Car Years?

Why don't car makers put the year of the car on the outside of the vehicle? Instead of just putting the name challenger, why not have it say the year before or after the name. It would make things a lot easier. For instance mechanics, or police officers would find it helpful. No more having to either remember it off hand or tearing apart the glove box.b

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No Network Play?

The story goes like this. My buddy brought over his xbox so we could play 2 on 2 MW2. Not thinking anything of it we Plug his xbox into the living room tv and mine into my monitor in my room. We both get signed into the network and then into xbox live. I said to everyone, "hey let's do a local network match, it will have almost no ping and no lag". So the connections would make for a very even match. The options for multiplayer are either split screen, xbox live, or system link. Up until this point I was under the assumption that I could just set up a match via the network we were on, but no this is apparently impossible for this game to do. For fucks sake, star craft was capable of this and halo 3. Why is this not a feature that is standard on all multiplayer games now. It is really ridiculous. We ended up having to play across xbox live, which led to ping between systems. Why do some features always seem to get left behind?


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WWDC?

Some words on WWDC 2010. As I sit back and reflect on the keynote this past Monday, I begin to realize just how disappointed I am. Granted the new iPhone 4 looks fantastic, and the technology they added to this new phone is really quite impressive. However there are a few things I have on my mind that I think should have happened but did not.



10.7?
Apples next big cat should have made at least a Preview or a mention. This is the developers conference after all. In the past it has almost always been the event that apple uses to show a sneak peek of the new Mac os. I was a little disappointment their wasn't even a slide hinting at them working on it.

MobileMe?
I have recently posted about my opinions of the current MobileMe set of functions. So really all I have to say is that it is still way over priced for the limited functionality it gives it's prescribers. I really had hoped for any kind of iTunes streaming, cheaper price....really anything would have been nice.



AppleTV?
Apparently it is still a hobby, how unfortunate. Apple concedes victory to google.



Mac Pro?
From what I understand the new i7 chips would seriously upgrade the performance in those machines. I may be wrong, but they have not made a very big deal about their top of the line Mac in a while.


MacBook Air?
Still a joke of a product in my opinion, but it would have been nice to see something about it this year. It was quietly updated earlier this year, but it doesn't seem like that was enough. Even though I have had countless conversations with my cousin about how they should just remove that laptop all together, it is over priced and under powered.

Overall this years WWDC was all about the iOS and the new iPhone. I had just hoped for a lot more. However I always want a 4 hour keynote anyway, and they always keep it under 2. I just hope they quietly release some stuff over the next few months, or even have a special keynote for some of the stuff I mentioned. Either way this years WWDC was just meh. There is always next year.

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Large Engineering Project Impossibility?

Nowadays I believe it is impossible to have a large engineering project commissioned. Some would argue that building a stadium, or a skyscraper would be considered a large engineering project, but I am talking more like the Hoover dam, the pyramids of Giza, the highway project in the 1950's and the transcontinental railroad. Those were true engineering projects and in the present I don't think that with all the regulation and union issues about, that it would be possible to start and finish such a large project without immense political whiplash or an incomparable amount of lawsuits.

Why it worked in the past...


Well frankly most of the worlds greatest projects were created using slave labor, or something very close to it. The pyramids were built by slaves who had no rights and did not see any kind of payment for building them. The amount that must have died during the long proccess of building all 138 pyramids must have been staggering.

The transcontinental railroad was built mostly by Irish and Asian immigrants. Whose working conditions would never pass in today's world. The rate at which they completed the project clearly means they worked well beyond the work day limit in today's world.


The Hoover dam was built as an economic boost for the depression, so men were eager to go to work on the project, 112 people died while building it. Something that would never be allowed to happen in the modern age. Even 1 death is a travesty nowadays, and would spread across news outlets like wildfire emphasizing how the project is doomed and how it was a terrible idea to begin with.


The 1950's interstate project is the most recent. Suggested by president Eisenhower It was immense, the goal was to connect the country in a way that was never before seen. much like the railroads in the 1800's the interstate was meant to enable travel to more places even easier. A trip that would take 30 days prior to the interstate now took two. Since it took place in modern times the conditions were quite good when compared to prior projects. However the price tag was a staggering 128 billion dollars. The pubs would have a cow if Obama wanted to spend that much money on a single engineering project.

That's not to mention union issues, where to manufacture goods, housing transfer, and so on. The cost for something that big is too high in today's world. The regulation would restrict it so the length would be ridiculous and it would be political suicide if the project went awry in any way.

I think the closest thing to these examples would have to be the Burj Dubai tower. However even that was built using sub par working conditions.

Why we need one right now...
The reason I bring this up is because take the Hoover dam for instance. When it was commissioned in the 30's it was designed to create jobs and boost the economy. It worked, and it also created the largest hydroelectric facility on the planet powering most of nevada and southern california. The country could use the boost in it's economy with a project of that size. Unfortunately it will probably never happen.


Obama has said multiple times that he plans to redesign and re construct our crumbling infrastructure. This means redoing roads, electrical distribution, water, and much more. I have not seen any progress in my home town just yet, but he may have this on the back burner since now he has to deal with finishing healthcare, the oil spill, 2-3 wars, terrorist issues, and so on. Hopefully he gets to it because we need the jobs and we need the economic boost that would surely follow.





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