mikeferrari.com

I have had this old BMW motorcycle for a number of years now. I bought it back in 93 at a garage sale, it was a block from my house in coal city. It promptly got put in the shed as a “later” project. as i was in school and working full time in those days. It has since shifted from shed to my current garage where it has been a good place to pile burlap sacks and other things. I started to take it apart back in 2001, but lost interest with other projects taking the primary spot.
After my 40th i rearranged my priorities and did a little time management, which basically told me, save some gas, quit driving a full size pickup to work, ride a bike. So i started playing with his old beemer as it would take the least amount of money and time to get running compared to my harley project.
Its a red ‘74 R90/6.
I put tires on it, fixed a broken spoke, put new points on it, plugs, wires, rebuilt the carbs, put in a new battery, and gave it a good cleaning. I still have to fix the master cylinder and clean it up even more. I changed out all the fluids, put in a new oil filter, and got it started. I had some issues with the carbs, idle circuit was blocked, things were way out of adjustment, it was running on one cylinder, but, i got it straightened out and its running pretty good. I took it for a couple trips around the block, it rides pretty nice.
its thought to tell sometimes if its running good or shifting correctly, as i have never ridden one before, of for the matter even been standing next to one as it ran, you just don’t have anything to go on sometimes. I have to get a plate for it this week, and when i come back from vacation, fix the last couple things on it, then i can start commuting with it.

Sweet.

I am a disciple of Buckminster Fuller, i tend to be an out of the box thinker and am a fan of simple functional solutions to modern problems. I hope to eventually create my own dome home.. and create a shipping container house too!
I stumbled across this article, its nice to know that people think of the same ideas i have bouncing around in my head.

http://weburbanist.com/2008/08/25/buying-designing-and-building-cargo-container-homes/

I have been thinking about electric drive lately. I live about 9 miles from where i work and thought it would be fun to drive something to and from work that wasn’t an internal combustion engine. I first thought i could ride my bike, but the traffic makes it dangerous. I have to cross many 6 and 8 lane roads and some of the speeds .. while posted at 35 or 40.. are maintained by drivers in excess of 60mph.
There are some side roads and rural streets i could take, but all in all it would be safer in the flow of traffic. Also, bicycles are not the norm, and drives rarely see them, which means a higher chance of getting hit, not to mention the lack of sidewalks in the suburbs.
My first thought, was to modify a razor scooter to haul my 230lb fat ass. put like 10 or 12 battery packs on it and hope to make it 20 miles. The Razor E300S It is a 24 watt system (2 - 12 watt batteries)with a 250 watt motor. It says 40 minutes of continuous use and a top speed of 15mph. Slight modifications with the addition of a batteries could make it there and back, but i think the extra weight (230lbs + 52 lbs scooter +100 lbs batteries = 382lbs. Somehow i don’t think the drive motor can pull that regularly.

As an organizer of the “Midwests greasiest Hot Rod Show” i have a deep understanding of the effort it takes to put on a good quality hot rod or bike show. There are lots of grass roots non big corporate butthole shows that just exist purely because of the love for a specific genre of vehicle. The traditional hot rod scene has the hunnertcarpileup, billetproof, paso, lonestarroundup etc etc.
The bike scene has a different twist.. You have the harley crowd.. which essentially has the big shindig in sturgis.. and you have the rest of the guys.. the i am a biker and i dont grow my beard long and refuse to take showers crowd.

Those guys have clubs like the “Ton Up Club” in Chicago.. http://www.tonupchicago.com/ who put on the Mods vs. Rockers show. Another bunch of fellas up in Milwaukee throw a show every year called RockerBox…  a show that i am hoping to go to this year.. RockerBox http://www.rockerbox.us/index.htm

So i was eating lunch at Taco Bell, off the fresca menu, trying to reduce the fat intake a bit. I was pondering things that i would do if i was so wealthy i didn’t have to work. A long long list was developed, some things were major, some things were minor. Most of the ideas ended up with me learning and developing something.

Whats that say? that my high school science teachers had an impact? college?, yeah, i don’t think so. I have always learned faster and more in depth when i studied things on my own terms. Technology, science, philosophy, art, all topics and areas.. i have learned way more about everything outside institutional learning facilities.

Anyway, i was thinking about art and math, something i tend to do regularly in recent months.

If i was wealthy and didn’t have to work i would study the relationship between the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio.

The Fibonacci sequence is a series of numbers, starting with 0, each new number is created by adding the last number with the previous number.

0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34

More on the Fibonacci sequence http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number

The golden ration is the mathematical equivalent to “looking good”.. its a measurement of proportion and aesthetics etc. Its a fascinating concept and a true artist understands it and uses it expertly… sometimes without even knowing it.

The golden ratio is approximately 1.6180339887

More on the Golden Ratio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio

The relationship between the two.. In my mind, is one of the most interesting mathematical ideas that relate to artistic concepts and nature.

Dr. Ron Knott has done extensive analysis and research into ancient mathematics and the relation between the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio. I would sit and study this for weeks.

http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/phi.html

One day, maybe