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Subaru es la única marca de coches que puede presumir de equipar de serie todos sus coches con tracción integral simétrica desde 1972 (sin contar el Justy). Es una forma de diferenciarse del resto de marcas y poder ofrecer algo que determinados usuarios buscan, y aunque sigue siendo poco habitual ver coches de esta marca por la calle, bien es verdad que cada vez es más común.

Nuestra unidad monta un motor Boxer Diésel, presentado por la marca en el año 2008 en Europa con la peculiaridad de que los pistones trabajan de forma plana con respecto al cigüeñal, horizontalmente al suelo, lo que le permite ser más bajo y así bajar el centro de gravedad. Pero esto no es todo sobre el motor, ofrece 150 CV que bien pueden antojarse cortos para el peso del coche, pero suficientes para la vida diaria.

Motor y prestaciones

La capacidad del único motor Boxer Diésel que monta la marca en este modelo es de 2.0 litros y un par máximo de 250 Nm en un rango corto de 1.800 a 2.400 rpm. Esto se nota en la conducción, puesto que a más de 3.000 vueltas, al coche le cuesta subir de vueltas y transmitir su potencia a las ruedas. Paga el 9,75% de impuesto de matriculación; emite 167 g/km de CO₂.

La ventaja de este tipo de motor Boxer diésel con respecto a los de otras marcas, es su singular geometría que varía mucho de la tipología en línea de la mayoría de los turismos y en V de los que son algo más potentes haciendo que los cigüeñales sean más cortos. Se consigue reducir las vibraciones evitando instalar un eje de equilibrado.

Consigue acelerar en menos de 10 segundos (9,7 para ser más exactos) alcanzando una velocidad punta de 195 km/h, más que suficiente para rodar por carreteras españolas. Pero como podréis imaginar, su buen comportamiento en carretera no es su mejor cualidad, sino su capacidad a bajas velocidades y en terrenos complicados y a veces impensables para un coche de este segmento.

Aun así, a velocidades cercanas a los 150 km/h, el ruido en el habitáculo es casi inexistente incluso con la radio apagada; el motor no vibra, la suspensión es más blanda que dura pero óptima teniendo en cuenta los terrenos por los que accede y dedicarlo a uso exclusivo de ciudad y viaje es no obtener el potencial máximo del coche, pero muy apto porque su espacio interior es realmente amplio.

Es en terrenos con superficies resbaladizas (nieve, fango) donde se exprime al máximo y donde su tracción trabaja al 100%. Está desarrollado para eso, por lo que se siente a las mil maravillas en este terreno, sin sufrir ni un momento. Es por ello que la relación de la caja de cambios es más bien corta, ofreciendo la máxima potencia a bajas vueltas y agotándola sin llegar al corte de inyección. El cambio es suave y preciso, aunque no destaca.

La dirección no sobresale, sino más bien todo lo contrario. En determinadas curvas a media velocidad por carretera, sorprende la blandura, dando sensación de inseguridad y de pérdida de control. Esto por el contrario se agradece para maniobras a bajas velocidades, donde el giro del volante no ofrece resistencia. Es necesario acostumbrarse y al principio, puede dar más que un susto.

La capacidad del depósito de combustible es de 65 litros con una autonomía de más de 1.000 kilómetros en circuito mixto. En nuestro caso no alcanzamos tal autonomía, principalmente porque el consumo oficial extraurbano era difícil de superar: 5,6 litros. Obtuvimos dos décimas más en poco más de 100 kilómetros de medición. No gasta mucho teniendo en cuenta la tracción total y el peso del coche. En ciudad sobrepasamos los 8 litros en el ordenador.

Comportamiento Offroad

Partimos de un coche ciertamente más altos con respecto al suelo que muchos SUV. Su altura libre es de 20 centímetros, permitiendo salvar muchos más obstáculos de los que aparentemente podría. Su altura total de poco más de metro y medio despista. Aun así, no tenemos control sobre la tracción y actúa únicamente cuando el sistema detecta pérdida de tracción en las ruedas delanteras.

Es un gustazo saber que hay pocos terrenos a los que se resiste (trialeras, zonas de difícil agarre), que como es lógico, existen, por la ausencia de reductora. No es un coche para ir por campo ni hacer aventura, está más bien destinado a asfalto o superficies resbaladizas como nieve y algún que otro charco considerable.

No dispone de control de descensos, más propio de otros vehículos con tracción total más adaptados al campo. Sería una tontería incorporarlo visto el uso al que está destinado.

Como se puede apreciar en la fotografía, lo sometimos a una dura prueba en terreno invernal. La superficie inferior era arena (ni siquiera asfalto) y los casi 20 centrímetros de nieve no fueron obstáculo para poderse mover a las mil maravillas. Tampoco requería de unas dotes expertas para poder moverlo por la nieve, sino que más bien lo contrario: el conductor debe ocuparse únicamente de no calar el coche y de girar el volante; el resto, lo hará el coche.

En la siguiente parte de la prueba trataremos el diseño exterior e interior, que nos ha sorprendido por la comodidad y cantidad y calidad de equipamiento que ofrece.

Fotos | Jorge Rubio

Ever wondered what your primary care physician is doing when they’re not seeing patients. Quite a lot, says a new study that breaks down the daily tasks faced by doctors at a small family practice.

Dr. Richard Baron and his colleagues at their Philadelphia practice studied the data in their electronic health record and recently published their findings in the New England Journal of Medicine.

In addition to seeing an average of 18.1 patients/day, each day the doctors in the study:

* Received and made an average of 23.7 telephone calls “of sufficient clinical import to engage a physician,” almost 80% of which were handled directly by the doctor.

* Averaged 16.8 e-mails. 59.3% for interpreting test results, 21.7% for responding to patients, 9.3% for administrative problems, 5.0% for acute problems, 2.8% for proactive outreach to patients, 1.9% for discussions with consultants.

* Processed 12.1 prescription refills, not including those as part of a patient visit.

* Reviewed 19.5 lab reports

* Reviewed 11.1 imaging reports

* Reviewed 13.9 consult reports

And of course the reviewing of the above reports all involves updating of patient records, as well as communicating with both the patients and those who provided the reports.

The study said that the physicians in this office averaged a 50-60 hour work week and that there were 3.5 members of support staff for every one physician.

What’s Keeping Us So Busy in Primary Care? A Snapshot from One Practice [NEJM via WSJ]

Having the power shut off in your home due to lack of payments can really motivate you to pay your bills—or perhaps to begin siphoning electricity with a meat hook. A recent report from Reuters describes a middle-aged man in Germany who has been stealing electricity from a high-voltage overhead transmission line using a run-of-the-mill meat hook. After getting cut off by the power company for not paying his bills, the energy thief decided he would acquire the necessary power on his own; he attached a meat hook to the end of a long cable, and hurled the hook onto an overhead power line 150 meters from his house. By routing some of the electricity to his meter box, the man powered his home illegally for an entire month before anyone noticed. Now before you run off to Home Depot to buy cable and meat hooks (do they sell meat hooks at Home Depot?), you should be aware that siphoning electricity is not only illegal, it’s also insanely dangerous. A report from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation noted the recent death of a man who was electrocuted from trying to siphon off power for an illegal drug lab. And utility employee Friedrich-Wilhelm Lach …

New York is called “The Empire State.”

Its illustrious history has brought America a generation of political leaders, such as Teddy Roosevelt, and F.D.R.

So what happened?

“If you would ask the average person,” says former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, “they would say throw the bums out!, and I would agree.”

The state has been beset by a slew of problems, from politicians engaged in wrongdoing, to the state legislature unable to agree on how to deal with the projected $9.2 billion budget deficit.

And that’s on top of more than $8 billion in new fees and taxes already imposed by Democratic Governor David Paterson.

And the budget is already late.

Again.

At 85 years old, Koch is spearheading an effort to spur voters to fix what many consider the New York State Mess. He’s behind the group, “New York Uprising,” intended to reform what the Brennan Center for Justice has called “the most dysfunctional legislature in the country.”

“We want a legislature that says we’re here to serve the people, not here to serve ourselves, not here to serve friends,” says Koch, who more than thirty years ago helped save New York City from bankruptcy when he was first elected mayor in 1977.

“I thought, someone’s going to stand up and organize and throw the rascals out, but nobody did,” he says. “I believe that this is the year to make the changes and if we don’t do it this year, we’ll never have an opportunity comparable…we have an opportunity now to make a difference.”

The state’s top officials, the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and even one of the U.S. Senators are all unelected.

And a slew of state legislators, both Republican and Democrat, have been convicted of crimes ranging from financial fraud, to domestic abuse, – to even stealing money from the Little League.

Governor Paterson is not running for election. He’s under investigation for his alleged role in helping a top aide in a domestic abuse case. The Governor has denied any wrongdoing, but the scandal has been enough that he decided to not seek a full term on his own. He got the job after his predecessor, Governor Eliot Spitzer, resigned for patronizing prostitutes.

“Let’s face it, it’s been a pretty crazy year and a half,” admits the Democratic President of the State Senate, Malcolm Smith.

He insists progress is being made, ‘change comes slow,” he says.

“We reformed public authorities, local governments have changed, and we’ve reformed Rockefeller drug laws which were so critical for everybody, transportation and also a pension system. We’ve done all that for the first time in 50 years,” boasts Smith, who says “I think we have been functioning quite well.”

But the Republican minority leader of the Democratic controlled state Assembly wants what he calls “A Peoples’ Convention” to try and push reform and send a message to the politicians.

“I think this is our best opportunity to have effective change in Albany if we actually try and get this convention convened,” urges Assemblyman Brian Kolb.

He says you can’t count on the usual Albany politicians, “because the budget’s late again, last year they passed 8 and a half billion dollars worth of new taxes and fees,” and he says “the last four years it’s been an unmitigated disaster in the executive mansion. There’s been no leadership, we’ve had scandals and that adds to not being able to get things done.”

Mayor Koch notes there is a reason for the gridlock.

“You have people in office who are rarely thrown out. Less than 3% in any election lose, who are incumbents. They become satisfied and they begin to think it belongs to them and they don’t realize they’re there to serve the public, they think the public is there to serve them.”

The Brennan Center for Justice estimates that a state legislator in New York has a better chance of resigning amid a scandal or being convicted of a crime, than losing at the polls.

In the end, says Koch, the people lose because of the politicians.

“The good are not good enough. They didn’t stand up. And the bad are evil.”

-Fox News Senior Correspondent Eric Shawn has covered New York politics since he was in high school. He first interviewed then Congressman Ed Koch for a cable television public access school project in 1974.

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Up around Cape Cod, they were so worried about how the Cape Wind project might affect their views, or more precisely, their property values, that the opposition to this groundbreaking project dragged on and on. It took nine years to get final approval, which came yesterday from the Department of the Interior.

Two years ago we ran a story about another wind project, in nearby Hull, Mass., where the vast majority of residents are quite pleased with their money-saving wind turbines, which are a lot more up close and view-affecting than the Cape Wind project will ever be. Richard Miller, operations manager of the Hull Municipal Light Plant (HMLP), said then: “There has been no resistance on the part of the residents.”

Perhaps wind is a little less intimidating once it’s saving your school district $20K a year.

Around that time, we also ran a conceptual photograph of what Cape Wind is projected to look like from the Cape. Here’s one example of the developer’s vision of how the view won’t (or will, depending on your perspective) be affected:

Projected view of wind installation from Nantucket (Cape Wind Associates)

You can see that the horizon is dotted with something on the right. Those are the planned wind turbines at five miles out.

I can understand that this is a change. The view is altered — a bit. Ted Kennedy, ardent proponent of many progressive causes, didn’t like it at all. But it seems pretty benign looking at it here.

Contrast that picture with those showing the current oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico:

Oil slick, April 25 (Photo: NASA)

Oil rig explosion April 20 (Photo: U.S. Coast Guard)

Some will say, these are apples and oranges. Wind will power homes, replacing coal, natural gas and maybe nuclear power generation. Crude oil mainly serves the transportation sector. You need both. They’re not a replacement for each other. Check that.

But this does illustrate the power spectrum — from the vastly dirty example of this large oil slick creeping toward the still-recovering estuaries in Louisiana to the cleanest, greenest power source.

This view-altering oil spill is not just a bummer for coastal real estate, it’s life-threatening for nesting birds, marine life and the entire coastal ecology, which has been in recovery since Hurricane Katrina blasted through, also carrying spilled oil. As an estimated 5,000 barrels of oil a day continue to spew into the Gulf from the collapsed BP operation, it will certainly affect shrimp and other fishing enterprises, hurting Gulf region employment and your dining options.

Like the Massey coal mine collapse earlier this spring, this is just one more example of how the true cost of our energy infrastructure cannot be tallied by adding up the price of the produced commodity. Starting with the loss of 11 lives in the initial explosion, the costs are steep. There’s the cost of the clean-up — in the billions, though President Obama says BP must pay the total tab. But BP will never be able to reimburse the region for the likely millions that will be lost in tourism dollars and shrimping revenue. This damage, like the harm to dolphins and threatened sea turtles, can never be fully recaptured. (Bloomberg News sources estimate that the disaster will cost the insurance industry $1.5 billion.)

This oil mess serves as a potent reminder that we need to change our transportation priorities. This year, a handful of Americans will begin running their vehicles on wind and solar power. How? Take an EV coming onto the market, plug it in to a home running on clean energy. That’s a wind-powered or solar-powered car. When you consider all that wind can do — or for that matter, solar, the ultimate on-site power solution — it’s hard not to conclude that we need to make a hard turn in that direction.

Climate change or no climate change, we’ve got to get our head on straight about our energy priorities.

This latest political mantra of trying to please everyone, and appease oil interests, this plan that brought us to Obama’s decision to open more U.S. coastline to oil drilling, has some merit. We do not want to fight wars to find oil. But it risks tethering us to dirty energy sources for too long.

This psuedo-patriotric “it’s all good” strategy in which Barack Obama’s rhetoric and BP’s commercials seemed to eerily echo each other, may not find the right balance. And we need to re-balance our plan, in favor of the future.

I will refrain from quoting Marx here (such a turnoff when Americans quote communists!) but let’s just say that those in power tend to remain in power because they control things. I’m speaking here of big oil or Big Oil. The status quo exerts major inertia, and can justify its continued maintenance, given all those jobs (and Congressmen and women) it supports.

At the end of the day, though, we wouldn’t want to find ourselves lost in a petrified forest of fossil fuels, still searching for a greener path. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar saw that when he approved the Cape Wind project this week.

So if the sight of that oil spill terrifies you, (see ABC’s Good Morning America coverage for video), then consider making changes to reduce your oil consumption.

We ran a piece on that topic called Travel Lighter for Earth Week — when this oil spill occurred on April 20, just in time for Earth Day, April 22.

And if you live on the Eastern Seaboard, which Obama just opened up for oil exploration, you can tell your governor’s office that you’re OK with what wind does to the horizon, but not so fond of the idea of drilling for oil off your beautiful coast. Just explain that you’d prefer a tiny intrusion on the horizon to the potential beach-annihilating, wildlife killing, Maryland-sized occasional uncontrollable oil spill.

Copyright © 2010 Green Right Now | Distributed by GRN Network

Republican Rob Russo dropped out of the race for Congress on Thursday and endorsed state Sen. Dan Debicella in the Fourth Congressional District.

Russo, a former aide to U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays and a former state senator, said that Debicella is the best Republican to run against U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, a Greenwich Democrat who ended Shays’s 21-year tenure in the 2008 election. 

“This has not been an easy decision, but I am convinced it is the right one,” Russo wrote in a letter to supporters. “I entered the race for Congress seven months ago because I strongly believed that Fairfield County desperately needed that independent leadership in Congress that we all admired so much in Christopher Shays and Stewart McKinney before him.”

He added, “We cannot afford to re-elect a Congressman who blindly follows his party bosses while he ignores the people he was elected to serve.  Seven months later, I still believe all this to be true. Having talked with many of the delegates to the Fourth District Republican convention, it is my belief that I would garner more than enough votes to qualify to challenge the party-endorsed candidate in a primary. However, I do not believe that forcing a primary is in the best interests of our party.”

Instead, he said Republican voters in Fairfield County need to rally around a single candidate.

“We need to support a fiscal conservative who understands the federal government cannot solve all of our problems,” Russo said. “We need a strong candidate who understands how the Democrats’ health care bill will harm our country, and will do what needs to be done to fix it. I believe this candidate is my good friend, Dan Debicella.”

Debicella is a Shelton Republican who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Himes is a Rhodes Scholar from Greenwich who once worked at the investment powerhouse Goldman Sachs. 

Amy Roth — that’s Skepchick Surly Amy to you — interviewed Cassini tour designer John Smith. It’s part of a new segment on Skepchick called Keep your day job:

Amy is a cool chick: artistic, skeptical, tattooed, photographically inclined, and loves astronomy. I got to hang with her and other skepchicks last week in Pasadena, and life is always better when that happens.

After a bit of a technical problem, Burnett, Liesman, and Allen Sinai from Decision Economics discuss the problems of Greece and where they’ll spread next. Sinai sees it going from bad to worse as Portugal and Spain join the ranks of Greece.

And if you thought the United States was safe, think again.

Join the conversation about this story »

Las marcas chinas no acaban de asentarse en Europa, los tímidos intentos realizados por Land Wind con el famoso 4×4 que tuviera unos nefastos resultados en las pruebas de choque y ahora con Brilliance que también había intentado vender en algunos países Europeos (Alemania y algunos países del entorno si no me equivoco) sus modelos BS6 y BS4.

Brilliance aterrizó en Europa en 2007 con la berlina de gran tamaño, BS6, pero que tenía unos pésimos resultados en seguridad y crash test, pese a que se realizaron mejoras en materia de seguridad en el modelo, siguió sin despertar demasiado interés entre el público europeo. Posteriormente llegó el BS4, una berlina media que tampoco pudo levantar las ventas del fabricante chino.

Con apenas medio millar de vehículos vendidos en Europa, se va pero según prometen regresaran con motores más eficientes y una relación calidad-precio mejor, pero también hay que tener en cuenta que los motores que usaban estos vehículos tampoco superaban la normativa Euro V sobre emisiones.

Vía | Autoblog en español

Rumors & facts: Is China making its grand entrance to the U.S. corn trade?

Rumors & facts: Is China making its grand entrance to the U.S. corn trade? Small tender might be the start of longer-term buying program, traders say Mike McGinnis & Jeff Caldwell Agriculture.com Editors 4/28/2010, 10:23 AM CDT

Rumors about a possible corn-buying program by China — one that, if realized, could add a huge new demand factor to the U.S. corn trade — received more fuel Wednesday morning with the announcement the nation will buy 2 cargoes of corn, amounting to 115,000 metric tons, from the U.S. Continues at link.

[JURIST] The Belgian House of Representatives on Thursday voted 136-0 to approve a bill that would ban the Islamic burqa and other full face veils in public. The proposed legislation applies to areas “accessible to the public” or areas meant for “public use or to provide public services.” Violators could face a penalty of up to seven days in jail or a fine of 15 to 25 euros. Proponents argue that the legislation is necessary both as a security measure and to prevent women from being forced to wear the garments. Opponents have said that the bill restricts freedom of expression. The measure must now go before the Senate. If approved, Belgium would become the first European nation to impose a nationwide restriction on traditional face-covering veils.
France, which has Europe’s largest Muslim population, has also been pressing for a ban on the burqa. Last week, a spokesperson for French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that the president is in favor of a complete public ban on the burqa and other full face veils and will be submitting a bill to parliament in May. Last month, the French Council of State advised the French government against a complete ban on full Islamic veils because it risks violating the French Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. France already has a partial ban that prevents public officials from wearing veils while operating in their official capacity and also prohibits veils in public schools. Also last month, lawmakers in Quebec introduced a bill that would ban women from wearing full face veils from public services, which garnered support from members of the Muslim Canadian Congress who argue that the law would not violate human rights and would promote the ideals of a free and democratic society.

Filed under: Sedan, Wagon, China, Europe, Plants/Manufacturing, Earnings/Financials

Chinese automaker Brilliance is pulling out of Europe with no plans to return, according to Autoweek. The company began selling both its BS4 and BS6 sedans in the old country back in 2007, though sales have been beyond dismal. As of the end of 2009, dealers only managed to move a paltry 502 units – a figure that fell well south of the 158,000 cars the company had planned to sell over a five year period. Throw in the fact that Brilliance refuses to price its products any lower to get its foot in the European door, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

The company fought an uphill battle with consumers after both models had trouble getting past crash test standards in 2007, and things didn’t improve from there. For the time being, production has completely stopped, and the company has no timetable for bringing the business back on line.

If Brilliance does decide to jump back into the European market, it will be looking at some pretty hefty engineering costs. The current BS4 and BS6 are only designed to meet Euro 4 standards, and with Euro 5 coming down the pike, the platforms would need to undergo significant updates. Naturally, the news also means that Europeans won’t be seeing the lovely BS4 Wagon anytime soon, either.

[Source: Autoweek]

China’s Brilliance reportedly retreats from Europe after ‘cool reception’ originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) will likely offer the first amendment to Sen. Chris Dodd’s financial regulatory reform bill which is now on the floor and in the process of being merged with Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s (D-Ark.) derivatives language. It will be a symbolic amendment, and a bipartisan favorite: No taxpayer funds for Wall Street bailouts. According to Talking Points Memo, Dodd says the real work on voting amendments into the bill will start on Tuesday.

Particularly valuable to those with Hepatitis C, a new investigation sheds light on the common misconception that veggie burgers are a liver-friendly food.

by Nicole Cutler, L.Ac.

For the estimated four to five million Americans living with chronic Hepatitis C, protecting their livers from damage is paramount to staying healthy. Assuming veggie burgers to be health food fare, many with Hepatitis C make this popular vegetarian item a dietary staple. However, a non-profit organization that performs research and investigations on agricultural issues has found that some veggie burgers may not be all that. In fact, the Cornucopia Institute recently revealed that many veggie burgers are made with a toxin that is known to put an additional burden on the liver.

Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is a virus that lurks in the bodies of a staggering number of people, slowly damaging the liver. While about half of those infected are lucky enough to successfully eliminate the virus from their body with the current standard treatment, a significant portion of those with Hepatitis C must wait for better, emerging treatments.

The liver is an amazing organ, responsible for countless functions that keep us alive. One of the liver’s primary responsibilities is to remove waste and toxins from the blood supply. Unfortunate for those with chronic Hepatitis C, a liver that has already sustained damage from the virus has a much harder time cleansing the blood. Thus, more toxins circulate throughout the body, a situation that puts many structures in jeopardy – including the liver.

Having a higher concentration of toxins in the blood is akin to a double whammy for the liver:

· With more toxins to process, there is a greater workload on the liver.

· The increased toxin exposure causes more liver cells to die – rendering them unable to function.

Thus, individuals managing chronic Hepatitis C must make every effort to limit the amount of toxins their liver contends with.

Hexane
A toxic chemical made from crude oil, hexane is used in the manufacture of some soy-based foods. In conventional food processing, soybeans are immersed in what the industry calls a “hexane bath” before they are further processed into ingredients such as oil, soy protein isolate or texturized soy protein – common ingredients in traditional veggie burgers. Unfortunately, the liver bears the brunt of hexane’s burden, and can easily be damaged by high levels of hexane exposure.

Veggie Burgers
People managing Hepatitis C typically strive to avoid easily recognizable liver toxins like cigarette smoke, processed junk food and alcohol. However, most are totally unaware that some vegetarian food contains hazardous chemicals. A recent investigation by the Cornucopia Institute found that many non-organic veggie burgers are made with hexane.

In order to meet the demands of health-conscious consumers, manufacturers of soy-based fake meat like to make their products have as little fat as possible. The cheapest way to do this is by submerging soybeans in a bath of hexane to separate the oil from the protein. According to Cornucopia Institute senior researcher Charlotte Vallaeys, “If a non-organic product contains a soy protein isolate, soy protein concentrate, or texturized vegetable protein, you can be pretty sure it was made using soy beans that were made with hexane.”

According to the Cornucopia Institute, popular veggie burgers made with hexane, include:

· Amy’s Kitchen
· Boca Burger, conventional
· Franklin Farms
· Garden Burger
· It’s All Good Lightlife
· Morningstar Farms
· President’s Choice
· Taste Above
· Trader Joe’s
· Yves Veggie Cuisine

Veggie burgers that are hexane-free, include:

· Boca Burgers “Made with organic soy”
· Helen’s Kitchen
· Morningstar “Made with organic”
· Superburgers by Turtle Island
· Tofurky
· Wildwood

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic standards strictly prohibit the use of hexane. While products labeled “organic” aren’t allowed to contain any hexane-derived ingredients, that rule doesn’t apply to foods that are labeled “made with organic ingredients.”

There is no realistic way to avoid contact from all of the toxins lurking in today’s society. However, until everyone infected can be cured from Hepatitis C, those with the virus have extra motivation to minimize their toxin exposure. Thanks to the Cornucopia Institute’s research, we know which veggie burgers contain hexane and which are hexane-free – knowledge that gives those with Hepatitis C greater control over the toxins gaining entrance into their bodies.

References:

http://peer.tamu.edu/curriculum_modules/cell_Biology/module_5/hazards2.htm, A Toxic Substance – Hexane, Retrieved April 14, 2010, Texas A & M University, 2010.
http://www.alternet.org/food/146439/which_veggie_burgers_were_made_with_a_neurotoxin, Which Veggie Burgers Were Made With a Neurotoxin?, Kiera Butler, Retrieved April 14, 2010, Mother Jones Online, April 2010.

http://www.cornucopia.org/soysurvey/OrganicSoyReport/behindthebean_color_final.pdf, Behind the Bean: The Heroes and Charlatans of the Natural and Organic Soy Foods Industry, Retrieved April 14, 2010, Retrieved April 14, 2010, Cornucopia Institute, 2010.

http://www.eco-usa.net/toxics/chemicals/hexane.shtml, Hexane, Michael Habeck, Retrieved April 14, 2010, Toxicological Profile for Hexane, July 1999, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Eco-USA, 2010.

Although the crystal ball is a bit murky on what Vonage Holdings Corp.’s (VG) first quarter earnings report will look like when it’s released May 5, 2010, we got a clear glimpse into the company’s executive compensation practices, thanks to the proxy that Vonage filed yesterday.

That filing might lead one to conclude that the company’s revenues are soaring. And in the press release that accompanied the 8-K that Vonage filed on February 25, 2010, the company reported some improvements which prompted CEO Marc Lefar to say:

“In many ways, 2009 was a remarkable year for Vonage. During the past year, we upgraded our value proposition, enhanced the customer experience, reduced costs and better positioned the Company for future growth — this has been a breakthrough financial year. Although we faced considerable challenges due to the economy, competition and wireless substitution, we are stronger and more vibrant than ever.”

But a glimpse into the past leaves us less than convinced about Lefar’s rosy views.

Since 2002 (when it got its first residential subscriber), Vonage has used the voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) to provide customers with local and long distance telephone service. Based in Holmdel, New Jersey, Vonage reports that it employs about 1,225 people and serves about 2.4 million customers. That’s about 172,000 fewer subscriber lines than Vonage had at the end of 2008.

Vonage has traded for between $0.31 and $2.63 per share in the past year; it’s currently selling for $1.65 per share. That’s more than 86% lower than it traded for on May 31, 2006, when it sold for nearly $13.00 per share.

Now let’s take a closer look at that proxy.

Last year Lefar (who joined Vonage in July, 2008) got a base salary of $883,000 (he gets $925,000 in 2010), a bonus of $689,000, option awards of nearly $2.3 million, and almost $817,000 of “Other” compensation. Most of that – $ 648,127 – was for “private travel,” but $146,925 (more than $12,000 per month) paid for Lefar’s temporary housing expenses. Vonage also grossed-up the amounts to cover any taxes that Lefar owed on the benefits. As the proxy (and Michelle’s prior Vonage posts) explain:

“Mr. Lefar is entitled to payment for or reimbursement of his commercial air and car transport between Atlanta, Georgia, the location of our business office for certain product management and development employees and where Mr. Lefar maintains his primary residence, and our principal offices. Each year during the term of the employment agreement, Mr. Lefar is also entitled to (i) payment of or reimbursement for amounts up to a maximum of $600,000 plus the cost of commercial air travel (i.e., the cost of a first-class, fully refundable, direct flight booked one week prior to travel), to be used by Mr. Lefar for private air travel, (ii) payment of or reimbursement for the cost of housing (i.e., furnished housing, including utilities) near our principal offices and (iii) gross-up for tax purposes of any income arising from such expense payments or reimbursements that are treated as nondeductible taxable income.”

In July, Lefar will have completed two years of the three-year contract, an agreement that provides that his options will vest immediately if Vonage is sold and there’s a change in control. Had that occurred on December 31, 2009, Lefar would have received $2.5 million.

The company also announced a couple of weeks ago that it’s losing Gov. Tom Ridge as a board member. Ridge, who has served on Vonage’s board since 2005, declined to stand for re-election because of “other business commitments, including the travel and time demands associated with operating his global strategic consulting company.”

Let’s hope that when the results are announced next week, the shareholders have as much to celebrate as Lefar and the other top executives do.

Image source: M. Gifford via Flickr

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HTC has announced its projections for the second quarter, and they are aiming high.  HTC says it expects to sell 4.5 million handsets, with revenue to peak at 1.6 billion USD.  This is a pretty big jump from the 3.3 million handsets sold in Q1, and the company is ahead of market analyst expectations.  In today’s ecomony, any earnings increase is nice.  This kind of growth is phenomenal, and HTC’s CFO Cheng Hui-ming credits the increase to one thing — the "growing popularity of the Android platform in Europe and the US." 

Keep pumping out phones like the Desire, Legend, Incredible, EVO, etc. and the sky is the limit Mr. Hui-ming.  We all love stylish, top quality hardware that runs the best Mobile OS
on the planet, and can’t wait to see what’s next. [Financial Times via Engadget]

Materials: Doors Billy Morebo, Ikea textile, glue gun, scissors

Description: During renovation of our toilet we decided not to use standard sanitary door and purchased two doors Billy Morebo from Ikea.We decorated them with Ikea textile and added several pictures with the same textile on walls.

More pictures of result and process see on our site prohandmade.ru. Enjoy!

~ Ekaterina, Moscow, Russia

Multitasking! On phones! Everybody does it now. But each smartphone platform does it differently. Here are the various tricky ways that the major platforms try to juggle multiple apps. More »

The Telegragh (UK) created a slideshow of topiary around the world, showing examples of  literary, religious, geometric, spiral, animal, and other fantastic designs from France, UK, Germany, Italy, and (as seen above), Thailand.

Topiary relates to the art of clipping trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs to create sculptures. According to Wikipedia, the word derives from the Latin word for an “ornamental landscape gardener, topiarius, creator of topia or ‘places’.” In many cases, trees are sculpted with shears, taking shape over time. In others, wire cages are used to guide plants into sculpture. A range of plants and vines can be incorporated.

Wikipedia says the first topiaries were Roman. “Pliny’s Natural History and the epigram-writer Martial both credit Cneius Matius Calvena, in the circle of Julius Caesar, with introducing the first topiary to Roman gardens, and Pliny the Younger describes in a letter the elaborate figures of animals, inscriptions and cyphers and obelisks in clipped greens at his Tuscan villa. Within the atrium of a Roman house or villa, a place that had formerly been quite plain, the art of the topiarius produced a miniature landscape (topos) which might use the comparable art of stunting trees, also mentioned, disapprovingly, by Pliny.”

See the slideshow and more topiaries.

Total U.S. oil gas extraction employment was just starting to come back over the last few years, after collapsing from its peak in the early 1980’s, as shown below. Most recently, there had particularly been a boom in oil and drilling employment within the U.S. gulf region, though this boom was partially reversed by the recent financial crisis. (not shown)

Given the recent rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, and the vast environmental damage it has incurred due to uncontrolled oil pouring out of the rig’s damaged well, it is now far more feasible that America could get cold feet in its effort to expand offshore oil and gas exploration. For example, when asked about her reaction to offshore drilling after the new Transocean spill, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano responded that “Everything is on the table,” according to CBSNews reporter Mark Knoller.”

Let’s just say that if offshore oil and gas exploration efforts are curtailed, then A) it will be a lot more difficult for U.S oil and gas drilling employment to continue rising as it had over the last few years and B) we could even be in for a new down-leg in this graph should onshore employment opportunities prove insufficient to compensate.

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