Author: Serkadis

As Peugeot goes into reverse over its decision to kill the GTI badge, we bring you an historic gallery of Peugeot GTI models. With the Peugeot brand reinvention going on, there was a plan to focus on sports coupe models at the expense of the classic GTI hot hatches. While I was keen to see Peugeot revive what it does best, and make some GTI’s worthy of the name, it seems that in the brand revolution, there may be space for a flagship GTI model in a few years’ time. While we wait for that to happen, if it ever will, check out this gallery for a reminder of the GTI models of bygone times.

Article Tags: Philip Stott

For over a month now, since the farcical conclusion of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, I have been silent, partly through family commitments abroad in the USA, but also because, in this noisy world, in ‘The Clamour Of The Times’, it is on occasion better to be quiet and contemplative, to observe rather than to comment. And, as an independent academic, it has been fascinating to witness the classical collapse of a Grand Narrative, in which social and philosophical theories are being played out before our gaze. It is like watching the Berlin Wall [pictured] being torn down, concrete slab by concrete slab, brick by brick, with cracks appearing and widening daily on every face – political, economic, and scientific. Likewise, the bloggers have been swift to cover the crumbling edifice with colourful graffiti, sometimes bitter, at others caustic and witty.

Source: web.me.com/sinfonia1

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Annasoltan says that Kanal Hayat (Channel Life), a satellite channel programming in Turkish about Christianity, has launched programs in Turkmen language that are broadcast in Turkmenistan.

Alpharabius posts a story of the Tajik high-level judges, who conspired to punish three independent newspapers for publishing a sensational story about unlawful conviction practices at the courts.

Nick Fielding reviews new publication on negotiating with the Taliban and recommends a great source of stats on security, governance, socio-economic indicators and polling information.

Joshua Foust reviews the situation in Kazakhstan's wheat industry, noting weak professionalism of the agriculture officials in managing market price fluctuations and food crisis risks.

Dafydd watches the London international conference on Afghanistan and opines that the organisers' new strategy for this country involves buying off low level Taliban fighters and cutting a deal with more senior figures via amnesty of relatively senior figures from the pre 2001 Taliban regime.

CRYSTAL LAKE –– The Crystal Lake Kiwanis Club is sponsoring an opportunity to “Be a Hero for Kids with Cancer” at its upcoming St. Baldrick’s fundraiser.

Participants pledge to shave their heads in exchange for donations to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which provides grants to childhood cancer research experts, according to the foundation’s Web site, stbaldricks.org.

Head-shaving events generate money for research and provide a way for participants to show support for children undergoing cancer treatment, who frequently lose their hair due to the effects of chemotherapy.

Head shaving will be from 2 to 7 p.m. March 12 at The Salvation Army, 290 W. Crystal Lake Ave., Crystal Lake.

For information, to sign up to participate, or to sponsor your favorite shavee, visit kiwaniscrystallake.com.

Read the original article from the Northwest Herald.

Noah reports on the striking decision of the Kyrgyz authorities to issue a passport and disaster insurance to every sheep and other livestock.

Macmillan’s US CEO, John Sargent just confirmed that Amazon pulled its inventory of Macmillan books in a powerful response to Macmillan’s new pricing demands. Macmillan offered the new pricing on Thursday, just a day after Apple announced Macmillan as a major publishing partner in its new iBookstore — a revelation that certainly factored into the discussions along with Skiff and other e-Book distribution and publishing models. During the meeting with Amazon in Seattle, Sargent outlined what he calls an “agency model” that will go into effect in early March. Under the terms offered, if Amazon chose to stay with its existing terms of sale, then it would suffer “extensive and deep windowing of titles.” Amazon’s hardball response was to pull all of Macmillan’s titles from its Kindle site and Amazon.com by the time Sargent arrive back in New York.

Macmillan claims that its new model is meant to keep retailers, publishers, and authors profitable in the emerging electronic frontier while encouraging competition amongst new devices and new stores. Macmillan’s model gives retailers a 30% commission and sets the price for each book individually: digital editions of most adult trade books will be priced from $5.99 to $14.99 while first releases will “almost always” hit the electronic shelves day on date with the physical hardcover and priced between $12.99 and $14.99 — pricing that will be dynamic over time. So when Steve Jobs said that Apple’s and Amazon’s prices would be the same, he was almost certainly referring to the $12.99 to $14.99 e-Book pricing originally rumored by the New York Times — not the $9.99 price that Amazon customers have been enjoying so far. Funny how Jobs, the man who once refused to grant the labels’ request for variable pricing on digital music so that Apple could maintain a low fixed $0.99 price per track, is suddenly the best friend of a new breed of content owners? Guess the old dog just learned a new trick, eh?

Amazon pulled Macmillan titles due to price conflict — confirmed originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Imagine a HyperMac, but one that’s highly portable and engineered specifically to rejuvenate your USB-connecting gizmos. That, our friends, is the ZAGGsparq. Our good pals over at Gadling had a chance to sit down with the portable charger recently, and as expected, they came away duly impressed. At its core, this is little more than a portable 6000mAh battery with a pair of USB inputs; you simply plug whatever USB gizmo you’ve got into it (a smartphone, portable media player, e-reader, GPS system or anything else that can be charged over USB) and watch as it provides life where there was none. It also supports international power sockets (which you’ll have to provide separately), and it packs enough juice when fully charged to bring five dead iPhones back to full capacity. At just under a Benjamin, it’s hard to not recommend for the avid traveler, but feel free to give the source link a glance if you need more proof.

ZAGGsparq portable USB charger gets reviewed, adored originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 03:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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UAB (Jennifer Ghandhi)

The ancient Maya have been busted. So have King Tut and the entire population of Atlantis. For that you can thank students in a UAB “Mythbusters” honors seminar led by archaeologist Sarah Parcak, Ph.D. Last fall, they went hunting for the facts behind popular archaeological myths, debunking everything from cursed Egyptian tombs to cities lost beneath the sea.

“I always wanted to take a class like this as an undergraduate, and I’ve been wanting to teach it for a long time,” says Parcak, who hopes to make the course available as a 200-level offering by spring 2011. While most academic archaeologists avoid discussing untruths in the classroom, Parcak believes it is crucial to educate students and the public about what she calls “pseudoarchaeology.” Students investigate hoaxes to identify their origins and the reasons why the myths are so believable and pervasive in modern culture.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Al-Masry Al-Youm (John Harris)

With photos.

In the past, the problem wasn’t the spectacular scenery along the way, but the transport and accommodation infrastructure that made it all accessible. Until recently, accessing the Western Desert was better left to the most intrepid of travelers. A patchy road with limited services connected oases with spartan accommodation and dining options. Planning for a trip through this part of the country required the tenacity of the hardcore adventurer, equipped with satellite phones, and enough canisters of gasoline crowded onto the roof-rack of your battle-hardened jeep to get you from one island of civilization to the next.

Thankfully, all this has now changed. The first upgrade involved the road. All the oases are now connected by a quality, undivided road that places Bahariya under four hours from Cairo, Farafra another two hours down the road, Dakhla under three hours further on, and finally Kharga another two hours beyond that. From Kharga, it’s a straightforward transfer back to civilization via Assiut or Luxor. Decent services can be found along the way, making the trip accessible to anyone with a tolerably tuned up car. Along the way, you’re bound to pass a slew of adventurous desert rats emerging from multi-week adventures deep in the desert. Just make sure you’re well prepared before joining them. If your car’s not equipped for the exploration you have in mind, it’s easy to hire a jeep in any of the towns you’ll visit.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

KTNV

The Treasures of Egypt exhibit is a recreated Egyptian village and marketplace which allows one to experience the life of ancient Egyptians from gathering water, grinding wheat, using ancient carpenter’s tools and bartering for food and supplies.

Visitors then explore how archeologists in the early 20th Century unearthed some of Egypt’s most renowned treasures, including the Tomb of Tutankhamun. The exhibit includes a trip through the realistic entrance to Tut’s Tomb and the opportunity to view artifact recreations of best-known pieces including the Golden Throne, chariots, the Golden Shrine and outer sarcophagus. These replicas are one of only two sets that were authorized by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities. The other set resides in Luxor, Egypt while the actual artifacts remain entombed in the Valley of the Kings and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Visitors have the unique opportunity to explore an Egyptian mummy by using state-of-the-art technology that allows the user to “scan” a mummy replica in real time and view actual medical imaging taken of a real mummy.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

American University in Cairo Press

Amarna Sunset. Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian Counter-Reformation
Aidan Dodson

This new study, drawing on the latest research, tells the story of the decline and fall of the pharaoh Akhenaten’s religious revolution in the fourteenth century BC. Beginning at the regime’s high-point in his Year 12, it traces the subsequent collapse that saw the deaths of many of the king’s loved ones, his attempts to guarantee the revolution through co-rulers, and the last frenzied assault on the god Amun. The book then outlines the events of the subsequent five decades that saw the extinction of the royal line, an attempt to place a foreigner on Egypt’s throne, and the accession of three army officers in turn. Among its conclusions are that the mother of Tutankhamun was none other than Nefertiti, and that the queen was joint-pharaoh in turn with both her husband Akhenaten and her son. As such, she was herself instrumental in beginning the return to orthodoxy, undoing her erstwhile husband’s life-work before her own mysterious disappearance.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Filed under: Motorsports, Ford, Subaru

Travis Pastrana has no shortage of critics who claim the daredevil is skating on thin ice. Okay, that was a terrible segue into this year’s Sno*Drift, the opening event in the Rally America Championship series, but yes, Pastrana and co-driver Christian Edstrom did skate to a fourth straight Sno*Drift victory on Saturday, trumping the second place team of Antoine L’Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard by more than a minute. Not too bad for a guy who just had surgery for a broken collar bone. Ken Block, sporting his trademark goatee and a new Ford Fiesta rally car, retired after just seven stages due to suspension failure.

Organized around the snowy gravel roads of Northern Lower Michigan, Sno*Drift 2010 wasn’t so much with the snow thanks to a warm spell and thorough soaking of rain, followed by a quick dip into sub-zero temperatures-all within a week of race day. Roads turned into rivers of glare ice, and since studded tires aren’t allowed in the series, automotive hilarity reminiscent of Snoopy on Ice was the order of the day. Just ask Pastrana’s team mate Dave Mirra, who crossed the final mark literally dragging his Subie’s front bumper and headlights thanks to a late-stage disagreement between himself, Sir Issac Newton, and a tree.

More to come on Pastrana, Block, and Rally America; in the meantime spy the Rally America gallery while we search Wikipedia for frost bite remedies and tips on removing champagne from blue jeans.

Photos by Christopher Smith / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

Pastrana puts competition on ice at Rally America Sno*Drift originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 02:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Alfa Romeo Mito gets a smooth new colour in “Maserati Blue Ocean” for the set of Mito courtesy cars to Maserati. 100 of the cars will be exclusively produced and the limited edition Alfa MiTo will be equipped with the 1.4-litre TB Multiair engine with 170 hp.

The interior gets a revision, too, with Frau leather seats, aluminium pedals, twin-zone air con, radio navigator unit, and Blue&Me system with USB. External features include bi-xenon lights, 18-inch wheels, rear sports spoiler and bumper and Dynamic Suspension electronic control.

The Alfa MiTo courtesy car project is the first product of the new brand integration plan of Alfa Romeo and Maserati, under the guidance of new manager, Harald Wester. The project follows the 500 units produced of the Fiat 500 “Rosso Corsa” edition as a courtesy car to Ferrari.

Spoon tiene nuevo disco, al que todavía no he podido hincar el diente, así que toca recuperar viejas canciones suyas para acompañar los enlaces de la semana en los blogs. Ahí van:

• Furilo explica la historia tras el lanzamiento de Mumumio.
• ¿Cuántas horas pasamos en las redes sociales?. En Sicrono.
• Uno de los grandes, Kiko Veneno, tiene blog. Esta vez toca el tema de la SGAE…
• Reemplazando puntos turísticos del mundo con souvenirs baratos. En Xataka Foto.
• Rubén de Online también ve oportunidades para el servicio de localizción FourSquare.
• Tópicos populares ante las loterías y estadística. Por El señor X.
• «Avatar» no es la película más taquillera de la historia. En En Silicio.
• El viernes pasado Juan de blogoff me entrevistó para su podcast.
• La propuesta educativa del PP: una selección comentada. Por Jorge Galindo.
• La muerte del community manager. En Abladías.
• Un poco de humor, “10 motivos para alejar a tu novia de ese Geek”. En Chistes Geek.
• Publiteca ofrece un buen montón de libros electrónicos gratuitos sobre marketing, internet y “social media”.
• Google Reader ahora nos deja suscribirnos a páginas web sin feed RSS. En Genbeta.
• Presentación de la nueva versión de My Twitter Cloud. Por Fernando del Pozo.
• Ahora que se debate sobre las pensiones, ¿Qué es la Seguridad Social y cómo funciona? en El Blog Salmón.
• El niño que prohibió “patear a los pingüinos”, en Fogonazos.

Os dejo con un poco de buena música de la mano de Spoon, “The Ghost of You Lingers”: