$100MM to Somalia?? Really??

Yup...there it is...$100,000,000 more of your tax dollars were just allocated to go help out Somalia today.

Yes, the ever bubbily Jill Biden was over there today blathering on and on about how horrible their (100% self inflicted) situation is and how we should all be donating our money to help them out.

Meanwhile Barack was back here throwing a big birthday bash/fundraiser then jetting off to Camp David for the weekend and staying silent on the downgrade of the US credit rating and death of dozens of SEAL Team members.

Hey, how bout taking that $100,000,000 and putting it toward paying interest on the debt?  Or supporting our troops in Afghanistan with more/better equipment?  Or ANYTHING but funnelling it down the crapper of yet another third world country that will squander/burn/lose/smoke/confiscate our tax dollars?

Oh, yeah and the market's down about 500 points today...But there's a nice electronic transfer being made from your tax dollars over to Somalian pygmies right now...What a great country!!

Okemo II Hillclimb Event--The Pictures...

So lets get to the photos first, then the story and maybe some brief videos of vehicle launches as well...

Here we have a selection of cars from Group B on Saturday showing the wide range of entries covering numerous makes, models, years and classifications.  It really is great to see all the unique models brought out to these events.  Not many other places you can see a '71 Saab and a LS series powered Pro-Mod run the same course...

The last pictures in this series??  Well, I'll let you imagine before I get to detailing this weekend's events...

Okemo II Hillclimb Event...

So its off to NISMO Stuff Racing's second real motorsports event at 4:30 tomorrow morning.

Why 4:30?  Because I spend today with my family at 6 Flags in Massachusetts unlike the prior Okemo hillclimb event where I went up the day before in order to get settled and prepared.

Not so much this time.  I will be arriving at about 7AM and getting tech'd at that time prior to Saturday practices and Sunday's race.

Changes to the NISMO Stuff Nissan Frontier since the last event?  Not too much.  I am upping the tire pressure from about 30-33 PSI (found the measurements to vary between the tires by a larger than expected margin) to 36 PSI all around.  The higher PSI should provide marginally lower rolling resistance and more responsive handling while still being soft enough to provide plenty of grip.  We'll see.

There has been some additional gusseting to the cage both in the cab and in the bed of the truck to meet some final tech requirements for it to receive its Rally America rulebook so hopefully that will be accomplished this weekend as well.

Lastly...the weather.  It is supposed to rain on and off all weekend including thunderstorms.  My assumption is that my vehicle will be less bothered by bad conditions than the others will.  I have no need to change tires as I'm not running racing slicks like many others and am not really running asphalt tires at all.  This won't even the playing field but it may tighten some things up.  Again, we'll see...

I'll report back soon with more pictures this time (new camera) and perhaps some video as well though no in-car video yet.  That will be done for the Black River Stages Rally event in one month however.

Nissan Leaf Extends EV Sales Lead...

The Nissan Leaf, while not my favorite vehicle, continues to do well in comparison to the Chevy Volt.

The Leaf is now up to a total of 4,806 units sold in 2011 while the Volt lags behind at 2,870.  Neither figure is going to inspire confidence in the takeover of the auto industry by electric vehicles but hopefully it allows Nissan to start producing electric vehicles in the future that aren't the equivalent of a toaster or blender.

Nissan Extends EV Sales Lead...

Where I've Been: Acadia National Park

Took a few days of vacation here to enjoy myself and my family.

Acadia National Park is one of my favorite "local" places to go.  Just far enough away (some 5 hours) to feel like I'm really away but yet still easily reachable in a single morning or afternoon.

Bar Harbor is a great town with some great food and drinking establishments and is just teetering on the kitsch scale and not yet giving me the feeling of being completely sold out.

Outside Bar Harbor, Acadia is a wonderful park.  I only wish I had more time and ability to explore it.  I cannot rock climb on my own, nor push my six year old into more adventurous hiking options--yet.  The contrast of the rocky cliffs diving into the cold Atlantic is incredible and the wildlife abundant.  We did get in some family kayaking and minor hiking on this trip and my son continues to be a great camper.  All in all a great time.

 

 

How's that Trillion Dollar Stimulus Working For You?

So now that the trillion dollar stimulus has been dumped into the economy things are turning right around.

Uh...not so much.  In what is sure to be overshadowed by the ongoing wrangling with the debt ceiling issue comes news that the economy has more or less ground to a halt.

Released today were the Commerce Department figures on 2011 Q2 and revised Q1 GDP statistics.  Somehow what had originally been stated as a rate of 1.9% growth in Q1 (a slow but at least improving rate of growth) was massively revised downward to only a rate of 0.4%.  How they got the figure that wrong in the first place is astonishing and indicates that the economy effectively stopped in the early part of 2011--thus the backsliding jobs picture found during Q2.

The results for Q2 (initially at least, who knows how they will be "revised" at a later date) reflect only a rate of 1.3% growth which is substantially below the 1.6% growth that had been predicted and is no where near the 3%+ rate needed to bring down unemployment, get the housing market back on its feet and government coffers filling with tax revenues.

Current predictions for a Q3 and Q4 growth rate of 3.2% are so massively overinflated it isn't even funny.  We're 1/6 into the 2nd half of '11 already and with the debt ceiling issues and numerous large layoff announcements the US economy will be extremely lucky to see a single quarter in '11 with growth over 2% and I would bet on sub 2% growth in both Q3 and Q4 with continued basic unemployment rates of over 9%.  Of course the response to this will be--"Just imagine how bad things would be if we HADN'T confiscated a trillion dollars of your hard earned money for redistribution!"

Datsun Powered Hi-Jumper...

With all the interest lately in vintage off-road race vehicles, cars that have sat in barns unused for sometimes decades are coming back to light.

Such is the case here with a late 70's model Hi-Jumper Ascot 2 model found out in California.  Slightly modified for additional headroom it carries a Datsun 1200GX motor with an 8000 rpm redline and is adapted to a bus IRS.

The owner intends to keep the Datsun motor and have it reworked.  Hopefully the car will show up at the 2012 NORRA Mexican 1000.

Datsun powered Hi-Jumper found...

Nissan Takes Two Wins and More...

This past weekend had the TORC short course series running in Charlotte, NC--the farthest East any short course series has come in recent memory.

With Nissan's recent re-entry to short course racing as a factory effort in TORC this was a great opportunity to show the brand off.  Nissan drivers did not disappoint.

In Pro 2, the Boss Snowplow Nissan Titan of Chad Hord (the only Nissan in Pro 2) finished Friday night's race in 6th place and improved upon that result, grabbing a podium spot on Saturday in third place behind only Bryce Menzies and offroad superstar Rob MacCachren.

In the Pro Light class where two Nissan Frontiers reside, drivers Casey Currie and Brad Lovell took three out of the six podium spots on the weekend with Currie winning both the Friday and Saturday races while Lovell finished in third on Saturday.

Perhaps shockingly in Nissan's first year back as a (minimal) factory effort they are actually competing for a season long manufacturer championship.  There is virtually no chance they'll win it given there are only three Nissans running between all the classes, but just getting their name up there is a start!

Benefit Motorcycle, Muscle Car, Street Rod Ride In Memory of Troy Kyajohnian

Mr. Troy Kyajohnian passed away some two months ago from an undiagnosed heart issue.  Being no older than I this came as a great shock to me--the more so as he had done extensive work on Project Retro-Runner including the dash, wiring and suspension changes.

Troy left behind a wife and child and a great portfolio of work including the bike you see here to your left.  He was a wonderful craftsman and leaves a big hole to fill in numerous respects.

This past weekend, Keith Dube of Dube's Custom Machines put together a charity bike/car ride from his shop in Hudson, NH to the Broken Spoke Saloon up in Laconia to raise money for the American Heart Association to be donated in Troy's name.

The weather was perfect, the ride was wonderful with the NH State Police providing a guided escort to clear the way, lunch was great and a good time was had by all.

Vaya con dias Troy....

Buzz Aldrin Takes Out Moon Landing Conspiracy Theorist...

I guess this was from a few years back but damn its good.  Aldrin was over 70 at the time and holds his temper pretty good given all the goading this nitwit does.  Aldrin can take it no more when this Bible thumper calls him a coward and cracks him a good one right on the jaw.  Oh, America, I despair for you as those of strong backbone like Buzz Aldrin become fewer and fewer...

Whale Shark Swallows Diver...

Well, not quite...

First off, this is not a Photoshop.  Picture was taken a couple days ago off the coast of Mexico where up to 60 of the largest fish in the world have gathered to gorge themselves on the Tuna eggs found floating there during the Tuna spawning season.

The diver was never in any real danger as the Whale shark is a filter feeder...but still...being this close to that large of a mouth on that large of an animal has got to be an incredible experience.  Nicely done by the photographer, diver and Whale shark itself for creating this image.

Would the Last NASA Astronaut Please Turn Out the Lights??

Seriously.  Does anyone actually think the US of A will return as a government funded entity to human space travel at ANY time in the future?

I certainly don't.  And no, hitchhiking aboard a Russian rocket to the ISS doesn't count.  The first kerfuffle over darn near anything and the Russians will simply say--sorry, but your people aren't welcome aboard our rockets and the ISS is now ours.

And so it is that what was one of the USA's defining characteristics (the desire to push boundaries, explore our world, discover the unknown, advance the human race) has come to an end.  The US is so focused on itself and the issues here that it has lost its spirit and as the spirit withers, so shall the country from its place of prominence--unless, private individuals and companies take up the cause from the rotting body that is the US government.  They very well may...but not in the immediate future.

So in the interim we are resigned to let Russia rule the heavens and, oh, yeah, let China rule the deep sea.  An under-reported event this week is China's ability now to dive far deeper into the ocean depths than the US, making them capable of finding and extracting the valuable minerals and resources held there (as well as cutting communication lines, undersea sonar devices, etc.).  Much like the US space program, our deep undersea capabilities peaked some 40-50 years ago as well and we are left with the 40 year old "Alvin" which can reach only 66% of the ocean the new Chinese submersible can.  Great...

China Dives Deep...