PLATT - MISC News

GENERAL INTEREST
What are the "cockles of your heart" and why do they need warming?
https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/what-are-the-cockles-of-your-heart-and-why-do-they-need-warming-20050212-gdkogx.html

A 69-year-old man asks to be declared 49, claiming age is as fluid as gender 
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1118/age_fluid_too.php3

Meet the couple that bought an entire town
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/meet-the-couple-that-bought-an-entire-town/?

7 mistakes to avoid when renovating older houses 
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1118/renovating_mistakes.php3

PHYSICAL HEALTH
Congo ministry says Ebola outbreak worst in country’s history
https://nypost.com/2018/11/10/congo-ministry-says-ebola-outbreak-worst-in-countrys-history/?utm_campaign=iosapp&utm_source=mail_app

Thanks, TM ...


MENTAL HEALTH
What’s the Difference Between a Psychopath and a Sociopath? An Expert Weighs In 
https://start.att.net/news/read/article/health-whats_the_difference_between_a_psychopath_and_a_so-rtime/category/lifestyle

INSIGHT 
Keeping Up
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/crosby110918.php3

So you want to date someone who's sarcastic? How original 
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1118/sarcasm_dating.php3

ENVIRONMENT
FDA Approves First Waste-Gas-Reduction Drug for Cattle
https://www.ecowatch.com/fda-approves-first-waste-gas-reduction-drug-for-cattle-2618890785.html

HERPETOLOGY
Florida Man Kills 17.5-Foot Burmese Python in Everglades 
https://www.ecowatch.com/florida-burmese-python-everglades-2618892785.html

Officers catch huge lizard that terrified suburban neighbors
https://nypost.com/2018/11/10/officers-catch-huge-lizard-that-terrified-suburban-neighbors/?utm_campaign=iosapp&utm_source=mail_app

TECHNOLOGY
2019 Subaru Forester: Do You Want Your Car to Spy on You?
See the Wall Street Journal article, below.

INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
Whatever happened to Berlin’s deserted ‘ghost’ airport?
http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20181030-what-happened-to-berlins-ghost-airport

Keystone Cops: How Democrats Kill American Infrastructure 
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/11/democrat-politics-raises-costs-of-infrastructure-projects/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NR%20Daily%20Saturday%202018-11-10&utm_term=NR5PM%20Actives

Quarry Discovery May Explain How Pyramids Were Built 
http://www.newser.com/story/266894/key-to-how-pyramids-were-built-a-ramp.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=att&utm_campaign=rss_world_syn

FOREIGN POLICY
The Trump admin thinks U.S. pressure could sink Iran's regime, but allies have doubts
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-admin-thinks-u-s-pressure-could-sink-iran-s-n933966

LAW AND ORDER
Video of fatal school bus crash shows driver cross 3 lanes
https://nypost.com/2018/11/10/video-of-fatal-school-bus-crash-shows-driver-cross-3-lanes/?utm_campaign=iosapp&utm_source=mail_app

TRUMPGATE
Left wants to punish a protector of the Constitution for using his First Amendment Rights
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1118/cohen110918.php3

-- 
"You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end – which you can never afford to
Lose – with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever
they might be."
           - VAdm James Stockdale, USN (1923-2005)

FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (without permission)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/2019-subaru-forester-do-you-want-your-car-to-spy-on-you-1541790140?emailToken=8ed1a348f874e673d9227650626de51ej8OQPs/L/PTakSSfiUspT2D0mSm0DbpqW9fGwLHS1ade//gzuy5HyqiHOXBpCt+CakGID4ImOMLv9qzISXptYK3lctDWxKLmW3BEny2kQ1deQkEOT06+vqVhnwSVDTvn&reflink=article_email_share

2019 Subaru Forester: Do You Want Your Car to Spy on You?

Subaru’s new DriverFocus Distraction Mitigation, a safety system based on eye movement, is surprisingly intimate, even invasive. Dan Neil takes a peek

OUT WITH THE OLD? Beyond added safety tech, the 2019 Forester is nothing new. Photo: Subaru

Dan Neil

Nov. 9, 2018 2:02 p.m. ET

THE 2019 SUBARU FORESTER debuts the company’s DriverFocus Distraction Mitigation System; by means of advanced eye-tracking technology the car can detect driver fatigue, distraction or, more likely, boredom. I assume it can also detect the moment when the driver slips into a trance due to the ensorcelling drone of the engine... Ommmmmm.

While many parts of this car are stimulating—the price/feature matrix for the Forester Touring ($35,270, as tested) is flat-out awesome—the performance from the 2.5-liter, 182-hp flat-four and continuously variable transmission (CVT) feels pretty somnambulant. A system that detects drowsiness seems like a self-inflicted wound.

Obviously, I’m in favor of anything that keeps distracted Mother Earthers from plowing into the traffic ahead. But I must say a safety system based on eye movement is surprisingly intimate, even intrusive. I noticed when I was driving with my wife that the system would register my eyerolls during conversation and throw a warning indicator on the dash: “Keep Eyes on Road.” Tina was like, Uh-huh, see? Car, don’t you start with me.

This is the fifth design generation of the Forester since model-year 1998, long enough for children conceived in a first-gen Forester—that magical night in Yosemite, remember?—to grow up and buy their own (driving mom and dad’s old one would be weird). It’s tempting to call that Forester the template of the ka-jillions of crossover SUVs to come, but of course nobody else went on to build cars with this particular Venn diagram of attributes: full-time, mechanical all-wheel drive; ample snow-busting ground clearance; a front-mounted horizontally opposed engine providing a lower center of gravity; and better road-holding character.

Subaru owns this whole vehicle conception, which has carried the company through a record 83 consecutive months of month-over sales increases, with the second-highest owner brand loyalty in the industry after Toyota, according to Edmunds.com. These are the stones of Subaru’s fortress.

But the quirky IP sort of owns Subaru too. Because of the brand’s mechanical distinctiveness, the cars are harder to evolve and so risk technical irrelevancy in a market pursuing low and no emissions.

Example: Like almost all Subies, the Forester has a robust all-wheel drive system, comprising an electro-hydraulically actuated center differential splitting torque and sending it to the front and rear axles at all times. Fabulous, unbeatable, best in the business. The problem is that such a system incurs higher frictional losses than a typical part-time, on-demand AWD system, and that reduces mileage. The new Forester’s average fuel economy is rated at 29 mpg combined, and it only gets that by way of the thoroughly throttled engine.

OPEN FOR BUSINESS The family friendly Forester has a max cargo capacity of 70.9 cubic feet with the seats folded down. Photo:Subaru

Another example: styling. The all-new, globally redesigned Forester, the car they will build for the next six years, looks almost exactly like the car they’ve been building for the last six. The self-imposed antiquation really jumps out at you when you see it across a parking lot. Its designers have even codified a weirdness in the Forester’s proportions, with the swollen, SUV-like passenger and cargo space wearing a sedan’s nose like a prosthetic.

So it isn’t enough to say the Forester is dorky looking and a little bit lethargic. It embraces these qualities as brand values.

Constrained in other areas, Subaru’s marketers have enhanced the Forester’s value proposition to nigh-on irresistible. Please consider the Touring trim level, which includes DriverFocus as well as Subie’s suite of sensor-based driver assists; an 8-inch, app-based infotainment touch screen with navi; Harman Kardon sound system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto; leather upholstery; heated outboard rear seats; in-vehicle Wi-Fi hot spot; and panoramic sunroof. The Touring also gets X-Mode system, designed to improve the car’s hill climbing and hill-descent performance.

SLOW YOUR ROLL The heavy-laden Forester struggles off the line, taking nearly 10 seconds to reach 60 mph. Photo: Subaru

The foie gras of features adds up to a curb weight of 3,588 pounds for the Touring model, which holds it to a 0-60 mph acceleration of 9.6 seconds, straining every fiber.

So the new Forester isn’t particularly quick, or fast, and if you rev it hard, it’ll bleat like a spring sheep-shearing. And don’t wait for the turbocharged version—it isn’t coming. But the Forester Touring is plenty quick and quiet enough. It will go almost anywhere an SUV will go, it has 1,500 pounds of towing capacity, and it’s loaded to the gills. What more do you want in a car?

Stop looking at me like that.

2019 Subaru Forester Touring

Photo: Subaru

Price, as Tested: $35,270
Powertrain: Direct-injected 2.5-liter horizontally opposed engine with variable valve timing; continuously variable transmission; full-time all-wheel drive with active torque vectoring
Power/Torque: 182 hp at 5,800 rpm/176 lb-ft at 4,400 rpm
Overall Length/Width/Height/Wheelbase: 182.1/81.3/68.1/105.1 inches
Ground Clearance: 8.7 inches
Curb Weight: 3,588 pounds
Towing Capacity: 1,500 pounds
0-60 mph: 9.6 seconds
EPA Fuel Economy: 26/33/29 mpg, city/highway/combined
Cargo Capacity: 33.0/70.9 cu. feet, rear seat backs up/folded

Write to Dan Neil at Dan.Neil@wsj.com