Carolina/Clemson Hateweek: Tuesday - Clemson Sucks

This sticker has been on my car for the last three years.

This morning, I was getting gas at the Exxon at the corner of Gervais and Harden street. As I was standing there watching the gauge click up, a man cutting the corner walked past my car with his dog.

He stopped and looked at the sticker (pictured above) on my car's rear window. He wasn't very close, so he smiled and asked, "What does that sticker mean?" I replied, "It's appropriate for this week. The CS stands for Clemson Sucks".

This clearly surprised my interlocutor, as he had apparently been expecting the sticker to reference a beach or something equally ordinary. He stood there surprised and asked "Really?" I responded, "Yes, really." Again, failing to believe me, he asked "Really?" to which I replied "Yes, really. You can see at the bottom where it says Clemson Sucks."

Still not getting it, he simply repeated himself, "Really?" Getting slightly exasperated at this point, I responded, "Yes, Clemson really sucks. They really do."

Finally getting a close enough look for himself, the man simply said "Wow." chuckled a little, and began walking his dog again.

I love this sticker.

I've had that sticker on my car for probably about the last three or so years. I've decided that I'm going to keep it on my car until Clemson finally beats Carolina. Is this the year I take it off?

Uber Comes to South Carolina, Bringing Controversy

Uber is here in South Carolina, but state regulators aren't on board.

I'm a free-market guy, so I'm in favor of letting people engage in commerce without the state getting involved. I'm not 100% sure how the liability insurance works, but if it's a good product people will use it. If it's not, people won't use it. If you're not worried about Uber being "regulated" by the State of South Carolina, should you be free to use them? Is that a crime?

Also, how much of this controversy is simply disguised protectionism of the taxi industry?

I'm content to let the market sort it out. Anyone out there strongly for or against regulating Uber drivers?

Monday Morning Coffee and Headlines

Happy Monday.

MORE REGULATION IS ALWAYS THE ANSWER. DOT wants to regulate navigation devices in cars.

ANSWERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS. Han Solo admits he shot first.

Something is being touted as a major job announcement in Chester. Looks like Nikki Haley will be there to make some sort of big press release.

The Bentley Continental DOES Kind of Look Like a Modern Ghia

Happy Friday.

I don't think it was Bentley's inspiration, and the new Bentley is more chunky, but the classic lines are there, all swoopy and such. The back end needs to angle downwards a little more, though.

It kind of looks like the Ghia on steroids.

Why New York Taxis Are (Almost) Always Yellow

Amazing. I've never actually stopped to think about it. I bet the British probably scoff at our gaudy yellow taxis since they have those traditional black looking ones.

via Maggie's Farm

The Best Porsche Ever Made?

Today in 1931, a little car company known as Porsche was founded. In the 83 years since, the company has continuously honed its original VW based design, a car known as the 911. But what was the best car they ever made?

I know lots of people would say the 959. It's a phenomenal car. When it was introduced, it was the world's fastest street legal car. That's fast.

0-60 in 3.7 seconds. Screaming fast.

Porsche 959

But there's more to a great car than pure speed. It's got to have some style. Personally, I would say the best Porsche ever built was the ol' 356 model speedster. There's a car with some style. It can still move quickly, given how light it is, but you can also cruise slowly in a 356, and look even better.

Enjoy your weekend.

Playboy's 2014 Sports Cars of The Year

Via Jalopnik, the 2014 sports cars of the year (as ranked by Playboy) are topped by the US built 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.

The Corvette has always been America's sports car, but in the last twenty or so years, it's seen a drop-off in popularity relative to European rivals. Could this be the year that the Corvette comes back? Maybe.

All I know is that I like this Corvette. But not in a buy it and drive it around way. More like in the way a thirteen year old boy wants to buy a poster of it.

How Not To Parallel Park [VIDEO]

I love sitting at the outside tables at the Gourmet Shop in Five Points watching people try and parallel park. Sometimes people just give up. We should make it an Olympic sport.

I'm torn when I watch this video. I can't decide if it's painful or funny.

Eh, I'll go with funny.

The Strange Development Story of the Original Ford Mustang

There's a really interesting back-story on the development of one of America's most iconic sports cars. We all know the original mustang. Seeing the prototypes and variations in the development stage is like looking at an alternate universe.

For instance, I never gave a serious thought to which direction the emblem faces. Can you see it right now in your mind's eye? Which way does the galloping horse face?

It faces left, like this:

That looks normal, right? Apparently, the horse was made to gallop to the left because it's "going West" like America did. Whatever, right? However, I'm so used to it that looking at it the other way is strangely disturbing:

That top picture just looks wrong, doesn't it? I'm now trying to figure out why that the left-facing horse looks normal, since we Westerners read everything left to right. All I know is that right facing horse really creeps me out. Anyone else feel like that?

If you think that's weird, check out the article to see how really weird the Mustang might have been with other variations.

Six Driving Tips From Racing School

File this under News You Can Use (Carefully).

By comparison, the classic piece from P.J. O'Rourke titled "How to Drive Fast on Drugs While Getting your Wing-Wang Squeezed and Not Spill Your Drink" is educational, in a different way. Also funnier.

A taste of O'Rourke's piece:

When it comes to taking chances, some people like to play poker or shoot dice; other people prefer to parachute-jump, go rhino hunting, or climb ice floes, while still others engage in crime or marriage. But I like to get drunk and drive like a fool. Name me, if you can, a better feeling than the one you get when you're half a bottle of Chivas in the bag with a gram of coke up your nose and a teenage lovely pulling off her tube top in the next seat over while you're going a hundred miles an hour down a suburban side street. You'd have to watch the entire Mexican air force crash-land in a liquid petroleum gas storage facility to match this kind of thrill. If you ever have much more fun than that, you'll die of pure sensory overload, I'm here to tell you. 

If you didn't like that intro, don't bother reading the rest. If you're intrigued, I encourage you to read the whole thing.

(Warning: It's safe for work, but your mother would not approve.)

[h/t Ace's Place]

Happy Labor Day: News Roundup and Links

As you may have noticed, I've been on vacation the last few days. Here are some headlines from around the weekend:

Lindsey Graham to meet with Obama on Syria. Graham actually wants more of a heavy-handed intervention in Syria, so this should be an interesting meeting. My prediction is the Congressional resolution in the Congress is going to make for some strange bedfellows among the anti-war liberals and the Rand Paul libertarians. This vote is going to be close. Personally, I would vote "no". I still don't know what our compelling interest is.

The UGA Offensive Line Gets Ready for the Gamecocks and Clowney. They better do something different that what they did in Clemson. Georgia didn't look like world-beaters last week. And after all the criticism of being "winded" and "out of shape" you better believe that #7 will be motivated in Athens.

The EU wants to put "speed limiters" on all cars, holding them to 70MPH. Obviously, because Europe's biggest problem right now is cars going too fast. 

Here's some good bowties if you like dressing up for tailgates. And here's a Yeti cooler that's perfect for those of you who struggle to keep your keg of beer cold at your tailgate. Maybe drink the beer more quickly, y'all?

That's all I've got. Enjoy the last day of wearing white shoes, ladies. Tick, tock...

Gear for Guys - A Man's Vehicle

In the context of "Gear for Guys" which I started with some cool boatshoes awhile back and then followed up with a gentleman's knife, I've decided to move to the vehicle that a man needs.

A man needs a car. It gets you from place to place, and it brings all your gear with you. I've picked this particular vehicle for the Southern Man who needs a vehicle that he can put his gear in, go anywhere, take his dog with him (and not worry about the upholstery), and it also looks great. Answer below the jump.

Nine Cars You'll Drive In Hell

Good list. This should be a segment on Top Gear.

Satan is going to make some of y'all drive a 1997 Ford Aspire

h/t Insty

Random Awesomeness

No particular reason. Just being awesome.

If You Get Lonesome for Italy...

...go eat some spahgetti.

Holland and Holland Range Rover

This Range Rover has a custom-integrated gun cabinet,a console/fridge, and a liquor cabinet. It's everything that a growing boy needs.

You can drool over more pictures and details here.

Dhani Jones Gets a Sporting Clays Lesson

Here's a video of former NFL linebacker Dhani Jones taking a sporting clays lesson at the Biltmore in North Carolina. It's a little heavy on the mindset, so I keep waiting for the instructor to say "It's 90% half mental".

Oh, and there's a nice car in there as well.

Saturday in Daytona Beach

I didn't say it was this Saturday.

Dude, Where's My Car?

Miami-Dade County lost almost 300 cars that it bought and never drove.

Almost. Three-Hundred. Cars. Didn't drive them. Lost for 5 years.

But hey, our government is totally going to be able to manage the details of our healthcare system without any problems like this. And remember, if you complain about government incompetence or your tax money being wasted, you're just a crazy tea-partier.

[via Insty]

I'm Not Saying Women Are Poor Drivers, but...

According to a government study, accidents in which drivers mistakenly hit the gas instead of the brake tend to involve older female drivers in parking lots, a new government study has found.

We're spending our tax dollars on on this kind of stuff? I could have told you that for free.