Video: Motorcycle Vs. Deer

Bad for deer, bad for motorcyclist. I hope the guy wasn't too badly hurt.

Video: How Not To Beat The Train

The gates are there for a reason.


Semi Truck Tries To Outrun Train - Watch more free videos

The Tale of Tampa Fraud-Boy

This story has been burning up the car modder forums the last few days. A 20 year old guy gave his 2004 Toyota Celica to a small custom car shop for a paint job. Then he brought over a few parts and asked them to "add it to the bill". The kid must have been a good talker, because he talked the shop into doing $16,000 worth of work on his car over the course of months.

Then, Fraud-boy showed up at the shop and demanded his car, saying that he never signed a work order for all that work, and he just wanted his car back. When that didn't work, he sent his girlfriend, who offered a $60 down payment and a payment plan. When that didn't work, he came with his mom and the police, but a call by the sop to the state the attorney general shut that down. By the way, the car doesn't even belong to him, really, it is financed by his mom. And, by the way, Fraud-boy has a criminal record, for fraud.

Now the car is located at an undisclosed location, and the shop has placed a mechanic's lein against it. Fraud-boy swears he is going to get it back Friday, but it seems unlikely.

Read the whole hilarious, sordid mess here and here. Things get interesting around page 5, when Fraud-boy (SCP_celica) shows up to defend himself, in his full illiterate glory.

The downside to this amazing story is that the custom shop, which is a two-man show, is now teetering financially because of the time and resources they put into Fraud-boy's car. A PayPal account has been set up for people to donate a few bucks to help them out (I already did), maybe if you are moved you might consider putting a little in the hat.

Unfortunate Product Naming: Fat Stripper Blend

This morning I stopped in at a local Coffee Beanery (I'm still boycotting Caribou Coffee, BTW) for a cup of coffee. As I waited, I looked over at the counter, where they were displaying five large tubs of protein shake mix. One of the protein shake flavors was called "Fat Stripper Blend".

I started laughing, and the lady behind the counter gave me the look.

"Did you notice the name of this?" I asked her, holding up the tub.
"Yes... it works pretty well, I hear" she said, not getting it.
"What if I don't want to turn into a fat stripper?!?" I said.

Then she got it. Snort.

I'm thinking that "Fat Stripper Blend" was either an ingenious double entendre, or someone in marketing was playing around to see if they would get fired or not.

ELISE 2008

The 2008 Lotus Elise continues the tradition of refined motoring with a sublime sports car that handles and performs like a race car. The Elise has numerous improvements installed as standard equipment including a new Lotus Tire Pressure Monitoring System that provides instant warning if there is a puncture or if pressures fall below safe levels.

Specifications
· Lotus Designed Lightweight Structure of Epoxy Bonded Aluminum Extrusions

· Integral Steel Seatbelt Support Structure and Lightweight Steel Rear Sub-Frame

EXTERIOR

· RTM Composite Fiberglass Body

· Black Soft-Top with Stowage Bag

· LED Taillights with Integral Reflectors

· Daytime Running Lights

· Aerodynamic Rear Diffuser with Central Twin Exhaust

· Solid Paint - Ardent Red or British Racing Green

SUSPENSION
· Fully Independent Suspension with Unequal Length Wishbones

· Bilstein Mono-Tube Gas Damper, Eibach Coaxial Coil Spring

· Front Anti-Sway Bar

· Cast Alloy 8-Spoke Wheels in Silver Finish

· Front Wheels: 5.5J x 16 - 175/50R16

· Rear Wheels: 7.5J x 17 - 225/45R17

· Yokohama Advan Neova AD07 LTS Sports Tires

· 4-Wheel Ventilated/Cross-Drilled Disc Brakes· Lotus/AP Racing & Brembo Calipers with Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS)

INTERIOR

· Black Cloth Seats with ProBax™ Anatomical Padding

· Air Conditioning, Starter Button, Tinted Glass and Carpet Foot Mats

· Airbags - Driver and Passenger (Passenger Airbag Cannot Be Deactivated)

· Factory Anti-Theft Alarm System with Engine Immobilizer and Remote Locking

· Aluminum Trim - Gear Knob and Handbrake Sleeve· Leather-Trimmed Momo Steering Wheel

· Alpine 4-Speaker Stereo with In-Dash CD Player

· Intermittent Windshield Wiper

ENGINE
· 189 Horsepower 1.8 Liter, Mid-Mounted 4-Cylinder with DOHC and VVTL-I (Variable Valve Timing and Lift Intelligence)

· Multi-Point Fuel Injection System with Electronic Ignition and Throttle Control

· Capacity: 1796 cm3

· Bore/Stroke 82.0 mm/85.0 mm

· Maximum Power: 189 hp @7800 rpm

· Maximum Torque: 133 lb ft @6800 rpm

· Compression Ratio: 11.5:1

· Fuel Tank Capacity: 10.6 Gallons

TRANSMISSION
· 6-Speed Close Ratio

PERFORMANCE
· 0-60 mph 4.9 sec
· 0-100 mph 12.9 sec
· Top Speed 150 mph
· Fuel Consumption 21 City / 27 Highway
· Curb Weight 1984 lbs

GM's Changing Volt

Lots of pundits have had lots to say about the GM Volt... but one thing that jumped out at me recently, after watching the peek-a-boo clip on ABC News via Yahoo, was that the design will not look as radical as the concept car.

Here is a photo of the concept:

Here is a clip from the video, courtesy of Autoblog:


Toyota Camry:

Acura TL



The production Volt looks like it will lose the crisp edges and cool, squinty headlamps, and will instead get a more conventional rounded shape with very Asian looking wrap-around headlamps. They didn't show us the rear end in the video tease, but I bet it is also toned down a bit from the concept car.

Note to GM: Volt's styling should be as distinctive as its propulsion system. Don't water it down, keep it cutting edge.

Car Insurance – How to Compare Rates From Multiple Companies Instantly

The reason we compare car insurance quotes from multiple car insurance companies is to make sure we’re getting the best rates possible. Of course nobody wants to pay more money than they have to, but in the other hand we also want to make sure that our car insurance company is going to respond quickly and fairly in case of an accident.
What is unknown to many is that there is not one single car insurance company that is cheaper than others. One particular car insurance company can be the cheapest for one person but the most expensive for another. Each car insurance company has a certain category of drivers they want to insure. If you fit their category they will offer you a cheap rate, if you don’t, they will offer you an expensive rate. That is their way of filtering the people they want and do not want to insure. That is the reason we need to compare insurance rates from multiple car insurance companies, to find out which company will offer us the cheapest rate. The key is to find the company that offers the cheapest rate for you, but of course, it is important to compare rates from quality companies only.
There are many quality car insurance companies out there; however, some of those quality companies also have a high price to go along with them. How do we find a quality company for a cheap price? That, my friend, is the key question.The traditional method of shopping for car insurance is to call around which we all know can be a long process. Another drawback of shopping for car insurance by phone is the probability of getting caught with the old “bait and hook” trick. That is when someone gives you a low quote by phone and hikes it up on you when you go into their office to purchase the car insurance policy.
In today’s world, luckily, we have the internet. The internet makes life a lot easier for all of us. Using the internet, we can shop for many types of things we may need which include shopping for car insurance.
Shopping for car insurance online is the best way to compare rates from multiple car insurance companies. Online, you can also read about a company’s history and make sure they’re a quality company. Most companies offer instant online car insurance quotes thorough their websites which makes obtaining car insurance quotes a lot easier than the traditional method of shopping by phone. Better yet, there are some websites that offer online car insurance quotes from multiple companies with one simple process. You can even purchase your car insurance online if you like the price. One such website is OnlineAutoInsurance.com. There, you can obtain quotes from quality companies such as Progressive, AIG, Infinity, GMAC, Bristol West, and several more. All with one simple process!