Author: Serkadis

The goal of Nonprofit Education Programs at WMU is to strengthen the capacity of leaders to carry out the missions of the organizations they serve. This is accomplished through education, community-service, and research designed to improve the contribution that public-serving organizations can make to society. Special emphasis is placed on individual and community development as the pivotal function of nonprofit organizations and collaboration as the central mode of public problem solving.

Lester M. Salamon articulates the key educational and community challenge facing us today, “The central challenge, particularly the central management challenge, confronting efforts to solve our pressing societal problems is to prepare people to design and manage these immensely complex collaborations and networks that we increasingly rely on to address our public problems.” Salamon, L. (1998). “A field whose time has passed?” In M. O’Neill & K. Fletcher (Eds.), Nonprofit Management Education. (Pp. 137-145). Westport: Pager Publishers.

Course Description: This class is an advanced seminar in nonprofit leadership. Seminars are defined as, “a group of supervised students doing research or advanced study” (Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition). Students taking this seminar have a unique opportunity to experience grant-making. We received a grant from Campus Compact and Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund for $15,000 to regrant to nonprofits in Kalamazoo County. We also received $3,000 to execute our plan (mailings, rental of space for event, etc.) Stipulations of our grant are: we must study, determine and prioritize human needs in Kalamazoo County; we must issue requests for proposals to appropriate agencies; we must review proposals, interview and visit agencies; we must decide how next year’s students will determine whether the money was spent effectively; and we must determine who and how much money each agency/program is given and announce publicly our selections. (We do not need to give all the money away this year.) In order to accomplish this we will learn consensus decision-making; study various community indicators, learn how to read 990s and financial statements, listen how local foundations make granting decisions, research best practices in the priority areas, study grant writing best practices, as well as read and discuss ways of measuring impact.

There will be lots of choices in this seminar but the following is nonnegotiable:

1. Attendance counts. The work is sequential. You will not be able to make good decisions if you have missed crucial classes and that is not fair to other students and not fair to the people anxious for our grants. If you are not present in a seminar you not only deprive yourself of valuable information and a voice in the decision-making process but you will deprive others of your experience and expertise. More than two absences will affect your grade. There are no excused absences.
2. Respect counts. Respect means you come on time, turn off your cell phones, do not use lap tops unless it is part of the learning or discussion, do not begin to pack up before the end of class, do not leave the room during class, do not have side conversations during class, do not sleep, do not work on other projects during class. Any of these behaviors will result in your being asked to leave the class and having that class count as an absence.
3. Consensus counts. All decisions will be made by modified consensus decision-making.

Required Texts
Financial Basics for Nonprofit Managers by Thomas A. McLaughlin

The Insider’s Guide to Grantmaking by Joel J. Orosz

Kids Count in Michigan Data Book 2007 by Michigan League of Human Services

Various articles that will be place in e-reserve in WMU Library.

Course Objectives
By the end of the semester, the student will:

1. understand and use consensus decision-making.
2. become a problem solver. Problem-solving involves the following key steps: defining the problem and key issues; researching the problem, issues and potential solutions; identifying the assumptions and values underlying the problem and its possible solutions; breaking the problem apart; imagining unique solutions; developing a consensus on possible solutions; creating an experiment to check out the solutions, generalizing and finally explaining the potential solution to all involved.
3. learn how to read statistical reports and tie the information to your decisions.
4. learn about the demographics in Kalamazoo County and be able to research information in other geographic locations.
5. build local and regional partnerships with the nonprofit community.
6. learn how to research best practices.
7. learn the processes that organizations use to collaborate.
8. understand the importance of financial planning, policies and monitoring and be able to read and interpret financial statements.
9. learn best practices for grant writing and how to effectively critique grants.
10. articulate theories for measuring impact.

Course Grading
10% Issue Essay-Submit a 2-3 page essay identifying the issue or organization that you would fund if the decision was yours alone. Why is this issue or organization important to you or to society? What is the data that supports your argument about the need? How will addressing this issue make a difference in the world? How would $15,000 make a difference? Be sure your essay has a thesis and support for your thesis. Essays will be read by entire class so be prepared to be called upon to share your rationale with the class. This assignment is similar to writing the problem or need statement in a grant proposal. You will be graded on whether you convince me that this is a problem I should fund.

30% Essay on why the class should or should not fund the agency assigned to you.

This essay must begin with research on your organization. Visit the website of your organization, print the information about your nonprofit from Guidestar (particularly the 990), do the ratios from the book, Financial Basics for Nonprofit Managers, determine who “owns” the nonprofit (funder supplying the majority of their revenue), their overhead expenses as opposed to what they spend on program. Check Charity Navigator http://www.charitynavigator.org to see what they say about your nonprofit. Go to http://www.kpl.gov, local information, and type in the name of the organization to find out information from the Kalamazoo Public Library. If you find there are articles from past issues in the Kalamazoo Gazette you will need to go to the central library and use the microfilm to read them.

Research the best practices of programs addressing the issue of your local program, if it’s a program to prevent homelessness what practices have been shown to be successful at preventing homelessness? (Note-research librarians, agency staff, national nonprofit websites, journals, etc. may be helpful.) Use American Psychological Association Style Guide for citations.

Finally summarize your site visit and interviews with staff and participants in your paper.

Outline of paper might look something like:

1. Introduction and Thesis
2. History
3. Financial Analysis
4. Comparison of Service provided by agency to best practices
5. Summary of interviews and site visit
6. Conclusion

Use American Psychological Association (APA) manual for citations.

• 5% Agency Submitted RFP
• 15% Presentation of your agency to class
• 10% Class Preparation and Participation
• 5% Understand and Use Consensus Decision-Making
• 10% Responsible for at least five people’s (beside yourself) attendance at the grant presentation. This means at least five ticket sales.
• 15% Facilitation of one class or event assignment

Present your chapter in an interesting format, some possibilities include guest speaker, experiential exercise, role play, discussion, PowerPoint. Relate your chapter to our grantmaking. Summarize the key points especially those points relevant to our grantmaking.

If you have chosen an event assignment rather than class facilitation you will be graded on execution of your assignment i.e. number of people attending event, beauty of decorations, quality of music and its appropriateness, smoothness of event program, interaction with Senior Services staff, evaluation of participants etc.

1/6 No Class (Most of us will be a AHMI)

Consensus Decision Making
1/8 Introduction to Eachother
Read Syllabus
Sign up for class facilitation
Introduction to Consensus Decision Making (CDM)

1/13 Introduction to CDM
Reading that must be completed by today: Kid’s Count Executive Summary, Introduction, and Selected Healthy People 2010 Focus Areas, Data Notes, and Kalamazoo County (pps.2-27,106-107, 198-200)

Needs in Kalamazoo County
1/15 Basic Statistics Presentation
Reading for today: Maps of Kalamazoo County (found in library electronic reserves) on Physical/Mental Health, Self-Sufficiency, Strengthening Community, Strengthening Families and Youth. Emergency Service Guide, Youth Out-of –School Time Guide, Youth Mentoring Guide all found at (http://www.gryphon.org/)

1/20 Panel on Needs in Kalamazoo County
Bev Riley, Planning and Program Development Director, Kalamazoo County Health & Community Services Jeffrey H. Brown, Executive Director, Poverty Reduction Initiative Denise Hartsough, Community Investment Director @ GKUW, Linda Vail Buzas,
Reading for today: Poverty in Kalamazoo County 2006 and 2008 Update

1/22 Narrow funding focus
Issue Essay Due Today-Bring enough copies for everyone in the class.

1/27 Decide Priorities-Research Agencies fulfilling those priorities
Bring Laptops
For today read classmates issue essays

1/29 Send out Requests for Proposals
Overview of Foundations
Carrie Picket-Erway?
For today read prologue and chapter 1 (pps1-37) in Insider’s Guide

Grant Analysis
2/3 Building Relationships Presentation
For today read Chaps 2 & 3 in Insider’s Guide (pps 38-65)

2/5 Proposal Review Presentation
For today read Chaps 4 – 6 in Insider’s Guide (pps 66-129)

2/10 Site Visit Presentation
For today read Chap 7 in Insider’s Guide (pps 130-142)

2/12 Writing the Funding Document and Managing the Project Presentation
For today read 8, 10, 11 in Insider’s Guide (pps 143-195)

2/17 Beyond the Money (Leveraging and Policy) Presentation
For today read Chap 12 and 13 in Insider’s Guide (pps 196-231)

2/19 Grant-Making Ethics Presentation
For today read Chap 15 and Epilogue in Insider’s Guide (pps 252-280)

2/23 RFPs DUE TODAY at 5 P.M.

Financial Analysis
2/24 Financial Management Presentation
For today read Financial Basics for Nonprofit Managers, Chap 3-4

2/26 Financial Management Presentation
For today read Financial Basics for Nonprofit Managers, Chap 5

2/27-3/8 Spring Break

3/10 Financial Management Presentation
For today read Financial Basics for Nonprofit Managers, Chaps 6-7 Chaps 11-12
Read all RFP’s

Decision-Making
3/12 Agency Programs, Financials, and Management Presentations

3/17 Agency Programs, Financials, Management Presentations

3/19 Interview with Finalists

3/24 Decision Making

3/26 Decision Making

3/31 Financial Management Presentation
Finalize Plans for Program and Food
For today read Financial Basics for Nonprofit Managers, Chap 11-12 and 17

4/2 No class during regularly scheduled time. Meet at Senior Services at 3 p.m. to set up. Plan on staying until 7 p.m.

Evaluation
4/7 Evaluation of Event

4/9 Evaluation for Grantees
E-reserves: Using Logic Models (McLaughlin & Jordan)

4/14 Evaluation for Grantees
Readings to be announced

4/16 Evaluation for Grantees
Readings to be announced

Exam week-Individual appointments to evaluate semester’s work.

Class Deliverables:

1. Issue Essay
2. Agency research, interview, paper and presentation.
3. Recruit at least five people to come to the presentation and sell five tickets.
4. Fulfill individual responsibilities at the workshop.
5. Read and participate in class discussions.
6. Lead 20-30 minutes of class or work on specific area of event.

Event Deliverables:
Food, Set Up and Clean Up
Entertainment (Quiet Music)
Decorations
Speaker (Short) and Short Program
Big Check
Ticket Sales
Evaluation of Event and Class Presentation
Write Request for Proposal (RFP)
Classroom Deliverables:
Classroom set up and break down

We haven’t had much time with White Knight Chronicles yet, and here we are, staring at the sequel well, at least for the Japanese. Famitsu’s on top of it and Level 5 reveals that White Knight

Filed under: Performance, UK

At a press conference held at its technology center in the UK this morning, McLaren Automotive officially launched itself into existence as a real, honest-to-goodness automaker. McLaren Automotive chairman Ron Dennis introduced the new MP4-12C by reminding the audience that since McLaren entered Formula One competition in 1966, the team has won 25 percent of all the races that have taken place. McLaren created the first carbon fiber chassis F1 car in 1981 and the first series production road car with a carbon chassis. The now-departed Mercedes–McLaren SLR was the highest-selling carbon fiber chassis road car ever (so far).

The MP4-12C is the next chapter in the story. Dennis emphasized that the MP4-12C and future McLaren products will be engineered, manufactured and most importantly exported from the UK. Dennis repeatedly used the word passion when discussing what McLaren wanted to achieve.
Anthony Sheriff, Managing Director of McLaren Automotive discussed the car in more detail. When the program started five years ago, McLaren decided that it needed to be better than its competitors in Italy and Germany. If a customer wanted a car as good as a Ferrari, Lamborghini or Porsche, they could just buy one of those cars.

Continue reading after the jump and stay tuned for live images of the MP4-12C from McLaren’s press conference.

[Source: McLaren]

Continue reading McLaren Automotive officially launches itself and MP4-12C supercar [w/video]

McLaren Automotive officially launches itself and MP4-12C supercar [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In a war that usually takes place between Porsche and Lexus, FoMoCo’s Lincoln and General Motors’ Buick have jumped in to get a piece of the action. While Porsche sits atop the annual U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study rankings released by J.D. Power and Associates today, Lexus, which ended its 14-year reign last year, fell to third, tying with Buick.

Porsche came in at No.1 with 110 points, followed by Lincoln, which came in with 114 points. Buick and Lexus tied for the third spot with 115 points. It’s important to note that Lincoln improved by six rank positions from 2009 to follow Porsche in the nameplate ranking.

Click here to get prices on the 2010 Lincoln MKS.

“The improvements in long-term dependability and component replacement rates are good news for both consumers and manufacturers,” said David Sargent, vice president of automotive research at J.D. Power and Associates. “Manufacturers benefit from lower warranty expenses, while consumers incur lower maintenance and repair costs, as well as less inconvenience.”

Overall vehicle dependability has improved by 7 percent in 2010 to an average of 155 points.

Make the jump for the press release.

J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Vehicle Dependability:

Press Release:

J.D. Power and Associates Reports:

Despite Overall Industry Improvement in Long-Term Dependability, Some Vehicle Brands
Don’t Receive the Credit They’re Due

Japanese Models Capture Nine Segment Awards, While Domestic Models Garner Seven and European Models Earn Three

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.: 18 March 2010 – Twenty-five of 36 vehicle brands have improved in long-term dependability in 2010 compared with their performance in 2009, continuing a steady trend of industry-wide improvement. However, for some of these brands, consumer perceptions have not kept pace with their actual performance, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 U.S. Vehicle Dependability StudySM (VDS) released today.

The study, which measures problems experienced by original owners of three-year-old (2007 model year) vehicles, includes 198 different problem symptoms across all areas of the vehicle. Overall dependability is determined by the level of problems experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100), with a lower score reflecting higher quality.

The Vehicle Dependability Study is used extensively by vehicle manufacturers worldwide to help design and build better vehicles-which typically translates to higher resale values-and by consumers to help them make more-informed choices for both new- and used- vehicle purchases. According to J.D. Power and Associates, among new-vehicle shoppers, perception of quality and dependability is the most influential factor in their decision to purchase a specific vehicle model.

The study finds that several brands that perform well in long-term dependability in 2010 are avoided at relatively high rates due to consumer concerns about dependability. Among brands included in VDS, Cadillac, Ford, Hyundai, Lincoln and Mercury have the greatest lags between dependability performance and consumer perception.

“Producing vehicles with world-class quality is just part of the battle for automakers; convincing consumers to believe in their quality is equally as important,” said David Sargent, vice president of automotive research at J.D. Power and Associates. “It takes considerable time to positively change consumer perceptions of quality and dependability-sometimes a decade or more-so it is vital for manufacturers to continually improve quality and also to convince consumers of these gains.”

According to Sargent, approaches that can help reinforce perceptions of high quality in consumers’ minds include: providing extended warranties, which demonstrates a brand’s faith in its products; incorporating features, materials and finishes in vehicles that have a rich feel; and ensuring that new models launch with better quality than their predecessors. In addition, automakers need to increase communication efforts about their high quality and dependability through social media channels such as blogs, Facebook and Twitter as well as through traditional channels.

Toyota continues to perform well in long-term dependability and garners four segment awards-more than any other nameplate in 2010-for the Highlander, Prius, Sequoia and Tundra. Honda receives three segment awards for the CR-V, Fit and Ridgeline. Lincoln captures two awards for the Mark LT and MKZ. Models by Audi, BMW, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford, Lexus, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz and Mercury each receive an award in their respective segments.

Porsche leads the overall nameplate rankings in 2010, which is consistent with its performance in the J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Initial Quality Study,SM which measures new-vehicle quality at 90 days of ownership. Lincoln improves by six rank positions from 2009 to follow Porsche in the nameplate rankings. Rounding out the top five nameplates are Buick, Lexus and Mercury. In addition, seven of the 10 models with the lowest incidence of problems in the industry are from Ford and General Motors, including the 2007 model-year Buick Lacrosse, Buick Lucerne, Cadillac DTS, Ford Five Hundred, Lincoln MKZ, Mercury Milan, and Mercury Montego.

Overall vehicle dependability has improved by 7 percent in 2010 to an average of 155 PP100, compared with 167 PP100 in 2009 -a rate that is consistent with historical industry gains. In addition to the improvement in overall dependability, the rate of component replacement has also been reduced from 2009. Approximately 65 percent of owners indicate they replaced a vehicle component in 2010, compared with 68 percent in 2009.

The study also finds that long-term dependability has a significant positive effect on repurchase intent. Among owners who say they did not experience problems with their vehicle, 43 percent indicate they “definitely will” repurchase their current brand. This figure declines to 28 percent among owners who say they experienced at least one problem with their vehicle.

The 2010 Vehicle Dependability Study is based on responses from more than 52,000 original owners of 2007 model-year vehicles. The study was fielded between October and December 2009.

Find more detailed findings on vehicle dependability as well as model photos and specs by reading an article and reviewing brand and segment dependability ratings at JDPower.com.

– By: Omar Rana

For a couple of years, Google has been pushing its enterprise offering quite aggressively in an attempt to secure a foothold in the lucrative market. Now, the company is announcing it has reached another major milestone, some 25 million people are now using Google Apps at work or in school. In terms of actual companies or organizations that have switched … (read more)

News of the nowGoogle.com adalah Multiple Search Engine Popular Free SEO Contest, for the Blogger I think this a very good news and the wait for this event can be a means to hone its ability to optimize a keyword to display in search engines or the term Search Engine Optimization. “

” seems to have often heard well ..?? of course because it is a keyword that has not been long in the competition earlier this year in Indonesia, which held by nowGoogle.com kombes.com working with a social networking like facebook but the original made in the country Indonesia.

Back to nowGoogle.com, the first time I heard about this site must have something to do with google ..?? wkwkw, there are really only there was also wrong, nowGoogle.com basically the same as Google, yahoo and friends of others which is a search engine a query that we need by typing in keywords that relate to these queries, only nowGoogle.com is Multiple Search Engine Latest by giving advantages of Multiple Search Engine which I think is very Hot.

There is no doubt that Fiat SpA is planning a major overhaul of its Alfa Romeo brand, which is currently being led by the hot new Alfa Romeo Giulietta. According to a report by AutoCar, the Alfa Romeo Giulietta will be getting a performance version very soon.

It is unclear whether the high-performance Giulietta will be badged GTA or Cloverleaf, but it will be front-wheel-drive and will use the new 1750 TBi turbocharged gasoline engine with Multiair. The car was previewed at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show with the 235-hp engine and Cloverleaf cosmetic upgrades.

The model will use Alfa’s Q2 electronic differential and will also come with active dampers and Fiat’s new dual-clutch gearbox.

As for the Alfa Romeo MiTo GTA, production for the 240-hp hot-hatch looks unlikely. Basically Fiat is thinking that during the economic downturn, the current 168-hp Cloverleaf MiTo should be enough to satisfy high-performance needs.

We’re just hoping that Fiat brings the Giulietta and the MiTo to the United States.

2011 Alfa Romeo Giulietta:

– By: Kap Shah

Source: AutoCar

Live streaming video will be available during the RA schedule listed below.  The videos will also be available on demand after the live broadcast. Go to LiveStream now!

Representative Assembly LiveStream Schedule

Thursday, March 18, 2010

4:00 pm (approximate time) (tentative) Dennis Van Roekel,  President of the National Education Association

6:45 pm (approximate time) Ken Swanson, President of the Illinois Education Association

Friday, March 19, 2010

2:00 pm (approximate time) Gubernatorial Candidates – Governor Pat Quinn (D), Republican State Senator Bill Brady (R)

Saturday, March 20, 2010

10:00 am (approximate time) U.S. Senate Candidates –  State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (D), Congressman Mark Kirk (R)

About a year ago a prosecutor in Pennsylvania wanted to bring child porn charges against some teenage girls who had taken some “nude and seminude” photos of themselves with cameraphones and sent them to others. The case was complicated in that after school officials turned over the evidence to the district attorney, the DA’s office told the girls that they could avoid charges if they agreed to a special afterschool “education program.” Some of the girls refused, and the prosecutor tried to charge them. This raised an outcry from many who felt it was ridiculous to charge kids with child pornography for taking photos of themselves. The judges in the case blocked the prosecutor from filing charges, but rather than take the hint, the prosecutor tried again with an appeal.

It looks like that was a dead end too. The appeals court unanimously ruled against the DA and criticized them for their efforts to bring charges against these girls. This case won’t necessarily directly apply to other similar cases — as much of the reasoning had to do with the requirement to take this class and write an essay about why what they did was “wrong,” which was judged to be compelled speech, violating the First Amendment. Furthermore, the fact that the lawsuit was seen as retaliating for not obeying the order to take the class was also problematic. So, it’s likely we’ll still see other cases involving “sexting,” where teenagers are accused of creating child porn of themselves.

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Filed under: Truck, Recalls, Safety, Toyota

The troubles keep mounting for Toyota as the company announced that the number of Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles that have been recalled will be going up by two. No, not two million… just two. That means the company has now recalled 8,500,002 vehicles in the past several months. This most recent recall involves a pair of four-wheel-drive Toyota Tundra pickups that may have an improperly welded front propeller shaft.

No word on whether or not these two are also covered by the frame rust issue, but the weld at the point where the propeller shaft and yoke meet could separate, and if the shaft made contact with the ground while in motion, the Tundra could contend for the gold in pole vaulting at the 2012 London Olympics. If nothing else, Toyota might nab a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest and smallest recalls announced in a given year with this tiny callback.

[Source: Inside Line]

Toyota recalls two, just two, 2010 Tundras originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It was reported earlier this month that some Toyota drivers are still experiencing unintended acceleration after their recalled vehicles were repaired. According to an Associated Press analysis of government data, complaints of sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles repaired under recall have nearly doubled in the past two weeks.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received complaints from 105 drivers, raising the question about whether Toyota’s recall repairs are actually working.

Toyota has previously said that it is confident in its repairs and found no evidence of other problems, such as a problem in the electronics.

David Strickland, NHTSA’s administrator, did say in a statement Wednesday that the agency has found “several instances in which a dealer made mistakes in applying one of the recall remedies.” He said that the NHTSA is working with Toyota to improve instruction to dealers.

Toyota has recalled more than 8.1 million vehicles worldwide since October.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: TIME

An upcoming exhibition from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, “Rising Currents: Projects for New York City’s Waterfront,” will offer a set of “soft” infrastructure ideas for adapting to rising sea levels. The goal of the exhibition is to highlight the threats presented by climate change and explore  “new research and fresh thinking about the use of New York City’s harbor and coastline.” Soft (or, really, green) infrastructure involves the use of natural systems and can even support the development of local ecosystems. MoMA will also highlight concepts they consider “shovel ready,” arguing that climate change adaption projects can spur economic development.

Adam Freed, Deputy Mayor, Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, gave the exhibition a positive review, calling the work “optimistic innovation.” Freed argues that the exhibition presents the green infrastructure ideas of the future. “The ‘Rising Currents’ exhibition provides us with a model of how the innovative use of both structural and non-structural elements can help us withstand the impacts of climate change while making the city more sustainable. It also emphasizes the need to involve a wide variety of disciplines, experts, and stakeholders in developing resilience strategies to ensure that all possibilities are explored.”

Freed contends New York City can prepare for climate change by developing a new approach to the built environment more in synch with the natural world. ”The work of the five teams at P.S.1 illustrates that climate change will require us to alter the way we behave as individuals, build and operate infrastructure, design buildings, utilize land, manage natural resources, make investments, and plan for the future. Their work emphasizes innovative strategies that enhance our built environment while embracing the natural environment—even as it changes around us.”

The ideas were created by five interdisciplinary teams derived from P.S.1’s architects-in-residence program. The installation presents the proposals developed during the program, including a set of models, drawings, and analysis.

The exhibition will be open March 24 – October 11, 2010. Learn more and check out preparations leading up to the “Rising Currents” exhibition on MoMA’s blog.

Image credit: MoMA

Depois que notícias apareceram de que o modelo conceito do Cadillac Converj não entraria em produção por questões de custo de produção (o modelo seria muito caro para os compradores da marca), a montadora anuncia oficialmente que as informações passadas pela imprensa não eram nada além de especuçações e que não eram oficiais.

Entretanto, não confirmaram se o modelo realmente estaria vivo ou morto em seus planos. O porta-voz da Cadillac, Nick Twork, diz o seguinte para o site Inside Line:

“Não está nem uma coisa nem outra. Eu não tenho uma resposta definitiva para isso de uma forma ou de outra. Dizer que está vivo ou morto não quer dizer que irá se tornar um carro em produção. O carro é um conceito. Sempre foi um conceito. Nós estamos estudando isso”.

Imagens do Carro Conceito da Cadillac

Via | Inside Line

Tal y como reza el titular de esta noticia, General Motors acaba de comunicar que reabrirá Hummer por un tiempo limitado. Además, también ha confirmado que reabrirá Saturn en las mismas condiciones.

La principal razón por la que han tomado esta decisión es porque a GM le sale mucho más rentable el terminar las unidades que se encontraban en la cadena de montaje y vender por completo todo el stock que dejarlo en un almacén oscuro.

Por último, cabe destacar que dicha producción dará comienzo a finales del próximo mes de Abril y una vez consumdo dichas unidades, General Motors cerrará definitivamente Hummer y Saturn.

Related posts:

1. Hummer es cerrado por General Motors
2. General Motors liquida los modelos de Pontiac y Saturn
3. Penske y General Motors firman un acuerdo por Saturn

As we get ready to see more details about the filings from both Viacom and Google in the YouTube fight, Eric Goldman notes that Viacom has dropped another 187 videos from its complaint. This isn’t the first time either. Late last year, Viacom dropped a bunch of videos from the lawsuit after realizing that many had been uploaded by Viacom employees. As Goldman notes, the fact that it’s taken Viacom three years to even realize that some of these videos don’t belong in the lawsuit is incredibly telling. If it takes Viacom three years to realize that such videos may or may not infringe, how is it reasonable to expect Google/YouTube to be able to make snap judgments and automatically know what infringes on all the videos uploaded to its site? Viacom, of course, is just claiming that it’s removing these 187 videos to “streamline” the issues. However, considering that there are 63,000 videos involved in the lawsuit, it’s not like this makes any difference at all. Basically, Viacom knows that it has highly questionable claims on those videos it’s trying to drop from the case — which proves the point. Even Viacom has no idea what is and is not infringing, despite having three years to figure it out. Yet it thinks that the law should require a third party to know immediately?

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To Our Clients, Colleagues and Friends,

• With Congress trying to figure out what to with Regulatory bodies, we have an idea.  Instead of the OCC, OTS, FDIC, and Federal Reserve, we’d set things up like this:   (a) One regulator for banks over $50 billion in assets, (b) another for banks $1 billion to $50 billion in size, and (c) one for all banks under $1 billion in size. Why should the OCC regulate $2 trillion BofA along with a $50 million community bank that just happens to have a national bank charter?  Size should be the determinant of who regulates which bank, not the charter they have.
• A recent Wall Street Journal showed just how much cash the big technology companies had on December 31, 2009.

These tech companies have been using their cash on acquisitions and to develop new products.  Mortgage bankers increased their liquidity in big ways last year, but we see very little of that cash being used on acquisitions.

• We finally got an appropriate logo up on top.  On of these days we’ll figure out how to make it less blurry.
• We have a Beverly Hills client looking for someone to run their Rate Lock Desk. The main requirement besides experience is to have one of those personalities that’s really obsessive about the accuracy and integrity of all the data within the pipeline. After lunch and after the market closes, you can hang out on Rodeo Drive . Maybe you can meet Lindsay Lohan while shopping.
  
  Even if you don’t apply for the job, you should rent Down and Out in Beverly Hills .  It’s one of the funniest movies ever made.  Here’s a short clip.
• If you use a Hedging Advisor, we have a new job title in lieu of Head of Secondary Marketing or VP Capital Markets.  After all, your Hedging Advisor is really doing the Capital Markets stuff, so our idea for a more accurate title is Rate Lock Desk Manager and Pipeline Czar.  Below is Czar Nicholas, who was fired (and then shot) for allowing excessive leakage in the pipeline.
  
  
  

• Remember when baseball players were fiercely loyal to their team?  When he was 37, Jackie Robinson was traded by the Dodgers to the New York Giants, and he decided to retire rather than play for the arch-rival Giants.  And Maury Wills of the Dodgers once said that “One of the first things I learned as a Dodger is that I’m not supposed to like those guys, the Giants.  And as much as I respect Willie Mays, if his car was broken down on a Los Angeles freeway, I’d say, ‘Willie, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to call Triple-A”.  This is a photo of the great Jackie Robinson when he was in the minors, playing for the Dodgers affiliate in Canada .
  By the way, fraternizing with players from the opposition is still an offense that can lead to a player being fined by the Commissioner’s office.  It’s almost never enforced, however.
  

• If you’re thinking of cheating on your taxes, think twice. We went through a Total Compliance Audit on our 1981 returns, and one small example of how deep the IRS can dig had to do with a 4-plex we owned. We had expensed some patching done on the leaky roof, and the IRS agent got a ladder and literally climbed up on the roof to see if it really had been patched.  In a real audit, the receipts aren’t enough.  They wanted to look at the roof with their own eyes.  If they want to get you, they will.

• We’re reading Paul Johnson’s massive and dense History of Christianity, and the early days of the Church are quite fascinating. We’re also re-reading a biography of Woodrow Wilson, probably the first psycho-history ever written.  Who wrote it?  None other than Sigmund Freud himself.
  
• We see way too many audited financial statements where all revenue is dumped into one category of loan origination fee or some variation but where that includes loans fees, administrative fees, SRP’s and gain-on-sale. When we suggest to clients that they break it down and show these individual categories, we usually hear “That’s how our auditors do it” People, these are your financials, and it’s your choice what you choose to present.  Your auditor’s role is to audit the numbers.  Given that your major audience is your investors and/or warehouse lenders, we’d think you want to show them more detail on how you generate revenue, not less.
• We always knew this about how to present financials, but we wanted to double check, so we asked CPA Jeff Spiegel who confirmed it. No one knows the mortgage industry like Jeff, and if we were in the business, we’d choose his firms as our auditors.  You can reach him at 925-977-4000.
• What’s your ratio of Account Execs + loan officers to full-time employees? If you read page six of Flagstar’s latest prospectus, they have 3,411 full-time equivalent employees and 336 AE’s and LO’s for a 10.1-to-1 ratio.  It’s probably not a meaningful metric to compare yourself to unless you’re in the servicing business like Flagstar, but we find all ratios to be of interest. By the way, Flagstar’s prospectus is for their new capital raise of $250 million.
• On each of the two Boards of Directors of banks where’ve been CEO, we instituted a policy of no loans to insiders.  No as in zero! Aside from conflict issues, it’s just makes life easier at Safety & Soundness Exam time. Anyway,American Banker had an interesting article that showed insider lending off 99.5% at the BofA, off 95.1% at Wells, and off 68.8% at Citi. A tip of the hat to these three banks.
• We think very highly of Flagstar’s people and believe, absolutely, that they’re a survivor, but their last three years have been really tough.  Losses were $39 million in 2007, $275 million in 2008. and $513 million in 2009. The Board has adopted a five-part strategy to return the bank to profitability, and we completely agree with the focus and goals of this strategy.
• Here’s an idea to get people in Congress to work together instead of always demonizing the other side: Get some Foundation to give out ten awards of $1 million each year to the ten members of Congress who are the most bi-partisan and able to work with the other side.   It just might motivate the members of Congress, greedy little buggers that they are
• Would you invest in a company laden with huge amounts of debt and moderate growth or a company with high growth and no debt?  What if the choice were between countries with those profiles, one with tons of debt and one with no debt.  You’re given a choice to (a) put all your money into 10-year U.S. Treasuries or (b) 10-year Chinese government bonds.  Which would you invest in? The mere fact that you probably paused for a few seconds says a lot about our economies and its interrelatedness to the out-of-control federal deficit.
• Fiscal irresponsibility abounds not just at the federal level but at the state level as well. The Illinois Pension Fund is only 54% funded with a deficit of $54 billion. Considering how crappy things are in California , it’s a surprise that that State Pension fund is 87% funded.  A stunning 46 states are underfunded, but Washington State and Wisconsin are fully funded and Florida and New York are slightly over funded.
• San Francisco’s Mayor Gavin Newsom warned the labor unions that they needed to agree to pay cuts to deal with a large deficit. When they refused to negotiate and demanded pay raises, the Mayor exercised his legal authority and sent layoff notices to 17,000 city workers. Those who get re-hired will automatically be given a 6.25% pay cut.
  

• We asked all you over-50’s to send in your nominations for best albums, and we were flooded with great memories.  To get on the final list you needed at least two nominations.  Number one was Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon with 13 votes, followed by Let It Be, the White Album and Abbey Road by the Beatles with 7 votes each. We voted for albums by Leonard Cohen, Elvis and Country and the Fish.  All told, well over 60 people responded.

No Four Seasons or Beach Boys? No Grateful Dead or Country Joe, and how could this be a complete list with out the sweetness of Sam Cooke?  We were surprised at few voted were received by Credence Clearwater, Neil Young and Fred Neil, the Velvet Underground, the Ramones and Bruce Springsteen. You’d need a list three times longer to remember all the albums, and each one has its memories.

                                                   *       *

Here’s Branch Rickey, the Dodgers General Manager who signed Jackie Robinson.  “A baseball box score is a democratic thing. It doesn’t tell how big you are, what church you attend, what color you are, or how your father voted in the last election.  It just tells what kind what baseball player you were on that particular day.”

We’ve attached an article on a client we advised on buying a bank, and he’s now bought his second bank.  Congratulations to mortgage banker Rob Hirt owner of RPM Mortgage.

Cheers!

Garrett, Watts & Co. 

Helping lenders increase revenues, control costs, and better manage risk.

• Mike McAuley   ([email protected] )
• Corky Watts      ([email protected]) 
• Joe Garrett       ([email protected] )

Remember Copenhagen back in December, that obviously failed Climate Change Conference where we were supposed to find a new direction for the future.

Remember at the close of that Conference how the huge American delegation had to hurry back home in their fleet of USAF and private jets, that hurry necessitated by the first of the huge East Coast blizzards that were so large especially in the North East. Remember also how snow was recorded in areas not seeing snow before. Remember how there was even snow as far South as Florida.

Well, this month, that source of statistics I have used for two years now, The Energy Information Administration, brought out their latest snapshot of power consumption in the U.S. along with everything regarding matters concerning energy. Those statistics cover the three months up to and including December. This is something only the U.S. does. In nearly every other Country on the Planet, something of the scale of this just cannot be done at all, and few Countries, very few indeed, bring out similar statistics for the previous year, so in most cases they are nearly 2 years out of date. However, in the U.S. they have done it for so long now, that they can do this with only three months lead time. It is a monumentally huge task to accomplish when you consider the detail that is part of these statistics.

A few days back now, those stats for that period were released, and they shine a spotlight directly upon some of the most damning statistics I have seen. I’m going to explain in detail, and after reading, and seeing for yourself, you will be asking yourself some pretty hard questions. This proves, and proves conclusively, just how totally and utterly useless renewable power really is.

I want you to open up this link, and by clicking on it, you will open it in a new page, and then all you have to do is navigate between the pages as I explain it to you.

Now, scroll all the way down the page so the bottom of the statistics are visible in the screen. At the far right, go up to that first number there immediately above the numbers in Bold. That number is 350,378. That is Thousands of MegaWattHours, and is the total power consumed across the whole U.S. in the month of December. That figure equates to around 350 Billion KiloWattHours (KWH) that KWH being the number most of you see on your electricity account whenever it comes in.

This is for every sector that uses power, and there are three, Residential (38%) Commerce (37%) and Industrial (24%), so it’s where you live, where you work, and where you do everything else in your life.

You can see the number directly above it, the total for November. The December figure is considerably higher, as you may expect being the first Month of Winter, but even a quick appraisal of the figures above will show that is a considerable increase, in the amount of almost 20% over and above November, and in fact, an increase of 3% over the corresponding December from last year, and considering the increase in renewable power, and that people are using electricity in a more responsible manner, (supposedly) then the size of that increase is quite startling indeed.

Now, at that same page, now look at the number in the left hand column, 167,241, or 167 Billion KWH, a monthly increase of 22% and parity with last December, and keeping in mind that many coal fired plants have closed operations in the last year, then it is obvious those remaining plants have been asked to do more, and supply more power to the grids.

Look across the page toward the middle where you find the number 70,441. That is the power from Nuclear power plants 70 Billion KWH, a monthly increase of just under 20%, and also parity with the previous December.

These two mentioned here, Coal fired and Nuclear provide that 24/7/365 power, referred to as Base Load Power, that level of power required ABSOLUTELY for 24 hours of every day.

Look between these two for the number 71,570 and this is for Natural Gas Fired Plants. This 71 Billion KWH shows a monthly increase of 13%, and also an increase over last December of 13% also.

These plants come on line at times of peak power when the load requirements call for an extra amount of power to be made available to the grids. They can run up to speed quickly, supply their power to the grids faster because of that, and usually run for around five/six hours at a time, and then shut down until they are called for again.

Now these increases are in fact quite understandable. After all, it is the start of Winter, and you would expect that, because where you work, in every high rise office, and at home, then the heat goes on to keep out the bitter cold.

However, I want you now to look very closely at that number fourth from the right, 12,384. This is the 12 Billion KWH supplied from the renewable sector. While those other numbers have all risen for November (remember now, this is now Winter) that number has actually gone down by a small amount. Down, while all those others rose considerably. In fact the renewables sector was the ONLY power delivery sector that did go down. That number is even down on last December, and here you need to keep in mind that those wind towers are being constructed at a huge rate, more than any other power plant that provides electricity, and in fact this year, the U.S. finally took over as the largest producer on Earth of wind power, and yet it went down.

Now, take this link to the page of stats just for renewable power alone.

The December number for Wind power alone is that number at the left column, 6,270 or 6 Billion KWH, down nearly 4% from November, and even down from the year before by almost 7%, and there’s an awful lot more of them than there was in that previous year.

That power total amounts to only 1.78% of the total power supplied, well down on the yearly average of 2.2% of all power coming from the wind.

That exact same total amount of power supplied from every wind tower in the U.S. was in fact supplied by three large coal fired power plants for the same one month time frame, and unlike those wind towers, it was supplied for 24 hours of every day for that month, and not just for the four or five hours a day these towers do provide their power.

You can dial up the coal fired and nuclear power plants and ask them to supply more power. You can dial up the Natural Gas fired plants and ask them to run more of them, and run them for longer. However, it seems that you cannot dial up the wind and ask it to blow harder.

See the point.

Now however, and I saved this little beauty for last.

On that same page there look at the number next across from wind on that same line, the number that says 17. That is the power supplied from ALL the Solar plants in the WHOLE of the U.S. for the Month of December. That’s 17 Million KWH. This amounts to 0.004% of all power supplied to the grids across the U.S. for the Month of December. Read that again. 0.004%. That’s down, and so far down as to be almost inconsequential from the yearly average of 0.02%, and in this case for this Month, only one fifth of the power they can average for the whole year.

So just how much power was supplied to all U.S. grids from Solar Power for the month of December.

Let’s look at just ONE large coal fired power plant, of say, 2000MW Nameplate Capacity. That one plant would supply the same power to its grid as ALL solar plants in the U.S. supplied to all the grids in December, and it supplies that power every ….. wait for it ….. every 9 hours and 45 minutes.

Let’s try the same extrapolation for any ONE nuclear power plant, and let’s choose, um, how about Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. This will supply the same amount of power to California’s grid as EVERY solar plant supplied to U.S. grids, and supply that same amount of power every 8 hours and 8 minutes.

This proves, and proves conclusively, that Solar Power Plants can be placed wherever you want them to be, and in Winter, they will not supply enough power euphemistically to run a light bulb. What an immense waste of money.

The next set of figures will be released in early June and will cover January through March. After seeing what weather the U.S. had in January and February, I expect those figures from December to be mirrored in the new ones for both solar power, and also for wind power.

Renewable power, be it wind, or more especially solar, cannot be relied on EVER to supply power that is needed, when it is needed, and in the quantities it will be needed at any time, let alone when it really counts.

USELESS, USELESS, USELESS.

FAIL, and an EPIC FAIL at that.

Filed under: America (USA), Blundering Bureaucrats, Climate Alarmists, Climate Change, Democrats, Environment, Environmental activists, Fear-mongering, Fraud/Waste, Global Warming, Infrastructure Problems, Liberals, Politics, Power Hungry, Propaganda Tagged: Climate Change Hypocrisy, Climate Change Religion, Global Warming Alarmism, Global Warming Hype, Renewable Power Plants, Solar Power Generation, US Electrical Power Statistics, Wind Power Generation

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