rantlust

Posted by crewcut on May 23rd 2006 in Business, Cars, Crime, Europe, Gadgets, Rants
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It turns out that Stefan Eriksson of by-two Ferrari fame and his boss Carl Freer of Gizmondo fame burned through £160 million in 18 months flat. Investigators are at wits end trying to figure out how so much money can be spent so fast despite the $ half-a-million cars (Maybach, Ferrari Enzo, Mercedes SLR McLaren…), race horses, yachts, fancy watches, and £ million salaries.

Where did all that money come from? American investors who bought into their story of huge demand for the Gizmondo console, a portable gaming device.

What was it that P T Barnum supposedly never said?

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Posted by anupcs on May 17th 2006 in Cars, Character
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Forgive me Mother, for I have sinned. I have gloated gleefully at the misfortune of another. I smiled smugly while the teenage punk got pulled over by the fuzz. I even joined my 101-mates in rubber necking at his shiny new Mustang, surrounded by not one, but two cop cars. I cranked up the stereo and sped along, delirious with contentment at the situation.

The unfortunate Darwin Award hopeful had only a few miles ago, cut in front of me twice without signaling. For no apparent reason as there was enough space and little traffic on the freeway. To add insult to injury, he had tapped his brake to taunt me. He probably didn’t have the radar detector that had warned me about the snooping cops in the neighborhood. I suppressed all of my usual road rage demons and let the dice fall where they did, hoping against hope, the *#!@ing idiot (sorry) gets caught.

I shall atone for my sins by driving at the speed limit for one day this week.

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Posted by anupcs on May 16th 2006 in Cars
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We received word of a chance to test drive some new Audis a couple of months ago and we signed up immediately. The show was titled Streets of tomorrow and was held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View over the weekend. The showcase was the soon-to-be-released Q7–Audi’s first foray into the world of SUVs (ignoring sister models VW Touareg and Porsche Cayenne). Other current Audi models were also on display as well as Ducati motorcycles and Bang & Olufsen home theater equipment. To add to what Audi calls the “lifestyle experience,” there was also excellent food, beverages, chill-out music, masseuses, etc.
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Posted by bab on March 30th 2006 in Cars, Developing Nations
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Thanks to good old sugarcane, Brazil is all set to achieve gasoline independence this year. Most of the new cars sold in Brazil are flex cars which are able to run on ethanol, gasoline and blended mixture of the two. Moreover sugarcane ethanol is cheaper to produce than corn ethanol which is used in United States. Brazil also requires all gas stations to provide atleast one ethanol pump. According to NBC news, sugarcane ethanol will remain cheaper than gasoline as long as gasoline stays over $45 a barrel. More here.

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Posted by anupcs on March 03rd 2006 in Cars, Gadgets, Rants, Technology
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It’s a typical winter day in the Bay Area: 60 degrees and partly cloudy. Fellow blogger bab and I are at a Quiznos in Milpitas on the east side of the bay. We are loading up on subs for a hike. Our destination is the Sunol Regional Wilderness park near the town of Pleasanton. A very pleasant park, it offers great winter hiking among rolling hills and pastures with the California happy cows maundering about. Using our Indian weather-reading skills, we had determined earlier that there is less chance of rain on this side of the bay.

After we get in my car, for some reason, I suggest to my partner-in-crime that maybe we should go to the Pleasanton Ridge park instead. He agrees. The last time I went to P. Ridge, five years ago, I was completely prepared with directions, maps, trail info, etc. This time I don’t have any of that but I am not worried for I have in my car a Garmin Streetpilot 2720 Automotive GPS. How can we get lost with this modern-day wonder gadget?
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Posted by bab on January 24th 2006 in Animals, Cars, Law, USA
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Couple of weeks back, a judge ruled that fetuses do not count as passengers for carpool. According to the judge allowing otherwise “would require officers to carry guns, radios and pregnancy testers, and I don’t think we want to go there.“.

The judge applied a common sense definition in which an individual is someone who occupies a separate and distinct space in a vehicle. So the question is can that individual be a pet?

It also brings the next question as to who counts as a legal carpool passenger. Since the main objective of the carpool lane is to reduce traffic, does someone not eligible to drive (like kids or those without driver’s license) count as that passenger?

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Posted by renéejo on December 21st 2005 in Cars
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At an upcoming auto show, Nissan is introducing a concept car called the URGE. It is a rear wheel drive car with a motorcycle inspired styling. Okay, sounds good and normal. What is not normal is the integration of a Xbox 360 gaming system in the cockpit. Imagine the consequences if this is unleashed on the Autobahn!

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Posted by tafkap on December 15th 2005 in Cars, Sports
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A couple of ex-football players died in a car crash in Los Angeles. It seems they were driving at high speed and probably in some kind of a car race. Apologies for making light of a tragic incident, but I just found a part of the report funny:

their speeding car veered out of control on a Los Angeles street — hitting a curb, fire hydrant, two trees, a newsstand and light pole before slamming into an empty bus.

Ouch! Should’ve thrown in the kitchen sink too.

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