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.
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2 comments:
Speaking of ownership...
The problem with gadgets is that the companies who make them don't sell them with full ownership rights. Such is the case for everything from iPods to vehicles. In some cars, certain parts of the engines have tamper proof mechanisms. Open up a forbidden area and, oops, you just voided your warranty. Cars are also being equipped with things like iDrive and Microsoft Sync. Vehicle owners don't have very many rights with regard to such software. It's funny to think about how much of a product you don't own. Thus, there is another dimension to the question, "am I getting my money's worth?"
Merry Christmas, Tatsu!
Good point. Apparently, you pay lots of money to "buy" a car, but it seems as though its somewhere between buying and leasing. Also, by making things "fool proof", they are also keeping people dependant on the dealer to do even the simplest maintenance. I suppose its the direction we are headed towards, but I personally don't like that idea.
Merry Christmas to you too!
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