  | Look what I saw today... |
posted by tweakmonkey at 4:13 pm on Sep 5, 2008
hint: A bunch of neat cars.
We took delivery of a GT3 RS for some upgrades, and in the car transport I noticed a funny looking Prius. 
It was a plugin-hybrid, modified Prius heading to Mountain View. I checked the URL on the back (rechargeit.org) and it was apparently going to Google (see: RechargeIT.org).
Then the driver unloaded the RS, and we went about our day. 
An hour later, I noticed a new gunmetal gray Nissan GT-R in front of the shop. I assumed it was one of our customers, as a couple had bought them. I tried to talk to the guy, but apparently it wasn't one of our customers. The car looked awesome, but I didn't grab a picture. It was in and out too quick. Looked like this though... 
We decided to have a 996 Turbo shipped with the same carrier that dropped off the orange car, so we called him back. 
He drove over from Menlo Park and told us to get on the ramp and see what he had in the truck.    
This is actually the second Tesla I've seen in a week, so they must be pumping some out now. I'm going to an EV (electric vehicle) meet tomorrow in Palo Alto so I'll probably see tons of them there.
Look at the funky mirrors:    | | Science Proves Exotic Cars Turn Women On |
posted by Juballharshaw at 12:54 pm on Sep 5, 2008
Science Proves Exotic Cars Turn Women On | Autopia from Wired.com Quote:
A study commissioned by a phallically named insurance company proves beyond all doubt that the unbridled roar of an Italian supercar turns women on but the soft purr of a fuel-efficient econobox doesn't stimulate anyone's MPG-spot.
David Moxon subjected 40 men and women to the sounds of a Maserati, Lamborghini and Ferrari, then measured the amount of testosterone in their saliva. He found everyone had higher levels of the stuff -- a measure of their arousal -- after hearing the revving exotics, but the amount the women had was off the charts.
The econobox, however, left everyone colder than a January day in Nome.
The study was commissioned by the ultra-exclusive British insurer Hiscox (we swear we're not making this up), which was curious to know how people respond to high-end luxury cars. "We knew owners of luxury cars felt a connection with the sound of their vehicles," says Steve Langan, managing director of the insurance company. "We have now scientifically proven the physical attraction people feel when it comes to cars."
To test the theory that high-performance cars get people hot, Moxon had 40 men and women listen to recordings of the three Italian exotics and a Volkswagen Polo. Everyone had significantly more testosterone after hearing the exotics, and all of the women were turned on by the Maserati. The guys, on the other hand, were drawn to the Lamborghini.
“We saw significant peaks in the amount of testosterone in the body, particularly in women," Maxon says, noting that even women who said they had no interest in cars were turned on. "Testosterone is indicative of positive arousal in the human body so we can confidently conclude from the results out today that the roar of a luxury car engine actually does cause a primeval physiological response.”
As for the Polo? Everyone had less testosterone after listening to it. That means the acceleratus interruptus of a Prius going all-electric in traffic is automotive equivalent of skin flicks starring previous secretaries of state, despite General Motors' claim that nearly nine out of 10 women would rather talk to a guy in a hybrid than a Porsche.
Don't buy it? Check out these videos of Maserati, Lamborghini and VW Polo exhaust notes and tell us how you feel afterward. Be forewarned, though -- we are not responsible for any primeval responses they cause.
| Also, the comments to the article are golden: Quote: |
it's true that i'd rather talk to a guy in a hybrid... but i'd rather fuck a guy in a porsche
| Quote: |
women get turned on because the sound is similar to their vibrators going to town on their clits.
| | | Oh Alienware how doust thou stay in Bizness | |
posted by krod at 11:00 pm on Sep 4, 2008
Get this. My 4 month old Alienware laptop hardrive dies. I call tech support on 24 Aug and they agree it's dead and will send me another. They take my credit card number because if they don't get the old drive back in five days after I sign for the new one, they charge me, fair enough. A week goes by and no hardrive. I call last Friday and the guy stumbled through an I'm sorry speech (obviously they never bothered to ship it) and promised me I would get it by next Friday (tomorrow) (I go on a three week biz trip to DC on Saturday) Well, it's Thursday and still no hardrive, they have one more day. But, get this, I get a credit card bill in the mail today and they charged me for the drive I didn't return on the 24th of August, the first night I made contact with them. Customer service is closed so I have to wait until tomorrow to hear the brilliant excuse that is waiting for me. Now I'm two weeks in DC with no computer. I have my work computer but everything is blocked except websites related to my job. Fucking hell Alienware. | | Time to get excited, Dan |
posted by Jackalope at 4:09 pm on Sep 4, 2008
2010 Honda Insight – Official Photos and Info - Car News | Car and Driver Blog  Quote:
Honda was the first automaker to put a hybrid on the road with the original Insight in December 1999 and it wants to reclaim its place at the big kid’s table with the resurrection of the name on an all-new hybrid.
The automaker provides this first official look at the five-door hatch that will be formally unveiled in October at the 2008 Paris auto show. It will technically be a concept, but appears more than production-ready.
The Insight rides on an all-new platform as a bespoke hybrid, as opposed to offering a hybrid version of an existing vehicle as is the case with the current Honda Civic hybrid and the Honda Fit hybrid planned by 2015.
The Insight will be smaller than a Civic and CEO Takeo Fukui says it will be priced significantly below current hybrids. We expect it to start about $19,000, in keeping with the automaker’s goal of pricing it competitively against conventional small vehicles in its segment. “This new Insight will break new ground as an affordable hybrid within the reach of customers who want great fuel economy and great value,” Fukui says in a statement.
Keep Reading: 2010 Honda Insight – Official Photos and Info - Car News
| | | Cant build a quality encode for Youtube | |
posted by Torx at 2:48 pm on Sep 4, 2008
i use my canon camera to record, either in 30fps or 60fps, 640x480 or 320x240
then i use movie maker to build the final product,
once its been encoded the audio doesnt sound crisp like the mp3 that i imported.
then once i upload to youtube, the video looks worse and the audio is muddy, bassy and just sounds like shit compared to the crisp mp3 that i imported.
wth am i doing wrong? give me some tips or settings i should use for optimal encoding.. maybe i should just start using vimeo. | | replacing side mirrors | |
posted by funkgab at 9:28 pm on Sep 3, 2008
so a friend of mine hit a pole in his 96 rav 4, the whole mirror frame is shattered, so i think that we have to replace the whole mirror, does it require us to remove the door and stuff? because we really don't know electronic mirrors and stuff, so would it be better to go to a bodyshop? | | | Users Online: 86 | | 13 members and 73 guests | | -Sevendust-, bigwill51534, Caucasian Hammer, Daveyiv2k1, gB dAvId x, Lord Kain, mattdev, MovingTarget, namelessentity, Scrubbin_Bubbles, SoulAssassin, ThatHideousStrength, Torx | |
