Hook Box

When I come home; my keys, wallet, bag, cellphone, camera, hat and jacket are all put away in different places around the apartment.

When I leave home; I collect these items from their separate locations. Sometimes I can't remember, and then I waste precious minutes looking for my glasses.

Once, I couldn't find my car keys so I couldn't go to work. (For a moment I thought Lani had hidden them so I could stay home and enjoy the day. What a nice thought).

The ceramic Hook Box hints at a solution. I'd like mine to be angular, techie, and suitable for our Arts and Crafts style apartment.



Thanks Dwell magazine

Black Garage Doors

Mobile post from Treo 650 .

Most of the buildings in our neighbourhood were constructed in the early 1900's, without garages (Ours was built in 1914). Wherever it's possible, people convert their basement/ground floor into a garage. When it's done right it doesn't detract from the appearance of the building.



But some home owners must not like the look, so they try to make the door invisible by painting it black.



This has become a strong trend in the last few months: I wonder how many people are going to drive straight through their closed garage door?

Next Time Signal

Categories:Cars

Memorial Day

Today I was thinking about the war dead. This was the first headstone to attract my attention when I entered the US National Cemetery on the Presidio. The headstone was polished marble and looked as new as the day Thomas Haley was buried. The engraving has him as a private in the US Army, who fought in the Spanish-American War(1898), and died in 1903.

In 1898 we had competition from other imperialists. Today, we have the world to ourself.

Try and stop us.



Categories:Politics

Remote Control

Urban Outfitters has this powerful remote control on sale for $5. It includes controls for "Listen","Talk about your feelings", "Get hint". Basically, all the things a girlfriend wants you to do... Worst of all, there's a button for "Tell the truth".

Categories:Gadgets

Pool Side in San Rafael

Josh and Amy moved from their beautiful hillside home in Mill Valley to a beautiful house with a back yard, a swimming pool and hot tub in San Rafael.

San Rafael is twenty miles north of San Francisco, and the weather there is much hotter than SF. So although it's 54˚ in SF, we expect to be floating in the pool, sipping cold drinks, and eating the barbecued Korean short ribs we brought with us.

Categories:Friends

Grooved Tyres in F1

In Formula One, slick tires have not been allowed since the 1998 rule changes. The tyres have four circumferential grooves. The regulations specifying that all four grooves be at least 2.5 mm deep and spaced 50mm apart.

The idea was to reduce cornering speeds and increase safety. This is how the groves reduce the grip of the tyres:

The shearing forces on the tread during hard cornering can cause tyre tread 'squirm' if the tread block is too small or too thick. The driver would feel this as a lack of grip. The grooves reduce the block size and the amount of lateral support that the rubber has. This causes the tyre tread to 'shear' more easily. The shearing forces cause the tyre to over-heat, lose grip, and wear out more quickly. To ensure the tyres integrity, harder rubber compounds had to be used, and this reduced cornering speeds.

F1 teams are given two sets of dry weather tyres to use. The tyres with the white grove are the softer set.

More information on tyres at Formula 1

Image from autosport.com
Categories:Cars

Beaker Coffee Mug

$12 and $13.50 from Advance

Categories:Gadgets

New 2CV?

Auto Express has this picture of a Citroen 2CV concept car. The exterior design looks complete, but they must still be working on the interior, because the interior photo shows an original 2CV. The designers did a good job with the front of the car. I think the back should be more upright and less curved, with smaller tail-lights placed just above the bumper.

Categories:Cars

Ferrari 360 Modena and F430

I understand that it is difficult to design the body of a mid-engined sports car. If "form followed function", then all mid-engined sport cars would end up looking the same.

But the front end styling of the Ferrari 360 Modena looks a bit odd to me. The two gaping holes on either side of the nose detract from an otherwise pleasant design.

The F430 continues this theme with even larger holes, and it looks worse.


I think I've found the origins of this styling theme: This 1962 v12 Ferrari 330 TRI/LM, which sold at Sotherby's for over $US9 million last weekend.

Stand close to a Testa Rossa and notice how the body is stretched over the wheels and frame. Photos don't do it justice.

Update 4/21/10 and 4/28/12: