1239 6th Avenue, San Francisco

"Charming Inner-Sunset Edwardian flat just steps from Golden Gate Park & the Irving St. shopping district. This full-floor middle-floor flat features 2BD/1BA, and has been upgraded to include a new high-end granite kitchen and bath. A large formal living room, bonus utility room, original Edwardian detailing, and hardwood floors complete this elegant home. Wonderful neighborhood puts G.G. Park, Kezar Stadium, UCSF and Irving Street shopping at your doorstep!"

This is our old flat. It is on the real estate market for $550k. Lani and I will go to the open house on Sunday to take a look at the improvements our former landlords have made.

Two years ago we, with our neighbours, offered $1M for this building. The owners countered with $1,050,000 and I decided to pull out: I didn't love the flat enough to buy it, and the building needs work done to it. It's been rental property for 100 years and it shows. Most of the windows are painted shut. The electrical wiring has the polarity mixed-up. The side of the building is a mess of utility lines. The floor plan is odd. The Kitchen is large, but poorly laid out, and the dining room is better used as a bedroom. The bedroom and living room are ok, but lack the versatility of a double parlor. And there is no parking.

Categories:San Francisco

Cancelled--Vintage Car Racing in Golden Gate Park

Sadly, the San Francisco Vintage Grand Prix scheduled for Sunday October 1 in Golden Gate Park has been cancelled.

Star Trek Phaser

Thanks Red Ferret
Categories:Gadgets Movies

New Smoke Alarm has Snooze Button

The mattress is on fire, but you're not quite ready to wake up. Hit the snooze button and enjoy an extra 9 minutes of sleep!


[The original heading from The Onion was "Carbon-Monoxide Detector With Snooze Button Recalled". Which is funnier?]

Thanks The Onion

Comments

Something went haywire with the Treough Blog comments system (it couldn't be my fault...) and 4 comments went unposted here here here and here.

Your comments make my day. So say what's on your mind.
And feel free to correct me: Criticism keeps me on my toes and puts me in my place.

Victoria Hagan at Target

Interior decorator Victoria Hagan’s Perfect Pieces is a collection of her creations sold by the Target chain of discount stores.

It's part of Target's Design For All collection that includes designs by Machael Graves and others.

If you have to ask what it costs, then you've never shopped at Target.

I also noticed that the Foster City Target is selling some models of the Tivoli radios.

Thanks Shelterrific
Categories:Furinture Design Consumer

George Bush is Evil

TV, radio and newspapers will not say a bad thing about George Bush's wars. They are complicit in these wars. They should be attacking Bush in the editorial pages every day. There's plenty of material. Instead we get sob stories about US soldiers being shot at while handing out candy to children. Give us the real dirt! And stop being apologists for the president. Media people; say after me, "George Bush is a fascist". Now go write something.

This is a recent Newsweek cover. The US version has a puff-piece on Annie Liebowitz...

Thanks Rising Hedgemon
Categories:Politics

Sunbeam Tiger at Sears Point

Categories:Movies Cars

Dan Gurney's Lotus

In 1964, American racer Dan Gurney had a Lotus 19 built with a Ford 289 engine. This is the car at a Shelby Club event at Sears Point Raceway today.



Categories:Cars

Giottos Monopod

I went to Adolph Gasser today to buy a Bogan monopod to use with the digi-cam. Bogan probably makes the best tripods in the business, and I was willing to pay over $100 for a basic monopod because I know and trust the brand.
But Gasser didn't have any in stock, so I bought this Giottos MV8250. Nice design. It's made from metal alloy and comes with an reasonably good plastic tilt/pan head and quick release. All for less than $50! It has everything I need. A serious photographer would want a better head unit, but for me the Giottos is an absolute bargain.

Mythbusters Defeat Fingerprint Lock

The Discovery Channel programme Mythbusters has gotten better lately because the pace of the TV show feels faster. They also started filming outside with the San Francisco skyline in the background. From the camera angles I would guess that they're using the old Navel Air Station on Alameda Island near Oakland.



Thanks Red Ferret
Categories:Gadgets Science

Appreciating Old Plastic

In the October issue of Dwell magazine, Andrew Dent of Material ConneXion is interviewed.
He makes a good point:

"For me, an understanding of how materials age is everything. I'm waiting to see when we'll be mature enough to enjoy the degradation of plastics.
The rust on metal, the patina on copper, the wearing of wood, we love. We think it adds authenticity to a project or object. With plastics, we don't have that appreciation yet. When plastic looks old, we think it's in need of replacement, and I wonder when we'll get over that."




Categories:Design

How to Steal from this Machine

If you don't recognize this vending machine then this tutorial may not make sense. So watch the "Pop machine Hack" video here.

1) put money in the machine and select a beverage
2) reach in through the hole where the drink will be dispensed and hold the flap firmly closed
3) the drink you selected will fall onto the conveyor belt. The conveyer will raise to the level of the dispensing hole and try to transport the drink through the flap. Keep the flap closed!
4) after about 5 seconds it stops and then tries a second time before giving up.
5) the machine assumes that because the flap didn't open, and you didn't get your drink. It refunds your money. Your drink is still sitting on the belt inside the machine.

Repeat steps 1) through 5) until you have 3 or 4 items on the belt.

6) put money in the machine and buy something
7) all the items on the belt will be dispensed!

This is illegal and lots of fun. I showed my coworkers how to do it, and now we're all wired on expensive energy drinks.

Thanks Justin Hazen and friends
Thanks Engadget
Categories:Gadgets Consumer

Formula Ford 2000 Sway Bar

I circled the sway bar.

The suspension is designed to be compact, aerodynamic, and light. Notice how the unsprung weight is kept to a minimum.

Formula Ford 2000 Sway Bar

On a street car the sway bars are about 4 feet long and shaped like a shallow letter 'U'.
Modern open wheel race cars have the dampers, springs, and sway bars mounted inboard, and operated by levers. All you see outside the body of the car are the control arms.

In these photos of a FF2000 rear suspension, can you identify the sway bar? Click on the images for a better view. Answer tomorrow.

Refurbished Apple Sale

I thought I'd chosen a good time to buy an iMac. Now one month later Apple has upgraded this model to a Core 2 Duo processor.
That's good news for anyone wanting to save a bunch of money on a refurbished Core Duo iMac. I really like mine, and at $1200 it's a steal.

Thanks Gizmodo

Categories:Gadgets Consumer

How Much

Ever wonder if there's enough aluminium foil in a roll to wrap your car?
How Much Is Inside? answers this and other burning questions:
How much toothpaste in a tube? (113 inches).
How many square feet of paper in the Sanday paper (252 sq.ft. for the Sacremento Bee).

Winkle Pickers

Two weeks ago at brunch put on by Lisa at her new home in Half Moon Bay, Chris shows up wearing Shovel-Tip shoes. I mentioned that they looked like Winkle Pickers with the toe squared off. I was met with quizzical looks of disbelieve. No one believed that was a real name for a shoe. So I looked it up on Wikipedia:

"Winkle Pickers are a style of shoe or boot worn from the 1950s onward by both certain male and female British rock and roll fans. The feature which gives both the boot and shoe their name is the very sharp and quite long pointed toe, reminiscent of medieval footwear. This pointed toe was called the winkle picker toe because, in England, winkles are eaten with a pin or pointed object to get the winkle out of the shell."

1954 P40 by Osvaldo Borsani

These days you see Bauhaus/Eames/van der Rohe/Mackintosh/Breuer/Le Corbusier sold at DWR, Room And Board, and even on eBay. I love them all, but everyone has them. And it's just too easy to go that route.

Perhaps it's time to rediscover some other designers.


Thanks Uncrate
Categories:Furniture

Colin McRae

I hope this doesn't become a competitive sport like drifting. Because I could never do these maneuvers.

Thanks Jalopnik
Categories:Cars Movies

Art Cars

While the rest of the world shakes its head, we celebrate capitalism by taking a car and covering it with the things we value, then parading it in front of you. Forgive us our love of possesions.


See them at ArtCar Fest.

Thanks Flavorpill
Categories:Cars Art

Sears Point Turn 1 Spin

I caught this 'moment' on Saturday at the NASA driving school at Sears Point Raceway (Infinion Raceway). There was no damage to either car.



Categories:Cars Movies

1967 Triumph TR250

Only 8,480 Triumph TR250s was built between 1967 and 1968, all of which were exported to the American market. This one has the unusual 'Targa' removable hard-top .
Same as the TR5, except it used carburetors instead of fuel injection to make 111hp from the 2.5L straight 6, compared to the TR5's 150hp.
The original car would have the stripe across the bonnet, but would not have Minilite wheels.

Categories:Cars

Best

Still the best artistic commentary on 9/11.

Image from Randall deRijk

1964 Sunbeam Tiger

This Tiger was lapping Sears Point raceway today at a steady clip in the NASA driving school. It has the beautiful removable hardtop, and looks original except for the Minilite wheels.

The Sunbeam Tiger was based on the 4 cylinder Sunbeam Alpine MkIV, but used a 164hp 260 in³ American Ford V8 engine. The later MkII Tiger used a 200 hp 289 in³ Ford engine. It was manufactured for Rootes by Jensen in England.
Production of the Tiger lasted from 1964 until Chrysler purchased Rootes in June 1967.

Categories:Cars

How to Remove Logos From Cell Phones

If you'd like to remove the advertising from your cell phone case, the answer is as simple as a sugar cube.

Categories:Gadgets

Steal This Idea

Magazine rack/coffee table. An easy modification
for the 'do it yourselfer' with a router.

Thanks Apartment Therapy
Categories:Furniture

Fog Last Night

I still rent my old garage on 6th and Hugo because it's large and costs me only $100 a month to rent, and it's not far to walk home from there.

Last night I got back to SF around 3am. The fog was thick and it appeared to filter out colours and muffle sounds. The city felt small and quiet.

More Pictures of Home

The stairs up to our apartment are wide with lots of beautiful wood.
Lani's garage is a 1950's addition to the building.
That's our apartment on the top floor.
There's very good public transportation.