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"The Pirates Have Seized the Ship"
Even as gunboats from across the globe move into their waters, the desperate, well-armed, and increasingly bold bandits of Somalia keep swarming the decks of the world's largest ships. They take what they want, they don't leave until the (higher and higher) ransoms are paid, and they won't stop until a modern-day war against piracy breaks out
by jeffrey gettleman
our little plane buzzed over the crumbling dunes, and the midday sun made the wasteland beneath us look impossibly bright and lifeless. We crossed over a ridge of mountains that gave way to a long empty beach and then a vast, beautiful expanse of teal blue. The pilot cut our speed, and the plane began its descent into Boosaaso, a booming pirate city and a portal into the chaotic underworld of Somalia.
The airport in Boosaaso is like most in this country, a strip of gravel with an outhouse and a corrugated-iron shack where a few veiled women stirred a murky pot of tea. Outside, in the thin lattice of shade provided by thorn trees, lurked the mooryaan, the half-starved young men with glassy eyes and loaded Kalashnikovs who haunt every nook and cranny of this country. Some of them wore military fatigues that drooped off their shoulders, making them look like boys in men's clothing, which they were. They watched as the plane rolled to a halt and the pilot opened the cabin door.
Friends who work for the United Nations in Kenya had warned me to stay away from Boosaaso. I had about a 100 percent chance of being stuffed into the back of a Toyota or shot in the head, they said, unless I was extremely well guarded, around the clock, in which case my chances were only marginally better. In Boosaaso you have to go through the local "government" to hire security, which really means you're going to criminals to hire security to protect you from criminals. The guards you're assigned may keep you from being kidnapped, or they may kidnap you themselves. There's a lot of money on the line, in a very poor place, so it's impossible to know which way it will go. (Shortly after I visited Boosaaso, two journalists who'd come here to get a closer look at Somalia's pirates were kidnapped for forty days, most likely sold out by their Somali fixer.)
I grabbed my bags and stepped out into the crushing light and heat. I'd been in contact with a young Somali journalist named Bulgaz, whom I'd deputized to line up security. He was wearing a polo shirt and wraparound shades when we met on the airstrip, and we shook hands and hugged Somali-style, shoulder to shoulder. He pulled me into a nearby four-wheel-drive truck with tinted windows, decorated like a gaudy mosque, with a feather boa covering the dashboard and gold-plated charms dangling from the rearview mirror. The windows were rolled up tight, and I nearly gagged from the overpowering smell of air freshener. Behind our truck was another pickup, with ten gunmen crouched in the back. I swiveled around to check out the guys in charge of saving my life. They looked back at me, unblinking. Their commander had just confiscated all their cell phones so that none of them could call in our location to anyone else, a smart move, security-wise, but one that immediately pissed them off. "Ten, like you said," Bulgaz said. "Let's go."
We bumped along a dirt road through a field of garbage, where goats snacked on plastic bags and thin little boys with sunken eyes watched over them. Women, veiled head to toe, trudged along the road hauling plastic jerricans sloshing with water. Occasionally a cart would pass, pulled by an emaciated donkey with every rib showing. It's impossible to overstate the level of poverty and human suffering in Somalia. After eighteen years without a functioning government, after ceaseless fighting and famine, it is the world's most failed state. And the grubby city of Boosaaso is the logical, Hobbesian end toward which all of Somalia is headed.
Boosaaso is perfectly positioned near the mouth of the Red Sea, at the crossroads of Africa and Arabia, to supply this lawless corner of the world with all its contraband needs: guns, drugs, expired baby formula, counterfeit electronics, counterfeit dollars, even smuggled human beings. If it's illegal and it makes money, then someone is trafficking in it here. When we arrived, the center of town was packed with people—money changers sitting sphinxlike in front of bricks of Somali shillings, waiting to convert pirate dollars into the filthy local notes; old men in skullcaps chewing camel steaks at dingy, whitewashed restaurants; boys hawking slices of watermelon from roadside carts. Several late-model Land Cruisers, trucks that cost at least $50,000, prowled the deeply rutted roads. As we moved through town, our driver jutted his finger toward a large white house with a steel gate. "C.I.A.," he said. He may have been right. It was an open secret that the American government was working with notorious figures in northern Somalia to track Islamist terrorists. Not far from the center of town was a neighborhood called New Boosaaso, where just beyond a cluster of refugee huts made from bits of cloth and cardboard rose a colony of palatial new homes with huge walls surrounding them and satellite dishes on their roofs. Spectral figures tramped through the dust on the way to their hovels, and right next to them were some of the nicest houses I had seen anywhere in Somalia, where so many buildings have been reduced to piles of machine-gun-chewed bricks. I suspected that this was where the pirates lived.
Thanks to Somalia, the world is in the midst of the greatest piracy epidemic since the Barbary Wars in the early nineteenth century. From Boosaaso and rocky little coves up and down the 1,900-mile coast, Somalia's pirates are threatening to choke off the Gulf of Aden, through which 20,000 ships pass each year. The economic consequences of all this piracy are potentially catastrophic. The world's biggest shipping companies are detouring their vessels thousands of miles around the Cape of Good Hope, at the bottom of Africa, rather than risking a voyage through Somalia's pirate-infested seas. Insurance costs are shooting up. Security bills are skyrocketing. The cash-starved Egyptian government could collapse if more ships avoid the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal, which provides Egypt with billions of dollars each year.
"We've never seen anything like this,'' said Pottengal Mukundan, director of the International Maritime Bureau in London. When we spoke in December, he told me that more than a dozen hijacked ships, with 300-plus hostages, were anchored just off the coast of Somalia. "You can see the images of these ships on Google Earth,'' he said. "Nowhere else in the world would this be tolerated.'' Somalia was gripped by "a national criminal ethos," Mukundan went on, and only now that pirates were threatening global trade did the world seem to care about it.
Since December, warships from China, India, Italy, Russia, France, the United States, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Greece, Turkey, Britain, and Germany have all joined the hunt for Somalia's pirates. But the pirates keep eluding them, keep hijacking merchant ships, and keep making millions in ransom payments. In the past year, they netted $120 million, an astronomical amount of money in a country where a fifth of the population is on the brink of starvation.
It's easy to think of the pirates as modern-day Robin Hoods, and in some respects they are. In Somalia, a whole mythology has grown around them. I've been told—though I haven't seen them—that entire malnourished villages along Somalia's coast are now being well-fed by the loot they bring in. Women bake bread for them; young men from the coastal villages board the ships once they're docked and act as extra muscle to guard the hostages; others serve as scouts, accountants, mechanics, and skiff builders. There's no doubt that in Somalia, crime pays—it's about the only industry that does—but this goes beyond just the money. With their black scarves covering their faces and submachine guns slung over their arms, Somalia's pirates are the real Jack Sparrows of the twenty-first century, minus the eyeliner. One young woman who lives near Boosaaso bragged about going to a pirate wedding that lasted two days. A band was flown in from neighboring Djibouti. There was nonstop dancing and an endless supply of goat meat. "They drive the best cars, they throw the best parties," she gushed. "We all want to marry them." She claimed that her own pirate boyfriend had just given her a small gift—$350,000 in cash. For young Somali men, pirate life is becoming too much to resist. Fishermen all along the coast have traded in their ragged fishing nets for rocket-propelled grenades.
despite the rash of piracy over the past year, it's only since fall that the pirates have become front-page news. In the last week of August, the MV Faina (MV stands for "motor vessel") set off from the port of Nikolayev in the Ukraine, bound for Mombasa, on Ken-ya's coast. It was a tall, lumbering freighter, painted blue and white. Its captain was Russian and its twenty-one crew members mostly Ukrainian. Its cargo was secret.
A month later, on September 25, the Faina put out an SOS. Three small speedboats were heading straight toward it, approaching fast, the typical pirate swarm. The next day, news broke that the Faina had been hijacked 200 miles off Somalia's coast. Its secret cargo, which was only reluctantly revealed by the Kenyan government, was thirty-three Soviet-designed T-72 battle tanks, 150 grenade launchers, six antiaircraft guns, and heaps of ammunition. Alarm bells started ringing—in Nairobi, Kenya's capital; in Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan; and in Washington, D.C.
The hijacking came at a precarious time for Somalia. The transitional government, a coterie of mostly ex-warlords that had been weak and unpopular since the day it was formed in 2004, was on the verge of collapse. The Islamist movement that had briefly controlled the country in 2006, and then was ousted by a joint Ethiopian-American military offensive, was now back, and American officials were convinced that an Islamist-led Somalia could blossom into a jihad factory like Afghanistan or the Sunni Triangle of Iraq.
By the time the gun-toting pirates climbed aboard the Faina, the Islamists were fighting their way toward Mogadishu, Somalia's capital. The Americans were terrified that the pirates would offload the tanks and other weapons and funnel them to the Islam-ists. Half a dozen American warships were quickly dispatched to tail the Faina, which had docked just off the coast."We can't let the Islamists get those tanks,'' one American diplomat told me. "It could change the whole balance of the war. There's no way these guys will get away with this.''
I agreed. It seemed, at the time, that the pirates were badly overplaying their cards, attracting too much notice to a problem that had been allowed to flourish for years largely because it had remained below the radar. I couldn't see how they could possibly escape, now that they were surrounded by warships and under constant surveillance by Defense Department satellites.
Over the last week of September, I repeatedly tried to make contact with the pirates on board the Faina (a high-level diplomat in Nairobi had slipped me the number for the satellite line on the ship's bridge), and when I wasn't doing that, I was boning up on all things pirate. The resemblance between the Somali pirates and their Barbary brethren was striking. By the 1600s, pirates from the Barbary Coast, which included what is today Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya, were seizing European vessels and ransoming their crews for enormous sums. Like the Somalis, the Barbary pirates usually kept their hostages alive—not out of any enlightened sense of humanity but simply because it was good business. They only hung captives from giant hooks or carved them into little pieces if they resisted. The Barbary pirates used small wooden corsairs, often powered by slaves chained to the oars, to swarm and attack the larger European ships. They hailed from a messy, underdeveloped part of the world and managed to harass and humiliate the greatest powers of the day. They would sack coastal towns in Italy and Spain, even as far as Iceland, and drag their captives back to the casbah. But their bravado became their demise.
The pirates had flourished for two centuries because various European countries—and eventually America—paid "tribute" to the pashas who underwrote their activities, and in exchange the pirates left their ships alone. In one year, 1797, the U.S. paid a million dollars in tribute fees, about a fifth of the national budget. Eventually, though, the Americans began to feel humiliated paying off a bunch of thugs in blousy pants, and in the early 1800s the American navy sailed across the Atlantic and pounded the Barbary Coast, bringing the long reign of the pirates to an end.
I figured the Faina would be a similar turning point, that the pirates had gone too far (they asked for $35 million when they learned what the cargo was) and their hubris was going to be the beginning of the end of the glory days of Somali piracy. But the guys on board the ship seemed completely unfazed that the most fearsome navy in the world had them pinned against Somalia's craggy shore. After three days of nothing but my phone ringing endlessly aboard the ship, my call was finally picked up by one of the pirates. He spoke English.
"Can I speak to the pirate spokesman, please?" (My contact in Nairobi had told me that they were more sophisticated than you'd expect and had appointed one of their own to handle PR.)
I heard some shouting in Somali, and then Sugule Ali, the pirates' official spokesman, got on the line.
"Haa," he said, the breathy Somali word for "yes."
Sugule seemed happy to chat. He talked for a while about the typical pirate diet—"rice, meat, bread, spaghetti—you know, normal human-being food"—and then he explained to us his notion of Somali piracy. "We don't consider ourselves sea bandits," he said. "We consider sea bandits those who illegally fish in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas. We are simply patrolling our seas. Think of us like a coast guard."
the pirates often use this as a rationale for their actions. Somalia has some of the most bountiful seas in the world, and during peak seasons trawlers from around the globe converge here, using tactics like dynamiting reefs and employing waterborne vacuums to suck everything up—fish, coral, rocks, plants—from the ocean floor. Over the past few months, several fishermen turned pirates have told me how illegal fishing and toxic-waste dumping started in the early 1990s, shortly after the government collapsed, and how they often saw barrels containing who-knows-what bobbing in their seas. It was only a matter of time before the fishermen decided to strike back.
They began venturing out and boarding the trawlers and demanding that the captains pay a "tax," and before long they graduated to attacking freighters and oil tankers farther out at sea. Sometimes, Sugule explained to me, the pirates even used "mother ships," vessels they'd already hijacked, as bases on which to live and sustain themselves for weeks, hundreds of miles out in the ocean.
In another phone call, a different pirate on board, Jama Ali, described how they had been hiding out on a rock in the Gulf of Aden, spying on ships through a set of binoculars. At a certain spot in the gulf, he said, there is a narrow passage, which is where they'll often prey on ships that come in close. "If a car gets off the road, it might be in trouble," he said. "It is like that.
"We chased that Ukrainian ship for eight hours,'' Jama recalled. "We lost our ladder, but fortunately we climbed on the ship through the ropes on the side.'' (Security consultants later told me that leaving ropes dangling over the side of a ship when sailing past Somalia is a serious mistake.) Once on board, the pirates did a fast inventory of the cargo and discovered they'd hit the jackpot, Somali-style, with $30 million in arms now in their possession. They went through the paperwork on the bridge and learned that the T-72 tanks and grenade launchers were not destined for Kenya, as the Kenyan government claimed, but were actually headed to a former rebel army that now runs Southern Sudan, and that the port of Mombasa was simply the transit point. It was yet another shady African arms deal, which likely involved million-dollar kickbacks for the Kenyan officials who helped facilitate it, and the pirates had broken it wide open.
"These guys are pros," Andrew Mwangura, the head of the East Africa Seafarers Assistance Program in Kenya, told me. Many of the seafarers in Mwangura's organization have learned about Somali piracy the hard way, having been kidnapped and held for months. Still, he seemed impressed by, almost enamored of, the pirates. He explained that "investors" front the money for skiffs, guns, binoculars, GPS units, fuel, and cigarettes. The investors then take a slice of the ransom, usually about 20 percent, with another 20 percent set aside for future missions, 30 percent to bribe government officials, and the rest split between the pirates and their henchmen, who can number in the hundreds. The strings are pulled by Somali businessmen based in Kenya, Djibouti, Dubai, and even London. They have translators, accountants, money inspectors—an entire white-collar network that manages the operations from afar. Mwangura and other pirate experts told me that the investors have deep connections to Somalia's government, especially in the semiautonomous region of Puntland, where Boosaaso is. They estimated that on any given day, as many as 1,500 gunmen go out in skiffs to hunt down the ships, and thousands more work onshore guarding the captives.
Ransoms are normally paid in hand-offs on the ship, though in January, nearly two months after pirates had hijacked the Sirius Star, a Saudi supertanker, $3 million was dropped in a watertight orange case by an unmarked plane, the cash literally floating down by parachute and landing on the deck of the ship. After the pirates divvied up the booty, they were so anxious to get back to shore that they left in the middle of a storm. One of their skiffs capsized, and several pirates drowned. The body of one washed up on the beach with a soggy brick of $670,000 wrapped in his clothes, his $70,000 share plus an additional $600,000 for the investors. When I and a reporter working for me in Mogadishu tried to find out who that money belonged to, nobody in Xarardheere, the pirate town where the body was found, seemed to know. Some young kids onshore tried to run away with the cash, but elders swooped in, knowing that at some point the investors, wherever they were, would come calling.
in november, I took the train from Nairobi down to Mombasa, the steamy port town on Kenya's coast, and bribed my way past the port's main gate ($5 smacked with a smile into the guard's hand) to meet a Kenyan sailor named Athman Said Mangore, who brought me onto his jalopy of a ship. We sat in his fishy-smelling cabin, and he told me how he had been a captive for three months, kidnapped when he was working as a crew member on a ship sailing from Mombasa to Boosaaso with a shipment of rice for the United Nations World Food Program.
Three pirate skiffs struck in the dark, Mangore told me. "We didn't see them until they were on board." They were led by an older pirate named Captain Grey, who seemed to know the Somali seas intimately. "He was all right," Mangore remembered. "A short guy. Thin. Serious." Captain Grey tried to maintain discipline, Mangore said, and when he was present, the younger pirates didn't slap around their captives. But when he left, the pirates grew restless and wild. "They sprayed the windshield of the bridge with their guns," Mangore said. "They were angry about there not being enough water."
The pirates were often high on khat, the mildly stimulating leaf that Somalis chew like bubble gum. It was three months of hell living with them, Mangore said. His only redeeming memory, he told me, was of seeing a hundred-foot-long whale crash up through the water and then disappear. "I will never forget it," he said.
You would think that, with piracy such a threat to world trade, there would be a more concerted and robust response. But so far, no one seems to want to fully take the problem on. Some shipping companies are now hiring their own defenders, private security contractors fresh from Iraq who are taking gigs riding along as extra muscle on merchant voyages. I met a bunch of these guys lounging on a beach in Oman, swigging Heineken and talking about how, if it were up to them, they'd make the pirates walk the plank. Most had shaved heads and thick, tattooed arms, but that was it. No guns, no armaments. The ports in this region—with the exception of those in Somalia—don't allow weapons, and the guards are forced to confront machine-gun-toting pirates with fire hoses. (In one attack, Filipino sailors unsuccessfully pelted pirates with tomatoes.)
As for why the rest of the world doesn't want to get more involved, part of the problem has to do with the perceived legal complications of capturing and prosecuting pirates (though international-law scholars I spoke with say any country can arrest and prosecute robbers on the high seas). Then there's the bigger fear of getting sucked back into Somalia. Most military experts I've talked to say the only way to really stamp out piracy is to take out the pirates onshore. But there's the rub, because no one wants to put boots on Somali ground. The Black Hawk Down episode, in which Somali militiamen in flip-flops shot down two Black Hawk helicopters and killed eighteen American soldiers, is still fresh in everyone's memory. So for now it remains a game of chase, played out on about a million square miles of water.
I went out in December with the Italian navy on a pirate hunt, cruising the Arabian Sea on a 485-foot destroyer loaded with torpedoes, surface-to-air-missiles, heavy-caliber machine guns, radar, sonar, and infrared cameras. The Italians served up some great coffee and a mean buffet, but I got the sense that they wouldn't know what to do with a real-live pirate if they caught one. The captain told me their mission was to escort food ships and scare away the pirates. They didn't even have a brig on board, he said.
The Danish navy has arrested suspected pirates several times, apprehending young Somali men cruising around in speedboats with guns, ladders, and no fishing rods. But each time, the Danes concluded they didn't have the jurisdiction to prosecute because there was no evidence that the pirates had attacked Danish citizens.
The strategy right now is to deter attacks and then, if a ship gets hijacked, to "negotiate"—which is what the diplomats say when what they really mean is "pay off the pirates." And in each case, it actually makes sense to fork over the ransom. Even 2 or 3 million bucks (the highest ransoms yet) are cheaper than a new ship or a cargo of tanks or taking out life insurance for two dozen men. But taken as a whole, the ransom strategy is fueling the piracy and drawing in more wannabe buccaneers. And no shipping company wants to be the first to call the pirates' bluff.
As of late January, the Faina was still being held by pirates, despite the six American warships and Russian frigate pinning it against the shore. Ukrainian officials were begging the Americans not to make any rash moves. Payment would be coming, the Ukrainians assured the pirates, but there seemed to be some dispute over who was going to pay—the shipowner or the owner of the tanks or the families of the crew. (At the time of publication, the Israeli owner of the ship appeared to be close to agreeing on a ransom, although this had been rumored before.) The awkward reality is that the Faina was part of a secret arms deal, and no one involved believed it would ever be made public, until that SOS went out. It's exactly the kind of situation—a ship filled with illegal weapons, captured by well-armed and desperate and unpredictable men, surrounded by boats with massive amounts of firepower—that could spiral very quickly out of control.
in somalia, especially in Boosaaso, the local government is more than happy to throw pirates in jail. The leaders in Puntland are savvy enough to know that the Western world is fed up with the pirates, and the last thing they want is U.N. troops coming on land and shutting them down with force. Publicly, the officials say they are doing all they can to crack down on piracy. Privately, though, several Boosasso officials told me the government was rolling in pirate dough. "I know for a fact people in the Puntland administration are pirates," one member of the administration told me. When I pressed him for names, though, all he would say is, "It's not me."
Suspect number one is Mohamud Muse Hirsi, also known as Adde Muse, who was the president of Puntland until his colleagues ousted him in January. Many pirate experts say that Adde Muse works closely with the pirates and that there is no way Boosaaso could be the place it is today without his involvement. Several pirates told me that they, too, had to dish Adde Muse and his associates Barbary-style "tribute'' payments to keep operating.
When I visited him in October, Adde Muse bristled at the suggestion that he might be corrupt. "That's not true,'' he scolded. "We're the leaders of this country.'' The shades were drawn in his dimly lit office, but he still had his sunglasses on. He looked a bit like a gangster slouching in his chair, surrounded by sycophants, his copious soft belly spilling out of his shirt. He was a warlord not so long ago, and he had the same warlord habits I'd encountered in Somalia many times before—short on listening skills, physically intimidating but also, at the same time, friendly and seemingly aware of the absurdity of this whole place.
Adde Muse said his militia had recently arrested several dozen men who were planning attacks and that the pirates had been sentenced to a year in jail. "You want to see them?" he asked me. "You are free."
We jumped into our tinted-window truck and drove out of the presidential palace, past the parking lot full of technicals (the distinctly Somali invention of a jeep with the roof ripped off and a cannon riveted on back), and headed again through the fields of garbage to the outskirts of Boosaaso. The jail was down a gravel road, and since we had been given the big man's approval, the ancient wardens scrambled to their feet when we arrived and nervously dug into their pockets for their rings of keys.
They walked us briskly toward the cellblock, which had a basketball court in the middle. Guards with AK-47's prowled the tops of the prison walls. Inmates in the cellblocks thrust their arms through the bars and pleaded for water. They were packed into bare concrete rooms like sheep being led to slaughter. Some were old and shriveled. Some were just boys, including a tender-faced kid I met who'd slipped a knife into someone's ribs for teasing him. When I first walked into the courtyard, I turned to a nearby inmate who'd said hello to me in perfect English and asked him where I could find some pirates.
"Pirates? Pirates?'' he exclaimed, staring at me like I was an idiot. "This jail is full of pirates! This whole city is pirates!''
I quickly learned the pirates had special status here. They were the only inmates not cooped up in the filthy, sauna-like cells. They lounged freely on the basketball court, men with wispy beards and little, stony eyes. At first, none of them would look straight at me. They'd say something bold, like how they've made "big money, big money, a million bucks!" and then flick back their filthy heads and cackle. I scribbled down the quotes, sweat dripping off my face, woozy from the heat and the ripe, musky aroma of hundreds of unwashed men. One after the other told me about how rich he was, how rich they all were, how they had so much money they could have whatever they wanted.
One of them, Jama Abdullahi, was a tall, lean pirate with a checkered, Arab-style scarf and a serious case of ADD. I chased him around the basketball court as I interviewed him. He spoke some English, telling me the name of his operation was "Somali Coast Land.''
"You mean 'Coast Guard,' '' another pirate shot in.
"Whatever,'' Jama grunted. And he plunged back into the stories about cruising around in fast boats packed with AKs, RPGs, and bazookas, hijacking whatever crossed his path. "We got more than 500 people working for us," he said. "We make millions."
Who knows, maybe this was true. Maybe for a bunch of them it was true. Maybe they had million-dollar homes in New Boosaaso with Land Rovers parked in front of them. Maybe when they went into town, the women swooned around them and gave them whatever they desired. Certainly this was the case for some of Somalia's pirates, but the more I talked to these guys, the more their bravado struck me as an act and the sadder it began to seem.
The real pirate money was going elsewhere, to men who wore suits and had secretaries and went to offices in towering buildings, men who would never see this jail and likely never even see the shitty, lawless city of Boosaaso. The notion that the Somali pirates were Robin Hoods fighting back by going after the boats that have raped their seas—that notion is nothing but a sentimental fantasy to lay over the much uglier reality of Somalia. At best, the richest men in Boosaaso are just the current iteration of the country's infamous warlords, making millions off the chaos around them and spreading some of that wealth to the grunts beneath them. That wasn't these guys. These guys were fighting just to survive. They picked up a Kalashnikov and got on a boat because it was their way to eat.
We stood in a disappearing slice of shade. They were sickeningly skinny, with protruding collarbones and twiggy legs, most of them around six feet tall and 120 pounds. They had cracked yellow teeth. Their eyes were rheumy, and their hands were calloused by years of pulling in nets. What they really wanted to talk about was fishing. A pirate named Dirie told me about his old fishing boat. "Eight tons," he said, smiling. "An inboard engine, three pistons." He said that after the fish vanished from near the shore, he took his boat farther out into the ocean. But the big foreign fishing trawlers cut his nets and sent him home. Jama joined in the conversation. He was calmer now, talking about his family's seafood business, now defunct, how lobster and shark were the big sellers. His dad and his grandfather had both been fishermen. "Brother," he said, as he stared at the coils of razor wire all around him, "I miss the seas."jeffrey gettleman is the East Africa bureau chief for The New York Times.


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Calories (noun) (symbol: Cal) - Tiny creatures that live in your closet/drawers that sew your clothes a little bit tighter every night. Author unknown
When I looked in my closet I found most of my shirts, jeans and sweaters were made from cotton, and it turns out most cotton is made from genetically modified organisms (GMO).
Two Great Films to Watch on Netflix or The Below Links
Food Matters and The Beautiful Truth
The FDA and Pharmaceutical Industry Wants To Ban Your Nutritional Supplements
by William Faloon
Only Organic educates consumers to understand that only organic food is made in the way nature intended ... without the use of toxic pesticides, antibiotics, hormones and genetically engineered ingredients (GMO - Genetic Modified Organisms). Click here to check out the Only Organic site and watch its uproarious new video that debunks the "natural" myth. More than 550,000 people have laughed till they've cried.
We are already dehydrated if we depend on thirst as the signal to drink. The amount of water you consume depends on many factors such as temperature, humidity and, how much exercise you are getting. If you are not urinating every 3 hours, then yes, you may be dehydrated.
Dusty R. Green, M.Ed.
Why are you paying more (cost per gram) in Health Food, Grocery, and Drug Stores for alternative / natural medicine / nutritional supplements?
Most people think that aging is irreversible and we know that there are mechanisms even in the human machinery that allow for the reversal of aging, through correction of diet, through anti-oxidants, through removal of toxins from the body, through exercise, through yoga and breathing techniques, and through meditation.
Dr. Deepak Chopra
Studies Find Supplement Users Tend to Weigh Less and Experience Less Hunger
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Historic attractions, world-class cultural events, and endless entertainment.View Vacations »
The night life is an integral part of the legend of the Principality.Learn More »
Experience the unique hospitality that has made Monaco the premier destination for world travelers.Learn More »
Speak with a Monaco Travel Specialist!Learn More »
Linked to the Grimaldi family for over seven hundred years, the Principality has progressively found its place at the center of the world stage, particularly since the reign of Prince Rainier III and that of his son H.S.H. Prince Albert II. Member of the United Nations and the Council of Europe, Monaco is a prosperous and conveniently located state, with a flourishing economy and undoubted international influence. Above all, the Principality is an outstanding tourist destination. As well as its superb natural location, it has a large number of luxury hotels, gastronomic restaurants, top-of-the-range well-being centers, sports facilities and a lively night-life.


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I really enjoyed reading the interview Cristin of Simplified Bee did with San Francisco interior designer Kendall Wilkinson. It was actually a turquoise showhouse room she designed that fueled my inspiration to start this blog so long ago…I'd never seen anything like it before! Since then I've continued to be impressed with her work. Her rooms are all so beautiful and glamorous, but never stuffy. I'm also a tremendous fan of her use of color. Read the inspiring interview on Simplified Bee, and for more of her work, visit Kendall Wilkinson Design & Home.
Since it's Friday again (where do these weeks go?!), it's time to announce: Only 4 weeks left! And believe it or not, one last wedding shower thrown by my awesome family! I can't wait! Happy weekend everyone! 🙂


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For the past two weeks I've been on the road in Asia. Starting in Beijing, my travels have taken me to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and finally Singapore. Travelling on business is never easy; and airplane food is hardly gourmet. But still I've managed to see some amazing sights, and have some amazing meals, complete with wacky menu descriptions, unusual tastes, and the hilarity of ordering by "sign and point" (not to mention trying to navigate room service orders). The way that food manages to connect us to one another - across very different cultures and languages - is one of my favourite things about travel.
Spicy Grandma Restaurant
Beijing Dongcheng District, xin Dongon
Market Quniou North Six-storey 609
If your vision of an authethic Chinese restaurant is one where all things weird and wonderful are on the menu, Spicy Grandma is your stop. Want whole baby turtle? Check. What about goose tongue? Got it. Hmm - even a bit of snake on offer. Spicy Grandma has it all. The staff's English is spotty, so we're (very) thankful for the large photo album-style menu, replete with succinct and slightly "off" English captions.
"Gluttonous" frog, courtesy of Spicy Grandma website
Beijing is famous for its roast Peking duck, so that's the first order of business. This version is Camphorwood and Tea Smoked Duck, and yup - it's clearly recognizable as duck.
Deep-fried baby pork ribs somehow seem appealing too (why not, after a 13 hour flight?), and we round off our meal with sauteed pea shoots and eggplant. And not just any eggplant - this dish is called Burns the Eggplant in Tile. I mean - really - how could you NOT order that dish just to see what it was?
Well, actually, we can see what it might look like - an interesting presentation on utilitarian tin foil. When it arrives, the dish lives up to its advance billing, looking exactly the same as the photo. It is deeply delicious, the sauce fragrant and garlicky. We use our steamed rice to soak it up.
The next day affords us very little time to see much of Beijing, but we manage a quick trip to Tiananmen Square. The day is beautiful and sunny and the square is full of Chinese tourists, taking photos of the stern very young military guards on duty, the massive monuments and each other.
Multi-generations are travelling together, grandma shepherding young children, grandpa holding grandma's purse as he strolls slowly behind. The rest of the week is a blur, on a plane or train every day, the rain and bitter northern China weather dampening our spirits and making the jet lag linger longer than usual. Arriving in Singapore to 35°C from frigid Guangzhou feels like a benediction. We can't wait to put on lighter clothing and eat outside.
If Spicy Grandma was China unplugged, Indochine is sleek and sexy Singapore glamour. Reflecting the unique diversity of Singapore, everything tastes fresh, looks wonderful and is enhanced by the perfect little breeze, the glittering skyline and the wonderful company of my colleagues.
The view from Indochine
From bottom up and counter-clockwise: Vit Quay Gion Ton Kin (Fresh Duck Breast à la Ton Kin): Duck breast fillets grilled with herbs and spices, served with crispy basil leaves, crispy rice noodles and aromatic sweet sauce; Rau Xao Thap Cam (Stir-fried vegetables with basil and chilli): Fresh mixed vegetables seared with herbs and chilli; Cambodian Style Chilli and Basil Chicken: Tender chicken prepared in red chilli, holy basil and garlic sauce.
I especially like the way the menu describes the chicken dish: The aroma of this dish is a true indication of its flavour. After eating this, you may find your mind wandering into the world of the ancient ones who had the ability to create temples and structures that to this day remain unchallenged as great monuments.
I don't know that I am inspired to build temples, though...
Ca Chem Hap Chahn (Steamed Sea Bass with Lemon Juice): Whole sea bass steamed in lemon juice, garlic, coriander, and red chilli
Empty dishes; full stomachs; happy people
Sebastien - our wonderful server, who chose all the dishes and served them with gracious hospitality
Stay tuned for Asian Flavours Part Two: Chili Crab!


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How do I get rid of cattails and phragmites? Fran – Disco, TN
Rough Around the Edges?
As you've enjoyed your pond over the spring and summer, all of a sudden you begin to see that our pond have built what seems to be an impenetrable wall of Cattails and Phragmites. No worries! Emergent weeds won't ruin your summer fun. Here are the right tools to get even!
Treating emergent weeds in your pond is a two step process. You will want to focus on dealing with your existing growth first. You can kill Cattails and shoreline grasses down to the root by spraying them directly with Shoreline Defense® . If you are dealing more with Phragmites, Water Primrose or Loosestrife then you will see better results using Shoreline Defense® & Treatment Booster™ PLUS Combo. Make sure you are spraying the plants when they are alive and actively growing so that the aquatic herbicide is carried throughout the plant's root system. A Pond Sprayer is a great way to apply these aquatic herbicides. Also note if the emergent weed growth is very thick, a couple applications may be needed to gain complete control. Once you see all of the target weeds brown and wilt you can cut them down and drag them away with a Weed Cutter and Pond & Beach Rake.
Once the weeds are cleared away from the edge of the pond you will want to focus on keeping them from growing back. While you can not keep every cattail seed from blowing into your pond, you can extinguish their food sources to deter then from making a repeat performance. Apply some MuckAway™ pelletized bacteria around the shallow areas of your pond to help digest any nutrient-rich slime that has accumulated on the bottom of the pond over time. This layer of muck acts as fertilizer for new weed growth, smells bad, and as if you needed another reason, it feels terrible between your toes when you are swimming in the pond. Aquatic weeds can also use sunlight as a means to grow so you can benefit from using Pond Dye to shade the pond as well. Not only will you reduce the amount of sun exposure your pond receives you can also choose a color that accents your pond and improves the appearance of the water body.
Some people enjoy the look and coverage that emergent weeds like Cattails provide. If you have considered keeping a few around for aesthetic purposes rest assured it is absolutely harmless to do so. You can still control and maintain these areas of growth using Avocet and Kraken, just be sure to mark off boundaries to keep the weeds from slowly creeping their way back out into the pond and out of control.
POND TALK: Has a wall formed between you and your pond? How did you gain the upper hand over Cattails, Phragmites or other emergent weeds?
Filed under: Cattails, Emergent Weeds, Phragmites, Pond & Lake, Weed Identification | Tagged: Cattails, controlling cattails, controlling emergent grasses, controlling phragmites, Loosestrife, Phragmites, Primrose |


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MEDFORD, Mass. – Led by Stephen Haladyna's game-high 23 points and a 16-0 run in the first half Tufts University downed men's basketball by the final of 67-48 Thursday evening at Cousens Gym in a non-conference contest.
Haladyna's came off the Jumbos bench to shoot 8-for-11 from the field, 4-for-5 from behind the arc, and 3-for-4 at the line. He also got some help from Matt Lanchantin, who finished with 12 points helped to lead the Jumbos to their 11th win of the season (11-7).
For the Beacons (9-9) sophomore Vinny DeLucia (Miami, Fla.) led his squad with 14 points, while Brian Clarke (Miramar, Fla.) closed out the night with the game's only double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.
Looking to bounce back from Tuesday's upset to UMass Dartmouth, the Beacons took the quick trip up route 93 to play their final road non-conference game of the year. The start of the contest got off to a slow start for both squads, but the score remained tied.
However with the Beacons and Jumbos knotted at seven, the home team's offense came alive and posted a 16-0 run and eventually went into the locker room with a 31-14 lead.
After the break, the Beacons quickly cut into the deficit and actually got it down to nine, thanks to solid shooting from DeLucia, Carl Joseph (Brockton, Mass.) and Clarke. DeLucia led UMB in the second half with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, which included a pair of 3-pointers.
Unfortunately the Beacons early run would not last, as the Jumbos retook control of the momentum and pushed their lead back to 20. Both squads shot well in the second half, but the advantage belonged to UMB as they shot 41.9%. Tufts finished the half shooting 40.6%, but it was their ability to hit the 3-pointer that proved to be the biggest factor as they finished shooting 41.7%.
Fifteen of Haladyna's game-high 23 points came in the second half on 5-of-6 shooting, 3-for-3 from behind the arc. On the glass, Tufts recorded 43 boards, while the Beacons pulled down 35.
Men's Basketball returns to action on Saturday when they host Keene State College at 3 p.m. Saturday's contest is also the annual Coaches vs. Cancer Sneakers and Suits game with all proceeds from the game going to the American Cancer Society.


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7 killed, 5 injured in Parwan car accident
7 killed, 5 injured in Parwan car accident
CHARIKAR (Pajhwok): At least seven people were killed and five others injured in a traffic accident in the capital of central Parwan province on Sunday, an official said.
Provincial traffic chief, Abdul Karim told Pajhwok Afghan News that a Corolla model car crashed with a mini truck in Rubat area in Charikar, the provincial capital around 11am.
He said three women, three men including the driver of the Corolla model car and a child were killed and two children and a woman were injured in the incident.
He said the accident took place due to recklessness of the Corolla car driver.
However, Abdul Qasim Sangin, head of Parwan Civil Hospital, confirmed receiving seven dead and five injured.
He said the injured were in stable health condition.
Related Article
Download "Pajhwok" mobile App, on your smartphone to read and access latest news, features, interviews, videos and photos about Afghanistan.


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Welcome to Maplewood Pawn, the home of the "Maplewood Stringed Instrument Museum!" We are located in beautiful Maplewood, MO on the North side of Manchester, next to Yokley's Hair Salon. Here you can find the best bargains on musical equipment and instruments, jewelry, electronics, games, tools, and so much more. Come on in to find a killer deal on any of our items, or just to come in and talk with one of our pawnshop pros.
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Expert Reviews
2009 Dodge Challenger
After a hiatus of more than 30 years the Dodge Challenger returned as a new model for 2008. And Chrysler's biggest styling hit since the PT Cruiser promptly sold out. For 2009, the Challenger lineup is expanded to three models: the new SE, the new R/T, and the high-performance SRT8.
Challenger is all about the in-your-face attitude that's a Dodge hallmark: big car, big presence, big power. Style rules, yet asks few compromises. Some will opine about the timing of the Dodge musclecar's return, while others will note Chicken Little was last seen impaled in a Viper grille somewhere. Much as happens with its principal competitor, Ford's Mustang, each version of the Challenger will appeal to a different buyer.
SE owners will be swayed by the look, a desire to be seen in something more visually amusing than the average V6 sedan or big coupe, and using it every day. SE comes with a 250-hp 3.5-liter V6 and four-speed automatic EPA-rated 18/25.
R/T buyers may be older and wanting to replace the Challenger they lusted after in younger days; some will choose the new one over a far-more-expensive auction car that goes like stink but needs considerable acreage to stop or change directions. Others still, not content to leave anything alone, will buy the R/T as the basis for their next hot rod and blow all the money saved on an SRT8 on more power, accessories, and modifications. The R/T can be used as a daily driver, at least for shorter distances and fuel consumption, and will compete with the Mustang GT, over which it has both advantages and disadvantages. Challenger R/T runs a 5.7-liter Hemi V8 rated at 370 horsepower and 398 pound-feet of torque with the standard five-speed automatic; power increases to 375 hp and 404 pound-feet of torque on premium fuel with the optional six-speed manual/Track Pak group. The Hemi uses a multiple displacement feature that switches off cylinders to save fuel, but EPA ratings are 16/23 mpg with the automatic and 15/23 mpg with the six-speed manual.
SRT8 buyers want the ultimate performance model. The SRT8 is fast, stable and ready to go to any track, Dodge's fastest car this side of the twice-the-price Viper. Yet it's compliant and controlled just enough that it won't beat you up on daily chores or weekend cruises. At $10/pound, you'll enjoy it a lot longer than that sirloin on your barbecue. Challenger SRT8 comes with a 425-hp 6.1-liter Hemi (EPA 13/19 mpg), the same transmission options as the R/T, big Brembo brakes, the firmest suspension; and a limited-slip rear differential.
The Challenger is a big two-door, but expect it to face some competition from Pontiac's G8 GT, a four-door sedan. Not Challenger-distinctive in appearance, it does offer the same rumbling V8, rear-drive musclecar recipe (without a manual gearbox option), and again like the Challenger, good independent suspension and brakes for about the same price as an R/T.
Challenger features an entirely new body, but many of its parts, systems and structures are shared with the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger (and Magnum). If you can't locate a Challenger to test drive before ordering, driving Chargers will give a good indication of the relative differences between engines. With the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger having proven their reliability, the potential for new-car bugs and quirks should be significantly lower in the Challenger than in most new cars.
Model LineupDodge Challenger SE ($21,320); R/T ($29,320); SRT8 ($39,320)
Walk Around
The Challenger is the third in Chrysler's triple-play of styling hits, following the retro-look PT Cruiser and the Chrysler 300/Dodge Magnum/Charger from which it's derived. Get one early (the 2008s were sold out before the 2009 was announced) and it will make your day longer because everyone wants to drool over it and quiz you: "Is this the new Challenger?" Duh. "Is it fast?" Duh again. "Can I drive it?" Duh, no.
Although it's quite faithful to the 1970-vintage Challenger that powered its creation, the current Challenger avoids coming across as a retro car or a new car; it's the sort of middle ground that may better stand the test of time. It was unanimously praised by on-lookers as a cool-looking car and is as faithful to the original as has been done in recent years.
Part of the Challenger's appeal comes from its commanding presence; it's a big car. Just four inches shorter than the Charger sedan but wider and lower, it's also just five inches shorter and two inches narrower than Dodge's big Grand Caravan box and fills the average garage slot. The Challenger is also about 10 inches longer than the Ford Mustang, its closest competitor until the Chevrolet Camaro returns.
Unlike most new cars, the maximum width is carried well out to the ends resulting in a broad, menacing car. The very wide, horizontal grille, spoilers and tail lamps accentuate the width, as does a turret-like roof and window treatment, and the haunches over the rear wheels where the roof fairs into the trunk and the character line kicks up. The proportions all seem just right, from the carrier-deck expanse of flat hood larger than most modern pickups, to the foot-high side glass and dark lower body trim, and into the massive rear roof pillars.
The major lines are only part of the equation, with details just as well executed. The four round headlamps and deeply inset grille of the original are still there, though now the inside lights are turn signals and the outer pair the headlamps. Where signals rode below the bumper on the '70 the new one has fog lamps, and careful sculpting has maintained the classic look without destroying aerodynamic efficiency.
From the side, the SRT8's 20-inch wheels frame bright red brake calipers and slotted discs and fill large fender openings that are creased along the edges. Hood scoops carry Hemi badges on V8 cars and are functional in that cool air goes in or warm air vents to atmosphere, but they do not feed cold air straight into the engine; the ducts in the spoiler direct cooling air to the front brakes and small winglets at the front wheel openings better define airflow. The fixed side rear windows do not allow the full open hardtop of the original with its frameless doors but in a nod to that look Dodge kept the pillars behind the glass so they aren't so obvious. A bright fuel filler cap on R/T and SRT8 finishes off the driver's side. The door handles look retro and stylish, but they're hard to grab.
Out back, a full-width panel of red lights with a pair of backup lights wedged in the middle of it, along with chrome DODGE lettering in a font right out of "That '70s Show." While only the outer pairs of bulbs light for brake and turn functions, the entire width is used for tail lights. On SRT8 the trunk spoiler is a flat black low-profile piece like that on the original T/A, and of course V8 cars have dual chrome rectangular exhaust outlets in the lower bumper.
Paintwork on the cars we saw was very good, as it must be, given the vast surfaces lacking any ornamentation or style lines. The paint feels smooth to the touch and looks great. But, at least in V8 form, the Challenger is a muscle car that many insist requires stripes, so plenty of wallpaper is optional if you don't want to paint your own.
The interior harkens back to the muscle car era in that many muscle cars were born of generic sedans and had similar interiors, and so too does the Challenger mimic recent Dodge and Chrysler sedans. It appears functional and well put together, yet has the least emotional impact of any aspect of the car.
To preserve the ensconced feeling the headliner is a dark material; in fact almost everything is dark. On the SRT8 we tested the monotony is broken with chrome highlights on door handles, control knobs and gauge bezels, light-faced instruments, semi-glossy carbon-fiber-look center panel trim, a big chrome band around the shifter that bounced sun glare all over, and dark orange leather stripes across the front seat backrests. Everything else inside, seats, carpet, trim, was dark.
While a race-inspired interior is one of the SRT division's major criteria, the primary inspiration here is manifested in the front seats. The contrast-stitched, heavily bolstered buckets in the SRT8 with their leather outers and velour inserts do an excellent job of keeping you in place. However, unlike many so-called sport seats these do not feel overly firm: The driver lumbar can tune out some squish in the backrest. Nor are they confining: Big bodies are more prone to be comfortable here than in a BMW or Infiniti sport seat. Front-seat headrests are adjustable for height only and the seatbelt loop goes with it to avoid belt chafing.
Although the pillars are on the wide side, you sit far enough away from the windshield to avoid forward blind spots. With the seat positioned low to the glass line, you can see most of the hood. The view to the rear is fairly good, too, because the side glass goes well back and the rear window's as big as the mirror view. However, the wide rear pillars block your view when backing out of parking spots. We'd prefer wider rearview mirrors to show more traffic behind and to the sides. Here, the Mustang has it over the Challenger.
A manual tilt/telescope steering column allows plenty of adjustment and a view of the instruments but its overly generous diameter is more appropriate for a small power yacht than a sporty car. The fingertip button arrangement is good.
Lights and the trunk release are to the left on the dash, and the single stalk on the left shows evidence of Dodge's old relationship with Mercedes: It has auto-blink signals (one touch gives 3 blinks) and high beams/flash-to-pass, plus wash/wipe controls that require you to take your hand off the wheel to activate them. Cruise control is on a smaller stalk to lower right.
Gauges include fuel on the left, which descends progressively more quickly as the tank is consumed, tachometer, speedometer (140, 160, 180 mph on SE, R/T, SRT8 respectively) and numbered coolant temperature. On the SRT8 these are light-faced with dark numbers and blue-green illumination that matches the various digital displays.
Standard on SRT8 and available on R/T is a message center in the tachometer that does the display work for 128 functions from radio station to performance data; you can do your own 0-60, 1/8-mile, ¼-mile, braking distance and lateral acceleration. It does fuel economy, too, but you don't need that reminder.
Also available on some models is keyless go, a no-ignition-switch setup that uses a simple pushbutton to start the car. However, unlike every other similar system we've tried the Challenger does not have a lock/unlock touch surface outside, so you still have to use the key remote to lock or unlock the doors, essentially defeating any convenience aspect.
Below the center vents is the audio/navigation syste
Driving Impressions
The Challenger is a big, rear-wheel-drive car and feels like it. Yet the further up the power and performance scale you go, the lighter it seems to feel. You won't mistake it for driving a Mustang, it's too soon to tell about the Camaro, and other 2+2 two-doors in a similar price range, such as a BMW 3 Series, Infiniti G37, or Audi A5 aren't going to be cross-shopped because they're different animals. And it's okay to think of the Challenger SRT8 an animal: A well-behaved animal, but always ready to flex its muscles on the prowl for prey.
The Challenger SE drives a lot like the Charger because the Challenger is based on the Charger with just four inches taken out between the front and rear wheels. There's enough oomph to keep up with brisk traffic, though probably not a Mustang V6 automatic. The Challenger SE comes only with a four-speed automatic. As much as the engine and weight, the automatic is one reason the SE rates only 2-3 mpg better on the EPA City cycle than the R/T models with 50 percent more power. If you seek distinct appearance with space for the family on a budget the SE will do, but take note it won't be long before somebody in a Mustang ponies up as a challenger to your Challenger.
The next step is the Challenger R/T. We think the extra $9000 above an SE will have more effect on sales than gas mileage. The R/T features a Hemi V8 producing 371 to 376 horsepower, along with a firmer suspension, bigger brakes and tires, and a choice of a hefty-shifting six-speed manual or five-speed automatic. One could arguably have the most fun with the R/T. There's no need to park it in the winter and no miserable ride just because the roads are bad. The R/T goes quite well. Dodge quotes a 0-60 mph time of 5.5 seconds with the new six-speed manual. That power comes on strong, but we found it runs out quickly, as the redline is only 5700 rpm. That means drivers choosing the manual will have to do plenty of shifting during performance maneuvers. Sixth gear doesn't do much on the track or around town. It's strictly a highway gear meant for fuel economy; in sixth, the R/T cruises like a pussy cat, churning out 1800 rpm at 80 mph. We think the R/T will be the most popular model. The $10,000 saved versus an SRT8 would buy brake/suspension/tire upgrades to your preference and specification, or a serious engine upgrade that would keep you well ahead of any Dodge not labeled Viper.
Stacked up against a Mustang GT500 with a six-speed manual, the SRT8 with its automatic transmission is just slightly slower, although you can't call 0-60 in the high 4s and a 13-second quarter-mile "slow" in production $40,000 cars. Against a lower-priced Mustang GT, the SRT8 is faster, suggesting that in acceleration bang-for-the-buck you get what you pay for. Against a Charger SRT8 the Challenger is just marginally quicker, and the rear seat of a slope-roof Charger is not significantly more comfortable than the Challenger's.
It's easy to make an SRT8 go fast, you just stand on the gas and point it where you want it to go. Traction control does a very good job of turning controlled wheelspin into thrust and is easier than launching most high-performance manual transmissions; there's a solid feel to quick upshifts. It does not make manual downshifts as fast, but it will downshift into first gear. At the other end of the straightaway the SRT8's big brakes do a commendable job of slowing the pace, matching the GT500 and just a bit off some benchmark lighter coupes; there is a lot of travel in the brake pedal so initial bite might not be what you expect but keep pushing and you'll stop quickly.
When cruising, the Challenger is civilized. There is authority in the exhaust note but it doesn't sound like authority grabbed the bullhorn until you get into the gas and are rewarded with a satisfying rumble that becomes more howl as it winds up; manual gearbox cars use different mufflers and have a deeper tone. The automatic delivers crisp-not-jarring upshifts and gets out of first gear in a hurry unless you are hard on the gas. It will downshift once, or again, if you give it the boot.
The Challenger is too big and heavy to merit any consideration as a sports car and isn't ideal for tossing around on tight racetracks or mountain roads. However, it is close to surprising (if you didn't know the SRT division) how well the SRT8 copes with the weightand doesn't feel like the big, nose-heavy car it is. Body roll is considerable, but grip from the optional Goodyear F1 Supercar tires is substantial and the car is surprisingly well balanced in turns. In fact, it's quite easy to steer the SRT8 with the rear wheels or make it drift. That speaks well to the job Dodge and SRT did with the suspension geometry. The R/T model, by comparison, acts very much the same way, but its reactions are a bit slower. Power isn't as sudden, steering isn't as sharp, the brakes are as strong, and the weight doesn't transfer as quickly. It is possible to upset both versions, but you really have to be working at it or totally inattentive. Driven smoothly you will rarely be reigned in by the stability control, and for those times and tracks that stability control can be a detriment to advanced drivers, it can be completely turned off on manual transmission cars.
Many of the reasons the SRT8 displays such performance (among them the lightweight forged aluminum wheels, aluminum-intensive independent suspension all around, good spring and shock calibrations) also contribute to a decent ride. The SRT8 is smooth and quiet enough to cover long distances and deals well with even marginal roads; on sheet-flat roads it won't enjoy a significant advantage over the Mustang's solid rear axle, but as the surface gets rougher the more balanced Challenger should cope better even though it's heavier. The Challenger's mass becomes most apparent under heavy braking on a rippled road, a place many lesser-tuned lighter cars have the same issue.
Whether it's amplified by the oversize steering wheel or just part of the tuning like the long-travel brake pedal, the steering feel, even in the SRT8 with its performance-tuned steering, isn't as precise as the Mustang's. The steering is quick enough, with less than three turns lock-to-lock, yet it feels like shuffling the bottom third of the wheel through your hands is the most effective at making good time because you don't get a lot of feedback and this way are more inclined to make the minor corrections the car likes rather than yanking the big wheel too far. Maneuverability at low speeds is par for a big car.
On a fuel economy basis the SE is the only one you'd want to use for a commuter car, but until they get more popular you'll be an unintentional target as people zero in for a closer look. The others are better suited to local romps, weekend or special occasion drives, be it on a track, the street, or both.
One of the biggest advances over the original Challenger's era has been in lighting, and the SRT8's bi-xenon headlights allow it to be safely driven at freeway speeds or along rural highways in no-moon darkness. And with a bit of German in the bloodlines, the fog lights can be used without the headlights, at least where it's legal to light up the road instead of the fog.
Finally, with aerodynamics ever-more-frequently dictating shape and wind patterns, it was refreshing to find the new Challenger can comfortably be driven windows down without buffeting the occupants or thundering their ears. Admit it, at least part of the reason you buy one will be to be seen.
The 2009 Dodge Challenger boasts a distinctive look that attracts a lot of attention and positive comments. The V6-powered Challenger SE comes with a moderate price, while the V8-powered R/T is a good performance value. The SRT8 is the ultimate Challenger. Regardless, the Challenger avoids the compromised rear seat and trunk of most coupes because of its size, and carries its bulk well on the road. In Hemi Orange Pearl you won't own the road but it will feel like you do.
NewCarTestDrive.com correspondent G.R. Whale filed this report from Los Angeles, with correspondent Kirk Bell reporting from New Jersey.


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EWEA does not favour rules that stipulate a percentage of components of a wind farm that must be manufactured locally. It would prefer a multilateral free-trade agreement on renewable energy, particularly after the World Trade Organisation's ruling in January that the local content requirements enshrined in the Canadian province of Ontario's renewable energy feed-in tariff are discriminatory.
However, the wind industry is familiar with the concept of local sourcing requirements, with similar rules in place in South Africa and Brazil. Many companies at EWEA's annual conference accepted that local sourcing requirements are a part of life.
Inigo Sabater, Vestas' vice-president for business development, shared this view. "It's not that we're fans of this requirement, but we need to adapt to market reality," he said. "We'd prefer a normal development of the market, where we can make industrial decisions based on demand."
Brazilian market
Alstom Wind last month won a 1.2GW contract in Brazil. Alfonso Faubel, the company's senior vice president, said: "They are the rules of the game. Alstom has been in Brazil for 55 years and we expanded our portfolio by bringing in wind.
"We're familiar with how those rules work, and we've been obeying them in transport and hydro. But it's a challenge too, because there's not a second-tier supplier base to work with."


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Top weapons inspector Hans Blix said Monday that Baghdad had not genuinely accepted U.N. resolutions demanding that it disarm. His nuclear counterpart said there was no evidence so far that Iraq was reviving its nuclear program and said inspectors needed a "few months" to complete the search.
The White House said the Iraqis had not been cooperative enough and repeated that Baghdad was "running out of time."
"When people say give them more time, the more time they get the more time they get the run-around," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "Iraq is giving the inspectors the run-around."
Iraq's Ambassador Mohammed al-Douri said: "We open all doors to Mr. Blix and his team. If there is something, he will find it. We have no hidden reports at all. They have to read carefully this report."
Blix, head of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, said Baghdad had cooperated on access but not substance.
"Iraq appears not to have come to a genuine acceptance, not even today, of the disarmament that was demanded of it," Blix said as he reported on 60 days of weapons inspections.
Touching on the question of how much time inspectors need, Blix said he shared "the sense of urgency" to achieve disarmament within "a reasonable period of time." U.N. nuclear weapons chief inspector Mohamed ElBaradei said his teams should not be hampered by deadlines.
"We have to date found no evidence that Iraq has revived its nuclear program since the elimination of the program in the 1990s. However, our work is steadily progressing and should be allowed to run its natural course," ElBaradei said.
"With our verification system now in place, barring exceptional circumstances and provided there is sustained proactive cooperation by Iraq we should be able within the next few months to provide credible assurance that Iraq has no nuclear weapons program.
"These few months would be a valuable investment in peace because it could help avoid a war," ElBaradei said.
Blix said three questions remain unanswered:
-How much illicit weapons material might remain undeclared and intact from before the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and possible thereafter.
-What, if anything was illegally procured or produced since the end of the war.
-How the world can prevent any weapons of mass destruction from being produced or procured in the future.
Blix noted that Iraq's 12,000 page arms declaration contained little more than old material previously submitted to inspectors. One exception was an air force document which indicates that Iraq ha failed to account for some 6,000 chemical rockets.
"The finding of the rockets show that Iraq needs to make more effort to show that its declaration is currently accurate."
Blix said inspectors have also discovered a mustard gas precursor during recent inspections.
"Regrettably the 12,000-page declaration, most of which is a reprint of earlier documents, does not seem to contain any new evidence that will eliminate the questions or reduce their number."
On the nerve agent VX, which Iraq is believed to have weaponized on the eve of the Gulf War, Blix said the Iraqis haven't sufficiently answered questions regarding the fate of its stockpiles.
On biological weapons, Blix said Iraq had failed to produce "convincing evidence" that it unilaterally destroyed its anthrax stockpiles and that there are indications that Iraq could have had larger quantities than it reported to inspectors.
"In the fields of missiles and biotechnology, the declaration contains a good deal of new material and information covering the period from 1998 and onward. This is welcome."
He said he would ask the Iraqis to stop tests of two types of missiles while inspectors determine the actual range and capabilities of the missiles.
In sharp contrast to the Bush administration's stance that inspections have run their course, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan also said inspectors should be given more time to their jobs.
"They should be given the time to do their work and all of us, the council and the assembly, must realize that time will be necessary, a reasonable amount of time, I'm not saying forever, but they do need time to get their work done and I suspect the council will allow that to be done," Annan told reporters.
On Monday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said that his nation has cooperated fully with weapons inspectors and he accused the United States and Britain of setting the stage for an unjustified attack.
He said accusations against Iraq by U.S. officials were "all lies to hide America's true intentions" which he said were to take control of his nation's oil resources and protect "America's interests in Israel."
Despite assurances from Iraq that it would encourage its scientists to submit to private interviews, no such interviews have taken place and Baghdad continues to block inspectors from using a U-2 reconnaissance plane that could be helpful in the hunt for weapons of mass destruction.
In addition, U.N. teams found thousands of pertinent documents hidden in the home of an Iraqi scientist, at least 16 empty and undeclared chemical warheads and illegally imported parts for its missile program.
Any false statements or omissions in Iraq's arms declaration, coupled with a failure to comply with and cooperate fully in the implementation of the resolution, would place Baghdad in "material breach" of its obligations - a finding that could open the door for war.
In Davos, Switzerland, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday that he believed the inspections had run their course, though he did not explicitly call for their end.
Most of the Security Council believes that's a determination they must make based on the inspectors' assessments. The 15 members of the Security Council will reconvene Wednesday, a day after President Bush delivers the State of the Union address, to discuss the inspectors' reports and begin debate on Iraq.
In Brussels, Belgium, the European Union on Monday urged Baghdad to cooperate more fully with United Nations arms inspectors but remained deeply divided over how to solve the overall crisis.


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Five-Day Research Impact Challenge Online Workshop
2020, participants will receive an email with one or two tasks to complete that will help you to enhance ... own pace; there is no deadline for completion of the tasks. Who: Ohio State Faculty, ...
Small Acts Make Big Impact
This builds community and a sense of belonging; no one is a stranger at ATI. "We never know which lives ... mentioned how impressed they were about his academic turnaround. While we may not ever see the fruits of ...
REACH Trainings in January
who may be at risk. By offering your understanding, reassurance and support, you can help your loved ... one or friend seek the help he or she needs. REACH © is the name of the OSU suicide prevention ... gatekeeper training program designed to help the OSU community prevent suicide by teaching faculty, staff, ...
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Livestreamed Presentation from the Research Commons: Introduction to Data Visualization
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text:
Learn everything there is to know about running a business
Filtered results for "P"
We found 13 results starting with the letter "P"
A partnership is a form of business where two or more people share ownership.
Product Life Cycle
Product life cycle is the progression of an item through the four stages of its time on the market.
Product Positioning
Product positioning is a form of marketing that presents the benefits of your product to a particular target audience.
Patents are a right granted to an inventor that allows them to exclude all others from making, using, or selling their invention for 20 years.
Purchase Order
A purchase order is an official document issued by a buyer committing to pay the seller for the sale of specific products or services to be delivered in the future.
Public Relations (PR)
Public relations is the process of managing communications between a business and its public or constituents.
Private Label
A private label product is manufactured by a contract or third-party manufacturer and sold under a retailer's brand name.
Press Release
A press release is a written document prepared for the media – also called the press - that announces something newsworthy.
Profit Margin
Profit margin indicates the profitability of a product, service, or business. It's expressed as a percentage; the higher the number, the more profitable the business.
Prospecting is the first step in the sales process, which consists of identifying potential customers, aka prospects.
Petty Cash
Petty cash is a small amount of actual cash that a company has on hand to purchase items that cost so little that cutting a check doesn't make sense or isn't realistic.
Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT)
The Program Evaluation Review Technique, or PERT, is a visual tool used in project planning to help identify start and end dates, as well as interim required tasks and timelines.
The fee collected to ship a parcel or letter by mail, it may be represented by a stamp or a printed (barcoded) label.
Online stores for sale
The marketplace to buy and sell stores
How to start a business
Resources and tips for getting started
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Start generating more traffic and sales today
Future of Commerce
Industry trends and news that matters
Ecommerce inspiration
Ideas & examples for improving your business
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Expert advice for high-volume stores
Business Encyclopedia
Learn everything about running a business


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White Papers and Application Notes
Simulation of an Atmospheric Pressure Direct Current Microplasma Discharge in He/N2L. Tong
Keisoku Engineering System Co. Ltd.
A study of an atmospheric pressure direct current microplasma discharge in He/N2 is performed using COMSOL Multiphysics. The calculation of heat transfer is fully coupled with the plasma simulation so as to resolve the gas heating in discharges. A simple circuit model is used to decide the discharge voltage so that the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics are obtained.
The I-V characteristics in He agree well with the available experimental data and it is found that with the addition of some amount of N2 to He, N2 is highly ionized, playing an important role in the discharge kinetics, even if its amount is very small such as 0.002~0.02%.


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We Never Expected to See What Happens to This Melon
Our parents always told us to never play with our food. Guess the Slow Mo Guys didn't get the message when they shot this video with a melon.
Gavin Free and Dan Gruschy have uploaded this video of their failed attempt to show what happens to eyes that are not protected by a pair of sturdy eye protectors when shot with a BB gun. Unfortunately, the goggles they used were about 30 years old and were incapable of stopping a BB pellet that was fired at point blank range. It's a good thing they decided to test out the goggles on a pair of pig eyes inside a melon.
Since the goggles did nothing (insert 'The Simpsons' reference here), they decided not to simply scrap the video attempt and instead opted to use the melon for one more experiment. It just so happened that the boys had a "banger" lying around that they could utilize. For those not in the know, "banger" is what the British call fireworks that make a loud, exploding noise, sort of like bang-snaps or poppers.
What results is an epic explosion at 2,500 frames-per-second as the melon erupts into a mess of flame and juice. Dan gets a piece of melon to the head and is shocked by the sudden attack. Seeing the melon explode from the inside-out is pretty cool and seeing it slowed down is even cooler.
Check out all of the cool footage of the melon fragmentation in the video above and see the Slow Mo Guys do more awesome things in slow motion on YouTube.


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The owner of a pit bull who survived a 25-foot plunge from a New York City highway has stepped forward, according to a veterinary office caring for the injured pooch.
The concerned bystanders who found the dog called him Meeker because he was found, crying and struggling to stand, on Meeker Avenue under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Greenpoint.
But veterinary staff at Veterinary Emergency and Referral Group in Cobble Hill say the dog is actually named Wookie and that his owner reported the dog missing this week to the city's lost and found pet program, which contacted the animal hospital.
Top news stories in the tri-state area, in America and around the world
The man identifying himself as the dog's owner, Oliver Rivera, told the animal hospital the dog somehow slipped his collar and ran away earlier this week. It's unclear how he wound up on the expressway, or how he happened to fall.
A woman who was riding in a taxi on the BQE the day the dog fell told NBC 4 New York she saw the animal running very quickly, and that it appeared to leap over the partition. She said the animal appeared agitated and nervous.
"He just took a running leap and flew right over the edge of the highway, and he was gone," said Sarah Hart, who first spoke to the Gothamist about what she saw.
Hart said she wanted people to know that no one threw the dog off the expressway.
"While I'm sure there's much animal abuse and that's very sad, that's not what happened here," she said.
Veterinarian Dr. Brett Levitzke said the dog was probably physically capable of jumping on his own, especially if he was agitated by all the cars on the BQE.
"They're very athletic dogs," he said.
The dog suffered no broken bones but was treated for a collapsed lung. Doctors said Friday he won't need surgery after all, and is fit enough to go home as soon as this weekend.


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The OECD-DAC convened at high level in Paris on 30 and 31 October to discuss about a range of issues of particular importance for international development such as how to enhance the engagement of private sector in development, how donors can improve effectiveness of their development actions and about the consequences of discontinuing ODA to countries that are not entitled to receive it any longer.
The State of the Union 2017: Catching the wind in our sails
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker delivered today his 2017 State of the Union Address before the Members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. He presented his priorities for the year ahead and outlined his vision for how the European Union could evolve by 2025.
The 2017 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM) brought together Ministers and top-level government officials from 50 member and partner countries to discuss ways to make globalisation work for all. The European Union (EU) was represented by the EU Commissioner for Trade, Mrs. Cecilia Malmström and the EU Commissioner for Financial and Economic Affairs, Mr. Pierre Moscovici.


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All Cotton Futon Mattresses
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All cotton futon mattresses contain no foam or other layer than a basic cotton fill. These days all cotton futon mattresses tend to be made of a cotton-polyester blend that creates a more desirable cushion for most consumers.
There are no additional subcategories for this product type.
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Things to Consider
One of the most important things to keep in mind about a cotton only futon mattress is that they tend to be extremely firm. For this reason, the average person will likely prefer a futon that includes one to two layers of foam as well. However, if you are looking for the more traditional style futon mattress and the words "ultra firm" appeal for you, then the all cotton futon mattress is likely for you.
Free Shipping of All Cotton Futon Mattresses
Get FREE shipping for any of these products when you live in the Continental United States. For more information about shipping terms, time frames and over-seas shipping options, click on any of the items below or contact us directly.
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These products include a manufacturer's warranty that meets or beats the industry standard. Click on any of the items below to learn more. If you don't see the information you are looking for, please contact us for help.
Solstice Cotton Futon Mattress


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Something to talk about
Budweiser is set to charm the world on Sunday with its �Puppy Love� ad. Check out a sneak preview: http://bit.ly/Lo9K4b
Trending on Twitter
What did you think of Tuesday night�s State of the Union address? Twitter users are sounding off.
Hot video: Paws for �Puppy Bowl Experience� in NYC
Leading up to the 10th annual �Puppy Bowl� on Sunday, Animal Planet brings a live version of the cute Super Bowl alternate programming to New York�s Times Square: http://bit.ly/1fudvOG
More Content Now
The Talker: Budweiser gets ready for Puppy Love'
Something to talk about


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van Loon earned her first junior North American Cup title (photo courtesy Gil Talbot).
VIRIGINA BEACH, Va. – USA Fencing's January North American Cup featured 11 members of the Harvard fencing teams compete on the strip Jan. 17-21. Over 1,000 athletes from across the United States and Canada competed in the final North American Cup of the season which serves as a key qualifier for both the 2014 Senior and Junior World Championships.
Epeeist Nina van Loon took home the Junior women's epee gold medal to punch her ticket to compete at the Junior Worlds. The junior overcame a field of 120 fencers to claim her first junior North American Cup title. She qualified for the ranking rounds by notching six victories and a plus-19 indicator in her qualifying pool. After receiving a bye in the table of 128, the 4th-seeded epeeist downed three straight opponents to reach the quarterfinals where she met Jennifer Horowitz in a hard fought contest, but came out victories, 15-13. van Loon bested Audrey Yun, 15-10, in the semifinals and took down her 2013 Junior Pan Am Team member Azaline Dunal-Smith, 15-9, for gold. The Boulder, Colo., local also fenced in the Division I women's epee where she finished 19th.
Adrienne Jarocki also found herself on the podium with a silver medal finish in the Division I women's sabre. The freshman went unbeaten in pools to rank first into the elimination table where she received a bye in the opening bout. She met Dadgamar Wozniak in the semifinals. Jarocki downed the London Olympian, to reach her second NAC Division I title bout, but was upset by the seventh seed, Monica Aksamit, 15-9, to finish second. The Middle Village, N.Y., native also posted a top-ten finish in the Junior women's sabre where she claimed ninth.
All three of the Crimson's women foil fencers competed at the event. Freshman Liana Yamin's 24th-place finish in the Junior women's foil highlighted Harvard's performances while classmate Hali Nelson took 45th overall. Nelson and Yamin also fenced in the Division women's foil where they were joined on the strip by senior Alexandra Kiefer.
Alexander Eldeib paced the Crimson's men performances with two top-ten showings. The freshman finished fifth in the Division I men's epee and ninth in the Junior men's epee.
In the Junior men's foil, freshman Stephen Mageras tied for 11th. Three Harvard men's fencers took the strip in the Division I men's foil. Senior Lucas Lin and sophomore Michael Woo finished 16th and 21st, respectively, while Mageras' 38th-place finish rounded out the trio.
Sophomore Duncan O'Brien represented the men's sabre fencers with a 77th-place showing in the Division I men's sabre. Senior Michael Raynis rounded out the Harvard competitors as the senior took the strip in the Division I men's epee.
Harvard returns to the strip this weekend when both the men and women travel to Queens, N.Y., for the St. John's Invitational Sunday, Jan. 26.


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Thursday, August 25, 2011
Steve Jobs
6 comments:
- john said...
Xerox PARC made all the innovations and Steve Jobs made all the money.
- August 26, 2011 at 7:50 PM
- MacATDBB said...
Nice post.
@john ... I think Xerox PARC were just the final step before the person who made the money ;)
@Geoff .... Focus is admirable, but when the compiler generates 32-bit, single-threaded code, and virtually every one of the machines in my company has multiple cores and more than 4GB of RAM, I think focus may be the wrong word.
- September 1, 2011 at 2:36 PM
- Geoff Perlman said...
@ MacATDBB - We are working on 64 bit support. Regarding single-threaded code, what exactly are you looking for? What most people want is for their apps to magically use multiple cores and that's not realistic. The UI code in the OS itself (Windows, Linux and Mac OS X) is not thread-safe. This isn't our issue. But even if it was, users would have to make user their code was thread safe and that's not easy code to write.
You can create helper console apps that will run on other cores of course. This allows users that feel comfortable with this level of sophistication to take advantage of multiple cores without making the language unnecessarily complex. Would this work for you? If not, why not?
- September 1, 2011 at 3:51 PM
- Geoff Perlman said...
Regarding Xerox PARC, Xerox knew they needed to invent the technology that would replace the copy machines they were making. They invented the graphical user interface, postscript, ethernet and laser printers. But all of this technology was very expensive and they just couldn't see a way to make it inexpensive enough to be practical. Jobs believed he could make a computer that was inexpensive with a graphical user interface and since Xerox didn't, they had no reason to not license it to him. Even Jobs couldn't make an inexpensive computer at first. The Lisa was $10K. It wasn't until the Macintosh that it became affordable.
- September 1, 2011 at 3:57 PM
- MacATDBB said...
@Geoff One element I think I'm missing (or not finding) are threads that can run in parallel, share data resources and communicate very rapidly by modifying these shared resources. I'm not finding this in console helpers.
An example from my area ... A company that makes a fantastic product that allows you to find a small (~100 byte) piece of data within another dataset (>4GB) very quickly. It's cool because the small piece of data doesn't have to match exactly. This application is single-threaded and available for free because it has only very limited use. They have another version that is multithreaded - this version costs about 15,000 USD per year to license - but on our 64 core machines is incredibly fast and indispensable.
This is typical of the scenarios I'm seeing. If each of these threads ran as a separate console application it would need its own index file (~1GB) and I'm not aware of a way within RB that console apps can very quickly communicate updates (of the order of millions of updates per second) with each other (perhaps through MonkeyBread shared memory plugins?).
I can't write applications that fulfill this kind of role in RealBasic even though people writing in perl, python, ruby as well of course as C variants can. I guess the case could be made that this is exactly the kind of distraction you are trying to avoid and that I should really learn python. But this would seem to suggest that multithreading is somehow a niche and single-threaded apps are the future.
I recall back when Apple in the days of system 9 were focused on defending co-operative multitasking even stating it was superior to preemptive multitasking. Not quite the same issue ... but I think this was one of the key changes Steve Jobs brought in with OSX. It was painful but Apple was just falling further and further behind without it.
- September 1, 2011 at 6:08 PM
- Geoff Perlman said...
@ MacATDBB - You can use the IPCSocket class to communicate between console helper apps. We certainly could provide a class of thread that works the way you suggest but it would come with a LOT of caveats. We would have to provide a specific list of framework classes that can be used (because they are thread-safe) and you'd be restricted to just those. Then your own code would also have to be thread-safe of course.
- September 2, 2011 at 10:13 AM


text: Birds are popular pets today. We Love Our Birds is a collection of websites providing information on their food requirements, shelter (cage), and health needs. Some websites discuss the genetics of breeding for the different color mutations and the raising of baby birds. You'll also find general articles on day to day life with a pet bird. Some websites have birds for sale. These websites will interest everyone from the breeder to the novice bird owner, or even a person just interested in learning more about birds.


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HostExchange necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 134 diseños de 47 diseñadores freelance.
We require a brand for "ephex" - a young IT startup.
Brand should be simple, strong and professional.
Be bold and creative, we're looking for something great!
Brand is "ephex" in *lowercase*.
Desired Color Scheme:
any - creative freedom is yours
Desired Style:
simple, strong, vibrant, confident.
Accepted File Formats:
This contest is for a BRAND (logo only) for "ephex".
This company is an "umbrella" company for IT ventures, so it doesn't really have its own products, but is a stable for various IT innovation. Hence, the target audience is investors, corporate partners, etc.
The brand should convey:
- confidence
- optimism
- innovation
- youthful vibrance
We would *prefer* the brand to focus on wording/lettering, rather than having any graphical logo, BUT we're not rigid on this. If you can come up with a good, *original* graphical logo we'd happily consider it. It's just our experience that the type of brand we have in mind is more about the wording/lettering.
Think Intel, SAP, IBM, Lenovo, Cisco, Nokia, Fedex, Ericsson, Google, PayPal.
Aside from that, the freedom is yours to come up with something great!
We have plenty more design work that needs doing soon, so there will be more work offered to the winner and possibly also to runners up, so don't be shy!
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.