small ritual

bling and bikes

in selfridges, the aptly-named ego laptop:

which comes in a variety of couture finishes - this one has a diamond logo:

looks a bit like the grace logo doesn't it? who'll be the first at grace to buy one? how about our logo in diamonds? would certainly look good running worship off it at greenbelt. maybe we could hire one for the night...

also a couple of fixed wheel track bikes with paul smith colour schemes:

[as a teenager smith was aiming for a professional cycling career until a serious accident ended his hopes. while convalescing he made friends with art students, ended up running a boutique with his fashion-designer girlfriend, who encouraged him to train as a tailor, and the rest is history] 

free transport for london

and i almost forgot, philippe kindelis was handing out his map of free bus routes in london ie the ones with bendy buses [note for non-londoners: it's notoriously easy to ride on these without paying]. he says he's working on a fake oyster card that will give you free travel on all buses.

Tu-144

while adding the moscow taxi videos to youtube, it threw up this clip of the tupolev tu-144, the soviet supersonic airliner:

which reminded me that i have a tu-144 publicity brochure which my uncle brought back from russia in the 1970s.

in some ways i prefer the look of the tu-144 to concorde - the central engines, the angularity. it's not clear why it flew for such a short time - issues of cost, and safety i presume. did it ever live up to the brochure?