La Dolce Veloce

Ever wondered what the story was behind the logos for various car companies? Go check out this History of Car Logos website. For example, here’s where Porsche’s logo comes from:

The Porsche badge is essentially the coat of arms of the city of Stuttgart, which was built on the site of a stud farm – hence the horse. The antlers and red-and-black stripes are part of the arms of the Kingdom of Wurttemberg.

There’s a lot of very good, high res pictures of various F1 cars over at Audiworld, free for download.

A little random humor for the day:

15. “They told me at the blood bank this might happen.”
14. “This is just a 15 minute power-nap like they raved about in the last time management course you sent me to.”
13. “Whew! Guess I left the top off the liquid paper”
12. “I wasn’t sleeping! I was meditating on the mission statement and envisioning a new paradigm!”
11. “This is one of the seven habits of highly effective people!”
10. “I was testing the keyboard for drool resistance”
9. “Actually I’m doing a “Stress Level Elimination Exercise Plan” (SLEEP) I learned it at the last mandatory seminar you made me attend.
8. “I was doing a highly specific Yoga exercise to relieve work related stress.”
7. “Darn! Why did you interrupt me? I had almost figured out a solution to our biggest problem.”
6. “The coffee machine is broken….”
5. “Someone must’ve put decaf in the wrong pot.”
4. “Boy, that cold medicine I took last night just won’t wear off!”
3. “Ah, the unique and unpredictable circadian rhythms of the workaholic!”
2. “I wasn’t sleeping, I was trying to pick up contact lens without hands.”
AND THE #1 BEST THING TO SAY IF YOU GET CAUGHT SLEEPING AT YOUR DESK:
“Amen”

Crazy, but darn cool. 0-60 in five seconds! Check it out here.

After thirteen traffic offenses in ten years, Jason Reynolds’ driving style finally caught up to him. The Colorado highway patrol had even sent him a warning letter on September 23 after he was reported by several people for road rage. He was due to appear in court on December 14th to face charges that he rammed the rear of a Honda with his truck three times. Now, he’s facing two counts of first degree murder (possibly carrying the death penalty) for a road rage incident from November. According to witnesses, Reynolds was driving aggressively, and a Toyota SUV pulled right to let Reynolds pass. Reynolds passed, but then pulled in right in front of the Toyota SUV and braked hard, causing the Toyota SUV to hit him. Upon impact, the driver of the Toyota SUV lost control, crossed the median, flipped, and landed on top of a Ford SUV. The drivers of both SUVs died instantly, while the perpetrator of this accident stood by indifferently after the accident, and now faces the death penalty. Really sad all around; what’s even sadder is that this jerk was allowed to be driving in the first place. Read more here.

I love my Lotus Elise…and I love photography. The product of these hobbies is a twelve month calendar now available for sale through Cafepress featuring thirteen images of my magnetic blue Lotus Elise. The calendar can be purchased for $24.99 by visiting by Cafepress Shop. All proceeds go towards buying goodies for my Elise.

The lack off new postings here is due to me traveling all the way to Colorado to road test a Toyota Prius and a Chrysler Sebring (ok, turkey and gravy may have had something to do with it as well…). Since these were relatives’ cars, I didn’t do a real road test, I babied them as you’d expect but did try to pay attention to the subtle details.

I found the Prius’ most enamoring trait to be its power monitoring display, and found myself actually trying to get better gas mileage. Being conscious of the fuel-friendly image Prius drivers have, though, I did try to counter that by flooring it leaving one stop light, and found that the Prius will easily beat most cars off the line. Well, as long as they’re not actually trying to race, that is. The Prius’ gas pedal seems to have just two positions, cruise mode and subtle acceleration. I kept wondering (hoping?) if perhaps the pedal was blocked, and I just couldn’t press it far enough to get full power. Toyota did a good job of providing adequate power, but really no more than that. As for its handling, the car’s harsh ride (probably due to its tires) leads one to expect some level of sportiness, but those expectations are quickly dashed. The electronic key took some getting used to (leave pocket in key, press ‘power’ button), as did the stereo, providing a mix of traditional panel-mounted controls, and controls accessed via the touchscreen display located a healthy distance away.

Also tested over the weekend was a Chrysler Sebring convertible, a few years old. I was pleasantly surprised by this car, not expecting much out of Chrysler. What I found was a car with decent acceleration and a healthy growl emanating from the engine compartment. It cruised comfortably on the Colorado freeways, though its soft handling really made itself apparent once you encountered a corner. Definitely more of a cruiser than a sports car.