Telstar Logistics

Three-Wheeling with the Ex-Meter-Maid Motorcart Subculture

Here at Telstar Logistics, we've wondered what kind of person likes to drive an ex-police car. We've admired the design of Cushman scooters. And of course, our own brand essence is built around the idea of faux-officialdom.

Now the Wall Street Journal ties these threads together by taking us deep inside the subculture of San Francisco motorists who drive three-wheeled carts formerly used by parking enforcement officers -- aka meter maids. The WSJ says:

The shock value is part of the allure of owning a meter-maid vehicle, as people call the tricycles. A fringe of motorists across the U.S. are ditching cars for retired three-wheeled utility vehicles. They troll websites and government auctions to find used models that they can get for between $500 and $7,000, depending on model, condition and upgrades.

[...]

A driver in cities like San Francisco can park a three-wheeler at the curb like a motorcycle, making it a breeze to find a parking spot on crowded streets. "Like Smart cars but smarter," says Mr. Bennett, because Daimler AG's two-seater Smart ForTwo minicars, though shorter than meter-maid cars, have to parallel-park because they have four wheels. (Parking rules vary by city.)

Common meter-maid models include the Go-4 Interceptor from Westward Industries Ltd. and the Truckster from Cushman Inc. Though data on how many people own used meter-maid cars aren't available, three-wheeler owners say the vehicles have become more popular in recent years as the price of gas has risen.

The Journal also put together a video about the three-wheeler scene, which is worth watching (after their annoying advertisement):

IMAGES: friedmanlynn

Top-Down Motoring On a Perfect Autumn Afternoon

Telstar Logistics is visiting our ancestral homeland in western New Jersey this weekend, where the weather has been lovely and the fall foliage is in full radiance. 

To entertain ourselves, we took our ancestral chariot for a drive through the countryside yesterday. It's a 1973 Chevrolet Caprice convertible that's been in the family since the day it rolled off the showroom floor. It's got a 400 cubic-inch V-8 under the hood and an 8-Track tape player in the dash, and all of it works just like new.

Today was warm and sunny, so we dropped the top on the Caprice to enjoy the autumn scenery in full, windblown Surround-O-Vision.

Then we set a course along scenic Route 46 toward our ancestral hot dog provider, the timeless and wonderful Hot Dog Johnny's, in (no joke) Buttzville, New Jersey.

Yum!

With our mission accomplished and our bellies full, we continued our meanderings along the wooded back roads, savoring the warmth of the sun, the blaze of fall colors, and the sublime pleasure that such a day, and such a place, and such a car so readily delivers...

IMAGES: Telstar Logistics

An Up Close Visit with "Glacier Girl," the Defrosted P-38 Lightning

Remember "Glacier Girl"?

That's the World War II P-38 Lightning that was (miraculously) recovered from under 268 feet of glacier ice in Greenland in 1992. We wrote about Glacier Girl in 2007, and we're pleased to report that she's now throughly defrosted. In fact, she looks -- and sounds -- good as new, as you can see in this deliciously anatomical video walk-around filmed at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, Calif.

(Hat tip: Callgate.net via Indy Transponder)

 

Internet Killed the Video Store: A Sing-Along Lament from a Struggling Local Institution

Once upon a time not all that long ago, we lived a few blocks away from Lost Weekend Video, an excellent mom-and-pop video rental shop in San Francisco's Mission District. For many years, it was our preferred movie-rental provider. Then things changed, and we found ourselves visiting Lost Weekend less and less often.

Why? For one, we moved a few blocks farther away, which made the store that much less convenient. But even more, we got a Netflix account, which eliminated the need to go to any video store whatsoever. Yet even as miserable chains like Hollywood Video and Blockbuster shuttered their local stores, Lost Weekend is still open -- even today.

But tomorrow is uncertain.

Telstar Logistics walked by Lost Weekend Video recently, and when we did we saw this clever-but-sad commentary about technological change and creative destruction posted in the store's window, along with a yellowed clipping of this September 30, 2010 article from the Wall Street Journal, entitled "Fade-Out Nears for Video Stores."

As Netflix and cable entered the fray, consumers turned away from video stores and spent more entertainment time online, on sites such as YouTube and early services that streamed movies to computers. Automated DVD-rental kiosks have taken a bite, too.

By 2007, the number of video-rental shops in New York halved from its 1997 level of 1,206, according to census data. In Los Angeles, stores fell to 595 in 2007, down from 1,047 a decade earlier.

In 2010, physical rentals from U.S. video shops are expected to be down 56% to $3.65 billion, from the 2001 peak, according to SNL Kagan. In the wake of this week's bankruptcy filing, Blockbuster is expected to close a big chunk of its roughly 3,000 stores (a few years ago it had more than 5,800). Movie Gallery, the owner of Hollywood Entertainment, liquidated in February.

As video shops, like record stores before them, began to vanish, trips to Blockbuster or the corner rental shop were reserved for "old times' sake" or a novel date night.

Lost Weekend soldiers on, for now, but when we spoke to the store's proprietors, they were candid: Times are tough, they said. As an indication of that, in the window of their shop they posted the lyrics to a sing-along remake of a familiar song about an earlier generation technological change, specially modified to suit today's circumstances:

We've transcribed the lyrics below. Start up the melody to "Video Killed the Radio Star" in your head, then sing-along to this clever new version to honor the memory of your favorite video store, wherever it might have been...

INTERNET KILLED THE VIDEO STORE
(Sung to the tune of "Video Killed the Radio Star," by The Buggles)

I bought a VCR in Nineteen Eighty-Two
I rented "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo"
I didn't have a car or anything to do

They took my favorite films and put them out on tape
I got the Laserdisc of "Planet of the Apes"
Then DVD and Blu-Ray blew them all away

They're obsolete now
I'm wondering how

Internet Killed the Video Store
Internet Killed the Video Store

Now we watch our movies on a telephone
Or a laptop when we're sitting all alone
We click a button pay price and down it loads

We weren't the first one
But we're the last one

Internet Killed the Video Store
Internet Killed the Video Store

Netflix came and broke our heart
On-demand tore it apart
In my mind we lost the store
Be kind rewind forever more

We are your video store
(Repeat and fade out)

**2010 Lost Weekend SF**

IMAGES: Signs, Telstar Logistics. Storefront: 3030vision

 

How to Refuel a Blue Angels F-18 from an Aerial Tanker

AirPigz points us toward this excellent cockpit video footage of a US Navy Blue Angel F-18 refueling in the clouds:

This video from 2009 would be cool enough if it was just an F-18 sucking up some gas from a KC-135, but it's more than that. It's a Blue Angels, F-18 sucking up some gas! Oh but wait, it gets even better... they're actually flying thru the tops of the clouds while the Blue Angels F-18 is sucking up some gas!

 And to top it all off (no pun intended), the pilot has added some excellent voice-over to explain a little about the refueling process.

Cougar Town: An Old Mercury Delivers a New Reminder About America's Changing Sexual Mores

As we all know, a cougar (Puma concolor couguar) is a carnivorous four-legged mammal found throughout the North American continent.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, however, thanks to the Lincoln-Mercury Division of the Ford Motor Company, the Cougar personal luxury car became synonymous with a very different kind of creature: A middle-aged American male on the prowl to find nubile young females for sexual conquest.

Telstar Logistics was reminded of this recently when we encountered the 1969 Mercury Cougar shown in the photos above. A lot has changed during the last 40 years, and today -- alas -- not only is the Mercury Cougar gone, but so is Mercury.

The culture has moved on as well. Today "cougar" is synonymous with a different kind of creature: A middle-aged American female on the prowl to find strapping young males for sexual conquest.

That right there… that's progress, people.

Edison Film Captures 1899 Subway Ride Across the Brooklyn Bridge

Here's the Big Apple version of the now-famous 1906 San Francisco cable car ride up Market Street.

This 1899 Edison Manufacturing Company film shows the head-end view of a subway ride across the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan.

The B.M.T. train ride from Brooklyn to Manhattan. In 1898, the modern City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn (until then an independent city), Manhattan and outlying areas. The opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 did for the city what railroad expansion and the Erie Canal did for the nation. The population was expanding due to immigration and commerce was booming. In less than five years the need for several more bridges would be apparent as Williamsburgh and the rest of Brooklyn also grew in population. On Manhattan "uptown" was moving quickly past 14th Street. Soon, people would be calling it "downtown." The subway system was already on its way.

Prediction: If someone simply adds a soundtrack by Air, this thing has what it takes to become a viral hit.

(Hat tip: Laughing Squid via Metafilter)

Jetman Performs One-Man Aerobatic Airshow (Without an Airplane)

Yves Rossy is a 51 year-old Swiss pilot who has developed a technology that allows him to strap a pair of carbon-fiber wings on his back and fly through the air powered by four small jet engines. Cleverly, he has branded himself "Jetman." Quite possibly, he is completely insane.

Fortunately, he's also technically adept and more than a little lucky. Rossy has been flying successfully with his strap-on wings since 2006, completing such feats as crossing the English Channel and flying in formation with conventional prop-driven aircraft:

Last week, Jetman notched a new first by completing two aerial loops while wearing his tiny wings 7800' above Lake Geneva. From his website:

Yves Rossy, a.k.a. Jetman, successfully realized today at 10:03 am (Swiss time) his first looping in front of a hot-air balloon piloted by Brian Jones above Bercher.

The Swiss Yves Rossy took off from Bercher at 9:45 am (Swiss time) this morning on board of the hot-air balloon “Esprit Breitling Orbiter” , piloted by Brian Jones, to reach an altitude of 2.400 meters in 18 minutes. His wing on his back, the 4 jet-engines turned on, he jumped out of the balloon’s basket. He flew a few minutes to stabilize his wing and find the optimal angle to begin two loopings. Jetman executed a rotation in front of the balloon. Then, he deployed his parachute to land in Denezy (VD).

This flight has been achieved with Yves Rossy’s new wing, smaller (2 meters instead of 2.5 meters) and without unfoldable parts. This new prototype, designed by Yves and the RUAG Company, possesses a better aerodynamic profile and more stability. Two years after crossing the Channel, these technological evolutions allowed Jetman to perform his first acrobatics in the air.

Aviation Week pulled together a nice video about the Jetman's feat, which you can watch below. Behold, marvel, and pity the Jetman's life insurance provider:

Images: Jetman

Inside this Garage, Every Parking Space Comes with a Kernel of Sagely Wisdom

Telstar Logistics visited San Francisco's Chinatown last weekend, and along the way we encountered one of the simplest and most delightful examples of public art that we've come across in quite some time.

It happened while were were parking inside the city-owned North Beach Garage, where we were pleased to discover that each parking space is marked with a fortune cookie-style snippet of wisdom. 

Created in 2001 by artists Harrell Fletcher and Jon Rubin under the auspices of the San Francisco Arts Commission, this clever installation transforms the mundane task of parking the car into an entertaining exercise in consciousness-raising. Brilliant!

Images: Telstar Logistics

Our Closeup with a Comet: Say Hello to Hartley 2

NASA just had a close encounter with a comet.

NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft passed within 435 miles of Comet Hartley 2 yesterday, and like any good tourist, the probe had its camera ready to capture the excitement.

The result was images such as this, which provides a view of the comet's nucleus that's so clear you almost want to reach out to touch it.

Image: NASA/EPOXI

This Levitating Ship Helps Us Harness Wind Power

Our maritime mates at gCaptain have a taste for weird and unusual ships, and this week they call our attention to a new class of vessels that are purpose-built to install offshore wind turbines, like the Cape Wind project that will be erected off Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Meet the MPI Resolution, which has been keeping busy installing wind farms off the coast of the United Kingdom. gCaptain explains how the ship works: 

The first purpose built TIV was the TIV Mayflower Resolution, currently known as the TIV Resolution & owned by MPI Offshore.  This vessel utilizes both dynamic positioning (DP) and jack-up technology.

Equipped with 6 retractable legs, the Resolution sets up on location using DP, then elevates out of the water using its jack-up legs.  This provides a stable platform to install the turbine on top of a previously prepared foundation.  Once installed, the Resolution lowers back down to the water & moves to the next location, where the process is repeated.  She has the capacity to carry 10 wind turbines.

This video shows the MPI Resolution in action:

As an added bonus, it seems there's a Flickr user who works on the MPI Resolution. Check out frogdog's pictures of the ship in action in his How To Build A Wind Farm In Easy To Follow Steps photoset.

Images: MPI Offshore

Why Did a New Qantas A380 Suffer a Flaming Engine Failure?

News Flash! Qantas grounded its fleet of six Airbus A380s today after one of the airline's Superjumbos experienced a flaming engine failure while flying over Indonesia. After the incident, the plane landed safely in Singapore.

Telstar Logistics Senior Air Travel Industry Analyst Brett Snyder thinks there's more to this story than meets the eye. (And given the ugliness of the photos above, that's really saying something.) Brett writes:

An engine failure in itself isn’t usually a major issue. The A380 has four engines, but even twin-engine aircraft are designed to be able to fly safely to an alternate airport on a single engine. In this case, the A380 had three engines left. No big deal, right?

It’s more serious in that it was an uncontained engine failure. A contained failure means that no parts of the engine left the engine casing. But this was an uncontained failure with debris falling to the ground and potentially damaging the airplane along the way. That makes it far more serious. [...]

My guess is that there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes that we don’t know about. Maybe Qantas has seen some issues around the engines before and this was the last straw. Maybe there was greater damage to the airplane than is being released to the public at this point. There are a lot of ways to speculate here, but in general, having an engine failure after three years in service is not enough to instantly ground the fleet.

UPDATE: 4 November, 10:15 pm Pacific

Not surprisingly, Brett Snyder got it right. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce now says something is seriously wrong with the deisgn of the A380s Rolls-Royce engines, and it's not Qantas's fault:

"This is an engine issue and the engines have been maintained by Rolls-Royce since they were installed on the aircraft," Joyce said. "We believe this is probably most likely a material failure or some type of design issue. We don't believe this is related to maintenance in any way."

Graphic: National Post

Meet a Bus Driver with Jet Set Style

We met this San Francisco MUNI bus driver recently while he was on his way to work. Riding the bus isn't so glamorous, but it's a little more so when he brings the Jet Set style. It's just too bad he can't drive the bus wearing a Pan Am pilot's uniform...

An Abandoned Graveyard for Abandoned Airplanes

In northeast Ohio, there's a sizable collection of vintage aircraft rotting away in an overgrown meadow. Amassed by an obsessed aircraft enthusiast over the course of several decades -- mostly during the 1950s and 1960s -- the collection is familiar to many vintage warbird enthusiasts, but less well-known to the general public.

Reader Michael Wendell contacted Telstar Logistics recently to share his experiences visiting the site, and to share a gorgeous video he took on the property. Describing his interaction with Walter, the owner of the collection, Michael writes:

He may be a bit of a hoarder. While I didn’t see inside their house, I did see that junk seemed to be stacked high against every window. During our discussion he told me that the Federal government changed the rules regarding surplus airplane purchases because of him, tightening them down to the point that he hasn’t purchased a plane since the 1970’s. Since then he’s switched to literature about airplanes, other magazines and books, and all kinds of toys and dolls. In addition to his home, which is full, he has a few large storage units or a barn or something which is full. He was saying that he needs to spend some time sorting it all out, and that he plans to do that, but it sounded like very wishful thinking to me. He’s currently in his mid-eighties, and explained that his heart isn’t very good.

He spoke at length about the P-51, and how it would torque right over on throttle-up, killing lots of young pilots, including many who bought the planes as surplus after the war. He talked about religion and politics a little; I just listened and he seemed to enjoy it. Eventually, he showed me around, but it was getting hot and he was getting tired.

In addition to the airplanes shown clearly in the videos, there’s a B-36 in pieces and some other huge tanker, both forming the north wall of the property. There are sheds and sheds of parts and pieces, and every airframe is stuffed to the gills with... more stuff. Everything is suffering from the harsh lake-effect snows in the area and 30+ years of exposure.

Here's Michael's video. It's lovely and haunting:

Images: From top, a Vought F7U Cutlass, a North American B-25 Mitchell, and a Douglas Skyraider. Screen grabs via Michael Wendell.

Onboard Entertainment: Orchestra Performs Aboard 747 During Delayed Flight

Perhaps airlines should consider installling chamber orchestras as standard aircraft equipment to soothe frayed nerves during long flight delays? The musicians clearly have a civilizing effect, as you can see in this recent video that shows the Amsterdam Sinfonietta giving a sponteneous concert for passengers aboard a delayed KLM 747 in Shanghai.

(via Wright Squawks)