Latest news with #potent
NZ Autocar
17 hours ago
- Automotive
- NZ Autocar
2024 BYD Dolphin Premium Long Term
The BYD Dolphin is the brand's most affordable machine, an all-electric hatch starting at $39,990 for the Essential. That's $10k cheaper than when it first arrived here. The choice for buyers is whether to go for the Essential value, or pay extra for the $48,990 Premium. This more potent model has recently joined the NZ Autocar line-up, resplendent in its striking pink livery. The difference between variants is more than just specification. Essential comes with a 70kW/180Nm motor but the Premium has double the power, with 150kW and 310Nm of torque. That means 0–100km/h drops from a sedate 12.3sec to a brisk seven seconds in the Premium. Read more 2023 BYD Dolphin Extended review Of more relevance perhaps is the extra range you get with the Premium. The Essential offers a respectable WLTP driving range of 340km from its 44.9kWh Blade battery. Step up to the Premium, and you'll get a larger 60.48kWh battery offering 427km. DC fast charging also improves: the Essential supports up to 60kW, while the Premium can hook up to 80kW chargers. Both models are well specified with BYD's rotating 12.8-inch touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a full suite of driver assistance systems and V2L (vehicle-to-load) functionality. The Premium adds extras like heated front seats, wireless phone charging and a panoramic glass roof. There's also a suspension upgrade. Where the Essential uses a torsion beam set-up in the rear, the Premium switches to a multi-link arrangement for improved ride and handling. Upping the spend to the Premium seems justified in our eyes, given you get more than just a few extra creature comforts. The added power, range and dynamic boost are good value for the money. Our GM, Gavin Shaw, has been enjoying the Dolphin for the past month. With his weekly mileage amounting to around 350km, he is getting by with one fast charge a week. He says this takes around 40mins, and it is easy to monitor the process if you are not in the vehicle by using the app. After being an EV skeptic for many years, he has enjoyed the refinement of the power delivery and the ample power of the Premium. Equally impressive for him are the open road dynamics with controlled body roll in bends and a good ride on the highway. His only real bugbear with the Dolphin is the thick A pillar restricting outward vision at some intersections, especially when turning right. While not a fan of the colour combination, he is getting used to the constant comments questioning his supposed lifestyle choice. He says women love the colour combination however. After having spent the past few months being electrically motivated (he was in the Atto 3 prior to this) his view on EVs has changed somewhat. He says he has been pleasantly surprised, particularly as a die-hard enthusiast of petrol power. He reckons that anyone who is hesitant about the idea of an EV should experience one for more than just a quick drive around the block. He reckons the benefits, including the relative ease of refuelling at home, can only be realised with an extended test drive. BYD Dolphin Premium$48,990 / 15.9kWh/100km / 0g/km 0-100 km/h 7.0s Motor 150kW / 310Nm Battery LFP 60.5kWh Drivetrain 1-speed auto / FWD Range 427km
India.com
4 days ago
- General
- India.com
This snake has world's largest fang, it looks like a..., the name is..., not King Cobra or Black Mamba
This snake has world's largest fang, it looks like a..., the name is…, not King Cobra or Black Mamba Gaboon Viper: Snakes are indeed one of the most mysterious creatures in the world. They are one of the most brutal killers of nature, and they show no mercy to their prey. Interestingly, snakes are considered evil in some religions, while others worship the serpent-like gods. The rainforest located in the savannas of sub-Saharan Africa is home to the continent's most lethal predators, which are well protected in the forest. Among these predators, a slithering creature, underestimated by its size and potent venom, is known for its speed and attack. In fact, one walking near one might never even know this dangerous snake is there, until it's too late. We are talking about the dangerous Gaboon viper. This serpent doesn't hiss like a King Cobra or rattle like a Rattlesnake or even chase; rather, it waits motionless, using its camouflaging strategy with surprising perfection. The Gaboon Viper The Gaboon viper is the heaviest venomous snake in Africa, stretching up to six feet and weighing as much as 25 pounds. With a broad, leaf-shaped head and patterns that look like dead leaves and bark, this serpent almost disappears into its surroundings. The Gaboon Viper is the heaviest venomous snake in the entire Africa. With a stretch of up to six feet, it weighs as much as 25 pound (approx 11.3 kgs). Invisible In Plain Sight Gaboon vipers are masters of disguise, their intricate coloration blending seamlessly with the forest floor. This exceptional camouflage makes them incredibly difficult to spot, even for experienced reptile experts. They remain motionless for extended periods, patiently ambushing unsuspecting prey. While generally slow-moving, their strike is remarkably fast, a characteristic likely developed to minimize energy expenditure while maximizing hunting success. The Venom Notably, the Gaboon Viper's venom is not the most toxic in the world but what matters is the quantity. As per Forbes, Gaboon Viper is inject between 200 to 1000 milligrams of venom per bite. This quantity of venom surpasses the quantity of the inland taipan and Russell's viper in venom yield. Its exceptionally large venom glands allow it to produce a significant amount of venom. The Largest Fangs Gaboon vipers is loaded with the world's longest snake fangs, reaching up to two inches in length. These exceptionally long fangs fold back when the mouth is closed, enabling deep venom injection and rapid incapacitation of prey. While possessing a potent venom delivery system, the Gaboon viper is generally docile and rarely bites humans unless threatened. However, habitat loss due to deforestation and development in sub-Saharan Africa has led to the species being classified as vulnerable by the IUCN.
The Spinoff
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Spinoff
Why what Nicola Willis wears matters
The finance minister has more important things to discuss than her dress, but it's also twee to pretend that fashion and politics aren't intertwined. Yesterday morning, I lay in bed and thought about what I would wear to work. I do this most mornings. Some days, I give it a lot of thought. I am interested in fashion and want to be comfortable, but I also enjoy the art and act of constructing myself and silently communicating that each day. Thanks to a study on how lice began their march towards global domination, we know humans have been wearing clothes for about 170,000 years. Like it or not, clothing has been a form of human expression and a potent signifier since we moved on from mammoth skin modesty flaps. Peasants running around the lower reaches of the Nile in 3100BC knew their fellow peasants were the same class as them because they all wore plain shendyts while the pharaoh's kids were dripping in gold. A lot of people think about what they're going to wear each day, informed by their planned activities, personal preferences and participation in a civilisation steeped in centuries of culture, code and connotation about what clothing means. Knowing their image will fill the screens of millions of people every day, our politicians may even do some planning of their clothing in advance of significant events. On Saturday, the NZ Herald ran a story citing a single designer who called out Nicola Willis's choice of dress for budget day as a signal of 'total disrespect' because it was not designed by a New Zealand designer. It was one comment by one designer about Willis's decision to wear a dress believed to be from British womenswear label The Fold London, but in the wake of cuntgate, it represents another escapee from the vault marked 'sexist and distracting' that we thought was securely locked. As with that, the layers are many, but reaching for the simple binaries is just too damn easy. Speaking to RNZ's Morning Report yesterday, Willis said, 'Your audience are smart people. We've got far more interesting things to talk about than what clothes I wear. Let's focus on the policies. This line of questioning, as far as I'm concerned, belongs in the 1950s.' I am a smart person (I think, I hope) and I am interested in what people wear. The fashion industry is worth $1.7 trillion. Its history runs as deep and long as any form of human expression. Its interplay with politics and gender is frequently where we find some of our worst and most misogynistic commentaries, but it's also where we find statements about class, power, wealth and status. While no one would bat an eyelid about a Tory politician dropping thousands of pounds on Savile Row, a minor furore erupted in the United Kingdom last year when a Labour donor contributed £16,000 to the cost of Sir Keir Starmer's work wardrobe. The optics for Labour politicians, a party born of the working classes, are different. The designer quoted by the Herald cited Jacinda Ardern, who regularly wore New Zealand designers. Ardern didn't talk about what she wore, but her pecuniary interest register revealed gifts of clothing from many New Zealand designers, a fact that has been both weaponised against her and lauded as the subtle but skilled use of fashion as a form of soft power. In the US, the concept of fashion and clothing choice as soft power, an apparatus of diplomacy and domestic politics, has been aired and acknowledged for decades. For some in this country, it might be a feature of a society and a political system bound tight with the power of image and celebrity, that we want no part in, but we're no longer domestically siloed in our culture the way we were when Jackie Kennedy first wielded Chanel suits as a narrative weapon. Clothing choice is visual communication in our image-saturated and interconnected democracies. It can be manipulated in the same way political words and actions can be. It can be judged as authentic expression or calculated messaging. US first ladies and female politicians worldwide have followed in Kennedy's footsteps. Hillary Clinton had her pantsuits. Melania Trump set off an avalanche of think pieces when she wore her 'I really don't care, do you?' jacket. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wore a custom-made 'tax the rich' dress to the Met Gala in 2021. Michelle Obama nailed the dichotomous tension of leaning into clothing as communication best in her memoir, writing, 'Today, virtually every woman in public life—politicians, celebrities, you name it—has some version of Meredith, Johnny, and Carl [Obama's personal aide and wardrobe stylist, hairdresser and makeup artist]. It's all but a requirement, a built-in fee for our societal double standard.' All these women have plenty of insults lobbed at them about their appearance and their attention to it. Both are forms of sexism. One is familiar and obvious, the other a little more opaque. Mired in the dismissal of an industry that predominantly employs women, has been undervalued and not taken seriously, fashion has historically been deemed as of interest to women and is, therefore, frivolous. You're stuck in a maze as a woman in the public eye. Turn left, and guilt and complexity await as you hit the righteous railing against beauty standards by second-wave feminists. Turn right, and enjoy the complexity of third-wave feminism, where fashion is used as a form of empowerment but is also weakened by 'choice feminism'. Try another direction, and you'll come face to face with the reality that appearance does matter and that, as an ambitious person making your way through the coded ranks of any visible institution, that's a useful and powerful thing to understand. Look in a mirror, and the likelihood of being written off as a vain, dumb, entitled bitch will stare right back at you. Look too polished, and you're out of touch. Look too casual, and you're not serious enough. Spend money on clothes, and you're wasting money. Recent comments about dress standards in our parliament skim all of this with a serving of generational misalignment, conservatism and cultural differences on the side. In a series of social media posts, her male colleagues have supported Willis and the focus on what she wears by participating in the time-honoured tradition of a fit check. Chris Bishop stood outside a grey parliament in a grey suit against a grey Wellington sky and told us he was wearing a Rembrandt suit, 'from Lower Hutt of course'. His tie comes from France. There has been no 'Quelle horreur!' about this because no one bothers to needle men over the provenance of their unremarkable suits. Bishop also knows exactly where his suit is from. Male politicians participate in image construction as part of how they communicate power, authenticity, status and authority; they get to pretend that they don't. Willis's colleagues understand male politicians almost never cop comment about their sartorial decisions unless they're pulling on an All Blacks jersey. The solidarity on display has its roots in some basic understanding of gender-based double standards and is taken straight from the Cate Blanchett school of red-carpet subversion. As a camera started to pan up from Blanchett's feet at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2014, she bent down, pointed at the camera and asked, 'Do you do that to the guys?' It is Willis's prerogative to tell people to jog on when being asked about her clothing. It is her colleagues' to point out the rank hypocrisy and double standard that exists when it comes to being interested in what people in the public eye wear. It's also mine to point out the dissonance when those claiming that clothing doesn't matter have carefully curated their image and belong to parties that regularly spend wads of cash participating in the highly visual and image-conscious culture of social media for political gain. The real lack of smarts isn't caring about what politicians wear – it's pretending that we don't. Politics doesn't happen in a culture-free vacuum, and our politicians know that. The question isn't whether clothing matters in politics. The question is whether we're honest enough to admit that it does.
Hans India
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hans India
Jr NTR vs Hrithik Roshan: ‘War 2' teaser looks electrifying
One of the most eagerly awaited releases of 2025, War 2, has just dropped its teaser—and it packs a punch. Directed by Ayan Mukerji and backed by Yash Raj Films, the action thriller marks Jr NTR's highly anticipated Bollywood debut. Sharing the screen with Hrithik Roshan, the film is set in the sprawling YRF Spy Universe and is gearing up for a grand global release on August 14 in Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil. Unveiled as a birthday treat for Jr NTR fans, the teaser sets the tone for a high-voltage face-off. It opens with a gripping voiceover from NTR: 'Kabir was RAW's best agent… But not anymore.' What follows is a quick montage of slick action sequences featuring Hrithik Roshan returning as Agent Kabir and NTR making a powerful entry. The chemistry and tension between the two stars are electric, offering a glimpse into the explosive dynamics of the film. Also making an impression is Kiara Advani, who appears in a glamorous avatar, adding to the film's stylish aesthetic. Though the background score doesn't scream for attention like typical South Indian teasers, it complements the visuals effectively. The cinematography, showcasing exotic foreign locales and well-choreographed stunts, is a major highlight. War 2 promises everything a commercial blockbuster demands—an A-list cast, gripping action, foot-tapping music by Pritam, and dazzling visuals. With such a potent mix, the film is poised to be a pan-India box office storm.
Boston Globe
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Episcopal Church says it won't help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status in US
Episcopal Migration Ministries has long resettled refugees under federal grants. Rowe said that about two weeks ago, the government contacted it and said it expected the ministry to resettle some of the South Africans under terms of its grant. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'In light of our church's steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step,' Rowe said. 'Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the US federal government.' Advertisement Another faith-based group, Church World Service, said it is open to helping resettle the Afrikaners. South Africa's government has vehemently denied allegations of discriminatory treatment of its white minority residents. 'It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years,' Rowe said. 'I am saddened and ashamed that many of the refugees who are being denied entrance to the United States are brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country.' Advertisement He also said many refugees, including Christians, are victims of religious persecution and are now denied entry. He said the church would find other ways to serve immigrants, such as those already in this country and those stranded overseas. The move marks the end of a ministry-government partnership that, for nearly four decades, has served nearly 110,000 refugees from countries ranging from Ukraine, Myanmar and Congo, Rowe said. It's not the first high-profile friction between the Episcopal Church and the government. Bishop Mariann Budde of Washington drew Trump's anger in January at an inaugural prayer service in which she urged 'mercy' on those fearing his actions, including migrants and LGBTQ+ children. The Anglican Church of Southern Africa includes churches in South Africa and neighboring countries. It was a potent force in the campaign against apartheid in the 1980s and 1990s, an effort for which the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. Another faith-based refugee agency, Church World Service, says it is open to serving the South African arrivals. 'We are concerned that the US Government has chosen to fast-track the admission of Afrikaners, while actively fighting court orders to provide life-saving resettlement to other refugee populations who are in desperate need of resettlement,' Rick Santos, CWS president and CEO, said in a statement. Advertisement He added that the action proves the government knows how to screen and process refugees quickly. 'Despite the Administration's actions, CWS remains committed to serving all eligible refugee populations seeking safety in the United States, including Afrikaners who are eligible for services,' he said. 'Our faith compels us to serve each person in our care with dignity and compassion.' The Episcopal ministry and CWS are among 10 national groups, most of them faith-based, that have partnered with the government for refugee resettlement.
