Kia Optima

The Kia Optima is a mid-size 4-door sedan manufactured by Kia Motors since 2000 and marketed globally through various nameplates. First generation cars were mostly marketed as the Optima, although the Kia Magentis name was used in Europe and Canada when sales began there in 2002. For the second generation models, Kia used the Kia Lotze & Kia K5 name for the South Korean market, and the Magentis name globally, except in the United States and Malaysia where the Optima name was retained. The Optima name is now going to be used for all markets except China, where they will also use the South Korean market name.

First generation (2000–2005)

From 2000–2005 Optimas were a rebadged variant of the Hyundai Sonata, differing only from the Sonata in minor exterior styling details and equipment content.

In Australia, the Optima was introduced in May 2001, offered only with a 2.5 L V6 engine, and choice of manual or automatic transmission. The updated Optima was offered with a new 2.7 L engine, 4-speed automatic (the manual was dropped), and features such as full leather interior and alloy wheels were made standard. Thanks in part to better marketing, sales increased to 41,289 units in 2005, an all-time high. The Optima was sold until 2006, when it was replaced by the Magentis.

Ventura, California

Ventura (officially the City of San Buenaventura; commonly called San Buenaventura before 1891), is the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States, incorporated in 1866. The population was 106,433 at the 2010 census, up from 100,916 at the 2000 census. Ventura is accessible via U.S. Route 101, State Route 33, State Route 126, and State Route 118.

History

Prehistory and indigenous peoples

The original inhabitants of the area were native Chumash people. Archaeological research demonstrates that the Chumash have deep roots in central and southern coastal regions of California, and has revealed artifacts from their culture dating back two thousand to over ten thousand years. The Ventura band (Mitskanaka), which was in residence at the time of the arrival of the Spanish, had contact with the Limu band on Santa Cruz Island, who traveled in seagoing canoes called tomol bringing shell bead money and chert in trade.

In 1769, the Spanish Portola expedition, first recorded European visitors to inland areas of California, came down the Santa Clara River Valley from the previous night's encampment near today's Saticoy and camped near the outlet of the Ventura River on August 14. Fray Juan Crespi, a Franciscan missionary travelling with the expedition, noted that "we saw a regular town, the most populous and best laid-out of all that we had seen on the journey up to the present time."

Optima

Optima is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Hermann Zapf and released between 1952 and 1955 for the D. Stempel AG foundry, Frankfurt, Germany.

Though classified as a sans-serif, Optima has a subtle swelling at the terminals suggesting a glyphic serif. Optima was inspired by Roman and Italian stonecarving.

Zapf intended Optima to be a typeface that could serve for both body text and titling. To prove its versatility, Zapf set his entire book About Alphabets in the regular weight. Zapf retained an interest in the design, collaborating on variants and expansions into his eighties.

Characteristics

Optima’s design follows humanist lines; its capitals (like those of Palatino, Hans Eduard Meier’s Syntax and Carol Twombly's Trajan) are directly derived from the classic Roman monumental capital model, reflecting a reverence for Roman capitals as an ideal form.

Optima is an example of a modulated-stroke sans-serif, a design type where the strokes are variable in width. The design style has been intermittently popular since the late nineteenth century; Optima is one of the most lastingly popular examples of the genre. Optima was originally targeted by Stempel's Walter Cunz as a competitor to Ludwig & Mayer's Colonia design, which has not been digitised. Shaw also suggests the little-known 1948 design Romann Antiqua, as well as Stellar by Robert Hunter Middleton as predecessors, and notes the existence of Pascal by José Mendoza y Almeida (1962) as a design with a similar set of influences.

Placilla (ship)

Placilla was a four-masted barque which was built for F. Laeisz, Hamburg, Germany in 1892. She was sold in 1901 and renamed Optima in 1903. In 1905 she was wrecked on the Haisborough Sands.

Description

Placilla was built by Joh. C. Tecklenborg in Geestemünde, Germany. She was 113.00 metres (370 ft 9 in) long overall, with a beam of 13.58 metres (44 ft 7 in) and a depth of 13.58 metres (44 ft 7 in). She had four masts and was rigged as a barque, with royal sails over double top and topgallant sails. Her air draught was 52.50 metres (172 ft 3 in). Her sail area was 3,500 square metres (38,000 sq ft). Placilla was a sister ship to Pisagua, which was launched seven months later than she was.

History

Placilla entered service with F Laeisz, Hamburg in 1892. She was used on the route between Germany and Chile. In 1892, Placilla made the voyage from Lizard Point to Valparaiso, Chile in 58 days. This was a record time. It was equalled by Potosi (1900), Pitlochry (1902), Preußen (1903), Eldora (1904) and Preußen (1905). She recorded a fastest voyage from Iquique, Chile to the English Channel of 71 days and a voyage from Pisagua, Chile to The Lizard in 78 days. In 1901 she was sold to Rhederei AG von 1896, Hamburg. She was renamed Optima in 1903. On 6 January 1905, she departed Hamburg bound for Santa Rosalía, Mexico with a cargo of coke. On 18 January 1905, she ran aground on the misty Haisborough Sands after a storm in the North Sea, off the coast of Norfolk and was wrecked. All of the crew survived.

Optima (grape)

Optima is a white wine grape that was created by viticulturalist Peter Morio at the Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding in the Palatinate in 1930. Morio crossed a Riesling x Silvaner cross with Müller-Thurgau. The Riesling x Silvaner is sometimes mentioned as Rieslaner, but more often just as "a Riesling x Silvaner". Due to the random element of genetic recombination involved in sexual reproduction of plants, no two crosses of the same parent grape varieties will be identical, so there is a difference between the Riesling x Silvaner cross Rieslaner, and each other such cross.

Optima received varietal protection and was released for general cultivation in 1970 and 1971, respectively. Its name is derived from the Latin language word for "the best".

Optima ripens very early, even before other varieties which are considered as early ripening, such as Müller-Thurgau. Its late budding made it popular in the Mosel region, since it thus was less prone to frost damage. It can also grow on poor sites, where more demanding grape varieties such as Riesling do not ripen very reliably. It also easily achieves very impressive must weights, resulting in its use as a booster of Prädikat levels and sweetness in cheap German blended wines, primarily in Rheinhessen and Mosel. This use is similar to the variety Ortega.

Ventura

The (sur)name Ventura (English pronunciation: /vÉ›nˈtÊŠrÉ™/, Italian: [venˈtuË?ra], Portuguese: [vẽˈtuɾÉ?], Spanish: [benˈtuɾa]) is Italian, Portuguese and Spanish for "good fortune".

Ventura may refer to:

Places

People

Ventura (album)

Ventura is a live album by the rock band Phish. It contains two complete concerts on six CDs. It was recorded on July 30, 1997, and July 20, 1998, at the Ventura County Fairgrounds in Ventura, California. Packaged as a box set, it was released by JEMP Records on June 18, 2013.

Critical reception

On Allmusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine said, ".. both [concerts] arrived during the two-year gap separating 1996's Billy Breathes and 1998's The Story of the Ghost — two years where the band's popularity was on the rise and it certainly seemed like a crossover was perhaps within their sites [sic]. That crossover never happened and these two shows indicate the band never seriously thought about moving into the mainstream, preferring to ride a sweet, hazy, sun-soaked vibe that fits Southern California in the late summer. A few covers surface... and soundcheck jams round out the third disc of each show, but the appeal of Ventura is, as always, how Phish tackle their core catalog..."

On All About Jazz, Doug Collette wrote, "The relative comfort level [of a particular venue] can inspire or relax a bit too much, and both dynamics are on display over the course of these six compact discs.... Though not all the music is as vivid as the evocative wrap-round inside and outside graphics, the most memorable moments are nevertheless compelling.... During set two of '97, as the band wends its way into "Free", drummer Jon Fishman hits harder, bassist Mike Gordon holds back to hit only bedrock notes, guitarist Trey Anastasio redefines shredding, and all the while keyboardist Page McConnell frames the increasingly subtle four-way dynamics. A circular segue through "David Bowie" and Talking Heads' "Cities" is a singularity the like of which distinguishes Phish to this day: four virtually equally skilled players simultaneously inspiring each other to increasingly intense heights of improvisation."