Comments

Before I saw the video of the flute being used (below), I was under the mistaken impression that this device generated some kind of loud noise, which it does not-- its only resemblance to a real flute is its shape. If it did generate loud noises, I could imagine several reasons you might want to control it with prescriptions-- but this thing is hardly audible! It makes me angry that we have more bureaucratic nonsense preventing this device from being used on a broad basis! It would not surprise me at all if this flute started being bootlegged like CDs, name-brand watches, and sneakers. KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Thank you for doing exactly that, Mr. Hawkins, even if the medical establishment wants to muck it up for those of us that might actually need it.

@ ford2go: Touche! I'd like to see them get skewered on Dilbert as well, but more importantly, GM, Ford, and so many car makers still don't get it-- the EV-1 was and is very popular, and with no changes at all (just batteries of current chemistry would be nice) would satisfy millions of us. Hybrids are far more complex than the cars we have today, and that complexity only increases the likelihood that it will end up in a wrecking yard sooner than later. I won't let GM force-feed me vehicles that will consume our natural resources at an alarming rate. I'd much rather have a Nissan Leaf, Phoenix Motorcar, Fisker, Tesla S-- anything but another vehicle with an engine. To say that the engine will not be used often is no solution-- hybrids are still far more complex than the cars we have today, they'll require even more specialized and expensive maintenance and repair work, and these very expensive cars will end up in a landfill or a wrecking yard far too soon. Look at what has become of the Toyota RAV-4 EVs that are more than a decade old-- they have had virtually no maintenance or battery replacements in all these years despite heavy usage, and they continue to run well. Such a car as that could easily continue to run for dozens of years more so long as suspension parts, wheel bearings and other simple parts are available. No, GM-- I don't want your Cadillac hybrid. I want an EV as good as the EV-1 you already know how to make, something that will last longer than the hybrid you want to foist off on me.

After seeing the anemic support the Bush administration showed for clean energy and clean cars, I'm elated to see Obama's commitment to Tesla, Fisker, and apparently Phoenix Motorcars, Aptera, and Meyers as well. If the new EV startups displace GM and the other Detroit dinosaurs, and they go into bankruptcy again and for the last time, it can only be their own fault for trying to force-feed us ICE (internal combustion engine) cars for so long. They should never have tried to sabotage their own EV-1 program and other viable electrics a decade ago. We need a robust, competitive, nimble EV industry that can drive out obsolescent old-school attitudes that have pervaded Detroit. If the Volt is as good as GM can do, they deserve to die out, and when its work force is laid off they can go to work for Tesla, Phoenix or other car makers that will give us what we really need. (BTW... for those that don't know, Phoenix will be emerging from bankruptcy in about 3 weeks ready to produce an EV with a platform that is distinct from its competition... stay tuned for details.)

. TechnoFreakFace: Your smugness, arrogance, and misplaced confidence are amazing. The (heavily subsidized) nuclear power plants that were decommissioned decades ago are still causing us problems and still costing us billions trying to find storage for steadily accumulating nuclear waste. No one wants a nuclear power plant or radioactive waste in THEIR back yard-- you're such a pious nuclear proponent, here's a thought: what's your address? We'll send it to YOUR house, and they can store all their spent fuel in YOUR basement. Oh... I hope your basement is really, really big-- they've got a lot of it for you to store for them for the next 15,000 years or so. Nuclear plants have problems solar will never have-- you'll never have problems with terrorists trying to steal solar waste for dirty bombs or trying to blow up the plants to trigger environmental disasters. They have no earthquake hazards, there's no wasting billions of dollars doing environmental reports trying to convince nervous neighbors that your plant won't become another Chernobyl, no worries how you'll decommission your solar plant and keep it safe for thousands of years for future earthlings. If I make solar cells, my kids could brag about it to their friends-- if you make nuclear power plants, your kids might wanna say you're really a plumber just cuz they don't wanna be ostracized by their peers. Solar has no problems that will haunt our children's children-- it's not a perfect technology, but don't dare try to point out its problems, because in every way it's a more benign power solution than anything else with the possible exception of wind. Solar is still in its infancy, and the more we deploy it, the more efficient it will become and the more ubiquitous it will be. 233 watts of power fall on every square foot of noontime earth surface, and all we need to do is pump up the efficiency marginally to make it the most cost-effective way to generate power. Nanocrystalline-based solar cells, quantum dots, Schottky barrier/junctions and other strategies that increase efficiency could one day be combined in a mass-produced printing process to yield efficiencies far in excess of anything we have today. And with proven technology such as Altair NanoSafe batteries that can last for tens of thousands of charge cycles-- decades or more of use-- we will be able to store that power for use at night or whenever we need it. Whenever I see such skewed comments as yours, I have to wonder-- do you work for the nuclear industry, perhaps? What axe do you have to grind that you would seek to steer anyone away from such clean technologies as solar and EVs?

neonrobot and bigb: !!!! Don't let anybody shut you up! It's not the grumps of the world that count, it's the ones that take you seriously, and you can be sure there are plenty of older people-- such as myself-- that will always be willing to hear what you have to say. When I was 12 I started reading Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines just like you guys, getting creative, and eventually building the things I imagined. I recently converted a BMW coupe to full electric power that is much faster than it was when it was running on gasoline, and is "burning rubber" now on You Tube. It was much more difficult, it took much longer and cost much more than I expected, but the car's getting plenty of attention and I'm using it to help people get the idea that EVs are the logical replacement for gasoline cars. Keep going, fellas. We need smart, creative guys like you to provide the inventions we'll be using in the years ahead. Battery swapping may prevail, or it may not, but in any case you'll find some of your ideas work and some won't. Don't allow your failures to define who you are, allow your persistence to do so. If you try a hundred different ideas and only one of them works, but that one idea is a cure for cancer or helps us to get into space cheaply and safely, it's your successes that you'll be remembered for.