text:
High feed prices and imports derail domestic poultry
Featured News Poultry
by Editor April 7, 2021 0281
THE Namibian poultry industry's growth and development are being thwarted by high feed prices and imports from international poultry giants.
This was revealed last week by the chairman of the Poultry Producers Association (PPA), René Werner, in the Namibian Agricultural Union's weekly briefs.
Werner said despite the number of producers increasing, the sector's growth is being hampered by the cost of feed in the country.
He pointed out that the volume of imports into the country from major international companies is creating stiff competition for the budding local industry.
Local poultry trade statistics from the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) for the past two years indicate the country has imported poultry and poultry products worth N$2,0 billion from around the world.
Out of this, N$1,2 billion was imported in 2019 and N$ 839,7 million in 2020.
Werner said despite last year's challenges, producers survived.
He said 15 emerging producers have joined the association in the last year, showing signs of a growing industry.
He said primary production is the key to value-chain growth, highlighting that 2020 had a normal start for the Namibian egg and broiler industry, but that Covid-19 turned matters around.
"Due to the 'panic purchases' of the public within the first two weeks of Covid-19 restrictions, the demand was initially very high. After that, a 'new normal' was introduced," Werner said.
Another challenge brought about by the virus pandemic is the restricted tourism industry, which has caused the demand for eggs to fall, he said.
As a result, prices had to be adjusted downwards to push surplus eggs into the informal market.
However, due to the supply crisis in the beef industry, the small sector was there to pick up the pace and provide in the country's demand for protein.
"Due to high red meat prices, the need for cheaper protein increased towards the end of the year, with a simultaneous increase in demand," Werner said.
The sale of chicken went well due to the limited availability and high prices of beef, mutton, and venison, he said.
He said a brainstorming session would be held to share ideas and information on improving growth and sustainability in the poultry industry.
Werner said the agricultural environment will always have its trials, but producers will continue to adapt and innovate to respond to the ever-changing environment.
The PPA extended its appreciation to big industry players who sponsored the producers' meeting and information-sharing session.
This includes Agribank, Feedmaster, and Afrivet.
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May God, our mosting loving Father be ever near to us in our troubled times and fill us with His love, grace, mercy, and justice.
Since the very beginning of our ministry and at the strong prompting of our late founders, Jerry and Gwen Coniker, the Apostolate for Family Consecration (AFC) has committed to being in full communion with the teachings of Holy Mother Church. This commitment is alive and well, and it calls us to action today.
The bride of Christ, the Catholic Church, has been assaulted by the evil one. Many ordained and Church leaders have committed sins that have caused, and are still causing, great harm to individuals and to the Church as a whole. Many have veered from Christ, His love, and His ways, and as a result, the true teachings of Jesus Christ have been grossly undermined. Out of unwavering faithfulness and love for God and His people, we must rise up and aid our Church at this time. We cannot let the father of lies corrupt Holy Mother Church any longer.
As faithful members of the Catholic Church, it is our duty to know, love, and serve God and to bring others to know, love, and serve Him. This is not only the duty of the ordained, but equally that of the laity. As lay people, we must work with the good and faithful ordained ministers to cleanse our Church so that it truly reflects the love and life of Christ. This is a decisive moment and we are called to action.
Here are some concrete ways you can take action. Please rise up and make a difference in our Church today.
Pray without ceasing. Deepen your relationship with God.
Note: This is NOT a petition asking Pope Francis to resign. It is a request that Cardinal Vigano's accusations be taken seriously and a worthy investigation take place.
Let us not fall into traps that the evil one will set for us, but join the army of Christ Our King and His Queen Mother. Let us act as they would act, speak as they would speak, think as they would think. Now is a time when "Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven" (Ps 85:11–12).
Rise, all ye faithful! God is with us, and His truth and love shall prevail.


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text:
Thank you for listening to the Postindustrial Podcast, featuring conversations with newsmakers about important issues in Postindustrial America.
Season 4, Episode 5: Nan Whaley
Nan Whaley discovered her love of politics years ago while studying chemistry at the University of Dayton. The former mayor of Ohio's sixth-largest city clinched the Democratic gubernatorial nomination for Ohio.
She proved so popular during her first term as Dayton mayor that she was unopposed in her second term. How did she meet some of this Postindustrial city's toughest challenges?
The Postindustrial Podcast features conversations with newsmakers about important issues affecting Postindustrial America.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Google Chrome leaks memory sometimes, and you may face memory leaking issue. There is a way to find out whether your Chrome is leaking memory or not. You can follow steps in that article to know. But there are routine checks and fixes you can try to get rid of memory leak issue. Google Chrome is no doubt a great minimalistic designed web browser with high performance but requires lots of ram usage. If you have ever experienced high ram usage or memory leaking issues in Google Chrome you can follow below guides to fix it.
There are a few advice and checks to fix high ram usage also known as the memory leak. You can read and check on the machine and if they are not correct fix them one by one.
Latest Version of Google Chrome: - Google Chrome browser's developer community maintains 3 version of Google Chrome. Beta, Canary and Normal version. Updates and new features are tested by Canary, Beta and then stable releases. So using Beta or Canary for a regular user is not a good idea and if you are using standard version then do check if it is updated to latest version or not. To check go to Settings > Help or enter following address: - chrome://help/ in the Address bar.
Remove Unused Extensions and Apps : - I was wondering one day why my machine is running very slow even after 8 GBs of ram then realised that only Google Chrome is slow and was eating too much ram. When I opened Chrome's 'Task Manager' (shift+esc) there were some apps and extensions which I don't even remember. Only keep useful extension and apps, remove those who are not of your use.
Open extensions page and remove unwanted extensions and apps from there to resolve the high ram (memory leak) issue.
Use Google Chrome's Task Manager : - Lots of Google Chrome user don't know that it has own task manager where memory usage and other details can be seen. You can use Chrome's task manager to fix memory leaking issue. Open task manager by pressing Shift + Esc and kill unwanted processes by selecting and pressing 'End Process' button. This will surely help to reduce ram usage and fix any memory issue with Google Chrome browser.
Use extensions to reduce "High Memory Usage" : - There are a number of useful extensions to reduce high ram usage. One tab and The Great suspenders are two excellent extensions to help you in high memory usage issue.
If these problems do not resolve high memory usage issue or you still think Chrome is leaking memory then reinstalling can fix it. You can completely uninstall Google Chrome and reinstall it to fix most of the problems including high memory usage or memory leaks.
None of these are fixes. They are workarounds. None of these solves the problem and requires me to do extra work because the software is not working properly.


text:
Comics Phase Fourteen
By Teng Ai Hui,
July 26, 2019 in Literature
red snow
Prince of Procrastination
Location:Bristol, UK
9 hours ago, Sci-2 said:
I am ok with PoX being a dystopia since it takes place in the future. Marvel's whole thing with future times has always been a bit weird - I know the X-men comics seem to regard futures as branches somehow existing at the same time as our timeline**...and then Hickman seemed to dictate his own vision of the future in Avengers...
I am curious as to Franklin's role as well - I realize it was more editorial than anything but a friend and I were talking about how the Richards seemed to shy away from advocating for mutant rights. Here Hickman seems to bring that criticism into the narrative via Cyclop's comment. Not to mention we also have future!Franklin and his Galactus Herald possibly existing in another alternate time branch...
**When Multiple Man divided himself and went to two different futures.
Hickman will get bonus points from me if he addresses a long standing issue for me on how the general public has always been ok with super powered humans such as the Fantastic Four whose powers aren't derived from technology (eg Iron Man) yet if you are a mutant it's a problem. Surely there'd be a section of society (conspiracy theorists) that thinks the FF, Captain America, Thor, etc are all mutants and it's just a lie they got their powers from serums, cosmic rays and magic hammers.
By the same token mutants are being very hypocritical if Spider-man, Captain America and the FF aren't allowed to be part of their community simply because they weren't born with powers.
Is Krakoa itself really a mutant in terms of being homo-superior unless there's been a retcon stating the island was originally a human/homo superior - I thought it was created by nuclear testing and a hivemind of plant and animal life. Although checking the wiki for krakoa it's interesting that it originally sent Cyclops out to gather other mutants to it and use them as food sources. Maybe Hickman will include some kind of climate-change Gaia story where everything we are seeing is Krakoa's way of saving the planet, possibly by becoming the planet.
EDIT: I like the thread title of phase 14. I dread to think what phase the comics would be in. It feels like 14 would only count for 6 years with the regularity of events and renumbering of series.
Edited July 31, 2019 by red snow
replying to another comment
Sci-2
Bastard of Boston
I didn't love PoX as much as HoX, and I think that will be remain true for the duration of both series, but it was still a fun read. I suppose not many will like PoX more than HoX just based on the simple premise that it features a largely new cast of characters. Let's see if Hickman can make us care about them in the remaining issues.
Winterfell is Burning
P10 was interesting, and a lot to process. The twist in the end was interesting, and twists the "dark future" trope on it's head. Plus, it made Nimrod fun and cool.
POX definitely feels like it might work better as a binge to me. It reminded me a bit of "east of west" in structure but with different eras as opposed to different factions where an issue can feel like a series of snapshots.
I can see how some are complaining about the info dumps. I think they'd work better as an appendice as the story was fragmented enough without text pages that took as long to read/digest as 6 pages of comic.
As for the opening scene was the implication Moira knew about the future? Or was time travel at play?
I also liked the new versions of Nimrod and the whole man-machine alliance. Nimrod was thst weird mixture of super intelligent but also very child-like.
Still the most interesting X-men comics in a long time.
Moira, if that's really her, it's either a time-traveler or someone with the capacity of seeing the future; that scene that was pointed as "the most important in X-men history" would mean all Xavier did since creating the X-men was with future knowledge.
And if that's the case, the objective wasn't to save mutants, but humankind, since, by the time of the Ascension, it is extinct, and seemingly for a long time, except for those two that are there preserved like zoo animals.
2 hours ago, Winterfell is Burning said:
I think that's the case but until other marvel books confirm Hickman's changes we don't know for certain what he's told to change. For example it could be he was set on a course that lead to everything as we know it and beyond - basically what we are seeing now. Or "moira" sets him on a course that tries to have humans and mutants live in harmony and everything we are seeing now is a future that has been prevented and the two series are actually "what ifs".
It does raise the question of who Moira is. Like you say if the goal is to set Xavier on a path that results in the extinction of mutants it seems more likely to be Nimrod meddling (he can time travel).
I feel like some kind of time travel will be at play as Hickman seems to be drawing on a lot of classic x-men stories and remixing them. DOFP is definitely one to riff off.
The goal isn't to make mutants extinct, but rather make sure humans survive alongside them- hence the emphasis in peaceful co-existence, and now the gifts to mankind. It would change the story of the X-men as we know, because the ultimate goal wouldn't be preserve mutantkind: it was always going to win the war in the (very) long run, but make sure humankind doesn't get wiped out. That is, if I'm right about this, of course.
The 11th Little Indian
Whoah - really like the idea that Xavier's goal is to save humankind [rather than mutants].
Is the Librarian a machine intelligence? Or a mutant-of-sorts born from Nimrod's database?
One thing I was considering was the war between Ultron-Future and World-Core future touched on in Hickman's Avenger's run. And of course the conflict between Cable and Bishop is an X-men staple of conflicts between timelines.
Might we see a battle between Years 10, 100, and 1000?
Edited August 3, 2019 by Sci-2
That was one of the better elements over last decade having bishop and cable at odds to protect their futures.
A battle between 10, 100 and 1000 settings could be interesting and head scratching.
House of X #2 is...something. Really will change how you see the story and even the X-men as a whole, specially Moira.
House of X #2. Wow. Just wow. I'm prone to hyperbole because I just love loving things, but this will be a definitive X-Men run. There's no doubt in my mind. The art, scope, and craft of this story is next level, only three issues in.
Teng Ai Hui
lǎo wài
Location:where freedom has new meaning
What happened during Moira's LIFE SIX? Why is it not on that chart at the end of the issue?
20 hours ago, Winterfell is Burning said:
It was nice of bleeding cool to post pretty much the whole issue (I'm surprised Marvel lets them do this) so I've read up on the key aspects. It's a nice retcon with the potential to roll various alternate futures into Moira timelines. I do need to buy the issue so that i can have a closer look at the timelines chart.
Serious burn with AvX being dubbed "the lost decade". That's a bit on the nose. And once again has me wondering whether the X-men exist in regular marvel continuity anymore. We really need evidence of other Marvel books referencing Krakoa as the FF appearing doesn't in the X-books doesn't count. Although to be honest I'd be perfectly fine with the X-men being their own thing.
2 hours ago, Teng Ai Hui said:
I'm sure there's a very good reason we don't yet know. I still think that what we are seeing in POX is an alternate future. What if she tried the Krakoa approach in life six and it lead to the disaster we are seeing in POX? It went so wrong that she spent the next couple of lives trying something very different. But now, on life ten she's thinking attempt number 6 was the best except for that one point that went wrong? So what we are seeing in HOX is life 6 and 10 playing out together but in HOX#6 we see Moira introduce a change that splits 6 and 10 apart. POX ends up being a series showing us how life 6 played out and the wide-line Hickman relaunch is the uncharted ground of life 10. That'd be a sweet set up.
8 hours ago, Bastard of Boston said:
I wonder how long Hickman has been developing and planning this series? It feels like something he's been working on for years.
With this book and Immortal Hulk I'm starting to wonder whether I should poke my nose into more Marvel titles. The events and cost still throw me off the most but it's reassurring to know there is some quality out there too.
From what I read and heard about, only IH and Hickman's work are can't miss stuff, though there's good books here and there. The problem is that the big books usually suffer too much interference from editorial and the smaller ones get cancelled with 12 issues.
I'd toy with Aaron's work but avengers seems so convoluted and tied into events i wouldn't know where to start and what order.
If the x-books can maintain the momentum and quality of hox/pox that'll occupy my wallet.
We're lucky immortal hulk has been left untampered. Hopefully these styles of book will become more frequent if they continue to be the ones gaining an audience rather than dwindling after each renumbering.
Yeah, I think Aaron's work in the last decade or so, apart from his early Thor work, is skippable at best and downright terrible at it's worst.
Nictarion
12 hours ago, red snow said:
Same. I've heard Silver Surfer: Black is pretty good.
10 hours ago, Nictarion said:
The artwork is supposed to impressive on that title, it might be one for me to check when there's a trade's worth.
Jonathan Hickman, you magnificent son of a bitch. You made me proud to be an X-Men fan again.
On 8/9/2019 at 6:19 AM, Red Tiger said:
Same - proud and a bit confused. :-)
Though I think I get most of what is going, and it was interesting to see the Phalanx and Technarcy in his new imagining. I never dug too deeply into that stuff - it was in New Mutants I believe - but Hickman has me going back through a bunch of old X-men stories.


On Friday, Turkey's Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said to expect more of the same.
"We've already responded based on the World Trade Organisation rules and will continue to do so," state-run Anadolu news agency quoted him as saying.
The lira, which earlier this week traded at well over seven to the dollar, rebounded slightly over the last three days but on Friday it lost over five per cent of its value around 1250 GMT.
By closing time, it had fallen to 6.03 against the greenback after touching 6.3 at one point.
On Thursday, Trump said Turkey had "taken advantage of the United States for many years" and referred to Brunson as a "great patriot" who was being held 'hostage'.
US sanctions and the declining lira created panic in the markets but on the streets, many Turks appeared to support the government's retaliatory measures.
Muharrem Bozkurt sounded upbeat despite the lira crisis.
"As we are a country where patriotic sentiments are high, no matter how much the dollar increases, we will get over this," he told AFP.
"Both men are seeking to increase their votes by creating an enemy. That's politics," he said.
The latest US announcement came after Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak tried to soothe the markets during an unprecedented conference call with hundreds of foreign investors, insisting Turkey would emerge 'stronger' from the currency crisis and would not need an IMF bailout.
William Jackson, chief emerging markets economist at London-based Capital Economics said in a note that Albayrak gave a "moderately convincing performance".
S&P said the downgrade of the debt rating to 'B+' "reflects our expectation that the extreme volatility of the Turkish lira" which will undermine Turkey's economy.


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At Followup CRM, we avail software that can be accessed from every location. We understand the need for our clients to be flexible at all times. We also know some projects are not handled from a single location and hence you may need to use the CRM software for subcontractors from your respective workstation. With Cloud-based software, this becomes very easy. The Cloud is also very secure to ensure your work is not tampered with and to ensure a very high level of professionalism.
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text:
Skipti Undertakes to Implement Substantial Changes in the Organisation of Siminn and Mila
The Competition Authority and Skipti have entered into an overall settlement of the cases which the Authority has been investigating. Under the settlement, extensive changes will be made in the organisation and conduct of the Skipti group for the purpose of promoting competition. It also ensures that the competitors of Siminn will have equal access as Siminn itself to the basic telecommunication network of Skipti. This goes beyond what such a separation of a former monopoly in telecommunications generally involves in neighbouring countries. Skipti also agrees to pay ISK 300 m in administrative fines.
The Competition Authority has been processing various complaints by Siminn's competitors in which it has been maintained that Siminn has violated the Competition Act's ban on abuse of a market-dominant position. In addition rulings and judgments have been issued in recent years where it has been concluded that companies within the Siminn group have violated the provisions of the Competition Act.
The provisions of the Competition Act authorise the Competition Authority to wind up cases with a settlement with undertakings under investigation. Competitive improvements can in this manner be made earlier than otherwise. In September 2012, Siminn sent a request to the Competition Authority requesting discussions about whether it would be possible to wind up the cases that had been under investigation by the Competition Authority with an overall settlement. The outcome of these discussions was a settlement which was signed on 8 March 2013. In the preparation of the settlement, the Competition Authority co-operated closely with The Post and Telecom Administration in Iceland (Póst og Fjarskiptastofnun, or PFS). The substance of this settlement is reflected in the decision of the Competition Authority which is published today.
The settlement builds on the lessons drawn from the cases which were being investigated as well as older cases and the competitive effects of the Skipti group's position in the telecommunications market. Under the settlement, substantial changes will be made in the group's organisation and thereby in the Icelandic telecommunications market.In this connection, it should be borne in mind that the predecessors of Skipti (Landssími Íslands/Póst- og símamálastofnun (Post- and telecommunications Administration)) had a monopoly position in telecommunications markets over a span of several decades and constructed an extensive and robust telecommunications network during that period. Competition in the telecommunications sector was fully authorised in the year 1998, and Síminn as a whole was privatised in the year 2005, i.e. the basic infrastructure was not separated from the undertaking.
Therefore, Skipti is the owner of a countrywide basic telecommunications network, which has provided the group with a substantial head start.In order to be able to compete in the telecommunications market, the competitors need access, in varying degrees, to the basic telecommunications network. For this reason, the competitors of Skipti cannot avoid being customers of Skipti group. This arrangement has created an on-going risk of serious competition restrictions and conflicts of interest, e.g. a risk that Siminn's retail sales would enjoy better terms, services or quality in terms of access to the basic telecommunications network than would the competitors. This also created the risk of abuse of confidential information and that Siminn's retail sales would enjoy a head start in terms of necessary information connected to the basic network. The Competition Authority considers that Skipti's actions in older cases which were contrary to the Competition Act can be traced, one way or another, to this organisation of the group both earlier as well as currently.
With the settlement, a clear and decisive separation is made, on the one hand, between the group's basic networks and services for a telecommunications company which is connected to these basic networks and, on the other hand, Siminn's retail operations. According to the settlement, Skipti and its subsidiaries are bound by detailed conditions which ensure this and thereby serve to prevent the utilisation of Skipti's position as the owner of the basic telecommunications network to create an abnormal competitive head start. Thus, the settlement is an attempt to ensure that Siminn and its competitors sit at the same table when it comes to access to basic telecommunications networks and the purchase of telecommunications services from the group at the wholesale stage.
The decision by the Competition Authority explains that in some of the countries of Europe (e.g. the United Kingdom and Sweden), measures have been taken to change the organisation of telecommunications companies which previously enjoyed a monopoly. The objective of these measures has been to promote competition, e.g. by ensuring equal access to basic networks. In the case of Skipti, it is necessary to go farther than in the neighbouring countries in respect of such separation. The reason for this is not least the lesson which must be drawn from older cases where violations of the Competition Act have been committed.
The essence of the instructions which Skipti has undertaken to observe under the settlement may be summarised as follows:
The settlement is meant to ensure full equality between buyers of all wholesale products (basic telecommunications services) sold by Mila. This implies that Siminn's competitors shall have the same access to those telecommunications facilities and services on the same terms, conditions and quality as enjoyed by Siminn itself at all times. The same applies to equality in the provision of all information.
In order to ensure the above, Mila's independence is stipulated and the settlement involves a substantial separation of Mila from Siminn and other companies within the Skipti group. For this purpose, the following, among other things, is stipulated:
Mila's independence is ensured, among other things, through clear instructions concerning the company's business policy and field of operations. For example, Siminn and Mila may not utilise the same legal services.
Important telecommunications systems and tasks that were transferred from Mila to Siminn in 2012 will be transferred back to Mila. In addition, important telecommunications systems will be transferred from Siminn to Mila. Mila's operations will be increased considerably in this respect. This will promote competition at the retail level on the basis of equality and thereby enhance it.
Despite the aforementioned changes, Siminn's wholesale division will sell specified services to the company's competitors, e.g. wholesale Internet services and call termination on mobile phone networks. Measures are stipulated in order to ensure the independence of Siminn's wholesale division in this respect and to ensure that Siminn's competitors will sit at the same table as Siminn itself in transactions with Siminn's wholesale division. This applies to pricing, quality and equality in all provision of information.
The settlement contains provisions that are intended to ensure that in contracts and other actions engaged in by Skipti, no measures will be taken that are conducive to disrupting competition. In this connection it is stipulated, among other things, that all existing business contracts will be reviewed and that all competitively restrictive provisions, if found therein, will be cancelled immediately.
Skipti undertakes to introduce and maintain an extensive plan of action on the basis of the Competition Act. The plan would principally serve to ensure, through active measures and education, that the employees of Skipti will observe this settlement and other obligations that follow from the Competition Act.
In order to ensure that the settlement will achieve its objective, on-going supervision will be carried out farther than has been the rule regarding competitive issues in this country. Skipti will establish a special supervisory committee which will operate within the group. It will consist of two independent members and one representative of Skipti. Its ability to operate independently will be guaranteed, and the committee is entrusted with diverse tasks in order to ensure implementation of the settlement. The appointment of the independent members of the committee is subject to the approval by the Competition Authority and PFS. If this committee becomes aware of a violation of the settlement by Skipti, it shall notify the Competition Authority, and violations of the settlement are subject to sanctions.
In order to enhance the settlement's preventive effect and promote competition, Skipti and Siminn agree to pay an administrative fine of ISK 300 million.
It is a part of the settlement that disputes regarding recent decisions of the Competition Appeals Committee will not be pursued further. This implies that Skipti will withdraw court cases and not commence court cases on account of, among other things, decisions of the Competition Appeals Committee in Cases Nos. 10/2011 and 1/2012. In those cases, the conclusion of the Competition Authority regarding Siminn's abuse of dominant market position was confirmed.
The assessment of the Competition Authority is that the settlement will serve to promote a considerably healthier competitive environment and enhance competition substantially, with resulting benefits for consumers and the countries' industries. Efficient, effective and dependable telecommunications are of great importance to the community.
In the settlement, Skipti does not admit to any violations of the Competition Act. However, the Competition Authority considers that Siminn has abused its dominant market position. Therefore, it is necessary that Skipti pay a fine and take the aforementioned measures to enhance competition and work to prevent further violations. Since Skipti is prepared to do so, however, it is not necessary to take a final position in respect of the scope of Siminn's violations or their substance in other respects. The settlement provisions of the Competition Act authorise the Competition Authority to make a certain assessment of interests in this respect. The assessment of the Competition Authority which, among other things, is based on discussions with PFS and companies in the telecommunications market, is that most important for the competition in this case is to bring about the basic changes in the organisation of the telecommunications market which are envisaged by the settlement with Skipti.
Skipti is the parent company of Siminn and Mila. The operations of Siminn consist mainly of offering telecommunications services which are sold at retail to households and companies.Mila handles the operation and development of the group's basic telecommunications network.
This figure sheds light on the instructions included in the settlement:
Parties to cases that are closed with the settlement are, in addition to Siminn, Nova, Vodafone, Tal, Hringidan and other companies that are members of Inter, an association of companies providing Internet services.Before substantive settlement discussions commenced, the Competition Authority held discussions with these parties to ensure that the settlement would bring about as much benefit as possible. After a draft of a final settlement had been prepared, its contents were presented to these companies and they were given an opportunity to comment on the draft. With this settlement, the processing of all seven cases comes to an end.
In the settlement, as stated before, lessons are drawn from older cases. In order to clarify the context, these recent cases may be pointed out:
Unlawful price pressure by Siminn, cf. the ruling of the Competition Appeals Committee No. 1/2012. In that case, an ISK 390 million fine for Siminn's abuse of a dominant market position in the mobile phone market was confirmed. Further information about the case can be found at http://www.samkeppni.is/utgafa/frettir/nr/2011. The settlement implies that the decision of the Competition Appeals Committee will represent a closure of this case.
The adjudication of 6 December 2012 by the Supreme Court of Iceland which confirmed that Siminn had violated the decision of the Competition Authority and increased the fine imposed from ISK 30 million to ISK 50 million. For further details, see http://www.samkeppni.is/utgafa/frettir/nr/2069.
Predatory pricing by Siminn, cf. the ruling of the Competition Appeals Committee No. 11/2011. In the case, a fine of ISK 60 million was confirmed for Siminn's abuse of a dominant market position in 3G data transmission services. Further information about that case can be accessed at http://www.samkeppni.is/utgafa/frettir/nr/1912. The settlement implies that the decision of the Competition Appeals Committee will represent a final closure of the case.


text:
Dorothy Day, crusader
It wasn't so much the look of poverty as she saw it a century ago in the teeming tenements of New York that outraged Dorothy Day as it was the smell. Many years later in her autobiography The Long Loneliness, she described it like this:
"The smell from the tenements, coming up from basements and areaways, from dank halls, horrified me. It is a smell like no other in the world and one never can become accustomed to it. I have lived with these smells now for many years, but they will always and ever affront me. I shall never cease to be indignant over the conditions which gave rise to them….It is not the smell of life, but the smell of the grave."
Then Day added something startling: "As I walked these streets back in 1917 I wanted to go and live among these surroundings; in some mysterious way I felt that I would never be freed from this burden of loneliness and sorrow unless I did."
The future co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, whose cause for canonization as a saint has reached the stage of a canonical inquiry into her life in the Archdiocese of New York, arrived there in 1916 after dropping out of the University of Illinois. Only 18, she already had a burning desire to help the poor as a crusading journalist.
The New York Call was a good place for her to start. As the newspaper of the American Socialist Party, the Call was as open to advocacy as it was to reporting, and this cub reporter fit in from the start. Between November 1916 and April 1917 the Call carried 36 bylined pieces by Day along with an unknown number anonymous articles by her.
Now the bylined items have been reprinted with an informative commentary in a volume titled An Eye for Others, Dorothy Day, Journalist: 1916-1917 (Washington, Clemency Press). These pieces shed light on a largely ignored formative period in Day's long, luminous life, showing her as a young woman who, in the words of compiler and commentator Tom McDonough, is at one and the same time "sarcastic, humorous, energetic and sardonic" - and never less than deeply committed.
This is apprentice work course, yet with memorable flashes of passion and power. As in this, dated Nov. 30, 1916:
"In a two-room flat on 11th Street, a man of 48 lies wheezing and moaning all day. He cannot eat anything, because there is something the matter with his stomach and with his lungs, and every once in a while blood pours out of his nose and mouth. He could drink milk but milk is now 10 cents a quart. And the only money that is coming into the house is the $5 a week that his wife earns in a restaurant as helper in the kitchen….
"So, when the rent is to be paid, and when the doctor prescribes medicine for the sick man the family must go hungry. They need coal now and some food. Today is Thanksgiving."
Other sketches concern things like an angry picket line, a grim night court, an unsought wee hours cab ride with a lascivious taxi driver, and other glimpses of the big city's underside.
Day's religious conversion then lay years in the future, but the makings of a woman of extraordinary courage and compassion are already visible in this early writing. Some saints are formed in castles, others in convents; Day's houses of formation, it appears, were the fetid tenements of New York.
Shaw is a freelance writer from Washington and author of American Church: The Remarkable Rise, Meteoric Fall, and Uncertain Future of Catholicism in America (Ignatius Press).


From South Charlotte: Take Pineville-Matthews Rd./Highway 51 east towards Matthews. Turn right onto Fullwood Ln. Pass Marion Drive and Eden Hall will be on the right.
From Downtown Matthews: Take John St. west towards Matthews Township Pkwy/Highway 51. Turn left onto Matthews Township Pkwy/Highway 51. Turn left onto Fullwood Ln. Pass Marion Drive and Eden Hall will be on the right.


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This is the first stop on a new slate of reviews I'll be posting on Nikki-Michelle's Spot. Before I ever had dreams of becoming a writer, I was a reader. That hasn't changed. I love to read. A good book can always take me away like Calgon. Therefore, I put a post on my Facebook page that I was looking for authors to feature on my website. One of the authors who answered was Rose Jackson-Beavers. I asked her what book of hers should I read and she suggested her book, A Holiday Wish. I should note that this book is NOT on Kindle Unlimited. As you know, as a reader, I'm a fan of Kindle Unlimited. If you're a reader looking to test a new author, KU is a good investment, especially in this market of....eh, that's a story for a different day. Back to A Holiday Wish.
I had the pleasure of reading A Holiday Wish by Rose Jackson-Beavers. The story is for my readers across all genres but mainly traditional Christian fiction lovers. The book opens with high school senior, Darrius, waiting at the bus stop. All he can think about is hoping that his mama stayed in the rehabilitation center for her drug problem. For as long as he can remember, his mama has been going in and out of drug rehab programs. Much to his chagrin, this year would be no different. His mother, Adrienne, shows up at the bus stop throwing his world into a tailspin.
I enjoyed the story because it had a feel good motivational and Christian message. The only issues I had with the story was for the first couple of chapters, it seemed repetitive. Everyone kept saying the same thing. Darrius kept harping on his issues with his mother and the fact she kept going in and out of rehab. People kept telling him to pray and focus on school. His grandmother told him and then his girlfriend told him. It seemed no one could tell Darrius anything other than to pray and stay focused on school. And while that is definitely a good message, I had to wonder if there could have been any other words of encouragement they could have given him.
I was happy with the end of the book as we got our happily ever after. I give this book three pages pages (think three stars). If you're going through something and need a pick-me-up, this is the book for you. For all my Christian fiction lovers, this book is for you!
Hi, Nikki. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my book, A Holiday Wish. I appreciate your review and for making me the first stop on your new format.


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text:
Digging for SpainA Writer's Journey
Penelope Todd
I like to think there's a story already sealed within each of us. Some of us take a long time to uncover, decipher and assent to it. We start our search when we find that the stories we've attached ourselves to prove no longer accurate, their themes too limited … I'm talking about the midlife quest we're invited on when all we've abandoned or ignored of our earlier impulses towards life begin to clamour for attention. … I knew I was in some kind of trouble the day my finger started jumping.
Here is a portrait of the growth of a writer, of the challenges of faith, and the route one woman takes to reach a better accommodation with herself, and her family. It's a heartfelt and lyrical narrative — as the author questions her closest relationships, and some of the stifling patterns she has fallen into. Yet it will be instantly recognisable to anyone who has ever tried to juggle relationships, the craving for solitude, and the urge to write or to devote oneself to a career which demands total focus.
Delicately written, yet tough at the core, this memoir weaves together a journey to Spain with several years of internal change. Digging for Spain explores an intensely personal yet common rite of passage: that of a woman learning to separate her identity from motherhood, marriage, and beliefs formed in youthful inexperience. It also shows the astonishing versatility of one of our best-loved writers for young adults.
ALSO AVAILABLE IN HARD COPY (GO TO 'CONTACT' ABOVE)
Readers have said:
… thank you for your brave, insightful, lyrical DFS which, like a glutton, I devoured in a day or two.
Then there was your faith, your family, the whole nine yards, the whole shooting box dished up. Who could ask for more.
… a book to live by: meaning that I often think of it when certain things bubble up in my life …
… everything the blurb says and more. As a writer myself, I found Todd's dilemmas — particularly the battle to achieve balance between writing and family — echoed many of my own. I envied her clarity of thought and her fine prose in expressing her desire for the freedom to enable her to be truly present in her life, casting off the 'rigid frameworks' imposed by societal expectations and her early experience of organised religion.
… a fine and rather delicate talent … I think Digging for Spain is one of the very special New Zealand books of recent years …
Excerpt 1
Flying over Cook Strait, I'm on my way — north! When R and I walked outside at Christchurch airport this morning after I'd checked my bags through (so simple, so reassuring; at least half the anxiety is carted off with the luggage), the sun and two red and orange hot air balloons were aloft in the early haze — lovely heralds of buoyancy.
I'm always uneasy before flights, although I should be right at home at thirty thousand feet. Apparently I have five Air out of a possible complement of nine of the four elements.
Astronomy. Astrology. I always have to pause and recall which I mean. I see they both come from the Greek (adjective) astronomos which means 'star-arranging'. I suppose astronomers like to arrange the stars; astrologers consent to being arranged by them.
An experiment: draw converging lines from the stars down to Earth. Date the point where they meet — for example twelfth October, 1958. Swivel the globe until Christchurch, New Zealand lies beneath the point. Ask your mother what time you appeared. Half past eight, she'll say, recalling for you that it was whitebait season, that lilacs were flowering, that your father baked shortbread. Also how placid you were. A little Libran, of course. Why shouldn't it be so?
Feed these details to a reputable astrologer and he will chase through his tomes and in eight pages more or less tell you how you conform to the pattern of your star sign, also how you don't. It seems anything is possible, contradictions are multiple. A few things will offend you (you have no Earth, an excess of Air — this in spite of the way you've always favoured the 'earthy' look, never trusted your intelligence), others will stun you with their accuracy (he suggests you try karate — a strenuous martial art, 'to temper that haughty Mars energy' — and you're surprised to find in it exactly the right formula).
Astrologers tend to be open-minded, and reaching as they do, upwards, outwards, beyond, are probably going to draw you a map that's a rough fit so far — but bigger and bolder than anything you'd envisaged for yourself.
'What is the source of our first suffering?' asked philosopher Gaston Bachelard. 'It lies in the fact that we hesitated to speak. It was born in the moment when we accumulated silent things within us.'
I began in childhood to horde my silent things. To be precise, I started my collection the September just before I turned seven — when I lost my mother. She went to hospital and gave birth. Oh, she survived all right. She made as good a fist of that baby as she did of me and my three brothers. But. There's a photo of me in my smocked dress, white socks and sandals, spring bedecking the cherry tree overhead. We've been to hospital to fetch the baby. My arms hang limp, my mouth is a crescent of accusation. I scowl up at my tired, radiant mother, at the white knitted shawl in her arms.
My mother had betrayed me by bringing home a girl.
They say I was garrulous until then. I trailed my mother, jabber-jabber-jabber. When there were no questions left to ask, I kept on asking. My mother wrote this one down: 'Did you do that later on a long time ago again?'
But when my sister arrived I stopped. Or, was stopped, stoppered. I imagine I had a go at expressing my fury over being Queen Bee dispossessed (at my fall from the madonna's lap). But the expression of rage or outrage was discouraged in our family — an old story. It's only in these psychologically enlightened times that we feel we must let children stamp their feet and roar. Back then, a good girl was a nice girl and could be taught how.
Amsterdam airport. I feel less than solid, and so tired. I haven't let my thoughts track down dark pathways, am simply trying to observe what is. Any fright is in my own head. Outside, fleets of huge blue KLM planes await the dawn that comes softly, greyly — like the dawning fact that I'm here.
Road Markings: An Anthropologist in the Antipodesa memoir
Internationally-acclaimed anthropologist and poet Michael Jackson travels his natal New Zealand, reflecting on the idea of origins. Visiting old haunts and old friends, he ponders the hold our histories have over us, and the enduring power of our first experiences in life. Jackson reflects on the ways we tell our life stories, write our national histories, assign value, allocate blame, and determine cause. His recurring theme is the tension between the forces that shape us and our freedom to take our destiny into our own hands.
Skillfully blending ethnography, history, philosophy, literature and personal reflection, he asks what it means to call a place or a time one's own.
Although our lives may not transcend our origins, we seem to need to believe that this is possible, as in the myth of Maui who sought to return to the womb and be born again.
…exact, resonant and moving; beautifully wrought. Martin Edmond, Dark Night: Walking with McCahon.
Chapter Two: Braided rivers
Arriving in New Zealand by air, I am always struck by how exposed the landscape is to the elements. How buffeted by wind and rain. Crossing the South Westland coast, I caught glimpses of a fretful sea, black rocks and iron sand. And then, through scudding cloud, verdant hills, as if the greenness of the original forests, felled and burned to make way for English farms, had seeped into the denuded land like indelible ink, an ineradicable reminder of loss. Far below, the red roofs of farmhouses and shearing sheds appeared so random and solitary that I remembered my youth for its persistent sense of being in such a place on sufferance, of not belonging. At Christchurch airport, I passed people who looked as if they had mislaid valued possessions or missed their flights. Weather-beaten, anxious faces, hair tousled by the wind. And a curious reticence, as if voicing one's thoughts could only make matters worse.
I rented a car and drove north through squalls of rain. Near Amberley, the weather cleared, and I pulled over to the side of the road to check my map. To the west were windbreaks of eucalypt and pine, with wind-combed grasses glistening in the sudden sun. How ironic that so many foreign species have flourished here – pinus insignis and macrocarpa from Monterey in California; brushtail possums and bluegums from Australia – while so many New Zealanders have felt the need to go abroad to find their niche. Ironic, too, that we still drive on the left-hand side of the road as if, in the antipodes, history has produced a society in which many things are, from a northern vantage point, back to front. And who could have foreseen that within two years the city I had just left would be in ruins and that I would read a press release in which a survivor spoke of cars 'falling into holes and everything… upside down'?
I was twenty-three when I saw the East for the first time, coming from the sea, like Marlowe, to a place of 'danger and promise' where 'a stealthy Nemesis lay in wait'. I spent a day in Bombay, drifting around the city and getting lost in the labyrinthine red light district around Falkland Road, locally known as the Kamathipura. Street after street was lined with cages in which frail girls, like birds, sold into slavery for the price of a pair of shoes or a tin roof, whispered and fluttered. Pimps pursued me at every turn. 'You want jiggajig, Sah?' 'Sahib, Sahib, Sahib, you like leetle girl?' 'Sah? Yes, Sahib, I can do, Sahib?' To escape the wheedling and pestering, I walked into a cinema and bought a ticket. Ushered into an upstairs seat, I found myself watching a film of the great Persian epic, 'Sohrab and Rustam'. I had never before seen an Indian film. Although I couldn't understand Hindi or read the Urdu or Malayalam subtitles, I was captivated by the music, and for months after leaving India I tried to recall one song in particular, a lifeline to a place to which I fantasized returning. Forty-five years later, having long forgotten the tune, I typed into YouTube the words 'Sohrab and Rustam Hindi film' on the off chance that the miracle of digital technology might help me retrieve what my mind had been unable to retain. I discovered that the vocal music for the movie had been pre-recorded by Lata Mangeshkar, perhaps the most famous playback singer in the history of Bollywood, and that the song that haunted me throughout the winter of 1963-1964 when I worked among the homeless in London, was called 'Yeh Kaisi Ajab'. The song is banal, yet, watching the beautiful actress Suraiya lip-synch Lata Mangeshkar's shrill and quavering vocals, I saw how this music and its setting could have enchanted me at twenty-three, much as Conrad's Marlowe was enthralled when he first set eyes on the East. Music, more than any medium I know, has this power to carry one across space and time, reviving dormant memories, recovering lost connections. But memory is so notoriously mutable that it is never the past one returns to, but a version or illusion of it, and this sense that time is irreversible and the past irretrievable in its original form may either liberate us to live more completely in the present or drive us to despair.
On the winding road through Weka Pass, I was thinking of my first wife. At age fourteen, she was taken by ambulance to Christchurch Hospital over this road. Suspected of having rheumatic fever, she was hospitalized and placed under observation in a ward filled with senile or dying women. When her mother visited her five days later, Pauline was distraught. 'Take me out of here, Mum,' she cried, 'take me out of here!' Feverishly turning her head from side to side and throwing back the bed sheets, she begged her mother not to leave her. Noellie took her daughter home to Waiau for ten weeks' bed rest. But something had changed. Pauline appeared to have lost any desire to go out into the world. She had been a champion swimmer; now she would not go near the baths. The previous summer, she had learned to drive. She now declared she had no interest in driving a car. She only wanted to see her horse, Rosie. With Rosie she felt in control.
Ten years after our marriage, when we were living in Palmerston North, Pauline began writing a children's novel that allegorized her experiences before and after hospitalization. On the surface, Back of Beyond is the story of two children who become involved in unraveling the mystery of an attempted murder. But Pauline intended her book to recount, albeit obliquely, far more personal experiences. She began writing two years after undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy for Hodgkin's disease. This devastating experience was a replay of the trauma she had suffered as a fourteen-year-old girl in Christchurch Hospital. Though in remission, she lived without certainty, as if at any moment the ground might give way beneath her feet. And this contrast between what it is like to take life for granted, as though one had all the time in the world, and what it is like to live as if every day might be one's last, finds expression in the two very different protagonists of the story – a gauche and timid English boy and a rough, high-spirited New Zealand girl, brought together one summer on a high country station. In the solution of the crime lies the resolution of an existential mystery – how we may live with a sense of our vulnerability while drawing on our strengths, neither succumbing to our fear that the world is too much for us nor retrospectively seeing ourselves as heroic and virtuous, simply because we survive.
Beyond Waikari, the serrated and snow-streaked peaks of the Inland Kaikoura range became visible, and over the last few miles between Rotherham and Waiau, every bend in the road, every stand of pines, every farmhouse or fenceline was so familiar that by the time I approached 50 Leslie Street, where Pauline spent her childhood, I was beginning to imagine that she and her parents would be waiting for me there and wondering where in the world I had been for so long. I did not stop, but drove slowly past the timber mill that Pauline's father had once owned and on toward the Mason River bridge where I parked under some willows, scrambled down the embankment and picked my way across the graywacke stones of the riverbed until I located the spot near the wooden foundations of the old bridge where my daughter and I had scattered Pauline's ashes in the ice-cold water twenty-six years ago. I sat there with the sun on my face, inhaling the sweet smell of broom and the sour odor of dung in the cold air, the silence broken only by the trilling and lisping of a bird and an occasional passing car. Time hung fire. I was on my way back to Leslie Street after a long walk, and would return in time for lunch. Jack would be picking broad beans and digging spuds from his garden. Noellie would be slicing ham, setting the table, and pouring herself a home-brewed beer with lemonade. Pauline would be reading in her room…
Memories are like rain clouds. Just as a mountain range is needed for clouds to fall as rain, so the mind needs a familiar landscape, a piece of music, the smell of fennel, the taste of a petite Madeleine, if its hidden depths are to be revealed. So uncanny and surprising is this confluence of inner and outer worlds that we often have the impression that a landscape or valued object actually holds our past life in its hands, as insects are held in amber, or that past events remain perfectly preserved in our minds. But this flowing together of the debris of the past and what is now at hand is, like the confluence of two rivers, under constant revision. One day, it may seem as though the past is all we are, and that we merely echo events that have already occurred. Another day, it is as though there were nothing outside the present moment. Our entire existence, all that matters, is contained in the here and now.
I was watching the water, growing dizzy as it slipped by, the color of bottle glass, whorls where there were submerged boulders, an uprooted willow snagging the current. This image of a river took hold. I thought of the other rivers that flow into the Waiau – the Mason, the Doubtful, the Hope – and I recalled the M?ori tradition according to which there were once two Waiau Rivers, their adjacent headwaters in the Spencer Mountains. One was female (the Waiauuha), the other male (Waiau-toa), and they were lovers before they were rivers. When they were parted, they became turbulent water, forever clouded by tears.
A human life is like the course of a river – in this case, its snowfed chalky water braided by shingle banks as it works its way toward the sea. But can one map a life as one maps a river? Can we identify sources or trace origins as easily? Can we liken the influences that shape our lives to tributary streams? Do we wind up in a place that can be compared with an ocean? One might sketch such a map and outline a few contours, but the detail, the scale, is beyond the range of any cartographer. We cannot encompass all that makes us who we are, any more than we can fathom the extent of our freedom to refashion the raw material we begin with.
It must have been in 1933 or 1934, not long after he had gone into exile, that Walter Benjamin momentarily lost his immunity to involuntary memory. Sitting alone in the Café des Deux Magots in Paris, he suddenly glimpsed 'with the force of an illumination' the fateful links between his life and the lives of friends, comrades, chance acquaintances and lovers, as well as books and places. On a sheet of paper, Benjamin sketched a series of family trees or a labyrinth, bestowing a semblance of order on the 'primal acquaintances' that had revealed to him, over many years, new pathways and possibilities. Two or three years after his Paris epiphany, and having lost the scrap of paper on which he seemed to have found, like Theseus, a way through the labyrinth of his life, Benjamin was struck not only by the impact of others on his own life, but by the variousness of their destinies, and he wondered whether it would be possible to divine in such a disparate group any common thread or family resemblance.
Who has not, at some stage, contemplated the possibility of piecing together the story of his or her life, summing it up, as we say, as if, despite its twists and turns, its braided course, its oxbows and ancillary streams, a life can be recounted as a story? It is significant, I think, that Walter Benjamin lost the paper on which he drew a coherent diagram of his life, for this enabled him thereafter to indulge the illusion that everything that had befallen him could be connected, like the dots in a child's puzzle book, disclosing a hitherto hidden form. I prefer a different image – suggested by the arcane term paralipomena. Strictly speaking, the Greek word paraleipómena designates things we leave behind, shelve or dismiss from mind, that yet accumulate as a kind of supplement or backlog to the stories we tell. Despite being unfinished and fragmentary, such deleted scenes, out-takes and afterthoughts capture moments when we see ourselves differently, as through the eyes of another. When we experience our past as if it were a previous incarnation. When we are visited by strange dreams, and imagine other lives – a road not taken, a rendezvous missed, a letter not answered, a stone left unturned. When we nurture the view that we have been thrown into this life by a quirk of fate, and that our true destiny will come later, or elsewhere, or with someone else. When we wait, harboring these unspoken thoughts, lost in a wilderness of vain conjecture and second guessing, asking ourselves over and over what would have happened had we gone down another road, if we had, to borrow Robert Frost's compelling line, taken the road less traveled by.


What does it take to be America's best-selling compact pickup, year after year? It takes the Toyota Tacoma. For 2015, Toyota hones Tacoma's segment-dominating ways by adding a new TRD Pro Series that's off-road ready and willing.
It's what hasn't changed that keeps the Tacoma on top of its game. With its many variations, the Tacoma appeals to a broad spectrum of pickup truck customers. The Tacoma line offers a choice between 4-cylinder and V6 engines, and 2WD and 4WD drivetrains, along with two cab styles and two bed lengths. This hard-working, hard-playing pickup is built to take it and rewards owners with legendary Toyota quality, durability and reliability.
Serious off-roaders have long favored the Tacoma as a basis to build their custom trucks. The 2015 Tacoma TRD Pro Series gives them a head start on their way to the desert. Replacing the limited-edition Tacoma Baja Series that was offered for 2014, the 2015 Tacoma TRD Pro Series adopts much of that model's beefed-up body and chassis features, including 16-inch beadlock style TRD alloy wheels with BF Goodrich LT265/70R16 All-Terrain KO tires.
Suspension mods make the Tacoma TRD Pro Series off-road ready, raising ride height 1.75 inches in front, increasing wheel travel and using TRD springs with decreased rate for better ride control over rough terrain. The front suspension, which adds 0.75-inch wheel travel, is upgraded with 60mm-piston Bilstein high-performance shocks with remote reservoirs to increase shock oil capacity for greater heat dissipation and damping sensitivity. The rear suspension is equipped with 50mm-piston Bilstein high-performance shocks with remote reservoirs, and the TRD springs add 1.5-inch to wheel travel.
A TRD Cat-back Exhaust cuts backpressure and adds a sporty growl to the 4.0-liter V6 engine. And then comes the TRD Pro Series styling: black alloy wheels, unique blackout front grille, special TRD badging and a choice of black, white or exclusive Inferno exterior colors. Inside, the TRD shift knob and floor mats add a custom touch.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, a new Utility Package for the 4-cylinder Tacoma Access Cab deletes the rear seats to expand storage capacity.
Depending on equipment, the Tacoma can be anything from a sturdy work truck to an off-road bruiser, and there's even a Limited Package for those who want a touch of luxury in a compact pickup. The 2015 Tacoma configurations are based on two cab types: Access Cab with rear seating and the four-door Double Cab Regular Cab has been discontinued). The rear-opening doors on Access Cab models open to 80 degrees to give passengers easy entry and exit.
The Access Cab models ride on a 127.4-inch wheelbase and have a 73.5-inch-long bed. The Double Cab is offered in two versions: the 127.4-inch wheelbase with a 60.3-inch bed or 140.6-inch wheelbase with the 73.5-inch bed.
Both bed styles are built to take punishment with a composite inner bed made from a sheet-molded composite (SMC) deck and tough, durable walls that are 10-percent lighter than steel. The bed deck features two-tier loading and an integrated deck-rail utility with four standard adjustable tie-down cleats. The rails are compatible with Genuine Toyota Accessories, including cargo bed cross bars, a fork-mount bike rack, and diamond-plate storage boxes. An available 115V/400W power point further extends the bed's utility.
PreRunner models sport the desert racer look by combining the 4×2 drivetrain with the 4×4's raised riding stance and styling, including the bold overfenders. Double Cab models offer a roof rack system with crossbars that deploy from the roof rails.
The SR Package, available for the Tacoma PreRunner and 4×4 base grade models, lends a sporty look with a color-keyed exterior appearance upgrade, including overfenders, door handles, bumpers, grille surround and mirrors with turn signals, plus smoked headlight lenses and a black finish 16-inch Baja wheel style. Models with the V6 engine also get fog lights with the SR package. Also presented in Elderlytech.
The Tacoma continues to offer the standard 2.7-liter dual overhead cam (DOHC) 4-cylinder, producing 159 horsepower and 180 lb.-ft. of torque, and the 4.0-liter DOHC V6 belting out 236 horses and 266 lb.-ft. of torque. In both engines, variable valve timing with intelligence (VVT-i) ensures strong low-end and mid-range torque.
Four-cylinder models offer the choice of a 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic transmission. The V6 can be teamed with either a 6-speed manual or a 5-speed automatic. When equipped with a V6 Tow Package, Access Cab models boast a SAE-certified maximum tow capacity of up to 6,500 pounds.
With all Tacoma models, there's a standard Automatic Limited-slip Differential (Auto LSD), which uses brake intervention to help reduce tire slippage at the rear wheels. Compared to a conventional mechanical limited slip differential, the Auto-LSD system is much more responsive and has better wear characteristics. An electronic locking differential is also available as an option for 4×4 and PreRunner models.
The choice between two TRD performance packages reflects the broad range of Tacoma's capabilities and appeal. The TRD Off-Road Package, available for 4×4 V6 automatic models, provides a carefully tuned balance of off-road performance and on-road handling. The package starts with a slew of chassis modifications, including an electronic locking rear differential, progressive-rate front springs, specially tuned Bilstein shock absorbers, a 28-mm front stabilizer bar and BFGoodrich Rugged Trail tires.
The package includes two other electronic helpers, Hill-start Assist Control (HAC) and Downhill Assist Control (DAC). HAC operates by independently controlling the brakes at each wheel as needed to help prevent the vehicle from rolling backward or slipping sideways when transitioning from a stopped position to climbing a grade.
DAC uses engine braking to regulate downhill speed and independently control the brakes at each wheel to help improve directional control. DAC automatically de-activates if the driver depresses the brake or accelerator pedals, presses the DAC button, or shifts into neutral. Fog lamps top off the Off-Road Package.
The TRD Sport Package combines a sporty look with a more road-focused chassis upgrade. Fog lamps, a hood scoop, TRD graphics and color-keyed rear bumper, mirrors, grille surround and door handles give the Sport Package a rugged yet sophisticated appearance.
The Sport Package's specific suspension tuning and lower-profile 265/65 R17 tires on 17-inch alloy wheels give it a handling agility edge. Both the TRD Off-Road Package and Sport Package feature a 400W/115V power point in the bed; sport seats with adjustable lumbar support, and water-resistant fabric protection seats.
The comfortable Tacoma interior is full of practical ideas. The standard center console flows into the instrument panel for a unified appearance. The console integrates three cupholders, two of which can accommodate extra-large containers. The front doors have dual bottle holders.
High-grade fabric combines comfort and durability. And the Tacoma keeps things quiet, thanks to sound absorption material in the headliner and behind the rear seats, along with insulating carpet. Audio controls are mounted high for easy access.
Higher-grade models feature fabric-covered sun visors, an overhead console with map lights, and compartments for sunglasses and a garage door opener. Interior storage is maximized in Access Cab models with fold-up rear seats and under-seat storage. Double Cab models feature 60/40 split rear seats with adjustable headrests and under-seat storage.
Legendary Toyota value is another Tacoma trump card. The 4×2 Access Cab and Double Cab models feature standard air conditioning; two instrument panel power points with a lighter; dome lamp, mudguards, a full-size spare tire and Entune® Audio. There's more, including power windows and door locks; front bucket seats, and a center console. The Double Cab models add power mirrors and driver seat adjustable lumbar support. Access Cab models feature a useful rear-console storage box and an available backup camera.
Working hard or playing hard, there's nothing wrong with added comfort, and the Tacoma's Limited Package adds just the right degree. You'll know a Tacoma Limited when you see it. It's the one decked out with chrome for the 18-inch wheels (with 265/60R18 tires), grille surround, rear bumper, outside mirrors with integrated turn signal indicators, and door handles. The package also includes fog lamps.
Its amenities include SofTex®-trimmed seats, heated front sport seats, variable speed windshield wipers, metallic tone instrument panel trim, leather-trimmed steering wheel with audio controls and dual sun visors with mirrors and extenders. SofTex is soft like leather, but weighs half as much. It's also easier to clean, and its manufacturing process generates around 85-percent fewer volatile organic compounds than manufacturing conventional synthetic leather.
Standard on the Limited grade and available for the SR5 grade, the Entune Premium Audio system adds Navigation and the Entune App Suite.
The base Entune Audio system for Tacoma uses a 6.1-inch touch-screen display with a rear-view camera, AM/FM CD player, MP3/WMA playback capability, four speakers, auxiliary audio jack, USB port with iPod® connectivity, hands-free phone capability and music streaming via Bluetooth® wireless technology for audio streaming, hands-free phone use and phone book access.
Available Entune Audio Plus adds a high-resolution 6.1-inch screen, HD Radio with SiriusXM Radio (includes 3-month complimentary trial), iTunes® tagging and HD Traffic and Weather (metro areas only).
Entune Audio leverages the user's smartphone to provide a richer in-vehicle experience with fully integrated access to navigation, entertainment and information services. The Entune Premium Audio and Entune Premium JBL® Audio systems feature engaging mobile apps, including Bing™, iHeartRadio, MovieTickets.com, OpenTable®, Pandora®, Yelp and Facebook Places plus real-time traffic, weather, fuel prices, sports and stocks. Access to Entune services is subscription free.
At the top of the line, the Entune Premium JBL Audio system upgrades the sound quality considerably with the JBL GreenEdge™ amplifier and seven GreenEdge speakers including subwoofer. GreenEdge technology draws reduced electrical power from the vehicle.
The Tacoma offers plenty of choices when it comes to individualizing a truck, yet Toyota makes it easy by offering five core packages: Convenience Package, two levels of the SR5 Package with other options and two TRD Packages, Sport and Off-Road (described earlier).
The SR5 Package bundles styling and comfort features, including color-keyed overfenders and front bumper, chrome grille surround and chrome rear bumper. The package also adds intermittent wipers and upgraded interior features and trim, including a leather-wrapped steering wheel and automatic transmission shift lever.
Toyota dealers offer a wide array of accessories, including TRD performance components, that expand Tacoma's utility, comfort and driving fun.
Standard on all Toyota models is the Star Safety System™, which includes Vehicle Stability Control (VSC), Traction Control (TRAC), an Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD), Brake Assist (BA), and Smart Stop brake override technology (SST). Every Tacoma has standard three-point seatbelts for all seating positions, front seat-mounted side airbags, roll-sensing side curtain airbags (including a cutoff switch), and a front advanced dual-stage airbag system. A front passenger cutoff switch is standard on Access Cab models.
Standard active headrests for the front seats move up and forward almost instantly in the event of certain rear-end collisions to help reduce the distance between the occupant's head and the headrest.
Toyota's 36-month/36,000 mile basic new-vehicle warranty applies to all components other than normal wear and maintenance items. Additional 60-month warranties cover the powertrain for 60,000 miles and corrosion with no mileage limitation. The Tacoma also comes standard with Toyota Care, a complimentary plan covering normal factory-scheduled maintenance and 24-hour roadside assistance for two years or 25,000 miles, whichever comes first.


After Will decides to try to work this out with his ex, Mia, Angie kicks him out of the group -- singles only, she says. (Though she definitely disapproves of Mia.) The newly divorced Mark will be taking Will's place. From 'Graham D'Amato: Hot Lunch Mentalist' Season 1, Episode 13 of Single Parents. Watch Single Parents full episodes online on ABC.com and in the ABC app.