I Slipped on a Little White Lie

Turbo chargers are brilliant. Engines need to breathe fresh air to go faster. A turbo charger uses the exhaust gas to propel a fan that forced fresh air in. So without costing the engine any power, this little piece of technology adds a good deal of power to a normal engine.

Variable valve timing is also a fantastic idea. At different speeds, engines require different mixtures of fuel and air to allow them to run at top performance. Variable valve timing analyzes the engines performance and gives it exactly the right mix, to ensure the car performs at the highest level at all speeds. The result: cars that can take off very fast while still running efficiently at high speeds.

This is where a lot of our energy is going. It’s all very brilliant. It’s all very pointless.

New cars never have less power or less room, (or cost less). I'm going to stop lying to myself. In some small way from this day forward, I'm a better person because I don't need to go faster.

Just in case you need to go 185mph with 4 passengers while dripping in luxury: this is your ride... you idiot.

So Precise and Towering

I'm happy that all the logic I cling to tells me that struggleing through life on the path less traveled means that your are probably doing the right thing. Here's to always being happy, but never being satisfied.

Hell is Chrome
by: Wilco

When the devil came
He was not red
He was chrome and he said

Come with me
You must go
So I went
Where everything was clean
So precise and towering

I was welcomed
With open arms
I received so much help in every way
I felt no fear
I felt no fear

The air was crisp
Like sunny late winter days
A springtime yawning high in the haze
And I felt like I belonged
Come with me

Come with me

For this poor Americano

It turns out Italy isn't all meatballs and tomato sauce. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm right there with the rest of sane America hating the winter olympics. But I learned a lot about our former fascist friends over the last few weeks. And if it takes hours of televised coverage of a guy skiing for hours and shooting a gun to educate me on a beautiful corner of the world then I'm all for it. So viva Italiano baby! Yet another fantastic little country that will always be older than us.

Meglio Sta Sera
by: Buddy Greco

It Tastes Like the Real Thing

All your taste buds taste all kinds of tastes. They all taste sweet, and sour, and salty, and beautiful wasabi hot. Until recently, we believed that there were special areas of the tongue that only tasted special tastes. Its not true. Actually, some areas do taste some stuff better that others which is why wine is sweeter on the tip of your tongue and bitter on the sides. But all buds do feel the whole spectrum of tastes. So give them credit. Don't pigeon hole your buds, they are hard at work to make sure your luxurious life is fully enjoyed. The weirdest part of tasting science is that experts can find no connection between taste buds that sense really sour tastes and any nerves that go to the brain. So somehow, without being connected, you sense sour tastes. Speculation is that when you are tasting something and all the other buds decide its not anything else, they label it sour. You tongue may well be the most pessimistic organ in your body.


A wasabi farm in the Shinshu region of Japan

Sounds of Laughter Shades of Life

In 1965 at the Bell telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson were having trouble with a radio receiver project. They were getting excess noise from a previously unknown source. Years later, they were awarded the Nobel prize for physics for accidentally discovering and studying something called cosmic microwave background radiation. These microwaves are a constant hum from the birth of the universe. A faint cosmic hiss of white noise that soothes all of space as it expands from its origin. I think its very interesting that the quietest things are so often the most significant.

A hum across the universe echoing a big bang, or a big something makes me feel very small. I guess you can choose to be overwhelmed and anxious about these types of things. Or it can serve as yet another reminder that we are all a part of something beautiful and much bigger than ourselves. Weather your milky way is half empty or half full right now, I hope you can find the time to listen to more than what screams at you.

Across the Universe
by the Beatles

endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
are drifting thorough my open mind
Possessing and caressing me

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Images of broken light which
dance before me like a million eyes
That call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
restless wind inside a letter box
they tumble blindly as
they make their way across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Sounds of laughter shades of life
are ringing through my open ears
exciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which
shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva

God and Man

Nothings better for a bad day than to get outside of your normal life for a while. For me, in the auto-centric metropolis of Dallas, that meant pretending I was in a proper big city for the day and getting around like city people should; mass transit and mass walking. I decided to make a cross town trip to see one of the countries best zoos in nearby Ft. Worth and visit two of the finest art museums anywhere in the world.

As I walked, waited for trains, switched trains and felt my way through the alien world of car-free travel, I noticed something I almost never see around here. Strangers were talking. In this city where everyone is separated by windshields, we never really talk here. But my fellow train riders all wanted to know where I was headed and how I was doing. They all really cared.

After a few hours of walks, train rides and bus commutes I'd reached my goal. Beautiful public spaces. An amazing zoo filled with some of the most amazing creatures on the planet. Huge parks with enormous oak trees. The unparalleled Kimball art museum designed by Louis Kahn. A beautifully restored downtown with people from all over the world working shopping and enjoying a perfect Saturday together.


I set out to explore the jungle in front of me. To find the best of God and man. And to find a reason to feel good about my own life. What I found was an enormous transit system I'd never used, some of the most friendly strangers I've ever met, our public governments efforts to enrich our lives, and hundreds of God's wonderful creations enjoying a fall day in the sun. I traveled over 100 miles, visited several locations and still made it back for dinner. And, as a big bonus, did it all with one $4.50 transit ticket!


We live on an amazing planet in an amazing country. No matter where you live, there is something near you that you are missing out on. There are parks, lakes, museums and amazing wild open country all around us. So visit a landmark and meet a stranger. Its the perfect cure for a bad day.

I'm Still Alive

Looks like its been a month since my last post. So sorry for the delay. I was surprised to get a few nags from what appear to be loyal readers. Thanks for that. I'm trying very hard not to be a quitter.

Lately the air is colder, the sky is clearer and despite the falling leaves, I feel life swelling up all around me. At least for now, I feel like I'm a bit ahead of my game. If I could dance like a pro, I'd go to a club and do it right now. But I can't, so I settle for driving around with my windows down. It makes me feel cool enough. I've attached a great song that I ope gives you a little bounce in your step. Have a great week.

Alive
by: The Beastie Boys

craftsmanship

Wilson Audio is one of the finest makers of high fidelity speakers in the world. They build speakers that cost as much as cars. Nice cars. At first glance this seems to be an incredibly wasteful, Romanesque display of American opulence. There is no doubt that only a select few can own such items and still maintain proper priorities. For David Wilson, the founder and owner of this 30+ year old hobby/company, there is no question about priority. This is not a means to wealth for him, it is simply a hobby that he and his fellow employees are able to do all day long. The Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy pictured here costs over $22,000 a pair. But if its any consolation, you get a lot for your money. It takes a crew of men 6 weeks to build them. A crew of men who all make good salaries, have health insurance provided and are all part of the Wilson Audio 401(k) program. There is no mass production and no union. Most of the details they pour over for those six weeks making this speaker perfect would be lost on all but a select few people in the world. There is no exotic wood from an endangered rain Forrest, or flashy ad campaigns formed by ridiculous focus groups to drive up the cost. Focus groups would tell them not to make these speakers at all. The cost comes from the craft. The actual hours of work done by a master to transform raw and worthless materials into something capable of magic.

Are people like this crazy? A taylor carefully hand sewing the final details on a business man's one and only suit. A man at a body shop slowly, methodically, tapping at a fender with a rubber mallet for hours to bend the beautiful art decco curve of a 1920s wheel well back into shape. A old carpenter who's back is permanently bent over from a life of slowly shaving fine details out of table legs. Maybe all this craft is wasteful. Maybe it is better to have it cheap and have it now. Maybe its crazy to pay more to get less. A suit that costs a month's salary? A car you rebuild instead of throwing away? A suite of furniture that cost as much as the home itself and take a year to receive?

David Wilson is one of the luckiest people. He still passionately pursues a crazy dream and makes a living despite a society that does not smile on his way of doing things. He still has the luxury of doing it right. We can all think he's nuts, but no one can say he is dishonest. And (hopefully after they've written a big check for AIDS relief in Africa) the few crazy folks out there that like nothing more than listening to perfect reproductions of a string quartets in a dark room on rainy evenings can be enamored again and again by the finest crafted speakers on Earth. And thank David Wilson for all his hard work.


donate to AIDS Relief

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Like Spinning Plates

I'm really concerned about my career. Concerned that I'm on the right track for a steady future. Concerned that I'll always work somewhere that faintly smells like particle board and cheap carpet cleaner. Concerned that even if I do make a good life's wage for my family and retire happy, that I will have been as good at my job as I have the potential to be. Concerned that even if I am successful and live up to my potential that I will remember to make the world a better place and not simply be in a position of constant self improvement.

Concern is my treadmill.

I'm a more successful person now than I ever could have been worried I might not be. And I never even saw it happen. Success at every level is like getting rid of the hiccups. And from what I've seen so far, if I can't find a way to slow the whole thing down, I'm going to spend my life running harder and harder. Right now across America there are people everywhere board to death driving their porsche around. Hoping one day if they get a promotion they can trade in that sissy boxter for a big 911 turbo. If they are crazy than I am too.

There isn't a moral. No words of wisdom to wrap things up. I'm still spinning plates. If I can ever find a way to stop, maybe then I'll be in a better position to tell you how. I'll probably get to that point when I least expect it.