Category: News

President Obama’s decision not to campaign for Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) ahead of his tough primary tonight has been the subject of media chatter in the last few days. But Specter isn’t the only candidate in tonight’s primaries who has received the hands-off approach from Washington when his polling numbers took a southward turn.

Senate candidate Trey Grayson, Kentucky’s Republican secretary of state, received the early backing of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and soon became regarded as the favored GOP candidate to succeed Sen. Jim Bunning (R). The NRSC created a joint fundraising committee with Grayson, Dick Cheney and other GOP figures offered their endorsements, and other lawmakers quickly signed on to support Grayson’s campaign.

But then Grayson began to sink in the polls and GOP anti-Washington candidate Rand Paul, eye doctor and son of Ron Paul, began gaining traction. Sarah Palin, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Bunning all came out with endorsements for Paul, and Focus on the Family chairman James Dobson switched his support from Grayson to Paul.

As we head into tonight’s race, Public Policy Polling has Paul leading Grayson by 18 percentage points.

Back in Pennsylvania, Specter has seen his status go from “major coup” for the Democratic party to candidate for whom the party isn’t willing to trot out the top brass. Vice President Joe Biden was actually in Pennsylvania yesterday, but chose not to make a stop for Specter. Barack Obama last appeared with Specter at a rally in September.

Voters in Pennsylvania did see Obama’s image in a campaign commercial this cycle, but the ad used old footage and was financed by Specter’s campaign. When asked about the White House’s involvement in the race, Specter told The Associated Press: “They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do.”

Specter tonight faces Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak; polls show the race is a toss-up.

In Arkansas, Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D) is being challenged from the left by Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, and the two appear likely to be forced into a runoff (a candidate must win a majority tonight to avoid a runoff, and there are more than two candidates present in this competitive race.) Though the president did not personally step in to help Lincoln, he did record a robo-call for the senator. Additionally, Lincoln’s party is attempting to protect her legislatively by delaying a vote on her derivatives language.

Polls show Lincoln’s chances of coming out ahead tonight are better than Specter’s and certainly better than Grayson’s, although an outright majority may be out of reach.

Either way, considering the anti-incumbent/anti-Washington mood in the country these days, behind-the-scenes help instead of visible support from Washington may be just what candidates are looking for this cycle.

In other races around the country tonight:

• Pennsylvania 12: The special election to choose a successor to John Murtha will coincide tonight with the state’s regularly scheduled primary. Democrat Mark Critz, a former aide to Murtha, is competing against Republican businessman Tim Burns for the chance both to serve out the remainder of Murtha’s current term and to appear on the November general election ballot to serve out the next full term beginning in January.

• Kentucky Senate (D): State Attorney General Jack Conway and Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo are locked in their own competitive primary for the Democratic nomination. Additional Democrats are running. A competitive general election race is expected for this open seat in November.

• Oregon Governor: Voters are choosing candidates for the open gubernatorial race tonight. On the Democratic side, former Gov. John Kitzhaber is the likely leader over former Oregon secretary of state Bill Bradbury. Chris Dudley, a former professional basketball player, is regarded as the top Republican heading into tonight’s race.

• Arkansas Senate (R): Former Rep. John Boozman is expected to place first in tonight’s GOP primary, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be able to avoid a runoff. Former state Sen. Jim Holt appears likely to come in second in the GOP race.

Nikon’s next generation D4x should be arriving in the next year or so, and it’s always fun to speculate what it will look like. I doubt this is even close, honestly. It is fun to see what industrial designers can come up with when they play though. Keep in mind this is not a actual Nikon design, but rather a speculation on what direction they could go in.

I’m not sure that I’m 100% behind this design, but it’s certainly different from the traditional DSLR look. If anything, it’s closer to the large frame landscape cameras like the Mamiya. At any rate, the design comes from Marc Levinson, who has some other interesting ideas on his site.

[via Nikon Rumors]

by Umbra Fisk

Photo: pfly via FlickrDearests, with yesterday’s
Clorox wipes letter on my mind, I was intrigued to read the following
headline in today’s Wall Street Journal: Can
Dirt Do a Little Good?

The story talks about the new film Babies, a Focus feature following the
first year of life for four babies living in Namibia, Mongolia, Tokyo, and San
Francisco, and the varying standards of hygiene in these kids’ lives. The flick
doesn’t even mention hygiene, per se, but it brings up an interesting question,
as posed by the WSJ piece and seemingly enforced by the reader question about
overcleaning in yesterday’s column: Are we too clean?

On a small family farm in Mongolia,
a rooster struts around little Bayar’s bed, a goat drinks from his bathwater
and livestock serve as babysitters.

By contrast, Mari, growing up in
high-rise, high-tech Tokyo, and Hattie, whose doting parents live a
“green” lifestyle in San Francisco, both have modern conveniences and
sanitation.

Statistically, Mari and Hattie are
healthier. Some 42 out of 1,000 children in Namibia, and 41 out of 1,000 in
Mongolia die before their 5th birthday; compared with only 8 in 1,000 in the
U.S. and only 4 in Japan.

Yet the upscale urban infants are at
higher risk for some health problems—including allergies, asthma and autoimmune
diseases like Type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel
disease—than the babies in the rural developing world.

Obviously, we in the developed world
get the way better deal—allergies instead of a far-too-early demise—but is our
obsession with cleanliness (Clorox wipes, hand sanitizers, antibacterial soap,
etc.) what’s causing an increase in allergies and autoimmune diseases? This
article raises some compelling questions.

But during the regular flu season
(or the swine flu craze of ‘09/‘10), you’d be hard pressed to find someone
without hand sanitizer at the ready or sneezing into their elbows like the CDC
taught us. And with good reason, as these illnesses are highly contagious.
However, I think we may have taken our anal-retentive nature too far.

Many
experts advise common sense. “We don’t want to say to children, ‘OK, play
by the dirty river bank and catch whatever you can,’” says Dr. [Joel]
Weinstock, [chief of gastroenterology/heptology at Tufts Medical Center in
Boston]. “But we can say there’s nothing wrong with kids playing in the
dirt. They don’t have to live in total sanitation, and they won’t die from
eating something off the floor. It’s probably more healthy than not.”

Excuse me while I go after the grape I dropped at lunch.

 

Related Links:

Scientists link ADHD in kids to routine pesticide exposure

Ask Umbra on pasta, Clorox wipes, and a satisfied customer

New report from Childhood Obesity Task Force has something for everyone

Thanks to the success of Tim Burton’s hugely successful 3D version of Alice in Wonderland, Disney has greenlit a multimillion dollar 3D live-action remake of one of the greatest love stories ever told. The studio’s 1950 animated classic Cinderella is on its way back to the silver after Disney bosses plopped down seven figures for a new screenplay based on the classic tale of a beautiful peasant who wins the heart of a prince with the help of her fairy godmother.

A live-action version of Cinderella, starring Brandy, Bernadette Peters, and Whoopi Goldberg, was adapted into a two-hour TV movie in 1998. In recent years, Hollywood has borrowed elements of the folk tale for box office efforts like Drew Barrymore’s Ever After and A Cinderella Story, featuring Hilary Duff. More recently, Tinseltown has been scrambling to bring an updated version of The Wizard of Oz to theaters — in 3D, of course.

Moroch is a top 20 independent advertising agency with nearly 40 field offices across the country. We would love to have a sophomore or junior account management student apply to join our 5-person McDonald’s account service team over the summer (and beyond, if the student enjoys the work and adds value to our client/team).

I am attaching our intern job description. Only interns who are receiving college credit for the internship can apply. Paperwork will need to be provided so we can verify college credit hours and corresponding work hours.

Resumes should be sent to my attention at [email protected] or Dionne Kumpe, Moroch, 9020 Stony Point Parkway, Suite 370, Richmond, VA 23235.

Reports to: Tish Bembury, Account Supervisor
Prepared by: Dionne Kumpe, Account Director

JOB SUMMARY STATEMENT

The McDonald’s intern reports to the Account Supervisor and is directed on a daily basis by the Account Coordinator in the support the marketing and public relations team as they ensure flawless execution of all co-op business for McDonald’s restaurants in Richmond, Charlottesville and Tidewater.

CLIENT RESPONSIBILITIES

• Fulfill requests for “Be Our Guest” cards
• Compile meeting packets
• Conduct competitive research
• Create competitive presentations
• Write local store marketing plans
• Assist in development and distribution of monthly manager’s guides
• Write weekly promotional update voicemails for clients
• Execute media added value
• Coordinate print ads
• Coordinate college activation
• Assist with activation of sponsorships
• Assist with meeting logistics (rooms, catering, etc.)
• Use the Advantage to process purchase orders
• Provide administrative support

OVERALL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Take initiative to provide value to the team and to the intern experience
• Responsible for computer skills necessary to succeed in this position
• Responsible for working with team to accomplish any and all tasks to be done in the
execution of client accounts and agency business
• Follow instructions and meet deadlines
• Provide accurate, timely and professional communications
• Anticipate and recognize concerns, issues, problems and/or obstacles and suggest
solutions
• Ensure that appropriate solution documentation is produced
• Foster a positive attitude among fellow agency associates
• Pro-actively provide supervisor with continual feedback
• Adhere to all company policies

MOROCH CORE COMPETENCIES

• Actively listen to gain understanding and clarification
• Build trust through written and spoken communication
• Express ideas effectively
• Recognize and use appropriate channels of communication (face-to-face, e-mail, phone)
• Maintain skills required to perform job role at current level of responsibility
• Pursue opportunities to grow and learn
• Do things before being asked or forced to by events, management or field
• Establish and maintain a focused direction and appropriate priorities
• Manage time, responsibilities and multiple priorities effectively
• Plan, organize and maneuver obstacles to deliver results
• Constantly evaluate what we do and compare it to the best way and right way
• Demonstrate flexibility and willingness to change
• Intentionally learn from own and others’ successes and failures
• Consistently deliver positive results, regardless of comfort level
• Seek new opportunities to add value to project, position and team
• Take action and / or switch to alternate strategies in order to achieve goals
• Take responsibility for actions and hold yourself accountable
• Demonstrate integrity by being honest and forthright with team, management and clients

SCIENCE DAILY
Press release May 14th, 2010
Screening Crop Plants for Toxins

John Innes Centre [UK] scientists are working on a way to screen crop plants for a toxic accumulation. The genetic screen will be particularly useful for crops grown in tropical and sub-Saharan Africa.

Many plants, in response to predators or herbivores, release hydrogen cyanide to defend themselves. Cyanide precursors are kept in a compartment in the cell. Tissue damage allows them to break out of the compartment and mix with a degrading enzyme in the cell. This produces toxic, bitter hydrogen cyanide that repels the herbivore.

This mechanism, known as cyanogenesis, is found in two thirds of the main crop species eaten worldwide, including maize, sugar cane and some legumes. The major impacts on human health are seen when it is the edible part of the plant that produces cyanogenic compounds, such as in cassava roots. In fodder crops such as sorghum it can lead to livestock poisoning.

Without correct processing, high levels of hydrogen cyanide in the food can cause neural disease and permanent paralysis, a condition known as konzo. In drought conditions, the cyanide levels increase even higher.

Cassava is the third largest source of carbohydrates for human food in the world after wheat and rice. The bitter varieties, favoured by farmers because of their better resistance to pests, contain two cyanogenic compounds. Various processing methods are used to remove them, such as by soaking in water for several days.

Finding less toxic strains of these crops is a high priority, and a new genetic screen developed at the John Innes Centre will help in this search. Researchers, working on a collaborative program sponsored by the Danmarks Grundforskningsfonden (Danish National Research Foundation) with colleagues at the University of Copenhagen, developed a high-throughput way of detecting cyanogenesis-deficient mutant plants. Using the model legume Lotus japonicus, they screened more than 40,000 plants in just 10 days, identifying 44 cyanogenesis deficient mutants.

“We are keen to extend this work to crop plants and cassava is the big target. If we could set up a system we could get to a non-cyanogenic variety of cassava quite quickly,” said Professor Cathie Martin of the John Innes Centre. “We’re now looking to identify populations of cassava that we can screen so that we can get non-cyanogenic lines to trial for performance in the field.”

The study also found that some mutants were deficient in cyanogenesis only in certain parts of the plant and not in others, suggesting, for example, it may be possible to find mutants that retain cyanogenesis in leaves but don’t make the dangerous toxins in the edible roots of cassava. This would enable crops to keep their valuable defence mechanisms against pests, and yet reduce the considerable time required for preparation of food using cyanogenic crops and the risk to human health.

Dr Jonathan Clarke, Head of Business Development at the John Innes Centre, an institute of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, (BBSRC), is working with Prof Martin to apply this technology. “The effects of cyanogenic crops impact on the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world. The problem is increased during times of drought when the toxin levels increase and water for soaking is unavailable” said Dr Jonathan Clarke. “We have developed a simple, rapid, and low cost screen. We are now seeking funding to use this to produce non-cyanogenic cassava for Africa.”

Nomura’s Richard Koo is clearly one of the most important voices on this next stage of the economic cycle, as deeply indebted governments try to figure out what comes next.

To those that think austerity is the answer, he has an ominous warning: If your private sector is still deleveraging, your economy will crash and your deficit will grow. That latter is the key one, as it’s the experience in Japan (and Ireland, and probably Greece, Spain, Portugal, and the UK next).

The below interview with Bloomberg TV is great, and for more Koo see this presentation from April.

Join the conversation about this story »

A long-awaited report from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence into the failed bombing attempt aboard Northwest Flight 253 by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab essentially finds that the nation’s premier center for terrorism intelligence didn’t do its job ahead of the Christmastime danger.

“Prior to 12/25,” reads the report, spearheaded by committee leaders Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Kit Bond (R-Mo.) and declassified for release this afternoon, the National Counterterrorism Center, a 600-employee center inspired by the 9/11 Commission to tie together all streams of terrorism intelligence to prevent another surprise attack, “was not adequately organized and did not have the resources appropriately allocated to fulfill its missions.” That echoes a critique that NCTC veterans and whistleblowers made to The Washington Independent in January.

The committee’s report casts blame around the intelligence community for its inability to prevent Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a young Nigerian citizen educated in the U.K. and trained by al-Qaeda’s Yemen-based affiliate for the attack, from boarding Flight 253. But it finds the key bottlenecks occurred at NCTC. As we’ve reported for months, analysts within an NCTC-led process did not find that the threat information on Abdulmutallab did not meet the standard of specificity for moving him onto the FBI’s terrorist watchlist or the no-fly list. (The standard is “Specific derogatory information leading to reasonable suspicion.”)

But NCTC’s analysts, despite possessing a statutory mandate to “serve as the central and shared knowledge bank on known and suspected” terrorists, did not even “conduct additional research” to meet the “specific derogatory information” standard necessary to keep Abdulmutallab out of the U.S. — even after possessing enough information to place him on the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database. And while the committee’s report doesn’t get specific in its unclassified summary, it hints repeatedly that there existed throughout the intelligence community enough piecemeal intelligence to meet the standard. “Analysts responsible for making the watchlisting determination did not believe they had the ability to give additional weight to significant pieces of information from the field, such as the report that resulted from the meeting with Abdulmutallab’s father,” the report states.

Its recommendations call into question the basic analytic and organizational competence of NCTC — something that its own analysts have done in interviews with TWI last January. The committee finds that for all of NCTC’s supposed analytic focus on al-Qaeda and the Middle East — though fewer than ten analysts work full-time on the Middle East and fewer than half of its 300 analysts work full-time on al-Qaeda — NCTC missed signals that al-Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate sought to attack the U.S. domestically. NCTC’s director “should ensure that all NCTC analysts understand their responsibility to connect related all-source information and disseminate all possible threat reporting, particularly reports that might help identify homeland threats,” the committee’s report states. And the director — for the time being, Michael Leiter — should “ensure that NCTC is organized and resourced to fulfill its responsibility to track, analyze, and report on all terrorist threats to the United States emanating from terrorist groups overseas.” You could be forgiven, after reading that, for wondering what NCTC has been doing for the first five years of its existence.

I’m awaiting comment from spokesmen for Leiter and for Dennis Blair, the Director of National Intelligence, whom the committee recommends should conduct his own review of the systemic failures here, “mindful of the intent of Congress to give NCTC the primary role and responsibility” for assembling all-source terrorism intelligence.

Article Tags: Pat Michaels

EPA scientists say manmade carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are contributing to a warming of the global climate — and as such represent a threat to human welfare. But a leading climatologist says his research indicates that CO2 poses no threat to human welfare at all, and he says the EPA should revisit its findings.

CHICAGO — Carbon dioxide is hazardous to your health, the Environmental Protection Agency says. Oh really?

EPA scientists say manmade carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are contributing to a warming of the global climate — and as such represent a threat to human welfare. Officials went so far as to declare the gas a danger to mankind in early December. But a leading climatologist says his research indicates that CO2 poses no threat to human welfare at all, and he says the EPA should revisit its findings.

“There is an overestimation of the environment’s sensitivity to CO2,” said Dr. Patrick Michaels, senior fellow in environmental studies at the CATO Institute and a past president of the American Association of State Climatologists.

Source: foxnews.com

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Back in February Garmin-Asus announced the Nuvifone M10, a Windows Mobile 6.5.3 smartphone slated to hit stores in Europe and Asia sometime in 1H 2010.  The companies have marketed the device toward those looking to achieve the perfect work-life balance all while navigating those unexpected turns that seem to come out of nowhere.  Today, Euro-Asians should be happy to know that the Nuvifone M10 has passed the FCC’s testing requirements and is that much closer to being available in retail stores.

A general practice among companies, when submitting devices to the FCC, is requesting certain items to remain confidential until the product gets closer to launch, or actually launches.  This usually includes pictures, manuals, and test setup photos among other things.  However, in the case of the Nuvifone M10, all these items have been made available to the public and you can access them by following the source link.

Here is a list of some specs that may interest you:

• 3.5-inch 800×480 WVGA touchscreen
• micro-USB power/adapter jack
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• 1500mAh battery
• GPS (duh)
• Bluetooth 2.0
• 5MP Camera (or is it 3.2?)
• 2.5GB internal memory
• microSD up to 16GB

The Nuvifone is a GSM device with HSDPA 7.2Mbps, UMTS 900/2100, EDGE/GPRS/GSM 850/900/1800/1900, which means calls can be made on either T-Mobile or AT&T’s network, but data will be unavailable in the US.  Any European or Asian readers looking forward to this device?  Let us know in the comments!

Via FCC

 

Article Tags: Richard Lindzen

M.I.T. professor says ‘skepticism’ implies anthropogenic global warming theory a ‘plausible proposition.’

If you listened to Barack Obama back during the 2008 presidential campaign, you may recall him explaining that words matter. According to leading climate scientist and M.I.T. professor Richard Lindzen, there is a good bit of wisdom in that, as it pertains to the debate about global warming.

Lindzen, speaking at the Heartland Institute’s International Conference on Climate Change on May 17 in Chicago, explained that by assuming the “skeptic” label, the anti-global warming alarmist movement implies the theory is plausible. And according to the M.I.T. professor, it isn’t.

“One suggestion I’d make is we stop accepting the term ‘skeptic,’” Lindzen said. “As far as I can tell, skepticism involves doubts about a plausible proposition. I think current global warming alarm does not represent a plausible proposition.”

Lindzen told the audience the alarmists have simply failed to prove their case.

“For 20 years –more than 20 years unfortunately, 22 by now, since ’88 – of repetition, escalation of claims does not make it more plausible. “Quite the contrary,” he continued. “I would suggest the failure to prove the case of 20 years makes the case even less plausible, as does the evidence of ClimateGate and other instances.”

Source: businessandmedia.org

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That new A-Team movie looks kind of horrible, right? But hey, that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy some fancy online promotional games! Because driving the A-Team van around Google Earth actually looks pretty sweet. More »

Yesterday I attended the always worthwhile SF Music Tech Summit. This has to be the fourth or fifth time I’ve gone, and I always find that after it’s all over and I’ve had some time to think about it, I recognize one key theme that kept hitting me over and over again throughout the event. This time it was the increasing irrelevance of the major record labels. I’ve been to a lot of music industry events in the past few years, and there’s no doubt that the presence of the majors at various events continues to decline (though, they still seem to have no problem wasting ridiculous sums of money on lavish parties at some events). While the decreased presence at Music Tech might have been a result of the overlap with another industry event, NARM, which the labels almost certainly deem more important, what was more telling was the audience’s reaction to the major labels.

The “big draw” at SF Music Tech was certainly the panel in the morning that had Ben Folds (who you hopefully know), Michael Tilson Thomas (again, who you hopefully know, but if not, from the San Francisco Symphony), Jack Conte (from the viral sensation Pomplamoose) and Glenn Otis Brown (from YouTube and Creative Commons). That panel was certainly entertaining, but tragically there wasn’t very much time for any of the participants to speak, and with each one showing a video (often kinda long), the whole thing felt kind of rushed. But what struck me wasn’t so much what anyone on that panel said… but what happened as soon as the panel ended. The very next “panel” was a discussion between a guy at Warner Music Group and someone at Cisco about the “direct to fan” artist websites that Warner Music has set up using Cisco’s Eos platform.

Not so long ago, you would think that a new technological offering via a major label would be something of interest to this crowd. But, the audience had no interest at all. While the organizers tried to keep people around, lots of people flooded the previous panel’s speakers while many more quickly evacuated the room. Probably one-third of the people were still there by the time the next panel actually began. That says something. In the past, the only way to be successful in the music business was to go through the major label gatekeepers. These days, almost no one believes that any more. In fact, many have realized that the path to success often means getting as far away from the majors as possible. Even if what Warner was doing was interesting (and, honestly, what was presented was full of buzzwords and hype, but little that seemed particularly innovative) just the fact that no one even seems to care says a lot about what people think of the major labels these days.

The final panel of the day, on “Music & Money,” included both Michael Robertson and Tim Quirk — both of whom have long been critics of the record labels and their business practices. It gave them a chance to (accurately) gripe about the record labels and how they’ve spent the last decade (or longer) shooting themselves in the foot time and time again by basically killing off every innovative new startup that popped up by demanding ridiculous fees just to operate. Honestly, that panel could have been a bit more interesting if it had included a representative from a major label to absorb some of the punches (and even to punch back), but one audience question summed up the whole thing:

“If the major labels are such a pain to work with, why work with them at all?”

The guy pointed out that there are tons of independent bands more than happy to embrace innovative new services. The real answer, of course, is that it’s not that simple. While there are tons of bands that are innovative and willing to work with new services, the music business is still (even if it’s changing a bit) a hit driven business. A music service without the hits doesn’t do well. That’s just the facts, right now. If you’re offering a streaming music service or a music locker and major label content is blocked, you’ve cut your potential audience down by a ton.

But, still, the question — and the answer — is telling of the major label’s stature in the industry these days. Their position now is back catalog filler. That’s more or less how people view the major labels. There’s a lot less interest in working through the old gatekeeper system. The labels will last for a long time (though, perhaps in different forms and under new ownership…) due to their back catalog and the need for music services to have access to those songs. But I don’t think there’s anyone left out there who looks to the major labels to lead the music industry any more (except, perhaps, some out-of-touch politicians).

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Article Tags: Meetings

In the wake of the Climategate scandal, panelists and audience members at the Fourth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC4) indicated growing confidence that the tide is turning in favor of those who believe that manmade global warming is not a crisis.

More than 700 people — including a good many scientists, along with economists, policy analysts, and legislators — have gathered together since Sunday night, discussing the once-settled but increasingly controversial proposition of an anthroprogenic global warming (AGW) crisis. Any triumphalism was averted by a general agreement to explore real-world facts and test the assertions of alarmists. The presenters and audience members continually asked whether the data says what the modelers say it does.

The conference opened with a Sunday evening dinner at which Canadian statistical analyst Stephen McIntyre presented a meticulous history of the hugely influential “hockey stick” graph — which found an alarming rise of global temperatures since 1979 and led to the IPPC conclusion that AGW is causing a global crisis that requires drastic measures. McIntyre had begun publicly questioning the data several years ago, setting off an effort which ultimately led to the recent Climategate scandal, in which it was shown that the people behind the hockey stick graph knowingly altered the temperature record in a way that expanded a relatively common global temperature change into a shocking heat spike.

Source: pajamasmedia.com

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Kevin Costner says he has the solution that will save the Gulf of Mexico from BP’s ruinous oil catastrophe. He’s not kidding. Watch him talk about this machine that, according to him, extracts 97% of oil from the water. More »

Larry Summers, head of the National Economic Council, said today that the Obama administration expects to recover “most, if not all” of the $50 billion bailout it provided to General Motors. At the current pricing of GM bonds, taxpayers are expected to lose about $10 billion on their investment in GM.

Defending the $85 billion bailout of the auto industry, Summers said that the industry cut 400,000 jobs in 2008. He said that the Bush administration had estimated the losses to total 1.1 million if the government didn’t step in to help GM and Chrysler. Summers said that those number of job losses would have added a number of other problems.

“They meant state and local budgets pushed to insolvency. They meant rising crime. They meant people dying young(er) than they other(wise) would have,” Summers said.

The Obama administration said yesterday that the U.S. government would assume at least a $1.6 billion loss on its $4 billion loan to Chrysler in Jan. 2009.

Most recent public estimates indicate that the government will lose about $30 billion on its bailout of GM, Chrysler and GMAC (now known as Ally Financial).

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Detroit News
Photo Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

by Brad Johnson

Cross-posted from the Wonk Room.

Yesterday, Obama’s ocean chief said that the threat of the BP oil
disaster getting caught in the Loop Current “sounds scarier than it is.”
As she was making these statements, satellites imagery showed the
Maryland-sized slick being entrained in the Loop Current, which
loops through the Gulf of Mexico and out the Florida Strait, feeding the
powerful Gulf Stream current that sweeps along the Atlantic seaboard.

Speaking with Gwen Ifill on PBS Newshour, Dr. Jane Lubchenco,
administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), admitted that the growing slick is “likely” to be entrained by
the current, but only a “very small stream” that would be “very, very
diluted,” weathered into tarballs, and “not likely to have a very
significant impact.” When queried by Ifill how big the tarballs would
be, Lubchenco squeezed her fingers together in front of her face, and
declared, “Very
little tarballs!”:

LUBCHENCO: There’s a very small stream of oil
that is a very light sheen that is getting close to the Loop
Current. And it’s likely that, at some point, it will be entrained by
the Loop Current. But that current, if there is oil entrained in it, it
would be probably nine to 12 days before that would reach the Florida
Strait. And, during that time, it gets highly diluted, parts per
billion, and it weathers naturally. And, so, any oil that
would be reaching Florida Strait might be in the form of tarballs, for
example. And whether it ever comes ashore or not would be a function of
whether there were good onshore winds bringing it. So …

IFILL: You say tarballs, you mean [softball-sized] tarballs or
[human-sized] tarballs?

LUBCHENCO: Probably little, very little tarballs.

Watch it:

“By the time the oil is in the loop current,” Lubchenco concluded,
“it’s likely to be very, very diluted. And, so, it’s not likely to have a
very significant impact. It sounds scarier than it is.”

NOAA—the agency responsible for measuring and predicting the extent
of the oil disaster—completely
failed to predict the entrainment of a huge band of the slick into
the Loop Current on May 17. NOAA is not currently publishing any maps or
predictions of subsea extent of the dispersed oil plumes.

Meanwhile, yesterday tarballs the size of softballs were found washed
up on Key West. According to news reports, at least some of the tarballs
come from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which means that the
leading edge of the oil disaster reached the Loop Current eight to ten
days ago.

Related Links:

U.S. bans more Gulf fishing as oil fears grow for Florida

A new oil rush endangers the Gulf of Mexico and the planet

10 ways MMS makes FEMA look good

Here’s something you see every other day — Kim Kardashian in a two-piece!

The sex symbol is sharing her tips for keeping fit in the June issue of Shape.

Inspired by unflattering paparazzi photos of her that emerged online last year, Kim dropped 10 pounds by increasing her workouts and changing her diet to omit sugar and coffee.

“I have cellulite, just like almost every other woman on the planet, and just because I feel secure with my body doesn’t’ mean I think cellulite is cute. It will always be an issue for me. So let’s just say it’s a work in progress,” Kim continued, explaining that she takes a “baby steps” approach to staying in shape.

“Yesterday I was traveling all day to get to this shoot and I only had time for sit-ups and crunches in my hotel room. But even if that’s all I do, I still get a sense of accomplishment, and that keeps me energized all day long.”