Recently at the LA Coliseum, the sexy ladies of the Lingerie Football League displayed their ample assets as they discussed strategy to win this years LFL championship title.

They promised plenty of potential wardrobe malfunctions and tight end manuevers…

Click here for more information on this years LFL schedule…

http://www.lflus.com/

…NOW…ONE OF THOSE WARDROBE MALFUNCTIONS…

Land Rover Australia has reintroduced the Defender 90, six years after the old car was dropped from the local line up.

The full-time four-wheel drive is powered by a 90kW 2.4-litre diesel engine which punches out 360Nm of torque – 60Nm more than the 2003 model.

Combined fuel economy remains the same at a flat 10.0-litres/100km but CO2 emissions are down from 282g/km to 266.

A new six-speed manual transmission comes with a lower first gear and a higher sixth to improve both off-road ability and highway cruising refinement.

Land Rover marketing and public affairs manager, Kevin Goult, said that with almost two million units sold since 1948, the 90 has a reputation for getting you there and back regardless of climate or terrain.

“With the reintroduction of the 90 in Australia, Land Rover now offers nine different Defender derivatives, across three wheel bases.

“We believe the enhancements to the iconic Defender 90 will win the hearts and minds of new and existing customers alike,” he said.

The new 90 is shorter in length but taller than the 2003 model with a greater ground clearance (323mm).

Wading depth is up to 500mm while max towing weight with a braked trailer is 3500kg (750kg unbraked).

Safety features come in the form of ABS and traction control.

Land Rover chief designer, Dave Saddington, said very few changes have been made to the model’s exterior but the interior received much more attention.

“The interior’s a different story. We wanted to change the heating system and instruments, as well as improve ergonomics, all of which gave us the opportunity to introduce an all-new fascia.

“The new fascia is better integrated, more robust and functionally superior to the old unit, whilst still entirely in keeping with Defender 90’s character.”

Inside is a new in-dash CD player, rubber floor mats and electric front windows.

The air-conditioning system can now cool the cabin in half the time and by seven degrees more than the old unit, while the heater works 40 per cent quicker and up to 12 degrees hotter.

Land Rover chief program engineer, Gary Taylor, said upgraded sound insulation and a quieter engine make for a far superior cabin experience.

“For many customers, the step change in Defender 90’s refinement will be one of the most welcome advances.

“Not only are noise levels significantly lower, but sound quality is transformed too.”

The Defender 90 is on sale now at a recommended retail price of $44,990 before statutory and delivery charges and will arrive in Australia early next year.

Leopold Banyak, a key defender who plays for the new African club champions TP Mazembe of DR Congo, has broken his leg after a car accident…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: football teams. The blog is also related to: second soccer.

Será, provavelmente, o último dos resistentes à moda SUV e tem os dias contados graças à evolução da legislação em termos de segurança e emissões poluentes. Simplicidade rústica, robustez e uma capacidade para ir onde nenhum outro consegue, são características do Defender, um jipe à antiga que a Land Rover tem dificuldade em exterminar e substituir.

Convirá, desde já, fazer uma declaração de intenções e referir que palmilhámos muitos quilómetros ao volante de vários Defender de várias gerações e sempre o considerámos o melhor todo-o-terreno de sempre. Atenção que dizemos, “o melhor todo-o-tereno”, não o melhor jipe ou o melhor SUV.

Criticar o Defender é fácil, pois não existirá carro mais arcaico e anacrónico ao cimo da terra, de tal forma que nem sequer é capaz de ser actualizado para receber airbags, cintos com pré-tensores e estruturas deformáveis. Vá lá que se arranjou um espacinho para colocar o ar condicionado… Mas perguntem aos milhares de proprietários de Defender se trocariam o seu carro por um moderno SUV. A verdade é que a Land Rover tem tido enorme dificuldade em terminar a produção – cara pois é todo feito em alumínio – e maior dificuldade em arranjar-lhe um substituto, continuando a lutar contra todas as normas de segurança e ecológicas.

O Defender foi o modelo que deu à Land Rover a sua imagem de marca como especialista em veículos fora-de-estrada, apoiando-se ainda hoje num chassis de longarinas em aço onde são aparafusadas carroçarias distintas produzidas em alumínio. O estilo foi evoluindo, mas está muito semelhante ao dos primeiros Série I e II, surgindo nesta versão mais uma bossa no capot para albergar o motor vindo da Ford Transit.

Os alargamentos das cavas das rodas – necessários para albergar os eixos com vias mais largas, impossíveis de esconder debaixo da carroçaria quase centenária – dão um ar musculado ao Defender, que acaba por se perder nesta versão pick-up, nascida para ludibriar as homologações e poupar cerca de 10 mil euros no preço final. E perder lotação (há lugar apenas para 2 pessoas) e conforto.

A suspensão é do mais simples que possam imaginar: dois eixos rígidos com paralelogramo de Watt e molas de lâminas. Resultado: um desconforto atroz – potenciado pela capota de plástico que acima dos 60 km/h faz um barulho horrível! – em estrada e fora dela, mas um comportamento hiper-eficaz em todo-o-terreno sendo poucos os obstáculos que o sistema de tracção integral com caixa de redutoras e bloqueio dos diferenciais não consegue ultrapassar. Acreditem que é verdadeiramente impressionante andar com o Defender fora-de-estrada. Quando voltamos ao alcatrão, voltam também o desconforto, os barulhos mecânicos – a transmissão parece que se vai desconjuntar – o barulho da capota e dos pneus, ainda assim nesta versão virados quase exclusivamente para uma utilização em estrada.

Ergonomia é palavra vã dentro do Defender. Pequena concessão: o painel de instrumentos vem do Discovery e a consola central já tem espaço para o rádio (opcional) e para o ar condicionado (também opcional). Porém, não há vidros eléctricos, comando eléctrico dos espelhos (têm de ser orientados à mão, só possível com a ajuda de outra pessoa) ou airbags. E para complicar ainda mais a tarefa, o volante é enorme, não há espaço para os braços – bater com o cotovelo na janela é comum e no todo-o-terreno é capaz de ficar com o braço negro… – e os pedais estão descentrados e são enormes, não deixando nenhum espaço para repousar o pé que acciona a embraiagem. Atrás dos bancos está uma divisória e por via disso é impossível recuar o banco suficientemente para evitar que os mais barrigudos conduzam com o volante a roçar no corpo.

Obviamente que em termos aerodinâmicos o Defender será muito semelhante a um cubo e por isso a velocidade máxima não vai além dos 140 km/h, valor ainda assim elevado pois a travagem é fraca – com distâncias de imobilização lançado a 100 km/h superiores a 60 metros! – e no que toca ao comportamento, a elevada altura, distância ao solo impressionante e centro de gravidade muito elevado, não ajudam a tornar o Defender muito agradável em estradas sinuosas.

Portanto, o Land Rover Defender será dos piores automóveis que conhecemos nestes aspectos, mas olhem bem para ele. Não dá vontade de ter um? É que a sua simplicidade e rusticidade acabam por seduzir e para aqueles cuja vida é passada entre montes e vales, comprar um Defender é a melhor opção. E ainda por cima nesta versão pick-up, custa menos de 25 mil euros o que é uma óptima notícia. Bom, se não se importar de gastar algumas centenas de euros num massagista…

Características técnicas

Motor – 4 cil. 16V; 2401 c.c.; “common rail” c/turbo de geometria variável; Potência (CV/rpm) – 122/3500; Binário (Nm/rpm) – 360/2000; Transmissão – Integral permanente, caixa manual 6 vel.; Suspensão (fr./tr.) – Eixo rígido/Eixo rígido; Travões (fr./tr.) – Discos vent./Discos; Comp./Larg./Alt. (mm) – 3649/1790/1968; Dist. entre eixos (mm) – 2360; Capacidade da mala (lt) – nd; Peso (kg) – 1705; Velocidade Máxima (km/h) – 140; Acel. 0-100 km/h (s) – 15,8; Consumo médio (l/100 km) – 10,0; Emissões CO2 (gr/km) – 266 (Categoria F); Preço – 24.911 Euros

If the above two players from Manchetser United are legends according to you my friend Noyang then widen your horizons to other clubs also…
The premiership leaders as of now and favourites to win the premier league this season, Chelsea is the club to watch for… And the man whom I am talking about is the Whale in the blues sea. He is John Terry.

The cool clam defender who also plays for England is a player to watch with his great style of defending who can attack when he is unnoticed. He has made his mark in the Chelsea side and has been in the squad in the previous Chelsea when the Russian Roman Abramovich bought the London club in June 2003. When a defender is that good the awards will follow. He was voted as the best defender in the European Champions league in 2005 and 2008 and was voted the PFA Player of the Year by his fellow professionals, the first Chelsea man to get the honours.
AtChelsea he had already taken on the skipper’s role, having observed and thoroughly studied Marcel Desailly and led the club toan unbelievable title in his very first year with the captain’s armband. He recently said that ifChelsea doesn’t win a champions league or any major he won’t be also to sleep in peace.
As the high spending Manchester City didn’t stop offering Terry till July 2009, making a third bid for Terry, but Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti has insisted Terry will remain at Chelsea. With 350+ appearances at Stamford bridge has surely made him a legend at Stamford Bridge.

He has shown the way for Chelsea again and again, the latest being the winner against Manchester United in the premier league recently. Making him the man with the tag… The Striking defender.

UNIVERSAL CHANNEL LUNES 16 NOVIEMBRE

22:00 HRS SKY 208 / CABLEVISIÓN 211

REPETICIÓN CAPÍTULO ANTERIOR 21:00 HRS

CBS

Alicia y Will defenderán a una stripper que fue violada en una despedida de solteros por el novio, un joven millonario de una familia prominente en Chicago.

En el plano personal Alicia confrontará a Peter acerca de sus indiscreciones.

If Ryan Giggs is a class apart, then this man is none less than anyone. He is in the league of its own. I m talking about none other than Gary Neville. He is Manchester United’s one of the most reliable man. As strike is not possible without defence, Gary is the head commander in that area.

Born on 18th Feb 1975, he doesn’t looks like he is 34. The ones who have seen him playing his game is a witness to it. Playing in his trade mark position at Right Back makes very little room for attacks from there. A legend at Old Trafford with 550+ appearances is a big achievement and the best part about him is that he also, along with Ryan Giggs, is loyal to the Manchester club as he has never represented any other football club. He was in the youth academy in 1991-92 and then was promoted to the senior team. He has captained the high profile United side and guided them to various trophies ranging from the champions league to premier league and fa cup.
He has also represented his country, England in 90+ matches in the same position. One of the exciting moments about his career was when his badge-clenching, fist-pumping celebration following Rio Ferdinand’s last-minute winner against Liverpool at Old Trafford in January 2006, for example, saw him charged with improper conduct by the FA and fined £5000. “Are you meant to smile sweetly and jog back to the halfway line?” he protested at the time. “People want footballers to be whiter than white. Do they want a game of robots?” So was his love for the game.
As the champions league defeat pinched him, he has another chance to relive the European glory with his contract getting extended till June 2010. Hat’s off to this Englishman. An example for the young walls in making.

Brewery Defender
Brewery Defender

Brewery Defender Game
Brewery Defender Game Description : Drag the blue midget in order to deflect the hymenoptera blobs and help to escape to as many brewery trucks as you could.
How to Play Brewery Defender Game? Use Mouse to interact.

Chelsea’s Ashley Cole could be out of action for weeks after aggravating a leg injury…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: history football. The blog is also related to: euro soccer.

Ok this one is a bit half-arsed – This one took longer than expected and I had to call it quits at the 2hr mark.

Avalon Defender and Pilot

If you don’t know what the predator is, it’s an awesome non-lethal self-defense tool used by George Clooney in “The Men Who Stare at Goats”.

It took quite a bit of digging around the internet, but I finally found it.

The First Earth Battalion “Predator” defensive tool is EXCLUSIVELY available through the First Earth Battalion at ProjectJeDi.net. Only 1000 of these special edition DVD & Predator sets are being distributed!

The set contains the Predator, as well as a special edition DVD signed by Master Peter Brusso and individually numbered.

If you buy one, let me know how you like it!  I haven’t had a chance to really try mine out on anyone… yet!

EDIT: peep the full Rated R album review HERE!

Thankyou to everyone for reading my review of Rihanna’s first single “Russian Roulette”, from her forthcoming album Rated R. Together, you guys have made it the most popular post out of all of the posts on my blog!  So I really appreciate that.  If you get a moment, please also take a look and a listen to my new album, Quiet Storm, available on this post here.

So since my review of “Russian Roulette” seems to have gone down well, I thought that I would review the other songs that we now have from Rated R, which are: “Wait Your Turn”, “Te Amo” and the recently-leaked “Hard”.

Wait Your Turn

Before “Russian Roulette” was officially released on Rihanna’s website, there was a metallic “R” (her new logo, as you can see in her album cover above) and a countdown timer bearing the message “The Wait Is Ova”; that message is this song’s main refrain.  Although the production of the song is suitably dark and the lyrics are tough, the song takes a while to stick in the listener’s mind, especially as the chorus seems somewhat weak.  Out of all the songs we’ve heard from Rated R so far, this is the weakest track, despite the fact it is the first one we have a video for:

The plus sides to this song: Rihanna embodies swagger, which comes across in both the dark, grainy video with her strutting through various shadowy landscapes in fashionable outfits, and in the thick island accent she employs on the verses: “I pitch wit a grenaaayaaaade”! The electric guitar in the background amplifies the song’s confidence.  Overall, it’s not awful, but still far from Rihanna’s best, and falls short as a declaration that she is ‘back’ – if anything, it plays more like a buzz single than a confident statement of intent.

Te Amo

This song was the first track to be leaked from Rated R, though nobody knew this at the time; it only became apparent when the album’s tracklisting included this title.  Of course, it’s possible that the song may have been remixed or improved with additional production / vocals, but the song as we have it currently is an undulating, mid-tempo ballad (if there can be such a thing).  Rihanna sings about a female friend who tries to express her love for her while they dance together; however, Rihanna is happy to have a friendship but wants nothing more.  Nevertheless, their dance is depicted with a sense of romance and longing, and the sadness in her voice when she sings “‘Te amo’, somebody tell me what she said, don’t it mean ‘I love you’?” is palpable.

The setting of a dancefloor “underneath the candelabra”, followed by seemingly walking along the beach gives the song an exotic setting to match with its use of Spanish phrasing.  Production wise, this track could have easily fit within Good Girl Gone Bad, but nevertheless it carries itself well and along with “Russian Roulette”, displays Rihanna’s more vulnerable side, which contrasts with…

Hard

The most recently-leaked of the Rated R tracks, this song really does go hard!  The most urban of the Rated R tracks (and it features a rap from Young Jeezy), it once again embodies swagger and non-stick confidence.  ”Meet me at the top top top, it’s gettin’ lonely”… Rihanna sees herself as a “lion”, a fierce defender of her crown as a survivor (hmm, of what? Chris Brown and domestic violence? Bloggers and haters (who are picked up on in the lyrics)? General negativity and envy?) and as a superstar.  The clashing drums and sinister trumpets give the song a menacing, dense backbeat over which Rihanna yells what sounds like a call to arms.  It’s a very confrontational song in its production, vocal delivery (none of the light fluff of “Shut Up And Drive” here!) and lyrics: the opening lyric in one way says it all: “They can say whatever, I can do whatever, no pain is forever, yep, you know this”.

Out of the three songs, “Hard” is probably the best of the bunch, and I’ve heard some people saying that it should have been the first single.  I think that a video for this track has to happen, as Rihanna’s dark fashionista style and haughty pout would suit the message of the song perfectly; it’s easy for me to imagine the video for “Wait Your Turn” suiting this track much better.

Nevertheless, both “Hard” and “Te Amo”, like “Russian Roulette”, are promising indicators of an album which shows not only a growing maturity but also a hardening and darkening of Rihanna’s persona and style (only “Wait Your Turn” is a bit of a disappointment). Whether this is a result of just being older and more experienced in the music industry, having survived her turbulent relationship and subsequent media hoopla in the past year, or worshipping Satan (!!!!!!!!!!! I had to LOL when I read that story!  But you never know…), it seems like Rated R will be a cohesive work and an evolution from Good Girl Gone Bad.  Whether the new album has the hit factor that its predecessor contained is debatable – Good Girl Gone Bad was an album chock full of production-savvy uptempos and attitude-laced bangers that might prove hard to top – but what’s evident is that Rihanna’s not afraid to do something different from the other big females in the game, and she’s not afraid to take it to a darker place, as evidenced by the “Wait Your Turn” video.  I eagerly await the album, and when it leaks, you know that you’ll be able to catch my review of it right here soon after!  Thanks for your support, keep it locked kids

It has certainly been a controversial summer in the world of football this year as new club Three Rivers bought in a whole new squad of players, here’s a look at all of Three River’s transfers during the summer:

Three Rivers also announced that at the end of their contracts Tore Reginiussen and David Beckham would also be joining the club.

Hi to my first real blog post.  I’m Helen, married to Paul and we are a pair of oldies (well ish) planning a senior gap year.  We leave England around April 2010.  Our home will be a Land Rover Defender 110.  Where will we go?  Who will we meet?  Follow the blog and learn with us.

From the state’s point of view, the main benefit of the plea bargain is that it saves time and money. It’s a good thing for someone who is guilty, someone who has factually done that which he or she is charged with doing, who is confronted with overwhelming evidence, and where the state is inclined to make some kind of offer because they would not want to put the victim, or families of the victim, or put the state, to the cost of proving the case at trial.

For every criminal conviction that comes after a trial, 19 other cases are settled by plea bargain. This system can easily be abused by over zealous prosecutors and low paid public defenders.  It can extract guilty pleas from absolutely innocent people who plead guilty to charges they did not commit because they can’t afford the risk of going to trial. Especially when their own lawyer is telling them that they stand a good chance of going to prison unless they accept the agreement that the prosecution is offering.

So why would an innocent person admit to a crime they didn’t commit? If an individual refuses to take the plea bargain and accept a guilty plea, and is later convicted, they face penalties up to ten times greater than if he were convicted of trial.

About 95 percent of all felony convictions in the United States are the result of plea bargains.

Judge Ralph Adam Fine’s comment on plea bargaining:

During my nine years as a trial judge, I had several defendants who wanted to plead guilty even though when I then asked them to tell me what they did, responded with stories of innocence. When I asked them why they were trying to plead guilty, they all told me that they had been threatened with harsher penalties if they insisted on going to trial. In rejecting their pleas, I told them that we had enough guilty persons to convict, and that we did not need to dip into the pool of the innocent.

In each of the instances, we went to trial and the defendants were acquitted.

Judge Fine proves that plea bargaining is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in an excellent article he wrote for the Federalist Society; the article is located here (large .pdf).

Prosecutors are under significant pressure to negotiate plea agreements. a criminal trial costs approximately $10,000 per day to prosecute, prosecutors have very heavy case loads, the jails are crowded and the criminal court calendars are full. In addition, various pressures lead defense attorneys to plea bargain most cases.

Going to a jury trial is a roll of dice—even with the best attorneys and the most exonerating evidence in the world, you just never know what kind of decision a jury of 12 people will come to with your case!

When plea bargaining is available, prosecutors can extract a guilty plea in nearly every case, including very weak cases, simply by adjusting the plea concession to the defendant’s chances of acquittal at trial. When almost every case results in a plea of guilty, regardless of the strength of the evidence, prosecutors have much less interest in screening away weak cases. Since some cases are weak because the defendant is innocent, however, more innocent defendants are charged and as a result more are convicted.

More Reading On This Topic:

In the prosecutor’s view, there is no such thing as an innocent suspect or defendant.

Prosecutors are intimidating, and threatening to those who are being prosecuted for something they did not even do.

For every false conviction due to plea bargaining, there exists a criminal on the streets whom the police no longer care about.

- Posted using MobyPicture.com

Time for another burst of automotive news, everyone!

Our top story of this installment: after years and years and YEARS of teasing, Toyota has finally unveiled Lexus’s first supercar. Called the LFA, the supercar is a clean-sheet design with a front-mounted 4.8-liter V10 that spits out 552 horsepower and 354 lb-ft of torque. With the help of a six-speed sequential manual gearbox, Toyota claims the car dashes from 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds before topping out at 202 miles per hour.

If it sounds to you like the LFA will line up pretty squarely against the Ferrari 458 Italia, congratulations, you know enough about sports cars to make up for your Archie comics collection. However, there’s a catch – the Ferrari is significantly cheaper than Toyota’s latest ride. (And there’s a sentence I never thought I’d write.)

Yes, the LFA can be yours for not a Benjamin less than $375,000 – at least $100,000 than the 458 will likely cost here in the States. And while the Lexus is pretty cool, it’s hard to imagine many rich car enthusiasts would pick the uglier, more expensive LFA over the latest addition to Ferrari’s stable. Of course, most of them won’t have to – in this price range, if you can buy one, you can probably buy both.

But Toyota isn’t the only Japanese manufacturer with big performance news. According to AutoCar, the next-generation Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution will be powered by a plug-in hybrid powertrain similar to that of the company’s PX-MiEV concept from this year’s Tokyo Motor Show. The PX-MiEV, which sounds like a bad hand of Scrabble, has two electric motors powering all four wheels;  a 1.6 liter four-cylinder engine pulls double-duty, both generating power for the battery and powering the front driveshaft.

The PX-MiEV. Not the Evo XI, thank God.

Now, we here at CCO aren’t quite sure how Mitsubishi intends to pull this off. Even if they can drastically cut the Evo’s weight (which would be difficult to do while adding all the new tech), the car will still need at least 250 horsepower in order to maintain its performance credentials. But that’s 250 horsepower all the time. Not, 250 horsepower until the battery runs out of initial charge, then 100 horsepower while the gas motor recharges it. Then again, the next-gen Evo isn’t due until 2013, so they have time to sort it out.

Speaking of potentially stupid ideas, Porsche recently announced they would be willing to share both the Panamera and, more frighteningly, the 911 architecture with their new corporate masters, the Volkswagen Group. We’re not sure if this is Volkswagen exacting punishment for Porsche’s earlier attempt to conquer the VW Group (super-short refresher: Porsche AG tried to take over the VW group in 2007, but it fell through – so the VW group proceeded to take over Porsche, instead), but using the 911 platform for anything other than Porsche 911s just seems blasphemous.

Of course, it’s unlikely VW will ever use the 911’s underpinnings for anything else, since the demand for rear-engined sports cars is pretty slim. Porsche has only managed to perfect the form after 40-plus years of refinement; if it weren’t for the 911’s immense heritage, they likely would have dumped the car in favor of a bigger version of the mid-engined Boxster years ago. (That said, don’t be surprised to see the next-gen Boxster/Cayman sharing a platform with Audi’s R4 roadster…)

In other German car news, prototypes of BMW’s next-generation 5-series have been spotted prowling around Deutschland. Clad in BMW’s groovy camouflage designed to confuse camera lenses and attract aging hippies, the new 5 looks to us like a cross between the new 7-series and the most recent 3-series – which is probably what they were aiming for. Once the acid trip stickers wear off (hah!), expect a more conventionally attractive sedan than the current 5.

Courtesy Autowereld.com

Expect the same inline six-cylinder engines from today’s lineup, but the 360-hp V8 of the current BMW 550i will be supplanted with the oh-so-sweet turbocharged 4.4-liter, 400-hp V8 from the 750i and X6. Rumor has it the next M5 will come with a similar turbocharged V8 pumping out around 550 horsepower, connected to a 7-speed dual clutch gearbox – and the line for that sonofabitch forms behind me, so stop cutting.

On the complete other end of the performance spectrum, Nissan pulled the wraps off the production version of their Leaf electric car last week at the Tokyo Auto Show. To dust off the old SAT-style analogy format, Leaf:Nissan::Volt:General Motors, and if you can’t figure that out, well, you probably shouldn’t be reading “College” Cars Online.

Nissan claims the Leaf offers all the convenience and range necessary to wean the majority of automobile users (at least those in First-World Countries – sorry, anybody who’s name ends in -stan) off the internal combustion engine. With a 100-mile range, 107 horsepower, a top speed of 87 mph and a pricetag of around $25,000, we’ll probably be seeing quite a few Leafs (Leaves?) on our roads soon.

Nissan claims recharging on a 200V outlet takes 8 hours, which is all kinds of helpful, considering pretty much every electrical appliance in the U.S. operates on either a 120V or 240V circuit. Figure around 8 hours on a heavy-duty 240V outlet, whereas if you’re plugging into the same 120V outlet your iPhone uses, you might as well just walk wherever you’re going.

I don’t really have any creative segue for this next story, since it sort of goes directly in opposition to the point of this site, so let’s just dive right in and avoid this awkward moment. According to the omnipresent J.D. Power and Associates, Generation Y doesn’t care as much about automobiles as they used to. After the Big Brother-ish group tracked thousands of conversations on Facebook and Twitter over an eight-month period (um, creepy), they determined teens and “early careerists” – 12-to-18-year-olds and  22-to-29-year-olds, respectively, because college students don’t matter – showed “shifts in perception regarding the necessity of and desire to have cars.”

The Power Co. goes on to posit that either the recession has left America’s youth with less cash to spend on cars, or that social media has replaced face-to-face interaction to such a degree we no longer feel the need to meet up in person as much. If number two is correct, then God help us all.

On a completely unrelated note, be sure to follow us on Twitter, @collegecars! Also, become a fan of us on Facebook!

However, the survey does go on to point out the two most popular automotive topics on social media during that time were NASCAR and “Transformers: Rise Of The Fallen.” Please excuse me while I slam my head into a brick wall.

Optimus Prime never saw a dance-off he couldn't win.

Finally, a moment of silence, please, for the passing of a legend. Land Rover has announced that after six decades on the market, the Defender will be retired in 2013. While the Defender proved itself capable of conquering the worst nature could throw at it, there was one foe it proved unable to defeat: government regulations.

Thanks to new European emissions and pedestrian-safety regulations, an all-new or heavily revised replacement will be required for the aging yet capable SUV. While the Defender hasn’t been sold in the U.S. for quite some time, your editor will always have fond memories of clambering up a seemingly impassible trail in the Vermont woods in a Defender 90.

However, Land Rover claims the replacement will be more versatile and more practical. If that means it’ll be just as capable and can come back to the States, well – the king is dead, long live the king!