Dark Side of the Carton

I’m a huge car guy. By that, I mean I love cars, not that I can work on them. I just learned to change my own oil last year. I have yet to do it on my own, but I digress. I am also a big VW guy. I don’t currently own one, but I’ve owned them in the past. I was checking out Autoblog and VW Vortex this morning and came across the GTI W12 650. If you know anything about VW, you know the W12 is one big ass engine, and yes, the number trailing that is the number of horsepower packed into this tiny little ride.

This is no ordinary Golf/GTI. This beast of a vehicle has the rear seat removed in favor of the 12 cylinder monster that powers this concept car. A 650hp turbo-charge engine capable of 202mph with 553 lb-ft. of torque. For comparison, the 2007 Corvette has 505hp w/ 470 lb-ft of torque. The GTI W12-650 even does 0-62 in 3.7 seconds which clearly bests the 4.3 seconds of the upcoming 2008 Corvette. That’s right, this tiny little hatchback should be able to safely smoke a Corvette.

Don’t be fooled by the name though as this is no ordinary looking GTI. The aggressive rear end has quad exhaust with a nice cutout mesh insert. The side panels of the car sport some crazy cutouts as well and even the carbon fiber hood has a purpose.

This GTI moved the wing inward. The roof is part of an enormous diffuser, which provides sufficient down force on the rear axle. It is made of carbon fiber and forces air over and under the tail spoiler to obtain a perfect amount of pressure on the rear axle.

In a nutshell, VW created a rocket on wheels. For more information, head on over to VW Vortex and read the full press release from V-Dub. Pics below:

Last night’s Spurs/Jazz game was highly anti-climactic. The Jazz were playing with a gimped out Deron Williams and D.Fish was a no-show until the 2nd half. With a 19 pt lead in the first quarter, I took the rest of the evening to clean the house and play some video games with my son. All I know is that I feel sorry for the Cavs or Pistons. The Spurs can taste it already and there is going to be some manhandling going on in June. Someone pack the trophy up now, its coming home to SA.

I learned a valuable lesson this morning that I want to pass on to everyone. Having a pair of strawberry Pop-Tarts for breakfast in combination with an entire box of Dots before lunch is not something you ever want to try. I lack the self control to not eat the entire box of Dots in one sitting and I am currently paying for it with a very bad stomach ache.

With history on their side and all the momentum on their side, the Utah Jazz played host to the San Antonio Spurs in a very decisive Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals. The outcome of this game would undoubtedly be an indicator of the final outcome of this series. San Antonio is winless (0-8) all time in Utah in the postseason, something that the Jazz and their fans had to hope would remain true at the conclusion of the game. Game 3 saw a huge shift from San Antonio winning decisively at home to Utah laying the smack down on my Spurs with a 26 point victory.

The game was a teeter totter game with the the lead bouncing from 1 up to 7 or so throughout much of the game. The Spurs retained the lead most of the night, but we all know that the Spurs are notorious for blowing massive leads with a single bad quarter of play. As the 4th quarter got underway, the Spurs clung to a 1 point lead. 45 seconds into the 4th quarter, Sloan was T-ed up for mouthing off about a call that had Ginobili going to the line and Millsap charged with a foul. This would prove to be the first in a long string of calls that shows that Utah just doesn’t have the composure to win an NBA title.

With 2:26 left in the game, the Spurs had run the lead up to 8 when Manu drove on Fisher, who attempted to draw a foul and failed, and made the lead 10. D.Fish was obviously irritated at the call and gave Manu a bump on the way back down the court. Everyone in the NBA knows that this was not a smart move. Manu went along with the contact and drew a call that saw D.Fish hit with his first Technical. As they went to a commercial break, you can see Jerry Sloan exiting the courtside. Apparently he was unhappy with the call and received his second T. Maybe Jerry should realize that coming back from a 10 point deficit is doable if you keep your cool and get some good stops.

The teams exchanged baskets for a few possessions when Manu and Fisher were matched up again. Manu drove, stepped back, and drew a hard foul from Fisher. The officials had seen enough and hit Fisher with another T, obviously leading to an ejection. Okur had also fouled out 39 seconds before. This resulted in the classy Jazz fans starting to hurl debris onto the court. This left the Jazz coachless and without 2 key players and their fans spiraling downward. The Spurs went on to win a 91-79 victory and had to be rushed off the court as the fans continued to hurl things onto the court.

The game was hard fought and probably didn’t have a perfectly level outcome on the officiating end of things, but the Jazz turned the ball over more than enough times to let the Spurs win this game. With momentum and history on their side, the Jazz failed to take the Spurs in a very important game and the only thing I’ve heard all day is people whining about the officiating as if the officials had it in for the Jazz. You mean like how the Spurs were treated in Game 3? What? You forgot all about the officials advantage you received in that game?

All I know is that poise and determination will win you a title. The Jazz have neither. As for the fans, well, you guys were super classy. I hope the NBA hits your team with a fine for your wreckless behaviour. We’ll be nice and end this series in 5 so you don’t have to endure another heartbreaking loss at home since you obviously can’t handle that.

Let me start by saying that I love music. I love listening to it, watching it, and owning it. What I do not like to do is to buy it. Obviously I must be a music pirate right? Negative. I don’t steal music. I simply choose to deny myself the joy of buying music until the RIAA cuts their crusade against the customers. I know the RIAA is being stupid and antiquated; the general public does. Hell, even some politicians do. That has yet to thwart their massive campaign of strong arm legal tactics that result in extortion payments from people that can’t afford to defend themselves.

Metallica is who I give credit to for starting us down this slippery slope. Their whole campaign against Napster triggered much of what we are enduring today. Thanks Lars. On occasion other artists have drawn a line in the sand and given their thoughts on the whole situation and a few of them have been right with the camp fighting to get rid of the RIAA, which in turns puts more money in the pockets of the creative minds behind the music, the artists. The most recent case of an artist being very vocal on the topic comes in the form of an interview with Trent Reznor of NIN.

I’ve never been a real fan of NIN, but I have a new found respect for Trent and why he makes music. I’ll include a few nice snips from the interview and then you can head over and read it all for yourself. Before I do that, I just want to applaud Trent for his stance. I hope more musicians take this stance and start a landslide of people leaving the major labels.

It must be an odd time then to have a new album, Year Zero, out?

It’s a very odd time to be a musician on a major label, because there’s so much resentment towards the record industry that it’s hard to position yourself in a place with the fans where you don’t look like a greedy asshole. But at the same time, when our record came out I was disappointed at the number of people that actually bought it. If this had been 10 years ago

I would think “Well, not that many people are into it. OK, that kinda sucks. Yeah I could point fingers but the blame would be with me, maybe I’m not relevant”. But on this record, I know people have it and I know it’s on everybody’s iPods, but the climate is such that people don’t buy it because it’s easier to steal it.

….

Given all that, do you have any idea how to approach the release of your next album?

I’ve have one record left that I owe a major label, then I will never be seen in a situation like this again. If I could do what I want right now, I would put out my next album, you could download it from my site at as high a bit-rate as you want, pay $4 through PayPal. Come see the show and buy a T-shirt if you like it. I would put out a nicely packaged merchandise piece, if you want to own a physical thing. And it would come out the day that it’s done in the studio, not this “Let’s wait three months” bulls—.

He goes on to talk about the label taking credit for his genius work on a personally expensed alternate reality game and how they bilk his loyal fans out of $10 for packaging on the new album even though it costs Trent $.84 personally.

The full interview on News.com.au

I’m a big fan of the NBA and basketball in general. I’ve always loved basketball and as a fan of the Spurs I’ve seen just about every regular season game this year. In addition, I’ve watched almost every playoff game period, much to the chagrin of my wife. It’s playoff time and everyone knows that the level of play goes way up in the post season. From the Warriors knocking off the Mavs to the recent controversies in the Spurs/Suns series, it’s all great basketball.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve no doubt heard about the Horry/Nash incident. With ~20 seconds left in game 4, Robert Horry “hip checks” a sprinting Nash into the scorers table. This incident resulted in a few Suns players leaving the bench, only to be dragged back by their coaches. After the outbreak was supressed, the Suns went on to win the game and ultimately tie up the series 2-2. Yesterday evening the NBA handed down their ruling on the situation. Robert Horry was hit with a 2 game suspension and Amare Stoudemiere and Boris Diaw were both hit with a single game for leaving the bench during an “altercation”. This is a key word that makes all the difference.

On my drive to work in the morning I listen to “Out of Bounds” on Fox Sports Radio. J-Dub and Shemon are very entertaining to listen to, even if I don’t agree with what they say. This morning, however, Chris Moore was filling in for Shemon and the garbage spewing from his mouth forced me to turn the radio off. Moore seems to think that the NBA’s ruling on the situation was way off base and that Amare and Diaw should be allowed to play because it’s what is best for the game.

I’m sorry Moore, but last time I checked, ignoring the rules simply to make the game better isn’t why rules exist. Should superstars be allowed more than 6 fouls because it’s better for them to be in the game and not ridin’ the pine? No. Should superstars be allowed to travel because if they don’t then they don’t get to make spectacular shots? No. The rule was established for a reason, and while I think it needs to be revised, the NBA can’t just willy nilly change it for a specific incident.

The rule is 10 years old and everyone knows about it, so what is surprising is that people like Amare don’t have the presence of mind to say to themselves “If I leave this bench and go out on the court, I am going to be suspended and severly limit my team’s chances of winning a championship.” I personally believe that Nash sold that foul to make it appear much harder than it was. Raja Bell approached Horry and instigated the conflict, and Suns players ran out on the court. I fail to see how that portion of the incident is anyone’s fault but the players that made that decision. Robert Horry didn’t run to the Suns bench and taunt Amare.

It was also brought up that Tim Duncan and Bruce Bowen came onto the court earlier in the game and that they too should be suspended. Remember the key word from above? Altercation. In the rule that comes into play here, players cannot leave the bench during an altercation. When Elson was undercut and TD and BB came onto the court there was no altercation. Elson didn’t jump up and start pushing or busting people in the face. No foul was called, the ball was inbounded and play resumed. At worst, the Spurs might have been hit with a T for having 7 guys on the floor, but to call for a suspension over that is a gross mis-interpretation of the rules and a horrible attempt at grasping for straws to try and even up the game after a bad decision by 2 Suns players.

While I think that having Amare and Diaw out makes for basketball that isn’t quite as exciting, you can’t let them play simply on that basis. It just wouldn’t be right and would show a gross inconsistency in the league that is already losing fans due to officials and other league non-sense.

As a Spurs fan I am definitely biased and if the roles were reversed I’d be pissed at my own players for losing their heads and charging onto the court and not the opposing team.