Bespoke Bicycles – Naked Bicycles

When you’ve become accustomed to the cycling world (and a little obsessive) the detailed, unique things stand out. Naked Bicycles is doing some great work out of Canada.

The “Hors” category has some great highlights of vision and art within framebuilding. Apart from the obvious high-quality of their work, the creativity holds it’s own.  The single speed pictured at left showcases a number of unique ideas, while maintaining some nostalgic designs. The curved seat-tube goes way back to some early Jack Taylor models, while the round tube brazed to the seat-stays is seemingly modern (and quite appealing).

Not many frame builders venture out into other tubing options, and certainly not beyond traditional forms. Naked Bicycles clearly doesn’t take issue with trying new forms. They’ve received a number of accolades, including multiple awards at NAHBS, and are starting to garner attention from the larger cycling community, and it’s well-deserved. The quality and attention to detail is also apparent in the standard frames as well. Lugwork is key with steel frame mastery, and based on the work showcased, it’s easy to see the time and skill put into their craft. It looks like a trip to Canada should be in short order.

Beautifully Eccentric – Poppa Neutrino & Simple Complexities

There is much to our lives and how we define “self”. Some require median circumstances, whereby they purchase new vehicles and manicure their lawn, or buy boutique things – coffees, food, artisan candles, and every once in a while (probably more often than thought) a few reject the median and go to the extreme. Poppa Neutrino (b. William David Pearlman) is an example of extreme.

The highlight to the documentary Random Lunacy is the raft, not boat (don’t call it a boat), that sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. The raft was composed entirely of garbage, designed by Poppa, and crafted with the help of like minded individuals. What strikes me most out of documentaries are the wills of focused people.  When people act upon a piece of desire, it might not be a life calling (but a desire nonetheless), they manage to achieve expansive goals and find fulfillment. The obvious message of Random Lunacy is to do what drives you, and to reject all notions of conformity. This idea permeates all forms of media and it’s not entirely accurate to reality.

By the nature of personality, there are only so many ways to exemplify self. Although Poppa Neutrino rejects the material world, he still exists within one. He still wears clothing, has a sense of pride, creates objects to keep and use, covets success, and most of all, has children. Neutrino’s definition may be different than the suburban family unit, but in many ways holds the same ideologies and prejudices. There seems to be the pervasive notion that by rejecting, or replacing, mass culture, we somehow change for the better, that somehow because things are free, we too are free. It’s still a definition, just a difference of mind.

Within our culture, counter-culture, non-culture, framework, we seem to think that we differentiate ourselves as unique. By adopting a lifestyle different from our neighbors we find distinction and individualism. But reality is different. Because of the limits of life (there are only so many ways to live) we in many ways will never be so different beyond what we perceive  This is the problem with our culture. By identifying true individualism (a unique self) as a possibility, we fail to see the constraint of similarity, that no matter what, you have something in common with your neighbor. Quite simply, if your neighbor can eat, and you can eat, you’ve found a median.

Although we’re similar (more similar than we perceive), this doesn’t mean that we don’t have ambition. Ambition is greater than individualism. Ambition creates and destroys. It’s the separator of success and failure. It’s the precursor to action. One could even argue that ambition is action, after-all it does change a thought process. If we begin to focus on ambition as freedom, instead of individualism, we will create a more collectivist society. Ambition requires the help of others to achieve a goal. Understanding that it isn’t I that moved forward, but we, our goals will become similar, as it is by default, but recognizing our successes as our ambition, instead of individual conquest, our standard of living might raise.

P.S. These statements obviously lead into an entire other discussion of who accomplishes what, and that it was you that did the work for your goal, but the aim of the article was to focus on our similarities as compared to our differences, and that in many ways it requires more indians accepting that we’re all chiefs, but chiefs that should work in unison for a similar objective.

Grand Compilation – Evolution of Technology and Innovation

Before the computer, there was the watchmaker and the timepiece. As an exhibition of great skill and technological advancement, watchmakers would evaluate skill by the “complications” a watch would contain. Recently a Sheik had to provide collateral for defaulted auction bids, and one of the pieces provided was the Henry Graves Grand Complication timepiece by Patek Phillipe. The piece went beyond telling time to 24 overall complications, including a chart of New York City’s skyline. It took five years to complete this piece, and showcases the mastery and forethought of technology in the 1930’s. Not unlike the benchmarks of smartphones today, watches were the gauge of innovation and usually reserved for select patrons. In this case, it was Henry Graves a banker and art collector. Another great example of complications is the Breguet No. 160 grand complication, commissioned for Marie Antoinette.

Containing all the complications of it’s day including a clock, perpetual calendar, thermometer!, and power reserve, the timepiece is an excellent display of the work and innovation of people. It’s the innovators and workers that change existing circumstances and provide the leaps forward in life. Although it took wealth to commission, it took the work of people to create. Not unlike our current world, of which the creativity and innovation of workers is everywhere, the timepieces of old provided an exhibition of what could be created. The more we allow ourselves to operate with creativity and innovation, the further we will evolve our world.

The Exploratory Mind – Finding Ancient Egypt

Recently, there has been a lot of news surrounding the tombs of Egypt. Part of this is to support the tourism industry, which has taken a large hit since the Arab Spring, but the other, more interesting, part are the strides taken to learn more about the ancient past. Technology is allowing archaeologists to go further into the pyramids and mysteries of ancient Egypt. A recent find includes the tomb of a princess, the daughter of King Men Salbo, from around 2,500 B.C. This discovery hopes to spur a new era of discovery in Egypt, and to bolster the appeal of Egypt to scholars and travelers.

A more interesting find, in addition to the princess’s tomb, is a secret shaft behind the second sealed door of the Queen’s chamber. Supposedly a team has been able to see artifacts, jewelry, and a gold box in the middle of the room. About 6 X 9 feet in size, the chamber may provide an insight into the beliefs of royalty in Egypt. It’s a fascinating discovery, and one certainly to follow in the coming months.

This archaeological exploration in Egypt, aided by modern technology, is ironically, supplementing our knowledge of ancient ways of life. Our curiosity of culture, and each other, is ever present and growing. By further exploring the mysteries of Egypt, we will hopefully gain further understanding of each other, and recognize the lack of differences between us.

Political Contradictions – One Thing Is Not Like The Other

There comes a point when the complexity of a two-party system becomes apparent; nothing beats a good contradiction. The siren-song of modern democracy, at least within the two-party system, is taking with one hand, giving it to another, and then calling it something entirely different. As people pigeonhole themselves into one party or the other, rumors spawn about what a candidate actually believes. By virtue of only two realms of thought for our entire society, the candidate is forced to vagueness, pandering, and corruption.

Some contradictory examples of the 2012 election include:

• Calling for additional military spending while championing a smaller government
• Claiming a new bureaucratic organization reduces government and strengthens small business
• Claiming citizens are equal, while reducing the legitimacy of groups
• Calling for regulation while accepting lobbied donations

 

These examples have always existed. The U.S. government is schizophrenic, but it only exists based of the needs asked of it. If the government relinquished even a fraction of subsidies to business interests, the shock-wave would collapse the financial system. Business interests claim government has grown too large, while accepting the welfare program that is subsidization. Government doesn’t exist without the interests that support it. It’s citizens that have determined where we are. If we accept the contradictions, nothing changes. Our job is to become involved and accept that knowledge is the primer, while action is the only change. Tomorrow is your chance to act, get out and vote!

RP: Hacking the President’s DNA

The article speaks for itself:

The U.S. government is surreptitiously collecting the DNA of world leaders, and is reportedly protecting that of Barack Obama. Decoded, these genetic blueprints could provide compromising information. In the not-too-distant future, they may provide something more as well—the basis for the creation of personalized bioweapons that could take down a president and leave no trace.

It’s a long read, but provides some fascinating insight into a future of bio-snipers and personalized mutation. It presents a lot of questions about research into these fields. Not unlike the genetic modifications presented in Jurassic Park, bio-mechanics could be the next advance in a new “cold war” – where leaders have fingers on the trigger of specific weapons, built for specific people. Will these advances create insecurity and distrust among the leaders of nations? Does it give new meaning to the future of a handshake?

[via The Atlantic]

Bespoke Bicycles – Paulus Quiros

One of the cleanest fixies around

Paulus Quiros is making some of the cleanest custom bicycle frames today. Based in the UK, the company has clearly spent time considering the design and function of their frames, and the product is unique, elegant, and artistic.

The frame that stands out is the black fixed gear. With it’s swooping top-tube and shape-driven design, it’s something rarely seen: art + utility. Many custom frame companies try to seek art in the standard lines of the mid-century touring and race bikes. This is a departure from that form, and does so quite well.

Fixed gear culture was found mostly in urban, metropolitan, areas. It has since moved everywhere within cycling culture for it’s ease of maintenance and overall enjoyment. The lines found on the Paulus Quiros are abnormal, but inspired. They’re a builder to watch out for, I’m sure they’ll become quite coveted in the long (and short) run.

New Jersey – Email Your Vote

Sometimes the future comes in bits and pieces. For now, a piece is coming in the form of emergency email voting in New Jersey. The existing electronic system has been wrought with issues and is far from a perfect system. There are thoughts that the voting system is corrupt and vulnerable to attack. New Jersey is now primed to be a guinea pig in the next wave of voting advances. Although it’s conjecture at this point, it’s safe to assume if the test is successful, it’ll be met with less scrutiny down the road. Will the future include some form of a secure email voting system? Paper is obsolete, and as we know from the 2000 presidential elections, far from perfect, but there is only so much access to one piece of paper. If coordinated enough, how many have access to an email? An electronic, and certainly an email, voting system seems ripe for cyber warfare.

[Gizmodo via NJ.com]

Internet Surveillance – Intent vs. Opinion

Is there freedom of speech in a digital age? That question is the driver of so much policy and reform surrounding the internet, and whether or not an internet user is subject to irrational scrutiny for things that have been said. Whether or not an internet user agrees with further surveillance, wider security, more scrutiny, it ‘s going to happen. The most interesting part of surveillance is the normal backlash by those that scream infringement upon their freedom of speech. It’s true. It limits freedom.

At the heart of the argument is intent vs. opinion. Further controls by government to restrict usage, to restrict the means of communication, will bring to the forefront who exactly it is scrutinizing and judging a set of text, and who it is determining text as intent or opinion. This reality is why our freedom will be relinquished to control – lack of symbiosis between tone and text. The internet forces everything to be interpreted at face-value. How is a regulatory body supposed to determine threat from action based on text? This is why regulation will not work – lack of accurate interpretation of what is said.

By virtue of calling for further surveillance, it’s a strong indication that freedom of speech does not exist to it’s fullest extent. Freedom is lost when subject to scrutiny by systems of authority and power. It is the precursor to regulation. And regulation is ultimately the demon of free speech.

It’s become simple and apparent, that if the populace of internet users accept scrutiny by means of power, they are subject to regulation and control, and to some extent, the relinquishment of free speech.

The beauty of freedom of speech is that anyone can say absolutely anything. By letting ourselves limit each other for fear of what they might say, we end up creating weakness and insecurity. We then call for scrutiny, and then regulation, and in the end it becomes a detriment to all.

See U.N. calls for ‘anti-terror’ Internet surveillance @ CNET.

Zimbale Saddlebag 18 Liter – A Review

The Zimbale 18 Liter Saddlebag has been the go-to bag for my commuter bike setup.  It’s large enough to fit just about anything you might take to work and sturdy enough to last year-round. Not to mention, it’s quite the looker.

As transportation needs are stretched, alternative methods will become front and center in the debate of how to move forward. It’s simple – cars are becoming too expensive to maintain. There isn’t anything wrong with finding a means besides a vehicle to commute with. If enough of us explore alternative (easier) modes of transportation, perhaps the national dialog on a whole table of issues will change.

How does the Zimbale Saddlebag look?

It’s perhaps the cleanest saddlebag on the road. The stitching is top-notch, without loose ends or stray lines. The leather is rich with color, and the straps are fastened with metal buckles. Perhaps the neatest parts of the bag are the front quick-release straps, which make loading and unloading incredibly efficient. The green canvas stands out, while the plaid interior accents the craft and thought of the design. This bag is the natural partner to any leather saddle, particularly good with the Brooks B17. As far as ascetics are concerned, it’s as good as it gets.

What about function? What does it fit?

The 18 liter fits anything that a date night or a workplace might demand. Shoes, a water bottle, lunch, a blanket, a change of clothes, a small child, will fit into this bag. A lot of people might find it to be overkill, but it’s nice to have enough space for just about any commuting need.

As mentioned earlier, the bag has quick release straps that make getting in and out extremely efficient.  Some users has expressed concern about things falling out of a saddlebag this size, but Zimbale considered this issue and provided a pull-tie cover that holds the contents inside, and even included a hook with an additional flap on the interior of the pull-tie to further guard against the possibility of inadvertent unloading.

Conclusion

The Zimbale Saddlebag has so many features. Sidepockets, quick release straps, additional length in the flap for even more capacity, waxed water-resistant canvas construction, metal fixtures, easy saddle attachment, two sets of protection against accidental content spills, additional strap holsters, and leather accents make this bag a hands down buy. Oh, and the price? Around $100. Can’t beat that!