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The latest data covering global arms sales shows that sale of arms in 2008 decreased to around $55 billion, over 75% of which went to developing countries. This was down from a total of almost $60 billion the year before but was still the second highest amount in the 8 year period the data covers.

While the global financial crisis has affected many countries, it seems like the decrease in arms purchases in 2008 occurred mostly in industrialized nations; developing nations saw a slight increase in purchases.

Updated graphs and charts on arms sales data are provided here.

The arms trade is big business. The 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council (US, Russia, France, United Kingdom and China), together with Germany and Italy, account for over 80% of the arms sold between 2001 and 2008.

Some of the arms sold go to regimes where human rights violations will occur. Corruption often accompanies arms sales due to the large sums of money involved.

Read full article: The Arms Trade Is Big Business

Filed under: Performance, SUV, Europe, MISC

Fornasari, the independent purveyor of exotic sport-utes, has been in the game since before Porsche came along with the Cayenne, but despite its blend of Italian craftsmanship with American muscle, the three-door body-style of the Fornasari RR450 and RR600 relegated the quirky exotic truck to the fringe. Now Fornasari, has come back with its first proper (or not) five-door SUV.

Dubbed the RR99, the latest from the Creazzo-based automaker is some 25cm longer than its three-door predecessors, but thanks to a lightweight tube frame, it weighs only 1850 kg (just over 4000 lbs), significantly less than competing performance SUVs. This despite the six-liter General Motors V8 sitting up front, which Fornasari says it has optimized for near-50/50 weight distribution, driving 610 horsepower to all four wheels with a 40/60 rear-biased torque split via limited slip differential and six-speed Borg Warner transmission.

Wheels are available up to 23 inches, packing optional Brembo brakes mounted to F1-style triangular suspension. But the most ambitious figures come down to the performance: Fornasari claims its exotic sport-ute can rocket to 62 mph in just 3.8 seconds en route to a 174 mph top end. Those are eyebrow-raising numbers, and if the RR99, with substantially-improved styling over its oddball predecessors (upon which we reported three years ago), can actually come anywhere near those projections, count us among the flabbergasted.

[Source: Fornasari via Italiaspeed]

Fornasari intros five-door RR99 performance SUV originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Recalls, Ferrari

We see all sorts of recall notices here at Autoblog. Most of them affect ordinary passenger vehicles, but nearly all of them get cleared up the first time around. So this is a bit of a first: Ferrari North America and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have issued a second recall notice to correct a problem on the F355 that should have been addressed with the initial recall issued 12 years ago.

The concern apparently centers around the fuel delivery system, which initially prompted a recall back in 1997. The original repair should have corrected the issue, but if the “independent automobile repair facilities” that performed the service on many of the cars didn’t properly install the new screw clamps, they could have damaged the fuel hoses, which in turn could cause smoke or even an engine fire. New fuel divider blocks should (hopefully) fix the issue this time around, which affects some 2,356 F355s and F355 F1s manufactured between 1995 and 1999. Full details in the recall notice at NHTSA.

[Source: NHTSA]

Ferrari F355 recalled over fuel system concerns… again originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here is an interesting rumour. TheMobileNinjas.com is reporting that Telus, who has recently launched a new HSDPA network with Bell, is set to re-release the HTC Touch Pro 2 in its GSM/HSDPA version.

While the current CDMA HTC Touch Pro 2 of course is GSM/HSDPA capable, a device targeted at the GSM market should have video calling, absent from the CDMA device.

Hopefully gaining a video conferencing camera will not mean losing the 3.5 mm headphone jack.

Read more at TheMobileNinjas.com here.

Filed under: Motorsports, Hirings/Firings/Layoffs

Reports circulating the motorsport press indicate that USF1 has signed a provisional contract with Argentine driver Jose Maria Lopez to drive for the new team next season. The arrangement, however, depends on Lopez bringing with him $8 million in sponsorship dollars, of which the young South American reportedly already has 80% in his coffers.

Lopez has experience in formula racing, but has been off the radar for a few years now. After competing in Formula Renault and Formula 3000, Lopez drove a couple of seasons in the GP2 series and even ran some test sessions for Renault F1 . After that, he returned to Argentina, where he competed in local touring cars and in a few international sports car races.

Only a few months ago, USF1 team principal Peter Windsor said the team would absolutely not take on a driver purely on these financial criteria alone, but after balancing their budget, the nascent American grand prix team has apparently decided otherwise. Meanwhile, the team is said to be considering a number of F1 veterans for the second seat, with a 12-name short list that reportedly includes such names as Villeneuve, Montagny and de la Rosa. So much for nurturing American talent.

[Source: Autosport and F1-Live]

REPORT: USF1 signs pay-drive deal with Jose Maria Lopez originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Paul Krugman continues his assault on the national debt worryworts, posting this chart, and noting:

If these countries can run up debts of more than 100 percent of GDP without being destroyed by bond vigilantes, so can we.

Indeed, betting that any developed country, such as, say, Japan, would default on its debt and get crushed has been a fool’s bet for years.

Anyway, let’s hope that since nothing bad has ever happened, that it won’t.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Saturday Night Live Rips Obama Over China Trip, Spending, And The Deficit
• The National Debt Just Broke $12 Trillion
• The Japanese Bond Market May Really Be Ready To Collapse

 

Miscellaneous

Using data from the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, an american study involving data on 43,000 people, older adults (over the age of 60 in this study) with alcohol dependence consumed an average of 40 alcoholic drinks per week compared to ‘between 25 and 35 drinks a week’ in the younger group. An american study is looking at whether PTSD can be predicted by incorporating a number of biological markers. The Lean Healthcare Academy recently had an awards ceremony and a hospital which implemented the Productive Ward was the recipient of an award. The Productive Ward and related Productive Series involve a systematic process to enable improvements in outcome measures such as efficiency (see review here). It is interesting to see how American and Japanese culture and technology is being used to improve care for patients in the NHS in an ever more connected world. The Productive Ward series is covered at the National Institute for Technology here. The series also includes approaches to improve outcomes in community care as well as other types of service.

News Round-Ups

Over at the Clinical Cases and Images blog there is a summary of recent news tweets. Alz Forum have got coverage of the recent Clinical Trials in Alzheimer’s Disease conference in Las Vegas here. They look at the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention study, the Memory Capacity Test and research on the CogState test amongst others. The Schizophrenia Research Forum have coverage of a recent murine study showing an association between mutations in the dysregulin gene (which has been associated with schizophrenia in genome wide association studies) and the function of fast-spiking interneurons.  Mind Hacks has coverage of a number of studies including one in which sounds presented during sleep were associated with improved learning on spatial tasks.

Psychiatry 2.0

The Google Wave tool which has been recently rolled out enables live collaboration using a number of tools and in this article Leah Betancourt discusses some of the ways this is being used in the creation, dissemination and discussion of news. Conventional methods for disseminating scientific/clinical information including conferences, journals and books are now in the process of being transformed by such tools. Another development which has the potential to have a profound impact on society, Government 2.0 was discussed at a recent conference. The idea here is that citizens can both engage with and contribute to the decision-making process of government. As an example this may impact on the way in which different segments of society are represented and this in turn could impact on health and illness on a number of levels. The American Association for the Advancement of Science has set up an expert lab to help government engage with citizens using technology and enabling them to tap into ‘crowd expertise’. There is a video on the expert lab here. In an american survey by Manhattan Research, 39% of doctors stated that they had communicated with patients online although the insurance-based nature of the healthcare system may influence such relationships. An article here looks at how doctors are using technologies such as twitter and the iPhone in their practice.  Meanwhile the Danish Government is intending to go paperless by 2010.

It is a privilege for the TAWOP blog to have been included in a list of 100 blogs for psychology students and there are many interesting blogs included in this list.

Appendix

Researchers at the Universities of Warwick and Manchester compared a course of therapy costing £800 with the effects of an increase in salary or lottery winnings. Their findings apparently showed that the £800 course of therapy produced an increase in a measure of well-being that was  equivalent to that produced by a pay rise or winnings of £25,000 causing the researchers to conclude that therapy was ‘32 times more cost-effective at increasing happiness than money’ (quote from news report).  However I wasn’t able to find the study (perhaps its preprint) and wasn’t clear on what the outcome measures were and the details of the therapy. In a press release from the company producing the devices a study (n=7) provided preliminary evidence that Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation could improve scoreson measures of auditory hallucinations and psychosis. However these were described as interim results and from the limited information in the press release it looks as though a further 13 patients are to be included and so it will be interesting to further review these results when the study has been completed and submitted for publication.

 

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The comments made here represent the opinions of the author and do not represent the profession or any body/organisation. The comments made here are not meant as a source of medical advice and those seeking medical advice are advised to consult with their own doctor. The author is not responsible for the contents of any external sites that are linked to in this blog.

The French timekeeper BRM is well known to the car world – and not because it happens to share its name with the 1962 F1 championship team – but because of its motorsport-inspired mechanical timepieces. For Abarth, BRM has tweaked its titanium-cased V12-T-44 chronograph with some unique Scorpion-brand touches, from the logo on the watch face and the chrome hands to the Nomex strap with red stitching. They’ll only be making 49 examples, each individually numbered and selling exclusively through the BRM website for a handsome €4,900 (about $7,300). Details in the press release after the jump.

[Source: Abarth]

Continue reading Abarth’s Race Against Time: BRM V12-T-44 Chronograph

Abarth’s Race Against Time: BRM V12-T-44 Chronograph originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2009Nov22: East Antarctica has been losing 57 billion tons of ice mass per year for the last three years, according to data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace) mission. The study, which was led by Jianli Chen from the Centre for Space Research at the University of Texas in Austin, appears in the journal Nature Geoscience (BBC).

Reference: BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8371773.stm

Image Description: Antarctic Ice Sheet. Credit: Ben Holt Sr., GRACE team, DLR, NASA. Image Location: http://www.csr.utexas.edu/grace/gallery/other/misc/iceberg.html Image Permission: This file is in the public domain because it was created by NASA.

 

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read the last paragraph – NYT: With FHA Help, Easy Loans in Expensive Areas; Barney Frank Pushes for Permanent Higher Limits – Approaching $1 Million – Posted by TraderMark – Fund My Mutual Fund

and
more on no money down – The Magic of the F.H.A. – Kid Dynamite’s World

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Delinquent Mortgages Equal to Three Times A Balanced For-Sale Inventory – Michael David White – A Flood Will Humble Thee – Eight million homes with delinquent mortgages represent a staggering 300% of the normal supply of existing homes for sale. With 3.63 million units now on the market, one million above the long-term average, an inundation of foreclosures represents a fatal death blow capable of inflicting brutal damage on the largest financial market in the world. – New Observations

great charts – Property Values Will Likely Fall 14% From Current Level  – Mike White – An average of three major indexes on residential property values suggests prices will fall 14% from their current level. – New Observations

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Wells Fargo Dominates Ginnie Mae Servicing Market – Wells Fargo dominates the market for servicing securities issued by Ginnie Mae with a portfolio of $215 billion, according to figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report. Bank of America is second with $189 billion, meaning the two banks account for 48% of the Ginnie Mae market, Mortgage Servicing News reports. – Emii.com

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Tax Servicing – Front-End Tax Relief Pays Back-End Dividends – BY LORI ESHOO – … As we know, a key area of struggle – and opportunity – is bulk processing of loan modifications. Savvy servicers are recognizing that tax servicing is one facet of this effort that truly represents a double-edged sword. This article outlines tips to help servicers use this sword to gain an edge without getting cut. … – Mortgage Orb

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Obama mortgage rescue: Only a few get lasting help – By Tami Luhby – … Fewer than 5% of the trial modifications on loans owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac were converted to long-term adjustments as of Sept. 30, according to the mortgage finance giant.  Looking more broadly, the figures are even lower. As of Sept. 1, only 1.26% of all trial adjustments were made permanent after three months, reported the Congressional Oversight Panel,… – CNNMoney.com

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Reverse Mortgages – Fannie Mae Pricing Brings More Diverse Investor Base – Neil J. Morse – …  The “big story” in secondary marketing for HECMs is Fannie Mae, adds Cates. “They were the market for most of 2007 and 2008 and early-2009,” he notes. But, now, “other investors are re-engaging in that market as Fannie has reduced their prices to competitive levels and stopped supporting it … – Reverse Mortgage Daily

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Hiring Boom in Mortgage Restructuring – By KYLE STOCK – … Four of the largest mortgages servicers — Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. — have collectively hired almost 17,000 people this year, mostly to work with financially ailing homeowners. With the number of defaults rising, many are planning to keep adding staff. … – Wall Street Journal

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U.S. mortgage rates sink to or near all-time lows – By Lynn Adler – U.S. fixed mortgage rates sank to or near record lows last week, home funding company Freddie Mac said on Thursday, adding incentive for refinancing and home purchases.  The average 30-year home loan rate fell 0.08 of a percentage point to 4.83 percent, on the brink of the all-time low of 4.78 percent set in April, based on Freddie Mac records dating back to 1971. – Reuters

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Record Delinquencies – Delinquencies Continue to Climb in Latest MBA National Delinquency Survey – The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties rose to a seasonally adjusted rate of 9.64 percent of all loans outstanding as of the end of the third quarter of 2009, up 40 basis points from the second quarter of 2009, and up 265 basis points from one year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) National Delinquency Survey. The non-seasonally adjusted delinquency rate increased 108 basis points from 8.86 percent in the second quarter of 2009 to 9.94 percent this quarter. – MBA Press Release

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Mortgage Servicers Have Financial Incentives To Let Your Loan Go To Foreclosure – Leon Williams – The Sacramento Press

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Freddie Mac Predicts Modest Housing Recovery – BRITTANY DUNN – … More specifically, the company is expecting a 13 percent increase in total one-family detached home sales, which would result in 5.5 million units during 2010. This increase, Freddie Mac says, is attributed to buyers who are hunting for bargains in a time of such affordable housing … – DSNews.com

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Going Delinquent – By David Urani – A friendly reminder that housing is still in the gutter – Wall Street Strategies at Wstreet.com

Filed under: SUV, Marketing/Advertising, Toyota, Off-Road

Said the executive creative director of the 2010 Toyota 4Runner media campaign: “This is the last authentic SUV. All the rest have gone suburbia.” By “authentic” he means dirt, surf, wilds, and maybe bears, and to show you how to get there, Toyota has rolled out the Toyota Trail Tracker.

A social media tool and soon-to-be mobile app, the trail tracker allows you to find and upload info on trails across the United States. And it isn’t just for wild, rocky hellholes either (that’s the 4Runner on the Rubicon Trail above) — you can upload and find scenic drives and fire roads that lead to great surfing spots.

If you want the world to know what you did when you got there — or how you manged to get out — you can post photos and video to the site, as well as upload GPS data. The Trail tracker website is live now, with about 29 trails nationwide at the time of this writing. It’s intriguing that one of the vehicles that led SUVs out of the wilds and into suburbia is now playing the Pied Piper to lure folks back into the woods. At least now maybe we’ll get to see what it’s really got.

[Source: Marketing Daily]

Toyota blends social media and trail search tool in 4Runner marketing blitz originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Everyone knows that the price of property is down right now, but paying less taxes on that property? Unheard of.

Except now, even sunny-side city tax assesors are forced to admit that yes, maybe, times are bad, and thus property owners ought not to pay as much as they were at the peak. Maybe.

SF Chronicle: Trophy buildings, including One Market Plaza, Bank of America Center, Crocker Galleria, the Marriott Marquis, the Westin St. Francis and One Sansome Street, lead the list of more than 1,000 commercial properties in San Francisco asking to have their property taxes slashed.

Collectively, those office towers, hotels, shopping centers and apartment buildings have an assessed value of $21.25 billion – but their owners say they’re worth about half that amount. If those claims stand, that could wipe $115.78 million off the property taxes the city collects. Residential appeals could erase another $13.47 million in property tax revenue.

San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting usually scoffs at building owners’ claims, but now admits they may have more validity. Read the whole thing >

Meanwhile, if you’re a tenant in one of these — or many other — buildings seeking property tax relief, you should make sure you’re agitating for a cut.

Square Feed: As a tenant, it is also smart to have language within your lease that forces the landlord to seek property tax reductions, particularly if you are an anchor or sole tenant. In addition, many office are gross leases and as such contain a provision whereby the tenant is responsible for increases over the base year expenses.

What happens when the operating expenses fall? That is why tenants should seek the benefit of decreases as well, otherwise a tenant may be responsible for increases over the base year, but not see any of the benefits that result from a decrease.

And back on the government for a second…this is partly why even a balanced budget can be thrown off a mere few months after being passed. What the government is given, the government will spend, and more. So raising taxes is merely a short term solution unless there is legislation that forces the government to build and maintain a rainy day fund which can only be used to offset a fall in property values and income taxes.

And on down the deflationary spiral we go…

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• The Court System Deals The Commercial Real Estate Death Blow
• Sam Zell Slams Wilbur Ross, Calls Him A Commercial Real Estate Wannabe
• Michael Panzner: Commercial Real Estate Is A "Tsunami Unfolding"

  We recently received an email with:

Last week I received my HTC HD2, I have encountered several problems & wonder
if you can help me with any of them:

So, lets see what we can do to help the issues!

I like to customise my sounds for messages received etc.  Normally you would copy audio files to the windows directory. When you plug into PC, you cannot view windows folder.  To copy & paste, you normally click at the end of the list to be able to paste.  Where you cannot use a stylus you cannot do this as the gap for fingers is too small.  How can I get around this?

You have to hit menu, edit and then paste. This isn’t quite as fast, but does at least work. To display \Windows you need to make sure you’ve enabled viewing system/hidden files on your desktop.

Secondly I like to use Phone keypad as my writing tool.  Depending on whether you are in email, messages, opera, or anywhere else it does not always display phone keypad & other switches off t9.

In the browser, T9 is disabled as Opera should handle that. It does the same whilst typing the address in HTC Messaging, and without Outlook I guess it switches to QWERTY to make the letter by letter searching faster, you’ll just have to get used to it I think…

The HD2 does not have the voice speed dials like the HD.  This was great, can it be downloaded anywhere?

It certainly can be downloaded, there’s MS Voice Commander and Cyberon Voice Speed Dial, which have been extracted from ROMs, though I’m not sure whether we can post cabs here for licensing reasons…

When changing ringtones, testing the sounds is not easy for selection.

If you go to the Settings tab in Sense, and then "Sound & Display" within each of the popups for notifications, ringtone etc, simply hitting the sound you want to play should give you a preview.

It is not easy to end tasks & a long process to get to task manager.  You cannot select this as a program shortcut, is there a way around this?

You can manually go to \Windows, find TaskMgr.exe and then create a shortcut to it under \Windows\Start Menu\Programs, or I can whip up a cab in a second.

When I use youtibe, it often will not work saying unable to find vidoes.  I have ended my internet connection & started program again with no success. Rebooting does nto help.

This may well be a service provider issue, some networks (T-Mobile UK for example) block YouTube. One possibly fix is to disable Proxy settings for the connection. (Settings->Menu->All Settings->Connections->Connections->Manage Proxy…. Uncheck the "This network uses a…" box)

Finally, it should play avi files, I have been unsuccessful with this.

You may need a third party player such as CorePlayer or TCPMP. My HD2 doesn’t support AVI natively either… Alternatively, there is the Touch HD Video Encoder that can be found here (I’m in the process of making something similar for HD2 only…

Hope that lot helps both the person that sent in the email, and anyone else who’s getting frustrated at their HD2!

If anyone else has any questions regarding the HD2, drop me a line and I’ll see what I can do!

Its been a long wait, but the Windows Mobile 6.5 powered HTC Touch Pro 2 is now available on US Cellular.

The carrier is the last major network in US to carry the device.

The CDMA smartphone will be $199 on a two year contract after a $70 mail in rebate.

Read more at US Cellular’s page here.

Forget about other features, about the only thing going for the new Nintendo DSi LL right now is its size, which based on the displays found in Japan…

Nov 21 2009, 9:00 AM EST GEN Eng NEWS

Origin Agritech Announces Final Approval of World’s First Genetically Modified Phytase Corn

News source: Business Wire

In this item Origin Agritech Limited (NASDAQ GS: SEED) (“Origin”), supplier of crop seeds and agri-biotech research in China, is reported to have received the Bio-safety Certificate from the Ministry of Agriculture as a final approval for commercial approval of the world’s first genetically modified phytase corn. The item goes on to say Origin’s phytase corn is the first transgenic corn to officially introduce the next generation of corn product to enter the domestic marketplace. See link for details

News: Origin Agritech Announces Final Approval of World’s First Genetically Modified Phytase Corn.

Filed under: Motorsports, Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Renault, Citroën

It used to be that a racing driver would pick his form of motorsport at the beginning of his career and stick with it for the duration. Sure, there have been a few notable exceptions – especially among the Finns – but these days, it seems as if the exceptions are gaining on the norm. F1 drivers like Juan Pablo Montoya are moving to NASCAR, WRC aces like Sebastien Loeb and MotoGP champs like Valentio Rossi are trying their hand at F1, while F1 champs like Michael Schumacher are checking out motorbike racing. But the latest trend has a growing number of current, active Formula One drivers contesting rallies on the world stage.

The most notable is Kimi Raikkonen, who has driven a few rallies behind the wheel of his own Punto Abarth. Now that he’s looking to sit out of the next F1 season, all indications are that the departing Ferrari driver will find his way into the WRC. While downplaying the lingering prospect of the 2007 Formula One champion racing for the newly-christened Mercedes Grand Prix team next season, his managers are reportedly hard at work to get him a WRC drive for 2010. The most likely scenario would place Raikkonen with Citroen: Both the French rally team and the Finnish driver are sponsored by Red Bull, and the rapprochement could could pave the way for Kimi to return to F1 in 2011 for Red Bull Racing.

Even Red Bull’s current F1 ace, Sebastian Vettel, has reportedly expressed interest in trying his hand at rallying, although his team principal is reportedly against the idea. After winning the Nations Cup at the Race of Champions together with Schumacher three years running, the young German has certainly demonstrated the versatility of his talent.

Meanwhile, the highly-rated Robert Kubica is preparing for his second rally since leaving BMW Sauber for the Renault F1 team. After a dismal first attempt, the Pole is set to return to the wheel of a Renaultsport Clio R3 Maxi for the final round of the French Rally Championship at Var next weekend. If Kubica manages to finish this time around, we could yet see more F1 drivers following him onto the rally scene.

[Sources: Autosport and F1-Live | Image: Clive Mason/Getty]

Universal Soldiers: F1 aces Raikkonen, Vettel and Kubica lured by rallying originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It could be because he loves video games, or it could be because he’s taunting gamers with an evil grin on his face. Whatever the reason, Uwe Boll i…

In America, it is time for Thanksgiving and family time, in the tech world it is about time for Black Friday. Black Friday is a day created by big companies to liquidate all things electronic and get you to spend as much as you can while your in their store. This year big companies are adding phones to the Black Friday list of sales, and that means discounted Windows Phones.

In my area the best deals are from Wal-Mart, Bestbuy, Target and Office Max. I was recently reading the discount list and I spotted some droids and other Windows Mobile phones I do not remember. If you are currently residing in the US and want to check out the long list of discount visit Gottadeal  and remember, happy shopping.

Warning: Last year a man was killed while trying to enter a Wal-Mart for Black Friday shopping, so be safe out there.