I got this chart on a mailer from my utility company recently. The proportions misrepresent the contributions of coal and natural gas, although the numbers are accurate (they're copied from another table in the flyer). Coal should be nearly twice the size of natural gas on this chart, but the...
For a limited time only, you can snap up the rolling-door Lincoln prototype on eBay. Bidding is already at $6k—how high will it go? ...remember this thing?...
Update: Embedded video removed—apparently my antivirus software doesn't like this Youtube link. I'm sure you can find the Macy's Day Parade Rickroll on your own. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is the ultimate authority on things now officially uncool and out of date. Ohwell—it was fun while it lasted1. 1...
I'm not a huge fan of Black Friday. Crowds, teaser deals, and misleading markdowns all contribute, but they aren't the real reasons. The real reasons are:30% off doesn't make a useless product better or more useful a few more gifts doesn't say anything more than you're already saying a bit...
Is it a:Squashed Cayenne? Stretched Cayman? A 924 with some strakes and rear windows from an Alero?...
After all of the state-by-state images we see during the election, it's interesting to get this full county breakdown of the 2008 general presidential election. I'm particularly interested in the belt of blue cascading through the southern states. How weird. Courtesy Wikipedia. Where else?...
I just realized I've never owned a V6. And up until the truck, I haven't owned a V8. Flat-4: Subaru GL, Subaru XT, Porsche 914 Inline-4: Volvo 240, Toyota 4Runner, Eagle Talon, Toyota Camry, Volkswagen Scirocco, Toyota RAV4 Inline-6: Dodge Dart, BMW 325is, Mercedes-Benz 250 V8: Ford F-250 Seems I...
On October 13, 2006, Michael Vick surely had no idea that the check he had just written—the one with the words "chump change" scrawled into the memo—would be a hit story on the web. We all generate pretty impressive paper trails these days, and it's all just one dog-fighting-conviction-induced-bankruptcy away...
They came in this box. It's heavy. You know, when the Japanese mix languages it usually comes off as Engrishy. But when the Germans do it, it comes off as non-committal. Pick a language, you teutonic nincompoops....
I'm headed back to silicon valley before the year ends. This is the second time in four months that I'll be down there, which is somewhat remarkable because prior to my visit in August, I think the last time I was in the bay area was sometime before Y2K. And...
I haven't seen either of my neighbors for a least a few weeks—certainly since I've been back from Japan. I'm pretty sure the ones on the north side are still there since their cars move. But on the south side? No signs of life lately....
I forgot to keep tabs on the Netflix queue, so the last three films we received are just whatever we queued up, say, six months ago. This bites. I need to stay more on top of keeping the queue well-balanced....
I'm often amused by hallway greetings that go like this: Person 1: Hey, what's happening? Person 2: Not bad!...
I've appointed myself as chairman of the explatory committee for finding a replacement for our old camera. So far I haven't found too much. So your help would be appreciated. The requirements I've got so far are:ultra-compact point-and-shoot form factor quick time from power-on to first shot (<2s if possible?)...
...sorry. I started using her Sony DSC-T1 back in 2005 when we first got together. The drive motor and battery on my trusty Pentax Optio S had started wearing out right about then so it made sense to switch over to the then-newish Sony. Judging by my photo archives, it...
Although I was able to Dremel through the offending flange and remove the front calipers, it seems that I do, in fact, need new front brake rotors. Part of this is because they're nearing the nearing the wear limit and are pretty gouged, and part of this is because I...
Northrop Grumman have apparently built this comparatively lightweight LASER for weapons use. Besides very helpfully noting that solid state LASERs are "powered by electricity" (thanks) they mention that this particular unit is equipped with ... Ethernet connectivity? Call me old-fashioned, but I actually prefer that this be usable only with...
I don't really like working on brakes. Actually, it's the fluid that I don't like—brakes on their own are comparatively really tame. I can't get the brake line detached from the flange on the front-right strut tower on the 914 without uncoupling the brake lines. If I can't get this...
I had an arborist limb up a tree in our front yard because the branches were growing awfully close to our cable line, and I don't want a wind storm to knock any branches down and take out our cable. In the process of removing these limbs, one fell and...
Spotted at Amanohashidate....
...well technically it's not quite winter yet. But it's close. One of the immense disadvantages of working on cars in the winter1 is that the garage is incredibly cold. So I have to fire up the space heater and brave it out. But at the same time, there's a big...
I only got two see one or two examples of Dekotora (think deco truck) while in Japan. None of them were all that great—this one, with its goofy rear-view-mirror-frames-gone-wrong was the only one really worth mentioning. I spotted it right outside the Toyota Automobile Museum in suburban Nagoya, and proceeded...
Two unrelated things I don't understand.A Prairie Home Companion. This radio show eats up 2 hours of air time every Saturday on KUOW. I can imagine people who would listen to this show, and I can imagine people who listen to NPR affiliates—I suspect the intersection of those two sets...
Dammit. It's a bit of a bummer that close races like this one leave our legislators (on either side of the aisle) in a position where they are unable to really push their agenda or be too noisy, since they're always looking over their shoulder at the opposition ready to...
It's easier to get a sense of scale from the first post I wrote on the castle, but the engineering invovled is pretty remarkable stuff. Two huge vertical posts carry a substantial fraction of the weight of the structure, and the remaining load is distributed across a few hundred other...
An interesting observation by my Japanese hosts is that Americans—even in Americans living in rainy areas like Seattle—often don't own umbrellas. And my sample set indicates this is true. Neither Layla nor I own an umbrella. I chaulk this up to widespread use of the automobile here in the US....
I realize it's 3am. Cats woke me. These are the partial (and thus largely useless) results from the 8th district federal representative seat, currently being fought out by Reichert and Burner. But the coincidence at this snapshot is striking: at this point in the process, the spread is only 60...
Play-by-play coverage of individual state election results is absolutely useless outside the context of the rest of the country. Particularly because the demographic trends apparent in each voting block are arranged geographically, both across time zones (central time zone and west coast are both heavily polarized), and in the order...
It's incredibly difficult to be involved enough in local politics to make an informed decision about many of the candidates running for some of these offices. I've got pretty much everyone down to the state legislative level figured out, but some of the more obscure state offices (Insurance Commissioner) and...
...or maybe just make The Weakest Link into a legislative tool....
Yesterday's Northwest Airlines flight 8 from Narita to Seattle must have gone through a wormhole while I was asleep on the plane. I have arrived in Bellevue and have found that gas is now selling for $2.60/gallon. The only reasonable explanation is that I am now in an alternate dimension....
Does Chevrolet actually build bikes? Spotted in Chiyoda (Tokyo) near the imperial palace....
Here's a great idea: let's discuss American politics while waiting to get on a plane for 10 hours. Better yet, let's get into a heated argument about the qualifications of the candidates and their running mates. I have no idea who I will be sitting next to on this plane,...
A few things that are difficult to find in Japan:vending machines that sell anything other than drinks or cigarettes anyone living on the street litter trash cans These last two items may seem complimentary, but I've seen how much stuff Japanese people buy, and I just can't imagine that they're...
I stayed in Capsule Inn Akihabara last night. The location was great (Chuo Dori! Yodobashi Camera!) but apart from that everything was substandard compared to Capsule Inn Hotel Osaka. If you want the capsule experience and will be in both Osaka and Tokyo during your trip to Japan, I recommend...
In Japan, I have to take my shoes off when I enter a home, but don't have to take them off when I enter the airport....
It's about 5:30am. I've been up since 2 or so, to prep for the jet lag. I've got another six hours in the city before I head to Narita to catch my flight at 3pm. Ten hours later I'll be back on the ground in Seattle; another hour or so...
These days, it's difficult to get yourself into a situation where nobody around you speaks English. But even so, I find it's incredibly useful to be able to start conversations in the native tongue. It's less about actual communication and is more about being polite. The person on the other...
Long-time readers of my blog have probably realized that I respect a well-designed elevator. So I'm pleased to be in Japan, since nearly all of the elevators out here are of amazing quality. They're almost all cable elevators (buildings are way too tall for hydraulics), the timing is swift, and...
Spotted at a park near the imperial palace. I get this feeling that the placard and the translation somehow got mismatched. All of the others were reasonably coherent. The text reads: Please be quiet in the park at night. which disturbs others....
I was right. I woke up butt-ass early and waited around and did email until the subways started at 6am so I could go to the Tsukiji fish market to watch auctions and eat never-frozen fish. Standing on the platform waiting for the train, I got the warning signs of...
