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LSA Report
- CAPlan (2)
- Abstraction (1)
- Expertensysteme (1)
- Genetic Algorithm (1)
- Instance-based Learning (1)
- Nearest-Neighbor Classification (1)
- Problem Solvers (1)
- Smalltalk (1)
- Topology Preserving Networks (1)
- automated computer learning (1)
Im Rahmen des Sonderforschungsbereichs SFB314, Projekt X9 "Lernen und Analogie in technischen Expertensystemen", wurde die Verwendbarkeit von Techniken des fallbasierten Schliessens in wissens- basierten Systemen untersucht. Als prototypische Anwendungsdomäne wurde die Arbeitsplanerstellung rotationssymmetrischer Werkstücke gewählt. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird ein Modell der Arbeits- planerstellung unter Berücksichtigung der verschiedenen, bisher als unabhängig behandelten Planungsmethoden beschrieben. Auf der Basis einer modelbasierte Wissensakquistion aus in Unternehmen verfügbaren Arbeitsplänen wird ein Ausschnitt der Arbeitsplanerstellung, die Aufspannplanung, detailliert. Die Anwendbarkeit wurde durch eine prototypische Realisierung nachgewiesen.
Freivalds, Karpinski and Smith [8] explored a special type of learning in the limit: identification of an unknown concept (function) by eliminating (erasing) all but one possible hypothesis (this type of learning is called co-learning). The motivation behind learning by erasing lies in the process of human and automated computer learning: often we can discard incorrect solutions much easier than to come up with the correct one. In Gödel numberings any learnable family can be learned by an erasing strategy. In this paper we concentrate on co-learning minimal programs. We show that co-learning of minimal programs, as originally defined is significantly weaker than learning minimal programs in Gödel numberings. In order to enhance the learning power
We present an approach to automating the selection of search-guiding heuris-tics that control the search conducted by a problem solver. The approach centerson representing problems with feature vectors that are vectors of numerical val-ues. Thus, similarity between problems can be determined by using a distancemeasure on feature vectors. Given a database of problems, each problem beingassociated with the heuristic that was used to solve it, heuristics to be employedto solve a novel problem are suggested in correspondence with the similaritybetween the novel problem and problems of the database.Our approach is strongly connected with instance-based learning and nearest-neighbor classification and therefore possesses incremental learning capabilities.In experimental studies it has proven to be a viable tool for achieving the finaland crucial missing piece of automation of problem solving - namely selecting anappropriate search-guiding heuristic - in a flexible way.This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).
Rules are an important knowledge representation formalism in constructive problem solving. On the other hand, object orientation is an essential key technology for maintaining large knowledge bases as well as software applications. Trying to take advantage of the benefits of both paradigms, we integrated Prolog and Smalltalk to build a common base architecture for problem solving. This approach has proven to be useful in the development of two knowledge-based systems for planning and configuration design (CAPlan and Idax). Both applications use Prolog as an efficient computational source for the evaluation of knowledge represented as rules.
Problem specifications for classical planners based on a STRIPS-like representation typically consist of an initial situation and a partially defined goal state. Hierarchical planning approaches, e.g., Hierarchical Task Network (HTN) Planning, have not only richer representations for actions but also for the representation of planning problems. The latter are defined by giving an initial state and an initial task network in which the goals can be ordered with respect to each other. However, studies with a specification of the domain of process planning for the plan-space planner CAPlan (an extension of SNLP) have shown that even without hierarchical domain representation typical properties called goal orderings can be identified in this domain that allow more efficient and correct case retrieval strategies for the case-based planner CAPlan/CbC. Motivated by that, this report describes an extension of the classical problem specifications for plan-space planners like SNLP and descendants. These extended problem specifications allow to define a partial order on the planning goals which can interpreted as an order in which the solution plan should achieve the goals. These goal ordering can theoretically and empirically be shown to improve planning performance not only for case-based but also for generative planning. As a second but different way we show how goal orderings can be used to address the control problem of partial order planners. These improvements can be best understood with a refinement of Barrett's and Weld's extended taxonomy of subgoal collections.
Abstraction is one of the most promising approaches to improve the performance of problem solvers. In several domains abstraction by dropping sentences of a domain description - as used in most hierarchical planners - has proven useful. In this paper we present examples which illustrate significant drawbacks of abstraction by dropping sentences. To overcome these drawbacks, we propose a more general view of abstraction involving the change of representation language. We have developed a new abstraction methodology and a related sound and complete learning algorithm that allows the complete change of representation language of planning cases from concrete to abstract. However, to achieve a powerful change of the representation language, the abstract language itself as well as rules which describe admissible ways of abstracting states must be provided in the domain model. This new abstraction approach is the core of PARIS (Plan Abstraction and Refinement in an Integrated System), a system in which abstract planning cases are automatically learned from given concrete cases. An empirical study in the domain of process planning in mechanical engineering shows significant advantages of the proposed reasoning from abstract cases over classical hierarchical planning.^
We are going to present two methods that allow to exploit previous expe-rience in the area of automated deduction. The first method adapts (learns)the parameters of a heuristic employed for controlling the application of infer-ence rules in order to find a known proof with as little redundant search effortas possible. Adaptation is accomplished by a genetic algorithm. A heuristiclearned that way can then be profitably used to solve similar problems. Thesecond method attempts to re-enact a known proof in a flexible manner in orderto solve an unknown problem whose proof is believed to lie in (close) vicinity.The experimental results obtained with an equational theorem prover show thatthese methods not only allow for impressive speed-ups, but also make it possibleto handle problems that were out of reach before.
This technical report is a compilation of several papers on the task of solving diagnostic problems with the help of topology preserving maps. It first reviews the application of Kohonen's Self- Organizing Feature Map (SOFM) for a technical diagnosis task, namely the fault detection in CNC-Machines with the KoDiag system [RW93], [RW94]. For emergent problems with coding attribute values, we then introduce fuzzy coding, similarity assignment and weight updating schemes for three crucial data types (continuous values, ordered and unordered symbols). These techniques result in a SOFM type network based on user defined local similarities, thus being able to incorporate a priori knowledge about the domain [Rah95].
Real world planning tasks like manufacturing process planning often don't allow to formalize all of the relevant knowledge. Especially, preferences between alternatives are hard to acquire but have high influence on the efficiency of the planning process and the quality of the solution. We describe the essential features of the CAPlan planning architecture that supports cooperative problem solving to narrow the gap caused by absent preference and control knowledge. The architecture combines an SNLP-like base planner with mechanisms for explict representation and maintenance of dependencies between planning decisions. The flexible control interface of CAPlan allows a combination of autonomous and interactive planning in which a user can participate in the problem solving process. Especially, the rejection of arbitrary decisions by a user or dependency-directed backtracking mechanisms are supported by CAPlan.
In this report, we first propose a dichotomy of topology preserving network models based on the degree to which the structure of a network is determined by the given task. We then look closer at one of those groups and investigate the information that is contained in the graph structure of a topology preserving neural network. The task we have in mind is the usage of the network's topology for the retrieval of nearest neighbors of a neuron or a query, as it is of importance, e.g., in medical diagnosis systems. In general considerations, we propose certain properties of the structure and formulate the respective expectable results of network interpretation. From the results we conclude that both topology preservation as well as neuron distribution are highly influential for the network semantics. After a short survey on hierarchical models for data analysis, we propose a new network model that fits both needs. This so called SplitNet model dynamically constructs a hierarchically structured network that provides interpretability by neuron distribution, network topology and hierarchy of the network layers. We present empirical results for this new model and demonstrate its application in the medical domain of nerve lesion diagnosis. Further, we explain a view how the interpretation of the hierarchy in models like SplitNet can be understood in the context of integration of symbolic and connectionist learning.


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Evening classes canceled Feb. 7, 2018. Learn more.
Home | Academics | Our Schools | Conservatory of Performing Arts | Conservatory News & Features
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subset: commoncrawl


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The Z3, born in 2002, 3.0L M54 engine, all the extras.
There was not a seperate club for BMW roadster in NZ so one was formed it is called ZOG = Z Owners Group
For information on NZ Club (ZOG)
A short history of the Z3
The BMW Z3 knew how to make an entrance. It claimed the gun-barrel-shaped spotlight along with Pierce Brosnan in the James Bond flick GoldenEye shortly before its introduction for model-year 1996. This celebrity-like intro, combined with the fact that the car was BMW's first modern mass-market roadster, gave the Z3 instant popularity. Neiman Marcus' 1995 Christmas catalog showcased the luscious sports car as the perfect Christmas gift, and it launched a sales stampede that resulted in sold-out Z3 numbers for BMW before the first model even hit showroom floors.
The Z3's romance with the public proved to be long-lasting. Although riding on an antiquated semi-trailing-arm rear suspension from the E30 3 Series, the BMW Z3 was nevertheless a stylish, fun roadster that re-energized the affordable sports car market. Initially offered with only a 1.9-liter 138-horsepower inline-4 engine, a 2.8-liter inline-6 making 190 hp became available in 1997. (They could be differentiated by wider rear fenders.) It was the straight-6 engine, with its flawlessly smooth power delivery and distinctive sound, that really made the Z3 come alive. Handling was impeccable. The Z3's ride was taut enough to satisfy enthusiasts, yet agreeable enough to make it a pleasant daily driver. And from a buying and owning perspective, the Z3 neatly straddled the line between entry-level roadsters like the Miata and more out-of-reach models like the 911.
Still, the BMW Z3 had its shortcomings. Some interior materials were subpar and its cabin could seem confining for larger occupants because of the big, non-telescoping steering wheel and oversize rearview mirror. Convertible models were also saddled with a chintzy plastic rear window that sullied the car's luxury image by clouding over time. Finally, the coupe's styling was highly polarizing.
But these imperfections are pretty minor. As a used sports car, its more reasonable prices place it within reach of those who may not have been able to afford its lofty pleasures had they attempted to purchase it years ago as a new vehicle. If you're in the market for a stunning used coupe or convertible that handles even better than it looks, you owe it to yourself to investigate this talented Bimmer.
Most Recent BMW Z3
As one of the first vehicles to roll out from BMW's Spartanburg, South Carolina, plant, the Z3 was built from 1996-2002. In its first year on the market, the Z3 came in just one flavor: a base-model convertible powered by a 1.9-liter inline-4 good for 138 hp. Standard features included an AM/FM/cassette player and cruise control. A five-speed manual transmission was also standard, but those seeking a somewhat less interactive driving experience could choose a four-speed automatic. Leather seats and traction control were available options. The following year is when the Z3 truly blossomed, thanks to the addition of another trim, the 2.8. As its name implies, this trim was powered by a 2.8-liter inline-6 – the same lauded 190-hp six-cylinder that powered 3 Series models of the era. The Z3 also got a luxury upgrade, with the addition of a CD changer and heated seats to its options list.
With the 1998 model, this BMW became more readily adaptable to inclement weather, thanks to the introduction of an optional power convertible top. In 1999, the Z3 coupe arrived. Equipped with the 2.8-liter engine only, its hatchback design added extra body stiffness and versatility, but its strange tail drew guffaws of disgust and befuddlement amongst those who felt it was smearing the beautiful Z3. That year, the 1.9-liter four-cylinder bowed out in favor of a new 170-hp inline-6. Despite the 2.5-liter displacement, the model was strangely called a Z3 2.3 for 1999 and 2000.
A Harman Kardon stereo became available, and a hardtop roof joined the options list on convertible models. Safety was enhanced with the addition of side airbags to the standard features list of all Z3 sports cars.
Minor exterior and interior refreshes were in store for the BMW Z3 coupe and convertible in 2000, and stability control joined the standard features list. For 2001, the 2.8 trim in both the coupe and convertible became the 3.0i, with the introduction of a 3.0-liter engine good for 225 hp and 214 pound-feet of torque. The logically rechristened 2.5i saw a power increase of 14 horses. Also, the Z3's optional four-speed automatic transmission was replaced with a five-speed automatic with manual shifting capability. For 2002, its final year on the market, the BMW Z3 added a CD player to its standard features list.
A Beemer and a Bimmer at Wanganui
Our Z3 At Hamilton
ZOG Meeting at Whakamaru.
The Taupo run
More at Taupo
Late i


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Home > News & Events > Wayland Press Release Archives > 2005 News Releases > May 2005 > Pioneers sign Graham hoopster
Pioneers sign Graham hoopster
PLAINVIEW – The Wayland Baptist University Pioneers have signed their only recruit of the off-season. Lee Berend has agreed to play for the Pioneers next season.
Berend, the son of Mike and Cindy Berend of Graham, led his team to the Class 3A state title game last season, averaging 34 points per game in the regional and state tournaments. As a senior at Graham High School, Berend averaged 25 points and 14 rebounds per game.
Pioneer coach Todd Thurman said former Wayland All-American Ty Harrelson saw Berend play and recommended him to Thurman. Thurman had a chance to watch Berend at the regional and state tournaments and liked what he saw. WBU assistant coach Donnie Dean said Berend will be a good fit in the Pioneer system.
"When he gets a little stronger and little quicker, he has a chance to be a very good player for us," Dean said.
The Pioneers have all their starters returning from a team that went 16-13 last season.


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In his new book, "Total Recall," former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger explains why he didn't want to talk to the media when it was discovered that he had fathered a child with the family housekeeper.
"I wanted to protect my family's privacy," Schwarzenegger writes, "which remains a priority of mine today."
That being the case, a question comes to mind. If Schwarzenegger wants to protect his family's privacy, what was he doing on "60 Minutes" Sunday night, talking about that affair and admitting to a number of others?
Photos: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver
The simplest answer, I suppose, is that he was promoting the book. But that raises another question:
If Schwarzenegger cares about his wife and their four kids — or his former mistress and the child she had with him — why write the book at all?
Let's think about this. His wife, Maria Shriver, and the kids were gone for a week, and not only was Arnold bold enough to have Mildred Baena do a little extra "housework," but he was careless enough to get her pregnant in the family domicile. She later brought the child to the house to play with half brothers and half sisters, all of them unaware they were related, until the resemblance became a little too obvious.


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Monday, October 06, 2008
Wine - how much more than just a drink? An exercise in heretical thought.
The 2008 annual lecture to the Wine Communicators of Australia. Given in Melbourne and Sydney on September 22 & 23 2008
The speech began with this video clip. For those who are can't access youtube, it credibly depicts an elephant strolling into a gym, mounting a trampoline and happily bouncing in the air and turning head over heels.
I wanted to share this little clip with you, partly because I think it's really rather wonderful and it never fails to raise my spirits. But also to illustrate a point. I imagine that everyone in this room has realised that a real life Dumbo wasn't genuinely turning those somersaults. But I'll bet that somewhere within each of us there's a wish that all that trampoline action really did happen. And much of what I'm going to talk about today is the gap between wishing and reality. Much of it will sound like heresy, and some of it may sound downright irrelevant. Especially when I take in subjects like coffee, the rationality of oral sex among US teenagers and sales of cheesy classical music and a couple of the biggest but most widely believed lies in western civilisation
But before we head off on this magical mystery tour, I suppose I ought to say a few words about myself. Most of you, if you know me at all, know me as a wine writer, founder of the International Wine Challenge and occasional judge at wine shows in Australia, ranging from the Adelaide Hills to the Tri Nations which I chaired in Sydney last week. All of this is true, but I should also reveal three years ago, I effectively gave up consumer wine writing. Since then, I have become editor at large of the trade magazine Meininger's Wine Business International, working alongside your colleague Felicity Carter, analysing the ins and outs and the who's doing what to whoms of the wine world. And I have also been walking on the wilder side, producing, branding and trying to sell a few wines of my own. I am stating this, partly as a declaration of interest, and partly as an additional justification for standing in front of you and pontificating.
In fact, I now feel rather like someone who, after a lengthy career writing academic books about sex, finds that he's taken on a part time job in a brothel. Which, I guess takes me back to the ins and outs of the wine world.
Just as we all wanted to believe in the elephant, every one of us in this room believes – or wants to believe – that when someone uses honest means to produce a wine that we think is good and fairly priced, that they somehow have a right to exist and continue to survive.
And Sarah Palin, quite possibly the person who'll one day make us all feel nostalgic for the relative sophistication of George W Bush believes that God made the world and everything on it in six days.
I'm more of an evolutionist – and evolution is an amoral process in which – to the distress of my son – there are no goodies and baddies. Like nuclear war and the world of banks and insurance companies, there are just fatalities and survivors. Last year, in the UK alone, 10,000 novels were published. That's more than one every hour. Some, probably most, were probably, to use a technical term, crap – though, unless they were self-published, someone apart from the author evidently thought otherwise – but a fair few were almost certainly fine and possibly minor masterpieces. We'll never know. We hear about the JK Rowlings and Frederick Forsyths who, like characters in one of their own novels, fight their way through adversity – in the form of a thicket of rejection slips - to make it onto the best seller lists. We never hear about the writers whose work is abandoned in the thicket. Or about some of the great movies that never get to be produced or go straight to video. But we do get to see Kevin Costner and Nicole Kidman in Father Christmas Stole My Breakfast. (Okay, so I made that up, but I'll bet something very like it is heading our way right now).
Let's look beyond the elephant – at the reality of the wine world of 2008, a world which, as communicators we might all claim to have helped to create or at least to mould into its current state. Unless of course, we've all been indulging in conversations with each other. And ourselves.
Considered objectively in the latter part of 2008, there are lots of good things to say about the wine world. Average quality – taking into account the drinkability of the basest and the most exalted wines – is higher than it has ever been. The choice is wider, with new wines appearing on the market every day. Adventurous wine drinkers in New York and London are able to wash down their pizza with Uruguayan Tannat, Chinese Dragon's Eye, Indian Sauvignon Blanc and Aussie Tempranillo. Financial rewards – for some – have been attractive too. People who bought first growth 2000s en primeur for £1,600 could sell them for £8,000 today. Or at least they'd have been able to do so a few weeks ago. Today I'm not quite as certain. The Casella family's bank account is presumably rather fatter than it was, as I'd imagine are those of a few Shiraz producers in the Barossa Valley, not to mention Pinot Grigio and Prosecco purveyors in Italy, and the Spaniards and Eastern Europeans who produced the white wine that, by some kind of alchemy, is being transformed into Italian Pinot Grigio and Prosecco.
But, there is, of course, the other side to this picture. When you consider the number of people it involves, our industry doesn't seem to be quite as big and impressive at it looks. Last year, its total turnover was estimated to be 230 billion US dollars. Which I thought sounded like quite a lot of cash – until I realised that it's actually 50 billion less than the US government has just doled out to save three financial institutions. Microsoft, by the way, turns over just over 4 times as much as the global wine industry.
But size isn't everything, at least that's what I keep saying… Who cares how big you are, provided you've got your health. Setting aside the little question of the sustainability – in this country at least - of much of an agricultural industry that depends on water that will not be available, there's the little matter of current financial viability. In Europe, the traditional heartland of wine, you have an industry that exists on a lifeline provided by European taxpayers, a 1.3bn AU$ annual subsidy, by the way that, even before the current financial storms, was due to be unhooked. For this to happen, large swathes – one eighth to be precise - of vineyard land will need to be uprooted, with the social implications this will inevitably imply.
Wine writers like us, occasionally write about the way big financial institutions like AXA have been sufficiently impressed by the wine world to invest substantial sums into buying Bordeaux chateaux. Fewer of us direct attention to the holdings of another major French finacial institution, the Credit Agricole, which is currently the biggest vineyard owner in France. The difference between AXA and Credit Agricile, was that the insurance company chose which properties it wanted to have in its portfolio; the bank acquires – and continues to acquire its holdings every time one of its customers proves unable to service his loans. Australian wineries, don't, of course, enjoy the same kind of government subsidies as their European counterparts, but over 90% do get a major tax break in the form of their exemption from WET taxes.
Where's the pride in that. But can we really take pride in being involved in an industry that is largely fixated on price and discount? How much discounting do you really see of perfumes and cosmetics – products, whose production costs are far, far smaller, and whose retail margins are far larger than the ones for wine?
And what about the fact that ours is the only industry on earth that is effectively dictated to by one or two American critics? There's no "Emperor of Fashion", "Emperor of Art" or "Emperor of Music" in the sense that Robert Parker is described as the Emperor of Wine. I don't actually like the use of the term "emperor" because it implies that the person in question has either been born to, married into, or somehow usurped the imperial throne. Robert Parker did none of these things. In fact, I rather think of him as Frankenstein's monster. Essentially a perfectly decent soul who owes his power to a dangerously misled creator. And who is that creator? Us of course. The wine producers and retailers who reinforce Parker's power every time they use his points to promote a wine, and many of us wine writers who do precisely the same every time we feebly use our public access to criticise his influence or taste.If none of us mentioned him for a year
12 years ago there were 20,000 individual chateau labels in Bordeaux. Today there are 9,000. 12 years ago, Yellow Tail didn't exist. Today it's 10% of the Australian harvest. In 12 years time, I doubt there will even be 2,000 Bordeaux chateau labels. And I have absolutely no idea how big a label Yellow Tail will be. That's the fascination of the evolutionary process. No one could ever have predicted the demise of the dodo or Lehman Brothers. Or the survival of the mosquito and the cockroach. Or fall from grace of names like Seppelt, Lindemans and Leo Buring.
In the real world, good wine producers and good wine writers have a hard time. - while – to their chagrin, bigger, richer, better connected or simply sometimes luckier competitors seem to prosper.
Most of us at some time or other have gurus – people who influence the way we think. People like Brian Croser… In my case, I have to say that my thinking has been greatly influenced by my three year old son Noah – for the simple reason that he asks "why" 475 times – yes, I've counted – per day. And hearing him, has made me a lot more questioning about the wine world. Which, in turn has brought me to take an interest in a branch of economics called Rational Choice Theory. Which seeks to explain almost every form of human behaviour. The best book I've read on it is the Logic of Life by Tim Harcourt who writes in the Financial Times. I thought I'd quote part of that book that caught my attention.
"Parents, brace yourselves." With those words, Oprah Winfrey introduced America to the shocking news of the teenage oral sex craze. Indeed, the American "blow job epidemic" has now been addressed everywhere from PBS documentaries to the editorial page of The New York Times. Between 1994 and 2004, young people between ages twelve and twenty-four became more than twice as likely to report that they'd recently had oral sex.. "Epidemic" might be putting it too strongly, but oral sex is definitely in vogue.
The question few people seem to have asked is "Why?" Might there not be such a thing as a rational blow job? The basic idea is not complicated: Rational people respond to trade-offs and to incentives. When the costs or benefits of something change, people change their behavior.
Armed with this basic definition of rationality, then, we can ask: What are the costs, benefits, and likely consequences of a blow job? Okay, perhaps the benefits are too obvious to be stated, particularly for the recipient.: HIV is much more likely to be spread by regular sex than oral sex. Many teenagers know that. The costs of oral sex are, quite simply, lower than the costs of regular sex. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that since the beginning of the 1990s, the number of teenage virgins has risen by over 15 percent."
So what about the rationality – the cost-benefit of wine buying? Well, I'd argue that it's rather more complex than oral sex. According to Hugh Johnson, the benefit is something very akin to a spiritual experience: "Its life, in the last analysis, is what sets wine apart. There is nothing else we buy to eat or drink that brings us the identity of a place in a time in the same way, that memorises and recalls (if we listen) all the circumstances that made it what it is...embrace the identity, enjoy the circumstances, be transported to other places and times. Embrace even the mythology: it adds to the colour of life." I guess, at its most ideal, that's supposed to describe people like us who work in wine, and the wide range of people one might term wine enthusiasts.
But when I look around the average bar, café or even living room I don't see many people embracing the identity of the stuff in their glass. I don't actually see many of them sniffing it for that matter. What they are generally doing is drinking it. For these people, the benefit is rather simple: it's a liquid they enjoy, that happens to include alcohol.
For some, of course, there's another possible benefit, whereby the wine serves a similar purpose to the tie or dress you've chosen to wear for a date or interview. It's intended to make an impression.
Now let's look at the costs – apart from financial. Important among these is possible disappointment. What if the wine doesn't taste very nice? Or what if it fails to impress and I fail to get laid or get the job? Worse still, what if the bottle actually diminishes me, by making me seem stupid or unsophisticated?
Take all of these into account and quite a lot of behaviour seems to be very rational. Taking the costs and benefits into consideration, there's a lot to be said for buying Yellow Tail. You like and can afford it, it always tastes more or less the same and, in most situations for its buyers, it will make a reasonable impression. For the occasions when it won't, well, there's Robert Parker. Serving a bottle of Cabernet with 95 points gives many US buyers the same kind of confidence they might get from carrying a Colt 45 into an area of marginal danger.
The success of screwcaps in Australia and New Zealand is entirely explained by rational economics. All the benefits of reliable wine with no perceived cost– but so is its snail-speed adoption in Europe where the risk of looking unsophisticated outweighs the possible benefit of getting a taint free bottle. Especially if the European drinker is as unaware of the incidence of taint as US teenagers apparently were of the risks of HIV before they shifted their allegiance to oral sex.
But what is the rational reason for buying most of the wines on any wine shop shelf. If you haven't drunk it before, and/or know little about it, the costs of disappointment and failing to impress have to be taken into account. And what's the benefit? Unless you are a curious wine drinker looking for new experiences, I'd argue that they're very questionable. Which is why I'd argue that sales of branded wines are growing so fast across the globe.
Surely, some of you will argue, most people are more complex than that. They want to enjoy a broader range of experiences and to widen their horizons. That's what you'll argue, and I'll argue back. In most areas of human behaviour, most of us tend to play safe. We have favourite restaurants and holiday resorts.. We favour the same brands of hair shampoo, coffee and tea. And we read books by the same authors.
One of our handicaps as wine writers is that we tend to treat wine as though it were a special case, unlike everything else we buy and consume. I prefer to seek parallels in other spheres, among which few are more instructive than music. If the beverage world has a "share of throat" – and I'll come to that in a moment, the recording and more particularly radio industries have a Share of Ear. Essentially, you can buy or download innumerable pieces of music, but you can only listen to them one at a time. My premise, is that music could be likened to drink -helpfully pop is a term used in both industries – with wine – or at least half-way serious wine - being the equivalent of classical music. Stuff that is intended to be savoured, lingered over and thought about.
So how big a part of the music industry is classical? In 1980 it was 20%. In 2006, in the US, it was just 1.9%. not quite as popular as the 2% figure for jazz, and distinctly less impressive than the over 3% both enjoyed five years earlier. But now let's look at the kind of music those classics lovers were buying. Of the top 20 best sellers recently listed by Amazon, there were no fewer than five albums for children, born and unborn, (Baby Einstein is the winning brand here), four by the blind Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, and a couple by Sarah Brightman. Bocelli and his fellow "crossover" artist, the American baritone Josh Groban are as important to classical music as white Zinfandel is to wine. When both failed to release a record in 2005, total classical sales dropped by 15%
Which is a bit depressing for those who think of Bach, Beethoven, Barolo and Bordeaux as being somehow essential parts of human civilization. But, that's a dangerously arrogant and introspective view – unless you feel happy about totally dismissing the largely wine-free achievements of Chinese, Japanese, Arabic and Indian civilisations over the last couple of millennia. The Chinese and Japanese, might in any case reasonably make a similar claim for tea, another agricultural product which comes in various subtly and dramatically different forms and relies on human intervention to become a potentially sublime beverage. Anyone who has visited China and learned even a little about the background to tea in that country will have been entranced and fascinated by it. And most probably returned home with a firm will to buy and prepare their breakfast cuppa with far greater care. And maybe, every wine writer in this room can name the precise origin and producer of shade-grown tea they like, And maybe some of you can't. And those of you who are content to enjoy Liptons, Twinings or Bushells can feel relieved to know that they're – we're - in good company. Most of the winemakers I know pay little heed to their tea. But, then again, unless they chose to go to a specialist tea shop, they aren't really going to be confronted by that much of a choice. One that's certainly smaller than it is for wine. Every time you buy a basic commercial packet of tea bags (used for 96% of the global tea market by the way), I'd ask you to think of the person in another part of the store who's mindlessly picking up a bottle of their regular South Eastern Australian Chardonnay or Shiraz.
But even here, we need to define terms. The image you all have in your mind when I say "tea" is probably a cup of hot liquid. You probably didn't imagine a bottle of iced tea. But, for a growing number of people, that's what tea represents. American consumption of iced tea stands at 13 litres per head, and represents 80% of all tea sold. In Australia, the figure is only a litre, but it's growing at 30% per year. Another place where iced tea consumption is booming is China, where Coca Cola launched a brand seven years ago, in response to a fall in the sales of their eponymous fizzy drink.
This brings me neatly back to the Share of Throat. What Coca Cola is competing for with its iced tea, its bottled water and its fruit drinks, is precisely what Coopers and VB and every wine in the world are fighting for. Observers of the Australian scene can now acknowledge that RTD drinkers are not particularly loyal to their particular style of beverage. Jack up the price and they switch allegiance to spirits. In the UK, interestingly, our tax man declined to follow the same route as yours earlier than yours, for the simple reason that RTDs had already fallen out of fashion and there wasn't enough revenue to be gained from increasing the duty on them. Wine, however, offered better prospects, and we saw the biggest tax hike in over a decade.
For most traditional wine people – and probably for some people in this room, the notion that a fine Shiraz or Riesling is in any kind of competition with Coca Cola or tea is an anathema, But it's also a reality. Three days ago, I was asked to host a small dinner for a bank here in Australia – a case of eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die, perhaps. There were a number of serious wines to drink with the meal and a white to sip at on arrival. Except, that of the group of invitees and hosts – all of whom happily tucked into the wine on the dinner table, one kicked off the evening with as Diet Coke, one had a beer and another had a coffee. (And I must confess that I had a glass of water). The freedom to choose a beverage in this way, like the freedom to request a meat-free or gluten-free meal is something of a novelty. But it reflects the fact that we live in a world that is full – arguably over-full of choices.
Historically, people used to drink what was available to them. But that did not prevent the Share of Throat from being an issue. The time this was most apparent was during the 18th century in the UK. Every wine writer knows about the invention and arrival on the scene of Portuguese fortified wine as a replacement for the unfortified claret which was suddenly barred from British shores following one of Britain's spats with France. What is less often referred to is the fact that wine during that century had to compete with such recently introduced phenomena as coffee (the coffee houses didn't serve port) and tea. Nor is it often noticed that, unlike their neighbours to the south of the border, the Scots did not actually embrace port. They switched from claret to whisky, in response to the English raising their duty rates on lowland scotch.
To return to my rational economics, our biggest problem would seem to be that we have collectively failed to create a sufficiently deep level of interest in wine. As consumption has grown in the English speaking world, the number of column centimetres and the number of books sold has shrunk. Newspapers, including the London Sunday Telegraph for which I used to write, the London Evening Standard, the Los Angeles Times and a newspaper you might be familiar with in Queensland, have all dispensed with their wine writers.. Wine International Magazine has also disappeared, and Decanter almost certainly sells far more copies outside the UK than within it – and declines to publish audited circulation figures.
There are two responses to this. Most wine writers and a fair few wine buffs respond to this trend by lamenting that editors and publishers are philistines who refuse to give readers the wine coverage they want, need and deserve. But publishers are no different to the wine retailers who have reduced their ranges. They are responding to demand. Or lack of it. I cannot speak for other countries, but I know that newspapers like the one I used to write for, regularly ask their readers what they do and don't want from the publication. And then they use that information when deciding how to allocate space. And yes, they are inevitably influenced by advertising – or the lack of it – but less than some people might like to claim. After all, newspapers are packed with advertisements for watches and perfumes, but few – apart from the New York Times – have regular scent writers and none carry regular articles on watches.
My belief in the weakness of basic interest and curiosity about wine is supported by data I dug out using a hidden away corner of Google called Google labs which generously allows you to analyse the number of searches there have been for particular subjects. The iPhone, for example showed a huge spike of interest. But as these charts show, wine interest is small and relatively static. And less than 25% of Google searches for Margaret River fell into the category of Food & Wine. (I particularly like using Google as a measure of interest, because it's quantifiable – unlike guesses about how many people have even looked at a particular article in a newspaper; you actually have to click a button) and it's free.
Wearing my wine-selling – or would-be wine-selling – hat, I recently learned how wine is bought nowadays in major British supermarkets, in the US and in China, to name but three markets. And it led me to I must admit to having had romantic memories of keen professional wine buyers scouring the globe for exciting new delights to set before their customers. Sometimes, I recalled, these buyers would spend hours in tasting rooms, closeted away with winemakers, intent on producing the ideal blend. Today, the buyers are often just as talented as their predecessors, but they are subject to quite different constraints. When I prepared for a meeting with one chain recently, it was unclear whether we would actually get to taste the wines we were going to discuss. In the event, thankfully, we did. But all too often the preliminary meetings involve looking at the labels, at powerpoint displays listing the key selling points and – and of course this is crucial – the "financials". Get over all those hurdles, and provided you are a supplier with whom the retailer is already happy to work (and they generally don't want to increase the number of companies with whom they have accounts) and provided the category is not one that has not been deemed to be full or, worse still, in need of pruning… then they might get round to tasting your wine. In the US, you can add the need for Parker or Wine Spectator points. Nothing with fewer than 87 need apply.
For this part, I'd like to give credit to a bright American called Mark Engel who gave a speech last year about what he calls the New Wine Paradigm. To understand Engel's theory, it's worth starting with his notion of the Old Paradigm which he sees as effectively consisting of the winery saying "Hey, consumer, here's my story and why you should buy my wine". Basically, it's a monologue focusing on the age of the vines, the awards or points that have been won and the wonderful way the wine goes with particular dishes. Engel believes that consumers don't want to be talked at; they want a conversation. In effect they are saying, "Hey, winery, catch my interest and I'll build my own story around you based on what's important to me"..They want to decide for themselves what they think of – and possibly like about the wine.
The way I translate this into a visual image, is to imagine a shop or gallery with a set of doors each of which appeals to a different person, or the same person in a different state of mind. For a winery, one door might be marked "Awards, Medals, Points". Another might refer to the fact that the winery is 150 years old. A third might focus on the quality of the winery restaurant, while the fourth might direct attention to the human qualities of the owner or winemaker. The fifth, might be about the organic nature of the grape growing, while the last might have something to do with the fact that the wine appeared in a movie. (Just think how Otago as a region has benefited from a range of stories covering the quality of Felton Road, the nearness of the ski slopes and bungee jumps, and the presence and involvement of the bloke everyone remembers from Jurassic Park and the Piano.
To quote Engel directly ". I'm not saying that terroir, the care of the grapes or differences in production methods are not important. Of course they are. But not everybody who enjoys wine—and who might enjoy your wine—takes the time to learn why such things are important and remember the rich details that distinguish wines. The stories surrounding them often sound the same to all but the most hardcore enophiles. Without a deeper, more personalized connection to your wine, how do average consumers differentiate among the thousands of options available to them?"
What Engel isn't talking about here, but I think is also relevant to his thesis, is the limited attention span of most modern consumers. It has been established that the average wine buyer in a supermarket – where 80% of wine is now sold in the UK and Germany for example – spends less than two minutes in the wine section, and makes their selection in 18 seconds. These figures, which help to explain why brands – and memorably striking labels – are so important, taken along with Engel's stress on the need for conversation, set me thinking that maybe the best way for anyone to hone their skills and marketing and selling, is by doing a bit of speed dating. The key to which, lies in learning as much about your prospective date as rapidly as possible, so that you can respond in ways that will prove most effective. If she lets you know that she isn't into sport but loves watching wildlife programmes, you'd be well advised to express an interest in real tigers rather than an obsession with Tiger Woods. Of course, those of us who are in committed relationships may find some difficulty in selling the idea of having to do speed dating as part of our jobs, but they'll just have to understand the sacrifices we are prepared to make.
Of course, tailoring your message to the listener – and offering an array of tailored messages - is a lot more easily said than done. And it raises interesting questions for professional wine writers as to where they fit into this new paradigm. Because many of the messages that are now going to need to be sent out are not the ones we are used to transmitting. One of the very best examples though, of this approach being skilfully adopted is Dom Perignon. Which contrives to be different things to different – or possibly the same – people. On the one hand, there's Richard Geoffroy passionately explaining the wine values that lie behind the oenotheque programme, while on the other, there are the Dom Perignon private rooms in clubs across the world – and sexy advertisements depicting Claudia Schiffer in poses that might have been used to sell underwear or perfume. In Australia, I've been impressed by some of the things Yalumba has done along similarly broad lines in its efforts to promote its range of Viogniers.
But far too many Australian wineries follow the old paradigm. And worse still, I believe, are becoming more European than the Europeans, and throwing away the skills with which they achieved so much overseas success.
European wine was traditionally, hard to like, hard to understand (in the way that it was labeled) and generally inconsistent. All aspects that made it unappealing to rational buyers. Australian wine was quite the opposite. As someone once said, Australian wine owed its early wins to the fact that Aussie producers went into buyers' offices and declared "the answer's yes. What's the question". Let's look at the picture today.
We have a growing number of Tempranillos, Nebbiolos and Barberas which taste perfectly ok, until you compare them with European run of the mill efforts on offer at a third of the price. Of course, their lack of brilliance is easy to explain, given the age of the vines and inexperience of the makers. What is less easy to accept is those makers' notion that they have the right to charge $20 for what is essentially work in progress. It smacks all too much of the way the winegrowers of Burgundy and Bordeaux traditionally believe they have the right to ask high prices for their least successful vintages. The readiness of local critics to over-praise these wines, similarly seems reminiscent of the tendency of French wine writers to give a soft ride to their favourite compatriot producers. Labelling too is becoming very European. Winemakers in Vouvray and Alsace often annoyingly neglect to provide any indication on their labels of the fact that their wines are actually pretty damn sweet. Here, the trend is to fail to mention that a Chardonnay is unoaked.
And then of course there's the thorny question of regionality. According to Jock Osborne, executive officer of the GI committee (part of the Australian Wine & Brandy Corporation),, 'The establishment of the New England Australia GI will enable wine growers in the district to regionally brand and market their wines. 'The emerging wine industry in this region will have the opportunity to benefit from its new status.'
No they won't. Any more than the producers of Cabardes a relatively recently created appellation in Languedoc Roussillon. Wine regions want appellations, GIs, DOCs or whatever you want to call them in much the same way that countries want national airlines. And often with about as much justification. The fact that Air Gabon exists does not give it any right to survive and prosper. Swiss Air went bust, as did Belgium's Sabena – the acronym stood for Such A Bloody Experience Never Again, by the way, which may be relevant. And today, Alitalia – Always Late In Taking-off; Always Late In Arriving – can't afford to pay its petrol bills.
I was once chased around the world by a bossy South African PR woman who wanted free help for a pitch she was about to make. How, she wanted to know when she finally caught up with me on my mobile in a hotel lobby in Hong Kong, could a South African region become as famous as the Napa Valley? Conscious that I was paying for this call, I was possibly a little more brusque than I might have been. Tell them to get a few producers who make great, attention-grabbing wine. That's how Margaux, Napa and Marlborough all did it. Other places, like Mendocino, Moulis and Mudgee failed to do so – and there aren't many queues of people wanting to buy wines from those areas. Gerard Magrez, owner of Chateau Pape Clement, the oldest estate in the Graves – and of over 30 other estates in places ranging from Priorat and Napa to Uruguay and Japan recently sold his Cotes de Bourg chateau on the basis that the only Bordeaux appellations anyone is interested in are St Emilion and Margaux. Another friend who was, until he finally managed to sell it, co-owner of Chateau Fourcas Hosten in Listrac in the Medoc took a very similar view.
However, there is a downside to being a famous wine region. Unless you are very small – like Pomerol and Pauillac – there's a grave risk that you'll eventually become a commodity. Supermarkets wasn't Own Label versions; Scandinavian monopolies invite tenders and the lowest common denominator raises its head above the parapet. Today, you can buy inexpensive Barossa Shiraz in UK supermarkets which does nothing for the image of the region. And, following the 2008 harvest, you'll be seeing similarly cheap, and similarly basic Marlborough Sauvignon. And, being a commodity does not do much to engender true appreciation and understanding.
Last week, in London, I bought two bottles of Rioja from the same store to taste on air for a BBC radio programme. Both had the word Rioja on labels that were the same shade of yellow. One was Campo Viejo which cost me just under £7. The other was an unknown wine that cost just £2.98. When I got to the studio, the young university graduate who greeted me said, "Oh, I like Rioja, but I'm a bit embarrassed to ask. Can you tell me, is Rioja the grape or the region? I explained that it was the region. After a pause he said, so does that mean that you only get Rioja from Spain?
I think that the fundamental problem facing the wine industry globally is that it's bi-polar. Winemakers don't know if they are artists or artisans. Are they making tables with four equal-length legs, because that's how tables work, or are they making two legged tables that won't support a cup of tea. Mr Casella is a supreme artisan, delivering huge numbers of very serviceable tables. You may liken what he does to Ikea, but I suspect he wouldn't mind. Far too many other producers are offering what they want to make. And that's their absolute prerogative, just as it's our right as wine or art critics to praise or deride their work. Sadly, what they do not have – and they and we often forget this – is any right to survive and prosper. It's a hard world out there. You either sell what people already want to buy – and do so more attractively than your competitors, or you have to find a pretty good way to persuade them that they are going to like what you want to sell them.
So, where has the magical mystery taken us? What, if any, are the points you might want to take away from it?
Producers and marketeers need to give far more thought to the rationality of why people buy the wines they do
They need to create a range of stories to appeal to a range of consumers – or the same consumers in different states of mind
They need to engage in conversations – sometimes literally – with those consumers to understand more about them, and to encourage them to go on buying the wine – and passing the word on to others
Wine writers need to think very carefully about where they fit into the short and longer term picture. Do they want to talk to a small number of like-minded souls? Or do they want to be heard beyond the walls of the church in which they are giving their sermons
There's a crucial set of questions that applies to everyone who wants to sell anything – from a bottle of wine, to an article or book, to themselves.
Who are you?
What do you do?
And most crucially of all
And why should I care?
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PHILADELPHIA — Matt Barkley hasn't even played in his first NFL exhibition game, and already the Philadelphia Eagles rookie quarterback has his ring.
It's made of black rubber, and he wears it on his left hand, a temporary wedding band Barkley wears during practices and while lifting weights. He plans to switch eventually to a silver-colored one.
"My wife didn't really notice at first, but when she did, she really appreciated it," said Barkley, the former USC standout who married college sweetheart Brittany Langdon last month. "I really only wear this here, then when I get out of the shower I put the other one on."
Being married feels natural to Barkley. It's everything else these days that feels strange. Although the Eagles have no official depth chart at quarterback, and there's supposedly a three-way position battle for the job, Barkley is unmistakably the third-stringer. Unless there's a dramatic twist, the starter will be either Michael Vick or Nick Foles.
"There is kind of an unspoken depth chart that hasn't moved yet," Barkley said after a recent practice. "It's kind of rough battling that."
Although it's not unusual for a rookie to start at the bottom rung, especially a fourth-round draft pick, Barkley isn't accustomed to anything but the first team. He started all four years at Mater Dei High, then did the same at USC. So this is a new experience, getting accustomed to the NFL, to first-year Eagles Coach Chip Kelly and to waiting in line.
"With Pete [Carroll, then USC's coach], it wasn't like it was given to me," he said. "He throws you in with the 1s. 'Let's see what you can do.' So I was kind of thinking that would be the same here, at least to get a shot just to see what you could do. But that hasn't been the case yet, so hopefully that will come soon. It's just different."
Former Eagles quarterback A.J. Feeley watched a recent practice and came away impressed with Barkley's ability to place the football in the right spots, and some current Philadelphia players echo that.
"I heard some knocks on his arm strength, but he throws the ball pretty well," receiver Jason Avant said. "He's had a tight spiral, pretty nice ball, so I was trying to figure out where those comments came from. I like his ability to direct traffic.
"Like today, he missed a throw to me low, and he said, 'The reason I missed it is because I wanted you to go straight, and you were going flat. You don't always see that from a rookie, usually you know more than a rookie. But we're all coming in on equal footing because this offense is new to everybody."
Impatient as he is, Barkley is also realistic about the plight of a rookie and said he doesn't want to be "that kid whining about reps, 'Where are you going to put me?' and whatnot."
This much is obvious: Kelly is impressed with how polished Barkley has been so far.
"Not a lot of guys have started eight straight years before they've become a rookie in the NFL," Kelly said. "He's played a lot of football. He played at a great high school and had a great high school coach. It was a pretty advanced system he ran in high school and obviously played in a real good system at USC.
"The other thing with Matt that I love is he's a football junkie. He just, he eats the game up. He lives it and breathes it."
That much was clear on Barkley's honeymoon, which he and his wife spent in the British Virgin Islands. Just the two of them, with some light beach reading — an Eagles playbook.
"She helped me," Barkley said, "quizzing me on all the stuff."
Precisely what's in that playbook is among the NFL's biggest mysteries this season. People all over the league are curious as to what Kelly plans to run, and many wonder why he traded up to the top of the fourth to grab Barkley, more of a drop-back passer, if he plans to employ the running, zone-read system he ran at Oregon. Or maybe Kelly plans to do what he did as offensive coordinator at New Hampshire.
"What he did at New Hampshire is throw the football," said ESPN's Jon Gruden, who has had extensive video study sessions with Kelly over the years. "Maybe that's why he drafted Matt Barkley, and traded up to get him. Maybe he's going to start Nick Foles and throw the ball like he did at New Hampshire.
"He was running the read-option at Oregon because they can't out-recruit USC and UCLA at Oregon. They've never done that before. … Barkley is no threat to run, and Nick Foles can't run. So it's about, what kind of offense is he going to run?"
The football world waits and watches. The Eagles open their exhibition season Friday against New England, and presumably will give a first glimpse of their strategy, although they undoubtedly will reveal only a sliver of their full playbook.
Barkley figures to get significant playing time in the preseason, and he said he's becomingly increasingly comfortable with the offense, and working with third-string receivers forces him to be even more accurate.
"It makes it more of a challenge for me when I'm out there because the windows are tighter," he said. "You have to put the ball more in the precise place with those receivers. So hopefully if I do get that chance with the 1s and those guys it will be beneficial."
Back in college football, Kelly knew Barkley, and Barkley knew Kelly. Sort of.
"I didn't really know him behind the scenes," Barkley said. "I just saw him on the sidelines running the offense. Surprisingly, I haven't seen him call one play out here so far. It's all [offensive coordinator Pat] Shurmur. I guess we'll have to wait on that too, come game day.
"But I can definitely see why [Kelly] was able to turn Oregon into such a powerhouse, just by the way he runs the program. From the top down, every little facet and detail that he puts in to try to maximize player performance, it works."
Shurmur was the offensive coordinator in St. Louis, helping Sam Bradford win 2010 offensive-rookie-of-the-year honors, and was head coach in Cleveland last season, working to bring along rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden.
"I think the next big step for Matt will be in the preseason games when he plays," Shurmur said. "We're out here doing things in practice, but until he can get in a real game situation at this level, that's when things will start to separate themselves."
That can't happen soon enough for Barkley, who is itching to show what he can do.
"There's an opportunity here," he said. "Chip supports me. [Eagles owner Jeffrey] Lurie supports me. It's just kind of like, when does that full support come? Maybe preseason will be that time."


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The Northeast is bearing the brunt of climate change in the nation, assaulted by heat waves, torrential rains, and flooding that are the result of human action, according to a federal report released Tuesday.
Over the past century, temperatures in Northeastern states have risen by 2 degrees Fahrenheit, and if heat-trapping gases increase at current rates, warming could spike as much as 10 degrees by the 2080s, prolonging bouts of extreme heat, taxing electrical systems, and disrupting ecosystems.
In the same time, the region's precipitation has risen by more than 10 percent, and the worst storms here have brought significantly more rain and snow — a surge of more than 70 percent over the past 50 years and significantly more than other parts of the country.
As Northeast sea levels have climbed by a foot over the past century, coastal flooding has caused billions of dollars in damage and could get much worse as seas are projected to rise 1 to 4 feet by 2100, leaving much of Boston at risk of flooding.
"Heat waves, coastal flooding, and river flooding will pose a growing challenge to the region's environmental, social, and economic systems," the authors of the 841-page federal report wrote. "This will increase the vulnerability of the region's residents, especially its most disadvantaged populations."
The report provides a detailed look at how the United States is already experiencing grave impacts from increased carbon emissions. It also provides a thorough description of the coming challenges for the 64 million people living in the 12 states of the Northeast.
Congress in 1990 first ordered that scientific reports on climate change be conducted at least every four years. But this is only the third such report, because some administrations failed to comply.
"A lot has changed since the US government released their last report in 2008," said David Wolfe, a Cornell University professor and lead author of the report's section on the Northeast. "Many climate impacts that were once projected for the future are happening now."
A team of more than 300 specialists guided by a 60-member federal advisory committee produced the report. It was reviewed by federal agencies and a panel of the National Academy of Sciences.
The report concluded that while climate change had once been an issue considered in the distant future, it has "moved firmly into the present."
"Summers are longer and hotter, and extended periods of unusual heat last longer than any living American has ever experienced," the report's authors wrote. "Winters are generally shorter and warmer. Rain comes in heavier downpours. People are seeing changes in the length and severity of seasonal allergies, the plant varieties that thrive in their gardens, and the kinds of birds they see in any particular month in their neighborhoods."
The report comes after decades of debate over climate change, but with few significant national policies to address it. Congress has been unable to pass broad legislation to regulate greenhouse gases, blocked by Democrats from coal-producing states and Republicans who question the science behind climate change.
President Obama has made several changes using executive authority, and the Supreme Court last week ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency could regulate emissions that cross state lines.
In an interview with NBC News on Tuesday, Obama said: "We want to emphasize to the public, this is not some distant problem of the future. This is a problem that is affecting Americans right now."
While temperatures in the Northeast increased by almost 2 degrees between 1895 and 2011, the rise is now projected to become far more dramatic, according to the report.
If carbon emissions continue to increase, warming in the Northeast is projected to increase by 4.5 to 10 degrees by the 2080s. If emissions are reduced substantially, the warming would increase 3 to 6 degrees.
"The frequency, intensity, and duration of cold air outbreaks is expected to decrease as the century progresses," the report says.
In the coming years, the report says, heat-related deaths are projected to increase as heat waves become prolonged and higher concentrations of ground-level ozone exacerbate asthma and other conditions, especially among the young, elderly, and infirm. The southern states of the Northeast, by midcentury, are projected to experience more than 60 additional days per year of temperatures above 90 degrees and heat-related deaths in New York could rise as much as 90 percent by the 2080s.
The changing climate has already increased the potency of plant allergens such as ragweed, the report says, and warmer winters will make Lyme disease, West Nile Virus, and additional diseases linked to ticks, mosquitoes, and other insects more pervasive.
Despite the increased precipitation, the report notes that hotter summers will speed evaporation and probably lead to more droughts. As a result, a range of crops and species are unlikely to survive and will be displaced by those that now thrive to the south.
The changing climate has also hurt coastal marshland in New England. Since the early 1800s, marshlands have faced an estimated 39 percent decline, with fewer than 20 percent of marshes left in metropolitan Boston that existed at the time of the Revolutionary War, according to the report.
"The report highlights the enormous financial impacts that climate change is going to have and it describes a lot of the adaptation mechanisms that we need to start implementing, including building sea walls to deal with rising sea levels, methods to drain floodwaters, conserving water, and shifting our crop species," said Richard Primack, a Boston University biology professor who studies the effects of climate change on plants and animals.
Professor Raymond Bradley, director of the Climate System Research Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, called the report "sobering."
He added, "The US Congress needs to follow the strong example set by Massachusetts to move the country away from a carbon-based economy toward renewable energy, efficient energy distribution systems, and energy conservation measures."
The report urges other regions to follow the example of the Northeast, where most of the states take part in a program known as cap and trade that uses economic incentives to reduce greenhouse gases. It also notes that Massachusetts was the first state to mandate that all environmental reviews consider potential impacts of climate change.
State officials noted Governor Deval Patrick recently announced a $50 million plan to improve the state's preparedness for climate change.
In Washington, reaction to the report was mixed.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who has worked on climate change legislation in the past, said he doubted an approach like the Northeast's Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative would be viable on a national level.
"I think cap and trade as a solution to climate change is dead on arrival," he said.
He added: "I do believe that the planet is heating up, that man-made emissions are contributing. How much, I don't know. There ought to be ways of becoming energy independent as well as creating clean air."
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, said that while he does not expect Congress to pass legislation in the near future, he hopes the report will spur action.
"I have to be hopeful," he said. "Because the alternative is unacceptable that we would allow the greatest nation in the history of the world to continue to pollute the planet in a way that destroys it."
More coverage:
• Effects of climate change increasingly felt in US, report says
• Ideas: How to solve climate change with cows (maybe)
• Two generations tracking a runaway climate
• Scot Lehigh: Slogging forward on climate change
• Magazine: Mothers vs. climate changeNoah Bierman of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. David Abel can be reached at email@example.com. Matt Viser can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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With spring training less than two weeks away, the Mets have a myriad of questions they'll hope to resolve before Opening Day. That's six weeks to get done what hasn't been completed all winter.
With a late push, GM Sandy Alderson added a fifth starter and has tinkered with his bullpen. The operative word there is "tinkered,'' because there's more hope than actual production in what he's done.
Many of the questions, not surprisingly, are concerned with pitching. Here's the pitching questions I'm asking:
Q: How healthy is Johan Santana, and what is his mindset in his walk year?
A: Once again, Santana didn't complete a whole season with the Mets. This time, it wasn't his shoulder, although he did experience some tiredness after his 134-pitch no-hitter. Santana has to know the Mets have no intention of extending his contract beyond this year, so he's pitching to impress new suitors. In that case, he might give a little extra in his walk year. Then again, he might just coast to show he's healthy. There's a gradual build-up in spring training to 100 pitches so we should get an idea of how sound he is. If he's not, the Mets might have to scramble for another starter.
Q: What is Dillon Gee's status?
A: Gee's 2012 was cut short because of a blood clot in his shoulder. The projection for him is as a fourth or fifth starter. Surgery removed the clot and he has been cleared. I'm curious as to his strength and stamina. Clots are serious things and Gee has probably been prescribed blood thinners to prevent them. Still, until he gets out there we won't know for sure.
Q: Does Zack Wheeler make a statement?
A: Wheeler isn't expected to make the rotation, but will be a call-up during the season. With concerns about Santana and Gee – and you know something else will pop up – Wheeler might be counted on sooner than expected. The Mets don't expect Wheeler to be a full-time contributor until 2014, but that's only a rough timetable.
Q: What is the composition of the bullpen?
A: The Mets added Pedro Feliciano, LaTroy Hawkins and Scott Atchison, and are talking to Brandon Lyon. Jose Valverde won't happen and Frank Francisco is a $6.5 million health issue. Kind of gives you a warm, optimistic feeling doesn't it? The bullpen is essential to any progressive step the Mets might take and currently it doesn't seem better than last year. On a positive note, Josh Edgin and Robert Carson showed potential worth grooming and Bobby Parnell was a positive when Francisco went down at the end of the season.


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- Availability:
- In Stock
- Product Code:
- Ultraflex Wedge Large 10
- Brand:
- Pro-coustix
Made from high grade Pro-coustix Ultraflex 25Kg/M3 open cell foam featuring a contemporary wedge profile that is both effective and looks great on your studio walls. These tiles can be used to treat medium to high frequency reflections, echoes, reverberation and standing wave problems.
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Technical Specifications
Panel size 450mm x 450mm x 45mm
Coverage 1 pack covers 2.025M2
Polymer type Open cell polyether
Density 25Kg/M3
Colour Studio Grey
Profile Wedge 30 base 15 Rise
Temperature resistance -30 to + 110 degrees Celsius
Fire resistance BS4735, UL94-HF1
Self extinguishing FMVSS 302
Max extent burn 60mm
Weighted absorption coefficient 0.85
Absorption Coefficient
0.85 @ 1000KHz
>1.0 > 5000KHz


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Gucci Teams Up With Myspace. In Other News, Myspace is Still Around.
Here's a sentence we never thought we'd write about a luxury brand in 2013: Gucci has teamed up with Myspace.
Yes, it's true. The Italian fashion house is working with Myspace on the launch of Gucci Sync—a $495 watch specially designed and targeted for a younger, music-obsessed customer.
Available in two sizes—large or XXL—and four colors: white, red, black, and blue, each watch prominently displays the brand's GG logo. And instead of launching exclusively in Gucci boutiques or at specialty retailers, Gucci's getting all democratic and stuff—Gucci Sync is currently available on Amazon.com.
Anyway, where does Myspace come in? Check out the Gucci Sync Myspace profile, a social network built on connecting people through music discovery. The page features a Myspace-produced Gucci video and will also feature collaborations with emerging artists, Gucci ambassadors, and their playlists.
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Monday, 29 November 2010
I can't be bothered to have opinions anymore. I used to have loads, about all sorts of things. Politics, economics, charitable giving, the Euro - all sorts of stuff. People used to look scared when I came into a room because I had all these opinions, with percentages and factoids to back them up, and I would shout like Brian Blessed, given half an excuse.
But over the years I've realised that I can't be bothered. Having opinions is totally pointless. First of all, it's boring. Second of all, if you offer an opinion, about 3 people will agree with you and everyone else will turn on you like a mongoose who's spotted a snake.
I once repeated the idea - not even an opinion! just an observation! - at some party or other that in practical terms there's not much point in taxing the very rich because there aren't enough of them. Even if you taxed everyone who earns over £300,000 in this country at 80%, you'd still fall way, way short of the revenue raised if you taxed everyone who earns under £30,000, like, 2 extra pence. *
I mean, I might as well have stood up and declared that mentally disabled people ought to be sterilised.
"I didn't say I thought it was a good idea!" I spent the rest of the night shrieking. "I didn't say that's what ought to happen..! I'm just saying it's one way of looking at it, that's all..! I just mean taxing rich people isn't all about revenue, that's all...!"
Then a few months later I was invited to a book club. I'd never been invited to one before (exactly why not will become apparent in a second) and I was rather excited. The book was Lolita, which was unfortunate for everyone because it's one of the three books without illustrations that I've actually read.
We all sat about eating a really excellent fish pie at the house of some genial Sloane and then started talking about the book. I sat there, becoming more and more amazed at the stupidity of everyone. For half an hour they talked about the book in the most slow and dim-witted way imaginable. It wasn't even like being in an A-Level class, it was like pre-GCSE stuff.
"Do you think maybe," I said finally, "we're not getting the whole truth from Humbert?"
There was a horrible silence.
"Do you think maybe, since he's the narrator, he's giving only his version of events? The phone call at the motel, towards the end, where we only hear one side of the phonecall - wasn't that kind of a giveaway?"
Then a boy sitting in a corner - okay not a boy, he was probably about 28 - said:
"Oh I hate all that reading-between-the-lines practical criticism stuff. Derrida and all that. Such bullshit."
It was then I, fatally, lost my temper. "I'm sorry," I said, blinking a lot for outraged effect. "Do you actually have a degree? What do you do for a living?"
And, I'm not joking, he was a literary agent.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw my friend Iain, who had invited me, almost but not quite, put his head into his hands.
Things broke up quite shortly after that. I wasn't invited back.
So, I think it's safest not to have opinions anymore. I find that life is so much more clement if you just smile broadly and say nothing. No-one ever notices that you haven't said anything, they're too busy telling you what they think about global warming and they just think you're charming. But it's got to the point now, where I don't want to hear anyone else's opinions about things, either. I pretty much have to leave the room if anyone mentions Iraq, climate change, or interest rates.
My first boss, Jemima, knows everything. She really does - everything. And she never talks about it at parties, because she thinks it's rude. She just wants to gossip and tell jokes.
Luckily, I married the one person in the world who holds fewer opinions than I do. Every week he sits down to write his opinion column and has to dream up some wild thing to say - if it might get him into trouble even better - but privately he has almost no views whatsoever. It's bliss.
My opinion on roast chicken at the moment, as it happens, is completely off-kilter. It's basically all I ever want to eat, except pizza, and so whenever I go to the shops, I don't buy a chicken to roast because I think "Can't have that again! Boring!" and then I realise that we haven't had it for 6 months.
So I bought one last week and I thought I'd do it with stuffing and two veg and everything for Sunday lunch.
Jolly nice it was, too.
My opinion on how to roast a chicken goes like this:
1 Lightly oil the bottom of the pan so that the chicken doesn't stick. Put it in the oven at 200C for 20 minutes.
2 Turn down the oven to 180C and then turn every 20 minutes for 1 hr 20 minutes. Or 20 minutes more if it's a very large chicken. Rest under foil and a teatowel for 20 minutes.
My opinion on stuffing goes like this:
1 Put three ripped-up slices of bread - whatever you like - in a food processor. Follow that with 1 onion, roughly chopped, thyme, sage, rosemary, few strips lemon peel, 1 skinned raw sausage (if you've got it, don't worry if not) salt, pepper, 2 glugs olive oil and a garlic clove.
2 Whizz until combined. Fill the cavity of the chicken with it. Proceed with the cooking instructions.
Breadcrumbs are the base of a stuffing, but you can add whatever you like. A lot of sausage, less. Prunes, orange (festive) - leave out the onion if you like - chestnuts! Liver! Pine nuts! Basil! Go wild.
Here ends my catechism.
*DISCLAIMER: These figures are not accurate. Like, obviously obviously for fuck's sake, they're not accurate. I can't imagine who'd think they were, but it's been brought to my attention that some people might be confused. And I can't have that. Especially when they have boyfriends who are so monstrously long-winded and tedious in their complaints. You see? This is why I don't talk about shit like that anymore.
2 comments:
Good grief - you don't need to get rid of your opinions, you need better friends. Or join a political party and talk about stuff like that with them.ReplyDelete
- Ninaboo13 December 2012 at 15:47
People are generally profoundly dense and bigoted.ReplyDelete
That is all x.
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Pete Doherty regrets Charlotte Gainsbourg affair comment
PETE DOHERTY regrets disclosing an alleged fling with CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG because the French actress is no longer speaking to him.
The Babyshambles star hit headlines after telling NME magazine he enjoyed a brief love affair with Gainsbourg while they filmed their movie Confession of a Child of the Century.
He claimed the brunette beauty, daughter of famed musician Serge Gainsbourg and actress Jane Birkin, left her longtime partner Yvan Attal to be with him, but moved back to France after four days because she couldn't stand his lifestyle.
Now Doherty, who was kicked out of a Thai rehab clinic in July (12) after another failed attempt to beat his drug addictions, admits his comments were a mistake.
He is quoted by the Daily Mail as saying, "I'd drunk too much rum and taken too much coke that day... I wish I'd never said it. Charlotte won't speak to me now."


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Used Sedan - 2004 Chevrolet Malibu LS in Toms River, Nj
About This 2004 Chevrolet Malibu LS
Vehicle Location:
Toms River, Nj
Used - Clear Title
Body Style:
Exterior Color:
Interior Color:
Interior Material:
6 Cylinder
Rear Wheel Drive
Fuel Type:
Wheel Type:
Four Door
AM/FM Stereo w/CD Changer
Stock Number:
Fuel Economy Estimates
City MPG
Highway MPG
Combined MPG: 28 - Efficient 30+ MPG
Estimated Monthly Fuel Cost: $79.46*
*Based on $1.78 per gallon and 15k miles per year.
Actual costs may vary.
Actual costs may vary.
Send This Vehicle To Your Smartphone
Seller's Description and Comments:
Located at Sea Bay Auto Sales in Toms River, Nj. Call Sea Bay Auto Sales today at 732-929-3100 for more information about this vehicle.
Vehicle Options:
- Gray Cloth Interior
- Silver Exterior
- Rear Wheel Drive
- 6 Cylinder Gasoline Engine
- Automatic Transmission
- Am/fm Stereo W/cd Changer
- Four Door
- Sedan
- Gasoline
- Air Conditioning
- Cruise Control
- Power Locks
- Power Mirrors
- Power Steering
- Power Windows
- Privacy/tinted Glass
- Airbag: Driver Side
- Airbag: Passenger Side
- Child Safety Locks
- Childseat Tie-downs
- Intermittent Wipers
- Rear Defogger
- Security System
- Accent/pin Stripes
- Body Side Moldings
- Bucket Seats
- Center Console
- Cup Holders
- Power Brakes
- Tilt Wheel
Great for Students, Must See
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2004 Chevrolet Malibu ReviewThis car review is specific to this model, not the actual vehicle for sale.
An American sedan to take on Japan.
Chevrolet has completely redesigned its highly successful Malibu for the 2004 model year. The only thing that carries over from the old Malibu is the name. Every screw, nut and bolt is new on the 2004 Malibu. Test drives of several variations of the 2004 Malibu demonstrated that Chevy's new sedan stacks up well against the Japanese competition in driving dynamics and price.
The driving performance of the Malibu exceeded our expectations. Steering and handling are softer than the Honda Accord, but firmer than the Toyota Camry, the right balance for a wide range of buyers. The solid body structure and supple suspension result in a quiet cabin and comfortable ride yet allow spirited driving. We were impressed with the power of the available V6. The cabin offers roomy accommodations for five passengers with comfortable seats and logical controls that are easy to use.
Where the Malibu needs work is in the appearance department. On the outside, the new Malibu is not a raving beauty but it is better looking than the previous model, which sold well despite its plain appearance. The interior is a mix attractive, quality trim used in some areas and cheap plastic in others. If history is any indication, the new Malibu should offer good quality construction, however. The previous Malibu ranked tops in the midsize car class two consecutive years in the J. D. Power Initial Quality Surveys.
Starting at just under $19,000 and topping out at about $25,000, Malibu prices are extremely competitive with prices of the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, which can easily top $25,000.
The new Malibu lineup brings far more variation in body styles, powertrains and trim levels than before. The 2004 Malibu is being introduced as a midsize sedan. Early next year, a hatchback crossover version with a longer wheelbase goes on sale as the Malibu Maxx.
The sedan comes in three trim levels: the base Malibu ($18,370), LS ($20,370) and LT ($22,870). The base model comes standard with a 2.2-liter dual overhead cam four-cylinder engine. LS and LT versions come with a new 3.5-liter V6. All models come with a four-speed automatic transmission.
Standard features on all levels of the Malibu include: air conditioning; power driver seat with a height adjuster; power windows, power door locks and power outside rearview mirrors; tilt/telescoping steering column; a compact disc player, front dual-stage airbags.
Anti-lock brakes (ABS) and traction control are optional on the base model ($400). Head curtain side airbags, which we recommend highly, are optional for base and LS models ($395), but come standard on the LT.
The mid-level LS and top-of-the-line LT come with standard the V6 engine (and ABS and traction control). The LS also has as standard: a cargo net; cruise control; remote keyless entry; front-reading lights; map pockets in the backs of the fronts seats; power adjustable pedals; cloth seats; manual lumbar driver seat adjuster; driver seat cushion storage pocket; a radio with a CD player, six speakers and Radio Data system, which tells the kind of station you are listening to; 15-inch aluminum wheels; illuminated driver's side vanity mirror and non-illuminated vanity mirror on the passenger side; and body color moldings.
LT adds: automatic climate control; side curtain airbags; front and rear reading lights; remote vehicle starter; leather seats; heated front seats; 6-way power driver's seat; seat cushion storage pockets for outboard seating positions; leather-wrapped steering wheel with steering wheel-mounted audio and cruise controls; leather-wrapped shift knob; two illuminated vanity mirrors in front; fog lamps; power and heated outside rearview mirrors; body-color rocker moldings; a rear spoiler; 16-inch tires and wheels.
An $835 option package for the base sedan consists of: a cargo net; cruise control; remote keyless entry; front seatback map pockets; power adjustable pedals; driver manual lumbar seat adjuster; and the audio system that is standard in the LS. The LS offers an $800 option package that includes: side curtain airbags; remote vehicle starter; carpeted floor mats; and six-way power driver's seat. The LT has a $905 option package that consists of the Homelink transmitter for opening garages and security gates; a light-sensitive auto dimming rearview mirror and a power sunroof.
Standalone options include: a DVD entertainment center with a monitor that flips up from the front console and comes with wireless headphones ($995); XM Satellite Radio ($325 plus the $9.99 monthly subscription fee); GM's OnStar communications system ($695); a power sunroof ($725); and a rear spoiler ($175). Four levels of audio systems are available, from the base AM/FM stereo and CD player to the top-of-the-line radio ($325) with an in-dash, six-CD changer, six speakers, and automatic volume and tone controls. A unique option available on the Malibu is the remote starter ($150), useful both in cold climates to warm up the car before the driver climbs in and in extremely hot climates to cool it down.
Chevrolet predicts the new Malibu will prove to be the safest midsize car, but at press time it had not been crash tested by the government. Chevy expects five-star ratings for front crashes, four-star ratings for side impacts and a 'good' rating on the government's offset barrier test. Engineers used high-strength steel in specific areas of the body and created energy-absorbing crush zones in the front and rear.
The Malibu is equipped with dual-stage front airbags, three-point safety belts for all occup.
The 2004 Chevy Malibu is not a gorgeous car, but its exterior appearance is vastly improved from its Tupperware-bland predecessor. The new Malibu has more character and class than the 2003 model. It also appears to be more substantive, giving the impression it is a more expensive car than it is. Indeed, it is slightly wider than the model it replaces.
The back end of the Malibu sedan resembles the upright rears of European cars. The European touch should not be a surprise since the Malibu's underbody is shared with its German and Swedish cousins, the Opel Vectra, and the Saab 9-3.
The front features a chrome bar across the full-width of the car, with the familiar Chevy bowtie in gold in the center. The bar along with the headlamp shape are attempts to create a family resemblance with the Chevrolet trucks, which have been so successful in the marketplace. The translation doesn't work as well on smaller cars. It appears as if Chevy designers are still trying to come up with a consistent car and truck styling theme.
The new Malibu is equally substantial inside. With 101 cubic feet of interior space, it is extremely roomy for five passengers. The seats are comfortable. The front seat cleverly folds flat for carrying long objects such as skis.
The rear seat is a 60/40 split folding one. Lots of nooks and crannies are available for storage, including a center console with a roomy bin, four cupholders, a storage tray and a clip pad. It further has requisite power outlets. The interior is conservatively styled but everything is logical and easy to use. Controls on the center dash are conveniently backlit for night driving.
The biggest problem with the interior is its inconsistency. Some interior parts used extremely high quality materials, such as the soft rubber door handles, which reminded us of Volkswagens, the benchmark for interiors. Yet, other parts, such as the plastic surrounding the audio and climate controls, appeared cheap. The ceiling area above the visors was lumpy, the edges of the ceiling fabric where it was supposed to tuck into the trim was ragged, the handle for the lumbar support flimsy and the seat fabric puckered. Our test cars were pre-production models and some of the finer points may be worked out in production. Still, we didn't feel the interior materials and workmanship, in general, measured up to the craftsmanship of a Honda Accord or Toyota Camry.
A neat feature is the remote starter system, useful for starting the car from inside the house when it's very cold or very hot outside. To start the Malibu, press the lock button on the remote key fob, then press and hold the remote start button for one and one-half seconds. The two-step process is designed to prevent accidental activation. It also ensures the vehicle is locked (it can be unlocked by pushing the lock button again on the key fob) and the anti-theft system engages. The remote start system receives an ever-changing radio frequency code, intended to thwart thieves, from the key fob. The vehicle turn signals flash once and the parking lights turn on when the vehicle engine begins running. To drive away after a remote start, the vehicle's ignition key must be placed in the switch and rotated to the run position. The key lets the anti-theft device know it is the proper one and allows the vehicle to run normally. If the driver doesn't drive off after 10 minutes, the engine shuts off. The car can be re-started with the push of the buttons again. The engine can be stopped by remote by pressing the remote start button on the key fob, engaging the hazard switch on the Malibu's dashboard or turning the ignition key to the off position. GM claims this is the industry's first factory-installed remote start system, which is covered by a car manufacturer's warranty and is tied into the vehicle's anti-theft system.
Driving Impression
The driving dynamics of the Malibu exceeded our expectations.
The 2004 Chevy Malibu is built on GM's new global platform it calls Epsilon, a front-wheel-drive architecture developed by a team of American, German and Swedish engineers. The architecture serves as the basis for the highly successful Opel Vectra in Germany, and the Swedish-made Saab 9-3. In the U.S., Epsilon also will be used for the Pontiac Grand Am replacement. Bottom line is the Epsilon platform provides good bones for the Malibu sedan.
Malibu's body structure is rock solid to make it quiet and responsive as well as safe, presumably. Its steering is an electronic system to boost fuel economy, reduce noise and require less maintenance. It provides the driver with assistance at low speeds, such as in parking lots, and less at highway speeds for better feel.
Engineers have deliberately tuned the steering, handling and ride to be smack dab in between the Accord's firmness and the Camry softness. We think it was exactly the right decision. The rock solid body structure provided us with a very quiet and comfortable ride yet still allowed us a relatively spirited driving experience.
Both engines deliver plenty of power as well as good fuel economy within their segments. GM's global Ecotec engine, a 2.2-liter dual overhead cam four cylinder, serves as the base engine. It delivers 145 horsepower and good fuel economy.
GM's newly developed 3.5-liter V6 is the other choice, providing 200 horsepower and decent fuel economy. We were especially impressed with the extra kick the V6 gave us in highway passing maneuvers. The new 3.5-liter V6 offers a big improvement over the previous Malibu's 170-horsepower 3.1-liter V6.
Brakes are front disc and rear drum.
The 2004 Chevrolet Malibu has a rock-solid driving personality, a promising safety outlook, and lots of features at an attractive price. And we expect the Malibu to continue its strong quality track record.
The Chevy Malibu is the second volley in GM's all-out assault on the Japanese carmakers' stronghold on midsize car sales leadership. (The first was the introduction of the redesigned 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix last spring.) GM has announced plans to revamp its entire midsize car line by introducing more than two dozen sedans, coupes, crossovers and convertibles over the next three years.
Model Lineup
Malibu ($18,370); LS ($20,370); LT ($22,870).
Assembled In
Kansas City, Kansas.
Options As Tested
Head curtain airbags ($395); ABS with traction control ($400); Base option package with power adjustable pedals, driver manual lumbar seat adjuster and upgraded audio system ($835); XM Satellite Radio ($325); OnStar communications system ($695); power sunroof ($725).
Model Tested
Chevrolet Malibu ($18,370).
Sales Hours:
759 Fischer Blvd.
Toms River, Nj. 08753
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