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UPDATED: Nevada Court Rejects ‘Egg-As-Person’ Ballot Measure

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UPDATED: Nevada Court Rejects ‘Egg-As-Person’ Ballot Measure

Wendy Norris

A Nevada district court judge threw out a proposed "personhood" state ballot measure arguing the language is "too general" and the measure too sweeping.

A Nevada district court judge threw out a proposed "personhood" state ballot measure Friday arguing that the language is "too general in nature."

District Judge James Russell further ruled that the initiative which seeks to extend constitutional protections to fertilized eggs has sweeping implications for reproductive health care and thus violates state law which limits initiatives to a single subject.

"There’s no way for the voter to understand the effects of the initiative," Russell said.

Sex. Abortion. Parenthood. Power.

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Silver State anti-choice activists have been pushing a constitutional amendment that proposed to upend the law with a scant 14-word sentence: "In the great state of Nevada, the term ”person’ applies to every human being."

Critics charge the hazy wording was meant to shadow its true intent to ban abortion, contraception, in-vitro fertilization and embryonic stem cell research.

Michael Brooks, the attorney for Personhood Nevada, countered that "the proposal was not vague, and that ‘any eight-year-old’ could understand it," according to an account by the Riverside, Calif., Press-Enterprise.

"This is far beyond the isolated issue of abortion," he said. "Just because it’s broad doesn’t mean it’s vague.

"We’re not trying to hide the ball," he said.

Brooks said the intent was to protect the "dignity" of human life, and that any rulings as to how the amendment effected other areas of law would be up to future courts to decide.

He cited human experiments conducted by the Nazis and slavery as the need for defining all people as human beings.

Taking a decidedly less bombastic approach, ACLU of Nevada attorney Lee Rowland argued on behalf of Planned Parenthood of Nevada and three plaintiffs that the constitutional amendment would have broad repercussions for reproductive health. She refuted the so-called simplicity of the language as a legal nightmare.

The judge agreed with Rowland ruling that the petition language didn’t meet the test of state ballot law. It has "complex implications." said Russell.

"Today’s decision rightfully prevents this sweeping and misleading initiative from being placed on the 2010 ballot,” said Rowland in a prepared statement by the ACLU and Nevada Advocates of Planned Parenthood Affiliates following the ruling.

“This initiative could have impacted literally thousands of laws, inviting lawyers and the courts to reinterpret every Nevada law and regulation that contains the word ‘person’ all at the expense of Nevada taxpayers. The key problem is that it covered too many issues, and failed to explain to voters its intent and impact on Nevada law."

The legal defeat is a first for personhood activists who narrowly skirted similar court challenges over vague language in Colorado in 2007 and Montana a year later.

After getting the go-ahead by the Colorado Supreme Court, activists successfully petitioned the first-in-the-nation measure on to the ballot only to be defeated in a 73-27 landslide. The Montana group was unable to reach its petition signature threshold. Both state groups are collecting petitions for another run at the ballot in 2010 along with 37 other states, according to Personhood USA, the Denver-based national group that rose from the ashes of the 2008 Colorado loss.

How the other far-flung campaigns are proceeding is unclear. The state Web sites are rarely updated and accurate financial information is difficult, if not impossible, to obtain.

Personhood USA posted an urgent fundraising request on its Web site late in the day Dec. 31 stating that it "must raise $60,000 this week to invest in Mississippi and Colorado to ensure ballot access." Both states have fast approaching mid-February petition deadlines.

The most recent efforts in Colorado have been marked by poor fundraising, little press attention and an ugly falling out with a previously allied group, American Right to Life Action.

The Personhood Mississippi push has been rocked by on-going confusion over ballot deadlines and a well-under-the-radar campaign. Nsombi Lambright, executive director of the ACLU of Mississippi, said the group appears to be working on a parallel legislative effort with a constitutional amendment that will require a two-thirds vote of the general assembly to place the initiative on the ballot should the petition effort fail.

Lambright said she isn’t detecting any enthusiasm among state lawmakers to wade into a protracted and highly contentious process to approve a personhood amendment. She doesn’t expect it to get far.

But the fight is still on for the Nevada coeterie despite today’s setback — even without the support of three prominent conservative groups that denounced the personhood movement as a distraction, if not harmful, to the overall anti-abortion cause.

Olaf Vancura of Personhood Nevada told the Las Vegas Sun the group plans to appeal Russell’s decision to the Nevada Supreme Court.

UPDATE: 01-11-10, 3:30 PM EST

In a written statement. Personhood USA legal analyst Gualberto Garcia-Jones said he "was disturbed by the Judge’s comments. ‘Judge Russell is being disingenuous.’ and abusing his power by jumping the gun by prejudging the effect of the law."

Garcia-Jones is also leading a reprised petition process for the Colorado ballot measure that lost in 2008 by a 46-point margin.

Garcia-Jones claims the 14-word ballot text is supported by a 200-word description that critics argue, and the judge concurred, is as convoluted as the title:

The Nevada constitution states,”No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.“ Currently, some Nevadans are deprived of their inalienable civil rights, specifically their fundamental right to live, due to an arbitrary and discriminatory distinction between person and human being. While the state has no authority to grant inalienable rights, it has the obligation to protect them. This amendment therefore applies the term “person” to every human being. ‘Human being’ includes everyone possessing a human genome specific for an individual member of the human species, from the beginning of his or her biological development, without discrimination as to age, health, reproduction method, function, physical or mental dependency, or cognitive ability. This amendment benefits all Nevadans by guaranteeing, as envisioned by our founding fathers, that no one shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. It eliminates discrimination against Nevadans at the beginning of life and prohibits state intrusion in end of life decisions. This amendment codifies the inalienable right to life for everyone, young or old, healthy or ill, conscious or unconscious, born or unborn. It assures protection and dignity to our children, our infirmed and our seniors.

Olaf Vancura, who is leading the Nevada personhood initiative campaign, echoed the shaky legal and ethical premise that zygote freedoms are the next great civil rights struggle since the 1857 U.S. Supreme Court Dred Scott decision. “Civil rights initiatives, by their nature, tend to have broad scope, yet are still a single subject issue. Under the logic and precedent of this court, ANY civil rights initiative brought forth by the people of this great state will be struck down as overly broad," Vancura groused.


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text:
Letter to Middle Class Black America

Photo Credit: Phyllis Iller

Dear Middle Class Black America,

Do you remember the talk? No, not the one about keeping your hands on the steering wheel when you get pulled over and not the one about the birds and the bees.

The other one. The work talk. The one where you’re told you’ll have to work twice as hard to get half the credit.  Well, by now you know it’s true.

If you’re in mid-level management, you’ve likely had to earn a set of credentials before you were even considered for the role. If you’re in upper-level management, you’re likely accustomed to being the only one in the room. Either way, you’ve mastered the art of code switching and your endurance has served you well.

You know what it’s like to be convinced the playing field is level on one day, but the next day, be reminded of how limited your access is. You’ve been encouraged to “be yourself” in one setting and told your “blaccent” is distracting in another. You know what it feels like when grooming decisions like switching up your hair, or letting your beard grow a little bushier somehow morph into questions about your professionalism.

You’re not imagining things and it’s ok to be angry sometimes. It’s real, and there is plenty of data to prove it’s systemic. Our parents, elders and mentors told us from experience this would happen. The advice has always been to work harder, have faith and you’ll get what you deserve. And well, by now, you know that’s not always true.

Black excellence is exhausting. We’re tired because the effects of a work-obsessed culture coupled with the fatigue from climbing a rigged corporate ladder are starting to take hold. We’ve been given all the tools to get on the hamster wheel, but none of the tools to get off. Now, the golden handcuffs are starting to feel less like bracelets and more like a shiny trap.

We would never dispute or discredit the value in earning a good living to take care of your family or as a means to pursuing your dreams.  But…

so many of our best and brightest are spending precious years making corporations richer with no exit plan in sight. Click To Tweet

This is why we’re fans of the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement.  Have you ever heard the phrase, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure?  Well with FIRE,

one man's life-optimization strategy is another man's blueprint to economic freedom. Click To Tweet

FIRE gave us the playbook we needed. The principles for FI (Financial Independence) are simple: spend drastically less than you earn, invest more than you ever have and repeat until you reach a point where your investment income covers your expenses.

When it comes to RE (Retire Early), we like to use a marathon/sprint analogy. Instead of running the career marathon where you consistently save 10-15% of your income over 50 years, we’re choosing to sprint uphill and save upwards of 50% of our income over a shorter period of time.

We know, it sounds radical, selfish and counter to everything you’ve ever been taught or told, but this movement is picking up steam and you’re no less deserving of this type of freedom than anyone else.

Work isn’t a 4-letter word.

We would never discredit the value of work itself…but jobs, as we know them, are killing us. The evidence is all around us. Modern management principles create workplaces that are breeding grounds for depression, obesity and other stress induced ailments. Not to mention, if you are a woman, on average, you earn less. If you are a person of color, you not only earn less, you sleep less and you are promoted less frequently.

It’s incredible how much evidence there can be and people still aren’t convinced. Before cigarette companies put labels on their products, the list of evidence was just as long.

It takes a confident person, supported by a vocal community to decide to trust themselves and not stay on the traditional path. That’s why we’re writing this to you, the most talented, well-resourced, well-traveled and educated generation. Now is the time for more Black and Brown courageous, bold thinkers and practitioners with a zest for life to free themselves from their desks and start solving problems for our community.

Just imagine how many of our health problems would be eradicated or lessened if just 10% of the Black middle class opted out of the traditional workforce.  Given the free time this would create, might we see more of us devoting time to consistent exercise, better nutrition and mental wellness?

Just imagine how many marriages could be saved if just 10% of the Black middle class decided to spend more time with their children and partners instead of earning miles and points on the company dime.

Just imagine how vastly improved our local church drives, home associations, city council meetings, fraternities, sororities,non-profits, public parks and schools would be if suddenly there were more talented and capable bodies ready to help outside of the holiday season and work-sponsored team-building activities.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to leave a positive legacy behind instead of spending our lives treading shark infested middle management waters?  Doesn’t the freedom to be self-sufficient sound better than being chained to the office and saddled with debt?

We’ve been on this path a few years now and the results have been liberating.  To us, a few years of living well below our means is a price worth paying if the reward is a lifetime of freedom.

But we’re just two people.  We need more of YOU to take the same energy you give to your jobs and re-direct it to debt elimination, investments and ownership.

We know many of you need to “see it to believe it”, but we hope at least 10% of you can find the courage and grit to dig deep, buckle down and adopt this lifestyle today. Whether it’s the FI that intrigues you or it’s the RE, we have everything we need to get started right now.

It's time to get on the FIRE train. Are you with us? Click To Tweet

Mr. and Mrs. r&R

  1. Compelling message. Hope it inspires many in our community to get out of debt, create wealth and improve our overall health and well being. Thanks for the invitation to the FIRE movement!

  2. Thanks for the sharing of a strong message. The post contains important points that many in our community, unfortunately, don’t come across. I’m there with you, though.

    Keep doing your thing.

  3. Your wonderful article is an excellent introduction into the complexities of living in America as an African American. The emotional history of all of our lives weaves deeply into our struggles. Pursuing FI is a privilege most in our community may not even be able to wrap their minds around not due to lack of intelligence but because of all the historical messaging that must be navigated and contended with. Stability looks and feels sooo different for us. The toll it takes is as you mentioned soo exhausting! And I just recently realized how exhausted I am. Keep up the good work. your podcast on choose FI was an excellent message to all of America.

    • Thank you. It is absolutely exhausting. So many of us are pushing and pushing eachother to keep going which is great…until you’ve pushed too far. Pursuing FI at least puts people in a position to take time when they want to rest, heal and get your head straight.

  4. Greetings. I also heard you on the ChooseFI podcast and congratulate you on delivering a clear, unambiguous message and saying what needs to be said, many times over, particularly within the F.I.R.E. movement — a space which is largely comprised of young, white male millenials and which reflects, not suprisingly, a particular mindset and cultural reference point. After working for 40 years and having raised two African American males, I am now approaching a point where I can, as they say in the aforementioned podcast, “get off the hamster wheel” (which, by all rights, could have happened much earlier if I had the requisite knowledge). Your points regarding not having the intergenerational wealth and likely, more importantly from my perspective, the financial acumen within the A.A. community continues to reinforce our status as debtors and being wage enslaved. I extol the virtues/principles of financial independence to anyone who will listen but alas, only a few will entertain the conversation. Nonetheless, I continue to speak about it with the hope that, like both of you, I can help to start the necessary “mind shift” within the broader A.A. community.

    In closing, I would challenge you to broaden your scope past the proverbial “talented tenth” as even those with very modest incomes can drastically change their financial landscape by controlling their money and not spending on ridiculous luxury items and other signifiers which subconsciously, I believe, many use as a way to validate themselves in and to a society where we are constantly devalued and dehumanized. Press on.

    • Thank you so much for your comments. I completely agree that 10% is low but given we live and breathe this stuff every single day, I can tell you 10% still seems like a stretch goal…a starting point if you will. There’s A LOT of work to be done to get more people on board with this way of thinking but ultimately, we all have free will. If people opt to stay on their path they’re on we respect that too.

  5. Learned about you yesterday on ChooseFI — great interview! Little by little the FIRE community is becoming a more diverse space. Thank you for being willing to put yourselves out there. I will keep your blog and specifically this post in my back pocket as a testimony to FI and getting off the consumer hamster wheel from the POC perspective. Good luck to you! 🙂

  6. Just listened to your interview on ChooseFI and I’m so happy to hear/see someone that looks like me be part of the FI community! I’m new to it myself but your family and story is definitely inspiring. Keep up the great work!

  7. I enjoyed your ChooseFI interview and this letter as well. I only hope that the people who NEED to read this will. Generally these things resonate only with the ones who already agree with it. But as they say, the fire is spreading.

    I won’t argue your comment that you have to work twice as hard to get half the credit. I’ve heard that over the years in a slightly different slant (…to be considered half as good). While that may be the case, be careful about saying it out loud – even to close friends. Every person I’ve heard say that about themselves never even worked half as hard. Co-workers knew it. Supervisors knew it. No one takes the person seriously. Keep the thought to yourself do more than what you’re paid for and you’ll do fine.

  8. Love you guys… This black African girl and her hubby are following in your footsteps. More power to you.

  9. I’m in and hoping to actually make this a reality sooner than later. A few challenges… finding accountability partners, a standup tax advisor and a financial planner to help us get on the same page. Thanks so much for sharing your stories and processes. I’m so ready for spiritual, mental, physical and FINANCIAL FREEDOM. Blessings

  10. What an article! Encouraging and inspiring, beautifully written. Thank you for sharing this true wisdom.

  11. So refreshing to hear new voices on the FI journey! You guys, as well as Montana Money Adventures, come to mind when I think of overcoming adversity and crafting a life vastly different than the path on which you began. Congratulations!

    We’re a white family of six living in a tiny house on a farm, and until a year and a half ago, lived on $20k a year. We began this adventure out of desperation and lack of housing options but now are using it as a springboard to pay off debt, save 50%, buy a house, and get ahead.

    Interestingly, we may never have found FIRE without facing adversity first. Do you feel the same way? We are taking heart that our background, including broken families and financial illiteracy, does not have to define our future.

  12. Came here after listening to your interview on ChooseFI and I am so happy to find a blog that is discussing FI in the black community as we don’t have many outlets that do. I am 23 just starting my journey into FI and can’t wait to read more about ways to become more independetna and share it with my peers!

    Thank you,

    The Young and Richless

  13. Omg I just stumbled across your website and have been binge reading every since. I am African American and in the military and have been for 13 years. I am so motivated but where does one start? Can you provide some information on exactly where does a person start to become FIRE

    • Welcome to r&R and to the FIRE community. It’s my pleasure to introduce you to Doug Nordman, author of The Military Guide to Financial Independence and Retirement. Buy his book, read it, share it and help spread the word.

  14. Dear Rich & Regular,

    I just listened to your interview on Choose FI – it was wonderful. Your interview radiated optimism and happiness that I don’t always hear in podcasts, and I felt I should say ‘thank you.’ I came from a financially challenged background myself and, though my background is different than yours, can appreciate some of the perspectives you described. Your words are uplifting and motivating to more people than you may realize. Keep up the great work!

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text:
Sound sweeps, engulfing
 stagnant spaces with music,
 cleansing a tired mind.

 (Image courtesy of

8 thoughts on “Classical

      1. There’s plenty of dust, cobwebs that remain invisible to me until there’s a bright sunny day–or I can’t see the TV screen well….Yesterday I was watching “Jane Eyre” and suddenly realized the countryside was not nearly as “misty” as I was seeing it–so I dusted, and the movie’s weather improved immediately. All of this can happen in my mind as well…

  1. Oh I love to go to the classics. My son has just go into music college so many years of orchestral renditions to come I hope! Fantastic haiku that completely resonates 🙂

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When watching a DJ Khaled video, there are sure to be impromptu cameos from a plethora of popular artists! Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown, Birdman, Busta Rhymes, Rick Ross (and DJ Khaled of course…) lend a hand to the gritty Colin Tilley-directed “Take It To The Head” video.

Check out Nicki’s blonde tendrils, Weezy’s caution tape and C. Breezy’s electrifying hook in the fiery clip.

RELATED CONTENT: Lil Wayne Confesses His Love For Trina, Says He Misses Her!

RELATED CONTENT: 2012 Summer Jam Lineup Announced: Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, Trey Songz

Like on Facebook to stay updated with the latest entertainment news and original interviews!

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Sending messages to the operator on the platform

One of the possible methods to receive notifications is sending messages to the operator on the platform. The message to the operator represents a brief notification about alterations that have occurred in the process of the business logic execution. It talks about exactly what changes have happened, with which object and at what time.

Displaying and viewing messages

All messages are displayed in the right sidebar. For every message, the date and the time of received messages are displayed. After that, the object name is specified to which the current notification is related. Next, the message body follows.

At the same time, since a lot of different messages can be sent to the platform, they can be grouped. Accordingly, they may be viewed:

  • by the “Text” group, then messages are grouped solely by content. The notifications form a separate group if they have a similar text;
  • by the “Object” group, then for every object, all notifications will be collected in the single group;
  • in full list called through the * icon, in this case, the messages are grouped by no feature.

In the first two cases, if several identical messages were received, the number of messages is displayed in square brackets before the object name. By clicking on such notification, it can be seen that the notifications list will expand. The number of these notifications will be equal to the number specified in the square brackets. By clicking on the separate message, then it will be fully displayed a little to the left of the sidebar and will be marked as read. At the same time, every message can be closed or deleted separately.

Besides that, the messages filtration is added to this sidebar realized by using sorting and the search bar.

The sorting can be performed by the messages receiving time or by its importance degree. In the first case, there may be displayed the notifications received, for example, from an hour to now from month to date. In the second case, only informational, important, or critical notifications may be displayed. Each degree of importance is identified by its color: green, yellow, or red accordingly.

Besides that, the search bar is located in the sidebar where the object name or some part of a notification body can be entered. Then only relevant ones will be displayed to the user from all list of the notifications.

All received messages are saved in the history. Firstly, there is specified the time period for which it is necessary to display the notifications. It can be counted from some certain moment, as in the sorting case, or the interval can be entered for boundaries of which date and time are set strictly. After that, filters may be set by the fact of reading the message and by its importance. It is worth to note that the notifications are not grouped in the history, as in the sidebar. Therefore, there may be met a lot of similar messages.

If there are too many notifications, they may be fully deleted by using the button “Clear” located on the messages sidebar.

If necessary, you can turn on the sound of notifications by clicking on the special icon located next to the name of the “Messages” panel.

Messages formation

Sending messages to the operator on the platform is implemented by adding the command “Message to the operator”. It can be appended on entering into the state or on exit from it by designing the automation scenario in the “Logic” menu.

By clicking on the line with the name of the command itself, then the sidebar will appear on the right to form the message. It is necessary to specify the message importance and its body. There are three degrees of the message importance in the system:

  • informational;
  • important;
  • critical.

If it should be informed about committing some transition or event, which is not critically important, then it will be enough to specify the message as the informational one. If the notification plays a more significant role, then it will have the sense to raise the message’s importance.

The message text can be any. However, it is desirable that it be short and informative for convenient display on the platform.

After choosing the message importance and specifying its body, all changes should be saved.

After the final state machine is designed and started, at the moment of the object transition to a new state, the message will be sent to the user on the platform.

We use cookies to improve your experience. Let’s accept it and move on.


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Albuquerque, NM – In response to revised regulations being proposed by New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse-Oliver, the Rio Grande Foundation has revised its previously-submitted comments.

Said Rio Grande Foundation president Paul Gessing in the Foundation’s revised comments, “We applaud the Secretary of State for narrowing the scope of the proposed rules. Nonetheless, the Rio Grande Foundation remains concerned about the rules as written and the vague and complicated language and requirements they contain.”

Gessing noted that his primary concern with the proposed regulations remains procedural. Legislation addressing donor disclosure was vetoed by Gov. Martinez in the wake of the 2017 legislative session. These regulations are rightly the purview of New Mexico’s Legislature and Executive, not the Secretary of State.

In terms of our concerns regarding the proposed rule itself, the Foundation expressed a desire for clarification as to whether the Rio Grande Foundation and similar 501c3s would not be covered by the rule. In particular, we recommend that you consider revising the rulemaking again by amending the “advertisement” definition to explicitly exempt 501c3 organizations engaging in grassroots lobbying. If this change was made, it would remedy the Foundation’s chief concern about the rulemaking.

While some of the new language represents an improvement over the previously-proposed disclosure rules, we do have some serious concerns regarding the newly-added language in the “Coordinated Expenditures” section of the revised rulemaking.

Public testimony on the revised proposal will be accepted on August 30 in Santa Fe. Details including how to file your own comments can be found here.

You can read the full written comments here.

A video illustrating the importance for donor privacy can be found below:


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The Ripon Forum

Volume 51, No. 6

December 2017

Ripon Profile of Jon Huntsman

By on December 6, 2017

…from the June/July 2008 edition:

Name: Jon M. Huntsman, Jr.

Hometown: Salt Lake City, Utah

Occupation: Governor of the State of Utah

Previous Jobs: U.S. Trade Ambassador (2001-2003); U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Singapore, (1992-1993); Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce, Trade Development Bureau (1989-90), Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for East Asia and the Pacific

Individual(s) who inspired me as a child: My Uncle Hal Robison gave me better perspective about the world around me. He was a humble prairie philosopher and World War II veteran who believed in the role of the individual in our society. I learned from him that the value of our government resides with the people it serves.

Historical figure(s) I would most like to meet: President Theodore Roosevelt. He was so many things, as a great head of state, philosopher, peacemaker, environmentalist, father, Nobel Prize recipient, just to begin. He managed to accomplish everything one could ever want to do in life, all before the age of 48.

Issue facing America that no one is talking about: The most fundamental of all issues for government is to provide support for basic scientific research. It is research that will ultimately address our needs in transportation, environment, medical science and health care, and by doing so we will spawn the new generation of jobs and economic success for our country. Government should engage in partnerships with the private sector to fund strong research institutes to focus innovation and creativity around the big issues affecting us. We need to invest in a nationbuilding exercise, in the form of basic and advanced research, in our own country.

What the Republican Party must do to be successful in the elections this year: We need to reestablish our foundation as the Republican Party, focusing on our commitment to free markets, a strong defense system and confident foreign policy. The existence of our party rests on actively listening to the voter and providing equal doses of inspiration and solutions.

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Pope & Land provides tenants with the most technologically advanced systems for energy efficiency and economic operation as well as access to a wide range of the richest amenities and cutting edge features.

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We are Christians seeking to show that God really cares about the wellbeing and happiness of his people. Riverview is a division of Riverside Farm Institute, a non-profit organisation.

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Rivian Releases 4 New Videos Showcasing R1T Truck's Incredible Performance

Jul 1, 2020

See the Rivian R1T electric pickup truck off-road, on-track, launching, drifting, and trailblazing.

Rivian's official YouTube channel provided a delectable array of appetizers yesterday. We say appetizers since its videos are typically short, to the point, and quite tasty. The above video – 'To The Max' – is the longest, clocking in at just over a full minute and a half.

The title is fitting since it features an R1T electric truck testing, to the max, in the Arizona desert. You'll see some rock crawling, as well as plenty of off-road fun and a bit on track time on and off the dirt. Rivian jokes that the electric pickup truck is actually not officially in camouflage since it didn't change out the signature headlights.

If the video above is just too long for your busy lifestyle, no worries. The people over at Rivian also added three performance testing videos that are shorter and more specific. The first pushes the R1T to its limits with launches on the desert sand. It's only 18 seconds long, but that's more than enough footage to get the drift.

Speaking of drift ... the video embedded below is another performance testing feature that showcases the R1T's ability to drift. It's like the Saharan Dust Cloud at the end.

We've said before when sharing Rivian's drifting videos and those with the 'Tank Turn,' we'd like to see these on the pavement. As expected, it can drift on the dirt and sand. While we have no doubt it can do the same on hard surfaces, we'd love some good footage of the feat.

The final video shows a quick clip of the Rivian R1T blazing down a narrow and twisty desert trail.

It's important to note that all testing was performed in a closed environment. Safety is of the utmost importance.

© 2020 MOTORSPORT NETWORK. All rights reserved.


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Howto use a Mikrotik as router for a PPPoA DSL Internet connection

November 4, 2012

I live in Austria and the biggest Internet provider is A1 Telekom Austria and they use PPPoA and not PPPoE. I’ve searched through out the Internet to find some documentation on how to configure a Mikrotik router for this. I wanted to have the public IP address on the Mikrotik and not on the provider router/modem. I did not find any documentation. But as I got it working I’ll provide such a documentation now. 😉

1. The Basics

PPPoA is the abbreviation for PPP over ATM or some say PPP over AAL5 and it is used to encapsulate PPP into ATM cells to get into the Internet via ADSL connections. The more commonly used standard in this space is PPPoE (PPP over Ethernet), but which has somewhat more overhead as you need also to encapsulate the Ethernet header too.

There are now two possibilities:

The first is that the provider modem/router handles everything and you get only a private IP address behind the router, and the router masquerade the private IP addresses. This is normally the default as it works for 95% of the customers but your PC or own router does not get a public IP address. You need to use port forwarding if you want to provide services which are reachable from the Internet. And something which I specially need. You don’t get a event when you get disconnected and assigned a new IP address. A1 Telekom Austria has the bad habit to disconnect you every 8 hours … 3 times a day. As I want to have the disconnects always at the same time I need my own router to time it once a day, so it gets reseted to my desired reconnect times.

The second way it to get somehow the public IP address on the PC or router. In this case your need a provider modem/router with a PPPoA-to-PPTP-Relays. Take a look at the picture I took from the German Wikipedia(CC-BY-SA-3.0, Author Sonos):

The computer (or Mikrotik router) thinks it establishes a PPTP tunnel with the modem, but instead the modem encapsulates the packets and send them on via ATM to the provider backbone. So the computer or Miktrotik router does not need to be able to talk PPPoA it is enough if it is able to talk PPTP, the rest is handled by the modem.

2. Requirements

But of course there are some requirements:

  • The provider modem needs to be able to make a PPPoA-to-PPTP-Relays and which is important you need to be able to configure it, as some provider firmwares restrict that.
  • You need to know the username and password which is used for the ppp authentication
  • And for the sake of completeness – you need a Mikrotik router 😉

3. Provider modem / router

My provider gave me a Thomson Speedtouch TG585 v7 modem/router. The firmware  is old ( and branded but I was able to upload a new configuration via the web interface.

And as it works stable I did not see a reason to upgrade. I found in the Internet a INI file, which configured the router to PPPoA-to-PPTP-Relays mode. Three important notes:

  • If you search the Internet for a configuration file … look for “single user” or “single user mode” (SU), the masquerade mode is called “multi user mode” (MU)
  • It is also possible to configure the single user mode via telnet, there are some howto’s out there. The specific ones for Austria are of course in German.
  • The version numbering is quite broken. The A1 Telekom Austria branded firmwares are often higher (e.g. than the newer generic firmwares (e.g

After configuring the router as PPPoA-to-PPTP-Relays it has the IP address for my setup.

4. Mikrotik PPP configuration

So now to the Mikrotik configuration … we start with resetting the configuration with no defaults.

/system reset-configuration no-defaults=yes

Then we rename the first interface and add a transit network IP address

/interface ethernet set 0 name=ether1vlanTransitModem
/ip address add address= interface=ether1vlanTransitModem

And now we only need to configure the PPTP

/ppp profile add change-tcp-mss=yes name=pppProfileDslInternet use-compression=no use-encryption=no use-vj-compression=no
/interface pptp-client add add-default-route=yes connect-to= disabled=no name=pptpDslInternet password=YourPassword profile=pppProfileDslInternet user=YourUsername

this configuration should lead after connecting the ether1 with the modem to following log entries:

[[email protected]] > /log/print
00:29:03 pptp,ppp,info pptpDslInternet: initializing...
00:29:03 pptp,ppp,info pptpDslInternet: dialing...
00:29:05 pptp,ppp,info pptpDslInternet: authenticated
00:29:05 pptp,ppp,info pptpDslInternet: connected

you should see the IP address too:

[[email protected]] > /ip route print
Flags: X - disabled, A - active, D - dynamic, C - connect, S - static, r - rip, b - bgp, o - ospf, m - mme, B - blackhole, U - unreachable, P - prohibit
#      DST-ADDRESS        PREF-SRC        GATEWAY            DISTANCE
0 ADS                           1
1 ADC        ether1vlanTrans...        0
2 ADC   yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy   pptpDslInternet           0

But if you try to ping something you’ll get

[[email protected]] > ping
HOST                                     SIZE TTL TIME  STATUS                                                 timeout                                                 timeout
sent=2 received=0 packet-loss=100%

whats the problem? the router uses the wrong source IP address, try following (the is the IP address from /ip route print (entry 2) )

[[email protected]] > /ping
HOST                                     SIZE TTL TIME  STATUS                                    56  46 37ms                                    56  46 36ms                                    56  46 37ms                                    56  46 37ms                                    56  46 37ms                                    56  46 37ms
sent=6 received=6 packet-loss=0% min-rtt=36ms avg-rtt=36ms max-rtt=37ms

Now the Internet connection is working, we just need to make it usable ….

 5. Mikrotik on the way to be usable

The first thing we need is a masquerade rule that we use the correct IP address into the Internet, following does the trick.

/ip firewall nat add action=masquerade chain=srcnat out-interface=pptpDslInternet

But we want also a client to test it … so here is the configuration I use for the clients (without explanation as it is not the topic of this Howto)

/interface ethernet set 2 name=ether3vlanClients
/ip address add address= interface=ether3vlanClients

/ip dns set allow-remote-requests=yes servers=,
/ip dns static add address=

/ip pool add name=poolClients ranges=
/ip dhcp-server add address-pool=poolClients authoritative=yes disabled=no interface=ether3vlanClients name=dhcpClients
/ip dhcp-server network add address= dns-server= domain=int gateway=

Connect a client behind it, set it to DHCP and everything should work. I hope this Howto demystifies PPPoA and Mirkotik.

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  1. […] my last blog post I have shown how to connect to a PPPoA provider with a Mikrotik router and get the public IP […]

    Pingback by Howto force scheduled DSL reconnects on Mikrotik routers | Robert Penz Blog — November 10, 2012 #

  2. Hallo!
    Super Anleitung. Hoffe das diese bei mir auch funktioniert. Kann das aber erst am Abend testen. Habe noch eine Frage. Bleibt nun die IP immer gleich oder muss ich da einen DYNDNS oder NO-IP Account haben damit ich von aussen darauf zugreifen kann. Muss dieser auf dem Mikrotik eingerichtet werden?

    Würde mich über ein Antwort freun.

    MFG Aljoscha

    Comment by Aljoscha — April 4, 2013 #

  3. […] SOURCE How to Connect your Home Network to xDSL Line Howto use a Mikrotik as router for a PPPoA DSL Internet connection […]

    Pingback by How to conect to the internet with mikrotik by bridge mode on DSL modem – PPPoE client « Peter Flimel - PC servis — August 28, 2013 #

  4. a lot of config info, but i look to bond them with MLPPP

    Comment by sell a laptop — October 2, 2013 #

  5. Hello, I can not find an ini file that works on my TG585v7 …
    I just bricked the router several times …
    Could you share your configuration file?
    I would be really grateful

    Comment by Mark — November 11, 2014 #

  6. Hi Mark,

    I sent you the ini file via email.

    Comment by robert — November 12, 2014 #

  7. Hi Robert!

    Thanks a lot for your tutorial! It works basically, but i cant get the mikrotik to automatically reestablish the pptp after the modem has lost sync and the ptp interface is not marked as “running” anymore by the mikrotik

    maybe you experienced the same thing and found a solution ? 🙂

    Thanks in advance

    Comment by Applix — April 15, 2015 #

  8. My provider does a disconnect every 8h and I had never problems with reconnecting with the Mikrotik. Maybe its a firmware version problem. I’m running on of the newer 6.x (>20) releases.

    Comment by robert — April 18, 2015 #

  9. Hi, can You share config .ini file? I have TG585v7 with Be firmware, I have a problem with configuration but only default mode is active but not work with my vpi/vci (0.35) VCMUX. Pleasy share .ini file for edit.

    Comment by Piter — December 14, 2015 #

  10. Sorry, I moved away to a new VDSL Modem and can’t provide you with a configuration.

    Comment by robert — December 14, 2015 #

  11. Thanks for fast reply. I edit one time user.ini file and Thomson working with Mikrotik 🙂

    Comment by Piter — December 14, 2015 #

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1.  The original owner was a retired judge in Ottawa who used his Subaru to go to the boat in summer and the Lexus for winter trips to Florida.  After four years he took me to the Ottawa Lexus dealership with him to buy his trade-in while he paid cash for a 2009 es350.  He and his wife repeated this process twice more for his son and daughter.  His widow still claims that the 2005 was the best Lexus of all of them.

2.  Ice fell off his roof in the Glebe and dented the hood on one occasion.  A scrape in a parking lot caused the trunk to be repainted on another.  Though he took it back to Tony Graham’s for the repairs, neither paint job was up to Lexus standards.  My wife and I were about to trade the car in at Kingston Toyota a year ago when we went to a restaurant for lunch to talk it over.  When we came out someone had sideswiped the right front fender, necessitating $1100 worth of paint, including a redo of the non-Lexus paint jobs on the hood and trunk and the left rocker panel moulding which I had partially stripped with a pressure washer.  No new parts were needed for this rather fine local repair.
3. I did routine maintenance in our hoist-equipped hobby shop.  The car uses Pennzoil synthetic and has never been late for an oil change.  Kingston Lexus did the timing belt for the reasonable sum of $835, as I recall.  I made appropriate mileage notations in the service manual for the oil changes and timing belt replacement and likely for the tune up.
4. Brian Madeley is a European car and bike specialist in Kingston.  He took the top off the engine to change the spark plugs and tighten the head bolts as part of the scheduled tune-up.  At the time he remarked upon the superb condition of the car. He also repaired a minor power steering leak about three years ago.  I changed the battery at ten years, and the alternator at 14. This spring I replaced the hood latch and cable with Lexus parts. I replaced rear control arms because of worn bushings two summers ago, and brakes and front lower control arms for the safety check.
When I replaced the parking brake mechanism I had to gain access to the cables which hide above a stainless steel cover above the exhaust system.  Three, 10 mm nuts on studs hold this baffle in place.  In this location after long service, the nuts and studs should have degraded, but these little nuts backed off relatively easily to allow access to the cables, and then twisted back on.  The quality of the components in the original build of this car is quite remarkable.
5. I keep a supply of oil spray cans (the pink stuff from CTC) on my bench.  Whenever a car is up on the hoist I spray whatever looks as though it needs attention, regardless of the car’s age.
6. Our son hauled an 8.5X20 enclosed trailer home from Vancouver with a 2004 Porsche Cayenne S he bought for the purpose to tow his track BMW.  The car impressed me, so I asked him to find me one the next time he was in Vancouver.  He shipped another ’04 Cayenne S home by rail in the summer of 2016, and it quickly became my hobby and our daily driver, with the Lexus relegated to my wife’s bi-weekly grocery runs.
7. No one has smoked in the Lexus, but our spaniel has occasionally joined us for evening ice cream runs, and the previous owners had a schnauzer.
8. After three years with the thirsty Cayenne I wanted a Prius, but my wife wouldn’t consider the idea because of the name.  She also hated the styling of the new Lexus models, but when I found a 2014 es300h on a private sale in Hamilton, she took to it rather well.  The Cayenne is too useful a tow vehicle to liquidate, so the 2005 es330 and the 2002 Tacoma need to go.
I’ve found a new way to annoy the world:  hyper-miling in the Lexus es300h.

The hybrid encourages a whole new attitude toward driving.  I have gone from “that jerk in the Porsche passing everything in sight” to “that damned old geezer in the Lexus holding up traffic.”

It’s fun getting to know what uses up the fuel.  I have gotten good at making the round trip to Rosebridge at a fuel burn rate of 5.1 L/100 km.  That’s with the windows and sunroof open, and the a.c. shut off on the dash.

Today because it was raining I needed the fan for ventilation, but I didn’t want to run the a.c. because of the fuel penalty, so I went into the climate settings and shut the compressor off.  The computer showed 4.6 L/100 km.  That’s 61 miles per Imperial gallon on the return leg from Rosebridge.  Not bad for a 3800 pound car.  Almost up to diesel standards.

According to Google Earth it’s 40.2 km from our home to the parking lot of Rosebridge Manor where my mother is a resident.  For most of the route there is little traffic, though there are a number of small, restricted-speed hamlets and stop signs.

Tonight with the 2014 Lexus es300h I got 5.2 L/100 km on the drive.  That’s 4.1808 litres of regular fuel for the round trip, or $5.35 at the current price at the service station in Toledo of $1.279 per litre.

Fuel consumption rates vary from 5.1 to 5.4 for the trip.  This is with air conditioning and headlights off, seat cooler on, windows and sunroof open, fine weather on a summer evening, 80 to 85 km/hr, and using electric power while passing through the hamlets.

On the same route under the same conditions, my 2004 Porsche Cayenne S had a fuel consumption rate of 10.1 L/100 km on premium fuel.  The last time I filled this car the rate was $1.399 but that was a couple of months ago.

Marshall challenged me to repeat this test with the Lexus es300h “while driving it like a Porsche.”  I obliged on a 33C afternoon, glorying in the air conditioning, even leaving the car for fifteen minutes with the air conditioner (though not the engine) running.  I set the cruise control for 100 km/hr instead of 80 and passed on the two-lane roads whenever the opportunity arose.  Fuel consumption was 6.4 L/100 km.

Today I ran into a case where Porsche over-engineering produced a potential safety hazard for the uninformed trailer user.

A Cayenne’s a logical choice to tow a 6X12 covered U-Haul trailer, but not until the rental’s safety chains receive an important modification.  The hooks on the trailer I recently rented would not engage the rings on the factory trailer hitch because the steel is too thick to accommodate the triangular safety devices.  Jamming the hooks into place wasn’t going to work, so I limped three miles to my shop from the rental depot by a back road.  By then, one of the three chains had worked its way loose and was dragging.

I borrowed a pair of hooks from a robust trailer I built a few years ago.  The photo shows them in place, pinned into links below the U-Haul hooks.  I only had access to two hooks this time but from now on I’ll keep three which I can add on to safety chains to ensure that the robust hitch does not itself produce a hazard.

Update:  29 December, 2016

Grab the chain about 12″ from the hook, stick the CHAIN through the hole, loop the hook around the chain. This worked for me at UHaul.

Another RennList contributor used 3/8″ stainless steel quick-links to do the same job.

According to trailer veteran Tom Stutzman, Toyota has similarly robust hitch dimensions.  Pennsylvania mandates simple S-hooks which fit easily.  Ontario regulations require the problematic hooks.

There are a couple of decent instructional videos on You-Tube which show the replacement of rear door struts on Porsche Cayennes, but there are some gaps which my assistant and I explored recently on our project car, a 2004 Cayenne named Ruby.

The videos do a good job on the disassembly process up to the point that you and your screwdriver must work in the dark to release the old struts from the balls onto which they are clipped.  The comments which follow may allow the reader to avoid an evening of  burnt-fingers thrashing about similar to the one I enjoyed last night.

Don’t bother with the clip which holds the cup onto the forward ball.  You can’t reach it.  The ball is very sturdy and you won’t be re-using the strut.  Pry it off with a large screwdriver and brute force, applied in the direction of the centre of the car, wherever you can find leverage in the restricted area.  Yes, that’s an explosive air bag an inch or so to the side of your screwdriver, but the cavity where these struts hang out is good, solid metal.

Once it is released, get into the back seat and reach over the headrest to remove the rear cup. Push or pry it away from the centre of the car.  From the back seat with the help of a light you can actually see what you’re doing.  Once the strut comes free, push it as far forward as you can, wiggle it to the best possible location to remove it, then persuade it out by compressing it a bit with the large screwdriver levered against the very sturdy sheet metal in this area.

Installing the new struts:

1.  My aftermarket struts arrived with both cups on the ends oriented in the same direction.  I needed to rotate one of these 180 degrees.  This involves the services of a vice and pliers or some other brute-force applicator, as the cups clip on in opposite directions.  A little grease on the cups would be a good idea.

2.  There is actually a line of sight up to the forward ball from the rear luggage compartment, and you can see well enough to place the strut-end on the ball — as long as it isn’t actually up in the cavity where you must install it.  Don’t put it on yet.  Once you have forced both ends of the strut into the cavity (which is 1/8″ too short for it) this advantage is lost, but at least you know where it should go.

3.  If you’ve put a bit of grease on the cups, the first “click” onto the front ball goes very easily.  (Getting it off again is another matter, so don’t experiment too much here.)  The second click onto the rear ball (on the other end) can be achieved  (from the back seat again) if and only if the rear door is held at the correct height.  A piece of scrap lumber from the shop, band-sawn to the contour of the door’s bottom so that it held the door’s lower edge 75 1/4″ from the garage floor, allowed both ends of the strut to pop in without the use of force.  There’s enough taper to the bottom edge of the door to allow for some adjustment using this dimension.

Reassembly:   The videos do a good job on most of this, so I’ll just offer a couple of observations.

1.  The plastic panels are quite durable.  Removing pulled-out clips from the sheet metal slots on the body and re-attaching them to the panels is not a delicate procedure.  Just remember those explosive air bags and take your time and be careful to locate all pins and reconnect them to the plastic panels.  I kept loose metal parts on a magnetic tray in the hatch with me.  You do not want to lose a screw.

2. Those white filler pieces gave me the most trouble, even after I had photographed one to determine its position relative to the panels and the cable before I removed it.  HINT:  start with the screw the furthest from you.  I wasted far too many minutes trying to find its hole after I left it until last.

3. Lost speaker wires can be recovered from the luggage compartments below on either side.

4.  The trim panel won’t fit properly until you have screwed the tiny torx screw into that safety-screen holder.  That tightens the whole thing up.  The trailing end of the left side panel on mine decided to act up.  There’s a plastic pin on it which refused to reunite with the corresponding hole on the black piece below.  A few probes by a 5/8″ woodworking chisel with a view to cutting the pin off (there was none on the right side) resulted in the trim popping into place, so I put the chisel away, recalcitrant pin intact.

The Porsche feeling:

The car is more my own after I have taken it apart and fixed it.

The You-Tube videos gave me the courage to tackle the job.   Initially it was a challenge for a non-mechanic, but once I realized that the  components are quite durable and there is room for the use of common sense in Porsche repair, it went well.

Parts for Ruby

August 28, 2016

Ruby’s rear hatch only remains up during certain combinations of heat and humidity.  Charlie and Roz had held it in place with an umbrella, but I yearned for a wrenching project on the car as far as possible from the oil pump, lest I mess it up.

I acquainted myself with the strut-replacement procedures by watching and rewatching the You-Tube videos and ordered the parts from Amazon.com.  They arrived at the Kinek outlet on Wellesley Island, NY, within two days.  The price was reasonable, shipping was included, and I really didn’t have anything to complain about.

But does this quantity of packaging for the two small black parts in the foreground look reasonable?

Welcome home, Ruby!

August 17, 2016

The voice on the phone from Livingston Vehicle Transportation in Vancouver had told me that Invoice #104*77 would arrive on August 15th, at the latest, but I could call back next Friday.  She  gave me a Montreal number.  Surely enough, Ruby arrived on the train over the weekend, but it took until Wednesday morning for her to end up on a truck, destined for Doug’s Towing yard just outside Embrun, to arrive between 10:00 and 12:00.  Doug promised me he would call the instant that my Porsche arrived.

At 12:00 I phoned.  Doug enthusiastically told me, “They’re just unloading your Cayenne now.”

“I’ll be there in an hour and thirty-eight minutes.”

Our first sight of Ruby was a little pathetic.  Some wag had parked it straddling a large mud puddle — real, beige clay, the stuff that sticks to everything.  What paint wasn’t spattered from the puddle looked very clean and shiny.  It must have had a good ride on the rail car and the truck, but puddles are puddles.

Livingston Vehicle Transportation had done the job well which they had contracted to do.

I made departure arrangements with the genial guy in the office and started Ruby up.  As soon as I moved forward an alarm went off:  “Parking brake is still on,” or “Release parking brake,” or something.  Here I was, stopped in a muddy, crowded parking lot, with very little idea of how to release a stuck parking brake.  While I fussed, Bet stepped out of the Lexus and walked toward me holding her phone out.  Column after column of “How to free a stuck emergency brake” appeared.  Bet had resorted to the Porsche owner’s secret weapon, Google.

Most of the articles suggested worrying the release handle until the problem went away, and so I did, but not before sending a distress text to Charlie.  By the time he got back to me I had the car moving properly, but I was too confused about the ventilation system to check for texts.

And it was HOT in this truck.  Fortunately the route from Doug’s Towing to Smiths Falls involves a number of short drives across paved concession roads with no traffic — a perfect place for me to sort out the dashboard of a Cayenne.  Why do they have two speedometers, two temperature gauges, two range meters (saying different things), and many other switches and buttons I was unable to fathom?  And acronyms!  Why do Porsche fanciers love acronyms so much?

As I roasted my way through a burnt-fingers exploration of the air conditioning controls, the sight of the Lexus cruising serenely along in front of me, the cool Lexus, chilled seat and all, that stately old gray car looked pretty good to me.  The es330 was all about passenger comfort, and its designers did their job well.  I can’t say the same for the Cayenne S dashboard controls engineers.

Gradually as I worked my way through all logical combinations of controls and vectoring flaps, I decided to try the counter-intuitive step of punching the icon which looked most like a defroster.  Swoosh!  Serene air all around me.  I wondered if anyone else has tried that before?

I opened the sun roof, but found it was just too hot.  I preferred the air conditioning.  And to think my initial plan was to buy a Miata.

Incidentally, the Cayenne drove and rode very well, but operator comfort comes first.  Performance is well down the list on a first drive.

I stopped for fuel in Smiths Falls and Bet cut for home.  Freed of supervision, on the way home Ruby stretched its legs enough to impress me with its power.  It will pass on a two lane highway with ease equal to that of the Lexus, but while the Lexus will top out at 110 or 115 km/hr on a typical pass, Ruby must be slowed down from 150 after an equal acceleration interval.  This will take some getting used to.

After three and a half hours of driving and trouble shooting, we arrived home exhausted.  Ten minutes later Ruby was hauling us to a local restaurant for a meal.

New toy, eh?

According to the voice on the phone at Livingston, Ruby has now “railed” and should arrive on August 15th at the latest.

Unfortunately Livingston does not offer online tracking on rail shipments.  I expressed my regret to her about this, as I enjoy using Google Earth to follow my purchases across North America.  It’s a way for a stay-at-home farmer to learn a bit of geography.

The nice lady had no comment on this, apart from a suggestion that I call back next Friday for further details.

My wife and I spent last weekend with the other Cayenne in the stable, the silver one our son used to tow the heavy trailer from Vancouver to Ottawa.  Bet loves to drive the thing.  There’s no doubt that its handling is a quantum leap ahead of our reliable, but aging Lexus.  In fact it was a little terrifying to get back into the Lexus after seat time in the Cayenne.  The Porsche is very tight, steers intuitively, treats bumps with derision, and stops with a satisfying brutality.  The Lexus’ brakes are a little loose (less drag for improved fuel mileage) and its aging suspension is just fine on smooth pavement, but becomes tentative over uneven city streets.  214,000 km will do that to bushings and shocks.  The much younger suspension of the Porsche (122,000 km) makes up considerable ground in ride quality.

On the other hand, three significant advantages allow the Lexus to outclass the Cayenne on a hot-day visit to a nursing home:  the es330 passenger seat adjusts to the perfect height for my mother to back up to the rocker panel, sit down on the edge of the unseen seat, and swing her arthritic knees into the car.  The Porsche seat adjusts down low enough, but the high bolster on the edge makes a safe landing impossible for Mom.  Charlie’s car has optional 19″ wheels while Ruby has 18’s, but I doubt if the Porsche’s bolstered seats will be suitable for expeditions with Grandma.

The other Lexus perk?  Front seats are not only heated electronically, they are cooled.  Few people like this feature, but Mom and I both enjoy it a lot on a hot day.  As I drove the Cayenne, regardless of the quality of its air conditioning, things just got hotter and hotter and my back kept sticking to the leather seat.

Finally there is the issue of fuel consumption.  The V6 Lexus has delivered flawless performance on an average of 9.0 litres per 100 km over the last 112,000 km.  Charlie’s Cayenne showed 12.5 on the gauge.  Mind you, this would have included a cross-country tow with an 8.5 X 20 enclosed trailer, a morning running laps at Mosport Raceway, as well as a life of city driving, but fill-ups with high test are nearly double the cost of those of the Lexus.

It looks as though the Lexus and/or the very economical Scion xB (also with a height-adjustable passenger seat) will remain in the stable for the foreseeable future, though I’m very much looking forward to the day that Ruby de-rails.  A Cayenne is simply a gas to drive.

We added the name “Ruby” in anticipation of her arrival in Forfar from Vancouver.  If the car acted masculine or nasty, we’d change it to “Jack Ruby,” so the bases were covered.

A few months ago our son had bought a silver 2004 Porsche Cayenne, added a 20′ X 8.5′ enclosed trailer, and towed the contents of their apartment from Vancouver to Ottawa in a little less than 4 days with the help of a co-driver.  The following weekend the rig hauled his race car to Mosport for a charity event where the Cayenne even got to run some laps on the big track with loads of kids and their parents aboard.

The car uses an ungodly amount of fuel and eats tires like candy, but functions at a very high level.  Impressed, I asked Charlie to pick me up another one, use it for their remaining six weeks in Vancouver, and then ship it to me when they were ready for the airport.

You see, Vancouver is a time warp for automobiles.  There is little sunlight and less frost. Most luxury cars live inside out of the rain.  Owners take the bus to work to avoid traffic and parking effort.  Porsche owners discard their Cayennes after the kids have been delivered to enough soccer games and ski lessons that Mom and Dad can go back to the 911 and a new Panamara, so there is a glut of used Cayennes on the local market.

Today Charlie sent us the photo above, indicating that Ruby should be along in two to three weeks, and that I can call the shipper for location updates.

In the meantime I get to learn about the Porsche Cayenne model from the most reliable source of information and experience I have found, a website called Rennlist.com.  It’s where Porsche owners congregate to talk about their cars.  From reading the list I’d suggest that Cayenne owners are smart and very good at expressing themselves, though some perhaps don’t have much mechanical experience.

The most recent online mystery I’ve discovered among Porsche owners — no kidding — is whether Cayennes have just one battery under the driver’s seat, or if there’s another under a bass speaker in the cavity in the trunk where there would be a spare tire on any other vehicle.  Much speculation fills the pages, though I haven’t heard from anyone yet who has actually severed the rivets which keep us from knowing what lies beneath that strange structure of resonant metal under the rear deck.  (January, 2017.  Ruby does have a second battery. December, 2017. Charlie’s Cayenne has only one.)

Why did I buy a gas-slurping, driveshaft-shredding, 2 1/2 ton collection of electronic foibles supported by a dealership which takes responsibility for nothing and exacts maximum punishment whenever an owner is forced by circumstance to enter their domain?  Did I mention that Cayennes with V8’s cannot sleep outside in the cold or their pistons grind against their cylinders until the engines will no longer run, and there’s no place to attach a block heater? And of course we all know about the plastic coolant tubes through the middle of the engine which get hot, crack, and dump coolant all over the starter.  Hey, replacing two sets of coolant tubes should be somewhat easier than just one, and there are lots of videos of the procedure on You Tube.

A couple of years ago I started thinking that a Miata would make a nice toy, but you know how it is with a dream in one’s ebbing years:  the options keep piling on.  At least a Cayenne can pull a trailer, and the dog will have a place to ride, and it has a roof to protect its occupants from the sun and snow, and all-wheel-drive, and a top speed of 145 miles per hour, just in case I need to hurry.

And as for the mechanical challenges of owning the most notorious Porsche?  I’d gotten bored with dead-reliable automobiles, O.K?  What else can you do with a Lexus but drive it?  My Toyota pickup sits for weeks on end, yet always starts and runs smoothly.  A Cayenne can provide all the complexity and aggravation of a Rubik’s cube, and it never even needs to leave the garage.

More later, no doubt.  Feel free to comment.


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Verified by shoppers
Product always receives high satisfaction ratings from our customers
  • Item Type: Fishing Ropes
  • Material: Paracord
  • Length: 31 m / 101.71 feet
  • Diameter: 4 mm / 0.16 inch
  • Weight: 200 g / 0.44 lbs

Package Includes:

  • 1 x Fishing Rope

Colorful Paracord Fishing RopeColorful Paracord Fishing RopeColorful Paracord Fishing RopeColorful Paracord Fishing RopeColorful Paracord Fishing RopeColorful Paracord Fishing RopeColorful Paracord Fishing RopeColorful Paracord Fishing RopeColorful Paracord Fishing Rope

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Packages from our warehouse in China will be shipped by ePacket or EMS depending on the weight and size of the product. Packages shipped from our US warehouse are shipped through USPS.

Do you ship worldwide?

Yes. We provide free shipping to over 200 countries around the world. However, there are some locations we are unable to ship to. If you happen to be located in one of those countries we will contact you.

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2 Dec 2019

The following happened: I wanted to buy this cord for $3.08 (skein 30 meters)-kept the order in the basket... Suddenly I see a huge discount! 10 PCs For 1.54 $-of course immediately bought 30 pieces. Did not believe and was right! The store extended 10 days and wrote that the problem with the security service and send the goods can not... If I honestly said that I was wrong and can not sell so cheap-I would understand. And since he's lying! I put only cons. He's not honest. ---

28 Nov 2019

all good all nice:) ultrafast delivery! thank you myfriend

25 Nov 2019

21 Nov 2019

bon colis

20 Nov 2019

18 Nov 2019

Excellent rope, orange thinner than black, and weight is lighter, although the length is the same. Reached in 45 days, shorter goods I advise,

22 Oct 2019

nice thank you

15 Oct 2019

The rope and resistentissima I tied my horse

9 Oct 2019

20 Sep 2019

good stuff, quick delivery, recommend!

18 Sep 2019

Delivery took 3 weeks. Product is basic quality. Didn't like the sleeves but gets the basic usage fulfilled.

7 Sep 2019

Very Satisfied

5 Sep 2019

Very fast delivery. Good product quality. The purchase is remitted

4 Sep 2019

All very well and fast shipping thanks

Colorful Paracord Fishing Rope

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Tag Archives: Summit Hotel

a swimmingpool in Kathmandu

Usually I am quite happy to opinionate and pontificate on matters that resonate with me for good or bad. The terrible quake in Nepal resonates strongly but unwarranted armchair chatter feels utterly inappropriate. I’ve got nothing to contribute. Silence is … Continue reading

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disclosure for the Mustang race scrapbook

Disclosure zero: the race organizer, Richard Bull, is a good friend. Putting together a scrapbook is always a very personal project. My scrapbook is never going to be yours. The information out there, including this scrapbook, is stupendous and easily accessible. … Continue reading

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• Author Erin Watt
  • Release Date July 25, 2016
  • Publisher EverAfter Romance
  • ISBN/ASIN 978-1682305034
  • Our Rating
  • Reviewed by Jill D

Buy the Book

Our Review

BROKEN PRICE is the second book in the Royals trilogy and picks up right after the cliffhanger in PAPER PRINCESS. These books must be read in order so as to not spoil any plot lines. When we last saw our Royals, it was a mess with Ella leaving town and everything else falling apart. How is Reed going to find Ella to explain when she won’t answer her phone?

Reed knows he messed up bad, but that’s what he does–he ruins good people and anything decent in his life. It was only a matter of time before this happened. After two weeks of no Ella though, he is starting to get desperate. Then his father’s private investigator finally finds something, and Callum drags Ella back home.

Reed has changed. Ella has made him want to be a better man, so he decides to show her just what that means. Ella and Reed, along with the rest of the Royal family, are going to have to stand together against the enemies this time to bring them all crashing down.

I again was instantly drawn into this book and read it from cover to cover in one sitting. While there is also a crazy cliffhanger ending in this book too, it just leaves me anticipating the last book in Ella/Reed’s trilogy that much more. The character development was intricate and at times unexpected but still flawless. I hope Erin Watt continues on with this series, as it’s one I have come to love.

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Kakigori in Tokyo

Kakigōri is a Japanese dessert made of shaved ice, traditionally flavoured with syrup, condensed milk or an, a sweet bean paste.

In Japan it is considered a fuubutsushi, a term used to designate items that evoke memories of specific seasons, in this case Summer. Other edible fuubutsushi representing Summer include sōmen (thin noodles made of wheat flour), hiyashi chūka (chilled ramen noodles) and watermelon.

There is an abundance of Kakigori shops in Tokyo so choosing my top 10 was difficult, but here they are, in alphabetical order.

  1. Bum Bun Blau Cafe with Beehive (Hatanodai)
  • A range of relatively light kakigori to match their famous spirolina infused ramen.
Avocado, soy milk & caramel
  1. Cafe Lumiere (Kichijoji)
  • Flaming Kakigori with a baked Alaska exterior! I personally love the one with lots of berries in the centre, served with condensed milk, chocolate and berry sauce on the side.

image1Flaming mixed berries

  1. Gari-Garilège (Gaienmae)
  • Although this shop only operates when owner chef Kawate is out of town, I had to include it in my top 10 because Horio-san puts patisserie level cookies & meringue in the kakigori and the Florilège counter is, without doubt, the most beautiful spot you will ever find for the icy treat.

image1Pumpkin & Caramel sauce

  1. Haimuru Coffee (Musashi-Koyama)
  • Another spot I frequent because I often want some hot, soupy & savoury ramen after consuming kakigori.

image2Strawberry Valentine’s

  1. Kooriya Peace (Kichijoji)
  • The kakigori here are often a little too sweet for my taste but sometimes they do incredible flavours like the Orangette one pictured below, where you get a refreshing, tangy orange sauce with slight bitter tones, sweet light airy cream, orangette like strips of sunshine in chocolate coated candy form – truly a dream come true!

  1. Kuriyakashi Kurogi (Hongo-Sanchome)
  • Michelin starred Jun Kurogi’s wagashi (Japanese sweets) shop designed by famed architect Kengo Kuma. Beautiful, massive kakigori that never fail to elicit equally massive guilt.

  1. Mamatoko (Nakanoshimbashi)
  • Run by a young kakigori loving lady. Portions are relatively small, which is great when you want to try a few flavours at once! Love the kinako & miso cream.

image1Kinako Miso Cream, Kuromame

  1. Mayoor (Miyazakidai)                                                                                A little far out but if you enjoy milky kakigori, this is the place to go.

image1Sesame & Avocado milk

  1. Minatoya* (Sasazuka)                                                                                Decadent oimont-blanc, portmanteau of Japanese “oimo” meaning (sweet) potato and “mont-blanc” available here alongside a range of fresh fruit kakigori and takoyaki for savoury breaks.

  1. Shimokitachaen Ooyama* (Shimokitazawa)                                                              Matcha lovers should visit for the signature matcha espuma kakigori. Sakura is also a seasonal favourite in Spring.

Thanks for reading and I hope you get some nice kakigori this summer.

Bassanova @ Setagaya-ku

It’s getting colder here in Tokyo lately … ramen cravings strike again! Was just chillin’ in Shimo-kitazawa (eating totoro cream puffs… will show you that in my next post :p) and decided to walk over to Shindaita for ramen at Bassanova because I just saw it on TV in the morning (lol).IMG_5822.JPG

Bassanova is famed for their avant-garde flavours.Today I tried the Ninki #1 tondaku wadashi soba, their signature ramen with a “double broth” of tonkotsu (pork bone) and gyokai (fish). The noodles were Hakata-style – straight and thin, with a nice hard bite. This was topped with some extraordinarily thick pieces of menma and a beautifully grilled piece of chashu (egg was extra!). IMG_5826.JPG

I also tried the rather unique tom yum ramen, a Thai-influenced bowl which I thought tasted a little too lemongrassy at first but eventually got used to it though the broth was still a bit too salty and thick for my liking. I guess I should not have expected a tom yum goong base with lovely hints of prawn when it really only said tom yum. In any case, because the ingredients used were generally good (the wontons were nice and crunchy), I ended up finishing the bowl. I think I’d like to come back to try the green curry ramen that everyone seems to rave about! IMG_5828.JPG

Oh just an extra close up shot of the tom yum ramen.

Address: Hanegi 1-4-18, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo

東京都世田谷区羽根木1-4-18 新代田たちばな荘 1F

Phone: 03-3327-4649

Yakiniku Jumbo Shirokane

I have been trying to go on a diet lately.

Purposely failing every single day … because what the heck I live in Tokyo and there are temptations everywhere.

The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it… everyone knows Oscar Wilde speaks truth !

God, I love Yakiniku.

Here’s Yakiniku Jumbo Shirokane, one of my favourites these days.

Started off with the yukhoe (ユッケ).

This was well received because unlike at many other places, the sesame oil did not overpower the flavours of the fresh raw beef at all. 20140608-130740-47260432.jpg

Then I had my favourite noharayaki – a signature here at Yakiniku Jumbo. Basically 3 pieces of this thinly sliced sirloin and a bowl of rice is all I need to get a glimpse of heaven. I meant this literally and this means quite a lot for a physically bound human being.20140608-130741-47261451.jpg

The noharayaki is grilled and then dipped in egg, eaten like sukiyaki but probably better than most sukiyakis 😛 20140608-130741-47261787.jpg

The harami was also of very good quality – good for those who prefer beef with a bite over buttery beef. This contrasted nicely with the noharayaki which pretty much evaporated as soon as I put it in my mouth. 20140608-130740-47260762.jpg

The Tongue was also one of the best I’ve had in Tokyo so far 😀20140608-130741-47261099.jpg

Also had kalbi, sankaku, etc. etc. My dad ordered some pork knuckle dish which I did not take a photo of because I found it slightly gross. 20140608-130742-47262124.jpg

And the meal ended with a soothing gukbap. I prefer gukbap authentic Korean style but still have a habit of ordering gukbap after all my yakiniku meals. Anyway, I absolutely loved this place and would definitely come back again! IMG_5363

Yakiniku Jumbo

Address:  Dai-ichi Azabu Bldg. 1F, 3-1-1 Shirokane, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Telephone: 03-5795-4129

Website: http://www.kuroge-wagyu.com/js/

Ristorante Honda

It has almost been 10 years since we moved into the Gaienmae area and I have always known about Ristorante HONDA. For no reason at all, we never gave it a visit despite the fact that it is literally 2 minutes walk away from home. You know how when a place is so close that you feel like because you can go there anytime, you end up putting it off until you suddenly realize that 10 years has gone by and that life is actually very short?

BAM! So while I was taking a pre-lunch stroll one day I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to walk in, strongly compelled to finally try Ristorante Honda for the first time. Upon contemplating the idea that I can theoretically die anytime, I realized that it would be a shame if I left the world without ever tasting the food at this Michelin starred restaurant just steps away from home. *Unfortunately it was completely full even on a random tuesday so without further delay I made a reservation for the next available date, which was 2 days later!

So finally I made it here and lunch began with grissini in different flavours + a nice blood orange cocktail 😀

For appetizer, I had this beautiful carpaccio – chef Honda incorporates Japanese flavours into his Italian dishes; the sauce used in this dish for example had hints of ume (Japanese plum). A very refreshing way to whet the appetite 🙂 ! 20140608-130438-47078647.jpg

My mom had this duck dish which I tried a bit of. Intensely gamey and flavourful, I was hyped up for the other dishes to come!! 20140608-130439-47079420.jpg

Before our pastas arrived we were given this palate of homemade foccacia. Loved the rosemary, dried fruit and pine nuts combo!20140608-130439-47079833.jpg

I had the uni pasta that I’ve been seeing all over articles about Ristorante Honda. I think the photo explains itself – it was divine!! Choosing the uni pasta for part of the lunch course entails paying an extra 2500 yen but this was definitely worth it.

My mom had the ika pasta which despite not incurring any extra charges, might have actually tasted even better than my uni pasta. I don’t know if it is just because the grass is always greener on the other side or whatever crap but I literally inhaled half her plate of pasta. I heard a girl from the next table try to order the same but by that time this pasta had already run out. She got a hotaru-ika pasta instead and … that looked EVEN BETTER! OMG. I decided that I will NEED to come back to get specifically that next time. lol.20140608-130440-47080692.jpg

For our secondo piatto mom had this juicy roast pork belly dish. This sauce was perfect for dipping some of the remaining bread I had.20140608-130441-47081564.jpg

And I had this panfried fish, juxtaposed to a giant clam 😀  Good stuff.

By this time I was quite full but there’s always room for dessert right? Specially after some camomile tea that clears my stomach in my imagination.

My mom had this brulee mango ice bar. Literally a creamy mango ice cream bar with a crispy burnt caramlized later at the top like a creme brulee. This was yummilicious, and although it was creamy it wasn’t too rich combined with a bit of the tangy passionfruit sauce.20140608-130443-47083367.jpg

Aaand finally this was my eclair. I think I preferred the other dessert.20140608-130442-47082926.jpg

Overall outstanding cost-performance and I would definitely come back. I hate to say this but I seriously regret that I did not start coming here years ago. Time to make up for this 😀

Ristorante Honda

Address: 2-12-35 Kita-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo

107-0061 東京都港区北青山2-12-35 小島ビル1F

Tel: 03-5414-3723

Website: www.ristorantehonda.jp

Morikawa もりかわ @ Akasaka

Finally on my food blog again.
To start off, here is a post about a kaiseki dinner I recently had at Morikawa.

Chef Morikawa practiced at the famous Kyo-Aji when he was younger and established this  kaiseki-ya of his own 15 years ago.

I had doubts at first – after looking at some of the photos bloggers have taken from Morikawa on tabelog, it did not strike me that a dinner here would be worth 40000yen+ per head, drinks excluded. I was, however, curious about it because on various occassions I’ve read people rave about how they are no longer impressed by food anywhere else after eating at Morikawa. The folks here, like at many high-end traditional Japanese restaurants, were also famed for rejecting first-time customers -reservations are strictly accepted only from those who have been introduced by regulars.

I supposed I must have been very lucky that despite knowing no one who ever came to this restaurant, I somehow found their # and managed to book seats for both my friend and I. well, I won’t complain 😀

NOTE: Photos are actually NOT ALLOWED. OOPS. I simply went with a friend who happened to be a skilled spy-cameraman. Shh!

From Left to right, Top to bottom

1. Soramame, Uni + Crab Jelly, Kaibashira & Caviar  2. Awabi

3. Otsukuri : Aori Ika + Ise ebi 4. Shirako Chawanmushi 5. Grilled nodoguro

From left to right, top to bottom

1. Just a nice pic 😛 2. Okoze karaage 3. Okoze Ankimo 4. Okoze karaage 5. Somen

6. Chimaki 7. Rice 8. Dessert orange jelly 9. Mochi

There were a couple more dishes inbetween that we did not manage to capture, but all in all my favourite dishes have to be the grilled nodoguro & the okoze karaage. It is difficult to assimilate this from my spy photos but honestly, I don’t think grilled fish can get much better than this! The atmosphere was however a little too intense for me to truly enjoy the meal at the beginning….. no regrets though!

Address: 東京都港区赤坂3-21-6

Phone: (private)