I went to a Metal show last night at El Rio in the Mission. One of my compatriots told me about this site, the Map of Metal. It is a giant Flash website map that looks like something out of a board game like Risk or Axis & Allies. Each genre and sub-genre of metal represent a territory and linkages represent the heritage of the genre.

The Map of Metal

The first DLC map pack for Call of Duty:Black Ops came out earlier this week. Having played it a little, I would say that I really like the Berlin Wall map with the guard towers. Interesting choke points. Kowloon is frustrating but I think over time it will be fun once I figure out its intricacies.

What are your thoughts in First Strike?

I mentioned before that I bought some new Michelin Energy Saver All-Season tires for my Toyota Prius. The advertising materials from Michelin claim that using the tires will achieve up to an 8% increase in fuel economy.

Anecdotally I have been able to achieve about a 47 MPG average for combined mileage, approximately a 2-4% improvement versus my previous average with the original tires. Having driven about 1 month (1,500 miles?) on the tires this modest improvement in my Prius mileage doesn’t save a ton of money but I am impressed that the tires really have made a difference in the car’s fuel economy.