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1. Introduction
2. Steps to using the ecosystem approach
3. Applying the Ecosystem Approach
Task 1. How do you involve all members of society in decisions associated with the management of land, water and living resources?
Different sectors of society view ecosystems in terms of their own economic, cultural and societal needs. Indigenous peoples and other local communities living on the land are important stakeholders and their rights and interests should be recognized. Both cultural and biological diversity are central components of the ecosystem approach, and management should take this into account. Societal choices should be expressed as clearly as possible. Ecosystems should be managed for their intrinsic values and for the tangible or intangible benefits for humans, in a fair and equitable way.
Guidelines for meeting this task
Involve all stakeholders (interested parties) (including indigenous and local communities) in:
clearly articulating, defining and agreeing upon the goals of management
defining problems
making choices (see Task 12).
There need to be clearly defined boundaries (in time and space, see Task 7) for the area being managed so that those involved are fully aware of the range/limitation of the management processes.
Ensure that those stakeholders that cannot directly represent themselves (e.g. future generations, the natural world) are adequately represented by someone else.
Ensure that all stakeholders have an equitable capacity to be effectively involved, including equitable access to information, ability to participate in the processes, etc.
Ensure that the decision-making process compensates for any inequities of power in society, so that those who are normally marginalized (e.g. women, the poor, indigenous people) are not excluded or stifled in their participation.
Make sure all actions are transparent to everyone concerned. This includes identifying who the decision-makers are for each decision, how the decisions will be taken (what process will be used), and what are the limits on the discretion of the decision-maker (e.g. what are the criteria for the decision in law, and where applicable what is the overall policy guidance within which the decision must fit).
Ensure that the recognition of stakeholder interests occurs within the full range of decisions over time and space and across the different levels (eg local and national government). In doing so, however, ensure that "stakeholder fatigue" does not develop, by incorporating known stakeholder views into future decisions, and allowing efficient stakeholder input.
Where possible, use existing societal mechanisms (eg existing local groups), or build new mechanisms that are compatible with existing or desired societal conditions. Ensure that decision-makers are accountable to the appropriate communities of interest.
Develop within the project team the capacity to broker negotiations and trade-offs, and manage conflicts among relevant stakeholder groups in reaching decisions about management, use and conservation of biological resources.
There need to be mechanisms in place to ensure that, once an appropriate societal choice has been made, the decision can be implemented over the long term, (eg policy, legislative and control structures need to be in place).
Tools that can be used to ensure all members of society are involved in decisions associated with the management of land, water and living resources include:
Workshop based methods
Community based methods
Methods for stakeholder consultation
Local community approaches
Social analysis
Conflict management methods
Further explanation
The objectives for managing land, water, and living resources are a matter of societal choice, determined through negotiations and trade-offs among stakeholders who have different perceptions, interests, and intentions. In this regard it should be noted that:
Human society is diverse in the kind and manner of relationships that different groups have with the natural world, each viewing the world around them in different ways and emphasizing their own economic, cultural, and societal interests and needs. All relevant sectors of society need to have their interests equitably treated, which may involve providing for different outcomes in separate locations or at different times. It is also necessary to ensure that the needs of future generations and the natural world are adequately represented. Given this diversity, good decision-making processes that provide for negotiations and trade-offs are necessary to establish broadly acceptable objectives for the management of particular areas and their living resources.
Good decision-making processes incorporate the following characteristics:
All interested parties (particularly including indigenous and local communities) should be involved in the process,
It needs to be clear how decisions are reached and who the decision-maker(s) is (are),
The decision-makers should be accountable to the appropriate communities of interest,
The criteria for decisions should be appropriate and transparent, and
Decisions should be based on, and contribute to, inter-sectoral communication and co-ordination.
Good decisions depend on those involved having access to accurate and timely information and the capacity to apply this knowledge.
Task 2. How do you ensure management is decentralised to the lowest appropriate level?
Task 3. How do you ensure the effects of management actions (potential or actual) on adjacent and other ecosystems are taken into account?
Task 4. How can the economic context be understood so that
Market distortions that affect biological diversity are reduced
Incentives are developed to promote biodiversity and sustainable use
Ecosystem costs and benefits are externalised?
Task 5. What measures could be used to conserve ecosystem structure and functioning so as to maintain ecosystem services?
Task 6. What measures can be taken to ensure ecosystems are managed within the limits of their functioning?
Task 7. What actions can been taken so that the problem(s) is (are) addressed at the appropriate temporal and spatial scales?
Task 8. How can varying temporal scales and lag-effects be taken into account when considering the sustainable use of ecosystems?
Task 9. How can adaptive management be used to address the problem(s) identified?
Task 10. How can an appropriate balance be sought between, and integration of, conservation and use of biological diversity?
Task 11. How do you ensure all forms of relevant knowledge including, scientific, indigenous and local knowledge, innovations and practices are included?
Task 12. What measures can be taken to facilitate the involvement of all stakeholders including all sectors of society and scientific disciplines?
Most problems of biological-diversity management are complex, with many interactions, side-effects and implications, and therefore should involve the necessary expertise and stakeholders at the local, national, regional and international level, as appropriate.
Guidelines for answering this question
The integrated management of land, water and living resources requires increased communication and cooperation, (i) between sectors, (ii) at various levels of government (national, provincial, local), and (iii) among governments, civil society and private sector stakeholders. Increased communication among international and regional organisations is also needed.
The incorporation of the ecosystem approach principles as an integral part of planning in, among others, the agriculture, fisheries, forestry and other natural resources management sectors potentially affecting biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, should be encouraged, following the example, for instance, of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, Sustainable Forest Management or others. Sectors other than the primary production sectors may also have major effects but are often less recognized in this respect. These include sectors such as the judicial sector, which affects governance, as well as those such as energy and transport, which are managing or affecting resources either directly or indirectly.
Procedures and mechanisms should be established to ensure effective participation of all relevant stakeholders and actors during the consultation processes, decision making on management goals and actions, and, where appropriate, in implementing the ecosystem approach.
The effective implementation of the ecosystem approach may require involving multidisciplinary professional and scientific expertise, including such disciplines as economic, social and natural sciences.
When assessing the costs and benefits of conserving, maintaining, using and restoring ecosystems, the interests of all relevant sectors should be taken into account for equitable sharing of the benefits according to national law.
Public participation methods
Modeling methods
Inter-disciplinary research and communication
Further explanation
The complexity of managing an ecosystem for sustained use and conservation requires integrating the activities and actions of many different stakeholders. In this regard it should be noted that:
The activities of all sectors affect biological diversity, and can contribute to, or detract from, the achievement of the objectives of the CBD.
The management of biodiversity, because of its complexity, and the significance of human impacts, requires a wide range of scientific and management skills, including those located in sectors that have not traditionally been involved in biodiversity conservation or management.
For these reasons adopting the principles of the ecosystem approach provides a framework for fostering greater involvement of all relevant stakeholders and technical expertise in planning and carrying out coordinated activities, sharing management of resources, or simply exchanging information.
Cross-cutting issues
4. Creating a Management Plan
5. Assessing a project against the ecosystem approach
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ESUG19: Camp Smalltalk 24/25 August
As usual at ESUG, we will be holding an informal "Camp Smalltalk" the weekend before the conference.
The idea is to meet, hack, discuss.
- location: ZWEIDENKER, Luxemburger Str. 72, 50674 Köln
- dates & times:
- Saturday, 24.8.2019 from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
- Sunday, 25.8.2019 from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
To have and idea who is coming, please fill out this doodle (just select when you will attend).
FYI: Gamescom takes place in Cologne from 21.-24. August 2019. Cologne will be crowded and Hotels are expensive until the 24th.


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AT #20 November 22, 2012#20 Revealed May 6
AT #19 September 16, 2012#19 Revealed May 7
AT #18 November 11, 2012#18 Revealed May 8
AT #17 January 20, 2013#17 Revealed May 9
AT #16 December 16, 2012#16 Revealed May 10
AT #15 December 2, 2012#15 Revealed May 13
AT #14 September 30, 2012#14 Revealed May 14
AT #13 November 22, 2012#13 Revealed May 15
AT #12 October 14, 2012#12 Revealed May 16
AT #11 September 23, 2012#11 Revealed May 17
AT #10 October 28, 2012#10 Revealed May 20
AT #9 September 23, 2012#9 Revealed May 21
AT #8 October 15, 2012#8 Revealed May 22
AT #7 October 7, 2012#7 Revealed May 23
AT #6 December 16, 2012#6 Revealed May 24
AT #5 February 3, 2013#5 Revealed May 27
AT #4 September 24, 2012#4 Revealed May 28
AT #3 December 30, 2012#3 Revealed May 29
AT #2 January 13, 2013#2 Revealed May 30
AT #1 January 12, 2013#1 Revealed May 31
Game 1: AFC divisional round
The 1987 49ers can commiserate. So can the 2005 Colts, as well as the '07 Cowboys. And the 2011 Packers certainly caught a whiff -- the stench of bona fide Super Bowl aspirations abruptly spoiled. That curdled-milk taste that comes from entering the postseason as a No. 1 seed and prohibitive conference favorite... then folding at first call.
Yes, many ill-fated clubs of yesteryear know the pain of the 2012 Denver Broncos, a team that won its final 11 regular-season games to earn the AFC's top seed, only to lose its first playoff bout to the Baltimore Ravens. Broncos vice president John Elway is all too familiar with this plight. Just ask him about his '96 squad.
On the plus side, at least for our sake, the Broncos' heartbreak came in one of the most memorable postseason fights in recent memory -- the No. 1 game of the 2012 campaign.
In addition to palpable playoff energy, our top game provided a half-dozen enormous plays. It was as though this contest picked up where our No. 1 Game of 2011 (Saints at 49ers) left off. Ravens-Broncos was also defined by the biggest play -- or biggest gaffe -- of the season, reprising the aftershock our No. 1 Game of 2010 (Eagles at Giants) triggered, following DeSean Jackson's return on a punt Matt Dodge sure would like to have back.
Game 3: 4 p.m. ET; Packers at Vikings in Week 17
Game 2: 5:30 p.m. ET; Seahawks at Falcons, NFC divisional round
Game 1: 8 8 p.m. ET; Ravens at Broncos, AFC divisional round
But before we get to the season's ultimate throw, it's important to understand why this divisional-round contest was so damn fun to watch. To parrot Frank the Tank from "Old School," it was so good! ... Once it hit your lips -- so good!!
The first time the Broncos touched the ball, Peyton Manning didn't even make it on the field, cheering from the sideline as his punt returner took it 90 yards to the house.
It didn't take long for the Ravens to respond to Trindon Holliday's return. A few plays into Baltimore's ensuing drive, Joe Flacco hit Torrey Smith with a deep-ball special. Fifty-nine yards, touchdown, and it's on.
On the very next possession, Ravens CB Corey Graham -- remember that name -- picks Manning and takes it back 39 yards for six. All of a sudden, it was Unlikely's 14, Favorites 7. Now it was really on.
It started to feel like Baltimore had a shot against the AFC favorites. Were the underdogs fired up by Ray Lewis, who had already announced his intention to retire at season's end, or chillaxed by the calm demeanor of Flacco? Didn't matter. What mattered was the Ravens were ballin' out.
Even after Manning led the Broncos on two touchdowns drives, the Flacco-Smith vertical tango hit center stage once again. Torrey's 32-yard touchdown tied it up, 21-21 just before halftime.
The fireworks continued with the opening play of the second half, as Holliday motored down the field on a ho-hum 104-yard kick return.
The Ravens didn't panic, though. The teams exchanged a few scoreless possessions before Baltimore produced a clutch sack-and-strip of Manning, giving the Ravens the ball at midfield. Five Ray Rice rushes later, Baltimore hit paydirt, knotting up the game again at 28-28.
Entering the fourth quarter, this contest already had everything: two special teams touchdowns, two bombs for scores and a pick-six -- all without disintegrating into one of those nobody-can-stop-anybody affairs. The defenses did not play poorly; this was not a track meet. It had some balance. Shoot, Rice toted the rock 30 times.
Essentially, Ravens-Broncos was an impeccably even football game with one humongous tipping point, as is often the case when everyone's Super Bowl darling falls. With the '87 Niners, it was Reggie Rutland's pick-six. With Manning's '05 Colts, it was Ben Roethlisberger's one-handed, game-saving tackle.
With the Broncos -- and the eventual Super Bowl champion Ravens -- the tipping point was the throw that flipped the 2012 season.
With Denver up 35-28 -- courtesy of a Manning-to-Demaryius Thomas touchdown -- Baltimore found itself in a dire predicament: 77 yards to go, 69 seconds on the clock and zero timeouts. Did I mention that Denver's defense had given up the second-fewest big plays in the NFL?
|Fewest Big Plays Allowed – 2012 Season
|Plays of 20-plus yards allowed
|1. Steelers
|2. Broncos
|t-3. 49ers
|t-3. Panthers
|5. Rams
After an incompletion and a scramble, the Ravens faced a third-and-3 from their own 30. Flacco dropped back and surveyed the field. Jacoby Jones -- the club's third wideout and typically its fifth option -- was streaking down the right sideline. No problem for Denver, though, as safety Rahim Moore was simultaneously tracking Jones and Flacco's glare.
The former Delaware quarterback released a moon shot in Jones' direction. Moore backpedaled, but didn't turn his hips to run.
"I was there, man," colleague Steve Wyche recalled. "That ball kept going."
"(Moore) didn't think Flacco could throw it that far," former All-Pro cornerback and current "NFL AM" analysts Eric Davis said.
Well, Flacco did just that. Meanwhile, Moore never turned to run it down, instead reaching up like it was a lazy fly ball. The Broncos safety could only waive his arms as the tail end of Flacco's heave fluttered by. The fly ball was a long ball -- in every sense of the term -- right into Jones' hands. The Ravens receiver cruised the final 20 yards to the end zone for the mind-blowing, game-tying score.
Denver would opt to send this game into overtime (more on that below), where both offenses could only move so far. Amazingly, just when America was emotionally drained but mentally ready for a Peyton Manning Hall of Fame drive, the Comeback Player of the Year threw a pick in his own territory. Who intercepted the ball? That man again: Corey Graham. Justin Tucker eventually nailed a 47-yard field goal, completing the comeback heard 'round the football world.
And just like that, another Super Bowl champ-to-be fell victim to the dreaded one-and-done for No. 1.
Historical Symmetry: Manning's overtime interception sure looked familiar: A future Hall of Fame quarterback, lacking some arm strength from earlier days, running right while trying to throw across his body, leading to a terrible result in the postseason...
My friends, that was Brett Favre's interception near the end of regulation in the 2009 NFC Championship Game, pretty much to the letter, no?
Here is some outstanding analysis of that fateful throw from three years ago.
(Almost) Play of the Game: Well, the Broncos' last drive is the (Almost) Play of the Game because they didn't run any plays.
After Jones' improbable touchdown, Denver had 31 seconds and two timeouts to work with. Oh, and Peyton Manning under center. So what did John Fox do with the opportunity to prevent this game from spilling into overtime? Nada.
Believe me, he's taken some criticism for the conservative approach, too. Here's his explanation of the thought process that went into that infamous kneel-down.
Best Player on the Field: Joe Flacco. The Ravens quarterback continued his $120.6 million postseason, completing 18 of his 34 passes for 331 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Why This Game is No. 1: When the dust settled on the 2012 season, two games remained in everyone's memory, regardless of what team you support: the "Fail Mary" stunner and Ravens-Broncos.
While Packers-Seahawks will be relived for years to come, "most memorable" does not always translate to "best." Among the people I canvassed regarding the top games of 2012, there was little debate as to which contest deserved the No. 1 spot.
Anyone who follows the NFL closely -- be it professionally or as a fan -- realized we were watching the game of the year well before Tucker's kick sailed through the uprights at the beginning of the second overtime.
Visit NFL Game Center for more on Ravens at Broncos, AFC divisional round.


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ELLISTON –– Getting anywhere worth being is a process of many steps. Though coming up short to Bath County in a bid for its first region volleyball championship, Galax took another step Thursday.
The Maroon Tide battled back from a 2-1 deficit but couldn't complete the comeback a second night in a row and fell to the Chargers 22-25, 25-14, 25-15, 23-25, 15-9 in the Region C Division 1 championship at Eastern Montgomery High School.
Galax (22-3) took a big step in last year's five-set regional semifinal loss to Radford, which paid off in a five-set win over Craig County in Wednesday's semis. The difference in the title match Thursday was that defending champion Bath County had made that step before. The Chargers (20-4), who fell in five games to Gate City in last year's state title match, will host a Division 1 quarterfinal match Tuesday against the loser of the Region D final between Rye Cove and Castlewood. Galax will play its first state tournament match Tuesday at the Region D winner.
"This was a new experience for us," Galax coach Rose Houk said a day after earning the first state tourney berth in her 30-year career. "I thought Bath County's experience of being here before showed in that final game and our nerves got the best of us. But now, we see what it is like and hopefully we'll be ready for Tuesday. I feel we haven't played our best, so hopefully that will come Tuesday as well."
Thursday's final followed much the same script as Wednesday's semis for Galax, with the Tide winning the opening set, dropping two straight, then rallying to force a fifth set.
Even the fifth started off much the same as the day before, when Galax fell behind before bouncing back to edge Craig. The difference Thursday was that when Bath took the lead, it held on.
Bath took a 4-1 lead on two Amelia Walters kills before Galax pulled to within 5-4 on spikes by Allison White and Harley Brewer. A 5-1 spurt boosted the Chargers into a 14-7 lead when Galax made a run with two straight points before running out of steam.
Galax won 13 of 17 points midway through the opening set, including a 7-0 run spurred by two Bailey Shumate aces, and withstood a late Bath run to take a one-set lead.
"They were riding high early in the game after their big win last night and that helped them," Bath coach Dave McGee said. "I told my team to expect trouble and to ride the storm out until it settled and I thought we did a good job of that."
Momentum soon shifted to the Chargers, who took the second game with ease and scored the final six points in the third.
Galax trailed 17-11 in the fourth before coming back to life, pulling to within 20-17 on Kem Simmons' smash. Despite falling ill on the bus ride and playing only on the front row, White came up big with a block and a kill as Galax caught the Chargers at 22.
Bath won a point, gave it back on a hitting error and Shumate finished off the rally with a pair of kills that sent the Tide into the fifth set.
"We're so proud of this team," said Houk. "To come back in the fourth like we did, we couldn't be prouder. We started using the word 'believe' in our timeouts and started to play aggressive. When we play aggressive we're OK."
Shumate finished with nine kills and a nine assists, White had eight kills and Simmons added seven kills for the Maroon Tide. Walters led Bath County with 16 kills, Amanda Shifflet had eight more and Ashley Rice put up 34 assists.
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Luxury Performance Sedans
pat Posts: 10,421The best thing to do would be to check the Lease Questions discussions for each of those vehicles. These links should help:
BMW 5-Series: Lease Questions
Lexus GS 450h: Lease Questions
Mercedes-Benz E-Class: Lease Questions
Mercedes-Benz CLS Class: Lease Questions
Welcome to CarSpace!0
Lexus GS - 1,887
Infiniti M - 1,872
Audi A6 - 8980
rayainsw Posts: 3,028Caddy STS - 18152016 BMW 340i0
Mercedes E-Class - 4,011
BMW 5-Series - 3,592
Acura RL - 6580
aveghte Posts: 68My wife and I are looking at the Audi A6, Mercedes E350, Lexus GS350 and BMW 5-series. We have a 3-year-old child who sits in a front-facing car seat usually on the passenger side of the vehicle. Rear side airbags are standard equipment in the Mercedes and Lexus and are optional equipment in the Audi and BMW.
The Audi and BMW salesmen say that the rear side airbags are only safe for adult passengers because the deployment of this airbag in a side impact accident could injure a child sitting in a car seat next to the side where the accident occurs.
The Mercedes salesman says that the rear side airbag only comes out 3 inches from the side door so it should not injure a child sitting in a car seat.
The Lexus salesman says that he has never heard of child safety concerns with rear side airbags.
Are all rear side airbags the same or are the airbags that come as standard equipment in the Mercedes smaller? Also are rear side airbags just unsafe for infants sitting in rear-facing child seats or also for larger children sitting in front-facing convertible child seats and booster seats?
Thanks for your help - the reason my wife and I are buying a car in this price segment is to get more safety in case of an accident, not less!0
You are understandably concerned about safety. Have you considered a Volvo S80?0
habitat1 Posts: 4,282You might want to surf the web for some "official" safety information on side impact airbags from sources like NHTSA, etc.
However, it is my understanding that a 3+ year old child properly buckled in a properly installed front facing safety seat should be fine. GEICO ran a safety test a couple of years ago and found that the vast majority of car seats are not properly installed. Too much slack in the seat belt and installed too close to the door (i.e. up on the side bolsters) were the most common mistakes. My wife scored an "A", but questioned at that time whether the side curtain airbags in our MDX were a safety issue. The response she got was that side airbags and curtains were positive safety features, contingent upon proper installation of the car seat, so that it couldn't be tipped or twisted by the airbag deployment.0
I think that I would query the manufacturer directly and not rely on a salesman with unknown technical knowledge. The safest place for the child is proably the middle of the back seat, but that makes it harder to reach, but then again, you shouldn't be doing that while driving anyways. Might make it easier to view in the mirror, though.0
I have an 05 A6 4.2 with the rear airbags. The rear seats have a sensor and the airbags will only deploy if there is more than 50 pounds in the seat. As a result, I doubt the airbag will deploy if only a small child is back there. I know about the sensor because it has broken twice.0
I think I would agree with james27, ask the manufacturers themselves. You can't trust the sales guy to either know what he's talking about or not just tell you what you want to hear to try and make a sale.
Since safety seems to be a critical issue for you, I'd highly recommend checking out both the IIHS and EuroNCAP scores for each of these cars. The NHTSA tests are pretty weak.0
kyfdx Posts: 128,420I think the rear side airbags in the BMW can be disabled.. In fact, they are shipped that way. You have to ask the dealer to activate them.
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator0
jlbl Posts: 1,333Rear side airbags is standard equipment in an E60 BMW 5. I hesitate to say that in this forum because, I thought, may be it is different in the USA. I think too that they can be disabled. Yet the BMW dealer you ask to seems to know badly the car :confuse:
KGARY- What kind of gas mileage are you making on your 4.2 and how has the reliability been holding up?0
Around town she does about 14, on the highway about 25.
As far as reliability, she is ok, but she is no Lexus. Most of the problems have been nuisances. Some of which may be because I have one of the early 05s.
The airbag light came on two weeks after I purchased the car. It took them 10 days to figure out the problem. Audi then came out with a TSB on updating the computer software for the airbags.
The MMI "crashed" a year after I bought the car. After having the car for 8 days, Audi wiped the hardware clean and reinstalled the MMI computer software.
The MMI had a few bugs with not updating the satellite radio stations, losing surround settings and sometimes not automatically linking with my bluetooth phone. Audi had the car for a day and updated the MMI computer software. Audi has a TSB on this issue as well.
I have written those three problems off to having a very early computer software version. To give you an idea of the number of changes in the software, my car came with MMI version 10 and now has version 33. Since being updated to MMI version 33, about two months ago, I have not had any computer issues.
As far as non-computer issues. I have had only two. The first was that all 8 coil packs had to be replaced. The second was the lid for the gas cap would not open from inside the car. In order to open it I had to wedge my credit card inside the lid and open it from the outside. Audi had the car for 2 days to fix these problems. Once again Audi has TSBs on both of these issues. According to the TSBs Audi corrected both of these problems about halfway through the 05 model year.
Despite the car being at the dealer for 21 days for repairs during the last 27 months, not maintenance, I would certainly buy the car again because it is a lot of fun to drive and the dealer gives me a loaner. However, I would check which MMI software version is currently in the car. If it is below 33, I would take it to Audi and have it updated as soon as possible. In addition, I would check the car's VIN and compare it to the Audi TSBs and see what issues you need to keep an eye on. While the car is still under warranty, I would make sure you complain about any issues contained on the TSBs issued for your VIN.
Good luck.
I drove an A6 2.7T for almost 7 years and 100,000 miles. Bought new and purchased the extended service plan almost as an afterthought. This car would have virtually bankrupted me w/o the extended warranty.Had problems such as vibrating brakes,broken door locks, leaking engine seals, and blown turbos.Almost $15,000 worth of warranty service! Used Mobil 1 changed every 5,000 miles, checked oil level at every fuel stop. Gave up on the franchised dealer (due to poor service) and found (through the internet) an independent shop that honored the extended service plan.Paid $41,500 new and sold for $11,500 to a private party last October.
Purchased a Cx-7 Mazda crossover van, currently 10,000 miles, no issues to date. Of course, it is hard to predict the reliability of any vehicle, but it would be very difficult for me to go with Audi in the future.
If you had bought your Audi used, with no warranty, the repair bill would be in the thousands for what has been replaced /repaired per your current "list".
From my 6+ years experience with Audi, it is a sport luxury car that should be leased for 3 years or so under full warranty, and then turned back in for something else. Long term ownership does not appear to be a good financial decision. My Audi had "an unbelieveable sensor system and is/was one of the most difficult cars to repair on the road today"--quote by my mechanic!0
My Audi had "an unbelieveable sensor system and is/was one of the most difficult cars to repair on the road today"--quote by my mechanic!
The previous generation A6 is pretty notorious as being incredibly problem prone, and for mechanical rather than electrical problems as you would expect to find on a Mercedes. In the last few years Audi seems to have cleaned up their act pretty well. There's still no way I would own one out of warranty, but I'd say that about pretty much every European car. I think a new Q7 is probably a lot less likely to have problems than the ML\GL\R classes.0
Being the owner of a relatively new Audi luxury auto, I shouldn't have had to research, and purchase on my own initiative-- replacement non-OEM drilled front rotors to cure the brake vibration problem at 65 mph +. New car ownership should
n't be that hard and inconvenient. Was never able to go 10,000 miles w/o something major happening.
At this point, it has been a pleasure to drive a Mazda cx-7 for 10,000 miles without a repair incident.0
I stopped by and looked at a new 535Xi at lunch time today. I plan to go back when schedules allow my wife to be with me to test drive the car, but so far I like what I've seen and I'm interested.
I know the 535's are just starting to arrive at dealers, but was wondering if anyone has test driven one and what their impressions are. I would be especially interested in how you feel the 535's compare to other cars in this class with which you are familiar.
I currently have a 2006 330Xi and am thinking of moving to a 535Xi. What I am looking for is a quieter, smoother ride; avoiding the occasional hard hit caused, I feel, by the 45 series RFTs; retaining good handling; additional rear seat leg room; and the lure of more power, especially torque. A bonus would be more spacious seating up front, and a nice to have would be to minimize the increase in the overall size of the car to get the above.
So far, my short list of alternatives is the M35x in current cars, and the 08 CTS for upcoming cars (looks good on paper, and its the same size as the 5 series).
The only rumored alternative is an M45x, but I haven't seen anything more than that so far.
David Ehrlichman Posts: 38Bruce:
I have a m35x and a 2005 530.
The M is a great car if you can deal with it's "weirdness".
The wheels will get destroyed if you just look at a curb or go thru a car wash.
Because it is all wheel drive, the car tends to pull on uneven road surfaces.
The BMW is a great car as well...just had a ton of electrical problems with it, mainly the nav unit and anti-pinch windows that go down when they feel like it.
The BMW is leaving in two weeks and I decided to get a E350 4Matic.0
..........The M is a great car if you can deal with it's "weirdness".........Because it is all wheel drive, the car tends to pull on uneven road surfaces...........
My 2wd M35 Sport did the same thing.0
So far, my short list of alternatives is the M35x in current cars, and the 08 CTS for upcoming cars (looks good on paper, and its the same size as the 5 series).
What about the G35x? That's really more of direct competitor to the CTS. The A6 4.2 S-line is also worth consideration. If I remember correctly from when the M launched, there isn't enough room for both the V8 and the AWD system. I've also never heard anything about plans to add an M45x. Based on how Infiniti generally operates, I would expect the freshened M to get the new VQ35HR, and some very minor interior and exterior tweaks. I don't think they'll use the G coupe's new VQ37HR V6 unless the VK45 also gets a bump in power.0
Appreciate the feedback. Had not heard about the M35x wheel issue, and the pulling is not encouraging. My biggest concerns about it are owner's reports that it needs an overdrive gear to cut down engine revs on the highway, and the possibility Infiniti will upgrade the engine later this year if I were to buy one now (to either the version in the current G35, or perhaps the 3.7 engine in the new coupe).
I've read mixed reviews about 5 series reliability, so that is a concern. I've had good luck with my 06 3 series, so I'm positive on BMW at the moment.
I've looked at the E series at auto shows, but haven't gone any further than that.
Did you eventually get the problem fixed of the car pulling on uneven roads?
Yes, I considered the G35x. I think the exterior of the new car is as greatly improved as the interior, and I like its looks. But after sitting in the car at the auto show, where I could adjust the driver's seat, I don't feel that it offers any significant advantage over my current car in rear seat leg room. It's not as roomy at the 5 series (and the 5 series is not as roomy as the M35x). I also have concerns about the lack of an overdrive gear in the auto, and some reports about road / engine noise.
On paper, the 08 CTS is almost identical to the 5 series in both exterior and interior dimensions, so I believe it will offer more interior room, especially in the back seat, than the G35x. It also offers a 6 speed auto with AWD, and the nice-to-have option of a folding rear seat, but it remains to be seen how good the actual car is. I'm viewing it as a value alternative rather than direct competitor to the 535Xi.
The A-6 is a very striking design, but not one I personally would care to own. Its also too big.
I have no idea if there will be an M45x. A little while ago I posted a question in an Infiniti forum asking about the possibility of an AWD version of the M45, and the person who responded thought there was not enough room for AWD with the V-8. Maybe that was you! But then I saw a posting in one of the Infiniti forums saying a dealer told them an M45x is coming.
If there ever were an M45x, I think I would find that more appealing than the M35x. A V-8 is inherently smoother than a V-6, and a colleague at work liked the responsiveness of the M45 much better than the M35 (he bought an M45 sport).
I wouldn't put too much faith in rumors from a dealer. A Lexus dealer told me there was going to be a new SC300 back when the SC430 launched. If there's room for the AWD running gear, why would Infiniti wait this long? Also, considering the usual V6 to V8 sales breakdown in the mid-lux segment, I don't think there would be enough of a market for them to go to the effort and expense of developing a M45x.0
I tend to agree with your logic on the M45x question. Could be similar to why BMW doesn't offer a 550Xi.
In fairness to the A-6, my comment on size may be a bit in error. When I went to the BMW web site and did a comparison between the (2007) 5 series and A6, it showed the A-6 width as 79.2", which is 6.5" wider than the 5 series and 7.7" wider than the 3 series. But when I dug into the specs on the Audi site, they include the sideview mirrors in vehicle width and BWM does not, so I can't really tell.
The A-6 is 2.4" longer than the 5 series, which doesn't sound like much, but the 5 series is already 12.9" longer than my 3 series. I need for any new car to fit in my garage, and I don't have a lot of extra room in either length or width.
erickpl Posts: 2,735The A6 fits in a standard garage just fine.
I'm envious, I wish I had a standard garage! Used to when I owned single family homes, but am now in a townhouse.
My dealer has been fairly reliable about what's coming, and they say an M45x is coming next model year (late summer?).0


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Moderators: Three Stars, dagny, pfim, netwolf
Sarcastic wrote:http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/03/16320630-teen-legally-known-only-as-girl-battles-to-use-her-own-name
Teen legally known only as 'Girl' battles to use her own name
A 15-year-old is suing the Icelandic state for the right to legally use the name given to her by her mother. The problem? Blaer, which means "light breeze" in Icelandic, is not on a list approved by the government.
Like a handful of other countries, including Germany and Denmark, Iceland has official rules about what a baby can be named. In a country comfortable with a firm state role, most people don't question the Personal Names Register, a list of 1,712 male names and 1,853 female names that fit Icelandic grammar and pronunciation rules and that officials maintain will protect children from embarrassment. Parents can take from the list or apply to a special committee that has the power to say yea or nay.
the wicked child wrote:Cat caught sneaking saw, phone into Brazil prison
http://news.yahoo.com/cat-caught-sneaki ... 07675.html
Shyster wrote:A Minnesota divorce lawyer not only had an affair with the woman he represented in a divorce, he billed her for time they spent having sex:
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... air-client
Please make up your own jokes.
Shyster wrote:A Minnesota divorce lawyer not only had an affair with the woman he represented in a divorce, he billed her for time they spent having sex:
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... air-client
Please make up your own jokes.
Oregon firefighters have rescued a woman who was trapped between a very narrow space created by the outside walls of two buildings.
The unidentified woman fell between the parking garage of the Gretchen Kafoury Commons apartment building and the Joyce Furman building in Portland around 3:45 a.m. PST, firefighters told ABC News' Portland affiliate KATU.
Firefighters cut a door-size opening in one of the concrete walls and used lubricant to help her slide out from where she was stuck.
Relief cuts were made in the walls and airbags were wedged between the walls in an effort to spread the walls out as much as possible.
One lady most certainly of the opinion that men prefer curves is Mikel Ruffinelli, a 420-pound mother of four who measures a staggering eight-foot in circumference.
At just five-foot-four, 39-year-old Mikel, who lives in Los Angeles, is substantially wider than she is tall, but says she wouldn't want it any other way.
'I love my shape and I see no reason to diet because I don't have health problems,' explains Mikel, has a proportionally small 40-inch waist. 'Men don't fancy skinny girls, they like an hourglass figure.'
Mikel's biggest fan is her husband, Reggie Brooks, a 40-year-old computer technician. They've been married 10 years and Mikel says that he finds her unusual shape sexy and tells her every day just how beautiful she is.
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Explore Our Hotel
Holiday Inn Express Colton-Riverside North is centralized in the Inland Empire at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains only 4 miles from both Downtown Riverside and San Bernardino business districts. A hotel offering complimentary Hot Breakfast, Internet and Parking. The hotel is ideally located near Riverside Convention Center only 4 miles away and we offer complimentary shuttle to your event, subject to availability. An excellent choice of hotel traveling to Riverside within 4 miles to many destinations such as Live Nation's Riverside Fox Performing Arts Center and the Historic Mission Inn .
Holiday Inn Express Colton-Riverside North is a hotel positioned near The Riverside County Superior Courthouse and The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Appellate District and UC Riverside is only 3 miles away. The hotel is close to Riverside Community College host to WGI Riverside Color Guard Prelims, Western Percussion Prelims, Western Band Association, RCC Big Orange Classic, Drum Corps International and Western Corps Connections perfectly fits our 150 rooms. The hotel is also near Riverside Aquatics Center host to Spring West Junior National Diving Championships, Junior Olympics and many other National Championships. The Hotel is near AB Brown Sports Complex, AYSO Region 47 only 1.5 miles hosting Locomotion Tournament, LA Galaxy and Milan Raincross.
- Black-out Shades
- Crib Available
- Iron/Ironing Board
- Separate Hanging Closet
- In-Room Heating and A/C Controls
- Sofa Bed/Sleeper Couch
Bathroom/Personal Care
- Private Bathroom
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In-Room Features
- Mini Refrigerator
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- Direct-dial Phone
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- Power Converter Available
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Added Value
- Connecting Rooms Available
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- Full Breakfast Included
- Breakfast Buffet Included
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- Off-site Restaurant Delivery Available
Business Services
- 1 Meeting Room(s) Available
- On-Site Business Center
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Internet Access
- Free High-Speed Internet in all Rooms
- Wireless Internet service is free for all IHG® Rewards Club members
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- Outdoor Pool
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- Outdoor Pool Hours of Operation: 7:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Health & Fitness
Complimentary Fitness Center
Fitness Facilities include 2 Treadmills, a Recumbent Cycle and an Elliptical Cross Trainer . Keeping up the exercise routine while away form home can be easy with a quick visit to our fitness room located in the hotel. First floor.
Hours of Operation: 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM
Fitness Center Type: LIMITED
Fitness Center Equipment:
- Treadmill
- Elliptical Machines
- Free Weights
- Stationary Bicycle
Last Renovation of Fitness Center Equipment: 2017
Housekeeping & Laundry
- Daily Housekeeping
- On-site Guest Self-Laundry Facilities
- Hours of Operation: 12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Added Value
- Language Interpretation
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Hotel Details
2830 S. Iowa Avenue
Colton, California 92324
United States
Check In: 3:00 PM
Check Out: 12:00 PM
Check-in Age: 18
Parking + -
- Complimentary Self Parking Available
Accessibility + -
- Public Entrance
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Accessible Hotel Areas
- Registration Area
- Accessible Guest Rooms
- Business Center
- Meeting Room
- Exercise Facility
- Pool
Hotel Areas with Accessible Routes from Accessible Public Entrance
- Accessible Self Parking
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- Number of Floors: 4
- Total Number of Rooms: 150
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Pro golfer Phil Mickelson has overcome serious health problems, along with the bad luck of competing during the same epoch as Tiger Woods, to earn more than $67 million in prize money in his two-decade career, by ESPN's accounting. Factor in his impressive income from endorsements and an investment in a successful golf-course design company, and his net worth tops $180 million, according to Forbes.
But to paraphrase some other wealthy and successful entertainers: More money, more problems. In the last couple of months, both the federal government and Mickelson's home state of California have hiked income taxes for Lefty and other top earners. And last Sunday, after wrapping up a tournament in Palm Springs, Lefty hinted that it might be enough to drive him out of the state, or even into retirement. "There are going to be some drastic changes for me," he told reporters. "My tax rate's 62, 63%. So I've got to make some decisions on what I'm going to do."
The golfer has since walked back from his comments. In a press conference today, he compared his remarks to an errant tee shot he made at the 2006 U.S. Open (just Google "Mickelson" and "Winged Foot"), and said that it was insensitive to have discussed the issue publicly at a time when many Americans were still unemployed; he also said he hadn't yet reached any decisions about what to do next. But his overall tone still resonates. As you'd expect, the Mickelson story has provided a new battlefield for arguments about how big a high earner's tax burden should be (not to mention whether it makes sense to pay any athlete so handsomely to hit a ball into a hole). Tiger Woods and the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal have Lefty's back; ESPN's Michael Collins would like him to shut up and drive.
One could quibble with Mickelson's math—to get to a tax rate of 63%, for example, you'd have to include the Social Security payroll tax, which should have phased out after the first $110,000 or so of the estimated $44 million that Mickelson earned in 2012. But still, by my back-of-the-envelope estimate, if Mickelson earns as much in 2013 as he did last year, he's looking at an increase of about $3.7 million in income and payroll taxes alone. (About $400,000 of that additional tax goes to Medicare—future retirees, Lefty is stepping up for you.)
But Barry Ritholtz at the Big Picture blog had perhaps the most memorable reaction: If he's really paying "62, 63%" in taxes, then "Who the Hell are Phil Mickelson's financial advisers?" (Emphasis Ritholtz's.) Whoever they are, they and Lefty could learn a thing or two from MarketWatch's Robert Powell, whose recent guide to tax-efficient investments might give Mickelson the cushion he needs to keep on putting. (Read Powell's advice here.)


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Jordi really liked this (as did Lindsey and Justin)
More posts
- Pear w/ light kiwi and strong cream on the nose follows through to a toasted oak pallet and buttery finish.
- Joes favs Joes favorite -Rumbaer Chardonnay -favorite La crema ;chardonnay -Toasted Head ; Chardonnay -Kendall Jack
- A favorite
- Good, for a Chardonnay. David Seres served us their red last year
- Good cheap Chardonnay


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Some of you might have noticed that Diego Maradona never goes anywhere without a couple of nice gentleman who look like they run a casino when they're not attempting to scare other teams into losing football matches.
One of them in particular - the one with the slick hair - has the demeanour of a man who would kindly offer you for a lift home, then drive to the wrong house, shiv you in the neck, and bury you in the desert.
But don't be fooled by the whole Sopranos thing they've got happening, these men actually happen to have some footballing pedigree.
The aforementioned one with the hair happens to be Maradona's best pal, Alejandro Mancuso. He played for Argentina a handful of times in the early 1990s.
Whilst the other is Hector Enrique, who some might remember as the man who passed the ball to Maradona in the 1986 World Cup, before the dinky little magician sped off to score the Goal of the Century.
Maradona presumably considers him to be some kind of lucky charm.
Here's that bloody goal again…
This post, written by Josh Burt, is republished with permission from The Spoiler. Go there often if you like soccer stuff.


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Trick Trick & Diezel - Smoke Weed Everyday
"The Medicinal Movement Continues as MoTunes presents Trick Trick along with his brothers Diezel and Dj Thrilla keep the smoke burning in this Smoke filled video. Clearly the Goon Sqwad has taken full advantage of the legalization of Marijuana in DETROIT. the video features cameos from 2Chains, the Buddah Master B-REAL, DJ Crazy Toones, and a list of other."
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Right behind the news that JC Penney president Michael Francis is leaving the company and just as the the stock falling over 10% today, Bill Ackman has some things to say.
Ackman, whose hedge fund Pershing Square is the majority stakeholder of JC Penney (they own nearly 18% of the company), has been attempting to turn around JC Penney as his biggest investment. His most ambitious move so far has been hiring away Apple retail guru Ron Johnson to become the CEO of the retailer, but that has garnered ambiguous results.
He told Bloomberg in a telephone interview today that recent advertising strategy didn't reach JC Penney's core customers, referring to Johnson's strategic attempt to ween JC Penney's typical customers off the "sales mentality."
However, Ackman added that he still "100% believes in JC Penney's strategy," and has strong faith in Johnson's handling of JC Penney's marketing initiatives.
We'll see how that pans out.
SEE ALSO— THE JC PENNEY DISASTER TIMELINE: How Ex-Apple Guru Ron Johnson Is Destroying The Company


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Probate files contain all the legal documentation required for the granting of a probate of a will. Files include copies of probate, wills and affidavits.
The Hamilton High Court was responsible for civil, criminal and matrimonial jurisidiction for the Hamilton region.
Archives New Zealand Auckland, Regional Office 95 Richard Pearse DriveMangereAuckland 2022
PO Box 201103Auckland AirportManukau 2150
Ph: 09 270 1100Fax: 09 276 4472 Email: email@example.com


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Worker's Compensation
All College of William and Mary and Virginia Institute of Marine Science employees (e.g. faculty, full-time staff, part-time staff, student workers, hourly, etc.) are eligible to receive benefits under the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act for an injury and/or illness which is incurred in the course of official work-related duties.
All claims are processed by Managed Care Innovations, Inc. through the Office of Human Resources when filed as an occupational injury/illness. Benefits generally include payment of medical expenses and time lost from work
Worker's Comp Info (pdf)
Return to Work Policy (pdf)


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DOVER — The City Council approved the performance evaluation of the city manager Wednesday night unanimously.
Mayor Dean Trefethen said the resolution was not finalized until Wednesday morning when he released a summary of the comments and because of this, the city clerk, attorney and finance director did not have time to look over and sign the evaluation.
The council agreed to vote to approve the evaluation, even without the signatures. Attorney Allan Krans and City Clerk Karen Lavertu were present at the council meeting. Krans said he approves the evaluation and Lavertu said that if she had any issues, she would let the councilors know Thursday.
The resolution formalized and finalized the city manager's proponents of fiscal year 2012. With the approval Wednesday night, it became an official evaluation documentation.
A 3.7 percent increase to Joyal's salary, effective July 1, 2012, is a requirement of his contract. This salary adjustment was approved with the resolution of the evaluation.
The evaluation consisted of three parts. The numerical scoring sheet, which allowed councilors to rate a list of 20 expectations, was released last week. Joyal received an overall performance score of 3.37. The second part is an open dialogue, which occurred last week during a nonpublic meeting.
The third part is a written component with comments to the city manager. The summary of comments made during the nonpublic session were released Wednesday, although the actual comments are considered private and confidential since they were presented in a "personal type" meeting.
Comments were far-ranging and there was criticism, suggestions for improvement and praise, according to Mayor Dean Trefethen.
Joyal's overall performance score indicates the council believes he is meeting expectations. Overall, the comments by councilors reveal they approve of Joyal's work, but wish his communication would improve.
As for how Joyal monitored the fiscal year 2012 budget, Trefethen wrote, "Overall, the council thought the manager did this well and on a continual basis. There have been occasions when more info to the council would have been helpful."
Trefethen wrote that councilors thought Joyal also did an excellent job keeping the council informed regarding community problems and actions and with keeping the response time to residents' concerns reasonable.
They also thought he did a good job supporting local businesses.
The council had no issues with how Joyal presented and proposed the six-year Capital Improvements Plan that was presented in 2011. They were also very pleased with his efforts to pursue permitting and the development of the public water supply and control issues at Willand Pond.
Trefethen wrote that councilors were not pleased with Joyal's effort to upgrade the broadcast capabilities in council chambers.
"The council was not happy with the overall results of this project and noted it was not done in time. Although the quality of the video is better, the arrangement of the new desks and continuing sound problems are problematic."
Trefethen also wrote the councilors believed Joyal could have tried new and different ways to interact with the community and needs to do a better job telling council members when he attends workshops and participates in education opportunities for ongoing professional development.
Overall, the councilors want better communication. They were unaware of efforts by the manager in terms of supporting a close working relationship with the School Department and other city departments and asked for more information regarding energy savings quarterly reports and asked for certain topics to be updated more often, such as the three-year pavement management plan.
Dover city manager evaluation unanimously approved
DOVER — The City Council approved the performance evaluation of the city manager Wednesday night unanimously.


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Mike Tyson's new show on Animal Planet, Taking On Tyson, revolves around the former boxer's introduction to the sport of racing homing pigeons. Viewers get a glimpse of a fascinating world, in which birds are treated like athletes — carefully trained, fed only the best birdseed and vitamins, prized for their performance. There's definitely something different about people who like birds. Bird people can't (usually?) cuddle or snuggle with their pet at night like dog people and cat people. There's no moving-together-as-one-powerful-being experience, like horse people have. Birds — whether they be sparrows or eagles — are delicate. And most of them do what people, cats, dogs and horses cannot: Fly. Bird people tend to have their eyes on the sky.
There are many different racing clubs in the New York area, but Tyson is a newcomer to the competition. That said, his involvement with birds has been almost life-long. As a kid growing up in Brooklyn, he was impoverished, bullied incessantly and surrounded by drugs and crime. His father left the family when Tyson was 2; his mother died when he was 16. Birds became an escape and a comfort, and the first fight he ever participated in was over a bird. Some bullies took one of Tyson's pigeons, and when he demanded that they give it back, one of them broke the bird's neck and threw the blood in Tyson's face. "I just started fighting," Tyson says.
Though he was enamored with his birds, the creatures couldn't keep Tyson out of trouble — he spent a heap of time in one of New York's worst juvenile detention centers, and according to some reports, by the age of 13, he'd been arrested 38 times. But when Muhammad Ali made an appearance at juvie, Tyson saw boxing as a means of earning respect. Taking into account everything we know about Mike Tyson — allegations of spousal abuse, a rape conviction, the ear-biting incident — he appears very calm and humble on the show, while still exhibiting a passion for pigeons. He talks about how he used to believe he was superior to everyone else because he was "programmed" that way by his coach, mentions he's been in therapy for years and works every day on "de-programming" himself. The birds seem to be part of the process. Tyson and his crew keep their pigeon coop immaculate and as comfortable as it can be, since homing pigeons will only race back to a place that they truly consider home. Watching the man you may think of as a brute be sober, gentle and humane with his birds, you gradually realize what's going on is even more powerful than a heavyweight punch.


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The Virtue of Restraint
The Virtue of Restraint
It was supposed to be a quick run to the food store. All I needed was a quart of milk and some cereal for a house guest. I hurried into the Giant, our aptly named supermarket, and made my way to the breakfast cereals, wondering what kind my friend would like. I began pacing the aisle, absorbed in the choices stacked in front of me. Corn flakes or raisin bran? Name brand or store brand? Single packs or full size? Sugared or plain-or maybe chocolate-flavored? Overwhelmed by the variety, I wheeled around and surveyed my path. The entire aisle, from top to bottom on one side, was stocked with cereal, something I'd never noticed before. My curiosity now piqued, I retraced my steps, this time counting. Grand total: 130 different kinds, sizes, and brands of cereal available to the discerning shopper.
On the way home, I pondered the experience, searching for the advantage of such extensive choice. I have often heard it said that "development is anything that increases one's options," a shorthand definition that holds a tidy appeal. After all, a primary reason Germany is regarded as more developed than, say, Haiti, is that Germans have more opportunities-more options-than Haitians do. Is a country with 130 cereals really better off-more developed, all other things being equal-than a country with just 10? As our development advances, should we be aiming for 200 different cereal choices?
It seems to me that the benefits of ever-expanding choice have been oversold in wealthy countries. The same food system that can offer 130 different kinds of cereal helps create a nation of excess. A majority of American adults are overweight, and one in five is obese, partly because we are offered an almost endless selection of foods high in sugar and fat-foods that are heavily promoted and available cheaply, at any hour, almost any place. We face an alarming rise in infections that resist treatment, and that could trigger plagues of a kind we once thought conquered, because this economic system promotes generous access to antibiotics. Without a sense of restraint-an understanding of the wise and often limited use of options-ever-expanding choice becomes a "tyranny of freedom," as professor of psychology Barry Schwartz of Swarthmore College puts it, that can actually retard or even unravel our development.
As I arrived home, I couldn't help but contrast my experience of selecting a cereal with some of the more important decisions I had ever made: who I would marry, what job I would accept, which house I would buy. With cereals, I had an avalanche of information about price, quantity, flavor, texture, ingredients-along with less useful data, such as which celebrity athletes or cartoon characters endorse which brands. Moreover, I had all the time I wanted to make my decision, since the supermarket was open 24 hours. And even with all this information, if I'd made a disappointing cereal choice, it would have been of little consequence.
On the other hand, when I bought a house, got married, or took a job that might well change my life, my choices were much more limited and information about them was considerably harder to get. A lot of that information was subjective or hidden or needed a great deal of soul-searching. The TV offered no advice. Moreover, on these more important questions, time pressures loomed, and a poor decision was likely to bring great grief. My options, it turns out, were quite constrained. And yet, I think I did a better job with these major decisions than I did with the cereal.
We consider these important, limited-choice decisions to be character-building, formative, developmental. Not only are options few, but the commitment required by these choices means foreclosing huge sets of other choices-we do not normally continue to look for new houses, jobs, or spouses once we have committed. Here, the limits on choice are central to a person's development. My plethora of cereal options, by contrast-the knowledge that any kind of early morning sweet is possible-does little for my development. Most of those options are just different ways of delivering sugar-offering little real choice, I should add-and could increase my risk of tooth decay, heart disease, or diabetes. Having a larger number of choices doesn't necessarily bring happier outcomes.
Many people seem to understand, intuitively, that development and restraint go hand in hand. Parents set limits for their children-bed-times, allowances, constraints on offensive language or behavior-so the kids can develop to their fullest potential. The budding swimming star, if she wants a shot at making the Olympic team, will inevitably have to limit her social time. Yet, consumption-driven economics promotes, without embarrassment, the antagonistic concepts of development and unlimited consumption. The message we get from our business pages, TV commercials, and politicians is that you can't consume too much, your credit card balances can't be too high, and the number of cereal brands in the store simply can't be too many. The challenge, for those who sense that that message is self-serving, is to build economies that harness the creativity of capitalism while recognizing the central importance of restraint in true development.
As it generates greater wealth, the growth driven by mass consumption is also producing some troubling side effects. Most fundamental is the failure of advanced industrial societies to deliver widely their most hyped product: well-being, or happiness. Studies of societal happiness show that income growth and happiness, which once marched upward together, have been uncoupled. In the United States, for example, the share of people describing themselves as "very happy" declined from 35 percent in 1957 to 30 percent today, despite a more than doubling of income per person. For many of us, it seems, the more we ask consumption to fill our lives, the emptier we feel.
This malaise may also be reflected in the prevalence of depression, which public health officials now describe as an "epidemic" in industrial countries. British psychologist and journalist Oliver James asserts that "the closer a nation approximates the American model-a highly advanced and technologically developed form of modern capitalism-the greater the rate of mental illness amongst its citizens." Consistent with this assertion, a 1998 report of the World Health Organization notes that depression now ranks second in the world table of diseases-more widespread than cancer, for example-in high-income nations. And within the United States, the rise in depression tracks closely with growing prosperity. A survey of 18,000 adults found that Americans born in the ten years after World War II were 3 to 10 times more likely to suffer major depression before the age of 34 than were their compatriots born before World War I.
The downside of American prosperity is also evident in more specific ways. Consider food, which-like many other consumer goods-is inexpensive in the United States, and available in cornucopian quantity and variety. "Filling" stations now supply the belly as well as the gas tank. Coffeehouses serve 12 varieties in 3 sizes, with or without caffeine. University libraries, once strictly off-limits to food and drink, increasingly permit them. If product proliferation and availability are the measures of the food industry's progress, the U.S. food system is indeed highly developed.
But America's eat-all-you-can-eat culture is now actually undoing some of the health gains that were achieved earlier in the century. The same accelerating trend that now counts 61 percent of American adults as overweight or obese is spreading to other countries, even low income ones. Obesity alone is estimated to have cost Americans the equivalent of 13 percent of their expenditures on health care in 1998. It also increases the risks of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and cancer-the four leading causes of death in the industrial world. Arguably, Americans would be healthier and more prosperous-more developed-if food were less ubiquitous, and if fewer sweet and fatty foods were so cheaply and ubiquitously available.
The problem, in a nutshell, is that the harm done by the side effects of many development initiatives now outweighs the benefits of those development paths. Yet industrial economies seem to be producing more and more of this economic sclerosis. Consider pesticide use. Like antibiotics, pesticides are typically overused, killing farmworkers, polluting waters, and costing societies some $30 billion annually. Yet, while crop output per hectare has increased, pests devour 37 percent of that output today, compared with 30 percent in 1935, before pesticides were introduced. Societies would have been healthier and more prosperous if pesticides had been reserved as a tool of last resort, an occasional supplement to more organic strategies that rely on nature to check pest populations.
Similar cost-benefit imbalances are found with car-centered transportation. How polluted must air become, and how slow do average commutes have to get, before we realize that adding more cars and building more roads is making it harder and unhealthier to get where we want to go? A city that has paved 40 percent of its land to accommodate cars may offer more choices of routes to get from one place to another than a community that is only 5-percent paved, but that doesn't necessarily mean people actually get where they want to go any faster or more easily!
In their book Natural Capitalism, Paul Hawken and Amory and Hunter Lovins characterize these unwanted excesses of choice as wastes-of material, time, energy, and even people. They document a long string of wasteful costs generated by the U.S. economy, from the costs of highway congestion to those of drug use and unnecessary prisons. By their calculations, such economic deadweight adds up to some $2 trillion, more than a fifth of the U.S. GNP. That's like a 180-pound man gaining an additional 40 pounds-with no added developmental benefit, and with significant increased risk to himself. Much as excess fat threatens personal health, accumulated societal flab can eventually harden our economic arteries.
Often, our lack of restraint is promoted under the guise of individualism or privacy, conditions that increase our options by allowing us to do what we want, when we want to. Television, for example, is the individualization of leisure, giving us free run of a panoply of programs. The automobile is the individualization of transportation, offering the option to go most anywhere at any time-though increasingly slowly. Suburbanization is the individualization of housing and open space. But by maximizing private choice, these developments diminish social interaction, and reduce a society's social capital. Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, has found television to be especially corrosive to societal health. At least half of all Americans usually watch TV alone, he reports, and he estimates that each hour of television viewing per day corresponds to a 10 percent reduction in most forms of civic involvement. And the Internet may be further fraying the social fabric: a 2000 study found that heavy users of the Internet tended to be socially isolated.
Many psychologists blame such growing social isolation for the epidemic of depression. Today, a quarter of Americans live alone, up from 8 percent in 1940, and at least 20 percent of the population is estimated to have poor mental health. By contrast, the Old Order Amish people of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, who have a strong community life made possible in part by their car-free, electricity-free, lifestyles, suffer depression at less than one-fifth the rate of people in nearby Baltimore. The Amish way of life may not be preferred by many, but it reminds us that a community can create its own economy, and that socially rich but consumption-lean lifestyles can be important means of achieving real happiness.
Constraints, far from being thorns in our side, have been boons to humanity's moral, cultural and even physiological development for millennia. Neurobiologist William Calvin believes that the limits imposed by winter, for example, accelerated the development of human intelligence. Surviving summer was fairly easy for early hominids; it was not hard to collect the bounty of nuts, berries, and roots that surrounded them. But mastering winter often required hunting skills that could produce food and hides during the lean and cold months. Survival favored those with the intelligence to conceive of advanced hunting skills, such as construction of a trap. Calvin writes that the rapid enlargement of the human brain over 2.5 million years "is awfully quick by the standards of evolutionary biology. Yet winter once a year, an abrupt climate change every few millennia, and an ice age every hundred thousand years will speed up things ever so nicely." With the evolution of consciousness, options increased-from gathering food to gathering and hunting; from living in warm places to living almost anywhere. That expansion of options began the process we know as cultural development.
The shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture that began 10,000 years ago put us on a path toward growing freedom from natural constraints. Intensive cultivation coaxed more food from a parcel of land than natural processes alone had. Irrigation ensured water for crops even when rainfall was scarce. And the surplus food yielded by these advances fueled population growth to levels unsupportable in the era of hunting and gathering. In sum, agriculture was the first of many large-scale cultural innovations that allowed humans to supersede natural limits-limits that had shaped the development of all life, without exception, for billions of years.
Conventional wisdom interprets this history in a self-congratulatory and inaccurate way. It asserts that nature is anarchical in its wildness-hence the phrases "law of the jungle" and "state of nature" to connote disorder-and that civilization brings order to this chaos. But actually, nature is the ordered realm, and civilization the chaotic one, observes social evolutionary theorist Andrew Schmookler. The hugely complex natural world functions so well because each natural actor has particular, circumscribed roles. Each species is limited in what it can eat, where it can live, how it can communicate, and how it can interact with other species. Taken together, these limited roles constitute an order that is essential to ecosystem functioning.
By contrast, human success at surpassing many natural limits-producing huge quantities of food by farming, traveling in vehicles, talking on the phone across oceans, and seizing the habitats of other species for its own use-has made civilization largely open-ended. Natural limits have become increasingly easy to ignore, or even scorn, at least in the short term. "Out of the living order," Schmookler writes in The Parable of the Tribes, "emerged a living entity with no defined place," that is, a humanity capable of building its own space, increasingly disconnected from the natural limits of climate and ecology.
The open-endedness of human activities has led to great advances for humanity, of course. But practiced without restraint, it has also posed great and growing problems. The ancient Sumerians, for example-as well as nearly all succeeding irrigation civilizations, including our own-overused their irrigation systems, allowing salt to build up and poison their farms, in several cases contributing to the downfall of their societies. And the wealth generated by agriculture was used excessively by some, fueling the creation of social hierarchies.
For Schmookler, these and other problems represent a chaos never seen before the advent of civilization, a chaos generated by a species that had pushed back its natural limits. And out of this chaos, says Schmookler, emerged "the problem of power." When human intelligence reached levels that allowed humans to shed their naturally prescribed roles, cultures and civilizations developed. But they developed differentially, with some advancing more rapidly or in different directions than others. These differences-one clan is known, say, for its spears, another for its cave paintings-inevitably translated into differences of power. Without a central governing authority to ensure the peace, each culture, and later, each civilization, was left to fend for itself-an insecure state of affairs that produced full-blown societal competition for power, a competition that continues to this day. Indeed, our civilization is the product of a social evolutionary process, akin to natural selection, which favored those civilizations most adept at wielding power.
Social hierarchy, conquering armies, and privileged economic access were forms of power used to deal with food shortages, overpopulation, and other dysfunctions created by economies that operated at odds with the
natural world. In essence, says Schmookler, humans traded their balance within nature for a new "bondage to power." And over the millennia, cultural innovations designed to maximize power have grown in step with our divorce from the natural world. Today's deforestation and coral reef destruction, it would seem, are of a piece with the development of nuclear arsenals and the growing gap between rich and poor, even if a direct connection cannot always be drawn. Because we have not exercised restraint, concludes Schmookler, our blessings-our extended choices-have become our curses. Our growing freedom leaves us ever more tightly shackled.
The wisdom traditions of evolving human civilizations recognized the problem posed by unlimited options and prescribed power over oneself, rather than power over others, as a way to check the problem. "Moderation in all things," a common exhortation among ancient sages from Confucius to the Roman playwright Terence, is a good summation of this approach. Modern religious traditions as different as Buddhism and Islam have similar teachings: "To take all one wants is never as good as to stop when one should," goes a famous Taoist refrain. And Mahatma Gandhi's famous "seven social sins that can destroy a nation" are sins precisely because of the moderating factor they lack: wealth without work, commerce without morality, pleasure without conscience, education without character, science without humanity, and worship without sacrifice. Moderation, Gandhi and others make clear, is not meant to deprive or impoverish our lives, but to enhance them. The author Bill McKibben tells the story of the American journalist who once asked Gandhi: "Can you tell me the secret of your life in three words?" "Yes," replied Gandhi, "Renounce and enjoy," by which he meant that one should curb attachment to goods, power, or prestige, in order to find happiness. It is hard to imagine wisdom more at odds with the message of our consumption-based civilization.
With the development of capitalism, human activities diverged from natural ones ever more radically. Capitalism produced great social advances for many, but absent an ethic of restraint, it inevitably introduced excess-from severe inequality to pollution to unsustainable levels of materials consumption. Mass consumption and development, long-time partners, became more and more at odds, like a marriage gone sour. The gap between the world's rich and poor is far wider now than it has ever been before. In 1956, urban planner/philosopher Lewis Mumford lamented that capitalism would make virtues of six of Christianity's seven deadly sins: pride, avarice, lust, envy, gluttony, and anger. And commentator Travis Charbeneau has noted that the seventh sin, sloth, is often dangled as the reward for successfully exercising the other six. Yet, in our largely triumphalist modern regard for capitalism, the strain between consumption and development remains unacknowledged.
Yet if anything, the excesses of our age seem to be on the verge of ballooning, with potentially catastrophic consequences, as human activity abandons any pretense of restraint. Despite growing environmental awareness, major drivers of our civilization seem hell-bent on declaring independence from the natural world that sustains us. In April 2000, Bill Joy of Sun Microsystems published his now famous Wired magazine essay warning of the uncontrolled power of rapidly emerging scientific advances in biotechnology, advanced robotics, and nanotechnology (microscopic, molecular-level manufacturing). Common to each of these three future supertechnologies is the power of self-replication, which would allow unnatural creations such as exotic, engineered plants and super-intelligent robots to establish themselves as new species-the first human inventions to make themselves essentially immortal, and beyond human control.
Bill Joy is no Luddite. As a chief scientist at Sun, he's a widely respected technophile. Yet, he sees these boundary-busting "developments" as likely to pose serious threats to the human species within a few decades, and he urges great restraint in researching them. Unfortunately, for many Americans, Joy's prognosis seems to have been received as more of an investment opportunity than a warning. Oblivious to the value of limits, our civilization shows little interest in understanding and respecting such critical boundaries. Unless we get interested soon, speculated the late astronomer Carl Sagan, we may be the next civilization in the universe whose demise is met by a failure to grasp the importance of restraint (see box, page 18).
So, modern economies are founded on an astounding non sequitur. Meant to be engines of our development, they are actually designed primarily to produce wealth, which we then assume to be the equivalent of development. But suppose you could design an economy from scratch. In your ideal world, would your first question be "How can we generate more wealth?" Or would it be "How can we help people become more developed?" I suspect most people would have little hesitation in choosing development as the highest priority. It is probably true, of course, that a steady stream of wealth would help lubricate the wheels of development. But by placing the question of development first, we put wealth at the service of humankind, instead of making wealth the primary rationale for economic activity.
If we are to focus on development, however, we still need to know what to develop. The psychologist Abraham Maslow pondered this question with his seminal theory of a generation ago, and the British social scientist Tim Jackson has subsequently applied Maslow's thinking to economics. Maslow believed that human needs can be arranged hierarchically, starting with the material needs for food, shelter, etc., then moving to the need for physical security, thence to the higher needs of self-esteem, love, and finally, to "self-actualization"-the full realization of one's potential as a sentient being. It may be too much to ask that an economy supply self-esteem, love, and self-actualization, although many believe it can, as Jackson and his colleague Nick Marks have documented in a 1999 study.
Their research analyzed the doubling of individual spending by Britons between 1954 and 1994, and found that most of the increase was an effort to meet non-material needs-needs for affection, leisure, and creativity, etc.-through the consumption of material goods. For example, Britons were well clothed in 1954, but their spending on clothes increased by more than 200 percent per person by 1994, largely because fashion became a way to ensure status among their peers. Like citizens of other wealthy countries, Britons used the greater options afforded them by prosperity to meet needs that, in an age of fewer options and more social contact, had been met in their families and communities. But the literature on psychology is clear: we fool ourselves if we believe that nonmaterial needs can be met through the consumption of goods. Instead, love, self-esteem, and self-actualization are best gained through personal, social, and cultural interactions.
Not only is modern development unable to meet these higher needs; it may actually block people from attaining them. Jackson notes that there is "an impressive body of opinion suggesting that materialism inhibits the satisfaction" of non-material needs. Much of today's advertising, for example, sends an implicit message that is patently false: your self-worth depends on what you own. The car in your driveway, the size of your wardrobe, the electronic gadgets in your house-these externals have nothing to do with self-worth, but advertising works relentlessly to convince us otherwise. To the extent that advertising steers us toward false sources of self-esteem, it might be described as a promoter of faux development, or even as a source of developmental decay.
Restraint may seem a foreign notion in Western civilization, given our Enlightenment heritage and belief in perpetual progress. The idea that we might voluntarily tame our passions and constrain our thirst for knowledge feels almost unnatural to a species long accustomed to satisfying its acquisitiveness and curiosity. Even in the face of our own moral demise, and possibly in the face of threats to our very survival, we seem slow to grasp the need for judicious and tempered personal and societal lives.
Yet limits are a most natural thing, and a few noble examples of societal restraint prove that we haven't forgotten how to practice prudent circumscription. The Netherlands, for example, was as car-dependent as any other European country in the 1960s, but today the Dutch make 30 percent of all urban trips by bicycle-which accounts for less than 1 percent of such trips in the United States. The Dutch are almost certainly healthier and wealthier, and their cities more attractive and livable, than if they had continued to pack their roads and lives with automobiles.
A good example of technological restraint is the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, which forbids development of chemical weapons. Nations recognized that while initial development of these weapons would be difficult and costly, they would eventually be easy to copy and deliver to target countries, where they could do terrible damage. Nobody would be safe, and everyone's development would be in jeopardy. The Convention represents a decision to exercise restraint by foregoing the development of such weapons. Wouldn't the same kind of action be a prudent course for the development of germ-line biotechnology, or for technologies that have been shown to fray the societal fabric?
Drawing clear lines that limit our options for consumption, or for technology, is one of the most effective steps we can take to maximize our development, and it is a step that is more true to our nature as humans than is a culture of unlimited choice.
Gary Gardner is Director of Research for the Worldwatch Institute.


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When you pop open that bottle of red wine this holiday season, consider toasting its benefits to your teeth. After all, compounds in red wine can prevent cavities and plaque build-up, researchers say.
The compounds — called polyphenols — block a molecule made by the bacteria streptococcus mutans, which are found in all our mouths, said researcher Hyun Koo, a microbiologist at University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.
Normally, these bacteria break down sugar we eat and make sticky molecules called glucans, which let bacteria to cling to our teeth and damage their surfaces, Koo told MyHealthNewsDaily.
These bacteria also produce an acid that erodes the tooth enamel, leading to cavities, he said.
But the fermented grape stems, seeds and skins left over from wine production contain high amounts of polyphenols. The polyphenols can block the ability of S. mutans to make glucans, letting the good bacteria in the mouth thrive, while disabling the bad bacteria from sticking to the teeth, Koo said.
"The oral cavity is a very rich microbial environment, so you can't just smoke [the bad bacteria] out," he said. "There are beneficial and pathogenic organisms."
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Koo, who was a dentist for two years before becoming a microbiologist, also found that compounds in cranberries work similarly — they block the molecules that enable the sticky surface to form on our teeth.Story: Toasting the holidays? Pacing cocktails may save your heart
When researchers fed rats the cranberry compounds, called A-type proanthocyanidins, they found that the bacteria's production of acid and glucans were reduced by 70 percent, and cavities were reduced by 45 percent, according to a study Koo published in March in the dental health journal Caries Research.
But Koo warned that eating heaps of cranberry sauce or downing glass after glass of red wine won't help you reap the dental benefits of these compounds. Cranberry products, such as cranberry sauce or cranberry juice cocktail, contain a lot of sugar and aren't good for the teeth, and red wine can stain the teeth, he said.Story: From sex to shopping — 8 times you're naturally brilliant
Instead, Koo and his colleagues hope to find a way to add these compounds to mouthwashes, toothpastes or chewing gum to combat plaque and cavities. He hopes to test the findings in a clinical setting in the next four years.
Pass it on: Compounds in cranberries and red wine can help prevent of plaque and cavities.
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Follow MyHealthNewsDaily staff writer Amanda Chan on Twitter @ AmandaLChan.