Zach at Road and Track has a great article on the consequences of using Natl Parks during govt shutdowns

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirNQ-RHBaxrC0fCNPerPZvyX6fGya2f4dwkvLNdXVbSFaajYZG7xslw3tzh9awm3jhOljz_vQu58OfkcxjBEpaHOWXiDsYP9_tFVE5JpicOLcA1ByONt9Z4x-Mum2AUL5E1pwTMbhr6_xp/s1600/_MG_9806-Edit-Edit-78060922-sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirNQ-RHBaxrC0fCNPerPZvyX6fGya2f4dwkvLNdXVbSFaajYZG7xslw3tzh9awm3jhOljz_vQu58OfkcxjBEpaHOWXiDsYP9_tFVE5JpicOLcA1ByONt9Z4x-Mum2AUL5E1pwTMbhr6_xp/s1600/_MG_9806-Edit-Edit-78060922-sm.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />Zach broke into the park to prove a point about the idiocy of the govt shutdown, and wrote about the experience to remind people how truly special our public lands are.<br /><br />He got 3 tickets (federal misdemeanors) and had to lawyer up and go to court. He got a plea deal, 40 hours community service, at the park. Lots of toilet cleaning... you know the ones, the nasty public ones with no ventilation, that so many people seem to destroy for fun<br /><br /><a href="http://www.roadandtrack.com/features/web-originals/busted-paying-the-price-for-ignoring-the-government-shutdown">http://www.roadandtrack.com/features/web-originals/busted-paying-the-price-for-ignoring-the-government-shutdown</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMosBMW0P7-3vwmiD40kDgbMaOpOfQ31x6r07NoB-0nXmvxEIInLRE5HF_cuzL68QdCegfPHJivOaoHaSEC0BBVS-P8USJjMjp-Pdo0BV0WsHxe-ApzWdjj2KNreegLBGseoCFEKC_xj_T/s1600/1924396_10152411971305197_6380208109753435493_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMosBMW0P7-3vwmiD40kDgbMaOpOfQ31x6r07NoB-0nXmvxEIInLRE5HF_cuzL68QdCegfPHJivOaoHaSEC0BBVS-P8USJjMjp-Pdo0BV0WsHxe-ApzWdjj2KNreegLBGseoCFEKC_xj_T/s1600/1924396_10152411971305197_6380208109753435493_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div>

Zach at Road and Track has a great article on the consequences of using Natl Parks during govt shutdowns

Zach broke into the park to prove a point about the idiocy of the govt shutdown, and wrote about the experience to remind people how truly s...

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A new writer to enjoy has joined Automobile magazine

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The following is an excerpt from the column "Asphalt Jungle" in the Sept 2014 issue of  Automobile Magazine, which is, and will be, written by Arthur St Antoine<br /><br />an assignment might actually be “Yugo GV Road Test.” Yeah, we “road-tested” nasty little Serbian-built Fiats that cost $10 less than a contemporary cell phone. And what did one say after driving a communist box less impressive than Marshal Tito’s coffin? Well, what could you say -- at least without sounding like a typical capitalistic jackass? “The GV’s headliner showcases the auto industry’s most creative use of papier-mâché.” Or maybe: “Eventually you get used to the, um, aroma. Our editorial nose wouldn’t call it ‘new-car smell’ exactly -- it’s more like stale Turkish cigarettes and cabbage mixed with a soupçon of totalitarian angst -- but after an hour or two at the wheel, one pleasantly surmounts the overwhelming urge to vomit.”<br /><br />Like a swarm of zombies, the four-wheeled atrocities just kept coming. The Chevy Citation -- almost sued for defamation of character by a dead racehorse. An endless shell game of Chrysler K-cars, culminating in that transcontinental hybrid, the TC by Maserati -- which married la dolce vita of Benito Mussolini with the American breeding of Archie Bunker.<br /><br />From the Sept 2014 issue, also, <a href="http://www.automobilemag.com/features/columns/1409-when-almost-no-new-cars-were-my-type/">http://www.automobilemag.com/features/columns/1409-when-almost-no-new-cars-were-my-type/</a></div>

A new writer to enjoy has joined Automobile magazine

The following is an excerpt from the column "Asphalt Jungle" in the Sept 2014 issue of  Automobile Magazine, which is, and will be...

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How to spot a fun guy in a magazine's staff photo

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRNeRcVyyLfG9Rr_aG34JrLY9awQUqSMcJhw_OSem8gFjc6HsvhSy0HHWpxv-1M42novcC30-HT9wmAhyphenhyphenh9s2Bg_EXUcbmBxcuuDOFOIoydpbF66ylvLAJ_nPodlafZNRjqymVbBfaZDEN/s1600/ha.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRNeRcVyyLfG9Rr_aG34JrLY9awQUqSMcJhw_OSem8gFjc6HsvhSy0HHWpxv-1M42novcC30-HT9wmAhyphenhyphenh9s2Bg_EXUcbmBxcuuDOFOIoydpbF66ylvLAJ_nPodlafZNRjqymVbBfaZDEN/s1600/ha.JPG" width="464" /></a></div><br />One guess which one isn't pretentious. The "most influential automotive journalist" you've never heard of, (long pause for effect to complement the overly pretentious image of odd looking duck with a scarf) or the designer / writer by accident, or the lawyer and rock band manager too cool to be seen without sungalsses, or the goof ball in the garage wearing a tshirt - not a suit, ascot, or scarf?<br /><br />Image from <a href="http://www.automobilemag.com/staff/">http://www.automobilemag.com/staff/</a><br /><br />FYI now that Source Interlink has bought Automobile Magazine, Ezra won't be with them anymore (he is now switching to Car and Driver) now that they moved to LA, and Jean Jennings split instead of uprooting from everything where she's lived and worked for decades.  <a href="http://www.automobilemag.com/features/columns/1408-explaining-the-recent-changes-at-automobile-magazine/">http://www.automobilemag.com/features/columns/1408-explaining-the-recent-changes-at-automobile-magazine/</a></div>

How to spot a fun guy in a magazine's staff photo

One guess which one isn't pretentious. The "most influential automotive journalist" you've never heard of, (long pause for...

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What keeps Americans from being tested realistically for a drivers license?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I was reading the article in Autoweek magazine August 4th, 2014 issue, Piston Slap by Mark Vaughn, and its written with a lot of humor... and he concludes that to get a drivers license in the USA, you have to A) parallel park without killing 14 people and B) causing 72 million dollars in damages.<br /><br />It's obvious that other countries with higher speed limits like Germany, and other European countries take driving licenses far more seriously, and the USA will give one to any 16 year old that can pass a 50 question test they can look up online, that has little to do with driving safely, and a operations test that doesn't judge them in the dark, or foggy, rainy, snowy, or icy roads... and auto renews a license without a physical check to verify the drivers health and eyesight.<br /><br />Mark points out that there are 35,000 deaths from traffic accidents each year, but nothing done to make getting a license more focused on testing for safer driving skills.<br /><br />He wrote a funny article, and I've been a shill for Autoweek so long they ought to send me a free subscription... but anyway, he got me thinking about the ridiculous idea that a drivers license in the USA is given with little safety testing, and no driving in normal conditions other than whatever the weather happens to deliver for the 20 minutes or so a kid gets behind the wheel with an instructor that focuses on parallel parking and rail road crossings... actually questions 2 and 3 below on the written test as well as my sarcastic example of driving instructors. This is pathetic.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRXAnXmKL6cWkhgleBdrCFuliemhRe_5HNlaQOc9fGSYTAyXP5gQvxE4ZwDrTkKyuvQE3dQHifle6IYetZjv7kvCMdoaYg3rxqc80z9mEgksK-p2qUz-Ep0L5zgNC2q9EjJd-yIBwGFGDL/s1600/test.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRXAnXmKL6cWkhgleBdrCFuliemhRe_5HNlaQOc9fGSYTAyXP5gQvxE4ZwDrTkKyuvQE3dQHifle6IYetZjv7kvCMdoaYg3rxqc80z9mEgksK-p2qUz-Ep0L5zgNC2q9EjJd-yIBwGFGDL/s1600/test.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">from the California state DMV <a href="http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/interactive/tdrive/clc2written.htm">http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/interactive/tdrive/clc2written.htm</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>

What keeps Americans from being tested realistically for a drivers license?

I was reading the article in Autoweek magazine August 4th, 2014 issue, Piston Slap by Mark Vaughn, and its written with a lot of humor... an...

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