Cars! Cars! Cars!

Cars Are Better In Summer

Not only have I starred in several TV shows and one kick-ass movie, I've now bought a popular car blog (and with it, a devoted writer group!).

So, starting tomorrow, we'll redirect the traffic from this site over to my main site. The issue initially was "Will people who are looking for car information want information on me, Summer Glau?" After looking in the mirror, I decided yes. I'm so shiny! Not only that, but if they were looking for car information, they were so very disappointed. Unless there were links to pics of me, then they might have been somewhat happy.

Anyway, I like dancing, sci-fi and fans devoted solely to me. The new site will require pop-ups, registration and an HTML-only newsletter. Once we collect your IP address, we'll sign you up automatically. If any of this causes you trouble, remember: I can kill you with my brain.

Sweetly,
RiverSummer

Off To Auto Show

We're off to the NY Auto Show dealie. Will we have any new insights? Will it be Summer soon? Will we be wearing pants? (Hint: Two answers are "no" and one is, sadly, "yes.")

Until we offer up our pearls of wisdom, feel free to read over our previous NY Auto Show thoughts.

Cars! Cars! Cars! Parking Lot

When a writer begins to stray from the topic:
Today on Mother Proof: 2008 Audi A8 Reviewed. Hey, we're not throwing stones, we do it, too, but we expected more from Mother Proof. If you are dropping this kind of coin on a car, the kids ride with the nanny.

Aw, hell, damn, fart! Next-Gen Acura RL to get a V8 and RWD-biased SH-AWD. Is nothing sacred anymore? What made Acura special is that they didn't fall into the whole V8 movement. And it could have proved pretty dang smart as fuel begins its creep up to $5 by June '09. And this thing'll probably need premium. How the hell you gonna swing your double freakin' mocha latte?

Frakkin' yay! Lincoln likely to kill LT truck. Now to get Cadillac to drop the horrific EXT and we'll be on to something (sales are down 35% anyway... just drop it!)

Oh, as if this wasn't predicted a couple of years ago! (Ha! Get it? We called this sukka years ago when sales were even better than a paltry 2.25 a week or whatever the hell it is) Daimler Mulls Closing the Doors on Maybach. Why did the Maybach fail? Because it was brought over as a first-class passenger on the Queen Elizabeth II? No, despite the grand entrance, the car has no presence. So much so that decent design (again, no presence but a decent design) and moved it to Mercedes' S-Class. Boom! Maybach without the cos... Hell, S-Class is more than we can swing unless we get into Summer. Summer has presence.

Sunday Morning Revenue Drop

Protecting the public our arse! It's more like protecting the city's moolah intake.

That's right, Dallas is considering killing its "red light" camera program because it's not generating enough money. So these cameras aren't put into place to protect us and stop folks from running red lights. It's to force folks to pay when they run through the red lights -- the stopping of such behavior isn't important.

Actually, it's very important because the cameras have stopped folks from running red lights so the city can't afford the cameras. Tasty quote:

"The golden question is how many cameras do we need? We'll have to look at the numbers carefully," [Mayor Pro Tem] Dr. Garcia said. "But for me, this has always been about safety, has always been about awareness. We did not do this for the money."

Oh, it's about safety after all. Whew!

You know, it's not like we're totally unsympathetic to Dallas. Check out how much the cameras cost to maintain. Plus they have them cheerleaders!

Referenced articles:

Fark: Dallas' red light cameras may face changes as revenue estimate drops

Thanks to Engadget and Fark for the link. These guys are connected together like they're part of some web or sumthin!

Goin' Swimming!

Hey, everyone, plan yer vacations now. The mandatory one. That's right, two weeks off this summer!

And don't go spiffyin' up yer resumes!

Referenced articles:

CNNMoney.com: Chrysler takes vacation in July

Et Tu, Biodiesel?

Nice work, Sphinc. Weren't biodiesels supposed to be better for the Earth and its inhabitants? Weren't we supposed to move away from the dependency on foreign oil?

Answer: Duh, no.

Referenced articles:

The New York Times: Pollution Is Called a Byproduct of a 'Clean' Fuel

Oil Prices To Sucketh?

We don't know nothin' about nothin', but yikes, $200/barrel? Could that happen far sooner than later?

If this happens, what exactly happens? Do local gasoline prices crank higher? If so, what then? Public transportation?* Car pooling? Telecommuting? What happens when unemployed folks can't even afford to drive to job interviews?

Anyway, we don't actually know (and we don't even know if oil will hit that high... this soon). We guess our real question is, "How high does oil have to go before the United States gets serious about alternative energy?"

Referenced articles:

MarketWatch: New 'super-spike' might mean $200 a barrel oil

We'd take the bus if she would.

Cars! Cars! Cars! Parking Lot

Woe is us. We are so behind in everything car-related. Did you know they come with friggin' heaters* now?

Anyway, here's what were readin:

Jaguar Final Thoughts: We don't often agree with Joe on a lot. Or nearly anything. Or anything at all. But we did enjoy what we felt was an honest assessment of his Jaguar. The Lexus has some big tires to fill.

Vauxhall Unveils Meriva Concept, Suicide Doors Are The Hotness: We get a kick out of the term suicide doors because the term came during a time when all cars were metal forms of suicide. Power suicide windows! Suicide dashboard! What's that? That's a cigarette lighter, son. It helps me commit suicide.

Bill Ford continues to refuse paycheck from board: Ford should pay him a dollar. You can get a lot for a dollar a year.
Steve Jobs makes $1.

Geneva 2008: 2009 Volkswagen Scirocco arrives early: It came early!

Interest in Chevy Malibu sets record for domestic mid-sizer: Is it too early to find out about reliability issues? Anyone got rattles? Anyone still slamming the door 'cause it sounds so fine?

*She could keep us sooooooo warm!

Hydrogen On Demand

Honda is going to be putting its FCX Clarity on lease in California this coming summer. As in a production ready (more or less) fuel cell car. That's right!

Now, right, you're thinking, big freakin' deal. Even if they rock how can they be sold anywhere else? There's no infrastructure to deliver the hydrogen!

True. Or it was. Maybe. Some long-haired learnin' dudes might have cracked it:

"We now have an economically viable process for producing hydrogen on-demand for vehicles, electrical generating stations and other applications," said Jerry Woodall, a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue who invented the process.

The new alloy contains 95 percent aluminum and 5 percent of an alloy that is made of the metals gallium, indium and tin. Because the new alloy contains significantly less of the more expensive gallium than previous forms of the alloy, hydrogen can be produced less expensively, he said.

When immersed in water, the alloy splits water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, which immediately reacts with the aluminum to produce aluminum oxide, also called alumina, which can be recycled back into aluminum. Recycling aluminum from nearly pure alumina is less expensive than mining the aluminum-containing ore bauxite, making the technology more competitive with other forms of energy production, Woodall said.

Dude! On demand hydrogen production! On demand hydrogen production!

In unrelated news, Mr. Woodall has gone into hiding based on a hit being put on him by Exxon Mobil and BP and Texaco and...

Referenced articles:

From Physorg.com: New aluminum-rich alloy produces hydrogen on-demand for large-scale uses

OK, So We're Curious

Summer's coming* and it's time for something new from Saab and this 9-1 could be something. We're big fans of the (currently shipping) Volvo C30 so we're hoping to see some real competition in the small Swedish hatch segment.

Referenced articles:

From autoblog: Saab shows off second 9-1 teaser ahead of Geneva

*Oh, yes!