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In 1965 Von Dutch (Kenneth Howard) put a VW motor in a Harley XA. The XA was a WWII military contracted horizontal twin (like a BMW) which they made very few of- the more common harley military bike was the WA which was a 45ci v-twin.
Back to Von Dutch. He made this custom bike to look like a production bike. He did not like attention or the police. He built a side car for it but it did not work or he did not like the look. He was so mad he tore the bike apart and left it in the corner of his work shop. It was sold to Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth then Randy Smith and Randy put it back together. Keenan Wynn liked it so he commissioned Von Dutch to build one with a Porsche motor in it. That never came to pass.
Von Dutch was a cranky genius.

38 Years of Cellphone Evolution
Ah, the good old days, when cellphones were the size of bricks. Some were so big you had to carry a separate bag containing their electronic innards, and if you weren’t careful, you might end up with a dislocated shoulder by the end of the day.

They generally weren’t called cellphones at all — most of us codgers called them “car phones” back then, because that was the size of conveyance you needed to lug around all of their electronic parts.

Fast forward to today, where cellphones have gotten plenty smart. One factor caught our eyes: Notice how different all the phones start looking around 2007. Wonder what happened then (cough! iPhone cough!)?



This infographic from Wilson Electronics (maker of cellular signal boosters for buildings and cars, so they know about these things) takes you from Dr. Martin Cooper’s laughable handset (that looked more like a cream-colored shoe than a phone) up to today’s darling of the moment, the Apple iPhone 4S.
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With a career catalog jam-packed with classics like Vertigo, Psycho, North by Northwest, The 39 Steps and dozens of others, Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most celebrated and revered film directors of all time. One of the great delights of Hitchcock is that he himself could have been a film character; incredibly dry, deadpan, dark and larger than life – both physically and in personality. These 11 quotations illustrate why Hitch was such a delight:

1. On how he paces his films:

“The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.”

2. On the act of watching television:

“Seeing a murder on television… can help work off one’s antagonisms. And if you haven’t any antagonisms, the commercials will give you some.”

3. On the bagpipes:

“I understand the inventor of the bagpipes was inspired when he saw a man carrying an indignant, asthmatic pig under his arm. Unfortunately, the man-made sound never equaled the purity of the sound achieved by the pig.”

4. On directing actors:

“When an actor comes to me and wants to discuss his character, I say, ‘It’s in the script.’ If he says, ‘But what’s my motivation?, ‘ I say, ‘Your salary.’”

5. On the role of television:

“One of television’s great contributions is that it brought murder back into the home, where it belongs.”

6. When asked by an actress whether her left or right profile was better:

“My dear, you’re sitting on your best profile.”

by Colin Perkins
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The newest arrival in the National Air and Space Museum’s inventory of historic aircraft is the C-49 airship control car. Produced by Goodyear Tire and Rubber, it first took to the air as the pressure airship Enterprise (NC-16A) on August 23, 1934. The craft operated in the Washington, D.C. and New York metropolitan areas until November 1941, when it was flown back to Wingfoot Lake, Akron, Ohio to serve as a training craft. Early in WW II it patrolled northern Ohio checking on compliance with blackout regulations.
The Goodyear blimp Columbia N4A, utilizing the C-49 car launches from the Marine Corps Air Station , Tustin, Ca. circa 1978.
Acquired by the US Navy in 1942, the craft was shipped to Moffett Field, California. Re-designated L-5 it spent most of the war as a training craft but saw some patrol duty. Re-acquired by Goodyear on January 24, 1946, the control car was rebuilt to operate with the new GZ-20 class commercial blimps in 1969 and registered as N4A on May 12, 1970. It was back in the air once again as the airship Columbia IV in July 1975, and remained in service for over a decade, logging thousands of hours of passenger flights, night sign messaging, and corporate service.

The control car saw duty over the 1977, 1980, 1983, and 1985 Super Bowls; the 1981 and 1984 World Series; Rose Bowl games and parades; and the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. It starred in the Hollywood thriller Black Sunday (1977) and made appearances in several other films. C-49 spans much of the history of the pressure airship in America and represents the wide range of military and commercial roles played by blimps. The car was permanently retired in 1986 and made its final journey to the Smithsonian in November 2011.

Premiere Napa Valley is the, well… premiere trade event of the year in wine country.

Last year the wine futures auction smashed records, finishing at nearly $2.4 million in sales. This year’s edition takes place February 23-25 in St. Helena and features multi-vintage tastings, business panels, barrel tastings, and an auction (you can preview the 2012 wine portfolio here).

The history of Napa Valley Vintners, the 400 member non-profit that organizes the event is colorful.

In 1943, Louis M. Martini, John Daniel, Jr., Charles Forni and Louis Stralla began meeting to exchange ideas and work as a group to overcome industry obstacles and elevate the status of Napa Valley wines. More than 60 years later, that epicurean and social camaraderie has grown into a spirited partnership committed to advancing Napa Valley wines worldwide.

To give you a taste of the event, here’s a highlight reel featuring some fast paced wine bidding action… look for some drama involving $100,000!

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Here in Ventura all the wind surfers have traded their old rigs in for these.
Think snowboard (or surfboard) on water pulled by a kite.


West Coast Kiteboarding;
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The historic F-Market line travels along the waterfront in San Francisco, Calif. Sunday Jan. 23, 2010. The historic line to be resurrected will also travel along the waterfront south of the Ferry Building near Pier 70.Photo by Jon Weiand,

The San Francisco Municipal Public Transportation Agency plans to extend public transportation to funnel the influx of foot traffic during the America’s Cup races summer 2013, with test runs of the new lines this summer according to SFMTA Urban Planning Initiatives Manager Peter Albert.

“The goal is to avoid congestion on the waterfront, giving people the right information and giving them incentives to come in anything but a car,” Albert said. “Safety becomes the issue with hundreds of thousands of people coming to the races.”

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Alcatraz Island has a unique and varied history of identities, including a seacoast fortification, federal penitentiary, natural preserve, and a land occupied by Native Americans

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Inmate band in dining room, Alcatraz

source: National Park Service