rex automated man for car dealer red flag compliance

mory zakeri was a car dealer mentor

” those who teach must also listen ”

mory made it

easy to learn the car business

and we will miss him dearly every day

rest in peace my friend

and we will meet at that persian banquet in the sky

” remember, car business is all about the pie,
we persians love the pie ”

joseph

remember, car business is all about the pie, we persians love the pie ++ mory zakeri rip 2009 persian auto godfather

Sand Car Association pays $600,000 for illegal vehicle sales
Penalties apply to 37 manufacturers

SACRAMENTO – Last month the California Air Resources Board fined a consortium of sand car sellers $600,000 for its members’ illegal engine and vehicle sales between 2006 and 2008.

ARB investigators found that illegal engines and vehicles were being sold in California by several sand car manufacturers. The penalties from this case apply to 37 members of the newly formed association that were selling uncertified products.

“Industries that cater to off-road enthusiasts must also consider their product’s impact on the environment,” said ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols. “Uncontrolled emissions from these vehicles add to California’s already serious smog problems.”

As a result of the investigation, most major sand car manufacturers and some engine suppliers located in California formed the Sand Car Association. to ensure that its members build compliant products. The association’s formation has resulted in industry self-enforcement and California certification of three engines for use in sand cars.

For a complete list of the 37 manufacturers included in the settlement, click here.

ARB is still investigating other sand car manufacturers that are producing and selling illegal non-California certified vehicles.

Sand cars are off-road vehicles popular at state and federal recreation areas like Pismo Beach and Glamis Dunes. The Department of Motor Vehicles can revoke registrations of illegal vehicles; therefore, it is important that dealers and purchasers ensure that the vehicles are legal in California.

Clean vehicle engines cut smog-forming emissions and improve fuel economy, reducing harmful greenhouse gases. Smog can cause respiratory problems, including asthma, and effects the lung function growth of children.

The Air Resources Board is a department of the California Environmental Protection Agency. ARB’s mission is to promote and protect public health, welfare, and ecological resources through effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and considering effects on the economy. The ARB oversees all air pollution control efforts in California to attain and maintain health based air quality standards.

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Car dealership fined $175,000 for installing unapproved aftermarket parts

SACRAMENTO – The Air Resources Board fined Sunrise Ford, a car dealership with outlets in North Hollywood and Fontana, $175,000 last month for illegally modifying 2005 through 2007 model year light- and medium-duty vehicles with an aftermarket device before the vehicles were sold.

The part, called a Fuel Maximizer, is intended to improve gas mileage and performance in cars by changing the flow of air as it mixes with the gasoline before combustion. Discovery of the unapproved parts was made during a routine dealer inspection.

“We expect dealers to follow the law, which requires that certified aftermarket parts only be installed after a vehicle is sold,” said ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols. “Our air quality can suffer when careless mistakes are made, so we hope this fine sends a strong message.”

It is illegal in the state of California to perform modifications on a new car prior to sale. Modifying car engines can increase harmful emissions and may lead to the vehicle failing California’s smog test.

Per the terms of the settlement, Sunrise Ford will pay a total of $175,000 to the California Air Pollution Control Fund which supports research and programs intended to reduce California’s carbon footprint.

California’s air quality measures are in place to prevent excessive emissions that can negatively affect public health. Ozone, also known as urban smog, can cause difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, coughs, heightened asthma rates, cardiopulmonary ailments and premature deaths.

The Air Resources Board is a department of the California Environmental Protection Agency. ARB’s mission is to promote and protect public health, welfare, and ecological resources through effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and considering effects on the economy. The ARB oversees all air pollution control efforts in California to attain and maintain health based air quality standards.

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dealer education is the key to compliance

we make it simple for you

800-901-5950

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happy birthday porch

Pitcher Mark Portugal began what turned into a substantial career with the Twins.  Born in Los Angeles, he signed with the Twins as a free agent in 1980.  He did well throughout his minor league career, coming to the Twins in August of 1985.  He was with the Twins for most of 1986 and did a decent job as a sometimes starter, sometimes reliever.  1987, however, was a disaster.  Portugal started the season with the Twins, and went 1-3 with an ERA of 7.77.  Sent to AAA Portland, he went 1-10 with an ERA of 6.00 the rest of the year.  He got straightened out in 1988, and again was with the Twins most of the year, doing a decent job as a middle reliever.  The Twins, however, apparently decided he was never going to develop, and traded him to Houston in December 0f 1988 for Todd McClure.  The Twins were wrong.  Portugal started 1989 with AAA Tucson, but reached Houston by June and stayed there for five years.  Used mostly as a starter, Portugal won 52 games for the Astros, three times posting ERAs under 3.00.  His best year in Houston was 1993, when he made 33 starts, won 18 games, and posted an ERA of 2.77.  He finished sixth in the Cy Young voting that year.  Portugal became a free agent after that season, and signed with the Giants.  His ERA went up when he left Houston, but he pitched fairly well for a year and a half with San Francisco.  He was then traded to Cincinnati, for whom he posted an ERA just under 4.00 for another year and a half.  He became a free agent after the 1996 season and signed with Philadelphia.  Portugal was injured much of 1997, but came back in 1998 to be an average starting pitcher.  He moved on to Boston for 1999, but posted an ERA of 5.51 and was released.  Cincinnati gave him another shot in 2000, but he failed to make the team and retired.  As a Twin, Mark Portugal appeared in 72 games, 26 of them starts.  He was 11-19 with a 5.13 ERA.  For his career, however, he played in 15 seasons, won 109 games, had a 4.03 ERA and an ERA+ of 100, which is not too shabby.

The Enertia is an iconic design, which blends modern electro design while paying homage to its motorcycle heritage (this is likely the reason that the first Enertia prototype is on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago as part of their Smart Home: Green+Wired exhibit). The look is definitely future-forward and tends to draw a crowd of admirers when ridden around town (people can’t seem to resist getting a glimpse at the future). The Enertia is offered in five different colors (each with a catchy name like subliminal green and glacial blue) letting you choose the color to fit your personal style (so, while the Enertia aspires to lead the world into transportation 2.0 like the Ford Model T did for transportation 1.0, BRAMMO has a lot more flair than Henry Ford did with the Model T and the slogan “Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black”).

Click here to view the Enertia gallery

Though not an officially approved scientific formula (yet), it is a generally accepted fact that quality = longevity. BRAMMO was careful (and quite picky) when selecting the components that weren’t designed and engineered in-house. Premium-grade Marzocchi forks were chosen for the Enertia front suspension and provide a smooth, controlled ride. An Elka brand shock absorber is used in the rear and BRAMMO carefully tunes the suspension components to provide a well-balanced and comfortable ride. For controlled stopping power, high performance Brembo brakes are used, front and rear. The benefits of this attention to detail is that BRAMMO provides 12-month limited warranty on the powercycle (up to two-years on the batteries) and we think the Enertia just looks a lot cooler than say a standard Electric Bike or one of those Electric Scooters.

Click here to learn about the Enertia’s components

100% Electric Motorcycle

The designers of the Enertia focused on eliminating elements that contribute to the intimidation sometimes associated with traditional motorcycles and instead emphasized the attributes that expose the pure joy of motorcycling (but we don’t mean to say that it’s not enjoyable to be intimidating once in a while). The original mass-produced lightweight motorcycle has a magical place in transportation history and helped change the attitude towards motorcycling for an entire generation of the world’s population. Celebrating the spirit, fun and approachability of these bikes was a design goal for the Enertia. A dichotomy of old school purist themes and new school technology, the Enertia strikes a perfect balance between the familiar and the future. But make no mistake about it, BRAMMO Enertia is THE FUTURE.

$1 Million Reward Offered in Connection with Major Art Theft Stolen Artwork Includes Original Warhol Pieces

Los Angeles: Between Sept. 2 and 3, 2009, a multi-million-dollar collection of original artwork by renowned artist Andy Warhol was stolen from the West Los Angeles home of businessman Richard L. Weisman on Angelo Drive. The stolen property included a collection of ten 40-inch by 40-inch pieces produced from 1977 to 1979 depicting famous athletes. A portrait of Weisman was also taken.

A domestic employee entered Weisman’s home on Sept. 3 and immediately discovered the artwork missing from the dining room walls. She then left the residence and went to a neighbor’s home where she called the police.

Accompanying this press release is a crime alert with details of the incident and images of the stolen artwork.

Photos of the paintings can also be found at the following link:
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/9584873_FnPj8#645233892_VxSHt

Further descriptions are available at the crime alert link below:
Crime Alert Flyer

A reward of $1 million is being offered for information leading to the recovery of the artwork. Anyone with information about this crime is urged to call the Los Angeles Police Department’s Art Theft Detail at 213-485-2524. After-hours and on weekends, calls may be directed to a 24-hour, toll-free number at 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (527-3247). Callers may also text “Crimes” with a cell phone or log on to www.lapdonline.org and click on Web tips. When using a cell phone, all messages should begin with “LAPD.” Tipsters may remain anonymous.

Hell hath no fury like a man scorned, revenge tests reveal

The Germans call it schadenfreude – gaining pleasure from someone else’s pain – and according to neuroscientists men enjoy it much more than women.

Using brain imaging, scientists at University College London uncovered what they believe was the first neurological evidence of schadenfreude. They were surprised to find that the feeling differed starkly for each sex.

“Hell hath no fury like a man scorned,” the team concluded after doing behavioural tests on 16 men and 16 women.

Each of the volunteers took part in a financial game with four others whom they did not know were actors. During the game, some actors played fair, giving equal amounts of money to each volunteer, while others blatantly cheated.

Then the volunteers were put inside a brain scanner known as a functional magnetic resonance imager (fMRI), which can take a series of rapid snapshots of brain activity. While being scanned, they saw footage showing the fair and cheating actors getting a small electric shock similar to a bee sting. The team measured the volunteers’ reactions, in areas of the brain linked to pain and empathy and reward.

If the sufferer was someone who had played fair, areas of the brain linked to empathy and pain were activated in both male and female volunteers. But if the actor being shocked had cheated, the response from men and women differed.

Women’s brains “lit up” in a way suggesting they still felt empathy for the person, though the response was weaker than for fair players. When men saw cheats being shocked they showed little or no activity in the empathy parts of the brain but a surge of activity in the reward areas of the brain.

“When the unfair player received a painful shock there was, at most, very little sign of anything registering in the empathy related region of the men, as opposed to the reward related area … they expressed more desire for revenge and seemed to feel satisfaction when unfair people were given what they perceived as deserved physical punishment,” said Tania Singer, who led the study.

The scientists, who reported their findings in the journal Nature, said the research showed that empathic responses in men were shaped by the perceived fairness of others. They were not automatic. They depended “on the emotional link to the person who is observed suffering”, said Klass Stephan, the report’s co-author.

The volunteers also filled in questionnaires; men said they had a much higher desire for revenge than women, and got satisfaction from seeing the unfair punished. “They consistently rated the fair player as being more agreeable, more likable and even more attractive than the unfair actor,” said Dr Singer. But she added that other studies would need to be done as the tests may have been slanted towards men for presenting a physical rather than, say, psychological, punishment.