[WTGPhoben]

I feel like a broken record, but it's funny how when you have 1000 things to do you forget about everything that doesn't consistently demand your attention...

Toshi, looks like you've been busy both in reality and in your head . Short response list (pardon the terseness, but I just read a couple months of posts):

-girl:
-aptera: nifty. What's your basis for saying that 300mpg is more efficient than the all-electric car? Aptera doesn't post MPG equivalent numbers for the electric version.
-your car: You clearly need more than one car. All purpose vehicles are like triathletes - mediocre at more than one thing. A hybrid or electric car isn't going to be a race car unless it's either A) a crappy hybrid, or B) has a very low range. Batteries are heavy and good race cars aren't. Hybrid is not incompatible with snow/off-road however, so maybe your subie concept is the next addition to the garage. Until you can afford a second ride, I bet your RX would look scary with old-school chains.

My news: made some additions to the stable (to be posted eventually), making a grad school bid, thinking TransRockies again in '08...

We had a crapload of snow here in mid-dec and then it got warm. Was hoping for a deep freeze to enable a little ice riding, but sadly there was no freeze to be had and it looks like we're getting more fresh tomorrow. What a year not to get a ski pass...

 

[Toshi]

i'm not even sure if chains will fit safely between the wheels and the fenders on my RX-8...

wrt the electric car vs. 300 mpg hybrid mileage claim, it's back of the napkin estimation based off of the tesla white paper. see the table on page 3/10 of this cached version of the white paper (the "real" version is offline for updates):

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:u0S4-tHUbn8J:www.stanford.edu/group/greendorm/participate/cee124/TeslaReading.pdf+21st+century+electric+car&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us&client=safari

note that if you multiply the prius's "vehicle efficiency" by 5 or 6 you get a well-to-wheel efficiency double or more of that of the tesla. admittedly an Aptera series hybrid isn't a prius that happens to get 6x the mileage, and a Tesla isn't an Aptera all-electric vehicle, but the premise is correct, no?

what kind of grad school are you shooting for? and go skiing! (i did! stevens pass got 11" over 24h, 63" over the week. oh yeah.)

 

[Toshi]

this is how tokyo manages its traffic:

http://www.kilian-nakamura.com/blog-english/index.php/inside-the-tokyo-traffic-control-center/

The Central Display Board highlights 1,000 intersections, and has 15,154 traffic signals in the system. When traffic jams are detected or reported, the affected area turns from green to red. It also displays traffic accidents and closed streets.

Information is passed on to Tokyoites live through radio reports and 300 traffic information boards on the roadways. To directly influence traffic, it’s possible to manually adjust the signal intervals for 7,000 of the traffic lights, and communicate directly with traffic officers in the field.

 

[Toshi]

i'm not even sure if chains will fit safely between the wheels and the fenders on my RX-8...

ok, so apparently SAE Class "S" chains will fit on my RX-8 as per the manual. tirechain.com sells a ghetto cable one, but then try to nickel and dime the customer with tensioners sold separately, etc.

instead i think i'll spring for some true chain-type ones. Thule has at least two models that'll fit 225/45/18 tires with Class "S" clearance.

thoughts? will they completely ruin my aluminum wheels? i do have a second set of wheels already for the R-compounds, and both sets are more or less equally scratched.

option 1, $72
http://www.vulcantire.com/cgi-bin/chainsearch.cgi?size=225/45-18&model=100&f=ThuleCB12_l.htm

option 2, $149 (make that $140 through amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Thule-Super-Premium-Passenger-Chain-100/dp/B000UNLVDM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1199134933&sr=1-1 )
http://www.vulcantire.com/cgi-bin/chainsearch.cgi?size=225/45-18&model=100&f=ThuleCS10_l.htm

i'm going to go test fit the option 1 chains at a local store whose pricing is competitive this afternoon...

in favor of option 2 is that Thule at least claims that their "special anti-scratch nylon bumpers ... [ensure] that the chains never actually come in contact with [the] wheels". hmm.

 

[gastro]

in favor of option 2 is that Thule at least claims that their "special anti-scratch nylon bumpers ... [ensure] that the chains never actually come in contact with [the] wheels". hmm.

You could selectively apply some Plasti Dip to the perimeter chains as insurance. I've got this stuff on some of my tools and it seems like it'd do the trick.

 

[Toshi]

thanks for the suggestion, gastro.

i ended up with the second chains... kinda. just as how thule gobbled up sportworks, thule gobbled up the Konig tire chain company. the second design that i posted above is thule's take on Konig's original.

i went to a local "rack 'n road" store yesterday instead of waiting it out on amazon.com. it turned out that the Konig chains were the only one that they had in stock in my car's size, but they listed for $200. a little nudging and i got the manager to mark them down to the $140 amazon.com price for the thule's-via-amazon. (i guess the profit margin on chains is higher than 30%... yikes!)

the Konig ones are nigh-identical to the thules except for the colorscheme, and they actually seem like a pretty awesome design. for example, to hook them up and tension them requires all of three steps, each of which involves matching a colored piece to the same color on the other side, and to remove them requires pulling one lever (on the outside of the wheel!) which causes them to disengage on the backside and fall off immediately.

here's their press release from when they acquired Konig in March 2007: http://www.thuleracks.com/pdf/Thule_Snowchains.pdf



now that my emissions guilt has largely been assuaged and that i will actually be able to take the RX-8 skiing without getting stuck i think it might stick around for a while.

(just for kicks/to waste the dealership's time i test drove a 2008 impreza 2.5i 5 speed wagon and had them appraise my RX-8 and come up with a out the door price. they were ~$2200 over what i would consider fair, not that i would have jumped in any case. the wagon itself seemed pretty roomy in terms of headroom and the back is nice and flat with the new suspension, but it's short enough front-back that skis would intrude up into the driver's elbow area. a ski rack would be necessary imo. it also drove more or less like a 2001 corolla, which is not necessarily a huge negative but not really exciting either.)

 

[Westy]

Toshi

When your dream of $20 gasoline becomes true I think you should do this to your RX8

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/01/aerocivic_green_modded_ho.html

 

[Toshi]

Toshi

When your dream of $20 gasoline becomes true I think you should do this to your RX8

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/01/aerocivic_green_modded_ho.html

i saw that elsewhere, and laughed. looks horrid.

with regard to his claim of a Cd of 0.17 i also question the accuracy of testing Cd through coastdown and a stopwatch. is the road flat? is the assumption that rolling resistance is constant (invariate with speed) fair? is the stopwatch even marginally accurate? how about the speedometer?

finally, he's a hypermiler, so we can pretty much ignore his mileage claims unless you want to adopt that weird pulse and glide driving style.

 

[Toshi]

nanotechnology meets art. many more at the link: http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=3811.php

 

[narlus]

toshi, wtf is this guy talking about? is he on crack, or have i forgotten way too much of my schooling?

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=157341&page=17

 

[Toshi]

toshi, wtf is this guy talking about? is he on crack, or have i forgotten way too much of my schooling?

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=157341&page=17

which post(s) are you talking about in particular?

 

[narlus]

the one where he's talking about a full-frame sensor @ f/4 getting 28% more light than a 1.6x crop sensor @ f/2.8

 

[Toshi]

the one where he's talking about a full-frame sensor @ f/4 getting 28% more light than a 1.6x crop sensor @ f/2.8

he's on crack.

the definition of f-stop is focal length:aperture. this is independent of sensor size, and dictates the intensity of light at any given point within the area onto which it projects its image.

i think he's confused by this: consider two cameras, one with a full-frame sensor and another with a 1.6x crop. to achieve the same field of view you'd require a lens of 1.6x less focal length on the 1.6x crop camera: say 80mm on the full-frame camera and 50mm on the 1.6x crop camera. if you have an aperture of a given diameter then you'd receive more light on the 1.6x crop camera's sensor. however, this is not what he's saying! because the f-stop in this example would be 1.6x higher on the full frame due to the definition of f-stop.

QED.

 

[Toshi]

i just bought this jacket on steepandcheap.com . woot. er, steepandcheap! heh. just a shade over $100 shipped in any case, not bad for $300 msrp. (i needed a new parka, since my old 2002 era one isn't waterproof any more, even after tek wash and the whole spray 'n dry rigamarole.)

Description:
When you zip up the Oakley Men's Distractions Jacket, cold and wet can't creep into your mind. This baggy-fit jacket's all-over Primaloft insulation and polar fleece around the core provide lots of warmth, while 15K waterproof material blocks moderate wetness. Oakley integrated Lycra wrist gaiters and a stretch storm skirt to lock out the snow, and lined the half-collar with tricot to keep things irritation-free. The Distractions has a microfiber goggle pocket, a pocket with a headphone port for your iPod, a pass holder, and reverse coil zip pockets for your hands.

my only fear is that it won't fit right. oh well.

 

[Toshi]

thoughts as I wait in a nice Boston restaurant for people to arrive: in inviting toshi-open solely on facebook I forgot to spell in you, thad and keith. My bad. Thought 2: brown may be even lower on my list of programs than Houston. Shocking. 3: driving through harvard brought back many memories. This place might be really nice with a real job, a car, and a girl who is planning on migrating with me. 4: I'll be on a plane to my next interviews by 4:30 tomorrow and am tied up at tufts/nemc until then. I'll be less spacey if I come out again.

 

[Barbaton]

thoughts as I wait in a nice Boston restaurant for people to arrive: in inviting toshi-open solely on facebook I forgot to spell in you, thad and keith. My bad. Thought 2: brown may be even lower on my list of programs than Houston. Shocking. 3: driving through harvard brought back many memories. This place might be really nice with a real job, a car, and a girl who is planning on migrating with me. 4: I'll be on a plane to my next interviews by 4:30 tomorrow and am tied up at tufts/nemc until then. I'll be less spacey if I come out again.

Too bad. Would have been good to see you. Let me know when you're here again, or in NYC...

 

[Toshi]

an update on my travels/why i have not been on teh internets:

brown sucks
tufts/new england med center is rebuilding their program, and it's kinda small. i do like boston, however.
spokane program is nice, but i'd rather be elsewhere... hmph.
OHSU (portland) is fabulous, with the caveat that i'd have to push myself to make sure i stayed up with research and seeing enough cases/working myself hard enough

internships:
portland transitional year would be tough, but portland.
spokane transitional year would be a cakewalk, but spokane.



agahghghagahgahghgh choices

and now i received another 11th hour invitation, so i'm headed out to columbia, missouri next week. my credit card companies love me. so many flights. so many rental cars. so many hotels.

 

[Toshi]

finally done with interviews. back from columbia, missouri tonight.

had a hellacious two days of traveling: first american delayed my outgoing flight (sea->chitown) for 1h+, causing me to miss my connection, then delayed the 2h later rebooked connection by an additional 2h. then i drove for 2.5h in the middle of the night, heading across missouri. missouri is flat. reminds me of eastern washington.

fast forward past a typical interview day -- UM's rec center is absurdly nice, only odd bit -- and then i get a voicemail: United: "oh, your flight is canceled. we have you booked for tomorrow." not acceptable. grr. another phone call later as i was contemplating changing out of the monkey suit in the rental car and i found myself rebooked on a flight that same day (this afternoon).

the catch: this rebooked flight was to leave all of 3h and 2m after that same phone call, ie, boarding would be 2h 32m in the future. the airport is 147 mi away, a 2h 21m drive via google, and i had to return the rental car, catch a shuttle to the terminal, retrieve a boarding pass, and pass security in those theoretical 11 minutes.

long story short, i made it, ducking through security as the first passengers boarded the plane, but only through driving 10 over the whole way. ugh. i hope to never return if only for the memories of bungled travel plans.

 

[Toshi]

today was the first autocross event of the year. it was put on by the UW FSAE team, who was running their 2007 car all day. as the forecast was for snow along with a high of 40 i elected to leave the race tires in the garage and run on 4-season street meats. it probably was the wrong choice, as things dried out nicely.

in any case i ended up 3rd/6th. this was actually ok, since in the western washington sports car club's odd classing structure the two sports car club of america classes B Stock and A Stock are lumped together. normally i don't compete head to head with S2000s or STIs but today they were in my class, and one of each bested me.

next time i think i'll enter the open/pro class where all cars run against each other with their times adjusted for their classes' indices: for example, STIs would have their times multiplied by the A Stock index of 0.842, my RX-8 would have its time multiplied by the B Stock index of 0.832, and a non-S mini cooper would have its time multiplied by the H Stock index of 0.792.

http://www.scca-chicago.com/solo/indexes/rtp2008.html

here's the abovementioned UW FSAE car:

 

[Toshi]

the view out my front door this morning:

 

[Toshi]

cool built in interior bike rack on the 2009 JDM-spec Subaru Forester:

the US version looks quite nice on the outside, too...

make it a diesel hybrid that passes emissions and i'll sign up, subaru

 

[Toshi]

the crazy cockpit of the Airbus A380. 360 degree panorama:

http://www.gillesvidal.com/blogpano/cockpit1.htm

make sure to look up at the switch panel on the ceiling, noting the camera built in alongside up there. also note the camera on the tail looking forward on the centermost monitor, and the cupholders. gotta have them.

 

[stevew]

finally done with interviews. back from columbia, missouri tonight.

I've heard people refer to that state as misery.

Are you really up for living in a bible belt state?

Yeah it's flat. I've driven across Missouri six times.

 

[Toshi]

i wouldn't consider missouri in general to be a viable place to live, but columbia seemed decent. home of mizzou, it's a college town. has sporadic but present public transit, and at least a smattering of liberal people...

 

[Toshi]

i logged day 8 of skiing this season yesterday. i'm a bit off my usual pace, but it's been a crazy winter what with the interviews.

the cool thing about going yesterday is that my ski buddy who drove us up picked up a 2004 Audi S4.

pluses: looks awesome, leather, heated Recaros, 6 speed manual, 339 hp, 4.2 liter naturally aspirated V8, awd, ski pass through along with a 40:60 split/folding rear seat, cool polished aluminum outside mirrors that fold back electrically.

minuses: 12/20 mpg via the EPA, 3800 lbs, TINY back seat (smaller than mine in the RX-8!), front-heavy torque split on the awd prior to model year 2008 according to what i've read.

it's a beautiful machine, but i'm glad i don't have to feed it or try to hustle it around an autox course without burning through front tires...

<-- stock photo -- his is dark grey.

 

[Toshi]

here are my hands/wrists as imaged last week:

i will donate all my credits at the moment to whoever can point out what's wrong with my left wrist/hand. (it's not serious, but you can definitely see it on the films.)

 

[narlus]

hey toshi -

my 5D arrived today.




looks like the guy barely used it. for $1620 shipped, i'm <as the brits say> well chuffed.

Cat Power on thursday...can't wait to shoot the very photogenic ms Chan Marshall.

 

[Toshi]

that's a deal! and i'm doubly envious (via gimages):

 

[BIGHITR]

i will donate all my credits at the moment to whoever can point out what's wrong with my left wrist/hand.

Compound fracture. I see a small crack.

 

[Toshi]

Compound fracture. I see a small crack.

good guess, but no. assuming you mean the area where there is a disruption in the cortex (outer area) near the "knuckle" you're in the right ballpark. no fracture or misalignment is present tho -- the issue is with the form of the bones themselves.

 

[Toshi]

two cars that i would seriously consider getting in the next few years, assuming i end up somewhere where awd and skiing are both on the table:

1) VW Tiguan

small SUV, pretty lightweight at ~3400 lbs and change for euro-spec models. suspect VW reliability but with a new car warranty might not be soooo bad? beautiful interior, at least as far as color schemes if not plastics.

best of all/why i'm interested: it will come with the 2.0 liter TDI diesel! lace up that to the 6 speed shown in the debut video and make it pass emissions with urea injection or whatever and i'll seriously consider it.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=121482#6

2) Subaru Legacy Boxer Diesel

same legacy we know and love/hate, but now with an added twist (ba-dum -- that's a torque joke if unclear ): subaru is unleashing a 2.0 liter boxer diesel on the world.

from the edmunds writeup below:

The boxer diesel produces 148 horsepower at 3,600 rpm and 258 pound-feet of torque at just 1,800 rpm. The engine is capable of 60.5 mpg.

note that that 60.5 mpg is in Imperial gallons, so that's an even 50 mpg in US parlance. still, 50 mpg! awd! wagon! practical! and, yes, it could even be autocrossed. probably would be dog slow given the 148 hp, but it just needs to be enough to keep me entertained...

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FirstDrives/articleId=124553

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

hey, i gots me a job at mitsui today.

completely bizarre. walked in the dealership to leave my car (BIG dealership, sells thousands of cars a year, cars come in for service literally every 5 minutes all day, they book 12 service appointments per hour, 400+ employees), talked to the service manager who gave me an interesting lead, then i talked to the shop manager whom i think i impressed, i didnt even know they were hiring when i went... just went for my scheduled 20k miles service... i just started talking about tools with a mechanic and somehow i managed my way to talk about work with the shop manager.... he got me an interview overnight with the CEO of mitsui peru (a company with 100+ billion sales a year worldwide) and the CEO himself hired me on the spot... overstepping all protocol, no HR crap.... the guy just offered me a job on the spot and then i went to HR just to fill out the paperwork..... didnt even had to go thru the usual screening and stuff...

had an interview with the japanese CEO today... geez... am impressed by the japanese work ethos.... havent heard so many wise things in 30 minutes in a long time.

i start on the 18th..... am on a 3 month training route to be a service manager... man, the experience is going to be worth gold once i open up my own shop....

completely surreal and awesome.

 

[splat]

I've heard people refer to that state as misery.

Are you really up for living in a bible belt state?

Yeah it's flat. I've driven across Missouri six times.

I've driven across it twice , I know its the show me state , I still haven't figured out what they are trying to show me , there is Nothing to see!!

 

[Toshi]

congrats on the job, alexis. the japanese will rise again!

 

[Toshi]

http://tinyurl.com/yraqpz

phonepix from a day trip to anacortes (one of jessica's students was playing at the regional solo contest).

360 degree qtvr: http://toshiclark.com/images/daily/anacortes phonepix - february 9, 2007/Pages/Anacortes.html

my favorite shot

 

[Toshi]

the 2nd autocross event of the "slush season" was yesterday. mixed wet/dry on the track, about 45 degrees, gusting 30 mph by my guess.

i sucked. bad. out of four runs, on cold V710s that only got colder because of many timing issues, i spun twice, got completely sideways and out of sorts on a third run, and only got it together for one mid-pack clean run.

ugh. good thing these results don't count towards the regular season.

 

[Toshi]

here's a presentation on a dude with renal cell carcinoma ("kidney cancer") that i whipped up. it's HIPAA compliant, no personally identifiable information, etc. etc.

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dcj96ntp_59gtxp6vdt



note use of Google Docs Presentation. down with microsoft office! (i almost exclusively use Google Docs for my word processing/spreadsheet tasks these days. no worrying about thumb drives, backing up, emailing documents to oneself to keep the revision current.)

 

[Toshi]

inspired by the Lounge coverage of Portland's North American Handmade Bicycle Show i went hunting for city bike information. something with enough storage to be useful, maybe single speed or even belt drive...

http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech/2008/shows/nahmbs08/?id=results/nahmbs083

i've kind of already gone in this direction with the fenders, tough, decidedly non-race armadillo tires, and lighting on my road/commuter bike, but having racks would certainly make getting groceries easier.

ah, something to think about if i end up in portland...

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

havent started work officially, but i went by the shop today from 3 until 6.... got to know the people ill be working with and my office, and got to play around with the software, SAP (jesus, its pretty innefficient IMHO, too many clicks to get things done, although my current job uses a tailored made CRM i beta tested and chipped in some suggestions since its creation, so it kicked ass for me and was extremely efficient for my needs..... so i guess am not used to the flexibility of commercial do-it-all applications.

another few interesting bits.

first, my office has glass walls.... so i can be seen from pretty much 50% of the shop (managers, upper managers and customers all included). my old job had a closed door office where i could take my shoes off, had friends come over, play chess or just crumble over the chair and lean back hands behind the head ridemonkeying... have to get rid of the latter habit, as i´ve noticed myself crumbling over my chair every now and then. i hope the managers didnt catch up on that.... and if they did i need to do some damage repair today.... although am not officially working, still, no good for a first day unoffficial impression....

second. the japanese CEO has an "interesting" personality. i talked to a mechanic who told me he got a $2000 paintjob for his hachiroku as a gift, absolutely free and unrequested (he didnt even ask for it) from Mr. Harada himself.
but the guy is also known for firing people if they sit down at the wait lounge and drink some coffee or soda at the bar usually reserved for clients. let alone using the massage room at the wait room during your lunch break... you´d be gone. or sometimes he goes to the shop himself and stands right next to a mechanic for a whole 10 minutes just to watch him rotate tires and inspect pressure.

third. my training includes working with an accountant veryfing and closing orders, and punching in shop productivity. she is kinda hot.

fourth. today there were 110 cars coming in. shop is open from 8 until 5:30. closes 1 hour for lunch. thats an astonoshing ONE car coming in for service, paint, engine rebuild or something every 4.6 minutes on average for the entire day. and mondays are usually not busy days. thurdays and fridays, the rate can go up as high as one car ever 4 minutes.

 

[Toshi]

i'm guessing there will be no workday RM posting from you