Though slightly short of light speed in water (which is 504000000 miles per hour), the new Swiss car “sQuba” travels at the amazing maximum speed of 3 mph on the surface of the water, and 1.8 mph underwater.

The concept convertible car does go 77 mph on land, which may not satisfy the James Bond lovers who have been waiting for a car that drives on land and under water; still, only the rich will be able to afford the car if it goes into limited production.

Rinspeed Inc. managed to make the car drive under water by removing the combustion engine from a sports car and replacing it with several electrical motors.

The technology will allow further study into how to replace increasingly expensive and environmentally dangerous gasoline.

Ever since The Golden Compass has come out, certain irritating critics have been bad mouthing the literary works of Philip Pullman. His Dark Materials has become the center of controversy because of how the series distorts religion from what is socially acceptable. Now that the second film of The Chronicles of Narnia series is about to be released (Prince Caspian), those same critics are worshipping the creativity of C.S. Lewis. However, it stricks me that many of the critics may not have actually read the books.

 vs.

***SPOILER WARNING***

His Dark Materials is believed to be an anti-thesis to The Chronicles of Narnia. In Pullman’s series, the main characters indeed kill an angel that acts as God, release human (along with other human like beings) ghosts into the air the same way angels die, and builds a church based on democracy rather then authoritarian rule.

Meanwhile, the Chronicles of Narnia go in a different direction. The books are considered by some to be mytho-poetic and by others christian propoganda. The main characters (children) are the source for original sin (curiosity) in the first book The Magician’s Nephew. Then in the second book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, a lion goes through shockingly similar sacrafices as Jesus Christ. And in the last book, The Last Battle, all the main characters that believe in Aslan (the lion) end up in heaven.

Yet, both collections are great sources of literary and big-screen entertainment. Why?

Pullman may have clear hatred for organized religion, but he also shows his audience to think for themselves.

Lewis may be trying to show his audience that belief in christianity leads to happiness, but it also delivers originality that allows viewers to connect with the series.

Basically, what I am trying to portray with this blog is that critics along with average viewers need to understand the importance of all literature. It is not logical for a person to talk about any form of literature or movie unless they have read or viewed them. How can a person make a reasonable response about them if they don’t experience them.

Look what happened with the debut of the Golden Compass movie. So much criticism was put on the movies prior to opening day, and when that day came, the critics had a big suprise. The most controversial scene of the book, when a man kills a boy to open up a pathway to a different world with the intent to kill God, was not in the movie. Supposedly the scene was shot but not included in the final cut because they did not want to end the movie on a downer.

Children did not walk out of the theatre thinking God was a myth. Perhaps they entered the theatre thinking that because of all the hype that told them that was what the movie was about.

The same can be said for Narnia, until The Last Battle is made into a big-screen movie, people will not be held witness to questionable Christian beliefs. And even if they were, it is important that people know that we have a choice in how we think. We can be entertained by watching a movie and read a book and still not believe in them.

Not that it matters or that anyone cares, but I was raised a Roman Catholic and I do believe in God; however, I also believe in the importance of every type of literature. I enjoy His Dark Materials because it shows a different way that a person can think. Understanding other people helps to understand oneself. This allows me to see that Narnia may contain Christian propoganda; however it does not stop me from enjoying the movie.

Movies based on Pullman’s books and the books themselves will not teach people to believe in the devil; and the movie’s based on Lewis’s series and the books themsleves will not teach people Christian propoganda. Instead they books and movies will act as a form of entertainment with the potential to help us develop as individuals. People, for the most part, are more intelligent than to let fictional movies and books manipulate their entire mind set. So to all critics who like to talk negatively about works without actually being responsible enough to sit through and experience it, “STOP.”

As part of the world’s largest fuel cell vehicle test fleet called “Project Driveway,” GM is producing over a hundred green cars of the future (a.k.a. they don’t rely on gas).

The Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles uses a unique type of fuel cell technology. According to Chevrolet’s website, “Fuel cell technology is seamlessly integrated with all of the comfort and safety of Chevrolet’s current-production, gasoline-powered Equinox. The biggest difference is that Equinox Fuel Cell doesn’t run on gasoline. Still, it is fully functional, carrying up to four occupants and their gear. Plus, it’s engineered to reach a top speed of 100 mph.”

The Fuel Cell is one solution to growing gas prices, poor economic standing, and  pollution. Other alternatives have been under development over the past few years. Electric vehicles like the ZAP Xebra is one vehicle that meets the requirements. The vehicle also helps out the pocket with a rumored price tag of $10,000.

Hybrid vehicles like the Toyota Prius have also become popular with consumers who are not ready to give up pumping gas but want to save some money while doing so.

The Ford F150, a popular car among many Americans, can now be equiped with E85 Ethanol technology. The technology will reduce the dependencey on gasoline to 15% meanwhile 85% of the fuel is renewable ethanol.

The Chevy Volt can be configured to run on electricity, gasoline, E85 or biodiesel.

With all the advances in vehicle technology, greencars.com has reported “the Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell vehicle been honored with Green Car Journal’s Green Car Vision Award™, the first time the auto enthusiast magazine has recognized limited production vehicles for their forward-thinking technologies.”

It has finally happened. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have engaged in a debate of gender and race.

To tell you the truth, I was naive to think that this would not happen until after the primaries. Both candidates are making history. What is now happening is the candidates are asking which version of history is more important.

Off course they are not asking directly. They are asking in a way that puts the past, present, and future in the hands of a sexist and racist society.

(If you think that American society is no longer sexist, then please ask yourself, why are there still debates about whether a woman would bring too much sentimentality to the presidency?)

(If you think that American society is no longer racist, then please ask yourself, why do people still use the n-word?)

For a country that is supposed to be the land of the free (thanks Homeland Security Act) and the home of the brave (it takes courage to be ignorant), it stuns me that so many people can be so concerned with such matters when freedoms are being ignored and real bravery is going unrecognized.

It may be true that female and minority voices in politics are young compared to many other; however, justice and equality are not ideas that should take decades to accomplish. It is shameful to think that we as a society accept such realities.

In order to encourage the society to forget sexism and racism, it is futile to focus on more important issues, which until this point the candidates democratic candidates were attempting to do.

I am not declaring my allegiance to the democratic party (and even if I were, who cares?). Instead, I am only expressing a concern that is being brought about by the party. In fact, this is the presidential election that democrats and republicans (to an extent) have declared the election of change. Supposedly, things will change when we elect a new President.

I have one silly question, how will it change if we don’t change the way we think about society and the way we work together?

Sure we can say healtcare needs to change. But if no one agrees on how it should, how will it?

Sure we can say the war in Iraq will change. But if terrorists still exist after we leave will it really end. On the other hand, if we stay, how many more lives will be lost.

What is the solution? I do not claim to have one, but I do know that society needs to start asking questions about fundamental practices.

For instance, why is it that NYC Police Officers have a starting salary of $23,000?  The salary is barely liveable if one lives in the city. I know an officer should not want to become a cop for the money, but it is insulting to give minimum wages to people who risk their lives for a living.

Another example is the treatment of teachers. It is true that they have recently been given a pay increase of $43,000 starting salary; however, respect is still negelected. The debatable question is, can teachers still teach properly with laws being past that takes authority away from teachers? The threat of being left back is laughable now that children will eventually be promoted despite a lack of knowledge for (a) subject(s).

To give yet another example, why can’t gay couples get married. I understand why churches don’t agree with the practice (people can either get married and have children or get married to god); however, one of the fundamental ideas of the constitution is the seperation of church and state. It is the law that all people are equal. Law and religion need to stay seperated when people think about any aspect of politics, including gay marriage.

Small questions, obvious questions like the ones I asked, will lead to the development of bigger questions about the progress of our society. Once smaller questions are answered, and they must be answered coherently and quickly, bigger questions will be easier to answer.

Some bigger questions might be: 

How can we stop terrorism as a collective international? Instead of, why are we in Iraq or how can we stop terrorism by ourselves?

How can we make the economy for all classes? Insead of, why not raise taxes or why not cut taxes?

How can healthcare benefit everyone without creating a socialist system? Places like Canada and England have a system where they give coverage to all, and I am pretty sure they are not an evil socialist society. Instead of, how about Healthcare for some or how about socialist heath care?

Race and gender do not find a place within these questions, whether big or small. How can they if society is supposed give an equal opportunity to all its citizens? If this election focuses of race and gender, and all of the unconstitutional ideas and idiotic theories, then the people (and they exist in all the parties – democratic, republican, etc) who want to control society instead of help it develop will win.

In an unorthodox move, General Motors (GM) released a list of cars that they will be producing in America over the next five years. Among the list is the first serial hybrid produced by a major auto company in more than 100 years.

The car is not like a normal hybrid. In all hybrids built by major companies over the last hundred years, two separate engines, called parallel engines, drive the wheels. The GM Volt will be the first serial hybrid, which only one engine drives the wheels, since the 1901 Porsche.

The car does not need a plug. This is possible because a serial hybrid has an gas engine to recharge the batteries and electric motors in the wheels.

Unfortunately, since Porsche did not see reason to continue the production of a hybrid car (gas was reasonable cheap) they discontinued the idea. Now with gas prices rising with no signals saying they will be coming down soon, and constant electrical outages, the new hybrid can not get here soon enough.

GM’s decision to announce the list of cars, especially the hybrid, has brought about a debate between themselves, autoworkers, and critics (bloggers like myself). The decision was made after an agreement they made with the United Auto Workers. According to ecogeek blogger Hank Green, the list was never released before because they feared, “price undercuts and retaliations from other auto companies.”

The retaliation of other auto companies is not what concerns consumers like myself. In fact I find it good that by 2010 I, along with many other consumers, might have a choice of serial hybrid cars to choose from. What I don’t like is that 2010 seems so far away and a lot can happen to the concept of the car.

The first thing I can think of is that the technology may be too expensive. The technology, which has been produced before, has never been produced with the amount of power that is expected to be in the Volt. The car is expected to get at least 40 miles of all-electricity range without recharging. It may not seem like a lot, but it is a hybrid. 

The independent company that will be used to make the battery must find a way to decrease the 400 pound weight that current technology would suggest the battery would way and produce 60,000 units by 2010.

The idea is slightly crazy for a small battery company that has never produced on a large scale before. Even if they did manage it, the company may not be able to stay in a reasonable price range for the consumer. Bloomberg Press has rumored that the price the company wants to sell the car for is less than $30,000.

Another potential problem is that GM is believed to want to produce 60,000 units the first year. The demand may be too much to produce. Toyota produced one quarter of that number the the first year the sold the Prius.

The third an most conspiracy based theory is that how long will oil companies, one of the biggest industries in the United States, allow hybrid like this to exist without some kind of competition.

The last concern is hopefully completely ridiculous. People now know a few things that make it ridiculous. Gasoline prices are rising, the resource is disappearing, and hybrid technology is possible. But who knows with the way people allow big-business to manipulate society.

Without finding a way to compete with the new technology, oil companies, like us, must wait to see if the idea is too big for the time.

On Monday, fans on the Alagaesia network were notified by email, “Kvetha Fricaya! Be sure to visit Alagaesia.com tomorrow, Tuesday, October 30th, for an exciting announcement about the Inheritance series!” Random House Children’s Books had two very big announcements about Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Trilogy.

The first is something that fans have been waiting for ever since thr release of Eldest, and perhaps even Eragon. The third, so far untitled, book will be released in the United States on 23 September 2008.

What was not expected was the authors announcement that The Inheritance Trilogy is now the The Inheritance Cycle. Four books, instead of the of planned three, will be printed.

Why is this significant to more then the fans? Simple. The NY Times Best selling series is what Harry Potter is for Scholastic, on a lesser scale. They bring a lot income for the publishing companies.

According to the press release, “In its first week on sale in North America in August 2005, Eldest sold more than 425,000 hardcover copies, making Eldest the greatest single-week sale ever recorded for a Random House Children’s Books title.”

Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, which is printed on the covers of each, is a division of Random House and they are also publishers of Philip Pullman’s controversial series His Dark Materials and a variety of Tamora Pierce’s works. The company has been using the three authors to propel a campaign for fans of one author to read them all and hopes that the success of any of the books will lead to the success of all of them. 

Intelligent move? We know that the success of Eragon did not hurt the chances for The Golden Compass to get movie rights. Lets see what the three will do for the future of printed material, which some believe is a dying art form (a foolish idea if one were to look at the unmatched and unprecedented success of these books and others as of late).

The Westboro Baptist Church, a religious group that have been anti-gay for years, has been sentenced by a to pay a hefty fine for invasion of privacy.

The church, who started out only going to funerals of AIDS victims, made the mistake to start going to funerals of dead soldiers to picket. The signs they carried often read, “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” “God Hates Fags,” and “Your Going To Hell.”

The propagandist group have been told to pay $10.9 million dollars in damages to the father of Lance Matthew Snyder, a soldier who died March 2006 while serving in Iraq.

The group will appeal the decision saying they have the right to invade a private funeral because of the first amendment, which brings up a very important and controversial question. What kind of line is between invasion of privacy and freedom of speech.

A group certainly has the right to say whatever they want, but doesn’t that end in private affairs. Then again, is a funeral a private affair? Especially one that is in honor of a soldier. Either way, their argument for free speech does not make much sense.

The group goes to funerals to send a message, being gay is wrong and people are dying in Iraq as a consequence. Forgive me for my stupidity, but what does one have to do with the other. We are not in Iraq because of homosexuality. It is like saying I don’t like the government, so lets kill a whole bunch of innocent people. Or even, I think the children are the future so lets cut funding to schools. When did double-speak become a social norm for logic. Who taught these idiots logic?

Cinnamon, no not the food, but the cat from Missouri, has just been helped cats become added to the 2 dozen mammals whose DNA has been almost completely decoded.

Why is this important? Simple. The National Cancer Institute claims that cats have over 200 hundred sicknesses that can be compared to human illnesses, including AIDS, SARS, and Diabetes. Now that scientist can tell how cells are affected in cats, it may be easier to cure the disease in the mammal. If that does happen, the same or similar procedure can be done with humans.

 According the AP article by Malcolm Ritter, “The new work identified 20,285 genes in the cat, probably about 95 percent of the animal’s full complement, O’Brien said. That’s similar to the 20,000-25,000 genes estimated for humans.”

The AP did not make clear how researchers experiment on cats DNA, but since Cinnamon is alive and well, it does not seem that it is harmful. And if they are looking for a cure in both felons and humans, I doubt that they want to harm the cats.

Lets hope that felons, along with the dozens of other animals, can help cure the diseases that are so far incurable.

The PB&J Campaign has recently reported that the sandwich is not only kid friendly, it also helps the environment.

The campaign website claims that but eating the sandwich a person could, “reduce your carbon footprint by saving the equivalent of 2.5lbs of carbon dioxide emissions over an average animal-based lunch. If you have a PB&J instead of a ham sandwich or a hamburger, you save the equivalent almost 3.5 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.”

The campaign also claims that by eating the sandwich instead of a meat-filled sandwich could save water and land that is overused.

Finally, thanks to the original article by Trystan L. Bass, I know I have a reason to eat my favorite sandwich. I can help save the world from Global Warming.

The Dalai Lama has just become one of the most famous professor’s in the United States, and he has only been doing it since Monday, October 22.

The 13th reincarnation (which makes him the 14th) of the Dalai Lama, named Tenzin Gyatso, is now teaching a study abroad program for Emory University. Although the class will be held in Dharamsala, India, he still received a ID card to show his authority.

After being asked  how he expects his students to react to his presence, the AP recorded him saying, ”As a professor of this university, I think you should listen to me.”

This is not the first time the Holy Man has been in the news in the past few weeks. He has received the highest Civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, which has received much controversy.

Despite the man living to help create a peaceful world, the honor has caused tension between the United States and China. Up until he was six years old, the Dalai Lama was a regular boy from Taktser, Amdo, northeastern Tibet named Lhamo Dhondup. After pursuing his education, he was forcefully exiled from Tibet and moved to India. China now considers him a Tibetian separatist and is offended that the US would award him.

However, this is not the first award he has received. Besides his recent US honors, he is a Nobel Piece Prize Laurette and more recently an honorary Canadian citizen. He has over 80 different awards and honors that were given to him from places throughout the world.

China see’s him as a man of controversy, but if so many people around the world disagree, that means he has to be doing something right.