Red Light Cameras Coming Down In College Station November 5, 2009
Posted by Joey in Automobiles, Culture, Government, Politics.Tags: College Station, Jim Ash, Red Light Cameras, Texas
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A voter initiative does something useful for a change. No more red light cameras in College Station, TX.
Traffic cameras voted down | Bryan/College Station, Texas – The Eagle.
College Station’s red light cameras will be coming down.
Voters on Tuesday opted to remove the city’s nine cameras at seven intersections by a margin of 4,081 to 3,809.
For the first time since College Station resident Jim Ash began his crusade against he cameras, he had a hard time Tuesday night finding words to express his feelings.
“I’m ecstatic,” he said. “People told me that to challenge the status quo, it’s very difficult, and I could do nothing but agree with them after this.”
The College Station City Council approved the use of red light cameras in 2007. Four were activated in February 2008, and five were added in May 2009.
CARB Goes Bonkers October 19, 2009
Posted by Joey in Automobiles, Stupid Bureaucrats, Unintended Consequences.Tags: California, California Air Resources Board, CARB, Kalifornication
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The bureaucrats in the California Air Resources Board have come up with another doozy: “Advanced” window glazing to keep vehicles cooler, but stops radios, cell phones, GPS and other wireless devices from working.
How about just use window tinting like we do here in Texas? Works pretty darn good, no wireless devices stop working, and no bureaucratic order is required. The sun takes care of enforcement.
We need some chlorine to clean out the California gene pool.
‘Cool’ car rules could affect radios, phones | detnews.com | The Detroit News.
California’s latest requirement for the auto industry — advanced window glazing to keep vehicles cooler — could prevent drivers from making phone calls, listening to satellite radio or using garage door openers.
It also could lead Chrysler Group LLC to stop selling its soft-top convertible Jeep Wrangler in the Golden State. The standard for sunroofs is so tough that automakers warn the glass would have to be “effectively black.”
The California Air Resources Board has adopted a new “Cool Cars” regulation ordering advanced glazing of windows to block the sun’s heat and reduce the need for air conditioning. Windows must be coated with microscopic specks of metal oxide to reflect sunlight.
Advocates say the requirements will reduce the temperature inside vehicles, saving gasoline and cutting greenhouse gases.
Whale Penis Leather October 15, 2009
Posted by Joey in Automobiles.Tags: Russia, SUV, Whale Penis Leather
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Just hot off the assembly line, an SUV with whale penis leather interior. Greenpeace is probably getting their panties in a bunch over this one.
We’re talking some serious Russian klepto-capitalist bling here.
$1.5M Russian SUV Features Diamonds, Whale Penis Leather
Whale penis leather interior. That’s all you really need to know about the $1.5 million Dartz Prombron Monaco Red Diamond Edition. Yes, the diamond-encrusted white gold gauges and gold-plated bulletproof windows are impressive, but seriously, whale penis leather interior.
Government Motors Sells Hummer To Chinese Company October 11, 2009
Posted by Joey in Automobiles, Bailout, Politics.Tags: General Motors, GM, Government Motors, Hummer
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GM continues dumping loser brands, this time dumping Hummer on a Chinese company.
G.M. to Sell Hummer to a Chinese Company, Sichuan Tengzhong – NYTimes.com.
General Motors said Friday that it would sell its Hummer brand, once a crucial part of its strategy to expand its lineup of sport utility vehicles, to a Chinese heavy equipment maker and a private investor.
The sale, to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery, is another step in G.M.’s rapid downsizing after emerging from a government-financed bankruptcy.
G.M.’s talks with Sichuan Tengzhong were disclosed in June, and the agreement is still subject to regulatory approvals by the Chinese government. No terms were announced, but people with knowledge of the deal estimated the price at $150 million.
Shedding the Hummer brand was a welcome development for G.M., which was disappointed last week when a deal collapsed to sell its Saturn brand to the Penske Automotive Group.
Corona, CA Red Light Camera Ticket: $446 September 18, 2009
Posted by Joey in Automobiles, Government.Tags: Corona CA, Red Light Cameras
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The residents of Corona, CA need to grow a set of balls and get rid of the politicians who support these ridiculous red light cameras and obscene fines of $446.
California City Proposes to Evade California Red Light Camera Law | The Truth About Cars.
Since May, the red light cameras in the city of Corona, California have issued a total of 6511 citations worth $2,903,906. This money has been split between Corona, Redflex Traffic Systems of Australia, the state and Riverside County. On Wednesday, the Corona City Council discussed the possibility of cutting the state and county out of the program entirely. This would allow Corona to keep more money while giving the city a chance to claim it is lowering the pricey $446 automated ticket. ”I voted for the program, but I made a mistake,” Mayor Steve Nolan said. “I didn’t ask the cost… We are killing people with the fines.”
The city’s proposal would ignore the California statute authorizing red light camera ticketing, setting procedures and establishing the fines. In its place, the city would substitute its own administrative ticketing arrangement. Currently Corona only collects $133.80 out of each $446 ticket. Under the new plan, the first ticket would be lower but the city stands to collect a much greater amount from repeat violations.
Beware the Speeding Monkey Man September 10, 2009
Posted by Joey in Automobiles, Politics, Technology.Tags: Monkey Man, Speed Camera
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Go Long On Rare Earths September 1, 2009
Posted by Joey in Automobiles.Tags: dysprosium, lanthanum, neodymium, rare earths, terbium
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Yet another business opportunity, as hybrid vehicles become popular: Rare earth metals, such as neodymium, terbium, lanthanum, and dysprosium.
As hybrid cars gobble rare metals, shortage looms | U.S. | Reuters.
The Prius hybrid automobile is popular for its fuel efficiency, but its electric motor and battery guzzle rare earth metals, a little-known class of elements found in a wide range of gadgets and consumer goods.
That makes Toyota’s market-leading gasoline-electric hybrid car and other similar vehicles vulnerable to a supply crunch predicted by experts as China, the world’s dominant rare earths producer, limits exports while global demand swells.
Worldwide demand for rare earths, covering 15 entries on the periodic table of elements, is expected to exceed supply by some 40,000 tonnes annually in several years unless major new production sources are developed. One promising U.S. source is a rare earths mine slated to reopen in California by 2012.
Among the rare earths that would be most affected in a shortage is neodymium, the key component of an alloy used to make the high-power, lightweight magnets for electric motors of hybrid cars, such as the Prius, Honda Insight and Ford Focus, as well as in generators for wind turbines.
