OPINION
How Gasoline Engines Can Survive in an Electric Car Future
Combustion engines won’t completely disappear any time soon, if ever. Certain transportation tasks or operating environments simply don’t lend themselves to battery– or hydrogen-powered electric propulsion. A century and a half of research and development has greatly increased the efficiency of combustion engines, and engineers have loads of additional tricks up their sleeves that promise to extract even more work from a molecule of fuel while producing even fewer harmful emissions. Here are but a few we’re keeping our eyes on, listed in order of complexity and cost to implement. A 98-Octane Fuel Standard Simply being able to design an engine to run 15:1 or higher compression greatly improves its thermodynamic efficiency and power density, permitting further e...
Imama Amapakabo: Why Andre Onana should consider Arsenal move
Andre Onana leaving Ajax and joining Arsenal would be “a good move” for the Cameroon international, according to former Nigeria U23 coach Imama Amapakabo. The Gunners have held discussions with the 25-year-old’s representatives, albeit, they have yet to decide whether they will step up their chase of the goalkeeper. Arsenal was on the lookout for a keeper following the departure of Emiliano Martinez in September 2020 and the underwhelming form of summer recruit Alex Runarsson. Despite technical director Edu and Mikel Arteta being big admirers of Onana, financial issues prevented the North London outfit from making a firm offer, instead they opted to sign Mat Ryan on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion. Amapakabo – who was a goalkeeper during his active career – and was part of the Nigeria...
I Played the Extremely NSFW “Sonny Moore Dating Simulator” Game
This is an opinion column. The thoughts and viewpoints expressed are those of the author, Phil Scilippa. Before I begin, please read the trigger warning below. Although the tweet may seem like a joke, it isn’t. If you’re uncomfortable reading about fictitious scenarios rooted in the situations below, which involve a number of influential electronic producers and DJs, I encourage you to stop right here. Now we can proceed. The unsettling trigger warning above is, of course, in reference to the Twitter account’s name, “Sonny Moore Dating Simulator.” Yes—it’s a real visual novel game—and I played it this week. The Sonny Moore Dating Simulator comes courtesy of indie developer (hobbyist?) Skrillexdere Dev, a tongue-in-cheek combination of the world...
Xavi explains why he has snubbed Barcelona managerial job twice
Xavi has been explaining why two offers from Barcelona to become their next manager were snubbed. The Liga giants have sounded out a familiar face on a couple of occasions in recent years when finding themselves in need of inspiration from the dugout. Both approaches have been knocked back, with a club legend who continues to cut his coaching teeth in Qatar with Al Sadd not yet of the opinion that the time is right to retrace his steps to Camp Nou. Discussing his decision to reject two advances from Catalunya, Xavi has told La Vanguardia: “Fortunately or unfortunately I have said no to Barcelona twice, due to different circumstances, family, professional, contractual… “And of course it was very difficult because I am a Barcelona fan, but it was not the [right] time.” The World Cup winner a...
Minister: Nigeria’s earlier break-up prediction failed, others will
Information minister Lai Mohammed says a prediction that Nigeria would break up in 2015 did not materialise, asserting that current predictions by individuals and organisations will also fail. A former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, and one other expert had suggested that Nigeria had become a failed state calling on the U.S. government to step to salvage the country from total collapse. Mr Mohammed stated, “This declaration is merely the opinions of two persons, former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria and a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations John Campbell, and the President Emeritus of World Peace Foundation, Robert Rotberg. “Declaring any nation a failed state is not done at the whims and caprices of one or two persons, no matter their status. Just because Nigeria is ...
What Is Toyota Safety Sense? How It Works and What Models Include It
Value has long been a hallmark for Toyotas, and their features-per-dollar appeal increases as Toyota Safety Sense (or TSS for short) technologies spread across the automaker’s lineup. Toyota Safety Sense bundles modern driver aids and automated safety systems. These features help ease the work you do behind the wheel and can intervene in dangerous road situations. Nearly every 2021 Toyota model includes TSS. Here’s how TSS works, the features it includes, and which models come with it. How Does Toyota Safety Sense Work? See all 3 photos Toyota Safety Sense works using hardware and software integrated into the vehicle. In terms of hardware, a camera mounted at the top of the windshield behind the rearview mirror provides a view of the road ahead. That’s supplemented by a r...
How Artificial Intelligence Is Cutting Wait Time at Red Lights
Who hasn’t been stuck seething at an interminable red light with zero cross traffic? When this happened one time too many to Uriel Katz, he co-founded Israel-based, Palo Alto, California-headquartered tech startup NoTraffic in 2017. The company claims its cloud- and artificial-intelligence-based traffic control system can halve rush-hour times in dense urban areas, reduce annual CO2 emissions by a half-billion tons in places like Phoenix/Maricopa County, and slash transportation budgets by 70 percent. That sounded mighty free-lunchy, so I got NoTraffic’s VP of strategic partnerships, Tom Cooper, on the phone. Here’s how it works: Sensors perceive, identify, and analyze all traffic approaching each intersection, sharing data to the cloud. Here light timing and traffic flow...
An Urgent Call for Harm Reduction in EDM: How to Keep You and the Rave Alive Post-Pandemic
“Nightlife always survives.” “It survived the great depression, and it survived the AIDs pandemic in the 80s,” Joseph J. Palamar, Associate Professor in the Department of Population Health at New York University Langone Medical Center, tells EDM.com. “Nightlife will always come back.” The terms of the world opening up after more than a year of isolation, loneliness, and tragedy are uncertain. But there’s something we know for sure: we love to dance with our friends. And for the first time in more than a year, that feels like a genuine—and imminent—possibility. As we write this piece, 39% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19. It feels a bit easier every day to imagine that someday soon some of us will once again be sa...
Vehicle Emissions Analysis: How Clean Is the U.S. Car Fleet Today?
MotorTrend in 2012 teamed with the world’s preeminent real-world on-road emissions testing company—U.K.-based Emissions Analytics—and began emissions-testing many vehicles that pass through our revolving test fleet. Our prime motivation was to measure real-world fuel economy, which we’ve reported in many of our vehicle evaluations as Real MPG. But because Emissions Analytics’ proprietary EQUA testing procedure is functionally similar to the EPA’s (which determines fuel economy by capturing and analyzing the products of combustion), it would also reveal any cheating on other controlled emissions. It’s report card time: How “clean” is the U.S. fleet, judged by our own EQUA measurements? The Basics Of the 817 vehicles tested, none demonstrated a whiff...
Nigerian anti-graft agencies urged to beam searchlight on professional bodies
Human rights activist, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), members of civil society groups and others have called on anti-graft agencies to beam their searchlight on professional bodies in the country if the fight against corruption must be successful. Falana and others are of the opinion that until members of professional bodies who are found to have aided crimes and criminality are sanctioned, corruption will continue to be on the rise. Falana, Chairman, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Olarenwaju Suraj, and Executive Secretary, Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC), Mr Sadiq Radda, argued that professionals such as lawyers, accountants, bankers etc should be made to face the same punishment alongside their criminal clients. They made the suggestions on Wednesday...
Manchester United board in disagreement with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer over Paul Pogba
Manchester United’s board and manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, are in disagreement over the future of Paul Pogba. The Mirror says with his contract at Old Trafford due to expire next year, attentions are starting to turn towards a possible new contract. Solskjaer wants the midfielder to stay at the club, having worked so hard to get him back to his blistering best. But it’s said that, behind the scenes, there’s a split in opinion. Some United board members are wary of meeting Pogba’s salary demands with the player’s agent, Mino Raiola, wanting his client to pocket £400,000-a-week. That’s just too steep at the current moment in time, particularly with the coronavirus crisis raging on and Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane being amongst their current targets. United are said to value their midfie...
Thomas Tuchel reacts as ‘unlucky’ Chelsea suffer back-to-back FA Cup final defeats
Chelsea suffered late VAR heartache as they slipped to back-to-back FA Cup final defeats after a 1-0 loss to Leicester City, Youri Tielemans’ second-half strike proving decisive. In front of a reduced, yet undoubtedly noisy, Wembley crowd, it was Chelsea who made the brighter start, Timo Werner showcasing his electric speed to test the Foxes backline early on. Despite controlling the opening exchanges, the first real chance of the match fell to their opponents, Timothy Castagne getting in down the right and teeing up Jamie Vardy inside the area, the veteran striker’s effort well blocked by Reece James. At the other end of the pitch, Thomas Tuchel’s men almost fashioned a chance of their own, Thiago Silva’s dinked cross agonisingly evading the head of Cesar Azpilicueta at the back post, aft...
