What is it about Tokyo’s Hotel Okura?

It’s got a worse location than the Peninsula. Rooms almost spartan compared to the Ritz-Carlton. Far more dated than the Grand Hyatt.

But I still love it. I think because it’s so spare and pure. It’s a top 1965 Tokyo Hotel preserved and maintained immaculately. When I’m sitting in the lobby it feels like Frank Sinatra’s entourage could pull up to the front door at any minute. The interior design of the hotel is totally consistent and totally classy. I spend almost no time in the hotel room, so I don’t do much beside appreciate the bed. And I certainly appreciate the hotel costing may one-half what I’d spent at any of the other three. (though maybe this will change — Ginza was a ghost-town for several of the bars and restaurants we visited there — the economy does not feel strong.)

My productivity has been shit for five days. What little activation energy I have to get anything done burns off when I turn on NetNewswire and start reading any of the hundred different newsfeeds I subscribe too. Yep, plenty of interesting stuff on there, and lots of new ideas for things to work on, but it’s like drinking from a firehose. I should shut the damn thing off and concentrate on lapping some puddles. Ugh.

I was surprised by his massive house. Lots of Wheaties residuals I guess. Then I made a remark that a Bruce Jenner reality show is scraping the barrel bottom.

Ling says, “this isn’t about Bruce Jenner, it’s about the Kardashians”   

“Huh? Then why is Bruce Jenner in their living room?”

“Because he’s the step-dad,” she explained.

Ooops, my bad!

My only comment? Bruce Jenner is Frank Black

I rode my Brompton to the machine shop today. Michel, Sulaiman, and I were doing a non-invasive teardown analysis of it. The final conclusion is something like

It is an elegant design that has clearly been refined over many years. Almost every detail and part on the bike appears to be a bespoke design from Brompton’s factory in the UK. So while it works very nicely today, if anything ever were to break on the bike during a long ride, bar one or two M3 cap bolts , there is almost no chance of finding a spare unless you find yourself outside a Brompton Service Center.

It is a nice little minimalist bike. The 5pm ride home from the workshop was a bit rude from sun and hills, but a few stand-ups on the grades had me home in reasonable time.

GADGET-LOVERS the world over are already salivating at the thought of getting their hands on Apple’s much-hyped tablet computer, which is expected to be revealed on January 27th. Most of them just like the idea of playing with a new high-tech toy. But a few have darker designs. They cannot wait to rip the device apart, analyse its design, identify its parts and calculate how much it costs to make.

These “teardowns”, as they are called, are common practice in the electronics industry, and are usually performed in-house. Now, however, more of this activity is being outsourced to specialised firms such as iSuppli and UBM TechInsights. Their findings provide a glimpse into the inner workings not just of individual devices but also the fast-growing consumer-electronics business itself.

I guess this makes perfect sense, in fact, I bought an expensive messenger bag in Tokyo from Fredrick Packer in order to see how they did their fine embroidery. So it makes sense that this is widely practiced in the manufacturing world.

These firms apparently go into excruciating detail in figuring out not only how the product was built.

I’m trying to figure out if my parents are trying to send me a secret message. Like maybe they’re being held hostage or something.

Why?

Because as far as I can see, unless someone went temporarily insane, I cannot explain why the basement is covered in some hideous bright purple paint, even including extension cords! So I was thinking maybe it was a secret distress signal or something. Is “purple” the international color for “Pan! Pan! Pan!” ?

Pan! Pan! Pan!

Terribly Happy Really popular in Denmark they say. Verdict: pass

Chaser Probably popular in Korea. Verdict: pass

The Book of Eli American Gangster moves from Harlem to the Bible. Verdict: watch it on the airplane

The House of Numbers Seems to be some sort of HIV or Aids-denial movie. Verdict: junk

Red Riding Three movies in one? Authentic 1970s 1980s British period-wear? Verdict: watch it on the airplane

From Paris With Love John Travolta is apparently balding or wants to be a WWF wrestler. Verdict: pass

It’s either 0.83 x metabolic energy of one gram of fat or 1.8 x the metabolic energy of one gram of sugar or protein.

That is, today’s ride burnt an extra half-packet of sugar. Fantastic.

I made it out of my favorite canvas duck fabric that I used to make my first messenger bag (which turns out to be a really nice bag that i still sometimes use). I love this durable, low-tech fabric. It’s just tough cotton, so you can make it foul, it politely dries itself out, and you can always wash it later. I embroidered a pig on the side, for color, but I was not thinking clearly and ended up putting it on upside down. I haven’t sewn on eyes or nose. I did add two large snaps to lock down the bag so that it doesn’t slide anywhere.

I didn’t finish it by this morning’s ride because last night I went into a fugue. I convinced myself something was seriously mal-adjusted with my sewing machine. I believed the bobbin spinning part was out of adjustment, thus colliding with the needle. As I was fading to sleep last night it dawned on me I probably had the needle installed 180d incorrectly. This side has a notch that lets the bobbin finger spin by very closely and snag the top thread.

Sure enough, that was the answer.

Then I went into another brain-cramp where I spent twenty minutes fussing with the presser foot and feed dog to make them pull the fabric better before I realized that the problem was simply a dial adjustment had been left at 0 forward advance after I’d working on the embroidery. duh.

Anyway, the bag is ready for my next ride.

Bag installed; simple.

I have been staying on a numbers broadcast IRC chat group and asked what this was. Fast, easy answer, a Russian “one letter beacon,” in my case originating in Vladivostok.

v73rs from Kwajalein Atoll

Rob said he was an engineer. Curious, I googled the atoll, and found it’s part of the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, so whatever he’s working on must be interesting.

My propagation software (DX Toolbox OSX) indicates this contact probably took four hops.

CQ CQ IN A CW NET DE YB3VK/N CS PSE K

I presume /n indicated “net”, but what does “CS Please” mean in this context? I am presuming it’s not an LOLcat joke.