Alright, I'm back after getting some quality sleep. Few more points I'd like to add to my last post.(Much of it is opinion oriented.)
First, cars are getting more efficient these days. To be fair, the emissions are cleaner But why aren't wee seeing cars that get equivalently good gas mileage? I think car companies are directing more time into output rather than fuel economy. For example, it has become a norm to see cars pushing 300hp with a V6 engine. Consumers are interested in the paper spec so they think, wow, thats awesome. But think about this. How often do you use the max power? Also, that max power of your engine is weighed down by the accesories and other fancy stuff. If you want a fast car with gadgets and accesories, you are putting handicap on yourself voluntarily. Also, car companies can make the engine peaky and high revving just so they can get the horsepower rating. Useless to have torque at such high revs as most people never hit it, and torque at lower revs makes more sense for daily driving. I don't see the need for cars going 120+mph on the road.
Also, people tend to overlook the non visible factors involved with cars and motorcycles. This is something that the paper specs can't show. As far as Japanese motorcycles go, they are cheap, reliable and high output, but lacks something. I'm not sure if its due to cost cutting, or lack of designers who know what driving pleasure is. The two BMW motorcycles I test rode, felt better than any other bikes I've ridden before. Probably attention to details, and superior engineering. Maybe inferior in terms of paper spec, but far superior in actual feel. Just because something uses new technology in engine, does not necessarily mean better.
I believe in simple vehicles that won't get outdated quickly. Simple, small, and light cars will require less resources to put together. It can get great gas mileage while giving good performance. Less does not mean reduced driving pleasure. Higher maintainability and timeless design would mean a car that lasts longer, reducing total amount of waste. Car companies love to add, but not subtract. I think subtracting is the real key to making a environmentally friendly vehicle, and isn't it something thats totally within their reach?
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We don't really celebrate Christmas here, but we do celebrate the New Years called "Oshogatsu". I suppose you can say it's the Christmas/Thanksgiving equivalent in Japan. Instead of Christmas cards, we send letters to all the people we know wishing them a good year. The first three days of January are spent relaxing and spending time with family. Most people go back to work from the 5th or maybe even later. This is roughly how new years works in Japan.
On that note, I would like to wish every one Happy Holidays and a Happy new year!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Monday, December 24, 2007
Bitter like a straight coffee?
It's Christmas Eve already and almost the end of the year. It seems like its snowing a lot in the New England area, but where I live, it rarely goes below 40s at the lowest. There might be a few days in a year that it might dip below freezing, but that's rare. It's a big news if it snows and accumulates half an inch. According to the weather forecast, it says low of 42F for most days next week. Regardless, people look like they are ready for a trip into the wilderness of winter Alaska. I do miss the snow... kind of.
Thoughts on bicycles...
I love to ride my bike all over the place. When my friend is home, I would ride my bike 25 miles one way to go hang out. Great exercise, significantly over 1000 calories(est.) burned round trip. With the money I save, I can go and eat something at a cheap restaurant and maybe even get change. Gasoline in Japan is about $4.90/gal, and combined with 25 miles of stop and go city driving, round trip would be at least $10 on a car. This is without putting into account the other expenses that go along with owning a car. The trains are pretty expensive, and I would spend about $10.83 for round trip. Of course, there are issues like rain, time, etc. However, I can make that trip in a little under 2 hours, and train or car would only be about 30-45 minutes quicker. If you are into exercising and spend an hour on top of driving, the total would come out to be about the same. This is limited to those who commute reasonable distance, and/or have lots of stop and go traffic. I don't know about you, but it works for me.
Bicycle fit...
There are bicycle frames made of steel, carbon, titanium, aluminum, etc., and they all range in price anywhere from thousands of dollars to free out of the garbage. But material and price don't necessarily get you a "great" bike. Sure it's a "great" bike in terms of quality, or for those that just want to show off how much cash they got. In reality, for those who actually ride, the garbage bike just might be better. Why? Fit is the key. Of course, It's a bit of a fetch when I say that a bike that came out of garbage is better, but its also true that a frame that doesn't fit you can be a pain. Literally. The harder and further you ride, the effect of the ill-fit gets exaggerated. To the point where your body might start hurting, you might fatigue faster, or at the worst, cause knee injuries. It can also make your riding inefficient, possibly lowering the effect of the lighter weight. So when you go buy a bike, make sure you get it fit properly by a reputable dealer. It might cost extra, but at the end, it would pay off by providing you with a bike that will give you the most bang for you buck.
Thoughts on cars, subtract, not add...
Improvements in technology gives birth to many new products and ideas that pop up everyday. It's relevant in the automotive industry with all the gadgets, new safety features, functions, etc. So you can be driving around with something like the "i-Drive", navigation system, automatic parallel parking feature, and drive by wire setup. Or you can be driving around in a barebones car with an engine, buttons and dials for climate control, and the good ole' cable operated throttle. Sure, all these new gadgets are fun and they make your ride comfortable, apparently.
Do you need all this? I want to own the car, not the opposite. Would you like i-Drive that requires you to agree to the lawyer screen everytime you start the car? I have never seen it myself, but I read in many sites that it asks you to agree not to operate it or something because it's a distraction. Why is it in there then? Do you really want to go through several steps just to turn on the heater when you can do that with the traditional button? Navigation system might be useful if you are constantly driving in a city and need to go visit different places. However, if you just need it once a month, is it worth the extra few hundred~thousand bucks to have this thing installed, which can break and need to be serviced? Drive-by-wire is pretty cool, it makes it less touchier at low gears, makes you more connected with the car(?), etc. And it's USED ON FIGHTER JETS!!! Wow. We should all drive around with the oxygen masks and cars that run with landing gear wheels because its used on fighter jets. I don't remember most people saying, "damn, I MUST HAVE (enter features here) or else I'm not driving to work!" I think most people learn to adapt, and all these gadgets are merely distractions. So car companies compensate for people not paying attention to the road by adding more safety features. Makes for a heavier car, necessity for stronger engines to give the same performance, worse fuel economy, increased points of failure, more reinforcements, and so forth. Also, all these gadgets that are "in style" will go out of style just as quickly.
http://my.reset.jp/~inu/ProductsDataBase/Products/ISUZU/PIAZZA/PIAZZA-05.jpg <- Look at the cockpit. This used to be the coolest thing when it came out in the 80s, looking like Kitt from Knight Rider.
What I want to see, is a simple car. I like to use Apple products as an example. iBook, and iPods are great beause they are simple, at least design wise, making it timeless design. A light, fun, reasonably priced, barebones, good mileage, and tough car. If all cars can be lighter, they would all have better mileage, at the same time, requiring less to make it equally safe. Take a look at the 80's Honda Wagovan, or the CRX. It gets 40-50mpg. People might actually pay more attention to the road with less distractions. Instead of adding gadgets to make a car "good", they really need to work on the direct and "connected" feel with the road. From what I heard, people really like the modern Mazda cars because of the feedback they get from the car. This also goes for Porsche and BMW. On the other hand, cars like Lexus might be full of options, but I hear that it has a really disconnected feel. Probably not a fun car to drive. From my point of view, a fun car would beat a gadget infested, inefficient car any day. Something like Caterham Super Seven, or Lotus Elise is my style.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3K-mrlYG7Y
Can anyone tell me, is this "self defense" technique or just attempted murder? Either way, this is pretty hilarious and worth a look. Although I made it sound like it, it isn't gruesome or gory.
It's 5:34AM already. Sorry if this was difficult to read, because I didn't edit it. Like always, comments are welcome.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, whatever it is. Goodnight.
Thoughts on bicycles...
I love to ride my bike all over the place. When my friend is home, I would ride my bike 25 miles one way to go hang out. Great exercise, significantly over 1000 calories(est.) burned round trip. With the money I save, I can go and eat something at a cheap restaurant and maybe even get change. Gasoline in Japan is about $4.90/gal, and combined with 25 miles of stop and go city driving, round trip would be at least $10 on a car. This is without putting into account the other expenses that go along with owning a car. The trains are pretty expensive, and I would spend about $10.83 for round trip. Of course, there are issues like rain, time, etc. However, I can make that trip in a little under 2 hours, and train or car would only be about 30-45 minutes quicker. If you are into exercising and spend an hour on top of driving, the total would come out to be about the same. This is limited to those who commute reasonable distance, and/or have lots of stop and go traffic. I don't know about you, but it works for me.
Bicycle fit...
There are bicycle frames made of steel, carbon, titanium, aluminum, etc., and they all range in price anywhere from thousands of dollars to free out of the garbage. But material and price don't necessarily get you a "great" bike. Sure it's a "great" bike in terms of quality, or for those that just want to show off how much cash they got. In reality, for those who actually ride, the garbage bike just might be better. Why? Fit is the key. Of course, It's a bit of a fetch when I say that a bike that came out of garbage is better, but its also true that a frame that doesn't fit you can be a pain. Literally. The harder and further you ride, the effect of the ill-fit gets exaggerated. To the point where your body might start hurting, you might fatigue faster, or at the worst, cause knee injuries. It can also make your riding inefficient, possibly lowering the effect of the lighter weight. So when you go buy a bike, make sure you get it fit properly by a reputable dealer. It might cost extra, but at the end, it would pay off by providing you with a bike that will give you the most bang for you buck.
Thoughts on cars, subtract, not add...
Improvements in technology gives birth to many new products and ideas that pop up everyday. It's relevant in the automotive industry with all the gadgets, new safety features, functions, etc. So you can be driving around with something like the "i-Drive", navigation system, automatic parallel parking feature, and drive by wire setup. Or you can be driving around in a barebones car with an engine, buttons and dials for climate control, and the good ole' cable operated throttle. Sure, all these new gadgets are fun and they make your ride comfortable, apparently.
Do you need all this? I want to own the car, not the opposite. Would you like i-Drive that requires you to agree to the lawyer screen everytime you start the car? I have never seen it myself, but I read in many sites that it asks you to agree not to operate it or something because it's a distraction. Why is it in there then? Do you really want to go through several steps just to turn on the heater when you can do that with the traditional button? Navigation system might be useful if you are constantly driving in a city and need to go visit different places. However, if you just need it once a month, is it worth the extra few hundred~thousand bucks to have this thing installed, which can break and need to be serviced? Drive-by-wire is pretty cool, it makes it less touchier at low gears, makes you more connected with the car(?), etc. And it's USED ON FIGHTER JETS!!! Wow. We should all drive around with the oxygen masks and cars that run with landing gear wheels because its used on fighter jets. I don't remember most people saying, "damn, I MUST HAVE (enter features here) or else I'm not driving to work!" I think most people learn to adapt, and all these gadgets are merely distractions. So car companies compensate for people not paying attention to the road by adding more safety features. Makes for a heavier car, necessity for stronger engines to give the same performance, worse fuel economy, increased points of failure, more reinforcements, and so forth. Also, all these gadgets that are "in style" will go out of style just as quickly.
http://my.reset.jp/~inu/ProductsDataBase/Products/ISUZU/PIAZZA/PIAZZA-05.jpg <- Look at the cockpit. This used to be the coolest thing when it came out in the 80s, looking like Kitt from Knight Rider.
What I want to see, is a simple car. I like to use Apple products as an example. iBook, and iPods are great beause they are simple, at least design wise, making it timeless design. A light, fun, reasonably priced, barebones, good mileage, and tough car. If all cars can be lighter, they would all have better mileage, at the same time, requiring less to make it equally safe. Take a look at the 80's Honda Wagovan, or the CRX. It gets 40-50mpg. People might actually pay more attention to the road with less distractions. Instead of adding gadgets to make a car "good", they really need to work on the direct and "connected" feel with the road. From what I heard, people really like the modern Mazda cars because of the feedback they get from the car. This also goes for Porsche and BMW. On the other hand, cars like Lexus might be full of options, but I hear that it has a really disconnected feel. Probably not a fun car to drive. From my point of view, a fun car would beat a gadget infested, inefficient car any day. Something like Caterham Super Seven, or Lotus Elise is my style.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3K-mrlYG7Y
Can anyone tell me, is this "self defense" technique or just attempted murder? Either way, this is pretty hilarious and worth a look. Although I made it sound like it, it isn't gruesome or gory.
It's 5:34AM already. Sorry if this was difficult to read, because I didn't edit it. Like always, comments are welcome.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, whatever it is. Goodnight.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
First Blog entry for the last month of the year.
It’s December already. Not too many days left of 2007, but that doesn’t affect my ability to write more blog entries.
I hung out with my friend yesterday for her 29th birthday. We went to watch the “December Boys” on the first movie showing of the day, at 10:45AM. Why so early? We get to watch the movie for 1200 yen(US$10.85) instead of the usual 1800 yen(US$16.25). I thought it would be pretty empty, but I didn’t expect to have the theater all to our selves. I had no objections to that. As for the movie, it was pretty good. But don’t expect anything excellent or out of the ordinary. It’s one of those films based on a book, and I’m sure the book is better than the movie. The use of new motorcycles was bothersome though. All the cars, houses, clothes, etc. were 1960’s, but the motorcycles were blatantly new. Maybe I am the only one that noticed it, but it took away from the movie.
After we watched the movie, we had lunch and walked to the city. We went to a book store where I found some kind of a panda mascot doll chilling at a bookshop.
“Yonda?” means “did you read?” in Japanese. It’s a pun.
Since it’s gotten colder, someone gave the panda a scarf to wear. I was the only one taking the picture of it, but who wouldn’t? At that store, I bought a book about FRP and instructions on how to fabricate FRP car body parts. Just something I am interested in.
Next, we went to a surplus store so I can get the LED flashlight I wanted for my bicycle.
It’s called Fenix L2D Premium Q5. It uses Cree XR-E LED for the light source, which is capable of projecting a blindingly white light. Although the performance of the light itself is much higher than most would ever need, the versatility is the key. The neat part about this flashlight is that it uses a voltage step up circuit so it would work with either 1 or 2 AA. I prefer to use the rechargeable NiMH batteries rather than the disposable batteries, and it helps that L2D performs the same. Rechargeable batteries output lower voltage than alkaline or lithium, and some electronics like MP3 players don’t work. There are other batteries like lithium CR123A(3V per cell) which perform better in all ways, but they are expensive and hard to find. Best to go with the popular AA batteries.
I was quite excited when I purchased the flashlight and I was playing with it all the way to the restaurant where we had dinner together. It’s like a male equivalent of buying new shoes or jewelry, for those that may not understand. After dinner, we went to an “ashi-yu”, where you sit down on a bench and put your foot in the small tub of hot spring. It warms your whole body up, and after about 10 minutes of it, you start to sweat. It’s nice because it’s located outside of the spa place, and it’s free. You meet lots of interesting people there, and they all enjoy talking. My friend and I were talking to a chiropractor, who came a few minutes after we got there, for a good 20 minutes. Maybe more.
The ashi-yu got us thirsty so we hit up Starbucks(yes, there are billions in
Random tip of the day…
Check out the self myofascial release technique(SMRT). This is a method to loosen up and condition the soft tissues that have scarred or knotted. All you need for this, is a foam roller or a tennis ball. Google “foam roller” and you will come up with bunch of them if you don’t know what they are. You put the roller on the ground, and you lie, sit, whatever, on the roller putting your weight on it. Roll on it until you hit a part that hurts, and then stay there until the pain goes away. Repeat with other parts. Static stretching on its own can’t loosen up the tight muscles, and this will leave you feeling great, while giving you better performance if you work out or play sports.
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