17 dominoes balanced on 1 upright domino ARE U KIDDING ME!?
Learn how to do this awesome balancing trick using domino stones. Watch as 17 dominoes are balanced all one a single stone.
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Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Company Turns Familiar Gas Cars Into Electric Vehicles
How would you like to drive an all-electric Mini? An EV Smart Car? A PT Cruiser? With the help of Hybrid Technologies, you can. They’ve taken many familiar vehicles, ripped out their engines, and replaced them with lithium batteries and electric motors.
On the surface it makes great sense and it seems there would be a huge demand for this sort of thing. Electric cars are nearly maintenance free. They don’t need oil changes and they have 90% fewer parts than gas cars. Plus, these EVs look like the normal cars that are already popular with many folks.
Cool. How much will it cost? Glad you asked. How about a slick $40,000 for an all electric Toyota Yaris hatchback? Or $60,000 for the Mini? Come on now, I know you wanted that Beemer, but let’s be realistic, the price of gas is only rising and you never liked going to get oil changes anyways.
Given the savings on fuel and maintenance, the company states that they believe their prices are “competitive” with other vehicles when looked at over a 7 to 10 year time frame. Although this is probably true, I see some issues with their business model.
To start with, I’m guessing that coming up with $60,000 all at once (or even paying $1,200 a month on a 5 year loan at 7% interest) would be out of the realm of “doable” for the demographic typically interested in buying a Yaris, a PT Cruiser, or a Mini.
Secondly, at $60,000, you’re 60% of the way to buying yourself a Tesla Roadster with much better stats (not to mention a status factor light years beyond a mere all-electric PT Cruiser). Chances are, if you have $60,000 you can throw at a vehicle, you probably can manage the stretch to $100,000 as well.
Lastly, I think the company has missed a bigger consumer demand for converting cars that people already own into all-electric vehicles. If you’ve owned something like a PT cruiser for 6 years, you’ve probably paid it off and you might be thinking of buying a new car.
Buying a new car would cost you around $25,000. If the conversion to all-electric costs around $25,000, why not just do that instead? In the process they remove all the parts that tend to break down, you end up with a car that costs pennies per mile to operate, and you’ve essentially recycled your old car.
In 4 years time, I’d do that with my 2007 Yaris in a heartbeat.
Friends of Steve McQueen Car Show
Summer has recently arrived in Southern California and with spectacular weather come some spectacular car shows. New to the summer roster this year was the first Friends of Steve McQueen Car Show, held at the Boy's Republic in Chino, California. A most appropriate venue, McQueen not only lived there as a teenager, but the sprawling grounds allow for plenty of space to house the 200 or so cars on display. The show itself is an enduring tribute to not just a famous actor, but a genuine car enthusiast who owned plenty of mouth-watering machines -- and even raced them from time to time. Steve's son, Chad McQueen and the author -- MT's very own Matt Stone -- signed copies of "McQueen's Machines: The Cars and Bikes of a Hollywood Icon," and when they ran out of books, McQueen hung out and signed whatever people brought him. There were three ex-Steve cars on the field, and they were of course the crowd favorites. Chad brought the '58 Porsche Speedster 1600 Super that his father purchased new and won his first SCCA race with in 1959. Jesse Rodriguez brought the 1970 Porsche 911S that appeared in "Le Mans" (who could ever forget that opening scene with Steve and the 911, cruising the French countryside?). The owner has just consigned this car to Bonhams & Butterfields auctioneers, and it will be sold in August in Carmel Valley, California, along with the Porsche 908 Spyder that McQueen and Peter Revson drove to second place at the Sebring 12-hour race in 1970. Rounding out the trio was one of McQueen's many old trucks, a nicely patina'd early '50s GMC he donated to the Boys Republic in the 1970s. An ex-Steve Indian, a Triumph, and a well-done "Great Escape" Triumph replica represented the McQueen motorcycle contingent. Bullitt Mustangs of every stripe were out in force. Dave Kunz brought his '68 Bullitt tribute car; the same one that appeared in the Ford Puma commercial about 10 years ago and Sheryl Crow's "Steve McQueen" music video in 2000. There was also another pair of Highland Green '68s on hand. 2001 Bullitt edition Mustangs outnumbered 2008 Bullitt 'Stangs, six cars to three, and the crowd enjoyed them all. From there, it was run what ya brung, with a lot of American muscle, several nice Shelby Mustangs (old and new), many fine Jaguars, and around 40 Porsches on hand -- no surprise, as a Porsche 356 club put on the event. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, there was a respectable amount of money raised for the Boys Republic, and many promised they'd "come back next year, show my car next time, and bring a friend, too." Let's hope all that happens.By Matt Stone, Rory Jurnecka Photography by Kirk Gerbracht
The 1970 Porsche 911S Featured in the movie Le Mans
Matt Stone and Chad McQueen pose for a photo with a spectator
A row of Ford Mustangs of varying vintage and type
Steve McQueen donated this classic GMC pickup truck to The Boys Republic in the 1970s
Chad McQueen on a Triumph motorcycle built as a tribute to that used in the movie The Great Escape
The Steve McQueen 1958 Porsche 356 Speedster (currently owned by Chad McQueen)
New Acura NSX spied
The spied car bears a striking resemblance to the Acura Advanced Sports Car concept that we’ve seen at several auto shows. But Honda claimed the ASCC was just a design study, and rumor was that its icy reception necessitated a return to the drawing table. This spied car looks ready for production, though, having missed its original 2008 target.
Honda has already confirmed that the new NSX will be a front-engine supercar. The first-generation NSX, sold in the U.S. until 2005, had a mid-mounted 3.2-liter V-6.
Given their visual similarity, we expect the new NSX will use the same powertrain as the ASCC, which would mean a 5.0-liter V-10 engine paired with the automaker’s Super Handling All-Wheel Drive system. That could put the NSX on par with the likes of the Nissan GT-R.
Although it shares the same basic shape as the concept car, the NSX sports a higher roofline to allow more space in the cockpit, as well as smoother lines over the rear. The tiny headlamp slits from the concept have given way to real, normal-size headlights and there’s an extra center grille to help feed air to the engine.
At the rear, a pronounced trunklid spoiler and rear splitter look set to keep the NSX planted. LED taillights that spanned the entire rear of the concept car have been replaced by more conservative, production-ready LED housings. The concept’s dual stacked exhaust tips remain.
All this adds up to a car that doesn’t appear to be far from production while looking far more aggressive and track-ready than the concept car. We can’t wait to get our hands—and test gear—on oneUsing Flickr to teach computers to identify pictures
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have plugged in to Flickr to create a database of over 6 million images tagged with geographic and text information. Using their software, they could take a random picture and identify where it was taken, give or take 200km, at a rate 18 times better than chance.
read more | digg story
The ten most fuel efficient vehicles in the US
In the past 17 years, no vehicle in America outsold the Ford F-150 on a monthly or yearly basis—not once. In May of this year, however, Honda moved more Civics and Accords and Toyota more Corollas and Camrys than Ford moved of its bestseller. This shift has less to do with a change in Americans’ vehicular preferences than the fact that trucks guzzle fuel, the cost of which has doubled in the past three years.
America has been sideswiped by the $4 gallon of gasoline, and auto industry heads believe the higher gas prices are permanent, not just a temporary shift or spike. Companies have been reconfiguring their lineups accordingly. GM has green-lighted the electrically motivated Volt plug-in hybrid for a 2010 release, and in addition to ceasing production of trucks and SUVs at four U.S. plants and idling thousands of workers, it is considering selling off the iconic Hummer brand.
From a manufacturing perspective, it’s increasingly difficult to build fuel-sipping vehicles, as current safety and emissions technologies add weight, a primary nemesis of fuel economy. Hybrid technology and low mass are the most cost-effective strategies to better fuel economy, and the bulk of our list of the 10 most-fuel-efficient vehicles utilize one or both. Toyota plays both sides, managing to field three of the top 10—four if you count the Nissan Altima, which uses the Toyota Camry’s hybrid drive system under license.
That five of the vehicles on our list are hybrids is a harbinger of things to come. Although there’s only one diesel in this group, expect that to change. The following vehicles are ranked according to their EPA combined fuel-economy ratings. Since the EPA calculation favors city mileage, that number is used here as a tiebreaker.
Ferrari Millechili Update
What it is: A lightweight two-seater (2200 pounds or even less) loaded with Formula 1 technology. In many ways it will be a successor to the Enzo, but instead of adding power, Ferrari will add lightness. Don’t worry—the Millechili name won’t be making it to production.
Why it’s important: F1 goodies make their way onto a road car. The technology and light weight will make this car spectacularly quick but also fuel efficient.
Platform: A derivative of the F430’s aluminum space frame on a slightly longer, 104.3-inch wheelbase. The mid-engine layout will carry a new V-10 of unknown displacement making upwards of 600 horsepower.
Noteworthy technology: Active aerodynamics will manage airflow over the vehicle, thus reducing drag.
Competition: Not much in sight as the current crop of supercars (Bugatti Veyron, Lamborghini Murciélago, Mercedes SLR McLaren) are either too heavy or expensive to be considered worthy competitors.
What might go wrong: Not much. The idea of an ultra-lightweight Ferrari sounds plenty good to us.
Estimated arrival and cost: Production is set to begin in 2010. An estimated 300 cars will be built over a couple years. Start saving your Benjamin Franklins as the successor to the Ferrari Enzo will be at least $500,000.
Comcast’s immense 10 million pixel video wall
by deputydog
on june 8th the brand new comcast center opened in philadelphia and immediately became the tallest building in the city. now, whilst the building itself is a beauty, the thing that made me dribble slightly and the thing that no-one seems to have picked up on yet is the phenomenal video wall in the skyscraper’s lobby, built by barco. first of all take a look at the pictures, watch the videos, wipe your mouth and then prepare for some facts.
now for some clips…
here’s another video. skip to about 1:30 for some dancing action.
i’m told that to see it in action, in person, is breathtaking. i’m also told that the screen cost a whopping $22million to design, construct and install.
for that money, you get the following…
1. the largest four-millimeter LED screen in the world, measuring 83.3ft x 25.4ft
2. 10 million pixels mounted in a seamless flat array - that’s 5 times the resolution of high-definition tv
3. an automated control room, home to 27′000 gigabytes of information, six dx-700 led digitizers, seven encore video processors and three matrixpro routers
wow.
at least we now know where some of the bandwidth charges are gonna go.
The Horror: iPhone Runs Windows XP via Citrix
in brief Citrix used its thin client technology to demonstrate an Apple iPhone running Windows XP, at the recent Citrix Application Delivery Conference in Melbourne.
Windows XP, seen below running on the iPhone, was loaded using Citrix's thin client desktop software XenDesktop. Using the Citrix ICA client — a UNIX application that allows devices to access Windows sessions on a Citrix server — the presenter was able to run Windows on the iPhone via Wi-Fi.
Windows XP running on an iPhone
(Credit: David Braue)
The iPhone's "pinch" controls also work, which
makes it relatively easy to zoom in and out of the desktop.
(Credit: David Braue)
The iPhone demo was part of the opening keynote titled Directions in Virtualisation & Application Delivery in the Dynamic Datacentre.
Secret Treasure of Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, over 20,000 pieces of ancient gold jewelry and artifacts were discovered in 1979. Mysterious "key holders" pledged their lives to hide the treasure from plunderers. Did they succeed?
read more | digg story
Co-Workers Who Drive You Crazy!
By Rachel Zupek
For many people, bad habits are unconscious.
Does he know that his obnoxious cell phone talking is driving you nuts? Experts say to address the issue quickly.
John might not realize that clipping his fingernails in the lunchroom is repulsive.
Suzy is clueless that coffee was not made to be slurped, and Ed doesn't know that showering only three times per week is unhygienic (and stinky!).
Let's be honest: Nobody's perfect; not even you. Results from a recent MSN Zogby data poll show that 20 percent of workers say their co-workers have at least one habit that drives them crazy.
So while your co-worker might have a more obvious bothersome tendency (like always talking on speakerphone), maybe your constant complaining about everyone else's behaviors has the same effect.
In fact, 15 percent of workers agreed their co-workers' constant complaining drives them crazy, and 13 percent say colleagues passing off their work is frustrating, according to the poll. Other irritants included gossip, talking too much and eating smelly food.
"You really only have one option when it comes to being annoyed by a fellow employee," says Donna Flagg, president of The Krysalis Group, a business and management consulting firm in New York City. "Simply let your co-worker know how you feel and politely ask them if they would mind curtailing their annoying habit."
Don't Miss
Johanna Rothman, author of "Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management," says to nip the situation in the bud as soon as possible.
"The sooner you address an issue you have with a co-worker, the more likely you are to be willing to work with the other person to resolve the issue," she says. "The longer the issue exists, the more you tend to be resentful of it."
We asked our readers to tell us what drives them nuts about their co-workers. Here are a few of the most aggravating habits we found:
• "I have an employee who is a Packers fan; I am a Bears fan. Every once in a while, I receive an e-mail that varies from photos of Brett Favre or just plain text that says, 'PACK.' It drives me nuts, and I have to pretend it doesn't bother me one bit." -- Gini D.*
• "Sharing an office with somebody who just cruises the Web all day long and adds no value to client work." -- Andy B.
• "I have a co-worker who doesn't bathe nor wash her clothes and subsequently smells. I bought a bottle of Febreeze, which I frequently spray on the fabric-covered chairs and carpet. She also drinks beverages and regularly spills or leaves coffee rings on the console or computer and doesn't bother to clean it up; so I also bought a bottle of Windex cleaner and brought in rags to clean up the messes before I do my shift.
In addition, she throws away her used tissues and often misses the garbage can, leaving them on the floor for "whomever" to pick them up. She NEVER misses work, so whenever she is sick, she coughs all over the microphone, uses the computer mouse and presses the buttons with her germy hands; so I bought a container of Antiseptic wipes to wipe down the console and mics to try to prevent illness. Her office should be condemned." -- Karen W.
• "I have a co-worker who I've worked with for more than 10 years. She slurps her coffee -- all day. I'm not sure if she just loves coffee so much that she can't wait for it to cool or what, but she dives in and sluuuuurrrpps every drink until it's gone. It drives me crazy." -- Corinne Z.
• "I had an employee who used to scratch her back using her ruler. Sometimes she'd stare at her cube mates. My colleagues would come and tell me this, and I wouldn't have a clue how to deal with it. We both quickly realized this company wasn't a good fit for her and she left a couple of months later. To this day, some of my former colleagues remind me of my back-scratching and staring employee and wonder what happened to basic etiquette." -- Megy K.
• "So, I sit next to this crazy woman. She talks to herself out loud as if someone is going to join in her conversation, which they don't. Anytime a co-worker comes to my desk to ask a question, or just to chat, she feels the need to interrupt my conversation and make it about her every time.
She eavesdrops on other co-workers if they have an issue with their own work; she complains about the light over her desk being too bright and made another co-worker loosen the bulb above her desk so it's not 'shining right on her head.'
Whenever people go away for lunch, and God forbid they leave their phones on, she will put their phone on 'Do Not Disturb,' which means their call will go straight to voicemail. That actually affects the people that get urgent phone calls. They don't know they are getting calls because their phones aren't ringing. We are in the travel business and during our busy season, time is of the essence. I don't want to see her get fired, but at least have her moved -- like to the basement!" -- Tracey F.
Todd Dewett, a motivational speaker and management professor at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, offers the following tips for how to deal with co-workers' bothersome behaviors.
• Ask yourself if the behavior is better described as controlled or a recurring pattern. Many a conflict starts because one annoying behavior created an ugly reaction. Save the ugly reactions for behaviors that are clearly a recurring pattern. Only then will they be honest threats to morale and productivity as opposed to simple annoyances.
• Check yourself. Many times you feel annoyed and others agree with you -- but not always. You want to know how widely your view is held. If you speak quietly and tactfully with a few relevant others and verify your view, consider proceeding. Otherwise, just let it slide and ignore the annoyance.
• Be discreet. No one ever likes to find out precisely how they are annoying to others. Thus, you must put a real premium on communicating effectively. In this case, that means first be discreet. You talk to them in a private location -- face-to-face to show respect and reduce the chance of miscommunication.
• Be specific. You must use real facts and incidents, days, times, etc. -- the vaguer you are, the more you create the likelihood they will discount what you are trying to say.
• Be positive. Share things about them that are worth lauding and share things that indicate your imperfections, too.
*Due to the nature of this article, we have excluded the last names of our sources to protect them from the wrath of their co-workers.
Disney's New Attraction Aims To Lure Video Gamers
In creating the new attraction, Walt Disney Imagineering used the familiarity and simplicity of classic carnival games to make the experience comfortable for a variety of players. What do you get when you combine a shoot-'em-up video game with an amusement park ride?
read more | digg story
WTF, That's Gross: Bread Head Bakery
Kittiwat Unarrom got a master's degree in fine arts and now makes lifelike body parts out of bread at a bakery in Thailand. All the disturbing yeast sculptures are made out of dough, raisins, cashews and chocolate. He'll also paint the outside with some sort of edible paint to give it an even more gruesome appearance. When asked why he does it, Kittiwat replied, "I'm a wackjob and I like making people sick".* And what does The Geekologie Writer think of these bready body parts? We may never know -- he's too busy puking up the Spaghetti O's sandwich he had for lunch.
*As interpreted by yours truly.
UPDATE: VIDEO added after the jump.
More pictures after the jump, but warning: they're more graphic than the first one. Yes, I'm a girl. I wear frilly panties.
Fresh Baked Bread, Anyone? Gruesome Body Bakery [inventorspot]
Man Robs Little Girls Lemonade Stand fo $17.50
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Call it a lemonade standoff.
A young girl whose lemonade stand was robbed of $17.50 chased the suspect into a nearby home and called police, who spent nearly an hour trying to coax the man into surrendering.
“The guy came up and was, like, ‘Give me your money,’” said Dominique Morefield, who was running the lemonade stand with a group of friends. “I was shocked. It was just my immediate reaction to chase after him.”
Tryon was jailed and was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday. The Vigo County prosecutor’s office did not immediately know if he had an attorney.
“I didn't think anyone would come up to a lemonade stand and steal, that's really low,” 12-year-old Fred Erstine said.
The kids said they would continue to sell lemonade, but with an adult’s supervision.
Legal Drugs Kill Far More Than Illegal
From “Scarface” to “Miami Vice,” Florida’s drug problem has been portrayed as the story of a single narcotic: cocaine. But for Floridians, prescription drugs are increasingly a far more lethal habit.
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Sacha Baron Cohen's “Bruno” Coming To Theaters May 2009
“Bruno” Movie Coming To Theaters May ‘09; Annoying Catchphrase Coming To Offices June ‘09
By Dan Hopper
By Dan Hopper
Universal announced that the film “Bruno” — Sacha Baron Cohen’s big-screen follow-up to “Borat” featuring his lovably gay Austrian fashion reporter character — will be in theaters on May 15, 2009. This is intriguing for three reasons:
1) Universal is gambling on an R-rated comedy right at the start of summer blockbuster season and the same weekend as “Angels & Demons,” the “Da Vinci Code” sequel. Has “Sex and the City” perhaps set the tone for future summer box offices? At least for movies with some sort of massive gay component?
2) Even in a post-Borat world, Cohen managed to complete his guerilla filming with a minimal amount of blog photo-spoilage.
3) We’ll be hearing a butchered catchphrase ALLLLLLLLLLLLL summer long. Probably “Niyce!” again, somehow.
After the jump, whet your hidden camera appetite with my (and everyone else’s) favorite “Bruno” sketch from the HBO series:
New York City: Waiting for the Water to Fall
A rendering of “Waterfalls” by the artist Olafur Eliasson. (Public Art Fund/Agence-France Presse/Getty Images) New York City is now 10 days away from the unveiling of “Waterfalls,” the much anticipated (and hyped) $15 million public art project by the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. The project, the biggest public art installation since “The Gates,” the Christo and Jeanne-Claude work in Central Park in 2005, is already being hyped, with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg saying the work could evoke the awe that led 16th-century European explorers to compare the New York shoreline to the Garden of Eden. (Seriously.)
Beginning in mid-March, workers have carefully assembled the four giant scaffolds that will support the waterfalls: at Pier 35, just north of the Manhattan Bridge; at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge in Dumbo, Brooklyn; between Piers 4 and 5 near the Brooklyn Heights Promenade; and on the north shore of Governors Island, which is open to the public throughout the summer. Last week, the real estate blog Curbed published images of the waterfall at Pier 35 actually being tested.
The waterfalls will range from 90 to 120 feet; “the two tallest will be roughly as high as the Statue of Liberty from head to toe and three-quarters the height of Niagara Falls,” Mayor Bloomberg noted on Sunday, in his weekly radio address.
All told, the scaffolding used for “Waterfalls” measures 64,000 square feet and weighs 270 tons; the materials will be re-used in future construction projects after the work closes on Oct. 13. The waterfalls will be turned on every day from June 26 to Oct. 13, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and will be lighted after sunset. More details are available at the project’s official Web site.
Stacy Bolton, a spokeswoman for the Public Art Fund, a nonprofit group, established in 1977, which is sponsoring “The Waterfalls” in a partnership with the city, said the construction has gone off largely without a hitch.
“During the planning process, the logistics of the plan were very difficult to navigate, and at one point the team considered building the waterfalls on barges in the middle of the river, but that idea was nixed for many practical considerations, including power sources, and environmental concerns,” Ms. Bolton said in an e-mail message.
Ms. Bolton noted that pile-driving on the riverbed would have created significant problems. “Pile-driving at the Pier 35, Governors Island, and Brooklyn Promenade sites would have had to avoid causing vibrations at the F-train tunnel, the Brooklyn Battery tunnel, and the 2 and 3 trains (respectively),” Ms. Bolton wrote. “The design team came up with an alternate solution (except at Governors Island) to avoid piles.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Bloomberg used his weekly radio address on Sunday to drum up excitement about the project. The mayor said, in part:
The project promises to make a big splash in our local economy by attracting thousands of sightseers to town, who will then spend money in our restaurants, hotels and stores. And that money will go straight into the pockets of hard-working New Yorkers. In addition, the project’s design takes steps to protect fish and other aquatic life, which means that for the more than three months they’re up, the Waterfalls will have little impact on the environment.
But it is going to have a big impact on our imaginations. One of the great things about the best public art is that it encourages us to re-discover — even just briefly — some of the parts of our city that we often take for granted. Our waterfront is one of the most magical parts of New York; when the first Dutch settlers sailed into the Harbor centuries ago, they looked at the shoreline and compared it to the Garden of Eden. The “Waterfalls” project will help bring that sense of awe back to the Harbor, and get more New Yorkers out to enjoy our wonderful parks and open spaces.
The mayor also put in plugs for Circle Line Downtown, which is providing sightseeing cruises in partnership with the Public Art Fund; the Staten Island Ferry and Governors Island Ferry, which are both free; and, of course, the city’s Web site, which has a map of the waterfalls and a recommended bike route [pdf].
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, as part of its efforts to promote downtown tourism, is contributing $2 million toward the cost of the project.
Ms. Bolton, the spokeswoman for the Public Art Fund, was asked whether any ceremonies or public events were planned for the debut of the artwork on June 26.
“The waterfalls will just be turned on!” she replied, via e-mail.
Top 30+ Vista tweaks, tricks, and hacks
Vista: Tweaked, Tuned, and Hacked presents over 30 nifty tweaks and tricks to make Vista run better, faster, and less annoying. Learn how to boot faster, get rid of annoying prompts, customize your bootscreen, activate the hidden "super-admin" account, and even use YOUR video clips as an animated wallpaper (no third-party apps needed!)
read more | digg story
Corvette ZR1 comes out Guns Blazing-2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 priced at $105,000, hits 0-60 in 3.4 seconds, quarter mile in 11.3
We knew the 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 was likely going to be priced right around 100 grand when it finally hit the showroom floor, and GM hit the target. The ZR1's base MSRP of $103,300 (including an $850 destination charge) moves the $105,000 number thanks to a $1700 gas guzzler tax, but we're guessing no one lining up to buy the fastest and most technically advanced production Corvette of all time will mind in the least. Chevrolet also released several performance numbers for the ZR1, and they're jaw-dropping: * 0-60 mph in 3.4 seconds * 0-100 mph in 7.0 seconds * Quarter-mile elapsed time of 11.3 seconds at 131 mph * 205 mph top speed The ZR1's claimed 0-60 time is .3-ticks quicker than the Z06 and its 0-100 mph of seven seconds is almost a full second faster than the Z06's 7.9 seconds. It goes without saying that the ZR1, which is reportedly capable of a 205 mph top speed, is the equal of some of the world's greatest supercars, at a price point that's much, much lower than the Ferraris and Lamborghinis of the world. As for the ZR1's equipment list, the car comes with similar packaging to that of the Z06, but an upgraded option package is available that will set you back an additional $10,000. Here's the partial list of what you get for the extra scratch: power-adjustable, heated and leather-trimmed sport seats with an embroidered ZR1 logo; side air bags; Bose audio system and navigation system; Bluetooth connectivity; power telescoping steering column, and a custom leather-wrapped interior available in four colors. Chrome wheels ($2000) are the only other available option available for the ZR1. Add all the options in and you're looking at $117,000, before dealer markup, of course. Not that fuel economy really matters for a car in this stratosphere, but the EPA has also officially rated the car at 14 mpg city / 20 highway, which despite the gas guzzler tax, are pretty impressive numbers considering the ZR1's supercharged, 6.2-liter LS9 engine that pumps out an SAE-certified 638 horsepower and 604 lb-ft of torque lurking under the car's carbon fiber hood. It isn't quite the most fuel efficient vehicle in its stratosphere, but it's close. Below is all you need to know about the LS9 engine: * Aluminum cylinder block with iron cylinder liners that are finish-bored and honed with a deck plate installed * Forged steel crankshaft with a nine-bolt flange * Titanium connecting rods and forged aluminum pistons * Stronger, cylinder heads with 2.16-inch (55 mm) titanium intake valves and 1.59-inch (40.4 mm) hollow-stem, sodium-filled exhaust valves * Camshaft with 0.555-inch (14.1 mm) lift for excellent idle and low-speed driving qualities * A dry-sump oiling system with 10.5-quart (9.9 liters) capacity * Integrated oil cooler and piston-cooling oil squirters * Intercooler cover visible through the hood window that features ZR1-unique blue accents and "LS9 SUPERCHARGED" embossed on the left and right sides As soon as we get our hands on a production ZR1, you can be assured we will test it to its limits to see if we can match or beat GM's numbers. One thing's for certain, the ZR1 hasn't even hit the streets yet and it's already arguably one of the most amazing production cars the world has to offer.
10 Things To Do In Amsterdam, BESIDES Smoking Pot
Coffee shops are the shit for many an Amsterdam virgin, yet locals view them as tourist traps lacking in “gezelligheid,” or coziness, the cornerstone of Dutch culture. Smoking yourself into a coma at the Bulldog is just fine, but you’re going to miss out.
read more | digg story
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