Finally my coil spring compressor has arrived, so this weekend I can fit the camber plates on the Mini. I have to compress the springs; take the tops off the struts and replace them with the camber plates. Easy but dangerous job. If the spring slips off the compressor it could kill someone.
Javier Olguin, a design student at Valparaiso(Chile?) sent me this photo of his beautifully made miniature R&B chair: "...now this week I start with fabricacion...scale model first (1:2) to make experimentation with material."
It really helps to see the chair in 3-dimensions before constructing it. Javier has the right idea.
Complete plans for the Rietveld Red and Blue chair are impossible to find on the internet.
To get the plans for this and other Rietveld furniture, it's best to buy the book "How to Construct Rietveld Furniture" published in English and Dutch by Thoth publishers of Bussum, Holland. I found it at Borders Books here in the US.
The plans may only be used to construct the chair for personal use. Since 1971 the Italian firm Cassina owns the commercial rights to reproduce Rietveld furniture.
Categories:Furniture
Episode 395 of The Dawn and Drew Show has guest hosts Nick and Jayne from Balclutha NZ! That's just a few miles from where I grew up. The kids keep it clean, talking about their High School, Paris Hilton and Showbiz Dad.
Other Podcasts I'm listening to:
The Naked Scientists is a one hour BBC radio programme. Light hearted fun with science.
Brain Food Podcast. Thirty minutes of science explanations we can all understand.
Studio 360 Podcastis a 50 minute NPR style look at the arts.
If an XJ220 and a XJR15 had a baby, it might look something like the car above:
This is an XJ220 restyled by Pininfarina for the Sultan of Brunei. The result is a smaller, lighter car that borrows styling elements from the XJR15. Still not as pretty as the XJR15, but the face-lift addresses my criticisms of the XJ220 styling.
Thanks Jalopnik
Categories:Cars
The Craigslist World HQ is in a Victorian house down the street from me at 9th and Judah.
Their webcam (which is not listed on Craigslist) shows nice street level images of busy 9th Avenue. The images are archived here.
Craig, how about taking the cam live?
The worst time to be in the vicinity of Fast Food row is in your car during lunch hour. The traffic around the area feels like it's quadrupled, mostly because hungry patrons are wanting to go to the drive-thru at McDonald's or Taco Bell. Rear ends of cars often stick out due to the backup, waiting to turn left into the drive-thru and impede other cars trying to pass. Then there are the drivers that speed in and out of the parking lot. Or the drivers that have gone past the correct parking lot and end up U-turning in the driveway entrance to my office.
What is most noticeable to me is that SUV's and trucks are the dominant type of car that visit these restaurants. No surprise to me. I've never been a fan of SUV's or trucks, never owned or wanted one. Most people who drive them don't need them. I find that many of them driving SUV's are those that shouldn't be visiting fast food restaurants (obese and immobile).
The ultimate in laziness and waste are those from my office that drive to Fast Food row. Incredible.
Originally posted by Lani Chin on Lani's Fog Blog Wednesday Sept, 27th.
Che goes all limp when the vet gives him a physical exam. He weighs 17.2 lbs, which is the same as last year.
Today our maid service began. Our realtor recommended to us a young woman who helps him maintain his rental properties. She's very modern; wears a bluetooth headset, speaks perfect English, lives nearby, and drives a nice car.
She charges $80 to clean our apartment every two weeks. So with that and the nice Bosch dishwasher we have, all our housekeeping is taken care of. We have no manual labour to perform!
On Sunday, while I tried to sleep-off a sore throat and cold, Lani went to the open-house at our old apartment on 6th Avenue:
When I got to the building, I walked in and immediately went into Caroline's and Esther's old place. I thought the floors were polished. They weren't. Their kitchen, as shown in SF's Multiple Listing service, was renovated. I saw Ruby's (Caroline's and Esther's daughter) room and saw that the room had a back door which led to the utility room. If I hadn't lived in the building and saw this for the first time at an open house, I would have not been impressed. Time to see our old place next. Walked up the steps and found all the staging and pictures were done from here. Living room looked fine. First bedroom, which was our study/guest room looked fine as well. Typical staged stuff, but again, nothing that said wow to me. Then our bedroom. No wow factor there either. Next stop, kitchen. Based upon the pictures I'd seen, I knew this was going to have the most dramatic transformation. It was. Everything I described on Friday was pretty much how I saw it. Because I like to cook, seeing the changes impressed me. Especially where they moved the refrigerator and added a cabinet area to that side of the wall. And I was right, the stove and dishwasher weren't Bosch. All of the major appliances were Frigidaire. The paint job done on the outside of the building 9 months ago is showing its age. The window bars in front of the ground level unit show rust marks. It looks like somebody just painted over a building without fixing up the blemishes and cracks. The good part is that at least 4 parties came to see to the place while I was there. Again, whether or not anyone bites is the catch.
Last weekend The Shelby Club rented Sears Point Raceway. And as usual the track was open to everyone at lunchtime. I was able to squeeze in 5 laps. There's no passing and everyone has to follow the pacecar, but you can hang back and attack the corners.
I learnt that my Mini has a bit of oversteer on account of the larger rear swaybar I installed. I liked the way the car slid towards the exit on turn 2 where the track levels off and the car gets light. And the Mini has enough power that I needed to steer out to the wall at the exit to the turn 11 hairpin.
My Toyo Proxes RA1 tyres gripped well and got sticky enough to pick up pebbles in the paddock.
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