Travel Advisory

Boy, just at the start of the summer travel season there have been a whole lot of reasons to not leave the house, huh?


Two big planes in the drink, which is some damned gruesome stuff.
They had the big bird strike, outta LaGuardia today, too.

I have lost count on the number of bizarre train accidents.
The Metro, that one in Italy…
Hell, the commuter trains here (CalTrans) puts the squish on a person a week it seems.

Sure, you could go by boat…just avoid that Suez Canal area, watch out for the flu/food poisoning and steer clear of the tropical depressions.

We all know the statistics about auto crashes.
If you are not familiar, feel free to Google the statistics from your Blackberry while following me down the highway…


Well, you are probably safer travelling that if you were some sort of celebrity...

Those people are dropping like flies.

Train in Vain

I have been training pretty heavily lately.

Decided to do a triathalon, just because.




I had you going there, huh?

Flipped Out Friday

The thinking used to be that you were better off not being strapped to a car.
In an accident, one would be ejected from the vehicle...

I am pretty sure I wouldn't want to be strapped to that car, in this accident.

Still...ouch...

Pride

Skateboarding is gay.


I love my big, gay self.
It's pride weekend here.

Still

still have a hankerin' for Q.

Wompin' Wagon Wednesday

I am not posting these in any sort of order.

Some chassis pics are coming...

Damn It

Man, I am so pissed.

I mentioned a couple weeks back that I was building a giant robot suit.


A lot of the push on the suit was for show, you know to please investors.
You need some heavy duty revenue streams to attempt taking over the world.




Richard Branson got on board a few months back, because I sold him on the space travel bit (always a part of the plan with the moon base...) and I told him we could get some giant robots together pretty quick, with extra-atmospheric capabilities.

Branson was all over that, always dropping by the lab in those stupid flowery sarongs and flip-flops.
Oh man...
You can imagine how hard it is for me to shrug that off.

"Is it ready yet? Can I fly it yet, mate?"


So I get one finished up and we get him checked out on controls and shit - and he says to me "Mate, you know who would totally love this, my mate Paul...Paul Allen..."

I immedieately think, OK RB is a bit unstable but I'll let him take PA for a joy-ride. It opens up the whole investment dialog for me...


I made him promise to just keep low profile, avoid population centers.
The sort of thing that should be common sense with a giant, secret god-damned robot.


My assoicate in Japan sends me this, today...


God damn it.

LeMans

No, I didn't forget about LeMans.

History

East Bound and Down

I don't know...
It came up while I was searching for the Convoy song I subjected you to last week.

And Smokey and the Bandit is a cinematic triumph, a romping comedy of epic stature.

And Jerry Reed was cool.



Oh, you know you agree...

Flopper Friday

Time to Make the Crepes

I thought you should see this again.

It is hard to beat that noise.




It is the kind of noise you can make if you have access to something like this.

Though driving one in this yellow livery, through the streets of Paris , would be a bit gauche. Something in that factory silvery-blue would be much more tasteful.

76%

A NY Times poll just found that 76% of respondees support a government backed healthcare option.

It seems hard to believe that 76% of the folks polled were black, homosexual, communist Jews.
Perhaps all of the Southern white guys were too busy masturbating to internet porn, while watching Fox News and listening to Rush to respond,

Or, perhaps, they were busy at some insurance company sponsored dinner party at some golf club just outside of Washington.

Either way, it seems like our representation might not be hearing those they represent.

Wompin' Wagon Wednesday

So stumbled across some pics of the Wompin' Wagon.
I think we'll have Wompin' Wagon Wednesdays for a while.









I don't know the story of the Wompin' Wagon, beyond what that little newspaper clipping gives up.

There are a whole mess of pictures though, so just be satisfied with that.

News

My last post mentioned the current events in Iran.

It is big news, no denying it...

I think the larger story, if that is possible, is the shift we are all witnessing in news and media.


We are at the moment when technology overtakes our current information media structure.


If you have been paying attention to the events in Iran then you have likely been introduced to Twitter, assuming that you were not already dialed in.

News channels are struggling to keep up with the information and misinformation being spilled out of Iran.
The din of reports from a channel that has been the domain of techies and early adopters is, nearly, the sole basis of reports of the events from a country largely secluded from the west for more than two decades.

Protests of the election results have been almost entirely coordinated with a micro-blogging platform designed to let self-involved associates connect.


I have been watching Twitter develop for a bit now.
At work, we have been setting up Twitter feeds for conferences. They are typically only at meetings dealing directly with technology and almost entirely ignored by attendees.
Myopia excludes audience interaction, it seems.


Yet the story of this mentionable upheaval in a closed society brings things to the fore...


Typical information and news outlets are at a loss as to how to discern truth from fiction, as noted by thousands of eyes on the ground.


This is the second bit of revolution that has been a product of the micro/macro-blogging phenomenon, if you have been paying attention.
This just went down in South America, as well.


I have not even begun to digest the rotations of heads at CNN, the NYTimes, et al...
The game has changed.
Push media had posted me on the Iranian election death toll long before I picked up my first paper for the day. At least I think so, though it is as impossible for me to know as it is for the "experts" at any news channel.

I am equally at a loss as to how I filter all of this.


Maybe this seems too abstract to be concerning, but what would you have thought of the vote counts between Al and W, in Dade county, if you were exposed to a thousand messages of concern?
What would you have heard on CNN?
Where would the world's press have put out in response to voters being turned away, if they heard it was happening - as it happened.


Our understanding of current events in Iran is almost completely based on the reports from Twitter, and the thousands of RT's from everybody else. Information from people at the ends of clubs, as well as mis-information from those holding them, along with a concerted effort to cut all of it off.
Reports of violence, of disruptions of service in cell coverage, cuts in internet access and violence continue to pump out of Iran.


Who do you believe?
Who is Anderson Cooper getting his information from?
Where is the truth?
What is your perception?

Are You Paying Attention?

'cause the shit has hit the fan over there...





I can honestly say that this is the first news story that I am consciously viewing in a manner different from any in the past.

Technology has provided me with a whole other perspective.




It has provided Iranians with a means to communicate and organize.

I got the pics over here. You should take a look

Still Thinking about BBQ

Yeah, still thinking about BBQ.

I need to have the Authwhore out sometime soon, as well.

I think he would prefer that I just go to Vegas, to join in the fun of his bachelor party.

That would involve my being social and around people, far from the comfort of my garage, so that is just not happening.



As a compromise, he has insisted upon a weekend of ugliness in my neighborhood.

My neck of the woods is ugly, but not in a Vegas way.
It is ugly in a sun scorched, boring, suburban way - which is I guess kinda like Vegas, now that I think about it.
Only without so many cameras, exposed titties and doormen.


I think that weekend might involve some bar-b-que.

Ford Picnic 34

Oh, isn't this a lovely one?


Every spring (well, spring there) there is a Ford picnic/car show around Seattle. I made it to one and was amazed by some of the stuff that turns out.




I don't know if I have seen pics of this 34 anywhere, before I saw some shots from this years show.

Now that I have seen it, I might have to change the list of cars I should own before I die.

Down here, it would probably be seen sans top. Since there are another 19 months of rain before summer in Seattle, we get to see it with the top up. I think it kinda makes it...

That Time of Year

The season when a mans mind starts obsessing about bar-b-que, grilling, cooking things over or near a fire.

Well, really, I think about it all year...

I have not even fired up a grill this season.
I am pretty sure if I don't do it soon, I will have my man card revoked.



(I forgot I put this food tag on here. I should remember to write about food. I loves me some foods, man.)

Convoy

Wikipedia can take the fun out of anything-

The song consists of three types of interspersed dialog: a simulated CB conversation with CB slang, the narration of the story and the chorus. It is about a fictitious trucker rebellion that drives from the west to the east coast of the United States without stopping. What they are protesting against (other than the 55 mph (89 km/h) speed limit), is shown by lines such as "We tore up all our swindle sheets and left 'em settin' on scales." (The reference is to log sheets used to record driving hours; the sheets were referred to on occasion as 'swindle sheets' as they were often created to show that drivers were getting proper sleep when, in reality, the drivers were driving more than the prescribed number of hours before mandatory rest; 'Scales' refers to Department of Transportation truck scales on Interstates and highways to verify the weight of the truck and the drivers' hours of working through log books). The song also refers to toll roads: "We just ain't a-gonna pay no toll."

The conversation is between "Rubber Duck," "Pig Pen" and "Sodbuster," primarily through Rubber Duck's side of the conversation. The narration and CB chatter are by Fries.

At the beginning of the song a "Kenworth pullin' logs," being driven by Rubber Duck, is the "front door" (the leader) of three eighteen-wheelers (tractor and semi-trailer) when he realizes they have a convoy. Following the Rubber Duck is an unnamed trucker in a "cab-over Pete with a reefer on" (a refrigerated trailer, hauled by a Peterbilt truck configured with the cab over the engine), while Pig Pen brings up the rear (the "back door") in a "'Jimmy' (GMC truck) haulin' hogs."

The convoy begins toward "Flagtown" (Flagstaff, Arizona) at night on June 6 on "I-one-oh" (I-10) just outside "Shakytown" (Los Angeles, California, due to its earth tremors). By the time they get to "Tulsatown" (Tulsa, Oklahoma), there are 85 trucks and the "bears" (police) have set up a road block and have a "bear in the air" (police helicopter). By the time they get to "Chi-town" (Chicago, Illinois), the convoy has been joined by "Sodbuster" (another trucker in an unspecified make of truck), a "suicide jockey" (truck hauling explosives) and "eleven long-haired friends of Jesus(11 hippies) in a chartreuse [VW Type 2|microbus]," and the police have called out "reinforcements from the 'Illinois' (Illinois) National Guard." The convoy crashes another road block when crossing a toll bridge into New Jersey, and by this time they have "a thousand screamin' trucks" in all.

The song's running gag has Rubber Duck complaining about the smell of the hogs that Pig Pen is hauling. He repeatedly asks the offending driver to "back off" (fall further behind). By the end, Pig Pen has fallen so far back that when Rubber Duck is in New Jersey, Pig Pen has only gotten as far as Omaha (a reference to the headquarters of American Gramaphone, which released the song).

Yeah, I had this on vinyl back in the day.

It was a 45 even.


I am fuckin' old school.

Fuel Cuda Friday

The Mood

No, I am not talking about that mood...

I mean the other mood.
I don't know the name for it.



The mood when the din and pace of the world surrounding one is near debilitating.

When one simply does not want to talk about that or this.

When one would rather pick up a hammer and smash through the cocoon that separates the dream life from the real life.

If only one had time to find the hammer for the smashing.



I have some parts on the way.
They should provide some antidote to the mood.
I hope.

No cure, mind you.
Only distraction.

There are some big machinations going on the the old noggin, here.
The machinations require action that I have not found the time for.

Perhaps some physical and mechanical energy will create some momentum.

Action begets action.

Hollywood Knights 3

Here we are, Project X in motion.

As featured in Hollywood Knights.

Hollywood Knights 2

This car was a magazine car.

Project X

The point of it's early life was to demonstrate that normal folks could build something bad-ass and cool.

The car lived through various lives, different with every rebuild except for the yellow paint.

The version we're featuring is the high point.
With every seccessive reinvention the car seems to have a bit more soul removed.


The most recent version was done by the folks at GM and is if fine bit of evidence as to why they have gone bankrupt - they just don't quite get it.



But let us focus on the version above.

Imagine downing a burger and a Coke, strolling out the parking lot and having that carniverous canary at your disposal for a trip down the Sunset strip.

You would be the King Balls Mayor of LA.

Hollywood Knights

I really don't go for yellow cars with lots of chrome and blowers and what have you...

I do go for this car, though, exactly because it is all of those things.



When I was a little kid, dragging my mother through car shows, I presumed that this image was an exact representation of what life in California was like.

Sexy, shiny and fast.


Now that I am here, I might say it is not exactly like that...

History

SST

There was a period of time when I would just go to the music shop and look for the SST logo on the sleeve of the audio cassette tape available for purchase.

In my youth there was no internet, no ITunes.
If you wanted to listen to something other than top forty pop or classic rock, you had to sort it out on your own.

I had never really thought much about SST until the other night.


I was looking for a MeatPuppets CD (yeah, I upgraded to CD from cassette) and realized my eyes were actually searching for the SST logo on the sleeve. I had reverted back to the way I spotted cool music in a shop twenty years ago.

SST provided most of the soundtrack for my formative years.
Their releases are still in the regular rotation, here at prettynotgood HQ.

As described by Wiki-

SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was initially called Solid State Transmitters through which Ginn sold electronics equipment. Ginn repurposed the company as a record label to release material by his band Black Flag.

Music writer Michael Azerrad wrote, "Ginn took his label from a cash-strapped, cop-hassled store-front operation to easily the most influential and popular underground indie of the Eighties".[1] SST initially focused on releasing material by hardcore punk groups from Southern California. As many of the bands on the label sought to expand beyond the limitations of the hardcore genre, SST released many key albums that were instrumental in the development of American alternative rock, including releases by the Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, the Meat Puppets, Sonic Youth, and Dinosaur Jr. After a peak release schedule in the late 1980s, SST began venturing into jazz releases. SST is now based in Taylor, Texas.

Huh?
Somehow I had overlooked examining the source of so much of the music I listen to. I just sorta glossed over thinking about the common thread between so much of it. Really out of character for me.

I figured out that most of the SST music was stuff that I would like - with out ever thinking that there was actually any connection or commonality beyond that little logo.

The instant gratification of a new Sonic Youth cassette tape subverted my desire to understand the larger picture, it seems. Only now do I consider that the little logo I searched for was actually the logo of a record label, a brand even.
I didn't really think in those terms then, I suppose.
I was just searching for something from over my horizon.



This has gotten a bit long winded for our usual Saturday music selection, hasn't it?
Quite the tangent from just posting up some song for you.

So, go dig some SST cassette tape out of the milk crate in the back corner of your closet and listen to it again.

Or listen to the Minutemen tube and get on with your day.

Fresno Friday

Mods

effintwats

Deadend

The latest issue of Deadend Magazine is up.

It seems to have details and a hundred pictures from every event I regret not getting to over the past year and then some.

There are some traditional lowriders, a picture trip up to Vern Tardel's place, pics of a chic, a nice Sporty chop.

Just when I thought I had such finger fatigue that I couldn't bear to click next again, to look at even more cool stuff - they throw in vintage photos from Lions Dragstrip.

God, it just goes on and on.

You should go look, but only if you are ready to waste a lot of time looking at really nifty shit.

aller en voiture

Avec des si et des mais, on mettrait Paris dans une bouteille.

Box

Which way?

Were we supposed to go right or left?

Can you see any signs?

Cobwebs

I took some time to clean the garage yesterday. The dust, debris and the cobwebs were getting out of hand.

I have been working to much to get any work done, in the garage. I have just been going out there to look at things, to try and forget my day.

It is always good to tidy up the work space, huh? Be it your desk or your toolbox or whatever, it makes things seem more right.
Ready for action, to accomplish something.


Apparently, it cleared out the cobwebs in my head a bit.

I woke up this morning from a dream, the dream was all about sorting out a torsion bar front suspension for a slingshot dragster.
I can see the whole chassis, in my head...
Except for the roll bar details.
I was pretty fixated on the front end.
It was a lot like the Fuller car in the picture.
But it was different.
It was mine...


What?

So I dream about building bitchin' dragsters...

Don't you?
Doesn't everybody?


Well, some people do, alright.
At least two people...


Go check out Conder's other action (follow the link) and buy a shirt or something. He needs all the help he can get.


I will make you buy a shirt from me, when I get arount to building my own slingshot. You'll have to wait a bit for that.