Smart Car : The Linux of Automobiles
We rented a Smart Car, FourTwo. Not just any but the peppy cabriolet variant. We had imagined that a Smart car could be a fabulous addition to our fabulous lives. These are tiny, intended for two passengers. They are legendarily good on fuel. They are easy to park. That about ends their good points.
The Smart Car has a clutchless standard transmission. A plus and a minus intimate higher and lower gears. Gone is the clutch grind when you ride the clutch. Gone is chance of jumping from 1 to 3; 2 to 4. In its place, the transmission makes you guess when its in Neutral and Reverse. You think you’re in gear, but nuh-uh. You have to guess as you drift in the wrong direction. As side effect of this: rollback. You have as much chance for rollback as with a true standard.
We rented it, took it away and stopped it to show it off to others in the family. Then we tried to restart it. No go. The gear indicator flashed a key symbol. The manual made no note of what this meant. So, after much frustration, we phoned the dealership. This was a security feature. If the car was shut off for more than five minutes, you need to toggle the alarm on the remote to de-immobilize the ignition. What good is that? If you’re using the keys to start the car, you have what you need to de-immbolize the starter.
The model we tried out was big on vibration. Gear shifting happened sometime after you shifted gears. Every so often the car would gear shift for you. The creature comforts found in other cars were absent: no air conditioning; the “fan” has all of the power of a five year old blowing through a pixie straw; the stereo is drowned out by the engine noise. Some of the symbols are cryptic. Some are explicit—like the real temperature scale on the engine temperature.
In the city, it rattled and jerked. As a commuter car on short hops, it failed. On the highway, its pluses showed themselves. It was a smoother ride until I stuck my hand out of the open roof. That threw off the aerodynamics so much so that it made it difficult for the driver to control. Because of its small size, it is a flea on a road full of SUVs. This became very apparent when a Purolator delivery truck (BC plates: 4231 JK) changed into our lane and almost ran us off of the road. Did he not see our small profile or was he a lousy driver?
I call the Smart Car, “the Linux of Automobiles.” Similar to the computer operating system: this vehicle has non-standard features; it’s compact; it’s inexpensive; it’s perplexing; it’s low on frills; it’s seems cool, handy and alienating at the same time. I’ve often said that Windows users use their computers; Linux users are hobbyists. I feel the Smart Cars appeal to people who would rather own a Smart Car than use and enjoy a car.
Would I buy one of these? No. Would I take one for free? Yes. Would I trade in an icy cold, refreshing can of Coca-Cola to obtain a Smart Car? No way.
Fabulous Cabinets
While they aren't quite fabulous yet, our kitchen cabinets are further away from their hideous 1970s faux woodgrain laminated beginnings.
Step 1: sand the laminate -- not enough to see the particle board underneath, but enough to roughen the surface.
Step 2. paint with primer -- the primer we were recommended includes lead (!!) so care was taken to paint with doors wide open. It took two coats for a good base.
Step 3. paint with melamine paint -- the melamine takes quite a while to dry and it also took two coats so this was lengthly. It was suggested we use a "high density foam" roller, but I really didn't like the bubbly texture it produced, so we went back to a regular roller and a brush (the brush actually produced the best results).
Fabulous Ride....
For a while we have been debating about adding a second vehicle to our "fleet" -- we currently own a minivan which suits our needs nicely, though it means one of us is bussing or walking to get around otherwise and it uses the same amount of gas regardless of how many people are inside.
So, we have been looking at other vehicles. Most recently, we have been eyeing the
Smart Car (which has been available in Canada for two years but is only now being introduced in the United States) and various electric bikes (like those at
GWEV). We hope to test drive the Smart Car later this month, and we'll follow with a review.
Every time I get close to talking myself into an electric bike, I talk myself out of it again -- either because the weather turns or because I can't imagine doing anything but getting to and from work on one (no big shopping runs; no passenger). Still, I have yet to take one for a spin.
At least we don't have too many parking issues around here, though, and the City has recently introduced "small vehicle" spaces to make room for more scooters and smart cars parking downtown. In New Jersey, though, they had a different problem:
Giant Robot Imprisons Parked Cars [Wired News].
Can't Afford an X-Box? Go Old School!
Plug and Play electronics are a far cry from the early console sets, with their battered cartriges, clunky consoles, and high pricetags. Now for between $10 and $20 you can get a dozen games in one controller -- which is a great deal for parents or anyone else who doesn't want to spend hundreds of dollars for gaming.
So far, we have three plug and play units in our fabulous home: Atari and Intellivision game collections and Etch-A-Sketch wired which even allows you to shake the controller to erase what's on the screen! The game units are great -- they plug in any standard RCA inputs on your TV or VCR and they are small, so the three of them take up much less space than any modern console plus games. Even better, especially for families, the games are engaging, built for a range of ability levels, and clean.
The Atari collection of 10 games includes Asteroids, Breakout and Centipede, along with the very very basic Pong. Intellivision 25 is jam-packed with space and sports games including Space Armada (like Space Invaders), the Tron-like Snafu, Baseball, Basketball and even Pinball. Ease of play varies from game to game and while the Atari game mimics the classic controller, the Intellivision games are packed into what looks like a classic x-Box control pad.
The Etch-A-Sketch unit is a bit different. There is a screen for classic Etch-A-Sketch drawing, complete with a red frame on the screen, but there is also a connect the dots section, tracing, mazes, and more. Lots of fun, especially for younger kids.
The
market for these games exploded a few years ago, and shows no sign of slowing down. Unfortunatley, a lot of newer ones are seriously novelty-driven (like the Sponge Bob Square Pants game, where his nose forms the joystick handle). That said, there are still a couple I would like to pick up, including one of the Namco collections (with Pac Man or Dig Dug) and the Plug and Play Pinball.
I highly recommend all of the plug and play sets we have:
Buy
Atari TV Games Console from Amazon.com
Buy
Etch-A-Sketch Wired from Amazon.com
Buy
Intellivision 25
Solar Lights Are Great
When we did up our garden, I wanted to have something out there to light it up at night. My mom got some electically powered night lights and I had to follow this cryptic routine to wire them around her garden. Then I set up her timer. About two months a year (one in the Fall; one in the Spring), the timer is right. Apart from that, it looks like it's saying to crooks, "We're probably out of town."
Then, I thought about
Solar Lights for our garden. You can seat them
anywhere. As long as they don't get a lot of shade, you're in business. They click on when darkness falls and peter out when the charge runs down (usually after bed time). I used only the small stake style. There are lots of variants. If I had a pond, I would likely use the floating style. There are some lantern style and tiki style. They emit this faint, LED, ghostly light. It illuminates the garden and accents it. You could put in dozens of lights. If you don't like the configuration, change them. My only problem: I wish I had many more of them.
