I’ve been busy with a few odds and ends recently. But certainly, a flying car – in 2010 – will catch my attention.
The people at Terrafugia are the brains behind this flying vehicle, the Transition, which has received much online and television attention.
I should note that while it captures human attention, there was another flying car from Moulton B. Taylor of Longview, Wash. It was called the Aerocar – and yes, newsreel cameras captured it flying in the 1950s.
The Aerocar is on display at The Museum of Flight in Seattle. And I will say this about the Terrafugia Transition – it is inspiring.
If you only look up at the Victorian architecture in this city that borders the Puget Sound and Strait of Juan de Fuca, you might miss a fascinating human-powered vehicle.
That’s right – this red-and-white tricycle with hearts, beefy tires with fins in the rear, a long-necked steering wheel and wooden pontoons that would make any floating bridge engineer happy.
Given the number of colorful floppy disks attached to the Honda Civic at the Seattle Artcar Blowout, one question needs to be asked: Is a memory stick car soon to be created?
The artcar show is was part of this weekend’s Fremont Fair in Seattle - and before my family and I left Saturday, we walked around in search of some good-looking cars that have been given the tender, loving care that only artists can give to their creations.
And smiles came to our faces when we spotted the whimsical, colorful vehicles sitting in a parking lot.
Yes, after seeing the clip above, the only thing I’m waiting for is an actual online video game in which a person can go to Google maps (or some version of them), pick out a car and drive it (virtually) in a city just like this great video from Honest Directors.
Such a video game might actually exist. But you know, I’m a bit old school. I might be out of the loop.
Ah, yes: Google maps. You can do much with them these days. I actually still have paper maps of China, if you can believe that.
Fireworks and crowds in Beijing's Tiananmen Square mark the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China in October 2009. There are some reports that the square is no longer China's largest. Photo source: Xinhua
Oh, boy.
On the day that my thoughts turned to Tiananmen Square, in the sense of the vast public space near the Forbidden City and which is so central to China, comes word (in English, too) of an eyebrow-raising news story. It certainly prompts questions as to whether some Chinese people are lost in the new awakening occurring there. Or possibly, is a new push for privacy and freedom emerging?
It involves a former college professor, who in Mandarin would be addressed as “jiao shou.” But as my wife reminded me, some in China have taken to chat rooms to describe this instructor as “jiao shou.”
The pronunciation is the same. The Chinese characters are different. When these other Chinese characters are used, people are calling the person a “shouting animal” – essentially, a wild animal.
I’ll stick to Tiananmen Square and one of the more intriguing possibilities that I thought would never happen – that other public squares are larger in square meters than the symbolic center, or heart, of the People’s Republic of China.
Our bellies were full. We had perspired the requisite amount given the amount of chili and Sichuan peppercorns that hit our taste buds Saturday at Old Sichuan in Kent, Wash.
What could be better to cap off a small but early Mother’s Day celebratory lunch?
I wrote about the Gossmaer Albatross II late last year. But looking at the aircraft that requires pedal power hang in The Museum of Flight in Seattle still amazes me.
My family and I recently visited again because flight – especially when it’s powered by humans - still captures my curiosity. On this visit, the sun was just the right shade of gold.
When my family and I went to Saturday’s Opening Day event in Seattle, I didn’t expect any surprise. We just wanted to have a fun day during the event that kicks off the summer boating season in the region.
We saw the annual event last year and, as a journalist, I once covered the parade of boats.
But then I saw a custom-designed rowboat pass in front of us – with two tall guys standing. I thought: Hey, I think I interviewed those guys. The shape of their boat – with two enclosed ends – looked familiar.
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