Author: Serkadis

Following the announcement that Ken Block will debut in the World Rally Champion in 2010 on a part-time schedule, his team now released the first couple of photos of the North American racer’s car livery for the upcoming season.

The newly formed Monster World Rally Team showed to the media two photos of Ken Block’s Rally America Championship ‘Open Class’ Ford Fiesta, which will benefit from the same impressive livery that Block’s Ford Focus will have in the WRC. The North American racer is d… (read more)

Article Tags: ClimateGate

The disclosure of climate data from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia

Terms of Reference

The Science and Technology Committee today announces an inquiry into the unauthorised publication of data, emails and documents relating to the work of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA). The Committee has agreed to examine and invite written submissions on three questions:

Click source to read FULL report

Source: parliament.uk

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A high school girls basketball coach in Kansas made the basket of a lifetime — a blindfolded half-court shot — to win tickets to the NCAA tournament. But the contest was really a prank that backfired with hilarious consequences.

Even if it joined forces with Chrysler, this doesn’t necessarily mean that all things are going great for Italian carmaker Fiat. In fact, the domestic market is going from bad to worse, as both the demand and the local sales are decreasing continuously. As a result, Fiat turned to a shocking decision: it will suspend production of all Italian factories for a period of two weeks.

Fiat’s six Italian plants will be closed during the last week of February and the first week of March, the Financia… (read more)

Bond king Bill Gross has stern words for the U.K. in his latest commentary — the entire nation sits on a pile of financial ‘nitroglycerine’.

Stay away from U.K. bonds at all costs:

Daily Mail: ‘The UK is a must to avoid. Its gilts are resting on a bed of nitroglycerine.’ High debt with the potential to devalue its currency present high risks for bond investors. ‘In addition, its interest rates are already artificially influenced by accounting standards that at one point last year produced long-term real interest rates of 0.5 per cent and lower.’

The warning comes a day after it was revealed that Britain had limped out of recession with an anaemic return to growth that raised fears of a second downturn.

Read more on the U.K. at the Daily Mail here >

Find Bill Gross’s full commentary here >

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• UK Pound Soars, As Traders Bet Wild Inflation Will Force Central Bank Into Action
• Bill Gross’s $200 Billion Fund Flees U.S. Bonds Into Foreign Assets
• PIMCO: The US Falls Into The Sovereign Debt Ring Of Fire

If you think you’re going to get all buffed up using your new Wii Fit console, think again. A new study has found that you will burn more calories by doing everyday household chores than you will on a Wii Fit.

Which? Computing compared 10 minutes on the Wii Fit to other activities. Using the Wii Fit would burn off 25 calories in a 10 minute span.

Cleaning the bathroom burns off 34 calories. And if you’re really trying to lose weight, get on the treadmill – that burns 115 calories in 10 minutes.

You need to burn 3,500 calories to lose a pound of fat. That means you need to spend nearly 24 hours on the Wii Fit – one entire day with no sleep – just to drop a pound. Good luck with that.

photo credit: Chesi – Fotos CC

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3. This Man Runs Three Marathons a Day

Attention Home Depot Shoppers: Former Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler is dealing with being booted from his band and landing in rehab by rockin’ out randomly in hardware stores.

Tyler reportedly treated shoppers at a Rancho Mirage, California Home Depot to a mini concert over the store’s loudspeaker last weekend. According to TMZ, the rocker belted out portions of two Aerosmith hits, “Dude Looks Like a Lady” and “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.” Steven just grabbed a microphone and broke out into song, spywitnesses say. The odd display continued when the rock legend continued to sing Bee Gees-style – while inhaling helium and signed autographs for confused fans.

Sometimes when you sleep in a new bed it’s hard to get a good night’s sleep. Now the folks at Holiday Inn have a solution for you weary travelers seeking slumber: human bed warmers.

Yes, the hotel chain now offers to warm up your bed before you get under the covers with a human bed warmer dressed in a special all-in-one sleeper suit. The idea is that a warm bed can help you fall asleep faster than a cold one.

The five minute free bed warming sessions are being tested in hotels in London and Manchester, England through the end of the month.

If the thought of having some dude in a weird looking suit lie in your bed before you get in creeps you out, you could always use a hot water bottle.

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3. Unlimited JetBlue Travel: Road Trip in the Sky

NEW EFFICIENT AND ECONOMICAL OIL-FREE COMPRESSOR
FROM JUN-AIR

The Gast Group has extended its JUN-AIR range of oil-free compressors with the launch of the new iSeries – a compact, self-contained compressed air package consisting of a rocking piston compressor and an air receiver.

The iSeries uses fewer moving parts to help reduce wear, provide maximum reliability and minimise maintenance and the fully-automatic package, which needs no installation, is designed for continuous operation and is ready to operate straight from the box. It can be placed directly at the point-of-use, wherever a reliable source of compressed air is required.

The three compressors in the iSeries range offer pulse-free airflow rates from 3.17 to 6.35 cfm (90 to 180 m3/h), a maximum pressure rating of 100 psi (7 bar), tank sizes from 4 to 25 litres (1.1 to 6.6 gallons) and motor outputs from 0.33 to 0.67 HP (0.25 to 0.50 kW). Like all JUN-AIR oil-free compressors, the new iSeries is vibration-free and extremely quiet, operating at just 66dB(A) as a free standing unit.

Receivers are internally powder-coated to resist corrosion and ensure optimum air quality, and other features include manual drain. All units are supplied with a two-year warranty.

Commenting for the Gast Group, managing director Adrian Lee says the iSeries reflects the Gast Group’s continued commitment to research and development at a time when many manufacturers are cutting back. “Like all JUN-AIR compressors the iSeries range combines performance and usability with environmental features such as low energy consumption, minimum maintenance and versatility. These essential ingredients make it the logical choice wherever an efficient yet economical oil-less compressor is required.”

Please be aware that the iSeries is only available as a European 220-240v/50Hz solution.

Bag filters have many uses in coolant filtration. They are often used as a pre-filter to remove large solid contaminants that might cause pump problems. They are well suited applications with modest solids loading.

Chips and swarf that are porous can fill the bag, providing very efficient filter media use. Bags are a good pick on applications that require the contaminants to be packed in drums for disposal, as the bags collapse and pack easily.

Bag filters have a relatively small surface area, about 4 – 5 sq. ft. in the largest standard housings. Therefore, we do not recommend them where the solids form a thin impervious layer, blinding off coolant flow.

Polytech can provide loose bag housings or complete systems.

If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. I can’t adequately express how grateful I am to be the youngest child in my family. Some of the benefits of the position include.

• Always knowing the scoop about all my teachers before starting class
• Being "too young to know better" until I was about 12
• Having a double wardrobe until my sister went to college

But even better was just having to sign my name to the thank you note written by my sister until I was out of elementary school. My mom is the Queen of etiquette. I was probably the only six-year-old who knew the difference between a salad, dinner, and dessert fork. And my napkin? Always on my lap. Mom also stressed the importance of showing proper appreciation. Therefore, thank-you notes were made a part of my routine from an early age. As a kid (and well, an adult) my handwriting bordered on being hieroglyphics, so my sister always listened to my dictation and wrote the note, and afterwards I’d provide my John Hancock.

I’m actually surprised about how few people provide thank you notes now. I’ve been in or been to countless weddings and showers in the past five years and I’d say only a handful have sent a note thanking me for the gift.

Besides just gifts it’s important to let people know you appreciate their time. For example, after an interview for a job, you should always send a handwritten thank you note to the interviewer. It shows you think their time is valuable and it also leaves a good impression.

It’s not even time consuming to send a note now. Use this website to send a note to our troops for their efforts.

Do you write thank you notes regularly? What situations do you think require them?

The EZJ series centrifugal slurry pumps are widely used in power, metallurgical, mining, coal and building materials, which are suitable for handling abrasive and corrosive solids-bearing slurries with maximum concentrations of wt.45% (ash) and wt.60% (ore) such as handling the fine ore and tailings in mining, removing ash and dredges in power plant and delivering coal tailings.The centrifugal pumps can be operated in series according to special requirements.

With the WP 4325 and WP 3215 compressor types, the existing Sauer line of air-cooled high-pressure compressors has been enlarged.

The Tornado series consists of the three-stage WP3215 and the four-stage WP 4325. Each of these is available in the “Basic-Version” – a compressor with motor and an optional separate control unit – and in the “Comsilent-Version” – a complete, ready-to-operate system with soundproof canopy.

Technology from WP5000
The vertical arrangement of the running gear and the star-arrangement of the cylinders are particularly noteworthy features of the completely newly designed series. The design principle has been adopted from the water-cooled WP 5000 Navy compressor that is used in submarines, frigates and aircraft carriers. It is distinguished by the very small amount of space required, and for the extremely low values for vibration and sound due to an almost perfect balancing of the free inertial forces.

Optimal results for the air-borne sound and recooling temperature of the compressed air are obtained by virtue of the arrangement of the high-performance axial-flow fan, together with the recooler and after-cooler, in flow-optimised housing. This design was specially developed for the Tornado series.

The low outlet temperature of 5°C above ambient, as well as a maximum 3mg/m3 residual oil content, considerably reduce the expenditure required for downstream filtration and/or increase its service life.

The direct drive, pressure-lubrication and slide bearing of the crankshaft, together with the beneficial design and robustness adopted from the practice-proven WP 4331 to WP 4351 Sauer high-pressure compressors, ensure exceptionally reliable and low-maintenance operation with maintenance intervals that are far longer than those of the competition.

Special designs for special solutions
The “Comsilent-Version” of a modern compressor station. Fully automatic electronic control, noise insulation down to 72dB (A) at a distance of has everything presently required 1m, integrated filter, demistor and condensate collector tank. The width of less than 800mm width allows it to be conveniently brought through any door, the maintenance points are easily accessible through a side maintenance hatch or a front side designed as a door.

Honda’s British division launched a new financing package offer, aiming to make the Insight the most affordable hybrid car on the UK market. British customers can now get their own Insight SE for £199 per month (for 36 payments at 5.9% APR with a deposit of £4625.50).

Standard equipment on the Insight SE include 5-inch alloy wheels, CD audio system, climate control air conditioning, electric folding door mirrors, electric windows, steering wheel-mounted audio controls and Vehicle Stability As… (read more)

Article Tags: Anthony Watts, Headline Story, Joe Daleo

Authors veteran meteorologists Joe D’Aleo and Anthony Watts analyzed temperature records from all around the world for a major SPPI paper, Surface Temperature Records – Policy-driven Deception? The startling conclusion that we cannot tell whether there was any significant “global warming” at all in the 20th century is based on numerous astonishing examples of manipulation and exaggeration of the true level and rate of “global warming”.

That is to say, leading meteorological institutions in the USA and around the world have so systematically tampered with instrumental temperature data that it cannot be safely said that there has been any significant net “global warming” in the 20th century.

Click for PDF download to read FULL report by Anthony Watts and Joe D’Aleo from SPPI

Source: scienceandpublicpolicy.org

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Snooki, The Situation, and the rest of the foul-mouthed gang from Season One of MTV’s Jersey Shore are on course to keep their fists pumping for another season, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The cast, who have been locked in a bitter salary dispute with network executives for nearly a week, and thrilled that MTV has stepped up its offer to $10,000 an episode. Agreements could be reached by week’s end for another season of MTV’s breakout hit, The Reporter says.

Despite initially threatening to replace the burgeoning reality stars with a new crop of guidos and guidettes, MTV is anxious to get the cast signed and shooting a new season to debut in July or August.

Metroo es un servicio tipo “Yelp / 11870” que compite en el mercado de las opiniones de usuarios sobre negocios, profesionales y locales. Hasta el momento no parecen haber alcanzado mucho volumen, pero sí que hicieron algunos movimientos interesantes como ser de los primeros en España en integrar Facebook Connect. El giro que quieren dar ahora con su aplicación móvil – sólo para Android y “beta testers” de momento – es la de configurarse en una especie de FourSquare local, incluyendo un juego en el que se consiguen puntos por compartir dónde está uno y consejos sobre los sitios. No he podido probarlo todavía, de hecho le queda todavía para tener una versión disponible para todos los usuarios, pero lo interesante es el intento de hacerse un hueco en un tipo de servicio que todavía sólo ha llegado a los usuarios más avanzados.

Si Metroo o cualquier otro tienen posibilidades de ser el FourSquare o el GoWalla español, es ahora. Si esperan más tiempo intentando saber si es algo que llegará al gran público o qué modelo es el que al final convence más a los usuarios, toda posibilidad habrá desaparecido a no ser que tengas la fuerza de un Google o, en los viejos tiempos, de un Microsoft a la hora de integrar con el resto de tus servicios. Aplicación social significa que el efecto red – uso lo que utilizan mis amigos / gente que me interesa – va a prevalecer sobre pequeñas ventajas en funcionalidades; a eso habría que sumar que el tipo de usuario que está entrando en este tipo de aplicaciones, que suele valorar mucho el probar lo último en los blogs populares de tecnología, muchos de ellos americanos. Ambos factores los vemos reflejados en el caso de YouAre frente a Twitter. De hecho, la mayor ventaja que podría tener un actor local como Metroo frente a FourSquare fue cubierta por estos con un movimiento inteligente: pasar de poder usarlo en ciudades predifinidas a cualquier sitio del planeta.

Por cierto, alrededor de todo esto de servicios locales que parten de un modelo nacido fuera, a veces surgen historias curiosas. Por ejemplo, cuando la gente de Viedmerde han sacado la versión en español de su página de testimonios de desgracias más o menos ingeniosas y más o menos creíbles, muchos usuarios lo han percibido como una copia de la iniciativa local Asco de vida.

Relacionado: Foursquare y GoWalla a jugar con la localización

Suri Cruise is one of the most famous three-year-olds on the Planet, and Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes is on course to keep her name in lights for years to come by following in the footsteps of her Hollywood star parents — she has already started taking private acting lessons.

“Suri loves her dance classes so much that when she started asking her mom to act, Katie couldn’t say no,” a spy revealed to London’s Daily Mirror on Wednesday. “The idea to have lessons was Suri’s, although Tom has previously admitted he would be happy for his daughter to become an actress,” added the source.

Tom, 46, and Katie, 31, have spent over a million dollars on weekly French and Spanish lessons and regular tap-dancing classes for Suri in the past year, reports say.

Article Tags: Andrew Bolt

ONCE global warming was the “great moral challenge of our generation”. Or so claimed the Prime Minister.

But suddenly it’s the great con that’s falling to bits around Kevin Rudd’s ears.

In fact, so fast is global warming theory collapsing that in his flurry of recent speeches to outline his policies for the new decade, Rudd has barely mentioned his “moral challenge” at all.

Take his long Australia Day reception speech on Sunday. Rudd talked of our ageing population and of building stuff, of taxes, hospitals and schools – but dared not say one word about the booga booga he used to claim could destroy our economy, Kakadu, the Great Barrier Reef and 750,000 coastal homes.

What’s happened?

Answer: in just the past few months has come a cascade of evidence that the global warming scare is based on often dodgy science and even outright fraud.

Source: heraldsun.com.au

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Fresh concerns over the health of the financial system is dragging European bank stocks lower, and with them the broader European indices.

London, Germany, and France are all off over 1.3% notes WSJ.

Among the concerns: huge writedowns at Spanish bank BBVA.

Meanwhile, US futures are heading lower as well.

From Bloomberg:

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• S&P The Combination Of Chinese Rate Hikes, Regulation, And Bernanke Will Push Stocks 10% Lower
• Roubini At Davos: Greece Is Obviously Bankrupt
• Spanish Banking Fears Re-Emerge, As BBVA Posts Huge Credit Writedowns