The transfer of the prototype space shuttle Enterprise from Washington DC to New…

The transfer of the prototype space shuttle Enterprise from Washington DC to New York on Friday provided a once in a lifetime photographic opportunity.

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The Most Awesome Pictures of the Space Shuttle Enterprise Riding a Jet to NYC
Check out the visuals from this morning's low-altitude flyover.

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How much extra would you be willing to pay for a car that could drive itself? One-fifth…

How much extra would you be willing to pay for a car that could drive itself? One-fifth of people in a JD Power survey said they would spend $3,000 more for the capability.

Frankly that price is well within reach in the next 5-7 years. Consider that a number of cars on the road today already have most of the hardware bits necessary to enable at least semi-autonomous driving.

We've been migrating in this direction since at least the early-1980s with the advent of anti-lock braking. ABS intervenes between the driver and the road, using wheel speed sensors to decide when the brake pressure the driver is applying should be reduced at individual wheels in order to help maintain control of the car.

Over time that capability expanded traction and stability control and more recently adaptive cruise control and lane departure prevention.

Autonomous vehicles are about more than just convenience though. The ability for vehicles to talk to each other and the infrastructure and get real-time data about what is happening beyond the sight-lines of the driver opens up enormous possibilities for reducing accidents, congestion and energy consumption.

I still love to drive, but on my daily 25 mile commute to the office, I would take autonomous capability if it was available.

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One in five drivers would spend $3,000 to add self-driving to their next car
Judging from what Google has been saying to automakers, self-driving cars are still millions of test miles away from actually making it to showrooms, but survey results indicate some American drivers….

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Republicans in Michigan don't believe in democracy and they aren't above…

Republicans in Michigan don't believe in democracy and they aren't above going to any lengths to prevent it. Last year the newly Republican-controlled legislature and the governor passed an emergency manager law. Under the law, the governor can dismiss locally elected governments and replace them with an appointed manager.

Needless to say, many of the voters of Michigan were not impressed and were more than willing to sign a petition that would put the law on the November ballot. After crates of petitions were delivered to the state board of canvassers, the signatures were checked and even after some were disallowed, there were 203,238 signatures, 40,000 more than required for a recall vote.

However, four member board deadlocked 2-2 along party lines about approving the ballot measure. It turns out that a group called Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility protested the petition on the grounds that the font was too small. Not the language of the ballot, or the validity of the signatures but the font size!

It turns out Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility happens to operate out of the law offices of Jeffrey Timmer, one of the two republicans on the board of canvassers. Despite the obvious conflict of interest Timmer did not recuse himself from the vote. What a farce!

#emergencymanager #michigan #recall

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EM referendum off November ballot, opponents vow appeal

The Board of State Canvassers deadlocked 2-2 along party lines today on whether Michiganians will get to vote in November on a repeal of the controversial emergency manager law – sparking angry shou…

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This is a very interesting take on what the next generation Mustang might look like….

This is a very interesting take on what the next generation Mustang might look like. Rumor has it that the current retro-look will give way to something more like last year's Evos concept. This blend of old and new seems like it might still be a bit too close to the old.

What do you think?

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Should the Next-Gen 2015 Ford Mustang Look Like This? – WOT on Motor Trend
This rendering from our illustrator shows one possible look of the 2015 Ford Mustang. Should Ford's next-gen pony car look like this?

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662 hp and 5 mpg better than the camaro zl1 7

#ford #gt500 #torque

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This Just In: The 2013 Shelby Mustang GT500 has 662 horsepower & hits 60 mph in first gear.

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2013 Shelby Mustang GT500 Certified At 662 Horsepower
Get ready for ludicrous speed–the 2013 Shelby Ford Mustang GT500 has been certified at 662 horsepower–12 more than the promised 650–and 630 pound-feet of torque. Why? Because muscle car. We guess. …

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Yet another Lotus chassis has been re-purposed as an electric vehicle, this time…

Yet another Lotus chassis has been re-purposed as an electric vehicle, this time as the foundation of the Infiniti Emerg-E concept. Previously the Elise/Exige chassis has been used to underpin the Tesla Roadster along with a few other concepts and attempts at electric sports cars that went nowhere.

Nissan opted to use Lotus' newer and larger Evora to make a roomier and more comfortable car.

Both of these chassis' make good platforms thanks to their light weight and flexibility. The original Elise marked the debut of platform constructed by adhesive bonding of aluminum extrusions. This construction method makes the chassis strong and easy to modify by lengthening various sections.

For what it's worth, this isn't Nissan's first interaction with Lotus. Like many major automakers, Nissan has quietly contracted Lotus Engineering in the past for vehicle development help, especially on ride and handling.

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Dissected: Lotus-Based Infiniti Emerg-E Sports-Car Concept
Infiniti's stunning Emerg-E sports-car concept gets broken down to expose its Lotus bones and range-extended electric powertrain. Read the story and see photos at Car and Driver.

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The ever increasing trend toward agricultural monocultures is perhaps the single… 2

The ever increasing trend toward agricultural monocultures is perhaps the single biggest environmental threat that we face. By genetically engineering seeds in an attempt to create disease and pest resistant super-breeds and preventing farmers from collecting and saving seeds we limiting the natural course of evolution of plants and artificially limiting variety.

The problem is that the bugs and diseases we are trying to fight continue to evolve and become resistant to our attempts at countermeasures. No matter how hard humans try, we can never anticipate every eventuality.

Without a variety of breeds, monocultures inevitably succumb to something we couldn't anticipate. We need to acknowledge that while tremendous strides in nutrition and human health have been made through science over the past century, we shouldn't be so egotistical as to assume that we can solve everything. In some cases we should let nature takes it course and that includes letting different breeds of plants and animals flourish so that we can hedge against the threats to our food supply.

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This infographic shows a reduction of produce variety in the last century as a direct result of big businesses (i.e. Monsanto) controlling the world seed supply. It's time to change our food system!!

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(Tue01) +Scott Monty interview on Google+:

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(Tue01) +Scott Monty interview on Google+:

http://www.digiday.com/brands/why-ford-believes-in-google-plus/

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Why Ford Believes in Google Plus
Ford was one of the early adopters of Google Plus. Social media chief Scott Monty thinks it's a mistake to count out Google's big social bet.

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