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Register-PSRepository -Name DevRepo -SourceLocation \\nas\DevRepo -InstallationPolicy Trusted

Uninstall-Script Connect-O365

get-installedmodule | Uninstall-Module

find-Script Connect-O365 -Repository DevRepo

Install-Script Connect-O365 -Repository DevRepo -Verbose

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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RotinaBot is a chatbot to control you routine.

Developed using the [Blip.ai](http://blip.ai) platform.

- Create tasks for work days, weekends or both.
- Group tasks by morning, afternoon and evening.
- Consult your tasks for the day and week.
- Mark tasks as completed.
- Receive reminders with your tasks for each period of the day.

Available at:
- [Facebook Messenger](http://m.me/rotinabot) as @rotinabot
- [Telegram](https://telegram.me/rotinabot) as @rotinabot
- [Blip](http://goo.gl/GbY2Ut) as RotinaBot

License:
- MIT

Credits:
- Developed by: Rafael Romão
- Images: http://www.freepik.com


He's the best little man!
Maya is such a Sweet and Loving Girl!!
and still waiting for those squirrels. Whoa, did you say "cookie?"
A AAA Kindred Spirits Pet Boarding & Sitting Inc.
Our products have only Premium, Wholesome Ingredients!
SOME PHOTOS OF OUR FELLOW "KINDRED SPIRITS"


However, free diagnosis solves only a part of the problem for these villagers.
The private sector and NGOs should supplement the efforts to provide better healthcare in rural areas, vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu said on Sunday.
If Indian mothers can be persuaded to care for their babies like kangaroo mothers do, many babies younger than four weeks who die every year can be saved.


University of Phoenix released the results of its annual cybersecurity survey, which examined U.S. adults' perceptions of aspects of cybersecurity, including career familiarity, gender disparity and workplace readiness. The survey polled 2,000 U.S. adults, of which 859 have been hacked in the past three years.
The survey found that the majority of U.S. adults lack familiarity with 11 jobs in the industry queried in the survey amid a rise in cyber-attacks.
Penetration tester –Evaluates the security of an IT infrastructure by safely trying to exploit vulnerabilities.
"White hat" ethical hacker – Accesses protected systems and networks to test and assess their security.
Computer security incident responder – Assesses and manages the aftermath of a security breach or cyberattack.
Security architect –Maintains the security of a company's computer system.
Security auditor –Tests, assesses and evaluates an organization's system or application.
Security engineer – Builds and maintains IT security solutions for an organization.
Chief information security officer – Senior-level executive responsible for developing and implementing an information security program.
Computer forensics expert – Retrieves information from computers and other types of data storage devices that have been hacked to provide as evidence suitable for presentation in a court of law.
Security consultant – Provides security advice on how to assess software, networks and computer systems for inabilities.
Security analyst – Reviews and analyzes IT environments/infrastructures for information security design, implementation and maintenance-related processes.
Security software developer – Creates and maintains reliable software that facilitates the security of the organization.
When asked why they had never considered a career in cybersecurity, respondents said that they do not have the proper skills to become a cybersecurity professional or had no interest in the field.
Regardless of whether respondents had considered a career in cybersecurity, U.S. adults said that they would need to have the following important information in their decision-making process, if they were to pursue a career.
U.S. adults who are interested in a career could tap into some of the skills they already possess. According to the survey, more than a quarter of respondents said that they possess the following IT skills.
Women comprise just 14 percent of the U.S. cybersecurity workforce, emphasizing the need for gender balance to improve national security.
Only a third of U.S. adults are confident that their company is prepared to combat hackers. Of the respondents who do not believe their company is prepared for a cyber-attack, a quarter (26 percent) said that it is because they do not have an expert on staff.
This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of University of Phoenix between April 26 and May 10, 2018, among 2,000 US adults aged 18 and older, who work full-time, part-time, are self-employed, are unemployed looking for work, students, or homemakers, of which 859 have been hacked in the past three years. Figures for number of employees were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Cooper Nelson at cooper.nelson@phoenix.edu.


This is a placeholder page for Michael Androlevich, which means this person is not currently on this site. We do suggest using the tools below to find Michael Androlevich.
You are visiting the placeholder page for Michael Androlevich. This page is here because someone used our placeholder utility to look for Michael Androlevich. We created this page automatically in hopes Michael Androlevich would find it. If you are not Michael Androlevich, but are an alumni of Union County High School Lake Butler, FL, register on this site for free now.


The Technology Committee is off to a great start in 2019. We've established our priorities and are working to put the pieces together to accomplish several related goals in 2019.
The first priority is to develop a resource for the TFCA membership. In the coming months, we will be establishing a database which will provide you a place to search for other agencies using technology you have an interest in learning more about. The intent is to provide a place to search up that new EMS software, camera system, high pressure pump, CAFS system, etc. and learn quickly which other member agencies are using that technology. Bringing together these agencies give everyone more opportunity to learn the pros and cons of a technology, hear about experience and utilize that in their research.
The second priority is to seek out and support more opportunities to present technology to the membership. The Technology Committee has partnered with the TEEX Product Development Center on the 2019 Under Fire Innovation Showdown and Technology Summit. This event is in its second year and is shaping up to be a great event with partners like ESRI, FirstNet and W.S. Darley bringing the latest and greatest in technology. Fire Chiefs across the country are sending their technology-minded staff to this unique event and the Technology Committee is excited to be a partner this year. If you haven't registered for this free event, you still have time at www.teexpdc.com/underfire .
The third priority is to communicate what is out there for fire agencies to consider during their hunt for technologies to support their organization. There is an ocean of technologies who want to be on your purchasing list for next year. The Technology Committee, in cooperation with the IAFC Technology Council and CalChiefs Operations Committee are working to bring you articles, white papers, and sometimes just a "heads up" on what technologies exist out there. We'll be posting articles to TFCA social media, with longer articles and white papers being uploaded to the Technology Committee's website at https://www.txfirechiefs.org/technology-committee so keep an eye out for those coming soon. If you're not yet following the TFCA on social media, you can find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to keep tabs on what is going on across the state.
And finally, we need your support to keep at this. At the end of 2018 we asked for a response to a survey to understand the technology concerns and needs of the membership. The top response was more information and help with data solutions. There are a lot of efforts going on right now concerning data in the fire service, so we are going to try and focus on a few different areas in the coming months to provide you with those resources. For the moment, we suggest you look into NFPA 950: Data Development and Exchange for the Fire Service, a document under development that begins to standardize the way software and records management systems exchange data so every new connection to a database isn't a new contract or API with additional cost to the user. We would also recommend looking at the efforts to establish an Operational Reporting system called NFORS. If you're looking at Incident Reporting Systems and what is available out there, you want to know the differences between NFIRS and NFORS.
Have a question or suggestion for the TFCA Technology Committee? Send it to technology@txfirechiefs.org. We look for feedback from the membership, so please ask your questions or provide suggestions on how we can support TFCA membership.


Introduction DISPERSION - BYK Additives & InstrumentsHorizontal Bead Mills. Bead mills are used for hard to disperse pigments, most organics . Equipment with grinding material: Bead mills, attritors, ball mills.ball mill grinding pigments,Investigation of the Aspects of Grinding Organic Pigments to .pigment particles in the binder. Dispersion is achieved by grinding, which is normally done in a mill, e.g. ball mill or pearl mill. The characteristics of the binder.
LL- L BALL MILL AND METHOD FOR PIGMENTS IN LIQUID VEHICLES 4 . 2,855,156 utilizing the sand as the grinding media as before, but providing a unit.
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PRODUCTION OF ORGANIC PIGMENT NANOPARTICLES BY STIRRED MEDIA. MILLING ... Stirred media mills are widely used in industry for fine and ultra-fine grinding of ... majority of work has been focused on dry ball milling processes.
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Ball Mill. 1/2" and larger. 10-50. Attritor. 1/8" to 3/8". 75-450. 600-1000 .. Pigment industries also use SDG Attritors to dry grind some pigments for their color.
The Emax is an entirely new type of ball mill for high energy milling. . Unlike other high energy ball mills, the Emax is capable of continuous grinding operation . ores, paper, pigments, plant materials, polymers, quartz, semi-precious stones,.
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Aug 25, 2016 . Pigment Grinding Mill,Grinding Equipment,Bead Mill, Sand Mill, Paint . for pigment powder Lab Ball Mill Grinding Machine for Powder,Ceramic.
Nov 16, 2016 . Our ball mill can be comprehensively used for grinding highly viscous materials in paint, ink, colorant and pigment industries, and it is mainly.
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The main reason is that machine grinding, or ball grinding, disperses the pigment particles . The first stage is preparation of the mill‑base, a mixture of pigment, oil, . The purpose of grinding is to completely disperse each individual particle of.
The hardness of the powder or bulk material to grind determines the selection of the media material. Ball milling processes can disperse or mix pigments or.
Lab Pigment Grinding Machine, Vertical Planetary Ball Mill Machine for Lab · Changsha Deco Equipment Co., Ltd. 1 Set (Min. Order). Contact Supplier.
Interaction Between TiO2 and Calcite-Calcined Kaolin Mixture .
The paint produced with the pigment mixtures prepared in vibratory ball mill and . mill, vibratory ball mill and high speed attritor were used for grinding of TiO2.
Titanium dioxide pigment particle size and size distribution has very strict . Wet ball mill grinding and sanding machines are carried out in water medium; dry.
Results 1 - 25 of 70 . Mills: Laboratory Grinding manufacturers, service companies and distributors are . wet/dry grinding laboratory ball mills including laboratory jar rolling mills. . Applications include ceramics, paints, toners, pigments, food.


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Tag: Lulu Kombol
First Tastes of Mortality
4 Comments on First Tastes of Mortality
Papa Tony Kombol and Grandma Nina Marie Morris.
"Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one, a moment, in childhood when it first occurred to you that you don't go on forever." – Tom Stopppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
More than fifty years ago, two grandparents died on the same day. It was the last day of summer, and the first time anyone close to me had died.
A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
And Puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar. – Leonard Lipton / Peter Yarrow
Released in Jan. 1963, Peter, Paul & Mary's "Puff the Magic Dragon" soon topped the charts.
I remember those first thoughts about dying. It was the spring of 1963 and I was nine years old. Grandma and Grandpa Morris lived in a large, white, country home west of Enumclaw on McHugh Street. The radio played in the background. The number one song was "Puff the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul & Mary. It's a children's song wrapped in fabled lyrics released during the height of the folk era. I'd heard it before, but never fully absorbed this line: "A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys." My tenth birthday would be in a month or so.
Grandma (Nina Marie Morris) was in the early stages of dementia which even a boy could recognize. She was easily confused. One day, Billy Hawthorne (the son of Grandma's part-time caregiver) and I played a cruel trick on her by hiding in the closet. We watched her search for us in vain. After frantic calls we reappeared, only to see a vacant look of despair on her bewildered face. Mom explained she had hardening of the arteries, causing blood to flow slowly to her brain, meaning she couldn't think as clearly as before. She was ill and wouldn't get better. I felt bad about our trick.
Grandpa and Grandma – Jack and Marie Morris, a night on the town in San Francisco, 1959.
The song ended but a feeling lingered – I wouldn't be a little boy much longer. Just like Jackie Paper, my imaginary dragons and toy soldiers would soon be gone. Those wistful feelings of melancholy floated in the wind like the down of a dandelion.
One evening that summer, I lay in bed. It was a Friday or Saturday night. Next to my bed was a cheap AM radio. Late at night, I spun the dial picking up a distant station in Salt Lake City and listened to the final innings of a baseball game. It ended and the nightly news was read – "At 12:01 a.m., a convicted murderer on death row will be executed by firing squad. Growing tired I turned off the radio and saw a blindfolded prisoner led to a brick courtyard. The moment passed but the memory remained – a boy, the radio, a distant broadcast, the bleakness of death.
Bad posture, Billy at Grandma & Grandpa Morris home, Spring 1967.
In the 14th year of my life, the grim reaper appeared. It was 1967. Music defined my world and I delighted in its sounds. Newspapers called it the "summer of love." For me it was a summer of friends, family, fun . . . and Sgt. Pepper. Each morning brought new sounds and adventures. The sun shone day after rainless day, for so long it set a record – 67 days without rain. The bluest skies you'd ever seen were in Seattle.
That September, I entered the final year of junior high as a 9th grader. Three weeks later that cozy world was disquieted by the death of two grandparents: Grandma Morris and Papa Kombol. On the same day, my father lost his father, and my mother lost her mother. In a way, this double death was a tonic for both parents. They told us kids of feeling like orphans, leaning on each other – weathering funerals and wakes, one after the other. September 21st was the last day of summer . . . and the autumn of my youth.
Papa Tony Kombol and Grandma Nina Marie Morris died on the same day.
Both grandparents were elderly: 82 and 77, yet important fixtures in life. Papa (Tony Kombol) babysat me when I was four and five. Mom dropped me off at their home near Elk Coal where I'd follow Papa doing chores, fixing lunch, then put me down for a nap. Legally blind from a 1925 coal mining accident, he stayed home while Grandma Lulu taught school in nearby Selleck. Needing to be near Enumclaw's medical facilities, Papa stayed at our home the last few weeks of his life.
Grandma Morris was the first person I remember reading to me. We flipped through "Two Little Miners" so many times I could picture each page. I boarded an airplane for the first time in late June 1962, a Boeing 707, when she and Grandpa took me to San Francisco. We braved chilly Candlestick Park and watched my first major league baseball game. The Giants won the pennant that season.
When in San Francisco Grandpa always stayed at the Maurice, a businessman's Hotel near Union Square where that day we had our shoes shined, July 1962.
We dined in the Starlight Room of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, celebrating great-aunt Ruth's 75th birthday . . . and my 9th. I still have the menu dated July 3, 1962. Two weeks earlier, Tony Bennett released the song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."
Great Aunt Ruth's birthday was July 4th and mine July 5th, so Grandpa Morris took us to the restaurant at Sir Francis Drake Hotel. It was a fancy place with the date printed at the top of the menu. The waiter gave it to me as a souvenir.
In later years Grandma Morris was confined to the Bethesda Manor nursing home not far from our home, falling deeper into the darkness of dementia. Mom visited her daily, sometimes twice. I'd go on occasion, but in time she no longer knew me.
Jack & Pauline Kombol, late 1967.
Over the coming weeks, I began to imagine life without parents. It was the year Mom stopped tucking me in and saying nighttime prayers together. Alone in bed, save for a pink teddy bear won at the Puyallup Fair, I thought of the future. One day Mom and Dad will surely die, just like Grandma and Papa. A profound sense of sorrow consumed me. Visualizing their deaths, I cried myself to sleep each night. I tried to figure a way out – what if they never died? Maybe I'd die first and be spared the heartache? Whatever scenario I concocted, the end was always the same – falling asleep to tears. The end of their lives and my childhood hung in the balance. But I knew not how or when.
Unbeknownst to me, the thoughts of that 14-year-old boy were long ago known by Stoic philosophers. The anticipation of hardship softens its eventual blow. A Stoic prepares for the future by focusing on the worst possible outcome, a Latin principle called premeditation of adversity. Seneca advised his followers to rehearse ruinous scenarios "in your mind – exile, torture, war, shipwreck," thereby robbing the future of its awful bite.
By morning, I was awakened by Mom and skipped downstairs to find a hearty breakfast on the kitchen table. Jean and I walked to the Junior High, a three-story, brick building four blocks away. There I roamed halls, diagrammed sentences, and played with friends after school.
The male tear ducts shrink as boys become men. It becomes more difficult for men to cry. Evolutionary psychologists can no doubt tell you why. My tears were gone in time. Ninth grade led to new friendships and adventures. I turned out for basketball and made the team. I raised tropical fish in an aquarium. At semester's end, I earned my first perfect report card, all A's. As a special treat, Dad took me to the Four Seasons in downtown Enumclaw for Chinese food. I felt pride in the glow of my father's love.
Twelve years later, I wrote a poem to read at his funeral. The lines recalled the mournful feelings of that earlier time in life:
The last day we expected was the morning that we feared feared the nights we cried so long ago have come to rest right here. And so we'll cry these tears of pain from sorrow we must store the tears we have are tears we've cried a thousand times before.
Father and son, Jack Kombol and Bill, Lyon, France, Feb 1978, a year before he died.
In February 1968, Barry and I picked copper strands from piles of rocks and sticks at the Mine #11 wash plant in Black Diamond. The wire came from blasting caps used when dynamite dislodged coal at the Rogers #3 mine. Seven years later I'd work in that mine, learning just how those wires were used. Over several weekends we collected nearly a pickup load of coiled yellow wire, then burned off the plastic coating. Dad sold the copper for 40 cents a pound at the recycling yard. It was souvenir money for us four kids to use during our family's forthcoming trip to Europe later that spring.
We missed the last few weeks of school. In Ireland, England, Wales, and the continent we saw historic sights, tasted new foods, and explored a world far removed from our own. We also visited the embodiment of death – Dachau, the Jewish concentration camp near Munich. The visitor's center displayed black and white photos of emaciated bodies, showing all manner of depravity.
Mom kept a journal of our trip so I know the day we visited Dachau – May 31, 1968.
The guide told of Jewish children with tattooed numbers on bony arms – herded from rail cars, not knowing their fate. We walked through the barracks, gas chambers, and crematoriums where thousands died at the hands of their Nazi henchmen. We saw death on an unimaginable scale. I've never forgotten that visit or the sign on the entrance gate: Arbeit macht frei. "Work sets you free." Mom read its translation from Arthur Frommer's Europe on $5 a Day,
The sign on the gate as you enter Dachau – Work sets you free.
Three weeks after coming home, I turned 15. Four days later a boy I'd grown up with died. John Sherwood attended our Presbyterian church. His parents, Earl and Isabelle Sherwood were our youth group leaders and taught us Sunday school. John was a troubled lad who'd just flunked 10th grade. On a warm summer evening in early July, John went to a party and guzzled 190-proof Everclear from a bottle. Mr. Sherwood found his son slumped over the front seat of their car just after midnight. The Enumclaw police never figured out who provided the bottle, though some teens in town surely knew.
He was the first contemporary I'd known who died. John was 16. The coroner's jury attributed his death to "consuming excessive amounts of liquor furnished by a person or persons unknown." The Courier-Herald ran articles linking his death to narcotic and alcohol abuse among local youth in 1968. Glue sniffing was a particular concern that year.
The following spring our Cascadian yearbook printed his photo in remembrance, followed by a short poem:
John Sherwood's page in our high school yearbook.
He is not dead, this friend not dead, But in the path we mortals tread Got some few, trifling steps ahead And nearer to the end; So that you too, once past the bend, Shall meet again, as face to face, this friend You fancy dead. – Robert Louis Stevenson
Sporting a Nehru jacket on my first day of high school as a sophomore, Sept. 1968
When you're young, five years is practically forever. "Puff the Magic Dragon" was a distant memory. Heading to high school in September new adventures emerged. I started a job as the Saturday boy at Palmer's mine office in Black Diamond. I joined the chess team and found a new sport calling. By summer, I'd have a driver's license plus two more jobs to fill my days. Papa and Grandma were fading memories.
As boyhood drew to a close, a young man began to emerge. My horizons broadened. Ahead of me lay many deaths . . . relatives, classmates, and loved ones. Those first tastes of mortality would always be with me, but childhood fears were fading. A new set of adolescent anxieties gripped me soon enough. I was growing up and the world was growing bigger.
Tags 1967, Anton Kombol, Arbeit macht frei, Arthur Frommer, Barry Kombol, Bethesda Manon, Bill Kombol, Billy Hawthorne, Concentration Camp, Courier Herald, Dachau, death, Elk Coal, Enumclaw, Enumclaw Junior High, Europe on $5 a day, Everclear, Jack Kombol, Jack Morris, Jeanmarie Kombol Bond, Jewish, John H. Morris, John Sherwood, Lulu Kombol, Marie Morris, Maurice Hotel, Nina Marie Morris, Paul & Mary, Pauline Kombol, Peter, premeditation of adversity, Puff the Magic Dragon, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rogers No. 3, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Selleck, Seneca, Sgt. Pepper, Sir Francis Drake Hotel, Stoic Philosopher, Summer of Love, Tom Stopppard, Tony Kombol, Two Little Miners, Union Square
Working at a Coal Mine
14 Comments on Working at a Coal Mine
LR156b- The morning and afternoon shifts of coal miners in the front of the washhouse of the last underground coal mine in the State of Washington: the Rogers #3 Mine located at 26222 S.E. Kent-Kangley Road in Ravensdale. Front Row (L to R): Joe Ozbolt (kneeling), James Bo Williams, John Costanich (kneeling), Tony Basselli, Bill McLoughry. Back Row: Bob Morris, Bill Kombol, Barry Kombol, George Savicke, Bud Simmons, Roy Darby, John Streepy. Photo by Bob Morris, 1975.
My senior year of college was as different as night and day. It wasn't my original plan. By day, I inhabited the rarified air of life at a university where young men and women, often preening boys and girls, proffered great thoughts fueled by a steady diet of pot and booze. At night, I worked in a coal mine with gray-haired men at jobs they'd performed their entire lives.
I was bemused by the attitudes and mindsets of the two cultures. For me, it was the best and worst of times – the most wonderful and dreadful of any span of my then young life. I was fully exhilarated and completely exhausted – a caterpillar in search of a butterfly to escape a cocoon of his own making. For years I've struggled to reconcile the feelings and emotions within those discordant worlds I simultaneously ingested.
I'd grown increasingly bored with college phonies fretting over which grad school to attend. I was steadily drawn to the stoic lives of coal miners. My fellow undergrads bemoaned petty stresses of their own making. Each day the miners completed the tasks set before them. The grad school gang imagined chic careers with grand salaries. The coal miners were content with life and their position in it.
In early September 1974, I prepared to return for my last year of college. Over three summers past, I worked for Palmer Coking Coal, a family-owned company. My jobs were common laboring at the Black Diamond yard and Rogers #3 mine. That mine was a succession of Rogers #1 and #2, started in 1958 and 1959 respectively. Located in Ravensdale, Rogers #3 was slated to close in less than a year. It would be the last underground coal mine in the State of Washington.
That's me at shift's end and covered with coal dust on one of my rare day shifts. The Rogers #3 hoist room and mine tipple are up the hill behind me. Photo by Barry Kombol, April 1975
My uncle, Jack Morris was President of Palmer. He was navigating the company's exit from the coal business, as gracefully as possible. It was a tough time for the firm. Jack was drinking heavily, and Palmer's fortunes were not promising. There were sharp disagreements between three uncles, Jack, Evan Morris, and Charlie Falk, who collectively led the firm. I was thankfully unaware of building tensions and unresolved rivalries. I just turned 21. Little did I know that leadership of this company would one day fall to me.
Evan Morris, Sr. on the platform beside the portal entrance into the Rogers #3 mine. The sloped tunnel descended 800 feet underground. December 1974.
Federal coal inspectors were bearing down on small mines like Palmer's. Our operation didn't fit the template for a subsurface coal mine. The Rogers coal seam stood nearly vertical, while most coal mines operate on horizontal planes, the way sedimentary formations containing coal seams are naturally deposited. The plate tectonic which uplifted the Cascade Mountains altered the local Ravensdale geology to a rare condition – a vein of coal tilted to more than 80º. Underground mine regulations hadn't been written for that kind of operation.
Coal seams in this area of Ravensdale stood nearly vertical as seen in this geologic cross section. – Golder Associates.
Most men who worked at Rogers #3 were lifelong coal miners. All were in their late 50s and early 60s, except for a cousin, Bob Morris; my brother, Barry Kombol, and me. Two dozen miners had retired over the previous eight years, but enough experienced men remained allowing Palmer to finish its underground mine while honoring contracts supplying coal to State prisons. Palmer's management was mindful of the decades those miners had worked in the industry and sensitive to union pensions that hung in the balance. A few more years would strengthen each miner's retirement payout.
One day in early September, Jack pulled me aside and asked if I'd work the afternoon shift while attending college. It was my senior year where an easy slide towards graduation was a natural expectation. Jack explained I'd earn the wage rate under the United Mine Workers contract to which Palmer was bound. A Grade 2, Tipple Attendant made $45.93 per day. That UMW day rate was the equivalent of $32 per hour in today's currency. To a money-hungry lad like me, that sounded awfully enticing. I talked it over with my folks and a decision was made.
Surface facilities at Rogers #3. The tipple to the left and load out bunkers to the right. Photo by Don Mason, early 1970s.
The afternoon shift was from 3 – 11 pm, so it made sense to live at home. My first three years of college were spent at Pi Kappa Phi, where I enjoyed the camaraderie of fraternity brothers plus the assorted characters who boarded in spare rooms. Ours was a frat house with a classical facade, good cooks, and two hot meals a day. Staying at home would make me a "townie," so I'd only pay fraternity dues plus the meal rate for lunch, a significant saving over full room and board. I drove my parent's 1968 Renault, an unusual car in those days – basically a Volkswagen Bug for cheapskates. The no-frills Renault got good mileage, had a stick shift on the floor, with an A.M. radio. What else could I possibly need?
My schedule was grueling. Monday through Friday, I was up at 6 am, fixing breakfast while Mom packed my evening dinner in a metal lunch bucket. I loved yogurt and back then little was sold in stores, so Mom cultured her own which I ate from a squat thermos. She, Pauline (Morris) Kombol was herself, a coal miner's daughter.
I left Enumclaw every morning at 7 am. Traffic was light with far less congestion than today's clogged freeways. Interstate 5 was a breeze with only occasionally slowdowns. I arrived at the University of Washington campus about 8 am, parked at the fraternity, then walked to my 8:30 class. My first break came at 9:30, so for an hour I studied at the Husky Union Building, and then sped off to my 10:30 and 11:30 classes. By 12:30 pm, I rambled back to the fraternity for lunch, studied for an hour, and left Seattle at 1:45 arriving at the Ravensdale mine by 2:45 pm.
Joe Ozbolt, left and James 'Bo' Williams, right inside the Rogers #3 washhouse. Photo by Charlie Falk, February 1975.
In the washhouse, I joined other miners where we changed from street clothes to working gear. There were only six miners per shift, but I was exclusively night shift so worked with alternating crews each week. We walked up a slight hill to the hoist room and met the day crew coming from the mine. Our counterparts were greeted and a light banter exchanged. The afternoon shift started at 3 pm, lasting eight hours including a dinner break. My job involved standing at a waist-high metal platform, where coal was separated from rock. It was called the picking table and I was its operator. The picking table was located in the belly of a triangular wooden structure called the tipple.
A loaded coal car is being dumped from the top of tipple into the chute below. The picking table was behind the silver-colored sheet metal above the dumptruck where waste material was collected before being hauled to the rock dump. Photo by Bill Kombol, April 1975.
The job was simple – push coal to the right and rock to the left. There was one primary goal: don't let rocks smash your fingers, lest you wind up with a throbbing fingernail rapidly turning purple. Still, it happened, and no matter how long you sucked that pulsing finger, the pain lingered. Sometimes it hurt so much, you had to heat a sewing needle red hot then drill down through the nail to release the pounding pressure caused when blood rushed to repair the wound.
The picking table was six feet wide and about two feet deep. The left third featured a hinged trap-door balanced by a pulley and weight. When 100 pounds or more of rock accumulated on that side, a trap door released the waste material that fell into a dump truck below. The large chunks of coal which landed on the table were pushed right into a crusher and broken into small pieces.
Barry Kombol, ready at the picking table – notice how clean he is at the start of a shift. Photo by Bill Kombol, April 1975.
A Moulden & Sons dump truck filling up with coal to be hauled to Palmer's Mine #11 yard in Black Diamond for further processing. Photo by Bill Kombol, April 1975.
Above me was a chute regularly filled with coal and rock brought from the mine and dumped from the tipple above. A slanted door of thick steel, opened and closed by an electric motor, regulated how much coal came through that chute. After falling down, the coal mix vibrated over a sloped screen with square openings. The smaller-sized pieces (less than 4" in diameter) dropped onto a conveyor belt and were carried to the loadout bunker.
The slanted door on the chute had to be set to just the right level. Opened too much and excessive coal crashed down, blinding the screen, and left the picking table a cluttered mess. If the avalanche was too large you couldn't separate the rock from coal fast enough and both ended up discarded. But when not opened enough, the screening process slowed, and the next coal car to dump was stalled, disrupting the entire operation. Getting it right was fairly easy when coal was uniform, and rocks were small. But sometimes, large chunks of sharp-angled sandstone and sedimentary rock jammed between the chute door and vibrating screen. The rocks wedged together at such awkward angles that none could break through the hatchway. The bind got so nasty that rocks were stuck even with a fully opened door.
When that happened, I rushed to the hoist room and told the operator to stop pulling cars from the mine. The hoist-man operated a large spool, six feet across upon which was wound 1,000 feet of 1" thick steel cable. It resembled a gigantic fishing reel. The cable spun through a bull-wheel atop the tipple providing leverage needed for pulling five-ton coal cars up from the bottom of the mine. After the car was dumped, the hoist operator braked against gravity, allowing the car to free-wheel down rails tracks along the 48º slope, through a mine opening called the portal.
A closeup of Bill McLoughry operating the hoist. The drum and steel cable are in the background. Photo by Barry Kombol, April 1974.
With coal cars stopped, I ran back to the picking table and turned off the vibrating screen. I climbed up and with a long metal pry bar tried dislodging rocks to coax them through the door. If that didn't work, I'd pound repeatedly with a sledgehammer to break the burly rocks into smaller pieces that could fit through. Sometimes the clog was so bad, the hoist man joined me as we tried to get things moving. Some nights the work was so grueling my body was drained in sweat.
Hoist operators: Roy Darby, top left; Frank Manowski, top right; and Bob Morris, below.
Other nights the coal was so perfectly sized that 95% of the mix cruised through the screen. The few melon-sized chunks which dropped to the picking table were easy to handle and my job was a breeze. After screening five tons, I had plenty of idle time awaiting the next coal car's arrival at the top of the tipple.
A bucket seat salvaged from an old sports car had been set up in the picking table chamber. Trips arrived every six to eight minutes, and I usually screened a carload in two to three minutes giving me several minutes between loads. In between, I read my textbooks perhaps a page or two, until the next car arrived. Its approach was signaled by the pitch of the whirring cable and sway of the tipple. When coal and rock crashed into the hopper above, that meant another five tons to screen.
The rail tracks leading to the portal opening, seen mid-photo as the darkest area. This photo of the portal opening into the mine was taken from atop the tipple looking down. Photo by Bill Kombol, April 1975.
From time to time, I emptied the dump truck parked below. After 10 to 12 tons of rock dropped through the trap door to the waiting dump box, I scurried down, jumped in the truck, drove to the rock dump, and emptied the load. The truck was dumped five or six times a night depending on the percentage of rock to coal. I needed to be fast, as coal cars kept emerging from the mine.
On nights when coal wasn't hoisted, I rode a coal car 800 feet underground to work with the miners. There I performed laboring tasks – sometimes drilling coal and loading dynamite. Other nights I helped set timber props that held up the roof of the mine. Or cleaned coal spilled on rail tracks.
Bill Kombol handing John Costanich a stick of dynamite ready for loading into a drill hole. Photo by Barry Kombol, April 1974.
With a long plastic pole Bill Kombol helps John Costanich (on platform above) push the dynamite to the top of the drill hole. Dummy bags were put in last to plug the hole and ensure a successful blast. Photo by Barry Kombol, April 1974.
The most mindless job was filling dummy bags with loose clay used for stemming plugs. After loading a drill hole with a dozen sticks of dynamite, the sausage-sized, clay-filled, paper bags were punched into the end of the hole. This focused the energy of the explosive force to blast intact coal into thousands of smaller pieces. Otherwise, the explosion would blow out the bottom of the drill hole, like a firecracker dud. Dummy bags were in constant use during mining, so I spent hours bagging up a week's supply or more.
Bill Kombol filling dummy bags and placing the finished sausage-sized bags into an empty dynamite box. A "dummy bag" was a paper sack filled with clay or shale and used to stem drill holes. The dummy bag was about the same size as a dynamite stick. After the drill hole was filled with dynamite, several dummy bags were tamped tightly as stemming, so that the dynamite blast would break and loosen the coal rather than simply blow out the end of the hole. "Stemming" means to tamp, plug, or make tight, to ensure a successful shot. Photo by Barry Kombol, April 1974.
One shift, bored and alone in the crosscut, I turned off my miner's lamp to see if my eyes could fully adjust to the dark. It was an experiment. After 10 minutes, I slowly drew my hand towards my eyes guessing ambient light would illuminate the outline of the appendage, but there was nothing – complete and total darkness. There was no sound beyond my breathing. The lack of sight and sound that far below the earth's surface conjured feelings I've never forgotten.
People often asked what it was like working underground. The best part was a constant temperature somewhere around 50º. There was little air movement except for a slight breeze from fans that ventilated the mine. We didn't have to worry about rain, as it was dry except for a stream of underground water that accumulated in a ditch next to the hanging wall. It flowed to a sump and was pumped outside. The mine tunnels were supported by a three-piece timber set, consisting of two uprights supporting a cross beam log all tied together by an overhead roof of rugged boards, called lagging. It was a comfortable working environment, save for the fact everything you touched was black.
At 7 pm, work stopped for our dinner break. I moseyed down to the hoist room where a pot-bellied coal stove kept the tin shack warm. On rare occasions, the miners came up from below to warm themselves and join us. But most nights it was just me and the hoist man, either Roy Darby, Bill McLoughry, my cousin, Bob Morris, or sometimes Frank Manowski. Pee Wee, the dirty black mine dog hung out in the hoist room.
George Savicke, right eats his lunch while Tony Basselli toasts his sandwich on the pot-bellied coal stove in the hoist room. That night the two miners came out from below for their dinner break. November 1974.
Dinner break was a time to relax, chat, and eat the meal Mom prepared 12 hours earlier. Sometimes she packed homemade soup in a thermos, but more often a meat and cheese sandwich, which I toasted atop the hot stove. I was talkative and conversations with the old coal miners took curious turns. Almost to a man, they told me to get an education and stay out of the mines.
Following our half-hour pause, it was back to work until 11 pm when our shift ended. Then I dragged my tired body, covered with sweat and coal dust, down to the wash house where we showered on concrete floors, under three side-by-side spigots. It was like traveling back to a shoddy version of a junior high locker room. The hot showers felt good, as did donning clean clothes you'd changed from eight hours earlier.
Pee Wee, the hoist room mine dog carrying a miner's lunch box ,then seeking attention and perhaps a snack from the miners. Photo by Barry Kombol, April 1974.
Each night, your work clothes were hung from hooks on a wire basket, with gloves and hard hat placed inside. A chain and pulley hauled the gear to the eve of the wash house where heat naturally accumulated. If your clothes were wet, they'd be warm and toasty by the following day. Each Friday, I brought my dirty garments home for Mom to wash.
I was in my car by 11:20 pm for the 20-minute drive back to Enumclaw. I brushed my teeth and plopped into the same bed I'd slept in since sixth grade. Falling to sleep each night was the easiest part of my day. Six hours later, it started all over again – up for breakfast, in my car, and driving to the U.W.
On weekends, I'd sleep till 11 or noon. I had no life outside of school and work. All my friends were away so largely I kept to myself. Some Saturday nights, I walked to the Chalet Theater to see a movie. But mostly I studied, typed papers, and prepared to face Monday.
After two college quarters and more than seven months of this routine, I was burned out. Fortunately, the underground coal mine was preparing to shut down. My night-shift job on the picking table phased out shortly after the start of the spring quarter. I completed my senior year living in Enumclaw but no longer working at the mine.
When the Rogers #3 mine finally closed, a retirement party was held featuring a cake with all Palmer personnel, who were part of the last underground coal mine in Washington State written in the frosting. 1975.
In addition to my regular Econ classes, I took a one-credit P.E. in tennis and a two-credit course on nutrition. But my favorite class spring quarter was a three-credit course entitled the Living Theater. We studied drama, went to plays, and wrote reviews of those we saw. It was my favorite college class and fittingly my last.
During those days of school and nights of work, my dreams were filled with fears – of papers not completed and exams I didn't understand. Remarkably, I scored all A's, and only one B that year. Slowly my life recovered as I took pride in a fat bank account. It's easy saving money when living at home with no time to spend it.
For more than a year prior, I'd suffered an emotionally embarrassing case of facial acne. I felt ugly. But nothing Dr. Homer Harris, a noted dermatologist prescribed seemed to work. I stopped getting haircuts and grew my hair out. To hide my pimpled face, I quit shaving. Perhaps it was the release from stress or maybe shaving irritated my skin. But the acne lessened and within a few months disappeared. I began to feel human again.
I graduated that June, with a B.A. in Economics. I was tired of college. My attachment to fraternity brothers dwindled and I abandoned the academic scene. I had no interest in attending commencement. My sister graduated from high school that same year, so the folks wanted to throw a party for the both of us. I declined their offer and also pointedly skipped graduation ceremonies. My diploma arrived in the mail four months later.
Four years of study and 195 college credits produced this Bachelor of Arts in Economics, mailed to me several months later, as I had no interest in attending graduation ceremonies.
A few relatives and two high school teachers sent congratulatory cards. My Grandma Kombol, a school teacher for 44 years gave me Webster's Third International, a 13-pound dictionary I still cherish. I loafed all summer. I bought a motorcycle in August and moved to Lincoln City that fall. There I collected unemployment checks, read books, and walked on the beach.
Working at a coal mine my senior year of college was an experience I'll never forget. It was a lonely existence within a beehive of perpetual motion. My life was a rolling slog in squirrel-cage. That choice shaped my life, unlike anything before or since. Perhaps the Stoic philosopher, Seneca said it best, "Things that were hard to bear are sweet to remember."
The mine and the old miners are now all gone. All that remains of Rogers #3 is the weather-beaten washhouse. Still to these memories I remain eternally grateful – the miners with whom I worked, the hours spent driving to and fro, the classes attended, and college papers written. Textbook pages studied, the picking table, cement-floor showers, and the sense of freedom that spring when released from the whirlwind into a world of plays and theater.
Of those days long-ago, this memory I shall never forget – dinnertime in the hoist room, standing beside a hot coal stove, and tasting the melted cheese on the sandwich Mom lovingly packed for me.
I kept my hard hat and lunch bucket, photographing them recently atop a pile of stoker coal.
After loafing all summer, bumming that fall in Lincoln City and cashing unemployment checks, seven months later, I came back to work for Palmer. My uncle Charlie Falk took this photo of me in January 1976, where I was working in Enumclaw helping PCC relocate the Stergeon cement bins to Black Diamond for use at the coal mine wash plant there.
Tags Barry Kombol, Bill Kombol, Bill McLoughry, Bob Morris, Carl Falk, Chalet Theater, Charlie Falk, coal mining, Dr. Homer Harris, dummy bag, Economics, Enumclaw, Evan Morris, Frank Manowski, George Savicke, hoist room, Jack Morris, John Costanich, Landsburg, Lulu Kombol, mine dog, mine portal, Mine washhouse, Moulden & Sons, Palmer Coking Coal, Pauline Kombol, Pee Wee, Pi Kappa Phi, Ravensdale, Rogers coal seam, Rogers No. 3, Roy Darby, Stergeon Cement of Enumclaw, tipple, Tony Basselli, UMW, United Mine Workers, University of Washington

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Manavu Family's vacation trip to Sri Sailam, One of the Holy places in Andhra Pradesh.
Srisailam hill station is one of the best tourist spot in Andhra Pradesh state India. . It is a holy sacred place as well as one of the Dam site area in Andhra pradesh. Srisailam is famous for Jyotirling of Lord SHIVA in the Bhramaramba Mallikarjunaswamy temple located in Nallamala Hills of Kurnool district.The following pictures related to our Family's recent vacation trip to Sri sailam.


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adidas Originals Basket Profi "Eagle"
The crew at adidas have been pumping out hits lately, and this rendition of the Basket Profi is certainly a perpetuation of that. These roughed up uppers just happen to be "Italian" leather, and the bold texture set against the gold accents and white lining/sole give these a truly one of a kind feel. If you're looking for something to stand out in head over and cop a pair now.


At least 85 people were killed and 80 others injured when suspected militants launched a bomb and gun attack on a mosque during Friday prayers in Egypt's restive North Sinai region, state media reported today.
At least 85 people were killed and 80 others injured when suspected militants launched a bomb and gun attack on a mosque during Friday prayers in Egypt?s restive North Sinai region, state media reported today.
At least 85 people were killed and 80 others injured when suspected militants launched a bomb and gun attack on a mosque during Friday prayers in Egypt's restive North Sinai region, state media reported today. The bomb, which was planted near al-Rowda mosque in Al- Arish city, went off during the Friday prayer, security sources said. The gunmen in in four off-road vehicles opened fire on the people who tried to exit the mosque after the explosion, MENA state news agency reported. About 50 ambulances rushed to the attack site to shift the injured to hospitals, it said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far. The Egypt government has announced three days of mourning, even as President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was set to hold an emergency meeting with officials to discuss the incident. Egypt's North Sinai has witnessed many violent attacks by militants since the January 2011 revolution that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak. The attacks targeting police and military increased after the ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule.
Over 700 security personnel have been reported killed since then. The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished houses that belonged to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip.


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Q: Recoding variables in R using the %in% operator to avoid NAs I am scoring a psychometric instrument at work and want to recode a few variables. Basically, each question has five possible responses, worth 0 to 4 respectively. That is how they were coded into our database, so I don't need to do anything except sum those. However, there are three questions that have reversed scores (so, when someone answers 0, we score that as 4). Thus, I am "reversing" those ones.
The data frame basically looks like this:
studyid  timepoint      date      inst_q01  inst_q02  ...  inst_q20
   1         2       1995-03-13       0         2     ...      4
   2         2       1995-06-15       1         3     ...      4

Here's what I've done so far.
# Survey Processing
# Find missing values (-9) and confusions (-1), and sum them
project_f03$inst_nmiss <- rowSums(project_f03[,4:23]==-9)
project_f03$inst_nconfuse <- rowSums(project_f03[,4:23]==-1)
project_f03$inst_nmisstot <- project_f03$inst_nmiss + project_f03$inst_nconfuse

# Recode any missing values into NAs
for(x in 4:23) {project_f03[project_f03[,x]==-9 | project_f03[,x]==-1,x] <- NA}
rm(x)

Now, everything so far is pretty fine, I am about to recode the three reversed ones. Now, my initial thought was to do a simple loop through the three variables, and do a series of assignment statements something like below:
# Questions 3, 11, and 16 are reversed
for(x in c(3,11,16)+3) {

    project_f03[project_f03[,x]==4,x] <- 5
    project_f03[project_f03[,x]==3,x] <- 6
    project_f03[project_f03[,x]==2,x] <- 7
    project_f03[project_f03[,x]==1,x] <- 8
    project_f03[project_f03[,x]==0,x] <- 9
    project_f03[,x] <- project_f03[,x]-5
}
rm(x)

So, the five assignment statements just reassign new values, and the loop just takes it through all three of the variables in question. Since I was reversing the scale, I thought it was easiest to offset everything by 5 and then just subtract five after all recodes were done. The main issue, though, is that there are NAs and those NAs result in errors in the loop (naturally, NA==4 returns an NA in R). Duh - forgot a basic rule!
I've come up with three alternatives, but I'm not sure which is the best.

*

*First, I could obviously just move the NA-creating code after the loop, and it should work fine. Pros: easiest to implement. Cons: Only works if I am receiving data with no innate (versus created) NAs.

*Second, I could change the logic statement to be something like:
project_f03[!is.na(project_f03[,x]) && project_f03[,x]==4,x] which should eliminate the logic conflict. Pros: not too hard, I know it works. Cons: A lot of extra code, seems like a kludge.

*Finally, I could change the logic from
project_f03[project_f03[,x]==4,x] <- 5 to
project_f03[project_f03[,x] %in% 4,x] <- 5. This seems to work fine, but I'm not sure if it's a good practice, and wanted to get thoughts. Pros: quick fix for this issue and seems to work; preserves general syntatic flow of "blah blah LOGIC blah <- bleh". Cons: Might create black hole? Not sure what the potential implications of using %in% like this might be.

EDITED TO MAKE CLEAR
This question has one primary component: Is it safe to utilize %in% as described in the third point above when doing logical operations, or are there reasons not to do so?
The second component is: What are recommended ways of reversing the values, like some have described in answers and comments?

A: It doesn't answer your question, but should fix your problem:
cols <- c(3,11,16)+3
project_f03[, cols] <- abs(project_f03[, cols]-4)
## or a lot of easier (as @TylerRinker suggested):
project_f03[, cols] <- max(project_f03[, cols]) - project_f03[, cols]

A: The straightforward answer is that there is no black hole to using %in%. But in instances where I want to just discard the NA values, I'd use which: project_f03[which(project_f03[,x]==4),x] <- 5
%in% could shorten that earlier bit of code you had:
for(x in 4:23) {project_f03[project_f03[,x]==-9 | project_f03[,x]==-1,x] <- NA}
#could be
for(x in 4:23) {project_f03[project_f03[,x] %in% c(-9,-1), x] <- NA}

Like @flodel suggested, you can replace that whole block of code in your for-loop with project_f03[,x] <- rev(0:4)[match(project_f03[,x], 0:4, nomatch=10)]. It should preserve NA. And there are probably more opportunities to simplify code.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Spies in the Family by Eva Dillon
By Jeff Grim
Eva Dillon's first book is a doozy – Spies in the Family: An American Spymaster, His Russian Crown Jewel, and the Friendship That Helped End the Cold War – it chronicles the professional lives of one of America's greatest Russian assets and Dillon's father Paul, who was in the CIA.
The Russian asset – Dmitri Polyakov – was a hero of the Soviet Union during World War II who became disenchanted with communism. He did not pass information to the Americans for money (he never wanted any payments), but as a way to get back at the corrupt leaders of the Soviet Union. He spied for the United States for almost two decades. As a result of his work, he helped the U.S. avoid a nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union and provided a plethora of information on the inner workings of Soviet intelligence.
Paul Dillon – a career CIA agent who was Polyakov's handler for a brief time – helped the U.S. navigate the intrigue of the Cold War. He and Polyakov enjoyed a strong bond that developed into deep respect. Of all Polyakov's handlers, Paul was the most trusted.
Dillon masterfully tells the story of both men simultaneously as they rose in the ranks of the CIA and GRU (Soviet international intelligence). Both men were valued in their respective agencies. I particularly enjoyed reading about the interaction between Polyakov and Paul – they seemed to have a genuine liking for each other.
In the midst of telling their stories, Dillon intermingles other significant events involving espionage between the two countries – particularly the harm done to the CIA by former CIA agent Philip Agee, the glut of information on the MiG-25 fighter provided by Soviet pilot/defector Viktor Belenko, and the disaster that was CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames. Dillon superbly explains the ramifications of each of these events not only on the two countries, but the two men as well.
A well-documented and written account of the Cold War.
Jeff Grim
Jeff Grim has been a reader all of his life. He has had a particular interest in military history, any war at any time. His fascination with military history has brought him to an interest in historical fiction where the history comes alive with fictitious heroes and villains. Recently, Jeff has become interested in historical mysteries set in various time periods.
Central Intelligence AgencyCIACold WarDmitri PolyakovespionageEva DillonHistorySoviet Union
Deep Black by Sean McFate
The Half-Drowned King by Linnea Hartsuyker


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Home / Mercedes-Benz / S-Class / Vs / Jaguar F-Type
Mercedes-Benz S-Class VS Jaguar F-Type
BMW Alpina B5
Lexus LC500
McLaren 540C
Mercedes-Benz C63
Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class
Mercedes-Benz E63
S-Class' return to splendour
Stunning high-tech cabin presentation
Outstanding ride and handling capabilities
Price of entry prohibitive for most
3D instrumentation can make you woozy
A tad conservative in design
Tarmac-tearing performance
Surprising comfort
Just look at it
Short on active safety tech
Tight entry/egress
Current Offers Check Availability Get a Quote
It's only in the running for the title of world's best luxury car. No biggie here, then.
Like Rolex and Concorde, S-Class has become a byword for ultimate, and deserved or not, the Mercedes-Benz defines its segment despite the best efforts of the BMW 7 Series, Audi A8, Lexus LS and (sadly now-defunct) Jaguar XJ, as well as pointing the way forward with new technologies that eventually trickle down to more proletarian models.
Replacing the half-million selling W222 unveiled in 2013, the W223 is the latest in a long line since the first W187 Ponton debuted in 1951, and includes the famous 'Finnies' and Stroke-8 models that followed immediately afterwards, but it is the 1972 W116 that really set the template.
Now, seven generations in, the 2021 S-Class is all-new again, with progressive safety and interior features that should help keep it Australia's bestselling full-sized upper-luxury sedan.
3.0L turbo
Premium Unleaded Petrol
VIEW FULL PRICING & SPECS
After a long gestation period where a variety of Jaguar corporate overlords toyed with the idea of a successor to the all-time iconic E-Type, the F-Type finally emerged in late 2013 to a global intake of breath.
It managed to capture just the right amount of Jag heritage, folded into a high-tech package, with a simple choice of supercharged V6 and V8 engines, housed in a supremely sleek convertible body.
Over time the formula has become more complex, with the arrival of a coupe version, powerhouse R and full-fat SVR variants, special editions including the exotic Project 7, and more recently, 2.0-litre, turbo four-cylinder models to make this stunning two-seater more accessible.
A late 2019 update added some extra catnip, including a redesigned nose and this is the flagship F-Type R, complete with supercharged V8 power and performance-focused underpinnings. Time to dive into this latest chapter of the Jaguar F-Type story.
Mercedes-Benz S-Class8.5/10
Mercedes-Benz set out to restore the S-Class' place amongst the greatest sedans in the world.
In the heavily-optioned, near-$250K-plus S450 as well as the extended S450L at $300K as tested (the sweet spot of the range for now), we reckon the Germans have succeeded, pushing safety, comfort and technology boundaries, in a package that is true to the heritage of the series.
Tax-fuelled sky-high prices will certainly keep the S-Class niche in Australia, but the car is more than good enough to dominate its tiny corner of the upper-large luxury car sphere.
The best new car in the world? We reckon it's highly likely. Mission accomplished, Mercedes.
VIEW FULL PRICING & SPECS >
Jaguar F-Type8/10
The Jaguar F-Type R is as fast and capable as it is beautiful. Although it's a little thirsty and comes up short on active safety, it's technically outstanding, delivering a stunning mix of performance, dynamics, and comfort.
Mercedes-Benz S-Class7/10
Most Mercedes models have followed the Russian Doll-style cookie-cutter styling theme, and the heavy family look continues with the W223.
Still, the flush door handles do add a touch of Tesla-esque modernity, while the elegant silhouette and clean lines are in keeping with the luxury aspirations. Larger in every dimension compared to the old W222, the S450 is some 71mm-longer in wheelbase (3106mm) than before while the LWB's has stretched out by 51mm (3216mm), benefiting proportions as well as interior packaging.
AMG-branded wheels look sporty but – in the S450 at least – they're perhaps a tad too gangster. A set of flush alloys would give it a more-modern and techier appearance, in our opinion.
Overall, however, the S-Class '7' possesses the prerequisite richness of design. It isn't as bold and mould-breaking as models like the W116 were back in their day, but the styling is still a success.
By the way, the latest S-Class is the first Mercedes to employ the MRA2 longitudinal platform, which is rich in lightweight steels (50 per cent aluminium), is correspondingly stronger than before but also 60kg lighter.
With a drag co-efficiency rating as low as 0.22Cd on some overseas grades, the W223 is one of the most aerodynamic production vehicles in history.
Although it kicked off as a roadster, a coupe version of the F-Type was always part of the plan. In fact, Jaguar's C-X16 concept, that in 2011 previewed the eventual production car, was a hardtop.
Following the Coupe's public reveal at the 2013 Los Angeles motor show, I asked Jaguar's then head of design, Ian Callum, if the bean counters had vetoed the concept's ultra-cool side-opening hatch door; one of many styling hat tips to the E-Type. His response was a wry smile and slow nod of the head.
It's a shame that door didn't make it to the showroom floor, but the E-Type is still a strong design influence on its successor.
At close to 4.5m long, around 1.9m wide, and a fraction over 1.3m tall, the F-Type R looks more compact in the metal than it does in photographs, arguably the hallmark of a successful sports car design.
A long, flowing (front-hinged) bonnet (Jaguar calls its shape 'liquid metal' sculpture) projects forward from a rear-set cabin, with broad but tightly wrapped haunches behind it. The 20-inch, 10-spoke rims (in 'Gloss Black' with diamond-turned finish) fill the wheel arches perfectly.
I'm a huge fan of the tail-light cluster design, subtly reprofiled in the late 2019 update, which echoes the shape of the Series 1 E-Type and other classic Jags, but found it harder to warm to the outgoing F-Type's squarish headlight treatment.
Always a subjective call, but to my eyes this car's slimmer, more feline (LED) eyes and ever-so-slightly larger grille deliver a better front to rear balance. And slender, flush-fitting pop-out exterior door handles remain sub-zero cool.
Our 'Santorini Black' test car had been optioned with the 'Exterior Black Design Pack' ($1820) for an extra hint of menace. It applies body-colour to the front splitter, side sills, and rear diffuser, at the same time blacking out the grille surround, side vents, side window surrounds, rear valance, Jaguar script, F-Type badge and 'Leaper' emblem.
Jaguar describes this two-seater as a '1+1', confirming the F-Type's focus on the driver, and our test car's tan leather interior emphasises the fact.
Tan dash on the passenger side, complete with flying buttress-style grab handle for extra support when g-force starts to build. Contrasted by all black and all business on the driver's side.
A broad centre stack houses the 10-inch multimedia touchscreen, with easy-to-use dials for the climate control system below. And the 12.3-inch reconfigurable hi-def instrument cluster (with graphics unique to the F-type) is a model of clarity and simplicity.
The latter offers a choice of display themes, including full nav map, but the default mode highlights a large central tachometer. Nice.
An impressive design feature carried over from the previous model is deployable front air vents. The dashtop remains flat until a given climate control temperature setting causes an upper section, housing a pair of adjustable vents, to gently rise. Very cool (no pun intended).
Mercedes-Benz S-Class10/10
For the beginning of our day with the S-Class, we were chauffeured from home to a mansion in Kew, a blue-chip Melbourne suburb. Our heavily-optioned S450L featured most of the aforementioned extras – including the Business Class Package and Rear Entertainment Package – and the experience was predictably, sumptuously memorable.
Reclining individual rear seats with easy-reach tablets, armrests offering access to all multimedia and available climatised and massaging cushions and backrests... we're no longer in our normal ride, Toto.
Yet, all these trinkets and gizmos are mere add-ons, that can turn a stretched Caprice into a flash hen's night carriage if enough money and glitz is thrown at it.
No, the new S-Class must impress in an altogether less tangible and more philosophical manner, involving all the senses, and not just what we see, hear and touch. It must appeal beyond the superficial. Otherwise, it is not a large Mercedes-Benz luxury sedan in the classic manner.
This is a Herculean task for the Stuttgart designers and engineers. By and large, though, the Three-Pointed Star has succeeded in achieving something special.
In its perception of peerless quality and engineering, the W223 is striving to move forward and look back simultaneously to the glory days of the seminal W126 (1980-1991). This is through meshing traditional virtues like solidity and quality materials while dazzling its passengers with technology that is still friendly enough to want to enhance your experience.
You can sink into the soft lounge seats, watch the world pass by silently outside and never be aware of the road underneath or the engine ahead. Double glazing, exquisite and aromatic fabrics and materials and lush tactile surfaces work their magic inside the car, while an airtight and aero body, solid platform, air suspension and a muted yet muscular powertrain all do their thing underneath. The atmosphere is special and rarefied. That's what an S-Class needs to be and that's what is happening in our $299,000 (as tested) S450L.
The same more-or-less applies up front, as the same trim, leather, wood and technology surrounds the driver and passenger. The spectre of the car that is surely The Car of the Last Decade – Tesla's Model S – is evident in the portrait touchscreen and sparse, almost wallflower dashboard design and layout. No big imposing architectures here.
Yet, while the American upstart actually takes stuff away, the S-Class packs the cabin with subtle features that – like when the planes stopped flying last year and the birdsong subsequently returned – only become obvious once the cabin's design simplicity clears all the white noise for you to be in a better frame of mind to enjoy them.
Take the haptic interface, for example, as it is perhaps the best we've experienced; the sense of well-being garnered from the cumulative effects of profound seat comfort (the massaging function was never switched off), cocooning micro climate environmental control, orchestral levels of audio entertainment and the theatre of light and vision performed by the two available screens; it is an automotive experience like no other. And the eye-tracking 3D-effect navigation set within the electronic instrumentation. No need for cinematic glasses to get the effect. The driving position itself, by the way, is also first class.
Room to stretch and grow for sure, and in every direction. But room for improvement? You betcha.
Your tester had a headache after a little while staring at that woozy 3D map. The central vents – four at the front, two in the rear – look and feel cheap, leaving us mentally redesigning them; they are frightfully out of place here; the carryover column-stalk auto lever should have been binned in 2005. And, even though the digital instruments have a number of options, none are elegant enough for the S-Class. That's an especially subjective criticism, clearly, but one that – in the context of classic Mercedes luxury sedan contenders – is justified given how timeless the Bruno Sacco era of Daimler design was. Look him up, kids.
Still, after a couple of hours behind the wheel, with our senses reset to calm, it is obvious that the S-Class cabin is a unique and wonderful place – as it should be at a cool quarter-of-a-million dollars.
Job done.
PS At 550 litres (20L more than before), the boot is massive and luxurious enough to sleep in.
If you're intending to daily drive your F-Type R, make sure your yoga fees are up to date, because entry and egress are for the fleet of foot and flexible of limb.
Once inside, though, within the bounds of its two-door coupe format, the F-Type offers an array of storage options, including a decent glove box, centre storage box/armrest, small door bins, a netted pocket on the top of the bulkhead between the seats, and a pair of console cupholders.
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Power and connectivity runs to a 12V socket in the dash, with another in the central storage bin, alongside two USB-A ports, and a micro SIM slot.
Notwithstanding the (alloy) space saver plonked on the boot floor, the F-Type Coupe delivers worthwhile cargo space, with 310 litres on offer, rising to 408 with the load cover removed.
That's enough to swallow small (36-litre) and large (95-litre) suitcases together, and there are two (nicely chromed) tie-down anchor, as well as elasticised retaining straps at either end of a small ledge on the bulkhead.
Price and features
Right now, only two S-Class models are available – the S450 from $240,700 plus on-road costs and the 110mm extended-wheelbase S450L (LWB) for another $24,900 on top. Most buyers overwhelmingly opt for the latter.
Despite what the numbers may suggest, both are powered by a 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder turbo petrol engine, delivering 270kW of power and 500Nm of torque to all four wheels via a nine-speed torque-converter automatic. Greater choices are coming later, including an all-electric version known as the EQS.
Almost every conceivable safety item is standard on the S-Class, including world-first rear-seat airbags located behind the front seats in the LWB model, taking the surround-airbag count to 10.
You'll also find route-based Speed Adaptation (adhering to the posted speed limits), Evasive Steering Assist (a sophisticated form of crash mitigation), adaptive cruise control with active stop/go, Active Lane Change Assist that automatically moves the car into the lane you indicate to), Mercedes' PreSafe crash-preparation tech that primes all the safety systems for impact, electronic stability program that encapsulates all the active driver-assist tech, Active Emergency Stop Assist, Autonomous Emergency Braking front and rear (including for cyclists and pedestrians), Traffic Sign Assist, Parking Package with Active Parking Assist and 360-degree camera and tyre pressure monitors.
On the equipment front there is the latest iteration of Mercedes' MBUX multimedia system with (another) world-first 3D display, complementing an OLED central display, powered closing doors, leather upholstery, air suspension, leather upholstery, velour floor mats, a multi-beam LED headlight system with adaptive high beams, heated and folding exterior mirrors, heat and noise-insulating acoustic glass for front side windows, dark privacy glass for rear windows, sunroof, roller sunblinds for rear windows, metallic paint and 20-inch AMG alloy wheels on runflat tyres.
Want cutting-edge multimedia? There's MBUX II's augmented reality for navigation and fingerprint scanner, as well as a more natural-speech Mercedes-Me Connect voice activation with global search.
Plus, predictive navigation with live traffic, parked vehicle locator, vehicle tracking, emergency call, maintenance management and tele-diagnostics, digital radio, Burmester 3D surround-sound system with 15 speakers and 710W amplifier, remote door locking/unlocking, geofencing, speed-fencing, valet parking, head-up display, Smart Phone integration with Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, wireless charging, ambient lighting, two-zone climate control, poplar wood trim, electric adjustment for front seats, steering column with memory function, climatised front seats, keyless entry/go with flush-fitting door handles offering hands-free access (including for the electric boot),
Besides the 'forward facing' airbag for the rear-seat occupants, the S450L also scores electrically adjustable rear seats with memory and automatic rear climate control.
Key options – and the list is massive – include an $8700 Rear Entertainment Package, that brings rear-multimedia access, rear tablets with wireless headsets and rear-seat wireless smart phone charging, an AMG Line pack with a body kit, different alloys and larger front brakes ($6500), Business Class Package that includes aircraft-style reclining rear seating and tray tables ($14,500), Nappa leather ($5000), augmented-reality HUD ($2900), 21-inch wheels ($2000) and four-wheel steering ($2700). There's also a $14,500 Energising Package with contoured seating, heated-everything and massaging seats.
Please keep in mind our test cars featured many such extras. Tick all the boxes and you can add nearly $100,000 to the price of your S-Class.
So, is the S450 good value? Given some of the breakthrough safety and luxury features it offers, it is unique. Too bad the Federal Government's Luxury Car Tax makes them so much more expensive than they need to be.
It's hard to pin down direct competitors for the $262,936 F-Type R, except one; Porsche's 911 Carrera S, a clear price and performance rival at $274,000.
With a 3.0-litre, twin-turbo 'flat' six producing 331kW/530Nm the 911 is capable of accelerating from 0-100km/h in just 3.7sec, which (surprise, surprise) exactly matches the Jag's claimed performance number.
Cast the net a little wider and you'll snag the likes of Nissan's GT-R Track Edition on the low side ($235,000), and the Mercedes-Benz S 560 Coupe ($326,635) for around $50K above the F-Type's asking price. So, the standard features list needs to be impressive, and long story short, it is.
Drilling down to the depths of detail on this car's equipment spec would need a review of its own, so here's the highlights package.
The 10-inch 'Touch Pro' multimedia screen manages a 380-watt Meridian audio system featuring 10 speakers (including subwoofer), digital radio, dynamic volume control and a 10-channel amp, as well as Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and Bluetooth connectivity.
It's also the gateway to the car's configurable dynamic set-up, 'Navigation Pro', phone connection, ambient lighting, reversing camera, and a lot more.
Full-grain 'Windsor' leather is applied to the 12-way, electrically-adjustable (plus memory) performance seats. There's also a 12.3-inch customisable digital instrument cluster, cruise control (and speed limiter), keyless entry and start, auto rain-sensing wipers, auto-dimming and power folding heated door mirrors (with memory), a switchable active exhaust, LED headlights, DRLs and tail-lights, as well as an electrically adjustable steering column (with memory), climate control, powered boot lid, 20-inch alloy wheels, racy red brake calipers, and specific 'R' branding on the leather-trimmed sports steering wheel, door tread plates, and centre console.
Engine & trans
Where are the V8s?
Right now, the only W223 you can buy is powered by an all-new 2999cc 3.0-litre in-line direct-injection six-cylinder turbo petrol engine dubbed the M256, complete with double overhead cams, an electric compressor intercooler and assistance from a 48-volt mild hybrid system and integrated starter-generator, adding 16kW and 250Nm to the 270kW of power at 6100rpm and 500Nm of torque from 1600-4500rpm.
The 9G-Tronic torque-converter automatic transmission and 4Matic all-wheel drive system combination is a first for the S-Class in Australia.
Top speed is limited to 250km/h, while the 0-100km/h sprint-time takes just 5.1 seconds in both models. Impressive for a two-tonne-plus luxury limo.
The F-Type R is powered by Jaguar's all-alloy (AJ133) 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine, featuring direct-injection, variable (intake) cam timing, and an Eaton (Roots-type) blower to produce 423kW (567hp) at 6500rpm, and 700Nm from 3500-5000rpm.
Drive goes to all four wheels via an eight-speed 'Quickshift' automatic transmission and Jaguar's own adaptive AWD system with 'Intelligent Driveline Dynamics' (IDD).
The AWD system is based on an electro-hydraulic multi-plate (wet) clutch, controlled by a centrifugal electro-hydraulic actuator. Default front/rear drive balance is 10/90, although Jaguar claims even a full shift of power from 100 per cent rear to 100 per cent front takes just 165 milliseconds.
The IDD system continuously monitors each wheel's speed and traction, suspension compression, steering angle and braking force, as well as the car's rotational state.
It then uses an algorithm to determine which wheel(s) are likely to lose traction, and before grip is lost, transfer drive to the wheels that can make best use of it.
With the aid of the mild-hybrid system, the S450 returned a combined average of an impressive 8.2 litres per 100km, which translates to 187 grams of carbon dioxide emissions per kilometre. 95 RON premium unleaded (or higher) is recommended. In the urban run it consumes 11.3L/100km (11.5 for S450L), and just 6.4L/100km (6.5 for S450L) in the extra-urban result.
At 76 litres, the fuel tank will allow a combined average range of about 927km between refills.
Claimed fuel economy for the combined (ADR 81/02 - urban, extra-urban) cycle is 11.3L/100km, the F-Type R emitting 269g/km of CO2 in the process.
Despite the standard auto stop/start function, over close to 350km of city, suburban, and freeway running we recorded a (dash-indicated) average of 16.1L/100km.
That's a solid drinking habit, but it kind of goes with this performance territory, and we did lean into the throttle on a regular basis.
Recommended fuel is 95 RON premium unleaded, and you'll need 70 litres of it to fill the tank. That equates to a range of 619km in line with the factory claim, and 434km using our real-world number as a guide.
In former times, as the Germans say, a '450' on the boot indicated V8 power. In the W116 S-Class era it was one of the world's most evocative badges when 'SEL' was also attached.
As mentioned earlier, though, it's the M256 3.0-litre turbo-petrol with a 48-volt 'mild hybrid' electrical system that's doing the driving, to all four wheels. The real V8 W223 will probably surface later this year or in early 2022 with the S580L flagship. Bring it on.
This is not to say that S450 isn't good enough. With that electrified assistance, the blown straight six is smooth and swift off the line and rapid as the auto seamlessly steps up through all nine gears. Because it's so hushed and refined, it doesn't feel 5.1s to 100 clicks quick, but watching the speedo says otherwise – acceleration is assertive and strong right up way past the legal speed limit.
All that's missing is the burbling soundtrack of a classic Benz bent-eight. Oh well. Outstanding economy is a price we're literally willing to pay in lieu.
Even more impressive is the S450's ability to hustle along mountain roads like an overgrown sports sedan.
Now, for Australia, all S-Classes are fitted standard with an adaptive 'Airmatic' air-suspension set-up, including air springs and self-levelling tech. In Comfort up to 60km/h, the ride height can be raised by 30mm, or lowered by 10mm under the standard 130mm baseline in Sport at any velocity, while in Sport+ it falls another 17mm.
With that in mind, yes, the standard air suspension performs a magnificent job smothering out most surface imperfections around town. Yet its real other party trick is to tighten up the chassis when corners get interesting and Sport mode is selected. Aided by progressively weighted and reassuringly responsive steering, the Mercedes tips into turns with precision and poise, slicing through with virtually no discernible body lean or understeer.
Now, we're not talking a leisurely drive on rural highways here, but Healesville's famous Chum Creek Road, where even a Porsche Cayman would feel like it's had a strenuous dynamic workout. The S-Class can be hurried along with confidence and finesse, displaying outstanding handling and roadholding for a 5.2-metre long limo. And the fact that the ride quality only suffers marginally when the red horns are out is all the more remarkable.
Back in the cut-and-thrust of inner-city peak-hour traffic, the Benz in Comfort mode continued to reveal its driver-orientated yet passenger-focused twin-personalities, zipping in and out of gaps while remaining comfy and composed inside.
Only when parking in tight spots are you truly aware that the W223 is longer than a Mazda CX-9. The optional four-wheel-steering system is claimed to slash the turning circle to A-Class hatchback levels. 10.9 metres is the claim.
The 2021 S-Class never ceases to amaze and delight.
Yep, no surprise, the 2021 Jaguar F-Type R is a proper, rip-snorting, beast of a machine. Weighing in at just over 1.7 tonnes, with 423kW/700Nm to propel it forward, in terms of straight line acceleration, it's every bit the scalded cat.
Bury the right foot and it will storm from 0-100km/h in just 3.7 seconds, with furious aural accompaniment courtesy of the 4.0-litre supercharged V8 and sports exhaust system. Electrically-actuated bypass valves in the latter's rear silencer remain closed until they automatically open under load, and boy, do they open up.
Prospective F-Type R owners wishing to remain on good terms with their neighbours will be pleased to know there's a 'Quiet Start function', but once you're a few blocks clear the engine is capable of alerting the entire suburb to you presence, complete with raucous crackles and pops on the overrun.
All 700Nm of maximum torque is available from 3500rpm through to 5000rpm, and mid-range thrust is ferocious. If you have access to a long enough private road Jaguar claims this car will storm on to a (electronically-limited!) maximum velocity of 300km/h.
The eight-speed auto transmission has picked up several tweaks courtesy of the XE-based SV Project 8, and it's brilliant. A conventional torque-converter based unit, rather than a dual-clutch, it's dubbed 'Quickshift', and that it does. Manual flicks between ratios, using the wheel-mounted paddles, are rapid and positive.
Head for your favourite B-road, and it's the F-Type R's ability to put every bit of its power down, without fuss, that impresses next. Push into a series of tight corners and the car grips, settles, and simply surges from one bend to the next, the tricky AWD system seamlessly shuffling torque between the axles and individual wheels.
The standard electronic active diff, and torque vectoring (by braking) also help keep everything under control, turning backroad tryhards into apex hunting virtuosos.
Suspension is by (aluminium) double wishbones front and rear, with revised springs and anti-roll bars added in the 2019 upgrade. Continuously-variable dampers underpin the 'Adaptive Dynamics' system, learning your style and adjusting accordingly.
The electrically-assisted power steering combines great road feel with satisfying accuracy, and the car feels balanced yet agile and responsive in enthusiastic driving.
In a more relaxed mode the adaptive set-up detects rough road conditions and adjusts the suspension settings for greater ride comfort. According to Jaguar, the damper valves and control algorithms have been recalibrated to improve low-speed comfort and high-speed control, and I can vouch for their effectiveness.
Not long after steering this F-Type R I spent some time in the supercharged V6 F-Type P380 R-Dynamic, and this R is far more compliant.
Rubber is a specially-developed Pirelli P Zero (265/35 fr - 305/30 rr), and the supremely efficient brakes are ventilated 380mm at the front, and 376mm rear.
The W223 S-Class has not been crash-tested yet by ANCAP or European affiliate EuroNCAP, so does not have a star rating. However, Mercedes-Benz claims it has striven to create one of the safety vehicles on the planet. Who are we to argue?
You'll also find route-based Speed Adaptation (adhering to the posted speed limits), Evasive Steering Assist (a sophisticated form of crash mitigation), adaptive cruise control with active stop/go, Active Lane Change Assist that automatically moves the car into the lane you indicate to), Mercedes' PreSafe crash-preparation tech that primes all the safety systems for impact, electronic stability program that encapsulates all the active driver-assist tech, Active Emergency Stop Assist, Autonomous Emergency Braking front and rear (including for cyclists and pedestrians, at speeds from 7km/h to over 200km/h), Traffic Sign Assist, Parking Package with Active Parking Assist and 360-degree camera and tyre pressure monitors.
The Active Lane Keeping Assist works in a speed range of between 60km/h and 250km/h while Active Steer Assist helps the driver follow the lane at speeds of up to 210km/h.
The F-Type hasn't been assessed by ANCAP, but as well as the usual active safety suspects like ABS, EBD, traction and dynamic stability controls, the R features an AEB system operating at speeds above five km/h, Vehicle detection is in place at speeds of up to 80km/h, and pedestrian detection up to 60km/h.
The AWD system facilitates specific 'Rain', 'Ice', and 'Snow' modes, plus there's active high-beam, lane keep assist, a reversing camera, as well as front and rear parking sensors, and a 'Driver Condition Monitor.'
But cross-traffic alert (front or rear) is missing-in-action, blind spot assist is an option ($900), as is park assist ($700), and tyre pressure monitoring ($700). Any car that's crested the $250K barrier should have all of these as standard.
If an impact's unavoidable there are six airbags (front, side, and curtain). But remember, the front passenger seat is a no-go zone for a rear-facing child restraint. And Jaguar says, "A child should only travel in the front passenger seat if it is essential and national or state legislation permits it."
Unlike many luxury brands that persist with a sub-par three-year warranty, Mercedes-Benz offers a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty.
Intervals are every year or 25,000km, with a capped price service plan starting at $800 for the first year, $1200 for the second year and $1400 for the third year, totalling $3400. Alternatively, there is a Service Plan starting at $2700 for the first three years (saving $700 from the normal capped-price service plan), $3600 for four years and $5400 for five years.
Jaguar covers its Australian new car range with a three-year/100,000km warranty, which looks particularly stingy next to the mainstream market norm of five years/unlimited km, and lags other premium players like Mercedes-Benz and Genesis, both sitting at five years/unlimited km.
On the plus side, paint and corrosion (perforation) are warranted for three years, and roadside assistance is complimentary for 12 months.
And on the big plus side, scheduled servicing for the F-Type (determined by an on-board service interval indicator) is free-of-charge for five years/130,000km.
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