Como nos tienen acostumbrados en iFixit, acaban de hacerse de un movil Nexus One que lo desarman completamente para mostrarnos que hay dentro. Quien lo hizo fue Walter Galan tardando 30 minutos para desmontarlo completamente.
Lo sorprendente es que al desarmarlo se puede ver que la pantalla táctil es fabricada por Samsung proveedor del Zune HD de Microsoft y el Bluetooth y chip wifi son de Broadcom que son exactamente los mismo que utiliza Apple en su Ipod Touch..
No meu primeiro thread de 2010, gostaria de mostrar a vocês um dos maiores e mais decadentes tesouros do interior do nosso estado de Minas Gerais, a Estância Hidromineral do Hotel Serra Negra, no município de Patrocínio.
Construído aos pés de uma imensa cratera vulcânica, o Hotel conta com fotes de água mineral e sulfurosa (como na fonte Andrade Júnior em Araxá), uma gigantesca área de mata preservada, trilhas para cavalgada e um lago de água mineral no que era a boca do extinto vulcão.
Minha família tem raízes profundas em toda essa região, então é um lugar que conheço de certa forma. Meus avós e tios falam com muita nostalgia do hotel, lembrando da época de glamour e dos grandes figurões que um dia passaram pelos seus salões. Segundo consta, o hotel foi construído para suprir uma demanda que a crescente elite cafeeira da região tinha por um local mais refinado, visto que o Grande Hotel de Araxá não fica tão próximo de Patrocínio. Construído em 1935 no mesmo estilo Missões do Grande Hotel, não localizei a data de seu fechamento, que se deu pelo falecimento do proprietário e um embate judicial que se arrasta até os dias de hoje entre seus herdeiros.
Nos arredores do hotel temos uma engarrafadora de água mineral, a Serra Negra.
Ia com certa frequência ao hotel quando criança, mas já na época ele estava fechado. Aproveitando o feriadão do fim do ano, resolvi voltar lá e me daparo com um cenário de completo abandono, lamentável em se tratando de uma área com tanto potencial turístico.
Pesquisei sobre a estância no Google, mas obtive pouquíssima informação.
Então, vamos às fotos:
1.Região do entorno do Hotel, com destaque para a imensa cratera
2. A cratera e a região do Hotel em destaque
3.Zoom na região do Hotel
4.Portaria
5.Fachada
6. Detalhes da fachada
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17. Mato, mato, mato…
18. Caldeira
19. Idem
20. Como o Hotel está fechado e trancado, consegui poucas fotos do interior
21. Um dos salões
22. Varanda em frente ao salão
23. Outro salão
24. Garrafões da água mineral (virou depósito!!!!!)
25
26. O telhado, DENTRO de um dos salões
27
28. Nos anos 80, cogitou-se uma reabertura do Hotel e iniciaram uma ampliação, que nunca foi concluída:
29
30
31
Área externa
32. Parque infantil
33. Fonte de água mineral
34
35
36. Fonte de água sulfurosa
37
38
39
40. Casa de Banhos
41
42. Natureza
43
44
45
46
47. Foto antiga do hotel, ainda com jardins bem cuidados:
Panoramio de alexlimaptc
Agora compartilho com vocês algumas das poucas informações que achei no google sobre o Hotel:
(29/01/2009)Hotel Serra Negra
Ainda em Belo Horizonte, em relação ao Hotel Estância Hidromineral Serra Negra que está fechado há vários anos devido a um litígio entre herdeiros, Alberto Sanarelli ligou para a Secretária do sócio majoritário, Ricardo Nascimento, na manhã de quinta-feira, dia 28, com o objetivo de marcar uma audiência com o mesmo para saber mais sobre a questão e de uma possível reabertura. Como não obteve nenhum retorno, o vereador vai iniciar estudos junto a advogados para se informar sobre um possível tombamento ou até mesmo uma desapropriação por se tratar de uma área de interesse público. Sanarelli salientou: o que não pode é uma área de reserva ambiental, lazer e recursos mineirais como esta ficar fechada há anos por interesse de poucos em detrimento da vontade de muitos.
Na área do Hotel, além da água mineral se encontra também a água sulfurosa e outras, com propriedades medicinais. O local tem uma vegetação exuberante e um clima ameno.
No passado o hotel hospedou grandes políticos e outras personalidades como os presidentes Juscelino Kubischekt e Tancredo Neves, além de governadores, deputados, artistas e outras grandes personalidades.
http://www.cmpatrocinio.mg.gov.br/no…erta.php?id=88
[19/11/2009] – Em entrevista Silas Brasileiro parabeniza Difusora e fala sobre outros assuntos no Comentário do Dia
(…)Turismo de negócios
O parlamentar patrocinense acredita que existe a possibilidade da capital do café transformar-se em um importante setor turístico de Minas, se explorada sua produção tradicional, como o turismo de negócios. Poderíamos fazer projetos ambiciosos para a recuperação da lagoa do Chapadão, do Hotel Serra Negra e tornar Patrocínio um centro turístico. Turismo, este, na área de café, fazendas com tour mostrando a produção de café, como ela é realizada. Nossos engenhos na produção de rapadura, nossa farinha preparada no tacho, transformando assim Patrocínio num pólo turístico, finalizou o deputado.
http://www.sistemadifusoraderadio.co…php?idnew=3766
(…)A 15 Km da cidade se localiza a Estância Hidromineral de Serra Negra, expressivo ponto turístico e hidrográfico, com o Hotel Serra Negra e o engarrafamento da água mineral " Serra Negra" , que é comercializada por todo país. A estância é nacionalmente conhecida por suas águas e lama sulfurosa medicinal.
http://www.funcecp.br/modules.php?na…howpage&pid=30
Dentre os atrativos, podem se apontar: o Parque Hotel Serra Negra – localizado a 20 km do centro. Possui fontes de água mineral, banhos térmicos de água sulfurosa e de lama, duchas, lago, bosque de 30 ha, curral e montarias. Há ainda a criação de suínos e cabras e produção de leite, queijo, doces, frutas e legumes. Lagoa do Chapadão do Ferro – no topo da serra a 1.200 m de altitude, na cratera de um vulcão extinto, com 6 km de diâmetro, de águas minerais. E a Casa da Cultura.
http://www.turminas.mg.gov.br/patrocinio.html
Construído em 1935, em estilo missões, possui fontes de água mineral, banhos térmicos de água sulfurosa e de lama, duchas, lago, bosque de 30 ha, curral, montarias, criação de suínos e cabras, produção de leite, queijos, doces, frutas e legumes. Situa-se em uma reserva natural, com 274.00 ha.
http://www.brasilchannel.com.br/muni…=MG&tipo=lazer
Esta é uma das únicas estâncias minerais do estado que ainda está na mão da iniciativa privada. Graças ao fantástico trabalho que a CODEMIG (Companhia de Desenvolvimento de Minas Gerais) realizou em Araxá, ainda tenho esperanças de que veremos mais um pólo turístico se desenvolvendo no nosso estado.
Como há escassez de informações, peço aos amigos foristas que tenham algo a acrescentar que por favor o façam, pois esse pedaço de paraíso esquecido merecer ser revitalizado, ainda que na memória.
Um grande abraço a todos e um excelente 2010!
Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)
With photos.
Abbasid gold coins in Fayoum, two rock- hewn tombs in Saqqara and a four- cornered, mud-brick tower on the wall of Islamic Cairo are the latest antiquities discovered in Egypt.Wherever a mission digs in Egypt it is obvious that they will come up with a treasure. An archaeological mission from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of Warsaw University excavating in a monastic building at Deir Al-Malah Monastery at Naqlun in Fayoum recently unearthed a decorated clay cup of Aswan production full of coins. The hoard consists of 18 gold coins and 62 fragments of coins, all of them provisionally dated to the Abbasid period.
Under the charred remains of a collapsed wall, archaeologists also uncovered a chandelier and a well-preserved oil lamp, both made of bronze.
“The whole treasure was found inside a room that seems to have been hastily abandoned during a fire,” said Woldzimierz Godlewski, head of the Polish mission. He added that the monastic complex of Naqlun was built in the early sixth century AD, while the area excavated this season dated to the seventh century and was destroyed by a massive fire in the eighth or at the beginning of the ninth century AD.
“The Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out a court ruling that invalidated former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal’s death sentence for killing a Philadelphia police officer in 1981.
Since Abu-Jamal’s 1982 conviction, activists in the United States and Europe have rallied in support of his claims that he was the victim of a racist justice system. Abu-Jamal has kept his case in the spotlight through books and radio broadcasts.
The appeals court upheld Abu-Jamal’s conviction but held his death sentence invalid. The Supreme Court earlier rejected Abu-Jamal’s appeal of his conviction…
The case is Beard v. Abu-Jamal, 08-652.” (source)
Anyone left out there that may still harbor some hesitation as to whether it was Mumia that killed Officer Daniel Faulkner in cold blood…only need read the transcripts. They even made a convert of one of my liberal brothers whose friends were all on the ‘Free Mumia bandwagon’…thankfully he did the reading.
Is it sad or amusing that the LA Times is calling a decision by the Supreme Court to keep the death penalty a setback for Mumia. Setback?
“This assassination has been made a circus by those people in the world and this city who believe falsely that Mumia Abu-Jamal is some kind of a folk hero,” then-Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham said when the federal appeals court upheld the conviction. “He is nothing short of an assassin.” (source)
(photo credit: reuters)
República Dominicana se ha convertido en el primer país de Latinoamérica en iniciar la distribución de gas natural liquido (GNL), y en utilizarlo a nivel industrial, aseguran representantes de las empresas responsable, Platergas y Cringas.
Asimismo, informaron que con el inicio de las operaciones de la primera planta satélite para recibir, almacenar y utilizarlo en el proceso productivo de GNL el país marca un antes y un después para la industria local, por los aportes que ofrece este carburante renovable y sobre todo por los beneficios que brinda a la conservación del medio Ambiente.
Refirieron que el primer camión con capacidad de 45.8 metros cúbicos de GNL fue cargado en la terminal del complejo energético AES Andrés, Boca Chica, el cual fue descargado por GNL Gaseoducto Virtual en la primera planta satélite construida por la empresa Cringas, para la Industria Dominicana de Cales S.A. (Docalsa), en el Pomier, San Cristóbal.
La distribución
El presidente de Platergas, José Manuel Arias Fernández, dijo que esa empresa ha desarrollado la logística necesaria para el suministro y comercialización de GNL.
Mientras, Luis Javier Ruiz Herrera, director de Cringas, refirió que es la primera en poner a funcionar una planta satélite para recibir, almacenar y utilizar GNL en sus procesos productivos.
Who’s to Blame?
Nate Silver tries to explain the 31-point swing in the Massachusetts vote: from Barack Obama’s 26-point victory in the 2008 presidential election to Martha Coakley’s 5-point loss last night.
He blames 10 points on the national environment, citing generic ballot tests that show “the Democrats’ position has worsened by a net of 10 points since November 2008.”
Another 11 points of blame “should be assigned to Coakley. That represents the difference between the 58 percent of vote that she received at her high-water mark in the polls to the 47 percent she received on Election Day.”
The remaining 10 points are spread out “as evenly as possible, giving 3 more points to Coakley, 3 more points to the national environment, and 4 to Massachusetts-specific special contingencies.”
Conclusion: “If you follow through on the math, this would suggest that Coakley would have won by about 8 points, rather than losing by 5, had the national environment not deteriorated so significantly for Democrats. It suggests that the Democrats would have won by 9 points, rather than losing by 5, had the candidate been someone other than Coakley.”
How the Vote Shifted in Massachusetts
Charles Franklin stayed up late crunching numbers and found that Scott Brown’s (R) vote totals in Massachusetts were essentially identical, in aggregate, to those Sen. John McCain received in the 2008 presidential election.
But it was a very different picture for Martha Coakley (D). Her best town gave her only about 80% of Barack Obama’s vote. Even in the towns she won, she was dramatically underperforming the Obama vote.
What Now on Health Care?
With political strategists in Washington and Massashusetts pointing fingers at who is to blame for yesterday’s U.S. Senate loss, the Washington Post notes “the real debate for the Democrats will be how to proceed. The most immediate problem is what to do with the health-care bill. Democrats from the House and the Senate have been negotiating furiously, trying to harmonize competing bills. Now the issue is whether they can quickly agree on how to pass a bill and whether they face a public backlash by doing so.”
The Wall Street Journal notes the loss “sparked what could become a bitter fight between liberals who urged Democrats to keep on course with health care, and centrists who argued the party needed to focus on the economy. Some of the latter suggested the party drop its health-care overhaul altogether.”
According to The Hill, White House officials “would prefer the House pass the Senate health care bill without changes, which would obviate the need for a second Senate vote on the legislation.”
“The problem is that many liberal lawmakers in the House don’t like the Senate bill. To compensate for this opposition, there is a proposal that the House would then pass a second measure making changes to the Senate bill. That measure could then pass through the upper chamber at a later date under special budgetary rules known as reconciliation, which allow legislation to pass with a simple majority.
Roll Call notes that discussions among Democratic leaders “were expected to get more serious today, as the reality of the Massachusetts defeat takes hold.”
Sim Simeonov wrote:
History repeats itself, it seems, because the defining technology battle of this decade is going to come straight from the 80s: it’s hardware versus software. [tweet] Every decade brings substantial advancements to both software and hardware, but in certain decades the strategic importance of one versus the other shifts dramatically in many segments. I’m using the term hardware loosely to include software wrapped in metal, which is still what companies such as Cisco and EMC live off of. Here is an extremely brief recent history of computing:
The period between 1950 and 1980, and the business models of the dominant players, were about hardware. In the ’80s, for the first time, software stood on its own and started taking a significant portion of spending at the expense of hardware. In the ’90s there was more of everything: servers, routers, storage, and during Bubble 1.0 large enterprises wanted at least one of every type of Web-related software. During the millennium decade, hardware made big advances through smartphones and in the fast-growing storage business, while companies were able to spend less on software thanks to broader adoption of open-source technology. This decade will be defined by a reversal of this trend, one that will mimic the ’80s in terms of hardware commoditization.
Most hardware doesn’t matter because some hardware matters a lot. [tweet] Apple owns the top of the PC pyramid through its brilliance in hardware design and through the software leverage of OS X and iTunes. This forces all other PC manufacturers into a deadly, low-margin competition in the low and mid tiers.
Netbooks accelerate the race to the bottom. [tweet] In a short period of time, netbooks have become a big part of portable shipments. Pushed by subsidies from mobile operators wishing to lock users into multi-year plans, netbooks will become “smartphones with larger screens.” Netbooks are great for browser-based applications, which makes the netbook OS and hardware even less important. That’s good, because there isn’t much margin in a $300 netbook.
Virtual appliances replace physical appliances. [tweet] For many years, appliance vendors have extracted additional margin by slapping their logo on a commodity appliance. CIOs want none of this. Virtualization and advancements in distributed systems make it possible to run all kinds of enterprise applications and infrastructure services such as storage, networking, and security on commodity hardware. Commodity again means lower margins for hardware manufacturers, including companies such as EMC and Cisco, who have reacted by shifting their focus to service businesses and pure software packaging.
Cloud computing makes hardware less relevant. [tweet] This decade will be defined by a migration to cloud-based computing for everyone from consumers to the largest of enterprises. On the enterprise side, the move is driven by the desire to lower costs and add flexibility. On the consumer side, it’s driven by the need to manage data and applications across several devices (laptop, netbook, e-reader, mobile phone, etc.). Cloud-based architectures buck a multi-decade trend and emphasize service level agreements (SLAs) that come from software as opposed to hardware. Instead of powerful, expensive servers, high performance and availability come though horizontal scaling of unreliable, cheap servers combined with new distributed software architectures. On top of this, the very large cloud vendors will operate vast server farms which, increasingly, as Google does today, will deploy commodity custom servers. Even less margin for the major hardware players.
Software begins to dominate as the driver for mobile device purchases. [tweet] Historically, back in the now distant days when mobile phones were primarily used for calling, consumers chose the phone first and then went along with whatever software came with the device. RIM was the first to change this with the Blackberry. Then came Apple’s iPhone. In both cases, these were systems-hardware and software came together and were supported by additional desktop and server software, namely the Blackberry desktop client and Blackberry Enterprise Server and iTunes / iTunes Store. What is more important? The design of the Blackberry device or the fact that it’s the best mobile e-mail machine on the planet? Would you have bought the iPhone if it ran Motorolla’s clamshell software? Google’s Android mobile OS pushes the divide further. I’m not suggesting that there won’t be really successful mobile hardware innovations. There will be a continuous streak of delightful innovation in devices. I’m simply arguing that, in this decade, the relative importance of mobile software and the third party ecosystem of software products and services will dominate.
Tablets are the obvious dark horse on the hardware side. If the human I/O problem is solved, we could see a radical shift in form factor that should exceed that of netbooks. I guess we won’t know for a few years. Even if Apple “does an iPhone” with its iSlate, it will be a long time before their volume meaningfully affects the landscape. Steve doesn’t like to sell things cheap.
There is one less obvious dark horse that hasn’t been named yet so let’s call it Rackware. [tweet] The “commodity custom servers” in data centers I mentioned above will look quite different from the typical servers that go on racks today. Google’s already do. In fact, they may combine CPU, memory, storage and I/O in very different and more variable ways than current servers for heat density, workload optimization and I/O virtualization reasons. Also, they may come not in server units but in rack units or other types of units (such as Google’s containers) that make deployment and management, including power and cooling, much cheaper and easier. It is foreseeable that a company could create sufficient new intellectual property in this area-both on the system and supply chain management side-to command premium margins for a period of time. Dell is a good example of this: one of the key differentiators they had in the early days was a supply chain patent that covered the just-in-time manufacturing of customized PCs.
The large scale value shift from hardware to software will have significant ramifications for innovation, venture capital, and investing. It will be an exciting decade.
One of the Most Common Chemicals Used in Modern Life Is Now Being Seen as a Health Threat
Damning new evidence has even the FDA worried about the impacts of BPA in consumer products, especially those for infants and children.
Damning new evidence has even the FDA worried about the impacts of BPA in consumer products, especially those for infants and children.
Obama Confidant’s Spine-Chilling Proposal to ‘Cognitively Infiltrate’ Conspiracy Theorist Groups
Recent paper by Obama adviser Cass Sunstein proposes bizarre methods to stamp out "false conspiracy theories," including taxing the people who engage in them.
Recent paper by Obama adviser Cass Sunstein proposes bizarre methods to stamp out "false conspiracy theories," including taxing the people who engage in them.
Sen. Sherrod Brown’s Recipe to Stop the Economic Hemorrhaging: Fix Our Manufacturing Policies
An interview with Sherrod Brown, the progressive senator from Ohio who calls for unleashing America’s economy to build wind turbines and solar panels.
An interview with Sherrod Brown, the progressive senator from Ohio who calls for unleashing America's economy to build wind turbines and solar panels.
Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El Aref)
On Monday morning on the Giza plateau workers were busy removing sand from the newly discovered tomb of Idu, overseer of the construction of the Great Pyramid. They were surrounded by a media scrum, gathered around admiring their work, taking photos and trying to glimpse what has been uncovered.During routine excavation and cleaning at the plateau an Egyptian archaeological mission, led by Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), stumbled upon what is believed to be a collection of early Fourth Dynasty tombs belonging to workers who built Khufu and Khafre’s pyramids.
“The tombs belong to the late fourth and fifth dynasties (2649-2374 BC),” says Hawass, who argues that they constitute one of the most important discoveries of the 20th and 21st centuries, shedding light on the early period of the Fourth Dynasty and contradicting assertions that the Pyramids were built by slaves.
“These tombs were built beside the king’s pyramid, which indicates that these people were not slaves. If they had been they would not have been allowed to build their tombs beside their king’s,” said Hawass.
Israel Threatened To Hit West Bank Hard If Abbas Did Not Stop Goldstone Report
Remember that amazing moment when President Abbas asked the United Nations to defer consideration of the Goldstone Report that found that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza. Now we know why Abbas did it. “The request by Palestinian President Mahmoud…
Israel – United Nations – Mahmoud Abbas – President of the Palestinian National Authority – Goldstone Report
Dems Must Step Up to Majority Governance after the Massachusetts Mess
My husband Bill and I were at our Cambridge polling place at 7am this morning, as a steady stream of voters marked the simple ballot. People at this solidly Dem precinct had determination on their faces, but the mood was…
Massachusetts – Cambridge Massachusetts – United States – Politics – Scott Brown
Will the Real Reinhold Niebuhr Please Stand Up?
Despite having been a religion major in college, I won’t try to dissect Joseph Loconte’s interpretation of Reinhold Niebuhr’s theology over in AEI’s magazine, The American. But the ways Loconte blatantly contorts President Obama’s foreign policy intentions cry out for…
Foreign policy – Reinhold Niebuhr – Barack Obama – United States – American Enterprise Institute
U.S. Chamber of Commerce celebrates its ?influence? over Massachusetts Senate race.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the right-wing lobbying giant, is celebrating its power to “influence” the race between Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Scott Brown to fill the seat of the late Massachusetts senator Ted Kennedy. In a blog post, the Chamber promoted the television ads it ran to portray Scott Brown as a friend […]
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the right-wing lobbying giant, is celebrating its power to “influence” the race between Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Scott Brown to fill the seat of the late Massachusetts senator Ted Kennedy. In a blog post, the Chamber promoted the television ads it ran to portray Scott Brown as a friend of business for supporting the continuation and extension of Bush-era tax cuts. However, the Chamber also discussed its real priority of killing health care reform, saying Brown’s election would “allow Republicans to block legislation, including health care reform opposed by the Chamber.” This barrage of conservative corporate cash is the beginning of a $100-million-dollar campaign to block reform:
The Chamber’s efforts in support of Brown’s Senate bid is a preview of what will be a massive effort to support pro-business candidates in November’s congressional midterm elections. In his annual State of American Business speech on January 12, Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue promised the “largest, most aggressive voter education and issue advocacy effort in our nearly hundred-year history.”
“A Brown win in today’s special election,” the Chamber says, “could pay immediate dividends by throwing into question the future of health care reform legislation pending in Congress.” A large part of Chamber’s efforts have been underwritten by nation’s biggest health insurers, which were “quietly pumping big money into third-party television ads aimed at killing or significantly modifying the major health reform bills moving through Congress.” The funds were solicited by America’s Health Insurance Plans — the lobbying arm of the insurance industry — and funneled to the Chamber.
Bernanke invites ‘full review’ by GAO of Fed’s AIG bailout
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said Tuesday that he would “welcome a full review” by government investigators into the federal bailout of the troubled insurance giant American International Group.
Profile of Scott Brown, victor in Massachusetts Senate race
Tuesday’s upset Republican victory in Massachusetts may well have less to do with ideology and more to do with old-fashioned retail politics: Scott Brown was a charismatic candidate with a old truck, an intriguing narrative and a promise to shake every voter’s hand.
Senate debate on debt limit to begin Wednesday, aide says
The Senate will open debate Wednesday — as expected — on a plan to raise the nation’s debt limit, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday afternoon.
Debido al 45 aniversario de la puesta a la venta del primer GT350 de Shelby, la marca ha aprovechado dicho aniversario para presentar su último Ford Mustang, el Shelby Mustang GT350 a un precio de 23.400€ .
Realmente ese no es su precio final si no que debemos comprar por nuestra parte el Mustang y llevarlo posteriormente a las instalaciones de Shelby para que le realicen las modificaciones pertinentes, entre ellas el aumento de su potencia hasta los 500 CV.
Estéticamente la verdad es que me ha gustado mucho ya que han sabido jugar con los colores para darle un aire fresco al modelo. A continuación os dejo con una galería de imágenes:
Related posts:
Aunque no será hasta el Salón de Ginebra cuando podamos verlo en vivo ya tenemos las imágenes oficiales del nuevo Mazda 5, un monovolumen de 7 plazas con unas líneas bastante atrevidas, basta con fijarse en el par de líneas onduladas que recorren los flancos.
Como características de este nuevo modelo podemos adelantar que habrá una nueva línea con un motor 2.0 DSI de inyección directa y caja manual de 6 velocidades.
El nuevo Mazda alardea de haber reducido sus emisiones de CO2 en un 15% respecto con la antigua versión.
Related posts:
Obama Has Done a Good Job So Far
Fred Hiatt, Washington Post
On Wednesday one year will have passed since President Obama's inauguration. Much of the tidal wave of assessments has been negative: Falling poll numbers. Unfulfilled promises. Disappointed supporters, disillusioned independents, angry opponents. He's been too cool or too egotistical, too left-wing or not left-wing enough. And if voters repudiate his policies in a special Massachusetts Senate election on Tuesday, as is quite possible, the tidal wave will become a tsunami.So before that happens, I'd like to interrupt the anniversary-bash-Obama-fest with a simple proposition:…
Public’s View of Obama at Year One, in Context
David Paul Kuhn, RCP
Barack Obama's first year anniversary is this week. Obama will cross that threshold with his public standing ranking in the lower third of the eleven presidents since World War II. The most striking fact, looking back at Obama's first year approval rating, is the rate of his decline. In the post-war era, only Gerald Ford's public standing plummeted more than Obama's. Below is Obama's approval rating in historical context, as well as a sense of what his persona evokes in the American mind today. Receive news alerts  David Paul Kuhn is the Chief Political…
Scott Brown Wins Mass. Senate Seat in Epic Upset
Johnson & Sidoti, AP
GOP's Brown wins Mass. Senate seat in epic upset By GLEN JOHNSON and LIZ SIDOTI Associated Press Writers AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty Watch Related Video Raw Video: Coakley Confident As She VotesRaw Video: GOP's Brown Votes in MassachusettsGOP's Brown wins Mass. Senate seat in epic upset Voters show independence in Mass. Senate race Mass. secretary of state dismissed vote problems Analysis: Mass. race exposes public's anger, fears Mass. voters brave snow, rain in Senate race Obama aide says Brown ran good race for Senate …
The dust has now settled on the massive disappointment that was the UN Copenhagen Climate Change Summit. We’ve had a break, got our breath back, and we’re looking at how to move forward with this campaign in what is now a vital year. (More on that next week).
Here’s a quick thing that you can do to kick off the campaigning year. The Copenhagen Summit “noted” the last minute agreement that was reached between the US, China et al but, like most of the important decisions, the detail was left out.
A deadline was set for filling in the blanks, like how much emissions should be cut by. We want the European Union (EU) to offer a carbon emissions cut of 30% on 1990 levels, and to move to 40% as quickly as possible.
Any casual observer can see that the whole climate change process needs reinvigorating after the hammering it took at Copenhagen. The EU needs to make this pledge to inject some momentum into the process and send a message that this year, they mean business.
So, let the EU know that you want some real carbon emissions cuts this year, so we get the fair, ambitious and binding deal we’re still waiting for.
Baked Brie with rosemary, yummy broccoli calzones, and a great little mug in today’s Delicious Links.
Howard Carter, the British explorer who opened the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, will forever be associated with the greatest trove of artifacts from ancient Egypt. But was he also a thief?Dawn was breaking as Howard Carter took up a crowbar to pry open the sealed tomb door in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. With shaking hands, he held a candle to the fissure, now wafting out 3,300-year-old air. What did he see, those behind him wanted to know. The archaeologist could do no more than stammer, “Wonderful things!”
This scene from Thebes in November, 1922, is considered archaeology’s finest hour. Howard Carter, renowned as the “last, greatest treasure seeker of the modern age,” had arrived at his goal.
Carter obtained about 5,000 objects from the four burial chambers, including furniture, jars of perfume, flyswatters, and ostrich feathers – the whole place was a dream of jasper, lapis lazuli, and turquoise. He even discovered a ceremonial staff adorned with beetles’ wings.
The “unexpected treasures,” as Carter described them, suddenly brought to light an Egyptian king previously almost unknown – Tutankhamun, born approximately 1340 B.C., who ascended the throne as a child.
The man responsible for discovering King Tut’s tomb may have deceived Egyptian authorities to steal treasured relics for himself, experts say.British explorer Howard Carter discovered the Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 in one of the world’s most famous archaeological finds, but may have systematically removed objects without authorization, Der Spiegel reported Sunday.
Carter had intended the contents of the tomb to go to England and the United States, but Egypt refused, insisting all artifacts remain in the country. Thwarted, Carter and his team then secretly helped themselves to many of the relics, some of which ended up in museums outside Egypt, the newspaper said.
by Jon Isham
So was that it? With the stunning Scott Brown victory in Massachusetts, have we already reached the end of the Obama era? After all—play dramatic cord—the Democrats no longer have 60 votes!
I say good riddance. Sure, if you’re a climate-movement activist, it’s not hard to be bummed, big time, by Brown’s victory. Here’s a guy that went from a supporter of the Northeast’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative—“Reducing carbon dioxide emissions in Massachusetts has long been a priority of mine”—to Limbaugh-lite— “I think the globe is always heating and cooling. … It’s a natural way of ebb and flow.” Mitt Romney, Scott Brown—what is it about these Massachusetts Republicans? Could it be that they are actually … politicians?!
Well, yes. As it turns out, most politicians do actually change with the electoral tides. And this time, the regular ebb and flow of Massachussets voter sentiment was swamped by the real emotions of these tough, tough times: There’s a tsunami of voter anger out there about jobs, Wall Street, and political business as usual. Scott Brown needed to only slightly alter his course to catch this wave.
So how can this anger actually help rally the country in support of climate legislation? Think of the Brown mandate not as the triumph of the Tea-Baggers, but as a 2010 call for change on top of 2008’s still-very-real call for Obama-fired change. For when Jesse Jackson and the rest of the nation shed joyful tears as we watched Obama’s victory speech 14 months ago, we weren’t celebrating the fact that Democrats would have 60 votes in the Senate. Far from it—we were rejoicing in the idea that America was poised to help “build the world anew.”
Guess what? It hasn’t happened yet, and as we saw yesterday from all parts of Massachusetts, voters are angry (or indifferent—I’m sure that polls will show that the core Democratic base was simply not inspired by this race).
And that fact, I think, actually augurs well for climate-change legislation. For here, in a nutshell, is what voters are angry about:
The economy has not recovered Wall Street is still having its way The Democratic leadership is out of touch
As quoted it today’s New York Times, here’s 73-year-old Marlene
Connolly, a lifelong Democrat who voted Republican for the first time. “I’m hoping that it gives a message to the country. … If Massachusetts
puts Brown in, it’s a message of ‘that’s enough.’ Let’s stop the
giveaways and let’s get jobs going.”
Even more than the now-teetering health-care bill, the current global-warming legislative strategy—Waxman/Markey/Boxer/Kerry/Graham/Lieberman—is about giveways, literally. In order to get—play that same dramatic chord again—the 60th vote, thinking to date has been to give away revenues generated by capping greenhouse-gas emissions to beltway powers-that-be: electrical utilities, labor, industry, coal, and—in part because the whole thing rests on a complex trading scheme—Wall Street. Billions of dollars per month into the hands of clients of K Street, Wall Street, and Don Blankenship’s coal-paved Easy Street. Want to know just how anti-consumer the current formulation is? Check out the good work of Tyson Slocum and his colleagues at Public Citizen.
I have the greatest respect for green leaders and climate-friendly politicians of all kinds (it is significant that the current bill is being shaped by a Democrat, a Republican, and an Independent). For over a decade, they have worked so hard to get us where we are: a global-warming bill passed last summer in the House and one had a good chance of passing in the Senate—well, maybe until about 9:00 p.m. last night. We owe hard-working staffers who have helped get us this far the greatest thanks and respect. And moreover, we will need their wisdom and wherewithal to get us to the next level.
But ultimately, these leaders cannot outfox the times. And these times do call for something new, an approach that is anti-giveaway and pro-pocketbook, an approach that is not built for special interests and Wall Street but rather built for Main Street.
And we’ve got it in the CLEAR Act. If there was ever a piece of legislation that celebrates simplicity and transparency while promoting the fortunes of the average American household, this is it. It’s simple to explain. Senator-elect Brown, check this out:
Put a cap on sources of global warming pollution as they are introduced into the economy Give 75 percent of revenues generated from that cap to Americans with a Social Security number, equally, a few hundred bucks a year to every kid and adult alike
Invest the remaining 25 percent in clean-energy and sequestration stuff that we need—and that will help us take on the Chinese and others in the job-creating green-arms race
Pretty simple, huh? Pretty cool.
Survey after survey—even after all of the Climate Cover-Up pushback—shows that Americans do want to fight global warming and they do believe in the prospects for green jobs and clean energy. But hard as it is for us climate junkies to admit it, something trumps even this: the desire for straight-shooting from our leaders, the desire for integrity. And this is what I and so many others see in the Cantwell-Collins CLEAR Act (see this good recent analysis from Michael Livermore): a built-in integrity that has a real chance to connect with restless, even angry, voters—and to give each family of four, on average, about $1100 per year.
In the quest for the 60th health-care vote, the Obama revolution did not arrive. Nor will it arrive, for better or worse, in the quest for a 60th cap-and-trade vote. But perhaps, in the words of my favorite kick-ass tune, the revolution starts now—in a simple, clear piece of legislation that favors Main Street over Wall Street and special interests, that is pro-jobs and pro-family, not pro-lobbyist.
What do you think, all you good climate activists in Massachusetts—ready to try all of this on Scott Brown?
Related Links:
Did China block Copenhagen progress to pave way for its own dominance in cleantech?
Clean Energy Business Zones: A tool for economic growth
Video, with partial transcript.
Back in 2006 Gerry Conlogue and Ron Beckett used x-rays, a c-t scanner and endoscope to look inside Pa Ib. He’s a mummy that has been on display at the PT Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut since 1896. Conlogue and Beckett are scientists. Three years ago they were looking for clues into Pa Ib’s identity. The radiologist who looked at the x-rays then came across something startling. There is a packet of some kind inside Pa Ib’s abdomen.Prof. Gerald Conlogue, Quinnipiac University: He thought he saw a falcon mummy in there so instead of an organ packet he thought it was an actual mummified bird within the body cavity. This is what we’re going to be looking for.
Although it is rare scientists have found bird mummies connected to human mummies in the past.
Researchers are using the latest imaging technology on an Egyptian mummy to try to unlock secrets of the ancient world, including whether a mysterious packet inside her was an offering to the gods to help secure a place in the afterlife.The high-resolution testing Thursday at Quinnipiac University also may determine the age at which the woman died and whether she gave birth, researchers say.
“It really is going to give us a fantastic view of this mummy,” said Ronald Beckett, co-director of the Bioanthropology Research Institute at Quinnipiac. “Every mummy has a story to tell. Every piece of information adds to our understanding of the ancient Egyptians.”
The mummy, known as Pa-Ib (pronounced py eeb) and believed to be about 4,000 years old, will be transported Thursday in a coffin complete with a police escort from the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport to the university’s campus in North Haven. A CT scanner will take images that are eight times the resolution of tests done on the mummy in 2006, and a tiny camera will be inserted inside the mummy.
Researchers are trying to determine if bundles in the abdomen and pelvis cavities contain a bird mummy or are organs. The earlier tests led to speculation that the bundles might contain a bird mummy.
And the results:
SFGate (John Christoffersen)
Researchers who examined an Egyptian mummy with the latest imaging technology found no evidence that a packet inside her was an offering to the gods of the ancient world.
More NewsPrevious tests led to speculation that the packet was a bird mummy — something researchers said would be an unusual and exciting find — but high-resolution tests Thursday at Quinnipiac University showed no remnants of a bird. Instead, researchers said the packet and a few others in the mummy likely contained organs, which were sometimes preserved and placed back in mummies for use in the afterlife.
The mummy, known as Pa-Ib and believed to be about 4,000 years old, has been in the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport since the 1890s and was a prized exhibit of the flamboyant showman P.T. Barnum.
It was transported Thursday in a coffin complete with a police escort from the museum to the university’s campus in North Haven.
A CT scanner took thousands of images that are eight times the resolution of tests done in 2006, and a tiny camera was inserted inside the mummy’s skull. Researchers expect to report their conclusions in March.
