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Remember when it looked as though consumers might enter into some new age of thrift and austerity?
Well, it’s true that there was in fact a brief, unprecedented dip, but the key word is: brief.
As you can see, the steady march higher continues apace.
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Play. Create. Share. That’s how the ModNation Racers credo goes, and based on what we’ve seen so far, that’s what you get to do. Put in the hands of Insomniac Games founder and CEO Ted Price, he
Filed under: Videos
Our brethren over at AOL Autos have just launched a new video series called Translogic. Hosted by the always-effervescent Bradley Hasemeyer, who we’re convinced is somehow related to J.D. Roth, and the equally bubbly Caitlin Thompson, Translogic’s goal is to introduce viewers to the cool, techy side of transportation in four weekly installments that add up to one mondo episode per month. You’ll also be able to subscribe to the larger monthly episodes in iTunes once they complete the first four installments.
They’ve already released episodes 1.1 and 1.2, which you can view over at the Translogic website. In the duo’s first two outings, Bradley and Caitlin visit Tesla, get a ride in an Ariel Atom (we know what that’s like), talk to the man behind the Velozzi turbine-powered green supercar, and explore one of our all-time favorite topics: jet packs.
Head on over to check them out and let us know what you think in the comments. The AOL Autos team reads Autoblog everyday just like you and would appreciate some thoughtful suggestions from the community on how to keep improving Translogic.
[Source: Translogic]
AOL Autos launches Translogic originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The Wii, the Xbox 360, and the PS3 all have online capabilities. But according to this report, the PS3 has the biggest percentage of units that are connected to the internet.
Filed under: Classics, Convertible, Auctions, Ferrari, Celebrities
We reported just a couple of weeks ago that the replica Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder – built atop an MG for use in the cult classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – was heading to the auction block. But with the auction fast approaching, the man who played Ferris has publicly discouraged anyone from actually buying the replicar in question.
The remarks were made by Matthew Broderick – the actor put on the map by his lead role in Ferris – at the debut for The Addams Family, a remake of another classic, starring his longtime friend Nathan Lane. Speaking with journalists from the red carpet, Broderick recalled that the car “often didn’t start” when they were filming and characterized it as “unreliable”. If you say so, Ferris, but that’s hardly cause to drive out through a glass wall and into the ravine below. Thanks for the tip, POV!
[Source: New York magazine]
Even if you have the means, Ferris would not recommend picking up his Ferrari California movie-prop originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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A few years ago, when Twitter was starting to take off, we questioned whether or not Tweets were covered under copyright. While technically tweets could definitely be covered by copyright, it’s still a little bit murky, especially with the “retweet” as an integral part of Twitter culture. That said, there’s no doubt that people feel ownership over their tweets, especially those who lovingly craft wit and humor into each of the 140 characters. Recently, the editor of the book Tweet Nothings, a book of curated Tweets, sent an apologetic letter to the people whose Tweets were included in the book — after the book had already been published in December:
Dear Mr. Barnes,We sincerely apologize for using your Tweet in our “Tweet Nothings” book without contacting you prior to publication!
I wrote the introduction and compiled quotes from Twitter for the book at the direction of the publisher. I do not make any money from this work. We did want to contact each person quoted in the book; the publisher’s legal advisors said it was not necessary under fair use guidelines. We sincerely view this book as a celebration of Twitter, and an introduction to some of the best and brightest people to follow. We are very sorry if you or anyone is offended or upset by the book.I would be more than happy to send you copies of the book. Please accept my apologies.
Sincerely yours,
Suzanne Schwalb
While the apology is an admirable step, the anger seen in the reviews of the book on Amazon is not unexpected. This is not a “fair-use versus copyright” issue at all. This is a “doing the smart, right thing” issue. Whether or not we think that people should feel ownership over their “ideas” is moot — the issue here is that they do, and as such, to ignore that is short sighted. Books have successfully been assembled using Tweets before. For his book, Twitter Wit, editor Nick Douglas did a good job working with Tweet authors, who had to explicitly submit their best Tweets to be included in the book. As a result, not only was his book received favorably by the Twitter community, every one of the included authors, who are supposedly the most witty on Twitter, each became a promoter for the sale of the book — a winning promotional combination.
So, by not involving the Tweet authors in the publishing of Tweet Nothings, the publishers not only attracted the ire of the wronged authors, but also missed out on a huge opportunity for free, viral promotion. After the exchange with Barnes, the publisher, Peter Pauper Press, issued an official apology in which it said:
We regret that we did not contact the people whose quotes we used in advance. We will be contacting each one with an apology. In the meantime, we are ceasing to sell the book in all venues and will not resume sales until everyone quoted in the book is satisfied with our response.
If that’s the case, and if the publisher stays true to their word, then they may never be able to sell the book again. After all, Merlin Mann, one of the wronged Tweet authors, seems irrecovably pissed.
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David Rosenberg made a point similar to this yesterday. But in case it isn’t clear, the rebound in financial earnings has put the banking sector to basically right back to where it was before the crisis. (Well, they’re not quite at peak profits yet, but as a segment of the economy that’s ridiculously big compared to the rest of the economy, all your dreams of a mean-reversion have been dashed).
This Bloomberg chart comes from Paul Kedrosky:
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Article Tags: Joseph A Olson
Non Science Nonsense
The problem with insatiable greed is that it is….insatiable. There exist among us a group of mega-wealthy megalomaniacs, who have a lust for power that knows no bounds. The world is their monopoly game and their fellow humans are mere place chips to be pushed and shredded for their delight. These demonic demigods have been consolidating their power for centuries and have set their ‘carbon control trap’ to leverage their complete planetary domination.
The East Anglia Event Horizon, on Nov 19, 2009 was a watershed moment in scientific and human history. The hacked Hadley emails pulled the curtain on the greatest FRAUD ever perpetrated on the public. The post industrial monopoly playing pump and dump syndicate made two tactical errors. First, that their well-woven web would not be prematurely disclosed.
The second error was that science was just another commodity that could be pumped and dumped with the same ease as a credit default swap, a derivative or a hedge fund. True scientists are the most objective, most informed and most moral sub-set in the entire human population. Despite two decades of government and Wall Street propaganda, the failed hypothesis of human caused climate change was still totally transparent.
Hadley huckster, Phil Jones stated that the “published emails do not read well”, but in fact they read quite well. The Hadley emails show the level of manipulation, coordination and concealment necessary to foist a world class fraud. Part of that manipulation involved the peer review process and the presumed neutral presenters of science facts, the peer review journals.
Download PDF file to read latest essay from Joseph A Olson, PE
File attachment: NonScienceNonsense.pdf
If you can turn the sound up at your office, you might want to check out the below livestream of Nouriel Roubini, Chris Whalen and others debating the deflation question in a debate hosted by the American Enterprise Institute. Use the comments to narrate the blow by blow.
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Article Tags: You could not make it up
Dr Jim Salinger has been in the thick of it.
Over the past few months, the veteran climate scientist – one of the most recognised men in New Zealand science – has staved off repeated criticism of his climate change work by sceptics, including Rodney Hide and the ACT Party.
His work, and that of other climate scientists, is repeatedly questioned in the debate about whether the planet is heating up, and if humanity’s carbon-burning activities are responsible. Critics have even had a crack at his decades-old Victoria University PhD, which contributed statistics to Niwa’s Seven Stations temperature series – research which showed an increase in temperatures around New Zealand.
“No, I’m not worried, because my research is based on facts, and I reach conclusions,” the 62-year-old says confidently.
“When my PhD thesis was done in 1981, I wanted to work out what was happening with New Zealand climate, particularly temperatures. In those times, we weren’t considering `the greenhouse effect’, and I thought `this is an interesting topic, see if New Zealand’s climate has changed’,” Salinger says.
Source: stuff.co.nz
Filed under: Car Buying, Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz
Automotive News reports that BMW announced final Q1 sales of 265,809 vehicles, besting Audi by an anorexic 1,709 units for the three month period. BMW saw a global sales increase of 14 percent compared to the same period of 2009, buoyed by strong sales of its new X1 crossover and a 56 percent increase in 7 Series sales. BMW sales boss Ian Robertson said in a statement that the company intends to improve sales across the globe, adding, “We are back on our growth track in nearly all the automobile markets.” And BMW isn’t just hoping the market improves – the automaker is counting on an increase in sales courtesy of its new 5 Series lineup, which was launched overseas last month and arrives in the U.S. in June. BMW also has a refreshed 3 Series coupe and convertible on the way as well. With single digit growth, BMW intends to sell 1.3 million vehicles in 2010.
But while BMW pulled out the slimmest of victories in Q1, we’re thinking Audi’s performance during the first three months effectively puts its German competitors on notice. With a very good product lineup and a considerable foothold in China, Audi may well achieve its goal of becoming the largest luxury car maker on earth by 2015 a lot earlier than most people expected.
Gallery: Review: 2009 BMW 750i
[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]
Report: Audi may have passed Mercedes in Q1 global sales, but BMW is still #1 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 12:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Article Tags: ClimateGate, Newspaper Article
Stating that the IPCC will make efforts to ensure that its fifth assessment report carries no errors, its chairman R K Pachauri has ruled out stepping down even if the UN-constituted review committee finds faults in the procedures followed by the climate panel.
“Certainly not. But we will certainly implement any constructive recommendations that we get. As matter of fact, I would be responsible for implementing the recommendations. How can I walk away from that?” Pachauri said.
He was asked whether he would consider stepping down if the UN-constituted Inter-Academic Council review was to come to the conclusion that procedures have not been followed.
Accepting moral responsibility for the error in the fourth assessment report which had claimed that the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035, Pachauri said he also accepts the responsibility placed on him by the world governments by electing him as Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IIPC).
Source: hindustantimes.com
More bad news on the small business front courtesy of Discover, whose own survey absolutely confirms what the NFIB is saying.
Here you go (via David Goldman):
What’s stunning is the divergence between what small businesses see, and what we’re about to hear from large companies during earnings season, who will no doubt talk about a rebound and a turnaround and blue skies ahead.
This bifurcation is certainly a huge story to watch.
Now see the full NFIB results >
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Capcom has released a new trailer for Final Fight: Double Impact. Mike Haggar screams a lot in it.
Article Tags: Alan Caruba, Book, ClimateGate
Over the years, I have read dozens of books by eminent scientists, climatologists and meteorologists, that exposed the lies that support the greatest fraud ever perpetrated in the modern era, “global warming.” I have always wanted to read one that anyone could understand without having sufficient knowledge of the rather complex science involved.
I finally found that book and, would you believe it, the author is a friend! Every month I put aside time to talk with Brian Sussman, a former award-winning television meteorologist turned conservative talk show host on KSFO, San Francisco.
Like myself, Brian has long known that “global warming” is a bunch of horse hockey and, bless him, after the November 2009 revelations contained in several thousand leaked emails among the handful of perpetrators supplying the phony data to support “global warming”, Brian sat down and wrote “Climategate”, published by WND Books and the best $24.95 you will ever spend because it is the best book on the topic I have ever read.
Its official publication date is Earth Day, April 22.
To put it plainly, Brian got it right and he does so on every page as he walks the reader through what is often a complex topic. He does this by drawing on more than twenty years as a meteorologist and science reporter. In 2001, he shocked San Francisco viewers with a career change to become a conservative talk radio host.
Source: factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com
Science fiction writers are a dime a dozen, but certain members of their guild have the power to shape our dreams, and spin us into unimagined worlds of wonder and intrigue. Trying to whittle down a list of thousands of authors to the absolute best was a damned hard task. I had to set one hard rule — the authors had to admit they were writing science fiction. Sorry Atwood and Vonnegut, you’re out. There were so many amazing authors that didn’t make the final cut — Pohl, Farmer, Gibson. But, in the end, these 16 are the true greats of the field.
Banks’ work is divided into two areas — science fiction and literature. The former have his name with middle initial, the latter without. When I picked up The Wasp Factory, I didn’t realize this, and spent a few days with a rather perplexed look on my face. Banks’ genre work tends to show off his strong anarchosocialist ideals — or at least anti-capitalist views. Perhaps best known for his Culture novels, his split of writing literature and sci fi under different names has felt increasingly unnecessary as his career has progressed, as his SF work has become ever more acknowledged for its literary strength.
One of the kings of pulp, Doc Smith was known as the father of Space Opera. Far out technologies, sweeping battles of good and evil, twisted aliens — he knew how to do things right. A food engineer during the day, at nights he penned his galactic tales. Most remember for the Skylark and Lensman series, Smith’s works influenced a generation of writers. Without him, there would have been no Star Wars, no Green Lantern, and no Babylon 5. He invented the space cop, and perfected the evil empire. That’s an impressive freaking legacy.
There’s prolific, then there’s Silverberg prolific. By his own count, Silverberg wrote about a million words a year, in any genre. While science fiction short stories were his forte, he also wrote biographies, non-fiction, and, when times were tough, softcore porn. He has won five Nebula awards, three Hugos, and named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America. That’s a hell of a lot of phallic looking trophies. That said, if I spent 55 years publishing just about annually, I’d want some freaking credit, too!
In addition to having one of the most fucking metal names of all time, Knight essentially shaped the world of science fiction short stories in the latter half of the 20th century. Prolific, intelligent, and so skilled the Science Fiction Writers Of America named their lifetime achievement award after him, Knight’s work is always worth checking out. For people who aren’t familiar with his writing, he’s best known for the “To Serve Man” episode of the Twilight Zone. If you have the time or inclination, reading across a large timespan of his work creates a portrait of an artist evolving. His latter stories became much like Philip K. Dick, filled with post-modern twists, paranoia and occasional batshit weirdness. Seriously, check out his last novel Humpty Dumpty: An Oval — it’s balls to the wall crazy.
Stephenson really came to prominence with Snow Crash in 1992, picking up mantle of cyberpunk, and injecting a mammoth dose of linguistics, big ideas, mathematics and philosophy. These days you can spot Stephenson’s books from across the store just from their sheer size, as he produces some of the most intellectually challenging, well researched and theoretically dense writing imaginable. Like a bunch of you, I have a bad habit of reading into the early hours of the morning if I get hooked on a book. I tried that with Stephenson, and after about midnight, my brains ability to comprehend what he was talking about just shut down, leaving me staring at a page of words without the faculties to make sense of them. While reading his stuff can seem like work at times, it’s always mammothly rewarding to do so.
One of the two “fathers of science fiction”, Wells’ novels are a key part of even the most basic of science fiction libraries. The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, he also wrote what is considered to be the world’s first dystopian novel — When The Sleeper Wakes. Staunchly socialist, and a pacifist, it’s a touch ironic that Wells invented modern tabletop wargaming too. All you Warhammer players have this guy to thank for that.
The other of science fiction’s two daddies, Verne’s work was often more grounded in real science than Wells, but not always by a huge margin. He penned classics like A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in Eighty Days and The Mysterious Island. He’s the world’s second most translated author, with more than 4000 translations enacted on his work. He predicted air conditioning, automobiles, the Internet, television, and electricity. His novel From the Earth to the Moon mirrored the American space program closely, and sent three astronauts to the moon, from a launch site in Florida, with a water landing on re-entry. Of course, he imagined shooting them out of the barrel of a gun, but there you go.
Another king of short stories, Bradbury excelled in horror and scifi, but also dabbled in fantasy and mystery. For novels, he’s most recognized for Fahrenheit 451, and his works have frequently been adapted for the screen — both television and film. They even gave him is own TV show, The Ray Bradbury Theater, which adapted some 65 of his stories. By some counts, he has written more than 400 novelettes and short stories, earning him the National Medal of the Arts, the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, a star on the Hollywood walk of fame and an award named after him for screenwriting. Even though he wrote a considerable amount for television, his most famous novel — Fahrenheit 451 — was an allegory of the mediums ability to dumb down the populace. An interesting sentiment from someone who derived so much success from the box.
Douglas Adams didn’t write nearly as many works as most of the other entries on this list, mostly due to his focusing more on television and radio screenplays then novels. However, the ones he did write ended up having a massive impact on geek culture. Sure, Dirk Gently was funny, and Starship Titanic was a genius game — but it all came down to Hitchhiker’s. Originally a radio play that turned into novels, TV shows, comics and an ill-fated movie. Some argue the radio versions are the most important, others the novels. While both forms tell the same story, there are tidbits scattered throughout that only occur in each medium, rewarding the diligent fan. H2G2, as the series is affectionately known, has become such an essential part of geek culture, that people will reference 42 and babelfish without any understanding of where the concepts come from. Those people are to be smacked resoundingly around the upside of the head, and pointed to the nearest library.
Bearded bastard father of British science fiction, by the age of 16 he was a magazine editor, and brought about the New Wave scifi movement in the mid-60s. Rebelling against the space operas and technology focussed work of their pulp forbearers, New Wave instead embraced a more individualistic, society focused, and literary view on science fiction. They broke off from much of their past, and attempted to revive a genre of big dumb objects into a legitimate literary field, with experimental approaches to narrative, and a rebellion against the American conservative focus of scifi up to that point. And they made a big splash. While it would be a bit much to place all of the kudos for New Wave on Moorcock, his work as an editor and writer were seminal in the movement. For his written work, he’s best remember for his multiverse/multinarrative metanalysis of Campbellian archtypes known as the “Eternal Champion”.
Mean-spirited, notoriously litigious, and a hater of computers, Ellison is one of the most prolific, awarded and well-respected writes of the 20th century. He still apparently refuses to write on a computer, composing his legendary prose on a manual Olympia typewriter. He’s won four Nebulas, 11 Hugos and six Stokers. He’s also created the most perfect literary example of Hell in “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream”, which is quite honestly one of the most horrific stories ever crafted by man. He’s responsible for the classic Star Trek episode “The City on the Edge of Forever” and “Demon with a Glass Hand” for the outer limits. With over 1000 titles to his name (and five wives), it would be far too easy to spend this list just discussing his immense body of work. While doubtless a curmudgeon, he’s also a a classic author.
According to rumors, Philip K. Dick believed that many of his ideas were being beamed into his brain by a space computer god called VALIS. He also knew this was insane, but he got good stories from it, so he didn’t do anything to stop it. Staunchly anti-authority, Dick spent much of his adult life battling drug addiction and mental health issues, while at the same time crafting twisted, paranoid and brilliant fiction. For some reason Dick’s work is loved by Hollywood, if only so they can make films that have almost nothing to do with the original story. Sure Minority Report and Total Recall were pretty good, but they were nothing like the original stories. Luckily, they got at least two right: Blade Runner and A Scanner Darkly. After his death, fans made an android version of PKD for the San Diego Comic Con, but the head was mysteriously lost by an airline employee.
Oh boy, Heinlein. A divisive author if ever there was one. He just about started a religion with Stranger In A Strange Land, and introduced the world to the saying “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” with The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. Starship Troopers has been read by some as pro-Fascist, his other works were fiercely libertarian in bent, with a fair amount of polyamory and group sex thrown in for good measure (though he refuses to write the word “tit”, always using “teat”). Heinlein’s later work became increasingly dense and self-indulgent, with novels like The Number Of The Beast bordering on unreadable wank. However, his early and middle stuff? Pure gold. World changing gold. As much as some people can argue against his views, you cannot deny the mammoth impact he had on the literary corpus of SF.
Herbert’s an interesting case. The (much deserved) success of the Dune novels has dwarfed Herbert’s other work. All of his stories show an appreciation for ecology and the intricate network of life that seems incredibly forward thinking given when he wrote them. Dune is considered the most popular science fiction book ever written, and viewed as a landmark in “soft science fiction” — SF that pays attention to people rather than science. He was also intrigued with the working of society and the mind, and his novels tended to be deftly multi-layered, with extra depth revealing itself on each read through. While his legacy may have been bastardized by his son’s work, the original novels still stand the test of time as immensely cerebral and soulful looks at humanity.
Deserving of this honor due to his immense mutton-chops, if nothing else, Asimov was a God of SF. Not limiting himself to the stars, Asimov was published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System — missing only Philosopy in the 100s. He wrote about science, Shakespeare, mysteries, biographies, astronomy, the Bible and others. And lots, and lots of science fiction. I’ve often hear that his Foundation series were his most popular, but I get the feeling his Robot series rival it, and the two corpora were linked by Asimov later in his life. A life long humanist, feminist, atheist and scientist, Asimov was awarded an astonishing 14 honorary doctorates from various universities. With more than 400 published books to his name, Asimov was a powerhouse, and thanks to him we have an amazing body of literature, and a moral code for robots to prevent their inevitable attempts at uprising.
I debated long and hard over if Clarke or Asimov should take the top spot, and eventually, it just had to be Clarke. His work is so good, and so damned prescient, that it transcends belief. The guy freaking came up with the concept for geostationary communication satellites! An accomplished mathematician, his science fiction work often had a solid core of logic and fact to back up the supposition. Space Odyssey, Childhood’s End, Rama, The Light Of Other Days, Clarke’s novels were amazing and eerily predictive, foreseeing satellite communications, space elevators, the internet, email and teleconferencing. While his writing style was sparse (as was Asimov’s), the ideas painted therein were so vivid and well crafted, that Clarke is appropriately known as the greatest science fiction writer of all time.
Yesterday, I attended a meeting with the International Law Association in Brighton, and the Swedish nuclear programme was raised again. It is interesting that so much international attention has been given recently to what, essentially, is a but a side note in the broader Cold War narrative. Perhaps it’s because Carl Bildt, the Swedish Foreign Minister, reportedly likes to talk about it at meetings. Or perhaps it’s because Jeffrey has given me leeway to write about arcane and, for the most of you, uninteresting topics?
A while back, a friend from a Swedish ministry also asked my why I had not, in my previous posts on the Swedish programme, had not mentioned the Swedish delivery vehicle, SAAB project 1300, or the A36 tactical bomber.
I’m an aviation enthusiast. My father was, for many years, an employee of the Swedish Fortifications Administration. I spent a fair share of my childhood around air-force bases, and got familiar from an early age with the wonderful machines that SAAB has produced over the years. Of course, the SAAB J-35 Draken (‘Kite” or “Dragon’) is a favorite, and so are the JA-37 Viggen (‘Thunderbolt’) and the JA-39 Gripen (‘Griffin’).
Some of you know that I also used to have a glider certificate. I’m not sure if that makes my a lapsed pilot. But my father once managed to get a friend of his to let me fly the JA-37 simulator at the F13 flotilla for one hour. As this counts as experience, I was allowed to log this as flight time in my logbook (I did manage to land the fighter safely. My father, however, crashed and burned).
The Swedish Nuclear Bomber
So I decided to find out more about the A36 bomber. This was a single seat, single engine, delta-wing design. The company planned to use the RR Olympus engine, used in the Vulcan and later used in the Concorde, to give the plane some speed. It was, after all, only supposed to make a quick dash over the Baltic, hit the Soviet embarkation ports, and then make a fast escape back to Sweden.
The aircraft was designed to carry one free-fall nuclear weapon (carried in an internal bay). The weight of the weapon was given as no more than 800 kilograms (or 1760 lb.). Some sources puts the weight of the payload to 600 kilograms (or 1320 lb.). The internal bay was only put into design due to concerns of accidental detonations caused by high air friction.
This was a fast plane, designed to hit Mach 2.2 at high altitudes and at least Mach 1.2 at lower runs. Urban Fredriksson, a Swedish X-Plane enthusiast, has modeled the aircraft and tried it out in the simulator. According to him, the plane “flies better than OK and very close in speed and range to what it should be and it has to be landed very nose high in the manner typical of deltas.” According to one of the designers of the aircraft, the main problem the SAAB engineers faced was the shape of the canopy, which had to be “narrow and pointy” to be feasible.
The project was submitted in 1952 but was cancelled in 1957, to allow for more resources to go into the JA-37 project.
Effects testing
In 1956 and 1957, the Swedish military conducted a number of massive conventional explosions for research purposes at Nausta in Northern Sweden. The first test serious was given the code-name ‘Sirius” and involved three benyl charges (633, 6,040 and 61,000 kilograms). The military wanted to study intense pressures, and were, for some reason, also interested in the height of the mushroom cloud. According to some sources, they noted heights of between 350 and 1,020 meters.
The second series, code-named ‘Vega’, involved two benyl charges (5,000 and 36,000 kilograms). These tests aimed to explore weapons effects, and the military had therefore deployed a number of vehicles, airframes and other materials at the site.
More images from the test series are available here.
I am aware that there might be a number of new publications on the programme coming out in English sometime in the future. I listed a number of primary sources in post here but for some reason all the links are broken. They must have been moved to another part of the site.
However, if you Google, you shall find.
vegetarian vitamins
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Vegetarian Vitamins is a post from the Vegetarian Vitamins Guide blog where you can find suggestions and advice from vegetarians and vegans on vegetarian diets, supplements, vitamins and overall nutrition.
Filed under: Hybrid, Technology, Chevrolet, GM, Electric
General Motors has provided another of its regular updates on the development of the Chevrolet Volt, focusing on its battery and powertrain. With a little over six months to go until the first production model rolls off the line, GM says it is making rapid progress on getting the Volt ready for final validation and certification. Over the past several months, the engineers have been accumulating test miles on the 80 pre-production IVER cars that were built last summer. The fleet has now accumulated over 500,000 miles, with some of the cars having run upwards of 20,000 miles while completing the durability tests.
The durability test cycle is an accelerated test that replicates the wear and tear that typically happens to a car over its lifecycle. According to chief engineer Andrew Farah, the Volt prototypes have met all their goals in both durability and performance. Farah told the attendees that the Volts are regularly hitting the 40-mile electric range target during normal driving, even at temperatures as low as 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Read more about the Volt’s status after the jump.
Gallery: April 2010 Chevy Volt update
Gallery: Quick Spin: 2011 Chevrolet Volt
Photos Copyright (C)2009 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.
Continue reading GM updates us on the Chevrolet Volt’s battery and powertrain development
GM updates us on the Chevrolet Volt’s battery and powertrain development originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.