CAR...CARS

CARS
A film review by Steve RhodesCopyright 2006 Steve RhodesRATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
With its fundamentally flawed concept of talking cars, you'd be best advised to just skip the movie and buy the toys. Even the best of Pixar's talent can't put a shine on this jalopy. Sure, there are several nice moments and characters, but the movie manages to be considerably upstaged by the much cuter short, ONE MAN BAND, which precedes it. CARS is far from being in racing trim, poking along at almost two hours in length. An hour-plus would have been more than enough, given the thinness of the plot. The story is not helped in the least by being bracketed by two big races, which are the most boring and least original parts of the entire production. Only in its midsection, set in the sleepy, old Route 66 town of Radiator Springs, does the film ever work.
As the story opens, we meet a young racecar named Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson), who is trying to win the famous Piston Cup. A cocky one-man-show, Lightning is going up against Chick Hicks (voiced by Michael Keaton) and The King (voiced by Richard Petty). A three-way tie forces race officials to schedule an unprecedented, special three-way race for the championship. On the way to California for the big race -- in a spectacularly lit night sequence -- Lightning gets lost and ends up in Radiator Springs, a time-warped community on Route 66, a road no longer traveled.
The surprise of the movie is that (almost?) the largest number of the lines go to Larry The Cable Guy as a redneck tow truck named Tow Mater, or just Mater for short. In easily the funniest sequence in the picture, Mater takes Lightning to a farmer's field for some late night tractor tipping. Everyone and everything in the movie are made from cars, and the most surprising of these are the horseflies, which are really little car flies. One of the least surprising of the jokes is that the governor of California is played in a cameo by a Hummer.
Most of voice talent proves relatively bland and wasted. As an old race car named Doc Hudson, Paul Newman lends his voice but not his talent. The animators, when they aren't trying to do what proves to be the impossible task of making cars come alive, do a marvelous job with the sets and the background settings. The rugged west has rarely looked better.
In a movie filled with messages, including the need for friends and the respect for elders, safe driving is definitely not among them. Lightning and his new girlfriend Sally Carrera (voiced by Bonnie Hunt), a sexy blue Porsche, like speeding around dangerous blind curves on the wrong side of the road. Most of these episodes, however, while visually appealing, amount to just more wasted time. The movie keeps feeling like it is about to get a ticket for going too slow on the freeway.
CARS runs way too long at 1:56. It is rated G and would be acceptable for all ages.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, June 9, 2006. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.

Indian Premier League 2009

The 2009 Indian Premier League season, abbreviated as IPL 2 or the 2009 IPL, will be the second season of the Indian Premier League, established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007. The tournament will be hosted by South Africa and is scheduled between April 18 and May 24, 2009.IPL 2 is expected to be the second biggest cricket tournament in the world, after the Cricket World Cup, and will have an estimated television audience of more than 200 million people in India alone.
Concerns were raised in India that the tournament was the prime target of Islamic terrorists. Because the second season of the IPL coincided with multi-phase 2009 Indian general elections, India's ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) refused to commit security by Indian paramilitary forces. As a result, the BCCI decided to host the second season of the league outside India. On March 24, 2009, the BCCI officially announced that the second season of the IPL will be held in South Africa.
Though India will not host the second season, the format of the tournament will remain unchanged from the 2008 season format.According to Lalit Modi, chairperson of IPL, all the 59 matches of the second season will take place per schedule and an IPL official said that England and South Africa were initially being considered the front-runners to host the league. South Africa was chosen as the venue primarily due to concerns over England's weather.
Relocating the tournament will pose extreme logistical challenges for the BCCI since more than 10,000 cricketers and other staff members will be flown from India to South Africa within a span of a few weeks. The IPL is expected to inject approximately US$100 million into South Africa's local economy.In addition, the BCCI signed a Rs. 8,200 crores contract with Multi Screen Media to broadcast matches live from South Africa to India.

GLOBAL WARMING

Over the last 100 years, the average temperature of the air near the Earth´s surface has risen a little less than 1° Celsius (0.74 ± 0.18°C, or 1.3 ± 0.32° Fahrenheit). Does not seem all that much? It is responsible for the conspicuous increase in storms, floods and raging forest fires we have seen in the last ten years, though, say scientists.

Their data show that an increase of one degree Celsius makes the Earth warmer now than it has been for at least a thousand years. Out of the 20 warmest years on record, 19 have occurred since 1980. The three hottest years ever observed have all occurred in the last eight years, even.

Earth should be in cool-down-period
But it is not only about how much the Earth is warming, it is also about how fast it is warming. There have always been natural climate changes – Ice Ages and the warm intermediate times between them – but those evolved over periods of 50,000 to 100,000 years.

A temperature rise as fast as the one we have seen over the last 30 years has never happened before, as far as scientists can ascertain. Moreover, normally the Earth should now be in a cool-down-period, according to natural effects like solar cycles and volcano activity, not in a heating-up phase.

AUTO INSURANCE

If you own your own car, you probably already know a little about car insurance. You may have heard the words deductible or premium. But, do you truly understand the different parts of an auto insurance policy and do you know how to choose the best coverage?

Forty-seven states require that you have at least some kind of car insurance, so it's a good idea to know what the law requires you to have and what additional or optional coverage will help to protect you in the event of an accident.

Before purchasing auto insurance, you must consider a variety of factors including what kind of car you have, your driving record and the amount of money you are willing to pay. Understanding the simple basics of auto insurance will make you confident that the car insurance policy you choose will take care of your needs in the event of an accident.

In this article, we will walk you through the types of coverage that insurance companies offer and discuss possible insurance needs. Additionally we will look at what affects the price of auto insurance, how to bring the costs down and how to understand the components of your policy.

Types of Coverage
Everyone who drives needs car insurance. In fact, most states require it by law. When you buy car insurance, you are buying what is called a policy. Your policy is based on a variety of factors including what kind of car you drive as well as what kind of insurance you want. Auto insurance policies are actually a package of different types of insurance coverage.

The first step in understanding an auto insurance policy is to learn the various types of coverage insurance companies offer. Some of this coverage may be required by your state and some of the coverage may be optional.

Liability - This coverage pays for accidental bodily injury and property damages to others. Injury damages include medical expenses, pain and suffering and lost wages. Property damage includes damaged property and automobiles. This coverage also pays defense and court costs. State laws determine how much liability coverage you must purchase, but you can always get more coverage than your state requires.


Collision - This coverage pays for damages to your vehicle caused by collision with another vehicle or object.


Comprehensive - This coverage pays for loss or damage to the insured vehicle that doesn't occur in an auto accident. The types of damages comprehensive insurance covers include loss caused by fire, wind, hail, flood, vandalism or theft.


Medical Coverage - Pays medical expenses regardless of fault when the expenses are caused by an auto accident.


PIP - Personal Injury Protection (PIP) is required in some states. This coverage pays medical expenses for the insured driver, regardless of fault, for treatment due to an auto accident.


Uninsured Motorist - Pays your car's damages when an auto accident is caused by a driver who doesn't have liability insurance.


Underinsured Motorist - Pays your car's damages when an auto accident is caused by someone who has insufficient liability insurance.


Rental Reimbursement - This type of coverage will pay for a rental car if your car is damaged due to an auto accident. Often this coverage has a daily allowance for a rental car.
Many insurance policies combine a number of these types of coverage. The first step in choosing the insurance you want for your car is to know the laws in your state. This will tell you the minimum insurance you need for your car. It's good to keep in mind that, just because your state may not require extensive insurance, extra coverage may be worth the expense. After all, no one wants to be stuck with thousands of dollars worth of bills because of an auto accident.
Now, let's take a look at how to determine your insurance needs.

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!!!!

There is disagreement about the correct placement of the apostrophe within the phrase "April Fool's Day." The three options are: April Fool's Day, April Fools' Day, or (no apostrophe at all) April Fools Day.The phrase does not actually have a definitively correct spelling. Historically, April Fool's Day has been, by far, the most popular choice. This is probably because it looks less awkward than the alternatives. But a more logical argument for this spelling is that The April Fool is a singular, iconic character to whom the day is dedicated. Numerous illustrations of The Fool dressed in his robes and horned hat support this view.However, a small but vocal group believes that April Fools' Day is the correct spelling. Proponents of this belief point to the parallel term All Fools' Day, which indicates that the day is dedicated to All Fools (plural) in general. Though some etymologists have speculated that All Fools' Day is a corruption of Auld Fool's Day or Old Fool's Day.The third option, to drop the apostrophe entirely, would be correct if you consider the phrase to be a form of exclamation: "April Fools" being neither singular nor plural, but rather what you yell out when you've tricked someone. This spelling is rarely seen.This site uses the historical standard, April Fool's D

A wildfire is any uncontrolled, non-structure fire that occurs in the wilderness, wildland, or bush.Synonyms such as wildland fire, forest fire, brush fire, vegetation fire, grass fire, peat fire, bushfire (in Australasia), and hill fire are commonly used. The name wildfire was once a synonym for Greek fire as well as a word for any furious or destructive conflagration. Wildfires are common in various parts of the world, occurring in cycles. They are often considered beneficial to the wilderness, as many plant species are dependent on the effects of fire for growth and reproduction. However, large wildfires often have detrimental atmospheric consequences. Nine out of ten wildfires are reportedly caused by some human interaction.
Prevention, detection, and suppression strategies have varied over the years, but now incorporate techniques that permit and even encourage fires in some regions. However, with extensive urbanization of wilderness, wildfires often involve the destruction of homes and other property located in the wildland-urban interface, a zone of transition between developed areas and undeveloped wilderness.

CLEAN AIR ACT

Clean Air Act


Smog over Shanghai(1993).
A Clean Air Act describes one of a number of pieces of legislation relating to the reduction of smog and air pollution in general. The use by governments to enforce clean air standards has contributed to an improvement in human health and longer life spans. Critics argue it has also sapped corporate profits and contributed to outsourcing, while defenders counter that improved environmental air quality has generated more jobs than it has eliminated.
Additionally, air quality legislation has led to widespread use of atmospheric dispersion models, including point source models, roadway air dispersion models and aircraft air pollution models in order to analyze air quality impacts of proposed major actions.