randomness

[Lithium]

I wish I had one of these as a kid. Not because I'd fall of a bike but because it's awesome!

[Fuse]

awesome - but what parent is going to spend that kind of money when training wheels are so much cheaper.

[Lithium]

It's actually not insanely overpriced: http://www.thinkgeek.com/geek-kids/3-7-years/d783/

[Fuse]

http://www.amazon.com/Bell-Sports-1003133-Training-Trainer/dp/B003GDAL6Q

[Heironymus]

http://www.slothfurnace.com/sabers/TORConsular_01.html

this is the coolest one..
http://www.slothfurnace.com/sabers/ROTJLuke_01.html

I wonder how much he would charge for one...

[Manic Velocity]

Those photos make me wish I had some kind of workshop. More and more I'm finding an urge to build shit.

[Ragnarok]

[Arawn]

ROFLMFAOL at 0:23 sec

[Da6onet]

If anyone is in the market for new car tires and will be driving in the snow and don't want to or can't get two dedicated seasonal sets (summer+winter), I highly recommend the Continental DWS tires.

Dry roads - performance isn't the best I've ever experienced: not as sticky as dedicated summers (experience with brother's Corvette GS and dad's Porsche Cayman), little louder/rougher than the grand touring all seasons.

Wet roads - One of, if not the best wet road tires I've driven on; I have to intentionally try to lose traction to get them to slip.

Snow covered roads - The reason I bought the tires, and the real reason I'm pimping them on our forums. Highest ratings on tirerack of any all season tire.

/Story time
My S80 is FWD with traction control, but as I discovered last winter, just getting out of the parking lot of my apartment was a 20 minute harrowing adventure with my stock tires. Shoveling + kitty litter + floor mats finally got me up the 0.2% grade "hill" of the parking lot. I constantly lost control on the main roads if they hadn't been plowed and salted, I got stuck on a pedestal of snow in the city about 3 times. On my drive to Charlottesville I lost control on the highway and spun into a 6 foot high snow bank and got stuck just turning into my mom's neighborhood - both times requiring a tow truck. Bear in mind these locations are relatively flat, with a few gentle hills.

Flash forward a year, and my brother says his wife's family has rented a couple cabins for a ski vacation. Coincidentally, my stock tires which already have no snow traction, were finally worn down to around 3/32" (yes that's right, all the cool kids have a tread measure tool) after 80,000 miles. So Conti's go on. Word of advice, I highly recommend getting the tires road force balanced, if you drive a lot you will notice the difference (it's equivalent to specs that are about 10-15 times tighter than traditional balancing).

So I went to Davis, WV (Timberline Resort specifically) for vacation after Christmas. Per my usual great timing, I left in the middle of a snow storm, everyone else had gone up a day before any of this hit. Let me tell you a little bit about rural mountain roads in West Virginia, at 10pm-12am in the middle of a snow storm. No lighted roads, sheer rock walls on one side and vast cliffs on the other. 3-4 inches on the road itself in the worst parts, steady 1-2 inches everywhere else - no way to see edge markings let alone lane markings. Oh and it was windy with 30-40mph gusts, blowing snow sideways for a fun treat of temporary white outs. I can count on one hand the number of plows I saw between DC and Davis, and most of that was on 66, all of which were just dumping sand/salt and not yet plowing.

Now here is the testament to these tires. Not once did I lose control of the car and the entire trip the traction control indicator light only went on about six times. Granted I did keep it about 30-35mph most of the trip, but still, the fact that I could climb (and descend) 3000 feet on curvy snow covered roads in a 2wd sedan, gave me immense confidence in my snow driving capabilities. Further, while there, the rental cars people drove up before the snow were now stuck, so I got to show off how I could push through 6-8 inches of snow in the driveways where the cabins were located when we all went out to a local brewery (Mountain State Brewing Co.) or had to make grocery runs. Luckily by the next day the snow on the roads was plowed/compressed down so it was like a road of snow on top of the original pavement/gravel, had never seen that done before.

/end Story time

This was a far cry from the experience I had getting around last winter. I feel confident in saying these truly are ALL-season tires, and damn good ones at that.

[Fuse]

Those are pretty cheap too... I think this is the last winter my Carolla has before I need new shoes so might pick these up before next winter.

[Da6onet]

Those are pretty cheap too... I think this is the last winter my Carolla has before I need new shoes so might pick these up before next winter.

Oh yeah, the price was a very nice surprise. I punctured the sidewall of one of the stock Michelin's (Pilot HX MXM4) about a month after I got the car and the cost to replace it was $250 ($225 for the tire itself). I picked these up for $121 a piece, and some tire places like mine will price match Tirerack so you don't have to pay the shipping.

[Subb]

After working on it for over a month, I am about to submit my research proposal; hurrah for freedom and soiled pants!

[Manic Velocity]

Downloaded an app that utilizes a camera's long exposure to create holographic effects.  It took about an hour to get the hang of it.

[Fuse]

Looks cool...details?

Also it's bad enough I can rarely make the monday meetings, but we scheduled an interview during a playoff game...really?

[Fuse]

For those of you who knew Nubious in ML - he passed away on the 7th from complications from a heart defect.

Details from ML: http://www.revans-legacy.com/vb/showthread.php?969-Loss-to-the-community