New Brit Bikes (Now with 100% less Britain)

Well, huh... Looks like some of the old school British motorcycle brands are being reborn in the US.

There's a new Norton coming out of Oregon of all places -- It's a sporty cafe racer, too, which I find interesting, but justifiable based on Norton history. They claim it'll probably go for $15k once it's in full production.

Then there's a new Vincent company based in San Diego. Not sure how I feel about the Vincent prototypes from a stylistic POV, but I'm positive I'll never consider getting one as they seem to be planning for a $20k start point on the price range.

It's an interesting trend: Take advantage fo the current custom bike craze by buying out a legendary name and pumping out an upscale, high-dollar machine.

International Bright Young Thing

Funny. I was just telling my friend Erik about the International Male catalog last night. When I was in high school back in the late 80s, IM was a hot source for kids like me (ie: in the boonies of East Tennessee) to get some seriously queer fashion. That's queer as in different, y'all. I never even thought about buying a mesh tank top. ;)

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In much more butch news, Erik made some crazy progress on the CL350 while I was on vacation. Last night he showed me how the thing will start with the slightest press of the electric starter button. It definitely needs some tuning (timing, fuel mixture, etc.) and there are some ... uh ... idiosyncracies -- like when you rev it above 7000 RPM and the tachometer just goes BERSERK!!!

Then we worked on the clutch a little bit and got that working, so Erik took that little 35 year-old motorcycle for a spin around his neighborhood.

It's a runner!

I never liked sports anyway...

It was a tough night to be one of "my" teams last night. In the NHL opening night, both the Bruins and the Avalanche lost one goal games. But that's just the first game out of more than eighty, so no biggie. (BTW, I was wrong about Forsberg not being able to start.)

More depressing is the Red Sox loss to the White Sox. They are now two games down in the series, and I just don't feel any miracle comebacks this year.

Nantucket NIMBYs

Being a big fan of alternative energy sources, I'm excited to hear about the possibility of two offshore wind farms near Long Island and Nantucket.

The two projects, one south of Long Island, in New York, and one in Massachusetts' Nantucket Sound, are currently moving through the complicated process of securing permits from various agencies, and both could be turning out juice in a few years. Offshore wind farms -- row after row of massive wind turbines sprouting from the sea miles from land -- have become a relatively common source of commercial electrical power in Europe, but these would be the first in this country.

But of course, the yachting set on Nantucket have to bring the "not in my backyard" attitude, claiming environmental impact, but ultimately seeming mostly worried about their million dollar views:

She said that about half the fish that commercial fisherman catch in Nantucket Sound come from the area where Cape Wind wants to install windmills. In addition, she said that a commercial wind farm would mar the pristine ocean views, dragging down both tourism and local property values. She cited a study conducted by The Beacon Hill Institute that concluded that total property values in the area would fall by $1.35 billion. "If you have a direct view, the value of your home would go down," she said. The wind farm "would be highly visible. It would change the tranquility of the horizon markedly."

What a crock. The pros of offshore windfarming far outweigh any potential cons in my opinion.

Opening Night

I'm all aquiver! The new season of the new NHL starts tonight with all 30 teams in action. (OLN is showing the NY Rangers vs. the Philly Flyers, which might have been worth watching if Peter Forsberg wasn't hurt.)

My Avalanche, who some say have been drastically depleted by the new salary cap and free agency, are up against an Edmonton Oilers team that has added a couple of big names to the roster. My other "hometown team", the Boston Bruins, open the season, appropriately enough, against long time rivals the Montreal Canadiens, who are - astoundingly - celebrating their 100-year anniversary.

Yay hockey!

Getting In

Malcolm Gladwell's article about Ivy League admissions in the New Yorker is a bit of an eye-opener:

In the nineteen-eighties, when Harvard was accused of enforcing a secret quota on Asian admissions, its defense was that once you adjusted for the preferences given to the children of alumni and for the preferences given to athletes, Asians really weren’t being discriminated against. But you could sense Harvard’s exasperation that the issue was being raised at all. If Harvard had too many Asians, it wouldn’t be Harvard, just as Harvard wouldn’t be Harvard with too many Jews or pansies or parlor pinks or shy types or short people with big ears.

Why do people gotta hate?

Certified to Ride Motorcycles in Parking Lots

After a long, grueling weekend of standing out in a sunny parking lot, I have my Motorcycle Safety Foundation certification, which I need to take to the DMV to actually get my motorcycle endorsement. It was good times, and I definitely learned a ton.

Now I need a motorcycle, so these newly acquired skills don't whither away! ;)

P.S. For the morbid types out there: Only two people didn't get their certifications out of the twelve in our class.

Update

Hezzy and I have been a little crazy since we got back. For one thing, Wifey really wanted to paint the trim (baseboard, etc.) in the living room. Lucky for me, I haven't had to do much more than paper and mask for that. My primary excuse from here on out this weekend is, of course, my motorcycle class. Tonight was all classroom workbook/video type stuff. But the people seem fun, and I'm totally impressed by the diversity of the crowd in the class. We have a mother-daughter team, a couple/few older dudes, a father-son duo (junior is only 16), and then a couple guys that are probably in their twenties, one of which is an Air Force recruiter.

Also, thought I'd point out that Threadless is doing another $10 sale, and you can hurry up and pre-order the Sailor Jerry Chuck Taylors, if you are so inclined.

Oh, and the Red Sox are killing me.

Madness (aka The Dangermen)


Madness
Originally uploaded by Jake Sutton.

Sure it's a useless picture, but it represents one of the super-funnest moments of my recent history.

Last night we saw 80's ska masters Madness at a relatively tiny club called the Troubadour in LA. The marquee only listed the opening band, the Aggrolites, and some group called The Dangermen. (As it turns out that's the name of the new Madness album.)

What a show! The Aggrolites were a perfect opening band -- high energy "dirty reggae" was just the thing to get the crowd in the mood. Then, after a frustratingly long wait beween sets, Madness came on stage looking like a flashback to two decades ago. The group still kicks out the mad ska jams, even though they're a bunch of (at least) forty-year-olds.

This was also my first "secret" concert, so that adds to the cool factor a bit. The only celebs we saw, though, were Dicky Barrett from the Bosstones (he's on Kimmel and LA radio nowadays) and Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols (he's also a fancy LA radio jockey now).