New Isn’t Always Better (Looking)

BMW has just proposed a new motorcycle model, based on what BMW calls the “heritage” line: the ‘R nine T /5‘. This model is built as an tribute to the /5 series, the line of motorcyles from 1969 on that allowed BMW to counter the Japanese competion of that era.

The ‘R nine T /5‘ may be a nice and modern bike, but I still prefer the look of the source of its design – especially in this picture from Flickr user ‘Elmar‘ (click on the picture to see it – and the bike – in its full glory).

(c) Elmar – Click on the picture to see the original on Flickr.

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Celebrate One Of The Greatest Events Of The 20th Century

I was just 11 at the time, and I did see some of the TV images of the moon landing during the summer of 1969. Anything to do with rockets and space, as well as the required “futuristic” technology to make things happen in that domain, still makes me sit up and pay attention. It’s no wonder, looking back at this, that I still read mainly SF books; like Star Trek; try to remain in touch with the latest developments in physics and tech; and continue to tinker with computers (at a very, very modest scale).

Thus I agree with Ars Technica, writing:

Today, the Moon landings still take our breath away. On July 20, 1969, NASA pulled off arguably the greatest technical achievement of the 20th century.

(Click the image to go to the Lego™ shop)

To celebrate that achievement, Lego™ is selling a 1,087 piece set of the Apollo 11 Lunar Lander. I know, that is essentially “good marketing” on their part. But this is one of the few sets I would consider buying these days – because of the significance of the Apollo 11 missions, not because it would fit in the collection of thousands of bricks I still have from my youth ;-) Thanks for pointing this set out to me, Ars!

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RIP Johnny Clegg, The “White Zulu”

This news report from AP is a good summary of who Johnny Clegg was: “South African musician Johnny Clegg dies at 66 after cancer“.

When we bought our first music CD player, somewhere in the second half of the 1980’s, the CD “Third World Child” was one of the first we added to our collection. At first because the music is great, and then because of the significance of Clegg in the anti-Apartheid movement.

I’ll continue to hum/sing along with his songs.

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The Red Flag Traffic Laws Reinvented

Belgian (and European) politicians keep saying that all of us must be ready to get on-board the unstoppable train of “digitalisation” (although the explanation of what that exactly means is not so clear). But everyone knows: digital is the future, if it’s not already today.

Modern society is noisy, especially so if you live in or near an urban / industrial area, or close to busy roads and highways. Noise is a known stress factor. Luckily, electrical vehicles are very silent, compared to their internal-combustion engine cousins. Electrical vehicles are taking over from their ICE cousins – just ask Norway. Hurrah! I’ll finally be able to sleep with the bedroom window wide-open.

Unfortunately, all new electric cars in Europe must by law emit an audible noise. So we’ll use a very analog solution to solve a problem caused by humanity’s technological progress. I can’t help thinking there must be other, quieter solutions to this problem.

But hey, I suppose it beats having to hire someone to walk in front of your vehicle, waving a red flag, no?

I found this image on Whaleoil, credited (I think) to ‘The giffgaff community‘…

 

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Hot Weather Saves Our Numbers

The last week has been very sunny and very warm in Belgium. Meteorologists tell us we had a real heat wave – not as severe as in France and Spain, to be sure, but enough for our photovoltaic panels produce the expected (but average) solar electricity of just below 300 KWh in June.

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