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Satin & Sand

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Satin & Sand

Tag Archives: Industrial design

The Artful Engineer…

18 Monday Apr 2011

Posted by Satin & Sand in Design, Photography, Reflections, Relationships, Writing

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Tags

Engineer, Engineer mind, Flash Story, Industrial design, Photography, postaweek 2011, Remote control

EngineerM

© Joan Currie

Practical ends are achieved through the application of scientific principles. 

When I asked an engineer how his remote control worked, just before Masterpiece Theatre last evening, all I wanted to know was how to turn the device on. His eyes lit up when he sensed that what I really wanted to know was every excruciating detail about the principles of operation – mechanical, electrical, and infrared.

Feigning interest, I made the mistake of nodding my head and this he took as a go ahead for a further in depth discussion about material science – plastics and metals strength, fatigue factors, and wear characteristics. To really drive home his points, he decided to disassemble the remote control to expose and speak to the major components of each subsystem contained therein.

As he addressed assembly time, I asked if perhaps he could show me the series of steps necessary to put the device back together so that I might watch my show. Unfortunately, he detected an opportunity to improve on the design of one of the many pieces now arranged in a geometric grid on the coffee table before us and disappeared into his workroom to obtain just the right tool for the job.

I never did find out how the remote control worked but did learn wherein his passions lay.

First Cars…

02 Thursday Sep 2010

Posted by stanfordblog in Design, Photography, Reflections

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Tags

Beach Boy, Camaros, Ford Thunderbird, Industrial design, Karmann Ghia, Photography, Troy Paiva

Mid-60s Ford Thunderbird © Troy Paiva http://www.lostamerica.com

Fun, Fun, Fun
Well she got her daddy’s car and she cruises through the hamburger stand now
See she forgot all about the library like she told her old man now
And with the radio blastin’ goes cruisin’ just as fast as she can now
And she’ll have fun, fun, fun ’til her daddy takes her T’bird away.
Brian Wilson and Mike Love 

The first car I drove with a learner’s permit was my father’s gold Thunderbird (V8 with suicide doors), in the middle of a snowstorm. I hit some black ice and skidded into the intersection just as the light turned red. My mother’s quick reflexes and steering from the passenger seat saved us from certain death.

Next I learned how to drive my best friend’s cherry red Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. It had a great radio and was a dream to speed shift!

The first car I owned was a spiffy silver Camaro with a standard transmission and a very stiff clutch. It did not handle well in the city, but on the highway it could really move and I put a lot of miles on it driving up and down the East Coast from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale. Looking back, I associate that car with being young, free, and fiercely independent – I loved it!

© 1962 Ford Thunderbird - Troy Paiva http://www.lostamerica.com

© 1960 Ford Thunderbird - Troy Paiva http://www.lostamerica.com

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