Telstar Logistics

Japanese Electric Car has Eight Wheels, Big Ambitions

Okay, this may be the best-looking car we've seen since Lady Penelope's six-wheeled FAB-1 Rolls-Royce in the Thunderbirds. The Eliica is an electric-powered vehicle developed by a team at Japan's Keio University in 2004. Apart from being fun to look at, the Eliica is also fast, having already hit a top speed of 230 mph, with 250 mph  in the crosshairs. The Wikipedia explaineth:

The Eliica weighs in at 2,400 kg (5,300 lb) and seats the driver and three passengers. The body was tested in a wind tunnel. The front doors open forward and the rear doors open upward like wings. The car's platform contains 4 tracks of 80 batteries, which make up one third of the vehicle's cost. They currently require about 10 hours of recharging from empty to full charge, and can be easily charged off a residential power grid.

The car has eight wheels enabling it to be closer to the ground for better traction. Each of the wheels has a 60 kW (80 hp) electric motor, giving a 480 kW (640 hp) eight wheel drive which can tackle all kinds of road surfaces. The four front wheels steer. The electric motors mean that the Eliica can deliver a smooth acceleration free from gear shifts of about 0.8 g. Each wheel contains a disc brake and employs a regenerative brake system to recover energy. 

There are currently (as of 2005) two versions of the Eliica: a Speed model and an Acceleration model. The Speed model is made to challenge gasoline-based records and has a top speed of 370 km/h (230 mph) with a range of 200 km (120 mi). The Acceleration model is made for the street and has a top speed of 190 km/h (120 mph) with a range of 320 km (200 mi).

The Internets have been abuzz with rumors that renewed interest in the Eliica project on the part of the Japanese government may lead to a limited production run. It's not clear exactly if that's true -- we haven't found any confirmation of that chatter. But after watching this propaganda video, we sure hope so:

(Tip of the hat to Allen over at Mission Mission)

LINKS:
Eliica (Official website, Japanese only)

Eliica (Wikipedia page)

PREVIOUSLY:

Crash Test: Smart Minicar vs. Concrete Wall

The Joy of Time Travel via the LIFE Magazine Photo Archive

Uh-oh.  As if the latest economic news wasn't scary enough, Google just introduced a new productivity-killing tool that is all but guaranteed to shave a few points off this quarter's projected GDP growth figures.  The culprit: Google's digitization of the vast photo archives of the former LIFE magazine. Google's official blog explains:

We're excited to announce the availability of never-before-seen images from the LIFE photo archive. This effort to bring offline images online was inspired by our mission to organize all the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. This collection of newly-digitized images includes photos and etchings produced and owned by LIFE dating all the way back to the 1750s.

Only a very small percentage of these images have ever been published. The rest have been sitting in dusty archives in the form of negatives, slides, glass plates, etchings, and prints. We're digitizing them so that everyone can easily experience these fascinating moments in time. Today about 20 percent of the collection is online; during the next few months, we will be adding the entire LIFE archive — about 10 million photos.

 

That's right, we fully expect you may well lose the next several hours in a reverie of deeply fascinating photo-historicial procrastination.  You will enjoy it, but our global economy may suffer as a result.  You have been warned.

LINK:
Google's LIFE Photo Archive (Endless fun!  Fully searchable!)

PREVIOUSLY:
Full-Color Time Travel, Courtesy of Your Library of Congress

Endorsement: YES on Prop 1A for California High-Speed Rail, YES for Sexy!

It's election season here at the Telstar Logistics Global Headquarters, and having already expressed our concern about extraterrestrial influences on the man who may well be the next president of the United States, we would now like to draw your attention to Proposition 1A, an initiative that will appear on the California ballot on November 4.

Prop 1A would authorize the State of California to issue $10 billion in bonds to fund the construction of a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Having experienced travel by high-speed rail both on France's TGV and on Japan's Shinkansen networks, Telstar Logistics strongly supports Prop 1A as a worthwhile infrastructure investment.  Here's why:

1. HIGH SPEED RAIL IS GREAT FOR OUR ECONOMY

Amid the ongoing financial crisis and the threat of global recession (or worse), now is the time to invest in infrastructure. As left-leaning, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman recently put it:

This is also a good time to engage in some serious infrastructure spending, which the country badly needs in any case. The usual argument against public works as economic stimulus is that they take too long: by the time you get around to repairing that bridge and upgrading that rail line, the slump is over and the stimulus isn’t needed. Well, that argument has no force now, since the chances that this slump will be over anytime soon are virtually nil. So let’s get those projects rolling.

Meanwhile, right-leaning columnist David Brooks writes:

A major infrastructure initiative would create jobs for the less-educated workers who have been hit hardest by the transition to an information economy. It would allow the U.S. to return to the fundamentals. There is a real danger that the U.S. is going to leap from one over-consuming era to another, from one finance-led bubble to another. Focusing on infrastructure would at least get us thinking about the real economy, asking hard questions about what will increase real productivity, helping people who are expanding companies rather than hedge funds.

Moreover, an infrastructure resurgence is desperately needed. Americans now spend 3.5 billion hours a year stuck in traffic, a figure expected to double by 2020. The U.S. population is projected to increase by 50 percent over the next 42 years.

2. HIGH SPEED RAIL IS GOOD FOR OUR ENVIRONMENT

Electric-powered high-speed rail is a more sustainable alternative to fossil-powered cars and aircraft. As regular readers of this Internet weblog know... we LOVE cars and aircraft.  But high-speed rail gets us to our destination more sensibly.  According to the California High Speed Rail Authority, by 2030 a high-speed rail network would offer multiple sustainability advantages:

• High-speed trains need only one-third of the energy than that of an airplane and one-fifth of an automobile trip.
• The system is projected to save 12.7 million barrels of oil per year by 2030, even with future improvements in auto fuel efficiency.
• Electrically-powered high-speed trains reduce pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on fossil fuels. The total predicted emissions savings of the California high-speed train system is up to 12 billion pounds of CO2 per year by 2030 and would grow with higher ridership.

3. HIGH SPEED RAIL IS FASTER AND MORE COMFORTABLE

At present, it takes roughly 5 hours to drive between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and roughly 3 hours to fly (including airport travel time, check-in, and security screening).  Using high-speed trains that zip along at 220 mph, travel time between downtown SF and downtown LA would be reduced to about 2 hours 40 minutes.  Just imagine strolling into the train station and stepping aboard a train like this:

Just as importantly, however, travel between these two great cities would become vastly more comfortable. Today, the drive along Interstate 5 is long and boring, while air travel is increasingly nightmarish.

In contrast, our overseas experiences with high-speed rail have been notably civilized.  For example, here's a view of two happy travelers enjoying the clean, comfortable ride aboard a Japanese bullet train:

3. HIGH SPEED RAIL IS SEXY!

High-speed rail isn't just fast -- it's downright sexy.  Check out this view of a Japanese Shinkansen waiting to pick up passengers at Tokyo Station:

Even better, check out this photo we took inside the Lounge Car of a TGV train zipping across the French countryside at 200 mph. C'est super-chic, non?

People, this is California.  California *does* sexy.  Sexy is what the California lifestyle is all about. Being good at being sexy is one of the Golden State's core competitive advantages. Apple Computer? Sexy! Hollywood? Sexy! Napa Valley wineries? Sexy! Governor Schwarzenegger? Machosexy! You get the point.

To maintain our leadership position, California cannot allow ourselves to be out-sexed by the likes of France or Japan. Without high-speed rail, California will face a Sexiness Gap that will only become more glaring with the passage of time. This cannot stand.

What more is there to say?  High-speed rail is cleaner, faster, more pleasant, and more glamorous than current transportation alternatives, and it would provide us with a much-needed dose of infrastructure improvement to boot.  For all these reasons, Telstar Logistics encourages Californians to vote YES on Prop 1A.

LINKS:

California High-Speed Rail (Official website)

Yes on 1A (Official website)

Ballotpedia.org California Prop 1A Summary

PREVIOUSLY:

Is Barack Obama a Borg "Manchurian Candidate?"

Two Videos of Avant Garde Musicians and Transportation

(IMAGES:Artists' renderings by the California High Speed Rail Authority.  TGV and Shinkansen photos by Telstar Logistics)

MINExpo: The World's Coolest Trade Show?

Alexander Rose from the Long Now Foundation recently returned from what may be the world's most amazing trade show: The Mine Expo International 2008, held in Las Vegas, Nevada. For anyone who's a fan of giant dump trucks, esoteric drilling machines, and industrial explosives — us! us! us! — this confab for professionals in the mining and mineral-extraction industries looks like a definite must-see.

  Alex writes:

Earlier in September the Millennium Clock design team had an all hands meeting at the Las Vegas Mining Expo . It is only held once every 4 years as it is so difficult and expensive for the companies to bring their machinery there.  Since we are planning on using a combination of mining and quarrying techniques (as well as inventing some new rock removal methods), it seemed like a good opportunity to see the state of the mining industry.  In addition Greg Baiden, our mining engineer, was showing his latest robotic scoop truck at the show that uses light pulses to transmit video and data.  My three main take aways from the event:

1. We all agreed that it was hands down the coolest trade show any of us have EVER attended.  Sign up now for the next one in 02012 and give yourself two days to see it all.
2. It is amazing to me that - with the exception of Greg’s stuff - that there was basically no robotics on display there.  This is bizarre for an industry that has huge labor costs and the most dangerous work environment in the world.
3. The machines we build to extract metals and minerals from the earth are the most terrifying machines in the world.

No word on what kind of conference schwag Alex scooped up during his visit, but we can only assume it was vastly more interesting than the usual LinuxOracleJavaWinDevWorld tote bags and mousepads.

(Tip of the hard hat: Kevin Kelly)

LINKS:

Mining Show 2008 (Picassa photoset by Alexander Rose)

Our Lust for Metal is Great (Long Now blog post by Alexander Rose)

MINExpo International (Official trade show website)

(IMAGES: All photos, courtesy of Alexander Rose)

Overheard Comments from United Airlines Employees

Okay, so maybe we got a liiiiiiiittle bit spoiled by our recent flight aboard an Emirates A380. But even before that, we'd grown fed up with the declining levels of passenger service among America's mainline air carriers: United, American, Continental, Delta, and the like. 

We've flown most of these airlines at least once during the last year or so, and the experiences are hard to differentiate: All were dismal. The aircraft are old, crowded, and uncomfortable, but most of all, we've grown weary of listening to airline cabin crew kvetching about their work schedules and grievances with senior management. This is what it must've been like to fly Aeroflot Soviet Airlines back in the Brezhnev Era.

In fairness, these are challenging times for the U.S. airline industry. And clearly, customer-facing airline employees have difficult and exhausting jobs. Yet to the extent that airline employees must each day deal with hundreds upon hundreds of rude and impatient passengers, surely treating them like cattle is no way to improve the situation.

This explains why we so enjoyed this list of comments overheard in recent weeks by the frequent flier over at the One Mile at a Time blog. With some allowances for  paraphrasing, here's what he overheard while flying United Airlines:

• A person with my seniority at American or Continental would make $11 per flight hour more. I know that for a fact, I saw the contract with my own eyes, we’re the lowest paid by a ton.

• Man, these Premiers think they’re all that, they can’t even wait in line for five minutes.

• Ladies and gentlemen, we know that most of you probably have the safety video memorized by now, but please pretend to pay attention. You never know if the person next to you has never flown before, has self-respect, or is perhaps an FAA inspector.

• I fly full fare on other airlines all the time and United is the only one that does more than one drink run on domestic flights, even water or coffee. I know that for a fact
• &%$* Glenn Tilton and management.

• We hope you’ve enjoyed flying with us as much as we’ve enjoyed taking you and your money for a ride.

• I had a car accident on my way to work, but I was too scared I’d lose my job so instead of going to a doctor here I am.

• This delay was my fault, I have guests coming over tonight at 7.

• If you don’t like the snack I can serve you a seven course meal, consisting of a variety of snack mix…. it just takes a little bit of imagination.

• You want a skykit for that?

• We all hate working here, this place sucks.

• Glenn Tilton sucks, he’s also getting rid of free upgrades for all of our Million Milers, 1K’s and Global Services. I work Sydney flights all the time and everyone is full fare, shame on Glenn!
• They’re retiring the Ted planes, not reconfiguring them.

• United has never had a good management team.

LINK:
Some Quotes from UA Employees Over the Last Few Days (One Mile at a Time blog post)

(IMAGE: Passengers exiting United Airlines Flight 85 in Los Angeles. Photo by M.V. Jantzen)

RIP Andrea Pininfarina, Maker of Beautiful Automobiles

Sad news from Italy: Andrea Pininfarina, CEO of Pininfarina S.p.A, the exclusive automotive design firm, was killed yesterday after he was struck by a motorist while riding his Vespa scooter.

Pininfarina, of course, is the famous firm that designed many of the most sexy and sensual Ferraris of the last 50-odd years, and under Andrea's leadership the company produced designs ranging from the 2004 Maserati Quattroporte and the 2006 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano to the 2006 Volvo C70 and the 2006 Mitsubishi Colt CZC.

From his obituary in today's New York Times:

Mr. Pininfarina was part of a family dynasty that began its move into industry in 1930 when his grandfather, Battista Pinin Farina, founded the company, which in its first year designed cars for Alfa Romeo, Fiat and other Italian manufacturers. Mr. Pininfarina’s father, Sergio Pininfarina, is the company’s honorary chairman and one of Italy’s seven senators for life. His younger brother, Paolo, is Pininfarina’s vice chairman. His older sister, Lorenza, is on the board.

“Our country has lost a leading personality of its industrial life and the representative of a dynasty that has contributed to creating the Made in Italy brand in the world,” Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said in a statement.

Andrea Pininfarina was born on June 26, 1957, in Turin, the heart of Italy’s auto design industry. After graduating in 1981 with a degree in mechanical engineering from Turin’s Polytechnic University, Mr. Pininfarina went to work in the United States. He joined the family company upon his return to Italy a few years later and became the chief executive of its German unit in 1991. He became chief executive of the company as a whole in 2001 and chairman in 2006.

Under Mr. Pininfarina, the company diversified its portfolio, balancing flashy projects like the Ferrari Enzo supercar with less exciting car designs for Hyundai, Daewoo and Ford.

LINK:

Andrea Pininfarina, Chief of Car Designer, Dies at 51 (New York Times obituary, August 8, 2008)

(IMAGE: Top, Andrea Pininfarina in 2006, with the one-of-a-kind Ferrari P4/5, designed for a collector. Photo by the New York Times.)

A Ship, a Submarine, a 10,000 Year Clock, and a Penny Arcade: Mechanicrawl 2008

The Christmas Tree, aboard the USS Pampanito

The Long Now's Chime Generator
The Engine Room aboard the SS Jeremiah O'Brien

Telstar Logistics spent a good part of Saturday afternoon checking out the first-ever Mechanicrawl along San Francisco's northern waterfront.  Organized by the folks at the Long Now Foundation, Mechanicrawl is a celebration of the many magnificent mechanical marvels (whew!) clustered along the Bay in this part of the city. 

Taking aim at the Jeremiah O'Brien from the Pampanito

We were able to hit four of the stops on the self-guided tour: The Long Now Museum, the World War II Liberty Ship SS Jeremiah O'Brien, the World War II submarine USS Pampanito, and the Musée Mécanique.

Planet Earth in the Orrery, at the Long Now Museum

All were excellent, although the Jeremiah O'Brien scored extra points by firing up one of its boilers for the tour. The ship's giant pistons were bouncing up and down throughout the day, so it felt sort of like playing Fantastic Voyage inside the engine of your car.  Amazing:

The crankshaft of the SS Jeremiah O'Brien

It's also worth emphasizing that whole the point of the Mechanicrawl was to call attention to various attractions on permanent display along the San Francisco waterfront.  So if you couldn't make it to the Mechanicrawl last Saturday, no sweat...  go see these things next chance you get, because they'll still be here, and they do not disappoint. 

Whirly Bird, a 1969 arcade game, at the Musée Mécanique

LINK:

Mechanicrawl 2008 (Photos by Telstar Logistics)

Automated Tokyo Bicycle Garage Works Like a Huge Jukebox

This automated bicycle parking garage in Tokyo works like a giant jukebox, and it can store 9400 bikes.  The video is a hoot:

(via our Strategic Associates at Laughing Squid)

A Day on the Bay in a High-Tech Tugboat

A few months ago, Telstar Logistics received a priority call on our top-secret red phone:  "Rendez-vous with your contact in the parking lot on the corner of Third and 22nd Street!"  We did as instructed, connected with our man at the designated location, and together proceeded to a gritty industrial pier on San Francisco's southern waterfront, where a high-tech tugboat was waiting at idle.  We climbed aboard, and as the boat prepared to depart, took a look around.

Operated by the Seattle-based Foss Maritime Company, the Marshall Foss was a modern tractor tug, built by Halter Marine in 2001.  It was a far cry from the toot-toot look of Scuffy the Tugboat.

The Marshall Foss was equipped with twin diesel motors that delivered power to two Rolls-Royce Z-drive thrusters. (What's a Z-drive? They're propeller pods, basically, that can each rotate independently on a 360-degree axis. We've got a good photo of a Z-drive thruster here.) On the bow, a huge, self-tensioning winch enabled the Marshall Foss to maintain constant tension on its tow rope without active management from the tug's captain. The attractive galley kitchen was more Martha Stewart than Jack Sparrow, From the outside, the bridge of the Marshall Foss looked like an air traffic control tower. From the inside, it looked like a wood-trimmed Apollo space capsule:

Once we were settled in, it was time to go to work.  Our mission: Collaborate with our sister tug, the Arthur Foss, to pull the bulk freighter Sophie Oldendorff off the pier and into the deeper waters of San Francisco Bay. And so we got to it.  Ropes were secured, the diesels were brought up to speed. First we pushed, and then we pulled. Hard. We delivered 33 tons worth of tugging force, according to the captain's computer display:

From there it wasn't long until our work was done. The ropes were released, and as the Sophie Oldendorff got underway, we got a big thumbs-up from her departing crew.

Mission Accomplished! Or Miller Time, depending on your leanings. Either way, we had a great time watching the crew of the Marshall Foss at work, and they were kind enough to indulge all of our silly questions.  We also took lots of photos, so check the link below to see more images from our tugboat day on the San Francisco Bay.

LINK:
Tugboat Marshall Foss (Flickr photoset by Telstar Logistics)

PREVIOUSLY:
Our Day on the Bay Aboard a US Coast Guard Cutter

Tugboat Races in New York City

Telstar Logistics Visits the USS Nimitz or: How We Learned to Stop Whining and Love Nuclear Powered Aircraft Carriers

How to Play Tug of War with a Boeing 737

Get a Free Copy of Everywhere, the Travel Magazine Produced by Telstar Logistics (and You)

Longtime readers of this Internet weblog probably know that Telstar Logistics is a fake company that masquerades a vast multinational conglomorate.  But just as you might imagine, fake companies don't put bread on the table. So without getting too deep into the intricacies of our corporate governance, suffice to say that Telstar Logistics is actually a real business that merely pretends to be a fake company masquerading as a sprawling conglomorate. Got that? We even have a business license to prove it.

All that is by way of saying that for the last few months, Telstar Logistics has been working in collaboration with 8020 Publishing to produce Everywhere, a new travel magazine that combines the dynamism and diversity of the Interweb with the richness and physicality of a glossy print publication.

In plain English, Everywhere is a travel magazine that's created from articles and photographs contributed by members of the online community at everywheremag.com. The community votes on their favorite contributions, then Telstar Logistics fleet management officer Todd Lappin (who also moonlights as the editor-in-chief of Everywhere) curates the best of the best to produce an inspiring travel magazine that looks fabulous on your coffee table or personal jet. Published contributors receive $100 and a free one-year subscription.

So, for example, when we receive an online submission like this, we turn it into a print magazine layout that ends up looking like this:

Or when someone sends us a great photo like this, we can turn that into a spiffy spread like this:

Introduce us to a hidden gem like Arizona's Antelope Slot Canyon, and we'll put it in the spotlight like this:

You get the idea. 

Frankly, this project has been a ton of fun, because a) it's a pleasure to give so many talented writers and photographers the opportunity to see their work in print; and b) the travel category of your local newsstand has become so tired and stale that a magazine like this is long overdue. Everywhere is designed to make you want to put down the magazine, open up your calendar, and start planning a trip to someplace fabulous. It's the magazine for intrepid travelers who crave the authentic and the unexpected.

But don't take our word for it. See for yourself! As a reader of this Internet weblog you can receive a free trial issue of Everywhere.  Take Everywhere for a complimentary test drive. Give it a read, and if you like it, we hope you'll subscribe.  Likewise, feel free to check out the Everywhere online community, from whence all the good stuff in the magazine comes. If you're in the mood, you can also contribute some photos or stories from your recent adventures.

PS: Everywhere got a nice little write-up in today's San Francisco Chronicle, with this prominent quote from yours truly:

LINKS:
Everywhere Magazine Free Trial Issue (A special offer for Telstar Logistics associates)

How Everywhere Works (Everywhere magazine explainer page)

Everywhere Magazine online community

Everywhere Magazine back issues online

PRESS COVERAGE:
Everywhere, JPG, Magazines for the Future (San Francisco Chronicle, May 27, 2008)

Publisher Gets Web Readers to Fill the Pages of Its Magazines (New York Times, November 21, 2007)

POWER TOOL DRAG RACES! In SF! This Weekend! Weekend! Weekend!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, race fans young and old!  This weekend the world's most twisted form of motor sports will return to the back alleys of San Francisco as Ace International Speedway once again plays host to the 2008 Power Tool Drag Races!

That's right... sharpen your Skilsaw and strap a set of racing mags onto the Makita, because the racing ACTION! ACTION! ACTION will take place this weekend, May 17th and 18th 2008!

As a public service to the readers of this weblog, Telstar Logistics has included the FULL (full... full) TEXT (text.. text...) of the quasi-official 2008 PTDR announcement email that's currently snaking its way through the grease pits of the Internet.  Read it below, bring your suntan lotion and WD-40, and BE THERE! BE THERE! BE THERE!

Wanna see more of our photos from the 2006 PTDR Edsel Cup Race Series? You've got it, mister:

Power Tool Drag Racing 2006 (Flickr photoset by Telstar Logistics)

===============================

From: racerxxx@qbox.org
Subject: The One And Only POWER TOOL DRAG RACES

The One And Only POWER TOOL DRAG RACES

ACE! International Speedway. . .eedway. . .eedway. ..eedway. . .

The Ace International Speedway
2255 Mc Kinnon St San Francisco, CA 94124-1326
May 17th and 18th 2008
Racing from: Noon - Dusk
Doors Open: 10:00
$20 one day $30 for two

THRILL as big-block belt sanders and supercharged steam-powered arc welders put the hammer down on our Custom Made Power Tool Drag Racing Track!

CHILL as machines reach speeds of up to SIXTY WHOLE MILES PER HOUR with LITTLE REGARD FOR PERSONAL SAFETY!

SPILL your beer as you revel in the very height of redneck gearhead culture!

John Degamo w/ the national anthem 12:01
Announcer: John Hell and Hall Robins

Actual real live BANDS:
(Saturday)  The Minks
(Sunday) The Shitones (it's the Mermen! plus
and minus a few people)

Cheer leading teams:
Amacker Bullwinkle
Polly Pandemonium

#Peef # providing speed and a timing system

Big Daddy pinning classic vinyl all day
Katy Bell on Flags
Jake in his top hat running the dead man...
Shannon O'Hara's Steam whistles, steam toys and wildly over designed objects
Flash and the All Star Bartenders Doing what they do….
Plus ironed hot dogs pressed by beautiful women
Beef and eggplant brought to by Scott from the Uptown.. The best cook we know!
You can also learn about a buddy Todd Blair
Plus all the other racing racing racing stuff
Staring Above all the Junk Yard and our beloved host!
Countless others running around doing things.

The Edsel Cup is back again!!!
It has a new hood, new dual exhaust system, brake lines, chrome, original literature, posters, etc.  The total thing is likely worth about 2k.  Ok, maybe 1k.

Every year the very best and brightest take to their garages, theplumbing aisle at Home Depot, the tools section of OSH, and the empty lots behind their neighbors' trailers to build THOSE MACHINES WHO REIGN SUPREME!

75 Feet of skillfully machined fiberboard Power Tool Drag Racing Track await the competitors on race day!
BE AMAZED at the high-tech timing system that tracks Each and Every Vehicle
BE AMUSED at the charming antics of our well-known Power Tool Drag Race Announcers!
BE APPALLED at the smell of RAW ADRENALINE and 20-W-50 in the air!

OH MY EFFIN' GAWD, IT'S THE EFFIN' POWER TOOL EFFIN' DRAG RACES

Sign up to race!  Take a gander at The Rules (which are valid until Jim Mason decides to re-write them or racing day, whichever comes first)

On Fire Trucks, Mass Customization, and Superior Customer Service

A 2007 Pierce Heavy Rescue Truck in Austin, Texas

"So, what do I have to do to get you to drive home in a brand-new fire truck today?"

If you're talking to a sales rep from Pierce, the largest manufacturer of fire trucks in the U.S., the answer is a truck that comes equipped just about any way you want it.  As an interesting article this week in the Financial Times explains, Pierce, a division of the Oshkosh Corporation, has a keen understanding of what it takes to sell fire trucks — a product that can cost $500,000 apiece but which is built to last for  decades. You want custom colors? No problem.  Special equipment? Can do. Lots of help to guide you through the configuration process? Gladly provided. And it turns out, firefighters will pay extra for all that customization,  design flexibility, and sales service.  Here's what the FT has to say about Pierce's success:

Many western manufacturers have tried to stay competitive in the face of low-cost overseas competition by closely tailoring products to their customers' needs. Oshkosh takes this approach to the extreme, customising its trucks according to individual buyers' needs and collaborating with customers on redesigning its vehicles.

Its experience shows how such a strategy can pay off: in the past decade, Pierce has grown at an average rate of more than 11 per cent a year. With revenues last year of $600m - up from $180m when it was bought by Oshkosh - it is now the leading maker of fire trucks in the US with a market share of about one third in North America.

Tim Solobay, chief of the Canonsburg Volunteer Fire Department in Pennsylvania, agrees that Pierce's customisation strategy helps attract buyers. "We went with Oshkosh because it's just easy working with the company - you know it won't become an engineering nightmare." Pierce trucks are popular with volunteer teams, of which there are about 34,000 in the US and which account for 80 per cent of the company's sales.

Mr Solobay is beaming at his new fire truck, parked on the factory floor - a slice of classic Americana with rows of gleaming vehicles bearing the emblems of fire departments from Jacinto City, Texas to Downers Grove, Illinois.

Mr Solobay says this is his third point of contact with the company: first, he and his crew met a local salesman to talk about design features, then, last December, they visited the factory to talk in more detail about customising the vehicle. On this return visit - a four-day trip - they check the results and take delivery.

Shipping Container Shortage Plagues American Exports

As every wannabe titan of global industry knows, the value of the US dollar has fallen precipitously in recent months relative to other benchmark currencies like the British Pound, the European Euro and the Japanese Yen.  That's bad news if you're an American planning a vacation in London, Paris, or Tokyo. But if you happen to be in the export business, it's a huge opportunity. The dollar's decline makes American-made products significantly cheaper — and more competitive — on international markets, but as the Wall Street Journal reports, a shortage of shipping containers has created big headaches for US exporters. In order to sell the goods, you need to be able to move the goods, but you can't move the goods if you can't find enough shipping containers.  The WSJ says:

Finding enough of the big metal boxes used to be a cinch, because the nation's massive hunger for imports meant they were constantly arriving and stacking up from Long Beach, Calif., to Long Island, N.Y. Shipping companies typically scoured the country for anyone willing to fill outgoing boxes. But with the slump in the value of the dollar making U.S. goods more attractive to foreign buyers and many overseas economies continuing to hum, the tide has shifted in recent months. Trade figures being released Thursday are expected by many economists to show further growth in exports.

Shipping containers -- and the way they're handled -- reflect how the U.S. interacts with the global economy, which is one reason the problem has emerged now. For years, the U.S. crafted a trading system that was designed to pull in masses of imported consumers goods such as sneakers and VCRs as efficiently as possible from countries like China. Far less was expected to flow the other way.

What has happened now has thrown a wrench into the works. Cutbacks by U.S. consumers have slowed the growth of imports, while the weak dollar is making the U.S. into an export machine. Meanwhile, the places where most of these exports are originating are far from where boxes are being unpacked and soaring energy costs make it too costly to just load them on trucks and move them around.

"There are some places, particularly in the Midwest, where there's a complete lack of containers," says Philip Damas, the head of container research at Drewry Shipping Consultants in London. [...]

Analysts say shipping costs are rising, too. Mr. Damas, the London-based consultant, says the cost of shipping a 40-foot container from the West Coast to China is now $1,500, up at least 20% in the past year. In many cases, boxes that previously would be sent to inland locations never leave the coast.

The problem surfaced about six months ago and can be traced to a confluence of factors, beyond the slump in the dollar. For one, the global commodity boom has increased the cost of shipping items by bulk, which in turn has pushed more goods into containers.

It doesn't help that containers don't tend to flow to places that make most U.S. exports. More imports to the U.S. are consumer goods, which are often unloaded near retailers and warehouses in large cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. In the case of Chicago, many containers come off ships from Asia and onto trains destined for "inland" destinations. But U.S. commodity exports, such as cotton and corn, are grown far from those hubs.

LINKS:
Container Shortage Puts U.S. Export Boom in a Box (Wall Street Journal, April 10, 2008. Supscription required)

Big Metal Box (Flickr group devoted to photos of shipping containers, container terminals, container ships, and container-based architecture)

PREVIOUSLY:
Freitag Takes Container Architecture to New Heights

Emma Maersk: The Largest Cargo Ship in the World

IMAGES: Top, HO scale plastic shipping containers used on model railroad sets.  Bottom, a container ship passing under the Golden Gate Bridge. All photos by Telstar Logistics

An Appreciation of Snowcats, Snowcat Design, and Snowcat Operation

Sorry for the long pause during the last few days, but Telstar Logistics was away at an executive offsite in Vail, Colorado. So Jet Set. So glam. So not our usual kind of scene. But while we were hitting the slopes, we spied a flock of Pisten Bully snowcats, shown above as they were resting near a Vail mountaintop.

There's something innately fascinating about highly-specialized vehicles the kind of machines that were put on this Earth to do one rather unusual thing, and by gosh, do it damn well. Like the goofy 747s Boeing built to carry giant aircraft parts. Or veteran fireboats that save cities from flaming disaster. Or, as was the case at Vail, snowcats that function like high-alpine farm tractors but look like space buggies from Lost in Space.

Most of the snowcats we encounter are built either by Pisten Bully or Bombardier. Both exude tasteful modernism, but if we had to generalize, we'd say that all the recessed flashing lights on the German-built Pisten Bullies make them look like a teutonic vision of Mad Max on Ice. (Indeed, the official Pisten Billy website awkwardly touts a Future Made by Men. Perhaps it sounds better in German?) Meanwhile, the Canadian-built Bombardiers are angular and husky, in a 1970s Cylon kind of way. They're also extinct, as Bombardier was acquired by a private equity firm in 2003, and the company's snowcat manufacturing division was shuttered.

These are some of the cockpit controls inside a Bombardier snowcat built in 2001:

What's it like to operate one of these beasts? Frankly, we have no idea. But if it's anything like this video of a Pisten Bully hard at work after a snowstorm at Squaw Valley USA, we'd like to sign up for driving lessons:

LINKS:
Snowcat! (Flickr photoset by Telstar Logistics of a 2006 snowcat odyssey in Lake Tahoe)

Snowcat (Wikipedia page, with detail on snowcat history and development)

Resort Boneyard (Website for used snowcats and equipment)

PREVIOUSLY:
Snowcatting Through a Winter Wilderness

(IMAGES: All photos above by Telstar Logistics)

How to Build a San Francisco Cable Car

It's no secret that Telstar Logistics harbors much affection for San Francisco's fleet of vintage streetcars, but we also harbor no illusions about the fact that they play second-fiddle to city's cable cars, which are both more famous and more vintage. Indeed, while the streetcars (aka: trams or trolleys) are fundamentally modern in their design, using electric motors to provide propulsion, the cable cars are downright Victorian. Propelled mechanically by a system of cables threaded beneath the city streets -- picture a ski lift that runs upside down, and you get the basic idea -- the cable car lines were installed in the late 1800s, and they continue to operate in San Francisco to this day.

But where does the city go when it needs a new cable car? No factories make the things anymore, obviously, so the San Francisco Municipal Railway has a team of ace carpenters who build new ones from scratch at the Woods Division maintenance yard in the southern part of town. Plug from the What I'm Seeing blog visited the Woods yard recently, and came back with some photos of a brand new cable car under construction.

Plug reports that, "each car takes almost 18 months to build and costs around $400,000."

There's lots more detail and great photos at What I'm Seeing, so check it out.

Meanwhile, all this raises another important question... if the cable cars come from the Woods Division Yard, then where does the Rice-A-Roni come from?

LINKS:
The Building of Cable Car No. 25 (What I'm Seeing blog post)

Cable Car - The Woods Division (Flickr photoset from What I'm Seeing)

Cable Car Museum (Website of the offical San Francisco cable car museum.)

PREVIOUSLY:
Meet Carole Gilbert, Vintage Streetcar Artist

San Francisco's Streetcar Revival

Open-Air Public Transit in the Blackpool Boat Car

Lost Streetcars of Lake Tahoe Fated to Become Diners and Sushi Bars in Missouri

(IMAGES: All photos by What I'm Seeing)