I've spent the last year reading a lot of books on personal growth and success. These are the ones I've found most useful; which include last year's picks, and some timeless classics I read a great many years ago.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
The Gingermobile?
The ongoing search for the ultimate Gingermobile is in its final furlong.
On the one hand, I might have found it. In fact, it might be sitting in my driveway right at this moment (albeit covered in snow.)
In December of last year, I was given a 1978 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Custom Classic and it ticks pretty much every box that my prior "Gingermobile" front runner had (that was a 1978 Lincoln Contential Mark V.)
This is a truly stunning car - and features almost everything I am looking for in an automobile.
It's a luxury car - in it's day, as expensive as a contemporary Bentley or Rolls Royce. It's got four full seats - and they're beautiful two-tone leather. It has a gurgling 7-liter V8 engine and two long, low doors with windows ample enough to clamber in an out of - much like the General Lee (another inspiration for the Gingermobile.)
But today, while idly sorting through the classifieds on Craigslist, I saw something else that caught my attention; and captured my imagination. An Avenger.
A kit car, modeled after the stunning Ford GT40, it remains one of the most truly stunning vehicles on the road - and one of the most affordable.
The model I saw today was just $3,500 with registration and inspection; but easily looks like a car that costs a hundred times that.
One of the most exciting things about an Avenger is the opportunity to totally customize it - from a paint job in keeping with the Gingermobile ethos (red, or maybe two-tone red and cream like the Hirondel) to a roaring V8 engine.
One model I've read about generated 720bhp. The one on sale today had a much more reasonable 90bhp flat four.
From a Gingermobile perspective, it ticked some of the essential boxes - including having a manual transmission and being a real head-turner.
It also delivered a practical 25mpg or more - as opposed to the 3.5mpg of a Lincoln Mark V. The mechanics - mostly VW Beetle derived - are also simple and straightforward enough for me to handle on my own.
Yet I have some hesitations. Firstly, it's got only two seats (although an enormous boot) which means I'd have to keep The Locomotive on staff for ferrying the Militants about.
Secondly, a poised and nimble sports car is about as far from the rough and ready aesthetic of the General Lee or The Bandit as it's possible to get.
Only time will tell which direction I end up going it. Getting the title for the Cadillac is turning into a bit of an administrative nightmare, so it will be a while before even that beast hits the highway - and by then, who knows what fate will have in store for us.
But one thing is for sure. This is the year the new Gingermobile is crowned. Stay tuned!
 |
| Beneath this snow is a '78 Cadillac |
In December of last year, I was given a 1978 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Custom Classic and it ticks pretty much every box that my prior "Gingermobile" front runner had (that was a 1978 Lincoln Contential Mark V.)
This is a truly stunning car - and features almost everything I am looking for in an automobile.
It's a luxury car - in it's day, as expensive as a contemporary Bentley or Rolls Royce. It's got four full seats - and they're beautiful two-tone leather. It has a gurgling 7-liter V8 engine and two long, low doors with windows ample enough to clamber in an out of - much like the General Lee (another inspiration for the Gingermobile.)
But today, while idly sorting through the classifieds on Craigslist, I saw something else that caught my attention; and captured my imagination. An Avenger.
 |
| The stunning Avenger kit car |
The model I saw today was just $3,500 with registration and inspection; but easily looks like a car that costs a hundred times that.
One of the most exciting things about an Avenger is the opportunity to totally customize it - from a paint job in keeping with the Gingermobile ethos (red, or maybe two-tone red and cream like the Hirondel) to a roaring V8 engine.
One model I've read about generated 720bhp. The one on sale today had a much more reasonable 90bhp flat four.
From a Gingermobile perspective, it ticked some of the essential boxes - including having a manual transmission and being a real head-turner.
It also delivered a practical 25mpg or more - as opposed to the 3.5mpg of a Lincoln Mark V. The mechanics - mostly VW Beetle derived - are also simple and straightforward enough for me to handle on my own.
 |
| The Locomotive remains the de facto Gingermobile |
Secondly, a poised and nimble sports car is about as far from the rough and ready aesthetic of the General Lee or The Bandit as it's possible to get.
Only time will tell which direction I end up going it. Getting the title for the Cadillac is turning into a bit of an administrative nightmare, so it will be a while before even that beast hits the highway - and by then, who knows what fate will have in store for us.
But one thing is for sure. This is the year the new Gingermobile is crowned. Stay tuned!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The SOPA Opera
Today has been a dark day for the Internet.
All across the Internet, website have been shutting down in "protest" to the Stop Online Piracy Act, which is in congress at the moment. It threatens to give a powerful minority unprecedented control over the Internet in North America; shutting down website and blocking links that they believe lead to pirated copyright material.
As you might expect, the Internet is ablaze with protest - but from my perspective it actually rings a little hollow.
You see, Internet piracy is a real issue. I mean it's a REALLY, SERIOUS issue. I will agree with protestors that SOPA is not the effective way to stop it, but in all this protest we've kind of forgotten the issue at hand:
The Internet has given people the unprecedented power to steal other people's stuff.
The Internet has given people the unprecedented power to profit off other people's stuff.
And in all this effort to protest SOPA we kind of ignored all that. We got so caught up in being high and mighty about censorship and Internet control that we completely ignored the fact that SOPA is about a very legitimate issue that impacts any and all of us who attempt to profit from stuff we create on the Internet.
Be it movies and music on bittorrent, or whole episodes of shows uploaded to YouTube, it's meant that copyrighted material that people have invested time and dollars into is available FREE for anybody to take and do with what they will.
And that ruins it for all of us.
So check out some ALTERNATIVE voices about SOPA today; so you don't just buy into the bullshit the pro OR anti camp are selling you:
The Exchange Coffee House
Renaissance Babes
All across the Internet, website have been shutting down in "protest" to the Stop Online Piracy Act, which is in congress at the moment. It threatens to give a powerful minority unprecedented control over the Internet in North America; shutting down website and blocking links that they believe lead to pirated copyright material.
As you might expect, the Internet is ablaze with protest - but from my perspective it actually rings a little hollow.
You see, Internet piracy is a real issue. I mean it's a REALLY, SERIOUS issue. I will agree with protestors that SOPA is not the effective way to stop it, but in all this protest we've kind of forgotten the issue at hand:
The Internet has given people the unprecedented power to steal other people's stuff.
The Internet has given people the unprecedented power to profit off other people's stuff.
And in all this effort to protest SOPA we kind of ignored all that. We got so caught up in being high and mighty about censorship and Internet control that we completely ignored the fact that SOPA is about a very legitimate issue that impacts any and all of us who attempt to profit from stuff we create on the Internet.
Be it movies and music on bittorrent, or whole episodes of shows uploaded to YouTube, it's meant that copyrighted material that people have invested time and dollars into is available FREE for anybody to take and do with what they will.
And that ruins it for all of us.
So check out some ALTERNATIVE voices about SOPA today; so you don't just buy into the bullshit the pro OR anti camp are selling you:
The Exchange Coffee House
Renaissance Babes
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