R. Lee Ermey Alarm Clock

Fans of the movie "Full Metal Jacket" will love the Drill Sergeant Alarm Clock. Imagine waking up to this.


OK, so I'm making this up. In truth the clock is cheap junk, and doesn't say anything outrageous. But wouldn't it be cool if someone really did sell a Gunnery Sergeant Hartman alarm clock?
Listen while Hartman names his maggots.


Thanks Redferret

Rover P5B

The Rover P5B must have been the inspiration for the Chrysler 300.









The P5B was the first car to use the aluminium V8 engine design that Rover purchased from Buick and improved upon (Later this engine would power the Rover P6 and SD1, Range Rover, Australian Leyland P76, Morgan, TVR and other sports cars). This car is a rare example of muscular British styling, luxury and performance. It has a beautiful dashboard with large gauges grouped in a pod in front of the driver. The sporty Rostyle wheels are in contrast to deliberately brutish looks.

It was frightening for this small boy to see a P5B coming down the street. The top of the bonnet was level with the top of my head, and I thought the driver wouldn't see me.

New Title Style

It takes so much time to create an original logo. So to quickly add a bit of color to the blog title I've used Logogle.

No More Will I Go A Wandering

I'm a healthy man, but put me in a flying cigar tube and I get ill every time. Theraflu is really helping.

On the flight back in a 757 I sat in an exit row for the first time. Pure luxury! Two seats instead of three, and more legroom than 1st class. We were on the ground by 11:30, and because we already knew our bags were on a different flight, we went straight to the taxi rank and home to Che and Jawa.

Cable Stayed Bridge

We're back home in SF, but I'm thinking about some of the things we saw in Columbus:

The Lane Avenue Bridge crossing the Olentangy River on the Ohio State campus is 370 feet long and pretends to be a cable stayed bridge (the new fashion for suspension bridges that eliminates the need for cable 'anchors' at each end). My guess is that the cables are purely decorative, and don't support the road deck. I think the deck is supported by girders running underneath the bridge.

If I'm right, then the bridge towers are a frivolous and costly addition to the bridge.
If I'm wrong, and the cables are structural, then the bridge design doesn't look right. Removing the buttresses might help.

The Longest New Year's Eve

The Longest New Year's Eve
Originally uploaded by treough.

Goodbye Ohio.



We're travelling home westward across 3 time zones. Our New Year's Eve will be 27 hours long.

OSU

OSU
Originally uploaded by treough.

Lani graduated from Ohio State University in history. Today we're walking around campus. A lot of substantial red brick buildings and this new Architecture Dept building. The shell of the building is 'tiled' with marble squares that are beveled to hide the gaps between them. They appear to overlap like tiles on a roof. The effect works well from more than a few feet away.



One corner of the building is supported on simple cement pilars while marble columns are used to show different styles of classical columns.

In Cold Blood

In Cold Blood
Originally uploaded by treough.

The movie "Capote" documents the research work Truman Capote and Harper Lee did in Kansas for this book, so I know how painstakingly complete and accurate "In Cold Blood" is. Capote's examination of the disturbed mind of a mass killler is very disturbing to me.



Perry Smith turns his desire to be an independent man into an anti-social loathing for everyone 'normal'. His few 'friends' are those men who pretend to take him seriously so as to flatter him but then use him for their own ends.



Like all weak men he seeks the approval of others. But he doesn't trust others and so his need for approval is never met. Perry is a lone wolf, and the lone wolf belongs in the wild.

XM Radio

XM Radio
Originally uploaded by treough.

Lani and I bought Cindy an XM radio. We comparison shopped, and Delphi (the General Motors parts maker) had the best design!

You can pause or replay live radio for up to 30 minutes. It has a built-in FM transmitter, remote control and a stock ticker. I'm hooking the receiver up to her home stereo, but the head unit can be moved to another docking station set up in the kitchen. Over 100 channels including BBC. Nice.

Dayton

Dayton
Originally uploaded by treough.

Cindy drove us to Dayton today to see the Treasures of Ancient Egypt exhibit at the Dayton Art Institute. Very good show. But it's a dreary drive across flat farmland from Columbus to get there. The freeway was lined with franchise food chains, motels and warehouses. They treat the land here like dirt.