Source : todaysbighit[dot]com
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Smart Car vs a Mustang – you won’t believe who won
So, generally speaking, there aren’t many vehicle enthusiasts (or everyday people, for that matter) that hold the Smart Car in a high regard. In fact, many people and critics a like think the tiny car is cute – when you’re 16.
However, what if the Smart Car, in all it’s petite glory, had a bit of a make over in the engine department. Would you consider driving one of them then? Probably not. But this next video might make you think otherwise.
A revamped Smart Car, sporting a 1.5 liter, four cylinder, super-charged Toyota engine, takes on a Shelby Mustang on drag strip. and while you think you might know who the winner is in this race, you will most likely be wrong.
The Smart Car and Mustang faced each other in a clean cut drag race, and, defying all it’s critics (and possibly the laws of physics) the demure little Smart Car absolutely destroys the Mustang. Believe it or not!
And what’s more, the little car shows that it has some big guts and does a wheely (yes, a wheely) right after it pulls away.
Well played, Smart Car. Well played indeed!
Check out the video below:
Source: CarBuzz
Source : carblog[dot]co[dot]za
Fascist massacres in Ukraine: West nods from the sidelines
Odessa massacre: Unknown in the west
Has anyone heard one word from the west after Kiev sent in its armed forces and deployed military hardware against those opposing the illegal Putsch in Eastern Ukraine? Why no, they claim that slaughtering civilians is the Kiev government's right: Kill to protect. In other words, protect people by killing them.
What was that the west was saying about Russia? You know, the bit about invading Eastern Ukraine and stirring up trouble? And what was that the west was saying about Colonel Gaddafi bombing his own people, even if he wasn't? Remember when they sent in the special forces and aircraft to protect the civilians?
Well, what is the west doing to protect the civilians in Eastern Ukraine, the victims of Fascist massacres in Mariupol, in Slaviansk, in Odessa, in Donetsk? In a word, nothing. It is looking on nonchalantly, giving the nod first to the illegal coup d'état leaders which held the fort between the ousting of President Yanukovich in February and last Sunday's election, which has placed in power some chocolate magnate called Poroshenko (Roshen Group, Bonbonetti products).
Poroshenko has started off in the most abrasive and idiotic way possible, underlining the fact that his emotional intelligence level must be somewhere near minus six, underlining the fact that he is in fact a NATO stooge placed in power to take Ukraine into NATO and into the European Union, whereupon he will stir up trouble with Russia because this entire show was about NATO grabbing Russia's Crimea bases, as a means to shut Russia off from the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea and encircle it by land and by sea on its western and southern flanks.
Ukraine is the only country in Europe where the military are slaughtering civilians because Kiev's rule is so popular in Eastern Ukraine that it has to be imposed by the barrel of a gun. For the west, that is cool. Russia is the one calling for peace, for mediation, for the newly-elected (?) President to speak to the Eastern Ukrainians. Kiev's response is to burn people alive in buildings, torture Russian-speaking persons to death, strangle Russian-speaking cleaning ladies with telephone wire, then slit their throats, and shell apartment buildings, shopping centres and churches.
Where are the words of shock and outrage from Mr. Barack Nobel Peace Prizewinner Obama, the Right Honourable Mr. David Self-Righteous Cameron and their nasty sidekicks in the State Department and Foreign and Commonwealth Office? Nowhere. Yet their silence speaks volumes about where they stand and who and what they are.
If their aim is to humiliate Russia, then let us ask the question to whom does the Crimea now belong, who retained the military bases and who wanted them but didn't get them? Sour grapes. Who has lost the civil war in Syria? And what has Russia done? Protected its assets, protected its citizens and acted responsibly. No invasion of Eastern Ukraine has taken place, Russia is the one calling for international law to be respected and peace to be implemented.
Kiev is massacring civilians. And the west is looking on, with nothing to say. How sickeningly predictable. And not one member of Congress or Parliament has a question to ask. How sickeningly predictable. Who is going to be held responsible for these massacres? Nobody. How sickeningly predictable.
So let nobody in the west for a very long time talk about the law.
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
Pravda.Ru
Source : english[dot]pravda[dot]ru
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Result of "War on Terror": U.S. State Department warns no U.S. citizen safe "Throughout the World."
After the attack on Iraq a frequently heard comment from those with no interest in foreign affairs or much, from activists, journalists and political observers of all hues, was: "Soon no American or British citizen will be safe anywhere on earth, for decades to come." It was repeated after Libya, at every sabre rattling at Iran. Throughout the meddling, funding and support for terrorists in Syria the phrase has resurfaced, as again after US Under Secretary Victoria Nuland boasted of her government's $5 billion illegal coup in Ukraine. Guantanamo, renditions, secret prisons and US drone strikes are also cited. Abu Ghraib and other atrocities are unforgotten.
Felicity Arbuthnot
The predictions seemingly were correct. On September 25th 2013, the US Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs issued a "Worldwide Caution"(1) for US nationals traveling anywhere on earth. On 10th April this year it was updated, further alerting travelers to: "... the continuing threat of terrorist actions and violence against U.S. citizens and interests throughout the world." (Emphasis mine.)
Threats are blamed on that old bogey man: " ... al-Qa'ida, it's affiliated organizations and other terrorist groups" who also: "continue to plan and encourage kidnappings of US citizens and Westerners ..."
Information suggests that: "terrorist attacks are also planned: against U.S. interests in multiple regions, including Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. These attacks may employ a wide variety of tactics including suicide operations, assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings, and bombings."
Targets may be: "high-profile sporting events, residential areas, business offices, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools, public areas, shopping malls, and other tourist destinations both in the United States and abroad where U.S. citizens gather ..."
If the warnings are correct, it has to be wondered if the State Department has reflected on cause and effect. Having interviewed over the years, measured people of all walks of life, whose entire families, friends, colleagues have been victims of indiscriminate, random US attacks on a barely imaginable scale, atrocities which, the "international community", had they been committed by any other nation, would condemn as crimes of enormity by rogue states are lauded as "liberation."
The bereaved, friends and helpers, try hour after hour to collect body parts - bits of bone, flesh, a bit of a skull or jaw and attempt to establish by skin colour, texture, which pathetic fragments belong to which beloved person, ensuring the right remains are placed together in the shroud, coffin, these pathetic shredded pieces of infants, children, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, brothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents. The atrocity unsurprisingly usually breeds an all-consuming desire for revenge with which, for anyone whose has had direct experience and heard those of the relations, rescuers,, it would be impossible not to understand.
One example, stays indelibly engraved on my mind, over twenty years of unending US aggression. Mohammed was just ten years old when he went to overnight with his mother, brothers - including a baby brother just weeks old - and sisters during the 1991 attack on Iraq, to Baghdad's Ameriyah air raid Shelter.
The Shelter, equipped with bunk beds, showers, generator-driven electricity, television, kitchens, was a haven of normality and safety in a city where the electricity and water system had been deliberately destroyed, being "carpet bombed" daily.
This temporary sanctuary was deliberately targeted by the US who had obtained the plans, identified the weak points, the ventilation shafts. All but fourteen of the several hundred mothers, children and elderly for whom the Shelter was reserved, were incinerated.
Mohammed was just ten when he survived the inferno. He rescued an old man "whose flesh came away in my hands" and a baby. His mother and siblings were incinerated. The attack happened on the anniversary of the start of the fire bombing of Dresden in World War 11.
He was twelve when we met. Quiet, dignified, articulate way beyond his years. His story, as so many victims of US bombs, drones and "surgical strikes" across the globe, would haunt the hardest heart.
Eventually I asked: "How do you feel about those who did this?" His composure cracked, perspiration broke out on his face, neck, and backs of his hands: "When I grow up, I am going to join the (elite) Republican Guard - and if I die and if I have to wait a thousand years, I will come back and get my revenge." In the 2003 invasion, he would have been twenty two.
If he survived the further mass incinerations of "Shock and Awe", he would have undoubtedly joined the resistance and attacked those from a country who had burned his family and friends alive. If he survived that and perhaps left Iraq, he and countless who had suffered so wickedly would surely harbor vengeance in their hearts for Americans any place, anywhere, for all time. As, of course, Afghan and Libya victims, drone victims from Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan.
In Pakistan extensive research (2) shows the constant terror of the children, many who have been exposed to the aftermath of drones, seen the bloody, shattered remnants of friends and relatives. For parents and relations is the added terror of being unable to protect them. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is suffered by a generation of children:
"If you bang a door, they'll scream and drop like something bad is going to happen", states a Pakistani mental health professional. His deepest worry is for the long-term ramifications of such psychological trauma on children:
"The biggest concern I have as a (mental health professional) is that when the children grow up, the kinds of images they will have with them, it is going to have a lot of consequences. You can imagine the impact it has on personality development. People who have experienced such things, they don't trust people; they have anger, desire for revenge . . . (children) growing up with these impressions, it causes permanent (mental) scarring and damage."
The searing grief and rage of adults is encapsulated by the vow of a multiply bereaved survivor of just one US atrocity in Iraq: "I have twelve in my family, I have fifty cousins and five thousand in my tribe ..." all of them would be seeking revenge, he intimated. How many times have these emotions been replicated in US targeted countries in the last two plus decades alone?
In majority Muslim nations, according to Pew Research (3) by 2012 President Obama's popularity ratings had slipped from a woeful 34% to just 15%. Globally, anger over drone strikes and concerns: "about how the U.S. uses its power - in particular its military power - in international affairs" dominated.
"There remains a widespread perception that the U.S. acts unilaterally and does not consider the interests of other countries", the Report noted.
America has, of course, made an art form of portraying the leaders of countries they seek to attack and invade, for oil, minerals, strategic interests as demonic, mass murdering megalomaniacs which threaten the entire planet - especially the US. The not so subliminal message is: so are their populations.
Now it seems, if the US Department of State is to be believed, a global collective psyche has relegated the boot to the other foot and for many, all Americans are George Bush Senior, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. The latter now unrecognizable as the deliverer of his "New Beginnings" speech (4) at Cairo University (4th June 2009) which included: "The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent is as - it is as if he has killed all mankind. And the Holy Koran also says whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind." That was then, this is now. Some more from the State Department's warning:
Middle East and North Africa:
"The U.S. government remains highly concerned about possible attacks against U.S. citizens, facilities, businesses, and perceived U.S. and Western interests." Terrorist organizations are active in Yemen, Lebanon and: "Iraq is experiencing levels of violence not seen since 2007 ... the threat of attacks against U.S. citizens, including kidnapping and terrorist violence, continues, even in Baghdad's International Zone" (home to the US Embassy.) Goodness, I wonder why.
Bahrain: "continues to see increasingly ...lethal IED attacks against Bahraini Government targets to include facilities and security forces." Nothing to do with grievances against a repressive regime, which fires live rounds on demonstrators, backed by the US, which also has it's Fifth Fleet based there?
Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Mali come in to the frame and: "In Libya, various groups have called for attacks against U.S. citizens and U.S. interests ... (there have been) specific threats against U.S. government officials and U.S. non-governmental organizations ...Because of the presumption that foreigners, especially U.S. citizens in Libya, may be associated with the U.S. government or U.S. NGOs ..." travelers "should act with extreme caution." Cause and effect in neon lights.
"Some elements in Iran remain hostile to the United States" and "No part of Syria should be considered immune from violence." Comments redundant.
Africa:
Kenya, Senegal, Mali, Algeria, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea, Nigeria, Cameroon are flagged up, with: "threats against Westerners in Mali and elsewhere increased following the initiation of the U.S.-supported, French-led intervention ... U.S. citizens considering travel by sea near the Horn of Africa, the Gulf of Guinea, or in the southern Red Sea should exercise extreme caution." U.S. citizens are warned "to avoid all travel" to Somalia. Remember the raids, the drone strikes, ancient and modern?
South Asia:
More warnings of: " ... attacks in the region, possibly against U.S. government facilities, U.S. citizens, or U.S. interests." In Pakistan: "a number of extremist groups continue to target U.S. ... interests."
In Afghanistan: "Insurgents continue to target various U.S. and Afghan government facilities." Could anyone possibly be surprised? Neither it seems, are US citizens particularly welcome in India.
In central Asia: "anti-U.S. sentiments" have been expressed and attempts may be made: "to target U.S. government interests."
In East Asia and the Pacific, there are similar warnings.
At the end of the document there is a "Before You Go" advisory, for all but the stoutest hearted, who having planned to travel and not now cowering behind locked doors. It includes: " ... The Department of State continues to develop information on potential security threats to U.S. citizens overseas" sharing: "credible threat information" ... Travel Warnings, Travel Alerts, Country Emergency and Security Messages ..."
On 11th September 2001 a criminal act happened in New York, not a declaration of war. George W. Bush declared revenge on the world, with plans to attack "seven countries in five years." (5) Surely among the biggest acts of terrorism in history. Barack Obama has continued in the mould, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, drones. The all has come back to haunt, reaping what has been sown.
American terrorism comes with bunker buster bombs, missiles, weapons of mass destruction, those who retaliate in unimaginable grief and anger include those encapsulated by Palestine's great late poet, Mahmoud Darwish: In his poem "The Martyr", he writes of a suicide bomber, one who has no family, no home, no hope left:
"I took aim
With the last thing that belonged to me."
Incidentally it took until 2008 for George W. Bush to state - temporarily putting aside the myriad questions of all to do with 11th September - that those allegedly on the 'planes were fifteen Saudis, one Egyptian, one Lebanese and two from the United Arab Emirates. (6) Not one from the countries subsequently ravaged.
As someone wrote, for a swathe of the world: "Your 9/11 is our 24/7."
1. http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings/worldwide-caution.html
2. http://www.livingunderdrones.org/living-under-drones/#_ftn243
3. http://www.pewglobal.org/2012/06/13/global-opinion-of-obama-slips-international-policies-faulted/
4. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-Cairo-University-6-04-09
6. http://www.pensitoreview.com/2008/01/16/bush-admits-majority-of-911-hijackers-were-saudis/
Source : english[dot]pravda[dot]ru
Custom Lamborghini’s rule Japan’s underworld
Japan’s underworld is home to many things and many, how should I say, eccentric people. Whether it’s social billionaires, thrill-seeking daredevils or, in this case, flashy yakuza’s (yakuza being an organized crime syndicate).
This gang, operating in Tokyo’s underworld has always had a penchant for fast cars or bikes. However, recently, it seems that the yakuza are having some sort of internal competition as to see who has the most blinged-out car. There preferred mode of transport? Lamborghini’s of course.
The gang was originally some sort of motorcycle gang, but quickly transitioned into more flashy (and more expensive) automobiles. Going from a daring motorcycle club to Lambo-racing criminals will obviously come with new threats and in this case, super flashy style.
Japan-based director, Luke Huxham, was lucky enough to be invited by the gang themselves, to shoot a mini documentary about this blaring, blinged-out underworld.
Huxham was introduced to a member of the gang named Morohoshi-san, who then invited him to come and see what’s happening beneath the frontiers of Tokyo City and, of course, bring his camera with. The result was a short documentary showcasing the gang’s undeniable love for fast cars and flashy customizations.
As if a Lamborghini in itself isn’t flashy enough, these cars have all the trimmings and extra’s you can think of. Think vinyl wrapped cars, colored LED’s and flashing lights (like, everywhere) and you’ll kind of get an impression of what it’s like in this glitteratti filled under belly.
While no one really knows what illicit activities Morohoshi-san and his mates do to earn enough cash to buy Lamborghini’s and have them pimped out, we are absolutely sure it’s anything but legal. However, that doesn’t stop us from gawking at these incredibly flashy customized Lambo’s. After all, we’re just looking…
You can watch the documentary below. Keep an eye out for the holographic wrapped Lambo and the shiny, leopard print beast in the opening scene:
Source: The Verge
Source : carblog[dot]co[dot]za
Monday, May 26, 2014
Euro-Elections: What part of NON does Brussels not get?
The result of the Euro Elections? A resounding protest vote against austerity, against the EU immigration policies, against the political Establishment, in a Europe which has gone too far, too fast, away from the will of the people who never wanted a Federal State, much less a Euro which has led millions to misery.
Interspersed in this article are comments sent to Pravda.Ru from correspondents around Europe, examples of what the people are thinking, but which no politician from the Establishment will admit. Deaf to these preoccupations, blind to the aspirations of the citizens, these are the reasons that underlie this weekend's results.
If one can draw conclusions from electoral processes in the EU's twenty-eight member states, then the general conclusion is that the signature of the 2013 Euro Election (for Members of the European Parliament) is a resounding NO!, NON!, NEIN! for the current model, is a swing towards populist parties and charismatic figures who bother to listen to the electorate and who voice their concerns, is a veto for austerity and a slight swing to the political left in global terms, despite the victory of Marine Le Pen's Front National in France, the election of a Fascist in Germany and the victory of Euro-sceptics in the UK.
Political ignorance:
UK: "What are we voting for?" Reply: This is the election to elect your MEP. "Oh, so who am I voting for then?" Reply: That is your decision. "Oh to see if we go into Europe then is it?"
Spain: "I don't know who I am voting for. In my house we wait for my husband to decide then we all vote for that person".
France: "It's the Communists. They want to make everything the same so that Europeans can all earn the same salary".
Basically, it is a yellow card for the faceless Eurocrats who spend billions of Euros of the European Taxpayers' money telling countries what to do, telling communities they have to accept with open arms bands of thieves and criminals from other corners of the Continent, telling farmers to destroy crops, paying fishermen not to fish, closing industries and destroying jobs and livelihoods, imposing back-breaking economic constraints on economies forced into the Euro without being able to take the strain.
It is all very well for PC (politically correct) Eurocrats to say it is racist to make sweeping remarks about Romanian gypsies. Would they therefore like to live beside such a family? While one cannot tar an entire people with the same brush (and this article in no way represents the feelings of the author, we are simply expressing what we have heard), the incidents of criminal activity, begging and thieving in many cases go hand-in-hand with the movement of bands of these people into a residential area. That isn't racism, it is a fact and it is a huge preoccupation for many European citizens. Look to the UK and see the UKIP result.
Insecurity/immigration:
Ireland: "We don't want those Romanian gypsies over here. They invaded the home of my brother in the UK while he was on holiday and destroyed everything in his home. They had forged documents to his house, in their name. When he finally managed to get it back, all his belongings had been destroyed".
Belgium: "I work in the Church as a volunteer, distributing clothing. The idea is to provide for the needs of the local people. What happens is that gangs of thieves from Eastern Europe come here, steal everything then make a living by selling it. Then they threaten us or swear at us if we complain".
It is all very well for the Eurocrats to tell the citizens of Europe that the EU project is valid, but how valid is a system which has created an endemic youth unemployment rate of some 40 per cent in some countries, how valid is a system which sees University graduates wondering if they will ever get a job, or working for 500 Euros in a call centre for the rest of their lives?
How valid is a system in which the average member of the electorate, i.e. the average EU citizen, is totally detached from the political reality, as we see above, has no idea who or what he or she is voting for because the lists are drawn up by the parties and there is no connection between the voter and the candidate? This is translated into an average abstention rate of around 43 per cent, up to 66 per cent in Portugal, 77 per cent in Poland, 71 per cent in Hungary, 75 per cent in Croatia, 79 per cent in Slovenia, over 80 per cent in the Czech Republic.
How valid is a system which has closed farms, scrapped fishing fleets, closed factories and destroyed jobs, in return for what? For generations of unemployment?
Economy/austerity:
Italy: "Since the Euro was imposed upon us, unemployment has sky-rocketed, prices have doubled or tripled and salaries have fallen way behind. What a fantastic experiment it was. It has reduced us to misery".
Germany: "The southern Europeans are all a bunch of irresponsible scroungers basically who don't work, then expect us to pay their bills. To Hell with the lot of them! Why should we have to do all the work all the time?"
Poland: "I have not yet seen one single benefit from joining the European Union. Not one".
How valid is a system which imposed the Euro currency top-down without asking people if they wanted it (the result would have been NO!), which then saw prices soaring through the roof as salaries remained the same, or worse, in the last few years have actually decreased? Who is going to be satisfied with that?
Conclusion: The sooner the Eurocrats listen to the people, the less likely it will be that people will vote for Neo-Nazis, Fascists or xenophobes. One thing is the free movement of people across frontiers, the other is to open the gates for hordes of thieves and criminals to go marauding.
How valid is a system which provides pensions of 200 Euros, for instance, in Portugal, when the cost of living is as high as anywhere else in Europe in terms of food and energy costs?
Portugal: "The Green Parties all want to substitute the politicians by bags of leaves and let them govern Europe. They'd probably do a better job".
Welcome to the European Union.
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
Pravda.Ru
timothy.hinchey@gmail.com
Source : english[dot]pravda[dot]ru
Tony Hawk jumps over moving Mini
Ever wondered what would happen if you give one of the world’s best skateboarders the opportunity to do a trick over a moving car? Well, this.
Superstar skateboarder, Tony Hawk, recently pushed the limits once again when he literally performed an olley (to us non skateboarders, a pretty high jump) over a moving Mini Cooper S. And the result was something pretty spectacular.
Mr. hawk is not new to jumping over cars, either. A couple of years ago he attempted the same feat, by jumping over a Lexus LS. However, the Lexus was not moving – in fact, the car wasn’t even on – and it was parked sideways, which means he only had to jump over the width of the car and not the length.
This time around, he took on a Mini. While it was driving. At a considerable speed. And he jumped over the length of the car.
The stunt is part of a ‘celebration’ (which actually means marketing/promotion stunt) of the new partnership between Mini US and Tony Hawk’s Birdhouse Skateboard Tour.
There is one special part of the stunt though. Just as Tony is about to take the jump, launching himself of the ramp, the Mini actually crashes into the ramp; a few split seconds after Tony launched himself off it. Very impressive indeed. We’re pretty sure Tony was hoping the driver’s timing was as good as his…
So without further a due, check out the cool video below:
Source: Autoblog
Source : carblog[dot]co[dot]za
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