Category: News

I’m not normally a t-shirt slogan person, but there are so many on this site that I love…

Saracastic Politics

Ogden Nash wrote:
I like the duck-billed platypus
Because it is anomalous.
I like the way it raises its family
Partly birdly, partly mammaly.
I like its independent attitude.
Let no one call it a duck-billed platitude.

I was thinking this morning about platitudes and ended up thinking about platypuses, because (a) they are more interesting and (b) I have written about them before.

One of my earliest works, now lost to the ravages of time, was a “Just-So” style story written (and illustrated!) by me in eighth grade. It was a partnership with John, a classmate and pal (wonder whatever happened to him?) but as I remember it, John, though an all around good egg, did not come through in the clutch on this one and I took on most of the writing and illustrating responsibilities. Either that or I was full of inspiration and rode rough-shod over John’s interest in the project, I don’t really recall. Suffice to say that I wrote and illustrated this story about how the platypus became a platypus. It was an amorphous shmoo-like animal in the beginning and wandered about the forest envying other animals. It envied the duck’s bill, and the beaver’s tail, and the bear’s claws. Well, the creator caught wind of the platypus’s complaints and bestowed him with all of those gifts, and the platypus was so horrified that it had been turned into a monster that it slinked off to Australia and hid in the mud.

I think I could tell pretty much the same story about a platitude, being a rather featureless sentence that wanders about the forest of rhetorical devices, envying this one for its humor and that one for its sharpness and a third one for its bluntness. It ends up a rather sorry amalgam of good intentions gone horribly awry, and is fit for nothing but the muck down under.

I’m not a big fan of platitudes, and they abound in writing (or any creative endeavor): that you should follow your dreams, that persistence will be rewarded, that you have to believe in yourself, etc. My main opposition to such platitudes is that they are untrue. Which is not to say they are false, just that they just don’t have enough substance to have a factual status. I think people become preoccupied with the platitudes, thinking of themselves as that storied ant with the rubber tree plant as they query an eighth round of agents, rather than taking stock of the situation after the seventh round of rejections. The truth is that the secret to success at anything meaningful is impossible to condense into a memorizable principle.

However, many years later, I feel bad for having maligned the misunderstood metronome. Platypuses are perfectly put together for the lives they live, and serve a purpose on the planet. Maybe you can say the same of platitudes, but I’m not so sure.

The upcoming PS3-exclusive title Last Rebellion has been confirmed for a European release by publisher Koei. More info after the jump.
 
Thanks to Peter for the tip!

Forget PowerMats and wireless charging and the like, because the Airnergy wi-fi signal harvester is my new front runner for the future of gadget charging.

It’s not exactly new tech, as ohGizmo notes, but it’s the first application that’s of any real use to consumers. Put simply, Airnergy takes the energy created by wi-fi signals and stores it in a rechargeable battery. At CES, the device’s battery, which I believe was precharged with Wi-Fi power, was able to charge a BlackBerry from 30% power to full power in about 90 minutes.

Pretty handy, and supposedly available this summer for $40. Not too shabby, and very appealing considering how ubiquitous wi-fi hotspots are these days. Very simple, somewhat cheap and incredibly useful if it works are advertised—by far one of the coolest things I’ve seen come out of CES this year.

More information [OhGizmo!]

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Mitsubishi, North America

It doesn’t take much to have the biggest electric vehicle fleet in Canada. In fact, if you can get 51 EVs together, you win. The aspiring record-holder is Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada, which is about to bring “up to 50″ i-MiEV all-electric cars to the Boucherville suburb of Montreal. Mitsubishi is partnering with Hydro-Québec to bring the EVs to the city in what the automaker is calling the, “largest Canadian project ever fielded to integrate, test, and evaluate all-electric vehicles on urban streets under real-world conditions.” More information on who will be involved when were not released, but we can assume this will be a longish trial, since Mitsubishi is saying that the cars will be tested “in both fall and winter urban conditions.” More details in this PDF.

[Source: Mitsubishi]

Continue reading Canada’s largest electric vehicle project? Mitsubishi’s 50 i-MiEVs in Boucherville

Canada’s largest electric vehicle project? Mitsubishi’s 50 i-MiEVs in Boucherville originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sat, 16 Jan 2010 08:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

A few weeks ago, Rogers decided not to upgrade the aging HTC Dream to Android 2.0 but offered existing owners the opportunity to switch to the HTC Magic for free in a limited time promotion. We thought this would end all controversy surrounding the Dream but, alas, the saga of the Rogers’ Dream is not over yet. Rogers is now apparently halting all sales of the Dream due to a GPS and software issue which hinders 911 calls. An internal memo circulating on Friday instructs employees to halt all activations, upgrades and sales of the Dream effective immediately. Both the white and black Dream will be removed completely from all sales systems by the end of the day today. Current Dream owners are being advised to turn off GPS satellite tracking on their phones until the next Android 1.5 upgrade is released. Hit the jump for the internal memo with all the details.

Thanks to all who sent this in!

[via MobileSyrup]

Taken from Sales Central

Start Date: January 15, 2010
End Date: On-going
Regions: National
Reference # NDP 2010-01-17

——————————————————————————–

!!! ATTENTION !!! Cease ALL HTC Dream Sales!
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY

Due to a software issue, ALL sales (activations, upgrades, and device sales) of HTC Dream are to STOP IMMEDIATELY until further notice.

In addition:

There will be NO SUBSIDY paid for activations or upgrades on the HTC Dream effective as of end of day today;
This applies to all SKUs of the HTC Dream;
DREAMBLKR
DREAMWHTR
These devices will be removed from Vision21, Sales Central, point of sale systems, Rogers.com, and telesales effective as of end of day today;
More information to follow.

Unofficial Statement from Rogers

I’m writing to share some urgent news with our Rogers HTC Dream customers.
We have contacted all of our Dream customers by text message asking them to disable GPS location

on their HTC Dream device to ensure all 911 calls complete.

HTC is expediting a software fix to the 1.5 Android Operating System

that will address this issue – and provide several other improvements to the OS.

We expect this upgrade to be available very soon. In the meantime, Dream customers need to follow these steps:
1) Select Menu
2) Select Settings
3) Select Location
4) Uncheck Enable GPS Satellite

Please note that the Rogers HTC Dream is the only device affected.
Protecting our customers’ safety is our top priority and we communicated with our customers as soon as we were made aware of the issue. We have texted all affected customers and we have immediately requested that the device be taken off the shelf until HTC implements its upgrade.”

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

If you’re looking for the perfect green Valentine’s Day gift then LUSH has you covered with lots of bubbly Valentine’s Day goodness. Some good Valentine’s Day picks include…

LUSH Magic Mushroom Bubble Bar – strawberries and vanilla cream bubbles!

LUSH Love Soap – a pretty red, glittery heart-shaped soap will make everyone smile since it’s jam-packed with aphrodisiacs and skin smoothing ingredients.

LUSH Ex Factor Bath Bomb – a sweet little blue gingerman with a pink heart.

LUSH Be Mine Gift – a nice gift pack filled with pampering goodies. The set comes with three pleasurable products, all wrapped up in rose printed paper; Flying Fox Shower Gel; Shimmy Shimmy Massage Bar; and Honey Trap Lip Balm.

LUSH True Love Gift – this ultimate Valentine’s Day temptation kit is filled with aphrodisiac-infused Sex Bomb Bath Bomb, red glitter Love Soap and moisturizing Yummy Yummy Yummy Shower Gel plus Vanilla Dee-Lite Lotion bar.

Lush is not the perfect green company in my opinion, but that doesn’t mean they’re not close. Lush has many green perks such as…

• Naked packaging – meaning, if you head to a LUSH retail shop, about 70% of their products are available sans ANY packaging if you choose, including Bath Bombs, shampoo bars, bubble bars, massage bars, body butters and solid facial cleansers, deos, Emotibombs and sugar scrubs.. Ah naked soaps. With other products LUSH uses simple packaging along with post-consumer recycled, recyclable and biodegradable materials whenever possible. The total recycled content in all LUSH packaging is about 89%.
• Bath Bombs are made with moulds made of recycled plastic.
• The company uses motion sensors in their change rooms to save electricity along with a shower to encourage staff to bike to work.
• The company uses large compost bins outside their factory for all the seeds, pits and peels leftover from making products and use compostable cheesecloth to cover bins of product, so the product is kept clean and dust-free, and the cheesecloth “lid” can then be composted.
• No animal testing.
• All the bins and totes used to carry ingredients and products around are made of recycled plastic, and they have a zero plastic bubble wrap policy.
• Everything in North America by land (except for Hawaii).
• LUSH makes many solid products which help to reduce plastic bottles plus the products last longer.

Basically I’d like to see more organic products from Lush, but overall they’re doing well from a green living standpoint.

Post from: Blisstree

LUSH Valentine’s Day Goodies

If you’ve always dreamed of taking over the world with an army of robots, but your plans have stalled due to your characteristic procrastination (or lack of said robots), this, my friends, is your time to act.

The robots in this 3 million square foot factory in Newark, Delaware used to make cars for Chrysler. But I don’t think they’ll complain if you put them to work for more nefarious ends.

The auction is being held by the University of Delaware, who bought the Chrysler plant and all robotics therein some years ago.

Here is just an incomplete list of the mechanical bounty up for the bidding:

Equipment includes: Machine Shop and Maintenance; Welding and Cutting; CNC 6-Axis Robotics; Coordinate Measuring Machines; Compressors, Dryers and Air Tanks; Cooling Towers, Weld Water, Heating and Cooling Equipment; Back Up Generators; Vehicle Lifts and Wheel Alignment; Vehicle Test, Repair and Fill; Fork Lifts, Mobile Equipment and Floor Scrubbers/Sweepers; Distribution Center; Production Carts and Storage Containers (Large Quantities); Storage and Retrieval Systems; Misc Plant and Support Equipment; Large Quantity of Metal Stock; Cafeteria Equipment; Office Equipment (Large Quantity); and Much More.

If you’re stroking a cat and muttering, “mmyes, YES,” to yourself as you read this, here is the pertinent information: the auction takes place February 25 at 10 AM at University of Delaware’s Clayton Hall. [BoingBoing]

Article Tags: ClimateGate, Lawrence Solomon

Googlegate: The search engine may be standing up to Chinese censors. What about Google’s own censors?

This week, Google announced an end to its long-standing collaboration with the Chinese Communists — it will no longer censor users inside China.

That’s good of it. Maybe Google will now also stop using its search engine to censor the rest of us, in the Western countries.

Search for “Googlegate” on Google and you’ll get a paltry result (my result yesterday was 29,300). Search for “Googlegate” on Bing, Microsoft’s search engine competitor, and the result numbers an eye-popping 72.4 million. If you’re a regular Google user, as opposed to a Bing user, you might not even know that “Googlegate” has been a hot topic for years in the blogosphere — that’s the power that comes of being able to control information.

Source: network.nationalpost.com

Read in full with comments »   

must read – great charts – Deflation, Inflation or Stagflation – You Be the Judge! – Submitted by Reggie Middleton – Zero Hedge

————

Lessons from Bernstein, Rosenberg and Farrell – Posted by Prieur du Plessis – 3 important lists – worth printing and saving – Investment Postcards from Cape Town

pp1     Inflation expectations approach pre-crisis range – Posted by Prieur du Plessis  – Investment Postcards from Cape Town

————

The Blowback Effect: 2020 – Michael T. Klare – … What, then, will be the dominant characteristics of the second decade of the twenty-first century?  Prediction of this sort is, of course, inherently risky, but extrapolating from current trends, four key aspects of second-decade life can be discerned: the rise of China; the (relative) decline of the United States; the expanding role of the global South; and finally, possibly most dramatically, the increasing impact of a roiling environment and growing resource scarcity … – Huffington Post

————

Bubble warning – Markets are too dependent on unsustainable government stimulus. Something’s got to give – The Economist print edition

————

The Top 10 Items Shaping Interest Rates in 2010 – Steven Abrahams – Where will interest rates go this year? Keep on eye on the economy, the banks and foreign investors, for starters. – Forbes

————

Slowly Regaining Ground Lost – by Diane Swonk, Chief Economist, Mesirow Financial 

————

Dow Industrials hit record, top 15,000 by 2011? – By Paul B. Farrell, – But first, Shilling’s 2010 warnings: 17 picks = 6 buys + 11 sells – MarketWatch

————

America slides deeper into depression as Wall Street revels – By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – December was the worst month for US unemployment since the Great Recession began. – Telegraph.co.uk

————

Three Foreign Banks Interested in Becoming Primary Dealers – By MIN ZENG – Three major foreign banks are interested in becoming primary dealers, the select group of firms that trade directly with the New York Federal Reserve, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.  The three banks are French bank Société Genéralé SA and Canadian banks Scotia Capital, the investment-banking arm of the Bank of Nova Scotia, and TD Securities, the investment arms of TD Bank Financial Group, according to these people. – WSJ Europe

————

CRISIS SECTION:

THE PROBABILITY OF A CRISIS WILL BUILD DURING 2010 – So says the team of equity analysts at Barclays.   Although policymakers helped avoid the second Great Depression, Barclays believes we have simply kicked the can down the road.  As their head of U.S. equity strategy said in November, the likelihood of Japanese style de-leveraging stagnation remains very high. – The Pragmatic Capitalist 
————

Abandoned + Our Narrow Window of Economic Opportunity – Kimball Corson – … If GDP growth forecasts are correct, the results of these efforts will likely be pretty good. They just might give us a window of opportunity to clean up our fiscal mess and put our financial house in better order. However, if we don’t take advantage of that opportunity and continue with excessively eased monetary and fiscal policies during the better times coming, we will make a big mistake. Improved tax revenues from higher GDP must be used to pay down debt, cut our deficits and adjust for our increasingly aged population, with all that entails. We have to act sharply here to dig out and do well. … – Wandering the Oceans

————

Sovereign Debt Crisis Could Be Story of 2010 – JAMES CULLEN – DailyFinance