Not too long ago it became clear that dutch company Spyker will be purchasing SAAB Automobile from GM for a lot of money. I’ve been a bit split about this, but it’s not like I have a lot of say-so in the matter. I think GM is throwing away a big and almost vital piece of their own technology, since most of the other GM-produced marques such as Cadillac depend heavily on SAAB-developed technology.

None the less, the sale will happen. I stumbled upon this little article which urges Spyker to re-introduce a SAAB-branded Sonett, and I’m totally for that.

However, when I started thinking about this whole retro-thing I realized there’s a better candidate for Spyker to bring back. As the above-mentioned article says there’s lots of companies who’ve had success at bringing back retro-styled models. I for one love the new Fiat 500 which is just so cute and sexy. BMW brought back the new Mini, and lest we forget the questionable decision VW made a decade or so back to bring out a retro-styled bug.

So I got to thinking… Why not bring back a retro-styled SAAB 93? The 93 is a classic SAAB, and it’s a damn cute car, especially the ones from the mid to late 1950s. I think this would be a much better choice of introducing than the Sonett, which despite all it’s good things has some issues. The first one is that the Sonett would be yet another two-seater pseudo sportscar, while a retro-styled 93 has a backseat and could function as a family car while at the same time being a neat and sporty hot hatchback type vehicle. We shouldn’t forget that SAAB had quite good results in various rallies with the 93 and similar vehicles back in the day.

I mean, just look at the SAAB 93 from 1959. Doesn’t it just scream out for a retro-makeover and being built with modern technology? Replace the nasty old two-stroke engine from the original with a nice little hybrid and I think it would give the beloved Prius a run for its money. Make a funky, nice retro-styled SAAB 93 with the original suicide-doors, let people have plenty of options when it comes to color and addons and I wouldn’t be the least surprised if it could enjoy the same success as the Fiat 500.

Earlier this week I spent time with one of my clients. He needed help with his computer, and I happily spend time doing this for him since he and his wife are wonderful people and I always enjoy helping them. The help consisted of upgrading his computer to the latest Ubuntu (yes, I converted him to open-source this summer and he hasn’t complained a bit since then) and installing his new printer.

The upgrade was completely uneventful and a complete success. Lasse (my client) was impressed at how easily it was done, and how little complications arose.

The printer was a different story though, we just couldn’t get it to talk to the computer. I returned the next day bringing a laptop, and -long story short- came to the conclusion that it probably was a bogus cable. Off to the computer store, bought a new cable and presto – printer was detected by Ubuntu and installed in about five seconds.

But that’s not the point of this posting.

Lasse has a penchant for collecting old pseudo-medical equipment from the early part of the 20th century. Think weird medical gadgets from before the first world war and you’re spot on. These are some seriously weird gadgets, and I doubt they had any kind of medical benefits, but they’re fascinating to look at.

He showed me this one thing, I have no idea what it is, but I called it the zapper. It’s an electric transformer in a very pretty velvet-lined case. The transformer plugs into the wall, and into the transformer is a kind of plug. This plug accepts any of the glass doodads that you can see in the case.

These weird glass vials are apparently filled with an inert gas of some kind. When plugged into the socket, they light up, buzz rather violently and exhibit a number of different effects when held close to either the transformer or human skin. According to the manual these prongs and vials were used on the body for various vague medical benefits.

We both found it rather amusing, and it was quite obvious that it probably impressed the hell out of common people back before WW1. However, we both agreed that eventual medical benefits were quite probably completely placebo.

The thing made me quite nervous though. It hummed like a doomsday-device and depending on the plug in the socket it either shot sparks or buzzed and glowed rather ominously when you put it close to your skin. The air filled quickly with the smell of ozone. None the less it was quite fascinating and interesting.

I also filmed two short movies that I’ve youtubed here for your please. This way you’ll get a better idea of what this thing look and sound like.

I have no idea what the purpose of the plug in the top video is, but the one in the lower video was apparently supposed to be used for dentistry! It had a chamber at the top that according to the manual was supposed to be filled with some liquid and then you could stick it in the patients mouth and cure toothache and other ailments.

Now, I don’t know about you but I would NEVER put that thing in my mouth.

For some time now I’ve nourished an interest in classic and somewhat exotic cars. Mostly these have revolved around American (and some Australian) muscle-cars. It’s a well-known fact that I’m a big fan of the 1968 Dodge Charger, and I dream of owning one some day.

Well, a few days back I actually bought a car. It’s my second-favorite classic muscle-car, and I bought it despite lacking a drivers license. It’s a 1970 Dodge Challenger. No, it’s not alpine-white (my preferred color) but instead it’s a mean hemi-orange. It also has a shaker-hood, and it looks totally badass.

Here’s a picture of my new car:

Okay, fine. It’s a hot-wheels car and is approximately 2 cm long. But it’s all mine! Some day I’ll take it on a road-trip around the block. It’ll kick ass!

Today is the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo moon-landing. 40 years ago we took our first trembling steps into space and landed on a surface not belonging to our own planet.

The only sad thing is that we haven’t been back since, and humanity as one race is far too divided and obsessed with other things to ever get the focus to do more than potter around our own planet. We put priority on our childish squabbles and wage wars over finite resources. It’s quite sad, actually.

Sometimes I wonder if we’re visited by beings from other planets. My inner logic says so, and at the same time do I wonder what they make of this primitive species living on a small green-blue planet not too far from a yellow sun. Do they see hope in us? Hope that maybe one day we will evolve to something better? Or do they see a hopeless bunch of meatsacks too dumb to realize what’s right in front of us?

Either way, I recommend you to check this out.

Yesterday was Wheels-cruising here in town. Of course, as usual I didn’t know about it until it was over.

But yesterday evening as I was walking back to my apartment I had to cross the street not far from it. It’s a red light and I pushed the button to signal my wish to cross. A few cars are pulling up, but the light will turn and stop them.

And lo and behold, the second car was my dream car. A 1968 Dodge Charger. I was rubbernecking like crazy while crossing the street, staring at this muscle-car legend. It was a very dark bottle-green, not the color I’d prefer, and it had the horribly ugly vinyl-roof, but it was an actual Charger.

It had R/T badging and I could hear the large 440 V8 burbling and gurgling happily while the driver waited for the light to turn green again. I crossed the street, a few moments later the light went green and the burbling disappeared, replaced with a godlike thunder as the driver opened the throttle and accelerated.

It was glorious.

Update: In case you’re wondering what the abovementioned godlike thunder sounds like, I give you this Youtube-video:

Still using the word “cock” in the british sense, essentially meaning “dickhead” or “asshole”. Also, the title is kind of misleading – I don’t see these woefully pimped rides on a daily basis. Maybe I should start doing “of the month” instead?

So, what do we have here?

• Bog-standard run-of-the-mill family station wagon? Check.
• After-market Lexus-style brakelights? Check.
• After-market bodykit? Check.
• Ludicrous exhaust? Check.
• Rims that don’t match your car in any way, shape or fashion? Check.
• Tinted windows? Check.
• Low-profile “racing” tires? Check.
• Tacky decal in the rear-window? Check.

Well, it seems you’re ready to hit the road!

Before my reboot of this blog, I had a posting where I waxed nostalgic about the progress of mobile storage, in the form of USB thumbdrives. Essentially I had a “I remember when I was young…” kind of thing. I also had a photo of my then current crop of USB thumbdrives. Here it is again, in case you forgot it:

From left to right: 128MB that I got as a christmas present back in ‘04, then two 512MB units, the grey one is a 1GB unit and the black farthest to the right is a 4GB unit which at the time was bought dirt-cheap.

That was almost a year ago, and just a few minutes ago I felt an update was needed so I whipped out some memory and took a photo of it.

From left to right: A 1GB Micro-SD that I have very little use for. It used to be in my R4DS but I replaced that with a 2GB unit instead. The 16MB Nikon Compact Flash is just for laughs. Then there’s the 128MB PNY-stick and the two 512MB units. The 1GB is missing since I gave it to a friend. Then the black 4GB Kingston, a 4GB SanDisk and finally a whopping 16GB Kingston which is my newest addition.

Fun fact: The neckstrap attached to the 4GB Kingston Datatraveller is the same strap that I got with the 128MB PNY. It’s even labeled PNY but has survived numerous sticks.

One of my favorite things to do when relaxing is to occasionally pour myself a nice single malt. Generally I prefer it “neat” i.e. without anything in it, but occasionally I like to throw something in to cool it down. I prefer my scotch non-watered and thus I’m a bit annoyed when the ice melts.

In fact, this goes for quite a lot of drinks with ice in them. Even when drinking a plain old Fanta or Coke I get annoyed when the ice melts and waters it down. Another annoyance is that ice floats.

So, when I saw the Whisky Stones over on ThinkGeek I knew I had to have something like that. So after a brief education on the subject I found a set of eight stones in a local shop. They work the same way. The stones are made out of soapstone, a soft mineral that holds cold (and heat) very well, as well as not damaging the glass it’s in. Added bonus is that they don’t float.

They also look kinda cool when photographed in close-up.

—— This is a repost of one of the recent entries from before my reboot. ——

I wonder how many people will find this entry for all the wrong reasons. I use the word “cock” here in the same sense as the presenters on Top Gear (and thus by extension I would assume most of the british continent) meaning essentially “dickhead”.

So anyways, I think of the family sedans available the second-latest generation Volvo V70 is a fairly good-looking car. I just wonder what went through this cocks head when I put the most outrageous Pimp My Ride On LSD-style rims on it? Midlife crisis?

I have a big interest in cars. Especially classic muscle-cars tickle my imagination quite a lot. My absolute favorite among muscle-cars is the 1968 Dodge Charger, which is easily one of the coolest cars ever produced in my opinion. The fabled Mustang can’t hold a candle to it as far as I’m concerned.

So the other night I was slacking off and zapping around the boob-tube and I came across a show called Street Customs. It features West Coast Customs, of “Pimp My Ride”-fame but in their new and much bigger locale. The tone is also much less wacky than Pimp My Ride, and focuses on the various customers and builds produced there.

(Now, before I launch into the tirade I have planned, I gotta say that I find that the more corporate a car-customizer company gets, the more bored I am. When I see shows about custom cars it’s usually the small garage-companies that I feel most akin with, not the huge, gaudy factories such as the one WCC has become)

The episode in question features Gary Dourdan. Gary plays (or used to, I think his character got killed off) Warrick Brown on CSI: Las Vegas. I can’t really comment on Gary as a person since I of course have never met him, but judging from the show he has as a taste in cars that is as tasteless as it is eccentric.

He came in and wanted a Dodge Charger – but with a twist. He wanted a brand-new Charger, but that they should chop off the entire body, keep the chassis, engine, various struts and stuff and plunk a 1968 B-body Charger on top of this thing.

Alright, fine. I figured this was a wacky enough pursuit and since I like the ’68s I decided to watch it.

Well, the resulting car can only be called an abomination in my eyes. It’s a faux-charger, and it looks absolutely awful. First off, why would anyone want a candy-apple green Charger? Chargers should come in strong base-colors. Black, red, orange. Whatever. Not candy-apple Green.

Secondly, everything about it clashes with everything else. The dashboard and all of the interior such as seats are from the “new” Charger. This looks completely out of place with the old body. It’s just awful. To make it even worse, he asked for a confederate flag on the roof – but in african colors! This makes the whole car look even more hideous.

So, this is an abomination. This is a Frankencharger, and not in a good way. Just look at the photos. Anyone with any love for the ‘68 Charger will absolutely loathe this creation. Just look at how the dash clashes with the line of the windshield, or how the wheels look completely out of place. Awful!