The Mexico City airport immigration lady spoke only Spanish, so this was going to be the first test of my Spanish speaking skills. I did talk with a couple of the Mexicans on the plane with me, and they were impressed by my Spanish, but this environment was different. The conversation went something like this.
Disclaimer: The exact Spanish sentences may not be correct grammatically, but this what I could remember/catch.
Day 1 (Mexico City, DF, Mexico) : After exiting the airport I took a cab through one of the pre-paid taxi stands there (there might be cheaper options but I didn't want to waste the limited time I had to explore). I exchanged the USD at the airport, although, in hindsight, I think I'd have gotten a better rate at the ATMs.
The taxi dropped me about 2 blocks from the hotel, it cost about 305 Pesos (~22 USD). I had booked a hotel close to Zocalo which is their main square. Think of it like the heart of the city; thousands of people throng this square during weekends and special occasions. It's the thriving spot of culture, politics, and all major events happening in the city.
You'll find street performers, road side vendors, bargain gift shops, among others, at Zocalo. It also has the most important historic and architectural monuments of the city: The Metropolitan cathedral, National Palace (Palacio Nacional), Mueseo de bella arte, Palacio Postal, Angel de la independencia (the latter three are walk able distances away).
The city has about 22 million people, thus making it the most populous city in the Americas. You literally can't recognize the streets during day time because all of them are swamped with people! On the bright side, all of the sights are within walking distances of each other.
I spent most the day exploring the monuments and went back to the hotel to rest for a bit.
touring the city as well and was planning to participate in the Mexico city marathon the next day. We walked around for a bit, exploring how the city transforms by the night and had dinner at one of the restaurants he suggested - La Casa de Madero near centro.
Day 2 (Playa del Carmen): I had booked the taxi through the hotel the night and the driver picked me up a 8:45 sharp for my 11:30 am flight to Cancun. The return taxi booked thorugh the hotel cost me only 180 pesos (~14 USD) I ended getting there pretty early, around 9:10 ish, as there was virtually no traffic getting there, being a lazy Sunday morning, as the driver said.
After landing, I took the ADO bus to PDC from the Cancun airport (146 Pesos one way). They are located within a secure area on your left as you step out of the airport at Cancun. You can pay at the bus and they accept both cash (pesos only) and credit cards. The bus itself was very comfortable and air conditioned. The ride takes about an hour and 15 minutes, and fortunately my hotel was walking distance from the bus station at Playa. I checked into my hotel and spent the remainder of the day just strolling near the beach and exploring the small town.
Day 3 (Tulum & Cozumal): I had booked a tour to Tulum through one of the local operators in Cancun as they do a collective tour to the ruins in the morning. The tour started with the bus picking us up close to the meeting near Señor frogs and driving us to the ruins. We changed the buses midway as one bus headed to Chichen itza towards the west. We landed at the ruins and had about 2 hours of free time to explore.
Tulum is the only coastal Mayan city, thus making a unique. The ruins themselves aren't that impressive, but the setting for the ruins along the turquoise ocean makes it an impressive sight.
After the tour I came back and just relaxed by the beach in Playa. I spent about an hour talking to a random old lady, who was also waiting for the ferry, in Spanish as she regaled me with tales about living on the Cozumal island and commuting back and forth for work to Playa del Carmen. Evening around 5, I took the ferry to Cozumal island, which is about an hour away. I had dinner at Restaurant Palmeras. I felt it was slightly on the expensive side compared to Playa and other places near by, but I was warned of that by the old lady. I came back by the 7:00 ferry as I didn't want to wait until it was completely dark to return. The last ferry leaves the island for Playa at 9:00 pm.
Day 4 (Rio Secreto & Akumal beach): I read about Rio Secreto on Tripadvisor and it almost immediately grabbed by attention. Just 10 min by "taxi collectivo" from Playa del Carmen, this hidden gem will blow your mind. The underground water reserve has thousands of dramatic stalactites and stalagmites. It's like stepping back in time to witness something mysterious and truly spectacular. Before the tour began, there was an introductory video about the story behind the formations and the caves. We were then taken into a van and driven for about 20 minutes deep into the woods. They gave all the gear required, suit, floats, water boots, the works.
We were asked to take a shower before so as to not 'pollute' the river and went through a Mayan cleansing ritual by a native Mayan, which although sounds tacky, was quite interesting. We then stepped into the caves.
Tips: You don't need to know swimming to get in there, some of the water is as much as 15 feet deep but you can float using the life vests given.
The entrance fee was $67.15 and it has to be booked at least 5 days in advance to guarantee a slot. They also charged an additional $60 for the photos, which I felt was expensive, but there's no camera (even if it's waterproof) allowed inside the caves.
Also, try using 'Taxi Collectivos', these are shared hop-on/hop-off taxis located between 15th and 20th St at PDC. They are the cheapest and quickest mode of transportation south of Playa.
After the tour I went and relaxed at Akumal beach, which is about 30 min south by 'taxi collectivo' from Rio Secreto.
er for lunch to Hacienda Selva Maya. They had served up a buffet of Mexican food for us and I don't know if it was the hunger or something else, but that was hands down the best Mexican food I've ever had. Post lunch, we headed over for our final stop, before the drive back, to Vallolodid, this Spanish colonial town was first set up in the 17th century . This historical city has the oldest church in the Yucatan, colonial Spanish architecture, family-run shops and wonderful crafts by local artisans.
To sum up the whole tour, I'm glad I could combine Mexico City along with the East coast, as I got to experience the best of Mexico! The country has a bit for everyone's interests and I'm sure a trip there would satisfy anyone's requirement for a great vacation.
De nada! You could plan a short trip there the next time you come to the US.
Hey Mohit this is so cool!! Your spanish is getting really good too. The blog will definitely help me for my trip, and this makes me want to travel solo.
I saw your pics too, its beautiful. Keep it coming!!! Great work putting it all together!!
Thanks for the kind words, I hope you get to planning your next trip soon!


text:
Q: eBPF / XDP map not getting created I have an implementation in BPF for XDP, wherein I specify five maps to be created as follows:
    struct bpf_map_def SEC("maps") servers = {
        .type = BPF_MAP_TYPE_HASH,
        .key_size = sizeof(struct ip_key),
        .value_size = sizeof(struct dest_info),
        .max_entries = MAX_SERVERS,
    };

    struct bpf_map_def SEC("maps") server_ips = {
        .type = BPF_MAP_TYPE_HASH,
        .key_size = sizeof(struct ip_key),
        .value_size = sizeof(struct server_ip_key),
        .max_entries = MAX_SERVERS,
    };

    struct bpf_map_def SEC("maps") client_addrs = {
        .type = BPF_MAP_TYPE_HASH,
        .key_size = sizeof(struct port_key),
        .value_size = sizeof(struct client_port_addr),
        .max_entries = MAX_CLIENTS,
    };

    struct bpf_map_def SEC("maps") stoc_port_maps = {
        .type = BPF_MAP_TYPE_HASH,
        .key_size = sizeof(struct port_key),
        .value_size = sizeof(struct port_map),
        .max_entries = MAX_FLOWS,
    };

    struct bpf_map_def SEC("maps") ctos_port_maps = {
        .type = BPF_MAP_TYPE_HASH,
        .key_size = sizeof(struct port_key),
        .value_size = sizeof(struct port_map),
        .max_entries = MAX_FLOWS,
    };

However, no matter what I do, the servers map is not getting created. When I run bpftool map show, I only get such output as the following:
root@balancer:/xdp# bpftool map list
68: hash  name client_addrs  flags 0x0
        key 8B  value 16B  max_entries 4096  memlock 98304B
69: hash  name ctos_port_maps  flags 0x0
        key 8B  value 20B  max_entries 4096  memlock 131072B
70: hash  name server_ips  flags 0x0
        key 8B  value 8B  max_entries 512  memlock 8192B
73: hash  name stoc_port_maps  flags 0x0
        key 8B  value 20B  max_entries 4096  memlock 131072B
74: array  name xdp_lb_k.rodata  flags 0x480
        key 4B  value 50B  max_entries 1  memlock 4096B
        frozen
root@balancer:/xdp#

It is notable that each of the key or value structs have been padded to the closest multiple of eight bytes, and there are no compile or verifier errors. I am also running the program on docker containers. So far, I have tried moving the servers map definition around in my code, commenting out the other map definitions leaving only the servers definition active, changing the name to other combinations, and a few other minor changes but nothing has worked so far.
Please let me know if you would need any other portion of my code or information for a better analysis of the situation.

Appendix 1:
I am compiling the object file using this Makefile rule:
xdp_lb_kern.o: xdp_lb_kern.c
    clang -S \
        -target bpf \
        -D __BPF_TRACING__ \
        -I../../libbpf/src \
        -I../../custom-headers \
        -Wall \
        -Wno-unused-value \
        -Wno-pointer-sign \
        -Wno-compare-distinct-pointer-types \
        -O2 -emit-llvm -c -o ${@:.o=.ll} $<
    llc -march=bpf -filetype=obj -o $@ ${@:.o=.ll}

Then, in the container's environment, I load the program using this rule:
load_balancer:
    bpftool net detach xdpgeneric dev eth0
    rm -f /sys/fs/bpf/xdp_lb
    bpftool prog load xdp_lb_kern.o /sys/fs/bpf/xdp_lb
    bpftool net attach xdpgeneric pinned /sys/fs/bpf/xdp_lb dev eth0

The compilation process generates a .o and a .ll output file. The beginning lines of the .ll output file, where the map definitions are visible, are shown below:
; ModuleID = 'xdp_lb_kern.c'
source_filename = "xdp_lb_kern.c"
target datalayout = "e-m:e-p:64:64-i64:64-n32:64-S128"
target triple = "bpf"

%struct.bpf_map_def = type { i32, i32, i32, i32, i32 }
%struct.xdp_md = type { i32, i32, i32, i32, i32 }
%struct.ip_key = type { i32, i32 }
%struct.port_key = type { i16, [3 x i16] }
%struct.ethhdr = type { [6 x i8], [6 x i8], i16 }
%struct.iphdr = type { i8, i8, i16, i16, i16, i8, i8, i16, i32, i32 }

@servers = dso_local global %struct.bpf_map_def { i32 1, i32 8, i32 32, i32 512, i32 0 }, section "maps", align 4
@server_ips = dso_local global %struct.bpf_map_def { i32 1, i32 8, i32 8, i32 512, i32 0 }, section "maps", align 4
@client_addrs = dso_local global %struct.bpf_map_def { i32 1, i32 8, i32 16, i32 4096, i32 0 }, section "maps", align 4
@stoc_port_maps = dso_local global %struct.bpf_map_def { i32 1, i32 8, i32 20, i32 4096, i32 0 }, section "maps", align 4
@ctos_port_maps = dso_local global %struct.bpf_map_def { i32 1, i32 8, i32 20, i32 4096, i32 0 }, section "maps", align 4
@loadbal.____fmt = internal constant [24 x i8] c"balancer got something!\00", align 1
@_license = dso_local global [4 x i8] c"GPL\00", section "license", align 1
@process_packet.____fmt = internal constant [26 x i8] c"it's an ip packet from %x\00", align 1
@llvm.used = appending global [7 x i8*] [i8* getelementptr inbounds ([4 x i8], [4 x i8]* @_license, i32 0, i32 0), i8* bitcast (%struct.bpf_map_def* @client_addrs to i8*), i8* bitcast (%struct.bpf_map_def* @ctos_port_maps to i8*), i8* bitcast (i32 (%struct.xdp_md*)* @loadbal to i8*), i8* bitcast (%struct.bpf_map_def* @server_ips to i8*), i8* bitcast (%struct.bpf_map_def* @servers to i8*), i8* bitcast (%struct.bpf_map_def* @stoc_port_maps to i8*)], section "llvm.metadata"

; Function Attrs: nounwind
define dso_local i32 @loadbal(%struct.xdp_md* nocapture readonly %0) #0 section "xdp" {
  %2 = alloca %struct.ip_key, align 4
  %3 = alloca %struct.port_key, align 2
  %4 = alloca %struct.port_key, align 2
  %5 = getelementptr inbounds %struct.xdp_md, %struct.xdp_md* %0, i64 0, i32 1
  %6 = load i32, i32* %5, align 4, !tbaa !2
  %7 = zext i32 %6 to i64
  %8 = inttoptr i64 %7 to i8*
  %9 = getelementptr inbounds %struct.xdp_md, %struct.xdp_md* %0, i64 0, i32 0
  %10 = load i32, i32* %9, align 4, !tbaa !7

A: As per the discussion in the comments, the map is not created because it is not actually used in your eBPF code (not provided in the question).
As you realised yourself, the branch in your code that was calling the map was in fact unreachable. Based on that, it's likely that clang compiled out this portion of code, and that the map is not used in the resulting eBPF bytecode. When preparing to load your program, bpftool (libbpf) looks at what maps are necessary, and only creates the ones that are needed for your program. It may skip maps that are defined in the ELF file if no program uses them.
One hint here is that, if the program was effectively using the map, it couldn't load successfully if the map was missing: given that your program loads, the map would necessarily be present if it was needed. Note that bpftool prog show will show you the ids of the maps used by a program.

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text:
Home » Renault » Renault Clio
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· Comments Closed · Renault
The Renault Clio is a small car of the French automobile manufacturer Renault, which is available as a three and five-door. The first Renault Clio sparked in mid-1990, the second generation of the Renault 5 from. Renault Clio has been available since mid-1999 notchback version of the Renault Clio is called Renault Thalia or Renault Clio Symbol and enjoys great popularity especially in Eastern Europe.
Renault Clio I
Renault Clio I was first officially presented in 1990 as a successor to the Renault 5. The vehicle has gained wide acceptance in the eyes of journalists, who awarded him the title of "Car of the Year" in 1991. In the initial phase of production, the car was offered with petrol engines with capacities of 1.1L (designation C1E), 1.2L (E5F, E7F) and 1.4 liters and diesel engine capacity of 1.9 liters (F8Q). Over time, the range of power units complemented engines with a capacity of 1.8 liters, and used in the four-unit of sporting versions 1.8 16V and 2.0 16V (Renault F7R engine in a limited edition version of Clio Williams).
In March 1994, Renault Clio has undergone modernization, as a result of which appeared in the model designation of "Phase II". Changes included exterior design elements of the bodywork, as well as a small cosmetics interior. Renault Clio extended also equipped with passive safety. The offer was gone obsolete engine 1.1L.
Designed from scratch, the car stands out through its modern design, clearly referring to the predecessor. The engine range consisted of modernized units of 1.2 l (D7F) and 1.4 l (E7J) known from the previous generation Clio, and the 1.6-liter (K7M) and 1.6 16V (K4M) previously used in the larger model Renault Mégane. Available were also diesel engines, naturally aspirated and turbocharged, with a capacity of 1.9 liters. In 2000, he appeared in the 1.4 16V (K4J), and a year later, 1.2 16V (D4F), which replaced ośmiozaworowy engine 1.4 l (E7J). Also in 2000 he appeared sports version of the Clio II called Sport. Was powered engine capacity of 2.0 liters (F4R) and the power of 169 hp. Clio allowed to spin up to 100 km/h in 7.3 seconds and reach a speed of 220 km/h.
In 2012, during the Motor Show in Sao Paulo presented the Clio Mercosur / Clio Mio being modernized model of the second generation. Auto is intended for the market of South America . The vehicle received a new front fascia with new headlights and grille and a new rear belt with new lamps and tailgate.
Auto was built on the basis of the floor slab produced in cooperation of Renault with the Japanese concern Nissan , shared among model Renault Modus , Nissan Micra, and Nissan Note . Initially, the vehicle was produced only in the version of the hatchback variant of 3 and 5-door, and then to offer in 2007 introduced presented at the Motor Show in Frankfurt version of the station wagon vehicle called Sport Tourer , which is produced in Turkey. In 2007 he presented the sports version of the vehicle F1 Team R27, which received engine with 197 hp and yellow body color with black elements. In 2009, the car undergoes the facelift. Changed among others headlights conformed to the model Renault Megane and the radiator grille, front bumper which have been used large fog lights . At the rear of the vehicle have been changed lamps. In the competition for the European Car of the Year 2006 model he took the 1st position, it was the first case where the same model again won first place .
Renault Clio IV was first presented at the Motor Show in Paris in 2012. The Renault Clio was designed by Laurens van der Acker, a new style characterized by three words: simple, warm and sensual. The manufacturer gave the first of a three-door variant model for a more sporty five-door styling model. In 2014, the offer is enriched by the vehicle version of the Clio RS Gordini, who got reinforced-cylinder 1.6-liter turbo with 230 hp and 285 Nm of torque. Compared to a conventional RS Clio, the power was increased by 30 km, the rotation torque of 51 Nm. Acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h takes 5.9 seconds, while top speed should drive home to 250 km/h.
Renault Clio RS 2016 Malaysia
During the Motor Show in Geneva in 2015, presented the sports version of the Renault Clio RS 220 EDC Trophy. Auto received a revised operating characteristics of the engine and a larger turbocharger system allowing the engine capacity of 1.6 liters was the power of 220 hp. The Renault Clio was lowered and hardened suspension.
2014 Renault Twingo
2017 Renault Twizy
2020 Renault Kwid

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text:
Vat Orange 1 is an orange-hue synthetic anthraquinone vat dye.   It is prepared by dibromination of Dibenzpyrenequinone, also known as Vat Yellow 4.

References

External links
 More about Vat Orange 1 in chemical book
 More about Vat Orange 1 in Online Database of Chemicals from Around the World

Anthraquinone dyes
Vat dyes
Bromoarenes
Hexacyclic compounds

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text:
Debunking myths about how to avoid or cure coronavirus
Social media is spreading plenty of false rumors about coronavirus.
ByDr. Melanie R. Graber
Coronavirus hoaxes debunked
From false claims about treatments to fake headlines about celebrities who have contracted coronavirus, false stories have spread rapidly.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images
There is a lot of information floating around regarding the new coronavirus. While sharing personal advice is often well-meaning, it is important to focus on science to ensure that recommendations are based in fact.
Social media is spreading plenty of false rumors about COVID-19, especially when it comes to health and wellness suggestions.
Here are a few of the many tips being shared that are not supported by science and our responses to them.
Myth No. 1: Keep your mouth moist and drink a lot of water to prevent infection
There is no current scientific evidence behind the claim that keeping your mouth moist will prevent infection with coronavirus. But staying hydrated can help keep your immune system strong.
The temperature of the water you drink is not important, however, drinking water and staying hydrated is important for many reasons. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, water helps your body with a number of functions, including regulating body temperature.
Dr. Simone Wildes, an infectious disease specialist at South Shore Hospital in Boston agrees: "Hydration is always good; it helps with all bodily functions."
People can usually meet their fluid needs by drinking water when they are feeling thirsty and drinking with meals. Your body requires more water when you are running a fever, are more physically active or have diarrhea or vomiting.
Tune into ABC News Live at noon ET every weekday for the latest news, context and analysis on the novel coronavirus, with resources from the full ABC News team.
Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images
New Zealand's Ross Taylor drinks water as he fields on the boundary line during the first one-day international cricket match between Australian and New Zealand in Sydney on March 13, 2020.
Myth No. 2: Drink water often to flush virus into your stomach where acid will kill it
You cannot "flush out" the virus from your airway by drinking water. The idea that drinking water will push the virus into your stomach where it will be killed is not based on any scientific fact. But do stay hydrated.
Myth No. 3: If you have a runny nose, you probably just have the common cold
If you feel unwell for any reason, you should take precautions to avoid infecting others. The symptoms of coronavirus are not specific and can vary greatly.
The common cold and seasonal influenza are viral infections that can have very similar, even sometimes identical, symptoms to COVID-19, including fever, cough and shortness of breath. Coronavirus, influenza and a common cold can present with cough and shortness of breath. Both coronavirus and influenza can cause fever as well.
Overall, if you feel unwell, take precautions -- something that feels mild to you can cause significant sickness in someone who is at high risk for infections. Wash your hands, avoid social gatherings and wipe down commonly touched surfaces (doorknobs, light switches, countertops, phones, etc.). Call your doctor or local urgent care for more personalized recommendations, or seek urgent care if your mild symptoms become more severe.
Coronavirus map: Tracking the spread in the US and around the world
Coronavirus and the 2020 campaigns: Pandemic altering 2020 election in fundamental ways
How long you actually need to wash your hands
Myth No. 4: Holding your breath without coughing means no infection
A myth going around social media claims if you take a deep breath, hold it for more than 10 seconds and do it without coughing or discomfort, there is no fibrosis, or infection, in the lungs.
This advice has many layers, none of which seem to be based on science. Let's break it down.
To start, according to the American Lung Foundation, lung fibrosis is scarring of the lung and can occur due to infections, medications, genetics or certain diseases. Being unable to hold your breath for more than 10 seconds without coughing may occur when you have fibrosis, but a diagnosis is much more complicated than this.
Wildes echoed the sentiment, saying, "That is absolutely not the way that fibrosis is diagnosed. This is diagnosed by a pulmonary doctor. This is also not the way to diagnose an infection."
Additionally, you don't need to have lung fibrosis to have coronavirus. If you are having breathing issues, this could mean that you have an infection -- with coronavirus or any pathogen -- or that another health issue is taking place. You should seek urgent medical care if you are having any breathing issues. Research is still developing regarding the changes seen in the lungs at the tissue level after a coronavirus infection, although one study did show some changes suggestive of the development of fibrosis. But again, data is lacking and it is too early to declare whether changes in lung tissue caused by coronavirus would be irreversible.
Workers in protective suits wait for people to arrive by car as Governor Andrew Cuomo opens the State's First Drive Through COVID-19 Mobile Testing Center at Glen Island Park, in New Rochelle, New York on March 13, 2020.
Myth No. 5: Go get the flu vaccine, it will help with the coronavirus
The symptoms of the flu and coronavirus are similar so developing fever and cough from influenza could result in having to be tested and/or isolated due to COVID-19. But no, there is no current evidence that the flu shot will help with coronavirus.
"First of all, you should get the flu vaccination. However, the flu vaccine will not protect you from coronavirus. They are different viruses," Wildes said.
COVID-19 is caused by the novel coronavirus, and the flu is caused by influenza A and influenza B strains. Precautions for both viruses are similar though: frequent hand washing with warm soap and water for at least 20 seconds, cleaning frequently touched surfaces, avoiding close contact (social distancing) and staying home if you are sick.
Myth No. 6: This will go away by summertime
The short answer is probably not, but it is too soon to say.
According to Dr. Marc Lipsitch at the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at the Harvard School of Public Health, while we do expect to see some slowing in the contagiousness of COVID-19 as weather warms and schools close in the Northern Hemisphere, this decline is not likely to be significant enough to slow transmission of the virus.
Michael Reynolds/EPA via Shutterstock
President Donald Trump arrives with Vice President Mike Pence to declare a national emergency due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, in the Rose Garden of the White House, in Washington, March 13, 2020. The declaration invokes the Stafford Act, which allows state and local governments the ability to access federal disaster relief funds.
Myth No. 7: Vitamin C and other supplements can boost your immune system to combat coronavirus
There are many conflicting recommendations regarding supplements and vitamins for immune health, however, no evidence exists at this time that adding supplements to your diet will protect you from coronavirus or spur a speedy recovery. Additionally, most people are able to obtain all of their necessary vitamins and minerals through a healthy diet.
Unless you have a vitamin deficiency, it is believed that supplements aren't really necessary. Focus on eating a diet full of various fruits and vegetables to meet your vitamin and mineral needs.
When giving or taking health advice, it is important to focus on the facts. It is easy to get wrapped up in the claims about this infection while the world works together to try to understand and manage it. It is important not to panic, but to prepare and educate yourself based on science and research.
Melanie R. Graber, M.D., is an internal medicine resident physician at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and a contributor in the ABC News Medical Unit.


text:
Home » Special Coverage » 2014 Beijing International Auto Show » Chevrolet Cruze – the next-gen premieres in Beijing
Chevrolet Cruze – the next-gen premieres in Beijing
In 2014 Beijing International Auto Show, Cars, Chevrolet, International News	/ By Anthony Lim	/ 22 April 2014 12:55 pm / 19 comments
Another Beijing debutant, this time from General Motors, which finally took the covers off its new Chevrolet Cruze. Officially, that is, because the second-gen sedan was caught fully uncovered last month in China, the market that will be its first port of call. Actually, it might be a while before it arrives in other places – the US, for example, soldiers on with the J300 following last week's announcement of a facelift.
The company says the car is the first working iteration of Chevrolet's next-generation design language, and derives styling inspiration from the Tru 140S Concept from two years ago.
It wears a sharper looking suit compared to that of the current car, led by a more rakish front end. Styling elements include daytime running lights mounted above the fog lamp surround and a more distinct dual-mesh grille layout. Shorter front and rear overhangs add further to a tauter visual presentation.
The automaker's new-generation Ecotec small-displacement engine, co-developed with Chinese partner SAIC, is set to feature in the Chinese market-Cruze.
Two engine options will be available, a turbocharged 1.4 litre direct injection unit and a normally-aspirated 1.5 litre one, both four-pot designs. As for transmissions, there will be three on call, led by an all-new DCG seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, again co-developed with SAIC.
The other two gearboxes are a new six-speed manual developed in Europe and the third-generation form of the S6 six-speed automated manual transmission. No performance figures touted, except that of fuel economy – the new car is expected to deliver a fuel economy improvement of 14 to 21% compared to the current Cruze.
Live pix by Kwek Chai Li
Research Chevrolet Cars at
Chevrolet Sonic RM 78,888
Chevrolet Sonic Sedan RM 76,888
Chevrolet Malibu RM 155,444
Chevrolet Cruze RM 103,888
Chevrolet Orlando RM 119,766
Chevrolet Colorado RM 97,053 - RM 129,190
2011 Chevrolet Camaro 3.6 V6
Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.
Vader on Apr 22, 2014 at 1:29 pm
All the car manufacturer come out the new cars aggressively, local brand P1 and P2 need to catch it up fast!!!
Like or Dislike: 25 1
KuntaKinte on Apr 22, 2014 at 4:45 pm
Chevrolet Cruze or Kia Cerato, they are both Korean after all. Of course Chevrolet manufactures Daewoo cars in Asia.
Like or Dislike: 7 2
szam on Apr 22, 2014 at 11:34 pm
Study first!!
Sidek on Apr 23, 2014 at 8:24 am
Azam, it is correct, Chevrolet Cruze is a Daewoo.
kariayam on Apr 23, 2014 at 11:54 am
Abaycai on Apr 22, 2014 at 6:26 pm
Dun knw how long to take Proton to launch their Global small car and the 6 speed manual suprima……
farq on Apr 22, 2014 at 1:43 pm
why does this car look so familiar? it's nice but seems like a copycat from another make.
Hyundai De.La Junk on Apr 22, 2014 at 5:48 pm
Rear light copy Honda Accord, Front upper portion VW Sirocco, Front lower section New Ford Focus.
Zen on Apr 22, 2014 at 1:59 pm
kia cerato? chevrolet cerato?
anyway the interior is better looking than cerato
Joker on Apr 22, 2014 at 2:58 pm
The rear light of new cars are looking more and more the same.. I see Cerato here….
btw nice car though by Chevy…
kia on Apr 22, 2014 at 3:43 pm
Don't copy my design language lah…Chevoret cruze….or else i let you copy but you need to change your name to Chevrolet cerato!
GTR36 on Apr 22, 2014 at 4:13 pm
Different design direction? Not so American muscle car-like anymore.
anon on Apr 22, 2014 at 4:21 pm
Too asian looking.
KangKungMan on Apr 22, 2014 at 5:21 pm
Before that is Japan .. heading to Korean Design … Now US also copy Korean Design ?!?
wat on Apr 22, 2014 at 6:11 pm
So Ford Mondeo!
xiper (Member) on Apr 22, 2014 at 7:12 pm
the front looks like Cerato and rear looks like Altis
noname on Apr 22, 2014 at 9:02 pm
good effort by chevy by launching this new boy. The design is 'so-la-la'. But one thing that i really think about, how do they match the overall design with the front design ? Its doesnt match at all. it looks unmatured.
seng on Apr 22, 2014 at 9:22 pm
It's not bad looking but it lacks originality, please make it original like Preve. Even if it's has conti flair it still original , original , original
And the result? It's still head turners, not civic, not cerato, not elantra, not altis, not focus, not pug not others
Taio Cruise on Apr 23, 2014 at 9:35 am
Too generic …looks like mix between Hyundai & Ford
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Being passionate about cinema and arts, Hatem joined AUC and majored in Mass Communications in order to be a step closer to his dream. "I was always into graphic design, painting, playing music and doing short movies with my friends" Hatem points out, "yet at AUC the focus of my major was more on the business side rather on the artistic one". He then left and continued his studies at the Higher Institute of Cinema settling for animated cartoons instead of directing, which was his ultimate goal. During his studies at the Institute he used to assist directing students with their film projects and finally realized that this is his true calling. "It was my dream to travel abroad and study directing however my parents were somewhat against it, at the end they surrendered and I traveled", Hatem explains. Finally, closer to his dream he packed and left to the United States to study film at one of the very prestigious schools for film, where he spent six years and returned to Cairo after graduating. "Our graduation project was to write a script, edit or direct a short film, at that time I wanted to shoot a feature film instead, as I was very fond of independent filmmaking" Hatem comments, "When I told the university that my graduation project would be a feature film I was told it would be very hard and no one actually did it before, they told me to write a movie script and direct it after graduation". Convinced with his idea and believing that he would make it happen he went back to Cairo with his American friend and partner to begin preparations for his film.
Back in Egypt they faced many obstacles regarding financing and production. "There were not many young newcomers (actors), when I started searching for actors I had help from my former colleagues at the Film Institute like Karim Abdel Aziz and I got acquainted with Mona Zaki, and began casting for my film. Due to some financial aspects I lost much time and my partner had left the project and went back to the US". Hatem explains, "So I had to start all over again, I left to New York, bought a digital camera and just shot the film myself! Of course the cast had changed by that time, for the third time actually, and by that time Karim Abdel Aziz and Mona Zaki had become professional actors engaged in other projects and were no newcomers anymore".
Two years later Hatem returned to the US with his 16mm film in his luggage. "I returned to the States in 1999 and my professors told me that they did not expect to see me again" Hatem states. He edited his film and finally graduated as the first student with a feature film in the US. In 2000 his film titled "Habet Sukkar" (A little sugar) was shown at a private screening in Egypt. "By that time a lot of new producers and distributing agents entered the industry, which made things much easier for young directors to be heard", we are told, "it also made it easier for me to be able to begin my current feature film project as "Habet Sukkar" somewhat reduced doubts and fears towards handling a long film on my own".
Currently, he has begun the shooting of his first commercial feature film with Nour and Sherif Mounir in the leading roles. The film is a well kept secret and the only thing revealed is that it is a thriller and most probably to be released summer 2007. "I was preparing for this movie for the past four years, back then the trend was more comedies than suspense thrillers and I thought that the film would not be well received by the audiences", Hatem points out, "then I saw "Malaky Iskendereya" (Prive Alex) and how positively people reacted towards it, so the time was right and I remembered the movie I had in mind".
When asked about his view on the current situation of Egyptian cinema Hatem points out a positive outlook on the technical advancements that are evident in most of the recent films. "The picture and sound quality have improved tremendously in line with the production volume growth, which in turn has increased chances for more actors and it is still a work in progress", Hatem adds, " there should be more good scripts in all genres, though. We need more complex and substantial scripts with deeper woven plots, even in comedy". The current state reflects dynamism and opportunity, which also reflects on chances for newcomers in all aspects, be it actors or directors as producers are more open to new things and influences. After discussing the different film genres and the evident trend of box office hits of the past years different conclusions can be drawn. "Even tough some films, although from minor substance, bring back millions of pounds in return, they portray Egyptians as unsubstantial abroad and locally as well. Often films are copied from American movies, which is not necessarily bad to have a local remake of a movie, yet it should be done in a locally authentic manner in order to be believable for the viewer" Hatem states.
"The quality of young actors in Egypt is very good, most of them will be big stars in the coming five years, and most of them excelled in their movies and are liked by the audiences. Artistic maturity is what makes a good actor become a star at what he/she does, this comes with time and experience, the audience would not feel that at the moment, yet later on in retrospect will be surprised what a greater actor that person became by time" Hatem adds.
His dream movie is an international film that is 100% Egyptian with Egyptian actors and script. "An International film by the book, not just shown in a New York cinema for Egyptians living there, I mean the whole ten yards", he points out. "I am very happy to work with Sherif Mounir on my film, as he is very good at what he does. I would love to work with Adel Imam, as I am a big fan of him and I would have loved to work with the late Ahmed Zaki, God rest his soul."
Hatim Farid is a sympathetic persona, a family man and father of a baby boy. Supported and encouraged by his family and friends, he reflects his inner peace of mind in his working attitude and human relations. Being a guest at his film set during the indoor shooting dedication and passion for his work filled the air of the studio and contaminates every member of cast and crew. When asking for advice for any young struggling director we learned that patience and dedication are the key elements. "Patience, be patient as much as you can or even more as this career is very hard and full off traps. You must be able to learn what the industry is all about, what the society you live in worries about, learn about people, observe and analyze in order to know what the audience need and want, may be this was why it took me years to observe and study come out with my film, so again it's patience", he closes.


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text:
An Inconvenient Truth — Biological Productivity of the Tundra Has Increased Since 1981, Perhaps Due to Warming.
Arctic Science
Is that a scary thing?
Guest post by Indur M. Goklany
In its October 14, 2010 issue, Nature magazine (p. 755) reports on a paper by JMG Hudson and G HR Henry, Increased plant biomass in a High Arctic heath community from 1981 to 2008, Ecology 90:2657–2663 (2009). (PDF ) It notes that, based on data collected from study plots over a 13-year period and survey data covering 27 years on the tundra of Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, Canada, an area where both temperatures and the length of the growing season has increased in recent decades:
"The biomass of mosses has increased by 74% and that of evergreen shrubs by 60%. The total biomass of the system has increased significantly, and vegetation has grown taller. But because there was plenty of open ground at the site into which plants could expand, these changes did not result in decreases in any group. The research indicates that climate change has already begun to increase plant productivity in the high Arctic."
The abstract of the paper states:
"The Canadian High Arctic has been warming for several decades. Over this period, tundra plant communities have been influenced by regional climate change, as well as other disturbances… [W]e measured biomass and composition changes in a heath community over 13 years using a point-intercept method in permanent plots (1995–2007) and over 27 years using a biomass harvest comparison (1981–2008). Results from both methods indicate that the community became more productive over time, suggesting that this ecosystem is currently in transition. Bryophyte and evergreen shrub abundances increased, while deciduous shrub, forb, graminoid, and lichen cover did not change. Species diversity also remained unchanged. Because of the greater evergreen shrub cover, canopy height increased. From 1995 to 2007, mean annual temperature and growing season length increased at the site. Maximum thaw depth increased, while soil water content did not change. We attribute the increased productivity of this community to regional warming over the past 30–50 years. This study provides the first plot-based evidence for the recent pan-Arctic increase in tundra productivity detected by satellite-based remote-sensing and repeat-photography studies. These types of ground-level observations are critical tools for detecting and projecting long-term community-level responses to warming."
In its penultimate paragraph, the paper admits that:
"The mechanisms for the observed increased productivity are unclear. However, it is likely that warming directly increased plant growth and reproduction and indirectly increased resource supply (Shaver et al. 2001). Increased temperatures also lengthened the growing season, increased soil temperature, deepened the active layer, and consequently may have influenced nutrient uptake in this plant community."
Notably, the paper does not directly address the role, if any, that nitrogen and carbon fertilization may have played in the increased productivity. [One might argue this is implicit in the phrase in the above that refers to "indirectly increased resource supply." If so, it's a pretty sloppy piece of writing.] In any case, based on its findings, it expresses some skepticism about claims that many heath species may be endangered:
"Although many heath species are predicted to become endangered by their inferior competitive abilities (Callaghan et al. 2005), our results indicate that heath plant communities may persist in a warmer future in the High Arctic."
The paper also points out that its findings are consistent with satellite-based analyses that show increasing productivity in the Arctic area. See the earlier WUWT post, Another Al Gore Reality Check: "Rising tree mortality"?, that shows that it is not only the Arctic region that has greened up, but also the Sahel, Australia, the Amazonia, and the world as a whole.
So, going back to the heading of this piece, is increased biological productivity something to be scared about?
The answer is "yes" only if:
(a) Any change is bad, which apparently many in the environmental community believe reflexively, AND
(b) Nature (including humanity) cannot adapt to any warming that might result.
But an increase in productivity isn't just any change. It actually makes more resources available to life forms that rely on them for sustenance. That is, it could lead to more abundant, if not more diverse, species. Moreover, we know that nature has encountered as much if not greater warming in the Arctic regions before, and is none the worse for it. See, for example, CO2 Science's Medieval Warming Project Interactive Map and Time Domain Plot.
Desert tortoise gets fast-tracked to the curb
Friday Funny: Nutball science on steroids
That means more CO2 has been sequestered from the atmosphere. Time to celebrate, right?
You have to know that the warmistas will utter a loud "A-HAH!" and ignore any possible benefits accruing to these findings.
Obviously, life adapts very quickly. It's worse than we thought. Hah!
tokyoboy
Which has exerted a stronger influence, warming or increased CO2, on the observed biomass buildup?
I bet the latter.
nearly a thousand MSM articles are spinning the "success" of the UN biodiversity meeting in Nagoya, such as steve connor in the UK Independent, whose headline is "A giant leap for the natural world". however,
BBC's richard black is unusually sober:
29 Oct: BBC: Richard Black: Biodiversity talks end with call for 'urgent' action
Nations have two years to draw up plans for funding the plan…
The meeting settled on targets of protecting 17% of the world's land surface, and 10% of the oceans, by 2020.
These are regarded as too small by many conservation scientists, who point out that about 13% of the land is already protected – while the existing target for oceans is already 10%…
Developed nations agreed to establish mechanisms for raising finance to help them – which could amount to hundreds of billions of dollars per year by 2020…
The sums might appear astronomical – particularly when you recall that governments are already committed to raising $100bn (£125bn) per year for climate change by 2020 – but French Ecology Minister Chantal Jouanno said it was not impossible..
Conservation groups warned that the agreement as it stands does not guarantee the erosion of species and ecosystems will be stopped…
while Guardian's jonathan watts is not only pleasantly shocked, but sees faith in the UN "restored" :
29 Oct: Guardian: Jonathan Watts: Goodwill and compromise: Nagoya biodiversity deal restores faith in UN
After the failure of the Copenhagen climate talks, a successful agreement to protect biodiversity has provided a timely morale booster
Some key goals have been set, including a plan to expand nature reserves to 17% of the world's land and 10% of the planet's waters. For a scarred veteran of the Copenhagen or Tianjin climate talks, the extent of the progress, goodwill and readiness to compromise during these past few days has been pleasantly shocking…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/oct/29/nagoya-biodiversity-summit-deal
There's no question that if you make the tundra warmer it will support more biomass.
One problem is the drop in biodiversity as arctic species range's disappear.
But the overall drop in global productivity will not occur in the tundra.
ShrNfr
Funny how that period covers only the warming phase of the AMO. I wonder what they will run in 30 years?
dwright
And I wonder how many of my (Canadian) tax dollars went into studying something that should be "facepalm" obvious? Gee plants grow when it's warm who'd of thunk?
Wombat, do you realize that the only way you can have static biodiversity.
would be for the climate to be static?
and even then, it wouldn't work
Climate is the main driver of evolution, if it didn't change, and something go extinct,
we probably wouldn't even be here.
and the biodiversity of arctic species would be something else entirely.
Change is good, get used to it.
This brings to mind a topic that I've not seen raised for awhile, namely the theory that the recession of arctic ice would release massive amounts of CO2, setting up feedbacks that would spin the planet into ever-increased warming.
I believe this is what our good friend Henry Waxman had in mind when he made this immortal statement a year and a half ago:
"We're seeing the reality of a lot of the North Pole starting to evaporate, and we could get to a tipping point. Because if it evaporates to a certain point – they have lanes now where ships can go that couldn't ever sail through before. And if it gets to a point where it evaporates too much, there's a lot of tundra that's being held down by that ice cap.."
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/04/26/quote-of-the-week-5-waxmans-stunningly-stupid-statement/
MY QUESTION: if arctic warming results in increased plant growth, wouldn't this tend toward the absorption of CO2 rather than its runaway increase? I'd appreciate some perspective on this. Thanks.
Ken in North Dakota
I remember that the melting tundra issue caused them to re-think the methane issue; think off-setting.
Warmists like to ignore the increased greening of the planet that kicks in to absorb much of the extra amount of 'toxic' co2. This is one of the feedbacks that has allowed us to exist today and in the past despite significant climate changes over the past 100,000 years.
u.k.(us)
Talk about persistance, they survived the last ice age.
If I'm not mistaken, plant DNA is 1000 (or something) times longer than human DNA. In other words, plants can handle anything natural variation throws at them.
R. de Haan
You better grab for your gun. The ugly smell of genocide is in the air.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8093089/Liberal-gene-discovered-by-scientists.html
The tropics likewise had a biomass increase of 25%, with the added benefit of a large positive impact on fauna.
"nearly a thousand MSM articles are spinning the "success" of the UN biodiversity meeting in Nagoya, such……….."
Pat, they are gently nudging away from AGW and onto the next scare. Reach for your wallet or purse. :o)
Harry Lu
Now wait a minute!
How is the non existent global warming (It's UHI effect, isn't it?) affecting plant growth.
You cannot have it both ways!!!
\harry
"Palynological and megafossil evidence is presented from sites on the Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula, indicating northward advance of the Arctic tree line during the period 8500-5500 B.P……………These results suggest that during the Hypsithermal Interval the Arctic Front (July position) was further north, over the Beaufort Sea, a displacement from its present position of about 350 km……..The Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula, presently occupied by tundra, and dominated by the Arctic airstream in July, was apparently under forest, with warm, moist Pacific air during the Hypsithermal Interval."
Late-quaternary vegetation and climate near the arctic tree line of northwestern North America
Volume 1, Issue 3, September 1971, Pages 331-342
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0033-5894(71)90069-X
Biobob
Wombat says October 29, 2010 at 5:14 pm
This is absurd. Boreal and Arctic species have humongous ranges and huge populations vs tropical species. The primary characteristics of Boreal habitats is LOW species diversity and very high species dominance, aside from the pitiful primary productivity. Almost all of the species have distributions in both North America and Eurasia. Rare species are the product of species endgame (typically overspecialization) or rarely over-exploitation by humans. Considering that 100% of this habitat was covered by over a mile thick ice sheet until recently, this is one of the most perturbated habitats on earth and humans had nothing whatever to do with it.
OT you can snip but I think WUWT should be looking/posting more about meteorogical clmate data rather than biology, politics etc re the real issue.. but hey you've got the greatest hits etc so you know vat you are doing LOL.
Jack Simmons
Wombat says:
Why is the drop in biodiversity a problem?
And how do we know arctic species ranges will disappear?
Maybe all those plants and animals we refer to as arctic, will rejoice in a warming of their range. Perhaps what they are doing now, particularly since the start of the Little Ice Age, is a real pain and they would love to get back to the good old days of the Medieval Warming Period?
I know the Vikings would have been thrilled with a little warming back then.
Please tell that to all the alarmists who claim that this warming will produce a runaway greenhouse disaster from the massive release of CO2 and CH4 instead of increased sequestration.
OT: India invests heavily in coal fired power plants:
http://www.chinaeconomicreview.com/dailybriefing/2010_10_29/China_signs_landmark_energy_deal_with_India.html
Jeff L
Soooo….
Green is good …. unless, as in this case, Green is bad ???!!!
These are twisted times we live in.
Mooloo
Harry Lu says:
Yes you can Harry. Specific areas can become warmer from time to time without it leading to catastrophic global warming. Perhaps the Arctic area has been warmer recently while other areas have been colder.
In any event, a large number of us here know the world is warming (and has been for centuries). It is the role of man, and specifically CO2 which we dispute.
(Other options are possible to explain the increased growth. People studying my garden over a short time from winter to summer could attribute increased plant mass to temperature. In fact the dominating characteristic is how long since I last pruned and weeded.)
…. that link could be a thread all unto itself so I won't say too much more… but it does not surprise me just from my own observations over the years. That being said, I think it is crucial for everyone to recognize that there are different ways people are hardwired & that there may be no way to change are person's thoughts on a subject – this is extremely relevant to the AGW debate, as this has become a highly political subject instead of a scientific subject, which should be free from emotion. It also illustrates that AGW is a political subject to anyone who would say otherwise – as far as I can tell, the overwhelming majority of AGW supporters are also politically left. Name one other field in "science" where the majority so strongly fall into one political camp. Left wing biologists? Right wing chemists? Nope, only climate "science" falls into this category. Why? Because it is politics 1st, science 2nd.
Vorlath
You're supposed to skew the data and hide the decline (or persistence) before publishing the results. Pffftt… rookies. Silly rabbit, tricks are for Mann.
Ric Werme
This was discussed in part three years ago, see
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2007/11/06/alaska-warming-from-arctic-tundra-shrub-invasion-and-soot-deposition/
From the abstract:
"Invasive shrubs and soot pollution both have the potential to alter the surface energy balance and timing of snow melt in the Arctic. Shrubs reduce the amount of snow lost to sublimation on the tundra during the winter leading to a deeper end-of-winter snowpack. The shrubs also enhance the absorption of energy by the snowpack during the melt season by converting incoming solar radiation to longwave radiation and sensible heat. Soot deposition lowers the albedo of the snow, allowing it to more effectively absorb incoming solar radiation and thus melt faster."
Philip Bradley
The main cause is probably (increased) particulate pollution providing trace nutrients to the plants.
Plants on permafrost have shallow roots in heavily leached soils. Nutrient availability is likely the limiting factor in plant growth.
Know what I hear from this…
nature thanking us for co2 and the sun for warmth.
And SH's going to have bumpers this year I hear.
The simple truth is we are always getting better at finding what is there. No dramatic ups or downs, just nature being nature and us discovering it better.
I had a discussion with a scientist (non biologist) and when I said the idea of species means squat to nature, she almost flipped(tried to hide it but I saw it). The entire concept of species is a man made concept and the more we learn the broader/uncertain/ arbitrary that concept becomes.
Can't wait for the UN crowd to start deciding economic policies based on species numbers (sarcasm off)
Philip Bradley says:
Ya think ? LOL – yeah, right after the fact that they are frozen solid for ~ 75% of (7 plus months) a year [forget the total absence of light for months, since they can't grow due to the temps anyway].
The photo (Plate 1) makes me question the validity of this research. In Plate 1 there appear to be a number of low structures scattered about the tundra. Are these the open-top chambers? Do I presume correctly that the researchers are measuring the biomass within these structures? A quick skim of the PDF didn't answer these questions.
If the answer is yes then I'm afraid this research is probably worthless. It looks like a case of the observer altering the observed. The structures will block the wind thus changing the growing conditions.
I've spent a lot of time wandering around in Colorado's alpine tundra and I can tell you from personal observation that the wind is a huge factor in the biomass even at a small scale. For example, the biomass in the lee of a boulder will be much greater than an exposed spot a foot away.
I need a big research grant so I can spend more time wandering around….umm….I mean researching the alpine tundra.
I wonder who will pay for the biodiversity agenda? It seems that most nations are broke or about to become so (dictionary on this – see USA). Thus, any free biological productivity must be a good thing. If this can be accomplished by a bit more GHG and a little soot it seems almost like a free lunch. Someone has already mentioned the extra warmth in the tundra ought to promote evolution and increased diversity. What's not to like? [or WNTL?]
I'll restate the broke part in case anyone has missed this. The USA is deep in debt. No one knows how to stop this. Print more money. Inflation. Zero interest rates. Workers want more pay. Retiree's income goes down.
Health costs go up. Print more money. Send money to UN to support a biodiversity agenda. Is anyone in charge?
henrythethird
Research. It's a wonderful thing.
Ellesmere island, Wikipedia.
"…Schei and later Nathorst described the Paleocene-Eocene (ca. 55 Ma) fossil forest in the Stenkul Fiord sediments. The Stenkul Fiord site represents a series of deltaic swamp and floodplain forests. The trees stood for at least 400 years. Individual stumps and stems of >1 m (>3 ft) diameter were abundant. Abundance of Metasequoia and possibly Glyptostrobus trees.
In 2006, University of Chicago paleontologist Neil H. Shubin reported the discovery of the fossil of a Paleozoic (ca. 375 Ma) fish, named Tiktaalik roseae, in the former stream beds of Ellesmere Island. The fossil exhibits many characteristics of fish, but also indicates a transitional creature that may be a predecessor of amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, including humans…"
And from another source:
"…One of the most remote places on Earth, Ellesmere Island has experienced little human activity (see ARCTIC EXPLORATION). However, archaeological evidence shows that the fjords of Hazen Plateau were occupied some 4000 years ago. Excavations of THULE-culture winter houses on BACHE PENINSULA (mid-island), dating from 1250-1350 AD, have uncovered numerous Norse artifacts…"
Sounds like nature's giving back the land it took before.
LarryOldtimer
Greenhouse operators enrich the CO2 content in their greenhouses to get much faster plant growth and healthier plants.
+CO2 = more green, -CO2 = less green
Funny how that works out. More CO2, less famine.
Crossopter
Ah ha, henrythethird, Tiktaalik, a sarcopterygian (lobe-finned) fish, precursor to the amphibious land assault?! Great you bring it up. I take my moniker from its descendent cousins, Crossopterygii, species of which inhabited the Carboniferous (Mississippian/Pennsylvanian) Period swamps and deltas around here and which I've been lucky enough to find bits (and more of) when splitting shale. Well, two examples in twenty years isn't bad!!
LightRain
The article makes it seem like the increased warmth causes the increased CO2. Aiiiiieeee
Didn't the arctic have palm trees in the past? Surely that wasn't so long ago geologically. Shite happens, times change just like weather and climate.
LazyTeenager
where both temperatures and the length of the growing season has increased in recent decades:
So today we are running with the "it's warming but it's good for us" line.
Tomorrow we will be back to the "there is no evidence for warming" line.
Today we still can't wrap our heads around the importance of rates of change to adaption or that adaptation may mean extinction for species as habitat zones undergo geographical shifts.
UK Sceptic
So let me get this straight. The greenies have given up trying to "control" the climate because their scam failed. Having gone away and performed a hard re-think they've decided their next scam is to "control" evolution and it's going to cost us twice as much?
Ahahahahahahahahahahaha!
oldseadog
Maybe it's better than we thought.
Chaveratti
They look like mini-polyhouses to me.
Mike Edwards
LazyTeenager says:
Few here are saying that there is no climate change – the climate has been changing almost continuously as far back as you care to look. The question is what is driving these changes. Go look at Jimbo's posting further up in this thread which shows that the climate in the high Arctic appears to have been significantly warmer than today in a period a few thousand years ago, after the end of the last ice age. Yet CO2 was lower than today.
As for the question of rates of change and their impact on species ability to adapt, again ask questions of the past – the rates of change at the end of the last ice age were very rapid indeed – in particular around the Younger Dryas event, with a plunge into colder conditions and an almost as rapid warming. We should recall that current habitats were created by climate change of this kind – and recent studies also show that current habitats are nowhere near as stable as previously considered, but have been pieced together by precisely these kinds of climate change.
What blows me away is the size of the effect when contrasted to the minimal exposure that this has in the MSM. The world is greening – significantly – measurably – massively. Deserts are in global retreat. Farm production us up world wide. This is a huge effect – a measurable effect of increased CO_2 levels. You'd think that the media might want to report it.
Tomorrow we will be back to the "there is no evidence for CO2 warming" line.
You left a word out.
Tomorrow I will still maintain the world is warming. Slowly. But that CO2 has a trivial part in that.
I will also be maintaining that warming is good for us, in the sense that cooling would be a disaster and keeping the same temperature an impossibility.
It is a straw man you are burning here. The issue is whether there is catastrophic warming or not. Far too many people still assume that any evidence of warming is evidence of CO2 warming, which is not a logical conclusion.
John A
Won't anyone think of the glaciers?
Christopher Hanley
Hey Lazy,
Go here and download:
http://joannenova.com.au/global-warming/
— it's got pictures too.
Crispin in Waterloo
dwright says:
One reason to study it is to know if the alarmist 'methane eruption from melting tundra warming tipping will bring disaster upon us all' argument has any foundation. So for $0.00 I read a paper on carbon emerging from melting permafrost and calculated with a single finger that the growth of biomass needed to completely absorb all carbon from stored rotting biomass is 5 kg per square metre. This study shows (almost because numbers are not quite given) that this figure will easily be attained.
As we already know, the treeline was 80-100 km further north in the MWP. 5 kg/m^2 is nothing for a growing forest. The area in question is vast, absolutely huge. The CO2 absorbing potential is enormous, but it seems it is not heating very much at all.
Incidentally in Inuvik 40 ft trees grow on permafrost. You can reach into the roots and feel the ice. Amazing. 200 feet higher, east of town, there are no large trees for a few thousand clicks beceause it is ju-ust a little too cold. They are there, tiny, alive, waiting for warmth.
Tenuc
Plants of the scrub-lands have adapted to survive at the very margins of viable conditions for growth. They have a wide geographic range and it is very unlikely they will ever become endangered. Should Arctic conditions improve over the coming years they will simply move more polewards as more useful species regain there previously abandoned territory.
Nothing in nature is static, just like climate it is always in state of dynamic continuous change as it strives to continue it's gene-pool.
BillD
As a biologist, I see nothing wrong or negative about increased plant production per se. Certainly, this would be a direct effect of warming and it is really unlikely that plant production in the arctic would be affected by CO2 levels.
The problem is the melting of the permafrost and resulting production of methane and CO2 as bacteria mineralize the vast amounts of frozen organic matter (mainly peat) in the Siberian, Canadian, and Alaskan tundra. This is a major positive feedback, where warming leads to more CO2 which leads to more warming.
sandyinderby
henrythethird says:
Henry do you have a link to
Sandy S
From a letter I recently wrote my brother:
"…One thing that has happened is that at some point it became politically incorrect to believe in the MWP (Medieval Warm Period). Therefore, simply because I love Viking lore, I constantly find myself with a case of foot-in-mouth disease, because I dare suggest it was warmer a thousand years ago than it is now. Furthermore, I suggest a return to those conditions is greatly to be desired, but unfortunately is unlikely to happen. You'd be surprised at the backlash I get.
Because of my interest in the MWP, I've watched with great interest as attempts are made to again raise crops, and herd sheep and goats, in Greenland. Despite having imported hay and despite having tractors, which the Vikings lacked, I think modern Danes have a long way to go to approach the Viking's success. Just consider this factoid, from the following interesting paper:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp04/mq22551.pdf
"For the Vatnaverfi district of the Eastern Settlement it is estimated that
100,000 sheep and goats may have been pastured at the height of the
Norse period (Jacobsen 1987). The resources these animals required included
about 700,000,000 kg of hay and between 36,500,000 to 73,000,000 litres of water
annually or 1,917,808 kg of fodder and 100,000 to 200,000 litres of water daily."
(I should add that the Eastern Settlement was the more northern and smaller of the two major Greenland Settlements that we know about….)"
My letter went on from there to discuss other lore involving Vikings. The more you study the subject the more obvious it is the MWP was a more benign situation, and the onset of the LIA a dramatic, disasterous change.
One battle I have with my goats every winter is keeping the water unfrozen. (I'm too cheap to pay for wiring my stables and buying those expensive, electric heated-water-buckets.) Just imagine the Greenland Vikings trying to deal with watering 100,000. It had to be warmer.
Warmer and more productive. Something to be yearned for.
DocMartyn
The 14C age of the methane and CO2 given off from thawed permafrost has always intrigued me. The Siberian data indicates that the carbon was fixed between 9000 and 5000 years ago.
Pity this has not been done systematically.
Henry chance
Our market has been selling Yukon Gold spuds for years. No wait, Yukon bananas? Yum!!!
a reader
For info on the ancient habitations on Ellesmere Island see:
"Ellesmere Island: Eskimo and Viking finds in the High Arctic" by Peter Schledermann (of AINA) National Geographic mag. May 1981 pp. 574-601. You might be able to find other articles online by Schledermann as he made several archeological trips to the high Arctic. The NatGeo article is probably in your local public library.
The Bache peninsula is near a natural polyna which melts out early in the summer due to shallow seafloor, tidal currents, and shape of the shoreline, making a good place for habitation. He determined Eskimo habitations and Viking artifacts such as medieval chain mail, knife blades, and woolen cloth found near them.
DirkH
u.k.(us) says:
Warm-blooded animals can operate their biochemistry under constant conditions, while cold-blooded and plant life has to use different chemical pathways depending on the temperature. So we get along with far less enzymes for the same purpose. This could explain why plants need such large genomes. It's not a contradiction to your conclusion – yes, they are prepared for temperature swings, they have to be.
Steve Short
Here is another, perhaps analogous inconvenient truth.
Between 1982 and at least 2007 i.e. a period of 25 years or more, the surface partial pressure of CO2 over the great Southern Ocean (SO) i.e. over the entire part of the SH below 40 S, actually lagged INCREASINGLY below the global average CO2 partial pressure. This was determined by me from assessing 'offical' NOAA data which employs many monitoring stations over the SO right down to the South Pole.
In other words the rate of increase in atmospheric CO2 over the SO was becoming INCREASINGLY slower relatively to the global rate of increase, over that entire quarter century. It is likely that the 'increased lagging' trend in CO2 continues to the present day – certainly it was continuing last time I looked.
IMO the only plausible reason why this has been (and probably still is) occurring is adaptation by the vast biomass of cyanobacteria (phytoplankton, algage) in the SO i.e. an increase in net phytoplanktonic primary production of the SO, in response to the rise in partail pressure of CO2. As far as I know, any temperature rise of the SO over the last 30-odd years has been almost negligible – certainly negligible in terms of phytoplanktonic growth rates.
Now you won't find this startling fact in the peer reviewed literature! I wrote about this phenomenon, and some other curious observatiuons about NH oceanic cyanobacteria, in April 2009 here:
http://landshape.org/enm/oceanic-cayanobacteria-in-the-modern-global-cycle/
I read the paper but it leaves me hanging. They measured (ocular estimate) the biomass in 1995, 2000, and 2007. Uncertainty aside, "evergreen shrub ABM [above ground biomass] increased by 60% and bryophyte ABM increased by 74%."
Yep. Plants have a propensity to grow. The biomass in my yard has increased since 1995. The biomass in the Willamette National Forest up the hill has increased 10-fold over the last 185 years. The stuff has a way of accumulating.
Excuse me if my shock and awe at biomass increase is less than expected, but big whoop. There are no controls in this retrospective observational "experiment" with one rat [i.e. one experimental unit]. Nothing out of the usual was observed. Alleged "warming" cannot be considered a causal factor since no "effect" was established.
To: sandyinderby
Sorry, thought the link was there.
Came from The Canadian Encyclopedia (http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0002578).
Wouldn't have thought to look here, especially with a sub-heading of "The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada".
I need to correct a mistake I always make, that I made yet again in my last comment. (TheCaleb says: October 30, 2010 at 5:42 am)
Correction: Eastern Settlement was the bigger and more southern Viking site in Greenland, not the more northern and smaller site.
Here's an interesting list of Norse stuff found in Eskimo camps, dating back to the WMP. The stuff includes chain mail, and was found way up on Ellesmere Island.
http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic33-3-454.pdf
Thanks for that link I'll share with a colleague next week and see what his reaction is!
"…The Medieval Warm Period (MWP) or Medieval Climate Optimum was a time of warm climate in the North Atlantic region, that may also have been related to other climate events around the world during that time, including in China, New Zealand, and other countries lasting from about AD 950–1250…"
Seems strange that the range of the Norse artifacts found on Ellesmere Island (1250-1350 AD) show they survived for about 100 years or so after the end of the MWP.
RE:henrythethird says:
Just because Europe lost interest in Greenland, and stopped sending ships, does not mean that the Greenlanders lost interest in themselves. We have no Icelandic Sagas, nor tax-reports from Scandanavian kings nor thithe-reports from the Catholic church, that tell us what happened to the population, however we can learn a little by looking at graves, and the ruins of old Norse and Inuit houses.
The farmers who stubbornly clung to their farms shrank, due to their poor diet, until the average man was less than five feet tall. Where the older bodies in graves rotted, the most recent bodies were preserved by the growing cold. It got so cold that even the Inuit abandoned their settlements in Eastern Greenland, but even those ruins hold Norse items.
It is usual to dismiss the Greenlanders as a people who just died off, however this does not seem likely to me, due my knowledge of human nature. I think they moved south.
Besides the Greenland farmers, the Greenland population held quite a collection of sea-faring men. Even the Icelandic Sagas mention a trading craft, a "knarr" larger than most, called a "Vinlandsknarr." There is nothing dramatic about trading, so the Sagas make no big deal about it, however it happened. Perhaps the only sign of we have of these sea-faring men is what we see when we try to figure out the sex-ratio of the Greenland population. It seems there were likely five men for every three women.
During the period 1350-1450 walrus ivory was replaced by elephant ivory in Europe, as trade with Africa increased. A fine cloth produced in Greenland was replaced by cloth from England, (and also the wool-producing sheep in Greenland may have died due to the cold.) So what was left to trade? The next big item was cod.
When John Cabot sailed in 1498 his crew consisted of some who had sailed the route before. Apparently Europeans had been sailing to the Grand Banks for cod for some time. How long? Those fellows didn't write.
The cod-fishermen likely stopped in Newfoundland for water, and perhaps even to dry their fish. It would be interesting to locate the sites where they stopped, and sift the sand. It would not surprise me at all if the lowest levels contained Norse items.
It also would not surprise me if there was no real break in the trans-Atlantic trade between 1350 and 1500. It may not have been written about, by the tax and tithe collectors, but it likely was talked about in taverns.
Maybe it was talked about in the taverns of Italy. After all, both Christopher Columbus and John Cabot were Italian.
The Sagas were indeed Icelandic.
Other early writings about Greenland include "The King's Mirror" known by its old Norse title "Konungs Skuggsja" from the first half of the 13th century which described dairying as one of the chief industries of Greenland. Another important document was the sailing directions carried by Henry Hudson from "A Treatise of Ivar Bardarson a Greenlander…" written about the middle of the 14th century. It gave sailing directions from Norway to Iceland to SW Greenland.
What I meant was the scientists seem to want to shorten the MWP, even though there is evidence of northern settlements hundreds of years after the "end".
Lady Life Grows
I just found out an hour ago that naked mole rats have the greatest longevity of any rodent. Whereas most rodents have 2-4% CO2 in their burrows, (50 to 100 times atmosphere), naked mole rats have more, about 6%.
The body's main stimulus to breathe is buildup of CO2 in the blood. When it is too easy to release that CO2 (very low atmospheric concentration), you don't breathe as much and don't get enough oxygen. Anoxia is the primary cause of cancer (1935 Nobel Prize). So one would expect fewer cancers with more CO2. Naked mole rats get NO cancers and they do not seem to age at all.
Maybe the ideal CO2 concentration is even higher than I thought.
I have yet to see any health of terrestrial vertebrates in varied CO@ concentrations.
Meantime–CO2 is not just good for plants–it is good for animals, and you as well.
The Eukaryotic Nucleus May Derive from a Giant Virus
Arctic Earthquakes
Study suggests great earthquakes as cause of Arctic warming
Chemists describe a new form of ice
Claim: Arctic Ocean–climate change is flooding the remote north with light – and new species


I'd been looking for a guaranteed way to tell if my winter boots were waterproof. And I figured a really good one out: stand in the middle of a river while shooting sunset. If your feet get wet then your boots aren't waterproof! Feel free to use that one.
View more Sierra Nevada Photos.


Home Local News Shop-keeper wins with Clarke's Court Rum!
November 23rd, 2011: Grand Anse shop-keeper, William Mitchell, was at home when a friend called to say that he had been named on radio as the October winner in the Clarke's Court pre-Christmas Promotion.
He did not get too excited but shortly afterwards he received a call from the General Manager of Grenada Distillers Limited, Ruel Edwards, who confirmed that he had indeed won the $500.00 promotion.
Mitchell had purchased a quantity of Clarke's Court Pure White and Special Dark Rums at The Food Fair in Grand Anse for a Happy Hour that he was organising. Although he filled the vouchers, he had no real thoughts of winning.
Collecting his cheque for $500.00 from Accountant La Toya Augustine, who smilingly congratulated William Mitchell on his good luck, in the presence of the media on Thursday November 17, Mitchell thanked Grenada Distillers Limited for giving back to the public.
He immediately made another purchase of Clarke's Court Pure White and Special Dark Rums at Nick's Barrel House, Woodlands.
"I have been drinking Clarke's Court Rum since 1981," said William Mitchell, agreeing that it is surely the best spirit on the island.
In making additional purchases, he is once more eligible to participate in the promotion which ends on November 30.
Walking out with his cases of Clarke's Court Rum, William said he has no immediate plans for the balance of his winnings.
Just before the handover, General Manager Ruel Edwards briefed the media on the pre Christmas Promotion, saying that shoppers have up to the end of November to make purchases of at least two 750ml bottles of any Clarke's Court products to be eligible. Specially branded boxes are at major outlets nationwide and cashiers have vouchers at hand to be filled by such persons.
Carriacou is carded to be the venue of the final draw.


Here you will find portfolio expensive sluts Coos Bay, which satisfy even the richest taste.
Tender babe, want light dating of a sexual nature. Surprise me, dial my phone and come to me, i will do everything, as you wish!


text:
Q: Postgresql 9.5 BRIN index dramatically slower than expected I have a table with over 12 million rows of log data and have migrated to Postgres 9.5 to take advantage of the new BRIN index because I have disk space limitations.  I assumed that my situation was made to order for BRIN indexing given the natural ordering by date of my log lines.
However, I'm started by the results. BRIN is more than an order of magnitude slower than btree.
Original Btree index:
EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT COUNT(*) from logline where date BETWEEN '2016-01-15' and '2016-01-31';

 Aggregate  (cost=153488.38..153488.39 rows=1 width=0) (actual time=7672.508..7672.509 rows=1 loops=1)
   ->  Index Only Scan using logline_date on logline  (cost=0.43..145945.76 rows=3017046 width=0) (actual time=18.548..4084.455
rows=2977593 loops=1)
         Index Cond: ((date >= '2016-01-15 00:00:00-05'::timestamp with time zone) AND (date <= '2016-01-31 00:00:00-05'::timestamp with time zone))
         Heap Fetches: 5809
 Planning time: 0.293 ms
 Execution time: 7672.562 ms
(6 rows)

DROP index logline_date
CREATE index logline_date_brin on logline using BRIN(date)

 EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT COUNT(*) from logline where date BETWEEN '2016-01-15' and '2016-01-31';

 Aggregate  (cost=1230518.30..1230518.31 rows=1 width=0) (actual time=105789.131..105789.133 rows=1 loops=1)
   ->  Bitmap Heap Scan on logline  (cost=31543.27..1222862.87 rows=3062173 width=0) (actual time=103.876..100675.372 rows=2977593 loops=1)
         Recheck Cond: ((date >= '2016-01-15 00:00:00-05'::timestamp with time zone) AND (date <= '2016-01-31 00:00:00-05'::timestamp with time zone))
         Rows Removed by Index Recheck: 2899899
         Heap Blocks: lossy=696832
         ->  Bitmap Index Scan on logline_date_brin  (cost=0.00..30777.73 rows=3062173 width=0) (actual time=103.079..103.079 rows=6968320 loops=1)
               Index Cond: ((date >= '2016-01-15 00:00:00-05'::timestamp with time zone) AND (date <= '2016-01-31 00:00:00-05'::timestamp with time zone))
 Planning time: 0.377 ms
 Execution time: 105805.567 ms
(9 rows)

The BRIN index was >600 times smaller than the Btree, but I didn't expect the execution time to be so much slower.
Does that mean BRIN is not for me, or am I doing something wrong?

A: I'm guessing when migrating you didn't import rows ordered by date. You could check this by issuing
select * from logline;

And check if date looks like it's increasing monotonically. If that's not the case, you could try sorting the table, for example:
select * into logline2 from logline order by date asc;

... create index on second table ...
CREATE index logline2_date_brin on logline2 using BRIN(date)

... and try 'luck' with second table:
EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT COUNT(*) from logline2 where date BETWEEN '2016-01-15' and '2016-01-31';

If the time is drastically better, perfect.

If you have disk space limitations, you should also check extension cstore_fdw. It's really good for analytics and can store data in compressed form. It features indexing similar to BRIN, but has some limitations: you can only append data and transactions are not supported.


We are pleased to be offering our SAT prep course program for the 12th year in 2016! This is a FREE prep course taught by teachers to help prepare students for the SAT course. Registration opens on January 2nd to High School Juniors. Visit our SAT Prep Page for more information and to register.
Get Ready for Fall Sports with our FREE custom-fitted mouthguard.
We are offering a FREE custom-fitted*mouthguard fitting night on Friday, August 28th from 6:00-8:00pm at 105 West Street in Keene because we know how important it is to protect your teeth during sports, and keep that beautiful smile. We will fit your child for a custom mouthguard, which can be picked up at a later time. Custom-fitted mouthguards are for children not wearing braces. If your child is currently undergoing orthodontic treatment with us we have free mouthguards we can give you at anytime.
Dr. Miller was featured in the June 2015 issue of Parent Express, answering questions around Orthodontic Treatment.
What Is an Orthodontist? Do I Need a Referral?
Most people know and trust their family dentist and some wonder why they need to see a specialist for braces. An orthodontist is a dentist who has completed two to three years of additional training beyond dental school to better understand dental growth and development, diagnosis and treatment planning of orthodontic problems and biomechanics to safely and effectively move teeth and jaws.
In our community we are lucky to have an excellent group of general, family and pediatric dentists, along with licensed dental hygienists who often make timely referrals when they notice an orthodontic issue. However, a referral is not needed to make an appointment with an orthodontist. A parent can schedule the initial evaluation, and many do so if they suspect an orthodontic problem exists.
Often a child will have an orthodontic problem that is very noticeable to the parents and peers. Overcrowded teeth, spaced teeth with gaps between them and protruding teeth with overbites are easily identified. Other problems are more subtle and require the diagnosis of a professional.
The American Association of Orthodontists recommends that all children see an orthodontist around age 7. The good news is that very few of these younger kids need any orthodontic intervention. However, there is a small percentage of the population who can benefit greatly from early treatment.
In this age group I screen for crossbites, underbites, missing or stuck teeth, severe crowding, cysts and tumors.
More typically, it is tweens and teens getting braces in the middle and high school years.
At this age, all of the baby teeth have been lost and an orthodontist can fix bite problems and alignment issues with the permanent teeth present.
This is usually the ideal time for braces as the patient is still growing, which aids greatly in the speed and ease of treatment. However, the window for orthodontics never really closes and we meet many parents and older patients who are thrilled to learn they are candidates for braces or Invisalign.
What Will be Done at the First Visit?
At Keene Orthodontic Specialists, your first visit includes meeting the doctor and treatment coordinator so we can get to know you and your family.
Since orthodontic treatment often takes several years to complete and requires the cooperation of everyone involved, we want to establish a relationship of trust.
Frequently, photographs and radiographs are taken to aid the doctor in the diagnostic process. You should expect to leave your first visit with a clear understanding of the orthodontic problem, if one exists, and any recommended treatment.
In most offices, including ours, there is no charge for this initial visit.
What Can I Expect If My Child Needs Braces?
The good news here is that braces have come a long way in the past few decades. Advances in materials and techniques have made orthodontic treatment less painful and more comfortable. While some children are understandably nervous about the prospect of braces, most find the experience to be much easier than they expect. Some discomfort is normal, especially in the first few days following the placement of the braces, but kids usually return to their normal routine very rapidly.
When treatment begins you will received detailed instructions on what foods to avoid (sticky, chewy or hard) and on how to clean and maintain the braces. Regular adjustment visits are typically scheduled every six weeks. During these 20-minute visits we adjust and "tighten" the braces in order to keep things moving in the right direction. Kids also enjoy getting new colors on their braces, participating in office contests and getting rewarded for good brushing and cooperation.
Why Should I Consider Orthodontics for My Child?
Far from being just an "esthetic" treatment, braces help to correct a multitude of dental problems. Straight teeth function better and are easier to clean and maintain for a lifetime. A beautiful smile also yields greater self-confidence, leading to increased social and career success.
When the time is right, I encourage you to schedule a consultation for your child with an orthodontist in your community.
Visit us at the Kool Wheels Event!
We will be at the Kiwanis Kool Wheels event on Saturday, May 2nd at the Keene Recreation Center from 10-noon handing out dental information, and supporting this great event! Stop by and visit us!
I was much older than the average orthodontic patient when I nervously went in for a free evaluation. Dr. Miller immediately struck me as a well educated professional in his field but more so, a kind, thoughtful and personable down to earth guy. His fun loving, hard working relationships with his techs are very apparent, making a relaxing atomphere to get treatment. I had a rotation of many of his assistants and there are wonderful! Ashley especially is an expert with the tools of her trade and she never once had a slip of hand with those tiny slippery bands! Dr. Miller once even did my full treatment when a couple of his assistance were out with colds. Most doctors I rearranged appointments when staffing is off, but he values people's time and didn't want an interruption to patient care. I was also a witness to kindness, reassurance ,and brushing education to many young people. It was all around a very great experience every time I went. I'll highly recommend them to anyone in need of orthodontic treatment.
We could not be more impressed! My daughter always looked forward to her appointments. Brattleboro Orthodontic Specialists makes the process of getting braces on as fun and easy as can be. The staff is professional, organized, and cheery.
Best Orthodontic Office in the Area! They did a fantastic job with my daughters difficult teeth and got it done a year earlier than expected!


Ian is continuing to do well attending his class at College of Marin which Sara wrote about previously. As Ian's first semester ends Sara will write again to relate how things went and what we all learned. In this installment I want to discuss what our motivations and ideas are as we work forward with Ian.
Ian is a medium-verbal autistic and did not achieve a high school diploma. We had choices while Ian was moving through the public school system. Over time we found that it really boiled down to two paths: education or socialization. In pure special education settings (separate classes from the mainstream student body), Ian's education was maximized. In full inclusion settings, Ian's social skills progressed but his significant verbal deficits meant that he did not learn much of the curriculum.
This either/or choice is a consequence of Ian's need for focus to make progress. We have found this to be true in general for other people we work with. In our experience autistics(*) do not do well when trying to learn simultaneously on several different threads. While Neuro Typical (NTs) teenagers might be able to learn Math, History, English, a foreign language, Science, and age-appropriate social behavior all at the same time, we almost always find that people with ASD need to focus on fewer topics of learning to make good progress. Ian's verbal impairment is significant and he needs to focus on just a few activities to make satisfactory progress.
Since middle school we had unsuccessfully argued with the schools that Ian needed to be able to focus on fewer topics. It was very frustrating for us when Ian's middle school special education teacher tried our suggestion for a couple weeks, reported great progress but because he did not have administrative support to continue he immediately returned to the same multi-topic approach we all knew did not work as well.
In any case, we knew Ian needed focus. As Ian approached eighth grade we started looking at choices for high school. Ian had been with a large cohort of regular ed neighborhood students since fourth grade. They knew Ian, liked him and looked out for him. Almost all of these students were going to be moving to Redwood High School across the street from the middle school. However, our high school district has concentrated their services for autistics and other special education programs at Drake High School further away and with an almost totally new group of students.
Ian wanted to go to Redwood with his cohort. The District wanted Ian to go to the other school. This presented us with a difficult but clear choice. With all the special education resources at Drake, Ian would have one-on-one support and classes modified to his level. At Redwood, Ian would have no one-on-one support and only a slightly modified classroom experience. The district's choice would be better for Ian's education. Ian's choice would be better for his social skills and learning independence.
The final piece was when Janet and I asked ourselves: will Ian's education be done at the end of his senior year, or will he need more education after high school? Ian's language difficulties meant that if Ian was going to get a high school diploma it was going to be a very hard four years. We have worked with other students who struggled hard to get the diploma and most refused to do any more education afterwards as they were tired of the hard grind.
We made the choice that Ian's education was going to be a long haul. We realized that our goal for high school was that Ian acquire the skills to be able to continue his education after high school. That meant enjoying school enough to want to continue. Ian attended Redwood high nearby and left in 2014 with a certificate of completion.
Frankly, Ian is not fully on board with the plan that he attend community college part time and work part time, possibly for many years. The near term goal is a GED and possibly attending a four-year college afterwards. When asked, Ian's idea of college and his living situation is based on the movie "Animal House." He sees himself living with a group of young people having fun.
Besides starting college this semester, Ian moved out to a house nearby with three other autistic young men last month. We'll write about THAT soon.
* As a parent of a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and as someone who has chosen to immerse myself in this work I will often use "autistic" to mean either "symptoms of the diagnosis of autism" or "a person with the diagnosis of autism." Similarly I will use ASD to mean either "Autism Spectrum Disorder" or "a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder." I have Asperger's Syndrome and I will often use "aspie" to refer to individuals with Asperger's Syndrome.


Codemasters have now released their first gameplay trailer for DiRT 4, showcasing a little of what players can expect from this new racing sim.
DiRT 4 will come with 50 iconic vehicles from the history of motorsport, promising to challenge players in a variety of disciplines like rally, rallycross and landrush. The new DiRT Acadamy mode has also been added to the game to train drivers in the skill required to become a top player online.
The game will feature both Gamer and Simulation handling models, allowing this game to suit both fans of arcade racing and driving sim enthusiasts. DiRT 4 will build upon the physics and damage mechanics of previous games in the series and will include a new "Your Stage" system, which will allow players to create their own rally tracks with a few simple button clicks, allowing players to a seemingly limitless number of tracks.
Codemasters has also created an exclusive partnership with Globe to license 40 tracks for the game, which includes artists like The Amazons, Sigma, Freak, The Chemical Brothers, Disclosure, Queens of the Stone Age and Bastille.
The new trailer features the absolute banger 'Instigators', by Grace Potter - one of the songs from the amazing in-game soundtrack that has been created for DiRT 4 in an exclusive partnership with Globe, Universal Music UK's in-house sync team.
The agreement with Globe will see over 40 licensed tracks appear throughout the game, matching DiRT's unique style and tone, and includes exclusive tracks from artists such as The Amazons, Sigma, Freak and Pretty Vicious alongside tracks from The Chemical Brothers, Disclosure, Queens Of The Stone Age and Bastille.
DiRT 4 will release on June 6th on PC.
You can join the discussion on DiRT 4 on the OC3D Forums.
Dirt 2 again please. That was literal arcade/sim perfection IMO. I mean yeah it wasn't a *proper* sim but bugger me it was great to play. Dirt 3 was fun but that gymkhana thing? yeah, not so much.
If this is DiRT Rally with more event types I'm all for it, the driving model is leagues ahead of the others in the series.