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Filed under: Aftermarket, Etc., Honda, Suzuki, Toyota, India, Tata, Design/Style

It was bound to happen. Think back to when Volkswagen Beetles infested the roads of the globe; there was no shortage of customized Bugs. Tata aims to put the world on wheels with its low-priced Nano, offering mobility to India’s massive population for what many Americans just dropped on Black Friday. To stave off an impending swarm of same-same vehicles, and cash in with buyers looking to stand out, New Delhi-based Carnation Auto (not to be confused with North America’s Car Nation) has teamed up with Dilip Chhabria’s DC Design to offer prefab-custom options for the Nano.

The endeavor has been given the tagline, “The Artist Meets the Enabler,” and it began with tarted-up offerings for the Toyota Innova, creating a car called the Innov8. If the reworked MPV is any indication, we can expect the DC Design Nano to have an interior that apes a Gulfstream, while we can all plainly see what’s been done to the exterior. The Nano kit is not yet available, but Carnation says it will be ready to join the already-available Innova, Honda City, and Suzuki Swift kits in 2010. We’re sure opinions abound over this visually-charged Nano, so feel free to express yourselves in the comments. Press release posted after the jump.

[Source: CarnationDC.com via Indian Auto Talk]

Continue reading It Begins: First tuned Tata Nano spotted

It Begins: First tuned Tata Nano spotted originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Canada

It’s official, Formula 1 and Montreal are in love again. Bernie Ecclestone’s supersonic price increases in 2008 drove the Canadian venue (and North America entirely) off the map in 2009. It was the first time in three decades that the F1 club didn’t visit Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and by the end of this summer, everyone was highly motivated to get it back.

When Ecclestone’s original demand of $175 million Canadian ($165M U.S.) over five years became $75 million Canadian, ($71M U.S.), the Montreal, Quebec, and Canadian governments got together to split the cost three ways. When the government’s commitment to spend such an amount on a sporting event was questioned, Quebec’s minister of finance replied that the GP will cost Quebec $4 million but return $10 million to its coffers alone. On top of that, Ecclestone promised them 30% of ticket sales every year, which, for a hugely popular grand prix, should be a substantial number. Vive le Montreal GP and June 13, 2010! Thanks to everyone who submitted tips

[Source: F1 Live | Photo credit: Vinod Sankar via CC2.0]

Canadian GP back on F1 calendar through 2014 originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bagels.

Yum. Those round, dense, chewy, tasty bites of history now grace the plates of people from all over the world. Toasted or not, slathered with cream cheese, lox and whitefish, or topped with pizza or sandwich fixin’s…bagels are mainstream! McDonald’s even has had Breakfast Bagel sandwiches filled with egg and cheese.

I literally cut my teeth on bagels, as many kids did. Every Sunday as far back as I can remember, our family shared bags and bags of fresh, warm bagels on our breakfast / lunch table along with vast amounts of the best lox, whitefish, tomatoes, onions and of course, cream cheese. Bagels have been a part of our family’s daily menu as well, for a quick breakfast, or a late-night snack or something in-between, bagels rock!

You can buy bagels fresh, frozen, whole-grain, egg, blueberry, and all the way up to the “Everything” bagel. Best of all, you can make them at home for your family (See my recipe for homemade 100% whole-grain bagels.)

One thing that bagel-lovers share, no matter what their ethnic background, is the danger while cutting those sometimes-slippery rounds of deliciousness. Over the years, we have seen several different types of safety bagel cutters on the market. Remember the old plastic clamshell-type cutter (circa 1960-70’s)? Didn’t work so hot because they only worked (somewhat) on the small grocery-store type of bagels, but even then, it was a dangerous operation for fingers and bagels alike. It also did not accommodate the uneven, large shape of the handmade or homemade bagels. Similar problems exist with the bagel slicers available today, injuries can occur.

According to The American Society of Hand Therapists (ASHT), bagel-cutting injuries are a serious problem. Here’s an excerpt from their information regarding what they refer to as “Bagel-Hand.” (I’m not kidding, take a look for yourself!)

“Bagel hand“
Ask many doctors and hand therapists what they believe to be the most dangerous food for possible injury during preparation or serving – and many will say bagels! Thousands of people each year end up in the emergency room from slicing more than just their bagels. According to the Department of Emergency Services at George Washington Hospital in Washington, D.C., the most under-reported injury is hand cuts from slicing bagels. Some emergency rooms have even started calling the ligament and tendon damage “bagel hand.” Many of these injuries are so severe they require surgery and months of hand therapy to regain normal movement and function.

“Use a bagel slicer instead of a knife,” says ASHT President Christine Muhleman, OTR, CHT.

Good advice!

I have FINALLY found a wonderfully versatile, truly safe, bagel cutter in the Brooklyn Bagel Slicer. THIS is the one I would let my children use. When I was asked to review this product I had no idea what it would look like and given my past experiences with awkward, ineffective and dangerous bagel cutters, slicers and guillotines, I was hopeful for the elusive safe bagel-cutting utensil for my whole family.

When I opened the box and saw the Brooklyn Bagel Slicer, my first reaction was “Now that is adorable!” But the fun really set in when I used it. Ingeniously simple, the Brooklyn Bagel Slicer works and works well with no nicked fingers, no cut hands, no mangled or mooshed bagels and no slippage.

In Product Testing, the only bagel slicer that passed our tests for safety and efficiency is the Brooklyn Bagel Slicer. This is the only one we can recommend for the whole family.

Photo: Brooklyn Bagel Slicer

Advantages of the Brooklyn Bagel Slicer are many. They include the fact it is well-made and sturdy, but lightweight and easy to use, even for a child. The design keeps the cutting blade away from the edge of the cutter so the fingers and hand do not come in contact with the blade. Additional advantages include NSF® certified, dishwasher-safe and easy to store. A BIG plus is that the Brooklyn Bagel Slicer is made in the U.S.A. and developed by a physician for safety. The stainless steel serrated knife blade makes short work of cutting through a bagel or bialy and uneven-shaped objects. The best thing is that you can use this on homemade, 100% whole-grain bagels (which other cutters, slicers and guillotines cannot handle well).

I recommend this product highly and suggest buying several! They make great gifts for your bagel-loving family and friends.

Come and watch the Brooklyn Bagel Slicer in action:
Brooklyn Bagel Slicer video 1
Brooklyn Bagel Slicer video 2
Brooklyn Bagel Slicer video 3

The Brooklyn Bagel Slicer is available from your local kitchen stores in the Charlotte area and online from:

• Brooklyn Bagel Slicer
• My Secret Pantry
• Central Chef.com
• Amazon.com

Filed under: Car Buying, Japan, Hyundai, Kia, Earnings/Financials, South Korea

As Hyundai continues to pull itself up by its bootstraps, the company is moving decisively and picking up share around the globe. However, one key market continues to be so problematic for the brand that they’ve decided to abandon it altogether: Japan. Rather than dodder around and wait for its disappointing performance to improve, Hyundai is tying off the bleeder that is the company’s Japanese market presence. The cars themselves, either under Hyundai badging or as Kias, have become contenders in terms of styling and quality, two key indicators of the company’s commitment. And the move into Japan was part of Hyundai’s worldwide plan for expansion. For all its efforts, though, the famously insular market has deflected this outsider. In the eight years Hyundai has been selling vehicles in Japan, it has only managed to shift 15,000 units.

For all its efforts, 1,875 cars per year just isn’t worth it to Hyundai, though it will still try to sell commercial vehicles to Japan. According to the South Korean daily, Chosun Iibo, tariffs are slapped on outsiders selling cars in Japan, and the size of some models Hyundai’s been trying to market there doesn’t match up with typical Japanese garages and parking spaces. Buyers who have the space for larger cars aren’t the ones Hyundai’s trying to nab, either. Those purchasers typically pursue higher-end metal.

Interestingly, rival Toyota might see Hyundai’s move as a sort of victory. Toyota itself established a beachhead in the more-welcoming South Korean market in 2000, and has been selling thousands of vehicles there under its Lexus and Toyota nameplates. While Hyundai is giving up on Japan, Toyota’s looking to move more cars than ever in South Korea.

[Sources: CNBC. Chosun]

How do you spell Hyundai’s Kryptonite? J-D-M originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pomegranate juice has shown promise in early studies for its blood pressure lowering effects.

According to the Mayo Clinic, more research needs to be done to determine how well pomegranate juice works in lowering blood pressure but the evidence so far looks promising.

It is believed that the high level of antioxidants in pomegranate juice is responsible for its heart-protective and cholesterol-lowering effects.

The Mayo Clinic says, “Pomegranate juice is generally safe to drink. Most studies have used a daily intake of 1.5 ounces of pomegranate juice with no significant side effects.”

Adding pomegranate juice to your daily routine may be a safe and delicious way to reduce your blood pressure.

Released new version of the Elecont Weather 1.0.1023 with Black Ice Alert

Driving a car on snowy and icy roads or even walking may be dangerous in the winter time. With “Elecont Weather” you may be secured against this weather. The program displays the alert if current weather conditions are dangerous. We’re updating current conditions twice on a hour, so it is very close to real time. In addition to this, “Elecont Weather” displays the alerts for the further 10 days – it may be useful if you’re planning outdoor activity.

“Elecont Weather” is more than weather station for your Pocket PC or Smartphone. It produces accurate 10-day and hourly forecasts, warns you in case of high solar activity and severe weather (event of a severe thunderstorm, tornado, blizzard, hurricane, or other natural disasters). The most interesting feature is Barometer – a diagram showing the pressure changes during the past 24 hours. Now you always know the cause of headache if it is linked with changes in the air pressure. When Barometer detects pressure changes then it signals with a red color. “Elecont Weather” displays 10-day forecast with text descriptions separately for day and night time. You may find a lot of useful of weather parameters: “feels like” temperatures, chance of precipitation, humidity, visibility and much more. “Elecont Weather” has a global coverage (more than 51,000 locations). The data is provided by “WSI Corp.” (the world’s leading provider of weather-driven business solutions).

Elecont Weather is compatible with Windows Mobile Today and Home screen, Sliding panel, Titanium, CHome and Windows Mobile 6.5 default screen

We’re continuously adding new features to “Elecont Weather”. The upgrades are free of charge.

You may find more and download “Elecont Weather” from http://www.elecont.com and receive the 30% discount during the next 7 days.

This post was submitted by elecont.

New research out of the UK shows definitively that reducing greenhouse gases can save millions of lives around the world. The research makes use of case studies to demonstrate the co-benefits of tackling climate change in four sectors: electricity generation, household energy use, transportation, and food and agriculture.

The studies were commissioned by the NIEHS, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in part to help inform discussions next month at the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen.

Read more of this story »

We do not have personal experience of this ourselves, but one of our regular readers reports the HTC HD2 is having serious issues in Persia.

The problem appears to be in the interaction of the smartphone with the cell phone base stations, with Nokia base stations working perfectly well, and the device not being able to connect at all in areas served by Siemens/Ericsson base stations.

This effective means HTC HD2 owners are only having service in half of the country.  According to our informant importers are not taking responsibility for the issue, blaming the government owned carrier TCI/MCI, who have so far been unresponsive.

The only hope for owners (congregating at handheldusers.com forums ) at present appears to be a radio update by HTC, which is what owners are holding out hope for.

Are you an HTC HD2 owner in Iran having issues, or possibly the opposite – some-one having no issues at all?  Let us know in the comments below.

Thanks Parsa for the tip.

Filed under: Classics, Etc., Hatchback, Volkswagen, South America

The string of interesting and offbeat Volkswagens from the firm’s Brazilian division is enough to fill a coffee-table book. The SP2, for example, is one of the prettiest variations ever laid atop Type III mechanicals, one that many die-hard Volks-fans in the United States have never heard of. The rest of the world probably knows better what VW do Brasil has wrought; forty-something years of cars we’d dearly love to roll here in The States, but which never came north. Eventually, a Brazilian VeeDub did head for os Estados Unidos.

Instead of Brasilias or Karmann Ghia TCs, we got the Fox. Known in Brazil as the Gol, which rode on its own BX platform, itself a derivate of the B1 platform that underpinned other VW and Audi products. Our Foxes were all sedans or wagons, but a recent troll of old car ads on Flickr turned up this masterpiece. Look carefully – we always thought the Fox transaxle looked a lot like the naughty bits of a Beetle. And there it is, a doghouse-shrouded 1300cc bit of air-cooled muscle mounted in the FRONT. Hot diggety, this thing has it all, 3-door hatch bodywork, a flat-four, and no pesky coolant to boil over in tropical climes. The closest you can come to something like this now is an Impreza hatch, which is an exponentially better car. That doesn’t stop us from thinking about bolting that spare 1600DP into a Polo-Edition Fox and warping everyone’s minds at the next Spring Dust-Off.

[Source: Flickr/Hugo90 – CC2.0]

VW Gol: Brazilian proto-Impreza by VW? originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Aftermarket, Coupe, Performance, Mercedes-Benz, Design/Style, Luxury

To put it kindly, we’ll call the attempts to tune the appearance of the Mercedes SLS AMG gilding the lily. Although the folks at Kircherer were obviously not doing the same amount or potency of drugs procured by the gents at MEC Design, they have still managed to disturb the lines of a car that most feel needed no help in the looks department.

This is said to be Kircherer’s version of a Pan-Am car, and it gets carbon fiber blackening bits all around, a rooftop air intake, Kircherer’s trademark wheels, and a leering grille lifted from an Aston Martin. You can also get that grille in gold, if you wish. But there’s only one part of the world where we see that happening…

[Source: World Car Fans]

Gah!x2: Kicherer Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG rendered originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Research has shown that pomegranate juice inhibits prostate cancer in mice.

A 2005 study done at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences also found that PSA markers were lower in mice given pomegranate juice.

It was the first published study to show the potential prostate cancer inhibiting effects of pomegranate juice.

A more recent study published in 2008 found that pomegranate extract reduced the size of prostate cancer tumors in mice by inhibiting the growth of new blood vessels that help the tumors grow.

Now that Cody, Adon, and Guy have been confirmed for Super Street Fighter IV, time to check out these bad boys in action. The Famitsu scans from last …

Filed under: Alfa Romeo, Fiat

In truth, Alfa Romeo didn’t simply rename the coming model formerly known as “Milano” to “Giulietta.” It was Fiat’s unhappy Milanese workers who made a stink awful enough to get the company to change course in nomenclature. Seems the new Milano was due to arrive as the last of the Milanese Alfisti were going to be made redundant or moved to Turin, where Fiat is headquartered. The Milan workers, dead set on not being remembered in name alone, protested to the parent company, and so the car has a new name.

That name might or might not be Giulietta, but that’s supposedly where the smart money’s headed. Alfa would only say that “organizational issues” prevented it from disclosing the name and pictures of the car, and gave no indication of when it would tell us what the car will be called. If Giulietta does win the name game, it would be the third time Alfa’s put out a model wearing that moniker.

[Source: Auto News, sub req’d]

REPORT: Alfa Romeo nixes “Milano” designation for 147 successor, ponders Giulietta originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 29 Nov 2009 13:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You can stop closing your eyes and wishing it was all a bad dream – the King of Fighters movie is very real. In fact, it has another video. Don’t worr…

To open a pomegranate, place it on a cutting board covered with a towel you don’t mind getting stained.

Cut the top part off (the crown) like you would cut off the top of a pumpkin.

Remove the “lid” you have created. You’ll see five membranes inside. Cut the outside of the pomegranate along the lines of these membranes. You don’t need to cut all the way through – you only need to go as deep as the membranes.

Now that you’ve made your cuts, pull the pomegranate apart like an orange. You’ll have five pieces connected to the bottom of the pomegranate. It will look like a star once it’s peeled back.

The pomegranate is ready to eat now. Separate the arils (fleshy pockets of juice containing edible seeds) from the skin and membranes or you can eat them right out of the skin.

Sonoma County, California | Unique Collections

I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time. – Jack London

Jack London, well know as the author of Call of the Wild and lesser known as a booze hound and ladies man, died in the small town of Glen Ellen, 60 miles north of his home town San Francisco, three years after his dream house, known as the Wolf House, caught fire and burnt down.

While the ruins are known as the Wolf House, Jack and wife Charmain London lovingly called their dream house “The Big House” or “The Castle.” A big house it was; 15,000 sq ft, four stories with twenty-six rooms and nine fireplaces, and designed in a mixture of Spanish, exemplified by the terracotta tile roof, and Craftsman Styles, seen in the log cabin exterior and detailed wooden interior. The Wolf House was to become the London’s home, Jack’s work shop, Charmain’s tower, and an oversized cabinet of curiosities filled with the London’s unique collection from their world travels.

Albert Farr of San Francisco designed the house and construction began in 1910 and was nearly completed in August 1913 when it burnt to the ground. A team of forensic ‘experts’ were rumored to have ruled the cause of the fire to be “spontaneous combustion.”

Jack vowed to rebuild the Wolf House, but with an insurance policy only paying out 1/8 the amount of money already poured into the project, he died three years later of kidney disease having rebuilt very little.

What’s left today are the haunting remains of the London’s dream home. The two lower stories of rock remain mostly intact, covered in moss and sprouting ferns, while the five towering chimneys built to support five fireplaces are held up by massive steal support beams. A wooden walkway guides visitors around the ruins keeping them safely away from the chimneys while affording beautiful views of the stone remains.

Jack London State Historic Park houses the London’s collection in the Happy Halls House, which wife Charmain built after Jack’s death. Most of the furniture was custom built for use in the ill-fated Wolf House, and a corner of the house is set up to preserve Jack’s writing studio as it would have looked when he died. In this house the music of the time is played on the London’s piano by a talented volunteer and the walls are decorated with curiosities from around the world. As short walk from this house is the “Country Cottage” where they lived until Jack’s death and, if you are lucky, a docent will show you around the amazing gourmet kitchen.

A short walk in the opposite direction are the graves of Jack and Charmain London.

San Francisco, California | Curious Places of Worship

In 1966, a journalist asked John Coltrane what he’d like to be in five years. His response proved to be prophetic: “A saint.” Thanks to the Reverend Franzo Wayne King and the African Orthodox Church, Coltrane can rest easy. Founded in 1982, the Church of Saint John Will-I-Am Coltrane encourages its followers to know God through weekly “sound baptisms” focusing on their patron saint’s later albums.

Keeping with the Church’s stated mission to, “help followers recognize sound as the preexisting wisdom of God,” Coltrane has been incorporated into the beliefs of African Orthodox Christianity not through worshiping the man himself, but rather through studying, “the divine nature of John Coltrane as he ascended to oneness with God through sound.”

At the church, where a sign outside reads “Coltrane Lives!”, congregants pay witness to the “Risen Trane,” Rev. King’s shorthand for Coltrane and his creations from 1957 onward. Prior to that time, the legendary saxophonist had been severely addicted to heroin. Coltrane managed to kick his drug habits cold turkey, and claimed to hear the voice of God during the depths of his withdrawal. Ultimately, the church has used the musician and his musical work as testimony incarnate of the power and empowerment God bestows on each person.

Being equal parts house of jazz and House of God, the Church of Saint John caters to musicians and all those who understand that noon on a Sunday still counts as morning, and isn’t too late for a spiritual soul quenching testimony. The three-hour-long service every Sunday afternoon is a mixture of Pentecostal revival and jam session with musical stylings ranging from jazz to funk, gospel to reggae.

All are welcome at the Church of Saint John Coltrane. The usual attendees are a melting pot of locals from various creeds and races, blended with tourists and gawkers for a little spice. Audience members are encouraged to bring their own instruments to join in on the playing, and dancing is omnipresent, both by the church’s leaders and congregants.

The centerpiece of each week’s sound baptism is Coltrane’s legendary free-jazz album “A Love Supreme,” which is uniquely recreated featuring the choir reciting Psalm 23 over the track “Acknowledgment.” Meanwhile, the audience participates in call-and-response of the words “a love supreme” at appropriate moments throughout the album.

Also, every Tuesday from noon to 4pm on KPOO (the only black-owned radio station west of the Mississippi River) the Rev. Sister Wanika King hosts a live radio show called “Uplift” during which she “spins the discs” of Coltrane’s renewing sounds. The broadcast is a feast for ears, mind, and soul, punctuated by inspirational commentary and quotes from Saint John himself.

Though such spiritual enlightenment by way of Coltrane may sound appealing, the Rev. King understands not everyone can make a pilgrimage to his house of worship. In these cases, he offers the following bit of advice: “If you ain’t happy, you ain’t listening to enough Coltrane!”

New Orleans, Louisiana | Outsider Architecture

Hidden in the back yard of a creole mansion on Esplanade Avenue, the New Orleans Treehouse is a five-story installation constructed in the limbs of a golden rain tree. Composed primarily of materials salvaged from abandoned sites in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, the structure includes a rope bridge, canopy lookout tower, and waterslide.

The installation undergoes continual change as new materials are discovered and acquired. The house at 1614 esplanade is known as the NOLA Art House, and is home to HomeMade Parachutes, the group responsible for the construction of the Treehouse.