California State Assemblyman Kevin Mullen Addresses The Pacifca/Coastside Democrats

Assemblyman Kevin Mullen Addresses The Pacifica/Coastside Democrats

Some Terrible Hardships Of Being Poor

Some Awful Hardships of Being Poor

If you come to our garage, you will see two bikes hanging in there. One is Elena's bike. One is the bike that I will have owned for 20 years in July. That bike has a special place in my life. It reminds of how far that I have come in 20 years. It started with me when I was homeless.

During that hard time in my life, I discovered something. Forget about all the laws around the world banning age discrimination. In real life they are meaningless (for the most part.)

I would get close to finding a decent job and then the deal would fall through. At Oracle the human Resources lady admitted tome that my boss liked me but said that 48 years old was too old. I was stuck in low-paying ($8.00 per hour) exploitation jobs. Sometimes I had to work two of these jobs to survive.

Yesterday Elena and I walked part of the Iron Horse Trail starting in Danville, California. I moved to Danville in September of 1997 in expectation of a job opening up for me.It did but later. I was left with having to commute from Danville to San Jose, California. I had no car and only a bicycle. At 05:00 each weekday, I would be on the Iron Horse Trail in Danville. I would ride to Walnut Creek on this trail. Then I would be on a dangerous and dark street in walnut Creek driving to the BART station. I would get on the train and ride to San Francisco. I would get off the BART and ride my bike a few dangerous blocks to the Caltrains station. It was another one hour ride to San Jose. Then it was the bike ride again to the George S. May Company on Hedding Street in San Jose. When work finished at 15:00 I had the same two-hour ordeal to get back to Danville. God protected me from harm and I stayed in good physical condition. My thanks to Jack and Sacha Stel for giving me a great work opportunity at a decent wage in Danville that stopped this awful ride in early November of 1997.

Algunas terribles dificultades de ser pobre

Si viene a nuestro garaje, verá dos bicicletas colgando allí. Uno es la bicicleta de Elena. Una es la moto que habré poseído durante 20 años en julio. Esa moto tiene un lugar especial en mi vida. Me recuerda lo lejos que he venido en 20 años. Comenzó conmigo cuando estaba sin hogar.

Durante ese tiempo difícil en mi vida, descubrí algo. Olvídese de todas las leyes alrededor del mundo que prohíben la discriminación por edad. En la vida real no tienen sentido (en su mayor parte).

Me pondría cerca de encontrar un trabajo decente y luego el acuerdo caería a través. En Oracle, la señora de Recursos Humanos admitió que mi jefe me gustaba, pero dijo que 48 años era demasiado viejo. Yo estaba atrapado en trabajos de explotación de bajos salarios ($ 8.00 por hora). A veces tenía que trabajar dos de estos trabajos para sobrevivir.

Ayer Elena y yo caminamos parte del Iron Horse Trail comenzando en Danville, California. Me mudé a Danville en septiembre de 1997 en la expectativa de un trabajo de apertura para mí. Lo hizo, pero más tarde. Me quedé con tener que conmutar de Danville a San José, California. No tenía coche y sólo una bicicleta. A las 05:00 cada día de la semana, estaría en el Iron Horse Trail en Danville. Me gustaría montar a Walnut Creek en este sendero. Entonces estaría en una peligrosa y oscura calle en Walnut Creek conduciendo a la estación de BART. Me gustaría subir al tren y montar a San Francisco. Me bajaba del BART y montaba en bicicleta algunos bloques peligrosos a la estación de Caltrains. Fue otro paseo de una hora a San José. Luego fue el paseo en bicicleta de nuevo a la George S. May Company en Hedding Street en San José. Cuando el trabajo terminó a las 15:00 tuve la misma experiencia de dos horas para regresar a Danville. Dios me protegió de los daños y me quedé en buenas condiciones físicas. Mis gracias a Jack y Sacha Stel por darme una gran oportunidad de trabajo a un salario decente en Danville que detuvo este terrible viaje a principios de noviembre de 1997.

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More World War I Pictures From The New YorkTimes

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/insider/some-boys-celebrated-the-war-others-were-prisoners-of-it.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Finsider&action=click&contentCollection=insider&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

Untangling The Web Of Russian Cyber Operations

https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/untangling-web-russias-cyber-operations#/entry/jsconnect?client_id=644347316&target=%2Fdiscussion%2Fembed%3Fp%3D%252Fdiscussion%252Fembed%252F%26vanilla_identifier%3D279556%26vanilla_url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fworldview.stratfor.com%252Farticle%252Funtangling-web-russias-cyber-operations%26vanilla_category_id%3D1%26title%3DUntangling%2Bthe%2BWeb%2Bof%2BRussia%2527s%2BCyber%2BOperations

In Praise Of Hydrogen-Powered Cars

Clarity of purpose

The 2017 Clarity Fuel Cell is an electric vehicle with a combined fuel-economy rating of 68 mpg and a driving range of up to 366 mi. 

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We expected some pop and sizzle–at least something vaguely adventurous—to mark the occasion of refueling Honda’s all-new 2017 Clarity Fuel Cell sedan with compressed hydrogen pumped in at a heady 10,153 psi (700 bar).

Instead, standing under the stylish translucent sunshade protecting this hydrogen refueling station—one of about 26 such public facilities currently operating in Southern California—the overwhelming experience is exactly how Honda and hydrogen-fuel interests want it to be: nearly indistinguishable from the gas station a stone’s throw away.

Even the time to fully fill the Clarity Fuel Cell is about the same, maybe five or six minutes to fully replenish the fuel-cell car’s two-tank capacity of 141 liters (37.3 gal). Five minutes and you’re on your way in this large and comfortable sedan for another maximum of 366 miles (589 km). We cruise the California freeways and breeze through snaky backroads in utter silence and with an unassailable refinement that, if we shut our eyes, convinces us the Clarity Fuel Cell could be an all-electric Accord that Honda’s had in production for years. The EPA-estimates this all happens at a combined fuel-economy rating of 68 mpg (3.5 L/100 km).

So what’s not to like about these fuel-cell cars, anyway?

Technical challenges resolved

Kiyoshi Shimizu, chief engineer and development leader for the 2017 Clarity Fuel Cell, has led Honda’s FCV Powertrain Development Dept. since 1997. He seems almost the personification of why the new Clarity Fuel Cell need make no excuses as a fully viable “everyday” vehicle. The company’s dogged decades of R&D have progressed fuel-cell technology from 1998’s “one-and-a-half-passenger” minivan he almost sheepishly describes as a “chemical plant on wheels” to today’s Clarity that packages the entire powertrain—fuel-cell stack, drive unit and all associated power and control electronics—neatly under the hood. The entire propulsion system requires less physical space than Honda’s 3.5L V-6.

Honda claims that tidy packaging is a world-first. And considering arch-rival Toyota’s Mirai is the only other production FCV sedan on the road. Mirai locates the fuel-cell stack under the passenger-compartment floor, much like the Clarity Fuel Cell’s predecessor, the FCX Clarity, launched in 1998. The only other series-production FCV offered for sale to the public is Hyundai’s Tucson Fuel Cell, although Hyundai recently revealed a concept crossover model using fourth-generation fuel-cell technology that the company promises will impart a 2018 production version with 800 km (497 mi) of driving range.

As the Clarity Fuel Cell’s almost miraculous packaging demonstrates, the eight years between fuel-cell generations has delivered demonstrable advance in almost every sense.

The powertrain’s packaging advance—including a 34% cut in motor height—comes from several development areas, chief being a 30% reduction in the number of cells in the stack. The new cells themselves are 20% thinner. And thanks to the new stack design, the unit now can be situated horizontally rather than vertically.

Despite the decrease in the number of cells, each now has 1.5 times more electrical output, for a total of 103 kW, or a power density of 3.1 kW for each of the stack’s 33L of volume. More voltage from the stack means more power available to the traction motor.

Drivetrain: more power, less noise

But while engineers aimed to improve system power and efficiency, they were similarly bent on cutting noise, both from the “intake” portion of the fuel cell and the drive unit itself.

First, oxygen supply is critical to allow the more power-dense fuel-cell stack to do its job; a considerable advance—both technically and in terms of NVH—comes from the adoption of a new, electrically-driven two-stage air compressor to shove air into the stack. Not only does this ICE-type turbocharger produce less sound, and of a higher frequency that can be muffled by a simpler silencer than the former Roots-style compressor—but it pushes 1.7 times the air volume. The compressor body is about 40% smaller, too.

The quiet and more-powerful electric turbocharger is an energy-hungry devil, though: chief engineer Shimizu told Automotive Engineering it typically might draw between 1-2 kW of power. But the heightened energy density of the new fuel-cell stack allowed for the draw attributable to the electric turbo that is the result of a joint development between Honda and “a supplier” Shimizu smilingly would not name.

Also new to the Clarity Fuel Cell’s powertrain is a “fuel cell voltage control unit,” a 4-inch-thick booster (and the uppermost component one sees when lifting the hood), steps up power from the cell stack to a maximum of 500 volts via a silicon-carbide power semiconductor material that vastly improves switching frequency while necessitating a much-smaller heat sink than would a more-conventional silicon-only semiconductor.

The upgraded 500V input—the most power the previous FCX Clarity fuel-cell stack could deliver was 330V—to the AC synchronous electric motor means its power output is hiked by 30% to 174 hp, while torque climbs to a robust 221 lb·ft (300 N·m) compared to the previous 189 lb·ft (256 N·m). Maximum motor rpm also is increased slightly from 12,500 rpm to 13,000 rpm and top speed climbs 4 mph to 103 mph (166 km/h).

The motor itself enjoyed incisive development tweaks to cut noise. The rotor now is sliced into four sections instead of two, which Honda said reduces torque fluctuation, while the stator is optimized to reduce vibration and the motor housing has additional structural ribs. Honda calculates that motor noise transmitted to the cabin at 0.2 g of acceleration is reduced by 25%.

The quieted motor and the new electric turbocharger team to all but nullify one of the ongoing NVH bugaboos that has lingered for most FCVs: loud compressor noise and motor whine. Automotive Engineering’s hard standing-start acceleration could wring little more than a nearly inaudible high-pitched whine in the cabin with the entertainment system turned off. The same was true for floored-throttle roll-on acceleration at freeway speeds.

New underpinnings, mass-optimization innovations

The 2017 Clarity Fuel Cell’s cutting-edge driveline propels an all-new platform that Honda doesn’t seem to be calling anything in particular, but said its fundamental “straight frames” structure was designed to maximize cabin space, cut weight and deliver optimized driving dynamics for a fuel-cell vehicle (and the pending battery-electric and hybrid-electric Clarity-family variants). Designed specifically to handle the weight of the aluminum-lined carbon-fiber/fiberglass storage tank (said to be a world-first), the new platform’s center of gravity is some 4 in (10 cm) lower than an Accord Hybrid.

The four-wheel independent suspension uses a few clever lightweighting techniques: the front strut setup uses forged-aluminum lower arms that are 30% lighter than a common pressed-steel arm and hollowing the knuckle saves 10%. At the rear, the multilink arrangement’s arms all are aluminum (worth a 40% cut compared with steel) and the tie rods come from what Honda said is the world’s first high-strength aluminum forging, allowing the rods to be 20% lighter than a conventional aluminum forging.

Another world-first for the Clarity Fuel Cell: a hollow die-cast aluminum front subframe eliminates the welding of multiple pieces and saves 20% in weight; the technique, borrowed from motorcycle-frame development, also creates a seamless and exceptionally rigid structure.

Want some more claimed world-firsts? Look to the Clarity Fuel Cell’s body, where Honda has the first glass-fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) rear bumper beam. Meanwhile, there’s a “hybrid” plastic bulkhead at the front that replaces steel and Honda said 40% of the vehicle’s platform is comprised of super-high-tensile steel and the company said the car marks the world’s first (again) use of high-formability 980 MPa-class steel for automotive application. Along with aluminum body panels and other lightweight advanced materials, the Clarity Fuel Cell’s structure is claimed to be stronger than that of a conventional midsize sedan yet is 15% lighter.

In terms of size and weight, the Clarity Fuel Cell has a 108.3-in (2750-mm) wheelbase (Honda’s Accord: 109.3) and is 192.7 in (4895 mm) in overall length, nearly the same as the Accord and also quite dimensionally similar to Toyota’s Mirai, although the Clarity seats five and the Mirai is a 4-seater. The Honda fuel-cell sedan’s interior volume is listed at 102 cubic feet and the most spacious Accord variant offers 103.2 cubic feet of passenger volume. The Clarity Fuel Cell weighs 4134 lb (1875 kg), while a typical automatic-transmission Accord is about 700 lb (318 kg) lighter.

In terms of size and utility, then, the 2017 Clarity Fuel Cell gives up nothing (okay, maybe some sheer trunk usability) to a conventional midsize sedan. But the green-oriented in California have further incentive: Honda’s opening “deal” for this FCV is compelling: a $369/month lease for 36 months with $2,500 down. But factor in a California HOV-lane sticker, the state’s instant $5000 rebate and Honda’s debit card for $15000 worth of fuel over the lease term and the monthly out-of-pocket outlay is almost laughably skimpy. Many California dealers have waiting lists for the car that for now is being built in Tochigi, Japan, but is moving to a mass-production plant somewhere (the U.S., perhaps?) early next year, said a Honda source.

Ah, that fuel, that infrastructure

You’ll find plenty of contradictory opinion about the environmental friendliness of hydrogen fuel. Critics say its production and subsequent compression is energy-intensive and balloons hydrogen’s carbon profile (one prominent study concluded, however, the well-to-wheels CO2 emissions of hydrogen produced from natural gas for an FCV is approximately half that of gasoline).Chief engineer Shimizu told us the well-to-wheels energy efficiency of hydrogen derived from natural gas is better than a hybrid-electric vehicle—and reminds that an FCV has zero tailpipe emissions.

The carbon-dioxide argument will continue, but few can argue the almost complete lack of a national refueling network makes FCVs, for now, strictly a California “compliance” play (see sidebar). Stephen Ellis, Honda’s veteran of alternative-fuel implementation, said fast refueling times, the Clarity Fuel Cell’s plump driving range and the expanding “hydrogen highway” of conveniently-located refueling stations make FCVs utterly practical in California. He then said to expect imminent news (likely at New York’s auto show in April) regarding the initiative to extend refueling strategies to the northeastern U.S., where many states have adopted California’s emissions standards.

After a full day’s sampling of the refinement and brisk performance of the 2017 Clarity Fuel Cell, few could question the car’s potential for mainstream acceptance. And Honda and other FCV proponents are correct in pointing out fuel-cell advantages over battery-electric vehicles. If and when hydrogen fuel becomes more widely available, the marvelously-developed Clarity Fuel Cell is proof the fuel-cell approach could give batteries a run for the money.

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A Serious Warning About North Korea

A Serious Warning About North Korea

Everyone let us forget about Korea launching an attack with missiles and miniature warheads that fit on these missiles like those the US, Russia, China, Britain, Israel, India, and Pakistan have.

What is played down in the media and by the US government is that North Korea is a criminal state. They have engaged in massive currency counterfeiting operations. They're heavily involved in heroin smuggling with events like whole freighters full of heroin being seized. They're also heavily involved in cyber crime. For example, they are a serious suspect in the recent $995 million plus cyber robbery of the Central Bank of Bangladesh.

One of my most beloved books was written by the computer terrorism expert for President Bush II. It's title is The Right of Boom. If I were a wealthy man I would buy 10,000 copies and give it away free to world leaders, law enforcement people, business leaders and government officials.

The book begins with a hypothetical attack on Washington, DC with a Hiroshima-sized bomb smuggled in by terrorists. The awful death and destruction is described in graphic detail. The books ends with officials still not able to prove who did it.

Look for North Korea to smuggle weapons into cities they wanted to hit. For example freighters could be dispatched to Tokyo, Honolulu, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Nuclear weapons could be detonated in the harbor before the boats docked for customs inspections. Submarines could also be used for a dirty job like this. They could also sell nuclear weapons or deadly gas to terrorists. Their cyber crime group could bring down our power grid, for example.

Even if you were not hit with one of these weapons strikes, you would be affected. There would be panic on financial markets around the world. The value of your retirement fund, investments and your home or apartment would drop. Unemployment would spike up.