We have news this Monday that automaker Nissan is reviving the Datsun name for the Indian market — where the larger auto sector is struggling.
The new Datsun Go — priced at below $6,700 — doesn't look like the iconic 240z, which for many years was the top-selling sports car in the U.S. Here's an old ad for it:
A beer cocktail quaffed around the world for centuries is quickly becoming America's "it" drink of the summer: shandy.
Traditionally, a shandy consisted of beer mixed with equal parts lemonade or ginger beer or citrus soda. But these days, bartenders are pushing the boundaries with inventive mixes, like fresh fruit purees and syrups, from rhubarb to apple and maple.
And major beer manufacturers have also jumped on the shandywagon, rolling out their own bottled versions from brewers like SAB Miller subsidiary Leinenkugel, Traveler Beer and Sam Adams. Worldwide, the number of shandy product launches more than tripled between 2009 and 2012, according to research firm Datamonitor. Manufacturers are also mixing up traditional shandy flavors, such as Leinenkugel with it's new Orange Shandy, infused with cardamom and white pepper.
So what's driving this growth?
In the U.S., "you've got the whole cocktail and mixology culture coming into play now," says Datamonitor's Tom Vierhile.
Shandies, he notes, have always been more popular in summertime, when beer drinkers are looking for a lighter brew to help chase off the heat. And younger drinkers, he adds, tend to favor a sweeter alcoholic beverage.
But globally, Vierhile says there's another fundamental reason why shandy is growing in popularity: Because shandy is beer mixed with another, usually non-alcoholic drink, it's often half as alcoholic as the same volume of a regular beer.
And less is better, he says, in a world where governments are tightening laws around drinking and driving, reducing the legal limits for how high drivers' blood alcohol content can be before they're breaking the law.
"Depending on the local laws, you may be able to drink a shandy and still be within the legal limit for driving," he notes. "If you're in a place like Germany, with a limit of .05 percent [blood alcohol concentration], which is lower than the U.S.'s at .08 [percent], you could still drink a shandy, legally," and then get behind the wheel.
That's good news for U.S. beer drinkers, considering that the National Transportation Safety Board recently backed a proposal to lower the legal blood-alcohol threshold in the U.S. to match Germany's .05 percent.
Funny enough, its lower alcoholic punch is also why shandy was eagerly embraced by 19th-century England, says beer historian Ron Pattinson.
"People outdoors in the summertime," he says, "wanted a refreshing drink with less alcohol than full-strength beer."
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At the end of another demoralizing and unproductive Washington week, it struck us that the messaging of failure is a very delicate business — for members of both flailing parties.
New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer's straight-faced characterization of the House GOP's rejection of his immigration bill as "encouraging" best illustrated the problem.
For nothing was hopeful and nobody was a winner in the nation's capital this week.
Certainly not Schumer, who emerged from a White House meeting on immigration Thursday to utter this mind-boggling assessment: "If I had to choose a word for yesterday's House meeting, it would be 'encouraging.' "
It was also a bad week for Republicans, who may be reflecting the reality of their base by pushing back on an immigration overhaul that includes a path to citizenship, but who are increasingly seen by the nation's voters as responsible for Washington gridlock.
Cut 'Extraneous' Food Aid
Republicans this week also managed to write out of the farm bill the food stamp nutrition program used by 15 percent of Americans.
The move, certain to be squelched by the Senate, is largely symbolic. GOP messaging seemed a bit awkward: "What we have carefully done is exclude some extraneous pieces," said Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, about taking the food program out of the farm bill.
Voters may be forgiven, however, for finding their "who-to-blame" calculation more complicated this week, especially after a filibuster rules snit-fest Thursday morning on the Senate floor involving Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
A taste:
Reid: "Senator McConnell broke his word. The Republican leader has failed to live up to his commitments. He's failed to do what he said he would do — move nominations by regular order except in extraordinary circumstances. I refuse to unilaterally surrender my right to respond to this breach of faith."
McConnell: "No majority leader wants written on his tombstone that he presided over the end of the Senate. Well, if this majority leader caves to the fringes and lets this happen, I'm afraid that's exactly what they'll write."
Reid: "If anyone thinks since the first of the year that the norms and traditions of the Senate have been followed by the Republican leader, they're living in Gaga Land."
On the Crucifixion
"There's only one reason to be crucified under the Roman Empire and that is for treason or sedition. Crucifixion, we have to understand, was not actually a form of capital punishment for Rome. In fact, it was often the case that the criminal would be killed first and then crucified. Crucifixion was, in reality, a deterrent; it was an obvious symbol to subject peoples of what happens when you defy the will of Rome. Which is why crucifixions always had to happen in public places: at crossroads, on hills, at the entrance of cities. So for that reason, crucifixion was a punishment reserved ... solely for the most extreme crimes, crimes against the state. ...
"And so, that's why if we really want to know who Jesus was and what he meant, we should start not at the beginning of the story — with him in a manger — but at the end of the story, with him on a cross. Because if Jesus was in fact crucified by Rome, he was crucified for sedition. He was crucified because he challenged the Roman occupation."
On the Roman destruction of Jerusalem
"They murdered tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Jews in the city. The survivors were scattered to the winds. [The Romans] renamed Jerusalem, in a sense. They wanted to create the impression that there were never any Jews to begin with in the city. This was a moment of deep psychic trauma for the Jews. What made it worse, however, is that as a result of the revolt, Judaism in the Roman Empire became a pariah. It became almost an illegal religion. Jews were not seen as a legitimate cult among the many, many other cults that existed within the Roman Empire.
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