Author: Serkadis

  • Tylenol Cases Enter FDA Crime Division

    Johnson & Johnson faces possible criminal liability for the contaminated products, like Tylenol, coming from its division McNeil Consumer Healthcare.

    William Weldon got the invitation to attend Thursday’s hearing with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform with some FDA officials but the J&J CEO did not commit due to his health issues.

    Worldwide chairman for J&J, Colleen Goggins gave her testimonies pertaining to the recalls that severely marred J&J’s reputation as safe products especially for newborns. She has particularly spoken about the May 1 incident, which she claims is a precaution to the presence of “tiny particles” in the content which she assures to be non-hazardous. On top of that, Goggins also defended McNeil on issues showing that excess acetaminophen or bacteria can never pass through its quality inspection.

    On the latest count, there are at least 775 grave side effects cases submitted to FDA involving McNeil products. Even 30 cases of death are blamed on these medicines. Johnson & Johnson has already suspended the production of the McNeil site but these complaints are already hunting them down.

    Customers’ complaint began in 2008 but it was only in September of 2009 when McNeil started to recall several Tylenol items that are mostly for infants and children.

    Related posts:

    1. FDA criticized Johnson & Johnson’s Tylenol plant
    2. McNeil and Johnson & Johnson under investigation
    3. Tylenol Recall 2010 by McNeil Consumer Healthcare

  • Lost Planet 2 gets a new and an old map next week

    Lost Planet 2 is getting its second multiplayer map pack next week. Included in Map Pack #2 are the Dockyard Battle and Frozen Wasteland maps. Better have your five bucks ready if you want ’em.

  • President Obama Just Fired Elizabeth Birnbaum?

    elizabeth birnbaumIt was not until President Obama has fired Elizabeth Birnbaum who is the head of the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service that she finally has to leave her position.

    According to some associated press sources, president obama will announce that Elizabeth Birnbaum must leave her current position. Considering that she had been there since July 2009.

    Its all about her agency who leases oil companies and monitors offshore drilling had caught the eye of some people which finally resulted in criticism for lax oversight since the BP Gulf of Mexico explosion last April 20, 2010.

    At 12:08 pm ET, it was official that Elizabeth Birnbaum has resigned from her job. Kel Salazar had talked about Birnbaum’s departure at some hearing early in the morning. Actually Elizabeth should be there but it was Salazar who showed up.

    He left the place with these words:

    Birnbaum resigned “on her own terms and her own volition.”

    During a news conference later in the day, President Obama didn’t clearly tell if he had fired her or not all he  the president said, he wants “people operating at the highest level”

    Related posts:

    1. Elizabeth Birnbaum Resigned! Elizabeth Birnbaum quits MMS!
    2. New President For Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan Nigerian President Officially
    3. Obama calls David Cameron to visit U.S. in July

  • Techdirt Saves* Journalism (And Sells Some T-Shirts)

    Today we’re announcing an event that we’re holding on June 16th, in the evening, at Google’s offices in Mountain View. It’s not your ordinary panel/speaker event. It’s based on the Techdirt Greenhouse series of events that we’ve done over the years, where the focus is on getting lots of smart people together in a room and brainstorming to come up with solutions to certain issues. In the past, those have often been issues faced by a particular organization, but back in January, at Midem, we tried it on a specific industry: the music industry. The results were fantastic, so we’ve decided to start doing similar brainstorming workshops in other areas, and this one is our first, entitled “Techdirt Saves* Journalism.”

    Obviously, the focus is on brainstorming ideas to help the journalism market. It will kick off with three short presentations: one by me, one by Google economist Hal Varian, who’s been doing a ton of fantastic work on newspaper economics, and one by Ian Rogers, the CEO of Topspin, one of a growing group of companies that is helping to reinvent the music business. That last one might seem a bit confusing — since this event is all about the journalism industry — but that’s very much part of the point. These brainstorming sessions work best by bringing in people with very different perspectives. We don’t want this to just be journalists/newspaper people, but have already begun inviting a wide range of folks with diverse backgrounds, well beyond journalism. There will be plenty of journalism/media folks there, as well. But we thought that Ian could provide some perspective about how some parts of the music industry have responded (successfully) to the challenge of the internet, and that could be great in getting people thinking differently and creatively.

    These events are highly interactive — so if you’re coming, expect to participate. Following the brief presentations, attendees will be broken out into small brainstorming groups, and we’ll have about an hour to workshop and brainstorm (with some guidance) to try to come up with creative ideas and ways to help save journalism. After that we’ll regroup, share some of the best ideas, and then partake of some food and drink.

    The event is being both sponsored and hosted graciously by Google — which shouldn’t come as a surprise, given how much effort the company is putting into trying to help the journalism business succeed (that Atlantic article is a fantastic read).

    To commemorate this occasion, we’re also releasing our latest t-shirt design. Given the massive success of our limited edition DMCA t-shirt (seriously, we sold way more of those than we expected), we thought we’d follow it up with a special paywall t-shirt. Sporting a typical online newspaper paywall design, you can use this paywall t-shirt to make sure folks pay up before finishing their conversation with you. After all, without people paying to talk to you, how would you ever be incented to produce the sort of quality conversations they want? If you’d like to attend the Techdirt Saves* Journalism workshop, you can reserve a spot here — and we’ll throw in the t-shirt! If you can’t attend the event, but still want your very own paywall t-shirt, that option is right here.

    We look forward to seeing you on June 16th!


    * On the title of the event, Techdirt Saves Journalism, we’re adding this particular disclaimer to ward off those who might have missed the joke and are about to accuse us of massive hubris. The reference is a mocking response to the regular headlines you see every few days about “newspapers are dying” or “so-and-so is ‘killing’ journalism.” We figured that if there was so much hyperbole around an industry dying based on misread data points, we might as well hit back with a mocking claim that this single event will clearly save journalism. Oh yeah, also, one of our regular critics in the comments recently started claiming that we had said we could save journalism, even though we made no such claim. However, if we’re going to get slammed for making the claim anyway, we might as well embrace it and see what we can do. So, for the really literally minded of you out there, we don’t think this event alone will “save journalism.” That’s just a joke. But it should be insightful, enlightening and educational for all involved. And, who knows, perhaps some idea will be hatched that does, in fact, help journalism avoid the fate in all those headlines we keep seeing…

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  • Silly Bandz: Could Be Dangerous to Kids

    Silly Bandz are silicone rubber bands with shapes that includes animals, objects and letters. The product is distributed by BCP Imports and are generally worn as bracelets and necklaces by middle school, elementary and even highschool students.

    The bandz come in dozen shapes, colors, and themes, and can also be used just like a regular rubber band. They can look like a regular bracelet on someone’s wrist, and goes back to its original shape when taken off.

    The Silly Bandz were developed in 2009 as they first started to gain popularity in the holiday season of that year. Although gained popularity, the bandz were banned in some school districts as causing distraction among most of the students.

    Though these bracelets seem to be cute, in a recent blog, a doctor had an opinion that the bracelets are considered to be “potentially” harmful to children if they are not careful.

    At just five dollars for a pack, the kids are becoming obsessed with the toys. Competitions rise among the arise as students challenge each other of who can collect most.

    The toys may cause an accident, judging on the age of those who use them. The constricting of the bracelet may cause vascular insufficiency, meaning that the blood flow is being altered in or by some external force, and in this case, the rubber bracelets.

    There are symptoms regarding the safety of the child if the bracelet needs to go off. If the skin and tissue has some significant indentation that is being caused by the bracelet and causes arm swelling, a change in the feeling of the child like numbness or tingling, color change, these are signs of the bands constricting and needs to be cut off immediately.

    Related posts:

    1. Children’s Jewelry Recalled due to High Levels of Cadmium
    2. High School Teacher Sent Nude Photos of Herself to a Student!
    3. Mount Vernon High School Wall Collapsed

  • Avoid being bumper-to-bumper this Memorial Day weekend:

    Nothing burns gasoline better–or in more irritating fashion–than getting caught in stop-and-go traffic.

    And this is The Weekend to take to the road. There are the 32.1 million Americans traveling over the holiday, and 87 percent are driving, according to AAA.

    Still, it is possible to avoid traffic altogether. You can head to a major city and stick to mass transportation and walking. Or, you can plan to avoid the road on Friday and Monday nights.

    But for those who have itineraries in areas where heavy traffic is inevitable, the best defense is good offense. Using variables such as construction and car accidents, the following Web sites keep you up-to-date on traffic conditions.

    NAVTEQ Traffic.com is a triple-threat. Besides visiting the Web site, you can access the information by visiting the mobile Web site http://mobi.traffic.com, by calling 866-MY-TRAFC (866-698-7232) or by texting your city code to TRAFC (87232). City codes can be found at www.traffic.com. The site’s one downfall is that it covers only 52 U.S. cities–sorry Albuquerque!

    If you want to see the traffic conditions for yourself, TrafficLand.com features feed from multiple cameras set up throughout multiple cities. This is best for drivers who are familiar with their area of travel.

    Old standbyMSN provides drivers with the location, start time and estimated end time of various road hiccups. Check it out at http://autos.msn.com/everyday/trafficreport.aspx

    Weather.com isn’t just for thunderstorm updates. It also provides information about scheduled construction zones and, naturally, the rush-hour weather forecast.

    For more


    traffic

    Source: Car news, reviews and auto show stories

  • The Markets Have Achieved Liftoff

    A very powerful snapback rally is in the works. The NASDAQ is near its highs of the day, up nearly 3%. The Dow is up 200.

    For now, we give you permission to ignore the fact that moves like these are almost always characteristic of bear, not bull markets. Just enjoy it.

    chart

    Join the conversation about this story »

  • Bentley considering a shooting brake model

    Carrozzeria Touring Bentley Continental Flying Star

    At the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera unveiled a Bentley Continental-based station wagon – better known to luxury automakers as “shooting brake.” Carrozzeria will produce only 20 units of the shooting brake each going for around $805,000 a pop.

    However, if you’re patient Bentley might provide its own shooting brake model, which will probably cost a lot less than $800,000. Speaking at the launch of the Bentley Mulsanne, Stuart McCullough, VW Board Member in charge of Bentley, said that the idea of doing a shooting brake is not out of the question.

    “We have an idea in the back of our minds that we may yet bring to market,” McCullough said. He said that the designers have been messing around with the idea and Bentley’s version goes “a lot further” than Carrozzeria concept.

    Don’t get your hopes up to high though. We don’t expect to see an official Bentley shooting brake anytime soon.

    Carrozzeria Touring Bentley Continental Flying Star:

    – By: Omar Rana

    Source: CARandDRIVER


  • Novitec Rosso bids farewell to the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti with upgrades

    Filed under: , , ,

    Ferrari 612 Scaglietti by Novitec Rosso – Click above for high-res image gallery

    Ferrari fanatics should be familiar with the work of Novitec Rosso. The Dutch tuning house regularly churns out beefed-up versions of Maranello’s finest. But while recent releases have upgraded the California, 599 GTB Fiorano and 430 Scuderia, Novitec has now turned its attention to Ferrari’s flagship grand tourer.

    The custom 612 Scaglietti has been treated to an ECU upgrade and a host of cosmetic and rolling stock upgrades. The lightly massaged 5.7-liter V12 – good for 530 horsepower and 434 lb-ft in stock trim – has been boosted to nearly 560 horsepower and 450 lb-ft of torque, dropping the big coupe’s 0-60 mph sprint below the four-second mark and its top end to north of 200 mph.

    Coupled with interior enhancements, darkened indicator lights and 20-inch front and 21-inch rear modular wheels, Novitec has imbued the big Scag with a modest, but much needed attitude adjustment until its replacement arrives. Details in the press release after the jump, high-res images in the gallery below.

    [Source: Novitec Rosso]

    Continue reading Novitec Rosso bids farewell to the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti with upgrades

    Novitec Rosso bids farewell to the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti with upgrades originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 27 May 2010 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

    Permalink | Email this | Comments

  • PRESS CONFERENCE DISASTER: OBAMA FORCED TO SIDE WITH BP

    barack obama

    Obama faced repeated questions implying and literally asking if the Deepwater Oil Spill was his Katrina.

    He defended the administration’s response: “This has been our highest priority since day one.”

    But here’s the catch. For him to make that claim, Obama is forced to claim authority over the BP response from the start — saying he could have stepped in at any time.  That means defending everything BP has done.

    Obama says: “BP is not running around doing whatever it wants with nobody minding the store.”

    Those kind of lines will not go over well with a furious nation. In fact, Obama now finds himself going against Democrats in Congress who have pummeled BP.

    Obama even defends BP’s lowball leak estimate: “It is legitimate to question whether it’s in BP’s interest to minimize the extent of the damage… But I’m not contradicting my prior point that people were working as hard as they could…On the flow estimates, being high or low didn’t matter to the effort to stop the spill, so the initial 5,000 gallon estimate wasn’t a problem.

    “With respect to the metaphor that was used,” Obama adds regarding Salazar’s foot-on-the-neck imagery, “I would say we don’t need to use language like that.”

    Don’t Miss: Nausea-Inducing Photos Of Oil Entering The Marsh

    Join the conversation about this story »

  • New de Blob oozing to Wii, DS

    Good news, blob fiends. There’s a new de Blob game coming, and the first full print reveal will be made in the pages of Nintendo Power’s July issue.

  • Hundreds Of POW’s Left To Die In Vietnam, Abandoned By Their Government

    Via Prison Planet.com » Prison Planet

    Ron Unz
    The American Conservative
    Thursday, May 27, 2010

    In the closing days of the 2008 presidential campaign, I clicked an ambiguous link on an obscure website and stumbled into a parallel universe.

    During the previous two years of that long election cycle, the media narrative surrounding Sen. John McCain had been one of unblemished heroism and selfless devotion to his fellow servicemen. Thousands of stories on television and in print had told of his brutal torture at the hands of his North Vietnamese captors, his steely refusal to crack, and his later political career aimed at serving the needs of fellow Vietnam veterans. This storyline had first reached the national stage during his 2000 campaign, then returned with even greater force as he successfully sought the 2008 Republican nomination. Seemingly accepted by all, this history became a centerpiece of his campaign. McCain’s supporters touted his heroism as proof that he possessed the character to be entrusted with America’s highest office, while his detractors merely sought to change the subject.

    Once I clicked that link, I encountered a very different John McCain.

    I read copious, detailed evidence that hundreds of American POWs had been condemned to death at enemy hands by top American leaders, apparently because their safe return home would have constituted a major political embarrassment. I found documentation that the cover-up of this betrayal had gone on for decades, eventually drawing in a certain Arizona senator. According to this remarkable reconstruction of events, the average teenage moviegoer of the 1980s watching mindless action films such as “Rambo,” “Missing in Action,” and “Uncommon Valor” was seeing reality portrayed on screen, while the policy expert reading sober articles in the pages of The New Republic and The Atlantic was absorbing lies and propaganda. Since I had been believing those very articles, this was a stunning revelation.

    Hundreds Of POWs Left To Die In Vietnam, Abandoned By Their Government 130510banner3

    But was this alternate description of reality correct? Could this one article be true and all the countless contrary pieces I had read in America’s most prestigious publications be false, merely the presentation of official propaganda endlessly repeated? I cannot say. I am not an expert on the history of the Vietnam War and its aftermath.

    Yet consider the source. The author of that remarkable 8,000-word exposé—“McCain and the POW Cover-Up,” published on The Nation Institute’s website—was Sydney Schanberg, one of America’s foremost Vietnam War journalists. His reporting won him a Pulitzer Prize, and his subsequent book on Cambodia was made into “The Killing Fields,” an Oscar-winning movie. Schanberg later served as one of the highest-ranking editors at the New York Times, with a third of the reporters at our national newspaper of record working under him. A case can be made that no living American journalist can write with greater credibility on Vietnam War matters. And he had labored for years researching and exhaustively documenting the story of American POWs abandoned in Indochina—a story that if true might easily represent the single greatest act of national dishonor ever committed by our political leaders.

    He presented a mass of evidence with names, dates, and documentary detail. Many of the individuals mentioned are still alive and could be interviewed or called to testify. Sealed government records could be ordered unsealed. If America wishes to determine the truth, it can do so.

    Yet what I found most remarkable about Schanberg’s essay were not its explosive historical claims but the absolute silence with which they were received in the mainstream media. In 2008, John McCain’s heroic war record and personal patriotism were central to his quest for supreme power—a goal he came very close to achieving. But when one of America’s most eminent journalists published an exhaustive report that the candidate had instead served as one of the leading figures in a monumental act of national treachery, our media took no notice. McCain’s public critics and the operatives of his Democratic opponent might eagerly seize upon every rumor that the senator had had a private lunch with a disreputable corporate lobbyist, but they ignored documented claims that he had covered up the killing of hundreds of American POWs. These allegations were serious enough and sufficiently documented to warrant national attention—yet they received none.

  • Elizabeth Birnbaum Resigned! Elizabeth Birnbaum quits MMS!

    Elizabeth Birnbaum has resigned! Elizabeth Birnbaum acts as Director of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) from July 15, 2009 and resigned on May 27, 2010 as a consequence of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

    It has been reported by the Associated Press that US President Barack Obama has fired the head of the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service. The news agency has stated that Obama will publicize later today that Elizabeth Birnbaum has been taken off the job.



    Elizabeth Birnbaum’ agency, which grants leases to oil companies and monitors offshore drilling, has come under condemnation for negligence since the BP well explosion in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20.

    As of 12:08 p.m. ET: The Associated Press reported that Elizabeth Birnbaum has resigned.

    Interior Secretary Ken Salazar relayed to lawmakers, according to the Associated Press account, that Elizabeth Birnbaum resigned “on her own terms and her own volition.”

    Related posts:

    1. BP prepares operation “top kill” to stop leakage of oil in the Gulf of Mexico
    2. Offshore Drilling Approved by Obama
    3. BP Uses Dome To Stop Oil Leak

  • Agenda 21 Alert: Science and Sewage

    Via Prison Planet.com » Commentary

    Cassandra Anderson
    Prison Planet.com
    Thursday, May 27, 2010

    Agenda 21 Sustainable Development is the overarching blueprint for depopulation and total control, using the environment as the excuse for that control.  The 3 major tools that are used are :
    •  Global warming
    •  Water Shortages
    •  Endangered Species Act
    In the case of the California Delta, man made water shortages have been imposed on farmers by way of the ESA (Endangered Species Act) for the last three years.  Still, the Delta smelt populations have declined, despite the restrictions.  While the federal government refused to acknowledge that the cause for the decline in smelt populations was due to up to 1 BILLION gallons of partially treated sewage being flushed into the Delta per day, they blamed the water pumps for the decline in smelt.  Their disastrous solution was to cut the water flow to farmers (who supply our country with 50% of its produce and nuts), thereby increasing the water levels in the Delta to dilute pollution.
    This didn’t work, smelt populations declined.  In fact, California had a wetter-than-ususal winter and instead of allowing more water to be delivered to farms, when the Shasta Reservoir filled to its safe capacity level, the water was bled out into the Pacific Ocean.
    Due to mounting pressure against the corrupt Department of Interior and obvious waste of water, the federal pump’s water delivery was increased in some areas.  Many allege that this was also in part due to Central Valley Congressmen Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa voting in favor of Obamacare, in trade for water to the farm areas.(1)  Ironically, the farms were promised 25% of the amount of water that had been contracted (40% is what is needed to keep the farms viable).  Further, the farmers were promised a delivery up to 25%, but they were only guaranteed a 5% increase, thereby making it difficult for them to get loans because the farmers, in turn, couldn’t guarantee a harvest with only a 5% increase of water.
    Last week, Patricia Gilbert, a professor of ecology and oceanography from the University of Maryland, concluded that the smelt decline was a result of high ammonium levels from urine and feces.  Specifically, she cited that the pollution was coming primarily from Sacramento, which doesn’t fully process its sewage before it is dumped into the Delta.  Dr. Patricia Gilbert was then forced to resign from the National Academy of Sciences panel.  The Academy forced her resignation because she went public with the information and they found it a conflict of interest for her to review her own work.(2)  This is incredibly hypocritical, given the profound conflicts of interest within the National Academy of Sciences.
    Specifically, the National Academy of Sciences is a quasi- governmental agency, created during Lincoln’s administration.  The Academy advises the government in scientific matters in order to set public policy and law.  The NAS is also a tax exempt private corporation (they do not publish their financial records on their website, nor do they list their donors).  NAS is subsidized by federal grants and other “contributions” from undisclosed donors.  New members are elected by current members, thus ensuring cronyism, a depopulation agenda and fraud.
    For example, some of the prestigious members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) include Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren, Gene Likens and Frederick Bormann, and Mario J. Molina.(3)
    John Holdren (Obama’s current science czar) and Paul Ehrlich are rabid eugenicists- supporters of selective breeding often through brutal means like genocide and forced sterilization, who co-authored ‘Ecoscience’, which advocates a “global police force” to enforce totalitarian measures of population control that includes forced abortions and mass sterilization programs conducted via the food and water supply, among other horrors.  It is interesting to note that Ehrlich’s work also appears in the United Nations Agenda 21 Global Biodiversity Assessment Report.(4)

    Agenda 21 Alert: Science and Sewage 140410banner4

    Gene Likens, along with Frederick Bormann, invented acid rain.  In 1980, the NAS predicted acid rain would double the number of acid-dead lakes within 10 years, so a $600 million dollar study by the US government, that spanned 10 years, discredited Liken’s theory.  Dr. Ed Krug found that acidity in the Adirondack lakes was not caused by coal processing in Pennsylvania (as theorized by Likens), but by local plants and soil.  Because of the enthusiasm of policy makers this scientific scandal was hidden until 60 Minutes got ahold of it and it became widely publicized.  After awhile, people forgot about Liken’s and Bormann’s science fraud and acid rain regulations were written into the federal Clean Air Act.  The EPA trashed Dr. Ed Krug’s career thereafter.(5)
    Mario J. Molina, a professor at MIT, won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for creating alarmism over the ozone hole in the Antarctic, for which he blamed CFCs (chlorofluorocarbon gases from refrigerants and aerosol products like hairspray).  Freon refrigerants were vilified as a major cause of the Arctic ozone depletion.  It later came to light that ozone over the Arctic cyclically thins for a brief period of time, and there is no hole.  However, corporate controlled policy makers rushed to ban freon because the DuPont patent was expiring on it, and DuPont would lose the monopoly because other companies could manufacture freon cheaply.  DuPont did own a patent on an alternative product that was more expensive and more difficult to produce, so freon was banned.(6)
    There is an obvious lack of easily accessible information about who funds the National Academy of Sciences in addition to the US federal government; clearly, the ruling elite monopoly owners have an overwhelming amount of ‘influence’.  There is evidence of financial ties to the Rockefeller Foundation and Ford Foundation, who are cohorts in depopulation of the planet, as evidenced by the support of Rockefeller’s Population Council.(7)
    The lawsuit to save the California Delta smelt and to close down the water pumps, based on the corrupt Endangered Species Act, was brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council, and is funded by the Ford Foundation (the annual budget is $87 million dollars).  The California Delta smelt debacle is a model of how the globalists plan to create water shortages via the Endangered Species Act in order to pursue the objectives of Agenda 21 (depopulation and control).  Therefore, science should be scrutinized.
    Valid science is independent and does not have a political or economic agenda attached to it.
    Valid science considers ALL data, as opposed to ignoring that which does not fit in its paradigm.
    Valid science has reproducible results.
    Valid science freely provides information to the public without the necessity of the Freedom of Information Act.
    The good news: Federal Judge Oliver Wanger ruled on 5/25/2010 that the biological opinion, provided by the National Marine Fisheries Services, a sub agency of the Department of Interior, failed to consider the impact that turning off the federal pump (owned by the Department of Interior) had on humans.  Therefore, he allowed the pump to be reactivated at 40%- enough to irrigate farms, until June 15th and then the case will be revisited.  It is important to remember that the Department of Interior also determines which species are ‘endangered’.
    While there are many good scientists out there, when public policy is concerned, or an economic agenda is at stake, we can see what can happen to them, as evidenced by Dr. Ed Krug and Dr. Patricia Gilbert.  The NAS wanted to drag their feet until Fall 2011 to issue their recommendation on the Delta issue, but now their advice is becoming irrelevant.
    For more information on the Endangered Species Act (8) and past articles by Cassandra Anderson about Agenda 21, visit www.MorphCity.com.
    Sources:
  • Treyarch: CoD: Black Ops will exceed expectations

    Whether it deserves it or not, Treyarch is often viewed by gamers as just playing second fiddle to Infinity Ward. Call of Duty: Black Ops will reportedly blow that stereotype out of the water, however.

  • American Idol 2010; Janet Jackson Haircut, Simon Cowell’s Tribute and David Cook

    Janet Jackson a true entertainer even though she changed her haircut what ever she wear it fits on her and she still stay sexy. In American Idol finale the contestants sang her song “Again” and she appeared on stage to finish it up. As Janet Jackson performed on American Idol. She still looked great and sang “Nothing” before moving on to a rendition of “Nasty Boys.”
    And one of the highlight in the show is a tribute to Simon Cowell that will be leaving the show. American Idol winners Kelly Clarkson, Reuben Studdard, Fantasia, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, Kris Allen and even former Idol judge Paula Abdul was there, but the question is, wheres David Cook?. But all in all the American Idol Finale goes well and the once again they did a great show.

    Related posts:

    1. David Cook: “Absent” on American Idol Finale
    2. Surprise! Joe Cocker Performs Along Bowersox and DeWyze
    3. American Idol Exposure Is No Guarantee

  • Time To Live In Reality: People Are Going To Copy; So Build A Better Business Model

    Rose M. Welch points us to an interview with Cory Doctorow, where he discusses his decision to give away all of his books as free downloads (which, as you hopefully know, has been quite successful for him). As Rose notes, one of his quotes aptly sums up the basic position we’ve taken here at Techdirt for years:


    As a practical matter, we live in the 21st century and anything anybody wants to copy they will be able to copy. If you are building a business model that says that people can only copy things with your permission, your business is going to fail because whether or not you like it, people will be able to copy your product without your permission. The question is: what are you going to do about that? Are you going call them thieves or are you going to find a way to make money from them?

    This is what’s been so frustrating about this debate for so long. The focus, by many in certain industries (especially the music and movie industry), has relied so much on the “calling them thieves” part, rather than figuring out better ways to make money. Sure, if there were a way to stop unauthorized copying, that would make lives easier for those companies. But that’s a pipe dream. It’s not possible. And while it may take more work, once they stop complaining about it, and start realizing that there are ways to leverage that copying as free or cheap creation, promotion and distribution, suddenly it becomes an opportunity, rather than a threat.

    Permalink | Comments | Email This Story





  • French Strike, Protest Over Government Austerity Measures

    Via Prison Planet.com » World News

    Press Association
    Thursday, May 27, 2010

    Strikes across France have delayed flights, closed schools and frustrated commuters as workers protest over government plans to raise the retirement age past 60.

    President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to raise the age to 61 or 62, reforms that have been under discussion since well before the current European debt crisis.

    Despite the protests, the French retirement changes are minor compared with the harsh austerity measures of other European nations, including Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

    French Strike, Protest Over Government Austerity Measures 150410banner1

    Spain and Italy have also announced cuts as a debt crisis that started in Greece weakened the euro and raised questions about the future of the currency that is shared by 16 nations.

    Some unions say France’s pension budget shortfall could be reduced by raising workers’ monthly contributions.

    “Even though we need pension reform, extending the retirement age is the most unjust way,” the head of the CFDT union, Francois Chereque, said.

    Full story here.

  • Vídeo: Bugatti Veyron contra dois Nissan GT-R

    Muitas vezes nós vemos alguns desafios entre supercarros que chega a ser interessante. Esse vídeo também é interessante, mas eu diria que é uma luta um tanto quanto desleal. Um site russo chamado Dragtimes costuma fazer comparações de carros velozes nas estradas da Rússia e publicam na internet.

    No vídeo acima, podemos ver então a performance de um Nissan GT-R totalmente equipado, contra o carro de rua mais rápido do mundo, o Veyron. Acha que com um GT-R envenenado o Veyron sofre alguma ameaça?

    Vejam o vídeo para conferir o que parece óbvio, mas dando créditos ao Nissan GT-R, ele é potente o bastante para acompanhar por um certo tempo o poderoso Veyron. Outra coisa interessante é que as estradas russas sáo perfeitas para esse tipo de corrida, sendo extensas e desertas.

    Via | Top Speed


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