Author: Serkadis

The No. 1 Stanford women’s soccer team is moving on to its first ever national final after defeating conference rival UCLA, 2-1, in extra time of the semifinals Friday in College Station, Texas.

The match was a back and forth battle between two very evenly matched teams, and in the end it took more than 90 minutes to separate them, with a Lauren Cheney strike canceling out Stanford’s opener through Kelley O’Hara. However, junior Christen Press scored the golden goal three minutes into extra time to put the Cardinal in the final.

On a cold night in Texas, the game was slow to heat up, with the Pac-10 foes feeling each other out at the start. About ten minutes in both teams began to carve out some chances, with Stanford (25-0-0) getting more opportunities—mainly through the bursting runs of Press down the left. Yet the end product was just not there for either team.

The half’s best chance fell to UCLA’s Kristina Larsen in the 26th minute. After receiving the ball in the midfield around 30 yards from goal, Larsen made a smart turn on Stanford midfielder Hillary Heath and unleashed a rocket from long range. Stanford goalkeeper Kira Maker did very well to make a flying stop.

Stanford would get a few more chances, but the rest of the first half saw Cheney—an Olympic gold medalist with the US team last year—begin to exert her influence, creating four good chances for herself in the half’s final ten minutes. With good pressure from the Cardinal defense, however, she was not able to convert, and the game remained goalless going into halftime.

Once again, both teams took a while to get going after the restart, but the Bruins came close in the 56th minute. UCLA midfielder Kylie Wright headed a corner kick towards goal, but Cheney—stationed in front of the net—put the ball wide as she went for a redirection with her head.

O’Hara had two good chances in the 58th minute—one where she snapped a shot right at Bruins keeper Chante’ Sandiford and then choosing to cross instead of shoot after she had touched the ball past an on-rushing Sandiford outside the box—but UCLA was putting on more pressure. In the 60th minute, Bruins freshman Chelsea Cline dragged a shot wide after Maker was out of position to punch out a free kick, and two minutes later UCLA’s Lauren Barnes struck the post on a free kick.

The first goal would arrive two minutes later, but would be at the other end of the pitch, when O’Hara made something out of nothing. The senior collected a pass with her back to goal outside the box and feinted back to the middle of the field, only to turn around and go to her right, away from goal. Still, she blasted a flawless shot that sailed over Sandiford and into the net. O’Hara has been known to score incredible goals, but this one was stunning.

Still, the match was far from over, and UCLA began to push forward in search of an equalizer- when it arrived in the 76th minute, it was no surprise that it came from Cheney. Off of a throw-in, the US international—near the top of the box—made a quick turn to her right and curled a high shot that tailed inches away from Maker and into the net. It was eerily similar to the goal O’Hara, who will soon be her international teammate, had scored 12 minutes earlier.

It was the first time Stanford had relinquished a lead all year, but the Cardinal was determined to get it back. Freshman midfielder Mariah Nogueira headed a long free kick by Heath towards the corner of the goal in the 85^th minute, but Sandiford made a great save to keep it out with O’Hara lurking for a rebound.

With just three minutes left, the Card received a scare when a miscommunication between Maker and center back Alicia Jenkins allowed UCLA forward Sydney Leroux to burst between them and get off a shot. Fortunately for Stanford, it sailed over the crossbar.

Still, there was more drama before overtime. With 42 seconds left, Stanford forward Lindsay Taylor received a pass from O’Hara on the left and got the ball onto her favored right foot, but the sophomore curled her shot inches wide. Stanford won the resulting goal kick, and O’Hara raced onto it and touched it over Sandiford, who had charged out of her box. However, with Bruin defender Lauren Wilmoth chasing back to apply pressure, O’Hara saw her volley from the right side of the box go agonizingly off the outside of the post. The national semifinal was heading to a golden goal overtime.

It was not the first time the Card had been in overtime this year, having beaten Washington State 2-1 in the 95th minute back in October, and it was Press—who tied the WSU match in the 87th minute that day—who would provide the moment of magic this time. Three minutes into the overtime a long ball was cleared by the UCLA back line, but only as far as the junior. Her first touch was not great, pushing the ball forwards out of her range, but Press ran onto it and smashed a low shot into far corner of the goal from about 25 yards. It was a goal worthy of winning such an epic encounter.

The Cardinal now tries to complete its perfect season and win its first ever national championship on Sunday against North Carolina. The match will be broadcast on ESPN2 at 10 a.m. Pacific time.

Key West, Florida | Subterranean Sites

Bringing a whole new meaning to the concept of “air guitar,” divers and musicians flock to the Florida Keys every year for a subaquatic sound experience aptly called the “Underwater Music Festival.” Bill Becker, founder, coordinator and music director of UMF, started the underwater music concerts as a way to raise awareness for coral preservation.

For the past 25 years, hundreds of divers and snorkelers have come together for the festival at Looe Key Reef, part of the only living coral barrier reef in North America. Here, a pre-selected radio playlist is streamed live from underwater speakers, while musician-divers and mermaids play whimsical instruments created by local artist, August Powers. In past years, instruments have included the “trom-bonefish,” “sea-phan flute” and a “Fluke-a-Lele.”

Becker selects all the ocean-themed songs, such as the Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine” and “Octopus Garden,” and even insists that the fish like to dance to Jimmy Buffett’s “Fins.” The audience, of course, enjoys the tunes from underwater as well; since sound travels 4.3 times faster in water than in air, the sonic experience has been described as particularly ethereal. For those who prefer the slower, standard fare, the playlist is also broadcast live on the local radio station, WWUS 104.1 FM.

Past festival themes have included 2008’s “EEL-ection Antics” festival, in which special guests “Barackuda Obama,” “Hillary Clin-Tuna” and “John McClam” fought for votes, and 2009’s Yellow Submarine event, which featured reef rockstars, “Paul McCarpney” and “Ringo Starfish.”

Pennsylvania, US | Museums and Collections

The front window of this museum boasts “Clean Air Started Here”; well, that was only after this sleepy mill town on the Monongahela River experienced some very, very dirty air. Founded in 1901, Donora was a mill town, and in 1948, two large plants dominated the town – the US Steel-owned Donora Zinc Works, once the largest such plant in the world, and the American Steel & Wire plant.

On October 26, 1948, a dense haze blanketed the town – this was a common occurrence, but unlike previous episodes, this fog failed to blow away. A temperature inversion in the valley trapped the noxious emission from the two plants in the town, and soon people began to fall ill. Finally, the plants were shut down on October 31, just hours before a rainstorm helped clear out the smog. All told, roughly half the town’s population of 14,000 people had become sick and 20 people were dead from the smog. Fifty more people died soon after the smog lifted, and an untold number had their lives severely shortened by the episode.

The plants never admitted responsibility for the deaths, calling the smog the result of a “freak weather condition.” They paid out some small settlements to victims, and both plants remained open until 1966. Though this was not the first such episode of deadly industrial smog in the world, it did raise national awareness to the problems of air pollution, thus giving the museum its slogan.

In addition to accounts and artifacts from the 1948 disaster, inside the museum you can also see aerial photographs from the 1940’s showing vast swaths of land downwind from the zinc plant utterly denuded from pollution. You can also hear the story of the young World War I veteran who returned home to work in the steel mill only to be encased in molten metal in an industrial accident; legend has it that during World War II, his accidental sarcophagus was dug up and the metal (as well as the body inside) was melted down and used to make artillery shells.

Despite its terrible air quality, Donora has a proud sporting history, producing such baseball stars as St. Louis Cardinal shortstop and Hall of Famer Stan Musial and both Ken Griffey, Jr. and Sr. Many bits of sports memorabilia, as well as other artifacts from the town’s history, are on display in this museum. The museum opened in October 2008 to mark the 60th anniversary of the smog.

Filed under: Budget, UK, Celebrities

When fans tune in to watch (or torrent) tomorrow night’s episode of Top Gear, they’ll get to see Snatch director Guy Ritchie regale Jezza, Hamster, and Captain Slow with tales of his stint as the program’s Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car.

According to London’s Daily Mirror, which spoke to a source who attended the taping, it seems Ritchie wound up doing his best H.B. Halicki impression, killing four of the reasonably-priced crapboxes in his effort to set the fastest celebrity lap. Sloppy track conditions were to blame, says Madonna’s ex, according to the Mirror’s snitch.

Whether he actually succeeded in his mission to land atop the leaderboard will be revealed during Sunday’s broadcast, which, according to the tabloid, also sees the boys race airport equipment and bombard a ferry using hatchbacks as munitions. That, friends, sounds like some quality television.

[Source: Mirror.co.uk | Image: Dave Hogan/Getty]

Paper: Guy Ritchie wrecks four reasonably-priced cars on Top Gear originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kansas, US | Hunting and Taxidermy

On June 25, 1876 the five companies of the US 7th Cavalry under the command of Gen. George Armstrong Custer were annihilated by a force of Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The following day, troops from the remaining companies of the 7th Cavalry discovered the carnage – 210 men lay dead, including their commander, along with dozens of horses. While no US Army soldier survived the engagement, one horse was found alive on the battlefield. The horse, named Comanche, had belonged Capt. Myles Keough, and had suffered no less than seven bullet wounds during the battle. Though he was heralded as the lone survivor of the battle, many historians believe that as many as 100 horses survived and were either captured or bolted.

After the battle, Comanche was transported to Ft. Abraham Lincoln in the Dakota Territory, and he was officially retired from service in April 1878. As part of his retirement, the commanding officer of the fort ordered that “a special and comfortable stall is fitted up for him, and he will not be ridden by any person whatever, under any circumstances nor will he be put to any kind of work.” The horse was also given the honorary title of “second-in-command” of the 7th Cavalry, and he lived out the rest of his days as a company mascot. When he died in 1890, he was the first of only two horses in American history ever given a funeral with full military honors. He was not buried, however; instead, his body was sent to the University of Kansas to be stuffed and put on display, where he resides today in the university’s Natural History Museum. In 2005, Comanche was moved to a new exhibit on the museum’s fourth floor after undergoing a complete restoration.

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Ferrari, Specialty

Ferrari has stumbled upon one heck of a formula with its XX development programs. They’ve found that their most wealthy clients aren’t just willing to help Maranello develop new components for future supercars, they’re actually willing to pay for the privilege. And pay big, too – as in $2 million big.

The program started with the Enzo-based FXX, evolved with the FXX Evoluzione, and carries on with the Fiorano-based 599XX. So what’s next up Ferrari’s sleeve? A 458XX wouldn’t be too far off the mark.

If the outgoing lineup (and those that came before) can serve as any indication, the new mid-engined V8 sports car is poised to spawn numerous variations, including the requisite Spider, a new Challenge-spec racer, a replacement for the existing F430 GT2, a stripped-down successor to the 360 CS and 430 Scuderia, and, if this speculative rendering from Luxury4Play has its way, a 458XX as well. If and when it does come along, we’d expect it to look something along these lines – which is to say, “tasty.”

[Source: Luxury4Play]

Rendered Speculation: Ferrari 458XX developmental track-car originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Citroën

Kimi Räikkönen is now a WRC driver. The Flying Finn will pilot one of two Citroën CR4 Junior Team cars with Kaj Lindström as his co-driver. It’s been in the works for a while, and from the sounds of it, no one appears to have any doubts that Raikkonen will do well there. Team boss Olivier Quesnel rates the ex-Ferrari pilot highly, saying, “What he did there in a S2000 was amazing,” when speaking of Kimi’s run in an Abarth in a Finnish rally earlier this year.

Even 2003 WRC title winner Petter Solberg puts Kimi in with a shout, commenting, “If he’s in a decent World Rally Car next season I think he could finish between third and fifth on some rallies.” This will put four Citroën cars in next year’s Championship, with returning title winners Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena, Dani Sordo and Marc Marti, plus the junior cars of Räikkönen/Lindström and Sébastien Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia. You can check out Citroën’s official release after the jump.

[Source: Citroën]

Continue reading Umlautfest: Kimi Räikkönen signs with Citroën Red Bull rally team

Umlautfest: Kimi Räikkönen signs with Citroën Red Bull rally team originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are a lot of distinctions, there are a lot of milestones, but few have actually won an award. For Nintendo, they took home three in one day. Shigeru Miyamoto received Japan’s Lifetime Achievement Award, while the

(This guest post originally appeared on The Oil Drum and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License)

In the past several weeks, we have seen many reports such as this:

Colonial Pipeline Limits Gasoline Supply Shipments for Cycle 70

Colonial Pipeline Co., which operates the largest pipeline linking U.S. Gulf Coast refiners and East Coast markets, will limit shipments of gasoline because orders exceed the company’s ability to deliver fuel on time.

The Alpharetta, Georgia-based company issued the requirement, known as an allocation, in a bulletin to shippers for the 70th cycle. The restriction applies to shipments on Colonial pipelines north of Collins, Mississippi.

Companies will be able to ship a pro-rated portion of their original nomination, based on their shipping history over the past year, according to Colonial.

With the assistance of Jane Van Ryan at API, I contacted to Steve Baker at Colonial Pipeline, to find out what is happening. I discovered the oversubscription seems to be related to refinery shutdowns in the Northeast.

Many of you will remember that Colonial Pipeline is the big pipeline that carries finished oil products from the Gulf Coast up to the Northeast part of the United States.

 

Map showing route of Colonial Pipeline

I live in the Atlanta area, so I remember when there have been gasoline disruptions because of inadequate supply. This has happened twice: once following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and again in September 2008, following two gulf hurricanes.

When I inquired, I found out that there are really two parallel pipelines. One carries only gasoline products; the other carries distillate products. The line that is running short of capacity is the gasoline pipeline. (If only one is running short of capacity, it is not too surprising that it is the gasoline line. Distillate products like diesel fuel are now in very abundant supply; gasoline is at closer to normal levels.)

When I asked why demand was so high for gasoline pipeline capacity, one of the reasons mentioned was that shutdowns in refinery capacity in the Northeast were causing more demand for Gulf Coast gasoline. (If a refinery closes, it presumably will stop importing crude oil, and will also stop producing finished products such as gasoline and diesel. This supply needs to be replaced somewhere else.)

In checking in the news, I see two different refineries recently mentioned with shut downs:

Valero to permanently close Delaware City Refinery

This is a 192,000 barrel a day plant in Delaware. The story above indicates it was partially shut down early this year. No exact date for closing was given, but it sounds to be around the end of 2009, so the final shut down hasn’t really taken place yet.

Sunoco idling Eagle Point refinery, slashing dividend in half
The other refinery closing was that of Sunoco’s 145,000 barrel a day Eagle Point refinery in New Jersey. This may have taken place over a period of time, but did not finish until December 1, 2009. So at this point, we really haven’t really felt the full effect of these two refinery shut downs. Even so, gasoline distributors are putting in more orders for gasoline from the Gulf Coast, to help offset the expected decline in gasoline refined in the Northeast.

Another reason Mr. Baker gave for the high levels of orders is that the price of gasoline on the Gulf Coast is relatively inexpensive now. If given a choice between importing gasoline from the Gulf or gasoline from Europe, gasoline from the gulf is a getter deal. So perhaps European supply is a little on the short side, or the falling dollar makes what is available more expensive.

It is not too surprising that refiners are shuttering refineries in the Northeast. These are likely among the oldest refineries, and oil consumption in the East has been dropping for several years, as can be seen on the graph above. Profit margins have also been low.

Will the refinery shutdowns in the Northeast cause a gasoline supply problem? With supplies as adequate as they are now, probably not, but it is a situation to keep watching. There are several different approaches that can be taken to make up the shortfall caused by the refinery shutdowns:

1. Oil that would have been imported by the two refineries that are being shut down can perhaps be imported by other refineries in the Northeast, so the refined product will still be available in the Northeast. The amount of capacity being shut down amounts to about 20% of total refining capacity in “PADD1” (the East Coast), and production has recently been running at about 75% of capacity. If the remaining refineries run at close to full capacity, the other refineries could theoretically make up the difference–but it would be a stretch.

2. More refined products (rather than crude oil) might be imported from Europe.

3. If pipelines are full, ships could be used to transport gasoline from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast.

So there are options that can work, as long as everything is operating normally. The question is what happens when there is a shortfall, such as from a hurricane, or a supply disruption from Europe. Then it seems like there may be even more buyers dependent on the Colonial Pipeline for supply.

One thing that is annoying (to someone living in Atlanta, anyhow) is that if more customers want to use the pipeline than the total capacity, it appears that all of the orders are prorated by the same percentage. The problem I see with this is a place like Atlanta is not on the coast, so is 100% dependent on what we get from the pipeline. If Atlanta orders are prorated because someone in New Jersey would like to order more gasoline, we are stuck with getting along with whatever is available (and possibly long lines at gas stations, as with the two hurricane situations). If New Jersey or Baltimore or New York are “shorted,” they at least have the option of receiving shipments by sea, either from the Gulf Coast or from Europe.

I suppose with time, and the possibility with higher prices, this will all work out. But one doesn’t like to see Colonial’s gasoline pipeline already being utilized at of 100% of capacity, and orders being prorated, even before the two refineries that are being closed are fully off line. The system seems to have very little slack in it. Such systems are the ones most prone to disruption.

Read more at The Oil Drum…

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Valero’s Refinery Shutdown Means The Real Economy Sucks (VLO)
• The Fragile Recovery Of The Oil Services Sector
• More Signs Of A Natural Gas Apocalypse (UNG)

PCMag has reviewed the Samsung Code SCH-i220, and while the device is under-featured compared to the latest and greatest on other carriers, on Metro PCS it’s the best smartphone available, and at $1499 over 2 years including an unlimited voice and data plan, the best value for money by far country-wide.

They conclude:

Obviously, the Code is no iPhone. There are many smartphones better than the Code, but they all cost a lot more. If you’re shopping for a MetroPCS phone, you’re probably not in the market for a more expensive carrier. With unlimited talk time, messaging, and data, the iPhone 3G costs $3,698 over two years. The Code costs $1,499, thanks to Metro’s super-cheap plans. Even comparable phones on T-Mobile and Sprint are much more expensive; the HTC Snap on Sprint is $2,499 over two years with an unlimited plan, and the HTC Dash 3G on T-Mobile is $2,259.75. You don’t buy the Code instead of a more highly-rated smartphone; you buy it because otherwise, you’d never have been able to afford a smartphone.

In the context of MetroPCS’ lineup, the Samsung Code is the carrier’s only phone for power users or avid Web browsers. Metro’s BlackBerry Curve is expensive and doesn’t work in all MetroPCS cities, and the Code simply eradicates the Samsung Finesse on features and performance. If you’re looking to step up to a multipurpose phone but you’re short on cash, the Code is the best choice.

Read their full review here.

The PlayStation brand is a line of video game consoles created and developed by Sony Computer Entertainment, occupying the fifth, sixth, and seventh generations. It has become one of the largest investments Sony has ever gambled on (well, except for the whole pre-Pascal Sony Pictures Entertainment thing) and its been what I consider to be an enormous part of the overall Sony experience. Countless consumers, in almost one way or another, have used a Playstation product. It’s funny to think though that the brand itself turned fifteen years old on December 3rd – it doesn’t seem that long to me. Happy Birthday! Check out SCEI’s cool Playstation 15th anniversary site (JP).

The original PlayStation, released in December 1994, was the first of the ubiquitous PlayStation series of console and hand-held game devices, which has included successor consoles and upgrades including the Net Yaroze (a special black PlayStation with tools and instructions to program PlayStation games and applications), “PSone” (a smaller version of the original) and the PocketStation (a handheld which enhances PlayStation games and also acts as a memory card). It was part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, competing against the Sega Saturn and the Nintendo 64. By March 31, 2005, the PlayStation and PSone had shipped a combined total of 102.49 million units, becoming the first video game console to reach the 100 million mark. It was an enormous success and a giant leap from the Nintendo, Sega, etc experience most of us had fed on for nearly a decade.

Released in 2000, 15 months after the Dreamcast and a year before its other competitors, the Xbox and the Nintendo GameCube, the PlayStation 2 is part of the sixth generation of video game consoles, and is backwards-compatible with most, if not all, original PlayStation games. It has also been released as a media center configuration and also, like its predecessor, a slimmer redesign. On November 29, 2005, the PS2 became the fastest game console to reach 100 million units shipped, accomplishing the feat within 5 years and 9 months from its launch. This achievement occurred faster than its predecessor, the PlayStation, which took “9 years and 6 months since launch” to reach the same benchmark. It is the most successful console in the world, having reached over 140 million units in sales as of July 20, 2008. I haven’t seen a number since 2008 of how many its sold overall but I imagine it must be up sharply because it only costs $99 as of March of this year..or less.

It is the most popular console in the series, but the PS3 most certainly has the capacity to reach similar figures. It’s hard to tell if Sony will ever stop manufacturing the PS2, because theoretically they could bring it to retail by 2012 for less than (the equivalent of) $50 today easily..

Released on November 11, 2006, the PlayStation 3 is the third and current iteration in the series. It competes with the Xbox 360 and the Wii in the seventh generation of video game consoles. It introduces the use of the Sixaxis wireless controller along with other features, such as Blu-ray Disc and being also to see in Full High-definition resolution. It has access to an online store that sells games, movies, and other multimedia content. The PlayStation 3 is most certainly the most varied unit of the home consoles, by being offered in 20 GB, 40 GB, 60 GB, 80 GB, 160 GB, 120 GB, and 250GB configurations, with the last two being the current models. As for December 5th, 2009 Sony has sold 27.3 million PS3’s according to vgchartz.com.

Of course there was several Playstation Portable (PSP) units –

Released in March 2005, the PlayStation Portable (PSP) was Sony’s first handheld console. The console utilizes an new proprietary optical storage medium known as Universal Media Disc (UMD), which can store both games and movies. It contains 32MB of internal flash memory storage, expandable via Memory Stick PRO Duo cards. It has a vast library of games and movies available to play on UMD and also can download games off the Playstation store. The first major hardware revision, the PSP Slim and Lite was released in September 2007, with a further revision adding additional features (such as a microphone and upgraded screen) being released in October 2008. As of December 5th 2009, 53 million PSP units have been sold according to vgchartz.com.

The PSP Go was released in October 2009. It differs from the original PlayStation Portable in several ways, most notably the absence of a UMD drive, with all content having to be purchased and downloaded from the Playstation Store. The PSP also adds Bluetooth functionality, and uses smaller Memory Stick Micro cards rather than the PRO Duo. It retains the same brilliance in display like the regular PSP but its display is slightly smaller. The PSP Go is 43% lighter and 56% smaller than the original PSP.

What’s your favorite Playstation moment of all time? Mine was probably beating Metal Gear Solid 1..

Filed under: Celebrities

Minnesota Vikings All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson – or “Purple Jesus” as he’s known to Vikings fans – is one of the fastest men in the NFL. Turns out, he’s also one of the fastest men on a certain suburban Minnesota freeway, where police clocked him and his (model unknown) BMW going 109 mph in a 55 mph zone. Oops!

For his part, Peterson claims it was just, “A little ticket” and that he was not going as fast as the cops said he was. However, Minneapolis police spokeswoman Molly Anderson said that Peterson was indeed pulled over after police recorded him going 109 mph. Anderson states that Peterson was given a citation and allowed to drive away after what she described as a “routine traffic stop.” Must be nice being the savior for an entire state. Go Pack, go!

[Source: Associated Press | Image: Hannah Foslien/AP Photo]

Vikings RB Adrian Peterson flagged for going 109 mph originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Slipknot and Simon & Garfunkel may be too far on both sides of the spectrum, so why not go for somewhere in between? Three more tracks from Green Day are hitchin’ a ride into Rock Band soon,

Filed under: Convertible, Coupe, Performance, Europe, Videos, Lamborghini

While not quite as in your groin face as Samuel L. Jackson’s Snakes on a Plane, the following video is as honest in its title to content ratio. Yes, a camera crew in a helicopter follows two Lamborghini Gallardos (one hardtop and one Spyder) up and down Pacific Coast Highway and through some of the Southland’s best canyon roads. Nearly perfect, right?

Well, there’s an issue or two. First is the thumping, blasting “butt-rock” soundtrack. Second, that soundtrack is annoying and obscures the glorious fury of the Gallardo’s 5.2-liter V10 — a motor that can make a four-year-old to burst into tears when cranked from a cold start (true story — we saw it happen in person). Truly, a beast of an engine.

Had it been our video then, we would’ve killed the royalty-free-Nickelback soundtrack and instead stuck mics on the Lambos as if they were pincushions. Then we’d have tailed the two blue bulls to Kanan Dume Road. Why Kanan? Tunnels — three of them. Not to get all David E. Davis on you, but you really haven’t lived until you’ve heard Lambo’s V10 at 8,250 rpm in a confined space. Glorious. With that said, make the jump to watch the video.

Continue reading VIDEO: Helicopter chases two Lamborghini Gallardos around Los Angeles

VIDEO: Helicopter chases two Lamborghini Gallardos around Los Angeles originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Atlus certainly beefing up the workforce. The publisher was spotted hiring PS3-Xbox 360 programmers (qjnet/playstation-3/atlus-hiring-ps3-xbox-360-programmers.html) back in October, and now they’re in “mass-recruitment” for debuggers. Clearly, they have a lot of stuff

This Saturday, December 5th from 2:00pm to 5:00pm local time, PlayStation staff will be visiting Sony Style retail stores to help gamers and also help those looking to give a gaming gift. These aren’t just your average marketing representatives – these Playstation employees are real gamers and know how to truly make the most out of your PS3, PSP, related games, and so forth. I know many of you out there are experts yourself, and this could be a great opportunity for you to have a conversation with the source. This is also a great way to offer feedback on the Playstation experience. According to the SonyStyle blog, here are some of the things they can help with.

• If you’re looking to give a gaming gift, they’ll help you select the right gift for your budget.
• If you own a PS3 they’ll offer tips to turn your PS3 into a home theater component so you can enjoy Blu-ray movies, music and photos directly through your console.
• If you haven’t yet taken advantage of the PlayStation Network, they’ll show you how to get set up plus show you how to play against friends via network connection.
• Struggling on a level? These reps know games and can offer useful tips.
• Reps bring the hottest holiday game titles to play and preview so it’s a chance to play against an expert and pick their brain on their favorite titles.

To find a SonyStyle store near you, check out Sony’s helpful “Find a SonyStyle Store” website.

So the question is, was yesterday’s uber-violent selloff in gold the start of something big? Or was it just a blip? Please let us know your thoughts.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Everyone Is Long Gold
• Gold ETF Approaching Record Volume, As Metal Plunges $50 (GLD)
• Gold Plunges Below $1200 After Jobs Data

On the whole, RideLust’s (read: my) first foray into the glamorous world of open bars and company-sponsored parties was extremely successful, save for the excruciatingly boring reveals. Fortunately, since unlike most automotive journalists my trip was financed completely out of pocket, I’m not obligated to paint any particular company in a flattering light and thus able to provide an accurate, far more entertaining analysis. Well, entertaining for me at least, I’m sure the scores of dissenting douchenozzles commenters will have much to say otherwise.

Topping my list of favorite new reveals are some interesting selections that seem at odds with RideLust’s traditionally Macho Man Savage taste in automobiles and include the Honda P-Nut (Personal-Neo Urban Transport), Audi e-Tron, 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe, Mazda2, and the vehicle destined to be perpetually overshadowed by the Mazda2 – the Ford Fiesta (among many, many others).

So while you desperately search for valid reasons to ignore your wife’s multiple requests to shovel the staggering 2 inches of snow from the driveway, keep RideLust on your radar and check back throughout the day for exclusive post-preview updates of all Los Angeles’ biggest stars.

 

Give it a try.  Click either one.

 

source: http://envisioningdevelopment.net/map

hattip Felix Salmon   and Mike Konczal