mika
Still Wondering
Happy Birthday
US Forest Service: Fall color guide
urbanext.uiuc.edu: The Miracle of Fall – About Fall Color
hellforleathermagazine.com: Details- BMW standardizes indicator switches
cyclenews.com: WORCS to be AMA sanctioned
This could be interesting, stay tuned
roadracingwold.com: AMA Congress convenes in Ohio
A cage sites take on a neo-would-be classic
autoweek.com: Two-wheel lowdown – 2008 Triumph Bonneville
hemmings.com: another “BIG” motorcycle
Scroll down to the meat worth the trip to this link, the two take aways. “…devlop new road-going performance bikes that transcend existing competition-based archetypes..”
hellforleather.com: Honda shows bizarre V4 concept model, says it wants to make it.
Now imagine you a BMW designer who is going to head home after INTERMOT then return to the drafting table on Monday. Your projects are done and shown; new work for the future to begin. What thoughts are in your head for the future?
uk.reuters.com: Motor racing-BMW boss says Formula One needs to keep Canada GP
wheels.ca: Up to Ottawa to save Grand Prix, promoter says
bimmerfile.com: BMW Re-thinking sales plan
bimmerfile.com: BMW to temporarily close Leipzig
autoexpress.com: Compact X1’s big shock
classicrallies.com: Maserati Granturismo S debut
Futuristic designs are fascinating.
yankodesign.com: If you’re really into butterflies
I wonder how this 1018bhp monster will play with the Sussex constabulary.
europeanmotornews.com: Carbon fiber supercars debut at MPH featuring Top Gear
Faster than a Bugatti Veyron and almost twice the price, this ultra rare, 1018BHP Koenigsegg CCXR Edition – the fastest European production car ever – is coming to the UK
motorauthority.com: DuPont Registry picks 11 best vehicles
If you are a fan of the prancing horse put some plastic over the keyboard to protect it from drool after you follow this link
supercars.net: 2008 Ferrari Racing Days Nurburgring Gallery
Another Gullwing video via Mercedes
If I am not mistaken Bill Gates is in the crowd in on of the airport sceens
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BMW Mille Miglia Concept Coupe
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MotherShip News is on Page 2
Stuff
Holly, what did you do to the economy when you were in Iceland?
ft.com: Iceland suspends trading after bank seizures
There is a bit of humor in this piece. Take a look at the date line location.
reuters.com: Expect severe winter in East: forecaster
gizmag.com: HiPER nuclear fusion project underway
The following has a ghoulish title, perhaps for Halloween. The article offers an alternative of using sweat. This led me to wonder what the impact would be on the deodorant industry. Would it crash? Would it lobby to stop this development? Would there be conspiratorial movies made about this in the future. (Another movie genre I like) Then I had another sip of coffee, scrolled down and found the rest of the article interesting.
Howstuffworks.com: Could blood be used to power batteries?
yankodesign.com: When a buildings skin ripples
boingboing.net: Today at Boing Boing Gadgets
reuters.com: For sale: Yourself in legos
Packers Blog – jsonline.com
Packers.com – News from the football shrine
Green Bay Post Gazette: Packer News, Commentary
Offical site of the Premier League
GasBuddy.com has gas temperature maps intended to let you see what gas prices are around the US and Canada. Areas are color coded according to the reported local average price for regular unleaded gasoline.
US
Canada
Wonderings
reuters.com: How safe is your city? Put it to the bicycle test.
This article could send me in several directions of wondering. The one that I will take is to wonder about Minneapolis Minnesota and where to rank it.
On a Monday night as an undergrad at the U of Mn I rode my 10 speed to a friend’s home. It was a student rental home near Oak and Washington. I say was because the location house is now a street after redevelopment of the area, but I digress as usual. I chained my bike to the rear bumper of his VW Karmann Ghia and went inside. We worked on a joint presentation (no pun intended) and then settled back to watch Monday Night Football and enjoyed a few long necks along with Dandy Don and the gang.
I don’t remember all the details of the bike. It was nothing fancy even for its day. The thing that appealed to me was it was a 28 inch large frame, like me. Constructed with the same tubing as the normal bike the extra size did not add that much weight but increased the comfort for me. It was my daily ride on campus leaving cars and motorcycles for the weekends.
Sometime after the witching hour I pulled myself together and headed outside for the ride back to my apartment. No bike. The nice big chain, now sawn through, and big bullet proof master lock lay on the ground below the bumper like a metallic turd.
Right now Minneapolis ranks low on the How Safe is Your City chart.
Fast forward fifteen years.
Life went on and found me living in Park Ridge IL. I came home from work on a Wednesday night and called my folks back in Lilydale. We were planning a pilgrimage for some family event. There were logistics to work out. We, two adults and two children then 4 and 7 (already the founding members of my pit crew), would be ‘camping’ in the living room of the Lilydale family condo for an extended weekend. We would arrive very late Friday night after the 400+ mile drive. The next day would be spent helping mother prepare for the event while my father played with the kids. Saturday evening the rest of the family and a few friends would descend on Lilydale and we would have a wonderful time. We would recover on Sunday and drive back to Park Ridge at our leisure Monday. With plans made the phone call wound down to goodbyes, then mother added a tag line.
‘John, remind me to give you a letter we received for you. It’s from the Minneapolis Police.’
I said yes and the call ended. In an instant I fell like a child that was going to be grounded. I had no idea what this letter could be about. Was it some error of a miss spent youth coming back to haunt me. I made some mental notes about how to clear my calendar for the following week and made certain to pack my address book where I had the phone number of a friend in the Twin Cities who is an attorney.
The gathering was wonderful. Family, friends and food were all wonderful. We sprawled out of the condo onto the yard. Talked, played games and all in all had a splendid time.
Sunday was devoted clean up and more play. At one point I found myself in the kitchen with my mother laughing and chatting while doing dishes. It was just the two of us and therefore a perfect time to ask about the letter. Suddenly I was that child about to be grounded again. She dried he hands went to the mail cubby pulled the letter out and handed it to me.
The return address on the envelope showed that it was indeed a letter from the Minneapolis Police. I opened it and withdrew the one page letter. The image of a judge cautiously opening the folded up jury sentence and then reading it to the defendant flashed through my mind.
The letter itself was some what cryptic. The header was longer than the body. In business form it contained my address and below that re: and listed two case numbers on separate lines. The body itself was simple. I was required to appear at a precinct house in Minneapolis off Lake Street before a certain date. After that date further actions would be taken. The letter ended.
I was familiar with the area around the precinct house. My only association with that area was summer nights spent cursing and street racing back in the day. Was some error, other than the ones I could remember, coming back to haunt me?
Monday morning my then wife and I got in the car for a ride to Minneapolis. I told the children that we were going shopping which instantly took as a chance to spew a list of toys and things that we neeeeeded to secure for them or their young lives could not go on.
On the Mendota Bridge as we crossed the Minnesota River I handed my wife the letter and made my confession, excuses and my first plea for leniency. I figured I need the practice for what could come. She became stoic and very quiet. This did not afford me, the soon to be condemned man, any comfort.
We found the precinct house, an old two story two stall fire station converted to police use and parked making certain not to violate any parking regulations. We entered through a door to the left of the massive garage doors and walked into a smallish room with a desk on the far side with an officer on the far side seated reading the news paper. I walked up to the desk like a condemned man and handed the officer the letter.
Without saying a word he read the letter then went to a file cabinet pulled out a file and then sat back at the desk and shuffled through the contained paper work.
‘I owe ______ five bucks. I didn’t think you’d show up, it’s been fifteen years. Follow me’
He got up and headed through a door to my right. I found myself following him with my hands put forward and wrist together expecting at any moment to have hand cuffs slapped around them. I walked through the door into the garage bay and into a sea of bicycles neatly parked in cramped multiple rows that filled the space formerly occupied by fire trucks.
Confused, I walked to the officer who was struggling with one of the bikes.
‘We pulled a guy over for public drunkenness while riding a bike. He went to jail and when we processed the bike. There was enough of the old bicycle registration sticker left for us to process it and find out it was a stolen bike. We notify the owners and if they don’t show up to get’em we sell them at auction. The auction is this Saturday. I didn’t think you would show.’
It took me a few minutes to clear my head and recognize the bike as the one stolen on a Monday night long ago during college days.
I worked my way through college. During the normal college year I worked for the university parking services. I was a parking attendant, part time dispatcher and meter maid. It was located in the basement of the university police station near Memorial Stadium. I had taken the advice of one of the police dispatchers and registered my bike in the then optional state bicycle registration program. I listed my parents address as my permanent address on the form because I moved so often during my college years.
Trying to get my mind around what had happened I made some comment about this must be some sort of record.
‘No. Your 18 months short of the record.’
I remember filling out a bit of paper work and then loading the bike into the trunk of the car. I opened the driver’s door to get in and was greeted by a look of rebuke from my wife and then peals of laughter, at my expense, which would recur for days after.
The bike made the trip back to Park Ridge strapped to the back bumper. The trunk was full of our personal belongings and toys that my father had purchased for the girls on their shopping spree while I was avoiding going to jail and recovering the bike.
The bike was in sad shape, not even close to the bike I remembered. It found a new home with the son of our babysitter. Her son was going off to college. He restored the bike to working order and took it with him.
I wonder where we should rank Minneapolis on the How Safe is Your City list.
As I finish this story I wonder where that bicycle is well over thirty years since it was taken from chained to the back of a Kharmann Ghia. Logic would suggest that it has been relegated to some bicycle salvage and parted out. Yet in my minds eye the oversize framed bike is being ridden by some giant economy size student attending an unknown college on his way to class.
I hope he has a better chain.
Bike Candy
Mine was RED
Image via oldtenspeedgallery.com
THE END
US Forest Service: Fall color guide
urbanext.uiuc.edu: The Miracle of Fall – About Fall Color
hellforleathermagazine.com: Details- BMW standardizes indicator switches
cyclenews.com: WORCS to be AMA sanctioned
This could be interesting, stay tuned
roadracingwold.com: AMA Congress convenes in Ohio
A cage sites take on a neo-would-be classic
autoweek.com: Two-wheel lowdown – 2008 Triumph Bonneville
hemmings.com: another “BIG” motorcycle
Scroll down to the meat worth the trip to this link, the two take aways. “…devlop new road-going performance bikes that transcend existing competition-based archetypes..”
hellforleather.com: Honda shows bizarre V4 concept model, says it wants to make it.
Now imagine you a BMW designer who is going to head home after INTERMOT then return to the drafting table on Monday. Your projects are done and shown; new work for the future to begin. What thoughts are in your head for the future?
uk.reuters.com: Motor racing-BMW boss says Formula One needs to keep Canada GP
wheels.ca: Up to Ottawa to save Grand Prix, promoter says
bimmerfile.com: BMW Re-thinking sales plan
bimmerfile.com: BMW to temporarily close Leipzig
autoexpress.com: Compact X1’s big shock
classicrallies.com: Maserati Granturismo S debut
Futuristic designs are fascinating.
yankodesign.com: If you’re really into butterflies
I wonder how this 1018bhp monster will play with the Sussex constabulary.
europeanmotornews.com: Carbon fiber supercars debut at MPH featuring Top Gear
Faster than a Bugatti Veyron and almost twice the price, this ultra rare, 1018BHP Koenigsegg CCXR Edition – the fastest European production car ever – is coming to the UK
motorauthority.com: DuPont Registry picks 11 best vehicles
If you are a fan of the prancing horse put some plastic over the keyboard to protect it from drool after you follow this link
supercars.net: 2008 Ferrari Racing Days Nurburgring Gallery
Another Gullwing video via Mercedes
If I am not mistaken Bill Gates is in the crowd in on of the airport sceens
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BMW Mille Miglia Concept Coupe
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MotherShip News is on Page 2
Stuff
Holly, what did you do to the economy when you were in Iceland?
ft.com: Iceland suspends trading after bank seizures
There is a bit of humor in this piece. Take a look at the date line location.
reuters.com: Expect severe winter in East: forecaster
gizmag.com: HiPER nuclear fusion project underway
The following has a ghoulish title, perhaps for Halloween. The article offers an alternative of using sweat. This led me to wonder what the impact would be on the deodorant industry. Would it crash? Would it lobby to stop this development? Would there be conspiratorial movies made about this in the future. (Another movie genre I like) Then I had another sip of coffee, scrolled down and found the rest of the article interesting.
Howstuffworks.com: Could blood be used to power batteries?
yankodesign.com: When a buildings skin ripples
boingboing.net: Today at Boing Boing Gadgets
reuters.com: For sale: Yourself in legos
Packers Blog – jsonline.com
Packers.com – News from the football shrine
Green Bay Post Gazette: Packer News, Commentary
Offical site of the Premier League
GasBuddy.com has gas temperature maps intended to let you see what gas prices are around the US and Canada. Areas are color coded according to the reported local average price for regular unleaded gasoline.
US
Canada
Wonderings
reuters.com: How safe is your city? Put it to the bicycle test.
This article could send me in several directions of wondering. The one that I will take is to wonder about Minneapolis Minnesota and where to rank it.
On a Monday night as an undergrad at the U of Mn I rode my 10 speed to a friend’s home. It was a student rental home near Oak and Washington. I say was because the location house is now a street after redevelopment of the area, but I digress as usual. I chained my bike to the rear bumper of his VW Karmann Ghia and went inside. We worked on a joint presentation (no pun intended) and then settled back to watch Monday Night Football and enjoyed a few long necks along with Dandy Don and the gang.
I don’t remember all the details of the bike. It was nothing fancy even for its day. The thing that appealed to me was it was a 28 inch large frame, like me. Constructed with the same tubing as the normal bike the extra size did not add that much weight but increased the comfort for me. It was my daily ride on campus leaving cars and motorcycles for the weekends.
Sometime after the witching hour I pulled myself together and headed outside for the ride back to my apartment. No bike. The nice big chain, now sawn through, and big bullet proof master lock lay on the ground below the bumper like a metallic turd.
Right now Minneapolis ranks low on the How Safe is Your City chart.
Fast forward fifteen years.
Life went on and found me living in Park Ridge IL. I came home from work on a Wednesday night and called my folks back in Lilydale. We were planning a pilgrimage for some family event. There were logistics to work out. We, two adults and two children then 4 and 7 (already the founding members of my pit crew), would be ‘camping’ in the living room of the Lilydale family condo for an extended weekend. We would arrive very late Friday night after the 400+ mile drive. The next day would be spent helping mother prepare for the event while my father played with the kids. Saturday evening the rest of the family and a few friends would descend on Lilydale and we would have a wonderful time. We would recover on Sunday and drive back to Park Ridge at our leisure Monday. With plans made the phone call wound down to goodbyes, then mother added a tag line.
‘John, remind me to give you a letter we received for you. It’s from the Minneapolis Police.’
I said yes and the call ended. In an instant I fell like a child that was going to be grounded. I had no idea what this letter could be about. Was it some error of a miss spent youth coming back to haunt me. I made some mental notes about how to clear my calendar for the following week and made certain to pack my address book where I had the phone number of a friend in the Twin Cities who is an attorney.
The gathering was wonderful. Family, friends and food were all wonderful. We sprawled out of the condo onto the yard. Talked, played games and all in all had a splendid time.
Sunday was devoted clean up and more play. At one point I found myself in the kitchen with my mother laughing and chatting while doing dishes. It was just the two of us and therefore a perfect time to ask about the letter. Suddenly I was that child about to be grounded again. She dried he hands went to the mail cubby pulled the letter out and handed it to me.
The return address on the envelope showed that it was indeed a letter from the Minneapolis Police. I opened it and withdrew the one page letter. The image of a judge cautiously opening the folded up jury sentence and then reading it to the defendant flashed through my mind.
The letter itself was some what cryptic. The header was longer than the body. In business form it contained my address and below that re: and listed two case numbers on separate lines. The body itself was simple. I was required to appear at a precinct house in Minneapolis off Lake Street before a certain date. After that date further actions would be taken. The letter ended.
I was familiar with the area around the precinct house. My only association with that area was summer nights spent cursing and street racing back in the day. Was some error, other than the ones I could remember, coming back to haunt me?
Monday morning my then wife and I got in the car for a ride to Minneapolis. I told the children that we were going shopping which instantly took as a chance to spew a list of toys and things that we neeeeeded to secure for them or their young lives could not go on.
On the Mendota Bridge as we crossed the Minnesota River I handed my wife the letter and made my confession, excuses and my first plea for leniency. I figured I need the practice for what could come. She became stoic and very quiet. This did not afford me, the soon to be condemned man, any comfort.
We found the precinct house, an old two story two stall fire station converted to police use and parked making certain not to violate any parking regulations. We entered through a door to the left of the massive garage doors and walked into a smallish room with a desk on the far side with an officer on the far side seated reading the news paper. I walked up to the desk like a condemned man and handed the officer the letter.
Without saying a word he read the letter then went to a file cabinet pulled out a file and then sat back at the desk and shuffled through the contained paper work.
‘I owe ______ five bucks. I didn’t think you’d show up, it’s been fifteen years. Follow me’
He got up and headed through a door to my right. I found myself following him with my hands put forward and wrist together expecting at any moment to have hand cuffs slapped around them. I walked through the door into the garage bay and into a sea of bicycles neatly parked in cramped multiple rows that filled the space formerly occupied by fire trucks.
Confused, I walked to the officer who was struggling with one of the bikes.
‘We pulled a guy over for public drunkenness while riding a bike. He went to jail and when we processed the bike. There was enough of the old bicycle registration sticker left for us to process it and find out it was a stolen bike. We notify the owners and if they don’t show up to get’em we sell them at auction. The auction is this Saturday. I didn’t think you would show.’
It took me a few minutes to clear my head and recognize the bike as the one stolen on a Monday night long ago during college days.
I worked my way through college. During the normal college year I worked for the university parking services. I was a parking attendant, part time dispatcher and meter maid. It was located in the basement of the university police station near Memorial Stadium. I had taken the advice of one of the police dispatchers and registered my bike in the then optional state bicycle registration program. I listed my parents address as my permanent address on the form because I moved so often during my college years.
Trying to get my mind around what had happened I made some comment about this must be some sort of record.
‘No. Your 18 months short of the record.’
I remember filling out a bit of paper work and then loading the bike into the trunk of the car. I opened the driver’s door to get in and was greeted by a look of rebuke from my wife and then peals of laughter, at my expense, which would recur for days after.
The bike made the trip back to Park Ridge strapped to the back bumper. The trunk was full of our personal belongings and toys that my father had purchased for the girls on their shopping spree while I was avoiding going to jail and recovering the bike.
The bike was in sad shape, not even close to the bike I remembered. It found a new home with the son of our babysitter. Her son was going off to college. He restored the bike to working order and took it with him.
I wonder where we should rank Minneapolis on the How Safe is Your City list.
As I finish this story I wonder where that bicycle is well over thirty years since it was taken from chained to the back of a Kharmann Ghia. Logic would suggest that it has been relegated to some bicycle salvage and parted out. Yet in my minds eye the oversize framed bike is being ridden by some giant economy size student attending an unknown college on his way to class.
I hope he has a better chain.
Bike Candy
Mine was RED
Image via oldtenspeedgallery.com
THE END