weetabix: dove removal machine

Mythbusters. Is there anything they can’t do?

Here’s a good one by J. J. Abrams. I’ve not seen much, if any, of his work but I’ve always liked him when I’ve seen interviews. The TED site is a great source of video edutainment about design and technology. Also check out the William McDonough talk. He’s a pioneer in green architecture and has his head office in Charlottesville. Anime’s office is right next door to his.

Appetite for Destruction was $9.99 at Target the other day. Had to buy it. I listened to that album almost everyday for a year after I got it. In fact I just dug out my old tapes and found my first copy. It still has one of my aluminum paint fingerprints on it from when I was painting the roof of the woodshed at the old farmhouse.

The really strange thing is that I bought the CD about 3 weeks ago and a week later started reading Fargo Rock City (lent to me by Wingnut) by Chuck Klosterman. The whole book is essentially in praise of Appetite…and 80s hair metal bands in general. So many times while reading the book I found myself making mental (and metal \m/) comments only to find that my comments were printed on the next page, quite literally almost word for word. Spooky. Even spookier is that Klosterman and I share a birthday, 3 years apart, and we both grew up in small Mid-western farming communities.

Appetite has been in rotation on my MP3 player since I got the CD. Makes me remember the other tapes that got ridiculous play time in the old walkman. …And Justice for All - Metallica, Walk Among Us - Misfits and Six Inch Extension - NIL8. In fact NIL8 has probably gotten the most play of any of my albums over the long haul as I never go anywhere without at least one digital copy of a NIL8 album on my person. But the aforementioned GnR and Metallica tapes were tops for many years.

Rock on.

On Monday I did my first real track day in the MINI. I attended the Phil Wicks MINI driving academy at VIR. I was classed as novice since I hadn’t attended before. Novice was just fine as I got to ride with an instructor the whole day and he was great. He gave me a few pointers but mostly let me figure it out as I went with some instruction along the way.

The MINI performed well and my all-season Kumho ASXs actually held their own on the track…at least enough for me to say aloud, “Hey, these tires held their own on the track.” We got 6 sessions about 20-30 minutes per session as well as about 5 touring laps at slower speed and a quick skidpad/pseudo-autoX session in the morning. I would have liked more skidpad time, but there were just too many folks in the novice group to get a good round of autoXing in.

We ran on VIR’s south course. It’s only 1.6 miles long but has some nice elevation drops and includes the infamous Oak Tree turn which I managed to get a good handle on (although it’s easier with orange cones marking your apexes…apecies?). The downhill twisties are way too much fun in a MINI. I gave several Cooper S drivers a run for their collective monies but had to give the passing wave on the straight. I did fend off a few Cooper S drivers on the straight when I really gave it a go around Oak Tree and they couldn’t keep up with my massive exit speeds.

Got a few pics but nothing great. Click pics for more Flickr.

::EDIT::

Here’s a vid of some MINIs rolling down the straight at VIR. I’m in there somewhere as the camera pans. Thanks goes to my driving school buddy Bob for the vid.

Phil Wicks driving school - VIR straight from handrail on Vimeo.

Saw a short blurb on the new VMAX in AutoWeek. The only reason I even sort of like these bikes is that the redneck I bought my first bike, ‘72 Honda CB500 with a bad chopper job, had an old VMAX and it looked semi-cool. Way cooler than a Virago, at least.

Looks a little like the BMW R1200, but less refined. Still, it does have a bit of a Mad Max look to it. Those pipes need to be blacked out and some missile launchers added.