Author: Serkadis

‘Write a book critical of the CIA — you
cannot fly. Carry explosives (allegedly from Yemen) on board when the
US is trolling for an excuse to invade and occupy Yemen for its oil –
yes you can! The US needs false flags to provide cover for illegal
invasions and occupations. The 9/11 terrorist attacks (aka inside job,
six ways to Sunday) worked well for the US government; the
security-industrial complex made billions and US corporaterrorists were
able to negotiate the wholesale theft of Iraq’s oil.’

Read more…

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Photoshop comes with various selections tools you could utilize to specify what region of an image you want to manipulate. Once you have a selection area defined using these tools, the software will preserve all pixel information outside the selected region. Selection tools are compatible with each other regardless of their corresponding operations, thus, you could create pixel precise selection regions via any number of steps to define the region itself.

You can find the selection tools right under the Move tool in the toolbox. By default, Photoshop gives you the Rectangular Marquee Tool – hotkey: m – which lets you define a rectangular selection region. The simplest selection you could create in Photoshop is to define a custom rectangular shape with the Rectangular Marquee Tool, though it also is the method to define an area that you want to keep from an image. With a document of your choosing opened, go ahead and designate an area of the document using a rectangular selection. Now try using manipulative tools like a Brush or even Filters on the image. You will see that pixels outside this simple selection will not be affected by the actions you perform, but pixels inside the selection region will be manipulated.

In case you want to define an area of an image that you want to keep without the rest of it, first create the desired selection using the Rectangular Marquee Tool. Now go to Image – > Crop. The picture is restructured and now you are free to deactivate the selection by going to Select – > Deselect, or by relying on the hotkey combination of the same command: „CTRL + d”.

As you have just seen, the Rectangular Marquee Tool gives you a method to define rectangular selections with custom proportions to the shape. In case you need to constrain these proportions to be a mathematically precise rectangle though, you could rely on the SHIFT  modifier key after you started to define the region. Go ahead and draw a column or a row with the Rectangular Marquee Tool, but do not release the mouse button. Instead, hold down SHIFT while still pressing the mouse. As you will see, the proportions will be constrained to a precise rectangle and will maintan this shape as long as the modifier key is pressed.

Additional Selection Modifiers with the left mouse button pressed

There are additional hotkeys you could rely on whenever you define a selection region. The most important thing to keep in mind is to keep the left mouse button pressed until you are happy with the selection. Once you release the button, the current selection will be amended and you will not be able to customize it without adding to- or subsrtacting from it. As long as you keep the mouse button pressed down though, additional modifiers could be invoked.

In the previous example, you constrained a rectangular selection region to maintain the shape of a mathematically precise rectangle, by using the SHIFT modifier key without releasing the mouse button. Now try the SPACE modifier with the mouse button pressed: this hotkey will let you translate the active selection region on both axes. Now give a try to the ALT modifier: this hotkey will set the pivot point of the selection to its center, giving you a whole different method to generate the selection by. The best aspect of these modifier keys is that they are stackable on each other. They will not interfere with each other at all and will remember their corresponding functions even if invoked simultaneously.

Additional Selection Modifiers without the left mouse button pressed

Once you are happy with the current state of the selection, you can release the mouse button, thus amending the selection state. This is where the creation of more complex selections may start from, according to the current need. Once you have created the region, do not change the Rectangular Marquee Tool. Press and hold down the SHIFT modifier once again, instead. As you will see, the cursor will show a tiny “+” sign as long as you keep the modifier key pressed, indicating that a consecutive selection with the Rectangular Marquee Tool will add pixels to the selection area. Now press and hold down the ALT modifier. The cursor will display a tiny “-“ sign, indicating that a consecutive selection will subtract from the region.

Finer Shapes, Finer Selections

You have seen how to generate rectangular selections and how to manipulate those by relying on various modifier keys. To make the selection regions as fine as possible though, you need to be able to define elliptical and even free form regions. Photoshop gives you all these tools and the techniques you have just learned are all compatible with them. To access these tools, click on the tiny arrow on the right side of the Rectangular Marquee Tool’s icon, or press right click on it. This will give you access to the other selection tools that are components of this particular tool group: the Elliptical Marquee Tool and the Single Row- and Single Column Marquee Tools.

The Lasso Tool, right below the Marquee Tools, also comes in different variants. The Lasso Tool lets you define free form selection regions. Its two additional variants, the Polygonal Lasso Tool and the Magnetic Lasso Tool are valuable companions with a similar aim. The Polygonal Lasso Tool will let you define an area using straight lines. Once you are happy with the selection, press ENTER to amend it. In case you want to step backward to a previous point, use BACKSPACE.

The Magnetic Lasso Tool has contrast sensitivity, thus it will do a fairly nice automatic job of guessing what you may want to select. Using these straightforward selection tools and their universal modifier keys, complex manual selections could be made.

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Arts Museum Journal (Stan Parchin)

With photos.

The reinstallation of the Islamic art galleries at the Brooklyn Museum includes works from the 8th Century to modern times. Opened on June 5, 2009, the permanent display highlights 134 objects from some 1,700 in an American collection considered top-notch by art historians. Twenty works have never before or rarely been seen by the public.

Arts of the Islamic World Collection
Especially strong in later Iranian art, the Brooklyn Museum’s Islamic holdings come from North Africa, the Middle East, Central and Southeast Asia. On view are illustrated and illuminated manuscripts, calligraphies, drawings, oil paintings, ceramics, glass, metal- and woodwork, carpets, costumes, textiles, jewelry and architectural elements. Originally part of the Department of Ethnology in 1903, the collection was administered by the Department of Asian Art from the 1980s until 2007.

The museum’s reinstallation uses new signage, explanatory texts and maps to describe the thematically arranged works from Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and other countries.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Egypt State Information Service

The Ministry of Culture has completed renovation works of Alexandria Royal Jewelry Museum in preparation for inaugurating it at the beginning of 2010.

The Museum has been supplied with the state-of-the-art showcases suitable for exhibiting valuable jewelry that were owned by Mohamed Ali family. Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, Alexandria Governor, Dr. Zahi Hawas will attend the ceremony.

Minister Hosni said the project took three years to complete and cost LE50 million.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Article Tags: Harvey M. Sheldon, Law/Policy

Green believers give no indication of slowing their quest for carbon dioxide control. On December 7, 2009, coincident with the convening of the since-failed Climate Conference in Copenhagen, the USEPA made final the “finding” that greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, threaten human health and the environment.

According to alarmists and the Obama administration, there is a scientific “consensus” that man’s activities threaten our planet with detrimental global warming, dangerous sea-level rise, disease, and more destructive storms. Even though the North Pole had open water in the 1940s, and temperatures were higher both in the middle ages and 7,000 years ago, we are said to be in danger. An atmospheric trace gas (CO2) is the supposed culprit, even though plants depend on it to live and there used to be much more of it in the atmosphere.

On December 9, news reports said “the Obama administration is warning Congress that if it doesn’t move to regulate greenhouse gases, the Environmental Protection Agency will take a ‘command-and-control’ role over the process in a way that could hurt business.” The threat is to use the Clean Air Act.

Source: americanthinker.com

Read in full with comments »   

Stating concerns about Google’s dominance in the mobile advertising market and lack of competition, two consumer groups have asked the Federal Trade Commission to block Google’s $750 million acquisition of AdMob.

In a joint letter to the FTC, Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Digital Democracy said Google (NSDQ: GOOG) argued that Google is buying its way to dominance in the mobile advertising, by diminishing the competition “to the detriment of consumers.” In the letter, the two agencies wrote: “The mobile sector is the next frontier of the digital revolution. Without vigorous competition and strong privacy guarantees this vital and growing segment of the online economy will be stifled,” according to a press release. More interestingly, the two groups said the deal raises substantial privacy concerns because both companies gather tremendous amounts of data about consumers’ online behavior, including their location.

When Google originally announced the deal, it believed it would easily be granted federal approval because the mobile market is so nascent. However, on Dec. 23, Google said the acquisition was being held up because the FTC has issued what is called a “second request,” which means that the regulatory body believes it is necessary to have more information to review deal. Now, the deal will be delayed for at least 30 days, so we can assume the deal won’t close until February.

BEIJING, Dec. 28 (UPI) — China adopted an amendment to its renewable energy law Saturday that requires utilities to buy all the power produced by generators of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. Power enterprises that refuse to …

You may recall that about a year ago, Trent Reznor jokingly mentioned that 400 gigs of high definition video footage of some shows from Nine Inch Nail’s previous tour had been released online “by a mysterious, shadowy group of subversives.” Not only that, he noted “I’ll bet some enterprising fans could assemble something pretty cool.” Now, of course it was Rezor’s own people who were “leaking” the content, but we’d been hearing all sorts of cool things about what they were doing, and on Christmas Eve they officially released what they had put together called “Another Version Of The Truth: The Gift.” It’s an amazing display of crowdsourced teamwork by a group calling itself “This One Is On Us,” a play on Reznor’s statement when he released “The Slip” as a completely free download, when he said “This one’s on me.”

As they note, it took 12 months, involving a “core team of dozens (with a network of thousands), spanning 3 continents, 4 languages, 5 specialist teams [and] countless sleepless nights.” And what did they come out with? Well, it’s a concert video that’s available in pretty much any format you might want (and they’re still adding more). In fact you’ll soon be able to get it in Blu-ray. But in the meantime, you can get it in standard DVD of dual layer DVD formats. You can get it for the PS3 or as a basic .MOV file. There’s a version catering to those who want to watch on an iPod, and (of course) it’s on YouTube.

And as we’re being told how awful BitTorrent is and how various torrent trackers and search engines need to be shut down, the folks behind this effort released it under a Creative Commons license, and people are being told that they “are encouraged to seed for as long as possible.” As for Reznor himself? He notes that he’s “blown away” and reminded (yet again) that Nine Inch Nails fans “kick ass.”

But Bittorrent can’t be used for any legitimate purpose, right? And musicians can’t possibly embrace what the technology allows? Once again, we’re seeing why those who embrace what technology allows will do just fine moving forward. It’s only those who think that the answer is to bring out the lawyers and try to hold back progress who will find themselves struggling to create business models that work.

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Paul Wallis at Digitaljournal.com shines a light one on of the bigger beneath-the-surface stories of 2009, which is the wild scale of Australian debt:

It’s a pretty hideous story. Our “recovery” and “growth” turn out to be debt based. Like one of the cartoons where the coyote keeps running for a while over going over the cliff, Australia’s debt is now more than GDP. 90 per cent of that debt is tied up in mortgages. The rest is various forms of personal debt. What’s much worse is that these figures have apparently been sitting around for a while, gathering accolades, not concern.

Now- the story here is that: 1. Australia’s GDP is just over $1 trillion per year. 2. Net debt is $1.2 trillion. 3. There are only 21 million people in the entire country. 4. The housing market was propped up by a Federal and State First Home Buyers grant for a year or so, which has apparently added fuel to the situation as interest rates rise. 5. Most houses are ridiculously overpriced anyway. 6. Debt levels currently account for 39% of income. 7. Stress levels on debts kick in according to analysts at 41%. 8. Severe stress starts at 43%.

That Australia is debt-fueld and bubbly has been talked about for awhile, though defenders of Oz will in turn point out that as long as China maintains its incredible growth and voracious demand for materials, Australia is in fine shape. And to some extent that’s true, except that this is a huge “if” we’re talking about.

From the sound of it, it wouldn’t appear that China needs to crash, just hiccough and the whole thread could unravel.

See here for our full guide to the Australia bubble — >

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Australia: Copper Production To Slow Next Year, Global Shortage Coming
• Why Investors Are Going Crazy For Australia
• China Should Just Buy Australia

Over the weekend, I had a little debate with a friend on why Buick’s have gotten better and should be more attractive to the younger crowd. However, I couldn’t seem to get the image of very old people driving the same car he would if he were to buy a Buick.

As reported earlier this morning, Buick’s new boss Brian Sweeney, is looking for ways to attract younger buyers to Buick vehicles. Currently, the average age of a Buick shopper is 70 while the average age of a U.S. car buyer is 52. However, a third of the buyers of the 2010 LaCrosse (see our review here) are 55 or younger.

Next year, Buick will add the 2011 Buick Regal sedan, of which a high-performance GS version is expected to debut at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show next month.

With that in mind, and if you’re between the ages of 20-40, would you buy a Buick LaCrosse, Enclave or Regal.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and give Sweeney Todd some tips on how he can attract younger buyers to Buick.

– By: Omar Rana

Korea Telecom, the country’s second-largest mobile carrier, is buying a 25 percent stake in Omnitel China to enter the mobile content business in China.

Omnitel is a one of South Korea’s largest mobile developers, and has a Chinese affiliate that has been providing mobile video-on-demand and other content to China’s leading mobile carriers, reports The Korea Times. It is unknown how much the stake will cost KT. Separately, KT’s parent company, which operates both landline and wireless divisions, said it will cut almost 6,000 jobs at the end of the year in its biggest-ever workforce reduction ever. Most of the departures will come in the form of voluntary early retirements. The cuts will save $393 million a year, reports Bloomberg.

Omnitel China, which is planning to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, already has 12 million mobile content subscribers via China’s various mobile carriers and has additional plans to develop more entertainment services for the phone. KT will likely secure its ownership stake by the end of July. The investment comes at a time when China is seeing rapid growth of smartphones and netbooks, which are being used for video, media and other applications.

By John Keilman, Chicago Tribune

Seven years ago, animal lover Jennifer Pitek took note of the holiday food drives on the Harper College campus in Palatine and asked herself, “Why not something for pets?”

She set out a box and asked for donations.

“I knew there was a great need for shelter and food,” she said. “I thought I would try it, and it’s been successful.”

Today, Pitek, a secretary in Harper’s Center for New Students, collects food, toys, treats, leashes and bedding for dogs and cats each year.

The need appears to be spiking in the weak economy. Kibble Korner, a Rockford-based pet food pantry, helps 300 households.

“We have a lot of people unemployed, and the pantry as a whole has a greet need,” said Melissa Seeling, the pantry’s founder. “What we’re finding is that animals are being returned to shelters because families can’t afford to feed them, or because they lost their home to a foreclosure and have to move into an apartment.”

The other half of the college’s donations will go downstate to Perry County, where high unemployment has also imperiled many animals.

In a debate on oil consumption, energy experts Dr. Richard Pike and Dr. Robert Hirsch trade ideas over when demand for oil will peak. The scary numbers: oil demand will be 37% over 2006 levels by 2030 and the amount of available oil will begin its decline in 2020.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Why CERA Thinks Peak Oil Is Total BS
• Peak Oil Is Real, Says The EIA
• Did Rock Music Predict Peak US Oil Production?

HECUA seeks a highly motivated and organized Office & Program Assistant. This is an entry-level position that combines office and program support. This is an excellent opportunity to learn how a small nonprofit functions and to gain communications, administrative, and organizational skills. This position is based in HECUA’s central office located in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The successful applicant will utilize his/her skill set in many areas:

• Office Support – Serve as primary receptionist; assist with data entry, file updates, recording meeting minutes, and daily mail preparation and distribution. Other projects to include logistical support to Executive Director and mailing fulfillment.
• Program Support – Provide general logistical and administrative support for HECUA’s Director of Programs across a range of programs, committees, and projects. Duties will include coordinating the logistics of student and faculty contract programs and committees, documenting the work or teaching faculty and staff, documenting credit relationships between HECUA and higher ed institutions, managing end-of-program evaluation compilation, and library/resource management.

HECUA is an organization of 18 liberal arts colleges, universities and associations dedicated to education for social justice. Together we shape academically rigorous, study-abroad and off-campus study programs that address the most pressing issues in our neighborhoods, nations and world. This unique educational collaboration engages students, faculty and community members in learning that generates knowledge and tools for social transformation and community building. Our international program sites are in Bangladesh, Ecuador, Northern Ireland and Norway. Programs based in Minnesota focus on issues of poverty and inequality; writing, art and social change; and environmental sustainability. For more information about HECUA, visit the Web site at www.hecua.org.

Qualifications: Required: B.A., strong attention to detail, data entry experience, communication & organizational skills, initiative, and the ability to work on with multiple project supervisors/teams and independently. Strong proficiency in Microsoft Word and Excel.
Preferred: Familiarity with HECUA, experiential education, higher education, and/or nonprofits. Proficiency in web-based applications (Moodle & Salesforce). Familiarity and interest in social justice pedagogy. Interest in higher ed curricula, policy, academic department structures, HECUA programs, and issues related to them.

Terms: This is part-time ongoing. Approx. 20 hours/week. $12.15/hour with full benefits. We offer a flexible schedule, stimulating work environment and opportunity for growth in responsibilities. Will require attendance at monthly staff meeting and some evening hours monthly Sept – May.

To Apply: Send cover letter of interest with résumé. Application deadline is January 27, 2010. Send print materials via USPS to:
HECUA Search Committee – Office & Program Assistant
2233 University Ave W, Suite 210
Saint Paul, MN 55114
Direct questions (no applications please) to: search {at} hecua(.)org. No phone calls, please.

The posting and job description are available at: http://www.hecua.org/jobs.php

HECUA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Candidates of color are encouraged to apply.

While we all appreciate the vividness of AMOLED screens, the displays have always come with a caveat – poor visibility in direct sunlight.

Apparently with today’s brighter displays this is no longer an issue, with the Samsung Omnia 2’s AMOLED display besting the transflective LED on the Nokia N900.

With this major disadvantage overcome there is no longer any reason why OLED can not be considered the superior display technology, with its lower power requirements, move vivid colours, deeper blacks and better display angles.

Read more at OLED-Info.

Via Pocketnow.com

Last week, Honda unveiled its HSV-10 GT Super GT race car, a model which is based on the Acura / Honda NSX that we’ll never get to see on the roads. The front-engined HSV-10 GT is powered by a 3.4L V8 making more than 500-hp mated to a Ricardo sequential gearbox.

The HSV-10 GT was recently spotted at the Suzuka Circuit ahead of its first race scheduled for May.

Of course after seeing these pics and videos (posted after the jump) we’re left craving a road-going version.

Click through for the videos and the high-res image gallery.

Honda HSV-10 GT:

Honda HSV-10 GT:

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Temple of VTEC (via AutoBlog)

In a somewhat odd interview at Barron’s, hedge fund managers Kevin Duffy and Bill Laggner of Dallas-based hedge fund Bearing Asset Management lay out their view on what they’re shorting and going long.

What’s strange is that the fund is super tiny —  just $60 million under management. But they’ve done well, so for now they get to be experts.

Two years ago, they were shorting Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, money-center banks and brokers, builders, mortgage insurers, etc. Here’s what Duffy and Laggner are thinking today.

Bearing is long on:

• gold (they think it could rise in value to as much as four times the S&P 500)
• consumer staples, discount retailers and pharmaceuticals

Bearing is short on:

• S&P 500
• Japanese and U.S. government long-term bonds (“heavily short”)
• Goldman Sachs

Why short Goldman? “We’re essentially short the political economy, and the most politically connected firm is Goldman Sachs.”

At the heart of our instability, they say, is fractional-reserve banking. They say the government has essentially socialized risk and prevented the bank run, which used to impose discipline on an unstable system.

Read the full interview with Duffy and Laggner at Barrons — >

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Analyst Estimates Shoot The Moon For 2010
• JPMorgan: Short The Dollar, Buy AAA CMBS, And Go Long Emerging Market Credit In 2010
• Morgan Stanley: These 10 Trades Will Make You Rich In 2010

Filed under: Etc., Europe, Videos, Alfa Romeo

Years ago, we read a book by Jerry Mander called Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television. While we can’t remember the four arguments, we’ll never forget one point Mr. Mander made. “People in advertising are either good at controlling peoples’ minds, or they enjoy it.” With that said, it looks like Alfa Romeo hired a bunch of people that enjoy controlling folks’ minds, but aren’t very good at it.

What are we talking about? Alfa is selling its sexy little 147 for less than €15,000 (circa $21,600 USD) with a tagline, “We Couldn’t Go Any Lower.” To prove that mantra, they decided to go ahead and lower a billboard more than 36,000 feet down into the Marinas Trench. If you don’t know, the Marianas Trench is the absolute lowest point on earth, more than seven miles below sea level (actual depth is 11,034 meters, or 36,200 feet). And Alfa Romeo just dropped a billboard into it.

We don’t know about you, but we had a pretty visceral reaction to this video. From the self-satisfied, spiky-haired, twenty-something Euro-boy ad men to the fact that they actually went ahead and stuck a billboard in the Marianas Trench, the whole thing feels wrong and sits wrong with us. It would be like placing a Big Mac ad on top of Mount Everest, or advertising Quarter Pounders atop Angel Falls. Of course, there is the chance that either A) The whole campaign is a well staged hoax – although they’ve gone to the trouble of building a whole website to chronicle the process B) They raised the billboard up after filming the video. But still… bad taste… or is that just us? Make the jump to watch the video, decide for yourself, and then drop us your thoughts in Comments. Hat tip to Oliver!

[Source: YouTube via Expedition 147]

Continue reading VIDEO: Alfa Romeo proves that no place is safe from billboards – not even Marianas Trench

VIDEO: Alfa Romeo proves that no place is safe from billboards – not even Marianas Trench originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s too early to tell how many iPhones were unwrapped Christmas morning, but early predictions are guessing that the newly pumped up userbase will drive record sales of iPhone games during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Release.

The report was released by PlayHaven, which helps drive game referrals via social networks, and Mobclix, a mobile ad exchange. The study looked at historical app download data from Mobclix and and projections on how many iPhones were sold during the year. The companies predict that game downloads may soar to levels 28 times greater than the same weekly period last year (although they did not provide totals for either period). PlayHaven’s CEO Raymond Lau: “The week between Christmas and New Years has become the great ‘Game Rush’ for iPhone games—essentially what Black Friday is to brick and mortar retailers. UPDATE: According to Flurry, a mobile app analytics company, iPod Touch download volume jumped almost 1,000 percent on Christmas Day, and overall, the App Store saw a 51 percent increase in downloads from November to December. Furthermore, the Android Market saw a nice 20% bump in app sales as well, sparked primarily by an uptick in downloads from the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid, reports MobileCrunch.

While the study is very vague, you can see how downloads will jump for all application categories, as new users download their initial apps, and other more established users may look for something to kill time with, or cash in on iTunes gift cards.

Related

• Can Playhaven Turn Promoting iPhone Games—And Developers—Into A Viable Business?