The Hot List: Volume 40

Every week we sift through a truly amazing amount of “stuff” in the dozen or so hours we spend online—you know, the time spent not driving sweet cars. A lot of the cool stuff we find has to do specifically with new cars, naturally, but there’s also a huge amount of awesomeness that doesn’t completely fit in the normal Winding Road world. Once, we were in the habit of simply reading, watching, or talking amongst ourselves about this web detritus, but recently we thought it might be a good idea to start sharing it with you all. Thus, The Hot List.

 

We aim to bring you a list of the most interesting bits of information we run across. Ten worth-knowing-about things that may or may not be related directly to the world of cars, but all of which we think our typical enthusiast readers will be able to really dig into. We don’t know, from week to week, what will show up on this list, which is part of the fun for us and for you.

Read, enjoy, and comment. If you happen to know of something that you think would make for a good inclusion on next week’s list, drop us a line at [email protected].

 

 

 

 

Knives come in handy almost every day for a lot of us, and we like to keep one on us at all times—the TSA be damned (please don’t actually wear these to the airport). With these knife cufflinks, you can make them part of your fancy attire. They’re great for cutting that loose thread dangling off the back of your tie. There are also these lighter cufflinks if you prefer conflagration to laceration.

 

 

 

 

We love driving simulators, but often the crashing and damage modeling look pretty bad. Crytek’s CryEngine3, though, does an excellent job of making the destruction look realistic. Have a look at this mesmerizing video if you enjoy this sort of thing.

 

 

 

 

This Hydroview submarine video camera captures high-definition video and transmits it back to your iPad, which is also the machine’s controller. Now, for just $4000, you can finally prove to your kids that there are no giant sharks in the lake and it’s perfectly safe and they’re never going to learn to waterski if they don’t get in the damn water.

 

 

Science, man! Hubble has confirmed that our galaxy will collide with the neighboring Andromeda galaxy. There’s nothing we can do about it. We’re all going to die…long before this ever happens. Anyway, the Earth and our solar system aren’t in danger of destruction when the galaxies meet in about four billion years, if you believe NASA.

 

 

 

 

Automobile tuner Brabus is getting into the aviation business. If you want your private jet to match your fancied-up SLS AMG, Brabus can kit your plane with such things as carbon fiber, Alcantara, neon lighting, and in-flight entertainment systems.

 

 

 

 

Something we don’t mention very often here in the virtual pages of Winding Road is that we’re very passionate about ironing. The smell of hot metal, steam, and starch really does something for us. This ironing board concept has us looking toward the future of our hobby. It can be folded out to fit the shape of pants or shirts, so you can iron a whole side at once, rather than scooting the garment around on the board, getting it all wrinkly again in the process.

 

 

 

 

These shoes from Allen Edmonds are an homage to America’s pastime. Made of white leather with red stitching, they are designed to have the look and feel of a baseball. Over the top? Maybe, but we bet some daring souls could pull off the look.

 

 

 

 

You can own a piece of automotive (and, tangentially, music) history if you buy this 1975 Bentley Corniche, going up for auction at Bonham’s. It was originally purchased by Elton John, back before he was “Sir.” It is expected to fetch between about $77,000 and $92,000.

 

 

 

 

In 1907, German Apothecary Julius Neubronner had the idea to strap a time delay camera to a homing pigeon’s chest, to see what kind of images it could capture in-flight. The result was some interesting photos and an even more interesting story.

 

 

 

 

This month, Jim Beam will launch an ultra-premium whiskey called Jim Beam 1795 (named for the year the distillery was created). If you want to get your hands on it, though, you’ll have to fly to Germany. It will only be offered at Heinemann Duty Free store at the T1B Schengen Lounge of the Frankfurt Airport. One bottle will cost about $175, and production is limited to 200 bottles.