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novelties
Minneapolis PD Buys T3 Motion Trike, Saint Paul Cops Point, Laugh
We've seen the T3 Motion before, and the law enforcement version may look cool in this video, but we assure you it's impossible to not look like a dork on one. So if you live in Minneapolis and are a police officer, prepare to look like a dork. Sure you'll be able to drive up to 25 MPH and run all day on just 11 cents of juice, tower over crowds, and get into tight spots a cruiser never could, but even bike cops will laugh at you. Plus it costs the city $10,000 so you're even going to out-nerd the Segway drivers. [StarTribune]
detroit auto show
Detroit Auto Show: Fallen Firefighters Memorial Rig
Tucked into a corner of the basement is a 1937 Seagrave Safety Sedan, known amongst fire truck junkies as the Detroit Safety Sedan and it represents one of the more interesting untold stories here at Detroit. When a firefighter falls in the line of duty, there is a longstanding tradition of using a firetruck as the funeral hearse to honor the family and the deceased. The tradition of the final ride has become difficult, as fire trucks have grown in size and height. Seeing the problem, the Detroit Fireman's Fund Association decided to set out to do something about it.More »
1:00 PM on Wed Jan 16 2008
By Ben Wojdyla
2,524 views,
17 comments
Latest by n/a: i really like that.. trust me i never want to use my fire engine for that purpose more »
blue red torpedo boat car department
Not Quite An Ekranoplan
Sho 'nuff, it is impossible for a single human being to consume too much English Russia. The finest site on the web presents this wacky-ass Soviet-era contraption, which was apparently some type of amphibious vehicle. To us, it looks like a Messerschmitt bubble car crossed with a Japanese Kaiten torpedo submarine. According to English Russia's mercurial webmaster, "It was a car that was designed and built by special Soviet car company, it had many advanced features at that time. It had some features never being implemented in Russian cars before." No shit. More »
news that surprises no one department
Pretty Damn Kwick: Porsche Set To Launch Dual-Clutch Gearbox, Call it PDK
Straight off the editor's desk from the News That Surprises No One Department comes more info on Porsche's coming double-clutch manumatic gearbox. (That means one clutch handles the odd gears while a separate clutch toggles the evens.) According to the UK's What Car, they're calling the tranny, "Porsche Doppel Kupplungen," or PDK for short (making it as easy on the options sheet as VW's DSG). But when will it arrive, and in what models? A report from last year indicated the heirs of Ferdinand will offer the new box across all model lines. So keep your ears pointed northeast, because the noise Farago makes when the PDK shows up in a Boxster is going to make Howard Dean seem like a mute. And by shaving off a heap of milliseconds between shifts, it could mean the Tiptronic 911 Turbo's 3.4 seconds to 60 mph could be quite a laugh one day. More »
alternative energy
Plug It In, Plug It In: Plug-in Hybrids No Problem for Power Grid, Says DOE
According to the US Department of
news
DOE Reports Power Grid Can Fuel Millions Of Plug-Ins, No Word On Whether GM Will Kill It
According to a Department of Energy (DOE) study released today, the nation's power grids can fuel millions of plug-in electric cars, and it estimated that if"84% of the nation's 220 million vehicles relied primarily on electricity, emissions of carbon dioxide...would be cut by as much as 5%."Wow, five whole percentage points — come on guys, let's all switch now! Oh wait, there's more,
"although vehicle-produced smog would drop in major cities...sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain, would rise in rural areas where coal-burning power plats are located."D'oh! The report does peg the total number of plug-ins the grid can sustain at somewhere around 180 million. Unfortunately, it doesn't tell us whether we'd also be able to turn on light bulbs or watch television with all of those electric cars plugged in. Therefore, I've no plans to trade in my gas-guzzler just yet because I'm trying to do my part for all of those people out there who want to read and watch porn at night — you know, for the kids. More »
