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Enthusiasts, organizations and clubs detail the importance of renewable energy.
By Wally Perez
Thirty-seven vehicles — including five models of Tesla — congregated Saturday in the parking lot of Sinkin EcoCentro.
At least 100 people attended and asked questions of the owners, and some took test drives. The only thing missing from this car show was the smell of exhaust and noise from loud engines.
This was the third annual Drive Electric Day in San Antonio and the first time at this college in honor of National Drive Electric Week.
Three local organizations, Alamo City Electric Auto Association, Plug In America and the Alamo Sierra Club, sponsored the event.
Owners of electric vehicles, known as EVs, showcased their vehicles and renewable energy.
Cars on display included the Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, BMW i3, Mitsubishi i-MiEV, the Tesla Model S and Tesla Roadster.
The Tesla Model S grabbed a lot of attention with its exterior and interior that rival luxury cars.
The vehicle has a base range of 240 miles on a single charge and an acceleration of 0-60 miles per hour in 5.2 seconds, according to the Tesla website.
Guests praised features such as parking sensors, automatic keyless entry, WiFi and Internet connectivity, autopilot, and the massive 17-inch touchscreen that enables drivers to control most of the car.
The vehicle has a price tag of $71,200 for the base model and features.
Margaret Galvan, a real estate broker at Partners Realty, was excited to see a Tesla.
“I’ve been on the fence about buying one, and I’m hoping to meet an owner and get some more information about the vehicle,” Galvan said.
Luckily for her, Tesla owner Ben Bishop granted her wish.
Bishop, a retired ESPN production operations assistant, offered rides and information.
The technology in the Tesla convinced him to buy one, he said.
“I’ve owned the car for almost a year, and I don’t see myself going back to gas ever again,” Bishop said. “It’s the best car I’ve ever owned, hands down.”
After a test ride with Bishop, Galvan said she is close to purchasing one, praising the sleek design and interior gadgets, such as the touchscreen and autopilot feature.
Aside from the EVs, Madison High School’s Solar Car Initiative team had a solar golf cart on display.
Madison sophomore Sean Suwal joined the club this year and has enjoyed his time with the team, he said.
“I joined the club because I’m interested in majoring in mechanical engineering, and this is a great opportunity,” Suwal said. “I’m new to the team and still have a lot to learn, but I look forward to the hands-on experience.”
Education sophomore George Trujilo worked on the project when he was a student at Madison and now works with the team as an adviser.
A car is built every year, or modifications are added to previous ones, and it’s a great opportunity for students to learn to work as a team, he said.
As visitors questioned vehicle owners, EVs drove by in silence. More noise came from conversations than engines. The vehicles were so quiet they turned few heads at the realization of one driving by.
VIA Metropolitan Transit showcased an electric bus for guests to board and ask questions.
Damian Mason, a field service technician at Protera, is a contractor with VIA and works with electric buses.
“The buses can run for about 60 miles on a single charge, assuming the driver is going 55 miles per hour,” Mason said. “We are working on expanding that range, but as of now the buses only operate downtown.”
As the day continued, so did the heat.
Canopies were placed in some locations for guests to rest in the shade.
Two food trucks sold burgers, sandwiches and cold beverages.
Guests were able to cool off inside EcoCentro and hear presentations on the basics of electric and renewable energy.
Nic Jonas, coordinator for the Alamo Area Clean Cities Coalition, gave the presentations comparing gas-fueled cars and EVs.
Steven Lewis, director of the services, trade and industry center, offered tours of the facility, including the community garden.
For information on EcoCentro, visit 1802 N. Main Ave., or contact Lewis at 210-486-0417 or firstname.lastname@example.org.


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Ford-Mahindra Joint Venture Is a Go
Eager to avoid further losses in the growth-primed Indian market, Ford has sealed a deal with an automaker that knows its way around the subcontinent: Mahindra & Mahindra.
Originally a partner when Ford cast its line back into India in the 1990s, the two automakers drifted apart, only to grow chummier when Ford’s global streamlining efforts took root. An alliance sprung up in 2017. Now, Mahindra will hold a controlling stake in the new JV, with Ford owning a 49-percent share of the business (while retaining full ownership of the Ford brand). Boosted market share and joint vehicle development tops the Blue Oval’s hopes, and you can bet that new SUVs are on the way.
Three SUVs, to be exact, including a new midsize model that’s all Mahindra underneath.
When word of the impending joint venture leaked out, sources claimed Ford execs were dismayed after $2 billion in investment in that market failed to pan out, leaving the company with a market share of roughly 3 percent. Hardly a great position to be in in the world’s second-most populous country — a country where non-domestic brands like Hyundai are eating its lunch.
Volkswagen, which succeeded in making huge inroads in the Chinese market, also has its eye on an Indian conquest.
Like all JVs, this $275 million tie-up aims at being mutually beneficial. For Ford, it means greater market penetration and reduced costs. For Mahindra, it sets the stage for greater success outside India. Both companies will continue selling their products strictly through their own dealer networks.
“Driving greater economies of scale across the automotive value chain including sourcing, product development and access to relevant technologies, the joint venture is expected to achieve enhanced efficiencies to strengthen the Ford brand in India,” the automakers stated in a joint announcement. “In addition, the joint venture will be a catalyst for growth for the Ford and Mahindra brands in emerging markets, which are growing at double the rate of the global industry.”
They added, “The joint venture will use the Ford brand distribution network in emerging markets to extend support for export of Mahindra products, in addition to Ford branded vehicles. Exports today form about 7 percent of Mahindra’s auto business revenues and its products are exported to South Africa, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Chile, among other nations and areas.”
While Ford’s India business, including its Chennai and Sanand assembly plants, will fall under the Mahindra-controlled joint venture by the middle of next year, the automaker will continue to own 100 percent of its Sanand engine plant, as well as Ford Credit, its business services unit, and Ford Smart Mobility.
[Image: Ford India]
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- SCE to AUX A friend once struck a mounted tire that was laying flat in the middle of her lane on the PA Turnpike. She was in a low late-90s Grand Prix, and the impact destroyed the facia, core support, radiators, oil pan, transmission, subframe, and suspension. They fixed it all.
- Dukeisduke Lol, it's not exactly a Chevrolet SS with Holden badging.
- Dukeisduke Years ago, I was driving southbound along North Central Expressway (south of Mockingbird Lane, for locals), and watched a tire and wheel fall out of the bed of a pickup (no tailgate), bounce along, then centerpunch the front end of a Honda Accord. It wasn't pretty.
- Dukeisduke If these were built in the US, they'd probably be plagued with recalls, like everything else Ford makes now. It's just as well they don't bring them here.I've owned one Ford, a '95 F-150 (drove it for 17 years and 214k miles) and it was fantastic. But you couldn't run fast enough to get me to buy another Ford. Quality used to be Job 1; now it's an afterthought.
- Dukeisduke "side-to-side taillights""Across-the-border" is the phrase you're looking for - it's what Ford called the taillights on the '67-'68 and '70-'71 Thunderbirds.
This tie-up could potentially result in the Best. Tractor. Ever. Think about it.
It's a match made in heaven. This is a joint venture in a country almost as big as China, but without the involuntary technology transfers. Ford better keep an eye on Mahindra though.

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A Tesla driver was charged for dangerous driving while he slept in his car while the car was cruising at speeds of 140 kph in AutoPilot mode on the highway. Tesla does not recommend full autonomous driving with its AutoPilot feature.
Tesla and its Auto Pilot feature always end up making great headlines. In another bizarre incident in Alberta, Canada, a Tesla driver was arrested for sleeping in the car while cruising at speeds of 140 kph in AutoPilot mode. A post from the official RCMP twitter account read, “Alberta RCMP received a complaint of a car speeding on Highway 2 near Ponoka. The car appeared to be self-driving, travelling over 140 km/h with both front seats completely reclined & occupants appeared to be asleep.”
The driver was charged for dangerous driving and was summoned to the court as well. In a detailed report about the case, it was revealed that the driver was a 20-year old and his license was suspended for fatigue. The report also stated, “Although manufacturers of new vehicles have built-in safeguards to prevent drivers from taking advantage of the new safety systems in vehicles, those systems are just that – supplemental safety systems.” It must be noted that Tesla’s don’t come equipped with autonomous driving tech and the onus is still on the driver to drive the car.
Tesla themselves do not recommend their users to implement the AutoPilot feature for full autonomous use. Moreover, the Tesla cars are also equipped with a number of safeguards such as reminders and it requires the driver to frequently put their hands on the steering wheel for the system to stay enabled. However, many users have found ways to manipulate the system as this is not the first time such a case has been reported with regard to Tesla’s AutoPilot feature.
Earlier this month, we reported to you with a case where a Tesla driver crashed into two police vehicles after he had left the car in auto pilot mode and watched a movie instead. The police cars that were hit by the Tesla were themselves responding to another crash on the same road. There’s a reason as to why there’s so much of skepticism around Tesla’s autonomous tech as it still isn’t bulletproof. Moreover, consumers who use such technology increasingly intensify its negative aspects by being alarmingly careless.
The unpredictability of autonomous driving technologies only become evident in such uncertain situations. Many experts have repeatedly suggested that the coining of autonomous technology itself has implications to what a driver understands. Many insurance companies have also suggested that self-driving and autonomous vehicles need to be re-branded so that the level o automation is clarified to a potential customer and such incidents can be prevented from happening. It sure sounds cool to leave your car to drive itself but we are still far away from that ecosystem where autonomous technology can function at their best. Till then, you could rather enjoy driving and watch your movie elsewhere.


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Get involved! Send your photos, video, news & views by texting KS NEWS to 80360 or e-mail us
iPhone maps blunder turns back the clock on Wyre Forest
TECHNOLOGY giant Apple appears to be taking on the regeneration of Wyre Forest’s town centres, bringing back old favourites Woolworths and Littlewoods to the district.
iPhone users upgrading to the smartphone’s latest software, iOS 6, are being forced to switch from Google maps to Apple’s own maps application however users across the country have reported problems with its accuracy.
Shuttle readers on facebook and twitter have spotted old businesses, such as Woolworths and the Old Anchor Inn in Stourport and Top Man and Littlewoods in Kidderminster in their application.
The map also places Cleobury Mortimer Post Office on Kidderminster’s Worcester Street and finds "Kidderminster General Hospital", downgraded 12 years ago to Kidderminster Hospital .
Readers leaving Kidderminster to reach the M5 and Birmingham have reported having to travel through “Dudley”, instead of Hagley.
In a statement Apple said it was “just getting started” with the new map service and “the more people use it, the better it will get”.
Comments are closed on this article.


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Although government meddling in our daily lives has become increasingly prevalent over the past five years, the truth is that big government bureaucrats have been telling us what to do for decades...and they've been wrong for a lot of it.
Yesterday on his Fox News show, host Neil Cavuto took the time to explain why the government needs an "oops" label because after all, they're constantly forcing the private sector to label products so consumers know what they're getting, but shouldn't Americans know when their government screws up? Absolutely.
I'm with Neil. Listen to grandma, not the food police.


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— Expanding on its relationship with Australia Post, ShipStation now offers
a one-stop shop for Australian e-commerce retailers’ domestic and
international shipping needs
ShipStation , the world’s leading web-based e-commerce shipping solution, today announced a new integration with Australia Post’s StarTrack Courier, and the addition of international and returns shipping capabilities for Australian e-commerce retailers. With the integration and feature additions, ShipStation now offers Australian users a comprehensive solution for both domestic and international shipping within Australia, helping e-commerce retailers fulfill more orders, expand their business, and deliver an improved customer experience.
Bolstering its courier landscape in Australia, the integration of StarTrack Courier, which specializes in domestic delivery, warehousing, and third-party logistics solutions, enhances ShipStation’s existing integration with Australia Post, the largest courier in Australia. With a complete portfolio of features already available via Australia Post including all standard domestic parcel delivery and the addition of international and returns features, ShipStation continues to provide Australian e-commerce merchants with a multitude of shipping options and a trusted solution to manage their daily shipping needs domestically and internationally.
“It’s been a pleasure working with Australia Post through the years. And we’re excited about expanding that partnership to include StarTrack, international, and returns services,” said VP of Marketing at ShipStation, Andrea McFarling. “ShipStation is always looking for new ways to help our Australia-based customers, and these new integrations will offer e-commerce sellers in Australia a distinct competitive advantage.”
“The partnership between ShipStation and Australia Post has already provided benefits to our customers through ShipStation’s connectivity,” says Ben Franzi, General Manager, Intermediaries at Australia Post. “We’re excited to now build on that relationship through the integration with StarTrack services and work together to assist online retailers all over Australia.”
ShipStation’s continued growth in Australia builds on the international success the company has experienced since its founding in 2011. With more than 300 global partnerships with leading shopping carts, marketplaces, carriers, and fulfillment services, tens of thousands of e-commerce retailers trust ShipStation to solve their day-to-day shipping needs — wherever they sell and however they ship.


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A twenty-year vet of Leo B’s Sydney office, Ots will oversee the creative direction for Samsung, one of the agencies “marquee international clients,” according to a press release issued today.
With experience gained from servicing the account as Digital Creative Director in Australia, Ots offers key global knowledge of the business to help ensure success in his new role.
“Samsung is an incredible brand with a strong sense of purpose, and it plays a huge role in people’s lives,” he explains. “Everything they make is as much about people as it is about technology, and fostering that connection is a critical component of our work.”
ALSO READ: Leo B & Samsung win at VES Awards
Ots will start in the position immediately and report to Leo B Chief Creative Officer Britt Nolan, who describes the new EVP/ECD as a “perfect fit.”
“Kieran is a strong leader with a gift for creating ideas that connect deeply with humans, regardless of medium,” he continues. “He approaches business issues with creative solutions – not just ads.”
Ots also brings a range of digital experience to the Chicago office. Among his digital accomplishments is the smartphone game “Run That Town,” which his team created for the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Designed to help create awareness of census data among Australians, the game asked players to approve or reject proposals for their own neighborhood. The outcome – pleased or displeased residents – would vary based on the postal code in which users were playing, as the game was informed by real demographic data.
Run That Town won Gold at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the Creative Data category, earned awards from The ONE Show and D&AD, and was featured in Google Creative Sandbox, a gallery of best-in-class advertising creative.
Additionally, Ots and his teams have been recognized for work by major award shows including Adfest, Spikes, and the London International Awards.
Pictured, top: Kieran Ots


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By Kathy Chu and Nopparat Chaichalearmmongkol
BANGKOK--Foreign investors are on high alert after the Thai military's declaration of a coup d'état Thursday, fearing more violence could disrupt their business operations and erode the country's appeal.
The declaration of a coup comes amid seven months of political uncertainty that have weighed on Thailand's economy and its industries.
In its first annual contraction since 2011, Thailand's real gross domestic product shrank 0.6% in the first quarter from a year ago. Meanwhile, automobile sales and production continue to plunge, leading to thousands of layoffs in one of Thailand's leading industries.
"People are shocked and surprised" by the coup, said Marc Spiegel, vice chairman of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in Thailand, which represents 29 chambers of commerce with 8,500 member companies. "They are wondering: Can I go to work? Can I do business in Thailand?"
Many manufacturers are sitting tight.
Japanese camera maker Nikon Corp., which makes around 90% of its digital single-lens reflex cameras in Thailand, said political upheavals in the kingdom don't usually affect production facilities. If airports get shut down, however, there could be an impact on logistics, a Nikon spokesman in Tokyo said.
Toyota Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. said the declaration of a coup hasn't affected auto production, although the companies are closely monitoring the political situation.
The long-term danger is that, without a functioning government in Thailand, foreign investors can't get their projects approved, and they may turn to other countries to invest, analysts say.
"How long can you keep taking a punt that Thailand is going to get itself sorted out?" said Steve Wilford, director of global-risk analysis at consulting firm Control Risks. "This situation is pushing the country toward recession."
Thailand has had 18 coups since the end of absolute monarchy in the 1930s, the latest in 2006.
Foreign investors have begun preparing emergency measures like evacuation routes in recent months, business-risk experts said, but whether they halt production and pull people out of the country will depend on whether violence erupts because of the coup.
The Japanese Chamber of Commerce in Bangkok said that so far, it has received no reports of members planning to pull Japanese nationals out of the country.
"It's not like coups in other countries," said Yoshito Kato, the chamber's member coordinator, who said he'd already experienced two coups in his 13 years in Thailand. "There's not so much danger for foreign nationals."
The 1,552 members of the chamber include Japanese firms in the automotive, electronics and metalworking industries, many serving car makers like Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., which see Thailand as their manufacturing hub in southeast Asia.
The political uncertainty is hitting Thailand's auto industry particularly hard as consumers pull back.
Jessada Thongpak, a Bangkok-based analyst for IHS Automotive, expects up to 30,000 auto workers, or 6% of the industry, to be laid off if the political crisis continues through the end of the year.
Thailand's auto industry already laid off about 10,000 people in May, an auto-industry trade group said Thursday, after grappling with weak demand and falling production due to the political impasse and the end of the government's stimulus for first-time car buyers.
"Thailand's slowing economy and delayed investment projects are largely to blame for the layoffs," said Kovit Wongkolkitsilp, secretary-general of the Auto Parts Industry Club.
In April, Thailand's auto production fell more than a quarter from a year earlier to 126,730 cars while sales declined more than a third to 73,242 cars.
Phred Dvorak, Juro Osawa and Eric Pfanner contributed to this article.
Write to Kathy Chu at email@example.com and Nopparat Chaichalearmmongkol at firstname.lastname@example.org


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Supermarkets have ruled out increasing alcohol prices and said they are not to blame for town-centre binge-drinking.
They also refused to be drawn on whether they use alcohol as a loss-leader, during a grilling session with MPs from the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group at the House of Commons.
Group chairman John Grogan also said he is to discuss the issue of cheap supermarket alcohol with Home Office and Department of Health ministers in the next month.
Representatives of the four biggest supermarkets were called in, in response to Grogan's early day motion - which has been signed by 188 MPs - against cheap off-trade booze.
Sainsbury's head of legal affairs Nick Grant said: "As retailers, we can't and will not agree to raise prices - to do so would be unlawful and anti-competitive.
"It would be against the customer's wishes and against the idea of customer choice."
Asda head of government affairs Bernard Hughes said: "Price is in our DNA and we won't increase prices to make our customers pay more.
"Price is something that is non-negotiable for us."
Hughes rejected claims that home-drinking fuels problems in town centres.
"I would not accept that supermarkets are responsible for drinking in town centres," he said. "It's a very complex thing and it's easy for some publicans to blame the supermarkets."
On the issue of selling alcohol at a loss, Hughes said: "In my experience the question is not anything as arbitrary as loss leaders. What is meant by 'no-margin' or 'nil-margin'?
"It's complicated - it means different things to different people at different times."
Hughes said a proposal for a voluntary agreement not to sell alcohol as a loss-leaders "would be impossible to police and an accountancy nightmare".
Sainsbury's Nick Grant vowed to "bust myths" about the link between alcohol pricing in
"Ninety per cent of
customers who bought beer in bulk from Sainsbury's said they would drink about the same as in a usual month," he said.
representatives argued that people who buy discounted alcohol in shops would usually "stock up", rather than drink it immediately.
They pointed to
responsible steps they had taken, such as having warning labels on drinks and point-of-sale material, and tightening up on age checks - Asda will trial "Challenge 25" in the next week, said Hughes.
They pointed out factors that led to problem drinking, such as lack of parental responsibility or clarity about alcohol units. "The debate should be about changing culture through education, not a tilted debate about price," Grant said.


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The clock is ticking for those producers, importers and brand owners that want to put their wines to the test in the 2022 London Wine Competition – the only global wine awards to judge on quality, value for money and packaging and design. Entires are open for all three London Competitions for wines, beers and spirits with the chance to get a discounted fee for anyone entering by December 10. Here’s how to enter and the Top Gold Medal wines from the 2021 London Wine Competition.
“We need to break out the defibrillator on our digital skills,” is how Simon Huntington describes the need for the drinks industry, across all channels, to really take digital marketing seriously and understand it is now a vital part of how any company should now be operating. But what exactly is digital marketing and what do you need to concentrate on to get it right? Here Huntington sets out his vision for effective drinks digital marketing.
“If you think Ribera is all about power and extraction, then think again, because it absolutely is not.” So said Tim Atkin MW at the launch of his Top 100 Ribera Del Duero wines which went some way to prove why this is a region on the move and one that wine buyers would be wise to keep an eye on. Village and vineyard specific wines are becoming more common, and there is a new breed of winemaker keen on making contemporary wines that express the high altitude terroir of the region. David Kermode was our man at the Top 100 tasting and the lunch to launch the event – picking 10 of Atkin’s wines to reflect the quality and variety on show.
Regulars at The Birley Group, The Ivy Collection, Chiltern Firehouse, Park Chinois and Aqua Shard are amongst the growing number of premium on-trade customers turning to CBDs and other wellbeing products that offer just a little something more than an average glass of Sauvignon Blanc or gin and tonic. Adam Feldheim is one of a number of new players in the drinks market that are bringing business and finance skills, as well as the ability to create new health and wellness products, to a fast growing community of consumers, as he explains to Richard Siddle.
When Ramón Bilbao devised its premium Lalomba wines it concluded that the best material for vinification and ageing in was concrete. The material is like steel in that it does not impart any aromas into the wine and it is like oak in that it has a high porosity – the end result is wines with finer tannins, better balance and an approachability at a younger age. But concrete also has a terroir story, just as much as where the grapes are sourced from, as Sarah McCleery explains.
“We aim to have the largest and most ambitious environmental conference ever for wine, unifying the entire trade around the most pressing issue that our society and our sector are facing.” That’s the ambition and goal that Pancho Campo has set for next year’s Green Wine Future event that will take place in different continents over a four day period in May. The opportunity for each part of the world to take a serious look at the local challenges they face and what they are going to do to tackle it.. Here he explains how Green Future is going to work and what you can do to get involved.
Eighteen months since the devastating blast in Beirut harbour, Lebanon is still reeling from crisis after crisis. That hasn’t dampened enthusiasm within the country’s wine industry, however, argues Etienne Debbane, head of IXSIR, the company whose winery was named as one of the greenest buildings in the world – in fact wine is one of the few industries that is helping people make ends meet. In a revealing interview with Justin Keay, Debbane explains why he has halved the price of his wines to the domestic market and has focussed his energies on planting more hectares of vines including Pinot Noir and Assyrtiko. Keay also picks out three IXSIR wines that he recommends for quality and value.
The role of a wine buyer may never have been as challenging as it is right now. With the on-going problems with Covid-19 and Brexit and continued shipping crisis, the poor harvests in the Northern Hemisphere could not have come at a worse time. Not least as the industry was already feeling the effects of the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc shortage after the low-volume harvest there earlier this year. The problems in Europe have seen a stampede to the Southern Hemisphere, where demand is driving a rise in prices.
A wine producer is nothing without great quality wines. That’s a given. But having great wines is not going to make you a successful wine producer. For that you need brands. But what comes first? Here Tim Ford, co-owner of Domaine Gayda, the independent winery in the heart of the Languedoc Roussillon, talks to Richard Siddle about how having a carefully thought-through brand strategy has allowed it to make wines that reflect and tell stories of the land it makes wine from – spread across four distinct terroirs in this diverse, wine-producing region.
At a tasting to highlight top end Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon, Christo Le Riche, chair of the Cabernet Collective explains how the historical wine producers of the Cape are trying to focus worldwide media attention on South African Cabernet Sauvignon in order to underline the region’s ability to make premium and ultra-premium red wine. Le Riche and his fellow members of the Cabernet Collective believe that Cabernet is the grape for South Africa to hang its hat on – that the message from the industry should be specialisation rather than diversification, and that big brands should carry this message to the outside world to allow South Africa to ride bumps in the road more smoothly.
All week The Buyer has been working with the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships to help announce the winners in all its categories. So far we have been able to reveal the 56 Best in Class winners, the 13 Regional Champions, 12 National Champions and here today everything comes to a head with the announcement of seven World Champions, the supreme world champion, the Tony Jordan Rising Star Award and the Chairman’s Trophy.
Sparkling wine has been made to play second fiddle to Champagne through the years, in terms of critical appreciation and ‘column inches’. The tables are turned, however, in Fizz! Anthony Rose’s brilliant new book that focuses more on sparkling wine and the exciting developments that are taking place in wine regions across the world with the likes of English sparkling wine, Prosecco, Cap Classique, defectors from Cava and cool regions like Nova Scotia and Hokkaido. In an extensive interview Rose does cover how climate change is affecting Champagne, why they will cope and the future of the NV blend, as well as reveal how his mis-spent youth included making towers of lead capsules from the oceans of Cava he drank. Rose picks out his Top 10 desert island sparkling wines and there is an exclusive 40% discount for readers of The Buyer.
Steve Daniel has been buying Californian wine for longer than some Californian producers were actually ready to sell it. That was back in his Oddbins days when he was responsible for bringing wines – like Frog’s Leap – to the UK long before they had made their name in California. Fast forward to 2021 and Daniel is still, in his role as head of buying for Hallgarten & Novum Wines, looking to promote and showcase what California does best, which brings us to its recent partnership with Terlato Wines to introduce iconic producers, Sanford and Chimney Rock to its fine dining customers. Here Daniel and Chuck Cramer, Terlato’s UK and European sales & marketing director, explain to Richard Siddle why they think there are so many more opportunities for premium Californian wine in the UK.
You know you are in the heart of winter when your mind turns to pulling together a nice, hearty meat pie, so for all you pie lovers out there here is a treat for you – a new pie recipe that comes all the way from Chile. That’s thanks to Chilean Raul Diaz who continues his monthly food and wine pairings with his take on a classic Chilean dish – the Pastel de Choclo. Otherwise known as corn pie. A pie that Diaz believes is the perfect accompaniment to a quality Cabernet Sauvignon.
Today’s spotlight in the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships turns to its National Champion award winners that picks out the best wine out of all those entered in any particular country. It is the award that producers looking for local bragging rights want to win and identifies those players that are leading the way in their respective countries. The CSWWC is announcing different sets of results each day this week in partnership with The Buyer.
When Italian wine ‘Bible’ Gambero Rosso announced Gianni Doglia as its winemaker of the year for 2022, there were many in the wine trade who were delighted that this visionary winemaker from Piemonte was finally getting the critical acclaim he has deserved. Doglia’s wines, including the game-changing Moscato D’Asti Casa Di Bianca, have won the prestigious Tre Bicchieri awards in the past, but being made Italy’s winemaker of the year also takes into account his commitment to sustainability as both a founding member of The Green Experience and as a follower of Italy’s SQNPI protocol. For wine expert Mike Turner it was an added bonus – Doglia was the person who converted him from drinking ‘snakebite’ into appreciating great wine, and is now a personal friend.
The Regional Champion awards in the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships have been given to the best performing sparkling wine and Champagnes in four of the world’s leading wine producing countries: the United States; Spain; France; and Italy. They are the latest awards to be presented as part of the week long celebrations by the CSWWC team and follow the Best in Class medals announced on Monday, writes Richard Siddle
Judging for the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships is a little bit more committed than turning up for a day shift of tasting. It involves taking four lead judges, a reserve judge and a full administration, logistics and PR support team to Champneys in Kent and going into a strict isolation for two full weeks. There are concessions, however, with full access to the health and spa treatments and heated outside pool. Here Roger Jones, ambassador for CSWWC and reserve judge for 2021 awards, takes us behind the scenes to share what it is like being in a 14-day bubble for judges.
It’s been two years since the Alliance of Crus Bourgeois du Médoc has staged a tasting event, last week’s London tasting being the first anywhere since Covid. In that time it has implemented a new 3-tier quality classification, got Latour’s ex assistant winemaker as its new president, and is set to host Good Wines Only, a tasting-music festival with 6,000 Parisians invited – to help prove that Bordeaux can be fun as well as simply traditional.
Tim Adams is not the only Australian wine producer to be chomping at the bit. Stuck in Australia, unable to travel for months on end, but keener than ever to do business and open up new markets around the world. He is particularly keen to widen his existing business in the UK, a market he loves and knows well, particularly for the new Mr. Mick wine brand that has done so well in Australia and other key export markets around the world. Here he is joined by his business development director, Andrew De Zolt, as they talk about their international plans and in particular the opportunities for its Mr. Mick brand.


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Colombo: Indians can now stay in Sri Lanka for one month without a visa. Visa has been made free for 30 days from March 31, 2024 to seven countries including India. Citizens of China, Russia, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand can also stay in Sri Lanka for one month without a visa.
The Sri Lankan government’s move is part of strengthening the tourism sector. With this, the Visa on Arrival system has been stopped for the time being. According to this system, Indian tourists had to pay 2080 rupees on arrival in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka’s tourism sector was devastated by the 2019 Easter terror attacks. Most of the tourists to Sri Lanka are from India. Russia is second. Britain is in third place. Malaysia is set to introduce a similar free visa from December 1. Malaysia is providing facilities for tourists from India and China to stay for one month without a visa. Thailand also took a similar step.


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Meet Heather and Steve Brice, a couple from Alaska who earn their living making incredible ice sculptures, some as tall as 12 feet. Their amazing work has won top honors at the World Ice Art Championships and is featured year round at the Aurora Ice Museum in Fairbanks.
Steve is a self-taught ice artist and Heather has a degree in sculpting. They met and fell in love over than a decade ago while working on an ice-carving project for a Catholic school. "Steve let me carve the Madonna hands on a piece at the local Catholic school, and I was hooked,” Heather says on the company’s website.
Together, they run a business called Brice & Brice Ice Sculptures where they create masterpieces or competitions, special events and galleries.
Their sculptures are made from ice harvested from a local beaver pond. Steve uses a chain saw to cut the frozen pond and form three-foot thick blocks that weigh 1,200 and need to be hauled with a forklift. The ice is then stored in a temperature-controlled room the rest of the year.
Below you'll find some of their stunning ice sculptures but you can see more by visiting their website and Facebook page.
Geranium's Rasmus Kofoed has decided to stop serving meat at the restaurant currently ranked number two on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list. But the Danish chef isn't yet willing to go purely plant-based.


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for the First time in three years the Android Wear operating system for smart watches has received a major upgrade. What wearable electronics is now able to whom it applies and how the market has changed over these three years? All this in the program Вести.net.
Google released the long-awaited update of the operating system for wearable electronics — Android Wear 2.0. This is the biggest update the platform for all time of its existence. One of the main innovations was the access to Google Play, passing the phone to install apps directly on the watch. This will expand the range of tasks. For example, the dials can be customized to add information from different software. It may be different calendars, apps for tracking exchange rates, fitness apps, call Uber, quick access to favorite contacts and others. Switching between screens is performed with a swipe.
see also: LG Watch Style and Sport: the first watch on the Android Wear 2.0
Smart watch on Android Wear 2.0, equipped with a cellular module can operate completely autonomously without a smartphone allowing you to surf the Internet, answer calls and messages, view email and more. By the way, to reply to messages using the new input methods. Added support for virtual keyboard and manual input, allowing you to draw and send different emoticons on the screen hours. Write a text message on the clock is also carried out with the help of Google Assistant is its predictive power. Interestingly, the assistant in this case operates directly on the clock, so a password or something else important didn’t fly to the cloud. The Corporation also promises increased speed of speech recognition, the ability to make purchases using the payment Android Pay system and monitoring the physical condition of the user with the Google Fit application. All of these new opportunities, and the availability of the cell module make you wonder — even day smart watches will stretch on a single battery charge or not?
Google is positioning Android Wear 2.0 as a major update of the platform since its launch in 2014. The update will be available not to all but only 19 models of smart watches. The rest probably just don’t pull from the performance point of view. The first, who had the honor to come preinstalled with Android Wear 2.0, steel smart watch from LG. The release States that both presented models Watch, Watch Sport and Style was developed in cooperation with Google, which translated into human language this means that the development and promotion Corporation was engaged to Brin and page. Korean LG has taken the role of manufacturer. And judging by the description, the presented model supports all the key features of Android Wear 2.0: more informative dial, new ways of using applications, and provide more opportunities to stay connected. What they really are, and won from them, that Google for example has created a reference, the ideal smart watch, we can tell after a tho rough test of the device.
the Main issue now is not late, does Google update the Android platform Wear, which manufacturers of wearable electronics, and users have been waiting for almost three years. And if the first half of the year everything seemed to be good: the largest partners of Android Wear, began Chinese and Korean companies. Smart watch Huawei Watch has won the user with its attractive design, the range of the Moto 360 has long been considered one of the most graceful and long-awaited on the market, the smart watch LG watch Urbane 2nd Edition were the first to support cellular network. However, in September 2016 at IFA, none of these companies showed neither new models, nor even any intention to continue to do smart watches on the Google release OSes. In Berlin a new watch with Android Wear introduced just ASUS. The Korean Corporation Samsung’s Berlin presentation, arranged with great pomp, showed under its own watch OS Theisen.
moreover, last year, research company IDC reported that global smartwatch market fell in the third quarter of 2016 to 50%. It’s hard to say whether this is due to the fact that manufacturers do not give users a decent time and most importantly the available models, or just of interest to the smart watch has weakened. But, it seems that all major manufacturers have suspended activity on this field. The more that the market, in fact, left his if not the founder, the inspirer Pebble. It bought a manufacturer of fitness trackers Fitbit and has already made it clear to journalists that will continue the release of the Pebble watch.
as a result, the market of wearable electronics without much fight was won by Apple. According to the research firm, Canalys, Apple in the last quarter of 2016 sold 6 million wearable devices, “zastaviv” for about 80% of the smartwatch market. The Apple Watch sales in comparison to last year increased by 12%. If you look figures study of the market of wearable electronics in General for the year 2016, the rating looks so: in the first place — Apple c 49% on the second and third Fitbit and Samsung with 17 and 15 percent, respectively. And the remaining 19% of the market is divided between all the other manufacturers.


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LAST UPDATED : Jun 25, 2021, 08:25 AM IST
- Twitter rolls out Tip Jar in India
Twitter has rolled out the Tip Jar feature in India through payment gateway RazorPay. The feature allows users to send and receive money (tips). “By integrating Razorpay, we are hoping to provide people in India with a simple and secure way to send money as a token of appreciation or as a gift,” Twitter said. Twitter takes no cut.
- Twitter lets people leave tips for some tweeters
Twitter on Thursday began letting some users add virtual tip jars to accounts so people can support their tweets by tossing in money. A limited number of users around the world who tweet in English can add a "Tip Jar" feature to their profiles, according to Twitter senior product manager Esther Crawford. The group included creators, journalists, experts, and non-profits.


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Rustan’s to rebrand supermarket chain with this new name
It won’t be too drastic a change, as they have started the brand refresh ahead of time.
The posh Rustan’s supermarket will soon be renamed as “Marketplace” to reflect its operator’s brand.
Columnist Victor Agustin said the change will take effect once regulators approve the change in name from Robinsons Retail to follow the Dairy Farm venture from Hong Kong.
“Similar to Rustan’s, the Hong Kong-based Dairy Farm operates the upscale “Market Place” supermarket, originally from Singapore and now has branches in Taiwan,” Agustin wrote in his June 1 column.
“Even before Dairy Farm flipped Rustan’s to the Gokongwei Group, the pan-Asian retail giant had already started quietly re-branding the Tantoco-founded supermarket, as can be gleaned by the similar “Marketplace” signage placed underneath the Rustan’s logo in Rockwell and Fort branches.”
The braning exercise is already off to a subtle start.


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Online advertisers and marketers may soon have a harder time collecting data about customers, now that Microsoft has created technology that will allow users to reject third-party cookies.
Cookies are information bits that attach to the hard drives of site visitors and capture data about online behavior, allowing companies to personalize the sites according to user preferences. Existing software programs already allow users to reject cookies from the Websites they visit. But Seattle-based Microsoft’s update to its Internet Explorer (IE) Web browser enables users to reject cookies from the ads on Websites, not just from the Websites themselves.
Microsoft spokesperson Tonya Klause says the technology is in the beta-testing phase. “Users can go to the Microsoft site now and download the cookie management technology as a patch,” she says. “In the future, it will be available on later issues of Windows ME or Whistler, the next Windows version after ME.”
Among IE’s new functionalities:
– Consumer notification for cookies. The notification default will prompt consumers any time a third-party persistent cookie is being served. A default response enables users to accept the cookie.
– Cookie control. A “delete all cookies” icon on the primary Internet Options page lets users delete all cookies from all locations on a consumer’s hard drive.
– Help. New cookie management help topics have been added to provide information on the technology and address cookie-related questions.
But some privacy advocates see such technology as a proverbial bandage rather than a proper cure. “Consumers are concerned about two things: someone else having a profile of who they are online; and not having control over or access to that information,” says Dr. David Zimmerman, chief technology officer for YouPowered, a permission-based personalization firm in New York. He says he would rather be able to provide users with access to their online profiles than to offer cookie blocking options.
Other privacy developments In September, the Privacy Foundation, a Denver-based nonprofit group, presented a list of Web privacy guidelines at the Global Privacy summit in Washington. The guidelines, which have been submitted to advertisers and the Federal Trade Commission for review, propose that sites disclose their use of “Web bugs.”
The bugs, or clear GIFs, are tiny images embedded in a Web page or an HTML-based e-mail that transmit data to a remote computer when a page is viewed. Like cookies, Web bugs collect information on pages that consumers are viewing online. Among the Privacy Foundation’s guidelines:
– Websites that use Web bugs must display a clearly visible icon stating as much on the page.
– The Web bug should be linked to a page disclosing what data are collected, how they are used, and which companies receive the data.
– Website visitors must be able to opt out of data collection by Web bugs.
– Web bugs should not be used to collect sensitive information related to children, medical issues, finances, employment, or sex.


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Adobe Systems and Nokia highlighted thier joint work in the application design and form factor spaces in presentations at the Web 2.0 Expo conference in San Francisco last week.
Touting a linkage between application developers and designers, Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch demonstrated the company's planned Flash Catalyst product at the Web 2.0 Expo . Nokia's Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice president at the company, cited planned form factors for mobile devices, which included a wearable wristband unit.
He also hailed location-based services and the planned Ovi applications store, set to debut in June, that will bring applications to consumers.
Flash Catalyst currently is in a beta release phase but is due soon, Lynch said. "We can enable people who do design to express not only what an application should look like but how it should feel to interact with," Lynch said.
Users can import a design from a picture, such as from Adobe Illustrator, bring shapes into Catalyst, and turn them into the beginnings of an application. Lynch also noted Adobe this week combined APIs in the Flash platform with Facebook.
At Nokia, the company is eyeing location-based services that will require a mobile computer-like device that marries "virtuality with reality," Vanjoki said. "Nokia has a big lead in this development," he said.
Users, meanwhile, will see new form factors for wireless devices, such as an ear device or a wearable device similar to a bracelet, and some devices even will be self-cleaning.
Conference attendees also heard from Ellen Miller, executive director of the Sunligtht Foundation. "Our goal has been really to use the Internet to catalyze greater openness and transparency in government," she said.
Within government, officials claim to be in favor of transparency, but there are not a lot who really understand technology, Miller said.
Government spending on information projects was questioned by Miller, who cited a new government Web site called recovery.gov that reportedly will cost $86 million to create. "I suspect there's a way to do it a lot cheaper," she said. "That figure is dumbfounding to me."


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Locally Grown Food
2020 has taught us all a lot about the importance of knowing how our food is grown and where it comes from. Many folks were confused when store shelves became empty but the news showed farmers plowing under crops or throwing away milk.
Large scale operations are often geared to supply institutional operations, like restaurants and convention centers, and not the individual consumer. With these outlets no longer in operation farmers had no method to sell their agricultural goods.
That's not the case with smaller local growers like Christopher Farms where we specialize in direct to consumer sales of our agricultural and other products. Buying your produce and other goods from Christoper Farms allows you to get to know your grower and know exactly where your food comes from.
Christopher Farms is located in Freetown, Indiana and regularly sells at the Seymour Area Farmers Market and directly from the farm at our Farm Stand.


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Overall COVID-19 restrictions in the country seem to be on-trend to be loosened in the summer, specifically by the 4th of July holiday. This is thanks to the growing optimism of drastically lowering the infection rate of the virus by administering vaccines.
Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, “If by the time we get to the Fourth of July, with the rollout of the vaccine, we get the level of infection so low – I’m not going to be able to tell you exactly what the specific guidelines of the [US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] are, but I can tell you for sure [guidelines] will be much more liberal than they are right now about what you can do.”
Disney CEO Bob Chapek recently spoke about the face mask requirement at Disney Parks during a financial result call for Q1. He stated that he expects the current mask and physical distancing requirements at the Disney Parks to cease by 2022, which doesn’t quite fall in line with Dr. Fauci’s outlook.
Although restrictions are ultimately put in place by state and local ordinances, private businesses like Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort are able to continue imposing their own mask mandate and physical distancing guidelines. For instance, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in November 2020 that the state would have no more anti-COVID-19 measures including lockdowns, fines, school closures, or mask mandates, but the Florida theme parks continued their own enhanced health and safety measures.
Walt Disney World reopened with enhanced health and safety guidelines in place, including reduced capacity, temperature screenings, and requiring face coverings for all guests. More recently, the Orlando resort still requires vaccinated guests to wear face coverings and rolled out a new policy that guests must wear a face covering even when sitting down in a restaurant unless they are actively eating or drinking. Though Disneyland Resort is not fully open, guests visiting Downtown Disney District and part of Disney California Adventure must follow the same policy. The theme parks will be reopening next month, and they’re also expected to follow the same health and safety guidelines.
When COVID-19 restrictions do become more lax countrywide, it’s expected that the health and safety guidelines for theme parks will remain in place until the companies feel like the time is right to loosen them up.


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D.C. scrutiny likely low for Facebook-WhatsApp merger. "Facebook’s proposed acquisition of messaging service WhatsApp was the center of attention in Silicon Valley on Thursday," according to Politico. "Don’t expect the same buzz in Washington when it comes to regulatory approval. The $19 billion deal, like any other, will need to get sign-off before it is completed, but antitrust experts say there’s little reason to expect D.C.’s competition agencies to overly scrutinize the merger."
Verizon, T-Mobile to testify on wireless competition. "Executives from Verizon and T-Mobile will testify on competition in the wireless market in front of a Senate panel next week," the Hill reports. "Verizon Executive Vice President Randal Milch and T-Mobile Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Thomas Sugrue will appear at a hearing being held by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition and Consumer Rights, the Judiciary Committee announced Thursday."
'It’s dead': Kansas municipal Internet ban was 'stabbed, shot, and hanged.' "The Kansas cable lobby's attempt to ban nearly all municipal broadband networks won't be rising from the dead any time soon," Ars Technica reports. "Last month, the Kansas Cable Telecommunications Association (KCTA), whose members include Comcast, Cox, Eagle Communications, and Time Warner Cable, proposed a ban on telecommunications, video, and broadband services offered to residents and businesses by municipalities. The bill would also have made it illegal for cities and towns to buy, build, lease, maintain, or operate any facility that helps a private business offer telecommunications, video, or broadband services."
Invasion of the Taxi Snatchers: Uber Leads an Industry's Disruption. "There’s a battle for the future of transportation being waged outside our offices and homes," according to Bloomberg Businessweek. "Uber and a growing collection of well-funded startups, such as the ride-sharing service Lyft, are trying to make getting a taxi as easy as booking a reservation on OpenTable or checking a price on Amazon.com—just another thing you do with your smartphone. Flush with Silicon Valley venture capital, these companies have an even grander ambition: They want to make owning a car completely unnecessary."


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Kids can dress as their favorite superhero — Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and more — and visit the free Superhero Kids Zone at J.C. Penney at Westfield South Shore and Green Acres Mall from 11 a.m. to noon on Saturday.
Activities involve coloring a superhero cinch bag, receiving a Marvel specialty pin and more.
“We try to do a kids-centered event once or twice a month,” says Dominic Charland, general manager of the Westfield South Shore store.
Westfield South Shore is at 1701 Sunrise Hwy., Bay Shore. Green Acres Mall is at 2034 Green Acres Rd., Valley Stream.


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Plenty of information about Capcom’s Street Fighter 6 has been released in the last few weeks. Needless to say, Street Fighter 6 is looking like a very ambitious title within the fighting game genre considering everything that’s been promised so far.
IGN Japan recently had an interview with Takayuki Nakayama and Shuhei Matsumoto, the respective Director and Producer for Street Fighter 6, to discuss many topics concerning the upcoming fighting game. Since the article is in Japanese, we had our very own Nicholas ‘Majin Tenshinhan’ Taylor translate what was said.
We previously covered how the original proposal submitted by Nakayama for Street Fighter 6 consisted of 92 pages. Although it’s typical for ideas to get cut during a development cycle, Nakayama has asserted that much of what was planned in that 92-page proposal has actually remained intact.
Obviously, the development for Street Fighter 6 is going extremely well. During the interview with IGN Japan, Nakayama and Matsumoto described just how fun the development process has been.
“The members of the development team have all given it their all and earnestly worked to providing a better product, with new ideas, suggestions to make parts of the game more fun, and it’s been a daily process of consistently improving the functionalities and modes in the game,” stated Street Fighter 6’s Director. “Throughout my entire life as a developer, I’ve never experienced a development process as positive as this one.”
“The members of the development team have all given it their all and earnestly worked to provide a better product… Throughout my entire life as a developer, I’ve never experienced a development process as positive as this one.”
It’s then noted that there have been a few difficulties that have come up during Street Fighter 6’s development process, but we really get the sense that there’s a lot of motivation on the part of the developers to overcome these type of challenges.
“Of course, there’s been a lot of trouble making the game too, but everyone’s positive attitude in wanting to make a new Street Fighter experience has been so powerful and I believe you could see the result of these wishes in that trailer from the other week ,” continued Nakayama.
As expected, Street Fighter 6’s Producer was then able to add on to what was said by Nakayama. Indeed, he appears to share the same feeling that Street Fighter 6’s development has been a very positive experience.
“We’ve worked very hard to make this, so we want to gradually give information out,” chimed in Matsumoto. “That’s why we’re doing the game’s promotion in this way.”
It feels like a lot about Street Fighter 6 has already been unveiled, but there’s clearly more news on the way. For now, Capcom has made it clear that they are going to go silent on Street Fighter 6 information for a short period of time while they go back to developing the game. Still, it was a really nice change of pace for Capcom to communicate this outright to the fans.
“It’s not just about the ‘6,’ we’re thinking about the future as well and we feel like this is the time where we need to be doing this,” continued Matsumoto. “We’d hate to see the Street Fighter brand go away, so the biggest thing for us is to give it our best and push ourselves right now to make sure that doesn’t happen.”


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The high street chain has enlisted Afroditi Krassa – the architect behind Heston Blumenthal's Perfectionist Café and Dishoom – to create an open kitchen-style layout.
Launching today at EAT’s Finsbury Pavement store, the design means customers can watch their food and coffee being prepared after they order.
The concept will be the platform for the next phase of expansion for the 118-strong brand, which is launching stores in Ealing and Chicester in the next 6-8 weeks.
The largest ever EAT - a 2,840 sq.ft site in London Liverpool Street station - will also open later in the year.
The openings coincide with the launch of the chain's new health-conscious summer menu, which features an expanded range of gluten-free and vegan dishes, including a Thai Green and Grain salad.
It comes after the brand saw a four per cent growth in salad sales in the year to April 2016.
EAT brand director Sarah Doyle said: “EAT will be expanding beyond London over the next 12 months, and the new store format is a key feature of the roll out.
“We are already well known for our healthy hot food, but we’re seeing increasing demand for our fresh offering. Customers value this commitment to quality, taste and health.”
EAT’s decision to expand its plant-based range comes after Pret a Manger announced plans to launch a vegetarian-only store after selling five million avocados in 2015.


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Clean Solar Solutions will be exhibiting at a brand new trade event in Telford which is aimed specifically at dairy farmers. The Dairy Day UK event to be held at Telford International Centre on September 17th 2014 is expecting over 5,000 dairy farmers from all over the UK to attend.
Steve Williams, M.D. of Clean Solar Solutions explains why they will be exhibiting, “This event is specifically for progressive, profit-driven farmers who are looking to continue to move their industry forward. Renewable energy, specifically solar energy, has been at the forefront of many farmers minds over the last few years with the attractive FiTs available from the government. Many farmers have taken advantage of this and had solar panels installed across their buildings. Farm environments cause solar panels to get very dusty and generation decreases. That’s where we come in.”
Our solar panel cleaning service has been independently proven to increase electricity generation on farm arrays by up to 23%. Due to the dusty atmospheres that exist on farms, coupled with the relatively shallow angle that farm roofs are built at means that solar panels on farms get dirty, quickly. Because forward-thinking farmers monitor the output from their solar panels and analyse the data, they are seeing drops in output and are calling us in. After cleaning, the farmers see increases in generation that outweigh the cost of the cleaning.
At the Dairy Day, we will be carrying out live demonstrations all day long, showing farmers how we can safely clean solar panels and explaining how effective our solar panel cleaning service can be.
Steve Williams concludes “The theme of Dairy Day UK is ‘Helping increase profits.’ Our solar panel cleaning service helps farmers to do just that. Clean solar panels means that the owner will get their investment back quicker than the man down the road with dirty solar panels. We are eagerly looking forward to showcasing our service at this brand new farming event.”
If you will be attending the Dairy Day UK event, we would be glad to hear from you. We may even be able to share a wee dram on the day!


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BBB issues warning on San Antonio moving company
Published 6:13 pm, Monday, September 21, 2015
The local Better Business Bureau has issued a warning about San Antonio moving company Born 2 Move Movers.
According to a statement from the BBB, customers of the moving company allege it has damaged furniture and personal items during loading. Customers were told Born 2 Move Movers’ insurance would cover damages, but the company never provided documents to file an insurance claim.
The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles revoked Born 2 Move Movers’ registration in 2012 for failing to respond to previous enforcement requests, the agency said in an email. The company owes $7,000 in administrative penalties.
Chris Mason, a Born 2 Move Movers manager, said the company does not transport household goods because its trucks are in the shop. It only loads and unloads goods for customers, he added. However, BBB spokesman James Baxter said it has gotten complaints as recently as July that the company has been transporting goods.
Mason said the company has received numerous positive reviews from customers, some of which he has filmed and posted on YouTube. He blamed competitors for making negative comments about the company.
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“We really do try to do a good job,” Mason said. “I think we have more customers satisfied than not. We’ve been doing this for 12 years.”
Said the BBB’s Baxter: “We would advise anyone looking to move (to) practice due diligence when they are looking for a moving company.”
Planning a move
Here are some tips to follow when preparing for a move:
Plan ahead: Start planning six to eight weeks before a targeted move date to ensure enough time to research and hire a trustworthy mover.
Do research: Go to txdmv.gov. There you can verify whether a mover is registered with the state. Be sure to check a mover's Texas Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) number. For interstate movers, their U.S. Department of Transportation number can be checked at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/protect-your-move. Also, check out movers on the Better Business Bureau's website.
Compare prices: Get quotes from at least three different companies. Be sure to provide each business with a list of inventory to get the best price comparisons. Get estimates in writing.
Verify insurance: Ask what type of insurance the moving company carries and how it plans to handle matters if there is damage to your items. Movers are required by federal law to carry basic liability of 60 cents per pound per article, so the mover would only be liable for a maximum of $30 on damage to a 50-pound television. Consider purchasing additional moving insurance to cover valuable items.
Complaints: Complaints about Texas moving companies can be made at txdmv.gov. Moves across state lines are regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. For information on interstate moving companies or to file a complaint regarding and interstate move, go to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s complaint database.


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Published in News
Microsoft posts first loss ever
Online advertising flop to blame
Software giant Microsoft has reported its first quarterly loss in history. The loss was apparently caused by the $6.2 billion Aquantative write down, which failed to yield profits expected by Redmond.
The quarterly loss amounts to $492 million compared with a profit of $5.9 in the same period last year. However, in spite of the Aquantative flop, Microsoft seems to be doing quite well on most fronts. Q2 revenue rose by 4 percent to $18 billion and Microsoft shares went up 1.6 percent following the earnings report.
Microsoft will introduce Windows 8 in three months, along with Windows RT, Windows Phone 8 and a range of associated products, including the new Office suite, Visual Studio and server packages. Also, Microsoft will roll out its Surface tablet to coincide with the Windows 8/RT launch.


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It was just yesterday when we documented the continuing slide in the loonie, which is suffering mightily in the face of oil’s inexorable decline.
As regular readers are no doubt acutely aware, Canada is struggling through a dramatic economic adjustment, especially in Alberta, the heart of the country’s oil patch. Amid the ongoing crude carnage the province has seen soaring property crime, rising food bank usage and, sadly, elevated suicide rates, as Albertans struggle to comprehend how things up north could have gone south (so to speak) so quickly.
The plunging loonie “can only serve to worsen the death of the ‘Canadian Dream'” we said on Tuesday.
As it turns out, we were right.
The currency’s decline is having a pronounced effect on Canadians’ grocery bills.
As Bloomberg reminds us, Canada imports around 80% of its fresh fruits and vegetables. When the loonie slides, prices for those goods soar. “With lower-income households tending to spend a larger portion of income on food, this side effect of a soft currency brings them the most acute stress” Bloomberg continues.
Of course with the layoffs piling up, you can expect more households to fall into the “lower-income” category where they will have to fight to afford things like $3 cucumbers, $8 cauliflower, and $15 Frosted Flakes.
As Bloomberg notes, James Price, director of Capital Markets Products at Richardson GMP, recently joked during an interview on BloombergTV Canada that “we’re going to be paying a buck a banana pretty soon.”
Have a look at the following tweets which underscore just how bad it is in Canada’s grocery aisles. And no, its not just Nunavut: it from coast to coast:
If the CAD $ gets any weaker we might be able to buy groceries with shiny rocks #Canada
— Josh Landine (@joshlandine) January 12, 2016
@sladurantaye Heh. Had a similar reaction when I saw the price of cauliflower. Welcome to the future… pic.twitter.com/fxloxyePY3
— Craig Saila (@saila) January 12, 2016
The cost of Tide detergent in Nunavut: pic.twitter.com/2t2xA1EmYk
— themsteri (@teririch) December 31, 2015
And while some Canadians might think this is a regional phenomenon …
… folks in the northern parts of the Great White North do have the most cause to cry foul:
No “Jack Nasty” it’s not The Great Depression, but as we highlighted three weeks ago, it is Canada’s depression and it’s likely to get worse before it gets better. “Last year, fruits and veggies jumped in price between 9.1 and 10.1 per cent, according to an annual report by the Food Institute at the University of Guelph,” CBC said on Tuesday. “The study predicts these foods will continue to increase above inflation this year, by up to 4.5 per cent for some items.”
If you thought we were being hyperbolic when we suggested that if oil prices don’t rise soon, Canadians may well eat themselves to death, consider the following from Diana Bronson, the executive director of Food Secure Canada:
“Lower- and middle-class people — many who can’t find a job that will pay them enough to ensure that they can afford a healthy diet for their families” — also feel the pinch of rising food prices”
“The wrong kind of food is cheap, and the right kind of food is still expensive.”
In other words, some now fear that the hardest hit parts of the country may experience a spike in obesity rates as Canadians resort to cheap, unhealthy foods. As we put it, “in Alberta it’s ‘feast or famine’ in the most literal sense of the phrase as those who can still afford to buy food will drown their sorrows in cheap lunch meat and off-brand ice cream while the most hard hit members of society are forced to tap increasingly overwhelmed food banks.”
And the rub is that there’s really nothing anyone can do about it.
Were the Bank of Canada to adopt pro-cyclical measures to shore up the loonie, they would risk choking off economic growth just as the crude downturn takes a giant bite out of the economy – no food pun intended.
6 thoughts on “Canadians Panic As Food Prices Soar On Collapsing Currency”
Starting to look ripe for revolution. When people starve, they get violent. Too many Canadians are brain washed into sucking the government tit though. They are very docile. Just as likely to sit around complaining that it is all the greedy people’s fault than to do something about it. You know , the greedy people, like small business owners and entrepreneurs (sarcasm). Too many brain washed liberals in CA.
I guess they’re a little more American than they thought.
Welcome to our world.
They’re just at the “Panic” level.
We’re at the “Panic” and ” Totally Fkng Pissed Off ” level.
They need to step it up.
I have a tip…..for our Northern brothers.
Have some psycho that looks like Alex Jones try to kidnap the Prime Ministers dog and cornhole it.
Yeah …….! b!tches…..that’s how we roll in the Amerika’s.
Another year and we could easily be in the same boat here in the states. that’s when it will be good to have stores of food, and guns to protect that food!
I just hope Trump gets the office in time to divert disaster.
I know there are a lot on here opposed to Trump, I personally believe he is our only hope. I don’t believe his ties to the Jews run deep enough that he would work for them. I think that when he finds out just how much power they have and what they are responsible for that he will no longer be their friend.
Yes this is just my opinion, hopefully not wishful thinking….it’s not like we have any other options where the government is concerned.
Yes, there is another option. Stop participating in the fraudulent, communist occupation, communist run, rigged vote, as to do so, knowing what it is, is aiding and abetting the enemy.
Trump, yep, let’s let the fox guard the henhouse, what a novel idea!
I can’t say he’d be any worse than Clinton, GWB, or Obama if you want to know the truth of the matter.
No one’s going to rescue us from these oppressors. Get your shit together folks, there’s some dark time’s ahead on this uncertain path. If any real change is ever going to happen, it won’t involve any of the current players in the game.
“I just hope Trump gets the office in time to divert disaster.
I know there are a lot on here opposed to Trump, I personally believe he is our only hope. ”
Oh brother……. 🙄 Not another naive poster.
Dude, have you not learned anything from the last fraudulent election in 2012? Remember the RNC? Remember the vote stealing and the vote changing DIEBOLD computers?
And yet you still think a dimwit Zionist loving Jew who wants to become president and is supported by his Jew financial backers who want to kill us all is going to save you?
Unfrigginbelievable!!!!!!!!! WAKE UP!!!


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Italy’s popular computer graphics conference View has announced its 2013...
Tag "Doug Trumbull"
The Visual Effects Society announced today that it has inducted seven Fellows based on their contributions to the art and science of visual effects. The new Fellows include visual effects supervisor Richard Edlund; Pacific Data Images founder Carl Rosendahl; Ed Catmull, president of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation [...]
Europe’s top conference on the creation, production and distribution of digital entertainment has announced the lineup for its 17th edition (May 8-11). Among the many world-renowned vfx visionaries at the event this year are Doug Trumbull, who just received an Honorary Oscar for his lifetime achievement and worked as Effects [...]


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During the Famitsu Awards 2016, Yakuza General Director Toshihiro Nagoshi confirmed...
Nippon Ichi Software have released the second trailer for their upcoming adventure...
Falcom announced via Twitter that their upcoming game YS VIII for Playstation 4 has...
It appears Atlus have been registering a ton of domains in Japan centered around the...
Square Enix have announced their upcoming mobile game SINoALICE will be having an in-game...
Gust have released the second trailer for their upcoming mobile game Augmented Reality...
The latest issue of Weekly Famitsu sat down and interviewed Kenichiro Takaki, Producer...
The latest issue of Weekly Famitsu has revealed a new “dungeon exploration-type,...
Idea Factory have released the opening movie for its upcoming Playstation 4 title Hakuoki...
Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Asia have announced that New Hot Shots Golf has...
Final Fantasy XV
Sony Interactive Entertainment


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Editor's note: Contact7 seeks out audience tips and feedback to help people in need, resolve problems and hold the powerful accountable. If you know of a community need our call center could address, or have a story idea for our investigative team to pursue, please email us at firstname.lastname@example.org or call (720) 462-7777. Find more Contact7 stories here.
ENGLEWOOD, Co. — It started with a single tip into Contact7 and became a full investigation of how a local used car dealership does business.
“It’s been hell,” customer John Rodgers said.
Rodgers bought a GMC Yukon Denali from The Sharpest Rides in Englewood in January. He’s owned it for 10 months.
“The oil pump went out on it; the starter went out on it; the oil pan gaskets went out on it,” he explained, along with a cracked rim and instrument cluster that didn’t work only days after buying it.
The Denali is also on its third motor since he bought it. Each time he’s taken it in to be fixed at the dealership, and paid deductibles and some maintenance costs to fix it.
“With all the repairs I’ve done with this I’m completely broke. My credit cards are maxed out,” he said.
Rodgers is placing the blame for his car troubles on The Sharpest Rides.
“I think they sold me a lemon and they knew it was a lemon from the get-go,” he explained.
The GMC owner wrote to Contact7 after seeing the story of Brandon Horning, an Air Force veteran who had similar problems from the same dealership.
“I feel like they sold me a lemon. They sold me a mechanically defective car,” Horning told Denver7 in September.
The "Lemon Law" actually only applies to new cars, but the term has become widely used to describe mechanically defective vehicles.
He says it only took a month for his Dodge Charger to blow a motor.
“The engine is dead; it’s fried,” he said.
After Brandon’s story aired, the emails started rolling into the Contact7 tipline, most with similar complaints. Cars that had problems almost immediately, where the engine blew after a month, where major engine problems happened a day in, and one where a vehicle wouldn’t start just hours after purchase.
There are 29 complaints against The Sharpest Rides with the Better Business Bureau. The dealership has a sign on its lot advertising that it’s BBB accredited when it’s not, and hasn’t been since 2014.
Via a Colorado Open Record Act request, Contact7 also uncovered five complaints on file with the Colorado Department of Revenue Auto Industry Division. An investigation of one complaint filed in February found that The Sharpest Rides did not disclose hail damage to a customer, and ended with a warning letter being sent to the dealer.
“How do you respond to that volume of complaints?” Denver7’s Jason Gruenauer asked The Sharpest Ride’s General Manager Robert Lipp.
“It’s congruent to the number of cars we sell,” he answered.
Lipp says the dealership, which has been around since 2006, sells about 500 cars per month. All of them are pre-owned.
“It’s a pre-owned vehicle. It’s got moving parts and oil and things happen,” he explained.
Cars that are sold at the Englewood lot come from auction, trade-in, or other sources. The dealer has good reviews from customers listed on their website and argues that the good outweighs the bad form their customers. Lipp says the cars are quality, but are sold "as is."
“We’re not over here selling lemon cars. That’s just not something any dealership would open their doors to sell,” Lipp said.
The manager claimed the problem was not the fact that the cars break, but how the dealership handles those cases when they come in.
“Wouldn’t some people say a good dealership is someone who sells me a car that I won't have to fix?” Contact7 asked.
"Yeah, I wish that were the case. But every pre-owned dealership that you go to down anywhere in Colorado will have issues with a car that they sell. Period. That’s how it works,” Lipp answered.
The dealership says before they’re sold, all cars are driven, tires are checked, and oil is checked along with safety items like seat belts.
“I mean it doesn’t make sense to take 900 cars and peel the motor open on all of them or take the transmission apart on all of them to certify it and say it’s good to go, I promise you nothing’s going to happen. That’s just not the case,” Lipp said.
But that fact leads to some customers dealing with problems with the used cars they’ve bought.
“Pissed off,” John Rodgers said. “I thought I bought a reliable vehicle and it’s been unreliable since the day I bought it.”
For a full list of BBB complaints: https://www.bbb.org/us/co/englewood/profile/used-car-dealers/the-sharpest-rides-0885-90003968/complaints
To see the full interview between Jason Gruenauer and GM Robert Lipp, click the video box above.


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eMarketer-TV and Online Video Advertising Slow to Integrate
Fear of change, complexity and simple inertia hold back ad integration
Someday, online video will almost certainly become so disruptive that TV advertising will have to integrate with it. Several forces are in play that will likely fuel that eventual fusion, most notably the availability of high-quality video content and associated advertising across five increasingly used digital screens—desktop computers, notebook computers, smartphones, tablets and connected TVs.
But in the short term, the fusion of online video ads and TV commercials into singular campaigns will remain incomplete.
“What’s standing in the way? The core factor is a fear of financial loss within the TV industry—broadcast and cable networks, and cable providers (which are often also ISPs),” said David Hallerman, eMarketer principal analyst and author of the new report, “Digital Video and TV Advertising: 16 Forces that Will Help or Hinder Integration.” “Those fears are leading to tactics such as broadband and mobile data caps, which can reduce video usage, and the use of authentication protocols to block cord-cutters from accessing TV content online.”
In the meantime, online video’s ad spending growth will far outstrip TV’s growth through 2016, fueled more by the desires of brand advertisers than by the actions of media companies and other established content owners.
The growing consumer appeal of connected TVs is one force in favor of integration between online video and TV advertising. It’s also why 28% of brand advertisers and agencies in North America expected to buy ads on that platform in 2012, up from 8% in 2011, according to a report from Adap.tv and DIGIDAY.
The growing online video audience, and its devotion to watching ever more content online, is another factor favoring integration. But the forces arrayed against it are also strong, including the fear of cannibalization, the inability of content owners to sell sufficient ad loads online, the complexity of buying and measuring digital ads, and, of course, simple inertia.
“It’s going to take years for digital video advertising to blend more fully with TV advertising, but time is on digital’s side,” said Hallerman. “The five digital screens—desktops, notebooks, tablets, smartphones and connected TVs—are where audiences increasingly watch TV and other video content, and brands need to reach them anytime and everywhere.”
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Every weekday, we bring you the Ad Age/iSpot Hot Spots, new and trending TV commercials tracked by iSpot.tv, a company that catalogs, tags and measures activity around TV ads in real time. The New Releases here ran on TV for the first time yesterday. The Most Engaging ads are showing sustained social heat, ranked by SpotShare scores reflecting the percent of digital activity associated with each one over the past week. See the methodology here.
Among the new releases, Blizzard Entertainment promotes its video game "Overwatch"; Elex advertises its mobile game "Clash of Kings"; Match.com takes its app to the streets again to attract new users; and Outback Steakhouse recruits "true blue" Australian chef Adrian Richardson to talk up its new center-cut sirloins.
Finally, Smart Cars boasts that its fortwo models make u-turns faster than any politician, as a pair of cars circle in front of the Capitol Building.


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Find a Question:
iPhone 6s get dual camera with optical zoom and display the discriminating power taps
Presented last fall iPhone and iPhone 6 6 Plus, like all previous smartphones Apple, has become a bestseller. However, the company does not rest on its laurels and is preparing new smartphone models, which will retain the same form factor, but it will get better performance. Based on the generated schema update, “apple” devices will be called iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.
According to the resource GSMArena, referring to informed sources, compared with the current modification in the next-generation iPhone will be sold unusual decision to take pictures – camera with dual lens system.
In November, told about it in the podcast freelance journalist John Gruber. According to him, the camera iPhone 6s will consist of two lenses, which will create a snapshot of the quality of “mirror” cameras. Exactly how Apple plans to achieve significant improvement in the quality of shooting iPhone, unknown. According to updated information, the technology can be used to implement the optical zoom – zoom without loss of quality. Also, the device will get a better sensor picks up more light. Resolution does not have a source, noting, however, that will be the biggest improvement in the history of the camera smartphone.
Another innovation has been reported to affect the display iPhone 6s. The screen will be created using the technology of Touch Force , which recognizes the difference between touch and touch and offers a new way to quickly move to the controls in applications. Apple has implemented a similar development in hours Apple Watch. It offers new options for the development of computer technology touch.
Screen Apple Watch is unique because it offers more methods of interaction with the user, respectively, the developers were able to invest more than a functional in the limited space of a small gadget. The iPhone developers are likely to find it even more applications.
Earlier there were rumors that Apple decided to reduce the life cycle of the iPhone. This favor is the fact that the company at the time did so with a full-size tablet iPad – the fourth generation of this device came nearly six months after the appearance of the previous model. First manufacturer stood between updates about iPad year pause.
To date, Apple released a new generation iPhone after about a year after the appearance of its predecessor. The biggest break was between the iPhone 4 and 4S – 16 months.
Finally, with the release of iPhone 6s and iPhone 6 Plus the company refuses to 16-gigabyte versions of smart phones, giving minimal model capacity flash memory of 32 GB.
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The Sims have been kicking since the start of the 21st century. They even got a Reality TV show, so any news about The Sims 5 is welcome and highly anticipated.
As the franchise has grown very popular, EA kept working on the franchise and released some major news in April.
Official news of the upcoming title of the franchise, The Sims 5, were posted by Laura Miele, the Chief Studio Officer of EA.
As soon as she confirmed that the game is indeed under development, millions of gamers across the globe got highly thrilled.
The Sims 4 was launched in 2014, and though it received some updates and DLCs, plus a mobile version in the following years, fans of the franchise have been eagerly waiting for something more than that.
The Sims 5 will seemingly build on its legacy of being a safe spot that allows people to create a world to their liking, whether that means building a massive city or burning everything to the ground.
Though EA remained silent about most developments, the main highlight is that the game will evolve a standard comparable to all its predecessors (at least).
The characters and graphics will be refined, and features will be expanded.
The main focus of the new game is relating to the characters – making the experience even more immersive.
There will be even more freedom in decorating homes and customising characters.
According to the details we got, it appears that there will also be a multiplayer mode, and the community can’t wait to get a hold of that!
However, that may lead to an uncertain future for the game, as the series was fundamentally built around individual play styles.


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THE desire for an alternative to sun, sea and sand has seen holiday reservations in rural Spain soar.
The closure of borders until July, together with the restrictions and special measures applied on beaches, have generated a spectacular upturn in inland tourism.
According to Antonio Caño, president of the Association of Travel Agents of Cordoba, while the market has seen a plunge in beach destinations, there is a significant increase in interest in rural tourism, especially in Cordoba.
“Demand in Cordoba has grown by over 30% compared to the end of May last year,” he said.
“Other years, beach destinations were popular, now it’s rural accommodation.”
Cordoba in particular, in areas such as the Subbetica, where there is a considerable number of rural houses with swimming pools, is seeing a significant increase in demand.
Also boasting the Alto Guadalquivir and Los Pedroches, it is has the second-highest number of rural tourism accommodations in Andalucia, surpassed only by Malaga.
Last year 48,070 people visited rural Cordoba, resulting in 126,656 overnight stays.
The Junta estimates hotels and accommodations in inland Andalucia will see a 75% occupation rate in August.
Regional tourism minister Juan Marin, said this Wednesday that from recent data received on reservations, it’s estimated that tourist capacity across the whole of Andalucia during July will exceed 60% and 70-75% in August.


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The FDA looking to ban trans fats? Really?
On one hand, the news is music to my ears. But when I really stop to think about it … I feel like it’s like opening Pandora’s Box.
Trans fats are dangerous, we know that. For decades, we’ve been artificially altering the chemical makeup of foods for taste and shelf-life sale-ability. Health was never a consideration. Studies were never done on the potential hazards, and how the body would even respond to such foreign chemically composed “foods” (or “food-like products,” as journalist and author Michael Pollan likes to say). And it’s in EVERYTHING – even foods that say ‘no trans fats.’ Troublesome, but true.
And whenever a societal pressure regarding an unhealthy food product reaches government ears, their reaction tends to be the same. DECLARE WAR on said unhealthy product, and BAN, BAN, BAN! Remember the soda ban in New York City? That didn’t get very far. And there is a very clear reason: People feel they have a right to choose, and pick their own poisons.
My suggestion? Education. It is key in every situation like this. Yes, the cigarette industry is still going strong, but persistent education on the dangers has made the American public hyper-aware of the risks of smoking. In fact so much so, that it’s become socially acceptable to “bully” friends and family to stop smoking. I know, because I did it with my grandmother when I was 13, by stealing her cigarette packs and throwing them away. After a few angry phone calls and a good amount of wasted money later, she allowed herself to listen to my pleas. Today, laws have been enacted to keep smoke away from doors to establishments. And you just don’t see “smoking sections” in restaurants today. Amazing what a little knowledge can do. Yes, people still smoke. But it’s their choice to do so. Our job is simply to inform them.
But the education on nutrition – I haven’t found that to be as public as it needs to be. It is only starting to surface in the American consciousness that being overweight or obese is dangerous to both personal health and the country’s economic stability and healthcare industry.
In the above linked article by Alexandra Sifferlin, in “7 foods that won’t be the same if trans fats are banned,” she mentions some of the possible replacements for trans fats in highly processed foods such as doughnuts, creamers, etc. Soybean, canola, and vegetable oils top the list. While on the surface, the idea of throwing out trans fats and using oils low in saturated fats sounds like a winning combo, it won’t in the long run. And I won’t even get into the GMO issue presented by these alternatives.
Okay, here I will go as far as saying: The problem ISN’T trans fats! *gasp!* Before you start pointing out the failure in my logic, hear me out. The problem today is that the very things humans find savory – fats, salts, and sugars – are far too prevalent in today’s processed foods. What we are missing is the know-how to make informed choices between the foods and food-like products, both in restaurant establishments and at the supermarket.
And statistics back me up.
“Solid fats contribute an average of 19 percent of the total calories in American diets, but few essential nutrients and no dietary fiber,” it says in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, written by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Males consume 2,475 calories daily and females consume 1,833 calories. Men and women eat an average of 33 percent fat. While that is within range of fat recommendations (20-35%, or 400-700 calories/45-75 grams of fat), that 20-35% of recommended fat refers only to the healthier unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. The majority of fat calories consumed today by American men and women are primarily from saturated fat. The American Heart Association puts a cap of saturated fat intake at 7 percent of total daily calories, or 140 calories/16 grams a day. Trans fat is recommended at less than one percent.
So my recommendation is not cutting out all the bad stuff in food. I am a nutritionist, and I still eat French fries, cookies, crackers – but on occasion. It’s about learning how to eat in moderation! Knowing what is bad for us, and why goes a long way in making healthier choices. We eat these foods filled with less than healthy things, because we enjoy them. Frankly, they taste good! We should still allow the American public to enjoy them – but teach them how to view them as treats, and not an everyday, go-to food-like product. As a coach, I work with people to add healthy things into their diet, rather than take away things they take pleasure in (because taking that away, even figuratively, makes a person covet the off-limits food even more).
Shouldn’t the FDA think about doing the same? Maybe regulation and bans are not the answer.
- Trans Fats in Foods Now Banned in US (medindia.net)
- FDA Bans Heart-Clogging Trans Fats for Good (americanlivewire.com)
- FDA to ban artery-clogging trans fats (kvue.com)
- FDA to ban artery-clogging trans fats (wfaa.com)
- FDA to Ban Artery-Clogging Trans Fats – ABC News (abcnews.go.com)
- Taste the difference of no trans fat? Probably not (bigstory.ap.org)
- FDA wants to ban trans fats from food (nbcnews.com)
- FDA to ban artery-clogging trans fats (azfamily.com)
- Start Hoarding Donuts: The FDA Is Banning Trans Fats (reason.com)
- FDA is done with trans fat (wcpo.com)
One thought on “Still demonizing fats – fair enough to ban?”
I couldn’t agree more! Very well-said. The answer is most definitely education, not legislation. Prohibition led to more excessive consumption of alcohol and the War on Drugs has led to an increase, not decrease, in drug abuse. When we illegalize a thing, we make it much more tempting and desirable, and also create unnecessary fear. Educate, educate, educate! We need to have an informed public, not a fearful public.


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Bedding company Serta Simmons is in preparation to seek bankruptcy protection as early as January, according to a report in Bloomberg.
Unidentified sources close to the situation told Bloomberg the mattress company has been in confidential talks with creditors about a restructuring plan, which may include giving certain first-lien lenders control. Those talks could change, and it’s still unclear whether Serta Simmons will need financing to fund its operation through Chapter 11.
Serta Simmons’ entire debt load of more than $2 billion matures in 2023, and its approximately $843 million first-lien term loan due November 2023 is quoted at around 9 cents on the dollar, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Much of that debt stems from majority private equity owner Advent International’s $3 billion buyout of AOT Bedding Super Holdings LLC in 2012.
In 2020, Serta Simmons inked an out-of-court restructuring plan with its creditors that added “super-priority” debt and dropped some lenders down in line for repayment. Some of those lenders, including Angelo Gordon & Co. and Apollo Global Management, recently sued the mattress maker and other lenders to invalidate the deal, accusing Serta Simmons of concocting an “unlawful scheme to rob” certain creditors “of their bargained-for rights,” court documents filed Nov. 3 show. The lawsuit says the “highly distressed” mattress company owes Angelo Gordon et al. $600 million of it total $1.9 billion outstanding loans from June 2020, though they’re unlikely to collect in the wake of Serta Simmons’ “unlawful” debt swap.
In September, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Serta Simmons’ rating, based on the company’s debt and declining cash reserves.
Home goods companies have taken a beating this year as pandemic demand has significantly softened, while at the same time, a glut of inventory has flooded stores and warehouses as supply chain snarls finally began straightening out.
Just this week, Sears filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for its Sears Hometown division. And parent company of Lane Furniture, United Furniture Industries, abruptly shuttered its operation in November rather than declaring bankruptcy, as advised by its board of directors. The company is now subject to multiple lawsuits as a result of its hasty closure.
Traditional mattress companies such as Serta Simmons have felt additional pressure in recent years with the influx of direct-to-consumer and bed-in-a-box brands such as Casper, Purple and Avocado, which appeal to younger consumers with competitive pricing and easy ordering and delivery.