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Comfort. That's what the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 has over everything else. It's by far the most comfortable tablet to hold, and to read and watch movies on. But to be the full-fledged iPad and Nexus competitor we're hoping for, it needs to be more than just another pretty face.
Why It Matters
It costs $300. That makes the 8.9-inch Fire HD the cheapest full-size tablet, and therefore at the top of a lot of shopping lists for the holidays. Many, many people will own this by the end of the year whether it's any good or not. They're hoping for good.
This is the perfect size for a full-size tablet. It's just more comfortable to hold than the 10-inch slates it's up against. Holding it one-handed in portrait mode, especially, is more comfortable than it is with the Nexus 10 or iPad, thanks of the smaller size and lighter weight combined with the same spacious bezel. It's got a rubberized back that will be familiar if you've used a 7-inch Kindle Fire HD, twin speakers placed on either side of the tablet while in landscape mode, which is how you'd want them for watching movies.
It doesn't quite have the industrial polish of the iPad or the Nexus 10, but it's still a handsome tablet. Its optional case, though, while identical to the 7-inch Fire HD's—which we liked—just seems too bulky for a larger tablet. You'll prefer to keep it undressed.
Using It
For a tablet as drop-dead identical to the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD as this 8.9-inch version is, using it can feel remarkably different. And it's not just the physical size; it's the change in expectations between using a cheap little tablet and something bigger—and pricier.
The 8.9-inch Fire HD runs on the same Kindle OS as its little brother, but apps load much faster here thanks to the former's zippier OMAP 4470 processor. The Mail app is a little less cramped, too. But that's about all the improvement you'll see from the Kindle OS here. (For a full rundown on all the Kindle OS qualities and quirks, check the review for the 7-inch model.)
Otherwise, the larger screen just exaggerates Amazon's Android skin flaws. Its version of multitasking is still just a mishmash of a Favorites button and the rotating content carousel home screen. There are still no notifications for incoming email (strange, but tested with multiple accounts)—not even badges or notification center alerts—despite the gigantic Mail app icon sitting on the home screen. And the limited selection of Android apps is still a gigantic pain, as is their lagginess compared to their base Android counterparts.
Those are flaws you can forgive a cheap 7-inch tablet if you're just using it as a reader or movie viewer. But it's harder to accept them in a larger, more expensive, more capable tablet. It's the same software, sure. But when you stretch it out, you start to pull apart the seams.
The size and build are pretty close to ideal. It doesn't reach the high points of an iPad or Nexus 10, but it's a solid piece of gear at a super low (starting) price. There's also a noticeable speed boost from the Fire HD 7; the 7-inch regularly took 5+ seconds to open large HD movies, while the 8.9-inch does it in about 2 seconds flat. That's impressive. Sound is just as strong on the 8.9-inch Fire HD as it is on the 7-inch, which is to say the best on a tablet, and better than most laptops. And of course, Amazon still has the biggest and best ecosystem this side of Apple.
Then there's the screen. The 8.9's 1920x1200 254ppi IPS display sits just behind the iPad's 264ppi, and well back of the Nexus 10's 300ppi. But you'd probably only notice a large difference if you shove your nose up against the glass, especially since a lot of Android apps aren't updated for the super HD resolutions just yet. What you do notice is that it's not quite as bright as the Nexus 10, but its contrast is a little less eyeball-meltingly white. That might make it sound like color accuracy is inferior on the Fire, but it's actually much easier to stare at for extended periods of time.
You'll appreciate the display especially if you're a magazine subscriber or comic book reader. You can read comics in full screen here—even notoriously oversized and difficult-to-fit-on-a-screen volumes like Alan Moore's From Hell or Grant Morrison's Arkham Asylum—in totally reasonable clarity. The drop down to 8.9 inches doesn't cramp your reading space in any meaningful way. This might be the perfect comic book reader.
And for what it's worth, the Fire HD beat out the Nexus 10 on Wi-Fi speed tests by a little under 5Mbit/s over five tests on the same network.
No Like
It's still the software. The entire Kindle OS feels like a longwinded workaround. Yes, it is noticeably faster here than it was on the Fire HD 7. But its sore spots are a whole lot sorer, too.
Then there are the little things that add up. Text is displayed a little smaller by default than on the iPad or Nexus 10. That's not a huge deal, since the screen is very good and can take it, but it's a noticeable difference that might leave you squinting. Like the 7-inch Fire HD, the volume and power buttons are too flush with the side of the tablet, making them a giant pain to find. The 8.9 also gets just as warm as an iPad 3 when playing games or, sometimes, streaming movies, which isn't a huge deal, but something to consider if you plan to use it for long stretches.
Should You Buy This
It's not that the 8.9-inch Fire HD isn't a bargain. It is. But at $300, you're halfway from a $200 7-inch tablet to the $400 Jellybean 4.2 Nexus 10. And if you're looking for a full sized tablet that can multitask and run any Androidy thing you want, that's probably a better deal for you. It's not quite cheap enough to take a flier on, and not quite good enough to win on merits.
But! If you're specifically looking for something to read comic books or magazines, and that's more or less it, then holy crap, this is an amazing deal and you should get one immediately. All three of you.
Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch Specs
Processor: Dual-core 1.5GHz OMAP4470
Storage: 16GB/32GB for Wi-Fi-only; 32GB/64GB for LTE
Display: 8.9-inch IPS 1920x1200
Audio: Dolby Audio, dual stereo speakers
Network: 4G LTE (AT&T), dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi


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10/16/2017 Allegations in Connection with Business Operations in South Africa. Internal Investigation Closed. Involved Liebherr Entities and Employees not in Violation with any Applicable Laws or Regulations.
In an article published on July 17, 2017 a group of investigative South African journalists, Ama Bhungane, mentioned Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd., based in Killarney, Ireland in the context of an alleged kickback scheme related to supply contracts with Transnet and involving the sales agent Accurate Investments Ltd.
Liebherr considers these allegations as very serious. The business practices described in the article are unacceptable to us. The commitment to integrity of conduct and to fair competition in markets across the world is part of our core values.
In accordance with Group policies, the ultimate holding company of the Liebherr Group — Liebherr-International AG — therefore conducted an internal investigation into this matter. The results of this investigation show that the transactions under investigation were legally sound and not in violation of any applicable laws or regulations on the part of the Liebherr entities and employees involved.
The selection of a sales agent such as Accurate Investments Ltd. to provide interface services to the end user during the tender, procurement and supply process is a practice, which is common in the sales process for capital expenditure projects. It is also common that such a sales agent receives a nominal commission for the services provided in the event the tender, procurement and supply process is successfully completed.
In the case in question, Accurate Investments Ltd. was the sales representative selected by Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd. As required by the Group's due diligence process, Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd. performed background checks prior to entering into the agency agreement with Accurate Investments Ltd. These background checks did not indicate any malpractice on the part of Accurate Investments Ltd.
The internal investigation report did observe, however, that the Group's defined due diligence process might have been implemented in a more stringent manner in this case by pushing the performed background checks to an even higher level than the ones actually performed.
Being aware of the increased risks associated when agents are included in any type of transaction, Group companies, management and employees must strive to insure that the Group's standards of scrutiny and diligence are complied with in day-to-day business.
Liebherr's code of conduct and internal regulations governing Compliance can be found on https://www.liebherr.com/en/deu/about-liebherr/company-profile/compliance/compliance.html

subset: commoncrawl


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You may have heard of Kegel exercises—the squeezing and releasing of the pelvic floor muscles—as a way to strengthen your sex life. But, since they target the muscles that wrap around your urethra, they can also work wonders for bladder control: Research shows that up to 70% of women with stress incontinence who regularly exercised their pelvic floor experienced improvement.
That said, the exercises—named for gynecologist Arnold Kegel, MD, who first wrote about them in 1948—are not as easy as they seem. At least half of women with urinary incontinence have difficulty isolating their pelvic floor muscles, says Benjamin Brucker, MD, a urologist at NYU medical center. If doing Kegels on your own hasn't been working for you, you might be using the wrong muscles or an improper technique. Try these tips to make sure your pelvic floor gets the best workout possible:
What's the right way to do Kegels?
More From Prevention
- To get a sense of which muscles you're working, try to stop urinating mid-stream. That's the area you want to target during Kegel exercises.
- Imagine squeezing a pebble with your vagina.
- Try your Kegels in front of a hand mirror. If you're doing them properly, your perineum, or the skin-covered area between your vagina and anus, should contract with each rep.
Ideally, each rep should last 10 seconds, but that's no easy feat. Start with at least 4 or 5 reps of 2-second holds, 2 or 3 times a day, and increase your hold time week by week.
MORE: 12 Hip-Opening Yoga Poses
What if I need more help?
If you're not sure Kegels have been working for you, consider booking an appointment with a pelvic floor physical therapist—for women who have trouble isolating their pelvic floor muscles, physical therapy can make an enormous difference, Dr. Brucker says. Your physical therapist will prescribe a personalized exercise program to strengthen your pelvic floor over time.
"Just like the way a physical trainer works with you on reps at the gym, we increase the length of each Kegel from two seconds to five or ten seconds as you get stronger," says Amy Stein, MPT, the founder of Beyond Basics Physical Therapy in New York City and a practicing pelvic floor physical therapist. The muscles in your pelvis affect your legs and abs as well, and vice versa, so after helping you isolate and exercise your pelvic floor, a physical therapist will introduce core-strengthening exercises. "If your abdominal or leg muscles are weak, your pelvic muscles may be working overtime," Stein says. Try Pilates for a core workout that extends to your pelvic floor.
How do I know if my Kegels are working?
Your gynecologist/urologist or pelvic floor physical therapist may also suggest biofeedback, an electronic sensor system that maximizes the effectiveness of each Kegel session. The sensors detect the strength of each contraction and where it's coming from, so you and your doctor can see whether or not you're using the correct muscles. Of course, you should practice every day at home—or at work, or in the car, or at the supermarket... You can do "the invisible workout" anywhere, but Dr. Brucker suggests making them a part of your daily routine. "Do your Kegel exercises right after you put on your clothing, or when you're sitting and reading the newspaper, so you remember to do them every day," he says.
Amanda First is an editorial assistant at Prevention, focusing on health, beauty, and lifestyle content. She graduated from Cornell University with a degree in English.


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Fujitsu's K Computer is no longer the fastest supercomputer in the world. According to the latest Top500 list of the world's fastest supercomputers, that honour now goes to IBM's Sequoia system, which beats the K's 10.5 petaflop Linpack benchmark with a sustained world record speed of 16.32 petaflops. That's over 16 thousand trillion calculations per second.
The Sequoia is a Blue Gene/Q system running IBM's 64-bit, 18-core PowerPC A2 processors. There are 98,304 of these advanced 1.6GHz chips housed in its 96 racks. The configuration gives Sequoia just over 1.57 million parallel computing cores.
Like the giant redwood that gives Sequoia its name, the world's fastest supercomputer isn't small. It occupies 3,422 square feet, and LLNL (the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California) had to strengthen the floor of its building before it was installed. The 96 racks reportedly weigh as much as 30 adult elephants.
Sequoia was designed with a theoretical top speed of 20 petaflops. This makes it eight times more powerful than LLNL's previous number cruncher, Blue Gene/L, which was benchmarked at 478.2 teraflops and ruled the Top500 list from 2005-2008.
The National Nuclear Security Administration uses this incredible processing power to simulate the safety and reliability of the US nuclear stockpile, eliminating the need for underground testing. According to LLNL, "Sequoia will provide a more complete understanding of weapons performance, notably hydrodynamics and properties of materials at extreme pressures and temperatures."
The June 2012 Top500 rankings were revealed at the International Supercomputing Conference in Hamburg. Sequoia knocked the 705,024-core Japanese K computer (10.5 petaflops) into second place, with another Blue Gene/Q system, Mira (8.2 petaflops), in third.
The IBM-built, Intel-powered SuperMUC iDataPlex system debuted in fourth place (2.9 petaflops), while the Chinese Tianhe-1A (2.6 petaflops) completed the top five.
Sequoia cements IBM's position as the world's premier supercomputer provider. There are 213 IBM-built systems listed in the Top500, including 21 Blue Gene/Q clusters, four of which rank in the top 10.
In addition to Sequoia and Mira, the Italian Fermi cluster at CINECA (1.7 petaflops) slots in at number seven, while the German JuQUEEN (1.4 petaflops) is number eight. The question is: how long will Sequoia be able to hold on to the top spot?
China has two systems in the top 10 and, according to The Register, it is planning a 100+ petaflop supercomputer for 2015. The Tianhe-1A wasn't just a statement of intent. With its combination of 7,168 NVIDIA Tesla M2050 GPUs and 14,336 Intel Xeon processors, it marked a significant change in the way supercomputers might be built in the future.
According to the Top500 data, "58 systems use accelerators or co-processors (up from 39 six months ago), 53 of these use Nvidia chips, two use Cell processors, two use ATI Radeon and there is one new system with Intel MIC technology."
Intel's Many Integrated Core (MIC) technology has launched as Xeon Phi, and appears in a supercomputer ranked 150th on the Top500. It's a low-key debut for a co-processor that can deliver a teraflop of performance and fit into a single PCIe slot, especially when Intel's first teraflop computer in 1996 consisted of 9,298 CPUs and occupied 72 server cabinets.
Teraflop graveyard
What happened to that first teraflop supercomputer? It's probably buried in a landfill. According to Gary Grider, deputy division leader of the lab's High Performance Computing Division at the US Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, supercomputers are often disposed of in this way when they are decommissioned.
But some can have their lives extended with chip upgrades. The Jaguar system at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a case in point. Its AMD chips were recently upgraded to 16-core Opteron 6274 processors running at 2.2 GHz. Of its 18,688 computing nodes, 960 now incorporate an Nvidia GPU for extra processing power.
This improved Jaguar is rated at 1.9 petaflops and appears in sixth place on the Top500 list. It's only in the first phase of its overhaul too. After the rest of its upgrade, it will evolve into 'Titan' - a supercomputing cluster with an estimated 10-20 petaflops of computing performance.


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Skip to comments.Catholic Word of the Day: CUM ADMOTAE, 04-06-13
Posted on 04/06/2013 10:19:49 AM PDT by Salvation
Featured Term (selected at random):
Pontifical rescript of the papal secretary of state, delegating certain faculties from the Holy See to the superiors general of clerical religious communities that are pontifical, and to the presiding abbots of monastic communities (November 6, 1964).
Secretary for the con gregation for the Religious.
I was mistaken.
Catholic Word of the Day Ping!
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Point, Shoot, Lose 10 Pounds
You too can lose unwanted width in the blink of a sensor with the HP Photosmart R967's ($449) "slimming" feature. One of a slew of in-camera effects that can be applied after the fact, it essentially squashes the image. This has a thinning effect (note the suddenly svelte watermelon above) on head-on portraits, but it also can distort other elements in the frame (note the watermelon's shadow). Still, it's the kind of in-camera effect that could make this 10-megapixel compact digicam a hit. hp.com
The Command Force Micro Chopper Patrol ($13) is an old toy concept that we're happy to welcome back. By adjusting throttle and pitch, you can fly your very own gunship--the AH-6 Little Bird (shown), AH-64 Apache or AH-1 Super Cobra. Even a milk run of a mission, like dropping off some cargo, was more intense than we expected. jasman.com
More From Popular Mechanics
The Sound of Silence
Passive noise cancellation is simple--earphones shroud your ears with mammoth "cans" or fill them with speaker-embedded plugs. Active noise cancellation, however, uses audio frequencies to counter noise. We tested three models in two of the noisiest environments around--up in the sky, and down in the grass.
Testing Procedure: Using a sound-level meter, we took a dBA reading while sitting in business-class on a passenger jet at cruising altitude, and while sitting on a running 18-hp lawnmower. We then transcribed portions of an audiobook using an iPod and each of the three earphones, as well as a pair of noncanceling headphones as a control. The results were loud and somewhat clear.
Photographs by Burcu Avsar
ON A PLANE (Noise level: 76 dBA)
We've already given Pro Tech an Editor's Choice Award for its noise-canceling, over-the-ear safety earmuffs, and these on-the-ear headphones use the same technology. They significantly dampened engine noise, but tended to slip off our ears during the flight.
Despite being cheaper and more compact than the other headphones we tested, these earbuds were uncomfortable to wear, and the only noise reduction they seemed to offer was passive. The book wasn't any easier to hear or transcribe with the active element turned on.
They were just as effective at killing background noise as the Pro Techs, and the overall sound clarity was outstanding. They use a lithium-ion battery, as opposed to the single AAA required by the other models, which isn't any handier, but helps justify the $349 price tag. Sort of.
ON A LAWNMOWER (Noise level: 93 dBA)
None of the earphones were designed to stand up to the mower's racket--loud enough to cause hearing damage--which is exactly why we included this environment. Again, stiff padding made the Pro Techs difficult to wear, but they did manage to fend off some degree of noise.
In this environment the Koss's active noise reduction was noticeable--barely. The canceling effect was in the same league as the Pro Techs, but there was an unpleasant static hiss in the background, making the audiobook even less intelligible.
In terms of comfort and competence, the Bose headphones were the clear winners. But as with the others, transcribing was impossible without cranking up the iPod's volume, possibly negating the benefits of noise reduction by adding another blaring sound source.
For the money, these are decent in-flight noise-killers. But for preventing hearing damage on the job or in your yard, active or passive earmuffs are the safest bet.
Cramming noise cancellation technology into a pair of tiny earbuds sounds like a great idea. But out in the field, these earbuds didn't sound good at all.
These performed well, but we actually prefer Bose's older, QuietComfort 2 headphones, which fit over the ears and cost $50 less. So much for progress.


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This is war. On that everyone seems to agree—or, at least, they agreed for a while. In the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, not just politicians but many pundits joined President Bush in declaring "war" on terrorism. But now, with the aid of some critical distance, a few observers have started asking whether that word doesn't obscure more than it illuminates.
After all, a conventional war—a conflict between states or groups of states—is pretty straightforward. There is a clear-cut objective (control the other guy's territory) and a clear-cut methodology (kill the other guy's soldiers—who, conveniently, are often dressed in distinctively colored uniforms). Once you've obtained the objective, you can relax: Your enemy surrenders, and the game is over.
That none of this is true of a "war" on terrorism has started sinking into the national consciousness. ("What Would 'Victory' Mean?" asked a headline in yesterday's New York Times.) But I think the most dangerously misleading thing about the "war" metaphor still hasn't dawned on many people. We by and large haven't reckoned with the possible new meaning of the phrase "American casualties."
Suppose that, as part of our metaphorical war against terrorism, we declare an actual, literal war on Afghanistan. The average American will realize that, this being war, the enemy will fight back, and American soldiers will come home in body bags. But the average American might not realize that the enemy could also fight back by parking truck bombs in American cities—that Americans who are already home may wind up in body bags.
A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll illustrates this blind spot. How many Americans favor responding to the terrorist attack by taking military action? 93 percent. And what if this means war? 86 percent. And what if it means civilian casualties abroad? 77 percent. And what if it means large numbers of U.S. troops getting killed? 69 percent. And what if it means large numbers of American civilians getting killed?
That's the question the pollsters didn't ask. They're still thinking about "war" in the conventional sense of the word.
Admittedly, President Bush has stressed that this is a new kind of war. Still, he has singled out our men and women in uniform as the ones who must gird themselves for combat. So when he stresses that this war could go on for years and involve great national sacrifice, pretty much everyone imagines the "greatest generation" kind of national sacrifice: Troops go off to die, and the rest of us plant victory gardens—and arrive at airports three hours before scheduled departure. Almost no one is imagining America turning into Israel, a place where every loud noise scares you to death. But it could well happen if our "war" on terrorism sufficiently inflames Islamic radicals.
I can hear the replies to this column now: Don't you understand? They're already killing American civilians. That's why we have to stop them!
Yes, we do have to try to stop them, and this may well mean taking military action. But note that this whole line of rhetoric—they're already killing us, and we must stop them—is itself a warped byproduct of war-think. It uncritically assumes the binary nature of conventional war. In a conventional war, once the killing begins, the enemy is fully committed to your destruction, so there's no need to worry about further antagonizing him. And completely stopping the enemy—winning the war, once and for all—is plausible. Neither of these things is true today.
Radical Islamic hatred of the United States is a variable that can go up or down. The commitment of the "enemy" to killing us isn't now anywhere near its theoretical maximum, and it may never reach zero. So one of our main jobs, for years and probably for decades, is to manage that variable. As we proceed on the various fronts we must now proceed on—including the military front—we have to keep radical Islamic hatred as low as possible.
It may sound like we've reached the reductio ad absurdum of my argument. I seem to be talking about fighting a war while trying to avoid antagonizing the enemy! But I submit that this is the weird new reality we face. And if the language we're using to describe that reality makes it seem inconceivable, then it's time to find some new language.


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Are the French getting their Tea Party on? That's what an outsider looking at the country's first-round presidential voting results might have been led to believe. But, as with many things French, the reality is très compliquée.
The weekend vote knocked out all but the two candidates long expected to square off in the May 6 final: Socialist Francois Hollande (28.6 percent) and incumbent center-right President Nicolas Sarkozy (27.2 percent). This isn't the story, though. The most striking news is the 17.9 percent score by Marine Le Pen's National Front party. That's even better than her father Jean-Marie's best showing of 16.9 percent when he shockingly knocked out the Socialist candidate in the first round of the 2002 race to face incumbent President Jacques Chirac in the final.
What's behind Le Pen's surprising showing? What sentiment is she capturing, exactly? Who are her supporters?
Let's widen the picture a bit to get a better understanding.
Last week, I debated on Russian television the topic of extremism in Europe within the context of the Anders Breivik case currently being adjudicated in Norway. Last summer, Breivik killed dozens of people at a youth camp linked to Norway's left-leaning Labor Party, which he holds responsible for pro-Muslim immigration policies. One of my debate opponents argued that Breivik represents some kind of worrisome Western trend -- from the rising popularity of "far-right" parties in Europe to the American Tea Party movement.
Aside from the fact that Breivik never had the Tea Party on speed dial, I pointed out that we shouldn't confuse legitimate and vigorous criticism of current political initiatives with the violent acts of a single behavioral outlier.
If one were to make the same kind of sweeping judgment about violent non-Western fanatics, despite the prevalence of a clear perpetrator profile pattern, that person would be chastised and admonished, if not censored or sued. Yet some are all too willing to portray a person or group with a thoughtful right-wing view as being on the verge of snapping -- usually a means of discrediting a rational argument, even before its merits can be thoroughly assessed.
It's precisely this attempt to marginalize people who don't adhere to the increasingly prevalent culturally Marxist views that drives them to seek out and support democratic entities (like Le Pen's National Front party) that accord them a proper public voice. That's how it's done in civil societies. Where's the alarmism in that? If dialogue around these issues is quashed or marginalized, the parties championing these concerns will serve as pressure valves and grow in popularity. This partly explains the National Front's record electoral figure -- but it's not the whole story.
It would be a mistake to think that the "far right" in France stands for limited government and a free market. The National Front rails against decentralization, advocates a strong federal government, and complains that European legislation forces competitive trade and prevents the French government from financially assisting companies, thereby inhibiting "economic patriotism."
Sounds more like Russia than the Tea Party, doesn't it? Under the National Front's political tent, one finds a political buffet consisting of far more than just a righteous battle against cultural Marxism and population replacement. There's something for nationalists, socialists, protectionists and anti-elitists -- everything but a significant helping of free market and limited government.
When Le Pen denounces Sarkozy's "ultra-liberalism," she isn't talking about leftism. In Europe, "liberalism" isn't synonymous with "leftism" as it is in America. Rather, it refers to the kind of classical liberalism prevalent in 19th century America and incarnated by the likes of right-libertarian heroes Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek. As a free-market, limited-government conservative who once served as a Republican think-tank director, I'm typically considered a "liberal" in France.
So, how many people within Le Pen's party adhere to politics similar enough to mine that they'll vote for Sarkozy in the final round? Based on various analyses, I'd wager no more than about half, with the rest supporting the Socialist. One might even argue that because former Trotskyite Jean Luc Mélenchon did worse than expected and the Socialist scored precisely as expected, Le Pen's "far right" party scooped up some nanny-state Communists in the first round. (Try reading that last sentence again without your brain exploding.)
Blaise Pascal once said, in adapting a famous Montesquieu quote, "Truth on one side of the Pyrenees is error on the other." It's a fitting adage as Americans try to make sense of the politics at play behind this dramatic French electoral spectacle.


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From Licit & Illicit Drugs, by Edward M. Brecher and Consumers Reports at page 230 showing upturns in cigarette use following the times of the 1906, 1914 and 1937 U.S. 'drug control laws'Neither the 1914 US Harrison Narcotics Act, nor the legislative efforts leading up to it, particularly the 1906 'Pure Foods and Drugs Act' can be viewed as honest or truly 'progressive', but rather a hurried-rush of hysteria for a political economic agenda, with its central public figure of Harvey Washington Wiley- Chief of the USDA Bureau of Chemistry and prominent within the private organizations- the American Medical Association and American Pharmaceutical Association.
It was most certainly not about the publics' health.
It was about protecting markets: first and foremost for that favored agricultural commodity of 'Virginia Bright Leaf Tobacco' - a variety that was not found in nature, but rather selectively bred to produce a far larger leaf with far less active Tobacco ingrediants per leaf area and with little or none of the natural more psychoactive components put there by God that had made it a more interesting and infrequent smoke- now with no interesting psychedelic properties but now far 'smoother' to be now taken deeply into the lungs- repeatedly fostering consumtion/addiction and far greater profits starting with such places as Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas; and secondly for that to be favored class of drugs, 'pharmaceuticles' that is syntheticly derived chemicals, remotely or not based upon natural substances as plants: IOW favoring the patentable drugs over those naturally occurring.
The 1906 US Pure Food and Drug Act reflected this by giving dictatorial power to the USDA Bureau of Chemistry to declare a substance 'dangerous' or deleterious to human health' WITHOUT any scientific requirements, while setting up certain substances (while lacking any justifiable science) for a public perception as extra-problematic by only requiring them but not any of their comparable competitor substances within the Act's retail lableing requirments for opiates and cocaine to be labled, but not caffeine or nicotine- skipping out on the latter by the 'grandfathering of Tobacco', by the Act's limitation of its jurisdictions over substances within the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, and that publication's convenient deletion of Tobacco a mere one year earlier in 1905. Fathom that: an Act empowering the US Department of Agriculture to effectively ban anything EXCEPT that agricultural commodity of Tobacco.
Also fathom a Harvey Washington Wiley lionized in the William Randolph Hearst's yellow journalist' mass press as a great protector of the public's health, who conducted numerous 'poison squad' experiments upon the toxicity of numerous food additives, yet apparantly never did so for the isolated caffeine, cocaine and whole Coca leaf extract that he so strongly opposed particularly the latter two- while making no real distinction between them or any levels of potency- fostering vague notions by those unacqainted with Coca/dilute cocaine to suppose that drinking the original formula Coca Cola or Vin Mariani led to injecting cocaine.
Such a view is something that was seen in certain medical journals, particularly those emanating from locations within Tobacco growing regions following the near simultaneous development of commercialized pharmaceutical grade concentrated cocaine, the industrial cigarette rolling machines, and the medical recognition of Coca's utility as a way of getting people off of Tobacco "to save smokers from exaggerated habits of nicotinsm". It was a view fully adopted by about 1904 (Harvey Washington Wiley, interestingly apparantly wrote or said little about Coca or cocaine previously, even though he had held his USDA position since 1883); and its reflected throughout such things as the 'concern' over Coca/dilute cocaine's popularity in regions that just happen to be major Tobacco growing regions, particularly as a "Tobacco Habit Cure"!
Notably, the USDA had then recently explored the commercial agricultural potential of Coca, Opium, Cannabis and other such drug plants, as it does a century later with regards to the concept of GMO Tobacco plants for manufacturing pharmaceutical (patent) drugs.


text:
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Tagged: Derek Jeter
Survey of Adults' Perception of Baseball
I may have mentioned this is some other entry but here's the actual layout of the survey:
I wanted to see how the average adult viewed baseball. So, instead of running up and down Fordham Road trying to get the ideas of random adults, I asked my 19 former and current high school teachers (20 if you count the baseball team's pitching coach). The process went like this:
1. Ask teacher who their favorite baseball player was.
1a. If yes, why this was their favorite player
2. If no, what they would like to see in athletes as role models.
3. Wait a few weeks and then follow up with them if they gave me a name for the first question.
4. Asking who their favorite player was outside of New York.
5. Again, asking why.
The purpose of asking them their favorite player instead of outright asking what they think of the game is to see how well their ideals (or lack there of due to them compartmentalizing) matched up with what they think of the game. This is most evident in why they picked a certain player over another. Oh, and keep in mind that I am doing this in a private school in the Bronx so the results will be how adults view baseball in New York.
The Results:
5 Do not follow baseball
93% of favorite players were of New York teams (shocker) leading me to make step 4 (the one teacher that mentioned a non-New York player was a coin flip away from picking David Wright)
10 of those had a favorite player on the Yankees
5 of those had a favorite player on the Mets
The Players chosen for question 1:
Derek Jeter 6
David Wright 2
Jose Reyes 2
Mariano Rivera 2
Jorge Posada 2
Andy Pettitte 2
Robinson Cano 1
R.A. Dickey 1
Tim Lincecum 1
But like I said above, this study isn't about the players themselves but how the teachers view the game. Let's start with the teachers who don't follow baseball:
This was by far the most varied bunch that I can categorized. With five different people there were five different answers, connecting occasionally but still, varied.
3 were about attitude
2 were about integrity
Because they were all different I will sum them all up (this is again, what they would like to see in athletes).
- This teacher actually watched as a kid but stopped in the 90's because of the McGwire and Sosa steroids issue. His answer was: he would like to see more integrity in the game, less money, and more teams made up of non-superstars.
- I actually never asked him question 1 because he mentioned in a class that he didn't watch sports. His answer was: An athlete should be gracious in both defeat and success. He repeated the same concept in different forms trying to get it just right. I have a feeling about what he meant. He was trying to get at that an athlete should not cry in defeat nor should he dance in victory. He should have grace no matter what the outcome. For example, if he loses, he should just walk off the field, comfort other teammates, and start preparing for the next game (professionally).
- He just thinks that professional athletes are a spoiled bunch. (Can anyone argue that this isn't true in New York?) His answer was: he wanted to see less athletes living the fast life (he gave the example of Derek Jeter but I hope he meant it in terms of attitude because has anyone seen his mansion:
Over 5,000 square feet). He wanted athletes to be down to earth and to play hard and work hard.
4. He simply doesn't follow baseball, no special story. He wanted to see more well behaved and humble baseball players.
5. The last again did not have any special story and simply did not want to see PEDs in baseball.
I think that there is a relationship between the fact that these people don't watch baseball and their opinions are so varied. I think that it is because baseball is so big in the country that morals are shaped by it.
The people who gave me a name were far more uniform. Probably because most of these centered primarily on one player and one team.
The top five characteristics listed are:
- The player tries his best 7
- The player is a good teammate 6
- The player is a good role model 5
- The player is a leader 5
- The player is a hard worker 4
Remind you of anyone? This is mostly why I think that for those who watch it, baseball shapes the person more than the other way around.
Because I was getting so many Jeter and Yankee responses, I thought I should add another question to get a truer response. I wanted to see if their beliefs for why they picked the first player held up for the second one or if they had picked the first one by his play and created a list of his positive attributes to justify it to themselves (sorry to the teachers but a lot of people do this).
Obviously I did not follow up with those who don't watch baseball but the results were:
43% were players who played in this past World Series (counting the Lincecum fan from question 1)
36% were players from the rival of their favorite team because they had respect for what that player can do.
29% of teachers were completely stumped. Taking over 3 minutes to answer the question because they had never thought about it before.
There were three teachers that picked Albert Pujols. I think it might have been that he is the best player in baseball.
The remaining teacher picked Jeff Francouer because he used to be on the teacher's favorite team, the Mets, and threw him a ball during bp (I have much to teach that one).
The players for step 4:
Tim Lincecum 3
Albert Pujols 3
Cliff Lee 1
Buster Posey 1
Jeff Francoeur 1
Ryan Howard 1
David Ortiz 1
Josh Hamilton 1
Carl Crawford 1
Roy Halladay 1
Dustin Pedroia 1
Chase Utley 1
and if you can't believe that no one picked a certain bearded World Series hero. Well, neither can he:
The top five characteristics for this group were:
1. The player is very talented ( it could have been worded differently like: "He is a five tool player" but the gist of the teacher's reasoning was talent) 7
2. The player is a professional 3
3. The player is a teammate 3
4. The player is determined/persistent 3
5. The player is a family man 3
Now, there are two similarities between the two lists but the major difference shows in that the #1 attribute by far for the non-New York players was the player's talent. This is because when a player is from your favorite/local team you are more apt to chose him as a favorite player. When the player is not on your local team, you differentiate based on the actual attributes you value in a player. The reason for the overlap of the two categories is because when amongst your local team, you find a player who fits your attributes you are more likely to see him as your favorite.
Of course, this is just my opinion of the numbers. The beauty in statistics is that as empirical and objective as the numbers themselves may be. The interpretation of those numbers is entirely subjective.
*No teacher's names were mentioned in the process of making this blog. Any physical or emotional damage is done at the risk of the teacher for reading this entry and Observing Baseball and all of its employees cannot be held accountable for any lowering of self-esteem that occurred from this entry. However, any praise for his entry is freely accepted at email@example.com


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Homemade Stain Remover
DIY This Easy and Effective Stain Remover
It always seems to happen: the minute you put on a new shirt, you end up with some sort of stain. Mix together a homemade stain remover that will whisk away challenging stains, instead of tossing soiled clothes into the wash and hoping for the best. And what's extra wonderful is that this concoction is made with three ingredients you probably already have in your home — and costs pennies to make! Keep reading for the directions and to see how the stain remover worked on this oily and muddy mark.
What You'll Need:
- 1 tablespoon dish-washing liquid
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon hydrogen peroxide
- Mix together the dish-washing liquid, baking soda, and hydrogen peroxide in a small container, creating a smooth paste. Using a clean sponge or toothbrush, gently rub the stain remover over the soiled area.
- Once the stain has been treated, wash accordingly and then dry, revealing a nice and clean article of clothing. If you're working with a delicate material or if you're concerned about fading bright fabrics, then spot test the stain remover before using. As you can see, the concoction did wonders on my oily, muddy stain!
Want to try other DIY concoctions? Take a peek at our list of favorites!


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In this document
Note: This is a guide to the Android framework location APIs in the
android.location. The Google Location Services API, part of Google Play
Services, provides a more powerful, high-level framework that automates tasks such as
location provider choice and power management. Location Services also provides new
features such as activity detection that aren't available in the framework API. Developers who
are using the framework API, as well as developers who are just now adding location-awareness
to their apps, should strongly consider using the Location Services API.
To learn more about the Location Services API, see Google Location Services for Android.
Location and maps-based apps offer a compelling experience on mobile devices. You
can build these capabilities into your app using the classes of the
android.location package and the Google Maps Android API. The sections below provide
an introduction to how you can add the features.
Location Services
Android gives your applications access to the location services supported by
the device through classes in the
android.location package. The
central component of the location framework is the
LocationManager system service, which provides APIs to
determine location and bearing of the underlying device (if available).
As with other system services, you do not instantiate a
directly. Rather, you request an instance from the system by calling
getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE). The method returns a handle to a new
LocationManager instance.
Once your application has a
LocationManager, your application
is able to do three things:
- Query for the list of all
LocationProviders for the last known user location.
- Register/unregister for periodic updates of the user's current location from a location provider (specified either by criteria or name).
- Register/unregister for a given
Intentto be fired if the device comes within a given proximity (specified by radius in meters) of a given lat/long.
For more information about acquiring the user location, read the Location Strategies guide.
Google Maps Android API
With the Google Maps Android API, you can add maps to your app that are based on Google Maps data. The API automatically handles access to Google Maps servers, data downloading, map display, and touch gestures on the map. You can also use API calls to add markers, polygons and overlays, and to change the user's view of a particular map area.
The key class in the Google Maps Android API is
displays a map with data obtained
from the Google Maps service. When the
has focus, it will capture
keypresses and touch gestures to pan and zoom the map automatically, including
handling network requests for additional maps tiles. It also provides all of the
UI elements necessary for users to control the map. Your application can also
class methods to control the map programmatically and draw a
number of overlays on top of the map.
The Google Maps Android APIs are not included in the Android platform, but are available on any device with the Google Play Store running Android 2.2 or higher, through Google Play services.
To integrate Google Maps into your app, you need to install the Google Play services libraries for your Android SDK. For more details, read about Google Play services.


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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A congresswoman said Thursday that her "jaw dropped" when military doctors told her that four in 10 women at a veterans hospital reported being sexually assaulted while in the military.
Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach said she was raped by a fellow Marine. A Marine has been charged in her death.
A government report indicates that the numbers could be even higher.
Rep. Jane Harman, D-California, spoke before a House panel investigating the way the military handles reports of sexual assault.
She said she recently visited a Veterans Affairs hospital in the Los Angeles area, where women told her horror stories of being raped in the military.
"My jaw dropped when the doctors told me that 41 percent of the female veterans seen there say they were victims of sexual assault while serving in the military," said Harman, who has long sought better protection of women in the military.
"Twenty-nine percent say they were raped during their military service. They spoke of their continued terror, feelings of helplessness and downward spirals many of their lives have taken since.
"We have an epidemic here," she said. "Women serving in the U.S. military today are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq."
As of July 24, 100 women had died in Iraq, according to the Pentagon.
In 2007, Harman said, only 181 out of 2,212 reports of military sexual assaults, or 8 percent, were referred to courts martial. By comparison, she said, 40 percent of those arrested in the civilian world on such charges are prosecuted.
Defense statistics show that military commanders took unspecified action, which can include anything from punishment to dismissal, in an additional 419 cases.
But when it came time for the military to defend itself, the panel was told that the Pentagon's top official on sexual abuse, Dr. Kaye Whitley, was ordered not to show up despite a subpoena.
"I don't know what you're trying to cover up here, but we're not going to allow it," Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California, said to the Defense official who relayed the news of Whitley's no-show. "This is unacceptable."
Rep. John Tierney, the panel's chairman and a Democrat from Massachusetts, angrily responded, "these actions by the Defense Department are inexplicable."
"The Defense Department appears to be willfully and blatantly advising Dr. Whitley not to comply with a duly authorized congressional subpoena," Tierney said.
An Army official who did testify said the Army takes allegations of sexual abuse extremely seriously.
"Even one sexual assault violates the very essence of what it means to be a soldier, and it's a betrayal of the Army's core values," Lt. Gen. Michael Rochelle said.
The committee also heard from Mary Lauterbach, the mother of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, a 20-year-old pregnant Marine who was killed in December, allegedly by a fellow Marine.
Mary Lauterbach said her daughter filed a rape claim with the military against Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean seven months before he was accused of killing her. Watch dead Marine's mom demand change »
"I believe that Maria would be alive today if the Marines had provided a more effective system to protect the victims of sexual assault," she said.
In the months after her daughter filed the rape claim, she said, the military didn't seem to take her seriously, and the onus was on "Maria to connect the dots."
"The victim should not have the burden to generate evidence for the command," Lauterbach told the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs. "Maria is dead, but there will be many more victims in the future, I promise you. I'm here to ask you to do what you can to help change how the military treats victims of crime and to ensure the victims receive the support and protection they need and they deserve."
Another woman, Ingrid Torres, described being raped on a U.S. base in Korea when she worked with the American Red Cross.
"I was raped while I slept," she said.
The man who assaulted her, she said, was a flight director who was found guilty and dismissed from the Air Force.
Fighting back tears, Torres added, "he still comes after me in my dreams."
The Government Accountability Office released preliminary results from an investigation into sexual assaults in the military and the Coast Guard. The GAO found that the "occurrences of sexual assault may be exceeding the rates being reported."
"At the 14 installations where GAO administered its survey, 103 service members indicated that they had been sexually assaulted within the preceding 12 months. Of these, 52 service members indicated that they did not report the sexual assault," the GAO said.
The office found that the military and Coast Guard have established policies to address sexual assault but that the implementation of the programs is hampered by an array of factors, including that "most, but not all, commanders support the programs."
"Left unchecked, these challenges can discourage or prevent some service members from using the programs when needed," the GAO said.
Tierney said, "what's at stake here goes to the very core of the values of the military and the nation itself.
"When our sons and daughters put their lives on the line to defend the rest of us, the last thing they should fear is being attacked by one of our own."
All About U.S. Department of Defense • Sexual Offenses • Criminal Sentencing and Punishment


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I'm knocking on wood as I write this, but I think my sons have made a successful transition into school this year. The older one transferred to a new school which is always a little scary (probably more so for me than him) and my little guy had his first day of kindergarten. Both responses were "great" when asked how their days went yesterday and while I haven't enjoyed a full exhale yet, I do feel like I can finally sit down to write about some pleasurable frivolities, like lipstick.
There seems to be two camps of lippie-wearers, lipgloss people and lipstick people. Since I was 10 years old I have had both feet firmly planted on the lipgloss side. In the spirit of being a good sport, I have made attempts at the more glamorous feel of lipstick, yet I must confess they were feeble. But something has recently changed in my adulthood- I finally feel grown up now that I have two kids in school- and I have made a shift. One foot still resides in the lipgloss camp, but I've got my other one firmly planted in the lipstick zone.
From the left: Dr. Haushcka Lipstick in Dolce (09), Primitive Corsica, NVEY Eco 362
I have been a devout fan of Dr. Hauschka's lip care stick for a couple years as its smooth and soothing texture is beyond compare. When a sales associate at Whole Foods informed me that the Dr. H lipsticks have the same formula in their base, I was sold. I picked my favorite of the bunch, a warm pink, and was good to go. Dolce (09) is a nude to medium pink that leans brownish-bronze with a hint of shimmering peach. It's highly pigmented, smoothes on effortlessly and feels great on the lips. Unlike the majority of lipsticks, Dr. H's are very moisturizing making gloss or balm unnecessary to increase its hydration. In fact, the Dr. H lipsticks feel like a pigmented version of their lip care stick. My only gripe is I wish this lipstick were available in more colors.
Another lovely all-natural lippie is made by Primitive, a cosmetic line you've probably passed a hundred times at your local health food store. I know that's exactly what I had done. But with my newfound desire to become a lipstick gal, I got one. Aside from the vanilla scent- I do not like my makeup scented- this lippie is darn near perfect. Corsica rides the line between red and pink with enough brown to keep the color neutral and day/work appropriate. You can see in the above picture (Corsica is in the middle) that it's on the warmish side, but neutral enough to look good on most skintones. In contrast to Dr. Hauschka's lipstick, Primitive's feels drier, but nothing that a little swipe of balm over the top can't fix. Most Whole Foods carry the Primitive lipstick line, so give them a try and let me know if the vanilla scent is a deal breaker for you.
Luckily, NVEY Eco's lipsticks are unscented and gorgeous! Their No. 362 is probably one of the prettiest lip colors I have ever come across. In the above photo, No. 362 is on the right and the photo is quite true to the color. It's a vibrant warm pink that takes it up a notch from my usual "your lips but better" colors. While it gives me a shot of bright color that I normally don't go for, I feel really comfortable wearing it. NVEY Eco's lipsticks are as pigmented as Dr. Hauschka's but not as hydrating. I find a swipe of my lip care stick necessary, but it's worth it for such a gorgeous color and it lasts several hours before a touch-up is needed.
Check back in a few days as this post will continue. I will feature two more Dr. H and NVEY Eco colors that are usually outside my comfort zone.
My swatches. From the left: Dr. Hauschka Dolce (09), Primitive Corsica, NVEY Eco No. 362
All lipsticks featured are 100% natural.
Photos by ~Trish


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Remember the onesies you used to wear as a kid? Well, they're having a major fashion moment. Lately I've been seeing some of the biggest style stars (Miley Cyrus, Kylie Jenner and Cara Delevingne, to name a few) rocking totally grown-up onesies out on the street.
If you're not ready to test out this look in the hallways, try sporting a onesie with your BFFs during a weekend hang. You can glam up the look with your fave heels, or throw on your go-to sneakers and snap-back hat! P.S. A cozy onesie will be totally perfect during the holidays. I spied a super cute one at the Aeropostale preview!


text: The three masted wooden schooner TYPO sank in a collision in 1899 killing 4 crewmen. She was carrying coal and sank quickly. Remains are still on the wreck along with the windless, bell, and one of the most stunning bow's with forward mast standing up into 100ft. Max depth is 190ftRead More


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Monday, March 28, 2011
Two gifts.
25 comments:
At first I thought wow, thats one over-ripe pear! Its very life like, I'm glad you revealed it was a ceramic one. Love those bathers too, sometimes wouldn't it be good, just for a minute or two perhaps, to be young and having fun at the pool in a very cool bikini without a care in the world..... :)ReplyDelete
the pear is awesome and I agree it is kind of pure looking, maybe it's the purity of the colour.ReplyDelete
and those blue togs are so cute, love a pair of them myself, although I wouldn't be sharing photos of that for an entirely different reason!
I hope this week is a good one for you and the girls and the rest.
Bikinis for your girls or ... bikinis for your "girls"?ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMarch 28, 2011 at 3:16 PM
The pear is fab and I love what it symbolises for your girl...I actually thought it was a paper mache one.ReplyDelete
The bikinis are so cute, the fabric is adorable.
Enjoy your week.
Love the idea of getting that hour each week to natter over a coffee.ReplyDelete
Oh my, oh my! What sweet little swimsuits.
She is very talented indeed. They look gorgeous, xReplyDelete
Those bikinis are gorgeous! My mum used to make those for me, I loved them then & I think I love them even more now (though I don't have any grown up size, perhaps I should get her back onto those.... You must be so excited about your trip, how brilliant!!ReplyDelete
Oh and the pear is wonderful, lucky you what a very lovely gift.
What sweet hearts! How lovely to receive such thoughtful handmade gifts.ReplyDelete
Hubby actually brought me my 'new' vase at the markets yesterday as a just because gift, which was nice. And my sweet sister brought me an old printers tray to add to my collection. Can't wait to give it a coat of paint. :)
Ohh that has just made me remember the reversible bikini my mum made me when I was about 8. It was plain pink on one side and yellow flowers on the other. A happy summer at the local lido followed. Big sigh as she slides off in to nostalgia!ReplyDelete
I really thought wow- is that some kind of heirloom pear variety!!! It is lovely.ReplyDelete
I likey the bikinis too esp like the blue one.
I will trust you on this Kate...those bikini's are sooooo cute...ReplyDelete
I will be popping and looking at this etsy shop...
I adore the pear!!!
Simply beautiful...
I thought it was a pear from your farm before I read the post :-)ReplyDelete
Bikinis are very cute and I agree look much nicer than the mass-produced ones.
What pretty gifts! That pear is cool!ReplyDelete
Thanks kate! thanks everyone!ReplyDelete
This is probably the motivation I need to find more time to sew..... And blog...... And photograph...... And list items in my shop.....
Thanks again everyone (smiley face)
Oh these are way cuter than any lycra ones and they would fair so much better in the pool with the chemicals I would imagine.ReplyDelete
The pear is delightful... I would move it around to always have it in sight also, gorgeous!ReplyDelete
I am also loving the gingham bikini, how incredibly sweet. Thank you for sharing Money Paisley with us :o)
What wonderful gifts. The pear is stunning!ReplyDelete
How long will you be travelling in your caravan? That is a someday dream of ours as well.
My latest gift was the company of my girl on a hard trip. She was a dream, so well behaved and sensitive to everyones feelings. Having her there kept me grounded and calm. Plus I got as many hugs as I wanted!
This is a nice story. I once had a yellow gingham handmade bikini which in retrospect was titchy. But my mum made it and I loved it. I would however, not have wanted photos of me in it on the web. The pear is lovely.ReplyDelete
Hello Kate,ReplyDelete
I've been lurking for a while now but I felt I needed to comment today!
I had to go to our local Westfield last week to try and find some wee clothes for my Smallest Boy's birthday. I haven't been near the shops for quite a while (I'm not much of a shopper) and came how thoroughly depressed with the amount of tat and poorly made things in the shops. You are soo right about the mass-produced, garish stuff! I've never been particularly handy, don't own a sewing machine (yet!) but have learnt to crochet! Next step clothes!
Thanks for your blog
Sandra x
Those bikinis are wonderful. I have horrific memories of having to wear 'home made' bathers...I don't think handmade was quite so 'cool' in the 70's, more about necessity and less about spirit I suspect- they (mine) do look cute in the photos though.ReplyDelete
Here's to a lovely week for you
They are super-cute even OFF the girls!!ReplyDelete
And the pear is divine. What a simple and beautiful gift to have that pressed into the palm of your hand. A moment to sigh over. x
Lucky girl!ReplyDelete
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Thanks so much for stopping by...
I do read every single comment you leave and appreciate it very much, but I should let you know that I can be a wee bit on the useless side when replying to comments, that's just me, everyday life sometimes gets in the way....so I'll apologise now, just in case.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.


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Supplies used are all Close to My Heart unless noted: Sophia Paper Pack, Mod Podge, Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge, Hollyhock cardstock, Hollyhock ink, Creative Imaginations Bare Element Wood Clock, Sparkle Flourishes, and Sparkles.
The Scrap Our Stash Challenge for this month is anything to do with time. As soon as I heard this I knew exactly what my project would be. I can't tell you how long I have had this clock and it's just one of those projects that has remained in the box due to lack of time. I applied the first coat of paper with Mod Podge, after that I decided to just use my ATG gun and not worry about a top coat. After each paper I pointed through the middle hole from the back so I could locate it and then used my Finishing Tools to sand the circle/hole and make it pretty. One of the filing tools is rounded and works wonderfully for things like this. Now once I got the initial covering and numbers on I just didn't know what else to do with it. It was pretty the way it way but I really like to embellish. Part of me wishes I had the numbers I wanted or that I had stamped them on flower shapes or something but I'm not going and you really don't need numbers on a clock. After a day passed with this sitting unfinished on my desk I chose to complete it with 3D paper flowers and some sparkles. Now all I have to do is get it hung up. It will go in my scrapbook room but it's not easy to get to where I want it. 🙂


text:
At Dodgeland Elementary School in Juneau, Wis., computers available to students include a cart of iPads, Lenovo laptops and netbooks. "These are in addition to our computer lab of desktop computers," elementary principal Jessica Johnson explained in an email. "But it is looking like the iPads are the favorite tool to use," she added.
Johnson noted that when Web-based tools like Google Docs are used, students often continue using them at home, whether they are required to or not. "For example, students will continue blogging at night or ask parents to download an app to their iPhone or home tablet," she said.
In addition, every Dodgeland Elementary classroom is equipped with a SmartBoard, which teachers use throughout the day for a variety of purposes, including interactive presentations, recording student work and playing media such as YouTube clips and images.
Another school using interactive boards is Istrouma High School in Baton Rouge, La., which installed Promethean boards about five years ago, said school principal and Istrouma graduate Robert Webb Jr.
But when Webb noticed teachers were using the interactive whiteboards solely for presentation, he realized "we needed to give the teachers some professional development." Things changed quickly after that, with teachers handing off control of the boards to students, he said.
ASDC attendee Melissa Edwards, a district instructional technologist with the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools in North Carolina, advocates using Twitter for finding quality online resources. "[Twitter] brings those of us in education together and out of our little silos," she told InformationWeek in a phone call.
Edwards said teachers and students in her district also actively use Edmodo, a secure, closed social media site that is sometimes described as a "Facebook for schools." North Carolina and other locations have policies that forbid teachers from connecting with students on Facebook.
At least one school in North Carolina is trying to teach its students best practices for Facebook and other social media sites. The school prepared a guidebook for how to use social media effectively, and now is developing lesson plans and activities to support these guidelines, Edwards said.
Regarding obstacles, Edwards said they mostly boil down to a "fear of the unknown" and hesitancy by teachers to embrace new ideas before totally understanding them. "But as a teacher, you have to let go of some of the control, let learning happen and not necessarily plan all the steps," she said.
The nonprofit ASCD claims 140,000 members and is comprised of superintendents, principals, teachers and professors in 134 countries.
ASCD offers multiple ways for educators and others to connect: A 50,000-strong blog platform called ASCD EDge; Twitter; Facebook; Pinterest; and YouTube.
Can data analysis keep students on track and improve college retention rates? Also in the premiere all-digital Analytics' Big Test issue of InformationWeek Education: Higher education is just as prone to tech-based disruption as other industries. (Free with registration.)


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Three arrested during Greenville meth bust
The Montcalm County Sheriff's Office arrested three people Saturday afternoon at the Flat River Inn in Greenville during a methamphetamine investigation.
Sheriff's deputies, with the assistance of the Greenville Department of Public Safety, were conducting the investigation and made contact with three suspects at the Flat River Inn, said a press release. Officers conducted a consent search in a hotel room, and discovered that a male subject had several outstanding warrants for his arrest and two female suspects were in the possession of prescription narcotics, drug paraphernalia and methamphetamine.
The male was arrested on the warrants, and both females were arrested for felony possession of methamphetamine.
The investigation continues and more arrests are possible, the release said.


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Hello, i am shift the right panel (settings, messages, shoutbox etc.) to top panel, of course panel_content div visit to the same place. How to edit the place in css file i managed. But I have a problem, how fix the content panel on the button (align on button) In any screen resolution? May be useful replace the mother and daughter Divs? In what files?
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Assad says support for armed opposition must end
DAMASCUS, Syria – Syrian President Bashar Assad told the Arab League-U.N. envoy Wednesday that foreign support for the armed opposition must end if any political solution to the country's conflict is to succeed, state-run media said.
Assad's comments to Lakhdar Brahimi during their meeting in Damascus cast further doubt on already sputtering efforts to convene an international peace conference to try to end the country's civil war.
The United States, Russia and the United Nations have been trying for months to bring the Syrian government and the opposition together in Geneva to attempt to negotiate a political resolution to the conflict. After repeated delays, efforts renewed in earnest last month to organize the conference, but the Syrian opposition remains deeply divided over whether to attend, while the government refuses to sit down with the armed opposition.
Brahimi's trip to Damascus was the latest stop on a regional tour in recent days as he tries to lay the groundwork for the proposed peace talks in Geneva that are tentatively planned for next month. But Assad, whose government has regained the momentum in recent months in the conflict, showed little sign of inching toward compromise.
"For any political solution to be successful, it is crucial to halt support for terrorist groups and the countries that sponsor them, facilitate the entry of terrorist mercenaries and offer them money, weapons and logistical support," Assad was quoted by Al-Ikhbariya television as telling Brahimi. "The Syrian people alone are entitled to draw the future of Syria. Any solution must be approved by them and reflect their wishes away from any foreign intervention."
"This is paramount to prepare the circumstances for dialogue and put clear mechanisms that achieve this goal," Assad said.
Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are among the Syrian opposition's most active supporters, providing financial and logistical support to the rebels. The United States and some of its European allies have provided non-lethal aid, although Washington has promised for months to send light arms to Western-backed opposition fighters.
The meeting Wednesday between Brahimi and Assad was the first direct contact between the men in 10 months. After his last trip to Syria in December 2012, Brahimi angered Syrian authorities when he said that 40 years of rule by Assad's family was "too long." Syrian officials then accused him of being biased.
The diplomatic push aims to end a conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people and forced some 2 million more to flee the country. Now in its third year, the civil war pits a primarily Sunni Muslim rebel movement against a government whose security forces are stacked with members of Assad's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group said rebels killed at least 17 people in an attack on a predominantly Alawite village in the central province of Homs early Wednesday.
Observatory directory Rami Abdurrahman said the opposition fighters killed six government troops at a checkpoint in Shallouh before sweeping into the village itself, where they killed 11 residents.
The SANA state news agency blamed the attack on a "terrorist group," and said 13 locals were killed. The report did not mention any slain soldiers. The government refers to those trying to topple Assad as "terrorists."


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Informações por país
1. International Family Mediation
Family mediation, in Colombia, is legally recognised, commonly implemented and encouraged by the State. Family mediation can be provided according to Law 640 (2001).
The Information System of Conciliation, Arbitration and Amicable Solution (SICAAC) of the Minister of Justice and Law provides a list of Conciliation Centres in Colombia. Choose your region and check if the centre chosen provides family mediation (website is in Spanish).
There is no specialised structure for international family mediation in Colombia.
2. International Legal Framework
1) Colombia is a Party to the 1980 Hague Convention.
The 1980 Hague Convention: a multilateral treaty which provides procedural guidelines on the return of children and their protection in cases of international parental child abduction.
Contact Central Authority established in Colombia for cases of child abduction.
2) Colombia is a Party to the 1989 Inter-American Convention.
The 1989 Inter-American Convention: a multilateral treaty among 14 American States that, similar to the 1980 Hague Convention, secures the prompt return of children who have been wrongfully removed from their country of residence.
Contact the Central Authority established in Colombia designated under the 1980 Hague Convention to find out whether the Inter-American Convention prevails in your case and learn how to initiate an application for return of your child.
3) Colombia is not a Party to the 1996 Hague Convention.
The 1996 Hague Convention: a multilateral treaty which determines jurisdiction, applicable law, co-operation in respect of parental responsibility and access rights, as well as civil and public measures for the protection or care of children.
You can determine whether all countries relevant to your case are Parties, or not, to the 1980 Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, the 1996 Hague Convention on Child Protection and/or the Inter-American Convention on the International Return of Children in order to locate the appropriate central authority. As for the 1980 Hague Convention, you can check whether the Convention is in force between two specific States in the Spreadsheet showing acceptances of accessions to the Child Abduction Convention.
3. Legal and Psycho-Social Expertise and Support
Fundaterapia Foundation is a non-profit organisation regulated by the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF) which provides family conciliation and family psychotherapy especially to people who do not have easy access to specialised psychotherapeutic support (website is in Spanish).
Fundación Si Mujer is a non-profit organisation providing assistance and help to women who are victims of domestic violence or who have been left alone with children.
Secretariado Nacional de Pastoral Social Cáritas Colombiana (SNPS - Cáritas Colombiana) provides training, educational and psychosocial support to young people and their families for prevention of urban youth violence in Bogotá and Medellin. You can contact their main office here (website in Spanish).
4. Child Welfare Services
The Colombian Family Welfare Institute is a Colombian state entity, which works for the prevention and comprehensive protection of infancy, childhood, adolescence and well-being of families in Colombia. The Institute provides nutrition, protection, empowerment, and preventative structures for high-risk children, adolescents, and the elderly.
Ninos de Papel Colombia is a non-profit organisation which accompanies, assists and helps children and adolescents in dangerous and risky situations in which their human rights are violated (website is in Spanish). The organisation provides social inclusion programs alongside programs dealing directly with prevention, protection, and specialised treatment for children.
Children International – Colombia is a non-profit organisation which focuses on gang violence prevention, especially the violence which occurs against young girls. The organisation contains community centres for both children and graduated students to help further their educational and financial goals. They also provide healthcare to children and adolescents who may not be receiving adequate healthcare and teaching preventative care at community centres.
SOS Children's Villages in Colombia offer Family Strengthening Programme and works with local organisations and communities to support vulnerable families so that they can stay together. They ensure that families have access to basic goods and services such as health care and education and also provide training and advice so that parents can break the cycle of poverty and generate an income to look after their children. These services are provided in villages in Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena, Floridablanca, Ibagué, Ipiales, Quibdó, Riosucio, Soacha and Tumaco. You can contact them directly here (website in Spanish).
Children Change Colombia is a UK's charity working exclusively in Colombia providing support to children who have lived on the street, been displaced by the conflict or who have escaped the armed groups. They work in partnership with local children's organisations who have a proven record in defending the rights of children and families most affected by poverty, inequality and conflict.
Fundación Antonio Restrepo Barco provides inclusion programs for children with special needs and disabilities. The organisation ensures the safe education of children and adolescents by providing resources to families with school children (books, educational help, etc.) and training teachers (website is in Spanish).
Fundación Juan Felipe Gómez Escobar provides support for teenage mothers who may need support due to exile, rape, family complications, and poverty. It also strives to lower the infant mortality rate in Colombia (website is in Spanish).
5. Support to Bi-National Couples, Cross-Cultural and Migrant Families
Fundación Esperanza provides legal and social support to migrant families and displaced families, especially victims of human trafficking, migrant smuggling, forced displacement and child exploitation (website is in Spanish).
Secretariado Nacional de Pastoral Social Cáritas Colombiana (SNPS - Cáritas Colombiana) provides refugees with orientation, legal advice, health care, education, housing assistance, access to job opportunities, vocational training and learning, validation of degrees, learning Spanish language. You can contact their main office here (website in Spanish).
Alguns hiperlinks que encontrará nos textos desta seção encaminham-no para sites disponíveis apenas na língua oficial do país seleccionado. Existe a possibilidade de traduzir esses sites copiando e colando o endereço URL no Google Translate. Em seguida, escolha a língua de tradução e clique em « traduzir », para ler o site inteiro. Ensuite, choisissez une langue de traduction et cliquez sur « traduire » pour pouvoir lire le site en entier.
Access to Professionals / Hotlines:
- Corpolatin runs a free helpline in Cali, where poverty and violence levels are high. The helpline can be accessed free of charge by calling '106'. Corpolatin also offers online support through live chats and e-mail (website is in Spanish).
- Colombia Caravana is a charity organisation based in the UK which provides legal counselling and monitors human rights violations against lawyers, including family mediators, in Colombia in order to ensure that their work is not affected in any detrimental way.
Useful brochures / Documents of reference:
An Institutional Guide on Family Conciliation was elaborated in Spanish by the Ministry of Interior and Justice in 2007.
Useful guides for parents concerning mediation practice and child abduction prevention can be found in our Library.


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Tomorrow is the first dread day of meetings for teachers in my district. And by dreaded, I'm not joking. I may even be making an understatement.
Tomorrow at 7:45AM, 1,200 teachers will gather in our high school auditorium and watch several PowerPoint presentations. And every word on each slide will be read aloud to us… for the next FOUR HOURS. OMG. OMG. OMG.
Shoot me now.
Okay – don't shoot me. Just have pity on me.
I am getting anxious for all that I have to get done in the next few weeks and my mind is not really wrapped around all of it. That's a problem. However, after 4 hours suffocating in an auditorium (the fans/air circulation is ALWAYS turned off!), I will be shocked back into my working reality and hopefully the ideas will come flowing.
I'm set for lunch ideas. (See these posts if you want some ideas about packing lunches or what to put in your gluten free bag lunch). Now I just need to get motivated to get back to work! I've been enjoying my summer vacation and have become a whole, balanced human being. Something rarely seen in the hallways of a high school (especially in June).
To finish up my summer, my sister and her boys have spent the weekend with us. They showed up on Friday to deliver a crib and have spent every minute and night here since. Fun, huh? (To really comprehend this, you must know that she lives 3 miles from me. LOL) The Wii has gotten a workout this weekend!
All of this joy and happy kid sounds in the house make me excited to have our own child arrive soon! I can't wait… but we have to. 🙂
Here's the menu plan for the week:
Monday: Leftover madness (Chicken tenders, ginger-spiced squash and onigiri)
Tuesday: Steamed fish and veggies
Wednesday: Salmon Chowder
Thursday: Taco Salad
Friday: Pozole
Thank you, Fresh Ginger for hosting the GF Menu Swap this week! And I'm also submitting this to OrgJunkie.com for the Meal Plan Monday there. It's great to get ideas…. my brain is leaky with the return on school and 18+ hour days. I can use all the help I can get!
Happy Monday, All.


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Man found slain at his deer processing business
Associated Press
SPARTA, Ga. - Authorities say a 60-year-old businessman from Cumming was found slain at his deer processing business in Hancock County.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement Monday that it is investigating the killing of Nelson Garner, whose body was found in his business, Garner's Grinder, in Sparta.
The GBI said Garner's body was found by a relative around 9:30 p.m. Sunday. He was last seen alive at 4 p.m. Sunday.
Authorities said the cause of Garner's death was being withheld because of its value to the investigation.
The GBI said Garner stayed at the Sparta business during hunting season but was a resident of Cumming.


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(2015) Something Else (Arsploitation) Pit Bukowski, Daniel Fripan, Oona von Maydell, David Scheller. Directed by Nikias Chryssos
We see the world through a lens of normality; we have expectations of what people's lives should look like and then we figure they'll conform to them. But that conformity is a lie; it's not always the case. Sometimes what's just below the surface is twisted enough to make us grow pale.
A young German student (Bukowski) – and that's all the name he gets, folks – trudges through the snow in the woods to an underground bunker. There he is greeted by the owner who is known only as Father (Scheller), his comely wife Mother (Maydell) and their somewhat unusual son Klaus (Fripan) who is a 30 year old man with a bowl haircut who acts like an 8-year-old and is sure he's going to be the President of the United States – even though he's German.
The boy is being homeschooled but it turns out that he is not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. Father has been handling the teaching duties but he hasn't made much of an impression despite his rather severe methods, so Student is enlisted to teach the boy. At first he doesn't make much headway but when he discovers that Klaus seems to respond to pain things begin to get better.
Mother has been putting the moves on Student in the meantime, something he's not altogether opposed to, but when he discovers that she is breastfeeding Klaus, alarm bells begin to go off. That and Father's bizarre joke night where he tells jokes dressed as a mime, and then discusses them existentially. Father also seems to be a bit of a tyrant, counting every dumpling eaten and every napkin used and keeping a running tally.
But things really get odd when the Student discovers an open wound on Mother's leg that has been infested by an alien named Heinrich who apparently is controlling Mother and the entire family. She is loathe to let Klaus grow up and leave; and now, it appears she has designs on keeping the Student around as well. Can he escape from this madhouse?
Chryssos directs and writes this and he's drawing comparisons to John Waters and David Lynch and from the standpoint that this is a quirky cult film-type, the comparison isn't wrong. Fans of those two worthies (and others along the same lines) will likely dig the very oddball world that Chryssos delivers here.
He uses color in a very unusual way, shooting through red filters as the story draws to a climax. Everything from Klaus' bizarre wardrobe and Father's tacky sweaters seems deliberately chosen for texture and color. Only Mother and Student are dressed rather blandly most of the time (and Mother is undressed quite a bit). The bunker itself is unremarkable although it seems a bit less spartan than the other onscreen bunker homes I've seen. Perhaps that is a European thing.
The performances are actually pretty good, and considering there are only four people in the film, there really isn't anywhere to hide. Von Maydell has a thankless task playing a controlling woman yet making her sympathetic, while Fripan as the man-boy Klaus has the weirdest role of all and pulls it off without making it a caricature.
This is really not a movie for everybody. While some have marked it as a horror film (and several horror websites have given the film some coverage), it is more of a cult film. Yes there are aliens but they are never seen; for all we know they could manifest inside Mother's head alone. However, the constant barrage of weirdness and the skewed point of view may be off-putting to those who are uncomfortable with the bizarre. For my taste, this is something you might have seen back in the days of the Weimar Republic only with a kind of Russ Meyers edge, along with the filmmakers I've already mentioned. This is a strange one, but if you like strange, you're gonna like this.
WHY RENT THIS: It's weird but in a good way.
WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: This might be a little more twisted and out there than mainstream audiences are comfortable with.
FAMILY VALUES: Some sexual situations and plenty of nudity as well as some violence and a fair amount of corporal punishment.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Made it's debut in 2015 at Austin's venerated Fantastic Fest.
NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: None listed.
BOX OFFICE PERFORMANCE: Not available.
SITES TO SEE: Vimeo
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Borgman
NEXT: Wiener-Dog


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Andrew Cogliano's goal helps Ducks drop Sharks, snap road skid
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Andrew Cogliano was frustrated with Anaheim's road performance this season.
He took it out on the Sharks.
Cogliano scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the second period and Jonas Hiller made 36 saves in helping the Ducks end a 13-game winless skid on the road, beating San Jose 3-2 Monday night.
"To only have two road wins and the last one coming on Oct. 22 was a little embarrassing," Cogliano said. "That's not the ideal situation. The difference was having all four lines contribute. When that happens, good things follow."
Luca Sbisa and Bobby Ryan also scored for the Ducks, who beat the Sharks for the third time -- of 10 wins overall -- this season. Anaheim won its third road game, its first in 10 weeks, and the second in San Jose, with the first one 73 days ago.
"To win in this building is quite a feat," Ryan said. "It was nice to get one on the road. It's long overdue. Hopefully this is a jump-start."
Joe Pavleski and Jamie McGinn scored for the Sharks, who had a four-game winning streak snapped.
"We started to establish our game in the third period," Sharks' coach Todd McLellan said. "We turned it over and that affected us. We didn't respond. We rebounded in the third but it was too little, too late."
The Ducks also ended a four-game losing streak overall.
"It was a load to carry," said Ducks' coach Bruce Boudreau, who earned his first road win with Anaheim. "And we hung on. San Jose was coming hard at the end and we had to kill off two penalties late. When you do that, you deserve to win."
Antti Niemi made 20 saves for San Jose.
Sbisa scored his first goal of the season, a left-handed slap shot, less than three minutes into the contest. George Parros beat two Sharks to a loose puck and feed it to Sbisa, who found an opening under Niemi's right arm.
"They have good players," Pavelski said. "Their record may not show it but they are pretty dynamic. We were good enough at times to make things happen but Hiller made some nice saves."
The Sharks tied it with 27 seconds remaining in the first period. Joe Thornton's pass led Pavelski perfectly in a quick turnaround shot.
Ryan scored his first goal in eight games after taking the puck away from Thornton, one of his five giveaways in the game, for a breakaway, giving the Ducks a 2-1 edge early in the second period.
"Those are things that are going to cost you games," Thornton said. "I just mishandled it. I've got to make a better decision."
McGinn went top shelf four minutes later to tie it at 2. Justin Braun recorded an assist in his first career game against Anaheim.
Cogliano gave the Ducks a 3-2 lead midway through the second period when he got the puck under Niemi's glove after Matt Beleskey left the puck for him in front of the net.
Game notes
Sbisa scored his first goal since Jan. 16 against Edmonton and just his third career goal in 150 games. ... McGinn has points in five of his last seven games. ... Niemi started for the 14th time in 15 games, and 21 of 24 overall. ... Cogliano scored his second goal in 19 games against the Sharks. ... Thornton has 55 points in 54 games against the Ducks. ... The Ducks won 11 of 15 faceoffs in the second period after winning 8 of 19 in the first period.
Regular Season Series
ANA leads 3-0
Game Information
- Referees:
- Paul Devorski
- Francois St. Laurent
- Linesmen:
- Mike Cvik
- Mark Wheler


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Fun And Not-So-Fun Facts About Peru
Alibi's Ilene Style reports from her volunteer mission in South America
Fun Facts
Peru is the third-largest country in South America. Lima is the capital and largest city.
Peru is the world's second-largest producer of cocaine.
There are almost 4,000 native varieties of Peruvian potatoes. (Guess what the staple of my diet is here?) Potatoes have been cultivated in the Andes for at least 7000 yrs. How about THAT, Ireland?
The Andes, the world's second-largest mountain chain, rise rapidly from the coast to spectacular heights of over 20,000 feet.
The median age in Peru is 25. The average life expectancy is at an all-time high of 70 years, a vast improvement from 1960, when it was 48 years. In the Andes, the life expectancy is 55.
The national culinary dish is cuy, or roasted guinea pig. It is served whole, with the head and feet intact.
The national beverage is the Pisco Sour, made from locally produced Pisco, or grape brandy. (Some of you were lucky enough to have sampled my homemade version before I left!) Peruvians celebrate an annual Pisco Festival in March, as well as the National Day of the Pisco Sour every Feb. 8.
Peru's Macchu Pichu was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007, along with the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal.
Not-So-Fun Facts
More than 50 percent of Peruvians live in poverty. The poverty line for a family of four is $300 month. Per capita income is $3,500 a year. About 60 percent of Peruvians earn less than $190 a month.
Because of the rampant poverty, Lima has a large number of pueblos jovenes, or shantytowns, where residents live without running water or electricity. Villa El Salvador, where I volunteer, is by far the largest, with slightly fewer than 400,000 people.
Unemployment in Peru is so out of control that it can't be measured. In Villa el Salvador, the unemployment rate is estimated to be up to 75 percent.
Earthquakes in Peru are common occurrences as the country in a seismic zone.
The postal service in Peru is extremely unreliable. Your mailed letter may or may not get to its destination, and if it does, it could take a month. Mailing packages is not recommended.
The water here is not safe for tourists to drink and should not even be used to brush one's teeth. Forget about ordering a drink with ice.
And the weirdest: Because of the unsophisticated plumbing in Peru, used toilet paper is not flushed down the toilet but is placed in a separate bin next to the toilet. This was a hard concept for me to grasp. Like, gross!


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Nissan doesn't have a supercar like Honda's NSX or Toyota's LFA. What they have instead is something that can beat most supercars, the GT-R. That's nice, but imagine if these two MID4 prototypes would have made it into production.
A crazy mid-engined Infiniti would probably emerge from somewhere. Of course back in the mid-eighties, there was no Infiniti to start with. That only came in 1989. But Nissan wanted to develop new technologies, and what's better for a testbed than a futuristic supercar?
The job landed on Shinichiro Sakurai's desk, who was a chassis engineer at Prince in the fifties, and by this time was the head of the Skyline team at the company. Starting in spring 1984, the first four prototypes of the MID4 I were finished in less than a year.
Presented at the 1985 Frankfurt Motor Show, the white show car had the DOHC version of the single cam V6 engine from the 300ZX, tuned to 245 hp. It also had an all-wheel drive system sourced from Europe with a 33/67 rear wheel bias and HICAS, Nissan's four-wheel steering still very much in the development phase.
Sportiness was further enhanced by the adjustable, fully independent suspension (with double wishbone up front and a four link strut system in back) and four-wheel disc brakes equipped with ABS. Nissan claimed a top speed of 155 mph.
In 1987, they upgraded the concept to what is known as the MID4 II. Presented at the 1988 Tokyo Motor Show, the car now had 330 horsepower thanks to an intercooled twin turbo VG30DETT. With a weight of 3,086 lb and the more streamlined styling, the public was expecting it to become Infiniti's debut halo car for 1990.
Unfortunately, once the cost side was figured out, Nissan dropped the project with only 3 MID II prototypes being finished. The four-wheel steering made it into future models.
Meanwhile, Soichiro Honda and Ayrton Senna was getting ready with a certain NSX...