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Audi’s automatic driving for parking Audi’s automatic parking systems operate by means of either ultrasound or cameras, which display images via the onboard monitor. One particularly convenient solution is park assist. When backing into a parking space, it performs all the necessary steering movements; it can handle both parallel parking and parking perpendicular to the street. The system finds a parking space with ultrasound sensors that scan the roadside in two dimensions while driving at moderate speed. The system notifies the driver via a message in the display once the sensors have found a space which is large enough. If...

The new study by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes is the most thorough analysis ever done of Michigan’s public charter schools, and the results are almost entirely positive. Of the 56 different outcomes tested, CREDO found 52 positive results for public charter schools and their students when compared to conventional public schools. First for its rigor: The study matched individual charter school students to students attending the conventional schools those charter school students would have attended. Among other variables, students were paired based on grade level, gender, race, income status and prior test scores. The study then...

Vice-President Biden sent an email to supporters today in which he touted the Obama Administration’s efforts to pass gun control. In the email, Biden continued to pander to gun-owning Democrats by promising that “Every step we intend to take will preserve the tradition of responsible gun ownership in our country and uphold the Second Amendment.” Having read that, Democrat gun owners should rest assured that their precious hunting rifles are safe … right? After all, it is only those black, scary rifles that Democrats want to ban … isn’t it? Well … while Vice-President Biden is doing his best to...

In a segment this morning discussing the breaking news that a panel of judges on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously ruled that some of President Obama's recess appointments had been made in an unconstitutional manner, MSNBC's Thomas Roberts turned to network contributor and former Democratic Senate staffer Jimmy Williams for his reaction. Williams conceded the the court had ruled correctly, but rather than chiding the president for violating his oath of office with unconstitutional appointments, he blamed Senate Republicans for driving Mr. Obama to do so. For his part, Roberts agreed, mumbling "mm hmm" in...

It’s a brand new year but already the cash-strained United States Postal Service is showing that it’s feeling the financial heat that kept zapping it in 2012. Starting on Sunday, the price of a first-class stamp will go from $0.45 to $0.46 as we were warned last year. Post card stamps will also rise a penny to $0.33. Sure, it’s only a penny, but it’s a penny you don’t have to pay on Saturday that you do on Sunday. Of course, we’re fans of Forever Stamps, which you can buy now and use no matter how much a regular postage...

White House press secretary Jay Carney on Friday blasted a court decision that nixed three recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board as “novel and unprecedented,” but said that he did not expect any broader application of the ruling. “It’s one court, one case, one company,” Carney said. Carney said there has been “enormous frustration” at the White House with the Senate’s refusal to approve nominees. But the ruling Friday “contradicts 150 year of practice by Democratic and Republican administrations. … So we respectfully but strongly disagree with the ruling.” Carney declined to say if the administration planned to...

This commercial seems more like a celebration of consequence-free sex for men at the expense of unintended pregnancies being aborted as a form of birth control. Is this really the message of the 'women's rights movement' on the Left? What do you think?

Only in its first week of operation, the Obama campaign 501(c)4 is soliciting financing from major corporations like Lockheed Martin, Citi, and Duke Energy, ....

In the wake of President Obama’s liberal Progressive second Inaugural speech, it is time for another look at greater underlying agendas and perhaps a time to remember that Progressivism = Socialism = Fascism = Marxism = Communism. Ask almost anyone and you’ll hear, “Communism is dead! The Berlin wall came down, the USSR is gone, China is our trading partner, the cold war is over…” That is one of the problems with America and the western world; we live in the now and our attention span and planning is short term unlike those in movements promoting Communism, Marxism, Socialism, Fascism,...

President Obama's Two Hundred and Ninth Week in Office1/24/2013Obama and IsraelUS Urges Israel to Partake in UN Human Rights Review... despite state’s decision to cut ties with council due to blatant bias.Senator John Kerry hinted Thursday he has a plan up his sleeve to rekindle the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority but warned he was worried the door for a "two-state solution" may be closingGunrunner-GateDOJ's Lanny Breuer to Resign in Wake of Fast and Furious ScandalObama Attacks the Second AmendmentBiden: Putting armed guards in schools would be a "terrible mistake"List of Guns Banned Under Feinstein's LegislationBiden: 'Buy...

Every waiter knows that Europeans are among the worst tippers on earth, but they can usually be counted on to at least pay the bill. But the Maitre d' at Midtown East steakhouse Smith & Wollensky wasn't about to take any chances on Italian tourist Graziano Graziussi when, at the end of his meal Monday night, he realized he forgot his wallet in his hotel. The bill came to $208, and apparently washing dishes is no longer an option these days. Graziussi, who was dining at the restaurant with a friend, tells Honest Cooking, "I kindly asked the staff how...

PepsiCo Inc. is removing a controversial ingredient from its Gatorade sports drink in response to customer complaints. A spokeswoman for the company, Molly Carter, said Friday that the change was in the works for the past year after the company began “hearing rumblings” from consumers about the ingredient. … The petition on Change.org noted that the ingredient, brominated vegetable oil, has been patented as a flame retardant and is banned in Japan and the European Union. … For Gatorade, Carter said the ingredient is used as an “emulsifier,” meaning it distributes flavoring evenly so that it doesn’t collect at the...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread ... there is no telling where it will go and...

The euro hit an 11-month high against the dollar after the European Central Bank said that banks were expected to pay back emergency loans faster than expected, increasing confidence that Europe’s debt crisis is easing. … The euro rose as high as $1.3479, the highest since Feb. 2012. The euro was worth $1.3371 late Thursday. …

President Obama exceeded his constitutional authority when he named three members of the National Labor Relations Board while the Senate was on a break last year, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that allowing the president to make such appointments as a way around Senate opposition “would wholly defeat the purpose of the Framers in the careful separation of powers structure” they created. The decision flatly rejected the administration’s rationale for appointing the board members, and jeopardizes the separate recess appointment of former Ohio attorney general...

Organizing for Action, the newly formed “grassroots” group that will help President Obama try to promote and pass his agenda, today sent out a fundraising and membership-building email that cites the Newtown massacre as a reason to “pull together” behind the president. The email, which was sent out under Vice President Joe Biden’s name and is signed by him, includes a link to a page on the Organizing for Action website that asks people to provide their email address. The page has a separate link that takes viewers to another area of the website where they can donate.In the message,...

Part III Part I dealt with guns and the Second Amendment. Part II dealt mainly with the First Amendment. This Part III looks at the origins and purposes of the Bill of Rights and questions the direction in which our nation is headed.The Bill of Rights in generalWhen the Constitution was being considered there was opposition to inclusion of any Bill of Rights and the Bill of Rights as we now know it -- the First through Tenth Amendments -- was added not long after the Constitution had been adopted. The Founders' indifference toward a bill of rights in the...

Scott Brown clearly felt that his oath to support and defend the Constitution was not worth anything at all. For when President Obama just, on his own authority, declared the Senate in recess and appointed officials to fill select vacancies. Those appointments have now been ruled unconstitutional and beyond the president's power. Senator Kerry will likely be confirmed to be Secretary of State next week. Let's not have Scott Brown as the republican nominee to replace him. He doesn't give a damn about the Constitution and just wants power. Hopefully, Keith Ablow will run, or somebody else who will stand...

Study: ‘ Greenland ice sheet is not as sensitive to temperature increases and to ice melting and running out to sea in warm climate periods ‘.The climate graph shows the temperature from the previous warm interglacial period, the Eemian (left) throughout the entire ice age to present time. The blue colours indicate ice from a cold period, the red colour is ice from a warm period and yellow and green is from the climate period in between. The new results show that during the Eemian period 130,000 to 115,000 thousand years ago the climate in Greenland was around 8 degrees...

A proposed ban on sales of assault weapons would be defeated in the U.S. Senate today unless some members changed their current views, based on a Bloomberg review of recent lawmaker statements and interviews. At least six of the 55 senators who caucus with Democrats have recently expressed skepticism or outright opposition to a ban, the review found. That means Democrats wouldn’t have a simple 51-vote majority to pass the measure, let alone the 60 votes needed to break a Republican filibuster to bring it to a floor vote.