Hyundai Making More Fuel Efficent Cars

Over the years Hyundai has become one of the biggest and most powerful Asain car companies on the planet. Since Hyundai's start they have been trying to improve and make their cars more fuel efficient. This year Hyundai's Sonata (2011) has preliminary fuel data of 6.7L per 100 highway kilometers. Hyundai is striving within the next 15 years to have their cars at an average fuel economy of 4.7 L per 100 highway kilometers. With many of the impressive fuel economy ratings Hyundai has become ranked 2nd in the world for most fuel efficient and greenest cars on the road, tied with Toyota. Hyundai is making drastic changes to their vehicle which will enhance the fuel economy of the vehicle, they are installing technologies such as twin scroll turbochargers, gasoline direct injection, electric power steering, and improved transmissions with 6 speed. Although the prices for installing the new parts is alot Hyundai is becoming more cost effective by manufacturing and ordering the parts in high volumes. The government agencies announced that they will be developing tougher greenhouse gas and fuel economy standards for passenger cars on the road. Meaning that Hyundai is on the road to making the Earth a greener place.

I think that this is great. Too many car companies today are not cutting down on their fuel emission standards. Hyundai is leading the way in innovation for better fuel economy and lower emission standards. I believe that more car companies should go "green" many companies are changing and becoming greener but there is not enough companies still have cars with brutal fuel economy. I think that in the near future car companies will be forced to change with the time whether or not the companies agrees or not, for many reasons I believe this because people will no longer be able or willing to pay 120 dollars at the pump for gas, they will want better cars that have better fuel economy and lower prices at the pump. The future of the world is in the peoples hands. Global warming is coming and if people start cutting waste and reducing pollution there is a chance that it can stop. I believe that Hyundai is doing its part and stepping up to the plate to make a greener world.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Autos/20101022/hyundai-high-mileage-101023/

Toyota Recalls 1.5 Million Cars

Today the Toyota Motor Corporation said it will be recalling 1.53 million cars today. These cars include lexus, avalon, and many other models. The reason for the recall is that there are problems with the fuel pump and there is also problems with the brake fluid. Within one year Toyota has recalled over 10 million cars for many different reasons, these recalls have made people question the quality reputation that Toyota has built for all these years. The main spokes person for Toyota says that the problems with the brake fluid could lead to weaker breaking power. Although the problems have been noted there have been no accidents caused by these problems yet.

I believe that problems and recalls like this shouldn't be happening. Toyota has a reputation to protect they have good quality products. The manufacturers should be double and triple checking all the cars for maintenance issues. Malfunctions in a car could cause near death or deadly consequences. If a car is not up to standard it should be up the to manufacturer to make sure that the product is built correctly. The problem with recalls is that people don't have the time to go out and waste their time on a car that they purchased because Toyota made a problem. Another problem with recalls is that many of the companies have no idea what order or who's car to replace or fix first, cost is also another issue preventing people from sending their car in for a recall because often they have to pay for a rental car or pay for a taxi to get around to places that they need to get around to. For these reasons i believe that recalls; especially for automotive companies should be prevented.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2010/10/21/toyota-recall-brake-fuel.html

Charges Dropped for G20 Protesters

Today many of the charges for the G20 protesters were dropped. Many people were very satisfied with the decision to drop the charges. People felt that the police used too much force to keep the protest under control. Apparently innocent people were hit and brought to jail. The reason the charges were dropped were because the crown did not have enough evidence to support the charges. There were 90 charges dropped today. The charges that were dropped were for people that were inside the University of Toronto and were in the graduate studies building, the police raided the building and arrested 90 people for conspiracy to commit a criminal act. Many people feel that the arrests that were made were made with insufficient evidence to even convict the people.

I believe that the charges should not have been dropped. The protesters in the G20 summit caused endless amounts of damage, windows were smashed, police cars were totaled and many other damages were reported. I believe that if you cause damage to other peoples property you should be charged, it wasn't one person who did all the damage but there were many others, and just because many people did it, it doesn't mean that they are all not guilty. I think that the charges should be put through or at the least the people charged should have to pay back what was broken. The reason the police used great amounts of force was because people were attacking and would have caused harm to innocent bystanders in the streets. For these reasons I believe that the charges should be put through not dropped.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20101015/g20-charges-101015/

17 Men Rescued from the Chilean Mine

On August 5th 2010 33 Chilean miners were trapped underground in a mine. There were many different thoughts floating around whether the men were alive or dead. Seventeen days after the collapse a narrow hole was burrowed down finding the men. They sent a note saying that they were all OK. On September 17th the hole was dug wider. Today on October 13th 2010 the men have been making their way up into daylight. These men have the record for staying trapped underground and surviving the longest time. The men have been getting rescued one by one. As of right now 17 are now up and 16 are still to make their way up. There were many different plans to lift the men up. Some suggested that they create a large metal tube big enough for the men to be pulled up. In the end the decision was to send a metal capsule down and one by one the men would be rescued.

This rescue is amazing, many people didn't believe at the beginning that these men survived the collapse. To know that they were living and surviving is amazing. These men were stuck down in cave for over 60 days. The small hole that was drilled at first was used to send food down to the men. I think that this rescue is unbelievable, the fact that now we have technology to dig down into their cave and rescue the men is crazy. These men are so fortunate to be alive. If this collapse happened 50 years ago the chances would have been slim to none. I also have another opinion to the collapse, after talking about how great the technology of today is a fatal collapse like this should have never taken place, extreme safety precautions should have been taken to prevent this, I believe that the mining company has learned a lesson and better precautions will take place in the near future.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/10/12/chile-mine-rescue.html

GPS Leads Women into Ontario Marsh

On Wednesday October 6th a 25 year old women following GPS directions through Murray Marsh was mislead and drove straight into a waste deep marsh. The water filled her car immediately and she was forced to evacuate and stand on the top of her car. She called the police from her cell phone, the first attempt to find her was unsuccessful, the rescue crews asked the women to repeatedly honk her horn. Finally the rescue crews arrived and the firefighters had to put wet suits on to go and bring the women to safety.

In one of my earlier blogs I spoke about a megabus that crashed into a bridge because the driver was using a GPS. This new article supports my idea that GPS systems should be banned. In many cases GPS systems are great, such as in big residential and commercial areas, such as Toronto, but when the GPS system is trying to guide people through very marshy, and very un-tracked land, the GPS system could be mis-calculated or mis-read. Therefore leading people into bad situations. I believe that GPS systems should have a function where as when the person is moving, or the system is moving that it should lock down therefore no new additions to the route can be added until stopped. I also believe that if GPS systems are going to be used they should be marked and the road's should be placed in the right spot, therefore not allowing people to get lost. In this article there could have been many different factors that affected why she got lost it could have been dark, she could have been disoriented, but the main reason was the GPS.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/SciTech/20101006/gps-swamp-101006/

Red Sludge Flooding in Hungary

Today in Hungary the red sludge reservoir flood has claimed 3 more lives. The flood was caused by a rupture in the reservoir where this material was being held. The sludge is a waste product of aluminum and contains many deadly metals. If ingested the sludge would and will kill people. Many people have been affected by the sludge through stepping in it, it has seeped through their pants leaving burns. The chemical burns caused by the sludge could take a while to show their affects, but their side affects could be deadly. In total over 120 people have been injured, of those 2 are in critical condition. Over 390 residents had to be evacuated from their homes. The sludge has been spread over a 40 kilometer radius. The government is now pumping plaster in the major streams of red sludge to prevent the spreading. Many environmental groups have been warning the government that red sludge is one of the most dangerous in the world.

I believe that the government of Hungary should have taken the complaints and suggestions into greater detail. A disaster like this could have been prevented if the toxic waste was removed and place elsewhere. Now many people are losing, their homes, and their lives just because of a malfuncion and a rupture in a red sludge reservoir. Since red sludge is a by product of aluminum manufacturing i believe for the time being that the aluminum manufacturing should be shut down until the problem is sorted between the sludge. It is also suggested that at the rate that the sludge is flowing it may reach the Danube river, which is a main water stream and supply for many people. As stated before if the sludge is consumed it can cause life threatening injuries and could lead to death.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/10/05/hungary-sludge-flood.html

Taliban Removed from New Metal of Honor Game

Metal of Honor has been a long running game series, starting back on the PS2 in 1999. The Metal of Honor games have always been based on World War 2. This year the game developers EA (Electronic Arts) are adding a new spin, they have based the game in the present war in Afghanistan. The game initially had the Taliban as the enemy of the game. Many critics, gamers, and war veterans of Afghanistan do not like this, they feel that is is not right for the present enemy to be in a video game, when real people are being killed by this group as we speak. EA has decided to change the name of the group to opposing forces. The change does not affect game play itself. They are also following the role of the very successful Modern Warfare 2, Activision game. In Modern Warfare 2 the enemies are known as the OpFor; a fictional group of terrorists.

I believe that if EA wants to make the game more life-like by adding real terrorists to their game, they should be allowed. Many other games set in the different World Wars have the real enemies name. Only when things are presently going on they cannot be added. I also think that if the Taliban is going to be banned in the new Metal of Honor game that all enemies should be banned and replaced with fictional, randomly generated names. It does not make sense to have one game not allowed to have the Taliban when many others set in WWI and WWII have the real enemy name with real events that happened such as the bombing in pearl harbour. I also believe that many of the complaints came from many of the people that will not even play the game. Most gamers are ok with what content is in the game. Also the game will be under the rating M (Mature 17+) meaning that many children should not be playing this game, therefore that the only people that will be exposed to and allowed to play will be over 17 years of age.

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Taliban-Removed-From-Medal-Honor-Multiplayer-27332.html