Hybrid

In biology, hybrid has two meanings.^[1]

The first meaning is the result of interbreeding between two animals or plants of different taxa. Hybrids between different species within the same genus are sometimes known as interspecific hybrids or crosses. Hybrids between different sub-species within a species are known as intra-specific hybrids. Hybrids between different genera are sometimes known as intergeneric hybrids. Extremely rare interfamilial hybrids have been known to occur (such as the guineafowl hybrids).

The second type of "hybrid" are crosses between populations, breeds or cultivars within a single species. This second meaning is often used in plant and animal breeding. In plant and animal breeding, hybrids are commonly produced and selected because they have desirable characteristics not found or inconsistently present in the parent individuals or populations. This rearranging of the genetic material between populations or races is often called hybridization.

taken from: wikipedia

Automobile

An automobile or motor car (usually shortened to just car) is a wheeled passenger vehicle that carries its own motor. Most definitions of the term specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight people, to typically have four wheels, and to be constructed principally for the transport of people rather than goods.^[1] However, the term is far from precise.

As of 2002, there were 590 million passenger cars worldwide (roughly one car for every eleven people).^[2]

History

Although Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot is often credited with the first self-propelled mechanical vehicle or automobile, this claim is disputed by some, who doubt Cugnot's three-wheeler ever ran, while others claim Ferdinand Verbiest, a member of a Jesuit mission in China, built the first steam powered car around 1672.^[3][4] In either case François Isaac de Rivaz, a Swiss inventor, designed the first internal combustion engine which was fuelled by a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen and used it to develop the world's first vehicle to run on such an engine. The design was not very successful, as was the case with Samuel Brown, Samuel Morey, and Etienne Lenoir who each produced vehicles powered by clumsy internal combustion engines.^[5]

In November 1881 French inventor Gustave Trouvé demonstrated a working three-wheeled automobile. This was at the International Exhibition of Electricity in Paris.^[6]

An automobile powered by an Otto gasoline engine was built in Mannheim, Germany by Karl Benz in 1885 and granted a patent in January of the following year under the auspices of his major company, Benz & Cie. which was founded in 1883.

Although several other German engineers (including Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach, and Siegfried Marcus) were working on the problem at about the same time, Karl Benz is generally acknowledged as the inventor of the modern automobile.^[5] In 1879 Benz was granted a patent for his first engine, designed in 1878. Many of his other inventions made the use of the internal combustion engine feasible for powering a vehicle and in 1896, Benz designed and patented the first internal combustion flat engine.

Approximately 25 Benz vehicles were built and sold before 1893, when his first four-wheeler was introduced. They were powered with four-stroke engines of his own design. Emile Roger of France, already producing Benz engines under license, now added the Benz automobile to his line of products. Because France was more open to the early automobiles, more were built and sold in France through Roger than Benz sold in Germany.

Daimler and Maybach founded Daimler Motoren Gescellschaft (Daimler Motor Company, DMG) in Cannstatt in 1890 and under the brand name, Daimler, sold their first automobile in 1892. By 1895 about 30 vehicles had been built by Daimler and Maybach, either at the Daimler works or in the Hotel Hermann, where they set up shop after falling out with their backers. Benz and Daimler seem to have been unaware of each other's early work and worked independently.

Daimler died in 1900 and later that year, Maybach designed a model named Daimler-Mercedes, special-ordered by Emil Jellinek. Two years later, a new model DMG automobile was produced and named Mercedes after the engine. Maybach quit DMG shortly thereafter and opened a business of his own. Rights to the Daimler brand name were sold to other manufacturers.

Karl Benz proposed co-operation between DMG and Benz & Cie. when economic conditions began to deteriorate in Germany following the First World War, but the directors of DMG refused to consider it initially. Negotiations between the two companies resumed several years later and in 1924 they signed an Agreement of Mutual Interest valid until the year 2000. Both enterprises standardized design, production, purchasing, sales, and advertising—marketing their automobile models jointly—although keeping their respective brands. On June 28, 1926, Benz & Cie. and DMG finally merged as the Daimler-Benz company, baptizing all of its automobiles Mercedes Benz honoring the most important model of the DMG automobiles, the Maybach design later referred to as the 1902 Mercedes-35hp, along with the Benz name. Karl Benz remained a member of the board of directors of Daimler-Benz until his death in 1929.

In 1890, Emile Levassor and Armand Peugeot of France began producing vehicles with Daimler engines, and so laid the foundation of the motor industry in France. The first American car with a gasoline internal combustion engine supposedly was designed in 1877 by George Selden of Rochester, New York, who applied for a patent on an automobile in 1879. In Britain there had been several attempts to build steam cars with varying degrees of success with Thomas Rickett even attempting a production run in 1860.^[7] Santler from Malvern is recognized by the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain as having made the first petrol-powered car in the country in 1894^[8] followed by Frederick William Lanchester in 1895 but these were both one-offs.^[8] The first production vehicles came from the Daimler Motor Company, founded by Harry J. Lawson in 1896, and making their first cars in 1897.^[8]

In 1892, German engineer Rudolf Diesel got a patent for a "New Rational Combustion Engine". In 1897 he built the first Diesel Engine.^[5] In 1895, Selden was granted a United States patent(U.S. Patent 549,160 ) for a two-stroke automobile engine, which hindered more than encouraged development of autos in the United States. Steam, electric, and gasoline powered autos competed for decades, with gasoline internal combustion engines achieving dominance in the 1910s.

Ransom E. Olds.

The large-scale, production-line manufacturing of affordable automobiles was debuted by Ransom Olds at his Oldsmobile factory in 1902. This assembly line concept was then greatly expanded by Henry Ford in the 1910s. Development of automotive technology was rapid, due in part to the hundreds of small manufacturers competing to gain the world's attention. Key developments included electric ignition and the electric self-starter (both by Charles Kettering, for the Cadillac Motor Company in 1910-1911), independent suspension, and four-wheel brakes.

Although various pistonless rotary engine designs have attempted to compete with the conventional piston and crankshaft design, only Mazda's version of the Wankel engine has had more than very limited success.

Ford Model T, 1927, regarded as the first affordable automobile

Since the 1920s, nearly all cars have been mass-produced to meet market needs, so marketing plans have often heavily influenced automobile design. It was Alfred P. Sloan who established the idea of different makes of cars produced by one company, so buyers could "move up" as their fortunes improved. The makes shared parts with one another so larger production volume resulted in lower costs for each price range. For example, in the 1950s, Chevrolet shared hood, doors, roof, and windows with Pontiac; the LaSalle of the 1930s, sold by Cadillac, used cheaper mechanical parts made by the Oldsmobile division.

Design

The design of modern cars is typically handled by a large team of designers and engineers from many different disciplines. As part of the product development effort the team of designers will work closely with teams of design engineers responsible for all aspects of the vehicle. These engineering teams include: chassis, body and trim, powertrain, electrical and production. The design team under the leadership of the design director will typically comprise of an exterior designer, an interior designer (usually referred to as stylists), and a color and materials designer. A few other designers will be involved in detail design of both exterior and interior. For example, a designer might be tasked with designing the rear light clusters or the steering wheel. The color and materials designer will work closely with the exterior and interior designers in developing exterior color paints, interior colors, fabrics, leathers, carpet, wood trim, and so on.

In 1924 the American national automobile market began reaching saturation. To maintain unit sales, General Motors instituted annual model-year design changes (also credited to Alfred Sloan) in order to convince car owners they needed a replacement each year. Since 1935 automotive form has been driven more by consumer expectations than engineering improvement.

There have been many efforts to innovate automobile design funded by the NHTSA, including the work of the NavLab group at Carnegie Mellon University.^[9] Recent efforts include the highly publicized DARPA Grand Challenge race.^[10]

Acceleration, braking, and measures of turning or agility vary widely between different makes and models of automobile. The automotive publication industry has developed around these performance measures as a way to quantify and qualify the characteristics of a particular vehicle. See quarter mile and 0 to 60 mph.

Fuel and propulsion technologies

Most automobiles in use today are propelled by gasoline (also known as petrol) or diesel internal combustion engines, which are known to cause air pollution and are also blamed for contributing to climate change and global warming.^[11] Increasing costs of oil-based fuels and tightening environmental law and restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions are propelling work on alternative power systems for automobiles. Efforts to improve or replace these technologies include hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles.

Diesel

Diesel engined cars have long been popular in Europe with the first models being introduced in the 1930s by Mercedes Benz and Citroen. The main benefit of Diesels are a 50% fuel burn efficiency compared with 27%^[12] in the best gasoline engines. A down side of the diesel is the presence in the exhaust gases of fine soot particulates and manufacturers are now starting to fit filters to remove these. Many diesel powered cars can also run with little or no modifications on 100% biodiesel.

Gasoline

Gasoline engines have the advantage over diesel in being lighter and able to work at higher rotational speeds and they are the usual choice for fitting in high performance sports cars. Continuous development of gasoline engines for over a hundred years has produced improvements in efficiency and reduced pollution. The carburetor was used on nearly all road car engines until the 1980s but it was long realised better control of the fuel/air mixture could be achieved with fuel injection. Indirect fuel injection was first used in aircraft engines from 1909, in racing car engines from the 1930s, and road cars from the late 1950s.^[12] Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) is now starting to appear in production vehicles such as the 2007 BMW MINI. Exhaust gases are also cleaned up by fitting a catalytic converter into the exhaust system. Clean air legislation in many of the car industries most important markets has made both catalysts and fuel injection virtually universal fittings. Most modern gasoline engines are also capable of running with up to 15% ethanol mixed into the gasoline - older vehicles may have seals and hoses that can be harmed by ethanol. With a small amount of redesign, gasoline-powered vehicles can run on ethanol concentrations as high as 85%. 100% ethanol is used in some parts of the world (such as Brazil), but vehicles must be started on pure gasoline and switched over to ethanol once the engine is running. Most gasoline engined cars can also run on LPG with the addition of an LPG tank for fuel storage and carburetion modifications to add an LPG mixer. LPG produces fewer toxic emissions and is a popular fuel for fork lift trucks that have to operate inside buildings.

Electric

The first electric cars were built in the early 1880s shortly before internal combustion powered cars appeared. For a period of time electrics were considered superior due to the silent nature of electric motors compared to the very loud noise of the gasoline engine. This supreme advantage was removed with Hiram Percy Maxim's invention of the muffler in 1897. Thereafter internal combustion powered cars had two critical advantages: 1) long range and 2) high specific energy (far lower weight of petrol fuel versus weight of batteries). The building of battery electric vehicles that could rival internal combustion models had to wait for the introduction of modern semiconductor controls and improved batteries. Because they can deliver a high torque at low revolutions electric cars do not require such a complex drive train and transmission as internal combustion powered cars. Some post-2000 electric car designs are able to accelerate from 0-60 mph (96 km/hour) in 4.0 seconds with a top speed around 130 mph (210 km/h). Others have a range of 250 miles (400 km) on the EPA highway cycle requiring 3-1/2 hours to completely charge. Equivalent fuel efficiency to internal combustion is not well defined but some press reports give it at around 135 mpg. Also, in 1996, there were a series of cars called EV1 manufatcured by General Motors, but ended in 1999.

Steam

Steam power, usually using an oil or gas heated boiler, was also in use until the 1930s but had the major disadvantage of being unable to power the car until boiler pressure was available. It has the advantage of being able to produce very low emissions as the combustion process can be carefully controlled. Its disadvantages include poor heat efficiency and extensive requirements for electric auxiliaries.^[13]

Gas turbine

In the 1950s there was a brief interest in using gas turbine (jet) engines and several makers including Rover produced prototypes. In spite of the power units being very compact, high fuel consumption, severe delay in throttle response, and lack of engine braking meant no cars reached production.

Rotary (Wankel) engines

Rotary Wankel engines were introduced into road cars by NSU with the Ro 80 and later were seen in several Mazda models. In spite of their impressive smoothness, poor reliability and fuel economy led to them largely disappearing. Mazda, however, has continued research on these engines and overcame most of the earlier problems.

Future developments

Much current research and development is centered on hybrid vehicles that use both electric power and internal combustion. Research into alternative forms of power also focus on developing fuel cells, Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI), stirling engines^[14], and even using the stored energy of compressed air or liquid nitrogen.

taken from: wikipedia

Break your kid's whining habit

When it comes to torture, we could all learn a thing or two from kids. Who knows better than they how to extract most anything they want within minutes of applying the technique? I'm talking about whining, of course -- that grating mewling that causes us to do anything (anything!) just to make it go away. But you can break the habit. And the rewards of victory can be rich for both of you.

Toddlers

Why they do it: Early talkers whine like babies cry. Some experts say that whining tends to peak in a child's development when she's feeling out of control and overwhelmed -- emotions that pretty much sum up toddlerhood. She lacks the vocabulary to articulate her frustrations, and that whimpering is the natural default noise. Certain triggers, such as hunger and fatigue, can also cause breakdowns (true for kids of all ages), so keep that in mind the next time you take your toddler grocery shopping close to naptime.

How to stop it: Patience becomes the first rule when confronted with these early bouts of whining. When her son, Matthew, who's almost 3, melts down because he can't wait 10 more minutes for dinner, Rae Sullivan of Durham, North Carolina, gives him a little extra attention, like five minutes of lap or snuggle time. Those five minutes are well spent if it means she can finish cooking without another whinefest. Tossing him a few crackers to eat in the meantime doesn't hurt, either. (Parenting.com: When good kids mouth off )

(taken from: http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/parenting/04/26/par.no.whining/index.html)

What your child's doctor wishes you knew

By William Sears, M.D.
Parenting.com

At the end of every appointment with a patient, I usually feel one of two ways: "Wow! We really accomplished a lot in 15 minutes." Or: "Wow. Where did it all go wrong?"

Some office visits go better than others, and some families just get more out of them. These parents get their concerns addressed -- and their kids are better for it. The good news is, it's probably because they're doing things you could do, too. Here are some suggestions to make your child's visits happy and productive, for both of you:

Take babies and toddlers to the doctor in the morning, when they're usually on their best behavior. Not true for yours? Go with whatever works! But do try to avoid scheduling appointments during naptime, to spare yourselves a meltdown. (Parenting.com: Doctor-visit problems solved! )

Try to book older kids after school or on days off. It also helps not to have your child miss a fun activity because of his checkup.

Pick the first appointment of the morning or the afternoon if your child gets extra-antsy with long waits. That's when the doctor is least likely to be running late.

Avoid the late afternoon if you're scheduling a long appointment, or want to discuss behavior or discipline problems. Your child, the doctor -- and you -- will be too drained at the end of the day.

Don't try to squeeze two kids into one already-crowded time slot. You won't get anything accomplished. Instead, book their visits back-to-back.

Prepare your child ahead of time. She may feel better if you let her know what's going to happen at the appointment. For instance: "Dr. Bill will count your teeth, look in your ears, pat your tummy, and listen to your heart..."

Read a comforting picture book on the subject beforehand. One favorite: "Blue's Checkup" by Sarah Albee and Ian Chernichaw.

Dress your child in clothes that are easy to get on and off, like sneakers with Velcro instead of laces.

Make sure your child has eaten before the office visit, since hungry kids are cranky kids. If you bring along a snack, choose the mess-free kind so you don't have to think about crumbs. (Bonus: The staff won't need to clean up after your child.)

Jot down a list of your main questions so you can be sure to cover your concerns at the appointment. Rank them in order of most important to least.

Bring a beloved stuffed animal or doll. I often do a checkup on a child's lovey to show just how easy an exam really is. After all, if Barbie or Buddy can do it, so can your child. Your doctor isn't taking the cue? Just ask.

Hold your child during the checkup if she's more comfortable that way. Exam tables are rarely needed for toddlers and preschoolers, who are more secure and trusting while lounging on a parent's lap.

Note what works and what doesn't. Toddlers that get spooked on the scale, for instance, can be weighed and measured by the nurse at the end of the exam instead of at the beginning.

Use visual aids. If your child has something that comes and goes --- a skin problem, say -- or if she seems to act up only while not in the doctor's office, don't hesitate to bring along a photograph. Or bring a home video (and a camcorder to show it on).

Trust your instincts. When you really think something's wrong, push your doctor to investigate. If he won't look into it, don't be afraid to ask for a second opinion.

Contributing editor William Sears, M.D., a dad of eight, estimates that he's done 175,000 checkups in 35 years.

(taken from http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/parenting/04/18/par.checkups/index.html)

first post

The truth about moms and TV: Our love-hate relationship with the tube

POSTED: 6:22 p.m. EST, November 10, 2006

By Jeannie Ralston

On a friend's recommendation, a mom in Laredo, Texas, rents Pirates of the Caribbean for her 6- and 4-year-olds. She has to shut off the TV when her kids start to cry at the frightening images of skeleton pirates. "I knew it was rated PG-13, but it was by Disney, and my friend has kids the same age," she says. "I don't know what she was thinking."

A working mom in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, hates that her stay-at-home husband plants their kids, 3 and 2, in front of the TV for hours at a time, but her husband doesn't understand her frustration. "They're watching learning channels," he counters.

"I'll say, 'OK, only one show. Half an hour,'" a Los Angeles, California, mom says. "Then the phone rings, or I start doing something, and before I know it, it's been an hour and a half. But at least the kids have been out of my hair the whole time."

Confusion. Frustration. Relief. Guilt. For parents, these sentiments coexist with the big box or flat screen in the living room. There may not be anything in a mom's life that causes so many mixed emotions on a regular basis.

The angst that many parents feel stems partly from the way TV and DVDs or videos are often used ? to keep kids occupied while parents do grown-up tasks. And there's the sense that other moms and dads are judging your parenting skills by what your child watches, or how much. Almost 85 percent of moms say they turn on the TV or pop in a DVD or video "sometimes or often" to get tasks done around the house, according to a recent survey of Parenting's MomConnection, an online panel of mothers around the country. Of the 1,100 moms, those with kids ages 2 and 3 ? active but usually not yet in preschool ? are the most likely to turn to TV for distraction purposes. (How else are you supposed to do a load of laundry or get dinner ready without an extra set of hands or eyes?)

At the same time, a quarter of all moms said they felt guilty about the amount of TV their kids watch. "I'm afraid too much TV is going to take away from my sons' ability to use their imagination and explore the real world," admits Trish Rawls, mom of AJ, 4, and Hank, 3, in Fredericksburg, Texas. "I don't want to raise kids who can't entertain themselves ? or will end up as couch potatoes."

The big fib

The sense that it's important to do the right thing can be so great that almost a fifth of moms say they lie about either how much or what their kids watch. (Parents of kids under 2 are most apt to misrepresent the amount watched; those with older ones tend to lie more about the content.) And almost two-thirds think other parents lie to them.

"There's so much pressure to be a good parent, I sometimes fudge," says a mom of two from Charleston, South Carolina. "It's hard to admit that your kids watch three hours a day or that you use it as a baby sitter."

I'll cop to having given in to TV marathons for my two boys when they were younger, not having the backbone to simply turn off the set and deal with the tears that would inevitably ensue. I'd comfort myself with the idea that they were watching PBS or a commercial-free DVD, but who was I kidding?

It can also be hard to keep track of how long the TV's actually on. "I think everyone underestimates, myself included," says Martha Outlaw, a mom of two, ages 7 and 4, in Wilton, Connecticut. "If there were a timer on the TV, I think most of us would be surprised." In fact, when Nielsen Media Research began using sophisticated measuring technology earlier this year, the company found that children ages 2 to 11 watched up to 33 percent more TV than reported the year before, when households were responsible for tracking their own tube time.

When it comes to what's on TV, moms with kids of all ages are bothered most by violence, followed by sexual or suggestive content. But, says Kate Holmes, a mom of two kids in Los Angeles, "at five or six, the whole landscape changes. It seems like there's really nothing geared for that age group, until they're about twelve. So they end up watching things that are too old for them."

Indeed, moms of kids ages 7 to 12 are most likely to disregard ratings, saying that they think their kids can handle the content despite the ratings. Beverly Henry of Temple, Texas, admits that her sons, 9 and 7, have on occasion watched R-rated movies on TV.

"I let them watch Godzilla. I covered their eyes during the scariest parts, and afterward we talked about the bad language used and how these were words they shouldn't be using." Many moms, however, feel that it's not enough to merely shield a child's eyes; 75 percent say they've turned off a show or movie because they didn't want their child to view a certain scene.

Keeping track of the Joneses

Maybe because TV limits are so hard to enforce, almost 50 percent of moms in the Parenting survey say they're secretly relieved to find out about other moms' more lenient rules. Says Marianne Zapella of San Diego: "When I found out that a friend's five-year-old was allowed to watch Fear Factor, I was so surprised. I thought I must be doing OK as a mom. Even though I want to make my own decisions, I can't help but be influenced by what other people are letting their kids watch.

"If you need more reassurance, I'll admit to letting my 3-year-old watch Top Gun on video repeatedly because he loved airplanes so much. What was I thinking, with all that violence and testosterone? OK, the images didn't seem to upset him, and I did turn down the sound so he wouldn't hear the curse words, but looking back, I probably could've found a tamer video of flying jets.

Other mothers' rules can be a problem, say moms, when their child is under someone else's watch. More than a third of moms report that at some point they've disapproved of other parents' TV policies, yet most of them say they don't express it. "I realize I have to go with the flow," says Terri Sigler of Asheville, North Carolina. "The best I can do is to send my child to a friend's house with an approved DVD." Moms of grade-schoolers are the most likely to speak up. "When Hunter was six, he watched The Terminator, which is rated R, at a friend's house," says Holland Stephens, a Seattle mom of two. "When I found out, I said to my friend that we only let Hunter watch G-rated movies. She was cool about it."

In the end, no matter how much peace and quiet can be bought when a show or DVD is on, about 40 percent of moms say they don't like TV. This is most true of moms with kids ages 7 to 9 ? 55 percent give it a thumb's down. "I feel like so much of it is filler," says Stephens, whose children are 10 and 7. "But what I dislike most is how it's brought on this hipness level and sophistication in young kids that I'm not comfortable with. It's not just the violence ? it's how children are treating each other in some kids' programs and how they talk to their parents like they're equals."

Though she admits to having guilt for using the TV as a baby sitter when her kids were younger, she and her husband have reassessed its role in their family's life. On a recent vacation to a TV-free cabin, they were surprisingly content without the tube or movies. "We read together, played games, and just hung out," she says. "That's when I decided we shouldn't have so much TV ? not any of us. So we cut back when we got home. It's incredibly liberating to have finally gotten some control."

Jeannie Ralston recently moved to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, so her two sons could attend a bilingual school.

(taken from cnn: http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/11/10/par.moms.tv/index.html)