Category: News

  • Solar power could produce 25% of global electricity by 2050, IEA studies say

    The LA Times has a post on some (unambitious) studies into solar power generation growth over the next 40 years – Solar power could produce 25% of global electricity by 2050, studies say.

    By 2050, the world could be getting a quarter of its electricity from solar power, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday.

    Releasing two “roadmaps” for photovoltaics technology and concentrating solar power, the agency said that the two technologies could generate 9,000 terawatt hours of energy within four decades.

    At the Mediterranean Solar Plan Conference in Valencia, Spain, agency officials said that the combination could enhance energy security while cutting carbon dioxide emissions by almost 6 billion metric tons per year by 2050. …

    Concentrating solar power, which focuses solar radiation onto a small area and is usually applied in large-scale plants under clear skies and bright sun, will be dominated by sunny regions such as North America, North Africa and India. The agency’s Renewable Energy Division said it will be able to compete with coal and nuclear power plants by 2030. …

    The study, which was requested by the G8 member nations in a 2008 meeting as part of a series of 19 energy technologies, covers the science, financing and policy necessary to make photovoltaics an integral part of the global power infrastructure. …

    The agency recommends that governments establish long-term targets and policies around the technology to encourage investments and installations. Incentives and financing schemes, such as funding opportunities for rural projects in developing countries, would also help.

    Right now, just four countries can produce more than 1 gigawatt from installed photovoltaics systems: Germany, Spain, Japan and the U.S. But countries such as Australia, China, France, Greece and India are catching up.

    In many regions by 2020, power from photovoltaics is expected to be about as cheap as electricity from existing sources – a pricing point known as grid parity.

    Global photovoltaics capacity has already been ballooning by an average of 40% each year since 2000. And public expenditures around the world for photovoltaics research and development have doubled over the same period from $250 million in 2000 to $500 million in 2007.


  • Seat: Empresa faz plano estratégico para não fechar as portas


    A companhia espanhola Seat está passando uma das piores fases de sua história. Depois da crise econômica que atacou o mercado automotivo, a empresa ficou perto de encerrar as suas atividades. Mas ainda não se dão por derrotadas, segundo o novo presidente da Seat, James Muir, que tem um plano de salvação em mente.

    Segundo Muir, fechar as portas será a última hipótese a ser considerada enquanto a marca Seat existir. Então o plano de ação para os próximos cinco anos consiste em renovar toda a linha Seat nesse tempo, pois segundo ele, o únic modelo que tem uma forte competitividade no mercado é o Ibiza. Os outros modelos, como Leon e Exeo, não ficaram muito bons.

    Então, em breve teremos notícias de uma nova geração do Exeo, começando “do zero”, e outros modelos esportivos mais atraentes. A picape Tribu será elimidada de vez, mesmo estando pronta. Outro modelo que ajudará a montadora em poucos meses será o Alhambra.

    Via | Auto Portal


  • Breville One-Touch Tea Maker produces the perfect cuppa every time

    Breville's One Touch Tea Maker

    Even that most basic of kitchen appliances, the humble teakettle, is getting a high-tech makeover in the form of Breville’s One-Touch Tea Maker. The fully programmable unit takes the guesswork out of brewing that perfect cuppa by providing the right water temperatures and brewing times to suit different tea varieties. The device even does the “jiggling” for you thanks to a fully automated tea basket that moves up and down to gently agitate the leaves to precisely infuse your tea…
    Continue Reading Breville One-Touch Tea Maker produces the perfect cuppa every time

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  • UT Libraries Welcomes New Writer in Residence Jeff Daniel Marion

    Jeff Daniel Marion

    KNOXVILLE — Poet Jeff Daniel Marion will be the Jack E. Reese Writer in Residence at the University of Tennessee Libraries for the 2010-2011 academic year. As Writer in Residence, Marion will organize the Writers in the Library series of readings held in the John C. Hodges Library.

    “I am thrilled that Jeff Daniel Marion will represent the UT Libraries at our literary events this year,” said Dean of Libraries Barbara Dewey. “We are offering UT students the opportunity to interact with a distinguished poet and eloquent Tennessee voice. Furthermore, everyone is invited to our Writers in the Libraries series to meet Jeff and to hear some of our exceptionally talented regional authors read from their works.”

    Marion grew up in Rogersville and now lives in Knoxville. From 1969 until his retirement in 2002, he taught creative writing at Carson-Newman College, where he was poet-in-residence, director of the Appalachian Center, and editor of “Mossy Creek Reader.”

    Marion has published eight collections of poetry, and his poems have appeared in more than 75 journals and anthologies. “Ebbing & Flowing Springs: New and Selected Poems and Prose, 1976-2001″ was the winner of the 2003 Independent Publishers Award in Poetry and was named Appalachian Book of the Year by the Appalachian Writers Association. The book was one of three finalists for the Benjamin Franklin Award. His latest collection, “Father,” was awarded the 2009 Quentin R. Howard Poetry Prize.

    Other recognitions include the first Literary Fellowship awarded by the Tennessee Arts Commission in 1978, the Appalachian Writers Association’s Outstanding Contribution to Appalachian Literature Award in 2002, and an Educational Service to Appalachia Award from Carson-Newman College in 2005. He has served as poet-in-the-schools in Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia; was twice poet-in-residence for the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Humanities; and in 1998 was Copenhaver Scholar in Residence at Roanoke College in Salem, Va.

    Marion founded “The Small Farm,” one of the region’s most distinguished poetry journals, which he edited from 1975 to 1980. For 20 years he operated Mill Springs Press, producing chapbooks and broadsides from handset type on a Vandercook proof press.

    As Writer in Residence, Marion will have access to the resources of the UT Libraries and also a quiet retreat in the Hodges Library to work on his current projects, new collections of poems and memoir essays. His appointment begins Aug. 1.

    The position of Writer in Residence was established in 1998. In 2005, it was named in honor of the late Jack Reese, a former chancellor of the university, longtime UT English professor and avid supporter of the UT Libraries and the local writing community.

    C O N T A C T :

    Jo Anne Deeken, UT Libraries (865-974-6913, [email protected])

  • American Superconductor Inks $445M Deal with Sinovel

    American Superconductor has signed a $445 million deal with China’s Sinovel Wind Group to provide core electrical components for 1.5 megawatt wind turbines.

    The Devens, Mass.-based American Superconductor will begin shipments to Sinovel in 2011 and continue for 30 months. The deal extends an existing multi-year, $450 million contract for the components.

    American Superconductor has grabbed big headlines in the last year by providing components for the Tres Amigas power grid project in New Mexico.

    Sinovel, currently the world’s third largest wind turbine manufacturer based on market share, has been growing rapidly and aims to become largest wind company in the world.

    The deal allows American Superconductor to make inroads into the Chinese wind market, which is expected to add 18 gigawatts of capacity this year.

    At the same time, Western companies have increasingly been squeezed out of the market as state-financed projects show a preference for domestic wind companies such as Sinovel and Xinjiang Goldwind Science and Technology Co.

    American Superconductor Chief Executive Officer Greg Yurek said while the deal principally supports Sinovel’s core 1.5 MW turbine, his company has also provided power electronics for 3 MW and 5 MW prototype wind turbines.

    Sinovel accounts for 70 percent of American Superconductor’s revenue stream, according to Bloomberg, which cited Barclays Capital.

  • Official: AT&T Pixi Plus to launch June 6

    As previously speculated, AT&T has revealed that June 6th (a date that launch-day Sprint Pre owners should recognize) as the launch date for the WiFi-equipped, blue-backed Palm Pixi Plus on its website. It will be selling for the previously announced price of $49.95 with a new two-year contract.  While you eagerly wait to get your hands on the svelte phone, go ahead and read our Verizon Pixi Plus review to get a good idea about what you’re getting into. 

    Thanks to arthurthorton for the tip!

  • Automotive X PRIZE – Shakedown stage results

    Automotive X PRIZE - Shakedown stage results

    Twenty-seven vehicles have survived the first of three on-track testing stages in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE. This initial Shakedown stage saw vehicles put through efficiency, safety, and performance evaluations including durability, acceleration and braking and avoidance maneuvers. The competitors will now set their sights on the Knockout Qualifying Stage at Michigan International Speedway in June…
    Continue Reading Automotive X PRIZE – Shakedown stage results

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  • Juan-Carlos Cruz, Food Network Chef, Cooked Up Plot To Have Wife Killed By Homeless

    Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

    A former Food Network chef is suspected of cooking up a recipe for murder by offering homeless men living on the streets of Downtown Los Angeles cash to kill his wife. Authorities say Juan-Carlos Cruz — the former star of the television weight-loss series Calorie Commando — tried to hire homeless hit men to strangle his former high school sweetheart, attorney Jennifer Campbell.

    Cruz is being held in the Los Angeles County Jail on $5 million bond.


  • Have You Seen the New Android Market Yet?

    Sometime over the last few days Google refreshed the look of the Android Market website.  While it’s not a total redesign of the previous setup, it does look like the company is headed in the right direction.  Visitors can now browse through top free, top paid, and featured apps just a little more efficiently.  If there is one thing missing still, it’s a search box.  Come on Google.  We hear you are pretty good at search engines.  Throw one up at the top of the site.  Even if you don’t give us access to the nearly 50,000 apps in the repository, at least let us search the titles you have on the web site.

    Might We Suggest…


  • The Viliv HD5 PMP breaks loose, released in South Korea


    We’re big Viliv fans here and are glad to see the companies first PMP hit the market. They are one of the few companies that out nearly identical products in the states as Korea. The don’t dumb-down its products for the American consumer. Nope, we get all the fun stuff, too. Like the HD5 PMP. Now, we just need a valid reason to need a PMP in 2010.

    We first got to play with the HD5 back at CES and it’s a fun little device. The 5-inch WVGA LCD screen is about the right size, nearly big enough to justify carrying this along with a smartphone, but not too large where it doesn’t fit in a pocket. The battery should hold up to 13 hours of video playback and 47 hours for audio. There’s even an SDHC slot if the internal storage of 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB isn’t enough.

    A custom skin running on top of Windows CE 6.0 powers the device but is said to be able to playback 1080p MKV files. Hopefully there is still plan on releasing the device here in the states. Most smartphones can preform the same tasks, but the larger screen and killer battery life makes quite a case for owning both. [AVing via UberGizmo]


  • More on Israel’s Support for Apartheid

    by Kevin Jon Heller

    As the smear campaign against Richard Goldstone gets ever more desperate, it seems opportune to provide a bit more information about Israel’s support for apartheid, to which Goldstone’s pales in comparison.  Here is Sasha Polokow-Suransky again, this time responding to attacks on Goldstone by the Speaker of the Knesset and Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister:

    Goldstone’s apartheid-era judicial rulings are undoubtedly a blot on his record, but his critics never mention the crucial part he played in shepherding South Africa through its democratic transition and warding off violent threats to a peaceful transfer of power — a role that led Nelson Mandela to embrace him and appoint him to the country’s highest court.

    More importantly, Ayalon’s and Rivlin’s moralism conveniently ignores Israel’s history of arming the apartheid regime from the mid-1970s until the early 1990s. By serving as South Africa’s primary and most reliable arms supplier during a period of violent internal repression and external aggression, Israel’s government did far more to aid the apartheid regime than Goldstone ever did.

    The Israel-South Africa alliance began in earnest in April 1975 when then-Defense Minister Shimon Peres signed a secret security pact with his South African counterpart, P.W. Botha. Within months, the two countries were doing a brisk trade, closing arms deals totaling almost $200 million; Peres even offered to sell Pretoria nuclear-capable Jericho missiles. By 1979, South Africa had become the Israeli defense industry’s single largest customer, accounting for 35 percent of military exports and dwarfing other clients such as Argentina, Chile, Singapore, and Zaire.

    High-level exchanges of military personnel soon followed. South Africans joined the Israeli chief of staff in March 1979 for the top-secret test of a new missile system. During Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, the Israeli army took South African Defense Force chief Constand Viljoen and his colleagues to the front lines, and Viljoen routinely flew visiting Israeli military advisors and embassy attachés to the battlefield in Angola where his troops were battling Angolan and Cuban forces.

    There was nuclear cooperation, too: South Africa provided Israel with yellowcake uranium while dozens of Israelis came to South Africa in 1984 with code names and cover stories to work on Pretoria’s nuclear missile program at South Africa’s secret Overberg testing range. By this time, South Africa’s alternative sources for arms had largely dried up because the United States and European countries had begun abiding by the U.N. arms embargo; Israel unapologetically continued to violate it.

    The blatant hypocrisy of the latest attack on Goldstone is nothing new. In November 1986, Benjamin Netanyahu, then Israel’s U.N. ambassador, gave a stirring speech to the General Assembly denouncing apartheid and insisting that “Arab oil producers provide the umbilical cord that nourishes the apartheid regime.” (Never mind that Israel remained absent from the 1980 U.N. vote to impose an oil embargo on South Africa in deference to its friends in Pretoria.)

    Netanyahu was right that Arab and Iranian oil was flowing through middlemen to the apartheid regime, but he categorically denied Israel’s extensive military and trade ties with South Africa, calling charges of lucrative arms sales “flat nonsense” and accusing his critics of trying “to defame Israel.”

    In fact, Israel was profiting handsomely from selling weapons to Pretoria at the time. Writing in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman estimated that the two countries did $400 million to $800 million of business in the arms sector in 1986. According to declassified South African documents, the figure was likely even greater: A single contract for modernization of South African fighter jets in the mid-1980s amounted to “approximately $2 billion,” and  arms sales in 1988 — one year after Israel imposed sanctions against the apartheid regime — exceeded $1.5 billion. As the former head of the South African Air Force Jan van Loggerenberg told me bluntly: “Israel was probably our only avenue in the 1980s.”

    Declassified South African arms-procurement figures (which exclude lucrative cooperative ventures and shared financing arrangements) reveal the full extent of Netanyahu’s lie. The “independent IMF figures” he cited (which excluded diamonds and arms) suggested trade was a minuscule $100 million annually. It was actually between five to 10 times that amount — depending on the year — making the apartheid regime Israel’s second- or third-largest trading partner after the United States. Not all of the weapons Israel sold were used in external wars, and there is no denying that Israeli arms helped prolong the rule of an immoral and racist regime.

    Who, exactly, deserves to be barred from the US?

  • How To Recognize the Anthropocene | The Loom

    Elizabeth Kolbert writes this morning about the Anthropocene, a new geological epoch marked by the dominance of our species. It may be hard to precisely mark its beginning, but here’s why I think it will be easy for geologists 10 million years in the future to pinpoint layers of Anthropocene rocks.


  • Android-powered entry-level HTC Wildfire says hello to the EU a day early (with video)

    HTC Wildfire
    HTC held a press conference in Germany today where they showed off their successor to the entry-level Tattoo, dubbed the Wildfire.

    As strange as it sounds, it appears that HTC weren’t quite ready to announce it, but once the news was out, it spread like Wildfire across the web, so HTC went and confirmed it with a press release dated for tomorrow. So I guess we’re a bit like time travellers now, no?

    The phone is destined for the European and Asian markets in Q3 of this year, and will be available in black, white, red, and (the often under-appreciated) brown.

    The specs are pretty similar to my not-entry-level-at-the-time Hero (sigh), only with the addition of an LED flash, a lower-rez screen, and a bit more RAM.

    Specifically, the phone will rock a Qualcomm MSM7225 processor @525MHz, a 3.2″ QVGA screen (the Hero sports HVGA), 5MP auto-focus camera with LED flash, 512MB Flash, 384MB RAM (the Hero only has 288MB), and the now standard WiFi b/g, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, GPS/AGPS, and MicroSD slot.

    Interested? Slashgear have a whole bunch o’ photos, and even a hands-on video, which I’ve embedded below, just above the press release from the future.

    KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE WITH HTC WILDFIRE

    Share apps, updates and experiences with the latest social powerhouse from HTC

    LONDON – 18 May, 2010, 07.00 CEST – HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones, today introduced HTC Wildfire™, a new HTC Sense-based Android phone that integrates the most popular social networks to help bring your friends closer to you. HTC Wildfire closely follows the success of the acclaimed HTC Desire and makes the company’s signature HTC Sense experience accessible to a younger audience.

    “Today’s social networks provide an essential forum for friendship with more than 400 million users* – many of whom are young adults – actively sharing their lives with their friends through Facebook,” said Florian Seiche, Vice President, HTC EMEA. “HTC Wildfire makes the HTC Sense experience available to young mobile users for the first time. It brings all your communications into one place, whether it’s through Facebook, Twitter, text messages, images or email, ensuring that you are never far away from the conversation and always close to your friends.”

    HTC Wildfire helps you stay connected with those who are most important to you through HTC Sense, a user experience focused on putting people at the centre by making phones work in a more simple and natural way. You won’t miss out on the fun as HTC’s Friend Stream application seamlessly gathers and displays content from social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr into one organised stream of updates. HTC Wildfire enables you to stay up to date with your friends’ posts, comments, alerts and photos, wherever you are.

    In addition, each contact viewed in HTC Wildfire’s address book includes a thread of recent communications with that person, including when you last spoke, recent text messages and emails, and social network updates. When your friend calls, HTC Caller ID displays their Facebook profile photo and latest update, as well as a reminder if their birthday is fast approaching.

    Thanks to a new app sharing widget, HTC Wildfire enables you to recommend an application by email, text message or over social networks. Your friends will receive a link allowing them to find the application on the Android Market with a single click and download it to their phone.

    Florian Seiche continued, “We understand that people need a better way to navigate their way through the tens of thousands of applications that are currently available on the Android Market. In fact, our own independent research found that consumers are not only hungry for the latest and most popular applications that their friends are using, they want an easier way to find and download them. For the first time ever, you can recommend the newest and coolest apps to a friend or group of friends with HTC Wildfire. With so many applications to choose from, there’s a world of content to discover and pass along to your friends.”

    HTC’s latest advanced smartphone is great for viewing and sharing photos on Flickr and for surfing the internet thanks to its 3.2-inch capacitive touch screen. A five-megapixel camera with auto focus and LED flash allows you to capture special moments, while a 3.5mm audio jack and micro SD card slot mean you are never without your favourite songs.

    Availability
    The new HTC Wildfire will be broadly available to customers across major European and Asian markets from Q3 2010.


  • Britney Spears Threatens Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter Crown

    Ashton Kutcher is thisclose to losing his Twitter crown to a Southern blonde with a bad weave.

    Kutcher became the king of Twitter after famously beating CNN to 1 million followers last April, but has been getting tough competition from pop star Britney Spears in recent weeks. As of May 17, Kutcher still has more followers than anyone else on the micro-blogging site, but it seems the funnyguy’s days as Twitter’s most popular user are numbered — thanks to the “Womanizer” star.

    The two are neck-and-neck in a race to hit 5 million followers.

    Spears — who only sporadically posts updates to her Twitter — is nevertheless slowly closing in on Kutcher – and the gap between their number of followers gets smaller every day. Ashton currently has 4,890,797 followers, while Spears is standing steady at 4,878,516.


  • Win a free Evo 4G from Android Central! [contest]

    Sprint Evo 4G

    You didn’t think we’d let the Sprint Evo 4G launch without giving one away, did you? Here’s what you have to do to win the biggest, baddest Android smartphone from the biggest, baddest Android blog:

    Just reply to this thread in our forums and tell us what feature you’re most excited about in the Evo 4G. Maybe it’s the massive 4.3-inch screen. Maybe it’s the full 1GHz Snapdragon processor. Maybe it’s the 4G WiMax data speeds. Or the 8-device WiFi hotspot capability. Or the HDMI-out. Or the two-way video chat. Or the simultaneous voice and date. Or its ability to overthrow small nations (roaming charges may apply).

    Tell us here, and we’ll pick a winner on June 1 — the Evo 4G will be available June 4 — and we’ll make you the coolest kid on your block. Good luck!

    Win a Sprint Evo 4G from Android Central

  • Ozone’s joined-up climate

    BBC News: Remember the unseemly rush to biofuels? The sudden impetus from all kinds of bodies including UN institutions, the EU, and governments such as the UK that began about four years ago to ramp up the growing of fuel crops and to adopt liquids made from them as the low-carbon transport panacea?

    While the enthusiasm was understandable given the absence at the time of other low-carbon transport “solutions”, the thinking was also full of holes.

    Some biofuel systems would actually increase emissions, peoples’ rights (particularly in rural areas of developing countries) were potentially compromised, and the impacts on biodiversity of coating the surface of the planet in monocrop plantations were also potentially horrible.

    You can argue that this state of affairs would never have come about if “the environment” had not been chopped up and partitioned into segments called “climate change”, “forests”, “biodiversity” and so on.

    More holistic thinking – more integrated thinking structures at national and international level – would perhaps have ensured that the downsides were seen earlier in the day, and there would have been no over-eager policy-making and subsequent retrenchment.

    Something potentially analogous has been happening with the international agreements that are supposed to deal with climate change and ozone depletion – the UN climate convention (UNFCCC) and the Montreal Protocol.

    The latter has met with some success at progressively phasing out ozone-destroying chemicals such as cholorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and methyl bromide.

    The job isn’t done yet – not least because developing countries have needed more time to make changes than industrialised nations – but it’s been going in the right direction, with CFCs themselves due to be eliminated this year apart from a few uses where there’s no alternative.

    However, there’s been a problem. The replacement chemicals, HCFCs, are – like CFCs themselves – potent greenhouse gases; molecule for molecule they are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide. They also cause some ozone depletion, though far less than CFCs.

    Three years ago, governments decided to accelerate the phase-out of HCFCs too, with target dates of 2020 for industrialised countries and 2030 for the developing world.

    But the most likely replacements for HCFCs – HFCs – would still contribute substantially to the man-made greenhouse.

    One study published last year concluded that if there were to be a meaningful global agreement to tackle greenhouse gases such as CO2, then by 2050, HFCs could be contributing anywhere between 9% and 45% to the man-made greenhouse effect.

    A companion study concluded that by reducing CFC emissions to the atmosphere, the Montreal Protocol had done more by accident to curb global warming than the Kyoto Protocol had achieved intentionally.

    Read more>>

  • Fragrant Burmese curry

    burmese-curry.jpg
    Photo Credit: Joseph A. Garcia

    Myanmar, formerly known as Burma is an exotic land of temples, pagodas and colorful festivals bordered on all sides by Thailand, Laos, China, India and Bangladesh. The countries of Southeast Asia maintain distinct identities, however the cuisines share many staple ingredients and cooking methods.

    What makes the cuisine of Burma so interesting is how it has taken the influence of its neighbors – Thailand, India, and China – and created a distinct character.  Chinese and Indian eateries predominate and the cuisine tends to fall somewhere between Chinese and Thai and is often described as a bit richer than Chinese and somewhat less spicy than Thai food.

    Traditional cookbooks call for preparing Southeast Asian dishes with a variety of complex ingredients, however our tasty Burmese Curry is simple to prepare. Diced potatoes and lite coconut milk give body to this velvet textured curry.

    Common herbs and spices and wholesome alternatives make it possible for the health conscious cook to prepare a Burmese style dish with a healthier bottom line that maintains the character of the traditional dish.

    Serve this delicious curry with fragrant Jasmine or Basmati rice.

    Fragrant Burmese Curry

    8 Servings

    1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
    1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
    1 Tablespoon minced garlic
    1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh grated gingerroot
    1 large shallot, minced (about 1/3 cup)
    1 large red onion, chopped
    1/3 cup chopped red pepper
    3 cups diced potatoes, peeled
    2 (6 ounce packages) Soy ‘chicken strips’ or seitan
    1 (15-ounce can) garbanzo beans
    1 medium tomato, diced
    1/2 teaspoon turmeric,
    1 teaspoon ground ginger
    2 cinnamon sticks
    1/2 cup vegetarian broth
    1 (14-ounce can) lite coconut milk
    1 Tablespoon tamari

    Heat oil, crushed pepper and minced garlic over medium high heat in an electric skillet or Dutch oven, for 1 minute.  Add gingerroot, shallot, onion and peppers. Saute for 3 minutes and add potatoes. Cook for 8 minutes or until potatoes begin to soften, stirring frequently. Add soy ‘chicken’ or seitan to the pan along with garbanzo beans, diced tomato, turmeric, ground ginger and cinnamon sticks. Cook mixture for 8 minutes, stirring often. Reduce heat to low.  Add broth, coconut milk and tamari. Simmer curry for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

    Fragrant Burmese Curry

    Nutrition Analysis per serving: 2 cups

    Protein 20g, Carbohydrate 22g, Fiber 5g, Fat 6g,
    Cholesterol 0mg, Calcium 40mg. Sodium 438 mg.

    Calories 24

    Notes on Ingredients

    Tamari- Tamari is a wheat-free and naturally processed soy sauce with a richer and more mellow flavor. Available at health food stores, Asian markets, and many supermarkets.

    Soy ‘Chicken’ style strips – Wholesome alternative available in the cold case at health food stores and some supermarkets. Look for Yves Veggie Cuisine Meatless Chicken Strips, Light Life Smart Strips Chick’n Style

    Seitan or Wheat Meat (Wheat Gluten) is available in traditional or seasoned varieties: vegetarian stir fry or chicken styles.  Look for White Wave Seitan in the cold case of health food stores and many supermarkets.

    Gingerroot – Knobby root with a pungent aromatic ginger flavor that is peeled and grated before adding to the recipe

    Turmeric – Earthy ground spice that adds the characteristic vibrant yellow color to curries.

    Lite Coconut Milk – Lower in fat than traditional coconut milk and widely available in supermarkets and health food stores

    Marie Oser is a best-selling author, writer/producer and host of VegTV, Follow Marie on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vegtv

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  • 16 Super Hot Older Celebrities Who are Still Bangable

    Most celebrities come into fame when they’re pretty young, and the majority of them only stay famous for a couple of years before slipping into the abyss of irrelevancy once again. Sub-par talents or drug addiction are largely contributing factors to the transition from ’star’ to ’some lady’, but the dreaded process of aging is really what haunts many sexy female celebs. Aging can’t be stopped, only delayed, and sometimes those age-defying cosmetic procedures don’t work very well or at all. However, some ladies luck out — a good plastic surgeon, genes, or simply healthy habits give their looks a longevity that leave us wanting more for years, sometimes decades. Here are 25 older celebrities who are definitely still bangable.

    Sharon Stone – 46

    Image Source

    Sharon Stone is an American actress and model most famous for the movie that skyrocketed her career and made her a sex symbol of the 90s at the same time — Basic Instinct. Even younger generations are familiar with her famous ‘flashing’ scene, in which she crosses and uncrosses her legs during a police interview. It sounds innocent enough, but it’s a head on shot of Stone’s vagina; she’s wearing only a slinky dress and no underwear. Since then, Stone has appeared in countless blockbuster hits and been listed on multiple ’sexiest women on earth’ lists. Although she used to be a Scientologist and offhandedly suggested that the 2008 earthquake in China could be chalked up to ‘karma’, Stone is still smoking hot at 46 years of age. She’s still posing nude!

    Nicole Kidman – 41

    Image Source

    Australian actress Nicole Kidman began her Hollywood career acting in Australian sitcoms and television shows. She is better known for her roles in films like Batman Forever and the sexually charged Eyes Wide Shut. Kidman has been nominated for countless awards, and even made a spot for herself on the UK music charts after her vocal performances in Moulin Rouge! Although Kidman may be a little crazy — and guilty of joining the cult of Scientology — she’s one hot MILF at the age of 41.

    Salma Hayek – 43

    Image Source

    An actress first, Salma Hayek has dabbled in film directing and producing as well. She first became known in Mexico for her starring role in Teresa, a made for TV movie split up into a series. Hayek has been cast as the ’sexy female’ in multiple blockbuster hits such as Dogma and Wild Wild West, and has popped up on countless magazine covers and centerfolds. However, she still took the time from her busy career to donate lumps of money to shelters for battered women and victims of domestic violence. Hayek has one child and is still looking great at 43.

    Angelina Jolie – 34

    Image Source

    Angelina Jolie is an American actress who was originally born with the last name Voight, but later dropped it after becoming estranged from her father. She began modeling in LA when she was only fourteen, and appeared in music videos for artists like Meat Load and Lenny Kravitz. One of Jolie’s first movie roles was in cult favorite Hackers, but her first breakthrough appearance was about four years later when she appeared in a film called George Wallace, for which she received a Golden Globe Award. Her sexy role as supermodel Gia Carangi as Gia, a from-rags-to-riches story with a tragic ending, earned her even wider recognition. Since then, Jolie has become a worldwide sex symbol. She easily adapts to a variety of roles, turning scripts into titillating, irresistible films.

    Marisa Tomei – 45

    Image Source

    Marisa Tomei was the sassy sexpot from My Cousin Vinny, a dramady about two ‘youts’ who are arrested and wrongly accused of murder in a small Alabama town far away from their homes in NYC. Tomei won an Academy Award for her supporting role and went on to appear in films like What Women Want and Anger Management. Born in Brooklyn, Tomei isn’t shy about her stunning figure — she appears nude in the 2007 film Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead and 2009’s The Wrestler. Tomei is now 45 years old, but looks considerably better than many younger actresses in Hollywood today.

    Tina Fey – 39

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    Tina Fey is an American actress and comedian who has won about eighteen various awards for her work. Tina Fey spent seven years as the main writer for SNL before departing from the show to create her own comedy sitcom, a series called 30 Rock which was loosely based on her past experiences in television. Fey has been ranked on the Hot List by Maxim in 2002, named one of People Magazine’s 50 most beautiful people and 100 beautiful people over a number of years. She received an award as well as an incredible amount of praise for her SNL skit in which she parodied vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, looking and acting frighteningly similar to the right wing nutjob.

    Elle Macpherson – 47

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    Australian supermodel and actress Elle Macpherson is also a successful entrepreneur, producing skin care and lingerie lines. Macpherson traveled to New York at the age of 17 in an attempt to raise money modeling in order to pay for her college tuition. Instead, she began what would become a 25 year long modeling career for Tab, Time Magazine, Playboy, and countless other magazines and products. Although Macpherson is almost half a century old, she still retains her sexiness and business prowess as she hosts and produces Britain’s Next Top Model.

    Gwen Stefani – 40

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    Gwen Stefani is an American singer who became famous for her rock band, No Doubt, and later became a solo artist and fashion designer. Stefani’s first vocal performance was at a high school talent show, where she sang a song from The Sound of Music while wearing a homemade dress inspired by the film. She performed on a track with Sublime before they blew up, and made two successful solo albums after departing from No Doubt over ten years later. At the age of 40, Stefani currently has two sons with husband Gavin Rossdale, and is still looking hot as heck as she performs in mostly self-made clothing during solo concerts and No Doubt reunion shows.

    Courteney Cox – 45

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    Courteney Cox is a super cute American actress best known as Monica from television sitcom Friends. Luckily for television lovers everywhere, Cox decided not to pursue her original career choice as an architect and instead began appearing in music videos and commercials. Cox had an affair with her step-cousin, Ian Copeland, before marrying David Arquette, with whom she has one child. Cox currently plays a character called Jules Cobb in television series Cougar Town — just the name of that show is testament to her sexiness, still present after 45 years.

    Lucy Liu – 41

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    Lucy Liu is the sultry American actress from kick-ass films like Charlie’s Angels and Kill Bill — she’s got a tough as nails personality that makes her amazing figure and beautiful face stand out more than they normally would. Born in Queens, NY, Liu would attend and graduate college while beginning her acting career in film and television. Leading up to her breakthrough role in Ally McBeal, Liu appeared in episodes of The X-Files and Hercules. But Liu didn’t use her sexiness strictly for smash hits like Lucky Number Slevin and Chicago — she lowered her usual acting rate to star in a movie meant to raise AIDS awareness in China and Thailand. Liu is one hot 41 year old who we would love to see play the accordion — a hobby Liu says she enjoys.

    Darryl Hannah – 49

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    Darryl Hannah is an 80s sex pot who had roles in prominent films like Blade Runner and Roxanne. Over two decades later, Hannah is still killing it in the occasional television movie — she also has her own video blog to raise awareness about environmental issues. This good-hearted hottie was even arrested in 2006 while trying to prevent the razing of a forest in southern LA. Hannah was again arrested during another protest in 2009, clearly unafraid of penalization for doing what she believes is “morally right.” At 49 years of age, Hannah is still sexy — and feisty — as ever.

    Vanessa Williams – 47

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    Vanessa Williams is a multi-talented singer, model, and actress from upstate New York. Coincidentally, her parents had joked “Here comes Miss America” as she was being born — some 20 years later, that joke would become reality. Williams won Miss New York in 1983 and Miss America in 1984. Because she was the first black Miss America, Williams received death threats and hate mail. To make matters worse, she felt forced to resign after nude photos of her were sold to Penthouse without her permission, prompting pressure and uneasiness from pageant sponsors. However, Williams was not so easily deterred from success. She later released multiple R&B albums which earned her Grammy nominations and spots on the top ten Billboard Hot 100. At 47 years old, Williams is still a striking beauty.

    Michelle Pfeiffer – 52

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    Michelle Pfeiffer is an American actress who first became famous for her role in the cinematic masterpiece Scarface. Pfeiffer has appeared in dozens of movies and television shows since, adopting various accents [anything from Brooklyn to Russian] for her roles. She played Catwoman, a role only a totally smoking hot babe could fill out; Pfeiffer fit the part perfectly. Even after four children and at the age of 51, Pfeiffer is definitely still bangable.

    Halle Berry – 43

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    Halle Berry is one of the most famous sex symbols alive today. An American actress and beauty queen, Berry is the first African American to win an Academy Award for best actress. The role that earned her such status was of that in Monster’s Ball, a racially charged drama in which she has a super hot and explicit sex scene with Billy Bob Thornton. Although she received multiple awards for her outstanding acting, Berry won the Razzie award for ‘worst actress’ after playing Catwoman in 2005. She even tried her hand at chemistry; Berry used her leisure time to create a perfume from her own home. She later sold it for millions of dollars. Berry is now 43, still super-hot and super-motivated; her acting career hasn’t slowed down a bit.

    Cindy Crawford – 44

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    Cindy Crawford is a former American Supermodel who, like Marilyn Monroe, has a small mole just above her lip. Crawford has modeled for Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan, and countless other large-name magazines. After graduating from high school as valedictorian of her class, Crawford dropped out of her chemical engineering at college to pursue modeling full time. This was clearly a great choice. Crawford has made multiple work-out videos, including one for mothers who are trying to get back in shape after having her first child. We can only imagine that all across America, these videos made the sons of many Crawford-loving mothers very happy.

    Geena Davis – 54

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    Geena Davis is a multi-talented actress, writer, model and film producer. She was born in a small town in Massachusetts, where she learned how to play multiple instruments as a child. Davis signed her fist modeling contract a little over thirty years ago in 1979 — that’s more than three decades! Besides modeling and acting in over a dozen movies, Davis has done her fair share of activism as well. She sparked a study on gender ratios in television programs, leading to the discovery that males outnumber females nearly 3:1 in almost 400 movies of varying genres and ratings. At the ripe old age of 54, Davis looks remarkably young and attractive.


  • Crisis in New Zealand climatology by Barry Brill

    Article Tags: Barry Brill, NZ Climate Scandal

    The warming that wasn’t

    The official archivist of New Zealand’s climate records, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), offers top billing to its 147-year-old national mean temperature series (the “NIWA Seven-station Series” or NSS). This series shows that New Zealand experienced a twentieth-century warming trend of 0.92°C.

    The official temperature record is wrong. The instrumental raw data correctly show that New Zealand average temperatures have remained remarkably steady at 12.6°C +/- 0.5°C for a century and a half. NIWA’s doctoring of that data is indefensible.

    The NSS is the outcome of a subjective data series produced by a single Government scientist, whose work has never been peer-reviewed or subjected to proper quality checking. It was smuggled into the official archive without any formal process. It is undocumented and sans metadata, and it could not be defended in any court of law. Yet the full line-up of NIWA climate scientists has gone to extraordinary lengths to support this falsified warming and to fiercely attack its critics.

    For nearly 15 years, the 20th-century warming trend of 0.92°C derived from the NSS has been at the centre of NIWA official advice to all tiers of New Zealand Government – Central, Regional and Local. It informs the NIWA climate model. It is used in sworn expert testimony in Environment Court hearings. Its dramatic graph graces the front page of NIWA’s printed brochures and its website.

    Source: quadrant.org.au

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