“Our country owes Justice Stevens tremendous gratitude and recognition for his decades of judicial service,” he said in a statement. “I wish him happiness in the next chapter of his life and look forward to a civil and bipartisan nomination process as we seek to fill his seat on the bench.”
By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews
In a pair of blog posts since the DC Circuit Court of Appeals’ finding Tuesday that the Federal Communications Commission lacked the statutory authority to tell Comcast how to manage traffic on its broadband network, the FCC demonstrated it had officially joined the Internet era by making the dispute into a flame war.
No, the Court did not revoke the FCC’s natural authority to regulate the Internet industry, the Commission stated yesterday. However, it may have removed the FCC’s epaulets and badge, along with its right to serve as what General Counsel Austin Schlick called “the cop-on-the-beat for 21st Century communications networks.”
“Does the FCC still have a mission in the Internet area? Absolutely. The nation’s broadband networks represent the indispensable infrastructure for American competitiveness and prospects for future job creation, economic growth, and innovation,” Schlick wrote. “The Court did not adopt the view that the Commission lacks authority to protect the openness of the Internet.”
Actually, it did. Specifically, the DC Court took the FCC to the proverbial woodshed for presuming that when Congress — or, more accurately, specific congresspersons — set policy guidelines rather than made legislation, the Commission could assume those guidelines to be a congressional mandate. The Court cited a 1976 case concerning the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), where the same DC Court overturned the same FCC’s authority to regulate how utility companies could make use of the then-nascent digital capabilities of cable TV lines to report, for example, electricity consumption. The FCC could not, the Court found, regulate the use of a medium outside of its mandate for communications. The Court also cited three other significant cases, including some in which it found in the FCC’s favor, which are introduced in Betanews’ story yesterday.
…Unlike the way it successfully employed policy statements in Southwestern Cable and Midwest Video I, the Commission does not rely on section 230(b) [of the Communications Act of 1934] or section 1 [of the portion of the Act that created the FCC] to argue that its regulation of an activity over which it concededly has no express statutory authority (here Comcast’s Internet management practices) is necessary to further its regulation of activities over which it does have express statutory authority (here, for example, Comcast’s management of its Title VI cable services). In this respect, this case is just like NARUC II. On the record before us, we see “no relationship whatsoever”…between the Order [regulating Comcast] and services subject to Commission regulation. Perhaps the Commission could use section 230(b) or section 1 to demonstrate such a connection, but that is not how it employs them here.
Instead, the Commission maintains that congressional policy by itself creates “statutorily mandated responsibilities” sufficient to support the exercise of section 4(i) ancillary authority. Not only is this argument flatly inconsistent with [the four key cases establishing ancillary authority, see Betanews’ Thursday story], but if accepted it would virtually free the Commission from its congressional tether. As the Court explained in Midwest Video II, “without reference to the provisions of the Act” expressly granting regulatory authority, “the Commission’s [ancillary] jurisdiction…would be unbounded.”…Indeed, Commission counsel told us at oral argument that just as the Order seeks to make Comcast’s Internet service more “rapid” and “efficient”…the Commission could someday subject Comcast’s Internet service to pervasive rate regulation to ensure that the company provides the service at “reasonable charges”…Were we to accept that theory of ancillary authority, we see no reason why the Commission would have to stop there, for we can think of few examples of regulations that apply to Title II common carrier services, Title III broadcast services, or Title VI cable services that the Commission, relying on the broad policies articulated in section 230(b) and section 1, would be unable to impose upon Internet service providers. If in Midwest Video I the Commission “strain[ed] the outer limits of even the open-ended and pervasive jurisdiction that has evolved by decisions of the Commission and the courts”…and if in NARUC II and Midwest Video II it exceeded those limits, then here it seeks to shatter them entirely.
This is easily the strongest language to date from the DC Court on the limits of the FCC’s regulatory powers. Essentially, the Court is saying that the FCC cannot accept Congress’ request for it to build a Broadband Plan for the nation (as well as to decide what “broadband” really means anyway) as justification for telling Comcast it can’t throttle BitTorrent downloads.
Which is why yesterday afternoon’s response from the FCC’s Schlick is so astonishing. Blatantly, Schlick’s post states that the Court’s ruling has only limited effect on the Broadband Plan, which he characterizes as a new kind of mandate. And just who granted the Commission that mandate? Why, Congress, of course, in its request for it to produce the Broadband Plan:
In 2009, Congress directed the agency to develop a plan to ensure that every American has access to broadband. Just three weeks ago, the Commission released its National Broadband Plan. The Plan contains more than 200 recommendations for bringing high-speed service to underserved individuals and communities, and using broadband to promote American competitiveness, education, healthcare, public safety, and civic participation.
The Comcast/BitTorrent opinion has no effect at all on most of the Plan. Many of the recommendations for the FCC itself involve matters over which the Commission has an “express statutory delegation of authority.” These include critical projects such as making spectrum available for broadband uses, improving the efficiency of wireless systems, bolstering the use of broadband in schools, improving coordination with Native American governments to promote broadband, collecting better broadband data, unleashing competition and innovation in smart video devices, and developing common standards for public safety networks.
Next: After Comcast, the FCC sets its scopes on Verizon…
In a ceremonial flexing this morning of a muscle the Court said the FCC shouldn’t have, Commission Chief of Staff Edward Lazarus posted a blog entry taking Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg to task for comments he made last Tuesday in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations. In recent months, the FCC has suggested the presence of a looming spectrum crisis, citing recent comments from attorneys and executives of Verizon’s rival AT&T, warning of an apocalyptic event some call the exaflood. In that terrible time, demand for bandwidth would become so huge that the Internet would literally run out of spectrum like a desert lake runs out of water.
The Commission had been leveraging those warnings to make its case for potentially reclaiming bandwidth from US broadcasters and repurposing it for wireless Internet communications. For their part, broadcasters argue they may still make use of unused spectrum allocated to them, perhaps for becoming Internet service providers themselves.
But in his speech Tuesday, Verizon’s Seidenberg said there was no such crisis on this, or potentially any, horizon. He used that proclamation as leverage for Verizon’s ongoing argument that technology problems are best resolved by market forces rather than by regulation.
“Now, of course, if I took the self-serving approach, it would be okay, screw the broadcasters. Let’s get their spectrum and we can put it to use in our wireless and cellular business or broadband business,” said Seidenberg in response to a question from the audience. “My reaction is going to surprise you. I don’t think the FCC should tinker with this. I think the market’s going to settle this. So in the long term, if we can’t show that we have applications and services to utilize that spectrum better than the broadcasters, then the broadcasters will keep the spectrum.
“Cable companies have bought spectrum over the last 10 or 15 years that’s been lying fallow. They haven’t been using it,” the Verizon CEO continued. “So here the FCC is out running around looking for new sources of spectrum, and we’ve got probably 150 MHz of spectrum sitting out there that people own that aren’t being built on. I don’t get that. This annoys me…Not to leave the broadcasters out of the debate, there are lots of issues that we have with retransmission and things of that nature we need to solve. But basically, confiscating the spectrum and repurposing for other things, I’m not sure I buy into the idea that that’s a good thing to do.”
But is there a spectrum crisis looming, the questioner persisted? Sure, responded Seidenberg, if we decide to put the equivalent of a transmission tower in everyone’s back pocket: “If video takes off, could we have a spectrum shortage in five or seven years? Could be, but I think that technology will tend to solve these issues. And…I happen to think that we’ll advance fast enough that some of the broadcasters will probably think, let me cash out and let me go do something different. So I think the market will settle it. So I don’t think we’ll have a spectrum shortage the way this document [the Broadband Plan] suggests we will.”
The FCC’s Lazarus saw Seidenberg as somewhat of a turncoat, abandoning what he had thought was a team effort to prove a spectrum crisis existed. Citing prior efforts by Verizon to promote the identification of new spectrum that could be allocated for broadband, Lazarus wrote, “The recent statements by Verizon’s CEO are rather baffling. The fact is, Verizon played a major role in building an overwhelming record in support of more mobile broadband spectrum, consistently expressing its official view that the country faces a looming spectrum crisis that could undermine the country’s global competitiveness…The National Broadband Plan record contains widespread agreement and a solid foundation of factual evidence on the need for the FCC to pursue policies that would free up 500 MHz for mobile broadband by 2020. We hope to work with Verizon and other companies across the communications sector on ways to achieve the important goal of ensuring that the United States has world-leading mobile broadband infrastructure.”
In other words, hopefully Verizon will come back around and rejoin the Plan, writes Lazarus. In recent months, the FCC had used the spectrum crisis as a way of tying the Internet to the concept of the airwaves (which the FCC does regulate statutorily) as opposed to private pipelines (which it does not). If it could focus public attention on the airwaves and wireless as the homebase of the Internet, then it could prove it has more than ancillary authority to serve as its “cop-on-the-beat.” But that argument may have already been choked off earlier this week.
Any authority for the FCC to regulate the Internet directly will need to be mandated by Congress, and not with existing law but with new law. Any effort to produce that new law will inevitably confront opponents sounding the battle cry against “big government.” Market forces, unfortunately, will not resolve that looming crisis.
Mozilla’s serving up a beta of Firefox Lorentz, a version of the browser that runs Flash, Quicktime, and Silverlight videos as a separate processes. If plug-in-caused crashes and stuttering YouTubes have you red in the face, Lorentz offers sweet relief. More »
Flailing video vendor Blockbuster, which has gone so far as to gamble all its Canadian assets to sidestep the bankruptcy train, also has another potential trick up its sleeve — video games by mail.
Consumerist reader Emily forwarded us an e-mail she recently received from Blockbuster where the company says it wants her feedback on adding video games to its current movies-by-mail program:
In addition to sending your favorite movies by mail, Blockbuster is considering giving Total Access members like you the ability to rent video games by mail for no additional charge. You would be able to choose from over 3,000 different games, including many popular new releases. All you’d have to do is add them to your Queue, and we would send them to you just like we do your favorite movies! Please take a moment to complete the following short survey so we can gauge your interest.
Emily also points out that, if Blockbuster were to go through with the plan to offer games at no extra charge, she’d be able to ditch her $20/month subscription to GameFly.
As for whether or not this is something Netflix would get involved in, I talked to Steve Swasey, VP Corp. Communications for Netflix and he made it pretty clear that they’re not even thinking about the video game market:
Sez Steve:
Video games are a different economic model than movies and TV episodes, on which Netflix concentrates to provide the greatest convenience, selection and value to consumers… Movies are perennial. A great movie from 1972 is still a great movie but who wants to play Madden ’95?
If you read this blog I already know you like science. If you’re human — and I hope you are; if not, my friend Seth Shostak may want to speak with you — you like art, too. And if you you actively and creatively combine the two, then please take a look at Science Fair, an art and science show that’s accepting proposals right now! This sounds like a cool project, along the lines of what Brian George did based on my book Death from the Skies!
The page doesn’t say when the actual show will be, but deadline for proposals is Monday April 12, so hop to it!
In the midst of the SXSW festival last month, we reviewed a mobile social network called LoKast. Our one lingering question about the app’s utility, at the time, was were we really going to run around town staring at our phone to see if someone else nearby was running the same app?
The answer was “no” then and is “no” now, but the difference now is that the iPhone OS 4.0 that was announced yesterday allows for background location multitasking. This opens up a whole new realm of experiences for the iPhone.
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First, LoKast. LoKast is a self-described “disposable” social network. That is, as you move about and come near other people running LoKast, you can quickly interact with them. Then, when you move ot of range, you may never see them again. It is social networking based on location, without a persistent friends listing.
So now, with background location monitoring, an app like LoKast is actually feasible. I can turn it on, leave it running and wander around town and perhaps have it notify me when I’m within range of someone.
As Kim-Mai Cutler notes, background location also brings up some “slightly creepy” privacy concerns relating not only to applications running in the background, but also location based advertising. But what if you think about location based advertising like you think of iTunes’ “Genius” function or all the other recommendation engine software you use?
It may be tough to realize that you are not quite the unique snowflake you thought you were and that, indeed, everyday around three you end up at the same coffeeshop, but wouldn’t it be nice for your iPhone to realize this and get you 20% off? Without you even having to lift a finger? Well, fine, maybe you have to lift an iPhone.
The list of ideas for background location are endless. Of course, we’ll have to see how quickly a battery gets drained with persistent GPS monitoring. Having the ability to let our phones deliver us information, as we move about the world, based on our location has some amazing potential.
Think of EveryBlock, the hyperlocal news aggregator that Marshall Kirkpatrick went ga-ga over when it arrived in Portland. The block-level delivery of news wouldn’t even need to wait for you to check it any more – it could simply deliver relevant information as you move about your day. Real-time rideshare services like Avego and Flinc suddenly become that much more feasible, in fast-paced, real-life situations.
We could go on, but we have another couple of months before the next version of the iPhone OS comes out and we’re already too excited as it is. What crazy, creepy or otherwise cool potential do you see with the new background location capabilities?
Mostrando que grande parte das montadoras estão obtendo sucesso no mercado no ano de 2010, a Audi anuncia que teve mais um recorde de vendas de veículos no primeiro quadrimestre desse ano. No total, foram 264.100 unidades vendidas em todo o mundo, o que representa um aumento de 25,9% em relação ao mesmo período de 2008, onde o último recorde da companhia foi registrado. O membro do conselho de gerência da Audi, Peter Schwarzenbauer, diz o seguinte:
“Nós esperamos continuar crescendo no segundo quadrimestre se compararmos ao mesmo período do ano passado. Alguns dos créditos para este contínuo crescimento estão na nova geração do nosso veículo mais visado, o Audi A8, que está em lançamento no momento”.
As vendas na Europa aumentaram 12%, e nos EUA o aumento foi de 34,8%, seguido da África e Oriente Médio onde a alta foi de 40,2%, e no Canadá o aumento foi de 62%. A América do Sul mostrou crescimento de 70,5% e a Ásia registrou 70% em relação ao mesmo período de 2009.
Via | Carro Online
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AAPL Keeps Rising
Shares of AAPL up again this morning as Steve Jobs suggested that iPhone sales exceeded expectations in Q1. Apple currently trades at the high-end of the tech group at 20x estimated fiscal-year 2010 EPS and 19x Enterprise Value / Trailing Twelve Months Free Cash Flow. Catalysts down the road include March quarter results on Tuesday, April 20 (after close); March NPD data on Mac unit sales; and the launch of the next generation iPhone this summer.
Wall Street Jumps On Steve Jobs Hint About Massive Second Quarter iPhone Sales (Barrons)
At the unveiling of the iPhone OS 4 yesterday, Steve Jobs said the company has sold 50 million iPhones. This suggests Q1 sales were about 7.8 million, in line with the most bullish estimates on Wall Street and well above the 6.5 million consensus.
The Cat’s Out Of The Bag, Here’s What You Can Do On The New iPhone OS (Business Insider)
In case you missed the announcement yesterday, Steve Jobs outlined what’s coming in the next version of the iPhone operating system. He said there will be 1,500 new APIs (application programming interface) for developers. Of which, he highlighted seven big new features:
iAd Success Will Be Limited Because It Is A “Self-Interested Service” (paidContent)
David Kaplan at paidContent believes Apple’s new ad platform, iAd, will be limited for two main reasons: 1) “the lack of standard metric for mobile advertising” and 2) the fact that it is an “app-centric” platform. The lack of standard could be one reason why mobile advertising remains fairly immaterial. The other big obstacle is that iAd is based on applications and Kaplan argues that a majority of smartphone users don’t use an iPhone. Fine, but 50 million iPhone units sold with another version launching this summer isn’t too shabby. Just wait until the Verizon iPhone is launched. We should also point out that most ads are built in Flash, currently unsupported by the iPhone.
Apple Is Going To Crush Google In Mobile Advertising, Argues One Pundit (mocoNews)
Steve Jobs said that most people don’t search on their phone by using a web browser, the bread and butter of Google’s business. Instead they are using applications – the foundation of the iPhone. The fundamental difference with iAd versus other mobile ad platforms is that it is built into the operating system, providing developers another revenue stream beyond download sales. iAd will be available this summer for the iPhone and this fall for the iPad. Maybe by then we will know the fate of Google / AdMob.
In Its Quest For World Dominance, Apple Will Take Over The Gaming World As Well (CNBC)
Yesterday, Apple also unveiled its new Game Center in it’s effort to take over the $10 billion gaming market. Features include; automatic in-game matchmaking (which allows players to easily find one another), leaderboards (compare scoring) and achievements (for the braggarts out there). All of these features have proven successful for other gaming leaders, Microsoft (Xbox 360) and PlayStation 3 (Sony). These features could attract new gamers as well as convince those that haven’t participated.
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Filed under: Performance, Europe, Lotus, Russia
Particularly given its performance capabilities, the Lotus Elise has always been remarkably fuel efficient. The Elise (and its hardtop Exige sibling) have long been a rolling testament to the benefits of light weight. Thanks to a new 1.6-liter, 136 horsepower inline-four and a new lower drag nose, the European-spec 2011 Elise S is now officially rated at 46.7 miles per gallon (U.S.) on the EU highway cycle, and the carbon dioxide emissions are just 149 grams per kilometer on the combined cycle.
The CO2 number makes the Elise S the cleanest gas powered sports car in the world, and all without resorting to redundant powertrain hardware like electric motors and batteries. While sipping fuel and minimizing emissions, the Elise S still promises to rip off a 0-60 mph sprint in just six seconds and handle like a dream. That’s what a 1,931 pound curb weight will buy you. Alas, Americans will not be able to buy the 1.6-liter Elise S, as the entry level model here will remain a 190-hp 1.8-liter rated at 21/27 mpg by the EPA.
Gallery: 2011 Lotus Elise
Continue reading The Car That Could Solve Everything: European 2011 Lotus Elise S rated at 46.7 mpg
The Car That Could Solve Everything: European 2011 Lotus Elise S rated at 46.7 mpg originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Whenever someone promises “exposure” instead of payment, run.
Chinese trade data comes out tonight, and that’s huge given the ongoing question over yuan revaluation.
Watch out for a trade deficit with the US! But, as this chart, via Waverly Advisors shows, that’s to be expected in March because the country takes so much time off for the Lunar New Year.
Still though, the last time there was a deficit was in April, 2004.
And don’t miss: 15 facts about China that will blow your mind >
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What sort of longevity records are we talking about with Justice Stevens?
Stevens was appointed to the bench by President Ford in 1975 and is the longest serving member of the current court.
He is a bit more than two years away from becoming the longest serving justice of all time. That record is held by William O. Douglas who was the man Stevens replaced on the high court. Here is a link to the current longevity rankings: http://www.oyez.org/length_of_service?order=field_service_length_value&sort=asc&page=4
Stevens is also the second oldest justice to ever sit on the bench. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. has the record as the oldest to ever serve having retired a couple of months shy of his 91st birthday.
As for these records Justice Stevens told C-Span last year: “No, I’m not out to break any records, I can assure you of that. I just enjoy the work and each year I’ve thought about it I’ve decided that I could continue to enjoy it and continue to make a contribution.”
Here’s some of the latest discussion from the forums:
We look forward to seeing you in the forums! Not already a member? Remember: registration is free.
Deborah Eisenberg reads from Skylark, a Hungarian novel recently republished by NYRB Classics, and talks with Sasha Weiss about why it’s one of the most perfect novels she’s encountered.
I was visiting Barbara Phillip’s Facebook site and noticed a question that was presented regarding collaborating MD and NP’s working together and the concern about stealing their patients. This is a valid concern when one has already established a practice and needs someone to take the edge off due to a volume of new patients. In fact, this is the exact scenario that is occurring in the office I work at now. The following reply is what I said on Barb’s facebook.
I think that you cannot steal a patient who is totally satisfied with their care. I have a new MD coming into the office in a few weeks and my patients are concerned that they will be made to see him instead of me which is not true. He gets the new patients and I keep mine. I see my other collaborating MD’s patients if he is not available and he does the same for me. A few have switched from his side to me and vice versa but not enough to concern me. If I saw a a drastic move over, I would have to seriously evaluate my practice technique. We use anonymous surveys at the office in order to ascertain patient satisfaction good or bad.
What do you think about “stealing patients”? Do you think that it’s really effecting MDs who hire NPs?
Here’s the thing about this render that purportedly is of the HTC Incredible: It’s probably pretty close. The shape and lines are pretty much what we’ve seen leaked out any number of ways. (Like this, or this, or this, or this.) But it’s just a render, we don’t when it was, erm, rendered (or by whom), and it’s missing the ring around the trackpad that actually lets you click on things. So take it for what it is, but don’t get overly excited about it. [Wikipedia via Android and Me]
The Pakistani stock market is on a tear… yet it must to be one of the least hyped markets in the world.
Three major Wall Street firms have progressively shuttered their local equity research businesses…
Citigroup’s Citibank shuttered its equity research office in Karachi, the nation’s financial capital, in March. Credit Suisse Group closed its research operations in the same city earlier this year. That follows JPMorgan Chase’s decision in late 2008 to suspend its brokerage operations, also in Karachi.
…yet nobody has cared. The Karachi 100 Index has just kept rallying and seems little concerned about the lack of Wall St. noise machines promoting it:
On a three-year chart, it looks like JP Morgan freaked-out during the crisis, and their freak-out at the end of 2008 nearly called the market bottom which came on January 23rd. The market has kept rising post the departure of Credit Suisse and Citi.
The fact that Wall St. is leaving makes us want to believe in Pakistan’s rally, despite all the country’s problems.
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It is really disheartening to consider how many false starts the electric car has had in America. Some of the first vehicles on America’s roads were electric cars, but for one reason or another (but mostly cheap oil) the electric car has never managed to break into the American mainstream. The closest we ever got was with the GM EV-1, the Toyota RAV4 EV and other cars brought about by the short-lived 1990’s California EV mandate, and those cars didn’t exactly have a happy ending.
Now we’ve got a new President and new policies pushing for electric cars, but so does the rest of the world. One of our biggest rivals in the coming years will be China. The Chinese government has just initiated a new policy to help boost domestic production of electric vehicles. So could we be driving Chinese-built electric cars in coming years?
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Bullrun is back from its little hiatus so fans around the U.S. can now relax and get back to rooting for their favorite teams. We’re now halfway home and 6 teams remain to battle it out for the $200,000. Any alliances that are left are now fragile at best and the teams are now all out for blood. Some short term friendships will be formed but only out of sheer necessity.
The first leg took our teams in route to Christmas Valley, Oregon, a place where the collective tooth count looked to be about seven – this was straight up deliverance country ladies and gentleman. Some changes also began to take place on this leg as Team Lambo was scaling back on their usual antics. Team NSX however was all hot and heavy to ramp up theirs and make things interesting. With NSX still riding high from their last challenge win and their confidence level boosted, they now began screwing with everyone. From their little fuel stunt, to hiding in the weeds playing automotive commando, Team NSX was intent on taking the bad guy role away from Team Lambo. This is great news for Team Lambo, but bad news for Team NSX.
The first into checkpoint one was Team Hemi Cuda with the rest of the teams scrambling to find it. For some reason this checkpoint confused the crap out of everyone as they were driving in circles for what seemed like hours. There was also the little matter of the local police busting chops, as teams BMW and Challenger got pinched for no apparent reason.
Once everyone got the new route cards they began the long trek to their next checkpoint in Alfalfa, Oregon and back into deliverance country. Along this route we saw Teams Lambo and Hummer team up, but only for about 5 minutes until Team Hummer dissed them by not giving them the right information, otherwise they were all buddy buddy. Teams Hummer, Lambo and NSX were first to the route card, with Challenger, Cuda and BMW bringing up the rear. The next and final destination was in Oakridge, Oregon where the teams would compete in the challenge: Kidnap.
Coming in first place with the best leader board time was Team Hummer. These guys have slowly been kicking ass in not only navigation but the challenges as well. It’s great to see them excelling at the game. The bottom two teams were BMW and Challenger. Now, when it came time to choose a team to put in, Team Hummer wanted to draw numbers which really wasn’t a bad idea in my opinion. For some reason this pissed off Team NSX as they felt that Team Lambo should have competed. Obviously they felt all high and mighty because they had the immunity wrench and wanted everyone to know it. However I think they probably would’ve kept their mouths shut if they hadn’t gotten it. Like I’ve said before, it’s all about how you play the game.
Since NSX was immune Team Hummer chose Team Hemi Cuda to face off against BMW and Challenger. Mark, The Ice Man from Team Cuda, did not seem pleased with this, but since he shows absolutely no emotion whatsoever I’m purely going on speculation. The challenge was called Kidnap and consisted of chasing down the Bullrun Mustang and rescuing your co-driver from the Bullrun clutches of doom. Once safely back in the passenger seat you needed to drive back through an obstacle course and park in the stop box.
I have to preface this next part by saying that if you have a car with traction control and you are going to compete in the challenges LEAVE THE F*CKIN’ THING ON!!! All you boneheads turn it off and end up messing yourselves up. BMW, this is twice that you’ve turned it off and twice that it bit you in the ass. Once on the dirt track where you spun and then again last night when you almost lost it going up that hill. It’s there to help you, not hurt you so unless it’s a drifting event don’t touch that button! BMW hit the course, and aside from the aforementioned almost spin, they did quite well.
Next up was Team Hemi Cuda and as usual Mark “The Iceman” Janos nailed it. Keep in mind that we have 5 teams remaining after last nights episode and out of those 5 teams and based on what I’ve seen, Mark is really the best and only hot shoe in the bunch. Teams, I’d be VERY worried about coming up against him in any type of challenge. Team Challenger was up next on the course and according to the footage they seemed to do ok. This was in fact the first time that I wasn’t clear who won. I mean it was kinda’ clear that Cuda nailed it, but I had no idea about Challenger and BMW. When the times were tabulated it was Hemi Cuda on top, BMW in second and Challenger in last. Guys, I’m really sorry to see you go. You were a great team and a lot of fun to watch and I was really hoping that you guys were going to hit top 3. Congrats for making it as far as you did and I hope you enjoyed the ride. Until next week… Angry Out.
