Open up your mind and say, ahh...

Tesla Motors is taking a page from BMW’s playbook and rolling out its very own art car.

The Silicon Valley automaker teamed up with artist Laurence Gartel to create a one-off Roadster to celebrate the Art Basel Miami Beach festival. Tesla Motors, never shy about tooting its own horn, hailed the car as “showcasing both cutting-edge electric driving technology and visually stunning artistic achievement.”

A list of Gartel’s exhibitions is about as long as the cord used to charge the Roadster. Highlights include the Museum of Modern Art and Joan Whitney Payson Museum, and his work is included in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian and Bibliothèque Nationale de France. He is considered a pioneer of digital art, and we really like what he’s done with the Roadster.

Tesla offered zero information about Gartel’s inspiration for the paintjob, which is actually a wrap. But if you like it, you can buy it. Wired.com reader Laurence Getford spotted the car in Miami and sent us the photo above. Three more from Tesla appear below.

Photo: Laurence Getford

Photos: Tesla Motors

Is Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood frustrated by “a few erroneous news stories” overstating the government’s reach when it comes to replacing worn-out road signs?

All signs point to yes.

The social-networking-savvy secretary took to Twitter to better explain the impact of updates to the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices, the standards for street signs, road markings and traffic control devices that have been dictated by the Federal Highway Administration since Nixon was president. “FYI, what the news forgot to tell you: most existing street signs can remain in place,” LaHood tweeted.

Revisions to MUTCD — which LaHood quickly noted were implemented under President Bush — require that some older street signs be replaced by 2018. Oft-cited new requirements include changing signs in all-caps to mixed-case, increasing font sizes and improving reflectivity. News outlets have reported that the changes would cost New York City $27.6 million and Milwaukee nearly $2 million. Online commenters were outraged, and so was LaHood.

“Thanks to a few erroneous news stories, many Americans don’t have a good understanding of what these recommendations entail,” LaHood wrote on his Fast Lane blog. “For example, most of these requirements allow existing street signs to remain in place until the end of their useful life emphasis LaHood’s. And rules about upper- and lower-case lettering are not required unless a sign was being replaced anyway. The idea is to help aging Baby Boomers read road signs more easily.”

While the cost of New York City’s $27.6 million sign replacement project may seem staggering, the money is largely financing the replacement of worn-out signs. Of the 11,000 signs to be updated by the end of 2010, about 8,000 already were scheduled to be replaced due to wear. Still, LaHood acknowledged that replacing street signs — though an important safety issue — could be a tough cost for cities to swallow in these tough economic times. That’s why the highway administration is requesting additional public comment through Jan. 14.

“Now, you’ve heard me say time and time again that safety is this Department’s top priority,” LaHood wrote. “But I also believe in good government. Listening to the public ensures that we achieve both.”

We’re sure he’ll get an earful.

Photo: Rennett Stowe / Flickr

When you launch a new idea or project into the world, you’ll probably use connections to what has come before as a way to tell your story.

Caribou Coffee, for example, uses all sorts of metaphors and cues and even verbal tropes that we learned from Starbucks. These signals help us understand that the place we’re about to enter isn’t a steakhouse, isn’t a shoeshine stand and isn’t a massage parlor. It’s a place to get a latte.

Books that want to be bestsellers work hard to look like previous bestsellers, from the store where they are sold to how many pages long they are to how much they cost. These signals help us determine that this object is something worth buying and reading.

Cable TV does this, politicans do this, computer resellers do this.

Here’s the thing: you can’t stand out if you fit in all the way, and thus the act of deciding which part isn’t going to match is the important innovation.

Matching an element almost looks like failure. Matching not-at-all, on the other hand, is the refreshing whack on the side of the head that causes attention to be paid.

When your car looks like a car but the doors are gullwing, we notice them. When your suit looks like a suit but the lining is orange, we notice it. When you apply for a job and you don’t have a resume, we notice it.

This was the secret of the golden age of comic books. 90% of every hero was on key, professionaly done, easy to understand… which allowed the remarkable parts to stand out.

You can’t be offbeat in all ways, because then we won’t understand you and we’ll reject you. Some of the elements you use should be perfectly aligned with what we’re used to.

The others… Not a little off. A lot off.

I have the hardest time saying no. Lots of people do. It’s one of those things we do to foil up our lives quite often. Why? Because we hate to disappoint. Because we think it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Because we want to say yes and be more positive. There are lots of things that thwart us from saying no.

Personally, I’m an avoider. That’s even worse. Because I don’t do well at just saying, “You know, this isn’t going to work.” But that’s changed. It’s come from some recent changes in my perspective, in my priorities, in my realization of what I’ll have to do to find success (and my definition of success, swiped from Tony Robbins, is that success is making continual improvements in my environment).

Saying no is hard. Here’s my current best advice on saying no. I’d love yours in the comment section.

Say No

First, be very clear and polite. Start with a thank-you.

Thank you for thinking of me. I’m going to have to pass.

The problem with the above is that the person will almost always ask why. Let’s do this, instead.

Thank you for thinking of me. I’m going to have to pass. My workload and priorities are such that I can’t add this project to my schedule.

And Then

My very best advice for next steps is to refer. If ever you can, refer. When I can’t speak at an event due to a schedule problem or something, I do my best to refer the opportunity to someone else. When I can’t review someone’s website, I refer them to Third Tribe Marketing. The more I can help others by sharing the things I can’t help with, the more I can grow a network of people who get more opportunities from my being able to pass them along.

The Pushy Person

Often, you’ll get someone who pushes back. “What do you mean you can’t do it? It’s only 20 minutes.”

This is where I have a hard time. Because they’re right. It is only 20 minutes. The problem is that three of these requests is an hour. 12 of these requests is four hours. They add up really quickly.

My best piece of advice here is to repeat. Again, thank you. It’s great that you feel so passionately about me participating. I am so backed up with other priorities that I just can’t commit to this and deliver you success. I’m very likely to stumble or not complete this. I’d rather say no now than say ‘I’m sorry’ later.

What Should You Say No TO?

My friend, Brian Clark had this great thought on this onstage at PubCon the other week. He said, “I ask whether the project will help my existing community. If not, I really have to consider it.” That’s one way to do it, especially if you’re already working with a focused community. It’s not useful to me because I work across several communities.

Instead, I’ve built little “ecosystem maps” and I ask whether the project will help any part of the larger ecosystem, and then whether I should do it or if I should refer it. Often times, B is the better answer, but sometimes, things can’t be transferred. So, I just look at my map. And whatever I can’t say yes to, I share with others.

And Questions?

How can I help you with this? What else can we talk about? When is it MOST difficult for you to say no?