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By Design News Staff -- Design News, September 6, 1999
Dry run
Responding to Mr. Smith's request for a shoe drying accessory for his dryer (DN letters 7/19/99), my 1984 SpeedQueen dryer came with just such a rack. The removable rack rested on four stationary points within the enclosure, and the drum rotated around the stationary horizontal rack. Multiple pairs could be dried at one time. I recently gave the dryer to a friend, and I sure do miss the drying rack feature!
Mark Romach
Eastman Kodak
Rack's around
Regarding the dryer rack query, there has actually been such a device on the market for at least 20 years. It is a platform that slips through the dryer door and is spring-loaded into notches in the rear bulkhead of the dryer. These racks will normally support about four pairs of shoes or a sweater that is laid out flat. It really is a great accessory, and I am sure that your local Sears can give you more information.
Phillip Wilson
Textron
It's Norwegian to us!
Regarding your item on the Think electric car (Technology Bulletin 7/19/99), there is a very comprehensive web page on the technology at www.think.no. Several cities in Norway have free parking and charging places for these cars. The company also had ten prototype cars running in the 1994 Winter Olympics .
Knut Kverneland
Statesville, NC
FYI
I have been reading Design News for years, and it seems as I get older that I am suffering increasingly from AD (Acronym Deficiency Syndrome). Some of the articles are a real strain on the cranium. Do you know of any workshops or support groups for people with ADS? I have tried the BAD (Babbled Acronyms for Dummies) workbook, as well as the tutorial on CRAP (Can't Remember Acronyms Properly). Please send help ASAP.
Gordon Slingerland
Taylors, SC
Zen and baggage handling
In the 5/3/99 issue of Design News, you posed the following no-problem problem: "What is the minimal path length that an airline can use to reroute a New York-to-Los Angeles passenger's bag so that it will travel to each of the nation's 12 largest airports, visiting each airport only once?"
The objective is unattainable within the limits of the physical universe. Therefore, we must enlist the practitioners of metaphysics to get it done. To wit, your proposition assumes deliberate routing of said luggage on a specific path and toward a specific destination. It is a matter of faith among seasoned travelers that the airlines are physically incapable of deliberately doing anything right. Assuming that routing errors can only be made to the wrong airport within the twelve specified, any route contains 12! Or 479,001,600 possible errors. It is virtually guaranteed, then, that the luggage will visit at least one airport more than once. In fact, it is more than likely that said luggage will be caught forever in a kind of lower astral plane of luggage purgatory and never reach its destination.
In order to ensure that the luggage makes its trip as desired, we must not try to intentionally send it there. This requires a sort of Zen approach to luggage routing, perhaps routing it directly to Lahsa while visualizing major American cities and chanting "OM." Given the potential for error that must be ignored, only a true Zen master could accomplish this task. Perhaps the airlines should recruit their baggage officers in Tibet.
James E. Pabst
Grant, MI
Lost our key
A diagram featured in the cover story of the 7/19/99 issue on the shared platform of Lincoln-Jaguar did not include a corresponding key. We include below with the original diagram the missing key:
One program aim was to develop common components for the Jaguar S-Type and Lincoln LS sedans to save cost. Unique features give each car its own characteristics.
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Note: Opinions expressed are those of our readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Design News.
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