Single — and eternally simple — Jessica Simpson is on the hunt for a new man outside the Hollywood limelight. In fact, she wouldn’t mind hooking up for some supply closet lovin’ — like the kind you see on Grey’s Anatomy — with a hot doctor.
“Bored at the hospital. I think I’m gonna go look for some hot doctors..Mc Dreamy?Mc Steamy?Clooney? Let the search begin,” the celeb Tweeted Monday.
Jessica has been visiting her “Nana,” who is hospitalized near Dallas.
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Are banks tightening or loosening lending standards for business customers?
Well, it depends on who is asking.
If you’re a small business — supposedly the backbone of the economy — then the answer is tightening. In a recent Fed survey, not a single senior loan officer at a bank reported to loosening lending standards. A small percentage is still tightening for small borrowers, after all this time.
But if you’re big, then you’re in better shape. Not a single loan officer reported tightening standards, and a small percentage is loosening. It’s exactly the reverse.
The government is aware of this, and it’s why Obama wants to pump more money into small and community banks. We’ll see. Right now the trend is going in the exact wrong direction.
You can get this dropped in your inbox every afternoon as The Chart Of The Day. It’s simple. It’s convenient. It’s free. All we need is your email address (though we’d love your name and state, too, if you’re willing to share it). Sign up below!
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Pennsylvania congressman John Murtha has been hospitalized in “very serious” condition in Virginia, NBC News has learned.
The 77-year-old Pennsylvania lawmaker was hospitalized in December with gallbladder problems. He underwent surgery for the aliment last week but was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington after experiencing complication on, Murtha spokesman Matt Mazonkey says.
The 19-term Democrat was the first Vietnam veteran to serve in Congress.
We are just 5 days, 1 hour and 30 minutes away from Super Bowl XLIV and we’re pretty excited for the game and all the commercials. Hyundai today debuted its 2011 Hyundai Sonata commercial that will feature Brett Favre as MVP ten years from now.
Check it out after the jump.
– By: Omar Rana
If you haven’t heard of Mass Effect 2, then you’re probably just waking up from cryogenic sleep. The sequel to one of the best selling Action RPGs hit the shelves this week and, for the most part, is bouncing right back off the shelves and into gamer’s 360’s and PCs.
We’re always keeping our eyes open for free stuff. Especially free video games. It looks like the brand new gaming site L33tsauce.com is celebrating their open beta by giving away a copy of Mass Effect 2 (any platform) to the person who makes the best page about the game on their site.
For the full contest rules, check out the contest Dojo. And don’t miss the “bonus” offer at the bottom of the page. Submissions will be judged by yours truly, and iJustine.
Tags:
bioware,
contests,
ea,
giveaways,
ijustine,
l33tsauce,
mass effect 2,
video games,
videogames,
xbox 360,
Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Geneva Motor Show, Japan, Mazda
Twenty years. Can you believe it’s been two decades since we first heard the Japanese phrase Jinba ittai (meaning “rider and the horse are one”)? To catch you up, way back in 1976, some Mazda engineers asked American auto journalist Bob Hall what they should build next. Mr Hall, who later wound up working for Mazda, mentioned the bugs-in-the-teeth British roadsters that every gearhead both loved and loathed. Their reputation as great driver’s cars was only preceded by their rep for breaking down and stranding you on the side of the road.
If Mazda could engineer a tight, compact, great-handling roadster that didn’t dump all its fluids every other Wednesday, they’d surely have a hit. Back at the 1989 Chicago Auto Show, the world met the MX-5, much, much better known as the Miata. Since then, nearly 1,000,000 Miatas have been built, with just under 400,000 of them getting snatched up by American consumers. In other words, the Miata gambit worked.
To commemorate twenty years of building such great sports cars, Mazda will be introducing a 20th Anniversary Limited Edition MX-5 Miata at next month’s Geneva Motor Show. Pay special attention to the “Limited” part of the name, as only 2,000 anniversary cars will be built, and they’ll only be available in Europe. One reason for the latter might be that the 20th Anniversary cars are based on the smaller displacement 1.8-liter car, a version of the Miata not sold in the States, or it could be that we may get our own commemorative edition to be announced at a later date.
Like most anniversary packages (see the big four-oh Nissan Z), nothing too exciting is happening to this Miata. There is, of course, the requisite numbered plaque. There’s a chrome grille surround, chrome door-handles and chrome headlight surrounds. You also get “silver-look” fog light surrounds, plus special 17-inch wheels with “20th Anniversary” logos. The 20th Anniversary cars are available only in red, white or a new Aurora Blue, which we find rather sharp looking. And lest you think Mazda’s not tossing a bone to performance enthusiasts, the car comes with a strut-tower brace.
Gallery: 20th Anniversary Mazda MX-5 Miata
[Source: Mazda]
Mazda to launch special 20th Anniversary MX-5 Miata in Geneva originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Here’s a chart courtesy of the Mad Hedge Fund trader. As you can see, the S&P 500 smashed decisively through the 50-day moving average, a level that had offered some kind of “support” during the run up.
But look, we’re rallying again. We haven’t (yet) had some gigantic breakdown, as technicians might have guessed.
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Article Tags: You could not make it up
The hacked emails shows that Phil Jones, after 20 years of failing to issue a correction, isn’t the only one who should resign
This is a tough time for climate science. The Guardian’s new revelations about the hacked emails from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia might help to explain the university’s utter failure to confront its critics. They could also explain why the head of the unit, Phil Jones, blocked freedom of information requests and proposed that material subject to those requests be deleted. He has been spared a criminal investigation only because the time limit for prosecutions has expired.
Click THE GUARDIAN link to read FULL report by George Monbiot!!!!!!
Source: guardian.co.uk
We hope this isn’t true, Gaga!!
Pop sensation Lady Gaga reportedly turned up her nose at an invitation to lend her popular voice to the 25th anniversary re-recording of “We Are The World.”
“They literally begged her to come,” whispers one snitch. “She turned them down. She didn’t get it.”
Eminem, LL Cool J, Miley Cyrus, and even Kanye West are among stars who have recorded vocals for a redux of the 1985 charity classic. In fact, an all-star cast of more than 75 mega-stars gathered Monday to re-record the anthem in the same Hollywood recording studio where the original was cut a quarter century ago. Will.i.am, Celine Dion, Natalie Cole, Jennifer Hudson, Toni Braxton, Tony Bennett, Akon and other musical luminaries stood shoulder to shoulder at Henson Recording Studios, singing their hearts out for the wrecked island nation.
Originally penned by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie to raise money for famine relief in Africa, this time the recording industry is coming together to help the people of Haiti, which was destroyed in an earthquake last month.
The 1985 record raised more than $30 million for USA for Africa, a nonprofit organization founded by the singers to fund hunger relief in African nations.
The Dow had a fantastic day, gaining 111 points to close at 10,297. Dow 9000? Yeah, right!
The NASDAQ squeezed out a 19 point gain to close at 2190 while the S&P 500 rallied 1.3% to close at 1103.
Nearly every sector of the market was up, too. Some financial companies and a few tech stocks in the S&P took a hit, but other than that, sailing was smooth.
Crude oil enjoyed a killer day as well, closing up nearly 4% at $77.27 a barrel.
Gold gained $11 to grow to $1116 an ounce while silver didn’t move much at all, hovering at the $16.70 mark for most of the day.
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Filed under: Car Buying, Recalls, Toyota
We’ll have our By the Numbers report for January sales ready in about an hour, but in the meantime, we thought you’d like to know how Toyota sales fared considering, well… everything that’s going on. As you can see from the chart below, sales in January for both Toyota Motor Company and the Toyota brand itself were down versus January 2009 – 16 percent and nearly 19 percent, respectively (all percentages reflect the change in total volume and do not take into account that there were two less selling days in January 2010 versus January 2009). As you’ll also see later in our By the Numbers report, that’s in contrast to many of Toyota’s competitors that enjoyed an increase in sales last month.
We’ve also included sales performance numbers for each model affected by the latest sticking pedal recall (models affected by the floormat recall are not all included, although some models are involved in both recalls). Again, sales for every recalled model were down despite the recall having been announced relatively late in the month on January 21. Of particular note are models like the Corolla/Matrix (Toyota doesn’t separate out sales numbers for these two vehicles) and the Camry, the two biggest sellers involved in the recall. The Camry, the perennial best-selling car in the U.S., was actually beat last month by the Honda Accord, which saw its sales jump over 25 percent to 20,759 units in January 2010.
| January 2010 | January 2009 | Change (%) | December 2009 | Change (%) | |
| Toyota Motor Co | 98,796 | 117,287 | -15.76 | 187,860 | -47.41 |
| Toyota | 83,279 | 102,565 | -18.80 | 159,295 | -47.72 |
| RAV4 | 7,894 | 8,034 | -1.74 | 16,742 | -52.85 |
| Corolla/Matrix | 17,121 | 19,238 | -11.00 | 34,220 | -49.97 |
| Avalon | 944 | 2,119 | -55.45 | 2,574 | -63.33 |
| Camry | 15,792 | 20,782 | -24.01 | 34,946 | -54.81 |
| Highlander | 4,478 | 5,757 | -22.22 | 9,442 | -52.57 |
| Tundra | 3,904 | 7,076 | -44.83 | 8,870 | -55.99 |
| Sequoia | 644 | 1,592 | -59.55 | 1,760 | -63.41 |
We also threw in sales numbers for December 2009 to compare how Toyota fared month-to-month. A direct comparison with the month before the recall was announced is difficult, however, since December sales are usually inflated by year-end sales incentives.
Of course, January is just a preview of what Toyota may expect in February. While a fix for the recall was announced this week and dealers should start repairing vehicles by week’s end, the PR damage has been done and may get even worse if two House hearings on the matter scheduled to take place next month bring more negative information to light.
Pedal Power: Toyota sales fall 16% in January originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Copycense points us to a story out of UCLA about how professors who, in the past, would post video segments online for their classes to watch, have been forced to stop due to claims of copyright infringement by the Association for Information Media and Equipment. You see, the whole educational fair use exception to copyright law apparently doesn’t apply because the AIME says it doesn’t (even though UCLA was pretty sure that fair use did apply), and it’s causing problems for both students and teachers. UCLA still claims that its online video service was legal… but professors have been told to stop using it. Instead, they’re sending students to UCLA’s media lab to watch videos… but the lab has greatly reduced hours (including being closed all weekend) due to budget cuts. Isn’t it great to see how copyright is “promoting the progress” by making it that much more difficult to educate our young leaders of tomorrow?
Of course, just as I finished writing up the above paragraph, I came across a different story about how UCLA has created a portal of TV video content for students, basically aggregating authorized TV content from Hulu and YouTube so that students can access it all in a single interface. So, the university makes it easier to watch entertainment video… but educational videos? Too bad.
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What does an NBC News anchor do when stuck in an elevator in Manhattan’s New York Times Building? Well, if you’re Ann Curry, you Tweet your more than 1 million followers about it.
“Recommend getting stuck in an elevator for an hour w/this smart and funny group,” Curry Tweeted, posting an image of a group of fellow jammies she found herself trapped with on her way to a function on Monday night.
Gawker.com is calling Ann’s ordeal “the most well-documented elevator entrapment ever…..”
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
12:22 P.M. EST
MR. BURTON: Special guest, Karen Mills, administrator of the Small Business Administration. All right, so, just for starters, when we — is everybody ready to go? Okay. So, New Hampshire — well, first of all, aboard Air Force One, we have, of course, Administrator Mills here, and Senator Jeanne Shaheen is on board. When we hit the ground, Governor John Lynch and Mayor Theodore Gatsas of Manchester will greet us. Then we’ll go on to a tour of ARC Energy.
Q ARC?
MR. BURTON: ARC. What they do there is they’re pioneering a new manufacturing process for ultra-efficient LED lights at affordable prices. Then on to the town hall at Nashua High School North. There’s about 1,600 folks who will be in the audience. Six hundred tickets were given to the school and local officials to hand out; 1,000 tickets were made available online, first come, first serve. Representatives Hodes and Shea-Porter will be there, along with Mayor Donnalee Lozeau of Nashau; the State Treasurer Catherine Provencher will be there; State Attorney General Michael Delaney. The President will be introduced by Tim Dining, the President and CEO of Greenerd Press and Manufacturing, which is a small business that designs and builds hydraulic presses.
The President will talk a little bit about what he’s doing to take on the urgent economic and jobs crisis that we’re in. He’ll, of course, talk a little bit about the small business proposal. And on bipartisanship, citing the retreat last week, the President will point out that there are plenty of places where the two parties agree, and a little bit about the responsibility of both parties to work together to solve some of the urgent problems that we’ve got facing us.
Q He’s taking Q and A?
MR. BURTON: He sure is. He sure is. And with that, I just want to hand it over to Karen Mills here, who is going to talk a little bit about the proposal. Step right up here.
ADMINISTRATOR MILLS: Nice to see you guys. How are you?
Q Good to see you.
Q So what’s it going to take for some of this money to actually get into people’s hands? It’s a proposal now — a while, I assume.
ADMINISTRATOR MILLS: Right. As you know, small businesses are really the focus that we’re taking in terms of job growth. And one of the issues is how we get more capital, more lending, into the hands of small business. We know there’s a small business lending gap. We’ve made a lot of strides at the SBA. We’ve got $19 billion out with the Recovery Act, and the question is how to close the rest of the gap.
Today you’re going to hear about one of the major pieces of that plan. When you look at what’s causing the problem, the problem is that small community banks might lack capital. And how are we going to get them to get more money out to small businesses? Well, this $30 billion, which will be in a separate lending facility, will be available to small banks to increase their amount of capital. When you put in $30 billion of capital you usually get out more than a multiplier of that in loans.
So some banks don’t have enough capital, and the small business will come up to them and say, you know, "I’m a good business, you’ve always lent to me, I need a loan." And they’ll say, "Can’t do it right now." So this will enable banks to have the capital to make those loans.
Other banks say, "I have capital, I just don’t want to take the risk," and that’s where the 90 percent guarantee and the continued Recovery Act programs at the SBA come in. We have been able to say to banks, "You’ve got a good customer here. We will help you with this guarantee with higher loan limits, the $5 million loan limits, so that you can then reach out and close that part of the gap."
So it’s a two-part strategy, hand in glove.
Q Are there going to be restrictions that come with the $30 billion to the banks?
ADMINISTRATOR MILLS: In this proposal we have recognized that small banks are not interested in borrowing from TARP. They are uncomfortable with the TARP stigmas or the TARP restrictions, and we have proposed here to Congress that we create a separate lending facility that is not affiliated with TARP and does not carry any of those issues that have prevented small banks from making — taking that availability and lending it out. We got to get them capitalized so that they can get the businesses the capital they need.
Q What’s the process? Is this a separate bill? Is it ready to go? Have you talked to people on the Hill about this?
ADMINISTRATOR MILLS: There is a lot of interest on the Hill in solving this problem, and quite a deep understanding that part of the problem is lack of availability to community banks. People view community banks as integral to this. You know, there’s about 8,000 banks out there, and most of them are those banks on Main Street that have the connections to the small business. So there’s a lot of support for helping community banks, and a lot of understanding that capital is part of the issue.
MR. BURTON: All right, thanks a lot, Karen. Is there anything else for Karen before she —
Q Thank you.
ADMINISTRATOR MILLS: Good, thank you.
Q Bill, China had some tough warnings about the President possibly meeting with the Dalai Lama. Does the President intend to meet? Is there a time, date set for that?
MR. BURTON: The President told China leaders — China’s leaders during his trip last year that he would meet with the Dalai Lama, and he intends to do so. The Dalai Lama is an internationally respected religious and cultural leader, and the President will meet with him in that capacity.
To be clear, the U.S. considers Tibet to be a part of China. We have human rights concerns about the treatment of Tibetans. We urge the government of China to protect the unique cultural and religious traditions of Tibet.
As the President has expressed, we expect that our relationship with China is mature enough where we can work on issues of mutual concern, such as climate, the global economy, and nonproliferation, and discuss frankly and candidly those issues where we disagree. The President is committed to building a positive, comprehensive, and cooperative relationship with China.
Q A date?
MR. BURTON: We’ll announce a date as it comes closer.
Q Thanks for dropping by.
MR. BURTON: Well, thank you so much for your time. (Laughter.)
Q NGA meeting — what’s the President’s goals in speaking to the governors later this week, maybe tomorrow?
MR. BURTON: The President will talk about the economy and energy issues and we’ll have more for you on that later today.
Q Bill, any response to — Politico has a story out about the CIA moonlighting for corporations. Any response from the President on that?
MR. BURTON: Well, with the salary freeze that the President put in place, I’ve actually been moonlighting as a bartender at Cap Lounge. No, I — this is something that the CIA is very particular about and I would refer specific questions to them. But, no, it’s not something that the President is concerned about.
Q The thousand tickets that were available online, how were those distributed? Is it first come, first serve?
MR. BURTON: Yes.
Q Do you guys — I mean, everyone was interested in the GOP town hall and that exchange and the parry with the President. Any sense that we’re going to see that today, or any hopes that we’d kind of see that engagement today with the audience?
MR. BURTON: Well, I think — for folks who have seen the President at town halls and in all the sort of public venues where he’s taking questions, he works hard to be as candid as possible about the urgent challenges that we face and about what he’s doing to take them on. He’s very transparent about his decision-making process, why he chooses one thing and why he doesn’t choose another. And this is an opportunity to talk directly with folks in New Hampshire and all over the country about some of these key issues.
So I can’t promise that people will be as engaged in this around the country as they were in the GOP caucus meeting last Friday, but I — there’s always a lot of chance when you’re in a town hall with 1,600 people.
Q Is there any update on when he’s going to create the deficit reduction commission, the executive order, issue the executive order?
MR. BURTON: This is something that we’re of course working with members of the House and Senate of both parties on Capitol Hill on. I don’t have an update on the timeline for you, but this is something that people of both parties support and something that we hope to make some progress on very soon.
Q Thanks, Bill.
Q All right. Thanks, guys.
END
12:31 P.M. EST
"or you can pull and not get anywhere" (photo: arse shoots)
We have the worst media in the world. They almost never tell you what’s really going on, especially in politics. They have been pushing this idea that bipartisanship is a great thing to be sought after. Of course, they are aided and abetted by President Obama and the Democratic Party. But it’s not their job to parrot people in power. The reality is so-called bipartisanship is the worst possible thing for the American people.
Why do I say that? Is it because I’m a radical who believes the best solutions are always found at the extremes of the political spectrum? Nothing could be further from the truth; I think generally speaking you find clowns and madmen at the end of a political spectrum (see Glenn Beck).
And I’m sure there was a time in this country when Democrats and Republicans came together in moderate positions. That when they compromised it was a true compromise of ideology that led to some balance that helped the country. We are not in those times.
Now, when politicians compromise with each other in the spirit of so-called bipartisanship what they’re really saying is, “You go from the right, I’ll go from the left and I’ll meet you at K Street.” These compromises are stagecraft used to disguise capitulation to corporate lobbyists with the veneer of moderation.
What happened when Democrats compromised with Republicans in the Senate Finance Committee and conservatives in their own caucus on health care? They got rid of the public option. And Medicare buy-in. And drug re-importation. And the ability to negotiate with the drug companies. Every one of these measures was supported by progressives and every one of them would have saved hundreds of billions of dollars from the budget and hence should have been supported by the conservatives.
Conservatives would attack health care as adding to the deficit and then fight like hell to make sure it included no measures to reduce the deficit. That’s partly because they wanted to make the bill worse, so they could fight against it later if it passed. But it was mainly because their corporate sponsors told them to take out those provisions.
Every one of these so-called compromises wound up helping corporate America. There was never a compromise that was against corporate interests and there never will be. You can use this as a measuring stick from now on. Whenever there is a bipartisan agreement in Congress from now on, look to see who benefits from it – I guarantee you that ninety-nine out of one hundred times it will be corporate America.
And the Democrats are perfectly happy to do this because they take the same, if not more, amount of money from those same corporate lobbyists. Except they have the meddlesome problem of pretending to be for the people. Republicans are not burdened with this; everyone expects them to help the rich and the powerful. But the Democrats need cover, and they have the perfect excuse in the mantle of bipartisanship. What could they do, the Republicans made them do it! And aren’t they so reasonable for compromising?
Notice the Republicans never pushed for bipartisanship when they were in office. They didn’t need the cover. Yet when the Democrats are in office there is an unending quest for bipartisanship. Why? Do you think it’s just because the Democrats are more reasonable? No, they need the political cover more when they give the lobbyists what they want.
If the politicians actually split the difference between progressive and conservative positions, I might disagree from time to time, but I could live with it. Abortion is a great example. Although I hate the Stupak Amendment attached to the health care bill in the House, I think it was the least objectionable part of the process for me. Why?
Because that appeared to be a real ideological compromise. There were no corporate interests involved. I’m completely pro-choice but I understand that there are many people in this country who are pro-life. And if you don’t like that they won on that issue, then vote the other way. But as long as they are acting in good faith, there is nothing wrong with ideological differences and political compromise.
The problem is selling out to corporate America in the guise of settling political differences. And here it comes again in financial reform. Here is the statement that Senator Dodd’s office just put out:
“Chris is retiring so he wants to end his career with an important regulatory reform bill and he wants to make the bill bipartisan. He is not going to risk bipartisan support to make the White House happy.”
Translation:
“Chris is retiring and would like to get a high paying job on K Street, and hence, he will pretend to be bipartisan and reach convenient compromises with the Republicans in his committee to gut this bill and protect the corporate interests he will soon be serving.”
And guess what, it turns out that compromises that Sen. Dodd (D) and Sen. Shelby (R) have been working on wind up reducing consumer protection, allowing the banks to take more risks and make more money at taxpayer expense. Who could have seen that coming? I guess that’s another lucky break for corporate America! How can a small group of people keep getting so lucky?
Political bipartisanship is a fraud. It’s meant to cover up bipartisan crime. The media and the Democrats aren’t telling you the truth. The only thing they’re compromising away is your interests. The people who sell out the most are the ones that are revered the most as centrists and moderates. It’s all a sham. They’re not centrists, they’re corporatists. Don’t believe the hype. Bipartisanship doesn’t help you, it helps the lobbyists.
Namco Bandai had a good 2008. For the nine months ending December 31, 2008, the company posted profits of US$ 99.5 million. Unfortunately for the company, that got completely reversed this year.
China has surpassed other countries to become the lead producer of wind turbines and solar panels, and is poised to move into the lead on nuclear energy and “energy-efficient” coal power plants, writes The New York Times. According to the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Assocation, renewable energy jobs in China now reach 1.12 million, up 100,000 per year.
According to The New York Times, multinational corporations are now moving their clean energy product factories to China. Denmark’s Vestas just built the ”world’s biggest wind turbine manufacturing complex here in northeastern China, and transferred the technology to build the latest electronic controls and generators.” The low-cost of Chinese labor is a primary driver: Vestas will pay its assembly line workers $4,100 per year.
Currently, renewable energy accounts for four percent of total energy in the U.S. and China. China is aiming for 8 percent of its energy to be renewable by 2020. U.S. President Obama recently called for the U.S. to increase the share of renewable energy in total energy production, as well as a 28 percent reduction in government-generated CO2 emissions by 2020, which is expected to increase domestic demand for renewable energy. Government agencies will be asked to put their enormous buying power towards renewable energy.
However, a recent estimate from Black & Veatch, an engineering and energy consultancy, argues that the U.S. energy mix will largely remain the same in the near future unless there are significant regulatory changes at the federal and state levels and new investments in a national smart grid. “The outlook for renewable energy is cloudy over all. Much depends on green energy targets set by the states – or possibly by the federal government – and resolving technological and infrastructure issues, including building transmission lines to carry wind and solar energy from remote locations to population centers.” In the new budget, Obama calls for an end to fossil fuel subsidies, which cost $40 billion per year, new subsidies for renewable energy, as well as investments in the smart grid.
As Thomas Friedman recently noted in an op-ed, in the future, the world may soon be importing its renewable energy products from China instead of oil from the Middle East unless local manufacturers become more competitive. Andrew Brandler, the C.E.O. of the CLP Group, Hong Kong’s largest power utility, told Friedman: ”By the end of this decade, China will be dominating global production of the whole range of power equipment.”
Also, check out the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)’s “In My Backyard (IMBY)”, a new site appraisal tool which enables homeowners and businesses to calculate the amout of renewable energy that can be produced through either a solar photovoltaic (PV) array or wind turbine on any given site. According to NREL, “IMBY uses a map-based interface to allow you to choose the exact location of your PV array or wind turbine. Based on your location, system size, and other variables, IMBY estimates the electricity production you can expect from your system.” FreshKills Park blog adds that IMBY will also calculate the cost. “For solar energy, this includes the initial cost of the system, amount of cash incentives expected and the approximate number of payback years.”
Image credit: Center for American Progress
UPDATE: Downloadable wallpaper now available.
To celebrate 20 years of fighting for your digital rights, EFF staff designer Hugh D’Andrade came up with a commemorative poster! You can download your own hi-res copy from our Flickr page (on a Creative Commons Attribution License), and limited edition prints will be given to VIP Donors at our upcoming 20th Birthday celebration on February 10th at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco. The design will also be available on t-shirts on sale at the event.
Hope to see you there!
February 10, 2010
Doors open at 8 pm, VIP event at 7 pm
$30 donation (no one turned away)
DNA Lounge
375 Eleventh Street
San Francisco, CA
The troubled son of Ryan O’Neal and the late Farrah Fawcett is headed back to a residential drug treatment program after being in custody since late December on a probation violation stemming from a series of drug offenses, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Redmond O’Neal, 25, was remanded into sheriff’s custody Dec. 29 and then sent back to an in-custody drug treatment program a week later. But the decision by Judge Michael Tynan means O’Neal will be freed from custody to resume his treatment in a residential drug program, authorities said.
O’Neal was jailed last year after he was found in possession of heroin during a routine security check by deputies at the parking lot of the Pitchess Detention Center.
On Sept. 18, a judge sentenced O’Neal to three years formal probation and a six-year suspended sentence stemming from that case. He had been attending a court-ordered drug program.
In September 2008, he and his father were charged with felony drug possession after the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, conducting a search at Ryan O’Neal’s Malibu home, reportedly found methamphetamine in the actor’s bedroom and on the younger O’Neal.
At the time, Redmond O’Neal was on probation after a guilty plea in June 2008 to felony drug possession and misdemeanor driving under the influence. The charges stemmed from his arrest while driving in Malibu carrying heroin and methamphetamine. His plea allowed him to avoid jail time. He was sentenced to three years’ probation and $1,688 in fines for the DUI
charge.
Against the backdrop of his struggles with drug addiction, O’Neal also had to deal with the June 2009 death of his mother from cancer.
— Andrew Blankstein
So, Facebook went and secretly rewrote PHP’s runtime to be a lean, mean, C++ translated, g++ compiled piece of resource-friendly hotness.
If that sentence confused you, then you’re not the target audience for this post. We want to know what our developer friends think of HipHop, the latest open-source code project to emerge from the deep, dark dungeons of Facebook’s Palo Alto headquarters (ok, the HQ’s actually quite pretty, but we like a good turn of phrase). Read these expert opinions (and by “expert,” we mean Rasmus Lerdorf), and let us know in the comments what you think of the new PHP runtime.
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Here’s the skinny on what HipHop is and what it does: Last night, we broke news that Facebook was getting ready to release a compiler for PHP. Turns out we were slightly wrong.
Facebook engineer David Recordon told us this morning, “HipHop isn’t actually a just-in-time compiler. Rather it transforms your PHP source code into C++ and uses a well established compiler (g++) to produce the resulting binary.”
The Facebook engineer who was responsible for concepting and developing HipHop, Haiping Zhao, wrote this morning, “With HipHop we’ve reduced the CPU usage on our Web servers on average by about fifty percent, depending on the page.”
So, with HipHop, Facebook (and by extension other PHP-based sites and apps) becomes faster and more scalable, since rewriting the runtime probably cost a lot less than trying to scale horizontally with more servers.
Late last night, we pinged PHP creator Rasmus Lerdorf on Twitter, asking for his opinions on the new PHP runtime. This morning, he wrote, “I think HipHop is cool and will certainly help the poor people stuck in framework soup.” However, he also noted, “HipHop on simpler template-style PHP pages probably isn’t going to help you too much. It’s not going to make your SQL queries any faster.”
Our friend and a PHP dev himself, Warren Benedetto, wrote to us with a wealth of interesting implications, saying, “[Facebook] get to have their cake and eat it, too. Keep the site in PHP, keep their large staff of PHP developers, rapidly iterate existing features while developing new ones, AND get all the performance benefits of a compiled language on the back end.”
He also notes that the improved speed and performance might cause more enterprises to consider using PHP for sites, features and applications rather than Java or .NET.
But one of our biggest concerns with HipHop was the delay in open-sourcing the project. Former Digg lead architect and current SimpleGeo co-founder Joe Stump wrote this morning on Twitter, “Thanks, Facebook, for open sourcing HipHop. We, the FOSS [free and open-source] community, look forward to maintaining this fork separately from you going forward.” Take that!
So, that’s what a few of our friends and acquaintances think of Facebook’s HipHop and the rewritten PHP runtime. What’s your take on it? Let us know in the comments!
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