bikes and things

Well worth a read for any self confessed work addict.

The challenge of work-life balance is a relatively new one, and it is an artifact of a world where you get paid for showing up, paid for hours spent, paid for working.

An interesting little project which was sent my way last week – I was left mouth wide open after watching to the end of the video. The idea of 3D printing is becoming far more mainstream and we use a fair bit of it at work – I even had a leaflet sent to me from HP showing their new desktop 3D printers recently. However this project takes a slightly different approach and uses the power of the sun and sand (silicon) as well as some clever computer work to create objects in the desert – the energy source and material are abundant. The hipster outfit kind of makes it too.

The project is described by it’s author Markus Kayser as follows:

In this experiment sunlight and sand are used as raw energy and material to produce glass objects using a 3D printing process, that combines natural energy and material with high-tech production technology.

Solar-sintering aims to raise questions about the future of manufacturing and triggers dreams of the full utilisation of the production potential of the world’s most efficient energy resource – the sun. Whilst not providing definitive answers, this experiment aims to provide a point of departure for fresh thinking.

Crazily beautiful.

I’ve been meaning to write this up for a while now as it was such a superb weekend. We left London on the Friday after work and headed up to Abergorlech where I had booked a holiday cottage for the five of us for the weekend – Vaughan, Matt, Marc, Graham and myself. The cottage is owned by the guys who run the Black Lion which is just a few doors up.

Our trip from London was fairly epic, but a lot easier for myself and Matt, as Vaughan had kindly offered to drive in his newly converted VW van. After escaping the Hammersmith traffic we headed up the M4 leaving icy cold London behind, cue impromptu singalong to The Smiths, Hatful of Hollow as well as a few old 90s rave tracks. We reached the end of the M4 by around 10pm and the route I had plotted with my phone was sub-optimal at best crap. I managed to take us the back route which included a a snow covered peak with drifts of snow and ended in sheet ice on hills we were trying to climb and not forgetting a narrow ford crossing with sheet ice either side. The van handled it all with ease with the only concern being that we might miss last orders. Fortunately we made it just in time to sink a pint of Guinness and meet up with Graham and Marc who had travelled earlier – and taken the main road route which was far less exciting.

M4 – lots of it.

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Just back from a superb long weekend in Northern Ireland with Emma and Jane. A great day in Belfast with Jane’s sister and daughter, and then two days in Portstewart. Lovely weather bizarrely whilst London was freezing we were walking along the beach in relatively warm sunshine. Couldn’t resist running a few shots through Lightroom before bed.

Off on an early flight tomorrow morning to spend a weekend back in Northern Ireland with Emma and Jane. Last time we went it was fairly crazy weather so I’m expecting more of the same. Sunny, wet, wet, wet, sunny etc. Lots of photo opportunities and hopefully plenty of Guinness and Bushmills to be had also. Can’t believe it was 2009 when we were last there.

Also, I’m so glad I don’t add those stupid borders to my photos anymore!

Well it turns out that if you’re a German manufacturer of hyper accurate scales that the same gnome weighs differently depending on which part of the world you’re in! How to demonstrate this? Pack it up in a protective case with scales calibrated for their HQ in Germany and send it round the world. Get different scientists to weigh it and pass it on. Hint – it’s due to the earth not being perfectly round.

These scales are so sensitive that the object (or gnome in this case) has to be handled with rubber gloves to avoid adding grease or contaminants that would spoil the reading which is kind of bonkers really.

I’m sure it’s no accident that it’s reminiscent of the gnome that gets packed around the world in Amelie. Polaroid pictures are then taken with the gnome in far off destinations (thanks to a friendly air hostess) and posted back to cheer up the miserable, yet confused, next door neighbour.

And the best thing about all of this? I heard all about this idea from a friend at the weekend who dreamt up this whole thing!

Add this to the “places I want to ride at” list. Whilst it’s not in a beautiful forest with amazing views, it looks like a superb spot to spend a few hours on a warm evening just riding it until you get it dialled. It also look enormous and a real challenge to make it round, let alone with any sense of style or tweaks over the jumps. Some of our previous attempts at riding pump tracks have been fairly pathetic but I put that down to doing a 20k ride before. The setting next to the flyover kind of makes it too. A friend of mine lives in Bristol so hoping to make a trip soon.

It’s been captured superbly by Bristol photographer Adam Gasson.

All images © Adam Gasson, used with permission

So incredibly cute but also completely cuts through any of the associations many of us have with these icons or logos. Probably seen in their simplest terms.

Nicely shot video of people having fun on the Surrey Hills. Recognise a fair few of them and think I’ll be going back soon to ride them. Nothing super crazy but just people having fun on bike in the mud and the rain and that’s gotta be good.

Makes me want to go and ride right now. Shame the creators don’t allow embedding on Blogs though. Click on the image below to take to the video.