Feature Car of the Week: TVR Sagaris

This British sports car is the newest member of the TVR family. Some of you may remember the movie "Swordfish", the TVR Tuscan driven by John Travolta. Well, this is the latest model... Introducing the TVR Sagaris!





Specification:

Engine: 6-cylinder inline alloy engine with 4 valves per cylinder and dry sump lubrication
Capacity: 3996 cc
Max Power: 400 bhp @ 7000 rpm
Max torque: 310 ft.lbs @ 5250 rpm
0 to 60 mph: 3.7 secs
0 to 100 mph: 8.1 secs
Maximum Speed: 195 mph

Suspension: All round Independent - double wishbones and coil over gas dampers assisted by anti-roll bars.

Braking:
Front: 304mm ventilated disc brakes with 4 piston alloy callipers
Rear: 282 mm ventilated disc brakes with single piston sliding callipers

Steering: Power assisted rack and pinion

Wheels and Tyres: 18 inch aluminium alloy wheels

Body Construction: Fiberglass

Gross Vehicular Weight: 1,100 KGs

The significance of PCCians_95 Yahoo Group

Laugh your way out of a heart attack

LAUGHTER is good for the heart because it prolongs life while depression increases the risk of an early death, according to two new studies.

A good bout of laughter every day provides similar cardiovascular benefits as excercise because it stimulates the bloodflow, said Michael Miller, who headed one research team at the University of Maryland.

On the other hand, depression - or the lack of laughter - is often linked to unhealthy habits such as smoking and drug addiction and increases the risk of death by 44 per cent, said Wein Jiang, who led a study of 1000 heart patients for the University of North Carolina.


Mr Miller said laughter produced a "magnitude of change ... in the endothelium ... similar to the benefit we might see with aerobic activity, but without the aches, pains and muscle tension associated with exercise".

While laughter should not replace excercise, he said, "we do recommend that you try to laugh on a regular basis. Thirty minutes of exercise three times a week, and 15 minutes of laughter on a daily basis is probably good for the vascular system".

Mr Miller told the American College of Cardiology annual conference that he showed excerpts of funny and stressful films to 20 non-smoking, healthy volunteers, equally divided between men and women, whose average age was 33.

Researchers measured changes in blood vessel reactivity as the volunteers watched the movies and noted striking contrasts.

Artery flow in the arms was reduced in 14 of the 20 volunteers following the movie clips that caused mental stress.

In contrast, beneficial blood vessel relaxation increased in 19 of the 20 volunteers after they watched the movie segments that generated laughter.

Overall, average blood flow increased 22 per cent during laughter, and decreased 35 per cent during mental stress.

"The endothelium is the first line in the development of atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, so, given the results of our study, it is conceivable that laughing may be important to maintain a healthy endothelium, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease," Mr Miller said.

However, the researcher was unable to explain the physiology of laughter's benefits.

"Does it come from the movement of the diaphragm muscles as you chuckle or guffaw, or does it come from a chemical release triggered by laughter, such as endorphins?

"Perhaps mental stress leads to a breakdown in nitric oxide or inhibits a stimulus to produce nitric oxide that results in vasoconstriction," he said.

On presenting the results of his research, Ms Jiang said the "adverse association of depression and increased long-term mortality was independent of other factors, including age, marriage, cardiac function and the root cause of the heart failure".

"Approximately half of all patients with heart failure will die within five years of diagnosis, and we believe that our study appears to identify a group of these patients who are at a higher risk (44 per cent) for dying," she said.

Ms Jiang was also unable to explain the results of her research theorising instead that "depressed patients tend to make unhealthy lifestyle choices in such areas as diet and smoking".

Both studies, however, appear to show that emotional states can lead to real physiological changes.

In February, US researchers released details of a study which indicated emotional shocks such as the end of a relationship or a surprise party can kill otherwise healthy people. They called it a "broken heart syndrome".

Aging Problems?

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids?

If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that
you think in fractions.

"How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!"

You're never thirty-six and a half.
You're four and a half, going on five!

That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back.
You jump to the next number ... or even a few ahead.

"How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!"
You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16!

And then the greatest day of your life. you become 21.
Even the words sound like a ceremony . . YOU BECOME 21.
YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30.
Oooohh .What happened there?
Makes you sound like bad milk.
He TURNED; we had to throw him out.

There's no fun now.
You're just a sour-dumpling.
What's wrong?
What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40.

Whoa!
Put on the brakes .. it's all slipping away.
Before you know it, you REACH 50 . And your dreams are gone.

But wait!!!
You MAKE IT to 60.
You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE IT to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70!
After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle;
you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime.

And it doesn't end there
Into the 90s, you start going backwards ...
"I Was JUST 92."

Then a strange thing happens.
If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again.
"I'm 100 and a half!"


May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Throw out nonessential numbers.
This includes age, weight and height.
Let the doctors worry about them.
That is why you pay "them!"

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning.
Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever.
Never let the brain idle.
"An idle mind is the devil's workshop."
And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often ... long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen.
Endure, grieve, and move on.
The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves.
Be ALIVE while you are alive.


7. Surround yourself with what you love ..
whether it's ... family, pets, keepsakes,
music, plants, hobbies, whatever.
Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health.
If it is good, preserve it.
If it is unstable, improve it.
If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips.
Take a trip to the mall .. even to the next county .
to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them at every opportunity.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,
but by the moments that take our breath away.
And if you don't send this to at least 8 people .. Who Cares!
But do share this with someone.
We all need to live life to its fullest each day.

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Posted by Emil Ang
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