Thursday, July 31, 2014

The $4.5 Million Lamborghini Veneno driving in California



From the video description (TheStradman):

The $4.5 Million Lamborghini Veneno driving in California

Check me out on Facebook: www.facebook.com/StradmanPhotography

See the other Lamborghini Veneno I've filmed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu-X4...

This $4.5 million dollar Lamborghini Veneno was shown at the Quail Motorsports gathering in Monterey, California. Lamborghini is producing just 4 Venenos; This one will be at the Lamborghini factory in Sant'agata Bolognese, Italy. Two of the remaining three will end up in the United States, one in Miami, Florida and one in Long Island, New York. The third one will end up in the Middle East. The two American bound Lamborghini Venenos have been delivered. The Veneno in Long Island, owned by Antoine Dominic (owner of Lamborghini Long Island) is expected to be displayed at the showroom of Lamborghini Long Island. Dominic is a long time Ferrari owner who had an F40, F50, Enzo and an MC12 prior to switching to Lamborghini. The Miami bound Veneno, owned by Kris Singh, is expected to be driven somewhat regularly. Mr. Singh is managing director of Tequesta Investments. Each of the three customer delivered Venenos is finished in a different colored accent, red, white and green. The Veneno in this video is red. This is noticeable on the front splitter and rear diffuser.

It has been announced that Lamborghini will also introduce a roadster version of the Veneno. Lamborghini will produce 9 Lamborghini Veneno Roadsters.




 

The Lamborghini Veneno was first unveiled at the Genevea Auto Show in April 2013. The Lamborghini Veneno Roadster was first photographed at a special private viewing in Beverly Hills, California in November 2013. It's official debut was on an Italian air craft carrier in Abu Dhabi. It also was shown at CES 2014, Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada in conjunction with Monster Audio, who fitted a custom $100,000 sound system in the Veneno Roadster.

The Lamborghini Veneno is a development of the Lamborghini Aventadors 6.5L V12 producing 740 HP. Veneno means venom in Spanish. Lamborghini currently produced the Aventador, the Veneno and is set to begin production of the Gallardo replacement, the Lamborghini Huracan. The Lamborghini Huracan LP610-4 is set to be officially unveiled at the Geneva International Auto Show on March 4, 2014.

The Lamborghini Veneno follows in the footsteps of other extremely limited production Lamborghinis. Prior to the Veneno, Lamborghini built 20 race oriented Lamborghini Sesto Elementos, based off the Gallardo. Prior to the Sesto Elemento, Lamborghini produced the Lamborghini Reventon, of which only 20 coupes and 15 roadsters. The Reventon was sold for $2 million USD.

The Lamborghini Veneno is featured in Forza Motorsport 5 and Need for Speed.


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Friday, July 25, 2014

'Minneapolis Renames Columbus Day As Indigenous People's Day'

'Minneapolis Renames Columbus Day As Indigenous People's Day'

by Bill Chappell - NPR - April 27, 2014

Minneapolis has designated the second Monday of October, the federal Columbus Day holiday, as Indigenous Peoples Day. The city council adopted the plan after hearing concerns that hailing Columbus as the discoverer of America is inaccurate and ignores the history of indigenous people.

Last week, Indigenous Peoples Day supporter and Lakota activist Bill Means told Minnesota Public Radio that the story that Christopher Columbus discovered America was "one of the first lies we're told in public education."

He expanded on that idea Friday.

"We discovered Columbus, lost on our shores, sick, destitute, and wrapped in rags. We nourished him to health, and the rest is history," Means . "He represents the mascot of American colonialism in the western hemisphere. And so it is time that we change a myth of history."

Similar measures that rename or replace Columbus Day are already in place in other parts of the U.S., from South Dakota to Berkley and other California cities. Several states, such as Alaska, Hawaii, and Oregon, do not observe Columbus Day.

The federal holiday has a long and complex history, including an 1892 proclamation by Benjamin Harrison and its establishment as a federal holiday in 1937. Many came to see Columbus Day "as a way for Italian Americans to be accepted by the mainstream," as NPR's has reported.

Now the holiday is gaining a new identity in Minneapolis, as part of what says is the city's effort "to better reflect the experiences of American Indian people and uplift our country's Indigenous roots, history, and contributions."

According to MPR, the city council gave its unanimous support to the Indigenous Day measure after it was introduced by eight council members, led by Alondra Cano.

"The American Indian Movement emerged in the 1960s from the streets of south Minneapolis, a longtime cultural crossroads for American Indian communities in the Midwest," .

But MPR's Curtis Gilbert adds, "Council President Barbara Johnson noted that some of her Italian-American constituents are 'somewhat offended' by the city's snub of the Genoa-born explorer."


Columbus Day will be designated as Indigenous Peoples Day in Minneapolis, which has become one of several U.S. cities to make the change. Here, a member of the Cowichan Tribes holds her hand up in prayer during a 2011 Native American protest against Columbus Day in Seattle.


Why no mention of the Spanish Empire?

"We discovered Columbus, lost on our shores, sick, destitute, and wrapped in rags. We nourished him to health, and the rest is history," --Bill Means. He said "We," so obviously he sees 100% kinship with the Bahamian natives, or any other natives from Alaska to the tip of South America. Therefore, in order to stay congruent, we need to define the equivalent "Us." So in the expanded picture, the "Us" isn't Cristoforo Columbo nearly as much as it is the Imperial Spanish Empire as the face of European colonial supremacy. Columbus was an agent of the Spanish Monarchy, who were entirely in league with the Vatican and various banking cartels and economic interests.

It's interesting that those who would would attack Columbus don't mention the Spanish Empire or the Catholic Church. As Jesus said "Conquer in my name." How about King Ferdinand? Was he not Columbus' boss? How about Queen Isabella who led the "Spanish Inquisition?" What about Pope Alexander VI? The truth is that they need to revision Columbus as a "European bad guy," while not offending the many people who may feel threatened if they dared attack all the other institutions and individuals who were more important in the imperial effort than Columbus. In other words, Columbus must be projected as "a European"; and not as a Catholic, a Spanish citizen, a capitalist, or even an Italian! He must, in their estimation, stand entirely on his own for examination. This is the worst type of intellectual dishonesty.



Will the "bad guys" please stand?

Every person of European descent is a "white person." But how many are even descended from a nation who had a damn thing to do with all this genocide or slavery of the Americas? My quick count is five. Five countries who seemed to be in parcipitation, with the Vatican as a defacto sixth. Clearly most of it was the result of the Spanish and Portuguese Imperial Empires. I mean, if Japan had committed some type of historical atrocity, you don't blame Cambodia!; Unless someone wanted to somehow--against any logic--blame ALL Asians. Why would it be any different with Europe? So who's to blame? King Ferdinand, or a Polish peasant farmer?

Do you see how crazy this is? For the record, people of North and South America, who are of Amerindian or West African ancestry, are the numerical majority. Just within this "Columbus bashing" effort, how can any person with more than a room temperature IQ ignore all the important people who were behind Columbus' voyages as central figures of Western imperialism and slavery? How about Aaron Lopez? He was one of the leading figures of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Arguably at the very top of the list. Like Columbus, he was a very important middle-management figure within the larger scheme of things. Could it be that Columbus makes a much better projected bad guy than Lopez, despite the fact that Lopez administered much more actual harm to people?


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Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Lionel Messi: One of the all-time soccer greats, an Argentine of Cisalpine ancestry




Lionel Messi (Wikipedia)



Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club FC Barcelona and the Argentina national team. He serves as the captain of his country's national football team.

By the age of 21, Messi had received Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations. The following year, in 2009, he won his first Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards. He followed this up by winning the inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2010, and then again in 2011 and 2012. He also won the 2010–11 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. At the age of 24, Messi became Barcelona's all-time top scorer in all official club competitions. At age 25, Messi became the youngest player to score 200 goals in La Liga.

Commonly ranked as the best player in the world and rated by some in the sport as the greatest of all time, Messi is the first football player in history to win four FIFA/Ballons d'Or, all of which he won consecutively, as well as the first to win three European Golden Shoe awards. With Barcelona, Messi has won six La Ligas, two Copas del Rey, six Supercopas de España, three UEFA Champions Leagues, two UEFA Super Cups and two Club World Cups.

Messi is the first and only player to top-score in four consecutive Champions League campaigns, and also holds the record for the most hat-tricks scored in the competition. In March 2012, Messi made Champions League history by becoming the first player to score five goals in one match. He also matched José Altafini's record of 14 goals in a single Champions League season. Messi set the European record for most goals scored in a season during the 2011–12
season, with 73 goals. In the same season, he set the current goalscoring record in a single La Liga season, scoring 50 goals. Also in that season, Messi became the first player ever to score and assist in six different official competitions in one season.

Messi with girlfriend Antonella Roccuzzo and son.
 
On 16 February 2013, Messi scored his 300th Barcelona goal. On 30 March 2013, Messi scored in his 19th consecutive La Liga game, becoming the first footballer in history to net in consecutive matches against every team in a professional football league. He extended his record scoring streak to 21 consecutive league matches, and the run came to a halt only when he sustained a hamstring injury. In March 2014, with a hat-trick against Real Madrid, Messi became the player with the most goals and most hat-tricks in the history of El Clásico.

Messi helped Argentina win the 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup, finishing as both the best player and the top scorer (with 6 goals). In 2006, he became the youngest Argentine to play and score in the FIFA World Cup, and won a runners-up medal at the Copa América in 2007, in which he was named young player of the tournament. In 2008, he won an Olympic Gold Medal with the Argentina Olympic football team. In 2013, SportsPro rated him the second-most marketable athlete in the world.[8] His playing style and stature have drawn comparisons to compatriot Diego Maradona, who himself declared Messi his "successor". In 2014, Messi led Argentina to the World Cup Final, winning four consecutive Man of the Match awards in the process. He won the Golden Ball award after being adjudged the best player of the tournament.


Don’t Cry for Messi, Argentina. This Germany Team Is One of the Best in Years.

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