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Early last year, our very own Drew Phillips spotted the Frogman Rocket II doing its best to blend in among the other, less-outrageous creations at the Grand National Roadster Show. At the time, he wondered what it must be like to throw a leg over a trike powered by a supercharged Hemi V8 with over 1,000 horsepower. Now we know. The owner is a kindly soul by the name of Tim Cotterill who decided to have a short film made about the creation.

The action focuses mainly on long, dreamy shots of the Rocket II doing what it does best – generating speed and shoveling bucketfuls of fuel down the engine’s throat via two Holley double pumpers. The sound of this thing is beyond intoxicating, and the craftsmanship only helps to return us to our wide-eyed elementary school selves. Crafted by none other than the Blastolene – the same crew that’s responsible for Jay Leno’s tank car – the Rocket II wears the kind of over-the-top style that makes us downright giddy.

Hit the jump to see the 10-minute feature for yourself. Thanks for the tip, Brian!

[Source: YouTube]

Continue reading Video: Frogman Rocket II Trike stars in short film, is our kind of crazy

Video: Frogman Rocket II Trike stars in short film, is our kind of crazy originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 18 May 2010 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier we brought you the latest alarming comments from noted Dow Theorist Richard Russell, who is advising people to sell everything they can, ahead of a radical change in America.

You think that’s hyperbolic and ridiculous?

Well consider this, from a reader, who writes:

I’ve been watching the charts and listening to Bob Prechter and we are in a wave C down cycle that will be very swift and steep.

Now are you convinced?

Don’t miss: the 25 financial companies most likely to default >

Join the conversation about this story »

CBS will be announcing its fall season lineup at it’s upfronts press conference in Hollywood on Wednesday, and the network will reported pull the plug on four of its dramas and at least two comedies at tomorrow’s event, according to TVByTheNumbers.com.

Sources have confirmed that long-running but ratings-addled crime drama Cold Case has been axed after seven seasons. Numb3rs, which ran on the network for six seasons, has been removed from the schedule as well. Also getting the boot, Jennifer Love Hewitt’s supernatural cult series Ghost Whisperer and The New Adventures of Old Christines — which stars Wanda Sykes and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

In addition, freshman series Miami Medical, which stars Omar Gooding, and Accidentally On Purpose, featuring Jenna Elfman, will be saying goodbye, TV tattles report.

Maybe you weren’t surprised that Sen. Landrieu and Rep. Boehner called for expanding oil drilling in the face of BP’s oil disaster.  Maybe you are so jaded that you expected Newt Gingrich’s “drill here, drill now” campaign to continue as the disaster grew and grew.

But I expect this statement from Missouri’s Sam Graves (R) will make you wonder whether he has jumped to an alternate reality:

[Please put your head in a vise before continuing.  You have been warned.]

Like many of you, I’ve been following the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This tragic environmental disaster is partly the result of America’s unworkable energy plan. We wouldn’t need to drill hundreds of miles off the coast, in thousands of feet of water if we had access to fossil fuel deposits located onshore in the United States.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska is a perfect example of how we can drill safely and in an environmentally responsibly way on land we already control…

Because of self-imposed onshore drilling limitations, America is more dependent than ever on foreign sources of energy. The only way we can become less dependent on overseas oil is to develop American sources of energy, like ANWR and our massive reserves of oil shale in other western states.

[Insert your snappy riposte here.]

We must destroy the environment to save it.  That is all.

h/t FU!M

For the record, EIA concluded a while back that new offshore drilling will lower gas prices in 2030 a few pennies a gallon.

Behold, my ultimate wet dream: Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Galaxian, Galaga, Zaxxon, Pengo, Frogger, 1942, 1943, Phoenix, Time Pilot, Bomb Jack, Arkanoid, and even Burger Time—48 classic games inside a beautiful Lego arcade cabinet. More »

In today’s link roundup, Uncertain Chad points to a new digital library of mathematical function. As a huge, huge fan of Abramowitz & Stegun (which can now be downloaded as a PDF, if you would rather not have it sitting majestically on your shelf), I am thrilled.

Sometimes you’ll be happily calculating along, and wind up with an equation you wouldn’t want to meet at night in a dark alley. But, a quick flip through Abramowitz & Stegun frequently turns up your nemesis, along with handy tricks for disarming it. Additional satisfaction comes when you write the paper, and get to throw off lines like “The solutions to equation 4 are confluent hypergeometric functions (of the first kind)”.

However, it will be hard top my amusement when I once discovered that the solutions to my problem were closely related to Anger functions.

I can only hope that Dr. Hate and Professor Loathing someday derive equally useful function forms.

Richard Blumenthal should resign because of questions about his record in the Vietnam era, says Lee Whitnum, a candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Whitnum has clashed with Blumenthal in the past regarding other issues, but she says that the Vietnam issue requires his resignation.

“He needs to resign,” Whitnum said in a statement Tuesday. “In light of lies about his military record but more important about his role in the financial meltdown that happened right here in Wilton” at the financial products division of AIG.

AIG has been highly criticized for awarding bonuses to employees after receiving federal bailout funds.

“The entire AIG FP fiasco could have been prevented,” Whitnum said. “He didn’t do his job and as a result, the greatest financial debacle and bailout in this recession took place right here in Wilton, Connecticut and the AIG FP guys just got bonuses – again.”

[JURIST] A Chinese court on Tuesday convicted Huang Guangyu, formerly China’s richest man [Hurun report], of illegal business dealings, insider trading, and corporate bribery. Huang was previously the chairman of Pengrun Investments and founder of subsidiary GOME Electrical Appliances [corporate website], both publicly traded on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges. The court sentenced Huang to 14 years in prison, fined him 600 million yuan (88.23 million USD), and ordered him to turn over valuable assets. Huang was charged [JURIST report] in February by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate [official website, in Chinese], almost 15 months after he was initially placed under detention. His case has been the subject of intense media coverage in China involving allegations of bribery [Xinhua reports] to high-level Shanghai police among others.

Huang’s conviction is part of a wider campaign in China to crack down on corruption, which is seen by many as a threat [CE report] to China’s future stability. On Monday, an appeals court upheld the conviction [JURIST report] of three mining employees for stealing commercial secrets. In February, the president of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) [official website, in Chinese] called for increased efforts [JURIST report] to fight corruption among the judiciary. The president’s statement came just two weeks after former SPC vice president Huang Songyou was convicted [JURIST report] on bribery and embezzlement charges. In January, the Communist Party of China [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] announced [JURIST report] increased oversight of the families of government officials to control corruption.

Update: the government has confirmed a naked short selling bond in certain securities. The euro has fallen below $1.23.

Original post: There are headlines coming out of Germany that the government may institute a short-selling ban.

Earlier, ZeroHedge cited a Reuters article saying that a short-selling ban would apply to stocks and bonds.

But according to ForexLive, the report indicates that it’s a naked short-selling ban.

There’s also chatter that Merkel may push for a transaction tax at the G20 meeting.

We have no idea what’s actually going to happen, but things have deteriorated in the last several minutes.

The Dow is off 57.

The euro may soon slide below $1.23.

Join the conversation about this story »

The New Jersey Democratic legislator and intelligence oversight maven has finally won on a fight he’s waged to record military interrogations. As The Wall Street Journal reports, a May 10 memo from Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn instructs interrogators gathering high-value intelligence off the battlefield — that is, Bagram and Guantanamo Bay in particular — to get their videocameras out when talking with detainees.

That’s been a concern of Holt’s for a while. He’s argued that not only will videotaping interrogations function as a measure to prevent detainee abuse, but it’ll create a useful lessons-learned library for training interrogators or honing their skills. Last October, he got a measure requiring the videotaping into the conference report for the defense appropriations bill.

“The Pentagon’s long awaited regulation of the provision I secured in last year’s National Defense Authorization Act continues the process of putting our detainee policies back on sound legal footing while improving our ability to get actionable intelligence,” Holt said in response to a request for comment from TWI (and subsequently emailed out in a press release). “As President Obama and local law enforcement officials across the country already know, we get better intelligence and protect both the interrogator and the person being interrogated by requiring recordings.”

BMW could launch a hybrid version of the 5-series as early as 2011, CEO Norbert Reithofer told shareholders at the luxury-car maker’s annual meeting in Munich on Tuesday.

A 3-series hybrid employing the same technology could also join at some point, according to the Reuters news agency. The hybrid underpinnings come from the 5-series ActiveHybrid concept shown at the Geneva motor show in March.

These hybrids would join the X6 SUV hybrid, which is considered a full hybrid, in the German luxury maker’s line. The 7-series hybrid, called the ActiveHybrid 7, is due this spring but is a mild hybrid, not capable of being propelled on electric power alone.

BMW, Ferrari, Porsche and nearly every other luxury-car company is racing to introduce hybrids to comply with stricter emissions standards around the world and in response to consumer demand.

The companies also are attempting to launch models that are green but still remain true to the sporting heritage of their brands.

For more

Source: Car news, reviews and auto show stories

Via Prison Planet.com » Sci Tech

Jeff Poor
Newsbusters
May 18, 2010

If you asked people what the two key events in the 20th century were, most would likely point to World Wars I and II because they transformed civilization. However, can something like the debate over climate change be as equally transformative? 

James Delingpole, author of “Welcome to Obamaland: I’ve Seen Your Future And It Doesn’t Work,” spoke at the Heartland Institute’s International Conference on Climate Change on May 17, and insisted he wasn’t being hyperbolic when he likened the climate change debate to the two world wars. Delingpole, who coined the term “ClimateGate,” alleged the debate of the issue and the potential policies it may lead to would in fact shape the world as those two event had. [7:29]

“[I] think that evil people like me, people who are not afraid of taking the argument ad hominem occasionally and being a bit sort of naughty – I think we have a part to play in this war,” Delingpole said. “And I use that word ‘war’ quite deliberately because I think what we are fighting now is a war as important in its way as the wars of violence that our fathers and our grandfather fought in the first World War, the second World War, because ultimately what we’re fighting for is exactly the same thing. What we are fighting for is liberty.”

Delingpole had written for the U.K. Telegraph’s blog on Nov. 20, 2009, this was the final nail in the coffin of the manmade or “anthropogenic global warming” debate. However, he had expressed concern the momentum in the debate had waned and said the battle wasn’t just scientific, but ideological.

“The whole debate about AGW [anthropogenic global warming] is not just about the battle for scientific truth,” he continued. “It is essentially a battle between two diametrically opposed views of the world. If you look at the entire history of the global warming movement from the junk science that was Rachel Carson’s ‘Silent Spring’ that killed millions of people by banning the drug that dealt with malaria and mosquitoes.”

He said the global warming alarmist crowd was anti-capitalism and generally more anti-humanity, hence the obsession with Malthusian theory and mankind’s role on the planet.

“You look at the entire history of the global warming movement and what you realize time and again – it is the work of not of scientists pursuing truth but of activists who have a very particular view of the world,” Delingpole said. “That view is essentially a view of the world which hates humanity, which sees mankind as a blot on the landscape. They are obsessed with the idea of overpopulation. They are also very much against capitalism in any form. They talk about the limits to growth.”

For evidence of this hypothesis, Delingpole offered the alarmists’ view of what solutions are appropriate, through big government and the doubt in man’s ability to innovate. [9:55]

“So they hate people, they hate the western economy,” Delingpole said. “And that believe resources are scarce. We’re going to run out very soon and we must do something about it and the only way to deal with it is not as we’ve dealt with them in the past by inventing new technologies but by big government stepping in and telling us what to do and controlling our lives.”

No, no…Cisco isn’t buying Motorola. Rather it’s agreed to buy Moto Development Group, a design consultancy based in San Francisco. It’s Cisco’s attempt to give its consumer products division a boost. Moto has developed products for Sirius, Intel, Logitech, LiveScribe and other startups. As a group, Moto has been pushing the envelope on some of the new technologies such as running Android on e-Readers and DIY home energy monitors.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Cisco says that the new design team will report to Cisco Consumer Products Chief Jonathan Kaplan. CCP is responsible for Linksys, Valet and Flip Video product lines.

My take on this deal: It’s a small price and one worth paying if Cisco is really serious about consumer products. At least the San Jose, Calif.-based router maker knows that it’s a bit out of its depth in the consumer market and isn’t shy about looking help elsewhere. However, over the long term I have my doubts that Cisco will be a huge player in the consumer markets. But the company gets an “A” for effort from me.

All eyes are on San Francisco’s Moscone Center this week, where 4,000 developers will gather for Google’s I/O conference. The event was used last year to launch Google Wave.

It promises to put a lot of emphasis on the future of TV and online video this time around, as Google is expected to introduce its Google TV platform in cooperation with Intel and Sony as well as to open-source its VP8 codec.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini has been quoted as saying that Google TV promises to be the “biggest single change in television since it went (color),” and the Free Software Foundation predicted earlier this year that open-sourcing VP8 could kill Adobe’s Flash. In other words: It’s history in the making — at least for Google fans.

Unfortunately, Google I/O has been sold out since early March. However, you’ll be able to follow the fun through the keynote live stream available at YouTube.com/GoogleDevelopers.

Here’s the exact schedule of the keynotes:

• Day 1 Keynote: Wednesday, May 19, 9:00-10:30 a.m. PT
• Day 2 Keynote: Thursday, May 20, 8:30-10:00 a.m. PT

Don’t want to miss out on the feeling of sitting in an overcrowded room while watching these? Then you might want to check with your local Google Technology Users Group, many of which are organizing screenings of the live stream at Google offices and other appropriate places around the world.

Image courtesy of Flickr user Ryan Holst.

Related content on GigaOM Pro: TV Apps: Evolution from Novelty to Mainstream (subscription required)

It seems that the romance between Lindsay Lohan and DJ Samantha Ronson was not only a pilot phase of the actress, but actually she is a lesbian.

According to perezhilton.com, Lohan, 23, is related to Indrani Pal Chaudhuri, a 36 years old photographer and reality TV star, who worked for a session last fall.

“We’ve been together for awhile. I never had a relationship with a woman, but Lindsay is fascinating, fabulous and extremely intelligent, sexy plus super,” said Indrani.

The photographer explained that Lindsay is very strong, creative and trying to lead their lives on the right track, although it has had a lot of pressure.

“Indrani is a good influence on Lindsay, is opposed to the girls party … when they talk about art together,” said a fellow photographer of Indrani.

No related posts.

Last month, Twitter bought Tweetie—our most favorite of all iPhone Twitter apps—with the intention of rebranding it as the free, official Twitter for iPhone app. It looks like that change is imminent—Tweetie 2 disappeared from the App Store this morning without a trace, and presumably Twitter for iPhone will show up sometime soon—possibly even today or tomorrow—to take its place. We’ll have a hand-on when it does. More »

Tangled up in extramarital affairs, politicians tend to be contrite, remorseful, apologetic — any number of things designed to make them appear humble in the face of the intense public scrutiny they inevitably face. (“If there was ever anything I could take back in my life, this would be it,” Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) said last year after finding himself in a similar pickle.)

So it was odd to see the statement this morning from Rep. Mark Souder, the “family-values” Republican from Indiana found today to be not as committed to his family as he’d have us believe.

It’s not that he doesn’t start well:

It has been a privilege to be a part of the battle for freedom and the values we share.

But then he immediately moves on to imply that the strains of the job — and the sacrifices he’s made for his constituents — led him astray.

It has been all consuming for me to do this job well, especially in a district with costly, competitive elections every two years.

I do not have any sort of “normal” life — for family, for friends, for church, for community.

That’s followed by a brief shift back to humble-servant mode:

To serve has been a blessing and a responsibility given from God.

I wish I could have been a better example.

I sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part-time member of my staff.

But then he’s back to blaming external factors for the position he’s put himself in:

In the poisonous environment of Washington, D.C., any personal failing is seized upon, often twisted, for political gain.

I am resigning rather than to put my family through that painful, drawn-out process.

Diane and my family were more than willing to stand here with me.

Finally, he accepts responsibility:

But the error is mine and I should bear the responsibility …

I am so ashamed to have hurt those I love.

But that’s followed by the claim that his resignation is a heroic gesture designed to salvage the policies he advocated in Congress.

By stepping aside, my mistake cannot be used as a political football in a partisan attempt to undermine the cause for which I have labored all my adult life.

If there’s a message in all of this contradiction, he doesn’t make it easy to glean.

With Hollywood getting the right to break your TV and DVR thanks to the FCC’s granting of a waiver to let them use selectable output control to stop DVRs from recording certain movies, the MPAA insisted that this was a huge win for consumers. Why? Because it meant that the Hollywood studios would rush to put movies on TV earlier than ever before. Except… apparently, that’s not actually the case. Despite the victory, no studios have stepped up to make use of the new ability to stop your DVR from recording, because they’re scared about how the movie theaters will react to greater competition. Of course, the theaters are notoriously unwilling to allow any threat of actual competition from home viewership to encroach on their turf, even if it could actually help theaters.

But, uh, the whole argument that supposedly convinced the FCC to give the Hollywood studios this waiver was that they would make use of it to give consumers more access. Quoting from the FCC’s decision:

This offering will allow the homebound, parents with young children, and others who simply want to stay in for the night to choose a
new entertainment option that they may value highly….

[On] balance, grant of MPAA’s waiver request will provide a benefit to those who have the appropriate
equipment and would like to view movies in their homes in an early release window that outweighs the
limited impact on consumers with legacy devices….

So, a large part of the basis of the FCC approval was that it would increase content availability to homes. But that’s not happening. Does that mean the FCC will admit that the entire basis for the approval was wrong?

Oh, and my favorite part is how the MPAA is playing this. Acting MPAA boss Bob Pisano put out the following statement when the FCC’s announcement was made on May 17th:

“This action is an important victory for consumers who will now have far greater access to see recent high definition movies in their homes. And it is a major step forward in the development of new business models by the motion picture industry to respond to growing consumer demand…” (emphasis added)

So, gee, what does Pisano have to say, just a few days later when it turns out that none of that is true?

When asked about the studios’ plans late last week, Bob Pisano, the president of the Motion Picture Association of America, said, “I can’t tell you that, because I don’t know.” To comply with antitrust law, he added, “we stay out of business-model decisions.”

Uh huh. So, let me get this straight. He argued — successfully — to the FCC, that granting this waiver to break people’s TVs and DVRs would certainly create new business models and allow much more content to be available earlier. But, when it comes to actually supporting that, he claims that the MPAA “stays out” of business model decisions? So, how could he possibly have promised such “new business models” to the FCC in the first place?

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Lin Yu Chun (Chinese: 林育羣; pinyin: Lín Yǜ Qǘn; born March 9, 1986 in Taipei) is a singer, who gained fame by appearing on a Taiwanese talent show, Super Star Avenue (超級星光大道), singing “I Will Always Love You” (originally by Dolly Parton) in the style of Whitney Houston’s cover version. He is well-known for his mezzo-soprano-like countertenor singing voice, although he has a grown-up young man’s voice. Sony Music Entertainment announced they had signed Lin Yu Chun to a record deal. Lin Yu-chun officially joined Sony Music signing at a press conference on the last week, which was held in Shanghai San Want Hotel. SME said in a statement Thursday that Lin Yu-chun’s debut, featuring Chinese and English songs, will be released in July. It quoted 24-year-old Lin as saying, “I still can’t believe this is real.” Sony didn’t say if the album would have his rendition of the Dolly Parton ballad later covered by Houston.

Lin gained notice just a month ago on Taiwan’s “Avenue to Stardom,” which I was going to show you, but I found a more cohesive clip of him from his appearance last month on the Ellen show. His performances are becoming an Internet sensation and have drawn comparisons to Susan Boyle, who of course is the 48-year-old Briton famed for performing “I Dreamed a Dream” on “Britain’s Got Talent.” And don’t forget that Boyle also has something in common with Lin: she’s signed with Sony.

Hugh Hefner’s barely-legal, identical playmates Karissa and Kristina Shannon — AKA The Shannon Twins — have been tossed out of the Playboy Mansion, according to PopEater.com.

The men’s mag mogul initially asked Karissa and Kristina, 20, to move from the Playboy Mansion to the adjoining Playmate House after his relationship with Crystal Harris grew more serious, but they have now moved out of the estate completely due to the 84-year-old magazine founder’s unhappiness at them having boyfriends.

“After a couple of weeks, Hef was getting a little bit upset about the boyfriends, so he wanted us to move out. We need to update people about what’s going on. We were not allowed to have boys in the house. That was the absolute number one rule – no boys allowed. That was one of the main reasons we moved out,” Karissa tells PopEater.com. “Living there and being seen out with other guys, (Hugh) was tripping.”

She has since moved in with actor beau Sam Jones III.

Kristina, on the other hand, recently split from her Somewhere co-star Stephen Dorff after the challenges of a long-distance love affair became too great.

“There was serious attraction. We really seriously dated for a month. He said he was going to be gone for six months and I’m here in Los Angeles. We’re still friends. It wasn’t a serious hardcore thing. We weren’t fighting or anything.”