2009 Nissan GT-R is Motor Trend Car of the Year

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Yes, we are fully aware of the GT-R's best-known nickname, "Godzilla" -- so called because the automotive press found previous generations as ferocious and all-conquering as Japan's fire-breathing monster. But following a full week of intensive evaluation in Nissan's new sports car, we here at Motor Trend now lay claim to a more suitable GT-R moniker -- Ichiban. From Japanese, ichiban translates to "number one." In Motor Trend vernacular, however, it simply denotes: 2009 Car of the Year.

Every September, it seems a few editors comment, "This is the toughest field I can remember." Sure enough, as this year's testing drew to a close, several staff members expressed those same sentiments.

And for sound reason-the competitive set is more imposing than Jamaica's Olympic track team. From the jumbo-shrimp Honda Fit and the discount-Lexus Hyundai Genesis to the quicker-than-a-Cayman BMW 1 series and the cat's-meow Jaguar XF, this year's pool runs deeper than any of recent memory. Yet, no contender proved as profound, awe-inspiring, or, more important, able to fulfill our criteria as the GT-R. How did Nissan so competently clinch the calipers?

Read on.

The Super in Superiority

The last time a Nissan, at least one that came from an official U.S. showroom, was judged against such niche exotics as, say, a Ferrari or a Lamborghini was...never. Until now.

The GT-R puts Nissan on a map that thus far only designated Maranello, Sant' Agata, Munich, and Stuttgart as points of interest. Well, it's time to stick a tack on Tochigi. In the kingdom of supercars, the GT-R positively belongs. Be it comparing 0-to-60 sprints, quarter-mile times, 60-to-0 braking, or lateral acceleration, the GT-R is one of the world's best. Don't believe us? Its cornea-melting 0-to-60 run of 3.3 seconds is quicker than that of the BMW M6, the Porsche 911 GT2, the Lamborghini Gallardo LP-560, and the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. It even manages to run door to door with the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano and the Corvette ZR1. Quarter mile?

At 11.5 seconds at 121.0 mph, it is quicker than both the M6 and the SLR, and only a blink or two behind the rest. Further, the GT-R halts from 60 in just 102 feet-better than that of all but the GT2 and ZR1-and sticks to the skidpad with 1.00 g of lateral vigor, again in the realm of the others. Perhaps better yet, the GT-R puts up those thrilling stats while still delivering 16 mpg city/21 mpg highway and ULEV-II emissions. Only the GT2 sips less fuel and none exhales through greener tailpipes.

So how does it do all that? The list is long (see "Fast Facts" on Page 6), but the GT-R's core elements make it happen. For starters, it employs a handbuilt V-6 that uses plasma-coated cylinder bores to ensure optimal efficiency and twin IHI turbochargers to produce 480 horses. (That said, our GT-R dynamometer test from June 2008 revealed horsepower is really around 507.)

The V-6's partner in lap time, a hand-assembled dual-clutch automatic transmission, delivers a nearly uninterrupted flow of torque. To optimize weight over the rear wheels and offer minimal load shift during acceleration, braking, and cornering, the GT-R is the world's first all-wheel-drive production car to feature a rear-mounted transaxle. Feel like a round of caliper-smoking hot-laps? Its Brembo brakes are worthy of any track, even the infamous Nurburgring, where they helped the GT-R lap quicker than the GT2. And to provide a rigid, aerodynamic, precise, and relatively lightweight body-at 3891 pounds, the GT-R weighs less than an M6-its brutally elegant shape ingeniously meshes steel, aluminum, and carbon fiber.

Face-to-Face Value

Carrying a base price of $77,840, the GT-R does not appear, at least at face value, to be much of a bargain. But value does not mean low prices in hard times or affordability to the masses. Rather, it equates to getting more in return for every dollar put out. Based solely on price, the GT-R's competitors include the $76,460 Porsche 911 Carrera, the $77,975 Jaguar XK, and the $73,255 Chevrolet Corvette Z06. Can any match the Nissan's levels of performance? Nope. The Z06 comes close, but close in a race only means second place.

You have to refer to the aforementioned supercars to realize stats akin to the GT-R's. And the mean cost of those exotics? Ranging from over $104,000 for the M6 to nearly $500,000 for the SLR, the average price comes out to over $236,000. The arithmetic does not lie: Comparable performance for, on average, a third of the cost equals value.

Also of note is what the GT-R's ticket to ride includes, above and beyond the majestic data. A comfortable, leather-adorned cabin that accommodates four passengers. A trunk that swallows two golf bags. A PlayStation-inspired multifunction display. A nav system, 9.3-GB hard drive, and Bluetooth. All standard. For an additional $2250, the Premium Edition adds side and side-curtain airbags, Bose audio, and heated seats.

Masterpiece de Resistance

In 1998, Nissan unveiled the 202-mph, $1 million R390 GT1. Essentially a roadgoing version of the race car that captured four of the top 10 spots at the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans, the R390 street car enjoyed a breathtaking aura (its body was the work of famed Aston and Jag designer Ian Callum), humbling specs (550-hp, 471 lb-ft), and remarkable performance (0-to-62 in 3.9, quarter mile in 11.9). Rules dictated that manufacturers build at least one street-legal version of their race cars, so, as rumor has it, Nissan built two.

Today, after a little over a decade since those Le Mans days, the GT-R, of which Nissan will sell roughly 2000 per year at a cost of $77,840-$83,770 each, has superseded the omigawd! R390. Significance? When a genuine production car outperforms a homologated, Le Mans-based street machine-even one 11 years old-for about eight percent of the cost, it is certainly noteworthy.

The GT-R's significance, naturally, stretches far beyond its preeminence to the R390. Its justifiable association with contemporary flagships from Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche alone says it is no poseur. The bottom line is Nissan is comfortably performing in rarified air, legitimately shaking up the hierarchy within the supercar stratosphere. And, lest you forget, at a comparative pittance of the others' retail prices. Further, whereas previous generations were sold only in Japan, Australia, and the U.K., the new GT-R boasts a global presence, treating enthusiasts in such countries as Germany and the U.S.

As with any supercar, simply looking at the GT-R is an integral part of the experience. Per senior vice president of design Shiro Nakamura, "The mission was to achieve a distinctive car, a supercar, but not a normal fast car-it's chunkier, more practical, and more muscular. The element of functionality is core to the GT-R and that functionality is reflected in the design. It is clearly not an Italian, German, or American car: It is unmistakably Japanese." Mission accomplished. St. Antoine notes, "The GT-R intentionally has none of the sophistication of a Ferrari, but instead looks mean and techno and macho."

Per chief vehicle engineer Kazutoshi Mizuno, a Nissan racing team director in the 1990s, his goal with the GT-R was to produce a "multiperformance supercar that can be driven fast and skillfully by just about anybody in just about any road condition." Thus, his mantra, "Anyone, anytime, anywhere." Well, the GT-R managed to astound every editor with its capabilities. Sure, some were dissatisfied with the styling ("Nissan has built the world's ugliest, oversized electric shaver"), the videogame feel ("If someone buys a car for more than just pure performance, i.e., emotional feel, the GT-R would be at a disadvantage"), and the stiff suspension ("Coarsest ride on the oval"), but none, regardless of talent, could dispute the GT-R's ability to leave mouths agape and spines tingling. Its mind-blowing faculties seemingly blur the line between surreality and reality-what a fantastical "Anyone, anytime, anywhere" supercar should do.

Plainly put: No Nissan has ever been as formidable or as awesome as the GT-R. More significant, no other 2009 contender crushes our criteria like the GT-R. For that, it wholeheartedly deserves our Golden Calipers.

Fast facts

1. The 2009 GT-R, the sixth generation of Nissan's flagship sports car, is the first to come from a "clean-slate" design-all others were based on JDM Skyline models-and the first to be globally marketed.

2. A single technician in a climate-controlled clean-room environment hand assembles the all-new VR38DETT 3.8-liter twin-turbo V-6 (in Nissan's Yokohama factory) as well as the GR6 six-speed twin-clutch automatic (at the Aichi Machine Industry plant).

3. The GT-R undertook over 3100 miles of rigorous testing at the 12.9-mile Nrburgring Nordshleife, the world's most demanding racetrack. Its best lap time is 7:29, quicker than those of a Corvette Z06 and a 911 GT2.

4. The GT-R's "high-speed driving test"-the front passengers enjoying an easy conversation without raised voices at 186 mph-was performed mostly on German autobahns.

5. Product chief designer Hiroshi Hasegawa incorporated historical GT-R styling cues into the new model, namely the edgy box-shape of the 1969 PGC10 GT-R, the four round taillamps of the 1973 KPGC110 GT-R, and the prominent thin-slit grille of the 1999 R34 GT-R.

6. To ensure that virtually any driver can get comfortable, the GT-R boasts the greatest range of seat adjustment of any supercar-the driver's seat slides nine inches, raises 1.2 inches, and is rake-adjustable, easily accommodating anyone from 4 foot 9 to 6 foot 3. Also, the steering wheel both tilts and telescopes 2.4 inches.

7. Nissan calls it "Independent Transaxle 4WD." In other words, the GT-R is the world's first production car to feature a rear-mounted transaxle (transmission, clutch, and transfer case) and two independent propeller shafts (no torque tube), allowing each axle to control tire grip without manipulation from the other.

8. The GT-R's advanced ATTESA E-TS all-wheel-drive system can deliver up to 50 percent of torque to the front wheels, depending on feedback from sensors that measure speed, steering angle, tire slip, yaw rate, and lateral and transverse acceleration. Also incorporated is a yaw-rate feedback control sensor, which calculates target yaw rate based on steering angle and actual yaw rate based on the yaw-rate and g sensors, and then continuously distributes torque accordingly.

9. Specially developed Bilstein DampTronic monotube shocks feature sensors that gauge 11 elements, including vehicle speed, lateral acceleration, steering angle, engine rpm, brake oil pressure, and ABS behavior.

10. The GT-R incorporates "super-wide-beam headlamps" that utilize three additional subreflectors to enhance the illumination area. According to Nissan, they outperform swiveling lamps that rotate in turns, mostly because they provide superior light spread during high-speed straight-line driving.

11. The Brembo brake system uses fully floating 15.0-inch vented and drilled steel rotors that feature diamond-shaped inner ribs for better cooling. Monoblock calipers (six-piston front/four-piston rear) employ racing-style three-bolt structures to generate stout stopping force and avert caliper distortion.

12. The GT-R's body is composed of lightweight and advanced steels, die-cast aluminum (front suspension strut housings, front and rear suspension cross-brace members, rear-seatback support, door inners, tunnel stay), and carbon fiber (radiator core support, front of the engine bay, rear diffuser undertray). Further, the GT-R's underside-made up of, from front to rear, a polypropylene under cover, a glass-fiber sheet molding compound (SMC) under cover, a carbon SMC diffuser, and a carbon diffuser-helps achieve a 0.27 coefficient of drag.

13. Before being shipped from the Tochigi factory, the GT-R undergoes a nine-lap break-in regimen: Laps 1-3 (brake quenching), Lap 4 (brake break-in), Lap 5 (transmission break-in), Lap 6 (transmission break-in, engine boost pressure check), Lap 7 (transmission contact-sudden start), Laps 8, 9 (reducing friction of suspension).

2009 NISSAN GT-R
POWERTRAIN/CHASSIS
Drivetrain layout	Front engine, AWD
Engine type	60 twin-turbo V-6, alum block/heads
Valvetrain	DOHC, 4 valves/cyl
Displacement	231.8 cu in/3799 cc
Compression ratio	9.0:1
Power (SAE net)	480 hp @ 6800 rpm
Torque (SAE net)	430 lb-ft @ 3200 rpm
Redline	7000 rpm
Weight to power	8.1 lb/hp
Transmission	6-speed dual-clutch automatic
Axle/final-drive ratios	3.70:1/2.95:1
Suspension, front; rear	Control arms, coil springs, adj shocks, anti-roll bar; multilink, coil springs, adj shocks, anti-roll bar
Steering ratio	15.0:1
Turns lock-to-lock	2.5
Brakes, f;r	15.0-in vented, drilled disc; 15.0-in vented, drilled disc, ABS
Wheels, f;r	9.5 x 20 in; 10.5 x 20 in, forged aluminum
Tires, f;r	255/40R20 97Y; 285/35R20 100Y, Dunlop SP Sport 600 DSST
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase	109.4 in
Track, f/r	62.6/63.0 in
Length x width x height	183.1 x 74.9 x 54.0 in
Turning circle	36.6 ft
Curb weight	3891 lb
Weight dist, f/r	55/45%
Seating capacity	4
Headroom, f/r	38.1/33.5 in
Legroom, f/r	44.6/26.4 in
Shoulder room, f/r	54.7/44.9 in
Cargo volume	8.8 cu ft
TEST DATA
Acceleration to mph
0-30	1.1 sec
0-40	1.8
0-50	2.5
0-60	3.3
0-70	4.2
0-80	5.2
0-90	6.4
0-100	7.8
Passing, 45-65 mph	1.5
Quarter mile	11.5 sec @ 121.0 mph
Braking, 60-0 mph	102 ft
Lateral acceleration	1.00 g (avg)
MT figure eight	24.2 sec @ 0.82 g (avg)
Top-gear revs @ 60 mph	2210 rpm
CONSUMER INFO
Base price	$77,840
Price as tested	$77,840
Stability/traction control	Yes/yes
Airbags	Dual front
Basic warranty	3 yrs/36,000 miles
Powertrain warranty	5 yrs/60,000 miles
Roadside assistance	6 yrs/60,000 miles
Fuel capacity	19.5 gal
EPA city/hwy econ	16/21 mpg
CO2 emissions	1.08 lb/mile
MT fuel economy	14.9 mpg
Recommended fuel	Unleaded premium

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Cinematical Seven: Outrageous Oscar Disqualifications

by Eric D. Snider

With the news that the musical score from The Dark Knight has been disqualified from Academy Awards consideration on the grounds that too many people were credited with composing it, outrage against the Academy's stringent, complicated rules has erupted afresh. In the interest of fueling this indignation and making the world an angrier place, let's take a belligerent march down memory lane and look at seven other controversial disqualifications.

The Jazz Singer disqualified for being a talkie. When the very first Academy Awards were held in May 1929, honoring films released between August 1927 and July 1928, everyone was talking about The Jazz Singer -- the first feature-length movie to use recorded sound in some of its talking and singing scenes. So great was the attention that the Academy disqualified the film from the inaugural Best Picture category, reasoning that its use of sound put it on an uneven playing field against the films still stuck in silence. Instead, the Academy gave Warner Bros. a special award "for producing The Jazz Singer, the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the industry." It's true, too! I don't know if you've noticed, but pretty much all movies nowadays have talking in them.

Young Americans disqualified from Best Documentary category ... after it already won. Whoops. This is a sad case, and a unique one. The documentary, about the peppy Young Americans show choir, won the Oscar at the 1969 ceremony for being the best feature-length documentary of 1968. But a few weeks later, the Academy discovered that the film had screened at a theater in October 1967, making it eligible for that year's awards and not for 1968. The Academy actually took back the Oscar statues from the filmmakers, Alex Grasshoff and Robert Cohn, and gave the award to the film that had been first runner-up. When Grasshoff died earlier this year, his widow told the Los Angeles Times how heartbroken he'd been. Can you imagine?

Musical score from The Godfather disqualified because some of it was from an earlier score. Nina Rota's haunting score from The Godfather actually got as far as being nominated for an Oscar before someone discovered that its love theme had been previously used in another film Nona had scored, Fortunella. The rules say the music must be written specifically for the movie at hand, so Nona was disqualified and the score from Sleuth was added as a nominee in its place. Two years later, Rota was co-nominated with Carmine Coppola for their Godfather Part II score, and actually won. How could that be, though, when much of the music was simply reused from the first Godfather? Because the Academy had changed the rules in the meantime. Arrgh!

"Come What May" from Moulin Rouge disqualified because it was actually written for a previous project. This is the one that irks me, personally, the most, since the song is gorgeous and actually fit the story of the film. But to be eligible for the Best Song category, the song must have been written specifically for the movie. (That's why screen versions of Broadway musicals usually toss in a couple of new, just-for-the-movie tunes -- because the preexisting songs can't win Oscars.) "Come What May," as it turns out, had been written for Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. He wound up not using it, but it didn't matter. The fact that it hadn't been written with Moulin Rouge in mind made it ineligible. I always wondered why "Come What May" songwriter David Baerwald didn't just, you know, lie about it. I mean, who would have known that he'd actually written it for something else? Apparently he's a more honest person than I am. Oh, and as usual, the Best Song winner that year was something that played over the closing credits and had nothing to do with the movie. Happy, Academy?

Fahrenheit 9/11 disqualified because it aired on TV too soon. The Academy gets a break on this one -- it was Michael Moore's own damn fault. The rules said that to be eligible, a documentary cannot air on television any sooner than nine months after its theatrical debut. Fahrenheit 9/11 was released in the summer of 2004, and Moore chose to show it on pay-per-view TV on Nov. 1, hoping it would influence the election in John Kerry's favor over George W. Bush. He knew it would disqualify him from the documentary category, though he hoped it might still get a Best Picture nomination. (The eligibility rules are different in that category.) Well, as it turns out, the film didn't get nominated for anything, and Bush still won the election. Nice try, though, Mike.

The Band's Visit disqualified from the Best Foreign Language Film category for having too much English. In the foreign-language category, the rules are pretty simple. The film must be predominantly in a language other than English, and it must come from a country other than the United States. The Band's Visit, an optimistic, can't-we-all-get-along? comedy from Israel in 2007, seemed like a shoo-in for a nomination, and many considered it a good bet for the win. The problem was this: The movie is about an Egyptian police band getting lost in a small Israeli town. The characters don't speak each other's languages, so they communicate in the smattering of English that they do have in common. It makes sense, and it enhances the film's overall theme of learning to understand and communicate with one another. Doesn't matter, the Academy said. Since the English spoken in the film adds up to more than 51% of the dialogue -- and yes, people from the Academy sat there with stopwatches -- it didn't qualify as a "foreign-language" film.

Jonny Greenwood's There Will Be Blood score disqualified for not being original enough. It would seem that the music categories are the ones that cause the most trouble, and this sting from last year is still fresh in a lot of people's minds, especially fans of the Radiohead guitarist Greenwood. The Academy ruled that his haunting, unusual score for There Will Be Blood was ineligible because it was "diluted by the use of tracked themes or other pre-existing music." Greenwood wrote about 35 minutes of original material, used about 15 minutes of some of his own previously written music, and incorporated music by the likes of Arvo Pärt and Johannes Brahms. Whatever the combo was, the Academy nixed it -- but not before the preliminary ballots had already gone out with the score listed as being eligible. Still, at least they made up their minds before the thing actually got nominated -- or, heaven forbid, before Greenwood actually went home with the trophy. One take-back in an 80-year history is enough.

More Apple iPhone Search Weirdness, And Embarrassment For Google

by Michael Arrington

Google’s carefully orchestrated launch of their new voice-recognition search application for the iPhone took a dive this weekend. The application didn’t appear as promised, and Google took down the YouTube video demo’ing the product (although it’s still on the Google Channel YouTube page and embedded below).

This is an extraordinary event. Other search app providers have told me they’ve been kept waiting months for approval of their app, with no explanation from Apple. But Google and Apple are close, even sharing Google CEO Eric Schmidt as a board member. Something definitely went sideways, most likely involving Apple throwing a fit of some sort (Apple is just plain weird about press).

Note our report last week that Apple seems to be working on some sort of search product of their own for the iPhone.

Meanwhile, lets all hope that the drama ends soon and that we wake up on Sunday to a fully available application. It’s reason alone to own an iPhone. Hell, I want it on my desktop.

10 Futuristic Concept Laptop Designs

Technology grows too fast and to keep ourselves synchronized with the modern trends, we must take into account every progress whether that may be of past or of the future.

Compiled below is a list of the most futuristic concept laptop designs, some of which have won achievement awards while the rest are just too cool to know about.

Take a look and let us know which one of these do you think will most likely embrace reality in coming times.

1. Canova Dual Screen Laptop

Canova Dual Screen Laptop possesses two screens, a multi sensitive touch screen and is very easy to use. Not only can it be used to handle your daily computing tasks but it also lets you read articles on your laptop in the old-school newspaper fashion.

2. Vaio Zoom

Vaio Zoom notebook features a holographic glass screen that goes transparent and a keyboard that turns opaque when turned off. Turn it on and the touchscreen holographic festivities begin.

3. DesCom

DesCom is basically a two-in-one concept laptop which seamlessly integrates inside a desk.

4. MacTab

MacTab is the complement to MyBook in the high-end. The incredibly thin wireless keyboard is used as a protection cover for transportation. It stays in place with a combination of magnets and notches.

5. LG Ecological Laptop Concept

LG Ecological laptop concept uses fuel cell batteries and features organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology, it received a Red Dot Award nomination for best concept design.

6. Compenion Laptop Concept

Compenion concept laptop by Felix Schmidberger consists of two sliding OLED screens, one of which can be used as a keyboard, where necessary.

7. Samsung Amoled Concept

AMOLED concept notebook by Samsung features a unique design which is thin and sleek and a touch-sensitive keyboard which lacks tactile feedback.

8. Traveller Concept Laptop

Traveller concept laptop is a GPS enabled navigation system for pedestrians with internal storage to save photos or data and built-in Geotagging functionality so you always know where you took your photos.

9. Canvas Laptop Concept

Canvas is a futuristic concept laptop that is supposed to provide a better quality for the designer and also its said that it will raise the productive rate of the artist. It will feature a very thin touchscreen and the other components will look just about the same but they will be better adjusted.

10. Macbook 0801

Macbook 0801 concept laptop by Isamu Sanada is more like a black version of the now Macbook Air. It also features an ultra-thin keyboard and a very sleek design.

Plasma Plants Will Vaporize Trash While Generating Energy

by Mike Chino

Recently St. Lucie County in Florida announced that it has teamed up with Geoplasma to develop the United States’ first plasma gasification plant. The plant will use super-hot 10,000 degree fahrenheit plasma to effectively vaporize 1,500 tons of trash each day, which in turn spins turbines to generate 60MW of electricity - enough to power 50,000 homes! Cutting down on landfill waste while generating energy is a pretty win-win proposition, and the plant will also be able to melt down inorganic materials to be reused for other applications, such as in roadbed and heavy construction.

Plasma gasification was invented by NASA 40 years ago to recreate re-entry temperatures for spacecraft. The process uses an electrical arc to heat up gas to form Plasma, which in turn breaks down waste. The intense heat of the plasma gasifies municipal waste, converting it into “syngas”, which is then cleaned to remove volatile elements. Next, the vapor is sent through a turbine to generate electricity.

Plasma Gasification plants generate much less emissions than standard waste incineration plants, and also cuts down on landfills, which are the US’s largest human caused producer of methane gas. No word yet on the cost-effectiveness of maintaining such plants (all that plasma gas and filtration must be expensive), but if Geoplasma is able to make the process more efficient they could simultaneously solve our landfill problems while generating a significant amount of energy.

+ Geoplasma

Via Scientific American

Red Sox tried to formally suspend Ramirez before trade

By Pedro Gomez
Special to ESPN.com

Outside The Lines: Buyer Beware

A week before Boston traded Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers late last July, the relationship between the Red Sox and their left fielder had grown so contentious and strained that the club was prepared to take the extraordinary step of suspending its best hitter, ESPN has learned.

According to multiple sources, Boston management had drafted an official letter of suspension for Ramirez, and delivered it to him at Fenway Park at around 11 p.m. on Friday night, July 25. For the second straight game, Ramirez had refused to play that evening, and the Red Sox lost 1-0 to the rival New York Yankees in front of a boisterous and sold-out home crowd.

The letter informed Ramirez that the suspension was to go into effect the next day, Saturday, July 26. It said Ramirez was being suspended without pay for being unwilling to play. Copies of the letter were also sent to Major League Baseball, the MLB Players Association and Ramirez's agent, Scott Boras.

Suspensions in baseball are not unusual for players who test positive for performance-enhancing drugs or who are involved in fights during a game. It is extremely rare for a player to be suspended, or threatened with such a suspension, for refusing to play. Within two hours after Ramirez received the letter of suspension, the Red Sox received two calls, according to sources. The first call was from one of Ramirez's teammates. He told a member of Boston's front office that Ramirez would play in Saturday afternoon's game against the Yankees. Within minutes, the second call came in from Ramirez himself, who confirmed that he would be available for Saturday's game.

[+] Enlarge

AP Photo/Michael Dwyer

How hard was Manny Ramirez trying in the weeks before he was traded? Not hard enough, apparently. The Red Sox were ready to suspend him.

Ramirez, who has been vacationing with his family in Brazil, did not return several messages. Members of the Red Sox's front office refused to discuss the subject. Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said he was unaware of Boston's potential suspension of Ramirez.

Boras disputed the assertion that his star client was going to be suspended, citing the fact that Ramirez played in 22 of 24 Red Sox games in July and batted .347 with six home runs and 17 RBIs in the month. "The bottom line is he was never suspended and there was never cause for suspension,'' Boras said. "The fact is the intent to suspend is not a suspension." For weeks leading up to the July 31 trading deadline, Ramirez had been complaining of pain in his right knee. After he told Boston manager Terry Francona that his knee was too sore to play on July 25, the Red Sox's front office ordered an MRI exam during that night's game against the Yankees. But on the way to the exam, Ramirez, according to sources, couldn't remember which knee was sore. So the Red Sox had both of his knees examined. The MRIs revealed no damage in either. The backdrop for the problems in Ramirez's relationship with the Red Sox was his contract situation. In 2001, Ramirez, now 36, signed an eight-year, $160 million deal with Boston that also included two option years at $20 million per season. The 2008 season was the eighth year of the contract, and Ramirez made few attempts to disguise his desire to become a free agent when it ended, believing he could sign a more lucrative deal. He did not want the Red Sox to pick up the option years. A number of incidents earlier in the season added to the tension between Ramirez and the Red Sox. Just after the All-Star break, Boston was swept in Anaheim, a series in which Ramirez reached base in eight of his 13 plate appearances. But late on Sunday afternoon, July 20, as the team was leaving Anaheim for Seattle, he initially refused to board the charter flight. Sources said he told the Red Sox that his knees were so sore, he couldn't play for three weeks. He eventually boarded the flight and played in the first two games against the Mariners, reaching base in six of the 10 times he stepped to the plate, before telling Francona his right knee was too sore to play on July 23. On June 28, Ramirez shoved 64-year-old traveling secretary Jack McCormick to the ground inside Houston's Minute Maid Park clubhouse after Ramirez was told McCormick might not be able to accommodate his 16-ticket request. On June 5, Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis briefly tangled in the Red Sox dugout, reportedly because Youkilis objected when Ramirez had been slow to come out of the dugout earlier in the game after Coco Crisp was hit by a pitch, and both benches emptied. Finally, at the trading deadline, the Red Sox traded Ramirez to the Dodgers in a three-way deal that also included Pittsburgh and brought left fielder Jason Bay to Boston. The Red Sox agreed to pay the remaining $7 million of Ramirez's contract owed for this season. Pedro Gomez is a reporter for ESPN.

New 2010 Mustang

Retro Mustang, take II: If you loved the last one, you’ll like the new one.

BY CSABA CSERE
November 2008

With Dodge having introduced its new Challenger last spring and Chevy’s new Camaro about to go on sale, Ford could hardly stand pat with its current Mustang, which is now four years old. That’s why Henry’s company introduced this new 2010 version of its venerable pony car at the Los Angeles auto show.

The keen observer will notice a close resemblance to the current model in size, profile, and overall shape. In fact, the 2010 Mustang is not an all-new model, but rather a heavily revised version of the current car, with changes concentrated in the areas that called for the most improvement.

The new version uses the roof and A-pillars from the old one. But the front and rear of the pony car are now slightly tapered, and the fender flares have been toned down. Three-segment taillights with sequential turn-signal operation look trick and recall Thunderbirds and Mercury Cougars of the Sixties. A more muscular appearance comes from a power dome on the hood, small haunches over the rear wheels, and more aggressive front and rear fascias. At the same time, the new model, though dimensionally unchanged, appears to be smaller than the current car—which is not a bad thing in today’s pricey fuel climate.

The interior is where Ford invested its greatest effort. A new dashboard made from one giant soft-plastic molding looks and feels much richer than the several hard pieces it replaces. The metallic trim is real aluminum and different in texture on the V-6 and V-8 models. In fact, the shift knob and everything else that looks like aluminum is indeed the genuine metal. A reconfigured console should be softer on your knees when bracing them during hard driving, the optional leather seats show off beautiful stitching, and a navigation system with an eight-inch screen, reverse camera, and Sync 2.0 is optional.

Mechanically, there are no major changes (at least not yet; more powerful engines are supposedly on their way for 2011), but the new GT is an evolution of the current generation’s Bullitt model, which it allegedly outperforms. Small changes to the GT’s powertrain include a cold air intake, a 250-rpm bump to the V-8’s redline, and 3.5-inch exhaust tips out back. The Bullitt connection means 315 horsepower from the 4.6-liter three-valve V-8, and reworked suspension calibrations optimized for standard 18-inch and optional 19-inch tires. A new stability control system has also been implemented; it includes an intermediate “Track” setting in addition to full on and off operation. Spread across two optional performance packages are high-grip summer tires, track-ready brake pads, GT500 anti-roll bars and rear lower control arms, and a shorter 3.73:1 axle ratio.

The V-6 model also gets an uprated suspension with tires that are an inch larger, though the V-6 output remains a flaccid 210 hp. The new bodywork reduced the drag coefficient on both versions by four to seven percent. Ford claims that improvements in window and door seals have reduced wind noise as well.

Both coupe and convertible models go on sale this spring, and prices should not rise much over those of the current models. That should help this upgraded Mustang compete with its all-new competitors.

Israel Turns 2,000 Acre Trash Dump into One of World's Largest Parks

by Brian Merchant

Image courtesy of Park Ayalon

For decades, Hiriya, a 2,000 acre garbage dump, has sat on the outskirts of Tel Aviv as an ecological and aesthetic blight. At its center was Hiriya Mountain—a massive 230 foot mound of waste. But after an intensive national revitalization effort the eyesore has reemerged as Ayalon Park, and the mountain is being transformed into an eco-tourism attraction replete with terraces, ridge groves and footpaths for hiking. When completed, it will rank as one of the largest metropolitan parks in the world.

Ayalon Park will serve as a 24 hour destination for recreation in Israel, as well as a learning center designed to educate visitors about recycling and other ecologically friendly practices.

Details on the rehabilitation are limited, but much of the project seems to have been made possible by a massive recycling center that wraps around the base of the giant trash mountain:

"The Recycling Center, which spans 75 acres, is located at the base of the "healed" mountain, and currently operates the most innovative technologies for recycling waste."

The center, currently operating, will be open to visitors curious about the massive recycling effort.

Hiriya has been mostly abandoned since 1952, tended to only by sanitation staff—it received daily loads of trash from garbage trucks from around Tel Aviv. Now, incoming waste is instead sorted by the state-of-the art recycling facility, and Ayalon Park is expected to receive thousands of visitors a day.

4 Bizarre Films Coming To A Theater Near You

By Alex Carnevale

In the excitement following last year's Hollywood writer's strike, a lot of projects got restarted or greenlit. The fruits of those labors are now unfolding in movie theaters across the country, and some of them are too weird to live, and too rare to die. Whether it was studio enthusiasm to get any project going, any at all, or a desire to repeat the same old formulas and see if they could still make money (or do so for the first time), these upcoming films seem particularly unlikely to succeed:

Are the executives who put together these projects high, or just crazy enough to be billionaires?

The Film: Four Christmases
When? November 29
Whose Idea Was This Exactly?: Director Seth Gordon's first feature features the completely incomprehensible couple of Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon. I thought I'd have to wait for a Helen Keller or Jane Goodall biopic to see these two cast together. The two of them have an unhappy series of Christmases that will surely lead to some kind of emotional reckoning and probably a wedding as well. Hopefully the film's hijinks will prevent Vaughn from crushing Witherspoon during intercourse.
Could It Work?: We celebrate Hanukah, so we have no true way of knowing what Christian folk are looking to watch at Christmastime. Perhaps this film will be screened on the HD monitors mounted on the back of pews. That's what they did for The Passion, right?

The Film: Seven Pounds
When? December 19
Whose Idea Was This Exactly?: From Happyness director Gabriele Muccino, which at least had a true story it was based on. Smith's semi-inspirational follow-up to The Pursuit of Happyness has him as an IRS agent and do-gooder extraordinaire. Now is really the time to be inspired by government, must be the thinking. Unless the government plans on screening this as propaganda to stop people from going all Wesley Snipes, I don't know about this one. Perhaps they could subtly reference Obama in the promotional effort before the movie's release date? Terrific.
Could It Work?: Pounds will have a tough time in the crowded Christmas season.

The Film: Duplicity
When?: March 10, 2009
Whose Idea Was This Exactly?: I realize that Mike Nichols' film Closer has many fans, but I was really not among them. One seemingly indisputable part of the movie was the lack of chemistry between Julia Roberts and Clive Owen in the gorgeous loft where they considered and reconsidered their white people's problems. Owen even tracked down Natalie Portman because he was so bored with Roberts. So why team these two up again, for a film in which the title itself threatens to put audience to sleep? But wait: they play spies for pharmaceutical companies. The only reason this movie got the go is that it's written and directed by Bourne screenwriter Tony Gilroy.
Could It Work?: It will put the test to the theory of whether you can go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American (and British) public. But is no one as worried as I am that Julia Roberts' extensive plastic surgery is about to reduce her into a slobbering mess of not-so-hot?

The Film: 2012
When?: July 10, 2009
Whose Idea Was This Exactly?: Independence Day director Roland Emmerich decided to take a year with some importance in New Age belief — and make a huge action blockbuster out of it! The movie's apocalyptic scenario isn't the first Emmerich pitch to come directly from Wikipedia: Remember 10,000 B.C.? After the film comes out next year, it will have three short years before it's so dated it will never be watched again. With a budget of $200+ million, it better work fast.
Could It Work?: John Cusack and Amanda Peet star as a cute bickering couple in order to grab the attention of the womenfolk. I wouldn't think audiences would fall for something this simplistic, but 10,000 B.C. made over $270 million worldwide on a budget half of 2012's. Here's the first trailer for the movie to help you decide.

Laid Off Workers Learn New Trades

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- In the worst labor market in 14 years, Americans from auto workers to financial analysts are considering a career change in hopes of landing a job.

Many job seekers are getting specialized training as a way to break into a new industry. Vocational, technical and trade schools, which provide a formal education in skilled trades from catering to computer programming, are seeing a surge in enrollments this year.

To make themselves more marketable, 26% of workers plan to go back to school to obtain a degree, certification or other training, according to Career Builder's Industry Trends Survey in September.

"It's a great time to do it, the national unemployment rate is 6.5%, but the unemployment rate for skilled workers is only 3.1%," said Doug Arms, chief talent officer Ajilon Global, professional staffing firm. "There's much higher demand for skilled workers in this type of economy."

Increased enrollment at technical and vocational schools is not uncommon in an economic downturn, according to Arms.

"Not only in this cycle but in past cycles our enrollments throughout our campuses are very tightly correlated with the unemployment rate," said Eugene Putnam, CFO of the Universal Technical Institute.

UTI offers undergraduate degrees and certificate programs for automotive, diesel and marine technicians. Over 90% of graduates find jobs in their field of study, Putnam said.

This September, enrollment at ITT Technical Institute, which offers degree programs in computer technology, Web development and programming, jumped 19.4% to over 61,000 students nationwide from the year earlier. Director of Communications Staci Schneider credits the weak job market for the rise.

"A lot of people are interested in pursuing alternative careers, particularly if they've been laid off," she said.

At ITT, 82% of last year's students obtained jobs in their field of study, according to Schneider.

DeVry University, which offers various career-oriented degree and certificate programs and flexible schedules for working students, also reported a spike in enrollment this year. For the September 2008 session, 17,799 students enrolled in courses at DeVry campuses across the country, up 12.2% from the same period a year ago.

A lifestyle adjustment

Getting the training necessary to start a second career from scratch can be emotionally and financially difficult.

But as long as people "make peace with the huge lifestyle adjustments, this could be an opportunity to pursue a dream," said Max Caldwell, a managing principal in Towers Perrin's Workforce Effectiveness practice. But, "it's not all glamour," he cautioned.

Paul Bernard, a veteran executive coach and career management adviser who runs his own firm, similarly advises his clients to look before they leap. Switching careers means starting from the ground up all over again, he said.

"Sometimes people forget that having a talent for cooking is not the same as being in a kitchen peeling carrots."

Caldwell recommends that those interested in starting a second career should thoroughly research the industry before starting a training or degree program. "Go to the school's career office and see what kind of jobs graduates get," he said. "Know what you're getting yourself into."

And for those not quite ready to make a serious commitment to a second career, there are less intensive -- and less expensive -- options, Arms said. "Continuing education does not need to be as formal as getting a degree."

And there are cheaper and less formal ways to expand on existing skill sets in order to be more competitive in the job market. For example, online training programs, books and software applications can teach you skills that you can tack on to your resume today, he said.

Detroit Bailout- 7 Key Questions

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Congress is set to begin a heated debate on whether Detroit's Big Three automakers -- General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler LLC -- will be next in line for a federal bailout.

Democratic leaders in Congress are in favor of some kind of help, as is President-elect Obama. But the Bush administration has balked on proposals to let the automakers tap the $700 billion Wall Street bailout approved in October.

Many leading Congressional Republicans have suggested that a better option is bankruptcy, enabling the Big Three to restructure and ultimately emerge as leaner and viable businesses.

How this debate plays out could determine whether this important industry survives -- and in what form. Here are some quick answers to seven key questions about the crisis.

What do the automakers want?

The automakers are asking for about $25 billion in loans to help them survive until 2010. Advocates for a bailout argue that if the Big Three can hang on until then, they'll be in position to be competitive long-term.

That's because billions of dollars in annual savings won in the 2007 labor agreement with the United Auto Workers union kick in that year, including shifting the responsibility for retirees' health care costs to union-controlled trust funds.

What's more, it's likely that car sales will pick up again by 2010 and that plant closings between now and then will bring the Big Three's capacity in line with this demand.

How many jobs are at stake?

GM (GM, Fortune 500) has about 120,000 U.S. employees. Ford (F, Fortune 500) has about 80,000 and closely-held Chrysler LLC has about 66,000.

In addition, the three automakers have about 14,000 U.S. dealerships that between them employ another 740,000 workers.

The suppliers used by the Big Three also employ an estimated 610,000 people.

Add that up and you have more than 1.6 million jobs tied to the auto industry.

What happens if there's no bailout?

GM risks running out of money later this year or early in 2009 without a bailout.

GM burned through $6.9 billion during the third quarter, leaving it with only $16 billion on hand as of Sept. 30. But it needs $11 billion to $14 billion to continue normal operations.

Ford and Chrysler have more cash relative to their needs, mostly from money they borrowed prior to the current credit crunch.

But each of those automakers could also run out of cash during 2009 without federal assistance.

What happens if an automaker goes bankrupt?

There are two types of corporate bankruptcy under U.S. law.

Chapter 11 allows a company to continue to operate as it sheds debts and contracts it can not afford.

In Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the company goes out of business fairly rapidly as its assets are sold off to try to satisfy its creditors.

What are advantages of an automaker going into bankruptcy?

Some argue that bankruptcy judges will be able to force the automakers to shed brands and dealerships as well as get the Big Three out of labor contracts they can not afford.

Other U.S. industries, such as steel companies and airlines, have used bankruptcy in the past to return to profitability without putting federal dollars at risk.

What are the arguments against a Chapter 11 bankruptcy?

Given the current credit crunch, many experts question whether automakers would be able to get necessary financing from lenders to help them during the reorganization process.

There are also doubts whether consumers would buy new vehicles from a bankrupt automaker due to concerns over their resale value and warranty. In effect, an automaker that files for Chapter 11 could eventually wind up going out of business anyway.

What are some of the other broader economic impacts if an automaker goes out of business?

Nearly 2 million Americans get their health insurance directly from one of the Big Three automakers. Most of them would lose that coverage if their company goes out of business.

A failure of one of the Big Three could also cause a string of bankruptcies among suppliers. And beyond the job losses at the automakers, dealerships and suppliers, media companies that generate a lot of revenue from auto advertising as well as retailers in towns where plants are located could also have to cut many jobs.

50 Beautiful Examples Of Tilt-Shift Photography

Tilt-shift photography is a creative and unique type of photography in which the camera is manipulated so that a life-sized location or subject looks like a miniature-scale model. Below we present 50 beautiful examples of tilt-shift photography. All examples are linked to their sources. We strongly encourage you to explore other works of the photographers we’ve featured in this post.

To add good miniature effect to your photographs, shoot subjects from a high angle (especially from the air). It creates the illusion of looking down at a miniature model. A camera equipped with a tilt-shift lens, which simulates a shallow depth of field, is essentially all you need to start.

Vincent Laforet







Baldheretic

Click her to see all 50 Amazing Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

40 Years Later, It's Moon Race 2.0

Illustration by Robert Grossman for TIME

By JEFFREY KLUGER / HOUSTON Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008

You probably wouldn't have had much fun on the surface of the moon. It's not the exploring or the bouncing or the buggy-roving that would have bothered you. It's the worrying.

Landing on the moon is fine, but you need to get home too. That means heaving your multiton spacecraft back off the ground and up into space--and if that's going to happen, all its thousands of components have to work just so. There's no guarantee that they will--which is why the first time men landed on the moon, President Richard Nixon had a short address prepared just in case things went wrong. "Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace," he would have said. When they're writing your obit while you're still alive, it's hard to have a good time.

But the astronauts themselves had a grand time on the moon--and the U.S. had just as much fun sending them there. For a big, loud, hootenanny nation like ours--one that has spent the better part of its history whooping its way west--having an empty landmass to explore a quarter-million miles (more than 400,000 km) offshore was a powerful tonic. The fact that the exploring took place in what was otherwise a very hard decade made the experience only more bracing.

By any measure, the current decade is a hard one too. And again--perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not--we're eyeing the moon. By 2015, to hear NASA tell it, a new manned spacecraft--the evocatively named Orion--will be carrying crews to Earth's orbit. By 2020, Orion will be paired with the lunar lander Altair. That same year, fresh American bootprints will be made on the lunar soil--the first since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Contractors have been chosen, metal is being cut, and most important, money has been allocated. "This is a real program," says Jeff Hanley, manager of NASA's Constellation program, which oversees manned exploration. "We're spending a couple hundred million dollars a month, and thousands of people are marching to a strategy."

Globalization is driving the new push. As the economies of Asia and Europe spread new wealth, more and more countries are realizing that the moon is within reach. Never mind the two-party U.S.-Soviet moon race of old. This time China is in the hunt. So are India, Japan and the entire 17-nation European Space Agency (ESA). On Oct. 22, India launched its Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, an unmanned lunar orbiter that marks the country's first table stakes in the moon game. China's Chang'e 1 spacecraft is already in lunar orbit, as is Japan's Selene. Europe's SMART-1 entered lunar orbit in 2003, and the ESA wants to go back. China broadly aims to have astronauts on the moon by 2020. The ESA is hoping to build a "global robotic village" by 2016 and a permanent manned base by 2024.

And none of this includes the private sector. Last fall, Google offered a $30 million prize to any group that lands a robot on the lunar surface before Dec. 31, 2012, travels at least 500 m (1,640 ft.) and sends back video. In the first six months after the prize was announced, 560 groups from 53 nations expressed interest. All at once, the moon, which has spent nearly 40 years as a cultural colony of the U.S. alone, has a lot of new claimants.

Robots First

The most powerful player in the moon race, apart from the U.S., is China. If the past hundred years were the American century, the next hundred could be China's, and nothing says rising power like a space program. "Chinese people have a lot of feeling for President Kennedy," says Li Jing, an astronomer formerly with the Chinese Academy of Science. "The Apollo project catapulted the U.S. into scientific leadership. The U.S.'s national power shot up. Chinese people are very clear about that."

In 2003, China acted on that clarity, launching its first manned mission, a 14-orbit flight by a lone astronaut. In 2005 a two-man crew went up for a five-day stay, and in September 2008, a three-man team flew a mission complete with a spacewalk.

But China's true fascination has long been the moon--at least since 1978, when the U.S. presented Beijing with a 1-g (.035 oz.) sample of lunar rock brought back by the Apollo 17 mission. Chinese officials razored off half of that moon crumb and gave it to scientists to study. "From that half a gram, we produced 40 papers," space scientist Ouyang Ziyuan told the People's Daily.

China won't be begging the U.S. for lunar scraps anymore. Chang'e 1, launched in October 2007 and named for China's goddess of the moon, is currently orbiting 125 miles (200 km) above the lunar surface. The ship is stuffed with equipment to study the ground and look for possible landing sites. Chang'e 2 is set to follow next year with another orbital mission, followed by a rover in 2012 and a robotic sample-return mission in 2017. A manned trip could come after that. "The Chinese have read the Apollo playbook," says Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on the Chinese space program at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I.

India's moon program is less ambitious--so far--but the country has a deep space tradition. The Indian government has been in the satellite-launching game since 1975, but it always focused on such bread-and-butter science as land-mapping, weather-forecasting and communications. In a country struggling with chronic poverty, even the most ambitious ruling party dared go no further. All that changed in 1998, when India and Pakistan rattled the world with dueling nuclear tests. In the heady, protech rush that followed, then Prime Minister Atal Vajpayee approved an Indian lunar push and chose to make the announcement as part of the Independence Day celebrations of 2003. A Chandrayaan-2 rover is planned for 2011.

Like the Chinese program, the Indian one would not exist at all but for a roaring national economy--notwithstanding the current global slowdown. "What is the purpose of 8% growth if we can't make the spending necessary to sustain it?" asks Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), India's NASA.

The biggest difference between the old moon race and the new one may be the role of the private sector. In 2004 pilot and aerospace designer Bert Rutan copped the $10 million Ansari X Prize by designing the first manned vehicle to fly to and from suborbital space twice within a week. In September 2007, aerospace engineer Peter Diamandis, ceo of the X Prize group, announced he was partnering with Google to offer a new, $30 million Lunar X Prize, with the goal of having a private rover toddling about the moon by the end of 2012.

The vast majority of the teams responding to the contest do not have the skill or seed money to compete seriously. But so far 14 groups do, and Google has okayed them as contestants. Made up mostly of aerospace and software pros, the teams are allowed to use commercial rockets to launch their probes but must build the ships and steer them to a moon landing on their own. The designers exhibit a surprising sangfroid about their work. "There's no magic. We did it in the '60s, and the physics are the same," says aerospace engineer Bob Richards, head of a design team.

The Humans Return

Robots, of course, are limited--Scouts and surrogates largely unsuited to the complex lunar work researchers want to undertake. Geologists hope to continue the studies of solar-system origins that the Apollo crews began (before Nixon scrapped the manned-moon program in favor of the ostensibly more practical and affordable space shuttle). Astronomers talk of placing a radio telescope on the moon's far side; energy experts want to mine the moon's helium 3, an isotope that could power clean-fusion reactors back on Earth. And anyone dreaming of a human presence on Mars knows that before you attempt long-duration stays on a body tens of millions of miles from home, it's best to practice on one nearby. "You wring these techniques out on the moon first," says Mark Geyser, manager of the Orion project.

In 2004, President George W. Bush announced a moon-Mars initiative that would commit NASA to those kinds of goals. Skeptics suspected this was just a bit of election-year candy--and that may have been part of the plan. But the initial idea was accompanied by some hardheaded trade-offs. The grossly overpriced International Space Station would be completed by 2010, allowing the outdated space shuttles to be retired. This would free up between $3 billion and $4 billion a year without increasing NASA's budget. Since Americans still need access to space, the shuttle would be replaced with an updated Apollo-style orbiter. Pair that with a souped-up lunar lander similar to the original, and you're back on the moon. "We're anchoring our models in Apollo data points," says Cleon Lacefield, a vice president and project manager for Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for the Orion orbiter.

Actually, NASA is doing Apollo one better. In the old lunar program, one massive Saturn V booster did all the lifting, but this time there will be two rockets. The Ares V, the larger of the pair, will be used to carry the new lunar lander as far as Earth's orbit and make unmanned cargo runs to the moon. The smaller Ares I will lift the command module, carrying four astronauts, to meet the lander. Dividing the job between two rockets frees up more payload space on the Ares V. And unlike the Saturn V, which had to be invented from the engine bells up, the Ares boosters will go the frugal route by adapting existing hardware, such as the solid-fuel boosters from the shuttle and an upper-stage engine from the Saturn rockets themselves.

One of the quirkiest features of the old Apollo missions was that while three men would fly to the moon, only two would descend to the surface; the third minded the mother ship. This time there will be a four-person crew, and all the crew members will get a chance to get dirty while the orbiter that is their ticket home waits unattended above. "We have greater control over the orbiter than we used to," says Clinton Dorris, deputy manager of the Altair lander program. What's more, with lunar campouts of up to six months planned--compared with the record three-day stay of Apollo 17 in 1972--leaving one crewmember alone is simply not tenable.

So far, Orion and the boosters are the furthest along in their production cycles, since every day that they delay extends the five-year period when Americans have no independent access to space. To fill that gap, the plan has been to thumb a ride to the space station with the Russians aboard their venerable Soyuz ships. But with tensions rising between Washington and Moscow since the Russian invasion of Georgia, worries are rising too. This could lead NASA either to postpone mothballing the shuttles--a bad idea when you're talking about a creaky fleet that's already claimed 14 lives--or to accelerate building the replacement vehicles.

It's no secret which option NASA prefers, but the question will be whether there's enough will and wallet to get the job done. The Wall Street crash does not portend big budgets for what some people see as a luxury agency like NASA. And President-elect Barack Obama may not feel much loyalty to a lunar program that so indelibly bears the Bush stamp. But having successfully reeled in Florida on Election Day, he's not likely to do anything to tick off its space-happy voters either. Plus, there are jobs to be created in a newly revived moon program. "When we won the Orion contract, we posted openings for 2,000 jobs," says Lockheed's Lacefield. "We received 30,000 applications."

Finally, of course, there's the question that's dogged every manned flight since the Soviet Union's Yuri Gagarin first went into orbit in 1961: Why bother? Space planners have always justified today's flights as necessary rehearsals for tomorrow's--we can't live on Mars if we don't learn to live on the moon first. True enough, but couldn't we just do neither? As for deep-space observatories on the far side of the moon, the Hubble telescope has done perfectly well alone in orbit, with only a few maintenance missions in 18 years. How much harder would it be to build a moon-based telescope that didn't need any?

None of that, of course, reckons with the other piece of the equation--the wholly unscientific joy we feel when we do something as preposterous as putting people in space. None of it reckons either with the primal jolt Americans have always gotten from competition--the gunning-the-engine moment when we decide that if China and Japan and India and Europe are peeling out for the moon, the U.S. can surely beat them there. That ain't sensible, and that ain't science, but as it was 40 years ago, it sure is fun.

See pictures of five nations' space programs.

Sweden's Ultra-Modern Underground Data Center

by Matthew Shaw

Underneath Stockholm, deep in the bedrock exists a data center better than any high tech lair Hollywood could probably dream up. Bahnhof, one of Sweden's largest ISP's has created a bunker of high tech goodness that is surely to astound.

The facility is called Pionen and once you get past the 16 inch thick entrance doors into the once nuclear bunker now converted to a data center, the spectacular sights that await are simply breathtaking. Replete with waterfalls, greenhouses, German submarine backup engines, and simulated daylight this facility has the added benefit of being able to withstand an almost direct hit by a hydrogen bomb.

The space Pionen now occupies was originally built during the Cold War era as a nuclear shelter. Located below 30 meters of solid bedrock the space was completely redesigned during 2007-2008. Now Boasting 11,950 sq ft of space it houses the Network Operations Center (NOC) for all of Bahnhof's operations. One of five data centers, it is the largest and is manned by a 15 member team of senior technical staff.

Backup power is generated by two Maybach MTU diesel engines that produce 1.5 Megawatts of power and were originally designed for submarines. The cooling is handled by "Baltimore Aircoil fans producing a cooling effect of 1.5 megawatts" which is enough to cool several hundred rack-mounted servers.

Triple redundant internet backbone pipes are split across fiber and copper and delivered via multiple physical paths into the mountain.

Conference Room


Left: View of servers from moon surfaced conference room. Right: Submarine backup engines


Network Operations Center

Waterfalls

In an interview over at Pingdom, when asked about the motivation behind Pionen, Jon Karlung, CEO of Bahnhof said “Rather than just concentrating on technical hardware we decided to put humans in focus. Of course, the security, power, cooling, network, etc, are all top notch, but the people designing data centers often (always!) forget about the humans that are supposed to work with the stuff.”

Data Center Layout - Source: Pingdom

“Since we got hold of this unique nuclear bunker in central Stockholm deep below the rock, we just couldn't’t build it like a traditional – more boring – hosting center,” he said. “We wanted to make something different. The place itself needed something far out in design and science fiction was the natural source of inspiration in this case – plus of course some solid experience from having been a hosting provider for more than a decade.”

Regarding the design of the facility, he said “I’m personally a big fan of old science fiction movies. Especially ones from the 70s like Logan’s Run, Silent Running, Star Wars (especially The Empire Strikes Back) so these were an influence,“ said Karlung. “James Bond movies have also had an impact on the design. I was actually looking for the same outfit as the villain ‘Blofeld’ in Bond and even considered getting a white cat, but that might have been going a bit far!”

Before Construction

I only have two questions... What time does the DJ come on? Wheres the dance floor?