I’m just not seeing it. According to the commercials, bing! is supposedly the next evolution of the search engine but the results and structure look awfully similar to that of Google’s, the only thing I can see different is the preview area .. (bing.com’s appears at the side of the result instead as a link below the result..). What bing! doesn’t seem to have is an image search, document search, weather search, patent search, well the list goes on… in fact it lacks many of the features you would expect from any basic search engine. But in defense I must say that the bing! start page is more colorful than Google’s and so maybe that was what they where trying to sell in their ads, but honestly, as far as I can see I’m not fully understanding where Microsoft was going with this attempt.

Or maybe I’m over-reading it… and its just one more thing for Microsoft to pollute the market with because they felt left out.. at any rate bing! isn’t worth in my opinion the switch from Google and Microsoft will just have to do better next time… (I’m being sarcastic… )

Brand is just that… a brand. Truthfully no one oil is better than another, but where brand does matter is in the quality of the process used to  manufacture the oil. Higher priced brands such as Valvoline and Havoline take more care in the manufacturing process than say an cheaper brand like Wal-Mart’s infamous Super-Tech.

Synthetic & Crude have a few difference, perhaps the most obvious it that synthetic is manufactured without any crude oil input, whereas crude is derived from crude barrel oil in a refining process.

Weight (Viscosity.. or Thickness) is very important … using too heavy of an oil can lead to major engine problems and possibly permanently disable an engine. Now the numbers in the grade denote what its weight is cold and what it is at operating temperature, for reference 5w-20 is almost as as thick warm as 10w-30 is cold… the numbers being viscosity/temperature multipliers. You can see an excellent article explaining weight at AMSOil Tech.

I have a few guidelines when changing oil that I follow that might be help in the selecting of the proper grade of oil …

For Newer Import & Domestic compact cars with a small liter four cylinder I most commonly use 5w-20 synthetic oil.  For Newer Imports & Domestic (Older Imports) with smaller V6 engines I’ll typically use 5w-30  synthetic.

10w-30 is a great base oil for most all vehicles that have V6 and smaller V8 engines. Newer engines I’ll use a synthetic blend, but older ones (98′ and earlier in my book) I’ll tend to use crude base oil. (Remembering that crude base oil is slightly thicker than synthetic)

Heavier weight oils should be used as prescribed by the vehicles service or owners manual although some older vehicles (those with warn valve guides …. etc.) sometimes benefit from running a heavier 10w-40 oil. Many muscle car era vehicles ran 10w-40 until the advent of a thicker synthetic; Royal Purple, which is manufactured synthetically but has crude oil characteristics.

Filters as another very important item and there are many good options, FRAM is becoming the industry standard across the board along with Wix. Both of these are good options (and inexpensive) however most people benefit from using the brand directed by the service manual, such as a GM vehicle would use a AC-Delco filter. The reason for a benefit is because, FRAM filters are manufactured differently (mass manufactured to cover a wider range of applications sacrifices fine tuning of the filter) than AC-Delco, and you have to remember when that GM engine was designed it was using an AC-Delco oil filter. Consequently the AC-Delco has slightly better fluid flow than the FRAM, which leads to better fuel mileage and a cooler .. smoother running engine.

I can tell you from experience that I’ve used FRAM filters for a number of years on my work vehicle (89′ S-10 Blazer, 4.3l V6, Auto) and recently (well about a year ago) switched to AC-Delco and I’ve had great success. My oil has been cleaner, and my engine is running about 10 degrees cooler than it was.

Hopefully this has enlightened you a little more about oil and helps you make wise choices on one of the biggest investments on your vehicle. Remember though even though I am an ASE certified, I don’t have the privilege to over-ride your owners manual, so always consult it concerning any oil questions and then… and only then.. if your not satisfied talk to your car care professional.

Honestly I’d this release is made more impressive, with new paint schemes and full tampo graphics, the level of detail is amazing. (My picks for the Series One Release are the 69′ Camaro (pictured below) and the 69′ Dodge Charger … in orange) The price is amazing as well, I purchased a few at Wal-Mart for $1.97 and I’ve seen them retail on-line for around $2.50 which is a far cry from the $4.00 – $5.00 retail of previous series releases.

Johnny Lightning once again proves why for 40 years collectors turn to them for quality 1/64th scale die-casts than anywhere else. You can see more information about this and other releases at johnnylightning.com

"40 Years" - 1969 Chevrolet Camaro

The obvious question is how? I’ll make this as brief as I can…

Honestly the truth is simply that this child had mental issues that where not addressed by his parents, his parents obviously took to heart this new way of raising children (the part where children have emotional states and are immune to punishment because it might hurt their feelings), and he had little or no social interaction.

The courts findings are to blame Bungie’s HALO 3 for the entire episode, because the developers of HALO 3 failed to sit this child down and explain to him that .. “real people don’t respawn”. It’s easier this way. Honestly the truth lies with the parents, always has, and always will. If your child isn’t intelligent enough to play video games and understand game from reality perhaps a video gaming console is not for them. This entire episode lies clearly on the parents, for not being decent parents, and unfortunately an entire family is destroyed because of it. When will the courts stop holding the game developers responsible?  Millions of people play games of this nature every day and it stands to reason if the games where to blame that there would be thousands of these incidents daily, but yet there is not.

Maybe in the future the court system will take into consideration all aspects of a case like this, and not just blame it on the first item of convenience… or perhaps we can go the other route and blame all the traffic fatalities on the “Need For Speed” series.

This “press” will cover a wide range of my interests and hobbies, (hey! .. for once they should all be sorted out and I’ll stop getting those e-mails about what kind of substance I abuse) … which range from Frisbee Golf … to the Automotive world.. and just about everything in between. Well I guess that about sums it up, oh yes–if your wondering about the 408am … it’s the numerical value of my first name… and the time at which most of my “good” ideas occur…

So enjoy and feel free to comment,  Caio!

So here’s why I’m worried. Ford’s new SYNC (powered by Microsoft), how far will this go? Have we really thought this one through? Some part of me deep down knows it will be a matter of time before an attempt at total vehicle control (not unlike GM’s Onstar) will be offered by Ford and will this too be powered by Microsoft? I’m not necessarily this is a bad idea … all I’m saying is look at Microsoft’s track record for stability and think of the possibility of that track record controlling a 3600 pound vehicle. Kind of scary isn’t it?

In perspective…. “Microsoft has detected an illegal operation and will now reboot the vehicle…. please fasten your seat belts and save any items you hold dear”