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For months the New York Times best-seller list pegged Daniel Tammet's Born on a Blue Day this way: "a memoir by autistic savant who can perform extraordinary mathematical calculations." It's a correct description, though it misses much of what makes Tammet so interesting, including the fact that the writer is gay.
Tammet ignited our imagination, first with the 2005 U.K. Brainman and more recently through his appearance on 60 Minutes, each chronicling his talents for numbers and language. He once recited the irrational number pi to more than 22,000 decimal places from memory, a feat that took five hours, set a European record, and raised thousands of dollars for charity. He learned Icelandic--one of the world's trickiest languages--in just one week. While his nickname at school was "Rain Man," Tammet is mentally more agile than Dustin Hoffman's character. (Though equally cinematic--Warner Bros. Pictures has optioned Born on a Blue Day for adaptation into a feature film.) Furthermore, Tammet, who was diagnosed at age 25 with Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, has a remarkable ability to explain how his brain functions.
Tammet, now 28, grew up in a poor family in London, where his parents managed to cope with his autism and childhood epilepsy while raising eight younger children. Tammet first became aware of his homosexuality at age 11. He endured a spell of unrequited love at 16 (he consoled himself by listening to his favorite singer, Karen Carpenter). At 20 he met Neil Mitchell, a computer programmer. Six months later they moved in together in a house an hour outside of London. Tammet doesn't believe there's a neurological link between his homosexuality and his extraordinary mental abilities. There is a connection in his life, however: Both have helped him understand and appreciate the wide range of human experience. What once made him a "freak" on the playground, he says, now makes him friends around the world.
Your book is a best seller. You've been on 60 Minutes. What has the reaction been?
I get letters and e-mails, sometimes hundreds a day, from people who feel for all sorts of reasons that they are outside the mainstream of society. Maybe they see me as someone they can relate to. My Asperger's means I've found it difficult my whole life to relate well to people and make myself available emotionally. What was once a barrier is now a bridge.
Scientists are studying your brain. What are they trying to learn?
My brain seems to be what I would describe as hyperassociative. It makes connections between information very rapidly and connections and relationships between very different things. It may sound prosaic, but scientists have no idea how people add 9 and 7 and get 16, much less how they do multiplication, and my case may shed some light on that. Some scientists believe there may be a little Rain Man in everyone, if only there were some way to unlock it.
On 60 Minutes, Morley Safer was so enthralled with your mathematical abilities, he never even talked about your being gay. Is that typical?
I wonder if I've been talking about so much other stuff that it's almost snuck past. It is mentioned in many articles but often just in passing. It's treated as just one part of my story, which is as it should be.
You seem to have had a remarkably easy time with your sexuality.
I never, ever felt growing up that the feelings that I had were unusual or anything that I should be self-conscious about. That may be one of the blessings of my autism.
Meaning, you don't know what society expects?
Yes. I approach things very intellectually. So I understood that most people will be attracted to the opposite sex but that some people will be different.
When did you first realize that you were different?
I realized that I was attracted to boys when I was about 11, and I remember very clearly that process of suddenly wanting to be closer to the other boys. Having a much more rigidly autistic way of thinking than I have today, I understood closeness as being a physical thing, a tangible thing, rather than emotional. I would literally stand close to the other boys to have that sense of being close to them, and of course that made them uncomfortable.
And did you feel at all uncomfortable in those situations?
I do know that I never had any self-consciousness about [being gay]. I considered it spontaneous, and just another part of becoming a man. It [was] entirely morally neutral.
Your parents said all the right things when you came out to them. Could it be that, because of your autism, all that mattered to them was that you were happy?
I hadn't thought about it in that way before, but that's a very fair comment. My parents were aware that I was different from an early age. And they wanted to support my difference.
Were they worried when you came out to them?
I think they wanted to know what I was saying. Did it mean I was going to be celibate? Or was I capable of a relationship with another man? People with autism can be vulnerable to the advances of other people. They can misinterpret signals. So my parents were anxious for me. And they wondered, Does this make us obsolete?
Obsolete?
when parents who aren't gay hear that their son or daughter is gay, they wonder, Are we capable of giving advice, of explaining how things work? Of course, there are all kinds of general rules that they could give me that you can extrapolate from any relationship.
They weren't worried about whether you'd give them grandchildren? With nine kids in the family, the Tammet line is safe.
You have Asperger's, but you don't seem at all awkward to me. When I was 8 or 9, I started that process that begins immediately for most people--observing, learning how to read people's body language, knowing when to laugh at a joke, knowing how to make eye contact. People say to me nowadays that I'm good at conversation. And it's because I've practiced very hard. It's been a conscious, focused, deliberate enterprise to make myself a social person. It's great to know that you can teach yourself those things.
How did you begin dating?
When I came back from [teaching in] Lithuania, I was 20, and for the first time there was a computer in our house.
Which you shared with eight brothers and sisters?
Yes. The fact that I had to share it, like everything else in the home, was a positive for me, because the computer can take over your life.
Some autistic people say that the Internet has liberated them.
It's true. There is something exciting and reassuring about communicating over the Internet. There is no eye contact, and you aren't thrown off by the intricacies of body language because everything is written down.
But you were in and out of the Internet dating world quite quickly.
One of the first people I began exchanging e-mails with was Nell. Pretty soon we decided to swap photos. Neil was beautiful-tall, with thick dark hair and shining blue eyes. We advanced to telephone calls. And then we decided to meet.
What was your first date like?
I can't drive, so Neil came to collect me. He was very quiet in the car, so I thought he didn't like me. But then he reached behind the seat and pulled out a bouquet of flowers. A few hours later at his house we kissed. We decided there and then that we were meant to be together. It sounds amazing, but the decision to move in together was actually a quick and easy one to make for both of us. I'm happy enough to say it was my first and last relationship. We're in our seventh year.
You sound like an old-fashioned romantic.
When you love someone anything is possible, including a relationship that stands the test of time. Love is giving yourself away. And you can only do that once. Otherwise you're giving away fragments of yourself.
How do you explain your luck in finding true love so quickly?
There had been years of preparation for when someone would come into my life. A lot of things are like that. Three quarters of my adult life has been spent together with Neil. The reason for that is not luck, really, but a lot of hard work.
Hard work?
People find it very easy to fall in love, but they find it much more difficult to actually live it out. They think, It's difficult, so it mustn't be right. They'll go on to another relationship, and they'll have the easy bit again, the unconscious bit, and then they'll move on.
Was your mother concerned about letting you go and live with Neil?
Obviously, at the beginning she didn't know Neil. Had I been straight, had I met a girl, of course there would have been concerns as to who this girl is. Because of my autism there was a higher concern as to whether the relationship would be successful, and if it wasn't, would it impact my ability to form other relationships in the future.
Is it as easy for you as it sounds?
I am able to handle myself fairly well. I'd accomplished a lot even before I'd met Neil. But relationships require heroism on the part of both people.
What do you mean by heroism?
You're opening yourself up completely to another person, and you can't know who this human being is, other than what they choose to reveal to you. Entering a relationship is very much an act of faith.
But it has to be a little bit harder for someone with your challenges.
Obviously, when a person is on the autistic spectrum, there are going to be elements that will affect the relationship.
Such as?
Sometimes I need Neil to show a lot of patience, and repeat things quite a lot to make sure they've sunk in. Of course, routine is very important to me. He has to tell me about the things he planned to do in the day, and he tries to give me as much notice as possible. When I make food or tea he'll try to involve himself in those routines. We argue occasionally but never at length. They haven't been insurmountable obstacles. No part of me has made it impossible to live with me and to love me.
How do you reconcile being gay and being Christian?
There are many gay Christians. Some choose to be celibate. That would be a very hard choice for me. My own understanding is that the Bible is God-breathed. And I'm not a modernist, so I don't think you can chop and change the words. Still, the Bible is like a mirror. You end up reading it not as a reflection of how it is but of how you are. If you're a bigoted, narrow person, you will find bigotry in the Bible.
Have you read the entire Bible?
I haven't read the entire Bible--Ill be honest--and most Christians I know haven't. I do try to make time to sit and read it.
Do you have a social life?
I do have several very close friends. But I don't go out every Friday for drinks or anything like that. I like to spend a lot of time at home. In today's world, where you have huge billboards and advertising everywhere, cues--conscious and unconscious--are constantly being put into your head. For autistic people it can be overwhelming.
So you'd rather stay home?
Some people think the home is restrictive; when you go out into the street or to a big bar or club, this is what freedom looks like. For me it's the reverse. When you go into a public place there are codes about what you can eat, what you can drink, what you can say; you're restricting yourself the moment you enter the public sphere. At home those codes don't exist. You can wear anything or nothing. You can talk about whatever you want. You can go whichever way you want to go.
What kind of things do you and Neil do together?
We go for walks together, discuss ideas to an extent. There was a local charity quiz show we played in recently. We didn't win. We came in 14th out of 76, which is a pretty fair result. One of the questions was "Name Britney Spears's children." I could name the moons of Mars, [but] I wouldn't know anything about Britney Spears.
Is it hard for you to do interviews like this one?
I am by nature reserved. Certainly more so than Americans are, I've heard.
And Neil?
He is probably shyer than I am. He has chosen not to be available to the press. His feeling, which I think is entirely justified, is that I'm the one who has made a claim on the public space. He hasn't.
Do you think much about the causes of homosexuality?
I don't think we'll ever truly understand what makes someone gay or not gay. It's a flavor of being human. But certainly it's fixed prenatally. I think autism is the same way. I didn't get it from anything I was exposed to as a child.
Will you ever have children of your own?
I don't expect to, but I will be an uncle many times over, so, happily, there will be children in my life.
Why won't you have children?
I do personally feel that the ideal is for a child to have a mother and a father. Of course, there are situations where that can't happen. And I see no reason why gay people shouldn't be able to adopt. But gay people shouldn't feel they have to have children to be considered a normal part of society. You can contribute in all sorts of ways beyond procreation. We are different in some fundamental respect. One thing I want to get across is that we shouldn't be afraid of being different.
Would you like to be able to marry Neil?
We should have the same rights to visit in hospitals, to inherit--all the rights and responsibilities that come with marriage. But we're not male and female. Why should we have to be shoehorned into something that wasn't made for us? Marriage can be retained for men and women and a separate but equal institution be available to same-sex couples. We are different; let's not only ask other people to respect our difference but also respect it ourselves.
Is there a downside to your mental gift?
You feel you're obliged to do something with it. Not to waste it. That necessarily takes up a lot of time and energy. Time that other people would spend doing casual stuff. Sometimes people ask me if I am a genius. I always say it's not for me to say. You can't go up to a lunatic and say "Are you mad?"
RELATED ARTICLE: His beautiful mind: inside the brain of an autistic savant lies a parallel universe.
By Rachel Dowd
In the mind of Daniel Tammet, Wednesdays are blue. So is the number 9 which also happens to be tall and to evoke feelings of enormity. He prefers multiplication to any other mathematical calculation, though he can divide a sum to nearly a hundred decimal places almost instantly. His favorite number is 4 because it's both shy and quiet, 89 reminds him of falling snow, and 5 is loud like a thunderclap. The word thunder is orange--as is any word beginning with the letter t--but orange is actually clear and shiny like ice.
Suffice it to say that Daniel Tammet's brain doesn't work like yours.
For one, he's a savant, which by definition means he possesses an extraordinary brilliance or talent coupled with a developmental disorder. Darold Treffert, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School and author of Extraordinary People, explains that there are three levels of savant syndrome: Splinter skills include obsessive preoccupation and memorization of facts and trivia--which suddenly explains that guy we've all met who can list every Beatles song ever written, including track length and album of origin. The talented savant is someone who has an expertise in music, art, or math that's particularly remarkable given his disability. But a prodigious savant, of whom Tammet is one of perhaps 50 in the world, has skills so outstanding that they would be amazing even without the contrast to his handicap.
"Absent the disability, we'd call a prodigious savant a genius," says Treffert, who served as a consultant on the movie Rain Man. "It's a rare condition within an already rare condition."
Tammet's particular developmental disorder is Asperger's syndrome, a mild. high-functioning form of autism. Statistics on how many autistic people live specifically with Asperger's are inexact, but if you consider that more than half a million people in the United Kingdom (where Tammet lives) have some form of autism, his disorder is the one thing about Tammet that isn't so unique. One out of 10 people with an autistic disorder shows some type of heightened talent. People with Asperger's often have normal to high IQs and good language and learning ability. However like those with other types of autism, they have difficulty with social interactions, insist on routine, and exhibit a tendency for obsessive behavior. For Tammet, that means he weighs his morning cereal to exactly 45 grams and counts every item of clothing he's wearing before leaving the house, Friends popping by without warning can cause a meltdown, as can a trip to a large, crowded supermarket. Actually, if the last two serve as criteria, we might all be a little autistic.
As for his prodigious talents, Tammet can calculate numbers in a blink of an eye. He's recited the number pi to more than 22,500 decimal places from memory. He speaks 10 languages, one of which he learned in a week. It's all remarkable, of course. But it's how he does it that makes Tammet so rare. even amid the extraordinary circle he runs in.
Tammet sees numbers (and to a certain extent, words) as shapes, colors, textures, movements, even emotions--a condition known as synesthesia. He has a unique visual response to every number up to 10,000. When doing multiplication he sees two distinct shapes spontaneously create a third between them. which he understands as a new number. Multiplying any number by 11 is accompanied by the sensation of numbers tumbling downward in his head. "It's like doing math without having to think," he writes in his memoir, Born on a Blue Day.
Daniel Bor of the Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit of the Medical Research Council in Cambridge, England, along with colleague Jac Billington of Cambridge University's Autism Research Centre, studied Tammet's ability to process sequential numbers and remember them in correct order. Tammet can recall a series of 12 digits, compared to about six for most people. "Daniel's ability to remember numbers and possibly also his ability for calculations, though that's far more of a mystery, are due to a combination of two factors," says Bor. "First. his Asperger's syndrome allows him to concentrate more deeply on one thing and so excel in an area he chooses to obsess over. Second, we think Daniel's very unusual form of synesthesia causes him to convert those numbers into something even more structured and ordered, making it easier to remember."
It's quite beautiful--and oddly enviable--when you think about it. Tammet's autism could have left him detached and isolated, but his unique relationship with numbers provides him with a dynamic community of personalities and intrigues that may actually exceed the experiences of the average person, "Many savants retreat into their rituals and expertise when they're anxious and upset, and to that extent their abilities become a comfort," explains Treffert. "Daniel's experience is richer. It's a place for him to wander and explore; it colors the mind. It's more than just a comfort. it's enrichment."
So, the question remains: Does your brain have the same. albeit dormant, capacity as Tammet's? Yes and no, says Treffert. "We're finding that some hidden potential exists in us all, but we're not all hidden Picassos."
COPYRIGHT 2007 Liberation Publications, Inc.
Copyright 2007, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Obama: U.S. 'Fully Prepared' for N. Korean Threats - Political News - FOXNews.com
Obama: U.S. 'Fully Prepared' for N. Korean Threats - Political News - FOXNews.com
WASHINGTON -- With North Korea reportedly getting ready for a long-range missile test, President Barack Obama says the U.S. is prepared for any threat the secretive and unpredictable regime might pose.
Japanese media have reported Pyongyang appears to be preparing for a long-range test around July 4, which is U.S. Independence Day. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered additional protections for Hawaii in case a missile is launched over the Pacific Ocean.
"This administration -- and our military is fully prepared for any contingencies," Obama said during an interview with CBS News. The interview was taped Friday and broadcast Monday morning.
"I don't want to speculate on hypotheticals," Obama said. "But I want ... to give assurances to the American people that the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted in terms of what might happen."
"What we're not going to do is to reward belligerence and provocation in the way that's been done in the past," he said.
Defense Undersecretary Michele Flournoy was en route to Beijing to meet with Chinese officials about the ongoing tensions in the region over North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons programs.
North Korea's main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said Monday it was "nonsense" to say the country was threatening the United States. The paper warned that Pyongyang was prepared to strike back if attacked.
"As long as our country has become a proud nuclear power, the U.S. should take a correct look at whom it is dealing with," the paper said. "It would be a grave mistake for the U.S. to think it can remain unhurt if it ignites the fuse of war on the Korean peninsula."
The South Korean news network YTN reported Sunday that a U.S. Navy destroyer was tailing a North Korean ship, the Kang Nam, suspected of carrying illicit weapons toward Myanmar.
A senior U.S. military official told The Associated Press on Friday that a Navy ship, the USS John S. McCain, was relatively close to the North Korean vessel but had no orders to intercept it and had not requested that authority. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive issue of ship movements.
The Navy ship, a guided missile destroyer, is named after the grandfather and father of Republican Sen. John McCain. Both were admirals.
Sen. McCain, who lost the 2008 presidential election to Obama, said Sunday that the U.S. should board the Kang Nam even without North Korean permission if hard evidence shows it is carrying missiles or other cargo in violation of U.N. resolutions.
"I think we should board it. It's going to contribute to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to rogue nations that pose a direct threat to the United States," McCain said on CBS.
The Kang Nam is reportedly the first North Korean vessel to be tracked under new U.N. sanctions.
Obama said Friday that those sanctions demonstrate "unity in the international community," including Russia and China.
"What we're not going to do is to reward belligerence and provocation," Obama told CBS.
WASHINGTON -- With North Korea reportedly getting ready for a long-range missile test, President Barack Obama says the U.S. is prepared for any threat the secretive and unpredictable regime might pose.
Japanese media have reported Pyongyang appears to be preparing for a long-range test around July 4, which is U.S. Independence Day. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered additional protections for Hawaii in case a missile is launched over the Pacific Ocean.
"This administration -- and our military is fully prepared for any contingencies," Obama said during an interview with CBS News. The interview was taped Friday and broadcast Monday morning.
"I don't want to speculate on hypotheticals," Obama said. "But I want ... to give assurances to the American people that the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted in terms of what might happen."
"What we're not going to do is to reward belligerence and provocation in the way that's been done in the past," he said.
Defense Undersecretary Michele Flournoy was en route to Beijing to meet with Chinese officials about the ongoing tensions in the region over North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons programs.
North Korea's main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said Monday it was "nonsense" to say the country was threatening the United States. The paper warned that Pyongyang was prepared to strike back if attacked.
"As long as our country has become a proud nuclear power, the U.S. should take a correct look at whom it is dealing with," the paper said. "It would be a grave mistake for the U.S. to think it can remain unhurt if it ignites the fuse of war on the Korean peninsula."
The South Korean news network YTN reported Sunday that a U.S. Navy destroyer was tailing a North Korean ship, the Kang Nam, suspected of carrying illicit weapons toward Myanmar.
A senior U.S. military official told The Associated Press on Friday that a Navy ship, the USS John S. McCain, was relatively close to the North Korean vessel but had no orders to intercept it and had not requested that authority. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive issue of ship movements.
The Navy ship, a guided missile destroyer, is named after the grandfather and father of Republican Sen. John McCain. Both were admirals.
Sen. McCain, who lost the 2008 presidential election to Obama, said Sunday that the U.S. should board the Kang Nam even without North Korean permission if hard evidence shows it is carrying missiles or other cargo in violation of U.N. resolutions.
"I think we should board it. It's going to contribute to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to rogue nations that pose a direct threat to the United States," McCain said on CBS.
The Kang Nam is reportedly the first North Korean vessel to be tracked under new U.N. sanctions.
Obama said Friday that those sanctions demonstrate "unity in the international community," including Russia and China.
"What we're not going to do is to reward belligerence and provocation," Obama told CBS.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Sure, Mr Obama SIR!
Hosted by Google Back to Google News
Iraq attacks not due to Obama withdrawals: White House
6 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The White House on Tuesday dismissed suggestions that two recent bloody attacks in Iraq were a reaction to President Barack Obama's decision to pull out most combat troops by August next year.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said security challenges remained in Iraq, but said US agreements with the Baghdad government would not have been made if they were likely to plunge Iraq back into "danger."
Gibbs was asked whether the two incidents, the latest of which was a suicide bombing on Tuesday that killed 33 people, were an encouragement to those plotting attacks or emboldened those bent on violence.
"No," said Gibbs, adding that he was not aware of any specific intelligence about such a scenario.
"But I know that the president and the team remain committed to ensuring that Iraq is a stable and secure country going forward and that we'll continue to continually evaluate that."
Gibbs also noted the Status of Forces Agreement signed by the previous Bush administration with Iraq, which mandated the complete withdrawal of all American troops by the end of 2011. Obama has said he plans to honor that timetable.
"I don't think that that would be done if it presented a scenario in which the country would fall into further danger," Gibbs said.
Among the victims of Tuesday's suicide bombing were tribal chiefs, soldiers and two journalists. It was the second major attack around Baghdad in two days, officials said.
On Sunday, a suicide bomber on a bicycle killed 28 people and wounded 56 outside a Baghdad police academy.
In a speech last month, Obama ordered an end to US combat in Iraq by August 31, 2010.
However, Obama said up to 50,000 US troops would remain under a new mission until the end of 2011, nearly nine years after his predecessor George W. Bush ordered an invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
Related articles
* Meet the accidental guerrillas
Salon - 2 hours ago
* Iraq attacks not due to Obama pullout: White House
AFP - 2 hours ago
* Obama Spokesman Says US Committed to Keeping Iraq Stable
Bloomberg - 7 hours ago
* The emerging Obama doctrine
Christian Science Monitor - 8 hours ago
* More coverage (543) »
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AFP
A wounded Iraqi rests on a bed inside Baghdad's Al-Yarmuk hospital
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©2009 Google - About Google News - Blog - Help Center - Help for Publishers - Terms of Use - Privacy Policy - Google Home
Iraq attacks not due to Obama withdrawals: White House
6 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The White House on Tuesday dismissed suggestions that two recent bloody attacks in Iraq were a reaction to President Barack Obama's decision to pull out most combat troops by August next year.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said security challenges remained in Iraq, but said US agreements with the Baghdad government would not have been made if they were likely to plunge Iraq back into "danger."
Gibbs was asked whether the two incidents, the latest of which was a suicide bombing on Tuesday that killed 33 people, were an encouragement to those plotting attacks or emboldened those bent on violence.
"No," said Gibbs, adding that he was not aware of any specific intelligence about such a scenario.
"But I know that the president and the team remain committed to ensuring that Iraq is a stable and secure country going forward and that we'll continue to continually evaluate that."
Gibbs also noted the Status of Forces Agreement signed by the previous Bush administration with Iraq, which mandated the complete withdrawal of all American troops by the end of 2011. Obama has said he plans to honor that timetable.
"I don't think that that would be done if it presented a scenario in which the country would fall into further danger," Gibbs said.
Among the victims of Tuesday's suicide bombing were tribal chiefs, soldiers and two journalists. It was the second major attack around Baghdad in two days, officials said.
On Sunday, a suicide bomber on a bicycle killed 28 people and wounded 56 outside a Baghdad police academy.
In a speech last month, Obama ordered an end to US combat in Iraq by August 31, 2010.
However, Obama said up to 50,000 US troops would remain under a new mission until the end of 2011, nearly nine years after his predecessor George W. Bush ordered an invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
Related articles
* Meet the accidental guerrillas
Salon - 2 hours ago
* Iraq attacks not due to Obama pullout: White House
AFP - 2 hours ago
* Obama Spokesman Says US Committed to Keeping Iraq Stable
Bloomberg - 7 hours ago
* The emerging Obama doctrine
Christian Science Monitor - 8 hours ago
* More coverage (543) »
Add News to your iGoogle Homepage Add News to your iGoogle Homepage
AFP
A wounded Iraqi rests on a bed inside Baghdad's Al-Yarmuk hospital
Map
©2009 Google - About Google News - Blog - Help Center - Help for Publishers - Terms of Use - Privacy Policy - Google Home
Friday, January 23, 2009
Mr OBama Sir, Dont Mess with the Best!
By CHARLES HURT, BUREAU CHIEF
Last updated: 10:37 pm
January 23, 2009
Posted: 8:13 pm
January 23, 2009
WASHINGTON -- President Obama warned Republicans on Capitol Hill today that they need to quit listening to radio king Rush Limbaugh if they want to get along with Democrats and the new administration.
"You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," he told top GOP leaders, whom he had invited to the White House to discuss his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package.
One White House official confirmed the comment but said he was simply trying to make a larger point about bipartisan efforts.
"There are big things that unify Republicans and Democrats," the official said. "We shouldn't let partisan politics derail what are very important things that need to get done."
That wasn't Obama's only jab at Republicans today.
In an exchange with Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) about the proposal, the president shot back: "I won," according to aides briefed on the meeting.
"I will trump you on that."
Not that Obama was gloating. He was just explaining that he aims to get his way on stimulus package and all other legislation, sources said, noting his unrivaled one-party control of both congressional chambers.
"We are experiencing an unprecedented economic crisis that has to be dealt with and dealt with rapidly," Obama said during the meeting.
Republicans say the $825 billion price tag is too big a burden for a nation crippled by debt and that it doesn't do enough to stimulate the economy by cutting taxes.
"You know, I'm concerned about the size of the package. And I'm concerned about some of the spending that's in there, [about] ... how you can spend hundreds of millions on contraceptives," House GOP Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) later said.
"How does that stimulate the economy?"
But White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs countered: "There was a lot of agreement in that room about the notion that we're facing an economic crisis unlike we've seen in quite some time ... that we must act quickly to stimulate the economy, create jobs, put money back in people's pockets."
Gibbs disagreed with those who called the meeting window dressing.
"The president is certainly going to listen to any ideas," he said.
"He will also go to Capitol Hill the beginning of next week to talk to Republican caucuses and solicit their input and their ideas."
With Post Wires
churt@nypost.com
Last updated: 10:37 pm
January 23, 2009
Posted: 8:13 pm
January 23, 2009
WASHINGTON -- President Obama warned Republicans on Capitol Hill today that they need to quit listening to radio king Rush Limbaugh if they want to get along with Democrats and the new administration.
"You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," he told top GOP leaders, whom he had invited to the White House to discuss his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package.
One White House official confirmed the comment but said he was simply trying to make a larger point about bipartisan efforts.
"There are big things that unify Republicans and Democrats," the official said. "We shouldn't let partisan politics derail what are very important things that need to get done."
That wasn't Obama's only jab at Republicans today.
In an exchange with Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) about the proposal, the president shot back: "I won," according to aides briefed on the meeting.
"I will trump you on that."
Not that Obama was gloating. He was just explaining that he aims to get his way on stimulus package and all other legislation, sources said, noting his unrivaled one-party control of both congressional chambers.
"We are experiencing an unprecedented economic crisis that has to be dealt with and dealt with rapidly," Obama said during the meeting.
Republicans say the $825 billion price tag is too big a burden for a nation crippled by debt and that it doesn't do enough to stimulate the economy by cutting taxes.
"You know, I'm concerned about the size of the package. And I'm concerned about some of the spending that's in there, [about] ... how you can spend hundreds of millions on contraceptives," House GOP Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) later said.
"How does that stimulate the economy?"
But White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs countered: "There was a lot of agreement in that room about the notion that we're facing an economic crisis unlike we've seen in quite some time ... that we must act quickly to stimulate the economy, create jobs, put money back in people's pockets."
Gibbs disagreed with those who called the meeting window dressing.
"The president is certainly going to listen to any ideas," he said.
"He will also go to Capitol Hill the beginning of next week to talk to Republican caucuses and solicit their input and their ideas."
With Post Wires
churt@nypost.com
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
I have dreamt of this since I was a little tyke
From The Sunday Times
January 11, 2009
The flying car
The fantasy of spy novels and science fiction films is at last becoming reality with a vehicle that can turn from car to aircraft in 15 seconds
Mark Harris
It is the ultimate off-roader and it is coming to an airstrip near you. The flying car has been talked about for almost as long as cars have existed, and now a prototype built by a small American company is finally ready to make the idea a reality.
The Terrafugia Transition is a two-seater plane that at the touch of a button converts into a road-legal car. It takes its maiden flight next month and is scheduled to hit the showrooms by next year. You can’t help but wonder whether, if Bob Nardelli and Rick Wagoner, of Chrysler and General Motors respectively, had been forward-thinking enough to fly into Washington DC in swept-wing Dodge Vipers and Cadillac Escalades instead of corporate jets when they were seeking bailout cash, they would have been showered with government money, downturn or no downturn.
“It’s like a little Transformer,” says Carl Dietrich, the Terrafugia boss, proudly. “This is the first really integrated design where the wings fold up automatically and all the parts are in one vehicle. All we have is one simple folding wing, and that means the Transition takes just 15 seconds to switch between flying and driving.”
Dietrich has a well-rehearsed list of reasons why “roadable aircraft” make financial sense. They promise to be quicker than cars for intercity commuting, fit into a normal garage (saving hangar fees) and even run on plain old premium unleaded. However, he’s missing the real reason the Transition is causing such a stir in the automotive as well as the aviation world: flying cars are cool. They’re James Bond. They’re Blade Runner. They’re Back to the Future.
Related Links
* World’s first flying car prepares for take-off
At the moment, though, Terrafugia’s car looks more like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang than The Jetsons. The prototype Transition has been made at Terrafugia’s small workshop in Woburn, Massachusetts, by a team of young engineers recruited from MIT and Nasa. The ungainly vehicle has a single engine — a 100bhp petrol motor that drives either the wheels or a rear-facing propeller. As a car, it has a normal steering wheel, accelerator and brake pedals, but no gearstick (the Transition has a continuously variable transmission).
With its wings deployed and the propeller spinning, the Transition can take off from any airfield, although not from roads — it’s illegal everywhere in the US except in sparsely populated Alaska. It can fly up to 500 miles on a single tank of petrol at a cruising speed of about 115mph. That’s the plan, at least. Though it has reached 90mph in test drives, the prototype Transition’s wheels have yet to leave the ground.
That’s not for technical reasons; it’s because the various road and aircraft licensing authorities have been wondering how to classify it. “It took six months just to get our \plate,” says Dick Gersh, a former lawyer with the car insurance industry and now a vice-president at Terrafugia. “The government, insurance companies and lawyers have never contemplated a flying car. I wanted a car that could fly and drive but you couldn’t do either because you couldn’t get insured.”
Gersh is confident that he will be able to insure the Transition once it makes a successful test flight — and a safe landing. The Transition has a safety cage and crumple zones, although it will not have to pack the latest safety features or undergo a crash test before it takes to the air.
“There are already exemption policies for low-volume manufacturers like Lamborghini,” says Dietrich. “We can’t afford the huge amounts of research and development for motion-sensing airbags, and we certainly can’t afford to crash-test our only prototype. If it makes you feel safer, Boeing doesn’t crash-test its big jets either.”
Terrafugia hopes to deliver the first production flying car by the middle of next year. The company already has orders for 40 aircraft. “The majority of our customers are retired or near-retired couples who want a fun vehicle to putter around the country in. They’ve worked hard their whole lives and now they can have a flying car, a technology that they’ve been promised in films and TV since they were a kid,” says Dietrich. “We even have a couple of orders from people who are not pilots but will learn because of this vehicle. They’re willing to put money down on a vehicle that they can’t fly yet.”
Terrafugia’s Transition will set them back a cool $200,000 (£132,000). “For an airplane, that’s very reasonable, but for a car, that’s very much at the high end,” Dietrich admits. “It’s got to start there. You can’t make a $10,000 flying car yet. This is not going to change overnight and it won’t become a mass-market item any time in the near future. But in the long term we have the potential to make air travel practical for individuals at a price that would meet or beat driving, with huge time savings. And that could be a real game-changer for aviation as well as driving.”
The flying car has been technically possible for years but the legal runway was cleared for take-off only four years ago. The American Federal Aviation Authority created a new category of plane called light sports aircraft. These planes are subject to fewer rules and regulations than traditional passenger aircraft and can be flown by pilots after just 20 hours of training, half the normal American requirement.
At the same time, advances in avionics (the systems that allow you to pilot the plane) have made flying much simpler. Gone are the days when a plane’s cockpit was a kaleidoscope of flashing buttons and switchgear. Instead, new technology means that the inside of a cockpit is little different from that of a luxury car. Navigation can be taken care of by GPS, weather patterns can be displayed on a simple colour screen and automatic throttles help to keep control of the aircraft.
So the next time you remind the passengers in your car to fasten their seatbelts, it might be in preparation for take-off.
Blue-sky thinking: the rivals
PARAJET SKYCAR
What is it? A lightweight two-seater buggy that uses a giant fan mounted on the back and a paraglide-style chute to keep it airborne.
Are they serious? It seems so. The Skycar is due to take off on Tuesday on its maiden flight. It has been developed by British engineers, who are proving its worth by flying and driving it 3,730 miles from London to Timbuktu. On the road it has a top speed of 110mph; in fly mode it can reach 80mph with a range of 180 miles. The wing takes about three minutes to deploy manually and the Skycar can take off in only 200 yards. If the trip is successful, the team aims to put the design into production, with prices from £40,000 for a basic model up to £60,000 for a sports version.
A5 ICON AIRCRAFT
What is it? The world’s first multi-purpose recreational flying vehicle.
Are they serious? Yes. The A5 has made several test flights and the Los Angeles company plans to bring it to market this year. Not strictly speaking a flying car, the A5 requires a trailer to transport it to its take-off point. This is made possible by the fact that it has folding wings, meaning it can also be housed in a garage. The A5 is also amphibious and so doesn’t need a runway to get airborne — a lake or river will do. It comes complete with parachute to lower the plane to the ground (or water). The engine runs on ordinary unleaded fuel and Icon says the A5 will cost $139,000 (£92,000).
PAL-V EUROPE BV
What is it? A three-wheeled girocopter, capable of vertical take-off and landing.
Are they serious? Possibly. After six years of concept work, the project has entered the final phase of development: building the first commercial prototype to prove all the technologies work. The Dutch company hopes to begin marketing the vehicle this year and customers can sign up to buy one, although prices are yet to be decided. On the road it has the agility of a motorbike, and the single rotor and propeller fold away. Airborne, the PAL-V flies below 4,000ft, so pilots don’t need to log a flight plan to use it, and it has a top speed of about 125mph.
* Have your say
When can i buy this crazy thing :P =)
Jordy Sipkema, Bergen op Zoom, The Netherlands
Some experts think that in the fututre we will be able to fly anywhere in the world in our own flying cars as freely as you drive you're car today without having to be a millionaire.
Times Online Services:
News International associated
January 11, 2009
The flying car
The fantasy of spy novels and science fiction films is at last becoming reality with a vehicle that can turn from car to aircraft in 15 seconds
Mark Harris
It is the ultimate off-roader and it is coming to an airstrip near you. The flying car has been talked about for almost as long as cars have existed, and now a prototype built by a small American company is finally ready to make the idea a reality.
The Terrafugia Transition is a two-seater plane that at the touch of a button converts into a road-legal car. It takes its maiden flight next month and is scheduled to hit the showrooms by next year. You can’t help but wonder whether, if Bob Nardelli and Rick Wagoner, of Chrysler and General Motors respectively, had been forward-thinking enough to fly into Washington DC in swept-wing Dodge Vipers and Cadillac Escalades instead of corporate jets when they were seeking bailout cash, they would have been showered with government money, downturn or no downturn.
“It’s like a little Transformer,” says Carl Dietrich, the Terrafugia boss, proudly. “This is the first really integrated design where the wings fold up automatically and all the parts are in one vehicle. All we have is one simple folding wing, and that means the Transition takes just 15 seconds to switch between flying and driving.”
Dietrich has a well-rehearsed list of reasons why “roadable aircraft” make financial sense. They promise to be quicker than cars for intercity commuting, fit into a normal garage (saving hangar fees) and even run on plain old premium unleaded. However, he’s missing the real reason the Transition is causing such a stir in the automotive as well as the aviation world: flying cars are cool. They’re James Bond. They’re Blade Runner. They’re Back to the Future.
Related Links
* World’s first flying car prepares for take-off
At the moment, though, Terrafugia’s car looks more like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang than The Jetsons. The prototype Transition has been made at Terrafugia’s small workshop in Woburn, Massachusetts, by a team of young engineers recruited from MIT and Nasa. The ungainly vehicle has a single engine — a 100bhp petrol motor that drives either the wheels or a rear-facing propeller. As a car, it has a normal steering wheel, accelerator and brake pedals, but no gearstick (the Transition has a continuously variable transmission).
With its wings deployed and the propeller spinning, the Transition can take off from any airfield, although not from roads — it’s illegal everywhere in the US except in sparsely populated Alaska. It can fly up to 500 miles on a single tank of petrol at a cruising speed of about 115mph. That’s the plan, at least. Though it has reached 90mph in test drives, the prototype Transition’s wheels have yet to leave the ground.
That’s not for technical reasons; it’s because the various road and aircraft licensing authorities have been wondering how to classify it. “It took six months just to get our \plate,” says Dick Gersh, a former lawyer with the car insurance industry and now a vice-president at Terrafugia. “The government, insurance companies and lawyers have never contemplated a flying car. I wanted a car that could fly and drive but you couldn’t do either because you couldn’t get insured.”
Gersh is confident that he will be able to insure the Transition once it makes a successful test flight — and a safe landing. The Transition has a safety cage and crumple zones, although it will not have to pack the latest safety features or undergo a crash test before it takes to the air.
“There are already exemption policies for low-volume manufacturers like Lamborghini,” says Dietrich. “We can’t afford the huge amounts of research and development for motion-sensing airbags, and we certainly can’t afford to crash-test our only prototype. If it makes you feel safer, Boeing doesn’t crash-test its big jets either.”
Terrafugia hopes to deliver the first production flying car by the middle of next year. The company already has orders for 40 aircraft. “The majority of our customers are retired or near-retired couples who want a fun vehicle to putter around the country in. They’ve worked hard their whole lives and now they can have a flying car, a technology that they’ve been promised in films and TV since they were a kid,” says Dietrich. “We even have a couple of orders from people who are not pilots but will learn because of this vehicle. They’re willing to put money down on a vehicle that they can’t fly yet.”
Terrafugia’s Transition will set them back a cool $200,000 (£132,000). “For an airplane, that’s very reasonable, but for a car, that’s very much at the high end,” Dietrich admits. “It’s got to start there. You can’t make a $10,000 flying car yet. This is not going to change overnight and it won’t become a mass-market item any time in the near future. But in the long term we have the potential to make air travel practical for individuals at a price that would meet or beat driving, with huge time savings. And that could be a real game-changer for aviation as well as driving.”
The flying car has been technically possible for years but the legal runway was cleared for take-off only four years ago. The American Federal Aviation Authority created a new category of plane called light sports aircraft. These planes are subject to fewer rules and regulations than traditional passenger aircraft and can be flown by pilots after just 20 hours of training, half the normal American requirement.
At the same time, advances in avionics (the systems that allow you to pilot the plane) have made flying much simpler. Gone are the days when a plane’s cockpit was a kaleidoscope of flashing buttons and switchgear. Instead, new technology means that the inside of a cockpit is little different from that of a luxury car. Navigation can be taken care of by GPS, weather patterns can be displayed on a simple colour screen and automatic throttles help to keep control of the aircraft.
So the next time you remind the passengers in your car to fasten their seatbelts, it might be in preparation for take-off.
Blue-sky thinking: the rivals
PARAJET SKYCAR
What is it? A lightweight two-seater buggy that uses a giant fan mounted on the back and a paraglide-style chute to keep it airborne.
Are they serious? It seems so. The Skycar is due to take off on Tuesday on its maiden flight. It has been developed by British engineers, who are proving its worth by flying and driving it 3,730 miles from London to Timbuktu. On the road it has a top speed of 110mph; in fly mode it can reach 80mph with a range of 180 miles. The wing takes about three minutes to deploy manually and the Skycar can take off in only 200 yards. If the trip is successful, the team aims to put the design into production, with prices from £40,000 for a basic model up to £60,000 for a sports version.
A5 ICON AIRCRAFT
What is it? The world’s first multi-purpose recreational flying vehicle.
Are they serious? Yes. The A5 has made several test flights and the Los Angeles company plans to bring it to market this year. Not strictly speaking a flying car, the A5 requires a trailer to transport it to its take-off point. This is made possible by the fact that it has folding wings, meaning it can also be housed in a garage. The A5 is also amphibious and so doesn’t need a runway to get airborne — a lake or river will do. It comes complete with parachute to lower the plane to the ground (or water). The engine runs on ordinary unleaded fuel and Icon says the A5 will cost $139,000 (£92,000).
PAL-V EUROPE BV
What is it? A three-wheeled girocopter, capable of vertical take-off and landing.
Are they serious? Possibly. After six years of concept work, the project has entered the final phase of development: building the first commercial prototype to prove all the technologies work. The Dutch company hopes to begin marketing the vehicle this year and customers can sign up to buy one, although prices are yet to be decided. On the road it has the agility of a motorbike, and the single rotor and propeller fold away. Airborne, the PAL-V flies below 4,000ft, so pilots don’t need to log a flight plan to use it, and it has a top speed of about 125mph.
* Have your say
When can i buy this crazy thing :P =)
Jordy Sipkema, Bergen op Zoom, The Netherlands
Some experts think that in the fututre we will be able to fly anywhere in the world in our own flying cars as freely as you drive you're car today without having to be a millionaire.
Times Online Services:
News International associated
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