Nissan GT-R – Click above for high-res image gallery
We’re beginning to hear the first rumblings about the next round of updates to the Nissan GT-R, and if the rumors are to be believed, Nissan’s goal of keeping pace with the refreshed Porsche 911 Turbo (and its S sibling) will continue through the 2012 model year.
As with its German counterpart, the R35 is expected to undergo a host of evolutionary changes, including some reworked aero bits, suspension and brake upgrades, and a retuned 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 that’s likely to output over 500 horsepower and 450 pound-feet of torque.
The exterior updates will likely be limited to a new front splitter, rear diffuser and a revised wing, all in an effort to increase downforce and drop lap times. And about those lap times…
We’ve heard from our sources on the ground in Germany that the revised GT-R underwent a new round of testing at the Nurburgring last month and that the newly estimated lap times were (of course) below the original GT-R’s 7:26 run. How low? We’re hoping to find out when it arrives early next year.
It is interesting to note that as of today’s close, since the EU’s “Shock & Awe” intervention, the Stoxx 600 in Europe is up 4.6%, while the S&P 500 is only up 2.35%. For an apples to apples comparison, the Euro currency has lost 2.8%, bringing the Dollar denominated return for the Stoxx 600 to 1.8%. The CAC 40 in France has similar Dollar denominated returns of 1.6%, while returns on Italy’s MIB are 2.4%. The FTSE in the U.K. and the Ibex in Spain are both flattish in Dollar terms and Athens is down 2.5%. The Dollar denominated performance winner is also the country viewed as the largest beneficiary of the weakened Euro, Germany, which is up 3.3%. Obviously, U.S. markets were outperforming by a healthy margin prior to the EU announcement, but major intervention provides an interesting benchmark from which to measure.
Beyond that, on a technical level, Greece is literally getting the first 20 billion eur from the bailout fund — a technical move, but given the worries about the bailout mechanism, a move that’s welcome and calming.
A look at the day’s action shows the extent to which the currency is still calling the shots.
Meanwhile, the good times continue elsewhere. The Nikkei is up about .5% in early action, a welcome move after yesterday’s big selloff.
Obviously, there’s been lots of talk about Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan in numerous areas. There have been various reports concerning Kagan’s supposed views on copyright, but those seem pretty blown out of proportion from what I’ve seen and in talking to folks who know Kagan. She was a big supporter of the Berkman Center at Harvard, but that was part of her job. Other than her recommendation in the Cablevision case, there doesn’t seem to be much to go on. In fact, I’m considerably more concerned with the idea that one of the leading contenders for Kagan’s current job of Solicitor General is one of the entertainment industry’s favorite legal attack dogs who led the industry’s case in Grokster and was a major player in the Jammie Thomas trial before being appointed to the Justice Department (where he didn’t last very long before moving over to the White House as associate White House counsel). Still, if Kagan really is a big supporter of fair use, you have to wonder what she thinks of the following situation.
With everyone digging deeper and deeper to find out more about Kagan, the website Red State apparently dug up her undergraduate thesis and posted it to their website… leading Princeton to demand that the thesis be taken down — not, of course, for political reasons, but copyright ones. The University is selling copies of her thesis, and apparently the commercial value just shot up:
It has been brought to my attention that you have posted Elena Kagan’s senior thesis online…. Copies provided by the Princeton University Archives are governed by U.S. Copyright Law and are for private individual use only. Any electronic distribution is prohibited, as noted on the first page of the copy that is on your website. Therefore I request that you remove it immediately before further action is taken.
Of course, ordering that the document be pulled down pretty much guarantees that it will get spread more widely — and there’s definitely a journalistic reporting defense for posting the document (though, I’m not particularly convinced that anything anyone wrote in college has much meaning once they’ve spent a few decades outside of college). And, of course, in trying to get the document taken down, it’s just going to lead conspiracy-minded folks to think there’s more to the document than there is (in actuality, it’s a rather bland historical analysis, but you wouldn’t know that from what some sites are claiming about it). But from a journalistic standpoint, it seems you could make a decent argument for fair use in distributing the document. In fact, publications like Newsweek are already sharing parts of the thesis as well (mostly to debunk the hysteria around it). It’s difficult to see what Princeton gained in issuing the takedown notice, other than to rile up people.
Koenigsegg CCR Evolution vs. the Swtizer P800 Nissan GT-R – Click above to watch video after the jump
Mindless entertainment should still be entertaining, and the runway supercar shootouts posted by the folks at GTBoard.com always deliver. This time it’s two races pitting an 800-horsepower Switzer GT-R P800 versus the 806-horsepower Koenigsegg CCR Evolution; one in which the CCR gets its rolling start in second gear, the following in first gear. The P800 actually holds its own which isn’t so bad seeing that the CCR has walked away from pretty much everything. Follow the jump for the showdown.
With its upgraded V6, the 2011 Ford Mustang could easily be considered a sports car. So we pit it against the 370Z and Genesis Coupe to see which coupe reigns supreme.
This past weekend’s 24-hour race at the Nurburgring provided plenty of thrills and chills, with one unlikely team taking the top spot from Audi and Porsche.
Hidden beneath that psychedelic camouflage is the 2011 LRX, and to our surprise and delight, the three-door ‘ute from Land Rover looks exactly like its conceptual predecessor.
Trey Smith is Willard Christopher Smith III. Trey Smith was named after his father Will Smith, who is Willard Christopher Smith Jr. Trey Smith is the son of Will Smith to Sheree Zampino. The two went on divorce in 1995. Trey Smith was seenin his father’s music video for the 1998 single “Just the Two of Us.” Jada Pinkett Smith is the second wife of Will Smith to whom he had children… Jaden Christopher Syre and Willow Camille Reign.
Will married actress Jada Pinkett in 1997. Jada Pinkett Smith is an American actress, producer, director, author, singer and businesswoman.
Find out more on Trey Smith, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith…
Oil spill has never been alarmingly destructive until now that gallons of it is polluting the Gulf of Mexico each day and worse spreading farther into the sea after previous efforts to contain it failed. What is more disturbing is it has entered a major ocean current and the repercussions may last for years. Investigation is on the way to measure how much of the oil has been released.
“So first you have oily water that may be toxic to certain organisms and also the oxygen issue…this can interrupt the food chain at the lowest level, and will trickle up and certainly impact organisms higher. Whales, dolphins, and tuna all depend on lower depths to survive,” said Joye who discovered the plumes.
A tube sipped more than 42,000 gallons each day while there is an estimated 210,000 more oozing from the damaged well every day and could be greater.
It appears that the damage outweighs the contamination efforts and it is just the tip of the iceberg. Washington Post points out the greater scheme of what lies below the depths of the sea rich in aquatic life still to be discovered.
“This is the unseen world imperiled by the uncapped oil well a mile below the surface of the gulf. The millions of gallons of crude, and the introduction of chemicals to disperse it, have thrown this underwater ecosystem into chaos, and scientists have no answer to the questions of how this unintended and uncontrolled experiment in marine biology and chemistry will ultimately play out.”
President Obama earlier held BP accountable and there is no way this calamity will be solved without its intervention.
2010 Ferrari Concorso in Pasadena – Click above for high-res image gallery
Colorado Blvd in Pasadena, CA is most known for the annual Rose Parade on January 1st, with intricate floats and marching bands bringing in the new year. The famous street hosted a different kind of celebration this past weekend, though, with the Ferrari Club of American putting on a Ferrari Concorso on three blocks of the downtown portion of the city.
More than 100 Ferraris were on display, both current and vintage models. All four of the modern Ferrari supercars were present – 288 GTO, F40, F50 and Enzo – as well as the latest models like the California. There was even a Schumacher-driven 2001 Formula 1 car. Most of our time, however, was spent in the area of judged cars filled with pre-1999 models. Noted collector Bruce Meyer was kind enough to bring out his famous1956 625 TR, the Petersen Museum showed off a rare Vignale 225 Sport Spyder, and there was a multitude of gorgeous 275 GTBs and 250 series cars including a 250 GT SWB and not one but two 250 GT TdFs. You can see all of our photos from the event in the high-res gallery below.
To be called the BMW M3 GTS-R, the model is rumored to feature a matte-black exterior, a front spoiler, wider rear fenders and light alloy wheels. BMW will also use plenty of carbon fiber in addition to the carbon fiber roof on the regular BMW M3 GTS. You can expect to see more carbon fiber on the deck-lid, hood and rear spoiler.
Power is likely to come from the same 450-hp 4.4L V8 under the BMW M3 GTS. The GTS-R could also be equipped with a KERS regenerative braking system from the 2011 M5.
Refresher: Weighing in at 3,285 pounds (the standard BMW M3 coupe weighs 3,704 pounds), the 2011 BMW M3 GTS is powered by a 4.4L V8 making 450-hp. Power is transmitted to the wheels through a 7-speed M DKG Drivelogic gearbox. The BMW M3 GTS accelerates from 0 to 62 mph in 4.4 seconds with a top speed of 190 mph.
General Motors Co. acquired its first quarterly profit in almost three years, based on spending cuts as part of a reorganization to exit bankruptcy and strong sales of redesigned models, which the company approached a stock offering that would allow him to pay at least part of the federal aid it received.
The automaker said it achieved profits from sales of new models and because its bankruptcy last year allowed him to cut debt and other expenses. Furthermore, the company generated more profit for its growth in Asia and South America.
GM reported a net profit of $ 865 million, $ 1.66 per share in the first quarter. That compares to a loss of 6,000 million, $ 9.78 per share, a year earlier. The first-quarter revenue rose 40% to 31 500 million.
The new signature models like the Chevrolet Equinox and the Buick LaCrosse, contributed to GM operations in North America had revenues of 1,200 million, compared with losses of 3.400 billion in the same quarter last year.
The North American unit had been a constant burden for GM’s revenue before its application for federal bankruptcy protection.
GM’s chief financial officer, Chris Liddell, said that might be difficult to sustain the same level of earnings for the rest of the year because the production of the first quarter is usually higher, with producers getting ready for sales of spring.
The chief executive Ed Whitacre has forecast that profits will end the year at a time when car sales in the United States continues a slow recovery. That could lead to a sale of shares in GM and full payment of the 50,000 million dollars in federal aid that prevented GM went bankrupt last year. Currently, the U.S. government owns 61% of the company.
GM has returned a total of 6700 million dollars of federal aid. Barack Obama’s government expects to recover the remaining $ 43 000 million by selling its shares in the company.
“The new Fiesta will deliver up to 40 mpg on the highway. It comes with the kind of agility and horsepower that make it a blast to drive, and it features more new-world technology than any other car of its kind – like push-button start, keyless entry and the SYNC hands-free communications and entertainment system,” said Matt VanDyke, Ford’s director of U.S. Marketing Communications. “It’s a pretty big deal, and we’re putting the media and creativity behind it to deliver that message to consumers.”
The campaign will launch with a new 60-second TV ad for the Fiesta that will debut tomorrow night during the live broadcast of “American Idol,” which airs 8 to 9 p.m. EDT on FOX.
Refresher: The 2011 Ford Fiesta is powered by a 1.6L DOHC 4-cylinder engine making 120-hp with a peak torque of 109 lb-ft. The EPA rated the 2011 Fiesta at 29/40 mpg (city/highway) when mated to a 6-speed PowerShift automatic transmission and 28/37 mpg when mated to a 5-speed manual. Pricing for the 2011 Ford Fiesta starts at $13,320.
2011 Ford Fiesta:
The New Ford Fiesta – It’s a Pretty Big Deal:
2011 Ford Fiesta:
Press Release:
2011 FORD FIESTA: ‘IT’S A PRETTY BIG DEAL’
* Ford is launching the all-new 2011 Ford Fiesta with a broad-reaching advertising campaign built around the theme, “It’s a pretty big deal”
* The new campaign shares the same nontraditional approach that defined the Fiesta Movement, an initiative that introduced the new small car to consumers through socially vibrant agents who have been driving Fiestas in monthly themed missions and relating their experiences through social media sites
* The campaign also includes a significant multicultural element to reach out to two of the largest consumer groups in the small car segment – young African Americans and Hispanics
DEARBORN, Mich., May 17, 2010 – The same type of out-of-the-box thinking that led to the groundbreaking Fiesta Movement social media initiative is reflected in a new ad campaign to launch Ford’s all-new small car, the 2011 Ford Fiesta.
“The Fiesta Movement enabled us to introduce the car to market in a whole new way,” said Matt VanDyke, Ford’s director of U.S. Marketing Communications. “We are continuing that nontraditional approach with a unique advertising campaign designed to get people’s attention by entertaining them as well as educating them about the vehicle.”
The ad campaign for the new Fiesta – which arrives in dealer showrooms this summer – includes national broadcast, print, digital and out-of-home components as well as a comprehensive multicultural marketing strategy. The entire campaign is built around the theme, “It’s a pretty big deal.”
2011 Ford Fiesta ads: A nontraditional approach
A new 60-second television ad for the Fiesta debuts tomorrow night during the live broadcast of “American Idol,” which airs 8 to 9 p.m. EDT on FOX. It opens with two people sitting in a Fiesta talking about the vehicle’s push-button start feature.
“From there, a whimsical world starts to unfold all around them, and you see the product messages brought to life in organic, over-the-top ways,” said VanDyke.
The 60-second ad also will be running in cinemas this summer, appearing on the big screen just before the movies start. One of the films expected to draw huge crowds to the theater is “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” which opens June 30.
The print ads get straight to the point with headlines like, “The Fiesta gets 40 miles per gallon. 21 hybrids do not,” and “The Fiesta has enough new-world technology to put a 50-grand car to shame.” The ads will be featured in a variety of publications – from women’s magazines like “In Style” to men’s lifestyle titles like “GQ.”
Billboards for the Fiesta also reflect an unconventional approach.
“Imagine a billboard positioned strategically above a gas station with the 40 mpg message and copy that reads, ‘Not everybody’s happy about it,’” explained VanDyke.
In addition to television commercials, print ads and billboards, the new campaign also includes extensive digital advertising, which directs consumers to the www.fordvehicles/fiesta website.
Unique webisodes combine information with entertainment
Ford is expanding the Fiesta website to include webisodes featuring agents of the Fiesta Movement proving – in their own uniqueways – why Fiesta is better than the competition. More than 500,000 people have viewed the first six webisodes since they debuted last week.
“We selected some of our most creative, funny and socially vibrant agents to help us showcase the vehicle’s class-exclusive features,” said Jonathan Beebe, Ford Digital Communications manager. “Not only do they know the vehicle inside and out, because they drove real-world miles on it with the Fiesta Movement, they also know how to make the webisodes relevant and engaging to their peers – digital or otherwise.”
For example, to illustrate the benefit of having Intelligent Access with push-button start, one of the agents decided to put the Fiesta up against the Toyota Yaris, which doesn’t even have keyless entry, and the Honda Fit, which has keyless entry but doesn’t have push-button start.
In “Dawn of the New Key Fob,” a zombie chases all three drivers through the woods. The Yaris and Fit owners don’t make it into their vehicles in time, but the Fiesta driver gets into his car and drives away before the zombie attack.
“Some of the webisodes are hilarious,” said Beebe. “We try not to take ourselves too seriously – the Fiesta is too much fun for that. The agents help us poke a little fun at ourselves and our competitors, while combining vehicle information and entertainment.”
Fiesta agent Brittani Taylor appears in a webisode titled “Fiesta vs. Lamborghini,” which pits the Fiesta against a $200,000-plus Lamborghini sports car.
“I’m an actress, so I had a lot of fun with it,” said Taylor, who amassed more than 300,000 subscribers on YouTube and 46,000 followers on Twitter during her stint as a Fiesta agent. “The Fiesta wasn’t as fast as the Lamborghini on the straightaway, but when it came to cornering and cool features like capless fuel-filler and push-button start, it was all about the Fiesta.”
There will be a total of 16 webisodes. The first set is already online. The second group will post in June.
“Our goal is to make people take a left-hand turn from their usual online browsing routine to check out how the Fiesta and its class-exclusive features can meet their driving needs,” said Beebe. “A zombie invasion might just convince them.”
2011 Ford Fiesta: Multicultural appeal
Research shows that two of the largest consumer groups in the small car segment are young African Americans and Hispanics. Ford has developed a multicultural marketing and advertising campaign designed specifically to communicate the Fiesta message to them.
To increase awareness of the Fiesta in the African American community, Ford launched a program called “Inspired by Color,” which challenged people to use their own personal style to connect with the colors and distinct features of the new Fiesta. Last month, more than 150 people turned out for a casting call at Howard University in Washington, D.C., dressed in a Fiesta-inspired way. Five finalists were chosen, and they will appear in a new television ad for the Fiesta that begins airing on the BET network June 1.
“Our goal was to create a unique program that truly embodied the spirit of Fiesta,” said Crystal Worthem, Ford Multicultural Marketing manager. “The Fiesta has an expressive, vibrant design and we wanted to tap into those style attributes in a way that was relevant to our target audience.”
In addition, radio commercials for Fiesta – produced with an urban flair – will air on 132 urban and adult contemporary stations in 78 markets throughout the country.
According to David Rodriguez, Ford Multicultural Communications manager, the small car segment has a high concentration of Hispanic buyers – the largest of any automotive segment –and many of them are bilingual.
“What’s unique about our marketing effort for Fiesta is that we’re focusing on bilingual to Spanish-dominant Hispanic consumers,” said Rodriguez. “Digital advertising will play a key role because we know that Hispanics over-index compared to average consumers on their use of the Internet.”
A combination of portal digital advertising and extensive social media outreach will direct traffic to www.readypatumundo.com (which means “ready for your world” in Spanish). The website provides a consumer-centric introduction to the Fiesta, focusing on SYNC, push-button start and the overall design of the vehicle.
“The website is unique in that the consumer can control how the words will show up in terms of being more Spanish-based or more English-based,” said Rodriguez. “The technology is a first for Ford.”
In addition to digital advertising, Ford will increase Fiesta awareness in the Hispanic community through print and broadcast advertising. The ads, which will be predominantly Spanish with some English phrasing, will run nationally with emphasis in five target markets with the highest concentration of Hispanic small car customers: Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, New York and Chicago.
Say what you will about Alfa Romeo‘s latest 8C-derived styling direction, but we’re going to miss the angular beauty of the current Brera and its drop-top Spider sibling. But before the achingly gorgeous two-doors sail off into the sunset – never having made it to American shores – Alfa has released an updated version.
The beneficiary of the latest from Fiat Powertrain Technologies, the Brera and Spider have now been made available with the 1750 TBi and 2.0 JTDM engines. The former is a turbocharged, direct-injection gas-burning four with 1742 cubic centimeters of displacement, 197 horsepower and 236 lb-ft of torque and propelling the Brera and Spider to 62 mph in 7.7 and 7.8 seconds, respectively, and a 146 mph top end. The latter is a 2.0-liter turbo diesel with 168 horses and 265 lb-ft of torque, capable of 8.8- and 9-second sprints to 62 for the coupe and convertible en route to a 135 mph terminal velocity.
In addition to the new engines, which you can read more about in the press release after the jump, Alfa is also making the Italia Indepenent trim level – previously a special edition – available across the range, with matte titanium paint, 18-inch black alloys hiding red brake calipers and special interior trim. Have a closer look in the gallery below to see what we’re missing on the Atlantic’s Western shores.
Protein is the key and is stored in a gland in the spider’s body, says researchers at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. It is divided into three parts, the first of which is identified as NT that makes it maintain the liquid state under neutral pH. The protein passes through a canal where the substance becomes more acidic (ph 6). NT facilitates the spider to convert and rapidly spin threads of silk.
“We have seen how the first part of the spider silk protein has a very special and important function. It quite simply controls when the protein is to be converted into gossamer,” explained My Hedhammar.
Researchers have been attempting to artificially replicate spider silk, one of the strongest elastic materials. It offers great potential in medical technology.
This development can be read in the journal Nature with authors Glareh Askarieh, My Hedhammar, Kerstin Nordling, Anna Rising, Jan Johansson, and Stefan D. Knight.
Rima Fakih swimsuit attire has been the talk of the town. Swimsuit, swimsuit, and swimsuit… that made Rima Fakih more gorgeous and leading to be the crowned Miss USA 2010 winner. What made Rima Fakih swimsuit more gorgeous? Lets see how the Miss USA 2010 winner made herself more popular through that swimsuit thing. Internet search engines have been filled by searches for Rima Fakih Swimsuit or Miss USA 2010 winner swimsuit. One of the possible reasons could be Rima Fakih being a Lebanese-American, and also her family is known as a Shiite Muslim. Muslim women are being forbidden from making poses such as wearing swimsuit which are deemed to be haram to Islam.
However, Miss USA 2010 winner-Rima Fakih says though they are Shiite Muslims her family celebrates elements of both the Muslim and Christian faiths. So Rima Fakih Swimsuit attire or shall we say the Miss USA 2010 winner’s swimsuit attire should not be a big deal.
Miss USA 2010 winner-Rimah Fakih swimsuit attire looks perhaps the reasons why she deserves to be crowned as the fairest of the 49 contenders from 49 states of the United States.
There are still some serious questions about the legality of the police’s decision to search the home of Gizmodo reporter Jason Chen and to seize his computers as part of their investigation of the iPhone prototype story. However, with the unsealing of the search warrant, some are noticing some oddities. Reader johnjac highlights that the police defense of the need for the search warrant claims that Jason “created copies of the iPhone prototype in the form of digital images and video.” While it may just be either a misstatement or an awkward use of the word, it does seem like a strange description of what happened, designed to make the judge think that the “risk” was much greater than it actually was. If there were actual “copies” of the device being made, that might be an issue. But photographing or videotaping a device is hardly making copies. But, of course, in an age where many in the world are trying to falsely equate “copies” with “theft,” suddenly the idea that Jason was able to “copy” the iPhone prototype via the magic of a camera makes his actions seem that much more nefarious than they really were.
It is a complex process how we think, understand, and solve problems day by day, although it seems everything happens in a blink of an eye. We figure out what we do everyday and there are ways we choose to do them differently than what we are accustomed to do. New ideas surface and more often they are achieved by trial and error.
These sudden insights intrigued scientists Dr. Jeremy K. Seamans from the University of British Columbia and Dr. Daniel Durstewitz from the Central Institute of Mental Health as to its origin in the brain, where and how do they start – the so called neural dynamics from familiarity to novelty. Familiarity suggests what we commonly do; novelty applies to new strategies in doing things.
Neurons located in the medial frontal cortex were found to be responsible for the “a-ha moments” in the brain. They form networks corresponding to familiar and novel rules. They abruptly set new patterns which translate to a shift in behavior.
Team BMW Motorsport took victory at the 2010 24-hour race at the Nurburgring-Nordschleife on Sunday, five years since the manufacturer’s last victory.
The no. 25 BMW M3 GT2 claimed BMW’s 19th victory at the endurance classic, which was piloted by with Jorg Muller (DE), Augusto Farfus (BR), Uwe Alzen (DE) and Pedro Lamy (PT) at the wheel. All three helped the M3 GT2 cross the finish line first after 154 laps.
“During my last stint we lost fourth gear,” said Muller. “The problem gradually got worse. The main priority was to be careful and keep the car in the race. Everything worked out superbly in the end. The entire team has worked extremely hard over the last few months. This victory belongs to them. We drove consistent laps over the entire distance. If you can achieve that at a 24-hour race, you normally find yourself up at the front. For us today, it was even enough to finish first.”
At first it seemed like the race would be won by the Porsche 911 GT3 Hybrid after it led the race through the night. However, the vehicle faced technical problem a few hours from the end.
The Aston Martin Rapide race car finished second in its class.
Albert Einstein: Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind. And the two met halfway.
Buddhist monk Dalai Lama challenged Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to explore man’s capacity for good and happiness, and the latter obliged.
Davidson has been studying how Buddhism practices affect mental health and a center dedicated for such endeavor has been established at the said university – the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, cites the Associated Press. It was found out that meditation triggers feelings of compassion, kindness, and empathy. He will be joining Dalai Lama in his quest for the causes of positive qualities in people the Buddhist way and incorporating it with western science.
This scientific venture may have been a breakthrough in bridging the gap between faith and science; however, both Davidson and Dalai Lama met criticism from fellow researchers. Nevertheless, it appears that both of them esteemed each other and the research will push through.
Robin Hood hit theaters May 14 with stars Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Max von Sydow, Oscar Isaac, and Mark Strong, directed by Ridley Scott. Crowe is reportedly criticized because he spoke Irish when supposedly Robinhood portrays a thief who is a native of Nottingham, quotes Reuters.Nevertheless the movie speaks for itself. Here are some scoops from moviegoers.
“It’s thrilling, solidly entertaining, occasionally breathtaking…the film never gets bogged down in back story thanks to some great action set pieces…”
“…I wish Robin hood was a little more fun, but this is a movie about battle and action. It should be judged based on what it wants to be, and by that standard, it works. Its violence and war scenes are more intense than typical action movies…”
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the Treasury Department is interviewing Wall Street bankers so that they may advise the department on a GM initial public offering.
GM CEO Ed Whitacre said last month after a meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, that a GM IPO was a strong possibility for 2010/2011, despite having shied away in the past from the 2010 timeline put forth by his predecessor Fritz Henderson.
With first-quarter reports set to be released today, executives have said privately that earnings will be strong and that there will even be an operating profit. With last month’s announcement that GM had fully repaid the balance on its U.S. and Canadian government loans, top White House economic advisor Lawrence Summers has said that chances are high that the U.S. government will sell its stake sooner than expected.
The overall bailout investment in GM is expected to result in a loss, but that figure now is far lower than the one that had been originally proposed one year ago; less than $8 billion compared to $30 billion.
Oil spill has never been alarmingly destructive until now that gallons of it is polluting the Gulf of Mexico each day and worse spreading farther into the sea after previous efforts to contain it failed. What is more disturbing is it has entered a major ocean current and the repercussions may last for years. Investigation is on the way to measure how much of the oil has been released.
Protein is the key and is stored in a gland in the spider’s body, says researchers at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. It is divided into three parts, the first of which is identified as NT that makes it maintain the liquid state under neutral pH. The protein passes through a canal where the substance becomes more acidic (ph 6). NT facilitates the spider to convert and rapidly spin threads of silk.
Albert Einstein: Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind. And the two met halfway.
Robin Hood hit theaters May 14 with stars Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Max von Sydow, Oscar Isaac, and Mark Strong, directed by Ridley Scott. Crowe is reportedly criticized because he spoke Irish when supposedly Robinhood portrays a thief who is a native of Nottingham, quotes