Who's resurrecting the electric car?

After being declared a guilty accomplice in the killing of the EV1, GM is seeking redemption in the new Volt. GM's leadership may have been heartened by the fact that it's nearest electric car competitor Tesla Motors finally turned a profit. The Automaker is declaring that the new electric vehicle will get 230 miles to the gallon. That claim is based on unproven technology. The first generation electric automobile is expected to cost $40,000 and is slated to roll into showrooms in November 2010 and will qualify for a $7,500 federal tax credit. GM is currently producing 10 a week at a plant in Warren, Mich, and has created around 30 of the cars, with pre-production models being tested in Yuma, Ariz. But Nissan is expecting to release its own electric car at about the same time but with a 357 mpg rating. The problem electric car manufacturers are confronting is urban commuters who lack plug-in capability. But if GM gets this right, it could go a long way to defibrillating the ailing auto industry and reduce Detroit's carbon footprint.

All's health that ends health

The second health care reform war is on. The most visible front in the struggle is the town hall meeting. People like Bob MacGuffie are loading these meetings with people who subvert discussion forums on health care and turn them into shouting matches. This is leading congresscritters like Bloomington's Blue Dog Baron Hill (D-IN) to avoid the town hall format altogether. Who's to blame? There's plenty to go around. Well the Democrats blame the Republicans. Republicans retort that this is a grass-roots rebellion. As is usually the case with such wide sweeping legislation, there are contradictory claims to be resolved, leaving reform open to all sorts of misinformation. Partisans seem more interested in sinking Team Obama than actually making helpful and thoughtful contributions to the very complicated process of reform.

Bon appetite!

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There was a moment of temptation. The line for "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" dwarfed that of "Julie and Julia." The commercials for the former offered the promise of a perfectly dreadful special effects flick. A woman came by looking to exchange passes for the second movie. Since the person with whom I was going to see "Julie and Julia" failed to show up, an assuredly awful film might just be the perfect cathartic tonic.

I let temptation pass, and I'm glad I did. "Julie and Julia" is a wonderful character film. Nora Ephron has done a wonderful job of weaving the stories of these two lives together. The first is that of the cook Julia Child and the other is Julie Powell. Despite the separation of years they lead remarkably similar lives and Ephron has expertly weaved their stories together.

The times in which they lived were eeriely similar. Julia Child lives in Paris during the days of Joseph McCarthy and the Red Scare. Julie lives in New York City and works in an office cubicle worthy of anything depicted in "Dilbert" in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Each of them is at a point where they are seeking meaning in their lives. For Julia, she comes to master cooking and this leads her into the writing life. For Julie, she is a writer who establishes a blog for Salon magazine and that leads her into cooking. The ups and downs of their lives make for a gentle drama.

It's a movie about cooking. It's a movie about writers. It's about two people seeking meaning in their lives and finding it. Meryl Streep offers a performance that is absolutely radiant. Amy Adams offers a strong performance as well. While the movie has a satisfactory ending, one wishes that they had met in real life, as Streep and Adams never share a scene. Both women are well matched by the actors playing their husbands, though Stanley Tucci as Paul Child, Julia's State Department husband, is a standout.

When a lead actress can bring up fond memories of a former girlfriend, then you know that the movie has heart. "Julie and Julia" has a lot of heart. And this is a movie worth paying the $9 to see in the theater. And if you're writing a book, it should be required viewing.

The Great White Fail Whale

Well it seems that the Marine Corps' blanket embargo on Social Networking Sites (SNS) may have been justified. Twitter was the victim of a denial of service attack that began at about 9 a.m. creating a complete Twitter blackout. The service was back up after about three hours. The service's last outage was May 8. Facebook and Livejournal were also targeted by the attack but the scale was smaller. While Twitter believes it was a coordinated attack, the responsible parties may never be identified. What these attacks may mean is unclear. What we may be in need of is a Gunnery Sergeant for the Internet.

The Apple in Google's eye

An Apple - Google War may be in the offing. Twin shots were fired on Monday. The first involves the FCC they want AT&T and Apple to do some 'splainin' as to why, exactly, Google's Voice ap for the iPhone has been rejected. The FCC wants to know what did AT&T and Apple know, and when did they know it. The second shot was fired when Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigned from Apple's Board of Directors citing 'potential conflicts of interest.' The FTC has been getting curious about the relationship between the two companies and possible violations of antitrust regulations. It may be just as well since Google is now aiming for the commuter IT market to get them to switch to Google Apps. Probably just as well. For a company that has taken "Do no Evil," it's looming multifront war against Microsoft, Apple and AT&T may force Google to make some morally questionable choices to win.