Good job Eric! Making little life changes to enhance your physical exercise is great! AND, the added bonus is getting to use the "clean" stairs!

Keep up the good work!

Cheers,

• CraigD

WOW! I love it! I agree with the last question though...with the vehicle being so light and aerodynamic, why does it need to have 700 bhp?! I would think that a normally aspirated Suzuki Hyabusa engine tweaked to make "only" 250 bhp would still be a lot of speed! He did say that they're making the crazy fast one first, so the less crazy-fast versions would be easier to build later.

Although my Honda CBR954RR (Fireblade) doesn't have a 28 speaker stereo nor does it have weather protection, it does get great gas mileage and goes 0-100 kilometers per hour in under 3 seconds! And I do have rain gear and headphones if I needed to be dry in the rain and hear surround-like music! ...plus it was under $10,000 US dollars!

Here's my favorite quote of the article: "They have the basic aerodynamic quality of an ocean container so they attempt to drive 'under the wind' by being low. This is as silly as trying to keep dry in a pool by swimming along the bottom."

Reminds me of my argument about having smoking sections in restaurants...that's like have a pee-ing section in a pool!

Thanks for sharing!!

• CraigD

Ah I understand what you mean now. A few things...first there are no Google "Moderators" on this forum...a moderator is someone who "polices" a forum and acts as guardian for the information being shared i.e. a moderator would remove spam from a thread. But this is a public forum created by a non-Google citizen, who's done a great job by the way.

Second, I am a Google employee working on SketchUp so no moderators are needed to get info into the team. That is why I am here...to help people and to learn what problems people are seeing, or what features people would like to see in the future.

Third, the reason that color, geo-referenced terrain data is not down-loadable, even in SketchUp, is that it is paid for terrain content. The purpose for using this data in SketchUp is just for creating to-scale models using the proper location and terrain elevation.

I hope this all makes sense, and that my tips for importing color information are useful.

Cheers,

• CraigD

@unknownuser said:

Tell the Google moderators to update that.

??? What are you talking about Invader?

• CraigD

Yes, the black & white terrain/image layers are by design...they're meant strictly for alignment and get stripped out if/when you post a geo-located model to 3D Warehouse (if the layers remain locked). If you want the color terrain and still want the model aligned, then after you Get Current Image you can save as image from Google Earth and import that.

What I will do if I want a geo-located model to post to 3D Warehouse/Google Earth and I want the roof, for instance, to have color is to Get Current View, then save as image (for the color image). Once I have the color image, I'll import it and then sample it onto the roof...or if I needed to build up a level terrain for placement in Google Earth, I'll project the color image onto a raised/level plot object. That looks very good in Google Earth.

I'm not sure why you aren't able to get images from higher elevations... I'll look at that and let you know.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,

• CraigD

Pretty cool Lewis! You are definitely on the edge!

Cheers,

• CraigD

Pete, that thing is awesome!! Looks bad-ass!

I could see Master Chief piloting that thing around!

 - CraigD

P.S. Did you see these little beauties? http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=4661

Hi Edson, it looks like you're on Tiger (from your Avatar specs) so here's a little more in depth tuning to try:

This can occur if there are hung daemons. This can happen a couple of ways, but the most common is SU crashing. Close all instances of SU on the network. Go to the Activity Monitor and force quit the sketchupdaemon(s) if it(they) are running.

This can also occur if you are connected to a wifi and a hard wire at the same time. The daemon gets confused and doesn't know it is talking to itself.

@pmiller said:

Just the right amount of snow yesterday and I got to refill the birdfeeders just in time...the cardinals seemed to like it as well.[attachment=0:1hekimvd]<!-- ia0 -->cardinals.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:1hekimvd]

Holy smokes Paul! You have a Cardinal infestation, practically!

That's an incredible scene! Thanks for sharing!

- CraigD

Hi Charlie, there is an internal beta program for SketchUp Pro that includes Layout. These are newer versions that are not released publicly and are undergoing much more rapid changes.

For these programs, we solicit feedback frequently and update fairly often.

I hope that helps explains what my friend Jeff was saying a little more. If you'd be interested, we'd welcome you (and others) to the internal beta program!

Cheers,

- CraigD

@will03 said:

my bet would be that google would have opened one group to replace the entire forum, and then just shut down the other forums while they did the migration in the background.

i guess we did make a little difference...

Yes, you all did make a difference. People listened.

- CraigD

I have more information about the positions. We are looking for people who have expertise in SketchUp (for professional use) and want to work with the product for a year. Candidates need to be comfortable leading groups and very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about SketchUp and Google Earth. The position is salaried with pay and expense issued each week, and has benefits available. SketchUp trainers are based at their homes (anywhere in US) and travel up to three times per month to lead our training events.

If you think this is for you, please let me know!

Cheers,

- CraigD

Hi guys, we'll look into it and let you know.

Hang in there!

Edit: Why no update?

- CraigD

@will03 said:

I finally Avatar'd myself up!

and now, I'm going to have to race bikes with Craig!

(something tells me he might win until we hit the mountain!)

I can do downhill corners too!

@alexander said:

I don't know lewis, but something is messed with the sword....

Whoa! I was wondering why I felt a little dizzy riding in to work today!

- CraigD

I'm really sorry I wrote that. I won't post anything like that again. I'm going to turn off my computer now, go outside, and re-think my life.

Damn, you're good!

...must go rethink my life...

Lewis, stop with the Jedi hand movements! Look what it's done to my back wheel!

- CraigD

P.S. Now please put it down!

P.P.S. If your daughter is really into the Jedi thing, perhaps she'd be interesting in learning about Chi Kung (Qi Gong) training where the practitioner learns to control the bio-electric energy (Chi or Qi) in their body to increase strength, speed, vitality or even balance internal energy and increase the body's healing powers. My Qi Gong Master always talked about practicing diligently and you will become a Jedi Master!

P.P.P.S. My Qi Gong and Gong Fu (Kung Fu) Master is in Boston with a school in Jamaica Plains and one in North Andover. PM me if you want more info. Cheers! ...and may the Force be with you!

Have you guys seen Alan Fraser's avatar! That's hilarious!!!

I'll look up more often when I'm outside!

• CraigD

Yes, the avatars are great! My new one is me leading the 125GP race at Loudon New Hampshire in June of 05! I love trophies!

Cheers,

• Craig

-7 F...that's about right! Where are you Hank?

- CraigD