MINICAR SAFETY

Smaller cars carry a bigger risk in a common and deadly type of crash.  The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) ran front end crash tests on 11 small & mini cars.  The cars hit a barrier with the front driver’s side corner at 40 MPH.  This simulated clipping another car head-on or hitting a tree or pole. None of the vehicles tested received the highest rating of “good.”  Only the Chevrolet Spark received a passing grade of “Acceptable.”  The worst performer was the Honda FIT which received a rating of “poor.”   Besides the Fit, here are other cars that were also rated “poor” (from lowest to highest score): Fiat 500, Hyundai Accent, Toyota Prius C, Nissan Versa and Mitsubishi Mirage.   Some cars received a “marginal” rating and they are as follows:  Ford Fiesta, Toyota Yaris, Kia Rio and Mazda 2. 

 

 

Chevy Spark was the only tiny car to get an

acceptable rating in the new IIHS crash tests.

 

Although the Spark received the rating of “Acceptable” it does not protect occupants as well as larger, heavier vehicles with the same rating, IIHS said.  Minicars can weigh more than 1,500 pounds less than the average model made for the 2013 model year, preliminary federal data show.

 Small, lightweight vehicles have an inherent safety disadvantage, “Joe Nolan, IIHS senior president for vehicle research, said in a statement.  “Unfortunately, as a group, minicars aren't performing as well as other vehicle categories in the small overlap crash.

FIRST SUPER BOWL

 

The first Super Bowl was played on January 15th, 1967 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in L.A. California.  The National Football League (NFL) champion Green Bay Packers defeated the American Football League (AFL) champion Kansas City Chiefs by the score of 35 - 10.

Bart Starr was the Green Bay quarterback and he was named the MVP of that game.

 

 

The first Super Bowl was not called the Super Bowl. It was referred to as the "AFL-NFL World Championship Game." The term Super Bowl was not used until 1969. 

AUTO LEASING GROWING AGAIN

According to a recent article in "Automotive News" lease customers are returning to the showroom. Auto leasing has been growing in recent years. As shown in the chart below leasing accounted for 23 percent of U.S. auto sales through September of this year.  Up from 13 percent in 2009.

 

MINING ASTEROIDS?

This is from an article in the "Seattle Business" magazine.

 

 

Is the idea of mining asteroids a science-fiction notion or can it become a reality?  A number of companies have sprung up to take on the challenge.  Funded by some of the world's wealthiest people and staffed by some of the top minds in aeronautics, these companies believe the time has come for a new multibillion-dollar space industry, with the Puget Sound region serving as its launch pad.

 

Planetary Resources located in Bellevue Washington wants to use unmanned spacecraft to mine asteroids for precious metals.  There are thousands of near-Earth asteroids in close proximity to our planet.  Past analysis shows a single one could contain very large amounts of platinum-group metals.

 

There are many challenges ahead but there is also the intrigue of going beyond our earthly environment and heading out into space, the final frontier.

CHESS JOKE

 

Check out the Tacoma Chess Club

www.tacomachess.org 

 

U.S. MARINE CORPS BIRTHDAY

Sunday November 10th is the 238th Birthday

of the United States Marine Corps

"Semper Fi"

 

The Marine Corps Memorial was created from this picture taken

by Joe Rosenthal of the Asscocited Press

Joe Rosenthal caught the flag raising on February 24th 1945 at the top of Mount Suribachi on the small isand of Iwo Jima.  That afternoon the Marines had cleared the slopes of enemy resistance and raised the U.S. flag.  Raising the flag are 5 Marines and one Navy Corpsman: Sgt Michael Strank, Cpl Harlon H. Block, Pfc Franklin R. Sousley, Pfc Rene A Gagnon, Pfc Ira Hayes and PhM.2/c John H. Bradley.

Unfortunately 3 of these men would lose their lives as fighting continued on Iwo Jima.  The three killed were Strank, Block and Sousley.

May God bless them and all our service men and women.

VETERANS DAY

VETERANS DAY IS MONDAY NOVEMBER 11th

Please honor our service men and women