Okay, this tidbit was enough to interrupt the sharing of my NaNoWriMo journey for one day. (I’m still writing my novel, but my blog needs to be about something else today.)
This just in from Honda (via my friend Fred):
FACE Design
The human brain exhibits a strong response to facial patterns, especially to the eyes and mouth. Honda’s new FACE design for ASV-3 takes advantage of this to make motorcycles more noticeable to other motorists by modifying the front of the motorcycle so that it resembles a human face.
So if on the freeway, you suddenly get the feeling that you’re being chased by someone riding a robot, it’s because Honda has adorned its new motorcycles with faces—angry faces.
I envision new models coming out with friendlier eyes, maybe even with long curly lashes. And the mouths should have full red lips, don’t you think?
It may be a problem if they start to manufacture them with hair, though, as I imagine longer locks could easily get tangled in an axle or blow back into the rider’s face temporarily blinding him or her and causing an accident.
Ears could be fun, though, especially if you expanded the face repertoire to include the animal kingdom. Honda could mount elephant flaps that hang down from the handlebars or perch perky little cat ears on either side of the windshield. Oh, the possibilities…
But maybe I’m just imagining all these odd derivations to avoid returning to my novel. Hey, maybe one of my characters could drive one of these!
The View from a Berkeley Optimist 