Was my headline descriptive enough?

The post Here's Another Excellent Sludgy New EYEHATEGOD Track appeared first on Metal Injection.

It’s free and it’s brutal. What else do you want?

The post Have You Grabbed Your Free NYC Sucks: Volume 3 Compilation? appeared first on Metal Injection.

1975 Volkswagen Rabbit (or Golf, outside North America). Photo courtesy The Samba.com.

On March 29, 1974, the first production model of the car that was to replace the beloved Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the assembly line in Wolfsburg, West Germany. Though no one knew it at the time, the Volkswagen Golf would go on to become the brand’s most successful model, selling an impressive 30 million examples in just over 39 years, ultimately proving even more popular than the Beetle itself.

The Golf was not Volkswagen’s first choice to replace the Beetle. As Graham Robson recounts in Volkswagen Chronicle, a secret project car code-named the EA266 and jointly developed between Porsche and Volkswagen was originally seen as the replacement for the aging Beetle, which traced its engineering roots back to the 1930s. The EA266 was to be a unibody two-door sedan, based upon the Porsche 914 platform, and equipped with a water-cooled, 1.3-liter, four-cylinder engine. Like the 914, this new family car was to be mid-engine and rear-wheel drive, with the engine located underneath the rear seats to maximize space within the cabin. Prototypes were ready as soon as 1969, and Porsche (which was engineering the car for Volkswagen) went to great lengths to disguise the car and keep it from public view.

1976 Volkswagen Rabbit. Photo courtesy The Samba.com.

By late 1971, Volkswagen faced a go-or-no-go decision on the EA266. The project was supported by then-chairman Kurt Lotz, but others within the company felt the design would prove to be too expensive to produce and too troublesome to service. As Lotz grew increasing unpopular among Volkswagen management, it became clear that his time within the company was limited, and when he stepped down in October of 1971, his successor, Rudolf Leiding, immediately canceled the EA266 project. Though the project had reportedly been Porsche’s most expensive undertaking to date, everything about the endeavor, from drawings through prototypes, was ordered destroyed.

Volkswagen could have been facing a major setback, as even in 1971 it was clear that the Beetle’s remaining days were numbered. Fortunately for Volkswagen, internal projects were already under way, and it worked concurrently with Porsche’s development of the EA266 to create a replacement model (or, more accurately, model line) for the aging Beetle. The decision was made to focus on a front-engine, front-wheel-drive design with water cooling, making the platform the engineering opposite of the Beetle and putting the German automaker on equal footing with its European rivals. Giorgetto Giugiaro and ItalDesign were hired to provide body designs, and by the summer of 1971, the firm had delivered prototypes of both the Golf and the Scirocco, a car that would replace the aging Karmann Ghia.

Photo courtesy The Samba.com.

The new Golf (or Rabbit, to North American consumers) first rolled off the assembly line on March 29, 1974, and was not met with universal praise. Critics were quick to point out that the Beetle had managed to capture lightning in a bottle, hitting the right markets at exactly the right time to see sales explode. The Golf, while stylish, wasn’t seen as particularly innovative, since other European automakers were producing front-wheel-drive economy cars as well.

When compared to the Beetle, however, the Golf offered more interior room (six inches for front-seat passengers, three inches for rear-seat passengers) in a smaller space; while three inches wider than the Beetle, the Golf was an impressive 14 inches shorter in length. Its body shell was far more rigid than the Beetle’s, and combined with a modern rear suspension system and a more powerful engine (70 horsepower from the 1.5-liter four found in the Golf, compared to 50 horsepower from the 1.6-liter flat-four found in the Beetle), the Golf was soon seen as a more practical and engaging choice by consumers on both sides of the Atlantic. Had the price differential between the two been large, perhaps the Golf would have struggled for market share, but with a only little over $100 initially separating the Beetle from the Rabbit in the U.S., sales here topped 100,000 units by January of 1976.

In the years since, through seven generations, the Volkswagen Golf has spawned everything from fuel-efficient diesels to pickup trucks to all-wheel-drive sports car variants, and continues to be available in a range of models that stretch from basic transportation to near luxury in content. In 1976 (1983 on these shores), the Golf gave rise to the GTI, a car that remains popular among driving enthusiasts on a budget for its equal blend of performance, practicality and affordability. Volkswagen views the Golf as its platform for “democratizing technology,” and over the years has used it to bring technologies like anti-lock brakes, electronic stability control, all-wheel drive and (in the latest variant) adaptive cruise control to the masses. Had Volkswagen pursued the EA266 project, it’s unlikely the car would have demonstrated the Golf’s affordability and serviceability, bringing into question whether or not the manufacturer could have survived beyond the Beetle’s demise.

Seven generations of VW Golf. Photo courtesy Volkswagen AG.

The Beetle remained in production from 1939 until 2003, stretching (with wartime interruptions) for 65 years. To top this feat, the Golf would need to remain in production through the 2040 model year; given its ongoing success and significance within the Volkswagen brand, there’s little doubt we’ll congratulate the Golf on achieving that milestone, too.

It took two days, but it was only a matter of time before MLB's new replay review system exposed its single biggest flaw. And it happened in a big way, on a play that very directly affected the outcome of a game.

Read more...

No one needed to see Marlon Moraes continue beating on Josh Rettinghouse. Moraes had outclassed his opponent in every facet of the game for 15 minutes, piling on abuse and bludgeoning his lead leg. Rettinghouse could barely support his own weight, let alone continue to defend himself, and as he hobbled back to his corner at the end of the third round, you could only hope that someone would stop this. As anyone watching Marlon Moraes fight Josh Rettinghouse on a World Series of Fighting card would know, though, that just wasn't going to happen.

Read more...

Over the past week, I’ve been scouting for islands around New York City, easily one of the more fun scouting assignments I’ve had in recent memory. After a boat ride out to take some pictures last Wednesday, we were heading back to shore when I noticed a small lighthouse on a rocky island in the distance.

I asked my guide about it, and was told it was known as Execution Rocks, home to a lighthouse and keeper’s house that have not been inhabited since 1979.

Of course, I asked to go in for a closer look.

How did Execution Rocks gain its ominous monicker? The most oft-told legend has it that during the Revolutionary War, the British would execute American revolutionaries by chaining them to the rocks at low tide, leaving them to drown as the tide came in.

Sadly, the truth is slightly less exciting. The name actually refers to the dangerous submerged rocks in the area, a hazard for ships passing through. The 1806 American Coast Pilot notes “To the northward of Sand’s Point…lie the Execution Rocks which have a spear on them, with a board pointing to the SW which you must take care to avoid, leaving them on your starboard hand.”

Following an act of Congress in 1847, the 55-foot Execution Rocks Light was constructed in 1849, made of granite brought in from Manhattan. The keeper’s house was later built in 1867 (until then, the keeper lived in the lighthouse). Below, the Execution Rocks Light prior to the addition of its brown stripe in 1895:

A fire in 1918 destroyed the fog signal building, seen to the right in the above picture. The lighthouse was finally automated on December 5th, 1979.

In 2007, the lighthouse station was identified as excess by the Department of the Interior, which essentially meant it was up for adoption by any non-profit group willing to care for its ongoing preservation. A Philadelphia couple, Craig Morrison and Linell Lukesh, jumped at the chance and started the non-profit Historically Significant Structures. They were the only applicants, and now have custody of the station.

To give a sense of how unbelievably well-built this place is, the group had just redone the interior with new walls and paint when Hurricane Sandy swept through, pictured below. There was no interior damage to the house or tower.

Picture from LighthouseRestorations.org

But the best part about Execution Rocks? Not only can you visit – you can also spend the night!

As part of ongoing fundraising efforts (the group is hoping to raise $1.2 million to secure a matching $600,000 grant), trips out this summer go for $75 a person to tour both the light and the keeper’s house, and $300 to spend the night. Be sure to book in advance via their website.

While amenities are on the Spartan side (you’re provided with an air mattress, bottled water, and a portable camp toilet), a stay in a formerly abandoned 19th-century lighthouse keeper’s home has to be one of the most unique overnight experiences you’ll find in New York, and you’ll be helping a good cause. Once restoration work is complete, Morrison and Lukesh hope to open a true bed-and-breakfast on the site.

Photo from LighthouseRestorations.org

The island is also available for film shoots, events, weddings, and pretty much anything else. For my money, an abandoned lighthouse would make a great lair for the next Spiderman villain…

More island posts coming soon! Special thanks to my guide from PortWashingtonWaterTaxi.com, which I can’t recommend highly enough if you’re in need of a charter boat. I was on the water less than two hours after I called for a very affordable price, and they were more than willing to cater to my endless requests to motor by anything that looked remotely interesting in the harbor.

-SCOUT

Weather forecast is looking good for Thursday.

Coming to a venue near you later this spring?

The post Juicy Tour Rumor Alert: Whitechapel, DevilDriver, Carnifex, Revocation and Rivers of Nihil appeared first on MetalSucks.

Most of our go bags only borrow the name, featuring the things we like to carry on a regular basis. Reader Scott Kelley takes his gear a little more seriously and has a "bug out bag" system that's versatile and geared towards survival.

Read more...

Hauntingly gorgeous.

Gur'evo-Voskresenskoye, Russia

Flickr: 12535240@N05 CreativeCommons

Kalyazin, Russia

Flickr: philc

Gary, Indiana

Flickr: slworking

Goritsky, Russia

Flickr: jmenard48

---

View Entire List ›

Jason Collins wears the number in honor of Matthew Shepard, a gay man who was murdered in 1998.

Jason Collin's jersey number of choice is 98, a number chosen in honor of Matthew Shepard – a gay college student who was murdered in Wyoming in 1998 at the age of 21.

Usa Today Sports/Usa Today Sports

The Shepard family drove four hours from their home in Wyoming to watch the game in Denver and meet with the NBA star for the first time.

Collins told the AP before the meeting, "I was in college at the time when he was killed and of course it's a tragedy what happened and I just hope that it inspires others to move forward.''

soundtracktomyday.blogspot.com

Judy Shepard, who had spoken with Collins last year after he came out, said it was "delightful" to meet him in person.

"It was great. It was all great. He's very kind, smart, humble. It was delightful. We were happy to finally have the opportunity to meet," Judy Shepard said.

Gary A. Vasquez/Usa Today Sports

---

View Entire List ›

This year’s JP Morgan Healthcare conference brought 9,000 investors and 400 companies together in San Francisco. The conference gave a strong impression that change is happening fast, and CEOs described how the change affects their businesses and laid out their strategies to adapt and profit from it.

This is the top U.S. conference for healthcare investors. An invitation-only affair, it’s a mandatory appearance for CEOs of major corporations and hot start-ups alike, and investors of all types. Power players Jamie Dimon and NSA Director General Hayden gave keynotes. Hotels for 30 miles and planes to/from SFO were sold out at full price. It was well-attended, very crowded, and vibrant: like a mosh pit for middle-age people in expensive suits.

Key themes I heard at the conference:

“We will get a bigger share of a bigger pie”. With 30 million people coming into the healthcare system and vast federal subsidies, the market is going to grow, and the biggest, most efficient players will win. Larry Merlo, the CEO of CVS/Caremark, made this point forcefully.

Healthcare is going retail: Consumers will buy more services directly, with government and employers providing tailored subsidies. The exchanges are a big driver: about one-quarter of Americans will be buying individual plans on exchanges by 2020. They will learn to shop for healthcare, using on-line tools.

Insurers see exchanges as an opportunity because they move lives to fully-insured products which have much greater value-added for insurers, often away from low-margin employer–sponsored ASO(1) plans. Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini laid out the numbers: the individual policy market is 6m lives today; in 2020 it will be 75m. Concerns about commoditization and adverse selection on the exchanges were muted (bear in mind, the CEOs were pitching their stock to investors).

Health tweets:

• “Behavior causes 40% of premature death, genetics another 30%” — Toby Cosgrove, CEO of Cleveland Clinic.
• “Healthcare is a great big collection of little markets, not a great big market” — the ever-quotable Jonathon Bush, CEO of AthenaHealth.
• Population health management will be a key value-add, and we do it well — CEOs of many large and small companies.
• Privatization of Medicaid is a huge, growing market, following Medicare Advantage, which is privatization of Medicare.
• We are putting the medical exam room in a smart phone.
• We are moving our employees rapidly to high deductible plans (multiple CEOs, including Jamie Dimon).
• Healthcare IT investment has grown 3x in 3 years.

“Quantified self” is a meme: self-measurement is on the rise and gets people engaged in healthy behavior. Wearable devices are amazingly capable and rapidly becoming more so. Clever web services (e.g., ShareCare) aim to power this further by interpreting the data and providing advice and motivation.

Healthcare is moving out of the hospital into the community: in-home care enabled by health sensors, low intensity care in pharmacies, urgent care centers, primary care doing more, growth of surgi-centers, rise of telemedicine.  This stokes the already-big need for doctor-to-doctor (“D2D”) connectivity.

 “The cloud will win, and we will own the cloud.” This is the battle cry of digital health: interface to everything; structure the data; own it; extract insights via big data analysis; monetize via services to patients, providers, and pharmas. Even with EMRs(2) now widely used, healthcare information is in dozens of islands (systems separated by distance, specialty, and vendor) that need to be connected. Owners of these systems want to interface them only once, hence the cloud that gets critical mass first will win. Transparency of price and quality is limited and will be in great demand. Multiple companies aim to be the Google or Amazon of healthcare: search and commerce platforms.

Doctors accept that their world is changing. Toby Cosgrove, an MD who leads a world-renowned medical system, acknowledged this plainly, on multiple dimensions. High deductible plans and exchanges are making patients into consumers. Transparency of medical outcomes and prices is happening. It takes a new therapy 13 years to move from demonstrated efficacy to standard of care, and that is far too long. Change is accelerating.

At the end of each day, the sight of 9,000 dark-suited bankers spilling into Union Square and mixing with the local counter-culture was bizarre, like a scene from Men In Black. But, they were there for a good cause: funding the long-overdue revolution in U.S. health care. It was a good start to the year.

================

Notes:

1. ASO = Administrative Services Only, a model whereby an insurer administers a self-insured plan for larger employers: 500 employees and up, typically. This is a low-margin business for insurers.
2. EMR = Electronic Medical Record, which put a patient’s medical record online and make it accessible to providers and sometimes even the patient.

Rating: 0 Posted By: remick
Views: 997 Replies: 0

Totally Free Deals

19-year-old Lyman Currier is headed home to Colorado after a devastating injury in men's ski halfpipe ended his time in Sochi. He crashed on his second qualifying run Tuesday evening, immediately grabbed his knee, and was overheard telling his dad that "it popped" after crying his way down to the base of the halfpipe. He later revealed it was a torn ACL.

Read more...

This is Stephon Marbury celebrating his 37th birthday in China: pic.twitter.com/sFIZwxaapQ

— Alexander Chernykh (@chernykh) February 20, 2014

Read more...

Bob Costas joined Matt Lauer on The Today Show this morning to discuss the buzz in Sochi and at the end of the segment, Lauer casually asked Costas how much longer he was staying in town. Lauer waited for the response and then pounced all over him.

Read more...

Rex and Rob Ryan are in Indianapolis for the NFL scouting combine, and the brothers found some time to swing by the local Hooters for a photo op, once again confirming every assumption you've ever had about the Ryan brothers. Bless these men.

Read more...

Home Depot discounts a selection of bed and bath items. Plus, coupon code "FEBHD" cuts an extra $10 off orders of $100 or more. With prices starting at $3.50, that's the best sale we've seen on such a large selection of bed and bath items at Home Depot, yielding several price lows. (We saw up to 70% off faucets alone a week ago.) Shipping starts at $4.49, or spend $45 or more to bag free shipping. (In-store pickup is also available on most items; use it on cheaper items.) Some best bets, with price after coupon:

• Domani Monza 15" Colorpoint Vanity with Top and Mirror (pictured) for $121.60
• St. Paul 60" Providence Vanity with 61" Stone Effects Top for $579.90

Home Depot offers Remington Men's Long Sleeve Wicking T-Shirt in Camo or Black for $3. Opt for in-store pickup to dodge the $5.99 shipping fee. That's $4 off and the lowest total price we could find. It's available in sizes M to XXL.

Rating: 1 Posted By: remick
Views: 1245 Replies: 0

Totally Free Deals

No explanation. Much advert. Such confusion. Wow.

Buried on page 27 in The Guardian today, right in the middle of the financial pages, you'll find this.

That's right. The print media has finally done a doge.

Scott Bryan / BuzzFeed / Via Twitter: @scottygb

Let's have a closer look.

There's no clear advertiser, leaving readers quite confused.

UPDATE (12:20pm) - The Guardian has been in touch. They say that it was published on behalf of DueDil, a business data company, who won a Guardian Small Business Networks competition. The prize? An advert in the paper.

Scott Bryan / BuzzFeed

So a few of you might be wondering how doge made it into your newspaper this morning. Well… we admit it, it was us. But why, you may ask. Did we want to kill the meme by making it mainstream? Do we hate the internet? No. We actually thought we'd do something nice.

We'll be honest. We were having a hard time deciding which advert to run with our free advertising space the Guardian so kindly offered us for winning their Small Business Networks competition. We tried a traditional advert, which was nice, but then we remembered we're not a traditional kind of company...

... And of course we just wanted to print doge in the guardian, y'know, for the lulz.

Via blog.duedil.com

Today only, Amazon is offering up to 43% Off Filtrete Select Healthy Living Air Filter 6-Packs. Choose from over 20 different sizes! Plus, these items ship FREE with Super Saver Shipping OR snag FREE 2-day shipping (no minimum) with Amazon Prime (check out this post for more information on how to score a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime).

The Filtrete Select Healthy Living filter not only vastly improves the air quality in your home, it also keeps your air conditioning and heating systems running efficiently, saving on utilities and maintenance costs. The electrostatic filter attracts and captures airborne household dust, lint, dust-mite debris, mold spores, pollen, pet dander, smoke, bacteria, and particles that can carry viruses.

(Thanks, Freebie Finding Mom!)

All too often, we just toss our screws, nuts, bolts, cables, and other odds and ends into big boxes and stash them wherever there's room. But this simple, flexible, and colorful storage bin system ensures you'll always be able to put your hands right on what you need.

Read more...

Chest or deep freezers are wonderful for stocking up on food, but it's all too easy for packages to get buried, lost in the freezer's frozen underbelly. Reusable shopping bags make it easier to see, sort, and pull out the foods you're storing.

Read more...

GoPro, the maker of high-definition cameras often used to record feats of athletic derring-do, is planning to go public.

The IPO is expected to happen after the SEC finishes reviewing the company's submission documents, according to a press release from the company

Founded in 2003, the Half Moon Bay, Calif.-based GoPro has operated until now as a unit of Woodman Labs. The company, which originally intended to go public in 2012 but later scrapped the plan, has received more than $200 million in private funding until this point, valuing it at around $2.25 billion. Read more...

More about Gopro, Ipos, Business, and Gadgets

Rating: 0 Posted By: turtlebug
Views: 1147 Replies: 4

Totally Free Deals

Part of a larger “trend.” h/t AsianJunkie.com .

Avex, a Japanese entertainment company and fashion magazine have co-signed a new pop idol group called "Chubbiness."

Facebook: punicoproject

asianjunkie.com

asianjunkie.com

---

View Entire List ›

The man who was found not guilty of murder in the killing of teenager Trayvon Martin will fight the rapper who promised to “f**k him right up,” according to TMZ . The fight promoter backtracked from announcing the fight on Trayvon’s birthday.

Handout / Reuters

AP Photo

---

View Entire List ›

Hand warmers are great for those cold winter days when you just have to be outside. Slip them into your gloves or pockets to keep your hands nice and toasty. You can make your own DIY version with stuff you probably have in the kitchen right now.

Read more...

If you have an old computer with some life left in it, or you're building a do-it-all home server that can store your backups, music, movies, and everything else you need backed up and secure, Amahi is the perfect utility for the job. Amahi can turn any PC into an at-home VPN, a NAS for all of your files, and more. Here's how.

Read more...