Wat foto’s van De Consessie in De Haan tijdens de kerstvakantie
Wat in Antwerpen niet lukte, is hier al meer dan 50 jaar geleden gerealiseerd!
De meest bekende ex-inwoner van De Haan
De rest volgt later.
Kris
We have been able to confirm that the much delayed Sony Ericsson Xperia X2, which was meant to be exclusive to Vodafone UK, has now been officially dropped.
In an e-mail circulated internally yesterday, staff were told the handset will no longer be sold by the carrier.
This move is likely to be a nail in the coffin for the troubled handset, which has seen an ever lengthening route to market, and we will likely see any already manufactured stock being sold off by small dealers, as we have seen yesterday.
We will ping our Sony Ericsson rep for comment, but I think its relatively safe to say:
Xperia X2 – RIP 4-1-2010
Demographically, it makes sense that Chinese people would flock to Russia. Look at it in economic terms, though: China’s economy is booming, and its prospects seem limitless. Meanwhile, Russia is highly dependent on uncertain oil and natural gas reserves. Professionals already make more money in China than they do in Russia, and as China’s economy grows, blue-collar wages will likely outpace Russian pay. So, rather than Chinese people moving to Russia, isn’t it more likely that Russians would move to China?
I asked this question of many Russians in the Far East, and I usually got the same answer: It’s already happening. Thus far, the Russian migration to China seems to be only a trickle. But it’s not hard to imagine that this is just the start.
The energy in Suifenhe, a relative backwater, is so much greater than in Vladivostok-a city three times the size-that taking the four-hour bus trip across the border is like switching from black-and-white to color. The road from Vladivostok becomes progressively worse the closer you get to the border, and the land is almost empty of people. As soon as you cross the border into China, there is a massive shopping mall with red cupolas, an apparent nod to Russian architecture, and an international-standard Holiday Inn.
The mall is part of what was supposed to be a joint Chinese-Russian free-trade zone, where people would be able to come to shop and tour visa-free. But all Russia has built on its side of the border is a church, which Chinese tourists photograph through the chain-link fence.
The day I arrived was one of the biggest celebrations in recent Chinese history: the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Still, at the many construction projects around the city’s center, workers were on the job until after dark. I thought back to Vladivostok, where a huge suspension bridge is under construction. It is supposed to be ready by 2012, when the city plays host to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Ostensibly, this is a priority project overseen from Moscow, but when I mentioned to my translator that I hadn’t seen anyone working on it, she smiled. Yes, she said. We notice that all the time.
Suifenhe’s economy is driven by Russian shoppers on package tours, and the shops in the city center all have signs in the Cyrillic alphabet. One sporting goods store was called CSKA, after Moscow’s legendary soccer team. I flipped through the T-shirts on sale at another boutique and saw shirts advertising the 2014 Sochi Olympics and United Russia, Vladimir Putin’s political party.
But in addition to the many Russian tourists, there is a growing population of Russian expatriates living in Suifenhe. One, a journalist named Stanislav Bystritski, is a former reporter for a Vladivostok TV station. He moved here five years ago and produces two Russian-language shows on local Suifenhe TV, one oriented toward Russian tourists and one for Chinese people who want to learn about Russia and the Russian language.
As he showed me around town, an elderly Chinese man greeted us with a smile and said Horosho, which means good in Russian. It seemed a strange thing to say, but Bystritski told me it was a common greeting by Chinese people here, because it sounds like it could be a Chinese word and is easy for Mandarin speakers to pronounce.
He echoed what I had heard in Blagoveshchensk and Vladivostok-Russians come to China because it is easier to get a good job and easier to do business. So many Russian businessmen say it’s easier to work here, there is so much less corruption and bureaucracy, he said.
Suifenhe’s government once had plans to build a Russian quarter, reportedly with the expectation that up to 50,000 Russians might relocate here, though those plans appear to have been abandoned. Bystritski said that the rules on apartment ownership by foreigners have been loosened, so the government may have decided that there is no longer a need for a special Russian district. (We couldn’t find out for sure. Bystritski set up a meeting with a member of Suifenhe’s local government to talk about that and other issues involving Russian migrants. The official apparently assumed I would be Russian, and when Bystritski introduced me as an American, the official’s eyes widened somewhat cartoonishly. He probably wasn’t the best person, he said, and in the end I couldn’t get anyone from the local government to talk to me.)
Still, I was able to meet several Russians who had moved here. Petr is building a small complex of apartment buildings for Russians. The Suifenhe government is so enthusiastic about the project that it is bulldozing the homes of the Chinese people who currently live in the area.
Viktor, a Russian engineer who moved here at the beginning of 2008, is working on a pollution-control technology that has excited more interest in China than it did in Russia. The Chinese are more interested in innovative projects, so there are more opportunities here, he said. His wife, Natasha, works as a technician with Suifenhe’s pioneering (and, to a civil libertarian, rather ominous) electronic security system, in which surveillance cameras all over town are controlled from a spotless control room in a glass-fronted building called the Suifenhe Cyberport. She says she wants her 4-year-old son to be raised in Chinese traditions, and she is making sure he learns Chinese.
People are so friendly here, I feel so comfortable, she said. This is my new home.
China: Russias Land of Opportunity Where Russia Meets China: The final part of a 5-part series in cooperation with Slate. BY JOSHUA KUCERA | DECEMBER 30, 2009 Suifenhe’s economy is driven by Russian shoppers on package tours, and the shops in the city center all have signs in the Cyrillic alphabet. One sporting goods store was called CSKA, after Moscow’s legendary soccer team. I flipped through the T-shirts on sale at another boutique and saw shirts advertising the 2014 Sochi Olympics and United Russia, Vladimir Putin’s political party.
But in addition to the many Russian tourists, there is a growing population of Russian expatriates living in Suifenhe. One, a journalist named Stanislav Bystritski, is a former reporter for a Vladivostok TV station. He moved here five years ago and produces two Russian-language shows on local Suifenhe TV, one oriented toward Russian tourists and one for Chinese people who want to learn about Russia and the Russian language.
As he showed me around town, an elderly Chinese man greeted us with a smile and said Horosho, which means good in Russian. It seemed a strange thing to say, but Bystritski told me it was a common greeting by Chinese people here, because it sounds like it could be a Chinese word and is easy for Mandarin speakers to pronounce.
He echoed what I had heard in Blagoveshchensk and Vladivostok-Russians come to China because it is easier to get a good job and easier to do business. So many Russian businessmen say it’s easier to work here, there is so much less corruption and bureaucracy, he said.
Suifenhe’s government once had plans to build a Russian quarter, reportedly with the expectation that up to 50,000 Russians might relocate here, though those plans appear to have been abandoned. Bystritski said that the rules on apartment ownership by foreigners have been loosened, so the government may have decided that there is no longer a need for a special Russian district. (We couldn’t find out for sure. Bystritski set up a meeting with a member of Suifenhe’s local government to talk about that and other issues involving Russian migrants. The official apparently assumed I would be Russian, and when Bystritski introduced me as an American, the official’s eyes widened somewhat cartoonishly. He probably wasn’t the best person, he said, and in the end I couldn’t get anyone from the local government to talk to me.)
China: Russias Land of Opportunity Where Russia Meets China: The final part of a 5-part series in cooperation with Slate. BY JOSHUA KUCERA | DECEMBER 30, 2009
Still, I was able to meet several Russians who had moved here. Petr is building a small complex of apartment buildings for Russians. The Suifenhe government is so enthusiastic about the project that it is bulldozing the homes of the Chinese people who currently live in the area.
Viktor, a Russian engineer who moved here at the beginning of 2008, is working on a pollution-control technology that has excited more interest in China than it did in Russia. The Chinese are more interested in innovative projects, so there are more opportunities here, he said. His wife, Natasha, works as a technician with Suifenhe’s pioneering (and, to a civil libertarian, rather ominous) electronic security system, in which surveillance cameras all over town are controlled from a spotless control room in a glass-fronted building called the Suifenhe Cyberport. She says she wants her 4-year-old son to be raised in Chinese traditions, and she is making sure he learns Chinese.
People are so friendly here, I feel so comfortable, she said. This is my new home.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=211396
A roundup of economic news from around the Web.
Compiled by Phil Izzo
Gregory T. Huang wrote:
There is something oddly human about Stephen Wolfram using his iPhone to look up the mass of the “cascade hyperon,” a subatomic particle with who-knows-what properties. That’s what Wolfram, one of the world’s most distinguished experts in physics and computing, was doing on the day we spoke a few weeks ago.
Maybe it stood out because it means that even Wolfram—whose depth of scientific knowledge seems to exist on a different plane from other humans—needs a smartphone these days. Or maybe it’s just funny that anyone would use an iPhone app to look up such a thing.
In any case, Wolfram, 50, is a renowned scientist, author, and business leader. Born in London, he resides in the Boston area, but his company, Wolfram Research, is global, with headquarters in Champaign, IL, and 600-some employees spread around the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Last May, he launched an ultra-ambitious project called Wolfram Alpha, a kind of “knowledge engine” that answers queries about everything from geography to statistics to finance by “computing” the answer from an extensive database. It’s different from a search engine, which returns a list of links and documents. But the two can work together: in November, Microsoft announced it had formed a partnership to incorporate Wolfram Alpha into some of Bing’s search results.
So it was high time I checked in with Wolfram, whose career I have followed over the years. Interestingly, he calls Wolfram Alpha “the most complicated project I’ve ever done.” That says quite a lot, given that Wolfram spent more than a decade writing A New Kind of Science, the 1,200-page tome he released in 2002 that potentially turns every field of science and technology on its head. He is also the creator of Mathematica, a software program used widely for scientific and technical computing (things like modeling, simulations, and visualizations)—it’s the main reason Wolfram’s company has been profitable since 1988.
We spoke by phone on a quiet December afternoon just before the holidays. I asked him about the technology and strategy behind Wolfram Alpha and the future of search engines and knowledge engines, as well as business lessons learned from building his company and running it remotely. (I also couldn’t resist asking for his take on the massive physics effort at the Large Hadron Collider, the Swiss-based particle accelerator that amounts to the biggest science experiment in history.)
If you’ve ever interviewed Wolfram, you know to choose your questions wisely. It’s not just that he doesn’t suffer fools, but that he answers every question so thoroughly that he will embark on tangents that turn out to be mind-blowing—much more interesting than the path of the original question. Which is a bit like the best queries in science, business, and Wolfram Alpha itself, come to think of it. (You should try the site here if you haven’t yet.)
Here are some edited and slightly condensed highlights from our conversation:
Xconomy: Tell me about the organizational structure of Wolfram Alpha. How big is the project?
Stephen Wolfram: Wolfram Alpha has about 200 people. The parent company is Wolfram Research, and headquarters are in Champaign. It’s quite a distributed operation at this point. There are pieces in Boston and the U.K. We have one or two people in Seattle. Our people are scattered literally all over the world. I set a bad example by being a remote CEO starting in 1991. For many kinds of things, it’s tremendously productive.
X: What are your tips for managing a company remotely?
SW: My theory is the most productive form of meeting is conference calls with Web conferencing. You can have more people in the meeting, and you’re not wasting anyone’s time. They can work on other things, and if you need them, you just say their name. I’ve found that it’s what I spend my life doing. The Wolfram Alpha project is the most complicated project I’ve ever done. It’s remarkable for what it …Next Page »
The Chicago office of McDonald Hopkins LLC has moved to the 21st floor of 300 North LaSalle Street to accommodate growth and expansion.
The firm is leasing more than 24,000 square feet in the 60-story building on the Chicago River.
“We are very excited that our new location enables us to continue our firm’s growth in the Chicago market,” said Carl J. Grassi, president of McDonald Hopkins, which has additional offices in Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, and West Palm Beach.
“We are actively recruiting talented and experienced attorneys who can help our clients achieve their missions.”
McDonald Hopkins joined the Chicago market in 2007 when it merged with the law firm Harris Kessler & Goldstein, which was founded in 1995.
Steven M. Harris and Richard N. Kessler, founders of the predecessor firm, are on the leadership team at McDonald Hopkins. Harris is a member of the McDonald Hopkins Executive Committee and Kessler is the managing member of the Chicago office.
About McDonald Hopkins
McDonald Hopkins is a business advisory and advocacy law firm that offers comprehensive legal services in the areas of business law, litigation, healthcare, business restructuring, and estate planning.
For more information about McDonald Hopkins, visit mcdonaldhopkins.com.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Deborah W. Kelm, 216-348-5733
McDonald Hopkins LLC
[email protected]
What would make the Eye-Fi wireless SD cards even better? Most folks would either say “more storage” or “more speed.” What would you say to both? Actually, you can bite your tongue because no matter what you say, Eye-Fi has an updated product announcement in time for CES. The Eye-Fi Pro X2 is just like the current Pro card, but the X2 means — wait for it — twice the storage capacity with 8 GB over the current 4G, and support for faster 802.11n W-Fi for greater transfer range and speed. The new Pro X2 is also rated as a Class 6 memory card, for speedier reads and writes.
All of this doubling down doesn’t cost a cent more than the current Pro card either — the MSRP of the new Pro X2 is still $149.99. And just like the current offering, you can upload JPEG, RAW or video files from your camera without wires. The new Endless Memory mode will even free up space on your card as photos are offloaded. My own testing of an Eye-Fi card showed it to be a usable solution, but not nearly as fast as using a USB cable or card reader. I’d probably see more benefit if I transferred pics to various online photo sites since the card can do that automatically, but I tend to edit photos before shooting them to the web. However, with these latest improvements in the hardware, I may have to take another look. There’s something very appealing about moving high-resolution photos or videos from a DSLR to a computer without wires.
Like the Chumby, I’m not totally sure that the Pure Sensia is meant as a clock radio. But I don’t know what the hell else you’d use it for, and it’d be pretty sweet to wake up to.
Pure mainly focuses on internet radio, releasing little docks and speaker sets and that kind of thing, but this is their first effort with a touchscreen and it definitely looks to best the Chumby One (though not the sorta similar iLuv App Station) in the specs department. It’s got a 5.7-inch capacitive glass touchscreen (the Chumby’s got a 3.5-inch resistive), a 30W sound system (Chumby’s only packing a paltry 2W) and offers weather, Facebook and Twitter apps, with “more to come.”
Now here’s the part where Chumby kicks the Sensia’s ass: The Sensia is far bigger, like dominate-your-bedside-table big; its design is, at best, inoffensive, while the Chumby is damned adorable; it’s got no homebrew community to hack away and make it a great gadget, let alone a huge repository of fun approved apps; and most importantly, it’s $350 to the Chumby’s $100. $350 is super expensive for a clock radio, or a bedside boombox or whatever you’d call this thing. Availability has yet to be announced. [Pure]
Thank God for USB 3.0. I was getting really tired of staring at the progress bar for seconds (seconds!) while my shit transfers. WD just announced their first MyBook external drive with 3.0, and it looks great.
The MyBook 3.0 drive is available in either a 1TB or 2TB capacity, and in either a drive-only or a kit that includes a USB 3.0 card (since, you know, not very many people have one of those yet). They’re surprisingly affordable, really—the 1TB drive is $180, and the kit adds another $20, while the 2TB drive’s (and kit’s) price has yet to be announced. Both drives are capable of getting 5Gb/s speeds, which is significantly faster than USB 2.0 (around 5-10 times faster). It’s backwards compatible with USB 2.0, so no worries about attaching it to older hardware if need be. The 1TB drive is available now, and the 2TB should come later this month. [WD]
The Eye-Fi is an SD card that adds Wi-Fi uploads to any camera. Their latest flagship, the Pro X2, is pretty similar to old Eye-Fis, but it’s faster and even a bit smarter, too.
The 8GB SD card has equally fast read/write speeds to older models (class 6, for the savvy comparison shopper), but uploading should be significantly faster on supported networks, thanks to 802.11n.
But honestly, the more enticing feature may be Endless Memory.
Endless Memory allows you to pretty much fill the 8GB card to its max, but if you run out of space, the card can automatically delete photos from the card that have already been uploaded safely to the cloud, eliminating the need to dig through your camera storage and guess what’s been uploaded. Plus, you can choose how much of a storage buffer you’d like to leave at all times, in case you’re away from a Wi-Fi connection for a while.
It all seems pretty handy, but for $150 (starting today), it’d better be.
Eye-Fi Pro X2: The Most Advanced Memory Card on the Market
Eye-Fi re-engineered its platform and designed Arcturus – the proprietary chip at the heart of the Eye-Fi Pro X2 that enables the fastest wireless uploads to date. With the 8GB Pro X2, users will experience:
· Class 6 performance for faster read/write speeds
· For the first time, an 802.11n radio and a redesigned antenna for faster photo and video uploads and increased Wi-Fi range
· Endless Memory (*see below for details)
· 8GB storage
· Wireless JPEG, RAW and video uploads direct to a home computer and the Web
· Ad hoc connectivity to upload when not in range of a wireless router
· Hotspot access to upload away from home at more than 10,000 locations in the US
· Automatic geotagging
The Eye-Fi Pro X2 will be available for pre-order on www.eye.fi and select online retailers including Amazon for $149.99 beginning January 5.
Eye-Fi Center: Send photos and videos to multiple locations
Eye-Fi will also introduce a new desktop application that replaces Eye-Fi’s Web based application for managing your Eye-Fi card and experience. The new Eye-Fi Center will offer all users:
· The ability to easily select and publish photos and videos to different online locations – no more limitations on where photos can be shared
· Drag and drop capabilities so users can easily import any photos and videos into the Eye-Fi experience for easier sharing (even those memories not uploaded with Eye-Fi)
· The ability to access some features even when not connected to the Internet – such as adding a wireless network
· A redesigned interface for easier navigation
Eye-Fi Center will be available for download on January 5 for all users.
Endless Memory: You’ll always have room on your card for more memories
The Eye-Fi Pro X2 will offer Endless Memory mode, so users can choose to have Eye-Fi automatically make space available on the card once photos have been safely uploaded.
· The card communicates with the Eye-Fi Service, so that it knows when photos and videos are safely delivered to the user’s computer and/or online sharing site. Then, the card can remove files that have been safely delivered, beginning with the oldest.
· Users can select how much free space they want to reserve on the card.
· If files have not yet been uploaded, the Pro X2 will not remove them.
Filed under: Motorsports, Performance, Motorcycle, Electric, Racing
It seems that the promise of recognition through electric motorcycle racing is bringing out an increasing number of unlikely competitors to the racing fray. Add newly-born American motorcycle manufacturer Roehr to that growing list as the company has just announced its intentions to offer both racing and street versions of the eRoehr electric motorcycle.
Roehr’s first motorcycle, the 1250sc, offers up 180 horsepower via a modified and supercharged Harley-Davidson Revolution engine. That’s plenty of power, but electric motors have a reputation for being major torque-monsters, and the AC induction unit specified for the Roehr eSuperbike is no exception. How does 96 hp and 210 pound-feet of torque sound?
A 10 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery pack will provide the power for that machine, which Roehr plans to enter in the U.S. TTXGP Series later this year. A second version with a similar motor offering 48 hp and 105 lb-ft paired with a 6kWh battery will reportedly have enough juice to hit 100 miles per hour.
What we don’t yet know are expected base prices, the performance expectations of the higher-spec eSuperbike or the range of either machine. In other words, stay tuned, and feel free to read the press release pasted after the break.
[Source: Roehr]
Continue reading Roehr announces electric superbike, plans to contest US TTXGP
Roehr announces electric superbike, plans to contest US TTXGP originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 05 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Hookai. So. The Samurai Air Sword is really an iPhone in disguise. It doesn’t come with touchscreen, CPU, multimedia processor, memory, GPS, or compass. But it has a gyroscope and runs a clone of the only iPhone application that matters.
The Lightsaber app! Except it’s not really an app, and this is better: It makes 48 swooshabolous sound effects while you move it up in the air using a motion sensor. So screw the web browser, the mail, the stupid touchscreen, and all that fancy crap. For $18 and two AAA batteries, this thing does exactly what you need it to do. [Happinet via IT Media via DVICE]
This morning I’m back in the District to address the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) about ways to improve the communication of science. With members representing over 90 organizations including NOAA, NASA, and USGS, they work to collect, interpret, and develop applications for Earth observation information. It’s my first talk of 2010 and I’m very much looking forward to spending the day with such a neat interdisciplinary group.
According to Q4 data from Miller Samuel shown below, median Manhattan apartment prices fell 10% year over year in the fourth quarter, but those for three- and four-bedroom units dropped a shocking 42% and 38% respectively. Yet prices rose ~4% for larger units against Q3.
Great time to blow the bonus on a giant Manhattan apartment?
Three bedroom units in particular seems like a cozy steal at $2.35 million. Assuming you have a job, and it’s paying you a giant bonus.
Join the conversation about this story »
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Thurmond the Younger Aiming for Congress?
Controversial Sen. Strom Thurmond died in 2003, but Congress may not be a Thurmond-free zone for much longer if Strom’s youngest son, Paul Thurmond, ends up following through on some preliminary noises he’s making about a possible run for outgoing South Carolina Rep. Henry Brown’s House seat. —KA Politico: Charleston County councilor Paul Thurmond, the youngest son of Strom Thurmond, tells POLITICO that he’s seriously considering running for the seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Henry Brown (R-S.C.) “I am sad to see we are losing the leadership of a dedicated public servant in Henry Brown,” Thurmond said. “That said, I view this as an exciting possibility that warrants serious discussion amongst family and friends.” Read more
Controversial Sen. Strom Thurmond died in 2003, but Congress may not be a Thurmond-free zone for much longer if Strom’s youngest son, Paul Thurmond, ends up following through on some preliminary noises he’s making about a possible run for outgoing South Carolina Rep. Henry Brown’s House seat.? —KA
Politico:
Charleston County councilor Paul Thurmond, the youngest son of Strom Thurmond, tells POLITICO that he’s seriously considering running for the seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Henry Brown (R-S.C.)
“I am sad to see we are losing the leadership of a dedicated public servant in Henry Brown,” Thurmond said. “That said, I view this as an exciting possibility that warrants serious discussion amongst family and friends.”
Chris Weigant: Dec. ‘09 Obama Poll Watch — Below Fifty, But Stabilizing
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GOP, Warning Of A ‘New EPA’, Oppose Independent CFPA
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Scalia: Supreme Court Needs Justices With Varied Job Experiences
JACKSON, Miss. — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says he’s concerned there aren’t more people with varying professional backgrounds being nominated to the nation’s…
Carlos Allen: 3rd White House Crasher Identified
The Secret Service says another person not on the guest list was allowed into a White House state dinner for India’s prime minister in November….
Steven Hill: How Obama Can Create Jobs and Decrease Unemployment
With the nation’s unemployment rate at 10 percent, the highest in a generation, President Barack Obama could learn a thing or two about job…
Beck’s Misinformer of the Year defense rests on falsehoods
Glenn Beck devoted the full hour of his Fox News show to responding to “some liberal blogs” that had named him Misinformer of the Year, asserting that the blogs “didn’t back it up with any facts.” Beck’s 60-minute rebuttal ignored numerous facts set forth by Media Matters for America undermining a litany of Beck’s claims throughout 2009; moreover, his defense itself rested on misrepresentations and false claims.
From the January 4 edition of Fox News’ Glenn Beck:
BECK: We’ve been preparing this program — this series of programs, the next five programs — for about a month and a half, and while I was on vacation last week, some liberal blogs named me the Misinformer of the Year. But what I loved about it was, they didn’t back it up with any facts. I saw another article in The Washington Post that did the same thing. [Glenn Beck, 1/4/10]
Beck falsely claimed “[o]nly 3 percent” of stimulus plan would be “spent in the next 12 months.” During the January 27 broadcast of his Fox News program, Beck falsely claimed that “[o]nly 3 percent” of the Democratic economic stimulus plan would be “spent in the next 12 months.” Beck’s figures were based on a partial Congressional Budget Office cost estimate that excluded faster-moving provisions in the bill. According to the CBO’s full cost estimate of the bill, 11.2 percent of the $816 billion bill would be spent in the first seven and a half months after the bill was enacted, and, when including the bill’s tax cut provisions, $169 billion — or 20.7 percent of the bill’s total cost — were estimated to take effect in the first seven and a half months, or before the end of the last fiscal year.
Beck aired false claim that a union needs only 30 percent support from employees to be “established.” On February 12, Beck aired an on-screen graphic with the headline, “THEN … WAGNER ACT,” which falsely asserted that if 30 percent of employees want a union, “it gets established.” In fact, the Wagner Act, which was passed in the 1930s, required that for union representation to be established, a majority of employees in a bargaining unit within a company had to “designate or select” a union to represent them.
Beck falsely claimed average UAW worker makes $154 per hour. On February 18, Beck falsely claimed that “the average UAW [United Auto Workers] worker” earns “[a] hundred and fifty-four dollars an hour if you look at — you know, if you add in all of the benefits.” In fact, a Barclays Capital analysis reportedly found that U.S. automakers “pay an average of $55 an hour in wages and benefits to hourly workers.”
Beck falsely asserted that U.S. does not fingerprint foreign visitors or collect rapists’ DNA. On March 16, Beck asserted that “[w]e can’t fingerprint anybody who’s coming into this country because that would be offensive” and that “[w]e can’t take DNA samples from killers or rapists, but you can have your fingerprint taken if you want to sell your house.” In fact, the Department of Homeland Security does take fingerprints from “aliens seeking admission to the United States” at U.S. entry points, and according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, “All 50 states require that convicted sex offenders provide a DNA sample.”
Beck falsely claimed Iowa marriage ruling “is actually about going into churches.” On April 13, Beck falsely asserted that the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision striking down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage “is actually about going into churches … and saying you can’t teach anything else.” In fact, the ruling does not affect religious institutions’ definitions of marriage.
Beck echoed falsehood that ACORN received stimulus funds. On May 6, Beck echoed a false Republican talking point by stating, “By including ACORN, or groups like them, in the stimulus package, we have guaranteed them billions of dollars to buy more votes for the party that helps them the most.” In fact, the stimulus bill does not mention ACORN or otherwise single it out for funding.
Beck falsely claimed $1.4 million in stimulus spent on doors, which actually cost $246,100 to repair. On July 20, Beck falsely claimed that the government spent $1.4 million of economic stimulus funds “to repair a door” at Dyess Air Force Base. In fact, the doors repaired were hangar doors and did not cost that much money. Recovery.gov actually states that the government awarded AFCO Technologies nearly $1.2 million to replace gas mains on the base, and $246,100 to repair the hangar doors in Building 5112.
Beck falsely claimed Obama said he doesn’t want health reform protesters to “do a lot of talking.” On August 10, Beck falsely claimed that President Obama was “reacti[ng] to the health care protests” when he said, “I don’t want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking.” In fact, Obama was not talking about public protests or even health care reform; he was discussing “folks on the other side of the aisle pointing at the federal budget and somehow trying to put that at our feet.”
Beck reported fake murder story from ACORN video as fact. On September 15, after Andrew Breitbart posted a video of an ACORN employee in San Bernardino, California, claiming that she had killed her ex-husband, Beck joined Fox News colleagues Karl Rove, Greta Van Susteren, and Sean Hannity in promoting it without fact-checking it or indicating that they had contacted ACORN for a response to the claim. In fact, ACORN stated that the employee made up the story because she recognized that the actors in the video “were clearly playing with” her so she “matched their false scenario with her own false scenarios,” and, indeed, the San Bernardino Police Department has said her claim is false.
Beck, falsely claimed IPCC’s Latif has “pulled the rug out” from under climate change consensus. On September 22, Beck joined Hannity in seizing on a World Climate Conference presentation on short-term natural climate variability by Mojib Latif, a prominent climate modeler, to suggest that, in Beck’s words, Latif has “backed out now and said, ‘We were wrong,’ ” about global warming because, according to Hannity, Latif stated that global temperatures are actually “cooling.” In fact, Latif asserted that contrary to common “media” misperceptions of global warming as a “monotonic process” in which “each year is warmer than the preceding year,” there are significant natural climate variations within the decadal timescale that do not change the “long-term warming trend.”
Beck falsely claimed Anita Dunn “worships” “her hero” Mao Zedong. Throughout most of his October 15 Fox News program, Beck falsely claimed that White House communications director Anita Dunn “worships” and “idolizes” “her hero” Mao Zedong. In fact, in the video that Beck aired as evidence to support his claims, Dunn offered no endorsement of Mao’s ideology or atrocities — rather, she commented that Mao and Mother Teresa were two of her “favorite political philosophers,” and based on short quotes from them, she offered the advice that “you don’t have to follow other people’s choices and paths” or “let external definition define how good you are internally.”
Beck falsely accused Reid of lying about support for public option. Following reports that Senate leaders planned to include a public option in health care legislation, on the October 27 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, Beck falsely suggested that only “35 percent of the population” supported a public option and accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of lying when he said, in co-host Gretchen Carlson’s words, that “the public wants this.” In fact, polling consistently showed broad support for the public option, and the Fox News poll Beck presumably was referencing did not ask specifically about a public option.
Beck falsely claimed that under the Senate health care bill, “You don’t get a single benefit until 2014.” On November 19, Beck falsely claimed that under the Senate health care bill, “All of the benefits of this bill don’t kick in until when? You don’t get a single benefit until 2014.” According to a document released by Senate Democrats summarizing the “Immediate Benefits” of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the bill included numerous benefits that would “be available in the first year after enactment” of the bill. Indeed, Washington Post writer Ezra Klein published a list of benefits that the Senate bill would provide “before 2014.”
Reviving “born alive” falsehood, Beck claimed Obama suggested it’s OK to “put a spike in the baby’s head.” On November 25, Beck falsely claimed that Obama “suggested that [it] was OK” to “go into those pregnant women and pull the babies out of them and put a spike in the baby’s head,” echoing the oft-repeated right-wing falsehood that Obama did not support protecting babies who survived botched abortions. In fact, while serving in the state Senate, Obama opposed legislation to amend the Illinois Abortion Law because the amendment threatened abortion rights and was unnecessary since existing law already required doctors to provide medical care for babies who survived abortions.
Beck falsely claimed that no jobs are being “saved or created” by recovery legislation. On December 2, Beck falsely claimed that “jobs are not being saved or created” by the economic recovery legislation and that the Obama administration is “creating the make-believe ’saved or created’ category” for jobs. In fact, the CBO had recently estimated that the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009, which was heavily promoted by Obama, created 1.6 million jobs, and the Bush administration repeatedly stated that its economic initiatives had “saved or created” jobs.
Beck falsely claimed Robert Creamer “stole” $2 million from banks. On December 8, Beck falsely claimed that progressive activist Robert Creamer “stole” $2 million from banks while serving as executive director of the Illinois Public Action Fund. In fact, Creamer was never accused of stealing any money, and the judge in the case reportedly gave Creamer a lighter sentence because no one suffered any “out of pocket losses.”
Beck led charge advancing “Lie of the Year” contender that Holdren supported forced abortions and sterilizations. Throughout 2009, Beck repeatedly advanced the false claim that White House science and technology adviser John Holdren — whom Beck called “our science czar” — supported forced abortions and putting sterilants in drinking water. PolitiFact.com declared his claim “pants on fire” false and nominated it for “Lie of the Year,” stating that Holdren and his co-authors “make clear that they did not support coercive means of population control.” Beck’s claim was PolitiFact’s runner-up for Lie of the Year.
Beck claim: Death panels “discovered by The New York Times.” On his January 4 show, Beck claimed, “Last summer during the health care debate, we told you that the administration’s math didn’t add up. It was a very reasonable explanation on the program. I appealed to your reason. I said it would be impossible to add 30 million people to health care onto the rolls and at the same time add no additional doctors or nurses. And then not have rationing. You can’t do that. Because some bureaucracy would have to decide whether you would receive, or they would receive rationed health care, the terms ‘death panels’ was applied. Well, here is the fact.” After showing archive footage of himself discussing rationing and death panels, he stated:
BECK: But instead of telling you the Lie of the Year, how about I just tell you the truth, as discovered by The New York Times in a front-page article about our mushrooming unsustainable debt? Here is the truth from the Times. Quote: “The competing demands could deepen political battles over the size and the role of government. The tradeoffs between taxes and spending. The choices between helping older generations versus younger ones, and the bottom line questions about who should ultimately shoulder the burden.”
That was The New York Times. Hmmm. That also sounds reasonable, doesn’t it, when there’s a shortage of money? So The New York Times says it, but SEIU named me the fearmonger of the year. That’s weird. I wonder if The New York Times will share that award with me.
Fact: Times article cited by Beck makes no mention of health care reform or “death panels.” The November 22 New York Times article cited by Beck, headlined, “Wave of debt payments facing U.S. government,” did not address health care reform and made no mention of death panels or health care rationing. From The New York Times:
Americans now have to climb out of two deep holes: as debt-loaded consumers, whose personal wealth sank along with housing and stock prices; and as taxpayers, whose government debt has almost doubled in the last two years alone, just as costs tied to benefits for retiring baby boomers are set to explode.
The competing demands could deepen political battles over the size and role of the government, the trade-offs between taxes and spending, the choices between helping older generations versus younger ones, and the bottom-line questions about who should ultimately shoulder the burden.
“The government is on teaser rates,” said Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan group that advocates lower deficits. “We’re taking out a huge mortgage right now, but we won’t feel the pain until later.”
Beck: “I didn’t want [Van Jones] to be fired.” During his discussion of Van Jones, Beck stated, “I didn’t want the man to be fired. I wanted a debate on the issue of a communist being an adviser to the president of the United States.”
Fact: Beck said, “Removing Van Jones is not enough,” and called on listeners to ask, “Why is this man in [Obama’s] administration?” Discussing Van Jones on the September 3 edition of his radio show, Beck asked, “Is it time yet that you demand an answer from the president of the United States, ‘Why is this man in your administration?’ ” Beck went on to claim, “And it’s not about Van Jones. Removing Van Jones is not enough.”
A section on Beck claiming that Van Jones was “the only person, by the way, we have ever accused of being a communist” has been removed from this item.
Accused Ponzi Schemer Gave Tens Of Thousands To Clinton Foundation
We now know yet another Democrat-linked recipient of a hefty donation from accused Ponzi scamster Hassan Nemazee: the William J. Clinton Foundation.
Bond On Detroit Case: Obama Didn’t Learn From Bush’s Mistakes
In a statement to TPMmuckraker, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) elaborates on his position that the Bush Administration made a mistake in not classifying shoebomber Richard Reid as an “enemy combatant” — and that President Obama is now repeating that mistake in handling Umar Abdulmutallab.
ABC’s Inaccurate Gitmo-Abdulmutallab Story Got Major Pickup
Just how far can one erroneous terrorism story travel? By our very partial count, a since-corrected ABC report on the supposed role of ex-Gitmo detainees in planning the Detroit Christmas Day attack was picked up by at least 12 media outlets, and was cited by two members of Congress and legion right-wing bloggers.
comparison of popular twitter clients for blackberry; übertwitter, openbreak (formerly known as twitterberry), and tweetgenius. well i am pretty much terrified by 21 pages of configuration in übertwitter, and it only supports photo upload to mypict.me (which features one of the crappiest interfaces on the planet.) and tweetphoto. but übertwitter is probably the best option for the users who ain’t considering paid-application for twitter.
so far, none of them features “reply all” which inserts every user in a particular tweet into a new reply-tweet and automatically omits the main username. i am looking forward for that in the future release.
The Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam has become a landmark for the port city. The bridge was designed by Ben van Berkel of UN Studio. Behind the bridge towers rise up on the Wilhelminapier.
