| Electric sports car to be ready for 2009
Santa Rosa, California - The US electric car manufacturer ZAP has announced that it is planning to produce by 2009 an electric sports car for under 30,000 dollars. The two-seater Zap Alias is said to have a top speed of over 250 km/h with two in-wheel engines producing an output of 320 hp. The range is listed at over 160 kilometres. Acceleration from zero to 100 km/h is in six seconds. Two wheels are positioned in the front with one at the rear. The British sports car maker Lotus Engineering is working with ZAP on the Alias. It is also helping Tesla to build an electric Roadster, which is set to begin production in March this year at the Lotus factory in England with a price tag of under 100,000 dollars. According to ZAP, the idea of the Alias is to bring an affordable, highway-capable electric vehicle onto the market to capitalise on the growing interest in clean energy cars.
Inventor has your back, ergonomically
There's nothing comfy-looking about the deep-red, $70,060 Lotus sports car in the showroom at Overseas Motors on Northwest Highway. But once you feed yourself into the low-slung auto's cockpit, you discover that the driver's seat is comfortable – in a snuggly, form-fitting way. Its upright positioning sets your sight lines to give you that road-commanding feel. Happily for the rest of the motoring public, that's as far as my test drive got. Donna Jackson, the Dallas woman who invented the seat for the British sports car maker, says it's also therapeutic. .
Stephanie Mills returns and is back on tour
Look at Britney Spears' situation. She needed a break, and never took that break. It was the same with Whitney (Houston). It's important to have a normal life."
For Mills, that included everything from going to the grocery to visiting the post office.
"That's real life," says the singer, who also learned "when you're not as popular anymore, they quickly remind you you're not as popular."
Mills' official return to the music scene was a 2004 CD, "Born for This." She's awaiting release of a live CD. And she's touring with the Whispers and After 7 in a show coming to the Fox Theatre on Friday.
"After 7 have really matured,'' Mills said. "They're not trying to be hip-hop. They are young men, and they're presenting their show like that.
2007 Jaguar XKR Review
"If you seek a beautiful peninsula, look around you." That's Michigan's official state motto. Of course, geographers among you will know that we have two beautiful peninsulas – the Upper Peninsula, usually called the UP, and the lower which has no similar nickname. A person from the UP is known as a Yooper, so we're justified, I think, in calling us Lower Peninsula natives Loapers. Don't you agree? So we're going to make a big loop around the Lower Peninsula, keeping to the lake shores, and we'll call it a Loaper Loop. We'll start in Detroit where we'll pick up our special ride and head north following the shoreline all the way around the mitten as far as time allows. We'll get to explore and experience some new Michigania and see how we like the new for '07 Jaguar XKR Coupe.
Spyker iPhone-lookalike spotted at MWC
Dutch car manufacturer Spyker is allegedly doing its own take on the iPhone, since the mystery device was recently spotted at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona. CNET reports that a Spyker branded iPhone-lookalike was visible behind a glass case, but with a physical keypad, rather than relying on the on-screen keyboard of the iPhone. Spyker did not have any literature available for the device, and merely acknowledged that it is part of the company's product portfolio, saying little more. Spyker is not the first luxury car company to offer a branded cell phone. During late 2006, Nokia unveiled a limited edition 8800 Sirocco that sports a laser-etched Lamborghini emblem. The phone also featured a sapphire screen coating to reduce scratches, as well as add to its exotic nature.
Showtime starts this weekend in Schaumburg
There could be some confusion among Chicago golf enthusiasts this month as two shows with similar names are on tap. The Chicagoland Golf Show opens today and runs through Sunday at the Schaumburg Convention Center, and the Chicago Golf Show celebrates its 25th anniversary with a three-day run beginning Feb. 29 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. Each show has a featured celebrity. Hank Haney, the Deerfield native who is Tiger Woods' swing instructor, will be on stage in Schaumburg on Saturday afternoon, while John Daly is to make an appearance March 1 in Rosemont. This weekend's show is a touring show put on by Cleveland-based North Coast Golf Shows. While the Chicago Golf Show has been heavy on resort exhibits, the Chicagoland Show is stressing equipment.
15/2/2008
Can you imagine what it must be like to start out in a new home with virtually no possessions, hardly any money and certainly no basic essentials for day-to-day living? The majority of people find they accumulate mountains of unnecessary clutter over the years, but every day there are individuals and families who move into new accommodation with little more than the clothes they stand up in. Taking recycling to its logical conclusion, the Lions Community Store in Fleet has devised a scheme — collect unwanted furniture and household items from those wanting to get rid of them and redistribute them to people in need. But although this may sound simple, in reality it is far from it, requiring military-like organisation and a great deal of hard work.
Stars remind us of a light in the dark
Back when I was a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, media coverage of student athletes interested me very much. Many of those talented young stars in football, hockey, track and field and other sports were, after all, local heroes. Fame and youth can be a turbulent mix. For better or worse, those young people were celebrities, and were subject to all the temptations and follies of folks living in the spotlight. Although our beloved Wisconsin Badgers had a less than terrific football team in the 1980s, our boys still managed to make it into the newspapers on occasion. Some of those good young people so sure-footed at sports stumbled, and ran afoul of the law. A few campus football stars thus drew headlines not so much for spectacular touchdowns or interceptions on the field, but for assorted antics in local taverns.
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