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A View from the Kitchen – Work Hard, Play Harder
Not being a hypocrite can be hard.
Take this column, for example. Feeling overwhelmed on Martha's Vineyard (I know, poor me), failing to relax on our annual family vacation, I text-requested my magazine boss to let me have this issue off — perhaps instead posting: Plath's Gone Fishing. I need a vacation, I may have whined — he quickly reminding me that my last column was about, well, me actually having gone fishing.
"… Don't let that mindless thing get the best of you," responded Mr. Sensitivity.
He asked whether it was a time challenge or the lack of an idea that was troubling me. I'm pretty sure he knew it wasn't the idea thing — I can fire off 500 words about almost anything with my eyes closed. In fact, I often wake up with a story streaming through my mind, eyes opening at first light … seeking my at-the-ready bedside pen! (No typing into the phone from bed. No phone in my safe place. Just sayin'.)
The fact was, I had already begun a piece about the fun aspects of restaurants and bars, beyond the food, beverage and hospitality —thus far having failed to dedicate the time it deserved, between negotiations, new restaurant initiatives, planning for the immense Lowell Folk Festival and, oh yeah, packing for our post-festival vacation.
"So then …" according to Peggy McFarland, a fellow writer and my GM at Moonstones, "… he out-Plathed Plath?" (She reveled in that concept, by the way.)
Peggy knows all too well, as I have preached for many years, that there is no such excuse as "not enough time." I rail on: "If you slept last night, there was time. You made a choice."
(Now, I'm guessing I maybe know what you're thinking at this moment, and I feel safe in saying you're not wrong.)
But if not today, then tomorrow. That's my general skew. The struggle for me personally is less about time and more about focus — it's whether, in the time I do have, my mind can get my mind under control! (Queue Dave Matthews: "My head won't leave my head alone…") Also, I get distracted. I like shiny things. In general, I say yes. When Johnny jumped off the bridge, you bet I jumped, too. It's now called "fomo."
In this particular moment of weakness, "tomorrow" would include an early morning tee time at the stunning Farm Neck Golf Club in Oak Bluffs, followed by an impromptu and glorious midday nap — sheets and shades drawn tightly with the cabin AC on full blast. That blissful snooze would precede an afternoon drive "up island" to the serenity of Aquinnah, aka Gay Head, and the clay cliffs — the most beautiful beach I have ever been on. Following two hours of relentless sea, sand and waning light, we'd be making the pink-sky drive a few miles along the shimmering, boat and stone wall-speckled coast to the tiny fishing village of Menemsha for the sunset and our annual end-of-vacation lobster dinner at nostalgic Home Port Restaurant.
If you, like Peggy, are thinking, "Hmm, sounds like he surely has the time," once again, you'd be right. Choices. There's always tomorrow then, yet each one repeatedly managing to obscure my deadline!
With this year's vacation cut short by a blooming love, farmers in fact, we were hopping an early ferry that next day to begin the three-hour trip back to Lowell for a two-hour stopover — to swap beach clothes for mountain-slash-wedding attire and fire off a few emails, my life's copilot also squeezing in the mani-pedi-hair appointment hat trick as I high-stepped through each restaurant gleefully chirping my presence and positivity: "Hello, how are you, hiya, I'm Scott, everything looks great" … while also reloading the cooler. (Ownership has its privileges!)
Then, it was back in the car for another two-hour drive to Waterville Valley, destined for yet another destination wedding — this welcome trend a column for another day. (Mountains, farms, barns, lodges, bonfires, log cabins, cows in the meadow, seating assignments stuck into apples. … So happy to say so long to windowless function rooms and baked stuffed chicken!)
Did I mention that my clever magazine boss suggested I write about the benefits of being busy: "You're always busy doing something, be it playing hard or working hard, so that's no excuse." Thanks Capt. Obvious. Sigh.
After two late nights of matrimonial-related celebration, trying to keep pace with "da yewts," my wife and I made the sleepy drive home, so ready for our own bed. Along the way, we stopped at the popular Tilt'n Diner for some comfort-based sustenance and Cracker Barrel-like kitsch.
At the front of the line, Hula-Hoops hung from the host stand, inviting guests to give one a try while waiting for a table. Fun,
I thought, while wondering whether gyrating my substantial body in the lobby would get me seated quicker. This might actually make the next column … time permitting, of course.
Scott Plath, along with his wife Kathleen, owns Cobblestones of Lowell and moonstones, in Chelmsford, Mass. Scott possesses a deep well of humorous and insightful stories, which are available on this website.


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You are herecontent / Send Cindy Letters to Pelosi
Send Cindy Letters to Pelosi
Please pass the word, we have received over 6000 letters to encourage the Speaker of the House to open investigation and impeachment proceedings against Dick Cheney---in affect, allowing HRes 799 (which was HRes 333) to go forward from the House Judiciary Committee.
Pelosi's office has denied the rumor, but that should not mean we abrogate our responsibilities as members of this so-called Representative Republic. This will put the ball back in her court and she will probably miss and fail us again, but that does not mean that WE STOP TRYING!
We are still accepting letters and will deliver them when we reach 10,000, so please forward far and wide, again.
We have received them from all over the nation!
Send the letters to:
Cindy for Congress
Re: Impeach Dick Cheney
1260 Mission St.
San Francisco, Ca 94103
Love, peace & accountability,
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Impeach pelosi by voting her out of office. If they don't support the constitution they don't support the American people! period!
Ralph Nader told a room full of liberals and democrats at a fundraiser for Democracy Rising (www.DemocracyRising.US) held at Bus Boys and Poets in Washington, DC that impeachment will never go forward.
He said this,
Congressman Olver, who represents the 1st District (the Stockbridge area (all of western MA)) of Massachusetts, was presented with resolutions for impeachment passed by 13 towns in his congressional district by 2/3 margins. In response he vehemently refused to support impeachment because he expressed the opinion that if the Congress impeached, the president would attack Iran by air, declare a national emergency, institute martial law and cancel the 2008 elections.
You can see the video of Ralphs speech at U-Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIO-tCPSfHA
So our out of control President and his administration can not be stopped because they will go even further over the top. Our members of congress are afraid of the President and what he will do next.
Where may I ask, does that leave us?
It leaves us in the spot where we disolve the goverment and start over. The Founding Fathers knew this could happen, and as a last resort even tell us that if ever faced with just this kind of situation to start all over again. In short, it's time for another revolution

subset: commoncrawl


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Week four was the first of the recovery weeks in my training schedule. As mentioned last week, this training schedule is being divided into blocks of four weeks with the last one being a recovery week. This week I had just one intense workout scheduled which ended up being last night's effort at the dome.
The biggest news this week was probably the fact that I met my coach to go over the next four weeks of training so now I knows what lies ahead for my next training block. In terms of running I have four more weeks of training that will include even more short sprints during my speed workouts. In addition, I have a new schedule of strength exercises to keep up with.
In terms of training this week, I mentioned that my only intense workout was last night's effort at the dome. The workout on my schedule was a 3 km test. After a warm up the plan was to run 3 km as hard as I could. In the end the result was not bad but not quite what I expected. I finished it in 12:30, a time that I know I can beat. I finished strong by picking up the pace over the last 2.5 laps but I started off slower than I realized and could not recover. It is a lesson learned and a mistake I won't make in four weeks when I do my next 3 km test in four weeks.
Next week it is back to more intense training with more mileage and more intense speed workouts scheduled for the next three weeks. I know the recovery this week was necessary but I am looking forward to getting back to more intense training before i do my next 3 km test in my next recovery week.
How did your week go?


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Big Moves at Mount Dennis Mobility Hub
November 21, 2017
Via Metrolinx:
The Eglinton Crosstown LRT project is not just about moving people. With the new foundation in place, November 13, 2017 marked the move of Kodak Building 9 back to its original location. This involved moving a three-storey, 3,000 tonne structure, which will be incorporated into the design and main hub of the future Mount Dennis Station.
Urban Strategies developed the master plan for the Mount Dennis Mobility Hub, which calls for incorporation of this heritage asset into the station.
Read more about the project.
Read more about the Kodak 9 Building on BlogTO.


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Join Ambulance Services from across Europe to see how technology is shaping the future of the sector.
28th October 2021 – Registrations are now open for the European TOUGHBOOK Ambulance Forum designed to bring technology experts and Ambulance services together to discuss how technology is shaping the future of the sector. The free online event takes place from 09:00-11:00 BST (10:00-12:00 CET) on Thursday, November 25th. Click here to register.
The Ambulance Forum is the second in a series of specialist emergency services events following the successful European TOUGHBOOK Police Forum held earlier in the year. Important topics on the agenda include the latest research examining technology trends in the ambulance service. White Space Strategy will discuss how COVID has accelerated the use of remote healthcare solutions, how the future is more integrated communications between frontline staff and hospital services, and how Android, with its improved security offering, could be the future operating system of choice for the sector.
Additional speakers from sector experts and technology leaders, such as Microsoft, Intel and NetMotion, will discuss digitalisation in the ambulance sector and the latest mobile computing innovations, the challenges of maintaining critical connections on the frontline and the potential benefits to emergency services of the introduction of Windows 11.
Local language breakout sessions have also been organised, highlighting technology innovation in ambulance services across Europe, including Italy, Spain and Benelux. Examples of tech innovation include the smart integration of digital patient records for use on the frontline and the effective use of electronic ID readers.
"Effective Digitalisation has the power to improve response times, deliver better patient care and empower ambulance teams to save more lives," said Daichi Kato, Head of Panasonic Mobile Solutions Business Division Europe. "This forum is a unique opportunity to bring technology and ambulance professionals together to share how the latest solutions are being used successfully and to learn more about new developments in hardware, communications and applications. I would urge all ambulance service representatives with a technology responsibility or interest to register today."
For more information, visit: https://toughbook.panasonic.eu/ambulance-forum


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Skateboarding is the act of riding and performing tricks using a skateboard. A person who skateboards is most often referred to a skateboarder, skater or skate rat.
Skateboarding can be a recreational activity, an artform, a job, or a method of transportation. Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2002 report by American Sports Data found that there were 18.5 million skateboarders in the world. 85 percent of skateboarders polled who had used a board in the last year were under the age of 18, and 74 percent were male.
Skateboarding is relatively modern. A key skateboarding maneuver, the ollie, was developed in the late 1970s by Alan Ollie Gelfand as a half-pipe maneuver. Freestyle skateboarder Rodney Mullen was the first to take it to flat ground and later invented the kickflip and its variations.
Skateboarding was, at first, tied to the culture of surfing. As skateboarding spread across the United States to places unfamiliar with surfing or surfing culture, it developed an image of its own. For example, the classic film short Video Days (1991) portrayed skateboarders as reckless rebels.
The image of the skateboarder as a rebellious, non-conforming youth has faded in recent years. Certain cities still oppose the building skateparks in their neighbourhoods, for fear of increased crime and drugs in the area. The rift between the old image of skateboarding and a newer one is quite visible: magazines such as Thrasher portray skateboarding as dirty, rebellious, and still firmly tied to punk, while other publications, Transworld Skateboarding as an example, paint a more diverse, and controlled picture of skateboarding. Furthermore, as more professional skaters use hip hop, reggae, or hard rock music accompaniment in their videos, many urban youths, hip-hop fans, reggae fans, and hard rock fans are also drawn to skateboarding, further diluting the sport's punk image.
Films such as Grind and Lords Of Dogtown, have helped improve the reputation of skateboarding youth, depicting individuals of this subculture as having a positive outlook on life, prone to poking harmless fun at each other, and engaging in healthy sportsman's competition. According to the film, lack of respect, egotism and hostility towards fellow skateboarders is generally frowned upon, albeit each of the characters (and as such, proxies of the "stereotypical" skateboarder) have a firm disrespect for authority and for rules in general. Group spirit is supposed to heavily influence the members of this community. In presentations of this sort, showcasing of criminal tendencies is absent, and no attempt is made to tie extreme sports to any kind of illegal activity.
Gleaming the Cube, a 1989 movie starring Christian Slater as a skateboarding teen investigating the death of his adopted Vietnamese brother was somewhat of an iconic landmark to the skateboarding genre of the era. Many well-known skaters had cameos in the film, including Tony Hawk.


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I've completed my wish list of vintage inspired items from the Spring 2011 Ready-To-Wear Collections. It's amazing to me how unanimously the designers channeled the 1970s as their muse this season, and I couldn't be more jazzed. Here are the frocks i'm coveting most (click images to view full-size) . . .
(L to R, above): Tibi, Tracy Reese (there is something so Marianne Faithfull about this little white dress), and i'm having an orange crush, care of Marc by Marc Jacobs.
The world's most perfect blue lace-up trousers courtesy of Vivienne Westwood's Red Label, along with a goddess gown Ava Gardner's character in One Touch of Venus (image on right) would've swooned for.
1970s disco-dancing ballerina/actress chic courtesy of Rebecca Taylor (are you drooling over that capeleted coat, or is it just me?)
Yohji Yamamoto created the perfect '90s goth noir-meets-Stevie Nicks vibe . . .
And Yohji's talented daughter, Limi Feu, echoed a kindred Sisters of Mercy tune.
Ralph Lauren fulfilled all my grunge plaid, sharpshootin', Annie Oakley, creamy virginal Victorian trousseau desires, simultaneously.
Just Cavalli had some bohemian goddess gowns that killed, adorned with amazing giant-geode necklaces, as well as a cream chiffon dream gown with applied flowers that reminded me of Marisa Berenson wearing Valentino (image on right), c.1970s.
Junya Watanabe sent out an animated and inspired nautical collection, much in the spirit of Anna Karina c.Une Femme est Une Femme (1961) . . .
And apparently John Galliano got the seafaring memo too.
Fendi is having a disco glam Jerry Hall moment, ditto for Etro.
Duro Olowu worked a major Slaves of NY/Grace Jones/Married to the Mob/wives of Fela Kuti moment. His collections always make me want to work harder, so I can go shopping, and isn't that what fashion's all about?
Donna Karan got herself back to the garden (image on left), along with D&G, who acessorized their flower girls with giant floral canvas tote bags and gloriously patterned platforms (hooray)!
D&G also went the tablecloth route, which reminded me of a fashion show I modelled in for the designer Pegah Anvarian in the early-1990s, when her amazing career was just beginning. How crazy-far ahead of trend was she with the picnic pattern and platforms?
Next up . . . the couture collections and a special post about the wonderful and magical, Anna Sui!
Runway Photos: Style.com


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I have a confession to make. I'm a total cake snob! I don't know when it happened, but happened it did. I came to this realization the other day and I must say I was caught somewhat unaware. So let me set the scene for you. I was having one of those completely crazy days. Completely crazy but sort of tricky…you see it didn't look like it was going to be crazy in the beginning. Everything seemed fine. My schedule was somewhat full, but not jammers by any means. I got going on my to-do list early and was very pleased when I arrived back home from the dog's morning walk before most folks had set off for work. That was when the downward spiral began. After flitting here and there and all about the house with various chores, I noticed that I had come back from said walk with the bottom of one of my running sneakers coated with dog poo. Yup, stinky poo….which I had just proceeded to track all over the place. Right. I immediately set about cleaning that mess up and getting the day back on track but no, fate was not done with me yet. I continue to stumble around and kid you not every little thing that could go slightly askew did. Nothing major, but just persistent little annoyances. Finally, as I step out to run to the grocery store I find that the car battery was dead and the state registration was expired. Hmmm., I'm really behind now and I still have to whip up some sort of baked goods for a little get together tomorrow. I proceed to cross a bunch of stuff I thought could have been done off my list for the day to make sure I can focus on preparing the necessary baked goodies. I decide to take my husband's car and head off to the grocery store, which was a hoot as usual. The weirdest stuff happens at the grocery stores around here…but that's another story. That accomplished with little injury, I arrived home and opened the tailgate of the car to have a bottle of olive oil, which had become dislodged from its bag in transit, fall out onto the driveway and shatter. Hmmm…a slick, slippery, razor sharp mess. Nice! I limped into the house and poured myself a little glass of white wine and tried to regroup.
That is when I remembered my Mom's White Wine Cake recipe. It was delicious and really easy to make. I thought perhaps I should cancel out the time intensive, multi-stepped dessert I had planned to do that evening and make that wonderfully easy White Wine Cake instead…but I instantly despaired and thought, "No. That cake is made with box cake mix. I have to do something from scratch." That was it. The moment of clarity when I recognized the ridiculous cake snobbery that had inexplicably taken hold of me somewhere along the way. Mom had always been lavished with rave reviews whenever she made that cake. Having eaten it before, I knew it was fantastic. Yet I seemed to somehow think it was below me because it was made with a box mix. A box mix which, I might point out, was very convenient, easy and along with a few additional ingredients baked up to be quite tasty! How foolheaded could I possibly be? Surely God put those cake mixes on this green earth to make life a little easier for us poor creatures.?!! Come to think of it, life is too short and way too action packed to turn up your nose at box cake mixes! So I decided right then and there to make it and you know what? Folks couldn't stop raving about how much they loved that White Wine Cake. It was moist, buttery, white wine perfection! And the glaze you drench it in? Ambrosia I tell you! I could nearly drink it straight from the pan. Not to mention, when I finally got over myself and settled in to making it, I realized how much fun it was, especially after my trying day. It didn't tax my brain at all. You know….it was a little wine for the cake…a couple glugs (or possibly glasses) for the cook…etc. etc. It was White Wine Cake therapy and it actually went a long way to improving my mood and outlook. Make this cake and soon. You won't be disappointed, perhaps a little tispsy….but never disappointed!
White Wine Cake
recipe from: My Mom
- 1 box yellow cake mix
- 3 oz. box instant vanilla pudding
- 4 eggs
- 3/4 Cup water
- 3/4 Cup Vegetable oil
- 1/4 Cup white wine
- 1/4 Cup dark brown sugar
- 1/4 Cup white sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 Cup pecans-finely chopped
- 1/4 Cup butter
- 1/4 Cup sugar
- 1/8 Cup water
- 1/8 Cup wine (possibly more depending on your mood and the day you've had)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a bundt or tube pan and set aside.
Place all of the ingredients except for the pecans in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix until blended.
Fold 1/4 cup of the pecans into the batter. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup pecans in the bottom of the prepared cake pan and then pour batter over top of them.
Bake cake for 50-60 minutes. Remove cake from oven and cool on a wire rack.
While Cake is cooling, prepare the glaze. Melt butter, sugar and water over medium high heat. Bring mixture to a boil and let boil for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately add the wine, stirring to combine.
Remove cake from pan. Place baking sheet under wire rack. Using a pastry brush or marinate brush, cover cake with glaze. I usually do this in several passes, letting one application of glaze sink in and then going back over the cake with another, etc.


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Maryland (US): Stephanie Del Valle from Puerto Rico was crowned the Miss World 2016 here, with representatives from Dominican Republic and Indonesia as runners up. India's Priyadarshini Chatterjee only made it to the top 20.
Miss World 2015 Mireia Lalaguna Royo crowned the 19-year-old Stephanie, the second Puerto Rican to hold the title after Wilnelia Merced won it in 1975, at the event's grand finale held at the MGM National Harbor here on Sunday. The winner was ecstatic as she sat down to be crowned.
The event was aired live on Zee Cafe.
Stephanie pipped the other top four finalists from Kenya, Indonesia, Dominican Republic and Philippines to win the title.
Indian contestant Priyadarshini lost out on the title after making it to the top 20 at the pageant. She featured in the top five contestants for the Beauty With a Purpose title, which was eventually won by Miss Indonesia.
The last time an Indian won the Miss World crown was Priyanka Chopra in 2000. Other Indians who won the title in the past include Reita Faria (1966), Aishwarya Rai (1994), Diana Hayden (1997) and Yukta Mookhey (1999).
A Delhi-based girl from Guwahati, Priyadarshini was the first candidate from the northeastern region at the Miss World pageant. All of 20, she is a student of sociology.
She was happy to "represent a civilisation as old as time itself, the land of myriad cultures, traditions, languages and religions" at the gala, she had said in her introduction video for the contest.
This was the 66th edition of the gala, which put the contestants through a series of challenges and interviews to determine who will win the coveted title of Miss World 2016 and become the ambassador of the motto 'Beauty with a purpose'.
The Miss World pageant, created in Britain by Eric Morley in 1951, is the oldest surviving major international beauty contest. It is one of the three most publicised beauty contests in the world, alongside the Miss Universe and Miss Earth contests.


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Tag Archives: lobster fest
Contest: Win Tickets to the Port of Los Angeles Lobster Fest (Sept. 16-18, 2011)
Lobster and indie music, could you ask for a better combo? The Port of Los Angeles Lobster Fest kicks off this Friday, Sept. 16 through Sunday, Sept. 18. Aside from all the delicious food to be consumed, they've lined up some great bands to perform including a bunch of L.A.'s finest. Some of our favorites […]More
Sandra B. Olinger |


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Consider a video game, in the abstract. Knowing nothing of it, save for that it is, in fact, a video game, what inference can be made about the player's objective? At this level, the constant is, approximately, invert some transistors somewhere. Nothing between the player and those transistors is yet implied; the imposition of artistic will or complex structure is not yet given. What we can say, however, is that a game implies play, and we do happen to be dealing with a game. To quote:
The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.Carl Jung, Psychological Types, CW vol 6. #197
This is as good a place to mention it as any: This piece is really best read after Part 1, so feel free to click here if you need to catch up.
"Inner necessity", or intrinsic value, is inherently subjective. A sport can be a lifelong calling to one, or a sorry spectacle of fools crying and running after a ball to another. A video game may be compelling to one, or a pointless slog to another. Mechanically, DROD is a pure puzzle game, determinism and all. In fact, in the early days, DROD simply was a pure puzzle game, as the majority of user-made holds continue to be. This was and is all well and good for those already attuned to the enjoyment of puzzles. From Journey to Rooted Hold onward, however, DROD is far greater than the sum of its parts. By way of all that surrounds the puzzles, DROD is a puzzle game that makes you like it.
What I certainly do not mean is that DROD simply strings the player along through puzzle after puzzle with a carrot of exposition on a stick. Well, all right, it did in fact do that for the majority of classic DROD, what with Beethro happening upon scroll after cheeky scroll on the ground for the only storytelling besides the title cards at the start of each level. In all fairness, even hold architecture was still a young craft. However, over the years, as hold architects settled on what lent a room a rewarding difficulty rather than a tedious one, so too did Caravel, (forgive me) flagship amongst architects, figure out what differentiated a compelling story from a cheap exposition dump.
As conjectured by folk wisdom, and supposedly confirmed by the psychological literature (if stories from beyond the paywall are to be believed), giving a student money for good grades will let a monetary incentive displace an intrinsic valuation of learning; it follows that, if it constitutes work for some separate reward, the act of solving a puzzle may not be fun in and of itself. Here is the crux of DROD's genius: the story serves immersion. It is not separate from the levels; it is interleaved to the extent that it could not be separated. It is not the reward for solving a level; it is the level. In spite of the top-down perspective, and of Beethro being far from a silent protagonist, you nonetheless find yourself filling his tattered boots and taking his Really Big Sword in your hands. Welcome to Part 2. Join me as I lay bare the primary ingredient of immersion in DROD.
Beethro, Avatar
Writing a silent protagonist is easy mode for immersion. Add first-person perspective to the mix, and the result is a fantastic demonstration of the Pareto principle. The player can project just about any personality onto the protagonist. Immersion has been eighty-twentied, if you will permit me to verb.
DROD has neither of these. How, then, did Caravel do it? How does this face possibly compel us to solve?
Tactical genius though he may be, Beethro is far from an intellectual. As the series opens, Beethro is in his element as a swordsman. Hired to clear the infestation from King Dugan's Dungeon, his most natural mode of being sees him through: "See a roach and smite it". All the while, he takes immense pleasure in his bloody trade, a victory laugh capping each room cleared. For the first game in the series, this is a fitting enough mood: just as one may strike a pose of confidence in the hope that the feeling will follow, so too does Beethro chuckle, that the player may in turn revel in the bloodshed.
Then, his nephew runs off with a goblin. A strange bureaucracy looms, drawing liberally from satires and dystopias all across the literary canon. Shortly thereafter, a voice from the pits below begins to speak in chants and riddles. In a twist of irony, a pompous, clownlike, genetically engineered supersoldier is sent to remove Budkin from the Beneath, just as a smitemaster may chase down a dungeon pest. Beethro is now a fish out of water; "see a roach and smite it" no longer (forgive me) cuts it. His reaction, however, is not one of fear. Nor, indeed, is it one of anger. Rather, as Beethro is thrown the first of many absolute curveballs, he reacts in annoyance. He doesn't have time for this. All Beethro knows is that everything around him is swiftly growing ridiculous. And in saying so, he says what the player is already thinking.
Crucially, however, in his annoyance, Beethro is not refusing the call. No, curiosity is what got him into this mess in the first place, and his stubbornness is borne of determination, not stagnation. Smitemasters are known, at least to some, as delvers. That is, indeed, what Beethro does. He delves and delves, deeper than any surfacer was ever meant to. Just as, in Beethro's simpler times, the player could join him in his love for his job, the player now receives a compelling invitation to join him in his curiosity.
There comes a point at which the drollery of the situation cannot be further escalated in good taste. Cryptic advice from a voice in a pit begins to seem normal, and Beethro gets used to navigating all these silly institutions where everyone is named First Archivist or Seventy-Third Tar Technician. It is at this point that Beethro, knowing what he must yet uncover, takes it upon himself to, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Once the monsters thin out and give way to queues and running back and forth, the impatient swordsman must become a seeker of knowledge. He does, however, yearn for his journey to just set him once more to the task of some good old-fashioned smiting.
Then again, by this point, so too wishes the player.
I would go over the story in greater depth, but I don't want to spoil anything major. It's still my hope that you give DROD a spin, and I wouldn't want to detract from the experience.
We've gone over how DROD slowly warms you up to an intrinsic enjoyment of solving its puzzles; now, make sure to join me in Part Three as we discuss the community of the similarly initiated, and tie up loose ends.
Yestin Harrison is a dilettante fascinated by anything from games to graphic design to planetary-scale distributed systems. When not performing his duties as webmaster at Rebind or kicking the site an occasional article, he's found anywhere there's a lark to chase. Reach him on the Web at ylh.io, and on twitter @yestinharrison.


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On cars, old, new and future; science & technology; vintage airplanes, computer flight simulation of them; Sherlockiana; our English language; travel; and other stuff
I MARVEL AT WACKOS who believe that NASA's six manned Moon visits were hoaxes. People of this sort tend to profess that the world is flat, jet contrails contain mood-altering medications, and MoonWalking Michael Jackson was a perfectly normal person.
Counterexamples to the NASA hoax are abundant: High-def photos taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter show the lander modules and tracks of the astronauts on the Moon's surface. Five of the six Apollo Mission flags are still standing; Apollo 11's got blown over by the return rocket's takeoff exhaust.
Image by NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.
And, geez, don't these wackos ever go to movies? Following are tidbits of cinematographic proof, the earliest dating from 1902.
Le Voyage Dans la Lune was George Méliès' 1902 movie inspired by Jules Verne's novels From the Earth to the Moon, 1865, and Around the Moon, 1870. Méliès used substitution splicing, mechanical scenery, pyrotechnics, and other cinematographic effects to document this first visit to the moon.
Wikipedia cites modern scholars who regard Méliès' work as "one of the earliest examples of pataphysical cinema, saying it 'aims to show the illogicality of logical thinking' with its satirically portrayed inept scientists, anthropomorphic moon face, and impossible transgressions of laws of physics."
The statue of Barbenfollis, seen here from a hand-colored print of Méliès' Le Voyage Dans la Lune.
Barbenfollis is a pompous, bullying politician in the flick. I'm not sure who the young ladies are.
Die Frau im Mond,, was Fritz Lang's 1929 documentation of a similar lunar visit, this time with a love triangle tossed in. Helius is an entrepreneur interested in space travel, sort of a 1929 Elon Musk. One of his assistants, Windegger, has the hots for another assistant, Frieda. But so does Helius, who names his rocketship Frieda.
The young ladies surrounding Barbenfollis are now beginning to make sense to me, cinematographically.
Image from offscreen.com.
Lang gives away plenty of space travel secrets in Woman on the Moon. Spaceship Frieda was assembled in one building and then transported to the launch pad. The spaceship had two-stage propulsion, ejecting its first stage and firing up the second en route. The crew reclined on horizontal beds to cope with g forces of acceleration. The launch was preceded by "Zehn, Neun, Acht,…, Drei, Zwei, Eins, Jetzt!"
Maybe Lang used "Now" to save Null for Fußball?
Destination Moon, 1950, identified the potential challenges of a lunar trip, apart from love triangles.
Image from imdb.com.
As noted in Wikipedia, the movie's premise is that "private industry will mobilize, finance, and manufacture the first spacecraft to the Moon, and that the U.S. government will be forced to purchase or lease the technology to remain the dominant power in space."
Are you listening, Elon? And what about you, Donald?
Not to give secrets away, but Destination Moon has a stirring conclusion: "This is THE END… of the Beginning."
Rocketship X-M, 1950, predates my favorite satellite radio service, albeit with a hyphen.
Rocketship X-M sums up a half-century of lunar documentation. This time, the spaceship overshoots its mark and ends up on Mars. There, its crew of five, four men and a woman, discover a degenerated Martian civilization that perhaps had its fill of Barbenfollis.
Wikipedia says of the crew's Martian adventure: "Dr. Eckstrom is killed by a stone axe; navigator Chamberlain is badly injured by a thrown rock. The survivors finally make their way back to the RX-M."
Wouldn't you know, their fuel gets them back to Earth, but not enough to land safely. Colonel Graham and Dr. Van Horn (she's a Chemistry Ph.D.) console each other as the RX-M plunges uncontrollably toward the wilds of Nova Scotia.
The movie's last comment, though, is uplifting: "A new spaceship, the RX-M-2, begins construction tomorrow."
Well, there. That ought to put those wackos in their place. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2019
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The world is finally beginning to understand that our bodies have been evolved to stand and walk and not to sit. Our earliest ancestors walked frequently on the ground and climbed trees and this allowed them to easily adapt to changing habitats and environments. Unfortunately, the modern world has made sitting more comfortable and tempting.
Studies show that most people, on average, sit for about 7.7 hours each day – that's almost the amount of time an adult spends sleeping! There are some people who may even sit up to 15 hours a day.
Martha Grogan, Cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic, states that a sedentary lifestyle can increase one's risk of heart disease. In fact, she mentions that the risk of heart disease for people who spend most hours of their day sitting is just as high as smoking.
However, the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle don't end here.Too much sitting is linked to a myriad of health problems associated with weight gain, which not only includes heart disease but diabetes too. If you're sitting for more than 7 hours a day, you're obviously not active during this period.
Sitting too much reduces the activity of lipoprotein lipase, an enzyme which aids in the metabolism of fat.Your blood sugar levels spike each time you have a meal. Your body goes under a calorie-storing mode for four hours. However, studies show that people who reduce their activity i.e. by sitting more, experience increased blood sugar spikes.
This can become detrimental to the body and increase your risk of type-2 diabetes.In addition, a large study with 800,000 participants which compared people who sat the least with the ones who sat the most found that people who sat more had a 90 percent high risk of cardiovascular disease, 112 percent higher risk of diabetes, 147 percent higher risk of death lead by a cardiovascular problem and a 49 percent higher risk of death by any cause.
Your body is designed to stand upright and move around, therefore, to counteract the sitting disease, you need to stand more. Even if you exercise an hour every day, the effects of sitting for more than 7 hours a day cannot be negated.
Researchers at the University of London have found that those whose occupation primarily involves standing and/or walking have a roughly 32 percent lower risk of early death compared to those involved in sedentary jobs.
Furthermore, you burn more calories while standing because it involves more muscular contraction, especially in your thigh area. This improves your vascular health and your blood sugar levels.
Always take the stairs and walk up when you're going on an escalator
Stand when you're taking public transport, such as buses and trains
Alternate standing and sitting while working and set a reminder to get your tush off the chair every 30 minutes
Set up a standing workstation to do some of your work on and to take calls
Consider switching from TV time to more active hobbies
Instead of having a meal when you meet up with your friends, go to the beach or the park for a walk instead
Walk for a little during your tea breaks
Instead of calling your co-worker, go to his or her desk


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Labovac 11 is a synthetic oil for single and two stage rotary vane pumps (P-E and P-Z series). It is suitable for high operating temperatures over 100 ° C (especially for single stage rotary vane pumps).
Not for use with inorganic acids.
Please note that certain types of vacuum pump oils may not be used for certain applications. Please contact our sales or support team if you have questions.
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"What social data can tell you: pretty much everything" proclaimed Azeem Azhar, founder of PeerIndex, in a popular post on LinkedIn earlier this week. We can perhaps forgive Azhar the hyperbolic lead-in, but hisarticle as a whole indulges in untrammeled evangelism for social data which obscures much of the nuance and uncertainty regarding what exactly this new source of data can actually tell us about society. Continue reading "Why social data isn't always a reliable indicator"
Tag: social networks
"Twitter says…" – Can big social data tell us about public opinion?
"Like Noah's ark, (there was) every kind of creature in every walk of life. They included a town wit, a grave citizen, a worthy lawyer, a worship justice, a reverend nonconformist, and a voluble sailor."
The above description comes from a history of English coffee houses in the seventeenth century¹, but might just as well apply to the twenty first century's sites of caffeinated conversation: online social networks. With the rapid uptake of the Internet and the more recent rise to prominence of social network sites like Facebook and Twitter, hundreds of millions of ordinary people – the witty, the worthy, and the decidedly neither – are now connected not only to the web, a source of news, but also to social networks, a source of views. Continue reading ""Twitter says…" – Can big social data tell us about public opinion?"
The new 'power of now' and the perils of the hyper-present
With modern technology, living life 'in the moment' has never been easier. But this new nowness is far from what earlier advocates had in mind, and might only be distracting us from the planet's ever more pressing challenges. Continue reading "The new 'power of now' and the perils of the hyper-present"


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New Summer Cocktails Take Center Stage at ARC
Summer is here, and so is a new line-up of refreshing cocktails at ARC. Koire Rogers, ARC Bar Chef, has created a Julep-inspired summer craft cocktails with a fresh focus. Julep was once prescribed by doctors for it's medicinal qualities, and has now evolved into a recreational beverage.
When dining at ARC this summer, try one of their all-new summer craft cocktails.
Big Popa
pilar rum, sherry, yellow chartreuse
mezcal, raspberry, sour beer, chile
Jill's Julep
amaro, vermouth, lemon, bubbles
Prescription Julep
brandy, rye, mint
cocchi americano, lemon, seltzer
Chartreuse Swizzle
green chartreuse, lime, pineapple
pilar rum, lime, maraschino
Friendly Fire
gin, apple, allspice, fire
"The goal of our Beverage Program here at ARC is to provide our guests with an enticing array of classic cocktails, and then expanding on that by presenting them with our own twist," explained Rogers, who has been instrumental in spearheading the craft cocktail movement in Orange County. "With our seasonal menus we look to express depth, creativity, and innovation."
ARC is open daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and is located in Costa Mesa's South Coast Collection (3321 Hyland Avenue, Suite F).


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WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT | WEBSITE DESIGN | MOBILE APPLICATION | SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT | GRAPHICS DESIGN | DIGITAL MARKETING | EMBEDDED SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT | SECURITY SERVICES | AUTOMATION & ROBOTICS | TRAININGRead more
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CUSTOMIZE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT | PRODUCTION & PLANNING |PAYROLL DEVELOPMENT | HRM DEVELOPMENT | CRM DEVELOPMENT | ERP DEVELOPMENTRead more
BILLING SOFTWARE | INVENTORY & BILLING SOFTWARE | SCHOOL & COLLEGE MANAGEMENT | ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT| COMPLAIN & TOKEN MANAGEMENT | HOTEL & RESTAURANT MANAGEMENTRead more
A Complete IT Solution Provider
WebX Infotech is one of the leading IT Services and Business Solutions provider. Our vision is to achieve global IT services & become one of the well-known giant in the field by providing value-added high quality Solutions to our clients in selected horizontal and vertical segments, by combining technology skills, domain expertise, process focus and a commitment to long-term client relationships.
We are focusing on the "next generation" of IT Services, Business Products and consulting. Our offerings span IT business and technology consulting, application services & development, systems integration, product engineering, custom software development, maintenance, re-engineering, independent testing and validation services..
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Website design and development is the major part of our services. Our developers provide best solutions for your requirements. We promise to provide quality website developments of our clients. Satisfaction of the client is our top priority.Read more
We have developed a variety of applications, custom fit to your business and daily uses need. Our solutions cover all the Android,IOS ,Windows and Backberry platforms allowing your application to cover virtually all popular smart phones and tablet.Read more
Extend your business online by providing full registration, payments and various other services with or without Internet.Use our software development modules which can be customized and readily incorporated into your existing .Read more
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Accenture has developed software to help secure blockchains for businesses.
The consulting firm on Wednesday debuted a system that integrates the technology, also called distributed ledger tech, with hardware security modules (HSMs), or processors that corporate IT teams use to keep data safe. The appliances handle digital key management, a fundamental aspect of cybersecurity that controls who has access to what information on a network.
More here.


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Flexibility Exercises for Teen Girls
Stretching exercises are an integral part of any teen girl's physical activity program. Stretching prepares your body for further exercise, reduces your risk of injury from everyday activities, such as lifting a heavy book bag, and improves your flexibility during athletic events. Focus on stretching all areas of your body to get in a well-balanced workout.
Upper Body Stretch
To do a stretch for your arms, chest and shoulders, stand near a wall a bit farther than arm's distance away and spread your feet shoulder-width apart. Lean forward with your arms extended from the height of the shoulder and place your palms flat on the wall. Slowly crawl your hands up until both arms are over your head and you feel a nice stretch. Hold the stretch for about 30 seconds, walk your palms down to shoulder-height and repeat three more times. If you're doing this exercise alongside a friend who can reach higher, this may be because she's taller or is currently more flexible; don't stretch past your comfort level in an attempt to catch up or you risk injuring your still-developing muscles.
Mid-Body Stretch
Lying with your back and head on an exercise mat, bend your knees with your feet on the mat and extend both arms to the left at shoulder-level. They should comfortably lie on your left side. Gently twist your torso to lower your knees to the mat on the right, forming a "Z" with your body. Hold for about 30 seconds as you feel a gentle stretch in the left side of your stomach. Turn your torso the other way to stretch your right midsection.
Lower Body Stretch
Stand upright with your feet spread hip-width apart and your toes pointing in front of your body. Take one large step back with your left foot so that you are in a lunging position and your left knee is almost touching the ground. You should feel a stretch in your left upper and lower calf muscles. Hold a comfortable stretch for 30 seconds, return to standing up straight and repeat stretching on the right side.
Flexibility Workouts
Two full-body flexibility exercise forms that offer classes for teen girls are Pilates and yoga. Pilates and yoga help strengthen your torso muscles and improve your posture in addition to boosting your flexibility, according to the Nemours Foundation. Both practices call for you to focus on your breathing patterns as you move your body into a variety of poses. Yoga has an added component of mental relaxation exercises if you are looking for a way to reduce stress.
Avoid stretching so far that you can't comfortably hold a position for at least 10 to 30 seconds. Holding it for any less time won't properly lengthen your muscle. Also avoid bobbing or bouncing into a stretch or you risk injuring your muscle. Additionally, stay focused on stretching both sides of your body equally, regardless of whether you are right-hand or left-hand dominant. If you participate in an after-school activity such as ballet or basketball, ask your instructor to show you stretches that will improve your flexibility for improved performance in that area. For example, if you are a ballet dancer you may want to focus on lengthening the muscles in your thighs and calves.
A Flexible Life
In "A Woman's Lifeline," Nora Isaacs reported that teen girls can benefit from a discipline like yoga which not only ensures that young women keep the natural flexibility of their youth, but to become more disciplined and less stressed. Flexibility is about stretching beyond your current limitations, and for young women who are growing into adulthood, this ability will serve them well.
Writer Bio
Christa Miller is a writing professional with expertise in massage therapy and health. Miller attended San Francisco State University to earn a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing with a minor in journalism and went on to earn an Arizona massage therapy license.


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"The Corsair appeared to be a superb fighting machine, but it was overengineered and thus hard to maintain. At the start of a typical day's ops, only about half of our full complement was safe to fly. By 'secure,' half of those could be expected to be 'down.""
—Tommy Blackburn, Captain, VGF-29, Navy Cross recipient.
Speed – With a top speed of nearly 400 mph, the F4U-1C is one of the fastest mid-war planes and can keep pace with most late-war models.
Durability – Like all US Navy fighters, the Corsair could absorb a considerable amount of damage.
Guns – The upgraded firepower of four 20mm cannon gave the F4U-1C an even stronger punch than the standard US machine gun armament.
Carrier Landings – The long nose of the Corsair makes carrier landings difficult for novice pilots.
In February 1938 the US Navy opened design competition for a new single-seat shipboard fighter. Chance-Vought responded with a design based around the new Pratt & Whitney XR-2800 18-cylinder radial. The plane, dubbed the XF4U-1 Corsair, featured a distinctive "inverted gull" wing shape, necessitated by the diameter of the Hamilton Standard propeller and the need to keep the landing gear sturdy enough to withstand carrier landings.
On October 1, 1940, the prototype Corsair ran a speed course between Stratford and Hartford, Connecticut and attained a top speed of 404 mph, making the Corsair the first plane to exceed 400 mph in level flight. Naturally the Navy was quite impressed and ordered a production version for further testing.
Standard armament on the XF4U-1 was intended to be a pair of .30 caliber machine guns in the cowl and a .50 caliber machine gun in each wing. But developments in Europe pointed to the necessity for heavier armament. Because a larger gun wouldn't fit in the cowl, the cowl guns were eliminated and three .50 caliber machine guns were mounted in each wing.
The space needed for the wing-mounted guns and their ammunition loads meant that the wing fuel tanks had to be removed. In order to retain the same fuel load a large 237-gallon tank was installed in the fuselage. To prevent the need for trim changes as fuel was used, the fuel tank had to be mounted as close to the center of gravity as possible, which resulted in the cockpit being moved about three feet aft of its original position. The repositioned cockpit resulted in severely reduced forward visibility, which made it even more difficult to land on a rolling and pitching aircraft carrier deck.
Corsairs started to come off the production line in the summer of 1942, and the US Marine Corps squadron, VMF-124, was formed on September 7, 1942 to be the first unit equipped with the big fighter. By December 28, 1942 VMF-124 was declared combat ready and was moved to Guadalcanal, where the Corsair flew its first combat mission on February 13, 1943.
Acting on the obvious flaws in the design, Vought replaced the "birdcage" canopy design with a taller, single-frame "clear-view" canopy. This allowed the pilot to sit 7 inches higher than in the previous version, which helped alleviate the visibility problem. Further changes included the use of the new R-2800-8W engine equipped with water-injection and structural changes designed to increase directional stability at low speeds. The new variant was dubbed the F4U-1A with almost 2,000 being built by Vought by the end of 1943.
Based on the F4U-1A production run a modified version of the Corsair, known as the F4U-1C, was delivered on August 30, 1943. This version featured a quartet of 20mm cannons in the wings in place of the six .50 caliber machine guns found on the -1A model. Additionally, a new canopy was introduced, which eliminated the last of the metal frames.
The cannon armed Corsair allowed the plane to knock out heavily armored aircraft and tanks. However, the Japanese had no heavily armored aircraft or tanks and pilots tended to prefer the greater ammunition loads of the machine gun armed Corsairs to the heavier hitting power of the 20mm guns. Only 200 F4U-1Cs were produced.
Performance-wise, the F4U-1C is identical to the machinegun armed F4U-1A.


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Brassed Off Movie Synopsis & Plot
Grimley Colliery Band is a bastion of the local community and one that its leader cares passionately about. For Danny (PETE POSTLETHWAITE) it is the music that embodies the spirit of that community, representing the very lifeblood of its people. However, as the spectre of unemployment looms large on the horizon, not all the band members can share his passion. Attitudes soon change with the entrance of Gloria (TARA FITZGERALD).
Granddaughter of a former band leader and childhood sweetheart of band member Andy (EWAN McGREGOR), she has returned to her hometown. Impressed by her talent and overwhelmed by her beauty, a new wave of enthusiasm sweeps through the band as they embark on the competition circuit. However, admiration is soon dulled and her relationship with Andy threatened, by the stunning revelation that she is an employee of the British Coal Board.
Despite the surfacing conflicts, the Grimley Brass Band return triumphant from the National Semi-Finals. Their euphoria is short-lived, however, as they return to find their worst fears realized. The pit has been closed and the defeated community recoils in shock. Phil (STEPHEN TOMPKINSON), Danny's son has now lost everything - his family, his home, his job and almost the will to live.
For Danny there is also a grave price to pay for a life's service to the mines. As the band witness his dramatic collapse from pneumoconiosis, a defiant fighting spirit is reawaken. Aided by an unexpected benefactor, the miners unite to realize Danny's dream and take their rightful place at the National Championships in London. As ambassadors for their community, they take a triumphant journey that will tell their story to the nation.


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Looking at the specs, you'd figure a sub-200-hp three-row SUV would be a total pig, but the Acadia manages to surprise with decent performance thanks in part to a curb weight under two tons and front-wheel drive. I actually prefer it to the V6 AWD Denali model I drove a month ago, plus this one comes in a whopping $17K cheaper. I'm sure there was some content missing, but I didn't really notice -- that's more a criticism of the bland Denali trim than a knock at the basic Acadia. Fuel economy was also right in line with specs, averaging about 24 mpg, though I was mostly by myself behind the wheel.
That's the good. The bad is that I'm having trouble understanding what makes even this less-pricey Acadia so damn expensive. Our tester was nearly $41K, and that's for front-wheel drive, an unremarkable powertrain and uninspired interior. Scanning the competition, a front-drive Explorer XLT comparably equipped (leather, heated seats, etc) is roomier, nets you a V6 engine and still saves buyers more than $4,000. A Toyota Highlander XLE with V6 and front-drive is $2K cheaper (and you can get into a four-cylinder Highlander for about $32K if you want to skip some of the luxe).
I suppose GMC is trying to profit off the "Professional Grade" reputation, but professionals do their homework; other manufacturers are offering more for the money.
--Andrew Stoy, digital editor
I'd agree with Andy in that I didn't find this Acadia underpowered except for the few times when traffic went from a standstill back to freeway speeds. And I averaged about 25 mpg on my way home too, which is stupendous for a three-row SUV. The six-speed automatic transmission plays nicely with the four-cylinder engine; it didn't get hung up or switch gears too early. I didn't notice any driving difference in sport mode either, so maybe I was just driving it hard the whole time.
As far as GMC SUVs go, I like the Terrain's looks more than the Acadia. Its boxy style suits me better. But this Acadia is an improvement -- way better than the last generation. It sort of reminds me of an old Saab SUV from the three-quarter view.
The cabin is adequate, nothing special. I found a comfortable seating position, the seats were soft enough and the Apple CarPlay worked as advertised. There's a good bit of soft-touch rubber on the interior surfaces, plus plenty of storage cubbies for phones and junk, and visibility is good from the high perch.
--Jake Lingeman, road test editor
Vehicle Model Information
ON SALE: Now
POWERTRAIN: 2.5-liter DOHC I4, FWD, six-speed automatic
OUTPUT: 193 hp @ 6,300 rpm; 188 lb-ft @ 4,400 rpm
CURB WEIGHT: 3,956 lb
FUEL ECONOMY: 21/26/23 mpg
OPTIONS: Audio system with 8-inch color, touch, navigation screen with Intellilink ($495); dark sapphire blue metallic ($395); trailer hitch ($350)
PROS: 25 mpg or more if you can keep your foot light
CONS: There are better and cheaper options in this crowded segment