Author: Serkadis

Article Tags: Amazon Rain Forests

They may be more tolerant of droughts than previously thought

Boston) — A new NASA-funded study has concluded that Amazon rain forests were remarkably unaffected in the face of once-in-a-century drought in 2005, neither dying nor thriving, contrary to a previously published report and claims by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“We found no big differences in the greenness level of these forests between drought and non-drought years, which suggests that these forests may be more tolerant of droughts than we previously thought,” said Arindam Samanta, the study’s lead author from Boston University.

The comprehensive study published in the current issue of the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters used the latest version of the NASA MODIS satellite data to measure the greenness of these vast pristine forests over the past decade.

A study published in the journal Science in 2007 claimed that these forests actually thrive from drought because of more sunshine under cloud-less skies typical of drought conditions. The new study found that those results were flawed and not reproducible.

Source: eurekalert.org

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Despite retail sales being up today, consumer confidence fell this month compared to February.

Sentiment was 72.5 in March versus the 73.6 in February, a 1.1 difference.

Stocks are still up, but have slipped a touch this morning.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Long Arugula: Whole Foods Is Killing It, As High-End Shoppers Are Out In Force
• Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index Delivers A Surprise Drop
• Retail Sales Whip Expectations, But They’re Not Enough To Help The Market

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety, Toyota

One of the most interesting sidebars that came out of Toyota’s recent recall woes and the subsequent Congressional hearings on the subject was the Japanese automaker’s relationship with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Actually, the interesting part of the relationship with the regulatory body had more to do with the fact that Toyota hired former NHTSA employees who subsequently negotiated terms of safety investigations with former co-workers.

While current federal law prohibits an employee of the Executive branch from leaving a government post to represent a matter in the private sector in said employee’s previous official area of responsibility, at least one former NHTSA executive feels tougher standards are in order. ABC News reports that Joan Claybrook (in pink, above), who ran NHTSA during the Carter administration, feels that the Obama administration needs to crack down on her former department because it’s become too cozy with the auto industry it is tasked with overseeing.

In a prepared statement before her testimony in front of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, Claybrook said automakers including Toyota treat NHTSA “with contempt.” But while some of her testimony will center on Toyota’s dealings with the government agency, the former safety boss says she has found a total of 40 former NHTSA or Department of Transportation employees who currently work in the auto industry. Claybrook says all three domestic automakers as well as BMW, Honda, Suzuki and various trade associations all have ex-NHTSA or DOT employees on staff.

[Source: ABC News | Image: Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty]

Report: Former NHTSA head Claybrook blasts relationship between safety agency and automakers originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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from mw, 10 March 2010: “You see it the moment you walk off the plane: a mammoth soccer ball hanging from the ceiling of Johannesburg International Airport festooned with yellow banners that read, “2010 Let’s Go! WORLD CUP!” If you swivel your head, you see that every sponsor has joined the party – Coca Cola, Anheuser-Busch – all branded with the FIFA seal. It’s when your head dips down that you see another, less sponsored, universe. Even inside this gleaming state-of-the-art airport, men ranging in age from 16-60 ask if they can shine your shoes, carry your bags, or even walk you to a cab. It’s the informal economy fighting for breathing room amidst the smothering sponsorship…” more

One of the great prospects of Google Wave has been the ability to develop embeddable widgets enabling users to extend the functionality and add the features that they need to a wave. While Google Wave is still in private beta, though there are over one million users by now, there was a need for them to be able to find these extensions easier and for develo… (read more)

The healthcare war is getting tense. According to NYT, Barck Obama is delaying a European Asian trip in order to stay home and fight on healthcare.

Yesterday Obama actually blasted out a text message to all his followers asking them to bombard Congress with requests for healthcare reform.

The #1 stumbling block is still abortion.

Pelosi & Co. are still trying desperately to get pro-life Congressmen on board with a plan that doesn’t specifically ban public funding for abortion.

On InTrade, odds of Obamacare’s passage are back below 50%. Exciting!

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Here’s How Obamacare Is Going To Kill Free Trade
• As Obamacare Returns, Health Insurers Have A Nice Ride
• Obamacare Countdown: With 9 Days Left To Go, Odds Of Passage Hit Brand-New High

from libcom via mw, updated 12 March 2010: “Battle Ground Athens: Second general strike leads to pitched battles… More than 150,000 people took to the streets of Athens against the austerity measures in a mass protest march that has led to extended battles in the Greek capital.

On Thursday March 11 all of Greece came to a 24 hour standstill as a result of the second general strike to be called within less than a month (not the third as reported by foreign media, as the first strike in February only concerned the public sector)…” more

With the PlayStation Move now fully revealed, practically everyone (gamers anyway) and his mother has something to say about it. Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux thinks it’s a step forward for Sony, but not as big a step

When the Lexus IS originally made its debut in Europe, it was offered with an estate (station wagon) variant called SportCross. However, Lexus eventually dropped the estate version but now admits that the policy has hurt sales of the model in Europe where it faces competition from the 3-Series Touring and A4 Avant.

To fix all that, Lexus is now working on an estate variant of the next-generation Lexus IS. The third-generation of the IS lineup is due out in 2011.

Click here to get prices on the 2010 Lexus IS.

Sources also say that the IS is likely to be offered as a hybrid only, moving forward with the strategy with standalone hybrid models like the HS 250h and the CT200h.

We just hope they leave the V8 IS-F untouched (or touch it up with some more power).

– By: Omar Rana

Source: AutoCar

Update: As lots of folks are pointing out in the comments, this appears to have been included by some third party or disgruntled employee or something, rather than Energizer itself. Energizer has recalled the products and is investigating. Apologies for suggesting that this may have been intentional on Energizer’s part. The original post follows: Someone, who prefers to remain anonymous, alerts us to the news that Symantec has discovered that a USB battery charger from Energizer installs a dangerous rootkit after installing the required driver. You would think that legit companies would know better than to install a secret rootkit after the Sony rootkit fiasco from a few years back. This particular rootkit constantly listens for commands that could allow a computer to secretly execute files or even send computer files to a remote computer. Not exactly the kind of stuff you want installed on your computer. The Energizer Bunny might keep going and going and going, but there are some things it’s not supposed to do…

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Filed under: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Nissan, Design/Style

When we first met Nissan’s vice president-design for North America Bruce Campbell, we were amused by his name. Hey, we’ve seen Evil Dead II at least fifty times. But after a few minutes of conversation with Nissan’s highest-ranking U.S. designer, we were deeply impressed by his humor, ideas about design (“The Corvette looks fast standing still, the 370Z looks fast at speed”) and his soft-spoken grace. Sadly, Mr. Campbell is disembarking from the Nissan ship after more than thirty years at sea, reports Wards Auto.

Campbell’s career reads like a Nissan greatest design hits list, having worked on the (still fab looking) “Hardbody” trucks, the third-generation Maxima, the Xterra and more recently, the new latest Maxima, the Rogue and the 370Z. Going back to our conversation, Bruce explained to us that the 350Z was designed only as a coupe, and that the 350Z Roadster looked odd because it was an afterthought. From the start, the 370Z was designed to be both a coupe and a convertible. We think he did well. We also think that his successor and current European design chief Alfonso Albaisa has some pretty big shoes to fill.

Photos by Drew Phillips / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

[Source: Wards Auto]

Report: Nissan’s head U.S. designer, Bruce Campbell to retire at end of March originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In case the absence of the “Tomb Raider” name in the title didn’t give it away, Crystal Dynamics has revealed that Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light isn’t the next main entry in the franchise.

A Wisconsin judge has ordered Mercedes-Benz USA to pay $482,000 in damages and legal fees to a customer who was sold a defected Mercedes-Benz E-Class and not given his refund on time.

In 2005, Marco Marquez, a 37-year-old businessman from Waukesha, purchased a brand new Mercedes-Benz E 320 for a total of $56,000. Almost immediately after purchasing the car, Marquez faced problems starting it. He said that the battery was replaced several times but the problem continued and after several attempts the dealership told Marquez that the problem could not be solved.

Marquez eventually hired Vince Megna, a lawyer from Milwaukee, to represent him. Megna immediately said that the Marquez was protected under a state “lemon law” (which we’re pretty sure many of you know about).

Well, the case eventually dragged on for a total of four years. At first, the dealership offered Marquez a replacement for the car but he refused and asked for a refund. The dealer finally agreed but failed to pay Marquez within 30 days. Since under the Wisconsin state “lemon law” dealers have 30 days to refund a customers money, Marquez filed a lawsuit against Mercedes-Benz on the 31st day saying the company was stalling since on the 30th day they asked him for information about his auto loan, which they already had.

A judge finally ruled in Marquez’s favor in 2007, awarding him $202,000 in damages and legal fees. However, an appeal overturned the decision in Mercedes-Benz’s favor. Now, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren overturned the verdict, saying it was not backed up by evidence. He ruled in Marquez’s favor awarding him a total of $482,000, of which $168,000 was for the car’s purchase price plus interest and $314,000 for costs and legal fees for Megna and other lawyers.

Even through all this, Marquez continued to drive his E 320, which now has 56,000 miles on it.

– By: Kap Shah

Source: FoxNews

Embora o Pagani Zonda R tenha sido lançado há pouco tempo atrás, esse comercial (também de algumas semanas atrás) ainda circula em sites e blogs especializados no assunto até hoje. E não tem como não ficar com a atenção presa nos 3 minutos desse belo comercial.

Para os fãs desse supercarro, foi escolhido uma trilha sonora perfeita para o momento, e a melhor parte do vídeo, particularmente, é ouvir o barulho desses motores de meros 750 cavalos é muito emocionante.

Vale a pena conferir esse vídeo (ou rever), e conferir o potencial desses carros, que até mesmo seu criador, Horácio Pagani, olhando suas crianças bem de perto, parece ter essa noção…

from email, 11 March 2010: “Detainee Solidarity London is calling for a demo this Saturday at Harmondsworth in solidarity with the 55 detainees on hunger strike since last week. At any one time, over 2500 people are in immigration detention in the UK. Some have been detained for months, others for years. We call for the immediate closure of all detention centres and stand in solidarity with all those in Harmondsworth, Yarl’s Wood and elsewhere resisting this barbaric practice…” more

from mw, 10 March 2010: “You see it the moment you walk off the plane: a mammoth soccer ball hanging from the ceiling of Johannesburg International Airport festooned with yellow banners that read, “2010 Let’s Go! WORLD CUP!” If you swivel your head, you see that every sponsor has joined the party – Coca Cola, Anheuser-Busch – all branded with the FIFA seal. It’s when your head dips down that you see another, less sponsored, universe. Even inside this gleaming state-of-the-art airport, men ranging in age from 16-60 ask if they can shine your shoes, carry your bags, or even walk you to a cab. It’s the informal economy fighting for breathing room amidst the smothering sponsorship…” more

Filed under: Car Buying, Government/Legal, GM

We have no proof that General Motors is getting payback on the three dealers who founded the Committee to Restore Dealer Rights (CRDR), Tammy Darvish, Jack Fitzgerald and Alan Spitzer. But we do know that retribution is a game often played by all sides, and that Darvish, Fitzgerald and Spitzer definitely believe GM has taken the first shot.

When GM announced nearly 2,000 dealer closures last year, the CRDR was created to lobby Congress to to invalidate the move. When that didn’t work, the CRDR was able to get an arbitration law passed that gave dealers an opening to reinstatement. Of the 1,350 dealers marked for death, 1,160 took the opportunity for arbitration. Of that 1,160, there were 661 retroactively reinstated. However, of that 661, none include seven of the ten dealerships owned by Darvish, Fitzgerald and Spitzer that were slated to close.

GM has left the door ajar yet, saying that the remaining 499 dealers can contact the automaker for reinstatement or compensation and “GM would consider it.” It is surely the path that the three leaders of the CRDR will take, but from this vantage point it looks like there might not be a pot of gold at the end of it.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req’d. | Image: Mark Ralston/Getty]

Report: Main rejected-dealer advocates fail to get GM reinstatement call. Coincidence? originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hace un par de días, fué presentado en el Salón de Ginebra el nuevo Bugatti 16C Galibier. Ha su presentación sólo pudieron acudir un reducido grupo de periodistas previligiados. A día de hoy se trata de un mero concept pero podría llegar a producirse.

El interior de esta lujosa berlina puede ser descrito como sencillo y minimalista. Según se afirma, su velocidad máxima estará situada en los 390 km/h. Además, el interior estará cubierto por las maderas de más alta calidad, aluminio pulido y diferentes pieles.

En cuanto a su precio, sólo decir que rondará el millón de euros. Apesar de esta desorbitada cifra, Bugatti afirma que tiene ya a unos 200 clientes muy interesados en esta berlina que de llegar a producirse se convertirá en la más exclusiva y cara del mundo.

Related posts:

1. Bugatti Galibier Concept
2. El Bugatti 16C Galibier en Salón de Los Angeles
3. Bugatti Galibier 16C, imágenes oficiales

Aol has been working on Lifestream for quite a while now. The social web aggregation service has been integrating it with its various other products. It started out in AIM, one of the two IM services Aol runs, and, recently, it made its way into AOL Mail. Now, though, it’s shedding its shackles and becoming a stand-alone product, not tied up… (read more)

Filed under: Sedan, Government/Legal, Ford, Specialty

Later today, Ford will officially unveil its new Police Interceptor at a private fleet sales event in Las Vegas, but the first images of the new vehicle were posted this morning on the company’s website. As has been rumored for some time, Ford will be adapting the Taurus to take over for the aged Crown Victoria, which is finally being euthanized in September 2011.

At this point, we don’t have any mechanical details on the new cop car. We wouldn’t be surprised if Ford offers the Interceptor in two forms: a naturally aspirated 3.5-liter V6 version with front-wheel drive could serve for all those local applications like liaison officers, supervisors, etc. where extra performance is not needed. The true Interceptors for highway patrol applications will probably use the SHO powertrain with the 3.5-liter Ecoboost V6 and all-wheel drive.

This twin-turbo cop car would provide the first real performance challenge to the increasingly popular Dodge Charger while likely getting much better fuel economy (not to mention GM’s upcoming V8-powered, RWD, Zeta-based cruiser), and we presume that the Blue Oval will field the new units with the obligatory upgrades, including a more robust suspension, cooling system, electrical system and, hopefully, brakes. We should have all the answers for you around lunch time.

[Source: Ford]

BREAKING: First images of Ford’s new Taurus-based Police Interceptor revealed! originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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