Elon Musk’s Tesla roadster, which launched on top of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy earlier today,
is going farther out into the Solar System than originally planned. The
car was supposed to be put on a path around the Sun that would take the
vehicle out to the distance of Mars’ orbit. But the rocket carrying the
car seems to have overshot that trajectory and has put the Tesla in an
orbit that extends out into the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
You thought the first Jeff Gordon "test drive" ad was good?
Well, here's a sequel that's even better -- mostly because he takes an automotive journalist who was convinced the first ad was a fake, and that Gordon wasn't even behind the wheel, for an expressly non-fake ride of his life. And I'm sure Jalopnik's Travis Okulski saw his life flash before his eyes. Maybe twice.
RARELY do you find a sequel to anything that lives up to the original. But this Pepsi Max viral commercial by Davie Brown Entertainment/The Marketing Arm matches, then surpasses the original produced by TBWA\Chiat\Day. Don Draper (not to mention Allen Funt) would have thought this was awesome. Which it is.
Gordon as an ex-con cab driver pulled over by the cops? Epic. "I can't go back, man. I f***in' can't go back!" Well, Gordon the "cabbie" can't go back, but I can go back to this video again and again. And Pepsi certainly has gotten its advertising money's worth over and over again the last few months with this gem. I mean, when you see so many absolutely idiotic commercials -- when you just can't avoid so many idiotic commercials these days -- it's just such a joy to see one done to perfection. I MIGHT even go buy me some Pepsi Max in appreciation of a job well done.
Personally, I'd prefer to end police chases by disabling the perp's vehicle with an electromagnetic pulse from a low-yield nuclear airburst at 2,000 feet, but that's just me. And, for the record, I am sick and tired of the incessant talk of "collateral damage." Pantywaists, all of you!
This is America. This is 2013. Everybody's a radical.
Especially our dominant stripe of "conservatives." The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the kind of radicalism I'm talking about like this:
b : favoring extreme changes in existing views, habits, conditions, or institutions c : associated with political views, practices, and policies of extreme change
For all of human history, mankind has had to recognize a simple constant -- there are limits. To everything. We are not gods, though some have aspired to the job, and though over millennia we have managed to expand our human ones, the expansion has come at great cost, and that expansion of limits has not meant elimination thereof.
Like many of their party cohorts, a couple of "conservative" Republican candidates for mayor of Omaha never got the memo about the limitations inherent to the human condition. Apparently, Dan Welch and Dave Nabity think Almighty God has decreed that Americans have a limitless right to burn limitless amounts of petroleum in a limitless number of automobiles on a limitless expanse of concrete and asphalt.
IN A political culture as deeply silly and shallow as our own, this inevitably leads to an assault on . . . bicycle lanes. Do reporters at the Omaha World-Herald even try to keep a straight face when covering politicians exercised over the Civic Menace of Bicycle Lanes? God, I couldn't.
The Omaha mayoral candidates were all over the road Tuesday on those two big-city issues, with several questioning the wisdom of Mayor Jim Suttle's decisions to hire a bike czar and to develop bike lanes downtown. Republicans Dan Welch and Dave Nabity both criticized Suttle for parts of his bike initiatives, including the hiring of a czar from California for $65,000. “Not wise,” said Welch. “Out of touch,” said Nabity. Both men questioned the bike lanes. Welch said he drives Leavenworth Street every day and believes that the lanes are tough on traffic. “I haven't seen a bike yet, but we're backing up traffic,” Welch said. Nabity agreed: “It was a lot of energy about something that wasn't really moving the ball down the field.” Suttle, the only Democrat in the race, stood by his bike-friendly initiatives. He said that when he became mayor, he decided to adopt an all-inclusive transportation policy that took into consideration all modes of movement, including foot traffic, trolleys, buses and bikes.
I GUESS nothing screams "raging irresponsibility" like making an effort to reduce the amount of complex hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide we daily spew into the atmosphere over our fair city, save a bit of money we'd otherwise be dumping into our gas tanks, conserve a limited natural resource and burn a few pounds off of our limitless backsides. For the sin of championing conservation, Jim Suttle has earned the ire of self-proclaimed "conservative" mayoral candidates, pontificating from their political towers of Babble and apparently as in love with the notion of the human ego unrestrained by notions of excess or modesty as the most committed utopian revolutionary. All you need is gas. Make cars, not bikes. Power to the Porsche.
This spectacular wreck at the 1975 Indianapolis 500 explains a) why people watch auto racing, and b) why Charlie Sheen got a million Twitter followers in one day.
There is a good reason the entire world hated the British Empire before it hated the American one.
This is it.
Obviously, wot we have here is a typical case of unfortunate British dentistry. It has led to a nasty oral infection, which has gone straight to the collective brain of not only the cast and crew of Top Gear, but also the entire British Broadcasting Corporation.
AND NOW it'll have to come out. The procedure is known by the coalition government as "austerity measures."
Before going under the mallet, however, producers of Top Gear issued the following non-apology apology to the Mexican government, which had condemned the program as "xenophobic":
“We are sorry if we have offended some people, but jokes centred on national stereotyping are a part of Top Gear’s humour, and indeed a robust part of our national humour. Our own comedians make jokes about the British being terrible cooks and terrible romantics, and we in turn make jokes about the Italians being disorganised and over dramatic; the French being arrogant and the Germans being over organised. When we do it, we are being rude, yes, and mischievous, but there is no vindictiveness behind the comments.
“This stereotyping humour is in itself a factor in the tolerance which the ambassador states is so prevalent in Britain.
“In line with that tradition, stereotype based comedy is allowed within BBC guidelines in programmes where the audience has clear expectations of that being the case, as indeed it is with Top Gear. Whilst it may appear offensive to those who have not watched the programme or who are unfamiliar with its humour, the Executive Producer has made it clear to the Ambassador that that was absolutely not the show’s intention.”
IN OTHER WORDS,"We British are a bunch of pricks. Do you have a problem with that? Now you may resume your siesta."
Next on BBC 1, Gordon Ramsay tells Dago jokes whilst beating his kitchen help to death with a frozen haggis.
If you're from my neck of the woods, I can say one word, and you'll know exactly who I'm talking about.
Dahlin!
Of course, I'm talking about Price LeBlanc, the king of cars in greater Baton Rouge. I remember when he'd hawk Ramblers, then American Motors, then Chryslers and Plymouths, then Toyotas from a spare studio with a simple curtain backdrop and a couple of his products parked behind him.
And he'd give you free country sausage if you came in to the dealerships in St. Gabriel and Gonzales.
I ALSO remember, back in the 1980s, a night of seafood and drinking at the old Cotton Club just north of LSU, but only because Price paid a visit to the bar and proceeded to visit with everyone in the place, leaving them with his trademark "Dahlin!"
Price LeBlanc was the king of cars in Baton Rouge, all right. And now the king is dead.
Price LeBlanc Sr., longtime Baton Rouge businessman and owner of several car dealerships, died shortly after 6 p.m. Friday, his family confirmed.
He was 88.
LeBlanc died peacefully of natural causes, surrounded by his family, said his son, Price LeBlanc Jr.
The elder LeBlanc was well-known as the namesake for his car dealerships, which became synonymous with its trademark catchphrase “dahlin” ending each of its commercials.
The elder LeBlanc added the familiar slogan in honor of his mother, who often used the endearment, his son said.
Price LeBlanc Sr. was a life-long resident of St. Gabriel, where he started with a cattle business career after graduating from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Miss., his son said.
He made the switch from livestock to cars in 1954, and opened his first dealership in 1969, the younger LeBlanc said.
“He had a way of relating to people, a common touch, that he could bond with anyone from any walk of life,” he said. “That’s what he’s leaving behind with us.”
NO, THERE will never be another Price LeBlanc. I'll bet you a Toyota and a damn case of country sausage on that one.
This fact, of course, casts doubt on Darwin's entire theory of evolution and "natural selection." I predict this will be another straw at which creationists grasp.
You'd be warped, too, if you watched this guy on television for 25 years.
This is Price LeBlanc. He sold cars around Baton Rouge for decades, and his kids still do today.
And this was his shtick.
I remember this shtick from when he was doing it standing next to a 1970s AMC or Chrysler in front of a curtain in the Channel 9 studios. And I remember it from when he was doing it in a car lot full of Toyotas.
Hell, I remember him walking into the Cotton Club, a watering hole and seafood joint just north of LSU, and nobody letting him leave until he said "Dahlin'!"
This probably not only explains a lot about the mental instability of your humble blogger, but also about the place that spawned him. Dahlin'!