Archive Category: Car & Vehicle
TRAX STI Snow Car
Just in time for snow season! DC co-founder Ken Block teamed up with Subaru to design and produce the world’s fastest cat-track snow car. Primarily for reaching alpine backwoods to engage in some fresh boarding, the vehicle is also built for fun as a standalone toy.
Prepared by Vermont SportsCar, performance modifications include 400-hp and features Group N competition rally dampers made by EXE-TC and a KAPS 5-speed close-ratio dog-engagement gearbox. Under the hood sits a 2.5 liter, 4-cylinder, turbocharged and intercooled STI engine tuned with a MOTEC M800 ECU.
Not seen is a trailer that will haul up to four boarders and equipment. More info here.
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Dog vs. SUV: Which Has Larger Eco-Footprint?
This guy is destroying Earth!
Which has a larger ecological footprint, a large dog or an SUV? According to Robert and Brenda Vale, Fido has a Hummer of an eco-footprint:
In "Time to Eat the Dog? The Real Guide to Sustainable Living," authors Robert and Brenda Vale argue that resources required to feed a dog — including the amount of land needed to feed the animals that go into its food — give it about twice the eco-footprint of, say, building and fueling a Toyota Land Cruiser. Noting that a cat’s pawprint was roughly equivalent to a Volkswagen Golf’s, "New Scientist" asked an environmentalist at the Stockholm Environment Institute in York, U.K., to independently calculate animals’ environmental impact, and reported that "his figures tallied almost exactly." The study apparently didn’t take into account the emissions of either the SUV or the dogs.
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A Gallery of Repurposed Train Cars
Photo: English Russia
WebUrbanist has a great roundup of pictures of train cars that have been converted to other uses, such as hotels, houses, and bridges. The image above is of a train car that has been turned into a Russian Orthodox church — an emerging trend in Russia.
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Rolling Skis as a Personal Mobility Device
Photo: Robonable
This is Nissan’s prototype for a personal mobility device. Just step on to the footpads and lean in the direction that you want to go:
The device has two foot boards, both of which are balanced on two wheels. The device’s tilt sensors detect when you shift your weight to turn, traveling at a maximum rate of about 5kph. The foot boards have handle bars attached to help you maintain balance, and can be connected in a variety of positions or separated.
When separated, the device only moves forwards and backwards. To turn, you simply lift and turn your leg as if you were wearing stilts. The overall effect is one of ski-less skis.
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10 Neat Facts About Ferrari
Quick: what comes to your mind when I say "Ferrari"? A line of gorgeous (and exorbitantly priced) supercars? Formula One racing? How about mule-shoeing, World War I flying ace, and the H1N1 virus?
Let's take a look at Neatorama's Top 10 Neat Facts About Ferrari:
1. A Ten-Year-Old Boy's Love of Racing
Enzo Ferrari, racing for Alfa Romeo (Image: Ferrari)
In 1908, Enzo Ferrari's father took him and his older brother to a race in Bologna. There, he became smitten with racing and wanted to become a race car driver. Ferrari's dream became reality in 1919, when he made his racing debut at the age of 21.
2. Enzo Ferrari was a Mule Shoer
During World War I, Enzo was a blacksmith and mule-shoer for the Italian army.
3. The H1N1 Connection
If you think that the current H1N1/Swine Flu is a new thing, think again: the Influenza virus H1N1 that you hear about all over the news today is the descendant of the virus responsible for the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that killed as many as 100 million people worldwide.
In 1916, Enzo's father and brother died during an Italian flu outbreak, and in 1918, Enzo himself was stricken with the disease and almost died. Enzo was discharged from the Italian army but upon returning to his home in Modena, he discovered that his family's metal engineering firm had collapsed.
Enzo had to look for a job. When Fiat turned him down, he found a job as a test-driver for a small carmaker called CMN. A year later, his friend got him a job at Alfa Romeo as a race car driver. About ten years later, he started his own racing team, Scuderia ("stable") Ferrari.
4. Enzo was a Bad Ass
In 1919, while driving through the mountains of southern Italy to go to a race, Enzo Ferrari and fellow racer Ugo Sivocci were trapped by deep snow. They were going to be attacked by a pack of wolves but Enzo scared them off with a revolver that he kept with him at all times. They made the race. (Source)
5. Origin of Prancing Horse Logo
Francesco Baracca (c. June 1918)
The black prancing horse in the famous Ferrari logo was originally the symbol of Count Francesco Baracca, a flying ace in the Italian air force during World War I.
In 1923, Enzo Ferrari met Baracca's mother, Countess Paolina, who asked that he use the horse on his cars for good luck. It must've worked for Ferrari though Baracca didn't fare so well: his plane was shot down and he was killed in action at the age of 30.
See also: Neatorama's Evolution of Car Logos
6. How Ferrari Got the Nickname "Il Commendatore"
How did Enzo Ferrari got his nickname "Il Commendatore"? Was it because he's famously prickly and tyrannical? (Ferrari's longtime chief engineer Mauro Forghieri once remarked "As a businessman, he is excellent. As a human being, he is a zero" about him)
Actually, he was given the title Commendatore (literally Knight Commander) in 1927 for his racing accomplishments by the King of Italy Vittorio Emmanuel III. When Italy became a Republic in 1946, all honorary titles were canceled. So, technically, Il Commendatore became just a nickname for Enzo.
7. The Very First Ferrari
Ferrari 125 S (Photo: Daisuke
Ido)
The very first car* produced and built under the Ferrari name is the Ferrari 125 S (125 after the engine displacement and S for Sport). I think it's one of the most beautiful cars - if not the most beautiful - Ferrari has ever made (though the 166 MM Barchetta ain't bad).
*Enzo Ferrari did make cars for Alfa Romeo before he started making Ferraris. One of the weirdest cars he ever made was the Alfa Romeo Bimotore, a car with two engines. One in front and another in the back of the driver.
8. The Most Expensive ... Brochure?!
You all know that Ferraris are expensive, but would you believe that even their brochures are pricey? In 1985, a brochure for the 1960's Ferrari 250 Le Mans fetched £1,070 at a Christie's auction in Monaco. A world record till today.
9. Most expensive Ferrari
1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa (Photo: 4WheelsNews)
The most expensive Ferrari ever sold was 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa (lit. "red head" - named that way because its red valve covers). It got 9.02 million euros in a recent auction. In addition to their legendary performance as race cars (the 250 TR won 10 international championships from 1958 to 1961), this model is also ultra rare: only 22 were ever constructed. (Source)
10. Wrecking a $1 Million Car.
You'd expect that when Ferrari made a car to honor its founder, it'd be good. And you'd be right: in 2002 Ferrari introduced the Enzo Ferrari, a sports car built using Formula One technology.
Only 400 cars were ever made ... and so far, 6 14 Enzos have been totaled.
At a million bucks EACH!
One strange tale involving a crashed Ferrari Enzo led to the capture of a high-flying Swedish criminal named Stefan "Fat Steve" Eriksson, head of the Uppsala mafia who bilked investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars by creating a failed handheld game unit Gizmondo. It's a fascinating story - if you haven't heard about it, Randall Sullivan of Wired wrote an article explaining the whole thing.
Bonus: Ferrari Factory
Photo: Laurence Yap / Canadian Driver
Want to see the inside of a Ferrari factory? Laurence Yap took a peek inside the Maranello facility and wrote this article for Canadian Driver:
Walk through the Ferrari factory towards the end of the working day – its hours are like regular office hours, Monday through Friday – and it can seem almost like you’re in Willy Wonka’s candy factory. On the line where they make V8-engined F430s, young workers in full Ferrari-red regalia circle around their work stations, smiles on their faces, and a tune whistling from their lips.
Most of the people working on the factory floor are in their 20s and 30s, as a whole chunk of older workers – hired in the sixties – retired recently, all at the same time. So as if building Ferraris wasn’t enough, the whole place buzzes with a lot more energy than your typical car factory. Workers have decorated their stations with Ferrari stickers, Schumacher posters, and other automotive memorabilia; they’re free to wear what they want, but they’re all wearing something red.
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Autonomous Robotic Race Car
(YouTube Link)
Stanford University’s robotics lab has built autonomous cars for several years. Recently, it established a land speed record for a robot car — 140 mph in an Audi TT-S nicknamed “Shelly”. But their next goal is even more ambitious: to have Shelly race the twisted dirt road that leads up to Pike’s Peak. Chris Dannen writes in Fast Company about the changes that allow the car to safely navigate sharper turns at higher speeds:
The new autonomous TT-S is markedly different from Junior, however. Junior was environmentally-aware; it had cameras that could see objects and road features, and it paired that data with GPS data. All that processing required two on-board Linux computers running quad-core Pentium chips and programmed in C and C++.
The new TT-S, unofficially dubbed “Shelly,” uses a different system. It has no cameras, only GPS, and a smaller, less powerful computing box running Sun’s Java Real Time System running on Solaris. Why? Despite Junior’s speedy processors, it still takes the car between 20-50 milliseconds to react to inputs from its sensory equipment. Because the TT-S “Shelly” is traveling at much higher speeds–the team has pushed it over 140 mph–even 20 milliseconds is too much of a delay.
You can view more videos of the project at the link.
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The Top Ten Ghost Ships
The term ghost ship can refer to a mysterious apparition of a ship when a ship is not really there, or it can refer to an abandoned ship found with no crew or passengers, usually under mysterious circumstances. Both kinds are listed in these ten stories spooky enough to share with anyone to whom you want to give nightmares. Pictured is the Baychimo, used in Arctic waters until it became trapped in ice in 1931. The crew was airlifted and the ship abandoned. However, the boat survived to mysteriously float on its own for decades. It was last seen in 1969. Link -via Unique Daily
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No-English Traffic Ticket
Can’t speak English? You better not be pulled over in Texas … Nearly forty people have gotten "no-English" traffic violation tickets:
The Dallas Police Department said it was embarrassed by what it calls a mistake by rookie Officer Gary Bromley after he stopped Ernestina Mondragon for making an illegal U-turn.
In addition for being cited for the U-turn violation, Mondragon received another ticket for being a "non-English speaking driver."
Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle issued an apology:
"We don’t have abilities to determine proficiency in any language, and we shouldn’t be doing it in the first place," Kunkle said. "I apologize to the Spanish-speaking Hispanic community."
After a review of the records, Kunkle said about a half-dozen officers had issued a total of 38 similar citations. He said police would recommend to the courts that any pending cases be dismissed.
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Can A Car's Gas Mileage Be Improved By Adding Golf Ball Dimples?
It has been argued that dirty cars are more fuel efficient than clean ones for the same reason that dimples on a golf ball improve its aerodynamics during flight. The team at Mythbusters tested these hypotheses and found that a dirty car did NOT achieve improved gas mileage, BUT…
For a full-scale test, Adam and Jamie put a layer of clay on a car and did two more sets of runs on their track – one with a smooth clay surface, the other with dimples pressed into it. The respective fuel efficiencies were calculated as 26 and 29 miles per gallon. Although the original myth was invalid, the theory behind it was sound, leading to a final judgment of “Busted, Concept Plausible”.
Discussion threads on several auto forums discussing the Mythbusters episode note that “shark skin” textures on military fighter aircraft (and on America’s Cup yachts) serve the same purpose, that dimpling on the undercarriage of some Lexus cars reduces noise (by reducing friction), and that textured paint is banned on professional race cars.
Mythbusters achieved the dimpled effect using modeling clay applied to the surface of a Ford Taurus. It’s not clear whether the same effect could be achieved with a ball-peen hammer.
Screencap credit. A brief YouTube video of the car (not the full episode) is here.
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Retractable Speed Bumps
Mexican firm Decano Industries has developed a speed bump that remains in place when a vehicle that is moving too quickly is about to drive over it, but retracts when a slow-moving vehicle approaches. Christ Hawley writes in USA Today:
“With this speed bump, people will feel rewarded for obeying the law,” says Carlos Cano, the company’s president.
The technology is relatively basic: The speed bump is formed by two steel plates that form a triangle sticking out of the pavement. When a car tire touches the plate, a patented device under the triangle measures the force of the impact.
If the tire’s impact is gentle enough — that is, if the vehicle is traveling slowly — both plates immediately collapse into the ground under the weight of the car.
Link via DVICE | Image: Sergio Solache, USA Today
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60 Iconic and Classic Cars
Ok we’ve all seen cars lists before but this one has quite a few I’ve never seen before. The three-wheeled Robin, the futuristic Loremo and stout scarab? Weird stuff! Other are quite familiar, like the 1957 Corvette pictured.
During this time cars have had some radical design changes; some for the better and some for the worse. Here are our top pics for the 60 most distinctive and iconic, classic cars, and while you may not like them all – they are memorable.
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Prombron: The World's Baddest SUV
Move over, Hummer – there’s a new bad boy macho car (or masculine overcompensation, your pick) in town. Behold the Dartz Prombron Monaco Red Diamond Edition armored car, developed by Russian carmaker RussoBaltique. How bad is this bad boy? Let’s just say that it has seats covered with "whale-penis leather":
On its official website, the company says the whale-penis leather is the same as that used by Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis on the yacht Christina O.
Onassis is rumoured to have had some of the barstools on the yacht, the world’s most expensive at the time, covered in the controversial leather.
The leather is not the only tacky accessory on the Prombron, which Dartz claims is the world’s most expensive SUV.
The bulletproof windows are gold-plated, the exhaust is made of tungsten, the gauges are encrusted with diamonds and rubies and the exterior has a Kevlar coating.
The car also comes with three bottles of the world’s most expensive Vodka, RussoBaltique, although the website does warn prospective buyers not to drink and drive.
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Vanity Plate Proves Costly
That’s Scottie Roberson, whose nickname is “Racer X” and favorite number is seven. He combined the two for his vanity plate: XXXXXXX.
Turns out that decision flagged his car for over $19,000 in parking tickets.
When Birmingham parking patrols find cars without license plates parked illegally or at expired meters, they enter seven X’s in place of the plate number, city officials said. The parking citation form calls for a plate number, and the practice is to use X’s when no number is available.
City officials are working to change the entry system to keep Roberson from receiving any additional tickets, Odom said.
“Maybe we need to go with nine X’s, or maybe we just need to leave that part blank altogether,” Dawkins said.
Link via The Obscure Store & Reading Room.
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Sculptures Made From Tires
Recycle, reuse, rethink how we look at garbage. Tires are an especially volatile item, as they take up space and emit terrible fumes when burned. Check out Oddee’s collection of creative sculptures made from discarded tires.
Link | Above example found at mo_metalart’s Flickr set.
Previously on Neatorama – Tired.
Update 10/15/09 by Alex: The artist is Mirko Siakkou-Flodin, and this particular tire sculpture is at the Jumeirah Beach Residence in Dubai, UAE. Oddee is a great source of many interesting things, and they usually credit their photos, so I wonder why they didn’t do it in this instance.
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Vespa Rocking Horse
Photo: Motoblog.it
An anonymous reader of the Italian-language site Motoblog.it made a Vespa-shaped rocking horse for his nephew Diego. Who wants to take it out for a spin?
Link (Google Translator version) via CrunchGear
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Drive-In Auto Museum
Last year, the Jiangsu Head Investment Group and the government of Nanjing, China held a competition for designing a museum for the automobile’s history and achievements. Italian architect Francesco Gatti and his team won with this entry featuring an interactive element: you drive into the museum.
The architect describes the museum as a “movie sequence in which the principal actor is the car”, a building where two car-related panorama go hand in hand: on the one hand the architect’s conscious attention to motorway aestheticism and urban scale – the structures and materials remind one of a viaduct – and on the other, his transportation into the museum of the ergonomics of the interior of a car. The furbishing and details within the edifice are related to and on a scale with its specific functions and it is not difficult for the visitor to imagine that he is in a car on a highway, rather than in a museum.
Link (rendering courtesy of 3GATTI.)
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The World's First All-Electric Locomotive
Photo: Norfolk Southern
Norfolk Southern’s NS 999 electric locomotive runs entirely on 1,080 12-volt batteries and produces 1,500 horsepower. From the company’s press release:
NS 999 is an entirely electric locomotive that uses a lead-acid energy storage system comprised of 1,080 12-volt batteries to operate in railroad switching applications without the use of a diesel engine and with zero exhaust emissions. The plug-in locomotive also can regenerate dynamic braking energy through a system provided by Brookville Equipment Company. The recovered dynamic braking energy continually replenishes the energy storage system, and uses this recovered energy for tractive effort in rail operations. The batteries are carefully monitored and controlled through an elaborate battery management system to assure safety and maximum battery life, and when fully charged NS 999 is able to operate three shifts before recharging is required.
Link via Popular Science
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Cupcake Car
Neiman Marcus always has some over-the-top offerings for Christmas -after all, that’s the only reason some folks look at the catalog. This year, how about a cupcake car for only $25,000? Designed by artist Lisa Pongrace, the cupcake runs on electricity and has a top speed of seven miles per hour. Your purchase will be decorated in your favorite flavors. Link -via Buzzfeed
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A Table That Attaches to Your Steering Wheel
Driving is boring and it takes time out of your busy life. Why not multitask and use your driving time more productively? With the Laptop Steering Wheel Desk, you can eat, use a computer, read, do your nails — whatever. What could possibly go wrong? On sale at Amazon.com for $23.23. | Link
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The Spirit of Ecstasy
The figure of a lady which has adorned the front of Rolls-Royce automobiles for the past century is modeled on a real woman – Eleanor Velasco Thornton, the lover of automotive pioneer John Walter Edward Scott-Montagu. He commissioned artist Charles Robinson Sykes to design a mascot for the bonnet of his Silver Ghost. In the original version – “The Whisper” – the lady was pressing a finger against her lips to symbolize the secret nature of a love affair which could not be publicized because of her lower social status. Over the years “The Whisper” evolved to the current “Spirit of Ecstasy” (also known as “Ellie in her Nightie”).
…Sykes called it “A graceful little goddess, the Spirit of Ecstasy, who has selected road travel as her supreme delight and alighted on the prow of a Rolls-Royce motor car to revel in the freshness of the air and the musical sound of her fluttering draperies.”
Today’s Spirit of Ecstasy stands at 3 inches and, for safety, is mounted on a spring-loaded mechanism designed to retract instantly into the radiator shell if struck from any direction. There is a button within the vehicle which can retract/extend the emblem when pressed. She can be made of highly polished stainless steel, sterling silver or 24-carat gold, the sterling silver and gold being optional extras.
Futher details about the ornament are available at Wikipedia and The Telegraph, via the New Shelton wet/dry (whence the photo).
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Man Builds Batmobile Replica for $1 Million
Photo: Simon Måssebäck
Leif Garvin of Sweden spent about $1 million building his own Batmobile. It’s built onto the chassis of a 1973 Lincoln Continental and has a 700 hp engine. Like the, uh, real Batmobile, it’s loaded with all sorts of gadgetry:
There’s sat-nav to help you find the scene of the crime (and other helpful POIs), a plasma TV for video calls to Albert (and for distraction during Stockholm traffic jams), voice recognition to keep your fighting hands free (and avoid nasty fines), height-adjustable suspension for navigating dramatic obstacles in your path (and speed bumps), a rear-view camera to watch your back (and help with tight parking squeezes), and machine guns for, er, shooting stuff. Worryingly, there is no word on whether said firearms are real…
UPDATE 10/4/09: Simon Måssebäck emailed to correct a mistake. He didn’t make the Batmobile — a man named Leif Garvin did. Thanks, Simon, especially for allowing us to use your photo!
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What Car Would Spock Drive?
What kind of car would Spock drive if Spock drives a car?
Well, you don’t have to wonder. The Drex Files blog has a rare photo of Leonard Nimoy in full costume as Spock posing in front of this car (his car?) on the Desilu backlot in 1966.
I wonder what car Kirk, Scotty and McCoy would drive …
Oh, and what kind of a car is it? Find out for yourself: Link – via The Litter Box
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The 15 Ugliest Cars Ever Made
Car design has gotten a lot more uniform and bland over the years, so it’s tough to find any truly outrageously ugly cars of late. Which is a shame as the ugly cars of old had tons of character and added to our shared experience. How many people who grew up pre-90’s don’t have a tale of their first hideously ugly car? Take the VW Thing:
This compact SUV started official production in 1969 and continued civilian sales through 1980. Designed for German soldiers during the war, the first prototype continued to be improved upon, eventually resulting in this Jeep-like car. Probably one of the safest and most reliable vehicles on this list, that doesn’t stop the VW Thing from being one of the ugliest.
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Man Caught With 1700 Animals In His Trunk
Talk about junk in your trunk (sorry, but I just had to). An Italian man was arrested after a routine police stop ended up with authorities seizing over 1700 animals in his trunk. Included in the bust were 216 parakeets, 300 white mice, 150 hamsters, 30 Japanese squirrels, six chameleons and over 1,000 terrapins, a type of turtle.
It seems he was going to sell the rare critters, but they have instead been given to local zoos.
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7 Most Amazing One-Take Video Clips
What is it about one-take video clips that capture our imaginations? Perhaps it's because we've become so cynical about video editings that the pure, raw form of a single, uninterrupted shot truly stands out.
Well, whatever the reason, one-take video clips sure take the Interweb by storm. Here is Neatorama's list of the 7 Most Amazing One-Take Video Clips:
1. I Gotta Feeling Lip Dub
Let's start with one that's making the rounds on the Internet: a lip dub by the students of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). In this video clip, co-directed by Luc-Olivier Cloutier and Marie-Eve Hebert, 172 communications students lib-synched the song I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas. The whole thing was shot in a little more than 2 hours.
In an interview with Canada AM, Cloutier gave a little background:
Cloutier says it was difficult to coordinate 172 students in one take. "The problem was we didn't know before how many people should be there for the dub so we cannot plan," he said.
Cloutier said the video was eventually shot in two takes. Despite some minor glitches, the pair is proud of the final product. "We decided to keep this take because (of) the vibe," said Cloutier.
2. Flagpole Sitta Lip Dub
If you like that, here's a clip done after work one day by the people of Connected Ventures (they're the bunch of geniuses behind College Humor, Busted Tees and Vimeo). Looks like a fun place to work! Oh, the song is Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger.
3. Nyle's Let The Beat Build
A lot of these one-take videos are music videos - and for good reason: one-take videos are hard to shoot, so those synchronized with music has got to be made by people with mad skillz.
This music video Let The Beat Build by rapper Nyle, directed by Chadd Harbold and produced by Last Pictures and 194 Recordings, even did one better: they recorded the audio simultaneously with the film. Mind = blown.
4. Daft Hands - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Austin Hall of Frecklestudios probably has the most watched hands ever. Since its debut two years ago, his YouTube clip Daft Hands has been watched over 33 million times!
In that video, Hall played Daft Punk's Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger entirely with his two hands. Maybe it's easier for you to watch the clip above than for me to explain in words how he did t. (Previously on Neatorama here)
Since then, the song has spawned countless imitations, including Daft Bodies and the Daft Parodies (Erhm, the last one is kind of rude. You've been warned).
5. Forrest Gump in One Minute, in One Take
Let's take a break from music video clips. Last February, Joe Burgess, Rocco Sulkin and Will Tribble from the University Of York Filmmaking Society got friends to act out Forrest Gump in one minute, filming the whole thing in one take. (Previously on Neatorama here.)
From an interview with NewTeeVee Station:
The one-take angle would make you assume that there was a lot of rehearsal and coordination involved, but that wasn’t the case — according to Tribble, most of it was ab-libbed. “I didn’t know until the last minute that I was going to be in [Gump],” Tribble said, “but then they said, ‘OK, you’re Lieutenant Dan’ and there I was.”
Since then, the trio have sweded other films including Kill Bill, Star Wars, and their latest, 28 Days Later.
6. Here It Goes Again by OK Go
What's even better than a one-take music video? How about a one-take music video with treadmills! Here's the astounding clip Here It Goes Again from Ok Go, directed by Trish Sie of BigBadTrish.
7. Cog
Last on the list is the grand-daddy of all one-take videos. Titled Cog, the two-minute long Rube Goldbergian commercial for Honda Accord was produced by the London office of Wieden+Kennedy advertising agency and directed by Antoine Bardou-Jacquet of Partizan back in 2003. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that this may just be the best commercial of all time.
To the horrors of Honda engineers, Bardou-Jacquet took apart the seventh-generation Honda Accord, of which there were only 5 hand-assembled models in the world (at that time), and made an astonishing commercial out of its parts.
It took 606 takes to shoot Cog and when it was completed, the video clip was shown to the bigwigs at Honda who remarked that it was a very nice computer generated imagery. When they were told everything was real, they were floored - and if you see it, you would be, too.
More about Cog at Wikipedia
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Cycle-Through Windows Emerging
While it seems most establishments with drive-thru windows are in agreement that bicycles are forbidden, and refused service, Washington-based restaurant Burgerville is leading the way to change that. All 39 of their stores now allow cyclists in their drive up lanes, giving free smoothies to the first batch earlier this month.
The intention of our Bike Friendly Service program is to create a consistent policy and experience for our guests in the drive thru. To support this program, a cross-functional team, including members from Hawthorne Burgerville and community members from the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, have designed and are beginning the implementation of the first phase of the program.
Link via BikePortland
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Mobile Tree House
It’s a house carved out of a solid tree trunk! This astonishing mobile tree house started off life as a mobile information centre for Forestry Tasmania. It has recently sold on e-bay for AU$12,000 where it grabbed the attention of the online world. Given the inside is a bit grotty, but with TLC imagine what a perfect spare room, library or playroom this structure would make. The possibilities are endless.
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A Camper Built on a Shopping Cart
Photo: Kevin Cyr
New York-based artist Kevin Cyr is trying to construct a functional camper that’s built onto a shopping cart. It’s an expression of his fascination with vehicles and an exploration of a simple lifestyle:
It’s a functioning sculptural piece that seeks to explore aspects of housing, mobility, and autonomy. It is also largely about self-reliance and making due with less.
I have always been interested in bikes and vehicles and for many years they have been the subject of my paintings. My paintings document odd and derelict vehicles: old delivery trucks inundated with graffiti and rust, well-traveled RVs, Indian rickshaws and Asian bikes.
Throughout the last year, I decided to build my own type of vehicles. On a trip to Beijing, I conceived and built a CAMPER BIKE: an amalgamation of a Chinese 3-wheeled flatbed bike with an American cabover style camper. Interested in building a series of mobile vehicles and inspired by Cormac McCarthy’s novel, The Road, I started sketching plans for CAMPER KART: a mobile unit built into a shopping cart—an ubiquitous urban object.
Link via Boing Boing
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A Bicycle That Is a Combination Bar, Pizzeria, and Dance Club
Weighing in at 400 pounds, this new design by Portland, Oregon custom bike builder Metrofiets is intended for mobile partying. Here are some of the features that owners Phillip Ross and Jamie Nichols included:
The cargo container is a metal keg bucket which holds two full sized kegs and 25 pounds of ice. Beer from the kegs run through a 50 foot cooling coil and then to your glass via two taps (made by Shimano and Chris King) which protrude from a wooden bar inlaid with HUB’s trademark lightning bolt.
A large, square rear rack is designed to fit a stack of pizza boxes. Below the rack is a sound system “pannier” with another lightning bolt inlaid wood panel casing and a speaker. The bike sports HUB’s colors, matte orange and black.
This party is entirely human-powered, with the help of nine gears — any more would allow a rider to go faster than would be entirely wise, explained Ross. Sturdy looking disc brakes and chunky tires with full fenders adorn both wheels.
Image by flickr user Elly Blue used under creative commons license.
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Computer Engineers Are Most Likely To Crash
According
to a survey of accident claims by Churchill Car Insurance, computers aren't
the only thing computer programmers engineers like to crash - they are also likely
to crash their cars ...
Here are the 10 "most likely to crash" occupations:
1. Computer engineer
2. Sales manager
3. Chef
4. Student
5. Doctor
6. Estate agent
7. Surveyor
8. Customer adviser
9. Hairdresser
10. Social workerIn contrast, farmers had the best road safety records based on claims made, followed by aircraft fitters, stores personnel and ambulance drivers.
That reminded me of the classic programmer joke ... from Stack Overflow:
A physicist, an engineer and a programmer were in a car driving over a steep alpine pass when the brakes failed. The car was getting faster and faster, they were struggling to get round the corners and once or twice only the feeble crash barrier saved them from crashing down the side of the mountain. They were sure they were all going to die, when suddenly they spotted an escape lane. They pulled into the escape lane, and came safely to a halt.
The physicist said "We need to model the friction in the brake pads and the resultant temperature rise, see if we can work out why they failed".
The engineer said "I think I've got a few spanners in the back. I'll take a look and see if I can work out what's wrong".
The programmer said "Why don't we get going again and see if it's reproducible?"
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