This image is called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, and it is by far my favorite Hubble image. Starting in late 2003, astronomers pointed Hubble at a tiny, relatively empty part of our sky (only a few stars from the Milky Way visible), and created an exposure nearly 12 days long over a four-month period. The result is this amazing image, looking back through time at thousands of galaxies that range from 1 to 13 billion light-years away from Earth. Some 10,000 galaxies were observed in this tiny patch of sky (a tenth the size of the full moon) - each galaxy a home to billions of stars. Go outside tonight, take a ball-point pen with you, and hold it up in front of the night sky at arm’s length. The tip of your pen is about 1 millimeter wide, and at arm’s length, it would cover the 10,000 galaxies seen in the Ultra Deep Field image. That’s how unbelievably massive the visible universe is. By way of comparison, to really put us Earthlings in our place in the Grand Scheme, please have a look at another famous image, the Pale Blue Dot - a photograph taken of the Earth (the tiny pale speck, top center) by Voyager 1 in 1990 from 4 billion miles away (about 6 light-hours). I will finish with the words of astronomer Carl Sagan about this Pale Blue Dot: “That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar”, every “supreme leader”, every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there - on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.” (NASA/ESA/S. Beckwith - STScI, and The HUDF Team) — Best wishes to all, and a Happy New Year - Alan. More (see this on Google Sky) #

(Image referred by paragraph above)

Source: The Big Picture

This year was very similar to years past. We opened gifts at my parents’ house Christmas Eve then headed to my grandmother’s house late Christmas Day. Fun was had by all.

Here’s a few my favorite pics from the weekend. You can see the whole gallery at the bottom of the page (click on each pic to enlarge)

^^ Nerds LOL.

(click on each pic to enlarge)

This is one of the gifts that I needed. Brake rotors for my daily driver; ‘91 Lexus ES250 . But it turned out that we were able to have the current rotors on the car turned and are now good as new.

Here’s the other much needed gift. A CV Joint for the Lexus. The right-front has been clicking ever since Ive owned it; 2 years now. I had to be very cautious not to put any power down while going around turns in fear of it braking completely. Im honestly surprised it lasted as long as it did.  No worries now though. Thanks Mom and Dad!! You can sleep soundly now

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For the last couple of months, Ive been nerding-out on Space documentaries. It really fascinates me how vast it is and how stuff works that compiles it. Anyway, Amanda got me this awesome gift. A Space documentary from the National Geographic website. Ive already watched 3 of the 5 and they are quite good. More on this in a later post.

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This wasn’t really a formal Xmas gift but we aquired a larger TV from my parents’ as well. We were using a small 28″ that was pretty much on its last leg. And although this one is only 4″ bigger, it is a huge difference and much clearer.
What Im really looking forward to is my parents upgrading to a flat panel. Cause when they do, we get their current 50″ TV which you can see in the background of the images above.

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Technically this is Amanda’s gift, but we both play it. Ive never big a big video game person, but this thing is crazy fun!
We also used some Xmas money to buy a few games and get on Xbox Live. Feel free to “friend” us if you like:
Me: RhoadRacing
Amanda: TheRhoadHouse

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Prior to getting the Xbox Live, Ive been playing a few games on my Mac. Primarily a cracked version of Colin McRae Rally. It certainly has it limitations, but Amanda fixed that by getting me this.

Its for the original Xbox but still works on the 360. I find it funny she got me an original Xbox game not knowing what was in store for her gaming pleasure

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YES! Thanks baby!

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You guys wouldn’t believe how much crap I used to carry around in my wallet. Random business cards, receipts, and god knows what else. Everything BUT money. LOL.  So much I had to pull it out of my back pocket before sitting down or driving any where. Otherwise it would cause my back to hurt.
See that stack of cards? Its taller than the height of a penny and is only a fraction of what was in there. Amanda got me this cool new wallet though. It motivated me to shorten the stack. Problem solved.

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This is one of my favorite gifts. When I bought my Mac it came with 1gig of RAM. It was enough to do what I had to do in regards to work; Photoshop etc. But every now and then it would trip up a little bit. No longer!! The Mac is cruising with 4 gigs of RAM now. Only 2 gigs shy of its Max.

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My apologies for not updating in a while. Christmas has been pretty hectic and Ive been spending my spare time playing video games (which is a rare occasion) rather than worrying about posting.

As for now, I just wanted to wish everyone merry christmas (belated) and happy new year.
Ill have more pics, vids and news in the coming days.

This past Tuesday (Dec 9th) was Lily’s (my daughter) birthday. I can’t believe she’s already 4 years old already. Crazy! That whole “you’re growing up so fast” stuff my parents used to say is really starting to hit home.

Anyway, because her birthday was in the middle of the week we decided to have her party this past weekend at Julie’s house (Lily’s mom). It was a lot of fun. She’s one lucky girl to get all these presents two weeks before Christmas.

Here’s some pictures from throughout the night. You can click on the images to view larger versions.

But first a video of Lily opening her presents. I particulary love the look on her face when she opens the Tinker Bell DVD we got her. And the look on Allie’s face when she notices I have the camera in her face makes me laugh every time I see it.

Lily’s 4th Birthday Party - Presents from Chris Rhoad on Vimeo.

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They look like a MK4 Supra raped a Lexus and I think thats kinky. From what Ive seen thus far and what these pictures prove is that all you have to do is lower them a bit and slap some wide/deep wheels on. Not to mention its rear wheel drive which means it can slide/drift. And thats always a ‘plus’ in my book. Don’t get me wrong though. There are a few design elements Im not too fond of. Regardless, Im really looking forward to see how the Genesis progresses in the aftermarket world and on the track. Thats right. On the track. In case you live under a rock (or one of my family members reading this, who know very little about the drift community - Hi Mom!), then you’ve probably heard that Rhys Millen will be road racing a Genesis next year.

RMR Hyundai Genesis

STOCK GENESIS COUPE SPECIFICATIONS
Configuration: Front engine, rear-wheel drive
Wheelbase: 2820 mm / 111.0 inches
Overall length: 4630 mm / 182.3 inches
Overall width: 1865 mm / 73.4 inches
Overall height: 1380 mm / 54.3 inches
Wheels: 18-inch or 19-inch five-spoke
Engine types: 3.8-liter V6 or 2.0-liter 4-cylinder turbo
Est. horsepower V6: 306 @ 6,000 rpm (regular fuel)
Est. horsepower V6: 310 @ 6,000 rpm (premium fuel)
Est. torque V6: 263 lb. ft. @ 4,700 rpm (regular and premium fuel)
Est. horsepower 2.0t: 212 @ 6,000 rpm (regular fuel)
Est. horsepower 2.0t: 223 @ 6,000 rpm (premium fuel)
Est. torque 2.0t: 217 lb. ft. @ 2,500 rpm (regular and premium fuel)
Block & head materials: aluminum for both engines
Valvetrain: DOHC for both engines
Valve timing: continuously variable valve timing for both engines (Dual for 2.0t)
Estimated 0-60 mph V6: under 6 seconds
Transmission types: 6-speed manual, 5-speed automatic (4-cylinder) or 6-speed manual, 6-speed automatic (V6)
Front brakes: 12.6-inch (standard) 13.4-inch (Brembo package)
Rear brakes: 12.4-inch (standard) 13.0-inch (Brembo package)
Front calipers: single piston floating (standard), monobloc four-piston (Brembo package)
Rear calipers: single piston floating (standard) monobloc four-piston (Brembo package)
Limited slip differential (Optional)
Est. top speed: 149 mph (V6), 137 mph (2.0t)
Base curb weight: 3549 lbs. (V6); 3439 lbs. (4-cylinder)

Its amazing how far Hyundai has come in such a short period of time. Perhaps The Big Three should take notes from the little guys.

As you can tell Im on a huge rally kick (more so than normal). And in the midst of my rummaging of rally videos, I came across another Group B documentary called “Still Too Fast To Race”. Its the sequel to the original one I posted last week.

Enjoy (1hr 16mins)
[Purchase the DVD Here]

Even more from the full story behind the awesome Group B Rally cars, featuring mind-blowing contemporary and archive racing footage of these fire-breathing rocket ships at blistering speeds!

Declared “too fast to race” at the end of the 1986 season, the Group B cars changed the face of rallying! The Lancia Delta S4 could accelerate from 0-100km/h in 2-3 seconds on a gravel road, and Nigel Mansell is reputed to have said that the Peugeot 205 T16 could out-accelerate his F1 car!

All were built to reach at least 400bhp, so we pushed these super-charged beasts to their absolute limit to see what else they could do, with legendary ex-World Rally champion Stig Blomqvist behind the wheel!

This sequel to the highly successful Too Fast to Race showcases even more of these turbo-charged machines, including:

-Audi Quattro Series 3-winged monster

- Lancia Delta S4

- Ford RS200

- Peugeot 205 T16

- Lancia O37

- MG Metro 6R4

You may never witness them on the World Rally stage again, but the entertainment provided by these supercharged monsters remains, to delight fans old and new.

Here is another priceless opportunity to see them restored to their former breath-taking glory! A must for all rally and fast car enthusiasts!

Will Roegge, the same guy who put together an amazing piece from dmggasd, has been a busy guy. This considering he was layed off from RiceboyTV means one thing. The dude has skills. The following 3 videos are “proof of the pudding”.

All Star Bash V Preview

ASB V Preview from Will Roegge on Vimeo.

All Star Bash 4: FULL

Ziptied All Star Bash 4

2008 Formula D Pro Am at Redbull: FULL
Keep an eye out for my buddy, Doug Van Den Brink’s, turbo red mustang. He ended up finishing 4th over all and was able to keep his Formula D license Not to mention, he’s sponsored by Studio Rhoad!!!

2008 Formula D Pro Am at Redbull

“Pedal To The Metal” - A documentary of the late Colin McRae. This movie truely inspires me to push the limits from behind the wheel.