dog food

I’ve blogged about this amazing vehicle before, but it’s worth revisiting because Greg Zanis and sons have made some progress. The Dream Car 123 now has GOLD TRIM, neon lighting and 80 lead-acid batteries, while retaining the original pyramid form factor, single person occupancy, and bullet proof Plexiglas. Greg has a new video and is looking for financial backing to take this puppy through to production.

It’s nice to see someone who isn’t afraid to put themselves on-the-line; I’m generally shy about handing out my email address, Greg is giving out his phone number. It’s a brave move, if surfing the interwebs has taught me anything it’s that there are a lot of nut jobs out there.

via Slippery Brick

via Alternative Displays.

While walking on the wild high voltage side of science I came across this: a German Haunebu 2, on a test flight. Wow. Unbelievable. If it wasn’t for that authentic looking signature…

and it’s clad in bullet-proof half-inch plexi-glass. I’m speechless. Link.

I just listened to an interview with Jaime Lerner (transcript here), president of the International Union of Architects and 3 time mayor of Curitiba. He has many insightful things to say about cities as instruments for change. What struck me, in our current climate of 2020 and 2030 plans, was his three principles for change: keep it simple, begin it now, don’t rush to have all the answers.

People are waiting to have all the answers, but the start is more important, so don’t try to have all the answers, just try to start and the people will teach you how to correct your working process. – Lerner (2004)

Sometimes using the internet feels a bit like that movie cliché where a black van pulls up and a character gets dumped out onto the pavement. Your dazed, you have no idea how you got there, yet things seem vaguely familiar. It was like that today when I found myself on the North American Railcar Operators Association website. I couldn’t tell you what lead me to the site but I remembered these pictures my sister sent me back in 2002 (taken while travelling in the US).