Hacked Nissan EVs power homes after Hurricane Sandy

As millions of people fired up generators and burned candles in the wake of superstorm Sandy, some EV owners hacked their cars to keep their lights on and refrigerators humming.

For Virginia resident Scott Wilson, that involved nothing more than making sure his Nissan Leaf's battery pack was topped up the night before, along with having a ProWatt 1000 DC-to-AC converter and a pair of $25 (£15) cables at the ready. And it's something that EV owners along the east coast can do as they prepare for the latest nor'easter front.

After a derecho storm hit the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest in June of this year and Wilson lost power for a few days, he wanted a sure-fire plan to keep the juice flowing during Sandy. That involved ordering the ProWatt from an online marine store (for $270 (£170), which could use the electricity from his Leaf's 24 kWh lithium-ion battery pack to power his refrigerator, microwave and even his coffee maker -- although not all at once.

"I had the inverter hooked up and ready earlier in the day," Wilson told Wired.com, explaining that the modification had been done by many members on the MyNissanLeaf enthusiast site, and others involved in the Electric Vehicle Association of Greater Washington, DC.


The Leaf's DC-DC converter can supply up to 1.7kW of electricity, but keeping the draw between 1.0 and 1.5 kW is the safer bet, according to members of the EVADC website. And the real key is making sure not to plug the converter's terminals to the negative post on the Leaf's 12V auxiliary battery -- it's equipped with sensors and could have implications for the charging system.




More:


http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-11/09/electric-vehicle-hack


Now that's pretty smart.

Obama v Romney – Social Media Election 2012 [Infographic]

HSBC investigation: Drug dealers, gun runners and Britain’s biggest bank

9:52PM GMT 08 Nov 2012
The tax authorities have obtained details of every British client of HSBC in Jersey after a whistleblower secretly provided a detailed list of names, addresses and account balances earlier this week.
The Telegraph understands that among those identified on the list are Daniel Bayes, a drug dealer who is now in Venezuela; Michael Lee, who was convicted of possessing more than 300 weapons at his house in Devon; three bankers facing major fraud allegations and a man once dubbed London’s “number two computer crook”. A series of other accounts containing six-figure deposits are also registered to modest addresses in relatively poor parts of the country.

The disclosures raise serious questions about HSBC’s procedures in Jersey, with the bank already preparing to pay fines of around $1.5 billion in America for breaking money laundering rules.

The bank is legally obliged to report to the authorities any suspicions about the source of money deposited in its accounts.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9665741/HSBC-investigation-Drug-dealers-gun-runners-and-Britains-biggest-bank.html



Many in the US have HSBC as their mortgage holder.

Zogby went ballistic on Nate Silver... tweets

I think election night was Romney's Bunker moment

He really didn't think he was gonna lose. Didn't write a concession speech, fireworks for Boston, Karl Rove calls etc.


It was like Hitler moving imaginary troops around on the map in the Bunker.

I hope someone takes advantage of the meme.


Oh, wait someone did

Republicans Consider Welcoming People Who Believe in Math and Science

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Opting for a bold “big tent” strategy to rebuild the party, Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, told reporters today, “We need to welcome people who believe in different things than we do, like math and science.”


After disappointing results in Tuesday’s election, Mr. Priebus said that it was time for Republicans to become “more tolerant of those with a math-and-science lifestyle.”
“Just because we don’t believe in those things doesn’t mean we can’t get along with people who do,” he said. “We want to send this message: math and science Americans are Americans, too.”


In the biggest departure from its previous electoral strategy, Mr. Priebus said, the Republican Party is “even considering trying to appeal to women.”


“I read recently that women are as much as fifty-one per cent of the population,” he said. “That number sounded crazy high to me, but maybe one of our new math Republicans can check on it for us.”


Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2012/11/republicans-consider-welcoming-people-who-believe-in-math-and-science.html#ixzz2BeNjZmRO

The number of physicists in Congress doubles

In the end, it wasn't even close. Bill Foster, a Democrat and former particle physicist, handily defeated Republican incumbent Judy Biggert in the race in Illinois's newly redrawn 11th congressional district. With 95.7% of the vote counted, Foster led Biggert 57.6% to 42.4%. The issue of support for science had played an unusually prominent role in the campaign not only because Foster is a scientist, but also because Biggert has served on the House of Representatives science committee throughout her seven-term career. Biggert's old district encompassed the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Argonne National Laboratory, and part of the lab lies in the new 11th district.

Foster's win doubles the number of physicists in Congress, as Rush Holt, a plasma physicist and a Democrat from New Jersey's 12th district won his eighth term in the House. It also returns Foster to the House after a 2-year absence.


Foster was first elected to Congress in March 2008 in a special election in Illinois's 14th district to fill the seat vacated by Republican Dennis Hastert, the one-time speaker of the House who stepped down before his term ended. Foster won a full term in the general election in the following November, but he lost in 2010 to Republican Randy Hultgren, who also cruised to reelection on Tuesday. Illinois's 14th district contains DOE's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, where Foster worked for 22 years before leaving in 2006.


http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2012/11/physicist-bill-foster-returns-to.html

Romney Camp Retooling Campaign After Latest Setback

BOSTON—Calling it “a small bump in the road,” sources within Romney headquarters announced plans Wednesday to readjust their campaign strategy following their candidate’s loss of the 2012 presidential election to Barack Obama.
“Obviously the defeat yesterday was tough, but we’re confident we can get right back on track and win this thing in the end,” said Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades, adding that the GOP candidate “won’t be giving up just because of one bad day.” “The country simply can’t survive another four years of President Obama’s failed policies and broken promises. We just have to regroup, reconfigure a few things, and continue spreading our message to the American people that the man to lead this country forward is Mitt Romney.”
“We’re in this for the long haul,” Rhoades continued. “So we’re not going to let something minor, like not getting enough votes in the electoral college, set us back.”

According to sources, Romney plans to run fresh attack ads next week in several of the swing states he lost, including Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, and his campaign has already scheduled additional rallies and fundraising dinners across the country.

The Romney team will also reportedly launch a comprehensive social media campaign aimed at engaging voters under the age of 30, and will continue targeting female and minority voters—key demographic groups the candidate struggled to win over before they cast their ballots on Tuesday.

“Regardless of what the numbers said last night, we meet thousands of people every day who are sick and tired of the direction the country is headed in under the Obama administration,” Rhoades said. “So we’re planning to ramp up our efforts and get back out there, because this isn’t over yet. I honestly think we have a shot at Pennsylvania.”

Rhoades confirmed that while the campaign’s message will remain the same, Romney will now take a more aggressive approach as he reaches out to Americans who voted for Obama in the presidential election, namely by promoting the specifics of his five-point plan for strengthening the economy and creating jobs.

In addition, Rhoades stressed that despite yesterday’s “small disappointment,” everyone in the Romney camp is optimistic that the former Massachusetts governor can once again regain momentum and win the White House.

“The presidential race is a marathon, not a sprint,” Rhoades said. “That whole 47 percent thing was a bit of a blow, but we still managed to come back strong afterward. Sure, we may have lost some ground in the past 24 hours, on Election Day, but there are many more days to come. When all is said and done, we know Mitt will come out on top.”


http://www.theonion.com/articles/romney-camp-retooling-campaign-after-latest-setbac,30282/

Quote of the Day: America's Billionaires are Pissed Off at Karl Rove

"The billionaire donors I hear are livid," one Republican operative told The Huffington Post. "There is some holy hell to pay. Karl Rove has a lot of explaining to do ... I don't know how you tell your donors that we spent $390 million and got nothing."....Rove was forced to defend his group's expenditures live on Fox News on Tuesday night, and will hold a briefing with top donors on Thursday, according to Politico.

If conservative billionaires are looking for something else to be mad about, I'd recommend the Romney campaign's apparent habit of paying about 50 percent more for TV spots than the Obama campaign. That helped line the pockets of the consultants who both recommended the buys and got the commissions for placing the spots, but it didn't do much to win the election.

In the end, it turned out that one side ran its campaign like a business, while the other side ran its like a local PTA. Ironically, it was the ex-community organizer who did the former and the ex-CEO of Bain Capital who did the latter.


http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/11/quote-day-americas-billionaires-are-pissed-karl-rove

First Buddhist Senator First Hindu Congresswoman elected

Tuesday's elections brought two historic firsts for religion in American politics: A Buddhist senator and a Hindu representative -- both from Hawaii -- will join Congress.

Democrat Mazie Hirono beat former Gov. Linda Lingle (R), making Hirono the first Buddhist in the Senate. In Hawaii's 2nd Congressional District, Democrat Tulsi Gabbard defeated Republican opponent Kawika Crowley, making Gabbard the first Hindu in Congress.

Both elections were cheered by Hindu and Buddhist Americans, members of two faiths that share a common history that traces back to ancient India.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/buddhist-hindu-congress-mazie-hirono-tulsi-gabbard_n_2088939.html