Ohio's Driverless Car Story Can Be Strong

Ohio has a strong story to tell on the driverless car.  It really does.  It's time to start telling it.

Ohio is strong in automotive.  In fact, we are number two in the nation.  The "Big 3" remain headquartered in Michigan, but many of their plants are in Ohio.  Honda buys over $9 billion in Ohio goods and services to make cars.  The automotive industry is in every county in Ohio in some form or another.

 

Ohio is strong in aerospace-related industries with capabilities that mirror many that the autonomous car would require.  Not only is Ohio the #1 supplier state to Boeing, it also is to Airbus.  Aerospace has deployed many of the driverless car similiar technologies for decades.  Autopilot isn't theoretical anymore.

 

Ohio is strong in industry and university research.  Ohio University has worked on the NextGen FAA systems replacing current radar.  Ohio State is working on a driverless car.  That $100MM+ in Third Frontier money has got to be going somewhere!  I hope anyway.

 

Ohio has a legacy in sensors, GPS, MEMS, inertial guidance, metrology, and radar.  I don't have to look far out the window of my office to see that.  The customers at the Port Authority's Aerospace Center campus touch every one of those industry subsegments.  Our Port Authority owns not one, but two anechoic chambers for calibrating and testing radar.

 

We're behind on the organizing side, though, I tend to think.  It's not too late though. 

Coming Soon: Arrests at the O.U. Fests

The notorious season of [INSERT NAME HERE] 'fests hosted by students at Ohio University is upon us.   The "us" includes parents of O.U. students (that's me), O.U. alumni (not me), Athens residents, and, of course, O.U. students and their guests.

The Facebook event page for the most notorious of the notorious, Palmer Fest, is up and running.  The photo above is a direct link to the page's profile photo.  The five-word description for the event reads, simply, "Live Music!  Also, Live Fires!"  As I type this, well over 5,000 people have said they are attending.  Which was it that drew them, the music or the fires?

A scheduled riot with fires in the street and bottles thrown at police officers means you can be sure that the news media is scheduling their editorial calendars in advance for next Sunday's edition.

I suppose the City of Athens is scheduling police officers and horses, though I bet the horses would opt out if they could.

I suppose O.U. is ready, but I, personally, hope its with something more than the standard public relations message shedding blame on to the City and deflecting it away from their own student body.

I also hope I can bribe my daughter to stay away. I'm trying.

Ohio University Nation's Top Riot School

The headline for this blog could have been worse.  Much worse.  I'm sure thinking worse. 

I'm also thinking: "I'm paying nearly $20,000 a year for this?"  This O.U. dad has had it.

This is my third piece on Palmer Fest. It's my last.  My disdain for the [INSERT NAME HERE] fests at O.U. is now firmly established.

On May 8-9, 2010, according to reports, 104 people were arrested, including 45 Ohio University students.

Add these: Tear gas. Injuries. Riot police.

For at least the second year in a row, beer bottles were thrown at police.  One police officer was injured this year.

Come on, O.U., its past time to do something about this.

The reputation for being a party school is now a thing of the past.  Sadly, consider your school the nation's top riot school now. 

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Background for riot school status courtesy of YouTube.

 

and more:

I Hate Palmer Fest

As I type this, 4,250+ people have RSVP'd on Facebook for the largest of the Ohio University [INSERT NAME HERE] Fests--Palmer Fest.

Below is the photo that shows last year's version in its full glory.  This year's version hits full steam tonight.

What you see is every O.U. parent's nightmare.  That's a public street in the middle of that bonfire.  I'm pretty sure that balcony (or is that a roof?) wasn't built with the idea of that much weight sitting on it. The only thing missing from this photo were the horses for the mounted police getting pelted with beer bottles.

Though I've managed, amazingly, to convince my 20-year-old daughter to more often consider family-oriented alternatives (see April's Nerkfest blog), I failed to accomplish that miracle this year.  She'll be there, somewhere, with her friends.

And I'll be praying that I get that 4 a.m. text message to tell me she's safe rather than some phone call telling me otherwise.

Have I said yet? I hate Palmer Fest.

Nerkfest! The O.U. Alternative

Something happened to my now twenty-year-old daughter.  Her Facebook page reads, " . . .working on homework and hanging out with the family the rest of the day."  She's home for the second weekend in a row from college.

What?  No Ohio University 'fest for her?

Ohio University, from my experience gained from her two years there, rolls out street parties every Spring and labels them [INSERT NAME HERE] Fest. 

The photo below is from one such 'fest in 2009. 

It's not exactly a parent's dream to raise their child to be among the horse-hitting, porch-overloading, arsonist-leaning sect.

So, I like this transformation to family-oriented that my until-recently-a-teenager daughter has suddenly made.  When she asks to come home, I'll oblige with 6-7 hours of extra driving on my weekend.

Anything to keep her from another 'fest in Athens.

Instead of beer, we drink orange juice.  Instead of setting fires, we play the Wii.  Instead of joining thousands on the streets, we fill the minivan to capacity and visit the tranquil nature at Dawes Arboretum or some such quiet alternative.

It's the O.U. Alternative in Newark, Ohio.  We'll call it Nerkfest.

Miami Grad, OU Proud

Any grad of Miami University or of Ohio University knows the rivalry between the two is brutal.  I got this sweatshirt, a gift from my daughter who attends O.U., to wear when I attended the M.U. v. O.U. game in Athens this past football season.

O.U. won that day and the sweatshirt, needless to say, didn't make me popular.

O.U. won for only the second time in its history in the NCAA tournament.

As their second-round game is underway, I'm professing that I'm proud, as an Ohioan, to cheer on Ohio University as far as their talent and luck will take them.  This time, Go Bobcats!