My talented friend Jamie has started building Bakfiets (dutch style cargo bikes). The cycles feature  a large box for hauling groceries, kids, concrete, whatever and are popular in Europe and South America, but hard to come by in the US.

The bike you see here is one of his working prototypes and was recently featured at the Oregon Manifest bike show. It has also received a fair amount of press online:

• Bike Portland article (This is the 3rd time Jamie’s been featured here)
• Tree Hugger feature
• Even a Wired Blog Article
• EcoVelo blog mention
• Metrofiets website

He brought the bike by on Friday and I got a chance to take it for a spin. Even with a full load, the bike is smooth and easy to pedal in city traffic - thanks to internal gears, disk brakes and other modern features. The beautiful lines and whimsical color are also a real head-turner.

To quote the disgruntled Mr Fish:

“They said it could not be done, but 3 bottles of gin and 15 packs of marlbros later i overcame the dark side!! Will miss the game and all the coaching. Thanks to 2 iPhones and 3 grown adults, we beat an 18 year old game!!! Damn I had a great time, next step FF2!!!!”

And there you have it.

In his final hours as an Oregonian, Mr. Fish stayed indoors, mere inches from the enemies that taunted him from the other side of the TV screen. But, in the end he was victorious. He vanquished “Chaos” and basked in the light of the end game screen. Truly, one of the last American heroes!

Yet, the quest is not over

I heard a whisper that Square Soft may have created a sequel….

So, Sam and I are now diving head first into FF2 for the SNES.

Like many of the games developed during the 90’s, there were versions created in Japan that were never released in the USA.Therefore, FF2 for the SNES is actually FF4 when you realize that there was also a FF2 and FF3 released on the NES.

It gets a bit confusing, but we have decided to stick with a geographically referential numbering system. Plus, I am not fluent in Kanji, which might make the alternative games a bit more challenging.

For all the torrid details of the FF numbering system, I recommend watching the Final Fantasy retrospective on YouTube.

I cook a lot and enjoy making many items from scratch. This includes things like pastas, gravy, pickles, pies, hot sauce and many other items. However, the last (and only) time that I made bread was about 10 years ago for a school project. Bread is just one of those items which is so inexpensive that it seems more trouble then its worth to make from scratch. Last week however, I came across a blog article that changed my mind…
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Martha Gabriel, University of Brazil

Unfortunately, Martha is currently stuck in Brazil and could be here in person. Fortunately, the staff here was very creative. They networked up an audio connection and she is currently giving her presentation inside of second life.  How appropriate!

For a little while, our avatar (whose point of view is what is being projected onto the screen) starts freaking out a bit, flying around. Soon they get it under control and everything runs smoothly.    

After a basic overview of the second life environ, she starts in to the interesting parts of integrating with education:

• You can buy an island for your institution. Each island has limited land and is tied to a set of “real world” hardware. As land starts to get crowded, prices start to become inflated. Entire island continents currently cost thousands of dollars.
• She her entire university set up in second life.
• Linden dollars is currently $207 to the US dollar. People can make things and then exchange the money for real currency. Many make a real profit this way.
• There is money laundering, just like in a real country.
• I could get linden dollars with US money and then give it to her. She could then exchange it for Brazil currency. This is causing must frustration for many countries. The US is trying to pass a law, making you declare you Linden dollars in your taxes!
• Playboy has its own island…
• Several  University (Princeton, Ohio State, Harvard,…) exist in second life. 

Avatar based systems are not new. However, it is the first to have a complete monetary economy. This, along with the freedom to build your own world/items, makes it very unique and popular.