Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Into the Wild - by Eddie Vedder

Soundtrack from Into the Wild - by Eddie Vedder. This is also a tribute to Christopher McCandless.

Based on a true story. After graduating from Emory University in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandoned his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters who shape his life.






Song Lyrics:

hmmm ooh hooo hooo

It's a mistery to me
we have a greed
with which we have agreed

You think you have to want
more than you need
until you have it all you won't be free

society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me

When you want more than you have
you think you need
and when you think more than you want
your thoughts begin to bleed

I think I need to find a bigger place
'cos when you have more than you think
you need more space

society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me
society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me

there's those thinking more or less less is more
but if less is more how you're keeping score?
Means for every point you make
your level drops
kinda like its starting from the top
you can't do that...

society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me
society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me

society, have mercy on me
I hope you're not angry if I disagree
society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me




Thursday, September 24, 2009

Airstream Bambi @ MOMA, NYC


by VINTAGE AIRSTREAM on JUNE 5, 2009
Airstream Inc.,(1960).Photo by Robin Holland.Image courtesy MOMA, NY.Airstream Inc.,(1960).Photo by Robin Holland.Image courtesy MOMA, NY.



While this isnt particularly new news, it does have a place here and it is particularly noteworthy that only a very, very small handful of vehicles have ever been elevated to the status of works of fine art by MOMA and placed in their permanent collection.

Industrial design taken to its highest level indeed. When your product gets placed in the Modern Museum of Art you have officially earned the right to brag a little.

Here is the original press release from Airstream:

JACKSON CENTER, Ohio, March 6 — Thor Industries, Inc. , the largest manufacturer of recreation vehicles and mid-size buses, announced today that The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York had acquired from Thor an Airstream Bambi travel trailer for the Museum’s collection. Airstream, Thor’s flagship brand, is the world’s most recognized recreation vehicle, and is an icon of American design. The restored 1963 Airstream Bambi, representing the first design iteration of a model line that continues today, over 40 years later, will go on public display at MoMA on March 7. The Airstream Bambi becomes only the seventh automotive design in MoMA’s collection, joining famed designs such as the Volkswagen Beetle, the Jaguar E-Type, and the original Jeep.


“The selection of Airstream by MoMA for the collection reflects Airstream’s status as a true American icon, and further enhances Airstream’s already superior reputation for quality, innovation and design,” said Richard Riegel, Thor Industries Group President. “Airstream is recognized worldwide as a metaphor for wanderlust, adventure and freedom and as an ideal of the American family experience. We are exceptionally proud of this accolade.”

And a Few other beautiful Airstreams:




Tuesday, September 22, 2009

"Being shot out of a cannon will always be better than being squeezed out of a tube. "

Song of the Sausage Creature


by Hunter S. Thompson



There are some things nobody needs in this world, and a bright red, hunchback, warp-speed 900cc café racer is one of them -- but I want one anyway, and on some days I actually believe I need one. That is why they are dangerous.



Saturday, September 19, 2009

Simple Living....thoughts, ramblings...whats important?

In all the time of man, we have only had modern electricity and integrated communications systems in the past century.  For all the rest of time, for heat, you needed fire, for food you needed to collect, for cleansing you needed the water nature provided.  If you wanted to send or receive information,  you sent a messenger.  Our current society has become so disconnected from this.

Water - open the tap.  Power - plug in.  Heat - set the thermostat.

Technology is a good thing.  It has made out lives easier.  But, isn't it so much more complicated?  I still don't understand what the main goals in life people have.  Most work as much as they can just to keep their head afloat with the huge mortgage and bills.  Taking time away from family, recreation, learning, and relaxation. You only get one chance at this folks, there are no "do overs" like when we were kids and messed something up.  When you are 80 years old , what will you look back on and wish were top priorities that you never "got to" ?  This is what I'm trying to figure out now, when young and I still have the most scarce and valuable resource we have, time.




Dave Matthews "Seek Up"


Sometimes I feel like I'm falling
Fall back again, fall back again,
Fall back again, fall back again...

Oh, life it seems,
this trouble between what we see and what we do
Well, I'm going to change my ways
just to please you, or appease you
Oh, look at this crowd, six million proud,
Willing to punch it away
Right, wrong, weak, strong,
Ashes to ashes, all fall down
Oh, look around about this round-about,
This merry-go-round and around
Well, if at all Gods gaze upon us falls
It's with a mischevious grin,
look at him

Forget about the reasons and the treasons we are seeking
Forget about the notion that our emotions can be kept at bay
Forget about being guilty, we are innocent instead
Soon we will all find our lives swept away

Oh, look at me and my fancy car and my bank account
Oh, how I wish I could take it all down to my grave,
God knows, I'd save and save
Man, take a look again,
take a look again
All the things I have collected
Well, in the end it all will pile up so tall
to one big nothing
One big nothing at all


Forget about the reason and the treasons we are seeking
Forget about the notion that our emotions can be kept at bay
Forget about being guilty, we are innocent instead
Soon we will all find our lives swept away

You seek up an emotion and your cup is overflowing,
You seek up an emotion sometimes your well is dry.
You seek up any monster for him to fight your wars for you
When he find his way to you the devil's not going
Ha, ha Ha, ha

Say, oh say
Late at night with TV's hungry child his belly swells
when for the price of a coke or a smoke
I could keep alive those hungry eyes,
Man, take a look again, take a look again, take a look again,
Everyday things change
But basically you and me stay the same

Forget about the reasons and the treasons we are seeking
Forget about the notion that our emotions can be kept at bay
Forget about being guilty, we are innocent instead
And soon we will all find our lives swept away

You seek up an emotion and your cup is overflowing,
You seek up an emotion sometimes your well is dry.
You seek up any monster for him to fight your wars for you
But when he find his way to you the devil's not going
Ha, ha Ha, ha

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust

Thursday, September 17, 2009

How To Build Your Own Arcade-Style Racing Simulator

Always wanted to own your own arcade-style race simulator? 0-60 's put together a downloadable 66-page guide to building your own for just $500 plus electronics and the beer your friend's help will cost. What you'll need to build it below.

For starters, you'll need the following parts:

The rest of the 66-page guide, including CAD-like drawings on stuff like sheet board optimization, can be found here .


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Even In A Bathtub, Steve McQueen Is Cooler Than You

So what did Steve McQueen do when he was flooring neither his Fezza nor his Jag ? Why, smoking and drinking in the tub with his second wife, Ali MacGraw, of course. [FFFFOUND! ]


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The black beauty

I got to drive this beautiful brand new 2010 gt today. Sun shining, 70 degrees, radio up, and well over 300 hp under the discretion of my right foot. Its quite intoxicating.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Make Her Chase You

After reading and following his website extensively, I purchased his book on amazon a few days ago.  It arrived in the mail today and I found myself reading it over dinner, over the local, and then the network news, Jeopardy, and past.  Well needless to say a proper book review is in order soon.

Friday, September 11, 2009

This Guy Should Go Buy A Lottery Ticket

FreeRange user Anthony_bonacci@hotmail.com wanted you to see this:
"This Guy Should Go Buy A Lottery Ticket [Car Crashes]"
Here's the setting: 40-year-old Allen Schroeder , driving on a divided-lane bridge, lost control, busted through the concrete barrier, leaped a 30ft gap, smashed into railing on the opposite bridge, then plummeted 40ft to water below. Unbelievably, he escaped largely unscathed.

Schroeder, alone in his van at the time, somehow, by the grace of God and probably a rip in the space-time continuum, escaped his van after the violent collision by swimming from the vehicle as it sank into Soldier Creek under the North Topeka highway bridge. He scampered up the rocky embankment and waited for emergency responders to arrive, at which point he was taken to an area hospital and treated for shoulder pain! If this guy has any wits about him he'll go out and play the lottery, hit Vegas, strike up a conversation with every pretty girl at the bar. Luck like this comes along once in a lifetime. [CJ Online ]


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Monday, September 07, 2009

Spearhead - Oh my god Lyrics (rated R)

Oh my, oh my God
out here mama they got us livin’ suicide
singin’ oh my, oh my God
out here mama they got us livin’ genocide

Slam bam I come unseen
but like gasoline you tell I’m in the tank
like money in the bank
I smell appealing, but I’m toxic, can send you reeling
without an inklin’, keep ya thinkin’
‘cause you gave cash to the feds, left your school district for dead
f****d you up in the head, but still they sayin’ nothin’s wrong
still believing the systems workin’
while half of my people are still out of workin’
anonymous notes left in the pockets and coats
of judges and juries from ‘Frisco and Jersey
threats and protests politicians mob debts
trumped up charges and phony arrests
stage a lethal injection, the night before the election
‘cause he got donations from the prison guard’s union
(chorus)

Listen to my stethoscope on a rope
internal lullabies, human cries
thumps and silence, the language and violence
algorithmic, cataclysmic, seismic, biorhythmic
you can make a life longer, but you can’t save it
you can make a clone and then you try to enslave it?
stealin’ DNA samples from the unborn
and then you comin’ after us
‘cause we sampled a James Brown horn?
scientists who’s God is progress
a four-headed sheep is their latest project
the CIA runin’ like that Jones from Indiana
but they still won’t talk about that Jones in Guyana
this ain’t no cartoon, no one slips on bananas
do you really think that that car killed Diana
hell I shot Ronald Regan, I shot JFK

I slept with Marilyn she sung me “Happy Birthday”
singin’
(chorus)

Well politicians got lipstick on the collar
the whole media started to holler
but I don’t give a f**k who they screwin’ in private
I wanna know who they screwin’ in public
robbin’, cheatin’, stealin’
white collar criminal
McDonald eatin, you deserve a beatin’
send you home a weepin’, with a fat bill for your Caribbean weekend
for just about anything they can bust us
false advertising sayin’ “Halls of Justice”
you tellin’ the youth don’t be so violent
then you drop bombs on every single continent
mandatory minimum sentencin’
‘cause he got caught with a pocket full of medicine
do that again another ten up in the pen
I feel so mad I wanna bomb an institution
singin’

(chorus)

Saturday, September 05, 2009

China Puts Chrysler On A Pedestal

FreeRange user Anthony_bonacci@hotmail.com wanted you to see this:
"China Puts Chrysler On A Pedestal [LOLCars]"
Qu Liming didn't want his house in Liulin, China demolished for a government project, so he parked his car in front of the excavation equipment. It didn't stop them. Now his Chrysler sits atop its own 60-foot-tall mountain.

Qu's house sat on a cliffside overlooking the area and he had no interest in seeing it demolished to make way for a new village, so instead of give up his plot, he parked his car in front of the excavators thinking it would slow them down and give him time to talk it out with officials. Instead it just made the workers mad and they dug around the house and the car, leaving his silver chrysler on top of the massive 60 ft pile of dirt you see above. "They began to dig out all the earth around my car and my home so now it sits on a mountain all of its own I think as a warning to others," Qu said. Sounds like a case of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, but it could have been worse, the unstoppable force could've ordered up a death bus . [Austrian Times ]


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Friday, September 04, 2009

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Steve McQueen: what I like in a bike and why

FreeRange user Anthony_bonacci@hotmail.com wanted you to see this:
"Steve McQueen: what I like in a bike and why"
"Why does a movie star who just received $750,000 for making The Sand Pebbles for 20th Century-Fox spend his time cow trailing on a motorcycle? 'It's the clean smell of the desert in the morning. The satisfaction of setting up a rig and having it work perfectly in every way.'" 43 years ago Steve McQueen wrote a dirt bike comparison test for Popular Science. Here it is in its entirety.

Google via Knucklebuster


Hell For Leather
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Brammo Enertia goes on sale at Best Buy

FreeRange user Anthony_bonacci@hotmail.com wanted you to see this:
"Brammo Enertia goes on sale at Best Buy"
"We have three in the back, ready for test drives. All you need is a driver's license with a motorcycle endorsement," an employee at the Cascade Station Best Buy in Portland told Brammofan. The electric Brammo Enertia is now on sale at select Best Buys. Availability will initially be limited to the Portland, Oregon area, before spreading down the west coast. If sales of the $11,995 bike are successful, Best Buy could expand availability throughout the country. Congratulations guys.

Make sure you check out our Brammo Enertia review and our interview with Brammo CEO Craig Bramscher.

via Brammofan


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1988 Merkur XR4Ti for a Euro-Trashy $5,775!

FreeRange user Anthony_bonacci@hotmail.com wanted you to see this:
"1988 Merkur XR4Ti for a Euro-Trashy $5,775! [Nice Price Or Crack Pipe]"
Historically X marks the spot, however Ford seemed to miss the target with their mid-eighties imports. Today, Nice Price or Crack Pipe wants to know if time has improved the perception of their aim.

Yesterday you provided a pinto with a plethora of positive platitudes proving that performance pulverizes picayune pedigree. Today, we're going to visit Ellis Island.

The Ford Motor Company has been a global auto maker for nearly 100 years, and their vehicles built and sold outside the U.S. were eventually designed to conform to the needs of those specific markets. The Blue Oval company has also had a long history of bringing these foreign-Fords to the U.S. in an attempt to fill a supposed market niche. Some were more successful than others- the Mercury Capri being a notable example. Others, such as the Cortina, Fiesta, and Australian Capri convertible were less so, and most of these exchange students have been orphaned by their host family in Dearborn, who turn out the lights and refuse to answer the door when they come a knocking.

In the mid-eighties, Ford decided to not only bring over one of their most popular and award-winning models from Europe, but to create a spankin' new brand under which to sell them. Sadly, Ford chose to name the germanic brand the same as that of custodial parent Mercury, only in its native Deutsch, thus birthing Merkur . This proved nearly unpronounceable by the vast majority of Mercury sales people, condemning the cars to being called Merkers, murkurs, murkins, or worse. The appellation confusion was only exacerbated by the jelly-bean shape and unique detailing, highlighted by the double rear wing and a third side window that seemed to serve no purpose but to piss people off by its mere presence. The XR4Ti was based on the hottest version of Ford's European Cortina replacement, the Sierra, which had been winning accolades since its introduction. Powered in the U.S. by the sturdy 2.3 Turbo from the Mustang and T-Bird, the car brought sophistication and driving dynamics beyond anything Ford offered to domestic buyers at the time. Unfortunately, the weird overwhelmed the wonderful, and, in the face of impending safety requirements, the XR4Ti, along with its Scorpio big brother, were sent back to home country when their visas ran out in 1989.

But that was not before this metallic blue '88 hit our shores. Turning down the weird a bit, this car has the later single plane rear spoiler, but maintains the two-tone appearance with unpainted plastic cladding and bumpers. Built in Cologne, and modded for the U.S. market (700 changes!) by Karmann, the 3 door has all the attributes for success in Europe, and for failure in the U.S.. Hatchbacks, especially large ones, have never been popular here. Small, turbo four cylinders were shunned for their torquier and less efficient V8 counterparts- as evidenced by the buyer's choices of cousin Mustang models. Based on these factors, unfavorable exchange rates, and marketing that seemed half-assed at best, the XR4Ti never really caught on here, and even the buff mags began to diss the car despite initial praise.

But look at those specs- 130 mph top end, trailing arm IRS, roomy five seat leather-swathed cabin, slick T9 gearbox, and a 175 bhp turbo four that's pretty bullet-proof. What's not to love? And it could be yours for $5,775. The seller isn't too forthcoming with the facts on the car, other than that it's a one-owner car with only 85K on the clock. That's only about 4,000 miles a year, and other than the typical wear on the driver's seat bolster, the car looks pretty tidy.

So, would you pay close to six large for an athletic German orphan? Or, does that price make you say XR4T-I don't think so?

You decide!

eBayerische or go here if the ad makes like schnell.

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Ariel Atom 3: First Drive

FreeRange user Anthony_bonacci@hotmail.com wanted you to see this:
"Ariel Atom 3: First Drive [Jalopnik Reviews]"
Super cars don't come much more dedicated than the Ariel Atom 3 , a car that's fast becoming a legend. And if you're a dedicated driver they don't come much faster, as we found out at rainy Lime Rock last weekend.

Yes, super cars certainly come prettier in the conventional sense, but they have "bodywork." The Atom pretty much has shrouds that cover the hot parts and the moving pieces, at least most of them. They come more luxurious, but they have "interiors" where the 1375-pound Atom has a pair of seats — really, with its open frame, it barely has an exterior. But if you're the right sort of driver, it looks exactly like it should — see, right there's the engine, there are the Bilsteins, there are the brakes (Alcons on our example), and there are the tires (Toyo R888s) — and it's exactly the right place to be. It's a tool, and like a chef's knife or a stonecutter's mallet, it's made as simple and direct as possible with nothing added to it that you don't need to generate velocity along the appropriate axes.

Unfortunately, gorgeous Lime Rock Park was not quite the place to be on Saturday, as it had been drizzling steadily all day and the track was a glistening piece of black snakeskin where there wasn't actually standing water, so we would be limited to a few laps on the autocross track. This was disappointing, but it gave me time to talk to the people from Trak Motorsports International, who took over building the Atom from former owners Brammo last year; they'd already after handled the Ariel Atom Experience driving events for them and knew what they wanted to do with the car.

Primarily, they decided to replace the Atom 2's Ecotec, which was serviceable but still a compromise. They went back to the Atom's roots with a version of the K20A two-liter four found in Japanese-market Civics, a potent engine that makes 245 horsepower normally aspirated or 300 with a Jackson Racing supercharger. "It's a serious little engine, a race engine," TMI's engineer told us, "no balance shafts, baffled oil pan, Hondata ECU." It shows; the Atom has never in its short existence been anything like slow, but the supercharged Atom 3 gets to 60 in under three seconds. It's now a much more useful speed tool, and it's still relatively cheap to own and operate.

I wasn't able to approach that on the autocross track, naturally. On my own raggedy laps, the engine was flexible enough that it could be left in third and dart around just fine. TMI vice president Mark Swain had told us that the car was a very direct and transparent instrument-"It will do exactly what you tell it to. Exactly," were his exact words. My limited and damp time in the five-point harness proved him correct. The Atom turns in immediately; don't cough or twitch. It accelerates immediately; be prepared. And it stops the same way, except when it stops while going backwards because you weren't paying attention to just how quickly it turns and accelerates-but even then, it's just doing what you told it to, like Swain said. There is definitely as much speed there as you can get out of it. Like any tool, it reveals the strengths and shortcomings of the tool-user; you can use a chef's knife to prepare an epic feast, or you can take your hand off at the wrist.

Later that afternoon a dry line opened on the track and Swain, who turns out to be an extremely fast and smooth driver for a vice president, was allowed to take us for a handful of laps around Lime Rock lovely mile-and-a-half to give us all more of a feeling for its potential. I expected the Atom, at speed on a larger track, to feel darty, frenetic, and nervous, but that didn't seem to be the case; the still-damp track didn't upset it even through the water flowing across the track, it took the transitions through the esses in stride, and despite the astounding speed it seemed composed and solid. The Atom may have been running out of steam at the end of the half-mile straightaway, as top speed is "only" 140 or so, but it was never straining.

So if you're dedicated enough, or have the patience to try and become driver enough, and you have $65,000, by all means, get an Ariel Atom 3 . It's a phenomenal track car, and in some places it could be a unique and character-building road car. It's certainly the sharpest and simplest — and cheapest — tool in the supercar trade. One way or another, you'll be a better driver for it.

Special thanks to the Manhattan Car Club and TMI AutoTech for providing the Atom and track time.

Photos by Peter Orosz


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