News – Page 1135

Breaking news: Blumenthal says he’s sorry

E-mail statement from attorney general and Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal:

“At times when I have sought to honor veterans, I have not been as clear or precise as I should have been about my service in the Marine Corps Reserves,” Blumenthal says via email tonight.

“I have firmly and clearly expressed regret and taken responsibility for my words. I have made mistakes and I am sorry. I truly regret offending anyone. I will always champion the cause of Connecticut’s and our nation’s veterans.”

May 23, 2010

Week Already Off To A Weak Start: Nikkei Down, S&P Futures Down

The weekend’s long over, and once again, investors are in the mood to sell.

Kicking things off is the Nikkei, which has opened to the downside.

chart

US futures are moving in the same direction. Dow futures are off over 60. S&P futures are down 8.

Most other key markets are pointing towards risk-aversion as well. The euro is slipping along with copper, palladium, and oil.

And the world’s favorite new bellwether, the aussie dollar, is down as well. Watch, soon you’ll be checking that first every day.

Gold is up modestly.

Join the conversation about this story »

May 23, 2010

Lady Gaga Fires Security After Fan Jumps Onstage In Japan

Lady Gaga has fired her security team after an overzealous fan jumped onstage during a concert last month.

Mini-Madge was performing in Japan as part of her Monster Ball World Tour when an audience member leaped over a security barrier, hopped onstage, and began groveling at the singer’s feet. Two of Gaga’s dancers dragged the fan away, but the incident left the pop star fuming and she wasted no time ditching her security detail over the breach.

A backstage spy tells London’s The Sun: “She couldn’t believe they could let these things happen so she fired them on the spot. She goes out of her way to make her shows perfect and expects the same from her people. Some thought she would calm down but she put them straight on a plane home.”

May 23, 2010

The Effects of Hypospadias

Hypospadias is a birth defect particularly on males in which the opening of the urethra (or the tube through which urine passes) is not located at the tip of the penis as it should be. Hypospadias is one of the most common birth defects. The etiology remains unknown, except for in a small number of cases where it can be attributed to specific defects in either androgen metabolism for the androgen receptor (a DNA binding transcription factor which regulates gene expression).

The most common physical consequences of untreated hypospadias are difficulty urinating while standing, and a distinctive appearance of the penis, with a “mushroom” shaped head, and
a distinctive “hood” of skin instead of a foreskin. The single reason for dissatisfaction in hypospadias group was smaller penile size.

The erectile problems in hypospadias may be attributed to surgically correctable and noncorrectable causes. More commonly encountered correctable causes include persistent chordee, torsion, inadequate cosmetic outcome, etc. Commonest surgically uncorrectable cause is the size of the penis.

Inability to achieve satisfactory ejaculation. Problems reported include weak or dribbling ejaculation, having to milk out ejaculate after orgasm, quantity of semen passing after intercourse, anejaculation with or without orgasm, etc.

Men who had hypospadias during childhood were less likely to live with a partner and that they had fewer children. There was no significant difference in sexual and social life. Almost the same proportions reported that they were not inhibited in seeking sexual contacts. All participants reported exclusive heterosexual orientation and they were mostly satisfied with their body image.

Vídeo: Propaganda novo Porsche Cayenne

A nova geração do SUV acaba de ser lançada e já podemos concluir que realmente a Porsche acertou a mão na fabricação do modelo.

Sua primeira geração já agradou bastante o consumidor, agora com sua segunda geração no mercado, o modelo volta surpreender sendo um dos modelos mais vendidos da marca.

Agora a marca revelou seu mais novo comercial para fazer propaganda do novo Cayenne. Agora só esperar ver qual será a outra boa idéia da Porsche

Fonte: es Auto Blog

May 23, 2010

ATDT 358.99, E32010, Ninja Bee, Blur, UFC 2010, Alan Wake and more

Host: Larry Hryb, Xbox LIVE’s Major Nelson (Xbox LIVE ) (Twitter)
Co-host : e (Xbox LIVE ) (Twitter)
Co-host : lollip0p (Xbox LIVE) (Twitter)
Co-Host: Stepto (Xbox LIVE) (Twitter)

Interview: John Nelson, Ancients of Ooga (23:08 – 32:16)
Interview: Wesley Bunn, UFC 2010 (32:17 – 45:37)
Interview: Ged Talbot, BLUR (45:38 – 57:37)
Interview: Oskari Häkkinen, Alan Wake (57:38 – 1:21:48)

Name the Game

Xbox 101 and more

Note: I’ve added the above show notes to the ID3 Lyrics data field. Check your device if this is supported

This weeks show open music is Electrica Cadente courtesy of the Alan Wake Soundtrack, which can only be found in the Alan Wake Limited Edition

Links to some of the things mentioned in this episode:

http://w00tstock.net/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W00tstock

http://www.e3expo.com/

http://majornelson.com/e3.aspx

Fable III SKU’s announced

Red Dead Redemption

Alan Wake

http://www.apple.com/ipad/

http://cablejive.com/

duaLink Dual Sync/Charge Cable

http://www.griffintechnology.com/

Powerduo Reserve

Laura Massey (page does not exist)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayes_command_set

Show Details:

Duration (approx):	2:23:11
File size (approx) :	65.6 MB
Format:	MP3

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Listen now:

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Download Latest Episode-> Download the latest episode to your computer or preferred device

Email at Major – at Xbox – dot com with comments about the show.

May 23, 2010

Underground green economy employing millions

by Glenn Hurowitz.

There’s a new economy springing up around the country—but it’s operating almost entirely in secret. It’s called “the restoration economy” and it’s remaking America’s landscape while putting millions of people to work.

This economy is devoted to restoring what’s been lost: degraded forests, watersheds, oceans, cities, communities, buildings, transit—and it’s the product of a major turning point in our history that’s been almost entirely missed by the press and politicians.

I recently had the opportunity to learn about this stealth green economy when I participated in a panel at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs conference about land and water-based jobs. In a telling sign, this panel (organized by The Wilderness Society’s relentless JP Leous, one of the brightest rising stars in the environmental movement) was apparently the first in the history of the conference to focus on forest, land, and water based jobs (or as I like to think of them, the ultimate green jobs).

One of my co-panelists was Storm Cunningham, who in his seminal book, The Restoration Economy, revealed this major shift for the first time:

…But then, in the late 90’s, I began noticing a miraculous new trend: a number of places—both ecosystems and communities—were actually getting better, some spectacularly so. Rivers that had been devoid of fish were teeming with them. Blighted industrial waterfronts were becoming gorgeous, lively, economically thriving public areas. Devastated, clear-cut hills were becoming forests again—real forests, not just the typical tree farms that are devoid of wildlife. …

During the last two decades of the twentieth century, we failed to notice a turning point of immense significance. New development—the development mode that has dominated the past three centuries—lost significant “market share” to another mode: restorative development.

Despite the fact that restorative development will dominate the twenty-first century, its phenomenal rate of growth has gone largely undocumented. This is hardly an unimportant transition: economic growth based primarily on the exploitation of new resources and territories is giving way to economic growth based on expanding our resources and improving our existing assets..

Why is it happening? Primarily, it’s because we’ve now developed most of the world that can be developed without destroying some other inherent value or vital function of that property. The major driver of economic growth in the the twenty-first century will thus be redeveloping our nations, revitalizing our cities, and rehabilitating and expanding our ecosystems. We’ll be adding health and wealth in a way that doesn’t cause a corresponding loss of wealth elsewhere.

To put it in other words, today’s economic potential isn’t in the exploitation of untapped resources, but rather in the restoration of wealth (natural, infrastructural, community and otherwise).

For that reason and others, the restoration economy is dollar-for-dollar by far the best job creator of any economic activity. As I discussed in this post at Grist, investments in forest, wetland, and other land and water restoration creates 74 percent more jobs than ANY other economic activity—more even that energy wind or solar, and more than five and a half times as much as investments in dirty energy sources like oil, coal, and nuclear. These are the ultimate shovel-ready jobs: for many of them, you really don’t need much more than a shovel to get to work. Mother Nature provides all the capital you need.

You can see this restoration economy at work across America and around the world: in the
Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington State, people are finding
work tearing down dams and restoring streams, in the Chesapeake Bay, out-of-work watermen are restoring oyster beds to clean the water, and in Indonesia, people are returning destroyed rainforest to orangutan habitat.

At the panel, we delved into the politics of the restoration economy—you can watch highlights from the discussion in this excellent brief video:

In summary, politicians are making a huge electoral blunder when they perpetuate low jobs creating activities
like oil drilling and coal mining. One of the most important determinants of an incumbent politician’s success is the health of the economy and
the availability of jobs (others include whether a politician is
perceived as being a strong leader and having integrity). Weakening a cap on carbon or diverting funds away from wildland restoration may please a few lobbyists, but as incumbents like Bob Bennett, Arlen Specter, and Blanche Lincoln learned recently, even establishment campaign donations will be far outweighed by voter anger fueled by a poor economy and a lack of jobs.

Of course the inverse is true too: because the restoration economy provides such a huge jobs bang for the buck, it’s a Godsend for politicians. The more they invest in restoring forests, streams, and oceans, the better the economy will be and the more likely they are to get reelected.

In other words, green is the new electoral gold.

Should we prefer investing in renewable energy to cleaning up the dirty stuff?

Big companies help do something right in Canadian forest deal

May 23, 2010

Video: 2011 Shelby GT500 is a loud red mist

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Videos, Ford

The furious noises of the 2011 Shelby GT500 – Click above to watch video after the jump

Recently you got to see the Virginia International Raceway lap where the 2011 Shelby GT500 bested the lap time of the 2010 GT500 by nine seconds – but you didn’t really get to hear it. That has been corrected with this video, which should have just enough growling, whining and screeching to tide you over until Ford raises the portcullis on more multimedia, which we’re hoping is very, very soon. Yes, they did this kind of testing before, but this time it’s sunny… and can you really get enough of that noise? Follow the jump to listen. Hat tip to Yaroukh

Gallery: 2011 Ford Shelby GT500 at Chicago Auto Show

[Source: Ford]

Continue reading Video: 2011 Shelby GT500 is a loud red mist

Video: 2011 Shelby GT500 is a loud red mist originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 23 May 2010 20:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 23, 2010

Watch Sarah Ferguson over Prince Andrew Bribery Scandal

Sarah Margaret Ferguson or Duchess of York Sarah, is a charity patron, spokesperson, writer, film producer, television personality and a former member of the British Royal Family. She is popularly referred to as “Fergie”, which is a common nickname for people with the last name Ferguson.

Greedy Sarah Ferguson, 50, was filmed on Tuesday night taking a $40,000 (£27,000) cash down-payment from an undercover News of the World reporter.

The greedy 50-year-old Duchess, who believed she was dealing with a rich businessman, was then filmed at a secret meeting pocketing an extra $40,000 down-payment in cash.

Her astonishing offer will give an impact on the Queen, the royal family and the Government, for the loose cannon Duchess’s ludicrous claims that Prince Andrew – unpaid UK Special Representative for Trade and Investment – could be party to such a scam jeopardise Britain’s global reputation for honesty and fair play.

Click to Watch:

Sarah Ferguson Caught Over Prince Andrew Bribery Scandal

Liquidity in Europe Hesitates

If you’re a glass half-full kind of guy, then Friday’s action in stock was encouraging. Here in Australia, the indexes opened up down by almost three per cent. Yet by the end of the day, they were able to claw their way back to much smaller losses. Yes, stocks are at nine-month lows. But it felt like a victory, didn’t it?

Then, in Friday’s U.S. session stocks staged a huge final hour rally. The Dow Jones industrials had been down below 10,000 at one point. But in a flash (a flash dash!) the index suddenly reversed itself and finished 1.24% higher. So what does that tell us?

Absolutely nothing, most likely. In a market like this, what you don’t know is a lot more important than what you do know. And what we do know turns out to be very little anyway. Just based on valuations, stocks are now a bit cheaper than they were a month ago. But price is not the same thing as value.

And besides, there are so many known unknowns and unknown unknowns it’s hard to know where to begin! But let’s start on the other side of the world and tackle the question of whether there is a short-term funding crisis in Europe. Or, in plainer speech, is the Credit Crunch back and better than ever?

The optimistic view is that the real economy in Europe is recovering, albeit slowly. A key purchasing manager’s index in Europe hit a three-month low, but it was still positive. And the line of argument in this camp is that the real economy will grow slowly, but is nowhere near as dysfunctional and systemically unstable as financial markets are.

Financial markets, for their part, are trying to digest two political moves. The first move is the legislative efforts to curb credit growth (the U.S. reform bill). That might reduce bad bank lending. But it would almost certainly limit credit growth. And in a system that requires on a lot of short-term credit to finance activity, it means less activity, lower real growth, falling asset values, and economic contraction.

The second issue is the growing weight of Europe’s dead hand on the market. This will feel familiar to Australian investors lately. What we mean is that one of the big results of the Greek crisis is a call for economic policy coordination. This is being euphemistically called “economic governance.” But it’s actually an attempt for more centralised and coordinated European regulation and policy making.

Because the problem with the EU is that it’s not centralised enough.

The credit markets are telling us they are not convinced that Europe’s policy makers can coordinate a response to huge sovereign debt levels in Spain, Greece, Portugal, and Italy. As the sense of anxiety by financial firms becomes more acute, they become a lot less trusting of each other. Banks who are unsure about what’s on another bank’s balance sheet don’t lend. These shows up as an increase in the London Interbank Offered Rate, the rate banks charge one another in overnight lending.

Bloomberg reports that, “Traders in the forward market are betting the premium of the three-month dollar London interbank offered rate, or Libor, over what investors expect the overnight federal funds rate to average known as the Libor-OIS spread will climb to about 42 basis points next month and about 61 basis points by September, according to UBS AG data. The spot spread was about 27 basis points May 21.”

“This is a quintessential liquidity crisis,” William Cunningham tells Bloomberg. He’s the head of credit strategies and fixed-income research at State Street Corporation in Boston. “It’s not inconceivable to imagine a situation where the markets behave so poorly, the liquidity behaves so badly, and risk-tolerance just evaporates that particularly in Europe consumers contract, businesses stop hiring and stop investing, and economic activity halts.”

Granted, the current situation is nowhere near as bad as October of 2008. Libor soared by 364 basis points then and the whole inter-bank lending market was nearly frozen. But if the political climate continues to generate so much instability, the financial markets are going to get pretty cold.

Does any of this have any effect on the real economy here in Australia? Well, last week the National Australia Bank sent retailer Clive Peeters into administration because the bank was unwilling to loan the electrical goods seller $38 million. That seems like chump change these days. So why cut them off?

As Adele Ferguson reports in today’s Age, corporate Australia is sitting on $180 billion in short-term debt it must refinance in the next two years. Over the last 18 months or so, Aussie banks have been silently hoping the economy would improve enough that extending credit to small- and mid-size firms wouldn’t endanger the balance sheet.

Mind you it’s not the big firms that are in trouble here. During the credit crisis, big Aussie blue chips tapped the equity markets for another $90 billion in capital. This did not always benefit shareholders if the company sold equity cheaply. But it did buttress the balance sheet.

The trouble is that small- and mid-sized businesses can’t simply raise equity. They depend heavily on short-term bank financing. When the cost of that financing goes up because of tighter global liquidity, or when Aussie banks simply become more cautious to protect their own balance sheets, then you get the local consequence of the credit depression: the inability of smaller firms to borrow.

Meanwhile, the government continues its public relations war against the mining industry. You have to wonder what the government hopes to win by trashing the industry in front of international investors like this. The obvious answer is: money!

To be fair, whether production or profits should be taxed is an interesting question. And whether a tax or royalty should be levelled as the state or Federal level is also an interesting questions. By “interesting” we mean debateable if you accept at face value the government’s right to tax private enterprise. We’re not saying we like it.

But this line of attack that, “the community has not received a fair return for its non-renewable resources during boom times” is a bit rich, isn’t it? This again presumes that it is the community which owns Australia’s mineral resources. Does it?
If you accept that argument, then it follows that the community owns every kind of national resource, not just land and property but labour and intellectual capital too. If the government is entitled to tax the mining industry for what it believes to be unfair profits, why not the banks? Why not any kind of activity which policy makers determine is not providing its “fair share?”

Dan Denning
for The Daily Reckoning Australia

White next-gen iPhone spotted in the wild

Here we go again folks. This isn’t the first “in the wild” spotting of the purported next-gen iPhone, and with just 15 days until WWDC – which will hopefully end the speculation once and for all – I’m willing to bet it won’t be the last. The first sighting of this phone was here in the US, but lately it seems to be spending some quality time in Asia; first in Vietnam, as we’ve now seen a few times, and now in what appears to be either Hong Kong or China (or both?).

There is, however, one thing about this sighting that sets it apart from the rest. What’s that, you ask? This sighting is not merely of a run-of-the-mill black next-gen iPhone, the leaked image contains a white iPhone as well – perhaps for those of us who like to mix it up a bit. Personally, I’d like to see a nice gray colored iPhone, but I think we all know that some (ahem!) have a hard time seeing things outside of black and white.

The images come from Chinese website Apple.pro who claim the photos in question are proof of not only one, but two variants of the highly-anticipated device. Don’t get too excited just yet though, as word on the street suggests there’s a possibility these may not be the real deal. If you examine the pictures more closely, there are a few things that set off that little “fake” alarm we know all too well. First, there’s a larger than normal gap between the chrome mid-section of the phone and the faceplate, which could suggest that the phone is either not fully assembled or that it’s just not the real thing. Second, at the bottom of the phone you can see the two screw holes that we saw the first time around, which could mean they come from an earlier prototype than what we’ve seen more recently.

In any case, I’m willing to bet many of the answers to our questions will be laid out before us in the days to come. If the white next-gen iPhone (fashioned from pure unicorn horn) does in fact exist, will you be putting it on your wish list? Lets us know in the comments!

Via Engadget, BGR

May 23, 2010

Play Google Pacman Game on the hidden Google page

Is still not to late to play “Google Pacman” even after the end of the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man.

On Google.com/PacMan is internationally available the great Google Doodle.

After the big success of the on-line “Google Pacman” game, Google decided to put it back on-line after the removal from the front page. We can enjoy the game in the same format just on a “hidden” page.

History

The original idea of the game was born in 1979, when Toru Iwanati, 25, was eating. According to legend, Iwanati had just cut a pizza when, to take the first portion, looked what was left of it: a circle with a sort of mouth. At that time he got the idea of a new video game. In early 1980, with the help of programmer Shigeo Funaki and three company employees, Toru finished programming the videogame, which was dubbed “Puck Man”, the same name which was its main character.In Japanese, “Puck” comes from the onomatopoeic paku, which corresponds to the sound that occurs when opening and closing the mouth, which is very appropriate for a character who spent all his time eating “pills” white in a maze.

New Pussycat Dolls Lineup Revealed

Meet the new high-steppers of The Pussycat Dolls.

The original Dolls lineup fell apart last year, amid allegations that group managers gave Nicole preferential treatement. In a bid to keep the PCD Train rolling, famed choreographer Robin Antin — who created the Pussycat Dolls as a Vegas burlesque dance troupe in 1995 — has added four new members to the girl group to back lead singer Nicole Scherzinger.

The new lineup will join Scherzinger in recording a new album later this year.

The five-piece performed together for the first time at a private party in Los Angeles on Friday.

“Last Night was perfection! NicoleScherzy (Scherzinger) was so incredible, sang her heart out! & DOLLS, you KILLED IT! Congrats!!!!” Robin wrote in a post to her Twitter page on Saturday.

From left to right:

Fame star Kherrington Payne
Ex-Laker Girl Vanessa Curry
Girlicious singer Jamie Lee Ruiz
Rino Nakasone-Razalan, a former Harajuku Girl

May 23, 2010

SEMA lists pro-auto hobby lawmakers in your state

Filed under: Aftermarket, Etc., Government/Legal

Look at any legislation related to cars, and it seems pretty obvious that lawmakers hate automobiles. While it seems odd that people who get driven around Washington D.C. gridlock in full-size SUVs are railing against the same kind of vehicles, there’s also a contingent of legislators on the state level who understand that “suck, squeeze, bang, blow” has nothing to do with Clinton-era interns.

For the last five years, SEMA has partnered with state lawmakers interested in preserving and protecting the automotive hobby in the form of the State Automotive Enthusiast Leadership Caucus. If you’re a gearhead interested in knowing who your friends are at your state’s Capitol when it comes to the love of cars, SEMA’s list of state Senators, Reps and Assemblymen who are members of the Caucus is where to go.

There are even photos of some members posing with their personal rides. It’s a .pdf-based e-document, but you can easily figure out where to send your greasy-fingerprinted, crayon-composed love letters.

[Source: SEMA.org]

SEMA lists pro-auto hobby lawmakers in your state originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 23 May 2010 19:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 23, 2010

Category: News

Cheating on Your Diet, Junk Food Rules and More

Motorola DROID Getting Froyo In The Near Future

Get in the Game with Tony Hawk!

UK Government: Yes, We’re Going To Cut Spending Like Crazy, But In Exchange Drivers Can Break The Speed Limit

Blumenthal: “I have made mistakes and I am sorry.”

Quick: Get Up To Speed On The Big Week Ahead

Breaking news: Blumenthal says he’s sorry

Week Already Off To A Weak Start: Nikkei Down, S&P Futures Down

Lady Gaga Fires Security After Fan Jumps Onstage In Japan

The Effects of Hypospadias

Vídeo: Propaganda novo Porsche Cayenne

ATDT 358.99, E32010, Ninja Bee, Blur, UFC 2010, Alan Wake and more

Underground green economy employing millions

Video: 2011 Shelby GT500 is a loud red mist

Watch Sarah Ferguson over Prince Andrew Bribery Scandal

Liquidity in Europe Hesitates

White next-gen iPhone spotted in the wild

Play Google Pacman Game on the hidden Google page

New Pussycat Dolls Lineup Revealed

SEMA lists pro-auto hobby lawmakers in your state