Category: News

Economic crises like the current one have devastating economic and
social costs, but they also give rise to major rounds of technological
innovation. That’s why I call them Great Resets. There was a significant spike in patents in the wake of the Panic and Long Depression of 1873 — and subsequent decades
saw the rise of major new innovations from the light bulb, phonograph,
and telephones to systems innovations like electric power, telephone
systems, and urban transit (i.e. street cars, cable cars, and subway
systems). The Great Depression was far and away the most
“technologically progressive decade of the 20th century,” according to
the detailed research of economic historian Alexander Field, outpacing the high-tech boom of the late 20th century by a considerable margin.

Joseph Schumpeter
long ago showed how economic crises give rise to the gales of creative
destruction — as new entrepreneurial individuals and enterprises seize
the opportunity to forge new business models, and new industries
revolutionize and transform the economy. The British economist of
innovation, Christopher Freeman,
found evidence that innovations not only accelerate but bunch up during
economic downturns only to be unleashed as the economy begins to
recover, ushering in powerful new waves of technological change.

A study
released today by the Kauffman Foundation (h/t: Ian Swain) provides
additional evidence that our current crisis takes the form of a Great
Reset. According to the study, 2009 was a banner year for new business
start-ups. As the graph above shows, more than 550,000 new businesses
were started over the course of the year. The report found that “the
340 out of 100,000 adults who started businesses each month represent a
4 percent increase over 2008, or 27,000 more starts per month than in
2008 and 60,000 more starts per month than in 2007.”  This represents
the highest rate of new business start-ups in 14 years. The start-up rate
for African Americans also surged to record levels, according to the
study.

Joseph Schumpeter – Business – Great Depression – Innovation – Economic history

Highly versatile new level indicators with float from ELESA.

HFL/E and HFLT/E level indicators with float can be used to detect the minimum or maximum level of liquid in a tank.
Both models consist of:
– a polyamide-based technopolymer body,
– a connector with sensor block, with protection class IP 65 according to UNI 529 table.
– a dipstick (AISI 304 stainless steel tube for HFL/E model and polyamide-based technopolymer for HFLT/E model)
– a float (in NBR synthetic rubber for HFL/E model and polyamide-based technopolymer for HFLT/E model)
For these indicators, maximum continuous working temperature is 80°C.

HFL/E indicators are available with normally open contact for minimum level detection, or with normally closed contact for maximum level detection.

Two standard executions are available for assembly: with threaded coupler or flange with holes for screw fastening.
The dipstick enables detection at a control quota of 500 mm from the tank maximum level. Cutting the dipstick according to the specifications shown on the technical data sheet allows to reduce the control quota up to 120 mm.

HFLT/E indicators allow to reverse the polarity of the magnet so as to use the same indicator for both minimum and maximum level detection.
Easy access is provided to the magnet by simply loosening the fastening nut.
The technopolymer dipstick features two raised scales marking the exact cutting point so as to obtain the desired set point in the presence of oil or water.

Free from magnetic parts, the float is integral to the dipstick making this level indicator ideal for use in tanks containing dirty liquids, water, oil, coolant oil, also with iron metal parts or foams. Moreover, the operation is independent of the fluid electrical conductivity.
To ensure utmost safety, the electrical components are separated from the tank and perfectly sealed by means of ultrasound welding.

For product sheets including drawings and part number/size table visit our homepage at www.elesa.com

This weekend’s Google doodle, commemorating the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man, takes the whole idea of the Google doodle to the next level. Actually, it just takes it to the first level—the logo’s a playable, 256-level Pac-Man game. More »










Google – Pac-Man – search – Search Engines – Companies

Good news: Spain holds successful bond auction after shaky one earlier in the week.

Join the conversation about this story »

Filed under: Car Buying

Along with eight-cylinder engines and manual transmissions, six-cylinder motors appear to be on the outs, relatively speaking. In the first quarter of this year, USA Today notes that four-cylinder lumps made up 46.5 percent of new car sales, almost a five percent jump over the same period last year.

This movement to fewer cylinders is likely to continue, as more and more mainstream models like the Hyundai Sonata, Suzuki Kizashi and Buick Regal are only being offered with four-cylinder powerplants. That’s partially because modern technologies, including direct injection and forced induction, have closed the power deficit, and partly because automakers’ need to raise their CAFE figures and play to growing consumer appetites for better fuel economy.

The trend has caused J.D. Power to raise its four-cylinder sales prediction for 2012 from 48 percent to 51 percent. If that ends up being the case, that will leave 35 percent for six-cylinder cars, and just 17 percent for V8s.

[Source: USA Today]

USA Today: Four-cylinder engines powered nearly half of all new car sales last month originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 21 May 2010 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The new 2011 Audi A8 is allegedly the first car in the world to offer an optional factory-installed WLAN hotspot for Wi-Fi access. Of course, this means that all your passengers will probably spend less time talking to you and more time on their laptops, Apple iPads and iPhones or netbooks.

Look how simple it is to get everyone to ignore you:

Using the WLAN hotspot is remarkably simple. To activate Internet access with speeds up to 7.2 Mbit/s, the driver merely needs to insert a data-capable SIM card into the Bluetooth online car phone. Alternatively, an Internet connection can be established via Bluetooth by using a compatible mobile phone with a SIM Access Profile. Any existing mobile phone contract can be used for this – often coupled with a flat-rate data plan.

All this is made possible through a rooftop antenna of the Audi A8 via the car’s own UMTS module. This enables the most connection stability with great reception quality.

We’re guessing this is moving Audi closer to allowing drivers to download iPhone-style software directly into their vehicles. Read more about that here.

Refresher: Power for the 2011 Audi A8 comes from a 4.2L FSI direct-injection V8 that makes 372-hp and a maximum torque of 328 lb-ft. Mated to an 8-speed tiptronic automatic transmission, the 2011 A8 will go from 0-62 mph in 5.6 seconds with a top speed of 155 mph.

2011 Audi A8:

– By: Omar Rana

Earlier this week, we looked at an unusual disclosure provision that was added to the Senate financial-regulation reform bill. But now that the Senate has passed the nearly 1,600-page legislation, with a 59-39 vote last night, it’s worth looking at some of its other, farther-reaching measures with the potential to reshape disclosure and corporate filings in coming months and years.

The House passed its own Wall Street reform bill in December, of course, and now the two chambers must reconcile the language — inevitably a horse-trade in which some measures are stripped out, others modified and, on occasion, wholly new provisions inserted. But it’s safe to say that many of the Senate’s provisions, and quite possibly most of them, will make it into law in some form, in one form or another. (Of course, the House could also simply pass the Senate bill, sending it to President Obama’s desk.)

So without further ado, culled from the bill itself as well as supporting material posted on the Senate Banking Committee website, here are some provisions likely to make waves for companies, investors, securities lawyers and the rest of us who rummage around in corporate filings:

Say on pay: Perhaps most prominently, the bill would give investors an up-or-down vote on a broader range of executive pay than they currently have, albeit a non-binding vote. Companies have resisted similar, company-specific proposals made during the existing proxy process, but we hear that some directors are cheering it on — quietly, to avoid alienating management. After all, if investors have given the thumbs-up to a pay package, it gets harder to accuse the board of feathering management’s nest.

Proxy access: Another provision could make proxy battles more routine than dramatic novelty. It would give the SEC authority to let investors nominate directors using the proxy that companies distribute, instead of forcing them to launch an expensive proxy campaign with separate mailings if they want their own candidates elected. Investor advocates call it a powerful tool to make boards more accountable to shareholders (and therefore companies as well). Managers fret about environmental or union activists winning board seats and causing a ruckus. Much may depend on how the SEC implements any new requirement, but given that a similar provision is in the House bill, expect something along these lines to wind up in the final law.

Majority voting: The bill would also require directors in uncontested elections to receive a majority of votes cast to retain their seats. At least one recent version of the bill would require defeated directors to tender their resignation — and the board to accept it, unless it votes unanimously to keep the director on and makes its explanation public. Last year, the Council of Institutional Investors says, 45 companies kept 95 directors on their boards even after they failed to win a majority of votes.

Pay & governance grab-bag: Other provisions would require compensation committees to be made up of independent directors, with the authority to hire a consultant separate from management’s. Companies restating their financials would be required to claw back incentive pay from executives that was higher than it should have been because of the errors, a provision similar to one some large companies have already begun adopting. The SEC would also have to review its compensation-disclosure requirements — among other things, requiring a 5-year comparison of executive pay to stock performance, which “may include a graphic representation of the information required to be disclosed.” A new Investment Advisory Committee would give investors a formal voice within the SEC, offering advice on regulatory practices and priorities.

Corner-office qui tam: Health-care companies and defense contractors have had to worry about whistleblower lawsuits for years, thanks to laws that give plaintiffs in successful “qui tam” lawsuits a cut of the recoveries in cases over defrauding the government. Now more companies could face similar risks under a provision that would allow those reporting securities violations to collect as much as 30% of any funds recovered, according to a bill summary posted on the Senate Banking Committee site.

Good for the gander: The banking committee’s bill summary suggests CFOs everywhere may get to experience a little schadenfreude as they prepare the 10-K each year: One provision would require the SEC to suffer through its own annual review of internal supervisory controls, and orders up a study of “SEC management” from the Government Accountability Office.

Image source: scott*eric via Flickr

I have a Weber grill and I like it, but I’ve never done the crazy dances that the people do in this ad from rabble+rouser. But the dancing is only one of the points of interest here. When I think grilling, I picture the standard fat suburbanite, but here the actors are a bit more upscale and quirky, reflecting the brand’s aspirational tilt. There’s a woman who looks like Tina Fey, for instance, and a young Elvis Costello-y guy—not the types you’d associate with grillin’. The Costello guy is even on a rooftop surrounded by other hipsters, giving the illusion that barbecuing is all the rage in Williamsburg right now. (Maybe it is, for all I know.) Will Weber grills become the trucker hat of the summer of ’10?

—Posted by Todd Wasserman

Latest news about the BP oil spill tell us that it is growing every singel day. But what have experts to say about this whole thing?

According to scientists the spill can grow up to 130 million gallons in the worst case scenario according to their calculations. Since April 20, if you sum up everything, the total spill is at 102 gymnasiums.

Despite of these estimations, it is not yet clear if this whole thing started last April 20, 2010 when it exploded or on April 22 when the rig sank into the water. Its also possible that it started April 24 when the coast guard first noticed two leaks.

On the picture which was provided by NASA, you can see the huge spill. Beside of the large patch, also a long ribbon like shape went  to the southeast.

Currently there are even live streaming video feeds that show the progress of the oil spill.

Related posts:

1. Lighting The Oil Spill On Fire Is Being Considered By Coast Guard Officials
2. Oil Spill Gulf of Mexico 2010: Coast Guard to start oil burn today!
3. Robots used to fight massive oil spill

Reason One

Money is becoming less important as a male attractiveness criterion for women. Note that this doesn’t mean women don’t prefer richer men than themselves; what it means is that more women are making good money and thus the pool of higher income men is smaller than it was in the past. Since women are incessantly driven by their genetic algorithm to seek a higher status mate than themselves, they will respond to culturally imposed shifts in mate quality by evaluating men based on whichever attractiveness traits signal the men’s higher status. As money becomes relatively less important at signaling male status, other criteria will emerge to take its place, such as looks, charm, thuggishness and…. wait for it….

game.

Reason Two

Marriage is on the outs. Wives are being encouraged to dump their husbands, and men are rethinking the wisdom of getting hitched. As falling rates of marriage soak up fewer young single women, men will have more unencumbered pussy to plunder, and they’ll do it with… wait for it…

game.

Reason Three

Chicks dig it.

Filed under: Culture, Guy Rules

These days, advertising, especially online, is about going viral, having people share the ads with their friends getting as much exposure as possible, organically. Well, Nike sure does seem to have [i]scored a goal with its latest ad campaign, ‘Write the Future,’ ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The campaign has… (read more)

On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee voiced its support for defense acquisition reform by voting to continue funding the competing engine for the Joint Strike Fighter being made by GE and Rolls-Royce. However, there continues to be confusion over the facts of the F136 engine program, which has led to calls for a presidential veto of the defense bill that contains the funding. We’d like to set the record straight. Without competition from the GE-Rolls Royce engine, a $100 billion sole-source monopoly will be handed to a single contractor, Pratt & Whitney, which already has $2.6 billion in cost overruns on its JSF engine. According to the Government Accountability Office, at least $20 billion could be saved over the life of the JSF program with the GE-Rolls Royce F136 engine.

High stakes: Potential production of the F-35 for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marines and international customers can reach 5,000 to 6,000 aircraft over 30 years. The F-35 is designed to replace the AV-8B Harrier, A-10, F-16, F/A-18 Hornet and the United Kingdom’s Harrier GR.7 and Sea Harrier, all of which are currently powered by GE or Rolls-Royce. F136 engine development is being led at GE Aviation in Evendale, Ohio — a Cincinnati suburb — and at Rolls-Royce in Indianapolis, Indiana.

MYTH: The DoD says it will cost $2.9B to finish the F136 engine.
FACT: The business case is deeply flawed. GE/Rolls-Royce needs another $1B to complete F136 engine development. Between now and 2017, we estimate additional costs associated with tooling and support infrastructure will bring the total to $1.8B. We are focused on changing the DoD business model with our fixed price offer for early-production engines. With this proposal, GE/Rolls-Royce would assume all of the cost overrun risk for everything under its control during early production. This proposal meets all the tenets of the Defense Acquisition Reform initiative put forth by Congress and implemented by the Administration.

MYTH: Terminating the GE/Rolls-Royce F136 will save 5,000 American jobs.
FACT: Terminating the competitive engine program will cost thousands of U.S. jobs. About 2,500 U.S. jobs depend upon the F136 development program today and 4,000 U.S. jobs when it reaches the production phase. It’s no wonder the GE/Rolls-Royce F136 engine has been endorsed by The International Union of Electrical Workers—Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA) and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). This myth distorts figures announced by Lockheed-Martin in 2001 that 5,000 jobs would be created in the U.K. through the production of the F-35 aircraft (not just the engine), which is an international program with 8 international partners by design.

MYTH: The F136 investment will not save you money.
FACT: The JSF engine program will ultimately reach $100B, and a decades-long engine competition needs only to generate a 1 percent to 2 percent cost benefit to recoup the remaining dollars needed to complete the F136 program. Twice, the independent Government Accountability Office (GAO) has concluded that it anticipates a 21 percent benefit from a JSF engine competition, using past experience from the F-16 “Great Engine War” competition in the 1980s as a comparison. That’s $20B in savings — which is equivalent to nearly 200 JSF aircraft. The GAO concluded that the F-16 engine competition yielded nearly 30 percent cumulative savings in acquisition costs alone. The GAO further concluded that savings of only 10.1 percent to 12.6 percent is needed for competition through the F136 to save taxpayers money.

MYTH: The F136 leads to a loss of JSF aircraft (50 – 80).
FACT: Just the opposite will happen. Costs from having no competition will eat into the larger defense budget and lead to fewer aircraft. In addition, the benefits of competition will increase the international demand for the JSF, just like it did for the F-16. Higher volume is a key to F-35 affordability.

MYTH: One engine supplier for JSF does not create operational risk.
FACT: By 2025, 90 percent of the U.S. fighter force will be F-22 and JSF aircraft. Never in our history have we been dependent on two fighter aircraft with no other fleets to provide alternatives. Despite advancements in engine design and technology, the JSF will push the limits on materials, pressure ratios and operating temperatures. This increases the technical and operational risks, which will be exacerbated with a sole source engine contractor.

MYTH: There was already a JSF engine competition, and P&W won.
FACT: Completely untrue. As recently as May 19, during a House Subcommittee hearing, John Roth, comptroller for DoD Program/Budget, agreed that there was never an engine competition for JSF. Rather, JSF aircraft designs were competed (between McDonnell Douglas and Lockheed Martin), but the engines were not. Citing commonality with Pratt & Whitney’s F119 engine for the F-22, the U.S. Air Force directed the competing aircraft manufacturers to both use the P&W engine in their concept demonstrator aircraft. Subsequently, Congress recognized in 1996 that an engine competition for the JSF was never held, and it authorized development funds to GE/Rolls-Royce with the intention of introducing a competing engine four years into the aircraft program.

MYTH: The P&W engine alone can serve the JSF needs.
FACT: P&W has confirmed a future technology effort to increase its F135 engine thrust by 5 percent by spending more government money — on top of the more than $7B being spent to develop the F135. So, the F135 engine being designed today for the JSF will change. Conversely, The GE/Rolls-Royce F136 engine was resized in 2005 to reflect growing demands of the F-35 aircraft. In fact, the F136 can grow in thrust by 5 percent without an engine redesign. The F136 has a clear thrust advantage.

MYTH: The JSF engines are not interchangeable and the aircraft will have to be redesigned to accommodate the F136.
FACT: The competing JSF engines from GE/Rolls-Royce and P&W are fully interchangeable. Simply put, you can pull out the engine from the JSF aircraft and quickly replace it with the engine from the competing supplier.

MYTH: The Navy won’t have room for two engines on their carriers. That alone should make us eliminate the F136 program.
FACT: Today, the Navy operates four different fixed-wing aircraft engines on the carrier with little or no commonality in terms of machinery, tools or support equipment. The interchangeable P&W F135 and GE/Rolls-Royce F136 engines reduce parts, manpower, and cost. Compared to engines for the F-14 B&D, the F136 will require 48 percent less manpower and 66 percent less support equipment

MYTH: The F136 engine is four years behind and will delay fielding the aircraft.
FACT: From onset of the JSF engine program established in 1996, the GE/RR was always to be introduced three to four years after the P&W engine.

MYTH: We don’t need the F136 because Secretary Gates doesn’t want it.
FACT: We’ve learned from experience there are times Congress should sensibly assert its own prerogative. For example, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles have become almost indispensible on today’s battlefield, yet years ago DoD wanted to terminate Predator development. The program survived only due to Congressional insistence. DOD wanted to terminate the V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft 20 years ago. Again, Congress recognized the force multiplier the V-22 would be in combat and voted to continue funding the program’s development and production. Today, the V-22 is providing greatly enhanced battlefield support. The JSF competitive engine is another example of a worthy program.

MYTH: If the JSF engines are competed, other systems on the aircraft should be as well.
FACT: The F-35 engines represent the largest subsystem on the aircraft. The also represent the most critical system on the aircraft for survivability. After the aircraft is in service, the maintenance and overhaul of the engines represent a growing portion of the aircraft systems’ overhaul costs. Competing engines for a program so large (3,000+ JSF aircraft are expected to be produced) will save costs and greatly reduce operational risk.

MYTH: Procuring the F136 will delay Air National Guard deliveries.
FACT: Procuring the F136 does not delay JSF aircraft deliveries at all. The DoD’s recently announced schedule slip to the JSF program to allow for additional flight-testing is not at all related to the F136 development, which is on schedule. In addition, the F136 program will not reduce the production of JSF aircraft, as is being claimed by P&W. Savings through the JSF engine competition could reach $20B over the life of the program — thus creating funds for additional aircraft.

MYTH: The international JSF partners are neutral about competing JSF engines.
FACT: Not only do the international partners want an engine choice, the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the International Partners in late 2006 assured them that they would have an engine choice. The DoD committed to provide competing JSF engines.

MYTH: The fighter engine industrial base in the U.S. won’t be downgraded if the F136 program is cancelled.
FACT: The Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) — the DoD entity that assesses industrial base issues — disagrees. DCMA studies from 2006 and 2008 highlight the probability of serious impact on the large fighter engine industrial base if the F136 engine was terminated. They show that GE’s current fighter engine programs (F110 and F414) wind down after 2010, and there is insufficient funding/workload to sustain GE’s fighter engine design capability if F136 was terminated. There is no other program planned or in development in the near term that would allow GE to keep its large fighter engine team together if the F136 is terminated.

MYTH: A vote for the F136 will create political fallout.
FACT: The F136 has received 15 years of bi-partisan support. Champions of this program represent every region of the country, from liberal Democrats to conservative Republicans. If the F136 is cancelled, the government will have wasted $3 billion on developing the engine, and receive zero benefit, which carries its own political fallout.

MYTH: The GE/Rolls-Royce F136 testing program is not going well.
FACT: The GE/Rolls-Royce F136 test program is on schedule, and poised to power JSF test aircraft next year. The engine is exceeding all performance goals and running just as we expected in terms of thrust, temperatures, and operability. Earlier this year, we completed a highly successful test phase on the engine’s afterburner and control system, and are now running a second engine. By year’s end we expect to run 1,000 hours on six test engines. The test program is moving full steam ahead.

Learn more in these GE Reports stories:
“Fixed price offer will slash Joint Strike Fighter costs”
“GE & the Joint Strike Fighter: Let the best engine win”
“Gen. Hough: JSF engine competition ‘never happened’”
“House backs Joint Strike Fighter engine competition”

* Learn more about the arguments in favor of engine competition on the JSF
* Learn details about how the JSF engine is made
* Read the GAO’s May 2009 report on the JSF
* Read Lt. Gen. Hough’s full post on aviationweek.com
* Read Desert Storm air commander Gen. Chuck Horner’s opinion piece
* Read the JSF recommendations made by the Heritage Foundation

In his first television interview since news broke of his cheating scandal last March, a somber Jesse James tells ABC News‘ Vicki Mabrey what led him to cheat on his Oscar-winning wife Sandra Bullock. The biker enthusiast also opens up about his troubled past and his time in rehab.

“[I] took a pretty amazing life and amazing success and marriage … and threw it away by my own hands…”

Jesse’s interview with Nightline ABC will air Tuesday, May 25 @ 11:35 PM.

On August 6, 2001, President George W. Bush famously received an intelligence briefing titled, “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” Thirty-six days later, al Qaeda terrorists tragically turned threat into reality.

Today, scientists tell us we have a 10-year window — if even that — before catastrophic climate change becomes inevitable and irreversible.

This is our intelligence briefing — it tells us the threat is real and time is not on our side.

The national security threat posed by unrestricted greenhouse gas emissions is great (see “NYT: Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security” and “Quadrennial Defense Review Should Spark Interagency Climate Conversation“),  The threat is so clearcut that even the Bush Administration’s top intelligence experts were raising the alarm (see “The moving Fingar writes“).

And that’s why 33 generals and admirals announced support for the climate bill last month, asserting “Climate change is making the world a more dangerous place” and “threatening America’s security.”  Now, Sen. John Kerry has written a compelling op-ed explaining the grave national security threat posed by climate change and thus the urgent need to take action now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions:

If Vice President Cheney can argue that even a 1 percent chance of a terrorist attack is 100 percent justification for preemptive action, then, surely, when scientists tell us that climate change is nearly a 100 percent certainty we should join in an all-out effort to make ourselves safe.

Make no mistake — this is an American national security challenge.

Climate change injects a new major source of chaos, tension and human insecurity into an already volatile world. It threatens to bring more famine and drought, worse pandemics, more natural disasters, more resource scarcity, and staggering human displacement. In an interconnected world, that endangers all of us.

Anyone who doubts the threat should talk to the 11 retired American admirals and generals who warned in 2007, “Climate change can act as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world, and it presents significant national-security challenges for the United States.”

In their final national security analysis, the security planners in the Bush Administration recognized climate change among key trends that will shape U.S. defense policy in the coming years.

Just last week, former United States Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander William Fallon warned that, left unchecked, climate change will “be significantly destabilizing to our future.”

Another Former CENTCOM Commander Anthony Zinni put it simply: “We will pay for this one way or another. We will pay to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today, and we’ll have to take an economic hit of some kind. Or, we will pay the price later in military terms. And that will involve human lives. There will be a human toll.”

Heed the warnings of the National Intelligence Council — the U.S. intelligence community’s think tank — which concluded “global climate change will have wide-ranging implications for U.S. national-security interests over the next 20 years.”

Nowhere is the connection between climate and security more direct than in South Asia, home to al Qaeda.

Scientists now warn the Himalayan glaciers, which supply fresh water to a billion people in India and Pakistan, will face severe impacts from climate change. India’s rivers are not only vital to its agriculture but also critical to its religious practice. Pakistan, for its part, depends on irrigated farming to avoid famine.

At a moment when our government is scrambling to ratchet down tensions across that strategically vital region, climate change could work powerfully in the opposite direction. Failure to tackle climate change risks much more than a ravaged environment: It risks a much more dangerous world and a gravely threatened America.

Unfortunately, not everyone in Washington appreciates the stakes.

If a politician completely dismissed or denied the threat of terrorism, he or she would be sent home in the next election. But there are seemingly few political consequences if you dismiss the science or the threat of climate change.

Here’s one fact that should awaken every rock-ribbed defense hawk to the stakes: There will always be excuses to wait, but every day that Washington fails to price carbon and embrace clean energy, America sends another $100 million to Iran. That’s not a choice America can afford.

Last week, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and I unveiled the American Power Act, a comprehensive energy and climate approach that sends the price signal on carbon that the market needs to unleash America’s entrepreneurial energy.

In 2010, that is the test of a serious policy to combat climate change.

When our admirals and generals warn that failure to act will put America and the world in danger, it is clearer than ever:  This is our August 2001 memo. These are our warnings. The time to act on them is now.

Kerry is the Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee

Related Posts:

Venus, meet Japan. Today the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched a rocket carrying several different missions bound for our boiling-hot sister planet. Here’s what they want to learn.

Atmospheric Tag Team

Akatsuki, the Venus climate probe, will arrive at the second planet from the sun in December. There it will team up with the European Space Agency’s Venus Express probe, using five cameras to peer down into the turbulent atmosphere and study Venus‘ maniacal meteorology.

One of the main goals is to understand the “super-rotation” of the Venus atmosphere, where violent winds drive storms and clouds at speeds of more than 220 mph (360 kilometers per hour), 60 times faster than the planet itself rotates [MSNBC].

The Venus Express’ own findings since it reached the planet in 2006 have bolstered the idea that Venus was once alive with plate tectonics, oceans, and continents—that is, it was once much more Earth-like than its current, sweaty incarnation. In fact, Venus may still be active.

Volcanoes?

It’s alive! It’s alive! (Maybe.)

Just last month, scientists working with the Venus Express reported seeing lava flows on the surface that barely showed signs of weathering. They’re young. The team argued that this is more evidence Venus is not just a shadow of its formerly active self, but could still be alive with volcanism.

The thick Venusian atmosphere is opaque to instruments that operate at visible wavelengths and so the Japanese probe carries five cameras that are sensitive in the infrared and ultraviolet parts of the electromagnetic spectrum [BBC News].

They’ll use these capabilities—infrared in particular—to scan the surface of Venus for any active volcanism.

Can We Fly This Solar Sail?

Japan’s H-IIA rocket also carried into space Japan’s solar sail project “Ikaros,” the Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation of the Sun. As DISCOVER noted last month, when the sail (seen above) deploys, it will be 66 feet in diagonal distance, yet thinner than a human hair. Ikaros, named for the ill-fated mythological figure, actually has two propulsion systems. The “sail” part refers to its ability to use the tiny pressure of sunlight the way a sailboat uses the wind. But the craft is also equipped with photovoltaic cells to generate solar electricity.

The hardest part is just deploying such a large sail, project leader Osamu Mori says, which they will attempt in a few days. Ground tests of this feature proved… difficult.

“We even sent it high up in the sky in a big balloon, to spread the film in a near-vacuum environment. We experienced many failures, but we kept searching for the most reliable deployment method, and that led us to the model we’ve now built. I believe it will be successful” [BBC News].

Follow DISCOVER (@DiscoverMag) on Twitter

Related Content:
80beats: Japan’s “Solar Yacht” Is Ready to Ride Sunbeams Through Space
80beats: New Images Suggest Hellish Venus Was Once More Like Earth
80beats: Volcanoes on Venus Could Be Alive & Ready To Erupt
DISCOVER: One Giant Step for a Small, Crowded Country, on Japan’s moon aspirations
DISCOVER: Japan Sets Sail in Space

Image: JAXA

Don Rissmiller of Strategas looks at how the lessons of the US financial crisis could instruct policy responses for the EU and its Greece problem:

1) The TARP-like option: this is essentially spending government money to buy bad debt, and the European bailout packages have moved in this direction. The political challenge
was always getting money authorized to help those that appeared to be spending beyond their means. This still appears to be where we are now in the EU, despite some progress
with the German vote.

2) The PPIP-like option: the challenge with spending government money in the U.S. was that the authorization process was burdensome. Hence, the next suggestion was a ”public private investment program” (PPIP). The challenge with PPIP (it never got off the ground) was how to get banks to sell assets in an illiquid market, which presumably would not be as large an issue with government debt. But the key features of the program – including non-recourse leverage and a sharing of profits – were indeed well thought out. No European option of this sort appears on the table currently, however.

3) The Monetization option: When the Fed finally started participating with “all available tools”, including buying mortgage securities, the U.S. market stabilized. This is certainly a politically tough option for the ECB. Should it come to it, however, the option of doing nothing certainly seems like a much worse policy mistake.

4) Cutting Spending: Greece already appears to have lost some sovereignty, as the Lisbon treaty has required sharp adjustments. These cuts can be some of the most politically challenging items, though as the governor of NJ has demonstrated, they are not impossible.

5) Europe Bank Guarantees: the risk of a “run on the bank” seems to be creating additional uncertainty, though the amount of deposits that would have to be guaranteed would presumably be quite large. The FDIC guarantee plan in the U.S. could provide some guidance for Europe, however.

And Larry Kudlow also has some thoughts on that last option of Rissmiller’s:

So it’s my contention that the Europeans must now embark on a similar program. The EU/IMF rescue plan, which consists of $1 trillion in loans and loan guarantees for government sovereign debt, must be expanded to include a blanket loan guarantee for all European bank debt, short term and long term. A Europe-wide, centralized, deposit-guarantee system should also be developed. Right now bank deposits are insured by individual countries, like Greece. This is not credible. (Hat tip to investor David Kotok for this deposit-guarantee thought.)

A loan-guarantee program to backstop the banks in Europe and sovereign debt will put an end to this crazy Greek drama that is pulling down markets everywhere and threatening the economic recovery. As a free-market advocate, I don’t like this sort of government intervention. But we’re talking emergency here. Systemic global emergency. … These bank-loan guarantees would be temporary, perhaps a year in length. And they would buy time for the essential budget restructuring necessary to slash spending and curb the welfare-state excesses in southern Europe, or perhaps all of Europe. These government-shrinking steps will free up private-sector resources to spur growth.

El fabricante de neumáticos Michelin acaba de confirmar que fabricará 2.396 neumáticos específicos para el nuevo superdeportivo Ferrari 599 GTO. Se ha estimando esa cantidad de neumáticos debido a que sólo se pondrán a la venta 599 unidades de este nuevo modelo de Ferrari.

Aun asi, la propia Michelin ha afirmado que fabricaran más neumáticos bajo demanda en caso de ser necesario. Aunque pueda resultar extraño, suele ser muy normal que un superdeportivo este acompañado por un juego de neumáticos exclusivos.

Las medidas de estos neumáticos son 285/30 ZR 20, para los delanteros, y 315/35 ZR 20 para los traseros con 10 y 15 Kg de peso respectivamente.

Related posts:

1. Michelin podría volver a la Fórmula 1
2. Michelin mostrará en España el Active Wheel en Noviembre
3. Ferrari 599 GTO, agotado pocas horas después de su lanzamiento

A political battle in California is about as common these days as the sun setting over the Pacific. If the multibillion dollar budget battle wasn’t enough, or reacting to the new Arizona immigration law, now state lawmakers here want to ensure the Golden State doesn’t follow the textbook changes happening in Texas.

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It all began with State Senator Leland Yee (D), who introduced a bill in Sacramento that would require California’s Board of Education to review all in-production textbooks and reject any changes that have been influenced by changes in the Lone Star State. Bill SB 1451 has passed the first policy committee by a 6-3 vote along party lines and the State Senator says the Texas changes are historically inaccurate and dismiss the contributions of minorities.

Critics of Yee’s bill cite the state’s battle over political correctness in textbooks just a few years ago…an issue we covered at the time here on foxnews.com. For example, there are certain words that either are suggested or mandated for use in California. For example, no longer is ‘Yacht’ suggested because it is elitist. Senior Citizens are now older persons and junk food like hot dogs, cake, candy, butter and soda are not depicted because “they are not healthy.”

One thing to consider, California is the nations largest market for school textbooks and in 2007, districts spent 633 million dollars on textbooks alone. Because of the massive budget shortfall here, lawmakers are now holding off until 2013 to approve new books for high school students and until 2016 for grades K-8….of course all this is meant to try and save millions. More coming on this all day…what do you think?