Free Republic

Filiberto Cervantes has already separated from his wife and kids, lost his car, moved into his truck and says he subsists largely on a diet of $1 cheese burritos. But Jan. 1 looms like a date with the grim reaper himself. ... Cervantes is among thousands of truckers servicing the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex who are facing a day of reckoning this New Year's. That's because Jan. 1 is the day new clean-air guidelines go into effect at the ports, banning all pre-1994 trucks -- as well as 1994-2003 rigs that have not been retrofitted with costly diesel particulate...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq, Nov. 3, 2009 – When a deployed unit approaches its end-of-tour date, the focus begins to shift from the deployment at hand to redeployment stateside. Army Sgt. Nic Light and Army Spc. Andrew Carpenter inspect a truck on Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq, Oct. 17, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Andy Mehler  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. But not so for those who support the mission until its final moment, such as the mechanics with the 628th Aviation Support Battalion, who face the pressures of repairing vehicles quickly while also taking steps to...

AN eight-year-old boy has been hailed a hero after he hot-wired a two-way radio to call for help as his dad lay trapped in the wreckage of a horror truck rollover. Michael Bowron stripped the radio wires and connected them to a spare battery he found among the wreckage. Yesterday, the Bonnie Rock youngster told The Sunday Times his fingers burned from sparks flying off the battery while he desperately called for help. "I was scared, but I was trying to be brave," Michael said. "My dad had heaps of blood on his face and heaps on his leg. "I...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. business groups are growing increasingly frustrated with President Barack Obama's failure to resolve a cross-border trucking dispute with Mexico they say has threatened thousands of American jobs. "We've got companies that are really concerned," said Frank Vargo, vice president for international economic affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers. "Our calculation is that we've got 15,000 jobs at risk and the longer this goes on, the more likely it is that Mexican buyers are shifting suppliers," Vargo said. U.S. manufacturers hold out hope Obama's meeting early next week in Guadalajara with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian...

I stumbled on the political forum at the "Truck.net Roundtable Forum" and witnessed a lopsided representation of todays events and issues by a few liberals on the forum. To add a little balance, I created and had an account activated with the login id of "Ophir". I posted 3 or 4 articles that were critical of the present administration and was immediately banned from the forum. The administrator came up with ridiculous claims of "racism" and "using multiple logins". I have asked the admin to call me directly. No reply has come back. The forum can be found at http://roundtable.truck.net/viewforum.php?f=28...

Washington, DC (AHN) - An FBI program that investigates unsolved killings along highways has linked long-haul truck drivers with hundreds of murders across the country, the Los Angeles Times reported over the weekend. The Highway Serial Killings Initiative (HSKI) has solved more than two dozen killings since it started five years ago, authorities said, according got the Times. At the center of HSKI's operation is a database holding information on more than 500 female murder victims, whose bodies were discarded at or near truck stops, motels and other places along well-traveled truck routes nationwide. The database also has information on...

MEXICO CITY (AFP) — Mexico on Monday said it would place tariffs on nearly 90 US products after Washington canceled a program that allowed some trucks from Mexico to operate in the United States. There is to be an "increase in customs duty on almost 90 industrial and agricultural products," Economy Minister Gerardo Ruiz Mateos said in a statement. Ruiz said the increase would represent some 2.4 billion dollars, but did not name the products. . . . . . The move drew a sharp rebuke from US Senator John McCain, who said he regretted Mexico's decision and also lashed...

BRAWLEY — A long-haul trucker escaped major injury Monday when he lost control of his big rig, jumped over a parkway along eastbound Main Street and burst into flames here, authorities said. The 18-wheel truck driven by Efrain Aguilar Cabrera, 27, of Mexicali, skidded more than 150 feet during the 4:32 p.m. incident. The rig struck a palm tree and had its fuel tank sheared off when its bottom portion impacted with the parkway’s curb, said Brawley Fire Lt. Chuck Peraza. The incident occurred near Marjorie Avenue. Cabrera, who suffered a cut finger to his left hand, said one of...

Having tolls removed from a major route in British Columbia, Canada, has taken some of the sting out of the cost of operating a trucking business in that province, but there’s still plenty of sting to go around. In late September, the government removed a $20 truck toll and $10 passenger vehicle toll from the Coquihalla Highway, which connects the city of Hope to Kamloops, B.C., in the Canadian West. Provincial officials said that truckers were pleased with the move, and they were. “Given the price of fuel, truckers are very happy with this,” Bridgitte Anderson, spokeswoman for British Columbia...

MICHIGAN (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - Truck drivers maneuver several tons of cargo down Michigan highways every minute. A new study shows that hundreds of thousands of them shouldn't even be behind the wheel. Right now about 600,000 commercial drivers suffer from conditions like diabetes and narcolepsy. They are conditions that qualify them for full disability benefits, because they can lead to serious issues like heart attacks, seizures and unconscious spells. Some truck drivers say the reason so many of their peers slip through the cracks is that they find doctors who overlook those medical conditions so they can stay on the...

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Manuel Castillo was driving a truck through Alabama hauling onions and left with a $500 ticket for something he didn't think he was doing: speaking English poorly. Castillo, who was stopped on his way back to California, said he knows federal law requires him to be able to converse in English with an officer but he thought his language skills were good enough to avoid a ticket. Still, Castillo said he plans to pay the maximum fine of $500 rather than return to Alabama to fight the ticket. "It just doesn't seem fair to be ticketed if...

AUSTIN — Truckers who smuggle drugs or people into the United States are now risking not only prison time but the loss of their commercial drivers' licenses as Texas uses a long-standing law in a new border-crime crackdown. “Up until today, when those lawbreakers had their trucks apprehended, they were convicted in federal court, they typically paid a small fine or served a brief sentence, then it was back to business as usual. Well, starting today, that all changes, ” Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday at the Texas Capitol with U.S. Border Patrol sector chiefs. “If you are a commercial...

If you think gas is expensive, be thankful you're not a trucker. Filling up their 18-wheel, 80,000-pound leviathans can cost more than $1,300 these days. Because of short supply, the price of diesel has gone up more than twice as much as gasoline in the last year, reaching a U.S. all-time high this week of an average of $4.33 a gallon. With little hope of a near-term decline -- oil futures rose $2.17 to settle at a record $126.29 a barrel Friday -- the run-up is causing panic and prompting radical cultural and technological shifts in the struggling trucking industry....

RIDGEFIELD, N.J. -- Truckers angry about the high price of fuel staged a rolling protest on Tuesday, using their big rigs to slow traffic to a crawl on the New Jersey Turnpike. The protest was part of a loosely organized nationwide effort by independent truckers to draw attention to the high prices they face. On the Turnpike, southbound rigs "as far as the eye can see" slowed to about 20 mph near Newark around lunchtime -- jamming traffic on one of the nation's most heavily traveled highways. State Police said several drivers were issued tickets as troopers broke up the...

Crude oil is running $100 a barrel and it costs $50 instead of $35 to fill your car, but you carpool occasionally and watch the number of trips across town so you're doing all right so far. But what happens when, in addition to the $50 fillup, your groceries go from $80 to $120 and you hunt for new jeans but the shelves don't even have your size? That's the very real possibility that is triggering an unofficial nationwide call for a shutdown by thousands of independent truck operators who deliver those supplies – all sparked by the rising costs...

KIRKERSVILLE, Ohio -- Today could be the day the trucks stop rolling. Across the nation, on citizens band channels, independent truckers are talking about parking their rigs today and letting their countrymen know how much it needs them. If not today, some say, then one day next week, or the next, but with diesel fuel hovering near $4 a gallon, someday soon. "They're desperate for someone to pay attention," said Glen "Jonesy" Jones, who hosts a daily, four-hour radio show for truckers on Sirius Satellite Radio. Jones said the idea of a national trucking boycott gets almost constant discussion on...

Mexican truck drivers allowed to travel throughout the U.S. under a Bush administration demonstration project may not be proficient in English, despite Department of Transportation assurances to the contrary. A brochure on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's website instructs Mexican truck drivers, "Did you know … You MUST be able to read and speak English to drive trucks in the United States." Still, at the Senate Commerce Committee oversight hearing Tuesday, Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters and DOT Inspector General Calvin L. Scovel III reluctantly admitted under intense questioning from Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., that Mexican drivers were being...

Teamsters General President Says U.S. Drivers at Risk to Unsafe Trucks From Mexico Washington, D.C. – Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa blasted the Bush administration today for its reckless indifference to the economic struggles of working Americans who are suffering under the North American Free Trade Agreement with more than a million lost jobs and billions of dollars in lost wages. “No matter how many jobs we lose, no matter how many foreclosures, no matter how many people die on the highways, the Bush administration just doesn’t care about the safety and security of American workers,” Hoffa said. Hoffa’s comments...

Reported by: Joyce Peterson Email: jpeterson@myeyewitnessnews.com Last Update: 2/26 6:29 am Trucking Company Says It Is Not The Focus of Federal Investigation Documents seized during a raid on two truck driving schools and a Driver’s License Bureau. Memphis, TN - Federal and state agents raided two Mid-South truck driving schools and a Memphis driver's license center on February 25, 2008. Both schools, one on Brooks Road in Memphis, and the other on Veterans Parkway in Millington, are operated by Swift Transportation. The state run license center on Shelby Drive in Whitehaven was also targeted in the investigation. The FBI confirms...

It's been a few weeks since our highways were opened to Mexican trucks. I'm on hwy 85 occasionally and I've been looking for Mexican plates. Haven't seen any. Anyone out there, closer to the border roads, noticing traffic? Do Mexican trucks have to have identifying plates, or are the plates changed after they cross the border?

Anyone whose feet are set in concrete against toll roads is going to get run over. Toll roads are here. They are coming. The need is undeniable, as is the rationale in many cases. But you can’t defend toll roads in every instance, and the proposed I-35 toll lanes through Waco sound indefensible. Two concerns present themselves immediately — one about Waco’s self-interest and one about fairness to motorists. First, the provincial concern: The proposed self-contained toll lanes would deliver a lot of travelers through Waco without access and egress to take advantage of what the city offers, even if...

Truck driver Kjell Fundin has done what no man has ever done before by traveling almost the entire length of Sweden on a lawnmower. On Thursday morning the intrepid 59-year-old from Sundsvall made history as he drove his trusty machine into Ystad town centre. Covering a distance of 1,700 kilometres (1,060 miles), the lawnmower man took 46 days to complete the journey from Haparanda to the southern town. The idea for the journey came about after a well-known radio show host travelled the same route on a motorcycle during the summer. Distinctly unimpressed, Fundin decided to pop off an e-mail...

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration's late-night decision allowing Mexican trucks to ply U.S. roads triggered angry criticism Friday from opponents of the trucking program. John Hill, head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, gave the go-ahead for the trucks late Thursday night, allowing Transportes Olympic of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, to drive its trucks beyond the roughly 25-mile limit from the border where they have been confined. In return, Mexico granted permission to Stagecoach Cartage in El Paso to operate in Mexico. Neither company had crossed the border yet, and Hill said the trucks might begin crossing this weekend. The...

PHARR — San Juan long-haul trucker George Villanueva spent a few days in Dallas last week drum-ming up alternate business for his transportation company. For more than a quarter century, Villanueva and other Rio Grande Valley truckers have hauled tons of maquiladora-produced goods north into the interior United States. But he expects business to start drying up now that the U.S. government has opened the roads to lower-wage drivers from Mexico. Very soon, he says, local truckers may have to start looking away from the Valley for business, meaning less time at home with family. “It will put us as...

A commercial truck driver from Monterrey who has crossed Laredos international bridges countless times was stunned earlier this month when he received a ticket from U.S. inspectors because he cant speak English."We were worried," said Samuel Tamez Treviño, owner of the truck that was driven by Rafael Segovia. "We consulted with attorneys. We were somewhat relieved when they told us it would be treated as a warning. But now what are we supposed to do?" Tamez Treviño, whose transportation company is in Montemorelos, is concerned that his drivers may be unable or unwilling to learn English, considering that even a...

More than 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have written to President Bush, asking him why the Department of Transportation apparently is ignoring what the legislators want. The issue was raised by U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who circulated the letter dealing with plans to hurry along with a "demonstration" project to allow Mexican truckers access to U.S. roads. Specifically, the letter raised concerns about federal agency actions – apparently despite what Congress wrote into the law. "The U.S. Congress and the American people seriously question the ability of Mexican motor carriers and drivers to adhere to our...

Pointing to an overwhelming rebuke by the House, opponents of an agreement that would allow Mexican trucks to travel freely on U.S. roads are demanding the Department of Transportation come forward and tell the American public whether or not the program will begin next month, reports WND columnist Jerome Corsi. Last month, the House passed a measure 411–3, the Safe American Roads Act, to limit the secretary of transportation's authority to allow Mexican trucks to operate beyond U.S. cities and commercial zones on the border. Safety requirements also were enacted in the Iraq supplemental funding bill. But this week, amid...

...The following morning I hit the ground running and made it to Wichita Falls, TX. The weather had turned foul, and on the north end of town I drove into a raging thunderstorm on US Hwy 287. It was one of those classic North Texas thunder-bangers that just lights up the sky with constant lightning and the thunder is so loud you can feel it down in your bones. The wind was brutal, and visibility was reduced to maybe a tenth of a mile...

Local Truckers protest doesn’t strain Beltway as feared Natalie McGill, The Examiner Apr 24, 2007 3:00 AM (5 days ago) Current rank: # 1,923 of 5,158 WASHINGTON - The first day of a three-day truckers protest planned for interstates nationwide had little to no impact on Capital Beltway traffic Monday morning and afternoon. SaveAmericaFund.org, based out of California, asked truckers across America to rally together and create slow-rolling road blocks in protest of a change in U.S. Department of Transportation policy making it easier for Mexican-owned trucks to traverse the nation. But Maryland State Police spokesman Arthur Betts said nothing...

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration appears to be delaying the start of a one-year experiment that would allow 100 Mexican carriers access to U.S. highways for the first time since 1982. Congressional critics of the plan said they have been told by U.S. Department of Transportation officials that the administration will comply with proposed legislation to delay the program until U.S. truckers receive the equivalent right to travel throughout Mexico. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a sponsor of the measure, was informed about the change in plans this week. “We were told the department would comply with the legislation even though...

Protest by Truckers May Hobble Beltway By Eric M. WeissWashington Post Staff WriterTuesday, April 24, 2007; B03 Drivers on the Capital Beltway could find themselves in the middle of a protest by truckers today and tomorrow that might slow traffic.Organizers of the event have called on truckers to take up all lanes of the Beltway and drive the speed limit. The protest was planned to last from early morning until 5 p.m. through tomorrow.

The U.S. government has no way of knowing for certain whether Mexican truck drivers applying for participation in a Department of Transportation program giving access to U.S. highways have criminal histories or traffic convictions. The problem is Mexico maintains no reliable national criminal database or driving history database to check its drivers, who as WND reported, would be eligible to participate in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Free and Secure Trade system, or FAST. FAST would enable Mexican trucks carrying loads of consumer goods into the United States to cross the border in as little as 15 seconds, according...

American truckers plan to circle the White House and state capitals in a "rolling blockade" to protest a federal government plan to allow Mexican long-haul rigs to operate throughout the U.S. Drivers who participate in "Truck-Out" also are being asked to run their rigs at the minimum speed permitted by law. The protest is scheduled for April 23-25 to coordinate with the "Hold Their Feet to the Fire" rally and radio talk show marathon in Washington planned by the Federation for American Immigration Reform. "American truckers are going to have their jobs undercut or vanish into the hands of Mexican...

WASHINGTON – A plan to allow Mexican trucks to haul freight deep into the US has hit a speed bump with the US Senate panel voting to delay the plan. The plan, which has met widespread criticism since its announcement in February, would allow 100 Mexican trucking companies to travel beyond the current 20-mile limit in a one-year pilot project. The action by the Senate committee to delay the plan came as part of a supplemental spending bill to pay for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "The Teamsters Union has successfully led the battle to keep our border closed for...

Many companies concerned about security, insurance SAN ANTONIO — Although more than 800 Mexican trucking companies are waiting for access to U.S. roadways under the cross-border trucking pilot program announced last month, fewer than 10 American companies are seeking the same access in Mexico. The U.S. government is optimistic more American truckers will come forward to join the program, but industry leaders are skeptical because they say the risks outweigh the benefits. "We believe we'll see more U.S. firms apply," U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said in San Antonio last week. James Hoffa, general president of the Teamsters...

THERE'S GOOD NEWS in the latest Ports-to-Plains progress report for Lubbock and West Texas residents who recognize the evolving trade route's potential economic benefit to our area. Extending from the most active U.S.-Mexico border port, Laredo, through Lubbock and West Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Colorado, the Ports-to-Plains Corridor links the nation's plains states to the border centers of commerce. The Texas Department of Transportation is analyzing funding alternatives including opportunities for private investment and partnerships to pay for moving freight and utilities along the trade route. Using Ports-to-Plains as a case study, TxDOT will research the best potential applications...

As the proposed implementation of a pilot cross-border trucking program draws near, another international trade corridor project is drawing heat from local residents in Texas. The March 18 New York Times reported on the reactions of residents of the West Texas towns of Marfa and Alpine to a hearing held by the Texas Department of Transportation on the development of an official trade corridor, La Entrada al Pacifico, or “Gateway to the Pacific.” It would link the port of Topolobampo in Mexico’s Sinaloa state through Chihuahua to the U.S. market, via the border crossing at Presidio, Texas, and the oil...

U.S. transport authorities say Mexican trucks will start rolling north onto American highways in 60 days. Facing criticism from trucking carriers, owner-operators, public interest and protectionist groups, DOT Secretary Mary E. Peters said the pilot program that allows select Mexican carriers to haul in the U.S. includes on-site DOT facility audits and prescreening of Mexican truckers, as well as drug tests and insurance checks. Mexican truckers will also be restricted from carrying hazardous materials, and like Canadian carriers, will not be allowed to haul point-to-point domestically in the U.S. in violation of cabotage rules. Currently, Mexican truckers are restricted to...

SACRAMENTO – Targeting truckers, contractors and others, Senate Democrats on Thursday introduced legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions beyond the landmark global warming law that took effect this year. The package of bills would ban methane releases from garbage dumps, reduce exhaust emissions from trucks, construction equipment and school buses, and force utilities to increase energy from renewable sources. Other lawmakers, including some Democrats, and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger immediately criticized the legislative package. They said it would overwhelm state regulators who are still trying to decide how to implement last year's global warming law. That law imposes the country's...

After nurses, paramedics and vets, it is now the truck drivers from India who are in demand in the United States. The first batch of 79 lorry drivers, hired by a US company to meet the acute shortage of drivers in that country, would leave for America next week. The drivers were selected from 200 aspirants, who were trained for four months at the state-of-the-art driver training facility at Ambapuram, near the coastal city of Vijayawada. The training included mastering the Yankee truckers’ lingo, manoeuvring the monstrous US trucks and learning how to integrate with American society. According to the...

Fanning out from the mammoth ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, 16,000 drivers, nearly all of them Latino, crisscross Southern California's congested highways, carrying freight that will make its way to every part of the country. But a number of the drivers are undocumented immigrants, and they could soon find themselves out of work and freight ould begin backing up across the country. That's because the federal government, in its drive to boost port security, is on the verge of issuing guidelines for checking identities of the nation's 750,000 port workers, including 110,000 or so who work as haulers....

Annual survey also ranks best roads, best and worst car drivers: TUSCALOOSA, Ala., Dec. 11 -- For the first time in the report's 16-year history, Louisiana grabbed the Worst Roads crown in this year's Highway Report Card, a survey conducted by Overdrive, the trucking industry's leading magazine for owner-operators. Louisiana is a veteran of the Top Five Worst Roads list. John Clark of Bradenville, Pa., hauls produce for FST Logistics. Although he runs through Pennsylvania - the state most frequently at the head of the Worst roads list and a close second this year - he says I-10 alone is...

The proposed Trans-Texas Corridor has been touted as a means to ease congestion along Interstate 35 by siphoning off some of the thousands of trucks that use the interstate each day. Unfortunately, proponents of the massive project may have trouble getting some truckers interested in paying a toll to haul their goods across the state. According to the Texas Department of Transportation, passenger vehicles could pay 15.2 cents per mile and truck drivers 58.5 cents per mile to drive on the 370-mile corridor. The fees were set as part of a master plan for the 1,200-foot-wide tollway, rail and utility...

Police Investigate Two Suspicious Truck Drivers POSTED: 2:21 pm EDT August 21, 2006 JEFFERSON COUNTY -- Could two suspicious truck drivers reported to police in Jefferson County have ties to terrorism? Last night at about 11:30pm someone at the Travel Centers of America Truck Stop noticed something suspicious and reported it to police. The police report says two unidentified men who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent were operating a tractor trailer carrying an unknown radioactive material. The person reporting the incident says that the pair gave the travel center false registration information and a false vehicle identification number....

Way back in ancient history ( the mid-1950's ) There was an entity called "The Interstate Commerce Commission" ICC for short. The ICC had control of Tarrifs, operating authority, safety regulations etc for the transportation industry. The interesting part of that Commission was that most of the people on that commission were from the old "Railroad Commission". Since the railroads were seemingly under the coltrol of the Railroad Commission, they made SURE they had their own people running it. Ok, politics as usual, but when the ICC took over, they took the railroad people on board, also. All that went...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Department of Homeland Security has tapped the nation's truckers to help find a man who has been seen taking photographs of tanker equipment. On three separate occasions, the man also asked truck drivers several questions about deliveries and operations, according to the Highway Information Sharing and Analysis Center. "The individual in question is also reported to have videotaped tank truck operations and deliveries as well as taken photographs of tanker equipment," states the "Be on the Lookout," or BOLO, alert. "Law enforcement has requested assistance in ascertaining the identity or whereabouts of the person in question."...

YAOUNDE, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Some 28,000 long-distance truck drivers in Cameroon will receive free condoms during the next five years in a bid to curb high AIDS rates in the West African country, a minister said on Wednesday. Public Health Minister Urbain Olanguena Awono said the Canadian-funded project aimed to reduce drastically the HIV/AIDS infection rate among truck drivers from 15 percent, compared with 6 percent for Cameroon as a whole. "These are people who, by virtue of their profession, are very mobile and spend most of their time away from home ... and tend to have multiple sex...

Truck stops ration fuel Driver: 'For the next month it's going to be rough out here' © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Two days after Hurricane Katrina struck the oil-laden Gulf Coast, many of the nation's truck drivers are encountering unprecedented fuel rationing as they brace for a spike in prices. Wayne Kitchen, a Greer, S.C.-based driver for Bavarian Motor Transport, told WorldNetDaily he hasn't seen a shortage of this kind in his 30 years in the industry. "It's scary," he said, noting many independent truckers already are on the brink of financial ruin due in large part to record fuel prices. "This...

An Iowa man with white supremacist leanings was arrested after he told truck drivers over "citizens' band" radio that he was planning to set off a bomb in Washington, police said. Terry Daniels, 44, was found at a roadside gas station about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Chicago at 3:45 a.m. after truck drivers called police with his license plate number and a description of which direction his blue Ford van was heading. "We didn't find any explosives," Princeton, Illinois police chief Tom Root said. "We found a lot of documents like anti-government stuff and white supremacist stuff. There...

Iowahawk is one of the funniest satirists alive. I have been his fan since before either of us was a blogger, going back to the earliest stage of pre-Windows DOS-based internet conservatism. We have even broken bread together. Thus I am chagrinned to have missed until now his laugh-out-loud hilarious piece on the agonies of coastal parents living in trendy zip codes discovering that their children have been attracted to the dark side, the forbidden realm, and have taken to wearing trucker's caps, listening to country music, and going to livestock shows. The tone is letter-perfect, and the examples chosen...