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Article Tags: Will Alexander

Wednesday 19 May 2010

Email 12/10

CLIMATE CHANGE – RIP

The attached memo 12/10 and its illustrations are an appropriate ending to my series of memos during the past eight years. Feel free to pass this on to anybody who has an interest.

Warning:

The photographs are not suitable for study by sensitive Western viewers. Perhaps they will understand why increasing the welfare of these people should be humanity’s principal objective – not all those millions of dollars and hundreds of hours spent on fruitless research efforts related to climate change.

Regards,

Will

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File attachment: Climate Change May It Rest In Peace.pdf
  

Credit cards are great to pay for shiny things and get further in debt. But you can also make their concierge services to obey your every desire, from finding an out-of-stock gadget to a bathtub full of cheese. Here’s how. More »










Business – Home – Personal Finance – Money Management – Credit

Miley Cyrus was the guest star of the show “Dancing With The Stars“  which premiered live for the first time her new song, “Can not Be Tamed. ”
The producers warned Miley that her show should be tempered with the movements because it’s a family show. During the period of the song Miley showed that the role of good girl is gone for good and that from now on is a new artist in the picture. Miley Cyrus showed crafted choreography that was devised by Jamal Sims, who has also worked with Madonna on her last tour. The staging was a success and the audience cheered.
Miley Cyrus – Can’t Be Tamed – Live – Dancing With The Stars

Related posts:

1. Watch Miley Cyrus Exlcusive New album ‘Cant Be Tamed’
2. The Lap Dance, featuring Miley Cyrus
3. Top Three Unleashed: Dancing With The Stars Results Night

Fed governors and market gurus have been warning about the threat of inflation to the United States economy — but there remains no sign of prices rising at worrying rates. Indeed, this morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a slight deflation in the price of consumer goods in April — a decline of 0.1 percent. Over the past year, the Consumer Price Index has increased 2.2 percent.

The single-month downturn does not signal that the United States is in for a troubling period of deflation. It is due to a drop in energy commodity prices, particularly a 2.4 percent decline in the cost of gasoline. Most other prices, for things like food and cars, drifted slightly upward. Core CPI — a better measure of underlying inflation — did not budge in April. Year-over-year, it is 0.9 percent, the lowest rate since 1966.

Were the CPI to show stronger growth, indicating increasing inflation, it would put pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise short-term interest rates.

The Securities and Exchange Commission may be doing its best to enhance up its public image these days, but a new report (.pdf) criticizes its past performance. The Republican wing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, lead by Sen. Darrell Issa (R-CA), released the scathing document this week criticizing the regulator. It provides 10 findings of inadequacy and provides five recommendations for improvement. The report explains that the SEC’s problems are fundamental in nature, so deep reform is necessary.

So where did the SEC go wrong? If you haven’t seen anything screwed up in the financial markets over the past few years, then you really haven’t been paying attention. They missed a few big Ponzi schemes, including those run by Bernard Madoff and R. Allen Stanford. They didn’t do their job to adequately oversee investment banks, which partially led to the collapse of a few and the near-demise of them all. They also missed the opportunity to eliminate gray areas or wrongdoing that existed in the financial markets that helped create the financial crisis.

As you might guess, some of the findings had to do with precisely these failings. Here are all 10 (summarized):

• The SEC missed Madoff because investigators didn’t understand his business and failed to coordinate to identify the fraud.
• The Consolidated Supervised Entity (CSE) program to supervise investment banks didn’t address systemic problems that led to the financial crisis, so the SEC cancelled it.
• The disclosure process for new securities is archaic (think paper and pencils) and is run like an amateur shop, with SEC staff using services like Yahoo Finance to analyze filings.
• Virtually all major fraud since Enron has been found by outsiders, not the SEC staff.
• The SEC was investigating fraudster Allen Stanford for seven years, and concluded four times that he was guilty of fraud, but never brought suit.
• Despite the claim that funding is to blame for failures, its budget has nearly tripled in the past decade. The problems result from its culture and structure.
• One structural issue is a “silo problem” that prevents adequate collaboration among divisions, which leads to poor performance.
• It has a lawyer-heavy approach to regulation, which prevents it from developing better expertise in financial products and industries.
• Due to the SEC’s unionization in the 1990s, it’s hard to fire employees who perform poorly.
• Overly burdensome procedures and rules impose excessive cost on financial firms and ultimately harm transparency for investors.

How does the report say these problems should be remedied? It recommends Congress requires the SEC to do the following (also summarized):

• Simply its structure
• Insist its Chairman appoint a Chief Operating Officer with the power to bring lasting change
• Reform its hiring, firing, and review practices, as well as staff culture and incentives
• Overhaul, update and simplify its securities disclosure rules and forms
• Be subject to an independent study of its mission, organization, and work force

Considering the regulator’s massive failures over the past decade, these requirements sound pretty reasonable. The SEC serves a vital function in the financial markets. If it cannot perform its job adequately, then something needs to change. In particular, its staff must possess the understanding, collaboration, culture, and drive to uncover fraud and identify activities that can lead to problems in the market.

The entire 33-page report contains a lot of fascinating detail regarding specific findings. You can find it here (.pdf).

Allen Stanford – Bernard Madoff – U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission – SEC – Business

Cnet has an article on a new smart grid pilot in Japan – Mitsubishi plugs in smart-grid pilot project.

Mitsubishi Electric on Monday said it will invest about $76 million in a smart-grid project, part of a companywide push into equipment for modernizing the electricity grid.

The company will create two installations–a residential-size building and a commercial facility–which will have on-site power generation through photovoltaic panels and local energy storage with rechargeable batteries. The flow of energy will be managed and optimized by power electronics and smart meters to test the performance of the equipment.

Mitsubishi Electric said the projects are part of a corporatewide push to supply smart-grid technologies for the electric power industry and meet global demand for low-carbon energy.

In one experiment, Mitsubishi Electric will set up a mini-power station built around a four-megawatt solar array. It will include equipment, such as switches and smart meters, to manage the flow of energy and a battery.

The residential-scale system will feature a 200-kilowatt photovoltaic array with a home energy-management system, which uses a smart meter and network-connected appliances.

A bottle of white vinegar is probably sitting somewhere in the back of one of your cabinets. Perhaps forgotten, there has never been a better time to put this inexpensive and non-toxic cleaning product to work.

After your half-marathon training runs or Zumba workouts, are you faced with sweaty, smelly exercise clothing that never seems fresh again, even after several washings?  How about the stubborn odor of your teenage son’s t-shirts or socks?

It pays to keep a big bottle of white vinegar in the laundry room.

Vinegar is terrific for restoring the fresh scent to your clean clothes and linens. Simply add ¼ cup of white vinegar with the detergent in the washing machine and offensive odors will be banished.

For cleaning your house, car or boat interior: Fill a spray bottle ¾ with water, add a drop of liquid dishwashing detergent and top it off with white vinegar.  You may also want to add a few drops essential oil for fragrance, peppermint or grapefruit work well here.

This all-purpose cleaner is great for glass and virtually any surface, even hardwood floors.

If a dirty surface needs a little grit to remove the dirt, sprinkle some baking soda on the area before you spray the vinegar solution and rub to release the dirt.

If you have a sluggish drain, pour about a cup of baking soda into the drain, follow this with a “chaser” of about ½ cup of white vinegar.  Cover the drain with a plug or damp dishcloth to form a seal so the “volcano” can do its work inside the pipes.  After about 20 minutes, remove the plug and pour a kettle of boiling water down the drain.

Sherry Brooks is healthy, happy and trim “Frugalista” living the lean and green life in and around Malibu in sunny southern California.

More from ecomii:

• Learn how you may be polluting your home instead of cleaning it
• Learn more about the potential of nutritional supplements
• Find natural remedies for headaches
• Does aromatherapy actually work?
• What is your carbon footprint?

According to industry sources, it appears that Volkswagen will buy a controlling stake in Italdesign Giugiaro a.k.a. Italy’s largest design and engineering firm. Sources confirmed the fact that Vw will announce the deal early as next week.

Why this move from Vw? The answer is this: in order to follow the plan to be the world’s largest automaker by 2018 with sales of 10 million vehicles a year Volkswagen needs more designers and engineers for its cars. Volskwagen Group will add 60 models, including upgrades, only in 2010. For those who don’t know, Italdesign has currently 975 employees and 800 computer aided design workstations and it is owned by Giorgetto Giugiaro, 71, who serves as chairman, and his son Fabrizio, 45, who heads the design and model division. Both are expected to continue their work after Vw takeover.

[via autonews – sub. required]

Source: Car news, Car reviews, Spy shots

Three pairs on Dancing With The Stars 2010 will make it to the summit of this year’s most anticipated dance reality show’s results night. To make the evening more dramatic and remarkable, teen pop sensation Miley Cyrus will grace the stage with the latest cut in her new album set for release this June.

Tonight marks the 100th elimination round of this season. Which pair will it be?

Team Evan
Team Nicole
Team Chad
Team Erin

First to dance their way into the top three is Evan and Ana. A few moments after, it was revealed that the second safe pair is Nicole and Derek. Steam of nerves and edginess surrounded the stage as the 3rd and last pair was revealed: Erin’s team is the last to join the finals. Now, the fans have to bid farewell to Chad Ochocinco and the other half of the team, Cheryl.

Although this was a dismal outcome of their onscreen tandem, reports have said the two have managed to develop a deeper relationship while dancing together in DWTS.

This season is believed to be the best the show had since its commencement. So, who will emerge as champions in Dancing With The Stars 2010: Evan Lysacek, Nicole Scherzinger, and Erin Andrews? Find out as they battle it out into the big night.

Related posts:

1. Dancing With the Stars Results May 18: Who’s Out?
2. Dancing with the Stars, April 27 elimination
3. Doherty Dances for Dad Sufferring Massive Stroke

Foi anunciado oficialmente pela Toyota que a multa imposta pelo governo norte americano devido ao mega recall que envolveu o Corolla foi paga. O valor, como anunciado anteriormente, foi de $16.4 milhões, sendo a maior multa já aplicada dentro de uma lei.

O porta-voz da Toyota disse em poucas palavras: “Sim, a multa foi paga para o Tesouro-Norte Americano”. A Toyota também diz que, se pagaram a multa, foi porque acharam justa que o fizessem, e “para evitarmos problemas legais e para que possamos nos concentrar em melhorar nossas operações de qualidade”.

A multa foi estipulada pelo governo dos EUA pela demora que a Toyota teve em anunciar o defeito no tapete do Corolla, que segundo documentos analisados em uma investigação pela NHTSA, agência que cuida da segurança do transporte nos EUA, já tinham conhecimento de tal falha e não se pronunciaram.

Via | Inside Line

One of the world’s leading football clubs has teamed up with Oxfam to hold coaching clinics for young people in South Africa.

The Liverpool delegation will be coaching football skills to hundreds of young people from townships near Johannesburg and Pretoria. At the same time Oxfam and its partner ‘Fair Play for Africa’ will be raising awareness of the health issues facing millions of people in Africa every day.

Bill Bygroves of the Liverpool Football Club Community Department said: “Liverpool FC engages in many different community, education and health programmes in and around Merseyside.

“Oxfam and ‘Fair Play for Africa’ invited us to engage with young people around Johannesburg and Pretoria through the medium of football and at the same time assist in their campaign. We are really pleased to be of help.”

Oxfam campaigns to get more children into schools around the world and fight for better access to health care for the world’s poorest people. In Africa, Oxfam works with ‘Fair Play for Africa’ encouraging African governments to keep the promises made on universal health care, HIV and Aids.

Pooven Moodley, Oxfam South African Campaigns manager said: “Oxfam is very excited about this visit, it will reach out to hundreds of young people.”

/Ends

For more information please contact: Serena Tramonti in South Africa on 0027 796384106, [email protected]

Notes to editors:

The Liverpool delegation will be in South Africa between the 19 ^th – 23 ^rd May.

Fair Play for Africa is an alliance of 200 organisations from 10 African countries. For more information visit, www.fairplayforafrica.org

Drew Barrymore has been commissioned to direct the buzzed-about upcoming sequel to the 1939 cinema classic The Wizard of Oz.

The beloved ex-child star made her directorial debut in the 2009 roller derby flick Whip It. Now she’s set to step behind the camera once again for Warner Bros.’ box office-bound fantasy epic Surrender Dorothy, London’s Daily Telegraph dished on Wednesday.

The movie follows the great, great granddaughter of Dorothy who has to learn how to use the power of her ruby red slippers to keep The Wicked Witch of the West from taking control of Earth and Oz. Based on a script by Zach Helm, Drew was originally set to star in the project before it was shelved by studio bosses in 2002. Robert Downey Jr. is among the stars being courted for the Oz update.

The Yellow Brick Road isn’t the only cinema staple being reimagined for the modern-day silver screen. On Tuesday, Deadline.com reported that Disney plopped down a massive seven figures for a new, live-action remake of Cinderella, written by The Devil Wears Prada scriptwriter Aline Brosh McKenna.

Yesterday, the Taliban successfully killed at least 18 U.S. servicemembers and Afghan civilians a suicide car-bomb attack. Today, less successfully, Taliban forces attacked the nearby Bagram Air Field, an extremely secure and massive base. They didn’t make it beyond the outer perimeter — where, it’s worth noting, civilian trucks and taxis packed with Afghan civilians seeking to supply the base are often backed up the length of a football field — but an ISAF press release says “nearly a dozen” insurgents were killed, giving an indication of how big the attack was.

That attack used “rockets, small arms and grenades” and sought to use four operatives as suicide bombers. They were killed before they could detonate.

One U.S. contractor is dead. Nine U.S. servicemembers are wounded. Two of those nine are said to have returned to duty, and the rest ”are currently in stable condition,” according to an ISAF press release. But it’s been a long time since there was an attack this large on Bagram. Coming a day after the Kabul attack, the message the Taliban seek to deliver is that there aren’t any safe areas for the allies of the Afghan government.

It is sad but true. American Idol talents will not have the time of their life even after their weekly stunts on the talent show, reveals Chicago Tribune. It may be a matter of luck or charm but only few hit the notes so to speak. Season 9 top three will have a big break in the recording scene but the industry is unpredictable. There are sure fire winners who have made it big like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, but in the case of American Idol winner Kris Allen and first placer Adam Lambert, tables have turned. And the likes of Chris Daughtry and Jennifer Hudson who were just finalists but then sold millions and an Oscar. There is just no guarantee of a recording deal for the rest of the finalists.

“It’s just a fact that only so many Idols can release music each year on a major label,” admitted Jason Castro who finished fourth in Season 8. Last year’s sixth placer Anoop Desai felt the crunch of it all saying, “You’d think someone who had just been in front of 30 million people for 10-15 weeks in a row has an automatic fan base and all this going for them, but for whatever reason, most of us came up empty.”

American Idol may still have a large audience share, however, it also has its downsides. Unfortunately though for many Idols, they have to work through it by themselves.

Related posts:

1. American Idol: Who’s In for the Top 3?
2. Chris Daughtry is Back on the Idol Stage
3. Say ‘Hallelujah’ to Lee Dewyze

Oh, mobile TV, you really are taking a beating, aren’t you? Despite hopes and promises over the last few years, nothing has really come of it but failures.

And now, Spain has abandoned plans to bring the DVB-H terrestrial mobile TV service to its citizens.

Bernardo Lorenzo, Director General of telecommunications at the Ministry of Industry, has said that if there is not an increase in demand, the government will allocate the frequencies destined for mobile TV to other services, adding that Spain does not want to become “one of the failures that have occurred in Europe”.

The Big B is referencing the fact that there have been several mobile DTV launches across Europe, none of which were successful. Ouch.

[via Broadband TV News]

" Deus pôde fazer o mundo em 6 dias porque não tinha ninguém perguntando quando ia ficar pronto… "

A stiffening of the aging brain’s blood vessels reduces their ability to respond to changes in blood pressure, increasing the risk of falls by as much as 70%, researchers reported Monday…

Dr. Farzaneh A. Sorond, a neurologist at Harvard University’s Institute for Aging Research, and her colleagues studied 420 people over the age of 65. The team used ultrasound to measure the flow of blood in the patients’ brains while they were at rest and when they were breathing rapidly…

Read more here