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Nissan X-Trail Prices Paid and Buying Experiences
Buy a new Nissan X-Trail? Tell us about it!!
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Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator
atlgaxt Member Posts: 501Is this aimed for Canada or other foreign markets? I was not aware you could buy an X-Trail in the states.0
Exactly... for our Canadian friends...
Edmunds Price Checker
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Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator0
Thanks for setting up this board. I am planning to purchase a X-trail SE AWD, auto-tranny early in 2006.
I would appreciate any commentary/experience anyone can share regarding recent price paid and discounts received.
I was poking around another website and found comments such as: $1,700 off sticker, $2,000 below MSRP (for buyer that also bought a trailer hitch and snow tires from the dealer, I saw a comment of 7% below MSRP and finally $34,400 all in (taxes included but no indication if this was auto or manual). All of these references indicated SE model but did not indicate is was, or not, AWD or auto-tranny.
7% off MSRP roughly equate to the $2,000 - both noted above. At my visit to the dealership, where I indicated I would not be buying for a few months I was offered $1,000 off MSRP without even attempting to negotiate.
I worked out the following assuming dealer markup of 15% on base vehicle and 30% markup on the packages, and options.
XE FWD is $26,100 - 15% margin $3,915
Increase to SE AWD is $3,900 - 30% margin $1,170
Auto $1,000 - 30% margin $300
Paint $285 - 30% margin $90
My estimate is $5,475 dealer margin in the car (ignoring the usual PDI and admin/mkting fees).
I plan to target a $3,500 price reduction. 2/3 of my estimate of the margin.
I would appreciate any assessment/recommendation anyone could provide of my analsyis. Has anyone use a dealer invoice price service to find out to confirm dealer margins, and/or factory to dealer incentive.
Thanks in advance,
4xfour Member Posts: 1In the market for a 2005 Xterra S, 4x4, auto, pwr/utility packages. Ones I have seen list for around $26000 MSRP with the usual options. One dealer e mailed me a quote of invoice minus the $2k rebate. To that he would add 3% N.C. tax, $399 documentation fee (to fill out the paper work!)tag/title fee and NC inspection fee. I have read postings of buyers getting way below invoice, not sure if these buyers are trading in a vehicle and the salesman is inflating the discount by not allowing true value for there trade. Your help will be appreciated.0
Hi... I think you are in the wrong forum...
Try re-posting here:
Nissan XTerra: Prices Paid & Buying Experiences
Host-Prices Paid Forums
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator0
Johnnyv, I'm also looking around for a smallish SUV and the X-Trail LE is on my list. I have an account with a dealer invoice pricing co. and although I haven't done the pricing report on the X-Trail I can say that your estimate on how much profit is in the vehicle is very high. There's only about 7% mark-up between invoice and MSRP on the similarly-priced Tucson GLS, for example. For about $40 you can walk into the dealer and be able to deal up from the invoice price instead of down from MSRP. I suspect actual invoice on an SE AWD auto with the pearl paint is around $29k.
From the pricing comments you've seen from others it sounds like Nissan is letting people make pretty good deals on these. I don't see them around that often and the dealer inventory search on the Nissan web site turns up tons of them. I wonder if they're not selling as well as hoped at the moment. If true that would help us drive a harder bargain!0
Thanks for the feedback.
I have been comparing the x-trail to other vehicles in the class. Tucson is actually one other that I rather liked.
I don't like the products with the outside mounted spare because I prefer the open upwards rather than sideways.
I am otherwise a Honda fan. I have owned and '81 prelude, '91 Accord and '04 TL. That said the CRV leaves me cold. When I tried to enter it I hammered my knee on the emergency break lever. For a company so good at ergodynamics I can't understand the placement of the emergency brake under the steering wheel. If money were no object and gas prices were declining instead of rising I just might be purchasing a Ridgline.
My only knocks on the Tucson were: no 6 disc changer, and I am a little uncertain about the reliability of their little 6 cyl motor.
In the X-trail I really like: the external styling, the very large sun-roof, wipe down cargo area, and I am pretty confident in Nissan reliability.
If you get any further pricing intelligence on the X-Trail I would appreciate anything that you can share. In addition to the invoice pricing I am trying to track down factory to dealer incentives. It's nice if they show me an invoice for $29,000m, but they may not be showing me their other incentives that aren't recorded on the invoice.
The nice thing about carcostcanada.com at least is that the pricing reports ($40 for 5 different vehicles) usually do show you additional incentives that are available, e.g., apparently there's an unadvertised $1000 cash bonus on the '06 Grand Vitara from Suzuki (in addition to the $300 reward they're advertising).
I agree with you on the rear door issue. We currently have a RAV4 as a second vehicle and although the rear spare doesn't impair vision, it does make the door heavy and it opening to the side is inconvenient more often than anything else.
My sister has had an '06 Tucson GLS for about a month. Great vehicle so far. I was impressed by how solid and quiet it is. The 2.7 V6 has been used by Hyundai for several years so I'd hope it would be proven(?) True, no six-disc changer, but standard side curtain airbags and stability control, which I think you have to step up to the LE for on the X-Trail.
I'll keep you posted if I get any further info on pricing.0
Hey there. I am looking to buy a 2006 SE AWD but with manual transmission. The MSRP is $29998 and the dealer invoice is $27618. That is a mark up of $2380 or 8.5%. You were talking about people saying they got 7% reductions. That seems pretty good when the dealer invoice is only an 8% reduction from the MSRP. Dealers do need to make some money!!0
Of course that is not including the Freight and PDI and extra $125 for the paint. Perhaps people negotiated that down.0
Thanks for the info.
I agree that the dealer has to make a buck, I just don't want to spend more than I need to.
We are looking a similar vehicles except for my desire for the auto tranny. I wonder about how much margin the have in the auto, the "marketing charge" that is showing up at dealer ships and how much margin they have in the PDI.
My understanding is that dealers target an average profit in the range of $1,000-$1,500 per vehicle.
alabaster1 Member Posts: 1It's been great reading your querry. I am considering leasing a 2006 X Trail SE. I have never leased before and wonder if there is room to deal on the price... I have a quote for $30,998 CDN. I think there has been a little padding in the price.
I have also been doing a little comparing of vehicles and agree that the ergonomics of the X Trail has really been thought through..
Deal on the price of the vehicle exactly as if you were planning to purchase it. $30,998 is the MSRP of the X-Trail SE AWD w/automatic. Now that we know the dealer cost of the SE AWD ($27,618), add about $950 for automatic and the invoice price is approximately $28,568. You don't want your lease payments to be based on $30,998 now, right?
The markup between invoice and MSRP is about 8.5%. Even if you split that with the dealer and agreed to lease at 4.25% over invoice (or about $29,782) that would save you about $40/month on a three-year lease, given Nissan's current rates and residuals. And you could probably do even better than that.
Note that right now Nissan has a promotion on where they're paying the first three payments on X-Trail leases. Depending on whether this requires the dealer to make a contribution (i.e., pay some of those payments for you) they may be less willing to deal on the price, because they're already losing money there. On the other hand, if it's Nissan Canada that's making the payments for you, then it shouldn't affect the negotiated price with the dealer.0
the dealers I have spoken to suggest there aren't many lightly used x-trails out there. While the number isn't huge, Autotrader.ca shows about 10-15 within 100km of Toronto.
Most have some or even most of the warranty left and look to be okay deals. Might be a good to get a Carfax report on them (I believe you can get an unlimited number of the reports for a month for about $20). You can get to Carfax through CAA.
tominsky Member Posts: 3$30,017.00
Term Rate Monthly GST/HST PST/QST Total Residual Value
12 0.80 $960.31 $67.22 $77.06 $1,104.59 $18,686.20
24 0.80 $547.61 $38.33 $43.95 $629.88 $17,248.80
36 0.80 $441.29 $30.89 $35.41 $507.59 $14,661.48
48 2.80 $411.75 $28.82 $33.04 $473.62 $12,649.12
60 9.95 $498.91 $34.92 $40.04 $573.88 $10,061.80
36 months seems like a great deal at 0.8%..... 3 years of almost no interest and if car is still good for me, I can by it back for $14.6k What do you all think??
I got a quote at a nissan dealer for a new 2006 Xtrail Bonavista edition for a total of $30,663 (live in ontario canada). The currently have a promotion on for $6000 off MSRP. I haven't gotten to the stage of haggling the price so i'm sure I can get for a bit cheaper. Was wondering how much more I should get off the final price? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.0
Please note my comments on the other X-Trail site 'We Want It' in case you missed my comments- Waterloo Guy0
Well we ended up buying the Bonavista. It was just too good of a deal to pass up. We ended up paying a total $30,000 flat. This included taxes (live in Ontario Canada) and got them to throw in the cargo rubber mat as well. Got a bit of a deal on the rust, paint, fabric protection and sound inhibiter (doubt this does anything but it was part of the protection package).
So before tax, freight & delivery it worked out to $24,800.0
rockytee Member Posts: 35Well we ended up buying the Bonavista. It was just too good of a deal to pass up. We ended up paying a total $30,000 flat.
So the $30,000 included the protection package? The Bonavisata edition, does that include AWD, Traction and Stability control? Which dealer in Ontario did you get it from?
I am thinking of a Mazda 5, but maybe the X-Trail is a better buy? A previous poster felt betrayed by Nissan for discontinuing the X-Trail. I don't think it matters, does it? As long as Nissan is around, they will still warranty it.0
The protection package was another $1000 (included the taxes). The Bonavista is AWD but does not come with the Stability control (only comes in the LE model). Nissan hasn't discontinued the Xtrail. They aren't coming out with the 2007 models but will be coming out with the 2008's. The 07's were late in coming out and therefore decided to hold off until '08. Thats why the big incentives on the '06's to compete with their competitor's new '07's. We bought ours in the Burlington dealer.0
Quite the experience with the various dealers. Morningside Nissan told us they were the only ones who had the Bonavista and there were only 15 left in Ontario and it was rock bottom at $24,888. We almost bought but checked other Nissan dealers and fount that there was a lot of inventory. We have been nissan and Infinity owners for a long time and very comfortable with their service and quality.
As much as we loved the Bonavista, we found a few X-trail LE's and although $3,000 more, found the Interior and total package much more appealing. Got the same deal $6000 off and settled for an on the road price of $33,700. Tan with Black Leathyer Interior.... very impressive.
That was aweswome for a quality vehicle, plus we have family in the UK and they raved about the X-Trail.
Had an ugly experience with a Mazda sales man in Ajax who thought we would buy the Mazada SUV. (It is made at the Ford plant). When we told him we settled for the X-trail, he said it was discontinued because of problems, it was made in Mexico and we wouldnt get our moneys worth...yada yada yada. Talk about a sore loser. :mad:
Brings up a point though. Every Nissan dealer said the X-trail was made in Japan. Did anyone else hear Mexico?0
xtrailplatinum Member Posts: 1Glad I found this thread while I was looking for a new XTrail. The info was very helpful in making sure the price was right and I knew what the pros and cons were of the SUV. Just purchased a Platinum Bonavista at Midway in Whitby. No hassle no pressure deal and they still have quite a few of them left, so if you're looking head out there. (No I don't work for Nissan!!) Just under $30K all in. Pick it up Wednesday. How does everyone like theirs so far?
p.s. They are made in Japan.0
Thanks, I will be picking my X-Trail on May 15th, can't wait.0
Anyone out their owing an X-Trail LE, I would like your comments on theirs.0
My wife has been driving her Bonavista X-trail for a month now and loves it. She came out of her 2003 Subaru Forester - much happier with driving position, seat comfort and ease of loading groceries, etc. It is slightly taller than the Forester so the road view is better. My observations: the car has a better, more flexible AWD, with controls for economical 2WD, AWD and pure 4WD for really heavy snow conditions, all at the twist of a dash control. Big 17 inch wheels and a good ride round out the package. Power and performance very similar to the Subaru. Center instruments are easy to get used to, HUD feel right beside the driver at eye level. Highly recommended by the whole family. WATERLOO GUY0
I love the PANA ROOF, that's huge!!!
I am looking for X-TRAIL bonavista edition in GTA. Someone mentioned under 30K in previous post. If you can share your deal info, that will be really appreciated.
xtrailbv Member Posts: 1I got my x-trail BV from midway motors in Whitby. Thanks to xtrailplatinum for the information. Their price beat APA price by $500. They also give me a fair trade in price. The salesman can make final decision so the whole purchase took me about 15 min. I think it worth to drive 50km from Toronto.0
Thanks xtrailbv! Of course it worth to drive 50km :shades:
Can you share your APA price with me? If you think it's not good to post here, please send to kosiko33 AT hotmail.com
If without trade in, I assume your final price = (APA-500)*1.14
I am dealing with dealer around me(Markham), will like to make a deal this week.0
I just bought my Bonavista (Black) at $30K on-the-road price! It's at Alta Nissan, Richmond Hill. I will get my lovely car this Sat. Ha Ha!!0
I bought the X-Trail LE, fully loaded with leather,beautiful, I am picking it up on May 15th, can't wait. I have the Landrover Freelander, this one is a 6, and way too many problems, we bought the X-Trail and it drives better than the Land Rover. I got it Ajax Nissan on the road for 33,000.00, great deal...good luck who's buying this car, don't wait.0
Hi Vella, does you car have Navigation system? Will you consider adding it too? :confuse:0
Their may be a possible chance down the road, for now we will see. There is a space for this to be added.0
This discussion has been closed.


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New Petroglyph-Themed Cards From Aloha Letterpress
This sweet stationery is handmade and Hawaiian-inspired.
Attention, all wordsmiths. You are now entering an archaeological excavation site. Today we're in the Aloha Letterpress stratum, where we're digging up notecards that are true artifacts.
Inspired by the ancient Hawaiian form of communication, petroglyphs, the new Kii Pohaku collection by designer Linda Coleon was just uncovered yesterday. The four new cards, which feature rust-brown surfers, canoes, paddlers, fish and octopuses in a classic, pictogram style are the perfect finds for your collection of cards.
There's much more to bury yourself in from the Aloha Letterpress cache of sweet statonery specimens. Think hula dancers, ipu, taro, pineapples and even Polynesian tattoos in a rainbow of colors, from cheery lavender to subdued gold to chipper tangerine. Coleon designs all the letterpress plates herself and prints the cards by hand on her antique Chandler and Price printing press.
Go ahead and classify these one-of-a-kind samples as "Gotta Have It."
We're basically Indiana Jones-ing for them.
Kii Pohaku line available personalized, or with Mahalo or Aloha wording. $40 for a set of 20 cards and envelopes at the Aloha Letterpress Etsy shop.

subset: commoncrawl


text: It is often bewildering striving to determine which of the 6 essential expert qualifications for accountants is definitely the best for you. At this time we break down each one, providing the basic principles plus some info. All 6 are known and respected around the globe for accountancy. Relationship of Chartered Qualified An accountant (ACCA)… Continue reading The Main Qualifications For Accountant


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PHILADELPHIA, Mississippi (CNN) -- James Young still remembers the Ku Klux Klan tormenting his neighborhood. He can still see his father holding a gun on the living room couch ready to shoot anyone who threatened his family.
James Young poses with one of his young supporters after winning this week's election.
Nothing about Young's childhood ever made him think he could be the mayor of Philadelphia, Mississippi, the town best known for the killings of three civil rights workers in 1964.
That's the way it was for black kids growing up in this crucible of racial hostility -- big dreams were often squelched. Sitting on a sprawling Southern front porch this week, Young broke down in tears about what it means to be elected the town's first black mayor.
"When you've been treated the way we've been treated," he told CNN, choking up and then pausing to wipe the tears from his face. Watch tearful Young describe victory »
For a moment, he couldn't speak. He then regrouped, "That's why it's so overwhelming to be a part of this history."
In May, the 53-year-old Young was elected the mayor of Philadelphia, a town of about 8,000 in the east-central part of the state. Despite a 55 percent white majority, Young defeated Rayburn Waddell, a white, three-term incumbent, by the slim margin of 46 votes. See where the town is located »
Young described the victory as "an atomic bomb of change." Another resident rejoiced, saying Young's win symbolized the scab finally falling off this town's wound.
"I couldn't even have wrote that in a fairy tale," Young said. "Who would have thought a little country boy like me would be mayor of Philadelphia, Mississippi?"
Philadelphia was the site of one of the most notorious killings of the civil rights era. On June 21, 1964, three civil rights workers -- James Chaney, a 21-year-old black man from Mississippi; Andrew Goodman, 20, and Michael Schwerner, 24, both activists from New York -- were shot to death at the edge of town. The killings inspired the 1988 movie "Mississippi Burning."
"Philadelphia will always be connected to what happened here in 1964," said Jim Prince, the publisher of the Neshoba Democrat newspaper.
"But the fact that Philadelphia, Mississippi, with its notorious past, could elect a black man as mayor, it might be time to quit picking on Philadelphia, Mississippi."
Young knows his slim margin of victory means he still has to earn the trust of many more voters here. He knows there are still some in town who won't vote for him because he's black, but he says that number gets smaller and smaller as time passes.
"We have some -- a very small pocket -- that will never change. That's what we've got to deal with," said Young.
The mayor-elect says his election symbolizes a dramatic shift away from his hometown's racist past. And for many black residents, it means they can finally call this place home.
"The places where we were locked out, I'm gonna have the key," he said. "The places we couldn't go, I've got the key. No better way to say it than that."
He takes special pride that his victory comes the same year the nation swore in its first African-American president in Barack Obama. "It inspired people," Young said. "There are times and seasons, I think, for everything. The season arrived and the people let me know it was my time."
The mayor-elect says he won by shaking hands and knocking on doors all over town. But the groundwork for Young's climb to the top of Philadelphia's political world started decades ago.
Young was one of the first black students to integrate Philadelphia's white schools. After graduating from high school, he worked in a motor factory and then as a hospital housekeeper.
A white boss noticed Young's charming people skills and recommended that he become a paramedic. He eventually worked his way up to become the director of the EMT unit, and that catapulted him to his first elected job as a county supervisor in 1991.
He is also a Pentecostal minister preaching on Sunday and organizing weekly Bible studies.
"I've been prepping for this. I felt like I knew enough people. I felt like they knew me and that if I could convince them to just give me the opportunity, things could happen," said Young.
Driving around Philadelphia in a 1981 Ford pickup truck, Young basked in the glow of victory. He calls it the "honeymoon" period. As we drove down the road, black and white residents cheered.
"We're so happy," screamed one lady.
Young shouted back, "We did it!"
Until he's sworn in as mayor, Young will work out of a makeshift transition office provided by a prominent attorney. His victory might seem unlikely but there's little time left to celebrate.
"It's an awesome feeling to have that kind of respect that people support you in this way," Young said near the end of our interview. "I'll never let the people down which called for that."
All About Civil Rights • Mississippi


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Your cousin just announced the birth of his child, and you're the very first to leave a congratulatory comment. The excitement for your beloved family member is quickly replaced with a steady flow of beeps and dings, alerting you to each and every comment left on the same post.
Luckily, there's a way for you to leave your comment and then politely excuse yourself from the conversation, without anyone even knowing.
Update: Facebook has since rolled out a new notification box, complete with a shortcut to unfollow posts. The method explained below still works, but you can save yourself a lot of time by using the new method. Read about it here.
If you make a habit of viewing and commenting on posts strictly from your Facebook News Feed, or only on your mobile device, odds are you've never noticed an Unfollow Post link. But, it's there, and here's where you find it.
You will need to be browsing Facebook on your computer, not your mobile phone, to view the thread causing all of the alerts. By clicking on the time the post was made you will be taken to that particular post's page.
Or, when you get an alert for a new comment, you can also click on the alert to view the post's page.
Once you are viewing the post, unfollowing it is as simple as clicking on the Unfollow Post link. Going forward, you won't receive an alert when a new comment is left, hopefully helping you sleep a little better at night.
Should you change your mind later on, simply view the post again and click on the new follow link.
The same method can be used to follow a post on Facebook, even if you haven't left a comment. By viewing the post, you can then click on the Follow Post link, allowing you to keep tabs on future comments, without having to leave a comment.
One of the biggest reasons I don't leave too many comments on Facebook is due to the alerts afterwards. By unfollowing a post, I can now comment alert-free, and engage a bit more with my "friends."
Updated May 18, 2012, to reflect the new, shorter method to unfollow a thread.


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Two-thirds of Americans have taken a "staycation," according to a recent LivingSocial survey. With the average vacation cost weighing in at a whopping $1,180 per person, it's no wonder!
As if it weren't sad enough that Americans only get an average of 14 vacation days per year — an international low — more than half of Americans say that increased gas prices affect their summer travel plans. Oy, come on, America.
Let's take a look at the world of staycations with the below infographic created by timeRAZOR.
I'd have to give a thumbs up to everything except that staycations are "still a favorite way for Americans to spend their summer." Based on the data, it kind of looks like we're just forced into staying home, with no vacation days and too many expenses. Please, someone, let us out of here!


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This Fashion Friday is all about finding that right bag for your body type.
Canadian stylist Kim XO Applet asks, have you ever been about to leave your house when you grab your purse and realize something doesn't feel right, but you don't know what it is?
If you have then this episode is for you. Kim XO will show you how to fix that issue.
From an inverted body type to an athletic body type, to pear-shaped, Applet has a bag for every image.
Watch the video below to learn more about finding that bag that suits your body type and completes your look.
Appelt is a personal and celebrity stylist with years in the fashion industry and has become a go-to expert on all things fashion.
From Jen Laporte of Disney's Freaky Friday to Kaitlyn Bristowe of The Bachelorette season 11, to Okanagan food blogger Tori Wesszer, Appelt has been key in celebrity styling.
She produces new videos every week to help her thousands of YouTube subscribers turn a shabby look into run-way chic. She also has a strong social media following with more than 58,000 followers on Instagram.
Her passion to help clients find their own style, and her ability to see trends and pull together key pieces, have led the way to a successful styling career.
How to walk in high heels? What's the best way, to tie your Converse shoes? How to pull off a baseball cap? Appelt has you covered.
Trained in New York, Appelt has styled both local television personalities and A-list celebrities through her company Style by Kim XO.
"As a style expert and an influencer, I work with select designers and brands to assist them in promoting their brand," Appelt said. "My services include private launch parties, fashion shows and brand placement."
Be sure to look for Kim XO every Fashion Fridays on the Life channel on all Black Press Media websites.
And in case you missed it:
Fashion Fridays: How to dress and feel powerful


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Global Mining Sector Reeling From Idle Drills, Stalled Projects And Lower Spending In February, Industry Study Finds
SNL Metals Economics Group is reporting that pipeline activity dropped significantly to a three-year low in February.
The Halifax, Nova Scotia, firm, which analyzes trends and figures about the mining industry around the world, has released its Pipeline Activity Index for January and February, showing a continued downward trend. The index has declined 43 percent since October 2012.
"Poor equity markets have made it extremely difficult for many junior explorers to raise capital," the report states. "The combination of weak financing conditions and budget cuts by major producers has resulted in idle drills, stalled projects, and lower grassroots spending, as companies focus primarily on their tier-one assets."
SNL MEG says this type of environment has shown a capacity for quick improvement in the past, but currently it is difficult to predict if a turnaround will come in time for the summer exploration season.
The recent slide in the gold price, plus very little movement in base metals prices, is expected to cause the industry's aggregate market cap to decline in the coming months.
"Drilling contractors are reporting idle drills," according the report. "Poor financing conditions hamper junior explorers and major producers cut noncritical spending to combat falling profits and rising costs."
Market conditions will especially affect grassroots spending. Financings for mining projects dipped to the lowest two-month total since early 2009. "Juniors and intermediates needing funding for 2013 work programs will likely need to scale back or delay plans unless they can find strategic investors."
© Copyright IBTimes 2023. All rights reserved.


text: HOW TO FIX A MISTAKE. The answer might shock you, but believe it or not there's no mistakes in art. Now im not saying that whatever you do wont be a mistake, what im saying is whatever mistake you do can be fixed. The key is to work around it, this of course only applies if it's NOT erasibble. Let's use paint for example, if you're in the middle of painting and you accidentally dripped a color on a area of your art work. Face, background, hands, body, even if it covers something up, there's always a solution. COLOR BLENDING. Color blending can be amazing, even if it's a dark color. If your paint is dark try adding white, white is a lifesaver, here's why. White lightens any color, it's perfect for starting with a light base if you only have dark colors AND fixing mistakes. Because white is so bright it cant help but brightened the dark colors when blended in. EVEN BLACK. But let's say you don't have white? And you are trying to cover a dark color. You can always try gray, pink, aqua, anything BRIGHT. Even with black. But for best results white is where you should invest, don't take that color too lightly, it's a miracle worker. What if the color you are trying to erase/fix is light? This has TWO solutions. You can use white to lighten it up to the point it's clear enough to either erase or add a darker/original color back in. Or you can cover it up with a dark color. WORKING AROUND IT.You can work around any mistake. If it involved you changing up the theme, creating something different, changing the original goal, or even drawing over it. Working around the mistake is a challenge but it can be rewarding. Helps you improve your skills, helps you learn by trial and error, helps you understand your abilities, and most importantly it helps you practice new skills. Who knows you might like it. Now because working around the mistake you made really depends on what and where it is, the same rules of color blending could apply. Sometimes you might make it worse and redo it, sometimes you might make something better, it depends on you. This is something EVERYONE has to learn by themselves.LEAVING IT HOW IT IS. The mistakes you make might be a good thing. Your mistakes could lead to a better art work, or something different. You can amaze yourself, you can surprise yourself, you can basically discover something new that you can do, and all thanks to a mistake. Sometimes drawing or following the grove of what accident you made might end up inspiring you to make something more.IT'S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT MISTAKES. Mistakes come and go, what might shock you is that sometimes it's not about what you did wrong BUT about what you did right. The art should speak for itself. You put that effort, you put that time, you put that money, hell you even put that drip of blood. Well maybe not the blood. Point is you earn the right to be a perfectionist with your work. Mistakes are mistakes, enjoy your art, enjoy yourself, enjoy everything about your hard work. Because it's exactly that, HARD WORK. Yes you did earn the right to be a perfectionist with your work, but don't let that ruin the ENJOYMENT of your work. Have fun, don't let perfection and mistakes ruin you. Embrace your flaws, make it into a positive message. Show yourself in your work. This is YOUR work no one else. Remember people come and go, but art is forever, why not make yourself known for YOU in your work not for its perfection but for its IMPERFECTIONS. That's what makes a artist a artist.


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Here's our morning roundup of the big stories Inside Politics on CNN:
The justice and her plans: She's 81, has had two bouts with cancer and has been on the Supreme Court for 21 years, but Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has made it clear she won't be rushed off the bench.
It's no secret that a lot of Democrats would like to see her step down.
There's certainly no guarantee a Democrat will win the White House in 2016. And more immediately, there's no guarantee that Democrats will keep their majority in the Senate in 2014. Both elections could complicate Democrats' hope to replace Ginsburg with an equally liberal justice.
[twitter-follow screen_name='politicalticker']
Related: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Fast Facts
Justice John Paul Stevens was on the court for 35 years when he retired in 2010 at age 90. Stevens told ABC News on Sunday that he has no idea when Ginsburg will retire, but he said she has sought his advice on the matter.
He said it's entirely appropriate for justices to consider who would take over for them when deciding if they should step down.
"It's an appropriate thing to think about your successor, not only in this job," Stevens said. "I'm just finishing the book by former Secretary (of Defense Robert) Gates. He thought a lot about his successor, too. If you're interested in the job and in the kind of work that's done, you have to have an interest in who's going to fill your shoes."
As the Associated Press' Julie Pace noted on CNN's "Inside Politics," her reporting suggests administration officials expect they'll get at least one more nomination on the high court before President Barack Obama leaves office.
Democrats would likely be much happier with a justice nominated by Obama than one nominated by a Republican president. But justices don't always hew to party lines. Republican presidents nominated both Stevens and Justice David Souter, the two justices who usually sided with the court's liberal bloc and whose retirements were filled by Obama nominees.
Biden's show of solidarity: Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Ukraine on Monday for a brief and symbolic show of support for the government in Kiev.
The trip comes at a troubled time. There are complaints on all sides about the framework reached last week among Russia, the United States and European Union to reduce tensions in the region.
In Washington, there is some indication that lawmakers think the United States should do more to help the Ukrainian government control separatists who want to follow Crimea and join Russia. Lawmakers, led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce leave this week for their own, separate trip to Ukraine.
The New York Times reports Monday on photographic evidence suggesting ties between Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine and the Russian government.
Related: Three different takes on Ukraine
Elizabeth Warren says no … again: She's said before she won't run for president. She repeated it on CBS' "Sunday Morning." Elizabeth Warren probably will have to say it again in the future.
No lawmaker excites liberal Democrats like Warren these days. There have been a number of calls from the party's left wing for the senator from Massachusetts and consumer advocate to run for president.
Warren kicks off a book tour this week – a political memoir called "A Fighting Chance" - and such tours usually raise eyebrows for potential presidential campaigns.
"I'm not running for president," she said on CBS. "You can ask it lots of different ways. But I wrote this book because we can't wait longer. It's written out of gratitude for my start and the opportunities that America built for me, and how I think that's what we've got to do again. I'm committed to that."
More from our reading list
Michelle Obama and graduation controversy: Some Kansas high school students complained they'd get fewer tickets when their graduation ceremonies were lumped together at the last minute so that the first lady could deliver the Topeka school district commencement address. Michelle Obama also will be noting the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. District officials said Saturday the students would get six tickets each, according to The Topeka Capital-Journal. Read more at CJonline.com
Obama reportedly plans clemency for hundreds of drug offenders: Here's the key graph from a long read: "Now, in his final years in office, Obama has trained his sights on prisoners like (Barbara) Scrivner, and wants to use his previously dormant pardon power as part of a larger strategy to restore fairness to the criminal-justice system. A senior administration official tells Yahoo News the president could grant clemency to 'hundreds, perhaps thousands' of people locked up for nonviolent drug crimes by the time he leaves office - a stunning number that hasn't been seen since Gerald Ford extended amnesty to Vietnam draft dodgers in the 1970s." Read more at Yahoo
Grand jury considers whether Texas Gov. Rick Perry went too far in seeking district attorney's ouster: Read more at the Dallas Morning News.
Obama administration pushes back Keystone XL decision: Read more at CNN.
No doubt some of you on here should "Retire" but you have to have a job first. Job of Supreme Court is final Arbitrator of U.S. Constitution of which should be few and far apart. Mostly when someone wants a special favor they finally go to the Supreme court. Time "Special" favors sent to trash heap of History. You want "Special" Favor? Constitution already give it to you. You no need Supreme Court.
"someone wants a special favor they finally go to the Supreme court." – like Bush stealing the election in Florida?
"Constitution already give it to you. You no need Supreme Court." – founding fathers would disagree – balance of power
Amusing to see the lefties throwing their most reliable vote on the SCOTUS under the bus... they must not like their chances of getting a replacement as loony left as Ginsberg in the future.
rs, you mean she didn't say it or are you in denial.
Silence is good, I'm not a birther as you call me. But it's a fact, not a myth. Maybe you also don't believe that Barrack Obama got into Harvard because of affirmative action.
Hummmm, seems some of you think only they have job and only thing Supreme Court should do is rubber-stamp things for the wealthy, because we all know how virtuous they are. "Special favors" were never part of the Court's job, but being part of the balance of powers is part of their job. I guess nanny for the Right means no Court, unless, of course, its for something they want. They won't admit how ill-informed they are.


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Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Whiskey Wednesday: Virginia Whiskey
The Bowman products, like Virginia Gentleman before it, have been released to a fairly limited market in and around Virginia, so they are hard to find outside Virginia. Now, The Party Source in Kentucky is offering a privately barreled cask strength version of the Abraham Bowman Rye. The Bowman Rye is nearly ten years old, so it's a bit older than Buffalo Trace's other cask strength rye, Thomas Handy. I've loved some of The Party Source's past private bottlings, so I was eager to try the Bowman (and while I usually use my own photos, I couldn't resist The Party Source's photo, complete with packing material for ambiance).
While I'm at it, I've got an old bottle of the standard, discontinued Virginia Gentleman, so I thought I'd give that a try as well.
Virginia Gentleman Virginia Bourbon, 40% ($15.00 - no longer available but probably still on the occasional shelf in the Virginia area).
The nose on this has really clear and clean bourbon notes with citrus and rye. On the palate there is a real rye inflection; it's heavily herbal and a bit medicinal with a bit of bitterness. The finish is mostly a dry rye finish. This is really quite good for a budget bourbon and reminds me of the standard Buffalo Trace bourbon. It may be a little rough around the edges, but it's got a lot of flavor. Too bad it's no longer around.
Abraham Bowman Rye Whiskey, bottled for The Party Source, distilled 3/14/01, bottled2/1/11, Lot 01-C-14, Barrel #1, 68.2% abv ($70).
The nose on this is a huge rye bomb; it definitely smells like Handy. The palate is full of big rye flavors rolled up with a pure, rock candy sweetness. It's got sugar, herbs, anise, the whole big rye package at a whopping 68.2% abv. Water is really not good for this one, turning it syrupy sweet. Tasting it neat, it's great stuff!
It's too bad that these A. Smith Bowman products aren't more widely available. They have clearly been putting out some good stuff, from the bargain basement to the premium level.
UPDATE AND CORRECTION: Joe Dangler, Master Distiller at A. Smith Bowman, let me know that they are discontinuing the 90 proof version of Virginia Gentleman but not the 80 proof version which I review here. Thanks Joe, it's good to know that Bowman is still making some great budget bourbon.
6 comments:
Wow! The Bowman sounds great. Is it as punch-you-in-the-face assertive as the Handy? I thought Handy took water reasonably well when necessary, if only to kind of calm it down a touch.
Also thanks for sharing the notes on the Virginia Gentleman.
There's a whole amazing ton of American whiskeys out there, and as I saw this last weekend when in the midwest, we really only get a small sampling by comparison out here. After my Winkle hat-trick a few weeks ago and an absolute ton of bourbons back east, this set of notes makes me want to put the scotches back in the cupboard for a while.
(Then again, a month ago it was all things Japanese. Best to recognize these as cyclical I guess...)
- April 12, 2011 at 6:27 PM
Virginia Gentleman discontinued? Bummer.
How do they plan to make up that volume, which would certainly be more than they're producing of the Bowman specialties? I know the Bowmans bring a higher buck, but volume contributes to the economies of scale nonetheless.
Great post. I had no idea about any of this.
- April 13, 2011 at 5:22 AM
- sku said...
Sam, I haven't heard anything definitive from Buffalo Trace regarding the elimination of VA Gentleman. (I sent them an email and will let you know if they respond), but Virginia Gentleman has disappeared from all official BT press, including the BT website and the A. Smith Bowman website. It seems that they've replaced it with the higher end Bowman line of Bourbons.
- April 13, 2011 at 6:11 AM
Are these then wholly distilled in Virginia, or do they first distill in Kentucky, then Virginia, like Virginia Gentleman was?
So many questions...
- April 19, 2011 at 4:56 PM
- sku said...
Hey Sam, did you see the update in the post regarding the continued production of Virginia Gentleman?
As far as I know, Bowman is still doing redistillations, but I'll see if I can get a confirmation on that.
- April 19, 2011 at 5:43 PM
Sku, this is pretty late to the party, i.e. 3 years out, but Virginia Gentleman is most definitely still available in the VA-MD area. I'm from Virginia, and I enjoy this as my everyday "not thinking about it" bourbon.
I post this for historical/search engine reasons, since I found this page via Google.
- September 17, 2014 at 1:22 AM


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|Vivek Patil
The following is a listing of my posts categorized under different tags. The tagging/re-tagging process is a work-in-progress. All R-related unique posts are listed under the R tag. These have been further reclassified under other tags. R codes for most of these posts can be found on github.


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Mary Kingsley, African explorer, ca 1890
For me, graduate school was a happy time, of long days in the archives and long afternoons in the Ratskeller. To be fair though there were also moments of fear: fear of discovering some document that would blow apart my thesis like a howitzer shell. Or worse, fear of finding some book that supported my thesis, indeed supported it so closely that it would render my project superfluous, a poor knock-off of the original. Neither of these happened, though I did have my queasy moments of discovery in the card catalog.
"Der Bücherworm" by Carl Spitzweg, 1850
I calmed my fears by mastering the ways of the database: Historical Abstracts, America: History and Life, the Making of America, Poole's Periodical Database, Periodical Content Index, Dissertation Abstracts International, the American Periodical Series, etc, etc etc. Database companies market their products as tools for research and networking. And indeed they are. But for the paranoid graduate student, databases are used as radar, informing them when another scholar is flying too close. Happily those days are gone. But I still get a warm, cozy feeling inside when I find a good database. It is researcher's version of a hot toddy.
Such was my feeling last night when I found AfricaBib, a set of three databases about Africa, the most exciting of which is Women Travelers, Explorers, and Missionaries to Africa. The databases are a thirty-year labor of love by research librarian Davis Bullwinkle who started working on the project in 1974, using, no doubt, index cards. As the project grew, Davis began to upgrade to a computer filing system, one designed by the precocious computer-whiz son of a colleague. After Bullwinkle retired in 2008, the database was taken over by the African Studies Centre (ASC) in Leiden, the Netherlands who keep it up to date. The database currently boasts 1800 items. What does this mean in terms of finding material on women explorers? Playing around with the database last night, I entered "Mary Kingsley" into the keyword search. It pulled up 109 records, including published dissertations, scholarly articles, books, and online essays. Very impressive. Nice work Davis.
For more on women travelers and explorers, see my post on Gertrude Bell and Women Explorers


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Reduce Challenging Behaviors & Strengthen
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If you can say yes to these questions, then our program is right for you.
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Would you like assistance improving your child's behavior?
Do you have an important question to ask a Behaviour specialist? Let's talk.
If your discipline strategies aren't working contact us for a comprehensive evaluation to assist your family. Every parent wants to help their child. More serious behavior problems require professional help.
|Camille Netherton (Coordinator)
E: email@example.com
P: 604.946.6622 ext 302
Join our mailing list to get updates on workshops & events.
A big challenge for parents facing challenging behavior is not knowing an effective way to respond. Minor behavior problems can often be addressed by making a few changes to your discipline strategies.
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We feel empowered with simple strategies that we can use on our own to improve the quality of our life and are excited about the future! 🙂 💙 Sent with gratitude 💙


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Disney defends new Hispanic-influenced princess
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Walt Disney Co. is defending its newest princess following a backlash over her Hispanic-influenced ethnicity.
A new character named Sofia will star in the TV movie "Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess" airing Nov. 18 on the Disney Channel and Disney Junior. Hispanic advocacy groups have questioned whether the fair-skinned, blue-eyed young princess is an accurate representation of the Hispanic population and wondered why Disney isn't doing more to promote its first princess with Hispanic-inspired roots.
"They seem to be backpedaling," said Lisa Navarrete, spokeswoman for the National Council of La Raza. "They've done such a good job in the past when they've introduced Native American, African-American and Asian princesses. They made a big deal out of it, and there was a lot of fanfare, but now they're sort of scrambling. It's unusual because Disney has been very good about Latino diversity."
Craig Gerber, co-executive producer of "Sofia the First," clarified in a Facebook post on Friday that Sofia is "a mixed-heritage princess in a fairytale world." He said her mother and birth father respectively hail from kingdoms inspired by Spain and Scandinavia, though Sofia was born and raised in Enchancia, a "make-believe 'melting pot' kingdom" patterned after the British Isles.
Sofia is voiced by Caucasian "Modern Family" actress Ariel Winter, and her mother is played by Hispanic "Grey's Anatomy" actress Sara Ramirez.
The film and a subsequent TV series will follow the young princess as she adjusts to royal life after her mother marries the king of Enchancia.
"Sofia considers herself a normal Enchancian girl like any other," said Gerber. "Her mixed heritage and blended family are a reflection of what many children today experience."
Inez Gonzalez, executive vice president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, said Monday that the organization wanted to meet with Disney to discuss "Sofia the First."
"Sofia's world reflects the ethnically diverse world we live in, but it is not our world," said Nancy Kanter, senior vice president of original programming for Disney Junior. "It is a fairytale and storybook world that we hope will help spur a child's imagination. It's one where we can have flying horses, schools led by fairies, songs that have a Latin beat and towns with markets like those found in North Africa."
Kanter added that the "Sofia the First" series set to debut next year would include storylines about a holiday called Wassailia, which is reminiscent of a Scandinavian Christmas; and the characters would go on a picnic in Wei-Ling, an Asian-inspired kingdom.
Marcela Davison Aviles, president of the Mexican Heritage Corporation, said that calling Sofia a Latina princess is "not an accurate use of the term as many in our community understand its meaning." Davison Aviles has worked with Disney on the TV series "Handy Manny," which features a bilingual Hispanic handyman character. She added that "Disney leadership embraces the complexity, diversity and beauty" of the Hispanic community.
"I'll bet folks at the company are using this as a teachable moment to improve on that effort," said Davison Aviles. "I'm looking forward to meeting Sofia and to Disney's future efforts to illuminate our diverse melting pot, including the varied colors which thread our tapestry of Latino identity."
Over the past two decades, Disney has introduced such culturally diverse female protagonists as Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Merida and Tiana, the African-American princess from 2009's "Princess and the Frog." Disney's 2000 animated film "The Emperor's New Groove" and its subsequent spin-offs were set amid the Incan Empire in South America.
"Little girls look to these characters to see themselves represented," said Navarrete. "If they don't see themselves, it makes a difference. It would be nice to see Disney make a full-out push for a Latina princess, whether it's 'Sofia the First' or not."
The Disney Channel and Disney Junior are owned by The Walt Disney Co.
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang.


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I've been reading for a while about a multi-decade project in Kunming dealing with macro-PK (psychokinesis), remote viewing and other capabilities among schoolchildren. I had emailed with one of the researchers involved with the project before, but hadn't dug that deep. At CSTS I met a number of young Chinese researchers who were involved with gathering and analyzing data from the psychic children of Kunming; they showed me some videos of their work. These "kids" were quite matter-of-fact about their work — they had observed various children's anomalous abilities many times, and viewed their role as documenting and studying the phenomena rather than trying to prove their reality (as they assumed the proof to have been completed well before their entry into the project). I'm planning to coordinate with these guys to visit Kunming sometime in the next year to check out these phenomena personally and see if I can help with experimental design, data analysis or theoretical analysis or whatever…
On the other hand, one of the parapsychology-oriented presenters at the conference somewhat rubbed me the wrong way. He had a lot of exciting-sounding talk (in Chinese, translated for those of us in the audience who needed it) about channeling the mind of the universe, and so forth. He then offered a demonstration of his system for teaching people to channel the mind of the universe… and brought up some of his young female students to the front of the room. One of them proceeded to recite a short poem in an ancient Chinese style. He then noted the complexity and difficulty of writing a poem in this archaic formal style, and said that no modern youth could do that on their own — it could only be done by channeling the minds of the ancients, via the mind of the universe. Later on, this same teacher demonstrated qigong healing on an elderly man with serious stiffness in the fingers, due to a previously medically diagnosed problem. There was much talk about the cosmic wisdom of the universe and such, but the elderly man professed that at the end of the process, he felt a bit better but his fingers were still stiff.
I did have the distinct sensation of seeing some sort of energy jumping up and down out of the elderly man's body, at one point. On the other hand, it's possible I was just sleepy and drifting off into some sort of dream.
I'm not going to assert that this teacher was lacking in special abilities or engaging in fraudulent activities, or anything like that. But for sure, his demonstrations sent my Skeptic Sense way tingly. According to the Chinese I asked, the student's poem was competent but not especially exceptional. The amount of glowing evangelism about the channeling of the mind of the universe seemed far out of proportion to the magnitude of the phenomena displayed…. It didn't escape me that the teacher was running a commercial school and seeking tuition-paying students…
The next day the Kunming-project guys took me and Ruiting and another Hong Konger, L, to the Qigong Museum, a half-hour taxi ride across Shanghai. The historical displays there were fascinating, and the ancient illustrative artworks were ornate, complex and beautiful.
Some random photos I took at the museum are here:
(My pictures come nowhere remotely near doing the museum justice; I didn't photo the stunning ancient drawing and such, but merely a few of the tech-y displays and machines.)
There were also some intriguing electronic devices on display — electrical Qigong machines from the 1990s. These had a bunch of dials and knobs on them and seem to have been used to generate electromagnetic fields configured to affect the body in certain ways. The tour guide was quite negative about these devices, opining that qigong would always work better when manifested by a biological human being.
And there were some photos of experiments done capturing qigong energy in various glass-bulb-type containers. I asked the tour guide what results had been obtained from this work, and he said there had been 10,000 papers published on this and he wasn't qualified to summarize them, but there had been a lot of positive results.
Ah, and some photos and information about the history of qigong-based anesthesia in Chinese operating rooms. It appears to have worked as well as chemical anesthetics, with fewer side-effects. Note that we don't yet understand, within Western medicine, how chemical anesthetics work; the anesthetics in current medical use were figured out via trial and error.
After our tour through the museum, a Qigong master — who had been at the consciousness conference, but had opted not to give a presentation to the crowd — offered to give us a practical demonstration.
He asked L to stand still and relax and close his eyes. He then projected energy at L through his hand — and we watched, bemused and impressed, as he pulled L's body back and forth, from a distance of about 12 inches. L (someone I know fairly well) tends to be skeptical of qigong, psi and other such things, and clearly was not complicit in the demonstration. When the demonstration was done and L opened his eyes, L was quite surprised when we told him his body had been swaying back and forth in coordination with the qigong master's hand.
The master then tried to do the same trick with me, but it didn't work. I was standing there in a state of fairly deep relaxation, doing yoga/meditation breathing and so forth. When it was done, the master said it had failed due to a blockage of qi in my right knee, which he said had an old injury in it, from at least 5 years before. I don't know if this was actually the reason -- I'm a difficult case for hypnosis too. However, it's true that my right knee is mildly shaky due to a skiing accident I had 16 years ago. He then offered to try to cure my knee — and indeed, when he laid his hands on my knee in his special qigong way, the knee started feeling extremely hot and felt like it was vibrating deep inside at a high rate (a quite different feeling from what happens if the knee is physically shaken back and forth or if someone rapidly vibrates their hands on the skin).
Afterwards, outside the museum, the master looked carefully at L's body and correctly diagnosed a couple minor medical issues of L's. He looked at me and noted a problem with my lower back, which so far as I know does not exist (my lower back feels fine and has never given me any problems so far); I did have an upset stomach from my dinner the previous night, though, which he did not note. I asked him to take a look at a woman who was there with me, and whom I knew to be in the 7th week of pregnancy — not far along enough to be showing at all. He looked at her and after a bit of scrutiny said "The baby is healthy, and your health seems good, congratulations."
Of course, none of this was skeptic-proof, but it was nonetheless pretty impressive and compelling. The impression I got of his qigong sensing and diagnostic process, was that it was a mix of things: careful observation and inference and medical experience, plus some sort of bioelectromagnetic field wizardry (involving both perception and manipulation of bioelectromagnetic fields, in ways that Western science does not yet encompass), plus probably some sort of psi component as well.
Teasing apart these various aspects of his abilities is interesting to me, because I have a Western science oriented perspective. It's interesting to me to figure out what aspects of what he does are due to psi, what aspects are due to weird bioelectromagnetic field dynamics, and what aspects are just due to him being a keen observer and a charismatic guy and a good doctor.
On the other hand, from his point of view, it doesn't really matter much which aspects of his practice fall into which of my Western analytical categories. Chinese philosophy and Chinese medical practice are holistic by nature, and what matters is the state of consciousness he achieves, and the medical cures he facilitates, rather than the explanation of what he does in terms of a particular combination of phenomena belonging to carefully-formalized reductive analytical categories.


text: In a world of fast food and one-size-fits-all sensibilities, how often does something feel made especially for you? The "Made for You" section celebrates those items that are created with such high quality of hand workmanship and degree of customization that they become individual to you. In each issue, our editors will endeavor to bring you special things from anywhere on the globe, choosing them solely on the basis of outstanding quality. Our goal is to give you guidance on the best of everything.


text:
Story highlights
Greece's extreme-right Golden Dawn party wins 7% of the vote
France's National Front places third in first-round voting, influences runoff race
The far right has seen gains in Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Scandinavia and elsewhere
Analysts say the austerity crisis is only one factor in the far right's rise in Europe
Two European elections, in France and Greece, have thrust the radical fringe into the spotlight.
In Greece, voters disillusioned by a brutal austerity program pushed through by the two mainstream parties have turned instead to parties on the far left and far right.
As a result, a leftist coalition opposed to austerity is seeking to form a government, and Golden Dawn – an ultranationalist party linked to street violence and neo-Nazism – stands to claim around 20 seats in the new parliament.
France saw a swing to the left in Sunday's runoff, with Socialist François Hollande ousting center-right incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy from the Élysée Palace.
But the strong showing by far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen in the first round of the presidential election undoubtedly played into campaigning, with both candidates reaching out to the 6.5 million voters who backed her. Each pledged to crack down on illegal immigration, though Sarkozy went further in promising to cut the number of legal migrants by half in the next five years.
Two very different outcomes, but with a common thread: the efforts of extremist parties to win support by plugging into popular discontent over the financial crisis, against the backdrop of a wider social unease and anti-immigrant sentiment.
Across Europe, anger at a perceived mismanagement of the economic crisis, and accompanying high unemployment, low growth and painful cuts, has seen a string of governments fall
Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Finland, Romania and Italy are among them as well as the Netherlands, where the refusal of the far-right Freedom Party to back austerity measures led the government to collapse last month.
The current turbulence of Europe's politics may lead to more uncomfortable alliances in the future – although such attempts can also backfire.
Keen to swing France's sizable far-right bloc behind him, Sarkozy vowed to keep an open ear to the concerns of the National Front, even as he ruled out any formal pact with the party.
"I refuse to demonize the men and women who in voting for Marine Le Pen expressed a crisis vote, a vote of anger, a vote of suffering and a vote of despair," he said on French radio. "I have to take their message into account, I have to listen to them, I have to hear them and not hold my nose."
But many critics perceived him as lurching far to the right on issues such as immigration.
Announcing his decision to back Hollande, centrist François Bayrou, who took 9% of the vote in the first round, said he could not support Sarkozy because the views he now espoused were incompatible with his party's values.
Even so, will the region's economic insecurity translate into greater gains for the far right?
Europe's far-right parties are definitely seeing a resurgence, according to Matthew Feldman, director of the Radicalism and New Media Research Group at the University of Northampton, but the trend is not universal and the austerity crisis is only one part of the picture.
He said the far-right movement has been gaining ground for years, thanks partly to efforts to revamp its previously overtly racist and fascist image.
This doesn't mean that those racist or Nazi-sympathizing elements don't still exist within different countries' far-right groups, he said, but those at the top have often learned to present a more acceptable public face.
Instead of open racial attacks, they play up a threat to national identity and criticize multiculturalism, particularly as it relates to Islam, Feldman said.
On the campaign trail, National Front leader Le Pen called for France to leave the eurozone and restore its currency, the franc, as well as criticizing its political integration into the European Union.
But her rhetoric also drew on an anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim sentiment that has deep roots in France and elsewhere. That discourse was likely also a factor in Sarkozy turning the labeling of halal meat into an election issue and his comments that there are "too many foreigners" in France.
The more research he does, Feldman said, the more it seems that "the lowest common denominator of this entire far-right narrative is that Islam is barbaric and a threat to European stability and peace."
A report by rights group Amnesty International last month highlighted the issue, saying Muslims in Europe face discrimination in education, employment and religious freedom.
Feldman draws a parallel with the anti-Semitism of the 20th century and earlier.
"We are still seeing 'Europe for the Europeans,' and that's something we could have seen 80 years ago," he said. "History doesn't give us perfect examples of replaying the past, but I think there's a lesson to take away.
"In times of uncertainty and great change, finding scapegoats has always been a populist vote winner, and the scapegoat in this century is Muslims in Europe."
Michael Minkenberg, a professor of political science at Germany's European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) who has also taught at New York, Cornell and Columbia universities, said he sees concern over immigration, law and order "and the feeling that things aren't what they used to be any more" as being at the heart of support for Europe's radical right.
Euroscepticism, as resistance to greater European political integration is known, is also on the increase, he said, and "there's this anxiety about what will happen, a growing complexity and not much reassurance from either national governments or the European Union."
Coupled with a mistrust of the political elite, this has also led to a swell of support for the far right in Austria, Belgium and Scandinavian countries, Minkenberg said, while in Hungary, the far-right Jobbik party won a significant chunk of the vote in 2010.
Despite that trend, analysts caution against drawing sweeping conclusions from the far right's gains in France and Greece.
The National Front has been well-entrenched in France's political life for decades under Jean-Marie Le Pen before his daughter Marine took charge last year, said Thomas Klau of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
As such, its achievement in taking a fifth of the votes in the first round of voting, while notable, did not indicate a sudden rise to prominence for the far right, he said.
Hollande told the daily Liberation newspaper ahead of the runoff that he saw the strong showing for the National Front as an expression of people's "social anger" rather than a firm adherence to the party's more extremist views. It revealed a discontent particularly in rural areas and among working-class voters, he said, with many feeling abandoned by the government.
Perhaps reflecting that disillusionment, 2 million French voters deliberately spoiled their ballot papers after Marine Le Pen said that was what she would do.
Nonetheless, Klau argues that a feature of recent ballots in Europe has been the readiness of voters to change their governments without turning to the political extremes, as seen in Spain's election in November.
"Voters have been single-minded across the eurozone in terms of expressing their dissatisfaction at how the crisis has been run by the government in charge, whatever their political hue," he said. "But at the same time, they have sufficient confidence in their own political system to replace their governments with the mainstream political opposition."
In Britain, local elections last week saw big losses for the coalition government of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, blamed for unpopular austerity measures.
But there was no accompanying swing to the radical fringe, Feldman said. The far-right British National Party in fact lost all six of the seats it was defending in local councils and failed to win any new ones. The opposition center-left Labour Party was the main beneficiary of the coalition's losses.
In the Netherlands, Klau said the impact of Dutch politician Geert Wilders' decision to withdraw his Freedom Party's support for the government, triggering its collapse, would have only a temporary destabilizing effect.
The economy will be central to the election of a new government, with elections due in September, but the far right does not attract the same level of support as in France.
Wilders, who wants a referendum on the euro, preferred to exit the coalition than lose political credibility by backing the painful cuts demanded by Europe, said Kostas Gemenis at the University of Twente in the Netherlands.
Those demands from Europe are also at the heart of Greece's political turmoil as voters in the heavily indebted nation revolt against the harsh budget-cutting medicine doled out by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
The success of Golden Dawn, with its unprecedented 7% share of the vote, is a manifestation of what could be described as economic meltdown, Feldman said.
But at the same time, he said, "7% is too much, but it's not 27% or 37%. I'm not sure now is the time to panic about the rise of the far right. Golden Dawn is not something that is replicable across Europe."
And while Golden Dawn gained strength, another far-right party, LAOS, lost its small presence in the 300-seat parliament as voters punished it for its support for Greece's austerity program, Gemenis pointed out.
Gemenis said the profile of the Golden Dawn voter – revealed through the Choose4Greece website he jointly set up to help voters work out their political affiliation amid a welter of parties – was typically male, aged under 50 and from a lower educational background.
Some 45% of those who said they intended to vote for Golden Dawn this time around had backed one of the two mainstream parties, PASOK and New Democracy, in 2009, while a fifth had backed LAOS, Gemenis said.
If the far-left Syriza group fails to form a workable coalition, it seems likely a new Greek election will be called next month.
But whether this will mean further gains for Golden Dawn is hard to predict, Gemenis said.
"The framing of the issue by the media might play a role, but it is impossible to say what will be the consequences of the media attacking the far right versus tacitly ignoring it," he said, referring to the approach taken by Greek media so far.
So, does the far right present a broader threat to European freedoms?
How extreme the anti-immigration debate becomes depends very much on the individual country, Minkenberg said.
Farther east, a different strand of far-right thinking dominates in countries such as Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, he said. There, far-right groups poll around 10% but tend to be more nationalistic in tone, he said, with anti-Semitism and anti-Roma views seen as more legitimate than elsewhere in Europe.
Feldman highlights the far right's recent apparent moves to establish a pan-European cultural movement that has Islam in its sights as the biggest risk.
Far-right groups from Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, Germany and Eastern Europe gathered last month in the Danish city of Aarhus for what they said was a rally to make their governments aware of the threat of Islamic extremism.
Although it was dwarfed by a left-wing counterdemonstration, the protest was significant as an attempt by the far-right groups to create a common trajectory, he said. Less clear is how much traction their extreme views can gain.
"It's clear that a large minority across Europe isn't comfortable with these things – demographic change and multiculturalism," Feldman said. "But what the far right offers is not something that many can accept."