You wrote with regard to the Negre aircar;
> It is run by some anti-nuclear power group (such groups are well
> known for wholesale exageration of the potential of solar, wind or
> any other sort of politically correct power).
Many sites on the Internet have compound information that I either am
not interested in or find unrelated, but we can't throw the baby out
with the bathwater.
It does say the info was posted on WIRED, which has NO such nuclear axe
to grind, so does that kind of logic mean that everything posted on
WIRED is bogus too? If a website posts one thing that doesn't pan out,
then everything else MUST be bogus and therefore not worth checking out,
especially the promoted story, simply due to negative affiliation.
That kind of thinking works both ways you know, if a pearl is a pile of
manure isn't of value, then a pile of pearls with one piece of manure
can't be worth anything either...<g>...it seems to me that if we take
information without flavoring it with these associations, letting it
stand or fall on its own merit, without emotional coloring, that we'll
go a lot further and with less obfuscation and prejudice.
You also write;
> Secondly, it states that the car ...
> "will be unveiled in Provence later this month before going into
> mass production in Mexico."
> (that was in February 1998, yes...1998!)
> OK, So where is it?
Geez, one year! And how many other such devices have been announced and
never followed up on? Or which failed their target date?
It was new to me and I have no idea how many others here also never
heard of it, so it was worth posting.
Other promising claims that took place in the 60's and 70's never panned
out either, but does that mean we should ignore them completely?
Check out;
http://www.keelynet.com/energy/boese.htm early 60's to late 70's
http://www.keelynet.com/energy/airmotor.txt 1970's
I find it disturbing this trend toward seeking instant gratification,
that an announcement should immediately be followed up with production
versions that are consumer ready. Who knows what all might have been
offered to the guy or for that matter, happened to him, in the aftermath
of the announcement? Maybe he was offered a sum of money no sane
inventor would turn down?
All I know is what is on that page, hopefully someone else can provide
an update as to what happened to the inventor and its practical
implementation.
I noticed discrepancies on the date commets on that webpage where the
top yellow section clearly says February 1988, a clear typo since last
time I looked, the WIRED article said 1998, but it was recognized as an
error, probably one resulting from radiation poisoning that made their
eyesight fail or their fingers shake to mis-type.
However, 1998 is only one year ago and often such claims aren't EVER
fulfilled, even by regular industries.
For example, Ford has set as a target date, the year 2004 to have the
first production model automobile powered by hydrogen fuel cells. I
hope you write them all kinds of nasty letters WHEN they fail to have a
consumer version on sale precisely on the release date...but I suspect
that won't happen.
Look at all the futuristic prototype cars, boats and such that magazines
like Popular Mechanics, Mechanics Illustrated and others used to hype up
in every other issue. I never saw ANY of those brought to market, even
remotely. Instead they were mostly artists renditions to illustrate new
or proposed features which would never look like the illustration. They
inspired and evoked awe and appreciation but no one that I ever knew
really ever EXPECTED to be able to buy one of them.
Do those advertisements also warrant your castigation? Perhaps in
Australia, things happen overnight as in the Blood Hydrogen burning
vehicle, Yull Brown and his claims of driving a 'Brown's gas' car all
over Australia on a gallon of water and the more recent Joe cell....do
those also rate conformance to a specific release date which of course
never happened.
I have no problem taking such information, adding it to other such
information and serving to indicate to me that there is promise, even if
only in a 2 cylinder engine...so they miss a year or two, big deal.
But I'll bet it was 'guilt by asociation' with that anti-nuclear power
group...<g>....that's the kind of thinking what will forever keep this
or any other air engine ever coming out.
So better to just ignore such announcments, give up, bend over, lay
down....close up and shut down what's left of the ability to cut a bit
of slack...after all, us armchair computer mouse clickers could have
built and been selling those simple airmotors in a month after we had
announced our initial prototype (virtual of course)....if we'd been
involved...
-- Jerry Wayne Decker / jdecker@keelynet.com http://keelynet.com / "From an Art to a Science" Voice : (214) 324-8741 / FAX : (214) 324-3501 KeelyNet - PO BOX 870716 - Mesquite - Republic of Texas - 75187