Why the front bench seat disappeared from cars and may be staged for a comeback in EVs
It is possible bench seats could come back, thanks in part to cars that are either electric or autonomous cars.At one point in American automotive history, just about all cars had bench seats — they inherited the feature from horse-drawn carriages. Bench seats were perfect for squeezing several passengers in a car, and were great for watching the drive-in movies that became popular in post-War America.However, American automakers soon found themselves scrambling to meet demand for smaller sportier cars with bucket seats that could compete with the European cars American soldiers had seen during World War II.- Advertisement – – Advertisement – The words “classic American car” might conjure memories of massive sedans, flourishes like tailfins, big engines and in many cases bench seats.The front bench seat was once a standard feature of American cars, but over time it disappeared, in part due to changing tastes and safety regulations. Its disappearance actually says a lot about automotive history.- Advertisement – Today there are few vehicles that have bench seats in the front, and they are almost entirely trucks and full size SUVs.Changes in technology are reopening the door to bench seats, and they have been spotted on some electric and autonomous concept designs. Some autonomous vehicle designs even suggest seating passengers around a table in the center of the car.Should that happen, millions of Americans might once find it possible to cuddle up in a car and watch a movie — just as so many did in the 1950s. The Chevrolet Corvette and Ford Mustang were two of these legendary American answers to European cars.A push toward safer vehicles in the 1970’s also hurt the case for the bench seat. Automakers wanted to be able to install automatic seatbelts and airbags in cars and had a hard time making them for the center seat on the bench.Over time, carmakers crammed more stuff into the center console of the car between the two bucket seats — everything from music players to climate controls and gear shifters. Consumers grew accustomed to the amenities.- Advertisement –
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Use the Sebastian Medrano OMI whiteboard room divider in your office for many reasons. First, it features sound-absorbent pads to reduce any noise in a meeting room. Primarily, you can use this item as for note-taking and handling meetings or a room divider to separate an area. In fact, the convenient wheels allow you to easily maneuver it around the room. It features storage bins underneath the whiteboard, allowing you to keep the working area tidy. Furthermore, this whiteboard room divider features a thick wooden frame that complements any workspaces. Plus, its handy storage area allows you to organize your whiteboard pens for use whenever you need them. Overall, this workspace gadget reimagines what an office partition should look like.
Palantir, the maker of software and analytics tools for the defense industry and large corporations, reported 52% revenue growth in its first earnings announcement since going public in September.The stock bounced around in extended trading, falling more than 8% before bouncing back and gaining more than 4%. It plunged 8.7% during the regular trading day.Here are the key numbers:Earnings: Loss of 94 cents per share vs loss of 24 cents a year earlier.Revenue: $289.4 million vs $279.4 million expected, according to analysts polled by Refinitiv.- Advertisement – – Advertisement – For the third quarter, the company reported an operating loss of $847.8 million due to an $847 million charge for stock-based compensation.Palantir raised its full-year revenue guidance to between $1.07 billion and $1.072 billion, which would represent 44% growth from a year earlier. The company previously said sales for the year would reach $1.06 billion. Adjusted operating income in 2020 is expected to be between $130 million and $136 million.Co-founded in 2003 by tech investors Peter Thiel and Joe Lonsdale, CEO Alex Karp and others, Palantir provides data analytics software and services to government agencies, including the Defense Department, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the intelligence community. It also sells to companies like aircraft manufacturer Airbus and energy producer BP.- Advertisement – Palantir’s stock opened at $10 in its direct listing on Sept. 30, and has since climbed 46% to close at $14.58 on Thursday. Investors are paying close attention to the company’s customer base, which was limited to 125 in the first half of 2020. As the company focuses more on software and less on services, it’s trying to make it easier for clients to start using the product so it can expand its reach and bring down sales costs.“Our customer concentration is decreasing,” the company said in the release. Palantir said that 61% of its revenue for the first nine months of the year came from its top 20 customers, down from 68% over the same stretch in 2019. The company didn’t provided an updated customer count.The company also said that new contracts in third quarter included a $91 million deal with the U.S. Army, a $36 million contract with the National Institutes of Health $36 million and a $300 million renewal with an aerospace customer. Palantir didn’t break out third-quarter revenue by its commercial and government segments, another key detail for investors. In the first half of the year, 54% of revenue came from government clients, with the rest coming from commercial customers.Company executives will host a conference call to discuss results at 5 p.m. ET.This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.WATCH: Full interview with Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale on company outlook
A person poses in front of a banner featuring the logo of Palantir Technologies (PLTR) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on the day of their initial public offering (IPO) in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., September 30, 2020.Andrew Kelly | Reuters – Advertisement –
Chatterjee, famed for his work with Oscar-winning Indian director Satyajit Ray, died of Covid complications.- Advertisement –
Sep 4, 2007 (CIDRAP News) – Russian officials announced today that hundreds of chickens at a farm in southern Russia died of H5N1 avian influenza, as international experts met in Bangkok to discuss how to better monitor the spread of the disease in Asia.The poultry deaths were discovered in the town of Razdolny in Krasnodar territory on Sep 2, RIA Novosti, Russia’s state news agency, reported today. The disease struck about 500 chickens.A spokesman for the territorial veterinary agency said a regional laboratory identified the H5N1 virus in the dead birds and that further tests were under way to confirm the results, the RIA Novosti report said. Authorities planned to cull 22,000 birds on the affected farm, the veterinary official said.The new wave of poultry deaths occurred in the same territory as a January outbreak that marked a recurrence of the disease in Russia after a 5-month lull. In February, the virus struck backyard birds at several locations on the outskirts of Moscow. Reports filed with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) show no other Russian outbreaks since then.Measures were being taken to contain the outbreak, the veterinary agency spokesman told RIA Novosti. Russia’s veterinary watchdog agency, Rosselkhozadzor, said authorities have slaughtered 414 birds, according to an Associated Press report.Meanwhile, animal-health experts from a dozen countries are meeting in Bangkok this week at a conference sponsored by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to hear reports from Asian countries on their H5N1 wildlife surveillance efforts and discuss how countries can better coordinate their activities, according to an FAO statement.Yesterday, an FAO official cast doubt on any major role of wild birds in spreading the H5N1 virus, saying more efforts should be focused on controlling the disease in domestic birds, news services reported.Scott Newman, international wildlife coordinator for the FAO, said the virus hasn’t been found in any of 300,000 to 350,000 healthy wild birds that have been sampled in global surveillance activities in the past 2 years, the Australian Press (AP) reported.”We know now that we haven’t found a species that even suggests that it would be a reservoir for this disease,” he said, according to the AP report.Experts said some countries test healthy wild birds, while others test for H5N1 only in sick or dead birds, the AP reported. So far the virus has been found in 90 species of birds.Scarce H5N1 findings in wild birds don’t mean surveillance efforts should stop, Newman said. Instead, countries should fine-tune monitoring activities by, for example, improving testing at sites where domestic and wild birds mingle.Officials attending the meeting, which includes 70 experts, said the only way to get an accurate view of H5N1 in wild birds is to establish a uniform and comprehensive surveillance system, according to a Voice of America (VOA) report dated yesterday.Last year, FAO officials expressed concern that migratory birds would spread the H5N1 virus from Asia and Europe to Africa. However, William Karesh, program director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s field veterinary program, said surveillance has found very few instances of the virus in Africa’s wild birds, according to the VOA report.He said the illegal trade in wildlife in Africa and elsewhere makes tracking the virus particularly challenging, the VOA reported. The FAO meeting ends tomorrow.See also:OIE reports on Russian H5N1 outbreakshttp://www.oie.int/downld/AVIAN%20INFLUENZA/A2007_AI.phpFAO statement on Bangkok meetinghttp://www.fao.org/avianflu/news/bangkok_wild.htmJun 2, 2006, CIDRAP News story “FAO: Wild birds play role in avian flu, but poultry key”
Eamich said the tests take several days for definitive results3 to 5 days for E coli and Salmonella and 3 to 7 days for Listeria. Raymond said the FSIS will take two additional steps: However, USDA spokesman Keith Williams told Reuters the testing was not postponed. Launch “an audit of the Canadian food safety program that will focus on Rancher’s Beef Ltd. and will include other similar establishments that export beef to the U.S.” Starting this week, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) “will increase testing for Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes and E coli O157:H7 and will require that shipments be held until testing is complete and products are confirmed negative for these pathogens,” said Dr. Richard Raymond, USDA under secretary for food safety, in a Nov 3 statement. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) wants the USDA to reconsider the increased testing and inspections, said a CFIA official who was quoted in a Reuters report today. Nov 5, 2007 (CIDRAP News) In the wake of evidence that Canadian beef contributed to recent Escherichia coli cases in the United States, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced plans to increase testing of Canadian meat and poultry products before they can cross the border. “We expect the interim measure will be reconsidered,” said Frederique Moulin, the CFIA’s manager of international meat programs. Amanda Eamich, an FSIS spokeswoman in Washington, DC, said the agency inspects all imported shipments of meat and poultry products to make sure they come from a country eligible to export to the United States. About 10% of shipments undergo more intensive inspections, which could include opening boxes and taking samples, she told CIDRAP News. But she couldn’t offer any details on how much the intensive inspections will increase or how many samples will be tested for pathogens. Moulin said the holding and testing of meat products was supposed to start today but was postponed as talks between US and Canadian officials continued, Reuters reported. The USDA action drew protests from a Canadian beef industry leader, while a Canadian food safety official urged the agency to reconsider. Ted Haney, president of the Canada Beef Export Federation, said the USDA move is unreasonable and unfairly implies that Canadian testing is not equivalent to that in the United States, according to a report today by the Toronto Globe and Mail. “The audit and stepped up actions are being conducted because of concerns about testing practices at Rancher’s Beef Ltd. that were discovered as part of the ongoing investigation,” Raymond stated. Haney said the action contradicts the policies of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization. “It was done without consultation, it was done unilaterally, it doesn’t reflect the risk of E. coli in both Canada and the United States,” he asserted. See also: Nov 5 statement by Dr. Richard Raymond of USDAhttp://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/NR_110307_01/index.asp The United States is Canada’s biggest meat export customer, taking 81% of Canada’s exports in 2006, Reuters reported. The announcement follows last week’s USDA report that beef trim from Rancher’s Beef, an Alberta company, was the probable source of E coli O157:H7 in contaminated ground beef from Topps Meat Co. of Elizabeth, N.J. Topps recalled more than 21 million pounds of ground beef after the company’s meat was linked to an E coli outbreak involving 40 cases in eight states. Carry out “increased levels of reinspection” of Canadian products “to confirm they are eligible to enter commerce when presented at the U.S. border” He said the USDA would review the preliminary results of the audit to determine whether to continue the increased testing and inspections. Oct 29 CIDRAP News story “E coli in Topps beef traced to Canadian firm”http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/fs/food-disease/news/oct2907beef.html
March 16, 2009USDA finalizes downer cattle banThe US Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently finalized a complete ban on the use of downer cattle for food, including those that become disabled after passing initial preslaughter inspection, according to a Mar 14 press release. Rules governing downer cattle are intended to guard against bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and other diseases. The USDA said the final rule ends case-by-case examinations of cattle that become disabled after the preslaughter inspection, increasing the time inspectors can spend on their other duties.[Mar 14 USDA statement]India, Egypt report more H5N1 outbreaksFresh H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks have been detected in the Darjeeling district of India’s West Bengal state, Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) reported on Mar 14. The virus struck two sites where about 150 birds had died over the previous 15 days, and officials said they would cull poultry within a 3-km radius of Naxalbari. Meanwhile, the Egypt-based Strengthening Avian Influenza Detection and Response (SAIDR) reported another H5N1 outbreak in backyard poultry on Mar 11. The virus struck eight chickens in Gharbiya governorate. The vaccination status of the birds was not known.Seatmates sought after TB case reported on Frankfurt-Detroit flight The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) and Northwest Airlines have announced that a passenger who flew from Frankfurt, Germany, to Detroit on Flight 51 on March 10 was found to have tuberculosis. The CDC is in the process of contacting passengers who were in the same row or seated within two rows behind or ahead of the person. Passengers who believe they may have been exposed should contact their state health department or the CDC.[Mar 15 Bloomberg News story]Promising results for Chinese H5N1 vaccineA phase 2 trial of an H5N1 avian influenza vaccine made by China’s Sinovac revealed that the aluminum-adjuvanted inactivated whole-virus vaccine produced a good response, was safe, and elicited cross-protection against clade 2strains, researchers reported in a Mar 12 online edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases. The double-blind, randomized trial included 402 adults, 301 who received 5, 10, or15 mcg of vaccine in two doses 28 days apart and 101 who received two 10-mcgdoses 14 days apart. Researchers saw the highest immune response after two15-mcg doses, but they reported that the response to the 10- and 15-mcg doses met or exceeded European licensing criteria.[Mar 12 Clin Infect Dis abstract]Flies spread resistant organisms from poultry farmsResearch from the Bloomberg School of Public health at Johns Hopkins University suggests that drug-resistant organisms that have developed in poultry because of antibiotic use on very large farms may leave those farms on the feet and in the guts of flies that have access to open sheds of poultry manure.[March 16 Johns Hopkins press release][April Science of the Total Environment abstract]
flydubai, an airline based in Dubai, has included Dubrovnik on its seasonal flight schedule for 2018, making flydubai the first airline to have direct flights from the United Arab Emirates to Dubrovnik.Dubrovik will thus be connected directly with the UEA from April 10 to October 25, 2018, up to four times a week. With this, flydubai will increase its European network for next summer to 22 destinations, which includes 11 destinations in Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey, then two destinations in Ukraine and a new seasonal line in Croatia.Supported by the delivery of new aircraft in 2017, flydubai continues to expand its network connecting more than 100 destinations in 45 countries with more than 1.700 weekly flights.
The 23rd annual elections for 100 leading Croatian restaurants organized by the Gastronaut Club are underway.The project of 100 leading Croatian restaurants – Restaurants Croatica is a project of encouraging quality in catering through the annual elections of leading and publishing an accompanying publication. It was initiated in 1995, and the basic idea was to do market research on which restaurants best meet the needs of guests and highlight the leaders in order to motivate others to improve the quality of offer and service.The whole story began back in 1995, when the survey covered about 700 restaurants, while in 2017 that number climbed to over 2400 restaurants. Part of the voting is conducted over www.gastronaut.hr , and voters can further emphasize the quality of the offer, service and ambience. In parallel, caterers, restaurant managers vote for 10 of their colleagues, and fill out questionnaires with a detailed description of their offer and service. The final word after reviewing all the materials is given by the Honorary Committee of the project, which announces a new list of 100 leaders.The project of 100 leading Croatian restaurants is being implemented by the company Abisal in cooperation with the Association of Croatian Restaurateurs. Comparing the data from the questionnaire for restaurant managers from year to year, we noticed an increase in the offer and details that can motivate the guest to return, long-term investments in the quality of the offer and education of staff and numerous events in restaurants. The title of 100 leaders has become prestigious over the years, and caterers are aware that even today they can defend or earn it only if they are recommended by many satisfied guests throughout Croatia. “Pointed out prof. Karin Mimica is the project manager and editor of 100 leading Croatian restaurants.Restaurant MOnte, Rovinj100 leading restaurants are presented with their offer, natural and historical environment in the annual edition of the same name, which is published every year in print and online Croatian and English editions in May / June. The content of the edition has been expanded with recipes from leading specialties in order for the edition to retain its place in the home library even after the appearance of new annual editions. The book also advertises producers of quality and top wines and groceries, as well as gastronomic events. You can browse the last few editions Online. ” The quality of the restaurant grows from year to year, they watch what is happening outside, they connect, they educate so that absolutely the whole gastro story develops for the better from year to year. The market develops through two segments, one is creativity and the other is autochthony, which is an ideal combination”Concludes Mimica.Reward those who work hard, develop restaurants that are quality and that you can personally recommend. You can vote hereRelated news: DAYS OF ADRIATIC SQUIDS IN NORTHWESTERN ISTRIA AS A TRUE GUIDE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR TOURISM
In 2018, I wish you a lot of success and laughter, as well as that our tourism focuses on strategic and sustainable development.New year, new challenges, and the biggest challenge is to stay what we are, not to give in to the classic tourism industry.Our greatest value is our diversity and authenticity. All the trends in tourism say the same thing, and that is authenticity. Honestly, authenticity has always been and always will be the main trend in tourism because the very essence of tourism is precisely – an authentic experience.The motive of the trip is to get to know a new culture and way of life. So, it is logical and natural to be what we are and to “sell” our way and culture of living, not to be copies. Tourists from Vienna certainly do not want to eat Viennese steak, but want to try and experience something new. We still figuratively sell French wine to the French, instead of ours. Otherwise why would people travel? If we are all a copy of Tuscany, then why would people travel? If someone wants to experience Tuscany, then they will go to the real Tuscany and not visit some copy or replica. The original has always had and will always have its value and motive for coming, while the copy certainly does not.Croatian tourism needs a reset and a totally new tourist paradigm! While we count and brag about arrivals and overnight stays, no one counts tourist spending as well as the dispersion of the same to the local economy. How many Croatian products are included in our tourism, and the dream of the combination of Blue and Green of Croatia is still just a dream, not a goal, let alone a reality. We need to sell content, not form. We need to look at quality, not quantity. We need to stimulate the local economy, not the foreign one. We need to keep our way and culture of living, not turn into a copy of the Spanish coast and open big resorts. We don’t need Filipinos as a workforce, but a local man. We finally need to talk no more about potentials, but turn them into resources.The focus must be on authenticity, not mass tourism. The focus must be on the story and the experience, not living off “rental” tourism through the sun and the sea. The focus must be on 1.000 small family hotels, not on large foreign hotel resorts. The focus must be on man and the local economy, not on encouraging imports. The focus must be on home-grown tomatoes and eggs. The focus must be on the local and the authentic. Feel free to continue the series…On the other hand, we need more profession in our tourism, as well as business in line with the 21st century. As we have been “discussing” change for years, competition in five years has brought dozens of new regulations and laws to make business easier, faster, and better. Everyone knows everything, but the profession is not listened to and we make key decisions too slowly. Today, if we stagnate, we are actually falling, because the competition is not sleeping, on the contrary, it is struggling to be faster and better than us every day, and we are only making its job easier.Tourism is emotions, experiences and stories.Start by yourself, what are your memories from your last trip? Remember experiences, not material things, right? What will distract you and delight you, something you see and experience for the first time or something you can see every day?But first and foremost, it’s all up to us and we determine the direction of our tourism. And what we are chronically missing is to start respecting ourselves i.e. our culture, history, identity and culture of living. Again, paradoxically, this is exactly what tourists want to experience, experience, taste and hear, and we seem to be ashamed of ourselves. We must be what we are – Dalmatians, Slavonians, Istrians, Zagorje, Međimurje… Croats.It must be our main tourist product.And the last one, precisely through our incredible diversity and authenticity we have something to be proud of and show off, our authentic stories. Stories that we just have to pack nicely and tell. Tourism consists of emotions, experiences and stories.We tell stories, our authentic stories.