The HiTech eZine » trucks

Truck Backing “Accident”? You Judge!

Dennis Dearborne — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:34:45 +0000

Ok. Now I’m mad! I’ve been “out of work” since the “Accident” which occurred on the 4th of July. I just found out that my claim was JUST approved today (July 17, 2009). Repairs on my truck won’t even BEGIN until later next week! Covenant Transportation is SELF INSURED! Judge, for yourself, the situation.

The email copied below should be self-explanatory to all but the most ignorant or least attentive! Neither of which I would expect a Vice President of a rather large Trucking Company to be!

From: Dennis Dearborne [mailto:dennisdear@aim.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 6:33 PM
To: coodou@covenanttransportation.com
Cc: dennisdear@ec.rr.com
Subject: Warning shot fired across your Bow!

Please send any email responses to dennisdear@ec.rr.com

To: Mr. Doug Cook, Vice President of Safety at Covenant Transportation Co.

Mr. Cook,

This email is intended, not as a threat, but as a “shot across your bow”. I want this to be your opportunity to “do the right thing”.

On the 4th of July, at 4pm, one of your company drivers (of only 1 month, according to him) backed a trailer into the front end of my truck (that I own). He contacted me at just above the headlight (on the passenger side) and continued tearing his way through my hood. Contact with his trailer didn’t end until my passenger side door mounted mirrors.

He had approximately 100 YARDS of clear maneuvering space in front, and the spaces are EXTRA wide (Pilot Truck Stop in Breezewood, PA – just at the exit of the fuel islands). Your driver (James E. Barker.. truck number 11503), in spite of having all that maneuvering space in front of us, performed a “blind side” approach. I DO have a witness to this “Accident”. Weather was DRY and CLEAR! Your equipment sustained NO DAMAGE WHATSOEVER! I, however, am an Owner Operator and no one is going to be “bailing me out”. Your driver was “released to leave the scene” by your Safety department. He was not detained, was not told to call the police, and was not drug tested! This, on top of being GROSSLY INCOMPITENT/NOT PROPERLY TRAINED to perform one of the least challenging backing scenarios I could possibly imagine!

These are just some facts of this occurrence. Now, the real reason that I have to write you this email!

The incident was reported to both your company and mine! Claim numbers were issued. Police report filed (by ME, since your safety department did NOT direct your driver to report the “accident”). I was given a name and number to call this past Monday (Jan Luttrel). I placed a call, as she directed me to (via verbal communication relayed from your driver) but was put into voice mail. I have called TWO additional times today. I STILL have received NO communications from ANYONE at your company.

My company, whom I lease back to, is a VERY LARGE competitor of yours, and will remain unnamed at this time. Being an Owner Operator, I’m on my own! Subject to having to wait for YOUR company to respond. However, I AM STILL under a Customer Watch load that MUST deliver (to be considered an ontime delivery) TOMORROW evening in Baltimore. Obviously I cannot deliver that load myself! But they are, nonetheless, putting me under some great pressure to give them status (which I DON’T HAVE) of what YOUR company is doing about this situation!

Now… back to the “shot across your bow”, and a fair warning for you to intercede in this mess!

I publish an Online webZine called the “HiTech Trucker”. AND I’m a contributing editor to someone who writes a daily column at the Lexington Examiner. These are NOT just some “casual editorials”, done “once in awhile”! They are done DAILY! I’m also HEAVILY involved in the Twitter, Facebook, Friend Feed, and YOUtube communities (only to mention just a FEW) and well respected there! I have some even greater ties than what I’ve mentioned. But, again, my intent is NOT to threaten, but more to forewarn!

I trust you have at least a small grasp, maybe even greater, of the power of the Internet Mediums. I’m prepared to do a piece that explicitly identifies your company, the apparent lack of proper training, and the way that (at least in MY case) things are handled by your company. This IS, after all, well within my First Amendment rights! I hope that I don’t need to tell you the speed of which these kinds of things are picked up on, and proliferated, by the Internet (Just Twitter alone, if NOTHING else!).

I’m hoping that you can get involved in, and intercede, before I have to resort to doing more than just a warning shot across your bow.

I plan on making only TWO more phone calls to Jan in the morning (7/8/09). I expect that I will only be able to leave yet TWO more voice mail messages. The first will be to inform her of my editorial avenues available. The second call will be to inform her that the articles are READY to be distributed (will only take me a couple of hours!). I’ll give her about 1 more hour…. and then I “push the button”.

Mr Cook, I assure you, from that point the stories will distribute in an unstoppable fashion. Please don’t make it come down to that!

I’m a reasonable sort of guy, and patience IS one of my virtues. But enough is enough! This is going to end up putting me OUT OF BUSINESS if I don’t do something that, normally, I’m not inclined to do.

This letter to you, would ALSO be published, in its entirety.

I thank you, in advance, for anything that you can do to end this travesty.

Sincerely,

Dennis Dearborne Editor, writer, originator of the Hitech Trucker webzine www.hitechtrucker.net

Mr. Cook,

After finally (this morning) getting in touch with your Claims, and Insurance departments, it was brought to my attention that I sent the correspondence (above) to @covenanttransportation.com address instead of @covenanttransport.com. This, of course, means that you did not receive this email last night as I intended. This was my error when filling in the address line, even though I had it written down correctly. Computers are, in actuality, just dumb machines following the orders of we humans.

The appeals I make to you, in the email above, are now rendered moot, for the most part, in that the process is now finally moving forward.

However, I do STILL beseech you to take to heart the portion of this email that DOES fall under your direct purview, those related to Safety AND training of your drivers. I don’t feel that my judgments of the lack of the “backing skills” of this particular driver are without merit. I, as well as others involved in activist areas of the Trucking Industry, ARE watching lawsuits pending (or settled) that your company has been, or is currently involved with. In particular, those that would seem to indicate improper or inferior training of your drivers. I am still going to reserve the right (again, via my 1^st amendment rights, if nothing else) to post articles pertaining to our findings. The public, AND innocent truck drivers (like myself in this case!) need to be protected from incompetence on our highways! Incompetence from the operators of ALL forms of vehicles.

Thank you again, for any assistance you may provide,

Dennis Dearborne

The reply to my email, from Mr. Cook, cannot be copied here as there is a legal statement, at the bottom of his email, which forbids me to do so. However, even though I followed directions conveyed to me (as written in my first email to Mr. Cook), his response indicated that the “slowness of the claim process” was MY FAULT! Citing that I had contacted “incorrect people” in “incorrect departments”. And, also, that any further correspondence should NOT be sent to him! I wonder how he “processed” the parts of the email that WERE directed appropriately — to the VP of SAFETY! They were summarily ignored. And I was “dismissed” with a simple wave of his hand, as some ignorant trucker!

Pretend, for just a moment, that YOU are the VP of SAFETY of ANY corporation. Is this the way that YOU would have handled this issue?

I enclose a couple of pictures to illustrate the “Parking Challenge” their driver had to contend with!

Look at all that “maneuvering space” for a straight line back! Can you imagine how backing could be any simpler?

Parking stalls are EXTRA WIDE. My Grandmother could back a truck into a stall successfully under these circumstances. Imagine this driver, with his obviously lacking training, backing into a “normal” stall in a “normal” Truck Stop row spacing! YIKES!!

Google’s WAVE Application

Dennis Dearborne — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:54:59 +0000

I just completed an Online Seminar (the better part of 2 hours) viewing of the about to be released (sometime this Summer?) Google Wave Application. This seminar was geared towards API (Application Programming Interface) developers. Google’s Wave is “Open Sourced for developers”. Which, loosely defined, means… “Ya’ll Come and help us develop this puppy”.

WHAT IS WAVE?

Google Wave is a new communication service previewed recently at an API Developer’s showing called “Google I/O”. “A wave is equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more”. The service seems to combine Gmail and Google Docs into an interesting free-form workspace that could be used to write documents collaboratively, plan events, play games, chat (Twitter for example), or discuss recent news.

FIRST THOUGH, A LITTLE BIT OF “WEB HISTORY”

Two of the most influential successes in digital communications, email and instant messaging, were originally designed in the ’60s to imitate some analog counterparts. Email mimicked “snail mail”, and IM (Instant Messaging) mimicked phone calls. Since then, so many different forms of communications have also been invented; Websites, Blogs, WIKIs, collaborative documents, etc. Computers and networks also dramatically improved along the way.

THEN ALONG COMES A NEW IDEA!

An idea which quite possibly may be the birth of something HUGE, taking us rapidly from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0, and completely reshaping the way that we view computer interaction, both in Business and/or Social Networking. Email is now 40 years old, yet still remains the most popular method to communicate. Email came before the internet… before the web. What would email look like IF it were to be invented today?

Email becomes REAL TIME. Instead of simple static documents that need to be created, SENT, distributed, and then REPLIED to, with the same ponderous and static distribution back to the originator. Imagine this whole process occurring in REAL TIME, with all participants of the WAVE making their individual contributions TO that Wave!

Spell Checking also occurs in Real Time as you type your contribution to the Wave. But it’s also so much more than just a “spell checker”. It’s also a “context checker”. Here’s a real example used in the seminar. A demonstrator typed “icland is an icland”. The “spell/context checker” converted this (INSTANTLY) to “Iceland is an island”. Thunderous applause resulted from the programmers in attendance!

WHOSE IDEA IS THIS?

Two engineering brothers (Jens and Lars Rasmussen) created a well known (and well used) application by the name of Google Maps. This also morphed into Google Earth and Google Sky! They then conceived of a new idea/project, which they codenamed “Walkabout”. This idea has morphed into Google Wave!

They started with a set of tough questions:

* Why do we have to live with divides between different types of communication — email versus chat, or conversations versus documents?

* Could a single communications model span all or most of the systems in use on the web today, in one smooth continuum? How simple could we make it?

* What if we tried designing a communications system that took advantage of computers’ current abilities, rather than imitating non-electronic forms?

They then gave developers an early preview of “Google Wave”.

WHAT’S A WAVE COMPRISED OF ANYWAY?

A “wave” is equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. Think of a “wave” as something akin to a “thread”. The WAVE starts out simply, gathers participants, and the WAVE builds. It can gather documents, text, graphics,photos, videos, IM’s, WIKI’s, etc as it “builds”.

Wave is an HTML5 App that uses your browser as it’s engine. It’s quite easy for me to imagine the platform being a simple NetBook (or Smart Phone), with it’s internet connectivity, using it’s browser as your “Window” to ALL of your communication needs!

HOW IT ALL WORKS:

Here’s how it works: In Google Wave you create a “wave” and add people to it. Everyone on your “wave” can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. They can insert a reply or edit the wave directly (in REAL TIME I might add, NO waiting required!). It’s concurrent rich-text editing, where you see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave. That means Google Wave is just as well suited for quick messages (IM’s) as for persistent content — it allows for both collaboration and communication. You can also use “playback” to rewind the wave and see how it (the thread) evolved. This “Playback” capability allows for Newly added participants to “catch up” with conversations, and other added content that occurred before they were added to “the group”. One mouse click on a button… boom! instant “catch up”. Very, very nice capability indeed!

Google says, “As with Android, Google Chrome, and many other Google efforts, we plan to make the code open source as a way to encourage the developer community to get involved. Google Wave is very open and extensible, and we’re inviting developers to add all kinds of cool stuff before our public launch.” Google Wave has three layers: the product, the platform, and the protocol:

* The Google Wave product (available as a developer preview) is the web application people will use to access and edit waves. It’s an HTML 5 app, built on Google Web Toolkit. It includes a rich text editor and other functions like desktop drag-and-drop (which, for example, lets you drag a set of photos right into a wave). This feature ALONE is incredibly powerful. Have you ever tried to create a photo album that ALL members of a group can add to? And merely by performing a drag and drop operation? ALL members of the Wave are upgraded simultaneously AND instantly! And, again, any added Wave participants can “catch up” by merely clicking the “playback” button! WOW!

* Google Wave can also be considered a platform with a rich set of open APIs that allow developers to embed waves in other web services (Twitter for example), and to build new extensions that work inside waves.

* The Google Wave protocol is the underlying format for storing and the means of sharing waves, and includes the “live” concurrency control, which allows edits to be reflected instantly across users and services. The protocol is designed for open federation, such that anyone’s Wave services can inter-operate with each other and with the Google Wave service. To encourage adoption of the protocol, they intend to open source the code behind Google Wave.

In Wave, what you would think of as an email “REPLY” can be inserted into this “next generation email” scenario as an IM exchange. All of which occurs in REAL TIME. Current IM exchanges (let’s use Skype texting as an example) you spend most of your time watching a “pen scrawl”.. indicating that the other party is typing… typing…. typing…. when, in WAVE, you watch character by character as they are actually being typed. Imagine how much quicker IM’s transpire if you can be reading while they are typing…. and vice versa. This allows you to “formulate” YOUR OWN reply as you read. This can DRAMATICALLY speed up the conversation. BTW, there IS a check box that you can invoke so that others CANNOT see your typing (mistakes and all) until you hit “return”. Have it YOUR way!

This will allow email “type” communications to be combined with IM type communications, all to be combined into ONE TOOL! Once again, new participants can be added to the Wave with a simple mouse click, and a simple function called “playback” allows the new Wave participant to “catch up” to the Wave by adding in prior subject threads, that they, otherwise, would not be privy to.

Private replies (akin to DM’s) can be injected into the threads, and they remain PRIVATE. Pictures can be dragged (from a desktop looking Wave panel,) right into the content of the Wave. Thumbnails appear immediately (as the file transfers of the photos takes place behind the scenes). HTML5 can not support this drag and drop from the desktop quite yet. However it’s, as we speak, being implemented into the new spec. It’s the ONLY part of Wave that isn’t accommodated as yet! Group photo albums can be created quite simply with WAVE, something that remains complex to do with today’s current tools.

This technology is incredibly exciting. I can’t wait for the developers to get busy with API’s and turn Google Wave’s infrastructure into something incredibly flexible and useful. I believe WAVE will SURELY transform the way that we all interact on both Business AND/OR social levels.

Comment I found on the Google Wave forum, to me, pretty much encapsulates my feelings about where the development of this product is headed. I would give David’s full name (for credit to him) but it was not included in his post.

” David said:

I just finished watching the video, and I was blown away. I was amazed at how content-centric this is. Any type of content can theoretically be added to a wave: chats, e-mail, documents, images, spreadsheets, code, video, twits, etc.–anything you wish. Even extensions are exposed as content within waves. This completely breaks down the barrier between different forms of content (and applications) and unifies it all as waves. This means that, theoretically, all of Google’s services can be unified within Google Wave. They wouldn’t necessary have to go away, but their interfaces would be used less, as all their content would be exposed through Google Wave’s interface. Not just that, but any service could be added and exposed as waves, from Google Reader and Gmail to competing services like Flickr and Facebook. Just like RSS feeds pull in the web to us, Wave could eventually pull in all our online activity into one organized place. And we’d rarely need to leave it!

The best part of all this is how open this is. Anyone can offer a competing services, and anyone can theoretically take all his waves with him to a competing service. One could even run a Wave server at home, solving the privacy issues of using a third-party service.

In short, this has the potential to change not just the web, but how we compute in general. I can’t wait to see where this goes.”

Many kudos to all at Google…… Dennis Dearborne The HiTech Trucker

iPhones Overheating After OS3.0 Upgrade?

Dennis Dearborne — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:04:13 +0000

Users Reporting Problems With iPhone 3GS, and iPod Touch, since upgrading software to OS 3.0

Apple sold over one million iPhone 3GS units in three days. Of course there are bound to be some problems.

Recently, a discolored overheated iPhone 3GS was discovered and blogged about on blogs like Gizmodo, Engadget, and PCWorld. I’m not 100% sure, but I think that the overheating problem might be being caused by the iPhone OS 3.0 software update and it isn’t affecting the iPhone 3GS only, it’s affecting other iPhone and iPod Touch devices as well. After updating my iPod Touch to 3.0 I did notice that it got warmer whenever I plugged it in to charge it or when playing a game. I just did a quick Google search, and it looks like I’m not the only one who has experienced this. I expect Apple to fix this in their next iPhone update (which will I hope will be coming soon!).

A White iPhone 3GS that has overheated, will discolor the plastic on the back to either pink or brown, due to the device running very hot.

There is an error message that can appear onscreen when the operating temperature has become too hot. This is a result of a built in safety mechanism that protects the components of the device. If this message appears, you should turn the device off, move it to a cooler environment, and allow it to cool before resuming use.

Note: When this message appears, the iPhone may still be able to make emergency calls.

Apple has replied, “Conditions and activities that may activate the Temperature warning message: leaving the phone in direct sunlight for extended amounts of time or using certain applications in hot conditions or direct sunlight for a long time”. An Apple proposed overheating scenario is; using GPS tracking in a car on a sunny day or listening to music while in direct sunlight.
Apple recommends Keeping your iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS within acceptable operating temperatures

“Operate iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in a place where the temperature is between 0º and 35º C (32º to 95º F)”. 95º F! Has anyone from Apple been in Dallas in the Summer? “Low- or high-temperature conditions might temporarily shorten battery life or cause the device to temporarily stop working properly”.

Store your iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS (or iPod Touch) in a place where the temperature is between -20º and 45º C (-4º to 113º F). Don’t leave the device in your car, because temperatures in parked cars can exceed this range.

If the interior temperature of the device exceeds normal operating temperatures, you may experience the following as it attempts to regulate its temperature:

* The device stops charging
* Display dims
* Weak cellular signal
“Apple Admits iPhone Overheating Issues — Sort of”

The fact that none of these alleged overheating iPhone users have posted a picture of the warning screen tells me there’s not really an overheating issue. It’s just people feeling the phone get mildly warm, overreacting, or intentionally trying to cause a scandal. Leaving your phone (no matter the brand) in a 113º car is obviously a bad idea, and is no indication of a failure on the part of the hardware.

It’s been noticed one big difference between the 3GS and the original iPhone. The new one is A LOT lighter and seems thinner. To me this means a couple things that might be happening: 1) the faster processor obviously can generate more heat and, 2) The new case is noticeably thinner so more heat is felt by touching it.

It’s been noticed that using the GPS and some other higher intensity apps that the phone gets warm. But so does the original iPhone. It gets very warm! But then the original wasn’t used in a car on the dash with the GPS on. It doesn’t have a GPS

I think, basically, the phones reach the same operating temperatures but the thinner case, and a higher speed processor, is the main reason it feels hotter to the touch.

These reported overheating scenarios are “all over the map”. IMHO I just can’t draw any firm conclussions from all the reported “problems”. Are YOU experiencing any problems with overheating since the software upgrade to Version 3.0? I’m not! How has your iPhone OS 3.0 upgrade experience been so far? Do you have overheating problems because of iPhone OS 3.0?

Turbo3000D establishing “test data” for full review (above)

Dennis Dearborne — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:05:59 +0000

**TEST CONDITIONS UPDATE (BELOW). Now include NON-APU vs APU equipped mpg figures. And, a new “Base Mileage” number to compare the Turbo3000D test results against.

PRE-APU mpg was 5.918 mpg. POST-APU is 6.097 mpg — this is my new updated “Base Mileage” for the Turbo3000D test results**

I initially intended to publish only a “bottom line” evaluation of this device. However, I have since reconsidered my approach. I’m now thinking that I would like to do “progress reports” on a per “fill up” kind of basis (go to bottom of this post). That “bottom line” evaluation, to be fair to the “test”, wouldn’t happen for a few months yet!

My over all mileage data for the past 7 years (See immediately below) includes; hot weather, cold weather; heavy loads, light loads; up-wind, down-wind; Non-APU and APU equipped; flat land driving vs mountainous. You get the drift! My total mileage over ALL conditions for almost 1 million miles of ownership of this truck.

AVERAGED MILEAGE, SINCE JUNE 2002 TO DATE = 5.96mpg (includes Non-APU and APU equipped)

Next, I propose, that I give you my overall mileage from 915,900 miles until mileage at install of the Turbo3000D (at 135,140 miles on the odometer after it “flipped over” at 1,000,000 miles) will also be given. This will then be called the “Base mpg” to represent all miles PRE-install of the Turbo 3000D. I will then give you mpg figures for all miles AFTER install. I’ll update the mpg figures for you with every “fill up” so that you can compare what I’m getting against that “Base mpg”.

AVERAGED MILEAGE from 915,900 miles on 5/23/07 until installation of Turbo3000D at 135,140 miles on 6/6/09 = 6.097 mpg. This is my “Base MPG”.

Don’t focus too much on the initially reported mpg figures for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we need to give a good month or so until the truck’s computer “adjusts” to the effects of the Turbo3000D. And, secondly, my initial miles (after install) have been some HARD miles! Very heavy loads, and lots of mountainous routes. But, I think, after a couple of months of mpg reports that it should be settling down to something approaching “average operating conditions”. Let’s just see what happens. I think this methodology will be more representative of how YOU would evaluate the “results” of whether you had wasted your money, or if the Turbo3000D is going to pay for itself.

See FULL Review for continuing test results

NOTE: I haven’t been to my house (on the beach in Wilmington, NC) since January. I’ll be there until probably 6/29 so there won’t be any updated mileage on this post until I get back out on the road again. Back out on the road in the morning…. so the “test stats” will start “flowing” again really soon.

FOOTNOTE: I’ve neglected to mention what kind of truck I’m running AND what type of power plant. I have a 1999 Freightliner Classic XL with a Detroit 60. Transmission is Super 10. Truck is Yellow (Old Yeller!) with Vietnam Service Medals Graphic above Visor — Just in case you see me coming at you out on the road!

Dennis