Perils of Paradigm Shift and Someone’s Vote Counted

Two things coming out of Groundhog’s Day.

First: Toyota Damage Control and Diagnosis

As Toyota begins to shift parts to dealers to address the gas pedal acceleration problem, another accelerator problem may have been found by veteran engineer and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. The new problem affects cruise control on his 2010 Prius which hasn’t been recalled. Whereas the recalled vehicles suffering unexpected acceleration are receiving a  physical solution, the new issue found by Wozniak is reported by him to likely be a software problem and he can replicate it under certain conditions. [Explanation on Gizmodo] [Update on Gizmodo]

Falling in line with Toyota’s public relations effort that began earlier this week to initiate damage control Toyota has decided to borrow his car for a week to put it through tests. [Jalopnik]

This incident highlights the cautions that need to continue to be taken as we continue to use electronics in places where in the past mechanical systems were in place. When Toyota first issued an advisory on unexpected accelerator issues in September the proposed problem was pedals getting caught in carpet, in the more recent recall it seems that most of the speculation I have encountered revolved around friction in the parts somewhere along where the pedal attaches to, and now in this as of yet not recalled vehicle the problem is in the software running the electronics connected to the pedal.

Complex systems are hard to troubleshoot. It is a shame this problem lacked a more graceful and safer way to fail.

Second: Illinois Primary

With a close Governor’s race on both Democratic and Republican tickets, if you voted in the primary today then your vote probably counted.  With the hairsplittingly thin margin on the Democratic ticket though citizens of Illinois can likely count on the strife between Quinn and Hynes to continue for a while as Hynes threatens a recount. Until the situation is resolved expect the next several months to be like the last several where the person governing and the person sending the checks to fund acts of governance keep playing chicken with state funding for agencies and state supported institutions. (Disclaimer: I am employed by Southern Illinois University which is supported by state funds)

If it wasn’t such a close election I might have posted on the above image. [NASA]