Noble M600 – Click above for an updated high-res image gallery
No climate control. No sat-nav. No ABS. No ESP. What the Noble M600 lacks in luxury and safety amenities it makes up for in raw, mechanical brutality. And you know what? That’s okay.
With curb weight of 2,810 pounds, a row-your-own six-speed manual and 650 horsepower and 618 pound-feet of torque on tap from its Volvo-sourced, twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V8, the M600 is a purist breath of fresh air in an era of tech-laden, heavyweight supercars. But stats (0-60 in three seconds, top speed of 225 mph) only tells half the tale.
Clarkson and the crew take the all-new, £200,000 Noble around the Top Gear test track and the results are predictably deranged. Not only does the traction control only have two settings – on and off – but keeping the mid-engine beastie in check proves too much for TG’s ham-fisted frontman. That means it’s a job for the Stig. And you can check out the results and its supercar-crushing lap time after the jump.
En primer lugar, recordemos que el Alfa Romeo Giulietta no será mostrado de forma oficial al público hasta el mes de marzo en el Salón de Ginebra. Aun así, Alfa Romeo acaba de lanzar el sitio web oficial del Giulietta en donde podemos ver a este modelo desde todos los ángulos y algunas de sus características.
Por otra parte, también podremos descargar nuevas imágenes y algunos fondos de pantalla para adornar nuestro escritorio. Uno de los nuevos datos confirmados es que habrá una versión Quadrifoglio Verde con motor 1750TBi de 235 CV.
Además, habrá hasta cuatro propulsores más para elegir. También se ha confirmado para toda la gama y acabados la tecnología D.N.A., el diferencial Q2 y el VDC. Se pueden apreciar en las imágenes la utilización de LEDs tanto en las ópticas delanteras como traseras. Por el momento, la única carrocería confirmada es la de 5 puertas.
COPENHAGUE, EFE
El proyecto de declaración que discutieron ayer los negociadores internacionales en la Cumbre de la ONU de Copenhague (Dinamarca) omite el año 2010 como fecha tope para firmar un nuevo acuerdo sobre cambio climático.
El borrador, que consta de 12 puntos, fija dos grados centígrados como la subida global de temperaturas máximas para evitar graves interferencias en el clima, aunque señala que el acuerdo será revisado en 2016, cuando se podría limitar esa subida a 1,5 grados, una petición de los países más amenazados por la transformación climática.
Más compromisos
El documento propone una reducción global de emisiones del 50% en 2050 por debajo de los niveles de 1990 y no señala una fecha para que las emisiones alcancen su pico máximo antes de comenzar a descender.
Además, las naciones desarrolladas acuerdan proveer los recursos financieros, tecnología y capacitación adecuados, predecibles y sostenibles para ayudar a los países en desarrollo a adaptarse a los efectos del cambio climático, sobre todo a los más vulnerables.
Los territorios ricos se comprometen a reducir sus emisiones individualmente o conjuntamente en al menos un 80% para 2050 y a fijar recortes para 2020 sin especificar, con respecto a los años 1990 ó 2005.
Países en desarrollo
Llevarán a cabo acciones para mitigar sus emisiones que serán hechas públicas a nivel nacional cada dos años, apunta el texto. Aquellas actividades de mitigación que cuenten con apoyo del exterior estarán sujetas a una verificación internacional.
El borrador confirma una ayuda para la mitigación y la adaptación de 30 mil millones de dólares en el periodo 2010-2012, mientras que los países desarrollados se comprometen a movilizar 100 mil millones de dólares anuales con este fin para el año 2020.
Once again, the U.S. economy faces disaster should we not enact more stimulus. Joseph Stiglitz has warned that the U.S. economy could contract again in the second half of 2010 without additional government stimulus.
Canadian Press: “The likelihood of this slowdown is very, very high,” Stiglitz told reporters in Singapore. “There is a significant chance that the number will be in the negative range.” Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University, called on Washington to make more funds available to state governments who face a drop in tax revenue. The U.S. economy, the world’s largest, must grow at least 3 per cent to create enough jobs for new entrants into the labour force, he said.
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“If you don’t prepare now, and the economy turns out to be as weak as I think it’s likely to be, then you’ll be in a very difficult position,” he said.
Thing is, at the very least, shouldn’t we first wait until the majority of current stimulus is spent? The U.S. has barely done 30% so far. The rallying dollar probably doesn’t expect much influence from Mr. Stiglitz next year.
COPENHAGUE, EFE
El presidente de Brasil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, centró ayer su intervención en la Cumbre del Cambio Climático de Copenhague en defender el Protocolo de Kioto y reclamar ayuda financiera para los países en desarrollo.
Resaltó que preservar el Protocolo de Kioto, que establece recortes de emisiones de CO2 vinculantes para 37 países ricos, es “absolutamente necesario” y que éste “no puede ser sustituido por instrumentos menos exigentes”.
Apoyo económico
Otro de los puntos centrales de su intervención fue reclamar a los países desarrollados financiación para las medidas de adaptación que las naciones en desarrollo deben adoptar para hacer frente a las consecuencias del cambio climático.
“La mitigación de las emisiones es importante, pero la adaptación es un reto prioritario”, dijo Lula, quien calificó de “inaceptable” que los territorios menos responsables de la contaminación sean las principales víctimas de sus efectos.
Los mecanismos de mercado pueden ser “útiles”, pero no serán ni suficientemente predecibles ni tendrán la magnitud necesarias, advirtió, para responder a las consecuencias del cambio climático, de ahí la importancia de la ayuda tecnológica y financiera, aunque Lula no detalló cifras.
You need not leave our desk or go to a private booth to talk freely, and confidentially over the phone. This invention gives the equivalence of a telephone booth.
It is instantly attached and detached on the telephone transmitter. No complicated parts. Occupies 3-1/2 inches of space on the mouth piece of “phone” and is at your elbow when in need. It is unquestionably the most useful telephone accessory of today. Made of Aluminum, lasts a lifetime. Used by U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, First N’tl Bank, Guarantee Trust Co.. and thousands of others over the world. If dealers can’t supply you, we will forward one prepaid on receipt of $3.50.
AGENTS wanted in U. S. and foreign countries. Write for territory.
The Amalgamated Sales Corp., Mfrs., 1478 Broadway, Dept. C.S., New York City
Investor Doug Kass is out with his top 20 surprises for 2010. Everyone is doing lists like these, though Kass’s are always particularly interesting and thought provoking. They’re available — by subscription — at TheStreet.com:
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1. There is a glaring upside to first-quarter 2010 corporate profits (up 100% year over year) and first-quarter 2010 GDP (up 4.5%). It grows clear that, owing to continued draconian cost cuts, coupled with a series of positive economic releases and a long list of company profit guidance increases in mid to late January and early February, there is a very large upside to first-quarter GDP (up 4.5%) and, even more important, to S&P profit growth (which doubles!). The upside on both counts is in sharp contrast to more muted growth expectations. While corporate managers, economists and strategists raise earnings per share, full-year growth and S&P target estimates, surprisingly, the U.S. equity market fails to respond positively to the much better growth dynamic, and the S&P 500 remains tightly range-bound (between 1,050 and 1,150) into spring 2010.
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3. The U.S. dollar explodes higher. After dropping by over 40% from 2001 to 2008, the U.S. dollar continued to spiral lower in the last nine months of 2009. Our currency’s recent strength will persist, however, surprising most market participants by continuing to rally into first quarter 2010. In fact, the U.S. dollar will be the strongest major world currency during the first three or four months of the new year.
El Gobierno Federal de Alemania acaba de confirmar la compra de 78 nuevos camiones hasta el año 2019 llamados Mercedes WaWe 10. Esta monstruosidad cuesta nada más y nada menos que un millón de euros.
Este gigantesco camión equipado con mangueras a presión sirve para dispersar a grupos de personas que realizan cualquier tipo de altercado en un entorno urbano y además puede colaborar en la extinción de incendios.
Esta construido sobre un chasis Mercedes Actros 3341 con tracción integral y tres ejes cuyo peso ronda las 31 toneladas de peso. En su cabina se pueden situar hasta cinco personas. La carrocería ha sido realizada por un especialista austriaco llamado Rosenbauer. Todo el vehículo y el tren de rodaje al completo se encuentra recubierto de paneles reforzados. Los cristales de la cabian están realizados en unos materiales compuestos de una alta resistencia.
Cuenta con un depósito de agua de 10.000 litros. Se puede cargar al mismo tiempo desde una boca de incendio y cualquier toma convencional de agua. Puede disparar hasta 3.500 litros de agua al minuto con una presión de 10 bares. Cuenta con tres cañones de agua, dos situados sobre la cabina y uno en la zaga que son manejados desde la cabina mediante unos joysticks.
El vehículo puede moverse y utilizar sus tres cañones a la vez ya que la bomba se sirve de un motor diésel propio y no resta potencia al propulsor principal. El motor principal del Mercedes WaWe 10 es un V6 turbodiésel con 408 CV.
And we’ll give you something that’s very wise. Kraft American Singles process cheese food slices. They build up a sandwich with real American flavor. Between the lettuce and the burger… between the burger and the bun. They’re individually-wrapped for convenience. And you can count on the quality, because satisfaction is guaranteed or your money back from Kraft.
ANOTHER object of exploring the upper air is to determine the increase of received cosmic-ray radiation. This has been measured in the stratosphere, as well as on mountain peaks and in ocean depths.
Where roads were once built a shovelful at a time … today mammoth earth-movers handle a ton of earth at a time. Mobile cranes swing 20 tons at the flick of a switch. Giant crushers grind 150 tons of rock an hour. Traveling concrete mixers place entire batches as they go.
These are just a few of our improved powered tools of today that do a better job of construction faster and easier. They help provide us with critically needed new housing and business buildings . . . with super-highways and airfields for safer, smoother travel. And these tools are ours today because of better materials . . . and continuing research.
Alloy steels, for example, give them greater strength to resist shock and abrasive action . . . stamina to overcome the strain of day-by-day speed-up demands. And modern oxy-acetylene processes for welding and flame-cutting speed production of these better products of better steel.
Carbon is in the picture, too. In the form of electrodes, it’s essential both to the production of alloy steels and the making of calcium carbide . .. from which comes acetylene gas for welding. Also, a chemical known as an amine provides a wetting agent for asphalt. . . speeding construction by making the asphalt stick more easily and firmly to its crushed rock base.
The people of Union Carbide produce these and many other materials essential to today’s better building and construction. They also produce hundreds of other materials for the use of science and industry, to help meet the needs of mankind.
IF the physical energy represented in chewing the 1,500,000,000 sticks of gum consumed by American gum chewers could be transformed and reduced to foot-pounds and mechanically applied, it would supply a power beside which that of Niagara Falls would dwindle into insignificance.
The gum chewing habit has come to stay. A few years ago physicians told us that to chew gum was to distort our faces and to waste the physical energy of the body; to-day they tell us that chewing gum aids digestion and makes for a healthy physique. Chewing gum is essentially an American habit, and having passed over the seas, has become an international affair. You may purchase American-manufactured chewing gum from the counters of establishments in Japan, China, India, Germany, Italy, Turkey and England.
About the time of the American Revolution the pioneer woodsman was in the habit of removing a chunk of spruce sap gathered on the trunk of the trees and this was made into a substance which was greatly enjoyed. The colonial sweetheart was to be seen chewing her gum when the father and mother were looking the other way, and this continued until finally both parent and child faced one another, each with the ever-present gum. Home-made gum continued as an industry until just previous to the days of the Civil War, when explorers in Central American countries discovered the chicle tree. This name is of Aztec origin, and is the name given to the sap of the sapota tree. It is this sap which is the basis of virtually all the chewing gum used in the United States. Immense tracts of land in Yucatan and Tuxpan Mexico, and throughout Central American republics, are devoted to the culture of the chicle tree, and the entire product of these millions of trees finds its way to the American factory.
The raw chicle gum is of a light brown, chocolate color. It reaches the factory in large cakes and is stored in great bins. When required for use it is broken into smaller pieces by cleverns and fed into the grinding machines, which, with 3,500 revolutions per minute, soon reduce it to a fine powder, much like pulverized coffee or sugar.
After the raw product has been ground, the pieces of sapota bark and other extraneous matter are picked out by girls. The ground product is then dried in large trays and run into chambers supplied with steam heat. It is warmed and dried at the same operation, a separate suction chute drawing out the dampness . These drying machines have fans turning at 1,200 revolutions per minute and are of 16,000 pounds capacity. The drying process requires a full week’s time.
On the same floor with the grinding machines are the sugar mills, which grind the toothsome and quite important ingredient of the finished product into powder. In this condition the sugar is transferred to the gum-making floor below, where the three ingredients are mixed in hoppers without being touched by human hands.
On the gum-making floor—in huge mixing pots which are furnished with revolving paddles—the gum-sugar, medication and flavor are blended at the rate of 600 pounds every 20 minutes for each mixing machine. Then the mixture is kneaded by men with heavy gloves and passed through six sets of rollers. It is dusted with sugar to prevent sticking to rolls. The surplus sugar in this operation is caught by a device beneath the rollers and after being sifted, is ready for use in the next operation.
The gum is now i n long, soft cakes and ready for the scoring machines, which cut it nearly through in sizes to fit the particular brand which is being made. After the scoring process, the product runs through the breaker machines, which allow the surplus sugar to separate from the gum cakes. If the gum is to be of the pillow shape, which has recently become most popular, it passes to the pan room where each separate piece receives its candy coating by being dipped in the mixture of candy. The pieces then pass to the finishing room to receive more rolling together in great pans, with the addition of sweetened beeswax, which gives the product a polished finish.
The gum is carried from the pan room on endless belts to the wrapping room, where electrically-driven wrapping machines wrap 25.000 packages of gum per day, with five sticks to the package. The machine performs three operations at one time—wraping the oil paper, the foil paper and the outside decorated wrapper. The operator must work carefully and. speedily in order that none of the paper becomes tangled. The average gum factory pays the sugar interests $100,000 per year and $50,000 more for flavoring extracts. The gum manufacturing industry forms one of the most unique and important American industries.
Este no es un problema aislado de un país o continente. A pesar de que la mayor parte de responsabilidad tienen las naciones industrializadas, son todos los habitantes del planeta quienes ya están afectados por este fenómeno.
Ecuador no se queda a un lado de los perjuicios que esto trae para el ambiente. Al ser un rincón lleno de ricos ecosistemas es un sitio que se debe cuidar aún más, según comentó Carolina Zambrano, subsecretaria de Cambio Climático.
¿En qué afecta?
Para Gonzalo Ontaneda, coordinador de Estudios de Investigación Meteorológica del Instituto Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología (Inamhi), el país tiene repercusiones por esta variación de temperatura sobre sus glaciares, precipitaciones y sequías.
“Los glaciares son los que más ‘sienten’ el aumento del calor, por que es muy evidente la disminución de su cobertura de hielo”, enfatizó.
Además, señaló que las lluvias han sufrido variantes inesperadas, ya que, por ejemplo, “en la región interandina se esperaba el invierno de octubre a mayo, pero ahora ya no es así”. Y agregó que en otros lugares se han presentado aguaceros intensos, “como en Guayaquil, donde en 2005 en un día llovió el 78% del total de un mes”.
En cuanto a las sequías, Ontaneda explicó que es una alteración generalizada en el mundo y que el Panel Intergubernamental de Cambio Climático “no llega a definir a ciencia cierta los lugares donde se presentará”.
Proceso de adaptación
Al ya estar el Ecuador afectado por el cambio climático, el Ministerio del Ambiente está desarrollando dos proyectos de adaptación (habilidad de prepararse para responder y enfrentar a los efectos del cambio climático).
Se denominan ‘Proyecto de Adaptación al Cambio Climático a través de una Efectiva Gobernabilidad del Agua en Ecuador’ y ‘ Proyecto Regional Andino de Adaptación al Cambio Climático/Adaptación al Impacto del Retroceso Acelerados de Glaciares en los Andes Tropicales’.
Ambos están relacionados con la gestión de recursos hídricos, el consumo humano de agua potable, la agricultura, la hidroelectricidad y los ecosistemas altoandinos.
DATO
A nivel de país la temperatura se ha incrementado en un promedio de ocho grados centígrados.
Fuente Bibliográfica
In Vigil Games’ Darksiders players get to wreak havoc on a blasted and ruined world as War, one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. Sounds intense, right? Too bad there won’t be a demo.
I’ve been using the AT&T Navigator app for iPhone for a couple of months now. This is a free app, but it requires a $10/month subscription from AT&T (or $70 for an annual subscription). I’m not going to belabor the GPS functions too much in this review: it’s almost the year 2010, and the global positioning system has been used to provide turn-by-turn directions for long enough now that any GPS device or application being reviewed should do that basic job. Instead, I’m going to examine how useful a GPS function is on your mobile phone, talk about some of what’s nice (and not-so-nice) about the AT&T Navigator, and look at the value proposition of a $10/month subscription in light of Google’s free turn-by-turn driving directions on the Verizon Droid.
The Not-So-Good
The first thing to know about the Navigator application is that it suffers from the iPhone’s inability to support “background apps”. That is, if you want turn-by-turn directions, you need to leave the Navigator app running on your phone. You can’t pop over to check your email, or even take a call or reply to an SMS, without interrupting the navigation. When you’re on a long stretch of highway, that’s not a big deal; but it can be a little frustrating if you’re sitting in the passenger seat and trying to multitask on your fancy smartphone. (You should never multitask on your fancy smartphone if you’re driving the car!)
The good news, though, is that iPod functionality is well integrated into the app. With the press of an on-screen button, you can have access to your playlists, media navigation controls, and more. The music will be muted when the Navigator app needs to speak to you, which minimizes some of the concerns about the always-on nature of the app.
The second thing to know about the Navigator app is that it’s frequently just a little slow. This is a result of being just a little weak in terms of positioning accuracy. It consistently reports me as being anywhere from 50 to 500 feet away from where I actually am. Again, while driving down the highway this isn’t a big deal; but when navigating city streets it’s mighty frustrating to be instructed to turn left onto the street you just passed.
Also, it’s really slow to start up. This is frustrating when you wind up popping in and out of the app — whether because you’re making a call, or using another app. You need to wait patiently for the app to start before you can use it. If you’re en route, it usually remembers this, and asks you if you want to continue navigating to your destination. On a couple of occasions, though, exiting the app while en route resulted in a lost route. When I started the app again, I was presented with the home screen. It seems that there’s a minimum threshold for how long a route must be active before the app saves it. Put another way: don’t start navigating somewhere and then immediately close out of the app.
Finally, the app is really fond of U-turns. If I miss a turn, it will as often as not suggest that I make a U-turn. Maybe that’s okay in most parts of the world, but in Columbus, OH U-turns are illegal except at a few specifically designated intersections. If I don’t make a U-turn, I send the application into a fit as it tries to re-route me with every turn I make. I don’t mind being told to make a U-turn: I know I’m not supposed to do it, so I don’t. Instead, I make a couple of right or left turns to effectively get pointed back in the other direction. The Navigator app has no idea of my intentions, of course, and merrily recomputes a new route for me with every turn.
The Good
That sounds like a lot of negatives, and to be fair they’re legitimate concerns. But in all honesty, I’ve really enjoyed using this application. It’s been my experience that the routing is really good. I’ve never gotten lost using it, and it’s never given me a braindead route that causes problems. Indeed, on a Thanksgiving roadtrip to Cartersville, GA, it provided perfect directions to my sister-in-law’s house in a new development, while my mother-in-law got lost following the instructions from Google Maps.
Real-time traffic reports are included in the subscription fee. That, too, helped at Thanksgiving, so that I could know how far traffic would be bumper-to-bumper as we exited the city.
Probably the biggest selling point for the Navigator app, though, is the use of a server-based routing mechanism. Instead of loading all the map data onto your handset, the map data lives with Telenav. This means that updates can be made in real time, in reaction to important events. For example, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridge was closed over the Labor Day weekend this year. If you were using a traditional GPS device, it likely would have been ignorant of this fact, and happily told you to take the bridge to get out of town, leaving you stuck in traffic. Telenav routed around the bridge, since they knew it would be closed, thereby saving their customers a lot of frustration and wasted time.
A recent update to Navigator added full landscape support, which is a nice feature to have. I didn’t have any problems using the application strictly in portrait mode, but landscape is certainly handy sometimes! Here’s a video in which you can see it, and the iPod controls, in action:
So, how does AT&T Navigator, at $10/month, stack up against Google’s mapping service on the Verizon Droid? Alas, I’m not able to answer that question, yet, since I don’t have a Droid. I did ask both AT&T and Telenav, though, how they think things compare.
Here’s a quick comment from Todd Witkemper, from Telenav:
In general, here are a few differentiators that TeleNav products provide that Google Navigation does not have:
• Proven map data that is consistently updated (I’ve read multiple reviews of Google Navigation where the reviewer received incorrect routing)
• Online preplanning/account management
• A real person’s voice for majority of audio commands (vs. text to speech computerized voice)
• Proactive traffic alerts with one-click rerouting (you don’t have to change views to see traffic updates)
• Real-time gas prices, weather, WiFi hot spot listings, commute alerts and movie listings/ticket purchasing (movie info on AT&T Navigator 1.8)
• Route style options like avoiding HOV lanes and toll roads
• Location-sharing
TeleNav also supports more than 500 devices in multiple countries.
Seth Bloom at AT&T adds:
AT&T Navigator remains one of our most popular apps to date. We have a great, open and ongoing dialogue with our Navigator customers and feel confident in our track record of making enhancements based on real-time customer feedback.
More choice is always great for consumers, but we’re confident with this app and with our interactive dialogue with our customers that is helping ensure they get a premier voice and visual turn-by-turn GPS experience.
Bottom Line: if you don’t yet own a dedicated GPS, and you’re tired of the shortcomings of the iPhone’s Maps app, the Navigator app is a good option. Be sure to pay the yearly fee, rather than month-by-month.
Crunch Network: TechCrunchobsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies
I spend a lot of time highlighting the importance of omega-3 fatty acids and downplaying their poly cohorts, omega-6s. Of course, I do this for good reason. Western dietary patterns and modern agricultural practices have made omega-3s harder to come by and blown any semblance of omega-3/omega-6 dietary balance out of the water. As maligned as omega-6s are these days, however, they’re still essential fatty acids. Our bodies need them and can’t produce them on their own – straight and simple. The problem comes when we mistake emphasizing the omega imbalance in modern diets with disparaging omega-6 entirely. Although the Primal Blueprint promotes a healthy fatty acid balance – one that parallels that of our hunter-gatherer ancestors – I still get questions about omega-6s, particularly reservations about the role arachidonic acid (part of the omega-6 fatty acid family) plays in the PB.
Dear Mark,
While I totally agree with the importance and value of meat/eggs and vegetables, minus all grains and added sugars…my question is about the arachidonic acid (AA) found mostly in meat and egg yolks. It has been demonized by many, Barry Sears, etc., as the cause of all inflammation in the body. Is that a concern for us on the PB plan?
Arachidonic acid is both a product of the body’s natural linoleic acid conversion and, as the question notes, an existing (but modest) component of animal-based foods like egg yolk and meat – as well as human breastmilk. The particular beef with arachidonic acid revolves around its common conversion to omega-6 derived, “pro-inflammatory” eicosanoids, compounds (e.g. prostaglandins, prostacyclins, thromboxanes, leukotrienes, etc.) that play a role in the intercellular signaling that directs, among other key activities, neurological function and immune response – including inflammatory response. (Eicosanoids are also derived from EPA in the omega-3 family. These are considered anti-inflammatory.) Your proportion of omega-3 derived to omega-6 derived eicosanoids correlate for the most part with your dietary intake of omega-3s and 6s.
Already this correspondence shows that your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio has the most significant impact on your level of omega-6 derived eicosanoids and their inflammatory effects on your system. Consider that the average American has an omega ratio of 20:1, and that’s the ball game. Studies emphasizing the detrimental effects of AA generally focus on the isolated supplementation of AA rather than the impact of supplement when balanced with a correspondingly high intake of omega-3. Research that does gauge the impact of AA supplementation with a high omega-3 intake shows no significant cardiovascular impact. Invited analysis and commentary for the British Journal of Nutrition (which published the original study), citing a number of studies that show little to no appreciable effect of AA on many cardiovascular health and immune function markers, concluded (PDF) that “moderately increased arachidonic acid intake [designated as up to 1.5 grams or 1500 milligrams] is probably harmless in healthy adults.” Just for comparison sake, the average intake of dietary AA in the Western diet is estimated at 50-300 milligrams a day.
But there’s more reason for reassurance. Much of people’s AA content is likely determined by (and derived from) their high linoleic acid intake (in the forms of corn, soy and vegetable oils). Cut those out of your diet as the PB suggests, and you’re already ahead. As for direct AA dietary sources, chicken eggs weigh in at about 390 mg and 100 gram meat servings generally between 35-100 mg dependent in part on fat content (organ meat reach into the 150 mg range). In the context of a healthy omega ratio, the Primal Blueprint’s modest increase in direct dietary arachidonic acid doesn’t present a novel dietary risk as some (like Sears) would have your believe. Next, consider that grass-fed beef is lower in AA than feedlot beef (PDF). (Remember, it’s not just what you eat but what the cow/pig/chicken/duck/game animal/etc. on your plate ate before it got there. Stuff animals with omega-6 loaded feed and you’ll get meat loaded with forms of omega-6.) Add to this the protective (antioxidant, anti-cancer, pro-cardiovascular health) effects of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) present in grass fed meats and dairy – up to five times the CLA as you’ll find in grain-fed animals.
Next, there are the other mitigating factors of a Primal Blueprint diet. A healthy, nutrient-rich diet also has some effect on the prevalence of AA from linoleic acid conversion. Linoleic acid, the “parent” omega-6 compound, is broken down by the body into gamma-linoleic acid (GLA). From there, the conversion leads toward either arachidonic acid or dihomogamma-linolenic acid (DGLA), which is actually anti-inflammatory. Minerals like magnesium and zinc and vitamins like C, B3 and B6 appear to encourage the body to redirect GLA conversion toward DGLA instead of AA. Research shows it’s a more complicated picture – inflammatory and anti-inflammatory.
Finally, as I mentioned before, it’s important to keep in mind that arachidonic acid isn’t the bogeyman that it’s made out to be. It comprises a necessary component of cellular membrane structure and supports everything from dermal integrity to muscular growth and repair. It’s no accident that arachidonic acid is present in breast milk. AA plays a critical role in brain development, and a whole host of research comparing AA-supplemented formula with non-supplemented formula underscores this connection. Likewise, AA supports continuing role in neurological health as demonstrated in studies involving older adults. When it comes to arachidonic acid, the general principle holds: it’s all about overall balance and healthfulness.
Thanks as always for the great questions and comments, and keep ‘em coming!
2009 MTM Audi A3 Sportback – Click above for high-res image gallery
In the automotive world, price is increasingly a function of degrees. How’s that? Dial in a faster windscreen angle, aggressively rake the rear glass and – voilà! – you’ve just padded your margins to the tune of a few thousand bucks. Take a plain-jane sedan, hire some stylists to turn it into a “four-door coupe” with a racy greenhouse, and you can use the same mechanicals and still charge a mint. The same goes for crossovers – just steepen the backlight and you’re in the ducats. Not convinced? See the Mercedes-Benz CLS and BMW X6 for field notes.
MTM is planning on selling only 15 of these in the U.S.
We note all of this because we’re sure you’re going to look at the upright profile of this MTM Audi A3 Sportback and dismissively turn up your nose when you learn its pricetag is around $55,000. But if we lopped off a couple of doors or gave it a less formal roofline, we’d be willing to bet that its price would suddenly look a lot more palatable. All of which is understandable, really, as $55k is a lot of coin to be shelling out – especially considering that at a few shekels over $27k, a base A3 starts at roughly half the money.
But shelve your bodystyle prejudices and bear with us for a moment. If you’re like us, you’ve looked longingly at a lot of what the Four-Ringed Wunder has been kicking out on its home continent – models like the RS6 Avant, TT-RS and S3. And unless you’ve got some seriously deep pockets, an inside man on the gray market and a relative who owes you a favor at the local DMV, you haven’t got a prayer of landing any such tasty treats here in the U.S. So while the folks at Motoren-Technik-Mayer (MTM) can’t source you an assembly-line-fresh S3 for your middle-American driveway, they can build you a road-legal doppelganger, and as it turns out, that ain’t half bad.
We’ve talked up the Audi A3’s virtues and vices before, so we’ll spare you the gab about how much we enjoy its well-resolved interior, grippy Quattro all-wheel drive, planted handling and surprising utility. We’ve also not been shy in mentioning how its price tag can get disastrously dear with just a brief once-over of Audi’s options list – and that’s before handing it over to a tuner like MTM. But enough with the apologies – ride along with us past the jump to see if this hot hatch is full of excuses… or full of win.
Hace escasos mintos, Mercedes Grand Prix acaba de confirmar un acuerdo con la compañía Petronas. Esta es una firma de combustibles y lubricantes de malasia la cuál ha sido el patrocinador principal de BMW-Sauber hasta la marcha de dicha escudería.
Tras este anuncio, se descartan los rumores que relacionaban a Petronas con su escudería paisana Lotus F1 Racing. También se ha confirmado que la firma seguirá siendo el patrocinador oficial del GP de Malasia disputado en el circuito de Sepang.
Sin duda esta es una grata noticia para la joven Mercedes Grand Prix que con este acuerdo se asegura el tener un gran patrocinador con mucha experiencia en el terreno de la Fórmula 1.
Sure this is Florida’s winningest senior class ever. It will be legend Tim Tebow’s last game in a Gator uniform. They will be playing in the Sugar bowl, a BCS contest, against upstart undefeated Cincinnati. Yea, I know, it’s not Pasadena. Many Gators fans were thinking BCS national championship game all the way this season. Undefeated–something no Gator team has ever done. But a blow-out rematch with Alabama in the SEC CG has put Florida in the same pot as Alabama was last year–in a consolation match in the Sugar Bowl–the de facto home of the SEC CG loser the last couple of years. Hey! This is the Sugar, not the Weedeater Bowl. And this time it’s against a BCS opponent (barely), not a Mountain West upstart. But it’s Pasadena Lost for the Gators and they might be looking to lay an egg on par with what the Crimson Tide did with Utah last year.
Gator fans, like all fans, seem to be voting with their wallets. Initially given an allotment of 17,500 tickets at $125 each, Florida had roughly 5000 still available as of Friday, a far cry from the immediate sell-outs from years past. This is the school’s 19th consecutive bowl game. And it’s the SUGAR Bowl (did we mention that?) The usual suspects are trotted out as excuses for the lack of virility in ticket sales. The economy is bad. It’s Christmas time. Come on Gators, get up and go (to NOLA).
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve always said that the Gators travel better than any other team in the SEC. And I think the Gators will go to the game en masse. They just may not buy the tickets through the university at inflated prices, not with so many discounted tickets being available on the secondary market. Hey, a fan’s got to do what a fan’s got to do. It’s the University Athletic Association that’s on the hook for the tickets. They have to eat what’s left, and that could end up being quite the feast with two or three thousand tickets left when it’s all said and done.
The original deadline for sales was two Saturdays ago. Then it got moved to last Wednesday. Now there is no deadline. Call now! Operators are standing by. An email was sent out to 500,000 fans stating that there is no limit on the number purchased. And the first 500 callers will receive a free Gator Snuggie complete with a bonus reading light. Okay, I’m just kidding about the Snuggie. But you can keep the reading light as a token of our appreciation. Could you maybe include a Sham Wow? Perhaps bundle them with mortgages and sell them on Wall Street? Throw in a Nobel Peace Prize with the purchase of five or more? Or why not just cut prices? Hmmm.
So does all this add up to a possible anticlimactic ending for Florida against Cincinnati come next Friday night, or will the Gators give Tebow his rightful send off? Do we need another promise speech by Tebow as motivation? Can we expect another address by Corrine Brown? On paper, Florida looks stronger than the Bearcats. Plus, they just got their coach poached by Notre Dame. Maybe Cincy might be a little anticlimactic too, having had the wind knocked out of them and blown clear into South Bend. But they do have something to prove–not only for their program, but for the Big East. That and the fact that they’re a pretty damn good football team.
But what will Tebow have to say about all this? It was rumored that he was upset about the lack of intensity in practices leading up to Atlanta by some of his teammates . Will he sufficiently motivate the team this time? Tebow has only lost back-to-back games once in his career–in 2007 against Auburn and LSU. And the Gators severely under-achieved in the Capital One Bowl that year by losing to Michigan. Will that Gator team show up in New Orleans this year and have their captain ride off into an orange and blue sunset?
For quite a long time, speculating on how and when will Twitter make money has been a favorite discussion point for the tech media, but it now looks like the speculation is over, Twitter may have already reached profitability. The company still doesn’t have a constant revenue stream, but the revenue from the recent search deals it struck with Google and Microsoft are said to be enough to make it profitable for 2009, according to Bloomberg.
The publication, citing people close to the matter, claims that Twitter got about $15 million from Google for full access to the stream and all the tweets and a further $10 million from Microsoft. These revenues alone are expected to be enough for the site to reach profitability as expenses are estimated to be at $20 million to $25 million. The biggest expenses for the service used to be carrier charges, which it paid to enable users to receive free updates from their streams via SMS. Recently though, the site’s popularity gave it much more bargaining power allowing it to lower those expenses.
There are a few caveats for the moment though. Even if Twitter did indeed make the $25 million, which it hasn’t officially acknowledged, it’s unclear if the payments were an one-time deal or maybe yearly payment for the access. Twitter has had some other revenue generating deals t… (read more)
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For quite a long time, speculating on how and when will Twitter make money has been a favorite discussion point for the tech media, but it now looks like the speculation is over, Twitter may have already reached profitability. The company still doesn’t have a constant revenue stream, but the revenue from the recent search deals it struck with Google and Microsoft are said to be enough to make it profitable for 2009, according to Bloomberg.