Category: News

At this point, we’ve probably said all that needs to be said about Stephen Strasburg(notes) (0.89 ERA), Mike Stanton(notes) (17 HR), and Carlos Santana(notes) (.994 OPS). Which is not to suggest we’ll stop talking about them. In fact, Strasburg is scheduled to start on Monday night against the Toledo Mud Hens, so there’s a fair chance he’ll pitch his way into Closing Time. But after 40.1 brilliant innings in the high minors, you shouldn’t need to be told that he’s pretty good.

We’ve also dedicated blog posts — or at least bullets — to Desmond Jennings(notes) (11 SB), Buster Posey(notes) (.327 AVG), Pedro Alvarez(notes) (10 HR), Jeremy Hellickson(notes) (55 Ks in 50 IP), Brett Wallace(notes) (.912 OPS), and Aroldis Chapman(notes) (48 Ks in 40.2 IP). These names should all be well-known if you play in a league where prospects matter. 

There are, of course, many other relevant fantasy prospects who find themselves just a level or two away from the majors. Our purpose today is to review a few of them. The names below are not ranked; if even one of them becomes a must-add fantasy commodity this season, that would be a minor miracle. (Bad pun. Just noticed. Not originally intended). No one is saying that these guys are going to win you a fantasy title, or even make your 2011 roster. But if you’re involved in a deep, competitive format — seriously deep, where players like Strasburg and Santana have been owned for months — then the players below should be on your radar. Dozens of others should, too, but today we’re focused on guys at Double and Triple-A who’ve been piling up numbers.  

(And yeah, even in a post that’s supposedly not going to involve Strasburg, we led with his picture, featured his name in the headline, then repeated it four times in the introduction. He’s a bit more clickable than, say, this dude…)

Jose Tabata(notes), Pit, OF
Alvarez is the Pirates prospect that we’re all waiting for, but this guy could arrive first and have a greater short-term fantasy impact. Acquired from the Yankees in the Xavier Nady(notes) deal, the 21-year-old Tabata currently leads the International League in stolen bases (19) and he’s hitting .320/.379/.426. There’s not much power here, unless you’re looking for doubles, but he’s a career .298 hitter in the minors and he can clearly run.

Mike Minor, Atl, SP
Another year, another excellent Braves pitching prospect. Ho-hum. This left-hander leads all minor leaguers in strikeouts, with 72 Ks in just 49.2 innings at Double-A Mississippi. Minor’s fantasy ratios aren’t overwhelming (3.44 ERA, 1.23 WHIP), but he’s had double-digit strikeout totals in three of his last five starts. His velocity has been better than expected, too (low to mid-90s). The former Vanderbilt star was the seventh overall pick in last year’s draft.

Mike Moustakas(notes), KC, 3B
After an underwhelming year in the Carolina League (16 HR, 10 SB, .250 AVG), Moustakas has decisively reclaimed his elite prospect status in Double-A at age 21. He leads the Texas League in all the Triple Crown categories (12-40-.395), and his .816 slugging percentage is the best in the minors, topping even Stanton (.735). If Moustakas can maintain anything close to his current pace, this is a guy we’ll be desperate to see next June.

Andrew Cashner(notes), ChC, SP
The hard-throwing right-hander was excellent at Double-A early in the year (2.75 ERA, 10.5 K/9), and he’s been unbeatable since making the leap to Triple-A. In three starts for Iowa, he’s 3-0 with a 0.95 ERA, 0.79 WHIP and 14 Ks in 19.0 innings. The Cubs can’t seem to figure out how to squeeze the organization’s most expensive pitcher into the starting rotation right now (Carlos Zambrano(notes)), so there’s obviously no room for Cashner at the moment. He could have been useful in a relief role, but now that Bob Howry(notes) is on board, the ‘pen is loaded. (Yes, that’s a joke).  

Travis Wood(notes), Cin, SP
You might recall that it was Wood — not Aroldis Chapman — who finished as the runner-up to Mike Leake(notes) for the Reds’ fifth starter gig back in the spring. The 23-year-old lefty has pitched a couple of messy outings for Triple-A Louisville, but in his last two appearances he’s allowed only six hits over 14 innings, and he’s struck out 16. Wood now has 57 Ks in 56.1 innings; he’ll be an option if Homer Bailey(notes) (shoulder) hits the DL. 

Domonic Brown(notes), Phi, OF
There’s not exactly a clear path to the big leagues this year, but we should see Brown in 2011. He’s been terrific at Double-A Reading, delivering seven homers and seven steals while hitting .311/.387/.582. Brown was excellent at three minor league stops in ’09, too: 14 HR, 23 SB, .299 AVG, .880 OPS. This spring, he hit a bomb off Justin Verlander(notes) that still hasn’t landed. (Video here). 

Daniel Hudson(notes), ChW, SP
If the White Sox become deadline sellers (possible) and/or Freddy Garcia(notes) continues to struggle (certain), then Hudson will eventually make his way back to Chicago. His most recent start for Triple-A Charlotte was an eight-inning, three-hit, 11-K shutout. Hudson has 59 strikeouts in 48.1 innings this year. His ERA isn’t pretty (4.47), but most of the ugliness occurred in a disastrous one-inning effort at Colorado Springs (8 H, 9 ER, 2 HR). Since that game, he’s given up only seven runs in 32.0 innings while striking out 41 batters and walking just six. 

Lance Lynn(notes), StL, SP
The 23-year-old righty is on a nice roll at Triple-A Memphis, having limited opponents to one ER or less in five of his last seven starts. On Saturday, Lynn held Sacramento to three hits and no runs over eight innings, striking out nine. He went 11-4 last season across three levels (mostly Double-A), with a 2.85 ERA and 124 Ks in 148.2 innings. He’s allowed only seven homers in 200.1 IP over the past two years. With Kyle Lohse(notes) and Brad Penny(notes) both dealing with injuries, Lynn could sneak into the starting mix earlier than expected. 

Derrick Robinson, KC, OF
If you’re looking for future speed, this is your guy. He’s one of the fastest men in professional baseball anything. The 22-year-old has already swiped 25 bags for Northwest Arkansas this season, and he’s batting .310/.407/.406. (That slash line is a massive improvement over last year’s .239/.290/.324 at Single-A, and he’s drawing walks at a much better rate). Robinson stole 62 bases in the Carolina League in 2008 and 69 in ’09. 

Tanner Scheppers(notes), Tex, RP
Scheppers could be a useful middle reliever in the not-so-distant future. He’s posted an ERA of 1.29 this year in 11 appearances at Double and Triple-A, and he’s struck out 34 batters while allowing only 11 hits in 21.0 innings. When the Rangers’ overworked bullpen needs help, Scheppers is just a level away.

Madison Bumgarner(notes), SF, SP
After rediscovering some lost velocity and enhancing his arsenal, the 20-year-old lefty has been outstanding. He hasn’t yielded more than two runs in any of his last seven Triple-A starts, dating back to April 19. Bumgarner began the season with a pair of ugly stat-lines, but lately he’s been extremely effective, though not quite the K-machine we saw in ’08 

Simon Castro, SD, SP
If he were with another organization, maybe this 22-year-old right-hander would receive more attention. Castro is 6-foot-5, he throws in the mid to high-90s, and he K’d 157 batters in 140.1 innings in the Midwest League last season. Now at Double-A, he’s posted a 1.75 ERA and 0.96 WHIP in 51.1 innings.

—

Photos via US Presswire

This weekend, I had a conversation with someone non-crazy who thinks there is a not-insignificant chance that the Supreme Court will overturn health care reform, or at least the individual mandate (it’s not clear what happens to the rest of the law if the mandate goes down; there’s some possibility that this would invalidate the entire law).  Mind you, this person was not suggesting that the chances were, say, 85%; more like 25%.

But in a case like this, 25% is a big chance.  So we spent a bit of time speculating about what would happen next.

We know what happens if the court simply invalidates the mandate:  you get New York State, where the cost of insurance spirals out of control, until the few remaining people in the individual market are so sick that the death spiral bottoms out.  Adverse selection does have its limits, which is why, even before lemon laws, there was a market (however imperfect) for used cars.

What happens after that?  That would leave politicians deciding whether to repeal the most popular features, or end individual health insurance as we know it.  Fun choice.  My guess is that we’d get some weird hybrid model of corporate and state-sponsored insurance–but the state sponsored insurance would probably itself be overwhelmed by adverse selection, or (if we simply funded universal coverage out of tax dollars), by employers dumping their employees onto the public plan.  But I have no idea where the money would come from.

But what if the whole thing goes?  I don’t see a way forward for anything that current progressives think of as health care reform; it basically precludes the Netherlands model, and possibly most of the other European models, though I have to think more about the latter before I’m sure.  But there’s a strong possibility that any ruling that eliminated the individual mandate would make anything but single payer or a national health service illegal.  Ironically, a conservative court might push health policy to the left.

Or maybe a better way to put it is that it would polarize the choices:  incremental tweaks, or single payer. (I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that our legislators would not pursue the folly of guaranteed issue and community rating without a mandate).  Where would it go?

Not, I think, in the direction of single payer.  The bill would be staggering.  Yes, yes, I know you want to raise taxes to pay for it, but the price tag would still give American voters sticker shock.  You’d never get it through the Senate unless the composition of that august body radically changed.

My hope is that in this unlikely event, it would open the way for something more like what I’ve proposed:  catastrophic income insurance for everyone (i.e., the government will cover health care costs above some fairly high percentage of your income), with less support for first-dollar coverage. 

But that’s a pretty wan hope.  And unless these lawsuits clear the court systems before 2014, the dislocations would be massive.

Things have been pretty stable today (albeit down), but a bout of selling has come over the market in the past several minutes, and the Dow is off nearly 1% with out 50 minutes to go in the day.

It’s the same story with the S&P 500, though last week’s big loser, the NASDAQ, is holding up pretty well, though it’s down after having been in the green all day.

Some other notable markets include gold, which is up very nicely, and the euro, which has dropped below $1.24.

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Mr. Schuester hits one out of the park with a rousing rendition of The National Anthem….

On Saturday, Glee’s Matthew Morrison performed our National Anthem — “The Star-Spangled Banner” –just before the start of the Mets-Yankees game in Flushing, New York, and he sounded great!

Check out Matt’s take on America’s most patriotic song HERE:

 

Likely in anticipation of the upcoming T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide launch, the original myTouch is now available for free from T-Mobile (with new two-year contract). Remember, the myTouch 3G started off as the second Android device ever and turned into T-Mobile’s flagship Android device (it still gets tons of commercials!)–it was definitely a solid phone from Android’s previous generation. But with the myTouch 3G Slide besting the myTouch 3G in every way, it was due for a huge price cut. If you really want a myTouch, we’d wait until June 2nd for the myTouch 3G Slide. It doesn’t make sense to invest in the previous generation anymore, even if it is for free. [t-mobile via tmonews]

This is a post by Android Central. It is sponsored by the Android Central Accessories Store

Should Congress or the EPA act to address the threat of global warming? Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Congress must act – and she’s right. The House passed legislation last year, and recently Senators Kerry and Lieberman introduced a very different approach called the American Power Act. But both bills would cut carbon pollution, curb our dependence on oil from unstable regions of the world and create millions of new clean energy jobs according to a new study from the Peterson Institute.

But within the next couple of weeks the Senate may well decide to do “none of the above.” Senator Lisa Murkowski is proposing legislation to strip EPA of all authority to reduce carbon pollution, make us more reliant on foreign oil, and do nothing to help American manufacturing compete with China or other nations in clean energy technologies.

Sen. Murkowski’s bill would nullify EPA’s finding of scientific fact that greenhouse gases cause harmful global warming – a finding that forms the legal basis for any further steps EPA can take to address carbon pollution. A vote for Murkowski’s resolution is a vote against the strong scientific consensus that climate change is a real threat we must avoid. Just earlier this week, the National Academy of Sciences reaffirmed that consensus when it described the likelihood that much of global warming is not caused by human activities as “vanishingly small.”

Sen. Murkowski’s bill would make us more reliant on foreign oil. It would dismantle the government’s program to reduce carbon pollution from cars and trucks – a program that U.S. automakers and the Obama Administration agreed last year to put in place – which will save Americans more than 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of the affected vehicles, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. At oil prices of $80 a barrel, that’s more than $80 billion worth of foreign oil Americans will not have to buy thanks to these standards.

Sen. Murkowski’s bill would do little or nothing for American manufacturers at a time when many are struggling to recover in these tough economic times. For American manufacturers hoping to compete with Chinese companies entering the clean energy, Sen. Murkowski’s approach would provide no assistance or incentive to innovate.

And Sen. Murkowski’s bill is outright opposed by American auto manufacturers. That’s because the agreement the Obama Administration and automakers reached last year also included California and 13 other states that agreed to set aside their own regulations of automobile emissions. With no national program, the agreement would fall and states would be free once again to move forward independently, leaving the automobile industry without the nationwide uniformity that it has described as vital to its business.

The Senate should reject this “do nothing” approach and get back to the important task of passing climate and energy legislation.

Over the weekend, Jeff Collins at the O.C. Register noted that the “Central Park West” complex in Irvine, California that was mothballed by Lennar in 2007 is now back on the market.

And from Amanda Fung at Crain’s New York: ‘Shadow’ condos dim sale outlook (ht Nick)

A little over two years ago, SDS Procida suspended plans to market The Dillon, its 83-unit Hell’s Kitchen condo, when residential real estate tanked … the developer finally put the units on the block three weeks ago.

…

“It is still early—you’re not seeing a flood of apartments yet—but we may see it happen during the second half of the year,” says Jonathan Miller, chief executive of appraisal firm Miller Samuel Inc.

…

Mr. Miller estimates that there were 6,500 units of shadow space in Manhattan alone during the first quarter of this year. If those apartments were unloaded all at once, supply would potentially skyrocket by 70%.

The term “shadow inventory” is used in many different ways. My definition is: housing units that are not currently listed on the market, but will probably be listed soon. This includes:

• Unlisted new high rise condos as discussed above. Note: these properties are not included in the new home inventory report.
• Homeowners waiting for a better market. Some of the increase in inventory in April might have been sellers hoping to take advantage of the tax credit. This includes the accidental landlords who will try to sell as soon as the market improves and the current tenant’s lease expires.
• REOs, foreclosures in process and some percentage of seriously delinquent loans (some will cure, some are already listed as short sales). See: Mortgage Delinquencies by Period
• It is difficult to put a number on the total, but it is in the millions of units and all this inventory will keep downward pressure on house prices for some time.

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Transocean Ltd., the Swiss company operating the Deepwater Horizon oil rig when it blew up last month, raised plenty of eyebrows last week when it announced its plan to pay out $1 billion in dividends to shareholders.

“It’s heartwarming to see that Transocean, the same company that rushed to limit its liability in the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, seemed not to hesitate at all when it came to the decision to distribute its profits,” one maritime expert wrote of the plan.

Today, 19 Senate Democrats took the scrutiny a long step further, asking the Justice Department to investigate whether those payouts are appropriate “at a time when [the company] may be responsible for financial damages related to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.”

“Transocean’s stockholders,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, ”should not take huge profits from polluting our country’s Gulf Coast.”

We are concerned that such action to quickly move money out of corporate coffers to individual investors may make it more difficult to pursue liability claims against the company.  Families of those who died in the disaster, the fishing industry that has been devastated by the oil spill and the governments that have worked full-time to clean up this spill deserve better.  Transocean has also reported that it expects to make a $270 million profit on its insurance policy for the Deepwater Horizon, since the rig was insured for more than it was worth.

Signing onto the letter were Democratic Sens. Pat Leahy (Vt.), Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Tom Harkin (Iowa), Robert Menendez (N.J.), Mark Begich (Alaska), Byron Dorgan (N.D.), Patty Murray (Wash.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Mark Pryor (Ark.), Mark Udall (Colo.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Max Baucus (Mont.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Michael Bennet (Colo.), Blanche Lincoln (Ark.) and Robert Casey (Pa.).

Of note, Transocean is not exactly known for its corporate citizenship. Until recently, the company was based in Houston, but officials moved the headquarters to Switzerland “to avoid paying higher corporate taxes.“

vitamins nutrients

Vitamins For Hair Loss – Discover the 9 Important Vitamin Nutrients to Overcome Your Scalp Problems

Have you just discovered a sudden and unexpected loss of hair? Many folks will encourage you to simply take vitamins for hair loss but you must seek an urgent health checkup from your doctor, registered medical practitioner or dermatologist to determine just exactly what may be the cause of this condition.

You will then need to establish a well balanced vitamins for hair loss program that incorporates several attacking fronts at the same time if you really want to restore and maintain the good health of your scalp.

The 9 essential nutrients to regain and promote a healthy scalp

1. Vitamin A (found in fish liver oil, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, apricots and peaches). Plays a role in a variety of functions throughout the body, such as immune function, maintaining normal skin health, hypokeratosis (white lumps in follicles). Warning: Consuming a large quantity of vitamin A daily is toxic to the body.
2. Vitamin B3 – niacin (found in brewers yeast, wheat germ and fish). Boosts scalp circulation.
3. Vitamin B5 – pantothenic acid (whole grain cereals, brewers’ yeast and egg yolks). Prevents strand falling and graying.
4. Vitamin B6 (brewers’ yeast, whole grain cereals, vegetables and egg yolks). Essential for protein and red blood cell metabolism and for the nervous and immune systems. It is helpful in prevention of thinning of strands.
5. Vitamin B12 (fish and eggs). Assists in preventing hair loss.
6. Vitamin C (citrus fruits, strawberries, kiwifruit, cantaloupe, pineapple, tomatoes, green peppers, potatoes and dark green veggies). Promotes healthy skin and hair and ensures the health of capillaries supplying blood to follicles.
7. Vitamin E (cereals, green leafy vegetables, broccoli, soybeans, eggs, cold-pressed vegetable oils, wheat germ oil, raw seeds, nuts and dried beans). Increases the oxygen in our system and improves circulation to the scalp.
8. Vitamin H – biotin or B7 (royal jelly, brewers’ yeast, liver, legumes, soybeans, swiss chard, tomatoes, romaine lettuce, carrots, almonds, eggs, onions, cabbage, cucumber, cauliflower, goats’ or cows’ milk, raspberries, strawberries, halibut, oats, and walnuts). Biotin is necessary for cell growth and is shown by many studies to stimulate and maintain a healthy scalp.
9. Vitamin B9 – folic acid, also known as folacin or folate (leafy vegetables such as spinach, asparagus, turnip greens, lettuces, dried or fresh beans and peas, fortified cereal products, sunflower seeds, liver and liver products and certain other fruits and vegetables and bakers’ yeast are rich sources of folate). Both children and adults require folic acid to produce healthy red blood cells and prevent anemia. It is also essential to numerous other bodily functions.

What about the important minerals & herbs?

Don’t forget the minerals essential to maintaining a healthy head of hair: zinc, calcium, manganese, magnesium, iron, copper and sulphur. Plus the herbal extracts: horsetail silica, saw palmetto, indian ginseng, omega-3 and evening primrose.

These are found in the same fresh produce as for above listed vitamins or produced from ground herbs or herbal extracts and are available in capsules, tablets or powder form.

So, the first plan of action to get the vitamins for hair loss you need is to eat regular, fresh and well balanced meals, alternatively you can undertake a daily course of balanced tablet or capsule supplements.

My personal recommendation of the best action to take today is using a totally natural solution which can be checked out here on my website. It is a new, highly effective, well-priced and totally natural remedy which includes all the necessary vitamins for hair loss that will produce no side effects whatsoever.

About the Author

Alan Wheeler is a dedicated researcher of current hair loss issues affecting both men and women. To learn about this new, highly effective natural hair loss remedy that Alan recently discovered and is now using daily, check out his web site at http://hair-loss.achievebetterhealth.com/ and see how it stacks up against other common hair loss treatment options.

What vitamins/nutrients are present in Psidium Guajava?

Same as stated above. By the way, Psidium Guajava is “guava”.

can’t find the Atlas

[phpbay]vitamins nutrients, 100[/phpbay]
The Truth about Vitamins & Supplements – Clinical Nutrition

Vitamins Nutrients is a post from the Vegetarian Vitamins Guide blog where you can find suggestions and advice from vegetarians and vegans on vegetarian diets, supplements, vitamins and overall nutrition.

We all have them: those brief, spontaneous little melodies that pop into the back of our heads, undoubtedly destined for greatness if only we had an ounce of musical talent or a five piece band at our disposal. Well, now you wannabe-maestros have your chance. UJAM is a new startup making its debut today at TechCrunch Disrupt that can turn your humming, whistling, kazoo-playing or not-so-in-tune vocals into something people might actually want to listen to. And it’s really, really cool.

There’s plenty of advanced technology working in the background, but to the user, the site really seems like magic. Whistle a few notes of ‘Ode to Joy’, and in seconds you’ll hear your tune played back by a grand piano. Or an electric guitar. Or a full orchestra, complete with sweeping crescendos that somehow fit your tune perfectly. You can swap between these options in a few clicks, tweaking the results until they suit your fancy. If you happen to sing a few notes out of key, UJam will fix them for you. And if you play an instrument (or at least, try to), you can also use this to quickly turn your one-man show into a full band.

Last Saturday, on the United Nation’s International Day for Biodiversity, an open letter from hundreds of British organisations warned of the importance of our rapidly eroding biodiversity, while a UN report discussed the economic consequences of this erosion. The general principle of conserving biodiversity has inarguable value but there’s much more debate about how best to do it.

Take national parks and reserves –these protected areas save wildlife but they stop local people from using the land for farming and from using its resources. The argument that such limitations prioritise “cuddly animals” over “poor people” is particularly sharp in developing countries, where rural communities are said to bear the costs of protected areas without reaping their benefits.

But a new study in Costa Rica and Thailand says that such objections are unfounded. By actually comparing similar communities on a small scale, Kwaw Andam from Washington’s International Food Policy Research Institute has shown that protected areas actually help to alleviate poverty.

In 2003, the so-called Durban Accord from the World Congress on Protected Areas urged commitments to “protected area management that strives to reduce, and in no way exacerbates, poverty”. Well and easily said, but studying the link between poverty and protection is quite difficult. The two seem to go hand in hand, but protected areas are often set up in far-flung areas where poverty if rife. How can you actually tell if they worsen the situation?

Andam did it by focusing on protected areas in Costa Rica and Thailand. These developing nations have very different cultures and histories but they are both hotspots of biodiversity that set up protected areas a long time ago. And importantly, they both have good sources national statistics.

Using these data, Andam’s team compared communities where at least 10% of the land had been protected with those where less than 1% had been. This difference aside, they compared like for like, matching the various communities in terms of their forest cover, their access to transportation, the productivity of their land, and how poor they were before protected zones were set up. The analysis was very detailed, zooming in at a fine regional level and taking data about poverty from household surveys. The team also focused on protected areas that had been around for 15 years or more, to get a sense of their long-term impact.

On the surface, the link between poverty and protection seemed clear. As with many other countries, the Costa Rican and Thai communities with high levels of protected biodiversity were much poorer than those with little protection. But these areas were already among the poorest parts of the two countries before the protected zones were set up.

Taking this into account, Andam’s matched comparisons revealed that protected areas don’t exacerbate the economic shortfalls of local communities. If anything, they actually make things better. Put it another way, if the protected areas hadn’t been set up, the local people would probably be even worse off than they actually are.

Could there be other explanations? Certainly, but Andam systematically ruled them out. Andam showed that the genesis of the protected areas didn’t affect the population growth of the relevant areas, which shows that poor people weren’t being pushed out into neighbouring regions. Andam also considered the possibility that the costs of protected areas were spilling over into neighbouring communities, affecting a far wider catchment area than he suspected. But when he left out control regions that were within 10km of a protected area and re-ran his analysis, he got the same result.

This is an important study, which provides some much needed evidence in the area of conservation policy. It’s also very encouraging. Previously, Andam has shown that the networks of protected areas have slowed the pace of deforestation and his latest results show that this success hasn’t come at the cost of local development. If anything, things have improved for local people as a result. It’s not clear how, but it could be that protected areas bring opportunities from business and investments, promote tourism, or improve local infrastructure.

However, Andam is rightly cautious. He notes that his results present an average trend over several decades. In the short term, things may get worse before they get better, and not all districts would benefit equally. Poverty is also only one aspect of a community’s wellbeing and there’s no data on their ability to maintain their cultural traditions, or to feel in control of their fates.

And, obviously, Costa Rica and Thailand are but two countries. Both have enjoyed a lot of investment in their protected areas and in eco-tourism so the same trends may not apply in other parts of the world. (Andam also writes that they had “relatively stable political systems” but the current Thai situation probably doesn’t support that statement!)

Andam calls for other researchers to do a similar analysis in other parts of the world to get a global picture of the impact of protected areas. For now, we have a restricted view of this picture, albeit a positive one. As he writes, “Our results… suggest that protecting biodiversity can contribute to both environmental sustainability and poverty alleviation, two of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.”

Reference: PNAS http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0914177107 If this link isn’t working, read why here

Image: by Haakon S. Krohn

More on conservation:

• Fish make rapid comeback in the world’s largest no-fishing zone
• Fishing bans protect coral reefs from devastating predatory starfish
• Farmed salmon decimate wild populations by exposing them to parasites
• Shark-hunting harms animals at bottom of the food chain
• Human hunters unwittingly shrink their prey species at incredible rates
• How research saved the Large Blue butterfly

Are you looking for a new netbook at this moment in time, or at least in the immediate future? After all, you already have a decent smartphone, but would like something light and portable to tote around that can perform basic computing tasks admirably without breaking your shoulder in the process. Verizon Wireless might just have the thing for you, in the form of the HP Mini 210 netbook. This model will come in a Black Crystal color, where you get built-in 3G Mobile Broadband connectivity in a slim and lightweight design that ought to appeal to most road warriors. Gone are the days where netbooks tend to die after a while, the HP Mini 210 is a hardy device where it boasts up to a claimed 8.75 hours of battery life, making sure that you can even bring this on a long haul flight and get a whole lot of work done, taking breaks in between to watch reruns on the in-flight entertainment system. The HP Mini 210 has enough muscle to cater to both students and business travelers and basically anyone who wants to surf the Web, check e-mail, listen to music and access information while on the go. When used with a Verizon Wireless GlobalAccess service plan, you can rely on the HP Mini 210 to browse the Web or access e-mail in more than 200 destinations worldwide without worrying about the insane bill which arrives at your doorstep at the end of the month. Among the key features and specifications of the HP Mini 210 will include the Genuine Windows 7 OS, 10.1: LED, 250 GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, HP Webcam, integrated speakers, 1.66 GHz processor, Bluetooth capability and more. Super cheap too. You can pick up the HP Mini 210-1076NR for $149.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement on a Mobile Broadband plan. With regards to its Broadband pricing, prices start from $39.99 monthly upwards, where it offers 250MB of data and $0.10/MB overage, while $59.99 will net you a 5GB monthly allowance at a same overage rate.

© 2007 Freakitude dot Com.

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The Intelligent Handling : its automation skills allow MARCEAU to provide customers with complete solutions.

Our automation/industrial computing design department develops all the programs which allow to :

*** Drive the installation : selection of the functioning (manual mode, automatic mode …), drive the manual modes, selection of the orders of manufacturing
*** Visualize : operating modes (manual mode, automatic mode …), faults on the lines, the placing of pallets on the facility, the follow up of pallets, the status of sensors, the active steps to facilitate the operations of maintenance

Another major contract won by DITEC has been completed in one of the largest shopping centres in Italy: the brand new Auchan shopping centre, recently opened in Catania.
Porte di Catania is the name of this new shopping centre developed over a huge area of 52,000 square metres; a big mall boasting an Auchan hypermarket, as well as 150 shops and a Decathlon outlet.
This is the site where DITEC, with the cooperation of its area dealer Di.Tec, run by Mr. Pino Contina, has installed as many as 40 Valor sliding pedestrian doors. This type of door has proved a highly reliable door and is already installed in many other large distribution outlets.

Sixty automatic doors which operate almost all pedestrian entrances in the shopping centre – from the ground floor doors to the entrances leading to underground car parks, to the terraced areas, to Decathlon outlet doors.
DITEC Valor automatic pedestrian doors, all TÜV certified, are unique not only thanks to the wide range of models offered, to the efficient remotely controlled monitoring system (DMSC) they are fitted with, but also to the large number of additional devices, which make them highly reliable and safe, especially in high traffic areas.

However, despite their large number, Valor automatic pedestrian doors are not the only doors installed by DITEC!
DITEC has also supplied and installed, with the cooperation of Di.Tec, of Mr. Contina, and of its partners, ten Smart high speed roll up industrial doors used for goods handling and people access inside and outside the shopping centre.
Smart are sturdy flexible roll up doors, easy to install and to maintain or even repair.

Ten more industrial sectional doors have also been installed for goods loading and unloading, as well as four Qik automatic barriers fitted to control access to the car parking areas.

LumaSense Technologies, a leading provider of infrared thermography, non-contact temperature and gas sensing solutions, today announced the release of its IMPAC Portable Pyrometer Series 8 pro.
With the IMPAC product line, LumaSense Technologies offers a broad variety of advanced pyrometers. The portable pyrometer series 8 pro is a revision of the 15 year-old proven plus series which has been optimized to suit special customer requirements. The aluminum die-cast housing is specially designed for mobile, reliable and efficient use under rough industrial conditions. The instruments feature full digital signal processing, resulting in wider temperature ranges as well as higher accuracy. Depending on the application, pyrometers with different measuring ranges are available. For high temperature applications, e. g in manufacturing of steel and glass, the IS 8 pro is available in two temperature ranges between 600 and 2500°C. For the medium temperature range, e.g. in metal processing application, the IGA 8 pro comes with a measuring range of 250 to 1600°C. The IS 8-GS pro is a special foundry version for the measurement of pouring streams.

The pyrometers now feature a large multifunctional display, so that the measuring results can be viewed and analyzed directly on site. Additionally, the instruments are equipped with a user-friendly keypad to select and modify all available parameter settings.

The easily focusable precision optics provides very small spot sizes for measuring distances up to 500 mm. With the optionally available high quality conversion lenses, very small spot sizes of minimum 0.8 mm can be achieved. The bright, optimized view finder with exact spot indication and built-in temperature display facilitates the accurate aiming on the object.

The extremely short response time of 1 ms allows exact measurements of fast moving objects and a very quick detection of temperature differences. The maximum temperature can be stored in the built-in peak picker (maximum value storage). The large data storage capacity permits comprehensive documentation of all process-related measured data and their subsequent interpretation.

Moreover, comprehensive software solutions for data analysis and reporting and other accessories are available

0044 Paris’ Fall/Winter 2010 Collection seems to have been in inspired by the dark Parisian streets . The oversized items such as the outerwear and the knits give the range a nocturnal character that is comparable to the fashion construction of designers such as Rick Owens, Damir Doma, or The Virdi-Anne. For the season, 0044 Paris offers leather jackets, large cardigan knits, soft cotton pants, wool jackets, and hoodies.

Continue reading for more images.

Source: 0044 Paris

Rihanna is lashing out at the fashion industry for promoting size zero figures and claiming it is “not practical or possible” to keep a figure in that shape and she resents designers for giving girls false ideologies about how they should look.

The 22-year-old bombshell has some of the longest legs in showbusiness and is famed for her slender frame. However Rihanna says that the fashion industry is not giving a “healthy” message to women.

The singing star tells Britain’s You Magazine: You shouldn’t be pressured into trying to be thin by the fashion industry, because they only want models that are like human mannequins. They know that if we see an outfit on a mannequin in a shop window we will love it and want to buy it whatever size we are. That’s why they have size zero models – they want to sell clothes. You have to remember that it’s not practical or possible for an everyday woman to look like that. Being size zero is a career in itself so we shouldn’t try and be like them. It’s not realistic and it’s not healthy.”

Filed under: Sedan, Performance, Buick

Last week, we heard rumors that Buick had finally decided to produce the Regal GS but no official announcement came from General Motors headquarters.

This morning as U.S. media gathered to drive the Regal in California, the GS officially became a reality. And while our man Michael Harley is on the launch, we also just received an email from Dayna Hart in GM communications proclaiming:

“At wave 1 of our drive program for Regal we just confirmed that the Regal GS will be added to the Buick portfolio. We are not providing any additional details at this point.”

As the quote notes, Buick isn’t sharing any other details about the GS such as timing, or what engine will be in the car. We’re expecting that Buick will stick with the 2.0-liter turbocharged and direct-injected Ecotec inline-four that was listed on the spec sheet for the concept version shown at the Detroit Auto Show last January. However, now that Hyundai has announced the Sonata Turbo with 276 horsepower, we’re expecting that Buick will try to ensure that the Regal GS will have more than the 255 hp announced back in January.

Live photos by Sam Abuelsamid / Copyright (C)2009 Weblogs, Inc.

Officially Official: Buick Regal GS is a go! originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 24 May 2010 13:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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