Sempre achei que a maioria dos serviços de música online tinham um grave problema, eram demasiado complexos para a maioria das pessoas, e pouco objectivos naquilo para aquilo que realmente devia ser a sua funcionalidade, ouvir música.
Acho que quando pensamos em música e vídeo em plataformas online elas devem ter uma boa interacção social entre os vários utilizadores, porque isso claramente eleva a experiência e permite criar targets variados, e até descoberta de coisas novas, mas mais importante do que isso deve ser tão fácil e natural de usar como um qualquer “media player”.
Na minha opinião acho que até à bem pouco tempo a simplicidade/objectividade de que falo foi claramente deixada de lado pelos diversos serviços que proliferam na internet (Last.fm, Pandora, Imeem), parece-me que ignoraram completamente a essência dos “media player’s” desktop, onde a simplicidade, objectividade e “descrição” dominavam, concentram-se antes em desenvolver uma plataforma online com os princípios de outro qualquer site que não sobre música, para já não falar das diversas restrições regionais que nós tão bem conhecemos.
Bem, a minha plataforma ideal para ouvir música online será certamente diferente da de muitos de vocês, pensava inclusive que não existia, no entanto à uns dias por recomendação de um amigo descobri a que para mim é a melhor plataforma de “música” o Grooveshark.com , para quem quer, simplicidade, objectividade, e componente social, é chegar ouvir, criar playlist, listas de recomendação baseadas nos teus gostos, e o melhor de tudo não existem restrições regionais e é Grátis. A plataforma é desenvolvida em flash, o que sinceramente me surpreendeu pela robustez, rapidez que apresenta, o design é bastante simples a fazer lembrar um pouco o iTtunes.
Tudo parece estar no local certo, para não falar da quantidade imensa de músicas que temos ao dispor tudo gratuitamente e sem qualquer restrição. Como vem sendo hábito na grande maioria dos projectos online este também retira a sua rentabilidade da publicidade no entanto se quisermos remover o banner (único) que está do lado direito (não incomoda nada) podemos pagar $3 dollars por mês e ficamos sem qualquer tipo de publicidade.
No que diz respeito à legalidade do serviço, “apenas” a Universal optou por interpor um processo judicial que está a decorrer, no entanto editoras como a EMI já têm acordo assinado com o Grooveshark.com e a lista continua a crescer.
Para finalizar gostaria apenas de pedir a todos os leitores de deixassem a sua opinião sobre o serviço, e algumas alternativas similares. Até à próxima.
Fiesta en la Ciudad Vieja
:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana: Con motivo de la despedida de año en la ciudad vieja, mas precisamente en la zona del mercado del puerto … disfruten las fotos…
Fotos www.flickr.com
“SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!” The intonation inextricably linked to weekend motorsports events and monster truck rallies is seared into our childhood memories, and last Sunday its originator, Jan C. Gabriel (1940 – 2010), passed away at the age of 69 after battling kidney disease.
Gabriel came up with the signature turn of phrase while auditioning to do the voiceover work for commercials advertising the U.S. 30 dragstrip in Indiana. A delay feature built into his tape recorder allowed Mr. Gabriel to pull off the unique repeat effect, and the rest, as they say, is history. He would go on to record fresh spots every week throughout the 1980s for events at U.S. 30 and other tracks around the country, bringing the “Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!” line national.
Mr. Gabriel also produced and hosted the motorsports-themed television show, “Super Chargers,” and his production company helped popularize monster trucks by pushing them into into the spotlight during the ’80s. Jan Gabriel is survived by his wife, Theresa, and daughter, Amanda. Follow the jump for video of one of the old U.S. 30 TV spots featuring his famous tagline.
Here’s a video of Gears of War 3 Tecmo’s Quantum Theory. Kidding aside, the game actually looks pretty fun, especially the mechanic where Syd throws his female partner Fillena at enemies for some fasball special action.
One tablespoon of granulated sugar is about 12.5 grams. One gram of sugar is about 4 calories, so that’s about 50 calories per tablespoon. To use an everyday example, there’s 50 calories in 2.5 of those little brown packets of Sugar in the Raw you see at Starbucks.
In one week, cutting back on just one tablespoon of sugar per day adds up to 87.5 grams of sugar and 350 calories.
If you weighed around 155lbs, it would take about 30 minutes to burn 350 calories running at a 10 minute/mile pace (6.0 on your typical treadmill.) Cutting back on the sugar seems real easy now!
Remarks by President Obama, Former President Bill Clinton, and Former President George W. Bush on the Recovery and Rebuilding Effort in Haiti
Rose Garden
11:02 A.M. EST
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good morning, everybody. In times of great challenge in our country and around the world, Americans have always come together to lend a hand and to serve others and to do what’s right. That’s what the American people have been doing in recent days with their extraordinary generosity and contributions to the Haitian people.
At this moment, we’re moving forward with one of the largest relief efforts in our history — to save lives and to deliver relief that averts an even larger catastrophe. The two leaders with me today will ensure that this is matched by a historic effort that extends beyond our government, because America has no greater resource than the strength and the compassion of the American people.
We just met in the Oval Office — an office they both know well. And I’m pleased that President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton have agreed to lead a major fundraising effort for relief: the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. On behalf of the American people, I want to thank both of you for returning to service and leading this urgent mission.
This is a model that works. After the terrible tsunami in Asia, President Bush turned to President Clinton and the first President Bush to lead a similar fund. That effort raised substantial resources for the victims of that disaster — money that helped save lives, deliver aid, and rebuild communities. And that’s exactly what the people of Haiti desperately need right now.
Every day that goes by, we learn more about the horrifying scope of this catastrophe — destruction and suffering that defies comprehension. Entire communities buried under mountains of concrete. Families sleeping in the streets. Injured desperate for care. Many thousands feared dead. That’s why thousands of American personnel — civilian and military — are on the scene working to distribute clean drinking water and food and medicine, and thousands of tons of emergency food supplies are arriving every day.
It will be difficult. It is an enormous challenge to distribute this aid quickly and safely in a place that has suffered such destruction. That’s what we’re focused on now — working closely with our partners: the Haitian government, the United Nations, and many organizations and nations — friends from Argentina and France, from Dominican Republic and Brazil, and countries all around the world.
And Secretary Hillary Clinton will be in Haiti today to meet with President Préval and continue our close coordination with his government. But we also know that our longer-term effort will not be measured in days and weeks; it will be measured in months and even years. And that’s why it’s so important to enlist and sustain the support of the American people. That’s why it’s so important to have a point of coordination for all the support that extends beyond our government.
Here at home, Presidents Bush and Clinton will help the American people to do their part, because responding to a disaster must be the work of all of us. Indeed, those wrenching scenes of devastation remind us not only of our common humanity but also of our common responsibilities. This time of suffering can and must be a time of compassion.
As the scope of the destruction became apparent, I spoke to each of these gentlemen, and they each asked the same simple question: How can I help? In the days ahead they’ll be asking everyone what they can do — individuals, corporations, NGOs, and institutions. And I urge everyone who wants to help to visit www.clintonbushhaitifund.org.
We’re fortunate to have the service of these two leaders. President Bush led America’s response to the Asian tsunami, aid and relief that prevented even greater loss of life in the months after that disaster. And his administration’s efforts to fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa treated more than 10 million men, women, and children.
As President, Bill Clinton helped restore democracy in Haiti. As a private citizen, he has helped to save the lives of millions of people around the world. And as the United Nations special envoy to Haiti, he understands intimately the daily struggles and needs of the Haitian people.
And by coming together in this way, these two leaders send an unmistakable message to the people of Haiti and to the people of the world: In these difficult hours, America stands united. We stand united with the people of Haiti, who have shown such incredible resilience, and we will help them to recover and to rebuild.
Yesterday we witnessed a small but remarkable display of that determination — some of you may have seen it — Haitians with little more than the clothes on their back marched peacefully through a ruined neighborhood, and despite all their loss and all their suffering they sang songs of faith and songs of hope.
These are the people we’re called upon to help. Those are the hopes that we’re committed to answering. That’s why the three of us are standing together today. And with that, I would invite each President to say a few words. I’m going to start with President Bush.
PRESIDENT BUSH: I join President Obama in expressing my sympathy for the people of Haiti. I commend the President for his swift and timely response to the disaster. I am so pleased to answer the call to work alongside President Clinton to mobilize the compassion of the American people.
Like most Americans, Laura and I have been following the television coverage from Haiti. Our hearts are broken when we see the scenes of little children struggling without a mom or a dad, or the bodies in the streets or the physical damage of the earthquake.
The challenges down there are immense, but there’s a lot of devoted people leading the relief effort, from government personnel who deployed into the disaster zone to the faith-based groups that have made Haiti a calling.
The most effective way for Americans to help the people of Haiti is to contribute money. That money will go to organizations on the ground and will be — who will be able to effectively spend it. I know a lot of people want to send blankets or water — just send your cash. One of the things that the President and I will do is to make sure your money is spent wisely. As President Obama said, you can look us up on clintonbushhaitifund.org.
The Haitian people have got a tough journey, yet it’s amazing how terrible tragedies can bring out the best of the human spirit. We’ve all seen that firsthand when American citizens responded to the tsunami or to Katrina or to the earthquake in Pakistan. And President Clinton and I are going to work to tap that same spirit of giving to help our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean.
Toward the end of my presidency, Laura made a trip down to Haiti to look at the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief programs down there. I remember clearly her coming back and telling me about the energy and optimism of the people of Haiti. There’s just an unbelievable spirit amongst the Haitian people. And while that earthquake destroyed a lot, it didn’t destroy their spirit.
So the people of Haiti will recovery and rebuild, and as they do they know they’ll have a friend in the United States of America. Mr. President, thank you for giving me the chance to serve.
PRESIDENT CLINTON: First, I want to thank President Obama for asking President Bush and me to do this, and for what I believe has been a truly extraordinary response on the part of the American government. Because I’ve been working down there for nearly a year as the U.N. special envoy, I’ve been in constant touch with our people through the U.N. on the ground, and you know we lost a lot of our people there — the largest loss of life in the history of the United Nations on a single day. The United States has been there from the beginning. The military has been great. The response by the State Department and AID has been great. I just can’t say enough about it. And the people in Haiti know it, and I’m grateful.
Secondly, I’d like to thank President Bush for agreeing to do this, and for the concern he showed for Haiti. Before this happened, my foundation worked with the PEPFAR people on the AIDS problems in Haiti and I saw how good they were and what they did and how many lives they saved.
Finally, let me say that — I don’t have to read the Web site because they did — but I want to say something about this. Right now all we need to do is get food and medicine and water and a secure place for them to be. But when we start the rebuilding effort, we want to do what I did with the President’s father in the tsunami area. We want to be a place where people can know their money will be well spent; where we will ensure the ongoing integrity of the process.
And we want to stay with this over the long run. My job with the U.N. basically is not at all in conflict with this because I’m sort of the outside guy. My job is to work with the donor nations, the international agencies, the business people around the world to try to get them to invest there, the nongovernmental organizations, the Haitian diaspora community.
I believe before this earthquake Haiti had the best chance in my lifetime to escape its history — a history that Hillary and I have shared a tiny part of. I still believe that. The Haitians want to just amend their development plan to take account of what’s happened in Port-au-Prince and west, figure out what they got to do about that, and then go back to implementing it. But it’s going to take a lot of help and a long time.
So I’m just grateful that President Bush wants to help, and I’ve already figured out how I can get him to do some things that he didn’t sign on for. (Laughter.)
Again, I have no words to say what I feel like. When you — I was in those hotels that collapsed. I had meals with people who are dead. The cathedral church that Hillary and I sat in 34 years ago is a total rubble. But what these men have said is true: It is still one of the most remarkable, unique places I have ever been. And they can escape their history and build a better future if we do our part. And President Obama, thank you for giving us a chance to do a little of that.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, these gentlemen are going to do an extraordinary job, but really what they’re going to be doing is just tapping into the incredible generosity, the ingenuity, the can-do spirit of the American people in helping our neighbors in need. So I want to thank each of them not only for being here today but what I know is going to be an extraordinary effort.
I want to make sure that everybody got that Web site one more time. Obviously we’re just standing it up, but it will immediately give people a means to contact our offices — www.clintonbushhaitifund.org.
And I just want to amplify one thing that was said. We were talking in the back. In any extraordinary catastrophe like this, the first several weeks are just going to involve getting immediate relief on the ground. And there are going to be some tough days over the next several days. People are still trying to figure out how to organize themselves. There’s going to be fear, anxiety, a sense of desperation in some cases.
I’ve been in contact with President Préval. I’ve been talking to the folks on the ground. We are going to be making slow and steady progress, and the key now is to — for everybody in Haiti to understand that there is going to be sustained help on the way.
But what these gentlemen are going to be able to do is when the news media starts seeing its attention drift to other things but there’s still enormous needs on the ground, these two gentlemen of extraordinary stature I think are going to be able to help ensure that these efforts are sustained. And that’s why it’s so important and that’s why I’m so grateful that they agreed to do it.
Google’s Nexus One sells a mere 20,000 in its first week — Although Google’s Nexus One received a lot of buzz as Google’s own entry into the Android phone business, its initial sales number isn’t that impressive. The Nexus One sold an estimated 20,000 units in its first week, according to market analytics firm Flurry.
The top trends at the consumer electronics show — Dean and I describe the big ideas we saw at CES this year. That includes the prominent ones, like 3-D and tablet computers, and a few that were slightly less obvious.
And here are five more stories we thought were important, thought-provoking or fun:
Upload features turns Google Docs into my new hard drive — Googlers predicted that 2010 will be the year of Google Docs, as new features in the online word processor make it a viable alternative to Microsoft Office. Here’s the first new feature of the new year: The ability to upload any file into Google Docs, transforming the application into a file storage system.
A123 back on the map with Fisker battery supply deal — A123Systems, the advanced battery maker best known for its surprisingly lucrative IPO in September of last year, just inked a deal to supply Fisker Automotive with batteries for its highly-anticipated plug-in hybrid. Before this, the company had been fairly quiet since its public sale, reporting deep quarterly losses and paring down its major supply deal with Chrysler.
Some of you Rogers subscribers have probably already taken your carrier up on its offer to upgrade your Dream to a Magic, but if not, pay very close attention here: calling 911 doesn’t work right now without making some changes. Basically, there’s an issue that prevents emergency calls from being completed if location-based services are enabled, which means you’ve got to head into Settings and disable GPS — not an optimal solution by any stretch of the imagination. Rogers and HTC are said to be working on a patch as we speak, but in the meantime, don’t expect to waltz into a Rogers store and pick up one of these bad boys.
Facts about Newcastle Upon Tyne.
Please feel free to add to this or make corrections.
Bainbridges was the first department store in the world
The High Level bridge was the first road and rail bridge in the world
Mosley Street was the first street in the world to be illuminated by elctric lights
The Millenium Bridge was the first tilting bridge of it’s kind when it opened
Newcastle’s Grey street was voted ‘The U.K’s best street’ in 2002 beating London’s Oxford street and regent street chosen by voters of Radio 4
St James’ park is the biggest inner city stadium in the UK
St James’ park has the largest cantilever roof in Europe
Jimi Hendrix was once a resident of Newcastle living in Heaton off Chillingham road.
The ship yards at Wallsend once made 25% of the world ships.
Stan Laurel lived in North Shields, North Tyneside, 10 Minutes from Newcastle and went to Kings School in Tynemouth.
Newcastle’s bustling nightlife has given Newcastle the reputation of being the 8th best party city in the world.
In a poll of office workers and students it was voted the best city in England for work and study (i’m sure this was 2008)
The Silverlink has the UK’s biggest business park
Newcastle has the most Georgian buildings anywhere in the country outside of bath and – *this needs correcting and updated as I have forgot the whole fact*
Witam,ogólnie rzecz biorąc szkoda że nie ma ograniczenia do 3 zdjęć – nie ma to jak dylemat;) Więc zamieszczam "jedne" bo kusiło mnie z ujęciem wieży alee… Na ten czas namiastka Szopki w ogrodach jasnogórskich.
As the clock ticks slowly towards the introduction of the Apple tablet, a lot of people are speculating on what the device design will be like. TUAW recently spent some time interviewing Aaron Vronko, Service Manager for RapidRepair. RapidRepair, based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, has repaired and provided parts for all sorts of electronic gadgetry over the last six years, but Apple iPhones and iPods make up the bulk of their business.
As an expert in the technology used in Apple’s products, Vronko has gleaned information from various sources — including component suppliers, industry trends, and just plain rumors — and has come up with his best estimate of what we’ll see in an Apple tablet.
What will it be used for, and what kind of OS will it run?
Aaron’s comments in this area mirrored my personal thoughts about the tablet. “It just doesn’t make sense as a ‘larger iPhone’,” said Vronko. “Considering the size and the expense of the device, the tablet will need to converge towards light productivity functions and replace a netbook or compact laptop. To do this, the device must be able to run Office-type apps that are accessed in a meaningful way, and the only way a tablet can do this is through easy user input. People buy solutions, not devices, and the tablet is going to have to fulfill a need that the target market has.”
Aaron continued, saying “User input will have to be the biggest surprise from Apple. Perhaps we’ll see 3D gestures for more useful input, or some sort of split on-screen touch keyboard. The virtual keyboard was the real innovation of the iPhone; the tablet needs to bring this to the next level.”
Vronko doesn’t think the Apple tablet will include a stylus. “Steve Jobs made the comment during the 2007 iPhone introduction that the stylus is the caveman’s tool for data entry. That being said, to date a stylus is the fastest, most efficient input method you could use, but you’d have to back it up with a very strong word-and-phrase-based handwriting recognition engine, so the system learns you, not the other way around. I personally hope that Apple comes out with something totally different and unexpected,” Aaron said.
The idea of a hybrid OS, “about 70% iPhone OS, about 30% Mac OS X,” made sense to Vronko. “From the standpoint of applications and app distribution, Apple’s in love with the iPhone model app model for its smooth and simple user experience and quality control. But for the light productivity functions we’re talking about, the tablet will need a more Mac OS X-like model for multitasking and the file system.”
The profile of the tablet
First, Vronko believes that the device will be slightly thicker than an iPhone. “Given chip components packed onto a single board, the size of the battery required, and the thickness of the display module, the profile can easily be in the 15 – 20 mm range,” noted Vronko. The iPhone 3GS is 12.3 mm thick by comparison.
Weight-wise, he believes that the device would be just under 2 pounds [0.9 kg] for a 10 inch [25 cm] model, about 1.5 pounds [0.7kg] for a 7 inch [18 cm] unit. The weights assume that Apple continues to use aluminum casings for their products.
“A two-pound tablet isn’t something that you’re just going to be able to put into a pocket, so there’s going to be a big market for carrying cases that are smaller than laptop cases,” Aaron noted. “You’d almost want an integrated stand built into the tablet for certain purposes, but if it’s not used all the time, it’s unlikely that Apple would add it to the tablet. They’re all about making sure that the ‘headline’ features of the device are built-in and don’t require a separate accessory or add-on.”
The display
Vronko thinks that there will be two different models. However, “judging from the availability of display components, there’s a good possibility that one could launch before the other. A 7″ model with an OLED display suitable for a touchscreen device could launch as soon as March, while it would take until the 3rd quarter of 2010 before large quantities of 10″ OLED screens for mobile use become available,” said Vronko.
OLED (Organic LED) displays make some sense. Vronko noted that using current LCD technology, a tablet would achieve battery life in the 4 to 5 hour range during video playback. OLED technology reduces power consumption by anywhere from 40 to 75% depending on the usage, which would stretch battery life significantly. Vronko continued, “The device OS would need to play to the strengths of the OLED technology. Using dark backgrounds with white lettering for an e-reader app, for example, would make more sense than a paper-white background with black lettering.” OLEDs are substantially more expensive than the older tech, though.
Vronko cited Pixel Qi’s screens as a breakthrough technology that Apple could be considering for the tablet. These screens, which are now in their first production run in a 10″ size, have the readability of the E Ink displays currently available on most e-reader devices, but have the fully-saturated color and video refresh of LCD displays as well. “Using a technology of this type for an e-reader application, the tablet could easily reach 25 – 30 hour battery life,” said Vronko.
The only problem with this theory is that industry buzz doesn’t indicate that Apple has hooked up with Pixel Qi or another manufacturer with an e-paper technology of this type.
I wondered aloud if the tablet might have a removable battery pack. Since RapidRepair does a lot of iPod and iPhone battery replacements, Aaron had some thoughts on that possibility. “With the iPod and iPhone, about 80% of people feel that they still have adequate battery life up to about two years. After that point, many want to have the battery replaced. For an inexpensive device like an iPod or a bi-annually subsidized iPhone, many choose to replace the device instead of just the battery. A more expensive tablet might need to have either a user-replaceable battery pack or a way of quickly replacing the pack in a store, since people won’t want to replace the tablet and will be less apt to want to be separated from the device.”
The processors
The core hardware of the device is extremely important, says Vronko, since the existing CPU / GPU combination used in the iPhone 3GS simply doesn’t have the power to drive the larger display of the tablet. “If the tablet is going to be used for productivity tasks,” noted Aaron, “it’s going to need multitasking and that will take at least 1-2 GB of RAM, much more than the 256 MB currently in the iPhone 3GS.”
Instead, something like the NVIDIA Tegra 2 system-on-a-chip with two ARM Cortex A9 CPU cores would most likely power the tablet. “Of course, we have to remember that Apple bought PA Semi, and it could be the perfect time for this division to unveil Apple’s own System-on-a Chip (SoC) design based around the ARM Cortex A9 CPU and Imagination PowerVR SGX545 GPU,” said Vronko. “The SGX540 or SGX545 would be the minimum GPU to drive the number of pixels in this size display, and would allow 3D gaming without clipping or slow frame rates.”
Vronko called for the tablet to have hardware acceleration for HD video with HD encoder and decoder processors likely integrated into the SoC. In his opinion, 720p record / display is a given, and even 1080p could be within the realm of possibility. However, “It’s not likely that Apple would build in mini or micro HDMI output to an HD display, but this could be a solution supplied by a third party.”
Connectivity
“I can’t see the tablet being used as a phone,” said Aaron. “First, the size is out of proportion to what people are used to. Second, if it’s being used for light productivity tasks, it will be used for a longer amount of time than a phone. Without having to have the radio be in constant contact with the 3G network for voice purposes, the battery should last much longer.”
That being said, we agreed that Wi-Fi would be the predominant form of network connectivity for a tablet, but that an option for 3G with a data plan is a must. “This device will provide a really incredible mobile browsing capability, the full internet,” noted Vronko. “A 3G plan is going to be needed for downloading books, newspapers, apps, and music while on the go.”
We also agreed that an announcement by Apple of a cloud-based iWork could be another piece of the puzzle, providing the “light productivity tools” that Aaron was describing, while making ubiquitous access to the resulting documents easy. Vronko noted that this could be something that Apple or a wireless carrier could easily build into the monthly cost of a data plan.
The final word
Aaron’s obviously feeling confident that the tablet is imminent, as the RapidRepair website has a link for “Apple tablet iSlate repair” accompanied by a forum for discussing the device.
As with any conjecture like this, there are some places where Aaron Vronko will be right on the money, and some others where his ideas will be way off base. However, he’s agreed to do a followup interview to talk about the real tablet whenever it is finally announced. At that time, we may consider a liveblog so that you can ask Aaron your questions about the new device.
Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Ron Paul made waves during the 2008 presidential election for the large sums they raised from people making small contributions of $200 or less.
On Thursday, four prominent campaign finance reform advocates said fostering this small-donor enthusiasm was vital to the countrys political health.
Its time to focus on empowerment, Michael Malbin, co-founder and executive director of the Campaign Finance Institute, said during an unveiling on a new report at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. We want to find a way to get more people to invest the time and effort to get involved and stay involved.
“Instead of trying to further restrict the wealthy few, we seek to activate the many, added co-author Thomas Mann, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution.
Reforms that support more citizen engagement and small-donor giving would likely generate more competition for state and federal races, lead to the emergence of more candidates and reduce corruption on both sides of the aisle, argued Malbin and Mann, along with their co-authors Norm Ornstein, co-director of the American Enterprise Institute-Brookings Election Reform Project, and Anthony Corrado, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who also chairs the Campaign Finance Institutes board of trustees.
Corrado, Malbin, Mann and Ornstein outlined their recommendations in their new report. The report is titled, Reform in an Age of Networked Campaigns: How to Foster Citizen Participation through Small Donors and Volunteers. (It is available here as a pdf file.)
The authors noted that Obama raised 30 percent of his funds from individuals who contributed $200 or less during the extended primary season. And during the 2008 general election, he raised 34 percent of his funds from individuals who contributed $200 or less. This amount alone is higher than the amount Obama would have received under public funding, which he opted out of for both the primary and the general elections.
By contrast, the study authors said, just 22 percent of the funds that Democrat Hillary Clinton raised from individuals came from people who contributed $200 or less. And Republican John McCain raised only 21 percent of his money from individuals from those who gave $200 or less. (Paul, for his part, raised 39 percent of his money from individuals from those who gave $200 or less.)
The authors also said that during the 2004 presidential election, of the money raised from individuals, Democratic Party presidential nominee John Kerry raised 20 percent of his money from individuals who contributed $200 or less, while Republican incumbent George W. Bush raised 26 percent of his money from individuals who gave $200 or less.
Furthermore, the authors said that Obama not only successfully used an Internet-savvy campaign to generate a steady stream of online contributions, but that he was a particularly charismatic candidate and benefited from increased interest in his attempt to become the nations first black president. For other candidates to emulate this success in widespread fashion, they argued public policy changes are necessary to create additional institutional support for small-donor contributions and increased citizen participation. Such policies, they argued, would also help down-ticket candidates — who during the 2008 cycle actually saw less support from small donors than they did a decade ago — reap benefits.
Chief among their recommendations for reform:
Affordable broadband Internet connections
Real-time and downloadable electronic campaign finance disclosures
The creation of a new website to serve as a one-stop shop for election-related information
The creation of a log of all radio and TV political advertising maintained on the Internet by the Federal Communications Commission
The creation of a new public financing system based on matching funds received from small donors, including a ceiling on the total amount of public money a candidate could receive
Tax credits or rebates for small donors
Maintaining contribution limits to candidates and political parties
Allowing political parties to make unlimited coordinated expenditures on behalf of candidates with funds raised from small donors.
The authors emphasized that their goal with this report was to shift the conversation away from the debate about regulation versus deregulation — a debate that has been playing out for years in the courts, including in the recent high-profile campaign finance case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
As the authors report states: We aim to promote equality and civic engagement by enlarging the participatory pie instead of shrinking it. The Supreme Court has ruled out pursuing equality or civic engagement by constraining speech. But the Court has never ruled out pursuing these goals through policies that do not constrain speech.
Is this for real or are the mail being economical with the truth again? I sincerely hope it is the latter. (I imagine Harriet Hermann Goerring is opening a bottle of champagne to celebrate another victory in the war on men)
Quote:
A businessman is suing British Airways over a policy that bans male passengers from sitting next to children they don’t know – even if the child’s parents are on the same flight.
Mirko Fischer has accused the airline of branding all men as potential sex offenders and says innocent travellers are being publicly humiliated.
In line with the policy, BA cabin crew patrol the aisles before take-off checking that youngsters travelling on their own or in a different row from their parents are not next to a male stranger.
If they find a man next to a child or teenager they will ask him to move to a different seat. The aircraft will not take off unless the passenger obeys.
Mr Fischer, a 33-year-old hedge fund manager, became aware of the policy while he was flying from Gatwick with his wife Stephanie, 30.
His wife, who was six months pregnant, had booked a window seat which she thought would be more spacious. Mr Fischer was in the middle seat between her and a 12-year-old boy.
Shortly after all passengers had sat down, having stowed their bags in the overhead lockers, a male steward asked Mr Fischer to change his seat.
Mr Fischer refused, explaining that his wife was pregnant, at which point the steward raised his voice, causing several passengers to turn round in alarm. He warned that the aircraft could not take off unless Mr Fischer obeyed.
Mr Fischer eventually moved seats but felt so humiliated by his treatment that he is taking the airline to court on the grounds of sex discrimination-He is paying all his own legal
If he wins at the hearing next month at Slough County Court, BA will have to change its policy.
He has promised to donate any compensation to the NSPCC.
Mr Fischer, who lives in Luxembourg with his wife and their daughter Sophia, said: ‘This policy is branding all men as perverts for no reason. The policy and the treatment of male passengers is absolutely outrageous.
‘A plane is a public place – cabin crew regularly walk down the aisles and passengers are sat so close to each other. The risk of any abuse is virtually zero.
‘Furthermore statistically children are far more likely to be abused by a member of their family. Does that mean that BA are going to ban children sitting next to their own parents?’
‘I was made to feel like a criminal in front of other passengers. It was totally humiliating. Neither myself or my wife dared to speak to the boy in case the cabin crew forced us from our seats. The poor child must have thought we were extremely rude and unfriendly.’
Claude Knights, of the children’s charity Kidscape said: ‘The airline should have procedures in place to avoid this sort of situation.
‘If the airline is that concerned they should sit unaccompanied children with cabin crew who have no doubt been thoroughly vetted.’
A BA spokesman said: ‘As this is case is subject to court proceedings, it would be inappropriate for us to comment at this time.’
In case you haven’t noticed, Rockstar Games has been in a bit of a PR kerfuffle. Last weekend, an open letter began circulating around the net accusing the publisher of fostering “degrading” work conditions at Red Dead Redemption developer Rockstar San Diego, and later in the week an anonymous employee compared Rockstar’s New York headquarters to the all-seeing, evil-incarnate Eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings (via MTV Multiplayer). But evidently taking a page out of the “any publicity is good publicity” strategy guide, Rockstar New York isn’t distancing themselves from such remarks — they’re embracing it.
Above is one of a three-image series of new wallpapers available for download on Rockstar’s website, which is obviously having a bit of fun over the statement. The series of wallpapers is called “The Eye is Watching,” and as Kotaku noted, there’s even a direct San Diego reference in there — those two domes represent the San Onofre nuclear power plant just outside the city.
So to recap, the wives of a bunch of Rockstar San Diego employees accused Rockstar of terrible working conditions, one other employee compared them to the embodiment of evil in the most successful fantasy literature ever, and in response Rockstar made some pictures that at least seem to send the message of, “Hey, isn’t this hilarious?!” An odd choice, but then we’re no PR masterminds.
I hadn’t actually been paying much attention to the Russian:Belarus dispute over oil supplies. After the annual debacles that we are used to over natural gas supplies that flow from Russia to Western Europe through Ukraine, and which seem somewhat quiescent at the moment, I had failed to grasp how much Western supplies of oil from Russia flow through Belarus. But as is pointed out in Foreign Policy, the flow is significant, and this is a more far-reaching conflict than I grasped.
As a brief review:
In 2001, Belarus unilaterally canceled a contract that mandated the sharing of these revenues, leading to substantial losses for Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft and the Russian state budget. Now, Transneft is demanding that Belarus pay full import duties for the portion of Russian oil that it resells on the European market, a demand that could cost Belarus as much as $5 billion per year. The Belarusian government argues that the Russia-Belarus customs union obviates the need for Minsk to pay duty on imports from Russia. Although deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline have not, as of mid-January, been cut off, the prospect that Transneft (whose chairman is Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, a close confidant of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin) will turn off the taps to force compliance from Minsk is clearly one that has European leaders worried because the European Union imports about a third of its oil from Russia, mostly via Belarus. Already, the prospect of supply disruptions has driven U.S. crude oil prices to a 15-month high, presumably to Moscow’s delight.
Well, as my post on Wednesday showed, I am not convinced that this conflict had a lot to do with the rise in oil prices (which actually dropped a little today, on their overall march upwards). But that does not lessen the longer-term impact of what is going on. It is, as it was with the Ukraine dispute, to with control, with Russia seeking to control fuel distribution in these countries, and through supply controls also influence the directions in which the country moves.
Russia is now warning that it will reduce oil flows to Belarus even further and wants the duty on the roughly 290,000 bd that is refined in Belarus and then exported to the West. At the moment the refineries in Belarus have a relatively short reserve (between a few days and a week, reportedly – depending on source) and the current contracts have expired.
Germany and Poland are believed to be hit hardest once Russia halts shipments through the Druzhba pipeline. Germany depends on Russian crude for about 15 percent of its total consumption, and Poland buys from Russia to meet 75 percent of its market demands.
Minsk has threatened to raise the transit fee for its European customers more than tenfold, from 3.9 dollars to 45 dollars per metric ton, should Moscow not agree to its conditions, RIA Novostinews agency quoted an unidentified expert close to the talks as saying.
At the moment the talks appear to be stalled. However they are not limited to the transit of oil. There is also a dispute over the transmission of electric power. Belarus acts as a transit country for power both to Kalingrad and to the countries of the Baltic. It has assumed somewhat greater urgency with the closure of the Ignalina nuclear power plant in Lithuania. The plant closed on December 31, and there are fears of greater dependence on Russia for future power. Russian complacency about the situation is not, I suspect, exactly helpful.
“It is inevitable that Russia is going to become a bigger supplier of energy to Europe and particularly to the Baltic countries. Ultimately there comes a point where you have to let the old days go,” Chris Weafer, chief strategist on Moscow’s Uralsib bank, told New Europe on 5 January, adding that the Baltics, which sorely need energy supplies, should adopt a pragmatic approach and rely on their eastern neighbor and forget the legacy of the Soviet Union. As long as Russia continues to try and build a modern and diversified economy with greater global integration, then it needs the goodwill of the West just as much as the West needs Russia’s energy.
Bids for construction of a new plant are due to be submitted by the end of this month, with the hope of getting the new plant on line by 2018. (Kalingrad is hoping to have its own reactor in about the same time frame).
In the interim the Baltic states are going to be dependent, not only on Russia for their electricity and oil, but also on satisfactory conditions to allow the transit of both through Belarus on their way.
Meanwhile, over in Ukraine, there is an election underway, with initial voting to take place on Sunday. It is perhaps for that reason that there have been no major gas disruptions so far this year. Anger with the current administration is giving a bit of a boost to a third candidate, so perhaps it is in Russia’s best interests to retain a low profile at this point. In fact Russia is claiming credit for keeping the UK supplied with gas as supplies from Norway dropped due to bad weather at some of the production sites. However Russia is also being nice to Turkey as insurance just in case it will still need to do some bypassing around Ukraine to supply Western Europe after the election is over.
Not that conditions in Ukraine itself have been unaffected. There are some 175 towns and villages that are reported to be still without power, due to the bad weather. This is a decided improvement from the 1,598 who lost power in the Dec 29th storm. At least they are more used to the cold.
Those in Florida who aren’t, and plugged in too many heaters, are also causing power outages down there.
بتمويل من شركة سعودية…التوقيع على انشاء مشروع زراعي متكامل بتكلفة (200) مليون دولار
دشنت شركة فرص الدولية للاستثمار (السعودية) امس الجمعة نشاطها بالسودان بافتتاح مقر فرعها بالسودان وتوقيع اتفاق مبدئي لانشاء مشروع سباعي متكامل للانتاج الزراعي بولاية سنار بتكلفة اجمالية (200) مليون دولار، والموافقة على تمويل مشروع الشيخ صالح كامل للاسكان الاقتصادي بمدينة بحري والذي تنفذه مجموعة النحلة التي تترأسها وداد يعقوب وشرف تدشين انشطة شركة فرص الاستثمارية رئيس الغرفة الاسلامية للتجارة والصناعة التي تتبع لها الشركة د.الشيخ صالح كامل، وسفير الكويت بالخرطوم، والقنصل السعودي، والامين العام للمجلس الاعلى للاستثمار، السفير شاور ولفيف من رجال الاعمال والمال وشدد الدكتور الشيخ صالح كامل في كلمته في احتفال التوقيع على ان تهتم الشركة بتمويل مشاريع البنية التحتية، والتي بدونها لا يأتي الاستثمار الى السودان من مطارات وطرق، وموانئ وطاقة مؤكدا ان هناك اهتماما خاصا بمشروعات الامن الغذائي والمائي.
وقال ان المشروعين التي بدأت بهما الشركة يحققان الامن الغذائي والسكني معلنا عن دعمه اللا محدود للسودان ووقوفه مع مشروعاته التنموية ووصف الرئيس التنفيذي لشركة فرص الدولية للاستثمار د.حاتم جميل مختار المشروع السباعي بانه من اكبر المشاريع المتكاملة للانتاج الزراعي في منطقة شرق افريقيا ويحظى بالدعم الفني والمالي من عدد من المساهمين والبنوك في السودان والعالم العربي منها البنك الاسلامي للتنمية (جدة) موضحا ان المشروع يمتد على مساحة (300) الف فدان.
وتعهد بنقل التقنية وتوطينها عبر شركاء عالميين في مجال الانتاج الزراعي بشقيه النباتي والحيواني ومجال التصنيع والتسويق بجانب ادخال الزراعة الحديثة وتطبيق الحزم التقنية المتكاملة والملائمة للبيئة مؤكدا ان الشركة تضاعفت استثماراتها في السودان.
واكد عبدالرحمن الطيب ابوبيه في كلمته انابة عن الامين العام للصندوق القومي للاسكان انهم بصدد انفاذ مشروع المأوى القومي وتوقع بتنقية (5) الاف وحدة سكنية خلال سنتين معددا الخطوات التي تمت بهذا المشروع ووصف تمويل انشاء المدن المقفولة بالخرطوم بانها خطوة جيدة تدفع المشروع مشيدا بدور الشركة فرص للتنمية المحدودة.
واضاف د.رضوان محمد احمد وزير الزراعة بولاية سنار والموقع على الاتفاق ان المشروع يتيح فرص التوظيف والعمل لانسان المنطقة وتعظيم الفوائد الزراعية واحداث نقلة للولاية معتبرا المشروع بداية علاقة طيبة مع الشركة.
Sempre achei que a maioria dos serviços de música online tinham um grave problema, eram demasiado complexos para a maioria das pessoas, e pouco objectivos naquilo para aquilo que realmente devia ser a sua funcionalidade, ouvir música.
