This nitrogen engine
isn't just a story about ENGINES! It's
the Uncle Remus Story all over again. (The footrace between
Br'er Tortoise & Br'er Hare.)
It
all started with L'il Abner and a man named Abe Hertzberg.
Abe read a L'il Abner cartoon
once a long time ago, where the plot included a
car that ran off its own pollution i.e.: smog! That
was where the seed was planted! Abe Hertzberg, named the same as Abe
Lincoln no doubt by loving parents wishing to make life better for their
new son by naming him after President Lincoln... or maybe just wanting
to honor Mr. Lincoln of their new home America. Of course, these
are suppositions... But the seed that was planted in A NEWSPAPER
CARTOON was never forgotten; eventually Professor Hertzberg
got to work perfecting the idea that came to be dubbed the LN2000
liquid nitrogen-powered car.
At first his teams at the University
of Washington had a tremendous start and the Race to topple the polluting
gasoline engine was ON! The Department of Energy funded the team with
$360,000 "seed money" and they was off! But they ran into some problems
and stumbled in the race, while their competitors -the gas, electric,
gas/electric hybrids, hydrogens, fuel cell vehicles and anyone else- raced
by the fallen tortoise. And THEY LAUGHED WITH GLEE
BECAUSE THEY KNEW THAT NOW -NOW- THEY OWNED THE RACE ! Victory was theirs!
So who WAS Abe Hertzberg? I
don't completely know, but in the article linked above he had Polio when
young. And that's where I come into the
picture and a bit of eerie irony begins to emerge into this story. As
a young man I never got polio but I did have the "mumps" twice on both
sides, which infections apparently altered my thyroid gland changing
my life forever. For reasons not completely understood, Is it possible
that having a serious childhood infection turns a child onto a different
path? Is the entry of some viral invader a precursor of some kind? Does
it transform a person somehow, turning them into a fighter who never gives
up? I've read that Winston Churchill was weakly as a young man. Is this
a valid pattern that the ones who get the weakest starts gain momentum
if they survive... and never give up?
So the learned man encountered
problems and fell, but the next generation (me) grabs his baton and his
arm and the two struggle
to regain their lead... Who is going to win this race that has
covered well over HALF A CENTURY ? That's the End of the Race; I
don't have that. Not yet. Not yet.
So now we know a lot more about
the dynamics that have been unfolding here since July 12, 2003...
All the "hares" in the race are still working their darnedest to keep
the "tortoises" from winning. They are pretty tough scrappers these
rabbits. They own the football field AND the track (all the D.O.E.
monies & support). They taste Victory because the D.O.E.
withdrew its funding from the LN2000.
And the funny thing is that
I read the same cartoon.