Author Archive
The Insanity of the Economy
Browsing BoingBoing today I saw this article. I clicked through and looked through the photos posted on the auction website. It’s worth a look. Here’s the story: wikipedia Chrysler’s Newark Assembly plant in Newark, Delaware built tanks between 1951 and 1957, and cars between 1957 and 2009, including LeBarons, Town and Countrys, and most recently […]
The fragile fabric
Driving back to Albany from Santa Rosa on Sunday I witnessed a pretty gnarly car crash. Basically- I noticed this aggressive driver in a black Passat with frat letters on the back when they passed me on the right. Drifting around in the lane, uneven acceleration. Decided to give them wide berth. As I followed […]
In: Cars, Life and Times
Rabbit Diesel
Something strikes me as pretty funny about the car in this picture. Probably because I expect the driving experience in a diesel rabbit has got to be pretty wretched. Hey- I’ve got nothing but respect for terrible econoboxes boldly proclaiming their worst attributes!
Bad Engineering and the Bay Bridge
On Bad Engineering On Tuesday (10/27/09) I was driving back from Laney College up to my home in Albany. A ways in advance of where 880 splits off for (I guess) 80E and 80W (Bay Bridge) I realized we were merging out of the left lanes for the Bay Bridge- with flares and cones. No […]
DIY Autocross Magnetic Car Numbers
What do you need if you are going to an autocross event with a racecar that has one number on the side, but you are going to be running two drivers? Well, you need another detachable number! What about if that racecar has beautiful but easily-lifted purple and yellow house paint on it? Well, you […]
In: Little Fixes, Racing
Skateboard Nearing A Good Place
In order to get the Skateboard (Facebreaker) a little less rough I’ve worked on a few things over the last couple weeks. Build process previously documented here and here.
The Electric Mega-Skate-Board AKA “Facebreaker” Rides
If you didn’t see it, take a look at the previous skateboard post for an idea what this is all about-
Long Overdue: EV Miata First Start Video
If you watch the site you will know that I have gotten the electric car registered, driven it in a parade, and that it is entirely functional. But before all that, I had to power it up for the first time ever. That day, I invited friends over and we took video, which is now, […]
The Rise of Banzai Lemon
In: Art and Design, Racing
Station Wagon Solar Roof and Solar Sub- Self Sufficient Sonic Splendor
Toyota has been advertising the “Solar Roof” option for the new 2010 Prius- it’s basically a solar module integrated into the roof panel that runs the cabin ventilation fan on hot and sunny days. Simple enough- but what they didn’t tell you is that you can have a solar roof on any car- obviously!
In: Life and Times, Little Fixes, Renewable Energy System