Lotusblog

Another of my favourites from the 2010 Tokyo Auto Salon… a crystal-crusted Mercedes Benz.

Crystal Mercedes-Benz

It’s been a few years since my last visit to the Tokyo Auto Salon, so I was really looking forward to seeing what had changed in the last few years.

And the result: not much.

The skimpily clad girls were just as skimpy as ever. As a result, the “camera kozo” were still out in force. The cars were as ridiculous as ever.

The only thing that had changed was the fact that a lot of companies were modifying the Toyota Prius.

Amongst all the pseudo eco-cars, I did find this absolute gem. A car upholstered with leather, on the outside!
(and even better, it wasn’t leather, it was vinyl!)

A red vinyl van, anyone?

I think I need to take a leaf from Simon’s book. More specifically, from Simon’s ultra simple beautiful blog.

Just look at this page. What the hell was I thinking? Granted, I didn’t actually make this template but I think it’s way past its best before date.

(Editor: the theme was changed in Jan 2010. I think it looks better now)

Finally managed to extricate myself from Facebook, so if any of you are wondering what happened, I did it deliberately.

I found that I seldom “used” Facebook- in fact I never even look at it since I just don’t have time. I figure if you don’t use it, you don’t need it. You can get rid of it.

So my Macbook (otherwise known as “The World’s Breakiest Computer”) came back from the computer hospital today.

For those of you who don’t know what happened…

Put a data DVD in it a couple of weeks ago. Copied the data. Tried to eject the DVD, it woudn’t come out. Made an appointent to see the Apple Store’s Genius Bar, and the “genius” said after 20 minutes, “The DVD is stuck. We’re gonna have to send this in for repair. It’s going to cost 10,000 yen just to look at it.”

I left the Apple Store and took the ‘book to Sofmap, from where I had purchased it 1 year and 363 days earlier.

Sofmap quietly and politely filled out an incident report. Took the ‘book. Told me to wait 2 weeks. 12 days later (today) the ‘book arrived by courier. With the following…

1. New DVD drive

2. New top case

3. New screen bezel

4. New HDD Guide (not sure what that is)

5. New protective seals on my trackpad and clicker button

6. New Keyboard

Now, I am not complaining here, but what’s the deal with numbers 2 to 6? I only had a DVD that wouldn’t eject! The cost of all these repairs was 64,000 yen.

The cost to me: ZERO!

The moral of the story is thus:

If you live in Japan and you buy an Apple brand computer, buy it from Sofmap. If it’s new you can get a 5 year warranty that beats the pants off the laughable “AppleCare”, and if it’s used, then you get a 3 year warranty that covers you for this sort of thing (mine was bought used).

This Macbook is now exactly 2 years old, is onto its 3rd DVD drive, 2nd battery, 2nd keyboard, 2nd top case… and none of these repairs has cost me anything.

And it feels great to have it back.

Bill Bonner’s daily column always contains a satisfying nugget or two. This one in particular should be on your reading list today.

Here’s a snippet…

““Bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy”, was what he was up to, he said in a videotape. He even did the math. “Every dollar spent by al-Qaida in attacking the US has cost Washington $1m (£545,000) in economic fallout and military spending,” said the report.”

Just finished entering all entries for the year 2004.

It took a good few hours, but was a great trip down memory lane. Check it out for a bit of nostalgia. Click on a 2004 archive link on the right.

I am currently translating a report (from English into Japanese) for an important meeting tomorrow. The report concerns the environmental certification of a certain product that we import into Japan. It’s a very concise report, and it explains the testing methodology, standards and verification processes of the GECA (Good Environmental Choice Australia) eco-label.

But golly gosh, it is the worst report I have ever read in my life. Every single page (and there are 19 of them) contains a spelling mistake. It’s like GECA are deliberately doing it to break up the dull monotony of passages like…

“The verification procedure is managed via a Documented Quality Management System and Certification Program Manuals which have made significant use of the ISO 14 000 series. The following standards have been adapted to the programs requirements, ISO 14 001, 14 0012, the 14020 series, 14 031 environmental performance evaluation, 14040. The program is self declared to be in conformance to ISO 14 024 as a Type 1 Program. This verification report has been compiled in conformance to these procedures.”

Sadly, I think it’s just badly written. Without a spell-checker. Or a proofreader. Typed by a squirrel.

Mr. P. Johnson (the “undertaker of quality assurance” for this report) should be utterly ashamed of himself.

Was just reading over on Treehugger about a recent competition to design a commuter bike for the masses. You can read more about it here but the comments after the article raise some very interesting (and mostly valid) points.

Jeff Stephens sums it perfectly:

“In other words, these design competitions are intellectual circle jerks, because the goal is to win the competition, not to create a better design.”