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2011 Mazda CX-7
Review Pages
2011 Mazda CX-7
The Mazda CX-7 is sporty, svelte, and distinctive, while still being functional, roomy, and comfortable, with decent interior space and all the right safety equipment. It's available with a snappy four-cylinder turbo like the Kia Sportage SX or the Acura RDX, or a naturally aspirated four-cylinder like the Honda CR-V or Toyota RAV4.
We find the Mazda CX-7 fun to drive, with excellent high-speed stability and responsive handling. The CX-7 excels in cornering, something Mazdas are known for.
The CX-7 is in its fifth year, introduced for 2007 when crossovers (SUVs with the chassis of a car, not truck) were a new idea. They offer the SUV high seating position and cargo capacity, with the more agile steering and smoother ride of a car. Also, fuel mileage is better than with a heavier and boxier truck-based SUV. The CX-7 was revised for 2010, with increased body rigidity, stiffened dampers, and reduced noise, vibration and harshness. Inside, it got a new dashboard with electronic equipment upgrades. The biggest change for 2011 is a new model, the i Touring, which adds equipment to the base model with the 2.5-liter four-cylinder.
Under the hood is 2.5-liter engine making 161 horsepower and using a 5-speed automatic transmission. A 244-horsepower 2.3-liter turbocharged four-cylinder is also available, using a 6-speed automatic.
The base 2.5-liter engine is well matched to the CX-7, providing adequate acceleration from a stop, though it lacks a bit in midrange punch. It's smooth and works well with the 5-speed automatic transmission, well enough that the costlier and more complex 6-speed isn't needed, reserved instead for the sportier turbo.
The turbocharged engine has more midrange power than the base engine, making passing a much easier prospect. Power builds smoothly from a standstill. The 6-speed automatic transmission shifts well and adapts well to different driving situations with impressive torque at low engine speeds.
The base engine is EPA rated at 20 mpg city/28 mpg highway. You pay for the extra power in the 2.3-liter turbo, with fuel mileage of 17/24 mpg with FWD and a lackluster 15/21 mpg with AWD.
Even though it's been around since 2007, the Mazda CX-7 sports the latest version of Mazda's styling theme, and it still looks sleek and fresh. The interior makes no less of a statement than the exterior. Some design features work well, others not so well. Overall, the CX-7 interior seems chunky and a bit complicated, not as friendly and functional as the Honda CR-V and the Toyota RAV4.
In interior space, the Mazda falls between CR-V and RAV4 in front-seat legroom and rear-seat headroom, but has the least rear-seat legroom by a substantial two inches, with 36.4 inches. The Kia Sportage beats the CX-7 too, with 37.9 inches. In cargo space with the rear seat folded, the CX-7 is a distant third behind the Honda and Toyota, but it beats the Kia.
Over rough pavement, the suspension is firm while not being stiff, but sharp bumps can be harsh. And despite good engine compartment and underbody insulation, the tires transmit road noise into the cabin, which otherwise is fairly quiet. We discovered the CX-7 AWD worked reasonably well on unpaved roads.
Model Lineup
The 2011 Mazda CX-7 comes in five models, i SV, i Sport, i Touring, s Touring and s Grand Touring. The i models, which are offered only with front-wheel drive, use the 161-horsepower 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine and a 5-speed automatic transmission with manual shift capability. The s models have the 244-horsepower, turbocharged 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission, also with manual shift capability.
Front-wheel-drive is standard with all models, and all-wheel-drive is available with the s models for $1700 more. However the lowest-cost AWD is $6000 more than the entry-level i SV, because you can't get awd with the non-turbo engine.
The Mazda CX-7 i SV ($21,990) comes well-equipped with rugged cloth upholstery, air conditioning, cruise control, power windows, power mirrors, power locks, remote keyless entry, six-way manually adjustable driver's seat, tilt/telescoping steering wheel with audio controls, four-speaker AM/FM/CD/MP3 stereo with automatic volume control and auxiliary input jack, Multi-Information Display with trip computer, outside temperature indicator, 60/40 split folding rear seatbacks, theft deterrent system, and P215/70R17 tires on alloy wheels.
The CX-7 i Sport ($22,795) adds a Bluetooth wireless cell phone and streaming audio link, leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, and rear privacy glass. (All prices are Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Prices, which do not include destination charge and may change at any time without notice.)
The new i Touring model ($26,390) adds leather upholstery, heated front seats with 8-way power adjustment and lumbar support for driver, color multi-information display with rearview camera, Bose sound system with Sirius satellite radio and 6CD changer, automatic climate control, and power glass moonroof.
The s Touring ($26,255) and AWD s Touring ($27,955) are equipped like the i touring, but with the 2.3-liter turbo engine and 6-speed automatic, with P235/60R18 tires on alloy wheels.
Mazda CX-7 s Grand Touring ($31,640) and AWD s Grand Touring ($33,340) upgrade with automatic climate control, unique silver and piano black trim, driver's seat memory, four-way power passenger seat, keyless access and starting, electroluminescent gauges with indirect blue lighting, auto-dimming rearview mirror with a universal garage-door opener, navigation system, Bose Center Point surround sound with six-disc CD changer and nine speakers, Sirius satellite radio with six-month subscription, full-color Multi-Information Display with rearview camera display, rain-sensing wipers, fog lamps, automatic xenon high intensity discharge (HID) headlamps, Blind Spot Monitoring System, heated outside mirrors with integrated turn-signals, and P235/55R19 tires.
Options include a rearview camera ($665), foglamps ($425), DVD rear entertainment system ($1200), rear spoiler ($400), remote engine starting ($350), and Class II trailer receiver hitch with wiring harness ($350). Equipment available on higher line models is optional on lower line models.
Safety features on all models include dual frontal airbags, front seat-mounted side-impact airbags (to minimize upper body injuries), front and rear side air curtains (to minimize head injuries) with extended inflation (for added protection in the event of a rollover) and a fold-away brake pedal assembly (to reduce threat of injury to the driver's feet in frontal crashes). All CX-7 models come with three-point seatbelts (so be sure to use them), tire-pressure monitor, and rear-seat child safety seat anchors (LATCH). To help drivers avoid accidents, the CX-7 comes standard with four-wheel antilock disc brakes (to permit steering the car under hard braking) with electronic brake-force distribution and brake assist (to maximize stopping power in emergencies); plus electronic stability control (to correct for driver error in evasive maneuvers) and traction control (to improve traction and stability on slippery surfaces).
Walkaround and Interior
Even though it's been around since 2007, the Mazda CX-7 sports the latest version of Mazda's styling theme, and it still looks sleek and fresh. The bulbous fenders are inspired by the RX-8 sports car. The headlights jut into the tops of the fenders, and Mazda uses a small grille above the bumper. This leaves substantial mass below the bumper line that's lightened by a black eggcrate grille flanked by large air intakes, that double as housings for the foglamps on some models.
The side view appeals with wheels pushed to the corners and a super-fast windshield sweeping back over tautly drawn side glass. Side mirrors separate the front door glass from an odd-looking, wind-wing-like, but fixed, tiny piece of glass at the base of the A-pillar. The beltline rises as it moves rearward, kicking up just before the severely blistered rear wheelwell before tucking in between the steeply sloped backlight and the sculpted back end. Full-round, easy-to-grab door handles ride the crest of a soft bulge connecting the tops of the fenders. They're chrome plated on the Grand Touring model. An understated crease highlights the lower door panels, skipping over the rear tires to continue around the bottom fold of the rear bumper.
The rear aspect is plain, with a modest optional spoiler sitting atop the backlight, itself resting in a gentle dip in the liftgate. A large, seamless bumper stretches the width of the back end, above single (for i models) or dual exhaust tips (for s models).
Interior Features
The interior of the Mazda CX-7 makes no less of a statement than the exterior, and with much the same result. Some design features work well, others not so well. Overall, the CX-7 seems chunky and a bit complicated, and not as friendly and functional as the Honda CR-V and the Toyota RAV4.
The two-part dash for example. The upper part is a ridge stretching across the top of the dash that's supposed to make the front seat passenger feel included in the interior's dynamic. It includes a Multi-Information Display with orange characters in most models, but preferable full color our more expensive Grand Touring; it also shows the image from the standard rearview monitor. The MID screen is only 4.1 inches diagonally, though, making the image from the rearview camera and the navigation screen a bit hard to see. There's no turn-by-turn display with the navigation (or if so we never saw it), but it wasn't confusing to program, at least.
Functions on the MID are controlled by five buttons on the right side of the steering wheel. The navigation system, too, can be controlled at the steering wheel. It takes some getting used to, and we're not sure if it's less distracting or not. You don't have to stretch your arm, but you do have to move your eyes around more.
One benefit of the two-tiered dashboard, says Mazda, is that the screen is up and away, so drivers won't have to take their eyes off the road. It does, however, require looking back and forth between the steering wheel and MID.
Below the top tier is a more traditional dashboard. This lower part, the designers say, is intended to play to the driver, concentrating on the interfaces necessary for managing the car. All the pieces for this are there, so the job is doable, but the way everything is put together doesn't make it all that easy or appear that seamlessly integrated. Large buttons and knobs are used, but their arrangement and assigned functions are not always intuitive. However, we like that the radio can be turned with its own knob that spins to select channels.
Beyond the novel design, the instrument cluster is heavily hooded, stylishly compartmentalized and softly lit. The dashboard, door panels, and center console are largely plastic that looks nice but smacks of cost containment, in our $34,000 vehicle. The steering wheel, borrowed directly from the sporty MX-5 Miata with its much more confined cockpit, feels sporty but small in the CX-7 SUV.
Our s Grand Touring was equipped with the Blind Spot Monitoring System. It illuminates lights in the side mirrors when vehicles are traveling in the CX-7's blind spots, and if you attempt to change lanes when it thinks cars behind you are too close, it will beep at you. Like every BSMS we've ever known, the false alarms were frequent. Once, in the fast lane, it read the guard rail as a continuous car in a blind spot, and stayed steadily on for a mile.
In interior space, the Mazda falls between Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 in front-seat legroom and rear-seat headroom, but has the least rear-seat legroom by a substantial two inches, with 36.4 inches. The Kia Sportage beats the CX-7, with 37.9 inches.
Seat comfort is average. The seat-bottom cushions offer decent support, and substantial front-seat side bolsters are fitting for a vehicle with sporty aspirations. There's manual lumbar support with the loaded Grand Touring, which we used effectively during one 240-mile run in the rain at night, always good for back stress. The padded center armrest sits about the same height as the front door armrests, allowing a comfortable posture for long drives.
The rear seats favor two passengers over three, a reality reinforced by the two contoured seatbacks and absence of a head restraint for the center. The CX-7's good rear headroom is assisted by a thin, low seat cushion. Good headroom, at the price of closeness between knees and chin.
The kicked-up beltline and tapered cabin constrict vision toward the rear, and it's also compromised in front. Even with the driver's seat at its highest adjustment, the rakish hood falls below the sight line of a six-footer, requiring cautious navigation in tight spaces. The available video camera helps the driver spot objects behind the vehicle when backing up, including short metal posts, other cars and children on tricycles.
Storage is adequate. The front center console's lockable bin is deep enough for a laptop computer and includes a secondary power point for that purpose. The glovebox is small but lockable. Fixed door pockets are shaped to hold a water bottle. Two cupholders fill the space in the front center console between the shift gate and the storage bin Illuminated vanity mirrors are located in the sun visors.
Rear seat passengers get no door pockets, but magazine pouches are provided on the backs of both front seats.. The fold-down center armrest in the rear seat also provides two cupholders.
Both the CR-V (73.0 cubic feet) and RAV4 (72.9) hold a lot more cargo than the CX-7 with the rear seat down. The CX-7 holds just 58.6 cubic feet, but that's still more than the Kia Sportage's 54.6.
Only the RAV4 can be ordered with a third-row seat, giving it accommodations (however meager) for seven passengers. The CX-7, on the other hand, is the longest, lowest, and widest of the four; which gives it the dubious distinction of providing the least interior space for the most exterior bulk. However, the CX-7 has the best aerodynamic performance of the group.
Driving Impressions
The Mazda CX-7 gets the zoom-zoom award in this class, especially when compared with the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. The Honda and Toyota models focus more on utility than spirit; in fact, they seem downright dumpy and staid, when compared to the CX-7.
A better performance rival is the new Kia Sportage SX, with its 256-horsepower turbocharged 2.0-liter engine and 6-speed automatic transmission; its styling is sleek like that of the Mazda CX-7, its price about the same (retailing for a bit less), and its fuel mileage 21/25 mpg. Or maybe the Acura RDX, another four-cylinder turbo with an emphasis on handling, although the Acura runs quite a few thousand dollars more.
The Mazda CX-7 is eminently smooth and stable at 80 mph. On winding roads it tracks true, with minimal body lean despite its SUV stature. Being front-wheel-drive based, it will understeer when provoked by excessive cornering speed, but the electronic stability control system shields all but the most lead-footed driver from ever experiencing this.
There is some head toss in quick left-right-left transitions, but not a lot. What's felt more often is a certain jaggedness over bumps, sometimes. The chassis and suspension changes for 2010, making the CX-7 more rigid and stiffer, have improved the cornering but not necessarily the ride, in every situation. Over rough pavement, the suspension is firm while not being stiff, but sharp ruts can be harsh.
And despite more engine and interior insulation in 2010, the tires transmit road noise into the cabin, which otherwise is fairly quiet, even over poorly graded railroad crossings.
The steering wheel, pedals and shift lever are positioned well for sporty driving. Mazda claims that this is no accident, because the steering wheel/shifter geometry replicates that of the RX-8 sports car (though we wonder how). The brake pedal returns a solid, firm feel, and the vented disc brakes deliver reassuring, controlled stops.
The base 2.5-liter engine is well matched to the CX-7, providing adequate acceleration from a stop, though it lacks a bit in midrange punch. It's smooth, and works well with the 5-speed automatic transmission.
The base engine is EPA rated at 20 mpg city/28 mpg highway. You pay for the extra power in the 2.3-liter turbo, with fuel mileage of 17/24 mpg with front-wheel drive and 15/21 mpg with all-wheel drive.
The turbocharged engine has more midrange power than the base engine, making passing a much easier prospect. Power builds smoothly from a standstill, with impressive torque at low engine speeds (torque is that force that propels you from intersections and up steep hills). The CX-7 develops more torque at a lot lower engine speed (258 pound-feet at 2500 rpm) than even the V6 in the Toyota RAV4 (246 pound-feet at 4700 rpm), but that's what turbochargers do for engines. A four-cylinder turbo theoretically makes as much power as a V6 but with better fuel mileage.
The 6-speed automatic transmission shifts well and adapts well to different driving situations. In Drive, the programming logic learns a driver's style and adjusts shift points to match. In Sport mode, it executes manual shifts smoothly, up or down. To change gears manually, slide the shifter into the Sport slot, which is conveniently placed on the driver's side of the primary shift gate. Then simply push the lever forward to downshift, pull it back to upshift.
With either engine, there's some torque steer (where the front tires pull one way or the other, most commonly to the right) under hard acceleration, and we've noticed it in both the front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive models. It's somewhat less in the latter, which redirects up to 50 percent of the power to the rear wheels in extreme conditions.
In addition to our road time in the Mazda CX-7 s Grand Touring, we crept and sometimes blasted through deep mud at an event at the Dirtfish Rally School in Snoqualmie, Washington, called Mudfest, organized by the Northwest Automotive Press Association.
The CX-7 offered great traction even on its road tires, but when the ruts grew 10 inches deep, we steered the CX-7 clear, with 8.1 inches of ground clearance. That's still a good amount, matching the 2011 Jeep Compass, an SUV built more for off-road. The Kia Sportage SX, also at the event, has only 6.8 inches of ground clearance, so it bailed out of the mud long before the CX-7. Besides, the Sportage awd system can't match the traction made by the CX-7.
Summary, Prices, Specs
The Mazda CX-7 is a competent crossover utility vehicle when measured against the competition. It's not the roomiest in the class, trading some interior space for sporty styling. The sporty looks are backed up by sporty handling characteristics, and excellent performance in the turbocharged s models with a 6-speed automatic. The base engine with 5-speed automatic lowers the starting price while still offering enough power. However, stepping up to the more powerful engine adds all-wheel drive to the options list, and the AWD works well.
NewCarTestDrive.com correspondent Tom Lankard reported from Washington, with Kirk Bell in Chicago, and Sam Moses reporting from the Pacific Northwest.
Model Line Overview | |
Model lineup: | Mazda CX-7 FWD i SV ($21,990); FWD i Sport ($22,795); FWD I Touring ($26,390); FWD s Touring ($26,255); AWD s Touring ($27,955); FWD s Grand Touring ($31,640); AWD s Grand Touring ($33,340) |
Engines: | 161-horsepower 2.5-liter DOHC 16-valve inline-4; 244-hp 2.3-liter DOHC 16-valve turbocharged and intercooled inline-4 |
Transmissions: | 5-speed automatic, 6-speed automatic |
Safety equipment (standard): | front airbags; front seat-mounted side airbags; front/rear seat side air curtains with rollover protection; tire-pressure monitor; crushable brake pedal assembly; stability control system with traction control; antilock brakes with EBD and brake assist |
Safety equipment (optional): | rearview camera, Blind Spot Monitoring System |
Basic warranty: | 3 years/36,000 miles |
Assembled in: | Hiroshima, Japan |
Specifications As Tested | |
Model tested (MSPR): | Mazda CX-7 s Grand Tour ($33,240) |
Standard equipment: | air conditioning, cruise control, power windows, power mirrors, power locks, remote keyless entry and starting, tilt/telescoping steering wheel with audio controls, 60/40 split folding rear seatbacks, theft deterrent system, Bluetooth wireless cell phone and streaming audio link, leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, rear privacy glass, leather upholstery, heated front seats with 8-way power adjustment and lumbar support for driver, color multi-information display with rearview camera, 9-speaker Bose sound system with Sirius satellite radio and 6CD changer, automatic climate control, power glass moonroof, automatic climate control, unique silver and piano black trim, driver's seat memory, four-way power passenger seat, electroluminescent gauges with indirect blue lighting, auto-dimming rearview mirror with a universal garage-door opener, navigation system, rearview camera display, rain-sensing wipers, fog lamps, automatic xenon high intensity discharge (HID) headlamps, Blind Spot Monitoring System, heated outside mirrors with integrated turn-signals, and P235/55R19 tires |
Options as tested (MSPR): | rear bumper guard ($125) |
Destination charge: | $795 |
Gas guzzler tax: | N/A |
Price as tested (MSPR): | $34260 |
Layout: | all-wheel drive |
Engine: | 2.3-liter turbocharged inline-4 |
Horsepower (lb.-ft @ rpm): | 244 @ 5000 |
Torque (lb.-ft @ rpm): | 258 @ 2500 |
Transmission: | 6-speed automatic |
EPA fuel economy, city/hwy: | 15/21 mpg |
Wheelbase: | 108.3 in. |
Length/width/height: | 184.3/73.7/64.8 in. |
Track, f/r: | 64.1/63.9 in. |
Turning circle: | 37.4 ft. |
Seating Capacity: | 5 |
Head/hip/leg room, f: | 38.2/54.8/41.7 in. |
Head/hip/leg room, m: | N/A |
Head/hip/leg room, r: | 38.6/53.0/36.4 in. |
Cargo volume: | 58.6 cu. ft. |
Payload: | N/A |
Towing capacity: | 2000 Lbs. |
Suspension, f: | independent, MacPherson struts, coil springs, gas-pressurized shocks, stabilizer bar |
Suspension, r: | independent, multi-link, coil springs, gas-pressurized shocks, stabilizer bar |
Ground clearance: | 8.1 in. |
Curb weigth: | 4001 lbs. |
Tires: | P235/55R19 |
Brakes, f/r: | vented disc/vented disc with ABS, EBD, Brake Assist |
Fuel capacity: | 18.2 gal. |
Unless otherwise indicated, specifications refer to test vehicle. All prices are manufacturer's suggested retail prices (MSPR) effective as of May 4, 2011.Prices do not include manufacturer's destination and delivery charges. N/A: Information not available or not applicable. Manufacturer Info Sources: 800-222-5500 - www.mazdausa.com |


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As a result of its policy of arming Jihadists in Syria who behead people they disagree with, Washington is destroying the credibility of its most basic anti-terror claims that it made after the 9/11 false flag.
"The contradictions in U.S. foreign policy couldn't be clearer than in Syria. The U.S. is supporting Jihadist terrorists and thereby putting to death the biggest fable in its war on terror mythology: Radical Islam is a threat to America and Western civilization.The thirst for destruction is what drives USrael's Middle East policy, not the quest to defend democracy and civilization against terrorism and rogue states.
The absurdity of the media fables is too much to ignore. The collapsing 9/11 mythology and NATO's war on terror consensus is irreversible. More people believe in flying unicorns than the official fable of 9/11." - "Troubling Syrian Revelations Destroy The Fables of The War on Terror Mythology."
"The historical record shows America and Israel have funded, armed, and used radical Islamist groups like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood in order to counterbalance the rise of nationalist movements as well as to advance their geopolitical aims and political narrative in the Middle East.
America and Israel have even created fake transnational Islamist groups like Al-Qaeda to control the message getting out of the Middle East and direct Muslims towards supporting Islamic extremism and perpetual warfare with the West.
The channeling of the creative energies of the Middle East by America also includes the financial and diplomatic support of color revolutions and popular uprisings that pose no real threat to the new world order power structure and the Western central banking dictatorship." - "5 Facts That Prove Radical Islam Is A Child of American-British-Israeli Intelligence."
As a result of its policy of arming Jihadists in Syria who behead people they disagree with, Washington is destroying the credibility of its most basic anti-terror claims that it made after the 9/11 false flag.
The right-wing hawks and left-wing warmongers in the United States both defend the policy of regime change in Syria, and believe that the costs in human life and damage to Syria's national infrastructure are worth it.
The inconsistency in U.S. positions and rhetoric is ruining America's image. The same country that defeated Nazism and the Soviet Union in the last century, two of the greatest foes in history, is committing national suicide in this century. U.S. leaders, once respected and admired, are becoming isolated on the international stage because of their pro-terrorism policies.
How can Republicans honestly be against the Islamic radicalization of the Middle East when they publicly support the arming and financing of Jihadist fighters in Syria? Are these politicians insane? Do they actually believe their own propaganda?
The Syrian people are protesting U.S. and NATO meddling in their country because they do not want their society to be ripped apart and destroyed under the guise of "supporting democracy and freedom."
The anti-Assad camp has ceased to defend the morality of their cause. A Jihadist terrorist even admitted to the New York Times last week that, "We use means only used by the devil."
Forget supporting the devil and democracy in Syria---how about supporting life? U.S. policy makers and leaders do not respect the sanctity of an individual life so they embrace terrorism, sanctions, war, and mass murder as tools to accomplish their political vision for the Middle East, without feeling any guilt whatsoever.
After Assad is gone, the new official U.S. line will be: "Let's remove those dangerous Jihadists and radical Islamists, let's blow them up," which extends the cycle of war yet again. This is what is happening in Libya and across the region. Washington is cleaning up a mess of its own making, and it is happy to do so because it always needs new justifications to portray its occupation of Muslim countries as legitimate.
And Israel and Saudi Arabia like it this way because without big daddy America at their side tucking them into bed every night they wouldn't be able to go to sleep. But the problem is not Israel or Saudi Arabia. The problem is Washington's corruption and cowardice.
The schizophrenic Empire has so much power that it doesn't know what to do with it. All it knows is war and terror. Peace is its ideological enemy; not Islam, the Taliban, Assad, Al-Qaeda, or Iran.
The people who are constructing and controlling U.S. foreign policy are war criminals and mass murdering maniacs. It is obvious that a hardcore group of sadists and genocidal terrorists have taken over the United States and Israel. They have no principles and regard the vast majority of humanity, including their own populations, as worthless animals.
Barack Obama is somewhat rational because he has not fully committed himself to Israel's foolish rhetoric about Iran, but the U.S. right-wing is dangerously irrational and openly a servant of the fascist terrorist state in Israel.
The Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney does not even bother to hide the fact that he defers to Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu on Middle East issues. Romney is putting the interests of Israel first and wants America to remain a slave.
If the American people elect Romney in November they will be essentially saying to Israel, "Sacrifice our sons and daughters, my Master."
Romney Supports Al-Qaeda in Syria!

subset: commoncrawl


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A week after Twitter's IPO and two days after education company Chegg debuted on the NYSE, Zulily, the daily deals site targeted at mothers, opened on the NASDAQ this morning under the symbol ZU. Things are going well since the company priced 11.5 million shares at $22 each late last night, as shares jumped to a high of $41.32 this morning and presently stand at $38.20.
The company filed its S-1 in early October with the goal of raising $100 million in its IPO. In December 2012, Zulily was valued at $1 billion, and between 2011 and 2012 sales grew from $132.4 to $331.2 million.
It's a success story among flash sales sites, which have faltered and bred a degree of distrust from VCs in recent years. But it may not be the only one to go public. As Bloomberg reported earlier this summer, there's the possibility of a future IPO for Gilt Groupe, one of the biggest names in flash sales. Although Gilt's growth had slowed as it took on too many areas, resulting in layoffs and cut divisions, CEO Michelle Peluso told Bloomberg that the company still sees flash sales as its core.
Zulily is profitable — although as others will point out, just barely so — and raised a total of $369M from investors like Maveron, Trinity Ventures, August Capital, Meritech Capital Partners, and most recently Andreessen Horowitz.
This isn't the Zulily founders' first time at the IPO rodeo: that was Blue Nile, the online jewelry retailer, back in 2004.
[Image from Zulily]


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SuperFlex Draper Head for New Holland Combines
MFG News | Posted on |
NEW HOLLAND, PA (August 29, 2011) – New Holland has introduced a new SuperFlex draper head specifically designed to match the high capacity of New Holland CR Series Twin Rotor® and CX8000 Series Super-Conventional combines.
"Header designs play an important role in reducing harvesting losses," says New Holland Cash Crop Marketing Manager Ed Barry. "The new 880CF SuperFlex draper head provides closer cutting and better flotation so farmers can harvest every bit of their valuable crop."
The 880CF SuperFlex cutterbar draper headers are available in cutting widths of 30′, 35′, 40′ and 45′. The 30′, and 35′ heads feature a single-span, plastic-tine pickup reel while 40′ and 45′ models use a dual-span reel with plastic tines
A patented, rubber spring flotation system allows the 880CF head to follow ground contours more closely. The rubber torsion springs on each floor support can be adjusted manually to tailor flotation to conditions or to compensate for any cutterbar unevenness.
The six-bat reel smoothly feeds crop to the cutterbar, which cuts cleanly using three-inch guards and overserrated knife sections with 10 teeth per inch. Reel sensors provide for easy return-to-cut after each pass.
A shorter skid shoe design reduces weight and allows the cutterbar to cut closer to the ground for better cutterbar flexing. The hydraulic center knife drive system uses a patented single gearbox mounted under the center draper to drive both knife assemblies. This unique and patented design distributes weight evenly, neutralizes header vibration and leads to exceptionally smooth cutting action.
Variable-speed outer draper belts and fixed-speed twin 41.6-inch center draper belts deliver the crop smoothly to the floating 26-inch-diameter auger. The auger features five-inch flighting and handles heavy crop and feeds it smoothly into the combine. A flatter auger floor angle aids crop flow. The auger can be adjusted up, down, fore and aft to match conditions and a new, patented rubber retention system prevents broken auger fingers from entering the combine.


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ORIGIN: 'All Things Dead' Lyric Video
May 20, 2014Technical death metallers ORIGIN will release their new album, "Omnipresent", on July 8 in North America via Nuclear Blast (July 4 in Europe through Agonia). The CD was recorded with longtime producer/engineer Robert Rebeck at Chapman Recording in Lenexa, Kansas and was mixed and mastered at Menegroth - The Thousand Caves with Colin Marston. The artwork was once again created by Colin Marks (NEVERMORE, KATAKLYSM, EXODUS).
The official lyric video for the song "All Things Dead", taken from "Omnipresent", can be seen below.
Comments ORIGIN vocalist Jason Keyser: "We were very happy to be able to work again with Colin Marks of Rain Song Design for the artwork of 'Omnipresent'. He designed the art for our previous album, 'Entity', which had a barren, stripped down minimalism, but for 'Omnipresent', we wanted bigger. We were looking for something that would represent the total insignificance and helplessness of humanity to the impending doom of the universe that surrounds us at all times. It's a strong running theme of the album, lyrically; how our pride and arrogance can advance us as a species in so many ways, eventually conquering the unknown reaches of space. But ultimately we continue to exist only at the whim of the cold, indiscriminate forces that could snuff our sentient spark at any moment.
"The title of the album, 'Omnipresent', works perfectly with the artwork in the way that omnipresence does not come from expanding to new worlds and growing as a species, but only through being whittled down to a last living being alone in the universe. The final failed experiment of life has no comparison, it is the most powerful, only through our sentient extinction can we finally understand some sliver of godhood."
"Omnipresent" marks ORIGIN's first CD to feature Jason Keyser (ex-SKINLESS),who has being touring with the band as their vocalist since the release of "Entity".
"ORIGIN records albums in a somewhat masochistic, chaotic, and senseless fashion," comments drummer John Longstreth. "It's our best trick, and we need the best guy for our best trick, so that's why we have Jason. He's had two years of hard road work with the band and we know he's the guy.
"For those that weren't aware, ORIGIN recorded 'Entity' as a trio without a proper vocalist, so we are very excited to have Jason in to do what a proper vocalist is supposed to do."
"Omnipresent" track listing:
01. All Things Dead
03. Permanence
04. Manifest Desolate
05. Absurdity of What I Am
06. Source of Icon O
07. Continuum
08. Unattainable Zero
09. Redistribution of Filth
10. Obsolescence
11. Malthusian Collapse
12. The Indiscriminate
13. Kill Yourself (S.O.D. cover song)
"A culmination of 15 years of technical death metal brutality, 'Omnipresent' transcends definition," states the band. "From light speed to absolute zero it is a journey to the farthest reaches of the universe to the darkest nether of the mind. We are everywhere and nowhere. We are omnipresent."
Formed in Kansas in 1997, ORIGIN is one of the most intense and most brutal technical death metal forces to be reckoned with. Since its inception, the group has charted twice on the Billboard Top Heatseekers (with "Antithesis" at #21 and "Entity" at #20) and emerged on countless highly energetic shows across the world. In 2007, ORIGIN reached Europe for the first time in career (on tour with MISERY INDEX and NECROPHAGIST) and five years later, in 2012, reclaimed The Old Continent together with SUFFOCATION. This coming May, ORIGIN will be heading out on a headlining run in Southeast Asia and Australia.
ORIGIN is:
Jason Keyser - Vocals
Paul Ryan - Guitars/Vocals
Mike Flores - Bass/Vocals
John Longstreth - Drums


text: Abell1835IR1916 from YouTube Website Take a virtual ride to the outer reaches of the universe and explore 10 billion years of galactic history, from fully formed and majestic spiral galaxies to disheveled collections of stars just beginning to form. This unforgettable cosmic journey is presented in the award-winning IMAX short film, "Hubble - Galaxies Across Space and Time," which transforms images and data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope into a voyage that sweeps viewers across the cosmos. Using the mosaic image created by the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS), more than 11,000 galaxy images were extracted and assembled into an accurate 3-D model for the three-minute movie. The large-format film was created by a team of Hubble image and visualization experts in the Office of Public Outreach at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Md. Frank Summers, an astrophysicist and science visualization specialist directed the film. This background feature video explains how the galaxy images were extracted and assembled into an accurate 3-D model. Information is also presented on how light takes time to travel across space, showing that the galaxies farther away from Earth are seen further back in cosmic history.


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Magic Singles » Lorwyn Block
Please choose a subcategory of products from the list below.
Conflict continues in the world of Lorwyn as mighty races find common ground – and power – by forming new tribes based on their classes.
Far from the strife of Dominaria lies Lorwyn, an idyllic world where races of fable thrive in perpetual midsummer. Lorwyn is covered with dense forests, meandering rivers, and gently rolling meadows. The sun never quite dips below the horizon, and winter is entirely unknown.


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In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton defends his driving after being criticised by Sebastian Vettel and Christian Horner for unlapping himself during the German Grand Prix.
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso cruises to German Grand Prix victory (The Guardian)
Sebastian Vettel: "It's a bit stupid to disturb the leaders. I think that potentially lost us the position to Jenson [Button]."
Cry baby: Hamilton slams Vettel as German Grand Prix fallout turns into public spat (The Mirror)
Lewis Hamilton: "It doesn't really bother me what he says, I guess. It shows his maturity. I don't think I've made any silly decisions throughout the race. I had nothing to gain apart from staying out of the way of my team mate."
Vettel and Horner slam Hamilton (Sky)
Christian Horner: "Why was he interfering with the race leaders? He should have respected the fact that they were ahead on the track."
"Vettel doing himself no favours calling Hamilton's unlapping 'stupid'. Remember the Kubica/Vettel/Hamilton move at Interlagos '08."
Intelligent Alonso shows he has all the answers (BBC)
"After standing on his Ferrari's nose to milk the applause, Alonso turned to Button and said: 'You couldn't beat me?' He then pointed to Vettel and said: 'He couldn't either.'"
2012 German Grand Prix (McLaren)
Hamilton: "My second-lap puncture was incredibly unfortunate: there was debris scattered across the full width of the track and I didn't have any option other than to drive straight through it. What's more frustrating is that, at the time, I was the eighth car through – so to be the one to get the puncture is just cruel luck."
Ferrari Still Not The Fastest Car, Says Domenicali (Speed)
"I believe we still don't have the fastest car, if we had the fastest car maybe it would be easier to win. We need to improve the car, and we need to make sure our car is good in all the different conditions, wet/dry, different kinds of tyres, and so on."
McLaren MP4-27 – revised sidepod design (F1)
"The extensive list of updates include lower and more sculptured sidepods, new exhausts, new radiator installation, a revised floor in front of the rear tyres, a new diffuser, new rear wing endplates and modified brakes ducts."
Ferrari told to ignore RBR technical row (Autosport)
Stefano Domenicali: "When I first saw the note from the technical delegate, I said 'stay focused on our job today.' This is something that engineers see and they try to think about. But no, stay focused on what you have to do. Forget about what is happening."
Ecclestone's absence fuels talk of charges (The Telegraph)
"After his office intimated that he would fly in late on Saturday, Ecclestone apparently had a change of heart, saying that he did not want to be 'a distraction'. German media had speculated on Friday that Ecclestone might be arrested if he attended the race."
German GP – Conference 4 (FIA)
Button on his flat spot during the final stint: "It gave me a little bit of a headache, but that was about it. It was unusual. I guess they just weren't up to temperature when I hit the brakes that time. We've been very good with front-locking in this race. Normally it's a big issue with the McLaren. In testing we had big issues with front locking. We did some set-up work and we've solved a lot of that, which is great for us."
Comment of the day
There's been a lot of discussion recently over Ferrari using Italian in their team radio messages. Bullfrog reckons it's up to TV broadcasters to translate them instead of forcing Ferrari to use English:
Sky are asking people to pay a premium for their service – the least they can do is find someone to translate the messages, instead of making lame jokes and sounding amazed that people speak in funny foreign languages…
From the forum
- Nominate the best pass of the German Grand Prix
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Matt!
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.
On this day in F1
Five years ago today a furious Scott Speed claimed his Toro Rosso team were trying to force him and Vitantonio Liuzzi out.
Sure enough, it soon turned out Speed had already started his last race: he was replaced by Sebastian Vettel at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Liuzzi was dropped at the end of the season to make way for Sebastien Bourdais.
Image © McLaren/Hoch Zwei


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I think the opening reception may cost some $$, but it's well worth it. See you there.
Weathering the Storm
Jeremy Fish
Opening Nov 7th 6-9pm
Laguna Art Museum
307 Cliff Drive
Jeremy Fish in his North Beach studio
We visited Fish's studio on Oct 28th for a peek at the work in the show.
Mr. Rick Marr was there helping out with some last minute details.
Observations on our rough times.
Fish telling us about the show... We got video which will be up later in the week.
Really liked these two.
The museum show will incorporate a lot of Fish's mural work too.
The wood carved frames are freakin' intense.
All hand carved.
Fish's largest body of work for one single show.
Failed US auto industry
I spy some Dr. Suess
Tools of the trade
Can't wait to see this finished handmade bench.
Everyone should have an inflatable Tecate and a Nome collection
Fish vibrator?!
The man's buckle collection
custom bike with...
custom seat?!
See you at the show Saturday!
Weathering the Storm
Jeremy Fish
Opening Nov 7th 6-9pm
Laguna Art Museum
307 Cliff Drive
< Prev | Next > |


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Advanced Search
STEM | Feature
In spite of the fact that the organization's beginnings go back 127 years, to 1884 when electricity was just becoming known among ordinary people, IEEE couldn't be accused in its more recent years of becoming a stodgy club for mature professionals. After all, the 400,000-member Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers has 100,000 student members, including 1,855 student branches at colleges and universities in 80 countries; 45 percent of members are outside the United States; and in 2010 it voted Moshe Kam as its 49th president and CEO, thereby choosing somebody unafraid to speak his mind.
As organizational head, Kam has publicly pushed to bring the "less experienced"--including students--in on volunteer positions for key committees and task forces; and he defended the right of IEEE Spectrum, its well known member magazine, to tackle as a cover topic the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Recently, Campus Technology caught up with Kam, whose day job is as professor and department head of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Drexel University in Philadelphia. In the first of this two-part interview, he explores how engineering education has been transformed over the last 30 to 40 years, including in places like India and China; examines the challenge of dwindling numbers of U.S. students in STEM fields; and explains why he believes engineering could be saved by a greater focus on recruiting women and what could be the key to drawing them and others to the field.
Dian Schaffhauser: Dr. Kam, you started studying engineering in the '70s. Now you're the head of an engineering department at Drexel. What's changed about the profession and the teaching of that profession in those 30 to 40 years?
Moshe Kam: Two fundamental changes have occurred. One is that when I was a student in the 1970s of electrical engineering, this was a relatively confined, well defined discipline with clear boundaries that was very distinct from other engineering disciplines. You'd never make a mistake when looking at the curriculum that this could be something else. And we had our own specific technology and techniques. We were also much more focused on the technical objectives of our particular discipline as opposed to what I'll describe in a minute.
[Now] the boundaries between what we do and what is happening in other areas of engineering and some areas not defined as engineering, such as computer science and even some business departments, do not exist at all and in some cases have blurred. . For instance, civil engineering may be responsible for the health of the infrastructure--say, a bridge. This civil engineer will use sensors and actuators that used to be almost the exclusive domain of individuals in electrical engineering. He or she is going to use computer networking and communication systems in order to do remote sensing, to do computation using control techniques, and in general be steeped in information technology and communication in computing and networking in a way that say, a civil engineering major in the 1970s would not even have dreamt of being remotely interested in.
This is one big change.
With this big change also came a related issue. We did not worry in the 1970s about educating engineers in business and law. The idea was that the engineering department would do what it's supposed to do, namely, create the gadget, provide the communication service, purchase and install the radios. Issues of business and issues of law would be dealt with by other departments. The engineers need not worry about it. Nowadays we see increasingly in the design of systems, the implementation of systems, the degree to which legal and business decisions are entering the picture. That necessitates that engineers not only work closely with individuals from these disciplines, but also understand the jargon and language and in some limited extent understand the disciplines.
Another development is this. Though in the 1970s we already had significant presence of computing in what we do, computing really was an add-on to what we were doing in our discipline. We were primarily teaching and learning microwave systems and antennas and circuits and complicated systems like radios and TVs and semiconductors and so on. We used computers to do some computation and to assist us once we knew what we were doing in terms of design. But computers were not part of the design process.
Nowadays the design not only in electrical engineering and computing engineering but also in mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, in civil engineering, in materials engineering is very heavily based on computing. The trend is so dramatic in a couple of years there will be only one discipline--forgive me for saying this--computer science. And everybody else--the electrical engineers, the civil engineers--will basically be individuals using computing for a particular set of problems or problems with certain flavors.
Computation used to come at the end. Computation now comes at the beginning. We start with MATLAB, we start with Mathematica, we start with symbolic computation. It's not that computer-aided design is added to what we do; computer aided designed becomes the only thing we do.
Schaffhauser: You travel the world meeting with the IEEE members and officers. What's the state of engineering education in the United States right now compared to other hotspots--India, China?
Kam: The state of engineering education in the United States is very good. Higher education in the United States in engineering continues to be a very strong discipline and in many cases well ahead of other systems in the degree to which research is integrated into education, particularly graduate education--the excellent opportunities for graduate students to get access to equipment and laboratories and also stipends and financial assistance.
That's not to say other places are not catching up. In terms of what is happening in India and China, first of all--let's start with China. There is a huge level of investment in engineering education in China. Many Chinese institutions at the top tier are now equipped in terms of computing, networking, optical networks, in a way that would be the envy of almost any university in the world--first-rate excellent facilities. Also the number of students is large.
However, I think there are still certain areas in which, in spite of the very commendable progress that top Chinese universities have made, China is still somewhat struggling. One of them is this ability that American researchers have shown to integrate research and education at the graduate level that we've not yet seen in China.
The degree of innovation and the degree of ability to innovate and do original research on a large scale is still not yet a tradition at Chinese universities, in spite of the fact that they provide fantastic facilities and excellent tutoring and education.
And one should remember while the top Chinese universities are most excellent--some of the best in the world--the volume of the system which we keep hearing about also includes many universities that still need to catch up. When we hear about the numbers of individuals graduating in China, a small fraction of them is coming from top excellent universities. A large number comes from universities that have a ways to go to get to what even they would say would be an acceptable standard.
The situation in India is that India has a core set of excellent universities--the [Indian Institutes of Technology] and some universities that are not in the IIT system--that are first-rate. The impression that we get is that at the present time, in spite of the availability of first-rate researchers and teachers, many universities in India are suffering from significant shortages when it comes to instructors.
Many of these universities will be able to reach their full potential only if they can see significant increase in the numbers and level of instructors. This is because of the economic reward system that doesn't make teaching in universities significantly attractive. In many Indian institutions there is a large number of vacancies, and I think this is hampering the otherwise excellent progress that Indian universities have made.
Schaffhauser: Do you believe that the concern about dwindling number of STEM students in this country is overplayed?
Kam: I don't think it's overplayed. The needs of this country for engineers in the end will be satisfied. They may be satisfied by massive importation of engineers. You may have heard the slight foreign accent of my own voice. Maybe individuals were drawn to this country because of the excellence of its graduate education opportunities and then stay to teach or work.
The problem with the dwindling STEM population is real. And we may come to the point where we can't do it all by importing. Simply, we'll need to have the engineering done elsewhere.
It's no question that we see decreasing skill of the incoming population [in universities]--even in terms of algebra. And it's a reflection of what students can do. It reflects on how far we can go with them, and how far we can do more intelligent and deeper and original work with them and how much time we need to spend on remedial work. Not to condemn the whole population. There are still many high schools that provide the students who come here with a very high level of progression. But the trend is not particularly positive.
And in time we may be in a situation where, due to the dearth of individuals we can train to become engineers, we'll simply lose engineering work to other places.
One definite resource that we have not found yet a way to use properly is women. There is no reason at all to believe that women in any way are not fully capable to be engineers.
Whereas in the last 50 years, there was a dramatic change in the fraction of women in schools of law and medicine, the numbers in engineering continue to be in the United States less than 20 percent. Some countries in Europe are as bad as 5 [percent] or 7 percent.
This is clearly a resource that we're missing out on entirely--not because of the fact that women are not ready to go to engineering school. It's because of the fact that many of the women ready to go to engineering school are going to exploit other opportunities. If I were to think about the number one population that we need to see how to improve its affinity to engineering, then this is it.
If today you were given a budget and told to take this budget and put it into the most important activity towards improving the number of young people who will choose engineering as a career path, where would you put the money? I would put it into the education of teachers for the pre-university system.
I think what is condemning us, creating in the United States this very tragic situation where we have large groups of pre-university students who come out of their studies with the sense that engineering is not for them is to a large extent a result of the fact that they do not see role models.
Many of the people who teach STEM in the United States don't have degrees in STEM. If your physics teacher is not a physics major and is very uncomfortable with this--almost afraid to go to the lab--don't expect the students to be inspired.
Of all the factors that work against us in increasing the potential population of engineers in the United States, this is the most dramatic one.
As the head of this school of engineering, how much do you push your students to consider getting into education?
Right now, to be quite honest with you, there's no good path for me to do that. The reason is that it's hard for me to convince my students that that's the best career that they will go to--I can tell them it's maybe the most noble career. But it's hard for me to say with a straight face that the best career or the most rewarding career will be in the high school system as a teacher. This is infrastructure we need to work on at a national level before we can do that.
One thing that we do here [at Drexel] and in IEEE that has shown some fruit--we're trying to get the deans of engineering and deans of education together. It's been the practice of people who are interested in improving the pre-university STEM education to go to deans of engineering and ask them what they've done. It hasn't been the practice to go to deans of education. But the teachers are actually taught at the schools that are governed by the deans of education.
So what IEEE has done in the past, and we probably need to do it again, we created summits. You could only register if you were the dean of education and brought along the dean of engineering or you were dean of engineering and you brought along the dean of education. To our shock and amazement, for the majority of the people in these summits, it was the first time the dean of education and dean of engineering sat together to discuss these matters.
Right now the people who will teach the children of the next generation, who are studying now in the education department, usually have no contact at all with the engineering schools. It's as if it were on another planet. This is what we're trying to change, the first step towards addressing this problem of the dearth of role models of engineers and engineering educators in the pre-university system.
If your teacher has no idea what engineering is or has prejudice, that engineering is not for women--and we see that a lot--if your teacher has trepidation and suspicion toward engineering, it's hardly the case that you'll overcome that and become an engineering enthusiast.
Schaffhauser: Give me some ideas you've seen working anywhere in the world to draw students into the STEM fields.
Kam: We've seen several interesting things well done. First of all there are some projects in this country and in other countries that involve robotic competitions. The robotic competitions certainly have had very positive impact. The reason is evident. Students are interested in playing with these machines. As they start playing with this, the enthusiasm about engineering and engineering design is engulfing them. There is no question that this has been excellent.
The second thing--Virginia Tech comes to mind--is making sure that engineering students understand from the first year the impact of engineering. We have tended to tell engineering students, "Go study mathematics and physics. And come see me in two years and I'll start teaching you engineering."
But in many schools now there is engineering at the beginning. The first-year engineering students are immediately introduced to engineering, immediately introduced to engineering impact, and immediately get a sense that what they're doing is not just some manipulation of equations or manipulations of actuators, but something that can do good by society.
In many cases it's not such a hard work to design these things; it's a matter of putting them in context. Let me give you an example. Everybody believes that physicians are individuals that help society and do benevolent work. But when an engineer works on rural electrification, it's not usually the context that you say, "This engineer is really a great humanitarian because this engineer is improving the lives of hundreds or thousands by bringing electricity to the periphery." This is the case, but we're not telling young people that.
So places that have done that, places that have emphasized and shown the students the impact of engineering on the welfare of society, have been doing very well. And they have been able to draw into engineering populations of women who before wouldn't come and some young men who are also drawn into it. It is very interesting to see those places that have done that have seen a different mix of gender in their classes.
It's also interesting - going back to the issue of women, in terms of engineering departments--there are more women, relatively, in environmental and biomedical engineering, where the students have a sense early on that they make a difference to society.
The more we do of this, the better we will do in the end.
The second part of this two-part interview will appear in Campus Technology online next Tuesday, May 31.
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Right on top of a sharrow!!
OH HAI it is true, I actually have skin under my kaledoiscopic collection of tights
Muchos patterns
Got some coffee on Green street's Blue Fog corner market.
One of the only places around the north of Polk St./Pac-Heights to get Blue Bottle coffee.
Caffeinated patterns
Was I the last person to learn about the National Coffee Day?! Richard let me know on Wed. Morning, well I celebrate on a very serious level this special day then, on a daily basis. so cheers!
tartinelands. bike parking on 18th off Guerrero st.
almonds y queso sandwich at Tartine. They now carry 4barrel beans.
I think (I don't accurately remember from the last time I was there) that they used to serve Mr.Espresso sometime ago.
Black magic, at the corner of Polk+Market St.
Funnily enough, I took a photo super-uber bundled up back in April (link) with the same dress.
Happy accidental shot.
At the end of this year, will be almost a decade I've had this bag. I super hearts it.
Heat wave, was nice to meet you once again this year. Tell fog central to turn that machine back on. kthx.


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ATLANTA -- Chipper Jones still can't believe how much he's adored in Atlanta.
A near capacity crowd at Turner Field showered him with cheers and praise on Friday night as the Braves retired his No. 10 jersey.
"It still doesn't seem real," Jones said. "I played baseball. I haven't cured cancer or anything. It's almost embarrassing to be getting all this attention and all the accolades. It's so humbling."
Jones, the 1999 NL MVP and an eight-time All-Star, was honored before Atlanta's game against Arizona. The former third baseman retired after last season's playoff loss to St. Louis having played his entire 19-year career with the Braves.
Wearing a gray suit and a red tie, Jones spoke to the Turner Field crowd before he threw out the ceremonial first pitch and was driven around the field to adoring cheers.
Most seats in the stands were filled as Jones stepped to the microphone while "Crazy Train," the 1980 hit single by Ozzy Osbourne that used to play before his at-bats, boomed through the public address system.
"That pregame ceremony was something else," Jones said. "I never could have imagined it. I tried to picture it in my mind for the last week or so, but it exceeded all expectations."
Among those joining Jones on stage were former manager Bobby Cox, former owner Ted Turner and former outfielder Dale Murphy, Braves president John Schuerholz, second baseman Dan Uggla, his parents -- Larry and Lynne Jones -- and four boys.
Former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter sat in Turner's box near the home dugout.
"I made it a point not to look my mom and dad in the face because I know if I would have I'd have probably lost it," Jones said with a grin. "I take great pride in the fact I made it through that whole thing without shedding a tear."
The Braves inducted Jones, the 2008 NL batting champion, into their hall of fame during a luncheon Friday at a downtown hotel. Hank Aaron, baseball's No. 2 career leader in homers, spoke at the luncheon to congratulate Jones.
Jones' jersey number joined Warren Spahn, Eddie Mathews, Phil Niekro, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Aaron, Murphy and Cox on the franchise list of retired numbers.
His number was unveiled alongside other stars of the 1990s and 2000s -- Maddux, Glavine, Cox and Smoltz.
"The hair on the back of your neck stands up," said Jones, who ranks as the career leader among third basemen with 1,623 RBIs.
Other than the attention given Jones, the crowd at Turner Field cheered loudest for Cox, Murphy and Turner, though Arizona's Martin Prado, a Braves regular from 2006-12, drew a loud ovation when Jones pointed to him in the visitors' dugout.
Glavine, who was working Friday as a broadcaster on the Braves' television network, remains close friends with Jones. The two were star teammates from 1995-2002, a stretch during which Atlanta won the '95 World Series, NL pennants in '96 and '99 and eight of Cox's 14 consecutive division titles.
"I think people forget sometimes how athletic he was," said Glavine, a 300-game winner and two-time Cy Young Award winner. "He really should've made our team as an outfielder that first spring training (1994) if he didn't get hurt. He did a lot of things really well.
"To see him play at third base, go to the outfield and come back to third base tells you what kind of an athlete he was. He certainly established himself as one of the great third baseman in baseball history."
Jones sometimes considers becoming a coach or manager one day, but still needs more time away from the game.
It sounds as if retirement is treating him well.
"The reason I want to take some time away from baseball is that I want to rekindle that flame," he said. "At the end of last year, I was done. I wanted to play opening day this year. That's the only day that I've missed it. I woke up the next morning and was thrilled that I didn't have to go to the ballpark."


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Scaling the Chasm
One of my favorite business books of all time is Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore. It is a classic. My boss and mentor from Open Market, Gary Eichhorn, made the entire management team read it in the 1990s to hammer home its important lessons as we stumbled through the chasm on our way to scaling from zero to nearly $100 million in revenue in a few years.
I have been thinking about the challenges of crossing the chasm - that is, taking a cutting-edge product and selling it successfully to the mainstream, not just early adopters who are more tolerant of less complete solutions - and the challenges of scaling in general as many of my portfolio companies are dealing with these issues. A few years ago, I wrote a few case studies on how some big players achieved scale - like Akamai, TripAdvisor and athenahealth - to help crystalize my thinking on the topic, but I thought it might be appropriate to write a more general blog post on the challenges that companies face at different points in the scaling process.
Scaling up is becoming a hot topic lately, from non-profit Endeavor and the World Economic Forum focusing attention on the importance of scaling up companies in the Global Scale Up Declaration to The Economist pointing out that Israel's miraculous start up economy is seeking to transition from "Start Up" to "Scale Up". I coined 2014 as the Year of Results, where the lofty promises would finally translate into real, tangible outcomes (and it was for us). 2015 may be the year of the Scale Up.
Dealing with scale up challenges is particularly important to me because of our firm's investment strategy. We pride ourselves on being lifecycle investors, which means we invest very early on (typically at the seed or Series A stage) and then stick with a company through exit. Some VCs prefer investing at the earliest stages and then cycle off the board of directors. Others prefer to come in at the later stages, post product-market fit, and not have to deal with the risk and roller coaster of the early stages. Gluttons for punishment, we prefer to start early, take the risk and stick around through the end. As a result, I get to work with companies both during the search for product market fit and after they hit product market fit, and race headlong into the chasm.
For quick context, I sit on the board of eleven Flybridge portfolio companies and am an observer on two. Each of us typically makes one or two new investments per year (I made one new investment in 2014). With that rhythm, if things are going according to plan, I should have a spread of companies across a wide range of scaling stages, as measured by annual revenue.
If I plot my portfolio companies across a few broad revenue buckets, looking at 2014 figures, below is a chart. They spread fairly evenly, although slightly more in the earlier stages as few companies achieve the kind of success that $> 50m in revenue entails.
At each stage, there are different problems. Here are the patterns of issues I typically see at each stage - maybe you will recognize a few of them in your own companies:
$0-1 million
- People: founder-run and trying to recruit amazing technical talent (the product development team is a huge priority at this stage) and integrate a few senior managers to help prepare the company for scale - which leads to cultural clashes and communication challenges. Also, the founders' roles' start to evolve (see: "The Other Founder") as functional areas and responsibilities become more precisely defined.
- Product: the product is buggy and incomplete - really more of a feature than a complete product - but it is past MVP. Customers are using it and deriving value and now the challenge is how to complete it - fast, before running out of money.
- Business Model: running a lot of experiments - pricing, packaging, value proposition. Always testing and trying to run fast tests to put up some strong metrics before running out of money (did I mention we're running out of money?).
- Financing: holy crap - we are running out of money in 6 months! Have we acheived enough value-creating milestones to raise an up round? who will lead it (insiders vs. outsiders) and on what terms?
$1-10 million
- People: things are going well - everyone gets excited when the cash register rings after a few big sales. The first version of the go to market team is hired (i.e., first sales person, first marketing professional). The founders are getting restless because they have been diluted, have less responsibility and realize that the company isn't going to reach $1 billion in 3 years. Also, that first VP you hired was great from 0-1 and good from 1-10, but you're afraid she can't scale to the next level.
- Product: the product is better - A LOT better - but now we have technical debt thanks to our success. Anyone up for a rewrite? How much do we invest in a rearchitecture versus adding new features.
- Business Model: Time to get some channel and business partners on board, because adding revenue by adding sales and marketing dollars is going to be expensive - no matter what the early LTV vs. CAC data shows. The focus now is building a repeatable, scalable sales machine.
- Financing: The "hopes and dreams" financing stage is over. Nothing ruins a good story like numbers and now we have numbers so we better have them look good enough to support a strong expansion round. And why does it look so easy to raise $20m on $100m pre for companies at an earlier stage than I am every time I read TechCrunch, as my board reminds me every month (and can I stop having monthly board meetings already)? Do we take a little venture debt to get us to give us some cushion as we progress to the next valuation inflection point.
$10-50 million
- People: The functional management team is running out of steam - do we need to roll up a few things and perhaps hire a COO? The board has too many investors on it (how did that happen?!) - can we add an outside director of two? Most critically, is the CEO scaling or is time to replace them as well (ideally not).
- Product: Now that we have a robust product and paid down our technical debt, we seem to have lost our ability to run experiments - how do we maintain that mission-critical quality for all these customers while remaining as nimble as we were when we were a startup? Also, customers are pushing us to provide a solution, not just a product, and so suddenly we need services and partners to round out our offering.
- Business Model: Now that we are at a reasonable scale, why are our gross margins so low and what can we do to fix it? Is it time to be profitable or should we continue to prioritize growth and invest ahead of revenue? Should we pursue adjacent M&A or tuck in acquisitions to expand our market footprint?
- Financing: Is our market big enough to support another round (which puts the exit bar even higher)? Is it time to consider an exit? Would an IPO be possible in the future if we can continue growing 50-100% per year?
$50-100 million
- People: Should we have a business unit structure or retain the functional structure? Do we have an IPO management team in place? Is the CEO still a single point of failure or can she delegate effectively in the event of a road show? Board committees start to really matter.
- Product: With a robust product and complimentary solution in place, let's open this sucker up - let's build as many APIs as we can and evolve this thing into a platform. Time to enlist some 3rd party developers!
- Business Model: If we're not profitable at this point, we better be growing > 50%/year. How profitable should we be? Are we seeing erosion in our LTV vs. CAC math or is it continuing to scale nicely? Where should our first international office be and how much should we invest?
- Financing: Do we have the metrics to support a growth or mezzanine round? Let's expand our debt capacity and put in place a working capital line and receivables facility.
>$100 million
- People: The A team is in place at the top and now we have to focus on solidifying the next level and providing them with great training, career paths, growth and additional stock options (in the form of refresh grants) as they are all getting approached by pesky recruiters.
- Product: We are in the midst of a feature war with competitors - how much do we invest in new product innovation versus continue to harden and prepare for scale. How can the product be changed to lower the cost of delivery for us and cost of ownership for our customers?
- Business Model: Services revenue and services partners become more important. Investing more heavily in international.
- Financing: Why haven't you filed the S-1 already?!
One of the things I've learned from my two decades in startup land is that it doesn't get any easier as you scale - the problems just evolve, but there are still problems. And opportunities. But I guess that is what makes the startup game so fun.


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Abstract: Nine Thom's maps of the city and environs of Dublin from the collection of the School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Policy (GPEP). Printed by the Ordnance Survey for the Dublin publisher Alexander Thom from the six-inch map sheets 18 and 22, and dating from the late 19th century. The maps have been annotated with hand written dates made by Dr. Arnold Horner, formerly of GPEP, and based on information in J.H. Andrew's article "Medium and message in early six-inch Irish Ordnance Maps: the case of Dublin city". These loose maps were originally published in Thom's annual Almanac and Official Directory.
Maps of Dublin accompanying Thom's Official Directory
is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The original work is in the public domain
To use for commercial purposes, please contact the UCD Digital Library. See: http://digital.ucd.ie/terms/
Digital content © University College Dublin


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Professor Steve Eichhorn
Exeter scientist wins Rosenhain Medal
University of Exeter physicist Professor Steve Eichhorn has won the Rosenhain Medal in recognition of his distinguished achievement in materials science.
This prestigious prize is awarded by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.
Professor Eichhorn will be given his medal at the Institute's Special Awards and Publications Dinner later in the year. Only one Rosenhain medal has been awarded each year since the prize was established in 1951.
Professor Steve Eichhorn joined the University of Exeter in 2011. Previously at the University of Manchester, his research focuses on the mechanical properties and interfaces in natural and sustainable materials. He applies principles from biological structures in engineering applications - or biomimetics - for a variety of applications including composites, smart packaging, energy harvesting and biofunctional materials. His particular focus is on cellulosics, the structural component of the primary cell wall of green plants, but has worked on a range of other natural materials such as seashells and fingernails.
Professor Steve Eichhorn said: "I was especially pleased to receive this prize from the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining in recognition of about 15 years of work on cellulose and natural materials, but I would like to thank all the students, researchers and collaborators who have assisted me over the years. I'm very much looking forward to continuing this work at Exeter. "
Dean of the EMPS OLD Feb24 Professor Ken Evans said: "Congratulations to Steve on this fantastic achievement. The Rosenhain Medal is a very prestigious award so this illustrates the very high calibre of his research."
The University of Exeter is investing £230 million in science, engineering, mathematics and medicine through its science strategy. The strategy focuses on five themes, one of which includes Smart Materials.
The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, is the global network for professionals in the materials cycle. Read about all of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining's awards.
Date: 28 April 2012


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Farewell, Carol! A Memorial to Broadway Icon Carol Channing
Broadway legend Carol Channing died on January 15 at her home in Rancho Mirage, California at the age of 97. The actress won a 1964 Tony Award for originating the role of Dolly Gallagher Levi in Hello, Dolly! She also received a Tony nomination for her turn in The Vamp and had a memorable turn on Broadway in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. In honor of the passing of the beloved performer, Broadway.com illustrator Ryan Casey paid tribute to Channing by drawing her in a white version of the Dolly costume adorned with raspberries, a reference to her signature line when she played the unsinkable Muzzy in the movie Thoroughly Modern Millie. Check out the beautiful portrait and be sure to listen to the Hello, Dolly! original Broadway cast recording in remembrance of this great star. So long, dearie!


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The Mini Dagger
The Mini Dagger
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text: Installing an OPTIMA® BLUETOP® high-performance AGM battery in your boat or RV means exceptional running time and more recharges than you'd get out of a traditional battery. It's the perfect marine battery for boats with trolling motors, extensive electronic systems, and works well as an RV battery for RVs with creature comforts that tend to drain batteries quickly. On top of providing outstanding vibration resistance, the BLUETOP's efficient power delivery and faster recharge time mean you'll spend less time worrying about your battery. This means more time for fun. Again and again. This flexible boat battery and RV battery is ideal for those who need a sure-starting, strong-cranking, maintenance-free power source.


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Everyone agrees the importance of the Latino vote in this year's close election all boils down to one thing: turnout. While the conventional wisdom has been that Latinos are not as enthusiastic about the election as in 2008, this is not what a new impreMedia-Latino Decisions tracking poll has found.
"It looks like the "Sleeping Giant" has woken up," stated Monica Lozano, CEO of impreMedia. "The poll shows that this year we can anticipate record participation among Latino voters."
The new poll finds 87 percent of Hispanics say they are almost certain they will vote, including 8 percent of Latinos who have already cast their ballots through early voting. "Eight percent of Latinos is about a million voters, that's a pretty big deal," says Gabriel Sanchez, a University of New Mexico political scientist.
What is more, the poll finds voter enthusiasm is going up — 45 percent of Hispanics say they are more enthusiastic about voting in this election than in 2008, and this number has increased in the last ten weeks, when the number was 37 percent. In 2008, 84 percent of registered Latinos voted, according to the Census.
Overall, President Obama is favored by 73 percent of all Latino registered voters, compared to 21 percent for Romney. According to the poll, this 52-point gap matches the largest gap among Latinos this year, also found in the October 1 tracking poll. However, with a week (and a big storm in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, to boot) left for the election, a good number of Latino voters are pessimistic about the candidates' abilities to break through the Congressional impasse and logjam.
"The tracking data has consistently shown that Latino voters blame fighting in Congress as the reason the economy has not recovered, and on this issue over 40 percent think that regardless of who wins – Obama or Romney – neither candidate can bring cooperation to Washington D.C.," stated Latino Decisions co-principal Matt Barreto.
Forty-five percent of Latino voters say a second Obama term would not improve cooperation in Congress, and 43 percent a Romney presidency would make no difference. When asked about the prospect of immigration reform, 52 percent of Latino registered voters think the chances of this are better under an Obama presidency, while 37 percent of Latino voters say even if Obama wins, the prospects for immigration reform will not change.
"In the final week of this campaign, the candidates need to connect with Latino voters and explain how they will somehow be able to break the impasse in Congress and get things done," Barreto stated.