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Monday, May 29, 2006
What is Candy Blog?
For the most part Candy Blog is a compilation of reviews of candies. There?s other content, sometimes news stories and sometimes profiles of candy shops and companies and the occasional tour but you can pretty much rely on a new candy review every weekday. I will also try to focus on some other long-form projects, such as histories and nostalgia pieces.
When did Candy Blog start?
I started the blog in April of 2005. I?d already been blogging since late 2001 but hadn?t quite struck the right note with the type of narrow-focused, sustainable content that would appeal to other people. At a wedding I was talking with my table-mates about candy and someone suggested that I had such a broad range of knowledge about candy that I should start blogging about it.
It seemed like a natural idea to use the blog as a way to expand my horizons by trying new things and experience other cultures. Therefore I made sure that I feature foreign candies quite often.
Who runs Candy Blog?
Right now, it?s just me. Cybele May ? writer and candy lover. I haven?t done it all on my own though, the design and blog installation was done by HopStudios.com and I often get tech help from my husband. All the photos and text are by me unless an exception is noted in a post.
Is there any editorial oversight for Candy Blog?
I am my own writer, photographer, editor and publisher. Any mistakes or inaccuracies are purely of my own creation. If I have made an error, please let me know and I will correct it as soon as possible.
What is Typetive?
It?s a word I coined, it?s basically the writing equivalent of being talkative. I registered the domain (www.typetive.com) to host all my blogs and other writing content.
Why isn?t Candy Blog at Candy Blog.net when I type in the address?
You can access Candy Blog by typing in CandyBlog.net into your address bar, it forwards you to the candyblog.net/blog location. It makes it easy to tell others about Candy Blog without having to remember a long URL. When I started Candy Blog I didn?t expect so many people to like to it so quickly, so I figured I was kind of stuck with the current candyblog.net/blog address.
Why is it .net and not .com?
Someone bought the .com address a few weeks after I started Candy Blog (but before I tried to register the domain). They?re not using it, but are offering it for sale. The .net address denotes a community, whereas a .com address denotes a business. So .net is probably more appropriate anyway.
When did you start writing about candy?
I posted recently with an early short story piece I wrote for a contest at the library when I was 10. It seems that candy has been a constant topic for me. A major research report I did in my senior year of high school was on chocolate. (I got an A, thankyouverymuch). My master?s thesis for my MFA in Playwriting was a project was called Hershey and was based on the history of the town of Hershey and its founder, Milton S. Hershey. It wasn?t really about chocolate, but the research did involve a lot of candy.
Basically, candy has been a pretty constant topic in my life.
Do you ever make candy?
Yes. Not so much recently. The earliest candy experiment I can recall was when I was 5 and in kindergarten. We were doing a kitchen project, making candied apples, and one of us suggested using Grape Tang to flavor the candy. Our teacher (I think a parent-volunteer ) was not one to dissuade us from our folly. It was, um, interesting. I wouldn?t really call the result Candied Apples, more like Tar Apples. But it was a learning experience!
As a teen I experimented quite a bit with hard candies (lollies), caramels (my grandmother?s recipe which sometimes turned into toffee) and my own signature chocolate cocoa-dusted truffles.
Later when I was in college I got a job at a bakery/candy shop called Chocoholics in Eureka, CA. Besides washing dishes and working behind the counter I also learned to dip truffles and make some other more sophisticated chocolates. Since that time I have made thousands and thousands of chocolate truffles (usually as my annual Christmas gift to family and friends). I?ve not made them in the past four years though.
Do you plan on adding candy recipes and/or tutorials to Candy Blog?
Yes, someday, if folks are interested in it.
How have things changed with your relationship to candy since you?ve been blogging about it?
It?s odd, because I?m using my discretionary calories to consume the things I?m reviewing, I don?t get to eat the things I know and love as often. But it?s also allowed me to find some incredible new favorites I might not have tried because I was so complacent with the things I already had in my candy repertoire.
The blog has also helped me to rationalize any consumption. ?You know, it?s for the blog.?
How long is this FAQ?
When I typed it up in Word, it was nine pages long and about 4,000 words. Scroll on! Scroll on!
What are your favorite candies in addition to the ones that you?ve raved about here?
That?s a tough one. In the consumer chocolate family pretty fond of: Mounds, Heath, Take 5, 100 Grand, York Peppermint Pattie, See?s Scotchmallows & Caramels, After Eight Mints, 5th Avenue, Hershey?s Kisses, Reese?s Miniatures, Baci, M&Ms Almond and Malted Milk Balls.
In the sugar candy genre I like Haribo Gummi Bears, Licorice Pastilles, SweeTarts, Spree, Payday, Tootsie Pops, Chupa Chup?s Coffee Flavors & Lemonheads.
I?m probably leaving some things out.
What won?t you eat?
I don?t eat artificial sweeteners such as aspartame (Equal), sucralose (Splenda), acesulfame potassium (AceK) or saccharin (Sweet n? Low). There are sugar alternatives that I will eat, such as mannitol, sorbitol or xylitol because they are natural compounds that our bodies already know what to do with.
I don?t like hydrogenated oils and I have been making more of an attempt to avoid products that contain enough of them to show up on the ?trans fat? content portion of the nutrition label. This is sometimes difficult with foreign candies that have different labeling standards.
I am allergic to walnuts. Not deathly so, but they do cause a reaction a I choose to avoid.
I?m also allergic to bee stings, but no one is making bee venom chocolate cordials, so I don?t even worry about that.
Can I suggest something for you to review?
Certainly! I?m always open to suggestions. There are so many candies out there, sometimes I miss something. You can check to see if I?ve mentioned it before by using the Search feature over there on the left. If I haven?t mentioned it, there?s a pretty good chance that I haven?t had it. You can email me or just leave a comment in the most recent review.
Can I send you something to review? Can we swap?
I?d love to take candy from anyone and everyone. And I?m very flattered that so many readers want to send me things.
I honestly prefer to buy my own candy. I like the process of finding it and getting the entire experience of seeing it in its natural habitat, making the purchase and then taking it home and photographing it then eating it.
As I?ve started traveling more, I?m finding that there are many places out there to get candy, candy I?ve never seen before, sweets from all over the world.
I?d love to swap and give away more candy, but I?m a terrible procrastinator and would probably disappoint you by being terribly late. I do candy giveaways from time to time, mostly to get rid of the extra candies I have sitting around and share the bounty.
If you want to swap candy, I suggest getting involved in one of the candy swap groups or sites.
Do you accept gifts of candy from manufacturers in exchange for reviews?
Yes, I do. I have a review policy, which I inform companies about at the time I accept their samples (and now everyone can read it). Basically, I?ll accept whatever they send, provided it?s something that I?m likely to appreciate with the additional caveat that I don?t have to like it and don?t even have to review it. If I have accepted a sample, I let the readers know in the specs on the candy in the area that says ?place purchased.?
Most candy makers approach me. Thus far I have only approached one company to request samples (Figamajigs) because they were not for retail sale yet and I was really interested in them.
Have you ever accepted samples and not blogged about them?
Yes, I have accepted some items that I?ve not blogged. They?re usually part of a larger set, so I?ve blogged part of the group of items, but not all. There are different reasons for not blogging about them. Sometimes they contain ingredients on my verboten list, sometimes I just haven?t gotten around to it.
Have you ever turned down samples?
Yes, usually for items that I wouldn?t review because they?re not technically candy.
I?ve looked over your reviews and you?ve pretty much raved about all the free samples you?ve gotten.
This is true. First, I think that anyone who sends me something has a great deal of well-placed confidence in their product. Second, I like a lot of things. Take a look at the number of reviews I?ve done and the number that fall at a rating of 6 or more ? that?s most of them. I just like candy.
How much candy is in your house right now?
At this writing, probably about 40 pounds.
How are your teeth?
Um, they?re okay. Not great, but probably not that bad. I was blessed with lovely, straight teeth and good gums, but lousy, soft enamel. So I had a lot of cavities as a child. Most of my adult dental work has simply been the continued maintenance of that old dental work. I still have all my teeth (except for my wisdom teeth), never had a root canal. I do not visit the dentist often enough. I don?t know if the cavities as a kid can be blamed on the candy consumption ? I think it?s more likely that I had poor dental hygiene. I do believe that you can eat candy without any bad repercussions to your mouth as long as you rinse, brush and floss faithfully.
Do you worry about diabetes?
Yes, that?s why I try to watch my diet and weight.
Does your mother know you write about candy?
Yes, she does. My whole family knows and is very supportive and enthusiastic about Candy Blog. You may notice that there are two people who comment from time to time, Crispin and Amy ? they are my brother and sister.
Is this FAQ organized in any sort of way?
No, not really.
What camera do you use? How do you take your photos?
When I started Candy Blog I was using a little 5 megapixel camera ? a Sony Cybershot DSC-V1. That camera bit the dust after taking 26,000 lovely pictures of candy, whales & dolphins and stuff in my back yard. All photos before March 2006 were taken with that camera.
When I started the blog I took all the photos for my posts using that camera and some simple sheets of white poster board. That?s it ? nothing special, just patience and a tripod. Then a little clever post-processing in Photoshop to get the near-white background.
My new camera is a Sony Cybershot DSC-V3. (Basically an upgrade of the previous camera). It?s a 7 megapixel pro-sumer camera that has some nice manual controls that help me to take good shots.
I have a home photo studio now which is a ?shooting table? which is made of a large piece of bent milk-white Plexiglas to form the infinite white background. I have one studio light, an Arriflex 650 watt fresnel with a chimera to give a diffuse light to my subjects.
You can enjoy all my shots, candy and otherwise on my flickr page.
How much candy do you eat a week? How much of that is actually stuff for the blog?
I eat something just about every day, usually whatever will be posted the following day. Most of the candy I eat is for the blog ? I don?t have many discretionary calories in my diet left over for additional candy for pleasure (it sounds so sad, doesn?t it?). I try to balance my candy intake ? I like a good mix of sour, sweet, creamy, nutty and chocolate.
Where does the candy come from?
I buy most of it. I buy it at all the normal places ? the drug store, grocery store, liquor stores, convenience stores, gas stations, candy stores, ethnic grocers and specialty stores. Sometimes I order online for things I can?t find anywhere else. I always say where I got each candy that I blog about, so that you know at least one place it can be found. Other sources include: gifts from friends and readers, samples from manufacturers or internet candy stores.
How does your process work?
Once I get a hold of the candy, I have to take a photo of it. I usually shoot a whole week's worth of candy at once on the weekends. When I'm done, I'll usually have a little plate of the pieces of candy that were featured in the photo (unless they can easily be put back into the wrapper). I'll usually munch on those over the weekend.
The day before the review I'll have another portion and start compiling the review. At that point you may see it over on the left nav area as an "on deck" item. I'll upload the photo and type up my initial notes and maybe do a little research.
The day the post goes up I'll eat a bit more of it and polish up the notes into a more coherent review and add all the links. I usually don't make my determination for the rating until that day.
Then later in the day I'll have a snack that will be the next day's review or maybe one for later in the week.
What sort of candy isn?t so bad for me?
I can?t tell you that, as most candy isn?t ?good? for you. I don?t log all the particular nutrition information about each candy. However, what I do is add info to the post where there are wholesome aspects about a candy, such as high fiber/protein content or other significant nutritive content. I will also add info about other bad things, like hydrogenated oils or other freakishly high fat content.
As a touchstone, I make my best effort to calculate the number of calories per ounce for each candy. This makes it easier to evaluate one candy compared to another without having to look at the whole label. A candy that gets up into the 160s per ounce is going to have a very high fat content, while a candy in the 100s is probably all sugar (carbs). Depending on your personal diet, you may want to opt for the high fat or the high carbs.
So, to answer your question ? in my mind candy with a lot of nuts in it and a minimum of added sugar is pretty wholesome, as it adds nutrition even though there may be a lot of calories. I consider dark chocolate covered almonds to be wholesome food. Some dieticians may want to argue that point with me. Other candies that I consider wholesome were Figamajigs and Chocolate Covered Sunflower Seeds. I think that just about any candy can be incorporated into your diet in moderation.
What inspired you to blog about candy?
It turns out I?ve been writing about candy my whole life, and my other general blog contained some candy content anyway.
The reason I started at that moment in April 2005 was that I had just become interested in exploring more candies (you can read more about my general life philosphy here). I?d just returned from NYC and then had my first trip to Little Tokyo where I experimented by buying some Japanese candies at the urging of my mother. Then I was at a wedding and mentioned all the cool things to one of my table-mates and someone said that I should blog about it. Later that weekend I started the blog.
For the most part I wanted to create a blog with content that I?d like to read. There were some other candy review sites out there, but they don?t have a comment feature that supported dialogue with the readers or they didn't have original photos that showed what the candy really looked like.
How do I become a Candy Blogger?
Just start doing it. It?s not hard, there are some very simple blogging systems out there. Post on a regular basis and eventually you'll find your own voice and audience. If you keep it up, I?ll be happy to add you to the blogroll. I think there?s plenty of room for other candy blogs and I?m happy to have the company that you see over in the candy blogroll.
How do I make money as a Candy Blogger?
I?m not sure about the answer to that one. I?m not making a lot of money. There is advertising on this site, but at the moment Candy Blog is a losing proposition. (The agreements for taking ads on the site usually prohibit being able to be completely transparent about how much I?m making. Email me if you really want to know.) That?s why it?s a labor of love.
If you find out how to make a living at it, please let me know.
Can I just come write for you and Candy Blog?
I might take on additional writers someday, probably people who like things that I don?t like, so that we can cover the full spectrum. But right now I?m not planning on adding anyone. When I do, I?ll be looking for people who are already active bloggers (though you don?t have to be blogging about candy or even food).
What are these categories at the end of each blog post and showing over on the left navigation area?
Categories are a way for me to tag each post into groupings. If you click on the category on the left navigation are or at the end of the post, it will show you more candies that I?ve reviewed that are from the country, contain chocolate or got the same rating.
The tally shown after each category shows how many posts have been tagged so far. Some categories are huge, such as candy made in the United States or those containing Chocolate. Others are niche products that some people may be interested in, like candy from Russia
How come you haven?t given anything a ?1 ? Inedible? review yet?
Because nothing has qualified for it. Don?t worry, I?m I'll eventually eat something that I'll immediately spit out.
Why don?t you review more gum?
I don?t really enjoy gum that much. I like Chicklets and I?m very happy with them. It?s hard to find gum that still contains sugar these days.
Then why did you start reviewing gum in the first place?
I felt like it.
What candy are you planning to review?
If you look over on the lower left, under the categories there?s a little section called On Deck where you can see the next five posts I have lined up. Sometimes I post the photos that I?ve shot in my Flickr photostream too, but there?s very little organization to it.
I?ve thought about posting a running list of the stuff I have ?in stock? for review, but then I was worried that I?d spend more time on the management of my lists instead of coming up with really fun new features for Candy Blog.
Do you have a set format for the review or is each post just whatever floats your boat at the moment?
The only set format is the specs that are include with each candy review. The rest is whatever strikes me at the time. I try to answer the questions that I would have if it was the first time I?d ever seen the candy.
The thing is, part of the reason I?d not been very adventurous about my candy consumption in my earlier life was because I didn?t know what stuff was. It?s tough. If the candy doesn?t have a good description or accurate photo on the package, how are you supposed to know what it is? It only gets worse with foreign candies.
I?m trying to demystify things a little bit (especially with the non-American candies) and also broaden my horizons to new flavors and combinations.
How can I get free candy?
If you want free candy from me, just wait for another candy giveaway. I don?t do them very often, mostly because I?m too lazy to go to the post office.
If you want free candy from candy manufacturers, sometimes all you have to do is write to them and ask for samples. Often you can subscribe to newsletters at candy company websites and they?ll send you free samples from time to time.
How do you keep up the drive to post?
Any blog malaise I?ve suffered thus far has only lasted a couple of days (the longest period was about two weeks when my camera died). Most of the time, because I take a week?s worth of photos at one time, I?m able to at least sketch in my basic reviews in advance, so I usually have a few pre-written posts ready to go in case of emergencies. This was very useful when I got sick back in late February but didn't miss my daily review.
I know there may come a time when I won?t be able to post every day. But I?ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Sometimes I have technology gaffes - by setting up the posts ahead of time, sometimes I forget that they're set to "launch" but themselves before I've finished writing them. So if you're reading and find that there's just a photo and no text, I'm probably traveling or just not paying attention.
Who hosts your site?
Candy Blog is hosted at Nexcess.net, which is a lovely company with great customer service. They?ve been very flexible in designing a custom hosting plan for me and responsive whenever I?ve had an issue or question.
If you?re interested in hosting with them, please click this link for a referral to help me out with my hosting costs. In return, I think you'll be very happy with the service.
Is Candy Blog a super ?back stage pass?? Have you been able to get in anywhere because of your fame as the Candy Blogger?
Well, saying that I have fame as the Candy Blogger is overstating it a bit. I did qualify for my All Candy Expo press pass because of the consistent work I?ve been doing. I was also able to get my super-personalized tour of the Jelly Belly factory.
I have also been approached more regularly by candy companies and marketing people to review their products. (But at the same time I?ve been getting equally uninteresting spam type emails about wholesale wicker products from China, packaging solutions from Korea and high-temperature, low-viscosity machine lubricants.)
I?ve also met some great folks like those at CandyWarehouse.com
and CandyFavorites.com through this blog (just the access to look at shelf after shelf of candy is perk).
There are a lot of things I?d like to see, especially when it comes to the manufacture of candy and chocolate and I hope that my serious devotion to the candy sphere will help me to get that access. I also hope never to abuse that ?celebrity? simply for my own pleasure. It?s all for the blog, right?
How did you get on the radio/get featured in that newspaper?
On both occasions for the radio interviews I?ve done, I was approached by the producers, who found me through their research. I?ve actually done quite a few other interviews that have never made it to press. I?ve made little or no attempt to promote Candy Blog in the media, so whatever I?ve gotten thus far has probably been because of my devoted readers saying nice things to the right people.
Are you surprised by the success of the blog?
Yes, even though I knew deep down that there were other people out there like me, and I knew that eventually they?d find the blog. I?m not sure how to qualify when the blog became successful. I guess it was when posts started garnering multiple comments from people I didn?t know, I really felt like I was connecting with other people.
It?s funny how happy, truly happy, writing about candy has made me.
The number of readers is, of course, quite heartening, because it makes at least part of the blog pay for itself and that?s quite a relief.
How often do you eat candy? Do you eat a balanced diet?
I eat a very balanced diet. Or at least I think so. A sample day goes like this:
For the most part my diet is all about lean protein, fresh vegetables/fruit and whole grains. You can read more about Why I?m Not Fat.
Where did you learn about tasting notes?
My husband enjoys fine wines and we often visit wineries in California while on vacation. A lot of the flavors and notes I refer to are ones I?ve learned from wine tastings. There are also a couple of chocolate review sites that I read regularly that use the same language. By paying careful attention when tasting you too can detect these more ethereal notes.
What are your future plans for Candy Blog
I am hoping to do more factory tours and more nostalgia/history postings.
I would like to start a candy bookshelf and share my reviews of books on the topic of candy.
I would like to develop a candy wiki and if there is a kind and talented programmer out there who would like to help me out with that, I?d be grateful and motivated enough to send you some candy.
I am planning on adding some community forums as well, so that conversations about candy can go on outside of the particular postings. (If that?s something of interest to the readers.) I?ve been hesitant to add them as I know that an empty forum can be pretty sad and desolate.
I have some other fun things that I?d love to do as well, like adding polls and maybe some quizzes. I have an interactive timeline in the works as well.
Are you planning to write a book?
Yes. Would you buy it?
Do you have more questions? The Frequently Asked Questions will be continually updated, so feel free to ask more.
POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:26 pm Candy Blog Info • News •
Next entry: Nougat de Montelimar
Previous entry: Candy Review Policy
Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.


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Alicia Silverstone may be a proud vegan, but the star is getting ready to add "Butter" to her diet.
According to Production Weekly, the actress is in negotiations for the Weinstein Company comedy, which is already set to star Ty Burrell, Jennifer Garner and Ashley Greene.
The film features "Modern Family's" Ty as a butter-carving champion who steps aside from his title as his wife (Jennifer) gears up to compete in their small town contest.
Alicia was also recently cast in the Amy Heckerling vampire film, "Vamps."
The star, who became a vegan in 1998, released her vegan handbook, "The Kind Diet," in October 2009.
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Hollywood Blondes
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Celebrity Vegetarians: They Say No To Meat
PLAY IT NOW: Alicia Silverstone Goes Green With Organic Cooking
PLAY IT NOW: Alicia Silverstone: 'The Kind Diet' Changed My Life
MORE ACCESS ON THESE TOPICS: Alicia Silverstone - Movies - Casting Call - Ashley Greene - Jennifer Garner

subset: commoncrawl


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Highlander Odin Jackets are made from Ab-Tex tri laminate material it is fully waterproof and breathable and are designed for a wide range of uses. From hunters to fishermen, bushcrafters to bird watchers these Jackets offer unrivalled comfort and performance in the toughest of conditions.
When you are outside on a miserable rainy day, when jackets need to both tough and durable as well as fully waterproof and windproof then there is no better choice than Highlander. Designed to handle all situations, the Odin offers the following features making it a superb choice of outdoor clothing.
Adjustable cuffs and draw string waist with cord locks
Abtex Breathable & Waterproof material
Storm proof zips with removable pullers.
Two zipped side pockets and one zipped chest pocket.
Zipped under arm sections for airflow
Taped seams
Made from super tough Ab-Tex Tri laminate material and weighing in at approx 800 grm for the Jacket they are essential for any outdoor pursuits.
Highlander is the one to choose when only the best will do.
hi just wondering if you have any medium or large of this jacket in stock or coming into stock???
many thank rob
Won't be stocking this product anytime soon I am afraid.


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April 11, 2006
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. - In its final tuneup before the Big West Golf Championships, UC Santa Barbara finished in a tie for fifth with Cal Poly, out of 19 schools at the SMC/Merrill Lynch Invitational. The tourney was held in the rain at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach.
Sophomore Ryan Keefe shot a 224 to finish in a tie for eighth-place, his best finish of the season. Junior Joe Ryon shot a 225 to tie for 11th-place.
Rounding out the Gaucho finishers, sophomore Marty Melcher shot 233 to finish tied for 44th, freshman Tony Verna finished tied for 49th at 234 and senior Greg Wells shot 245 to tie for 87th.
The tournament team title was won by Lamar, which shot 891 to edge Xavier by one shot. Fresno State's Jason Anthony and Lamar's Oliver Bekker tied for the individual title at 218.
UCSB's next action will be at the Big West Championships on April 24-25 at Tijeras Creek Golf Course in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.


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Used 2010 Cadillac Escalade EXT Pickup
Used 2010
Cadillac Escalade EXT Pickup
2010 Cadillac Escalade EXT Pricing
For Sale Near 20146
2010 Cadillac Escalade EXT KBB Expert Review
At the time the Escalade EXT was created, its purpose was to give Cadillac an entrant in the then-growing market for big sport utility vehicles and full-size pickups, and with features not available on the competition. While the Escalade ESV is derived from the long-wheelbase Chevrolet Suburban, the EXT is Cadillac's take on Chevy's innovative Avalanche truck, which quickly converts from a closed SUV to a surprisingly capable pickup via a removable Midgate Panel divider system that extends the usable bed into the rear-seat area. The 2010 Cadillac Escalade EXT boasts GM's latest chassis, body, interior and powertrain upgrades, as well as a generous allotment of new convenience and safety features.
You'll Like This Car If...
If you need or want full-size truck towing capabilities, along with upscale Cadillac luxury and image and the versatility to change from a quiet, comfortable closed SUV to a pickup with more cargo capacity, this is the one.
You May Not Like This Car If...
If convert-a-truck flexibility and Cadillac crests are not important to you, any modern full-size crew-cab pickup can be equipped to do the job of serious hauling and comfortable occupant-coddling at well below the EXT's price. And Chevy's Avalanche offers the same Midgate Panel feature for a lot less money.
What's New for 2010
For 2010, Cadillac adds Active Fuel Management (cylinder deactivation) to its 6.2-liter V8 engine. Other new features include a console mounted USB port, a locking steering column and seat-mounted front side thorax airbags.
Driving It
Driving Impressions
This heavy full-frame luxury truck drives like a very large car. It's no sport sedan, but it is more agile, sure-footed and Cadillac-comfortable than most any other full-size truck you'll encounter, at least in part due to its fully-boxed frame, capable suspension, wide tracks and improved rack-and-pinion steering. Both braking and steering feel, especially, are vastly improved compared to previous GM trucks. The 6.2-liter V8 idles aggressively at rest and roars impressively at full throttle as it thrusts the big vehicle forward with eye-opening authority.
Favorite Features
Remote Vehicle Starting
This is one of those features that you may not want to live without once you've become used to it, especially in hot summer or cold winter weather. At the touch of a key-fob button from afar, it can start the engine and begin cooling or heating the cabin before you're even inside.
Convert-a-Cab Midgate Panel
This clever removable divider system quickly converts the EXT from a closed-cabin SUV with a five-foot pickup bed to a surprisingly capable pickup by extending the bed nearly three feet into the rear seat area.
Vehicle Details
The 2010 Cadillac Escalade EXT's interior is luxury-plush, surprisingly quiet and raises the luxury and refinement bars another couple of notches. The instrument panel is set low and far forward to improve real and perceived room. It houses quad round gauges with white needles, blue-light inlays and white LED backlighting. "Nuance" leather covers the seats, doors, steering wheel and center console, while the interior pillars wear rich-looking fabric. And then there's the manually-folding Midgate Panel bulkhead that allows the five-passenger EXT to convert into a two-passenger pickup with an eight-foot bed. It's pretty slick, but one potential down-side is that, in that configuration, the entire interior is open to the great outdoors and all the security, weather and dirt issues that includes.
Those who bought the original Escalade EXT will find even more to like in the 2010 model, beginning with its styling. Slightly larger and heavier due to added structure and features, it appears perhaps somewhat smaller thanks to its crisp, sleek lines. The swept-back 57-degree windshield contributes to an impressive aerodynamic drag coefficient of 0.36, which helps improve fuel economy and reduce wind noise, and careful detailing shows in its large, finely-crafted Cadillac signature grille, front fender vent ports and tasteful chrome accents.
Notable Standard Equipment
The 2010 Cadillac Escalade EXT's comprehensive standard content begins with all-wheel drive, road-sensing suspension, automatic rear leveling, Ultrasonic Rear Park Assist, a three-piece rigid cargo cover and remote vehicle starting. Interior features include leather-covered 14-way power heated front seats, dual-zone automatic climate control, steering wheel radio controls, rear audio controls, power adjustable pedals, DVD navigation with rear backup camera, Bose Surround Sound, XM Satellite Radio and OnStar with turn-by-turn navigation. Additional safety and convenience features include advanced front air bags with passenger sensing, head-curtain side air bags for both rows, front side thorax airbags, four-wheel antilock disc brakes (ABS), Stabilitrak stability control, rain-sensing wipers and heated washer fluid.
Notable Optional Equipment
With so much standard equipment, the EXT's option list is not long, and includes 22-inch tires on chromed aluminum wheels, rear-seat entertainment system, power adjustable running boards, a power sliding sunroof, heated and cooled front seats a heated steering wheel, Magnetic Ride Control suspension and IntelliBeam automatic headlamps.
Under the Hood
Powering every 2010 Cadillac Escalade EXT is a 6.2-liter all-aluminum V8 with Active Fuel Management cylinder deactivation, which cuts to four the number of active cylinders when under light load. Variable valve timing (VVT) optimizes camshaft timing to improve low-rpm torque and high-rpm power, along with emissions and fuel economy.
6.2-liter V8
403 hp at 5700 rpm
417 lb.-ft. of torque @ 4300 rpm
EPA city/highway fuel economy: 12/19 (gasoline), 9/14 (E85)
Pricing Notes
The 2010 Cadillac Escalade EXT has a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) ranging from around $62,000 for the base model and topping out near $70,000 when fully loaded. The Escalade EXT's closest competitor, the Ford F-150 SuperCrew Cab Platinum Edition with all-wheel drive, is priced in the mid $40,000 range but can't match the EXT's Midgate Panel flexibility or impressive horsepower. Chevy's top-of-the-line four-wheel-drive 6.0-liter V8-powered Avalanche LTZ is also in the mid $40,000 range. The Kelley Blue Book Fair Purchase Price will show you what others in your area are actually paying for the EXT, so be sure to take a look at it before you set out to buy. Over time, the Escalade EXT is projected to hold resale value lower than the F-150 Platinum Edition and the Avalanche.
Cadillac Escalade EXT Consumer Reviews
October 02, 2015
Best looking 'truck' I've ever owned.
I'm totally pleased, the dealership I bought it from was professional and courteous. I really don't like the idea of Cadillac not making...
July 30, 2015
Excellent truck. No problems
Beautiful truck. Excellent repair history. If they still made the EXT I would buy another.
June 11, 2015
Great Looking Ride - Reliability Not Good
Awesome ride. Best looking, most comfortable and nicest pick up I've owned. However truck has had too many issues. I owned a Nissan...


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Auto-Tune Abuse in Pop Music – 10 ExamplesJanuary 27, 2009
Pitch correction software has applications from restoration and mix-rescue to outright distortion of a voice or instrument. most vocals we hear recorded these days, particulary in the charts have some, to lots of vocal correction prcessing.
I'll discuss some of the more tasteful uses of these auto-tune tools below. But first I thought I'd highlight their misuse to illustrate the effects we usually try to avoid.
So, listen here to 10 of pop music's most blatant auto-tune abuses:
If you're unfamiliar with Auto-tune, and especially if you listen to much pop and rock, you might not hear it initially. When overdone, the effect yields an unnatural yodel or warble in a singer's voice. But the sound is so commonplace in modern mainstream music that your ears may have tuned out the auto-tune!
The songs in this clip, in order, and the phrases most affected by auto-tuning to help you spot them:
Dixie Chicks – The Long Way Around – Noticeable on "parents" and "but I."
T-Pain – I'm Sprung – Especially obvious on "homies" and "lady."
Avril Lavigne – Complicated – Listen to "way," "when," "driving," "you're."
Uncle Kracker – Follow Me
The whole vocal sounds strained, but especially the word "goodbye."
Maroon 5 – She Will Be Loved – Listen for "rain" and "smile."
Natasha Bedingfield – Love Like This – "Apart" and "life."
Sean Kingston – Beautiful girls – "OoooOver" doesn't sound human.
JoJo – Too Little Too Late – Appropriately, "problem" stands out.
Rascal Flatts – Life is a Highway
Every vocal, foreground and background, is treated, but "drive" in particular.
New Found Glory – Hit or Miss – "Thriller", and every time Jordan sings "I."
The Cher Effect
When used noticeably, an auto-tuner produces what most call "The Cher Effect", named for her trademark sound in the song Believe*. (In essence, we named the effect like scientists naming a new disease after its first victim.) Treated this heavily, a vocal track sounds synthetic, and obviously processed.
But not all auto-tuning is so blatant. In the sample above, it's harder to hear the pitch correction on Uncle Kracker and Avril than on T-Pain and Bedingfield.
Tasteful Uses
As with any tool, a little care can yield great results. Some simple things to keep in mind about pitch correction tools:
- Performance: Most importantly, an auto-tuner isn't a shortcut to a perfect performance. If you can't sing the song properly, no amount of post-processing will make it sound like you did. So when your pitch matters, and you don't want to correct it with an effect, you'll need to work on your performance until it's right.
- Less is more: The fewer notes you correct, the less obvious your use of an auto tuner will be. Consider automating the plugin so it acts only when most needed.
- Graphical mode: If your pitch correction software offers a graphical mode (like Antares Auto-Tune and Melodyne,) learn how to work with it. The default "auto" modes are OK for basic corrections, but often produce noticeable yodeling.
- Backing vocals: In general, you can get away with more pitch correction on backing vocals than lead vocals.
- Outdated: Obvious vocoder-style autotuning is dated, and borders on kitschy. The synthetic warbling vocal sound marks songs as having come from a specific era, the same way gated-reverb on drums instantly places a song in the 1980′s. Remember: If you make the auto tuner obvious, people will say your song uses "the Cher effect." Let this be a guideline.
Let us not forget that ver sson we will have Melodyne DNA which can analyse CHORDS and seperate the note indiviulally allowing complete control of volumes dynamics and pitch. This will surly lead to to some nasty uses alngside some inovative ones. I can not wait!


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You may not be planning yet for back-to-school, but experts say that many parents will likely spend hundreds of dollars on school supplies and clothing when the time comes.
A new survey by Coinstar found 47 percent of parents who were surveyed said they'll spend between $101 and $300 per child on back-to-school shopping.
About 67 percent also said they believe school costs are going up and 70 percent said back-to-school shopping is stressful and creates anxiety.


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Welcome to Villas del Caribe
Come and enjoy the best hotel site and beaches on the South Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. Located directly on the beach, VILLAS del CARIBE offers 26 accommodation units which include:
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All units are bright, fresh and clean, have private bathrooms and have been designed in modern caribbean style which catches the coastal prevailing breezes for effective cross ventilation. All have ceiling fans and air conditioning in some units as well as large eaves add to the comfortable temperature inside the villas and rooms. They are tastefully designed, decorated and furnished for comfort, with lamps, cushions, loungers and hammocks.
Enjoy our caribbean and international SeaSide Restaurant
An old, authentic and traditional caribbean style beach house is the site of our SeaSide Restaurant. Located a few meters away from the beach allows our patrons to enjoy the magnificent ocean view as well as the soothing sounds of the surf. Come and enjoy our delicious and varied caribbean cuisine and many other international plates, pizzas, sandwiches, pastas, salads and desserts. The best Costa Rican coffee is ready at any time and your favorite beer or drinks are served in our lobby terrace or at the TV Bar which has free WiFi internet service.
We care about the natural environment
Protection of the natural environment is taken seriously through proper disposal of used waters, unique garbage separation at the origin for recycling, use of all bio-degradable cleaning and washing agents, and energy and water conservation programs.


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Flights to Riyadh
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There is very little tourism in Riyadh and most visitors spend time among the malls and cafés of the downtown Olaya business district, which is overlooked by the twin skyscrapers of the Kingdom Tower and visually striking Faisaliah Tower. The superb National Museum and nearby historic Masmak Fortress are well worth a visit, then head down to Wadi Hanifah, a desert valley rejuvenated with parks, walking trails and fishing lakes. Upstream, the mud-brick city of Diriyah, where Riyadh was founded in the 18th century, is now an archaeological site. Remember this is a conservative Muslim country - alcohol is illegal.
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Verde Nitrogen Nutrient Growing Supplement 16-1-2 (5 Gal.)
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Verde Nitrogen Nutrient Growing Supplement 16-1-2 (5 Gal.)
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- Contains high quality, cold pressed Ascophyllum Nodosum seaweed, humic acid and Yucca extract
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- Derived from: Urea, Ascophyllum Nodosum Seaweed, Phosphoric Acid, Sulfate of Potash, Zinc Oxide, Iron Oxide and Magnesium Oxide
Verde, or green in English, is designed to promote vigorous vegetative and structural growth while still providing essential elements such as calcium, iron and magnesium. This mixture contains a full spread of elements to accelerate plant growth throughout the growing cycle.
It also features a boost of phosphorus and potassium to give plants any nutrients they want. Verde increases the rate of chemical reactions that facilitate plant growth and features a huge boost of accessible nitrogen. This promotes vibrant internal structure and a healthy immune system.
Key components of Verde are high quality, cold pressed Ascophyllum Nodosum seaweed, Humic acid and Yucca extract. These helps the plant to grow extensive root structures, strong stems and high chlorophyll levels in leaves. Verde can be used throughout the growing cycle and is a true growth supplement.
- Hydroponic Application Rate: 1-5ml per gallon of water in reservoir.
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Also contains non-plant food ingredients:
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Unit Ship Weight: 56 lbs


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New Waves: Limited Fanfare Sampler with new PLAINS, Lil DaggersBy Jordan Melnick | April 8th, 2013 | No Comments
To celebrate the end of another brutal winter in the subtropics, Miami-based rock and roll label Limited Fanfare Records presents a "Spring/Summer" sampler featuring new songs by local favorites PLAINS ("Hurricane City") and Lil Daggers ("Spider Lilly"). Comprising 14 tracks by 14 different bands, most of them with Miami or Florida ties, you can stream the sampler in its entirety for the first time right here and download it via Limited Fanfare's bandcamp.
If you like what you hear, make sure to catch live performances by Rickolus, Lil Daggers, PLAINS, Ex Norwegian, and sound sleeper at the Block x Blog Festival in Ft. Lauderdale on April 20th.
Follow Beached Miami on Twitter (@beachedmiami) and Facebook and Instagram and email and RSS.


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At long last, the impulse to go green is spreading faster than a morning glory. Organizations of all types are launching green campaigns—from the city of London's Congestion Charge on automobiles, to Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s push to sell organic foods, to the University of Texas's construction of LEED green buildings. Consumers too are getting behind the idea of being greener. In almost every opinion poll, consumers say that they are very concerned about climate change. They worry about rising seas, declining air quality, shrinking animal habitats, lengthening droughts, and newly brewing diseases. And they connect the dots back to their own purchases, finds a 2007 McKinsey & Company global survey of 7,751 consumers in eight major economies.1Our results show that a full 87 percent of these consumers are concerned about the environmental and social impacts of the products they buy.
But when it comes to actually buying green goods, words and deeds often part ways. Only 33 percent of consumers in our survey say they are ready to buy green products or have already done so. And, according to a 2007 Chain Store Age survey of 822 U.S. consumers, only 25 percent say they have bought a green product other than organic food or energy efficient lighting. By and large, consumers tend to ignore other Earth-friendly products such as carpets made from recycled fiber and energy-saving computers.
Even the green goods that have caught on have tiny market shares. Organic foods—which consumers buy more for their own health than for the environment's—accounted for less than 3 percent of all food sales in 2006, according to the Nutrition Business Journal. In 2006, green laundry detergents and household cleaners made up less than 2 percent of sales in their categories. And despite their trendiness, hybrid cars made up little more than 2 percent of the U.S. auto market in 2007, according to a report by J.D. Power and Associates.
As a result, consumers in the United States and other developed countries have done little to lighten their carbon footprints. Some of this lag between talking and walking could reflect consumers' insincerity, laziness, posturing, or other unsavory traits. But much more of it is because businesses have not educated consumers about the benefits of green products and have failed to create green products that meet consumers' needs.
Consumers want to act green, but they expect businesses to lead the way. According to our global survey, 61 percent of consumers say that corporations should take the lead in tackling the issue of climate change. To do this, businesses need to develop more and better Earth-friendly products. Some already are, but they are not doing a good job of marketing them, finds a Climate Group study, which discovered that two-thirds of American and British consumers cannot name a green brand. Similarly, the 2007 National Technology Readiness Survey of 1,025 U.S. adults found that more than two thirds of participants say they prefer to do business with environmentally responsible companies, but almost half say it is difficult to find green goods and services.
Corporations can reap multiple benefits by going green. They can reduce their energy consumption, lessen their risks, meet competitive threats, enhance their brands, and increase their revenues. Consider the success of compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs), for example. In 2005, sales of CFLs accounted for less than 5 percent of the total lightbulb market. But only two years later, in 2007—the year that the public woke up to the looming threat of climate change—CFLs captured an estimated 20 percent of the lightbulb market, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Companies that sell CFLs, like General Electric Co. (GE), have increased their revenues, enhanced their brands, and strengthened their competitive positions in the market.
To realize the true potential of the green market, businesses must help consumers change their behaviors. And that requires removing the hurdles between would-be green consumers' intentions and actions. Based on McKinsey's work with businesses and other organizations around the world, we have identified five of these hurdles. We also recommend five steps that businesses and other organizations should take to dismantle all of the barriers that prevent consumers from buying green.
Our 2007 study of 7,751 consumers around the world identifies barriers to buying green at every stage of the purchase. First, consumers have to be aware that a product exists before they buy it. Yet many don't even know about the green alternatives in many product categories. Next, consumers must believe that a product will get the job done. But many believe that green products are of lower quality than their more traditional "browner" counterparts. Consumers must then decide whether a product lives up to its green reputation. Yet many are skeptical about environmental claims, partly because they distrust corporations and the media. Finally, consumers must decide whether a product is worth the cost and effort needed to purchase it. But consumers often believe that the prices of green goods are too high, and have a hard time finding them anyway.
To increase the sales of environmentally sensible products, companies must remove these five barriers—namely, lack of awareness, negative perceptions, distrust, high prices, and low availability. In other words, they must increase consumers' awareness of green products, improve consumers' perceptions of eco-products' quality, strengthen consumers' trust, lower the prices of green products, and increase these products' availability.
The importance of each barrier varies by product, industry, and geography. For instance, more than 90 percent of consumers who participated in the McKinsey global survey know about CFLs, so lack of awareness is not a barrier to their purchasing them. But many customers think CFLs are too expensive and of dubious quality. In other words, high price and negative perceptions impede these consumers' progress toward a greener purchase. In contrast, only half of the participants in this study know about carbon credits, which are a way that an individual or business can lower its carbon footprint. Companies that sell these credits invest the money in renewable energy, reforestation, and other activities that reduce carbon emissions, offsetting the emissions of the individual or business that purchased the carbon credit.
Across regions, moreover, consumers have different concerns about price and quality within the same product category. In the retail sector, for example, 14 percent of U.S. consumers say they are willing to pay a premium for green products, compared to 26 percent in Brazil, according to the McKinsey global survey. In the petroleum sector, 7 percent of French consumers are willing to pay a premium, compared to 26 percent in India.
Although the barriers between green thoughts and acts vary by product, industry, and region, the need to remove all barriers does not. In other words, companies have to move customers through the entire purchasing process—from being aware of eco-friendly products, to considering their pros and cons, to paying for the products. Understanding these barriers is the first step to growing green consumers.
Lack of Awareness Our study and others (such as London-based Account Ability's report "What Assures Consumers on Climate Change?") show that consumers know about climate change, understand that reducing their own greenhouse gas emissions will help fight climate change, and want to join that effort. But these studies also show that consumers do not quite understand how to act on their greener impulses. More than one-third of consumers we surveyed say they would like to take action against climate change but do not know what to do.
For example, the top three ways for consumers to reduce their own emissions of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) are to drive a more fuel-efficient car, improve their home's insulation, and reduce their consumption of beef. Yet the consumers in our study thought that using energy-efficient appliances and recycling were among the top three emission-cutting acts. (They correctly identified driving a more efficient car as one of the top three.) And although eating less beef is among the top three best acts of greenness, the fewest consumers knew how eco-friendly this behavior is.
Consumers are equally confused about buying green products—and with good reason. Many attempts to label green products are meaningless at best and bewildering at worst. For example, a current labeling program indicates how much carbon dioxide an item's production, packaging, and shipment emitted—that is, its "carbon footprint." But calculating carbon footprints requires some very fancy math and results in numbers that few people intuitively understand. "What does it mean to say a bag of chips contains 75 grams of carbon?" asked Steve Howard, CEO of the Climate Group, in a March 6, 2008, BusinessWeek article. "I have a PhD in environmental physics and it does not mean a thing to me."
Negative Perceptions Even when consumers can correctly identify environmentally sound products, the green label sometimes proves to be the kiss of death. Some green products—such as Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius automobile—have become status symbols, but many environmentally friendly products suffer an image problem. According to the 2007 GfK Roper Green Gauge study of more than 2,000 Americans, fully 61 percent believe that green goods perform worse than conventional items. Indeed, early green products often trailed behind their conventional competition. Early hybrid cars, for example, had less power than non-hybrid cars. CFL light bulbs also had to overcome problems: Early versions were slow to light up, had weak light when they did illuminate, and didn't fit properly into most normal light fixtures.
Distrust Consumers doubt not only the quality of green products, but also their very greenness, according to the GfK Roper survey. Although they trust the environmental claims of scientists and environmental groups, they tend not to believe the claims of government, media, and business—and justifiably. A 2007 study by TerraChoice Environmental Marketing Inc. ("The Six Sins of Greenwashing") examined 1,753 environmental product claims and found that all but one were misleading or just plain false. In the misleading category: Some companies tout product features that are actually mandated by law. For example, TerraChoice found insecticides, lubricants, oven cleaner gels, cleaners, and disinfectants all labeled as CFC-free. But no products sold today in the United States have CFCs, because the federal government banned the ozone-eating propellants almost three decades ago. Other companies mislead consumers by highlighting one positive product feature while not mentioning their other negative qualities. For instance, paper or lumber products tout their recycled content or sustainable harvesting without noting the impact of their manufacturing processes on air and water emissions or global warming. And in the just plain false category: A dishwasher detergent boasted on its 100 percent plastic container that it used 100 percent recycled paper.
High Prices Consumers who get past the sometimes checkered history of eco-friendly products often encounter a fourth barrier: their frequently higher prices. Indeed, price is the largest barrier to buying green products, found the U.K. Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs in its 2007 survey of 3,600 U.K. consumers. Close to half of this survey's participants want a two-year return on the premium price they pay for a product. Yet 70 percent of green appliances, including energy-efficient televisions, washers, and dryers, take longer to recoup their purchasers' money. Solar power is another example where, according to our analysis of data from the California Energy Commission, a combination of recent technological advances, government subsidies, and good weather have helped reduce the payback period to less than 10 years in California, making residential photovoltaic usage a practical reality for some consumers but still an expensive luxury for others. Because consumers perceive the benefits of green goods to be small and long term, they often view the often higher costs of these products to be too high.
Low Availability Having decided to buy Earth-friendly items, many consumers encounter a final hurdle: They can't find them. Biofuel enthusiasts, for example, must often drive out of their way to fill up on their chosen fuel. Many energy-conscious homeowners have no other choice than to buy dirty power because their local utilities simply do not offer clean energy. And many contractors do not know where to purchase green building materials. The reason consumers cannot find these products is that businesses are not stocking them. In 2007, we did an informal survey of 23 grocery retailers in Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area. We found that fewer than half offered green products besides organic food and CFLs. Among the minority that did proffer eco-friendly nonfood items, only about 10 percent stocked more than one product.
Knowing what stops consumers from buying green products is only half the battle. The other half is knowing how to break down these barriers. Below are five steps for removing the hurdles between green thoughts and green acts. Companies first need to figure out which customers are likely to want which products. They must then examine how people in these different market segments make their purchasing decisions. No matter which barriers prove most important for a given market segment or product, however, businesses must address barriers in all areas before consumers will change their behaviors.
Educate Consumers Because consumers are largely unaware of green alternatives, businesses first need to think of themselves as educators, not salespeople. And they must expand their lesson plans beyond their own products to the larger issues of pollution, climate change, overfishing, and other environmental problems. And nonprofits and government agencies also need to take up the cause of green education.
Consider the success of Energy Star. This program, a joint effort launched by the EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy in 1992, educates consumers about how energy-efficient products can reduce energy use, save money, and protect the environment. Every product that meets government energy-efficiency standards can carry the Energy Star label, which has gained widespread consumer recognition and trust. Because federal regulations mandated energy labels on certain appliances, almost half of the air conditioners sold in the United States in 2005 carried the Energy Star label. In addition, in 2005, close to 30 percent of all U.S. homes had energy-efficient refrigerators and washing machines, according to the Vermont Department of Public Service.
To cite another example: Procter & Gamble Co.'s (P&G) "Future Friendly" campaign teaches consumers how they can have a positive impact on the environment by making their homes more energy efficient, using less water, and reducing the amount of household waste. Specific tips include washing clothes in cold water and drying them in the air rather than in a dryer. P&G benefits because it refreshes its brand, enhances its reputation, and protects its market share from new environmentally friendly competitors.
Build Better Products For consumers to improve their opinions of green products, companies must create ones that are equal to, or better than, conventional alternatives. Consumers still value performance, reliability, and durability much more than a product's ecological soundness. Indeed, to overcome their image problem, green products must often outperform their traditional counterparts.
GE managed to do this with the CFLs. The first CFLs cost a lot more, and were harder to find than conventional bulbs. Now, they pay for themselves in five months, and are readily available. Wal-Mart has committed to sell 100 million CFLs in 2008 and displays them prominently on its shelves. CFLs piggybacked on Energy Star's success with the "Change a Light, Change the World" campaign. This effort increased awareness of CFLs and resulted in 500,000 pledges to replace a traditional light bulb with an Energy Star CFL.
Toyota likewise had to tackle early perceptions that the Prius had less power than non-hybrid cars. Toyota did this by redesigning the Prius to meet performance and style preferences of consumers. The carmaker increased the horsepower and conducted a campaign promoting the vehicle as "quick, roomy, and economical."
Be Honest In recent years, consumers have caught companies red-handed at "greenwashing"—that is, claiming that their products are far more environmentally friendly than they actually are. To rebuild public trust, companies must inform the public about their true environmental impact, as well as about their attempts to reduce that impact. Many will need to identify and address specific historical concerns about their products or operations. Only then will consumers believe the company's Earth-sparing claims.
In 2005, GE launched "Ecomagination," an initiative with the broad objective of meeting environmental challenges such as the need for clean water, renewable energy, and reduced emissions. Ecomagination covered GE's efforts to enhance its investment in sustainable technologies and increase its revenues from sustainable products such as lower-emission aircraft engines, efficient lighting, wind turbines, and water purification technology. As part of the Ecomagination campaign, GE also undertook efforts to make its own operations more environmentally sustainable. One of the results of the program is that GE kept its greenhouse gas emissions flat in 2005, even as revenues rose.2
Telling consumers they should act green when the company itself is making little effort to improve its own operations is asking for a backlash. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), a U.K. watchdog, received a fourfold increase in complaints about environmental claims in advertisements in 2007.3 One offender, according to ASA, was the low-price airline Ryanair Ltd., which promoted itself as the industry leader in environmental efficiency. In 2007, however, the airline received significant negative press when CEO Michael O'Leary confessed that his claim that the airline had cut emissions of carbon dioxide by half over the past five years was an "error." 4
Offer More To increase sales of green products, companies must make sure that consumers understand the returns—both financial and environmental—on their investment. When consumers find it easy to track their savings from using a product, they are more willing to try new green products—especially those that cost more. They also feel more confident about their eco-friendly purchases when they understand how the products help the environment.
Many companies participate in Energy Star's voluntary EnergyGuide labeling program. Labels placed on products in retail stores communicate the products' annual energy use (in watts and dollars) and compares it to similar products. Presented in a simple and clear manner, the information helps consumers choose products that not only are energy efficient but also save them money. The Prius's value goes well beyond functionality.
The Prius caught consumers' imaginations because it had a unique and contemporary style that signaled the owners' commitment to the environment. Its dashboard communicates fuel consumption and energy efficiency, thereby broadcasting the car's environmental benefits. By contrast, Honda Motor Co.'s Accord hybrid, which looked more conventional and did not toot its own environmental horn, languished (and was eventually dropped in 2008). In 2006, Prius held 76 percent of the hybrid market; the Accord hybrid, which functioned just as well as the Prius, held just 12 percent.
Bring Products to the People Companies cannot sell their products if consumers cannot find them. It sounds obvious, but many of today's green products are not widely available. Even finding out how to get them is difficult.
Wal-Mart and GE have helped make CFLs a successful consumer product by making it easy for consumers to buy them. Wal-Mart put the bulbs in the most coveted place—at eye level on the top two or three shelves. An educational display from GE complements the attractive shelf placement. Toyota communicates its intent to make the Prius widely available by running ads that say: "We've significantly increased production on the hard-to-find, easy-to-drive Toyota Prius." According to AutoInsight, Toyota has increased production of the Prius since 1999 by an average of 50 percent a year.
Businesses alone cannot lead consumers from intention to action. In many instances, the government and the civil sector need to be heavily involved to achieve long-lasting changes in consumer behavior. Nevertheless, businesses should play a leading role in the green movement in order to shape their market opportunities and manage potential regulation of their industries.
Green products and services are only a niche market today, but they are poised for strong growth. Already, 33 percent of consumers say they are willing to pay a premium for green products, and another 54 percent care about the environment and want to help tackle climate change. Entering the green market can also improve companies' reputations, thereby increasing the value of their brands. Some 70 percent to 80 percent of public companies' valuation in American and Western European stock markets depends on expectations of the company's cash flow beyond the next three years. Companies' reputations strongly shape those expectations, and corporate citizenship is the top driver of reputation, according to the Reputation Institute's 2007 global survey.
In addition, firms that have a strong position in the green market can stay ahead of regulation and protect their market share from competitors. More than 80 percent of 2,192 executives surveyed by The McKinsey Quarterly about climate change expect some form of climate change regulation within the next five years in countries where their companies operate.5European countries already have limits on carbon emissions through the Kyoto Protocol, and a number of U.S. states have established similar systems. More than 600 mayors from around the world have committed their cities to comply with the Kyoto Protocol.
The most proactive companies will lead regulation, and may even push for stricter regulations that will put their less environmentally savvy competitors at a disadvantage. Newcomers, in turn, can steal market share from existing companies by appealing to the growing legions of green consumers. Whole Foods Market Inc., with its double-digit sales growth in the essentially flat supermarket industry, is a powerful example of a new entrant that is not only winning market share with a green and ethical offering, but also taking share in the premium segment of the market.
Companies may rightly ask whether cultivating green consumers is worth all the trouble. We believe that it is not only worth the trouble, but also imperative for success. Once businesses remove the obstacles between consumers' desire to buy green and the actual follow-through of those sentiments, green products could experience explosive sales growth. What's more, building a reputation as an Earth-friendly corporation can do much more than generate increased revenues from green products. The better a company's reputation, the more talented the employees it can attract, the more loyalty it can inspire in its customers, and the more it can charge for its products.
This article has benefited from the thoughtful and ongoing insights of our fellow McKinsey & Company colleagues, especially Nadeem Sheikh and Jessica Weisz.
- The survey was conducted in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. For more information, see Sheila Bonini, Greg Hintz, and Lenny Mendonca, "Addressing Consumer Concerns About Climate Change," McKinsey Quarterly, March 2008.
- For more information, see S.S. George and S. Regani, "'Ecomagination' at Work: GE's Sustainability Initiative," ICFAI Center for Management Research case study, July 2007.
- "Advertising Watchdog Receives Record Complaints over Corporate 'Greenwash,'" The Guardian, May 1, 2008.
- "Ryanair Chief Exec Admits His Emissions Claims Were an 'Error,'" AFX International Focus, January 30, 2007.
- "How Companies Think About Climate Change: A McKinsey Global Survey," The McKinsey Quarterly, December 2007.
Sheila Bonini is a consultant in McKinsey & Company's Silicon Valley office and the coauthor of "A New Era for Business" (Stanford Social Innovation Review,Spring 2007). Jeremy Oppenheim is a consultant in McKinsey & Company's London office and the coauthor of "A New Era for Business" (Stanford Social Innovation Review, Spring 2007).


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Johan throws off mound at Mets camp
JUPITER, Fla. -- The timeline is blurring. Less than 24 hours after general manager Sandy Alderson said Johan Santana was at least 10 days away from throwing off a mound, Santana did precisely that on a brisk Sunday morning in Port St. Lucie.
It was not a full-fledged bullpen session, with catcher Anthony Recker set up in front of home plate. But it still represented a significant alteration of Santana's Spring Training progression.
JUPITER, Fla. -- The timeline is blurring. Less than 24 hours after general manager Sandy Alderson said Johan Santana was at least 10 days away from throwing off a mound, Santana did precisely that on a brisk Sunday morning in Port St. Lucie.
It was not a full-fledged bullpen session, with catcher Anthony Recker set up in front of home plate. But it still represented a significant alteration of Santana's Spring Training progression.
The two-time Cy Young Award-winner, who aims to be ready in time for Opening Day, declined interview requests immediately after his session. Instead, Santana brusquely asked reporters to spell S-P-R-I-N-G T-R-A-I-N-I-N-G.
"What's Spring Training for?" he said. "What's practice? To get you better. That's what I'm doing right now."
"He's [angry]," manager Terry Collins said. "He has every right to be."
All offseason, Mets officials said Santana would report to camp in the same shape as any other pitcher, healthy and ready to play. It was to be his first completely healthy spring since undergoing surgery to repair a torn left shoulder capsule in September 2010, and on the first official day of Spring Training, Collins affirmed his own confidence by naming Santana the Opening Day starter.
Days later, the situation changed. Santana, who had been throwing regular bullpen sessions, ceased throwing off a mound. When tests revealed no structural damage, the Mets diagnosed Santana with left shoulder weakness, saying he would appear in a Grapefruit League game around March 10.
That timeline seemed impossible as recently as Saturday afternoon, when Alderson said Santana would not even climb atop a mound until the middle of the month. But less than a day later, Santana did precisely what Alderson said he was not close to doing.
"It's Johan Santana," pitching coach Dan Warthen said. "When he's ready, he's ready."
Warthen said Santana "turned the corner" in his long-toss sessions late last week. Once the left-hander reached distances of 180 feet off flat ground, which he did Sunday, throwing off a mound became the next logical step.
For this team, the disparity between plan and execution is nothing new. The Mets also expected closer Frank Francisco to be ready for Opening Day, despite offseason surgery to remove a bone spur from his right elbow and a series of personal problems, which resulted in him arriving at camp with elbow inflammation. But Francisco has yet to throw off a mound, and is now a long-shot for Opening Day.
Mets officials described Santana's situation in detail on Saturday, saying the left-hander reported to camp believing he could ramp up his throwing program as aggressively as he did in his 20s. As a result, Santana chose to rest during the offseason, limiting his workouts to weights and conditioning.
But a week shy of his 34th birthday, Santana discovered he could not build arm strength as quickly as in the past. The left-hander displayed a lack of velocity in his late-February throwing sessions, prompting the Mets to diagnose him with shoulder weakness.
Every bit of progress since that time has been riddled with uncertainty.
The Mets have publicly dampened their expectations that Santana will start on Opening Day, acknowledging that he could actually start later in the first week of April. Even if Santana begins the season on the disabled list, backdating rules would allow him to return in time for the sixth game of the season.
So in essence, missing Opening Day may not be a significant issue for Santana. Of greater concern is the potential for something worse, given his already-delayed timetable.
Perhaps throwing off a mound Sunday, nine days ahead of his new schedule, was Santana's way of alleviating that anxiety. Collins said Santana grew angry at everything written about him in the local newspapers Sunday morning, and Warthen suggested he may have used Alderson's comments as motivation.
"I'm not surprised at anything he does," Collins said. "He's not happy with all the attention that something as minor as that has gotten, and he'll get himself ready."
Anthony DiComo is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @AnthonyDicomo.


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I dont agree with that. At no point was either player told that Luongo might stay and Schneider might be the one to go. At the end of the year or prior to the draft after trying for 18 months Gillis ought to know that he might trade Schneider and should have told someone that what ended up happening was an option.Hockey Widow wrote:The media and the fans are the ones who threw Luongo under the bus, not the team or management.
Maybe he didnt need to release it to the media but he should have told the players involved even if it was the day before the draft and he had agreed to the deal with the Devils he could have called them and said hey guys this is the direction we may need to go.
Instead everyone learns about it live at the draft.


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LONDON (Reuters) - Juan Martin del Potro's extraordinary Wimbledon semi-final loss to world number one Novak Djokovic on Friday confirmed the Argentine is ready to challenge again for a place at the top table.
Djokovic edged a high-quality match 7-5 4-6 7-6(2) 6-7(6) 6-3 in four hours and 43 minutes, the longest ever Wimbledon semi-final.
Del Potro looked set for the big time when at the age of 20 he beat Roger Federer, then the world number one, in the 2009 U.S. Open final.
But his career was in the balance after wrist surgery and a virtually non-existent 2010 season, and he had failed to reach another grand slam semi-final until this week.
"Now I go into the United States circuit up to the U.S. Open with the best motivation knowing I'm on course again," Del Potro, the world number eight, told reporters.
"This has been my best Wimbledon, my best matches of the year," said the Argentine, who has worked doggedly over the last two and a half years to overcome injuries and revive his hopes of breaking into the elite.
"There's a great difference between how I came into the tournament and how I leave it," added Del Potro.
Del Potro has the game to live with the very best as he showed on Center Court where he beat Djokovic last year to win the bronze medal at the Olympic Games.
"I always had faith that I could win," he added as he recalled saving two match points in a memorable fourth set tiebreak to take the match into a decider.
"To lose like that is hard, there are matches that both players deserve to win," said Del Potro.
The Argentine recognized that in time he would be able to look back on his performance with pride and the match as one of the great ones in a grand slam tournament.
"If I go on this way playing against Novak, Rafa (Nadal), the other guys (like Federer and Andy Murray), it's going to be very interesting for me, a good fight, good battles coming. I will be ready for that," he said.
"I know this is the way to beat this kind of player… I played my best tennis on a grass court from a long time, but it was not enough to beat the number one in the world."
Del Potro enjoyed support from the majority of the crowd with his excellent tennis and fighting spirit against a tenacious and, at times, inspired Djokovic.
"What I experienced in there (on the court) was special, it had been a long time since I had played like that," he said.
"I think the crowd enjoyed the match a lot. Amazing, I really enjoyed watching them as well. When I was down at moments in the match, I saw the crowd, they were clapping me, and that helped me a lot for sure.
"For me it was fantastic, because losing two sets to one against the number one in the world, if the crowd doesn't cheer me, it's tough to come back.
"They helped me a lot to fight, to keep trying, keep going. Of course I'm sad now, but in couple of days I will see how big the match was."
Editing by Ed Osmond


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Fungus Man and the start of it all--Web Exclusive
Modern Alaskans love mushrooms
Alaskans love fungi. This was evident on a recent Saturday when author and mycologist Lawrence Millman offered a mushroom walk at Creamer's Field on one of the wettest days of the yellow-leaf season.
"Eighty people showed up in the rain, all eager to learn about fungi," Millman said by email after returning to his home in Massachusetts. "I dare say the hunter-gatherer instinct is alive and well in Fairbanks."
And why shouldn't it be, since Fungus Man made life possible? During a lecture at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Millman introduced the crowd to Fungus Man, a character in a Haida myth. Millman showed a drawing depicting a wide-eyed Fungus Man paddling a canoe. Fungus Man guides Raven, who sits in the front of the canoe holding a spear.
As the legend goes, Fungus Man paddled Raven the Creator to the land of female genitalia, "thus making it possible for homosapiens to appear on our beleaguered planet," Millman said.
Robert Blanchette of the University of Minnesota once fleshed out Fungus Man in the journal Mycologia: "Fungus Man originated from a bracket fungus with a white undersurface upon which Raven drew a face . . . Of all the creatures that Raven placed in the stern of the canoe only Fungus Man had the supernatural powers to breach the spiritual barriers that protected the area where women¹s genital parts were located."
So, we owe a lot to fungi, one of five kingdoms of living things, chock full of puffballs, mushrooms, and other examples of what Millman calls "incredible and essential biomass."
The kingdom of fungi includes mushrooms, which are the fruiting bodies of a more complex organism hidden underground. Without fungi, the boreal forest would neither grow nor decay.
Fungi were important enough to Southeast Alaska and other Pacific Northwest Natives that figurines carved from "conks" (shelf fungus that grow from birch and other trees) were placed upon the graves of shaman, to protect them during their "long death sleep." Blanchette wrote this in an article about bear, eagle and human figurines, swiped from the shaman graves in Southeast Alaska by collector George Emmons from 1880 to 1900. Emmons shipped them away to a museum in Chicago, where people mistook them for wood until recently.
But Millman, a frequent visitor to the far north, noted in his lecture that Interior and coastal Alaskans didn¹t seem to have the same reverence for fungi as the Southeasterners. Though he notes the use of puffballs to stop bleeding (the spores are about the same size as blood cells), he has found little evidence of ancient northern Alaskans eating mushrooms, the fruiting body of a fungus.
Perhaps, he said, it was because a Yupik translation of mushroom means "that which makes your hands fall off." Or because some Natives of the far north explained mushrooms as "the (excrement) of shooting stars."
"You don¹t invite people to dinner to eat (excrement)," he said.
Another possible theory for the absence of mushroom-consumption among far-northern people is because fungi are poor in calories. Millman mentioned the term "rabbit starvation," a phrase used to describe how someone could perish on a lean diet of only snowshoe hare meat. Mushrooms offer even less of what it takes to propel a body.
"If you¹re on the move, you need calories," he said.
Millman is a champion of fungi, essential to life but forgotten for most of the year until mushrooms pop up in August. He is also a great fan of its mythical embodiment that paddles the canoe of creation.
"You can quote me as saying that Fungus Man is a far more benevolent deity than the Christian God," Millman said. "(It¹s) a pity no one believes in Him anymore."
This column is provided as a public service by the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell is a science writer at the institute.


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Cuba Teen is Brutally Attacked for Defending Human Rights Group
Cienfuegos, Cuba – A teenage girl in Cuba who was defending the human rights group Ladies in White allegedly was stabbed by another teenager who reportedly is the daughter of a police captain, according to The Miami Herald.
The alleged victim, Berenice Hector Gonzalez, is the niece of Ladies in White member Belkis Felicia Jorrin Morfa, the paper said. Gonzalez is said to have ended up with such serious injuries that she underwent a four-hour operation and got nearly 70 stitches.
Dissidents, who told El Nuevo Herald about the incident, said that the alleged perpetrator, Dailiana Planchez Torres, used a switchblade and repeatedly stabbed Gonzalez all over her body, almost severing her vocal chords. They complained that Torres had not been arrested.
The Miami Herald, the sister publication of El Nuevo Herald, reports that the Nov. 4 attack occurred after Gonzalez told Torres "to stop insulting her family and the Ladies in White."
"We are dismayed by this attack and, above all, by the lack of response from the authorities," Berta Soler, a leader of the female group, told El Nuevo Herald in a phone interview from Havana. "We are demanding justice here."
"This started when I heard her refer to the Ladies in White as shameless prostitutes," Gonzalez told El Nuevo Herald. "I told her that I didn't like what she was saying because four of my relatives, four women, are in that group."
The Ladies in White were formed in 2003 by wives and relatives seeking the release of 75 dissidents rounded up that year and given long prison sentences.
The last people in the group who were still behind bars seven years later were freed under a 2010 deal brokered by the Roman Catholic Church. Most went into exile in Spain along with their families, a condition set forth by the Cuban government for their release.
In recent years, the Ladies in White adopted a more general political agenda and continued protesting with a mostly new membership.
In 2005, the European Union awarded the Ladies in White its annual Sakharov human rights prize.
Dissidents told El Nuevo Herald that the hospital where Gonzalez was treated refused to cooperate with the family's request for records of her stay, injuries and treatment.
El Nuevo Herald said that calls to the police station in the central province of Cienfuegos were not answered.
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NEW YORK (AP) -- PepsiCo Inc.'s net income dipped 5 percent in the third quarter, as the food and beverage maker poured more money into bolstering its flagship brands and developing new products that position it for the future.
The company, which makes Frito-Lay snacks, Tropicana juice and Quaker Oats, stood by its guidance for the year and profit came in above Wall Street expectations.
As part of a turnaround push that began this year, PepsiCo is working to raise the stature of its key brands, such as its namesake cola and Gatorade sports drink. The company, based in Purchase, N.Y., is betting that this will help cultivate customer loyalty and make the products more resilient to competition and price hikes.
In its flagship beverages unit in the Americas, however, the company said sales volume fell 3 percent during the period; sodas fell 2 percent and non-carbonated drinks such as water fell 7 percent. Without giving details, the company said the drop in the latter figure was partly because it got rid of less-profitable juice packages.
Operating profit also fell as costs for ingredients and marketing rose. After losing market share to Coca-Cola in recent years, the company has been staging an advertising blitz with pop stars and athletes to burnish its Pepsi brand.
CEO Indra Nooyi said in a conference call with investors that results for the North America beverages unit were "mixed" and that a few areas were a "work in progress."
For example, she said Gatorade volume was down in the high-single digits in part because of pricing actions. But she said the company didn't want to fall back into the trap of marketing Gatorade as a general hydration drink, as it did in 2004-2006, just to boost volumes.
"If we go back to that, we are again renting volume," she said. By instead positioning Gatorade as a drink developed specifically for athletes, Nooyi said PepsiCo will be able to charge higher prices over the long term.
The same was true of packaged bottled waters; Nooyi noted that there was a "hell of a price war" in the segment and that PepsiCo was moving away from simply chasing short-term volume spikes. PepsiCo's water brands include Aquafina.
PepsiCo is also developing drinks and snacks that cater to shifting consumer tastes. Next year, for example, Nooyi said the company has launches planned for the rapidly growing energy drink market.
She also noted that people still love the taste of cola, even if they have concerns about sugar and artificial sweeteners. As such, she said PepsiCo is looking at the launch of a "differentiated core product" toward the end of 2013, suggesting the company is working on a diet cola with natural sweeteners.
Overall, the company said new products accounted for 8 percent of revenue. Some of those products include a mid-calorie soda called Pepsi Next, Gatorade chews and Real Medleys, which are instant oatmeal cups that come packed with fruits and nuts.
In the company's Frito-Lay North America unit, volume edged up by 1 percent, and Quaker Oats saw a 2 percent increase. But the operating profits of both units were pressured by higher costs for ingredients and marketing. Volumes for the Latin America foods division and the Asia, the Middle East and Africa unit saw double-digit gains.
In China, Nooyi said PepsiCo isn't feeling the impact of the economic slowdown because people still spend on small-ticket items, such as sodas and chips.
"If you're on the ground in China, you don't really sense the slowdown," she said.
Overall, the company's core operating profit declined 8 percent, reflecting higher costs for ingredients, increased advertising and marketing and higher pension expenses.
For the period ended Sept. 8, PepsiCo said it earned $1.9 billion, or $1.21 per share. That's compared with $2 billion, or $1.25 per share, a year ago. Earnings from core operations were $1.20 per share, better than the $1.16 per share analysts expected.
Total revenue fell 5 percent to $16.65 billion, partly because of unfavorable currency exchange rates and the refranchising of its business in China and Mexico. That means that revenue in those countries is now recorded by PepsiCo's local partners.
Analysts expected revenue of $16.96 billion.
When excluding the impact of unfavorable currency exchange rates and other structural changes, the company said its revenue rose by 5 percent in the quarter. The increase reflected a 1 percent jump in sales volume and 4 percent bump in pricing.
PepsiCo expects costs for ingredients to moderate in the fourth quarter. But for the full year, the company still expects adjusted earnings to fall by 5 percent.
Shares of PepsiCo rose 19 cents to $70.49 in morning trading.


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Last year Dylan Thompson went into the season with a set plan. He was going to film another banger part for FODT's newest video. Well, FODT never made a video. That would through any rider through a loop. Well Dylan kept his composure, kept filming, and ended up with a sick video part. Here is his part, Clipped Up.
When last season did you find out FODT wasn't making a movie?
I guess we all found out around January of last year. We all went into the year thinking that we were going to be making a movie, but it just kind of got tough. Some people in the crew got hurt, and there wasn't a lot of budget, and the snow was just super rough everywhere; It just didn't work out. Once we found out I was just trying to get footage together and I was just hoping I could do something with it.
Were you nervous that all your footage was just going to get lost?
I really had no idea at the time. I was thinking that maybe I could give it to another video, or another project or something. But I always had in the back of my mind that I could at least get it out in a web part.
What's the biggest difference between SLC and Hood River?
Well the biggest difference is that in Hood River it rains all the time in the winter, so that's kind of rough. Out in Utah it's a little easier to get work done, like filming and things. It's easier because a lot of times you're filming in SLC so you're home, and it's also central to travel out of.
Did you like filming your webseries this past summer? Think you will do another one?
Yeah, it was a lot of fun doing it. It was kind of stressful in a way. Just being responsible for it to happen. But I think it turned out cool. I don't know if I would do a summer one again though. It kind of became more work and shredding than I really wanted to do during the summer. But doing a web thing in general is sweet. It gets your stuff out there for everyone to see for free. So that's cool.
What are you going to do this winter? What's your plan?
Well I'm filming for the TransWorld movie this year. I also have Cole Taylor working for Monster, and he's going to be filming me. So I'm also going to be filming for this Bode Merrill project that Monster's doing.
Are you hyped to snowboard with Bode?
Yeah I am. We're going on a trip tomorrow actually. (That's actually today. I interviewed Dylan yesterday-Hondo) We're going somewhere in Canada. So that will be pretty sweet. I'm looking forward to that.
Who's your favorite snowboarder of all time?
Of all time? Shit that's a hard question. I guess I would say Justin Hebbel. Like he was really killing it and he was my favorite at the time when I was getting into watching videos and hitting rails. He was just a big influence on me.
Check out Dylan's part from last years Familia 2 right HERE


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Round Handmade Indonesia Beads, with Aluminum Platinum Metal Color Cores, Mixed Color
Size: about 15mm long, 17mm in diameter, hole: 3mm.
These unique beads with wonderful appearance stimulate your creative design. Best use on a chain, leather cord or as part of necklace, bracelet and so on. Due to the handmade nature of the beads, size, shape and colors may vary.
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