text:
<?php
//for MLM
class Automail_base_model extends Model
{
    public $automail_type   = array(
                                    //'add_user'=> 'Add user',
                                    'user_registration'=> 'User registration (Regular)',
									'welcome_signup_mail'=> 'Welcome user mail(Regular)',
									'invite_party' => 'Invite Party',
                                    'user_registration_merchant'=> 'User registration (Merchant)',
									'admin_added_user_registration'=> 'Admin added user registration',
									'business_claim_admin' => 'Business Claim (Admin)',
									'invite_user' => 'Invite User',
                                    'forgot_password'=>'Forgot password',
                                    'invite_party_reply'=>'Reply Against Party Mail Invitation',
									'report_against_review'=>'Report Against Report review',
									'like_review'=>'Report review like',
									'welcome_yuva_signup_mail'=>'Welcome user mail from yuva',
									'review_writer_mail'=>'Send mail to review writer',
    );

    public $manualArr  = array();

    public function __construct()
    {
        parent::__construct();
    }

    function get_automail_all($item_type='')
    {
        if($item_type=='')
            return false;
        $sql    = sprintf("select * from %sautomail where item_type='$item_type' ",$this->db->dbprefix);

        $sql    .= ' limit 0,1';
        $query = $this->db->query($sql);
		$result_arr = $query->result_array();
		return $result_arr;
    }

    function get_dynamic_options_html_for_cms()
    {
            $arr_table=$this->getDBTableName();
            $html="";
            foreach($arr_table as $table)
            {
                    if(substr($table,0,strlen($this->db->dbprefix))!=$this->db->dbprefix)continue;

                    $table_without_prefix=split($this->db->dbprefix,$table);
                    $table_without_prefix=$table_without_prefix[1];
                    if(!in_array($table_without_prefix,array('cms','var_cache')))
                    {
                            $arr_col=$this->getDBColName($table);
                            foreach($arr_col as $col)
                            {
                                    $tmp=explode("_",strtolower($col));
                                    if(in_array("id",$tmp) && !in_array("login",$tmp))continue;
                                    if(in_array("status",$tmp))continue;
                                    if(in_array("permission",$tmp))continue;

                                    $html.="<option value=\"%%{$table_without_prefix}__{$col}%%\">{$table_without_prefix}__{$col}</option>";
                            }
                    }
            }
            return $html;
    }

	function getDBTableName()
	{
		$arr=array();
		$sql="SHOW TABLES FROM {$this->db->database}";
                $query = $this->db->query($sql);
                $result_arr = $query->result_array();
//                var_dump($result_arr);
                $field_name = 'Tables_in_'.$this->db->database;
		foreach($result_arr as $k=>$v)
		{
//                    var_dump($v);
//                    echo '
';
			if((!$this->db->dbprefix) || (strpos($v[$field_name],$this->db->dbprefix)===0))
				$arr[]=$v[$field_name];
		}
		return $arr;
	}

	function getDBColName($table_name)
	{
		$db_col_array = $this->getDBColDetail($table_name);
		$arr=array();
		foreach($db_col_array as $col)
			$arr[]=$col["field"];
		return $arr;
	}

	function getDBColDetail($table_name,$only_att='')
	{
		$db_col_array = array();
		if($only_att)
			$db_col_array_only_att = array();

		$sql="DESCRIBE $table_name";
		$query = $this->db->query($sql);
                $result_arr = $query->result_array();
		foreach($result_arr as $key=>$value)
		{
			foreach($value as $k => $v)
			{
				if(is_numeric($k)) unset($row[$k]);
				else
				{
					$row[$k]=$v;
					$row[strtolower($k)]=$v;
					$row[strtoupper($k)]=$v;
				}
			}
			$db_col_array[]=$row;
	        if($only_att)
			$db_col_array_only_att[]=$row[$only_att];
		}

		if($only_att)
			$db_col_array=$db_col_array_only_att;

		return $db_col_array;
	}

    function set_automail_update($arr,$id=-1)
    {

        $sql = sprintf("SELECT * FROM %sautomail where id=$id ", $this->db->dbprefix);
		$query = $this->db->query($sql);
		if($query->num_rows()==0)
            return $this->db->insert('automail', $arr);
        else
            return $this->db->update('automail', $arr, array('id'=>$id));
    }

    function send_automail_to_user($tableName,$row,$mail_type,$mailTo,$mailCC='',$mailBCC='')
    {
    	if (!$row || !is_array($row) || !$mail_type || $mail_type==''|| !$mailTo || $mailTo=='' || !$tableName || $tableName=='')
    		return false;
    	$mail_detail	= $this->get_automail_all($mail_type);
    	$mail_body=html_entity_decode($this->send_email_dynamic_body_composer(base64_decode($mail_detail[0]['description']),$row,$tableName));

        return $this->project_send_mail($mail_detail[0]['subject'],$mail_body,$mailTo,$mailCC,$mailBCC);
    }

    private function get_sender_information()
    {
    	$sender_detail	= $this->get_send_mail_from_detail();
    	$config['protocol'] = ($sender_detail && $sender_detail['mail_protocol'])?$sender_detail['mail_protocol']:'smtp';
        $config['mail_from_name'] = ($sender_detail && $sender_detail['mail_from_name'])?$sender_detail['mail_from_name']:'';
        $config['mail_from_email'] = ($sender_detail && $sender_detail['mail_from_email'])?$sender_detail['mail_from_email']:'donotReply@'.$sender_detail['site_name'];
        $config['mail_replay_name'] = ($sender_detail && $sender_detail['mail_replay_name'])?$sender_detail['mail_replay_name']:'';
        $config['mail_replay_email'] = ($sender_detail && $sender_detail['mail_replay_email'])?$sender_detail['mail_replay_email']:'donotReply@'.$sender_detail['site_name'];
        $config['smtp_host'] = $sender_detail['smtp_host'];
        $config['smtp_user'] = $sender_detail['smtp_user'];
        $config['smtp_pass'] = $sender_detail['smtp_pass'];
        return 	$config;
    }

    function project_send_mail($mailSubject,$mailBody,$mailTo,$mailCC='',$mailBCC='')
    {

    	$this->load->library('email');
    	$senderData	= $this->get_sender_information();
    	$config['charset'] = 'utf-8';
    	$config['mailtype'] = 'html';
        $config['crlf'] = "\r\n";
        $config['newline'] = "\r\n";
        $config['protocol'] = $senderData['protocol'];
    	if($config['protocol']=='smtp')
        {
            $config['smtp_host'] = $senderData['smtp_host'];
            $config['smtp_user'] = $senderData['smtp_user'];
            $config['smtp_pass'] = $senderData['smtp_pass'];
        }
    	$this->email->initialize($config);

		$this->email->from($senderData['mail_from_email'], $senderData['mail_from_name']);
		$this->email->reply_to($senderData['mail_replay_email'], $senderData['mail_replay_name']);

		$this->email->to($mailTo);
		if($mailCC && $mailCC!='')
			$this->email->cc($mailCC);
		if($mailBCC && $mailBCC!='')
			$this->email->bcc($mailBCC);

		$this->email->subject($mailSubject);
		$this->email->message($mailBody);

		$this->email->send();

    	//echo $this->email->print_debugger();
		return true;
    }

	private function send_email_dynamic_body_composer($mail_body,$row,$add_table_name_to_default='',$remove_extra_scrap=true)
	 {
	  //print_r($add_table_name_to_default);
	  foreach($row as $col=>$val)
	  {
	   if(!is_numeric($col))
	   {
	    if(is_array($add_table_name_to_default))
	    {
	     foreach($add_table_name_to_default as $key=>$tbl)
	     {
	      //echo $tbl.'=='.$col.'
';
	      if($tbl && !strstr($col,'__'))
	      //{
	       $col_tmp="{$tbl}__{$col}";

	      //echo $col.'
';}
	      $mail_body=str_replace("%%$col_tmp%%",$val,$mail_body);
	     }
	    }
	    else
	    {
	     if($add_table_name_to_default && !strstr($col,'__'))
	      $col="{$add_table_name_to_default}__{$col}";
	     $mail_body=str_replace("%%$col%%",$val,$mail_body);
	    }
	   }
	  }
          if(is_array($this->manualArr) && count($this->manualArr)>0)
          {
              foreach ($this->manualArr as $k=>$v)
                $mail_body=str_replace("%%$k%%",$v,$mail_body);
          }
	  if($remove_extra_scrap)
	   $mail_body=preg_replace('/%%[^%]+%%/',"",$mail_body);
	  return $mail_body;
	 }

	 function did_user_get_mail($mail_type,$user_email)
	{
		$sql	= "select n.mail from {$this->db->dbprefix}user_automail_right n inner join {$this->db->dbprefix}users u on u.id=n.user_id where u.email='$user_email' and n.mail='$mail_type'";
		$query	= $this->db->query($sql);
		$tot	= $query->num_rows();
		if($tot >0)
			return true;
		return false;
	}

    private function get_send_mail_from_detail()
    {
    	$this->load->model('site_settings_model');
    	$setingsArr	= array();
    	return $this->site_settings_model->get_site_settings(array('mail_from_name','mail_from_email','mail_replay_name','mail_replay_email','mail_protocol','site_name','smtp_host','smtp_user','smtp_pass'));
    }
}


Model 10/110 Trophy Hunter XP Package. Features wood stock, detachable box magazine and AccuTrigger. Standard contour barrel with blue finish. Includes Nikon 3-9x40mm riflescope factory mounted and boresighted.


Smoke & Mirrors is a Central NJ premier ensemble of 5 seasoned musicians. They have been leading party crowds and providing high quality entertainment for over a decade. Smoke & Mirrors is guaranteed to transform your evening into a party that will not be forgotten.


It is an interesting phenomenon which poses a catch-22 situation. Lemme 'splain.
We are told that "Knowledge is Power." If you know something about anything, it shows a level of education, even more so if that particular bit of knowledge is not common. In a world with ~6.5 billion people in it, events take place every second. Someone dies. Someone lives. He was arrested. They discovered that. It's shinny. You name it, it's happening right now. I mean now! So with all these little things happening on this sphere in space, how are we to keep up with it all?
Enter the media. Instead of me going to 'X' country to learn about 'Y' event, I watch someone else tell me about it. And it's not just me watching, it's thousands, even millions of my fellow sphere inhabitants watching that same event. Now we all know about it, except of course those who did not watch it. But what if I missed said news report? I am behind my fellow neighbor who does know. What does it matter to me if this event didn't affect me in the slightest? Only that John & Jane Doe know something I don't.
Enter the pride machine. Not wanting to be one-upped, I seek to discover this new information. And not only that but I seek out other events so that I may have the upper hand. Take that John & Jane. Naturally I will have a tendency towards information that is of interest to me. In so doing I make definitions in my social circle. I talk to her cause she knows the same things I know. Don't talk to him. Before I know it, I have a set of friends and acquaintances with their own events in their lives that I must keep up with. Email is a quick and easy way to do this, so I do. Social network, set.
How do I contribute to my social network? By letting them in on information that I discover, and they likewise do the same for me. I get my information for a variety of sources: TV, newspapers, online news sites, RSS feeds, word of mouth, scrawling on napkins, etc. I got information coming at me from every direction. Have I got a prayer of keeping track of all this? No. Glorious.
So hundreds-of-emails-a-day and ad-infinitum-news-sources later I am confronted with Information Overload. The pandemic sweeping this sphere for which there is no nice cure. I say "no nice cure" because the only solution is for everyone to stop, just stop, driving their fellow sphere dwellers to the brink of madness in attempts to learn everything there is to learn. Don't look to the information outlets to change, they aren't going anywhere.
So what is my point? For you to make your own decision on who you view information. How do you view those less influxed with information? Here's a novel idea, accept them. Accept them for where they are at, not how much they know. I say "Acceptance is Power." We are compelled to learn and become knowledgeable, as such knowledge becomes a crutch, a weakness. But we shall always have the power to accept someone regardless of their privileges in life. Think on that one for a bit.
Via Simon, MeriBlog : Because We Are Geeks. As geeks we are gifted (cursed?) with an abnormal longing to know how things work. I owned The Way Things Work book for kids when I was younger. My curiosity into tech is still driven by reading that book. Meri is looking for what compells non-geeks to buy the things they do. Why geeks and non-geeks can never understand each other. Does strike a chord with anyone out there? I know it does for me.
If I had a dollar for every time Windows shot itself in the foot, I would be richer than Bill Gates – as would many other people.
Where to begin… Wensday, I was doing some routine disk maintance. The "Disk Cleanup Wizard" presented a new option to "Remove Windows 98/ME Installation Files", telling me that lest I should decide to go back to that version of Windows I should delete these files. So I hand Windows the meat cleaver and within 30 minutes I have 6 Windows File Protection alert boxes telling me that critical files to the operation of Windows have gone AWOL. But didn't I tell it to delete said files? Thought so. For the record, don't ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever (don't think I got enough "evers" in there) delete these files. The updated OS still needs these files.
I was getting tired so I left this task till the morning. I began trying to copy these needed files from a working Windows XP in an attempt to avoid disaster. That is assuming the shell stays stable, which it didn't. Reboot. Hal.dll is missing (for those who don't know, this is a bad thing). Can't even get a command prompt now. I start a new search for bootdisk solutions that have NTFS support. My goal: attempt to back up my files and wipe the slate clean.
Three hours and 8 tools later I come apon BartPE. This tool is genius. So very fleible. And most important, native NTFS support. I make my back ups and then go to finish the job that Disk Cleanup Wizrd started.
Slowly I am recovering from the loss of 4+ years of customizations. Quickly I am developing a psychosis at the hand of Microsoft.
And I don't mean the comic strip. I mean this thread hit close to home. To those of my friends and family whom I have aided in the past, please do not take this as a slant against you.
But I must say that at times I am truly amazed at what destructive activities some people can accomplish with their computers. Back in high school I had a class which was a position in the school's Help Desk (cheap labor ;)). I have lived the life of a computer technician at the beck and call of a working group. Reading threads and rants and articles of this nature is relaxing and a humorous pasttime. I also like to share these with people to let them see my side of my work. I do take pride in the fact that I have a skill set that many stuggle to grasp. And with that I love to help. Us IT guys are funny people and we live in our own little world. Sometimes we must be handled with care. But we are people, just like you.
Last night I witnessed The Passion of The Christ. This movie literally left me speechless. It is so moving. After the movie, I (along with nearly half of the audience in the theater) sat stunned, attempting to digest what I had just seen.
There has been much debate as to whether this movie could raise anti-semtic feelings. I honestly believe this is not the case. Sure the Jewish high priests were the chief architects of Jesus' death, but if it had not been them it would have been someone else. Jesus came with the sole purpose of dying for all of our sins. In that light, we are all equally responsible for the death of Jesus. Unfortunately there are to many people that want to point the blame. To few who realize what Jesus' sacrifice means.
Another issue that people have about this movie is the violent content. I feel it was absolutely warranted. Crucifiction was the most brutal form of punishment and death at the time and for many years following. That was life under the rule of the Roman Empire. Jesus' sacrifice would not have meant near has much as it does had he been afforded and easy death.
Finally I would like to say that everyone should see this movie, and see it without any preconceived notions as to its content. Then, if you have not already done so, go and read the text that inspired the movie, the Bible.
To Mel Gibson, thank you so much for putting forth this so poingant reminder of Jesus' sacrifice.
It's that time of year again. When we all (in the US at least) sit down and gorge ourselves on prime food. Hope everyone out there is enjoying the day with friends and family. My best regards to all.
If there was an award for the least used blog, I think I would win it. But thats beside the point.
Within a month or two I shall be in the employment of Azura Technologies. It is a very exciting time for me. I am learning a slew of new technologies (new to me at least). The biggest learning curve was learning, compling and using OpenSSL. I am also having to learn web services and the various forms it can take.
At 12:05pm EST today I officially turn 21 years old. I don't feel any different yet. Probably won't for a few days. We'll see.


Taylor Swift has hinted fans could be hearing new music in a fortnight after she posted a mysterious countdown to her social media overnight.
Alongside the ticking clock, the 29-year-old also added the date 4.26 to her Instagram profile, pointing towards a possible release date for new music of Friday April 26.
The singer's countdown also began at 13 days, a number the star has claimed is lucky for her.
Swift's last album, Reputation, was released about 18 months ago and explored the pitfalls of fame through a prism of pop and electronic sounds.
This is not the first time Swift has teased new material this year.
In February she posted a series of images appearing to show her in a recording studio, sparking excitement among fans on social media.
Is Swift about to release a new album?
Fans took to social media in their droves to express their excitement over the ambiguous news, and, of course, to speculate what the upcoming announcement could be about.


text:
Adiponectin is a metabolic link between obesity and bone mineral density
Initiative by world-recognized specialists in heart disease and diabetes to reduce residual vascular risk
Residual Risk Reduction Initiative (R3i) Calls for Action to Reduce the Lipid-Related Residual Vascular Risk Unaddressed by Current Standards of Care in Millions of Patients With Heart Disease and Diabetes. Internationally recognized specialists from North America, Europe, Asia and Japan have come together today to launch the Residual Risk Reduction initiative (R3i) - a unique
Full Post: Initiative by world-recognized specialists in heart disease and diabetes to reduce residual vascular risk
Researchers at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine, Toronto, Canada, have discovered that adiponectin, a protein secreted from adipocytes, is a metabolic link that can explain, in part, the known positive relationship between obesity and both bone mineral density and reduced susceptibility to fractures.
This study appears in the December issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine. Circulating adiponectin levels are significantly lower in obese humans and rodent models than in lean controls. It is known that excess body weight and elevated body mass index are strongly correlated with high bone mineral density, and that weight loss is associated with loss of bone mineral density and increased risk of fractures. However, the mechanism for this relationship is unclear.
The research team, Dr. Michael C. Archer, Earle W. McHenry Professor and Chair, Dr. Wendy E. Ward, Associate Professor, Dr. Kafi Ealey, Postdoctoral Fellow and predoctoral student Jovana Kaludjerovic, in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, investigated whether adiponectin modulates bone development using transgenic mice that overexpress this protein. These mice were initially developed by Dr. P. Scherer's research group at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, N.Y. Bone mineral density and biomechanical strength properties, surrogate measures of fracture risk at multiple skeletal sites, were the outcomes used to assess bone development. Female mice overexpressing adiponectin had weaker vertebra at 8 weeks of age than control mice and this delay in bone development persisted through to the end of the study period, representing early adulthood. The weaker vertebra model compression fractures of the lumbar spine in humans, among the most common type of fragility fracture associated with low bone mass and osteoporosis. The strength of the femur neck, representing the hip, was also weaker in both females and males overexpressing adiponectin. Serum adiponectin levels were inversely correlated with femur bone mineral content, further emphasizing that a high level of adiponectin impedes bone development at not only the lumbar spine but also the hip. Whether or not the delay in bone development resolves in later life or is sustained and leads to an increased risk of fragility fracture, particularly during aging when bone loss rapidly occurs due to declining levels of sex steroids, requires further investigation.
In summary, elevated circulating adiponectin was associated with lower bone mass and weaker bones in growing mice compared to control animals. Furthermore, these effects of adiponectin were observed in the absence of differences in body weight between the two groups of mice. Dr. Archer commented, "A unique and important feature of the adiponectin transgenic mice is that they exhibit significantly elevated circulating adiponectin but have similar body weights as control animals, thus eliminating obesity from confounding the study findings - mechanical load resulting from an obese state can modulate bone metabolism". Moreover, Dr. Archer said, "female mice exhibited a stronger response than males, and this is likely due to the sexual dimorphism in these mice whereby females have significantly higher circulating levels than males".
Dr. Steven R. Goodman, Editor-in-Chief of Experimental Biology and Medicine said " These intriguing results form the University of Toronto team supplies significant insight into adiponectin secretion, from adipocytes, and loss of bone mineral density and resulting increased fractures. I consider this a major advance for this field of research.
http://www.sebm.org/
Men who survive childhood leukemia have lower bone mineral density
Men who survived childhood leukemia treatment into adulthood were more likely to have low bone mineral density than other adults their age, putting them at risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures, according to a new study. The study, led by James G. Gurney, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, found that 24
Full Post: Men who survive childhood leukemia have lower bone mineral density
Computed tomography technology shows anorexia impairs adolescent bone development
Children and teenagers with even mild cases of anorexia exhibit abnormal bone structure, according to a new study appearing in the December issue of Radiology and presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). "Adolescence is the most critical period for growth of bone mass, and the onset of anorexia
Full Post: Computed tomography technology shows anorexia impairs adolescent bone development
Virtual colonoscopy has potential to screen for colorectal cancer and osteoporosis at same time
New research reveals that computed tomography (CT) colonography, also known as virtual colonoscopy, has the potential to screen for two diseases at once-colorectal cancer and osteoporosis, both of which commonly affect adults over age 50. Results of the study will be presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Full Post: Virtual colonoscopy has potential to screen for colorectal cancer and osteoporosis at same time
Planned safety analysis of a breast cancer prevention study reveals encouraging news for Exemestane
An interim analysis of a breast cancer prevention study using exemestane (Aromasin) finds an "acceptable" level of bone loss. The ongoing phase II study details reported, by Jennifer Eng-Wong, MD, a breast cancer specialist at Georgetown's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, examines the use of exemestane in postmenopausal women
Full Post: Planned safety analysis of a breast cancer prevention study reveals encouraging news for Exemestane
Gut found to exert control over bone
When it comes to remodeling our bones-an ongoing process of break down and renewal that goes on throughout adulthood–researchers have new evidence that our guts play a surprisingly important role. The findings point toward novel methods for increasing bone mass in patients with diseases characterized by impaired bone formation, including postmenopausal osteoporosis, according to the
Full Post: Gut found to exert control over bone

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Groups: The Trump administration is putting America's water resources more at risk than they have been in a generation
May 25, 2017 | Uncategorized
Michael Kelly, Clean Water Action: 202-393-5449, mkelly@cleanwater.org
Amy Kober, American Rivers: 503-708-1145, akober@americanrivers.org
Rob Friedlander, Earthjustice: 202-797-5249, rfriedlander@earthjustice.org
John Rumpler, Environment America: 617 747-4306, jrumpler@environmentamerica.org
Milly Hawk Daniel, PolicyLink: 212-502-6492, mdaniel@policylink.org
Trey Pollard, Sierra Club: 202- 495-3058, trey.pollard@sierraclub.org
Washington, DC – Just before the second anniversary of the Obama administration's most significant water pollution control initiative – the adoption of the Clean Water Rule – the Trump administration's assault on public safeguards put America's water resources more at risk than they have been in well over a generation, according to environmental, conservation, equity-focused, and community organizations. The groups marked the anniversary of the Clean Water Rule and contrasted that achievement with the Trump Administration's planned rollback of vital protections for water and health and its proposed budget cuts to important clean water programs. They noted that the Trump administration is wildly out of step with the public, pointing out that recent polls show that concern about drinking water is as high as it has ever been and the Americans want environmental protection to be prioritized.
"When it comes to the environment, everything President Trump has done in his first four months in office has been focused on one thing – putting polluters' interests before public health and clean water. Repealing the Clean Water Rule and the cuts in the budget are part of this assault, said Bob Wendelgass, President and CEO of Clean Water Action. "We don't get clean water by gutting protections for streams and wetlands. We can't support small businesses by putting the infrastructure they rely on at risk of destruction. We won't protect public health by ignoring science."
The Clean Water Rule, finalized two years ago, strengthens protections for the drinking water sources for more than 117 million Americans. EPA took years to develop the Rule. The Rule received more than one million public comments, the vast majority of which were supportive. EPA held more than 400 meetings with stakeholders across the country and published a synthesis of more than 1200 peer-reviewed scientific publications which showed that the small streams and wetlands the Rule safeguards are vital to larger downstream waters.
"Without the Clean Water Rule's critical protections, innumerable small streams and wetlands that are essential for drinking water supplies, flood protection, and fish and wildlife habitat will be vulnerable to unregulated pollution, dredging and filling," said Bob Irvin, President of American Rivers.
Despite the broad public support and overwhelming science supporting the Clean Water Rule, industry groups and several states sued to stop the Rule. Before becoming EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt led one of the lawsuits as Oklahoma Attorney General. The Clean Water Rule is on hold while that litigation plays out, leaving the drinking water supplies for 1 in 3 Americans at risk of pollution or destruction.
The Trump administration intends to make things significantly worse by repealing the Clean Water Rule and then issuing a far less protective rule, one that would cut the heart out of the Clean Water Act. While the Clean Water Rule took roughly four years to develop, propose, and finalize, Administrator Pruitt wants to propose and finalize the new rule in less than a year. This will mean less time for meaningful consideration and public engagement.
"Even as millions of Americans look forward to swimming and fishing this summer, President Trump has just proposed to wipe out funding for vital clean water programs across the country," said Margie Alt, executive director of Environment America. "Congress should reject this extreme proposal and pass a budget that reflects the overwhelming bipartisan support for protecting our rivers, lakes, bays, and beaches."
"No one should believe Trump's rhetoric on clean water. Among the first things he did in office were decimate laws protecting vulnerable streams and the drinking water for 1 in every 3 Americans. Now, he's proposing a budget that slashes funds for enforcing clean water rules by nearly a third, putting the profits of polluters before the health of our families and the availability of clean, reliable water that's necessary for business, recreation, and health," said Michael Brune, the Executive Director of the Sierra Club
Beyond the Clean Water Rule, President Trump and Administrator Pruitt are putting our water at risk in other ways. The Trump administration's budget for 2018 proposes drastic cuts to EPA, reducing its budget by almost a third and cutting more than 3,000 staff positions. These cuts will impact every program within the Agency. Some programs, like the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the Chesapeake Bay Program and other regional programs, will be cut entirely.
"Low-income communities and communities of color facing extreme water insecurity—from deteriorating water systems, chemical and toxic exposures, exorbitant water costs, and climate change-induced flooding or droughts—rely on full funding of these EPA programs to restore their communities and families to health through clean water," aid Kalima Rose, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives for PolicyLink.
"President Trump's EPA budget shows where his true priorities lie – with polluting industries rather than the health of American families. Since he was on the campaign trail, President Trump has asserted his desire for 'crystal clear water for all' yet his actions since taking the oath of office show the opposite. We need a budget and safeguards that reflect the growing concerns about water quality across the nation, not a wholesale assault on bedrock environmental protections," said Trip Van Noppen, President of Earthjustice.
EPA efforts to protect public health and drinking water should be based on sound research and science. Ensuring that EPA has the funding to protect drinking water is vital. Cuts to EPA's budget will harm this vital research and impact EPA's ability to make sound decisions to protect health and water.


Seems ages since we had a Pat James & friends club gig. Well its next Sunday 15th July of course from 3pm as usual when our guest act once more is the lovely Susan Jayne. very popular with lots of our regulars. Hope to see you there. On sale will be my new CD " Look at us" with 16 tracks of songs not heard quite so often at our club. Keeping the price at just £5 each .
Will be booking next years dates at The Wensum Valley Country Club Hotel this week. No where better , and Bridgette, the owner of this smashing venue has indicated on several occasions how keen she is to keep us there for the foreseeable future when our surroundings are about to be improved even more.
Maggie will also be placing a deposit for our Christmas 2 course carvery for our Christmas Party on Sunday December 16th from around mid day followed by Bobby Graham, Gordon James and myself providing your entertainment from 3pm.
Also in July, I will be at the Tivetshall Railway Tavern on July 18th from 9pm to midnight. Lovely atmosphere at this most traditional of English pubs.
Saturday July 21st, I will be on the back of a trailer at The Debenham Country Music Festival between 12 noon and 5pm with other acts including Nicky James and Clearcut. Hosted by my now long time friend Mr Ed Cuffe. Love to see some of our club regulars and Facebook friends there. Hopefully the weather will be fine to provide a lovely day out for you.
On Tuesday 31st July, I will be with those lovely people at the Norwich based Fabb Club in the Vauxhall Centre from 7pm. Volunteer organiser Martin Fuller and other team members really do a great job here bringing some joy into the the lives of many less fortunate.


Thefts at San Francisco's swankiest stores have reached an epidemic level, as bad guys and bad gals grab high-end fashion items with near-impunity — with the "Rainbow Girls" leading the way."They come in a groups of four or five and they go right for the Ferragamos," said Ken Peterson, a salesman at Arthur Beren Shoes on Stockton Street, which has been hit repeatedly.Police tell us the "Rainbow Girls" — who get their name from their bright attire and dyed hair — are actually about three independent groups of women in their teens and 20s. The cops say they swoop into stores in the Union Square area, grab high-end goods and exit like running backs, plowing over anyone in their path."They seem to get high off of it," Peterson said. "They know they will be gone by the time the police arrive."Police reports show that thieves fitting the Rainbow Girls' description hit Neiman Marcus on Stockton Street on Nov. 7 and made off with two jackets worth $1,000 apiece, 21 Burberry scarfs worth a total of $9,970 and other goods for a total take of about $29,000.The next day, they hit Armani on Post Street for about $10,000 worth of stuff.


text:
Failed Alice in Wonderland sequel a lesson for Disney's Beauty and the Beast, exec says
It's important to learn from your mistakes
By Julia Alexander Mar 22, 2017, 4:00pm EDT
Share All sharing options for: Failed Alice in Wonderland sequel a lesson for Disney's Beauty and the Beast, exec says
With the monumental success Disney's Beauty and the Beast is seeing at the box office, a big question is whether the studio will order a sequel.
Disney's head of production, Sean Bailey, told Deadline that the studio learned from a mistake it made with a sequel last year, and wasn't looking to repeat it anytime soon.
"There are currently no plans for a sequel and the studio — perhaps with Alice Through The Looking Glass as a reminder — won't try to force one. It will explore possible spinoff and prequel scenarios."
Disney's main studio isn't the only one deciding to take it easy with sequels. Pixar's president told Entertainment Weekly last year that the studio was going to cut down on producing sequels and would take a breather following Toy Story 4 and The Incredibles 2. Instead, the studio wants to work with developing new talent and stories to get more original films onto the big screen.
Even though Disney isn't developing a sequel to Beauty and the Beast, it's not a surprising question. Since the film was released last week, it has made more than $410 million worldwide, and broke the record for biggest opening weekend for a PG-movie in March.
The movie is just the latest live-action adaptation of a classic Disney title. The company also has plans to remake The Lion King, Little Mermaid, Mulan and more.
Beauty and the Beast is currently playing in theaters worldwide.


Members of the FACES team pose for a collegial photo at the FACES Annual Team Retreat. Pictured from left to right, front row: Stone Yang, Alice Yanqiu Wang, James Noh, Jiayi Li, Helynna Lin. Back row: Cathy Baron, Charlie Hoffs, Celia Xinuo Chen, Nick Shankar, Frédéric Urech, Troy Shen. Photographer: Eric Kuang.
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA: The Forum for American/Exchange at Stanford University (FACES) recently unveiled its new leadership team for the 2019-20 calendar year, as the organization prepares to organize its flagship Annual Summit at Stanford this fall.
Outgoing co-presidents Celia Xinuo Chen '20 and Nikhil Shankar '20 appointed Vice President of Finance Catherine Baron '21 and Vice President of On-Campus Programming Zhenqi Hu '21 as the new co-presidents for the 2019-20 calendar year. Celia and Nikhil will stay on as mentors working on Alumni Relations and Communications in the upcoming year.
On-Campus Programming executive member Stone Yang '22 was chosen as the new Vice President of On-Campus Programming, replacing Zhenqi. Replacing Catherine as Vice President of Finance will be Finance executive member Eric Kuang '22. On-Campus Programming executive member Jiayi Li '22 was chosen as Vice President of Operations, and Communications executive member Cathy Wang '21 will serve as Vice President of Communications. Alumni Relations executive member Emma Bowers '22 was chosen as Vice President of Alumni Relations for 2019-20, replacing Caroline Zhang '21, who will take on a new position as Director of Institutional Partnerships. Zecheng Wang '21 will remain as Director of Chapter Relations, while Finance executive member Dongming Zhang '22 will serve as the new Director of Recruitment. James Noh '22 was selected as Director of FACES's innovative Telesummit Programming division, replacing Cami Katz '21, who will serve as Director of Development. Serving as Financial Officer for 2019-20 will be Frédéric Urech '22, who brings a wide range of experience from three continents.
Additionally, leading FACES's new publication division will be Jiyoung Jeong '21 and Clara Spars '21, who co-founded the FACES Magazine last year. Serving as Creative Director of the FACES Magazine will be Charlie Hoffs '22, a current editor of the magazine.
The FACES executive team is diverse, experienced, and committed. Hailing from Seattle to Shanghai, and with interests ranging from Political Science to Philosophy, executive members bring a wealth of perspectives to their work. Executive members will collaborate with FACES's 405 Stanford student affiliates, faculty advisors, current Summit delegates, and over 875 alumni to further the organization's mission of strengthening U.S.-China relations through vibrant intellectual, academic, and interpersonal exchange.
FACES is always looking for committed, motivated Stanford undergraduates and graduates to join our executive team of students and sponsors working to facilitate intellectual, academic, and interpersonal exchange across the Pacific. You can apply to join FACES's executive team by completing the form at this link, or by emailing our organization at recruitment.faces@stanford.edu.
FACES delegates from around the globe pose for a candid photo at the Golden Gate Bridge after an Summit filled with intellectual, academic, and interpersonal exchange.
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA: Forty extraordinary young leaders arrived from all corners of the globe on the Stanford University campus in early October for the Forum for American/Chinese Exchange at Stanford's Annual Summit on U.S.-China Relations.
Founded in 2001, FACES is a student-led, international organization based at Stanford University, dedicated to strengthening the U.S.-China relationship through fostering intellectual, academic, and interpersonal exchange between young professionals and students on both sides of the Pacific.
As Chinese-American relations falter worldwide, FACES's pioneering model of Track 3 diplomacy — providing a common ground where leaders from both nations can meet as people, and leave as friends — remains as important as ever. Gain a window into the diverse range of insights, experiences, and perspectives delegates bring to the FACES Summit by learning about some of this year's delegates: representing four continents and a wide range of disciplines, dreams, and ambitions.
With U.S.-China relations deteriorating in fields ranging from trade to geopolitical cooperation, Austin Price arrived to the FACES Annual Summit a tad discouraged. Having dedicated his rising career to informing U.S. policymakers on defense and security issues in Northeast Asia, watching mistrust and misunderstanding crest due to recent events was cause for consternation. Connecting with his diverse range of peers at FACES, however, led optimism to win the day.
"Engaging with delegates here at the Summit made me feel better despite the current pessimistic environment," Price said.
As a Company Executive Officer in the United States Army currently stationed in Korea, Price has a front-row seat on the complex and changing nature of the current U.S.-China relationship. Knowing that understanding perspectives from all sides today is critical to make the right defense and security decisions tomorrow, Price feels that the experience of the FACES Summit, in particular learning from his Chinese peers, has proved transformative.
Price also had positive remarks for the Summit's smooth and professional organization.
"I do a lot of event organizing in my current work, and the conference is definitely very well planned out," Price affirmed.
Having grown up in suburban Tucson, Arizona in a close-knit Indian-American family, Aaditee Kudrimoti at first glance may appear a world apart from the arena of U.S.-China relations.
Such an impression would be misleading — not only because Aaditee attends the nearby University of California at Berkeley, but also due to her unbridled passion for kindling collaboration between the United States and China on issues of environmental protection and energy. Meeting delegates from across the world and from every discipline, Aaditee was floored by the intellectual vitality and energy of her peers.
Seeing the FACES Summit as a rare opportunity to comprehend differing views and beliefs from around the globe, Aaditee in particular sought to engage with perspectives that, in other contexts, would be hard to encounter.
A third-year undergraduate with a wide range of interests, Aaditee came to the Summit eager to learn more about the different fields of Sino-American relations her diverse delegate cohort brought to the table. At the same time, as an aspiring academic with a passion for the political economy of renewable resources, she was determined to share her own expertise on a topic with great bilateral and international importance.
Qingjie Zeng occupies a unique cross-cultural place in the complex U.S.-China relationship.
"I consider myself a 1.5 generation immigrant who was born and raised in China, but has spent considerable time of his formative stage in the United States," he states.
Qingjie, who also goes by Bob, grew up in Foshan, a "mid-sized" Chinese city of ten million. Traveling across the Pacific for his secondary and tertiary education, he found himself at Southern California's Pomona College, a close-knit, renowned liberal arts institution with a class size of 400 annually. Realizing the value of intimate person-to-person dialogue through his four years at Pomona, Bob arrived at the FACES Summit with high standards. He, however, was far from disappointed.
Having completed an interdisciplinary major as an undergraduate, Bob was pleased by the diversity of the speakers and delegates at the Summit.
Given his unique perspective, Bob hopes to serve as a bridge between the United States and China in his career, fostering the type of personal and cultural understanding the FACES Summit has worked towards for nearly two decades. Bob flew in from Washington, D.C., where he has started work at the U.S.-China Strong Foundation and has had a front-row seat on the increasingly tense state of Chinese-American relations. His experience at FACES, however, has brought him hope.
Emily Weinstein has been a student of the U.S.-China relationship for quite a while. By her own admission, she made up her mind at the age of fourteen to pursue a career studying China. Despite her long-standing passion for understanding perspectives on both side of the Pacific, however, Emily found the FACES Summit transformative.
A recent graduate of the University of Michigan with a Bachelors of Arts in Asian Studies with a minor in International Studies, Emily is pursuing a Masters in Security Studies at Georgetown University. As an emerging thought leader on U.S.-China security, Emily has been quoted in the CNN World and the UK's Sunday Times. Given the intensity she puts into her chosen field, it is no surprise that she has brought the same passion to interacting with her fellow delegates.
"I've really enjoyed relationships that I've made so far," Emily said.
Gawie Kanjemba doesn't take "no" for an answer. If he had, there would have been no way he could have risen from a modest childhood in the southwest African nation of Namibia to pursuing a master's degree at the famed Sciences Po – Paris.
As he advanced through his studies and career, Gawie's dreams also grew — from aspiring to teach at his local school to possessing the global influence, knowledge, and power needed to sail his country to greater heights. Given his goals, he quickly realized that a sophisticated knowledge of the U.S.-China relationship was critical to translating ambition into action.
Having traveled far to attend the FACES Summit, Gawie has felt amply rewarded. He has found a new sense of invigoration engaging with the diverse range of perspectives his peers bring to the Summit.
While he's greatly enjoyed the speakers featured at the Summit, Gawie is clear on the chief reason why he's here.
Sibo Liu isn't new to FACES. In fact, as Co-President of the FACES chapter at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, she's been engaging with tough issues in the world of U.S.-China relations for years. The experience of learning from the top academic, business, and diplomatic leaders FACES features at its Annual Summit, however, has proved powerful.
Equally impressive for her has been learning from the perspectives of her fellow delegates — building friendships she hopes will last for a lifetime.
A true global citizen, Marcin Mateusz Jerzewski speaks seven languages and has attended school on three continents. This autumn, however, Marcin traveled nearly thirteen thousand miles to gain something new — the honest, one-on-one perspectives of his peers.
"It is so important to have these people-to-people level interactions, because we tend to rely too much on the elite aspect of international relations. We need to avoid the ivory tower of similar views," Marcin expressed.
Marcin has conducted research at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of his native Poland, and presented papers on topics ranging from China-Latin America relations, to Europe's shifting position in a globalizing world, to Chinese film culture. Now at Taipei's National Chengchi University, he is ready to take the next step onto true impact on the U.S.-China stage. Marcin believes that next step starts with FACES.
"It's been an excellent blend of academic, professional, and personal perspectives," he says.


Color is great. However the dress is absolutely beautiful I will be ordering these as my bridesmaids dresses as well as a short black one for myself. Such a beautiful short lace dress. Love it!
The only thing that I didn't like about the dress is the length and I had to adjust it to keep it in knee length. I should have ordered the custom measurements. Other than that it's a beautiful dress.
They were beautiful! I feared that I would not have them delivered on time due to some complications, but they made it to me before my wedding. I'm very satisfied with the quality of the product. I would definitely purchase from this company again.


text:
Laurels World Sports Awards 2016: Back-to Back Laureus Awards for Djokovic; Serena Williams wins record fourth Laureus
Events0 Comments
Serena Williams is celebrating another highlight in her amazing career after winning a record-equalling fourth Laureus World Sports Award. And on a great night for tennis, Novak Djokovic was honored with the Laureus World Sportsman Award for the second straight year and for the third time in his career.
Serena, the world's top women's tennis player, was named Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year again, after a sparkling 2015 in which she won three Grand Slams.
Laureus Academy Member Boris Becker, now Djokovic's coach, said: "He had a great year again. He's played 88 matches, has won 82, He won three out of the four Grand Slams, reached the final of the French Open, he's won seven other tournaments. Very few players, if any, had a year like that."
There was a special posthumous Laureus Spirit of Sport Award to celebrate the life of Johan Cruyff, who died in March. It was received by his son Jordi Cruyff.
On a glittering evening in Berlin that recognized the outstanding sporting achievements of 2015, rugby was the other big winner with the All Blacks taking the Laureus Team Award and Dan Carter receiving the Laureus Comeback of the Year Award, following the team's Rugby World Cup success.
Carter said: "It's nice to be recognised for the year I had in 2015. It was a very special year, not only for me, but also for the All Blacks and to be a part of that was amazing."
To the delight of the Berlin audience, Germany's Jan Frozen, the first man to win both the Ironman World Championship and an Olympic triathlon gold medal, was presented with the Laureus Action Sports Award, while golfer Jordan Spieth won the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year Award.
Spieth said: "Thank you so much to the Laureus Academy. Just to know a couple of you is an honour. For me it's unique. We're used to being recognized in the golfing community but this Award recognises us around the world to all of sport and it's something that's very difficult to put into words."
Brazilian Paralympic swimmer Daniel Dias won his third Laureus Disability Award, another record. Dias, who is one of Brazil's big hopes for gold medals the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in September, said: "This is another great honour for me and gives me great encouragement, as we are now in the build-up to the Paralympic Games in Rio. To think I have won win three Laureus Awards, something only managed by other sportsmen like Roger Federer, Usain Bolt and Kelly Slater, is quite overwhelming."
Three-time Formula One world champion Niki Lauda, now Non-Executive Chairman of the Mercedes AMG Petronas team, received the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Laureus Academy named the recipient of the Laureus Sport for Good Award: the football-based Moving the Goalposts community project in Kenya.
The Laureus World Sports Awards are the premier honours on the international sporting calendar. The winners are chosen by the Laureus World Sports Academy, the ultimate sports jury, made up of more than 50 of the greatest living sportsmen and sportswomen.
The Laureus World Sports Awards supports Laureus Sport for Good by showcasing the incredible work it does to transform the lives of individuals and communities around the world by using the power of sport as a tool to combat challenging social issues. Since its inception, Laureus Sport for Good has raised over €100 million and supported over 150 projects worldwide which use sport to tackle violence, discrimination and disadvantage. Laurels Sport for Good has helped to improve the lives of millions of young people in over 35 countries and is proving that sport can change the world.
The Laureus World Sports Awards Ceremony, hosted by Hollywood actor Bill Murray at the Messe Berlin Palais am Funkturm, is broadcast to 160 countries.
Laureus World Sports Awards were announced in seven categories.
Laureus World Sportsman of the Year: Novak Djokovic
Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year: Serena Williams
Laureus World Team of the Year: All Blacks
Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year: Jordan Spieth
Laureus World Comeback of the Year: Dan Carter
Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability: Daniel Dias
Laurels World Action Sportsperson of the Year: Jan Frodeno
There were three additional Award winners: the Laureus Spirit of Sport Award was presented posthumously to legendary Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, who died last month; the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award was given to three-time Formula One world champion Niki Lauda and the Laureus Sport for Good Award went to Kenya's Moving the Goalposts football project.
AwardBerlinLaureus
Previous ArticleMercedes-Benz Vans new 360-degree campaign: For Roger Federer, the V-Class is the perfect family car
Next ArticleDaimler continues along its successful path – strongest unit sales in a first quarter
A Club Tour in Berlin with the GL
Linkin Park Concert Powered By Mercedes-AMG
Another award for the gullwing model: SLS AMG wins the "Golden Classic Steering Wheel" award
Kickoff of Accelerator-Program Startupbootcamp in Berlin: Turbo for creative business ideas
The Innovative Steel Pistons win again: Passenger Car Diesel Technology receives the Steel Innovation Award
Dieter Zetsche at the Annual Shareholders' Meeting: "We look back on a very successful year"
"FOR" brand campaign: smart: More than just a car
Mercedes-Benz Plant Berlin to Become High-Tech Location for Components to Reduce CO2


text:
Service update December 2nd 2020
Dart Harbour wants to play its part in ensuring that our premises are Covid secure and that we continue to protect our customers, staff and wider community.
Users of Dart Harbour facilities are requested to follow the latest government rules, these include restrictions relating to travel between tiers, Dart Harbour is currently in tier 2, however customers from tier 3 areas should follow tier 3 rules.
Harbour Office
From Wednesday 2nd December visitors to the Harbour Office should continue make an appointment in advance. All visitors to the office must wear face coverings and sanitise their hands at the bottom of the stairs, when visiting the office for their appointments.
Office staff will also be working from home when they can and all staff will ensure social distancing while dealing with our customers, both afloat and in the office.
Berth holders who have their mail or parcels delivered to the Harbour Office can continue to collect them in the same way as during the lockdown and should continue to wear a face covering and be aware of social distancing with staff.
If you wish to make an appointment to visit the Harbour Office, please call us on 01803 832337 during our normal opening hours. Monday to Thursday 0900 – 1700hrs and Fridays 0900 – 1600 hrs. The office is now closed at weekends.
Visitor facilities
Visitor berths will reopen from 2nd December, however there are currently no shower facilities available. Where possible please call the office, 01803 832337, on arrival to make payment.
Yacht Taxi Service
The Yacht Taxi Service is now operating between 1000 and 1600 hrs with the last booking 1530 in the inner zone and 1515 in the outer zone. Wherever possible, please pre-book (24 hours in advance) to 01803 832337 (during office opening hours). If not possible, on the day please call VHF Channel 69 or 07970 346571, but please bear in mind that priority will be given to pre-booked customers or visiting vessels. Operating times are subject to change due to operational reasons or bad weather. Face coverings must also be worn on the Yacht Taxi.
If you have any symptoms of Coronavirus (new cough, high temperature or loss of taste or smell), please do not visit our offices or approach our patrol staff or taxi drivers.
Wherever possible, please carry out your business with Dart Harbour via phone or email and pay any invoices you receive using the online tools available (these are shown on your invoices).
Let us all hope that these latest restrictions, do indeed stop the virus in its tracks, so that we can all get back to normal. Dart Harbour will continue to play its part and will keep you up to date with any new information.


Candidate must possess at least Bachelor's Degree/Post Graduate Diploma/Professional Degree in Business Studies/Administration/Management; Engineering or equivalent.
Review PR received and ensure that descriptions and specifications of the items being requested are accurate and complete.
Examine and prioritize urgent PRs through proper management of workload to serve immediate needs of the company.


text:
Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA – Sixty in 2013: A Walk on the Wild(fire) Side
October 14, 2013 by Deborah W. Trotter
Looking for a hike in Lassen Park that I had never before taken (there are not many), I decided that the trail to Little Bear and Big Bear Lakes would give me a good amount of miles (7.2) toward my 60 miles in 2013 goal, as well as take me through territory in the Park new to me. It wasn't until after we had chosen a weekend to go that I realized that part of that new territory is in the area burned by last summer's devastating Reading Fire.
We started the trail to Big Bear Lake from the parking area in the Summit Lake North Campground.
Soon we headed into an open forest. At first the trail was smooth and the climb gentle, but it quickly became rocky and steeper. The trees were sparse enough that there were views of Mt. Lassen, not much shade, and green manzanita groundcover as far as we could see.
Lassen Peak
There was still no evidence of a fire even as we topped the ridge the trail was climbing about two miles from the trailhead and continued down the other side toward our destination.
The first signs that we were entering a fire zone were a few evergreens with dead, orange-colored needles. Soon it became obvious that we had passed beyond the outer edges of the burn area. I had been expecting to see mostly charred landscape, so I was surprised by the number of green and apparently healthy trees that we saw, some right next to blackened, but still standing specimens or even burned out stumps. Along the trail there were manzanita plants, parts of which were both burned dead and still growing. I don't know much about fire behavior, but what we observed on this hike made clear that intense wildfires do not have the same impact on everything in their path. Our sense of destruction, however, was unwavering.
Little Bear Lake and Big Bear Lake were still lovely. You could almost pretend that they weren't in the middle of a burn zone.
Little Bear Lake
From there the trail continued to Cluster Lakes and beyond, farther into the fire's territory, but we decided we had gone far enough. Depressing is too strong a word for the effect that walking through this burned area had on us, but we were ready to leave it behind.
This hike is fairly strenuous since the starting elevation is 7,000 feet, and you hike up to the top of a high volcanic ridge and down the other side to the Lakes, which are slightly lower than 7,000 feet. Meaning, that you have to do exactly the same thing in reverse on the return hike to Summit Lake for a total elevation gain of well over 1,000 feet.
The second winter post-wildfire will be settling into the Park before long. By hiking season next summer, two springtimes will also have come and gone since the burn. If you are curious about the process of wilderness recovery after a forest fire, the trail to Big Bear and Little Bear Lakes will provide you with insight into that for years to come.
Category: National Parks	| Tags: 60 miles in 2013, Big Bear Lake, blackened, burn area, campground, Cluster Lakes, destruction, devastating, fairly strenuous, hike, Lassen Park, Lassen Peak, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Little Bear Lake, manzanita, Mt. Lassen, nature, outdoors, Reading Fire, summit lake, trail, trailhead, wildfire
Yosemite National Park, CA – Sixty in 2013: Hiking High »
« Mount Rainier National Park, WA – Sixty in 2013: Now You See It . . .


text:
Historical Articles of Solano County - Printer Friendly Page
To print: Click here or Select File and then Print from your browser's menu.
Foreign labor lifeblood of agriculture
Sabine Goerke-Shrode
Japanese workers filled void Vacaville's orchardists toward the end of the 19th century relied heavily on foreign labor to run their orchards, harvest and pack the fruit and ship it to the East Coast.
Chinese formed the first large ethnic group - nearly 10 percent of Vacaville Township residents - according to the census of 1870. Soon, their large numbers led to anti-Chinese sentiments, culminating in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which forbade all immigration from China.
The effect on California agriculture was felt immediately. A new group of workers was needed and Japanese immigrants filled this void.
After centuries of being closed to Western contacts, Japan took up diplomatic relations with the U.S. Government in 1853. By the 1860s, American and European experts were invited to help modernize the country. Starting around 1868, many Japanese, interested in visiting Western universities or to acquire western skills, left their country to work in the United States. Most arrived through San Francisco.
While Mili Shimonishi-Lamb's father, Yojiro Kubota, one of the three co-founders of Vacaville's ABC Store, came to the United States years later, his experience was representative of many young men.
"Father's grandfather, Goemon, was a prominent village doctor and landlord of one of the largest estates in the county. Father was expected to follow the grandfather's profession and become a doctor, but that was not his choice. He had read and heard about a country called America, where opportunities to develop whatever career one chose were there for the asking. After much thought and consideration, he made his decision. He approached his parents, bowed solemnly, and expressed his desire to go to America to pursue a career of his choice, which shocked and disappointed his parents. He left his home and came to the United States under the businessmen's quota sometime in the early part of this century, around 1906."
Typically, these first immigrants were young men in their 20s or 30s. Those with Japanese government scholarships went on to study at Ivy League schools on the East Coast. Others became 'schoolboys,' working as cooks or houseboys while going to school. During the summer months, after school ended, they migrated to the orchards surrounding the Bay Area.
One of the earliest pieces of information on Japanese help in the Vacaville area comes from an article in the Winters Express of May 12, 1888: "Since the estoppel of Chinese immigration, small though the decrease in number has been, this class of labor has been getting scarcer and higher priced each season, until now the question, How shall we gather our fruit, stares our producers directly in the face. A number of growers - notably the Brinck Bro. and G. W. Thissell - have employed Japanese help, and are satisfied with the experiment as far as they have gone."
By 1890, the U.S. Census listed around 30 people of Japanese ancestry in Solano County. Only 10 years later, their number rose to 850. Once families began to arrive, the numbers grew quickly, until the Japanese population made up 11 percent of Vacaville's inhabitants in 1940. A small section on Dobbins Street developed into "Japantown" with grocery stores, confectionery stores, boarding houses, a sumo ring, the Buddhist Church, the Methodist Church and other institutions.
Learning English became the first challenge for all newcomers. The effort to pronounce technical terms used in the orchards led to the development of a language of its own. Pruning turned into "pu-ru-nin-gu," thinning, "shinin-gu" and hoeing, "hon-nin-gu." These pronunciations became so common that many second-generation, the Nisei, believed them to be Japanese words.
Trying to make oneself understood often led to situations fondly recalled in family lore.
Louie Nishimoto remembered a story about his mother. "I don't know whether it was her or her friend, but one of them went to the neighbors to buy eggs, but she didn't know how to say 'eggs.' She thought ... and then squatted down and acted like a hen. She got the eggs."
Another story tells of a farmhand who tried to inform his employer that the horse had demolished the pig pen. "The farmhand ran helplessly to the boss, pantomiming like a horse: 'Ho-su kicked the fence," he cried, 'and bacon boy run.' "
While many picked up the language during their daily work, others tried to learn it in a school setting. Tatuo "Terry" Nakatani's father was among those. He was 17 when he arrived in California in 1918. To learn English, he enrolled in public school. "Here he was, 5-foot-6 and fully grown, and sitting in a class with 6- and 7-year-old Caucasian kids. He just dropped out," remembered Nakatani.
Mili Shimonishi-Lamb recalled another often-told story: "Postage at the time was one cent for domestic mail, and two cents for foreign mail. As he was ready to place the stamps on the letters, the man at the window noticed the letters were to be sent to Japan. He said, "I'll exchange the one-cent stamp for the two-cent stamp for you."
"The Japanese man understood and immediately recognized the situation as an opportunity to add a few new words to his growing vocabulary.
"At a later date, the same man went to San Francisco with a newcomer from Japan. At the ticket window of the train station he said, 'One-cent stamp, two-cent stamp, change car Vacaville.'
"After repeating it a few times, the man at the ticket window gave him two tickets. The newcomer said to his friend, 'You amaze me. How well you have mastered the English language in such a short time.'
" 'One-cent stamp, two-cent stamp, change car Vacaville' was pitifully hilarious to the elders. It was repeated again and again for many years."
For many immigrants, the English language remained an insurmountable obstacle, hindering them from full integration into their surroundings. Their children, the American-born Nisei, would form the bridge between Japanese and American lifestyles.


text:
Posts tagged 'reading challenge'
FREIGHT BOOKS – Head for the Edge, Keep Walking by Kate Tough
Here is a third book review for my 52 Books by 52 Publishers reading challenge!
Today's publisher is…
About Freight Books:
Freight Books is an award-winning UK-based independent publisher founded in September 2011 in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. With a focus on publishing high quality literary fiction, we also publish humour, general illustrated and narrative non-fiction and poetry. At the heart of all our projects is a commitment to compelling narratives, scrupulous editing, high quality production and imaginative marketing, supported by a strong and identifiable brand. Most importantly we want to bring our talented authors to as wide an audience as possible.
Freight Books was voted Scottish Publisher of the Year in December 2015 and recently won three Scottish Design Awards, including the coveted Grand Prix, for one of its titles.
Freight Books is a sister company of Freight Design, founded in 2001, one of Scotland's leading design and marketing agencies. It grew out of Freight Design's pleasure in creating award-winning publications and its commitment to literature. In 2009 Freight founded Gutter, which quickly established itself as the leading literary magazine of new writing in Scotland. Gutter has won multiple design awards and founded one of the best literary networks in the country.
Learn more about them here.
Jill Beech's nine year relationship is over. She covers the sadness with madness, going dancing with her off-beat friends and attempting a series of hilariously bad internet dates. Then life is flipped on its head again by some shocking news. Adrift in her mid-thirties, no-one does lost quite like Jill.
Wry, witty, resilient but bewildered, she is left asking, what does it take to stay sane in this life? and why does it look easier for everyone else? While her friends are preoccupied with pregnancy, Jill looks elsewhere for meaning. Will she find happiness with a kitten called Cyril? A job she can finally believe in? Or a charming ex-snowboard champion who wants to settle down? Events force Jill to head for the edge – will she fall headlong or turn things around and keep walking?
I really, really, liked this book. It's my favourite in this reading challenge so far. I think this is because it reflects so much for me: the anxiety caused by people expecting certain things from you as a woman coming up to a particular age; the mortality of the human race and how fragile life is; the difficulty of understanding what you want from life, and the ever-prominent subject of mental illness.
The writing is so very funny. It also has a really distinctive narrative voice. You get to know Jill almost right away. She isn't perfect and neither is her life falling apart around her. She's just trying to make sense of what it means to be her. Faced with a scary illness, romantic conquests, the challenges of a new job, a strained friendship and a ticking biological clock, Jill ticks all the boxes of your typical chick lit heroine.
But she is so much more than that. Because she makes decisions you don't expect her to. She makes decisions she didn't expect to make. The whole book takes you in what you think is one direction, and then soon you realise you're actually going in a completely different one. It doesn't make itself conform to the expected standard of following a particular narrative arc or structure. It doesn't end how you expect it to end, but this makes it feel SO much more authentic. It's not a bad ending; far from it. But when I finished it I thought, "You see now, that's a lot more convincing in terms of true life."
The book features some of the most unique and strongly developed characters I've seen in a while, which is great. Jill's best friends are both hilarious and tragic. Each one is a mix of these things, so there are no one-dimensional characters, only interesting people that you love to get to know.
The story is matter-of-fact and true to life, but throughout the story is a series of really beautiful, poetic pieces of prose, peppered into the everyday-life narrative, that really gets to the heart of Jill as a vulnerable character. I also love that the book is told through a number of different formats, including postcards, letters, dream sequences, email and normal chronological prose.
Read this book: you REALLY won't regret it.
52 Books by 52 Publishers
freight books
head for the edge keep walking
Kate Tough
I'm back with an awesome reading challenge
Well, it's been a while since I wrote, right?!
I tell you, trying to be so IN with the publishing community is absolutely amazing. It also gives me so much to do and so many ideas, with so little time to actually get it done. But I'm going to try my best to continue blogging this year.
I've started an AMAZING new job as Assistant Copy Editor at a new mental health publishing company called Trigger Press, so there's that to deal with too. I will blog more about it later, so watch out for that.
Amazingly, on top of all of this, I've given myself quite an ambitious reading challenge for 2017, too, despite having ambitions to do a million and one other things and still find time to work, eat and sleep.
I know a lot of people scoff at the idea of new year's resolutions, but I love them. One of them for this year is to travel all around the UK and learn about the different places in my own country. I realise I know so little about the UK and so I want to remedy that, and enjoy life outside of work a bit more. Perhaps I'll blog about that too, maybe. Or I'll just keep a personal diary for that. I don't know if I can possibly start a travel blog as well as a fairly quiet publishing one 😮 I've done quite well with that so far, as I've already planned quite a few trips and already taken my first one to Sheffield.
What I've also decided to do is set myself a "52 Books by 52 Publishers" reading challenge. Averaging at one per week obviously, but some of that will have to involve binge-reading on my holidays, but that's OK. It's 52 by the end of the year, not 1 a week.
Apologies for the rubbish picture. These will improve.
So far I think I've read around 6 or 7, so I'm kind of on target, but I will post the first review up shortly.
Any genre goes. I am mainly concentrating on independent publishers, but the Big 4 will show up some places too. The only rule I've set myself is that different imprints that belong to the same publisher do not count. They have to be 52 completely different publishers. Makes things more interesting and more challenging that way.
If anyone feels like being a nosy bugger, here's my amazon list that shows you the ones I'm looking at buying/asking friends and family to buy me for birthday etc. over the year. I won't necessarily get them from Amazon every time, as I am trying to visit lots of indie shops this year or buy from the publisher's website where possible, but Amazon and Goodreads are the easiest place to make a wishlist and probably the easiest way to get others to buy for me (I can just point them towards a list and they can pick which one they want to get me.)
http://amzn.eu/6L8JH2r
If anyone has any recommendations of books or publishers, PLEASE, holler!
Follow the journey on Twitter @cox_stephanie #52booksby52publishers
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/publisherstephaniec/


Can the WindowControl be displayed modally? I haven't found anything in the documentation that indicates that it can. If it can't, is there another way to have an app that's using the WPF Studio display a (themed) modal window? I know I can do it with a vanilla WPF window, but I was hoping to be able to stick with the Actipro controls as much as possible in order to take advantage of their builtin themes.
Thanks for looking at WPF Studio.
WindowControl is just a regular Control so it can't be used in a top-level way like a Window can. That being said you could possibly do a Window with no border and put a WindowControl on it. However you'd proabably need to wire up the various events to resize, close, etc.
Alternatively if your main Window has something like a Canvas near its root with the normal contents stretched to fill, you could make a special UserControl that had a transparent background (so it appears transparent but catches mouse clicks) and put a WindowControl centered in it. That would sort of mimic a modal dialog.


text:
Internet celebrity dog, PITHUAHUA (the half Pit Bull, half Chihuahua sensation), stars in a new web series of the same name
By kayteaas
LOS ANGELES, CA – Imagine celebrity dog life — sponsors, public appearances and millions of social media followers. Think of world-famous dogs like Boo or Tuna (of TunaMeltsMyHeart). Pithuahua was one of them. He was quickly climbing the superstar-dog ranks when something went terribly wrong; on a live-streamed doggy meet-and-greet with another famous dog, Pithuahua, the family-friendly, four-legged cash cow was accused of… "rape"?!?
That's the set up for the new hilarious and bizarre web series, Pithuahua, created by graduate students from the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts graduate program and hitting computer screens near you. The project is the brain child of Pithuauha's real-life owner, Katherine Sweetman, but each episode is written and directed by someone new.
"The story is constantly evolving, and new voices are being added with each episode," Sweetman said in an interview with Broken Crutch Productions.
In the first episode, we meet Pithuahua's owner Chase Stewart (played by USC Theater Alum Deane Sullivan) as he's re-living the nightmare of Pithuahua's indiscretions on YouTube. The video has over 3 million hits and the dog's social media stats are also taking a hit. They are falling fast. Chase is being evicted from his apartment, and he ends up at his mom's home (Mom's played by the always entertaining, Dian Van Patten) who is not exactly winning any "mother of the year" awards. The only solace Chase finds is in the arms of his internet hook-ups.
The series deals with many contemporary themes such as the fleetingness of internet celebrity-life, on and off-line personas, and the world of online dating.
This fun-filled series of 6-minute episodes begins July 4th, and will continue to air each Monday.
The real Pithuahua, can be found publicizing the web series around the Los Angeles area. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Instgram for show updates.
About the series creators:
Katherine Sweetman is a nationally and internationally exhibited artist in the fields of new media art and documentary video. She has taught courses on Visual Culture, Media, and Art at The University of California San Diego, San Diego State University, California State University, San Marcos, and Southwestern College. She is the former director of the alternative art space, Lui Velazquez, in Tijuana. She worked in 3D film and television production at Passmore Lab (2009-2014) and is a contributing arts editor for Reviewer Magazine. She has an MFA from the University of California, San Diego, a BA in Arts and Technology from California State University, San Marcos, and a certificate from the New School University, New York, and she is currently pursuing her second MFA in film at the School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California.
Abie Troen was born in Southern Israel and studied at the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Arts where he specialized in history and photography. Following his studies, he enlisted to the IDF (Israeli Army) where he served as a combat paramedic, and was awarded a certificate of. He studied in the Sam Spiegel school for Film and Television in Jerusalem, where he worked on projects filmed in the West Bank, and worked as a photojournalist. Abie studied in Brandeis University in Boston where he graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He's been involved in projects filmed in Kenya and India, promoting the Kenyan Street Vendor's Union and Jan Sahas, an organization fighting for Untouchable women's rights. He is currently getting his MFA at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts.
Jayjit DasGupta started out as an actor and director in Theater. He subsequently rose to the ranks of Artistic Director and Executive Producer of the Generic Theatre Co. in Washington DC. He was also awarded the 2001 Lannan Fellowship at the Folger Shakespeare Library. He studied Shakespeare at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and Film Theory at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, England. He took a hiatus from the world of the arts and studied medicine at University of Tennessee. He was trained in cardiothoracic transplant surgery at University of Pennsylvania and served on the Heart & Lung Transplant team at Vanderbilt University. He is happy to be back in the world of art and film at The University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts.
Mercedes San Roman is a writer and cultural journalist from Mexico City. She likes stories involving surrealism and the absurd. She has worked as a writer at Malinche Magazine. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Latin American Literature from Universidad Iberoamericana. She studied filmmaking and cinematography at the New York Film Academy, and she is currently completing her MFA in film The University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts.
Katherine Sweetman, [email protected]
Pithuahua Official site: http://pithuahua.com
twitter @thepithuahua
Instagram @thepithuahua
Facebook.com/thepithuahua
kayteaas
GiftsbyMeeta Joins hand with Payoom To allow Cheap Rakhi Gifts in India
By kayteaas July 13, 2016


Hand-embroidered by skilled artisans, our cushions and rugs bring warmth, joy, and colourful, timeless style into interior living spaces. Our Heart design incorporates beautiful shades of light blue, brown, red, white, pink and green. It will make a stunning focal point in any room and will make a gorgeous feature piece.


Formed in Harlow in 1992, Collapsed Lung went on to record two albums for Steve Lamacq's Deceptive Records label. Their song "Eat My Goal" was picked up by Coca-Cola for their Euro 96 "Eat Football, Sleep Football, Drink Coca-Cola" ad campaign, and charted twice - peaking at #18. They disbanded in late 1996, but recently reformed and are releasing a single - "New Song, Old Band" - in November 2016. Their music plays around with hip hop sampling techniques alongside live instruments, although mostly steering clear of "rap rock" as such. Lyrically there is humour, but also themes of New Town disaffection and a fondness for the more esoteric end of British life.


'We come with our eyes more open and ready to be amazed and exhilarated by sights such as the murmurations of starlings...' | Photo: reway2007 / flickr CC.
Jonathan Tulloch will be known to many, not only for his novels, which have been serialised on BBC Radio 4, but also for the series of gentle, thought-provoking passages he writes regularly in the 'Nature Notebook' in The Times and, probably more amongst Catholics, in The Tablet. Glimpses of Eden: Field notes from the edge of eternity comprises a round-the-year anthology taken from this column and so is divided into the seasons, starting with 'Winter'.


text:
Info Page: We Couldn't Become Adults
Here is all the information you need about "We Couldn't Become Adults" on Netflix in the UK. Details include the date it was added to UK Netflix, any known expiry dates and new episodes/seasons, the ratings and cast etc. So scroll down for more information or share the link on social media to let your friends know what you're watching.
Netflix Original
Japanese, Films Based on Books, Romantic Films, Dramas
We Couldn't Become Adults
Great news! "We Couldn't Become Adults" is available to watch on Netflix UK!
Known expiry dates are shown above as well as on the Last Chance page.
Want to keep forever? Try looking for 'We Couldn't Become Adults' on Amazon (paid link)
Prodded by a friend request, a feckless forty-something recalls his past relationships from the 90s onward, looking for his vanished hopes and dreams.
Duration: 2hr 4m
Audio: English, Spanish, Japanese - Audio Description, Japanese [Original], Brazilian Portuguese
Subtitles: Arabic, English, French, Japanese, Polish
Director: Yoshihiro Mori
Cast: Mirai Moriyama, Sairi Ito, Masahiro Higashide, Sumire, Atsushi Shinohara, Takehiro Hira, Moemi Katayama, Masanobu Takashima, Lasarl Ishii, Yuko Oshima, Masato Hagiwara
"We Couldn't Become Adults" was produced by C&I entertainment and was originally released on November 5th 2021.
Watch the trailer for "We Couldn't Become Adults"
Login or register to get email updates...
This title is available on Netflix UK
Where else can you watch 'We Couldn't Become Adults' on Netflix?
Here are some similar Films to "We Couldn't Become Adults" that are available on Netflix UK
Blood Diamond (2006)
Freedom Writers (2007)
World Trade Center (2006)


The following are short descriptions of the circle shown below.
Tangent - is a line that would pass through one point on the circle.
Secant - is a line that would pass through two points on the circle.
Chord - is a secant that would terminate on the circle itself.
Diameter, d - is a chord that passes through the center of the circle.
Radius, r - is one-half of the diameter.


text:
Snapchat looking to topple Instagram with exclusive content
12:47pm Jul 24, 2019
Snapchat has the makings of a comeback story.
Snapchat added 13 million daily users in the three months ending in June, ending a long period of lackluster growth and pushing the company's total audience above 200 million daily users for the first time.
The stronger-than-expected user growth, combined with a slowdown in losses during the quarter, helped drive up shares of Snapchat's parent company, Snap, about 11 per cent in after-hours trading.
Snapchat has recorded record growth (Supplied)
It's now just short of its initial public offering price.
The social media company has been working to right the ship for most of the two years since its initial public offering.
After a poorly received redesign of the Snapchat photo-sharing app in late 2017 cost it millions of users, Snap is trying to grow its audience and cut losses as it battles its much bigger rival Instagram.
In the second quarter of 2019, it appears to have moved in that direction.
Snapchat posts may have led to attack on former bikie's life
UK gang members jailed over teen's 'brutal' Snapchat murder
Snap reported a loss of $A365 million for the quarter, a 28 per cent improvement from the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue hit $A555 million, up 48 per cent from a year earlier and well above analysts' projections of $A515 million.
Executives attributed the revenue growth to investments the company has made in ad products, such as new six-second, unskippable commercial ads on its Discover content.
Snapchat also introduced sponsored augmented reality features, with users spending an average of 10 seconds interacting with the photo lenses, the company said.
It attributed user growth, which had stalled last year, to better quality exclusive content.
Snapchat wants to go after Instagram (Supplied)
The company reported 35 per cent year-over-year growth in the number of users watching content on Discover every day, and said the total daily time spent watching Discover increased by 60 per cent from the prior year.
Executives said Snapchat's focus on privacy gives it a competitive advantage."Snapchat has been designed to create the feeling of a private conversation, it's always been 'delete by default,'" said Jeremi Gorman, Snap's chief business officer, on the call.
"We're confident in our position because of the regulatory concerns and privacy conversations happening ... These values have been baked into our products from the beginning."CEO Evan Spiegel did not offer further details on how, exactly, Snap protects users' photos and data.
Property News: 'We've got everything we need': The family living in a tiny house on water - domain.com.au


I Can't eject my cd. When I try it says: THE DISK IS IN USE AND COULD NOT BE EJECTED. TRY QUITTING APPLICATIONS AND TRY AGAIN. When I open Force Quit Applications it is not listed. I can't hold the mouse button OR press CNTRL/OPT/F/O when restarting as I have wireless mouse & keyboard.
For future reference, help requests should go to the "genius bar" forum.
The CD doesn't appear in the list of applications because it's not an application. One (or more) of the applications that does appear in that list has an open file on the CD and it therefore cannot be ejected (the application in question would get upset about that).
I expect that it's probably the Finder.
lsof | grep "hollandfamily's seriously good CD"
What will appear (after a while) is a list of all processes that have an open file on that disk. You then know which application you need to quit.
lsof is a command line utility that lists open files, the | symbol is what's called a "pipe" and redirects the output of the program on the left (in this case "lsof") to the program on the right (in this case "grep"). grep is a command line utility that searches text for a provided pattern, and reproduces the lines in which that pattern is found. So, here, you are searching for the text "hollandfamily's seriously good CD" in the output of lsof and printing only those lines that contain that text - it's like a filter. Run lsof by itself and then the one with the pipe and grep to see the difference.
Sorry posted wrong spot(my 1st forum). Thanks for your help. I tried the lsof | grep thing, but it didn't list anything open. It just went back to: Macintosh:~ HollandFamily$ . Any other ideas?
Hmmm, and it still says that the disc is in use?
Presumably you have tried restarting?
What system (e.g. 10.4.11) are you running?
You could try this, found via MacOSXHints.
OK, I tried that. It said - Error: disk could not be ejected, hdiutil: couldn't unmount :disk1" - error 49153.


text:
HomeNewsVideos
Full-Size Family Sedans: The Fight Is On
Joel Feder Interactive Content Manager
A lot has changed in the full-size family sedan class in the last few years. Most of the major players have been refreshed with new styling, updated powertrains, and more technology. There are even some new vehicles in the class, and the Chevrolet Impala just finally joined the 21st Century. So how do all these new vehicles stack up, and which ones are winners?
The new 2014 Chevrolet Impala is finally a worthwhile option. In fact, it's one of the best-looking vehicles in the full-size segment now, and it has infotainment options that are as good if not better than some of the competition. The Impala has a better ride and handling than the Toyota Avalon and Hyundai Azera, but it falls short when it comes to fuel economy when compared to the the Dodge Charger V-6 and Toyota Avalon Hybrid. Overall it's a worthwhile entry in this class, and it's been a while since we've been able to say that.
Toyota recently refreshed the Avalon with a new design, and for the first time ever, a hybrid model. It's a leader when it comes to fuel economy in the full-size sedan segment with the hybrid model hitting 40 mpg in the city and combined. While the exterior is quite sharp, it's the interior that is glitzy, with capacitive buttons and a fluid design. It's a comfortable choice with a history of reliability.
The Hyundai Azera is a fine-looking large family sedan, but it's not setting the sales chart on fire. It's certainly not because it lacks style or technology. And while the V-6 powertrain isn't the most fuel-efficient in its class, it's also not exactly a gas guzzler. We wonder if it has something to do with the Sonata mid-size sedan and Genesis full-size sedan sitting next to it in the showroom confusing customers.
A new entry to this segment is the Kia Cadenza, and for some, it'll give sticker shock. That's because loaded up it's a Kia that costs more than $40,000. But it's a darn nice car. The infotainment system is one of the easiest to use, and the seats are quite comfortable. Unfortunately the steering requires lots of minor corrections on the highway, which can become tiresome quickly.
The Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger both received powertrain upgrades recently with an eight-speed automatic transmission and powerful V-6 engine. This setup is good for more than 30 mpg in some configurations, and they are still fun-to-drive.
And then there's the Ford Taurus, which is poorly packaged and has much less interior passenger space than it should for how large it is. The 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine feels overworked, and struggles to get its advertised fuel economy ratings. While the trunk is large, and the car is comfortable, the flaws are glaring and make it difficult to recommend over the competition.
Videos News