that is (I am hoping both tension and compression). Oh, did you know that is a little bit prolific, as well?

I think that it would be fun and educational to build a bamboo-space-frame car. Ideally it would be electrically propelled, to be charged by energy captured from the sun or wind or geothermal sources. However, in earlier testing stages, it might be prudent to prove the bamboo-chassis concept with a more mainstream powertrain such as a small (possibly turbo-charged) motorcycle engine with chain drive. 

Obviously, bamboo won't last as long as a steel car - provided that car is not an old Japanese one. Obviously, there are construction issues to work out. Possibly, there are severe safety issues to iron out, but I don't intend for bamboo to replace the steel industry. I think that the awareness that such a versatile resource is at our fingertips would be invaluable. Honestly, it even tastes good! Pandas have it worked out! I think that more people need to think ecologically. I think that if enough gasoline-blooded people can think "green" (I hate the connotation this is taking on with all your liberal media people and their Priuses - I think it is too divisive), then maybe adrenalin junkies won't have to "sacrifice" so much.

We have a lot of ingenuity left in us, and I don't think we need to wallow in pathetic hermitism to save the planet. I don't think that thinking green requires opposition to the idea of liberating Iraq (although I think we need to liberate the country from us momentarily). I want to promote the idea that people like me can have fun in a car built from material grown in 3-5 years on a 4x4 ft plot of land.

I am actually pursuing the idea of making a bamboo car, and I have received interesting feedback from a few very different people. Car people tend to like it because it is weird and interesting and challenging. Green people tend to like it because it is green. I would like feedback on this idea from any interested parties - or even disinterested.

Flabbergastation and music part uno

I must say that I am amused by Morgan's comment - partially his witty wordsmithing, and partially the incidence of his commenting on my car rant. 

Today, I shall begin railing on popular music. And then possibly drop my latest eco-auto idea.

I think more people should listen to the band Muse. I have often told people that they are the music version of blockbuster cinema. People look at music (generally) so differently than other forms of media. They want "honesty," "realism," and - frankly - whining. Why not have some drama in a purely fictional sense? Why not have intense, emotional music combined with real technical prowess?

I love guitar, but guitarists' guitarists (Yngwie, Vai, Satriani, Johnson, etc.) are unequivocally lame. That ridiculously self-indulgent aural manure does nothing for me. Stevie Ray Vaughan combined technical virtuosity with fiery passion like few before or since. Matt Bellamy from Muse is a great musician and composer, but his energy is mind-boggling. Plus, the fact that he fits in a pint carton of milk never ceases to amuse to the point of a random chuckle. 

I saw Muse this last September (at UVSC - how funny that one of the world's biggest bands made it to an obscure college gym in Orem), and they put on a show to end all shows. Fast or slow, they infuse their music with such energy that one cannot help but be affected. For those crazy enough to even be reading this, I strongly recommend some good Muse listening - but not really their radio singles, per se. I would start with a good version of their songs "New Born," "Plug-In Baby," "Time is Running Out," and "Sing for Absolution." By the way, it is also a great idea to find their Later with Jools Holland performance of "Feelin' Good" and their live version of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" on YouTube.

Back to Stevie Ray Vaughan, or, hereafter, perhaps just SRV. He was more than a capable musician with an uncanny ability to make his songs transcend his admittedly mediocre voice. He could sing and play songs that would be at once both blue and joyful. He could blast so much energy through his music in just one note, basically every musician alive today ought to put down their instruments. I would rather hear him hit one note, than listen to a good 99.8% of the junk coming out now. 

As a guitar wannabe, I love his tone and his ability to communicate any emotion. Just as you don't have to speak a foreign language to catch the gist of impassioned speech or rhetoric, you can understand SRV's guitar playing. There is a version of "Leave My Girl Alone" where his guitar sounds like an frustrated and angry Latin person. It is uncanny. I love good music, and my tastes are still leaning toward exciting, but I am ever welcoming of new music. I am open to suggestions. I am open-minded, yet still I am quite picky. 

More on that later. . . 

Introduction

Carrie told me I should vent here - it is supposed to be healthy. I am unique in a way that is not normally thought of as "unigue." Generally, people think of people like me as annoyingly-likely-to-rant, lame, or geeky in a focused and exclusionary way. So here I will drop harangues like Texas raindrops about subjects about which the world at large could not care any less.

I don't really have any friends that share my opinions about my passions (a special thanks to my focused, exclusionary hobbies). I am way into cars in a way that made more sense directly after the War to car enthusiasts - only I like fuel injection. I love fast cars, and I love reliable cars. I like cars that can handle well. I respect cars with a comfortable ride even though comfort is not very high on my list of priorities. However, quantifiable attributes take the back seat for me to the intangible: fun. My short list of dream cars includes the Mazda Miata (I want one SO BAD!!!), 1st and 2nd gen MR2's, basically every Lotus ever, and the McLaren F1. 

I love to drive; I hate to commute. Other driver's definitely don't share priorities with me. They are slow, stupid, and typically predictably unpredictable. I love engineering prowess in a vehicle - if it serves a real purpose. Making room for twankies will never count. Mostly, I love when a car can show real verve and spunk beyond its outright capabilities. 

I like car racing, but I have not yet had the opportunity to get very deep into it. I despise NASCAR for its comatose-levels of excitement. The "high"-lights are when things go wrong. I want to see the engineering and driving talent coalesce into something beautiful. Formula 1 in slow-motion is visually symphonic to me watching the suspension and the rest of the chassis turn untoward levels of power into forward motion and bumps into ether. It astonishes me to think of the forces those machines see and to see the cars absorb and dissipate them so elegantly. 

Sports Car racing - especially Le Mans and the American Le Mans Series - is perhaps my favorite. The rules allow for so many interpretations and such varied solutions to the same problem that I am interested before regarding the movement. It doesn't hurt that there is nary a shortage of action one the races are underway. 

I would love to know someone who can both speak in car-code with me, and love the magic of communicative steering. I know they are out there - I read their columns and articles every month in my four car magazine subscriptions. Here at BYU, and many other places, people who are into cars tend to be blinded by numbers. Speed, acceleration, lateral G-forces, braking force, and transient response can all contribute to some adrenalin, but there is more. I want a Lotus Elan. The first one - not the cheesy cop-out FWD that came later. I believe in lightness by design. I believe in fun in relative slowness. I believe that new Mercedes can be a yawn embodied in a car compared to a BMW. I have driven some wickedly fast, boring cars. I have owned a slow, deliriously fun car (MkI MR2). Of course, the WRX I just sold was fast and fun, but I really miss my MR2 - or Senor Dos as I knew the little guy. I understand perfectly the advantages of automatic transmissions and automated constant mesh gearboxes, but the connection between man and machine with the use of three pedals is irreplaceable. 

I love high-tech - for family cars. And possibly for hypercars. But I hope the Miata and Lotuses in general stick around. I wish we Americans weren't so stuck on airbags, stereos and A/C - without preaching about bling presently. It weighs so much, adds so little (except perhaps for the A/C - but I want the choice to go the masochist route), and has been over-hyped. I want a car with no radio and no place to hang my phone while set on speaker-phone-operation. The freedom that could provide might put masseuseses(es) out of business permanently. Unless they want to work on the stiff forearms and clenched jaws. Honestly, the biggest downside I can see in moving back the Motherland (obviously, Texas) someday is the lack of curves in the roads. I want a whole string of different character bends to test my mettle and let me meld with machine.

Pennsylvania, conversely, appeals to me solely for its delicious blacktop. Silky black ribbons meandering through gorgeous forests abound for my gleeful pleasure - pure automotive heaven. 

I think I could be buddies with Peter Egan - he is a sucker for an old Lotus, an old Ducati, an old Strat, and an old Marshall. I'll take all four, please.