Ah Sean, under that PC exterior there beats the heart of a true CO2 fiend! Yay!! There is nothing, absolutely nothing like putting your foot down and being compressed into the driver’s seat by 300 hp. Right Sean?
manifold
BMW: businessman’s car
Porsche: overcompensating stockbroker’s car
Aston, Ferrari, Maserati: ultra-masculine sports cars
Jaguar: ultra-feminine sports car
sorry, dude, those are just the standard brand associations there…
Jaguar has always been the one that focused on the comfy ride rather than raw power or handling, for the past 50 years. It’s fair enough. Women are half the world.
http://geoffarnold.com Geoff Arnold
Coincidentally, I just finished watching the latest Top Gear episodes on BBC America, in which that particular Jaguar was reviled as “not cool” because it was large enough to fit a bag of golf clubs.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/mark/ Mark
Ah, so you did it! I saw this episode also. Enjoy!
http://www.twistedphysics.typepad.com Jennifer Ouellette
I’m a newly converted fan of Jeremy’s, and TOP GEAR… just because I’m such a sucker for cheeky Brit irreverance.
http://cnn.com/ Regular visitor
Why is there something in this article rather than nothing?
http://backreaction.blogspot.com Stefan
Maybe it’s a coincidence, maybe Sean wants to tease Peter Woit, who has just commented that More and more blogs have postings that largely consist of youtube or other sources of video. The few times I’ve clicked on the things I’ve always regretted it, cursing the blog owner for not just putting in words the point they thought people would be interested in. – here is a case in point: why should I watch a video that seems to be an advertisements for cars? Is there anything special about it? Some hint may be helpful, I don’t get it…
Elliot
Stefan,
I’m with you. Not being a “car guy” I just don’t get it. I’m perfectly happy with my 4 cyl 1998 suzuki sidekick that can barely hit 75.
Elliot
http://www.physics.ucsb.edu/~mark Mark Srednicki
I don’t get it either. With fossil fuel depletion presenting a tremendous looming challenge to our civilization over the coming decades, Cosmic Variance gives us a paean to the gratuitous waste of those fuels. For “no particular reason”.
Extremely inapproriate. In that regard (to put it in terms Sean will understand) it reminded me of this post.
I was equally surprised that this was now a standard future on wordpress. One of these days I’m going to make a post with a lot of LaTeX in it. Just because I can
http://backreaction.blogspot.com/ B
… well, I only looked the first minute or so. sorry, the video quality hurts my eyes, and without any good reason why I’m not patient enough to watch all of it. In cases somebody makes it through and figures out whether maybe Sean makes an appearance in that clip let me know. Otoh, maybe the the question is not “If you must put in a car video, why not this one?” but “If you must come up with a blog post, why not put in a video?” (Okay, I know I am guilty of that as well, see the Honda ad in this post)
http://www.leekottner.com Lee Kottner
I am sick with jealousy, Sean. Glad you got this instead of the BMW, which I’ve always thought of as sheer Yuppie porn. A Jag, however, has class. I turned up the sound just to hear it purr.
Im going to go with Geoff Arnold, that is the best Top Gear ever.
http://www.physics.ucsb.edu/~mark Mark Srednicki
Oh, now I get it: you bought one! My intention wasn’t to criticize a personal buying decision, which we all make all the time, and usually without fossil-fuel use as an important criterion. But future circumstances may change that for us whether we like it or not …
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/sean/ Sean
Yes, we are now the happy owners of a 2004 XK8 convertible (not precisely the new XKR shown in the video). But also, the clip from Top Gear was intrinsically entertaining. And I can’t yet afford a Tesla.
Those who are unmoved by the car and/or the video are, as always where aesthetics are concerned, entitled to their own judgments, however misguided they may be.
Thomas Larsson
our other car’s a Prius…
A Prius and a Jaguar together will emit more CO2 than a Jaguar alone…
Besides, a hybrid car only reduces CO2 emission in the city. On the highway, where there is no braking and the ICE operates under optimal conditions, the electrical engine is just dead weight.
Its OK, it is a beautiful car, and you can cut back on heating/cooling the house or on flying to make up for the CO^2
skeptic23
Obviously Thomas Larsson has never driven on the highways in LA.
Cynthia
Sean, hate to break it to you, but once you’re blessed with a little Sean or Seanette, you’re gotta have to trade in that XK8 of yours for a more family-oriented vehicle.
http://www.leekottner.com Lee Kottner
Cynthia,
That’s a big assumption on more than one count.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/sean/ Sean
Plenty of room in the boot for the little squealers.
music
I really liked the background music in the video. Does anyone know who the artist are
oxo
Who cares about the CO2 output? It’s not the cause of Global Warming..
Depletion of fossil fuel is an issue, but as it’ll all be gone someday, what does it matter if that’s 50 or 250 years away?
http://www.allysonbeatrice.com/blog Allyson
Wait. Sean’s having kids?
I’ll feed your cat, but I’m drawing the line at kids.
http://backreaction.blogspot.com Stefan
OK, now I’ve also got it … and Top Gear is a BBC television series, I should have known …
Have fun with the Jaguar, even though it might not be a totally politically correct car
http://arunsmusings.blogspot.com Arun
From the point of view of Buddhist or Hindu philosophy, the danger of a possession is if it becomes part of your self-definition; i.e., if your self-image is tied in any way to the car you drive, then you are in trouble.
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Cosmic Variance
Random samplings from a universe of ideas.
About Sean Carroll
Sean Carroll is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Physics at the California Institute of Technology. His research interests include theoretical aspects of cosmology, field theory, and gravitation. His most recent book is The Particle at the End of the Universe, about the Large Hadron Collider and the search for the Higgs boson.
Here are some of his favorite blog posts, home page, and email: carroll [at] cosmicvariance.com .
