Let's Do The News! (February 13, 2018)

- The Senate is mulling about summoning alleged gambling lord Bong Pineda in its next hearing on the controversies surrounding the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. According to Senator Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the Committee on Games and Amusement, Pineda needs to explain himself amid accusations that he operates 11 Small Town Lotteries in 11 provinces.

- The Philippine government will issue different color plates to Grab, Uber, and other transport network vehicle service, according to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board. At present, TNVS have black on white license plates similar to private vehicles. Taxis and other public utility vehicles have black on yellow.

- Opposition leader Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has been in the US for the past week, attending the national prayer breakfast and a roundtable at the Institute for Policy Studies before visiting with several Filipino American communities.

- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will hear whether his legal bid to halt action against him for breaching bail has been successful, in a ruling that could pave the way for him to leave the Ecuadorean embassy in London.

- Ukrainian opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili was deported to Poland on Monday, the Ukrainian border service said, after he was detained in a Kiev restaurant by law enforcement agents in camouflage.

- The African National Congress party executive committee has decided to oust South African leader Jacob Zuma as head of state after a half-day meeting of the party's top leadership. The 75-year-old Zuma has been South Africa’s most controversial president since the end of white-minority rule in 1994, overseeing a tumultuous nine years marked by economic decline and numerous allegations of corruption.

- Watch as the new Range Rover Sport PHEV take on China's Heaven's Gate.



- Toyota teases their racing concept ahead of Geneva Motor Show reveal.



- The Mercedes-Maybach S-Class was updated for 2018 ahead of its Geneva premiere, featuring a more distinguishable grille design and many other improvements.



- ICYMI: Bandai Namco Holdings merges Lantis with Bandai Visual for their new subsidiary as well as the launch of its Bandai Spirits toy/hobby subsidiary.

- Luther actor Idris Elba proposes to his girlfriend in front of the crowd.

TTFN!!!

Forza Motorsport 7: Extreme Elise

Lotus pioneered the sports car realm with the philosophy of "simplify and add lightness", valuing aerodynamics over power and that kind of philosophy won the hearts of many hardcore car enthusiasts looking for something that is free from the distractions that hinder their joy of driving, especially those concessions of comfort that are deemed unnecessary for sportscars. However, what happens when Lotus turns the other way around? You get with the Elise GT1, of course.



I picked this ultra-rare Lotus from Forza Motorsport 7's Totino's Car Pack and while this car brings me back to the corner of my childhood, there's a lot of explaining to do about this ultra-rare, ultra-hardcore take on the Lotus Elise. The Lotus Elise has spawned three competition versions and the first was the Elise GT1.

The Elise GT1 features a carbon fiber bodywork nested to its bonded-aluminum backbone chassis modified to accomodate the 3.5L V8 twin turbo engine from the Esprit. In its road-legal state, it produces 350HP of power but in race tune, it produces over 550HP of power - in a car that weighs less than 2,000 lbs.

Apart from that, the Elise GT1 features a full competition suspension and 14-inch disc brakes with 6-piston calipers for dramatic stopping power.



This Elise is a massive flop to Lotus. Ever since they compete in the FIA GT Championship, Lotus are looking for a suitable replacement to the aging Esprit in their racing portfolio and they've chosen the Elise as their next race car for the job. Due to financial reasons, they only built one road-going car that is unavailable for public. Lotus made seven Elise GT1 race chassis were built and while most of them never made it to the finish line due to mechanical issues, only a few made it to the end of the race. Due to such lackluster results, Lotus and parent company Proton decided to axe the program.



It's a shame that Lotus wasted a lot of money for such a lackluster performance with the Elise GT1 but since I'm driving the only road-legal in its existence, what's like the drive it? In my experience, you'll get the feeling that you're driving a Hennessey Venom before it was cool but this is not the Venom, it's actually an Elise beefed up with the engine of the Esprit and it's not as intimidating as it looks. Because it was set to 350HP of power, which is the road-legal mode of course, you don't get scared pretty easily and despite its intimidating looks, it handles pretty much like what a Lotus should be, making it a proper track toy as I shall now prove with a lap round the Top Gear Track.



This car really is quick by modern standards and because of such performance, let's take the beastly Lotus to another part of Britain which is...



...Silverstone, of course.



Ah, the venue of the British Grand Prix, this is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the Lotus at its best and with that, it's time to see if this ultimate flop has the guts to be called a hardcore Lotus compared to the most hardcore of all...





This is the Lotus 3-Eleven, the fastest and the most hardcore Lotus ever made and it was the fastest Lotus to lap round the Nurburgring to lap the sub-seven minute mark. Since both of these machines are set to road-legal use, it's quite questionable to see which is which on the track but since I got all of the ingredients here, it's time to see which of the hardcore Lotuses is the most hardcore of them all.



And now, the results...

3-Eleven - 2:21.204
Elise GT1 - 2:24.821



It's true what Lotus said, the Elise GT1 was a complete disaster for the company but look at this way, despite being a total flop, it became an inspiration for Hennessey to create the Venom GT because if it weren't for the Elise GT1, the Texans wouldn't made the car that shattered world speed records in a pinch. It really is a Venom GT before it was cool and while it wasn't as hardcore as I hoped for, this car really takes me back to the time when I first introduced myself to the world of Lotus Cars from the Elan, the Esprit, and most famously, the Elise.

PyeongChang 2018: February 12, 2018

The third day of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics highlights on Biathlon, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skating, Ski Jumping, Snowboard, and Speed Skating.

Laura Dahlmeier of Germany is the victor of the Women's 10km Pursuit while Frenchman Martin Fourcade is the winner of the Men's 12.5km Pursuit. At the Team Event Ice Dance Free Dance, Canada wins the Gold Medal and for another win on Team Canada, Mikael Kingsbury wins the Men's Moguls. Norwegian Maren Lundby wins the Ski Jumping, USA Jamie Anderson wins Ladies' Slopestyle, and Ireen Wust wins the Ladies' 1,500mm speed skating.

Results: https://www.olympic.org/pyeongchang-2018/results/en/general/daily-schedule-date=2018-02-12.htm

The action in PyeongChang continues...

Celebrating Lunar New Year at Seattle Chinatown

The Chinatown International District of Seattle, Washington State, celebrated the Year of the Dog with a Lunar New Year celebration celebrating the best of Asian culture for the mass Seattle audiences who are gathered to this annual event honoring the impending Chinese New Year.

In that event, spectators witnessed some Lion Dance, Martial Arts, Hawaiian Dance, Odissi Solo, Thai, Chinese Cultural Dance, and many more. There's even a costume contest for the kids dressed in their traditional Chinese costumes just for the fun of it as well.

I arrived at that venue not just for the performances it delivered but also the sights and sounds the crowd experienced, which pretty much like how you do in Dragon Fest every summer. Anyway, I hope you guys had fun in Chinatown and I even managed to take some scoops from that event.



More pics: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1644641772296081.1073742237.119605654799708&type=1&l=86fbdfdefa

Let's Do The News! (February 12, 2018)

- Volcanic activity at the Mayon Volcano has resumed in the last 24 hours and has even spewed ash and lava last February 12th. According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, the recent lava fountaining of Mayon reached up to 500 meters while the ash reached up to one kilometer away from the crater. Over 108 volcanic quakes were recorded through the day.

- President Rodrigo Duterte's "cesspool" statement on Boracay did not go well with the residents and businessmen. Last weekend, Duterte threatened to shut Boracay down and slammed it as a "cesspool". Responding to this, several residents of the popular tourist spot extended their readiness to help clean the area in not over than six months.

- Meanwhile, President Duterte signed the RA 10969 or the Free Irrigation Service Act of 2018 that increases the number of farmers receiving free irrigation. Under the said legislation, farmers owning eight hectares of land or less are exempted from paying irrigation service fees to the national irrigation systems and communal irrigation systems. RA 10969 also condones and writes off unpaid irrigation fees, penalties, interests, and loans of the covered farmers from the records of the National Irrigation Agency.

- Las Pinas and Paranaque will become tourst spots following the ongoing creation of its Waterland center. The Waterland center, composed of a 175-hectare coastal area, contains an abundant collection of mangrove trees which serves as a breeding and resting areas for migratory birds situated within the Metropolitan Manila.

- Volkswagen teases the upcoming Touareg with a sketch and it's set for March 23 reveal.


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- Mercedes-AMG teases their upcoming four-door sports car set for Geneva debut.



- The F1 2018 season will have some weekend schedule changes.

- Eat Bulaga presenter Paolo Ballesteros says he has no plans to make a biography of himself.

- Yesterday, Malaysian actress Carmen Soo gives birth to a baby girl/

- Singer KZ Tandingan popped up at last weekend's Chinese singing competition, Singer 2018, and won after her performing her own version of Adele's Rolling In The Deep.

TTFN!!!

NatWest 6 Nations 2018: ROUND 2

The second round of the NatWest 6 Nations championship sees the winds of changes to the tides of the six teams gunning for the title and even in its early stages, you can really feel the heat burning on rugby's greatest championship.

The battle between England Rugby and the WRU is one of such example of what happens when the match turned in favor to one of the most formidable rugby forces in 6 Nations history. and as demonstrated by Jonny May's first ever tries of the match and a conversion by Owen Farrell, England beats Wales at the score of 12-6, keeping their focus on the title win remain on their sights.

Under cover of the battle, the IRFU massively defeated the FIR Italia at the score of 56-19 while Scotland beats the FFR at the score of 32-26.

Highlights:



The next match begins on the 23rd with France vs. Italy, Ireland vs. Wales on the next day, and Scotland vs. England.

PyeongChang 2018: February 11, 2018

On the second day of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, the main events of the day are Biathlon, Cross-Country Skiing, Freestyle Skiing, Luge, Snowboard, and Speed Skating.

Arnd Peiffer of Germany is crowned the winner of the Men's 10km Sprint Biathlon followed by Michal Krcmar of the Czech Republic and Dominik Windisch of Italy. Norway scored a 1-2-3 finish at the Men's 15km + 15km Skiathlon with Simen Hegstad Krueger wins the match followed by Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Hans Christer Holund. At the Ladies' Moguls, Perrine Laffont of France is the winner with Canadian Justine Dufour-Lapointe placed 2nd and Kazakh Yulia Galysheva placed 3rd. Men's Singles Luge sees Austrian David Gleirscher as the Gold Medal winner, beating the likes of American Chris Mazdzer and German Johannes Ludwig. At the Men's Slopestyle, Redmond Gerard of the USA has defeated two Canadians, Max Parrot and Mark McMorris, for the Gold Medal. And finally, Dutchman Sven Kramer won the Gold Medal against Canadian Ted-Jan Bloemen and Sverre Lunde Pedersen of Norway.

URL: https://www.olympic.org/pyeongchang-2018/results/en/general/daily-schedule-date=2018-02-11.htm

The PyeongChang action continues...