A comprehensive noise map created by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics of the interactive U.S. map on noise produced primarily by airports and interstate highways.

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17 things to know about your cat

 

 

 

 

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Battling the forces of inequality in Grand Rapids

...Grand Rapids, Michigan, a city largely run by a few billionaire families sharing an entrenched laissez-faire ideology. They want no heavy-handed government policies… unless you're poor or working class.

Thus, the city powers who find it unconscionable to hike taxes on the rich, recently socked low income bus riders with a 17 percent jump in fares. For the 27 percent of people in Grand Rapids who live below the poverty line, that's a serious chunk of change siphoned right out of their pockets.

Then, the board of directors of the city's transit agency slipped a siphon tube into the wallets of their own drivers and mechanics, arbitrarily terminating their pensions. Adding a crude insult to injury, the board simultaneously gave a pay raise to the transit boss – literally stealing from workers to lift the CEO's salary above $200,000 a year.

When the workers, who're members of the Amalgamated Transit Union, began leafleting bus riders to oppose the fare hike and pension theft, the arrogant boss and autocratic board threatened to arrest and fire them!

Luckily, even in Grand Rapids, it's still legal to exercise your First Amendment rights, so the union won an injunction against this repression. Better yet, the attempted siphoning of money and power has rallied community groups, students, bus riders, and others into a grassroots movement to stop widening the inequality gap and start bridging it. jim hightower

New Tesla Breaks Consumer Reports' Ratings Scale, Bolsters Company's Stock

With a rare mix of blazing speed, safety and energy efficiency, the new Tesla Model S P85D left the folks at Consumer Reports grasping for ways to properly rate the car, after it scored a 103 — out of 100. "It kind of broke the system," says Jake Fisher, director of the magazine's auto test division.

Listing the all-electric car's attributes, including its improved handling and stopping power, Fisher says, "We're seeing numbers that we haven't seen before. So this kind of blew out the system. We're giving it a score of 100."

That final rating came after the product testing organization adjusted its metrics a bit (but it says it won't now grade all other cars on the P85D's curve). It posted the results online Thursday — and in a rare move, Consumer Reports didn't require a subscription to see the Tesla ratings (that move very likely played a part in the company's trouble with its Web servers).

In a video discussion of the Model S P85D, Fisher says, "We're not used to seeing large cars go 0-60 in 3.5 seconds. We're not used to seeing large cars that get an equivalent of 87 miles per gallon, and are that fast. So it really blows apart a lot of things."

Consumer Reports' experts note that the score doesn't mean the car has achieved perfection — for one thing, there's the $127,820 price tag of the tested model. That makes it the most expensive car that the magazine has ever tested. And then there's the base model's estimated range of about 250 miles on a single charge.

But the magazine's autos editor, Mark Rechtin, also notes that the Tesla is impressive for its quickness in applying power to the road — and pushing its occupants back in their seats.

"This car goes from 0 to 1.02 G's in less than a quarter of a second," Rechtin says, "which is almost as fast as the human brain can react."

That rush of speed happens silently, Rechtin added. He said, "The only other way that you can feel that, in a legal setting, is to basically jump out of an airplane."

We'll note that those speeds reflect a car outfitted with the "Insane" driving mode. The quicker "Ludicrous" mode gets to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds, according to Tesla.

The glowing review generated intense interest in the car Thursday (as of this writing, the Consumer Reports website has crashed); it also propelled Tesla's stock to an 8 percent gain, to a close of $242.99 on the Nasdaq market. That's quite a bounce for a stock that, at the opening of Monday's trading session, could be had (briefly) for $202.

On the performance of Tesla's stock, The Wall Street Journal notes, "at midday, Tesla's market value stood at $31.7 billion, up $2.5 billion from Wednesday's close."

In its first years in the auto market, Tesla has focused on high-priced cars. The Model S cost more than $50,000 when it was introduced, and the new Model S P85D has a base price of $104,500. But earlier this year, the company announced plans to produce a more affordable car called the Model 3, with a list price of $35,000. npr

You are U-Haul Famous!

Geologist Justin Nixon is #uhaulfamous

Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Dubai: New centre of the sporting world?

Where once, sport looked west for investment and inspiration, now it looks east.

The oil-rich billionaires of the Gulf have planted a flag at the heart of the sporting landscape in recent years. They have invested their inconceivable wealth across an array of sports into all corners of the world and now they are using their influence to bring sport to the region, as a global statement of their ambition.

Dubai has one billionaire per 200,000 people

Three Gulf states are at the heart of this extraordinary revolution: Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. In Dubai alone, you will find one billionaire in every 200,000 people.

In Abu Dhabi, a rival state in the United Arab Emirates, the figures are just as extraordinary. It is in the process of building the jaw-droppingLouvre Abu Dhabi,  having paid the world-famous Paris museum more than £400m just to use the name. While in Qatar, more than 14% of households have at least £1m of private wealth in the bank.

And it is that wealth, that influence, which has lured sport to the Gulf.

Take last week, for instance. On Monday, the row over Qatar's right to stage the 2022 World Cup rumbled on. On Tuesday, Doha in Qatar won the right to host the 2019 World Athletics Championships. From Thursday to Sunday, Rory McIlroy duelled with Henrik Stenson at theEuropean Tour's season-ending showpiece in Dubai.

Emirates Airways spent £172m on sponsors

Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and the rest of the Formula 1 circus were in Abu Dhabi from Thursday before contesting the final Grand Prix of the season on Sunday at the ostentatious Yas Marina Circuit, built at a cost of about £900m ($1.5bn).

The region is fast becoming a sporting hub like no other. Qatar, for example, will host world championships in boxing, swimming, squash, handball and para-athletics in the next 12 months as well as staging almost 40 other sporting events. bbc

Who are the families behind the wealth?

Abu Dhabi is ruled by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. His half brother, Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan bin Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan (better known as Sheikh Mansour) is the man who bought Manchester City in 2008.

The family have ruled the emirate since the 18th century and pride themselves on 'respect for heritage, culture, tradition.'

The ruling family are complex with Sheikh Mansour one of 19 sons born to Abu Dhabi's long-term ruler Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. His mother, one of six wives, had six sons, making her part of this vast family the most influential.

In terms of wealth? It is almost limitless. It is estimated that the family have as much as $1tn in overseas assets alone. Their investment in City represents loose change, in relative terms, even if they have pumped in excess of £1bn into the club since 2008.

Their football interests extend elsewhere, however. A company owned by Sheikh Mansour has recently agreed to fund the redevelopment of Real Madrid's iconic Santiago Bernabeu stadium  to the tune of £312m.

The work will include the creation of a hotel and shopping centre. But perhaps it is their move to expand into the United States that is more interesting.

In 2013, Major League Soccer and the iconic New York Yankees announced a pioneering deal to create an MLS franchise in New York in time for the start of the 2015-16 season - New York City FC was born. 

It is a development that could give Abu Dhabi a footing and profile in the United States that was previously unimaginable. A few months later, it was announced Sheikh Mansour and Manchester City added Australian side Melbourne Heart.

"You could look at things like the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the Abu Dhabi golf championships and the investment in Manchester City as some of their most prominent global marketing assets," said Ben Faber, senior director at Fast Track Middle East, the company tasked with delivering City's fan loyalty programmes.

Roger Federer and Andre Agassi played tennis on the helipad of the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai in 2005

Lewis Hamilton claimed his second world title after victory at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi

pain in my ASSateague island

Vrbanus Steampunk Victorian

Luxurious cars by Metal Art workshop Vrbanus Steampunk Victorian filigree beetle Volkswagen by Metal Art shop Vrbanus, Sisak, Croatia. Three craftsmen spent 3000 hours, about four months on the painstaking job with details such as 24-carat gold leaf embelishments and a hand-stiched leather interior

where were you when CO2 levels reached 400ppm?

911 turbo price

help turtles cross the road

mitt only sounds sincere

weiner mobile

I saw the weiner mobile while driving around Greensboro a few days ago :)

fuel economic crisis

walk more. bike more. drive more efficient vehicles.

no texting and driving!

Texting and driving: Study explains why you can’t do two things at once
Study: People are overconfident in how well they can multitask, especially when they combine two visual tasks, such as driving and texting.

green parking garage

google's driverless car

bankruptcy

signs test

i have to go renew my license and retake the signs test. urgh. 

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