Archive for February 9th, 2013

Random notes in haste: February 9, 2013.

Saturday, February 9th, 2013

I’m a little tied up at the moment: my sister and brother-in-law are away, and my mother and I are riding herd on my three nephews. Today’s agenda included a field trip to the Texas Military Forces Museum. (Photos to come.)

Thing one: The LA County Sheriff’s Department had a program called “Friends of the Sheriff”. No, really. (It still exists, but the name has changed.) The basic idea was that applications to LACSD from people who knew the sheriff, or other department officials, would be reviewed through this program.

…having a separate hiring track for people who know sheriff’s officials actually helps prevent special treatment. After an FOS applicant’s background is investigated, he said, a final hiring decision is made by a special panel of commanders who are not informed of the applicant’s identity.

Among the people hired through this program: Justin Bravo, Sheriff Lee Baca’s nephew.

…Bravo was an FOS candidate, listed as “Sheriff Baca’s nephew” and noted as having a “459 arrest” — penal code for burglary — along with “DUI arrest, fight w/San Diego PD and theft.”

He was hired anyway. Wanna take a guess as to why this coming up now?

…the jail deputy is the subject of a Sheriff’s Department criminal probe into whether he abused an inmate. The incident, sheriff’s officials say, was caught on tape. Sources say FBI agents investigating the jails are also inquiring about Bravo.

A while back, I wrote about the case of Reverend John J. Hunter, who was transferred to the Bethel AME church, except Bethel didn’t want him for good and sufficient reasons.

Shoes are now dropping. Bethel AME officially fired Hunter. His petition to go back to his previous church, First AME in LA, has been rejected. And…

…Hunter has filed a civil lawsuit against church leaders in San Francisco for physically barring him from taking the pulpit.
The suit, which alleges assault, battery, libel and emotional distress, is the latest in Hunter’s public battle with members of the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. The 55-year-old pastor is seeking unspecified restitution exceeding $25,000.

And First AME, in turn, is suing Hunter, “alleging that Hunter, his wife and a small ‘cabal’ of church leaders misappropriated millions of dollars in church and nonprofit funds.”

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Cops, Law | Comments Closed

Not ready for prime time motors.

Saturday, February 9th, 2013

I’m with Tam: I don’t care that much about a car’s power source, as long as it can do what I want it to do.

That said, I find this pretty amusing: a NYT reporter sets out to drive a Tesla Model S from Washington to Boston. Hilarity ensues.

The new charging points, at service plazas in Newark, Del., and Milford, Conn., are some 200 miles apart. That is well within the Model S’s 265-mile estimated range, as rated by the Environmental Protection Agency, for the version with an 85 kilowatt-hour battery that I drove — and even more comfortably within Tesla’s claim of 300 miles of range under ideal conditions. Of course, mileage may vary.

…

As I crossed into New Jersey some 15 miles later, I noticed that the estimated range was falling faster than miles were accumulating. At 68 miles since recharging, the range had dropped by 85 miles, and a little mental math told me that reaching Milford would be a stretch.
I began following Tesla’s range-maximization guidelines, which meant dispensing with such battery-draining amenities as warming the cabin and keeping up with traffic. I turned the climate control to low — the temperature was still in the 30s — and planted myself in the far right lane with the cruise control set at 54 miles per hour (the speed limit is 65). Buicks and 18-wheelers flew past, their drivers staring at the nail-polish-red wondercar with California dealer plates.

…

…I spent nearly an hour at the Milford service plaza as the Tesla sucked electrons from the hitching post. When I continued my drive, the display read 185 miles, well beyond the distance I intended to cover before returning to the station the next morning for a recharge and returning to Manhattan.

…

The displayed range never reached the number of miles remaining to Milford, and as I limped along at about 45 miles per hour I saw increasingly dire dashboard warnings to recharge immediately. Mr. Merendino, the product planner, found an E.V. charging station about five miles away.
But the Model S had other ideas. “Car is shutting down,” the computer informed me. I was able to coast down an exit ramp in Branford, Conn., before the car made good on its threat.

…

Tesla’s chief technology officer, J B Straubel, acknowledged that the two East Coast charging stations were at the mileage limit of the Model S’s real-world range. Making matters worse, cold weather inflicts about a 10 percent range penalty, he said, and running the heater draws yet more energy. He added that some range-related software problems still needed to be sorted out.

Posted in Cars, Clippings | 2 Comments »