Great video from Louis on brake service: Land Cruiser rear brake service, shoes, drum, emergency brake adjustment – YouTube
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Running from Camera
Running from Camera: Wherein the photographer attempts to get as far from the camera as possible in the 2-second self-timer delay. This seems like a fun project for traveling… (via a tweet from Rands)
How to Recycle/Donate Your Old Tech
Declutter For a Good Cause: Recycle/Donate Your Old Tech | Apartment Therapy Unplggd
Update: In addition to their own products, Apple now takes non-Apple devices for recycling (up to 60 pounds, and including CRTs). Several good options on their recycling page, some of which get you money.
Useful auto-electrical sources
In an earlier post, I mentioned Rhode Island Wiring Service, purveyors of reproduction wire, including what looks to be every wire style used in Land Cruisers (40s and 60s, anyway).
Other good sources of auto/boat electrical parts I always forget about:
Genuinedealz does free shipping, and their prices are great. They will make custom cables, too, for a $1-per-connector labor charge. I remembered about them tonight, right after I spent more than I should have for some Blue Sea stuff on eBay.
Summit Racing does have good pricing and selection on Weatherpack connectors, among many other things.
Del City Wire has reasonable prices, and they (very) occasionally do free shipping on small orders. Memorial Day weekend is apparently one of those free-shipping occasions.
Susquehanna Motorsports makes very good headlight harnesses, and is a good source for all things Hella (including E-code headlight housings). And all things rally-related, of course, from WRC-spec mud-flap material to Hans Devices.
To be edited as I remember or discover more…
Fix your FJ60′s horn
Using the information in a thread on IH8Mud (1985 FJ60 Wagon Horn Problem), I just got the horn working in Dawn’s 60. I used some teeny little rubber grommets, sliced in half, as spacers. Glad that did the trick, since the screws on the cover are stripped.
I’m sure this trick works on FJ40s (at least the late models with the smaller steering wheel, since I’ve got one of those wheels on hand) and FJ62s, too.
(To get the wheel off without a puller, I pulled out the emblem, removed the 19mm nut, and wiggled and pulled until it came off. Didn’t take long, and I didn’t lose any teeth. It’s probably no more crooked now than it was before, either…)
Determining your Dominant Eye
Here’s the easiest way I’ve ever seen to determine your dominant eye, from ArcheryWeb.
(Via Shawn Blanc)
The Seed of Apple’s Innovation
The Seed of Apple’s Innovation is almost seven years old now. And it’s still entirely relevant today. Maybe even more so, since it’s clear that many of Apple’s competitors still don’t understand why the fuck they’re getting their asses kicked.
Steve Jobs: Look at Microsoft (MSFT ) — who’s running Microsoft?
Interviewer: Steve Ballmer.
Steve Jobs: Right, the sales guy. Case closed.
(Microsoft’s stock price has now been stagnant for over a decade…)
And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.
Manifesto tab sweep
I’ve had a few manifestos open in tabs for a while now. There’s some good stuff in these, and I keep meaning to find a home for them…
Right Brain Terrain‘s manifesto, written in the pages of a Moleskine notebook. I think I like their logo most of all, though much of their work is also pretty great.
The Holstee manifesto. “If you don’t have enough time, stop watching TV. … Stop over analyzing, life is simple.”
The Workisnotajob manifesto. Lovely prints, too, though shipping to the US is pretty spendy.
(Someday, my own manifesto might find its way here. I’ll have to write it first, though.)
Bruce Mau Design: 3 Conditions That Set The Stage For Blinding Insight
From Fast Company’s design outpost: Paddy Harrington, of Bruce Mau Design, talks about 3 Conditions That Set The Stage For Blinding Insight. A bit over-the-top title-wise, but the project (a new website for Studio Gang architects) is interesting, as are the conditions.
Here’s the short version, lifted from the middle of the article:
1. Immersion
Surround yourself with both the problem and with inspiration. That means drawing on the field of study itself, and gathering all the information that you can. It also means drawing on inspiring, but unrelated fields. Insight can come from anywhere.2. Friction
The differences between things are one of the surest ways to find insight. Just as biodiversity is a hallmark of a healthy ecosystem, cogni-diversity (let’s call it that) is the sign of a healthy creative environment. That can come from a diverse set of collaborators, or simply leaving your office and talking to different people at the supermarket in your neighborhood. Seek difference because insight lies in the space between.3. Delirium
As Einstein says, we’re slaves to our pre-frontal cortex. The rational centre of our brain controls the vast majority of our conscious thought process. Designers have always known that you have to stay up really late sometimes to find insight. You have to distance yourself somehow from the world. These techniques are simply ways to escape the tendency towards purely rational thought. The trick is to get to a short hand. If you can calm your thought, the chances are much better that that moment of insight will simply emerge from the deeper recesses of your mind.
Inside Apple’s Q2 Numbers
Jean-Louis Gassée takes a look at Apple’s Q2 numbers in his latest Monday Note column. His columns are almost always interesting and insightful; this one’s no exception.
To me, one of the most interesting numbers is the Asia-Pacific growth (76% growth, vs 28% overall) of the Mac platform, accompanied of course by overall 151% revenue in the region. Also interesting, but unsurprising, to note that desktop sales are still going down by single-digit percentages every quarter — 6% this quarter — while laptop sales grew by 59%.
Is any other company having as much success in Asia at the moment as Apple? Seems like a huge growth opportunity there, and touch interfaces lend themselves very well to multi-byte character sets. Very, very interesting times are ahead.
Regard Asia. In China the iPhone is +250% year-to-year (vs. +155% in the US).
The number is especially interesting because this ought to be where iOS goes to die, snuffed out by a swarm of locally produced cheap handsets running Android or its mutant cousins Tapas and Ophone. You’ll recall Stephen Elop, currently Nokia’s CEO, cautioning against aggressively priced MediaTek based Android devices in his Burning Platform memo.Instead, Chinese customers appear to insist on The Real Thing. We now hear that the Shanghai Apple Store does more volume than the historic 5th Avenue location, with a new store, China’s largest, in the works.