What Santa Rides During Off Season - Video

Santa Car Mark III. Actually the full name is Lincoln Santa Is Coming To Towne Car and was created by Brian Taylor who also created the Metro Santa Car and Machete Betties Roller Derby Art Car. I just came across this video of him riding his latest Santa Car that gives you a glimpse into what its like riding an art car around town. I know its Summer time but I needed cheering up today so Brian's Santa Art Car is just what the doctor ordered.

Mercedes Truck Painted with Russel Crow - Finland Truck Show 2010

These art trucks were seen at the Finald Truck show recently which sorta reminds of the Japanese Decotora Trucks I wrote about some time ago. I love this first one, a Mercedes tanker truck covered with the face of Russel Crow actor of my favorite movie Gladiator. These truck drivers go all out with leather seat, LED lights, lots of chrome and of course all out airbrushed works of art that completely cover their trucks.

Russel Crow Truck

Lincoln MKE (.com)?

This is interesting.

http://www.lincolnmke.com points to the Lincoln web site.

So does http://www.lincolnmkl.com

So what is an MKE and MKL?

Worm Harvesting Using a Car

In my opinion there are much better ways to harvest worms and growing them on a car is not one of them. This is what happens when you leave your car unattended under a tree for some time. Worms, Worms and MORE Worms, maybe he is harvesting worms for fish baitvia

Should Ford Kill Mercury?

Bloomberg reports via unnamed sources that Ford's leadership is planning on killing Mercury in about four years.

Reasons they should: It's a small brand which probably doesn't make much money; it's a damaged brand which doesn't seem to stand for much.  Many of the major automakers only have a couple of U.S. brands, such as Toyota/Lexus, Nissan/Infiniti, Honda/Acura, VW/Audi, BMW/Mini, Mercedes/Smart.  

Reasons they shouldn't: Mercury sold 92,000+ cars last year.  That's more than Saab, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Smart, Infiniti, Porsche, Mini, Volvo, Audi, and Lincoln brands.  Many Lincoln dealers need the product to stay afloat, unless Lincoln is going to break out somehow into a larger volume brand. Oh, and Mercury has Jill Wagner.

What's In HR5381, the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010

The House committee on energy and commerce has voted to release HR 5381, the Motor Vehicle Safey Act of 2010, to the full house for a vote.

So what is in it?  Here is a quick synopsis.  You can read it for yourself here.  My comments in italics.

Section 101: The NHTSA will create a Center for Vehicle Electronics and Emerging Technologies to focus attention on electronics.  The Secretary Of Transportation will set up an honors recruitment program which will make an effort to recruit from the top 10% of engineering students, particularly among minority institutions, and to provide a stipend for students who participate.  (What is this doing in an auto safety bill?  No wonder people are angry at congress!)

Section 102: The NHTSA has one year to design a safety standard for a bake-throttle over-ride system.  The system may be user defeatible, and may allow two-pedal driving under some conditions. (I think this is reasonable, as long as NHTSA has flexibility in how they do this)

Section 103: The NHTSA will update FMVSS 124 within two years with a rule that requires at least one redundant control to be present in an accelerator control system.  (This is not necessary.  All electronic throttle control systems that I am aware of have multiple redundant sensors and controls.)

Section 104: The NHTSA will consider a rule, within 18 months, to regulate the design of pedal spacing and clearance.  If NHTSA decides that the rule is appropriate, it will be in force within 4 years.  

Section 105: The NHTSA will consider a rule, within 2 years, to require minimum performance standards for electronic control systems.  If NHTSA decides that the rule is appropriate, it will be in force within 4 years.  (This is a difficult task.  Will NHTSA require certain levels of EMC testing, for example?  Lots of work for engineers going forward...)

Section 106: The NHTSA will, within 2 years, issue a rule to standardize the operation of push-button start systems.  (I have no problem with this, as long as there is flexibility in the rules to allow for future technologies)

Section 107: The NHTSA will, 1 year, issue a revision to FMVSS 102 to make automatic transmission gear selectors easier to use, and to make neutral obvious.  (This will be an intrusive regulation, but I don't really object, if it makes cars easier to use.  It may however force everyone to have similar shifter styling.)

Section 108: Event Data Recorders will be required starting in 2015 model year.  EDRs will store at least 10s of data, and will have a standard interface.  EDR information will be readable with commercial equipment.  EDR data is the property of the vehicle owner or lessee, and cannot be retrieved without his consent other than by a court order.  Government agencies can get the data if personal information has been scrubbed, for study purposes.  EDRs will be tamper resistant.  

Section 201: NHTSA early warning data from defect investigations will be made publicly availible.

Section 202: NHTSA's vehicle safety database will be made more accessible to the public.

Section 203: NHTSA will require automakers to put a sticker in each vehicle which informs the owner how to submit a vehicle safety defect complaint to NHTSA.  (This is lame.  Why put it on each car? Don't we have enough nanny stickers everywhere?  Why not put it in the owner's manual, where the warranty coverages and other related information go?)

Section 204: NHTSA will set up a hotline for dealership personnel to report potential defects.  (Can't mechanics use the existing system?)

Section 205: Automaker executives will be required to sign submissions to NHTSA, certifying that they have reviewed the reported information.  Anyone found to make a false report will be fined up to $5,000 per day. (Ouch)

Section 206: Allows people who have been rejected in claiming a defect to appeal the rejection to their court of appeals.

Section 207: If NHTSA can't make a deadline, they must explain why and also submit a new deadline.

Section 208: Sets up some reports NHTSA must make to congress regarding defect and crash investigations.

Section 301: There will be a $9 per car tax to help fund the NHTSA.  It will be indexed to inflation.  (In a 12 million car market, that will be a nice sum of $108,000,000.  Our cars will all get $9 more expensive)

Section 401: The maximum fine per vehicle that NHTSA will be able to levy for rule violations increases from $5,000 to $25,000.  The total cap increases from $15,000,000 to $200,000,000.

Section 402: If NHTSA determines that a defect is an "imminent hazard", an imminent hazard order will be issued within 10 days.  (This isn't a recall, just a quick notification to the public, if I understand it correctly.)

Art Car Book by Harrod Blank - A must have for your coffee table

What got me started in the journey with my own art car the Mercedes Pens and now with Art Car Central was a book called "Art Cars: the cars, the artists, the obsession, the craft" by Harrod Blank.I walked into the library one day and was browsing the car section when I came upon the most amazing book I had seen in a long time. In it was filled with images of people who had decorated their cars with paint, glued objects, car modifications and everything in between. Many of those cars have since been featured on Art Car Central like the Fruit Mobile, Hoop Car, Camera Van, The Phone Car, The Button King, Glass Quilt, and many more from Harrods Blanks Art Car Agency.

If you have ever seen an art car around town and wondered why would someone do that to their car. Or where curious about the type of person who would drive an art car, then this book is definitely for you. I now have my own copy and it never gets old. You never now, you might end up making your own art car and one day it could end featured here on Art Car Central, I look forward to your art car submission.

Why Is Sesa Goa price falling? - 2 quick reasons

Sesa Goa

Sesa goa was supposed to be an outperformer by many analysts. However past 3 months have seen over 35% erosion of the stock price of Sesa Goa. Sesa Goa's main business consists of mining and exporting iron ore. However apart from iron ore the company is also into production of metallurgical coke.

First main reason for Sesa Goa fall -Falling iron ore prices

Iron ore prices have fallen significantly from their peak prices in the last year. This is one of the main reason for the price drop in Sesa Goa. Read more about How Iron ore prices work.

Second main reason for Sesa Goa Fall - China regulations

China is one of the largest importers of iron ore. Recently, the Chinese Government has banned import of low quality iron ore (one which contains less than 60% of iron). This has direct adverse consequences for Sesa Goa.

Will Sesa Goa stock see some action ?

There can be various speculations and theories regarding this. My personal opinion is that the stock will see some action ( by which I mean about 20%-25% rise once iron ore prices rise. However the following comment from livemint is worth noting about valuations on Sesa goa.

At first, Sesa’s projection of a 20-25% increase in deliveries in fiscal 2011 may seem weak compared with the previous year’s 36% growth. But this higher growth has been mainly achieved due to the contribution of iron ore from its Dempo acquisition. Adjusted for that, sales growth was 12% and 11% in the full year and March quarter, respectively. Dempo’s figures reflect in Sesa’s results from June 2009. The base effect will fade after the June quarter.

Apollo Hospitals - Why should stock split result in price jump?

Announcements

Apollo Hosp - Board to consider Stock Split | 27/05/10 09:50
With reference to the earlier announcement regarding Board Meeting on May 28, 2010, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd has now informed BSE that in the agenda of the Board Meeting scheduled to be held on May 28, 2010, to consider and approve sub-division (Split) of equity shares of the Company and other matters connected therewith.

Apollo hospitals is up 10% today. The only relevant news I found was the above coroporate announcement on BSE.
The company as such does not undergo any change. Why should the price jump 10%? Or am I missing something?

- update - it turns out I was missing something. I checked the price on finance.google.com. THere is some bug there where it is showing a jump of 10% where as the price has jumped only 3.8%.

CarPuchino - Car Powered by Coffee Grinds

For those of us who plan their trips from coffee shop to coffee shop finally a better solution. A car that is powered entirely by roasted coffee grinds is now a reality, I can feel my hear raising as I write this.

The car is called the Car-Puchino and was created using a 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco that sorta looks like a time traveling DeLorean from back to the future. It was created by a team from BBC1 science program Bang Goes The Theory and driven 210 miles between Manchester and London.

It does about 60mph and uses about 2.2 lbs of coffee for every three miles or 56 espressos per mile (56epm). Its going to take 154 lbs so price depends on the type of coffee you use:

1. Premium = Kona Coffee = $30/lb = $4,620
2. Plus = Starbucks Breakfast Blend = $10/lb = $1,154
3. Regular = Folgers = $5/lb = $770

A trip like this is a bit of grind since you have to stop every 40 miles to add coffee grinds, every 60 to clean out the coffee filters. Even with a top speed of maybe 60 mph a relatively short trip could take all day to complete. On the plus side, there will be plenty of coffee and bathroom breaks.

via

How to invest in stock market? - Short Listing stocks

Stock Market movements and emotions

A typical week for an early investor -

You are new to stock market. The stock market index has recently gained over 10% in the past one month. Being excited about the movement you have a look at top gainers in the past week. You pick one or two stocks and then justify why these stocks are one of the best available, and also why the price is reasonable. You buy them, wait for a day or two. Unfortunately the stock market retreats and you lose over 10% of your invested value. You then start doubting your stock picks and mange to find a flaw. You decide to rearrange your portfolio and sell a portion of it and buy some of the other stocks which have been relatively stable during the recent market fall. But alas, in the coming week, the stock market rebounds and you realize that had you kept your earlier stocks, you could have done better... frustrated, you start searching the internet for investing strategies..

Does this sound familiar? This is what typically happens to new investors in stock market who do not have a fixed investment strategy.

Have a fixed criterion to short list stocks

It is important to have a fixed idea of what is the minimum you expect from a company whose stock you may consider for buying. As an example, I will give the following criterion which I try to follow.

1. The company must be fully functional and shown a positive net profit for at least 5 years.
2. The average topline growth of the company must be at least 15% in the past 5 years.
3. Minimum Operating Profit margin of 10% and ROCE (return on capital employed) of 12%.
4. The current stock price must not be more than 80% of the 52 week high price. (this is to avoid past experiences where I have invested right when the price was at its maximum, and had to pull out when the price plummeted).
   

It is also good to follow other rules of diversification (not putting most of your money in your top favorite stock), always keeping some cash ready to buy more if the price drops further etc. These other strategies will be discussed in later posts.

Ride the Anti Anti Smoking Ban Liberty Van

Lynda Farley is the creator of the Liberty van, and doing her part to creatively express her First Amendment Rights. Lynda believes in the rights of smokers to be able to smoke anywhere at anytime. She also believes that smoking dangers are a total myth perpetuated by "those" who are lying to us about the whole thing. She has taken pictures of her car in front every statehouse in the lower 48. She hopes to repeal smoking bans across the nation, restore our constitution, and get the word out on the smoking "hoax". Lynda is all "fired up" and has taken plenty of pictures of her journey, be sure to check out her Fall and Christmas tour pictures.

IBM Patent: Traffic Signal Engine Shutdown

IBM has filed a patent application for a smart traffic signal communication system, where a traffic signal would communicate with the queued cars, telling them to shut down their engines, and scheduling when to restart their engines, based on where in the queue each car is.    From Slashdot.

This is not a bad idea, but it may be overly complicated and expensive.  Automakers and suppliers, including my own employer, are actively working on engine start-stop systems which will prevent long engine idling by shutting down the engine if the vehicle comes to a standstill for more than a few seconds.  The engine is then restarted when the driver lifts off of the brake pedal.   It sounds like the IBM proposed system would save a few seconds of idle time per car, and perhaps schedule a smoother restart, but at the cost of additional electronics at each intersection, and in each vehicle.  

There is also a question about consumer acceptance of the traffic signal system being able to shut down your car.  

The Art of Amazing Car Sound Effects

Icine Motor Kacmis @ Yahoo! Video

In this a video a talented kid shows off his skills in replicating the sounds of a hot rod import, a two stroke mopped, dirt bike a VW bug that keeps stalling and ends it with the sound of a hand held weed wacker. Great video, Rated R for some language.

Crisil - Best Stock to buy for Long Term Investment

Crisil - why is this one of the best stocks ?

Crisil - or Credit Rating and Information Services India Limited - assigns ratings to various financial instruments like bonds, debt and even mutual funds. Credit Rating Agencies like CRISIL are important for market efficiency because investors rely on their ratings for risk assessment. For e.g. if you want to buy bonds of a company or say even invest in a mutual fund, it would be very difficult for individual investors to conduct individual study. Crisil is a market leader in India with 60% market share in domestic bond market and 53% market share in bank loan market segment.

Growth prospects and financial info

Crisil is currently trading at a P/E of 25 as I write this post. To check the latest P/E go to moneycontrol.com or BSE PLUS. Crisil sales have been growing at an alarming rate of about 80% in the past five years. Although this amount of growth may not be sustainable in the long term, as more and more companies want to raise capital through bond market, I expect CRISIL to grow at 30% or more. Crisil is a debt free company with operating profit margin of about 50%.



disclosure: I own this stock.

Recent Posts related to the theme "Best Stocks to Buy Now" (2010) Suzlon Energy - Best Wind Energy Stock for 3-5 yr investment. Crisil - Best Stock for Long term Investment Titan Industries - Best Consumer Durables Stock for long term Investment Apollo Hospitals - Good Stock to buy for Long term investment. Godrej Consumer Products - Best FMCG stock to Invest Now Stocks which were "Best Stocks to Invest" for year 2009, but now, the analysis may or may not apply, as prospects for the current year have changed. Best Stocks to buy in 2009. Glaxo - Best Pharma Stock Cipla - Good Pharma Stock Tata Tea- Best FMCG Stock Hero Honda - Best Auto Stock for 2009. Hindustan Unilever - Safe FMCG stock Posts on Investment Basics Understanding the P/E Ratio Return on Equity (ROE), ROCE and Shareholder's Equity Consolidated results vs. Standalone Results. Topline Growth vs Bottomline Growth

Apollo Hospitals - Good stock to buy for Long term

Apollos Hospitals - Company Overview

Apollo hospitals group, started in 1983 in Chennai, is an integrated healthcare organization which currently runs over 50 hospitals across India and overseas. Its operations include a chain of Apollo Pharmacies and neighbourhood diagnostic clinics. However, Apollo hospitals is planning to divest at least 50% of Apollo pharmacies, its retail pharmacy industry.

Apollo hospitals - Growth

Apollo hospitals limited has been growing at a rate of about 35 to 35% in the past 5 years. Although Operating Profit margins have decreased over the past 5 years, they are still at a comfortable 15%. It looks likely that Apollo Hospitals, the largest such company in south asia, and with its expanding overseas operations, can sustain about 25% to 30% growth in the coming few years. Apollo hospitals has also entered into a joint venture with Cisco to revolutionize healthcare (or telemedicine) using Communications technology.

I would enter the stock at its current valuation (690 @ 28P/E).
disclosure: I already own this stock. The investment time frame I have in mind is 3 years.

Recent Posts related to the theme "Best Stocks to Buy Now" (2010) Suzlon Energy - Best Wind Energy Stock for 3-5 yr investment. Crisil - Best Stock for Long term Investment Titan Industries - Best Consumer Durables Stock for long term Investment Apollo Hospitals - Good Stock to buy for Long term investment. Godrej Consumer Products - Best FMCG stock to Invest Now Stocks which were "Best Stocks to Invest" for year 2009, but now, the analysis may or may not apply, as prospects for the current year have changed. Best Stocks to buy in 2009. Glaxo - Best Pharma Stock Cipla - Good Pharma Stock Tata Tea- Best FMCG Stock Hero Honda - Best Auto Stock for 2009. Hindustan Unilever - Safe FMCG stock Posts on Investment Basics Understanding the P/E Ratio Return on Equity (ROE), ROCE and Shareholder's Equity Consolidated results vs. Standalone Results. Topline Growth vs Bottomline Growth

Investment Opportunity lying ahead

European debt crisis

Although the european debt crisis could potentially get out of control and a logical possibility of a disaster exists, it is unlikely that any disaster will take place in the next couple of quarters. Thus, in my opinion, the next 3 or 4 quarters are likely to be of healthy growth with double digit IIP. Only economic indicator which will be slightly out of favor will be inflation. But the fear of debt crisis and slowing of activity in several European countries due to austerity measures are likely to keep fuel prices low, and thus help keeping inflation under control. In any case, to summarize, I do think the markets will make a new 52 week high in the coming 3 quarters.

Investment Opportunity lying ahead

The above logic doesn't mean that the markets won't fall. There are various reasons for market to fall in the short term. One of the principal reasons is pulling out of funds by FII's. I think it is possible we may see 4500 levels for Nifty in the coming month. If that happens, I believe it will be a wonderful opportunity for medium term investment. I am sitting on some cash, waiting to see if Nifty does fall to 4500 level. I am simply going to put all the cash in a Mutual Fund (currently the ones I have in mind are Reliance Growth Fund, Birla Sun Life Midcap Fund and Sundaram Paribas Select Midcap Fund). That would be a wonderful investment opportunity. If you are thinking along similar lines, don't forget to book your profits in 6 months, because the future ahead, who knows...

inCARnation - Apocalypse Mobile/Time Machine

inCARnation - Apocalypse Mobile/Time Machine

inCARnation, the Apocalypse Mobile/Time Machine was sent in by Meg (Hint, the one with the pink hair). It was built over the course of a few years at her apartment in Minneapolis and is under constant construction. The frame is an early 1990s Honda Accord that belonged to Adam. Adam Lutterman (Atom), Andy Rennert (MN Phatts) and Meg (Dee Zaster) all contributed to its creation. They take it to Burning Man every year and it made its debut this year at the Houston Art Car Parade and promise to be back, I guess that's the time machine aspect of the inCARnation. They also participate in Art Car events in the Twin Cities on a regular basis. They are beginning work on radically altering the appearance, but the plans are under wraps. It will be bigger and badder the next time around, so keep a look out!

IIHS: NEVs Aren't Safe (On Public Roads)

Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs) are not safe enough for public roads.  That's because they don't have to meet Federal automobile crash standards, and are very light.  In any meeting between an NEV and a real car, the occupants of the NEV have a good chance of being squashed.

IIHS demonstrates this quite graphically, here.

Anyone driving an NEV on public roads is only a little better off than riding a scooter.

Scrapertown - Inspirational Scraper Bike Video

Scrapertown from California is a place. on Vimeo.
I wrote about Tyrone Stevenson Scraper Bike Kind who was at Maker Faire last year. Today I found another inspirational video about scraper bikes, which talks about the philosophy behind the movement and the positive affect it has on kids in the Oakland area. Below are the requirements for becoming a member of the Original Scraper Bike Team.

"In order to become a member of the Original Scraper Bike Team, you must: Be a resident of Oakland, CA. Be at least 7y/o or older. Retain A 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA), Create your own Scraper Bike…(It Has To Be Amazing, Or Else You Can’t Ride.) A single-file line when riding. After 10 rides The Scraper Bike King and his Captains will decide if your bike is up to standards and if you can follow simple guidelines. After your evaluation we will consider you a member and honor you with an Original Scraper Bike Team Shirt. Only worn when Mobbin’ Stay posted to our website for all upcoming Scraper Bike Rides..." -- The Scraper Bike King