Google shows off its self-driving car test with a run to the dry cleaners and Taco Bell by a blind guy in San Jose.  Dude, there are so many awesome taco trucks parked off the Lawrence Expressway and the Guadalupe Parkway, I’m a little embarrassed for you.  Though I suppose they’re not permanent enough for Google maps.

If you’ve ever ventured beyond the dank and musty walls of your university’s medieval manuscripts collection and interacted socially with at least three other people who can’t read Latin, then you probably know a “car guy“. And if you ask this car guy what he’ll be doing tonight at 10:00, chances are he’ll reply with something along the lines of: “Not sure… can’t make my mind up as to whether I should take a chance on the new Top Gear America or spend the evening playing Gran Turismo instead” (other possible answers include: watching Bullit for the 60th time, laying fiberglass, or doing donuts in the mall parking lot). Read more »

We’re starting to think that Sarah Palin’s bendy straws are a metaphor for our polity:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes is warning voters that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s policies, particularly his efforts to boost bike riding, are “converting Denver into a United Nations community.”

“This is all very well-disguised, but it will be exposed,” Maes told about 50 supporters who showed up at a campaign rally last week in Centennial.

Maes said in a later interview that he once thought the mayor’s efforts to promote cycling and other environmental initiatives were harmless and well-meaning. Now he realizes “that’s exactly the attitude they want you to have.”

The issue at hand appears to be a Commie bike-sharing program that undermines our values. Once you’ve established From each rider according to his ability, to each rider according to his need, the Republic is lost.

Bike agenda spins cities toward U.N. control, Maes warns [Denver Post]

Gasoline consumption per capita by state, 2008. The baseline appears to be nine barrels per person for “low” states; “high” states count as eleven barrels or more.

It’s a fair criticism to argue that the range of consumption in play is less than the labels suggest, with just two barrels between green and red — although it’s just as fair to argue that the red states consume 22 percent more gas per person than the green states.

But what really catches our attention is this: California isn’t the hands-down winner in the gas derby?

How Much Gas Does Your State Use Per Person? [Infrastructurist, including full map, via Sully]

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, today:

In remarks before a House appropriations hearing, Mr. LaHood said his advice to owners of recalled Toyotas was to “stop driving it, take it to a Toyota dealer because they believe they have a fix for it.”

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, later today:

Afterward, at a news conference, Mr. LaHood, backing away from his off-the-cuff remarks, said: “What I said in there was obviously a misstatement.”

One question: In the hearing room, was he under oath?

LaHood Backs Off Call Not to Drive Recalled Toyotas [NYT]

We all knew, deep down, that this was coming for years.  So it’s down to gallows humor until the early-morning press release announcing the filing.

The choice of last meal might be interesting for the ghoulish among us.  A case of Castrol?  A premium fill-up at Shell?  Or perhaps they go off the board and request tickets to Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final.  (Of course, the Penguins may not be around to force a Game 5, on evidence given thus far.  But, then again, neither will GM.)

Feel free to send GM off in style here.

RIP Chrysler.  Sure it’s just Chapter 11, but it will never be the same.

Now bring on the Fiat 500s!

Chrysler Officially Files for Bankruptcy, to Partner with Fiat [Jalopnik]